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Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) Discusses GOP Urging Johnson To Change Rules On Vacating Speakership & Johnson Advancing Foreign Aid Plan; Kennedy Family Endorses Biden, Rejects RFK Jr's Run; Biden Speaks After Endorsement From Kennedy Family; Countdown To Midnight Release of Taylor Swift's 11th Album. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired April 18, 2024 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): With regard to the other issues, those arcane, technical issues, again, I'm hopeful that we can come to an understanding on that as well.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Some of your colleagues have been critical, specifically of that portion of the bill that you helped to author regarding the forced divestiture of TikTok.
Are you concerned at all that there might be blow back toward you or your party for moving forward with that?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: No, I think this is doing the right thing. Again, as we illustrated before, when 352 House members, including the vast majority of the Democratic caucus, voted for this bill -- it's not a ban, it's a divestiture.
And it's really not about TikTok, it's about ByteDance, which is ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. And further published reports, since we actually pass that bill, have illustrated a number of things that give legislators even more pause.
Such as, for instance, the fact that the ByteDance parent company used user data of Americans against them in surveilling them.
And also that the user data that was supposedly off limits to Chinese employees at ByteDance are routinely accessed by those employees. Again, another misrepresentation by the company.
So I think I'm feeling good about this vote as well.
SANCHEZ: Congressman, I want to zero in on the portion that entails aid to Israel. Obviously, we haven't seen the text of the bill or the details therein and how is finalized.
But I'm curious about potential restrictions to aid predicated on the way that Israel handles the war in Gaza.
There's been a lot of criticism, even from the president himself, over recent developments in Gaza based on the IDF's handling of aid workers, for instance, an accidental strike against World Central Kitchen aid workers.
Do you think that something needs to be in the bill that acts as a kind of restriction to ensure that the IDF is following international law, or at least a mechanism to have the United States observe that aspect of the war more critically?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, one thing that the White House did before these bills were actually issued as bill text, was they issued a memorandum called National Security Memorandum 20.
And this memorandum set forth the existing conditions in -- under which arms transfers to Israel and other countries will be made and have been made and they have to certify that those conditions are met going forward.
And so I think that this aid will be subject to those conditions being met. Whether it's in accordance with humanitarian -- international humanitarian law, but also the -- the laws of war.
And so that's something that we are all going to be focused on as well.
SANCHEZ: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate you being with us.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Hey, thank you so much, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
Still ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, half of today's perspective jurors have already been eliminated in the Donald Trump hush money case in Manhattan. And two out of the seven jurors who have already been seated have now been excused. The latest on his hush money case when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: That was a quick commercial break.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Yes.
SANCHEZ: We want to take you straight to Philadelphia, where the Kennedy family is just taking the stage. They are endorsing President Biden in his run for reelection and shunning one of their own. Even as RFK Jr's running for the White House, the Kennedy family, or the majority of them, are backing Biden.
Let's take a moment to listen in.
(MUSIC)
KERRY KENNEDY, SISTER OF JOHN F. KENNEDY JR: Thank you, John, for those inspiring words.
My name is Kerry Kennedy, and I'm the seventh child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy. (APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
[13:35:00]
KENNEDY: I'm joined here today with my sisters, Kathleen and Rory, with Joe and Chris and Matt.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: And with my hero, President Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: President Joe Biden has said, very movingly, that his long career in public service was prompted by his speech my father, Robert Kennedy, gave in Indianapolis on April 4, 1968, the night Martin Luther King was murdered.
Two days later, alone with my parents and siblings, I sat in the den of our home in northern Virginia and watched in horror as Washington burned. Daddy left the room and he got in his car.
Maybe 15 minutes later, we were all still glued to the TV and, suddenly, daddy was on the news, in the midst of the mayhem, trying to put out the flames of loss and pain, fear and rage in the wake of Dr. Kings death.
That was an incredible lesson to me as an eight-year-old child. He showed us that when everyone else is running away from the flames, of the anguish and despair, leaders run towards them.
And that's who Joe Biden is.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: He is the first sitting president in our history who has traveled to an active border zone not under U.S. control, not once, but twice, to show support for our allies.
He was always running into the flames so we don't have to. In --
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: In every imaginable way, President Biden has spent his presidency and his career running into the flames for working people, for moms, dads, families. He supports unions, a passion of my father's. He marched with the
United Auto Workers during their righteous strike, which helped bring that strike to a swift end.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: Thank you, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: He looked out -- he looked out for teachers, nurses, truck drivers, gig workers. He has been tireless on relieving the debt incurred by middle- and working-class kids, trying to get ahead by getting an education. Thank you, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: He passed the infrastructure bill. He builds bridges. He has made the working American the hero of every story. Thank you, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: He got inflation under control. And violent crime is down in America under Joe Biden's leadership. He has us thriving again, believing again, behaving like good neighbors again.
He stepped into the flames of chaos and turned it into community. Thank you, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: We want to make crystal clear our feelings that the best way forward for America is to reelect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to four more years.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
(CHANTING)
KENNEDY: President Biden has been a champion for all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncle stood for. That's why nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: That's right. That's right. The Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: When daddy announced his bid for the presidency in 1968, he talked about the perilous course our country would take under the wrong leadership. And he said, I feel obliged to do all that I can. I cannot stand aside.
[13:40:04]
We are here because we feel obliged to do all that we can. We cannot stand outside. In this election, no American can stand aside. We must vote.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: In 2024, there are only two candidates with any chance of winning the presidency. We know them well. Four years ago, our country was crippled by Covid -- excuse me -- chaos and the effects of an unprincipled leadership.
Four years later, thanks to Joe Biden, we are enjoying an unprecedented economic expansion with more people working than at any time in our history. Over 15 million new jobs have been created, almost 800,000 manufacturing jobs. Thank you, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: Wages are up. Inflation, caused by once-in-a-generation pandemic, is coming down. Thank you, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: He's made the best investments in historically black colleges and universities to create more access to opportunity. He has appointed more black women to circuit courts than every other president combined.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING) KENNEDY: And put Ketanji Brown Jackson on the Supreme Court. Thank you, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE) (CHEERING)
KENNEDY: He rebuilt the refugee program that was decimated by his predecessor and brought together a coalition of world leaders to stop Russian aggression in Ukraine. Thank you, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: We're standing here in the Martin Luther King Recreation Center for Children. As family members who lost her partner let us not forget that President Biden has always advocated for the rights of people to live, to play, and to go to school in communities free of gun violence.
(APPLAUSE)
KENNEDY: He signed the most significant bipartisan gun safety legislation in 30 years. Thank you, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: As Donald Trump proudly brags about overturning Roe v. Wade, rolling back the clock 50 years to when women couldn't make our own health care decisions, President Biden is fighting to get our freedoms back. Thank you, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: This is only part of the very long list of freedoms and rights that President Biden is protecting during a period of constant assault. Make no mistake. All these rights and freedoms are on the ballot in November.
Donald Trump is running to take us backwards, attacking the most basic rights and freedoms that are at the core of who we are as Americans. He said he will be a dictator on day one.
Even saying he wants to suspend the Constitution so he can go after his enemies, after his critics, after the press. He is running to use his power to punish his enemies, silence his opponents, and incite more chaos, division, and political violence with his extreme agenda.
He is the most anti-democratic president in American history.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING) KENNEDY: President Trump spews dangerous conspiracy theories on climate change, vaccines, windmills and voter fraud.
He is pledging to repeal the Affordable Care Act and cut Social Security and Medicare, ripping away health care and earned benefits for millions of Americans who rely on them in their retirement.
I can only imagine how Donald Trump's outrageous lies and behavior would have horrified my father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who proudly served as the attorney general of the United States and honored his pledge to uphold the law and protect the country.
[13:44:54]
Daddy stood for equal justice, for human rights and freedom from want and fear, just as President Biden does today.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: Donald Trump mocks these values just as the mocks our system of laws. He predicted a blood bath if he loses the election. We cannot afford to ignore his warning.
We can say today, with no less urgency, that our rights and freedoms are once again in parallel. This is why we all need to come together in a campaign that could unite not only Democrats, but all Americans, including Republicans and Independents who believe in what Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature." A vote --
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: A vote for Joe Biden is a vote for our democracy and our decency.
(APPLAUSE) (CHEERING)
KENNEDY: It is a vote for what my father called, in his own presidential announcement in 1968, our right to the moral leadership of this planet.
As President Biden remembers, when Dr. King died, daddy address a crowd organized by John Lewis in the largest black community in Indianapolis.
And on that terrible night, he said, "What we need in the United States is not division. What we need in the United States is not hatred. What we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness. But love and wisdom and compassion toward one another and a feeling of justice towards those who still suffer in this country, whether they be black or they be white."
Joe Biden's every decision is informed by his love, his wisdom, and his compassion towards those who suffer.
That is why we are so happy today to pledge are unwavering support to President Joe Biden and President (sic) Kamala Harris.
God bless all of you. God bless America.
And please welcome President Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: Please have to seat, if you have one.
Mom and dad, hope you were listening.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: What an incredible honor, what an incredible honor. I don't want to become emotional, but what an incredible honor to have the support of the Kennedy family.
John White Jr, thanks for those kind words and for carrying on your family's civil rights legacy.
And so is your son, Kailan (ph), who is doing a hell of a job in our campaign.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: He's helping us win Pennsylvania!
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
BIDEN: Kerry, I -- that was the most meaningful introduction I've ever gotten in my life. Other than when my sister introduced me.
DEAN: You're listening there to President Joe Biden, thanking the Kennedy family for their endorsement.
And, Boris, what is important to note in this moment is, often, in politics, in elections, endorsements are fine, but they don't really do much.
SANCHEZ: Yes. DEAN: But in this case, because of the broader picture, which is the fact that Robert F. Kennedy Jr is running as a third-party candidate that, as of today, he's now on the ballot in Utah and Michigan.
And that he is eating away and threatens to eat away at a key part of the Biden coalition, which has young voters.
And so to see the larger Kennedy family, not just saying we don't support our brother or cousin, who, whatever he is in relation to them --
SANCHEZ: Yes.
DEAN: -- but to see -- to see them saying we full-throatily endorse Joe Biden is interesting.
And it does create quite a contrast for a lot of people again, especially younger voters, who maybe aren't familiar with the entire picture.
SANCHEZ: Right. It's as much an endorsement of Joe Biden as it is a rejection of RFK Jr. And we heard from his sister there a moment ago, Kerry Kennedy, describing Joe Biden as my hero, comparing his efforts in politics to that of her father's in the 1960s.
[13:49:59]
She said that Joe Biden is always running into the flames so that we don't have to. She had this repeated refrain in her speech saying, thank you, Joe Biden, for a number of different things.
Saying that essentially Americans can't stand by in this election. They have to support Joe Biden because he stands for democracy.
The president was obviously moved by it. He described it as an honor. He said it was the most meaningful introduction that he's gotten in his life, besides from his sister.
We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back with updates not only on this event in Philadelphia, but also the latest from Manhattan in Donald Trump's criminal trial. Stay with CNN. We're back in just moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:55:03]
SANCHEZ: The countdown for Taylor Swifts new album is on and Swifties everywhere are in a frenzy, including one right here at CNN. Wolf Blitzer will not stop talking about the "Tortured Poets Department," which drops tonight at midnight.
DEAN: It sure does. And the pop superstar has been dropping clues. This is something she's very well-known. All the Easter eggs, sparking speculations among her fans about what to expect. All without really having to do any formal marketing at all. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister is at a Taylor Swift pop-up event in Los
Angeles.
The hype is real, Elizabeth. I have a long drive tomorrow and I'm actually very excited about it for this reason.
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: The hype is very real. So as you see behind me, there is an open-air library put on by Spotify, which has all of these clues, these Easter eggs that you mentioned, Jessica. It's a library, of course, to celebrate the "Tortured Poets Department."
There's books that have Taylor's song names on them. There's a clock that says 2:00 p.m. Now, if you are a Swiftie, you know that the number two in 2:00 p.m. has been a big symbol coming from Taylor herself ever since she won the Grammy and announced her new album. She gave a peace sign saying the number two.
Well, right now, there is a countdown clock on Taylor Swift's Web site counting down just a few minutes to 2:00 p.m. Nobody knows what it is, but their fans here who had been waiting for hours to get in.
We're going to talk to some of them and see what they think this countdown could be all about.
Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.
WAGMEISTER: So I'm with three ladies here who are skipping out on class. They're college students at LMU, but we won't tell their teachers.
How long have you been here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been here like an hour-and-a-half so far.
WAGMEISTER: Now, there's a countdown on Taylor Swifts Web site. What do you think this is about? Do think it's merged. Do you think it's the album dropping early perhaps?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it is either a double release or a deluxe version.
WAGMEISTER: What do you think? Do you have a theory?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, there's a double release theory for reputation dropping. And also like I think there's a music video coming out soon. So maybe for that.
WAGMEISTER: Yes. So Taylor did announce that, at 8:00 P.M. Eastern tonight, her music video will drop. We don't know for what song, but fans thinks it could be the one with Post Malone.
Now your birthday is tomorrow. You're celebrating here today. Happy birthday. Is this the best celebration you could have ever dreamed of? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's my 22nd birthday tomorrow. So like
dropping an album on my birthday is really special for me.
WAGMEISTER: And 22.
All right. Well, enjoy your birthday.
And as you see right behind me, this line goes on and on and ON. It is wrapping around here at the Grove, which, by the way, is also where Taylor Swift had her premiere for her movie earlier this year.
All right, lots of excitement here. Back to you guys.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: The world is waiting with bated breath. The 2:00 p.m. thing only a few minutes away.
Elizabeth Wagmeister, keep us updated on what it is. We're dying to know.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Yes.
Thanks, Elizabeth. Appreciate it.
So court is about to gavel back into session in New York. And when it does, Donald Trump's attorneys and prosecutors will be able to question potential jurors. This, after dropping two jurors that they already had impaneled. We'll discuss the latest in just moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
