Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Moscow Court Hearing Appeal from Lawyers Representing Detained "Wall Street Journal" Evan Gershkovich on Charges of Espionage; President Biden to Give Speech at United Nations General Assembly; Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) Interviewed on Her Criticism of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as Government Shutdown Looms. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 19, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:42]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It's the top of the hour. We are so glad you are joining us. It is a day of very big news, some good news to bring you as well.

Let's get started with five things to know for this Tuesday, September 19th. And this is the breaking news. They are back in America. Those five U.S. citizens who were held prisoner in Iran just touched down near Washington, D.C.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: And this morning President Biden speaks at the United Nations as he confronts multiple crises on the world stage. Back home, however, shutdown drama in the House. Tempers are flaring with some Republican lawmakers calling their colleagues lunatics.

HARLOW: More auto workers could be going on strike at more plants. The union chiefs say if there is no progress in these negotiations by noon on Friday, more workers will walk off the job.

MATTINGLY: And a high school band director tased by police after a football game. The new body camera footage just released.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

HARLOW: We have breaking news this morning. Take a look. New video just in shows five Americans freed from prison in Iran back on U.S. soil. Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and Siamak Namazi, along with two Americans who have decided not to be named publicly, they all landed just outside of the nation's capital moments ago after flying from Tehran to Qatar. They were released as part of this broader deal that includes unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian funds. The freed Americans will have the option to participate in a Department of Defense program to help acclimate back to life here.

MATTINGLY: Meanwhile, another American is still detained overseas. A Moscow court is hearing an appeal from lawyers representing detained "Wall Street Journal" Evan Gershkovich. CNN's Matthew Chance was inside that courtroom and spoke to Gershkovich, tried to speak to Gershkovich. Matthew, how did he look? What did you say? Did you get any response?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, tried to speak to him, but failed, unfortunately, Phil. I am outside the court now because we were kicked out, essentially. But this is one of the few opportunities we get to get face to face with Evan Gershkovich, 31-year-old "Wall Street Journal" reporter who was being held in pretrial detention on espionage charges. The first journalist, American journalist, to be charged with something like that since the cold war. So it's a massive problem between the two countries.

We were granted access to the courtroom where his lawyers are appealing his pretrial detention, but shortly afterwards we were kicked out. Take a look at what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Come here. Come here. All right. OK, we have been let into the courthouse where you can see Evan Gershkovich is in there. Hi. Matthew from CNN. Are you holding up all right? No questions? OK, understood.

OK, well there he is standing there. You can see him looking relaxed. And all the cameras being allowed in to take a close-up look at him. This queue is very tight. What's the problem?

What do you want us to do? What do you want us to do? OK. Let's go. You want us to go out? You want us to go out? What happened?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Well, Phil, they say -- I mean, the court hearing is still underway right now. We are expecting -- because this has happened several times in the past, that the appeal against his pretrial detention will be rejected. Certainly, there is a big effort underway from the White House, from the Biden administration to try and organization a deal to release Evan Gershkovich, as well as Paul Whelan, another American, a former marine. He's also being held under charges, or being accused and actually been convicted of espionage in this country.

[08:05:02]

But so far, a serious offer, as the Biden administration has framed it, to get those two men out of Russian prisons has not been responded to effectively by the Russians. So this is an ongoing saga which we're going to be covering very closely, Phil.

HARLOW: Matthew Chance, thank you to you and your team, as we saw you get in there, try to ask the important questions, facing a lot of opposition, obviously. We really appreciate that. It's remarkable to see.

This morning, President Biden will different a foreign policy speech at the United Nations General Assembly. He will promote his administration's achievements around the globe. He is also expected to call for more international support for Ukraine. But as several key heads of state will be absent, concerns are increasing about what the U.N. can hope to achieve.

Kayla Tausche, who was at the table with us earlier, now outside the U.N., that's the big question, right? What do these words actually mean? What action, if any, do they result in? What's the goal?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the goal is to get some sort of unity among likeminded nations that are here at the U.N. The problem, Poppy, is that there aren't as many as there have been prior years, in part because the multilateral summit calendar is extremely packed this fall. Many of these leaders were already at the G20 in India just a few weeks ago.

But in just a couple of hours, President Biden is going to take the lectern here at the United Nations for the third speech to the General Assembly of his presidency. And White House officials say that he is going to be raising a few themes. You mentioned the fact that he is going to be talking about the need to deliver more aid to Ukraine. He'll also talk about the importance of democratic values in a world where authoritarian regions are on the rise. He'll also talk about the need to marshal resources for sustainable development, climate infrastructure projects around the world.

And that address is going to set the table of sorts for some high- profile meetings that the president will have throughout this week. He will be meeting with the U.N. secretary general today, also the leaders of five central Asian nations where the conversation will focus on how to counter China in that region before meeting with Brazil's president and the prime minister of Israel tomorrow.

But just as much focus, guys, is going to be on who is not here in New York, namely, the leaders of China, Russia, U.K., and France, the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, which is the forum, where the U.S. has been condemning the war in Ukraine for nearly two years at this point. And so it raises real questions about the effectiveness of the U.N., and specifically the Security Council as a forum for condemnation and to discuss these critical issues. Senior administration officials say it remains essential and important and, in their words, the president understands the value of showing up. And that's what he is going to do today in hopes of boosting his global agenda and also his image here at home. Poppy, Phil?

HARLOW: Kayla, thank you for the reporting outside of the United Nations on a huge day for the president.

MATTINGLY: Coming up, California Governor Gavin Newsom suing oil companies for contributing to the climate crisis. We're going to be joined by California's Attorney General Rob Bonta on where that lawsuit goes from here. And later, a surfer about to go pro is told he would never walk again. How he got back on the board and is helping others do the same. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:11:45] REP. MIKE LAWLER, (R-NY): This is not conservative Republicanism. This is stupidity. They don't know how to take yes for an answer. It's a clown show. If you want to have a stronger hand, run better candidates and win more elections. You keep running lunatics, you are going to be in this position.

REP. TONY GONZALEZ, (R-TX): I think we are headed for a government shutdown with no end in sight. A part is we are not having real conversations.

REP. BYRON DONALDS, (R-FL): Take a shot at me, I'm going to say something. Didn't we go through this back in January, 6-22-75, baby. I ain't worried about none of that stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: As you can see there, tempers flaring a bit in the House as House Republicans are in chaos as time runs out to prevent a government shutdown. Congress now has less than two weeks to pass at least a stopgap spending bill, and conservative hardliners, they are lining up against Speaker Kevin McCarthy's proposed short-term deal to avoid a shutdown. He is also facing the threat of potentially being ousted as speaker altogether.

Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, a Republican from Indiana, wrote yesterday, "It is a shame that our weak speaker cannot even commit to having a discussion to discuss our looming fiscal catastrophe. Our children will be ashamed of another worthless Congress." Congresswoman Spartz joins us now from the Capitol. There are a lot of things I want get to, including the president's remarks up at the U.N. today and President Zelenskyy's visit down to Washington, but I want to start there. The decision to release this statement, this was not subtle. Why?

REP. VICTORIA SPARTZ, (R-IN): Well, I'll be honest with you. It's unfortunate to me to see what's really happening in our country. And I take full responsibility for the leadership of my party because I truly believe if we don't stand up and fight for the people, there is no one left there. So I never vote for leadership in other party. I never supported it. But the leadership of my party should be accountable to the American people, and we should never be in a situation like that at the end of September, not be able to deal with authorization, with budgeting.

This is the number one issue that Congress should have dealt for most of their time. And unfortunately, we spend very little time dealing with our main functions, and everyone does a lot of entertainment. But we have people's lives at stake, and we cannot do politics and circuses. And I call on leadership to take full responsibility, and should take responsibility for his failure to lead on this. And I offered my -- listen this is my issue that I actually have expertise. I could help. I offered to help. But ultimately, it's a decision of our leaders, if leaders want to lead or not.

MATTINGLY: I want to play Speaker McCarthy's response to your statement. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-CA) HOUSE SPEAKER: What have I learned in life? Anybody who criticizes you has never worked harder than you. Victoria's concerned about fighting stronger, I wish she would run again. I am not quitting. I am going to continue to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: The speaker there is referencing your decision that you announced earlier this year not to seek reelection. What's your response to what he said?

SPARTZ: Well, I think it's kind of, you know, if he wishes me to stay, he wishes my country won't be too happy with the -- but let me tell you one thing. It's one thing to fight, to get a position, and go and tell different things.

[08:15:00]

But in other things it fights for the issues and go in the trenches and win these issues. There is a difference and I haven't seen hard work in anyone in this Congress actually to fight something with the people.

And it is tough because you have a machine coming at you, a lot of special interest groups attacking you with big money. The Senate is so corrupt that we cannot even move. And I told Kevin, I really don't care what the Senate doesn't say. We're an independent branch of government under Republican leadership. We have to lead and we need to question what's happening in the Senate because we also equal chamber.

Honestly, I think we're even stronger people because we have to run every two years and we have to be more accountable to the American people. But if no one stand up for this country, we're going to fail our children and people that die for it. And I am so sick and tired of BS.

MATTINGLY: Congresswoman, I think allies of the speaker would say look, no one could run this conference in terms of its current iteration structure and I think the divergences between the various elements of it that it's not the Speaker's fault so much as it is just the rank and file.

What's your response to that?

SPARTZ: Well, listen, ultimately, he has a lot of input on that. If, you know, he didn't want to change the rules. He still has much of our committee that decides who is going to be chairs of this committee. He has the decision; he has six votes. We were trying to change some of that but there is no input really people can do so.

He has a decision with his committee chairs doing he has a decisions what kind of policy was set upend also to set the tone on the top. I think it's extremely important. Yes, we have a diverse opinion, yes, we have a lot of different views but ultimately that's what it takes leadership to sit down, be authentic and really be able to get your troops on board with you to win, to win for something that is important. I used to say let's pick three heels to die on and we'll take them.

Now I'm just actually saying let's just pick one issue where it's border security, where it's dealing with debt, where it's dealing with really insanity. Is that happening with all of our departments? They're becoming oppressive. We haven't even increased amount of decreased amount of unauthorized spending. We're not doing that.

We're actually increasing, we're increasing all of the spending. We're increasing debt, we increase in unauthorized spending and we're not securing the border. So, what results did we deliver? Not talking points and messaging. What we actually deliver, there are only two times unfortunately in this Congress where we can deliver its debt sealants and appropriation process. I hate to tell the rest of it.

It's all of the messaging and circus.

MATTINGLY: On the appropriations process, Ukraine funding has obviously been a central issue, not just for your conference, the entire Congress. President Biden will be speaking at the UN Today. President Zelensky will be up there as well.

Zelensky expected to come down to speak to Capitol Hill. You have asked and requested the Biden administration to be more forceful and I think more detailed in its strategy, what it wants Todo and the weapons that it can send. How concerned are you at this point that there will be a gap in terms

of U.S. Resources flowing to Ukraine because of these issues right now?

SPARTZ: Well, I think it's a very serious situation. I'll be honest with know; you have to have American people on board these never- ending wars. People are actually sick and tired, and American people need to be communicated the importance of us winning that war.

But also, I think it's also important for us to push back an organization like UN. That failed, not just Ukraine, they failed Africa, they failed the Middle East.

We have to not just go there, have dinners and all of these nice meetings in New York. We should say, "You know what? You stand with us. We're going to stop this insanity, and we're going to help some countries and people to survive, or we're not going to be funding these very wealthy, high paying jobs." American taxpayer gets nothing because we still have to pay money directly to solve all these crises and help for people.

I mean, millions of people are suffering around the world. Why are we doing that? I just went to Middle East, and some of our Middle Eastern partners said we're not giving money to this corrupt organization. Why American people should be we shouldn't be stupid. We should be stern and tough and should send a very clear message. And I hope President Biden starts to gets a little bit tough on all of

these things because our aggressors are very tough around the world, and ultimately, they after us.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, it's an important week. Certainly, the President and his team want to try and continue to unify their alliances. Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, I know the issue of Ukraine is obviously very personal to you.

I know you met with Zelensky earlier this year. And I know what's happening on Capitol Hill right now is very personal to you as well as you have proven. Appreciate your time as always, ma'am. Thank you.

SPARTZ: Thank you.

HARLOW: What an important conversation, Phil. All right, California has filed a big lawsuit against the world's biggest oil companies. Listen to Governor Gavin Newsom on CNN, to Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAVIN NEWSOM, DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA: They knowingly misled people. They deceived people as a consequence.

[08:20:00]

As a consequence, we didn't take the kind of actions we would have taken to hold these big polluters accountable. And right now, we're dealing with the consequences of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The state accusing BP, Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and ConocoPhillips and their trade group of downplaying the risks of fossil fuels of lying and causing billions of dollars in damage. Let me read you part of the complaint.

Quote, "Oil and gas company executives have known for decades that reliance on fossil fuels would cause these catastrophic results, but they suppress that information. Their deception caused the delayed societal response to global warming."

I want to note Chevron's CEO made his first public comment on the lawsuit Monday on Bloomberg. He says this is the wrong approach on climate change. Listen. (

BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WIRTH, CHEVRON CEO: Climate change is a global issue. It calls for a coordinated global policy response, not piecemeal litigation that benefits attorneys and politicians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: His comments were echoed in a statement from Shell which said, the courtroom is not the place to address climate change. Let's talk about this lawsuit, but the man who brought it, attorney General of California, Rob Bonta.

It's great to have you in studio. Thank you for being here. The American Petroleum Institute, which is also a defendant in your case, called it politicized, an enormous waste of California's taxpayer resources. Explain why you think you can prevail in court.

ROB BONTA, DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CALIFORNIA: Exactly the spin and distraction and deception that you expect to hear from a big oil that has been doing this for decades. They're very good at the deception and the distraction and the misleading information. This is a lawsuit holding them accountable for their actions in court.

I'm sure they don't want to be there, especially when California is the plaintiff, the largest state in the nation, the fourth largest economy in the world, the biggest geographic entity in the largest economy to sue them. They need tube responsible for their actions.

So, we're suing them in state court for decades of damage, destruction, and deception. And we have the broadest, sweeping causes of action of any case brought so far.

HARLOW: So, Mr. Attorney General, help us understand your most powerful piece of evidence that you believe shows will show in court that company executives specifically knew that they were doing things that would cause this damage and that they suppressed it.

BONTA: 50, 60, 70 years ago, we have internal memos, internal speeches. Industry commissioned studies, notes on memos. Their words, not mine. Take their own words for where they say, yeah, they're talking internally, privately. They're acknowledging climate change.

They're acknowledging the damage to the environment. They're acknowledging the extreme weather that will come. They predicted with terrifying certainty exactly where we are today, and they hid it.

And they lied to the people. The people shouldn't be lied to.

HARLOW: Reading through the complaint, I want to pull up a graphic that you have in your complaint and hope you can explain it to people. What this is showing us I believe this is from 1979. What are you alleging here? Can you see that?

BONTA: No.

HARLOW: Okay. Well, it's how to predict the company, how predicted companies compare. You can take a look at it here on the piece of paper.

BONTA: This is a---

HARLOW: What you're trying to show?

BONTA: Yeah, I mean, the prediction of global warming, it shows that early on, based on their own studies, they knew that we would have climate change, we would have global warming. And the impacts, they called it devastating on the environment. And they also knew that there were alternative pathways for clean energy.

They knew that about carbon sequestration and capture. And they suppressed those pathways to pursue a profit creating pathway of fossil fuels that are destroying the planet and leading people like my daughter to say, "Dad, I love our family, but I might not want to have a family of my own because I think it's irresponsible to bring a new life onto a dying planet."

And there's a whole generation of young people who think that.

HARLOW: This reminds many of us who live through the big tobacco litigation. A lot of the model and Governor Newsom said as much that you are following the model of big tobacco. Ultimately, that led to billion-dollar settlements. Is that what you're looking for, or are you actually looking for mandated change of company operations?

BONTA: We're looking for an Abatement fund, which is payment by the big oil companies to pay for the damage that they created. It's simple. They're responsible for their actions. They should pay for the damage they created. They have stuck the bill with Californians to pay for lost homes, increased insurance, lost farms, health and risks, and greater cost to their health insurance.

California shouldn't pay that. They should pay it because they created it. So, it's an Abatement fund to the tune of tens of billions of dollars to pay for Abatement mitigation and an adaptation.

HARLOW: And that's what New York wanted. But in 2021, New York City lost in the Second Circuit, and in 2018, San Francisco and Oakland lost similar attempts to sue big oil. They were approached legally a little bit differently. They were public nuisance complaints. But again, you had regulations of these companies at that time.

[08:25:00]

The argument can and probably will be made to you in court that these companies either responded to and followed those protocols or paid damages. If those protocols were broken then, so why should they have to do it again now? How do you respond?

BONTA: Our causes of action are unique. We have a state law, California public nuisance claim. We have multiple deception and false advertising claims. We have a failure to warn claim. We have a very unique, only in California claim for destruction of natural resources, the broadest, sweeping claims. And we put together 134-page complaint that lays out in great detail their knowledge and their deception while they pursued endless profits, $200 billion in profits last year.

These cases have never got to the merits before. They have been wrapped up in a procedural delay because Big Oil wants delay. Every year of delay is more billions in profits for them. We can get to the merits now, and that's why we have brought this case and we believe we're going to be successful in court.

HARLOW: It's going to be fascinating to watch because many times as California goes, so the nation goes. Before you go, I do want to ask you about guns, because earlier this month, lawmakers in California voted for an 11% tax on guns and ammunition as a way to sort of push back against gun violence. The gun lobby calling that, quote, a tax on exercising a constitutional right.

The governor has until October 14 to decide if he's going to sign that. Will he? Do you believe it's constitutional, given the Supreme Court's decision last year?

BONTA: I believe it's constitutional. I support the bill. I hope and believe the governor will sign it. It's up to him, of course, that's one of his great independent authorities and duties. And it's the same idea that an industry needs to pay for the costs of the damage to its industry and can't externalize it to the people.

And we should have this fund, and I support it. HARLOW: This is different than what New Mexico's governor just did a few weeks ago in terms of banning guns in some public places. Do you believe what she did was constitutional?

BONTA: I think we need to comply with the new decision.

HARLOW: So, is that a no on that case? I don't know all the details about their law. I know that we had just passed a concealed carry weapon law, which is about carrying concealed weapons in public that is completely bruin compliant. You can do reviews of dangerousness of individuals before you give them a CCW and you can make sure that the guns are not brought into sensitive sites.

And Bruin lays that out and our law is completely compliant.

HARLOW: Bruin being the Supreme Court's decision on guns. Thank you. Come back as we track this lawsuit.

BONTA: Thanks for having me.

HARLOW: Thanks very much, Phil.

MATTINGLY: News this morning five Americans who were detained for years in Iran are back on U.S. soil will speak to the top not hostage negotiator who is key to making it all happen. His response to Republicans' criticism of the deal.

HARLOW: And just released new body camera video of an incident at high school football game that resulted in a band director getting tased by police, those details ahead.

[08:30:00]