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Biden Says He Could Have Won Re-Election; Trump Threatens Land Grabs; "Impossible" to Count Number of Building Burned in Southern California. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 08, 2025 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- more on that in just a moment. But in the meantime, with just days left in his term, President Biden is clearing the air. He sat down for a rare exit interview with USA Today's Susan Page and was asked if he could have won in November. Biden responding, quote, saying this, "It's presumptuous to say that, but I think yes, based on the polling." At which point, Page asked him if he'd have the vigor to serve another four years, Biden's response was, quote, "I don't know. Who the hell knows. So, far, so good. But who knows what I'm going to be when I'm 86 years old."

The president also says he has not decided yet whether to issue preemptive pardons before leaving office, but added that during their meeting in November, he urged Donald Trump not to focus on revenge, saying this, quote, "I tried to make it clear that there was no need and it was counterintuitive for his interest to go back and try to settle scores."

Joining me now to discuss Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington State. Congresswoman, thank you so much for being here. I guess, first of all, what are your thoughts on whether President Biden should have remained the nominee? Do you think he would have beaten Donald Trump? I mean, I spoke to some Biden folks back in those days when this was all being batted around, they were worried privately that he was going to lose re-election. What do you think about that?

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): Well, Jim, I just focused on what is in front of us now. The election has already happened and I think we can go back and think about it. But the reality is, we've got things we're doing right now in Congress and have to be focused on how we win back the House, the Senate, and the White House.

But I think that, you know, the reality of what Republicans are going to do this Republican trifecta in trying to pass a Trump tax scam 2.0. that benefits the wealthiest corporations and individuals and takes things away from working class Americans who are just struggling to make it every day, that's the focus that I'm working on right now.

ACOSTA: And just to pressure you just a little bit and then I'll move on to other stuff. But there were some Democrats who I think came out and said, you know what, if the president had stuck to his word and been just a transitional president, passed the baton to a field of candidates that perhaps a Democratic contender could have emerged that would have beaten Donald Trump, do you subscribe to that point of view if I -- you could answer yes or no if you want me to move on I can move on to other stuff, but I did want to press you on that just a little bit.

JAYAPAL: Yes. I mean, look, I do want to move on to other stuff. But I'll just say quickly that I think that a contested primary is always a good thing because it really pushes people to get ready for the general election. It gives the country a chance to get to know people. So, certainly in that sense, I think a contested primary would have been good.

ACOSTA: And, Congresswoman, let me ask you about President-Elect Donald Trump. He held this wild press conference yesterday. He threatened to use economic force to annex Canada. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, real fast, you said you were considering military force to acquire Panama and Greenland. Are you also considering military force to annex and acquire?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: No. Economic force. We're spending hundreds of billions a year to take care of Canada. We lose in trade deficits. We don't need their cars. We don't need their lumber. We don't need anything they have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Congresswoman, you represent the State of Washington, a part of the State of Washington, how would tariffs on Canada impact your state's economy? What do you make of what he's been saying?

JAYAPAL: Well, I think that we have to get used to chaos 2.0 again with Trump. He says crazy things and then people sort of have to, you know, react to it. And I think that we have to be very focused on what he's going to do to lower prices for Americans.

I think that tariffs, of course, are can -- the threat of tariffs sometimes can bring about some longer-term change, but you will see prices going up for Americans. And he admitted that, you know, Jim, after the election -- during the campaign, he was saying, oh, I'm going to bring prices down. Immediately after the election was done Donald Trump was saying, well, actually, my tariff plans are going to raise prices for Americans. And we've got lots of economists saying that.

And so, I think it depends on what the goal is of the tariffs. If the long-term goal is to preserve manufacturing in the United States and there's an investment by the U.S. government the way that Joe Biden and Democrats did with the Inflation Reduction Act and with many of these other bills, the CHIPS and Science Act, that's one thing. But simply, you know, using the threat of tariffs to try to cow other nations is, you have to recognize that that is going to raise prices and we're going to enter into tariff wars that, as you know, are very difficult to end. Once you implement a tariff, it is very difficult to end that because it starts a whole chain of reaction.

ACOSTA: And one of the other things that President Biden said in that interview, is he's still thinking about whether or not to issue these preemptive pardons to protect people like Dr. Anthony Fauci and former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, if the Trump Justice Department were to be super politicized, I suppose, and go after them in a new Trump administration. Do you think President Biden should do that on his way out?

[10:35:00]

JAYAPAL: Well, I think the fact that Trump and these MAGA Republicans are continuing to deny that January 6th happened and they are continuing to say that they're going to go after people who demanded accountability for the worst assault -- worst violent assault on the United States Capitol since the war of 1812 I think is something that everyone should be concerned about.

And I think that the president is right to, you know, preemptively pardon those individuals who were simply trying to uphold the constitution. And I think it is a sad day in this country that I still serve, Jim, with 137 Republicans who are election deniers. They don't believe that Biden won the election legitimately in 2020. They're still spreading misinformation about the 2020 election. The ones that were here were part and parcel of trying to contest that election on the House floor on January 6 and denying the violence that happened.

I was trapped in the gallery that day. I will not forget how close we came to losing our democracy that day, and I don't think any American should allow that memory to fade because it is absolutely essential for the future that we do not -- that Donald Trump does not pardon these insurrectionists who were convicted and that we discourage this kind of violence. It's stunning to me that we even have to, you know, continue to have the conversation, but it's so important that we do.

ACOSTA: All right. Congresswoman Jayapal, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

JAYAPAL: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. When we come back, officials say it is, quote, "impossible" to count the number of buildings that have burned in Southern California in the last 12 hours. A live report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

ACOSTA: All right. We want to take you back out to Los Angeles. We were showing you this shot earlier. This is the sunrise in L.A. County at the moment. Keep in mind, as we were pointing out just a little while earlier, you could see the sun rising over the hills there just barely. You could see the outlines of the sun, the smoke there is so thick and just shrouding everything at this point that you could barely see. Now, you can't hardly see it at all. That's Altadena. That is -- it looks like a break shop there, just up in flames at this point. We've been seeing this time and again throughout L.A. County and Southern California.

Guys in the control room, if we could show that map that we were showing earlier of the various fires that are breaking out in L.A. County. We can refer you back to -- OK. There it is on screen right now. We can refer you back to a conversation we were having earlier with Margaret Stewart with the L.A. County Fire Department. She was pointing out that you had three fires burning and then a fourth fire appears to have flared up. That's the Woodley Fire.

But she was talking about the Hurst Fire, and she was pointing out people who live in that portion of L.A. County need to be on guard and prepared to evacuate. They have an evacuation warning right now. But she was pointing out, and this was about 30 minutes ago, that people in that area should be making preparations in the event that there is a mandatory evacuation order issued for that portion of L.A. County. She is saying that at a moment's notice -- you can see it there on screen right there, at a moment's notice, people in that area may have to evacuate.

Our Stephanie Elam is on the scene. We have others on the scene. We're going to get back to all of them after a quick break. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:00]

ACOSTA: All right. Now, more with the latest on the wildfires in Southern California. I'm joined on the phone now by Ericka Gair. She evacuated her home. She lost that house and her business, which is a medical practice, but she is safe staying at a friend's house right now. Ericka, tell us how are things going for you? I'm so very sorry about the loss of your home and business. How are you doing?

ERICKA GAIR, LOST HOME AND BUSINESS IN PACIFIC PALISADES FIRE: I'm doing OK. We're safe. We're just devastated to see the loss of everything in our community. It's just been really hectic and we're happy to have the support from everybody.

ACOSTA: And, Ericka, what was that like having to evacuate? What did you go through?

GAIR: Well, yesterday afternoon at about 11:30, I was at work in town seeing patients, and my husband who works for the fire department down in Redondo called me, told me it was time to get our daughter out. She had just gotten her license two days earlier. I had to call her, tell her, put the dog and the cat in the car, grab all of our valuables, just the passports and try to drive the four miles to my office.

As you heard, there is a roadblock. So, she got stuck at the bottom of the hill. So, she had to pull the car over by the church and she saw that there was fire coming down from palm trees. And so, she had to run with the dogs on leashes and she put the cat in her purse and she ran over to a friend's house who picked her up and took her to me in Santa Monica.

So, we evacuated there first, but the smoke was so heavy there that we went further down and luckily got here to a great friend's place in Mar Vista, but it was really horrible and very scary.

ACOSTA: I'm so sorry. That is just frightening and amazing of your daughter to get through that. Did you have any idea that this was coming so fast?

GAIR: No, we had no idea. We had just had a little fire on New Year's in the same location. It was only four to five acres, and I think that's where the fire started again. But with the winds, we all knew it could potentially spread very quickly. I just didn't know it would be this devastating.

[10:50:00]

We've seen photos today where two of the churches are gone, two of the grocery stores were gone, the library, my daughter's high school, all the buildings next to our office have been burned. I know our office is likely burned down. The electricity stopped. It's just awful.

ACOSTA: I'm so sorry Erica. Well, I'm so glad that you're safe. I'm glad your daughter is safe. The pets are safe. Your husband's safe. That's what counts. You'll get through this.

GAIR: Yes.

ACOSTA: Please keep us posted on how things are going. Thank you so much for your time.

GAIR: Thank you so much. OK, Bob. Thanks.

ACOSTA: We appreciate it. In the meantime, some key U.S. allies are slamming Donald Trump's quest to expand the map of the United States. The incoming president even says he wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: That was from the president-elect's rambling press conference at Mar-a-Lago yesterday where he laid out his goals to essentially engage in a land grab inside the Western Hemisphere. Trump says he's eying Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. And for the last two he's refusing to rule out military intervention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you assure the world that as you try to get control of these areas, you are not going to use military or economic coercion?

TRUMP: No. I can't assure you. You're talking about Panama and Greenland. No, I can't assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Canada and Denmark, of which Greenland is a part, are both founding members of NATO. Greenland was once a Danish colony and is now an autonomous territory of Denmark. A Danish parliament member and conservative spokesman for Greenland, Rasmus Jarlov, called out Trump and his threats, posting this quote, "This level of disrespect from the coming U.S. president towards very, very loyal allies and friends is record-setting."

And Jarlov joins us now from Copenhagen. Sir, thank you so much for joining us this morning. I guess what was your response -- what has been your response when you heard Donald Trump talking about all of this?

RASMUS JARLOV, DANISH PARLIAMENT: Hello, Jim. Well, to be honest, we are a bit shocked by such statements. It's very unusual for a close ally to make threats about annexing in other countries territory and not even wanting to rule out using force or economic coercion.

So, we're trying to find a balance here between on one hand not escalating the situation by responding to aggressively, but on the other hand, also making it very, very clear that nobody in Greenland wants this. Nobody in Denmark wants it. And it's definitely and absolutely not going to happen.

ACOSTA: And I guess, what would the impact be on NATO? As we were just mentioning a few moments ago, Denmark is a founding member of NATO, as is Canada. This sort of saber rattling, it sounds like something that you would hear coming from Vladimir Putin. What about NATO? What happens to NATO if something like this were to occur?

JARLOV: It seems unthinkable. I don't think anyone expects this to actually happen. So, it's -- it sounds like trolling on the internet. And I guess we can find a bit of comforting that there's a lot of similar statements that we also know are not going to happen, like annexing Canada, for example. So, we're not thinking that it's going to be the breakdown of NATO or the end of our alliance or anything like that. But yes, we're very surprised by such statements.

ACOSTA: It sounds like you almost think this is a big joke. Is that it?

JARLOV: Well, it's written kind of like a joke. So, I'm not really sure whether to take it -- whether to laugh at it or to take it seriously. But again, we don't want to escalate it. We don't want to ridicule statements from an American president, but we also have to make clear that you can't just go and take another country's territory, and people in Greenland don't want it. And Denmark has been in Greenland since 1380. And we're not just going to give that up. ACOSTA: And Greenland is considered an autonomous territory of Denmark. Could they ultimately decide somewhere down the road that they do want to become part of the United States? Is that possible?

JARLOV: It's not possible without the consent of the Danish parliament. So, that would be up to the opinion of the politicians like me and others, whether it would be approved. And I can't tell you the results of that process. Greenland has not expressed such a wish. And every Greenlandic politician you talk to says that they do not want to be part of the United States. So, it's really not on the table and it's definitely not going to happen.

[10:55:00]

ACOSTA: All right. And when you talk about this with your fellow members of parliament what is that discussion like when you talk about this? And I should note, you are considered a conservative member of the parliament, correct?

JARLOV: Yes, everybody is talking about it right now. That's for sure. We had a gathering yesterday, and it's certainly the talk of the country right now. And everybody is kind of trying to find out how to take it down. We want to keep good relations with the United States. It's good for both of us, we think, and certainly crucial for Denmark.

But also, on the other hand, there are limits to what you can take. Even if we're a small country, we still have our limits. And this is too much.

ACOSTA: All right. Rasmus Jarlov, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

And thank you for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of Newsroom with Pamela Brown starts after a short break. Have a good day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]