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Storm Impacts Holiday Travel; Trouble for Cowboys; Johnson Skips Climate Debate; Kurds say Turkey is Targeting Medical Teams; Reduced NATO Aid; More Effective Flu Shots. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired November 29, 2019 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:31:43]
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so gusty winds did not ground the iconic Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloons as some had predicted, but handlers did struggle --
JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: Ooof (ph).
CAMEROTA: To rein in some of these balloons. Did you just see what that nutcracker did to that woman?
AVLON: Oh.
CAMEROTA: Watch what happens when a gust came and the nutcracker knocked over one of the marchers.
AVLON: Oh, that's going to leave a mark.
CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh.
AVLON: And -- but she's fine.
CAMEROTA: Yes. Yes.
AVLON: We should tell people that.
CAMEROTA: Yes. We're happy to report she immediately got back up and soldiered on, continuing to march.
AVLON: I'll tell you, knocked down by the nutcracker and all I got was that viral video. That's a hell of a moment. That's amazing.
CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, there's another winter storm that will cause more travel trouble for people trying to get home on Sunday.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has our forecast.
What now, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Alisyn, it's causing flash flood warnings around Phoenix right now. I don't get to say that very often with heavy rain in Phoenix.
Temperatures outside right now aren't that cold. That's the good news. If you want to go shopping, it's not brutal out there.
But here's what's going to happen over the next couple of days. We're going to go down. We're going to see this much colder air work its way into our forecast.
Here comes the rainfall. Right through parts of the Midwest. And then into Chicago and into Ohio. The problem is, these current temperatures that you have right now are going to slide enough to make significant cold air for snow and ice over the Poconos, the Allegheny's, the Catskills and all of New England as we work our way into the weekend.
There it is, it's out west. It's far, far away. It's thousands of miles away, but it's on its way. The track takes it over Ohio, into Pennsylvania. And by the time we work our way into Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon, it will be snowing and it will snow for a couple of days. So once you get stuck in New England with this and you can't get home, you're going to be stuck for a couple of days. Keep it in mind, try to get out on Saturday, if you can. I know airplanes don't fly all the time and there aren't empty seats, usually, but tomorrow would be a good day to try to make some new plans as you work your way into Sunday.
It's going to keep snowing. This is going to snow all the way through Monday afternoon. And New England, all the models agree, somewhere between six and 12 inches of snow.
We'll update you on Phoenix coming up in the next coming hours because there's a lot of rain out there. Flash flood warnings all over the place out there.
AVLON: Brutal.
CAMEROTA: Wow.
AVLON: Winter is here.
CAMEROTA: Keep an eye on that for us, please, Chad. Thank you.
MYERS: You're welcome.
AVLON: Yes, in the meantime, the Dallas Cowboys are in deep trouble after another tough loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Carolyn Manno has more in the "Bleacher Report."
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, you guys.
The Cowboys didn't have it quite as bad as those poor people handling that nutcracker, but I think it might have been close because a lot of people were already calling for head coach Jason Garrett's job, and that is not going to change after a Thanksgiving dud.
Cowboys-Buffalo tied in the second. Buffalo pulling out the turkey day trick play. Double reverse wide receiver pass. John Brown to Devin Singletary. Nobody in sight. Buffalo is surging right now, 5-1 on the road, 9-3 overall. Dak dancing, stuffing their faces all the way to a win, while the Cowboys were 6-6. They still haven't beaten a team with a winning record this season.
Meantime, the Saints are the first team to punch their tickets to the playoffs thanks to a big day from third string quarterback Taysom Hill. Hill rumbling 30 yards through the Falcons defense for a touchdown. He also had a receiving touchdown and a blocked punt on the night. Huge night for him. Saints win by eight.
[06:35:08]
And nothing on the line but pride in Detroit for the Lions and Bears and, oh, my.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): There's something --
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MANNO: A power outage briefly interrupting the game's half-time performance. Eventually, after 60 painful seconds, the set went on as planned (ph). Bears got the win 24-20. I guess it was an outside power failure.
CAMEROTA: Ooof (ph).
MANNO: But just another excuse, I guess, if you're a fan to go back to the fridge and nothing much happening at half-time and nothing much happening during the game either.
AVLON: The Bears, though.
MANNO: Yes.
AVLON: How about it?
MANNO: Yes.
CAMEROTA: Thank you, Carolyn.
MANNO: Sure.
AVLON: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: All right, Britain's conservative party not happy that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was replaced by a melting ice sculpture at a televised climate debate. We have a live report on this from London, next.
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[06:40:17] AVLON: Political party leaders in Britain touting their climate credentials in the first-ever election debate entirely focused on the climate crisis. But notably absent from the stage was British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. And so he was replaced by a melting ice sculpture.
CNN's Nina Dos Santos live in London with more.
Nina, tell us all about it.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN EUROPE EDITOR: Good morning to you, John.
Well, this was supposed to be a chance for the main leaders of the U.K.'s big parties, two weeks before the general election, to lay out how they would tackle one of the most pressing issues of our age, climate change, and how to curb or halt those carbon emissions. But instead it turned into a row (ph) over empty chairing in spectacular fashion. Boris Johnson, as you mentioned, and also Nigel Farage, the two proponents of Brexit, were no shows despite repeated requests to attend by the broadcaster channel for which then decided to symbolically replace them with these sculptures made of ice that started to melt as this one-hour-long debate got increasingly heated.
Well, that has prompted an official complaint by the conservative party to the U.K.'s broadcasting regulator. Ofcom saying that this was a clearly politicized stunt. Something that Channel 4 News, through its editor, Ben Depa (ph), has decided to refute emphatically. He said in a statement, these two ice sculpture represent the emergency on planet earth, not in any human form, but they are a visual metaphor for the conservative and Brexit parties after their leaders declined our repeated invitations to attend tonight's vital climate change debate.
Now, John and Alisyn, the big question I hear you asking is, will any of this really make a difference on Boris Johnson's chances of getting back into Number Ten Downing Street? The answer based on yesterday's poll figures that were released is, probably not.
The most accurate type of survey that we saw in the last 2017 general election that correctly predicted that Theresa May would lose her majority back then has also predicted that Boris Johnson is on track to win by a comfortable majority, and that would mean that the conservatives, if they do get through into 10 Downing Street in two- week's time, wouldn't have to govern with anybody else. Something that we haven't seen in a good couple of years here in the U.K.
Back to you, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Really interesting, Nina. Thank you very much for all of that reporting.
So it's been about a month since President Trump abandoned America's Kurdish allies on the Syria/Turkey border. A cease-fire is technically in place, but violations are frequent. And now the Kurds claim Turkey is targeting their medical infrastructure.
We want to warn you that some of these next images are disturbing.
Here's CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Doctors perform surgeries by head lamp as a battle rages. This was the scene at the Vaselheign (ph) Hospital as the Turkish military continued its offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria.
Medic Jamila Ahami (ph) was inside and quickly realized there was no way in or out.
JAMILA AHAMI (ph), MEDIC (through translator): It's a very difficult feeling when you know your hospital is going to be destroyed and the ambulances are going to be destroyed and there's just a few steps between you and the wounded but you can't go to save them. The screams of the children from Rast al-Ran (ph) are still ringing in my ear.
WARD: It was the first but not the last time Kurdish authorities would accuse Turkish forces of targeting medical infrastructure. A charge that Turkey strongly denies. According to the Rojava (ph) Information Center, Kurdish ambulances and clinics have regularly been hit and at least five medical workers killed.
Paramedic Loui Baket (ph) tells us he was driving to the frontlines when a rocket landed right in front of his ambulance. Petrified, he and his co-workers jumped out of their vehicle and hid by the side of the road. Then another rocket hit.
LOUI BAKET (ph), PARAMEDIC (through translator): Once I regained consciousness, I looked down and my leg was bleeding. I tried to move my arm and I couldn't. I looked at all my colleagues with me and none of them were moving. They were lying still. Some were screaming and calling for help.
WARD: One of them, 23-year-old Hyal Sali (ph) was killed.
But the threat is not just from munitions. The Kurdish Red Crescent says three of its workers were kidnapped and murdered by Turkish backed fighters. Human rights groups have accused Turkish proxies on the ground of rampant abuses and even extrajudicial killings. The U.N. and the U.S. have urged Turkey to investigate.
[06:45:06]
Officially there is now a cease-fire in place here, but violations are frequent.
WARD (on camera): You can hear the sounds of those jets circling overhead. Jamila was telling us it's like this all day, every day.
WARD (voice over): Over the past few weeks, a steady stream of casualties has flowed into her hospital, many of them civilians. Despite the risks, Jamila says she has no intention of stopping her work. AHAMI: Everyone is afraid of the sound of a plane or a shell, but we
have people who need us and we have to rescue them.
WARD: As long as the violence continues, she fears there will be many more lives to save.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Keltumer (ph), Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AVLON: Clarissa, thank you for that extraordinary reporting, as always.
Meanwhile, President Trump announcing that he is cutting U.S. aid to NATO just days before next week's summit. So how's that decision going to play with America's allies? That's next.
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[06:50:11]
CAMEROTA: President Trump heads to London on Monday for the annual NATO Summit. The trip comes just days after the NATO secretary-general announced the United States will give less money to the alliance.
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JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: The U.S. will pay less. Germany will pay more. So now the U.S. and Germany will pay the same, roughly 16 percent, of NATO's (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Joining us now, CNN global affairs analyst Susan Glasser. She's a staff writer at "The New Yorker."
Good morning, Susan.
SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good morning. How are you?
CAMEROTA: I'm doing well.
So tell us the significance of lowering the U.S. investment from, I think, 22 percent to 16 percent, something that President Trump has long talked about wanting to do.
GLASSER: Those words (INAUDIBLE) are magic to President Trump's ears. The U.S. will now pay the same amount as Germany. He's been obsessed, as you know, not only with the issue of NATO spending since he came into office, but specifically with the role of Germany and its chancellor, Angela Merkel.
By the way, this cut is purely symbolic. What we're talking about is to the overhead budget of NATO, which is a relatively small, not even $3 billion. And so essentially it's a symbolic gesture toward the president in hopes of smoothing over -- by the way, don't calling it a summit. They officially are calling it a leaders meeting. In part, the anxiety is so notable among other NATO leaders about President Trump and what he's going to do when they get together. This year's the historic 70th anniversary of NATO. It was celebrated here in Washington in the spring, but they didn't have a formal leader summit in part because the other leaders are so concerned about President Trump and what he's going to do to blow up the alliance possibly.
And, of course, then the other big issue will be Turkey and Syria and this rift within the alliance.
CAMEROTA: As you say, other leaders seem nervous, including close friend and ally Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Here's what he has just said, which seems to be a message directly to President Trump. Listen to this.
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BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: What we don't do, traditionally, as loving allies and friends --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did. He did.
JOHNSON: What we don't do traditionally is get involved in each other's election campaigns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but he did.
JOHNSON: The best -- when you have close friends and allays, like the U.S. and the U.K., the best thing is not --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
JOHNSON: Is for -- for either -- for neither side to get involved in each other's --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: OK, so election day is December 12th. Neither side should get involved, as you heard the prime minister say there. How did you hear that?
GLASSER: Well, look, President Trump is very unpopular in the U.K. and he actually is coming to this meeting in London right in the middle of the height of this heated election campaign. And so I think Johnson is worried in the past President Trump has directly intervened. He went to London and his predecessor, Prime Minister Theresa May, Trump insulted her in an interview. In the past, Trump has been complimentary of Boris Johnson, but he's also phrased his pro -- even more pro-Brexit rival, Nigel Farage. And I imagine that Johnson is just worried about President Trump's unpopularity in London and not wanting either too much of an embrace or an insult.
CAMEROTA: There's all sorts of tension, I mean, for this London trip. You know, even with the royal family. You know, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, has, I guess, announced that she will not be showing up. GLASSER: Well, you know, Trump seemed dazzled -- absolutely dazzled
when he was accorded the honor of a state visit by Queen Elizabeth and, you know, he had a state dinner, he brought his family with him, a large number of his family. But, of course, also London's crowded mobbed with protesters against the president. The famous baby Trump balloon. So it's a very volatile moment to be having this meeting there, both within the NATO alliance and with this really crucial British prime minister's election happening at the exact same moment. It's December 12th is when it's happening.
CAMEROTA: Let's talk about what's happening with China and with the possible trade deal. So, as you know, President Trump signed this Hong Kong Human Rights Act that Congress had sent to his desk. Now what? Does China have much leverage in this -- whatever happens next in these next negotiations?
GLASSER: Well, it's interesting. You know, President Trump had sort of played -- danced around whether he was going to support it or not. But it was produced by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both the U.S. House and Senate in a way that would have made it veto proof. Trump chose not essentially to have a confrontation with Congress and opted for the confrontation of China.
However, it's not clear, you know, how much it means more than a symbolic way.
[06:55:06]
There are sanctions that would be put on Chinese officials and the like. China has said that it will retaliate. The timing here, obviously, is right in the midst of once again trying to produce an actual trade accord -- round one trade agreement is what they're calling it with the Chinese right now. You know, that has been a very elusive deal with the president's re-election year of 2020 moving ever closer. You got to wonder whether Trump sees this himself as some sort of leverage in his talks.
But, remember, he's not exactly been a human rights president. I don't think anyone thinks this is Trump's own foreign policy in this bill, but reflective more of the U.S. political consensus. He himself reportedly told Xi that he would not make too big of an issue. Whenever he mentions Hong Kong, he has said things that were supportive of the protesters, but at the same time he's also said essentially Xi is a very great man, he's a very strong leader, things like that, which have been very complimentary of the Chinese leader.
So, you know, it's hard to see that this is Trump's own policy in effect here. I don't know what his is, by the way.
CAMEROTA: Susan Glasser, thank you, as always, for all of the analysis. Great to talk to you.
GLASSER: Thank you.
AVLON: All right, and the flu season arrived early this year. Experts predict it could be a rough one and they're urging everyone to get a flu shot, even though their effectiveness is coming under new scrutiny.
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen here with more on our efforts to improve the vaccine.
What's up?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the flu shot that we get every year may soon become a thing of the past as scientists work on a better flu shot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN (voice over): Two-year-old Jude Mcgee (ph), 26-year-old newlywed Katie McQuestion (ph), Giana Cabaseg (ph), a four-year-old little girl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her heart stopped beating.
COHEN: They all died of the flu and they'd all had flu shots.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just relax your arm. No, relax your arm. You're OK. Done. Look at that.
COHEN: There's no question you should get a flu shot. Last flu season, the flu killed at least 36,000 people. So this shot could literally save your life. But it's far from perfect.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Even on a good year, influenza effectiveness of the vaccine is about 60 percent. On a bad year, it's as low as 10 percent.
COHEN: Do we need to make a better flu vaccine?
FAUCI: You know, we really absolutely do.
COHEN: In September, President Trump signed an executive order noting that the current system for making flu shots has critical shortcomings. The order pledges to modernize the process.
The first step, stop using eggs to make flu vaccine. They grow the virus in the eggs, like the eggs you eat for breakfast, and then they kill the virus and put it in a vaccine. But sometimes the virus changes inside the egg, so it doesn't end up matching the flu that's out there spreading among people. That's why some companies, like this one, have figured out ways to grow the flu virus without using eggs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here we have the cells growing the virus. The virus stays the same. And when you make the vaccine, it looks closer to what's in the wild.
COHEN (on camera): So no eggs here anywhere?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No eggs here anywhere.
COHEN (voice over): Trump's executive order is designed to encourage more of this technology and something even bigger. Something researchers have been working on for years. A flu vaccine you would get only once in your life instead of once every year.
Karen Crany (ph) is one of the first people in the world to get what's called the universal flu shot as part of a study at the National Institutes of Health.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Invert five times.
COHEN: The shot is prepped and medical history is made.
A universal flu shot is at least a decade away.
FAUCI: Well, it's complicated. It's not going to be easy. But we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
COHEN: So, for now, get your regular flu shot to protect yourself and everyone around you, while we wait for something even better.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: Just to reiterate that point, even though the flu shot isn't perfect, you should still get it. It saves millions of people from getting the flu every year. It saves lives. It could save your life or your child's life. So still get the flu shot even though it's imperfect.
AVLON: Absolutely. A universal flu shot.
COHEN: It would be a cool thing.
AVLON: Amazing.
CAMEROTA: Thank you, Elizabeth.
AVLON: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: All right, President Trump has just arrived back in the United States after his surprise trip to Afghanistan.
And NEW DAY continues right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
CAMEROTA: OK, we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. John Berman is off this morning. John Avalon is here.
Great to have you.
AVLON: Good morning.
CAMEROTA: So we're looking at a live shot right now. President Trump has just arrived back in Florida after making this surprise trip to visit the troops in Afghanistan for Thanksgiving. There's the plane right there on the tarmac. It has just landed in West Palm Beach Airport. He says -- the president says he is reopening peace talks with the
Taliban, which you'll remember he broke off less than three months ago.
[07:00:06]
AVLON: Now, President Trump served Thanksgiving meals to the troops.
END
