Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Biden's Decision to Pardon his Son; Trump Seizes on Biden's Pardon; Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is Interviewed about Hunter Biden's Pardon; Sunday Was Busiest Day Ever for Air Travel; Snow Hampers Post-Thanksgiving Travel; Trump's Team Skips FBI Background Checks. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 02, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JAMES MIRFIN, SVP, GLOBAL HEAD OF RISK AND IDENTITY SOLUTIONS, VISA: And make sure your devices are up to date. It's very easy not to click update and put the patches on there, but it's really important to make sure that all of your devices are up to date, particularly at this time of year when the scammers and the criminals are so active.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All of this, essential and so helpful as we're kicking off this Cyber Monday and - and hearing that this could be a record-breaking one, no less.

James Mirfin, with Visa, thank you so much for your help.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new blowback just in on President Biden's move to grant a sweeping pardon for his son Hunter.

Donald Trump taps loyalists and ally Kash Patel to lead the FBI. Patel has promised to go after journalists, among others, and more or less dismantle the agency. We've got new reporting on the confirmation battle that is brewing this morning.

And then feet of snow. Feet. Just in time for record-breaking travel.

Sara is out. I'm John Berman, with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

We are standing by to hear directly from President Biden as we learn new details about his decision process to do something that he and the White House repeatedly insisted that he would not do. He pardoned his son, Hunter. And not just any pardon. A full and unconditional pardon. He had faced sentencing later this month for federal tax and gun convictions. Now he will not face sentencing. But this pardon also grants him clemency for any other federal crimes he might have committed during a long ten year period.

President-elect Trump is weighing in, as our lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. This does have the potential to affect confirmation of Trump's nominees and possible pardons for January 6th criminals.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is standing by in Angola, in Africa, where the president is traveling this morning.

What are you hearing at this point, Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it was a stunning reversal for President Biden as he issued this pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, after months of saying he would not make this move.

Now, President Biden reached this decision as he huddled with his family in Nantucket, Massachusetts, over the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm told he ultimately informed senior staff at the White House that he was moving forward with this decision on Saturday evening. The president had called a meeting with his senior staff, and he, in that meeting, with some people in person and some over the phone, shared his decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden. He ultimately told the team he wanted to release a statement on Sunday night, and those details were finalized on Sunday morning.

For President Biden, this really caps off years of family internal struggles over not just Hunter's addiction, but also dealing with the Republican attacks on their family. Ultimately, President Biden said that he made this decision as a father. He believes that his son was unjustly and unfairly maligned by Republicans up on Capitol Hill, and said that he believes that these charges were politically motivated simply because of the fact that Hunter Biden was President Joe Biden's son.

Now, in his statement released on Sunday night, the president wrote, "I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice. And once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further." He added, "I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision."

The statement makes no mention of his reversal, but it comes after, back in June, both before and after Hunter Biden was found guilty on those felony gun charges in Delaware, the president, at the time, had said that he would not pardon his son.

Take a listen to a few of those moments back in June.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS (June 6, 2024): Let me ask you, will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict, no matter what it is?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (June 6, 2024): Yes.

MUIR: And have you ruled out a pardon for your son?

BIDEN: Yes.

MUIR: You have?

BIDEN (June 13, 2024): I am satisfied that I'm not going to do anything. I said - I said I'd abide by the jury decision. And I will do that. And I will not pardon him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, the president, as he has been traveling here to Angola, has so far ignored reporter's questions about this pardon for his son. But there are certainly many questions for President Biden, especially as he's staked so much of his political career in the Senate and also in the White House on the fact that he would respect the independence of the judicial system. But President Biden, really with this stunning reversal as he's now issuing that pardon for his only living son, Hunter.

BERMAN: All right, Arlette Saenz, again, in Angola, that is where the president is traveling today. It will be interesting to see if and how he addresses this when he arrives.

[09:05:00]

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, that's a great point.

And with this announcement by President Biden, in many ways he's pulling a move his predecessor and now president-elect would appreciate. Trump, for his part, is quickly seizing on the Hunter Biden pardon and trying to equate it to those people convicted of crimes from the January 6th riots.

CNN's Alayna Treene is in Florida tracking this one for us.

And, Alayna, Donald Trump has long said that he will pardon January 6th rioters. But what are you hearing from there today about this?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Right. Well, he has long said that, and he made that pledge repeatedly throughout his time on the campaign trail, Kate. But ever since he was elected on November 5th he's been silent on the matter. And it's raised questions, I know, from many of his supporters and others who have really been anticipating that Donald Trump would carry out that pledge and his vow to pardon the January 6th convicts.

But Donald Trump did, for the first time, address it last night in responding to this pardon of Hunter Biden. He released this statement on his social media website, Truth Social, just moments after that announcement. This is what he said. He wrote, quote, "does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J 6th hostages who have now been imprisoned for years, such an abuse and miscarriage of justice."

Now, Kate, I can tell you, I've asked Donald Trump's transition team about that pledge to pardon these January 6th convicts in the weeks since Donald Trump won the election. Essentially I've been told that they were focused more so on putting together Donald Trump's cabinet and some of the other hires before January 20th. So, it's something they said that was a matter of what they would address in the coming weeks. But this may be the reopening now that they need to kind of reform and rethink how they are going to handle that. I will also argue, though, that in the aftermath of this pardon, we've really seen a lot of Donald Trump's allies, including Republicans on Capitol Hill, but also many members of Donald Trump's transition team and incoming cabinet kind of seize on this moment as well to argue that it is an example of what they've been arguing for the last several years now, which is that they believe that President Joe Biden weaponized, in their words, the justice system against Donald Trump and others.

And so, this, as well, could be kind of an opening that they may use to kind of support some of the big changes that Donald Trump wants, including a lot of the shakeups he wants at both the FBI and the Justice Department more broadly.

BOLDUAN: Alayna Treene, thank you so much, from Florida for us.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Democratic Congressman and New Jersey Gubernatorial Candidate Josh Gottheimer.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us.

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: President Biden promised us that he would not pardon his son, Hunter. He just did. Your reaction?

GOTTHEIMER: I've said, I'm always for accountability. But what I'm not for are political prosecutions. And, let's be honest, the only reason why they went after Hunter the way they did, and I've talked to many federal prosecutors about this, is because he's the president's son, right? It's somebody who has a lifelong drug addiction, and prosecutors would have handled this differently. So, this was all politically motivated. So, I understand.

BERMAN: You're a lawyer. Have you ever seen a pardon like this, that not just grants him clemency for specific crimes, but also over a ten- year period for anything he might have done?

GOTTHEIMER: I mean, presidents have obviously used their pardon authority over the years. The bottom line in this case, though, is as a dad with his son who was prosecuted because of the president of the United States and the way he was. He should have been handled - given his addiction, he should have been - this shouldn't have been handled differently. This was a political prosecution.

BERMAN: All right, Nate Silver, who, you know, is a data reporter online, but voted for Kamala Harris is representative of some opinions on this. Nate wrote, "I discussed here how I voted for Harris despite feeling like Democrats indulged in a lot of bad behavior that voters were rational to publish. After the White House lying about the Hunter pardon, I'm not sure how much more I can tolerate. Don't vote for any Democrat in 2028 who doesn't repudiate the pardon within 48 hours."

Forget 2028. You're running, you know, next year. You're not repudiating it. Nate saying that he won't vote for you.

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I don't think Nate lives in my district. Let me - or in the state.

Let me focus on what actually - if I were talking to Nate I'd say, listen, what do voters care about? Because I've been talking - I've been in diners in 21 counties - I think 18 counties of our 21 now across the state of New Jersey over the last weeks talking to folks. What do they care about? They want to make their lives more affordable.

So, what I'm focused on is running for governor, of being the lower taxes, lower cost governor. People want to know how we're going to make their lives better. And, like, let's talk about them. What we're going to do to get costs down, health care costs down, utility costs down, right, do everything we can to get taxes down. People want - and - and I - I think this election made it pretty clear, they want to make sure that we stand up for them and - and - and their pocketbooks and - and make it so that they can afford to go to the diner.

BERMAN: OK, talk to me more about the lessons you learned from the Democratic troubles in 2024. In New Jersey alone, like huge red shift there.

GOTTHEIMER: Huge shift.

BERMAN: So, what did you learn there? But also, what does it tell you about how, while you're in Congress, because you'll still be in Congress no matter what for a while, how you need to stand up to the Trump administration as a Democrat.

GOTTHEIMER: Listen, my first race I had on my lawn signs as I've always had, lower taxes, Jersey values. And that's been the way I've governed, right?

[09:10:01]

And I believe voters basically said loud and clear, look out for us in our pocketbooks. The basic stuff. Make sure our communities are safe. Make sure you do everything we can to get those childcare costs down and get those utility bills down.

And I think, as Democrats, we've got a great record on that. We just got to remind people the basics that that's what we fight for them, right? For regular folks, right? To make sure we do everything to make their lives more affordable and their lives better. We got to get back to the basics and communicate about that.

Listen, I talk about Jersey values all the time, making sure we have smart, common sense gun safety. We look out for our air and our water, protect choice. But - but the bottom line is, you got to do both. And if you don't do the basics, make their lives more affordable so they can afford their rent and their mortgage, then that's what we have to get back to. And that's really what they want.

BERMAN: What do Jersey values say about Donald Trump's likely nominees for key positions? Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel running the FBI.

GOTTHEIMER: Listen, I saw the - the most recent in Mr. Patel's nomination, or word of his nomination. And the bottom line is, obviously, I'm very concerned to go back to political prosecutions and what he's said about that. But this is why we have the Senate and the Constitution say you should have advise and consent, and you should actually have hearings and listen and investigate. And I think for all the nominations, as we've always had, that's the responsibility of the Senate and we should take that responsibility seriously. You know no, like just throwing a bunch of recess appointments and pushing them through. You actually have to run a proper process. And that's what the country wants.

BERMAN: I want to ask you specifically about Pete Hegseth, if I can. There are a number of reports about him, but including one in "The New York Times" where they got a hold of a letter his mother wrote him. His mother. This is several years back when apparently Hegseth had been having issues with women. His mother wrote, according to "The Times," "I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man and have been for years. And as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth."

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I hope they put that front and center in those nomination hearings because the bottom line is, given what we've heard about his record and his history, that's exactly the kind of information that should be front and center in these nomination hearings, right? People need to understand who these nominees are. You don't just shove them through. Obviously, things like that from his own mother. I mean, like, I can't believe that, you know, things like that, you know, will - that exist. And I think the country deserves to know.

And when the Senate makes decisions, when they're going to have - senators are going to have to vote for that and make a decision on - on information like that, and I hope they do the right thing.

But the bottom line is, what the country wants, this gets back to the point, in all of their leaders, they want people focused on making their lives more affordable. That's why I'm running as the lower taxes, lower cost governor for the state of New Jersey, right, to - to grow, to make sure that we can give more opportunity to people, get their childcare costs down, their health care costs down, those utility bills and food costs down. That is what I keep hearing in diner after diner after diner from folks, the same thing, please help us afford life more. And I think that's got to be our number one focus.

BERMAN: That's a lot of diners. I hope you're eating well.

Look, New Jersey -

GOTTHEIMER: It's Jersey. The best diners, plus the best pizza, you know, in America.

BERMAN: Pizza was invented in Connecticut. GOTTHEIMER: I'll take that challenge.

BERMAN: New Jersey and Virginia will be worth watching next year, as we will see signs, perhaps, of what's to come politically.

Josh Gottheimer, great to see you. Thank you so much.

GOTTHEIMER: Great to see you. Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Record-breaking, freezing temps meets record-breaking travel numbers. Not a recipe for fun today. We have the very latest for you.

And also still today, the Trump transition continues to ignore the need for FBI background checks for Trump's nominees. Not only is this not normal. We now hear from two people who ran vetting for the key Senate committee for years, a Republican and Democrat, coming together to say it's appalling and dangerous.

And respiratory viruses are on the rise this season. What you need to do right now to protect you and your family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:07]

BERMAN: This morning, a brand new travel record. The TSA says it screened more than 3 million people at the nation's airports yesterday. That is the most ever in a single day. And that is despite record-breaking snowfall across parts of the Great Lakes, which includes, I should note, Pennsylvania and New York. Snow in some areas is nearing five feet, and it is not over yet.

CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam tracking the forecast.

First, though, the mayor of Reagan National Airport, Pete Muntean, is watching things there.

I have to say, the lines don't look that bad behind you, Pete.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The morning rush has come and gone now, John. You know, it was so big earlier that the rush was past me and all the way to the coffee shop, pretty close to the metro station here. It really, really stretched a long way. And speaking of lines, the lines getting into the airport were pretty big too. Just really continues the theme and the trend that we have seen so much of over this Thanksgiving rush and also throughout 2024. TSA says they screened about 3.08 million people at airports nationwide yesterday. That bests the previous record we saw back on July 7th, people coming home after that holiday when 3.01 million people passed through airport security checkpoints nationwide. So, yesterday, about 70,000 bigger than the previous record. In 2024, TSA says the top ten biggest days it has seen have all occurred this year alone.

We are not totally out of the woods yet. Today is going to be another big day. About 2.8 million people anticipated at airport checkpoints nationwide. May not be totally smooth sailing. The FAA has said that there could be some ground stops and delay programs put in place for flights going to airports like Newark, which has been a big pain point for the FAA. There's an air traffic controller shortage there. The FAA has gone as far as moving the facility responsible for that airspace from New York to Philadelphia to try and shore up some of the staffing shortages there.

[09:20:02]

Also, might be some ground stops in place in Seattle, Tacoma, Sea Tac International Airport, because of low cloud ceilings there. Also at a few spots in Florida. And the FAA says there are a bit of delays right now in Pittsburgh, in Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis-Saint Paul because of deicing there. So, the weather is also having a big impact here. That is always the x factor during the Thanksgiving travel rush.

It will also be a big factor for all of the people driving home today. AAA says about 70,000 - or, sorry, 70 million people took to the roads of the 80 million people traveling 50 miles or more over this seven day long rush. It used to be a five day long rush. Now includes today, Monday. And really the big - worst times are at the end of the day when there's the confluence of not only holiday travelers, but also the normal commuting traffic that you see. We are already seeing it here in D.C. It was tough getting here this morning.

BERMAN: Glad you made the live shot. Reporters should never miss their first live shot.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Pete, you left early enough to get there in time.

Derek Van Dam, Pete was talking about the weather. Some of the snow around the country is ridiculous. When will it all end?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, some places, get this, received over five feet of snow. And I want to show you just how quickly things can change on the roadways there. So, this is a sped-up, kind of a time lapse of somebody driving between the town of Adams to Watertown. This is in northwestern New York state. So, watch how quickly we go from clear visibility to nearly complete whiteout conditions and very treacherous on the roadways. This is the nature of lake effect snowfall. It is very hyper, localized and it all is a matter of miles depending on who gets the worst and most snow.

So, here is an example. That is 65.5 inches of snow just south of Watertown. That picked up several feet. But 65.5, yes, that's nearly as high as this weatherman. You can swim in that snow it's so deep.

Now, this is because of the wind direction, right? You can see the sped-up radar over the past weekend and how they lined up. These snow bands really just south of Buffalo, where the airport only received a little over an inch. But just about ten miles to the south, over two feet of snow fell. Is there more snow to come? Yes, indeed. There are still the

advisories in place across the Great Lakes as we continue with this northwesterly flow. Good news, though, that Interstate 90, which was closed this weekend because of lake effect snow, has been reopened and things are running pretty smoothly despite additional snowfall in this forecast.

John.

BERMAN: All right, CNN meteorologist and apparent snow swimmer Derek Van Dam, thank you very much for being with us.

All right, this morning, retailers encouraging shoppers to stock up on certain goods before prices soar. We've got new details on which products you should focus on this Cyber Monday.

And a new bipartisan push to support FBI background checks for presidential nominees. Will it be enough to sway President-elect Donald Trump?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:30]

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump's transition team is still ignoring standard procedure of submitting nominees for FBI background checks. This has been met by outcry from Senate Democrats and relative silence from Republicans. Here's one Democrat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Can you consider their nominations without FBI background checks?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Not responsibly. And I think my Republican colleagues know that we cannot really responsibly do our duty as senators to advise and consent, that's a constitutional obligation, without that kind of routine vetting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, in a news piece for "The New York Times," two men who helped run vetting for that key Senate committee for years are speaking out.

Here it is, in part. "We were the Republican and Democratic counsels who reviewed presidential nominees' background checks for the Senate Judiciary Committee. We know how the confirmation process is supposed to work, and how important FBI vetting is to that process. That's why we're appalled by reports that the new Senate - Republican-led Senate and the incoming Trump administration may dispense with it.

Joining us now are those two men, Noah Bookbinder, he was counsel for Democrats on Senate Judiciary for years. He's now executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Greg Nunziata, he was counsel for Republicans on Senate Judiciary, now executive director for the Society of the Rule of Law.

Gentlemen, thank you guys for being here.

I read your piece with a lot of interest.

Noah, why is this appalling? What should people understand that they might be missing?

NOAH BOOKBINDER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS IN WASHINGTON (CREW) AND FORMER ADVISER TO SENATE DEMOCRATS: Well, first of all, we have a system where there are supposed to be checks and balances. There should be checks on executive power, particularly, in this case, making sure that the people who are nominated to fill really important positions that affect our lives are people who are suited to do that, who have the appropriate character, the appropriate respect for law, and the Senate's consideration of those nominees is really key to make sure of that. And the Senate can't make that kind of evaluation in a responsible, reasoned way if it doesn't have a consistent and thorough review of who those people are and whether they meet kind of minimal standards. And that's what that FBI review process does.

BOLDUAN: Because it leads to the question, Greg, of, what's the danger here? What could happen? What is - what is your fear? And while you consider that, I want to play, well, one of Donald Trump's biggest allies in the Senate, Republican Senator Bill Hagerty, said about this, and it's really been sticking with me.

[09:30:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL HAGGERTY (R-TN): I don't think the American public cares who does the background checks. What the American public cares about is to see the mandate that they voted in delivered upon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Greg, what do you say well, look, I believe the president is entitled to have appointees who share his worldview.