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FDA Advisory Committee Recommends Adults Who Received Single Dose Johnson & Johnson COVID Vaccine Get Second Dose Two Months After First Shot; Doctor in Utah Interviewed on Current Numbers of COVID Related Hospitalizations and Lack of ICU Beds; One Police Officer Killed and Two Others Hospitalized after Shooting in Houston, Texas; President Biden to Speak at National Peace Officers Memorial Service. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired October 16, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:04]

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Happening now in the Newsroom.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do have 19 out of 19 unanimous yes votes.

PAUL: More COVID booster shots are on the horizon following unanimous approval of two vaccines this week. The one group that could be eligible right away.

The Justice Department releases new video it says shows one of the first successful breaches of the Capitol on January 6th. This is happening as we're learning about the first on duty capitol police officer charged in the riot.

Another turn in the strange case of South Carolina Attorney Alex Murdaugh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's reconciled to the fact he's going to prison. He understands that.

PAUL: Why Murdaugh is headed back to court next week, this time in connection with the mysterious death of his family's long-time housekeeper.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like, do you want to eat steak, or you want to fill up your tank.

PAUL: Soaring prices at the pump, passengers stranded at airports, why we should expect more of this in the upcoming holiday season, and how you can avoid getting stranded.

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PAUL (on camera): Good morning to you. It is Saturday, October 16th. I'm Christi Paul. BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Christi. I'm Boris Sanchez.

You are live in the CNN Newsroom.

PAUL: So, the FDA's advisory committee recommended yesterday all adults who received the single dose Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine should get a second dose at least two months after their first shot. The FDA still has to decide whether to grant emergency use authorization followed by the CDC giving its recommendation on who is eligible for the doses.

SANCHEZ: We should tell you about a new study by the Department of Veterans Affairs on vaccine effectiveness that's giving cause for concern. Researchers found that J&J's vaccine protection against COVID-19 drastically fell from 88 percent in March to a mere three percent by August. The study, we should point out, has yet to be peer reviewed.

PAUL: Good note to make there, but about 15 million people have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to the CDC here in the U.S., and nearly 91 percent of them got their shots more than two months ago. CNN's Nick Watts has more on this and the CDC's new recommendations as we now head into the holiday season.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, Christi, those FDA advisers gave their thumbs up for a second shot of Johnson & Johnson at least a couple of months after the first. Now, of course, the CDC still needs to sign off on that.

Now, in general the numbers in this pandemic are going in the right direction, but still new guidance from the CDC for the upcoming holiday season, file this under news you probably didn't want to hear, but apparently outdoor gatherings are still best. If you're indoors, still wear a mask. But top of the list, just get vaccinated.

Now, some good news for the U.S. tourist sector from November 8th. All double vaccinated foreigners will be allowed into this country, and while the arguments continue over vaccine mandates here in the U.S., some news from Italy. From Friday, every worker is going to have what they call a green pass, which is proof of vaccination or proof of recent recovery from COVID-19. Guys, back to you.

PAUL: Nick, thank you so much.

I want to bring in Dr. Elizabeth Middleton. She's the associate medical director of the ICU at the University of Utah Hospital. Dr. Middleton, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for all the work that you're doing. We know that it's particularly hard for all of you, and it has been for so long. I wanted to ask you about some of the numbers that are coming out of your hospital. "Salt Lake City Tribune" reporting that ICU beds there in Utah are near capacity, up to about 94 percent, in fact. Walk us through a typical day at this point in your hospital for you and your medical team.

DR. ELIZABETH MIDDLETON, ASSOCIATE MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF THE ICU AT UNIVERSITY OF UTAH: Good morning, and thanks for having me. Our hospital system, and I think this is similar across all hospitals

in our valley, is that there's an extreme limit, especially on ICU beds. We have had limited staffing, so we've not been able to search and open an additional ICU like we did last year when we were at the height of our hospitalizations. Right now, we're seeing the same number of hospital beds being used for COVID patients now as we did at our height, November last year.

PAUL: Well, and I'm looking at a graph that shows how high it's been since August, which I know puts such a strain on hospital resources and on staff. You must be exhausted. How are you all holding up?

[10:05:02]

MIDDLETON: Thank you for asking. It's been a long haul for our providers, our nursing staff, our respiratory staff, everyone who has been working in our ICU. In contrast to what we saw in the southeast, we didn't see a rapid rise and then a quick decline. We've seen sort of this slow rise that plateaued at this high level of cases without a real clear end in sight. Right now, we see a plateau in sight.

PAUL: Do you have any idea why that is? And we were just talking about the fact that the numbers do seem to be more promising across the country now. What's happening in Utah, do you think?

MIDDLETON: No, I'm unclear, and can just sort of speculate about what's going on. We tend to have a large community that's spread out amongst rural regions. We have improved our vaccination rates, but we're still seriously lacking, particularly in rural areas. And then our catchment area, Salt Lake City is a catchment area to a number of rural western states where we can accept patients if we have the bed capabilities. So I think there's not just the dense population, so we don't see the spike in cases, and we see sort of a slower spread throughout the population.

PAUL: "The Tribune" also saying that about eight percent of COVID patients at your hospital are fully vaccinated. So since you're right there in the hospital, I'm wondering if you can help us understand, too, the difference in needed care and recovery between people who are vaccinated and end up in the hospital with COVID and people who are not.

MIDDLETON: Great question. The vast majority of our patients, as you say, are unvaccinated folks, and they tend to get sicker. Our vaccinated population tends to be those with underlying immune compromise, those that have autoimmune diseases that need to be on certain medications, or those with different cancers that are on chemotherapy regimens. And so, they may not mount an appropriate antibody response and have the protection that they need even though they're fully vaccinated. We do see a few individuals who are fully vaccinated, otherwise healthy, and their hospitalization courses tend to be far less severe and much quicker to resolve.

PAUL: Do you see at all people who have been unvaccinated and who have gotten severely ill and are able to leave the hospital, does that encourage their family and friends to get vaccinated? I think that people are kind of at a standstill as to how do you reach people who are so vaccine hesitant.

MIDDLETON: Yes, I think that's another great question. The general population has no idea what is happening in the ICUs and how much care is needed to provide for a critically ill patient. I'll just share a quick anecdote. I had a patient just a couple of days ago who was very critically ill, and that patient's mother also lost a loved one to COVID-19 this year and was not able to be with her mother. This year she's able to be with her loved one and has spread the news to her family members by showing video and pictures of what's going on in the ICU and was able to convince four of her family members to get vaccinated.

PAUL: OK. So, it's that experience that seems to be the most influential, it seems. Dr. Elizabeth Middleton, we appreciate you taking time to talk to us. Cannot imagine what it's like for you and your teams, but please know you're all being thought of and we appreciate you.

MIDDLETON: Thank you so much.

PAUL: Of course.

SANCHEZ: We have an update for you now on a deadly shooting overnight in Houston, Texas. Authorities say a man with a rifle shot three constables deputies outside a bar as they were investigating a robbery early this morning.

PAUL: One deputy was killed. The other two are still in the hospital this morning. Police officials say the law enforcement officers were trying to make an arrest when a second suspect ambushed the men, they say, and shot them from behind. CNN's Jean Casarez has been following this for us. Jean, it seems like we're getting more information now than we were just about an hour ago. What else are you learning?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have, and we do understand that the officer shot in the back has been in surgery. Originally, the other officer that was shot, conceivably in the foot, it's actually the leg. And there are multiple broken bones, and he either is on his way to surgery or in it at this point. And then of course one deputy died.

The constable for the area, for the Houston Police Department, related a personal story that the officer about to go into surgery was on the gurney, and he got a phone call saying that his buddy had just died there at the hospital. And so you can see these deputies know each other. They work together.

[10:10:00]

And how this happened, they were doing police-related activity. It was offsite, though. It was 2:15 this morning. It was in Houston, it was the 45 North Bar and Lounge, and they heard that there was a robbery in progress, according to the constable for the Houston precinct four. And so the two deputies went out to the parking lot. They got the person on the ground, the person they believe that had committed this robbery, and they were trying to detain or arrest. And they say that someone else came out from behind a car, ambushed them, and shot one in the back, shot the other one, who is deceased. Another deputy heard what was going on, came out and he was shot.

I want you to listen to a little bit of the presser that happened earlier this morning from the constable of the precinct four, Mark Herman.

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CONSTABLE MARK HERMAN, HOUSTON POLICE: I do believe that good always trumps evil. And what happened tonight was evil. And now the good is going to sweep in, and I hope for swift justice. I know that the Houston Police Department is going to do a very professional investigation.

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CASAREZ: And the attorney general of Texas has just released a tweet. We want to show that to you, "Praying this morning for the families of the fallen Harris County deputy constable, and the other two still in the hospital. This was an evil act that took this deputy's life. A manhunt is currently underway. I hope these perpetrators are apprehended fast."

What we do understand is there is what they are calling a person of interest that is in custody, but they are still, as you say, this manhunt, they believe the person they're looking for is in the early 20s. And if you have any information do call the Houston Police Department. And Christi and Boris, I do want to tell you that the constable also said that the families immediately went to the hospital, and the fallen officer who deceased, his wife was there, his father was there. The sisters and the wife of the officer in surgery now are there. So this is more than the officers. These are families that have rushed to the hospital when their officer, their relative, has been shot.

SANCHEZ: Our hearts are with those officers and their families. And for those that are at the hospital, we pray for a speedy recovery. Jean Casarez, thank you very much.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: This latest knew out of Houston takes on added meaning when you consider that President Biden is set to speak today at the National Peace Officers Memorial Service. He is set to pay tribute to fallen police officers. At the White House and across the nation, flags are being flown at half-staff to commemorate those who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

PAUL: CNN's Jasmine Wright is live from the White House right now. Jasmine, what do we expect to hear from the president?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, we can expect to hear President Biden honor the sacrifices that police officers have made in service of this nation. It will be his first time as president speaking at this event. I think we will see him tap into that empathizer in chief role that we have seen from him quite a few times in just his young presidency, really using his history of loss to comfort others.

Now, when White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki first announced that the president would be participating in this event on Thursday, she noted the role that police officers have had on the front lines of this pandemic, but also on the front lines of really the gun spike that is prevalent in this country right now that this administration is trying to fight against, and noting the amount of funding that this White House has provided to place stations across the country. I wouldn't be surprised if the president spoke about that.

And also officials made note to say that it was pertinent that this event was happening at the U.S. Capitol, the same place where just nine months ago on January 6th police officers defended the Capitol on January 6th insurrection against rioters. I wouldn't be surprised if the president made note of the officers that lost their lives both that day and the days to come after.

Now, President Biden speaks today, but yesterday, when talking to our own Kaitlan Collins outside of the White House, he was asked for his response to those who are refusing the subpoenas from the January 6th committee as they are investigating the insurrection. And he said that he wanted the committee to hold them accountable and pushed further. He responded, I do, yes, when asked -- excuse me, when asked if the Justice Department should prosecute them.

Now, after kind of taking some criticism that he was interfering with the process, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki in a tweet later, she says that "He supports the work of the committee and the independent role of the Department of Justice to make any decisions about prosecutions," really kind of massaging the president's statement.

[10:15:08]

But today at the Capitol, the president's remarks will focus on honoring the lives lost of police officers in service to this nation. Boris, Christi?

PAUL: And boy, what a reminder of the necessity of it today with what happened in Houston. Jasmine Wright, we appreciate it. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Jasmine.

There's another twist in that bizarre legal saga for Alex Murdaugh. Remember, he's that South Carolina attorney mired in accusations of fraud, and murder. He's been arrested in Florida and he's going to face new charges. We'll explain after a quick break.

PAUL: Also, the January 6th committee has some questions for those who were involved in the Capitol siege, and now a Capitol police officer has to answer to obstruction charges filed against him.

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PAUL: It's 19 minutes past the hour. The once prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh is facing some new charges, accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the settlement that his family received during the death of his former housekeeper.

SANCHEZ: It's only the latest chapter in what has become a bizarre saga. Sheriff's deputies arrested Murdaugh this week at a rehab center in Orlando, the second time in two months that he has been booked into jail. Attorneys says that he pocketed funds from a multimillion dollar settlement that was intended for the family of his long time housekeeper. CNN's Nadia Romero joins us now live. Nadia, this is just the latest scandal for the South Carolina attorney.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Boris and Christi, this has everything you would want for a made for TV drama movie, right. It has murder and drugs and deaths and suspicion and mystery. Only problem here is that this is reality, and real people have lost their lives under a cloud of suspicion and mystery.

So as you mentioned, Boris, the latest thing that's happened to Alex Murdaugh was that he was arrested, and police believe that he essentially stole money from the settlement that was supposed to go to his former housekeeper's family. Murdaugh says that she tripped over the family dog, went tumbling down the stairs and died in an accident. But the Hampton County coroner says that's not accident. That's not natural causes. And her body should have been taken to the coroner's office and they should have done an autopsy. That didn't happen. So that raised a lot of red flags.

That death investigation is now under investigation. But listen to Gloria Satterfield, her family's attorney, talk about this settlement money, millions of dollars, they say they never saw a dime.

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RONALD RICHTER, SATTERFIELD FAMILY ATTORNEY: Alex did not act alone in making this happen. He certainly needed help, and the help came from those who also participated in the settlement. So we filed lawsuits virtually against anybody who touched that money, anybody who participated in those settlements. And it's by and through those lawsuits that we do intend to make our clients whole again.

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ROMERO: So those family members of Gloria Satterfield say they have a lot of unanswered questions, what happened to her, and what happened to all the money that was supposed to come their way. Now, Alex Murdaugh has been arrested in Orlando, Florida, because he admitted to having an opioid problem. And so he was down in Orlando according to his attorney at a drug rehab facility.

Now he's expected to make his way back to South Carolina to face those charges connected to the death of his maid, on Tuesday morning is when he'll have that hearing. So we have yet another court case for Alex Murdaugh. All of this has come to light because of the death of his wife and his son. They were murdered at their family home, and we still don't know how that happened, who killed them, and if Alex Murdaugh or anyone else was involved in his death. And because of that, so many other questions have come out of Hampton, South Carolina, this very small community where the Murdaughs were a very prominent family. More investigations into other deaths, and his law firm alleges that he stole money from them. Christi, Boris, the more we learn about Alex Murdaugh, the more questions we seem to have.

SANCHEZ: Not to mention the attempted hit he put on himself. Just layers and layers, stranger than fiction. Nadia Romero, thank you so much for the report.

PAUL: Nadia, thank you.

So a U.S. Capitol police officer is facing charges in a case tied to the January 6th attack. Prosecutors say Michael A. Riley obstructed justice when he warned a rioter to remove posts on social media showing that they were at the Capitol that day.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Riley's arrest is just one of the over 600 insurrection cases, but this makes him the first police officer on duty that day on Capitol Hill being charged with attempting to help a rioter. CNN's Katelyn Polantz joins us now live from Washington, D.C. Katelyn, what more can you tell us about this officer and the kind of legal trouble that he's in.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: This is a serious case, and we have not seen a case like this before in the more than 600 cases in the Capital riot investigation. Michael Riley, we are learning in his indictment yesterday, was a 25-year veteran of the Capitol police force. He wasn't inside the Capitol on January 6th, but he was on duty on Capitol Hill listening to the police radios of other officers, his colleagues in distress, and he himself was reporting to a bomb threat on Capitol Hill.

Now, we have been hearing rioters for months alleging in court that they believed that they were being ushered into the capitol or being helped in some way by police officers. This is the first charge that the Justice Department has found evidence to show that a police officer on duty that day allegedly was trying to help someone, albeit after January 6th.

[10:24:57]

So in Riley's case, the day after the riot, he allegedly reached out to a contact he had through a Facebook group, and wrote to that person "I'm a Capitol police officer who agrees with your political stance." He had seen selfies that this friend of his on Facebook had posted, and he said "Take down the part about being on the building. They are currently investigating and everyone who was in the building is going to be charged. Just looking out."

That's what Michael Riley wrote on Facebook allegedly, but this person that he was warning, that person we have learned was indeed charged, was arrested, and then Riley in his allegations, he's charged with also deleting his Facebook messages. So far he's been in court once. He is on leave from the Capitol police force, and his attorney says that he is going to be fighting the charges.

PAUL: Katelyn Polantz, we appreciate the update. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Katelyn.

Former President Bill Clinton spending another night in a California hospital. We have the latest on his recovery after a quick break.

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[10:30:26]

SANCHEZ: Doctors say former President Bill Clinton is on the mend after a fourth night in a California hospital.

PAUL: He's being treated for a urinary tract infection that spread to his bloodstream. The doctors say he is responding well to antibiotics. He was attending a fundraiser for his foundation Tuesday night when apparently he started to feel fatigued.

SANCHEZ: CNN national correspondent Natasha Chen joins us live from outside the hospital in Irvine, California. Natasha, doctors are saying that the former president should be released soon. Do we have a timetable for that? Do we know when soon might be?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris and Christi, as you were mentioning, all trends are in the right direction with his tests, and our colleague, Jamie Gangel, has reported that what he's going through is really antibiotics through I.V. that is supposed to take three to five days. And so if you count three to five days since that Tuesday that you mentioned when he first felt fatigued and entered this hospital, that could be Sunday or Monday by the time that five-day timeframe is finished. So we're looking at the next couple of days potentially, and doctors will be testing him every day.

At the same time, doctors and staff have been telling CNN that he is in good spirits. He is able to get up and walk around. A bit annoyed that he's in the hospital, but has a couple of books with him, joking with people. So again, the tests are trending in the right direction, and I think they are just waiting a little bit for that I.V. antibiotics to complete.

PAUL: All righty, the former president we know being tweeted as we said in the ICU, are they saying anything else about his care? Because when you say ICU, there's a certain background or assumption that comes with that, and that's not really -- that's not clear here. There's not clarity on that.

CHEN: We've been told that the reason he's in the ICU is really for comfort and privacy in this case. It's not because he's on a ventilator of any kind. His situation here is not related to COVID-19, and also not related to any heart condition, because as you may remember, he years ago had bypass surgery. But this time, it is purely about that urinary tract infection that affected the bloodstream there, so they are just keeping him, monitoring him in the ICU, mainly, again, for privacy. Christi and Boris? SANCHEZ: We hope for a speedy recovery. Natasha Chen, keep us up to

date with the latest you learn. Thanks.

PAUL: Natasha, thank you.

So travel has been tough already, the long lines, the cancelled flights, the understaffed airports. What does that mean for the holidays? We'll talk about it.

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[10:37:43]

PAUL: So people, I feel it just like you do. Filling up our tank is not easy with these gas prices skyrocketing. AAA says the national average price is up to $3.31 a gallon. That's up from $2.17 a year ago. And this is the time of year when prices usually fall. But they may actually spike even higher because of the global energy crisis.

SANCHEZ: Keep in mind, the holiday travel season is going to kick in sooner than you think. And as the industry struggles to recover from the pandemic shutdown, travelers are going to need to be prepared for everything from bad weather and overbooked planes to understaffed crews and, I'm sure you've seen these videos on social media, rage, pure rage on airplanes. Just this past weekend, Southwest cancelled more than 2,000 flights, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded.

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MICHAELA VINCENT, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES PASSENGER, FLIGHT WAS CANCELED: They sent me a link to rebook. There were no other flights available at all on Southwest or any other airline, actually. And that's when I just began to cry. I was just devastated.

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SANCHEZ: It seems like we're going to hear a lot of stories like that one. Joining us to discuss is Richard Aboulafia. He's an aviation expert and analyst at the Teal Group. Richard, I want to share with our viewers some of your advice. You say to not expect precision, to be flexible, and to allow slack. Expand on that. Explain what you mean.

RICHARD ABOULAFIA, VICE PRESIDENT OF ANALYSIS, TEAL GROUP: Well, remember, this time before the pandemic, and you could -- you want to be home for an afternoon meeting, you could pretty much run your schedule like clockwork, and 99.9 percent of the time things would go just fine. Well, sadly, we're having the same kind same kind of difficult time recovering in there industry that global supply chains are having recovering. And it's even worse, I would argue, in the aviation business. So there are going to be missteps.

So far, thankfully, I haven't experienced them, but obviously the Southwest story tells us that when things happen, they happen systemwide. And obviously it's very tough to recover from that in the space of an afternoon or a day or so.

[10:40:03]

So just don't time things as tightly as you might have done before the pandemic kicked in.

Sound advice. Several airplanes, American, Southwest, JetBlue among them, they're requiring their employees to be vaccinated by early December at the latest. How much do you expect this mandate to impact staffing and routes?

ABOULAFIA: So far it hasn't. The United mandate has been in place for quite some time, and they're reporting a very high level of compliance. The unfortunate truth is that there's, frankly, some slack of the system there, too. Aviation is relatively late to the economic recovery we have seen in many other sectors, like manufacturing or construction. So as a consequence, if anyone chooses to leave, there's someone available to replace them. I don't think that's going to be a material factor.

SANCHEZ: Last year, holiday passengers experienced social distancing on planes, middle seats were left open. A lot of people simply didn't want to fly. A lot of flights were half full if not less. Do you anticipate it's going to look different this year?

ABOULAFIA: Yes, absolutely. As a matter of fact, on U.S. domestic we've come roaring back. Stumbled a bit with the Delta variant, but if you look at things back in June, numbers were way up for domestic. Obviously with international, you've got border closures and other restrictions. But for domestic flying, people came back as soon as they felt OK. Again, with Delta, kind of stumbled a bit, but we're making a pretty fast recovery now. And of course getting that capacity back in place to serve them, that's a major challenge considering the depth to which the industry fell as a consequence of the pandemic.

SANCHEZ: How long do you anticipate it might take things to get back to the status that we had before the pandemic where we didn't have these weird lopsided issues with staffing and delayed flights and concerns about infection on the plane and vaccination requirements, et cetera, et cetera?

ABOULAFIA: I think U.S. domestic is going to come back by the first quarter in terms of traffic. In terms of capacity, getting the systems evened out and removing any serious risk of disruption, that might take a little bit longer. And of course all of this assumes that the current numbers continue to get better, there's no further variant beyond Delta that disrupts everything. And right now, things look really quite good. So I think a reasonable expectation is sometime mid next year, second quarter, things are going to seem relatively normal, at least in domestic markets.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I appreciate the advice, Richard, about keeping calm, and taking a few deep breaths and allowing things to play out as they will. It applies not only to air travel but to so many things in life. Richard Aboulafia, thank you so much for the time. Appreciate you.

ABOULAFIA: My pleasure.

PAUL: So an outbreak of thefts at Walgreens in San Francisco is so severe it's prompting the pharmacy giant to shut down five of its locations in the city.

SANCHEZ: This is wild. The San Francisco Police Department reports nearly 22,000 larceny theft cases since the beginning of the year. CNN correspondent Dan Simon has more.

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DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boxes and boxes of over-the-counter drugs, it looks like a warehouse distribution center for medicine. In reality, it's a warehouse full of stolen goods.

JASON BREWER, RETAIL INDUSTRY LEADERS ASSOCIATION: What you're looking at is not petty shoplifting. What you're looking at is an organized criminal ring.

SIMON: Law enforcement making this bust last year in San Mateo, California, just outside of San Francisco. These videos offering a glimpse inside the sophistication of organized shoplifting rings, San Francisco an epicenter, so much so that Walgreens says it will soon be closing five of its stores here. That in addition to the 17 stores the retailer had previously shuttered in the past few years.

AHSHA SAFAI, SAN FRANCISCO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: This is a real blow to San Francisco. It's a blow to the merchants. It's a blow to our reputation as a city.

SIMON: It begins with something like this. A thief grabbing items off store shelves. This viral video captured in June at a San Francisco Walgreens in plain view of a security guard. The store among those being shut down.

BREWER: You have street level thieves who are selling to boosters, who are then selling to larger syndicates who are building million dollar businesses selling stolen product. It's not something that is limited to San Francisco. It's happening all over the country. San Francisco is a focal point now.

SIMON: Jason Brewer of the Retail Industry Leaders Association says the stolen goods then wind up being sold online.

BREWER: We have allowed criminal networks to create a business model selling stolen goods online, and that is what's put this problem on steroids.

[10:45:05]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'm really sad that the situation in the San Francisco is driving businesses away.

SIMON: This Walgreens shopper deeply saddened to see her neighborhood store shut down but understands the decision.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If business is going to lose money, why should they stay open.

SIMON: So you don't blame Walgreens?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, why would I blame Walgreens? Business is to make money.

SIMON: San Francisco police have added foot patrols to deter thefts in known hot zones.

MAYOR LONDON BREED, SAN FRANCISCO: Our police department is working really hard to make sure that people are apprehended and held accountable for these crimes.

SIMON: And Mayor London Breed says criminals are only hurting people in their own neighborhoods.

BREED: When they do this, it impacts their family members, their grandmothers, who can't get their medicine at their pharmacies, or can't get resources that they need to take care of their health and well being.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SANCHEZ: Dan Simon, thank you so much for filing that report.

Up next, a little canine comfort, how therapy dogs are helping officers on Capitol Hill deal with the stresses of the job. We'll be right back.

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[10:50:34]

SANCHEZ: This morning the first NASA mission that will fly by eight ancient asteroids successfully launched on its ambitious journey.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff, Atlas V takes flight, sending Lucy to uncover the fossils of our solar system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The Lucy spacecraft is going to embark on a 12 year mission to explore Jupiter's trojan asteroid swarms, which are remnants from the early days of our solar system. So far our only sightings of the trojans have been artist renderings or animations.

So many Capitol Hill police officers have struggled with the aftermath of the January 6th riots, and now there's a new effort to try to help them deal with the unpredictability and stress of the job.

PAUL: We're talking about emotional support dogs. They're the newest members of the force. Look at them here. And they're bringing comfort in some unexpected ways. Here's CNN's Lauren Fox.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The newest member of the U.S. Capitol police force is already pretty pup-ular. Meet Lila, a three-year-old black Labrador who serves as a wellness support dog for the 2,300 members of the United States Capitol police. Her handler, wellness coordinator Dmitri Louis said Lila's temperament made her a perfect fit for her new job.

DMITRI LOUIS, WELLNESS COORDINATOR, LILA'S HANDLER: We just try to hit different divisions and different shifts to just allow anyone to kind of play with her. So anxiety gets lowered, emotions get managed. She puts people in a better place.

FOX: Lila joined the force in June, following a series of tragedies within the ranks of the Capitol police. The loss of two officers in the wake of January 6th and a third killed when a car rapid into the barricades in April. She is one part of a broader wellness program to address the emotional health of the force.

JEFFREY ALBANESE, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: We've all had bad days. You've had bad days, I've had bad days. The minute a dog walks in the room for even a minute, you kind of forget about it all. And those bad feelings and maybe some of those thoughts that you're having, they go away.

FOX: Lila didn't start out her training with law enforcement in mind.

If she had one weakness, because she looks like a perfectly behaved dog, what would it be?

LOUIS: Her kryptonite is squirrels.

She started off as a seeing eye dog. She went through the training to be a seeing eye dog, but then kryptonite, squirrels, that became an issue. So she actually went into a different type of training to be very comfortable with groups of people, to be comfortable with crowds, training that more made her suited for what she does right now.

FOX: And she's already getting high praise from her fellow officers, who she's helping to come to terms with their trauma.

CAROLINE EDWARDS, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: It's so hard to see when you're in the moment. It feels silly, like, all right, I've got this six feet of bike rack, and I'm defending this six feet of west front. And why?

FOX: Caroline Edwards was guarding the Capitol on January 6th and suffered a traumatic brain injury when insurrectionists broke through the barricades.

EDWARDS: And the reason is, like, why we did that was because it gave time for members, for staffers, for everyone to hide, to get out, to barricade themselves. And I think that's what it's all about.

FOX: Members of Congress also welcomed Lila's arrival to Capitol Hill. REP. MARY GAY SCANLON, (D-PA): There's of course the Harry Truman

quote that if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. There's all kinds of research on how dogs lower your blood pressure. They're just so lovely and warm, and it seemed like a great addition to the capitol, where tensions are high under the best of circumstances.

FOX: Lila will be joined by her fellow canine partner, Leo, a four- year-old yellow lab who joined the Capitol police force last month.

EDWARDS: No one can see Lila without just getting this big old grin on their face, because she's just a loveable dog.

[10:55:01]

That's kind of what service dogs do is they just relieve that tension that you have been holding in.

FOX: Lauren Fox, CNN on Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SANCHEZ: Amazing.

PAUL: She's not wrong.

SANCHEZ: She's not. Watching her chase squirrels just brightens the day.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: We appreciate her service and the service of all Capitol police.

PAUL: Amen.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much for watching this morning. There's still much more ahead in the next hour of the CNN Newsroom.

PAUL: Fredricka Whitfield is up next. We hope you make good memories today. But before you go, we want to remind you about an all new episode of the CNN original series "Diana." It airs tomorrow night at 9:00 and takes us behind the scenes of the royal wedding when trouble was already brewing. Watch "Diana" tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. We'll see you tomorrow.

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