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House Launches Investigation Into Penn, MIT and Harvard; Penn's Board Of Trustees Holds Emergency Meeting After President's Controversial Testimony On Campus Anti-Semitism; Sources: Gunman Had Applied For Job At UNLV, Didn't Get It; U.S. Military Grounds Osprey Fleet After Crash Kills 8 Airmen; Elon Musk Insults Disney CEO Bob Iger; Panthers' Hayden Hurst Diagnosed With Post-Traumatic Amnesia. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired December 07, 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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[14:32:14]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: This just into CNN. Congress is launching an investigation into several top universities over their handling of anti-Semitism on campus.

This comes just two days after the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania testified on Capitol Hill.

Their remarks to lawmakers drawing scathing criticism and growing calls for their individual resignations.

CNN's Matt Egan joins us now, live.

Matt, what is the latest on this investigation?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Boris, the latest is U.S. lawmakers have launched an investigation into the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and MIT.

This is coming from the House Educational Workforce Committee. Republican Elise Stefanik announced that they are launching this investigation into what she described as the, quote, "pathetic and morally bankrupt testimony" earlier this week.

Let me read you a line from Stefanik statement.

She wrote, quote, "We will use our full congressional authority to hold these schools accountable for their failure on the global stage."

She noted that this is going to include subpoena power.

It should be noted that it was Stefanik's questioning of the university president on Tuesday that really sparked all of this controversy.

The university president struggled to answer questions about whether or not cause for genocide against Jews would violate the university's code of conduct.

Listen to one of those exchanges between Stefanik and Penn President Liz Magill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): I am asking, specifically calling for the genocide of Jews. Does that constitute bullying and harassment?

LIZ MAGILL, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: If it is directed and severe, it is harassment.

STEFANIK: So the answer is yes?

MAGILL: It is a context-dependent decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: That exchange caused so much backlash from donors, from business leaders, politicians, that there were calls for Liz Magill to step down as president of Penn.

Just this morning, the university's Board of Trustees held an emergency meeting. This was a virtual gathering that was called quite hastily.

The university spokesperson told me that this gathering was called around 2:00 p.m. yesterday.

Which was also right around the time that the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, condemned Magill's testimony, called for the Board of Trustees to look into this.

Boris, we are going to stay on top of what comes out of these meetings in Pennsylvania and these calls from lawmakers for more answers in more accountability for the university leaders.

SANCHEZ: Not long after the testimony, Magill tried to clean up her remarks. It does not appear to be enough for those folks.

Matt Egan, thank you so much.

Brianna?

[14:35:01]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Today, the flags at the University of Nevada Las Vegas are flying at half-staff as the school and the community are mourning three lives lost in a shooting on campus yesterday.

We are also getting our first look at the shooter, 67-year-old Anthony Polito. A law enforcement source told CNN he applied for a job at the university and he did not get it.

This tragic shooting marks the 80th school shooting in the U.S. so far this year, 29 of which have been on university and college campuses. CNN's Lucy Kafanov is live outside of the campus there was some new

details.

Lucy, tell us about what you are learning about the suspect but also how students are coping. This was a horrific day yesterday.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. So much grief and disbelief here.

In terms of the suspect, as you pointed out, we have learned from law enforcement sources that he was, indeed, 67-year-old Anthony Polito, who may have been passed over for a job at this university.

His LinkedIn profile lists him as a, quote, "semi-retired professor." With his most recent full-time job dating back to 2017. Sources say he previously worked in schools in both Georgia and North Carolina.

He did die at the scene after a confrontation with police yesterday.

Violence kicking off just before noon local time. Gunfire breaking out on the fourth floor of Beam Hall, which is the building that houses the university business school.

The breaking out on the fourth floor. The gunfire continued through multiple floors.

The suspect ended up outside. That is where authorities engaged him and, quote, "neutralized him." The police chief saying that many more lives could have been lost had the police not acted so heroically and swiftly.

This was a terrifying ordeal for the students here who were told to run, hide, fight, by the university. They started hearing the gunshots. They started getting the alerts on their smartphone, locking themselves in classrooms.

One woman describing the ordeal as she locked herself in the bathroom to stay safe. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANA, HID IN STUDENT UNION BATHROOM: I jumped up on the toilet, trying to make sure my feet weren't showing. I heard the gunman. The gunman started coming closer in the direction of the Student Union. He started going inside of the building.

And I have a clip from when I could hear them shooting. I was just freaking out, crying!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: We spoke to one faculty member who was actually hiding inside of this building. And said it was a terrifying experience. But she has worked here for 20 years. She has always felt safe here, but not any longer.

Back to you.

KEILAR: Yes, that is going to be the feeling for so many of the students there. This breaks an idyllic experience for them, going to college there.

Lucy, thank you for that report.

Elon Musk is placing a big "X" on Disney's Bob Iger. He's slamming the CEO for pulling ads from his social media site. He now wants him fired. And he also threw in some choice words, as Elon Musk does, in his rant. We will have that ahead.

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[14:42:23]

SANCHEZ: The U.S. military has just grounded its entire fleet of V22 Osprey's a week after a deadly crash killed eight U.S. airman off the coast of Japan.

The tilt-rotor aircraft have been yanked out of service for the time being in what is known as an "operational stand down."

Let's get details now from CNN national security reporter, Natasha Bertrand, live for us at the Pentagon to explain exactly what this means.

Natasha, this pause also includes the Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps.?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: The Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps., yes, that is right, Boris. They are all conducting this operational stand down on these Ospreys a week after an Osprey crashed off the coast of Japan and killed all eight servicemembers on board.

It really comes amid a number of crashes that have been suffered by these Ospreys over the last 20 months or so, which have resulted in 20 deaths over four different crashes.

Clearly, this is something the U.S. military found that they really need to address here. And out of an abundance of caution they are grounding the entire fleet across the military.

And in a statement, the commander of Air Force Special Operations Command said, quote, "Preliminary investigation information indicates a potential material failure caused the mishap last week off the coast of Japan.

"But the underlying cause of the failure is unknown at this time. But the standdown will provide time and space for a thorough investigation to determine causal factors and recommendations to ensure the Air Force V22's fleet returns to flight operations."

They really do not know exactly what happened here. That is what they are going to be investigating, whether this is an internal problem with the Ospreys themselves. Because a preliminary investigation has concluded that this was not

some kind of pilot error, for example. This was something intrinsic to the machinery itself.

So out of an abundance of caution, they will be grounding the entire fleet, which, of course, raises questions about whether that is going to affect the operations here.

But deputy Pentagon press secretary, Sabrina Singh, just told reporters that each service essentially will be reevaluating the timeline of investigating this and getting them back up into the air when they are deemed, of course, safe -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Natasha Bertrand, from the Pentagon, thank you so much.

[14:44:36]

So still to come, the father of a Carolina Panthers player, Hayden Hurst, revealing that the tight end was diagnosed with post-traumatic amnesia. The details on what led to that, when we come back.

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KEILAR: Elon Musk lashing out again as more major advertisers leave his social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

Today, Musk going after Disney CEO, Bob Iger, saying he should be fired, quote, "immediately."

Disney used to be one of the largest advertisers on "X." But like many other large companies, including the parent company of CNN, Disney has temporarily pulled its advertising dollars after Musk endorsed anti- Semitic remarks on the platform.

We have senior media reporter, Oliver Darcy, joining us on this story.

I guess it would be weird if Musk didn't lash out at someone. It is just such a bad business decision. It is almost -- we see him do it time and time again. But he is shooting himself in the foot here, Oliver.

[14:49:59]

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes. This is a classic Musk, you know? Musk often uses his perch of 155 million followers on "X" to lash out at critics, lash out, really, at anyone who refuses to bow down to his throne.

Whether it is a wise business decision, probably not. If you are Bob Iger and you are at Disney, you are probably already not inclined to resume advertising after he, quite literally, told advertisers, singling out Iger, and told them to go "F" themselves.

They're probably not inclined to advertising after that. But even if you were, now that Elon Musk is going on this rampage against Bob Iger, and misspelling his name at times, you're probably not going to resume advertising.

And that's a big problem for "X" because "X" is really dependent on advertising. That's where they get the vast majority of their revenue.

And Elon Musk himself has said that this current ad boycott could eventually or will eventually kill "X," will lead to the death of his company.

And so, you know, alienating one of your biggest advertisers even more, it's hard to see how that's a wise business decision. But again, it's classic Elon. He just can't help himself.

KEILAR: Yes. Tis the season of the gift guides, and I think maybe for him, it's how to win friends and influence people. That's the book he needs this Christmas. Maybe his friends are listening.

Oliver, thank you for the report.

DARCY: Thank you.

KEILAR: Boris?

SANCHEZ: Now to some scary news out of the NFL. Carolina Panthers tight end, Hayden Hurst, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic amnesia. His father making the announcement on "X."

In his own social media post, Hurst says it happened after he took a hit in a game against the Chicago Bears last month. Adding that he can't actually remember what happened up to four hours after the game.

Let's discuss with Dr. Robert Cantu. He's a leading expert on concussions and brain injury in sports.

Dr. Cantu, thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

So post-traumatic amnesia. That must have been a really significant hit. How exactly does that happen?

DR. ROBERT CANTU, DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL RESEARCH, CANTU CONCUSSION CENTER: Well, amnesia comes in two types, Boris. One is anterograde and the other is retrograde. They're both under the name post- traumatic because they happen after trauma to the head, trauma to the brain.

Anterograde is amnesia or loss of memory starting at the time of the hit going forward. Which is what you've described here, for four hours. By far and away, the most common.

And most people, most researchers and clinicians think because it is so common, it's probably less important than the other kind of amnesia called retrograde.

And that is forgetting things that happened before you even got hit in the head. Like what you were doing the whole day leading up to whenever you were hit. Both of the amnesias are felt to be graded in severity by how long

they last. And clearly, when amnesia last more than minutes, it lasts hours, that's more severe than an amnesia that only lasted a few minutes.

But amnesia sometimes can last days. Four hours is not insignificant. It's certainly not rare.

SANCHEZ: Doctor, how does this compare to a concussion? And what are some of the longer-term effects on the brain of something like this happening?

CANTU: Well, amnesia is a cognitive effect of a concussion. Concussion has symptoms that fall into different baskets.

One is the cognitive symptoms that deal with memory, deal with amnesia, deal with alertness. Others are physical symptoms like lightheadedness and dizziness. Others are balance, others are sleep and others are emotional symptoms.

Amnesia is one of the cognitive symptoms of a concussion. So by definition, he's had a concussion.

SANCHEZ: Now, what about the long-term effects here? Hurst says he hopes to be back for the last few weeks of the season.

Can he make it back in a healthy and safe way? Would you be concerned if he was a patient of yours headed back on the field?

CANTU: Well, I think things need to be taken into consideration in terms of the amount of concussions he's had prior to this one, the severity of concussions he may have had in the past, how long the symptoms lasted before they cleared.

All of that will be taken into effect. And then whether he can maximally exert through an exertional protocol without provoking any symptoms.

For instance, hypothetically, saying this was his first or second concussion and everything completely cleared up with the exception of the small gap of memory of four hours, yes, he would be most probably cleared to come back and play.

[14:54:55]

SANCHEZ: Doctor, Hurst has previously talked about his struggles with mental health and depression. We know from history that football players that have had repeated concussions have had similar situations, similar symptoms in the past.

How can something like this contribute to mental health problems?

CANTU: Well, it can aggravate and actually precipitate. In other words, some people with cognitive behavioral and mood issues, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, never have had them prior to concussions. But it's also very common that somebody may have had that earlier in

their life at a fairly minimal level, at a level they could deal with quite well.

But then after a head injury, it's like an injury on top of an injury or an injury on top of a dysfunctional situation. You can greatly aggravate the underlying issues.

And it also tends to cause the concussion to clear more slowly. It takes longer for symptoms to go away.

SANCHEZ: Well, we certainly hope that Hurst gets better and that when he returns to the field he's ready and healthy.

Dr. Robert Cantu, we have to leave the conversation there. We very much appreciate your time.

CANTU: You're very welcome, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Take care.

Still plenty to come on NEWS CENTRAL. While his Republican opponents are back on the campaign trail, former President Trump is back in a New York courtroom for his civil fraud trial. Details when we come back.

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