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Now, Broward County Public Schools Meeting To Determine Whether All Adults Should Wear Masks At School; Miami-Dade Schools Defy Governor, Mandate Masks For All Adults; Jan. 6th Panel & White House Ask Supreme Court To Deny Trump Records Request; Actress Betty White Dead At 99. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired December 31, 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]

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, so let's go to the other side of their argument. There are certainly a lot of parents that say this is a parents' choice.

We actually just heard from the Broward Teachers Union, speak at the Broward County school board meeting saying they don't want a mandate. But they said they don't want a mandate because they believe all of the adults are already wearing those masks.

But really we're not seeing any school districts moving on any sort of requirement to have students wear mask when they return.

When I checked in with the governor's office, they said that the governor has made it clear, and he will stand by, the schools will be open, no mask mandates will be in place, and any testing done on students will require written consent -- Ryan?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN HOST: OK, Leyla Santiago, with the latest from Florida. Leyla, thank you for that.

So in Massachusetts, the state's teachers association wants schools to stay closed on Monday so teachers and staff could have an extra day for testing.

The state's Department of Education is sending out 200,000 test kits to every school district. They were supposed to arrive yesterday but supply chain issues are delaying them to this weekend.

Nevertheless, the state said they are still planning to have in-person learning on Monday.

And Merrie Najimy is the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. She joins me now to talk about the latest in terms of schools returning after the holiday break.

So, Merrie, what is your plan right now with the return to school just two days away?

MERRIE NAJIMY, PRESIDENT, MASSACHUSETTS TEACHER ASSOCIATION: Hi, Ryan. It is such an important subject to be talking about. We absolutely are

committed to having our schools reopen in person as safely as they can be.

And in fact, the Massachusetts Teachers Association has been advocating for a very long time to have a robust in-school testing program.

But the level of incompetence and the false promises by our Massachusetts governor and commissioner of education puts us in jeopardy.

The tests were announced Wednesday of this week, on the heels of a long vacation holiday weekend, that there's 200,000 test kits coming to Massachusetts.

We got the news just last night that they're going to be delayed. So what we're calling for now is using Monday to get those tests distributed to educators, keep them closed, make it a day for testing.

So that the school district could analyze the results and make decisions about school opening or contingency plans according to what the science of the testing is telling them.

NOBLES: So have you heard just anecdotally from fellow teachers, have there been a lot that tested positive over the winter break or don't feel well?

NAJIMY: We have -- part of the challenge is that access to testing is low. We do know we have lots of cases that are going unreported.

When people take rapid tests at home, and they don't test positive, that doesn't mean that they're not asymptomatic and carrying the virus.

So the governor has to do all in his power to get us as many tests as soon as possible and give us the time that we need to make good decisions to keep schools open and safe.

NOBLES: So do you have a sense for how many of your fellow teachers are vaccinated? Is it the majority of them? Is it mandated in Massachusetts?

What is the vaccination levels like among the teachers and staff?

NAJIMY: The teachers association doesn't collect that data.

But I can tell you, last February, when it was announced that educators in Massachusetts would be in line for the vaccine, we were rolling up our sleeves, demanding that we get those shots.

And that turned into a struggle. We didn't get fully vaccinated until the end of April.

I know the National Education Association, which is our national affiliate, has done polling and 86 percent of any members, including our state affiliates, are vaccinated according to their polls.

But we also know that vaccinated people can be asymptomatic and carry and transmit the virus.

NOBLES: All right. Well there's a lot of uncertainty not just in Massachusetts but across the country as kids are supposed to be back in school on Monday after the holiday break and with the omicron cases skyrocketing,

Merrie Najimy, good luck to you and your fellow educators as you start 2022. We appreciate you being here. And happy New Year.

NAJIMY: Thank you.

NOBLES: The Biden administration and the January 6th committee are asking the Supreme Court to deny former President Trump's efforts to keep his White House documents secret. Do they have a strong argument? We'll take a closer look.

[14:34:36]

But first, here is a look at some other events that we're watching.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBLES: The January 6th Select Committee and the White House are now calling on the Supreme Court to deny former President Donald Trump's request to block over 700 pages of records about the insurrection.

The documents include White House visitor logs, call logs and notes from former chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

[14:40:04]

CNN's Whitney Wild is following developments.

Whitney, how quickly could the Supreme Court respond?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, they could respond as soon as January 14th. That is because they have a conference scheduled for that day.

So the House and the Biden administration both hoping that it is in that meeting that the Supreme Court will decide whether or not they're even going to take up this case.

So here is a breakdown of what basically both sides are arguing.

The House and the Biden administration are on the same page. And they argue that lower courts have ruled in their favor correctly for a list of reasons.

Not the least of which is that the former president has not articulated a harm that would arise from releasing these executive- privilege documents.

Further -- and here is a quote directly from the DOJ filing:

"The committee is investigating events involving Trump and other White House officials that have an identifiable, factual foundation and relate to a specific, unprecedented attack on the capitol. That investigation unquestionably serves legitimate legislative purposes."

And, Ryan, it is that last sentence that takes direct aim at another trump argument, which is this committee is illegitimate and it's operating basically a law enforcement investigation pretending to be a legislative investigation.

However, the committee continues to double down and say this is not a law enforcement investigation. It does have a legislative purpose. So we'll see what the Supreme Court says.

But this is a very hurried timeline for something that is enormously consequential because we know there's not a lot of definitive case law here and there's only a short time to do it -- Ryan?

NOBLES: That is right, Whitney. And of course, the accessing of these documents by the committee is vital to their investigation.

Whitney, thank you for that update.

So let's talk more about this now with former federal prosecutor, Renato Mariotti.

Renato, happy New Year. thank you for being here.

First of all, just from your perspective, how likely is it that the Supreme Court even takes this issue up?

And if they do, how likely is that they would side with the former president and block these records?

RENATO MARIOTTI, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You could always assume, Ryan, that the Supreme Court is not going to take the case.

They have many cases that are put before them. They can only take a small fraction of those cases. So it is usually a safe bet to say that they're not going to take it.

And that would also allow them to duck a politically divisive issue.

When the lower court decided, in accordance that most have -- because courts don't want to be in the middle of second guessing every investigation launched by Congress and whether or not it is actually a legislative purpose.

Courts generally try to stay out of examining and questioning whether Congress is acting with a proper legislative purpose.

So I think that the court won't take the case. And I think it is pretty unlikely that they'll side with - (INAUDIBLE) -- I think opens up flood gates of courts essentially having to evaluate and second guess every request that is made by a congressional committee. NOBLES: OK, so let's talk about how the former president and his

allies have basically attempted to use the courts to try and at least grind the gears of this investigation.

They've put up a legal challenge to almost every step of the investigation. But they continue to lose, right. It seems as though the committee has won almost every court battle when it comes to obtaining documents or enforcing subpoenas.

Do you still think, because of the short timeline and the ability that Trump and his allies have to continue to file lawsuits, that could prevent them from coming up a report this summer and then a final report in the fall?

MARIOTTI: I imagine the committee will put out a report regardless.

But, Ryan, I don't think it is an either/or thing. I think there will be some measure of success here because what they're trying to do is run out of the clock. Right?

We've all seen that in a sports game where one side is trying to hold the ball and looking at the clock. That is what is happening here.

And it happens in court, litigation all of the time. One side is trying to exercise all of the legal options that it has to delay things and slow things down.

I think that what they're doing here in hopes that there will be some witnesses or documents that won't be able to be reviewed and leads that the committee can't follow up on if, in fact, the House changes hands in the upcoming midterm election.

NOBLES: So I want to get your legal opinion about one of the big arguments that Republicans have made about this committee.

And there's a difference here between a political opinion and a legal opinion. There's a political opinion as to whether or not the committee is too partisan, that it was created only by Democrats and that it is just a democratic witch hunt.

But this is a legal argument that Trump and his alleys are trying to make, that they don't have to obey subpoenas or answer and show up for witness interviews with January 6th committee members.

[14:45:00]

Because it was something that the minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, didn't have a role in creating.

Is that a legal argument or only a political one?

MARIOTTI: It is more of a political argument.

It really -- what I take that, that strategy to be, in other words, inserting that into their legal brief is it generates discussions about here on CNN and elsewhere and gets people to talk about what their political or P.R. position is.

But purely from a political perspective, the validity of a congressional subpoena, for example, does not turn on how politicized a particular legislative action is.

In fact, Congress is a political body, after all. And everybody in Congress is a politician.

So if that was the judge, then never have an enforceable congressional subpoena.

NOBLES: And we should point out there are Republicans on that committee. They may not be the ones that Kevin McCarthy wanted but there are two Republicans as part of that bipartisan committee.

Renato Mariotti, thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it. Have a good one.

MARIOTTI: Thank you.

NOBLES: And the U.S. economy is heading into the new year with some momentum. But inflation remains a major concern heading into 2022. We'll take a look at the other big threats to the recovery.

And we do have a quick programming note. This Sunday, Carole King and James Taylor team up for the unforgettable concert film, "JUST CALL OUT MY NAME." That's Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

And here is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Friends, collaborators and legends. The music shaped a generation. They came together for the tour of a lifetime.

(SINGING)

ANNOUNCER: James Taylor.

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His songs were amazing and his voice is amazing and his demeanor.

JAMES TAYLOR, SINGER/SONGWRITER: Heehaw.

ANNOUNCER: And Carole King.

(SINGING)

TAYLOR: Carole King, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, asked her to be a part of my band.

(SINGING)

TAYLOR: Forty years have passed since the first time we played. CAROLE KING, SINGER/SONGWRITER: I loved every experience we've had

together.

(SINGING)

ANNOUNCER: "JUST CALL OUT MY NAME," Sunday at 9:00 on CNN.

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:53]

NOBLES: Well, unfortunately, we have some terrible breaking news to share on this final day of 2021. Comedian and American icon, Betty White, has died just days short of her 100th birthday.

CNN has not yet learned a cause of her death but her life remarkable and vibrant to the very end.

CNN's Stephanie Elam has this remembrance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Betty White's cheerful Hollywood career began in her teens. And by her 20s, she was a fixture on television with her own daily talk show.

Ahead of the times, White cofounded her own production company in 1952. She worked on a variety of television and film projects over the years before turning on a 1973 guest appearance on the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" into a permanent role.

White was a scene stealer as the man-hungry Sue Ann Nivens.

BETTY WHITE, COMEDIENNE, ACTRESS & ACTIVIST: I want a man to be virile and macho and just reeks with masculinity.

(LAUGHTER)

ELAM: Her second signature role was on the beloved series, "The Golden Girls," as the comical Rose.

WHITE: And they attack chickens.

(LAUGHTER)

RUE MCCLANAHAN, ACTRESS: I don't care about chickens, Rose. She didn't call me chicken. She called me a peacock.

WHITE: You look more like a chicken when you're angry and your neck sticks out. (LAUGHTER)

WHITE: In "The Golden Girls," I got to play with those silly ladies every week. So that -- and I loved Rose. She was positive and she was -- she wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she was not dumb. She was just terminally naive.

ELAM: Off screen, White married three times. She called her third husband, TV host, Allen Ludden, the love of her life.

They were together almost 20 years before Ludden died of stomach cancer in 1981.

LARRY KING, TALK SHOW HOST: And you never remarried?

WHITE: No. When you've had the best, who needs the rest?

ELAM: A devoted pet lover, White was a long-time advocate for animal welfare. She called television her hobby and animals her work.

Yet, her hobby kept her busy. White's talent as an actress and comedian were in demand well into her senior years.

Following a grass roots Facebook campaign in 2010, White became the oldest person ever to host "Saturday Night Live" at the age of 88.

WHITE: You know what is an accomplishment? Staying awake on the toilet.

(LAUGHTER)

ELAM: The show earned huge ratings and Whtie her seventh Emmy Award.

Later that year, White took on another role on TV Land's "Hot in Cleveland."

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: I thought that you weren't coming.

WHITE: Well, I ran out of vodka.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITE: And I thought I'd come over here and freshen up my drunk.

(LAUGHTER)

ELAM: In her 90s, White was as popular as ever with several ongoing film and television projects.

WHITE: How lucky can a 90-year-old broad be? I have no idea. And I'm still working. That's the thing that -- (INAUDIBLE).

ELAM: Loved for her warm smile, wit and off-color humor, White did not miss a beat when asked if there was any other Hollywood projects she'd still like to do.

WHITE: I usually answer that question with Robert Redford.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

[14:55:01]

WHITE: No, I think I've been lucky enough to do just about so much that I -- if I start complaining about anything under the sun, throw me out of the business.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: An unbelievable life and career.

CNN's senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, is here to talk more about the life and legacy of Betty White.

Brian, there's a lot of people talking about the fact she was just on the cover of "People" magazine ahead of her 100th birthday with the process that she would be around to celebrate that 100th birthday. But that's not the case.

But regardless, the magazine outlining what a national treasure she truly is.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Absolutely. And she made a comment to "People" magazine reflecting why she had the extraordinary 80-year career in show biz.

She said, I have always been an optimist, I was born an optimist. I got it from my mother and that never changed. She said I always find the positive.

I think that is why so many people from so many generations related to Betty White, most recently as the grandma everybody wanted to have.

You know, you go back in time here, she is really an American original, a bridge between generations. Beloved by people in their 90s and the 20 somethings alike.

Whether you knew her from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" or from "The Golden Girls" or more recently, if you knew her, you loved her.

White was a link to the early years of television. She was a link to the origins of television.

She actually got her start on the radio show with a few radio shows in the 1940s. But then made her leap to television in the early 1950s at the birth of the medium.

The programs were cheap, and they made the discarded sets. It was the basics of broadcast television. But she popped. She livened the television screen.

And then went on for decades to be a main stay in people's living rooms, going from broadcast and to cable and then into the streaming age. She was so relatable. And I think if you go back to that word

"positive," she was so positive, brought so much joy and energy to people's lives.

That's why the other reaction this afternoon that we're seeing on social media, is just a rage toward 2021, that this year, this bitter year ends on a bitter note.

I think that's the other overwhelming reaction right now as we lost an American original.

NOBLES: Yes, and pretty incredible that this is the way that 2021 is going to end.

Brian, we talk so much, particularly with the topics that you and I cover, about the divisiveness about American culture, right?

It seems as though it is impossible to find anyone who everyone likes. And I feel like Betty White is one of the few people in American culture that fits bill.

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: That's a great point.

NOBLES: Yes. She came up during a different period of time when maybe it was a bit easier to find that sweet spot of love among a wide group of people.

But maybe talk about that, about how it is increasingly difficult to find someone who everybody has somewhat of a connection with.

STELTER: I think that is absolutely right.

She was very strategic and savvy about keeping her career going and looking for different roles, not just in television, but also in film.

She would have cameos in movies. She'd have starring roles in movies . She was able to connect in different ways.

And her agent acknowledged that in a statement this afternoon, confirming her death.

Her agent and close friend saying, "Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever. I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much."

"I don't think Betty ever fears passing," she said, "because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband, Allen Ludden. She believed she would see -- she believed she would be with him again."

So that's the statement from her agent.

And you mentioned the "People" magazine cover. You know and her agent friend as well, she was about to have this big 100th birthday extravaganza. She was on the cover of "People" magazine previewing that. And she

told the magazine that she felt she was in very good health. So she was feeling very well.

We don't know the cause of death, but whatever happened, apparently, was sudden given that she was profiled recently and felt she was doing well.

NOBLES: Yes. And we'll talk more about this at the top of the hour.

Just one other point. I don't think you can quantify the impact that she had on the American public viewing, senior citizens as such an important part of our culture.

I mean, I didn't start watch Betty White until she was on "The Golden Girls," right, which was a story and a TV show about retired individuals and how important they are.

And I think that really put a fine point on that, the important role that she played at such an older stage.

Brian, we will talk more about it after the top of the hour.

[14:59:47]

But we will take a short break and we'll have more on the death of Betty White.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)