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Esther Manheimer is Interviewed about Asheville; Musk Loosing While Winning; Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) is Interviewed about Gaetz and Russia; $1 Billion Art Auction This Week; Hong Kong Sentencing Democracy Leaders. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired November 19, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

MAYOR ESTHER MANHEIMER (D), ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA: But we still have areas where we have bridges that are failed and road outages. A lot of repair work throughout western North Carolina to fix the roadway system. The highway system. A lot of landslides that resulted in road damage, things like that. And we have a lot of individuals who've lost their homes and need homes and we have businesses that were either destroyed or they were out of commission for several weeks now because they didn't have water, who need to get back on their feet.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: What is being done for those people who lost their homes? And we're looking at some of the devastation here. We're looking at a roadway that people are trying to clear. We've seen just, you know, absolute devastation across Asheville. What is being done? Where are people able to go if their homes have been destroyed?

MANHEIMER: So, FEMA has a program that temporarily houses people if their home has been destroyed. We also, in the - in the beginning, we had shelters that were open, but now a lot of people are being temporarily housed either in hotels or other housing. But that long- term recovery work to help people get back in their homes, or build new homes is really going to take some time. That is - that is a slow process, unfortunately.

And we're in an area that's very popular. We already had a housing shortage. We already had a housing - affordable housing crisis. So, that's - that's even more challenging in an area like this. I mean it's a beautiful place to live, and a lot of people want to be here. So, that - that makes it difficult to get people rehoused.

SIDNER: I - we did talk to officials sort of immediately after about the length of time that this may take. What is your assessment on how long it might be before things get back to some semblance of normalcy when it comes to the roads, when it comes to the infrastructure, as people try to figure out whether or not they can move back to Asheville.

MANHEIMER: Well, you know, it's interesting. It's sort of patchy. It's not like a regular hurricane that might happen on the coast. So, for example, Asheville's downtown is bustling again. It's fine. The (INAUDIBLE) not damage. But then there are other (INAUDIBLE) river (INAUDIBLE) around.

So, it - and, you know, today I'm going to meet Governor-elect Stein, who just got elected governor of North Carolina. We're going to (INAUDIBLE) here down in Chimney Rock and Lake Lure. These are areas where the one highway in and out was devastated. A lot of landslides and damage in the more rural areas in Asheville.

So, it's - it's - some of these places it's going to cost a lot of money, can take a lot of time to help them fully recover.

SIDNER: And certainly, you know, places, you know, that are really prone to people coming in to check it out as tourists, you know, there's a huge loss of money too economically there.

Mayor Esther Manheimer, thank you so much for taking the time today as your community tries to not only heal from this but rebuild. And it's good to hear that people can now, you know, not have to boil their water after all these weeks.

Appreciate your time this morning.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a $1 million banana. New details on exactly how much a piece of fruit taped to the wall could go for an auction today. And to be fair, maybe it's the duct tape that has buyers so interested.

And new video shows the terrifying moment a police officer rushed to save a man stuck inside a burning truck.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:38:14]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, Elon Musk is really rich. Elon Musk is really rich. And he also really likes Donald Trump. The question is, is he really popular? One man knows the answer and how to say his name, that's CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: It's misting in here for Elon Musk.

BERMAN: You know, it's just - I decided that to mix it up a little bit right there.

ENTEN: Sure. Why the heck not?

BERMAN: So, Harold, talk to me about Elon Musk's popularity.

ENTEN: Yes, let's talk about Elon Musk's popularity. Let's take a look at his net favorable rating. It's going in the wrong direction, folks. It's going in the wrong direction.

So, if you go back to August of 2021, look at that, he was at plus five net favorable. He buys Twitter, X, goes to minus four. Minus eight earlier this year. Now he's at minus nine points. It's almost as if he's a politician because pretty much all the politicians in our country have negative net favorability ratings. And now Elon Musk has gone in the completely wrong direction when it comes to popularity.

BERMAN: A lot of these dates have to do with when he bought Twitter. How's Twitter doing since he bought it?

ENTEN: Yes. So, this kind of gets really interesting, right? So, let's take a look, U.S. adults who use - and these are, of course, are some famous or some might say infamous social media clients. Look at this, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, X, is going in the wrong direction. So, U.S. adults who use Twitter/X, before Musk bought it, it was 27 percent. Look at where it's now. It's 21 percent. It's again going in the wrong direction. And it's very different from the potential other clients. You know, TikTok's up a little bit. Instagram's up a little bit. Facebook's down, but just a point, well within the margin of error. Twitter/X is unique in that it is actually losing adults who say they are using this particular social media client, Mr. Berman.

BERMAN: But how is he doing? How is he really doing?

ENTEN: Yes, how is he really doing? So, if you looked at that opening slide, what did it say? It seems like Elon Musk is losing, but he's actually winning.

[08:40:02]

So, the reason - one of the big reasons he bought Twitter/X is because he wanted to make it his own platform, remake it in his own image. And I think this really gets at it. Look at this. The party ID among those who regularly use X/Twitter for news. Back in 2022, 65 percent of those who regularly used Twitter/X for news were Democrats. Just 31 percent were Republicans. Look at where we are today. Just a completely different picture. Now it's basically split between Democrats at 48 percent, Republicans at 47 percent.

And what I should note, Mr. Berman, is this now - this new overall makeup matches the overall electorate far better. And more than that, more than that, John, look at where Mr. Musk's net worth is today versus where it was just two months ago. He is the richest man in the world by far.

Two months ago, look at this, his net worth was$ 252 billion. Look at where we are today, $314 billion. He is by far the richest man ever to be on this planet. So, yes, he's not as popular. Yes, Twitter/X perhaps is not as popular, but it's a much different platform, one that more represents Elon Musk's, let's say, political instincts. And he is now a far wealthier man. So, I -

BERMAN: Just, in your data expertise, is that a lot of money?

ENTEN: I would say that $314 billion is a lot of money. And I would say that if I could just get 1/314 of that, I would be a very happy man.

BERMAN: Harry, we'll see what we can do.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Thank you very much for that.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I think we should just make - we should just continue. We should just - I would love to know how you pronounce my name given how it's completely pronounced differently than it is actually spelled.

BERMAN: Well, you know, look, you've got to address how you spell your name to begin with, but that's OK.

ENTEN: (INAUDIBLE). Take a (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: Moving on. Thank you, guys.

Joining us right now is the Democratic senator from Delaware, Chris Coons, not the hardest name to pronounce. Thank you so much for that, Senator.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk - let's move - let's move from Elon Musk, though, and talk about the coming administration, the coming second Trump administration, and about his cabinet picks.

You are on the Judiciary Committee. I want to ask you about Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz. When confirmation hearings begin, what's the first question you would like to ask him?

COONS: I think the first question that will be asked of him probably by our ranking member, Senator Durbin, is, Congressman Gaetz, under oath, have you violated federal law with regards to sex trafficking, drug use, solicitation? My hunch is that question has been asked and answered, and that's part of why we should get access to the House Ethics Committee report, either shared confidentially with the Senate Judiciary Committee, or released.

But, Kate, there's not a lot of mystery at this point because in recent days the attorney who represents several of the women who testified under oath that Congressman Gaetz, former now Congressman Gaetz, had paid them for sex and that they'd witnessed his engaging in sex with a minor, has come out and said that publicly. So, I think what we will most likely get, if and when we receive the House Ethics Committee report, is more detail about the investigation and the background.

But frankly, we should also be asking the second question, what makes you qualified to lead the most important law enforcement agency in our country that's tasked with keeping the American people safe? And if President-elect Trump says he wants you to be attorney general to go after his political enemies, how will you prioritize keeping Americans safe given that directive from the president-elect? BOLDUAN: I want to play - you are - you also are on the Senate Ethics

Committee, the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, so you know both sides of everything that is going on here in terms of the Gaetz investigation, you know, and how an ethics committee operates, the rules of engagement and the power that they have, and also with your perch on Judiciary. I want to play for you what that attorney that you're talking about for the two women, who spoke to the House Ethics Committee, what they said about Matt Gaetz speaking to Erin Burnett last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEL LEPPARD, LAWYER: The testimony before the House was, yes, that Representative Gaetz paid my client - both of my clients for sexual favors throughout the summer of 2017, all the way to the beginning of 2019.

She testified to the House that as she was walking out to the pool area, she turned to her right and she witnessed her client - I'm sorry, her friend having sex with Representative Gaetz. And her friend at that time was 17.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That speaks to everything that you were just talking about now has been said publicly. If you run the math, if that girl was 17 in 2017, at that time, I believe, that makes Matt Gaetz 35 years old and definitely a sitting member of Congress giving his tenure, just for some perspective for folks.

You said one of the questions that needs to be asked is, what makes you qualified for the job? We know one thing that Donald Trump said over and over again from the campaign trail was that he was the retribution, and he was going to go after his - going to go after his political enemies.

[08:45:08]

And this is what Americans voted for. How do you square these two things?

COONS: Well, Kate, I think if you look at exit polls and at what moved people to vote for Donald Trump as president-elect, it was not that he would tear up our Department of Justice, the rule of law and go after his enemies. It was more than anything that they want lower prices. They want a stronger economy. They want more opportunity.

And I'll remind you, President-elect Trump's victory nationally was not an overwhelming one. It was 1 percent of the American people. In fact, if about 240,000 people across Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania had voted for Vice President Harris instead of former President Trump, today we'd be talking about plans for the inaugural balls and Vice President Harris' cabinet picks. This was a close loss. And a key piece of that close loss was the average American believing that Donald Trump would do a better job on the economy. What we're not talking about today, Kate, is his proposal for double

digit tariffs, a new national sales tax on every imported product, and what that will do to our economy, to inflation and to the prices Americans pay. While the nominees he's put forward really look more like a casting call for a reality TV show or a UFC fighting match than a cabinet, it is distracting us from the most important policy positions Donald Trump is developing, which have to do with the economy and the costs for working families and with foreign policy and what he may or may not do with regards to Ukraine.

BOLDUAN: That's a - actually, that's exactly what I wanted to ask you about because Russia now says that Ukraine has fired those longer- range missiles provided by the United States into Russia for the first time.

You have supported giving Ukraine the green light to hit targets deeper into Russia with U.S. weapons. We've talked about that over the last months and months. The White House now signing off on that.

Is this being done to box in the next administration and make it harder to pull back support for Ukraine?

COONS: Well, I can't speak to exactly what made this decision final, but I do think that it's urgent that we put Ukraine on as strong a footing as we can, both to defend their people against what have been record large waves of drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine as they head into another brutal Ukrainian winter, and to make sure that we're delivering the financial support for the Ukrainian government and the material support for the Ukrainians. No one knows exactly what President-elect Trump will do when he comes into office, but he has over and over said he would resolve this war in one day. That suggests he will be delivering a very hard message to the Ukrainians.

And so my hope is that they will be in a stronger place to negotiate on the battlefield when that day comes.

BOLDUAN: Senator Chris Coons, always good to have you. Thanks for coming in.

COONS: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, I'm sure you remember this. A banana duct taped to a wall. Well, that work of art, if that's what you want to call it, and thousands of others are going up for auction this week in New York. Their total value, more than a billion dollars. The art industry has struggled in the last few years with declining sales, and now artists and art dealers are hoping for a final turnaround. Could Donald Trump's win, and economic momentum, entice bidders to come back to the market?

CNN's Vanessa Yurkovich joins me now.

I have to say, with people still struggling with prices of their groceries, it's a little bit hard to look at that - where is it - that banana on the wall and think that this is going to sell for anything big.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well -

SIDNER: However -

YURKEVICH: It's reportedly going to sell for over $1 million. But there is a billion dollars' worth of art that's hitting the auction blocks this season, this month, and that is going to be big for the art world because they are hoping that this year sets records.

Last year, in 2023, sales were down 27 percent. And the uber rich and wealthy were spending 32 percent less on artwork. So, a lot of folks are now saying, well, wait a minute, now that we know who the president is, are we going to get that Trump bump for the uber wealthy? Because some of his policies and positions in his first term benefited the wealthy. It made them richer.

Some of this is about tax cuts. So, more money for them in the bank. Also, interest rates have come down, so there's better financing available for a lot of these folks who want to buy this art.

But some of this also is about what is old is new again, what is new is old again. The banana, as you mentioned, it's called the "Comedian." Originally went for $150,000, reportedly going to go for $1.5 million. I will tell you, though, you're not actually getting a banana and duct tape, you're just getting the instructions.

[08:50:02]

Also coming to market is "Empire of Light" by Rene Magritte. This is going to fetch reportedly $95 million. That will be a new record for this artist.

Andy Warhol's "Skyscrapers," estimated to go for $500,000 to $600,000. But there was a lot of drama about this with Donald Trump. Andy Warhol writes about this in his diaries. So, maybe someone wants a little piece of drama and is going to spend a little bit more on this.

Maybe for what's to come we can look at what just sold last night. So, "La Grande Dame," "The Cat Woman," went it $11.4 million. They thought it was going to go for $5 million to $7 million. So that's -

SIDNER: Double.

YURKEVICH: Double.

SIDNER: Wow.

YURKEVICH: And then Monet, one of Monet's beautiful "Water Lilies" paintings was reportedly going to go for $60 million. It ended up going for $65.5 million.

So, hey, is this Trump bump already working in people's minds? Maybe. Of course we cannot predict the future of the economy. But clearly the season's getting off to a good start. And that is what the art world is hoping for right now.

SIDNER: Forgive me, I'm stuck on the banana called the "Comedian," because the joke's on the buyer for $1 million. You're just getting the instructions.

YURKEVICH: Well, you're in on the joke because you wore beautiful banana yellow today just for this segment.

SIDNER: Just for a mere million dollars you can have this suit.

YURKEVICH: Exactly.

SIDNER: Thank you so much, Vanessa Yurkevich.

BOLDUAN: Wait. Wait. But, Sara, it has been suggested for a mere million dollars could we tape you to the wall?

SIDNER: Yes, absolutely. You can tape me to the wall. You can use extra duct -

BOLDUAN: I am so kidding.

SIDNER: I don't care.

YURKEVICH: (INAUDIBLE) duct tape.

SIDNER: For $1 million, you can have it all.

BOLDUAN: Oh, man. No more fun.

SIDNER: Thank you, Vannessa Yurkevich.

BOLDUAN: Back to the news.

Thanks, guys.

Coming up for us, Beijing tightens its grip on political freedom in Hong Kong, sentencing dozens of pro-democracy leaders to up to ten years behind bars.

And several riders left dangling for hours at a California amusement park. What happened? Maybe a bigger question is, what is happening (INAUDIBLE).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:56:25]

BOLDUAN: Overnight, a crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong. Forty-five well-known pro-democracy activists have been sentenced to up to ten years in prison in the city's largest national security trial ever.

Let's get over to CNN's Ivan Watson. He's got a lot more on what all has happened.

What is the latest here, Ivan? IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, you

had judges here in Hong Kong that imposed combined sentences on these 45 defendants that add up to more than two centuries behind bars. Actually, more than 245 years. So, this was a huge court case. The 45 were convicted of the crime of conspiracy to commit subversion. They were accused of being part of a scheme to ultimately bring down the Hong Kong government.

What did they actually do? Well, back in 2020 they held an unofficial primary. They were trying to get candidates together to contest citywide elections for Hong Kong legislature. And that, the prosecutors argued, was part of this nefarious scheme to try to destabilize the government.

A little bit of context here. I've been living in Hong Kong for ten years. Five, six years ago, there were concerns that the democratic freedoms here were backsliding a little bit, under pressure from the Chinese national government. Since these 45 people were arrested, independent newspapers here have all been shut down. The opposition political parties, everybody is either arrested or has fled into exile. Unions have been disbanded. And you can't even protest in the streets, which used to be part of the fabric of this city.

In fact, there was one woman outside the courtroom today who tried to hold up a protest sign. She was immediately grabbed by police and put into a police van. So, these freedoms disappeared in this city over the course of the past four to five years. And the roundup of these 45 activists was a big part of that process.

The Hong Kong government, the Chinese national government, they argue that this crackdown was necessary to restore stability here. The U.S. consulate has put out a statement condemning these convictions and calling on the Chinese government and Hong Kong authorities to cease politically motivated prosecutions of Hong Kong citizens and to immediately release all political prisoners.

There you go.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Ivan Watson in Hong Kong for us.

Thank you so much, Ivan.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, on our radar, Sean "Diddy" Combs will be back in court. Today's hearing is about alleged notes that government obtained showing that Combs tried to tamper with witnesses from his jail cell. Combs' attorneys asked the judge to hold a hearing today about how the prosecutors obtained those personal notes, which included attorney- client material. In a filing, prosecutors said the notes were obtained during a nationwide planned sweep of bureau of prison facilities and then reviewed for privileged materials before prosecutors got ahold of them. All right, two riders were taken to the hospital after getting stuck

on a ride at the Knotts Berry Farm amusement park for more than two hours. Riders stuck. Some leaning sideways with their legs dangling in the air. You know you've seen this vision before in other places. Luckily, no rides appear to be hanging upside down during all this time. Park mechanics were able to crank the ride down to the ground, and they let people off.

[09:00:03]

It's unclear what caused that ride to stop in the first place.