Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Trump Teases Potential 2024 Run in Final Midterm Campaign Blitz; Nets Star Apologizes After Team Suspends Him Over Film Controversy; Oprah Endorses Democratic Candidate in Key North Carolina Senate Race. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired November 04, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:00:00]

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Morning. That's easy how we just -- we just say morning.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Morning.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Morning. I always say morn-ting.

LEMON: Morning. I always say morn-ting.

HARLOW: That's how he comes into the office every morning.

LEMON: Good morning, everybody. I'm Don Lemon alongside Poppy Harlow. I'm not going to say her name today because --

COLLINS: We're fighting today.

LEMON: We're fighting because there's a big thing happening, I'm not talking about the election. I'm talking about LSU versus Alabama.

HARLOW: Did you notice she changed her mug?

LEMON: I know. I noticed. I noticed.

COLLINS: How could you not?

LEMON: We have to get to it, though. The candidates and their top surrogates are grinding on the campaign trail with four days left before the midterms. And CNN is with them every step of the way. This morning, we will be joined by New York Governor Kathy Hochul who is locked in a tight race with a Republican in New York State, can you believe that, Lee Zeldin.

HARLOW: Yes, we'll talk about that. Also this CNN exclusive reporting this morning, the Justice Department is seriously considering the appointment of a special council on multiple investigations if Donald Trump decides to run for president again in 2024.

COLLINS: And Kyrie Irving is apologizing after the Nets suspended him for five games without pay after promoting a film filled with hateful statements about Jewish people. Bob Costas will join us live to talk about that.

LEMON: And as we alluded to just moments ago, an SEC showdown in my hometown of Baton Rouge, Kaitlan Collins' Alabama Crimson Tide. My LSU Tigers clashing on the gridiron tomorrow --

COLLINS: Are you nervous?

LEMON: -- In Death Valley. I am not. We will talk. See, I'm not even looking at you.

But, first, what was a marathon is now a sprint to the finish now. And John Fetterman just received a key endorsement in the tight Pennsylvania Senate race. I'm talking about Oprah Winfrey, arguably one of the biggest celebrities in the world, throwing her support to Democrat over Republican, his Republican opponent, Mehmet Oz, the man she helped make famous, by the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, T.V. HOST (voice over): So, you mentioned Pennsylvania. I have to see how this midterm campaign. I said it was up to the citizens of Pennsylvania, and, of course. But I will tell you all this, if I lived in Pennsylvania, I would have already cast my vote for John Fetterman for many reasons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, just ahead, we are going to speak to another Democrat who is locked in a key Senate race, who was also endorsed by Oprah Winfrey.

CNN This Morning is on the campaign trail for you. Jeff Zeleny is in Iowa, where former President Trump appeared at a rally last night and dropped the strongest hint yet at another White House run. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: In order to make our country successful and safe and glorious, I will very, very, very probably do it again, okay, very, very, very probably.

Get ready. That's all I'm telling you, very soon. Get ready. Get ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I have a feeling we're going to be hearing a lot of that before an actual announcement is made. Jeff, good morning to you. This was Trump kicking off a final blitz campaign.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Hey, Don, good morning. It was a campaign blitz but the question is for which campaign. Yes, he's campaigning for the midterm election race. He was appearing here in Iowa to support Senator Chuck Grassley, who is running for his eighth term. But, boy, the biggest headline out of that speech last night here in Sioux City was about President Trump's own plans. He said, yes, next Tuesday is the most important thing, but then he pivoted forward to a potential presidential run.

So, he's been talking about this for a long time. This, of course, is not going to come as a surprise to anyone at this point. It would be a bigger surprise if he did not decide to make another bid for the presidency. But that entire speech last night was filled with similar grievances. It was entirely backward-looking as opposed to forward- looking. So, that is the question here, what is the message if he runs again and are Republican voters open to a third run?

The ones I've been talking to here, even the ones who love Donald Trump, and there are many of them, they are still open to considering a wider field.

[07:05:01]

So, that, of course, is his challenge but made very clear that he is looking forward to this and he said get ready. So, the timing probably is the end of this month.

LEMON: Jeff zeleny on the campaign trail for us, Jeff, eat your Wheaties, thank you, sir, I appreciate it.

HARLOW: Now to a CNN exclusive reporting involving a potential Trump run, as Jeff was talking about. The Justice Department is said to be considering whether it will need to appoint a special council to oversee major federal investigations involving the former president if he decides to run again in 2024.

Paula Reid is live in Washington with this. This is fascinating and it could happen soon if Trump runs.

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well, Poppy, traditionally, in the weeks leading up to an election, the Justice Department does not take any overt action in cases that could have political consequences. Though over the past several weeks behind the scenes, the Biden Justice Department has been quiet planning how to best handle several of their most politically charged cases.

And sources tell CNN that justice officials had even discussed whether they should appoint a special counsel to oversee the investigations into former President Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of national security documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago home.

Now, officials have debated whether doing so could potentially insulate the Justice Department from accusations that the Biden administration is targeting his chief political rival, especially as Trump inches closer to a potential 2024 run. But a special counsel would ultimately still report to the attorney general, and as we saw with the Mueller probe into Trump/Russia connections in 2016, special counsels are certainly not immune from political attacks. So, even though we're in this so-called quiet period at the Justice Department, they are still staffing up their investigations with experienced prosecutors, they're using aggressive grand jury subpoenas and even secret court battles to compel testimony from witnesses in both Trump probes.

HARLOW: I mean, this is fascinating, right, and you're so right, because even though they were special counsel, Mueller, the Durham investigation, there were so many accusations from people in both parties about being political. If this happens, so if Trump runs, how soon could we see a special counsel appointed?

REID: It's unclear at this point. Here is what we know from our reporting. After the midterms, the focus in the country will likely shift to the 2024 presidential elections. And sources familiar with the inner workings of the Justice Department say that could incentivize the Justice Department to make these crucial charging decisions as quickly as possible.

Now, the final decision on whether to charge the former president, whether to appoint a special counsel, it will ultimately fall to the attorney general. And it's not just Trump that he will have to contend with after the election. The long running investigation of Hunter Biden is nearing a conclusion and there's also a final decision on potential charges against Congresswoman Matt Gaetz. The attorney general could be very busy after the election.

HARLOW: Paula, really important reporting, thanks for bringing it to us.

COLLINS: We also have new reporting this morning on the Republican Party laying out a roadmap for what they say they will do if they win back control of the House next Tuesday. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy says there are several investigations that they want to pursue.

So, CNN's Manu Raju is live for CNN this morning on Capitol Hill. Manu, what should we be expecting if Republicans do take back the majority in the House?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Even if they do, it will be very difficult for them to get legislation onto Joe Biden's desk, enacted into law because of the problems in the United States Senate, the challenge of getting legislation through, as well as a Democrat in the White House, which is why investigations will take center stage in a Republican-led House.

The Republicans already indicating their desire to look into COVID origins, what's happening along the U.S./Mexico border, issues with the president's family, and as Kevin McCarthy said, also what happened in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you were to be speaker and Republicans take control of these committees, what will the hearings be centered around? I've heard the following, the collapse in Kabul. I've heard the origination of COVID. I've heard the investigation of American parents who showed up at teachers' meetings. Are those three among them or would you add to that list?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Those three are among them, but we'd also add any time you're using federal money, there needs to be a check and balance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, today, we're going to get some sense of where Republicans on the Judiciary Committee in the House plan to go if they do take back the majority. They do plan to release a 1,000-page report alleging political interference at the Biden Justice Department. Democrats say this is all rehashed conspiracy theories, ignoring what happened with Donald Trump, but they will have the subpoena power, Republicans, if they take the majority, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: And I noticed that Kevin McCarthy did not mention Hunter Biden but that is something that the White House has been bracing for. Is that something we should also be expecting?

RAJU: Yes, no question about it. This is going to be a center part of an investigation by the House Oversight Committee, in particular, James Comer, who leads that committee, plans to the day after the midterms, if they take the majority, send a letter to the Treasury Department asking for records dealing with so-called suspicious bank activity reports that Hunter Biden and other Biden family members were allegedly involved with.

[07:10:05]

It's important to note that millions of those transactions and those reports are filed every year but very few lead to law enforcement activities.

But both Comer and Jim Jordan plan to have a press conference in the days after the midterms, detailing everything that they have found out so far about Hunter Biden. And this is what Comer told our colleague, Melanie Zanona. He said, we're going to lay out what we have thus far on Hunter Biden and the crimes we believe he has committed. And then we're going to be clear and say what we are investigating and who we're going to ask to meet with us for transcribed interviews. And we're going to show different areas that we're looking into. And Republicans are telling that they plan to build this case to 2023 into 2024, into the presidential election season. So, expect a lot of this if Republicans do, in fact, win on Tuesday.

COLLINS: Yes, a pretty clear motivation there and the White House has already assembled a legal team, basically bracing for these investigations. Manu, thank you.

RAJU: Thank you.

HARLOW: All right. Thanks, Manu. So, let's talk about the polls that will close, yes, Tuesday night. But it's possible we're not going to know a lot then, right? We're not going to know which party will control the House or Senate for days or weeks or maybe even weeks. That could happen. We want you to understand why in the days leading up to the election, okay?

CNN Political Director David Chalian is here. David, you're so good at this and it's so important for people to understand that patience -- as my mother taught me, patience is a virtue.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: My mother taught me the same thing, Poppy. Yes. Everyone is going to need to pack their patience on Tuesday night. We'll get results. This is a blank map right now. These are the 35 Senate elections, for battle control of the United States Senate. This will start filling in red and blue Tuesday night as the votes come in.

As you guys know, everyone should keep their eyes on these five states specifically, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia. How these things fall will determine which party controls the United States Senate. But as you note, we just may not know that result on Tuesday night.

LEMON: It's that -- look, we just may not. It's probable that we won't know on Tuesday night. And, look, I said at the beginning of the 6:00 show we're going to be on television for hours and hours and hours and we're sleeping in the back. But why is that? Is it because of counting? Is it because it's so slow, a myriad of things?

CHALIAN: Yes. So, Don, I think a good example here is to think about Pennsylvania. You guys were talking about this with Frank Luntz a little earlier, so, Fetterman versus Oz. Again, this is blank because this is a live vote board. This is what will start populating with vote on Tuesday night. But what we will see on Tuesday night is that this is going to be a lot of red first. Why? Because in Pennsylvania, the elections officials are not even allowed to open up process and begin counting all the absentee mail vote until the polls open on Tuesday. That's not true in every state but a state like Pennsylvania, which could prove critical, as you know, that means the processing doesn't even begin until Tuesday morning. It's going to take a while.

We know Republicans tend to show up in greater numbers on Election Day in-person. Democrats tend to show up in greater numbers in the pre- election vote, that absentee by mail or in-person vote. So, if they're counting the Election Day vote, which we expect that they will in Pennsylvania, this is going to be very favorable to Republicans initially. And then as the absentee vote, which we still think -- it's not the height of the pandemic like 2020, but it's going to be substantial. That will start to fill in with the Democratic vote.

COLLINS: Right, and expectations is everything here, because you saw how the former president tried to weaponize that very mechanism right there in 2020.

LEMON: He did.

COLLINS: Tried. It wasn't ultimately successful but maybe his supporters.

HARLOW: David, thank you. We'll have you back very soon.

CHALIAN: No problem.

HARLOW: All right. Join all of us for a special election night coverage starting Tuesday, 4:00 P.M. Eastern Time right here.

LEMON: And this morning, man, we have been talking -- this is a big talker today. It has been all week. Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving is apologizing for tweeting about a documentary with anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. The doc blames that Jewish people for the slave trade, denies the Holocaust and claims black people are the, quote, real children of Israel. And it comes just a few hours after the Nets announced that he is now suspended for five games without pay for originally defending his actions.

Let's bring in now CNN's Brynn Gingras with the very latest on this. So, yesterday, the big question was, wait, he said he's going to do $500,000 and all of that but no apology.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no apology. He had multiple chances to apologize, right, wouldn't, didn't, until last night. The NBA all-star issuing a statement, and in it the first time he says the words, I'm sorry, but an apology that's still not totally clear and some argue doesn't go far enough. For now, what is clear, one of the best players in the league sidelined after a week of this brewing controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYRIE IRVING, GUARD, BROOKLYN NETS: You guys are asking me, respectfully, to speak on something that was a documentary that I had nothing to do with.

[07:15:01]

I didn't make it.

GINGRAS (voice over): Kyrie Irving suspended by the Brooklyn Nets for at least five games without pay for defending his decision to tweet a link to a film criticized as anti-Semitic. The seven-time NBA all-star took to Instagram Thursday night issuing this apology. To all Jewish families and communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain and I apologize. It comes after the Nets condemned Irving's actions, calling him unfit to be part of the team. Irving had refused to say he has no anti-Semitic beliefs.

IRVING: I didn't mean to cause any harm. I'm not the one that made the documentary. I cannot be anti-Semitic if I know where I come from.

GINGRAS: In a statement, the Nets noting Irving had previous chances but failed to clarify his beliefs. Days before, Irving and the Nets agreed to each donate half a million dollars to anti-hate groups. But in the tweet before Irving's apology, the CEO of the anti-Defamation League said they, quote, cannot, in good conscious, accept Irving's donation. Following immense backlash, Irving followed up with this. I had no intentions to disrespect any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate. I am learning from this unfortunate event and hope we can find understanding between us all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GINGRAS (on camera): Look, we know Irving is a polarizing player. He sat out most of last year, if you'll remember, for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. But in this latest controversy, the NBA, the Nets organization also getting heat from fans, from former players, guys, for really this entire situation. Of course, we saw Reggie Miller, we saw Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley talking about it as well.

HARLOW: Yes. Brynn, thank you very, very much.

LEMON: Well, joining us now to discuss, CNN Contributor and legendary sportscaster Bob Costas. Bob, Good morning to you.

This is a real conundrum. Look, remember when we talked about Kyrie Irving during the whole vaccine incident during COVID? He was allowed to, in some ways, skirt that. This is another issue. Is he going to be allowed -- I know that they suspended him now but about what I'm saying, what took so long?

BOB COSTAS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, yes. At first, when they said we're going to have him donate $500,000 and the team will donate $500,000 to the ADL, it almost seemed like they were sharing responsibility and no one called Kyrie out, including the NBA and Commissioner Adam Silver. No one called him out by name until yesterday. And then they became firmer in their response partly because he stood in front of the press, the basketball press, following a Nets game and made a further fool of himself.

As Jerry Brewer of The Washington Post, a very good columnist, says this morning, he is both delusional and defiant. He thinks he is the smartest man in the room. He is anything but that. There have always been whack jobs and dopes in sports but they didn't have social media to put it on display whenever the impulse occurs to them.

HARLOW: He's also powerful for not only being one of the most famous basketball players out there, he's a vice president still, I believe, on the executive committee of the Players Union. And you've got Joe Tsai, let's not forget, the ownership of the team could have come out hard at the beginning here and instead issued a pretty passive statement saying, I'm disappointed, I want to sit down with him.

COSTAS: Except the present statement, the more recent statement now is he is unfit --

HARLOW: That was five days later.

COSTAS: Yes. But they've now said he is unfit to be part of the Nets. And this five game suspension is not limited to five games. It's at least five games. And until he shows by some objective criteria that he has learned his lesson and he won't be more than a distraction, a disgrace to their organization, until he shows that, he won't be back.

Now, this is the last year of his contract. He's a very good player but his trade value has been diminished --

LEMON: Is he more trouble than he's worth?

COSTAS: Well, he's been on three different teams. He's excelled for all of three of them, the Cavs, the Celtics and the Nets, but he had problems with all three of them. So, even as a free agent at age 30 or 31, whatever it is, next year, his value has been diminished.

COLLINS: And I wouldn't say that the NBA has the highest moral standard when it comes to violations from their players. But what stood out to me was that it took so long for them to take this action. And it was ultimately because of that press conference. You saw that sound bite there. The question he was asked was really simple, do you have anti-Semitic beliefs. That's when he offered the answer talking about -- basically saying he accepts all walks of life and whatnot. It's a yes or no question, really.

COSTAS: Sort of a ridiculous word salad. And this whole thing about I didn't write it. Well, if you or I, or any of us, provided a link to the Protocols to the Elders of Zion or the Mein Kampf and then said, oh, I didn't write it, I'm just hoping to illuminate something, shut the hell up.

LEMON: Bob, this is the same dilemma that we've been dealing with over the past few years since the former president became a martyr for bigots and racist, is that people don't even realize that they are racists.

[07:20:10]

COSTAS: Right.

LEMON: And perhaps Kyrie Irving in his -- as you said, making -- I'm going to paraphrase here, I don't want to put those in your mouth, that he said something silly and didn't realize --

COSTAS: More than silly.

LEMON: Okay. So, perhaps he doesn't understand his own ignorance and he doesn't understand that he is anti-Semitic. So, my question is, if those are his beliefs, I'm not saying they're right, I don't believe it's right, obviously, instead of forcing him to apologize, perhaps they should be dealing with the fact that he is what he is and whether or not the team and the NBA wants to accept that?

COSTAS: Well, they can offer him counseling of some kind. They can --

LEMON: But do you understand my point?

COSTAS: Yes, I do understand.

LEMON: Instead of saying, hey, apologize for something. He says, well, I don't believe that. Perhaps he just doesn't --

COSTAS: I do understand your point. He was also a flat earther, an anti-vaxxer, and then there's this. And he's been a problem on other teams. And he may be, despite his excellence on the court, more trouble than he's worth.

You know what's also interesting here, there are a number -- the league itself has bent over backwards, and mostly this is an admirable thing, to acknowledge concerns of many of its players about social justice. Many of those players who are outspoken about certain issues are conspicuously quiet when it comes to the NBA and China and very few of them, and we know the prominent names, have said anything about Kyrie Irving, at least as we speak.

HARLOW: I mean, that's a really important point, where are the other voices in this? I think all of us remember and think about Adam Silver's leadership. We think about -- it is very quick, very deliberate decision he made on Donald Sterling, okay? What do you think -- and he put out this very strong statement yesterday, what do you think the NBA does?

COSTAS: It's easier -- not easy but easier to discipline an owner. They did the same thing with the owner of the Phoenix Suns recently, who was forced to divest himself of the team. A player is defended by the Players Association. No matter how heinous the behavior may be, the Players Association has some obligation to defend that person or at least try to mitigate the punishment against them. So, Silver has to take that into account. But I think the public outcry here and the overwhelming consensus among decent, sensible people will force the NBA to be more forceful than they so far have been.

LEMON: You're very articulate at 7:00 in the morning.

COSTAS: Let me tell you something. The last time I was up this early, I had a paper route. This is not my preferred time of day.

HARLOW: This makes us feel very lucky but you said, yes.

LEMON: The last time I was up this early, I hadn't done my homework and I was trying to get it done before eighth grade.

COSTAS: Well, that was true of me in college too, the all-nighter.

COLLINS: We'll bring you back in the 6:00 hour next time.

COSTAS: That will be great.

LEMON: Always good to see you, Bob. Thank you very much.

COSTAS: Congrats on the new show. Good luck.

LEMON: Thank you very much.

COLLINS: All right. Ahead, we have more coverage of the midterm elections, which is just days away. We are going to head to North Carolina. There is a Senate race there that maybe no one is paying attention to, but it is critical for not just 2022 but also 2024. Democratic Senate Candidate Cheri Beasley is going to join CNN This Morning live.

LEMON: And we are diving into the movement of self-proclaimed poll watchers who are driven by election lies and baseless claims of fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, what are they training you to do then when you're watching --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Observe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But what are you watching for exactly?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Observing. We're looking for odd ball stuff, I guess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WINFREY (voice over): I lived in Pennsylvania, I would have already cast my vote for John Fetterman for many reasons. If I was in North Carolina, as you mentioned, Sister Beasley there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The battleground state of North Carolina has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in more than a decade, but it has now quietly become one of the closest Senate races in the country this cycle. So, why is it being called a sleeper race?

Let's ask Cheri Beasley, the former chief of justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, who is now the Democratic Senate candidate. She is running against Republican Congressman Ted Budd. Good morning.

LEMON: Good morning.

COLLINS: And, of course, we just heard from Oprah, you have got her endorsement, but one big question that I have heard from a lot of Democrats is, given the fact that the race is this close, and there has not been a Senate Democrat from your state in so many years, your party is not spending that big and putting that much money behind you. And I wonder why you think that is, and if it's ultimately going to be a mistake?

SEN. CANDIDATE CHERI BEASLEY (D-NC): You know, I'm very excited about how well we're doing in this race. There is a lot of enthusiasm for my candidacy. We're traveling all across our state with 100 counties and really meeting folks and talking about the things that matter most to folks here in North Carolina. So, I'm just really pleased. We are doing really well and Ted Budd and his national Republican allies know that. That's why they're spending millions of dollars to distort my judicial record. I've been a judge for over two decades and served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. I've had two successful statewide contested races here in the state. And so we're feeling really good about where we are. We are meeting voters in backyards, in barbershops, in community centers and good things are happening with this race.

COLLINS: Yes. I know you've been campaigning all over the state, even in the suburbs lately, but Ted Budd has gotten almost double from Mitch McConnell's super PAC what you have gotten from Schumer's PAC. And I wonder why Democrats aren't putting more money into your race and why you're not seeing people like former President Obama come and campaign with you as he is going to other states to help Democrats that they believe can win on Tuesday?

BEASLEY: I think it just speaks volumes about how well we're doing in this race.

[07:30:01]

I mean, the fact that Republicans have to spend so much money, and we're still extremely competitive in this race, I'm just really excited about where we are.