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Tempered Expectations on Black Friday Amid Inflation, Higher Prices; Warrant Issues for Friend of American Woman Who Died in Mexico; Coast Guard Rescues Cruise Ship Passenger Who Went Overboard. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 25, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Particular matter.

[10:00:00]

Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks so much.

It is top of the hour. I'm Jim Sciutto. And happening right now, the holiday shopping season in full swing as consumers flock to find the best Black Friday deals today. Will inflation push people to cut down on their holiday spending?

There are some positive signs for retail sales. Despite the higher prices, the National Retail Federation expects more than 166 million Americans will do some shops this weekend, that a significant increase from last year. Ahead, we're going to take you to one of the largest department stores in the U.S. to see how those crowds are looking this morning.

Plus, an arrest warrant now issued for the friend of an American women killed while on vacation in Mexico, what authorities are saying about the circumstances under which she died.

And just incredible survival story, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued a man from the Gulf of Mexico after he fell over from a Carnival cruise ship. What we're learning about the search and rescue operation and just how long he survived in the water.

Let's begin this morning though with CNN Business Correspondent Alison Kosik. She is at the Herald Square Macy's in New York City, a lot of history there. Alison, you're our person on the ground. What signs are you seeing this morning? How busy of a day is it going to be?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT8: Jim, good morning. The rain that is coming down here in New York City now putting a damper on the holiday shopping spirit that we're seeing right here at Macy's in Herald Square, in the middle of New York City.

I was inside earlier today before they opened the doors and there were a couple of hundred people waiting outside in the cold and in the dark to get in when those doors opened at 6:00 A.M. Eastern time. So, whoever said that Black Friday in-store shopping is dead, I would say it is not.

We are in the middle of a big shopping extravaganza. I'm talking from before Thanksgiving Day yesterday all the way through Monday, Cyber Monday. 166 million people are expected to shop during this long holiday shopping weekend.

Just today, Black Friday, 115 million people across the country are expected to shop with more than half shopping in stores, as I said proof of Macy's behind me.

You know, one thing weighing on everybody's minds, though, the shoppers who I talked to, is inflation. It is kind of elephant in the room. Many shoppers that I talked to, they're feeling it impact how much they can spend and what they could spend on. Many shoppers telling me this year, they'll have to stick to a budget and really make choices that they wouldn't otherwise have made. I want to you listen to one shopper who I talked to earlier. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the problems is inflation. Prices are high. So, we have to make some adjustments of what we're going to buy this year. So, yes, it is little bit downsizing in terms of buying gifts, not like last year. So, yes, inflation is affecting of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And so deals are really what's driving many of the decisions for shoppers, when they're deciding which gift to buy for the person that they love. They're still trying to keep up that holiday magic despite the weight off inflation. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Alison Kosik at Macy's, downtown New York, thank you so much.

So, joining me to discuss this, Steve Sadove, he is an adviser to MasterCard, former chair of the National Retail Federation, a former CEO of Saks. Steve, good to have you on this morning.

STEVE SADOVE, ADVISER TO MASTERCARD: Great to be here, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, we've been watching this economy closely for months now and there have been conflicting signs, right? I mean, you have high inflation but job growth has stayed high. And it seems that retail sales are going to be strong today. Well, what do you see looking at the picture? Do you expect a big Black Friday and a big holiday shopping season?

SADOVE: Well, the MasterCard spending pulse numbers take a look at the overall consumer. All forms of tender, not just MasterCard. And they're calling for a 15 percent growth in the consumer spending on Black Friday. So, the consumer is healthy, they're back in the store, 18 percent growth projected in the stores. Department stores will be killing. They're looking at a 25 percent growth year-on-year. So, it says the consumer is back in the stores. We're back to a more normal, like a pre-pandemic Black Friday.

Black Friday is not the only day. It is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. But we're looking at a holiday season that is going to be growing and forecasted at about a 7 percent growth rate. So, yes, there is a lot of inflation but the consumer is still pretty healthy.

SCIUTTO: That is pretty remarkable, because, listen, the folks, we've had them on the air, we talk to them every day, people feel that increase in prices. So, why -- why the disconnect? Why are people still spending so much money in stores?

SADOVE: Well, I'm not so sure it is a disconnect as much as inflation. If you have 7 percent growth and 7 percent inflation, the real growth is relatively flat. You're also seeing a slowing down. If I look at the growth rate during the summer, it was around 11 percent or 12 percent, and it was 9 percent or so in October. So, we're starting to see the impact of a slowing consumer.

[10:05:02]

I think that what we have though is the consumer has a lot of pent-up demand and more importantly they're shifting their behavior. During the pandemic, it was all about online. Online went from about 11 percent of commerce to 19 percent of commerce. What's happening now is people are going back to the store so that 19 percent is staying at 19 percent. It is not continuing to grow as much.

The consumer wants the types of things they lacked during the pandemic. They want experiential. They want to get out into store. They want to go and get some new clothing to go out to parties. So, a lot of the items that were winners in the pandemic, exercise bikes, things like that, are now seeing a much slower performance.

So, the consumer though is having to make choices. Alison said it correctly. Inflation is eating into the consumer and they're having to make some choices. The categories -- deals are out there. You had too much inventory of apparel and a number of other categories because retailers overordered during the pandemic because of the supply chain issues. So, the deals are there but this is going to be a real focus but very good holiday season for the consumer.

SCIUTTO: So, you're saying that oversupply from the pandemic means folks can actually save some money today?

SADOVE: Oh, absolutely. I've already been out in the stores today and you're seeing toys on sale, probably 30 percent off, a lot of apparel sales, electronic sales. So, I think it is going to be good for the consumer, but consumer still want to get -- they don't want to have that much of the at leisure clothing. What they want is a new sexy top to go to a party. So, it is going to be about choices but it's also going to be the newness is going to be out there as well.

SCIUTTO: Understood. All right, well, that is relatively positive. Steve, good to have you on this morning. I hope you are having a nice holiday with your family. SADOVE: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well authorities in Mexico have now obtained an arrest warrant for a friend of Shanquella Robinson. She's a 25-year-old North Carolina woman who was killed last month while vacationing with a group of friends in Cabo, in Mexico. Mexican prosecutors say the victim's death was not an accident, the result of, quote, a direct attack that involved one of her female friends.

CNN's Ryan Young has been following all of this for us. Ryan, we were talking last hour, a lot of internet slews helped keep this story in the spotlight here. But what have prosecutors said about what they know in the latest stage of their investigation?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, look, this has been very interesting. Of course, when you talk about the internet, making this happen, a lot of black social media pushing this forward, black Twitter is all involved in this. The reason why is because people had questions about exactly why this woman died.

And there is a video online that we cannot show you just because we haven't been able to authenticate it for ourselves, but in the video, you can see that lass looks like more than 30 seconds, there is a woman hitting another woman over and over again. And the second woman is not fighting back.

Now, we've got in contact with Shanquella Robinson's father and he says that his daughter that is in that video. So, you can understand why these parents were so upset in the very beginning. According to our affiliate, WBTV, the friends came back from Mexico and indicated that she died from alcohol poisoning. But when you look at the death certificate, you can see she actually died from a spinal cord injury. So, things did not match up at all.

And these are not new friends or someone that she just met. These are people that she knew from college. So, all these questions have been going back and forth. The FBI is now involved. And it is that internet constant traffic of people saying, hey, when is she going to get justice, to help keep this in the consciousness for so many people.

But listen to a friend of talking about how painful this has been for them trying to figure all of this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

K'DAHJAH VINSON, FRIEND OF SHANQUELLA ROBINSON: I'm glad that it is getting the attention that it needs because I wish it was like this from day one.

I'm more so disappointed that she was around people that she thought were her friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Jim, a dislocated neck. When you think about friends going to Mexico to have a good time, this is not the thing that you think that would be popping up or someone would not intervene in the fight when you watch this video. It goes on for several seconds without anyone stopping it or even trying to intervene.

So many questions, and also we do not know the name of the person the Mexican authorities want and whether or not any other people who were there will be charged.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. We hope justice is served. Ryan Young, thanks so much.

A remarkable survival story, a cruise ship passenger may have spent 15 hours floating in the Gulf of Mexico, this after falling overboard from a Carnival cruise ship. His sister reported him missing Thursday afternoon after not seeing him since the night before. But he is alive today after an incredible rescue mission by the U.S. Coast Guard.

CNN's Nick Valencia joins us now.

[10:10:00]

I mean, listen, first of all, 15 hours in the water, that is incredible, and then finding him in the water all of those hours later. What are officials saying happened here?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. When was the last time you heard of somebody going overboard or being lost at sea only to be found? This is a great story, one with a happy ending. And authorities are saying that this unidentified man was a passenger on a cruise ship, the Carnival Valor, which took off from New Orleans on Wednesday on a five-day cruise bound for Cozumel, Mexico, and it was on Wednesday night that this individual was at the bar with his sister when his sister says that told her that he was going to restroom but he never came back.

She reported him missing to the ship at noon on Thursday. At about 2:30 is when the ship contacted the U.S. Coast Guard. They got involved in the search and rescue operation. The cruise ship also got involved, stopping in its tracks, retracing its route to contribute to that search and rescue operation. The man was eventually spotted floating in the Gulf of Mexico by crew members of a vessel that was also in the area. He was airlifted and transported for medical treatment.

But earlier this morning on CNN This Morning, a lieutenant from the Coast Guard described the rescue and said that this is just nothing short of a Thanksgiving miracle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. SETH GROSS, SEARCH AND RESCUE MISSION COORDINATOR, U.S. COAST GUARD: I'll be honest with you, a 17-year career, this case is unlike anything I've been a part of it. So, I think it kind of blows the norm -- the normalcy out of the water here and really just shows the will to live is something that you need to account for in every search and rescue case.

This is, like I said, one of the absolute longest that I've heard about and just one of those Thanksgiving miracles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: The man, we're told, is in stable condition.

And in an interesting note, we learned this morning from that interview that the man's family stayed on the cruise, so they're going on to Cozumel, but the man is currently in New Orleans. The Coast Guard says more details to come and we want all of the details that we can get on this story, a remarkable story of survival this morning, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I would love to know how he stayed alive all of those hours in the water there and through the night, which is remarkable. Nick Valencia, thanks so much.

VALENCIA: You got it.

SCIUTTO: Still to come, President Biden vowing to push for new action on guns. Can anything actually get done, particularly before Republicans take over the House in January? Do they have the votes?

Plus, Elon Musk says he is now ready to bring back banned Twitter accounts, all of this starting next week. One expert likens it to opening the gates of hell. Who could we see come back online?

And later, Ukraine is racing to restore power as Russia refuses to relent on its critical attacks on critical infrastructure, aiming to punish, really, the Ukrainian population.

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[10:15:00]

SCIUTTO: This just into CNN, the city of Chesapeake, Virginia, has now released new information about the Walmart employee who opened fire on his co-workers, killing six people before taking his own life. Two people remain hospitalized, including one of them in critical condition. City officials now say the shooter purchased the handgun the very morning of Tuesday's attack.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher has been following this story for us. And they also released a message that the gunman had left on his phone. What do we know?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. This is probably the biggest development in the police investigation that we've had since that shooting that claimed the lives of six people at Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Tuesday.

According to the city of Chesapeake, police did a forensic analyst of the shooter's phone, which they found on the scene, and say they determined that there was a note on that phone. It was entitled death note on the phone. They released a screen grab of that on their Twitter account this morning. Look, the note talks about his grievances against himself, against his co-workers. It talks at length about God and the Holy Spirit and essentially feeling inadequate and angry about things.

Look, we don't talk a lot about these because, essentially, they are excuses for murdering people, six people at that Walmart, but I do want to read you these two excerpts from this here. One of them saying, the associates gave me evil twisted grins, mocked me and celebrated my downfall the last day. That is why they suffer the same fate as me. It also says, I wish I could have saved everyone from myself. May God forgive me for what I'm going to do. Again, it was entitled death note.

The city also adding that there were talks about, we discussed that search warrant that was executed at the shooter's home, Andre Bing, 31 years old, after the shooting occurred. They say that they found a box of ammunition, various items in there in reference to that 9 millimeter semiautomatic handgun that they say he was armed with, in addition to several magazines that were on the scene at this home. They found the box receipt and other paperwork. And, again, he purchased that gun on the morning of the shooting there on Tuesday.

And, look, most important in all of this, the community of Chesapeake trying to recover from this reeling from that shooting and those victims who I want to show their faces and say their names again, because they are center of this shooting, Lorenzo gamble, Brian Pendleton, Kellie Pyle, Randall Blevins, Tyneka Johnson and a 16-year- old boy who was killed, all of them working at Walmart. They were co- workers of that shooter, Andre Bing, who, again, was the overnight team lead at Walmart, according to the company, and had been with Walmart since 2010.

Many of the survivors we spoke with described the shooter as somebody who was often paranoid or who was condescending and mean to them as employees and still, though, that they didn't expect this to be the way that that was going to turn out, Jim.

SCIUTTO: The weapon bought the very same day.

[10:20:00]

Dianne Gallagher, thanks so much.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Well, in the wake of all of these shootings, this time in Virginia and Colorado, President Biden says he still wants to get an assault weapons ban passed in Congress. But with just over a month until Republicans take control of the House, Democrats have a short window to move on really any of the administration's priorities. Here was the president yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: The idea that we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick, just sick. It has no, no social redeeming value, zero, none. Not a single solitary rationale for it expect profit from the gun manufacturers.

REPORTER: Can you do anything about gun laws during a lame duck, sir?

BIDEN: I'm going to try.

REPORTER: What will you try and do?

BIDEN: I'm going to try to get rid of assault weapons.

REPORTER: During the lame duck?

BIDEN: I'm going to do it whenever -- I have got to make that assessment as I get in and start counting the votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Joining me now, Toluse Olorunnipa, White House Bureau Chief for The Washington Post. Toluse, good to have you on.

I don't want to eliminate any possibility because, listen, in the last few years in Washington have told us to always allow the possibility to be surprised. But, I mean, is there a potential movement on an assault weapons ban, which, of course, would, you know, resurrect something that this country did do a number of years ago with bipartisan support?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, Jim. The math just is not there for that kind of law, even at this moment when Democrats control the House and the Senate. They have tried to push for different kinds of gun laws in the House. It has run into a blockade in the Senate where you have the filibuster rule. And so there is a very low likelihood that this will pass during the lame duck, even though the president has said that he wants to get something done.

He has talked about what he was able to get passed earlier this year with a modest bill on gun safety. But in terms of this more far- reaching effort to try to ban assault weapons, it just doesn't seem like the math is there and Republicans who are going to take control in just a matter of weeks have said they have no interest in restricting gun rights at all.

SCIUTTO: All right. Well, let's look at other possibilities during the lame duck. I mean, you have got two economic kind of hurdles here. One funding the government, then the other is raising the debt limit, which Republicans say they might use to pressure Democrats for other concessions. Could either -- both of those get passed during the lame duck session?

OLORUNNIPA: There is a lot of pressure on Democrats to try to clear the plate for the president knowing that Republicans are coming in and are going to try to use those pressure points to try to extract other concessions from the president. So, we haven't quite yet figured out whether or not the Democrats will be able to get themselves together in order to do that for the president. There is pressure for them to try to fund the government far into the future as well as to raise the debt ceiling. But Republicans are salivating. They realize that they're going to on the cusp of power in the House that they haven't had for quite some time. They are going to be able to use some of the levers of power, including things like the debt ceiling, including things like funding the government to try to pressure Joe Biden.

And so Biden hasn't specifically laid out what he wants to get done during the lame duck on those two major issues, but I would not be surprised if he tries to put some pressure on his fellow Democrats to try to lend him a hand ahead of next year, which is going to be full of oversight and investigations and all kinds of political brinksmanship as well.

SCIUTTO: There are some not insignificant pieces of legislation on the docket for the lame duck session, including a bill to codify same- sex and interracial marriage, but also discussions, and both of these things have some have some bipartisan support to reform the Electoral Count Act. Are those two legislative hurdles that they can get over before January?

OLORUNNIPA: They are looking to do that and it is a preview of what we may see in the next two years after Republicans take control. The sense from the Biden White House is that the president has worked in a bipartisan way in the past and he has signed over 200 bills that were bipartisan in nature. And so you're looking at these two bills, things like the Electoral Count Act, to show they can still legislate even in divided government.

Now, there are some Republicans that don't want to do anything to give Biden a win or allow him to sign any bills that are in the mode of bipartisanship to show that he is working across the aisle. So, it may be -- these may be some of the last bipartisan major bills that we see over the next several years as we start to get into campaign mode, thinking about 2024, thinking about the next presidential race. And so I do think there is an impetus to get this done before Republicans take over in January.

SCIUTTO: Is there nothing that might garner bipartisan support in both Houses during this coming term? Because you do speak to some of the problem solvers, for instance, at a group of bipartisan lawmakers in the House who like to work across party lines. I spoke to Don Bacon, a Republican, earlier in the week. And he said he would be willing to work on some things. I mean, is there any hope that that could bring them together or the pressures particularly of 2024 too great?

OLORUNNIPA: They are really far apart, the two parties, on a number of these major issues.

[10:25:00]

Now, you do have a number of Republicans who won seats and there are going to be freshmen who won seats in Biden-favoring districts, places where Biden cleared those districts by five, ten points. And so they campaigned on things like cost of living and inflation. And so if there are ways for the Biden White House to show that they want to pass bills that will take care of inflation, those members may be more interested in those votes as opposed to some of the more contentious issues that Republicans are considering for the next term. So, there may be some issues on the economics where they may be able to work across the aisle, but it is going to be very tough to try to get bipartisanship for the next two years.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Listen, it will be a test for the leadership of Kevin McCarthy, if he is indeed speaker. Toluse Olorunnipa, thanks so much for joining us.

OLORUNNIPA: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, a little bit of the big game today, Team USA taking on England in just a few hours at the World Cup. England, of course, has the experience. The Americans do have a youthful team and maybe some confidence here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: England is still a big team at the end of the day, intimidation factor. I wouldn't say there are many things out there that intimidate me other than spiders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: We'll see how it plays out in the field. We're going to ask World Cup Soccer Champ Briana Scurry what she thinks about the men's team chances. That is coming up.

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