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Ghislaine Maxwell Trial Begins; Markets Stabilize; President Biden Urges Patience Amid New Omicron Threat. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 29, 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]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello, and thanks for joining us. I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

Patience, not panic, and proactive protection, President Biden moments ago addressing the nation, urging vaccinations and boosters, as scientists race to answer some critical questions about the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic. We have the best vaccine in the world, the best medicines, the best scientist, and we're learning more every single day.

And we will fight this variant with scientific and knowledgeable actions and speed, not chaos and confusion.

But if it's confusing you, let me close with this simple message. If you are vaccinated, but still worried about the new variant, get your booster. If you aren't vaccinated, get that shot. Go get that first shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The president delivering his remarks after meeting with top U.S. health officials in the Oval Office.

Here's what we know. Omicron is seemingly spreading fast in Southern Africa. And it is showing many troubling mutations. The World Health Organization has now labeled it a variant of concern. But here are the key questions we don't know. Does Omicron make a person sicker?

Does this variant evade existing COVID-19 vaccines? Right now, it's simply too early to know. And it could be a couple of weeks before we really do have answers. The variant has not yet been detected in the U.S. But officials warn it is likely only a matter of time. And it has been found as close as Canada and in a growing list of other countries.

Also growing, scrutiny over travel restrictions now imposed by the U.S. and many other nations for countries in Southern Africa, leaders there calling the band's unjustified and outrageous.

We have CNN teams covering every angle of this new variant. And our health expert, Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, is standing by.

But let's begin at the White House and CNN's Phil Mattingly for more on what the president just said -- Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ana, I think there's a couple of key takeaways from what the president was laying out, really three bullet points from the president.

And you hit on the first one that. Yes, this definitely is a cause for concern. It's a near inevitability that Omicron will end up, that variant will end up in the U.S., if it's not already here at this point, but it is not a reason for panic, the second being the most effective way to battle that variant when or if it arrives in the United States is through vaccines and for those that are already vaccinated, through boosters.

Keep in mind, nearly 60 percent of the U.S. population is currently vaccinated. But fewer than 20 percent have gotten that booster yet, the president pressing for those individuals, particularly anybody vaccinated before June 1, to get that booster as soon as possible, something they now can do, and also saying that he and his team are working with vaccine producers for any updates that may be necessary, something they don't have data to move forward on yet, but they would be ready.

The president mostly making clear, though, that the U.S. is working to do whatever they need to do to address this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Dr. Fauci believes that the current vaccines provide at least some protection against the new variant and the boosters strengthen that protection significantly.

We do not yet believe that additional measures will be needed. But so that we are prepared, if needed, my team is already working with officials at Pfizer and Moderna and Johnson & Johnson to develop contingency plans for vaccines or boosters if needed.

And on Thursday, I will be putting forward a detailed strategy outlining how we're going to fight COVID this winter, not with shutdowns or lockdowns, but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing and more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: So, Ana, obviously, all eyes will be on the president in the White House on Thursday as he lays out those plans.

In the meantime, he said he does plan to be briefed on this issue by his COVID team every single day this week as they move towards Thursday's announcements from the president.

CABRERA: Phil Mattingly at the White House, thank you.

Let's now talk about the new U.S. restrictions on travel.

And Nick Valencia is live in Atlanta at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Nick, what countries are on this list of do not travel to the U.S. and what has been the response where you are?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ana, these travel restrictions impact eight mostly Southern African nations, places like South Africa where this variant, Omicron, was first identified earlier this week, as well as Zimbabwe, Botswana Namibia, the country formerly known as Swaziland, among others.

[13:05:11]

And the U.S., we should be clear, is not the only country taking action proactively against passengers who are coming from these nations. But, of course, it is our focus here. And it has caused a lot of outrage among public health officials and those members of the public health community we have spoken to who questioned the effectiveness of these travel restrictions at stopping the spread of Omicron.

Some in the public health community have suggested it might be more effective to help -- for the U.S. to further help places like South Africa get vaccinated. But, of course, here, the big question is, is there any additional screening that passengers will have to go through as these flights continue from the hometown airline of Delta?

They say they are business as usual and continue with their flight schedule. Of course, U.S. citizens and permanent lawful residents, as well as spouses and children of those groups, are exempt from these travel restrictions.

But we don't know what the CDC will be doing once these passengers get here. They haven't gotten back to us. We did hear from the airport, though, earlier, who says that they are very much so ready.

And this is what they told us in a brief statement earlier, Ana: "As was the case with prior-health-related travel bans, Hartsfield-Jackson is working with the CDC, the CBP, and the state Department of Public Health to prepare for those inbound flights from nations impacted by this new strain" -- Ana.

CABRERA: OK, Nick Valencia, thank you. We will stay in touch with further developments.

Let's go to South Africa now, where outrage over these travel bans is growing.

CNN's David McKenzie joins us with reaction from African leaders.

David, what are they saying?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, there's deep anger across the African continent that these travel bans and restrictions, not just from the U.S., but from countries and territories from across the globe.

President Biden said that this is a way to buy time for American scientists to avoid the impact of this variant. Well, the scientists I have been speaking to say time had already run out, the clock had already stopped by the time these South African scientists warn the world about the potential dangers of this variant.

And that anger continues. Take a listen to this senior scientist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SALIM ABDOOL KARIM, SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTERIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON COVID-19: It's outrageous that South Africa and Southern Africa is being punished for having good surveillance.

If you think about what we have experienced with the Delta variant, within a matter of three weeks, it was in over 53 countries. So it's going to become superfluous and irrelevant to try and block travel from a few countries, because it will be spreading in many other countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: It could take two to three weeks to figure out just whether this is something to worry about or this is just a big false alarm. Those will be agonizing weeks -- Ana.

CABRERA: All right, David, thank you very much.

Joining us now to discuss all of this is Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, board- certified internal medicine specialist and viral researcher.

Dr. Rodriguez, let's just start with what we heard from the president, his words, his plan, urging vaccinations and boosters, reassuring Americans that his team is already preparing, if needed, for contingency plans, if the current vaccines don't work as well against this variant.

What do you think about President Biden's approach right now?

DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, I think that the words were very reassuring, but I want the public to realize that this is something that is of concern.

This variant has mutations that have been part of other mutations and variants. And, if they are sort of synergistic, if they work together, it could be a variant that is both very effective in the way that it spreads and perhaps more dangerous. Now, again, we don't know that. But an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

What I think is most important about what he said is the fact that vaccinations is the key to, A, decrease the spread and decrease mutations. And, my God, we have been talking about this for a year- and-a-half. The virus mutates when people get infected. It doesn't mutate in the air.

So even though you got infected, and you did fine, guess what, you may have very well contributed to mutations that will be stronger. So there is no such thing as a good infection, even if you survive it with minimal symptoms.

CABRERA: When you say mutations that could be stronger, what exactly do you mean by that?

RODRIGUEZ: Well, I mean, that the Omicron mutation has approximately 30 different mutations in the spike protein.

The spike protein, imagine a ball with many spikes. It's -- the spike is where the virus connects to the human cells. And it has approximately 30 mutations, some which have already been seen in Delta, for example, and in Alpha. And some of those cause the virus to be much more efficient in the way it's spread. Some of it made the virus a little bit more dangerous in how sick it made people.

[13:10:04]

And the Omicron contains 30 mutations, and some of them we have already seen another. So, if they all work together, it could really be a very bad variant.

CABRERA: So, we know that Omicron has already been detected in five continents, including North America. It's in Canada. So does this U.S. travel ban on solely South African nations make sense?

RODRIGUEZ: It does to me, to be quite honest. I think it's unfortunate, but I disagree with some of the doctors in South Africa.

If it is already here -- and probably it is already here to some degree -- we don't need to increase the amount of virus of that type, because it will just snowball even faster.

But what it does bring to light is the fact that this is one world. And if part of the world is sick, to the point that it is creating more mutations, we are all at risk. Therefore, the solution is two- pronged. We need to have more vaccine equity throughout the world ASAP, right?

And we also need to stop this misinformation in this country, where we're lucky enough to have vaccines and boosters, so that we don't make matters worse.

CABRERA: But is it punishing countries for good surveillance and sounding the alarm early? Could this travel ban move ultimately backfire?

RODRIGUEZ: You know, it does seem punitive in that way. And it is unfortunate. It is unfortunate. That's all I can say.

Backfiring, I don't know how that can be. But, at the end of the day, every country's main responsibility is to its citizens. So I can't fault any country, whether it's the U.K. or Canada or Australia or the U.S., for protecting its citizens first and foremost.

CABRERA: But, as we mentioned, Canada has a case. We know U.K. has some cases now. Spain was the latest that justified a case within the last couple of hours.

So it's obviously spreading beyond the borders of the African continent. Alternatively, I just wonder, because you mentioned this. We keep hearing that getting your shot, getting boosted, if you haven't already, that is the best defense, right?

So why not move to require vaccines to fly? Could that be more effective?

RODRIGUEZ: Why not? I say yes, absolutely.

So, for example, South Africa -- if you're in South Africa now and you're an American citizen, you can come here without -- return without being tested. I think that makes no sense.

I think all air travel should require vaccination and should require negative testing within 24 to 72 hours of flying. Let's face it. The reason that perhaps this pandemic has not become worse than the Spanish Flu is because, A, we have technology, but it could potentially be so much worse, because how we're all interconnected.

CABRERA: As we wait for answers on how effective the COVID-19 vaccines are against this new variant, what should vaccinated people be doing? Do we need to make some adjustments?

We just got through Thanksgiving. Should we be changing upcoming holiday plans?

RODRIGUEZ: Not yet. But I think we need to be very vigilant.

I think the next week or two are going to tell the story. For example, if the pharmaceutical companies come up and say, hey, guess what, the vaccines that you took do not protect you very well against this variant, then I think it would be the most prudent things for people, even if vaccinated, to change their plans.

The last thing they want is to harm family and friends and people they love. So let's keep an eye and our ears open to see what the news is going to be over the next week.

CABRERA: Such an important point. We just don't know enough yet.

Dr. Rodriguez, thank you so much for your expertise and for joining us today.

RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. CABRERA: U.S. markets bouncing back a bit after Friday's big sell-

off, and holiday shopping is off to a very strong start. But will this new variant throw a wrench into the recovery? We will discuss.

And the trial for the socialite accused of helping Jeffrey Epstein groom and sexually abused underage girls finally under way. What to watch for in the case against Ghislaine Maxwell.

Plus, how the Justice Department says it's trying to stop Steve Bannon from potential witness-tampering in the January 6 investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:43]

CABRERA: We're really just starting to feel the impact of this new Omicron variant.

And because of all the uncertainty that exists, the economy remains on shaky ground. For now, the markets are rebounding after Omicron fears initially sent them tumbling on Friday, but will it hold?

We're joined now by chief economist for Moody's Analytics Mark Zandi.

And, Mark, was Friday sell-off an overreaction, do you think? Or do you expect we're in for a real wild ride?

MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: No, I don't think so.

I mean, investors understand that the economy is tethered to the pandemic. I mean, the Delta variant that we dealt with just a couple months ago did a lot of damage to the economy, slowed growth, juiced up inflation. So investors know that.

And so they're discounting some possibility that Omicron becomes more of a deal here, becomes a new wave of the virus and does some damage to the economy. So I think it makes a lot of sense what we saw last Friday.

CABRERA: Now, despite what we saw on Friday, Black Friday retail numbers are strong. In-store sales were up over 40 percent from last year, online sales up 10 percent.

What does all that tell you?

ZANDI: Well, I mean, the Delta wave has passed us by. The economy's revved back up. We're seeing a lot of jobs being created. Unemployment is coming in. Wage growth has been strong.

[13:20:01]

Stock prices, until this recent dip, pretty close to record highs, housing values very high. People have paid down debt. The only fly in the ointment, so to speak, is this high inflation, which is obviously a problem, particularly for lower-income households. But other than that, consumers are riding pretty high and Christmas

sales are good. I don't think -- Omicron is too late in the Christmas season to do any damage to the Christmas buying season. So I think it should be an excellent holiday shopping season.

CABRERA: That sounds wonderful. We're still seeing some issues, though, with supply chain right now. President Biden is expected to address that in some remarks later this afternoon.

Do you see Omicron making matters worse on that front?

ZANDI: Sure. It could.

We are seeing signs of some improvement in recent weeks. Factories have reopened in Asia. Shipping rates have come down. There's still a traffic jam in L.A. Long Beach Port, but not quite as bad as it was few weeks ago. So we have made a lot of progress.

But, Ana, again, the economy is very closely tied to what goes on with this pandemic. And if Omicron does become an issue, if it creates another wave of infections and hospitalizations, then, yes, it's going to scramble supply chains again. It's going to make people sick so they can't go to work.

It's -- all the things that we saw with Delta, we will see again, so it's something we need to watch very carefully.

CABRERA: Yes, and keep our fingers crossed that that doesn't happen. We have seen it before. There's a new variant. The reaction is swift, travel bans put in place.

But I want to ask you something like I asked Dr. Rodriguez. Do you think it would be better to just mandate vaccines to travel? Would that lead to more stability and actually be better for the travel industry?

ZANDI: Well, it seems pretty logical to me. The vaccines work. We know that. And I think, if people were vaccinated, there's less likelihood that we'd see waves of infection. And that's got to be the goal here.

If we want to get the economy back to full swing, everyone working, supply chains where we want to see them, inflation back down, we got to get on the other side of the pandemic. And the most logical way of getting there is getting people vaccinated.

CABRERA: Mark Zandi, it's always good to have you with us. Thank you so much for taking the time.

She's accused of grooming underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein and his rich, powerful friends. Now she's finally on trial, what we're learning on day one of this trial involving Ghislaine Maxwell next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:27:28] CABRERA: We're just moments away now from opening statements in the high-profile trial of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

She's the alleged accomplice of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Now, Maxwell is accused of sex trafficking and grooming teenage girls for a sex ring that allegedly catered to Epstein and a network of some of the most rich, powerful and famous men in the world.

Epstein died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting his own trial on sex trafficking charges. Cameras will not be permitted inside the courtroom for Maxwell's trial, but we're staying on top of all the developments with our reporter.

CNN's Kara Scannell is at the courthouse for us.

Kara, what are we expecting?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, the judge has just sworn in the jury. That's 12 jurors and six alternates. Now they're at a lunch break.

But when we return in just about a half-an-hour from now, prosecutors will begin with their opening statements. They say that they expect it will take 25 minutes to lay out their presentation of the evidence. And Maxwell has been charged with six criminal charges, three counts of conspiracy, one count of enticing minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, a second count of the transportation of those minors to engage in illegal sex acts, and another account of sex trafficking.

If she's convicted, she could face decades in prison. Now, prosecutors have accused Maxwell of helping her one-time boyfriend and longtime alleged accomplice Jeffrey Epstein, help him recruit, groom and sexually abuse girls, some as young as 14 years old.

And prosecutors are expected to call to testify during this trial four of those alleged victims. They will testify under pseudonyms to protect their identity, since these crimes happened when they were underage.

Now, Maxwell's lawyers will have their shot at this right after the prosecutors finish their opening statements. They anticipate they will take about one hour to give their defense to the jury. We're eagerly awaiting to see how they're going to outline that one element here. It looks like they're going to call expert witnesses to attack the witnesses and the accusers' memory of these events that took place some 20 years ago.

But those lawyers -- her lawyers will lay out their defense in this in -- right after the prosecution. Then they will bring -- start the testimony. And we're expecting to hear a witness called as soon as those wrap up.

So we might hear one or two witnesses today -- Ana.

CABRERA: OK. There will be a lot to cover here. Thank you, Kara, for being our eyes and ears. Joining us now is criminal defense attorney Sara Azari.

And, Sara, six charges. A lot of them, as Kara just pointed out, date back to the 1990s and alleged activities that took place a couple decades ago.

So, how much of a complicating factor is that for prosecutors?

SARA AZARI, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, Ana, it is somewhat complicated.

The scope of this trial