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Judge Ends Britney Spears' 13-Year Conservatorship; Trump Ally Steve Bannon Indicted For Contempt Of Congress; Mark Meadows Defies Jan. 6 Subpoena, Risks Contempt Charges; Consumers Feel The Pinch As Inflation Hits A 30-Year High; Teen Astroworld Victim's Life Celebrated In Houston; New Developers Threaten To Upend Colorado Eco- Village; Former Raiders Coach Jon Gruden Sues NFL Over Leaked E-mails. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired November 13, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She said that she was forced to be on birth control. She says she was forced to perform. She said that she believed it was conservatorship abuse and that she wanted her father charged with conservatorship abuse. So some very serious allegations there. That conservatorship was not terminated at that point. But Jamie Spears was removed as a co-conservator.

So everyone expected that this could be the next outcome here in this decision. What's also noteworthy is that Britney Spears herself has taken to Instagram to celebrate this and celebrate her free Britney fans writing good god, I love my fans so much. It's crazy. I think I'm going to cry the rest of the day. Best day ever. Praise the Lord. Can I get an amen? And then she put after that #FreedBritney.

But people here, the supporters of Britney clearly very excited to know that Britney Spears can once again control what she wants to do in her life. Fred?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right. Stephanie Elam, thank you so much. Clearly, the force behind her fans was pretty fierce.

All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All right. We begin this hour with a Trump ally in danger of going to jail after being indicted by a federal grand jury in relation to the January 6 Congressional investigation. Steve Bannon is expected to turn himself in on Monday and appear in court to face charges of criminal contempt of Congress.

Bannon, a former White House adviser has repeatedly refused to produce documents or appear for a deposition before the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Bannon's attorney has stated his client would not be cooperating with the investigation into what happened that day because of executive privilege. CNN's Kara Scannell is following these developments for us.

Kara, Steve Bannon is expected to turn himself in, however, how divine he has been. And this will happen on Monday. But then what will happen? KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Well, Friday, Steve Bannon will appear in court on Monday he'll face a judge where he has been charged with two counts of contempt of Congress. One of those charges relates to his failure to appear for testimony. The other account relates to his failure to provide any documents in response to the House subpoena. The House initially subpoenaed him in September.

They made a referral to the Department of Justice to hold him in contempt in October and we saw the result of that yesterday. In announcing the charges against Bannon, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a statement saying since my first day in office, I promised Justice Department employees that together we would show the American people by word and deed that the department adheres to the rule of law, follows the facts in the law and pursues equal justice under the law.

Today's charges reflect the department's steadfast commitment to these principles. Now, if convicted, Bannon will face as a minimum of 30 days in jail and a maximum of one year. But given that he's been indicted now, it does not appear that he will be cooperating or participating with the committee as this plays out. And that could take many years. Fred?

WHITFIELD: So Kara, Bannon is the only one ignoring the Congressional committee's requests. So, this is clearly going to send a strong message. Won't it?

SCANNELL: Oh, definitely, Fred. I mean, one of the key people that the committee wants to speak to is Trump's former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. They asked him to appear yesterday at 10:00 a.m. and he refused. His lawyer saying that Meadows would not cooperate with this investigation because of questions around executive privilege. He said that is something for the courts to decide.

The House Select Committee Chairman and Vice Chair issued a statement after that, saying that Meadows will not answer the most basic questions including whether he was using private cell phones or e- mails to communicate on January 6. They said that this will force them to consider whether they will vote so hold Meadows in contempt. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Kara Scannell, thank you so much in Washington. So for more on this I'm joined now by Michael Zeldin, a former federal prosecutor and host of the podcast That Said with Michael Zeldin. So good to see you, Michael.

MICHAEL ZELDIN, A FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Good to see you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So, Bannon left the White House in 2017. At the time of the planning that he's alleged to have been involved in of the January 6 insurrection. He was a private citizen, so we can't hide behind this executive privilege. Can he?

ZELDIN: Well, he can and he can't. The Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department has said that the privilege can be extended to private citizens. We think of the kitchen cabinet that Reagan had or Vernon Jordan and Bill Clinton had. Those sorts of policy communications between select private citizens on policy advice has been determined to cover -- be covered by privilege.

In this case, Bannon seems to be had been giving political advice to candidate Trump, which makes the allegation or the assertion of privilege much more tenuous.

WHITFIELD: And you mean because the executive privilege is usually extended when it's a matter of, you know, the Republic versus for an individual and President Trump in that kind of case that would be the individual and him not necessarily trying to protect the security of country.

[13:05:09]

ZELDIN: Exactly. It's the preservation of the privilege of the Office of the President in his capacity as President. Here, it seems that the advice that Bannon was giving was political advice to candidate Trump, which is separate from his role as president. So, I think there's a distinction that can be drawn between policy and political advice to an individual candidate versus to the Office of the President.

So will the same apply for, say, Mark Meadows, who was currently the Chief of Staff at the moment or Kayleigh McEnany, who was working in the White House, would that same -- I guess, explanation extend for them to?

ZELDIN: Well, yes. But because they're working in the White House, and especially Meadows, who was the Chief of Staff, really, executive privilege is designed to protect the types of conversations between the chief officer Trump and his chief counsel Meadows. Again, the question might be, whether or not Meadows was providing policy advice on the presidency, or whether he was providing political advice to the candidate.

That has to be fleshed out in the courts. And in some measure, this is what Bannon and Meadows are saying, look, we don't know what the answers to these questions are. And until we do, until a court tells us to do that, then we just can't -- we can't -- we just can't show up because we don't know what the right answer is.

WHITFIELD: So the day before the siege on the Capitol, Bannon said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST AND SENIOR COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. Just understand this. All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. It's not going to happen like you think it's going to happen. OK? It's going to be quite extraordinarily different. And all I can say is strap in the war room a posse, you have made this happen. And tomorrow, it's game day. So strap in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That would seem pretty incriminating. ZELDIN: Well, it sure shows prior -- implies prior knowledge of the siege of the Capitol. And it is stuff like that, that the committee wants to get to the bottom of and that doesn't -- in any way --

WHITFIELD: Yes. Why would you say that? What do you know? They would want to be able to ask those questions. Why would you say that? What would you -- what do you know that would allow you to conclude an outcome as ominous as you just painted?

ZELDIN: Exactly. And that does not seem to involve executive privilege. The notion of planning an insurrection on the Capitol doesn't have anything to do with the policy advice to the President or the office of the president. This stuff is all outside of what is normally executive privileged conversation. So absolutely, the House has an interest in learning about this stuff. So they can make preparation legislatively to ensure that this does not happen again.

So thus far, Bannon has exhibited quite the allegiance to Trump but now he's going to be in court on Monday. And if found guilty of these two contempt charges, looking at a maximum of one year in prison for each. What might that compel him in your view to flip?

ZELDIN: Well, a normal person might say that it's time for me to cooperate once a court orders me to cooperate and that I will protect my interests let, you know, my liberty interests, my family interests before I have loyalty especially to a guy who now can't pardon me. But that is not a normal guy in my definition, so it's really hard to predict what he will do.

WHITFIELD: All right. Michael Zeldin, good to see you. Thanks so much.

ZELDIN: Good to see you. Thanks. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Aside from the ban and indictment, former President Trump did score a few big legal victories on Friday. A New York judge granted Trump's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by his former personal attorney Michael Cohen against the Trump Organization. Cohen suit one of the Trump Organization to pay millions of dollars in legal fees. Cohen incurred in lawsuits relating to Trump's campaign and business dealings.

Trump also avoided having to sit for a deposition in a defamation lawsuit filed by former apprentice contestant Summer Zervos. She decided to drop her lawsuit against Trump in which she accused the show's former host of sexually assaulting her. All right. Still ahead. Vice President Kamala Harris just wrapped up a trip to Paris hoping to mend the relationship with one of the United States most crucial allies.

Plus, surging prices everywhere right as the holidays are approaching. What's behind the rising inflation and what products are being affected the most?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Vice President Kamala Harris heading back to the U.S. at this hour after making a key trip to France to bolster their relationship with America's oldest ally. White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond has more.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Today, Vice President Harris wrapping a five-day effort to revitalize the French-American relationship.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This trip I believe, signals in a very clear way, the enduring, the long standing and the future alliances and commitment between the people of the United States and France and our governments.

DIAMOND: The trip much of its spent alongside French president Emmanuel Macron was the latest effort to mend ties after the U.S. blindsided France with a plan to help Australia develop nuclear submarines. Sinking France's own submarine contract with Australia.

[13:15:06]

DIAMOND: The sub snub may have propelled Harris to the French capital. But the Vice President insisting the breach of trust was not on the agenda.

HARRIS: I will tell you that was not the purpose of this trip and we didn't discuss it. What we did discuss is the issues that are challenging us. And the issues that are the basis for this relationship and the strength and the endurance of this relationship.

DIAMOND: The Vice President emerging from Paris with just two tangible agreements, expanded U.S.-French space cooperation and a U.S. decision to sign on to a French initiative, setting rules of the road in cyberspace. After our first foreign trip overshadowed by Harris's handling of an interview, the Vice President managing to avoid controversy and sidestepping the sensitive issue of greater European military autonomy.

On the specific point of President Macron's belief in European strategic autonomy and a European army, is that something that the administration supports or opposes?

HARRIS: The United States and France have a long-standing relationship that is about support, and alignment, and that will continue.

DIAMOND: But it's the images that defined Harris's trip. Signaling a relationship back on track, as the flat earth flowed both ways.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: I wanted to thank the Vice President for her presence today in Paris. I can tell you that France people are extremely proud to have you here today.

HARRIS: I enjoy it even just the few minutes that we've had so far in this tour.

DIAMOND: Meanwhile, a visit to the Suresnes American Cemetery serving as a powerful reminder of shared sacrifice. HARRIS: If there is any question about the why or the what, in terms of our relationship as the United States with France, that is one visual and one concrete example of the endurance and the mutual commitment and interdependence between the United States and France.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN traveling with the Vice President in Paris.

WALLACE: All right. Coming up. The price of just about everything is up as inflation is reaching historic levels. What's behind the spike and will there be any reprieve for your wallet?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:22:02]

WHITFIELD: OK. You know this already. Americans are paying more for just about everything right now is inflation hits a 30-year high. Groceries rent, utilities, furniture, gas, all of it. In California, the price of a gallon of gas just today hit its highest points since 2012. And in some places, like at this station in Southern California, it's topping out in your $5.00 a gallon. So why is everything so expensive?

To help us analyze this Rana Forooha. She is a CNN Global Economic Analyst and also global business columnist and associate editor at the Financial Times. So good to see you. OK. Let's start with that basic question. So why? Why is it all so expensive right now?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Why paying more? Well, you know, it's a combination of short term and long-term factors. Let's start with the most obvious, COVID. We had a global pandemic, everything shut down, and then everything ramped back up pretty quickly. You know, I mean, we've had a really robust recovery. May not feel like that always. But the numbers show has been pretty strong in the last few months, particularly as the Delta variant has gone away.

So that creates inflationary pressure. But when you think about how, you know, products get to your supermarket, how does gas get into the tank of your car. There's a long process and that involves supply chain. So, you know, we've heard about clogging up at ports in L.A, we've heard about truck drivers not being able to be found because there aren't enough of them to drive produce to the to the market.

All these things factored into the price that you ultimately pay. And then of course, there's rising fuel prices. And that has to do with certain things going on all over the world, like the transition to cleaner fuels and the push around climate change. There are new restrictions on fossil fuels that makes energy prices more expensive in the short term. Lots of other things going on, but it's sort of a perfect storm of factors right now.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And so when you talk about, you know, the shipping containers, you know, off the coast, particularly of the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach. We're talking about more than 80, you know, are there right now just kind of stuck anchored there. The shortage of truckers, as you just mentioned, is still a big

problem. So when you lay it out like that, it certainly paints the picture that there isn't going to be relief right around the corner. This sounds like this is going to be a long drawn out process.

FOROOHAR: Well, it's interesting, I would say no. No relief around the corner, meaning I expect the next few months certainly to be inflationary. I think that as we get into Christmas, we're all going to be feeling a little more in our wallets as we shop. But the big question is, does this last six months to a year, is this two years, three years or are we in the 70s which, you know, I can remember where you had a decade of inflation.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

FOROOHAR: I think that we are going to see relief sooner rather than later. And I'll tell you why are ready. I'm talking to a lot of companies that are taking all kinds of actions in big companies like Amazon and Target and Wal-Mart. They're buying their own containers. They're using artificial intelligence to speed up their supply chains.

[13:25:05]

FOROOHAR: There's a lot of stuff that's in train right now that's not going to show up maybe for six months or a year, but ultimately it will. So I don't think we're back to the 70s. But it's Christmas is going to be more expensive than last year for sure.

WHITFIELD: Well, do you agree with the President who says he believes his economic plans will help ease inflation?

FOROOHAR: I do. But again, it depends on timing. When you think about building back better, when you think about infrastructure, which we absolutely need, we need better ports, better roads, better bridges, better trains. All that is going to ease congestion in the longer term. But in the short term, when you're doing that building, that's inflationary. So it's really tricky for the President because, you know, in the run up to midterms, we may see higher prices.

And that puts political pressure on him around ideas that they're probably a good thing backed early but are going to have some tradeoffs in the short term.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. So the Federal Reserve, you know, is still saying that inflation is, "transitory." Is that another way of saying, while it may continue to spike a little bit longer for you know, good amount of time, as you put it, it will still be a long way to go before we start seeing those prices drop again?

FOROOHAR: Well, you know, it's always interesting decoding Fed speak, you know, words like transitory. What they're saying is that we don't think we're in the 70s. This will eventually ease but we don't know when. And they're also trying to buy themselves a little wiggle room, a little time around when they start to raise interest rates. You know, we've had a long period of low interest rates which interestingly, actually creates inflationary pressure. You think about how low interest rates are for mortgages right now. That means a lot of people have bought housing. That raises housing prices. So it's a -- it's a balancing act. And the Fed is saying, we're watching this carefully. And we're not going to take any sudden action, but eventually we'll start to raise rates.

WHITFIELD: Yes, that word transitory. That's a very non-committal word.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: What does really mean for the bottom line? What does that mean? All right. Rana Foroohar, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

FOROOHAR: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you. All right. One of the places that we are all seeing inflation, yes. Is that the grocery store. We need our groceries just for food staples. Milk is up more than four percent from this time last year. Meat is up almost 15 percent. Eggs, nearly 12 percent. Joining us right now, we'd love to have our Stew Leonard. And he always has like a great smorgasbord to help our story and to help tell us what is going on.

He is the CEO of Stew Leonard's Grocery Stores which has locations across three states. Always great to see you. And to see your collections are doing pretty good. But oh my gosh, the prices of everything is just so hard. And it's making it difficult for a lot of households, we're having to pick and choose whether because of the bottom line, how much things are or because things are not on the store shelves. So, talk to us about the spike of prices in the last year.

What are you seeing? What is more expensive today than last year at about this time in your store (INAUDIBLE)

STEW LEONARD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, STEW LEONARD'S GROCERY STORE: Well, I think when you look and Rana has good points there, but when you look at the total cost of your Thanksgiving meal, it's the least expensive holiday meal of the year. OK? Because you're paying around $2.00 or a pound for Turkey right now. So I wouldn't have people panic that this is going to really impact their wallet.

WHITFIELD: Yes?

LEONARD: I think what I would recommend like, you mentioned, transportation costs, you know, you can buy locally. And one of the things we've done even we found some of our larger turkey producers, they are shorting turkey to us. You know, when you think about it, you have to make your decision on how many turkeys is to raise in January. So just thinking another six weeks, a lot of turkey producers have to make the predictions for 2022.

So, you're throwing a dart right there. A lot of big companies throw the dark a little low. They didn't think the economy and everything would be as good as it is right now. And customers are ready to celebrate. Fredricka, right now. We're seeing that here at Stew Leonard.

WHITFIELD: So, reportedly there was going to be a real problem with turkeys particularly because, you know, last year there was such a surplus and, you know, turkeys have to be at a particular ripe age in order to be the best product. And so that setback a cause real problems this year, but you're saying if you stick with local, you'll have a better shot at getting a bird on your table?

[13:30:00]

LEONARD: Well, that's what we did. We went through -- when we got shorted by our large company, we went to one of our local farmers that we have, and we got plenty of turkeys.

We're going sell 70,000 turkeys this year. And I promised -- I promised our customers, I guarantee you a turkey.

Now, if you wait until like Tuesday to buy it before Thanksgiving, you might not get the size you want.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Let's talk about the size right now. Sizes are so important.

For a Thanksgiving meal, both apple pie and biscuits are up right now more than 6 percent, for example.

Do you feel like people are making different adjustments? We see the graphics right here.

LEONARD: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Canned vegetables up, biscuits.

Are people making different adjustments about their menu because of what it's going to cost them?

LEONARD: You know, Fredericka, I think that's a good point. You may not find the brand that you want, but you are going to find cranberry sauce. You will find a pie. You're going to find everything you need in the stores right now.

And the other thing you can do is make a lot of it yourself. I mean, we have this dinner for eight right here, right? It's $175. Do you know how much it was last year? $175.

WHITFIELD: Really?

LEONARD: That's just a little less than $22 a head. This price hasn't changed right here.

Some of our costs have gone up. We're a family business. I'm not public. We're going to absorb some of it.

I've worked with our farmers and ranchers and everything to sort of split the cost increases, which they've agreed to. We're trying to hold the prices down.

If you shop smart, you make your own product at your house rather than buy it prepared -- I probably shouldn't be saying that -- but like we do here at the store, you can economize this holiday. You won't feel that sticker shock.

WHITFIELD: Yes. I like your portions there. If that's a meal for eight, that means nice healthy generous portions. I like that.

You can do it yourself, but at the same time, you're making it easier on your customers because you'll prepare stuff, too.

LEONARD: Fredericka, I think it's going to cost for people more to drive to their Thanksgiving meal than it will be for the price increase of the actual food.

WHITFIELD: That is true.

So what about this global supply chain issue, particularly with, you know, shipping just not getting from -- whether it be from coast to coast or around the world to, you know, your warehouses.

How much of an impact is that making? Does it mean that you have bare shelves like I'm seeing in a lot of grocery stores?

LEONARD: Well, one thing is we've lined a lot of this up in advance. Our warehouses are filled with product.

So a lot of it is preplanning. If you haven't preplanned, you're going to be in trouble. That's why I think a lot of local independent supermarkets have done a good job at this.

You know, I think -- I'd shop local right now. I think the big chains have massive distribution problems getting things from -- off containers and out of distribution warehouses.

We buy directly from the farmers, so the supply chain issue isn't as much.

But I would say, I think right now there's two factors with the cost going up.

One of them is the disruption of supply because nobody -- there's a supply-and-demand issue going on right now. People want more center- cut rib eye steaks than our ranchers have produced.

But I think there are things that are going to stick. Like we've had to raise our labor rates right now to attract enough people. We've gone up $2 an hour, $16 an hour at Stew Leonard's.

So we've had an increased. That's going to stay. I can't retract that after the holiday.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Well, you've offered some great incentives. LEONARD: -- the supply-and-demand half is going to be fuel costs and

transportation costs have gone up.

WHITFIELD: No matter what the issue is, Stew Leonard, you always give us a full-plate conversation.

LEONARD: Yes. Well, you have a great Thanksgiving with a great turkey, OK, and be safe. And I wish everybody a happy holiday.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much. Stew Leonard, happy holidays in advance. We really appreciate you. Thank you.

LEONARD: OK. Thank you. Thank you, Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: Thanksgiving, yes, it may make cost you a little more this year. But Macy's parade? Well, that's still free.

And with less than two weeks to go, preparations are being made to get the giant balloons ready. Crews are inflating them and testing them out already.

[13:34:42]

The parade is also expected to look a lot more like its old self this year with people actually lining the route. Last year, the parade was shortened and held only for a TV audience, not the millions who typically show up to see it in person.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In Houston, friends and family are gathering to honor one of the youngest victims in the Astroworld concert tragedy. And 16- year-old Brianna Rodriguez was among the nine people who died at the music festival.

A crowd surge turned the sold-out venue into a crime scene within minutes as concertgoers were crush, trampled and struggled to breath.

CNN's Natasha Chen is joining me now live from Houston.

Natasha, authorities are still investigating how this tragedy unfolded. What more are you learning?

[13:40:05]

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. We are hearing about just really awful details in a timeline from the Houston Fire Department throughout that day, 12 hours-plus of chaos.

We're also hearing audio from the police department describing those 911 calls and the help that people needed.

Now, you probably saw a hearse leaving this funeral home and a long line of cars here. That was for 16-year-old Brianna Rodriguez. Her service just wrapped up here.

There were so many people inside that there were more folks standing outside just waiting to pay their respects.

One of the people I talked to was her friend, who was at Astroworld with her, saying that the last thing she said to him was, "I can't breathe."

Among those in attendance was Representative Sheila Jackson Lee. She said this when I asked her about what she'd like to see from an investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TX): I think it's important that the answers come to the families as quickly as possible. I think that whatever resources that we can provide to ensure that the layers of participants are thoroughly investigated.

What should be our goal for this to never happen again? Don't take joy and turn it into something else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: I want to show you a little bit of a timeline we're receiving from the Houston Fire Department just to show you how long this went on that day.

As early as 9:20 in the morning, there were people breaching barricades in multiple locations. The venue gates actually didn't open until 10:00 a.m.

But you could see before that, they were already requesting medical help for several individuals.

And continuing throughout the day, you see other reports of 100 people at a time, 150 people at a time rushing different gates.

By 5:00 p.m., we're seeing that 26,000 people were screened through security, but there were a good 3,000 to 5,000, they said, that were actually not scanned.

By 4:00 p.m. that day, we also saw a report that 54 patients had been treated by that point.

Then you get into the evening hours. You have more people rushing different areas.

And at 9:00 p.m., the quote on the timeline says, this is when it all got real. You have the police department reporting multiple people passed out at the front of a stage.

And then at 9:32, a report of unconscious female in the middle of the crowd. And then reports of several 911 calls about people unconscious, people trampled, people having a hard time breathing.

And police saying it was dangerous even for them to go into this crowd to assist because there was a definite risk of officers getting injured as well -- Fred? WHITFIELD: A terrible sequence of events.

Thank you so much, Natasha Chen. Appreciate that.

All right. Still ahead, it is the moment of truth for our planet. That's the plea from the chief of the U.N. climate change conferences. He urges global leaders to issue a draft climate agreement. Details on that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:43]

WHITFIELD: The head of the global climate summit in Glasgow says it's a moment of truth for the planet. Officials close to the talks say there are still some sticking points before they can salvage a deal.

The latest draft, the third so far, includes softer language on coal, fossil fuels, and cutting emissions.

But no matter what happens in Glasgow, for most people, clean energy is ultimately a local issue. And that can mean local challenges.

Here's CNN's Bill Weir showing us one example outside of Denver.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While they fuss and fight in Glasgow over the path to a carbon neutral world, this gentleman knows how hard you have to fight just to build a net- zero neighborhood.

DAR-LON CHANG, HOMEOWNER, GEOS COMMUNITY: I pay about $6 every month for or electricity.

WEIR: Dar-Lon Chang is an energy pioneer battling to settle the greenest community in America, called Geos, conceived as a clean energy utopia in the Denver suburb of Arvada.

Original plans call for nearly 300 homes, all powered, heated, and cooled only by what radiates down from the sun and up from the earth

RAINER GERBATSCH, GEOS COMMUNITY PRESIDENT: On days when it's like 10 degrees outside, and you get the windows open, by 11:00 or so, you have close to 70 degrees on it.

WEIR (on camera): It's very toasty in here.

GERBATSCH: Yes.

NORBERT KLEBL, ORIGINAL DEVELOPER, GEOS COMMUNITY: Look at this. Our homes are offset. This is south.

WEIR (voice-over): It's all the brainchild of an Austrian engineer named Norbert Klebl, who first staggered the plots in a checkerboard so that each tightly constructed home, free of drafts and leaks, would get maximum free heat from the sun.

KLEBL: We harvest the sun in the wintertime. When the sun is low down there, it floats in here and heats up the entire house.

WEIR: This means you need fewer solar panels to power the house and your cars and eight hours of battery backup.

Since gas stoves can create the same amount of indoor pollution as living with a chain smoker, and since natural gas is mostly made of planet-cooking methane, rule one of Geos would be no gas. All electric.

GERBATSCH: So this is the geothermal unit.

WEIR: Using liquid to bring up energy from the earth's hot core, this machine heats and cools the house with virtually no pollution.

[13:50:02]

CHANG: If you go down to the core of the earth, it's as hot there as it is on the surface of the sun.

WEIR (on camera): It's closer. It's right there.

CHANG: Yes. Exactly.

WEIR: It's always on.

(voice-over): Dar-Lon believes geothermal will be the energy of the future. And he should know. He spent over 15 years as an alternative fuel engineer at ExxonMobil.

CHANG: I saw no reason why we weren't using the drilling technologies we're using at ExxonMobil to drill for hot rocks, rather than drill for oil and gas.

WEIR: But the company wasn't moving away from fossil fuel fast enough for his sense of urgency.

And he says when hurricanes knocked power from his Houston home and his homeowners association banned solar panels, he quit, packed, and moved to the greener pastures of Geos.

The 28 completed homes, with goats instead of lawnmowers, felt like proof of a better way.

But then Norbert was forced to sell the rest of Geos in a divorce settlement.

And despite their fierce objections, the new developer is now installing gas lines for the next phase of homes.

CHANG: The story of my neighborhood being a failed experiment in building without gas pipelines, is not only false, but it also endangers the transition away from methane gas needed this decade to prevent runaway climate change.

WEIR: Since the Arvada City Council pledged to encourage more renewable energy a decade ago, Dar-Lon put on his "no-gas holes" shirt, and along with neighbors, asked for their intervention.

CHANG: You've got homes that need to be converted that already exist. But the job here, with the next phase of Geos, has already been done for you.

WEIR: But so far, officials refuse to help Geos stay gas free. It's a lesson that while over 100 nations, led by the U.S., are pledging to drastically reduce methane emissions, all building codes are local.

And small towns worry that forcing a clean transition will bring lawsuits from big oil and gas, and their favorite lawmakers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Bill Weir, thank you so much for that.

Still ahead, former Raiders coach, Jon Gruden, is suing the NFL for seeking to, quote, "destroy his career and reputation." Details on that straight ahead.

But first, to Miami where a pair of young entrepreneurs have turned their love of socks into a do-good mission, in today's "START SMALL, THINK BIG."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON MARTINEZ, CO-FOUNDER, "ARE YOU KIDDING" SOCKS: "Are You Kidding" Socks is an entrepreneurial company where me and my brother designed the best socks ever.

SEBASTIAN MARTINEZ, CO-FOUNDER, "ARE YOU KIDDING" SOCKS: I'm Sebastian and I'm 13.

B. MARTINEZ: I'm Brandon and I'm 15.

We are the founders of "Are You Kidding" Socks.

S. MARTINEZ: Our company started when I was 5 years old when I had a passion for socks. I loved having my socks all the way up so people could be like, wow, look at those socks.

B. MARTINEZ: We started small. We had an idea. We got paper and pencils and took off from there.

S. MARTINEZ: Basically, I am making an ocean sock. I am putting socks and the fish.

When think about what people like, what wills we like. Me and my brother like to have drawing contests. We are brothers. We compete on everything.

B. MARTINEZ: We partner with a bunch of charities, local charities, national charities, because we want to help give back to our community.

S. MARTINEZ: When we make the socks for different charities, people can learn what that needs to be made. Breast cancer socks, and their logo is pink ribbon. For autism, the puzzle piece.

B. MARTINEZ: Our company has donated over 300,000 in charitable contributions. It makes us proud. We are doing great things for our community.

S. MARTINEZ: I want to help people because, as my mom used to tell me, you want to help people because you never know if one day you are going to need help.

[13:53:35]

B. MARTINEZ: I hope our company has a big impact on the world. We just want to help everyone. Making people happy makes me happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:58:33]

WHITFIELD: All right. Former Raiders coach, Jon Gruden, is suing the NFL, accusing the league of specifically targeting him to damage his career.

CNN's Coy Wire is following these developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Fred.

Jon Gruden resigned last month as the Raiders' head coach after emails containing racist and homophobic messages were uncovered during an investigation of workplace and culture of the Washington Football Team.

His emails to former Washington president, Bruce Allen, and others, were sent between 2011 and 2018 when Gruden was working for ESPN and were leaked to several media outlets.

A "New York Times" report says Gruden denounced women being employed as on-field officials, criticized a team drafting an openly gay player, and used a homophobic slur when referring to Commissioner Roger Goodell.

"The Wall Street Journal" reports that Gruden used racially insensitive language to describe NFL Players Association executive director, DeMaurice Smith.

The lawsuits says the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell leaked the emails as part of a, quote, "malicious and orchestrated campaign,: unquote, to destroy Gruden's career.

Now Gruden's attorney saying, quote:

"There's no explanation or justification for why Gruden's emails were the only ones made public out of the 650,000 emails collected in the NFL's investigation of the Washington Football Team or for why the emails were held for months before being released in the middle of the Raiders' season," unquote.

[13:59:57]

The lawsuits claims that Goodell and the league suggested they'd make other documents public if the Raiders didn't fire Gruden. And says Gruden has, quote, "suffered severe financial damages and harm to his career and reputation," unquote, as a result of their actions.