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CNN This Morning

Circuit Court Considers Trump Appeal in Election Subversion Case; Storms in Central U.S. Could Impact Holiday Travel; How Dysfunction & Drama Defined Politics in 2023; Major Labor Action in 2023 Across Various Industries; Pope Delivers Christmas Message from St. Peter's Balcony; Looking Back at Crime Stories that Gripped the Nation. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 25, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Merry Christmas, everyone. We are so glad that you are with us on this special morning. I'm Poppy Harlow with Phil Mattingly. This is a special edition of CNN THIS MORNING. Hope you're having a great holiday with your loved ones. Merry Christmas.

[06:00:59]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Merry Christmas. I just want to stay on this set forever.

HARLOW: Isn't it beautiful?

MATTINGLY: Beautiful. They did a wonderful job.

HARLOW: They did. I love all the ornaments (ph) all around. We have a Christmas tree. We've got kind of a fire. You're going to see it all here.

MATTINGLY: We've got some news, too. The Iowa caucuses now just three weeks away from today. This morning, we'll highlight the key moments on the campaign trail so far and how they could shape the final months in the race for the White House.

HARLOW: And seasons full of strikes reignite the labor movement in America, from Hollywood to the Motor City. Workers won pay raises and new protections. How technology could bring more change to the economy in the year ahead.

MATTINGLY: And coming again in this holiday season, as antisemitism and Islamophobia sentiment rises, we'll talk to faith leaders about how we can find common ground in these very turbulent times.

HARLOW: But first, let's get a check on the morning's headlines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, and Merry Christmas. I'm Danny Freeman. Right now, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing former

President Trump's requests Saturday to drop the charges in his federal election subversion case. Trump is urging the panel to overturn a lower court ruling, rejecting his argument that he's protected under presidential immunity.

Joining me now is CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson.

Joey, merry Christmas. But tell me, when it comes to this Trump stuff, what happens next?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, good morning to you, Danny. Merry Christmas.

I think what happens next is that we have a D.C. circuit court, which is an appellate court, of course, evaluating the propriety of whether or not the president has immunity.

And what that looks like is it looks like it's going to be seen, Danny, on a fast-track basis. Oral arguments are expected to happen in a couple of weeks. That's January 9th. Briefing has been done. And so the D.C. Circuit Court will evaluate that question. It's an intermediate court.

And then I would anticipate that whoever wins or loses, there will be a further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which as you know, has rejected at least the immediate, right, skipping the intermediate D.C. Court. They've rejected that for now. But I suspect that they will get their hands involved in the very near future.

FREEMAN: Well, to that point, Joey, if you wouldn't mind putting your political hat on for a second, if and when, perhaps, this returns to the Supreme Court in weeks or months, what could that mean for the 2024 race?

JACKSON: Yes, I think it means a lot. I think that, you know, certainly people would want to, voters, may want to assess whether or not, A, the president has immunity and, B, if not, whether the president is guilty of these crimes.

Obviously, in our system of justice, Danny, you're innocent until proven guilty. Trump is no different from anybody else. But the critical question becomes whether or not he can be tried prior to the election, given the fact that now we have another court, right, the D.C. appellate court, evaluating the decision.

In the event that they make a quick decision, does that mean that this March date that's set for trial will go forward? Highly unlikely. And if it's moved back, what time period will it be moved back?

And if the Supreme Court gets it, when will they evaluate it, and will they make a decision prior to the election?

So to your question, I think it's an open question as to whether the voters will have the ability to evaluate the guilt or innocence of the person they're voting for. I think that, obviously, Jack Smith would like that to happen quickly.

FREEMAN: Well, to that end, Joey, I know we've been talking about this a lot since the end of last week. Can you explain, though, exactly how does pushing these cases back on the calendar, how does this actually help former President Trump?

JACKSON: So I think the analysis with the president is that he is about delay. Because obviously, if you get elected president of the United States, you control something called the Justice Department.

And to the extent, as we look at the calendar there, you are ultimately -- and that's, again, having what elections are occurring when, but in the event that this is pushed off and Judge Chutkan -- she's the trial judge in the subversion case, right, the election subversion case -- if that gets pushed to March -- from March to April to May to June, if it gets pushed further down the line and he's not tried, let's just say he becomes president.

Then guess what happens to that case in the event that it hasn't been adjudicated and a jury has not decided? The president of the United States can either pardon himself or just wipe the case away.

[06:05:05]

So I think the analysis for Jack Smith is, if he's going to have a case, it needs to be tried before there was an election, so that, you know, if he's president, he wouldn't have anything. Then if he does get elected president, then it's a different equation. But if he does get elected president, Danny, I think the case is unlikely that it would ever go forward.

FREEMAN: Joey Jackson, again, have a merry Christmas. And thank you, as always, for your analysis. Appreciate it.

JACKSON: Appreciate you always.

FREEMAN: A large storm system currently bringing rain and snow to the majority of the central U.S. is now making its way East and could have a significant impact on post-Christmas travel conditions.

CNN's Chad Myers now joins us from the weather center down in Atlanta. Hey, Chad, how you doing? Merry Christmas.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good -- Merry Christmas. Good morning.

Things look pretty good for today. There's not that many in airplanes, and there's only about 94 that have been canceled so far, maybe a little bit higher, according to Flight Aware. But we'll see.

Even some of those cancellations are in Phoenix, which are likely not even weather-related.

But the rain is what we're talking about here. Driving today, getting to the next place in your location, in your little itinerary. New Orleans had two inches of rainfall yesterday, and in some spots there around Louisiana, it is still raining.

Now, don't get me wrong, Louisiana has been in a horrible drought. They will take two inches of rain any time that they'll let them. But there are blizzard warnings across parts of the upper Midwest: Nebraska, South Dakota, even parts of Kansas.

And there's going to be a little bit of ice to the West of Minneapolis in those areas there where people go to the lakes and do their ice fishing. Unfortunately, it hasn't been nearly cold enough for that.

There's your rainfall, though, for the next couple of days. Could be an inch or two in some spots. So not so worried about airport travel today. Not that many people flying in and out of Omaha, or Lincoln, or Sioux Falls, or all those areas up there.

But it's the rainfall that's going to hit the East Coast Tuesday night and into Wednesday. If you are flying on Wednesday, it would be a great idea to get that app and look what your plane would do -- really, your plane is doing. Because there's so much weather out here: low clouds, rainfall, and even some winds to 20. Airplanes don't like to fly very close to each other when you get in that kind of weather -- Danny.

FREEMAN: Chad Myers, thank you so much. Merry Christmas.

MYERS: Yes. Merry Christmas.

FREEMAN: Now let's get back to Poppy and Phil.

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MATTINGLY: OK. It's our racing to the finish line in Iowa, where the first ballots will be cast in the Republican presidential primary. The key moments that could influence the election here. Those are ahead.

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HARLOW: One thing is certain. There is never a dull moment when it comes to politics in America, but even by Washington standards, 2023 has been quite the year.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He says, you're not going to be a dictator, are you? I said, no, no, no, other than day one. We're closing the border, and we're drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I'm not a dictator.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Whether I'm speaker or not, I'm a member of this body. I know what history has had, and I can lead in any position it is.

GEORGE SANTOS, FORMER NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN (singing): Happy birthday to you.

REP. PATRICK MCHENRY (R-NC): The chair declares the House in recess, subject to the call of the chair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: See what you mean?

MATTINGLY: Impressive.

HARLOW: Joining us now -- I put that together myself -- former Obama administration official, Sarah Feinberg; and political reporter at Politico, Emily Ngo. It is great to have you guys. Thank you so much.

What a year.

SARAH FEINBERG, FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: What a year.

HARLOW: I feel like 2024 is just going to be, like, even more.

FEINBERG: Twice as much.

HARLOW: What do you think?

FEINBERG: Yes, it sort of feels like that. I mean, 2023 felt like the year when a bunch of, like, chickens came home to roost so that it actually, like, started in '21 and '22.

So you know, Trump, for everything that happened on January 6th, now starting to pay the price for that with all of the indictments. Economic sentiment in the tank, you know, which feels like the last couple of years of inflation.

And so 2024, is it more to be, like, more of this? I think it's more of the same but also just the heat of the campaign. And frankly, it's going to be ugly. And I don't know, you know, that Americans are really in the mood for it, but they're about to get it regardless.

MATTINGLY: Emily, what's striking about the montage we just showed, three of those people in that montage on January of 2023 were members of the House of Representatives in the Republican conference.

By the end of this Congress, none of them will be in Congress anymore. The interparty warfare we've seen inside the Republican Party has been like nothing I've experienced before.

EMILY NGO, POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes, me neither. I'll say first and foremost, that super cut, I can't believe that all happened in a year. But I'm really feeling what Sarah's saying.

Seemed like a lot of scene setting in 2023. And when you look forward to 2024, the House looks different. They're going to have a much slimmer majority. So some of these more competitive congressional races and swing seats, including in New York where there are about six competitive seats, could go either way. Same for California.

That's really going to be where the money is spent, where the attention is directed.

But take a look also at the legal calendar that Donald Trump has, versus the primary calendar. And I just really wish I could see what that Google setup looked like, the colors. Because you know, you have -- you have the Iowa caucuses, but then he has the jury deciding what the damages are in the defamation case.

You have New Hampshire. And then another civil trial begins. And then you have South Carolina. And that's the start of this big federal criminal trial into whether he interfered in the 2020 elections.

It's going to be back-to-back, and it's going to be nonstop. As much as 2023 felt like nonstop, 2024 is really when the foot hits the gas pedal.

HARLOW: A lot of legal drama ahead for President Trump in 2024.

For Biden in 2024, he really needs a new year, doesn't he? He really needs a reset. And his most recent polling numbers are not good at all overall and on the economy.

FEINBERG: Yes, that's right. And the economic sentiment, to go back to it, I think is driving so much of this.

And economists are trying to figure out, you know -- the economy could be so much worse. Why do people feel so badly about it? And I think the reality is, inflation is coming down, but it's not coming down super-fast, and prices aren't where people, you know, feel like they should be or what they would be used to.

And people just don't feel sort of good about day-to-day life generally. It feels like there's a lot of disruption. It feels like there's chaos. It feels like there's a lot of uncertainty.

And you know, I don't think that's going to change any time soon. And so that's going to be a big hill for Biden to get over.

MATTINGLY: The margin's razor-thin. Do Republicans hold onto the House, given New York, your area of expertise in particular, will be critical? Are Republicans going to be able to be the majority in 2025?

NGO: It's hard to say. Because now Mike Johnson is the speaker of the House. Kevin McCarthy couldn't even last a year with the gavel, and Mike Johnson is someone who could easily be portrayed as too extremist, someone who has very scary views on abortion, on LGBTQ Americans. And that's really going to hurt some of these more moderate, centrist Republicans than they know.

He's also not as strong a fundraiser as McCarthy was. McCarthy really knew how to bring in the millions, especially for these Republicans that flipped some blue seats.

[06:15:05]

I don't know if they can hang onto the majority. The -- the margin is so thin that, really, every single seat will count now. MATTINGLY: And I have to ask, because he was such a defining figure of

everybody's 2023. What happens to George Santos in 2024?

NGO: Are you telling me you want a Cameo as your Christmas gift?

MATTINGLY: I'm not going to say no, but I'm not going to say yes. You're going to have to surprise me.

NGO: Someone asked me recently if he could win elected office again. And like, that answer is pretty definitively no.

But I don't think he's going to disappear from the conversation. He is pretty masterful at social media, at trolling, at making allegations, filing complaints, or at least threatening to file complaints. And he wants to be part of this conversation.

So I think he'll elbow his way in. It's kind of our job to make sure that, if he's not relevant, he stays that way.

MATTINGLY: I couldn't agree more on that.

HARLOW: Emily, thank you. Sarah, good to have you. Merry Christmas, guys.

MATTINGLY: This year, the union workers rose up to fight for their rights. How 2023 totally reshaped the labor movement from coast to coast.

HARLOW: And later, our conversation with college basketball legend, Coach K. His name is synonymous with success on the court. We'll talk, though, about life after coaching and what is more important than winning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE KRZYZEWSKI, FORMER DUKE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL COACH: I have three daughters.

HARLOW: They hold you down?

KRZYZEWSKI: They have -- whatever humility I did not have, they try to interject in me over and over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[06:20:04]

FREEMAN: Good morning, everyone, and Merry Christmas. I'm Danny Freeman.

This morning, Pope Francis is delivering his Christmas message from St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the pontiff telling worshippers during mass last night that "Our hearts are in Bethlehem," because he says the message of Jesus's birth is being rejected by war.

It comes as he has repeatedly called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb joins us now. Chris, what message is the pope sending this Christmas?

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Danny.

I've just listened to the pope's message, his Urbi et Orbi blessing, which means "to the city and to the world," which he does each Christmas. And it was a very strong anti-war message.

He called on the world to say no to war, which he described as an aimless voyage and an inexcusable folly.

He also called for an end to the hostilities in Israel, in Palestine, calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war, which he said was leading to an appalling harvest of victims.

So the message from the pope is very much one of calling for peace, calling for an end to conflicts around the globe, and saying that war and particularly the arms trade must be rejected.

FREEMAN: I understand that CNN is learning that Sarah Netanyahu, the wife of Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, actually sent a letter to the pope on Saturday, requesting his help for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. What more are you learning about this letter?

LAMB: Well, Danny, I can imagine this letter will be taken very seriously by the Vatican, and the Vatican diplomats will be working out a response to it.

The pope today once again called for the release of hostages, condemned the 7th of October attack. The pope has in the past met the families of hostages -- of Israeli hostages in the Vatican.

But I can imagine that the Vatican will be looking to come up with a response to this letter from Sarah Netanyahu and for the pope to use every diplomatic lever at his disposal to try and find a way for these hostages to be released -- Danny.

FREEMAN: Chris, thank you so much for taking the time. And I just appreciate you sharing on this Christmas morning not only the pope's message, but also that perspective, that this is more than just the Vatican at this point.

Thank you so much. Merry Christmas. All right.

LAMB: Merry Christmas.

FREEMAN: Now let's get back to Poppy and Phil.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATTINGLY: Well, 2023 has, without a doubt, been the year of the union worker. After months of strikes, the country's auto workers, writers and actors all claimed victories in contract negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWN FAIN, PRESIDENT, UNITED AUTO WORKERS: We have won several astonishing victories. The result is one of the most stunning contract victories since the sit-down strikes in the 1930s.

SEAN O'BRIEN, TEAMSTERS PRESIDENT: I'm confident, based upon what we accomplished at UPS, we've set the model for how to get a deal done and a deal done in the best interests of the members and the best interests of working people.

FRAN DRESCHER, PRESIDENT, SAG-AFTRA: Power concedes nothing without demand. It never has, and it never will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Joining us now for perspective on all of it, she covered all of it all year, CNN business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich.

From the actors to the writers, to UPS workers, to UAW. How many days did you spent in Detroit this year?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: A lot.

HARLOW: Seattle (ph) workers. What a year for the worker. And I wonder why you think that is?

YURKEVICH: There's a couple reasons. A lot of these workers that ended up going on strike, they worked throughout the pandemic. They were the essential workers who kept the economy running when were all, presumably, some of us, were at home. And also, they at the same time watched their companies -- Kaiser-Permanente, General Motors, UPS -- make record profits.

They were also, at the same time, dealing with the high inflation that all of us were dealing with. So they had really strong economic grounds to stand on.

And then we just played for you the three leaders of the UAW, UPS and the actor's union. Those were all new leaders of these three unions. It was fresh blood. They would not take no for an answer on these contract deals.

And in the end, all three -- UPS, the UAW and SAG -- got a lot of what they wanted at the end of the day, because they pointed back to those three reasons of why they really felt like their workers deserved so much more in these next contracts.

HARLOW: One of the big sticking points in both the writers' strike and the actors' strike was artificial intelligence, A.I., and the role of A.I. and compensation for all of that. How do you think that plays in the new year and going forward in labor and tech negotiations?

YURKEVICH: We're in the age of artificial intelligence. Companies, businesses, all of us are grappling with what this means.

In terms of these negotiations with the actors and the writers and the studios, this was the sticking point. For the actors and the writers, they said that this was an existential threat to their livelihoods.

[06:25:05]

In many ways it was. ChatGPT could write scripts. A lot of the studios could use artificial intelligence to recreate actors in the background. And the actors and the writers fought tooth and nail to get protections in their contracts. They did at the end of the day.

But remember just how fast artificial intelligence is moving. Every day this changing, growing, evolving, learning more. So I don't doubt that, in the next couple of years, we're -- we're going to see artificial intelligence talked about in contracts with healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, ecommerce. This is just the beginning.

And when the actors and the writers negotiate again in a couple of years, I guarantee you that they're going to be trying to get more protections in place --

HARLOW: Yes.

YURKEVICH: -- to protect their jobs. So this will be a key issue going forward in union negotiations.

MATTINGLY: The rise of labor, by far one of the most important stories of the year. You covered every step of it very well. Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks so much.

YURKEVICH: Thanks, guys.

HARLOW: 2023 was another very busy year for law enforcement, from a 14-day manhunt for a convicted killer that began and ended in a dramatic fashion, to the arrest of a suspected serial killer behind some of the Gilgo Beach murders.

These stories captured the nation's attention and have raised serious questions.

With us now is CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller.

Let's start with the Gilgo Beach alleged murderer. I mean, that -- how long was that a case where they just didn't think that they had leads? And then all of the sudden, this.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So that was an issue of leadership.

Rodney Harrison, a new police commissioner, came into Suffolk County. And not knowing anything about the case, said, One of the things I'm going to do is we're going to solve that case.

What he knew was how to solve the case. He brought in the FBI. He brought in the New York state police. He brought in the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office. He sent them all to a place away from their offices to work as a team and said, Don't come back until you get this done.

And literally, within a couple of months, 13 years of mystery was unraveled with a suspect.

MATTINGLY: Danelo Cavalcante, the prison break. We were sitting on this set when he was captured and got first video of it. What stood out about that search and the eventual capture of him?

MILLER: You know, what stood out about that search was, you know, we think of a fugitive hunt. We usually think of an urban fugitive hunt, where you know, you're pressing informants in the alleys, in the streets, and you know, waiting for someone to pop their head up or, you know, make a phone call.

In this case, you had an individual who, you know, had great skills in the wilderness, a determination to get away and, you know, a lot of people looking for him deep in the woods. And eventually, he was caught, but it tells us something about the condition of the prisons and -- and the jails.

HARLOW: Prison security, right?

MILLER: Well, that's right, because what we're seeing is, you know, increased types of these escapes. Cavalcante was the third in a row in Pennsylvania that resulted in major manhunts. What's that about?

That's about, you know, as police departments are having trouble recruiting officers, given the current climate about law enforcement, the people who have even more trouble are the jails and the prisons.

And they are the first to get their budgets cut. They are the first to not get renovations and physical security updates. Staffing is the issue. And as you see funding going down and staffing getting smaller and people working more overtime, you're seeing the holes show in the system, literally.

HARLOW: John Miller, quite a year. Thank you.

MILLER: Thanks.

HARLOW: Appreciate it.

MATTINGLY: Well, the holidays can be challenging for a lot of people across the country, especially with the very real uncertainty in the world today. We're going to talk to faith leaders on how to keep faith alive through the end of the year.

HARLOW: And is it ever OK to return a Christmas gift from your in- laws? I'm going to answer that, and I'm going to tell you no. Well, what does America think? Harry Enten -- I'm right --

MATTINGLY: The answer's no.

HARLOW: Harry Enten, here with the numbers, ahead.

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