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Trump Adviser Kash Patel Testified to Grand Jury on Mar-a-Lago Docs; DOJ Mulls Possible Special Counsel if Trump Runs in 2024; CDC Warns of Early Surge in Respiratory Infections in the U.S.; New RSV Preventive Treatment for Infants Gets Approval in Europe. Aired 2:30- 3p ET

Aired November 04, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So it's very likely that prosecutors were trying to home in on those statements.

Now, what does this mean for the former president in this investigation? We don't know because we don't know exactly what he said to prosecutors.

A source close to Patel insists that he will continue to be, quote, "loyal" to the former president. What does that mean to be loyal when you're answering questions from federal prosecutors about potential crimes happening on federal property?

I don't think we'll know Patel's definition of loyalty until we learn more about what he told prosecutors.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: All right, Paula Reid. Thank you, Paula.

Sources exclusively tell CNN that DOJ officials are weighing the need for a special council to oversee the ongoing federal investigations into former President Trump if he launches a 2024 presidential bid.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Caroline Polisi joins us now. She is a criminal defense attorney and a lecturer of law at Columbia Law School.

Carolina, thank you so much for joining us.

What do you make of this potential move? And would this potentially shield the DOJ from any accusations that it could be acting politically here?

CAROLINE POLISI, LECTURER, COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL: Bianna, I think that's a dicey move. You're right that a special council appointment is supposed but to sort of immunize DOJ from political attacks.

But think back to recent memory to Ken Starr, Robert Mueller, John Durham and you know that it doesn't actually do that job. I think that it will open up DOJ regardless to, you know, political attacks on both sides. BLACKWELL: How much does it change the timeline if at all?

POLISI: I think significantly. Right now, DOJ is pretty far into those two big investigations, the Mar-a-Lago investigation and the January 6th investigation. A special counsel would really muck things up.

Obviously, they would turnover information, but the special counsel would have his or her own team of prosecutors and I think that it would be a big distraction.

GOLODRYGA: What do you make of some of the names that CNN is reporting that DOJ is now considering, some old guard, well-respected Southern District of New York prosecutors? Some names floated are David Raskin as well as David Rowdy, a prosecutor-turned-defense lawyer.

Tell us more about these potential names.

POLISI: It doesn't get much more prestigious when you talk about the Southern District of New York. Former prosecutors there are routinely appointed by federal judges to be special counsels of this nature.

So it doesn't surprise me that these names are being floated. They all have very good resumes I would note.

BLACKWELL: Let's turn to Kash Patel. And a reminder of what he was saying about the documents. This is before he testified and was offered immunity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, FORMER TRUMP ADVISOR: In October of 2020, President Trump put out for the world to see a sweeping declassification order. And he did it via social media.

"Every single Russia-gate doc, every Hillary Clinton-gate doc, everyone." Those are his words.

That is the precedent that the president is allowed to operate under. And then in December and January, on the way out, I witnessed him declassify whole sets of documents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That is what he said on television. And now he has spoken to the grand jury.

How does his having immunity walking into that room on this topic change potentially this investigation?

POLISI: Huge deal, Victor. Very, very big deal for DOJ to grant Patel immunity. It essentially means, if he provides truthful testimony, they can't use it against him in a later prosecution.

And it means that the target on Trump's back is growing bigger and bigger. I suspect they want information, as you know, from the declassification in the mind of President Trump of these large swathes of documents that they uncovered at Mar-a-Lago.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Carolina Polisi, thank you so much. Have a great weekend.

[14:34:03]

Troubling signs that cases of the flu and other respiratory viruses are ramping up nationwide. We'll have the latest CDC numbers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Troubling new signs of this year's flu season. The CDC says hospitalizations have hit the highest for this time of year in more than 10 years.

GOLODRYGA: CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is joining us to break down the latest data.

What more do we know, Elizabeth?

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What we know is that this is a really early flu season. It is so unusual to see so much activity in the early part of November.

Let's take a look at these numbers. If we look at illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths, all of them have nearly doubled in the past week. Hospitalizations rates have not been this high this early since 2009.

The obvious step we all need to take, get a flu shot. It is not too late. The season hasn't peaked yet. It takes a while for the shot to take effect, so get it and get it soon Victor, Bianna?

BLACKWELL: Elizabeth, there's a new treatment approved in Europe to prevent RSV in infants. Tell us about that.

[14:39:57]

COHEN: Yes, this is really interesting. We know this has been a terrible year for RSV. And so in Europe, they have OKed a shot that is given to an infant. And it is just a one-time deal. It really seems to be quite effective.

So let's look at what it is done. It is a single dose given at birth or just before RSV season, but always given to an infant. And it protects 77 percent against RSV hospitalizations. That is a really impressive number.

And it could be in the U.S. by not this winter but the following winter. They have already applied to the FDA for approval.

I don't know if you, Bianna or Victor, know anyone who has children who had RSV, it is terrible. When I think about the people I know -- a dear friend of mine, his son, my nephew, you have this very healthy baby and, all of a sudden, in what seems like five minutes, your child is in the ICU. It can be very dangerous very quickly. GOLODRYGA: And promising with this treatment. And Sanjay Gupta was

here earlier talking about a vaccine at well in the works.

BLACKWELL: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

COHEN: Right.

GOLODRYGA: Well, NBA Star Kyrie Irving finally says he is sorry for his tweet promoting an anti-Semitic documentary but only after the Brooklyn Nets suspended him for at least five games. More on the fallout next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:52]

BLACKWELL: NBA Star Kyrie Irving says he is sorry for his controversial social media post that promoted an anti-Semitic film.

GOLODRYGA: His apology comes after his team, the Brooklyn Nets, suspended him for five games without pay stating that Irving is unfit to be associated with the Nets.

Irving claims he didn't mean any harm and was conducting what he calls research when he came across the documentary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYRIE IRVING, BROOKLYN NETS BASKETBALL PLAYER: I take full responsibility. Again, I repeat it, for posting something on Instagram or Twitter that may have had some unfortunate falsehoods in it.

But I also am a human being that is 30 years old. I'm a grown up in a country that has told me I wasn't worth anything and I come from a slaves class. And I come from a people that are meant to be treated the way we are every day.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And so do you apologize or -- were you apologizing?

IRVING: I don't mean to cause any harm. I'm not the one who made the documentary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Christine Brennan is CNN sports analyst and sports columnist for "USA Today."

Christine, thanks for coming on with us.

So this is now a week into this controversy if not a bit more. This is not his first tango with controversy inside the NBA as a professional player.

The league, the team seemed to bend over backwards to give him opportunities to apologize and get himself out of this. Did they wait too long?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Yes, they did. They waited too long. This is a mess. It should have been dealt with immediately after the first tweet when he didn't apologize, suspend him right there.

You alluded to the history of Kyrie Irving. He is not a little kid. He is not right out of college. He is 30 years old. He is a flat earther, an anti-vaxxer. He has caused heartache and problems almost everywhere he's gone in the NBA.

And to think that the Nets and the NBA let it linger for a week, finally calling him unfit and suspending him for five games. I would have -- I'm not the commissioner, but I think that you kick him out indefinitely and you don't let it linger.

This is not just about him. It's not just about the NBA. This is about the culture in our country.

And the NBA, as a leader, a social leader, as a responsible member of society, needed to do more quickly on this growing and terrifying anti-Semitism we're seeing around the country.

BLACKWELL: Yes, when he sent out the tweet late at night saying, I'm sorry for the pain that I caused, after the suspension, and you didn't do any of that between the tweet and that suspension, it appears that you are doing it because there's a consequence and not because it is heartfelt.

When the Nets say he is unfit to play with the team, how do you come back from being until after five games? Where do they go from here with this?

BRENNAN: I don't know, Victor. I mean, it is obviously a good question and one that we'll continue to ask.

I don't see how five games is enough with something that is this traumatic, this awful. And this has taken over the headlines for the NBA and sports and our culture and country for a week.

I mean, it is bad. This is bad. It is wrong.

And what surprised me is the NBA usually gets it. The NBA in its bubble, WNBA in its bubble, they were well ahead of most leagues in terms of social justice, in terms of George Floyd's murder.

They obviously -- Adam Silver, the commissioner, one of the first things that he did was get rid of an owner Donald Sterling in Los Angeles for his awful remarks and racism.

And to let this linger like this, it really surprises me that the NBA didn't -- and the Nets obviously didn't clamp down on this immediately.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, they fired their head coach. I get it, it was for performance reasons, but they fired him before they suspended Kyrie.

Christine Brennan, thank you so much.

[14:49:53]

Any minute now, President Biden will give his first on-camera remarks regarding the jobs report. Will he effectively leverage the strong numbers to help Democrats win on Tuesday? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: An underwater volcano that erupted near Tonga in January was more than a spectacle, it was a scientific marvel.

GOLODRYGA: Researchers used images captured by satellites and now say the eruption produced the highest volcanic plume ever recorded. More than 35 miles tall, touching the edge of space.

That means it passed through the troposphere and into the stratosphere to reach the mesosphere.

BLACKWELL: What is that again? One more time.

(CROSSTALK)

GOLODRYGA: The stratosphere to reach the mesosphere. It's a science class for you.

BLACKWELL: All right.

GOLODRYGA: The third layer of earth's atmosphere, Victor.

This news, too. The Powerball jackpot has now hit a record -- this is serious. This is serious money.

(CROSSTALK)

GOLODRYGA: This is legit serious money -- $1.6 billion. It's the largest lotto prize ever. Not just here in the U.S., but around the world.

[14:55:09]

BLACKWELL: Yes. It happens tomorrow night, 10:59 p.m. Eastern. The jackpot has a lump sum. Cash option, $782 million.

If no one wins, that will tie the most consecutive drawings without a grand prize winner and that is 40.

GOLODRYGA: Wow.

BLACKWELL: I'm in for 20 bucks.

GOLODRYGA: Me, too.

BLACKWELL: All right. Well, let's do this. Let's put our 20 together and then we buy $40 worth of tickets and then we can split if we win.

GOLODRYGA: We'll see if I split.

BLACKWELL: See! I'm glad that you said that on television.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: I'm glad that you said it on television.

(CROSSTALK)

GOLODRYGA: -- fair, 50/50.

Well, Elon Musk is laying off Twitter employees across the company. But some are now fighting back. We'll have details on the fallout ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)