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Writers and Studios Reach Tentative Deal to End Strike; Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) Makes no Progress on a Deal With Five Days Until Deadline; Growing Calls for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to Resign Over Bribery Charges. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired September 25, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:30]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a good Monday morning, everyone. We are glad you are with us.

Some good news this morning, a deal, one deal.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: One deal.

HARLOW: One of the many deals it needs to be made.

MATTINGLY: There's like 15 deals that need to be made right now, but, so far, one deal and that is important.

HARLOW: That is right. It is in Los Angeles, Hollywood, we're talking about.

Let's get started with five things to know for this Monday, September 25th. This breaking overnight, tentative deal in the Hollywood writers' strike after 146 days and countless picket lines.

MATTINGLY: But there is no deal in D.C., where a government shutdown is looking increasingly likely. The government runs out of money in five days and the GOP still split on a path forward.

And bad news for President Joe Biden, in a pair of new polls, 56 percent of Americans disapprove of how he's handling the job.

HARLOW: Also on the immigration front, the mayor of El Paso says his city is at a breaking point without enough resources to deal with another surge of migrants as Mexico makes an agreement with the United States to deport people to their home country.

MATTINGLY: And it is by far the most important story, not just in the nation, perhaps the entire world, Taylor Swift cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs, sitting next to Travis Kelsey's mom and fans. They can't get enough of trailer. We're going to work on that one.

CNN This Morning starts right now.

HARLOW: Are they really calling it Trailer Travis Kelsey, Taylor Swift? MATTINGLY: I mean, I guess it works. I don't think it's very catchy. Could we just note though that Ohio, great weekend for Ohio, not just the Buckeyes, Buckeyes beating the Irish but also Travis Kelsey is from Ohio.

HARLOW: Okay.

MATTINGLY: Ohio State is winning, Poppy.

HARLOW: All good things come from Ohio.

But this breaking overnight, the Hollywood writers' strike maybe coming to an end after nearly five months, the Writers Guild and the studios, we've learned, have reached a tentative deal and now the guild's members will vote on whether to accept it. Despite the deal, Hollywood remains paralyzed. Actors are still on strike as negotiations there drag on.

MATTINGLY: Now, the impact on the economy has been staggering. Economists say the strike has led to more than $5 billion dollars in losses, not only in Los Angeles but other film and T.V. production hubs like New York and Georgia.

CNN National Correspondent Camila Bernal is live for us in L.A. Camila, the Writers Guild says this deal is exceptional. They're not technically out of the strike yet. What happens next?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's still a big process here because we need the members to vote on this and ratify it. But, look, a lot of the writers that I talked to have told me they're excited, they're relieved. One of them told me I'm ready to go back to making magic. I'm ready to go back to telling stories.

But the guild is telling them not yet. No one is allowed to return to work. They're saying they need to figure out the legal language first. What they described it as is just dotting every single I. We do not know what is in this contract, but sources telling CNN that artificial intelligence was really the last sticking point that they had to work through.

I want to read part of the statement that the WGA put out. And this is what they're saying. What we have won in this contract, most particularly, everything we have gained since May 2nd is due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power, to demonstrate its solidarity, to work side by side, to endure the pain and uncertainty of the past 146 days.

So, after they figure out the language, there is going to be a leadership vote, and that will likely happen tomorrow. After that, we'll get all of the details on this deal, and the members will be able to ask questions and then vote on it.

The first thing that you're likely going to see return to normal, it's the talk shows, the late night shows. Those are really the first ones that we'll be able to go back on T.V. And you're seeing some of those on your screen. The biggest question, though, is what happens to the rest of T.V this year, and, really, movies next summer. And the thing is that those also are going to depend on the actors who are on strike as well. These two strikes together have been extremely difficult for this industry. It's sort of a domino effect, because it's not just Hollywood. It is really an entire country impacted by these two strikes. Phil?

MATTINGLY: Yes, no question, big first step. We'll see how this plays out. Camila Bernal, thank you.

[06:05:00]

BERNAL: Yes.

HARLOW: All right. Let's bring in CNN Contributor, Host of Entertainment Tonight Nischelle Turner.

Well, Nischelle, 146 days, they've got this tentative deal. What can you tell us about what it looks like is in there? I mean, because for the union to come out and say it's exceptional, it says a lot.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, it does say a lot. I mean, I think that the union also had to say something to its members to let them know that they were fighting and got some of the things that they were at a stalemate for. That's the use of artificial intelligence and the staffing in writer's rooms. I think those were the two big hang- ups that they were in the room for the last five days really trying to work out the language in that.

So, what they're saying to them is, we stood in there, we fought for you, we know what you wanted, and this is what we got.

It will be interesting to see tomorrow when the board has that vote, if they do ratify this new agreement. We know we won't see picketers anymore on the picket line, but the WGA has told its members, you are still on strike. So, it's not officially over, but it does look like that we're headed toward the finish line in this situation.

MATTINGLY: My assumption has been that if this deal was reached, the actors would follow suit fairly quickly thereafter, but there aren't any real tangible negotiations happening on that front right now. What's the expectation there?

TURNER: Well, Phil, I think that a lot of people would hope that your assumptions are correct. I'm not sure if they are. I mean, the actors are pretty stalwart in what they're saying as well.

I think the situation all along was hopefully that the writers would get something done because they went on strike first and then the actors would follow. The actors union is bigger, it's more powerful, but there's a lot of bad blood there.

I mean, the leadership in the actors union has been very vocal about how they feel about the heads of the studios. And so there hasn't been a lot of talk. They have not come back to the table in several months. And so we are not really sure what's going to happen there. But the hope is that everyone will get this resolved and everyone will get back to work.

HARLOW: We have also, most importantly this morning, learned the halftime performer for the Super Bowl.

MATTINGLY: It's huge news.

HARLOW: Nischelle, huge, huge news.

TURNER: Well, what I can tell you is Usher says this is a bucket list moment for him and he's being able to fulfill it by performing at the Super Bowl halftime show. I mean, he put out a really fun video announcing it yesterday. There was a lot of rumbling the last few weeks, who it was going to be. Would it be a boy band reunion? Would it be Taylor Swift? And I think we saw that that is not happening. So, now we know it's going to be Usher.

There were some critics early on, years before saying, does Usher have a big enough body of work? I think his Vegas residency and the popularity of that has shown people that there is an appetite for him, that he does have a huge discography (ph), he is an amazing performer, and I think it's going to be a halftime show to remember.

HARLOW: There you go. Nischelle Turner, thank you.

MATTINGLY: Does usher have a big enough body of work, just bangers, banger after banger. Confession, one of the best albums of all.

Oh, we're supposed to focus on the news, right. Yes, okay.

Also this morning, we've been talking about one deal one state of negotiations, move over from L.A. to D.C., not a lot of daylight in terms of what's happening next, a government shutdown becoming more and more likely as GOP hardliners are holding funding hostage with only five days left to reach a spending deal.

Now, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy worked through the weekend, but still does not have support from Republicans demanding huge spending cuts that they cannot force the Democrat-led Senate or White House to accept.

One way out of the crisis, McCarthy could work with Democrats on a temporary spending bill. But the most conservative Republicans are threatening that that could cost McCarthy his job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): We should have separate single subject spending bills. Kevin McCarthy promised that in January. He is in breach of that promise. So, I'm not here to hold the government hostage I'm here to hold Kevin McCarthy to his word.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: If Speaker McCarthy ultimately allows a deal to pass with Democratic votes, would you support ousting him from the speaker's chair? REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): That would be something I would look strongly at, ma'am, if we do away with our duty that we said we're going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: CNN's Lauren Fox joins us now.

All right, Lauren, they worked through the weekend, Garrett Graves and Patrick McHenry, the speaker's top two allies help negotiate the debt ceiling deal, are in the room, they're working on this. What's the path forward?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well what you are going to see and what the path forward are our two separate items, Phil. The path forward, of course, for McCarthy is to decide whether or not he's going to work with Democrats. We'll see if he gets there by the end of the week.

But what you will see from House Republicans is they are going to move forward with their plan to vote on individual spending bills.

[06:10:01]

These are bills that do not have support in the Senate. These are also bills that we don't know if they have the votes to pass.

Over the weekend, Republican leadership tried to encourage their members to rally around a short-term spending bill that included border security as a way to have a negotiating position with the Senate. The argument from leadership is that if we enter into a shutdown, our hand is not going to get any stronger.

But that message does not seem to be resonating with some of the hardliners that McCarthy has been dealing with over the last several months, including Matt Gaetz, who you heard from there.

So, right now, the question for McCarthy is when the end of the week comes and the Senate potentially sends him over a clean spending bill, just a couple of weeks stopgap measure to get them over this deadline, will he put it on the floor.

I tried to press the speaker on this question on Friday. He said it was hypothetical, and if it happened to give him a call, Phil.

MATTINGLY: It's not hypothetical. It's almost certainly going to happen. We will see how this plays out. Lauren Fox, a busy week ahead, thank you.

HARLOW: All right. Ahead for us, growing calls from Democrats both nationally and in New Jersey for Senator Bob Menendez to resign after he was indicted on bribery charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is no way that any public official has any legal or plausible or ethical explanation for having five hundred thousand dollars in cash stuffed in jackets and envelopes throughout their home, gold bars that have the fingerprints and DNA of someone who you were attempting to fix the system for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: To any New Jersey voters watching right now who may have concerns that, again, you're facing scrutiny over corruption, what is your response to them?

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ): The response to that is simply that number one, this inquiry will end up I believe in absolutely nothing. And if anyone looks at my history on Egypt, they would know that by both denying aid to Egypt, denying arms sales to Egypt, criticizing its human rights record, I'm not in a position to be helpful to anyone as it relates to Egypt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well that was the last time that New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez was on CNN. That was back in April, and you heard him there tell us he was not in a position to be helpful to anyone relating Egypt.

But federal prosecutors disagree, saying he took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and cash, in gold bars and expensive gifts in exchange for helping New Jersey meat companies secure a big contract with the Egyptian government.

The New Jersey Advanced Media reports he's going to hold a press conference, news conference, this morning.

MATTINGLY: Now, Menendez says he's, quote, not going anywhere as he faces growing calls to resign from within his own party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I do believe that it is in the best interest for Senator Menendez to resign in this moment. As you mentioned, consistency matters. It shouldn't matter whether it's a Republican or a Democrat.

The details in this indictment are extremely serious. They involve the nature of not just his but all of our seats in Congress.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): This is a very serious charge. There's no question about it.

In terms of resignation, that's a decision to be made by Senator Menendez and the people of New Jersey.

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): Well these are serious and shocking charges, bribery, corruption. I've never seen anything like this.

I think Senator Menendez is going to have to think long and hard about the cloud that's going hang over his service in the United States Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Also, six of nine House Democrats in New Jersey have already called for Menendez to resign, as has Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman.

So, who is defending Menendez? Republican Congressman George Santos, who, we should note, is facing 13 federal criminal charges related to alleged financial crimes himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GEORGE SANTOS (R-NY): I think due process is important, and I think he has the right to defend himself.

When did we walk away from the fabric of our Constitution that everybody has a presumption of innocence before anything else? So, I don't think he should resign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Joining us now, New York Times Reporter Tracey Tully. She covers New Jersey for the paper. Thank you very much for being with us.

TRACEY TULLY, REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Thank you for having me.

HARLOW: Just a read to people from this indictment, quote, among other actions, Menendez provided sensitive U.S. government information and took other steps that secretly aided the government of Egypt. Explain why this is different than a handful of years ago when it ended in a mistrial, because this is about U.S. state secrets.

TULLY: Yes, it's a very different indictment than we saw back then. It accuses him of two things, both helping Egypt but also trying to influence several criminal prosecutions, one in a state court and at least one in federal court.

MATTINGLY: The difference in the response from New Jersey Democrats has been dramatic from the first indictment, where you saw everyone, the second the indictment came in, backing him, supporting him, contributing to his legal defense fund.

With the exception of George Santos, who is not a New Jersey Democrat, he's a New York Republican, I'm not sure that's the ally you necessarily want to have behind you in a situation like this, I haven't seen anybody prominent really coming out in a major way to defend him. What does it tell you about what's next? TULLY: He's alone. He doesn't have the support that he had back in 2015. Today, he's about to go back to Union City, which is his home turf, where he was raised, where he was a mayor, he was on the school board as a 20-year-old, and it's home. And he's really focusing on going back there.

But, yes, I mean, it means a tougher road ahead if he should seek re- election.

HARLOW: Right. He can technically still serve. He can't be the chair of that committee, but he can still serve.

Democratic Senator from New Jersey Cory Booker has not said anything yet. Does that change today?

TULLY: I think that we may hear something from Senator Booker sooner rather than later. I don't know what he will say. He's been a very close friend and ally to Senator Menendez and they've been good partners.

MATTINGLY: Can I just ask real quick for context, for people who might not understand?

[06:20:01]

Senator Menendez or kind of the New Jersey politics, his weight inside the state is significant. And part of the reason everybody got behind him after the first indictment is there's some fear that comes with taking him on or going against him, fear I think he underscored when there was a mistrial, when he basically said, anybody who didn't stay with me, I remember who you are. I'm paraphrasing here. Contextualize him in the state of New Jersey politics.

TULLY: He's a survivor. He's been there forever. He came up through Hudson County, which is kind of a bare-knuckle political area. And the climate too is the difference. There's a Democratic governor. So, where he to step down, the Democratic governor would appoint versus way back when there was a Republican governor at times. So, the math is a little bit different.

HARLOW: Tracey Tully, thanks for your reporting on this. I appreciate it.

MATTINGLY: One of the star witnesses in the January 6th hearing says she's, quote, coming out of hiding as she prepares to release a book with new allegations. Former Trump White House Aide Cassidy Hutchinson sat down for her first T.V. interview since her testimony with CBS Sunday Morning. Her new book includes a new claim that Rudy Giuliani groped her, which he denies.

Hutchinson is defending her testimony to the January 6th committee, including an anecdote about Donald Trump allegedly lunging for the steering wheel of his presidential limo when the Secret Service refused to take him to the Capitol on the day of the insurrection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CASSIDY HUTCHINSON, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE AIDE: I felt torn a lot of the time because I knew what I knew and I wanted to come forward with what I knew. But at the same time, I didn't want to feel like I was betraying them and I didn't want to feel like I was betraying my colleagues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You admitted in the book you've admitted here that you told less than the truth, that you lied. Why should we believe you now?

HUTCHIHNSON: Because what would I have to gain by coming forward? It would have been easier for me to continue being complicit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Hutchinson will speak with our very own Jake Tapper this week. You can hear more on what she says happened inside the White House as those protesters stormed the Capitol. That interview airs tomorrow at 4:00 P.M. Eastern.

MATTINGLY: Well, President Biden's approval rating continues to struggle, even among Democrats. We're breaking down brand new polling and the 2024 race for the White House.

HARLOW: Plus, Biden and Trump set to square off in Michigan this week as auto workers continue their strike. We'll have a preview of their dueling trips to this battleground state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:00]

HARLOW: All right, welcome back. A pair of new polls raising some fresh concerns for Democrats about President Biden's chances of winning re-election in the fall, next fall, NBC News, this survey released over the weekend shows that president's job approval is under water. 56 percent say they disapprove of his performance so far. And that trashed with CNN's poll of polls on his average approval rating.

MATTINGLY: Another poll released this weekend from The Washington Post and ABC News is painting a similar picture from within Biden's own party. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats surveyed say they want another option at the top of the ticket in 2024.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg dismissing the concerns when asked about those polls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We're an administration that isn't all about the polls. We recognize that if we get the results over time, people will come to appreciate that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Joining us now to discuss, Washington Correspondent for Bloomberg, Saleha Mohsin, Politics Reporter for Semafor Shelby Talcott and CNN Political Commentator and Spectrum News Political Anchor Errol Louis. Guys, welcome to the table. Thank you very much.

All right, Shelby, I'll start with you. The polling at this point, 14 months out, national polls not totally sure how much you want to grab onto them and say this means everything. However, there's a consistent thread here in terms of where the president sits within his own party. If you're the Biden team right now, what are you thinking when you see these numbers?

SHELBY TALCOTT, POLITICS REPORTER, SEMAFOR: Oh, I'm thinking first of all, and I've talked to a lot of Democrats close to the White House about the fact that, particularly on things like the economy, it seems like their messaging or whatever they're doing is just not resonating with voters, so the numbers that they're seeing coming out of the White House, voters aren't feeling that.

And so when I talk to people, they say, well, just give it time. As you said, we still have a while to go until a general election. And the more that they push out this messaging, a lot of people close to the White House believe that it will kind of naturally begin to resonate with voters. But I think it's clearly a concern. And I also think it's a concern how many voters seem to have an issue with Biden's age and questions about his health.

We've talked about this before. A lot of voters seem to want someone younger now. The interesting thing is Trump is not necessarily that much younger, but the concern over Biden's health and age is much higher than the concern over Trump's.

HARLOW: Errol, the fact that it was a Washington Post/ABC poll, and what it showed in terms of a hypothetical 2024 matchup between Biden and Trump is huge, it has Trump leading by about 10 points, 51 to 42. But both ABC and The Washington Post added to their poll results by a caveat, which is unique for them to do basically saying this could be an outlier because the NBC poll has the two head to head at 46, 46. What should we make of that?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You should make of it that they weren't entirely certain that they got this right. And we should -- why publish it? It's a good question. Why do people think that it might be off?

Well, if you look at it a little bit, and we don't have the full cross-tabulations, we don't have all of the numbers, but this poll assumes, among other things, that support from, say, black voters and Latino voters is only at 50 percent for Joe Biden.

Now, you know, the way he actually performed in 2020, he won the Latino vote two-to-one and something like three-to-one or more with black voters. So, if that changed, this poll is, you know, I think owes us an explanation or those who want to rely on it should ask themselves, well, what changed and what changed in the last six months with Latino voters to suddenly abandon and if is that the problem.

[06:30:04] So, if you wanted to compare it to a car that doesn't to be functioning, you've got to ask yourself, is it out of -