Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Northeast Wind Chill May Hit Minus 65 Degrees in Some Areas; Pentagon Says, Chinese Spy Balloon Moving Over the U.S. Right Now; House Votes to Remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from Foreign Affairs Committee. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 03, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): There is nothing consistent with the Republican Party's continued attack except for the racism and incitement of violence against women of color in this body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats accusing House Republicans of racism for kicking Congresswoman Ilhan Omar off of a key committee.

But we begin this morning with the extreme arctic blast. The northeast could see some of the coldest weather in decades. Forecasters are warning it could be epic and not in a good way. Once in a generation potentially with wind chills plunging to 50 degrees below zero in some parts of New England. Look at some of these wind chills in the forecast. Here in New York City, minus seven degrees. In Boston, it gets worse, minus 32 degrees. We're going to go there live in a moment. That is not a typo, though. The wind chill could reach minus 100 degrees on top of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire because of those hurricane-force winds.

The arctic blast in the northeast comes after a deadly ice storm wreaked havoc across the south leaving at least eight people dead. We're going to check in on the latest forecast in a moment. But, first, we have our CNN affiliate reporter Melissa Cooney live on the ground in Burlington, Vermont.

Melissa, I know it's already close to zero degrees where you are. How are officials in the area bracing for this? How bad are we expecting it to get?

MELISSA COONEY, WCAX REPORTER: Good morning, Kaitlan. Well, Vermonters are really no stranger to the cold, but this wind chill is really the kicker here. Right now, as you said, we're teetering on zero to one degree, and over 200 schools have already been closed here in Vermont. And multiple ski resorts are shutting down too, which is unique because, of course, they love the cold.

A few ski resorts, like Stow, are staying open with some lifts in and some not. But right now, this is severe with the wind chill we're seeing, negative 17-degree wind chill right now. And temperatures here in Vermont have dropped 30 degrees since the night.

I'm going to show you something. I've been freezing a pair of jeans all morning. And as you could see, this is rock solid. This pretty much only took 15 minutes to freeze. That is really how cold it is here in Vermont. At the waterfront center, we actually saw some folks swimming just about two minutes, which is interesting because we have a polar plunge here, an annual event. That too has been canceled due to the severe weather.

For now, we also know that this has been a warmer January. It's pretty unique because the winter has been the fourth warmest January on record until currently. Right now, we are seeing the negative temperatures for the first time all winter, which is actually quite unique. And even more so, we are going to get even warmer next week. We're going to be in the 30s and the 40s.

So, this is just a temporary cold snap, but you're right, folks in the area are bracing for the cold. Some we spoke to say they are not going to leave their house. And others, you know, Vermonters like to be in the wilderness. It's like what we do. So, for now, we are live in Burlington, Melissa Cooney.

COLLINS: Not when your jeans are frozen like that.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: You're tough in Vermont. Melissa, thank you very much. It is beautiful, I have to say, behind you.

Let's go to our Meteorologist Chad Meyers. Good morning, Chad. So, this is like really extreme.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It really is. I mean, you talk about the numbers minus 50, minus 60, Mt. Washington, minus 100. At 15 degrees below zero, that is 150 degrees almost colder than your skin. And that's how quickly your skin is going to feel this cold. Pets feel it, cars don't. Homes don't. But it's the wind that will blow through every single crack in your home that will try to cool the inside from the out.

Winds are going to be 50 miles per hour. On top of Mt. Washington right now, which is in New Hampshire, it's way up there, it's the highest peak in the East Coast, 83 miles per hour right now. And that number could actually go up later on today. Tomorrow morning will be the coldest part of this. This is a quick hitting storm. It does leave by Sunday.

But look at the wind chill forecast here from now moving you ahead into the 20s and 30s degrees below zero. So, Saratoga to the spa all the way up to Vermont and Burlington, those are the areas that have said, hey, don't even travel. Do not go out. These are dangerous numbers. Yes, they look silly at 34 degrees below zero. But you don't think about how much colder than that is than freezing, freezing at 32. Here is 66 degrees below freezing.

Those are real numbers in Montreal and Quebec City and up toward (INAUDIBLE). You're already feeling it right now. That is our neighbors to the north on up into Canada, Ontario and Quebec. They're feeling it at this point.

New York City, you go from 8 to 56 in just the next few days. Buffalo, you're going to get cold but not as cold as New England. Temperatures are going to be warming back up. A quick hitter, but, boy, you just don't want to be outside in this, and pets cannot be out for long either.

COLLINS: Yes, that's really good to know.

HARLOW: Yes. Keep the dogs inside. Chad, thank you very much.

COLLINS: All right. Also this morning, the Pentagon is tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon that is over the northern United States. Yes, you heard that right. It is believed to be roughly the size of three buses. It is floating well above commercial airplanes. But three flights were delayed in Montana on Wednesday because of the balloon's presence.

It's unclear what China is looking for in Montana.

[07:05:02]

Officials are not speculating publicly on that. But we should note, as you know, Montana is home to one of three American Air Force bases that operates and maintains intercontinental ballistic missiles. Two days ago, the Pentagon was so concerned about this, they sent F-22 fighter jets to track the balloon. They decided against shooting it down per a senior defense official because of the safety risk that it posed to people and buildings on the ground. China has responded overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAO NING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: China is a responsible country and always abides strictly by international law. We have no intention of violating the territory or airspace of any sovereign country. We hope that both sides will handle it with mutual calm and prudence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Staff for the gang of eight, the lawmakers who were briefed on intelligence matters, have been briefed. This comes after Speaker Kevin McCarthy tweeted, quote, China's brazen disregard for U.S. Sovereign is a destabilizing action that must be addressed and President Biden cannot be silent.

Joining us now is CNN's Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller. John, we should note Biden has been briefed on this. He is the one who made the ultimate decision not to shoot it down, the White House said yesterday. But what are the main questions you have about this?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, first of all, what is it doing here? We've seen this before. And we know these are collection platforms. You know, they fly at 65,000 feet. This is far and above where commercial air traffic would be flying, but just below space. So, they're in the stratosphere. But that kind of height gives them really a wide view of territory that they're flying over.

There is a payload on there, a vehicle that contains electronics, photographic video. There may even be communications gear that can intercept certain audio. So, you know, the question really, Kaitlan,l is what are they looking for? They're flying over key military installations. But I think the thing is you follow the path, you see where it goes. And you'll have a good idea of what they're looking for depending on where it ends up.

It came in over the Illusion Islands, across over Canada, and went straight over Montana. And they're still following it.

HARLOW: We were just talking about the fact that Republican Senator Roger Wicker, who, of course, is a ranking member on the Senate Arms Services Committee, is really worried, A, that the public and Congress was not briefed sooner on this, and he believes at least the data, the information they have, that the DOD, in his words, failed to act with urgency. Do you think there is merit to that?

MILLER: I think when you're making intelligence decisions about a Chinese surveillance balloon over the United States, you might not want to advertise it to Congress or the world right away. If you're going to shoot it down over some remote area and there is a chance that it's not going to hurt might be or crash into anything and can you collect that surveillance equipment then see what's inside it. So, there were a lot of reasons not to run out shouting this at the beginning.

HARLOW: What about shooting it down though granted they're concerned about people on the ground, but if they could have done it in a safe way?

MILLER: So, that's a safety decision. The stuff that is carrying weighs a lot and comes in hardware. And I don't know. I just picture Montana as a place where you can shoot a lot of things down and not hit anything, but, you know, they also have the ground stop at Billings Airport while they scramble jets to look. So, it's over populated areas.

I think the real question we have to struggle with here is this is a big, fat, conspicuous thing in the intelligence world when you fly a giant balloon the size of three buses over the Continental United States. It's provocative. So, why? You have got the secretary of defense who is in the Philippines saying, we're going to beef up our military presence here in case we need to respond to Taiwan. You have the secretary of state heading to China to meet with leaders there about detained Americans, chemicals to make fentanyl being shipped from China to Mexican cartels. So, tensions are very high.

This may be a simple as the Chinese saying we have a big spy balloon and we're flying it over your country and we're looking at things that might be able to shoot at us and we want you to know it.

COLLINS: But don't forget, two days ago, we were talking about that memo that came out from one of the generals who was saying we -- in his gut, he feels like we could be at war in China in just two years. There was a lot of pushback on that.

But I will say I talked to a source last night. They said they have taken the mitigation measures. They don't expect the Chinese spy balloon to get anything significant. But this is a violation of international law because they're in the U.S. airspace. So, big questions, of course, going forward about this. John Miller, thank you for your perspective on it.

The former defense secretary, Mark Esper, is actually going to join us next hour. We have a lot of questions for him on this matter as well.

HARLOW: That's right. And this morning, former Vice President Mike Pence is consenting to an FBI search of his home and his office in Indiana to see if there are potentially any more classified documents there. This comes, of course, after Pence handed over a small number of government papers, classified documents last month, that a source says were lower level classification.

Paula Reid joins us now. Good morning, Paula. You know when this is going to happen and is the FBI expecting to find anything classified?

[07:10:02]

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, we expect this to happen sometime soon, though it's unclear exactly when. And the Pence team says they're confident. They've done their own extensive searches. And they don't believe that there is going to be any additional classified material but they're trying to be as cooperative as they can because they are keen to avoid the appointment of another special counsel.

Right now, the Justice Department, they are reviewing this case. That is the same first step they took with the Biden case. But as we reported, there is tension between the Justice Department and the Biden team. There were decisions made in the course of that review that resulted in the appointment of a special counsel, in addition to the fact that he is, of course, the president of the United States.

So, here, there is no decision so far on whether a special counsel will be appointed but the Pence team is trying to cooperate to the greatest extent possible.

HARLOW: It feels like every day, every other day now, there is a search, right? We just saw the Rehoboth Beach house of President Biden searched. They didn't come up with anything. Do you think this the beginning of a whole lot more in the horizon for more former presidents and vice presidents?

REID: Yes, I do. Let's just take Trump, Biden and Pence. We know from our reporting that there will absolutely be additional developments in these cases. Not necessarily additional searches, but with Biden, for example, the special counsel, he just started a few days ago. It's expected that he'll use a grand jury to and likely conduct additional interviews. He could potentially do additional searches.

We see and we report on additional witnesses going before the grand jury in the Trump case. And here with the Pence matter, we know they're conducting review. They have this decision on a special counsel and we're standing by waiting for a search. So, Poppy, you Kaitlan, Don and I will be talking a lot each morning about the latest developments.

HARLOW: As if you didn't have enough on your plate. Paula Reid, thank you. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: A lot on their plate also over on Capitol Hill. House Republicans have just ousted Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar from the powerful and influential foreign affairs committee. This is in a 218- 211 party line vote that happened yesterday citing anti-Semitic remarks that she has made and clarified in the past.

Omar, as you know, is a black woman and a Muslim. She says she believes she was targeted because of her race and her religion.

CNN's Lauren Fox is live on Capitol Hill. Lauren, I mean, we knew this was coming and kind of have been building for several days, took longer than Republicans thought. But it got incredibly tense on the House floor yesterday over this matter.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kaitlan. And I do think it's important to point out it was a hard fought battle for Republican leaders who struggled initially to get the votes to pass this resolution to oust Ilhan Omar from her committee assignment on foreign affairs but they did eventually succeed. Republicans and Democrats united on each of their sides in this matter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): My leadership and voice is not diminished if I am not on this committee for one term.

FOX (voice over): Representative Omar speaking out before the House passed a resolution along party lines removing her from the foreign affairs committee.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The resolution is adopted.

FOX: Omar is one of the first elected Muslim members of Congress and was a refugee from Somalia.

OMAR: Is anyone surprised that I'm being targeted?

FOX: In 2019, Omar received widespread condemnation from both parties after suggesting Republican support of Israel is fueled by donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel group.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has brought dishonor to the House of Representatives. FOX: This vote to remove Omar was long promised by the newly elected House speaker, Kevin McCarthy.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): We're not removing her from other committees, but I think in moving forward, every single member of Congress has a responsibility to how they carry themselves.

FOX: Democrats are now crying foul, accusing Republicans of targeting Omar in retaliation for when the Democratic-controlled House voted to remove Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from their committee assignments in response to their violent rhetoric and social media posts. Both Greene and Gosar have received key committee assignments since Republicans took back control of the House.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): And this type of poisonous, toxic double standard is going to complicate the relationship moving forward between House Democrats and House Republicans.

FOX: The House minority leader is now vowing to place Omar on the budget committee. The resolution to block Omar has left even some Republicans who voted for it weary.

REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): If we start -- we go down this road and we start kicking people off for X, Y or Z, where does it stop?

FOX: McCarthy also removed Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Swawell from the intelligence committee.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: In the case of all three of these expulsions, there is either political revenge or there is the absolute agenda of racist, misogynist and xenophobic targeting.

[07:15:01]

FOX: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defending Omar and calling out Republicans for not voting to expel Gosar from his committee assignments after he posted an anime video appearing to depict him killing the New York congresswoman.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: This is about targeting women of color in the United States of America. Don't tell me because I didn't get a single apology when my life was threatened. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOX (on camera): And tensions up here, Kaitlan, are really escalating. You had the first oversight hearings this week. And there is going to be more investigations into the Biden administration all as lawmakers are going to have to work together at some point to increase the country's debt ceiling. Kaitlan?

COLLINS: Yes, another deadline for them. Lauren Fox, thank you.

All right, so what happens, as Lauren referencing there, if the government does default on its trillions of dollars of debt? How does it impact you? We have the actor and economic commentator, Ben McKenzie, here to break it all down for you.

HARLOW: Also ahead, we'll speak with the veteran who says Congressman George Santos scammed him out of thousands of dollars. His reaction to the FBI now investigating those claims.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No way. Look who's back? Can you get a little far from Eight Mile?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Luke, don't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you like, a spokesperson for geeks of America or something? You know what I like about rich kids? Nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, that was one my favorite -- that was appointment television Monday nights I think when I was in college. The O.C.'s Ryan Atwood never shying away from a fight and it seems neither does the actor who plays him, Ben McKenzie. He has become an outspoken economic commentator, taking his concerns with cryptocurrency all the way to Capitol Hill last December.

And now, he's got a new concern, the debt ceiling. Government its reached the $31.4 trillion debt limit last month and has to actually do something or we're going to default. They have to raise or suspend the limit. Failing to do so could lead to an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic economic calamity and default.

Joining us now to discuss all of this is the author of Easy Money Cryptocurrency Casino Capitalism and the Golden Age of Fraud, Ben McKenzie. Good morning.

BEN MCKENZIE, ACTOR, BUSINESS COMMENTATOR: Good morning. How are you?

HARLOW: Great to have you in person.

MCKENZIE: It's great to be here.

HARLOW: So, Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, says in her letter to McCarthy a few weeks ago, the last sentence was essentially, do your job, because the --

MCKENZIE: Good advice.

HARLOW: -- consequences of not raising the debt ceiling, in her words, are devastating and catastrophic. What does it mean for Main Street?

MCKENZIE: Well, think of the debt ceiling as sort of like the nation's credit card bill, right? We've already spent the money. We've already bought the things. Now we have to pay for them. And if you don't pay for them, as anyone out there who hasn't, who has bounced on their credit bill knows, your interest rates go crazy. And so it's basically that for all of us. Imagine $350 million people defaulting on their credit card bill at the same time. It would be catastrophic. So, interest rates would go crazy.

This is somewhat of a silly exercise and of our own making. I mean, we created the debt ceiling. We're one of only two countries in the world that even have this sort of bizarre --

HARLOW: What is the other one? Do you know it?

MCKENZIE: Denmark, interestingly enough, yes. So, we could just get rid of all this whole thing, which I think would be prudent. But right now, Republicans are using it for leverage with the Biden White House trying to exact concessions of undetermined nature, not even sure exactly what the Republicans want.

COLLINS: Yes. Denmark doesn't have this Republican House majority that just went 15 rounds to elect a House speaker. And I think this is a real concern even for Republicans in Washington. I was there yesterday talking to them about this. Because it happened in 2011, they were basically on the brink. But I think the concern is this is they don't know what it is that Republicans want. Republicans don't even know fully exactly where they're willing to make these cuts.

MCKENZIE: It's like negotiating with a, you know, a kidnapper or a hostage taker and they don't even have demands. You're not sure what you're supposed to give them. I thought Biden's move was prudent to just say, okay, what do you want, to which apparently the answer is, let me get back to you on that. So, we'll see.

HARLOW: Okay. So, the argument now, you think -- it sounds like you think it's a good idea to get rid of the debt ceiling.

MCKENZIE: It's a good idea. I don't think it's going to happen. I think that at some point we need to recognize that the consequences of defaulting would be so catastrophic that, you know, it's unfortunately maybe a lesson we only learn after the fact.

I don't think it is going to happen this time. I think the probability is low. But the low probability of such a massive, you know, event is still to be taken seriously.

COLLINS: Do Republicans have a point, though, when they say that spending is out of control? I mean, I think there has been rightfully pointed out that it's a bit hypocritical given how many times they raised the debt ceiling with no strings attached, when Trump was in office, a Republican president, where they could have had more sway arguably. But do they have a point about what spending looks like in Washington?

MCKENZIE: I think, yes. I think the blame there falls on both parties, though, of course. I mean, if you look at the numbers, the debt just goes up and up and up no matter who is in office. And as you said in 2018, they passed the debt ceiling no problem even though it's Republican --

HARLOW: And the Trump tax cuts added.

MCKENZIE: Exactly. So, there is not a single easy answer to this but, yes, I think it's a major problem.

HARLOW: Can I just follow up on -- so, your position is probably better to not have Congress control the debt ceiling?

MCKENZIE: Yes.

HARLOW: And that's the position that Treasury Secretary Yellen is taking now. But when Joe Biden was asked about it, the president back in October, he said it would be, I believe the word is irresponsible to do that, because it is somewhat of a check on or accountability for what we're going to spend. Though it doesn't check, it just gets raised.

MCKENZIE: Yes. I mean, the Congress has to actually pass this budget whatever the president proposes. So, this is supposed to be a give and take between branches of government.

[07:25:00]

I think we're seeing that breakdown, right? We're seeing how in one branch of government has gotten fairly extreme, I would argue, in terms of the Republican House Caucus. It's creates this imbalance. It's awfully hard to adjudicate.

COLLINS: Yes. And the fact that I looked it up today when I was interesting someone, they've raised it, I think, 80 times since like the 1960s or '70s.

MCKENZIE: Sure, a hundred times since World War II, yes.

COLLINS: Well, we'll see if they do so again and what that looks like. Ben McKenzie, you seriously have such great perspective on this, so we really enjoy having you on.

MCKENZIE: It's my pleasure. Thank you.

COLLINS: Thanks for joining us.

HARLOW: Can we get another O.C., like --

MCKENZIE: Yes. Can you guys play that clip every time, please?

HARLOW: No. I mean, like The Hills came back.

MCKENZIE: Oh, another O.C.?

HARLOW: Yes.

MCKENZIE: I'll work on that. I'll work on some economics on there.

COLLINS: Some breaking news there. All right, next, we're going to get reaction to the FBI. They are now investigating George Santos from the man who says that the congressman scammed him out of thousands of dollars. The Navy veteran, Rich Osthoff, and Michael Boll are going to join us. That's live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Congressman George Santos is under investigation by the FBI for allegedly stealing $3,000 from a dying dog's GoFundMe.

[07:30:07]

The dog's owner and Navy veteran says that the FBI.