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January 6 Committee Issues More Subpoenas; Astroworld Investigation; Pfizer Seeks Booster Shot Authorization For All Adults. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 09, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:35]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Top of the hour. I'm Alisyn Camerota.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I'm Victor Blackwell.

The breaking news, Pfizer and BioNTech have just announced that they are asking the FDA for an emergency use authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine booster for all individuals 18 and older, not just those who are over 65, high risk or work in high-risk environments.

CAMEROTA: CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here,

Elizabeth, tell us what this means.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, we can remember that, back around the middle of August, President Biden said boosters for everyone. And now, well, that's what it looks like. We're on the road to that happening.

If you remember, in September, Pfizer received authorization to have boosters, but only for certain people, for people over 65, for people with underlying medical conditions. And while that was a good hefty percentage of Americans, it wasn't everybody.

So now what will happen if the FDA gives a green light to this is that anyone over the age of 18 would be eligible to get a booster. Now, it will be interesting to see, if this goes forward, will the CDC say, well, everyone's eligible but we really only want to encourage specifically certain people should get boosters? It will be interesting if they put sort of people in different categories.

But at the end of the day, it will be if this passes anyone over age 18 will be eligible to get a booster, of course, six months after their second shot of their Pfizer COVID vaccine -- Alisyn, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Elizabeth Cohen with the breaking news, thank you so much.

Aaron Rodgers is speaking out. Again. The Green Bay Packers quarterback has faced -- has tested positive for COVID and faced criticism for his comments about his vaccination status. He claimed he was immunized. Turns out that he had not been vaccinated. Rodgers claimed that he was a victim of a so-called woke mob.

CAMEROTA: CNN's Andy Scholes is here.

So, Andy, Rodgers went back on that same radio show today. What did he say this time?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes.

Well, Alisyn and Victor, yes, he said he stands by everything that he said last week. And he said he takes full responsibility for his comments. He did say he's been speaking with a lot of people over the last few days, people who are vaccinated, people who are unvaccinated, and that he respects everyone's opinion on the subject.

But he also did say when appearing on the Pat McAfee radio or show just earlier that he acknowledges that some people might have been misled by those comments. And here's what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON RODGERS, GREEN BAY PACKERS: So I just wanted to start off the show by acknowledging that I made some comments that people might have felt were misleading.

And to anybody who felt misled by those comments, I take full responsibility for those comments. And I'm excited about feeling better. I'm excited about moving forward, and hopefully getting back on my team and getting back to the one I do best. And that's playing ball. It's been tough to be away from it.

I have been obviously dealing with the COVID. And I feel like I'm on the -- on the other side of it, thankfully, and thankful to still be able to have something to look forward to this weekend, hopefully.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. And, guys, Rodgers reiterated that he spoke with many people, including doctors, and said that not getting the vaccine was in his best interest in terms of what he thought.

He also added that he's an athlete, not an activist, and he's just looking forward to getting back to playing football, and if things go clear, or go the way -- on schedule, Rodgers could be activated on Saturday, be back on the field playing for the Packers in Green Bay at Lambeau against the Seahawks on Sunday afternoon.

CAMEROTA: Well, we're really glad to hear that he's feeling better. But it wasn't that some people misinterpreted what he said. It was misleading, what he said.

They said, well, have you been vaccinated? He said, yes, I have been immunized. I'm not sure how you can misinterpret that.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOLES: He didn't apologize. He used the if someone was offended or if someone felt misled. Those were his terms. He didn't come out and say sorry.

CAMEROTA: Andy Scholes, thank you for the update.

BLACKWELL: Thanks, Andy.

SCHOLES: All right.

BLACKWELL: Let's turn now to the tragic concert in Houston.

We now know a 9-year-old boy is one of those severely hurt from the crowd that killed eight. A man in Texas says his grandson was trampled so severely at the Astroworld concert, the boy had a heart attack and is now in a medically induced coma.

[15:05:02]

Houston's Fire Department says that two people are still in critical condition. Now, the 9-year-old family says that he was on his father's shoulders when the dad passed out, and then the boy fell into the melee. He was transported as John Doe to the hospital before his family found him.

CAMEROTA: At least 18 lawsuits have now been filed. Sources tell "The Wall Street Journal" that investigators are looking at whether some fake pills laced with fentanyl played any part in some of the deaths and injuries.

And in just the last hour, we just learned that the Houston Fire Department did not have direct communications with the event organizers during this incident. Instead, the fire officials were in contact with a private contractor who was handling medical services.

That's what the fire chief had just told you, which was a surprise to hear.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: CNN's Rosa Flores is in Houston for us.

So, Rosa, the one family of a man who was killed is talking to CNN and talking about how he lost his life trying to save his fiancee.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, this is just such a tragic story.

The man who died is 27-year-old Danish Baig. And his family telling CNN earlier this morning that he died actually trying to save his fiancee. His fiancee was getting stomped on. And so those are just some -- excuse me -- tragic details about the final moments of their loved one.

And so this family is, of course, hurting. But now they're also asking for justice. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want everyone to know that people who lost their lives shouldn't have lost their lives in this festival. All the parties that were -- that set up this event should be held accountable. It's just justice for them, justice for Danish, justice for the victims, and justice for the families. That's what we want.

And in terms of that, if that means rules and regulations need to be changed, how they do things, how they act and how they make these events, they need to do something about it. They have blood on their hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Hearts are heavy here in Houston. You can see the growing memorial behind me, this as the medical examiner released the names of all eight individuals yesterday.

Now, according to the medical examiner's office, the toxicology reports are expected to take weeks. It's unclear when the cause and manner of death will be released as well. All of those things, of course, will be key in determining exactly what happened. That will be part of the investigation, what investigators will want to see as they piece this puzzle to figure out what happened.

Now, lawyers are also going to be wanting to see those documents. At least 18 lawsuits have been filed already, many of these lawsuits claiming negligence or gross negligence, claiming that the defendants, in this case, Live Nation, Astroworld Festival, Drake, Travis Scott, ScoreMore, the promoter, that this event was not organized in a safe manner, that these individuals went to this concert hoping to have a good time, and at least eight of them did not get to go home to their families.

That's what they're claiming. Now, CNN has reached out to the defendants in this case. The defendants are not commenting about the lawsuits, per se. Now, many of them have issued statements saying that their hearts are broken and that they are cooperating with authorities.

Travis Scott saying that he's also partnering with organizations to provide mental health services for these concertgoers, many of those services online.

And, Alisyn and Victor, I can tell you, by talking to concertgoers, there's definitely a lot of trauma here from the concertgoers that I have talked to, saying that many of them are so traumatized, they can't even see themselves going to a party indoors, because now they feel claustrophobic, and just the idea that they were at a place having a good time that later turned out to be deadly is unfathomable for them.

So it's very, very difficult, a long road ahead for a lot of these concertgoers as they try to grapple with the fact that they were at a concert where eight people died -- Alisyn, Victor.

CAMEROTA: And where more almost -- where more say they almost did. Rosa Flores, thank you very much.

We're getting a new window into I think the style of some of Travis Scott's concerts, because this 2019 documentary about Travis Scott raised red flags about how out of control the crowds get at some of his concerts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our kids, they push up against the front and spread all the way across that and fill in the whole front floor.

So the pressure becomes very great up against the barricades. You will see a lot of crowd surfers in general, but also you see a lot of kids that are just trying to get out and get to safety because they can't breathe, because it's so compact. Like, you won't know how bad it could be with our crowd until will we turn...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:10:02]

CAMEROTA: OK, that seems important.

Joining us now is Brian "B. Dot" Miller, host of the "Complex Brackets and Rap Radar" podcast and a former MTV music correspondent.

Brian, great to see you.

BRIAN "B. DOT" MILLER, PODCAST HOST: Good to see you.

CAMEROTA: So, he has a history. I mean, his concerts have a history of this. And you're like listening to security saying, there's going to -- you're going to see a lot of kids who can't breathe, who say that they need to get out of the barricades because they can't breathe.

I mean, that's beyond a red flag.

MILLER: Yes, but if you go to Travis Scott show, you kind of know what you're getting into. You expect them to have mosh pits. He's going to rage, going to have a good time. It's going to be a crowded event. So it's like, you know what you're getting yourself into when you go into a Travis show.

BLACKWELL: Yes, he's not the only artist who has mosh pits. But is there something about his concerts that we see this so often?

MILLER: No, I think Travis is only guilty of being Travis Scott.

He's a popular artist, and he creates a lot of fanfare, so people are going to come to his shows more than other artists in the hip-hop space. So I think that's his only indictment of just being a popular hip-hop artist.

CAMEROTA: But hold on a second, because doesn't he also -- isn't this a point of pride for him that people rage and people get -- it gets so intense?

I mean, he has a history of being charged and pleading guilty to reckless conduct, disorderly conduct. And then he did it again.

MILLER: Well, I mean, this is the third annual event of Astroworld in Houston. So I think it's a -- for any artist to pack as many seats in a venue as possible. So I think...

CAMEROTA: But I mean the injury part.

MILLER: OK.

CAMEROTA: There were a couple of times -- and you put it up before, Victor, about the history.

In 2015, it was disorderly conduct because somebody got hurt. In 2017, somebody got hurt, maybe even more than one person. And so that is different.

MILLER: Yes. Well, I think it's just a -- I think it's unfair to just single out Travis Scott shows as if they're some rambunctious kind of concert.

I think if you go to any genre in music, whether it's rock 'n' roll, or these heavy metal concerts, it's kind of the same atmosphere, but at a Travis Scott show, you kind of know what to expect when you go there.

BLACKWELL: Yes, I want to be clear that we're not suggesting that he is responsible for what happened there at all.

MILLER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: There's an investigation into who is responsible that's continuing.

I do want to also, though, listen to some of his lyrics. This is "Stargazing," in which he references the crowds, and people diving from balconies. Let's listen.

MILLER: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes, but that actually happened at one of his concerts...

MILLER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: ... that someone jumped out -- jumped from a third-story or was pushed from a third-story balcony, and was paralyzed.

He urged someone to jump from another balcony. Is it time to change this style, change what happens at these concerts?

MILLER: I think going forward -- with this tragedy, going forward, people going to be more conscious of what they say and how atmospheres at shows and stuff like that.

I think in that particular case that was more so like artistic license that Travis was allotted. But I think, going forward, people are just going to be more conscious and cognizant of safety protocols going forward.

CAMEROTA: Look, I'm not sure yet that he's not responsible, because if you have a history of people getting injured at your shows, and you start to see ambulances pull up, and people are on stage saying stop the -- you have to be cognizant that maybe people -- maybe it's getting really bad. Maybe people are dying.

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: Yet people are dying too.

But I think safety has been an issue for Travis Scott shows. Even at this particular concert, if you go on the Web site, they have protocols more so on COVID than they had for crowd control.

But I think, at the end of the day, Travis Scott, he's definitely remorseful about what happened. And I think he's taking accountability for what happened.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Yes, go ahead.

BLACKWELL: Beyond Travis Scott, how's this reverberating through the industry?

MILLER: Oh, man, it's -- everyone's feeling it.

I mean, I just saw last night Teyana Taylor. She had a show and she made sure that someone came on stage and sat on the stage, because it was a little bit crowded. But I think everyone expresses the same sentiment all across the board.

CAMEROTA: And just very quickly, you think that he still has a future?

MILLER: Absolutely. Travis Scott is one of the biggest artists in hip- hop. And I think after this he will still have a career.

BLACKWELL: All right.

CAMEROTA: "B. Dot" Miller.

MILLER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

MILLER: Thank you. Thank you for having me. CAMEROTA: Thank you. Great to have you.

OK, Republican Congressman Paul Gosar tweets out in animated video showing him killing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Biden with swords or something. It's prompted his own sister to ask, what is wrong with him?

She's going to join us next.

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[15:19:04]

CAMEROTA: We're getting more breaking news at this hour.

The committee investigating the January 6 insurrection has just issued new subpoenas for 10 former Trump administration officials, including some who were actively serving in the White House during those Capitol attacks.

CNN's Paula Reid is on Capitol Hill.

Paula, tell us what we know. Who's on the list?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: What's so interesting about this list is clearly the committee in this batch is specifically targeting people who would have been around the president at the White House before January 6 in those days.

Now, they are specifically looking at who else they were talking to outside the White House, 10 different individuals on this list. I'm not going to read the whole list. But among these are Stephen Miller, the former president's senior adviser, Kayleigh McEnany, of course, the press secretary, and then other people who may not be household names, but were certainly people you would see all the time around the Trump White House, like Ben Williamson, deputy assistant to the president and a senior adviser to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

[15:20:00]

Now, the committee says they specifically want to know what was going on in the White House, who the president was talking to, and anyone who may have been involved in efforts to stop the counting of electoral votes.

Now, it's one thing to issue a subpoena. The big question now, Alisyn is, of course, will these people comply? They have been asked to provide the committee with specific documents by November 23. And then they have depositions scheduled anytime from the end of November to mid-December.

But, right now, it's clear the committee has had difficulty securing meaningful cooperation from close advisers to the former president. Right now, everybody is looking at the attorney general, Merrick Garland, and whether the Justice Department will move on a referral from the House to hold former longtime Trump adviser former White House official Steve Bannon in contempt, if they will move forward to indict him.

Without that, Alisyn, there really isn't a lot of a deterrent for people not to cooperate with this committee. So that really is an outstanding issue. And it remains to be seen whether these people will actually comply with the subpoena before we get an answer on that Steve Bannon issue.

BLACKWELL: Of course, that is the important question Will they get the information they're trying to get from these now additional 10 people who have received these subpoenas or will be subpoenaed?

Paula Reid, stand by.

Let's bring in Evan Perez, who covers the Justice Department.

Evan, the scope of these 10, from a senior adviser, the White House press secretary all the way to Nicholas Luna, the personal assistant who just might have been in the room on January 6, just talk about the breadth of these names, their positions and what they're trying to get to here.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor, I think that's what you're seeing in the subpoenas, both the ones that were just announced, and the ones that we saw in the last few days.

These were people that were -- that would have been in a position to know what was the frame of mind, what was being talked about in the Oval Office in some of those war room conversations, in some of those meetings and phone calls that were going back and forth in those key days at the end of December, early January, before the January 6 Capitol riot.

Again, these are things that -- I think that what you see the committee trying to do here, obviously, they're not -- they haven't yet said that they're going to go after getting testimony from the former president.

But without him, without doing that, you can get a very good picture of what was going on in those conversations by trying to get these -- testimony from people that were very, very close to him. Obviously, Kayleigh McEnany, we saw her binder and other documents that she apparently had in her possession.

Those are among the things that the committee is trying to get from the National Archives. And according to the information that was filed in court, those documents included drafts of speeches and talking points. Again, this is what will give this committee a lot of information about what Donald Trump was thinking, what was the discussion among his advisers in those key days and those hours.

CAMEROTA: And then, obviously, this puts, we would imagine, some sort of pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland, because he's deciding about Steve Bannon.

PEREZ: Yes. CAMEROTA: But are each of these individuals -- in other words, do the

same rules apply to what -- holding Steve Bannon, whatever consequences he will face or not, does the same apply to all of these 10?

PEREZ: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Or is he in a different category somehow?

PEREZ: Look, I think he's in a different category.

And I will tell you this. The reason why is obviously he was not a government employee on January 6. He was no longer a paid adviser to this to -- the White House. Now, the former president, his legal team are saying -- what they say is that it doesn't matter, that the president, the former president, can make anyone his adviser. It doesn't have to be someone inside the government.

I think that's one of the things that the lawyers in this building and in the -- over at the U.S. attorney's office down the street are looking at, trying to figure out if they're going to enforce the subpoena, that -- this referral from the committee, whether this is something that they will be able to stand up in court.

I think there's a lot of frustration. You can see it on Twitter and some of the criticism you hear of the attorney general and the Justice Department. You can see that there's a lot of criticism from Democrats about why it's taking so long.

But people here tell me that part of the issue is they want to make sure that, when they bring this, if they bring this, that it's something that's going to stand the test of time. They know it's going to be dissected, and it's going to be a precedent-setting thing. Not many of these things are enforced.

And so they want to make sure that they get this right. One other thing, by the way, there's a new U.S. attorney that just took office. Yesterday was his first full day in office, Matt Graves. He's the new U.S. attorney in D.C.

[15:25:03]

He's going to be the one who's going to have to answer questions about this whenever it happens. So I think that's part of what the delay has been.

BLACKWELL: Paula, again, some of these names are more familiar than others.

And we know that of course, they want to get to the topic inside the room in the Oval Office the day before and, of course, on January 6.

But Cassidy Hutchinson here, special assistant to the president for legislative affairs, that outreach to Georgia, we know that that was something they, of course, wanted to get to with Jeffrey Clark, who wrote that letter they wanted DOJ to send out. She is a pretty important person here that we don't hear much about.

REID: That's right. You make a good point.

And it speaks to the breadth and depth of the committee's investigation, that they're not just looking at what happened in Washington. They're looking at outreach from the White House to other states, to other officials, so absolutely a critical person there.

But, to Evan's point, everyone is really waiting for the Justice Department to make this decision whether they will proceed with Steve Bannon. I agree with Evan. The folks on this list, these 10 people, they are not necessarily in the same position as Steve Bannon.

He was outside of government. But these are also mostly more junior officials in the White House. It's not a chief of staff. It's not a White House counsel. And so far, even though former President Trump has tried to assert privilege over documents and witnesses, so far, the current administration, President Biden and his White House counsel, they have waived privilege on witnesses, on documents.

They have said it's not in the best interest of the United States to prevent the committee from getting this kind of evidence. So, at this point, it's not clear that any of these people would enjoy any kind of privilege protections. We're still waiting for some litigation between the former president and the committee over privilege questions.

It's likely we may get an answer on that before the end of this week, though it's likely that we will be appealed, and then also waiting for this question on Steve Bannon, because, without that, it's not clear that Kayleigh McEnany or Ben Williamson will be incentivized to show up here if there's going to be no consequence for not cooperating.

CAMEROTA: Well, it certainly seems that the select committee is moving with alacrity, even if they don't think that the attorney general is on this.

And it's really interesting to watch who they have zeroed in on.

BLACKWELL: And there could be potentially more. I mean, the chairman of the committee said 20 subpoenas. We're up to 16 when you count what we saw yesterday and today, so stand by potentially for more names.

CAMEROTA: OK, Paula Reid, Evan Perez, thank you both very much for the breaking news.

BLACKWELL: All right, more than a dozen Republicans are facing criticism for their vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the latest criticism coming from former President Trump.

We have got new details next.

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