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CNN This Morning

Biden Pardons Son, Hunter, After Vowing Not to; Republicans and Democrats Raises Doubts About Trump's Controversial Pick to Head the FBI; Syrian Rebels Seize Control of Aleppo. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired December 02, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

KASIE HUNT, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING: It's Monday, December 2nd, right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll not pardon him.

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HUNT: Promise broken. President Biden explaining why he gave his son Hunter a full and unconditional pardon after vowing not to. And this --

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KASH PATEL, LAWYER & FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The thing that you need to do with the FBI headquarters building is shut it down.

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HUNT: Senate blowback. Republicans and Democrats raising doubts about Kash Patel, Donald Trump's controversial pick to head the FBI. And this --

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(SIRENS BLARING)

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HUNT: Caught off guard. Syrian rebels seizing control of the country's second largest city, where Russian and -- Russia and Iran too distracted by their own conflicts to stop it. All right, 5:00 a.m. here on the east coast. Moments ago, President Biden arriving in Cabo Verde, it's an island off the coast of Africa.

It's his first visit to that continent. He is heading to Angola here in the waning days of his presidency. Good morning, everyone, I'm Kasie Hunt, it's wonderful to have you with us on this Monday. Hunter Biden pardoned in the waning days of his presidency. Joe Biden issued the pardon for his son. He was facing sentencing this month for federal tax and gun convictions.

Now Hunter Biden won't be sentenced and won't go to prison. That was a possibility before. The President issued this statement saying, quote, "the charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son -- and that is wrong."

Now, both President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump have functionally accused the Justice Department of playing politics. The move comes despite President Biden saying repeatedly he would not issue a pardon or commute his son's sentence.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you, will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict, no matter what it is?

BIDEN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And have you ruled out a pardon for your son?

BIDEN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Trump, who, if you remember, had not ruled out pardoning Hunter Biden himself.

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HUGH HEWITT, TALK-SHOW HOST: Will you pardon Hunter Biden?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wouldn't take it off the books. See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they've done to me, where they've gone after me so viciously, despite what -- and Hunter is a bad boy. There's no question about it. He's been a bad boy.

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HUNT: All right, responding to the news on Truth Social, Trump said this, quote, "does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 hostages who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of justice." All right, joining us now to discuss national political reporter at "The Hill", Julia Manchester. Julia, good morning.

JULIA MANCHESTER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE HILL: Good morning, Kasie --

HUNT: Wonderful to see you. So, this is of course, something that Biden repeatedly said that he would not -- MANCHESTER: Yes --

HUNT: Do, but also at the end of the day, the reason he was asked about it so many times is because everybody did wonder if he could possibly, as a father, leave the office without doing this. What have you seen as this has unfolded over the last 12 hours?

MANCHESTER: Look, it's no surprise that Republicans are certainly criticizing President Biden over this, saying that he is politicizing the judicial system. Democrats, of course, hitting back, talking about the politicization of the judicial system on the right side of the aisle. But at the same time, I thought it was interesting seeing a few Democrats like Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Arizona Congressman Greg Stanton coming out and saying, look, they understand where the President is coming from as a father, but they're afraid of the precedent this sends -- you know, this sets.

You know, it's interesting looking at the past, you know, 24, 48 hours in terms of, you know, news with the justice system. You have, of course, Kash Patel being nominated by President-elect Trump to lead the FBI, someone who is very much a yes man to the President-elect, and then a day later, you have Joe Biden on the other side pardoning Hunter.

I think a lot of critics of both sides would say that they're concerned that this -- we're seeing more of a growing politicization of this Justice Department from both sides of the aisle. So, I think that's a concern going forward.

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HUNT: So, you mentioned Jared Polis again, the Democratic governor of Colorado. Let's look at in detail what he said. He said, quote, "while as a father, I certainly understand President Joe Biden's natural desire to help his son. I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country.

This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation. When you become President, your role is to be the father of the nation, Hunter brought the legal trouble he faced on himself, and one can sympathize with his struggles while also acknowledging no one is above the law, not a President and not a President's son."

So, he is saying, look, this is bad precedent. Now, of course, the Biden pushback is that these prosecutions wouldn't have gotten farer this way --

MANCHESTER: Right --

HUNT: If Hunter Biden wasn't the President's son.

MANCHESTER: Exactly. They are using that excuse of a double-standard. And look, this isn't surprising that Biden is doing this. Of course, I think maybe it's shocking to some because we saw the President repeatedly, particularly in the lead-up to the presidential campaign, saying he wouldn't pardon him.

But at the same time, you see Hunter Biden so much with President Biden despite the controversy, he really brought to the headlines, he would accompany him on foreign trips, he was often at the White House. So, I think to a lot of us watching, this was definitely a long-time coming.

But look, there's that very legitimate question about precedent, what it means for the Trump administration and future administrations going forward in terms of how these pardons are carried out.

HUNT: Yes, one of the things here and this dynamic, of course, is that the President is stepping off the stage, right? And many of the quotes we've showed and seen from him talking about this were from before he left the top --

MANCHESTER: Yes --

HUNT: Of the Democratic ticket, right? There are Democrats who are still going to be in the arena trying to push back against Donald Trump and former Congressman Joe Walsh, who has become a Trump critic, was on over the weekend talking about what this pardon means kind of in that context. Let's watch that.

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JOE WALSH, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: So, the next time any of us complain about anything Trump does -- this pardon is just deflating. Nobody is above the law we've been screaming. Well, Joe Biden just made clear his son Hunter is above the law. Donald Trump lies every time he opens his mouth we've been screaming.

Joe Biden repeatedly lied about this. The politicization of the justice system, Donald Trump and his people have been screaming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, so --

WALSH: That's exactly what Biden said here.

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HUNT: So, he's basically saying that they have handed the Trump team an enormous cudgel with this.

MANCHESTER: Right, and expect Democrats, whether they're Democratic governors, Democratic attorneys general, Democratic lawmakers here in Washington, they will be asked about this, and they will be put on the spot. And it's going to be interesting going forward once we officially get into the Trump administration.

We know that, that Justice Department under -- you know, assuming a Pam Bondi becomes Attorney General, that's going to be under a lot of scrutiny from Democrats, and I think it's going to be easy for Republicans to certainly point to this and say, look what Biden did here.

HUNT: All right, Julia Manchester for us this morning, Julia, very grateful to have you. Thank you --

MANCHESTER: Thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: All right, coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, a quote, "productive meeting", Donald Trump and Canada's Prime Minister met face-to-face after Trump's tariff threat. Plus, 5 feet of snow and more on the way. We'll take you there. And the shake-up at the FBI. Kash Patel's plan for that agency.

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PATEL: We're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We're going to come after you.

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HUNT: Justin Trudeau enjoying dinner at Mar-a-Lago with a side of discussion of tariffs. The Canadian Prime Minister sitting down with Donald Trump Friday night just days after the President-elect threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on both Canada and Mexico.

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JUSTIN TRUDEAU, PRIME MINISTER, CANADA: Our responsibility is to point out that in this way, he would be actually not just harming Canadians who work so well with the United States. He'd actually be raising prices for American citizens as well and hurting American industry and businesses.

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HUNT: Trump called his meeting with Trudeau productive in a post on his Truth Social platform, he added this, quote, "we discussed many important topics that will require both countries to work together like the fentanyl and drug crisis that has decimated so many lives as a result of illegal immigration.

Fair trade deals that do not jeopardize American workers and the massive trade deficit the U.S. has with Canada." All right, CNN's Max Foster joins us live now from London. Max, good morning, always wonderful to see you. So, what does it tell you that, you know, Trump puts this threatening post out about tariffs on social media, and days later, the Canadian Prime Minister has scrambled his forces and flown down to Mar-a-Lago to talk to him about it. Is that basically the point?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think a lot of people are looking at the -- you know, the facts of dealing with Donald Trump, and actually, Trudeau did the right thing here. Donald Trump, someone who seemed to like making deals. He likes to do those deals himself. He likes to do them face-to-face. Justin Trudeau needed a deal,

something like 75 percent of Canadian exports going into America. This is something that would absolutely decimate the economy if it goes ahead. So, he was quite pragmatic. Many people are saying, going down there trying to reach some sort of deal, which is extraordinary.

I mean, you look at these images, I was just looking back, Kasie, you remember these moments. But back in 2022, Trump called Trudeau a far- left lunatic.

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In 2018, he walked out of a G7 Summit, which was in Quebec, saying Trudeau was very dishonest and weak. And then, we have this, glorious picture, a Canadian minister who was in that meeting -- who I think was in that image, Dominic LeBlanc told "CBC" that at the end of the dinner, Trump walked Trudeau to his car and said, keep in touch, call me anytime, talk soon. So, it was an effective meeting in many ways.

HUNT: Just two gentlemen concluding you know, your average -- your average dinner and being polite at the end. Max, I mean, one of the other pieces of this, of course, is immigration. I think there were a lot of eyebrows, I think, raised here in the U.S. when Trump put those out there saying -- talking about immigration from Canada and from Mexico, right?

Obviously, the southern border is something that Trump talks a lot about. The Canadian border less so. There's also reporting out in the last 24, 48 hours, that the Canadians are going to beef up helicopter patrols, more muscular, quote-unquote, "immigration enforcement", that, of course, potentially something that Donald Trump could see, right, pictures of these helicopters. What about that piece of this discussion?

FOSTER: Yes, so drones, police helicopters, personnel, they're going to make the border more secure. They're looking at what Donald Trump initially said. And he said the tariffs are, you know, a border security issue effectively. So, they don't want the tariffs in Canada. So, they're looking at the border.

Obviously, on the southern border, they're talking about a wall, so this is a part of a negotiation as well I'm sure for Trudeau trying to avoid a war. So he's offering alternatives to that. So, it allows Donald Trump to come out of this, saying I got what I wanted, no, we're not going to do the tariffs potentially, but we are getting all of this.

But I think Donald Trump's going to want to see actual results from this, want to see that there is a reduction in, you know -- there's an improvement in border security before he says no to the tariffs, because a lot of people in Washington have been saying, haven't they, Kasie? That, you know, he's going to keep -- he will put these tariffs in effect until he sees some results.

HUNT: All right -- FOSTER: But you know, it does make a difference for Americans. I

think Trudeau is right. I mean, a tariff by definition increases prices for Americans, and there are so many products coming in from Canada.

HUNT: That is the big -- the big question, will Americans who seem to send a message on the one hand with the election that, hey, we want prices to come down, but we are willing to vote for Donald Trump, we think that, that will help this --

FOSTER: He literally said they will go up --

HUNT: Will they -- exactly tolerate policies that will result --

FOSTER: Yes --

HUNT: In that. All right, Max Foster, Max for us this morning, Max, thank you --

FOSTER: Thanks, Kasie --

HUNT: I really appreciate it. All right, still to come here on CNN THIS MORNING, wintry weather in full swing across parts of the United States. Lake-effect snow approaching 5 feet in some parts of the Great Lakes regions. Plus, another one of Donald Trump's picks for his next administration facing bipartisan pushback.

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HUNT: All right, 21 minutes past the hour, here's your morning round- up. President Biden landing in Cabo Verde this morning on his way to Angola. Fulfilling a promise to visit Africa before he leaves office. During the three-day visit, Biden is hoping to shore up relations on the continent and to blunt China's growing influence there.

The White House has not said if this will be his final trip abroad as President. A Dallas mega-church bishop says he's now recovering after a scary moment on stage. Bishop T.D. Jakes froze on stage mid sermon last weekend and was rushed to a nearby hospital. The 67-year-old tells us -- tells his congregation that he underwent surgery, but he didn't say what caused his medical emergency.

Not exactly what you want to see on one of the busiest holiday travel weekends of the year. But folks across the Great Lakes region were hit with several feet of lake-effect snow over the weekend. Parts of western New York getting nearly 4 feet of snow over the past few days, exceeding 4 feet in some parts on Sunday.

And that brings us to weather, because lake-effect snow warnings are still in effect for parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York through tomorrow afternoon. Let's get straight to our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, good morning.

DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kasie. You know, it's just amazing to see how these lake-effect snow bands are so particular, right? Some areas will get feet upon feet of snowfall. And you go just a half a mile up the road and they've got nothing on the ground. I saw it. This is a classic tale of really that exact scenario because so many locations over western New York into western Pennsylvania saw the snow.

And you're seeing the footage behind me, but there were so many areas that stayed bone dry. This is really a game of miles, but the areas that got hit hard have a serious clean-up effort to do, and there's still more snow on the -- on the way. So, check these scenes coming out of Harrisburg, New York, right?

This is really piling up on some of these A-framed roofs here. Think about that. Fifteen pounds per square foot on average for snowfall, that's going to weigh up quite quickly. That could lead to some potentially collapses of buildings, right? That's a potential with this amount of snow. We're talking nearly 5 feet in some locations.

Certainly, over the 4 foot mark, but again, that's a very localized area, as you can see why? There's the banding and the snow that set up over the same locations that got hit the hardest. Downtown Buffalo saw little to no snow, but just to the south of that, there's a whole different story, that's where they saw several feet of snow.

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So, this very cold arctic air moving over the relatively warm Great Lakes, and that picks up the moisture, as that air starts to cool and descend once again, it's deposited as snow on the ground. And again, we still have lake-effect snowfall in this forecast with another surge of cold air settling in behind it as we head into the second half of this week.

This is what we're waking up to this morning, 16 in Chicago, 23 degrees in Pittsburgh feels like 12 above as we factor in the wind- chills. And we're talking about over 70 percent of our country feeling temperatures below freezing in the next coming days with another rapid drop in temperatures as we head into the second half of the week. Here's your low temperatures for today and the next couple of days, and not much better for those day-time highs either. Kasie? One more --

HUNT: And I was -- I was watching, I think this is frigid coming for Washington D.C. on Thursday --

VAN DAM: I mean, how else can you put it, right?

(LAUGHTER)

VAN DAM: Like there's only so many ways to slice it.

HUNT: Yes --

VAN DAM: It's cool --

HUNT: Thanks for the heads-up. OK, Derek Van Dam -- VAN DAM: All right --

HUNT: For us, Derek, thank you. I'll see you next hour, really appreciate it. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, President Biden's pardon of his son, Hunter, shaking up the closing weeks of his presidency. How the pardon is playing out on Capitol Hill as lawmakers return from their holiday recess. Plus, the latest on the situation in Syria as the civil war there enters an explosive new phase.

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JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Iran, Russia, Hezbollah, they had seen them weaker and more exposed than before, and they tried to take advantage of it.

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