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Mike Whittington is Interviewed about Healthcare; Kohberger Expected in Court; Paramount Pays Trump Settlement. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 02, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

MIKE WHITTINGTON, CEO, HOOD MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: A 25-bed critical access hospital. We're located in northern rural Tangipahoa Parish. And we were founded in 1971 as a -- as a normal hospital and then converted to critical access as reimbursement began to decline in the -- in the '90s and ultimately forced a lot of rural into that status. So, our primary service is primary and preventative care to our citizens.

You know, we also have a large swing bed program as well, where we take patients from other hospitals who have -- who've had extended hospital stays and need extensive rehabilitation or antibiotics or wound care. So, we -- we focus -- we don't do deliveries, we don't do surgeries, but we run an emergency room 24/7 and also operate a clinic that's open about 63 hours, 64 hours a week.

BOLDUAN: And rural health care has already been in crisis for quite some time and is very vulnerable to small shifts in Medicaid policy because they're operating on smaller margins than bigger urban hospitals. So, what do these Medicaid cuts that we're learning more about in -- that was -- that's working its way through Washington, what do these Medicaid cuts mean for Hood Memorial?

WHITTINGTON: So, ultimately, you know, I want -- I want to back up a little bit prior to 2016. We did not have Medicaid expansion in Louisiana. Governor Edwards, that was his first official act when he signed into executive order Medicaid expansion. That saved -- that act alone saved a lot of rural hospitals. And since that time, since Medicaid expansion has been brought forward in Louisiana, we've not had any rural hospitals closed. So, that -- what this has done is allowed us to invest in additional services for our communities, invest in additional -- new equipment, replace aging equipment. You know, most of rural hospitals are operating in buildings that were built in the '60s -- '50s through the '70s. So, there's a lot of capital improvements that need to be made.

Well, when you -- when-- if -- if these cuts go into effect, we're still legally required to provide care to our citizens, but ultimately we will be providing that care with no -- with no -- little to no reimbursement. And that will set us back ten years and then eventually put us on a course to where it's very, very difficult, if not impossible, for us to offer new services or reinvest in our facility and provide additional services to our patients. It's just going to make it impossible to do. BOLDUAN: I was seeing -- the American Hospital Association said that

these cuts "will result in irreparable harm and saying could ultimately lead to facilities -- facility closures, especially in rural and underserved areas." I mean, is closing down, being forced to close, a real threat and concern for Hood Memorial, what you could face?

WHITTINGTON: So, I -- I -- at this point in time, until the bill is actually passed and we truly know the impact of it, I don't feel like closure is a threat at this point in time.

What I do feel like is that ultimately, you know, you -- you move from being able to, again, progress and offer new preventative care services to your community, to where you're not going to be able to do that.

A good example is our clinic. We run our clinic 12 hours a day, Monday through Friday and a half a day on Saturday because not every person has a job that allows them the opportunity to go to appointments during the day. Well, so, we are there so they can come before work or after work to get their primary care in a setting that's appropriate for that. Otherwise, they would either forego that care or they would wind up in the emergency department. So, our -- that's just one small example of the type of services that we offer to meet the needs of the working poor in our communities that may be affected, you know, if these cuts go into play.

And, ultimately, it drives care out of primary care into emergency departments and other venues that are not the best place to do it. For every dollar that this country spends on primary care, we save $13 in the long run. This is the best investment that we can make in health care is the primary and preventative care services. And if we don't address those needs in our rural populations, we're going to continue to widen the gap of two and a half year less life expectancy for rural residents.

[09:35:07]

And our objective here is to close that gap and to make sure that people who live in these communities have the same life expectancy as their urban counterparts.

BOLDUAN: As they should be able to expect.

Mike Whittington of Hood Memorial in Louisiana, thank you very much for your time today.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, is this a case of corporate interest versus the First Amendment? Paramount agrees to a $16 million settlement with the president in a lawsuit over "60 Minutes." What are the implications here for the free press?

And very shortly the man accused of killing four Idaho college students expected to officially enter his guilty plea as part of a deal. We've got new reaction from the families of the victims.

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[09:40:10]

BERMAN: All right, very shortly, Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of murdering four Idaho college students in their beds, is expected to plead guilty to those crimes. And we could hear more from the families of the victims today, now divided over the prosecution's plea deal.

With us now, CNN's Jim Sciutto.

And, Jim, you have been speaking for a long time with the father of one of the victims, and you just had a new conversation. What are you hearing?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. I mean, to be clear, Steve Goncalves, father of Kaylee, who was killed at 21 in those murders, does not support this plea deal. He does not see it as justice. And one reason is he doesn't just want a guilty plea, he wants Kohberger to admit details of the killing so that he doesn't go back on his plea deal at some later date. That is one of his hopes, at least, for the hearing today.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE GONCALVES, FATHER OF KAYLEE GONCALVES: There's no guarantee here that this individual is going to share details, he's going to take complete ownership of what he did.

We want something that -- something like this -- the knife, where he threw it, or his -- his kill kit, his suit, anything like that. If he -- he gave those type of details, people would just be like, OK, we were wrong, he did it and let's leave everybody alone and move on to another case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: It is possible, though certainly no guarantees, that the judge could modify the plea deal today to demand that from Kohberger. Not clear if he would agree to do so. It's at least a possibility. And it's one thing that Steve Goncalves would like to see.

The other piece to this, John, and that is that he has said to me repeatedly, it's not just about these four victims here and their families, it's about the message it sends to killers. I mean he even related it to school shootings or this shooting we saw in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, over the -- over the past weekend. Have a listen to what he thinks the precedent is that this sets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE GONCALVES, FATHER OF KAYLEE GONCALVES: This isn't justice. This isn't right. This is -- this is a joke. And if we want to stop school shootings, if we want to stop these mass killings, you don't do it like this. You don't give them vegan meals in a suit, put them on a platform, make them famous, tell everybody he's getting, like, love letters and then say, oh, well, he's in prison. He'll be in prison for the rest of his life.

Well, there's a lot of teenage kids watching this, guys. They're watching this right now. They're watching you, judge. They're watching you, (INAUDIBLE). They want to see a real man step up and put some skin in the game and not some cush deal that was done in the back office on a Sunday. The offer was made on a Sunday. And then -- and two days later, we're supposed to go to court on Fourth of July weekend. Can people not see what's going on here? This is ridiculous. Nothing moved in this -- nothing moved in this case for -- for a year. And then in three days it's over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Yea. And that's his worry. I mean, he described the kind of prison that Kohberger might go to for life under this plea deal as, quote/unquote, "adult day care." That is why the possibility at least of the death penalty was so important to Steve Goncalves and several -- several of the other families.

So, they'll be -- they'll be there today. They had to come down to Boise on their own expense for today's hearing. But I'll tell you, John, Steve has told me he doesn't want to be in the courtroom. He wants to be outside speaking his mind about how he thinks that this -- this does not amount to the justice they've been seeking.

BERMAN: Yes, you've said that. He's not going to be in the courtroom. And I know the victims' families will be given a chance, I imagine, to speak at some point here.

Has he been in contact with the other families of the victims? What's the discussion among that group?

SCIUTTO: Yes. He told me that when they got the first notice from prosecutors of this plea deal, that the intent was for each of the families to speak to the prosecutors individually. And they were sent like a meeting link, like an individual meeting link, Zoom link or something similar, and he deliberately shared his link with the other families so they could all be on that call at the same time because he didn't want them to sort of divide and conquer. He said to me that as far as he understands it, three out of the four families, right, of course there were four victims here, opposed this plea deal. And -- you know, for the same reasons he did, because they wanted to see -- you know, they wanted to see what they call true justice here, a trial, an acknowledgment of guilt, the details, and at least the possibility of a death penalty. They don't -- they don't see that.

BERMAN: Jim Sciutto, thank you for sharing your reporting.

SCIUTTO: Thanks.

BERMAN: You've been speaking to that family for a long, long time.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BERMAN: You know, please, please send our regards and regrets, frankly, after all this time.

SCIUTTO: I will.

BERMAN: Thank you, Jim.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's turn to this now. Paramount, the parent company of CBS, has agreed to pay a $16 million settlement in the lawsuit brought by President Trump over a "60 Minutes" interview last year. Trump claimed the interview with then Vice President Kamala Harris during the campaign was deliberately edited to benefit her and hurt him. CBS has denied any wrongdoing.

[09:45:09]

But now Paramount is settling, though saying, and what they said in a statement is that the settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret.

CNN's chief media analyst Brian Stelter is here with me now with more on this.

And, Brian, what are you hearing about this as people are kind of waking up to seeing this news and how are they reacting to it?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right. CBS did nothing wrong here, but its parent company is paying the price anyway because of President Trump's highly unusual litigation strategy. This is now a playbook of sorts for the president because he won a settlement from Disney's ABC last December. Also a settlement from Mark Zuckerberg's Meta. And now a settlement from Paramount Global.

The interesting and unusual wrinkle here with Paramount, the parent of CBS, is that Paramount is trying to merge with a company called Skydance. And in order to merge, it needs Trump administration approval. That has led to widespread speculation that Paramount was willing to cut this settlement deal, in fact eager to cut this deal, in order to get the Trump administration to bless the merger.

Some Democratic lawmakers have used the word "bribe" to describe this. And one CBS correspondent said to me on condition of anonymity, "everyone at '60 Minutes' believes this is an act of extortion by the president."

But let me show you the new statement we have from Trump's legal team. The way he is portraying this as a victory this morning, because I think it's really telling. Kate. Here's the statement obtained by CNN. Quote, "with this record settlement, President Trump delivers another win for the American people as he, once again, holds the fake news media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit. CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle. President Trump will always ensure that no one gets away with lying to the American people."

So, that statement is exactly why CBS News journalists did not want the parent company to settle. That statement is exactly what "60 Minutes" correspondents feared would happen. Trump coming out and claiming victory even though he actually had a very weak case. Legal experts told CNN it was frivolous and ridiculous. They said that CBS could easily win in court if it had chosen to go that route.

But instead, as I mentioned, Paramount decided to pay Trump to make this lawsuit go away. And just moments ago, we heard from one of the Paramount co-CEOs speaking at a shareholder meeting and he said, look, companies settle litigation all the time for all sorts of reasons. This was just the normal cost of doing business. But it sure happens at an unusual and an abnormal time as we see Trump's transactional nature once again on display, him proclaiming this settlement as a win this morning, Kate.

BOLDUAN: But also slightly different when you're talking about when the issue of press freedom is at the center of this typical course of business, if you will. I mean, Brian, you wonder what this means for CBS going forward.

STELTER: Right. This is a disturbing development, not just for CBS, but for the American news media, because if there are more and more of these cases where media company owners are willing to pay the president essentially to just go away and stop litigating, then it does create a worrisome slippery slope.

In fact, we've already heard from one press freedom group that says it's going to sue Paramount now because Paramount settled this lawsuit. So, this is not the end of the legal wrangling.

But as for CBS, I've heard a mixture of outrage from staffers. Also some relief that maybe they can get back to work covering the administration.

BOLDUAN: Which is exactly what those CBS staffers really just want to be doing, is doing their job.

It's good to see you, Brian. Thank you so much.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, still ahead, court resumes. The jury set to deliberate on just one more count in the Sean Combs trial. But it's the count with the harshest punishment. We are live at the court standing by to see if we get an official verdict after jurors did agree on four of the five counts. That story, ahead.

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[09:53:13]

SIDNER: All right, breaking for you now, the jury in the Sean Combs racketeering and sex trafficking case has just started their third day of deliberations, trying to find agreement on that racketeering count that they have so far been unable to reach a verdict on. They have, however, reached a verdict on four of the five counts. The judge trying to get them to come together on this last count. We will wait to see if we have an official verdict sometime today.

All right, CNN is celebrating the Fourth of July with coast to coast fireworks and musical performances. I hope you'll join myself and my co-anchor Victor Blackwell for the celebrations.

By the way, Victor got to sit down with one of our featured bands, The Fray.

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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Joining me now, Grammy nominated band The Fray, and Summerfest Festival president and CEO Sarah Pancari.

Welcome to you all.

You're in Wisconsin headlining for Summerfest Music Festival. We'll, of course, see some of your performance on CNN's "The Fourth in America."

Joe, to you first. How does it feel to be, you know, there? It's beautiful behind you on Lake Michigan, feeling the energy of the fans out there?

JOE KING, THE FRAY: Yes, you know, we actually played a show last night. We pulled up this morning. And, you know, I woke -- I woke up, opened the door of the bus and it was just green grass and a beautiful lake and a path. And I went for a walk and it was just joy filling my soul.

So, this is -- I mean this is a special place for us. I think this is our ninth time playing this Summerfest. So, it's a -- it's a sacred place for us for sure.

So, good to be back. Full of joy.

BLACKWELL: Dave, what is it about Summerfest that brings you back so many times?

[09:55:00]

DAVE WELSH, THE FRAY: Well, our first -- our very first tour, and our first show on our first tour was at Summerfest. We were opening for The Pixies and Weezer. We had no idea how to tour. And we pulled up to the show. Our trailer was a mess. The crew. We opened up the trailer, our gear was everywhere. So, everyone was so gracious because they knew that we were a baby band. And they just took us in. So, this -- this place, you know, has really like raised us in a lot of ways.

So, being back here, at this point in life, to, you know, to celebrate where we're at is, I mean, it's an incredible feeling.

BLACKWELL: Yes, no longer a baby band. You're the big man band now. Ben, this one's to you. So, we, of course, are celebrating the Fourth

in America. Right before we went on I heard you all wishing each other a happy 249th (ph). What's your favorite July 4th tradition?

BEN WYSOCKI, THE FRAY: Oh, man. Grilling out for sure. I mean there's nothing like Fourth of July without grilling out. There's also, I feel like, lake culture. Like -- like boat life and lake culture is really big. And there's nothing more, I think, American than being on a boat, preferably a pontoon boat on a lake and grilling out. So, we're pretty close to that here. I think we're living our best lives.

BLACKWELL: All right, so your first single of 2025 is on the horizon. Of course, the upcoming 20th anniversary of "How to Save a Life." Joe, what can fans anticipate from -- from the new music?

KING: You know, I mean, honestly, I think every artist, you know, you want to reinvent yourself, you want to find yourself where you're at now. And that's what we're doing. And -- and I believe it's some of the most important work that we've ever done. And we cannot wait to share it with the world. So, it just feels like we're getting started again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: And we will get started for the Fourth of July celebration, "The Fourth in America" on CNN starts at 7:00 Eastern Friday night.

BERMAN: A lot of news this morning. Stay with CNN. "THE SITUATION ROOM" up -- now.

BOLDUAN: Now.

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