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Julie Su is Interviewed about the Jobs Report; Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King are Interviewed about the Election; Election Day and the Planet. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 01, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

JULIE SU, ACTING SECRETARY OF LABOR: Real wages are up. And as you noted, the unemployment rate remains steady. This continues to be a picture of an economy in which we have seen job growth every month under President Biden and Vice President Harris. The total of jobs grown is 16 million since the administration came in. And that didn't happen by accident.

You know, since the beginning, in 2021, people have been predicting the downturn, the recession. That has never happened. Part of the reason is that steady and stable leadership makes a difference. And the investments that we're making have powered a historic economic recovery. Iin construction, in manufacturing, in clean energy, in industries across the country we have seen job growth and real wages growing, which means more money in worker's pockets.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, there were down revisions in August and September as well. Not hurricanes, really, or Boeing. How do you account for those?

SU: Right. So, even with those revisions, and there are always revisions, you know, this - it's part of - of the jobs numbers. We've seen them through, you know, all - all the years, in every administration. It's a part of how we produce the most accurate numbers as we get them.

Even with that, the prior three-month average is a plus 148,000 jobs. Again, you know, a number that continues to reflect a strong economy and real wage growth.

Now, the past month's numbers were affected by the devastating hurricanes. We certainly saw, you know, two back to back that hit the southeast. And so employers that would normally have been ramping up hiring for the holiday season did not do that, obviously. And the federal government was there on the ground helping with search and rescue, with opening up roads again, restoring power and water. But the impact of the job market, as you noted, was that jobs that - that - that could have grown did not do so because of that. We expect that to - that to bounce back, you know, assuming, again, that we don't continue to see the devastating effects of - of - of various climate activities.

BERMAN: The Boeing strike continues. This has been a hard impasse to solve. I know you are involved there. What's the very latest?

SU: So, the latest is that the parties have been at the table. It was a privilege to be a part of that, of helping to bring them together. I always say this, you know, collective bargaining works. It doesn't always look pretty from the outside, but when workers have a real voice in the job, when they have a union, when they can sit down with the employer and, you know, talk about what they need in terms of wages, in terms of benefits, in terms of retirement security, we want all jobs to have those things for working people.

And when you have a union, it's much more likely that you're going to have retirement security, that you're much more likely to have benefits so you can go to the doctor when you're sick without breaking the bank, and where you can demand real wage increases. You know, these workers have not seen a real wage increase for over a decade. So, that's part of what they were negotiating over. And now they have an offer before them. And - and we'll know in a few days whether they have a new contract.

BERMAN: You say 12,000 jobs last month. Do you see a rebound next month? I mean where do you think the economy will be three months from now?

SU: Yes. I mean, I certainly don't make predictions, but we have a record, right? We have a - you know, three and a half years now to look back on of - we - think of what this economy was just four years ago, right? We were in the midst of a global pandemic with no national strategy to get under control.

Again, this goes to the need for calm, steady leadership. Since President Biden and Vice President Harris have been here, we have seen an unprecedented economic recovery. About 16 million jobs created, job growth every single month. Again, you know, the unemployment rate remains at historic lows. Most economists, experts predicted that we would not get to an unemployment rate that low for a very long time. And - and we've had it. We've had an unemployment rate at, near or below 4 percent for the longest stretch since the 1960s.

Again, these things don't happen by accident. They do happen because when you create an economy where workers are at the forefront, where, you know, we - we create jobs and make sure that they're good jobs, jobs where people can go to work and, you know, support their families that - that - that helps to build strength, that helps to build our -- our - our economy. And even the - the - the numbers from this month, which were, again, affected by - by the hurricanes, by - by workers being on strike, they do not undercut the overall picture of a very strong labor market.

BERMAN: Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, thanks for being with us this morning. Appreciate your time.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, ahead, LeBron James is the latest celebrity endorsing Kamala Harris, releasing a powerful video using Donald Trump's own words. [09:35:07]

We'll get reaction from Martin Luther King III. He worries that black men may be made scapegoats depending on the result of the election.

And tomorrow night don't miss an all new episode of CNN's quiz show, "Have I Got News for You." Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and comedian Sam Jay joined the hosts. It all starts tomorrow, 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:08]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, basketball icon LeBron James endorsing Kamala Harris by sharing this video on X.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Troublemaker. These are troublemakers. Look.

I love the old days, you know. You know what they used to go to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks.

Like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you.

Now, if you had one really violent day, like one rough hour, and I mean real rough, the word will get out will get out and it will end immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: James then wrote, what are we even talking about here? Vote Kamala Harris.

Notably, Harris' campaign has focused in on building support among black male voters. And joining us now is civil rights advocate Martin Luther King III, and his wife, Arndrea Waters King, president of the Drum Major Institute.

Thank you both for being here with us this morning.

MARTIN LUTHER KING III, CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATE, GLOBAL HUMANITARIAN AND CO-FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, DRUM MAJOR INSTITUTE: Thank you.

SIDNER: Mr. King, you of all people would recognize the imagery of that ad that LeBron James shared in his endorsement as well. What did you think of the video and the endorsement?

M. KING: I think that it is a very telling of where we are as - as in our society. And it should be crystal clear what our decisions should be.

I think it's very sad that this dialog is ever engaged in because, unfortunately, people hear that dialog and they try to execute what is said. That does not serve this nation. It will not serve this world. The world looks to us for leadership as the United States of America. It does not really serve any purpose.

We can disagree without being disagreeable. My mom and dad taught us. I remember when Tip O'Neill was speaker and worked with Ronald Reagan. They never denigrated each other. They stayed focused on issues. That's the kind of climate we must recreate.

SIDNER: Black men in particular, I know you want to talk about this, they've been the fodder for a lot of conversations around this election because polling was showing that their support for Donald Trump has grown over the years. And I want to go back and just look at that a little bit, look at these numbers. Black men voted for Trump in 2020 about six percentage points more than they did in 2016, if we can pull that up there.

But it turns out that white women did the same. In 2016 election, 52 percent of white women voted for Mr. Trump, 43 for Hillary. And in 2020, that number also went up to 55 percent versus 44 percent for Joe Biden.

So, when you - when you look at these numbers, why have you said that you worry that black men will be blamed for the results of the election?

M. KING: Well, first of all, I was asked the question, did I think that that would be the case. And I certainly do believe that that would be part of what the narrative is, which is, in my judgement, you - the only thing you win, in my view, is you build a coalition. And that is what Vice President Harris and her team, Governor Walz, have been doing. That's what's going to create victory on Tuesday.

The other thing is, we've got to do all we can to drive the vote - voters out. A lot of people across this nation have voted, but we have to keep encouraging. As my dad would say, a voteless people is a powerless people. And one of the most important steps we can take is that short step to the ballot box. We must - we must come out.

SIDNER: Arndrea, I want to ask you your thoughts on when you hear people say - I've certainly hear - heard people in the black community and other communities talking about Donald Trump in these terms. They say, well he's just talking smack. He's not really going to do the things that he says he's going to do.

What do you say to them if you hear this kind of rhetoric?

ARNDREA WATERS KING, PRESIDENT, DRUM MAJOR INSTITUTE: What I say to them is the same thing that we have taught our daughter since she was three years old, that words matter. And then also I would remind them of what the great Maya Angelou said, which is, when someone shows you who they are, believe them.

We have seen that. So, we have seen words, felt the words that are divisive, but we also have seen actions that were divisive under a Trump presidency and since that point. We saw divisiveness. We saw hate on January 6th. That was not a rally of love.

SIDNER: I'm curious your thoughts, Mr. King, on the rhetoric that has just been used by Donald Trump last night where he basically called for executing Liz Cheney, his political rival, saying to stand her up in front of a firing squad, as he tried to make a point about sending troops into war and her hawkishness.

[09:45:08]

What do you think of those comments?

M. KING: I think that is extraordinarily dangerous coming from a person running for president of the United States to even advocate. Again, you know, what - what if - if my dad had talked about, well, all these people who are against us, let's execute them, instead of working through issues and learning. Again, we're going to disagree in life, but we don't have to engage in hatred and hostility. That is the most dangerous thing that anyone could say because if they don't do it, some of the people who follow them interpret it that way.

And so my point is, we are so much better as a nation than what we are seeing right now. And I'll - I'll finally say,, I come from the tradition of non-violence. My father used to say, humankind must learn non-violence or we may face non-existence. That is not the direction that we must go in. It is not sustainable. Just think about children and generations yet unborn. We must create a method of operation as human beings that is sustainable. And that direction will not sustain us.

SIDNER: Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters, thank you both so much for getting up early and coming on with us. Appreciate your time.

A. KING: Thank you for having us.

M. KING: Thank you for having us.

SIDNER: All right. Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thousand-year floods wiping out communities more and more often, tragically. This too is an issue on the ballot this election. How the presidential picks can change the future of the climate crisis.

And, it has officially been 30 years since the biggest earworm of the Christmas season came out. And Mariah Carey didn't even give us 24 hours post Halloween to prepare for it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:27]

BOLDUAN: Election Day is a critical one for the country, of course, and a crucial moment for the planet. The climate crisis impacts every aspect of our lives and the effects of it we're seeing very real and very now. Florida, North Carolina, Valencia, Spain. The extremes are getting more and more extreme and hitting more often. So, how do we tackle this? The presidential candidates could not be further apart.

CNN's Bill Weir is looking at this. He's here with us now.

What does this election mean for the climate crisis, Bill?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Kate, I tell you, I wrote about this on cnn.com. Going back through presidential election history, it's hard to find a more consequential and divisive choice right now. Imagine if Abraham Lincoln had lost in the 1860s, or if Reagan had ignored the generals about the Soviet Union. The American experiment might have ended, but life on earth may not have noticed. But right now scientists at every level are telling us, this is a time test. And you've got one candidate who accepts that challenge and another one who talks about it like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These people, I don't know if they're for real. But if they're not, they're covered by the words "climate change." If it gets cooler, that's good. If it gets hotter, that's good. We have countries that have tremendous nuclear power. And when I hear these people talking about global warming, that's the global warming you have to worry about, not that the ocean's going to rise in 400 years an eighth of an inch. And you'll have more sea front property, right, if that happens. I said, is that good or bad? I said, isn't that a good thing?

LNG is being sought after all over Europe and all over the world. And we have more of it than anybody else. And I'm not going to lose that wealth. I'm not going to lose it on - on dreams, on windmills.

It'll start getting cooler.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish -

TRUMP: You just - you just watch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish science agreed with you.

TRUMP: Yes, well, I don't think science knows, actually.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEIR: Science knows. Science really knows. But Project '25 - 2025 and the president himself have vowed to roll back any climate progress on day one. Here's some of the promises. Tailpipe emissions. All of the pollution limits on power plants and methane. Pulling the United States out of the Paris Accords probably for the final time. Just pulling out of negotiations as well. Signaling to the world that the U.S. is not going to play.

And this, meanwhile China, Europe, other countries, that clean energy revolution is happening at a staggering rate, but it's also happening in the United States. Most of the inflation reduction money is being spent in Republican districts, 75 percent. Texas leads the nation in clean energy installation, just because it makes the most economic sense these days.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. What is Kamala Harris proposing and how to tackle the climate crisis?

WEIR: Well, she's not talking about it, I think, the way climate voters would love to see her put it on the forefront. I think her campaign knows that the choices are so stark. She's betting on those folks. But she's, in her campaign promises and literature is really talking about household energy use, lowering costs, keeping them healthier as we transition to a carbon - decarbonizing the economy, holding polluters accountable. She did that as a - as a district attorney back in California as well. And in safeguarding energy security. That's the thing. The Biden administration has created the biggest petrostate in human history. This country is exporting more fossil fuel than any country ever in history. Climate voters don't love that.

BOLDUAN: Right.

WEIR: But they hope that those fuels are used as a bridge to create a new cleaner world right now. And so a Harris win is not going to refreeze Greenland or it's not going to, you know, de-escalate these rapidly intensifying hurricanes, but it would obviously continue this momentum.

[09:55:01]

And there's so much - hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment that are following the Inflation Reduction Act money right now. Bill Gates told me that what he really worries about is a signal to the rest of the world -

BOLDUAN: Right.

WEIR: Because if you're deciding on whether to build a power plant, now it's a 30-year decision. And if the U.S. seems squirrely and they can't make up their mind, they're going to go build it somewhere else. And he's - that's what - he's thinking about it from a pragmatic business standpoint.

BOLDUAN: Yes, private investment, it's happening. That clean revolution, if you will, is happening. But the signaling from the U.S. government and what is a priority and what matters and what we believe, that's also at stake here.

WEIR: The richest, most powerful country ever -

BOLDUAN: Right.

WEIR: You know, who - who created the industrial revolution. If they're not playing in this, it doesn't give the rest of the world a whole lot of hope.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

Bill, thank you. WEIR: My pleasure.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you.

WEIR: You bet.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight in Orlando, two people are dead, six others hurt after a shooting downtown during a Halloween party. Body camera footage shows the moment police tackled the suspect that say opened fire. Police say this suspect was arrested last year on a grand theft charge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIAH CAREY, MUSICIAN: It's time!

I don't want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, so apparently it is now Christmas time because Mariah Carey says so. She put out this video overnight celebrating the 30th anniversary of her hit "All I Want for Christmas is You." She dressed up like The Addams family, had them all transform here. I do wonder if this is to draw focus to her song and maybe, you know, make a little cheddar cheese on the side.

SIDNER: John, listen, don't you come for Mariah Carey.

BOLDUAN: Cheddar cheese.

SIDNER: Don't you do it, John Berman.

BERMAN: I - you know, all I wanted for Christmas is you.

SIDNER: Uh-huh. You, the viewer.

BERMAN: You.

SIDNER: We need them for Christmas.

BOLDUAN: My war is on pumpkin spice. I'm not weighing in on Mariah Carey as a season genius (ph), OK?

SIDNER: OK, that's w here your anger is?

BOLDUAN: I - I'm - only one hill I can die on.

SIDNER: Thank you so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. I'm Sara Sidner, with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. "CNN NEWSROOM," up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)