CNN.com - Transcripts (2024)

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[10:00:57]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Today, President Biden is set to take executive action to protect about half a million undocumented immigrants from being deported. This sweeping immigration policy will allow certain undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for permanent residency without having to leave the country. It's one of the federal government's biggest relief initiatives since DACA. That's the program that protects undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children from deportation and lets them work in the U.S. CNN's Arlette Saenz is live at the White House for us. Arlette, what more can you tell us about this executive action by the President? We're expecting an announcement this afternoon.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. This really marks a sweeping plan offering relief to undocumented immigrants in this country as President Biden is trying to tackle one of the thornie*st political issues border security and immigration that has really vexed this country for decades.

Now, this plan would essentially allow certain undocumented spouses married to U.S. citizens to and their children to remain in the country as they apply for permanent residence. That's a change of the current policy, which requires that they leave the country to do so really raising questions about whether they would be apprehended upon their return. They will now be able to stay here without fear of deportation.

Now, this would apply to undocumented individuals who have been living in the U.S. for 10 years and married to a U.S. citizen as of yesterday, they would be allowed to work permanently or illegally here in the U.S. And it's estimated this could impact about 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens and then 50,000 children.

Now this comes just a few weeks after President Biden announced that major crackdown at the U.S. southern border, shutting off the ability of migrants crossing illegally to seek asylum when a certain threshold is met. That is something that polling has shown. A majority of Americans have agreed with. You take a look at a poll released a bit earlier this month, it was 70 percent approve of that action, 30 percent did not.

But the move really frustrated a lot of immigration advocates and progressives in the President's party. So part of what Biden's trying to do here is appeal to some of those groups, deal with some of their concerns. And also it's a move that could appeal to Latino voters in key states like Arizona, Nevada and Georgia.

ACOSTA: All right. Arlette Saenz, over at the White House for us. Thank you so much. In the meantime, Republicans are already slamming President Biden's executive action on immigration. And of course, former President Donald Trump has been offering a much more draconian vision for his immigration policy promising mass deportations and detention camps for undocumented migrants blasting those who cross the border illegally as, quote, poisoning the blood of this country.

Let's discuss with CNN political commentators, Maria Cardona and Scott Jennings. Maria, you're with me here in the studio. Let me go to you first. You were telling me you might be over there at the White House later today for this announcement? What do you think? Obviously this is going to be welcomed by progressives, Latinos in this country, because just recently, the President announced a pretty tough policy, cracking down on asylum at the border. What do you think?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But that this is more than it being welcomed by Latinos, and progressives, it's going to be welcomed by the majority of American voters. We have seen in poll after poll after poll that the American people are not anti-immigrant. They're anti chaos. They want solutions. And guess which party has been the one that has been offering the solutions that the American people want and that we know work.

Those solutions are based on a balanced approach, strong, smart border security, which frankly, the President, Democrats tried to do with Republicans on their bill until they said absolutely not because Donald Trump wants to weaponize the issue, not solve it. And so President Biden had to take executive actions on his own to shore up border security.

And so now President Biden is taking the second step, which is expanding legal pathways. Again, something the vast majority of Americans in swing states support. And it -- this is what the solution looks like. Democrats have been trying to do this for decades. It has been Republicans that have been the ones especially since Donald Trump came onto the scene that only want to weaponize this issue.

[10:05:17]

ACOSTA: Yes. Scott, let me ask you. I mean, do you think that Republicans in Congress sort of missed an opportunity there, they had a chance they had a bipartisan bill that James Lankford from Oklahoma was helping to shepherd through the Senate. And now because Donald Trump said, you know, what, guys, let's not do this until after the election. The President is going out there and doing executive actions.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't know, maybe. I mean, it couldn't get Congress to agree. It's not the first time an issue. Couldn't find agreement in Congress, it won't be the last. I mean, if you're worried about reliving the past, why didn't Joe Biden do this on his first day in office, as opposed to doing it today here in the shadow of a presidential campaign?

I mean, the reality is, he's governing by political panic. If this is such a great idea, why didn't he do this on day one? Why didn't he do last week's executive order on day one? Why did he cancel all of Trump's immigration orders? I agree with Maria people are tired of chaos. And they believe the chaos has been caused by Joe Biden in the way he's handled this for the last three and a half years. The polling is clear.

By the way politically, I don't think the American people are in a pro amnesty mood right now. You look at what Trump is proposing. There's a lot of polling that shows majority support for what Trump is saying, including among Hispanics in the United States of America.

ACOSTA: What about detention?

JENNINGS: -- cracking down on illegal immigration.

ACOSTA: Well, what about detention camps and mass deportations? What about that?

JENNINGS: Mass deportations has majority support in the United States and among Hispanic voters right now.

CARDONA: No. That's not true.

JENNINGS: It's recent polling. You can look it up.

CARDONA: No.

JENNINGS: It is at Maria. Maria, it is absolutely true.

CARDONA: It's not true.

JENNINGS: When we get off the air and you Google it, you're going to be embarrassed. But it's absolutely true.

CARDONA: I will send you the actual polling from pollsters who actually know how to poll on this issue Scott.

JENNINGS: You're going to be embarrassed.

CARDONA: I will send this to you after our segment.

ACOSTA: We are showing the CBS poll, 53 percent.

CARDONA: I have issues with that poll because of exactly what I'm saying. But I do want to answer, Scott.

JENNINGS: Wait, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who is right?

CARDONA: I want to answer Scott. JENNINGS: I just want to know who is right.

CARDONA: I want to answer Scott because he actually posed an interesting question. Why didn't Biden do this the first day in office? Actually, Scott, President Biden did try to do this the first day in office. The very first thing he did when he walked into the Oval Office was he put a bill together that actually does strengthen border security and expands legal pathways, because he wants to do this right.

He wants to do this the way that it's supposed to be done working with Congress. But then guess what, congressional Republicans slam the door on any opportunity that would expand any legal pathways. And what we know from what happened under four years of President Trump and this is something that Republicans lie over and over about is that he eviscerated all of the legal pathways, including our asylum system, and he did nothing to eradicate illegal immigration.

His numbers on illegal crossings went up his last year in office. So when President Trump was in office, he did nothing to fix this, he made it worse. And now, it's actually kind of rich, because what this also does, Scott and Jim, this keeps American families together, when Republicans scream that kids need a father and a mother. Well, guess what, then join us because this is exactly what this executive action is doing.

And again, the vast majority of Americans and I will send you the polling on this, Scott, from pollsters who know how to poll on this, absolutely agree with this. It is upwards of three-fourths of the American people support a balanced approach of strong border security, which I know you agree with, but also expanding legal pathways, especially for the long settled immigrants that have been here who have contributed more than $7 trillion to our economy.

ACOSTA: Scott?

JENNINGS: Yes. You know what, I'm actually just going to give in and say that I think Maria should go over to the White House today and encourage Joe Biden to run on as much amnesty as possible. I think if that's the way you want to read the polling, if that's the way you want to interpret the mood in the country, I think you should go over there and say, you know what, President Biden, the American people are behind you. Let's encourage --

CARDONA: They are behind him.

JENNINGS: -- as much of this as we possibly can.

CARDONA: They are behind him.

JENNINGS: I you ought to -- I'm all in.

CARDONA: You know, Scott, but here's the thing. Here's the thing Scott. They are behind him on this action. And it's not amnesty, Scott, you know better you're a smart guy, calling it amnesty is a lazy, an incorrect way to describe what's going on. Why don't you go tell your Republican friends in Congress that if they were really, really interested in trying to solve this issue, they would join Democrats and do this legislatively both strong border security as well as expanding legal pathways, that's what works and that's what the American people support.

[10:10:09]

JENNINGS: Let me ask you a question. Do you think that what Joe Biden did on his first day in office, canceling all of Donald Trump's executive orders, hurt him or helped him with the American people on this issue?

CARDONA: It helped our immigration system try to recover from the evisceration of what happened to Donald Trump. Because see, here's the problem, Scott, not everything has to be based on polls and politics. Some things, actually real leaders focus on real solutions, because it's good for the -- for America. And you know what, when you actually put solutions in front of party and politics, the party and politics follows. This is good policy and it's good politics.

ACOSTA: All right, guys. Great debate, spirited debate. We'll do it again some other time --

CARDONA: Thanks Jim.

ACOSTA: -- when we got more time. Maria and Scott, I didn't have to do any work in that. It was great.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

CARDONA: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Guys, thanks very much.

JENNINGS: Jim, where are you, Jim? Jim --

ACOSTA: Next time.

JENNINGS: What do you do here? What do you doing here?

ACOSTA: Yes, yes. Next time, I'll just leave the set like you guys go at it. All right. Appreciate it, guys.

CARDONA: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. Thanks so much. All right. I think. All right.

Coming up, new allegations of safety issues at Boeing ahead of the CEOs mea culpa on Capitol Hill, the new claims are next.

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[10:15:45]

ACOSTA: The following breaking news, Justin Timberlake is in court after being arrested for DWI in New York. CNN Elizabeth Wagmeister joins us on the phone. Elizabeth, tell us so, how did this go down? What's going on?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Jim. So here is what we know. As you said Justin Timberlake is in court in the Hamptons. We hear that he was arrested last night after leaving the American Hotel. Now he was remaining in police custody this morning. We have reached out to representatives for Timberlake and we have not heard back from comments. Police have said that they will be releasing a statement later today. So details still coming in Jim. But we have confirmed that he was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated and was in police custody this morning. Now is that a court appearance as we speak.

ACOSTA: And what's the next step, what should we see next? Might we see Justin Timberlake come out and address the cameras? I mean, I have to think that there are members of the press waiting for him.

WAGMEISTER: Absolutely. And you know, Justin Timberlake is one of the biggest stars and has been one of the biggest stars in music for the past two decades. He's in the middle of his tour right now. He's supposed to be in Chicago with two tours this weekend and back in New York City next week. So this is now coming at an opportune time for him. So we will absolutely have to hear whether it's directly from Justin or from his camp. But we absolutely should be hearing from him soon especially given that he is in the midst of a tour. This is not a quiet time for his career. Jim?

ACOSTA: Yes, that's right, Elizabeth. And just very quickly, I know we're still getting details as to what happened. We -- do we know if anybody was hurt. Any details about the incident itself?

WAGMEISTER: We don't have many details about the incident itself. Nobody was hurt. But, again, we heard of this happened last night late in the Hamptons. And we are waiting for details to come in. We just know that he was at a location called the American Hotel which is located in Sag Harbor, which is a risky area in the Hamptons and we are waiting to hear more details. And of course we will continue on this developing story.

ACOSTA: All right, Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you very much. Really appreciate it.

Also new today, up on Capitol Hill, senators will be turning up the heat on the CEO of Boeing. Dave Calhoun is expected to apologize for a series of alarming safety failures including that terrifying blow out of an emergency door on Alaskan Airlines Flight minutes after takeoff. In April, Boeing employees turned whistleblowers told the same group of lawmakers that the company often put profits ahead of safety.

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SAM SALEHPOUR, BOEING ENGINEER/WHISTLEBLOWER: I literally saw people jumping on the pieces of the airplane to get them to aligned, I call it the Tarzan effect, among other improper methods. Again, I raised concerns internally. I was sidelined. I was told to shut up. I received physical threats. My boss said, I would have killed someone who said what you said in the meeting. ED PIERSON, FORMER BOEING MANAGER/WHISTLEBLOWER: The NTSB chair reiterated to Congress last week that Boeing has said there are no records documenting the removal the Alaska Airlines door. I'm not going to sugarcoat this, this is a criminal cover up. Records do in fact exist. I know this because I've personally passed them to the FBI. Boeing's corporate leaders continue to conceal the truth. They continue to mislead and deceive the public about the safety of planes.

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ACOSTA: CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is here. Pete, you have some new information on a new whistleblower with some additional claims against Boeing pretty disturbing stuff. What can you tell us?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: We just heard from Sam Salehpour there, also we've now heard from Sam Mohawk who is the new whistleblower coming forward, it makes about a dozen whistleblowers in total. This is happening as the first time that Boeing executives are testifying on Capitol Hill since the January 5th door plug blowout, really seemed like Boeing would be able to course correct here after months on the defense and crisis can troll.

[10:20:00]

But now it seems like Boeing leaders are really walking into a buzz isle, outgoing Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is the one who will be in the Senate committee hot seat. He along with Boeing's chief engineer will insist that Boeing does not retaliate against employees. The latest development is that the chair of this committee, Richard Blumenthal, will bring up the claims of these dozen Boeing whistleblowers and this new one, Sam Mohawk, was a quality assurance inspector for Boeing in its Renton Washington plant. The same plant that built the door plug in the plane involved in the door plug incident.

The NTSB found after that incident that the critical bolts that held the door plug in place were not installed there and the plane left the factory without them. Now Blumenthal says that Mohawk, the new whistleblower says, that Boeing is losing track of parts that don't conform to its standards. It's a big allegation. And speaking to CNN, Blumenthal called Mohawk's accusations, extraordinarily serious. Listen.

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SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): There's mounting evidence that Boeing should be prosecuted. And I'm going to withhold judgment until we finish this hearing and the investigation. The Justice Department is now doing its own inquiry. But I do think there's near overwhelming evidence that prosecution is important to sending a message, a deterrent message and also insisting on accountability.

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MUNTEAN: Boeing over and over again, underscoring it is not retaliate against whistleblowers. And here's the statement, they say, we are committed to making sure that every employee feels empowered to speak up if there was a problem. This is in the opening statement from Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun. He says we also have strict policies in place to prohibit retaliation against employees who come forward.

Also, there's a lot here about Boeing's cultural shift. And there were a lot of questions before this hearing and after the door plug blowout about whether or not there will be change at the top at Boeing. And this is what Calhoun says about that, much has been said about Boeing's culture. We've heard those concerns loud and clear. Our culture is far from perfect, but we're taking action and making progress. We understand the gravity and are committed to moving forward.

Also in the hearing room today are the families of the victims of the Max 8 crashes of 2018 and 2019, 346 people killed in those two crashes abroad. They will be acknowledged in the opening statement from Boeing's CEO.

ACOSTA: All right, very important development. And we'll all be watching that hearing. Pete, we know you will as well. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it.

Coming up, as fires spread across the west and forced thousands of people to evacuate a massive heat wave. We'll have temperatures soaring in places that aren't equipped to handle it. I'll take a look at this map right here. It is going to be hot across much of the country this week. Is this a preview of the summer to come? That's next.

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[10:27:18]

ACOSTA: Right now wildfires are spreading in the west and thousands of people are being evacuated. Look at this video from New Mexico, a fast moving inferno and exploding in size overnight, engulfing the sky with a wall of smoke, one of two major fires burning on an Apache Reservation closing in on residents there and people are being forced to evacuate now.

Extreme heat is also putting people on the other side of the country at risk according to the National Weather Service. It has not been this hot for this long in Pittsburgh in 30 years. Look at that right there. Let's take a look at the extreme heat now with Michael Mann. He is the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He's also the author of "Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis." Professor, always great to have you on it. Good to talk to you again.

It is -- it's really hot across the country this week. And I suppose there are going to be folks who are going to brush this off and say, well, it's June, it's going to get hot. What is driving this heat wave that we're seeing right now across the country?

MICHAEL MANN, CLIMATE SCIENCE PROFESSOR: Yes. Thanks, Jim. It's good to be with you. And, you know, this is an early heat wave. I mean, we're seeing the sort of heat that you really don't expect to see into well into July. We're seeing it here in mid-June. In my state, we're seeing triple digit numbers, as you mentioned, Pittsburgh, sort of record levels of warmth. And it's happening early. And that's sort of what we expect.

As the planet warms up, we're going to see more frequent and more intense heat waves, but they're going to be more pervasive, and they're going to expand over a larger and larger fraction of our summer. Until if we completely fail to act on climate, we will be dealing with a perpetual heat wave. Summer will be a perpetual heat wave. It's up to us.

ACOSTA: Yes. And I guess we sort of went very quickly past that graphic. We show it again to our viewers about Pittsburgh. And the amount of heat that they're seeing in Pittsburgh right now, I mean, they haven't seen heat like this and 30 years. Last time, Pittsburgh was 95 degrees for six days. I mean, that is -- that's pretty wild. And Michael, I mean, it seems to me that we're seeing almost, you know, month after month, year after year, we're breaking records.

MANN: Yes, we are.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MANN: And, you know, it's the extreme heat right now and the eastern and central U.S., record flooding down in Florida and of course, the wildfires out west now in New Mexico and California, more than 60,000 acres burning right now in California. And this is what we predicted. This is what we said we would be seeing if we failed to move away from fossil fuels to reduce carbon emissions. And unfortunately, as climate scientists, the worst thing to experience is seeing your predictions come true and that's what's happening.

[10:30:04]

ACOSTA: And how costly might this get for all of us in the years to come.