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CNN This Morning

Bob Menendez to Speak on Charges Today; Autoworkers Expand Strikes; Janna Levin is Interviewed about NASA's Asteroid Samples. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 25, 2023 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:33:11]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this just into CNN, embattled Senator Bob Menendez is set to speak later today at 11:30 a.m. from a community college in New Jersey. Now, there have been growing calls for him to resign after he was indicted on bribery charges. Those calls even coming from within his own party.

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REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I do believe that it is in the best interests 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.

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 to hang over his service in the United States Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, Menendez denies taking thousands of dollars in bribes, including cash, gold, and lavish gifts -- you see some of them there on the screen -- in exchange for using his office to aid Egypt's government.

CNN's Kara Scannell joins us now.

Look, Kara, the big question, and I think we kind of have a sense of the answer, what's he going to say at this public - first public appearance today?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, I mean that is the thing. This is the first time he's going to step before the cameras since he was indicted on Friday. And on Friday he did come out twice with two defiant statements saying, I am not going anywhere. So, I think we'll probably hear more of the same. He is up for re-election. So, we'll be looking to see what he says about his political plans.

But, you know, this is the second time in a decade that Menendez has been indicted on corruption charges. And that last time, he went to trial, he never resigned from his seat. He was ultimately - it was interesting, there was a mistrial. The judge acquitted him on some charges. And then the Justice Department said they were not going to retry him on the remaining charges in that case.

Now, according to this indictment, this alleged scheme began just weeks after that case ended.

[08:35:03]

So, it's a real -- I mean it's just kind of a real interesting decade for Menendez here and what the prosecutors are alleging.

But, you know, these are serious charges. He is due in court on Wednesday by a court summons -- him, his wife, and three other co- defendants -- to face these charges. And will - that will be then the next time we may see him speak about this.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: One of the things that I think is interesting about this, and important, is that it's very different than the last corruption trial. There are three really serious charges in here. He could face up to 20 years in prison. I'm not saying the last ones weren't serious, but this is - I mean partially involves sensitive U.S. government information. Can you explain to people sort of the three prongs?

SCANNELL: Right. I mean so there are three criminal counts here. And what prosecutors say is that Menendez had abused his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he had a very important role about whether Egypt could get military aid and financing, something that they were needing. And so according to this indictment, Menendez had sent sensitive information to an intermediary that got to the Egyptian government. He held meetings with Egyptian military officials in his office without his staff. And, you know, one of the allegations is that he ghost wrote a letter for Egypt to send to other U.S. senators to try to convince them to lift a hold on $300 million in aid to Egypt. And those are some of the alleged acts that the prosecutors say he took as part of this scheme. And they also say he tried to interfere with two different criminal investigations facing one of these businessmen, who is also indicted alongside him, and then associates of another businessman in this scheme, saying that he was trying to help them, so interfering in Justice Department, in New Jersey attorney general's office investigations.

HARLOW: Will we see him at the -- it's a federal court, right? So, we'll see him on Wednesday?

SCANNELL: I mean, I'll see him on Wednesday.

HARLOW: There won't be -

SCANNELL: There won't be cameras in the courtroom.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCANNELL: But we will see him walk into court and we'll see him walk out, because there's not likely to be an issue of a detention here.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCANNELL: So, it's very possible we'll see him address the cameras then.

HARLOW: And you'll be there.

Thank you, Kara.

MATTINGLY: Thanks, Kara.

HARLOW: This morning, the U.S. ambassador to Canada revealing what led Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to blame the Indian government for the assassination of a Sikh activist on Canadian soil. David Cohen told CTV the information came through Five Eyes, which, of course, is the intelligence sharing pact between the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Cohen says the U.S. has expressed their concern to India and asked that the government cooperate with Canada's ongoing investigation.

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DAVID COHEN, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CANADA: The United States takes very seriously these allegations. And, you know, if they prove to be true, it is a potentially very serious breach of the rules-based international order in which we like to function.

This is something we're treating. We take very seriously. And we think it's very important to get to the bottom of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: We should note, India has denied the claims, calling them absurd and motivated.

MATTINGLY: Well, the autoworkers union expanding its strike with huge economic consequences at stake. What car owners and buyers might see, just ahead.

HARLOW: Usher is your halftime performer for Super Bowl 58.

MATTINGLY: Come on.

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[08:42:12]

HARLOW: So, the strike is not over. In fact, it's expanding. The United Auto Workers union making that targeted strike larger against GM and Stellantis, just a week after their contract expired. The union president, Shawn Fain, says those two companies are not bringing, quote, a serious offer to workers. Though he does note that Ford is.

But with no resolution likely in the short-term, what are the effects on car owners, prospective car buyers, average Americans.

Vanessa Yurkevich joining us now.

I know you're headed back to Detroit very shortly, but where do things stand now, because I thought that was surprising to read. They think Ford is coming to the table in a serious way. The other two, no.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly. And just in the first week of the strike we saw an economic impact of about $1.8 billion. Those were just the three plants that were on strike across all three automakers. You had losses of wages totaling $250 million. You had losses to consumers and car dealerships of $470 billion. So that was just before these additional 38 targeted strikes across all of GM and Stellantis' parts and distribution centers.

Ford, as you mentioned, not on that list because Shawn Fain said that he felt like there was enough negotiating, there was a good deal so far -- or good offer so far from Ford. Enough progress was made on their front.

But what we need to look out for going forward here is, what is the expanded impact on consumers? Because essentially when you take out parts and distribution across two big automakers, that has a ripple effect down to dealerships. Dealerships provide service to everyday Americans who want to go in and get their cars fixed. And when you don't have those parts coming into those dealerships, they can't do repairs. And that's actually a huge part of their income is repairs for everyday Americans. So, they may have to turn people away. And then, in turn, they will turn up the temperature on GM and Stellantis to potentially come to a deal faster or negotiate a little bit better with the union because eventually this is going to hurt the dealership's bottom line.

MATTINGLY: The negotiations themselves, I'm kind of fascinated by the way Ford has broken off a little bit in terms of the talks.

YURKEVICH: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Because, historically, what the union would do is kind of pick one representative of the big three -

YURKEVICH: Right.

MATTINGLY: Work with them, and then it would kind of spread after a deal was reached. Is that what's happening here? Because they're still punishing the other two in terms of these closures right now.

YURKEVICH: It's not what's happening because from the very beginning the unions said that they were going after all three. MATTINGLY: Right.

YURKEVICH: They were not picking a target. It's just right now Ford seems to be the company out of the big three that is putting the best offer on the table.

However, despite offering costs of living increases, transitioning temporary workers to full-time workers, providing job security in their latest offer, both sides, the union and Ford, say they are -- there's a huge gap on the economic issues.

[08:45:03]

So, you're talking about wages. You're talking about potentially bringing back pensions that the workers gave up in 2009, and retiree benefits. There's still a large gap there. One thing to note, though, is, Ford made a deal with Unifor, which is the Canadian union. And in that deal we did see that Ford brought back pensions. So, it will be interesting to see if the UAW is looking at that Canadian deal and saying, well, wait a minute, you brought back pensions for our Canadian counterparts. Let's see what we can do at the table here in the U.S.

HARLOW: That's a great point.

MATTINGLY: (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: Look forward to having you on from Detroit (INAUDIBLE).

YURKEVICH: Yes, I'll see you tomorrow for Detroit.

HARLOW: Thank you, Vanessa.

YURKEVICH: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, new this morning, the wife of actor Bruce Willis is speaking out about his condition. In an interview with NBC, Emma Heming Willis discussed how the family was coping in the face of Willis' frontotemporal dementia.

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EMMA HEMING WILLIS, BRUCE WILLIS' WIFE: You know what I'm learning is that dementia is hard. It's hard on the person diagnosed. It's also hard on the family. And that is no different for Bruce or myself or our girls. And when they say that this is a family disease, it really is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does he know what's going on? Is that something that he is aware of?

WILLIS: Hard to know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hard to know.

WILLIS: It's hard to know. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

WILLIS: Honestly, he is the gift that keeps on giving. Love, patience, resilience. So much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, Willis and his family went public with his diagnosis this past February. Frontotemporal dementia is a progressive condition that can effect a person's communication and change their personality.

Well, for the - go ahead.

HARLOW: I'm sorry, I was just so struck listening to his wife.

MATTINGLY: Hard to watch.

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

Thinking the best to their entire family.

Well, for the first time, a NASA spacecraft has brought samples from an asteroid back to earth. This mission has been seven years in the making. What we can learn from these samples. We're going to break it down, next.

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[08:51:05]

MATTINGLY: Well, this just in to CNN, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that American Abrams tanks have arrived in Ukraine and are, quote, "getting prepared to reinforce our brigades." Zelenskyy writing on Telegram that he is, quote, "grateful to our allies for fulfilling the agreements. We are looking forward for our new contracts and expanding the geography of supply."

HARLOW: We'll keep a close eye on that.

Meantime, a major milestone for NASA.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touchdown. I repeat, DDL (ph). Our first d (ph) has touched down.

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HARLOW: The space agency finally has its hands on an asteroid sample. Seven years after launching to space, a NASA spacecraft delivered a capsule containing the sample early on Sunday morning. We are told that that capsule contains dust and rocks from the asteroid. Scientists will now spend years studying the rare cosmic gift, hoping to understand the details about the origins of the solar system. With us at the table, astrophysicist Janet Levin. She's also professor

of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University and the author of the book, "Black Hole Survival Guide."

Good morning.

JANNA LEVIN, PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY, BARNARD COLLEGE OF COLUMBIA: Good morning.

HARLOW: I geeked out reading a lot on it this morning. It's super interesting.

LEVIN: That's right. Yes.

HARLOW: Phil just wants to say the actual name.

LEVIN: OSIRIS-REx.

HARLOW: Yes. Whatever that tis.

LEVIN: Yes, OSIRIS-REx. Yes, it's a very long acronym.

HARLOW: But it - but it's amazing what it was able to do.

LEVIN: It is incredible because the material on this asteroid we think is much more similar to how the solar system was when it first formed 4.5 billion years ago. So, it actually came from an asteroid belt that's between Mars and Jupiter. And we know we have this image of asteroid belts as being very dense and you can't navigate through, but we've sent spacecraft through. It's not that bad. But it is dense enough that there are coalitions and this asteroid was cast out and is now in a near earth orbit around the sun. So we were able to get to it easily, but it has this kind of ancient rock and material.

MATTINGLY: What's the first thing - so, this -- they have this in hand.

LEVIN: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Probably not literally in your hands, but in some vessel.

LEVIN: Yes.

MATTINGLY: What are they doing right now? Like, this is a years' long process, I presume.

LEVIN: Yes.

MATTINGLY: What are they first trying to find out?

LEVIN: So, the first thing they've done is they've moved it to a green room locally in Utah where they collected it. I should say, the spacecraft was about a third of the way to the moon when it sent it to earth, this capsule, and then it jettisoned away. So the capsule came on its own and it was recovered and it's 120 pounds. So, it was carried -- first helicoptered and then put on a cart, literally, and then moved into the Johnson Space Center at -- in Houston, where it's going to be divvied up a little bit among scientists and studied to see if there are these kind of precious amino acids that we think might have launched life here on earth. So, it's unclear if earth had what it takes to initiate life on its own without asteroids bringing material to initiate the entire process.

HARLOW: This might sound like a dumb question. How did it get the rocks and the dirt?

LEVIN: Yes.

HARLOW: Like, you've got this asteroid and you've got the spacecraft.

LEVIN: Yes. Right.

HARLOW: Does it land, scoop them up, take off?

LEVIN: Yes, it's a great question because it's really quite small.

HARLOW: Yes.

LEVIN: It's only a few hundred meters across. And it's really more of a kind of collection of debris that's loosely stuck together, a little bit of gravity. And so what the spacecraft did it is dropped down really fast and it stuck down a little probe to kind of kick up dust purposefully, gather some material, and pop off again. And it didn't stay. It was - It was a fly by. It was a drop, a punch and then it left.

And - and so it happened to get enough material. And it -- the whole thing turned out to be rockier than we expected, looser than we expected. It really penetrated right into the soil as though there wasn't any solid surface. So, even that part, which happened in 2020, was quite amazing.

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: It's remarkable. How quickly do you think people will have a sense of, if it has the answers in terms of the amino acid, just in general?

LEVIN: It's a great question. We do have theories, techniques to study the amino acids to see if water is sealed inside, but there are certainly probably some tests and things we haven't even thought of.

[08:55:04]

When we look at the Apollo mission, bringing back moon rocks, we did not know there was water trapped in these rocks until 40 years later. There were scientists who hadn't been born when the collections were first made who invent techniques to study them in the labs. This is very much, if you hear the NASA scientists talk about it, they're saying, in the future there are scientists not yet born who will study these rocks.

HARLOW: And it goes on now to do this again at another asteroid, right?

LEVIN: Yes. Yes. It's on its way to another asteroid. And it won't be there until 2029.

HARLOW: OK. We'll be watching.

LEVIN: We'll be watching.

HARLOW: Janna, thank you so much.

MATTINGLY: Thank you very much.

LEVIN: Thanks for having me.

HARLOW: Thank you all for joining us on this Monday. Have a great day. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" is next.

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