Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

January 6 Committee Releases Final Report, Says Trump Should Be Barred From Office; Winter Storm Could Grow Into Bomb Cyclone; Putin Calls Ukraine Conflict A War For First Known Time In Public; January 6 Committee Releases Report; Thousands Gather at U.S.-Mexico Border; From Zero-COVID to Zero Plan; Chatbot Creates Human like Replies with Artificial Intelligence. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired December 23, 2022 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:30]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN Newsroom live from Studio 7, CNN's World Headquarters in Atlanta.

Just one man, without Donald Trump, there would be no January 6. The final report from the January 6 Select Committee laid out the case against the former President.

Just in time for holiday travel, a bomb cyclone bearing down on much of the US. And what's at the foot of the tongue or a change in foreign policy? For the first time, Vladimir Putin uses the W word, calling the invasion of Ukraine a war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.

VAUSE: An 18-month long investigation, thousands of interviews, documents, emails, phone records, and the House Committee investigating January 6 has finally released its full report. 845 pages in all, which finds Donald Trump and his allies took part in a number of schemes to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The report makes eleven recommendations, including one aimed squarely at Trump. It says anyone who incites an insurrection should be disqualified and barred from holding public office. The report also urges new laws which would prevent a vice president or other official from overthrowing electors chosen by individual states. That's exactly what Trump wanted his vice president, Mike Pence to do. We have more now from CNN's justice correspondent Jessica Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Nearly two years after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the committee tasked with investigating all aspects of that attack has finally released its report. It comes nearly two days after the Committee expected to release it, all because of typographical errors, and printing issues. But it is nearly 900 pages with a comprehensive narrative of what occurred before, during, and immediately after January 6.

Most importantly here, it also lays out 11 specific recommendations from the Committee about how various agencies and even Congress can move forward. And key among those recommendations is the Committee is pointing to a section of the Constitution, the 14th Amendment, Section 3, that clearly states that anyone who is engaged in an insurrection can be disqualified from holding office.

The Committee says that constitutional provision should be enforced. And while they don't say it directly, the takeaway here is that they believe that Donald Trump should be barred from holding office again, especially because he has now announced his plan to run in 2024.

The Committee separately is also pushing for passage of the Presidential Election Reform Act that would make clear that Vice Presidents do not have the power to overturn elections, of course, as Trump pressured Pence to do.

And the Committee is also recommending that federal intelligence and security agencies really take a much closer look at the dangers of violent extremism, especially since members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were at the forefront of the Capitol attack. Plus, there's a host of new details in this 800 plus page report, including about how John Eastman first contacted Donald Trump at the White House on December 23, 2020, almost exactly two years ago, to fill Trump in on his plan to get Pence to overturn the election.

Of course, Pence refused to do that, and also how a little known attorney named Kenneth Chesebro allegedly came up with that plot to appoint fake electors in battleground states to try to claim that Trump had actually won in those states.

Crucially here, that fake elector plot is exactly what is now being investigated by state prosecutors, including in Georgia, also federal prosecutors from the special counsel's office and those prosecutors from the special counsel's office. They have even served subpoenas to election officials in several battleground states as part of its ramped up investigation. The committee wrapping up its report, but still potentially a long way to go on the criminal side. Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VAUSE: Ron Brownstein is CNN's senior political analyst and the senior editor for the Atlantic is with us this hour from Los Angeles. Ron, thanks for staying up as well.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN Senior Political Analyst: Thank you.

VAUSE: OK, so the bottom line from the committee without Donald Trump, January 6 would have just been another day. The report says there is evidence of a multipart plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election. That evidence has led to an overriding and straightforward conclusion. The central cause of January 6 was one man, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed. None of the events of January 6 would have happened without him.

[01:05:03]

It was surprising to read the number of moving parts this plan had and the amount of time and planning that went into it all.

BROWNSTEIN: In many ways, that has been the great contribution of this committee from the start. I mean, you know, in the chaos and horror of that day and in the immediate aftermath, there was a tendency to say, well, to think that what happened was a switch lash of peak or frustration from the President, an impulsive action of him pointing his supporters toward the Capitol.

In fact, what the committee has made clear is that it was the final step in a multi-pronged, multi-month effort to overturn the election that ultimately enlisted collaboration from a large number of other Republican elected officials, both in Congress and especially in the states.

It is true that none of this would have happened without Donald Trump, as the committee says. But the other clause that you read is also important. He could not have done this alone. I think what you see in this report in some ways are only the glimmers of the breadth of collaboration that he was able to inspire.

VAUSE: Well, that's the question because many members of the Republican Party who were eager and willing to help Donald Trump in the days after January 6, they're still around. I mean, does the Republican Party, does the GOP get a pass?

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Look, what the committee did clearly was make an unbelievably comprehensive case that Donald Trump violated his oath office and, in fact, may have violated the law as well. In particular in that early chapter on The Big Lie, chapter two, they show over and again how he was told clearly and unequivocally, not only by the Justice Department, but by his own campaign, that what he was saying about the election wasn't true, that there was not the evidence of fraud, for example, with Dominion Voter Systems.

And later, the report makes very clear that the plan that he urged on Mike Pence to simply ignore the results. He was told that violated the Electoral Count Act. He knew that at the time that he did. That's obviously very important from a legal point of view. If there's any criticism of this report, is that it zooms in so tightly on Trump and his circle and their culpability that it crops out of the picture those other Republicans in the states and in Congress, for example, and it's dealing with the fake electors. It really bends over backwards to argue that they were in effect, duped in many cases by the Trump campaign and the Trump White House. Obviously, there are investigations going on in the states and through the Special Counsel about whether that is in fact the case.

VAUSE: The report says there is evidence that from Election Day in November to January 6, in the storming of the Capitol, Trump or those within his inner circle engaged in at least 200 apparent acts of public or private outreach, pressure or condemnation, targeting either state legislators or state or local election administrators to overturn state election results.

It seems there's more and more evidence each day that, you know, this is like a mob rule with mob tactics being used by the Trump administration. The muscling of local officials to overturn the results, as well as what we're hearing from Cassidy Hutchinson that she had a lawyer paid for by the Trump ally. She didn't know that at the time, and he wanted her to protect the boss. Just don't recall everything.

BROWNSTEIN: Staggering details. I mean, that number jumped out at me as well. And obviously there were many local officials, predominantly Republicans in these states, who resisted that pressure from Trump. There were others who went along with it and participated in the fake elector scheme.

One thing that really struck me was a memo from a White House official that I had not seen previously disclosed that was included in the final report, in which this official argues that they don't even need evidence of fraud for state legislatures to overturn the votes in their states and instead award the Electoral college votes to Donald Trump. That the threat of socialism from Joe Biden.

Joe Biden was sufficient to justify overturning the vote of the people in their state. And that really goes to this larger question because this is the argument that so much of conservative media that Trump, indeed other Republican elected officials, have been feeding their base for years, that any Democratic win would so transform and deform the country, it would uproot it from what it has been for over two centuries that essentially any means necessary are justified to prevent that. It's been summarized as the Flight 93 argument.

And the question, I think really -- the big question that the committee one question they did not grapple with is even if you deal with Trump, even if you politically marginalize him or indict and convict him, is that virus contained inside the broader conservative movement and certainly among the extremist groups that they explore here in this --

[01:10:08]

VAUSE: Very, very quickly we've been looking at opinion polls all the way along of how many people are being moved and convinced, you know, by this committee and the amount of information they put out over the last 18 months. Do you think that Trump base is impacted in any way by this report?

BROWNSTEIN: I don't know if they're impacted by this. I mean, certainly they're kind of being eroded by the signs of his electoral failures in 2022. Someone made the point to me that really shouldn't be considered the metric. Someone who works at one of the groups that studied democracy, they pointed out that in the past, in episodes like this, there's been an elite reaction that says we should not look back. We can't have one administration judge the actions of a previous administration's as criminal. That was the argument Gerald Ford used when he pardoned Richard Nixon. It was the argument Barack Obama used in 2009 when he chose not to prosecute torture under the Bush administration.

We're not hearing that argument. You're not hearing that except from the diehard Trump loyalists. In fact, you're hearing the opposite argument that failing to hold establish accountability is the real danger to society, you know, the saying that a coup without consequence is practiced.

I think there is the committee's success. They have really made the point, I think very strongly that we cannot simply turn the page and refuse to face up to the magnitude of what happened in January 6 and in the months leading up to it.

VAUSE: Ron, as always, so good to have you with us. We really appreciate your time and your insight. Thank you, sir.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

VAUSE: An unprecedented winter storm is moving across much of the U.S. right now. Dangerous frigid temperatures, bitterly cold winds, snow and ice making for treacherous travel conditions ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend.

More than half of the U.S. population, about 170 million people under wind chill and winter weather alerts across the country. More than 2000 flights scheduled for Friday have been canceled, adding to the chaos from Thursday, which saw a similar number of cancellations.

The storm is expected to bring a bomb cyclone with air pressure dropping to a point equivalent to a category two hurricane. It's cold outside when people from Wyoming notice the freezing weather. CNN Lucy Kafanov has the details reporting in from Denver, Colorado.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Millions of people experiencing the peak of what the weather service is calling a once in a generation type event. Others still bracing. The bomb cyclone producing ice and snow is impacting more than 105 million people across the country.

Winter alerts from coast to coast for snow and icy conditions. The dangerous cold has over 150 million people, or nearly half the U.S. population under wind chill alerts, with below zero wind chills as far south as Texas.

In the Midwest, more than a foot of snow and possible blizzard conditions expected. South Dakota's famous Sioux Falls frozen. In some parts of Kansas, the National Weather Service reporting wind chills below negative 30. There in the plains, the cold expected to stick around for Christmas weekend, likely making it the coldest Christmas there in roughly 40 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your nose hairs literally freeze.

KAFANOV: Even those used to the cold in Wyoming are feeling the arctic blast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, it's cold, but when it's negative 20, it's just another level.

KAFANOV: Slick ice and snow making driving conditions dangerous. Abandoned vehicles, stranded drivers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want people to have things in their vehicles, kits ready to be deployed if they get stuck in their vehicle somewhere.

KAFANOV: Weather hazards causing road closures in various parts of the country. Zero visibility, making it hard for emergency workers to respond.

UNIDENTIFIED FMELA:E There's handwarmers, some socks, a beanie, and like, some hygiene products and then some water and a blanket.

KAFANOV: In Colorado, outreach workers trying to provide help and keep people warm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said it's going to be cold, so I should get off the streets. If it's a real extreme emergency, they really be right on them.

CAVANAUGH: Buses of people seeking shelter at the Denver Coliseum to stay out of the freezing cold.

KAFANOV (on camera): It may look like things are getting back to normal. The sun is out here in Denver, finally, but looks can be deceiving. It still feels incredibly cold. In fact, the city of Denver is opening up new warming centers.

There is some relief on the horizon. We are expecting temperatures to go back up slowly but surely on Friday, and ay Christmas day, we could be seeing highs of 50 degrees. Of course, there is less relief in sight for the rest of the country. Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Denver.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VAUSE: She's looking very rugged up there. Let's go to CNN meteorologist Britley Ritz. By my count, there's about six states, six or seven states where there's power outages already and the worst is yet to come.

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. This area of blood pressure continues to deepen, and as it does so, the cold rest is eastward.

[01:15:00]

So here's that area of blue pressure over the Great Lakes, bringing in quite a bit of snowfall there. The front itself pushes eastward, digs as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, then kicks out of here by Sunday. But that Arctic blast will hold, as we just discussed. Lucy just told you.

Look at this. This massive temperature drop Indianapolis that occurred overnight and early morning. Look midnight we dropped. 43 degree temperature drop in just nine hours. So it's pretty chilly. We went from 41 degrees to two below.

And here we are with temperatures over the last 24 hours continuing to fall. Big difference compared to where were yesterday morning in Memphis, it's 41 degrees colder. So here we are bringing in actual temperatures right now in Des Moines at nine below. It feels like 37 degrees below zero. That's what counts. The feels like temperature or the windshield when we factor in the wind.

Wind gusts in Grand Rapids, Michigan, reaching 30. And this is just going to hold as that area of low pressure slowly makes its way off to the east. Wind chill warnings from the Plains down into Texas on up into the mid-Atlantic and the Ohio Valley, where temperatures will feel like 35 to 40 below at times as the winds continue to gust.

With that, frostbite can happen within five to ten minutes. So, if you have to go out and about, wear your gloves, protect the extremities. Make sure that you best advice I can give you is just stay inside. Wind chills all across the nation here going to be dropping down to nearly 30 below in Chicago. And better yet, we add the snow on top of it, which doesn't help with the winds gusting. We still have blizzard warnings across the Great Lakes, back across the plains, and now pushing into parts of New England where visibilities will drop less than a quarter of a mile.

VAUSE: Britley, thank you. We appreciate that update. There's a big update. There's a lot going on. Yes. Stay warm if you can outside.

RITZ: We'll do.

VAUSE: OK. Now one little word that could make a very big difference. When we come back, Vladimir Putin using the war word as a war in Ukraine. We'll explain why that is a big deal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:20:45]

VAUSE: A three letter word, war. It's a huge deal when it comes to how Russia describes the invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin has been calling it a special military operation since day one, calling it a war inside Russia, actually punishable with jail time. With that in mind, listen to President Putin at a news conference on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war. We have been and will continue to strive for this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: One U.S. official has cautioned not to read too much into it, saying he Bbelieves it was the slip of the tongue. Meanwhile, they're waiting for confirmation that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is back home after a visit to the U.S. on Wednesday. He addressed U.S. lawmakers and secured a new shipment of military aid, including Patriot missile defense systems. It said the military is getting the equipment which it needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The victory will be ours. Glory to every warrior of ours. Glory to everyone who protects our country. We bring to Ukraine, to Donbas, to Bakhmut, into the South decisions (ph) which our defense forces awaited.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ukrainian forces on the front line say that they are, in fact, getting the weapons they need, and the sooner they get them, the sooner they'll win.

Moscow took note of the most advanced air defense system in the world being sent to Ukraine, part of the latest military a package from the White House saying Ukraine and its allies are signing up for a long war, but Russia will prevail. It's already been a long battle for the city of Bakhmut and eastern Ukraine, where both sides are now digging in. Here's CNN's Will Ripley.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Ukrainians remain defiant in Bakhmut as heavy fighting continues on the outskirts. Russian forces still pounding the city, as they've been doing for months now, driving most of its 70,000 residents away.

These days, it's eerily quiet here, silence broken only by rushing soldiers and Russia's deadly bombardments. Only a handful have stayed, braving the Russian artillery roulette. They gather in underground shelters, power, water, heating only available in aid stations like this. There's Wi-Fi too, a chance to call family, get a warm drink.

For Dennis (ph), it's this that keeps him going. We're holding on, surviving, he says. His father stayed behind, and so did he betting on Ukraine. We hope our soldiers will defend Bakhmut, he says.

To make sure they're able to do so, President Vladimir Zelenskyy traveled all the way to Washington.

ZELENSKYY: To ensure Bakhmut is not just a stronghold that holds back the Russian army, but for the Russian army to completely pull out, more cannons and shells are needed.

RIPLEY: The Ukrainian president also thanking the U.S. for its support and the decision to supply more advanced antiaircraft missiles.

ZELENSKYY: If your patriots stop the Russian terror against our cities, it will let Ukrainian patriots work to the fool to defend our freedom.

RIPLEY: A predictably less enthusiastic response from Russia. Moscow saying providing patriots will only prolong the war. This is a rather old system, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. Those who are doing this are doing it in vain.

Putin's PR machine firing back. The Russian Defense Ministry releasing this video of what it says is a visit by Minister Sergei Shoigu, reassuring frontline troops in Ukraine. Don't fuss, keep calm, everything is fine, he says. Everything is fine. Keep calm.

Back in Europe, Zelenskyy seemingly ending the year on a high with more military aid on the pipeline. But on the front line, no break. Still no cause for celebration. Will Ripley, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VAUSE: Well, the January 6 committee's final report out and we are going through all 845 pages of it. There's a lot in it. We'll bring you some of the highlights in a moment.

[01:25:00]

Also coming up, as thousands of migrants gather on the US-Mexico border, CNN talks to one couple about their harrowing journey and why they're so determined to enter the United States legally.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN Newsroom.

The long awaited, much anticipated final report by the January 6 House Select Committee has been released and the conclusion is blunt. The central cause of the insurrection was just one man, former president Donald Trump. None of the events of January 6 would have happened without him.

It says Trump and his allies orchestrated an effort to overturn the 2020 election including submitting fake electors in the states he lost. The report recommends anyone who incites an insurrection should be disqualified from holding public office.

In Los Angeles, Jessica Levinson, Professor of Law at Loyola Law School and host of the Passing Judgment podcast. Hi, Jessica, good to see you.

JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR OF LAW, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: Good to hear you, John.

VAUSE: OK, so Donald Trump just let this sink in. He's being accused of a multipart conspiracy when he was president to overturn an election. And the accusations of backed up by more than 800 pages of what looks like credible evidence and witness testimony, often under oath.

[01:30:44]

It's a momentous day. But within all that evidence, is there a direct link between Donald Trump and the actual violence on that day, on Capitol Hill?

LEVINSON: I think there is. And I think that is why when the January 6th committee had its final hearing on Monday, they talked about insurrection. And one of the criminal referrals was for, at least, aiding and abetting those who actually did storm the Capitol.

I think that based on all the evidence, all the witnesses, all of the documents they looked at, you can draw a through line between the former president and what happened at the Capitol.

And let's remember for those who want to criticize the report, and want to say no, you cannot draw that through line, the evidence, the witnesses here almost exclusively were people who wanted the former president to win. They told the truth because they were under oath.

VAUSE: Right. So what does the Department of Justice do now? There's never been a case like this before.

LEVINSON: There's never been a case like this before, thank goodness, right. We don't want this to be normal. The Department of Justice has its own parallel investigation, but they also now have an 845-page roadmap.

Now we all have to remember at this historic moment, that what a house select committee, a political body says, what they deemed to be criminal that's different from what the Department of Justice, and prosecutors might decide.

When they decide whether or not to file charges, they are saying, we can go into a courtroom and show proof beyond a reasonable doubt that these crimes occurred.

Having said that, I think after the hearings, after the report, if the Department of Justice doesn't go forward, then they owe us a big explanation as to why because there really is an enormous amount of evidence here including it's not just the insurrection, it's obstruction, it's defrauding the United States. It's making false statements of material fact. There is a lot here.

VAUSE: And earlier in the day, the select committee released transcripts of interviews with witnesses, including Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony. She worked for the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

Turns out, Trump allies were paying for her lawyer. And this is what she told the committee. "He specifically told me, I don't want you to perjure yourself, but 'I don't recall' isn't perjury. They don't know what you can and can't, recall." He later, he allegedly told her, the less you remember, the better.

He also has said to her on a another occasion, that you know, he's all about protecting the boss.

When does something like that equate to obstruction of justice? And this lawyer, he was the ethics adviser to the Trump White House, which says a lot. What sort of problems is he facing now?

LEVINSON: Right. Irony is dead. And what we have seen is that attorneys actually are facing repercussions. So we have seen, for instance, Rudy Giuliani has faced a number of bar panels.

And when we talked about I remember in the wake of the election, litigation, you and I talked about would I teach this in an election classroom. And the answer is, no, I would teach this is an Ethics classroom, in a legal ethics classroom, as to what not to do.

So could this rise to the level of criminal behavior when you have an attorney saying, don't lie, but if you want to just lie, and say that you don't remember anything, that is perfectly fine? Yes, that can be a problem for an attorney both legally, and, if they want to keep their bar cards.

And again, we have seen, there is referrals in this report, to the House Ethics Committee for members of Congress. There was a discussion about whether or not some of the attorneys here needed to be referred to their state bars. Here is another example of that.

VAUSE: It's quite the legacy from the Trump administration.

Jessica, thank you for being with us. Jessica Levinson there in Los Angeles.

LEVINSON: Thank you.

VAUSE: The Biden administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the end of the Trump era immigration policy known as Title 42. The policy allows border control agents to immediately turn away migrants to enter the country illegally in the name of COVID prevention. Thousands of migrants though waiting at the border, as the policy remains in limbo.

CNN's David Culver has the story now of one couple hoping to make it into the United states but they want to do it legally.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They were those who cross illegally, streams of people, every day, every hour.

Then there are those who watch, wait, and face the unknown. Here in Ciudad Juarez, this is what the U.S. looks like for Yulexi (ph) Fernandez and Lucy Bastilas (ph).

"Were not criminals. We're good people," they stress. The two met while serving in the Venezuelan military. In October they stated their track north fleeing political turmoil, hiking through jungles, where actually murky waters ride in a train from on top.

So close to their final destination until policy and this halt their journey.

[01:34:57]

CULVER: Before sunrise Tuesday, we watch as Texas law enforcement mobilize, sealing off this popular access point to American soil, one of the states efforts to stop the flow of migrants.

But it only reroutes them a short distance down the river, creating a new bottleneck for illegal crossings and a tense standoff. The setting sun ushers in freezing temperatures. By nightfall, migrants settle in on the U.S. side of the river, building campfires to keep warm. Hours later, some rush another border entry point about a mile away.

Under Title 42, they can still be immediately expelled on the grounds of COVID prevention. Lucy and Yulexi determined to enter legally.

She wants to do it the right way, she tells me, and knows exactly where she wants to go. Far from their big apple dreams, unable to return home, stuck in international purgatory.

I am here with my partner, she says, discriminated against, they say, because they're migrants, they're women and they are a couple. To be safe, they avoid public displays of affection and traveling groups.

Another reason they want to get to the other side, when we're there, we're going to help all of our families, she says. The very mention of family triggers emotions Lucy has carried since leaving Venezuela. Lucy, missing her mom and siblings. Yulexi, her ten-year-old daughter.

We hurry across traffic about half mile from where we first met the couple and arrived at this local shelter. With nowhere else to go, families line up, hoping to escape the freezing cold.

Lucy and Yulexi among the fortunate. This is home, at least for now. We meet some of their new friends, fellow migrants from all backgrounds.

And how many people altogether are usually in here at night?

ELIAS RODRIGUEZ, DIRECTOR, HOPE CENTER SHELDTER: Altogether, 135 has been our greatest number. . We don't have the capacity for the demand.

CULVER: The church group that runs this shelter bolstered by locals donating their time and food. And much like border cities in the U.S., Ciudad Juarez is feeling the strain from this migration surge.

The city has always been very generous to migrants, but in this case, with so many people, it's difficult. The city is not prepared for this influx, he says.

Back in the shelter, Yulexi struggles with having left his daughter behind, telling me, I don't know when I can give her my love again because right now, we're just trying to provide for her. Lucy saying that the hardest part in this moment right now is being so

close and not being able to cross but echoing from their phone, a familiar song that chronicles a migrant's journey brings back smiles and hope.

We're going to make it, we're going to make it, she says.

CULVER: And it's precisely because of Title 42 that Yulexi and Lucy want to avoid doing what the migrants, you see behind me, are doing. Thousands of them, turning themselves into the U.S. Customs Border Patrol, so as to seek asylum, officially.

But the problem that they would face under Title 42 is that as soon as they enter, they risk being deported to places much farther, and much more dangerous.

David Culver, CNN -- Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: When we come back, what happens and China will not stay in China. And right now, China is in the grips of a severe COVID outbreak, spreading at light speed with the number of new infections possibly doubling within hours.

[01:38:44]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: From zero-COVID to zero plan. Beijing, has rolled back pandemic restrictions, and now health experts warn, the rest of the world should brace for the arrival of new variants that could prove more dangerous than the ones we have already seen.

The warning comes as hundreds of health officials rather, from across the country are traveling to Beijing to assist medical centers as an unprecedented wave of infections ripples across the country.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout, live for us this hour, in Hong Kong. So Kristie, there is growing concern about the real toll of China's current wave of infections. How do we know that these numbers are real, and what more do we know about this?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. and concern, certainly, is rising over the true scale of COVID-19 infections across China. Look, official figures in China are not reliable. Especially now, as the country carries out less testing, as it unwinds from years of zero COVID policy. And especially after losingly recently narrowed its definition of what constitutes a COVID related death.

For this month, for December, so far, China has officially reported only eight deaths from COVID-19 -- eight. That is a remarkably low number, especially in the face of mounting evidence showing a surge of infection, and COVID-19 deaths across the country.

In the Chinese capital, in Beijing. Our team, on the ground there, has filmed evidence of a completely packed, and overwhelmed crematorium. The parking lot there is packed.

Smoke is seen billowing, constantly from it's furnaces. There are yellow body bags, piling up on top of each other. Hospitals in Beijing are overwhelmed. There are reports that medics from other provinces are being sent into, the Chinese capital, to help pitch in, and to assist.

Meds as fever and cold medicine are running out, People are scared, people are desperate. We do have this statement we want to share with you from a resident in Beijing.

[01:44:51]

STOUT: Her name is Fery Zen (ph). She tells CNN then this quote, "In the past five days, I had many symptoms, but could not buy any medication to treat sore throat, coughing, or fever. None of the medicines are available," unquote. The U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is now calling on China,

as well as other nations, to share and be transparent, about their COVID-19 outbreaks. He cited a number of concerns. Public health concerns, obviously. Economic concerns. But also, concerns about a possible new variant emerging.

This is what America's top diplomat said. He said this, quote, "Any time the virus is spreading, or it's moving around, there is a possibility that a new variant develops. That variant spreads even further, and it comes, it hits us, or other countries around the world."

We have learned in the last three hours, Secretary Blinken spoke with China's foreign minister Wang Yi on the phone to discuss several issues, including the COVID-19 outbreak in China.

And according to the White House readout, Blinken emphasized the importance of transparency for the international community, John.

VAUSE: Kristie, thank you. Just very quickly, earlier today, there was a story from CNN's Selina Wang about packed crematoriums in Beijing. In the past, something like that would have been censored by the authorities there, but this one wasn't. So what is happening?

STOUT: Yes. When this story went to air, Selina sent us all a note and says, wow, that was surprising. They usually censor such sensitive material. You know, state media in China, they usually avoid or, stay away from sensitive videos of packed hospitals or packed crematoriums but this story, actually, went to air.

And this underscores the chaos and confusion inside this censorship regime in China. Ever since China began this U-turn, ending and un winding years of the zero COVID policy. There has not been a clear directive given to its propagandists, to tell them what is the best way to frame this situation in China, right now.

That is what we're seeing playing out in the state media, as images that were deemed to be too sensitive in the past, actually, make it to air, and not get blacked out, John. O'DONNELL: Kristie, thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you very much. Kristie Lu Stout live for us there in Hong Kong.

STOUT: You got it.

VAUSE: Well, Brazilian football legend Pele, will spend Christmas in a Sao Paulo hospital. In a message on Instagram, Pele's daughters says that it's best for him to continue to receive care with doctors close by, instead of spending Christmas at home.

The Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital said Wednesday Pele's cancer is getting worse and, he is experiencing kidney, and cardiac dysfunctions.

Well, imagine technology that does all of the thinking for you. No more thinking.

Just ahead, a look at the next generation of artificial intelligence -- the pros, the cons, the good, the bad, to catch it all (ph) -- so all of it, up next.

[01:47:35]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back everyone.

The former CEO of the bankrupt cryptocurrency company, FTX, is a free man, at least for now, on a $250 million bond. Sam Bankman-Fried, appeared before a judge in New York Thursday. They've agreed to a bail proposal, presented by prosecutors, and defense lawyers.

The terms include bond, and electronic monitoring bracelet, and being on house arrest, at home with, his parents in California. It is Bankman-Fried's first appearance on U.S. Soil, since his arrest last week, in the Bahamas.

He's accused of stealing billions of dollars from customers of his defunct crypto trading platform. The arraignment for other charges will happen at a later date.

Well, the next generation of artificial intelligence is here. It is called ChatGPT. It's a chatbot so it can drive social and human lives give sometimes inaccurate responses to question. It already has more than a million users after debuting just a few weeks ago.

One of those new users is Tom Foreman, here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Allowing cars to drive themselves composing songs that mimic popular artists and producing this digital painting, that took the top award at a Colorado art show.

This is all the work of artificial intelligence. Computers, that don't just do what they are told, but in a sense, think, learn, and create. Right now, ChatGPT is rattling the AI world. Turning out stunningly

humanoid writing. Just ask Douglas Rushkoff (ph) a renounced Russia off the, renowned author. It is writing better at this point, you know, college freshman. So, yes, I am impressed with that.

How does it work. ChatGPT has been filled in the sense with a massive amount of information, imagine the that biggest library you can. Then program and trained by humans to process and spit it out in conversational phrases. So asked 1,000 words on the early days of automobiles and in seconds it responds. In the late 1800s, and early 1900s, automobiles were relatively primitive by today's standards, and we're, primarily, used by wealthy individuals, or businesses.

Ascot to write a sonnet in the style of Jerry Seinfeld. I'm just a stand up comic, telling jokes on stage. I make them laugh, and that's all I do. But sometimes, life is a joke. It hits me low, and then I take the mic to say, who knew? It's not perfect, but it can debate, composed essays, solve math problems -- well, that looks right.

Write computer code, answer follow-up questions, even admit mistakes. All that means is ChatGPT, or more advanced AI like it, who would replace people in all sorts of positions.

[01:54:47]

DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, MEDIA THEORIST: This could potentially save time, and resources, but it could also lead to a loss of personal connections and a decline in quality of these types of interactions.

FOREMAN: We know that, because everything Rushkoff said, just there, was written by ChatGPT. When asked about potential problems with itself.

RUSHKOFF: The answer it gave me about the dangers of GPT, that sounded like a pretty good television guests to me.

FOREMAN: Sometimes, it makes mistakes. And just gets things wrong. And it's knowledge, so far, only goes up to 2021. So, if you ask it something from six months ago, it has no idea what you are talking about.

But as it continues to update and improve, this is very likely to change our world in a very dramatic way.

Tom Foreman, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Sounds scary. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.

Stay with us, the news continues with Alison Kosik, bless her heart, in New York. Thank you.

[01:55:49]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)