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Inside Politics
Never-Before-Seen Footage Shows Pelosi On Insurrection Day; New Video Shows Lawmakers Scrambling To Save The Capitol; Pelosi On Jan 6: If Trump Comes On Capitol, "I'm Going To Punch Him Out"; Cmte: Docs Show Secret Service Had Tips About January 6 Violence; Inside Elections: GOP Projected To Win House, Senate "Very Close"; Inside Elections: 2 Senate Races Shift Toward Dems; Wisconsin Senate Nominees Spar Over Crime At Heated Debate; Oz Accepts "Responsibility" For Campaign Mocking Rival's Health. Aired 12-12:30p ET
Aired October 14, 2022 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:00]
JOHN KING, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Hello, and welcome to Inside Politics. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing your day with us. The January 6 committee versus Donald Trump. The panel voting to subpoena the former president as new never before seen footage from insurrection day shows congressional leaders, and the vice president scrambling to protect democracy, and Trump, the precedent missing in action.
Plus, Dr. Oz gives a new interview and concedes his bedside manner would be more compassionate and his campaign rhetoric.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DASHA BURNS, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Would you ever talk to your patients like this?
MEHMET OZ, CANDIDATE FOR SENATOR RACE: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Senate rival John Fetterman had a stroke six months ago. Dr. Oz and his campaign team regularly questioned Fetterman's ability to serve. And a 25-days out election forecast. Can Democrats hold the Senate? Will Republicans reclaim the House or read on the big shifts and the big races?
But up first for us this hour, Donald Trump's trademark non answer to damning new evidence from the January 6 committee and to the committee's subpoena demanding Trump testify and turn over documents. A lengthy Trump statement this morning gives no answer or reaction to the subpoena vote. Instead, the former president delivered a greatest hits memo of election lies grievances about crowd size, yes, about crowd size and TV ratings.
The response follows the select committee's final pre midterm election hearing. There was important new evidence, detailing how Trump knew but refused to publicly admit he lost the election. And new evidence he was told about the likelihood of violence by his supporters on January 6 but did nothing to try to defuse that threat.
And the session gave us a glimpse at never before seen footage from insurrection day. The footage captured by Speaker Nancy Pelosi's daughter Alexandra, a filmmaker. CNN exclusively obtained the raw footage, much more than you saw, if you watch the hearings. The scenes, downright remarkable. The speaker of the House being led through the underbelly of the Capitol, as rioters defiled the building and hunted, hunted for lawmakers.
Fort McNair transformed into a command center, as Pelosi and the Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer trying to get a damage assessment from the Capitol. And all-hands on deck huddle between congressional leadership, Speaker Pelosi, leader Schumer, leaders Mitch McConnell, and Congressman Kevin McCarthy, bipartisan circled around a cell phone pressing the acting secretary of the army to flood the Capitol with national guardsmen.
And then, the vice president, then Vice President Mike Pence, informing Pelosi and Schumer they can go back to work, and they can go back to work to certify Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(Inaudible)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: With me in studio to share their reporting and their insights, CNN's Dana Bash, CNN's Manu Raju, Laura Barron-Lopez at the PBS NewsHour, and our CNN legal analyst Carrie Cordero. A lot of substance from the hearing, but also just this remarkable footage, some but seven minutes or so I believe shown at the hearing. And then more obtained by CNN from Alexandra Pelosi, it just takes you inside the fear, the drama, the uncertainty of that day.
And when you listen to the footage, you see Speaker Pelosi obviously, see more of her daughter is the documentarian, but they're trying to figure out what's happening. Can we get help? Where's the vice president? Is he safe? We'll play more of that in a moment. Nowhere, do you hear the voice of the person who should be running the show, the president United States?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm not somebody who gets emotional, particularly what maybe when I watch videos about puppies, but not about something that, like this, we're trying to sort of, you know, be objective. And certainly, I think, objectively, we can say, though, that this was tremendously emotional.
Because what we saw as Americans watching this, and as colleagues of people like Manu, and others in the building that was under attack, congressional leadership, Democrat and Republican, particularly the Democrats, that's what we saw, begging for help. And almost explicitly hearing leaders and civilian leaders at the Pentagon saying, we don't have the authority. We're trying. We can't get it yet.
What they're saying is, the president isn't saying yes, and we know while we're watching this, we know what's happening at the White House, that the president is just sitting and watching television, actively being inactive.
[12:05:00]
KING: And yet, we want to listen to more of this, and yet, as all that plays out, and everybody, everybody involved has questions about safety. Remember the chance hang Mike Pence. Remember they showed video yesterday, people screaming bring her out, meaning bring Nancy Pelosi out. These are Trump supporters storming the Capitol.
You hear in the leadership particularly Speaker Pelosi the idea that we need to finish the job. We cannot be disrupted because then they win. Listen to Speaker Pelosi here, talking about when can we get back to work? If we can't do it at the Capitol, is there someplace else we can finish our work? And then her worries about the vice president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D) HOUSE SPEAKER: They've been told it could take days to clear the Capitol, and that we should be moving everyone here to get the job done. We're at (bleep) which has facilities for the House and the Senate to meet. We'd rather go to the Capitol and do it there, but it doesn't seem to be safe. I worry about you being in that Capitol. Don't let anybody know where you are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: It is fascinating and that you're behind the curtain here, and again, Speaker Pelosi, Liberal Democrat, not a policy friend of Mike Pence, the vice president but a public servant. They're worried about Mike Pence, because Mike Pence took the principal position. I'm not leaving the Capitol for the same reason she wanted to get back to work because of the signal it would send the people who stormed.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I remember in that day so vividly, that was one of the real concerns. If they were not able to finish the certification that day and had to delay it to another day. Would that be considered an unconstitutional action? Or would that - could that potentially give some of these opponents an effort to try and challenges in the courts?
That was certainly one of the things that were weighing in, they were trying to push to make sure this happened on that day, but also this footage in these leaders were frantically trying to get help as Dana described, but there were some, every other member of Congress was not in that secure location at Fort McNair. They were in the Capitol.
There were a number of House members who were sheltered under the hiding, under their seats as there was armed standoff, trying to get into the House floor, senators eventually made it to a secure location within the Capitol complex itself. So, it was just harrowing to see that and just the difference and the people were trying to get a response to from the federal government and Donald Trump, who was doing nothing.
KING: Watching the video, the extended version of it, last night reminded me and brought me back to 9/11 in the sense that, you know, where is the government? Who's in charge? Who's functioning? What technology do we have at our disposal? Where is it safe to be? And where is it not safe to be?
And in that in part of the conversation is, we all know now that Donald Trump wanted. His hope was to get in his motorcade and go up to Capitol Hill and join his protesters. As a piece here, we could listen to where the speaker is told that was not likely to happen. Listen to how she reacts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRI MCCULLOUGH, CHIEF OF STAFF TO HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI: Secret service that they have dissuaded him from coming to Capitol Hill. They told him, they don't have the resources to protect him here. So, at the moment he is not coming, but that could change.
PELOSI: I hope he comes. I'm going to punch him out. We're waiting for this for trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I want to punch him out, and I'm going to go to jail, and I'm going to be happy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Visceral reaction there. She's still in our office at that point. You notice this is earlier when the - before they've been completely evacuated, she's back in her office here. But if he comes, I'm going to punch him out. And I've been waiting for this, the trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I'm going to punch him out. I'm going to go to jail, and I'm going to be happy.
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. And I've covered Pelosi long enough to know that you don't normally hear her talk like that. I mean, it captures how frightened they were, how upset they were that this was even happening. And that these rioters were getting as close as they were, that they were able to breach the Capitol, which again, I wasn't there that day. I know Manu you were, but I have stocked all those halls.
I've walked them frequently with members of Congress. And it was stunning to see just behind the scenes, how afraid all of these lawmakers were and the fact that they were pleading over and over again with, you know, members of the cabinet to have the former president say something, to just simply do something as he was, you know, as Dana said, sitting there watching TV.
KING: And whatever your politics at home, it is also striking to see that as they try to, A, we're save, where do we need to go? Who's left behind? What do we check with the idea that we have to do our jobs. Even in the middle of all that, again, like on 9/11, we have to do our jobs. It is very important to send a signal to the people leading the attack.
In this case, American citizens supporters of the current president of the United States at that time, but very important, we do our job. And the drama of this carry overshadows some of the important substance that came out to a degree understandably so. From the hearing yesterday, including remember Trump's view on this as he had a big crowd. They were mostly nice people. There may have been a little bit of spontaneous violence. Nobody knew that was going to happen.
Part of the important testimony yesterday was they brought in not just other police agencies, but Donald Trump's own secret service and his own secret service detail, raising questions days in advance, even weeks in advance of January 6, that there was some evidence this could go bad. Adam Schiff, one of the members of the committee, shared some of the information that he said was shared with the president of the United States early that morning.
[12:10:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voiceover): They think that they will have a large enough group to march into D.C. armed the source reported and will outnumber the police, so they can't be stopped. The source went on to say, their plan is to literally kill people. Please, please take this tip seriously and investigate further.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: So that is the pre-January 6 intelligence they had available. And they also shared secret service documentation showing again, there's a secret for people out there who support the former president, who want to say this is just Democrats or this is just the deep state. This was Donald Trump's secret service reporting on that day, there are people outside with weapons. There are people outside all kind of the magnetometer. And they showed the secret service documents, saying the president United States at the time was told that that day.
CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: But here's part of my frustration, John, with what the January 6 committee didn't do, because you've talked about, you mentioned 9/11 twice now. And the January 6 committee is not the 9/11 commission inquiry. And what I think they have missed an opportunity to do is it, the danger and the fear that the members and staff were under that day, really should have never gotten to that point.
And they have presented now more evidence and more information demonstrating that there were warnings, that different components of the federal law enforcement did know that there was potential for violence that they were actively worried about it in the days leading up to it.
And so, I think there is this outstanding question from a national security, from a homeland security question, perspective of why wasn't there better preparation for the Capitol police and from the metropolitan police from DHS, from secret service, from FBI, and the January 6 committee hasn't really called them to account for it. We should have seen testimony from the former DHS leaders, from the secret service folks who were in town, it should have been live public testimony, the FBI director really has been given a pretty wide pass on this. And I think there just remains a huge gap of Americans understanding of why their federal law enforcement didn't prepare better.
KING: From that perspective, if they address this in their report. Is that enough for you? Or do you think it needs to be done publicly? So that's the question.
CORDERO: Well, we'll all read the report, but I don't think the report will have the same public, be in the same public consciousness as they've had the opportunity through their public hearings.
KING: A lot to get to in the show ahead. Just quickly, I want to get this on the record. We're not going to play the sound. But again, Trump in his statement this morning talked about the committee has never addressed the meaning, the reasons that big crowd came actually the committee has, including testimony yesterday from Cassidy Hutchinson, who said the president knew, he was told, he knew he lost the election, but he continued to lie to the people he called to Washington.
Up next for us, mapping out the midterms. Just a few weeks ago, who will control the House and Senate? Well, that is still very much in the air, 45 days to go.
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[12:15:00]
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KING: 25 days now until we count your midterm votes, and it's a big week for debates in some of the most critical races, some highlights of those just ahead. First, though, let's just frame the fight. Take a closer look at some key shifts in recent days as we head into the final weeks. To help us with that, CNN partners with inside elections to better track key races and trends.
The inside elections editor and publisher, Nathan Gonzalez is with us now. Nathan, thanks for your time. This is the map of house selections. I just want to bring up for our viewers. Your latest projection there. I'm going to stretch this out on the screen a little bit, excuse me for turning my back, so that people can see it a little bit better.
You project at this moment. Republicans will gain somewhere in the range of eight to 20 seats. They only need a net gain of five to take the majority. So, the projection today 25 days to go is the Republicans get that majority. These are the 10 races you've shifted in your rankings in recent days.
And again, to explain to people at home, if it's under the dark red, it's solid Republican. If it's under the dark blue, it's solid Democrat. The circles if it's blue, that means it's trended in your ratings toward the Democrats. If it's red, it's trended in the ratings toward the Republicans. We can't focus on them all. But you see these 10 races shifting, Alaska at large, now he was a toss-up, Republicans thought that should be a safe one for them.
I want to focus on Ohio nine, because that is now a Democratic incumbent. But that's one of the races the Republicans thought that they could pick up in a midterm year where they think they should be doing well. Let's pop it up. Marcy Kaptur, the Democratic incumbent running against a Trump ally in this race here.
I just want to go back and show voters why Republicans thought they could pick this up, the lines have been redrawn. This is the district now. Donald Trump, if the lines had been in place in 2020 would have carried this district. Nathan, why do you say this one is trending toward the Democrats?
NATHAN GONZALES, EDITOR & PUBLISHER, INSIDE ELECTIONS: Well, first of all, Congresswoman Kaptur was doing, she was actually surprisingly strong, even under the circumstances that you described. But then Gary Drzewiecki (Ph), a various set of headlines and then negative stories about his resume, whether he planted his military resume in career. It came out and eventually Republicans have pulled their money from that race and chose to invest it elsewhere.
So, a combination of factors a strong Democratic incumbent, a weak Republican incumbent and lack of resources continues to push this race toward in Democrats favor, even though it's one that Republicans at the beginning of the cycle, whereas we knew the districts, when we knew the district Republicans were expecting to win.
KING: Which is one of the reasons you have a potentially smaller range for Republicans because of some of their candidate issues, you would call it lost opportunities there. Let's shift over to the Senate now. And let me just switch the map as we do so. Let me come out of this one here, just to the big national map. 35 Senate seats are up. And let's start again with your projection. And again, excuse me while I switch this up, make it a little bit bigger here.
You have right now, this is the how close it is. Your projection is Republicans might gain a seat or Democrats would gain a seat or it could stay right where it is at 50-50. You've shifted two races toward the Democrats. Now Republicans are still favored in both of these races in North Carolina and Ohio.
But I want to just come out to the map and let me bring up North Carolina first. You have here a incumbent House member, now trying to run statewide for the Senate against Cheri Beasley again, most people would think North Carolina in a democratic president's midterm year, that's shouldn't be safe Republican. Why has this shifted a bit?
[12:20:00]
GONZALES: Well, it continues to be a tight race between Congressman Ted Budd and Cheri Beasley. Republicans are confident that North Carolina and Ohio are moving in their direction, but they remain close races. And I think that's indicative of the whole cycle, that instead of talking about Republicans being on offense in Washington state, or Colorado, that we're talking about Republicans still needing to defend some of the seats they already hold.
Because if they lose even one of these states, and they defeat one of the difficult Democratic incumbents, all they've done is broken even, they haven't made any net gain. And we're still at 50-50 and Democrats maintain control the vice president. So, the landscape is different than what we thought, even though Republicans still have a path of majority.
KING: Still do have a path. The majority one of the other questions is this seat. This is held by a Republican. Again, in a democratic president's first midterm, Republican incumbents should not be worried, right, if it's a normal climate. But Ron Johnson versus Mandela Barnes. Ron Johnson, the incumbent Republican senator, Mandela Barnes is the lieutenant governor. They debated last night one of the hot issues Nathan, crime. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON JOHNSON, CANDIDATE FOR SENATE RACE: The problem was the whole defined movement, which he's been a big supporter of. It does spirits law enforcement. They're having a hard time recruiting members.
MANDELA BARNES, CANDIDATE FOR SENATE RACE: No police officers in this country were more dispirited than the ones who were present at the United States Capitol on January 6.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: So, two things at play here. Number one, you mentioned the point where, you know, this should be safely, and Republicans right now, if this is a normal midterm year, but the flip side of that is you do see in this race and other Democrats on the defensive a bit about the crime issue.
GONZALES: Right. There was a time where Mandela Barnes had the advantage over Senator Johnson in the polling. But Republicans have effectively used that crime issue to drive up oranges negatives to a point where Johnson is the favorite. I think Ron Johnson is very - he's a very fortunate senator. He was first elected in 2010, a great Republican year, reelected in 2016 with the help of President Trump.
Now in 2022, with a positive at least a good if not great, Republican environment. And Republicans are I think, more maybe even more worried about North Carolina and then you have Senator Johnson even though at a basic level. Senator Johnson's unfavorable numbers are higher than what they should be for an incumbent.
KING: Wishing you're helping us to set the table, Nathan, 25 days out, we'll continue the conversation. Thank you, sir. And if you want to dig deeper at home, here's one way to do it. Go to cnn.com/tldr. For breakdown there of the six states likely to have the greatest impact on the midterm fight for control. And next for us. We go deeper too. The Pennsylvania Senate race, new comments today from the Republican candidate Dr. Oz about abortion, and about his harsh attacks on Democrat John Fetterman 's health.
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[12:25:00]
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KING: Today in Pennsylvania, the Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz pressed about the sharp sometimes mocking attacks. He and his campaign are making about Democrat John Fetterman and Fetterman's ability to serve. Fetterman, of course, recovering from a stroke he suffered back in May. He has auditory issues and says the use of closed captioning helps because he sometimes has difficulty hearing or processing spoken words.
The attacks from the Oz campaign, team includes suggesting Fetterman might not have suffered a stroke if he ate some vegetables. Oz himself said just yesterday, he doesn't believe there is closed captioning on the Senate floor. Today, though a different tone in this sit down with NBC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Why would you allow your campaign to mock him like that?
DR. OZ: I have tremendous compassion for what John Fetterman has gone through. I mean, not only do I as a doctor, appreciate the challenges, but I know his specific ailment because it's a specialty area of mine, well I accepted responsibility. And I deal with issues as they come up, but he has his own set of issues. And we should have had a debate already.
BURNS: But would you ever talk to your patients like this?
DR. OZ: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Interesting in the sense I wouldn't talk to my patients like that. Also interesting in the candidates do some things in their ads, some things in their rallies before their supporters, but you put them in an interview, and they tend to want to be a little softer.
RAJU: Yes. And they let their campaign operatives go sometimes further than what he did. But the campaign has made John Fetterman held an issue. They have gone after his ability to you know, respond and come out on a campaign trail and be able to govern. Look to in fairness, his health, voters should consider, whether or not that John Fetterman is fit to serve.
The question is, how does a Republican candidate deal with that? And I can tell you in talking to Democrats up here, they are still hopeful still, confident that Fetterman can pull it out at the other day, but they are nervous that some of these health issues could ultimately hurt his ability to win this race. They thought, they would have been a much stronger position in the final weeks of the campaign. But this is an incredibly close race.
BASH: Yes. And what Fetterman has been trying to do is to say this is a disability. This is a temporary disability. So, when you hear things like the Oz campaign saying, well, they don't have closed captioning on the Senate floor. Well, they didn't have wheelchair access on the Senate floor either.
KING: Let me jump because you don't say, it wasn't all that long ago, you had to go long distance to find the ladies room near the Senate floor.
BASH: Exactly. Not that long ago at all.
BARRON-LOPEZ: There's also current senators like Senator Ben Ray Lujan, who are survivors of stroke that are currently sitting in the Senate. So, it's not, you know, to your point, it's not out of the realm of possibility that there are people who have suffered, you know, strokes and other potential disabilities that then go on to serve their country, whether it's in the Senate or in the House.