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CNN This Morning
Vote to Decide Speaker McCarthy's Fate Could Come Today; Missing Girl Found after Ransom Note Left in Family's Mailbox; Rep. Henry Cuellar Carjacked a Mile from Capitol; Trump Uses Fraud Trial to Campaign. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired October 03, 2023 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: What he calls his emo look, wearing all black. And check this out, Kasie. Hair pressed, eye black, Lip and eyebrow piercing. And his teammate, Bam Adebayo, could not keep it together during the photo shoot.
[06:00:16]
And this is great because this was last year. He showed up this way last year. So you've got to love having a teammate like that in Jimmy Butler.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: That is something else. All right, Coy, thank you very much. Let's go, O's.
And thank you all for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Hope you had a good evening. Good morning.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
HARLOW: A lot to get to. Let's start with "Five Things to Know" for this Tuesday, October 3.
McCarthy's next move. All eyes watching to see how the House speaker responds to Congressman Matt Gaetz formally filing a motion to remove him from his leadership post.
MATTINGLY: And happening today, a courtroom split screen. Hunter Biden set to be arraigned in federal court in Delaware, and former President Trump expected to head back to court in New York for a second day of his civil fraud trial.
Also, 9-year-old Charlotte Sena rescued in a dramatic raid two days after she was abducted. Police tracking down the suspect based on a ransom note left for her parents.
HARLOW: This also breaking overnight, Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar carjacked in Washington, D.C., at gunpoint. His car, his phone, his iPad all taken. We are told, though, he is OK this morning.
MATTINGLY: And after five months of strikes, late night is finally back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC'S "THE TONIGHT SHOW": It's kind of weird coming back after being gone for five months. The studio was empty for so long, NBC converted it to a Spirit Halloween.
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, CBS'S "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Thanks to the picket lines, my writers got fresh air and sunshine, and they do not care for that. Now they're back safely in their joke holes, doing what they do best, making my prompter word screen full of good and ha-ha.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: I am so glad late night is back.
MATTINGLY: I'm glad they're back. I'm offended by the notion that writers don't like the outdoors or sunshine.
HARLOW: The prompter joke screen.
MATTINGLY: They're just a lot smarter and more coherent than we are.
HARLOW: Which makes me think of how important the words are in our prompter, too.
MATTINGLY: Yes, exactly.
HARLOW: Which wasn't working five minutes ago, by the way. But now it is.
MATTINGLY: We pulled it together. And, you know, Kevin McCarthy is hoping to pull it together, too. Will he, won't he? We'll see.
HARLOW: He's crossing his fingers and toes. A vote could come as soon as today to determine the fate of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. And it looks like he'll need Democrats to save him.
Congressman Matt Gaetz has moved for a vote to potentially remove McCarthy as he leads a right-wing revolt against his own leader. We haven't seen a move like this in more than a century. And it comes when Congress is already scrambling to prevent a government shutdown next month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): Well, I have enough Republicans where, at this point next week, one of two things will happen. Kevin McCarthy won't be the Speaker of the House, or he'll be the Speaker of the House, working at the pleasure of the Democrats.
And I'm at peace with either result, because the American people deserve to know who governs them.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MATTINGLY: McCarthy can only afford to lose four Republicans. Five have already said they would vote to get rid of him, and there's at least 13 other Republicans who are undecided but open to voting him out.
That means McCarthy will need support from Democrats to hold onto the gavel. House Democrats are set to meet just hours from now to decide what to do.
And sources tell CNN Speaker McCarthy will make a move as soon as today to try and kill the measure against him procedurally. It will give us the first sign of where his support actually lies.
Let's bring in CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox.
Lauren, as we look at the timeline and how things may happen over the course of the next 24 to 48 hours, the big question: what do Democrats do?
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that is the key question this morning, Phil. They're going to huddle around 9 a.m. this morning.
Their leadership has been telling them for the last several weeks, don't go out and freelance your own deal with your Republican friends. Also, keep your powder dry, because we want to have a broader conversation about this.
Expect that that conversation is going to start to unfold this morning at 9 a.m.
Now, we asked repeatedly yesterday if Jeffries and McCarthy had had a conversation to this point about the future of McCarthy's speakership. And yesterday, McCarthy said he had not spoken to Jeffries.
Obviously, we are going to be watching to see if that changes, given the dynamics, because there are a handful of Republicans who have already said they are willing to oust McCarthy. That means he is going to need Democrats.
Here are a couple Republicans who talked a little bit about why they made that decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): Really, I see it as two things. One: do I vote against my friend, Kevin McCarthy? Or do I go with my conscience? That's kind of where I'm at. And I'm currently praying about it, but I -- I would -- if it was right now, I would -- I would vote to -- to oust him, yes.
[06:05:03]
REP. VICTORIA SPARTZ (R-IN): I'm open-minded. I haven't decided yet. But I'll tell you something: it's very important that Matt puts, you know, accountability on our own leaders. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FOX: McCarthy has two legislative days to take action. This is a privileged resolution that Matt Gaetz brought to the floor yesterday, but obviously, he could act as soon as today. He has a couple of procedural tactics he could deploy.
The question, of course, is where are Democrats going to be, given the fact that you now have five Republicans who have said that they would be willing to remove the speaker from office.
One thing to keep in mind is that Matt Gaetz yesterday went to the floor a couple of times. When he finally made the decision, it came with the thing in mind that there were going to be members who would be missing likely on Thursday.
Senator Dianne Feinstein's funeral is on Thursday, which means that, if they were going to take this action, conservative hardliners wanted as many people in the chamber as possible, because you don't want to lower that vote threshold, knowing that he wants to be successful here.
Gaetz does -- has warned that he'll do this as many times as he needs to. He's not going to just do it once. But obviously, all eyes on the Democrats. Like you said, Phil, they are going to be essential --
MATTINGLY: I think the word is --
FOX: -- to what Kevin McCarthy's future is.
MATTINGLY: Yes. I think the word here is leverage, to say the least. Lauren Fox, keep us posted. Busy day.
HARLOW: Well, we have some good news to share with you this morning. Nine-year-old Charlotte Sena is safe at home this morning with her family after a two-day search.
She went missing at a state park over the weekend while on a camping trip. A suspect is now in custody. Police say the crucial piece of evidence that led to a break in the case was a ransom note that was left at the parents' home.
Our Jean Casarez following all of this. Jean, thank goodness this is what everyone was praying for. And it's the news we have this morning.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fantastic news. Charlotte and her family, they were camping a little bit up the road here. This was the staging area where 400 searchers would gather before they would go out to try to find her. It's empty this morning, because Charlotte was found alive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): She knew she was being rescued. She knew that she was in safe hands. CASAREZ (voice-over): Charlotte Sena, the 9-year-old who went missing
Saturday while camping with her family in upstate New York, has been found.
HOCHUL: Our prayers have been answered.
CASAREZ (voice-over): An Amber Alert had been issued for the young girl Sunday morning, after an exhaustive search of the state park left authorities fearing the worst: that Charlotte had been abducted.
Approximately 400 certified search-and-rescue personnel, including the FBI, were searching for Charlotte, who disappeared while riding her bike near her family's campsite.
HOCHUL: As each hour went on, hope faded, because we all know the stories. The first 24 hours there's hope. When you hit 48 hours, hope starts to wane.
CASAREZ (voice-over): The governor says a break in the case came early Monday morning when the suspect left a ransom note in the Senas' mailbox.
HOCHUL: He literally drove up to the family's mailbox, assuming they were not home, 4:20 in the morning, opens the mailbox and inserts the ransom note, leaving a critical piece of evidence behind: his own fingerprint.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Police tested the document for fingerprints and searched law-enforcement databases.
HOCHUL: Police worked diligently, trying to find a match for a fingerprint.
The hit came at 2:30 in the afternoon. There had been a DWI in 1999 in the city of Saratoga. A fingerprint was found that matched what was found on the ransom note.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Investigators were able to track down the suspect, 47-year-old Craig Nelson Ross Jr., who resided in a camper behind his mother's home. Two SWAT teams entered the camper and located Ross and Charlotte.
HOCHUL: The little girl was found in a cabinet, covered. She was rescued.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ (on camera): And Charlotte was taken to a hospital in Albany as a precautionary measure.
The governor says she has been reunited with her family, and the suspect is now in custody, taken into custody at 6:30 last evening. And criminal charges, we expect them to be filed shortly -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Wow. Jean, their prayers answered, for sure. Thank you for the reporting. MATTINGLY: Well, overnight, Congressman Henry Cuellar carjacked at
gunpoint about a mile away from the Capitol in D.C.
Now, police located the car, but they're still working to track down the suspect.
CNN's Gabe Cohen joins us live from where it happened. Gabe, a frightening thing but not something that's a rarity in Washington these days. What actually happened here?
[06:10:07]
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Phil, you're right. And it's a terrifying situation.
Just to set the scene for you here. We're standing in Navy Yard. This is a fairly upscale part of Washington. There are a lot of congressional leaders, young professionals who live here.
You can see behind me, less than a mile down this road is the U.S. Capitol, not far from where we're standing.
About a quarter mile in that direction, Nationals Park, the baseball stadium. There are bars and restaurants all over this area. It is a very busy area.
And yet at 9:30 last night, Rep. Henry Cuellar, right at this intersection, was carjacked by three armed assailants who didn't just make off with his car, his Honda, which as you mentioned, was later recovered. But they also took his phone, his iPad, even his dinner.
Now, fortunately, the representative wasn't injured in the incident. We did get a statement in from his chief of staff that reads, "As Congressman Cuellar was parking his car this evening, three armed assailants approached the congressman and stole his vehicle. Luckily, he was not harmed and is working with local law enforcement. Thank you to Metro P.D. and Capitol Police for their swift action and for recovering the congressman's vehicle."
And look, Phil, all morning we have seen an increased police presence here at this intersection. Several of these police cars parked around the area. It's not exactly clear if that's solely because of this incident.
Because the reality is, this is an area that is often trafficked by law enforcement, given not just the amount of people who live here but also the proximity to the Capitol there.
But look, as you mentioned, this is not unheard of here in Washington. We have seen violent crime increase dramatically this year here in the district, including motor vehicle thefts, Phil, which have close to doubled since this time last year.
MATTINGLY: All right. Gabe Cohen for us in Washington. Thank you very much. HARLOW: Well, President Trump says he'll be back in the courtroom
today after he attacked the attorney general prosecuting him here in New York and sounded off on the judge who will determine the fate of his business empire.
MATTINGLY: And late night returns with hosts unleashing months of jokes bottled up because of the Hollywood writers' strike that brought production to a halt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLBERT: We looked at the calendar today, and check my math on this, I believe we have been off the air for 154 indictments.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[06:16:04]
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is politics. Now, it has been very successful for them, because they took me off the campaign trail. Because I've been sitting in a courthouse all day long instead of being in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or a lot of other places I could be at.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: That was former President Trump outside of court right here in New York City. He says he'll be back in the courtroom today. You heard him say he could have been campaigning elsewhere in the country, but he's here. It matters to him.
Trump turning the $250 million civil case against him into an extension of the campaign trail. He launched attacks at the New York attorney general, Letitia James, and the judge, who found him liable for fraud last week. That was before court even started yesterday.
Kara Scannell joining us again this morning outside the courthouse with more. He will be back. What happens today in court?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy. So former President Donald Trump will be back in court today. And he will hear continuing testimony from his former long-time accountant.
Now, this is the trial where Trump is having his reputation as a successful businessman challenged. And the ultimate fate of his business here could lay in the hands of the judge.
And we heard from the former president yesterday, him taking every opportunity to slam that judge and the attorney general.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCANNELL (voice-over): Fuming and combative, former President Donald Trump returned to a familiar refrain.
Trump: This is a continuation of the single greatest witch Hunt of all time.
SCANNELL (voice-over): flanked by his attorneys, Trump walked into the courtroom the opening day of the civil fraud case brought by New York state attorney general, Letitia James.
Last week Judge Arthur Engoron ruled Trump, his eldest sons, their companies and the Trump Organization executives are liable for fraud. On Monday, Trump disagreed.
TRUMP: No bank was affected. No bank was hurt. They don't even know why they have to be involved.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Trump, turning the event into a spectacle and used the opportunity to bolster his presidential campaign.
TRUMP: This has to do with election interference, plain and simple. They're trying to damage me so that I don't do as well as I'm doing in the election.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Returning to the cameras on multiple occasions throughout the day, Trump continued to link the civil action against him in New York to his other criminal indictments.
The Republican presidential candidate repeatedly attacked the judge overseeing the case, the New York attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice, which has no jurisdiction over this case.
TRUMP: It's all run by DOJ, which is corrupt. We have a corrupt attorney general in this state. You see how she does.
SCANNELL (voice-over): That New York attorney general sat in the courtroom facing Trump.
Kevin Wallace, an attorney for the New York A.G., told the court about the office's end goal: to bar Trump from doing business in New York. Wallace argued, "While it may be one thing to exaggerate for 'Forbes' magazine, you cannot do it while conducting business in the state of New York."
But Trump's lawyers pushed back, saying that there was no intent to defraud and, quote, "no victims."
Inside and outside the court, Trump's attorneys claim the case is flawed and defended his business records and financial statements.
JASON MILLER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN ADVISER: President Trump's assets are worth way more than what the court would have you believe. But this is all about 2024. Do not get it confused.
SCANNELL (voice-over): But the $250 million lawsuit alleges Trump and his co-defendants committed repeated fraud, inflating assets on financial statements to get better terms on commercial real-estate loans and insurance policies. Allegations that James said cannot go unchecked.
LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: My message is simple. No matter how powerful you are, no matter how much money you think you may have, no one is above the law.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCANNELL (on camera): And the state will continue to try to prove its case today with the former accountant back on the stand as we head into the nitty-gritty testimony of these financial statements -- Phil, Poppy.
HARLOW: Another fascinating day ahead in court, I'm sure. Kara, thanks.
[06:20:03]
MATTINGLY: While Trump's trial continues in New York, President Biden's son Hunter will be in a Delaware courtroom just a few hours from now for his arraignment on three felony gun charges.
Biden's attorneys say he will plead not guilty. A request to appear remotely, that was denied.
Hunter Biden is accused of lying when he said he wasn't addicted to drugs when he bought the firearm in 2018. A plea bargain to resolve the charges fell through in July. It's the first time the DOJ has charged the child of a sitting U.S. president.
HARLOW: Pope Francis breaking with years of Catholic tradition, suggesting for the first time that priests could bless some people in same-sex unions. It is a significant statement. We'll tell you more about it ahead.
And Tom Hanks is warning fans that if they see him in an ad promoting a dental plan, it's not actually Tom Hanks. He says it's an A.I. version of him made without his permission. More on this, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAETZ: I have made no deal with Democrats, because I believe that Democrats should vote against Kevin McCarthy for free. It's Kevin McCarthy who's out there offering deals to Democrats.
If Kevin McCarthy goes and makes a dirty deal with the Democrats to keep power, I believe that the people in this country will rise up and demand that their representatives and their lawmakers accept a better path, a more responsible path.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:25:11]
MATTINGLY: With his job on the line, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, could he cut a deal with Democrats to stop Congressman Matt Gaetz's attempt to force him out?
Here to discuss, Kailey Leinz, Washington correspondent for Bloomberg, and CNN senior political analyst John Avlon.
It is worth noting at the start, Kailey, at least at the start, McCarthy has not offered anything to Democrats up to this point. But the question, and the reality is he's going to need some Democrats to vote with him. What do Democrats do here?
KAILEY LEINZ, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG: Well, this is a really interesting question, because for many reasons, you could see why Democrats aren't eager to support Kevin McCarthy issue.
A lot of them have trust issues with him, considering right now we're relitigating spending levels that everybody thought was agreed to back in the debt ceiling deal of earlier this summer. So they have trust issues with him for that reason.
Many of them are unhappy about the impeachment inquiry he has launched into President Biden, as well.
On the other hand, there is potentially an opportunity here for Democrats to extract concessions from him. Possibly around that impeachment inquiry. Could it be forced to the vote on the floor that Speaker McCarthy just skipped over when launching it initially?
Could they extract Ukraine funding commitments from him, considering they weren't included in this continuing resolution? There's a number of things Democrats could ask for here.
What it really comes down to: whether Speaker McCarthy is going to go for that. Because yes, it may save him his gavel, but it could create a boat load of other problems for him politically.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST/ANCHOR: There are far worse things we could face than if something resembling a coalition government results (ph).
It would actually represent the will of the American people, as opposed to, you know, what Matt Gaetz and the radical right Republicans represent, or folks on the other side of the spectrum, which is an unrepresentative position that wants to push through their agenda.
McCarthy is, in effect, being punished for reaching out to Democrats to stop the government from shutting down. What the vast majority of American people want is government that actually works that doesn't have these sort of self-inflicted wounds.
This is a pattern with Republicans. Mark Meadows tried to begin a process like this towards Speaker John Boehner before he resigned.
So look, whether Republicans are -- Democrats aren't going to fall over themselves to bail out McCarthy. But if a deal was made for the center to hold, I think that would be far more popular than a bunch of folks on the extremes. HARLOW: I was going to ask you, John, to compare this to Boehner.
AVLON: Sure.
HARLOW: Because after that attempt he stayed in for, what, three months?
AVLON: Handful of months. Yes.
HARLOW: And so I just wonder your thoughts. You compare this moment and Kevin McCarthy to that moment.
AVLON: This is the crucial context. The last three speakers have all faced outright rebellion from their far right. They have a hard time -- Republicans have a really hard time coming up with a stable governing coalition, not because of the opposition but because the far-right wing of their own party.
Boehner dealing with the Tea Party folks who Mark Meadows, you know, was part of it that time. Then Paul Ryan being constantly irritated and exhausted by what he called members of the conservative media complex, who were constantly agitating him to take max to the most extreme positions, rather than figure out how to get the people's business done. And now this.
The problems in the Republican coalition, ultimately Congress works when people, parties work together. We see that in times of crisis: stopping shutdowns, avoiding the debt ceiling deal. That's actually how Congress should work more of the time. And we're being constrained by partisan orthodoxy here.
MATTINGLY: What are the odds that what John is pushing for right now is a plausible option?
LEINZ: Well, it's going to come down to the decision of the Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and ultimately, Speaker McCarthy, as well.
This idea that is he going to want to coalition government this in this House of Representatives, in particular?
And to your point about this being a very fractured Republican conference we are seeing, it's also not clear who the successor to McCarthy would be, even if him getting ousted was successful. Sure, Congressman Gaetz yesterday suggested he would have support for the
No. 2 Republican, Steve Scalise, but it's not clear that he could actually get the --
MATTINGLY: Who supports McCarthy.
LEINZ: Right. Or that he could get the requisite votes to actually become Speaker. And of course, we all know how many rounds it took for McCarthy to become Speaker in the first place.
HARLOW: Can you explain to people what would actually happen, then? What would actually happen if there's no one who want -- I know the sort of process. I know the process that he has, like, privately a list and who would be the first person, and they get named.
But does that person have to take the job? Is there potentially no Speaker for a while?
LEINZ: There could be. The rules of governing the House are very interesting here, because on the one hand, you could see someone in the interim.
There's also nothing that would prevent McCarthy from tossing his hat back into the ring, even once he was ousted. It just becomes a question can he get the support he needs.
HARLOW: Interesting.
AVLON: And to be clear, what they're talking about is what concessions will Democrats extract? We -- you know, coalition governments are not impossible. Nothing is impossible. Speaker of the House doesn't even have to be a member of the House of Representatives.
HARLOW: A point you remind us of often.
AVLON: Just because reality matters, you know, we can -- we're so often constrained by the fact in Washington people can only think about --
HARLOW: You're a father of the reality check. So it's --
AVLON: Yes.
MATTINGLY: It does feels like John is just trying to urge himself into the role, if I'm trying to be completely candid.
I do want to turn to Mark Milley. We saw his speech as he departed as chairman of the joint chiefs last week, where he very implicitly called out the former president, as a wannabe dictator, I believe. He also gave an interview with NBC News. I want to play some sound from that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK MILLEY, FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Everyone is entitled to their opinion. And I served my country faithfully for four and a half consecutive decades --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
