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CNN This Morning

White House and Federal Reserve Anticipating Monthly Jobs Report to Judge State of U.S. Economy; Congress Passes Rail Worker Labor Contract without Meeting Union Demands for Sick Days; President Biden Mocks Georgia Republican Senate Candidate Herschel Walker While Campaigning for Democratic Incumbent Raphael Warnock; President Biden Suggests Making South Carolina First State to Hold Presidential Primaries; Biden Proposes Making South Carolina The First Dem Primary State; Exit Poll: 88 Percent Of White Evangelical Voters Support Walker Over Warnock; Deshaun Watson To Play First Game Since Sexual Misconduct Allegations; Mauna Loa Lava Flow Creeps Closer To Major Roadways. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 02, 2022 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

MARY WILKINS, MOTHER: Thank you so much.

ALEX LOPEZ, OFFICER: Of course, of course. Thank you so much.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Amazing story. Thank goodness for the officer. Thanks goodness he's OK.

CNN THIS MORNING continues right now.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. We're so happy you're here. Hope you had a good week, and we're headed into the weekend right now. It is Friday, December 2nd. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. We have a lot to get to this morning. So let's catch you up on the five big story on CNN this morning.

So from Wall Street to the White House and from main street to the Fed, they're all rooting for a healthy cooldown in super strong jobs market. It is the Goldie Locks metaphor that we're talking about here -- not too hot, not too cold, just right, just to satisfy the Fed that it's too strong a job market, it doesn't fuel more inflation, and not so weak that it foreshadows a recession next year. So there's a lot to get to.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Also, brand new CNN polling this morning on next weeks' critical Senate runoff election in Georgia. It has Democrat Raphael Warnock clinging to a pretty narrow lead over his Republican challenge Herschel Walker. Former President Obama was on the campaign trail with Warnock in Georgia last night and mocked a comment that Walker made at a campaign event where he talked about it's better to be a werewolf than a vampire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: As far as I'm concerned, he can be anything he wants to be, except for a United States senator.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You heard the applause there. Also, former top White House lawyers Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin are both being ordered to provide additional grand jury testimony. This is part of the Justice Department's criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

LEMON: Twitter has suspended Kanye West, saying he violated the rule against incitement to violence by posing an image of a swastika inside the Star of David. That was only hours after West praised Hitler during an appearance on Info Wars with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

COLLINS: Also today, China is signaling it may ease its zero tolerance COVID policy that has sparked those stunning waves of protests that we saw in at least 19 cities. A top official is now saying that the country is facing a, quote, new stage and mission in pandemic control.

LEMON: But first moderation. Moderation, that is what the White House is hoping to see at the bottom of the hour when the Labor Department releases the November jobs number. President Joe Biden has enjoyed a string of economic reports over the past week that seems to suggest that inflation could be cooling off. M.J. Lee live for CNN this morning at the White House. Good morning to you, M.J. What is the White House hoping to see in these November jobs numbers, reports coming out later this hour?

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. Yes, you're absolutely right that moderation really is the key word today. White House officials are hoping to see somewhere in the ballpark of around 200,000 new jobs created last month, and that would further convince the White House that the economy is making the transition that it wants to see after a week of some positive economic data from their perspective.

For example, there was this key measure of consumer prices that slowed a little bit in October, and then quarter three GDP growth was revised up which really shows overall resilience in the economy. Of course, we had the Fed chair also suggesting that interest rate hikes could get less aggressive as early as this month. And then of course the big one, it's gas prices that are continuing to fall. That's been great news for the White House.

So the White House is cognizant that things can always take a turn, but in the big picture they do feel like things are starting to move in the right direction.

LEMON: M.J. Lee at the White House, M.J., thank you very much.

HARLOW: All right, so this morning a new deal has been reached between railroad companies and labor unions that is headed to President Biden's desk to be signed into law. Once that happens, any strike would be illegal, meaning the strikers could be fired. This comes after an overwhelmingly bipartisan 80 to 15 vote in the Senate that approved this tentative agreement that was reached in September. But remember, four of the unions were holding out on it.

What it does include is a 25 percent increase in wages over five years, one, only one, though, paid sick day, improved health care benefits, and a little bit more schedule flexibility. However, Senators rejected the unions demands for seven additional days of paid sick leave. The vote could stave off what would have been economically crippling in terms of a strike, costing $2 billion a day to the U.S. economy, also disrupting transportation of thousands of cars of food and other items, pushing gas prices higher, halting shipment of new vehicles, stopping rail services for up to 7 million commuters a day, and also sending prices up during the holiday season.

[08:05:00]

COLLINS: So joining us now, who better to talk about this, a roadway mechanic on the CSX railway, Reece Murtaugh. He is also the chairman of the union lodge in Richmond, Virginia, which has about 100 members. Reece, thank you so much for joining us this morning, because this is such an important topic, and it's no more important to anyone than you, I know. And when it comes to this, you voted for President Biden, but now you say you feel like he's turned his back on you. Why?

REECE MURTAGH, ROADWAY MECHANIC: Well, what we've seen with this great rail strike of 22 that has ended very undramatically is we've seen unionized workers right to bargain collectively get trampled on, their voice has not been heard, they voted against the contract. We have a pro-labor president who loves to pat himself on the back for that, and when the going got tough, he turned his back on the people he's supposed to being looking out for.

COLLINS: When this bill that is now going to go to President Biden passed the House, it had a separate measure that actually had seven paid sick days for you and your colleagues. That did not make it through the Senate. They voted against it. Are you asking President Biden not to sign this bill?

MURTAGH: It's a good question. You don't go against what your members vote for. So shout out to Jamaal Brown for getting that bill going and looking out for us. But the sick days was more of a distraction. The main attraction here is Joe Biden forced a contract on our unionized workers who voted against it.

And listen, we don't want to strike, but the only way we can get a fair contract is to strike, that's our only leverage. The rail carriers do not negotiate in good faith. The railway labor act does not have time limits on these contracts to negotiate. So that can mean we can be negotiating a contract for five years. And we have no power to get a good contract. Our only leverage is to strike. And I feel like this whole process, the workers have kind of been

demonized, where it's like you all are trying to shut the economy down. No, we're not. We're out here working 14 hours a day in all weather conditions. Most of us work outside. We need some sick days. Why aren't you guys talking to the rail carriers? We're out here every day working, moving freight, making things happen. And when the leaders we vote in who are supposed to support us turn their back on us, the system is broken.

COLLINS: I'm glad you said what you said about this isn't something you want, you're not seeking out a strike, but you feel like it's the only way you and your colleagues that you can get what you feel like you need here. I was struck by a quote that you gave to someone about what you job is like. You said "The conditions we work in affect us a great deal. We work 14 to 16 hour days, we're out in all weather condition, we have tool bags down our backs while we're walking up and down the tracks. We're fixing stuff all day long. It's hard on our bodies. We're just never home. It is a hard life for a bunch of hard workers."

And Reece, I know you're married, you have two daughters. What is it like to have those working conditions and have no paid sick leave?

MURTAGH: It's unethical. It's not right. We are literally working commerce. We're making it happen. And during the pandemic we carried railroads on our backs. From 2018 to 2021 I worked as a system production traveling mechanic. What that means was I traveled the east coast from southern Florida to the Canadian border working on a rail gang where we replaced sections of rail.

During the pandemic, all we were given to be essential workers was a letter from the Association of American Railroads saying you all are essential workers, you can drive on a shutdown road. We were given a bottle of hand sanitizer and a pack of disposable face masks. And basically they said, hey, good luck. We went out there and didn't skip a beat. We went out every day and worked. We didn't know what the pandemic was. We had to go to work and keep the trains moving.

So we deserve some support. And all the rail carriers want to put these signs up outside the rail terminals "heroes work here." Treat us like heroes. Treat us with some respect.

COLLINS: Reece Murtaugh, it's really important that you joined us this morning. I'm glad you did.

MURTAGH: Thank you.

HARLOW: What an interview.

All right, the Senate runoff in Georgia just four days away, and Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock has been running television ads highlighting a bizarre moment during his opponent Herschel Walker's campaign event.

[08:10:06]

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERSCHEL WALKER, (R-GA) U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: You all watch a stupid movie late at night, hoping it's going to get better. It don't get better, but you keep watching it anyway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, I've seen this video.

WALKER: The other night I was watching this movie. I was watching this movie called fright night, freak night, some kind of a night, but it was about vampires.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What the hell is he talking about?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he serious? Is he for real?

WALKER: A werewolf could kill a vampire. Did you know that? I never knew that. So I don't want to be a vampire anymore. I want to be a werewolf.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all are serious about that, is that right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW: That's one kind of political ad. While stumping for Warnock in Atlanta, former President Barack Obama weighed in on the vampire- werewolf debate. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Since the last time I was here, Mr. Walker has been talking about issues that are of great importance to the people of Georgia, like whether it's better to be a vampire or a werewolf.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: This is a debate that I must confess I once had myself when I was seven.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You can't write this stuff.

Meanwhile, we're getting a better look at how this race is shaping up, and it could come down to the wire. According to new CNN polling, 52 percent of lively voters say that they are throwing their support behind Raphael Warnock, 48 percent say that they are backing Herschel Walker. Things look a little better for Warnock, though, when voters were asked about qualifications, with 52 percent of likely voters saying that Warnock is well qualified for the job, while only 27 percent felt the same about Walker. Today is the last day of early voting for Georgia voters before the runoff on Tuesday.

COLLINS: And speaking of elections, big changes could be on the horizon for the 2024 Democratic presidential primary, if we have one, as President Biden is urging party leaders to change the order that states use to nominate their candidate. This would dramatically reshape the party's presidential process. It would mean the end of Iowa's long reign as the Democrats' first nominating contest. Biden and Democratic National Committee are proposing South Carolina actually tip off the process. That would be a huge state for the get. And as you remember, it saved Biden two years ago after he had finished fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, thanks to all of you, the heart of the Democratic Party, we just won and we won big because of you.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Biden and the DNC say this is an effort to elevate the diverse, working class constituencies that helped carry him to the White House. It is being met with furious pushback, though, from New Hampshire lawmakers and party officials there. When it comes to Iowa, remember the disaster that happened in 2020 when the state struggled for days to deliver results. After that was when the Democratic National Committee said they were going to reassess how they pick their candidates.

So joining us now to talk about this is CNN's senior political analyst John Avlon.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

COLLINS: Good morning.

AVLON: Lot to talk about.

COLLINS: Maggie Hassan is not happy about this.

AVLON: Maggie Hassan is not happy about this. But this is something that Democrats have been talking about for a long time. But political leaders, frankly, haven't had the courage to go forward because they were afraid they would get punished if they were unsuccessful in shifting the primary schedule.

The principle is real simple. You change the rules, you change the game. And Iowa cell phoned itself out of this process, folks fear, after years, decades of being the first kingmaker. But Biden upended things a lot by all of a sudden suggesting South Carolina out of the blue. People see it as political payback. It is. I love me some South Carolina. My folks lived there 30 years.

LEMON: It's not out of the blue, though. South Carolina is what made him the --

AVLON: That's what I'm saying. He's very much paying back Jim Clyburn and the voters who elevated him to the nomination. But that's usually not the best prism to judge what the right order should be. Other folks have been pushing for Michigan. Minnesota has been making a strong case. Poppy --

HARLOW: For all of the obvious reasons.

AVLON: Actually, there's a case to be made, more diverse than Iowa but similar state in terms of the media market.

COLLINS: What about like a Nevada?

AVLON: Nevada is strong in there, saying you've got to have diversity. Biden's plan would keep it in the first month, which is really the critical calling time. I think you've got to look at something like a rotating regional primary. You've got to make sure these states aren't locked into place, because that will just perpetuate the same problem, different cast of characters.

HARLOW: This is going to sound like a dumb question.

AVLON: No such thing.

HARLOW: People at home are wondering the same thing. Just explain why it matters so much where it is first.

AVLON: It is critical. Think about the amount of time and money and candidate attention that Iowa and New Hampshire get at the expense of the other 48 states. And the problem is when Iowa couldn't conclusively come up with a winner, folks were saying, well, what for?

HARLOW: In 2020.

AVLON: In 2020. And the caucuses themselves I think are being questioned because it's not exactly, it's a homey process, but it's not necessarily representative. And this is one of the key questions.

[08:15:00]

What's going to create the most representative results for the Democratic Party and for the nation?

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: What represents what America looks like.

AVLON: Correct.

LEMON: The diversity there. But some people say, well, if it had been South Carolina, whatever, maybe Kamala Harris or someone would have been a nominee had more of a chance, but Joe Biden has had strong support among African Americans.

AVLON: Yes.

LEMON: I think that if Joe Biden if, let's say, for 2020, if South Carolina had been the first place, I think Joe Biden may have become the nominee even faster than --

AVLON: Oh, that's for sure.

KAITLAN COLLINS: And that's to Poppy's question why it's so critical is that after he did too poorly in Iowa, New Hampshire, people were like, I don't know how this is going to look for Biden. South Carolina changed it.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Like, who did it knock out?

AVLON: By the way, that is totally unprecedent. What Biden pulled off in 2020 is unheard of. Because it's the momentum game from Iowa to New Hampshire. It's made all the difference. And the fact that Democrats had the discipline to basically clear the field once (INAUDIBLE)

HARLOW: Isn't he doing it -- I mean, yes, it would be beneficial to him. Isn't he do -- wanting to do this for the party, just more long term?

COLLINS: Right? Because it won't matter to him if he runs for re- election. There won't be a primary, right, unless someone primaries him, but I don't -- that's not going to happen.

AVLON: These are one of the many open questions, but it's one of the opportunities that's driving the shift, which again, you know, Democratic nominee's been talking about for a long time that need to change this, and election reform should be on the top of people's mind, should be on Republicans' minds.

LEMON: Hey, John, I know that -- we have to go, but I know you want to talk about a voter panel that we had anew -- and go on, what did you want to talk about real quickly?

AVLON: So, one of the fascinating aspects about this Georgia race. And as somebody who really cares about how we can overcome polarization and hyper partisanship is the role of faith in our politics, right? And how can we depolarize the role of faith? One opportunity, I think, is having a Democratic senator who is a reverend from Ebony Vale Baptist Church. And what's fascinating is some of the folks you talk to, and some of the folks I've been talking to in Georgia. The rationalizations that are being used by evangelicals, largely white evangelicals, to support Walker over an actual reverend. And it's really interesting. Now, not all are going to have an easy time about it. You saw it from Georgia exit polls from CNN, though. A third of the Georgia voters and the Midterms were evangelical, 88 percent went for Walker. That's despite the record of domestic abuse allegations of playing for abortions, mental illness, et cetera.

So, I've spoken to a bunch of folks coming -- trying to understand this, and it's -- for someone it comes just down to the raw politic of it. You know, we want to Republican in the seat. But it's interesting that Warnock's deep, professional familiarity with faith is not swaying them. It may be enough to make the difference, you know, in this kind of a race, because whether it's Kemp Warnock voters you were talking to, but I had folks say, look, even -- people who were active in the pro-life movement down in Georgia, Christian -- committed Christian conservative say, well, you know, I don't know if we should believe those women. And if they do, I had one woman tell me, it blew my mind. That, you know, he has so many children out of wedlock, why would he pay for an abortion?

I mean, you know, so the ornate rationalizations that people are putting into place to justify the fact that they're not voting necessarily for the reverend. But faith drives their politics. Ultimately, we got to take faith back from the partisan divisions in our politics, history shows that's a dangerous line. And so, I think there's an opportunity here, and we'll see how the results come down.

COLLINS: I can't wait to see what happens. It'll be -- it'll say a lot.

LEMON: Fascinating. (INAUDIBLE) separation of church and state.

AVLON: That's important, too.

LEMON: That's very important.

HARLOW: John.

AVLON: All right, guys. Good to see you.

HARLOW: Thank you. You'll have a column on this.

AVLON: Yes.

HARLOW: Can't wait to read it on cnn.com over the weekend.

LEMON: Yes.

HARLOW: OK. Embattled quarterback Deshaun Watson is returning to the field after serving an 11-game suspension. This is over multiple accusations of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women. Let's go to David Culver with an incredible live shot. Whoa, David, you're there.

COLLINS: David, shouldn't you be wearing some kind of protective gear?

HARLOW: I know.

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are here, Poppy. No, we're far enough away, a few miles, but we want to bring you here with us. Ahead this morning, we're going to bring you to what is the world's largest active volcano. There's the lava flow behind me. It is humbling. It is also concerning. We're going to share why just ahead. It's incredible.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: We have been talking about this volcano all week. And this morning, lava is flowing from the world's largest active volcano. It is inching closer to a major highway on Hawaii's big island now just three miles away from literally hitting that Highway. Authorities say it could reach the interstate in a week. Our David Culver is live in Waimea, Hawaii with more. David, what is it actually like to be there? Right? You were driving to the middle of the night and boom.

CULVER: We were, and you know, we're in mid-conversation, and there's a few things that can silence a group of journalists as they're full of caffeine and try to get to their destination except when you're in the pitch black of night, you turn that curve on a highway, and you see the glow. It's this glow behind me. You need to appreciate it better. We're going to turn off the lights here if you don't mind. Greg, Amanda, I'm going to step out of the way because this is a much better view than looking at it as a backdrop. But seeing it as we can push in. Here it is 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. And you can see the really majesty of this. You're looking at Mauna Loa's fissure 3. OK? So, this is not even the summit, guys. That is miles away. Still, this is stunning. And it's the most active and stable lava flow at this hour.

Now, locals, they've been passing by, middle of the night. All right? Families pulling over taking photos, yes. But some of them, and this was interesting, just standing in silence, letting the majesty of this seep in. Now, officials, they're still pretty vigilant here. And then, a few hours ago, they updated the lava flow, noting that it's slowed down significantly, but it's still headed towards that main highway that you mentioned, Poppy, that's Saddle Road. And cutting that off, that would create a logistical nightmare for residents. So, they're hoping it doesn't get to that. But it could, and they're watching it. There's also air quality concerns, because what's billowing out of the top, they point out is not smoke, but that's acid gas. So, that can really cause serious respiratory problems for residents. So, officials are, of course, monitoring the levels.

But here's the thing, you've got this balance, as I step back in, sorry to block your view. We'll adjust it here. But you've got this balance between the concern, the urgency of this, very real, but also the appreciation and respect. And that comes from the officials. A few hours ago as they were talking at the latest press conference, they said you have to understand Mauna Loa is the reason that half, if not more, of this big island exists, the land that people live on is because of eruptions like this. So, there is that deep appreciation.

[08:25:11]

Still, though, they're hoping people can keep a safe distance and respect it as they're appreciated. And we've seen that, as we're on the side of this road, people have been pulling over, they've come over to us to say, can you turn off your lights? We want to take it in. And folks who are not even locals, even flying in with us, looking to do the same thing, Poppy. And yet, they're not quite sure where this is going to go. That's part of the mystery of it all. And so, they're keeping close watch, and we are, too.

HARLOW: Majesty is the perfect word, David. And tonight, instead of reading my son his favorite volcano book, I'm just going to queue this up, and show him my buddy who's standing in front of it. Thank you for that incredible live shot.

CULVER: Pretty cool. HARLOW: Yes. Thank you. All right, let's talk about the economy. The

November Jobs Report is coming out in just a few minutes. We'll break down the numbers for you ahead.

LEMON: And Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott defending the team's owner Jerry Jones after a photo resurfaced of Jones in 1957 during a desegregation protests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAK PRESCOTT, QUARTERBACK FOR DALLAS COWBOYS: In the same sense that 65 years ago and how times have changed, I mean, look, the man's resume since then, right, and as I said I give grace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)