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Jury in Maxwell Sex Trafficking Trial Resumes Deliberations; Jury in Elizabeth Holmes Fraud Trial Resumes Deliberations; France to Tighten Covid Restrictions Amid Record Case Spike; Israel Begins Trial of Fourth Covid-19 Vaccine Dose; Top Climate Stories of 2021. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 27, 2021 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Jury deliberations continue in the Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking trial. Maxwell is charged with six counts for her alleged efforts to groom under age to be sexually abused by her close companion Jeffrey Epstein. CNN reporter Sonia Moghe has been following all the developments. So, Sonia, the jury has now sent ten notes back to the judge. What are they asking? And what does this tell us about what they're thinking?

SONIA MOGHE, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Alisyn. We just got the tenth note minutes ago, kind of close to the top of the hour. That note was asking for transcript testimony from Epstein's former pilot. And look, these jury notes are the only clear window that we have into what these jurors are thinking. They've asked for about eight different transcripts from some of these witnesses. That shows that these jurors are really taking their jobs seriously. They do have questions. They're going back over the testimony that they've heard with a fine- tooth comb.

Earlier today, they sent in a couple notes, asking for, among them, office supplies. They asked for a posterboard, post-it notes, highlighter, so these juries are cleanly behind the scenes working hard, seems like they're working collaboratively. And they have a lot of questions about the six counts that the looking at. They also asked for the definition of the word "enticement." Enticement is at the heart of the first two counts that Ghislaine Maxwell faces. She faces six counts overall, including sex trafficking. So, they've asked for that. They have asked for these witness testimonies and they've been deliberating for a little over 22 hours now since last Monday.

Earlier today, Ghislaine Maxwell came into court. Lauren del Valle, my colleague was inside of court. She said Ghislaine Maxwell appears to be happy. She hugged each of her defense attorneys, one of those attorneys wished her a happy birthday and a Merry Christmas. She turned 60 over the weekend on Christmas day. Celebrating that birthday inside of a federal detention facility in nearby Brooklyn.

Now the judge is asking the parties in this case to consider extending the deliberation hours for today. These jurors are expected to be off if they don't have a verdict, on Thursday and Friday, Alisyn. So, the clock is ticking on with this week's schedule. [15:35:00]

CAMEROTA: But you're so right, Sonia. I mean, the idea of asking for posterboard and posted notes does tell you that they are doing more than just talking about it. They are working through this somehow. All right, Sonia, thank you very much for that development.

We're also following jury deliberations in the criminal fraud trial against Elizabeth Holmes, that's the former CEO and founder of Theranos and she faces 11 federal charges over allegations that she knowingly misled investors and doctors and patients about her company. CNN's Camila Bernal is following this in Los Angeles. So, what's the latest there -- Camila?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, juries are impossible to predict. But what we do know here is that this jury has a lot to go over. We're talking about eight men and four women who have been coming to that San Jose courtroom for the last three months. And we know they've heard from 32 different witnesses, including Elizabeth Holmes.

So now what they're doing is going over the 11 charges. Two of those charges, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the other nine counts are for wire fraud. And so, every single one of these counts is what these jurors are going over. If convicted Elizabeth Holmes could face up to 20 years in prison per count.

Now what the government is arguing here is that Elizabeth Holmes lied to investors, to patients and to doctors. They say, that instead of failing, she chose to lie to them. And the jury heard from many of the patients who said, for example, that they believed they had essentially HIV or that they had a miscarriage because of blood tests from her company Theranos. This startup promised a wide range of blood tests with just a few drops of blood. And instead, the government is saying that many of these tests were inaccurate.

There were also many investors that spent thousands and thousands of dollars. Elizabeth Holmes raised more than $900 million for her startup. And the federal government says that a lot of it was based on a technology that was not fully developed.

Now the defense is saying that Elizabeth Holmes acted in good faith, that she believed in this company. That she gave her all, and essentially projected this vision of the future. And so, the question before the jury is whether this fake it to you make it mentality is OK, or whether it's fraud. And that, Alisyn, is going to have huge implications on Silicon Valley overall.

CAMEROTA: OK, Camila Bernal, thank you.

OK, so a fourth dose of the COVID vaccine? Clinical trials have begun in Israel for that. Plus, China is trying to disinfection an entire city. A look at COVID around the world next.

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CAMEROTA: France is set to tighten coronavirus restrictions as Israel considers a fourth COVID shot. We have reporters around the world following all of the latest pandemic developments.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: I'm in Paris. France has announced fresh restrictions as Europe trying to battle the latest COVID surge, with France seeing a record set on Christmas day more than 100,000 new cases announced for a single 24-hour period. That was what led the French Prime Minister to make his speech tonight. He announced something short over lockdown or any fresh curfews. Announcing instead fresh restrictions such as the banning of eating and drinking in cinemas and theaters, for instance.

A shortened period between the second dose and the booster. And also, making it so that companies will be encouraged to allow people to work from home for at least three days a week. The French government also expected to tightening its restrictions around the COVID pass from January. For the time being, you can only get into cinemas, cafes, restaurant if you have a COVID pass that shows that you either been vaccinated or a PCR negative or have recently recovered.

What we expect from January is that that's going to be turned into a vaccine pause. Essentially banning those who haven't been vaccinated, even if they are PCR negative, from getting into any of those cafes or restaurants, cinemas or theaters. So, a further tightening of the screws as France aims to get more and more people vaccinated to try and bring those surging COVID figures back down.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: I'm Elliott Gotkine in Tel Aviv. The Chaim Sheba Medical Center began what it says is the world's first trial of a fourth dose of the COVID vaccine for healthy patients. Now they're going to be using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which is the one that's been mostly used here in Israel. And they're going to be given it to 150 health workers at the Sheba Medical Center, all of whose antibodies have dipped below a certain level.

Now this isn't the much-publicized roll-out of a fourth dose of the code vaccine in Israel that we were talking about last week, in which was welcomed so effusively by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett after it was recommended by the country's coronavirus panel of experts. That was meant to be for over 60s, for people with suppressed immune systems, and for health workers. But it still has yet to be signed off by the director general of the health ministry.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: I'm Steven Jiang in Beijing. As the Beijing Winter Olympics draws ever closer, the government here which sticks to a zero COVID policy is taking no chances.

[15:45:00]

With the authorities in the ancient capital of Xi'an have begun disinfecting their entire city after affording more than 600 locally transmitted cases in the past 2 1/2 weeks, with officials there warning residents to close their doors and windows and not to touch any outside surfaces and plants. This after they have already placed the entire population of 13 million residents under a strict lockdown since last week.

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CAMEROTA: Thanks to all of our correspondents for those reports.

Now to a climate warning that's being called a code red for humanity. Plus, America's costliest winter storm. That's next.

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CAMEROTA: Extreme flooding in Brazil has left at least 18 people dead. Hundreds more are injured and thousands are displaced as the torrential rains keep coming. Officials attribute the extreme weather to climate change.

CNN's Bill Weir looks back at the top ten climate events of 2021.

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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The signs were everywhere in 21. Starting at the top of the world, where Greenland's highest peak was so freakishly warm that it rained for several hours.

WEIR: They believe that this is the birthplace of the iceberg that sank the Titanic. But now scientists are really worried this place could help sink Miami and Boston and Bangkok and Shanghai because just this part of Greenland has enough ice that if it all melts, will raise sea levels by two feet.

WEIR (voice over): A new study predicts that the Arctic will see more rain than snow as soon as 2060. And in the meantime, the ice sheets so vital to a planet in balance is melting at a staggering rate.

At number nine, that icy surprise in Texas which illustrated how the climate crisis can run hot and cold, with wind chills below zero on the Rio Grande, nearly 10 million loss power. The February blast became America's costliest winter storm event ever.

At number eight, flash floods on three continents. In Germany and Belgium, modern day warning systems failed as a month of rain fell in one day. In China, commuters clung to the ceiling of a subway as thousand-year flood called Henan Province. And back in the U.S., the deadliest flood in Tennessee history came like a tidal wave.

At number seven, U.S. rejoins the Paris Climate Accord hours after Joe Biden became president. Plus, pledging to slash planet cooking pollution by half this decade is one thing. Convincing Congress to take bold action is another. \

This At number six, a code red for humanity, as scientists around the world issue their most dire warning to date. The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it is unequivocal that human activity has cranked up the global thermostat by over two degrees Fahrenheit and that we are careening dangerously close to a point of no return.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We meet with the eyes of history upon us.

WEIR (voice over): And those warnings made number five all the more urgent, COP 26 in Glasgow Scotland.

WEIR: Of the four main themes laid out by COP 26 host Boris Johnson, coal, cars, cash and trees probably is going to be cash that provides the biggest challenge.

WEIR (voice over): For the first time in 26 meetings, the world's delegates agreed that fossil fuels are driving the climate crisis. But not a single country committed to stopping oil or coal production anytime soon.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A monster named Ida -- a hurricane is intensifying quickly and drawing chilling comparisons to Katrina.

WEIR (voice over): Hurricane Ida comes in at number four as 150 mile per hour winds screamed ashore in Louisiana in early September. But that was just the beginning. Ida's aftermath dropped a rain bomb on New York sudden enough to drown families in their basement apartments. And all tolled the single storm cost over $60 billion.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are following breaking news this morning, a dangerous and deadly night across the central United States, a powerful line of storms unleashing at least 24 tornadoes across five states.

WEIR (voice over): At number three tornadoes in winter. December usually brings the fewest twisters of any month. But record warmth in the heartland spun up funnel clouds from Arkansas to Ohio. And weeks later, the damage is still being tallied.

At number two, the Pacific Northwest heat dome, which pushed the mercury in famously mild Portland well over 100 degrees for days, creating a mass casualty event of creatures great and small. Over a billion shellfish baked to death on the shores of British Columbia. And the little town of Litton broke the Canadian heat record three times in a week before most of it burned to the ground.

And at number one, America's mega drought.

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Your water can come from rivers, reservoirs, or from wells, all of which have been impacted by a 20-year mega drought fueled by the climate crisis with 90 percent of the West starving for rain. The feds declared the first ever shortage of the Colorado River, which is a source of life for over 40 million Americans. Meantime, smoke from Western wildfires reached the east coast this year. From one to 10, it is all connected. And without dramatic changes on a

global scale, scientists warn us the worst is yet to come.

Bill Weir, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Our thanks to Bill Weir for that.

And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts after this quick break.

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