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Pence Returns to Capitol Hill; Trump-Backed Candidate Wins in Maryland; New Report on CEO Pay; Truth about Food Expiration Dates; American League wins All-Start Game. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 20, 2022 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: On Capitol Hill today you're going to see something you haven't seen in quite a while, former Vice President Mike Pence will return to Capitol Hill for the first time since leaving office. He's set to meet with the conservative Republican Study Committee, a group that has hosted a number of potential Republican presidential contenders in 2024, including Mike Pompeo and Senator Tom Cotton.

CNN's Melanie Zanona joins us now from Washington.

So, Melanie, what's this going to look like with Pence back on Capitol Hill?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Yes, well, Mike Pence is really making the rounds on Capitol Hill as he dips his toes into the 2024 waters. Last night he was the guest speaker at a fundraiser hosted by GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy for some of their top candidates. Pence even tweeted out some pictures from that event last night.

And then later today he's going to address the Republican Study Committee, which is the largest conservative caucus on Capitol Hill. It's a group that Pence formally chaired. And this group has hosted a number of 2024 hopefuls, from Mike Pompeo, to Tom Cotton.

But Pence's appearance is especially noteworthy. Katelin, as you note, this is his first time back on Capitol Hill since he left office and it's also notable because it comes as the January 6th Select Committee is starting to make closing arguments in its high profile investigation into the Capitol attack where we learned all about Trump's pressure campaign on his former vice president to overturn the election.

Now, the select committee is still debating whether to ask Pence to come talk to the committee, possibly in the form of a written statement or written testimony, but no decisions have been made.

COLLINS: Yes. And while we wait to see what they decide, I noticed also some Democratic lawmakers, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Jackie Speier, more were arrested yesterday in this abortion rights protest that was happening in front of the Supreme Court.

What happened?

ZANONA: Yes, well this demonstration came more than three weeks after Roe v. Wade was overturned. A group of lawmakers decided to march from the Capitol to the Supreme Court. They were blocking the street. The United States Capitol Police said they gave three warnings before they started taking people into custody, but ultimately they did arrest 35 people, including 17 lawmakers.

And, I want to read you a statement from one of them. This is from Katherine Clark. He's a member of leadership. She tweet a picture of herself, alongside a statement that said, the extremist Republican Party is determined to take us back in time and take away our rights. They can arrest me, but we won't allow them to arrest freedom.

So, Democrats are really trying to use every opportunity they can to show they're fighting for abortion rights and to draw a contrast with Republicans. But the reality is, they are pretty limited in what they can do. The House passed a pair of abortion protection bills last week, but neither have a path forward in the Senate.

Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Right. And that's what abortion rights supporters want to see.

Melanie Zanona, thank you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Donald Trump's pick just won the Republican gubernatorial primary in Maryland. This happened overnight. The decision desk up late overnight. State lawmaker Dan Cox hoping to replace term limited Republican Governor Larry Hogan. They are very different Republicans. Cox called on then President Trump to seize voting machines.

[06:35:01]

He charted buses to the January 6th rally and tweeted amid the insurrection that Pence is a traitor. His win obviously is something that might concern some on both sides of the aisle, but we will see.

Joining us now, CNN senior political analyst John Avalon and CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp.

John, what is his victory in a Republican primary tell you?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It speaks to the fact that even in Maryland, where Larry Hogan has done a phenomenal job governing a Democratic state as a Republican, one of the most popular governors in the country, that still the play to the base politics favor the far right.

And now here's the extra twist is this story, which is, this is one of those examples where Democrats had been actually boosting the far- right candidate in the belief that he, rather than Larry Hogan's chosen successor, would be easier to beat in the fall. This gets filed under careful what you wish for because it is a dangerous and potentially deeply dumb strategy. I don't think in Maryland, but some of these other states you're playing with real fire.

COLLINS: Yes, because, Maryland, President Biden won by 30 points.

AVLON: Correct.

COLLINS: That's kind of the thinking there.

But, S.E., what does this mean, a, for Larry Hogan's political clout since the person he backed obviously did not do well, but also the fact that this is the candidate that they overwhelmingly supported even though, despite what John just laid out, called Pence a traitor, chartered three buses to the Capitol, has claimed Biden was installed in the White House?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, as John said, Larry Hogan won two terms in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one, super successful, wildly popular, one of the post popular governors in the country. The Republican Party decided, no, no, no, let's not duplicate that.

AVLON: Let's not.

CUPP: Let's try something harder with less of a chance of succeeding because the Republican Party, as we know, and have seen evidence, is no longer representing a majority of the constituents. They are really chasing around the fringe. You know, the folks with the culture wars and the Trumpiest people. And Larry Hogan was seen as to squishy and not Trumpy enough. And so rather than repeat a real feat in a state like Maryland, they said, no, no, no, let's - let's make it harder on ourselves.

AVLON: Yes, but this is the problem with these, you know, relatively low turnout primaries -

CUPP: Right.

AVLON: Where a small number of folks can easily, disproportionately dominate if they're the most motivated, the angriest, the loudest. And then so, you know, the Republican Party gets a ticket that's not representative of the state and doesn't have a chance of really following on that objective record of success.

CUPP: But that's why -- that's why the Democrats putting bad money into these races, and I've been saying this since, you know, Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania.

AVLON: Yes.

CUPP: I mean Nancy Pelosi's PAC helps Trumpy candidates in California. If you're a Democratic donor, I guarantee you, you did not intend your money to go to these Trumpy candidates.

AVLON: Yes.

CUPP: And I think it's -- it's blood money. I mean it is complete negligence to put money after candidates that could conceivably win. I know it's a long shot in a state like Pennsylvania or Maryland. It's not inconceivable. Didn't you learn from 2016?

AVLON: That's right.

CUPP: I think it's worse than risky.

AVLON: That's right.

BERMAN: Major development in the House of Representatives overnight that I'm not sure people saw coming a week ago.

CUPP: Yes.

BERMAN: Which is, the House had a vote on the respect -- what's it called -- the Respect for Marriage Act, which would have the effect of overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, which the Supreme Court invalidates but is still on the books, and would more or less codify same-sex marriage in the United States. Forty-seven Republicans voted for this.

CUPP: Yes.

BERMAN: Most voted against it, but 47 for it, S.E.

CUPP: First, let me say, this also includes federal protections for interracial marriage. Words I never thought I'd say ever, let alone in the 21st century, but that's where we are.

But, yes, 47 Republicans either decided they agree with protecting same-sex marriage or they don't want this fight. The fight that they're currently having over the overturning of Roe, which is a very unpopular decision and they might be feeling, you know, robust in their policy win, but they know that come election time they could really pay a price for that.

AVLON: But what I think's significant is that, I mean, 47 is still a small portion of the conference, but it is a significant change from a decade ago where Republicans were fairly united in opposing Obergefell.

COLLINS: Yes, would have been unthinkable at that point.

AVLON: Right. Or, you know, when George W. Bush ran for re-election pushing marriage amendments. Look -

CUPP: Or when DOMA was passed by a Democrat.

AVLON: Or when DOMA was passed. Right. So, I mean, this is - this is - this is significant and those 47 showed some degree of political courage.

But don't forget that this is an issue that 71 percent of Americans agree upon, including 55 percent of Republicans. So, actually, the Republican Congress can -- conference continues to actually not only not represent Americans writ large, but even they're lagging behind where Republicans are on the issue of marriage equality.

CUPP: Yes.

BERMAN: This is interesting. This will now go to the Senate, maybe. It's unclear when or if or how the Senate will take it up.

If the same proportion of Republican senators would support this in my rudimentary math, it would pass over a filibuster.

[06:40:04]

AVLON: Yes, it could.

BERMAN: I mean this could pass the Senate. Not uninteresting.

COLLINS: They only need 10.

CUPP: No. Right, they need ten. What -- with folks like Ted Cruz coming out hard against this and really sort of -- I don't know -- putting himself at odds with, as you said, where most people in this country are, who knows. We don't know.

COLLINS: Because he said the Supreme Court made the wrong decision.

CUPP: That's right. That's right. So, we don't know where it's going to go.

BERMAN: S.E., John, thank you both very much.

CUPP: Thanks.

AVLON: Yes.

BERMAN: A new report reveals the staggering pay gap between chief executives and workers at hundreds of companies. How much more money are the bosses making?

COLLINS: Plus, a crew member on a hit NBC show was shot and killed in Brooklyn. We'll tell you how it happened and where the investigation is going.

And, a character at Sesame Place appearing to ignore two young girls because of their race. Video of that incident that has been very upset to people. We'll have more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A new report from the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest federation of unions, has revealed that CEOs from nearly 500 of the biggest U.S. public companies received an average of $18.3 million in compensation in 2021.

[06:45:12]

That's 324 times more than the average pay of their company's employees.

Let's bring in CNN business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich.

Vanessa, this is a really big disparity.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And we're seeing this CEO pay rising faster than their employees. And it's also beating out inflation.

So, this is the report that the AFL-CIO puts out. They looked at about 500 CEOs from major U.S. publicly-traded companies and compared it to their employees. Here's what they found.

As you mentioned, the average CEO take-home pay is $18.3 million, 324 times more than the average workers' pay.

So, let's look at it compared to inflation. So, the average CEO pay up 18.2 percent last year, compared to workers' wages up 4.7 percent. And that's important because last year the rate of inflation was 7.1 percent. So, you see that nearly double-digit pace from the rate of inflation for CEOs, but for workers it's a lot lower.

Now, the company that had the biggest pay disparity between the CEO and it's workers was Amazon. So Andy Jassy, the CEO, took home $212 million in 2021. Compare that to the average worker, which took home about $33,000 if you round up there. And that is a pay ratio disparity of 6,471-to-1. That is astounding. Amazon says, well, that's because Andy Jassy has a lot of stock in the company. So that boosts his compensation. But the point of this report is really to just look at this disparity and the numbers tell the story right there, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes, that is quite the ratio.

Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you.

BERMAN: So on a different subject, expiration dates on food products can be intimidating. What does the date really indicate? Is it science or a suggestion?

Joining us now, CNN business writer Danielle Wiener-Bronner. She just wrote an article titled "The Truth and Strategy of Food Expiration Dates."

It's a wonderful article and it addresses a problem that I've had for years. I don't know what the heck they mean. What is the date?

DANIELLE WIENER-BRONNER, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Well, first of all, John, you're not alone. It's not your fault. It's a really confusing system.

Generally, that date refers to the quality of the food item. So, it's not necessarily a safety issue, it's more of the food company, the manufacturer's best guess as to when that food will taste the best.

The reason that it is confusing to you and to me and to many other people is that the way that that date is described is different from product to product. So, it might say "use by." It might say "sell by." It might say "best if used by" or "enjoy by." There's so many different phrases to describe this date that people, you know, might pick it up in the supermarket or from their fridge and not really know what that date means.

BERMAN: My mother-in-law likes to cut off the mold and says it smells fine to me. That's the way that she likes to handle it.

But how did we get to this place?

WIENER-BRONNER: It's actually a really interesting history. So, in the early 20th century, food manufacturers placed a code on the items and that was not for consumers. So, if you picked it up, if I picked it up, it would look like some type of jumble of numbers and letters. It wouldn't look like a date at all.

For the retailers, that code correlated to a date, and that was a sell by date. So, the idea was that the retailer would look at the item, they would say, all right, this food manufacturer wants us to sell the product by a certain time because that's when they think it's going to taste the best, that's when they think the consumer will have the best experience.

So, in the '70s, consumers said, we want to understand this code. We want to know how long this item has been on the shelf. And the food manufacturers started to publish these really easy to read codes. But as we know, that raised a whole host of other issues.

BERMAN: So, what's the solution to all of this?

WIENER-BRONNER: So, the industry as a whole and some anti-food waste activists and others have come up with a pretty simple solution. The idea is to get rid of most of those phrases, narrow them down to just two, "best if used by" and "use by." "Best if used by" is essentially a suggestion. So that's the quality indicator. It's, we think that you are going to have the best experience if you eat this food by this date. "Use by" is a little bit firmer. That's more of a discard date. So that's when you really should start to think about throwing that food away because, you know, maybe you don't feel like scraping off the mold.

And so that's the solution. There's been an act that has been introduced in December of last year. This act has come up over time. It's not the first introduction of this type of law.

[06:50:03]

So -- potential law.

So, my recommendation would be for consumers to learn a little bit more. Be as informed as they can be. And, you know, check out maybe the FDA, the USDA's websites and they'll give you sort of general guidelines as to when foods will last, you know, a year or two for shelf stable or when you should really consume them pretty quickly.

BERMAN: I had no idea all this was going on. This was an education.

WIENER-BRONNER: Yes. BERMAN: Danielle Wiener-Bronner, great to see you. Welcome to NEW DAY. Thanks for being here.

WIENER-BRONNER: Sure. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: So, a huge jewelry heist worth millions. The jewelry taken from a Brinks truck. How it all unfolded, ahead.

COLLINS: Plus, the emotional moment when a 10-year-old asks his favorite player a big question.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Powered, of course, by the Boston Red Sox, for the ninth year in a row, the American League reigned supreme in baseball's all-star game.

Carolyn Manno, who did not authorize that intro has this morning's "Bleacher Report."

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: That is so shameless. You're ridiculous.

[06:55:01]

You're ridiculous.

COLLINS: We should let John take control of the scripts.

MANNO: Yes. You know what, John, no, absolutely not. No, it was a lot of fun, right? I mean the all-star game's all about moments from every team, not just the Red Sox. I mean, you're in L.A. It's a city full of stars. And they really delivered last night. It was just like a Hollywood script.

The hometown hero ended up MVP, and he, in fact, a Yankee. Yankee slugger Giancarlo Stanton, grew up in L.A. He sat in Dodger Stadium's left field stands as a kid. And down by two in the fourth inning, launched a game-tying home run to that very same spot. His first all- star hit after going zero for six previously.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIANCARLO STANTON, 2022 ALL-STAR GAME MVP: My pops took me to my first Dodger game, showed me how to get -- how to have love for this game and now we're here. Look at us. So, it's just incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Meantime, NL starter Clayton Kershaw's best moment came after the game. He thought his news conference was over, guys, when 10-year- old Blake Grice stopped him. Turns out Blake's late grandfather was a huge Dodger's fan, made a bucket list of everything that he planned to do with his grandchildren once he beat brain cancer, and that list included meeting the Dodgers pitcher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAYTON KERSHAW, DODGERS PITCHER: Great to meet you. Oh, great to meet you. Thanks for telling me. That took a lot of courage to tell me that. So, I appreciate that. Great to meet you. Your granddad sounds like an awesome guy. Yes. All right. Thanks for coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: That's an all class move there from Clayton Kershaw. We had to bring it to you. Very sweet. Yes.

BERMAN: Way to go, Clayton Kershaw.

MANNO: I know. I know. It was a great moment.

COLLINS: That's amazing.

MANNO: Yes.

BERMAN: Thanks so much, Carolyn.

COLLINS: The fake electors who were part of Donald Trump's attempt to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia are now targets in a criminal investigation after formerly being witnesses.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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