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New Day
Protester Shot by Police in Hong Kong; Housing Boom in Florida; Peter King Won't Run for Re-Election; Democratic Presidential Race; Vikings Win Gives Boost to Playoff Prospects; Record-Breaking Arctic Blast; Facebook Mulls Changes. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired November 11, 2019 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:30:11]
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, breaking news overnight. Violent clashes between police and protesters in Hong Kong, riot police using tear gas to disperse crowds across the city. But the situation escalated after a protester was shot by police. Video of this shooting has been shared online and we want to warn you, it is graphic.
An officer is seen grappling with a protester. When another approaches, the officer raises his gun and then shoots the protester at close range. Hospital officials say the victim is in critical condition at this hour.
CNN's Ivan Watson is live in Hong Kong with the latest.
What is the latest at this hour, Ivan?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.
The police are defending that officer's actions. They're saying that he was acting in self-defense.
Meanwhile, here, after a day of tension, it's an all too common scene, riot police in what is supposed to be a very busy commercial district after more clashes throughout the day.
But these scenes of really disturbing scenes of violence, they seem to have brought Hong Kong to a new low. In one of them you see what appear to be protesters dousing a man who is defending Beijing and the authorities with fuel. And then we can't show all of this video. And then set him on fire. He's in critical condition in the hospital.
The leader of Hong Kong is defending her actions and the police's actions, saying -- calling the protesters the enemy of the people. And what it really looks like is a city that had had a reputation of efficiency and safety, a former British colony, an international financial hub. Instead, more than five months now, this political crisis going on, it's plunged it into an economic recession. The local stock market saw its worst day of trading in more than three months. A local university having to cancel graduation ceremonies this week. And both sides have grown increasingly violent. Amnesty International
accusing the riot police of being out of control. And it seems like both sides are in a race to the bottom when it comes to the violence we're seeing week after week.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Ivan, please stay safe on the streets there as obviously that situation develops.
Meanwhile, we do have breaking news overnight from Bolivia, where there is chaos in the streets following the resignation of President Evo Morales. It's uncertain who's going to run that country next or what role the military will play in the transition. The three top officials in the presidential line of succession have also resigned. The resignation from Morales comes after weeks of protests sparked by an international audit that found serious irregularities in last month's election. The current whereabouts of Morales are unknown.
CAMEROTA: Back here in the U.S., Florida is in the middle of a housing market boom after facing a major crisis a decade ago. And it has many voters feeling confident about the economy. So, how do they feel about the president and about impeachment?
CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich spoke to votes in Florida and she joins us with the story.
What did you learn, Vanessa?
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.
About 350,000 people every year are moving to the state of Florida, in part because of the strong economy and the booming housing market there. So we went there to Tampa, Florida, and spoke to voters about whether or not they think that the president deserves credit for this surging housing market.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
YURKEVICH (voice over): This is Tampa, Florida, and there's construction everywhere. More than 900 people a day are moving to Florida. Real estate agent Nicholas Palazzolo sees it firsthand in Tampa.
NICHOLAS PALAZZOLO, REALTOR, KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY: It's growing like crazy. It's booming every day.
YURKEVICH: Ten years ago, Florida was the poster child for the housing crash in 2008. But today median home prices here in Tampa are beating expectations, up over 200 percent since the crash.
PALAZZOLO: When the economy's good, you know, people have money to spend. So we're buying more houses, selling more houses.
YURKEVICH: President Trump won Florida in 2016 with 49 percent of the vote. And Palazzolo, who supports him, says Trump's been good for business.
PALAZZOLO: With him in office doing what he's doing is helping our economy grow here. So that's good for all of us, especially in our industry, because the better the economy, the more houses being sold.
YURKEVICH: It's not just downtown. The suburbs are heating up too, which is why Tara Sinatra decided to move here five years ago.
YURKEVICH (on camera): You saw this place as having high growth potential.
TARA SINATRA, REGISTERED REPUBLICAN: Major, yes.
YURKEVICH: And has it lived up to that promise?
SINATRA: Exactly. It's actually exceeded.
YURKEVICH (voice over): Sinatra lives in Pasco County, a Republican stronghold that overwhelmingly supported the president in 2016.
SINATRA: I'm proud of the way he wants our country to go.
[06:35:05]
I'm proud that I'm able to flourish in my business and not be taken advantage of.
YURKEVICH (on camera): If you were in a different financial situation, would you still feel the same way about him?
SINATRA: Yes.
YURKEVICH: You would?
SINATRA: Yes, 100 percent.
YURKEVICH (voice over): But not all residents are thriving here in Tampa.
LILLIAN STRINGER, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, TAMPA HOUSING AUTHORITY: It's booming for those who can afford luxury condos. But for those people who are looking for affordable housing, housing assistance is virtually zero.
YURKEVICH: Lillian Stringer, a Democrat, works for the Tampa Housing Authority in Hillsboro County, which swung for Hillary Clinton in 2016. She believes Trump needs to do more.
STRINGER: How can you say that, that you are happy with the present administration when it's their charge, they can make a difference, and they're not.
YURKEVICH: Jennifer and Jason Catalanotto, realtors and Republicans, bought their home in 2015 and are profiting from the current real estate market. JENNIFER CATALANOTTO, REALTOR, KELLER WILLIAMS NEW TAMPA: It's just
shocking to see that only a few years later it's worth a couple hundred thousand more than what it was when we purchased it.
JASON CATALANOTTO, REGISTERED REPUBLICAN: And that's even spurring more money into the local economy.
YURKEVICH: The couple is happy with Trump, but say he doesn't make or break their bottom line.
J. CATALANOTTO: We've succeeded in both administrations, right? When Obama was in, we were successful. When Trump's in, we're successful.
YURKEVICH: Fellow Republican Mark McBride owns the home right next to the Catalanottos.
MARK MCBRIDE, REGISTERED REPUBLICAN: We got an excellent deal on it and it was being at the right place at the right time.
YURKEVICH: McBride, a reluctant Trump supporter, agrees the economy is doing well, but he'd prefer another option in 2020.
MCBRIDE: I'm certainly not that impressed with him. When you look at the economy and you look at cycles, they do go in cycles. And so is this -- this rebound attributed to Donald Trump and his policies or is it just he's at the right place at the right time, like I was when I bought this house?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YURKEVICH: Now, many of these voters that we spoke to say that impeachment -- they're not turning their eye on impeachment, but it is not affecting their support of the president. Many have decided already that they will be voting for President Trump in 2020.
And, John and Alisyn, something we found around the country is that when voters are feeling very good about the economy, they have a job, they're getting a paycheck, they are usually keen to support the current person in office, and that, of course, is President Trump.
John and Alisyn.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Who is also a new Florida resident, we might add as well.
CAMEROTA: Which will help -- only help the enthusiasm, I think, for him there.
BERMAN: One might think. Yes.
All right, Vanessa, thank you very much for that.
All right, we have breaking news just in. We just learned of a major new congressional retirement. We'll tell you who's leaving, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:41:42]
CAMEROTA: OK, we do begin with a little breaking political news. Republican Congressman Peter King has just announced that he will not run for re-election.
Joining us now to talk about this and more we have Michael Smerconish, a CNN political commentator and host of CNN's "SMERCONISH."
So, Michael, Peter King, I mean what -- he's a -- he's a -- you know, fixture in Congress and he says here in his statement, I've decided not to be a candidate for re-election. After 28 years of spending four days a week in Washington, D.C., it is time to end the weekly commute and be home in Seaford.
You know, this -- he's -- he's just one of kind of a host of Republicans who have decided to call it quits.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He is. And, of course you wonder, is it attributable to the climate? Is it attributable to what's coming in 2020? His response is to say that has none of it to do in terms of an explanation. He's been at it for a long, long time. He's 75. He wants to stay at home. And he made clear in that statement that he will vote against the impeachment of President Trump and will be supporting his re-election. I guess, Alisyn, lest anyone should speculate that he's had enough with the direction of the GOP.
BERMAN: Yes. And one case is one case. But when you look at the overall numbers, what you do see is a rather high amount, a high number of Republicans, including Republicans in senior positions, leaving. And, generally speaking, and Peter King's example might be different, but, generally speaking, you don't quit if you think you're going to end up in the majority in a year, generally speaking. But Peter King's case might be different.
Michael, let's switch gears to 2020 and the Democrats.
Sorry, do you want to weigh in there?
SMERCONISH: No, no, I was going to agree with what you say. I mean I think the numbers 18 or 19 who are in the House right now, Republican who are deciding they're going to get out.
BERMAN: CNN's got a really interesting town hall tonight with former Vice President Joe Biden where he will answer questions on a range of subjects. Obviously one of the new subjects he's dealing with is the entry perhaps of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg into the race.
Our Dana Bash caught up with the vice president and asked him about it. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think he should jump in the race. I mean I -- he's a good guy. He's done a lot of good. And let's see what happens.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And the notion that the current field is not --
BIDEN: Well, the current field --
BASH: Prepared to beat Donald Trump, which is what's motivating him? That's what his top advisers say.
BIDEN: Well, I've noticed that every single poll that's run, I beat him like a drum, as I said. There's -- and states to the south and states in the Midwest and states around the -- so, look, I -- look, if he wants to run, he should just get in and run.
BASH: You're not taking it personally?
BIDEN: No, no, no, no, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Again, we're going to hear much more from the former vice president tonight, Michael. What do you think he needs to do on that stage and in the next few days?
SMERCONISH: I keep thinking that Bloomberg's entry increases the odds that this is going to go on for a while. I mean Joe Biden is not at the top of the heap right now in Iowa probably or New Hampshire. He's running very strong according to the polls in Nevada, and especially in South Carolina. And then Michael Bloomberg gets in.
You know that Super Tuesday is going to be different this year because both California and Texas have moved their dates forward. So March the 3rd is a very important day. Now Bloomberg is in, presumably spending a lot of money. And given the proportionate nature of the way that Democratic candidates are selecting their nominee, I just think this could go on and the field won't get winnowed like the Republican field did in 2016.
[06:45:07]
CAMEROTA: As you know, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has had a bit of a surge in polls lately. And Senator Amy Klobuchar, another presidential candidate, of course, sees something, I think, interesting. She framed it in an interesting way that we hadn't heard before. Here's what she said about Pete Buttigieg versus some of the women, the female candidates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of the women on the stage, I'm focusing here on my fellow women senators, Senator Harris, Senator Warren, and myself. Do I think that we would be standing on that stage if we had the experience that he had? No, I don't. Maybe we're held to a different standard.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMEROTA: I don't know, Michael, I hadn't thought of it that way, but if they were -- if they were small town mayors virtually instead of sitting senators with their experience, would they be getting all of this attention? I mean of course it's unknowable, but I just thought it was interesting to hear her say that.
What do you hear?
SMERCONISH: It is unknowable. My hunch is there's truth in what she says.
Now, part of his appeal also is in that newness, right? People who are looking for something completely different than what's going on in Washington today. He's a very appealing candidate.
But I've long believed, gender aside, that sooner or later people are going to say, wait a minute, we like him, we like his credentials, he really seems like an up and comer. But is it too big of a leap to go from being the mayor of South Bend to be president of the United States? Although, Alisyn, I'm reminded that in 2008 I remember people who said, wait a minute, he's only a junior senator from the state of Illinois. Then again, Barack Obama was in the U.S. Senate and not a relatively small town mayor.
BERMAN: Michael Smerconish, great to have you on this morning. Thanks so much for being with us.
Former Vice President Joe Biden takes questions from voters live in Iowa in a CNN Democratic presidential town hall. This is less than a hundred days before the pivotal Iowa caucuses. CNN's Erin Burnett moderates. That's tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.
CAMEROTA: You are really keeping tabs on the calendar. So you must be quite confused about the weather right now.
BERMAN: It's very cold, but, you know, we say 100 -- I think it's less than 90 days at this point.
CAMEROTA: See, this is what I mean.
BERMAN: Right.
CAMEROTA: You -- you're the -- you're doing math.
BERMAN: I mean it's -- it's tomorrow.
CAMEROTA: OK. It may look like fall, but there's an arctic blast coming this week. We have all the details for you, next.
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[06:50:52]
CAMEROTA: Well, the Vikings pulled off something that they have not done in almost two years. BERMAN: You didn't think it could happen.
CAMEROTA: No, I didn't. I mean I'll tell you what it is, John.
BERMAN: All right.
CAMEROTA: They beat a winning team on the road, all right?
Carolyn Manno has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."
Hi, Carolyn.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Very well done, Alisyn. Yes, thanks for bringing that to the table this morning.
CAMEROTA: I can -- you probably didn't know that, but that's what they did.
MANNO: That's what they did. They are hitting their stride right now as we move into the second half of the season. Minnesota on a short list of Super Bowl contenders. But they have to win on the big stage. Sunday night football against the Cowboys certainly qualifies as winning on the big state. Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott had Twitter buzzing with his, let's call it unique warm-up routine. Johnny (INAUDIBLE) at the gym maybe. Seemed to --
BERMAN: I just -- I just pulled a muscle -- I just pulled a muscle watching that.
MANNO: You know, it worked for a little bit. He threw for nearly 400 yards and three touchdowns. Dallas had a one-point lead late in the third quarter, but Minnesota had the league's leading rusher, Dalvin Cook. He gave the Cowboys defense fits. Ninety-seven yards on the ground, including the go-ahead touchdown on the fourth down. Eighty- six yards receiving to set up three other scores. The Vikings rally to beat the Cowboys by four.
Meantime, a skydiver at Lambeau Field just overshot the landing a little bit during half-time of Sunday's Packers/Panthers game. He was unharmed, OK, after hitting the wall. But this is certainly something that Christian McCaffrey can relate to. Snowy scene late in the game. Panthers running back stuffed just inches short of the goal line as the clock ran out on a frantic rally. It nearly ended with an unlikely upset in Green Bay. The Packers improve to 8-2.
And in his latest jaw-dropping performance, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson delivering one of the most memorable plays of the year, straight out of a video game. Spin move against Cincinnati grew to a 47 yard touchdown run. Ridiculous. Oh, by the way, the 22-year-old, perfect passer rating in two games this season. The Ravens blow out the winless Bengals by 36.
And, you know what, you can wear sunglasses on the sideline if you're Lamar Jackson. Sure, you can do whatever you want. I think his teammate, veteran safety Earl Thomas said it best, he said that's just Lamar. This is what he does. He's very special, as you know. BERMAN: That's just phenomenal. He is good.
MANNO: Yes. Yes, he's really good.
BERMAN: All right, Carolyn, thanks so much.
CAMEROTA: Thank you.
BERMAN: Break out the heavy coats and the long johns. An arctic blast set to bring record low temperatures and snow.
What's so funny?
CAMEROTA: I don't know.
BERMAN: I look good in long johns.
CAMEROTA: Hearing -- yes, you're wearing them right now.
BERMAN: As far as you know.
Let's go to Chad Myers for the forecast.
I don't think it's as funny as she does, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I don't own a pair of long johns and I don't know anyone that does. So, John, you're the one.
Cold air is on the way. It's already in Chicago. It's already in Omaha. And it's coming. Coming to the south and coming to the east. We will break hundreds of record lows over the next couple of days.
Now, those are November records. This air isn't as cold as it's going to be in January. And this air wouldn't break any records in January. But it's snowing in Chicago. It's snowing in Detroit. We'll also see some snow into Buffalo certainly through upstate New York and New England as we work our way through the rest of today and into tomorrow. And it certainly cools down. The snow will be heavy enough to shovel in many locations you see here in purple.
Temperatures, though, are the story. They're all the way down to the Gulf Coast. Temperatures are going to be in the 20s and 30s. A killing frost for many plants down there for sure. And then beginning to warm up a little bit by Wednesday. The problem truly will be the morning lows.
This is take care of your pet kind of weather here when you see morning lows in Detroit of six, and that's not a windchill, that's the air temperature. So it's going to be a shock to the system for many people there, including us down here in the south.
Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: John also wears mittens he just told me.
BERMAN: And nothing else. CAMEROTA: What?
BERMAN: What?
CAMEROTA: Chad, I'm sorry.
BERMAN: Look, if you're going to do this, I'm going to play.
CAMEROTA: Yes, I can see that.
BERMAN: All right.
CAMEROTA: You've come to play today.
BERMAN: I've come to play.
CAMEROTA: All right, Facebook is facing growing backlash over its controversial policy not to fact check political ads. In her new book "Don't Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed its Founding Principles and All of Us," Rana Foroohar explores how big tech has strayed from its original purpose and exploited users in the process.
And Rana joins us now.
Rana, great to have you here.
RANA FOROOHAR, AUTHOR, "DON'T BE EVIL": Nice to be here.
CAMEROTA: Your book gives me like a three-week headache about how -- because this is --
FOROOHAR: Oh, no. There's a solutions section at the end.
CAMEROTA: I know, but I'm going to get to that. I'm so happy that we're going to get to the solution. But when you say, don't be evil and how it's betrayed us, how has big tech betrayed us?
[06:55:06]
FOROOHAR: Well, you know, my book is a 20 year arch from Silicon Valley being kind of a utopia, you know, and they were supposed to make the world connected, make information free, all of that, to dis- topia (ph), which is where we are now, election meddling, our children being addicted to social media, monopoly power, you know? And so there's really this stew of issues. And I'm kind of connecting all three of those dots in this book.
CAMEROTA: And I so appreciate you diving into this so the rest of us don't have to because it is overwhelming.
FOROOHAR: Somebody has to do it.
CAMEROTA: I mean it -- I feel -- it feels like we're powerless --
FOROOHAR: Yes.
CAMEROTA: To what they're going to do, particularly as we approach another election.
FOROOHAR: Yes.
CAMEROTA: Why wouldn't Facebook fact check their political ads?
FOROOHAR: Well, it's really interesting. All the platforms should be fact checking their political ads. I think it should be government controlled. I think there should be government rules. I don't really want Mark Zuckerberg to be deciding what is and isn't true on Facebook, but there need to be rules.
The reason that they don't want to police is that it opens up the box of liability, which, you know, in the early 1990s when the Internet was started and thee guys were kind of, you know, entrepreneurs in garages, there were loopholes that were carved out so that platforms didn't have to take responsibility for anything that people did or said on them.
Now, traditional media, as we know, does have to take responsibility. These companies are basically giant advertising firms. If you think about Google and Facebook, they get, you know, 80 to 85 percent of their revenues through advertising. They're monetizing content. They're basically publishers. And so they need to be taking responsibility in the same way. But they kind of want to have it both ways.
But I tell you, Alisyn, I think that we are coming to a break point here. In 2020 this is going to be a big issue. I mean Elizabeth Warren definitely wants to break up the tech companies. I think a number of candidates want to do the same thing. And I see on both sides of the political aisle, for different reasons, people coming together and saying these companies are too big, they're too powerful, they're the biggest lobbyers in Washington right now. So, a lot of power.
CAMEROTA: On a -- I mean on another note, I do worry about our kids.
FOROOHAR: Yes, well, that's how I --
CAMEROTA: I just worry about how ubiquitous --
FOROOHAR: Yes.
CAMEROTA: All of this is in their live. You write in the book, one of the reasons that we have not yet figured out ways to curb the power of big tech, despite all the evidence of how it's tearing at the fabric of our society is simply that we are too busy being distracted by the bright and shiny products and services they make. It's a cruel irony. We're all too addicted to our gadgets and apps and Facebook pages to address the problems of technology.
FOROOHAR: Well, you know, that's actually how I got interested in writing this book. Not only the economic and political power of big tech, but my own son actually went down a rabbit hole with video gaming. And I come home one day, looked at my credit card, he had racked up $900 in charges in a supposedly free game. By the way, a lot of these products are given away for free and then you -- you are sold things, kids are sold things in the game. And, you know, you -- you're just pulled in, pulled in, pulled in. All of this power is brought to this technology to keep us online so that they can harvest our data, which is the new oil of our economy.
So it's surveillance capitalism. And I think we really are at a point where we need to have a big, societal conversation about how this is going to go.
CAMEROTA: And what is the answer? How can we feel better today about all of this?
FOROOHAR: Yes. Well, I think there's going to be a big antitrust case coming. And I think that's going to change a lot.
You know, if you look at the last big antitrust case in the U.S., it was Microsoft. And in some ways the fact that -- the government looked so closely at Microsoft meant that companies like Google could be born.
You know, we have an idea sometimes that if we break up big companies it's going to hurt innovation. Actually, it allows new players to get into the field. And I think that there is going to be a big anti-trust case coming.
CAMEROTA: Look, the book is called "Don't Be Evil." And I think that everybody needs to read it because things that we think are innocent where we just check our social media every day --
FOROOHAR: Yes.
CAMEROTA: You put it through an entirely different lens and talk about kind of how manipulative it is and what we need to know.
FOROOHAR: Yes.
CAMEROTA: So I really appreciate the heads up.
Rana, great to see you, as always.
FOROOHAR: Thank you so much. Great to see you.
CAMEROTA: John.
BERMAN: I'm still thinking about that $900 bill she came home to.
FOROOHAR: Oh, I know. Horrible.
BERMAN: Whoa, that's just (INAUDIBLE) for all of us.
CAMEROTA: Video games.
FOROOHAR: I took -- passwords were changed, let me tell you.
BERMAN: Oh, that's true (ph).
All right, thank you very much. An historic week ahead. Public impeachment hearings set to begin. We have the latest twists.
NEW DAY continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open hearings on the impeachment inquiry start Wednesday.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I consider any impeachment in the House that doesn't allow us to know who the whistleblower is to be invalid.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whistleblower, he was third hand. We have Colonel Vindman who was actually on the call who will be in a position to testify.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is Biden's third go at the presidency. He's fighting a two-front war against Democratic rivals and the president.
You're holding Biden signs and you're still not 100 percent?
Are Donald Trump's attacks on you helping you?
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, they are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
[07:00:00]
BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. And it is Veterans Day. And this morning we honor all the men and women who have served this country. And I know you have a very interesting
