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Swift Attends Second Chiefs Game; Garland Defends DOJ; Supreme Court Begins Term. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 02, 2023 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:30:03]

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the Era's Tour continues. Taylor Swift is in the building. Here to check out the Jets and the Chiefs, but more specifically, obviously, Travis Kelce.

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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Taylor Swift's football era, it continues. Really putting the NFL on the map.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: That was a good one. She's putting the NFL on the map. Finally people are paying attention. The second straight week she watched Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs in action.

HARLOW: Her trip to Met Life Stadium closely documented, as you can see. Cameras cut to her, oh, just 17 times during the broadcast. She showed up with some famous friends, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman also there. Her presence adding to the swirl of questions about her relationship with Kelce.

MATTINGLY: Did you know there was actually a game last night, too? A football game. And it was a pretty exciting one, where the Kansas City Chiefs beat the New York Jets 23-20.

Joining us now to discuss this budding romance, Constance Grady, senior correspondent at "Vox" and "Vanity Fair" contributor Kase Wickman.

Guys, appreciate you being here.

The thing that I actually appreciate about this, as both an NFL fan and somebody who enjoys Taylor Swift's music, is it's just fun. Like, I don't want to think too deeply about it. And yet everyone is talking about it. Why?

KASE WICKMAN, CONTRIBUTOR, "VANITY FAIR": I mean, she does literally have a song called "Mastermind." So, you know, Taylor Swift sees what -- or we see what Taylor Swift wants us to see. It's -- it's just fun, you know? She's the queen of the easter egg. She's dropping clues everywhere. It's just fun to watch her, and she knows that.

HARLOW: You know what's interesting -- first of all, she's with Donna Kelce, the brothers' mother, who I just love, love, love, love. I got to talk to her before the Super Bowl and she's amazing. They look like they're having a lot of fun.

Taylor's last relationship was very private.

CONSTANCE GRADY, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, "VOX": Yes, she was --

HARLOW: So, this is different.

GRADY: She was with Joe Alwyn for six years. And they were very rarely photographed together, seen together. She wrote a lot of songs that she dedicated to him. But that was really all we saw of their relationship.

But this is kind of a return to form for her. Before her Joe Alwyn relationship she was photographed a lot with her boyfriends. She kind of would use the photographs as sort of teasers for the songs that would come next. And I think we're seeing that a little bit here. That's part of the fun of this relationship, or potential relationship, is you can just sort of think, what song is Taylor Swift going to write about dating a football star? That sounds really cool.

MATTINGLY: And terrifying if you're the football star. It is.

This is not me, but to play devil's advocate I had a friend say, this is all an act, right? You have -

WICKMAN: A friend? A friend?

MATTINGLY: She's on - I'm not going to name names here because I don't want anybody to get destroyed on social media for ever challenging Taylor Swift and her intentions. But, you know, they show her 17 times last night. One of the times, I think, went straight into her movie, which is coming out and has already sold out everywhere. Is this real?

WICKMAN: Maybe? Yes. Yes. They're spending time together. They're -- I mean they're both very much in the public eye and are very aware of that. Ye, I mean, there hasn't been any - any hard confirmation from either side. No one's, yes, you know, it got my -- TNT. But, you know, they're definitely spending time together. But it's - it's definitely good for both of them I'd say no matter what. They're raising each other's profiles. I mean I am not a habitual Sunday night football watcher.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

WICKMAN: And I watched -- I watched the Taylor Swift game last night.

HARLOW: The Taylor Swift game. Guys, that says it all. Not the Jets/Chiefs games but the Taylor Swift game.

MATTINGLY: All right, we've got a lot of Jets fans in here who were more than happy to give that to Taylor Swift. HARLOW: But in all seriousness, I mean the NFL already rates really high, but now rates are up even more. She was on his podcasts. Who does this help more?

GRADY: I mean, I think very clearly Taylor Swift does not need help to go mainstream in a way that Travis Kelce does. He's, obviously, a very big deal. He's won two Super Bowls. But he is only now starting to cross over into the mainstream. Since she showed up at his game last week for the first time, sales of his jersey have gone up like 400 percent. He's picked up over a million followers across social media. This is really making him a mainstream star in a way he never was before.

It's good for Taylor's profile too, but she does not need that kind of help.

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: It's good that - I mean Taylor Swift finally putting Travis Kelce on the map, right?

WICKMAN: She's a cross-over hit.

MATTINGLY: Like, it was important for people - for people to finally figure out that he's OK at football. Their podcast is great, by the way. Shout out to Luna, your daughter, who thought you were going to be on stage with Taylor Swift -

WICKMAN: Oh, thank you.

HARLOW: Hi Luna!

MATTINGLY: This morning and instead it was with us, but we still say hi.

We'd like to thank you, guys. Appreciate it, as always.

WICKMAN: Thank you.

GRADY: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, Simone Biles doing Simone Biles things, making history this weekend. The incredible vault she pulled off that's now named after her.

HARLOW: Also, Attorney General Merrick Garland responding to accusations of political bias in the Justice Department.

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SCOTT PELLEY, HOST, "60 MINUTES": Your critics say that it's time to ruin Mr. Trump's chances in the election.

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[06:35:01] HARLOW: We're going to show you his answer to that question, next.

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MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Justice Department has general practices about not making significant overt steps for charging within a month or so of an election. We are clearly outside that - that timeframe in these cases.

SCOTT PELLEY, HOST, "60 MINUTES": Your critics say that it's time to ruin Mr. Trump's chances in the election.

GARLAND: Well, that's absolutely not true. Justice Department prosecutors are non-partisan.

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MATTINGLY: That was Attorney General Merrick Garland last night responding to Donald Trump and critics who argue that the former president's current legal mess was engineered to sabotage his 2024 bid for the White House. Now Trump is expected back in court in just hours as the New York attorney general's fraud case against him heads to trial. He's accused of a decades long scheme to enrich himself by inflating the value of properties that launched him to fame.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (March 10, 1994): Everything I touched turned to gold.

TRUMP (January 16, 2015)

Well, New York is doing great, I will tell you. Whether it's 40 Wall Street or whether it's Trump Tower or any of the other things that we own, is - is doing great.

TRUMP (January 16, 2015): I'm really rich.

TRUMP (July 8, 2015): I'm very rich. I built an unbelievable company. The money you're talking about is a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Errol Louis and John Avlon are back with us. We'll just note that his legal bills are still being paid by donors for the most part given his wealth.

[06:40:02]

Today -- we talked about this when the judge first came out with a summary judgment. This is the thing that gets at the heart of Donald Trump and who he is. And my understanding is he's pretty upset and angry about it. It's part of the reason why he's actually physically showing up today. What's your sense of what actually happens going forward here?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He's in a lot of trouble. This is - this does strike at the heart of things. It's different from all of the criminal cases. Put all of that aside. This is long standing practices by Donald Trump for which he's now being held to account. And what this could do is cancel his ability to easily do business in New York and really harm his ability to get financing, to continue to sort of run his real estate empire. That is -- that's - that's real serious. And, frankly, it does, as the clip suggested, it goes to the heart of who he is and his public presentation.

And so this kind of undermines a big part of his case. Even his political opponents back in 2016 never really went there and said, you know, he's kind of a fraud as a businessman. He kind of lies about the value of his properties. He's not as rich as he says. Nobody really sort of got into that. A court might end up finding that. And that could have -- that introduces a new part of the political conversation that we have not heard up until now.

HARLOW: You have (INAUDIBLE).

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that's -- I think that's right. And I think also that the fact that Trump's going to be in court today, where he's tried to avoid, you know, situations where he might be - be under oath because he takes this so personally I think makes it a moment that is worthy of our attention. This is not the kind of, you know, coverage that's procedural. This is a big moment for the exact reasons that Errol said. This is a guy whose entire rise is predicated upon the idea that he's a very rich, successful billionaire.

HARLOW: You know, the fact that you said that, because it's a civil trial, he doesn't have to be in court. He will have to be in court for the criminal trial coming up.

AVLON: Yes.

HARLOW: He didn't go to the E. Jean Carroll trial, for example.

AVLON: Right.

HARLOW: What does that tell us about what is important to him?

AVLON: It's all about the money. It's all about the benjamins. And Michael Cohen, his former consiglieri, made this point. You know, this is something that's been hiding in plain sight. And it's not like getting Al Capone on tax evasion, as some people have suggested, because it does go to the core of his identity and he will -- he's taking this personally. And that judge's initial - you know, that was a blistering attack.

HARLOW: And the judge gets to decide this one.

AVLON: Yes.

HARLOW: Not a jury. The same judge. AVLON: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Which is an interesting -- it's a great point because the former president attacked the judge -

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Along with Letitia James in a social media post last night. You're a lawyer. Would you advise attacking the judge who (INAUDIBLE)?

LOUIS: Oh, no. Oh, no you don't. Especially if there's no jury. I mean, you know, it's one thing to attack the process and the court because you're trying to sort of, you know, sort of identify one or two jurors that you can flip to your side. In this case the judge is the whole case and the judge is going to determine the law and the judge has already determined, as a matter of law, that this is somebody who has committed a lot of fraud. So, he's really kind of on the back foot. I mean he's kind of coming in here as an underdog. That's probably why he's showing up in person.

But, no, you don't - you don't attack the court. You don't attack the law. I mean they - they repeated the same arguments over and over again and the judge slapped it down, sanctioned the lawyers, fined them each $7,500.

HARLOW: Right.

LOUIS: And, you know, this -- you can't just keep saying it. Like, I get it, he - he says this is how real estate is done. I've lied about Trump Tower for years. It's only 58 stories tall, but I charge people more if I say it's 68 floors, you know.

But the judge has said, you - you can't - you can't do that to an extreme. You -- and you don't get to put an asterisk at the bottom of it saying, you know, everything in my financial statement, you know, has not been checked - has not been fully audited. It might be a lie. That's not how you do commercial business. And that's really what the judge has said.

Attacking him for saying that, I don't know if it's going to change his mind.

AVLON: Attacking the judge, attacking the court, attacking the system of laws is what Donald Trump does. But this is a place where he gets -- could get in trouble.

HARLOW: And just one thing to note, it's not a jury, because that's what Donald Trump's legal team chose, by the way, right?

LOUIS: That's right. He has the right to a jury. He - he --

HARLOW: So that's just really going to be interesting to see how that choice plays out.

Merrick Garland last night --

AVLON: Yes.

HARLOW: Everyone might not have seen it last night. Scott Pelley did a brilliant interview, I thought, with Merrick Garland. And at one point - we showed you him responding to criticism. But at one point later in the interview, Merrick Garland chokes up and he is talking about democracy and his family history and some of his family members fleeing the Nazis, not surviving. It was just really interesting to see that perspective from him given all of the incoming that he's facing, all of the criticism for how the department has handled a number of the probes here, including the Hunter Biden probe. Just given his history and to see that from him, I was struck.

AVLON: That's the legacy that we all are here to defend, all our families. And we forget sometimes in the day to day thrust and perry of politics that what's really at stake is democracy, it's self- government. And that's something we should all feel emotionally about. Merrick Garland's getting heat from some on the left who says he didn't move fast enough, while Donald Trump and everybody says it's a - he's been radical and a witch hunt.

[06:45:02]

This is about equal justice under law. This is about defending principles that are bigger than all of us. And it should provoke that kind of emotion.

HARLOW: Thank you, guys, very much. Errol, John, appreciate it.

AVLON: Thanks, guys.

MATTINGLY: Well, it's too hot in the twin cities. An annual marathon in Minnesota canceled just hours before it was supposed to start. Poppy, how did you let that happen?

HARLOW: I - well, I know. That's all my mom was talking about all weekend is how hot it is at home. But I feel for those folks who were all looking forward to the run. You do not expect this in October in Minnesota.

MATTINGLY: No, but you also don't want to run in hot weather.

HARLOW: Don't you know.

Meantime, from freedom of speech to gun rights and abortion access, the Supreme Court has a busy term ahead. A really significant one for the country. We'll break it down, next.

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HARLOW: A live look at the Supreme Court this morning as the sun comes up in Washington. The court justices set to begin a new term today. They have a packed docket ahead of them.

[06:50:00]

Major cases include Second Amendment, gun rights, abortion, social media and government regulation. The high court faces all of this amid growing concerns about ethics and lack of standards for the justices themselves on that front.

The public is not pleased with the court right now. A new Gallup poll shows the Supreme Court approval rating is just 41 percent.

Joan Biskupic joins us live from Washington.

I know you'll be down there as they take the bench.

JOAN BISKUPIC, SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: I will.

HARLOW: Joan, it's good to see you.

Walk us through the big, big cases ahead for them this term.

BISKUPIC: Sure. Good morning, Poppy and Phil.

Yes, a real sense of excitement, appreciation, but also, as you say, new scrutiny for their off-bench behavior.

First of all, a major Second Amendment case. Back in 2022, the justices really limited what states can do on gun control by saying that judges would interpret the statutes based on the text, history and tradition of the Second Amendment. And that caused a judge - a set of judges down in the southwest part of the country to strike down a federal ban on gun possession if someone has had a domestic violence restraining order. So it's a case where the federal government has come up and appealed and said, look, we can still look to text, history and tradition of the Second Amendment but states in the federal government still must be able to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and citizens who are not law abiding. So that's an important case where we'll get some more clarity, I believe, in this upcoming term on the reach of the second amendment.

Another case involves - a series of cases involves the power of federal regulators, for example, over the environment, public safety, consumer choices. And tomorrow, Poppy and Phil, the justices are going to hear a case that involves the federal agency that was set up after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from scams. And this involves a challenge to its funding mechanism, which doesn't really - they don't get much - the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau doesn't get money through the regular appropriations that Congress would do each year, but rather from the Federal Reserve system. And there's a question on that agency's - the constitutionality of that funding. But it would - it - if the court rules against the agency, it could jeopardize the last 12 years of decisions that have protected consumers when it comes to mortgages, credit cards, car loans.

And then finally I want to mention one - another one already on the calendar, and this involves social media companies and whether states, in this situation Florida and Texas, can limit what platforms, such as Facebook, are able to take down from their platforms - content that they - they might find would be misleading or false. And it's a big First Amendment question, Poppy. MATTINGLY: Joan, the court may also take up the case on Mifepristone, right? The challenge to the availability of the commonly used abortion pill. We've been talking about this now for months. This would be the next major, dramatic abortion related case. The first since Dobbs. How do you think the court's going to handle this?

BISKUPIC: That's right. This is the first one since 2022, when they just rolled back the right to - the constitutional right to abortion. This one will be different, I think, Phil and Poppy, because it not only involves the abortion medication drug Mifepristone, it involves the federal Food and Drug Administration's authority to use its own expertise to say what drugs are safe and effective.

So, you've got two things a stake here, the availability of this drug that's now used for most abortions nationwide, but also the federal agency - again, it goes to federal regulatory power, that's, right now, tasked with deciding what drugs should be put on the market.

HARLOW: Yes, all this while they deal with major ethics concerns and what the code of conduct is going to be.

Joan, we're going to have you back soon to talk about that and a lot more.

BISKUPIC: OK.

HARLOW: Thank you very much.

BISKUPIC: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: So, just how good is Simone Biles? I'll answer that. Very good. Well, she now has a fifth move named after you - her, and we're going to show it to you, next.

HARLOW: Also, Kevin McCarthy facing threats to his speakership from inside his own conference. Will this moment lead to bipartisanship or just more division?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): I think he is in trouble.

But I'm just going to be totally blunt, there are a lot of trust issues in my chamber right now.

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[06:58:20]

MATTINGLY: Well, this just in, the Nobel committee announcing that a Hungarian and U.S. scientist have jointly won the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman were awarded the prize for their discoveries that enabled the development of the effective MRNA vaccines against Covid-19. HARLOW: Major congratulations to them.

Also, sad for a lot of runners in Minnesota this weekend. The annual Twin Cities Marathon canceled on Sunday after record heat swept the region. The high Sunday in Minneapolis/St. Paul, 92 degrees. That broke the record for an October day. It was about 26 degrees above normal. Organizers said the heat made it just to risky to run this year. The marathon draws about 8,000 runners, 300,000 spectators. Some runners decided to o for it anyways, look at them, good or them, reaching the finish line by noon.

MATTINGLY: Well, Simone Biles making more history at the World Gymnastics Championships in Belgium.

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MATTINGLY: Biles became the first woman to land the Yurchenko double pike vault during an international competition. I often practice that at home. That's a move historically done by men. So, by rule, the women's version will be named after her. It is now called the "Biles 2," which is the fifth gymnastic element bearing her name in the vault, floor exercise and balance beam.

HARLOW: That is just breathtaking every time I watch her.

MATTINGLY: My efforts to practice doing that myself?

HARLOW: No.

MATTINGLY: Oh, Simone Biles.

HARLOW: And that me like the worst vision, by the way, Phil, of you trying to do that at home. Simone Biles is breathtaking. Sorry.

MATTINGLY: I'm athletic. Come on.

HARLOW: I (INAUDIBLE) Mattingly -

MATTINGLY: She is remarkable. And I love the comeback.

[07:00:00]

And she is as darn good as everybody thinks she is.

HARLOW: Totally. Totally.

MATTINGLY: I love it.

CNN THIS MORNING continues right now.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Kevin McCarthy caught almost everyone off guard.