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Romney: GOP Field Needs To Shrink To Beat Trump; DeSantis Campaign Cuts Staff To "Streamline" Operations; Chinese Foreign Minister Ousted In Surprise Shake-Up; Conservationists Race To Save Coral As Ocean Temperatures Climb Near Florida Keys; Doctors Fear Popular Weight Loss Drugs May Cause Stomach Paralysis. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 25, 2023 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:31:51]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The Republican Party has been here before, a crowded primary field with Donald Trump waiting in the wings as the other candidates spar and split up the non-Trump vote. But unlike in 2016, this time, Trump is the frontrunner.

So Republican Senator Mitt Romney says in a new op-ed that his party should whittle down the field no later than February so Trump can't conquer and divide all over again.

The most vocal Trump critic in the race agrees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't disagree with Mitt. I think especially given the date he put on it. I think there will be a lot of narrowing even before Iowa. I think there will be narrowing created by the debates.

I wouldn't feel comfortable asking donors for more money or voters for their vote if I didn't see a realistic path to victory. So, I don't disagree with Mitt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: If Republicans choose to follow that plan, they better hurry. A new poll has the former president way ahead of the pack.

Let's break it down with CNN's Jessica Dean and David Chalian.

David, what does the new polling tell us?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: It tells us what we've seen, it's remarkably consistent.

This one is from Monmouth University. You still see, if take a look at the numbers, an overwhelming Donald Trump advantage, 46 percent among Republican voters. And 20 percent is where Ron DeSantis, the next closest competitor, is.

A 26-percentage point lead is not a small one. Obviously, you've got six months or a little less to go before the Iowa caucus kicks this off.

We don't just see this in national polling but we see it in the states also. We saw a FOX Business poll over the weekend. In Iowa, South Carolina, same story. A race dominated by Trump. He is in a tier of his own.

SANCHEZ: Let's talk about second place, Jessica. Right now, Ron DeSantis reworking his campaign. He's cut more than a third of his staff. How does this reworking ultimately translate into more voters?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's the big question, can they convert this reset into actually rising in the polls and more fundraising? That's what they're hoping to do.

They're saying look, we'll get him on the road, we're leaner and meaner, this will be a resurgent campaign. That's the messaging we're getting from the campaign.

We'll see him in Iowa on the bus tour later this week and more in Iowa.

And what we are seeing, this started out as a national campaign. They were going to be everywhere. It wasn't just the early states. And then it shrunk. And then it shrunk.

And now we're seeing them with their eye so focused on Iowa. They've got to do well, of course, as those will be the first votes in all of this.

But 38 members of their staff, those stories, the reset stories keep coming. Usually, the campaigns want to drop that and move on. It's not uncommon to see a summer reset like this. It happened in past presidential campaigns.

The question is, can they adapt. And can they, as you said, convert new voters.

SANCHEZ: And draw new donors, too.

DEAN: Totally.

SANCHEZ: Because he's been getting big dollar donors and they're capped at a certain point, so he has to find new money.

[14:34:59]

David, to the question of Mitt Romney suggestion of whittling down the herd of Republicans running for president, we heard that argument toward the end of the 2016 primary, when it was like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and others.

Is it likely that any of these Republicans are going to listen to that argument?

CHALIAN: It's interesting, because Mitt Romney in the op-ed is not making the argument to the candidate themselves. He's making them to their financial backers, right?

SANCHEZ: Right.

CHALIAN: He's saying you should turn off the spigot here and no longer fund candidates who aren't viable to actually be the alternative to Trump after the first contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada South Carolina.

Whether or not candidates will listen is an entirely different equation. But Romney, of course, has campaign experience, as we know -- he was the nominee in 2012 -- is saying to the big financial backers of the super PACs and candidate themselves, stop funding candidates who don't have a chance once those first votes are in.

SANCHEZ: And, Jessica, did Romney come out and say who he thinks they should gather and support instead of Donald Trump?

DEAN: No. I think that's the point. It's more to the donors, as David is saying, stop funding them.

In order to really mount a challenge to Donald Trump and beat him, they're going to have to coalesce, and people have to drop out if they're not viable.

I also think it's interesting, Mitt Romney is saying publicly what so many are privately, especially on the Senate side. You talk to Republicans, they'll say this privately. It's not often that they'll write an op-ed in the paper about it.

I want to read one quote. He said, "Our party and our country need a nominee with character driven by something greater than revenge and ego, and preferably from the next generation."

He's certainly trying to help guide this process.

And also, he said, "Don't rely on the party to do this like you have in the past. The party does not hold sway with these candidates and does not hold sway with these voters."

CHALIAN: The last part being the most important. I mean, you've seen the Republican Party that's been crafted in the image that Donald Trump created, which is anti-establishment, almost an anti-party version of itself.

Romney is saying there will be no heavy hand from some central committee somewhere. This has got to be somebody who is not seen as part of the establishment dictating the state of play.

SANCHEZ: David Chalian, Jessica Dean, thanks for the reporting.

Jim? JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Overseas now, and to a story from China

attracting an enormous amount of attention. The foreign minister, Qin Gang, ousted by his position, replaced by his predecessor.

The shake-up at the top of Beijing's policy of leadership comes about a month after Qin Gang was last seen in public. He disappeared.

CNN's Marc Stewart has been following the story from Tokyo.

Marc, there's been an enormous amount of speculation as to why he was ousted. Has there been any official explanation, now that he's been replaced?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, I know you've spent time in China, so you certainly understand the mystery and intrigue behind all of this.

But at this particular moment, there is no dominant story line, no dominant explanation about this surprise power shake-up.

As you mentioned, Qin Gang was last seen just about one month ago. He was in Beijing, meeting with officials from Vietnam, from Sri Lanka, from Russia. And then suddenly, began to disappear from the public spotlight.

In fact, he missed some very crucial meetings on the global stage, including a meeting with an E.U. official. He was not seen when U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen came to China, as well as John Kerry. And that has now prompted all of this conversation as to what happened.

It was on Tuesday afternoon, in fact, Jim that a government official, a spokesperson, was actually asked, where is he? What's happening here? And the official line was no information to provide.

And then hours later, we saw the announcement of this departure of this demotion.

As to what prompted it, again, no dominant moment or story line seems to surface. But that, again, is part of the intrigue here, as we observe what's happening right now in China -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: Speaking of intrigue, you're seeing him now expunged from all official Web sites as well there. Some air brushing officially.

Marc Stewart, following China from Tokyo, thanks so much.

Boris?

[14:39:29]

SANCHEZ: Ocean temperatures in the Florida Keys reaching triple digits. The catastrophic impact on coral reefs when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: Now, to a troubling new development on the extreme heat gripping much of our planet. Water temperatures off the coast of Florida just topped 100 degrees for the first time ever. Those record temperatures threatening to wipe out all of the coral in the Florida Keys.

One reef restoration group reported 100 percent core mortality as a reef off the coast of Marathon in the Florida Keys. Adding that another site in the lower Keys had, quote, "lost almost all corals."

And now reef conservationists are racing to rescue coral that is rapidly bleaching and dying off in the area.

We're joined by Phanor Montoya-Maya, a program manager for the Coral Restoration Foundation.

Phanor, thank you so much for joining us, first of all.

This is a tragic development.

PHANOR MONTOYA-MAYA, PROGRAM MANAGER, CORAL RESTORATION FOUNDATION: Thank you very much for the invitation.

[14:44:55]

And you're right. This is severe bleaching that we've seen now due to these elevated sea temperatures is just wiping out the coral that we have, you know, put back into the reef for the last, you know, 10 years.

SANCHEZ: So what exactly -- for those of our guests who don't have a background in this kind of science, what exactly do the warmer waters do to the coral?

MONTOYA-MAYA: The corals can sustain different temperatures, right? And they have a bleaching threshold. Bleaching is just when they lose their source, the microorganisms within them.

And when the temperatures reach the temperature threshold, they release those and they cannot feed, you know, and if they don't go back to normal, they will starve to death.

And what we've seen so far is that temperatures went up so high, so quickly, that the coral didn't even have time to bleach. And they just pretty much burned to death.

SANCHEZ: Wow. So the important thing to remember here, as the coral is dying off, is that they are an important link in a chain of an ecosystem. So when the coral goes, then all of the fish surrounding it go.

And then that has far-reaching implications for us on land, too?

MONTOYA-MAYA: You are right. I mean, coral is -- coral has the key element of the coral ecosystem, right? And together, they provide so many ecosystem services to us, you know, tourism. And then it's job security for many. People here in the diving

industry, the fishing industry. The hotels as well depend, you know, on the beaches as well.

Not only that -- that's all human -- but we're talking about one out of every four animals in the ocean depend on coral reefs. So if coral dies, so will the other animals and all of the services they provide to us.

SANCHEZ: Coral reefs also play an important role in keeping the ocean relatively calm near shore during a hurricane. This has enormous implications going into hurricane season as well.

I'm wondering, what are you able to do to try to preserve the ecosystems? And what can we do on land to help?

MONTOYA-MAYA: Well, the Coral Restoration Foundation has been working for 10 years now trying to restore and assist natural reef recovery, by cultivation, and money by genetically of the first population of corals, right, of rebuilding corals.

That's the work that we intend to do is to keep those populations going.

But with no actions, you know, didn't carry through the action, that kind of action, we are in a very difficult situation. Because, you know, it's very difficult conditions for the reef.

So what people can do on land to help us is to vote, to lobby, to ask for a strong climate actions that can help us mitigate effective climate change.

SANCHEZ: Phanor Montoya-Maya, we have to leave the conversation there. We appreciate you sharing your expertise with us.

Thanks so much.

MONTOYA-MAYA: Thank you very much for the invitation.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Jim?

SCIUTTO: Still to come, medical news. Some people who have taken the popular weight loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, say they have suffered something called stomach paralysis. We're going to explain what that means and why doctors are concerned about that potential new side effect. That's next.

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[14:53:17]

SCIUTTO: Drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy have become blockbusters for successfully treating type 2 diabetes and obesity. But as more and more patients take the medications, doctors are questioning whether new side effects could be emerging. And in some cases, they say more studies are needed.

CNN medical correspondent, Meg Tirrell, is here with more.

Meg, stomach paralysis is one of the concerns here. How common and how big of a concern is this going forward?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, right now, they appear to be very rare. And it's not clear that this is linked to the medicines.

But we know the way these drugs work they mimic a hormone in the gut calls GLP-1, which can stimulate the body to produce insulin and curb hunger and slow stomach emptying.

It's that effect of the medicine that have doctors saying we need to take a look at this and better understand the effects on patients.

Our reporter, Brenda Goodman, talked to three patients who had a severe form of this slowing of stomach emptying, which their doctor said was stomach paralysis or severe gastro paralysis.

And two of those doctors said they found these were caused by the medicines, Ozempic and Wegovy. Now that's not been proven but these patients experienced side effects like extreme nausea and vomiting nonstop.

We know G.I. side effects can come with these medicines. It's been documented in clinical trials, at rates of up to 44 percent for nausea with Wegovy, 20 percent of Ozempic, which is a lower-dose version of Wegovy. Rates of 9 percent and 24 percent for vomiting as well.

Now Nova Nordisk, the makers of these medicines, does list the slowing of the stomach emptying in the drug's label. It's sort of information for prescribing. But only really to warn that it can affect if your taking other medicines at the same time.

[14:55:05]

The FDA has told CNN it has heard of cases but the casualty from the medicines haven't been proven. It does not, that in some of these instances where it's heard about then, it hasn't resolved even after the patients have stopped taking the medicine. And that's what our reporter, Brenda, heard as well.

We also know this can be a problem for taking anesthesia. Also causing the American Academy of Anesthesiologists, the Society of Anesthesiologist, to warn that people should stop taking these medicines about a week before elective surgery because it can be dangerous to go under general anesthesia with a full stomach -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: Is the maker of the drugs considering any potential changes in terms of recommendations here?

TIRRELL: Well, they say the drugs have been extensively tested both in clinical trials and continue to be in the real world.

They say this class of drugs has been on the market for 15 years for diabetes. Eight years for obesity. So, they say they look at anything that comes out.

But at this point, they say they've been extensively studied and they're not indicating there's any need to sort of warn more about this.

Doctors, however, say it should be studied more and people should be aware this is an effect of the medicines.

SCIUTTO: Meg Tirrell, thanks so much as always.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: LeBron James' son, Bronny, suffering cardiac arrest while at basketball practice. We have details on his condition when we come back.

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