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Feinstein Service Now Closed To Public Over Security; Researches Link Weight Loss Drugs To Digestive Problems; Biden's Dog Had More Biting Incidents Than First Reported. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired October 05, 2023 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Later today, mourners were gathered at San Francisco City Hall to honor the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. The service though is now closed to the public because of increased security concerns.

The California Democrat died last week at the age of 90. She was the first female senator -- I should say a female mayor of San Francisco. That's a position she held for 10 years. She later served in the Senate for more than 30 years.

CNN Senior National Correspondent Kyung Lah is with us now. Why the security concerns? What's going on here?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, so many dignitaries said that they wanted to attend this memorial but at some point, it didn't make any sense to just keep widening and widening the perimeter. So, out of an abundance of safety and with the Secret Service needed, they decided to make this you know a private ceremony. Something that people could watch on a live stream in San Francisco.

It is scheduled to be a one-hour memorial service on the steps of City Hall. Expected to speak today, Kamala Harris -- Vice President Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, as well as some tape remarks by President Joe Biden. So, this is a return really of California's native daughter, the former mayor of San Francisco, as you mentioned, John, but someone who had a five-decade career plus of representing the state as well as the city.

So, this is a poetic return for Senator Feinstein. A way to remember her legacy, someone who wrote the 1994 assault weapons ban, but also, you know, we spent so much time focusing on the end, John, she's somebody who broke so many glass ceilings. And it's a way for the city to remember her John.

BERMAN: And she was just a central part of the political history of San Francisco for more than 50 years at this point. Kyung Lah, thank you very much.

LAH: Yes.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We also have new details this morning about the charges now facing Senator Bob Menendez and his wife. We're learning more about the circumstances around some of the bribery that's alleged by federal prosecutors. It includes a tragic incident involving Nadine Menendez.

In 2018, before the couple was married, she was behind the wheel of a car that hit and killed a pedestrian. The surveillance footage from that night has now been released. And a warning as we play this, you may find it disturbing.

[11:35:07]

Immediately after this accident -- this incident, Menendez appears to sit in her car for about a minute. Police arrived then about four minutes after the pedestrian was hit. And I'm going to play for you now part of her exchange with an officer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADINE MENENDEZ, WIFE OF SENATOR BOB MENENDEZ: I didn't do anything wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

MENENDEZ: I -- you know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, I understand. I understand. Before you go, I just want to confirm that you do not want to give me your phone. Correct?

MENENDEZ: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And that your statement that you are driving this way, the guy came from this way, and he ran into your vehicle.

MENENDEZ: He jumped on my windshield.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, in an interview with The New York Times, her attorney said that the car crash was "a tragic accident, but unrelated to her current charges." Adding this. My understanding was this individual ran in front of her car and she was not at fault.

Now, the current indictment against Bob Menendez and Nadine Menendez alleges beyond the tragedy there, this death of this man, this accident left his wife without a car. And two of the other men charged in the bribery scheme offered to then buy her a new Mercedes in exchange for Senator Menendez's help.

CNN's Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller is here with more on this. Pick -- can you pick up the -- pick up the story if you will from there, what is the link between this tragic accident from years past and the indictment that they're facing now? JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, complicated web. But as you set it up, she needed a car. Wael Hana, the Egyptian American businessman who was reaching out to Menendez for favors for the Egyptian government and also supplying allegedly half a million dollars in cash, this new Mercedes, and other things over a period of years, he had another partner who was under investigation from the New Jersey State Attorney General.

And he was looking to get Nadine Arslanian later who would marry Senator Menendez to get the senator to intervene with the state attorney general. And he actually, according to the indictment, held a meeting with a prospective federal prosecutor who he said you know can we take a look at this case, and you know -- you know, this is a good guy and it's a bad case, and so on. So, there's this complex web going on in the background of influence peddling, gift giving in terms of a car, and a lot of other things that touch against this accident.

BOLDUAN: When it comes to this accident and what is seen in this -- in dashcam video and surveillance video, does anything about it strike you as unusual?

MILLER: A couple of things. Number one, on the video, and we didn't show this part, just -- you know because it's very upsetting.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

MILLER: You see her come into the frame very quickly, and there's -- already the victim is on the hood of her car. She jams to a stop and the victim flies off the car and ends in the street. But the car sits there for one minute. What you don't see is her getting out of the car and going to check on the person, find out if they're conscious or alert or OK. The car just sits there with her in it for a minute.

What we don't know is what's going on in the car. Is she calling 911 and saying I just hit somebody? The original 911 car -- the original 911 call talks about an accident with no injuries. Then, is she calling somebody else? So, the colloquy between her and the police officer about so you're not going to give me your phone?

BOLDUAN: Right.

MILLER: She turned it over and then quickly taken it back according to the police report. What they want to know is what's she doing something on the phone while driving that distracted her which caused her to hit this person, which could be a summonable offense, if not more in a fatal accident.

The Bogota Police Department has been very cooperative in terms of turning over records. Our own CNN's Selena Tibor (PH) got the video, got the records, got the police report yesterday. The Bergen County prosecutor's office not so much in turning over the supplemental reports of when they subpoenaed her cell phone, what did the record say? So, we have a few more questions for the Bergen County prosecutor that still need answers.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and a complicated web with some really, really big implications now for sure. And obviously, with this tragic accident -- incident in the background. It's good to see you, John. Thanks for that.

MILLER: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, ahead. Those new drugs that help people lose weight are some of the most in-demand medicines in the world right now. But a new study that has just come out this hour may give a very good reason for pause.

Plus, the struggle to keep Commander under control. The president's dog involved in more White House biting incidents than had previously been reported. What the first family is saying today?

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[11:44:21]

BERMAN: A new study finds that two popular Diabetes drugs that are also used for weight loss are associated with an increased risk of digestive problems. Still, the companies that make these drugs are struggling to keep up with demand. They are wildly popular.

CNN got exclusive access to an Eli Lilly plant that is making one of these drugs and it could get official FDA approval for weight loss by the end of the year. CNN's Meg Tirrell reports.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wegovy helped us lose weight.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): They're some of the most in-demand medicines in the world, Wegovy, FDA-approved for weight loss. Diabetes drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro being used off-label. Also, for weight loss.

[11:45:05]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People taking Mounjaro lost up to 25 pounds.

TIRRELL (voiceover): In the final three months of last year, there were an estimated nine million prescriptions for drugs like these. A 300 percent increase since 2020. Without insurance, a one-month supply of one of these drugs can cost more than $1,000.

All three are on the FDA's list of drugs in short supply. And by the end of the year, Mounjaro's manufacturer Eli Lilly expects FDA approval to treat obesity, and potentially millions more people seeking it out.

DON VONDIELINGEN, PLANT MANAGER, MOUNJARO MANUFACTURING PLANT, NORTH CAROLINA: I feel a strong responsibility that we have to scale these as fast as we can. TIRRELL (voiceover): We got exclusive access to this Mounjaro manufacturing plant in Durham, North Carolina, where the company is ramping up supply. In this room, plant manager Don VonDielingen shows us how it takes only milliseconds to fill the drug into syringes.

TIRRELL: How many can this do in an hour?

VONDIELINGEN: This slide -- this is a high-speed filling machine. So, on an annual basis, this will fill millions of syringes.

TIRRELL: Wow.

TIRRELL (voiceover): They're running this factory 24/7 tracking every step of the operation along the way.

VONDIELINGEN: You're able to see again every batch as it flows through the facility.

TIRRELL: Is it common for manufacturing sites to run 24/7?

VONDIELINGEN: It is for us. The demand is very high and we're doing everything that we can to stand up in the end supplies.

TIRRELL (voiceover): Eli Lilly is pouring four billion dollars into this plant and another one it's building just to our Southwest in an effort to double output by the end of the year.

EDGARDO HERNANDEZ, EXECUTIVE VP & PRESIDENT, MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS, ELI LILY: It's a massive scale what we're trying to do. I don't think we have ever done this as a company, and I think probably nobody else in the industry has scaled this as fast as we were trying to scale.

TIRRELL: Can you move any faster than you're already going?

HERNANDEZ: We're moving as fast as we can, but we have to follow certain controls to make sure that we -- the final product meet our safety and quality expectations.

TIRRELL (voiceover): In recent weeks, Lilly and one of its competitors Novo Nordisk have both filed lawsuits against med spas, clinics, and compounding pharmacies for allegedly selling unapproved unsafe versions of their drugs. Both were also recently sued over claims that their drugs can make the stomach empty food too slowly resulting in abdominal pain and severe vomiting. In response, they say they closely monitor the drugs for safety.

Back on the Mounjaro line, VonDielingen says the team knows the importance of bringing the shortage to an end.

VONDIELINGEN: It's really a privilege to be able to make medicine that's life-changing for our patients.

TIRRELL (voiceover): As the demand for weight loss drugs shows no signs of slowing down.

(END VIDEOTAPE) TIRRELL (on camera): So, all of that, results in an auto-injector pen like this. And, of course, this is an injectable medicine. This one doesn't have a needle, but you press this button and that's how you inject it.

But because it's injected, they have to be so careful about how they manufacture it. That plant makes millions of doses of these medicines or will, per year. And you know we're talking about the demand for these as so many people are using them.

The side effects are coming into focus a lot too. And that new study you mentioned today looks at the risks of things like gastroparesis, which is stomach paralysis, bowel obstruction, and pancreatitis, which is inflammation of the pancreas. Some of these are known side effects, but the severity of them has been starting to come into question a bit more.

This study in JAMA found about a one percent or lower incidence of these more severe risks for these GLP-One drugs. They actually looked at Ozempic and an older version of the drug that people were using just for weight loss, not for diabetes. But these are things that are being watched closely in this class.

BERMAN: Yes. Wildly popular. Some people need these drugs. Some wanted in both cases.

TIRRELL: That's an important distinction.

BERMAN: It's wildly popular.

TIRRELL: Yes.

BERMAN: Meg, thank you so much. Terrific report.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us. Commander Biden, the president's dog, booted from campus. The new information that the dog has been involved in even more biting incidents than people knew about, the steps that the White House is taking now because of it. We'll be back.

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[11:53:22]

SIDNER: Commander, the Bidens dog, has not learned the command no biting, so he's getting kicked out of the White House. The bottom line is he's creating a dangerous work environment for the White House staff. CNN Producer Betsy Klein has been following all of this. What happens to him now?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN PRODUCER: It's a great question, Sara. I mean, we knew back in July that there had been 10 documented biting incidents with Commander Biden biting Secret Service personnel. And that number grew to 11 last week. And as I started talking with my sources here at the White House, it became clear that that number was much larger. In fact, it was dozens of bites to both Secret Service but also to members of the executive residence staff and other people who work here at the White House.

Now, there were safety concerns. There are -- you know Secret Service agents who had to change their habits as far as what entrances and exits they went in and really trying to avoid the dog. Now, that became clear that -- to the president and first lady that this was something that they absolutely had to address.

And last night, as we were asking these questions about workplace safety -- now, remember the White House is a home but it is also a workplace for hundreds of people. And as we asked those questions, we learned that Commander is actually leaving the White House right now. So, the communications director for the First Lady, Elizabeth Alexander, telling CNN, Commander is not presently on the White House campus while the next steps are evaluated.

Now, it's worth noting that Commander Biden is a family member to the Bidens. He travels with them on weekends to Delaware to Camp David. And it's really unclear right now where he is, what those next steps are, can they find a solution to get this problem under control.

[11:55:00]

BERMAN: What happened to Major? I mean is this a go-to Wilmington thing?

KLEIN: Yes.

BERMAN: Ultimately, is there going to be moved to Delaware here?

KLEIN: It -- that's unclear. I mean, Major back in 2021 also had pretty severe biting incidents with the Secret Service, with members of resident staff, and others. And it became clear that Major also needed to be relocated -- rehomed permanently. We'll see if that sticks with Commander right now. We'll see what happens with him.

BOLDUAN: No. Like -- I don't -- I mean, really, I don't have a -- (INAUDIBLE)

BERMAN: Yes, I don't sit.

SIDNER: What do you say?

BOLDUAN: I don't actually have a follow-up question. But it's -- I guess, sad -- I mean, it's sad. I don't know. Tell me, Betsy, how I supposed to feel about it.

BERMAN: Yes.

KLEIN: I think --

SIDNER: The dog is part of the family, but you can't have a dog biting people during their jobs. KLEIN: It's a terribly sad story. And I think it's one that impacts the Bidens, but anyone who has a family pet that they love.

SIDNER: Yes.

BERMAN: Yes. But people have to be safe --

SIDNER: That's right.

BERMAN: -- at the White House. That's for sure. You can't have people getting bitten.

KLEIN: Yes, really.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Betsy.

SIDNER: Thank you, Betsy.

BERMAN: Betsy, nice reporting. Thank you very much. And thank you all for joining us. Have a safe day. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.

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