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CNN Follows Migrants Trying To Make Their Way To U.S. Through Mexico; Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) On House Impeachment Inquiry Hearing As Shutdown Nears; Former President Jimmy Carter To Celebrate 99th Birthday Sunday. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired September 29, 2023 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00]
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Reporting, given the political conversation that we tend to have on these issues. Since you've been on the ground there you also went on a journey with some of these migrants. Tell us what you found and what you saw.
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Phil, it was really just a day in the life of these migrants -- and their journey starts, for many of them, hundreds if not thousands of miles from where we are here in southern Mexico. But yeah, it's important to get a better perspective when you're outside of the U.S. When you're away from the U.S. southern border and you're in places like where we are right now in southern Mexico where they're seeing record highs of migrants coming in.
But to better understand their level of determination and willingness to overcome all these obstacles -- well, you've got to go along with them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CULVER (voice-over): They stick together throughout -- no one left behind -- from falls to steep climbs --
CULVER (on camera): A lot of young children so some of them are just basically being carried up.
CULVER (voice-over): -- to dead ends.
CULVER (on camera): They started to go the wrong way for the moment and now they're backtracking a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
CULVER (voice-over): Setback after setback.
CULVER (on camera): He's saying that they paid and we're promised another pickup on the other side, but it seems like that driver just took off with their money.
CULVER (voice-over): This just part of a day's journey for these migrants -- a day that started not here in southern Mexico but across the Suchiate River in Guatemala.
With passports stamped, we take the official land crossing, stepping into a vibrant Tecan Uman. In the shade of the town square we meet two families from Venezuela traveling as one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
CULVER (on camera): They're saying they're reading to cross.
CULVER (voice-over): They welcome us to join.
CULVER (on camera): (Speaking foreign language). Sieti -- seven years old.
CULVER (voice-over): A 15-minute stroll to the river after 18 grueling days on the road. Jamie Rodriguez (PH) tells me that it's been costly.
CULVER (on camera): She says, like, going through the jungle is like dealing with the mafia. She says you have to pay in order to leave and they had to pay $250 a person.
CULVER (voice-over): As they arrive at the river, another expense -- the crossing. Meanwhile, we go back to the Mexico side using the official entry and hop onto a raft.
CULVER (on camera): We're waiting for the two families that we met to make their way across, and they're about to board a raft and meet us in the middle as they cross illegally to Mexico.
CULVER (voice-over): Their raft drifts over the border and we meet again in Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
CULVER (on camera): They saying they're headed to the land of opportunity.
CULVER (voice-over): Migrant children scramble to help tug them to shore. They step off and into Ciudad Hidalgo, a small border town. It allows for just a moment of joy if only for the kids.
Their goal tonight, Tapachula, to get Mexican transit documents. They learn it's not as close as they'd hoped -- 20 miles. Normally, an hour's drive. But there's a catch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
CULVER (on camera): OK, they're getting on right now.
CULVER (voice-over): Because they never entered Mexico legally they need to avoid the multiple migration checkpoints. Otherwise, the Mexican drivers could be accused of smuggling. Every crevice of the van filled, then they're off.
On the road for only about 10 minutes, we watch as they pull over just before the first checkpoint. Everyone out. They walk the direction they think they're supposed to head.
CULVER (on camera): You can tell they're basically just trying to figure out their way as they go. They have no real guide. They were told some general instructions and now they're just trying to figure it out.
CULVER (voice-over): Wading through brush and high grass, up and down hills, they skirt around the first migration checkpoint. But on the other side, the same driver who they paid to wait for them has taken off.
CULVER (voice-over): So they're trying to figure out if they can get another van or they keep walking. It looks like for now they're just going to keep walking.
CULVER (voice-over): A few minutes pass and another van pulls up. Fifteen minutes later another stop. Another checkpoint walk-around. Thirty minutes after that yet another. This one takes them on a bridge directly over the migration checkpoint. Back on the van they go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
CULVER (voice-over): Before sunset, they make it to Tapachula. Relieved, sure, also overwhelmed thinking about the unknowns ahead but determined to keep moving north, smiling and waving. "We'll see you later," they tell us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CULVER: I think one of the things that has stood out to us in the few days that we've been on the ground here in southern Mexico is how lax any enforcement really is. I mean, you've got migration checkpoints but you don't have officials doing much more than trying to basically stop migrants as they're coming right in front of them. If they're a few hundred feet away they're not going to do anything. In fact, a lot of the crossings are happening right in front of officials.
[07:35:04]
So it just shows you, Phil and Poppy, just how overwhelmed they are here when it comes to this migration crisis.
MATTINGLY: It's a great point. And this has also been extraordinarily important reporting over the course of the last several days.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: David Culver, appreciate it as always.
HARLOW: Thank you.
All right, to Washington. House Republicans held that first impeachment inquiry hearing into President Biden. It led to multiple blow-ups across party lines. We're going to be joined by someone who was in that room.
(COMMERCIAL)
MATTINGLY: House Republicans have issued three subpoenas for President Biden's son, Hunter, and the president's brother, James, dating back to January of 2014. This comes after the GOP held the first hearing in their impeachment inquiry into President Biden. So far, no direct evidence to show.
For a moment, it wasn't actually a hearing; it was a shouting match.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): The chair recognizes Mr. Donalds for five minutes.
REP. DANIEL GOLDMAN (D-NY): (INAUDIBLE).
COMER: You'll have five minutes -- you'll have all the time.
GOLDMAN: It's not my five minutes. A point of order --
COMER: No, you're out of order. You're out of order, Mr. Goldman.
GOLDMAN: I have a (INAUDIBLE).
COMER: When your -- when your time is you will be recognized.
GOLDMAN: I asked to introduce something by unanimous consent.
COMER: The chair recognizes Mr. Donalds for five minutes.
GOLDMAN: Is it being introduced?
COMER: The chair recognizes Mr. Donalds for five minutes. Byron, it's your time.
GOLDMAN: Mr. Chairman, the rules require you to recognize this.
REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
COMER: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Joining us now, one half of that exchange, Democratic congressman from New York, Daniel Goldman. He was also lead counsel in Donald Trump's first impeachment. Congressman, appreciate your time this morning.
I want to start with what we saw yesterday in terms of -- in talking to Republican aides last night who were very frustrated by their side of the dais, one of the things they kept saying was that they felt you guys were very organized. You guys were very prepared.
Can you take us behind the scenes in terms of what you guys did in terms of Democrats on the panel leading up to that? GOLDMAN: Yeah, it was a combination of things. Ranking member Raskin is just such a great leader for all of us and he and the staff had everybody really well-prepared, but we also knew exactly what our objective was. And when the facts are on your side -- and, in this case, it's the lack of facts -- it's a lot easier. When you have to manufacture a whole theory of a case based on allegations that don't have any support it's a lot harder to do.
And I think investigations don't just fall off trees. They require work. They require thought. They require strategy. And mostly, they require evidence. And in this case, the Republicans do not have any evidence, which is part of why we didn't have any fact witnesses there yesterday.
And it's bewildering to me that Chairman Comer doesn't just -- wouldn't allow me to put in some evidence there. That's all I was trying to do, which is normally just pro forma.
[07:40:00]
But it's a reflection I think of where we are right now, both in this committee and in this investigation and it's a reflection of the fact that we have a bogus sham impeachment inquiry that has no basis. That is a partisan political stunt done at the behest and direction for Donald Trump for his own personal benefit and the facts just aren't there. And it's one thing for Donald Trump to get up and lie over and over and over. He's a professional at doing that. But it's a lot harder for rank-and-file members of the House of Representatives to do it, and that's what they're left with doing.
HARLOW: We want to get to one allegation that was new that Comer made yesterday. But before we do, what were you trying to read into the record there when you were shut down by the chair?
GOLDMAN: I was simply trying to read into the record an excerpt of a transcript from Devon Archer where the witness himself said that Hunter Biden was trying to provide his own business associates with the illusion of access to President Biden.
HARLOW: OK.
GOLDMAN: The reality, of course, is that, even if that is the case it's insufficient to be a crime. It's insufficient to be a high crime. Hunter Biden may have done shady business behind the scenes, but there's no evidence that Joe Biden --
HARLOW: Here --
GOLDMAN: -- was involved at all.
HARLOW: Here is what the chair -- Chair Comer pointed to as what they are calling evidence yesterday. Let's play that. It has to do with wire transfers from China.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COMER: Just this week, we uncovered two additional wires to Hunter Biden that originated in Beijing from Chinese nationals. This happened when Joe Biden was running for President of the United States. And Joe Biden's home is listed as the beneficiary address.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Important pieces of context missing there. One, that does not include any evidence that Joe Biden received any of the money. And two, that Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's attorney says look, that address -- his father's address was the only permanent address he had because he was living there for some of the time.
However, do you think there are questions regarding that that should be answered for transparency for the American people?
GOLDMAN: No. I think that's a -- that, in particular, is a -- is a great example of the desperation that the Republicans have to link Joe Biden to Hunter Biden's activities. The fact that Hunter Biden used his father's address as his own permanent address as he was getting divorced and I think moving out of his own home in a bad state of affairs, and had it on his driver's license, had it on many other accounts, shows nothing -- nothing at all about Joe Biden's involvement.
And it's just another effort to gaslight the American public into thinking that Joe Biden had something to do with Hunter Biden's business interests. There is no evidence Joe Biden was involved whatsoever in that, that he knew about it. That he received anything of it.
The fact of his address being used is not evidence of anything and it's just another example of them misusing information and try to turn it into something that it's not.
Another example is all these emails and texts that we -- that they show from 2017, which don't indicate any involvement of Joe Biden. But it's also when Joe Biden was not a president or vice president, or a Department of Justice email from 2020. That was the Trump Justice Department.
So all of these allegations just don't make any sense. The timeline makes no sense and just the facts makes no sense.
And I think what really came out yesterday when the rubber had to meet the road when the facts and the evidence were needed is it's just not there.
And I'm very proud of the Democrats that we have on that committee because we made that very clear over and over and especially, how preposterous it is as they are barreling us headlong into a shutdown that is of their own making by themselves.
HARLOW: I wish we had a little bit more time, Congressman Goldman. Thanks for joining us this morning.
GOLDMAN: Thank you.
MATTINGLY: Well, former President Jimmy Carter will turn 99 this weekend adding to his record of oldest living president. We'll be joined by the CEO of the Carter Foundation to discuss this incredible milestone.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:48:06]
HARLOW: Former President Jimmy Carter will celebrate his 99th birthday this Sunday, October 1, but the Carter Center has moved celebrations up to tomorrow due to a looming government shutdown that could force several museums and national parks to close. Thousands of people from around the world have sent President Carter well-wishes for his birth -- for this -- look at that -- birthday mosaic that will be displayed across Atlanta.
The Carter Center is set to honor his 99th birthday with a naturalization swearing-in ceremony for 99 new American citizens.
MATTINGLY: Well, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, made their first public appearance in more than seven months last weekend when they took a ride through the Plains Peanut Festival in their hometown of Plains, Georgia.
President Carter entered hospice care in February.
Joining us now is Paige Alexander, the CEO of The Carter Center. Thank you so much for being here.
I think what's so remarkable is when I talk to people in and around kind of the orbit, they feel like the last seven months has almost been a bonus, right? Even his son said when they entered hospice care they had no idea what was going to happen next. Didn't have -- obviously, very concerned.
And yet, here he is. He's made a public appearance. It's his 99th birthday.
Describe kind of what surrounds him right now.
PAIGE ALEXANDER, CEO, THE CARTER CENTER: He's surrounded by family, and love, and well-wishes from people. I think the constant review of his presidency and his post-presidency really gives him a lot of energy. And he always surprises us, so we're not terribly surprised it's been seven months. But he's surrounded by love and that's what counts.
HARLOW: You know, many of his recent warnings about the fragility of our democracy really ring true, especially on a day like today right before a government shutdown. We'll never forget what he wrote in The New York Times one year after the insurrection at the Capitol. And part of what he said is "Americans must set aside differences and work together before it is too late."
He still has hope, doesn't he?
ALEXANDER: He does. I mean, he spent 40 years forming The Carter Center with his wife Rosalynn. And the fact that he believed that we needed to represent globally as well as locally what democracy stood for.
[07:50:09]
And just this month, 13 presidential centers signed onto a statement about civility and political discourse, and the importance of having those conversations. So, historically, that's where the U.S. has been and we hope to get back.
MATTINGLY: I actually wanted to ask you about the letter because I thought it was extraordinary when it came out. The 13 -- I think it was everybody but Eisenhower and Eisenhower's folks said that they just hadn't been consulted on it.
But 13 presidential libraries saying, in part, "Americans have a strong interest in supporting democratic movements and respect for human rights around the world because free societies elsewhere contribute to our own security and prosperity. That interest is undermined when others see our house in disarray."
It was said that this wasn't explicit about any one person, any one party, any group of people. But is being implicit about the intentions in any way problematic?
ALEXANDER: No. I mean, The Carter Center has signed candidate principles. We've worked in 115 elections in 40 different countries and we always have a code of conduct. And we are now starting to work in the United States and we have the candidate principles that call for civility. This was led by The Bush Center (W.) and all 13 presidential centers that signed onto it. It's just the reality that we want to see our country get back to that place.
HARLOW: He's one of the presidents who not only will be remembered for what he did in office but for all that he and Rosalynn have done since leaving office.
What do you believe his legacy is? Is he -- we are lucky enough, Phil said, to still have him, right?
ALEXANDER: You know, I think his legacy is hope. I mean, his legacy is the concept that we are better when we're working together. And I think that the polarization that we have seen, whether it's political polarization or whether what we see in Mali and Sudan is the same that we see in Central Florida and Arizona now. And so, being able to bring people to the table and have those conversations is what he did as president and what he wants to do and will continue to do in the legacy that The Carter Center will continue.
MATTINGLY: It's not often that post-presidency, your legacy is as expansive --
HARLOW: That's right. MATTINGLY: -- and important --
HARLOW: As his is now.
MATTINGLY: -- and seemingly bipartisan in terms of how people view it --
ALEXANDER: Absolutely.
MATTINGLY: -- as President Carter.
Thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.
ALEXANDER: Thank you.
HARLOW: And enjoy the celebration.
ALEXANDER: We will. We will.
HARLOW: Yeah.
A Michigan police officer is being hailed as a hero after saving the life of a 3-year-old boy who was choking. Our Brynn Gingras reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not often a police officer fresh from the academy --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to present this lifesaving award to Officer Mohamed Hacham for a job well done.
GINGRAS (voice-over): -- is recognized as a hero.
OFFICER MOHAMED HACHAM, MELVINDALE POLICE: I think everything was at the right place at the right time.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Such is the case for Melvindale, Michigan Police Officer Mohamed Hacham.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good work, man.
HACHAM: Thanks, man. I appreciate it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Awesome having you today.
GINGRAS (on camera): You got home from work after doing the night shift, right?
HACHAM: I got home from work. I was setting up my gear on my duty belt and I left the radio right here and it went off.
DISPATCHER: We're having a report of a 3-year-old not breathing.
HACHAM: After I heard that, I was like OK, you know, there's yelling. (INAUDIBLE) is like 30 seconds from where I live. GINGRAS (voice-over): And that's when you see Officer Hacham on surveillance video sprinting to the emergency.
DISPATCHER: A 3-year-old male is possibly choking.
GINGRAS (on camera): What did he look like?
HACHAM: When I got him his eyes were rolled back. His face was, like, bluish. I thought I'm like actually something has a little response or anything but it was nothing at all.
GINGRAS (on camera): No response?
HACHAM: Nothing at all. In my head, when I held the baby, I was like OK, I know what to do.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Hacham zeroed in on the lifesaving training he received just a few months before in the academy.
HACHAM: I turned the baby over and gave the baby back compressions one time, two times, three times. Then it almost --
GINGRAS (on camera): Just by hitting the baby?
HACHAM: Yeah. I did it like six times. And nothing -- none of those times were in my head was, like, give up. I was like I'm not going to give up.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Finally, the little boy coughed up food.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's breathing. He's conscious.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Hasham saving his life.
The boy's dad grateful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm happy and my kid is good.
GINGRAS (on camera): What does it say to have someone who is a cop that will go out of his way when he's off-duty? Will take the initiative?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's phenomenal. I mean, that's the philosophy that we need to have nowadays because you're building trust. You're building that relationship to where we're not just a machine in uniform; we're actually a human in this uniform.
HACHAM: I think we're all heroes. I honestly do because I honestly think everybody does something in life -- everybody can make a change in someone's life.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Brynn Gingras, CNN, Melvindale, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: I love that. Brynn, thank you. All right, we're just around 40 hours away from a government shutdown. What does it mean for you? That's ahead.
[07:55:02]
MATTINGLY: And do you have any weekend plans? It looks like Taylor Swift does. That's Poppy's favorite story. The megastar reportedly heading to MetLife Stadium on Sunday to watch Travis Kelce and the Chiefs take on the really bad-at-football Jets. We'll have more.
HARLOW: Oh, man.
MATTINGLY: That's a fact.
HARLOW: You're going to make this team angry.
(COMMERCIAL)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): We have a five-seat majority so it's not one side is going to more than the other. It's the entire conference is going to have to learn how to work together.
