Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Manhunt after NC Power Grid 'Targeted' in Gunfire Attack; Critical Georgia Senate Run-off Enters Final Day of Campaigning; Protestors Demand 3-Day Strike Amid Claims Morality Police Abolished; Clooney, Knight, U-2, Grant Among Those Honored by Biden; Trump's Call to Terminate Constitution Draws Few GOP Rebukes. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired December 05, 2022 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Christine, those guys are from the outside looking in.
[06:00:03]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Carolyn, nice to see you this morning.
MANNO: Thank you.
ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Wow, that was really, really nice. You know who that was? That was Paul Pelosi --
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
LEMON: -- making his first public appearance at the Kennedy Center since being attacked in his home. It's good to see him up and about and doing well. Right?
HARLOW: What a great night.
LEMON: Yes.
HARLOW: That's where our BFF Kaitlan was.
LEMON: Yes. Looking at more on that in just --
HARLOW: That's why she gets the day off.
LEMON: I know. More on that in just a moment. The biggest honors, straight ahead.
Good morning, everyone. As she said, Kaitlan is on assignment.
HARLOW: She is.
LEMON: Did you have a good weekend?
HARLOW: I had a great weekend, and she's going to be for us in Georgia for the big election day. I had a great weekend. The Vikings beat the Jets. Sorry, guys. The whole crew here -- the whole crew here loves the Jets.
LEMON: Early in the morning. The sun is not even up yet.
HARLOW: It's all I care about. I know we've got to go, but Sienna, my daughter, 6 years old, starts rooting for the New York Jets in the middle of the game. And I said, "What are you doing? You're from Minnesota." She said --
LEMON: "Mom, I was born in New York."
HARLOW: Born in New York.
LEMON: She gets it.
HARLOW: I get it.
LEMON: We have a lot to get to this morning, including this. There is a manhunt under way after a power grid attacked, tens of thousands without power, and the FBI is now involved.
HARLOW: And as we mentioned Georgia, countdown to election day, Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker making their final pitches to voters ahead of tomorrow's runoff election. We are live in Atlanta.
Plus this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DAVE JOYCE (R-OH): He doesn't have the ability to suspend the Constitution.
MIKE LAWLER (R), NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN-ELECT: I certainly don't endorse that language or that sentiment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A few Republican lawmakers rebuking Trump after he called for a termination of the Constitution. So why are top GOP leaders still silent?
Again, as we said, a lot to get to this morning.
But first this morning, the FBI is joining the investigation into power outages in North Carolina that officials say were caused by intentional and targeted attacks. More than 35,000 customers are waking up without power after gunfire left two substations damaged.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM MCINNIS (R-NC): This was a terrible act. And it appears to be an intentional, willful and malicious act. And the perpetrator will be brought to justice and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So a mandatory curfew overnight was lifted in the last hour. CNN's Whitney Wild is on the ground in North Carolina. And because of the power outages, she couldn't get to a live signal, so she filed this report just moments ago. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At this point, there is a lot more we don't know than a lot more we do know. And law enforcement here saying that the FBI is involved, as well as the state bureau of investigation.
Right now all they can say is that these two substations sustained gunfire. They also know that one of the gates leading into the substations appears to have been taken off the hinges.
As far as the motive goes, law enforcement can not say what the reason is. There had been some talk on social media that this may have been somehow connected to a drag show somewhere in Moore County. However, law enforcement can not say that that's the motive right now until they're able to figure out who did this.
And they say they have really no idea at this point who did this, the motive is going to be extremely difficult to figure out.
Meanwhile, here in Moore County, schools are closed until at least tomorrow. Again, more than 40,000 people are without power. The likelihood here is that power won't be restored until Thursday.
Whitney Wild, Moore County.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: That was Whitney Wild, reporting from Moore County. And so we're going to keep in touch and update you on the situation -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Also, they are almost at the finish line. Incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger, Herschel Walker, making their final pitches today to voters in Georgia ahead of tomorrow's run-off election. More than 1.8 million people have already voted early in this run-off. It's a huge number.
Let's go to our colleague, Dianne Gallagher. She joins us in Atlanta.
Dianne, good morning. Really, you've got two starkly different visions and contenders head to head. What can you tell us?
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Poppy, the key for both of these candidates is going to be getting the millions of people who haven't voted yet to show up to the polls tomorrow. Both campaigns acknowledging that old political adage "it may all come down to turnout" could actually prove true in Georgia on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): Are you ready to win this election?
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker, spending the closing days of their runoff campaign getting out what's left of the vote.
HERSCHEL WALKER (R), GEORGIA SENATORIAL NOMINEE: If you don't have a friend, go make a friend and get them out to vote.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): With more than 1.85 million ballots already cast, the incumbent Democrat warning supporters not to leave anything on the field.
[06:05:05]
WARNOCK: We are on the verge of victory. But I don't want us to do the victory dance before we actually get into the end zone.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Warnock leaning on his Senate record and sharpening his criticism of Walker's fitness for office and personal background.
WARNOCK: He was an amazing running back. And he will need those skills, because come Tuesday, we're going to send him running back to Texas where he actually lives.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Walker, a Georgia football legend, taking advantage of the Bulldogs playing the SEC championship game in Atlanta, meeting fans at a tailgate on Saturday. But playing the role of underdog on Sunday, calling out his opponent's fund-raising advantage as fueled by out-of-state money.
WARNOCK: Most of his money comes from California or New York. Don't even come from Georgia.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Walker has made tying Warnock to President Biden central to his losing argument.
WALKER: Our president was in Massachusetts. He was campaigning for Senator Warnock, who lives in Georgia, because the way Senator Warnock votes, he thought he was a Massachusetts senator.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): As the remaining days turned into just hours, in an election-fatigued state, where they're asking for votes once again --
WARNOCK: The whole world is watching Georgia one more time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Yes, they are. And look, both campaigns have approached the runoff period very differently. Senator Warnock is going to continue that aggressive schedule, with several stops today around Atlanta.
Herschel Walker has had a much lighter schedule, but he is super- charging things today with five different events around the state to get his closing message out there -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Dianne, thank you for the reporting very much, live from Atlanta.
LEMON: And tensions rising in Iran after conflicting claims from the government. The Iranian attorney general says they are reviewing the mandatory hijab law for women and claims the so-called Morality Police have been abolished.
But state TV has pushed back on reports that the Morality Police have been eliminated. In response, protestors are calling for a three-day strike this week.
Here's how the U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, reacted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: That's up to the Iranian people. This is about them. It's not about us. And what we've seen since the killing of Mahsa Amini has been the extraordinary courage of Iranian young people, especially women, who have been leading these protests, standing up for the right to be able to say what they want to say, wear what they want to wear.
And so if the regime has now responded in some fashion to those protests, that could be a positive thing. But we have to see how it actually plays out in practice and what the Iranian people think. This is about them, and it's up to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Straight now to CNN's Melissa Bell, live for us in Paris. Hello to you, Melissa. Who can we believe here?
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Don.
It is, as ever, the opacity of this regime, the fact that independent journalists can't function within the country, that makes it extremely difficult to read what's going on.
And I think we have to treat very cautiously the words, even, of the attorney general. As you say, a series of remarks confirming that the mandatory hijab law is under review. That was the person that we heard on Thursday, with no suggestion, by the way, Don, about which way that's going to go. Relaxing or a tightening.
But it was his remarks on Saturday in response to a reporter who asked whether the Morality Police that enforces it was going to be disbanded that really led to that speculation that that might be the case, or part of that review. What he said exactly, more particularly, was that it was not something for the judiciary, but that it was disbanded from the place, it had been launched.
Now that would be the interior ministry, who for now has not got back to CNN and either confirmed or denied that that's the case. And as you say, state media are rather pushing back on the suggestion that that's even under consideration, Don.
LEMON: So Melissa, there are -- are there any way that the quantity of how important the overturning -- to quantify, I should say, how important overturning this hijab law would be for Iran, especially the women there?
BELL: I think, Don, it would be a huge concession towards the protests. Because it's been such a fundamental demand. It was, of course, before these protests began and the death of Mahsa Amini, an important symbol of the oppression of women inside the country.
Since then, it's become even more so. All those images, Don, of women taking them off, burning them, cutting their hair, that's become the symbol of what it's about.
But I think it's important to note, as well, that even if that were to happen -- and for now, we just don't know -- it's unlikely that would calm things down.
If anything, what we've seen over the course of the now near-nearly three months of protests is these demands morph and become about much more than the rights of women. It's become a series of protests about poverty, about corruption, about the brutality of the prison and judiciary system and, in fact, about the iron fist with which the regime has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Don.
LEMON: Yes, right on. Thank you, Melissa Bell. Appreciate it.
And now this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB MCGRATH, ACTOR (singing): Well, who are the people in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:10:05]
HARLOW: That song, right, it brings back so many great memories.
Many of us remember Bob McGrath. We grew up with him as an original cast member on section "Sesame Street." Well, he died yesterday.
He starred in the show's 1969 pilot. He was a regular fixture on "Sesame Street" for nearly five decades as the friendly neighbor, Bob Johnson, alongside Big Bird and a host of beloved other Muppets. Sesame Workshop shared a statement on social media, saying that he
embodies the melodies of "Sesame Street" like no one else, "and his performance brought joy and wonder to generations of children around the world."
Bob McGrath was 90 years old.
Ahead, Roscoe Ormon, who played the beloved character Gordon on "Sesame Street," will join us live in studio. He's remembering Bob, who he calls a sweet, gentle soul.
LEMON: Aww.
Well, stars gathering at the 45th Kennedy Center honors in our nation's capital last night. Also in attendance, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: You can see him there, his first public appearance since the October attack in his San Francisco home. The audience cheering him on. President Joe Biden pumping up his fist in support.
And ahead of the event, the president welcomed this year's honorees to the White House. They included George Clooney, U-2, and Gladys Knight. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMY GRANT, SINGER (singing): Baby, baby, I'm taken with the notion to love you with the sweetest of devotion.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everywhere you turn in Nashville, you see Amy's fellowship. Established musical therapy at a children's hospital, for veterans struggling with the wounds of war, playing benefit concerts for long lists of worthy causes. Amy calls music a soul-enlarging experience.
(MUSIC: GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS, "MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA")
BIDEN: Gladys, your voice -- your voice has spoken to what breaks our hearts, what tears us apart, what lifts our spirits, what brings us together, what makes us human. Gladys, you're truly one of the best things ever to have happened to any of us.
(MUSIC)
BIDEN: She became one of the most important classical composers and conductors of our time. During the civil rights movement, she cofounded a dance theatre in Harlem; the country's first black classical ballet company. She also conducted the world-renowned New York Philharmonic and worked
with the Brooklyn Philharmonic to bring classical music beyond concert halls into city neighborhoods.
(MUSIC: U-2, "STILL HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR")
BIDEN: From "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" to "Pride in the Name of Love," to "Ordinary Love," to "One," U-2 have spoken and sung about the unspeakable costs of hate, and anger and division.
We have to remember today, as their song goes, "We are one, but we're not the same. We get to carry each other."
From this Irish-American president, in a White House designed by Irish hands who built this and designed it, I want to thank U-2 for all you've done and the way you lift people up.
SANDRA BULLOCK, ACTRESS: Explorer, Dr. Stone requesting faster transport to bay area. Explorer, do you copy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Explorer, permission to retrieve Dr. Stone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're go.
BIDEN: His travel to war zones to end genocides and war crimes, exposes war profiteers, helps refugees and advances the rights of journalists, raises millions of dollars for 9/11 first responders, victims of natural disaster, and advocates -- and advocates who, along with him, are combatting hate.
We see character. We see Amal Clooney's husband.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: That is right.
HARLOW: Best last line.
LEMON: Yes. That's great. So many great, great people. Every time I hear Gladys Knight's voice, it just puts me in a mood. It is a mood, really. A vibe.
HARLOW: Yes, and I love how President Biden at the end quoted U-2 lyrics. The CNN write this morning says, "Slightly misquoting U-2." But he says "one life, but we're not the same." And he's talking about unity and just hoping whatever can bring us together is so needed right now.
LEMON: Amen to that. It was a great night.
LEMON: Yes. Speaking of, up next, Donald Trump taking his calls to overturn the 2020 election to an anti-democratic new low.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) [06:15:06]
MARY O'CONNOR, FORMER TAMPA POLICE CHIEF: I'm the police chief in Tampa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing?
O'CONNOR: I'm doing good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
O'CONNOR: I'm hoping that you'll just let us go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Yikes. Trying to use her position to get out of something. Well, why Tampa's police chief is in trouble this morning for doing just that during a traffic stop.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Well, the former president, Donald Trump, and a current candidate to return as leader of the free world -- so this is very newsworthy and noteworthy this morning -- is calling to terminate the Constitution. Seriously. The centerpiece of American democracy, in order to overturn the 2020 election, and be reinstated to power.
[06:20:09]
The job, of course, hinges upon upholding the Constitution, something he swore on when he became president and something he touted throughout his four-year term. Let's remind you of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're supposed to protect our country, support our country, support our Constitution, and protect our Constitution.
In this great chamber, we preserve our glorious inheritance, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Bill of Rights.
As president, I have no higher duty than to defend the laws and the Constitution of the United States.
If you believe in justice, if you believe in freedom, if you believe in peace, then you must cherish the principles of our founding. And the text of our Constitution.
We support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
We believe in the American Constitution. And we believe in the rule of law.
I stand before you today on the heels of a tremendous victory for our nation, our people, and our beloved Constitution. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Beloved Constitution. House GOP leader, Kevin McCarthy, could be the next speaker, hasn't said anything about Trump's calls to terminate the Constitution. At least, he hasn't said anything yet.
But he has said that on the first day of the Republican-led Congress next year, they will read every single word of the Constitution, something Don reminded me of this morning.
Joining us now, CNN senior political analyst John Avlon; CNN anchor and correspondent, Audie Cornish. Thank you both for being here.
I was actually speechless. I was speechless when I read it, and then watching Republicans try to respond to it on the Sunday shows. And some really came out in an important way and said that's basically ridiculous. You have a --
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Table stakes for constitutional conservatives. I mean, that's kind of required to be one.
HARLOW: You have an interesting take that you think this is a response to his huge loss in the 11th Circuit last week.
CORNISH: It is, but I've been thinking a little more, and I think I'm glad you played the January 6th clip, because that was a good example of Trump doing what he means.
There's this whole idea, do you take Trump literally or seriously? I think we all know now that he says what he means and when he says these things, to believe it.
One of the sort of memos that was unearthed after January 6th revealed that he had a plan to potentially seize voting machines, have the defense secretary go after voting machines. So this is some -- this kind of language and way of speaking, it goes beyond rhetoric. That -- that's sort of my takeaway at this point.
LEMON: You have an interesting reaction to what you said, January 6th. I played January 6th, right, when we were --
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think beginning that mash- up with January 6th just reminds you that people can invoke the Constitution while they're trying to shred it.
And, you know, the reason this matters more than just a typical Trump bleat on Trump -- on Truth Social isn't just that he's running for president. It's that the people who are still supporting him are backing this.
Right? You can't do the separation anymore and say, wow, listen to what he -- watch what he does, don't listen to what he says. You know, take him seriously, not literally. All right. No, you can't say, I support the policies, not the person. If you're backing this --
LEMON: You get a lot of that on the Sunday shows.
AVLON: A lot of that, yes. So if you are backing Donald Trump today, this is what you are backing. And you automatically give up any right to call yourself a Constitutional conservative.
LEMON: Yes.
AVLON: Well, the candidate you're backing has threatened to destroy it.
LEMON: I just want to reread this, again. Because you -- as you said, Kevin McCarthy hasn't said anything. And there were people -- I think there were too few Republicans who were saying --
HARLOW: Yes.
LEMON: There were some, but there were too few Republicans who were saying. And Kevin McCarthy said, "On the first very day of the new Republican-led Congress, we will read every single word of the Constitution aloud from the floor of the House, something that hasn't been done in years."
HARLOW: Yes. That's from a week ago, and it sounds like he knows it needs to be done, because the leader of the party doesn't really believe in it.
You know, one thing to think about is we're talking about high-level Republicans, establishment Republicans and how they respond.
If you sort through the conspiracy patois of who Trump's trying to signal, one of the things they believe is that the elites collude to undermine the Constitution and have subverted the election.
If you believe this entire line of thinking and go all the way down the rabbit hole, then what he says on Truth Social is perfectly in line with your world view; that something has been done that's corrupt, and therefore, you should by any means necessary, as we learned on January 6th, seek to correct it.
HARLOW: Let's listen, guys, for a moment, to how some Republicans responded on the Sunday shows. Here they were.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAWLER: Well, obviously, I don't support that. The Constitution is set for a reason to protect the rights of every American. And so, I certainly don't endorse that language, or that sentiment.
[06:25:04]
REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): Certainly not consistent with the oath that we all take. I vehemently disagree with -- with the statement that Trump has made.
JOYCE: We have to accept -- exact (ph) fact from fantasy, and fantasy is that we're going to suspend the Constitution and go backwards. We're moving forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: You know what's also interesting, John?
We heard in the Trump mash-up we played where he focused on the text of the Constitution. This Constitution is so important to the textualists that Trump wants to see win in the Supreme Court constantly. Right? Just all of it.
AVLON: All of it. Look, I mean, when Trump reads the word "Constitution," it's like he translating it from a foreign language in the teleprompter. So let's not -- you know, let's not take his teleprompter language too seriously.
But the other Republicans we saw yesterday, you know, they condemned it but gently. The simple thing to do is say, This is disgusting, un- American, and disqualifying for anyone who wants to be president.
CORNISH: Well, that's disqualifying for the most recent midterm, showed people rejected candidates who followed this path and style of rhetoric.
AVLON: But it's not even because it's bad politics. It's because it's the opposite of anything resembling patriotic principle.
You used a great phrase, by the way, Don, look, "conspiracy patois."
You know, you can say this is a dog whistle, but it's not a dog whistle. "The Bulwark" had a great article over the weekend that said Donald Trump takes the Constitution to Fifth Avenue and shoots it.
HARLOW: And that's -- but what did he say about what would happen if he did that on Fifth Avenue?
AVLON: No one would care. His supporters wouldn't care. And if you're -- consider yourself a super patriot, and -- you cannot support this. And -- and that's the thing, is a lot of folks will find a way to rationalize it or -- or tiptoe around it, as we saw a lot of congressmen do. This isn't that.
LEMON: Yes. So what does this say about where we are, because last week, you'll remember, we were here and slightly the week before, saying, you know, like --
CORNISH: No, we're here every week. You can say that. Same thing every week.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: You make -- you make my Monday mornings.
CORNISH: -- unconstitutional, and then we all go, Who will speak up? And then there's silence. So yes, we do it every week.
LEMON: The reason I was saying that is because we were talking about the dinner with Nick Fuentes, right?
CORNISH: Yes.
LEMON: And people saying, Well, I don't know --
HARLOW: That was only a week -- that was only a week ago.
LEMON: Right.
HARLOW: That and then this.
LEMON: Now this.
(CROSSTALK)
AVLON: That's my point.
CORNISH: Remember, you're talking about people as you're talking about the Washington media, as you're talking about Washington, the establishment.
Right now Trump is completely doubling and tripling down on the most hard-core supporters, many of which showed up on January 6th and overran the Capitol.
So he's speaking directly to them about his intent next time around, and he is -- trying to maintain the same pitch the whole way, even as the candidates who have followed him down this path have been rejected by the voters over the issues of the economy, crime, everything. People have already spoken on this, and they are done.
AVLON: Yes. But let's be really clear, then, about why this matters and what the appropriate response is.
If you're an elected Republican and you're tiptoeing around this, because you're afraid you might lose a committee chairmanship, if the Trumpists condemn you.
You actually, if you are a constitutional conservative, if you aren't someone who wants to be a consistent patriot, you know, putting principle ahead of partisanship, then the Donald Trump candidacy just got disqualified. And you've got to have the courage and the cojones to say so.
CORNISH: Yes, but --
AVLON: If you don't, if you don't --
CORNISH: The number of things up to this point that could be disqualifying, it's littered with disqualifying comments.
AVLON: So then you're endorsing this. And that's the point you need to say. If you're not condemning this, you're de facto endorsing it. And that itself is disqualifying.
LEMON: My response is the same as Poppy's. HARLOW: What?
LEMON: (INHALING)
AVLON: Deep breath?
HARLOW: A montage will do that.
Thank you. Audie, you'll be back a little bit later. Thank you, as always.
Coming up, we're going to get into that story we just previewed for you. Tampa's police chief pulling rank and going too far during this traffic stop. What she's now on leave for and under investigation.
Also this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Wow, Senegal's parliament -- did you see that? -- looking more like a WWE smackdown. What led to the lawmakers brawling?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:30:00]
