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Water Disruptions For More Than Half Of Texas; Vaccine Doses Backlogged Due To Weather; Pro-Democracy Protesters Honor Woman Killed By Myanmar Police; Biden Declares "America Is Back," Pledges $4 Billion Toward Global COVID-19 Vaccine Aid; Ambulance Workers On Front Lines Struggle In Wales; U.S. Willing To Resume Talks With Iran On Nuclear Deal; Britain's Prince Philip Remains In Hospital Over The Weekend. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired February 20, 2021 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am sending a clear message to the world, America is back.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A return to the world stage, Joe Biden comes out swinging in his first summit as President of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (voice-over): New COVID guidance, just kicking in, in Wales. We ride along with first responders.
Also, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH THOMAS, SUPER BOWL OFFICIAL: And he said, They kicked out of the league last night.
And I said, really?
I said, why?
And he said, because you are a girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (voice-over): CNN sits down with the first and only woman to call a Super Bowl. Her message for those who doubted her.
Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world, appreciate your company, I am Michael Holmes. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
(MUSIC PLAYING) HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.
This hour, much of Texas is, once again, facing a hard freeze warning. The frigid temperatures closing out a disastrous week, seeing a rare winter storm and millions of people losing power.
U.S. President Joe Biden, says he will sign a major disaster declaration to free up more aid for the state. The crisis has shifted from an energy emergency to a clean water shortage. More than half of the state is impacted, with many waiting in line, in their cars, just to secure drinking water. Ed Lavandera is in Dallas with the details.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A military plane transporting 84,000 bottles of water from California landed in Galveston, Texas. Thousands of people are driving through massive food and water distribution sites in Houston and San Antonio.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think any of us was expecting this. For it to be like this. So it's all about survival right now until we start getting warm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No water?
It's getting real bad. And I have a 7-year-old. And it is like, it's tough.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Some 14 million Texans are battling water shortages as more than 1,200 public water systems across the state are fighting to fix disruptions caused by the winter storm and power grid failure.
The worst of the Texas freeze is over. State officials say the power grid emergency is now under control.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): We want to make sure that whatever happened in ERCOT falling short never happens again.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Governor Greg Abbott is now calling on state lawmakers to pay for power plant weatherization upgrades.
ABBOTT: To ensure that all the machinery that froze up and was unable to generate the power you need, that may require funding. The state of Texas should step up and provide that funding.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): There are still tens of thousands of people without power in Texas but getting those people back online will require utility crews to prepare damage inflicted by the historic winter storm and that could take several more days to repair.
BILL MAGNESS, PRESIDENT, ERCOT: I really want to acknowledge just the immense human suffering that we saw throughout this event. When people lose power, there are heartbreaking consequences.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Seven people around the town of Abilene died from weather related causes. A volunteer found an elderly couple in their home. It was 12 degrees inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had been reluctant to leave their home. And so it was 24 hours later. She went back to take them food and found the husband deceased in bed.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): As if battling a massive power outage and frigid temperatures was not enough, residents like Melissa Webb in the San Antonio area apartment complex could only watch as fire destroyed their homes.
MELISSA WEBB, SAN ANTONIO RESIDENT: I haven't been able to go to work all week long. And now everything that we have in there is gone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As the water pressure was -- as you mentioned that --
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Part of the building collapse as a reporter interviewed a firefighter, frozen fire hydrants and failing water supply hampered efforts by firefighters to put out the flames.
Cities are battling crisis after crisis. Del Rio mayor Bruno Lozano says his city's wastewater system was knocked offline for an hour this week, which sent sewage seeping into some low lying parts of the city.
MAYOR BRUNO LOZANO (R-TX), DEL RIO: This is something that is beyond historical, beyond unprecedented. It's a chain reaction of worst-case scenario of worst-case scenarios.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Texas governor Greg Abbott has renewed calls for an investigation of ERCOT, the agency that runs the state's power grid system and has also called for its executives to resign.
[02:05:00]
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Bill Magness, the CEO of ERCOT, answered those questions on CNN.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: How can you keep your job after a week like this?
MAGNESS: We are accountable to the people and the leadership of Texas. We are going to go and explain the steps we took and how that played into the entire situation on the electric grid. If that is the outcome, that is the outcome.
LAVANDERA: This is the last kind of frigid temperatures below freezing before temperatures fully warm up this weekend. But at the end of this miserable week, it's important to remember that 26 people died here in this catastrophe this week, most of them from hypothermia and exposure to carbon monoxide -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
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HOLMES: Local leaders, speaking with CNN to express their concerns. How this was allowed to happen in the first place is, of course, a major one. Here is what the mayor of Austin, Texas, says needs to happen first.
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MAYOR STEVE ADLER (D), AUSTIN, TX: My greatest concern tonight, is getting water to people that do not have it. This has just been one thing, after another, thing after another thing.
People in our community have been without power for a week. The power gets restored but one of the products of the power being lost, of the failure of the grid, is that we lost our main water treatment plant. We lost our reservoir.
Now we have to catch up on water. Part of my city having water, is being asked to boil it at this point. This is a community of people that are scared, upset and angry. We are eventually going to need some better answers as to why we are here and how we prevent it from happening again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The Austin mayor has since told CNN, he has received a shipment of water for his city. That is in the last couple of hours.
Houston's mayor, with similar concerns, says that he tried to prevent a situation like this years ago but was ignored.
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MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D), HOUSTON, TX: This was an avoidable situation. Simply, we were unprepared. We did not have enough capacity.
I filed a bill when I was in the legislature in 2011 that would've required the public utility commission to ensure that ERCOT, our Texas grid, has sufficient reserve power to prevent blackouts. The bill never got a hearing in the legislature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Texas is still coming to grips with the past week, as more details emerge. The head of Harris County's governing body describes what people are going through.
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JUDGE LINA HIDALGO, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS: Folks are just exhausted. Folks are shell-shocked from what happened. They have been battered. They are barely beginning to recover. And we are just beginning to learn the extent of the toll.
The latest information I have is 10 hypothermia deaths in Harris County alone, 600 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning, other deaths as well, obviously, from carbon monoxide poisoning. Very frustrated and just exhausted residents. They have been resilient. As tough as it gets. But it's a lot.
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HOLMES: President Biden ends the week with a resounding message for U.S. allies. It signals a clear break from that America first policy of his predecessor. We have more on what is a stark contrast when we return.
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HOLMES: Protesters burn fires in the streets of Barcelona on Friday in a fourth night of demonstrations. They're angry about the jailing of Spanish rapper Pablo Hasel. He was convicted of glorifying terrorism and insulting the Spanish crown in his songs and on social media.
Now the case ignited a debate over freedom of expression in Spain, prompting the government to announce it would make speech laws less restrictive.
Pro-democracy street protests have entered their third straight week in Myanmar, crowds of people demonstrating right now, they're paying tribute to the young woman who died 10 days ago after she was shot in the head by police.
Meanwhile, military leaders are trying to put a stop to the flow of information online. They've cut off internet access for six straight nights. Our Paula Hancocks is joining us now with the latest from Seoul.
This young woman who died, being remembered by protesters, Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Michael, yes, this is a 20 year old woman Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing. And she was shot, as you say, back on February 9th at a protest in the capital.
That video of that particular protest shows that security forces were using water cannons. We see protesters running away from the water cannon and then a woman falls to the ground.
Just a little earlier, I spoke to two of the doctors who had actually treated her immediately afterwards and they said that she never regained consciousness after that moment.
[02:15:00]
HANCOCKS: But they do say, despite the police saying that they were using anti riot measures, at that point, suggesting it was a rubber bullet, they do say it was a live bullet that had pierced her motorcycle helmet and had killed her. So she died on Friday and we heard from the sister, speaking to
Reuters, saying that she wanted more people to go out onto the street because of what had happened. She was there, protesting with their sister as well, when she was shot.
What we've been seeing in Yangon in particular, we've been seeing protesters laying flowers, placards on the streets, there's been some vigils for her because she is the first casualty on the protester side for this pro-democracy movement. And she really had become a symbol of this movement over the last 10 days or so, Michael.
HOLMES: And tell us more about what's happening on the streets and with -- we've heard of these ongoing nighttime arrests, which are causing some fear among the people, terror even.
HANCOCKS: That's right, yes, it really is. If there's one thing being out on the streets with many other people and fearing any repercussions from those protests but once darkness does fall, as you've said, six days in a row now, we've seen the internet being shut off so protesters speak of feeling very isolated at night.
And that's when the military starts knocking on doors of people they want to arrest. We spoke to one person, one particular an actress, I spoke to a couple of days ago, she was talking about the fact that she and her director husband had to go into hiding because he had been added to an arrest warrant list.
And certainly, this has added to the fear, we're hearing, from many protesters, Michael.
HOLMES: All right, Paula, good to have you on. Paula Hancocks there in Seoul for us.
Now on Friday, during his first international summit, the U.S. President Joe Biden left no doubt, America first is the foreign policy of the past and not the present. He drew a firm line between himself and his predecessor in speeches before the G7 and the Munich Security Conferences, held virtually, of course, because of the pandemic.
CNN's Alex Marquardt reports for us from Washington.
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BIDEN: America is back.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It might have been virtual, but Biden's first return to the world stage was no less of a seismic shift for U.S. foreign policy.
BIDEN: America is back. The transatlantic alliance is back. And we are not looking backward. We are looking forward together.
MARQUARDT: In a speech alongside the leaders of France, Germany and Britain, Biden vowed to reengage with Europe, to confront the rise of China, Russia's bullying and the threat to democracy around the world.
BIDEN: Democracy doesn't happen by accident. We have to defend it. Fight for it. Strengthen it. Renew it.
MARQUARDT: Biden's first visit to an agency as president was at the State Department, a clear signal that he plans to reverse or dramatically change course from Donald Trump's inward looking, self- centered approach.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: From this day forward, it is going to be only America first. America first.
BIDEN: American and alliances are our greatest asset and leading with diplomacy means standing shoulder to shoulder with our allies.
MARQUARDT: One of Trump's first moves was to pull the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal and impose the so-called maximum pressure campaign. Now, the Biden administration says it is ready to talk again.
TRUMP: This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made. It didn't bring calm. It didn't bring peace. And it never will.
BIDEN: The threat of nuclear proliferation also continues to require careful diplomacy and cooperation among us. We need transparency and communication to minimize the risk of strategic misunderstanding or mistakes.
MARQUARDT: Today, the U.S. officially re-entered the Paris climate accord which Trump had withdrawn from and repeatedly criticized.
TRUMP: I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.
BIDEN: Together, we need to invest in the technological innovations that will power our clean energy futures and enable us to build a clean energy solutions to global markets.
MARQUARDT: President Biden was speaking to a friendly European audience, welcoming him with open arms. The British prime minister even saying that the U.S. is unreservedly back as the leader of the free world. Now, that does not mean however that they're going to be in lockstep and that Europe is going to simply follow the U.S.
Europe has become more independent during the past four years of Trump, forging its own path and will, in the future, have significant differences with the U.S. on the key issues of China and Russia -- Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
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[02:20:00]
HOLMES: The Biden administration is reversing former president Trump's controversial remain in Mexico policy as well. That rule forced some 70,000 Central American asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while they were waiting for their U.S. immigration court hearings.
Many of those migrants waited months or years and in atrocious conditions in many places. Many have been targets of kidnapping, rape and assault. Now the Biden administration is allowing the asylum seekers into the U.S., while their cases go through the system.
The first group of 25 people came to California on Friday. Additional ports will be processing more people in the next week.
In Wales, a glimmer of hope in the battle against COVID-19. Many of the vulnerable have been vaccinated and those on the front lines are noticing the possible impact already. We'll bring you a report after the break.
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HOLMES: Coronavirus vaccinations have officially kicked off in New Zealand. The country's health ministry says this will be the largest immunization program in the nation's history. Border staff members will be among those getting priority and Australia will start its vaccine rollout on Monday.
The European Union meanwhile says it is increasing funding for the COVAX initiative, by more than $600 million. That brings total contributions to more than $1.2 billion so far. Now this is a program led by the World Health Organization that helps with vaccine distribution, especially in countries unable to afford their own doses.
The E.U. says this will help deliver more than a billion doses in dozens of low and middle-income countries by the end of the year, which is great news for all of us.
Wales is having to wait a little longer meanwhile. The first minister says the lockdown in place since December will last another three weeks. But measures would be relaxed a little bit. That new guidance, which allows exercising with another household outdoors, kicked in a few hours ago.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh takes a closer look at how Wales is handling this crisis.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): Endless bad news here has traces of good in it now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 9-9-9 is activated.
WALSH (voice-over): Paramedic team Angie and Lynda, after months of exhaustion and loss, raced between back-to-back COVID call-outs.
This is number callout test team (ph).
WALSH: This is a normal busy morning for the ambulance crew but with one key difference: they are finding that we're now in the middle of a two-day period, where these COVID cases are dramatically dropping off.
WALSH (voice-over): On one day, we spent here, in this city of half a million, Cardiff, there were only four.
Could it be just a glitch or a global first?
Vaccines sweeping in and easing pressure on the very front line.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, my sweetheart.
WALSH (voice-over): This turning up to an elderly possible COVID patient. And discovering Khartoum Makani (ph) had the vaccine two weeks ago will soon be the norm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're struggling to get your breath?
Struggling to breathe?
WALSH (voice-over): Khartoum (ph) says her home test found COVID but only has a slight fever and is awaiting a proper test.
[02:25:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): Shivering. My mouth is getting really dry.
Khartoum (ph) decides not to go to hospital as she's already alone enough. This house, mired in a new solitude and grief. Her son, Rahim (ph), died just days ago from a non-COVID heart attack.
The U.K. has one of the worst death tolls but also the fastest vaccination rates. In Wales, where nearly a quarter, all the vulnerable, have had their first dose by this day. They are even ahead of the U.K.'s schedule.
They went in to lockdown a little faster than England, too, and now something could be changing, because we only see one other COVID case in two days, who isn't that sick. Angie and Linda have been a team for 12 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We finish each other's sentences.
WALSH (voice-over): But this year, had patients they'll never forget.
ANGIE DYMOTT, PARAMEDIC: She was my next-door neighbor. So I knew her. I immediately knew she wasn't well so I called for an ambulance myself for her.
WALSH: Must be harder to know the person.
DYMOTT: It was really hard. Really hard to tell her that she really, really needed to go in, which I don't think she expected to.
WALSH: She was OK or...
DYMOTT: No, she wasn't. No. So that particular lady did pass away five days later.
STEPHENS: You know it may be the last time they say goodbye to their family on the back of the ambulance.
WALSH: Is there a patient that stays with you when you say that?
STEPHENS: Yes.
WALSH: What were they saying to each other?
STEPHENS: Mostly just goodbye. Don't worry. I love you, that sort of thing. Yes. I think everybody is well aware of family, well aware they might not see their family, that person again.
WALSH (voice-over): And then there was April, when Ange became a COVID patient herself, raced by her own colleagues to hospital.
DYMOTT: I was really scared. I was scared. And I'm, although, I kept telling myself, you know, I'm healthy and I'm youngish, I still kept thinking, you know, I could deteriorate at any time now. My oxygen levels weren't getting better.
WALSH: Was there a moment of panic at some point?
STEPHENS: Oh, yes. Definitely. Yes.
WALSH: Would it have been possible to come back to work without Ange for you?
STEPHENS: Probably not, no. I hope this vaccine is what we need to, you know, we really hope there's not a third wave. I think we're all exhausted now.
WALSH (voice-over): Wales' first minister Mark Drakeford thinks the lockdown is more behind the drop in cases than the vaccine.
MARK DRAKEFORD, WELSH FIRST MINISTER: Well, it will begin to make a difference. We know it's three weeks before the vaccine begins to make a difference and we're only 66 days in to our program altogether today.
What has really made the difference was the decision we made, the very difficult decision, to go into a full lockdown before Christmas.
WALSH (voice-over): Hope, good news, something so alien now to these streets, it will take time to be sure of it -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
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HOLMES: Well, it's been a potentially dangerous game of who will blink first. Just ahead, the Biden administration's move that could bring Iran to the table to talk about that nuclear deal. That's when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers, all around the world, I am Michael Holmes. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The Biden administration says that the U.S. is willing to resume talks with Iran on a nuclear deal. It is a significant move toward ending a stalemate between those nations. The U.S. has condemned Iran for enriching uranium beyond what was allowed under the 2015 nuclear deal.
Former president Trump, of course, pulling out of that agreement and then imposing sanctions on Iran. Now Iran says it wants all sanctions imposed by the Trump administration lifted. Biden officials say that talks at this point are just beginning.
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JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: One of our concerns right now is that Iran is presently threatening to move even further out of compliance, to refuse to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the work it is trying to do to ensure nothing in Iran's program is being used for weapons purposes.
So I think the first order of business here would be for the Iranians to take the decision to stop the process of moving further out of compliance.
And then I do believe that there is a diplomatic pathway to getting to an ultimate agreement in which we can all have confidence that Iran's nuclear program has a lid on it, the kind of lid that was on it when we were actually all in the joint comprehensive plan of action together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: With me now, from Tehran, CNN journalist Ramin Mostaghim.
Good to see you. The U.S., obviously making overtures, opening the door for Iran.
Are these moves likely to be well received?
What's Tehran's appetite for a return to the deal?
RAMIN MOSTAGHIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's a very good question, Michael. Once the Trump administration was replaced by President Biden's administration, there was an unexpected euphemisms (sic) ambient in Tehran, among the officials and equally among the press and dailies.
Now that euphemism (sic) replaced by pessimism. And officials here say there is, actually, there is no appetite, as you say, there is no appetite to resume negotiation because negotiation and nuclear deal is not important anymore for the Iranian leadership. They want something beyond that.
And they, as the supreme leader said, lift all sanctions lifted, be verified (ph) generally, if it is generally effectively (ph), all the sanctions lifted, then, we come back to our commitments in the nuclear deal.
So what we can say is that although we know that negotiations are going on, Mr. Gross (ph) is here and today, we may have some news. But we just don't know exactly what is going to go on at the end of today, to happen.
HOLMES: Quickly, what is the status of something that does concern the U.S., Iran's expected move to the curb short notice nuclear inspections next week. Obviously, that's a difficult thing.
Does it look like Iran will move ahead with that?
MOSTAGHIM: Yes. If our judgment is based on what the officials, supreme leader, President Rouhani, Dr. Zarif, a spokesman of the foreign ministry said, they are all in unison. They said that unless all sanctions are lifted, there is no way, on Tuesday, coming Tuesday, (INAUDIBLE) if there will be no more cooperation with (INAUDIBLE) protocol (ph).
HOLMES: Wow, OK. It will be interesting weeks ahead. CNN journalist Ramin Mostaghim, thank you so much, in Tehran for us.
Now Britain's Prince Philip is in good spirits but will likely remain in hospital over the weekend for observation and rest.
[02:35:00]
HOLMES: That is according to a royal source who, also, told CNN, told, quote, "The doctor is acting with an abundance of caution."
Buckingham Palace announced the Duke of Edinburgh had been admitted to a London hospital on Tuesday evening after, quote, "feeling unwell."
Now Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have taken a major step forward into their new life away from Britain's royal family. But it comes with a price. CNN's Max Foster with the details.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has been nearly a year since Harry and Meghan waved goodbye to royal duties.
Their aim?
A more peaceful life in North America. Now, after months of talks, the split is final. The couple agreeing with the queen not to return as working members of the British royal family.
The news came in a statement from Buckingham Palace. "The monarchy was saddened by their decision," it said, but the pair
were still much loved members of the family.
Touching words yet there have been months of tense discussions over what the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will have to give up in order to pursue their own careers and private incomes.
The queen confirmed that her grandson and his wife will be stripped of their honorary tighter and patronages. Prince Harry, an ex-soldier, who served on the front lines of Afghanistan, will have to cut cherished official roles with the military, as well as the commonwealth and sporting associations.
It is a blow to the couple but not a surprise. They signed a raft of lucrative media deals. The palace has long said, they could not represent the queen after leading, what it said, was a life of public service.
The couple responded through a spokesman, saying, pointedly, "We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.
But for Harry and Meghan, who still make front page news in the U.K., there is no way back now to royal life. Less than three years after a fairytale wedding and a royal welcome for the birth of their first child, Archie, it is clear they are heading in a different direction.
They have moved to California, built an independent life, all whilst pursuing legal battles against the British media. And a new baby is on the way. So there is a lot for the couple to talk about when they sit down for an interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey, to be broadcast next month.
And they are no longer restricted in what they can say, now that they have cut official ties with the British monarchy -- Max Foster, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: One of Hollywood's biggest power couples is calling it quits. Kim Kardashian West filing for divorce, officially, from Kanye West. A clerk for the Los Angeles Superior Court confirming the news to CNN on Friday. The paperwork is in. No details on the filing were available.
The two celebrities have lived apart for some time. The rapper, reportedly, in their home in Wyoming and the business woman, in California, with their four children. The two have been married since 2014.
And, a positive note to end on, this past Super Bowl was historic, now, yes, Tom Brady did win his 7th Lombardi trophy, more than even the most successful franchises. But that night a glass ceiling shattered as well, on the sidelines, literally. Here's Don Riddell's interview with Sarah Thomas, the first woman to officiate in a Super Bowl.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SARAH THOMAS, FIRST WOMAN TO OFFICIATE IN SUPER BOWL: I was the first girl in the Pascagoula city league and I played my 5th, 6th and 7th grade there and then I went on and played in high school and then I had a scholarship to the University of Mobile. And I absolutely love playing basketball.
I love sports, as you can well imagine. And then after I finished college, I played in a men's league for 3 years. And I was kicked out of that league because I was a girl. And I said, a guy came up to me and he said, Sarah, he said, I'm sorry about what happened last night.
And I jokingly go, I was 23 and single and I was all by myself last night, I don't know why you're apologizing.
And he said, you really don't know, do you?
And I said, no.
And he said, they kicked out you of the league last night.
And I said, really?
I said, why?
And he said because you are a girl. And I said, well, I've been in this league for three years, they're just now realizing this?
And so, I said, was a member from my team there?
Did we have a vote?
And he said, no.
So I protested the vote but it came down to a tie. And the preacher of the church league he let me go.
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What impact that experience have on you emotionally and, you know, just how did you feel about the world after that?
THOMAS: I called my dad and I was crying. I was so mad, I was like, you have got to be kidding me. I've played sports my entire life and because I'm a girl, I can't play.
[02:40:00]
THOMAS: And they didn't have a girls' league there. And so, I didn't know what I was going to do. And for the first time in my life, I was just sportsless.
And my brother, Lee, was going to an officials' meeting and I didn't know he was doing that.
And so I said, what are you doing tonight?
And he said, I'm going to a football officials' meeting. And I said, can girls do that?
And he said, sis, I guess, so. Be there at 6, don't be late.
And so I walked into that room full of men. And the gentleman at the front, he just looked and watched.
And so, to break the ice I said, is this where you become a football -- I'm sure I said referee?
And I can't repeat what he said but he said, I guess so. But they welcomed me. They treated me like an official, not a female official but an official. And if they had not shown me the ropes at that young of age and starting my career, I would not be where I am today.
RIDDELL: Tell me how it feels to have been a part of Super Bowl LV. We all saw you on television, you're unmistakable with your long hair, kind of coming out from behind the mask.
(CROSSTALK)
RIDDELL: What was that experience like for you?
THOMAS: It was remarkable. The guys that I get to be a lot around are so professional and they are just an elite group of guys. And to be able to work Super Bowl LV with that crew was amazing. And there was such a peace and a calm and we were ready for it. We were prepared for it. I wasn't nervous or anxious.
RIDDELL: At what point in this whole journey do you think it really hit you, that you were a trailblazer, that you were changing the narrative and that you are likely inspiring so many young women out there?
THOMAS: The second year, I think it was my second game, a coach comes up to me and he looked at me and he said, I just want to say thank you for what you are doing. He said, I've coached in this league for a long time and I have two daughters. And they think they know more about football now because of you, not because I'm their dad and a coach. That's when it hit me, Don.
RIDDELL: What has been the reaction been like when you see people out and about in town or in the media even, what do you think?
THOMAS: It has been a whirlwind but it is such a blessing that God has been able to give me a talent and be able to do it and just share it with everyone. There is a message to not just young girls but to young men. I have two sons that I am raising and I want them to respect their spouse, their partner, girlfriend, that she's an equal with you.
RIDDELL: If you could go back to that room, that night that you were voted out of the league, what would you say to those people?
THOMAS: I would just tell them, thank you. Every time I see the preacher, I hug his neck. I have no ill will toward anyone like that. There is opportunity elsewhere. But I would say thank you. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Good for her and did a terrific job as well.
I'm Michael Holmes, thanks for your company, I will be back in about less than 20 minutes with more CNN NEWSROOM. "MARKETPLACE AFRICA," up next.
