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Omicron Fuels COVID Concerns Around the World; New Surveillance Video Shows Police Standoff with Capitol Rioters. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired December 26, 2021 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:20]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: The infections are spreading quickly, they're rising very, very rapidly.
AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST (voice-over): The Omicron variant fueling a new surge in coronavirus cases.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER: We're particularly worried about those who are in that unvaccinated class, those are the most vulnerable ones.
WALKER: Mask cancellations in the skies as major U.S. airlines ground hundreds of flights because of the COVID surge.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is a lot about this moment that is frustrating, but we have the power today to have an impact on tomorrow.
WALKER: Remembering Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
BISHOP DESMOND TUTU, ANGLICAN CHURCH: We either are going to survive together or going to be end together.
WALKER: Looking back at the Nobel Prize winning life of a towering figure in the fight for human rights.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: I'm Amara Walker, Pamela Brown has the evening off, you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Many people, millions around the world, are spending this Christmas weekend with friends and family, but, you know, the coronavirus is not taking a holiday. In fact we are seeing new COVID cases racing toward record highs right now. Daily infections now surpass the summer surge sparked by the Delta variant, and hospitalizations are trending up as well.
We are in the thick of the holiday season, and vaccinated or not, AAA estimates that more than 109 million people will travel between Christmas and New Year's Day. And that increased movement sparking a lot of concerns about this highly transmissible variant. Americans are lining up for hours at testing sites, at cities across the nation, something Dr. Anthony Fauci believes is critical right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: We should be using testing much more extensively than we have. Even in a situation where you have people who are vaccinated or boosted. We obviously got to do better. I mean, I think things will improve greatly as we get into January, but that doesn't help us today and tomorrow.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: As important as testing is right now, the number one tool, according to healthcare experts like Dr. Fauci is vaccinations and boosters.
CNN's Nadia Romero joining me now from one of the busiest airports in the world, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International.
Hi there, Nadia. Today marks a third straight day of mass flight cancellations. Give us, you know, update us on what's happening there now.
NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Amara, it would have been a happy holiday for so many people, but unfortunately a lot of frustration, a lot of stressful moments for people here finding out that their flight has been canceled so let's look at the numbers. More than 12,000 flights canceled today alone and it all comes together, right, you have Sunday, people tend to travel more likely on a Sunday, the day after Christmas, and you have the Omicron variant that are, is impacting these flights that are being canceled and delayed, all happening today.
Across the weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we're looking at more than 3,000 flights that have been canceled, with so many people expecting to spend that time with their loved ones because they haven't been able to. Last Christmas, Christmas 2020, the vaccine wasn't out, a lot of people weren't traveling, didn't feel safe or comfortable doing so. And so people haven't seen their families since 2019. Almost two years.
I interviewed a woman yesterday who talked to me about seeing her grandson for the first time, because she hasn't been able to travel during the pandemic. People told me today that that's the reason why they have to get on their flight. They were checking their phones. They called their airlines. They were checking Web sites, making sure that their flight wasn't canceled or delayed just to see their family. Listen to why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMERO: Your nephew is only 2 years old so he's only known COVID-19. What was it like being able to spend time with him in person?
KATY HEATH, TRAVELER: It was so great. So I was there when he was born which is right before the pandemic and then I haven't seen him since, so he's grown so much. I'm sad I missed as much as I did and hopefully won't have to, you know, ever again.
JENNIFER SMITH, TRAVELER: This is my in-laws, the first time I've seen them in about two years. So, yes, it's been a while. And I saw my mom over Thanksgiving the first time in two years.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ROMERO: Yes, so it's been big for a lot of people finally seeing family. A lot can happen in two years as we all know, but because of the cancellations that we're seeing, thousands globally, we also saw the TSA telling us that they screened fewer passengers which you might expect as well -- Amara.
[19:05:02]
WALKER: All right, Nadia Romero, thank you so much for that.
Well, a Carnival cruise ship is back in a Miami port today making its scheduled return despite a number of people, passengers testing positive for coronavirus during that eight-day voyage. It's unclear exactly how many people tested positive after the ship left Florida last Saturday. Now a Carnival spokesperson tells CNN that all passengers were fully vaccinated and tested before the trip began. The ship was denied entry to two ports, at two Caribbean Islands but made stops in Curacao and in the Dominican Republic before docking today.
Some passengers have positive things to say about the trip while others said the company was not very transparent about what was going on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEY PETERSON, CARNIVAL CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER: The only reason why we found out that people on the ship had COVID is because the first destination we were told to go to, it took, we sat there for a couple of hours and then we found out they wouldn't let us on the destination because of so many people on the ship having COVID and just let everybody go about their business.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Well, CNN asked Carnival for a response but the company did not directly address that passenger's specific claim.
All right, more now, with infectious disease professor Dr. William Schaffner from Vanderbilt University.
Doctor, welcome, thanks so much for joining me. So obviously, Christmas is now behind us but, you know, if we've been with family, if we've gathered with friends, should we be testing before considering, you know, any plans especially for New Year's?
DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Well, sure, Amara. I think that that is a very good idea. We are at a critical junction. We have all these people moving about, of course sharing the joy of the holidays and looking forward to the new year, but at the same time we have this extraordinarily contagious virus, Omicron, spreading throughout the country, and with all of these travel delays, people are milling about in airports even longer periods of time providing even more opportunities for this virus to spread.
So if I had a suggestion, it would be, if you've had contact before you want to get into other groups, get yourself tested. Goodness sakes, if you haven't been vaccinated, please, do that, and that extends to children 5 and older. We haven't protected most of the children in this country either. And if you're eligible for a booster, by all means, get that booster.
WALKER: You talk about this Omicron variant being extraordinarily contagious. So let me ask you then about, you know, these large New Year's Eve gatherings. As you know, New York City has scaled back the crowd size. They're also requiring masks even though it'll be outdoors and requiring proof of vaccination. Is that still low risk and what do you think about, you know, these New Year's Eve celebrations where there are large numbers of people gathering?
SCHAFFNER: Well, first of all, Amara, being outside is much lower risk, fortunately, and New York is doing it the right way. They're reducing the concentration of people and obliging everyone who comes to be vaccinated and-or tested. That seems like a very good idea, it seems to be a very low risk event. But most New Year's Eve gatherings, of course, will be indoors. They'll be at a local level, a neighborhood, or a family bringing in extended family members and friends. They ought to try to get a test the day of the, of New Year's, so they can all gather safely.
WALKER: You know my husband --
SCHAFFNER: New Year's Eve, I should say.
WALKER: Yes. For New Year's Eve. You know, my husband and I, we're having this conversation over lunch this afternoon, you know, whether or not we should be taking out our N-95 masks. We did. I know Dr. Leana Wen has called cloth masks little more than facial decorations, and that there's really no place for them in the light of Omicron. Do you agree with that? Do we need stronger masks? And if we don't have N-95s, should we be double masking?
SCHAFFNER: Double masking is not a bad idea, but I'd like to get all the people who aren't wearing mask to wear them and of course the folks who wear them this way, we've got to wear them to wear the mask above the nose. The N-95s are more secure, they are a stronger mask, you got to wear them well so that they fit tightly around the cheeks and the chin.
The work of breathing, as you and your husband know, is harder when you do that, but that means that the mask is working because you're only breathing through the mask itself which is acting as a filter.
WALKER: Yes, it drives me crazy, you know, when I'm on an airplane or in a grocery store and I see people with their masks kind of hanging down off their nose, and you're like, that is not the correct way, you have to play, you know, mask police.
[19:10:07]
Let me ask you about, you know, a fourth vaccine dose because you have places like Israel and Germany, you know, now moving towards rolling out these fourth vaccines. You know, what does the, I know it's still a little too early, but do we know about how long these boosters are effective or efficacious?
SCHAFFNER: Well, Amara, we don't know that exactly yet, so let's give this sometime. I know Israel and some other places are thinking about, or at least for healthcare workers, are using fourth doses, but we need to see much more data before we implement them. In the meantime, we have all the folks who need their third doses, and remind the folks who need their first.
WALKER: Yes. Absolutely, and I do want to get to one of -- at least one of our viewer questions and this one's asked, are we still relying on vaccination herd immunity to bring this pandemic to an end, Dr. Schaffner?
SCHAFFNER: Herd immunity with such a contagious variant would have to be very, very high. We're just trying to cope at the moment. We would like to get as many people vaccinated as possible. I think that would create herd immunity, but we have to get way over 90 percent of people complying in order to have that done.
WALKER: Yes. We're only at about 61 percent fully vaccinated right now. Thank you so much Dr. William Schaffner, we will leave it there.
SCHAFFNER: Thank you.
WALKER: Well, Joe said no but Democrats have another idea to keep Build Back Better alive and maybe try to get Senator Manchin back on board.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters will be joining me next. I'll ask her if she could get behind this new idea. Also, long lines for testing, but what about on New Year's Eve in places like Miami Beach? We're going to talk to the mayor if those celebrations should be put on hold or scaled down.
And we are just days away from the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection on Capitol Hill, the Justice Department is now releasing new video, showing one of the most violent confrontations between officers and the pro-Trump rioters.
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[19:15:09]
WALKER: Build Back Better is officially on life support after West Virginia's Democratic Senator Joe Manchin slammed the door on it earlier this week. Democrats now considering breaking it up into smaller stand-alone bills. The hope is that they could attract Senator Manchin or even some Republican support. Congresswoman Maxine Waters joining me now. Good evening to you,
Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining me. So let me get right to it. I mean, do you think this is the best way forward by breaking up the bill? Do you think that that will help get some Democratic hold-outs and possibly Republicans on board?
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): I'm not sure, but that shows our determination to do everything possible, to get Build Back Better in some shape or form, without losing the essence of it. And so in the negotiations, many ideas come up, many things are tried, and so the discussion about breaking it up into smaller packages is something that could be, you know, out there to be considered.
And so, we're very, very, very determined, that we're going to do what we can to stimulate this economy, to get better childcare, to get parental leave, to deal with the climate, and to produce housing resources for the so many desperate people who are in need of just safe and secure housing. And so we're working very hard and we're doing everything that we can in the most honest and open and legitimate way that we can to get Build Back Better.
WALKER: Congresswoman, you say you're very determined, but realistically, how optimistic are you? You have Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and President Biden sounding optimistic saying that they're going to move forward in January. Do you share this optimism?
WATERS: Well, I have to tell you that I am a very optimistic person. No matter what happens during the day, I go to bed at night and thinking I can do better the next day. We can do better the next day. We can never give up. Optimism is extraordinarily important, as you are confronted with these kinds of difficulties. It gives you the spirit to keep going, and so yes, I'm always optimistic, and the Democratic Party is optimistic now.
WALKER: You say you don't want to lose the essence of the bill, and as you know, Senator Manchin is concerned about the cost, and how that will worsen inflation. How do you think that the expenses from this, nearly $2 trillion bill will be offset? How do we, you know, how do you address his concerns?
WATERS: Well, as you know, when we started out with this legislation, the president started out and he made sure that it was paid for. How do you pay for it? You close the loopholes in the tax laws. We have so many major corporations who don't pay their fair share. Some don't pay any taxes at all. And so when you are able to target where you are able to get the money, and you apply that to the programs that we have devised for Build Back Better, it's all paid for, and so that is not an issue with us.
And even if it's an issue on the other side, we're still negotiating and helping to do everything that we can to show them how it makes good sense, to pay for it in the way that we're doing. We have people, average people, working every day on average jobs who pay their taxes. They pay their fair share every year and so it's up to us to make sure that we do everything that we can do get the corporate community, the big businesses who know how, you know, to deal with getting taken advantage of our tax codes. We've got to get them paying their fair share and that's how we pay for Build Back Better.
WALKER: You know, I'm sure you and your colleagues in Congress can walk and chew gum at the same time so, you know, while Build Back Better is being worked on, what about voting rights? I spoke with Ron Brownstein yesterday, he wrote this really sobering piece in the Atlantic warning of what he called the great divergence between blue and red states with basic civil rights like voting and abortion being reversed in red states and then he points out that the House has already passed laws on these issues, but, you know, of course these measures are all stalled right now in the Senate and he writes this, quote, "That stalemate is raising anxiety among more Democrats who fear that the party is sleepwalking through an escalating emergency."
What do you say to that? Is your party sleepwalking through this?
WATERS: Well, no, absolutely not, but I do think that we can do a lot more to have people understand exactly what is happening with voting rights and to have people understand why it's so important for everyone to be able to participate in order to make sure that we have a strong democracy where people are at the table being able to address the concerns in our society and in this democracy.
[19:20:19]
But in addition to that, there are a lot of people who don't know what is in the Build Back Better bill. They don't know and understand how their families, and their communities, are going to benefit from Build Back Better. We have many of our mothers who want to go back to work, but we need childcare. We have so many of our families, well, you have young people, young married couples who are taking care of their mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers who have COVID, who have experienced it and it's lasting with some people.
And also, we have dementia that is growing in our society. And so we need to have parental care. We need to have childcare. We need to get the homeless off the streets. We need to make sure that we're working to deal with climate change. These are important issues that will serve everybody. Everybody well. And so I'm very, very concerned that there are those who don't have the vision, but we got to do everything we can to leverage and try to convince them. We can't stop. We can't give up.
WALKER: All right, appreciate your time, Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Thanks so much and best of luck to you all.
WATERS: You're welcome. Thank you.
WALKER: Well, South Florida is a top New Year's Eve destination. How is Miami Beach preparing for the surge in visitors while grappling with the surge in COVID cases? We're going to talk about this next with the Miami Beach mayor when we come back.
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[19:25:21] WALKER: In Florida, Christmas Day brought a report of the largest single-day increase of new COVID cases since the pandemic began, with more than 32,000 people testing positive in Florida just yesterday alone. It seems every new day brings a new record, right, Florida's case numbers were up more than 330 percent in the past week.
And, Miami-Dade County is one of the hottest spots in the state, In the space of 14 days, it has counted almost 64,000 new cases according to "New York Times" data.
Joining me now is Dan Gelber, the mayor of Miami Beach. Mayor Gelber, thanks for your time on this Sunday. Just curious to know how testing is going for you in Miami Beach. For those who want one, how long are they waiting, and are they getting it?
MAYOR DAN GELBER (D), MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: Well, Amara, thanks for having me, and Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas. We are doing all we can because it's really almost all we can do to give people access to testing. But we have our own testing centers. They're open up now well into the night. Tomorrow we start giving out test kits free of charge to folks who can get them. So we're doing everything we can to get people tested and we're also trying to get everybody vaccinated because obviously, that's the best thing we can do and we have a group that goes to your business and will vaccinate you and have given money to our employees.
I've given prizes to our local high school for the kids who get vaccinated, but of course this is a self-inflicted problem because there are just too many people who feel like a vaccination is a political statement and that's really become a problem.
WALKER: You were mentioning, Mayor, that you're going to be giving out tests free of charge. I mean, how was your city able to get your hands on this test? How many and, you know, I guess, what's the response been so far?
GELBER: Well we're just starting that tomorrow, but we have really robust testing sites in our city. And we've had them from the beginning. We have a testing and vaccination site across from city hall that, you know, takes hundreds or thousands of people, really, every few days. Unfortunately, there's a huge number of people getting tests and there's a small line for vaccinations which, of course, is the problem.
I don't know how many we're giving out, I'm sure will start in the hundreds. The county is doing a county wide and we're doing everything we can to get people the opportunity to get tested but we can tell that this Omicron is everywhere, not just, you know, something you're hearing about, almost every business I know people say that somebody in the family, someone in their workplace has gotten it and so I'm convinced that we're in the midst of a very, very substantial surge certainly here in south Florida.
WALKER: Yes. And speaking of the surge, you know, I'm just curious to know, you know, what your plans are for New Year's Eve. You know, I lived in Miami and Miami Beach for about seven years and I know that that is a prime destination for a lot of people to celebrate New Year's. And, you know, what is your advice to people who are coming to Miami? I can't imagine that, you know, are you going to be able to scale down any events? What's it going to look like?
GELBER: Well, we're very limited as you know, the governor and the legislature don't let us do a whole lot. We can't mandate masks. Unfortunately, we can't mandate vaccines and private businesses aren't even allowed to mandate proof of vaccination. So we're sort of in the worst of all worlds. If you've gotten your booster, you know, I look at the hospital data every single day in my county and almost no one has gotten their booster is getting hospitalized. Very small number. Now some who have been vaccinated are getting hospitalized, about 20 percent or 25 percent of hospitalizations of people who received the vaccination but that might be people who got it a long time ago.
If you've got the boost, it's almost, you know, some days not a single person is hospitalized is someone who got the boost. So we're urging people to be vaccinated. Some, like, you know, Harry Styles concert that the Orange Bowl was going to do, they canceled it so some folks are making decisions on their own but most of the events on New Year's Eve are private events. They're in private hotels or homes and things like that, and very little we can do other than urge people to get their booster shot and if you don't have your booster shot, you should consider what you want to do that evening because I think there are going to be crowds and throngs of people in a lot of places and I think that's something people should think about.
WALKER: Yes, local officials like you really in an extraordinary position, right, as you mentioned, because you have the governor who has signed laws that does not allow local governments to require masks and also show proof of vaccination.
[19:30:05]
My last question to you, I mean, do worry that because omicron, reportedly, as far as we know, causes less severe disease, are you concerned that people will take it less seriously?
MAYOR DAN GELBER (D-MIAMI BEACH, FL): Yes. And a lot of our experts are saying that, you know, look, there're still hundreds of people getting hospitalized and you have to be pretty sick to be hospitalized. That's not something that's minor. And I don't think they know enough yet to see how severe the results are. So, if you haven't gotten your booster shot or you didn't get -- you got vaccinated a long time ago, you should be careful. And just -- it just makes sense.
And I wish, in my state, we were allowed to do more. I wish we could mandate vaccinations, certainly, in some areas, like my community, where you have so many people coming from other communities where they're going to go back to. But I think we're going to do the best we can and hope for the best, but it's a tough situation.
WALKER: Yes, you also have a huge older population with a lot of retirees, so, yes, very vulnerable population as well.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, I appreciate your time. Thanks so much, happy holidays and happy New Year.
GELBER: You too, Amara, thank you very much.
WALKER: Thank you.
Well, this last week of the year brings a new push to contain the rapidly spreading omicron variant. It is now forcing government leaders to scramble to try to stop the spread, which will potentially impact New Year's Eve plans, as we've been discussing.
CNN's international correspondents take a look now at how omicron is prompting new restrictions.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Scott McLean in London. While many countries in Mainland Europe are piling on new COVID restrictions in response to the surging omicron variant, U.K. is reacting to record-high case counts with a relative shrug. Some new restrictions on large events come into effect in Scotland and Wales today but not in England, where the latest estimates show that, last weekend, 1 in 35 people have the virus with 1 in 20 estimated to be infected in London.
The U.K. has not seen spike in hospitalizations or deaths likely thanks to omicron causing less severe illness and lightning fast rollout of the booster shot with well over half of the eligible population having now had it.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Will Ripley in Hong Kong. There are growing questions right now about the viability of China's zero COVID strategy as the nation takes increasingly extreme measures to stomp out relatively small clusters of COVID-19 infection. In the central Chinese city of Xi'an, 13 million, the city's entire population, are under a level two lockdown, the city considered a controlled area, which means that schools and public transportation are closed, all but essential services are stopped.
That means that in every household, just one designated person can go out for groceries once every two days, and, otherwise, unless there's a medical emergency, you have to stay inside. All of this affecting 13 million people for just over 200 confirmed cases. State media is saying 30,000 of their close contacts are in government quarantine right now.
China is just weeks away from the opening ceremonies to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and they're trying to keep COVID spreading inside the country just before the Lunar New Year travel rush.
WALKER: The world lost a giant today. Civil Rights Leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu has died at the age of 90. His decades' long fight to end apartheid in his native South Africa inspired the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: But, unfortunately, when you see, let bygones be bygones, unfortunately, they don't operate that way. Either the past comes back to haunt you. What we are seeing is we need to look the beast in the eye, deal effectively with that past and then we can close the door on the past and concentrate on the present and the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: President Biden released a statement today saying, born to a school teacher and a laundress and into poverty and entrenched racial segregation, Desmond Tutu followed a spiritual calling to create a better, freer and more equal world. His legacy transcends borders and will echo throughout the ages.
CNN's David McKenzie in South Africa tonight.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amara, here in South Africa and across the world, they're mourning the loss of the great Desmond Tutu, the archbishop who was a huge moral voice in this country, particularly during the dark days of apartheid. South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, paid tribute to the man in a national address calling him a global icon for freedom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA: Archbishop Desmond Tutu was one of our nation's finest patriots. He was a man of unwavering courage, of principle, conviction, and whose life was spent in the service of others.
[19:35:08]
He, in many ways, embodied the essence of our humanity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Desmond Tutu made his name during apartheid years particularly the 1980s, where Nelson Mandela was in prison and many leadership of the now ruling ANC was in exile, it was Desmond Tutu who was there not just using his word often underpinned by his faith but also his actions, physically, going in the front of marches in very dangerous situations and always using his moral clarity to force for change and racial equality.
Now, after the end of apartheid, he was not silent. He often was strident in his criticism of the ruling ANC and what he saw as the shortfalls of the government. It was also his role as the head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission here in South Africa where he tried to build bridges and promote forgiveness for the very difficult past that South Africa has.
Desmond Tutu was often a thorn in the side of later rulers here in South Africa, and despite this, and perhaps because of his moral clarity, throughout the world, there have been tributes pouring in from leaders both current and former, including President Joe Biden and the first lady, who are lauding him as the icon that he was. Amara?
WALKER: David, thank you so much for that, in South Africa. Still ahead, we are nearly at the one-year mark since the January 6th insurrection. And just this week, we saw new video of the attack, still coming in.
So, where does the investigation go in the New Year? John Dean is here with his predictions, next.
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[19:40:00]
WALKER: Recently released surveillance video shows another harrowing angle of the January 6 riot, three-hour standoff between rioters and Capitol police in a tunnel. Here, you can see rioters attempting to climb over police, punching them, grabbing at them and launching a metal pole into the barricade of officers.
Despite their efforts, the rioters never managed to breach past police at this location, but this is where Capitol police had to retreat to, because of this out-of-control group.
I want to bring in John Dean, former White House Counsel to Richard Nixon. You know, I have to say, John, I've seen this video so many times and each time I have to remind myself that this is America, not another country. You saw democracy threatened during Watergate. What do you see when you see this video?
JOHN DEAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I see something far worse than Watergate. In the end, Richard Nixon actually played by the rules. He did some very antidemocratic things to get elected, he cheated to win, he abused his power in office, but in the end, he seemed to have had a conscience and resigned when he was in trouble and was incredible he would be impeached.
I don't see that behind with the January 6th, drive behind it or what resulted and erupted. We are on a straight path right now towards authoritarianism or authoritarian rule. The Republican Party has embraced it. I've written extensively about it. It's an ugly way for our democracy to die. But that's what's in the scope right now.
WALKER: Republicans continue to downplay the insurrection, right, and avoid cooperating with the investigation. We're just days from the anniversary. I mean, it came by so quickly. It's already been almost a year. So, do you think that we are in danger of seeing something like this happen again?
DEAN: It could very easily happen again. What is probably more troubling is what's been happening in various states that are controlled by Republicans where they're literally rigging the elections, gerrymandering the districts and not playing by the rules of democracy. This is all part of a pattern and it's kind of a sad situation.
I kind of had to search my New York Times today to find stories on it, didn't really get there until I got into the op-ed section, there were some brief ones. But, you know, it's not something that is featured in the news. I must say cable and CNN are doing a much better job than the print media.
WALKER: Well, then let me ask you this if you don't think it's being featured enough in the news. I had a conversation, I think it was last week, with a man by the name Ron Flipkowski. He had written a piece. I think It was in The Washington Post. And he is former Marine, he is now a criminal defense attorney.
This is a man who has been monitoring the extremist right wing elements before the January 6th insurrection. He had been a Republican and he wanted to see what the voices were saying, trying to take over what used to be his party.
And he was saying what he is seeing now. You have these extremist voices, like a Steve Bannon and Alex Jones, who are currently mobilizing these extremists to take on local governments, to get them in positions of power. When you hear this, I mean, this is frightening. Is this a wake-up call to all of us Americans who want to protect our country?
DEAN: The fellow you talked to has been very active online and putting a lot of information out that he's been gathering. He kind of combs the web and tweets it regularly, so I'm very familiar with his alarm. And he is, indeed, signaling what we should be paying more attention to. But, I think, yes, I think the media should has to pay attention to this because democracy is being tested, as it has never been tested, far beyond anything that happened in Watergate.
With Nixon resigning -- well, actually, when Nixon agreed to honor the Supreme Court ruling that he had to turn over his tapes, it was pretty clear he was going to cooperate and that would be the end of his presidency.
Trump and his followers take the gambit to do everything contrary to the norms, to break all the rules. They are now trying to stall as best they can through litigation, of turning over to the January 6 committee, so we don't learn how bad it really was, how it might have infected the White House and the presidency itself.
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So, yes, we're being tested. The system is being tested but, fortunately, we have some good people in place to deal with it.
WALKER: And Trump trying to ask the Supreme Court to also block the release of those White House documents surrounding the January 6th. John Dean, we'll leave it there. Thank you for the conversation.
DEAN: Thank you.
WALKER: we'll be right back.
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WALKER: From social media to traditional media, 2021 was a year of change. CNN Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter shows us the top ten media stories of the year. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: 2021, the year the media and the world tried to get back to normal. The pandemic is now a subject of scripted dramas and movies, helping us process it. But it's not over yet, and some things have changed forever. So, here are our top 10 media stories of the year.
Number 10, de-platforming Donald Trump. Twitter permanently banning the president just days after the capitol insurrection, while Facebook gave him a timeout.
ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Our breaking news this hour, Facebook says former President Donald Trump will not be allowed back on its platforms until at least January 7th, 2023.
STELTER: While Trump cries censorship, social media CEOs are just trying to figure where to draw the line.
Number nine, T.V. news turnover, Chris Cuomo out at CNN after text messages showed how he helped his governor brother fight sexual harassment allegations.
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Now, both Cuomos are out of jobs. Soon, the 9:00 P.M. times out in NBC is in for a change too, with Rachel Maddow renewing her contract but expanding into documentaries and preparing to leave her daily hour. MSNBC also needs to replace Brian Williams, who signed off in December with a warning.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, MSNBC ANCHOR: For the first time in my 62 years, by biggest worry is for my country.
STELTER: And over at Fox, a very different departure, Lou Dobbs ousted without explanation, but it happened 24 hours after he was named in defamation lawsuit. At the end of the year, Chris Wallace announced he was leaving Fox on his own terms. He is joining CNN in its forthcoming streaming service.
Number eight, Oprah's bombshell interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The revelations shook the royal family with the Duchess of Sussex citing the family's, quote, concerns about Baby Archie's skin color. She said she felt so alone, she contemplated suicide.
MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: I just didn't want to be alive anymore.
STELTER: Fallout from the interview rippled across the media. And when a co-anchor called out Piers Morgan for his anti-Meghan rants, he stormed off the set of his British morning studio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You continue to trash her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, I'm done with this. Sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no. Do you know what, that's --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See you later. Sorry, I can't do this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is absolutely diabolical behavior.
STELTER: He then left the network.
As for Harry and Meghan, they are now making podcasts and T.V. shows, which leads me to Number seven, the streaming wars. Hollywood giants are trying to get even bigger, investing more and more in streaming series to keep you subscribed. Streaming is the focus of AT&T's deal to spin off Warner Media, including CNN, and combine it with Discovery. If okayed by regulators, the news standalone company will take shape in mid-2022 going head-to-head with NETFLIX and Disney.
In 2021, shows like Squid Game and Ted Lasso won attention and awards and studios kept experimenting by putting movies, like Black Widow both on streaming and in theaters at the same time. When Disney did that, Scarlett Johansson shocked Hollywood by suing for breach of contract, showing that the rules are being rewritten every day.
Number six, daring reporting from Afghanistan. As the Taliban encroached on Kabul and the U.S. withdrawal turned chaotic, reporters became the eyes and ears of the world.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They just told me to stand to the side because I'm a woman.
STELTER: CNN's Clarissa Ward documented the Taliban's takeover despite all the uncertainty and earned praise from fellow journalists. Behind the scenes, Ward and hundreds of others worked to evacuate endangered reporters, assistants, drivers and other Afghans who worked with western media.
The local reporters that remain there face a hostile climate, which brings me to number five, the continuing crackdown on global press freedom. In Hong Kong, police raided a pro-democracy newspaper in June, arresting top editors. A month before that, this incident shocked the world. A dissident Belarusian journalist arrested after his commercial flight was forced down in essentially a state-sponsored hijacking.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Have we seen anything like this before?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: No is the short answer.
STELTER: Countries around the world are rolling back the rights of reporters in sometimes brazen ways. The committee to protect journalists says a record high number of reporters are behind bars now with China being the worst jailer.
Number four, the woke wars. It's an awakening over racial and social injustice to some but an overreaction to others. Is it cancel culture or consequence culture? And whatever it's called, has it gone too far?
These debates raged across the media all year. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will eventually get to straight white men are not allowed to talk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is called a purge. It's a mentality that belongs in Stalin's Russia.
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Canceling Dr. Seuss isn't stupid, it's intentional.
STELTER: Of course, Dr. Seuss wasn't canceled. His legacy company simply decided to stop publishing a few titles that had racist imagery.
But free speech issues are real and alternatives are emerging for people who wants to bypass traditional book publishers, newspapers and other gatekeepers. Writers are flocking to Substack and launching newsletters, a new model that brings fresh debates over free speech.
Number three, January 6th denialism, the big lie about Trump winning the election led to the big deny, desperate attempts to erase the violent reality of the riot.
CARLSON: You see people walking around and taking pictures. They don't look like terrorists. They look like tourists.
STELTER: That's Fox' highest rated star trying to rewrite history. While commentators stoke conspiracy theories, right wing media barely covers the real news about the insurrection's aftermath or the new efforts to subvert democracy at the state level. What we're losing in America is a sense of shared reality.
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But the big lie may cost its crusaders.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking just a short time ago, Fox facing a $1.6 billion lawsuit accused of spreading election lies.
STELTER: And that was just the beginning. Two voting tech companies have filed multiple defamation suits against Fox News and other networks and a series of blockbuster books continue to reveal what really happened during Trump's final days in the White House.
Number two, the Facebook reckoning, a whistleblower was heard around the world first through the Facebook files, a series of Wall Street Journal stories based on leaks from inside Facebook. Then the source, Frances Haugen, stepped forward.
FRANCES HAUGEN, FACEBOOK WHISTLEBLOWER: I believe Facebook's products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy. The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before the people.
STELTER: Haugen alleged that the company's own research showed its platforms can be toxic for children and society writ large. But the company failed to take action. CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed back, saying many of her claims didn't make sense. But Haugen gave new momentum to governments that want to rein in social media.
Anti-social media was a through line for the entire year, bringing us to the number one media story of 2021, the vaccine disinformation divide. Reliable info about COVID-19 vaccines helped people get vaxed and protected but anti-vax lies and distortions went viral, from Facebook to Fox, in ways that worsen the pandemic's terrible toll. The right wing media machine took conspiracy theories from the fringes and moved them to the mainstream.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Radical left wing fanatics who are bent on forcing each and every American to get themselves injected with an experimental, unproven drug.
STELTER: Fox News demonized Dr. Anthony Fauci.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what people say to me, that he doesn't represent science to them. He represents Josef Mengele.
STELTER: And the anti-science rhetoric cost lives. Several right wing radio hosts who resisted vaccines died of COVID. T.V. stars who claimed to respect their audience actually put them at risk. Big tech platforms said they tried to clean up the garbage but the vaccine divide is a sad reflection of a choose your own news culture. It's incumbent on everyone to choose carefully.
Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.
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