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Trump Claims Overturning Roe Is What "People Wanted"; Arizona Court Decision Reshapes Abortion Debate; Vulnerable Republicans Say The Oppose 1864 Arizona Law; Consumer Prices Up 3.5 Percent In March, Highest In Six Months; Now: Rep. Greene Meeting With Speaker Johnson; McCarthy Blames Gaetz's Ethics Problems For His Ouster. Aired 12- 12:30p ET

Aired April 10, 2024 - 12:00   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Today on Inside Politics, a strict law passed before we had x-rays and antibiotics will now ban virtually all abortions in the swing state of Arizona. Republicans are rushing to condemn an Arizona court ruling that rolls abortion rights back to the Civil War era. It's igniting a massive GOP problem in November that Donald Trump thought he had just tamped down.

Plus, President Biden is about to answer questions from reporters. We're going to bring that to you live this hour as new economic numbers show inflation on key items, once again headed in the wrong direction. And it could all come down to one vote. That's why Republicans are fighting to change the way Nebraska awards its electoral votes. And what happens in that state could be crucial in deciding who sits in the Oval Office next year.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

Up first, whatever states decide must be the law of the land. That was Donald Trump's big announcement on abortion rights this week. The very next day, voters learned what it actually looks like to punt abortion rights to the states in Arizona. It's a Civil War era law that bans nearly all abortions in that state. Moments ago, Trump responded to the Arizona ruling for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, if Arizona ruling went too far -- if Arizona ruling went too far?

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yeah, they did. And that'll be straightened out, and as you know, it's all about states' rights. It will be straightened out. And I'm sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason and that it will be taken care of, I think, very quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think about Florida? TRUMP: Florida is probably maybe going to change (inaudible). This is what I've been saying. It's a perfect system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The Arizona Supreme Court also puts the state in the same categories 14 others that ban abortion with very, very limited exceptions. And five additional states abortion is banned within the first trimester. Some of those states namely Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia could decide the election this fall.

Let's bring in my great panel CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, CNN and Bloomberg Nia-Malika Henderson, and The Washington Post's Marianna Sotomayor. Hello, everybody. Let's first talk about what we just heard from Donald Trump.

On the one hand he said, he doesn't agree with what Arizona did. On the other hand, he's sticking by what he said on Monday, which is the states should decide. He also said something additional on Roe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: For 52 years, people wanted to end Roe v. Wade to get it back to the states. We did that. It was an incredible thing, an incredible achievement. We did that. And now the states have it, and the states are putting out what you want to really the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I mean, it's an incredible achievement. That is going to be -- I mean, he said it before, but the fact that he's saying it in the context of what Arizona just did. I can't imagine that the Biden campaign isn't already cutting that.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, POLITICS & POLICY COLUMNIST, BLOOMBERG: That's right. And you know, the Biden campaign has been very proactive on this, right? Kamala Harris is set to go out to Tucson, Arizona. This weekend, they had an ad off featuring a woman from Texas who had these horrific experiences because she was denied an abortion in Texas. A cut an ad called, you know, Donald Trump did this.

So, Donald Trump thought he was kind of being clever on Monday with that statement and saying, A, avoiding whether or not he would actually sign a national abortion ban. And then saying listen, the status quo is the status quo. And here he is just outright lying.

The idea that people for years wanted Roe overturned, a conservatives wanted overturned. But now if you look at the polling, even in a state like Arizona, it's a 65, you know, 35 issues. 65 percent wanting abortion rights and 35 wanted either no abortion or sort of limited abortion.

BASH: Well, the people who brought him to the dance initially in 2015, absolutely wanted him to overturn Roe. And he did start out life when he first dabbled in the idea of running for president, which he did in 2000 very openly self-described pro-choice. So, he had to make a lot of transactions as he wants to do in order to get the support of the evangelicals. Poof, here we are.

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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, and to Nia's point about where the Biden campaign has been and all of this. They obviously seized on this early on and we can go back to the midterms. But even kicking off the year is when the vice president kicked off her reproductive rights tour in Wisconsin and has been going to states since then including, visiting a clinic.

But I spoke to a Biden campaign official earlier today who told me they're now going to pour more money into abortion related ads in Arizona. Of course, this was part of a big ad buy that they're doing across battleground states. But they do see the opportunity, even if they've already been in this space.

And also, in talking to Democratic strategists, they see this as a continuation of the same storyline. But another data point in that, another moment that they can point to to say this is the chaos and confusion that has unfolded since the Dobbs ruling and trying to use that and fuel their messaging as they go across the country. But again, it's a space they've been in. It just kind of adds more fuel to all of that.

BASH: And let's just drill down on Arizona and how important Arizona is when it comes to the Electoral College. 2016 Arizona, its 11 electoral votes went to Donald Trump as up until last year or last cycle, tended to do go on the Republican side, that did not happen in 2020. Joe Biden won Arizona in 2020 by a little more than 10,000 votes. It was incredibly close.

And even before we saw this ruling, the stunning ruling this yesterday by the Arizona state Supreme Court, there was already a move to get choice for people who want it on the ballot in Arizona. That's not a short thing, but it's hard to imagine it won't get more energy into it. That would mean -- I mean that there will be more people probably going to the polls to vote in general in November.

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: And what we have seen in the midterms, and since when states have left this question up to voters, they turn out and they turn out in support of abortion rights. That is what the Biden campaign is hoping for.

It's what a lot of Democrats and Congress are hoping for as the Senate race is definitely one that can control the majority of the Senate, keep control either for Democrats or go to the Republicans. Absolutely something that I'm hearing from House Democrats all the time.

I mean, there are a number of swing seats, just one in particular on the border. And it's Juan Ciscomani, he's the Republican vulnerable. And he -- I mean, put out quite a statement yesterday, just saying, you know, this is wrong. And when he was running during the midterms, he was really squishy literally ran away from questions to talk about his position on abortion. Now they're trying to make it very clear where they stand. BASH: It's funny that you brought up Ciscomani. I went out to do his story. I think you did as well on his race, because it was one of the tightest race -- races in one of the few places where a Republican actually unseated an incumbent Democrat, despite how energized people were on abortion.

And I witnessed that he's very much open about being pro-choice, but he's kind of a crystallized example of somebody who wants to kind of find a middle ground that's very hard to find on this issue, down ballot. He's one example in Arizona.

The other of course, is your Senate race Kari Lake. Let's listen to both Kari Lake and Juan Ciscomani -- all right excuse me, I'm going to read these. Kari Lake said. This is a very personal issue that should be determined by each individual state and her people. I oppose today's ruling, and I'm calling on Katie Hobbs and the state legislature to come up with an immediate common-sense solution.

And then Marianna, to your point. Here's what Ciscomani said. Today's ruling is a disaster for women and providers. I'm a strong supporter of empowering women to make their own healthcare choices and I oppose a national ban.

HENDERSON: Yeah, listen. I mean, we should point out the Kari Lake in 2022, praise this law, the 1864 law, and said, you know, he could be a model for other states. She's in a very different position. Now, she wants Katie Hobbs to do something different. She's prevailing on some of the same Republicans who were in the state legislature, who also pushed for that 1864 law.

And what's so remarkable about this is the justices in Arizona had a choice. They could go with 1864 or they could go with 2022, right to 2022 law being a 15-week ban. They chose 1864, right? You have Democrats who really want to say that Republicans or radical that they want to take the country back. And listen, they have been delivered a gift by the state Supreme Court, because this is exactly what they want to do. They want to go back to before Arizona was even a state --

BASH: I was just going to say that.

HENDERSON: They did not have the right to vote. Black people in some states were still enslaved, and they are saying this is the model. And then of course, you had -- you know, Kari Lake back then saying that there should be a model. This is hugely significant in this race is going to -- I think turbocharger these efforts to get it on the ballot.

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Some of the activists they are saying they already have enough signatures. They need something like 364,000 all by July 4. So, this is really I think up into this race --

BASH: Yeah.

HENDERSON: -- which was I think primarily about immigration and now you have abortion added to the mix.

ALVAREZ: Well, certainly, and also, this is part of the messaging of the extreme that actually the Democratic strategist I spoke with this morning. You pointed out exactly that. Now we can say, look, who's actually the more extreme party. But also framing it in healthcare and personal freedoms, right. This is where the overarching message of the Biden campaign has been in in down ballot races too.

And so, this gives them an opportunity to make headway where immigration was -- is hitting Arizona very hard. I mean, that is the port of the border -- section of the border that is seeing a record number of crossings. Now they can sort of pivot on the abortion ban.

BASH: Yeah. And I'm glad you brought up the fact that Arizona -- it's not as if they didn't have a more recent law on the books and a law that I think probably -- I know has a lot more mainstream support, which is you can have an abortion up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. What the governor is arguing is that this isn't just about abortion. It's going to go beyond abortion. Listen to Katie Hobbs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATIE HOBBS (D-AZ): These extreme legislators sent a fetal personhood bill to my desk that I was able to veto last year. This is a bill that would have paved the way for an Alabama style ruling that would ban IVF. In Arizona, they're going after contraception. This doesn't stop at abortion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOTOMAYOR: I think voters are starting to realize that as well, especially after the Alabama ruling on IVF when, you know, we have so many congressional Republicans saying, oh no, you know, we're not going to be talking about IVF or birth control. We're seeing that happen and it could absolutely happen in Arizona.

BASH: OK. Everybody, standby. Democrats are hoping that this issue of abortion rights are top of mind for voters in November. Polls also show inflation, and the broader economy are even more important at this point. The president didn't get some great news on that front this morning. Inflation rose 3.5 percent, the highest since September. Americans are paying more for gas, for food and housing. CNN's Rahel Solomon is with me now. Rahel, what else does this report show?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, I mean, Dana, you laid it out pretty well there. But it's really gas and housing that were the largest contributors here to the price hike that we saw. So, this was higher than we were expecting. It was higher than the month prior. And as you pointed out, it's the sort of fastest pace we've seen since six months or so.

So, 3.5 percent. To put that in perspective, Dana, the expectation was 3.4 percent. Even on a monthly basis, prices came in hotter than expected. So, CPI or the Consumer Price Index report, this is just one inflation report that the Fed uses to help guide its decisions. But it's an important one. There are three inflation reports, but it is an important one. So, what happens here really matters.

I want to go through some components for you where we saw prices increase. As we said, gas was a pretty big contributor, 1.7 percent. That's a pretty big deal. Food prices only modestly, but still increasing a bit. And shelter prices. So, shelter has been especially sticky. And we had been actually hoping and when you think shelter, you think rent inflation, rent prices, you think sort of the price to put a roof over your head. If you want to put it that way. We'd have actually been hoping to get some progress on shelter inflation, but that has not happened. And so that's part of what we've seen.

And if you're looking at the markets today, you'll probably notice that it's a pretty rough day. And the reason why is not just because of what this report tells us about the path of inflation as it has been, but also the path of rate cuts in the future.

And so, the expectation had been, Dana, as you know, that we would start to see rate cuts from the Fed, perhaps as early as June. The door has practically been shut on that after this report because essentially, what you have -- this is the third CPI report after January, after February.

Now you have March coming in hotter, which suggests that inflation is sort of stuck, right. And so, it's really remarkable because we've gone from -- rate cuts are absolutely coming in 2024. That was the consensus, not a long time ago. And then it became -- last week, we heard one Fed official say, well, maybe we don't need rate cuts at all in 2024. And that set off some alarm bells.

And now you're hearing after this report, one prominent economist pointed out, maybe the next move from the Fed is actually a rate hike. So, it is really remarkable what has happened, but essentially, you have an economy that's still strong in terms of the labor market, in terms of consumer spending but you have prices and inflation that appear to be stuck.

BASH: Yeah. And anybody out there who has been waiting for those rates to come down to buy a house does not want to hear what you just said. Rahel, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Coming up, "The Lord Jesus himself could not manage this conference." That's how one House Republican is describing the battle within the party over -- whether the relatively new speaker should keep his job. New developments on that story after a quick break.

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BASH: Oh, to be a fly on the wall. Right now, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson for the first time since she began her efforts to oust him. Greene has been crusading for his removal, saying that the very conservative -- very conservative Johnson is compromising too much with Democrats. Here's what Speaker Johnson said right before that meeting.

[12:20:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I was considered her friend. Marjorie and I don't disagree -- I don't think on any matter of philosophy. We're both conservatives. We're not going to get all of our priorities. We will never get 100 percent of what we want and believe is necessary for the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill. Just right down the hall from where they're meeting. Lauren, what are you hearing?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. It's been just over 30 minutes since this meeting began. Marjorie Taylor Greene, having this conversation with the speaker after they failed to connect during that two-week Easter recess. Johnson had said that he had planned to have a phone call with her. That phone call, according to our sources never happened.

So, this is a very critical meeting for Speaker Mike Johnson. It is also a meeting where it's very unclear what he could tell her that would assuage her concerns about his leadership. She has such a long list, Dana, as you know, as to what her concerns about Johnson are.

She's unhappy about the way that he passed several spending bills with Democratic votes. She's unhappy with the way that he is moving forward with the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act renewal right now in the House of Representatives. And she's frustrated with the fact that he is looking to try and pass additional aid for Ukraine.

Something that he has made clear is a priority for him, is a priority for many defense hawks within the Republican Party, but something that badly divides the Republican conference. And she has argued all of this without saying precisely when she's going to trigger a motion to vacate a vote to try and oust the speaker.

So, in many ways, Johnson is trying to operate -- trying to govern in this two-seat majority as he is facing this threat about his job. And as he is coming to the realization that any action he takes, any action to govern, any action to do his job could be met with this very important vote that Marjorie Taylor Greene could trigger at any time to try to get rid of him, Dana.

So, it's an impossible situation. Meanwhile, other Republicans deeply frustrated with the fact that they think Marjorie Taylor Greene is hijacking the conference. Here they are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TROY NEHLS (R-TX): It's an impossible job. The Lord Jesus himself could not manage this conference. You just can't do it.

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): I think Mike Johnson is a great human. He doesn't lie like the last guy. REP. DON BACON (R-NE): I think people don't like dysfunction, so that's not good for our side. And with a one seat majority, it only takes a couple of people to create dysfunction.

REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): I think Speaker Johnson is working his guts out doing the best he can with a lot of feral cats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And the wildcard here is it Marjorie Taylor Greene tries to take out Speaker Johnson, who would join her in that effort and then what do Democrats do, Dana? I think that that's a key question here. They could obviously step in to try to table any effort to get rid of this speaker. But obviously, they're not going to do that any conversations I've had with them for free. Dana?

BASH: Yeah. They're definitely going to try to extract some compromises out of him. And that will put him maybe in a different situation. Very, very complicated. Let us know if you see any white smoke from that -- from that meeting. Appreciate it, Lauren.

The panel is back here. And Marianna, you've written extensively about this -- including, I was just looking at -- you said that, according to one Republican you spoke to, it is the silent majority now. And the republican conference that continues to move away from the speaker. We hear some different sentiment in those sound bites, but it's a very big conference.

SOTOMAYOR: Yeah. I mean, there are a majority, I would say, of Republicans who do not want to vacate the speaker but that doesn't mean that they aren't very upset with him. I mean, there are so many conservatives that I've heard from many privately, who are literally questioning what it means to be a Republican.

And the reason why is because we have seen Johnson have to rely on Democrats because the far-right members of the conference just do not allow anything to pass. It's possible today, for example, on that foreign surveillance act. That rule could fail on the floor because there's just so many objections.

Johnson -- as McCarthy had to do had to rely on Democrats to pass things. And many Republicans also upset with -- how they just funded the government. That is what triggered Marjorie Taylor Greene to drop this warning is what she's calling it.

But again, anything could trigger her to move it forward -- put it up for a floor vote. And it is unclear right now, just how many Republicans could potentially join her because of just besides her, how upset Republicans are -- how much they do not want Ukraine funding, want a number of different things that Johnson literally has to address and piece together.

BASH: And let me just put some numbers up on the screen. So, our viewers really understand just how tight this is. Right now, it's 218 to 213, four vacancies. That will be an additional vacancy after Mike Gallagher, Wisconsin leaves -- he's just leaving next Friday. That's how tight this is and that is true for the legislation that you're talking about, which is most important. It's also true for his ability -- Mike Johnson's ability to keep his job if it comes to that.

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ALVAREZ: It for the White House to pass its priorities, I mean, that's the real consequence of this, particularly when you're looking at Ukraine aid. The White House for months has been saying that they need to get those funds to Ukraine and their war against Russia.

In fact, it's going to come up likely in the president's meeting today with Japan's prime minister. This isn't something that just has consequences domestically, it is something that the president is having to acknowledge on the world stage.

BASH: Nia, the crazy eight is what Kevin McCarthy calls the eight people --

HENDERSON: Lovingly.

BASH: Yeah. The opposite of lovingly, voted to oust him. Right now, let's just look at where they are. Three, including Matt Gaetz opposes doing the same to Johnson. There are four who are not saying what they would do, but on the subject of Matt Gaetz. Kevin McCarthy was at Georgetown this week and he was incredibly blunt, candid and sharp about Matt Gaetz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN MCCARTHY (R) FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Let me give you the truth about that, and I'll give you the truth why I'm not speaker because one person, a member of Congress wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old, an ethics complaint that started before I ever became speaker. And that's illegal and I'm not going to get in the middle. Did he do it or not? I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: OK. Before you jump in, I just need to say that the DOJ did investigate the Congressman Gaetz for sex trafficking. They looked into allegations that he had sexual relations with an underage girl. They dropped the investigation in February of 2023. He denies the allegations. And Gaetz responded to McCarthy saying, Kevin is a liar, which actually is why he isn't speaker. Just ask any of the 224 people who voted to remove him.

HENDERSON: Listen, you know, Kevin McCarthy, obviously still dealing emotionally with what it means to not be speaker anymore. And the fact that Matt Gaetz is the one who dealt him that fate. You know, it's also true that Kevin McCarthy empowered a lot of these folks who -- you know, he wants to call the crazy eight.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, who's obviously causing problems for Mike Johnson. Now, none of this is great for the Republican brand. They are arguing to Americans that they should be in charge. And they are demonstrating that they are having real problems of governing and coming to any sort of consensus.

I mean, at the root of the problem is that they don't really want to govern, right, they sort of don't want to get anything done. They're a caucus that is full of obstructionists who don't really see the government as a positive force in Americans lives. And so, here they are in chaos. It's not a surprise that we're here again with Mike Johnson. It's kind of chaos dominated McCarthy's time as speaker as well.

Can I think the saving grace for Mike Johnson is who else would want this job at this point? Who else could get it --

BASH: Who could get the vote?

HENDERSON: Yeah. Who else can -- who want it, who else could get it? And so that I think is maybe the only thing keeping him involved.

SOTOMAYOR: Yeah. I mean, Republicans can agree on anything, and they have a way narrow margin that they did when they elected Johnson. There is no one else. There is no one else.

BASH: OK. A live look at the Rose Garden. Very soon, President Biden will be holding a joint news conference with prime minister -- the prime minister of Japan. I think we have a live picture of the Rose Garden. If not, we're going to give it to you on the other side of the break. You're going to want to see it. So, stick around.

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