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New Day

Tense 24 Hours After Biden Infuriates China, Russia With Moves; January 6th Was Practice, Trump's Next Coup Has Already Begun; Critics Skeptical of Instagram's New Safety Warning. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 07, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:03]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN ANCHOR: Thirty times and as you can see didn't really work out well.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: All right Andy. Appreciate it. New Day continues right now.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is Tuesday, December 7th. The 80th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar.

Today is what one expert calls the most important day yet of the Biden foreign policy. This morning, the president meets virtually with Vladimir Putin for this incredibly consequential phone call. Because U.S. Intelligence Community is sending clear warnings that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine as soon as next month.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEW DAY: If you take a look at some satellite images that we have here, they show this massive buildup of Russian forces with armored units and tanks stationed along the Ukrainian border.

There are about 100,000 troops already there, and a U.S. Intel assessment finds that Russia could be preparing to invade with as many as 175,000 troops. Ukraine's defense minister warning that would lead to a bloody massacre. It has been a crucial 24 hours as the president also infuriated China by announcing a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Matthew Chance live for us on the ground in Odesa, Ukraine with our top story.

This is a hugely consequential day in U.S. foreign policy. Matthew, tell us about the -- Matthew can you hear us? All right. I think we're having, obviously, some technical difficulties. So we're going to try to get Matthew back up there from Odesa, Ukraine on what is a huge day for President Biden. This phone call, this video conference call that is going to be having with Vladimir Putin.

January 6th was practice, and Donald Trump's next coup has already begun.

That is a warning in a terrifying report in the Atlantic. Barton Gellman writes, quote, the next attempt to overthrow a national election may not qualify as a coup. It will rely on subversion more than violence. If the plot succeeds, the ballots cast by American voters will not decide the presidency in 2024. Thousands of votes will be thrown away, or millions, to produce the required effect. The winner will be declared the loser. The loser will be certified president elect.

And Barton Gellman is with us now.

Your piece is fascinating. It is a huge warning. And as you point out in it, you say Donald Trump may have lost the election, but right now, the balance of power is shifting towards him. And you say this very much could result in him being elected, as you see at the state level all of these weaknesses being exploited. What are you expecting?

BARTON GELLMAN, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: What I'm expecting, and what I'm seeing, is that Republican operatives around the country, at the state and local level, are changing the rules of how you count election votes in such a way that the politicians will be in charge. And the politicians who are running for these positions, from all the way down to precinct levels and county levels and state levels, secretaries of state, and election officials, are participating in the big lie.

That says that Donald Trump really won the last election and was deprived of the White House by fraud. And some of them are explicitly saying they would not have certified Biden's victory, despite the votes of the voters in the last election. And they are signaling that they would not certify a Democratic victory in the next election.

You put that on top of a growing, mass political movement that is tolerant of and even eager for violence in a significant minority of the Trump supporters. And you have an explosive situation.

KEILAR: You also say that Democrats, big-D, and little-d, are not doing enough. Tell us about that.

GELLMAN: Well I mean start from the top at Joe Biden gave a speech in July, in which he said that this voter subversion is the biggest test of our democracy since the civil war. That would signal something that would sound like a presidential priority.

But Biden and his people are not making a priority of protecting democracy. They clearly are valuing infrastructure and social spending and climate and a number of other priorities above democracy. They are not treating this as an emergency, and I think they're going to regret that.

KEILAR: What's the result of that? Not treating this as an emergency.

[07:05:03]

GELLMAN: The result is that no one is defending democracy. That people are noticing the gradual creep of changed election laws. But, I mean, let's just be clear about it. The traditional way of trying to cheat in an election is suppressing the votes of people you don't like. And the Republicans are doing that with 34 changes of law in 19 states. But, now, they're also changing the rule of who counts the vote. If you're in charge of who counts the vote, then anything is possible.

KEILAR: Barton, in this piece, you introduce us to a man named Richard Patterson. He is a former Firefighter from New York. Tell us about Richard and why, actually, I think what stands out most about him is that he is not unique, right? He is representative of Trump supporters.

GELLMAN: Well, he is. He is one of tens of millions of people who have been persuaded by conservative propaganda, that Trump won the last election. He is absolutely certain of it. There's nothing he wouldn't put on the line to defend that proposition.

He gave me reasons, and I walked through those reasons one at a time and showed him how he was the victim of misinformation, that those reasons were not factually accurate. And he just kept going from one to the other. He was convinced in a way that was invulnerable to evidence.

He lives in a county where the share of the white population is in decline. Polling shows that, that fact, the decline of white population, the belief that whites are being replaced by black and brown people in the United States, correlates most closely with support for two propositions. One is that Biden is not a legitimate president. And the other is that violence is justified to rectify that.

KEILAR: Barton, it is a phenomenal piece. It is so interesting. I encourage all of our audience members to take a look at it. It is also part of a series the Atlantic is doing here in this special issue, talking about the risks that democracy is facing. And we really appreciate you talking with us about your piece today. Barton, thank you.

GELLMAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: We've been talking about one of the most crucial foreign policy moments in the Biden presidency to date. In just a couple hours, the president will speak to Vladimir Putin about the Russian troop buildup on Ukraine's border that could approach 175,000 troops by next month, with plans, U.S. Intelligence says, to invade Ukraine.

CNN's Matthew Chance has been doing some of the most important reporting on the ground in Ukraine. And Matthew -- you can see join us now from Odesa. Matthew, what is the very latest?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is that the expectations are out there for what this call is going to involve. It is taking place in about, I think, three hours from now. The Kremlin have already played down expectations, saying that you don't expect necessarily a breakthrough when it comes to this video conference call with U.S. President Biden.

But the Russians have also spelt spelled out clearly what it is they want. And what they've said is that they want an ironclad guarantee, a legal guarantee, that Ukraine, the western military alliance, will not expand any further eastwards to bring in Ukraine.

They want a public announcement about that and a treaty that would involve that. They also want to resist efforts by NATO countries, particularly the United States, to build up NATO military infrastructure in Ukraine as well.

So it is not enough for Russia, for Ukraine, just not to join NATO. It also wants to make sure that NATO missile systems, other sophisticated weapons, sort of batteries and things like that, are also not deployed to Ukraine, so Ukraine becomes a kind of forward operating base, if you'd like, for the western military alliance.

It's not clear at all what strategy or what President Biden is going to discuss with them in terms of what -- how he can ally -- what Russia says are real national security concerns. But I think it is true that everybody involved wants to avoid a Russian invasion. The United States certainly wants to avoid it.

[07:10:02]

The Ukrainians definitely do.

And I think the Russians would probably prefer to have their security concerns met as well, rather than have to embark on the expensive and costly campaign of a military invasion of Ukraine, with all the consequences of that.

And so there is quite a lot of impetus to try and find some kind of compromise to get out of this crisis, John.

BERMAN: Certainly, Matthew. And again, it's good to have you there to report on what the Ukrainians want. And we're just waiting to see. We're waiting to see what President Biden's approach will be. Because it is not totally clear this morning, as Matthew reported that call in about three hours. And we're in a cover all of this as it comes in. Matthew, thank you so much.

So this morning, Instagram is rolling out new features aimed at addressing the mental health concerns of many of its young users. Actually, the parents of the young users including a take a break tool that reminds users to stop looking.

CNN's Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans is joins me with that. Is this for real?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Look, they're trying to roll out this feature to take a break, to help you take a break from their own platform here. When you've been scrolling for too long. You've got to set the time. But after 10, 20, 30 minutes, you'll get a reminder to take a deep breath, to write something down, to check a to-do list, to listen to a song.

Instagram also telling CNN a plans a stricter approach to what it shows teenagers and will nudge teens to a new topic if they've been dwelling on one for too long. It is meant to keep users, particularly teenagers, frankly from falling down rabbit holes that could be harmful to their mental health.

You know, is it real? Yes. It is a start though. Instagram says it is going to tweaking and improving into next year.

This has been a big problem, John, for Instagram, and highlighted by Whistleblower Frances Haugen's document dump this fall. Remember, she told Congress that Instagram knows it is dangerous for teens' mental health, and Instagram profits from sending you down the rabbit hole.

The Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri will appear before the Senate subcommittee tomorrow. Of course, John, he's going to face scrutiny on the apps impact on young users' mental health for sure.

BERMAN: Miss Romans, I have to tell you as the headline I saw for the first time in the Wall Street Journal overnight, and I almost didn't believe it.

Natural gas price, which a lot of people use it to heat their homes, has dropped 40 percent since October?

ROMANS: That's right, important relief for consumers. Remember there had been worries that home heating bills could double in places this winter? Those concerns are, frankly, melting away. Warm temperatures and more production sending natural gas prices down more than 10 percent just yesterday, down 40 percent since the October peak.

This is critical relief for household budgets. At the very same time the other gas bill, the one at the pump, is stabilizing. The national average for a gallon of regular is down 4 cents from last week to $3.35 a gallon, the lowest since October. Still up a lot from last year, but the prices are cooling here in the near term.

BERMAN: Up a lot from last year, from when people weren't driving in the middle of the pandemic. I do think it is important to note, because there was so much, you know, so much frustration, people angry about the rising prices. They've gone down or stabilized the last month.

ROMANS: Absolutely.

BERMAN: Thank you, Romans.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

BERMAN: So, one of Donald Trump's most loyal allies, Devin Nunes, announces he is leaving Congress for a job on Trump's payroll. Why he might have his work cut out for him.

And the Justice Department suing the State of Texas. Why the DOJ says new congressional maps there are racist.

KEILAR; And as the clock ticks for the answers on the omicron threat, we're joined by a variant hunter on what he is seeing here in the U.S. We'll see what is being discovered. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:17:46]

BERMAN: So, Congressman Devin Nunes just announced he is resigning from Congress in the coming weeks to become the CEO of former President Trump's new media and technology company. This comes as the shell company facilitating Trump's new venture announced it was being investigated by the SECC for potential violations of securities law.

Joining us now, CNN Political Analyst and National Political Correspondent for the New York Times, Jonathan Martin, and CNN Political Analyst as well as the Managing Editor of Axios, Margaret Talev.

Margaret, I just want to start with Devin Nunes, and forgive me, but I'm an old guy who was obsessed with the House of Representatives a long time. Devin Nunes is poised to become the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee if Republicans take control, which looks very possible if not likely.

He is giving up chairman of the most powerful committee on earth, right, to run a media company which barely exists and is under investigation.

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

BERMAN: What am I supposed to make of that?

TALEV: That Congress isn't what it used to be. This is someone who is sort of -- a would have been the peak of his legislative, you know, age range and career, and sort of the old framework of what it meant to be in Congress, right?.

He is approaching 50. He led house Intel. He'd be in line to lead house ways and means. We know because of redistricting he is about to lose that district. He would have had to run in a different district.

BERMAN: But he probably would have won.

TALEV: A 100 percent. So, why the shift, right? Because the power in being a conservative Republican today, many people think, and the former president thinks, is in the media. It's in how do you galvanize an audience? How do you lead a movement?

And also, if you pull the frame back a little bit, is there -- is this a breakaway moment for conservative media, to just create a completely parallel audience outside of Twitter and Facebook and, you know, cable news and network news.

BERMAN: Can I say, I think what you're saying is really important here. Which is that, in the Republican world right now, being close to Donald Trump, carrying his water in whichever way, is more important. You are more powerful than being chair of the tax writing and financial committee in Congress, which has enormous power with billions of dollars here. Being Trump's friend is more important. [07:20:00]

TALEV: I don't think that is a universally held belief, but I think it is certainly an argument for a segment of the Republican Party. And Devin Nunes, who entered Congress 20 some years ago, is not the Devin Nunes of today.

BERMAN: Right.

TALEV: He is not kind of a centrist, lean right player from an agricultural county in California who wants to, you know, build his power base from there. He moved closer, more and more -- not just more and more right, but more and more to Trump over the last five years. And that is where he is aligned now.

KEILAR: Jonathan?

JONATHAN MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I think, also, I would just add that if you're Devin, it's probably more fun. You spent the last few years totally invested in this kind of Trump, Inc., media structure world. That has become what you really are passionate about.

And are you going to do that? Are you going to be invested in the Arcana of the tax code? Sort of fairly dry issues. Important but dry issues. I just think in this era, that is less rewarding for somebody like him.

But taking a further step back, John Berman, and think about the long- term incentives here. One Congress or two congresses at the helm of the ways and means committee could lead to a very lucrative career here in Washington on K-street.

So he is also giving up real long-term, money-making opportunities. By that, the next five years, by taking this gig. But it does tell us, I think, something about the GOP culture in the Trump era and where the incentives are.

KEILAR: I like, the it's more fun, explanation.

MARTIN: There's something to it.

KEILAR: It's more fun. Okay, so let's take an eye, if we can, and put it on Texas. Because you have the Department of Justice now, you know, looking at gerrymandering when it comes to Texas. And this isn't the first time that we're seeing the DOJ really be at odds with Texas, which is Texas Republicans.

MARTIN: Right. Now, it does show that this administration is willing to confront some of the states who are, obviously, taking this to an extreme, the reapportionment. And I think, that gives Democrats, a progressives especially, some heart. You hear of the grumbling all the time on the left.

The Biden administration is not aggressive enough to step in and stop what they believe are these anti-Democratic, small-d efforts by the GOP. This is a signal from DOJ, yes, we are willing to engage, yes we are going to try to fight fire with fire.

KEILAR: Yes. But I guess, you know, Margaret, the question there, and we just heard from Barton Gellman, a short time ago is it enough? Is this enough?

TALEV: Yes. Well this will be the first time around that the pre- clearance, the old rule where you had to get permission from the Justice Department to go ahead and attempt to redraw the districts like this, the first time where that's not going to be in play because of a Supreme Court decision from back in 2013.

And so what Biden -- what the attorney General, Merrick Garland, is saying is, basically, this redistricting never could have occurred if our Justice Department had the ability to say no. So I think it is going to be a real test of what kind of teeth the Justice Department has to have fairness.

Although the growth in Texas has been almost entirely driven by non- white population growth. Mostly by Hispanic and Latino population growth. And the districting plan does not reflect that. And the question that is going to be litigated now is, is that okay? Can politicians rule the day, even if it means running against all of the demographic patterns that are driving this growth?

BERMAN: People shouldn't expect an answer before 2022. This could take a long time. It probably won't affect the districts in the next election but maybe long term.

Margaret, I want to ask you this. As someone who had a heck of a bout with COVID yourself, Mark Meadows, the former president's Chief of Staff, has this new book coming out. Maggie Haberman looked at it and reported the details. Meadows, reports himself that Trump's battle with COVID was way, way worse than the White House ever let on.

In fact, they more or less lied about it, Maggie feels, over the course of time. There about how to, you know, blood oxygen level was at 86 percent. He was sitting around in his T-shirt with muffled hair and bloodshot eyes, getting regeneron in his veins in his bed. Just really, really bad shape.

TALEV: Yes. You know, I think it is really important. I mean, I remember at the time, because he was getting things remdesivir, right? Which you, you don't like get that and then go home afterwards. You get that and stay in the hospital afterward.

The regimen that he was getting at that time made all of the reporters who are covering him very skeptical about whether his health was in actually a much worse place. And the reporting -- well, the disclosures of this book seem to validate that. I got COVID after that, but I know that if my blood oxygen level had been 86p percent, I would have been in the hospital a long time before then. It would have been an emergency phone call and an ambulance pickup.

[07:25:03]

So I think there are concerns. The reason why anyone should care about this now is because if there is a 2024 campaign, we see now a pattern that the public story, the public messaging is much different than what's really going on behind the scenes. And if that's true about a president's health, it could be true about other things.

KEILAR: You know, I think that --

BERMAN: All right, we're getting in live pictures in right now. That's President Biden and the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden. Now their visiting the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Today is December 7th. This is the 80th Anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

President and first lady there approaching the wreath approaching the wreath.

Also this week, the death of Bob Dole, 98 years old. Really, the last member of the greatest generation. One of the last serving members of the greatest generation who had been in the U.S. Senate.

Dole of course injured in the European theater. Today marks the beginning of the U.S. involvement in the Asian theater of World War II. But every year that passes, we lose more and more people with a direct connection. The president and first lady paying their respects to the memory, which will never fade, Brianna.

KEILAR: And I want to pick up. I know it's --

MARTIN: Powerful.

KEILAR: Isn't it?

MARTIN: 80 years on, still is.

KEILAR: 80 years. You know, and keeping those memories alive, I think too, right?

MARTIN: Good for him.

KEILAR: You know, back to what we were discussing when it comes to former President Trump and what we're now learning about, his health.

MARTIN: Yes.

KEILAR: I think that if you're in the Washington press core, you're in the White House press core, to be honest, had he died, which he was at risk of, Dr. Reiner made that very clear when we had him on last hour, it would have been very surprising maybe not to the White House press core. Is that they knew that there was something amiss, but the White House wasn't telling them. It would have surprised the heck out of many Americans though.

MARTIN: Yes, because the information that they are being given was not reflective of the reality of the president's health. Now, we're looking at the images of Pearl Harbor. It reminds me that there is a long history in this country of presidents not being honest about their health. This is not necessarily explicit to President Trump, but, obviously, like many things, they took it to their own new level. I was really struck reading the passages in Meadows' book, how far he goes to make clear that they were not telling the truth.

You know, this is presented as a sort of book that is a Trump loyalist book. He's offering details there, guys, that you don't necessarily have to tee up in the public domain. I'm thinking about what John mentioned in terms of laying there in the T-shirt in the bed. I mean Mr. President Trump would not --

KEILAR: Messed up hair.

MARTIN: Images President Trump wouldn't want out there. And then even beyond that, President Trump walking down to the helicopter, being so weak that he dropped something on the way because he couldn't hold it. He was so weak.

Why is Meadows offering these kind of, you know, tidbit, insider details, in an otherwise, you know, loyalist book? It seems more of a tell-all there. A little bit interesting.

KEILAR: Yes. And as Maggie Haberman pointed out, former President Trump blurred this book. His quote on the book. I suspect he regrets that very much indeed.

MARTIN: Important. Read the book, guys. Read the book.

KEILAR: All right, Margaret, Jonathan, great to have you. Thank you guys.

The clock is ticking on finding out just how significant the omicron threat is. We're going to hear from a doctor who tracks viruses next.

BERMAN: And what could the former Chief of Staff to Mike Pence tell the January 6th committee? We're going to speak to someone who also served the former vice president.

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