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U.K. Breaks Daily Case Record For A Third Day; Omicron Poses Global Health Threat During Holiday Season; Some U.S. States Reimposing COVID-19 Restrictions; U.S. House Committee Scrutinizing Rick Perry; Roger Stone Pleads The Fifth; A Deeper Look Into Haitian Presidential Assassination; Moscow Offers To End Ukraine Crisis; Launch Nearing For James Webb Space Telescope. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired December 18, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. And this is CNN NEWSROOM.
COVID cases are surging around the globe but the severity of the Omicron variant is up for debate.
In a CNN exclusive, the latest text in the January 6th investigation drawing scrutiny of a former Trump cabinet member who denies sending it.
Plus, the suspects in the assassination of Haiti's president speak exclusively to CNN.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: A study out of the U.K. is giving new insights on the Omicron variant, as the world rushes to build consensus on whether it's more mild than other forms of COVID-19.
Researchers at Imperial College London say they found no evidence the variant is any less severe than Delta. They also found the risk of getting infected again was more than five times greater with Omicron than with Delta.
Data shows the variant is spreading faster in the U.K. than it has in South Africa, with infections doubling in under 2.5 days. This as the U.K. reported more than 93,000 cases on Friday, breaking the record for a third day in a row.
And the Irish government is trying to stem its own Omicron surge. In addition to other measures, restaurants and bars will have to shut their doors, starting at 8:00 pm on Sunday. As Omicron cases tick up here in the U.S. as well, health experts are urging people to get vaccinated and get boosted.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF COVID-19 MEDICAL ADVISER: As the data rise showed indicated, that particularly with Omicron, that the level of protection goes really rather low in a range that may not be as protective as we'd like. But yet, when you get that boost, it goes right up there.
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BRUNHUBER: The added protection will be crucial for Americans as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts the Omicron variant will become the dominant strain of the U.S. in the coming weeks. CNN's Kyung Lah has more.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): America's COVID time warp, long testing and vaccination lines from Miami to Massachusetts. In New York City, the positivity rate has doubled in just four days. A city health adviser tweeted we've never seen this before in NYC.
Radio City Music Hall canceled Friday's shows of its Christmas spectacular citing breakthrough cases. In pharmacies, store shelves for rapid tests sit empty, all echoes of the past. People here waiting more than an hour to be tested as omicron reveals its rapid spread.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is after coming yesterday twice and then not being able to get tested here.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: This is a whole new animal. We got to be honest about the fact that it's moving very fast and we have to move faster.
LAH: The past is prologue as New York's mayor redoubles restrictions and considers scaling back the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration, a visible return of sports restrictions. Hockey in Montreal played to empty stands and the NFL and NBA increasing COVID protocols.
This is all in response to deaths, increasing in nearly half of U.S. states, up sharply in seven. That's an increase of 8 percent from just last week.
DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, CENTER FOR DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: I think we're really just about to experience a viral blizzard. If you look at what happened in South Africa, in Europe, in the next 3 to 8 weeks, we're going to see millions of Americans will be infected with this virus.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death for the unvaccinated.
LAH: As with previous surges, the unvaccinated are filling hospitals as weary doctors warn they are exhausted and losing staff.
DR. SHELLEY STANKO, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, SAINT JOSEPH HOSPITAL: The reality is you can't -- you can't just create humans in order to provide that care and staffing is a challenge everywhere.
What makes this winter different, while Omicron may be highly, highly transmissible, vaccinations, especially boosters, can protect you from serious illness.
LAH (voice-over): But in a setback, parents of 2- to 5-year olds, Pfizer says two doses of the vaccine did not produce enough immunity.
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LAH (voice-over): And now they're testing out three child-sized doses, a delay until the second quarter of next year.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF COVID-19 MEDICAL ADVISER: You want to really get the right dose and the right regimen for the children. So although you don't like there to be a delay, you want to get it right. And that's what they're talking about.
LAH (voice-over): Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
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BRUNHUBER: Omicron is now the dominant variant in Scotland as COVID cases skyrocket across the U.K. CNN's Scott McLean joins me from London.
Scott, amid the new cases and new records, you've gained insight about how researchers are learning more about the differences between Delta and Omicron. So give us a sense of how bad the situation is right now and what we're learning about the variant.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Kim. So the surge of this Omicron variant across the U.K. is so severe right now, so concerning, that France has actually shut its borders to British tourists and business travelers, even the vaccinated ones.
This country has just set a record for highest number of daily new infections for three straight days. If there is good news, it's that they are also setting a record for how quickly they're rolling out the vaccine. The highest number of vaccines given in a single day was on Thursday, almost 1 million. It is a really remarkable pace they're on.
There is still plenty of doubt in this country that the current menu of restrictions will have that much of an impact. It's mask mandate in England and COVID passports for night clubs and large events.
Wales has closed night clubs altogether. As you mentioned in Scotland, the Omicron variant is already dominant there. That is where that team of researchers, at that high containment lab at the University of Glasgow, are trying to figure out why this variant spreads so much quicker, how it reacts in the lab to antibodies from vaccinated people and if it causes less severe disease. So they have already found, just in growing the virus sample that they
have and having it multiply itself, that it infects cells much more slowly than other variants. They showed me two slides under the microscope. One was the Delta variant infecting cells after 24 hours. And then they showed me one of the Omicron after 48 hours, twice the amount of time.
And it had not infected nearly as many cells. So on the surface for the average lay person, you say that sounds like good news, right?
Well, before you get too excited, they went to great pains to explain to me, what happens in the lab doesn't necessarily always replicate itself in the real world, especially when you hear of studies like from here in Imperial College here in the U.K.
It's not yet been peer reviewed. But that study shows no evidence that Omicron is any less severe than previous strains of the virus. And the authors also stress that hospitalization data in this country is still very, very limited.
One scary part of that study, though, is you are five times, at least five times more likely to be reinfected with Omicron than you are with any other strain. So it is going to be a very challenging few weeks ahead for this country -- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, still some time before we get some clarity on those important questions, great reporting there, Scott McLean in London.
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BRUNHUBER: Joining me now is Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California San Francisco.
Thanks so much for being here with us, Doctor. So we were warned about how quickly the Omicron variant spread but I think many of us were still very surprised by what's happening in the U.K.
So you know, with that variant spreading here in the U.S. and predictions it will eventually take over from the Delta variant, is what's happening there in the U.K. a precursor of what will happen here?
DR. PETER CHIN-HONG, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA/SAN FRANCISCO: Well, Kim, I think many people are fearful that what's happening in the U.K. will come to the U.S.
After all, after Alpha in the U.K., after Delta in the U.K., we saw the ripple effects and a similar surge in the U.S. several weeks later. So again, given that precedent, many people believe that what's happening in the U.K. comes over here.
BRUNHUBER: Right, but the way that the U.S. and the U.K. sort of dealt with that suggests that there might be some differences this time around. Take us through what those might be.
CHIN-HONG: Yes, definitely. So I think, in the late spring and early summer, the U.S. and the U.K. were in very similar positions but for different reasons. The U.K. was coming off the Delta surge. The U.S. was beginning their Delta surge. And they handled it in very different ways because at some point the U.K. was also going up in cases.
But then Freedom Day came in July and, at one point, they were very, very similar.
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CHIN-HONG: But the U.S. said, hey, I'm seeing these cases go up, even though a large swath of the population is vaccinated. I think I'm going to put a break on our reopening and maybe increase restrictions a little bit.
In California, New York and some of the more populous areas, there were mask mandate; events were scaled back and people hunkered down a little bit. There was never any lockdown but certainly a very, very different response.
BRUNHUBER: And then one of the other key differences is sort of the vaccination programs, sort of when people were vaccinated and who. In a way, the U.K. was sort of punished for getting ahead of vaccinations so early. Explain that for us.
CHIN-HONG: Yes, so waning immunity is definitely another factor that might explain some of the differences and may explain how the U.S. may respond as a country to the oncoming Omicron surge.
And the U.K. was very, very good at vaccinating very, very quickly and early on. And of course, there were different vaccines used; it was AstraZeneca, with Pfizer; in the U.S., it was merely an mRNA country with Pfizer, Moderna and a little bit of J&J, a sprinkling.
But that was done much more gradually and later. So when you come to summertime, there's a lot of waning immunity. And in the U.K., the U.S. again being very gradual in its uptake, had still a large proportion of the population with intact immunity to Delta. So that is certainly an explanation.
BRUNHUBER: As you kind of referenced how the U.S. handles the Omicron must depend on where in the U.S. You live. California, New York, there are already reimposing indoor mask mandates in response in part to that threat.
So two years into this pandemic, can we conclusively say that these mitigation measures, that California, for instance, used, works, that outcomes are measurably better in states that clamp down early and hard?
CHIN-HONG: Well, certainly, there's a big relationship between vaccination rates and hospitalizations and deaths. But the relationship between the other mitigation factors, like masking, et cetera, is much more controversial. And they probably only helped to a certain point but they do sort of temper.
The way I think about it is a vaccine, the vaccine is the cake. And the masking, the social distancing, that's the icing on the cake.
But there's so many other factors, like waning immunity, who you immunize, that play in the field. If you compare California to Florida, Florida was open in the same way that possibly the U.K. was. And California wasn't.
But they ended up pretty much in the same place. But if you look at deaths, there are probably more deaths per 100,000 in Florida compared to the California landscape. And you know, sometimes people refer to Florida as the U.S. Sweden. You know, thinking about natural immunity, it hasn't really been as successful.
BRUNHUBER: Well, let's hope this booster campaign helps us weather the oncoming Omicron storm. Really appreciate your perspective, Dr. Peter Chin-hong, thanks for joining us.
CHIN-HONG: Thanks so much, Kim.
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BRUNHUBER: So for more on how countries in Europe are responding to the double threat of Omicron and Delta, I'm joined by Al Goodman in Madrid.
It looks like across Europe more cases and more restrictions.
AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kim, it's a scenario we've seen before, surging cases and attempts by authorities, health authorities and political authorities, to impose restrictions and then try to get control of it.
Now the surge, you're seeing in France and Germany, in particular in the last couple of days, each of those countries registering about 50,000 new coronavirus cases daily; in Spain, about 17,000 cases.
Then the restrictions, France imposing its travel restrictions on Britain, went into effect just hours ago. Britain has its own big problems with Omicron. So British travelers to France will need a compelling reason to enter. And they'll have to show a negative test within 24 hours of departure to France.
In Germany, the new health minister saying the Omicron is a massive challenge especially for hospitals and ICUs. The government there considering imposing restrictions on the unvaccinated. That's led to protests; 30 arrests in Munich this week.
In Denmark, the prime minister announcing on Friday, cinemas, music, theaters will be closed. So restrictions there.
In Ireland, starting Sunday, tomorrow at 8:00, there will be a curfew, an 8:00 curfew for restaurants and bars.
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GOODMAN: That has caused a lot of concern among the owners of those establishments. Here in Spain, the vaccination rate is higher than most other European
countries, about 80 percent of the entire population. So the Spanish government has not imposed a blanket new restriction here. Some regions are.
But in hospitals in Madrid and across the country, there are concerns about the influx of new coronavirus patients and those making it to ICUs. And the latest restrictions in the Netherlands, health experts advising government ministers at this time about the reasons for potential new health restrictions. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Thank you, Al Goodman.
Still ahead, revelations of a bold strategy to challenge Trump's 2020 loss before the official votes were even counted. Those details ahead.
Plus, an exclusive report on the suspects being held in the assassination of Haiti's president. We'll look at what they say they are victims of a setup.
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BRUNHUBER: In the investigation into the January 6th insurrection, a text dated the day after the 2020 elections is drawing a great deal of scrutiny. The text was recently turned over to the House Select Committee by former Trump chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
The committee believes the author was Trump's former Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, although Perry denies it. CNN's Jamie Gangel has the details.
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JAMIE GANGEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Along with my colleague, Jake Tapper, we've learned from three sources that believe that members of the January 6 committee believe that former Energy Secretary and governor of Texas Rick Perry sent the following text to then chief of staff Mark Meadows, on November 4th.
This was the day after the election, before the votes were counted and the election called. Let's take a look at the text.
It says, quote, "Here's an aggressive strategy. Why can't the states of Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and other controlled R state houses declare this is B.S (where conflicts and election not called that night) and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the SCOTUS."
A spokesman for Rick Perry says the former governor denies sending the text. But when asked why it came from Perry's phone, the spokesman had no explanation.
For the record, Jake and I confirmed with multiple people who know Rick Perry, who have his number, that it is, in fact, his phone number.
So just imagine: it's the day after Election Day. Here comes this text to Meadows, "Don't wait, ignore the voters."
Big picture, this speaks to the fact that Trump loyalists apparently believed he was going to lose. And this is what they were willing to do: subvert the will of the people, overturn the election -- Jamie Gangel, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: The January 6 committee also put Trump ally Roger Stone on the hot seat Friday. Stone appeared to give a deposition around the time around the violent insurrection at the Capitol. As Ryan Nobles reports, his appearance didn't involve much talking.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, gentlemen.
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Roger Stone, one of the former President Donald Trump's most prominent and controversial supporters met with the January 6 Select Committee today.
ROGER STONE, FORMER TRUMP POLITICAL ADVISER: I am doing my civic duty and I am responding as required by law to the subpoena.
NOBLES (voice-over): But he didn't say much.
STONE: I did invoke my Fifth Amendment rights to every question, not because I have done anything wrong but because I am fully aware of the House Democrats' long history of fabricating perjury charges.
NOBLES (voice-over): Still use the opportunity in his traditional showman style, presenting himself as a martyr for the MAGA cause with well-worn accusations and not much substance.
STONE: This is witch hunt 3.0.
NOBLES (voice-over): Stone was among several high profile right wing personalities who stoked false election fraud claims and the fervor among Trump supporters.
STONE: Help us pay for the staging, the transportation and most importantly, the security of our peaceful protesters.
NOBLES (voice-over): He raised millions of and was among the speakers at rallies in D.C., leading up to January 6.
STONE: And now they seek nothing less than the heights of the 2020 election and we say no way. NOBLES (voice-over): While the interview with Stone was short and
likely did not yield much information, the committee may have had more luck with Caroline Wren, another rally organizer who met with the committee for several hours today.
Multiple sources interviewed by the committee previously told CNN investigators are interested in Wren's role as a fundraiser for various pro Trump rallies, including the one on January 6.
The committee also wants to hear from Phil Waldron, the man behind a PowerPoint presentation filled with plans to overturn the election results that the committee said Mark Meadows was in receipt of. Committee members say they've issued him a subpoena because they want to know more about the document.
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL), JANUARY 6 SELECT COMMITTEE: Who did you talk to?
When did you talk to them?
Why?
Where did you get this information from?
NOBLES (voice-over): The committee furiously wrapping up a hectic week of work ahead of the holidays. The House referred Meadows to the Department of Justice for potential criminal contempt charges. Investigators interviewed dozens of witnesses, including high profile Trump allies, Keith Kellogg, the then national security adviser to the vice president and Ken Klukowski, a former DOJ official.
And while most Republicans continue to cast doubt on the committee and its work, one very prominent Republican seems open to what they are discovering.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: Well, I'm like you, read their reports every day. And it'll be interesting to see what they conclude.
NOBLES: While Stone did show up for his deposition at the committee but probably didn't answer too many questions, another right-wing conspiracy theorist is taking a bit of a different route.
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NOBLES: Alex Jones, who was scheduled to meet with the committee on Saturday, has had his deposition postponed. That's because the committee says he is engaging with them at the current moment; this, despite his public claims that he had no intention of cooperating on any level -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.
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BRUNHUBER: Defense attorneys in the trial of Kim Potter have rested their case after the former police officer, charged in the killing of Daunte Wright, took the stand on Friday. Potter emotionally recounted the moment she fatally shot the 20 year-
old Black man during a traffic stop in April. She has pleaded not guilty to charges of first and second degree manslaughter.
The defense maintains that Potter mistook her firearm for her Taser and the shooting was a tragic mistake. Closing arguments are set to begin on Monday.
U.S. airports are busy, despite the Omicron threat. After the break, what airlines expect for this year's holiday travel season.
Also, the Rockettes are cancelling their remaining Christmas shows, even as Broadway theaters try to come back from their own closures this week. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. Let's take another look at our top story.
A new study in the U.K. gives a fresh look at how Omicron stacks up against previous coronavirus variants. Researchers at Imperial College London found no evidence it's any less severe than Delta. And the risk of getting infected again is five times greater with Omicron than Delta.
Data showing the variant is spreading faster in the U.K. than it was in South Africa, infections doubling in under 2.5 days.
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BRUNHUBER: COVID fatigue is becoming a real problem after two years of the pandemic. And many wonder if getting some form of the coronavirus is just a matter of time. Dr. Francis Collins tells CNN's Anderson Cooper what he'd say to those who just want to get it over with.
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DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: I'd say that's a dangerous approach because Omicron maybe is somewhat less severe, although we don't know that. And the U.K. study is questioning that.
But just letting it rip here and having everybody get infected, there are going to be serious casualties as a result. I mean, Anderson, we've lost 800,000 Americans to this disease.
I'm not going to tell you that Omicron is not capable of adding to that. So we just have to double down on all of those mitigation steps, even though we're all tired of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: The Omicron outbreak isn't having much of an impact on the U.S. holiday travel season, at least so far. In fact, it's looking a lot like prepandemic times. Many airlines project about triple the amount of travelers this time than they had last year. CNN's Pete Muntean has more.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: United Airlines says we're already in the busiest few days of the holiday travel season. In fact, it says its passenger loads are projected to be 20 percent higher than what it saw over Thanksgiving, when we broke pandemic-era air travel records.
The TSA projects 20-21 million people will pass through security at airports between December 23rd and January 3rd. We already saw 2.06 million on Thursday, the highest number since December 5th.
Now the question is whether or not these numbers will slump off as infections go up. Airlines say they have seen a wavering in ticket bookings since the Omicron variant started to make headlines.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says, yes, cancellations have gone up but not nearly as bad as when the Delta variant hit this summer.
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SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: 2022 is still going to be a recovery year for the industry because COVID is not over yet. COVID-19 is never going to be over but it's still probably in the pandemic phase instead of the endemic phase.
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MUNTEAN: The CDC is now providing free at-home test coronavirus kits to international travelers as they arrive in the United States at Dallas, Miami, Minneapolis and Chicago. It could expand to other airports sometimes soon and it is imperative for international travelers to be tested within three to five days of arriving.
Bottom line from the TSA: wear a mask as you are traveling until March 18th, 2022. Bring a lot of patience and flexibility. If you have not booked a ticket yet, you might want to consider Christmas Day. That is when numbers are projected to be the lowest -- Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.
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BRUNHUBER: COVID cases are playing havoc with sports in North America. The National Football League is postponing three weekend games after dozens of players tested positive or were in contact with infected people.
In the NHL, games are also being rescheduled.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: Joining me in Hawaii is Dr. Scott Miscovich. He's the CEO of Premier Medical Group USA and the COVID-19 testing medical director for USA Olympic swimming, track and field, rugby and gymnastics.
And thank you, Doctor, for being here with us. Seems every league in the U.S. and the U.K. is being forced to cancel games. From a pro sports perspective, it seems as bad or worse than ever. I have a broad question for you.
But what the heck is going on here?
DR. SCOTT MISCOVICH, FAMILY PHYSICIAN AND NATIONAL CONSULTANT: Number one, it's calling waning immunity. So that's the first thing that's happening is we're seeing, even though many of the leagues, as you're well aware, have required their players to be vaccinated and the compliance is quite high, we have now 50 percent at best immunity if you've had two shots.
Now we are not seeing a lot of the leagues, prior to this, pushing boosters, which was what was needed to get them to a point where they're not going to get infected.
Second of all, the issue with the Premier League across the U.K. and Europe is Omicron. And we know Omicron is just dodging the immunity even with two shots, where you're down to zero to 20 percent. So that's the very first thing.
The second thing is, hey, it's the holidays. I'm sure people are getting together and, you know, that's going to lead to spread.
BRUNHUBER: So I mean, you've been involved in COVID protocols, testing for various sports, Olympics, professional, college.
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BRUNHUBER: So we've chatted about this subject off and on for the past two years. Last time we spoke, wasn't that long ago, we were framing the relative success of the sports league COVID good news stories. The testing, the bubbles, everything were working so well.
So are the best practices that have been learned over the last two years not being followed?
It sounds like it's more complicated than that, based on what you just said.
But you know, does it mean that these things need to be radically improved to meet some of the challenges about waning immunity and so on?
MISCOVICH: Yes. The first thing that needs to happen is they need to move to at least testing once a day. And that can be with rapid antigen, rapid PCR.
I've been giving advice to some sports that I'm associated with that you need to kick your testing up to daily. This disease is so aggressive, we have doubling time every two to three days. And that's the first thing that needs to happen.
The second thing is, if they want to keep playing, come on, these are professionals. They've dedicated their lives to get here. These people need to get a booster. That will provide a whole other level of protection that might give us some more TV time in sports that all of us desperately need during COVID.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. But the key line is, if they want to keep playing. Some experts argued that pro sports should hit the pause button until things improve and they can get a handle on it.
Is that a good idea?
MISCOVICH: Well, I think that, especially in the United States right now, they're not going to have much of a choice, because there's going to be such a surge in positivity as we go through the holidays.
And we're seeing it, as all of the games have been canceled, whether it's the NHL or now, God forbid, the NFL this weekend. The positivity is going to go so high, so quickly, that I believe we're facing major cancellations.
And what's the problem?
Well, now, we have to battle owner, league and players associations. We all know how that goes in our country. That goes into this long and drawn-out stalemate.
They need to come together right now, make a determination, what's safe for everyone and keep the bubbles. And they need to start testing and testing and testing and they basically need to let vaccinations do their work.
BRUNHUBER: Now you know, we're talking pros here. But vaccination rates are lower among young people. And now some schools in the U.S. and Canada, they're warning that they might have to go back to online.
So with what you're seeing in the pro league and with Omicron threatening, as you said, will college sports be able to carry on sort of undeterred in the next couple of months?
Or will there have to be major changes to their procedures, schedules or, maybe even worst case scenario, cancel seasons?
MISCOVICH: Yes, I think we're faced with that even more so, in college, because you know, you have our colleges. They're facing the whole issue. We all know, in the country, we got red states, we got blue states and, unfortunately, that translates over to the way they create some of their policies.
And I believe that unless we have a solid push for a third vaccination, just like in pros, we're going to see major cancellations going on. I think we could have bowl games that are going to be canceled. And coming up, March madness might be a wish this year, unless there are dramatic changes. BRUNHUBER: Listen, in the two years that we've been talking, I think
this is the most worried I've heard you sound. So let that be a warning. And definitely, people should improve those protocols.
As you said, hopefully, they will, because, as you said, we really want to see our sports continue safely is the key. Dr. Scott Miscovich, really appreciate it.
MISCOVICH: Thank you, Kim.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Well, the world famous Rockettes won't be high kicking for now, as the rest of their Christmas spectacular has been cancelled due to the pandemic. It's the latest shutdown in New York after COVID cases among cast and crew dimmed the lights in some Broadway theaters.
But some shows are coming back. "Tina," the Tina Turner musical, reopens on Tuesday.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Also back on stage is, "Ain't Too Proud," The Temptations musical. Curtains are rising for "Moulin Rouge" tomorrow. And "Hamilton" could reopen as soon as Tuesday after all weekend performances were called off. As they say, the show must go on.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, CNN has gone inside the prison where some of the suspects in the assassination of Haiti's president are being held. Still ahead, an exclusive report on why they say they're innocent and why rights are denied.
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BRUNHUBER: Plus Russia explains what it will take to defuse tensions on the border with Ukraine, demands the U.S. and NATO have already rejected. We'll have a live report from Moscow just ahead. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: So 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group, who survived a hostage ordeal in Haiti, seem to be doing OK. That's the word from the group itself, after the former hostages flew back to the U.S. Thursday. They were held by one of Haiti's most powerful gangs for weeks until the last hostages were released earlier that day.
The Christian aid group said they held together during captivity, they kept their spirits up by singing and reciting Bible verses.
CNN is also learning more about the assassination of Haiti's president in July. President Jovenel Moise was gunned down during the night at his home outside the capital. Sources are talking about the reason behind the killing, which is still unresolved.
Some the suspects tell us they're innocent and they're being held under brutal conditions. Matt Rivers has this exclusive report.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: New information about the investigation into the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise, who was killed inside the presidential residence back in July, a source close to the investigation tells CNN that the night that the assassins entered the home, one of their top priorities was looking for a document that the president has been compiling.
And inside the document allegedly were the names of some of the top drug traffickers in the country, according to the president. His plan was to take the list after it was done being compiled and bring it to U.S. authorities, with the hope that authorities in the U.S. would help him target some of the drug traffickers and their illicit activities here in Haiti.
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RIVERS: That list and the president's plan is now being investigated as one of the motives behind the killing, adding it is not believed that Moise was able to give that list to the United States before he was killed.
We also have exclusive new reporting surrounding the suspects in this case. We have been trying for months to get access to some of the dozens of suspects arrested. And this week, for the first time, Haitian authorities allowed us into the notorious national penitentiary, where several suspects are being held.
We met with five of the Colombian suspects. There are 26 that were arrested as part of the case. They basically say they are the victims of a setup, brought here under false pretenses and had no idea they were going to participate in an assassination and that they are the real victims in addition to the president himself.
They say, from the moment they were arrested, they were denied due process. They were forced to sign statements that they couldn't even read. They were written by police in a language foreign to them -- they only speak Spanish.
Yet under threat, they were forced to sign them anyway. The Haitian government spokesperson said that was not actually true. They denied that happened.
Beyond that, these men still do not have legal representation and have not been formally charged with a crime under Haitian law. They described consistent torture at various times after they were arrested.
Several of the men described how members of their group still have scars on their bodies from being tortured, from police, either being hit or being stabbed. Several of the men still have scars that the men say come directly from police torture.
And where they are being kept right now, the conditions are horrible. We went in and saw multiple people stacked in a single cell. We saw raw sewage flowing through a pipe under our feet that was an exposed pipe. So we saw that.
These men say they are only given one plate of rice per day. That is the only time they eat during the day. They say their lives are essentially worth nothing inside that prison.
The Haitian government responded by saying they do not single out the Colombians for these conditions, that everyone in the prison is treated the same, telling you a lot about how the prison is run if those are the conditions and the authorities don't even deny it.
So this is the latest we have been able to come here out of Haiti with, into the investigation into the assassination of the president Jovenel Moise -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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BRUNHUBER: As the U.S. and NATO watch Russia's growing military buildup at the border with Ukraine, Moscow has issued a list of demands and has called for immediate talks.
Sources say U.S. intelligence have identified more than 50 so-called battalion tactical groups on the Russian side of the border. These are the same military units that played a critical role in Russia's 2014 incursion into Crimea.
Among the Kremlin's demands, a guarantee that the Ukraine never joins NATO and a halt of NATO activities in former Soviet states. CNN's Melissa Bell joins us from Moscow.
Melissa, so many demands from Moscow.
What's been the response from Washington and NATO?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So many demands from Moscow, Kim, you're quite right. A series of demands that shouldn't be considered a pick and choose menu but that the West, the United States, specifically, and NATO, with whom Russia is demanding, requesting these negotiations begin on the basis of those requests.
That essentially he's saying you have to take them as a whole. Clearly, those demands, whether you look at the requests that NATO confirm or announced that it will no longer seek to expand eastward, a nonstarter. It's been made clear by Washington, Brussels and also NATO.
But also the idea that it would be essentially rolling back what is already the case. What we heard yesterday, is that what Moscow is requesting is that essentially the architecture that's been in place for several decades now or Western security be rolled back.
So, for instance, NATO troops, NATO weaponry no longer find themselves in the countries that adjoins it, places like Poland and the Baltic states.
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BELL: To them that would be unacceptable. And the idea they should be considered as a whole makes them a nonstarter for a basis for negotiation. Already we've been hearing from Russia in response to this, that he's disappointed that they don't choose to go through back channel to decide to sit down and have talks that he deems urgent.
This is what he had to tell journalists yesterday, Kim.
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SERGEI RYABKOV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We urge the American side to take the Russian initiative as seriously as possible. On our part, we are ready to fly out for negotiations with the United States and a third country immediately, as early as tomorrow, literally tomorrow.
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BELL: Kim, you get that sense of urgency from the deputy foreign minister, even as that military buildup, you're quite right to point it out, continues. Those tactical groups, 50 already on that border, six on their way. Air and rail resources are also now being diverted to that military buildup, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: That's a disturbing development there, Melissa Bell in Moscow. Thanks so much.
We're less than a week away from an important galactic event. Ahead, a look at the launch of the James Webb space telescope, which will look deep into the universe billions of years into the past. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The world's most advanced telescope is now expected to launch next Friday from the European Space Agency's space port in French Guyana. The James Webb space telescope will then take a month to get into orbit around the sun, a million miles from Earth.
The telescope's mirrors and sensors are more sensitive than those on the Hubble telescope. They'll peer back into time, billions of light years into the past, even into the atmospheres of planets outside of our solar system, potentially finding ones which might sustain life.
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KNICOLE COLON, NASA ASTROPHYSICIST: We know that planets of all sizes are out there. And we want to find ones that have similar temperatures and sizes as Earth to see if they could possibly be anything like Earth.
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BRUNHUBER: The telescope is named after James Webb, NASA's second administrator, who oversaw the Mercury and Gemini programs.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber if you're in United States or Canada, "NEW DAY SATURDAY" is next. For everyone else, stay tuned for "MARKETPLACE ASIA."
