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Democrat Joe Manchin, GOP's Lisa Murkowski Endorse Each Other in Upcoming Elections; Housing Market Remains Hot as Supply Plunges to Record Low; Navy SEAL Candidate Dies Following "Hell Week"; Mikaela Shiffrin Crashes Out of Giant Slalom; White House Looks to Clean Up "Junkyard" in Earth's Orbit. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired February 07, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Message to both of their respective parties as well as their constituents back home that the R or the D in front of their name are not the first thing they think of when they go to the Senate floor and they're voting on behalf of their constituents. Obviously Manchin has come into some hard times with members of his own party given the fact that he really blocked the president's key agenda item, the Build Back Better plan, saying just before Christmas that he wouldn't move forward with it.

Meanwhile, you have Murkowski who is facing her own primary challenge back home in Alaska. She voted to impeach the former president Donald Trump and she has faced backlash among Republicans in Alaska for that vote. However, the two of them are working very closely on this bipartisan Electoral Count Act. That is a piece of legislation that would shore up the ability of Congress to make sure that they could do nothing and the vice president could do nothing to change the outcome of a fair and free election.

That of course, they argue, is exactly what led to January 6th confusion, questions, questions about whether or not the vice president really had a role. Of course the former vice president saying he did not have a role in overturning that election. But it's a key moment for both of these lawmakers, and you heard Lisa Murkowski say in that interview that this is going to be a piece of legislation that is really going to be a Goldilocks effect.

It's going to be too much for some people, too little for other people but what both of them are hoping and what their leadership is encouraging them to do is find a middle ground and that is an important key component here. You have both McConnell and Schumer giving this bipartisan group some room to negotiate. I'm told that there are going to be a series of meetings today for the subgroups that are working on different components of this bill, but we expect more progress this week -- Jim and Bianna.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: They said the number of bipartisan votes could be more than 15 at this point.

Lauren Fox, thank you.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Those votes don't happen often.

Other stories we're following, the supply of houses for sale has now plunged to a record low in this country, frustrating house hunters around the U.S. that's because over the last two years, Americans took advantage of record-low mortgage rates, for a long time, and they snapped up more homes.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. CNN reporter Matt Egan joins us now.

And Matt, we've been talking about the rise in home prices ever since the start of COVID. Here we are, though, expecting rates to go up as well. What is that going to do for sellers and what does it mean for buyers?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim and Bianna, that is certainly the big X factor here but it's so interesting. We talk so much about shortages in this economy everything from, you know, computer chips and new cars to truck drivers. And arguably, housing is the biggest shortage of all. A record low, 910,000 unsold existing homes in December according to the National Association of Realtors.

That is the lowest we've ever seen. Some context that translates to just 1.8 months of supply at current pace, that is also unprecedented. And not only is supply really low but demand is very high. We've seen, you know, bidding wars, all cash offers, homes regularly selling for more than they're listed at. Sometimes way more. So against this backdrop prices have gone up. In December alone, we saw prices up by 15.8 percent from the prior year.

And this is happening across the country, although the biggest schemes as you can see on that map, in the Midwest at 10 percent and in the south, it's 20 percent. This is great news for sellers. It is also allowing families to build up wealth but this is a problem for first- time home buyers, also for people who are relocating. So what happens with the mortgage rates? Because we know that low borrowing costs have really fueled this housing boom.

And even though on that chart, you can see that mortgage rates remain below the level three years ago, they've also really ticked up recently up to 3.55 percent. As recently as November, they were below 3 percent. So in theory, higher mortgage rates should cool off this housing market because it makes it more expensive to borrow, but at the same time, we know supply is really, really low. Demand is really high.

So ultimately, we could see prices continue to chug higher in the months ahead. Maybe not quite at the pace that we've seen in recent months but there are still going to be a lot of demand for housing. GOLODRYGA: Look, just drive around any street, Jim, I'm sure you see

two tons of construction in cities across the country right now. Still stunning to see in the south. Prices up 20 percent in just one year.

EGAN: Absolutely.

GOLODRYGA: Matt Egan, thank you. Appreciate it.

EGAN: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And still ahead, one Navy SEAL candidate is dead and another hospitalized after what's called "Hell Week" training. So how did this happen? We're live at the Pentagon for some answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:39:10]

GOLODRYGA: The U.S. Navy has released the name of a SEAL candidate who died last week after completing a training phase known as "Hell Week." 24-year-old Kyle Mullen died at a San Diego hospital on Friday.

SCIUTTO: CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has been following it. And Barbara, you know better than me, I mean, the BUD/S training as it's known, it's brutal but there are also a number of precautions taken, right, so exactly this doesn't happen. Do we know what happened here?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We do not. And it is a very significant question for the Navy to find out what did happen. Kyle Mullen, now identified because his family has been notified but there was another also Navy SEAL candidate. Both of them reporting some kind of symptoms, we're not being told what, after a training iteration. They were taken to a hospital where Sailor Kyle Mullen died and the other sailor said to be in relatively stable condition. So we don't know exactly what happened.

[10:40:05]

But you're absolutely right, Jim. For this kind of very vigorous, very rigorous training, the Navy has a number of precautions, medical staff standing by, continuous medical checks during the training, but they didn't report whatever symptoms they had until they had completed that training iteration, so it will be a matter of some concern to the Navy to try and find out what exactly happened to these two young men.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And hopefully Kyle's family can get some answers as well.

Barbara, I know you're also following and confirming the authenticity, the Pentagon has confirmed the authenticity of a new leaked video showing footage of last month's U.S. fighter jet crash in the South China Sea. What more are we learning about that?

STARR: Well, let's take a look at that video a couple of times. It is quite extraordinary. Leaked video of an F-35 crashing on to the deck of an aircraft carrier last month off in the China Sea. I mean, look at that. It is really extraordinary. Thankfully, the pilot ejected. He was injured as well as six other service members on the aircraft carrier deck. The plane fell into the ocean.

Now it will be a matter of some urgency for the Navy to recover the wreckage of the F-35 because it is one of the most advanced aircraft in the U.S. Military inventory. They certainly do not want it to fall in the hands of any other nations in the region and that means they don't want the Chinese to get their hands on it -- Bianna, Jim.

SCIUTTO: They'll be watching closely, we know that. Barbara Starr, thanks so much.

STARR: Sure.

SCIUTTO: Here at home, a manhunt is now under way for three inmates, one of them accused of murder. They escaped from a Tennessee jail. The man apparently got out of the Sullivan County Jail Friday through an HVAC air vent on the roof.

GOLODRYGA: Authorities telling CNN that they believe the inmates were in southwestern Virginia Sunday near the town of Pulaski. They also could be traveling in a white Chevrolet truck. A reward of $7500 is being offered for any information leading to the arrest of each man.

SCIUTTO: Well, to the Olympics. U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin who won gold in the giant slalom back in 2018 she's now out of that competition. A big fall there. We're live from Beijing with more on the fall that cost her her medal. Coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:47:09]

SCIUTTO: This just in to CNN. This is too bad. American figure skater Vincent Zhou says he's pulling out of the individual competition, this because of a positive COVID test and in the skiing event, American superstar, and she is, Mikaela Shiffrin, her first chance for a gold medal ended way too quickly.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. This was unfortunate to see and hear. Coy Wire is covering the Winter Games for the U.S. and for us in China.

Coy, no gold yet. What's happening out there for Team USA?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Struggle bus for Team USA over here. Good morning to you, Bianna and Jim. Look, one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time, one of the faces for Team USA, Mikaela Shiffrin, she came into these games with hopes of medaling in all five alpine events with a gold, but the defending giant slalom Olympic champ missed a gate just seconds into her run. She didn't finish the race.

She said afterwards that she's not ever going to forget this, but she also said that this is the type of thing that drives her to keep working. Her next opportunity to medal is the slalom in a couple of days. Let's go to figure skating where the legend of a 15-year-old sensation

is continuing to grow. Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee. First woman ever to land a quad at the Winter Games. She won the free skate by more than 30 points. The ROC wins gold in the team event. Team USA took silver in this one. Valieva already set world records now, Olympic records, too.

You got to see this incredible inspiration. In 2018 27-year-old Max Parrot of Canada was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, completed 12 chemotherapy treatments before returning to competition in 2019, now, just a bit ago, here at the Beijing Games, Olympic gold medalist. It's Canada's first gold of the games and his teammate Martin Morris joined him on the podium. He won his third straight Olympic bronze in the event for Canada.

Parrot took silver in Pyeongchang, Jim and Bianna, four years ago. Got cancer that next year, said he lost all his muscle. Now he's on top of the world.

SCIUTTO: Wow. That's great story.

GOLODRYGA: What an incredible story.

WIRE: Finally, the Bengals in -- that's what we love Olympics for. Let's talk some Super Bowl, though. The Bengals and Rams about to face off in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday. And Cincinnati is bringing along a secret weapon, Jim and Bianna. Get ready for the cart. That's right. A three-level stand with squeaky wheels. That's it. But it's so much more. The cart went viral in October after being wheeled out for media conferences instead of a real podium for the team to use.

And since then, the team, the fans have just embraced this cart. It even has its own unofficial Twitter page. The @BengalsMicCart, video and everything to boot. So this thing, we're going to see at the Super Bowl. They put their awards they've got, like Rookie of the Year trophies, all that, on this thing. And hey, they're rolling. Those Bengals, look out.

[10:50:01]

GOLODRYGA: Who needs commercials when you've got the cart to look out for?

Coy Wire, always great to see you. Bring us some gold for Team USA news this week, will you?

SCIUTTO: Yes. We need it.

WIRE: Let's go. Send that mojo over, let's go. Bring it, baby.

GOLODRYGA: Thanks, Coy.

Well, when it comes to space, what goes up doesn't always come down. After the break, you'll see what's being done to clean up all of that giant junkyard up in space.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:15]

GOLODRYGA: Earth's orbit has been collecting junk since the early days of space exploration.

SCIUTTO: Lots of it and it's dangerous, and it moves real fast, thousands of miles an hour. Now the Biden White House is joining the international community to try to clean it up.

CNN's space and defense correspondent Kristin Fisher joins us now. This is not easy. There's a lot of it up there. It keeps getting added to, particularly as countries blow up stuff in space. So who's taking the lead here?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're about to find out, and you know, this is not just an environmental issue. It's becoming a national security issue as well because, you know, anytime some of this space junk collides, it creates a massive debris cloud that jeopardize not only GPS and spy satellites but also astronauts on board the International Space Station as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FISHER (voice-over): In space, what goes up does not always come down. After decades of launches since the dawn of the space age, earth's orbit has become a junkyard of dead satellites and abandoned rocket bodies, and anytime two objects traveling at about five miles a second collide, the impact could look like a scene straight out of the movie "Gravity."

In real life, no people in space have ever been hit but the International Space Station has. In 2016 a small piece of debris cracked a window on the orbiting outpost and in December its crew prepared for an emergency evacuation after a Russian antisatellite missile test created a massive debris cloud.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will need to activate Dragon's safe haven.

FISHER: Today, U.S. Space Command is tracking more than 40,000 objects in space and only about 5,000 of them are active satellites. The vast majority of space junks still in orbit is from the two major players in the first space race. Russia and the United States.

DOUGH LOVERRO, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT DEFENSE SECRETARY: If these spacecraft were left there by the U.S. government and in general, they were, then that becomes their responsibility to clean it up in the same way that the military would not leave a broken-down tank on the battlefield nor would it go ahead and leave a ship, a derelict ship at sea.

FISHER: But so far, the effort to clean up space has been led by Japan and the European Space Agency, and private companies. Some companies like Clear Space are trying to grab debris with robotic tentacles. Others are trying to catch it with a massive fishing net. And in August, a company called Astroscale successfully tested capturing a small satellite with a magnetic arm.

RON LOPEZ, ASTROSCALE: We use a robotic arm that extends and attaches to the metallic plate. That allows us then to basically perform a tow truck or a tug service, bringing that satellite down to a safe distance and then we can release it to naturally and safely burn up in the atmosphere.

FISHER: Astroscale caught the attention of Prince of Wales who visited its U.K. based mission control last week. The company now has debris removal contracts with the U.K., the European Union and Japan.

LOPEZ: And U.S., unfortunately, we haven't seen and we haven't gotten as much traction from the U.S. government.

FISHER: But the Biden administration is starting to change that. In January, the White House held meetings with experts about how to clean up space and the Space Force is launching a program called Orbital Prime that will give companies the seed funding to do it.

GEN. DAVID THOMPSON,. U.S. SPACE FORCE: Our vision in this partnership is to aggressively explore those capabilities with you today in the hope that we and others can purchase them as a service in the future.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

FISHER: So the U.S. government is taking those first baby steps to start cleaning up space, but it is a problem that is growing very rapidly because now, Jim, it's not just governments sending rockets and satellites up into space but it's all of these private companies, too.

SCIUTTO: And they do it by, I mean, a lot of these launches will have like a dozen satellites, granted small ones, in one launch and that adds to the crowding up there, doesn't it?

FISHER: Yes. These mega constellations in lower earth orbit and right now one of the big issues is, whose responsibility is it to monitor these mega constellations being launched, not just from the U.S. but all over the world.

SCIUTTO: And I imagine, who's going to pay for it. Always that question.

Kristin Fisher, thanks so much. Can you see, Bianna, why I still want to go to space and will pitch myself for any opportunities? There's a lot going on up there.

GOLODRYGA: You can go help clean up all that junk for free of charge, right?

SCIUTTO: Absolutely. I'm volunteering. I hope someone's listening.

Anyway, thanks so much to all of you for joining us today. A busy news day. We're going to keep you up on the news all week. I'm Jim Sciutto.

GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. "AT THIS HOUR" with Kate Bolduan starts right now starts right now.