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Supreme Court To Hear Arguments Over Tennessee Ban On Gender- Affirming Care For Minors; Trump's Defense Of Eric Adams Sparks Speculation He Will Get Pardon; TSA: Stowaway Bypassed Security At JFK, Boarded Flight To Paris. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired November 29, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: What are the medical issues involved? That's where you see that it most likely would be struck down.

[15:30:07]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: And Jennifer, parental rights are not absolute under the law, correct? What are the limitations at play here?

RODGERS: Well, again, it depends on the level of scrutiny that applies. But if the state can show an interest under the rational basis test, it just has to be a rational interest. Intermediate scrutiny has to be an important interest. Then you can override parental rights. So, you know, let's say the parents think that children should only eat 200 calories a day. That's very dangerous to health. So that's where you would see the government has an interest is going to override the parents' decision about how to raise their children.

So that's kind of where it falls. You have to look at the legal test and decide how strong the government's interest has to be to override parents' rights. But, you know, we need to know which test applies before we can put the interest up against the test to see where it all comes out. And that's what the Supreme Court is going to tell us, which of these tests applies to this law. And by the way, if they decided sex discrimination, we know it will be intermediate scrutiny.

The court has never decided whether transgender discrimination is just on the basis of being a transgender person, what level of scrutiny that would apply. So that's a secondary issue here. It's possible that the court finds it's not sex discrimination, but that transgender discrimination requires intermediate scrutiny. We're waiting to hear on that as well.

ACOSTA: OK, that's a very big issue potentially that we could hear about. And you were just mentioning Tennessee is one of 26 Republican led states that have enacted restrictions on gender affirming care. Have any of those states faced legal challenges? I mean, what does this look like from a bird's eye view of all of these states? Do any stand out as being interesting that the court may be, you know, taking into consideration here?

RODGERS: Well, you know, they don't directly take it into consideration because they're only looking at the case in front of them. But of course, in the back of their minds, they understand that we have 50 states. They're all over the map as far as where these laws are. Some have them, some don't. The ones that have them, some of the laws are different from other laws. So they understand that when they need to set a standard here, they should be thinking about how that will apply more broadly so that other states know what to do.

You don't want to have to take up 50 different cases on this issue, right? You want states to be able to get guidance from this. That said, a lot of these laws look a lot alike. These right leaning groups drafted legislation and kind of shopped it around in different state legislatures. So a lot of the language is the same.

So I think whatever the Supreme Court does will likely be guidance for all the states in the nation as far as what's going to fly and what's not going to fly under the Equal Protection Clause.

ACOSTA: Very interesting. All right. We appreciate the expertise on all of this. Jennifer Rodgers, thanks so much.

RODGERS: Thanks.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: As President-elect Donald Trump's team prepares for his second term, there's growing speculation about who might get a pardon once he takes office. CNN's John Miller reports on whether a high-profile New York Democrat could make that list.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: The ridiculous and baseless indictment of me by the Biden administration's weaponized Department of Injustice will go down as among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: It's one of President-elect Donald Trump's most common refrains.

TRUMP: They weaponized the Justice Department. Every one of those cases was involved with the DOJ.

MILLER: Repeated claims without any evidence that the multiple criminal cases against him, even the ones brought by state prosecutors, were ordered by the Biden White House. The Justice Department has consistently denied the baseless claim.

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I have devoted my entire career to ensuring that the rule of law is the rule that the Justice Department applies, that we do not have enemies or friends, that we do not pay attention to the political parties or the wealth or the power or the influence of the people that we are investigating.

MILLER: And when New York's Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, was indicted earlier this year, he pleaded not guilty and began to invoke a similar argument.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NY): I always knew that if I stood my ground, all of you, that I would be a target and a target I became.

MILLER: Adams has been indicted on five federal charges related to bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Prosecutors allege his illegal actions stretch back a decade. But Adams claims that those charges seem to emerge only after he sharply criticized the Biden White House for not doing enough to help New York City with an influx of migrants.

ADAMS: The president and the White House has failed New York City on this issue. Despite our pleas, when the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief, I put the people of New York before party and politics.

[15:35:13]

MILLER: If Mayor Adams was taking a page from Donald Trump's playbook, he was also becoming a validator of Trump's claims and Donald Trump became one of the Democratic mayor's most prominent defenders.

TRUMP: We were persecuted. I was persecuted. And so are you. Mayor Adams has been treated pretty badly. You know, when he said that this whole thing with the migrants coming into New York, this is just not sustainable. He said it very nicely. I said, well, he's going to be indicted by these lunatics for saying that. A year later, he got indicted.

MILLER: Would the founder of the MAGA movement use his power to rescue a high-profile Democrat from criminal charges and scandal? Sources tell CNN the two men have spoken since Trump's election win, but it's unclear whether a pardon has ever been discussed.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Would you accept the pardon if Trump offered it to you?

ADAMS: I don't deal with hypotheticals.

BLITZER: So, can I assume that's a yes?

ADAMS: No, I wouldn't do any assumption. I will allow my legal team to handle it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Our thanks to John Miller for that report. Right now, an investigation is underway to find out how a woman got past multiple security checkpoints at New York's JFK International Airport and stowed away aboard a flight to Paris. That story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:41:09]

SANCHEZ: Today, we're learning new details about that stowaway on a Delta flight, a woman who bypassed multiple layers of security at JFK and hopped on a Delta plane to Paris without a boarding pass, apparently hiding inside the different bathrooms inside the plane during the flight. Investigators are trying to figure out how she pulled it off, but we've learned she's at least 55 years old with a green card and with a Russian passport. At last check, she was still in Paris awaiting deportation back to the U.S.

ACOSTA: Wild stuff. Our CNN Transportation Analyst Mary Schiavo joins us. Mary, I mean, the Russian passport thing, I'm just going to put that to the side for a second because I don't know what to make of that. But, Mary, how does something like this happen? Because when Boris and I go to the airport, we play by the rules. We go up to the nice TSA person. We give them our passport and our driver's license, or maybe we have pre-check and we get to fly past all that, but we've at least gone through the process. This person went through all of these layers of security and got on the plane. Just help it make sense, if you can.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, actually, we can make sense. And unfortunately, this is not the first incident this year where that has happened. There was one in March on Delta. There was one in February on American. Anyway, there are two already this year. Last year, there was one. Someone with a Russian passport came to the United States on a Scandinavian airline.

So these incidents continue to happen often. You know, in the past, they've been sometimes teenagers just trying to hop around, take a flight. But this is very serious because if the person really did bypass security, then the TSA has a lot of explaining to do. Because remember, earlier this month, there was news coverage of a Russian plot. Five people were arrested in Poland of trying to have smuggle bombs onto planes that were headed to the United States.

Now, those were passenger planes. But Poland arrested those Russians. So you would have thought that the system would be on high alert. I certainly would have the system on high alert. But it appears not to be because there were several layers that this person apparently bypassed, not the least of which is, of course, our TSA, which is our frontline defense. And she should have had three passport checks.

One, when you check in. Two, when you go through the TSA. And the third one, because of the international flight, is just before she boards. You have to have that passport checked. So lots of people messed up here, lots.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, Mary, is there anything about what we know, at least publicly, about this person that would give you insight as to how they were able to carry this out, whether they may have had some kind of inside knowledge of the layout of the airport to get around some of those security checks?

SCHIAVO: Yeah, that's going to be the most important part of the investigation. And the FBI does have jurisdiction over this. So hopefully they are deep within the investigation now and pulling every bit of the airports covered by cameras.

So they're going to have big help now, unlike 9/11, when most of the airport in 9/11/2001, when most of the airports were not covered with camera footage. They have pulled, I'm sure, have pulled those tapes already and are looking how this happened. But when there was one earlier this year, the person claimed that she bypassed security altogether. She just hopped over a gate, a barricade, and went on through to the gate. The TSA disagrees. On another one that happened this year, they used a buddy pass from another airline to, you know, take a seat on an employee ticket.

And when they got to the gate, that flight was full, so they just walked down the hall and took another flight without a ticket. So there are lots of ways that people do it. And then there are five airports in the U.S. that you can get a pass to go into the airport without a ticket.

But New York is not one of them. And you can go in for a lot of reasons, restaurants, shopping, et cetera. I think that seems unnecessary. But there are five airports where you can do that. And, of course, if you have any kind of employee pass, there's another way. There are lots of loopholes.

[15:45:06]

ACOSTA: All right. And I guess the other thing is the Russian thing stands out to me. I mean, I don't know what you think of that, Mary, but that's a little strange, too. But what do you think?

SCHIAVO: Well, I think it's very alarming because it has happened in the past. Probably about 20 years ago, there was a flight that was bombed with what we call the Schweppes pop can bomb, and it was planted. So whenever these threats come up, we have to take them very seriously because, you know, it only takes one to succeed. The TSA has to be right all the time.

ACOSTA: That's right, yeah. And I'm sure the TSA would say, we haven't heard from them or the airline, but the vast majority of the time, they make sure this does not happen. But when it does happen, my goodness, that is very startling stuff.

Mary Schiavo, thanks very much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:17]

ACOSTA: We all know sleep is good for your health, but a new study suggests that if you don't have a regular sleep schedule, you could be at greater risk of a heart attack or stroke.

SANCHEZ: Now let's bring in CNN Health reporter Jacqueline Howard. Jacqueline, how big of a risk are we talking about?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Boris, we're talking about a 26% increased risk. Researchers found that people who don't have a consistent bedtime and don't wake up around the same time each day appear to be at a 26% increased risk of a major cardiovascular event like a heart attack or heart failure or a stroke. And this is based on data on more than 72,000 people in the UK. Researchers tracked their sleep and their health for eight years, and that's how they came to this finding. And this was despite differences in people's age and lifestyle factors like exercise or smoking or drinking alcohol. So this is a major finding when we think about sleep and our health, Boris and Jim.

ACOSTA: And even if someone doesn't have a consistent schedule, what if they still get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night? And what if they work in news? I mean, let's just admit here. This is tailor-made essentially for us right here.

HOWARD: Exactly. You know, when I saw this study, I felt personally attacked because I don't have a regular schedule. But it's really interesting. Even though I know many of us try to still get that seven to nine hours that's recommended for sleep each night, even if our schedules are irregular, this study found that getting that amount of sleep still did not offset this increased risk of an irregular sleep schedule.

And the reason why is because consistency is key. So having a regular schedule can really support our natural circadian rhythm. That's the takeaway here.

SANCHEZ: Jacqueline Howard, got to monitor that circadian rhythm. Maybe some leftover turkey is going to help today. Thank you so much, Jacqueline.

Now some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. British lawmakers have voted to approve a controversial bill to legalize assisted dying for some terminally ill patients. The measure passed the House of Commons 330 to 275 earlier today after hours of emotional debate.

If it's approved by the upper chamber, terminal patients with fewer than six months to live would be allowed to take a substance that would end their lives as long as they are capable of making that decision themselves. The UK would join countries like Canada, Spain, and New Zealand, along with U.S. states like Oregon and California, where assisted dying in some form is legal.

And also a first for Starbucks. The coffee chain's newest location in South Korea opened its doors today on an observation tower at the border with North Korea. Customers can sip their coffee while looking out over the reclusive country. A South Korean woman who visited on opening day said she wished she could share her coffee with the North Koreans living just across the border. Quite a view there.

And finally today, the Chicago Bears have just fired head coach Matt Eberflus after yesterday's disastrous loss to the Detroit Lions. And if you didn't see it, gosh, you're lucky.

After fighting back from a 16-point deficit, the Bears had a chance to tie or win in the final seconds, but with a timeout still available, they inexplicably, for no apparent reason at all, let the clock tick down and were able to run just one play when they should have been able to try to set up a field goal, maybe send the game to overtime. It just didn't happen. It melted down.

Eberflus defended his clock management afterward, but the criticism was scathing, and he has now been terminated, the first head coach in the Bears' 100-year history to be fired midseason.

ACOSTA: Wow. Yeah, I was yelling at the TV with the drumstick in one hand and the turkey meat flying out of my mouth. What are you doing? Call the timeout.

All right, in the meantime, we're introducing you to one of this year's top five CNN heroes. Meet Stephen Knight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN KNIGHT, CNN HERO: When people do need to go to rehab. When somebody makes that decision to go into treatment, it's one of the bravest decisions they'll make. Let me see the student, OK? When people do need to go to rehab and they don't have a place to put the dog, what we're finding out is how big of a need it is.

We provide free temporary fostering services for people that are ready to change their life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dice! She hasn't seen me in so long. Hey!

KNIGHT: And it becomes their motivator to stay healthy. Oh, that face. When we find a foster, we will do a temporary foster contract. You're saving that dog's life and the owner's life, and we're able to prevent a dog going to shelter. We cannot have the solution be euthanized dogs. We can't.

[15:55:11]

I want to be the voice of the dog and to help them, because they don't have that voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Look at those precious guys. You can go to cnnheroes.com right now to vote for CNN's Hero of the Year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Some record November snowfall is causing pandemonium at a South Korean zoo. I feel like Ron Burgundy. This is a new video of the country's twin panda cubs, Rui Bao and Hui Bao, playing in the snow for the very first time.

[16:00:07]

SANCHEZ: They look adorable. Rui and Hui were born in July of last year and were kept inside last winter. So this is their first exposure to snow, and they don't seem to be skipping a beat, looking right at home in their winter wonderland.

ACOSTA: Beautiful. SANCHEZ: Yeah. I would be inside enjoying leftovers right now.

Thank you so much for joining us today. Jim, great to be with you. Good to be with you. Happy holidays.

"The Lead with Jake Tapper" starts right now.