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Houthi Boats Attack Maersk Ship, U.S. Navy Kills Rebels; IDF Reducing Troops In Gaza, Expect War To Last "Throughout" 2024; Third Drug Maker To Hold Insulin Prices At $35; NFL Playoff Picture Coming Into Focus; Seattle Rings In New Year With NHL Winter Classic. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 01, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Well, Kate and Joe, here we are. Happy New Year to both of you. And thanks for being with me today.

JOE WALSH, (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FOR ILLINOIS: Thanks, Brianna.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Happy New Year.

KEILAR: A deadly -- happy New Year. A deadly battle on the Red Sea. The U.S. repelling an attack, sinking three boats operated by Iranian- backed Houthi rebels. What U.S. officials are now saying about a broader conflict.

And just minutes into the start of the New Year, Israel intercepts at least 12 rockets fired from Gaza, as military officials say they will begin withdrawing some soldiers from the area. We will talk about their strategy, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: One of the world's largest shipping companies is pausing its use of a major shipping channel after a new attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Maersk says one of his ships was hit by the group as it traveled near Yemen in the Red Sea over the weekend.

U.S. military helicopters responding, sinking three of the four attack ships. It is the first time the U.S. has killed Houthi rebels since tensions boiled over in the region in October. But the White House says this is not an escalation.

[13:35:08]

CNN's Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon for us.

Oren, what are you learning about this attack here?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, the problem with saying it does not want a wider conflict is that it is not just up to the U.S. Now we have to see how the Houthi's respond, the Iranian- backed proxy in Yemen. This all played out on Saturday. The Maersk "Hangzhou," a commercial

vessel, was operating in the southern Red Sea.

We'll show you a map here. You can see the Bab Al Mandab Strait, a critical waterway where a lot of the world shipping use the pass but has since avoided it because of the number of Houthi attacks on commercial vessels.

The Maersk was operating in that area when they issued a distress call. They had come under attack. There were four Houthi ships coming towards them. U.S. Central Command say they came within 20 meters, so about 60 feet.

That is when U.S. responded with helicopters coming from Navy vessels in the area. They say they came under fire and returned fire, sinking three of those Houthi ships, killing the crew of those Houthi vessels. And the fourth ship, they say, fled the area.

The Maersk -- where there was the attempted hijacking, that ship was able to sail on their way there. You can see here the details of the attack.

Because of what happened here, Maersk say they will once again avoid the Red Sea, of course, along with a number of other shipping companies who have said they would because of the dangers in that area, sailing around Africa or boarding the Red Sea in general.

Now it's interesting that Maersk was one of the companies -- one of the largest if not the largest that said, after the U.S. set up a multinational coalition to protect shipping that it would again go through the Red Sea.

But they have since reversed that decision or at least paused going through critical waterway because of this attack. So now we have to see how this plays out.

It is also worth noting there was another attack on shipping. The U.S. says they intercepted two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from the Houthis.

So who are the Houthis? They are an Iran-backed proxy that operates in Yemen. They came to sort of power in the '90s.

Crucially look at the bottom of that list there. They have launched at least 100 attacks using drones, anti-ship ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in December and over the course of the past couple of months.

That is why so many shipping companies have opted to avoid the Red Sea. That is why the U.S. set up Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational force to try to protect shipping. Now we have to see how it plays out.

The U.S. has tried to avoid widening the conflict. But it is the first time we have seen the U.S. fire upon and kill Houthi militants and sink their ships over the course of the past several months since tensions soared in the region.

Brianna, the U.S. is trying to avoid widening this conflict but, of course, it is not just up to the U.S. Now we need to see what the Houthi's and what Iran have planned over the course of the next few days and weeks.

KEILAR: Yes, we certainly do.

Oren Liebermann, live for us over at the Pentagon, thank you.

Let's talk more about what this means. Joining us now, we have CNN military analyst, retired Major General James "Spider" Marks.

Sir, what is your assessment of this latest attack in the Red Sea?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, RETIRED, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It is about time. The United States have been aggressive, but they are really kicking it up a notch.

Iran understands the response to kinetic actions. They will respond, Iran will respond in some way.

Either we could expect one of two particular outcomes. One, a decrease in the activity. Or we could see an increase of activity by the Houthi's and others. You know, we're looking at Hamas as well as Hezbollah, Palestinian Jihad in Gaza.

What we are seeing is the United States has appropriately gone after the Houthis. I think it is absolutely the right thing to do.

Now, in addition, the United States certainly has the option to try some additional or what I would call asymmetrical responses. They can increase economic sanctions and they can offer use cyber-type activities, et cetera.

The resistance clearly must be to feel like there needs to be a kinetic operation against Iran itself. That is the expansion of the war that everybody wants to try to avoid.

You know, it is the old expression, if it feels good, don't do it.

The United States needs to act appropriately, and I think they are. They are increasing the pain against the Houthi's specifically.

KEILAR: When we look at the Israel-Hamas conflict, Israel Defense Forces say they are reducing the number of soldiers in the enclave, but also expecting the war to last throughout the year. What is your read of this?

MARKS: Yes. What I think they are signaling is, at some point in the very near future, even though Netanyahu has indicated this is many more months to go, at some point, they are going to say mission accomplished.

[13:40:01] However, we are now going to transition to the completion of the counterterrorism operation, which is to go after leadership and infrastructure of Hamas.

In some type of transition, there has to be a counterinsurgency, which means you have to eliminate the influence of Hamas. That has to be not only an Israeli effort, but there's got to be a third party.

Because Israel has said that we, Israel, do not want to stick around in Gaza. But in order to complete counterterrorism, you then have to transition into some type of an operation that negates the influence of Hamas.

A priority or some type of declaration of what the governing body will look like going forward. So there is going to be a period where Israel will continue to maintain force presence in Gaza.

And when you look at the numbers, the doctrine, they are going to end up with -- I mean, they've got about two million folks that live in Gaza, the Palestinians.

When you look at the doctrine, that is about the size of 40,000-45,000 troops on the ground to maintain some degree of stability as they complete these operations.

KEILAR: There is a senior U.S. official telling CNN this reduction in troops means a shift to lower-intensity operations. That is sort of a catchphrase, that lower-intensity operation that we've heard.

Military officials and government officials here in the U.S. talking about, especially as the Biden administration is under a lot of political pressure domestically to put Israel under pressure to stop so many deaths of civilians in Gaza.

Is this how you see it? That this shift to lower intensity is happening?

MARKS: I do. Certainly, we do not like the term low intensity. When someone is being shot at and when you are engaged in combat, there is nothing that is low intensity about any of that.

So this truly is a transition from conventional combat operations, going after the terrorist infrastructure, to an operation that can be more precise in terms of going after those key leaders within Hamas that they, the Israelis, have not to this date identified, killed, captured or have neutralized.

There is still work that needs to be done. So this is an acknowledgment that the preliminary operations are really trying to reduce the infrastructure, deny the capability of Hamas to operate within the population.

Now transitions to more precise operations going after the leadership, any additional infrastructure that exists. I think it is an acknowledgment that there is a transition.

I think that the United States has made it crystal clear these are the expectations of the United States.

I cannot talk about the conditions, but I would imagine they are, if you want our support, we are going to request, we're going to demand that you transition to something that looks different from the previous three months.

KEILAR: General, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

MARKS: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Coming up, an essential drug for so many Americans with diabetes just got a lot cheaper. We are going to tell you how much patients could pay or how little they could pay for insulin on their next trip to the pharmacy.

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[13:47:27]

KEILAR: More Americans with diabetes will get a price break on insulin this year. Sanofi is joining Nova Nordisk and Eli Lilly to cap or lower insulin costs to $35 per month.

For years, drugmakers have come under fire for drastically raising insulin prices, even though it's pretty cheap to produce.

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

Wow, this is going to be music to the years of so many people, Meg.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, is so true. These are initiatives drugmakers have been announcing since last year. Finally, the last piece has common into place where Sanofi is now offering the $35 a month cap on out-of-pocket costs for patients. That's starting today, January 1st.

Now it can be kind of complicated because sometimes you have to go to the company's Web site to find a co-pay coupon or something like that. But these programs are now in place.

That's so important because more than eight million people rely on insulin in the United States to live. According to the American Diabetes Association, one in four report having to ration insulin because of the costs. That can have real severe health consequences.

In addition to the $35 limit to the out-of-pocket costs for insulin, today, we are also seeing dramatic reductions in the list prices of insulin going into effect of 70 percent or more for these major insulin -- from Eli Lilly, Nova Nordisk and Sanofi.

That is because of a law in 2021 that changed the way companies pay rebates to Medicaid. That is going to save the drug companies money.

But overall, folks really excited about potentially more affordable insulin across the board. KEILAR: It's going to save the companies money. Well, now it is all

making more sense, Meg.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Thank you so much. We appreciate the report.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

KEILAR: The NFL post-season shaping up. And one thing you can bet on, at least one playoff is going through Baltimore.

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[13:53:33]

KEILAR: The NFL playoff picture is coming into focus as the top seeds in both the AFC and the NFC have been clenched.

Let's bring in CNN sports correspondent, Carolyn Manno.

All right, Carolyn, who made the cut here?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna. Happy New Year. Nine teams have clinched post-season berths and five spots are still up for grabs. And this is wild heading into the final week.

But one thing is certain, AFC playoffs will definitely go through Baltimore. The Ravens clinched the number-one seed and hometown advantage after routing the Dolphins yesterday.

The game went about as well as it possibly could for quarterback, Lamar Jackson. He tied his career-high with five touchdown passes, finishing with a perfect passer rating. That may have sealed the deal to win his second league MVP award.

The final score ended up being 56-19, which is notable because that score combination has never happened before in the history of the NFL. It is called Score Got Me (ph). A lot of people might know what that means.

In the NFC, the 49ers also have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. And, most importantly, they are the buy (ph) in the first round. San Francisco quarterback, Brock Purdy, leading the way with a pair of touchdowns in a 27-10 win over the Commander's.

He put quite a score together for his career. Already breaking the team's single-season passing record. Purdy entering the day third on the list behind Jeff Garcia and Steve Young and set the mark on his final toss of the day, a five-yard completion to George Kittle.

[13:55:58]

And lastly for you, Brianna, as we turn the calendar to 2024, one of the most beloved traditions in sports returning in Seattle, this time. It's the NHL Winter Classic, the annual hockey game played in the great outdoors.

This year, the Kraken are hosting the defending Stanley Cup champions, Vegas Golden Knights, inside T-Mobile Park. It's the home of baseball's Seattle Mariners.

And fans really look forward to this event every year, but the players do, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK EICHEL, VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS CENTER: I think, whenever you play outdoors, it is the purest form of the game. You play outside and you get different uniforms on. I'm sure it brings back a lot of memories for guys growing up and playing on ponds in their neighborhoods or in their towns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: The puck drops this afternoon at 3:00 Eastern with coverage starting at the top of the hour. You can watch all of it on her sister channel, TNT, or stream it on Max. These are the league's two newest franchises, Brianna.

So exciting to see it in Seattle for the first time on the west coast. But all of these guys grew up playing pond hockey. It'll be real interesting to watch.

KEILAR: Yes, that looks like a lot of fun. You have never seen the stadium look quite like that.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Carolyn Manno, happy New Year. Thank you so much.

MANNO: Thank you.

KEILAR: From minimum wage to guns and abortion, new state laws taking effect today. We will take a much closer look just ahead.

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