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CNN This Morning
Anger Boils Over In Congress As Funding Bill Fails; Putin: I'm "Ready" For Potential Talks With Trump; Winter Storm Kicks Off Busy Holiday Travel Weekend. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired December 20, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:35]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, December 20th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: This is Washington. This is how the lawmaking is done.
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HUNT: Hurtling toward a shutdown. The House fails to pass a new plan to keep the government open with no clear path forward for what's next.
And back to New York. Suspected killer Luigi Mangione now officially in the hands of the NYPD.
And --
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Fani Willis hired her lover, Nathan Wade, so they could fraudulently make money together.
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HUNT: Prosecutor dismissed. Why the Atlanta district attorney who charged Donald Trump with crimes will no longer be on the case.
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HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast, a live look at Capitol Hill. They were really hoping to already be home for the holidays by this time today. They are not. There's chaos up there.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Anger and frustration boiling over on the hill as a new attempt to keep the government open went down in flames.
Congressman Marc Molinaro, perhaps with the most visible symbol of the frustration he apparently broke that gavel, attempting to bring the house to order amid fierce debate, a debate made necessary after Donald Trump, Elon Musk and their allies killed the original bipartisan deal this week.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are the ones that are creating the shutdown.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will not be going back to the table. This deal stands as it is.
REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): All I've heard for the last couple of weeks about this giant mandate landslide trifecta. Put on your big boy pants, pass your own bill.
REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): This side of the aisle is profoundly unserious about actually reducing deficits.
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HUNT: In the middle of the storm, House Speaker Mike Johnson now trying to not only unify his party behind a new plan, but now trying to save his speakership in next years Congress.
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JOHNSON: This is Washington. This is how the lawmaking is done. It's a long process. Sometimes it takes a while to reach consensus.
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HUNT: It will take even longer to find consensus now. Democrats and dozens of Republicans shot down his plan B. Now some Republicans are calling on Trump to come to Washington to try to help sort out the mess that he played a role in creating.
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SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): I think one of the ways that this could get fixed fairly quickly would be if President Trump would come up to Washington tomorrow or spend the weekend here and talk to people face to face. Let's face it. I mean, he's, you know, he's got a lot of sway and persuasion. He acts more like the sitting president than the sitting president. And if he'd come up, I think he could help move things along.
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HUNT: So right now, you can see on that bottom side of your screen, we are just hours away from a government shutdown, and we don't know what the next steps could be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REPORTER: You're going to run this bill tomorrow though?
JOHNSON: We'll see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: We'll see.
Joining us now to break all of it down, Reese Gorman. He's a political reporter at "NOTUS".
Reese, good morning.
REESE GORMAN, POLITICAL REPORTER, NOTUS: Good morning.
HUNT: I like the holiday sweater this morning.
GORMAN: Thank you. Appreciate it.
HUNT: Your, sort of, festive spirit is not shared by those on Capitol Hill who are desperately trying to get home from the holidays while keeping the government open. What's next?
GORMAN: And this is Johnson has to come up with a plan C, plan A failed, plan B failed. Now plan C, I mean, there's -- it would be much easier if there weren't 38 Republicans. You can kind of whip ten Republicans and try to break some of that off you. You're going to have -- it's almost impossible to get down to 38 Republicans to get them to vote for some CR.
And this was -- I mean, they this was as much as a pared down conservative CR that could pass and even get signed into law, because you still have a Democrat Senate and Democrat White House. And J.D. Vance said while he was leaving yesterday that trying to pin on Democrats basically saying, like they've asked for a shutdown, they might get one. It sounds like they're okay with the government shutting down.
And I don't think Johnson necessarily wants that. But it does sound like Trump and J.D. Vance are like, well, it sounds like the government is going to shut down.
HUNT: Part of this, of course, is the debt ceiling, right, which is was wrapped into this.
[05:05:02]
And a lot of these conservatives are saying I've literally never voted for it. This was something Trump kind of threw in there publicly anyway, at the last minute. Apparently he had been talking about it behind the scenes.
But if they're going to insist on that -- I mean, Trump wants to take away the leverage that Democrats will have later. You know, as his term gets underway by doing this now. But he can't do it without Democrats. GORMAN: No. And I mean, this is the same thing that McCarthy got in
trouble for was raising the debt ceiling. He did it. And he had to put in these like drastic spending cuts just to get enough Republicans to vote for it. And that was even a challenge.
And, I mean, I've reported prior that Johnson has -- I mean, members have been asking Johnson just to clear the decks, just to kind of pass an omnibus, just get it out of the way because they don't want to deal with Trump. And all along, Johnson was saying, this can't pass, this can't pass. And then it comes to find out this actually what Trump wanted all along.
And so Johnsons also really in a kind of a touchy situation with his speakership and where it's at. I mean, Trump is kind of Trump. I reported yesterday that Trump is kind of souring on Johnson is expressing that he might not back him in January if there's a speaker fight because of how he's handled this whole situation.
There's now at least two members that are saying publicly that they don't plan on voting for Mike Johnson, and so that's enough right there just to kind of at least further elongate the speaker fight.
HUNT: Yeah. So speaking of your reporting, this is part of what you and a colleague wrote for NOTUS, quote, Johnson doesn't appear to be in a negotiating mood with a speaker vote just a couple of weeks away, giving in to Democratic demands and simply putting the original bill on the floor could come at the expense of Johnson's job.
Congressman Mark Pocan, a Democrat, described the situation as a cluster F, telling NOTUS anything short of Republicans negotiating with Democrats would amount to the GOP playing their own game of fantasy congress? And here's how "Politico" wrote it this morning. This is their lead on their story.
They write, quote, the collapse of Speaker Mike Johnsons spending plan illustrates a painful lesson that other politicians have already learned. Absolute loyalty to Donald Trump is a one way street.
As the U.S. teeters on the edge of a government shutdown, bitterly divided Republicans are struggling to find a way forward, and Johnsons hold on his job is in Trumps mercurial hands. Trump seems less than pleased with Johnson right now.
GORMAN: Oh, 100 percent. I mean, especially because Johnson, it all started with this. First bill, Johnson didn't want to clear the decks because it could come at the cost of speakership. He didn't think that's what Trump wants.
And as I reported previously, Trump originally blessed this three- month CR plan. He was like, you can do that. Well get it done in March. He was not aware of all the things that were stacked in it that Republicans were against.
And because Johnson but also, I mean, Trump has been -- he's not -- doesn't really like to negotiate that much or he wants to get his way most of the time. And he Johnson has to give Democrats stuff they wanted or to pass because they have legitimately one half of one branch of government.
And so, Johnson is going to have to negotiate with Democrats. And he Trump has to realize that it's either a government shutdown, he negotiates with Democrats. Right now, I don't really see a way that Johnson is going to save his speakership at this point because of how upset everybody is.
HUNT: Governing is hard.
GORMAN: Fair.
HUNT: Lesson one, apparently, of the new Trump presidency, even though he's not president yet.
Reese Gorman, thank you very much.
GORMAN: Thanks for having me.
HUNT: I appreciate it.
All right. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, a courtroom scramble, the behind the scenes tug of war between prosecutors when Luigi Mangione, the suspected CEO killer was charged federally.
Plus, drone panic. New flight restrictions as the mysterious sightings continue.
And ready to talk. Both Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelenskyy say they're ready for discussions with President-elect Trump.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I think that President Trump is a strong man, and I want very much to have him on our side. For me, it's very important. I want to discuss with him more details about this war.
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[05:13:17]
HUNT: Russian President Vladimir Putin says he's ready for talks at, quote, any time with President-elect Donald Trump amid pressure to end the war on Ukraine. Putin made the comments during his annual year end news conference yesterday. Putin says he believes that Russia is in a stronger position in the nearly three-year war.
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PUTIN: You asked me what we can offer or what I can offer to the newly elected President Trump when we meet. First of all, I don't know when we will meet because he hasn't said anything about it. I haven't spoken to him at all in over four years. Of course, I am ready for this at any time and I will be ready for a meeting if he wants it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: While Putin says there has been no communication between the two men, Trump has been staying mum. The president elect, who has vowed to swiftly end the conflict in his second term, has often boasted about his close relationship with Putin but has refused to comment on reports that he's had multiple calls with the Russian president since leaving the White House.
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MODERATOR: Can you say yes or no? Whether you have talked to Vladimir Putin since you stopped being president?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I don't comment on that, but I will tell you that if I did, it's a smart thing. If I'm friendly with people, if I have a relationship with people, that's a good thing, not a bad thing in terms of a country.
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HUNT: All right. Our Max Foster joins us live now from London.
Max, good morning.
Wonderful to see you, interesting comments there from Vladimir Putin. And, of course, this looming question of how this may be resolved when President-elect Trump takes office. What do you make of it all?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, it's interesting. I think there's an interest in President Putin wanting to talk about negotiations or talks, at least because it sort of locks off, you know, where we are right now and how you come out of it. And Ukrainians certainly want to push the Russians back. They're having very little success from that.
He says there's no conditions to any talks. He's happy to go ahead with them straight away. Donald Trump appears to be emerging as the negotiator there. But he even said he would talk to Zelenskyy. But there are conditions in the background here to any potential deal because Putin has also made it pretty clear that he doesn't want to give up any of the territory he's gained. He doesn't want Ukraine to join NATO. These are things that obviously Ukraine will want.
He's also suggested yesterday that he wouldn't be able to sign a deal with President Zelenskyy in his current role, because they would it would have to be a -- you know, he's currently ruling through an emergency, you know, wartime procedure. Putin suggested that he would only deal with whoever parliament had appointed, so they'd want to see fresh elections, it seems, before they would actually sign a deal with Zelenskyy.
So there are conditions in the background. But, you know, certainly a willingness to speak with Donald Trump about it all.
HUNT: Hmm. Well, so speaking of Trump, while these two are talking about him, Trump is talking about the European Union. This is what he had to say overnight. Quote: I told the European Union they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise it is tariffs all the way.
What do you make of this threat, and how is it being received in the halls of the various governments of the E.U.?
FOSTER: Well, there's a lot of dependence still on Russian oil and gas in Europe. That's just a reality. And that's always been a sensitive factor. And I think, frankly, you know, a lot of European countries would rather get that from the United States, but the cost of it would be enormous. You know, bringing it across the oceans. So, you know, there's a practical difficulties there of actually making it happen.
But certainly, there's a huge fear, particularly in the European Union, of a trade war with the United States. And it is really sort of looming over everything. And it's interesting, lots of reports coming out from the UK that Peter Mandelson will be appointed by the United Kingdom as the ambassador to the U.S. He's a huge figure in trade negotiations. He was the E.U.'s trade commissioner as well.
It goes to show how even the UK is very concerned about this as well. We'll wait to see whether or not that appointment is announced today. But that gives, you know, Donald Trump, someone potentially could work with certainly to do some sort of trade deal with the UK as the UK would like, but also would understand how the EU works.
But I mean, I think this is really going to define the relationship with between the whole of Europe, really, and the U.S. into next year. Will trade tariffs bring the European economy down because it does have that potential, or will there again be another negotiation?
HUNT: All right. Max Foster for us -- Max, love seeing you every morning. I'm not sure I'll see you until after the holidays.
So, Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. See you soon.
FOSTER: Happy Christmas to you too.
HUNT: All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Starbucks on strike. Why thousands of baristas are set to walk off the job this morning in three major cities.
Plus, a Georgia court disqualifies Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis from prosecuting Trump. She says she's not going down without a fight.
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[05:22:41]
HUNT: All right, 22 minutes past the hour.
Here's your morning roundup.
Starbucks workers expected to go on strike in Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago today. The union representing more than 10,000 baristas demanding pay raises. The workers union plans to add cities to the walkout daily through Christmas Eve.
The Biden administration deported more immigrants last fiscal year than any other year since 2014. New data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows that 271,000 immigrants were deported to more than 200 countries. Many of the deportations were people who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
The FAA placing a temporary drone ban over infrastructure sites in New York. It comes during the increased reports of mysterious drone sightings over eastern states. The FAA already placed drone flight restrictions over parts of New Jersey.
All right. Time now for weather. Going live to Chicago. We've got flurries already flying there early this morning. And if your holiday travel is taking you through the Midwest or the Northeast this morning, you could be looking at a messy trip.
Let's get straight to our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek Van Dam, for more on this.
Derek, good morning.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kasie.
I'm going to call those some festive flakes this morning in Chicago. That's what this weatherman likes to see.
HUNT: Assuming you're not flying, they're festive.
VAN DAM: Assuming you're not flying. Yeah, that's right, or driving on the roads. So some people may have to contend with that this morning, right. Chicago to Detroit all the way to Pittsburgh. This quick moving clipper system is actually going to create the round of weather. That could cause some problems on the roadways and delays, but it is a minor event in the grand scheme of things. It was quite beneficial or significant, I should say, across the upper Midwest.
Look at Minneapolis saw just shy of a half a foot. Some of the locations throughout North Dakota exceeded that. The system moving through causing the snowfall in Chicago, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Cleveland right now. But a lot of that energy will move to the East Coast through the course of the weekend. You can see the winter weather alerts associated with this system.
There could be just a band of 1 to 2 inches of snowfall just inland from the coastal areas, New York to Boston. You can see the travel delays potentially, as we head into this first Christmas weekend.
And hey, you know what? I'm not sure if you're on next weekend, but merry Christmas to you, Kasie.
[05:25:01]
HUNT: I was going to say, Derek, I think this may be the last time we see each other before the holidays. I'm looking forward to seeing you in the New Year. But Merry Christmas, happy holidays.
I hope you're -- I know you've got little kids. I hope Santa treats them well.
VAN DAM: The elves were out this morning in full force at our house.
HUNT: All right. Amazing. I'll see you soon. Derek. Thank you so much.
All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING: suspected killer Luigi Mangione back in New York facing new charges that could bring the death penalty.
Plus, Speaker Elon Musk? Some Republicans actually floating the idea.
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SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): We need bold new leadership, outside leadership. And I think it needs to be a DOGE speaker. It needs to be either Vivek Ramaswamy or it needs to be Elon Musk.
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