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Ex-Trump Aide Hope Hicks Meets with January 6 Committee; Polls Show Voters Trust GOP to do Better Job Handling Inflation, Economy; Medical Experts Say Deferring Contact Football in Youth Games is Key to Lessening Overall CTE Risk. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired October 25, 2022 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Just into CNN, former Trump communications director Hope Hicks is meeting with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: CNN's Paula Reid joins us now. So, Paula, what more are we learning?
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: home Well, Bianna, this is of course very significant because Hicks was one of former president Trump's closest aides, including during that period following the 2020 election and on January 6th.
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And the committee has signaled that in this final phase of its investigation, they're really trying to drill down on the former president's efforts to overturn the election results and on what he was doing and where he was and who he was talking to on January 6th.
Now, according to multiple books that have been written about the final months of the Trump administration, Hope Hicks was one of the people who even told the former president that she did not believe that the election had been stolen and she believed that, yes, in fact he had lost.
And the committee has sought to prove through its entire investigation really in the public hearings, in public comments that they have made that multiple people around the former president told him that they did not believe that he had -- the election had been stolen from him and they believed that he had lost.
Now, Hicks had previously had an informal interview, informal conversation with the committee. But today's interview is significant because this is a formal interview. It will be transcribed. It's an on the record Q&A that will become part of the committee's final, official report.
BLACKWELL: Paula Reid, thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Well, Americans are facing higher prices for gas, food and rent, just to name a few. And that financial pressure is front and center for voters going into the midterms. President Biden is laying out his argument for Democrats in a new CNN opinion piece. We'll have details up next.
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BLACKWELL: With just two weeks until election day, president Biden is making his pitch to voters in a new op-ed on CNN.com. It puts the economy front and center.
He writes: The American people face a choice between two vastly different visions for our country.
In the piece, the president touts the unemployment rate, which is at a 50-year low and warns that Republican policies would make inflation much worse.
He also writes this: Over the past nearly two years, we have made enormous progress. My administration working with Democrats in Congress is building an economy that grows from the bottom up and the middle out.
Mitch Landrieu is White House senior advisor and infrastructure implementation coordinator. Always good to have you on. I think the last time that the president published or "Wall Street journal" published an op-ed about the economy by the president, you and I spoke about it that was back in May. Joe Biden, my plan for fighting inflation. Back then the Consumer Price Index was 8.3 percent for the month of April year over year. Now it's 8.2 percent for September year over year. What do you say to the voters who say this is not changing quickly enough, I can't take the inflation at the current rate, it's time to pick a new team?
MITCH LANDRIEU, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR AND INFRASTRUCTURE IMPLEMENTATION COORDINATOR: Well, there's no doubt that inflation is a trouble position for everybody in the country right now. As the president said in his op-ed, you're looking at a global problem right now, primarily caused by Putin's war and the virus. The president has worked really, really hard to lower prices on behalf of all Americans and people ought to contemplate what it would be had we not taken all of the actions that the president has taken.
From lowering prescription drug costs, to lowering health care premiums, to reducing the debts on students as well. All of those actions are taken. The president continues to work very, very hard and he's going to continue to do so. But I think at what he said in the op-ed piece is that elections are really not referendums, they actually are choices.
And one of the questions people ought to be asking now is what the Congressional Republicans' plan is for reducing inflation. They don't really have a plan to do that. What they do have a plan to do is cut social security, cut Medicare and Medicaid to make sure that they go after the health care premium reductions that were in the Inflation Reduction Act and increase prices on prescription drugs. As well as letting folks with a lot of money off the hook. Where the president wants everybody to pay their fair share.
BLACKWELL: And the president has made that case for months now. So, then what do you attribute this 15 point margin of likely voters who say they still, considering all you just laid out there and the president has, they still trust Republicans to do a better job on handling inflation, 15 point margin there, 14 points on handling the economy. I'll point out here on inflation, as many people trust the Republicans as they trust neither party at all, but Democrats alone are 15 points behind that.
LANDRIEU: Well, listen, it's not unusual to be in that position in a midterm election. You can go back and look at every one for the past 30 years and you see presidents that are in similar positions. Actually, this administration is in a better position than some other administrations have been. But on election day when the referendum is held and the choice is made clear, the president is trying to point out what his view is and what their view is and he thinks his is better.
BLACKWELL: Gas prices, the president announced the last 15 million barrels of the overall 180 million from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, there's not an analyst I've spoken with that has said that's going to last very long during to offset the little more than a million per day OPEC cut in oil reduction, so what's next?
LANDRIEU Well, the president really has all options on the table. But as you said, for the last three weeks gas prices have gone down. Unfortunately, they haven't gone down as fast as the price of a barrel of oil as gone down and the president has called on big oil to actually do their part. He's going to continue to work really hard. That release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been very aggressive over the past year and we're going to continue to work on that until we lower the cost for the average American.
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BLACKWELL: This letter that was just withdrawn by 30 House progressives saying that the president in addition to the economic support, the military support, should be redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a cease-fire. It's been withdrawn now, but was there damage done by even sending that message two weeks out from election day?
LANDRIEU: Well, as you said, that letter has been withdrawn. And the Democrats on The Hill and the president are in line on what's going to happen with Ukraine from a United States position.
BLACKWELL: The president says that he has 16 to 18 invitations that he's received to be out with candidates across the country in the last couple of weeks before the votes are counted. Is he scheduled to be out with any? We've not seen any update where the president will be headlining any public rallies.
LANDRIEU: I don't have the president's schedule in front of me, but the president has been traveling and is going to continue to travel across America to highlight the success of his administration. As I said, 10 million new jobs, the lowest unemployment rate. Americans have more money in their pocket today. So, the president is going to be out there all the time and he has been. He's going to continue to travel and I think with great success.
BLACKWELL: Mitch Landrieu, always good to have you on. Good to see you. Thank you.
LANDRIEU: Thank you, Victor.
GOLODRYGA: Well, this just in to CNN. A 5.1 magnitude earthquake has hit central California in Seven Trees near San Jose.
BLACKWELL: Preliminary information shows that the quake was more than four miles deep. We will continue to follow this breaking news and then let you know as we get developments in.
GOLODRYGA: Well, as the NFL changes its concussion protocol, medical experts are calling on youth sports to do the same. What parents should know, up next.
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BLACKWELL: Miami dolphins quarterback Tua Tagliavoila's recent concussion forced the NFL to take another hard look at its head injury protocols. But some medical experts say the concussion dangers need to be addressed long before players make it to the pros.
GOLODRYGA: CNN medical analyst and former Baltimore health commissioner, Dr. Lena Wen wrote a "Washington Post" op-ed saying people are most vulnerable to head trauma when they're young and changes should be made for child athletes.
Dr. Wen joins us now. So, what should parents and youth coaches know?
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all I think it's a good thing the NFL is continuing to revise their concussion protocols. But if we want to make an impasse in terms of reducing the lifelong health consequences from football and other contact sports, we have to start young. So, there's a condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE, that's a progressive decline in cognitive functions resulting in dementia. And the risk of CTE is associated with the total number of hits to the head as well as the number of years that someone is playing direct contact sports.
And so, the experts that I interviewed for "The Washington Post" piece, we talked about two interventions that would be the most useful. The first is delaying the start of tackle football or technician hockey or heading in soccer until at least high school. And then after that working with coaches to try to restrict live tackling in practice. You can practice on dummies but try to reduce live tackling which actually is what the NFL already does.
And so, when you look at the fact there are over 2 million kids playing youth or high school football that are engaging in live tackling and doing things like even the NFL does not do, there's a real chance to make a difference earlier on in a child's life.
BLACKWELL: It's remarkable kids start banking that damage that eventually leads to CTE before they even get to adulthood. Dr. Wen, let me ask you about this triple threat concern of the season. The respiratory virus, RSV that has kids filling these pediatric hospital beds, rising cases of flu, fears of a COVID resurgence, is the medical community equipped, able, to handle all of this at once?
WEN: Well, we anticipated that this could happen last year. We talked about having a possible twin-demic of COVID and the flu, which did not materialize. But this year there could be a triple epidemic. We are seeing RSV cases overwhelm some children's hospitals. We're seeing flu cases on the rise. COVID may be next. Because we're already seeing worrisome signs in Europe.
And so, I'm concerned about what happens to our health care system. Because we know that it's not just COVID patients or flu patients who could be affected. It's everybody else who are trying to come in for medical issues to be addressed. And so, the best thing for people to do, get that flu shot now if you haven't already, especially if you're over 65 or with chronic medical conditions, get your COVID booster. And then also, do good hand hygiene and don't go into work or school if you're actively symptomatic.
BLACKWELL: Dr. Leana Wen, always good advice. Thank you.
The U.S. Postal Service is honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with this new postage stamp. The forever stamp will be released sometime next year.
That is lovely. In a statement the Postal Service said: Justice Ginsburg became a respected jurist whose important majority opinions advancing equality and strong dissents on socially controversial rulings made her a passionate proponent of equal justice and an icon of American culture.
Switching gears really here --
BLACKWELL: Hard turn.
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GOLODRYGA: -- you might think this image we are about to show you is an outtake from a horror movie. Take a look at this. Take a breath first and take a look. This is a close-up photo of an ant's face.
BLACKWELL: You know, I never imagined I guess imagined an ant's face but this is not what I would have drawn.
GOLODRYGA: This is not what I saw in, you know, "A Bug's Life." I can tell you that. This is a carpenter ant. Now they chew through wood to make tunnels for their nest. But look at that face.
BLACKWELL: So, the photo was honored in a nighttime photo competition. It was taken by a Lithuanian photographer who use reflective light to captured the ant's face magnifying it many times under a microscope. It is a face that only a mother could love and even she ain't crazy about it.
GOLODRYGA: The queen ant is the only one that loves that face. On that note, "THE LEAD" starts after this short break.
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