Return to Transcripts main page
CNN News Central
Changing Women's Abortion Access; Trump Repeats Debunked Lies; Juan Proano is Interviewed about the Latino Vote; Abercrombie CEO Arrested. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired October 22, 2024 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00]
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This is new for you this morning. The changing landscape of abortion care. We have new numbers to illustrate choices women are making since Roe versus Wade was overturned two years ago. Most abortions are still provided in-person, but that number is on the decline. Slowly declining.
So, what are women turning to instead? CNN's Meg Tirrell is with us now.
Tell us more about what is changing here and what is being used instead as women seek abortion care.
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so what might surprise some people to find out is that the number of abortions provided through the formal health care system, and that's not even counting folks who are getting this outside of the formal health care system, they have been rising since Roe v. Wade was overturned. And they are higher now than they were before the Dobbs decision in 2022.
So, on average, there are about 99,000 monthly abortions provided either through hospitals, clinicians offices, or through telemedicine per month in the United States for the first half of 2024. If you compare the last quarter, up through June to the same period in the year before, they were up 11 percent overall. And a lot of that is being - being driven by access through telemedicine. So, people who are getting access to medication abortion.
You can see there, that red line was when the Dobbs decision was that overturned Roe v. Wade. And now the average number of monthly abortions is higher than it was previously before that decision.
So, telemedicine is the way a lot more people are getting access to abortion. It was about 4 percent of total clinician provided abortions in April of 2022, right before Dobbs was overturned. Now, it's 21 percent of total abortions.
SIDNER: That's really interesting.
What did this study find out about people living in states that have those very strict, almost bans on abortion?
TIRRELL: Yes. SIDNER: Did the numbers go down there in abortion care or not?
TIRRELL: Well, it was different for different states. You know, based on their geography and how accessible thing these to people. But, of course, there were more than a dozen states that almost totally banned abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Still, more states enacted, you know, six-week bans that are fairly early. And what we see is that there are shield laws, which are laws that provide some protection to doctors in other states who can prescribe medication abortion through telemedicine to people in states with these bans. And we saw that about 9,000 people, or even more per month, were accessing medication abortion through telehealth in states with bans or with these early gestational limits on accessing abortion.
We also know that folks travel outside of states to get abortion care if they have bans or limits in their states. But in states like Texas for example, where the travel time is much farther than it could be in other states, you didn't see as many people being able to access abortion as before the bans went into place.
SIDNER: It's also interesting because the numbers don't lie. They sort of tell you what the trend is and what's happening since Roe versus Wade.
Thank you so much, Meg Tirrell. It was great reporting.
TIRRELL: Thank you.
SIDNER: John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we do have breaking news, the former CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch arrested on charges related to sex trafficking. And this morning, one airport is done with your emotional farewells. Why they are implementing a three-minute time limit on goodbye hugs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:37:52]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, despite the facts, Donald Trump was campaigning in North Carolina yesterday and continued to push a lie about FEMA and disaster relief, accusing the Biden administration of stealing emergency FEMA funds away from disaster response and spending it on migrants.
CNN's Daniel Dale joins us now for a fact check.
Daniel, let's play some of this, what we heard from the former president yesterday first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They had spent hundreds of millions of dollars doing other things. Things that I don't think bear any relationship to this money. There was - they were not supposed to be spending the money on taking in illegal migrants.
They didn't get the proper support from this administration. They spent their money on illegal migrants. They spent their money. They didn't have any money left for North Carolina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: So, Daniel, what's the truth here?
DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Trump made at least three false claims on this subject in his remarks yesterday.
So, he claimed at one point in North Carolina that FEMA's disaster relief money is, quote, "all gone." It's not. As of last week, FEMA had about $8.5 billion left in that fund, although it might have to go back to Congress to get some additional funding for the rest of the year.
Second of all, it is again - and we've pointed out - not true that FEMA improperly diverted disaster relief money to House migrants. What happened was that Congress appropriated about $650 million for FEMA to administer a program to support the sheltering of migrants, but separately appropriated more than $35 billion in the same fiscal year for disaster relief funding. Those are simply two separate pots. There's no sign that anything inappropriate is happening.
And third of all, it is not true that the Biden administration ran out of money, they had no money to support North Carolina in the wake of this hurricane. In fact, FEMA itself has already provided more than $100 million in individual assistance to North Carolina residents post-hurricane. And the Biden administration over all says that it has already provided more than 300 million to the state in general. That includes aid to county and other local governments.
BOLDUAN: And point four, if Donald Trump thinks this is so bad, which was moving money from the Disaster Relief Fund to housing migrants, his administration did it.
[09:40:01]
He did it in 2019. We talked about it then. It's still true now. And his - and his campaign definitely does not want to answer questions about that when we posed it to them, Daniel.
Let's talk about building - let's talk about manufacturing. Building back up manufacturing in the United States is a focus of both campaigns.
I want to play for you what vice presidential candidate Tim Walz said about this yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We want to make sure that you're able to bring manufacturing, like Kamala Harris' did. We know Donald Trump lost more manufacturing jobs than any president in American history.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
WALZ: That's simply factual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: What are - what are the facts here?
DALE: Well, if you're going to say something is simply factual, it should be factual. This is not. It's not true that the Trump presidency lost more manufacturing jobs than any other presidency. Under George W. Bush, there were about 4.5 million manufacturing jobs lost. Under Trump it was about 178,000. And there are also more manufacturing jobs lost that under Trump under Eisenhower, under Ford, under Reagan. So, Trump does not have the record.
I think it's also worth pointing out for context that these Trump job losses in manufacturing overwhelmingly occurred because of the Covid pandemic. Pre-pandemic under Trump there was a gain of about 414,000 manufacturing jobs. Again, he ended negative 178,000, but that was largely because we had a pandemic related crash.
BOLDUAN: Daniel Dale, great to see you, as always. Thank you.
John.
BERMAN: All right, just in this morning, the Harris campaign is releasing new economic plans targeted at Latino men. Harris will deliver details during an interview on Telemundo.
With us now is the CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Juan Proano, who I believe is here on behalf of the Harris campaign, who you have supported the Harris campaign.
This plan says it will lower costs, increase homeownership, and expand job opportunities for Latino men. How specifically?
JUAN PROANO, CEO, LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS: Well, specifically I think what they talked about was, you know, removing some of the barriers, including, for example, college degrees and apprenticeship programs. So, something that could provide a pathway for up to 2 million Latinos to enter the workforce. They've also introduced new programs. For example, over 600,000 homes to get Latinos into home ownership. It's one of the biggest issues - reasons why the Latino net worth gap is so significant. And in addition to that, providing funding up to $20,000 in grants and other interest- free loans to help grow in scale Latino small businesses.
BERMAN: So, why now? Why not sooner?
PROANO: Well, you know, I think that's really a great question, John. I mean there's no question that Latino are actually going to play a significant role in this election cycle. And both campaigns are basically trying to do everything that they can to appeal to the Latinos. This is Harris' plan. We've had a chance to review it. We - we - we believe it's very thoughtful. And we do believe it will have a significant impact in improving the living conditions of Latinos in the United States.
BERMAN: So, "The New York Times," which has done all kinds of polling, along with Siena College, tried to split out some of the numbers among Latino men and some shifts that have happened since 2020.
I want to put this up on the screen so people can see. In 2024, among Latino men right now, Harris leads Donald Trump 48 to 45 percent. Now, that same group, when you ask them who they supported four years ago, it was Biden, 39, Trump, 30. So, that number is shrinking pretty substantially between 2020 and 2024 for Harris. Not leading by as much as she was. Why do you think that is?
PROANO: Well, I - you know, I - first of all, I think that there's basically a cap in regards to how much support actually Donald Trump will be able to get. And there is no question, obviously, that we've been following those polling numbers very, very closely.
You know, we have a lot of questions in regards to the viability of some of those polls because it's very difficult to poll Latinos, especially young Latinos. But we have seen a shift in regards to Latino men. But that's not necessarily the case when it actually comes to Latina women.
The one thing that, you know, really none of the campaigns have actually really account before is that 20 percent of the new Latino voters will be voting for the first time, right, ever. And so we think that there's a - that there's a greater games that Harris could actually make as we get closer to the campaign - closer to the election, and on election day.
BERMAN: So you're saying, even if you do have some questions about these polls, you yourself acknowledged in the research that you've done, and the people you've talked to, that there has been a shift among Latino men. Do you have any explanations for why?
PROANO: You know, my sense is, obviously, yes, a lot of them are basically appealing more towards that populist message that Trump actually has. But my recommendation certainly for Latino men is to really be more thoughtful and not just think of yourself. You know, think about, for example, your wife, if you have children and your kids' needs, you know, which candidate is going to actually be better for you and your family, as opposed to just yourself.
[09:45:12]
Example, in my family, you know, we kid about it a lot, but my sister and her husband, they would go to the polls and he would vote Republican and she would vote for a Democrat. And they basically were canceling each other's votes out. And so really what we're saying is, you know, you should talk about it with your spouse. You should talk about it with your loved ones. Because a lot of the policy issues really going to impact your parents, your great grandparents, your children, for example. And we're obviously very concerned about these issues of deportation and the threats of deporting up to 15 million Latinos. That's really concerning to us.
BERMAN: Who's your sister's husband voting for this time?
PROANO: You know, we're still talking about it. There's not maybe two Republicans in our household. But, you know, look, it's important that, you know, we continue to kind of sort of talk about it. You know, my vote is not going to just be for myself. It's going to be for my wife. It's going to be for my daughter. It's going to be from my mother as well. And so, we have to be a lot more thoughtful about it. It can't just be about what we believe.
And Latino, I mean, look, we're not Elon Musk, right? I mean, this message of that they're going to cut taxes and it's going to actually benefit Latinos that are at a significantly lower income scale is significant, right? And so, you know, I think that's really one of the big challenges that we have too.
BERMAN: Juan Proano, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate your time, sir.
Sara.
SIDNER: All right, we have some breaking news to share with you at this hour. What we're learning about the former Abercrombie and Fitch CEO, arrested in connection to a sex trafficking case.
And, stuck in the middle of two rocks. Not the way you'd want to spend seven hours. What happened here? How did this end up like this?
We'll talk about these stories and more, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:51:29]
SIDNER: All right, we have some breaking news for you at this hour. The former Abercrombie and Fitch CEO has been arrested on charges related to sex trafficking. Two sources are telling CNN that Mike Jeffries and two associates were arrested.
CNN's Brynn Gingras is joining us now.
What have you learned about this?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, those arrests happening this morning. Jeffries, as you mentioned, the former CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch. And we're told one of those other men is his partner.
Now, what we're hearing from sources is that Jeffries is accused federally of essentially sex trafficking men. Men who were - people who were aspiring to be models and essentially allowing them to travel - or helping them travel internationally, sometimes in the United States, to ascend these sort of sex-themed parties where those men allegedly thought that they might have a chance to actually be a model, possibly for Abercrombie and Fitch or, you know - you know, go - you know, expand their career. And those parties, we're learning, included drugs, they included alcohol, they included sometimes Viagra as part of this whole sex trafficking scheme that we're hearing happened between December 2008 and March 2015. Now, during part of that time, Jeffries was still currently the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch.
And these allegations might sound somewhat familiar to you because if you remember the BBC had a long investigation into Jeffries after they learned about some of these allegations last year. CNN actually reaching out to the company who described the allegations at that time as appalling and disgusting, saying that they were going to launch their own investigation. But now it seems that there are criminal charges against these three men.
I'm told that this was a united sort of investigation with the Eastern District of New York, as well as the FBI and the sex trafficking unit of the NYPD. We're learning those three men were arrested in different states, two in Florida, including Jeffries, one in Wisconsin. Well, they will appear before a judge and then eventually make their way back into New York to face those charges.
Sara.
SIDNER: Wow.
All alright, Brynn Gingras, thank you so much for updating us on this story. Appreciate it.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: This morning, new and troubling video showing the frantic moments after the ferry dock collapsed on (INAUDIBLE) island.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where's my aunt? Where's my aunt? Please, please, please, God. Please. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: People calling for help. Many still hanging onto the walkway after it had fallen already into the water. People dove in to help as other started throwing life preservers into the water. Seven senior citizens were killed in this tragedy. Several others were critically injured.
Disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein has a rare form of cancer and is now receiving treatment for a chronic myeloid leukemia, which is a form of bone marrow cancer. A source tells CNN he is being treated in prison at Rikers Island. This is the latest in a series of health-related issues that Weinstein has faced this year, including emergency heart surgery last month. He's in prison currently awaiting a retrial after an appeals court overturned his 2020 rape conviction. The Hollywood mogul's alleged sexual misconduct fueled the Me Too movement.
A woman in Australia found herself stuck upside down between two rocks for seven hours because she dropped her phone. While she was trying to retrieve it, she apparently fell and ended up stuck in a ten foot fissure in the rock. You can see her feet dangling in video in the pictures there. Rescuers eventually were able to get her out and she was only - only had a few scratches and bruises, thankfully.
[09:55:02]
As for the phone, no luck, it's still stuck between the rocks.
An airport in New Zealand is now putting a three-minute time limit on goodbye hugs in the drop-off zones. The airport's CEO says those long goodbyes were causing serious traffic jams. Adding that three minutes should be, quote, plenty of time to say goodbye.
Oh, I don't know. I don't know.
BERMAN: I have two thoughts on this.
BOLDUAN: One.
SIDNER: Oh, goodness.
BERMAN: Sorry.
BOLDUAN: One.
BERMAN: Number one, who gets rides by family to the airport anymore? I mean, are you hugging your Uber driver for three minutes?
BOLDUAN: People who are loved.
BERMAN: OK.
BOLDUAN: OK.
Two.
SIDNER: What's two?
BERMAN: OK, my - and the second thing is, it's just a ban on hugs. What if you raise the stakes? What if you neck? What if you like french kiss? Is there - is there no limit on time there?
BOLDUAN: I'm saying - I'm just saying, that if I'm getting dropped off at the airport, I am definitely going for longer than a three-minute goodbye, OK.
SIDNER: OK. Wow. Well, you know what I do?
BOLDUAN: What?
SIDNER: I do this, bye.
BERMAN: Exactly. That's exactly - see-ya.
BOLDUAN: That is not true. For the record, that's the exact opposite. You are one of the best -
SIDNER: And that's what I'm doing.
BOLDUAN: No, you are one of the best huggers on the planet. There's no way you're doing a peace, bye.
SIDNER: Do you see me not coming back?
BOLDUAN: Exactly. She actually is leaving.
BERMAN: She's gone for real.
Thank you so much for joining us.
BOLDUAN: She's left early.
BERMAN: This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
BOLDUAN: Come back.
BERMAN: Sara's gone. "NEWSROOM," up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
