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CNN This Morning

Russia Bombards Kyiv Ahead of Zelenskyy U.S. Visit; Zelenskyy to Address Congress to Request More Aid; Biden Admin Sending 800 Troops to Border Amid Migrant Crisis; Ex-Trump Aide Alleges Giuliani Groped Her on Day of Jan. 6th Attack; DeSantis Campaign Faltering in Latest NH Polls; Merrick Garland Testifies Before House Judiciary. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired September 21, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:10]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. Glad you're with us on Thursday. Good morning.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: How you doing?

HARLOW: Great. Got a lot going on. I'll start with "Five Things to Know" for this Thursday September, 21.

This breaking news overnight. Russia bombarding Kyiv and cities across Ukraine before President Zelenskyy meets with Congress and President Biden.

MATTINGLY: And the Pentagon now sending 800 new active-duty troops to the Southern border as migrant crossings surge, and the White House gives nearly half a million Venezuelan immigrants temporary protections.

Also, an urgent manhunt for a murder suspect is under way after he was mistakenly set free due to a clerical error two days after his arrest.

HARLOW: An ex-Trump aide says Rudy Giuliani groped her while backstage during the former president's infamous January 6th speech on the Ellipse. A Giuliani spokesperson denies it.

MATTINGLY: And we can call it DeSantis in decline in New Hampshire. A new CNN poll shows a double-digit drop for the Florida governor.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

HARLOW: You know, it's just so notable, as you have these critical meetings for President Zelenskyy in Washington, both president and Congress, Kyiv is just being bombarded by Russia.

MATTINGLY: Kyiv -- Kyiv is being bombarded. Ukraine is now, it seems, to be striking back, and all through the lens of, they need more and made clear they need more. And where Zelenskyy will be visiting today, is a place that's not sure they're going to give them more. Capitol Hill.

HARLOW: Nor the majority of American people. So let's watch this closely.

This is the breaking news we start with this morning. This bombardment of Kyiv and other cities, we should note, across Ukraine as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be on Capitol Hill today.

The widespread strikes come just hours before Zelenskyy will meet with lawmakers. He will plead, as Phil said, for more weapons and more aid. His visit to Washington comes at a very fraught time. House Republicans in chaos and the government hurdling towards a shutdown potentially just nine days away, and some conservative hard-liners want to cut off aid for Ukraine.

MATTINGLY: Zelenskyy has a packed schedule today. In a few hours, he has a closed-door meeting with House lawmakers. After that, he'll meet with the entire Senate in the old Senate chamber before visiting the Pentagon.

This afternoon, he'll be headed to the White House for talks with President Biden.

We have team coverage, not just here at home but also overseas, as well. We have Lauren Fox in Washington, D.C. Also, Fred Pleitgen on the ground in Ukraine.

And, Fred, we want to start with you. These widespread missile strikes seemingly very intentional, given what Zelenskyy is doing today. What's your sense of what's happening on the ground?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think first of all, you're absolutely right, Phil. Very intentional and certainly also very much fitting into the season that we have here in Ukraine. Some of the things that are going on, on the battlefield, as well.

The Ukrainians are saying that these massive strikes that started in the early morning hours of today, targeting civilian infrastructure but also targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, as well. And that's something that is absolutely significant, because the Ukrainians say that they haven't seen strikes on this scale here in this country on the energy infrastructure in the past six months.

And it comes as the weather is getting colder in Ukraine and we're moving towards the heating season. So the Ukrainians say the Russians could be setting up for massive attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure right as the heart of winter approaches here in this country. Obviously, devastating for the civilian population.

The Ukrainians say that there were ten strategic bombers, that the Russians launched and fired 43 cruise missiles towards the territory of Ukraine. The Ukrainians said, with the air defenses that they have, they were able to shoot down 36 of those cruise missiles.

But obviously, some of them came through, hitting targets, first and foremost, in the West of the country and in the central part of the country. There were big powder [SIC] -- power outages in those parts of the country. And also one hotel was hit, wounding a lot of people. And that's where we get to President Zelenskyy's visit to Washington,

D.C., today. Of course, one of the things that Zelenskyy has talked about, that the Ukrainians say they need is more air defense.

They say that especially the U.S. systems that are around here in Ukraine, have been performing really well. The Patriot systems, the NASAMS systems. The Ukrainians just saying they need more of that.

And certainly, today is definitely a case in point for them, where they say they definitely need more protection of their skies to be more successful on the battlefield, but also to prevent things that we saw this morning, guys.

HARLOW: Yes. We're sure. Fred, we're so glad you're there. Thank you for the reporting.

MATTINGLY: And let's now turn to Washington, where Lauren Fox is in the nation's capital.

Lauren, we've been watching this spending fight play out for days and days and days. Ukraine aid is a critical piece of that. Is Zelenskyy's visit expected to change any dynamics right now?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, today when Zelenskyy comes to Capitol Hill, Phil, he'll be walking into a discussion with the House Speaker, who just announced last night in his conference meeting that he was going to be moving forward with a short-term spending bill that will not include any funding for Ukraine.

McCarthy is in a bitter fight to get the votes he needs to avert a government shutdown. And that is the dynamics at play right now when Zelenskyy visits the Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(APPLAUSE)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Thank you so much.

FOX (voice-over): Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, returning to Capitol Hill for the second time in less than a year. Only this time, the political landscape in Washington has shifted.

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): The first thing I'll tell you is, there's no money in the House right now for Ukraine. It's not a good time for him to be here, quite frankly. That's just the reality.

FOX (voice-over): While there is still broad bipartisan support to fund that war effort in Ukraine, Republicans in the House are bitterly divided as they debate a path forward to avert a government shutdown.

Cracks in the conference have been building for months. In July, 70 House Republicans voted to strip Ukraine of all U.S. military aid as part of the debate on the defense bill. While Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell has been a dogged supporter of funding the war -- SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): These people in Ukraine who are fighting

for their independence are taking on one of the two big adversaries we have, Russia and China. It seems to me we ought to be helping.

FOX (voice-over): McCarthy, facing growing rebellion in his right flank, has been more circumspect.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Is Zelenskyy elected to Congress? Is he our president? I don't think I have to commit anything. I have questions for him. Where's the accountability in the money we already spent? What is the plan for victory?

FOX (voice-over): The skepticism reflects a shift in public opinion. A CNN poll in August found most Americans are now opposed to more Ukraine funding. Among Republicans, that number is higher, at 71 percent.

REP. SCOTT PERRY (R-PA): Our people can't afford their electric bills, their gas bills or their food bills, and before we send blank checks to some other country, we need to take care of our people.

FOX (voice-over): Today, Zelenskyy will make his case to bipartisan leaders, including McCarthy, who will ultimately decide if he'll cross his hardliners to put Ukraine aid to a vote.

REP. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA): If he lives in this constant fear that one member on his far right is going to take the action of motioning to vacate the chair, thereby, you know, removing him from the speakership, I mean, we are making day-to-day decisions, or not making day-to-day decisions, because one guy wants to keep his job.

FOX (voice-over): But as the war in Ukraine rages on, even Republicans who may back the effort say they want more accountability.

REP. GARRET GRAVES (R-LA): This administration has both accountability and transparency issues they've got to address before they deserve another penny.

FOX (voice-over): On Tuesday, President Joe Biden made his impassioned plea to the United Nations, warning of the cost of inaction.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOX: And over in the Senate, while there is more bipartisan support for Ukraine funding, there are already signs that, if they try to move a short-term spending bill that includes that funding, they may run into issues.

Senator Rand Paul firing off a missive on Twitter yesterday, warning that he will slow-walk any bill that includes Ukraine aid -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Lauren, before I let you go, I do want to ask, the Senate confirmed its first major military nominee in months, new chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Tommy Tuberville continues to stand in the way of hundreds of other promotions. Do we have any sense that Tuberville is about to pull back?

FOX: Yes, absolutely not, Phil. In fact, yesterday when Chuck Schumer went down to the floor to make the decision that he was going to put these three top brass military nominations to a vote, it was a massive surprise.

That is because he had been saying for months that this was Republican leaders' responsibility to find a way forward with Tuberville. But Tuberville was going to use a rarely-deployed tactic on the floor to try to advance these nominees himself.

The argument that I'm hearing from Democrats is there was no other choice. But at this point, Tommy Tuberville feels like he had a victory yesterday, forcing Schumer to put these nominees on the floor -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: The Capitol building is a building in desperate need of multiple breakthroughs and none on the horizon right now.

Lauren Fox, appreciate it. Thank you.

HARLOW: All right. This breaking overnight. The White House will send 800 new active-duty troops to the Southern border. This as we see pictures like this out of Eagle Pass, Texas. You've got crowds of migrants under a bridge.

The mayor there says 2,500 people crossed the border yesterday alone.

Arlette Saenz joins us at the White House.

This joins another move made by the administration. We'll get to that in a moment. But is there a sense that this will make a significant difference? I mean, they already they have thousands of -- of active- duty troops down there.

[06:10:03]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, those images that you see, the number of people who have been coming to the U.S.-Mexico border, suggest that there is a strain on some of the capacities and abilities of the enforcement that's already down there.

But the Department of Defense will be sending 800 active-duty military personnel down to the U.S.-Mexico border. Now, this is already on top of about 2,500 National Guard who are already working there.

You also have 24,000 CBP agents and other non-uniformed agents and law enforcement personnel, all that are currently dealing with what has been an uptick in border crossings.

Just earlier in the week, there were figures of that there were more than 8,000 migrants who had been coming to the U.S.-Mexico border. That's akin to the numbers that we saw before the lifting of Title 42. And in the city of Eagle Pass, Texas, the mayor there has declared --

or issued an emergency declaration due to this increase. A source had told us there are about approximately 3,000 migrants who were processed there just yesterday.

The fact that the White House, the Department of Defense, will be deploying additional personnel down there, it's not unprecedented, but it does show how they are trying to get an additional handle on this emerging situation.

HARLOW: Interesting the timing. It comes as the administration makes this move to give this temporary protected status under their parole (ph) ability to Venezuelans already in -- in the United States.

Obviously, this comes with the context of a lot of criticism, even from some Democratic majors, like Mayor Adams here in New York, about the migrant crisis here.

Talk to us about what this will actually change and what it will mean for those migrants.

FOX: Yes. In addition to strains on the border, there's also been cities who have been discussing how there are strains on their own systems as they are dealing with this influx of migrants.

Now, extending this new temporary protected status to these Venezuelans, it will apply to those who came to the country before July. And it's expected, DHS says, to apply to about 472,000 Venezuelans.

Of course, there had already been TPS extended to them back in May of 2021, to those who had arrived before then. But what this will do is that it will prevent their removal from the country.

And it will also issue some work authorizations for them, forgoing some -- the oftentimes months-long processes that it takes in order to get work authorization.

Now, this is something that some Democrats have been calling for, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams. They have been dealing with a large population of Venezuelans coming into their city.

And you've heard some Democrats from New York overnight, praising the administration for this decision.

But it really speaks to the additional strains that some of these cities have been facing at this moment. And now the White House is taking additional steps to try to offer some relief.

HARLOW: OK. Arlette, thank you for the reporting from the White House this morning -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Well, alarm bells, they may be ringing for Ron DeSantis and his campaign in the crucial early primary state of New Hampshire. A new CNN poll shows him slipping behind his GOP rivals. Plus, new and disturbing allegations against Rudy Giuliani. Former

White House aide and star witness in the January 6th hearings is now claiming she was groped the day of the insurrection. We'll have details. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:45]

MATTINGLY: This morning we are learning details of a new allegation made by former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson.

She claims, in her new memoir, "Enough," that behind the scenes at the Trump rally at the Ellipse on January 6th, Rudy Giuliani groped her.

Hutchinson worked for Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows and provided crucial testimony to the House January 6th Committee.

This was the scene on that day, right near the Capitol where Trump and Giuliani both spoke before a large crowd of Trump supporters, telling them to, quote, "fight like hell" before rioters stormed the Capitol, delaying the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Backstage, Hutchinson says Giuliani approached her with a stack of papers in his hand, claiming to have evidence of voter fraud. And then she says this happened. Quote, "Rudy wraps one arm around my body, closing the space that was separating us. I feel his stack of documents press into the small of my back. I lower my eyes and watch his hand, his free hand, reach for the hem of my blazer."

Hutchison says she felt, quote, "his frozen fingers trail up my thigh. He tilts his chin up. The whites of his eyes look jaundiced. My eyes dart to John Eastman, who flashes a leering grin."

Hutchinson further writes, "I fight against the tension in my muscles and recoil from Rudy's grip. Filled with rage, I storm through the tent on yet another quest for Mark." A clear reference to her then- boss, Mark Meadows.

Two of her former colleagues in the Trump White House, they're backing her up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH MATTHEWS, FORMER DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: She was someone that I knew to be someone of good character, someone of integrity; and I have no reason to doubt her account of these events.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, I trust her implicitly. I remember about two years ago, her alluding to something -- and I don't want to misrepresent the words either. He was creepy or handsy with me. But to put it into bigger context, those of us who were working the West Wing at that time knew that Rudy Giuliani was a wild card.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MATTINGLY: Now, as for Giuliani's perspective, his political advisor denied the claims, writing in a statement, quote, "It's fair to ask Cassidy Hutchinson why she is just coming out with these allegations from two and a half years ago as part of the marketing campaign for her upcoming book release. This is a disgusting lie against Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a man whose distinguished career in public service includes taking down the Mafia, cleaning up New York City, and comforting the nation following September 11.

HARLOW: We'll continue to follow that, of course.

Meantime, in the 2024 race for the White House, the Ron DeSantis campaign looks to be on life support in New Hampshire.

Take a look at this new CNN poll in the state. DeSantis has plummeted to fifth place. He has shed 13 points in that state since July.

Donald Trump still leads the field with 39 percent of support among likely Republican primary voters.

Let's talk about this and a lot of fascinating numbers in this poll. Michelle Price is with us, reporter -- national reporter -- political reporter, also, Axios national political reporter Alex Thompson is with us. Bloomberg White House and politics editor Mario Parker. An Associated Press national political reporter.

Thanks for joining us, since I screwed up all your intros. Appreciate you being here.

MATTINGLY: It's your fault. We know who we are. Distinguished titles, lengthy titles. Elie has, like, 17 bullet points you have to hit. That's on them. That's on them.

HARLOW: That's true.

But because I botched your yours the most, Michelle, I'm going to begin with you.

DeSantis is at 13 percent, which actually puts him even with Vivek Ramaswamy. There's this, like, interesting forward timing (ph). Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, et cetera.

[06:20:03]

But it's the -- it's the amount that he has fallen in a state that he has focused on so much after a number of blunders by his campaign and then the reset. So now what?

MICHELLE PRICE, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Yes. I mean, it's not even just New Hampshire. There's been a couple of national polls recently that have shown this same drop.

HARLOW: Yes.

PRICE: You know, and this kind of -- there's two things here. One, I mean, he's clearly struggling and -- and not succeeding after two, three resets. You know, he's dropping further.

But, again, he's just still so far away from Donald Trump. He's not gaining on him. He's falling further away. And he's losing the battle for second place right now.

It's hard to see how you turn this around when he's had resources coming in. He's hit multiple states. He's had resets, and it's just getting worse for him.

HARLOW: And big donors holding back, saying no more money until you guys figure this out.

PRICE: Yes, and he's in Texas this week, trying to get more donations. It's unclear, you know, if that's working out.

MATTINGLY: And trying to talk about policy, like on his energy plan, as well.

Alex, I think these are the moments where you have to ask, is this kind of a death spiral moment for the campaign or is there a bounce- back? Because national polls one thing. Campaigns always say, well, look at state polls. It's totally different. You're not feeling it on the ground. You're not there.

They've always pointed to Iowa. New Hampshire was viewed as an opportunity early on. What does this tell us big picture?

ALEX THOMPSON, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, AXIOS: Big picture, this is a huge victory for Donald Trump. I can tell you that Trump's team as focused one objective from the very beginning, which is we want to change this from a two-man race between Trump and DeSantis to Trump versus everyone else.

In a way you can see, there's a four-way tie for second place. DeSantis could come back. But the fact is, the fundamental nature of this race, which was a Trump versus DeSantis race early on, has fundamentally changed to Trump versus everyone else.

And you're going to see, basically, sort of like a doggy pile of everyone trying to, you know, go over each other in that debate next Wednesday. And that only helps Donald Trump, if there is not a clear viable alternative to him.

MATTINGLY: That's a good point.

HARLOW: Looking at the abortion numbers in this poll, what it found in New Hampshire, voters who support Trump, 78 percent support a nationwide ban after 15 weeks. That is not something Trump has said that he supports. He's actually said, like, everything all over the map, criticizing the way Republicans handled this. Criticizing DeSantis's six-week ban after previously supporting the previous 15- week ban in Florida.

I think it's interesting that the "Wall Street Journal" editorial board, the headline is, "Why is Donald Trump Afraid to Debate?" And the No. 1 issue why they say he should is because of his stance on abortion.

MARIO PARKER, WHITE HOUSE AND POLITICS EDITOR, BLOOMBERG: Yes, well, the Trump team will say -- will point to last weekend, right, as a reason why he shouldn't debate. Right?

So we had a scoop yesterday at Bloomberg that he's not planning to debate in the third debate. We were thinking that he probably would, given it was in Miami, Florida, et cetera.

If you look at what happened, he kind of stuck his head out of the ground, went to mainstream media, answered questions, policy questions. And we saw for the first time that DeSantis, even though his campaign is struggling, he pounced on that opportunity. Right? To really draw a contrast with Trump on policy.

He's always had this strategy of out-flanking Trump to the right. And you saw that. You saw Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds kind of take a swipe at Trump, as well. So he gave his opponent some grist with which to attack him. So that's a reason why you don't want to see him on that debate stage if you're Chris LaCivita or some of his other staff.

HARLOW: Just wonder if it gives some of his opponents some openings there in the state?

MATTINGLY: I mean, I think it's the biggest question. We were talking this week after the ABC interview and saying, in a normal Republican primary --

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: -- this would be a really bad moment and a really dangerous moment. This is not a normal Republican primary. The frontrunner is up by 40-plus points nationally, 10, 15, 20 points state-wide.

But the immediate thing, Michelle, you think about is Iowa, right? Iowa, evangelical voters, the core of that Republican primary. Is there an actual opening here that anyone else in that primary can take advantage of?

PRICE: Well, if there is, it's dwindling. I mean, you know, we won't really know until those caucus goers start showing up. But Trump is campaigning heavily there right now, trying to cut off the legs of anybody who is trying to get some early momentum in that state.

But you know, we've seen voters there who are willing to give him a pass on other issues, too. You know, his -- his marriage, marriages, you know, that don't really dovetail with evangelical values. He's still very popular and beloved in the evangelical community.

HARLOW: Yes. He really is, which is so interesting, compared to Mike Pence, who shares a lot of those values and has had the consistent position on abortion for his entire political career.

Elie, Merrick Garland, big testimony yesterday in front of House Judiciary, first time he's testified publicly since Donald Trump's indictments and Hunter Biden's indictment. I just want, for people who didn't watch all many hours, here is a little bit of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I reaffirm today I am not the president's lawyer.

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): Doesn't it look weird that he's making -- he's become this immediate success in the art world as his dad is president of the United States? Isn't that odd?

GARLAND: I'm not going to comment about any specific --

GAETZ: Not going to comment. Not going to investigate.

[06:25:00]

GARLAND: No one has told me to indict, and in this case, a decision to indict was made by the special counsel.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): So that statement the president [SIC] made on Sunday was false?

GARLAND: Just going to say again that no one has told me who should be indicted, in -- in any matter like this, and the decision about indictment was made by Mr. Smith.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): The fix is in. Even with the face-saving indictment last week of Hunter Biden, everyone knows the fix is in. There's one investigation protecting President Biden. There's another one attacking President Trump. Justice Department's got both sides of the equation covered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What -- what do we need to know about what happened yesterday? Obviously, there's a lot of political fireworks and a lot of things done for camera, but what did he actually say that matters?

HONIG: So Merrick Garland was trying to do two things at once here, as all attorney generals in that position try to do.

On the one hand, he was trying to stand up for the independence and integrity of the Justice Department.

On the other hand, he was trying to do it while saying absolutely nothing. And he's hamstrung necessarily. Because as the A.G., you cannot go into details of pending investigations. To do that would jeopardize those investigations. It would jeopardize the rights of the people being investigated.

I do think Merrick Garland succeeded on one count and sort of did not succeed on the other count. I think he successfully and clearly explained that the decision to charge Donald Trump was made by Jack Smith. That Joe Biden, the president, had nothing to do with that, notwithstanding Trump's constant refrain of the, quote, "Biden indictments." That I think Garland was crystal-clear on. There's no evidence to the

contrary.

The Hunter Biden issue, I think there's many questions that remain that Merrick Garland did not adequately explain. And again, to an extent he can't. He can't say, Let me explain to you exactly what's happening behind the scenes, why we've made this decision, why we've charged him thus far with gun crimes. Here's what may come.

So I think there's still plenty of questions about Hunter Biden and we'll see some of that picked up next week, perhaps, in the impeachment inquiry, when that kicks off.

MATTINGLY: Yes, Alex, to a point, and this dovetails with what Poppy's saying. You watch these hearings, and you know how much of it is kind of theatrical, performative. They want it on their YouTube channels.

But there are, to Elie's point, a series of questions related to the Hunter Bigen -- the failure of the plea deal, the indictment that came, the special counsel, that clarity is lacking. Regardless whether anybody did anything wrong outside of what's been charged up to this point.

When you talked to folks yesterday after the hearing, did anybody pick up and say, that was -- that was a moment that's going to matter later on?

THOMPSON: Well, I can tell you that people inside the White House have been, including yesterday, have been increasingly frustrated with Merrick Garland. It's not just Republicans that are upset with him. It's actually people in the White House, as well.

Because they essentially think Merrick Garland, in an attempt to placate people like Jim Jordan, who people in the White House and allies of the White House think are operating in bad faith; you're never going to placate him. And in an effort to do that, he's essentially outsourced every difficult political decision to special counsels.

And so now, you have this case where the most politically-fraught cases, the documents case against Joe Biden, the Hunter Biden case, and the cases against Donald Trump, are all now outsourced to special counsels. The A.G. has promised to give them independence. So he has no control.

And we're going to an election where all -- where the A.G. does not have control of the most politically sensitive cases. And this is what has really frustrated some folks in the White House, and Biden allies, as well.

HONIG: It's so interesting to hear that. We've talked about that very topic here. It seems to be Merrick Garland's go-to, fallback procedure. Just pick a special counsel. Off my plate. He thinks that unpoliticizes something? I'm not sure that's the case.

MATTINGLY: It's a really good point, for what's going on inside the White House.

Your titles are all -- are all extraordinary, but I'm not even going to try it.

HARLOW: You're not going to read them because I screwed them up?

MATTINGLY: I just -- I'm going to work on assumption that everyone knows them and that they assume I know them by heart. Mario, Alex, Elie, Michelle, thanks guys. Appreciate it.

HARLOW: All right. This. A black teenager in Texas suspended from school because of his hair? But could his school be breaking the law? We have that reporting ahead.

MATTINGLY: And right now an urgent manhunt is underway in Indianapolis after officials accidentally released a murder suspect from jail. What we're learning this hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]