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Israel Delays Cabinet Vote On Gaza Deal, Says Hamas Reneged On Parts; Speaker Mike Johnson Removes Rep. Mike Turner As Intel Committee Chair; Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket Makes Long-Awaited Debut Flight. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 16, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

JON FINER, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Look, throughout this process we have been committed to a number of principles, but one of them is not to respond to everything that is said in public but to work through the details in private. That's going to be how we handle this situation and what I promise you are going to be a number of additional steps that are going to have to be taken to make sure the deal is implemented as it's written on paper.

And so we are in very close coordination and very close touch with the other mediators that I described. We are in very close touch with the Israeli government. The president himself has talked to Prime Minister Netanyahu now twice in the last few days. We are all in touch with our Israeli counterparts to work through how to implement this deal, and we have every expectation that it will be implemented exactly as described by the president yesterday and on the schedule that was described beginning as soon as Sunday.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There are major issues still to be worked out even if and after this first phase sets in on Sunday.

Did reaching a permanent ceasefire and getting all of the hostages back -- did that get easier with this deal? How tough is the road still ahead?

FINER: So it's going to be challenging to implement this deal, but we fully expect it to be implemented.

As you know and as the president described in his remarks, the deal plays out across three phases. The second phase involved a permanent ceasefire and the release of all the hostages. The third phase involved the release of the remains of hostages who have been deceased during the course of this conflict on October 7. It's all spelled out on paper.

And so we are doing everything we can to set the incoming team up as well as possible to actually implement this deal since the bulk of this time period will now play out in a new administration. That's why the president directed our team to brief the incoming team on everything we were working on. It's why we welcomed them to participate as support for the talks as they were unfolding. And we think that's what gives us the best chance to actually get this deal implemented as you described. We think that's a good thing.

BOLDUAN: As you were just talking about, you brought in the incoming administration -- the president-elect's team. You guys -- it's very clear that the president and the president-elect both have had important roles in getting this over the finish line. It's also very clear that the dislike among those two men is well-documented.

Despite all of that and despite what we heard from the announcement from President Biden yesterday, Donald Trump said this yesterday even before Biden made his announcement, which was this. He put it on his social media saying, "This epic ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November." And also, "We have achieved so much without even being in the White House."

Jon, what do you say to that? Do you agree this could not have happened without Trump winning the election?

FINER: So look, I'm certainly not going to respond directly to the president-elect.

What I would say is the contours of this deal -- the details of this deal -- all of the elements were laid out by President Biden back in May.

You know, as recently as a few months ago the Israelis were fully on board and ready to implement this deal and it was Hamas that needed additional pressure -- pressure imposed by Israel in Gaza, pressure that was brought about by the decimation of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the transition to a new government there. Pressure that increased, including when President Assad of Syria fell, and Iran which has been badly weakened during the course of this conflict through its attacks on Israel that ultimately failed with the defense of the United States could no longer provide as much support as it was providing before.

So all of this mounted over time on Hamas until it ultimately took the agreement.

I don't think political factors in the United States were anywhere near as significant as what I just described. And the reality is, to be honest, we've not been focused on the political outcomes here and on who gets the credit. What we've been focused on is the outcome in the region and trying to get this deal done and achieved.

It's why we brought the new team -- the incoming team into our confidence and described everything that we were doing in the negotiations and included them in some of the talks. We wanted to get an outcome here that was good to bring the hostages home. Good to improve the conditions in Gaza -- the humanitarian situation that would enable Israel to be secure. We think that's what we've gotten done and the bipartisan nature of this was a -- was an important facet of it.

BOLDUAN: You fully expect this to -- this to be implemented and for this to happen, that's very clear. I'm hearing you.

If it doesn't -- if it falls through after you guys leave, what's going to be the reason behind that?

FINER: Well, it's very hard to predict the future. I mean, in a -- in a deal like this there are any number of things that can go wrong. It's complicated. Again, there's zero trust on either side so I'm not going to get ahead of what could happen.

It is certainly our expectation that this gets implemented. It is our hope also that this gets implemented. It is fundamentally a good thing and I think will provide a lot of relief to the families who will be reunited, to the people in Gaza who have suffered tremendously, to the people in Israel who I think many of whom are ready for this war ultimately to be over.

And so we're committed to implementation. We'll continue to help in any way we can even after we're gone. But largely, it will be up to the next team to try to bring this across the finish line, and they have been a part of this every step of the way up until now.

[07:35:08]

BOLDUAN: Jon, you and your whole -- entire team have been working on this a very long time. Thank you for coming on. I really appreciate it. Thank you -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, happening now. This morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson is set to announce a new chair of the House Intelligence Committee one day after abruptly removing Congressman Mike Turner from that post. Turner told CBS the decision to remove him stemmed from "concerns for Mar-a-Lago." Speaker Johnson denies the president-elect had any involvement.

Let's get right to CNN's Lauren Fox for the latest on this. Good morning, Lauren.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning, John.

Instead, what Speaker Johnson is arguing is this is just an opportunity to refresh the cast of characters who are going to be leading his committees in this next Congress.

Here is what Mike Johnson said to us last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It's a new Congress. We just need --

REPORTER: For sure.

JOHNSON: -- fresh horses in some of these places. This is not a President Trump decision; this is a House decision. And this is no slight whatsoever to our chair -- outgoing chair. He does a great job.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FOX: And obviously that is not how Mike Turner is seeing it given the fact that you have a situation where this is a highly regarded position on Capitol Hill. This is a really important position because Republicans and Democrats often work hand-in-glove together when it comes to national security issues that concern the country. This is not really a partisan position traditionally.

And I'd also want to give you a sense of what Democrats on the committee are saying.

Jim Himes, who is the top Democrat on Intelligence said, "His removal makes our nation less secure and is a terrible portend for what's to come. The Constitution demands Congress function as a check on the Executive Branch, not cater to its demands." He said later, "One of the reasons I was confident in Mike's ability to do oversight was that he, you know, was not quick to bend the knee."

Again, just emphasizing the fact that on this committee, in the House and in the Senate, traditionally these have been roles that have always tried to be above politics -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Lauren Fox for us. Keep us posted if Mike Johnson names who he wants the next chair to be.

With us now, Alyssa Farah Griffin, CNN political commentator and former Trump White House communications director, and Bakari Sellers, CNN political commentator.

And just to remind people where Mike Johnson -- Mike Turner, I should say, stands on some issues -- very pro aid to Ukraine. He did not try to block the election of Joe Biden in 2020 and 2021.

So what does it tell you, Alyssa? Mike Turner clearly believes that it's Donald Trump and Mar-a-Lago that's keeping him from remaining as chair. What does it tell you if he's right that Donald Trump doesn't want Mike Turner there?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well listen, Mike Turner voted with Donald Trump about 90 percent of the time in the first administration, so this is someone who is a deeply conservative member. Somebody who has always been respected with the rank-and-file in the House GOP. But he's someone who has acknowledged Russia's interfered in our election -- said attempted to. He's somebody who has been very skeptical of TikTok. And to your point, supports aid to Ukraine.

So on some of these topline issues that would come before the Intel Committee or that they may touch, he's not aligned with Donald Trump.

And as Lauren said, yes, the Intel Committee has largely remained above the political fray -- not more recently though.

BERMAN: No.

GRIFFIN: Devin Nunes was known for really politicizing the committee. Adam Schiff, on the left, I think many would argue politicized it at times.

And I think Donald Trump wants someone who represents his perspective and his point of view in that position. And it shows that Mike Johnson is going to cater to what Donald Trump wants once he's sworn in.

BERMAN: Quickly, Bakari. Any concerns from the Democratic side on this?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, (D) FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE (via Webex by Cisco): I mean, no. This further goes to the infighting that we know is going to happen in the Republican Party. But I don't believe that many people thought Donald Trump would have his thumb on the pulse of House Republicans all the way down to committee chairmanships.

I have a feeling this has more to do with TikTok than people are actually -- as Alyssa alluded to -- than people are actually giving credit for. We know that Mike was is opposed to having TikTok within the confines of the United States.

And then we see now that we're going to have a Chinese state-owned media executive who owns TikTok sitting in the box at the inauguration along with three other billionaires. It should cause people's stomachs to turn just slightly.

BERMAN: Oh, talk to me more about that Bakari because President Biden in his farewell address focused in on the tech industrial complex and warned of an oligarchy. There are policy and legacy reasons that he's doing that. I mean, Dwight Eisenhower talked about the military industrial complex and we're still talking about it. But also, I think some political maneuvering here.

What do Democrats see as an opportunity in shining a light on this new, as they see it, oligarchy?

[07:40:00]

SELLERS: So, Berman, what I just did is what they call a segue or a transition --

BERMAN: Um-hum.

SELLERS: -- to business. So that's how these things -- conversations merge.

But no. When you -- when you look at just the imagery -- I mean, let's go to the inauguration, for example. You're going to have Elon Musk. You're going to have Jeff Bezos. You're going to have Mark Zuckerberg. And now you actually have the CEO of TikTok sitting in the dais. Non- elected officials who have their finger on the pulse and can pull kind of the strings of the President of the United States. It should send shivers up your spine.

And the reason being is because the Bill Ackmans of the world, the Marc Andreessens who now is apparently a new H.R. director for the Trump White House, the Jeff Bezos who is stripping The Washington Post apart, the Elon Musks who would prefer the United States resemble South Africa than anything else. And then you have people like Mark Zuckerberg who is just trying to preserve Facebook from 230 lawsuits -- antitrust lawsuits, et cetera. These people are there for their own self-interest.

And what happens to the individuals who are affected in middle America? What happens to Black folk in poor rural America? What happens to these people -- Hispanic voters who don't -- who have the uncertainty of immigration laws coming in? And what happened to grocery prices?

And so when you begin to look at what's affecting everyday common people, I can guarantee you the Ackmans, the Andreessens, the Zuckerbergs, the Bezos, the TikTok CEOs, the Musks -- they don't have your best interest at heart.

BERMAN: Alyssa, how salient do you feel that can be as a political issue for voters going forward?

GRIFFIN: Well, I think the left needs something that's going to reinvigorate its base coming off of this massive loss to Donald Trump. And I think that they kind of have -- are having this identity crisis. I think going after corporate oligarchs and these billionaires who are running the country is a motivating message.

The one thing I'd say is that I largely agree with Bakari, but I think many on the right would also say that there has been a heavy hand that corporate America has had in the past of siding with the left. The Washington Post was hardly seen as right-wing in the first Trump term. I think you could say similarly that the criticisms of Mark Zuckerberg were that he often skewed algorithms in his corrections on Facebook to the left.

I think a lot of this is opportunism from some of these CEOs seeing Trump coming in. They want to get into his good graces. But on TikTok, it's a complete flip-flopping of what Trump stood for, and it's a company that wants to continue to stay in -- stay in position while he's in power.

BERMAN: Bakari, one last question here. President Biden gave his farewell address last night and he thanked Vice President Kamala Harris for the work that she has done.

The Washington -- sorry, The Wall Street Journal this morning, though, has a little bit of a juicy article saying that Vice President Harris isn't too happy with President Biden. And people look into how they behaved with each other at the Carter funeral. They didn't seem to talk that much.

The Journal says, "Vice President Kamala Harris has told close allies and family members she's disappointed in President Biden's recent contention that he would have won the 2024 election."

What do you think about that?

SELLERS: I think it's much ado about nothing. I mean, their relationship, which many people still don't value as much as they should or somewhat underestimate it goes all the way back to Joe Biden's son Hunter.

Yeah. I mean, if somebody -- if you lose a race and then somebody else comes out there and says they could have won and there's -- it's somewhat rooted in disillusionment. There's no way in hell Joe Biden was going to win that race. I don't think any Democrat was going to win that race with the headwinds the way they were.

Yeah, it is somewhat of a gut punch but that doesn't mean that you're going to fall out with that individual. I mean, brothers and sisters have arguments every day, fathers and daughters, et cetera. And so I believe their relationship is just as strong. And you saw her last night along with Douggie sitting next to Jill Biden in the -- in the Oval Office while he gave that farewell address.

I just think that the Vice President of the United States is extremely tired and looking forward to a future that is uncertain right now where she has many paths. I mean, she can go home to Douggie, or she can become a professor, or she can run for governor, or she can sit back and run for President of the United States. So continue to be the best you possible, Kamala Harris. And I think she'll be just fine.

BERMAN: I want to know if Doug Emhoff has a pet nickname for you, Bakari.

Bakari Seller, Alyssa Farah Griffin, thank you both so much for being with us -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Final red flag warnings for Southern California are expiring today and that is great news, giving firefighters some much needed time to gain ground in containing these fires. Another round of dangerous Santa Ana winds though could come next week as thousands of residents are now just starting to figure out how to rebuild -- some of them entire communities.

CNN's Michael Yoshida is in one of the hardest hit areas, Altadena, and he's got much more on this. Michael, you've been talking to residents there about this idea of rebuilding. What are they telling you?

MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Kate.

And when we look at Altadena for the last week, we've been showing you the physical destruction, but there's a big fear here that the less tangible things that make this community so great will be lost as well.

[07:45:00]

They are talking about the working class families that have made Altadena so special for decades. A lot of social and racial diversity in a place where generations of Black families have called this home, living and owning their own homes.

And while we've seen those outpourings of support of donations for the first week of this recovery there's a big fear that long term these families may face those financial pressures and have to sell. And that's something that a lot of the churches here and other community members are focusing on trying to connect these families with long- term financial aid -- lawyers, contractors -- so that they can continue to call this community home.

We spoke with one pastor yesterday about their efforts and here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN DECUIR, LEAD PASTOR, VICTORY BIBLE CHURCH: There are already developers that have been talking to folks -- hey -- saying hey, I can -- I can purchase this. And we want you to be able to maintain that legacy. Like, keep the blood of your parents and your grandparents is in the foundation of that land. The hope is that these triages provide them with direct financial relief to be able to go back to their land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOSHIDA: And Pastor DeCuir tells me that just in his congregation he has some 40-plus families that lost everything and came home so sights like this. And in talking with us he says one of his other fears is that people will hear the term "L.A. wildfires" and think of celebrities and Hollywood. And he told us respectfully, Altadena -- it's not Hollywood.

Again, you have a lot of working class families here. He knows it's going to be a big challenge, but he hopes they'll get additional support to provide for these families. And he says honestly, we're not going to know if we'll be successful for many years to come.

BOLDUAN: Michael, thank you very much for your reporting. I really appreciate it.

And there's also this we want to show you -- this image coming up. We will show it to you. It is an extraordinary image out of Malibu. You see it right there. You see that blue van -- kind of like a blue dot in the midst of devastation? That 1970s Volkswagen van somehow survived the Palisades Fire while everything around it is reduced to rubble.

To the owners of the van it is a symbol of -- well, they're shocked by it, of course, and also something more. Preston Martin bought the van his junior year of college and lived in it for a year. He then sold it to his friend Megan last summer. They parked it just days before the fires started right there.

And here is what they told CNN's Erin Burnett last night about that van miraculously making it through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGAN KRYSTLE WEINRAUB, OWNS VW VAN THAT SURVIVED FIRE: I just can't believe that this is actually, like, my bus is the only thing that survived on the street that I walked by with my dog, like, every single day. It's -- I'm speechless to see all the houses burned and I can't believe that Azul, the bus -- that's what we named it -- survived.

PRESTON MARTIN, ONCE OWNED AND LIVED IN VW VAN THAT SURVIVED FIRE: We thought it was gone. We really didn't think we'd ever see this thing again. And we got to surf with it on Sunday and parked it right where it's still sitting there. And Tuesday the fires hit and I'm looking at these images live that I've never seen. Like, this is -- it's amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Amazing, remarkable, completely unbelievable, but it's one of those things we see playing out, John, amidst all of the devastation.

BERMAN: Really incredible pictures there.

All right, say goodbye to your favorite cherry red colored candies or cough drops. The FDA has now banned red dye -- a certain red dye -- in the United States after finding it to be linked to cancer.

And this morning, a Southwest Airlines pilot is in custody after being removed from the cockpit and charged with DUI.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:53:45]

BOLDUAN: So the Cleveland Browns is now being sued by the city of Cleveland. The new lawsuit is over a possible move from downtown Cleveland to a proposed stadium in the burbs after the 2028 season when the downtown lease expires.

The teams' owners plan to build a $2.4 billion stadium 15 miles south of the city. The city clearly does not like that and is now looking to invoke a state law to stop them. The law says in part, any professional sports team that uses state funding for its facilities for home games cannot leave without permission or providing advanced notice.

The Browns have not yet commented on the lawsuit -- John.

BERMAN: I've got to say the city may want to sue the team for some of the deals they've made in the last few years.

All right. This morning, women's basketball teams will finally be paid for playing in March Madness just like the men have for years. Under a plan that was approved Wednesday at the NCAA Convention, starting this year women's teams in the tournament will get what's called performance units, which represent revenue. The longer a school's run lasts the more units the conference receives, and the conference divides the money among the teams.

The payouts will total $15 million this year, rising to $25 million in 2027, and then who knows how high it can go?

[07:55:00]

A Southwest Airlines pilot has been arrested and charged with DUI. He was taken into custody after police boarded a plane at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport. Southwest Airlines told one of our affiliates the pilot has been removed from duty and that customers were accommodated on other flights -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So we're going to show you -- we're going to watch together. At some point --

BERMAN: Look at this. We're kind of in space. We're in the void. We're in the great void here.

BOLDUAN: We are in space. This is -- I know. I'm constantly called a space cadet and now I feel like one.

We are going to show you potentially -- there you go -- watching live as NASA astronauts -- this is from the International Space Station. What we're -- what we care about here friends is NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Nick Hague getting prepared to step out of the International Space Station for some work -- to complete upgrades on the station. NASA says the maintenance work will take about 6 1/2 hours.

Williams is, you will remember, one of the two astronauts that has been literally stuck in space for a three-hour tour. It was eight days.

BERMAN: She probably needs a walk.

BOLDUAN: They have been stuck in space since June. They were only supposed to be up there for eight days. I digress.

Also overnight, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched its new Glenn Rocket into orbit. The rocket is powerful enough to launch satellites into space.

And joining us right now to talk about all of this, space and defense contributor Kristin Fisher. It's good to see you, Kristin. You were there for the launch. Tell us more.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CONTRIBUTOR (via Webex by Cisco): Well, Kate, it's not very often that you get to see the very first maiden flight of a brand new rocket. And there were -- I mean, I was out on the beach at 2:00 a.m. -- Cocoa Beach, right by Cape Canaveral last night. There were hundreds of people that camped out in the cold to watch this launch. That's kind of the excitement that you get when you come down here to Florida's Space Coast.

It was an incredible launch. It lit up the whole night sky.

And Blue Origin was able to do something so incredibly difficult. They were able to reach orbit with this rocket on their very first attempt. Up until this point, Kate and John, Jeff Bezos, whose company Blue Origin has only had suborbital rockets, meaning it can go up and down in 10 minutes. This one orbiting the entire Earth -- the first time they've ever been able to do that.

The only thing they were not able to do is land the booster on a drone ship, Kate and John. And they knew that was going to be a longshot because they called that booster "So You're Telling Me There's A Chance." So they knew that was a longshot. They weren't able to. But they were able to successfully get that rocket to orbit.

BERMAN: So I think that everyone on Earth except Elon Musk thinks it's important that there be a useful, successful alternative to SpaceX -- not for political reasons but just for really space exploration reasons.

FISHER: Yeah. I mean, you look at what NASA does. They like to have backup options. They like to have redundancy. Look at what happened with Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, right? Like, thank goodness they had a SpaceX Dragon capsule to be able to come up and rescue them after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft wasn't deemed safe enough.

So that's what this is all about. The U.S. government and private independent space companies -- they like to have options in terms of rockets to send their payloads up into orbit. And so that's what this is. This is about diversifying options for getting things up into space.

But Kate and John, I should also note that there is another huge launch tonight. Last night was Blue Origin, or very early this morning. Tonight -- or this afternoon it's going to be SpaceX's seventh flight test of Starship. And so that's where they try to catch that rocket booster using those two giant mechanical arms hugging the rocket as President-elect Trump likes to say. So we can expect that tonight.

But really, just back-to-back launches of these two huge heavy-lift rockets.

BOLDUAN: Don't they call them chopsticks? Is that what Elon Musk calls it -- these chopsticks? Like, come and grab them.

Anyway --

FISHER: Mechazilla.

BOLDUAN: Oh, also that. That was going to be the next suggestion.

OK, so the spacewalk that -- we're showing some live pictures from the International Space Station, Kristin. Talk to us -- what is -- what's going on with this spacewalk, and how is Suni Williams doing? I'm starting to be concerned about that.

FISHER: Well look, NASA would not allow Suni Williams to venture out and do something as dangerous, quite frankly, as a spacewalk if she were not in perfect health. This is going to be Suni Williams' eighth spacewalk. Her co-spacewalker Nick Hague -- this will be his fourth.

These are incredibly experienced spacewalkers. But even if you're an experienced spacewalker these spacewalks up at the Space Station have become quite routine, but they remain the most risky thing that any astronaut can do up in space. You are venturing out into the vacuum of space.

And so right there you can see some of today's spacewalk goals.