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West Virginia Governor Fires Cadets for Making Nazi Salute; The Top 9 Health Stories of 2019; Trump Plans to Sign "Phase One" Deal with China in 2 Weeks; Final Day of Trading in Strong Year for Markets. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired December 31, 2019 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RYAN NOBLES, CNN HOST: -- radio earlier today, and Collins said that she would be, quote, open to witnesses at a Senate trial but thinks it's premature at this point.
[15:30:08]
That's not necessarily the pressure perhaps that Chuck Schumer is looking for at this point.
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, exactly right, Ryan. And I'll tell you that what I took away from that interview with local public radio from Susan Collins was the fact that she's really in line with what Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has proposed. Essentially, what she wants to do is hear the cases from both sides, and then she said she'll make a decision about whether or not she wants to hear from witnesses.
She did say she thought it was inappropriate for both McConnell and some on the Democratic side, she name-checked Elizabeth Warren, to basically come at this from either point of view, either saying that the president should be removed from office or saying that he absolutely shouldn't be. She said she takes her oath of office to be an impartial juror very seriously. And I think that's maybe where you see a little difference between her and McConnell.
But I'll tell you, Ryan, that at this point, she seems pretty much in lockstep about how this process should get started.
NOBLES: So, Phil, essentially we're talking about here to start 2020 a staring contest between the speaker and the Senate majority leader.
How long could this last? I mean, is it -- is there a scenario where by these articles of impeachment don't make it to the Senate until February?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It seems really unlikely. Look, I think both sides while obviously this impasse continues and certainly it's a game of chicken being played right now, both side seemed to be willing to acknowledge that this will probably move pretty quickly when lawmakers come to Capitol -- come back to Capitol Hill, the House comes back January 7th. The Senate comes back on Friday, doesn't take votes until January 6th. So, the expectation is sometime next week, the articles will be sent over and this process will be kicked into gear. But I think one of the most interesting parts of the last two weeks as we've all been kind of waiting and watching and wondering, is no one really has a clear idea.
The speaker, Speaker Pelosi, has kept her cards very close to the vest. Even some of her closest allies don't really have a sense of how this is going to play out. I don't think there's expectation this is going to go on for very much longer. But at this point in time, I guess anything can technically happen.
ROBLES: All right. How lucky to end this decade with smart conversation with Phil Mattingly and Lauren Fox. It was all I ever dreamed of. Appreciate you guys so much.
FOX: Thanks, Ryan.
MATTINGLY: Thanks, buddy.
NOBLES: All right. Next, West Virginia's governor taking action on this disturbing photo that surfaced of state prison guard trainees making what appeared to be a Nazi salute. Details on the consequences just ahead.
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UNIDENTIFED MALE: "LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE", New Year's Day on CNN.
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NOBLES: West Virginia's governor says that he has approved the firing of every single prison guard trainee that was seen in a photo giving what appeared to be a Nazi salute.
CNN's Amara Walker is following the story for us.
Amara, I understand there's going to be some consequences for some of the staff members as well?
AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Ryan.
Three staff members we're talking about at the training academy who will be fired. We're also talking four instructors who apparently knew about this very controversial photograph but didn't nothing about it, didn't report it. They will be suspended without pay.
As you mentioned, all of the West Virginia correctional cadets who were seen in this photo in that image with one arm raised apparently giving the Nazi salute, they will be fired. That has been approved and announced by the West Virginia governor, Jim Justice. There is that photo right here.
And he released a statement and it reads in part: This kind of behavior will not be tolerated on my watch. We have a lot of good people in our department of military affairs and public safety but this incident was completely unacceptable.
Let's go back to the photograph, Ryan, and I do want to give our viewers some context especially for those who haven't followed the story. This photo was apparently supposed to be a celebratory photo where the cadets were basically commemorating them graduating this training course. And you can see just right above their raised arms or hands, it says, Hail Byrd. Byrd, a reference to the name of the instructor of their training course.
And I just went through the report, the executive summary report that was drafted by the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the state of West Virginia, and the details get very interesting, Ryan. According to the report, the cadets described the salute they were making as a sign of respect for Byrd, their instructor. Also, there are apparently several cadets who were uncomfortable with the photo and initially said, look, we don't want to do this. We understand the historical and racial implications of raising one arm and apparently, they succumbed to peer pressure after assured there were no racial motivations behind it.
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Also in this report, the gesture was done with Byrd's knowledge, with the instructor's knowledge. It was taken -- this photo that we saw was taken by and at the direction of the instructor, and the investigation disclosed she encouraged it, reveled in it and at times reciprocated the gesture. And lastly, Byrd said that she was completely unaware of the historical or racial implications of that gesture and reported it as simply just a greeting -- Ryan.
NOBLES: Well, swift action taken by the governor there. Every single person in that photo fired from their jobs.
Amara Walker, thank you so much for that report. We appreciate it.
WALKER: Sure.
NOBLES: Next, Prince William puts a call out for the best ideas to fight the climate crisis. And he's putting millions of dollars behind it.
Plus, new details about the stabbing attack at a rabbi's home and what we're learning about the suspect's intent to serve in the military.
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NOBLES: Prince William is launching a multimillion dollar contest for innovative ideas to fight the climate crisis. The Earthshot Prize will be given to five winners a year for the next ten years starting in 2021. In addition to the alarming warnings coming from scientists about the impact of the climate crisis on our environment, we saw also new indicators this year of how the climate -- changing climate is affecting our health.
And that's where Dr. Sanjay Gupta begins his look back at the top nine health stories of 2019.
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SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Beyond some of the hottest temperatures on record and month after month of natural disasters, 2019 also showed us how climate change is directly impacting our health.
It also makes it so these plants have less of the good stuff, like zinc, iron and protein. It's turning some of the best foods we humans have into junkier food.
The cannabis craze is here to stay. And as we reported in our documentary, "Weed 5", this year was all about CBD. While there have been some remarkable stories of success, as we've shown you, no medicine works for everyone, not even CBD.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn't the benefit that they were necessarily seeking.
GUPTA: All of it, though, underlining how much we still have to learn when it comes to cannabis.
We also saw some major recalls, including several popular heart medications including one known at Losartan. Also pharmaceutical giant, Allergan, issued a worldwide recall of bio-cell textured breast implants and tissue expanders. They were found to have been linked to a rare cancer.
Some of the best news of 2019 came in our fight against HIV/AIDS. In a January State of the Union, President Trump announced his commitment to ending the AIDS epidemic.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My budget will ask Democrats and Republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years.
GUPTA: Scientists also discovered a new strain of HIV for the first time in nearly two decades. It doesn't pose any threat but it did prove that the current testing for HIV continues to be effective.
Also good news in New York City. They hit their HIV/AIDS target two years early. Meaning now more than 90 percent of people who have HIV are on treatment.
I still can't believe this one. U.S. life expectancy continues to be on the decline, despite the fact that the United States spends more on health care per capita than any other country in the world. Suicides, alcohol-related illnesses and drug overdoses are largely to blame.
Which brings us to the opioid epidemic. The odds of dying from an opioid overdose in the United States are greater than those of dying in a vehicle crash.
In October, two Ohio counties received a landmark settlement of $260 million from a top drug maker and three major drug distributors.
ARMOND BUDISH, CUYAHOGA COUNTY EXECUTIVE: We need resources from the parties that caused this problem. They need to make it right. And that's the benchmark that this sets.
GUPTA: The spotlight on the importance of vaccines continued to shine as the United States saw the largest measles outbreak since it was declared eliminated back in 2000. There have been more than 1,200 individual cases that have been confirmed across 30 states and still, there are people out there that are not getting vaccinated.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest health concerns of our time. Because it's creating these super bugs that have ability to out-smart even our most sophisticated medications.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can pick something up just about anywhere. It literally has the potential to affect every person on the planet.
GUPTA: And now, a landmark CDC report shows that a person dies from one of these super bugs every 15 minutes in the United States. That's about 35,000 deaths every year from super bugs.
In 2019, a story that started out as a cause for concern turned into a full-on outbreak.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The CDC has narrowed its investigation into the vaping-linked lung disease.
GUPTA: Since the first report of a vaping-related death in August, all 50 states have now been hit by this illness. That includes more than 2,000 hospitalized and more than 50 deaths.
ANNE SCHUCHAT, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CDC: The outbreak of pulmonary injury associated with vaping or E-cigarettes is an emergency. We're seeing young people become critically ill and die.
GUPTA: The CDC has zeroed in on THC-containing products and a more specific culprit, a cutting agent known as vitamin E acetate.
I think the larger issue, though, is the staggering rise in vaping among young people.
How would you describe the vaping situation in your school?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It got kind of bad last year. Some people did it too much. Like, a lot too much and it escalated I think.
GUPTA: The CDC says that more than 6 million middle and high school students used a tobacco product this year. That's up from about 4.9 million last year and e-cigarettes were found to be the most common.
While many organizations are pushing for a full-on ban now of flavored e-cigarettes, there's others that worry that a ban would hurt those who do use e-cigarettes successfully as a smoking cessation tool.
There have been some big issues in 2019, as you can see, but a lot of possible solutions are here as well.
Here's to 2020.
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NOBLES: Sanjay, thanks.
Next, President Trump tweets that he'll be signing his phase one trade deal with China in a couple of weeks. So what's in it and will it really help American workers?
Plus, let's look at the markets minutes before they close on the final trading day of a very positive year. It looks like the Dow is up just about 34 points, a little more than 34 points.
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NOBLES: President Trump tweeting this morning that he will be signing a trade deal with China on January 15th. He says that high level representatives from China will come to the White House to endorse phase one of the agreement. He also said he'd travel later to Beijing to begin a new round of talks.
CNN business and politics correspondent Cristina Alesci is following this for us.
So, Cristina, what is in this new deal and how could it impact the average American?
CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, farmers will be impacted almost immediately because part of this agreement is that China will resume agricultural purchases that it had stopped because of this tension with the U.S. In exchange, the U.S. agreed to cancel tariffs that were about to hit consumer goods just before Christmas and the U.S. also reduced the rate on old tariffs.
NOBLES: Uh-huh.
ALESCI: Now, this is a pause in tensions. It is not a over-arching trade deal, the one that Trump promised the American people. But it does give some time to both sides to come to some kind of an agreement.
The thing for Trump is going to be to make sure that he gets to an agreement or something that calms the markets in 2020 because he doesn't want to risk an upheaval in the markets or the economy. And to a certain extent, he kind of backed himself into a corner because the new tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect would have hit smartphones and toys before Christmas. And Trump has the economy going for him and consumers continue to spend. He didn't really want to hurt that in any way, shape, or form, which is why we are today.
NOBLES: OK. So, I also want to ask you about the markets on the final day of trading, 2019. They're set to close just a few minutes from now. It's been a really great year for stocks, right?
ALESCI: Awesome year.
NOBLES: They're just through the roof. You know, is this something that President Trump is going to be able to keep up in 2020?
ALESCI: That is the trillion dollars question.
NOBLES: Yes, right. Literally, right, yes.
ALESCI: The indices have hit some record highs this year. They're all above 20 percent which is just astounding. It's amazing for the president to have this kind of record to tout on the campaign trail.
In 2020, look, economists and analysts are saying if the Federal Reserve continues to keep interest rates low, you could sustain these kind of gains and perhaps even add a few more points in 2020. But Trump is going to have to keep all the -- all the trains on the track --
NOBLES: Right.
ALESCI: -- and not introduce any kind of, you know, exogenous factors going forward in 2020 and that could be a potential, you know, disruption in the trade war. Although based on what he did in 2019 and closing out the year with some kind of resolution or an ease in tensions, we could see something even better in 2020 in terms of that.
NOBLES: OK. Cristina Alesci, we'll see what happens in the New Year. We appreciate you being here. Thanks.
ALESCI: Of course.
NOBLES: And that's it for me today.
"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.
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