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McConnell Says He's Stepping Down As GOP Leader In November; Hunter Biden Closed-Door Testimony In House GOP Probe; Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) Talks About His Take On Hunter Biden Allegations; President Biden Gets Routine Checkup At Walter Reed Med Ctr. Aired 3- 3:30p ET

Aired February 28, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:04]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Stepping Down: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he will leave his leadership position by the end of the year. Why he's saying this is the right time?

Plus, as President Biden faces questions about his age, we're getting what will likely be the last major update on his health ahead of the 2024 election.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Plus, there's disappointment and then there's what happened in Glasgow to fans of Willy Wonka, an experience that went very, very, very wrong, crushing the hopes and dreams of children.

We're following these stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Major news this afternoon, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is ending his history making tenure in the Senate, announcing today that he is stepping down from his leadership position. He spoke briefly on the floor about the discussion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): But father time remains undefeated. I'm no longer the young man sitting in the back, hoping colleagues would remember my name. It's time for the next generation of leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And just a short time ago, President Biden reacted to this decision. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm sorry that Mitch McConnell stepped down. I trusted him, we had a great and he fought like hell. But he never, never, never misrepresented anything. I'm sorry to hear he's stepping down. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And with that, a high stakes race for his successor begins.

Let's take you now live to Capitol Hill with CNN's Lauren Fox.

Lauren, what are you hearing from McConnell's colleagues about this?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Yes, a lot of Republican colleagues keeping their powder dry right now. They want to hear from whoever may want to fill McConnell's shoes. Of course, all eyes are on those three Republican Johns. The Johns who have been widely discussed for a long time now about potentially taking the helm of that Republican leadership spot.

I'm talking about John Barrasso, John Thune, John Cornyn, all of those members widely seen amongst their colleagues as potential successors. But it's really interesting as you talk to Republican members, many of them want to use the next several months to have conversations to understand what the philosophy of these prospective senators are, how they would lead the conference.

They view this as a really pivotal time to talk about the direction of the Republican Party, because Trump is really ascending at a moment where McConnell has spent the last several months fighting for additional Ukraine aid that many of his own members ended up ultimately voting against. That just raises the question of what exactly is going to be able to unite the Republican Party, what leader is going to be able to unite the Republican Party.

And you have a couple of members who are already saying who they're backing. You have Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota saying he does plan to vote for John Thune, support John Thune. But a lot of these members don't want to talk about the fact that they may ultimately run for McConnell's position. You hear from Sen. Thune and others that this is a moment for McConnell, that this is a moment to reflect on his legacy. I think that this leadership race is going to have some time to breathe.

And obviously, we are going to be anxiously awaiting what Donald Trump says about it, because it was poised to one of the Republicans in the Senate earlier today, do you think Trump is going to have an impact on this race, like he had an impact on the speaker's race back in October. And Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told us, as senators, given the fact we're elected every six years, not every two years, my hope is that we would all take our votes very seriously. I hope that we are all going to be weighing this decision independent of what someone else thinks of it. But there's no doubting that Donald Trump is going to have an influence here. And that is going to be something to watch in the days and weeks ahead.

SANCHEZ: Yes, no question, especially given the rough relationship between McConnell and Trump after January 6th.

Lauren Fox live on Capitol Hill. Thank you so much. Brianna? KEILAR: As we speak, President Biden's son, Hunter, is facing questions from lawmakers. His closed door deposition in the House impeachment inquiry into his father is the result of months of negotiations with Republicans. And much like Hunter Biden's last appearance on the Hill, it caused quite a scene. A record number of lawmakers from both parties are expected to be in attendance and more members of Congress, of course, that means more questions. So far, he has not pleaded the Fifth, that is what we've been told.

And CNN's Paula Reid is at the Capitol working her sources about what all is happening inside of this room.

[15:05:00]

Paula, what can you tell us?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna. There was so much interest in today's deposition. They actually had to move it to a bigger room to accommodate all the members who wanted to be there. And it appears so far that Hunter Biden is holding his own. He is answering questions. He has not, we're told, invoked the Fifth Amendment. And even though lawmakers describe him at times as being frustrated, they say, overall, this has been pretty civil. But there are no cameras. This is happening behind closed doors, so we are relying on our sources and on lawmakers to give us a sense of exactly what they're learning.

The Democrats and some Republicans have come down to talk to us about what's going on, and they are spinning very different narratives. Democrats have called this a waste of taxpayer time and money. They've called it an embarrassing spectacle.

And Jamie Raskin, Rep. Raskin, suggested that if they really wanted to do some legitimate work on investigating corruption, foreign influence, then they should open a bipartisan investigation that would also cover former President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. And notably, they said Hunter Biden brought up the comparison to Jared Kushner and money he has made overseas since leaving the White House.

Now, Republicans, notably Brianna, we haven't heard from many of them. They haven't exactly been racing to the cameras to share what's going on in this hearing. We have heard from a few. Rep. Nancy Mace called Hunter Biden's performance so far defiant and dishonest. And even Rep. Matt Gaetz, when asked if the next step would be a vote on impeachment, he said he wasn't thinking in terms of next steps.

So not exactly a ringing endorsement for what is going on behind closed doors and whether they would uncover the evidence they needed, because, of course, so far they have not been able to provide any clear evidence to connect President Biden to his son's foreign business dealings. But we expect this could be, could be a late night. But we are also expecting that we are going to get a transcript to learn exactly what happened in this deposition.

And that was something that Hunter Biden's team insisted on because they said they did not want to sit behind closed doors for a deposition and then have Republicans selectively leak certain parts. They wanted the whole transcript released. And that's really what we're going to need to figure out exactly what was said here and how much Republicans have really gained.

KEILAR: All right. Paula, thank you so much for that. We do appreciate it. Boris?

SANCHEZ: We're joined now by a Republican on the Oversight Committee, Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee.

Congressman, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

Republicans have made a lot of allegations about Hunter Biden and his ties to the President and their business dealings. I'm curious about what specific allegation you were most wanting to ask Hunter Biden about and how he responded.

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): Well, I wasn't able to ask because as the 435th most powerful member of Congress, I'm generally at the end. They bring me in about the time the custodian is sweeping across the front of the thing. "Oh, do you want to speak?" But the reality is, I would just like to know what qualifications he's had to bring in $20 million. And if in fact, if he's paid taxes, we know that some of that - the statute is possibly run on some of that. And, in fact, if he had the qualifications, what did he produce? What did that $20 million, in fact, bring in that flowed through his family, through the Chinese communists and others.

SANCHEZ: I'm curious about the $20 million, sir, because the actual bank records show that $15 million of that money actually went to Biden family associates, not the Biden family. About $5 million, 90 percent of it did go to Hunter. But I'm curious, specifically, how much of that money you're alleging went to Vice President Joe Biden back when he was in the White House?

BURCHETT: Well, that's the interesting part about it. Because normal businesses don't have 20 so called shell corporations or 20 bank accounts to run their money through. So it's a very circuitous route. But if you do follow some of it, the latest, the health care situation where Hunter and his uncle were involved in, and then his uncle was loaned money by this corporation, which you know corporations, they don't normally loan folks money. And on that very same day was the day that he cut a check to Joe for several hundred thousand dollars.

So, I loaned my brother $50 two Christmases ago, but 200,000 seems to be a stretch. I don't know what kind of pickup truck he was buying, but that was pretty expensive.

SANCHEZ: Sir ...

BURCHETT: I think if you just follow that, that smart - that trail right there, I mean, you ...

SANCHEZ: Those two ...

BURCHETT: ... play down the five - go ahead.

SANCHEZ: ... those two are conflated, though, because the $200,000 was, according to documents that are coming out from the Oversight Committee, was a loan that Joe Biden gave to his brother James, that was then paid back. The document support that it was a loan and that also happened in 2017 when Joe Biden was not vice president. And then you have the pickup truck money that was apparently given to Hunter Biden when he was struggling through his addiction.

[15:10:02]

And that money was then given back by Hunter to his father, also supported by documentation also happening in 2018, when Mike Pence was vice president. So I'll go back to my question. How much money specifically are you alleging that Vice President Joe Biden made off of his son's business dealings when he was in the White House?

BURCHETT: I don't know. But if it's a dollar, he's lied about it. And you got to ask, what was the influence there? What is the brand? The brand is the Biden family. The brand is they're not selling a service. They're not selling a product. They're not - he has no qualifications for this. The only reason he was there because he was Joe Biden's son or he was Joe Biden's brother. And that money flowed through - I mean, they - the money - you followed it - and it flowed even to minor children in the family.

Now, what qualifications do they have? Now, come on. I know you're CNN, but the reality is you can't look this money - you can't look at this ...

SANCHEZ: Oh, sir, don't make this about the - let's make this about the facts, sir. Let's make this about the facts.

BURCHETT: No, you - well, this is the facts.

SANCHEZ: But you're again ...

BURCHETT: You cannot make this ...

SANCHEZ: You're again making (inaudible) ...

BURCHETT: ... you keep saying the money down, you keep saying the money, then you say, well, only $5 million. Well, does that make it okay then? But $20 million is flowed those accounts ...

SANCHEZ: No, sir. Sir, there's a huge distinction. Pardon me, sir.

BURCHETT: ... and there was 20 ...

SANCHEZ: There was a huge distinction - there's a huge distinction between whether it's appropriate for the family of a president to make money off of his name and whether that's ethical. But the question is specifically about what Joe Biden did when he was in office in vice president, whether he abused his power or whether he enriched his family members. And right now there is zero evidence coming from the Oversight Committee that when he was vice president, he did either of those things.

BURCHETT: There's $20 million that flowed through. You saw these accounts open up.

SANCHEZ: That's incorrect, sir. The bank records don't reflect that.

BURCHETT: After - no, sir, you're not getting the full story.

SANCHEZ: They don't specifically say - I looked at the bank records. They don't say that Joe Biden got any money from them. Have you read the bank records because they don't list Joe Biden's name?

BURCHETT: Are you going to let me speak or are you going ...

SANCHEZ: I'm not going to let you ...

BURCHETT: If you talk to treasury and you talk to ...

SANCHEZ: ... I'm not going to let you say things that aren't true, sir.

BURCHETT: So, sir, the truth is, is that $20 million flowed through this family, whichever way it went. There's no records of ...

SANCHEZ: Sir.

BURCHETT: ... taxes being paid ...

SANCHEZ: Against ...

BURCHETT: ... statutes have ran and you're saying that that is okay.

SANCHEZ: Again, that is a talking point that you've repeated ...

BURCHETT: And what was the product?

SANCHEZ: ... but it is not actually what's in the bank records, sir.

BURCHETT: What was the product?

SANCHEZ: What's in the bank records is that ...

BURCHETT: What product is it that this ...

SANCHEZ: ... $15 million of that money never even went to the Biden family. The other $5 million, there is zero. Exactly zero indication ...

BURCHETT: And where did that $15 million go to?

SANCHEZ: ... that it went to Joe Biden?

BURCHETT: Where did that money go to then?

SANCHEZ: To Devon Archer and other business associates related to President Biden. BURCHETT: There's over 20 - there's over - what - there's over 20 shell corporations. Why would you set up a shell corporation had absolute nothing? Why would banks executives - why would ...

SANCHEZ: There's actually evidence from the Oversight Committee that those corporations ...

BURCHETT: No.

SANCHEZ: ... have legitimate business dealings. You may define them as shell corporations the way you see it.

BURCHETT: Then, what are they? Then, what are they?

SANCHEZ: Some of them were consulting firms.

BURCHETT: They have no ...

SANCHEZ: Some of them were lobbying firms.

BURCHETT: No, they weren't. Listen, if you want to do the interview ...

SANCHEZ: They were.

BURCHETT: You just do the interview, but you're asking me a question, I'm trying to give you an answer, but you continue to talk ...

SANCHEZ: You're not giving me an honest answer, sir. You're repeating a talking point that has been debunked repeatedly.

BURCHETT: No, sir.

SANCHEZ: Have you read the bank records?

BURCHETT: It has not been debunked. The money ...

SANCHEZ: Have you seen the bank records?

BURCHETT: I have seen the bank ...

SANCHEZ: Do they say Joe Biden's name on them?

BURCHETT: They say Hunter Biden's name and what was the product he was selling ...

SANCHEZ: And he wasn't vice president.

BURCHETT: ... that influence to the big guy?

SANCHEZ: He wasn't vice president.

BURCHETT: Tony Bobulinski gave name, dates, times and places.

SANCHEZ: Tony Bobulinski, right?

BURCHETT: And those were pretty ...

SANCHEZ: The question about the big guy.

BURCHETT: ... see, you know ...

SANCHEZ: Go ahead, sir. Go ahead.

BURCHETT: Go ahead. No, I just going to say that he gave very damning testimony and all you all want to focus on is one little grain of sand in a huge beach that has absolutely nothing to do with the final outcome. The truth is $20 million flowed through this family ...

SANCHEZ: That's false.

BURCHETT: ... in one shape, form or fashion or another, the - they had - you know, sir, it is not. They had $20 million that flowed through. It went through shell corporations. It went through alternate bank accounts. Now, why would you have these 20 bank accounts set up if you weren't trying that? Why would banks literally send memos out that say they have no product, we have to be careful of this. We need to get shy of this. Why would they send those out? Why would banks do that? You're focusing on one little thing and you're not looking at everything else.

SANCHEZ: Sir, I honor the idea that there are questions about whether it is ethical and appropriate for the family members of an elected official to profit off of something. But I also dispute the fact that we're focused on a grain of sand. I want to get to the point about these bank investigators, because you're talking about an email from 2018 that was sent out that Republicans shared that was about banks looking into a deal struck by Hunter Biden with this Chinese firm.

The email that Republicans shared that came from these people overseeing this deal was actually the last page of a four page document. And earlier in that document, I'm sure you've read it, I hope you have, they quote saying that the business activity is reasonable and consistent. Also that they do not see any signs of bribery.

[15:15:03]

So what you're citing is actually only a small piece of something that overall by senior investigators was declared to be a legitimate business enterprise.

BURCHETT: I never brought up anything about bribery, sir. That's your word, it's not - their word, it's not mine.

SANCHEZ: You brought up the bank investigator. Did you not bring up the bank investigator?

BURCHETT: That's it - I said that in the form that he said there is nothing that they're doing and there's been more than one of those. You're picking one out. But what's the product they were selling? You say they were consulting. What was his background other than being the vice president's son other than traveling with the vice president on Air Force Two at taxpayer expense to these countries? And then you see these accounts open up in a short time thereafter. What was that about?

You have to wonder, wow, Hunter Biden, I'm going to spend millions of dollars and he's the guy I'm going to hire. He's the guy I'm going to hire, that can't be - there's no other thing. You can talk about this all you want.

Look, I understand you all got a lot of time invested in this presidency, but this thing is about over. It's about to come unraveled.

SANCHEZ: Sir, it's not ...

BURCHETT: The American public knows it and it's just - and he won't ever serve any time. You and I both know that. This Justice Department won't even look at it. I mean, how does he get by without paying taxes on this stuff? How does the IRS all of a sudden - I have people in my district that make $20,000 and $30,000 a year that's being audited by the IRS, yet this guy is - they're letting the statute run? Now, come on. You got to know there's influence there and that's wrong. All of this is wrong.

SANCHEZ: Here's the thing, Congressman. There's a distinction again between what is ethical and appropriate and what is actually a sign of an illegal action, something that would actually lead to an impeachment.

BURCHETT: Okay.

SANCHEZ: And at this point, given the documents ...

BURCHETT: I'm ...

SANCHEZ: ... that I've seen, I don't see evidence that you have a smoking gun that shows that when he was vice president, he abused his power to enrich himself or his family members.

BURCHETT: His last name's Biden. That's what they were selling, bottom line.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Tim Burchett, I've enjoyed the discussion, sir. I look forward to having another one ...

BURCHETT: Boris ...

SANCHEZ: ... with you in the future.

BURCHETT: ... you can call your - we can both call our therapists and say we don't any help this week. We've already released on both of us. So thank you, brother.

SANCHEZ: Much appreciated, sir. Thanks so much.

Still to come on NEWS CENTRAL, a massive wildfire is tearing through the Texas panhandle as it ravages the equivalent of 150 football fields every minute. Coming up, the latest on the Smokehouse Creek fire.

Plus, President Biden just got his annual physical as his reelection campaign fights off concerns about his age. We'll dig into the details and why the president is now joking about how young he looks.

And sometimes you get what you pay for, sometimes you don't. That was definitely the case for a lot of folks, especially kids who thought they'd be living out their Willy Wonka dreams. It didn't play out. We'll show you the crazy pictures and we'll speak to the unfortunate man who had to step into Wonka's shoes for an unmitigated disaster.

Those stories and much more still ahead on CNN.

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[15:22:36]

SANCHEZ: Right now, hazardous smoke is wafting across the skies in nearly half of Texas, as five wildfires are burning through parts of the Panhandle. We just learned nearly one million acres burned by wildfires in Texas since Monday, and this is the view of it from space. You could see some of that is actually in Oklahoma, too. The largest, the Smokehouse Creek fire is now the second biggest in the Lone-Star State's history. It now spans more than 850,000 acres.

This all started on Monday, and it burned through an average of 150 football fields every minute. Several thousand people have been evacuated. Communities are now trying to figure out just how many homes and businesses have been destroyed so far. We're going stay on this story. Brianna?

KEILAR: So when you're 81 years old and running for president, your health matters certainly a little more than most. So everyone is going to be waiting for the results of a routine checkup that the President received today at Walter Reed Medical Center. Biden was asked about the results last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I'm squared away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) ...

BIDEN: Well, they think I look too young.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They think you look too young.

BIDEN: No, there is nothing different from last year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything's great.

BIDEN: Everything's great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss the checkup and what the checkup entailed with Dr. F. Perry Wilson. He's an Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Yale University. He's also the author of "How Medicine Works and When It Doesn't."

Doctor, thank you so much for being with us. What do we usually learn from a presidential physical?

F. PERRY WILSON ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE & PUBLIC HEALTH, YALE UNIVERSITY: Well, they're quite thorough, won't surprise you that they do a lot more for the President of the United States than you or I might get at our physical. Although all the usual stuff, the blood pressures and the height and weight will all be part of it. What Biden will also get his attention from a lot of different specialists. We know, for example, that he has atrial fibrillation, which is a common heart arrhythmia. So there will be cardiologists involved.

He's had prior issues with skin cancers that needed to be removed or skin lesions that needed to be removed, so no doubt dermatologists will be involved as well. It's going to be quite a bit more thorough or it was, no doubt, quite a bit more thorough than what a typical 81 year old would get.

KEILAR: And so he's having this physical on the heels of having, of course, his mental acuity.

[15:25:01]

Here in the news recently, there was a special counsel investigation about his handling of classified documents, which described his memory as poor.

Is there going to be any sort of assessment of that kind of thing that will be part of the physical? And what will we learn or not learn from that?

WILSON: Sure. Cognitive assessment is not a guideline recommended exam that should be performed in people who are of any age. It is not - the data says that - or the United States Preventive Services Task Force says there's insufficient data to recommend universal cognitive screening for older adults in the U. S. So he may not get any exam like that at all.

That being said, patients can certainly request this, in which case there are a variety of cognitive exams that could be administered relatively quickly and are fairly accurate at predicting things like mild cognitive impairment, which is what you would see in an older person that doesn't actually rise to the level of dementia or anything like that. The most common tool for this is something called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.

We don't know whether he underwent any type of cognitive assessment. I can say that last year when this exam was done, there was no discussion of a cognitive assessment in the doctor's report.

SANCHEZ: And we just learned from the White House literally as you were speaking, sir, that the White House doctors or rather the president's doctors officially decided that he does not need a cognitive test. Does that tell you anything specific about the president's mental acuity?

WILSON: Well, not necessarily. As I said, cognitive testing is not a routine part of a normal checkup for an 81 - for an otherwise healthy 81-year-old. If there are symptoms or if the patient themselves is concerned that they're having difficulty, then certainly it can be performed, so we can look at this and saying, well, the White House doctors feel like, nope, we work with him every day. He seems fine. There's no need to do this.

Of course, they're - I think there's a political implication either way here, because you could imagine that if he went through it and passed with flying colors, that would probably do something to dispel some of the discussion about his age as - in terms of his candidacy for president. But maybe there's some degree of risk there, right? If you're going to go through a rigorous cognitive assessment and you don't come out with a perfect 100 percent, what are the political implications there?

KEILAR: Yes. No, it's a very good point.

Dr. Wilson, great to have you. Thank you.

WILSON: Anytime.

KEILAR: So next, with his execution just hours away, advocates are desperately fighting for some kind of last minute reprieve to save Ivan Cantu's life. And among them, three jurors who originally sent him to death row. Why they now have doubts about his guilt?

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