Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240702

Jack smith has secured his most valuable witness yet, mark meadows. Prosecutors dont hand out agreements like candy. Mark meadows was at the center of so much of this. He could speak to trumps mindset in a very specific way. Welcome, everyone. Im poppy harlow with Phil Mattingly in new york. We begin with the federal election interference case against donald trump. The former president s Chief Of Staff mark meadows we learned was granted immunity by special counsel jack smith and met with his team more than once according to a abc news. He allegedly told investigators he didnt believe the election was stolen and talked about this moment on election day in november 2020. Frankly, we did win this election. We did win this election. [ cheers and applause ] meadows reportedly telling investigators that he believed trump was being dishonest and saying that cnn anchor of the source, kaitlan collins, joins us now. We have been asking for, i dont know, a year plus, whats up with mark meadows . Where is he at . Whet this is big. I think this is what people suspected was happening with Mark Meadows Given his name was not on that indictment that came down when it listed the people involved in these efforts around certainly. He is someone presumed to be on the list. What abc is reporting is he has been granted immunity. Its not clear what kind, how far it goes, it carte blanche, what does that look like. The other part of abcs reporting that is so interesting is what he today jack smiths team what was happening, the conversations that he claimed he told trump he didnt win the election, it was not rigged, it was not stolen. I mean, to look at that and to look at what is in mark meadows book which is a fascination because of the classified documents case, i mean, in the book he writes basically the complete opposite. Of course, its not a crime to lie in your book. I think thats something that investigators have questions about what he said then versus what he is apparently testifying. I do think if he have a fullblown immunity and questions if it came from a court order, what are the terms of it, i mean, it would be incredibly bad for donald trump. I was fascinated by what he told, according to abc, jack smiths team, that what trump said to him after the Supreme Court decision on december 11. Basically, trump admitting privately to him this is the end of the road. Yeah, and acknowledging privately yeah, trump is denying this. He has been posting nonstop since the story kalcame out, Sag Mark Meadows never said any of that to him. Of course, mark meadows word against Donald Trumps, mark meadows is someone when you cover him and he has a reputation of being someone who says one thing to someone, one thing to someone else and a was an issue in the time period because we heard from the january 6th congressional testimony people saying mark meadows you need to step in, youre the Chief Of Staff here, and he basically said trump wasnt listening to anyone who was pushing back on the election stuff. You mentioned the truth social posting from the former president going after saying mark meadows he didnt think he would do this. Inside the trump operation, whats the response to . I think they have suspected something was going on. Questions have been going around washington. They start within the trump orbit and they Know Mark Meadows is silent. His attorney doesnt speak to the other attorneys here. Thats typically something going on is they were reading the tea leaves preindictment in washington to see what was going to happen. The question also is how this Impacts Georgia and whats happening there because, obviously, when that happened and when mark meadows name was on the Indictment List it raised a lot of questions of how it causes issues for jack smith if he is trying to use mark meadows as a star witness. Is it clear what, if anything, mark meadows agreed to plead guilty to with jack smiths team . No. No, right. Its Just Exchange for testimony to immunity . And thats the question because if its full immunity and he cant be charged with anything, that adds another layer. Was it a Proffer Agreement where he could go in and its in that one setting he can say whatever and it wont be used against him. There are a lot to of questions still we are still trying to bear out. Cnn has not confirmed this reporting yet about what exactly the terms of this agreement are because that makes a huge difference. Huge difference. Stay with us. We want to bring in Alyssa Farrow and tim. I want to start with you. To katlyns point, figuring out what that means, the structure, what it would entail, when you read the story, the details according to abc news, whats your takeaway . I think kaitlans right, we shouldnt conflate what would be allout cooperation, Proffer Agreements, sitting down and talking about the entire criminal conduct, everything from what you could be charged with here to a piece of candy you stole when you were a kid. Thats what federal cooperation looks like. Getting community, which is what the report indicates, for testifying in a grand jury is something very specific and that is limited in scope. That could be basically jack smith wanting to get honest testimony on a particular instance about specific questions. That does not mean that mark meadows is going to be in court testifying against donald trump. I think one of the big problems here is that he has massive credibility issues. He going to have to answer the question under crossexamination you have to admit you are a liar and are you lying now or were you lying then . Thats a tough thing. I think is there corroboration for any statements that he told jack smith . And thats whats gonna matter. Did he turn over documents . Did he the January 6th Committee he provided that Treasury Trove of text messages. He likes to text. He does. Those are the independent corroboration that could bolster an otherwise damaged witness here. Is this the mark meadows you know, this mark meadows making a deal like this . The mark meadows i thought i knew is a different man than turned out to be the publicfacing version. I think the most consistent thing folks in washington who Know Mark Meadows will say is that he talks out of both sides of his mouth. He is innately everyone in barbie does that. Right. But he particulars to a sport level. He wants to stay in the good graces of certain people. I will speculate a little bit. Knowing him very well for many years, he is a good attorney, george tur will ger. I think he is giving him tound legal advice about how far he should should go in cooperating with the Department Of Justice but mark meadows wants to be seen as never flipping on donald trump. His public statements may contradict what he is doing behind the scenes. Trump world is aware of this. There has been a year and a half, two years of souring on him and not trusting he is engaging in good faith and he is loyal to the team. I think this is a mixture of a Smart Attorney who wants to keep him out of jail and meadows wanting to be former Freedom Caucus chairman who is Donald Trumps greatest ally. We dont know what this means for georgia. We had timothy pal tori who suggested maybe this is a sign they want to make a deal with fani willis we dont know any of that. It happens at the same time just yesterday we saw jenna ellis in court tearfully not taking responsibility for her own objections to some agree. This is now the third, i believe, person to do so. What effect does this have on the georgia case . It affects how mark meadows lawyers will brapproach this. If he has a jackresolution withk smith, those two offices, jack smith and fani willis, operate independently of each other. They will be looking in saying, okay, he is cooperating on federal side, therefore, he should hop over to this side. Ther those or separate office and they will not be according to that level. So at this time until he actually signs a Cooperation Agreement i would not expect they have any impact on the fani willis case. What i suspect he is probably doing, because he does have are a serious lawyer, he is trying to cooperate enough with jack smith to avoid any future charges here while also trying to get at the georgia case through his procedural mechanisms. I dont think he is looking to plead guilty in either case. Thats thipically going to be required for any kind of cooperation. You see with jenna ellis and the agreement there. She has pled guilty. Thats what cooperation means. Accepting responsibilities. Not merely coming in and talking, not merely admitting to certain things. Its saying what you ask. Frankly, i think he is benefiting from jack smiths approach which is just to charge donald trump now and put all this later on. In a typical federal investigation you would charge the lower level people earlier on to force them to flim. Because that case is focuseden on just the former president , they get the benefit of that. You know trump world better than just about anyone. This doesnt come in a vacuum. We have seen three others flip in the georgia case. Any sense that the walls are closing in . Or no . I think its publicly they will say no, its just, you know, none of this means anything, Sidney Powell wasnt really my attorney, neither was jenna ellis. Jenna ellis was so close to trump world. You cant really even overstate how close she was. She was having direct conversations with trump, out on tv. He loved her Tv Appearances where she was out there pushing back on people who were saying, you know, the election wasnt stolen. So that is one of the most interesting guilty pleas we have seen in the entire thing. Could we play the mashup of the old jenna ellis . Its stunning. Do we have that . This is an elite Strike Force Team that is working on behalf of the president and the campaign to make sure that our constitution is protected. President trump is right that there was widespread fraud. The election was stolen and President Trump won by a landslide. Overwhelming evidence of fraud. All of these false and fraudulent results to your point, less elite of a strike force than perhaps they thought. But she was the person. And in the room. And willing to go on tv and repeat it, which trump loved and, therefore, forged a closer relationship with the two of them. It was fascinating watch her yesterday in court through tears, you know, essentially arguing as you said, she didnt take responsibility. She said that Rudy Giuliani and others misled her, people with more experience. She san experienced attorney. She was this there. She knew what she was doing. Its fascinating seeing her plead guilty and the concerns that trump world has about that. Mark meadows, how thats affecting he was involved in the back and forth with the speaker race yesterday. He is talking to House Republicans. One of the parts of the House Republicans race was whether or not you voted to certify the election. That was disqualifying for tom emmer to be House Speaker. Can i mention one thing on mark meadows, too . There is the friction of the book, which is just chockfull of lies. He called it fake news when donald trump criticized it. Writing something wrong in a book, thats not a crime. Myself, as you remember from the january 6th, cassie hutchinson, testified to the fact and to the Department Of Justice that mark meadows told us things along the line of w lines we are going to stay in power. So i think there is going to be a bit of a friction in testimony they may get from him about him saying the election wasnt stolen and apparently allegedly telling the truth to donald trump and then when he said to other people. He said a number of Different Things to different people on capitol hill as well. Thanks, guys, appreciate it. Overnight qatars Prime Minister saying he is hopeful for a breakthrough. Could intensive talks pay off . Back on the ground in tel aviv with the latest. They are going to give it another shot in a couple of house, the house is going to try to elect a speaker. Israel rejecting calls for a ceasefire and pounding gaza with another series of airstrikes. Listen to this. That was a huge blast a short time ago near our news camera staked out or a rooftop, the bombardment hours after the head of the United Nations called israels collective punishment of the Palestinian People and demanded an immediate ceasefire at a contentious Security Council meeting. Relentless bombardment of gaza by israeli forces, the casu casual casualties continue to mount and are deeply alarming. That to a sharp and fiery response from israels foreign minister. Are you the cause as say before for a ceasefire. Tell me, what is a response for killing of babies . For rape women and burn them . For beheading of a child . How you can agree to a ceasefire when someone spoke to kill and destroy your own existence. How . Also potentially a hopeful development. We will see on hostages this morning, the Prime Minister of qatar says he is hopeful there could be a breakthrough soon in negotiations with hamas to release more of those hostages held in gaza. Lets go to erin burnett live from tel aviv. So, erin, there is that update from qatar. I want to ask you about what president erdogan of turkey said. He defended hamas. He said its not a terror organization. He also went on to say turkey has, no, quote, no problem with the state of israel but called out atrocities. Its a tightrope he is trying to walk here. Reporter you know, yeah, poppy, i mean, look, this reflects the unfortunate schism that you see out there right now. The sort of unfortunate reality that to call something brutal and horrific and depraved and unacceptable, then has to be met immediately its something else, also that, so therefore your original claim doesnt carry as much merit. Its this horrible cycle we are hearing now. President erdogan, i mean, there is no nuance on this. Hamas is not a terrorist organization. He just said in a speech, but a group for liberation and fighting to protect their land and citizens. He said the west got together and seized them as a terror organization. Turkey doesnt owe you. Turkey doesnt have a problem with the state of israel. You know, look, you are seeing him in very explicitly sided with hamas going further, frankly, that dmitry pos could have, the spokesperson for putin. Looking the other way on the atrocities committed by hamas that we have seen from other leaders, including out of russia as well as president xi in china. Extremely direct from erdogan this morning. Speaking of countries playing delicate balance acts, qatars Prime Minister saying he is hopeful for a breakthrough on the hostages held by hamas. Qatar has been a critical component of the negotiations. What do we know about where it stands today in. Reporter talk about playing a different role, right . Qatar, which is allows on its soil hamas, taliban, organizations over time clearly labeled as Terrorist Organizations by the u. S. And europe as hamas is, right, they allow them there but also play a role of mediator. We saw that when they were instrumental in negotiations with the taliban. We are seeing that now. Obviously, the crucial party in natalie and judith raanans release friday night. They they are continuing to play a central role. The National Security advisor Crediting Qatar with that. They are talking about a breakthrough. I did speak earlier to Hostage Negotiator here in israel responsible for the release of the idf soldier held by hamas for five years. He has been speaking to hamas every day. He says there is a big deal on the table that would call for releasing all of the civilian hostages that hamas holds in exchange for Fuel Requirements as well as some sort of a temporary ceasefire which so far have been nonstarters for israel. But nonetheless, there is very clear that there is a deal that has been put on the table for days. There simply has been an inability to get it to the finish line. But significant today that israel came out specifically mentioning the crucial role that qatar is playing and it comes as time is ticking. A stark warning from the u. N. Relief and works agency this morning that says they have to shut down operations in gaza, all humanitarian operations by tonight because of lack of fuel, right. This crucial thing at the heart of any negotiations and also the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground. Six hospitals in gaza have already shut down because of a shortage of fuel. They have run out of the fuel to run backup generators according to the world health organization. The idf says there are 132,000 gallons of fuel in gaza. The u. N. Secretary general Antonio Guterres says the attacks, quote, did not happen in a vacuum. And that statement alone caused incredible ire in israel. The ambassador to the u. N. Said he will block all visas for United Nations officials to israel. Give you a sense how tight the tensions are and erdogan saying hamas is not a terrorist organization but one of liberation. Clarissa ward joins us live from cairo. What more are you learning today . Reporter well, erin, you know, its interesting you mentioned erdogan saying that about hamas because i do think that when you talk to people across this region, that you see that reflected a lot. I spoke to a person in egypt who described hamas as lions, meaning that they are brave warriors, and what you are seeing is with every day of this bombardment in gaza people are being kind of pushed towards more extreme positions, the images that they are seeing day in, day out of childrens bodies being taken from the rubble are resulting in such an outcry of anguish, such feelings of im poetens and the fear is from leaders in the region that you are going to see explosions of violence, that you are going to see more terrorism. We heard those comments that you mentioned from the u. N. Secretary general basically calling israels airstrikes on gaza collective punishment, saying that this didnt these horrendous attacks on october 7th didnt come out of a vacuum. He said the Palestinian People have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence. He did on to say that the grievances of the palestinians do not in any way, shape or form justify the appalling, what he called appalling attacks by hamas, but those comments being met by Israeli Officials with fiery calls for the Secretary Generals resignation. The Secretary General also mentioned the fact that they have lost more than 35 u. N. Employees inside gaza as a result of the bombardment and, importantly, as you point out, the agency inside of, the u. N. Agency inside that december with the palestinian refugees, has said that they will not be able to continue their operations any longer from tonight. This is in line with what we are hearing from doctors. They are basically saying today is dday. The w. H. O. Says eight hospitals are already nonopration al because they have one out of fuel. Two are operating at partial capacity. One sisterdoctor saying that hi hospital will become a mass grave if they do not get fuel soon. But as you know as well, there is this continuous back and forth. Yesterday at one stage the idf came out and said they were going to try to let fuel in to create a mechanism to ensure it doesnt get take been i hamas and used for military purposes. A few hours later they titled back asaid no fuel is getting i. Very clear that fuel is at the center both of the humanitarian cris crisis but also a key point in ongoing negotiations, erin. Reporter yeah, absolutely. Of course, israel saying they have got 132,000 gallons essentially saying that there is some crying wolf going on on the actual time clock ticking. This is the back and forth that we are reporter to give you some perspective there, erin, 132,000 Liters Of Fuel, this is not even a drop in the ocean of what they would need. Before they would have close to 500,000 Liters Of Fuel every single day. So the need is just enormous. Reporter right. Of course, constant every day. Its used every day. So you draw it down. Clarissa, thank you. Karisa is in cairo, of course. Back to you. To karisas point, we just had chris murphy on, senator chris murphy, who runs sort of The Middle East portion of the Foreign Relations committee and he said its not acceptable for fuel to still be blocked going into gaza. You are hearing that from some lawmakers here. For now, the United States is not directly reporter which is a shift, yeah. For sure. We will get back to you. House republicans considering picking their fourth nominee. They have picked their fourth nominee. Will they actually become the speaker . Floor vote expected today. This time will they make it across the finish line . You want to see this. Christiane amanpour in an exclusive sitdown with governor gavin newsom of california. He just met with xi jinping. What he sjust said about chaos t home and how it affects abroad. Right now we are in good hands with President Biden. We are not in good hands with the Republican Party. Its a clown show. They cant manage themselves. We dont deserve a leader like mike johnson. Dadgum its, we are going to get him and i think he is going to carry us over tfinish line. He is not very tall physically, but in these halls you will stand in his shadow. The newest nominee for speaker of the house, mike johnson from louisiana. He was one of the republicans to voted to oust Kevin Mccarthy from his role after he worked with democrats to avoid a government shutdown. Just a few hours, the house is going to try again. They are going to hold a floor vote. Lauren fox is on capitol hill. There were so many smiles around Congressman Johnson yesterday. Is this a lock . Reporter obviously, the Republican Congress is exhausted. This has gone on longer than three weeks and Member Members are hopeful that mike johnson can be the guy to get the 217 votes needed on the floor of the house. A couple things to watch for. There were a couple of holdout members who didnt support johnson in the closeddoor vote last night. There were three of those members. There were also attendance issues last night. We will be keeping a close eye on whether or not any of those votes or opposed to johnson. Its just important to note that there has been such Division Within the Republican Party because every time they seem to get a candidate behind closed doors, what you saw with tom emmer played out with Steve Scalise a week ago where there is a candidate who gets the most votes behind closed doors, then they cant get to 217, then a more conservative candidate emerges in the case of jim jordan, couldnt get interest. A lot of people are more optimistic about mike johnson. Representative lawler told our colleague manu raju he thought ousting Kevin Mccarthy was a dumb decision for the republican conference. He said he did think he could support mike johnson. He said that it was time to move on. I just think that is the sentiment among so many members. Now, so many things can change in the course of just four hours before members go to the floor for a vote at noon. But i just think there is momentum, a lot of feeling that mike johnson is the guy for the job, and despite the fact he doesnt have a ton of policy experience, there is an expectation he could clinch the speakership today. Not to dump cold water on the moment that republicans apparently have for closing the lowest bar, there is a ton of work that needs to be done in a compressed time window. We spoke to Hakeem Jeffries a short time ago about johnson becoming the next speaker. This is what he said. I dont know mike johnson well. Based on his track record, he appears to be an extreme rightwing idea log and House Democrats will push back aggressively against that. At the same time we, said from t beginning of this congress and demonstrated we are ready, willing and able to find Common Ground with republican colleagues to advance Bipartisan Solutions to solve problems for Hard Working American taxpayers. All mike johnson will need to do is to meet us in a bipartisan way in that fashion and we will be able to Work Together whenever and wherever possible. That idea of all mike johnson would have to do is the reason Kevin Mccarthy is no longer speaker. So how is this actually gonna work . Yeah, i think that is the huge question on the table right now, phil, how is he going to legislate, because he has a Government Funding deadline coming up on november 17th. Its also not clear how he will handle that 105 billion supplemental request from the white house to fund not just israel aid, but also aid for ukraine. He was pushed on whether or not he would bring that to the floor yesterday. He said last night it was not a time to have a policy discussion. But just to remind people back home, there is not going to be a lot of time to learn in the job. You are going to have to hit the ground running. The other thing that i think is so important to keep in mind is when you are a rank and file member, you dont have a large staff in the house of representatives. If you are in leadership, you have build out your coalition, your staff. That going to take a little bit of time and there is just not that much time to avoid a government shutdown. So that is going to be The Big Question moving forward. A lot to do in 23 days. Lauren fox, thank you. The big question is for a lot of people who mike johnson . And thats a fair question to some degree. Elected to the nous in 2016. Social conservative, was a lawyer before joining the State Legislature in louisiana and becoming a member of the house, argued in front of the Supreme Court, vicechair of the house Republican Congress, used to be the chairman of the republican study committee. One of the issues people may not recognize is the role he played in 2020 in terms of supporting Donald Trumps efforts to overturn joe bidens victory. In fact, it was a critical role. He was the one who drafted the House Republican legal brief signed by 126 republicans that supported the texas lawsuit to try to overturn the electoral results of four states. Not only did he ask members to play a role in it. He actually is the name on the amicus brief submitted. It wasnt just the fact that he was a lawyer and had constitutional law background made him want to get involved in this. He was an actual lobbyist. From a personal Email Account of mike johnson sending an email to every Single Member to the House Republican conference asking them to support the brief and also making very clear that trump, quote, said he anxiously will be awaiting the final list of republicans that signed on to review. Something that infuriated some moderate republicans at the time. Something that was clearly driven by the former president in december 9, 2020 r trump making clear he wanted intervention into and support of the texas case. He also was talking to mike johnson. Johnson tweeting trump called him this morning, said they were supportive, this was the big one in terms of the texas lawsuit. Obviously, it wasnt. It was thrown out by the Supreme Court. Trump didnt officially throw his support behind mike johnson but said he was supportive of johnson, not running against him like with tom emmer. As where johnson stands on these issues and where the republican conference is, last night was a pretty good window. How dare you ask about that thing that you did . They didnt like that question. No. Critical question. Its where the Republican House Republican Congress is. Could we get to great news. A new member of the cnn this morning family. Graham yes. Born friday morning, six pounds, ten ounces, getting an early start to his day. His dad Aaron Silverman is a producer, works late nights putting the show together. Mom and baby doing well. We send all our love. Huge congratulations. At least you are used to not sleeping. Two parents who know. Yeah, experience. Details about the off duty pilot accused of trying to cut the power an an Alaska Airlines flight. He denied taking medication but what he did take. Christiane amanpour, what she calls a dangerous Double Standard in the wests support of israel. Yes, there was the shock and there is the condemnation. Why isnt there equal condemnation to what is happening now . Israel is rejecting calls foresees fire as it launches largescale tay tax on gaza. The bombardment coming just hours after the head of the United Nations called israels airstrikes, quote, collective punishment of the Palestinian People and demanded an immediate ceasefire. A contentious Security Council meeting that was met with anger from israels foreign minister. The humanitarian crisis is deepening for the roughly 2 million civilians who remain trapped in gaza. United nations Relief Agency inside the territory says that it needs to shut down today if it doesnt receive more fuel. Cnns chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour sat down with jordans queen rania to discuss the situation in israel and how its being handled. When october 7th happened, the world immediately and unequivocally stood by israel and tried to defend itself and condemned the attack that happened. But when we what were seeing the last couple of weeks, we are seeing silence in the world. You know, countries have stopped just expressing concern or acknowledging the casualties. But always with a preface of declaration of support for israel. And are we being told that it is wrong to kill a family, an entire family at gunpoint p but its okay to shell them to death . Christiane amanpour joins us now. Its a fascinating interview. We have been talking about this with one another and anybody else who has been on set for the better part of this morning. What was your primary takeaway from it . The primary takeaway is that she is expressing exactly what the rest of the world thinks. The world in which the muslims and many, many other parts of the world believe that there is a, as she said, a glaring Double Standard. And that is what message she was trying to get ahead because she was saying even as a mother, you know, of course it was unbearable to see what happened in israel on october 7th, but also unbearable to see what is happening to 2,000 children and many, many others inside gaza under the air campaign right now. And one of the things, i also talked to right after this interview, talked to the hostage negotiating, israeli, who got someone out in 2007. He said, it was very important, he said we have arrived at such a horrific situation that this must be a wakeup call because he was reacting to queen rania. He came after her. He said israel cannot keep another people occupied for 56 years and expect peace. You cant lock people up in an open air prison and expect them to be quiet. For the palestinians it should be a wakeup call if you support radical leaders, you also are going to be suffering because of this. So i found that whole conversation really fascinating. And really glad you read that. One of the parts of the interview that is extraordinary, i urge people to watch all of it, when she talks from her position as a mother. Heres what she told you. I just want to remind the world that palestinian mothers love their children as much as any other mother in the world. The silence is deafening. To mean in our region it makes the western world complicit, you know, through their support and through the cover that they give israel, that its just trying to defend itself. Many in the arab world are looking at the western world as not just tolerating this, but Aiding And Abetting it. Those words complicit and Aiding And Abetting, striking. Striking, but true in that part of the world. And in many parts, even on campuses in the United States, there is a much more nuanced view. It is very difficult to, you know, to try to convince people that two things can be, you know, that there can be two thoughts, that the savagery of what happened inside israel on october 7th, but also the death and the killing of children and civilians inside gaza. That inflames the world and makes them think that there is a Double Standard. And even you can hear the United States saying there needs to be a humanitarian pause, the Secretary Of State said that, for humanitarian supplies. And ger shan, the israeli, the israeli negotiator, says it is ridiculous this argument about fuel. They can have u. N. People. They can have red cross. This they can have all sorts of people escort these fuel trucks or whatever to where they are actually needed for the civilian population. They dont have to go into hamas hands if thats the fear. I have to ask, California Governor Gavin Newsom met with chinas leader xi jinping which of course means you just spoke to gavin newsom because, of course you did. Im interested in his assessment of the u. S. Relationship with china at the moment. So its a very important trip because it is a sort of precursor to what is going to be a very important visit to the u. S. Next month. The apex summit is happening in his home state, is going to be in the san francisco, and everybody holes that xi jinping will come and he and President Biden will have a meeting. Governor newsom wouldnt tell me if xi pledged he would come. He said that is up to president xi to say. He said that he got the impression that everybody was trying to lower the temperature. Listen. Did get a sense from him that this relationship is hurdling towards even a hot war in the next few years, over taiwan, whatever it might be, or what sense did you get from him of a relationship he wants to have with america Going Forward . The fact that we had access to these highlevel meetings, i will be meeting with five governors tomorrow, another extension of this visit. I think its suggest i have that i hope a new guys i phase. It goes to your question. We have to turn down the heat, got to manage our strategic differences, got to reconcile our strategic red lines. Those are well established between our two countries. But i want to applaud the Biden Administration and on the basis of the engagement i had today with members of the xi administration, president xi himself, applaud his willingness to reconcile those differences, people to people exchange, the fact he is meeting with a governor of california at the subnational level is indicative of a thawing. I think thats important and clearing the u. S. Administration had actually been turning their prime focus towards china. So thats an Important Message that Governor Newsom can bring back. And then he weighed in on u. S. Politics as well. As we were talking, the whole conundrum around a House Speaker was playing out and he tried to assure the chinese dont take us for patsies, we are not weak this is a clown show, as he said, but the u. S. Is strong. Thank you on both of those interviews. You can see the full interview with Governor Newsom tonight on cnn news night 10 00 p. M. Thank you. The house has been speakerless for three years. Three weeks. Were not there yet. That can chajnge in hours. As the Chamber Heads to the floor for a vote at noon. We have new details about the offduty pilot that tried to shut off the engine on the Alaska Airlines flight. He said he took Magic Mushrooms 48 hours before that and thought he was dreaming. He is facing 83 counts of attempted murder. When the crew subdued him, he tried to open up the Emergency Exit during landing. He wsaid he was having a nervou breakdown. Hurricane otis slammed into mexicos west coast overnight. Sustained winds of 165 miles per hour. According to noaa, otis is the First Pacific hurricane to make landfall on the pacific coast. Bud light will become the official sponsor of the ufc. The financial terms of the deal not revealed. It follows a sale slump thanks to backlash of a partnership. And a legend has passed away. Richard roundtree has died at 81. Hes best known for his performance in the toughtalking private eye in the 1971 movie shaft. Shaft is his name. Shaft is his game. He has 150 screen credits. One of the best. I could use a little help. Yeah, theres a lot of risk out there. Huh hey, is this thing hard to learn . Nah, its easy. Huh. You know, i think im going to ride it home. Good thing you chose u. S. Bank to manage and grow your money. 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