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LAPD Officer-Involved Shooting Claims Life Of 14-Year-Old Girl; As Holiday Approaches, Americans Scramble For COVID-19 Tests; Top-10 Political Stories Of 2021; NASA's $10 Billion Telescope To Launch Christmas Morning. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired December 24, 2021 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINIC CHOI, ASSISTANT CHIEF, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: Preliminarily, we believe that round was an officer's round.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMPBELL: Now, as you mentioned, police believe that a stray round from the officer's gun penetrated a wall inside of the store, killing that young girl on the other side.
The police have not yet why that officer opened fire.
The California attorney general said state investigators are reviewing this incident.
The LAPD have ordered that all of the body camera video and the 911 audio and security camera footage from inside of the store being released to the public no later than Monday -- Poppy?
POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: Josh Campbell, thank you for the reporting. Of course, our thoughts with her whole family right now.
CAMPBELL: Yes.
HARLOW: Well, this year, Americans are scrambling to get their hands on a COVID test before they see family and friends. I'll speak with a doctor that said testing is our way out of the pandemic.
But first, here is a look at other events we're watching today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:35:58]
HARLOW: People are waiting in long, long lines all across the country, from Hawaii to New York, to get COVID testing.
Look at that line in Oahu. Rapid tests are nearly non-existent on many drugstore shelves.
My next guest believe that's accessible rapid testing, of course, on top of vaccination and boosters, is the way we get this pandemic under control. He recently made his push and has pursued his life's work.
Dr. Michael Mina is the chief science officer at eMed.
It's good to have you, Doctor. Thank you so much.
DR. MICHAEL MINA, CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER, EMED: Thanks a lot.
HARLOW: It is not like you just started calling for this. You've been calling for this a long, long time. And for more proactive work instead of reactive from the administration.
But let me get your response to what White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president and the team did take steps to increase capacity.
Of course, if there would have been 500 billion tests and we would have known there were these very transmissible variants, that is one thing.
The president using the Defense Production Act and investing $3 billion allowed for there to be an increased in production so we could order the huge number of supply that we're ordering now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: We could all, like, Monday morning quarterback. I'm not sure how useful for anyone that is right now. But it could teach us things about what we do for the next very transmissible variant if there's one to come.
So what do they do now?
MINA: That is correct. We've been suggesting that the tests be purchased for a very long time in both administrations, recognizing we would end up here at some point.
But the administration is currently taking steps. It is obvious their putting billions, as she said. And they're just announcing the $500 million.
It is a little too late for this holiday season, of course. But doing this today, starting today, it is the -- there's no better time than now than in the past.
To start producing these and getting these to be accessible to all Americans in a readily available means so that people don't have to be making hard decisions: Do I use test to go visit grandma or do I use the test to go to work?
We need to understand that these tests are not medical devices. These are tests that allow us to gain and be empowered to know if we're infectious so we're protecting our peers and the people around us.
And the more we could understand and have eyes on the virus, which is one of the tests offer, the better in terms of living successfully with this virus in the future.
HARLOW: The FDA recently cautioned that some brands, not all, but some brands of antigen and PCR tests may not be able to detect the Omicron variant as successfully as the prior variants.
Why would that be? And does that mean the actual tests need to be altered?
MINA: So, the tests so far that have been recognized to not detect the Omicron variant, particularly has been the laboratory PCR tests.
The antigen tests, the rapid antigen tests detect a different part of the virus that doesn't have many mutations with Omicron. And so far all of the rapid tests continues to be working just fine.
HARLOW: Great.
MINA: But it is some of the laboratory tests that have faltered recently.
HARLOW: Europe has just much cheaper tests. And I don't mean cheap in a bad way, I mean cheap in a good way, meaning more accessible to more people.
Largely because I believe Europe, many European nations purchased a mass amount of tests from companies way ahead of time, way earlier in the pandemic.
And that allowed them to subsidize them and create a ready market. That didn't happen here in the U.S. And it is about $25 for the two tests.
Is that something for the administration to change now.
[14:39:59]
MINA: Absolutely. The difference in the U.K., for example, is they have a streamline approach to evaluate and authorize tests. So very early in the pandemic, they were able to immediately start bringing in high-quality tests at low price tags.
There was a lot of market competition. And they were able to secure those tests for their country. Many countries in Europe did the same. And ultimately, it was very effective.
The U.K. government came out with a report recently that said, despite continued transmission, the rapid testing did reduce hospitalizations by about 30 percent. In the U.S., that would be millions and millions of hospitalizations.
So the program works very well.
The U.S. could start doing this. And I believe that the U.S. is starting to do this now in the president's announcement of $500 million.
I think that should hopefully be the snowball starting to roll. And hopefully, that won't be the end of their decisions to really bring inexpensive, affordable and assessable rapid tests to Americans.
HARLOW: When I got my negative test results last night before seeing family, it made me feel so much more at ease. And for everyone who is seeing loved ones, it will help a lot.
Thank you, Dr. Mina. Have a happy holiday.
MINA: Thank you.
HARLOW: Thinking 2021 was a tumultuous year in politics was an understatement. Our top-10 political stories of the year, next.
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[14:45:52]
HARLOW: Well, 2021 has been a political roller coaster. Just days into the year, President Trump's Big Lie sparked a deadly insurrection on Capitol Hill shortly after Joe Biden was sworn in at the 46th president. And Trump was impeached again and acquitted again.
Now here is our very own Jim Acosta with a look back at the top political stories of the year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR & CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: The top-10 political stories of 2021 make this past year feel more like a decade.
(voice-over): Starting at number 10. Pandemic paralysis. As medical experts stress vaccines and boost boosters as the best way of preventing COVID, disinformation and lies about the lifesaving shots continue to spread as well, misleading millions of Americans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sure you've seen the pictures all over the Internet that are now magnetized.
They put a key on their forehead, it sticks. They put spoons and forks all over them and they can stick.
ACOSTA (on camera): Of course, that is utter nonsense. So get vaccinated.
(voice-over): At number nine --
(SHOUTING) ACOSTA: -- the Republican Party at war with itself over its leader. The disgraced ex-President Donald Trump and his Big Lie that he won the 2020 election.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not for getting 2020.
(SHOUTING)
TRUMP: The most corrupt election.
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): The truth is the president cost us, the president is unfit, and the president is unwell.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX HOST, "CAVUTO": If Donald Trump were the 2024 nominee, would you support him in.
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): I would not.
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): You would send Liz Cheney home, back home to Washington, D.C.
ACOSTA: At number eight, Democrats have issues of their own.
ANDREW CUOMO (D), FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: Given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside.
ACOSTA: Facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment, which he denied, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York resigns.
GOV.-ELECT GLENN YOUNGKIN (R-VA): Virginia, we won this thing.
(CHEERING)
ACOSTA: Glenn Youngkin, the Republican, wins the governor's race in Virginia.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: A very big night for Republicans. And a major, I think a major wake-up call for Democrats.
(APPLAUSE)
ACOSTA: And Gavin Newsom, Democratic governor, and California successfully fights off a recall there.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): To 40 million Americans, 40 million Californians, I thank you for rejecting this recall.
ACOSTA: Number seven --
(SHOUTING)
ACOSTA: -- a messy withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Biden administration scrambles to evacuate American citizens and tens of thousands of Afghans from the country ahead of an August 31st deadline.
Thirteen U.S. servicemembers and more than 170 Afghans are killed in terrorist attacks outside of Kabul's airport in a chaotic end to America's longest war.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is time to end the forever war.
Thank you all for listening. May God protect our troops.
ACOSTA: At number six, the Big Lie gives birth to an amateur audit of the 2020 election results in Arizona, which confirms what Americans already knew, Joe Biden won Arizona.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ballots that were provided to us to count in the coliseum, very accurately correlate with the official campus numbers.
ACOSTA: As new GOP-driven restriction voting laws pop up in state houses across the country.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I'm going to sign it right here. It is going to take effect.
(CHEERING)
DESANTIS: Florida, your vote counts.
ACOSTA: Number five, President Biden and his team try to show Democrats can deliver, with big legislative victories first on COVID relief and then infrastructure.
But the question remains, can his Build Back Better social spending plan pass through the Senate?
At number four, double trouble for the GOP in Georgia as Republicans lose two Senate runoff races in January.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate in Georgia, he is defeating David Perdue, the Republican candidate.
ACOSTA: GOP insiders blame Trump, grumbling that his election lies backfired.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is here by acquitted of the charge.
ACOSTA: Trump becomes the first president in American history to be impeached for a second time. This time, for inciting the insurrection at the capitol.
[14:50:01]
Once again, Republicans stand in the way of a conviction.
BLITZER: Democrats falling short of the 67 votes need to convict Trump. This is the second time Donald Trump has been acquitted in an impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate.
(CHEERING)
ACOSTA: At number two, an event that would normally land at the top of any list of big political stories, the inauguration of a new president.
BIDEN: Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE, U.S. SUPREME COURT: The Constitution of the United States.
BIDEN: The Constitution of the United States.
ACOSTA: But it was far from a typical transfer of power, as Trump tried to scheme his way into staying in office, pressuring state officials like Georgia's secretary of state.
TRUMP (voice-over): So, look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state!
ACOSTA: Number one story of 2021 --
(SHOUTING)
ACOSTA: -- American democracy under attack. January 6th, the insurrection.
TRUMP: We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.
(SHOUTING)
ACOSTA: In one last-ditch attempt to halt a Biden presidency, a violent mob of Trump supporters and members of far-right groups storm the capitol, some chanting they want to kill the vice president.
(CHANTING)
ACOSTA: Rioters clash with police. Eventually, they smash their way inside, sending lawmakers running for cover.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody stay down.
ACOSTA: A Trump supporter is shot dead by a police officer as she and others attempt to breach the speaker's lobby inside the capitol.
First responders are beaten with the American flag and sprayed with chemicals.
As night falls on a shameful scene, a symbol of American democracy is left battered.
In the melee, capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick, was assaulted by chemical spray. He suffered strokes and died the next day.
Haunted by January 6th, a handful of other officers later die by suicide.
And the trials of insurrectionists begin.
(on camera): True to form, Trump went on to lie about what happened at the capitol, never showed remorse, never apologized for what he did.
Trump has, so far, not taken any accountability. Instead, he has been emboldened by Republicans who have largely adopted his lies as their own.
His lapdogs and conversative media and his disciples in Congress now echo his toxic rhetoric.
The political violence Trump and his allies unleashed is now the subject under of an investigation by the January 6th House Select Committee.
That probe and it's findings may well alter the political landscape for 2022 and beyond.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Jim, thank you so much for that.
Well, a Christmas gift for space lovers. NASA is set to launch a new powerful telescope Christmas morning. And it has been in the works since 1989. We'll explain how it could unlock so many unknowns about the galaxy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:57:59]
HARLOW: Astronomers and, indeed, all of us are about to receive a big Christmas present. After years of work, the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is set to launch into space tomorrow morning.
Scientists say NASA's most-powerful telescope ever can look back more than 13 billion years through time to some of the earliest galaxies that formed after the Big Bang.
And it could answer key questions about the origins of the universe.
Our Kristin Fisher joins me now with more.
I hope all is a go for 7:20 tomorrow morning. Tell us what the mission is.
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, this telescope has the potential to completely transform our understanding of the universe. It's designed to answer some of those most existential questions that
humans have been trying to answer for so long.
It's designed to really see back in time and try to find that very first light that was ever created in the universe.
It's designed to study the atmospheres of small planets and distant galaxies, and potentially answer the question that we have been trying to figure out for some long, which is, of course, are we alone in the universe.
But before the Webb Space Telescope can begin to answer any of these questions, it first has to get to a very special point in space called the Lagrange Point.
And it's about three or four times the distance that the moon is from the earth.
And everything hinges, first, on this big Christmas morning launch. I mean, this is a $10 billion payload that this Ariane Five rocket is going to be launching.
It only gets one shot. There's only one of these telescopes, so, heaven forbid, something actually happens with this launch. These decades of work would all be going to waste.
And after launch, it's going to take six months to get to this point in space. And the telescope has to unfold like origami. And each little point, 300 of them, is a potential point of failure.
[14:59:58]
So, Poppy, so much has to go right, which is why astronomers all over the world are just going to be holding their breath and hoping everything goes according to plan tomorrow morning.
