Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Joe Biden and Japan PM Kishida to Hold a Joint News Conference in the White House Rose Garden; Stubbornly High Inflation Grew Stronger Than Expected in March; Cornel West Announces Academic Melina Abdullah as Running Mate; Nebraska Governor Says He'll Call Special Legislative Session to Change State's Electoral Rules if There's Enough Support to Pass It. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired April 10, 2024 - 12:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:33:05]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR OF 'INSIDE POLITICS': There is the picture of the Rose Garden. We are obviously still waiting for people to get in and to get seated, and for the president and the Japanese prime minister to come out there. They are together for a very important meeting. They first met in the Oval Office just in the last hour. Kayla Tausche is live from the White House.

Why is the White House calling this visit the dawn of a new era in U.S.-Japan relations, Kayla?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, the way that the administration puts it, they say that the two countries are taking their security alliance to the next level. Thanks in no small part to changes that Japan has made at the bureaucratic level to allow it to engage on a deeper level with the U.S. and allow things like, for instance, the export of weaponry developed in Japan, the export of military technology that will allow it to produce and sell military aid to other countries around the world.

Officials say that that in particular has made a very big change to this relationship. And so, they're going to be announcing quite a few new items of deliverables on the military and defense front. But they're also expected to cover the waterfront of climate, space, artificial intelligence and technology across a host of partnerships that the two countries say are first of their kind. Here is how they said it in their words earlier today

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I would assert our alliance has never been stronger in our entire history. But today, I look forward to discussing how we can even deepen it more, including increasing defense and then technology and cooperation across the board, while we can continue to enhance and ensure Indo- Pacific remains seems a free, open, and prosperous region of the world with us standing together. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: Now, the purpose of this state visit now and these deeper partnerships now is two-fold. [12:35:00]

TAUSCHE: First, the countries want to put up a counter-offensive to China and its increasing hostility in the South China Sea, in the broader Indo-Pacific region. That's why they're going to bring the president of the Philippines in for a first-ever trilateral tomorrow where they're going to announce some military exercises and some infrastructure investments. But then, administration officials also note the domestic element here, the need to put some permanence on the relationship between the U.S. and Japan because of what could potentially happen later this year, Dana.

BASH: OK. Kayla, thanks for that report. And we are waiting to see the two gentlemen in the Rose Garden. When that happens, I know you will let us know. The panel is back here. Just talk for a second -- you also cover the White House -- about this kind of meeting. And back in the day, we are -- Ronald Reagan used to call it the Rose Garden strategy. This is quite literally --

(LAUGH)

BASH: -- in the Rose Garden on a pretty day in Washington. How does the Biden campaign view events like this?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They view it as a way to save the U.S. has reaffirmed its position on the world stage. We are showing that to you and look what could be at risk if the president's Republican rival were to take the helm again. I think this is an interesting moment for President Biden too, because he does often pull on his foreign policy experience on the campaign trail and we saw this play out with NATO. He harkens back to his history and background and foreign policy to make his case on the campaign trail, and that is what we see in moments like this too.

This is where he is most comfortable. This is where he gets to say, I've been working on this relationship, this coordination with a key ally in the Indo-Pacific region and this is what is at stake with all of the conflicts abroad, if we don't keep up these alliances. So for the campaign, if anything, the conventional is good here and they can use this as another example of the president showing that the U.S. can still lead, whereas they can cast doubt on whether that was the case when the former president (inaudible).

BASH: Yeah, that's really interesting and an important note. Another interesting thing that happened is the president's Former Chief-of- Staff Ron Klain, who was not just his former chief-of-staff, he has been with Joe Biden since he was a Senator in various incarnations, very, very close.

He had the following to say in an audio tape -- OK, still say tape?

(LAUGH) BASH: In an audio tape obtained by Politico. I am going to read this.

I think the president is out there too much talking about bridges. He does two or three events a week and there he -- where he is cutting a ribbon on a bridge and here's a bridge, like I tell you, if you go into the grocery store, you go to the grocery store and you know, eggs and milk are expensive. The fact that there is a F-ing bridge is not (inaudible).

Ron Klain was famously the person who would drive to work, specifically down certain streets so he could see what the gas prices were when he was working at the White House. He is I think understandably obsessed with those pocketbook issues. And the fact that he is so out there, vocally criticizing what the current campaign and the current White House are doing, what does that tell you?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, POLITICS & POLICY COLUMNIST, BLOOMBERG: Listen, I am sure he is probably privately telling them this as well. The Biden campaign, they have to figure out a way to go to these swing states and say to these voters, we delivered. We were able to get this big infrastructure deal done and look, there is a bridge. And listen, we understand how important bridges are --

BASH: Yeah.

HENDERSON: -- particularly given what has happened in Baltimore. But, Ron Klain isn't wrong here, right? People experience the economy, people experience progress or lack of progress in terms of the economy at the gas pump, at the Piggly Wiggly, at the Winn-Dixie, at the Farmer Jack's, and wherever you are shopping to get your groceries. How many bags can you get for $50, right? That's how people experience the economy.

And so, the Biden team is yet to figure out how to sort of change the trajectory, right? Bidenomics didn't quite work. You can't say, look at these great numbers. You certainly can't say look at this great bridge. And so that's what Ron Klain is getting at and they haven't quite figured it out yet.

BASH: Piggly Wiggly might be the best name for (inaudible) ever.

(LAUGH)

HENDERSON: Very good groceries.

BASH: But on that note, you are seeing the president and his aides, but even the president maybe not out there as much as a lot of people in his party want him to be out there. But just yesterday, he did a pretty long interview with Univision and in it, he was talking about some of the things on home prices and on home affordability that his administration has tried to do.

[12:40:00]

BASH: That maybe haven't gotten a lot of attention and most importantly to me as point, having sort of seeped in with the voters who are frustrated in this case, not being able to buy a house. He talked about providing millions of new homes, rentals assistance, and things like that.

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: I mean, that's the difficulty, is how do you let people know, convince them that, well, yes, you are experiencing this with the economy when you go to the grocery store. There are other things happening. These are the things that we've been able to accomplish. I mean, I kind of always think about the Affordable Care Act way back when Democrats were saying this is going to help you, this is going to transform your lives and Americans just weren't thinking about it.

It just wasn't until they really were feeling. Once they finally saw -- eventually, see that bridge in their community, they're going to say, OK, Democrats did this for me. But it is just so hard at this point in time for the president. I would even argue Congressional Democrats, they could go out there and say, we are doing this for you. It is just so hard to tap into that emotional feeling that voters have.

BASH: We are going to have to take a quick break, but before we do, just on that note, we have a headline from "The Wall Street Journal" talking about Biden pitching accomplishments that can't make it past the noise. His campaign is promoting the effort that they've pushed to fight climate change, $1 trillion. Voters don't care, but in that story, once they learned of what the president and his team were doing, they say, oh, OK, well, that's good. That's one example.

All right, everybody. Coming up, the presidential election could hinge on one single electoral vote in Nebraska. We have got the latest on Republican efforts to change the rules there to boost Donald Trump and Independent Presidential Candidate Cornel West just announced his running mate. We are going to tell you about that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:46:25]

BASH: Just into CNN, Independent Presidential Candidate Cornel West picked his running mate. It is Melina Abdullah, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matters, who now works for pan-Africans -- as a Pan- African Studies Professor at Cal State University in Los Angeles. West made the announcement moments ago on "The Tavis Smiley Show." He said this about Abdullah.

She has a record of deep commitment and investment in ensuring that poor and working people are at the center of her vision. Now, to a potential change that could have enormous consequences on the 2024 presidential election, Republicans want to change the way the State of Nebraska awards its electoral votes, which could be an election deciding boost for Donald Trump. The state's Republican governor is now promising to call a special legislative session when he says there is sufficient support in the legislature to pass it.

Our Jeff Zeleny is tracking this from Omaha. Jeff, I am sure it is nice to be back in your home state. You've been doing a lot of reporting out there on what is going to happen. What are you hearing from your sources at this point?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, it is so interesting. Nebraska and Maine, of course, are the only two states in the country that divide their electoral votes. So come November, that is certainly something that is going to be front and center in this campaign. But both presidential campaigns have been watching this very carefully. This is not new. For about 30 years or so, this has been done in Nebraska, but suddenly it is gaining fresh attention and here is why.

Because of the closeness of this race and the sort of changing nature of the battlegrounds, if President Biden wins Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and nothing else, he would win the presidency with this electoral vote here in Omaha. If he does not, it could be a tied race that is sent to the House of Representatives. So that is the background to all of this here. And this basically was going without much attention last week until conservative activist Charlie Kirk started raising attention to this. He was right here in Omaha last night, urging Nebraskans to press this issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: We want to see and we are going to see the story come to completion. We are going to keep on pushing and keep on pushing and keep on pushing until Nebraska gets winner-take-all. Nebraska could pick a president. Nebraska could pick a president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So because of that campaign pressure on State Republicans here, including the Governor of Nebraska, Jim Pillen. Now, he is promising to call a special session of the legislature. So Democrats are vowing to fight this as well. We caught up with the executive director of the Nebraska Democratic Party, who actually cast the electoral vote in 2020 for Joe Biden here. She said democrats are pushing back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRECIOUS MCKESSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEBRASKA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: What they just didn't understand was -- is that we are small but we are mighty, and there's people here that are ready to take up that fight. And we are going to do that. And so, I feel the past, they maybe didn't see how valuable it is but I always tell people -- I tell people all the time, if people didn't know how valuable our vote is, they wouldn't be doing so many laws to try to restrict our vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And perhaps that is the irony here, Dana, of -- there's been a lot of talk about election laws over the past four years. Well, Republicans now are trying to change state election law for something they believe does not benefit them. There's also another subtext of the Electoral College here.

[12:50:00]

ZELENY: Many Democrats have been opposed to that. Well, that is also at play here. So this is just the beginning likely of this conversation. But the reason this one electoral vote matters is because of the tight race here and the potential of a 269 tie that again would send this race to the House of Representatives. So for now, all sides' heads are digging in on this electoral fight, this electoral vote here in Nebraska.

BASH: Yeah, and listening to Republicans after 2020, you would be shocked to see that they're trying to change the law in a state to benefit them.

ZELENY: Right.

BASH: Thank you so much for that, Jeff. Appreciate it. We are standing by for a rare presidential news conference. President Biden is about to speak to reporters along with the Japanese prime minister, stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:00]

BASH: You are looking at live pictures of the White House Rose Garden. Very soon, President Biden will hold a joint news conference with the prime minister of Japan. We look forward to seeing what they say and also the questions that we expect them to take from reporters, both the Japanese prime minister and President Biden.

Thank you so much for joining "Inside Politics" today. Stand by, because we are going to bring that to you via "CNN News Central" which starts after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END