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Border Surge?; Missing American College Student Found Alive in Spain; Russia Launches New Missile Attack; Brittney Griner Leaves Texas Medical Facility; Viral Triple Threat; Elon Musk Suspending Journalists From Twitter. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 16, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:05]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello, and happy Friday. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

A growing threat to your holiday celebrations. New flu numbers are in and show just how hard this virus is hitting the nation.

Also today, the American college student who went missing in France is found safe in Spain. What happened? We're on it.

And we're following a crisis at the Southern border, as Texas struggles to content contain an unprecedented influx of migrants. Officials are warning the surge in crossings could mean big bucks for some very bad people behind the scenes. We will explain.

Plus, rack up the frequent flyer miles, you reap the rewards, right? And you might be wrong.

We begin with the latest on his viral triple threat that slamming the U.S.

And CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the latest for us.

Let's start with COVID, Elizabeth. We have new findings showing these updated boosters are really effective. But that doesn't seem to be convincing people to get the shot.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, it certainly isn't.

And I have to say that, even with this new data, I don't know that these numbers are going to go up much more. So let's -- there was lots of data that was put into these two studies that the CDC just releasing this hour. Let's take a look at one of the most important numbers.

What they found is that when elderly people got this bivalent booster -- that's the one that's been available since September -- it was 73 percent more effective, this bivalent booster, compared to folks their age who received just the regular two vaccines -- I mean -- I'm sorry -- the regular vaccine, so not the new one, just the regular vaccines two months earlier, or more than two months earlier.

So, in other words, they were better off getting this bivalent, which is only been available since September, than relying on essentially their vaccinations that happened months earlier. So, certainly, especially for the elderly, this bivalent booster does seem to be doing some good.

Now let's take a look at what you said about how this doesn't seem to be convincing people. If we take a look at CDC numbers, about 35 percent of people who are elderly have gotten it. But when you look at younger numbers, it's 16 percent, it's 15 percent, it's 14 percent. It is just so much less in use. Those folks really do not seem to want to be taking it.

And the Kaiser Family Foundation just put out some interesting information about the new bivalent. And they found, I guess not surprisingly, that a lot of it depends on your political affiliation, since vaccines have become so politicized. When they asked -- the folks at Kaiser looked at people who said that they don't think they need this new COVID booster, 64 percent of Republicans said they don't think they need it, and 26 percent of Democrats said that they don't think they need it.

The Republican one, I have to say, Ana, didn't surprise me much. The Democrat one, that kind of did. I was surprised it was so high. Democrats were really quite enthusiastic about COVID vaccination, so to see them meh about this one really does, I think, tell you something.

CABRERA: There is the vaccine fatigue setting in, I think, across the board.

COHEN: Yes.

CABRERA: What about the flu? What do the latest numbers show there?

COHEN: It's interesting.

So, the CDC comes out with new flu numbers every Friday, so we have been working hard to see what those say. For the first time this season, we're actually seeing a drop in flu numbers, that flu numbers went down 10 percent when you look at last week compared to the week before, but -- and I'm going to say a huge but here -- not going to celebrate, not going to say maybe flu has peaked and it's coming down.

The reason why is, it could go right back up next week and the week after. You just never no. One week of a drop does not mean that things are on their way down. And flu has really been not just early this year, but really particularly tough. If we take a look at the flu season so far, there have been at least 150,000 hospitalizations, at least 9,300 deaths.

And it's really -- it's been particularly hard on the elderly, which is always true. It's also been a tough year for children. So, get yourself vaccinated, get your children vaccinated. It's not too late. We are still in the middle of a very tough flu season -- Ana. CABRERA: Important information. Thank you so much, Elizabeth Cohen.

Brittney Griner is off to Arizona. She left a medical military facility in Texas just a couple of hours ago. These are some of the newly released photos from when she first arrived here on American soil one week ago. The WNBA star says the last 10 months in Russian detention have been a battle at every turn.

She also wants to make one thing clear. She says she intends to play with the Phoenix Mercury this season.

CNN's Kylie Atwood has more now.

Kylie, Griner put out a rather long post today on social media expressing a lot of gratitude. What else?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, deep gratitude, Ana.

This is the first time that we have heard from Brittney Griner since she returned back to the United States. She's now going to be leaving Texas, where she's been at an Army medical facility getting some support. She's going to be headed home.

And, as you said, I mean, gratitude for really everyone who helped her get home, including her wife, her agent, her Russian lawyers, U.S. officials, her WNBA family, President Biden.

[13:05:10]

And she also had this message for the president, saying -- quote -- "President Biden, you brought me home, and I know you're committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home too. I will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you. I also encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring home all -- to bring all Americans home. Every family deserves to be whole."

It's very clear, Ana, that she wants to be a champion for those other Americans who are still wrongfully detained abroad. One of them is Paul Whelan, who is still in Russia. He's been there for about four years now. He wasn't part of the prisoner swap that brought Brittney Griner home.

So she's making it clear that she's going to be someone who is standing up for him, trying to do everything she can to bring him home. There is a campaign, it's called Bring Our Families Home Campaign, that works with all the families of those who are wrongfully detained abroad.

And they tweeted out a photo of Brittney Griner hugging her wife, Cherelle Griner. I'm told that her team, the team around Griner gave that photo to the Bring Our Families Home Campaign, making it very clear that they want her name associated with the efforts of that campaign. And, as you said, Ana, she also said that it is her intention to play

in this basketball upcoming season. And that is a place where she will thank all the other fans and everyone else who was so much pushing for her to come -- Ana.

CABRERA: And reading her post, it definitely seems like she has a whole new perspective on life and what's truly important.

Kylie Atwood, thank you. So great to hear she's doing well.

Now to Ukraine. Russia launching dozens and dozens of missiles this morning, leaving more civilians dead and many others without water, heat or train service. The White House condemned the strikes, which obliterated more of Ukraine's critical infrastructure.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is tracking this.

Nick, this sounds like a multifaceted attack, different types of missiles launched from various locations targeting several regions. What more are you learning?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, 60 of those 76 intercepted, says Ukraine, which is a high rate, but, still, the reports of damage to infrastructure in what senior officials called the ninth wave of attacks on infrastructure are in some areas -- quote -- "colossal."

Now, for a while there was a 50 percent deficit of power, it seemed, in Ukraine, according to energy officials. They do appear to be getting reports from different parts of the country suggesting that electricity is being restored, but the second largest city, Kharkiv, significantly hit.

And you're seeing their pictures of people sheltering in the metro stations of Kyiv, dual use now, frankly, places that get you to work, but also keep you safe when there's bombing. In fact, one of the younger citizens of Kyiv there found in the metro station said how she'd simply been walking her way to work, saw a rocket in the sky, and sort of, to some degree, shrugged, went underground to wait for that wave of strikes to pass.

Important to note, though, that Ukrainian officials are suggesting some of the planes possibly involved in this wave of strikes may have been sent over the skies of Belarus. Now, that's to Ukraine's north, another neighbor that has been intermittently dragged in to this war by Moscow.

And there are persistent reports now from senior Ukrainian military officials to suggest that they fear that maybe Belarus could be used to launch another attack on the capital, Kyiv, in the months ahead. Important to point out Kyiv often plays the information game here with warnings, but it's also fair to point out that, in Belarus, we have seen an intermittent Russian military presence there clearly designed to keep Ukraine on edge, worry if another invasion is coming from the north, reduce the forces they have to send to other front lines in the south and east. But, today, yet again infrastructure hit in the bitterness of winter -- Ana.

CABRERA: OK, Nick Paton Walsh, thank you for the latest from Ukraine.

The American college student reported missing more than two weeks ago in France is alive. A French official says Kenny DeLand Jr. is in Spain. His father says he finally spoke to his son after not hearing from him since November 27 and tells CNN -- quote -- "He is alive. That's all I can say."

CNN's Melissa Bell is following this for us in Paris.

Melissa, Kenny was reported missing in Grenoble. He's now in Spain, it appears. Do we know where he's been this whole time and what's been going on?

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We don't.

It had been 17 days since Kenny DeLand Sr. had heard from his son. And when we were speaking to this morning -- CNN producer Saskya Vandoorne happened to be on the phone with him. He was at the end of his tether, crying a lot at the fact that he just couldn't deal with this anymore. He hadn't slept. He said he couldn't sleep until his son was heard from.

It was then that he received the news. He later, we know, had a conversation with Kenny. And we have heard, of course, from the prosecutor that that conversation will have happened from Spain.

[13:10:01]

Now, what we learned from Kenny's father and yesterday is that when he left his host family on the morning of the 28th, we knew that he was carrying a packed lunch, a change of clothes, his phone and wallet. We also discovered he had been carrying his passport. Now, does that signal that he had the intent to cross that border? We still don't know, because, although we have spoken again to the family tonight, who are clearly just ecstatic at the news -- they can't quite believe it.

He was due to go back tomorrow to the States. And they're hoping that he will be able to do that. In fact, they put out a statement on that Web site that they set up, Find Ken DeLand, explaining their joy at the news that he'd been found and that he was well, saying -- thanking everyone for helping look for Kenny all that time.

But, clearly, as that clock ticked until his return on Saturday, the chances of him being heard from seemed to dim. We spoke to the family again tonight. They're ecstatic, but really for the time being not giving me many more details, Ana, about exactly where he was or what happened to him, or indeed what physical or mental state he's in at the moment, Ana.

CABRERA: OK, thank you, Melissa Bell, for that reporting. Bracing for chaos at the U.S. Southern border. How the end of a Trump era pandemic policy could make the Southern border crisis even worse and put billions of dollars in the pockets of drug cartels and even Chinese gangs.

Plus, Elon Musk is at again, banning some journalists, including one of our own, from Twitter for something that most of them did not do. What happened to his commitment to free speech?

And how the massive storm sweeping across the U.S. could make a mess of your holiday travel plans.

Stay with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:58]

CABRERA: Two of the country's most powerful Democrats chatting over Chinese food and dishing about 2024.

Here's part of their conversation with CNN's Jamie Gangel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I think President Biden has done an excellent job as president of the United States.

I hope that he does seek reelection. He's been a great president.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): And look at what he's accomplished. A lot of people...

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: You think he should run again?

SCHUMER: Yes, he's done an excellent, excellent job. And, if he runs, I'm going to support him all the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: That backing as President Biden faces mounting pressure to fix a key issue, the Southern border crisis.

Lines into El Paso this hour are growing, as some critical battles over Trump era immigration policies are escalating, a federal judge overnight blocking President Biden's attempt to end Trump's so-called remain-in-Mexico rule, where migrants are forced to wait in Mexico, rather than the U.S. for processing and their court dates.

Now, this is different than the Title 42 pandemic policy that we have been talking about this week, which allows authorities to expel migrants quickly and is set to expire in just five days.

Let's dig deeper into Title 42 lifting now, because, as the U.S. braces for a surge, it's turning out an influx of people is just the tip of the iceberg. U.S. law enforcement officials warn a spike in border crossings will mean big bucks for Mexican drug cartels that have now taken over the human trafficking business.

We're talking about billions of dollars. And it's not just the cartels cashing in. Federal officials say Chinese money laundering groups will too.

Let's discuss with CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analysts, John Miller.

John, we're really talking billions of dollars? How does this work?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, if you take the idea that, in the olden days, you used to sneak across the border. Then you had to hire a coyote who could guide you through routes when there was more protection on the border.

These days, if you don't have a cartel, you're going to get stopped by the cartel before you're stopped by Border Patrol. They're going to want to see that colored yellow or green or blue bracelet that says you have paid the cartel and that they're guiding you through. So that means, for a single person that could be $1,500. For a family, that could be $10,000.

Let's say the average is $3,000., So if 170,000 people are crossing now per month, and then, when Title 42 expires, if that goes to 200,000, you could be talking about $7.2 billion a year that they're going to be charging as a toll for an illegal crossing. That's big money.

CABRERA: Wow. Yes, that is a lot of money. So that makes me wonder, are these cartels making more money from drugs or human trafficking now?

MILLER: Well, human trafficking, in the cartel sense, is a relatively new line of business.

But when you're talking $7 billion, it's about a third of their profits, because the cartels and the drug world are probably making $20 billion to $30 billion. So it's certainly not a line of business that they're going to ignore. And you can -- you can really kind of combine those, because you're using the same routes, the same smuggling technique, same tunnels.

CABRERA: OK. How does China come into play here?

MILLER: So this is really fascinating. And in the days of the Colombian drug cartels, the laundering was done by South American money launderers or Middle Eastern money launderers.

The Chinese triads came up with a better way. So, when China comes into it, A, they're charging a small percentage of what the other laundering networks charge, so everybody's going to them because they're the cheapest. But what they will do is, a businessperson will come in with a -- into the network. Then somebody will deliver them a bag of cash, let's say there's $30,000 or $150,000. That businessperson will verify

that guy's identity by looking at a $1 bill. If the serial number on the dollar bill matches the code number they have been given, they know that's the right person.

[13:20:01]

They make a phone call to a bank overseas and they say, transfer this exact same amount of money into an account. Move it to another account. Then convert it to pesos. Move it to Mexico. So what you have is the cleaning of $150,000, for instance, that has never touched a U.S. bank. And then that cash in that duffel bag goes back into the network here.

CABRERA: And that seems like an awful lot of work.

And so why has -- these Chinese money laundering groups, why have they cornered the market when it comes to doing it this way?

MILLER: Because they're doing it smarter. And they're a global network.

Think of the old model, Ana. You had to show up at a bank, where your cartel was with duffel bags of money or hide that money somewhere, which put it at risk of seizure or theft. If you showed up at the bank, you had to have a story about where that money came from. This is never touching a U.S. financial institution. It's completely flying under the radar.

And they're charging so little, to the point that not just drug cartels from Mexico, which now dominate the industry, but American organized crime, La Cosa Nostra families, are seeking out the Chinese organized crime money laundering machines because they're getting a better rate.

CABRERA: It does make me wonder if all of this happening behind the scenes is one of the big reasons there's been such a surge of people coming even before Title 42 is lifted.

MILLER: Well, I think you have got a lot of factors there. You have got countries like Venezuela. Now you see an influx from Peru. These are countries that are either in disarray or on their way to disarray or civil disorder or poverty or things that cause desperation.

But the cartels, always looking for a new area of business, identify that. You think of the cartel mind-set. It's when Americans, because of the pharmaceutical industry, got addicted to oxycodone, the cartels says, they're going for $60 a pill. We can beat that. So they started...

CABRERA: Opportunists.

MILLER: They started counterfeiting blue pills.

Then, when they realized it was opioids in general, they put in the multicolor pills with the fentanyl, which was a synthetic drug which is extraordinarily dangerous, 107,000 overdose deaths a year in 2021. And look at the figures we just talked about with the flu. These are exponentially larger than what people die of, heart attack, car accidents, and so on.

CABRERA: Wow. It's all so fascinating. Thank you so much for shedding light on this specific angle of what's happening.

MILLER: Appreciate it.

CABRERA: Appreciate it, John.

If Elon Musk is such a huge fan of free speech, why did he just ban a group of high-profile journalists from Twitter?

And travelers are making a comeback. Now airlines are cutting back on frequent flyer perks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:27:46]

CABRERA: He promised to protect free speech on day one, but now Elon Musk, Twitter's new owner and CEO, is banning the accounts of several journalists from "The New York Times", "The Washington Post," even CNN's Donie O'Sullivan.

All have covered Musk's controversial moves in recent weeks. The United Nations even weighing in on this a short time ago, calling the move a dangerous precedent.

CNN's Oliver Darcy is following this for us.

Musk is falsely claiming that these journalists violated his new doxxing policy, right? What more are you learning about why he made this decision to ban the journalists?

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: I think we're just learning, Ana, that Musk is very thin-skinned. And he does not do well with criticism or people who aggressively report on his companies.

And that's what these people share in common. You have anyone from CNN's Donie O'Sullivan, to former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, and to reporters of "The New York Times" and "Washington Post." The common thread really is that they were either doing aggressive, but fair reporting, or they were critical of Elon Musk and the way he's operating Twitter.

I think this really raises a lot of key questions about the future of the media on Twitter. Are newsrooms going to stand for Elon Musk hastily banning the reporters and then misleading about it? Or are they going to do something?

CNN has said in its statement that it's basically awaiting communication from Twitter. They have reached out to Twitter. They're curious to hear back. And then they will reevaluate its position moving forward. And I think, also, advertisers are probably curious about what's going on.

So you have major companies, like Apple, Amazon. They spend money on Twitter. Do they want to be associated with a company that is now in the business of censoring the press? And, finally, I'd say that news organizations are also among some of the top advertisers on Twitter.

And now we're hearing from Puck, a smaller news organization, a digital upstart, but they're pausing advertising on Twitter. And I'm curious to know whether other companies that advertise, like "The Wall Street Journal" -- I opened up my phone a second ago and I got served a "Wall Street Journal" ad -- are they also going to decide to take their ad dollars and move it somewhere else, given that they are news organizations?

And what Elon Musk is doing is really contrary to the spirit of a free press.

CABRERA: So, you really hit the nail on the head about why this matters more broadly, especially for people who aren't on Twitter.

DARCY: Mm-hmm.