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CNN This Morning
President Biden Commutes 37 Federal Death Sentences; Trump Pushes Back Against "President Musk" Claims; CNN Tours Warner Bros. Making Of Harry Potter Exhibit. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired December 23, 2024 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:30]
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Five-thirty exactly here on the East Coast. And here is a live look at the Christmas tree display outside of Philadelphia's City Hall -- my hometown there.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Rahel Solomon in today for Kasie Hunt. Great to have you with us.
New this morning, with just under a month left in his presidency, President Biden issuing another round of commutations -- this time for inmates on federal death row. This morning the president announced that he is commuting the sentences for 37 inmates condemned to die. Instead, they will face life without the possibility of parole.
And the move is a step towards fulfilling a previous campaign promise by the president reiterated by his press secretary two months into office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, BIDEN WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: President Biden has made clear, as he did on the campaign trail, that he has grave concerns about whether capital punishment as currently implemented is consistent with the values that are fundamental to our sense of justice and fairness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Now, the commutations come as incoming President-elect Donald Trump had called to restart federal executions and pursue more death penalty cases at the federal level.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I'm hereby calling for the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.
We are an institute and a powerful death penalty. We will put this on. We have to bring in the death penalty if we want to stop the infestation of drugs coming into our country. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Joining us now to talk about all of this is Cheyanne Daniels, race and politics reporter for The Hill. Cheyanne, welcome. Great to have you.
CHEYANNE DANIELS, RACE AND POLITICS REPORTER, THE HILL, HOST, "THE SWITCH UP" PODCAST: Good morning.
SOLOMON: So this move by President Biden would follow a campaign promise that he made in 2020 but it's also very different from what he said as a U.S. senator when he had a very different perspective. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) THEN-SENATOR FROM DELAWARE: I'm a death penalty supporter. I'm the guy that wrote this bill. A presumptuous thing to say but I wrote this bill with my own little hands. And I added into the bill more than 50 death penalties. I support the death penalty. This president supports the death penalty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And obviously we're talking about 30 decades (sic) in office here.
But what do we make, Cheyanne, of this dramatic shift in that time?
DANIELS: I think this is indicative of where the Democratic Party has gone in that time since Joe Biden was a senator.
When you have progressives in your party who are sitting there saying part of the reason you won the presidency in 2020 was because Black Americans came out and supported you because you promised criminal justice reform knowing that these Americans are those who are disproportionately impacted by not just arrests but harsher sentences. And yes, being -- given the death penalty they're kind of saying to him you have a responsibility -- you have an obligation to those Americans who supported you.
So I think this is on par and he's doing what he has to do to make sure that he fulfills the promises to those who supported him and got him where he is today.
SOLOMON: And what about the critics? I want to play for you something Mitch McConnell said last week when he came out pretty forcefully against the commutations. Take a listen to what he said on the Senate floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): It would mean that society's most forceful condemnation of white supremacy and antisemitism must give way to legal mumbo jumbo. The irony of claims of systemic racism causing the president to spare Dylan Roof is ludicrous -- ludicrous to the point of tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Now, Cheyanne, it's important to note that we learned this morning what McConnell is speaking about there is Dylan Roof. Dylan Roof will not be included in this commutation. President Biden left in place his sentence for obviously the Charleston church shooting but also mass shootings and hate crimes like the Boston Marathon bomber, the Tree of Life synagogue shooter.
Will that decision to exclude those shooters -- those criminals -- will that move for critics like Sen. McConnell?
DANIELS: I think at this point, frankly, right, with so much of the division that we see in the politics there's no way that the Republicans will take a look at what Joe Biden has just done and say in any way that this was something good. But I do think that it's important, right?
[05:35:00]
So in some ways, Biden is saying there are some unforgivable acts that we have seen individuals do that cannot be forgiven at the same that he's saying for these other 37 individuals who were on death row and most of them were convicted for things related to drug trafficking murders and things of that nature. He's trying to put forward this image of perhaps there is rehabilitation. He came out strongly against the death penalty while he was on the campaign trail.
But again, Republicans will find a way to make this somehow to be no matter what, he's leaving office. They will still say that this was not a good move.
SOLOMON: Cheyanne Daniels, great to have you. Thank you.
DANIELS: Thank you.
SOLOMON: All right, now turning to this. Democrats have a new nickname for Elon Musk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's president and Trump is now vice president. I think that's clear.
REP. ROSA DELAURO (D-CT): All of a sudden, we have an outside influence who believes, I think, he is president -- and that's president Musk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Musk.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): The Senate Democrats, the Senate Republicans, the House Democrats, the House Republicans -- everybody agreed. And then it was blown up by Elon Musk who apparently has become the fourth branch of government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: So those comments seem to be part of a strategy that CNN's Stephen Collinson writes about.
"Democrats are trying to tweak Trump's vanity mockingly suggesting that even after winning the second term, he is still not as powerful as the South Africa-born tech mogul whom he put in charge of slashing the size of government once the president-elect takes office."
And it seems maybe it's working because Trump making it clear that despite their friendship Musk is not the one calling the shots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And all the different hoaxes. And the new one is President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk. No, no. That's not happening. He's not going to be president, that I can tell you. And I'm safe. You know why? He can't be. He wasn't born in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Joining me now is national political reporter for the Associated Press, Michelle Price. Michelle, great to have you today.
MICHELLE PRICE, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS (via Webex by Cisco): Thanks for having me.
SOLOMON: So is this an effective messaging strategy for Democrats to poke fun at Musk, calling him "President Musk" or the like? I mean, Trump's point is it pays to have smart people around him. I mean, what are your thoughts?
PRICE: I mean, there's two main benefits for Democrats here as -- and so far, it seems like this new tactic is working, at least on one of -- one of those fronts. And it's needling President-elect Donald Trump -- kind of targeting his vanity. He doesn't like to be outshined by anybody.
And we saw Elon Musk, at times last week over the funding debate, seem to be out in front of him. I mean, he posted more than 150 times on X about the funding bill. You know, you saw that as this narrative started to come with Democrats about Elon seeming to run the messaging here and being the one calling the shots. We saw some of his posts kind of change his tone and make it very clear. He said the credit here goes to President-elect Donald Trump. It goes to Republicans in Congress.
He also seems to be cognizant of this line here and the risk of alienating perhaps or straining his relationship with President Donald Trump. Donald Trump has made some remarks about Elon is hanging out a Mar-a-Lago and he can't seem to get rid of him.
So that's something that we'll see Democrats continue to push on. But there also is a benefit for them to highlight the role that the world's richest man is playing in the Republican politics right now, especially as Democrats are trying to work on regaining their connection with working-class voters after the results of the November election.
SOLOMON: Um-hum.
Michelle, I want to play for you something else. Trump spoke about tapping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary. Take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: When you look at, like, autism from 25 years ago and you look at it now something's going on. And I nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Think of this. Twenty-five years ago autism -- one in 10,000 children. Today it's one in 36 children. I something wrong? I think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: OK, and we're actually having some technical issues with Michelle, but now I hear that they have them worked out. Michelle, good to have you. I'm not sure if you were able to hear that bite since we were having -- it looks like we lost her again. OK, we'll try to get her reconnected.
But in any event Michelle, we appreciate your time. That's Michelle Price there. Thank you.
All right, and still to come on CNN THIS MORNING the Dallas Cowboys eliminated from playoff contention. The teams keeping their playoff dreams alive. That and more in a CNN sports update coming up.
Plus, still have some last-minute shopping to do? Well, you are not alone. We will let you in on where to find the best deals during this countdown to Christmas.
[05:40:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Clip from New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. Entertainment "Elf."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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SOLOMON: Whether you are waving a wand in the wizarding world or stringing lights around the tree in a more traditional manner, the holidays are all about the comforts of tradition.
CNN's Anna Stewart takes us behind the scenes of an annual Christmas classic as she tours the grounds of Hogwarts at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London now decked with enchanting holiday decor.
[05:45:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Clip from Max/Warner Bros. Pictures "Harry Potter." ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): It is that time of year when we all rewatch family-favorite movies, but this time I'm taking it a step further.
STEWART: Could there be a more magical place to spend the Christmas holidays than Hogwarts? Ahh.
STEWART (voiceover): This is the great hall all decked out for a festive feast.
STEWART: Laura, nice to meet you.
LAURA SINCLAIR-LAZELL, HEAD OF SHOW EXPERIENCE, WARNER BROS. STUDIO TOUR LONDONG: Hello. Nice to meet you.
STEWART: You're going to give me the grand tour.
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: I am, indeed. Welcome to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London -- The Making of Harry Potter.
STEWART: Thank you.
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: I'm Laura Sinclair-Lazell and I'm head of show experience.
STEWART: You are the person who's going to tell me everything about this place. And I should tell you I'm probably CNN's biggest Harry Potter fan or nerd, depending on how you view these things.
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: Amazing. Well, you've come to the right place.
STEWART (voiceover): It feels like we have walked into a Harry Potter movie minus one enchanted ceiling and two tables, which allows more room for visitors.
In the movies, Professor Flitwick made light work of baubles. It's a lot more work for the muggles working here.
STEWART: Those aren't real peas?
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: No, sadly not, no.
STEWART: None of the food is real?
SINCLAR-LAZELL: Not real. Not this time, no.
STEWART (voiceover): With stomachs rumbling time to move on. Now, you may remember this scene. Hagrid lugging a Christmas tree across the Hogwarts courtyard.
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: So this is very reminiscent of that moment, and this would have been the original costume as worn by Martin Bayfield. So it's --
STEWART: So this is what was worn by the body double?
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: Absolutely, yeah. Any of the longshots that you --
STEWART: Wow.
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: -- see were usually worn by him.
STEWART (voiceover): Time for a little retail therapy, and it's been snowing.
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: We use shredded paper and --
STEWART: Is this shredded paper?
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: Or shredded plastic, yes. And then --
STEWART: Wow.
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: And then on top we sprinkle some glitter to give it that kind of real-life snow effect.
STEWART (voiceover): From Ollivanders to Flourish and Blotts, Diagon Alley has everything the witch or wizard needs.
STEWART: OK. If you could go into any of these shops for real which one would you go into?
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: I'm torn. Probably I'd want to hang out with the twins, so I'd want to go to --
STEWART: You'd want to go to Wizard Wheezes --
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: Yeah.
STEWART: -- OK, joke shop.
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: I'd pick up a few jokes.
STEWART: I mean, maybe the Quidditch shop for me --
SINCLAIR-LAZELL: Yeah.
STEWART: -- once I've got my wand.
STEWART (voiceover): And clearly, it would be a firebolt.
STEWART: The firebolt, the fastest broomstick in the world.
STEWART (voiceover): Although sadly, no holiday sales here.
And to end the tour a breathtaking view of Hogwarts in the snow.
Anna Stewart, CNN, Waterford.
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SOLOMON: All right, time now for sports. The Cowboys hold off the Buccaneers under the Sunday night lights dinging in Tampa Bay's playoff chances in the process.
Let's bring in Carolyn Manno who has this morning's CNN sports update. Carolyn, great to see you again.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Rahel. Good morning.
The Cowboys may be finding some of that Harry Potter magic. They were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday hours before their game in primetime even kicked off, but they ended up playing some of their best football with absolutely nothing at stake, of course.
Dallas never trailed last night but the Bucs kept it close. In the fourth quarter of this game Baker Mayfield's touchdown pass to Ryan Miller cutting the Dallas lead to just two. With less than three minutes to play, Tampa Bay got the ball back with a chance to win this game. Mayfield trying to avoid the sack, flipping the ball to Rachaad White who turned up field. But Dallas forced a fumble, so the recovery sealed the 26-24 win and cost the Bucs control of their playoff fate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD BOWLES, HEAD COACH, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: We lost. We fell back in the pack. We've got to eat it. We can't spend too much time on it. We had our chances. We had our chances just like everybody else. But it's a long season and we've got two more games to go, and we've got to take care of us and then let everything else take care of itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANNO: The Falcons now soaring into first place in the division after the one-two punch of beating the Giants and seeing the Bucs lose.
Rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. making his first start for Atlanta. He was more than poised throwing for 202 yards and an interception that was actually a bobbled pass in the 34-7 rout. Atlanta and Tampa Bay tied with 8-7 records, but the Falcons hold the head-to-head tiebreaker after sweeping the season series.
The Eagles taking on the Commanders in the key divisional battle. Philadelphia losing their star quarterback Jalen Hurts to a concussion early on in this game.
But Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels ended up being the real story here. His team was down by 14 going into the fourth quarter but they would battle all the way back to give themselves a chance to win. In the final seconds Daniels throwing his fifth touchdown pass of the game finding Jamison Crowder in the end zone for the score.
So the Commanders win 36-33 snapping the Eagles' 10-game winning streak as Washington improves to 10-5 on the season, their most wins since 2012.
[05:50:00]
And a memorable moment between father and son during Sunday's final round of the PNC Championship. Look at this. This is Charlie Woods, the son of legendary golfer Tiger Woods, teeing off with a seven iron on the par 3 fourth and ended up hitting his very first hole-in-one. And his dad Tiger, who was his teammate at the event, embracing him.
That might be the first of many aces for that 15-year-old. He resembles his dad in almost every way on the course, Rahel.
The Woods family did lose to the Langers in a playoff, but Charlie said it was the most fun he's ever had during a round of golf. And Tiger called that moment right there between the father and son the thrill of a lifetime. Very cool to see that.
And a big congratulations to Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher- Cawley and her woman's volleyball team on winning the national title. The Nittany Lions didn't need to look far for motivation. Schumacher- Cawley was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer back in September. She has continued to coach through chemo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATIE SCHUMACHER-CAWLEY, HEAD COACH, PENN STATE: I'm inspired by the young kids that are sick. You know, I told you I did my -- I'm doing treatment at UPenn and every time I walk into the hospital I walk right past the children's hospital. And so, you know, sure -- if I can be an inspiration to someone then I take that. But I feel good and I'm lucky to have the people around me and I think that's why we're successful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANNO: It's a great story, Rahel. And with Sunday's win over Louisville she also became the first female coach to win an NCAA volleyball championship. But her players have rallied around them, and she's used them for motivation as well, thanking her staff and her support system around her. But a big congratulations to the Nittany Lions.
SOLOMON: Yeah, truly inspirational there. And she's getting great care at Penn.
Carolyn, I know that you're always very exhaustive with these sports reports. I didn't think you were going to mention the Eagles. I felt like that was one that you could have left out this morning.
MANNO: I said it -- I said it and I was like oh, man, Rahel's in today. This is not going to go over well.
SOLOMON: Oh my gosh.
MANNO: I'm sorry.
SOLOMON: Brutal, brutal.
MANNO: I'm sorry. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. I apologize.
SOLOMON: Oh my gosh. Good to see you, Carolyn. Thank you. Even with the Eagles report included.
All right, lowering energy costs was a promise that President-elect Trump made during his campaign. And as he prepares for a second term some experts say that idea is a little farfetched.
CNN's Bill Weir has more.
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TRUMP: Frack, frack, frack, and drill, drill, drill. Drill, baby drill.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): On the trail --
TRUMP: We're going to frack, frack, frack.
WEIR (voiceover): -- Donald Trump made some big energy promises.
TRUMP: And your energy bill, within 12 months, will be cut in half -- and that's my pledge all over the country.
WEIR: What's the reality of that as he gets ready to take office?
BOB MCNALLY, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, RAPIDAN ENERGY GROUP, LLC: To quote Eminem it's more snap back to reality.
WEIR (voiceover): But even Republican experts say don't count on it.
DESSLER: Having worked for President George W. Bush and having looked -- scoured the White House for a magic wand that can quickly lower oil prices or electricity prices, the truth is it doesn't exist.
RYAN KELLOGG, PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC POLICY AND DEPUTY DEAN, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: The reality is that consumers' energy bills, producers, production volumes -- they depend much more on the whims of the global marketplace than what any single president can do.
WEIR (voiceover): And the U.S. is already producing more fossil fuel for that market than any nation in history. So drilling on more federal land, experts say, would not affect gas prices.
KELLOGG: Private land and shale is really where the action is. On federal land you can tinker with things on the margin and maybe get a couple of additional 100,000 barrels a day. You're not going to double U.S. production or increase it by even 25 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon.
WEIR (voiceover): And remember when the pandemic and OPEC caused oil prices to crash? It was good for consumers but horrible for U.S. oil companies. So Trump asked Russia and Saudi Arabia to stop drilling so prices would go up.
TRUMP: Making it so that our industry does well, and the oil industry does better than it's doing right now. MCNALLY: When does an American president call OPEC to cut production
to raise oil prices? Answer: never, except the second quarter of 2020.
And let me be very clear. From the industry's perspective, President Trump can and will implement regulatory and policy changes that will vastly improve the outlook for energy investment. But in terms of lowering oil prices near term or electricity prices, that is very difficult for any president to do.
WEIR (voiceover): Meanwhile, utility scale renewable energy is now cheaper than oil. China is switching to electric cars with such breathtaking speed and scale it's disrupting energy futures. And around 90 percent of the projects waiting to get on the Texas grid are solar-plus batteries.
ANDREW DESSLER, DIRECTOR, TEXAS CENTER FOR CLIMATE STUDIES, TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: And batteries -- if you hook up a battery farm you spent money because you charge your batteries when electricity is cheap. You sell it six hours later when electricity is expensive. I mean, it's just a moneymaking machine.
[05:55:00]
These developers are not Birkenstock-wearing hippies who get in their VW bus and drive off. I mean, these are Texan energy developers who want to make money. And you make money with renewable energy right now. It's the cheapest energy we have.
WEIR: And can Trump politics get in the way of that or claw back that momentum in any way?
DESSLER: I think it's a real open question what is going to happen. Everybody needs to understand that a transition to renewable energy will fatten your wallet. You're going to walk out with a -- with a better economy, cleaner air, better national security.
I mean, the benefits of this -- the clean energy transition are enormous for almost everybody -- not if you're a fossil fuel billionaire. They will not be better off in a clean energy. Fossil fuel billionaires will be worse off. And because of that -- I mean, because of the enormous political power they have they have been able to essentially capture the political process to have politicians force us to continue using dirty, expensive fossil fuels.
WEIR (voiceover): Bill Weir, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: And still ahead and CNN THIS MORNING Trump's canal plan. The president-elect setting his eyes on regaining control of the Panama Canal, drawing a rebuke from Panama's president.
Plus, out the door Democrat turned Independent Joe Manchin gives parting thoughts -- and they're strong -- on the state of his former party as he exits Congress. We'll get into it.
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