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National Archives Asks DOJ to Investigate Trump's Handling of White House Records; Roger Goodell Responds to Lack of Diversity Among NFL Coaches; Goodell: NFL Has Fallen Short in Process of Hiring Black Coaches; Dozens of SpaceX Satellites Now Falling Back to Earth. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 09, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: We don't know if the DOJ will follow up on it. The subject of an investigation for his handling of government documents.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure, and let me say to Renato, this may just be a way for the National Archives to get all the documents that they really feel they need. And by going to the Justice Department, perhaps they feel that it's putting a little bit more pressure on the former president of the United States to come clean.

Look, if he took personal mementoes, you know, the letter from Barack Obama. That was in desk in the Oval Office when he became president, that's one thing. But if there are other things that are important documents, they belong to the American people and the American people ought know about it.

Donald Trump has always treated the office of the presidency as his own personal sinecure. And that's what this shows. There is absolutely no concern about history or about the American people and what they have a right to know nor did he care about the role of the archives in this.

So, I think Senator Durbin said the other day, as Renato said, you know, very difficult to prosecute on this. But I do think the archives deserves to get the documents of a former president. And rather than having to arrange to have these boxes taken out of Mar-a-Lago, they don't belong in Mar-a-Lago. There can be discussions about a personal letter you may want to keep, et cetera, et cetera. But honestly, this just shows you who Donald Trump was, as if we didn't know.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Gloria, I want to stick with you for a second. Because we have new information about that RNC censure resolution and those three words that the chair, Ronna McDaniel, put in there that have gotten so much attention and criticism even from Republicans. Who are normally, as you know, in lock step about a lot of things. But the idea that what we saw, the hideousness that we saw on January 6th and all the violence against police officers was legitimate political discourse. Here is the early draft which was -- that CNN has acquired and was

even, I think, more stunning. The early draft described the inquiry or the investigation as a Democrat led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in non-violent and legal political discourse. It's the opposite of what we all flagrantly saw with our own eyes. They are investigating it because of the violence that was trying to overthrow a fair election. I tried to put myself in her position and tried to understand why it would be drafted like this but I can't. I can't figure it out.

BORGER: Well, you know, there's one answer and the answer is, and you know it, Alisyn. It's Donald Trump. I mean, this is sort of kowtowing to Donald Trump and we know that there's lot of division in the Republican Party about, for example, whether you are to be paying a good chunk of his legal bills as the RNC is doing. Whether you ought to be looking forward and talk about Joe Biden and the Joe Biden administration. Looking forward to the 2022 elections rather than looking back towards, you know, Donald Trump's, you know, this was a rigged election and the insurrectionists were just very nice people.

And so, she probably did not expect the outcry that she got from particularly those Republicans in the Senate like Mitch McConnell, for example, like Mitt Romney, her uncle. But she got it. She didn't get it from Kevin McCarthy because he's still got both feet firmly planted in the Donald Trump camp. But I think she just kind of expected this to go through. It was sent to members kind of late, at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. And I think they just expected this to slide through and nobody would actually notice what was written. Well, that was wrong.

BLACKWELL: Renato, let's stay with the January 6 and we're getting our first look at the January 6 trial. There've been 200 guilty pleas. This is the first trial now -- about 200. Schedule starts at tend of the month. Guy Reffitt is his name. Accused of storming the Capitol with a pistol on his waist. Charged with interfering with law enforcement officers during civil disorder. Obstructing Congress as well. The officers, they have to prove that the officers were adversely affected by the riot and that he was part of it. It seems like a low bar. Maybe that's why there have been so many guilty pleas. I mean, how simple is this case?

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Yes, that's exactly right. Victor, your instincts are correct. That's what prosecutor do. They charge crimes at a very readily provable so they get guilty pleas and then they put all the rest of the conduct before the judge at sentencing so the judge can make a determination regarding the sentence. So, I do think this is fairly easy bar for the government to meet. But nonetheless, understandably the defendant wants to test that evidence.

[15:35:00]

It may be as to one of the counts, for example, regarding the effect on the officer. That might be something that could, if proved that there could be some sort of cross examination there that would render reasonable doubt but pretty unlikely.

BLACKWELL: Again, this is scheduled to start at the end of this month. Renato Mariotti, Gloria Borger, thank you.

BORGER: Sure.

MARIOTTI: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK, moments ago, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the accusation of racial discrimination among NFL coaches. He said the league has fell short in the process of hiring, lack of coaches. So, we have more of his comment, next.

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CAMEROTA: Moments ago, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the lack of diversity among coaches and team owners in the league. Goodell held a news conference to promote the Super Bowl this coming Sunday.

About a week ago former Dolphins head coach, Brian Flores, sued the league accusing it of racial discrimination in its hiring practices. There are just two black head coaches and a total of five coaches of color in the league in which 70 percent of the players are black. Goodell said the league needs to do better but he said black coaches are being considered for these top positions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER CADDELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: Well, they're getting the interviews, in fact there exceeding anything in the Rooney rules as far as the interviews. It's what we want to try to see the outcomes. We want to see black head coaches in the NFL and coaches of people of color and eventually gender that we think is all important. So, it's an inclusive process and hopefully inclusive outcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Joining us now Howard Bryant, senior writer at ESPN. And Ephraim Salaam, who retired after eight seasons in the NFL. Gentlemen, welcome back. I want to read one more thing we heard from Roger Caddell.

He said: For me to sit here and say I know something, if I knew something was flawed with our process in any area, we would be addressing that.

Ephraim is this a problem of process.

EPHRAIM SALAAM, RETIRED NFL PLAYER: Yes, first off, it was 13 years. Don't take my years away from me. I --

BLACKWELL: My bad. My bad. 13 years.

SALAAM: That's OK. Hey, I work real hard for those 13. Man, my body --

BLACKWELL: I got you. SALAAM: -- feels it every day. But yes, there's a flaw in the process

because the Rooney Rule was put in place because there was a glaring need for more diversity especially at the head coaching position. And you just weren't getting these qualified candidates to even have interviews. I mean, hiring processes were happening without any African-American applicants getting an opportunity to go in and interview. And so, the Rooney Rules put in place to facilitate more, you know, should I say, face-to-face meetings with these eligible minority candidates and ownership.

What's happened now is just a placation of the fact we'll hire who we want to hire but as long as we bring in a minority coach and do the quote, unquote, Rooney Rule interview whether you have any desire to hire them or not. And that's the flaw in the system.

CAMEROTA: Yes, Howard you spent a lot of time thinking about this. Does the Rooney Rule need to go? Does it need to be updated? How do you move from the best of intentions, I suppose, the Rooney Rule saying you have to at least interview two minority candidates to getting people to actually hire them?

HOWARD BRYANT, SENIOR WRITER, ESPN: Well, I think the big question has always been, are you putting black candidates in positions to lead. If you don't want them to lead then obviously, they're not going to get the jobs. And I think that the biggest issue here is whether or not there is a good faith effort to hire black coaches.

The biggest problem that I think that coaches are having and we know this as a fact. Is how many positions are already taken before you go interview. The reason why Bryan Flores is suing the NFL is because he found out through the text messages with Bill Belichick, the accidental text message that the job he was going to apply for with the New York Giants had already been taken. So, that is the -- you talk about process. The process itself is already bastardized because these black coaches who have worked really hard are going into interviews where the jobs are already taken and everybody knows it.

BLACKWELL: Yes, but the truth is -- and we discussed this -- is that sometimes the right man for that job is a white man. That they have chosen a candidate who they want, the team wants them. But it's the humiliation that you have a person come in come in after that who has to sit here through this facade and you know you're not a candidate genuinely. We heard from Roger Goodell about the lack of black team owners. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOODELL: I've been personally involved with this for about three decades now of attracting minority owners, particularly black owners into the league in an ownership position. We have met with Byron a couple of times. And both myself personally as well as other people of our staff. He is not the only individual that's interested in buying an NFL team that is black.

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And we have worked hard to make sure we have as many candidates possible and put them in a position to succeed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Howard, let me stay with you. We talk a lot about coach but we don't often talk about the disparities in black ownership.

BRYANT: No, we don't talk about disparities in black ownership. But I'm apologizing for even appearing like I'm laughing. But do the math.

I mean the NFL is a closed business. We're not even talking about the numbers yet. One, it's a closed business. And you don't just decide, hey, I'm going to go buy a team. You have to be chosen to buy a team and you have to be approved to buy team.

So, it's not even just a question of money but, two, look at the valuations. One of the reasons why people -- African-American players and coaches, are having such difficulty with this is that you look at the popularity of the league. These franchises have grown exponentially. They're in the billions.

And you start looking at the number of people -- how many African- Americans in the country can play at that level? It's like I had an interview with Carmelo Anthony years ago when people always talk about how rich the players are and he said, yes, but their billions beat our millions.

So, you have just a really small number of people who are going to be able to buy into this very exclusive club. The real difference is going to be whether or not the NFL, their requirements to buy teams that you can walk in there with cash, different story but very few African-Americans have that level of money.

CAMEROTA: Yes, Ephraim, I only have ten seconds left. What's the answer? Go ahead, yes.

SALAAM: I can tell you this, I know a few who do. And the problem that we run up against is they're not going to shuck and jive or try to, you know, adhere to these standards that these other owners have put into place. Because they can deny you at any time. Like, you have to be taken seriously as a businessman. Right, if you want to do business, you have to be taken serious as a businessman.

So, you can come in and do all this posturing and try to get all of these things that they say you need to be an owner, and then they deny you any way. And anyone with that amount of money, they don't usually succumb to that type of pressure in terms of not being themselves and true to who they are.

So that whole process of interviewing and allowing minority owners to come aboard, that is the process that I believe is flawed and even having minority stakes in some of these teams now. These NFL owners could give up some stakes of their own franchises. They really --

BLACKWELL: It's like the Rooney Rule with a couple extra zeroes.

SALAAM: A lot of zeroes.

BLACKWELL: Ephraim Salaam, Howard Bryant, thank you so much.

BRYANT: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, space storm wrecked dozens of satellite and they're now falling back to earth.

CAMEROTA: Great.

BLACKWELL: Yes, I know. Just what we need. It sounds like a science fiction movie. It's actually happening. We'll tell you how and why, next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Well, this just in. Dozens of SpaceX satellites launched just last week are now falling back to earth.

CAMEROTA: Great. The company says a geomagnetic storm wiped out almost all its Starlink satellites. CNN's Kristin Fisher is on the story for us. Kristin, this doesn't sound good. What do we need to know?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you have nothing to worry about. No people are in danger here. All of these satellites have either burned up or are about to burn up as they reenter the earth's atmosphere.

And what happened here was that when SpaceX launched these Starlink satellites, very small satellites, on February 3rd last Thursday, they launched them straight into a geomagnetic storm which is essentially a storm in space that's caused by streams of charged particles from the sun. And when they interact with the earth's magnetic field, it can cause the upper atmosphere to thicken. And as you can imagine, as these satellites travel through that thickened upper atmosphere it puts some drag on those satellites.

And so, SpaceX says they put those satellites into a safe mode to try to weather the storm, so to speak. But now they're not able to get them out of that safe mode.

So, SpaceX put out a statement that reads in part, quote, the deorbiting satellites pose zero collision risks with other satellites and by design, demise upon atmospheric reentry. Meaning no orbital debris is created and no satellite parts hit the ground.

So big picture here, probably not a huge impact to SpaceX's Starlink program, they've got, you know, more than 4,000 satellites up there and these are just 40 to -- excuse me about, 40 satellites that we're talking about impacted by this storm, guys.

CAMEROTA: OK. Good, we can exhale and take off our protective headgear. Thank you very much, Kristin.

OK, more states are dropping mask mandates. But the CDC is standing firm on their guidelines. Details on the disconnect ahead.

[15:55:00]

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BLACKWELL: A new study from Norway says a plant-based diet with very little processed food and red meat can add years to your life.

CAMEROTA: If you do this, cut out red meat, you could -- men in their 20s, could add 13 more years. Women could add ten more years. If you start in your 60s, men can add nine extra years to their lives, women, 8. And if you start in your 80s, it's not too late. Everybody gets an extra three and a half years.

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BLACKWELL: You know. we get these every couple of years. These kind of surveys. It depends what I'm giving up.

CAMEROTA: OK, what can you not live without?

BLACKWELL: If I have to live a cheese-free life, and live until 90, but if have cheese, it takes 2 years off. I'm tipping out at 88.

CAMEROTA: Right, you don't live longer. It just feels longer.

BLACKWELL: Yes. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.