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CNN NEWSROOM

Chattanooga School Bus Crash; Dems Hold Leadership Vote Next Wednesday; Interview with Rep. Tim Ryan; Trump Shifts on Key Campaign Promises; 50 Million Hit the Skies and Roads This Weekend; Author on Life Post-Election. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 23, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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


[09:30:00] NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it goes without saying that this is going to be a devastatingly sad Thanksgiving holiday for a number of families here in Chattanooga. Any time a child's life is lost, it is all the more tragic. Here you have kids ranging in age from kindergarten to fifth grade. Just unimaginable to think about the scene there and those little, small, lifeless bodies being pulled from that school bus.

The investigation is ongoing. NTSB investigators are here. Federal investigators are here. Twenty-four-year-old Johnathonny Walker remains in custody, charged with five counts of vehicular homicide. We know at least from initial reports indications are that this individual, Mr. Walker, was going above the speed limit, that 30-mile- per-hour speed limit, just around the corner from the school. The school bus not having dropped off any kids. It was packed with 37 on board. Twelve of those kids still remain hospitalized.

We're outside of Children's Hospital here in Chattanooga. Six are in critical condition. Six in stable condition. This as Governor Bill Haslam prepares to visit the elementary school to try to bring some sort of comfort to the families and to the colleagues of -- and to the classmates, I should say, of these children who were injured or killed in this crash.

I mention the grief. We also spoke to the mother of the suspect in this case who says that she heard from her son in the moments after the crash. That he called her to say that there had been a drastic accident. She paints a picture of him being a good person, never having been in trouble before. However, we've looked into this history. We know he was involved in at least one accident with that school bus. That will all be part of the investigation.

Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Nick Valencia reporting live from Chattanooga this morning. Thank you.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. The opening bell rang just moments ago on Wall Street. All eyes on the Dow after a record-setting Tuesday, closing over 19,000 for the very first time. And as you see, we're on our way up just a little bit this morning. We'll keep an eye on it for you. All right, on to another news. A David versus Goliath type challenge.

That's how Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan describes his bid to unseat top House Democratic Nancy Pelosi. On paper, Pelosi has more experience and more support from party leaders. One of her top cheerleaders, President Obama, who says she's ready to fight a Republican Congress and President-elect Trump.

With me now, Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan. He's, of course, running to be the House minority leader.

Welcome, sir.

REP. TIM RYAN (D), OHIO: Hi. Thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: Hi. Thanks for being here.

I want to start off talking about Mr. Trump, President-elect Trump, because he gave this interview with "The New York Times" and he appears to be backing off some of his major campaign promises. What do you make of that?

RYAN: Well, I don't think we should be surprised. We watched him during the campaign and he had different message on issues throughout the course of a day. So I don't think we should be surprised that he's, you know, moving around on some of his issues, which I think it's got to be -- at some point he's got to present a budget. At some point he's got to present a policy initiative that he's going to push, and we need to kind of be patient and wait and see what it exactly looks like on paper when it gets to the House of Representatives, and then we start that discussion.

COSTELLO: So some of the specific things that Mr. Trump has backed off on, climate change, he now says, well, maybe climate change is connected to manmade activity. He said, you know, the wall, building the wall, now some of that wall is going to consist of fencing. He's really into infrastructure projects, although I don't know how much money he's willing to give over for infrastructure projects. But all of those things Democrats can work with him on, can't they?

RYAN: Well, if that, in fact, is the case when this shows up at the House of Representatives, we'll have to look at it. But, you know, it's -- it's November 23rd, so this can change ten different times before January or February. So, you know, we just, like I said, need to be patient, and wait until we see some concrete information. The reality of it is, and I think what this is proving, is there's going to be a lot of opportunities for Democrats because this is going to cause a lot of infighting with the Republicans and so our race for our leader is very, very important so that wean can position ourselves to be able to take the House of Representatives back, and you can believe what we say. What we campaign on, we try to do.

COSTELLO: President-elect Trump also says that conflicts of interest don't apply to him. When you hear that, what goes through your mind?

RYAN: Wow, you know, I mean, talk about being above the law or thinking the rules don't apply to you. I mean, come on, I mean this is -- this could get ugly real quick. And I think he's got to be very, very careful because it's a scandal waiting to brew, even -- even with the Republicans in control. So, you know, he's -- he's got to be careful. I mean it's not good for anybody --

[09:35:02] COSTELLO: How could it get -- how could it get ugly, congressman? How could it get ugly? What could Democrats do?

RYAN: I'm sorry.

COSTELLO: How could it get ugly for Donald Trump if, you know, some issue arises and -- and lawmakers think there's a conflict of interest?

RYAN: Well, the Republicans are in charge so, you know, the Democrats can't necessarily initiate anything, you know, legally or legislatively. But there's going to -- we will ramp up the pressure if we think there are conflicts of interest, if we think there's any form of corruption happening in the administration, we will ramp up the heat, and then Republicans will be faced with defending the behavior or the conflicts of interest for the president and then that will become a political liability for them in the midterm elections. So, as I said, this could get -- this could get bad real quick for them.

COSTELLO: So what should President-elect Trump do to assure lawmakers that -- that there will be no conflict of interest when it comes to his many businesses, his businesses overseas, and his children's maybe eventual control of his company?

RYAN: Well, I think, you know, that there's talk of a blind trust, there's talk of divesting. You know, I mean, he's got to decide with his team of lawyers what he does. But I think he's got to separate himself. I mean you're the president of the United States. And if you're a global business owner, you're going to have interests in all of these countries that we're dealing with, whether it's fighting ISIS, fighting a global climate change, I mean any of these initiatives, global trade. We trade with every country. We get products shipped into our country from many, many countries. We ship products to many countries. We have defense alliances with many, many countries. So, for him to not completely separate himself from his business dealings, I think really is a slap in the face. And I think it shows a lack of understanding of just the role he's playing now as president of the United States. I don't think it's good for anybody. It's not good for the system. It's not good for our democracy. And I think certainly it's not good for him.

COSTELLO: All right, Congressman Tim Ryan, thank you so much for stopping by on this Wednesday. I do appreciate it.

I want to take you now live to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The governor there visiting that elementary school where five school children died in that school bus crash. Let's listen.

GOV. BILL HASLAM, TENNESSEE: Nobody wants to see with the community that continues to fill up. This school and the hospital with food and other things, with a community fund that's been set up already, that's -- the website almost crashed last night, to professionals (INAUDIBLE) who are -- who took care of kids. The list goes on and on. I was telling both mayors, I couldn't be more impressed with Chattanooga and Hamilton County. And, unfortunately, this community's had more than its share of tragedies. But, in the midst of our heartbreak, I personally am just so grateful for folks like these who react in a way that we're all grateful for.

QUESTION: Governor, as you know, that there have been at least one parent who says that she complained about this driver and actually did it in writing to the school. You've just come out of the school. Have you seen the letter? Does the letter exist? Was the school aware of any complaints about this driver?

HASLAM: I am not aware of that. This is -- like I said, this is my first visit to the school. And we were -- basically had a chance to talk about some of the students who were in the bus, those who lost their lives and those who didn't. We had a chance to talk about the way the community responded. And, like I said, I'm incredibly grateful for these folks who've reached out with such compassion. I don't know anything about the letter.

QUESTION: Some of the folks here perhaps could answer that question?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) school buses should have seat belts?

HASLAM: I think this. I think it's time for us to stand -- to step back, all of us, local school boards, the state, and look at the whole school bus process, from how we hire drivers, to how we ensure safety of the equipment, to whether there are seat -- seat belts on those buses. And I know I'm going to ask Commissioner McQueen (ph), who leads our education department, Commissioner Perky (ph), who's in charge of safety, to begin that process of, let's do a thorough review of every step along the way to see -- you know, let's make certain that we don't have one more of these.

QUESTION: How are these kids feeling?

QUESTION: Governor, why (INAUDIBLE) -- was does it take something like this to happen before we see some action being taken?

HASLAM: Well, I'll let others comment on that. But, you know, there's been, as it comes to seat belts, I think, as you all know, there's been some conflicting views and I think the National Highway group, until last year, didn't recommend that. Now, people's opinions are starting to change. Obviously when you have rollover situations. So I'm certainly not an expert on that. I think what we can do is saying, given where we are right now, what should we do going forward?

QUESTION: Governor, (INAUDIBLE). You said you've met with them?

HASLAM: I actually -- no, actually we just met with folks at the school. I'm going to have a change to go to Erlanger (ph) in a little bit. I'll let either the principal --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We still -- we still have six kids today in ICU, still have six that are in the hospital. The other 20 have been released to parents. And so they're making progress, but it's going to take some time.

[09:40:06] QUESTION: What is it going to be like at school on Monday, following the Thanksgiving holiday and all?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now our focus is continue to give the grief support that's necessary and needed for our students. We've had that support here. We have that support here today. And we will continue to have that support on Monday for students and families that need that support.

QUESTION: If I can ask, because the governor couldn't answer, does that letter exist (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So right now our focus is on giving our families and students the support that they need in this tragedy. That's what our focus is on.

QUESTION: Correct, but does the letter exist?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now our focus is on giving the families the support that they need in this tragedy that we are helping them to bear. We are mourning and grieving the loss of students. So that's what our focus is on right now.

QUESTION: I think people recognized that. This is a horrible situation. But there's also people who would like to know, was the school made aware of this driver's record?

HASLAM: Well, let me say this. And I -- I honestly don't know that, OK, but --

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

HASLAM: I know. And there will be plenty -- there will be plenty of time. These folks are suffering an incredibly hard burden. I mean you go into a classroom where you know there are a little -- a nine-year- old girl sat on Monday, and she's not coming back to the class. And I'm -- this is real -- real hard, emotional stuff for people who invest their lives in kids. There will be -- we'll have plenty of time to do that. And I can promise you from the state, we will do everything we can to make certain going forward we have the right process in place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. We have to wrap this up. Thank you.

QUESTION: Yes, I don't understand why you wouldn't want to answer that question.

HASLAM: I don't know the answer to that question.

QUESTION: I know you don't, but there are representatives here who could answer the question.

HASLAM: Well --

QUESTION: Why would you not want to answer if you had been notified about this driver's record by a parent?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, the governor has to leave, so, thank you.

QUESTION: Yes, the governor can leave, but the school representatives --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

COSTELLO: All right. It started off very emotional and it got a little contentious there at the end. Of course we'll keep following this. But that bus driver did have a record of an accident involving the very school bus that crashed. We will continue to dig into that, too.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:46:07] COSTELLO: Tomorrow is all about the turkey. Today is all about the travel. This is one of the busiest travel days of the year, as you well know. Millions of people hitting the roads and the skies for the holiday. You're looking at -- of at least a few of those people. Man, they jammed the 405 in Los Angeles. That must have been like hell on earth, right.

And no day is complete on Thanksgiving without long lines at the airport. One of the busiest airports, of course, O'Hare in Chicago. It did avoid a workers strike, but there's another potential strike that they have no control over. Let's go to CNN's Ryan Young. He's live in Chicago at O'Hare.

Good morning.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

You know, I have to react to that video that you shoed from L.A. That was unbelievable video. That traffic jam was amazing.

That's not happening here. As you can imagine, sometimes at this airport people's faces are all scrunched up, they're upset, they're angry. Look at the line behind me. This is tremendous. This has been going so fast. In fact, we had a TSA worker tell us, this is what they expect. They want to get people though pretty quickly.

And we've been counting the people at the back of the line, about five minutes for people to get from the front to the back. That is pretty quick, especially at this airport. There's some 47 million -- close to, you know, 48 million people who are going to be traveling. That's record numbers. And today's supposed to be one of the busiest travel days.

And, look, I grabbed a family just to asked them, did you guys get here early expecting a huge crush of folks? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We did. We arrived about three and half hours

early just in case, you know. So, but, we're here. We're early. We'll get coffee. We're excited.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doesn't look too bad.

YOUNG: Yes, it doesn't look too bad at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're going to get some breakfast and just going to hang out.

YOUNG: And have you guys travelled during the Thanksgiving period before? Are --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes. Or just any time here at O'Hare. You never know what you're going to get. So, good to get here early, figure it out.

YOUNG: And had to take this opportunity to introduce us to the little one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, say hi. This is Wren. Little Wreny Moo (pH).

YOUNG: OK. Well, thank you, guys. Happy Thanksgiving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy Thanksgiving.

YOUNG: Have safe travels. Thanks you guys for staying around. Appreciate it. Always got to get the little ones in.

But, look, this is the point that they were trying to make to us. People get here a lot earlier. There's no stress. It's been nice to be here actually. People are waving at the camera. It's always a good day when people are happy and not stressed out about the travel, Carol.

COSTELLO: You got it. I was digging that baby's hat. I want one for myself.

YOUNG: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Ryan, happy Thanksgiving Day. Bye, Ryan.

YOUNG: Happy Thanksgiving.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

YOUNG: (INAUDIBLE).

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, with much of the nation still deeply divided, I'm checking in with some powerhouse women post- election. First up, Roxane Gay, who's hoping for a little holiday magic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: What do you think it will take for the country to come together?

ROXANE GAY, AUTHOR AND PROFESSOR: A Christmas miracle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:05] COSTELLO: I know you're busy this morning prepping for Thanksgiving. The food will be great, of course, although it might get a tad spicy at the table. And I'm not talking about the food. In the month and a half leading up to Mr. Trump's inauguration, I'll be talking to prominent women about the election, feminism and family, and what the conversation might be like at the table this turkey day.

First up, Roxane Gay, author of the best-seller, "Bad Feminist." She's also a professor at Perdue and an opinion writer for "The New York Times."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: What do you think it will take for the country to come together?

ROXANE GAY, AUTHOR AND PROFESSOR: A Christmas miracle.

COSTELLO: Santa Claus?

GAY: I don't know what it would take. I really don't know because I thought that -- I thought with Barack Obama's presidency and him being elected twice and his unprecedented approval ratings, I thought that would be enough to show that change does work out sometimes. So I don't know what it's going to take. But I hope that we figure it out soon.

COSTELLO: Thanksgiving is coming up.

GAY: Uh-huh. Good time for Thanksgiving at the table.

COSTELLO: A good time for Thanksgiving, right?

GAY: It's going to be awesome.

COSTELLO: So, when you sit down with your family to have Thanksgiving, will you talk about politics?

GAY: Oh, yes, absolutely. I have a Republican brother.

COSTELLO: Is he the lone Republican voice in the --

GAY: Absolutely. Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Oh, my gosh.

GAY: He -- you know, he's a businessman. He's a CEO. So he has a different view, but he voted for Hillary Clinton, thank goodness. So we can speak to him. He won't be banished. COSTELLO: But you truly wouldn't speak to a relative who voted for

Trump?

GAY: Oh, of course. I mean it depends. I mean I think that a vote for Trump is a vote against so much of what I stand for and believe in that I would have a hard time. But I think it's very easy to say, oh, I'm never going to speak to you again and, in reality, you love who you love. And so I think a lot of people are going to bridge the distances between them and their family members over the holidays and, you know, I honestly can't fault that.

[09:55:10] COSTELLO: Are you rooting for Donald Trump to --

GAY: No. Absolutely not.

COSTELLO: You're -- you're not.

GAY: But I'm not rooting -- I mean, to root for him to fail, it would mean that hundreds of millions of people would be affected, not only here, but abroad. And so I'm not rooting for him, but I don't wish for him to fail spectacularly because of the consequences of that failure. You know, I hope he does the job well because he owes it to the American people. But I am not going to support him in any way.

COSTELLO: So what would you say to those Republicans who say, oh, come on, stop crying about this. It's over. You lost.

GAY: Oh, we're not crying about it. We are preparing for the worst case scenario because it's here. These aren't tears. This is anger and frustration and worry. And so I think that what they're saying is, I think they're being sore winners, quite frankly. Relax. Your guy won. So, shut up and let us do the work that we need to do.

COSTELLO: Why do you think that some of white America think they're being left behind?

GAY: Because I think a lot of people believe that the American dream means that everyone is a millionaire. And sometimes the American dream means that you're alive and you have health care and a roof over your head and food on the table. Unfortunately, too many Americans don't even have that. And, I get it, we live in a capitalist society and I enjoy money, certainly, and so I think that people should be able to have what they want, but it's just not going to happen magically. You have to make certain choices in order for it to happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Roxane Gay, many thanks.

In the weeks ahead, I'll sit down with a number of powerful, diverse, very wise women. So stay tuned.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: America, meet Tater and Tot. President Obama will give these two lucky turkeys the traditional Thanksgiving pardon this afternoon. According to the White House, Tot has a confident gobble style and Tater walks with quite a swagger. The annual White House tradition dates back to 1947. It's a tradition President Obama has clearly not taken lightly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, there are certain days that remind me of why I ran for this office. And then there are moments like this, where I pardon a turkey and send it to Disneyland.

It's kind of like a turkey version of "Dancing with the Stars."

I've been taking a series of executive actions that don't require congressional approval. Well, here's another one. We can't wait to pardon these turkeys.

[10:00:03] Love this bird.

The most powerful position in the world brings with it many awesome and solemn responsibilities. This is not one of them.