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Writings Found in Megachurch Shooter's Home; Ambassador Julianne Smith is Interviewed about NATO; Inflation Cools in January; Race to Replace Santos; Swift Impact at Super Bowl. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 13, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Anti- Semitic writings, the - the - the - the impetuous between this. and, at the same time, she's talking, this is her in her own writings, talking about mental illness, talking about needing help, talking about needing to tell her story. So, among the many things that don't make sense, as Poppy points out, who would bring their child -

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Right.

MILLER: To an event where they're both likely to be killed as an active shooter, and who with an anti-Semitic, pro-Palestine agenda is going to attack a church that they apparently once had an association with, because she donated money.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Right. Right.

MATTINGLY: It's -- still so many unanswered questions, but great reporting, as always.

John Miller, thank you.

MILLER: Thank you.

HARLOW: Thank you, John.

Donald Trump faces global outrage after saying he would encourage Russia to attack allies that don't meet their spending goals in terms of supporting NATO. We'll speak to the top U.S. official at NATO about how this could impact the alliance.

MATTINGLY: And we're just getting the first inflation report of 2024. What the numbers show, and what it means for interest rates, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. CHARLES Q. BROWN, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: I think we have - we have a responsibility to uphold those alliances. U.S. credibility is at stake for each of our alliances. And U.S. leadership is still needed, wanted, and watched. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: That was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General C.Q. Brown responding to Donald Trump saying he'd encourage Russia to attack NATO partners that didn't meet spending guidelines on defense. Trump is standing by what he said, posting on Truth Social, quote, "When I told the 20 countries that weren't paying their fair share that they had to pay up, the money came rolling in. NATO has to equalize, if not America first."

Now, a NATO military official told CNN that Trump is, quote, "not completely wrong" in saying that certain members should up their defense spending. Trump's national -- former national security adviser, John Bolton, is warning that his old boss will pull out of NATO if he wins a second term.

[08:35:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I was there with him in the spring of 2018 at the NATO summit in Brussels where he damn near did get out of NATO. He is serious about it. And whether you're a Trump supporter or a Trump opponent, don't - don't think he's kidding about this one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, Trump's criticism of NATO stretches back decades. He actually made some of the same claims during an appearance on "Larry King Live" in 1987.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've always felt that NATO and West Germany, I mean, we have all those troops over there. I feel that they should pay their way.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I agree with you on NATO. I agree with you on other countries.

If you look at the payments they were making to NATO, they're totally disproportionate with everybody else's, and it's ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Got to love the archives.

His comments, past and present, have driven palpable concern on Capitol Hill. So much so that lawmakers late last year passed legislation that would prevent any president from withdrawing from NATO without Senate approval.

Joining us now to discuss is U.S. permanent representative to NATO, Ambassador Julianne Smith. Ambassador, I appreciate your time this morning.

Can I ask just a basic question upfront? Are there any NATO members who are currently delinquent in payments to the United States?

AMB. JULIANNE SMITH, U.S. PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO NATO: Well, thank you.

I think what we need to be clear about is no one is delinquent. This is not a country club. There are no dues here at NATO. Instead, what we have all committed to do is to invest in our own national defense. All allies 10 years ago said that they would take steps to move to the 2 percent target, to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense. And over the last ten years, the large majority of allies inside the NATO alliance have moved out an inch closer to 2 percent.

We're going to hear, later this week, the secretary general come out with a number that is considerably higher from where we've been. So, we've seen nine years of consecutive increases in the defense spending among our allies. And we're going to be celebrating that at the summit this summer in Washington.

MATTINGLY: That's exactly kind of where I wanted you to go with this because I think we actually have the chart of kind of the better part of the last ten years. 2014 was a - was a big moment when the 2 percent of GDP was agreed upon. And we have seen a steady progression upward across the alliance.

Still, though, I think currently 11 of the - the alliance's members have hit that 2 percent threshold, but it has been a steady increase.

Are there signs that the others will get there soon? That they're moving forward beyond just inching up, to use your words.

SMITH: Well, let me give you a little bit more detail.

So, in 2014, we had three allies here inside the alliance that were spending 2 percent of GDP on their national defense. This year at the summit, we think we're going to be close to two-thirds of the alliance spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense. So, that is leaps and bounds from where we started. And thanks to the efforts of President Obama, President Trump, and now President Biden, we are now seeing allies step up and do more for their own defense.

This is really producing real results here. We're able to take those resources and do more to enhance our deterrence and defense across the alliance. We're able to do more to protect ourselves from cyberattacks. We're able to do more to work with our allies to protect critical infrastructure and do more to build resilience. So, each and every day here in the alliance, we're working with our allies together to protect our shared security.

This alliance serves U.S. interests, it protects Americans, and it serves the interests of our allies as well. So, we're happy to see the increases. We'll continue to push those that aren't quite there yet.

MATTINGLY: Right.

SMITH: But the goal is to have all allies hit the 2 percent, either this year or in the next few years.

MATTINGLY: Ambassador, the president often tells the story of his first G-7 summit where he kept saying, America was back. And I think it was French President Macron who said, for how long? That was 2021. The progression I think people assumed in American politics is not necessarily gone as maybe some in the administration would have planned.

When you talk to your colleagues in Brussels, when you talk to other ministers, what are they saying about what they're hearing right now from - I've never seen Jens Stoltenberg put out a more forceful statement than I saw yesterday. How does that reflect in your conversations that you're having?

SMITH: Well, first and foremost, I would say that the allies really appreciated President Biden coming in and making alliances kind of a key feature of his foreign policy agenda. In fact, we've seen seven decades of Democratic and Republican presidents making alliances the cornerstone of each and every part of our national security policy.

[08:40:01]

MATTINGLY: Right.

SMITH: Why do we do that? Because alliances ultimately make us stronger, they serve our interests and allow us to work together with other countries around the world to protect our own security. So, alliances are always a good investment. There's been no denying that over the last 75 years.

In terms of what comes in the months ahead, in the years ahead, what I say to my European and Canadian counterparts is, I see strong, bipartisan support among the American public for this alliance. I see Democrats and Republicans largely on The Hill coming together to support NATO. Each and every delegation that comes through here from Congress, whether they're from one side of the aisle or the other, always expresses strong bipartisan support in this alliance. Americans know that this is a good value for America and that it brings security to us and to our allies.

So, I put my faith in the American people. I put my faith in Congress, where I see deep bipartisan support for this alliance.

MATTINGLY: Yes, it's very true. And a lot of those bipartisan codels come back and make clear that when they talk to foreign officials, their biggest question is about, is Donald Trump going to be president again. We will, obviously, have to wait and see over the course of the next time on.

Ambassador Julianne Smith, we always appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

SMITH: Thank you. HARLOW: And this just in, the Labor Department releasing its monthly inflation report, shows an annual inflation number in terms of slowing, 3.1 percent in January. It's down, so that's good, from 3.4 percent in December. The Fed, of course, looking very closely at this, trying to get it near their two percent target rate.

Our Vanessa Yurkevich joins us this morning.

Great to have you.

Good, but - there's a but.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good, cooling back to levels we saw before December. In December we saw a little bit of higher prices, probably because of holiday shopping and spending. So, inflation cooling back down, not exactly where analysts wanted it. They really wanted to get it below 3 percent, but that's not what we're seeing. In January we're seeing prices rising year over year 3.1 percent, month over month, 0.3 percent.

And where we are seeing sort of the biggest increases month over month and year over year are still in shelter costs, rent costs, month -

HARLOW: Housing.

YURKEVICH: Housing. People paying a lot for housing still. And month over month you're seeing shelter rising by 0.6 percent. That accounted for two-thirds of the overall monthly increase.

HARLOW: Huh.

YURKEVICH: And then you're seeing food prices up 0.4 percent in the month of January, up 2.6 percent year over year. But energy, that's where you're going to get the savings, down 0.9 percent. So, energy prices continuing to cool. That's really good for people who are filling up their pumps, heating their homes this winter.

And while we're seeing a cooling of inflation, still hotter than that 2 percent target. The good news, at least for some Americans, wages continuing to outpace inflation. Hopefully that's helping to offset some of these higher prices, but still some work to do there.

HARLOW: For sure, especially when you're talking about someone's home. That's critical.

YURKEVICH: Yes. Yes.

HARLOW: Thank you very much.

YURKEVICH: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, right now, polls are open in the special election to replace expelled Congressman George Santos. The candidates are vying for the third congressional district, a heavily suburban region just outside New York City. Democrat Tom Suozzi and Republican Mazi Pilip aren't talking about Santos, or at least they're trying not to. Immigration is top of mind in that race. A victory for Democrats could chip away at the very narrow 219 to 212 majority Republicans have in the House.

CNN's Athena Jones is live at a polling place in Glen Cove, New York, just as the snow starts to pick up. And I think that's, honestly, just to ask the obvious question, are the campaigns worried about the weather here? Turnout is huge in a special.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Phil.

Well, the campaigns are somewhat worried. It certainly -- the snow is coming down hard outside First kind of big snow we've seen in a couple of years. And so the campaigns are offering voters rides to the polls.

I just spoke with some of the poll workers behind me and they say that usually this location, it's a boys and girls club, its usually pretty active by now, but they think that because of the snow and because they -- a lot of high -- a lot of people voted early, that they don't necessarily expect to see -- they haven't been seeing the same numbers that they usually see.

I will say that both of these campaigns have been working up until the very last minute. Tom Suozzi has activity today. He -- campaign workers for Tom Suozzi were out on the Long Island Railroad yesterday handing out flyers. And, as you mentioned, this is one of -- this has been a hugely expensive race because all eyes are on this looking to whether it will be a bellwether. Will it tell us clues about which party's messaging is going to prevail in Novembe?.

As you mentioned, some of the real topics of conversation had been immigration. The migrant crisis is something that has affected this district, which encompasses Nassau County, parts of Nassau County here on Long Island, but also parts of Queens.

[08:45:08]

This is something that Mazi Pilip, the Republican candidate, has really been hitting hard. All of her ads in recent days have hit Suozzi on immigration, painting him as soft on immigration. Suozzi has talked about Mazi Pilip being unclear about her views and pro-life and someone who would support an abortion ban.

Neither of these candidates, interestingly enough, has really glommed onto the standard bearer of their party. So, Mazi Pilip spent weeks avoiding questions about whether she had even voted for Donald Trump in the last election. And Tom Suozzi has slammed Biden on the border -- President Biden on border issues, much as many Democrats have done in cities like New York and around New York and has said he doesn't want to ask for the presidents help in campaigning.

I can tell you this, whatever happens here today, both of these candidates, a plan - say they plan to run again in November, just a few months away. But we will see if this suburban district will be kind of the bellwether to provide clues about which party's message is -- is winning out. This is exactly the kind of suburban district that observers say will decide the next big national election in November. Poppy. Phil.

HARLOW: Yes, for sure. Athena, thank you, and your team, for braving the weather, being there to report throughout the day.

Also, CNN will have special coverage of the race to replace Santos. That special coverage starts 8:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.

MATTINGLY: Well, coming up, the Super Bowl set a new viewership record. The likes of which hasn't been seen since the moon landing. Is it all because of Taylor - no, it's not all because - it's definitely Usher's abs. It was Usher's abs.

HARLOW: Oh, gosh, Phil.

MATTINGLY: We're going to look into all of this, next. Stay with us.

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[08:50:59]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": Last night's game was over four hours long. Fans were like, who directed this, Martin Scorsese. But by the end of overtime, both teams were exhausted, while everyone at home was like, hey, we're the ones who have got to get up for work tomorrow. You guys are on - you guys go on vacation. The game was so long that people were drunk in the first quarter and hung over by the trophy presentation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Well, the game may have been long, but the ratings were huge for the Super Bowl. A staggering 123 million viewers watched the big game, breaking Super Bowl records and becoming the most watched TV broadcast in a generation. It can only be fair to classify those numbers as out of this world. It's the most watched TV broadcast since 1969 when an estimated 125 to 150 million viewers watched the Apollo 11 moon landing.

HARLOW: The moon landing. When I read that this morning, by the way, I was like, are you serious?

MATTINGLY: Yes, linear TV is doing great.

HARLOW: Phil!

Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs will cap off there Super Bowl celebrations with a parade on Wednesday.

With us now is CNN contributor and host of "The Cari Champion Show," Cari Champion.

Good morning, beautiful. You were there. You got to be there.

CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I had a great time.

Poppy, I'm laughing because you're like, are you serious? Everyone was watching the Super Bowl. The ratings were insane. I will say, though, Phil, I don't know if you felt the way I felt, it was a little slow. But in the end it gave us everything that we needed.

I was inside of the stadium with that magnetic performance while everyone was trying to see if they can -- they put Taylor up -- Taylor Swift up more in the actual arena then on television. And it was such a sight to see, guys. So much excitement outside of the game because we're all paying attention to Taylor Swift.

MATTINGLY: Yes, it was a slow game. It was a defensive struggle for the first half. It took a while to get going on that front.

We still need to talk, by the way at some point, not on live television, about your private audience with Usher before the performance that you and a friend got.

CHAMPION: Right.

MATTINGLY: Like, you thought I was going to let that one go when you said it earlier in the week. Like, I've been thinking about that literally every day sense.

But I do want to ask you, there has also been - it's not just been the game, it's not just been the -- like all the atmospherics around it. After the game, like the clips from the postgame parties, from the clubs. Like, Taylor Swift posting the -- I think we have it where she's at the club with her parents, Ludicrous is playing on -- in the background right there. Like, that's Travis Kelce. I think we all know. There's bottle service. This is like Cari Champion's every night.

HARLOW: Bottles and bottles and bottles.

MATTINGLY: And we're sharing right now. And there's Taylor Swift's parents right there.

But like the vibe right now, like, it's just fun it seems.

CHAMPION: Yes, Phil, it was really a good time. I - it's 5:30 in the morning here in Los Angeles. Trust me, I'm still recovering, as you can hear a little from so much excitement and yelling in my voice.

I love that you point out the bottle service of it all.

The Usher (INAUDIBLE) - the Usher concert, to me, was really, truly spectacular. He was able to do a lot in terms of being an entertainer and an (INAUDIBLE) and still dancing. Justin Bieber said something to the effect of, he's one of the greatest who can ever actually do is, sing and dance, wardrobe changes, the whole nine. It was really, I mean, fantastic.

And then when it was all said and done and we were -- we quieted our minds to talk about this game, we turn our attention toward Patrick Mahomes. And you hear the Brady comparisons. And I want to take something back that I said on television with you guys here. I'm not ready to call him Tom Brady yet because, guess what he reminded us all of yesterday. He goes, Tom Brady beat me in the Super Bowl, so I can't call myself the GOAT or the new GOAT. He will always have that over me. So, out of respect, I'm still giving it to Tom Brady. So, I'll do the same.

HARLOW: I love that. I mean that just speaks to his character.

MATTINGLY: He pointed it out. It was like the best -

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: I said the same thing, when I saw that quote, I was like, you've got to be kidding me. Like, that's so good.

HARLOW: That's a good, good guy. Totally shapes him.

I'm not letting you get away from Usher yet because not only did he do all the things you mentioned -

CHAMPION: OK.

HARLOW: He did it on roller skates at one point.

[08:55:02]

What -- you talked to him right before this, right? What was his mindset going into all of this?

CHAMPION: Oh, I -- I knew exactly what he felt. He was very relaxed. He was very at ease. But he felt like this was really a moment to showcase what he calls home, which is Atlanta. And I don't know if we were able to get an idea of what he was trying to give you, that Atlanta, that southern style, that entertainment, roller skating is big there, which is why he was roller skating. It's a huge thing that they do.

He brought out every single person that has been on his actual -- in terms of his rise, been a part of that. That's Ludicrous, who's also from Atlanta, Little John, Jermaine Dupri, who was the producer. I mean it was very much, guess what, I want you all to understand what brought me, raised me, gave me my style, my swagger, and that is the city of Atlanta. And I thought that was beautiful. And he goes, we brought the world to the A. At the very end he was saying that, and that means you brought the world to Atlanta.

HARLOW: Oh, I love that.

MATTINGLY: Yes, I thought that was the best part at the very end. For people who didn't understand the roller skating or didn't understand the connective tissue to the past, the other performers, them saying that repeatedly at the end, that was like the best close.

Cari Champion, we've still got to talk about the private concert off television at some point. CHAMPION: (INAUDIBLE). That - that too.

MATTINGLY: We appreciate you, as always, my friend.

CHAMPION: Hey, I heard you say -- before I let you go, Phil -

MATTINGLY: Yes.

CHAMPION: I heard you say something about his abs. I believe that's why the ratings were up. It was the abs, you're correct.

MATTINGLY: Yes, I've heard that. I've - Cari Champion, we love you. Thank you.

CHAMPION: Thanks, Poppy and Phil.

MATTINGLY: "CNN NEWS CENTRAL," on that note, starts right after this break.

HARLOW: On that note.

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