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Fact Checkers Removed from Facebook; Carter Flown to Washington; Jacob Frey is Interviewed about Minneapolis Police Reforms. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 07, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:12]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning, you heard us talking about it just moments ago with New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, Facebook announced it is getting rid of fact checkers and making many other major changes to what content it will allow on the social media site. This was CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

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MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, META: The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech. So, we're going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.

More specifically, here's what we're going to do. First, we're going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X starting in the U.S. We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth, but the fact checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the U.S.

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BERMAN: All right, CNN's Clare Duffy is here with us now.

You heard it right there, we are getting rid of the fact checkers.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, John, and I think it's important to remember that Meta initially formed these partnerships with third party fact checkers in response to concerns that its platforms had been utilized by foreign actors to spread misinformation and create discord among American voters. Now, the company says it is walking that back. It is getting rid of those third-party fact checkers. And it will rely on these user-generated context labels that will be added to posts called "community notes." This is something that Elon Musk has also done on X.

And it was announced by Joel Kaplan, who is one of the company's most prominent Republicans. We talked last week, he was just elevated to the company's top policy job. He told Fox News about how this is going to work this morning.

Let's listen.

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JOEL KAPLAN, CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS OFFICER, META: So, somebody can write a note. And then the way it works is different - different people on the platform can sort of vote on that note. And if you get people who usually disagree who all say, yes, that sounds right, then that note gets put on the - on the post and people see it. X has been doing it for a while. We think it's working really well and we're going to adopt that system. So.

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DUFFY: We're going to see a number of other changes too. The company is pulling back on some of its automated content removal. So, that will be focused on only the most extreme violations, like terrorism, child sexual exploitation.

And as you heard there, Mark Zuckerberg says this is in a move to increase free expression. But I think it is pretty clearly also a play to appeal to some of the Republicans, including Trump himself, who have accused the company of censoring right wing voices.

BERMAN: I just don't think there's any question about that right now. And I'm sure they would sort of almost admit to that at this point. They made this announcement on Fox News this morning.

And, overnight, they announced a new board appointment, which is interesting.

DUFFY: Yes, it is interesting. The company announced three new board members, including UFC CEO Dana White, who we know is a Trump supporter. He stumped for Trump on the campaign trail.

And Meta has acknowledged, you know, acknowledged today that some of these changes are a result of the incoming new administration. They talked about the fact that over the past four years they feel like there's been more pressure to crack down on certain kinds of content, and that this new administration is a new opportunity to sort of free up some of the conversation that's happening there.

But Mark Zuckerberg did also acknowledge that these changes are going to mean more harmful content on the platforms.

BERMAN: All right, I mean, a lot of changes. I wonder if they are done or if there's still more to come.

Claire Duffy, thank you very much.

Kate.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, John. BERMAN: Sara. Sara.

SIDNER: Hi.

Nearly five years after George Floyd's death, Minneapolis has finally reached an agreement with the DOJ to overhaul its police department. We will speak with the Minneapolis mayor just after the break.

And some of the biggest names in golf are backing a new league, and it is unlike any game you've probably ever experienced.

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[09:39:36]

SIDNER: You're looking at more - the people who have been mourning today. And happening today, the next phase of the funeral services for former President Jimmy Carter. In just a few hours, his casket will be flown from Georgia to Washington, D.C., where he will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. There, lawmakers and the public will be able to pay their final respects to the 39th president.

CNN's Eva McKend joins us now from the Carter presidential center in Atlanta.

[09:40:01]

I know you've been watching a stream of people come through over the last two days. And now this is the next part of a country saying goodbye to one of its presidents.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sara, it has been remarkable to see the last couple of days. All of the people come from across the region to share why they felt compelled to pay their respects to the late president.

The gates are closed now because we're entering another chapter in the tributes here with President Carter's body moving to Washington, D.C. At 11:00 a.m. there is going to be a departure ceremony here at the Carter Center in the Circle of Flags. That's primarily going to be for Carter Center employees.

Then the late president and his family will proceed to Dobbins Air Reserve Base. And from there they will arrive at Joint Base Andrews.

From there, they will travel to the U.S. Navy Memorial. Of course, President Carter was in the United States Navy.

And then what happens after that will be quite symbolic. What we will see is the horse drawn casket make the very same journey President Carter did during his inaugural parade decades ago, when he got out on foot, notably, and - and walked that route. That's what we're going to see, his casket make that journey from the - the Navy memorial to the United States Capitol.

President Carter started a tradition of sorts with subsequent presidents doing that very same thing in their inaugural parades, and having that connection with the American people.

Now, tonight, at the Capitol, there is going to be another ceremony before Americans from across the country will have the opportunity to pay their respects as President Carter lies in state, before ultimately the funeral service on Thursday, where he will be eulogized by President Biden, before finally coming back here to Georgia, his final resting place in his small hometown of Plains.

SIDNER: All right, thank you to our Eva McKend outside the Carter Center there.

John.

BERMAN: All right, at least 95 people are dead after a major earthquake struck one of the highest places on earth.

And lawyers for Donald Trump, they have read special counsel Jack Smith's final report and are now fighting to block its release.

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[09:47:04]

SIDNER: The Minneapolis City Council has approved a sweeping deal to reform its police department with the DOJ four years after Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in May of 2020. The deal is an historic federal agreement in response to that murder. It's set in - to enforce reforms within the city's police department under long term court supervision. The consent decree aims to tackle long standing issues of racial discrimination and deadly police misconduct.

Joining me now is Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Thank you so much for being here this morning bright and early your time in Minneapolis.

I was there for every twist and turn of this case and saw the despair that unfolded in the neighborhood and in the city where all of this happened. I know this hasn't been made public yet, but can you give me at least one concrete example of what the city has agreed to in this consent decree that you think will make a difference to the citizens, particularly the black and brown residents, when it comes to how police treat them.

MAYOR JACOB FREY (D), MINNEAPOLIS: Yes. We are the city where George Floyd was murdered. That's part of our history. But the arc of the story is not over yet. And we're also going to be the city that gets this right. We're going to be an example for so many others to follow. And what this consent decree offers, in concrete form, is a structure that we're all going to be working towards. Everybody knows what the goals are. Everybody knows that we've got to be waking up in the morning and going to bed at night, trying to get that necessary reform in place.

The fact that it's in a consent decree right now means that it's in permanent fashion. There's 170 some odd pages in this consent decree worth of - of changes and improvements and reforms, many of which - most of which, in fact, are already underway. We haven't been sitting on our hands these last several years. In fact, we've been doing the work to set up an implementation team to establish a 24 hour a day, seven day a week mental health response. That's, by the way, part of the consent decree. And make sure that pieces like supervision are in place so that officers have both the kind of positive mentorship that they need, but also the accountability metrics in place so that we're making the change so that people on the street feel the difference.

And that's the end goal here. The end goal is that we want every interaction with the police officer, even ones that are hard and difficult and even dangerous. We want people to feel that they were treated fairly and with justice. And that's the goal we're pushing towards.

SIDNER: I want to just remind the audience about this DOJ report. And the gist of the report was that the Minneapolis Police Department had for years used dangerous techniques and weapons against people who had committed a petty offense or no offense at all, including unjustified deadly force. That is one of the quotes there. And then it says in a review of the 19 police shootings that took place between 2016 and the summer of 2022, the investigation found that a significant portion of them were unconstitutional uses of deadly force, including officers shooting at individuals without determining any immediate threat.

[09:50:12]

So, I do want to talk to you about this report, because the report talks about the years after - two years after George Floyd was murdered. So why should citizens there believe that this consent decree is going to change anything?

FREY: Well, we'll be really honest with people. There's not one panacea here. The circumstances that officers confront on a daily basis are often very hard. And at the same time, we all recognize that's part of the trajectory here, that we need to do better.

And so, what this consent decree allows for is very concrete steps that we're all signing on to. There's no debate. It doesn't change with political winds or new administration taking office at the federal or city level. It means that we're signing up to make the change.

And I'll tell you, our officers are committed to this work. Our chief is committed to this work. Our commissioner, our attorneys, we're all committed to getting the job done here. And, you know, what we're telling people is - is we're going to make sure that every hour of every day that we're doing this work is going to be devoted to meeting these standards and - and making these changes.

And I do believe that we're on a positive trajectory right now. If you talk to people in Minneapolis, they'll tell you, we're on a positive trajectory.

The work is never going to be over. You know, we don't just want to complete the federal consent decree and call it a day. The idea is that - is that it's long lasting and permanent change. And, yes, I am confident we'll meet the mark.

SIDNER: I used to live and work in Oakland, California. While their police department has changed and made improvements over the many years, their department has been under a consent decree for more than 20 years. And the judge that's overseeing it says they are still dealing with what he termed cultural rot.

Do you trust that the Minneapolis Police Department, and the police chief, and the officers as a whole, will obey this decree and take this very seriously? Or do you feel like there's some resistance?

FREY: I do feel that they're going to take it seriously. Success here is not guaranteed. It's going to require buy in. It will require buy in from our - our chief and our commissioner. And they are bought in. It will require buy in from our officers. And right now we have officers that are coming into this department that are recognizing that change is afoot. They want to be part of that change.

Recruiting numbers are up right now. We're - people often talk about wanting more officers from the city and wanting officers that look like the rest of the community. In other words, diverse. They are. It's happening. And so, change is afoot right now. It's not something that we're waiting for. It's something that's taking place every day.

And so, am I confident that we're going to be able to meet this mark? Yes. Am I confident that they're not just going to obey, that they're obeying - it's not about obeying, it's about buying in and believing in the change. And, yes, I do believe we're moving in that direction right now.

SIDNER: I know that police have a very hard job to do, but the public also, of course, deserves fairness. And certainly when it comes to deadly use of force that's unconstitutional, that should never, ever happen. Let us hope that this, you know, this works. That this consent decree really is a moment of change.

Mayor Jacob Frey, thank you so much. I really appreciate you coming on and talking this through with me early this morning.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also new this morning, at least 95 people are dead after a powerful earthquake hit a remote region of Tibet today. The 7.1 magnitude quake also wounded at least 130 people. More than a thousand homes were reportedly destroyed. There have been multiple aftershocks. Chinese President Xi Jinping called on officials to make an all-out effort to find and rescue the survivors.

And Rudy Giuliani pushing back after a federal judge held him in contempt Monday. According to this judge, the former New York mayor and Trump ally has failed to turn over really a single dollar of the $148 million judgment he must pay to two former Georgia election workers who he defamed. On Monday, Giuliani testified that he could not find some of the property he was - he was told to turn over and unable to find things like a Joe DiMaggio jersey. He also admitted he was holding on to his grandfather's watch. Giuliani claims the court's request is, quote/unquote, "enormously burdensome." Later this month, Giuliani is going to trial over whether he can keep his $3 million Florida condo.

Fast food giant McDonald's now backing away from some of its diversity, equity and inclusion practices, saying in a lengthy statement that the company's commitment to inclusion is steadfast, but also saying, quote, "we also identified a few practices that we plan to modify."

[09:55:06]

The company is sunsetting its specific diversity goals, including requiring its suppliers to commit to certain DEI targets. It's also giving its own diversity team - team a name change, now to be called the Global Inclusion Team. Why this is happening is McDonalds and other companies, like Walmart and Ford, they point to a recent Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, I - do we have one more. I think we've got one more, no?

BERMAN: I'll keep going. A high tech indoor golf league is set to debut tonight.

Kate, take it away.

SIDNER: Kate, you've got the pictures.

BOLDUAN: I will do it. Sure. So - since I'm the resident expert on golf.

This is a high tech and apparently highly anticipated new golf league. The people behind it are some of the golf's - golf's greatest. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. The golf league is called TGL, known for Tomorrow Golf League. It is - here's why it's super special. Because it is a virtual simulator golf league. And on this debut, there's going to be like weekly competitions, allegedly, apparently. Rory McIlroy, in talking about the debut, described it as golf, but reimagined.

BERMAN: Yes.

SIDNER: Let me tell you what I'm good at. I dabble in the world of golf. I can only drive. I have no finesse. No - I can't putt. I can't do anything. But I can drive. And I would go up against Tiger Woods with my drive.

BOLDUAN: I mean, I love you so much, but -

SIDNER: It's a Tuesday. But, no, is that - is that your, I don't believe you face?

BOLDUAN: You know, I will cheer - I will cheer you on.

SIDNER: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: I will be right there.

SIDNER: John's saying nothing because he's smart.

BERMAN: Well, I was thinking just what those guys are really good at is making money, which is, to me, what I think that's probably all about.

SIDNER: Me, not so much.

BERMAN: Thank you all for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "NEWSROOM" is up next.

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