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Global Markets Brace for Nervous Week; Nations are Banning Travel from Southern Africa; Twitter Co-Founder Stepping Down; Esper Sues Pentagon; Iran will Not Negotiate Directly. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 29, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:54]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Global markets calming a bit, some of them even up, following concerns surrounding the omicron variant. Stocks in Asia, they fell this morning. European stocks are up. We're also keeping an eye on the Dow. Dow stocks up at least at the open just about a minute ago.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And that is good news there.

CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joining us now with the latest.

So as Jim was pointing out, markets here in the U.S., of course, just opening only about a minute ago, but Wall Street seems to be a bit more calm and in a better place this morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And you'll remember on Friday, when we were watching the Dow tumble, it was a shortened holiday trading session and it was the first moment to react to this news of great uncertainty about this new variant. And so the market was pretty much pricing in the worst case scenario of a March 2020 style defensive crouch, which no one here in the calm of the morning thinks could be in the works.

Also, there are just so many questions, before you can weigh the risks as an investor, we still have to hear what the science plays out over the next couple of weeks, right? So, weighing risks, waiting for more information, I think cooler heads are prevailing here this morning.

You have oil prices going up again, too. And oil has been kind of an interesting proxy for how you feel about the global recovery. Oil fell sharply, it collapsed actually on Friday on this fear of sort of a global slowdown because of this new variant. And then now is bouncing back sharply again here today on the idea that, OK, hold on a minute, we don't -- there's a lot we still don't know. We're in the very early stages of figuring this whole thing out.

I would say that going forward we have a pretty strong -- a very strong U.S. economy heading into the end of the year. We're going to get jobs data later this week. So there's still a big discussion about the strength of the U.S. recovery. And omicron now adding to inflation as the sort of the two concerns or downsides to that overall strong U.S. economy, guys.

HILL: Christine Romans, appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, in terms of the reaction to omicron, we know as of this morning, more than 30 countries have banned travel to and from South Africa and seven other African nations. Officials in South Africa slamming those restrictions as outrageous and misguided. Officials in the U.S., however, say the ban actually buys some time as the world waits to learn more about this new variant.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Larry Madowo joins us from Paris. Let's begin, though, with CNN's David McKenzie. He is in South Africa.

David, tell us the reactions we're hearing from officials there responding to these travel bans.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim and Erica, certainly this will have a huge economic impact. But let focus on the science for a second. You know, you speak about buying some time. Many scientists I've spoken to here say that time has already run out despite the very quick identification and description of this variant by South African scientists, it appears to have been a lot more widespread than maybe some people thought. Already some signs of possibly community transmission outside of this region.

And the hard ban stopping people from southern Africa traveling to countries including the U.S. and the U.K. and others, you know, scientists I've spoken to have said, well, unless you ban everybody from outside coming in, like New Zealand did for months and months, you're not going to catch this variant. And so that time, as I said, may be over.

I put the question to one of the top vaccine experts here in the country. I said, well, how should we approach this and how should we approach Covid going forward.

Take a listen.

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SHABIR MADHI, VACCINE EXPERT: We need to adapt our mindset and we need to start to understand that it's not about eliminating the virus, which is what much of the travel ban is centered around, this misconception that we've still got tools to be able to eliminate the virus. We need to accept that the virus is with us, but we do have the tools to protect against severe disease.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MCKENZIE: So there have been signs that this variant is dominating infections here, but everyone cautions, this could take some weeks to figure out.

Jim. Erica.

HILL: So, as we wait in those weeks to figure out what's happening, Larry, I know a reaction, obviously not just in France, but, of course, for the European Union, concerns this is a race against time.

[09:35:07]

How are European officials at this point working to stop this new threat?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erica, Jim, there are four tools that the European Union and across Europe they're using, so it's testing, it's vaccines, it's genomic surveillance, and it's travel bans. Right now they have been tested and detected in nine European countries, the omicron variant. And so what the European Union is doing is what they 're calling an emergency break. These travel restrictions are going up. Spain has become the latest to require a ten-day quarantine for travelers from southern Africa.

But, today, one new omicron variant reported in Austria, six in Scotland, 13 in Portugal. And the six in Scotland are especially interesting because there is no history of travel there. It's possible. And authorities in Scotland say that could be the first instance of community transmission outside of South Africa.

Here in France, the health ministry says there are eight possible cases but already they think there could be omicron virus -- variant already in the community and that's the same view from Ireland. This is why the European Union is taking this new variant very seriously.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: We are now in a race against time. Why that? Because we know not all about this variant, but it is a variant of concern. And the scientists and manufacturer need two to three weeks to have a full picture about the quality of the mutations of this omicron variant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADOWO: Across the English Channel, the U.K. has also introduced new restrictions for travelers coming in. Everybody would have to isolate and get a negative PCR test after two days and the U.K. presidency also calling a special session of the G-7 health ministers.

HILL: Larry Madowo and David McKenzie with the latest reporting for us. Appreciate it. Thank you.

I also want to let you know that in just the last few minutes we've learn the omicron variant is now the dominant coronavirus strain in South Africa. Again, it was detected less than two weeks ago in that country.

We will keep an eye on any of those developments.

Also ahead for you this hour, former Trump official Mark Esper now suing the Pentagon over his new book. Why Defense Department officials say several mentions of Trump should be redacted.

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[09:42:06]

HILL: This just coming in to CNN. We have learned Twitter stock popping more than 10 percent this morning following a new report that CEO Jack Dorsey intends to step down.

I believe we have CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans with us.

Christine, what more do we know about this decision?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

Well, you know, this is coming this morning. It's about an 11 percent pop in the stock. So investors are reacting to this. This is a report on CNBC by David Faber (ph) that Jack Dorsey is stepping down from his role at the CEO here. He also runs the payment service Square.

He is 46 years old, a billionaire. There's a long runway for a future ahead of him. So my big first question would be, what's he going to do next? Why is he stepping down here?

This is a big move. This is a big figure in the social media space, right? @jack is his handle on Twitter. And he founded that firm and watched it become really a trading ground for ideas and news articles and the like and really has become a powerhouse in both media and politics.

So, Jack Dorsey, we have not confirmed this, but CNBC is reporting that he will step down from his role as CEO of Twitter, that is the founder of Twitter.

HILL: Yes, certainly a very interesting question, what is next? We'll be watching for that and more. Christine, appreciate it.

ROMANS: I'll keep you posted when we find out.

HILL: Yes. Thank you.

Meantime, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper is suing the Defense Department for, censoring his First Amendment rights by redacting portions of his upcoming book. The department telling Esper he needs to take out certain parts about his time working under former President Trump. Esper, though, is pushing for all unclassified information in that book to be published. CNN's Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon this morning.

So, Barbara, how are defense officials responding to that push this morning?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Erica.

Look, it's nothing new. When a government official decides to publish what they believe is their all tell book, their memoir, if they have signed agreements about non-disclosure, classified or protected information, they have to get government approval to publish that book. It's a review process. It's very formalized.

And we have seen many authors, former government officials, complain before that the process is slow, too onerous and it puts a lid on some of the things that they believe are not classified and they should be able to publish. And this is apparently where Mark Esper stands right now, as the former defense secretary.

The Pentagon taking a very moderate view now that Mr. Esper has filed suit. The Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby saying, and I quote, we are aware of Mr. Esper's concerns regarding the pre-publication of his memoir. As with all such reviews, the department takes seriously its obligation to balance national security with the author's narrative desire given that this is now -- that this is -- the matter is now under litigation, we will refrain from commenting further.

[09:45:00]

So, not unusual. The process will go on. Mr. Esper's book is apparently scheduled for publication in May of 2022, so he wants to get this resolved. He wants to talk as much as he can about his views of what happened to him as defense secretary before President Trump fired him.

It is worth remembering that Mark Esper pushed back against any suggestion by Mr. Trump that he would deploy military troops on American streets during some of the demonstrations that occurred while Trump was still in office. So perhaps in this book we will learn more about Mark Esper's role in all of that.

Erica.

HILL: Yes, it will be interesting to see what we can ultimately learn in that book.

Barbara Starr, appreciate it. Thank you.

STARR: Sure.

SCIUTTO: Well, talks resume in Vienna this morning, an attempt at least to revive the Iran nuclear deal. Will they go anywhere? What are the chances? We'll discuss coming up.

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[09:50:22]

SCIUTTO: Talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal, or at least try, have resumed today in Vienna after a six-month hiatus. The U.S. delegation, we should note, will not be speaking directly with the Iranians, although they are in the city. It is not clear how Tehran's new government will approach negotiations with America's European allies but the Biden administration says that if diplomacy fails, the U.S. is, quote, prepared to use other options.

Here with me now to discuss, "New York Times" White House and national security correspondent, who's covered these Iran talks for years, David Sanger.

David, good to have you this morning.

You've noted smartly, Iran's demanding something Biden will not give him, and that's an assurance that the U.S. will not ever again withdrawal from this deal as the Trump administration did, but also that it wants sanctions lifted first. I wonder, given those two demands being in effect red lines for the U.S., why restart now?

DAVID SANGER, WHITE HOUSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": It's a great question, Jim, because, you know, the tragedy here is that six months ago we thought this deal was just about in the bag. Remember, there was a previous Iranian government. They had negotiated an agreement to sort of get back into the 2015 accord that President Trump had pulled out of.

Then there was an election in Iran. A hard line government came in. We thought maybe they'd still pick up the deal. They did not. And now there are a whole series of new demands that have left American officials very pessimistic that this is going to be much beyond a shouting and demands match.

You also have a split in strategy between the U.S. trying to do a very diplomatic approach and Israeli attacks on some of the Iranian facilities that are -- seem to be happening every few months.

SCIUTTO: OK. When Biden says, let's say if these talks do fail, and you never know what's going to happen in that room there, when he says the U.S. is prepared to use other options, what are those other options?

SANGER: Well, I think the first options they're thinking of are additional sanctions, but we have so many sanctions on Iran right now, Jim, it's hard to imagine that that would result in much of a change. Remember, that's essentially what President Trump attempted and he thought it would crush the Iranians. It did not. The only lure for the Iranians right now is oil prices are significantly higher and they'd love to get back on the market.

SCIUTTO: OK, so let's talk about another issue. The center of a lot of attention here in Washington for a number of weeks now, and that is Russia's threats to Ukraine, buildup of forces around Ukraine. We know that the Pentagon is taking this very seriously. And we've seen very public warning, not just from U.S. officials, but European officials, also the NATO secretary-general over the weekend here. Is there any sign that Russia is hearing and heeding these warnings?

SANGER: Well, the only sign that we've seen, Jim, and this is territory you've covered better than anybody, is that the Russians so far have amassed those troops but haven't done anything with them. Now, it could be that they're just trying to threaten the Ukrainians. You saw President Zelensky of Ukraine warn over the weekend that he thought the Russians were trying to back a coup. We haven't seen that happen yet, but maybe he preempted it. And then, of course, the third option is that the Russians could simply do what they've done in past holiday seasons, Christmas seasons, which is cyberattacks that brought down part of the power grid in Ukraine. Just ways to push the government, try to make them appear to be incompetent. We don't know what Putin's real intent is here.

SCIUTTO: That is a thing I've heard consistently, right, is just trying to figure out what's inside his head, with the admission that our intelligence access to the Kremlin is not where it used to be.

I guess big picture, when you speak to officials, how concerned are they that this could turn into a hot war there around Ukraine as opposed to a cold one?

SANGER: They are concerned about it. Ukraine is not a member of NATO. In the seven years since Russia took Crimea, the sanctions we put on Russia have not led them to give it back. We also haven't let Ukraine into NATO at that -- in that time and are not likely to anytime soon. So I think the Russians are calculating that President Biden has got other fish to fry, both at home, with China, and he may well determine that if he didn't get that much pushback on Crimea, he might be able to edge a little more territory now.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

And if you're -- as you're looking at that map, folks at home, the reason Crimea is yellow is because Russia stole it seven years ago and it hasn't changed since then.

[09:55:05]

David Sanger, great to have you on, as always.

SANGER: Always great to be with you, Jim.

HILL: Still ahead, President Biden set to speak this morning about the new coronavirus variant, omicron. The U.S. banning flights to and from South Africa and seven neighboring countries starting today. CNN has live, team coverage.

Stay with us.

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SCIUTTO: A very good Monday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

HILL: And I'm Erica Hill.

Right now there are a lot of questions about a new coronavirus variant, omicron.

[10:00:02]

HILL: And while we wait for some of those answers, U.S. officials hoping to mitigate the spread with a new travel ban. So, starting today, all