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14-Year-Old California Girl Killed in Police Shooting; New Details Emerge in Michigan School Shooting Investigation; Georgia Election Workers Sue Rudy Giuliani; COVID Surging. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 24, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: Happy holidays everyone. I'm in -- I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for Victor and Alisyn.

It is the day before Christmas, and the Omicron variant is colliding with holiday plans in a big way. More than 2,000 flights, nearly a quarter of them in the United States, have been canceled today, as staff and crew call out sick during the Omicron surge.

Check out just how much cases have been rising just this week. The U.S. is now averaging 182,000-plus new infections a day.

We began the week in the 130,000 range. Today's average means the nation has now surpassed the peak from the surge driven by Delta. However, hospitalizations from COVID have remained well under previous peaks. Still, as hospitals brace for even more staffing shortages, the CDC has reduced the days health care workers need to isolate if infected.

Also, with Omicron now detected it all states, D.C. and Puerto Rico, the administration is lifting the travel ban on seven African nations and South Africa, where Omicron was first detected.

Let's begin this hour with Lucy Kafanov, who joins me now.

Lucy, good afternoon to you right here in New York. This is the epicenter of the pandemic when it started two years ago and just broke another record in terms of case count.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy, more than 44,000 new cases in New York.

That's up 14 percent from the previous record-breaking day. But there is some good news heading into the holiday weekend, the governor there announcing a shortening of the isolation period for fully vaccinated essential workers. They can return to their jobs after just five days if they present no symptoms, this as the nation struggles to contain its latest COVID surge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're here to make some toys. KAFANOV (voice-over): On the eve of Christmas, holiday cheer tempered by Omicron's rapid spread, as new COVID-19 case rates race towards record highs, the U.S. now averaging more than 180,000 new cases each day, up 48 percent from last week, surpassing the peak of the Delta variant's surge in the summer.

The good news, hospitalizations remain half the record high from January. Amid the Omicron surge, the CDC cutting quarantine time for infected health care workers. Those who test positive, but are asymptomatic can now return to work after seven days of isolation, instead of 10 with a negative test, scrapping quarantine altogether for vaccinated and boosted health care workers who've been exposed.

DR. JEROME ADAMS, FORMER U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: It's a decision that's been made necessary by the fact that the virus is spiraling out of control. It does follow the science that, if it's seven days, but you have to test negative. You don't need to be isolated for a full 10 days.

KAFANOV: As Santa delivers gifts to households around the globe, Americans flying to see loved ones are facing a bumpy travel day, airlines canceling hundreds of U.S. flights on Christmas Eve, as staff and crew call out sick during the Omicron surge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope that everyone keeps their own safety and everyone else's safety in mind when they travel.

KAFANOV: In a rush to get tested, be prepared to wait.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody wanted to get tested. So we just have to be patient.

KAFANOV: With at-home COVID test supplies still limited, many testing sites across the nation are overwhelmed. As New York and New Jersey see record-breaking new cases, the Big Apple is scaling back its famed New Year's Eve celebration, limiting revelers to just 15,000 fully vaccinated and masked.

But across the pond, a sliver of hope. The United Kingdom health agency says data suggests Omicron cases are 50 to 70 percent less likely to require hospitalization than those with Delta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAFANOV: And, Poppy, there is some frustration amongst millions of Americans who suffer from weakened immune systems.

The drug manufacturer AstraZeneca developed a new medication to prevent COVID-19 for the immunocompromised, but the U.S. government only purchased one-tenth of the doses that are needed for all those who qualify -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes, a big lesson and getting in front of these things. Lucy, thank you for that reporting.

Let me bring in Dr. William Schaffner. He is professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School

of Medicine. He's also an adviser on the CDC Board for Immunization Practices.

Good to have you, Doctor. Thank you very much for being with us.

First, your reaction to the new guidance in terms of a lowered isolation mandate for health care workers who are vaccinated.

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, DEPARTMENT OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE CHAIRMAN, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Poppy, that sounds very, very reasonable. It's based on the science. It will let people get back to work sooner. That will allow hospitals to take care of these hospitalized patients.

And although hospitalizations may be less, that doesn't mean zero. There are many places in the country where hospitalizations now are increasing. A lower risk for a large number of people still is a substantial number of people that need hospitalization.

HARLOW: Yes. Yes.

SCHAFFNER: So it'll be good to have those health care workers back at the bedside.

[14:05:02]

HARLOW: President Biden was just asked about this move in the context of sort of everyone else.

Is he supportive of lessening the isolation period for other people that are fully vaccinated if they get COVID? Listen to what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Do you think the isolation period for COVID should be shortened for everyone?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I just listen to my team that, the docs, and they think we should keep it the way it is for now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Do you agree?

SCHAFFNER: I'm inclined to say what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and to make it the same for everyone makes it a whole lot easier.

And I'd be inclined to encourage my colleagues advising the president, move this one along.

HARLOW: All right. I think a lot of heads of companies will be happy to hear you say that. Delta Air Lines this week was asking the CDC if they could do the same for their workers, because all these worker shortages you see are canceling flights, et cetera.

There's this new drug that I'd love your take on. It's called Evusheld. And what's so interesting about it is that it can help prevent COVID for people who are immunocompromised, who, for whatever reason, the vaccines are not effective for them, and they haven't built up the antibodies, this has been proved to work for them.

Can you explain how it works?

SCHAFFNER: Yes.

Actually, this is a product of my colleague right here at Vanderbilt Dr. Jim Crowe, so a shout-out to him.

It works by actually providing an immune substitute. It's like a substitute for a vaccine for these people who are immune-compromised who cannot themselves respond to the vaccine, but you provide them, in effect, this substitute. And it could last this protection substantially, up to six months. So you just have to get this protection a couple of times a year.

This is a big advance for those people who are immune-compromised.

HARLOW: So it's Christmas Eve for those who celebrate. And many are planning to gather with family. What is your recommendation for people what to do and what not to do this holiday?

Hopefully, everyone has tested before they're gathering with people and hopefully everyone is vaccinated.

SCHAFFNER: Well, Poppy, if everyone's vaccinated and, beyond that, if people are tested, then they can kind of rest easy and enjoy the whole experience with their friends and their relatives.

But once we go out into the world, put that mask back on, watch the social distancing. If you're going to a house of worship, for sure, put that mask on, and try to sit in the back row, where there aren't so many people.

HARLOW: The Biden administration just announcing today on December 31 they're going to lift that travel ban from South Africa and, actually, I believe, eight Southern African nations.

Given how prevalent Omicron is in the United States already, is it past overdue time for that?

SCHAFFNER: Well, that's the issue, Poppy.

What's there has long since come to here. I'm sure glad they took those travel restrictions off. And why didn't they do it last week or even before?

HARLOW: Yes.

SCHAFFNER: Yes, I think we could do that with no harm to us.

HARLOW: Yes.

All right, Dr. Schaffner, thank you very much.

SCHAFFNER: Happy Christmas.

HARLOW: You too.

Two election workers in Georgia are suing Rudy Giuliani and a right- wing media outlet, blaming them for the harassment that they say they got following the push of the big election lie. We will have details on that next.

And the House panel investigating the January 6 insurrection wants the Supreme Court to make a decision quickly on whether to take up former President Trump's case on executive privilege. We will explain why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:13:20]

HARLOW: Two Georgia election workers are now suing Rudy Giuliani and One America News. They're accusing the right-wing television network and former Trump lawyer of destroying their reputations and prompting Trump supporters to constantly harass them.

OAN and Giuliani both already faced multibillion-dollar lawsuits, defamation suits, from Dominion Voting Systems.

Let me bring in CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig, also a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Elie, it's good to have you.

What do you make of this case? I mean, a defamation case, high bar for public figures, but what do you think?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Poppy, Rudy Giuliani's legal problems continue to pile up. And they all mostly spring from the same source, which is Rudy Giuliani's stubborn insistence on spreading this lie, no matter who it damages, no matter who it harms.

We have got this lawsuit. But, remember, he's also been sued by dominion, the voting company. He's been sued by members of Congress for his role in helping to incite January 6.

HARLOW: Yes.

HONIG: He's had his law license suspended. He's under criminal investigation not related to January 6, related to potential foreign lobbying violations, by my old office and Rudy's old office the Southern District of New York.

So this is what accountability looks like. Rudy has been in denial, angry denial for a long time, but, eventually, consequences will come his way. HARLOW: So, switching gears here, but I'm fascinated by what's going

on right now, the request from former President Trump to intervene basically in the January 6 investigation.

He is trying to get the High Court to block Congress' ability to see records from his White House. And I just want to be clear here. These aren't his records, right? They're not like Trump Org documents. They're public documents being held in the National Archives.

[14:15:02]

And it's a question that the court has actually never fully decided. what do you do, how far does executive privilege reach for an out-of- office president?

HONIG: You're exactly right, Poppy. These are not Donald Trump's documents.

Yes, they were created by people in Donald Trump's White House, but they're your documents and mine and the entire American public's, which is why they are held at the National Archives, which is a party to this lawsuit.

This is, as you say, Poppy, an issue that's never come up before. Now. Donald Trump has lost at the two lower federal court levels. He lost at the district court. He lost at the court of appeals, both of which said, look, the current Congress says those documents should go over. The current executive branch, current president says those documents should come over.

And so the former president does not have the ability in this situation to come in and upset that. Now, will the Supreme Court take the case? I think they're going to be very reluctant to take this. On the one hand, it's a big constitutional issue. On the other hand, we don't have what we call a circuit split, where different courts around the country are deciding to issue differently.

And if you look at the opinions, they're really pretty airtight.

HARLOW: Yes.

HONIG: I don't think this is the kind of case the Supreme Court is going to look at and say, we need to come in and fix that.

HARLOW: Right.

I think it was, in the appellate decision, 68-page opinion, I think it was unanimous across all three of their judges.

HONIG: It was.

HARLOW: So, if the court -- if the Supreme Court did intervene and grant cert and take this up, what would that tell you about a court that John Roberts keeps saying is not political, is not political, is not political? HONIG: I got to tell you, Poppy, whatever anyone's political ideological leanings are, I do not see a reasoned way under the law that you can come out in favor of Donald Trump in this case.

The law and the logic are just so clear. If you look at that 68-page opinion, it was three 3-0 in the court of appeals. A different judge below also ruled the same way. So I think this one's going to rise above politics. I think the law and the facts here are too clear against Donald Trump.

HARLOW: Elie, turning the page to what we saw happen yesterday afternoon just about exactly 24 hours ago, and that was guilty on all counts, both manslaughter charges, against former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter.

The sentencing is going to happen in February for the killing of 20- year-old Daunte Wright. She faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, but the prosecution is pushing for aggravating factors or Blakely factors here. They were successful, this -- Attorney General Ellison's office, doing so with Derek Chauvin and his sentencing.

Do you think they will be successful here?

HONIG: So I don't think ultimately they will get it above certainly the 15-year range.

I think, if you look at the Minnesota guidelines here, it recommends a sentence of 6.5 to eight years. My suspicion is that's ultimately where the judge will land. It's important to know, at sentencing, the only rule really is anything goes. Things that are not admissible at a trial, things that are irrelevant at a trial, the defendant's remorse, her family life, her children, her career, and, on the other side, the impact of the victim's family, all of that comes into play in sentencing.

I think it's clear that there needs to be a significant sentence here. I think something within the guidelines range is ultimately where we will see this judge land.

HARLOW: How significant is it, Elie, just quickly taking a step back...

HONIG: Yes.

HARLOW: ... to have two convictions of police officers in high-profile cases in the same courthouse in the same state in a matter of -- span of six months?

HONIG: So these are both momentous trial verdicts, Poppy, not least of which because, A, you're talking about a human being's life that was taken.

HARLOW: Yes.

HONIG: They're enormously important to the victims' families. And also because you just don't see police officers charged and then convicted very often. That said, let's keep in mind, these trials -- every trial stands on its own facts. I wouldn't quite read a broader trend into two trials out of the thousands, tens of thousands that occur across the country.

HARLOW: Right.

HONIG: But here's my bottom line.

In both of these trials, Poppy, the criminal justice process, the trial system worked as designed, worked as it's supposed to, where both sides had fair representation. Both sides played within the rules. We had a jury that, apparently, both juries did their jobs. They judged those cases based only on the evidence in the court, only on the law of the state where they were in Minnesota in both of these cases.

And that's how our system -- and, in both case, they yielded verdicts that I think were supported by the evidence and that were just and defensible and fair. And I guess, in this holiday system, that's something I think we can all be thankful for.

HARLOW: It's an important system. And it needs to work.

Elie Honig, thanks so much.

HONIG: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Well, prosecutors in Michigan have released some incredibly disturbing details and drawings made by the school shooting suspect, Ethan Crumbley.

We will tell you what they show and why prosecutors say his parents -- quote -- "willfully ignored" major warning signs from their son -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:24:30]

HARLOW: We are following today new details out of Michigan, where prosecutors say the parents of alleged Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley are at greater risk of flight now than they were when they were arraigned earlier this month.

In a just-released court filing, prosecutors say the parents willfully ignored the needs and well-being of their son and the threat that he posed to others. The 15-year-old has been charged as an adult with terrorism, murder and assault with intent to murder in the school shooting that left four people dead. He has pleaded not guilty.

[14:25:00]

And his parents face four counts each of involuntary manslaughter. They have also pleaded not guilty. Let's go to my colleague Brynn Gingras, who's following the latest on this story.

And, Brynn, before the shooting, Ethan's teacher found a drawing that he allegedly made. And now we have that drawing. Can you show it to us and tell us about it?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Poppy.

We have this drawing because it's part of a court filing that -- in response to the parents asking if they can lower their bond. Prosecutors laying out a whole bunch of evidence as to why, as you mentioned, they are a flight risk, and also more details really about the evidence they have in this case.

This is the drawing that is part of that court document. And this is actually part -- a second part of that drawing, which they claim Ethan Crumbley crossed out some of the disturbing images that you can see right there of a gun and a bullet and words like "Blood everywhere, my life is useless," essentially saying that, after that note was discovered by his teacher, he went back and then tried to make it seem like it wasn't as bad as it looked originally.

You can see there it's different. "I love my life so much," it says. "We're all friends here."

So, again, this is just some of the evidence that has piled up in this court document. And I want to read a little bit more, because prosecutors are saying in this document that these parents knew something was wrong, even so much for as back as six months before this school shooting.

I want to read an excerpt that says -- quote -- "Defendants had information long before November 30, within the six months prior to the shooting, that their son's only friend moved at the end of October 2021, that the family dog died, that their son was sadder than usual, and that he was sending his mother disturbing texts about his state of mind.

"Meanwhile, during that same period, defendants spent their time at the barn caring for their horses three to four nights a week for up to three hours at a time, and seeking other relationships, including defendant mother's extramarital affairs. Instead of paying attention to their son and getting him help, they bought him a gun."

And they're basically saying that this isn't a case where parents thought to themselves, what could I have done better? What sort of signs should I have seen? They said it's quite the opposite.

So, again, in this document, they also lay out why they think those two parents could be a flight risk and why their bonds should not be lowered, stating that they are $11,000 behind in their house payments, stating that they try to list their home or they're at least working on that at the time that attack happened in November, and talking about the fact that the parents had multiple cell phones on them when they were arrested many days later after being charged in that warehouse in Detroit, saying they actually purchased two burner phones.

So, again, lots of evidence stacking up in this case, and the prosecution laying that all out. Of course, it's going to be up to the judge to decide if that bond should be lowered for those two parents -- Poppy.

HARLOW: And just shocking and such a tragedy, those lives lost.

GINGRAS: Absolutely.

HARLOW: And so many signs before that were not heeded.

Thank you, Brynn, for the reporting.

GINGRAS: Yes.

HARLOW: If you or anyone you love needs help, please call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services hot line, this number right here on your screen. You see it there, 1-800-662-HELP. It is free, it is confidential, it is 24/7 every day of the year.

Meantime, the Los Angeles Police Department is promising a thorough, complete and transparent investigation after a 14-year-old was shot and killed during a police pursuit in a clothing store. The teenage girl was in a Burlington Coat Factory dressing room with her mother when a police officer fired at a man suspected in an attack at the store. And one of those shots went through a wall into the dressing room, where the girl was killed.

Our security correspondent, Josh Campbell, is following all of this.

You just think your own children, and you think that could have been us. And the police, it seems like they're trying to put all of the -- everything out there to be as transparent as they can.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: They're working on that.

And tragic and devastating, Poppy, is how the chief of police here in L.A. is describing this officer-involved shooting Thursday. It claimed, as you mentioned, the life of this 14-year-old girl. The LAPD says officers were responding to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon at a department store near North Hollywood.

While police were on the way, they received reports of a possible shooting in progress, as shoppers were sheltering in place. Now, as officers arrived, they found a female who was bleeding and suffering from various injuries. They then encountered a man suspected assaulting her -- of assaulting her, and a short distance away.

They opened fire, one of the officers striking and killing that suspect. But as police swept the scene for other possible victims, they discovered something truly horrific. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINIC CHOI, ASSISTANT LAPD POLICE CHIEF: The call was upgraded to possible shots fired. Officers encountered the suspect and during that encounter, an officer-involved shooting occurred

Behind a -- the drywall, solid wall that you can't see behind, we went behind it. It turned out to be the dressing room of there. And what we did is, we were able to locate a 14-year-old female who was found deceased in that dressing room.

Preliminarily, we believe that round was an officer's round.

(END VIDEO CLIP)