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CNN This Morning

UAW President to Join President Biden on Picket Line; House Returns to Vote on Spending Bills; Trump Fights Special Counsel's Gag Order Request; Eagle Pass, Texas Mayor to Extend Emergency Declaration; Growing Calls for Sen. Bob Menendez to Resign. Aired 6- 6:30a ET

Aired September 26, 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: Good morning, everyone. So glad you are with us. There's a lot of news to get to this morning. Let's start with "Five Things to Know" for this Tuesday, September 26.

Well, President Biden hits the autoworkers' picket line today in an historic first for a sitting president. Also, Trump will be there tomorrow as he skips a Republican debate to also speak with union autoworkers in the Motor City.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: And breaking overnight: the debate stage is now set for the second GOP primary debate, the one Trump will not attend. DeSantis, Haley, Scott, Ramaswamy, Pence, Christie and Burgum, they all made the cut. Asa Hutchinson did not.

And the House is back in session today, but there is no deal in sight. Without one, the federal government shuts down in just four days.

HARLOW: Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson painting a chaotic picture of the last days of the Trump presidency. This all in her new book, where she says Trump told his chief of staff, quote, "I don't want people to know we lost. This is embarrassing."

MATTINGLY: And police are looking for this man in connection with the fentanyl day care death. Prosecutors say he fled through a back alley carrying two bags.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

HARLOW: So it's interesting. Biden is leaving Washington today.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

HARLOW: The House and Senate have to figure out how to keep on --

MATTINGLY: Everything's going great. It is good.

HARLOW: Everything's going great. But the fact that he's going to Michigan to the picket line with autoworkers, never happened before. MATTINGLY: There was no historic precedent for this. And it

underscores the importance not just of one labor dispute but the role, both politically, policy, and macro economically --

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: -- that this is all playing out right now as we head towards an election year.

HARLOW: To be followed by Trump.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

HARLOW: Who, by the way, said he was going there first. Right?

MATTINGLY: He did indeed.

HARLOW: All right. We'll watch that very closely, because just hours from now, President Biden will go to that picket line. He will be with those workers in Michigan for their continuing strike against the big three automakers. This is unprecedented for a sitting U.S. president.

MATTINGLY: And it comes just one day, as Poppy noted, before Donald Trump is planning his own visit to Detroit to speak to autoworkers. These dueling visits to a battleground state could be our clearest preview yet of a potential Biden/Trump rematch next year as they fight for the union's crucial endorsement.

Now notably, a source tells CNN the president of the United Auto Workers union will be joining Biden on the picket line, but the union is not involved with Trump's visit.

HARLOW: Jeremy Diamond live at the White House with a lot more. This is interesting, because a week ago, the White House was pulling back their advisers on this issue, to not go to Michigan. Now the president is going. What's he going to do and say?

JEREMY DIAMOND, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no doubt about it. And it shows one sign is that there's been progress in these talks. And that's perhaps why the president is choosing this moment now to go there.

But it also shows this potential contrast with former President Trump, who is going to Michigan tomorrow to address current and former union members.

Now, the White House officially denies that there is any connection between the president's visit and the former president's plans to deliver a speech in Detroit tomorrow.

But, look at this White House fact sheet that the White House released just this morning, talking about the fact that former President Trump talked a big game but did not deliver in the way that President Biden has for union workers.

Contrasting President Biden's economic record, his record on manufacturing and his record specifically with unions with that of the former president.

Talking, for example, about bringing manufacturing back to the United States, policies that incentivize union work to be done with that manufacturing, comparing that to the Trump tax cuts, which the Biden administration says did not benefit the working class.

But this will certainly be one of our first signs of a preview of this potential 2024 matchup as both of these candidates have repeatedly tried to vie for that working-class vote.

President Biden has called himself the most pro-union president. He has racked up a series of union endorsements. The one endorsement he has yet to secure, though, is that of the UAW's. And that is, perhaps, a part of his visit today, is to do the work to try and get that endorsement.

Shawn Fain, the president of the UAW, is expected to be with President Biden as the president goes to the picket line today in Wayne County, Michigan. We don't know exactly where that will be. But once again, an opportunity for President Biden to tout his pro-union bona fides.

But whether or not he supports everything the UAW is doing here. The White House press secretary said simply the president is standing with union workers, but she would not say whether he endorses all of their positions in these negotiations -- Phil, Poppy.

HARLOW: That's important to know. Among them, a four-day work week. Do they stand behind the specifics or not? Jeremy, thanks very much.

MATTINGLY: Well, right down the road on Pennsylvania Avenue, the House is back in session today with just four days until the government shuts down.

And pressure is continuing to mount on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who must decide between shutting down or working with Democrats and risk losing his job.

Now, the Biden administration is warning of dire consequences if the government cannot fund itself, saying, quote, "The speaker has to do his job."

Today lawmakers are scheduled to at least start the procedural route of voting on four spending bills, but each one of those bills still faces very real uncertainty on the House floor.

CNN's Lauren Fox joins us now.

Lauren, look, I don't really want to focus on the procedural hurdles or even necessarily the messaging bills --

HARLOW: You don't?

MATTINGLY: -- they're trying to move this week. I do. But I'm cognizant that Fox and I could do this for, like, three hours.

Tell me the end game here. The Senate is starting to move on something. The House is continuing to negotiate, four days left. Where do things actually stand?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Phil. Let's start with the Senate. Because that is the piece of legislation that, if it can get passed out of that chamber, could potentially stave off a shutdown on Saturday at midnight.

The Senate negotiators, between Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's staff and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's staff, they continued to work into the night last night, trying to find a path forward that would fund the government for just a matter of weeks at this point.

It would not be a one-year spending bill but just a short-term stopgap to get them over that deadline.

The expectation is that bill may not be able to include the full supplemental funding for Ukraine aid. That is because you have warnings from conservatives, like Senator Rand Paul, who are arguing they will slow down the process to get this bill moving through the Senate.

And given the fact there are time constraints, because this deadline is coming Saturday night, that is a big consideration here for Republicans and Democrats. Even though there are plenty of members in that chamber who would like to include disaster aid and Ukraine funding.

So those pieces are still being negotiated and worked out, but given the fact that we don't have many -- much time left, Phil, you may see a situation where that bill may be unveiled as soon as today.

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, there still is not a clear path forward. There is still not consensus among House Republicans on what a short-term solution would even look like.

That is setting up the scenario that, if the Senate can pass their bill quickly and out of their chamber, they could potentially put McCarthy in a position where he would be jammed, as we say, in congressional speak, by the United States Senate. And then would have to make that very important and impactful decision: Does he put this negotiated piece of legislation on the floor? And would he risk potentially ending his speakership over that?

MATTINGLY: The inevitable end game here of, if House Republicans don't pass anything, they are going to get jammed by the Senate. And everyone knows it. And yet here we are. Four days, 17 hours, 52 minutes left, I believe, on the clock.

Lauren probably won't sleep until we get through all of that. Lauren Fox, thank you.

HARLOW: Well, this new overnight, Donald Trump fighting back against the special counsel, Jack Smith's, request for a gag order in his federal election probe. His lawyers say it would violate his right to free speech. They're accusing prosecutors of trying to silence Trump as he is running for president. The special counsel requested a gag order to block Trump from

threatening or intimidating witnesses on social media and to prevent him from tainting the jury pool.

MATTINGLY: But Trump's legal team is urging the judge to reject that request. In a court filing overnight, they claim it would strip Trump, quote, "of his First Amendment freedoms during the most important months of his campaign against President Biden."

Let's bring in CNN senior crime and justice reporter Katelyn Polantz. Katelyn, Trump's lawyer said this gag order would be unconstitutional. What happens next here?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the judge is going to have to determine what to do here, because this is actually a pretty important debate to be had. It is one that Donald Trump's team is framing as political censorship.

They're saying he shouldn't be restricted. It's not fair. He's running for president. There was an indictment against him that allowed the special counsel to levy the charges.

There's Joe Biden out there also campaigning for president, not the same thing, because Trump is a criminal defendant here. But that's the -- the plane that they want to be talking about this on.

Whereas the Justice Department, they want to be making sure that the trial that Donald Trump is going to have in Washington, D.C., in federal court, scheduled for March, is fair; so that witnesses aren't chilled in some way; and so that jurors come into that courtroom trusting the judge and having an open mind to the witnesses that are testifying.

[06:10:03]

One of the things that Trump's team said in this filing overnight: "The proposed gag order is nothing more than an obvious attempt by the Biden administration to unlawfully silence its most prominent political opponent."

Now, it isn't as broad as saying Donald Trump can't speak at all about the case, at least what the Justice Department is asking for. We don't know what the judge is going to do here, but what the Justice Department wants, is they want some limitations on what Donald Trump can say about the specific people in this case: witnesses, the judge, the prosecutors, things that he can say that could damage their credibility or possibly be inflammatory or harassment toward them. So that's the restriction that they want.

But it is going to be in the judge's court. And whenever this judge, Tanya Chutkan, does something here to respond to the Justice Department's ask, there's going to be a question of what the consequence could be for Donald Trump.

His lawyers say in the filing, let's be clear, the prosecution hopes to create a contempt trap for President Trump and his attorneys. So at the end of the day, there's going to be a question that, if there is something like this put over Donald Trump, a limited gag order, does -- is that legal, first of all?

And second of all, is it something that could chill his -- his rights and could be something that could cause him or the judge to want to put him in jail or restrict him even further if he doesn't follow it?

MATTINGLY: Yes. Huge questions. No precedent. Uncharted territory, for sure. Katelyn Polantz, keep us posted. Thank you.

HARLOW: So the city of El Paso is now grappling with about 2,000 migrant encounters a day at the border. Officials there warning this influx is not stopping any time soon. Shelter capacity now running out in that city.

MATTINGLY: And for the first time since those deadly wild fires ravaged Maui, Lahaina residents are returning to the burn zone to see the damage for themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAWNI KATAYAMA, LAHAINA RESIDENT: It's hard to process. It's weird. It looks like out of a horror movie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:35]

HARLOW: Welcome back. Well, this morning, the migrant crisis is escalating. There's a new report that says the U.S. immigration courts have a backlog of 2.6 million cases.

Thousands more migrants arriving at the border each day. Hundreds of them already sleeping on the streets in El Paso, Texas. The mayor says his city is just tapped out.

Meantime, in Eagle Pass, Texas, the mayor there is pleading for help as he plans to extend the city's emergency disaster declaration today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ROLANDO SALINAS, EAGLE PASS, TEXAS: We need bigger action, better action from our federal government and the -- the Mexican government, as well. It's impacting our safety. It's impacting our economy. It's just a mess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Our Rosa Flores following all of this. She joins us live from Houston.

You're on the ground. You're seeing this. And for people who want to put context to that number, almost 3 million cases waiting to go through the immigration courts. Those are asylum seekers. And when those get backed up, everything else gets backed up.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, and when all of these migrants were arriving at the U.S. Southern border, Poppy, you probably don't know, is that they're entering this backlogged system.

As you mentioned, there are about 2.6 million deportation cases that are on the docket right now. This is according to a Syracuse University group that analyzes federal data. And they found that, from October of last year to August of this year, 1.2 million new cases.

Now, what this means, Poppy -- and this is important -- when migrants cross the border illegally, what happens is law enforcement process them. They have to determine at that point if these individuals have a legal basis to stay in the United States. If not, they are deported.

If they're able to stay, they get something called an NTA, a notice to appear. That's a notice to appear in immigration court. These individuals have to go through immigration proceedings, and in essence, they have to defend themselves. Tell the court that they have a right to stay here. A lot of them in many cases do seek asylum.

Now, where are these individuals going? According to this analysis, they're going to all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Some of the states that are at the top of the list are California, Florida, New York and Texas.

Now, I could talk about this all day, Poppy, but I want to leave you with this. Because this group usually estimates the number -- the amount of waiting time for these cases. And now they're not even estimating this waiting time --

HARLOW: Wow.

FLORES: -- because they say that a lot of these cases don't have hearing dates.

What I can tell you, from talking to a federal law enforcement source in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, is this individual has witnessed migrants getting some of these NTAs right now. And this individual says that some migrants are getting some dates as early as November and as late as 2028.

HARLOW: 2028?

FLORES: 2028.

HARLOW: Wow. Before you go, we talked yesterday about this new agreement the U.S. and Mexico have, where Mexico is agreeing to deport people who come right up to the border in Mexico to their home cities. Has there been reaction to that on the ground?

FLORES: You know, immigration advocacy organizations and human rights groups have condemned this move. And they -- what they're calling it is -- they say that this is Mexico doing America's dirty work South of the border. Here is what one organization said. Quote, "For years the United

States' government has spent billions of dollars forcing Mexico to do its dirty work in preventing asylum seekers who are fleeing for their lives from ever stepping on U.S. soil."

What these organizations are saying, that U.S. law allows migrants to go to a port of entry and seek asylum. Well, right now, that's not happening. And that's one of the issues that they have.

Now, Poppy, what we're also learning is what the U.S. is doing as part of this agreement. I know you and I talked about this yesterday. We knew a lot about what Mexico is doing. But what is the U.S. doing?

HARLOW: Right.

FLORES: From talking to a senior CBP official, this individual says that one of the things that they're doing is mirror patrols. And what this means is that Mexican law enforcement and U.S. law enforcement are going to have -- are patrolling the border at the same time. So whenever an individual is apprehended, if they're apprehended by U.S. immigration authorities, U.S. law applies, obviously.

But if they're apprehended by Mexico, as we talked about yesterday, Mexico has pledged that they're going to return these individuals to their home countries.

[06:20:06]

HARLOW: Helpful additional information, Rosa. Thank you for reporting for us live from Houston this morning.

The mayor of El Paso, Oscar Lesser [SIC], will be with us in just under two hours' time in the 8 a.m. Eastern hour. We'll talk about all of that ahead -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Well, this morning, residents of Lahaina, Hawaii, are returning to the burn zone for the first time since the catastrophic August wildfires that devastated parts of the island of Maui.

After more than six weeks of waiting, families are being allowed back in. They're having to wear head-to-toe protective gear to see the ashy remnants of their homes and lives for the first time. It's a difficult and, of course, emotional process for many.

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KATAYAMA: We had a home with a yard and a neighborhood. And it's not possible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, it's going to break our family apart.

I just can't believe it's gone. It's heartbreaking, you know. All our memories were here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, county officials say that gear is to help protect people from the toxic dust and soot -- Poppy.

HARLOW: New developments following that fentanyl death of a 1-year-old at a Bronx daycare. Prosecutors have released these images of a suspect who left the building before emergency responders even arrived. We have the latest on that investigation ahead.

MATTINGLY: And Senator Bob Menendez defiant after being indicted on federal bribery charges. We're going to speak to a former New Jersey Democratic congressman who is calling for his resignation. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:34]

MATTINGLY: Well, new this morning, these images just released following the fentanyl death of a 1-year-old child at a Bronx daycare center. They appear to show a suspect leaving before emergency responders arrive. You can see him right there.

Authorities say he entered empty-handed from where he and his wife live next door, and two minutes later, he hurried out the back door and through the bushes with shopping bags -- You can see that in both pictures -- that they believe contain fentanyl.

His wife owns the day care and is facing federal and state charges.

HARLOW: Well, there are growing calls this morning for New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez to resign after he was indicted on federal bribery charges. Three Democratic senators, Peter Welch, Sherrod Brown and John Fetterman, join that growing list of Democrats calling for him to step down. That now includes former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Because of the challenges that we face, because the skepticism that exists in our country about governance, about this Republican Party that doesn't believe in governance, doesn't believe in science, wants to take down everything in order to give tax breaks to the wealthiest, we've got to stay focused on that. And for that reason, it probably would be a good idea if he did resign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Menendez is accused of passing nonpublic information along to Egyptian officials, ghost writing a letter to the Senate on behalf of Egypt, and leaning on government officials to help a business associate.

Prosecutors say he used his influence to benefit Egypt in exchange for cash, gold bars, home mortgage payments, and other compensation.

Menendez is denying any wrongdoing, saying that tens of thousands of dollars in cash that turned up in a search of his home is simply the result of old habits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ): For 30 years, I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account, which I have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba.

Now, this may seem old-fashioned. But these were moneys drawn from my personal savings account, based on the income that I have lawfully derived over those 30 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Joining us now is former Congressman Tom Malinowski, a Democrat from New Jersey. He served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee before leaving Congress and is now calling on Senator Menendez to resign.

Congressman, I appreciate your time this morning. I want to start with, we've seen, unlike the last indictment of Senator Menendez, a number of New Jersey Democrats have come out and called for his resignation. It's been much more forceful.

What we haven't seen is Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer or New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker echo those calls. Do you think that that is a mistake or a problem at this point?

TOM MALINOWSKI, FORMER NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN: Well, we're pretty united in New Jersey in calling on the senator to resign, regretfully, obviously. This is a very sad story.

And -- and the reason is I just don't -- I don't think we can be hypocrites. We can't ask the American people to be troubled by Donald Trump's indictments and then turn around and ask them to not be troubled by these very serious allegations against Senator Menendez.

Look, I think some people have, in the -- in the last few days, have said this publicly. I imagine that there are others who may be having conversations with Senator Menendez privately. The goal, I think, is the same. We need to put this behind us and move forward.

HARLOW: "The New York Times" editorial board disagrees with you and points out that the senator is innocent until proven guilty and questions why Democrats are, quote, "so willing to run him out of office before the trial."

They also write, "he," being Menendez, "shouldn't resign to make life easier for Democrats. He deserves to be a judged by a jury or the voters."

What do you say to that?

MALINOWSKI: Well, he will have his day in court. He is absolutely entitled to the presumption of innocence as a criminal, as a legal matter in court. But for goodness sakes, we have higher standards for public officials.

And I think the problem for Senator Menendez is that the allegations, the very well-documented allegations in this indictment, they're not only reprehensible, they're comprehensible.

Most voters are going to understand that having gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash in your house; that the text messages with Egyptian intelligence; the turning over of -- of information about our foreign service employees, Egyptian nationals in Egypt, to the Egyptian intelligence agency, when we know that information is going to be used to pressure those people, to threaten those people.

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