Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Food Pantry Operates at 200 Percent Increase; Holiday Gatherings to Lead to COVID Spikes; Former Proud Boys Member Speaks Out; Markle Reveals Miscarriage. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 25, 2020 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

KELLIE O'CONNELL, CEO, LAKEVIEW PANTRY: A lot of need right now.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, you know, Kellie, we were talking earlier, before the pandemic there was a great need. Some families were one paycheck away from standing in a line like the ones we've seen and now people are showing up. Are these folks you've seen before or first time users?

O'CONNELL: Yes, it's a real mix. It's such a tough time for so many right now. So as you mentioned, so many people in America live paycheck to paycheck or are one furlough or a layoff away from a financial crisis and that's a lot of what we're seeing right now, especially hospitality workers or other hard hit industries, so many people are coming to us for the first time that never have had to before.

BROADDUS: And, you know, something else that's been interesting, data shows at least by the end of the year or next year millions, nearly 50 million people who need or depend on food pantries like this, among those millions, one in four children. So many kids depended on schools before the holiday to get their meals and --

O'CONNELL: Yes, that's so true. We've seen an increase in family size, which means that larger families are coming to us and we're seeing so many more kids, which is heartbreaking to see.

BROADDUS: And people can help. Tell us that real quickly.

O'CONNELL: Yes, so people can help by going to lakeviewpantry.org. You can donate or volunteer there. And if you need help, going to lakeviewpantry.org.

BROADDUS: All right, thank you so much. We appreciate your time.

O'CONNELL: Yes, thanks.

BROADDUS: And, of course the work that they're doing here.

It only takes $1, Jim and Poppy, to provide eight meals. $1. And that's something I think so many might have.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: For sure. We all need to do our part and then a little more this year.

Adrianne, thank you for that reporting.

Well, Minnesota is ditching the Minnesota nice warnings in a new ad campaign about the deadly spread of COVID. One of their new ads reads, is grandma's pumpkin pie ready to die for? Another shows health care workers saying, we're not the front line, you are. We are your last chance.

Minnesota's one of 14 states reporting a record number of COVID hospitalizations on Tuesday, just days after the governor there issued an order closing all bars and restaurants and gyms.

Dr. Andrew Badley is the chair of the Mayo Clinic's COVID Research Task Force.

It's so good to have you, seeing all of the headlines out of the state. So thanks very much this morning.

DR. ANDREW BADLEY, CHAIR, MAYO CLINIC'S COVID RESEARCH TASK FORCE: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

HARLOW: When you couple those numbers with "The Star Tribune," you know, headline that was so shocking to so many across the country that reads, you know, no beds left, with the fact that more than 900 health care professionals at the Mayo Clinic, in your hospital system across the Midwest, have contracted COVID, can you speak to the toll this is really taking on the state and those trying to, you know, protect people in the state, health care workers?

BADLEY: Absolutely. These are really distressing times. We're seeing a lot of new diagnoses and our capacity is being stretched. But capacity depends upon three things. So one is space, one is staff and one is supplies. And what we've done in our hospital system, and other systems are doing the same, is we've changed our space. So we've opened up new beds in our medical units, we've opened up new beds in our intensive care unit to respond to those space requirements.

In terms of supplies, we're doing well. We have enough PPE and we have enough materials that we need to take care of our patients.

Where the short coming comes is in our staffing. And right now at Mayo Clinic, as of a day or so ago, we had about 1,400 of our staff who were out either with COVID or COVID restrictions.

HARLOW: Wow.

BADLEY: Now, that's a large number, but it's not -- when you consider that we have about 55,000 employees, that's about 2.6 percent.

HARLOW: Yes. Except the fact that I --

BADLEY: And what we've been able to do is to mobilize our staff from other areas.

HARLOW: Yes.

BADLEY: So Mayo Clinic is a large health care network. We've brought in nurses and other staff from Arizona and Florida. We've brought back retirees who are still credentialed to contribute to our staffing needs. And this includes not only taking care of patients, but also online activities and hotlines and registries. So we're able to respond to those patients that have COVID and also to those patients who need other medical care.

HARLOW: It's a stunning number. And given that it increased from 900, as I said last week, to 1,400 already, you just showed the difference -- it shows the difference that a week can make.

We were struck yesterday hearing from Dr. Shirlee Xie, she's a doctor in HCMC in Minneapolis, about an hour and a half from where you are.

Listen to her experience after admitting a couple in their 80s, both who had contracted COVID.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SHIRLEE XIE, INTERNAL MEDICINE SPECIALIST: Her husband had to watch her die. And so he had to see that fear and that grief. And I don't think it's -- I don't think you can describe how that feels to us as their caretakers to have to see that kind of suffering from patients.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:35:02]

HARLOW: Is your team at Mayo Clinic going through similar experiences as she is?

BADLEY: Absolutely. It's heart wrenching. It's troubling to a degree that there is, in my opinion, a degree of complacency from some about, you know, how severe COVID is. And the majority of young, healthy people do just fine with it. But there's always some who are young and healthy who have very bad outcomes and those with comorbidities can have very bad outcomes. And it's troubling. It's heartbreaking.

HARLOW: Yes.

BADLEY: And so when you see people not taking infection control precautions as seriously as they might and, therefore, might contribute to the spread, it's truly heartbreaking.

HARLOW: Well, speaking of those folks, I mean, there are a lot of people that support the governor's move to, you know, basically shut down a lot of the state for four weeks, but there are those who are up in arms about it.

I just want you to listen to and get your reaction to a few residents across Minnesota. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just tired of the tyranny. We want our lives back to normal.

She (ph) want to go to the gym, play some tennis, meet with their friends there, her coach and he tells us no. It's terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a lot of friends locally who own small business bars and they're just suffering.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You see them holding signs that say "free Minnesota." What's your message to all of them?

BADLEY: I would love nothing better than for our lives to return to normal, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. As mentioned, there are people who are having life-changing illness and death of loved ones from this. And that's not going to change anytime soon.

I've -- my heart truly goes out to those small businesses who are affected by this. I know Governor Walz is talking about some kind of financial package to offset the impact of those business closings. But really to make a meaningful impact in the trajectory of this disease, we need to maintain social distancing, mask wearing, avoidance of large outdoor gatherings and frequent hand washings.

People are always asking me about when will we have the vaccine and how will that stop the disease. That's going to make a big impact. But we can already make a big impact today with those maneuvers. And so while my heart goes out to the small businesses, I think we need to enhance social distancing, particularly over the next month or so with the holiday season going up.

HARLOW: Yes.

BADLEY: Because we and other health systems are very, very fearful of the post-holiday surge.

HARLOW: Sure. It's not fair to you guys and the front line workers, that's for sure.

We're out of time, but I do just want to say, I'm glad to hear about the success that Mayo is having on your trial with the monoclonal antibody treatment. That is really good news.

We'll have you back for an update, Dr. Badley.

Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving.

BADLEY: Looking forward to it and Happy Holidays.

HARLOW: Thank you.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, a once devoted member of the Proud Boys, as they're known, is speaking out and says that the group is more like an organized criminal gang with radical politics. A CNN exclusive interview, an inside look, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:42:42]

HARLOW: Welcome back.

The far right group, the Proud Boys, has been labeled as misogynistic, islamophobia, transphobic and anti-immigration, as well as sometimes white nationalists, anti-Semitic. All of this coming from the Anti- Defamation League.

SCIUTTO: Violence as well. A former member once devoted to the group, who has been disenchanted now with its radical politics, is speaking out.

CNN's Elle Reeve has a remarkable inside look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSSELL SCHULTZ, FORMER PROUD BOYS MEMBER: They're afraid to say what's on their mind for fear of getting into a fight. But if they have that guy or that group behind them, they're more bold in saying what they think because they think someone has their back.

CROWD: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Antifa.

SCHULTZ: The Proud Boys are the vehicle that attracts those people and accepts them in.

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Russell Schultz spent about a year and a half as a Proud Boy near Portland. He didn't hold a title, but he was at a lot of political protests and had a big presence online. He says he quit, but the Proud Boys say he was kicked out in May 2019. Russell's a witness to what it's like inside the far- right group and why some men would want to join it.

SCHULTZ: It was too much like a nationwide criminal gang is where they were heading towards and I didn't want any part of that.

This is for Proud Boys and only Proud Boys. We need more political activists on the right side. More, not less.

REEVE: Russell grew up around Portland. He's Jewish and told us he voted for Obama twice before voting for Trump twice.

SCHULTZ: Donald Trump was bullheaded and he was determined and he takes a lot of criticism but he keeps fighting on. I like his political policies. I got involved in doing the activism stuff because of Trump supporters getting attacked and I wanted to stand up to that and say, that's not what we do in America. REEVE (on camera): But you weren't just a Trump supporter. You got

involved with the Proud Boys. How did that happen?

SCHULTZ: We were holding a free speech rally in Portland and all of a sudden the fights are breaking out all over the place and here come marching across a field, these guys in black and yellow-striped polos. And, to me, it just looked like something from a "Braveheart" movie or something. It was kind of cool. And then they asked me to join. And I thought about it for a minute and I was like, yes, OK, it will be fun. I'll wear a goofy little shirt and look like we're a bowling team.

REEVE (voice over): The Proud Boys were founded in 2016 and are known more for street fights than for their vague ideology. They celebrated when President Trump mentioned them in a presidential debate.

[09:45:01]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about Antifa and the left.

REEVE (on camera): Do you think the Proud Boys felt encouraged by President Trump? Like that he had their back?

SCHULTZ: Yes. Yes, because everyone -- everybody wants to feel special.

REEVE (voice over): Unlike many far-right groups that emerged around the same time, the Proud Boys don't say they're trying to defend the white race. They say they're defending western civilization and that if you think that's code for white people, you're the racist.

SCHULTZ: I don't perceive them as racists. There might be some that might be misogynists, but most of that would be their defense of rejection. But a lot of it, I just -- I see people showing up because they want to have drinking partners and they want to join a gang, so they can go fight Antifa and hurt people that they don't like and feel justified in doing it.

REEVE: Chairman Enrique Tarrio told CNN, currently there is no criminal activity happening in the Proud Boys.

Russell left the group, but he hasn't left the mind-set. His antipathy towards Antifa still motivates his actions and he still shows up at some rallies. And while he criticizes the Proud Boys, he defends most of what he did while with the group, including violent threats as either a joke or justified.

SCHULTZ: I'm going to shoot you in your head or your chest.

REEVE: Antifa posts information about far-right activists online, they say to raise the social cost of being a fascist. In 2018, Rose City Antifa posted Russell's address and workplace and reposted his videos where he talked about violence.

SCHULTZ: At the last rally, I nearly ran you over with a car and I don't feel bad about it one bit. You're lucky I didn't kill you.

REEVE (on camera): Rose City Antifa posted this.

SCHULTZ: Oh, I've never seen that one. I'm glad they posted that one.

I'm going to shoot you in your head or your chest, center of mass.

You are not going to survive. I will survive and take my chances in court.

REEVE: OK, they do seem like violent threats, Russell.

SCHULTZ: They are violent threats. And it's for a good reason, too.

REEVE: Why? What happened? What's the context of this?

SCHULTZ: We were going -- we were -- we were going to have a religious march, a pro-Jesus march. This was around Christmastime.

REEVE: Yes.

SCHULTZ: And Antifa was saying they were going to start throwing urine and feces on us. And so that was my way of saying, OK, if you do that, that's a threat. I don't know if it was AIDS tainted. And I -- I made the threat so they wouldn't come over -- they didn't come over.

REEVE (voice over): Rose City Antifa told CNN they did not threaten to throw poop at the Jesus march and do not know how to lace poop with HIV.

At the Million Mega March in Washington, D.C., after Trump lost the election, Proud Boys got into fights with anti-Trump counter protesters. Videos of the violence circulated on social media.

REEVE (on camera): Yes, look at him! He's a big old fat dude hitting a woman.

SCHULTZ: Yes. From behind. She didn't even see it coming.

REEVE: How is that like proud masculinity right there? That's as low as it gets.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

REEVE: It's just crazy to me, though, like we've come to this point.

SCHULTZ: Uh-huh.

REEVE: I mean, but do you feel like you're part of it that brought us to this point with their -- with --

SCHULTZ: That brought us to it?

REEVE: Yes, like your propaganda?

SCHULTZ: Well, I definitely had -- honestly, I -- yes, I had a role in it, you know. I never advocated for the violence to come out of it though.

REEVE: Well -- well, do you see why people make the argument then that like it was never really a joke. That joke is just a cover for what you actually want to do.

SCHULTZ: Oh, I see what you're saying. I don't think it was ever meant to be a street gang. Not at first. It just kind of morphed into that. You probably wouldn't even know who Proud Boys are if -- if there hadn't been Antifa attacking patriots or Trump supporters at rallies. And maybe that would be better.

Building themselves up, beating up on a punching bag.

REEVE: Do you think after Trump leaves office, the Proud Boys will fade away?

SCHULTZ: No.

REEVE: Why not?

SCHULTZ: Because they found that other part we were talking about where they felt like the big part of a group. That you've got these guys that normally they'd be at this bar by themselves. They have no friends. They can't talk to a girl because for whatever reason that they just don't have the self-confidence. Well, they join the group. Now they had that self-confidence. Here, I'm -- I'm with these guys, and they get some attention.

REEVE: Elle reeve, CNN, Vancouver, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: What a story. Elle, thank you.

SCIUTTO: Fantastic.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: It really is. Thank you for that.

All right, well, coming up, if you haven't read it yet this morning, you're going to want to hear the powerful message to all of us from Meghan Markle. She opens up about a recent miscarriage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:42]

HARLOW: Well, this morning, really powerful, really meaningful words of the duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle. She shares in "The New York Times," in an op-ed this morning for the first time that she had a mischarge in July and while she was tending to her -- their first child, their son Archie. She writes this, quote, I felt a sharp cramp. I dropped to the floor, with him in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm, a cheerful tune a stark contrast to my sense that something was not right. I knew as I clutched my first firstborn child, that I was losing my second.

BERMAN: It's just heartbreaking words.

Royal correspondent Max Foster joins us now from London.

Max, her message, it went beyond her own personal pain.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Also there's a deeply personal message, one that you don't really expect to hear from a royal, but I think this is why Meghan wanted to leave that senior role, so she could speak as herself in this personal way, but also speaking to a much bigger issue here about loneliness in society in this extraordinary year.

So she talks about watching my husband's heartbreak as he tried to hold the shattered pieces of mine. I realize the only way to begin to heal is to first ask, are you OK? And then she talks about the loss and pain that -- loss and pain that have plagued everyone in 2020.

[09:55:02]

A woman starting her day but then receives a call that she's lost her elderly mother to COVID-19. Breonna Taylor going to sleep but she doesn't live to see the morning. George Floyd leaving a convenience store not realizing he'll take his last breath under the weight of someone's knee.

What she's doing here is urging people to do as she did really with her husband, to ask people if they're OK. So, in the run up to Thanksgiving, just going out to see if someone's lonely or isolated and just to check to see if they're OK, not just to show kindness, but also to help them towards their own healing. It's a fascinating piece.

SCIUTTO: No question, Max Foster. Sorry to see her going through that so publicly. Thank you very much.

Well, more Americans are being hospitalized for coronavirus than ever before. Even at the worst points of this. In the spring, more Americans getting it, more Americans dyeing from it, sadly. But that will not stop the millions of people from traveling today for Thanksgiving in defiance. The best advice. We'll have more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)