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House Reconvenes Speaker Votes; Sheriff Darin Balaam is Interviewed about Jeremy Renner's Accident; California Braces for More Flooding. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired January 04, 2023 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Just hours from now here on Capitol Hill another historic second day of voting is set to get underway to determine who is going to hold the speaker's gavel in the 118th Congress. A major question that nobody knows the answer to after Kevin McCarthy failed three times to secure the votes yesterday amid a revolt in his party that has angered many and also exposed deep divisions in the Republican ranks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Nineteen Republicans decided to blow up the speaker's race. And so we can't pursue our agenda that our - our voters support. But I'm hoping to see more conversations and hopefully things will change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: CNN's chief political correspondent and co-anchor of "STATE OF THE UNION," Dana Bash is joining us now to talk about the pure chaos.

I mean this -- it's hard to really overstate what's happening, but this has not happened in a century to where all of these effects and the ramifications of not having a speaker are now on full display.

[08:35:04]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's really true. And, you know, even though going into yesterday we all were told over and over again there was no plan b, I kind of, in the back of my mind, was wondering, well, maybe there is some plan for when, not if, for when Kevin McCarthy lost. And there really wasn't. His plan is just to stick it out. And that is what has been really fascinating in talking to so many members of Congress, particularly those who are in the only Kevin camp. And that is, they are as entrenched and as dug in as those are against him. Maybe even more so. And the determination is, yes, for McCarthy, but it seems to me, in talking to these members, it's more against the chaos caucus. It's more against those now 20 rebels to say, enough is enough.

COLLINS: Because basically they feel like they would be giving in to the --

BASH: Yes.

COLLINS: I mean Don Bacon from Nebraska was referring to them as the Taliban-19. That was something that Byron Donalds earlier said he thought was irresponsible language.

But for those who are still committed to Kevin McCarthy, and there are many of them, Brian Mast is one of them, what is - does it seem to you that they have a strategy here of what today is going to look like?

BASH: No, it really doesn't. They were meeting late into the night. McCarthy and the people who are trying to figure out that strategy. But the answer is, no.

One of the things that is possible, I think possible not probable, is some kind of math jujitsu which is trying to find a way to lower the threshold of votes needed. Right now it's 218. But if there are fewer people actually there voting, that means the threshold is lower. And it could mean that they could get McCarthy.

Now, the only problem with that is that you have to have Democrats not voting because if you lower the threshold enough by Republicans, it means you have more Democrats voting, and Hakeem Jeffries is the speaker. I mean these are the kinds of things that nobody even thought would be considered or talked about in any other way, shape or form because any other potential speaker coming into a mess like this would have seen the writing on the wall and said, I'm out, and McCarthy won't.

COLLINS: But if fewer Democrats vote, that would be them essentially helping Kevin McCarthy become speaker.

BASH: Right, which I don't -- I don't see that, do you?

COLLINS: I don't know.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was talking to Paul Gosar about that she said yesterday and she said that was not in Democrats' playbook.

BASH: Yes. I mean my understanding is that she was - she wanted the chaos to continue because the Democrats - although they don't -- I don't want to argue, I don't want to make - I don't want to overstate the idea the Democrats, you know, don't want to govern here, but politically, watching the mess on the Republican side, I mean what's the number one rule in politics? If your opponent is, you know, messing up, you get out of the way.

COLLINS: Yes, you just let them continue.

But when it comes to the Republican chaos, Brian Mast said something that was just so interesting to me, which is essentially that like what happened yesterday they think is the new normal. That that is what it's going to look like.

BASH: I know. That was really -- I heard him say that to you. I don't even know that it's the new normal. It's the normal. I mean we've been seeing this chaos. It just hasn't been as prominent because they haven't been in charge for two years. I mean if you think about even when you were covering the White House under Donald Trump and, you know, they had at least the White House, there was definitely chaos. It was masked a bit because there was so much focus on him and he sucked up so much of the oxygen, but this is very much what has been going on in the GOP for 10, 12 years. It's just heightened. And it almost is like - is at - just where our conversation started, the people who are pro-Kevin are trying to break the fever.

COLLINS: Yes.

BASH: We'll see if they can.

COLLINS: We'll see if they succeed. Trump has come out telling them to vote for Kevin McCarthy today. We'll see if that works.

I know you'll be covering this all day, Dana, so, thank you.

BASH: Yes. With you, I'm sure.

COLLINS: Yes, of course. Another long day here on Capitol Hill. I'll be back later for special coverage on today's voting.

Don, Poppy, I know you just -- it's hard to predict what's going to happen.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It is. And, Dana, I think you are exactly right. The camera is now trained on them. There's been chaos in that caucus, in the Republicans, their caucus.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: When you said that, Don's like, there you go, Dana. That's what really happened here.

LEMON: I wasn't surprised. I was like, here we go. It's playing out for everyone to see it now.

BASH: That's exactly right. Exactly right.

HARLOW: Thank you, guys.

BASH: Hi, guys. Nice to see you.

HARLOW: Hi.

LEMON: Hi. Good morning.

HARLOW: Thank you.

We'll watch you all day, all night, however long this goes.

LEMON: Happy New Year to you and Jonah, by the way.

BASH: Thank you. You too, and Tim.

LEMON: Thanks. OK. All right.

BASH: And the doggies.

LEMON: And the pups. Thank you.

[08:40:00]

HARLOW: Thanks, guys,

We are getting new details this morning about how -- exactly how actor Jeremy Renner hurt himself on that snowplow, how he's doing this morning. The sheriff who's team rescued him will be with us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So, this morning, actor Jeremy Renner is speaking out after his snowplow accident. He shared this picture on Instagram thanking fans for their kind words. But Renner suffered blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries and underwent two surgeries. The sheriff's office says that the actor was helping a family member who was suck in deep snow near his home in Reno, Nevada, when his own snowplow, which weighs more than 14,000 pounds, ran over him.

The Washoe County, Nevada, Sheriff Darin Balaam joins us now. His deputies were the ones who responded to the emergency, and we're so glad that he's here and glad that you were there as well.

Good morning to us.

Can you walk us through this accident scene when you and your team arrived? What was happening?

SHERIFF DARIN BALAAM, WASHOE COUNTY, NEVADA: So, approximately about 8:55 we got a -- received a call to 911 of a snowplow versus pedestrian.

[08:45:08]

For us, we had just gotten that major storm on the west coast. So, there was about three feet of snow and our highway going up was closed. So when we got there, what we saw was Mr. Renner and his snowcat. He had been plowing the neighborhood. It's a private road where he lives. He had gotten out after he had unstuck one of his family members and the truck, was speaking to him. He noticed that the PistonBully, is what we call it, that is the snowplow, started to move. He went to go back into the snowplow to stop it. At which point a family member and witnesses say they kind of saw him getting - getting the cab and then he disappears. And then later is found on the middle of the road as the snowplow - cat passed him and it ran him over. The family member quickly ran to a neighbor's house, asked for help. Those neighbors came out with some towels and then fire from - Turkey Middle's Fire Protection District and North Lake Tahoe came down and then we care flighted him when we arrived. He was speaking when our deputies arrived on scene. You know, for what had just occurred, he was in good spirits.

HARLOW: Yes.

BALAAM: And then we rushed him to one of our hospitals.

HARLOW: What was he saying?

BALAAM: You know, I didn't get what he was saying to the deputies or the fire, but I know he was conversing with them when I talked to them in the fire. You know, I think, if I had to assume, he was probably in a bit of shock, but he was awake and speaking to them.

HARLOW: Yes. One thing that I love about -- that I've learned about him since this happened is what a big part he is and what a big fan he is of the community. That he's called a reno-knight. Am I say - reno- knight. Am I saying that right? That he's just like such an advocate.

BALAAM: He is. He is a - he is. And he's one of our honorary deputies here at the sheriff's office. That's one of our non-profits that members in our community and they help us do Shop with a Sheriff, where they spend $50,000 in donated. He's one of those members.

HARLOW: Oh.

BALAAM: You know, he does a lot for the community. He came in -- when I took office in 2019, he showed up for Shop with a Sheriff and you should see the kids and the parents. And he took the time out of his days to do autographs, shop with kids. So, he does a lot in our community. And what I truly enjoy about Mr. Renner is, a lot of times he does it and no one knows. It's out of the kindness of his heart that he wants to make an impact. And, for us, we're glad he's OK and he's on a speedy recovery. But he does lighten (ph) our community.

LEMON: Yes. If not for that cushion of snow, I mean that was a big cushion between him and the ground there. That -- I'm sure that helped. Am I wrong?

BALAAM: You know what, it did. And, you know, it was just one of those tragic events. And that's why we did the press conference yesterday because there was a lot of misinformation. This is just a tragic accident, but thank goodness, you know, everybody was watching out for him and he's on the mend.

HARLOW: Yes.

LEMON: Amen.

HARLOW: Amen.

LEMON: Thank you, Sheriff Balaam. Appreciate it. Good luck to you.

BALAAM: Well, thank you, guys. Have a great day.

LEMON: You too. You take care.

HARLOW: Have a good day. LEMON: So, parts of California bracing for a possible life-threatening powerful storm. The areas expected to be hit worse, we're going to tell you straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:52:29]

HARLOW: So, we've been telling you about this severe weather across the south all morning. A tornado watch has just been issued for Florida, Georgia, South Carolina. Yes, as storms move across the southeast there. Over 4 million people under the watch. We'll stay on top of that.

This as parts of California also bracing for the onslaught of another powerful storm over the next few days. Flood watches in effect for at least 15 million people, even after catastrophic flooding in the past week. The storm is also expected to bring high winds that could trigger power outages across the state.

Stephanie Elam joins us live in San Francisco this morning.

Not a nice sight.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it depends on how you look at it, right, when you look at the drought that we've been in, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes.

ELAM: But you're -- it's definitely colorful right now because of the fact that on New Year's Eve there were massive storms that really terrorized this area as far as flooding. As far as roads being washed out. And now we've got this bomb cyclone off the coast over the Pacific Ocean that is streamlining all of this moisture in here. You can see it's already raining. It started about 4:00 a.m. local here today. So, because of the amount of moisture that's going to come in here, we are seeing people putting up sandbags again, blocking off their garages, people trying to make sure that roads are passable. We've seen other parts of the state where they are opening up some places for people to come and take shelter. They were telling them to evacuate early all because of the amount of water that we're going to get here, guys.

LEMON: You mentioned the drought, Stephanie. I mean how are people reacting, because you need the rain?

HARLOW: Yes.

ELAM: Yes. We definitely need the rain. We're in like a 1,200-year historic drought. That's how bad this has been. And we need the water. And so some of the smaller reservoirs are filling up with all this precipitation. But just to put this into perspective, last year we saw a very wet beginning to the rainy season and we were like, yes, we're so excited. And then it was followed up by the driest beginning of a year ever on record for the first three months of the year. So, where we saw these record numbers in January, by April we were at record lows. So, we need it to stay cold and we need the precipitation to come not so much at one time, but here we go for this storm.

HARLOW: Yes. (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: Speaking of perspective, the last time I spoke to you, you were in the Bahamas.

HARLOW: At Atlantis on New Year's.

LEMON: Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh.

ELAM: Quite the different look. Quite the different look. My nails are still very excited, though. My nails still (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: I think - yes, they are. Look at you.

LEMON: All right, Steph.

HARLOW: Thank you, Steph.

LEMON: All right. Be well. Take care.

So, let's talk about Damar Hamlin because, you know, he had that terrifying collapse on the football field, touched a nerve in really all of us.

[08:55:02]

And there's been a tremendous response to the online Go Fund Me campaign that Hamlin launched in 2020 to provide toys for children in need in Pennsylvania in the community there where he grew up. As of this morning it has crossed the $6 million mark. There have been more than 200,000 donations to the site. They were only expecting like $2,500, $2,800, which was the goal. Well, the fundraising team says that the donations will support Hamlin's foundation, which holds toy drives, back to school drives, kids camps and much more.

HARLOW: You know what I keep thinking, wait until he wakes up, because he's going to wake up to that news.

LEMON: Yes, and -- yes. And, right? Something positive. We are rooting for him. Our thoughts and our prayers are with him and his family.

HARLOW: All of them. All of them.

LEMON: And especially mom. Mom, we're thinking about you.

HARLOW: Nina. Yes. We're thinking about you.

LEMON: Yes.

HARLOW: OK, well, we will see you here with Kaitlan tomorrow morning.

CNN "NEWSROOM" is next.

LEMON: Maybe. We don't know.

HARLOW: Well, she'll be on the show. She might just be in D.C.

LEMON: That's what I - OK.

HARLOW: If there is no speaker. Oh, she's in D.C. again, I've just been told. OK. We'll see you. Bye.

LEMON: Bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:00]