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Tonight: Biden to Address Joint Session of Congress; CNN Poll: 53 Percent Approve of Biden's Handling of Presidency; Democratic Strategist: Democrats Are "Off-Key In Our Messaging"; Senator Tim Scott To Deliver GOP Response; New York Times: Investigators Raid Giuliani's New York Apartment. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired April 28, 2021 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And they did not know because he did not testify, fascinating and important conversation Adrienne, thank you very much for bringing that to us. And thank you all so much for joining us at this hour. I am Kate Bolduan. John King picks up our coverage right now with Inside Politics.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to Inside Politics. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing a very important day with us, a very busy hour ahead any moment. A North Carolina judge will rule on whether to release police body camera footage of the fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr.

The shooting now the subject of a federal civil rights investigation and an autopsy says Sheriff's deputies shot Brown five times including in the head. We will bring you the judge's ruling and the family's reaction as soon as it happens.

First, though it is a huge night for President Joe Biden. The president addresses a joint session of Congress for the first time. It is both a challenge and an opportunity.

A chance to remind the country of a consequential first 100 days and to convince the country to buy in to an ambitious agenda that includes a massive expansion of government power.

The House Chamber will look anything but normal tonight, in part because of the lingering pandemic, in part because of leftover security concerns from the capitol insurrection, only 200 will attend 1600 is normal.

Chief Justice John Roberts will be the lone member of the high court at the Capitol. There is no designated survivor because much of the Biden cabinet will be absent. And there is this very important history to soak in. For the first time two women will sit behind the president, Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

President Biden enters tonight in good standing with more than half of the country. And this is important six intense the new president so far is keeping his campaign promises. It is indisputable that both the COVID fight and the economic recovery

are in much better shape as President Biden approaches 100 days using that goodwill to sell more of his ambitious agenda. And the government's big role in it is tonight's defining challenge.

The speech will hit big touchdowns of American life, the pandemic, the economy, immigration, the insurrection, police reform, and gun rights. Senior White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly gets us started with key details of what we will hear tonight, Phil?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes John, right now the president behind closed doors expected to be working through the final edits of those remarks when they want to wait on special say they want to use to call on history.

Obviously, as you noted a very broad speech, a number of topics in the history just seated behind it with the first time the speaker of the house and the vice president are women.

But I think one of the three lines you're going to see in this speech throughout all of the different topics that he hits on is the idea that government can work. You know, you've seen this administration, you've seen this president really push forward the idea of the federal government getting more involved in the U.S. economy and the U.S. public health system and U.S. society.

And perhaps even when Democrats were in charge you've seen over the course of the last 30 or 40 years. And that's going to continue. The president will look back on the first 100 days whether it's 215 million plus vaccine doses delivered 160 million stimulus checks deployed as a signal that it has worked up to this point.

And that Americans should trust him that his big proposals going forward ambitious proposals going forward will also work if they give them a chance. And the centerpiece of that will be this $1.8 trillion proposal he'll be laying out tonight. It's extensive.

It's what the administration is calling there, "human infrastructure plan". You're talking about hundreds of billions of dollars being directed towards child care paid leave universal pre k free community college.

It's the extension of an expansion of the child tax credit several anti poverty tax credits there. And the pay for certainly Republicans will object to out of hand. And increase in the individual tax rate, highest individual tax rate, nearly doubling the capital gains rate for individuals making more than a million dollars.

The president making clear he is willing to put tax increases on the table. And he believes in his top officials believe that they can win the fight when it comes to increasing taxes on the wealthy.

Obviously, there's a lot to go when it comes to this proposal and the $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal he's already put on the table when it comes to Congress. But the president laying them out one thing to just pay close

attention to two items that won't be announced tonight, an expansion of Medicare something the president promised on his campaign and also a plan to cut prescription drug prices.

These are two progressive priorities that progressives lobbied the White House fiercely, I'm told over the course of the last two weeks to get in the plan. They are not in the plan. It's not just going to be a fight with Republicans ahead. Democrats have some changes they want to John.

KING: Certainly that's just to fight with Republicans. It had been a fascinating moment for the new president. Phil Mattingly live at the White House to get us started. Phil, appreciate that very much.

Now let's take a look at how the country views the president at this very big moment. And let's walk through some of the numbers including our brand new CNN poll. 53 percent of Americans approve of the president's job performance as he approaches the 100 day mark and this big speech tonight.

This is much better about 10 points better than President Trump was at this point of his presidency down from if you go back to Obama days the George w. Bush days but we live in partisan polarized times.

53 percent approved, 43 percent disapproved. Let's look at how people look at this through their partisan lens. Democrats love President Biden. 93 percent approve Republicans not so much 91 percent disapprove when you look at this, this is a key piece. Right now the president has the middle of America if you will.

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KING: 51 percent approval among independents 43 percent say they disapprove watch this number over the next 100 days to see if the president can hold the middle of the American electorate which right now is giving him at least the benefit of the doubt.

Let's walk through some of the issues. These are important on the Coronavirus fight to be at 66 percent approval means that number of Republicans a decent number of Republicans say President Biden so far doing a good job with the Coronavirus.

66 percent approve 31 percent disapprove. Also above water on racial injustice a big issue in the news including today. 54 percent of Americans approved 39 percent disapprove. And again, this is very important.

51 percent approve of President Biden's handling of the economy so far. 42 percent disapprove. Where does that number go? As we get closer and closer to the midterm elections, remember that underwater areas of concern for the president tonight on two issues.

He will talk about immigration and gun policy there. Majorities of Americans are skeptical they disapprove of the president's handling so far. So watch that. Where's the president standing the best among communities of color among moderates, among college graduates and among women?

That is where Joe Biden is strongest, President Biden, strongest political support comes from those groups where sees weak, non college degree men, whites and conservative. This what you would think largely the Trump coalition, Joe Biden still has a lot of work to do if he can to win them over there.

What about campaign promises? So far, the American people think whether they agree or disagree, this president nearly six in 10 Americans say he's doing a good job of keeping his campaign promises.

That's a much higher rating by 11 points than President Trump at this point, not quite up to where 10 points below nine points below where President Obama was back at this point. But by and large six in 10 Americans say this president is keeping his campaign promises so far.

Let's bring into our conversation right now to share their expertise and their insights Celinda Lake. She's a Democratic Pollster, President of Lake Research Partners and Republican Pollster Neil Newhouse, among the co-founders of public and opinion strategies.

Celinda, I want to start with you. And I want to go back to this number here when you look at the partisan breakdown. This is the world we live it right. Joe Biden is not going to have an approval rating like George w. Bush, like Barack Obama, because we live in polarized times.

You focus here on the middle of the electorate, why is it so important? And how strong is this 51 percent support approval among independents.

CELINDA LAKE, PRESIDENT, LAKE RESEARCH PARTNERS: Very strong and even stronger remember among COVID, where it's almost 60 percent among independence on COVID. We also have republic - independence for the first time positive on the economy.

And they are the ones most worried about the economy that could be game changing. If the president can hold his approval on the economy and keep the Democrats ahead of the Republicans on the economy, that can change politics for the next two years and the next 10 years.

KING: So Neil jump into the conversation when you look at this number 91 percent of Republicans disapprove. So that's where we are. And I expect that's where we will be when we get into the midterm election year.

One of the president's challenges tonight is to try to convince Americans who are vaccine hesitant and when you look at a map, and I'll do it later in the program, a lot of them live in rural Trump America.

Will they ever listen to Joe Biden when you see this 91 percent? And how intense is this? Is there any chance he can win them over?

NEIL NEWHOUSE, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: John, first of all, thanks for having me on. You cannot overstate the partisan divide in the country. Just 7 percent Republicans approve of Biden, the same number of Democrats approved of Trump in 2017. This is - this is not a country.

This isn't - not two parties that are really open to reaching across partisan lines the president's going to have a very difficult time convincing rural America convincing conservatives, convincing Republicans to take the vaccine.

I mean, if Fauci can't do it, Biden sure is not going to do it. But what this is - I think these presidential numbers are positive for Trump, but they're extraordinarily soft. He's making a transition from being not Donald Trump to being Joe Biden.

And as he makes that transition, I think there are some soft spots that he's going to have to worry about in the coming months.

KING: Celinda, I want to bring in another question about that, because the president's talking not only trying to woo over went over some Republicans are more independence tonight. He's also talking to Democrats.

You just heard Phil Mattingly at the top of the hour, presidents have to make choices. This president rebuffing liberals who wanted him to expand the Medicare program essentially, instead, the president says let's fortify Obamacare, let's not create a single payer system.

He's also rebuffing progressives and saying let's not right now get the government into negotiating drug prices something the pharmaceutical industry opposes.

Pushing back against progressives at a time James Carville, the veteran democratic strategist is trying to tell Democrats what he says wokeness is a problem; I want to ask do you agree with this.

We won the White House against a world historical buffoon, James told wokes. And we came within 42,000 votes of losing. We lost Congressional seats. We didn't pick up state legislators. So let's not have an argument about whether or not we're off key in our messaging.

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KING: President Biden, in one way, one way he benefits right now. Celinda is that he's not viewed as ideological. So he is viewed as kind of the man in the middle. Is James Carville writes - are Democrats at risk of wandering too far left.

LAKE: No, Democrats aren't at risk of going too far left. And in fact, right now you have a record number of people, Democrats and Independents who want to see a role for government. And president who wants to show that government can deliver checks and shots and help small businesses and be a partner and improving America and getting us back on our feet.

One of the things that are really part of the solid base for the president and I disagree with Neil, a little bit here, I think the platform is quite strong. And it's based on a lot of personal characteristics too. A solid majority of voters, including independence see him as honest,

caring, uniting the country working effectively and keeping his promises. That is quite a platform to run from. So I think this platform is quite strong.

The thing about the media wants to have divisions within the Democrats, but 93 percent of Democrats are in agreement and they're wondering who the other 7 percent are.

And this agenda has a lot for everyone in it. And he's making huge progress on a lot of fronts. So Democrats are completely united. And that's where Democrats will stay.

KING: And so, Neil, I want to bring up one last. Come on, come on. No, come on.

NEWHOUSE: Yes, there's no question. I think Americans view Joe Biden as being liberal. And even though you can cite a couple of cases where he has an - embrace the conservatives, the issue down the road is going to be spending.

His - right now is China immigration and guns, like your poll shows. But I'm not sure Americans pocketbooks are really deep enough to afford all the spending that Biden's proposing. He may win the legislative battle on spending.

But he's I think he's bound to lose in 2020 to the political battle on spending, because that's going to be the issue.

KING: While the issue right now he's going to sell this as he's raising taxes on the wealthy and raise that on the on the rich. I covered Bill Clinton back in the days he did that successfully politically. The challenge is, can Biden sell it just right?

Let me ask you both to close on this point here. If you look right now, you'll kind of 54 percent think the economic conditions are good today. This is the metric as we go from now into the second 100 days Ken Biden sales agenda.

And Neil, you're right. It's a lot of government. And it's a lot of spending, he has to sell the American people trust him to do this and trust him to raise taxes on the right people, if you will. That will be his argument out there.

But this is the North Star if the economy continues to approve, is that not the beacon for this president into the midterm election cycle? Or is there something else, Neil, to you first?

NEWHOUSE: But John, your own data shows people think the economy is going well now. But when you ask them a year from now, how they think the economies - coming. Those numbers are 10 points lower. So they are, you know, the jury's still out on this thing. And people are still concerned about the economy down the road.

KING: Celinda, you get the last word. LAKE: I think that the economy and creating jobs is the single most

important thing the president can do. And that's what he's doing. And he's making sure that there are jobs that work for families and that make for strong families, thriving families. And that's really important.

It's a broader dialogue than we've ever had. People don't care how much we're spending, people care about it, which's paying for it. And people recognize and really respond to the language that says, hey, the wealthiest Americans and the major corporations are not paying their fair share.

When we have a pandemic and zoom and Netflix and Amazon don't pay taxes, something is wrong. These are the most profitable corporations in our country. And Joe Biden's going to write that wrong and make sure that we have investments that will benefit everyone, including the wealthiest and the big corporations.

KING: While you're teeing up the conversation for tonight and then the conversation for the next year and a half of our politics. We'll bring you back and walk through it as we go. Celinda Lake grateful, Neil Newhouse as well, it's the 30th anniversary month of Neil's firm public opinion strategies.

Happy birthday, Neil! Have a little cake. Send it away. And don't want to come right back west tonight. President Biden's join address to Congress that's tonight right here live on CNN. Our special coverage begins at 8pm eastern, come back and join us for that.

Up next for us Republicans at the 100 day mark. How the GOP deals with President Biden and its own civil war but first, a 2007 flashback then President George W. Bush acknowledging that years historic change.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, 43RD U.S. PRESIDENT: Tonight I have the high privilege and distinct honor of my own as the first president to begin to say the union message with these words Madam Speaker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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KING: A fresh reminder today an important day that it is dangerous to put Republican and discipline in the same sentence. House GOP retreat this week reminded us the party has quite a bit to sort out.

But there was hope that today would at least offer a temporary break from the family feuding so that there could be a clear Republican response to President Biden's big speech tonight.

Officially the Republican response will come from Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. Scott is the senate's only black Republican and the party's point man on police reform. He promises to deliver a GOP response focused on what he calls "the

promise and potential of America and his optimistic vision, his party's optimistic vision." Senator Scott though, guess what may have some unwelcome competition.

Just this morning we learned Donald Trump deciding to give a pair of interviews today and tomorrow to media personalities who have consistently supported his big lie about the 2020 election joining our conversation POLITICO's Melanie Zanona and Jonathan Martin of "The New York Times".

Melanie you spent much of this past week at this House Republican retreat that was set up to try to foster a sense of unity that instead highlighted all of these divisions at the 100 day mark.

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KING: If you had to describe Republicans as they try to counter the new Democratic president, how would you do so?

MELANIE ZANONA, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: I would say struggling John. I mean, this is something they did on the campaign trail, they weren't able to really find a label to get it to stick. They weren't able to find a line of attack with Biden. And even after 100 days with Biden in an office, they still haven't really landed any punches on him.

You know, I think Ted Cruz tried earlier this year to call him boring, but radical that didn't really get any traction. I talked to one House Republican who said it's hard to hit someone that reminds you of your grandpa.

And I think it speaks to the fact that, you know, A, Biden makes it really hard to attack. He's very different than his inflammatory predecessor, Donald Trump. We're getting Biden in much more limited and controlled doses. And B, Republicans really liked Biden on a personal level.

So they're very reluctant to sort of demonize him. They know him, they have relationships with him doesn't hurt that Biden's been doing a ton of outreach to Capitol Hill with Republicans.

And while it hasn't yielded much bipartisan progress, you know, Republicans you talk to you when they walk away from that meeting don't really have anything bad to say about Biden.

So instead, they're starting to focus their attacks on other Democrats in the party like AOC and Nancy Pelosi and really trying to tag Biden to those Democrats as part of their strategy.

KING: I'm sorry; I have to drop this conversation. I want to bring in CNN's follow read into the conversation because we have some breaking news courtesy of the New York Times.

Federal investigators just executing a search warrant on the home of the former Trump Attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, New York Apartment. Let's bring in Paula Reid for the latest in what we know here, Paula, what do we know?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know according to the New York Times that federal investigators have served this search warrant on the former mayor and former President Trump's personal attorney. This is an extraordinary move to serve a search warrant like this.

The report also says they may have seized his electronic devices. Now, the times reports that this is part of the ongoing investigation into whether Giuliani was lobbying the Trump Administration on behalf of Ukrainian officials while some of those officials were also helping him to dig up dirt on his client, the Former President Trump about his rival, then political rival Joe Biden.

So this is a pretty extraordinary development. We're working our sources I have tried the former mayor, his phone is currently off, but this again, a major development in his ongoing investigation.

KING: And so Paula, as we tried to get more details, let's just walk through for our viewers. You mentioned how extraordinary this is number one; he's the Former Mayor of New York City. Number two, the close personal friend and the personal attorney for a long time, I believe that relationship has ended of the former President Donald Trump.

And now we're 98 days into the Biden Administration when you have a Biden justice department. But this is a New York U.S. Attorney's investigation that has been going on for some time that goes back into the Trump Administration, in which sometimes it caused some tension with the justice department back in those days because the New York office wanted independence to carry on its work.

REID: That's right. There are several different investigations into various people in the former president's inner circle; you have the investigation into the Trump organization. But this specific investigation by federal prosecutors is now overseen by a different justice department.

And according to the Times, the current justice department was OK with serving this warrant. Like you said, though, it is extraordinary because it's not only the former Mayor of New York; he's the former personal attorney of a former president.

And the issues at stake here what's being investigated, incredibly sensitive. But this is a major development in this investigation.

KING: And worth noting, let's try to walk through some of the history in the sense that two Giuliani associates were already under indictment. And the question is here you tweeted up in the initial conversation is trying to retrace the steps.

Rudy Giuliani was dealing with officials in Ukraine trying to dig up what he believed was dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden, it turned out there wasn't all that much there. But these Ukrainian interests had pro Russia ties, which makes the web even deeper. REID: It does make the web deeper. And it's this case that a lot of

people really haven't thought about over the past six months, it's sort of gone dark, it's gone quiet since his two associates were charged.

So this again, is a pretty significant to surge to serve this search warrant and also potentially seize electronic devices. The question we'll have for our sources are what specifically are they looking for?

What kind of information do they think that would still be on those electronic devices that they could potentially gather in his residence in New York to help with this ongoing investigation, but not good news for the Former Mayor?

KING: Not good news at all. Let's bring Jonathan Martin of the New York Times into our conversation for some political perspective. Jonathan, I was just going to have a conversation with you about Donald Trump trying to return to the scene just when Republicans are trying to keep a focus on Biden, just one Republicans want to make the case.

So now you have this investigation. Another reminder of what I'm going to call the ethical stain and the ethical questions of the Trump presidency.

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JONATHAN MARTIN, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yes, I was going say, John than the obvious link here between the conversation we were having before this breaking news. And the news itself is the entire democratic theory of the case is the keep running against Donald Trump to not let the Republicans turn the page and focus on Biden.

And the access is real and perceived of the lack of the keep running against what they would call the Battle of days of Donald Trump. And I think, John, that's what we're going to see the rest of this year into the midterms. Democrats trying to keep waving that bloody flag running against Trump, tying him to the Republican Party in perpetuity.

And Republicans trying to turn the page not so much towards Biden by the way, but just towards what James Carville referred to as the excesses of kind of woke ism and portraying Democrats as extreme.

That's going to be the clash, John, next year is which of these two sides is the more extreme, the Trump GOP or the kind of so called woke Democratic Party? I think that's the sort of battle that we're going to see. And I'm just not sure that Joe Biden is central to that, that battle necessarily.

KING: Jonathan, stay with us for more of the politics. But Paula Reid, I just want to talk a little bit about the legal complexity said, look; this is a huge problem for Rudy Giuliani. He has known he has been being watched for quite some time.

It's a huge problem for the circle, again, is the ethical cloud and stain of the Trump presidency. But it's also a huge challenge for new administration. We know it is not Joe Biden's DNA, you know, he rolled his eyes and he was very scornful of the locker up tone of the Trump people about Hillary Clinton in the like.

You have a new administration that would like to move on. And yet you inherit a very highly sensitive investigation. And so the president and his attorney general, I assume this is very difficult for them delicate for them politically.

REID: Incredibly difficult, incredibly delicate, but you can't necessarily turn a blind eye to any evidence that you uncover a potentially criminal wrongdoing to make things easier in terms of partisanship or again moving on.

They inherited a significant portfolio of questions, legal questions about the former president, about his family about his associates and they have to make these careful decisions about which ones they want to pursue.

Now according to the times, the Justice Department under the previous administration had blocked efforts to issue this kind of search warrant for Mr. Giuliani's phones. So this does show a pivot a shift in the tenor and in the approach to this specific investigation.

KING: And on the importance of that point, let's bring Former Federal Prosecutor Elie Honig into our conversation. Elie, let's start right there. So you've decided to issue a search warrant. You've gotten to given the approval as the times notes and Paula just outlined smartly.

Some resistance to this move in the prior administration, a new administration in town, I want to get to some of the politics or the intersection of legal and politics in a minute.

But what does it tell you from a legal investigative standpoint that they have decided to - execute a search warrant against such a high profile American?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: John it tells me this investigation is real. It's serious. It's ongoing and it's growing. In order to get a search warrant as a prosecutor, you have to be able to show what's called probable cause.

You have to write up a document that shows why there's probable cause to believe that you'll find some evidence of a crime at the location you're searching here, Rudy Giuliani's residence.

And it's not just a one sided procedure, you then have to take it to a judge who reviews it and has to agree that you've shown there's probable cause that there's some evidence of a crime here. Also this would very likely have had to have been approved at the higher levels of DOJ as Paula said.

You have to go first of all, it's an attorney, you need special approval in order to search an attorney's office or home. And second of all, he's a sensitive target, right. He obviously was the longtime personal Attorney for the former president. So I think it is a very safe bet that this was approved at the highest - highest levels of DOJ.

KING: And so then now walk us through the moment, if you will. You mentioned you have to have an active investigation, you have to have new evidence, you have to be progressing. If "The New York Times" account in saying that when this step was broke during the Trump Administration, the answer was don't go there.

And now in the Biden Administration, they say give us the file and then they look at the file and they say, do it. What does that tell you?

HONIG: Well, I think it tells me something that we've already known, which was that DOJ was politicized under Donald Trump and particularly under Bill Barr.

I think we saw repeated examples of DOJ intervening in cases to help and protect Donald Trump's political and personal friends and allies look no farther than Roger Stone where DOJ intervened in his sentence.

Look no further than Michael Flynn where DOJ intervene, in his case itself in his very conviction. So I think there's an established history here of the prior DOJ using DOJ as a political weapon and a political shield.

So I think this search now look, it's been approved not just by prosecutors, but by a judge. So there clearly is real merit to it.

KING: And so Jonathan, come in on the politics and remind our viewers if they have either forgotten or trying to forget how important Rudy Giuliani was in the orbit of Donald Trump. And remember this was - this was testimony during the impeachment case.

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