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McCarthy Wins On 15th Ballot; Capitol Rioter Sentenced To Nearly Four Years; Ukraine Accuses Russia Of Breaking Ceasefire; Bills Heap Praise On Hamlin's Hero First Responders; U.S. FDA Grants Alzheimer's Drug Accelerated Approval. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 07, 2023 - 03:00   ET

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

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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I am Laila Harrak.

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HARRAK (voice-over): The 15th time is the charm for Kevin McCarthy after four days in a bruising floor fight. The California Republican is officially the new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

All those dramatic scenes in the House unfolded exactly two years after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election. We will show you how the White House marked the anniversary.

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HARRAK (voice-over): Plus, Putin's promised Christmas cease-fire fails to materialize in Ukraine, forcing civilians to spend the holiday in bomb shelters.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Laila Harrak.

HARRAK: It took 15 ballots and an evening of high drama but Kevin McCarthy finally secured enough votes to become Speaker of the House. Never in modern times has a leadership contest taken so many votes and so many days to resolve.

Out of 222 Republicans in the House, it only took six hardline conservatives to derail McCarthy in the 14th ballot on Friday night, a vote he believed was in the bag. Right wing firebrand Matt Gaetz, who had sworn to never vote for McCarthy, cast the deciding vote which doomed him on that ballot. The House was stunned.

As one Democrat said later, wow. What followed was extraordinary political theater rarely seen on camera. Tempers flared among Republicans. One member, Mike Rogers, had to be restrained as he moved toward Gaetz.

But McCarthy was not done. He and his allies made a beeline to the key holdouts. In the end, on the 15th ballot, all six rebels, including Gaetz, voted present, assuring the gavel to McCarthy. Here is what the new speaker had to say afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: A commitment for a future built on freedom where children come first and are taught to dream big. In America, dreams can still come true.

A commitment for our government that is held accountable where Americans get the answers they want, need and deserve. Our system is built on checks and balances. It is time for us to be a check and provide some balance to the president's policies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: Now this marathon is finally over, Manu Raju has the details on how the vote went down.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After the longest speaker vote since 1859, Kevin McCarthy finally secured the Speaker's gavel following a chaotic several days, including a near altercation on the House floor late Friday night.

When he was surprised that he ultimately did not get the votes, angering some of his closest allies, leading to a feud on the floor but ultimately getting to where he needed to go, getting the votes to become the next Speaker of the House.

McCarthy claiming the Speaker's gavel after making a range of concessions to members of the far right part of his conference, who are not convinced that he would lead them and make changes to this institution.

He did offer several changes on policy issues as well as giving them more power throughout the legislative process, including giving them the power of one member to call for a vote to oust the sitting speaker and raising questions about how long he may be able to hang onto the job he fought so hard to get.

Now the day started off with Kevin McCarthy flipping 15 votes to his side. He had 20, he lost 20. He could only lose four in this narrow House Republican majority. He left the floor after the vote where he had 214 votes, four shy of what he needed.

He told me, yes, he did have the votes. He was confident on the following ballot, on the 14th ballot he would get there. When that vote happened, things went awry. Some of the members voted ways that he was not expecting, including at the very end, it all came down to congressman Matt Gaetz who is a fierce opponent.

[03:05:00]

RAJU: He needed Gaetz to vote yes. Gaetz voted present. That was not enough to secure the speakership. Mike Rogers lunged at Matt Gaetz on the floor. He was restrained by one of his colleagues and things got very, very tense.

Ultimately Gaetz at the time wanted the House to adjourn until Monday. The House was about to adjourn until Monday until the deal was struck. Donald Trump called some of the members on the far right block of the conference.

And some of those members changed their mind and decided they were going to vote present also. And by voting present it effectively lowered the threshold of the now amount of votes that Kevin McCarthy needed to become speaker, ultimately allowing him to become speaker with 216 votes.

And he has secured the job after going through that 15 ballots that stretched from Tuesday until early morning Saturday to finally get the job.

Now it will be up to him to put the -- to govern this narrowly divided institution and badly divided Republican conference, put together a policy agenda and go up against the Senate Democrats, who control their chamber across the Capitol, not to mention the Democrat in the White House.

They will have the power of the purse as well as the Senate but they also have investigative powers in the House. I expect them to wield subpoenas very early on in their new majority. For Kevin McCarthy, he is relieved that after this very, very tense several days he finally has claimed the Speaker's gavel -- Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: McCarthy thanked Trump for helping him get the vote, saying no one should doubt his influence. The former president congratulated his fellow Republican after what he called a crazy selection process.

In the meantime, Senate leader Chuck Schumer thought all of this could be a sign of more gridlock to come, saying, "Speaker Kevin McCarthy's dream job could turn into a nightmare for the American people.'

Presidential Biden said, "I am prepared to work with Republicans when I can and voters made clear they are expecting Republicans to work with me as well. Now that the leadership of the House of Representatives has been decided, it is time for the process to begin."

Joining me now from Los Angeles is Ron Brownstein. He is a CNN senior political analyst and a senior editor at "The Atlantic."

It's so good to have you with us. Thank you so much for staying up this late. Some truly remarkable and extraordinary moments we have witnessed. Put this into context for us. RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, if you look at the big

arc here, Kevin McCarthy did what John Boehner and Paul Ryan, his two predecessors as Republican Speakers of the House, would not do.

He essentially gave a veto over the party's direction to the hard right, far extreme of his conference. And the perfect symbol for what happened tonight was, after the vote, what was the first thing that happened to Kevin McCarthy?

He took a selfie with Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is the very white wing member from Georgia, who Democrats stripped of her committee assignments because of her history of promoting conspiracy theories and making remarks that seemed to promote or condone violence.

Then Kevin McCarthy went out and thanked Donald Trump for getting him over the top on the second anniversary of the January 6th investigation. This is the reality. He won this position he has long sought.

But he has not only given away a lot of the power of the speakership, perhaps more importantly, he has ceded enormous leverage over shaping the party's image and setting its agenda to its most militant members immediately after an election, in which the image of extremism significantly hurt Republicans in competitive districts and competitive states.

HARRAK: What do we know, Ron, about the additional concessions McCarthy may have given to senators (sic) in exchange for their votes and to secure his election as Speaker of the House?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, there are two sets of conditions. Some are about process. Basically, they are about loosening the hold over legislation that the speakers have really exerted over the last 30 years.

Ironically, it was Newt Gingrich and the Republican revolution in 1995 that began the process of centralizing power in the speaker's office, something the Democrats very happily continued.

But now there is this demand mostly from the Right in the caucus to unwind some of that. I think one set is procedural. The other were very specific concessions to the most militant members of this caucus, including apparently giving them essentially veto power over the Rules Committee by having three appointments.

[03:10:00]

BROWNSTEIN: That could allow them to block any legislation from coming to the floor. That is how, short of a discharge position, that is how things get to the floor.

I think even more important were the commitments that he gave and more revealing, over what investigations would look like, including the idea that the U.S. government funding was involved in the development of COVID and maybe even more important than that, this idea of a select committee that will investigate alleged weaponization, their word, of the FBI and the Department of Justice against conservatives. Again, that is something that is going to be very popular on FOX, very

popular with the most conservative members of the base.

Is it something that is going to reinforce an image of extremism and even a question of commitment to democracy that hurt the party so much in more competitive districts?

HARRAK: Ron, this has been a very bruising experience, particularly for the GOP. It has been two years since the protests and riots at the U.S. Capitol. We just witnessed that very fraught process play out in public for the entire world to see.

How do you reflect on this moment in time?

BROWNSTEIN: Look, I think it's a reminder we're still in the midst of the challenge, you know. In the election in November, in competitive races, almost all of the election deniers were beaten, particularly for posts where they would have control over the 2024 election.

But there were still, I think, something like 160 or 170 Republicans who were elected, who refused to acknowledge the results in 2020. Many of them were in the House. They voted to deny the results in 2020, including the incoming speaker, Kevin McCarthy.

As I said, the end of this process, Kevin McCarthy was repeatedly making concessions to election deniers. Even then, he needed Trump on the second anniversary of the riot to come in and make calls to help push him over the top.

That just shows you how deep this ideology remains. The roots of this ideology remain within the mainstream Republican Party.

And the challenge going forward, I think, is going to be whether this House majority wants to govern or whether it has been sent to Washington primarily to have a series of culture war and other confrontations with the Biden administration.

After watching the last week, you would have to bet more on the latter than the former. But we will see.

HARRAK: Time will tell. Ron Brownstein, thank you so much. Greatly appreciated.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

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HARRAK: The drama on the House floor came exactly two years after the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Democrats and one Republican marked the anniversary by honoring the officers who defended the building that day.

At the ceremony outside the Capitol, they read the names of those who died after the chaos. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries praised the officers for standing up to election deniers and keeping democracy intact. At the White House, President Joe Biden also recognized the efforts of

the officers and other individuals. He awarded them medals, saying history would remember their courage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America is a land of laws and not chaos, a nation of peace and not violence. We are not a land of kings and dictators, autocrats and extremists.

As we see in today's honorees, we are a nation of we, the people, that toughen our fiber, renew our faith and strengthen our cause. Remember who in God's name we are. We are the United States of America.

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HARRAK: The mother of a woman who died in the January 6th attack has been arrested near the Capitol. According to police, Micki Witthoeft was part of a group protesting on the Capitol grounds without a permit on Friday.

Officers say they told her to leave but she refused and asked to be arrested. She faces two charges, including illegally blocking traffic. Her daughter, Ashli Babbitt, was a pro-Trump rioter killed by police as she and a crowd pushed toward the Capitol doorway.

One of the first rioters to enter the Capitol two years ago has been sentenced to 46 months behind bars. Jerod Hughes had pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding when he breached the building. He was also behind other rioters who chased Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman up several flights of stairs.

[03:15:00]

HARRAK: In a sentencing hearing, Hughes apologized to the officer, to Congress and to the country.

A former state lawmaker who was convicted for storming the Capitol says he will run for Congress back in June. Derrick Evans was sentenced to 90 days after pleading guilty to a felony charge for his role in the riots.

On Friday he said, quote, "My name will be part of it. We should also use it as a chance to remind ourselves about why democracy is so important."

He will run for West Virginia's first congressional district.

Ukrainians keep the holiday spirit alive, despite alleged Russian strikes on orthodox Christmas Eve.

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HARRAK (voice-over): Families head to bomb shelters but still find a way to mark the holiday.

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HARRAK: The U.S. and Germany are promising to send more heavy military hardware to Ukraine just as the embattled nation prepares for expected uptick in fighting this spring. The U.S. says its new package includes 50 Bradley armored infantry fighting vehicles, dozens of howitzers and air defense missiles.

President Zelenskyy says the aid is coming at just the right time.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): For the first time, we will receive Bradley armored vehicles, which is exactly what we need. We will get new guns and rockets, including high precision ones. New missiles and new drones. It is both timely and robust. This package of support from the United States totals nearly $3 billion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: After Washington's announcement, Zelenskyy met with U.S. senators Jack Reed and Angus King in Kyiv. Senator Reed said the U.S. will help Ukraine break through the front lines and hopefully push Russians out of the country.

Germany, meanwhile, says it will send about 40 of its Marder infantry vehicles along with a batter of U.S. made Patriot missiles in the next few months. And Ukrainian troops will be trained in Germany on how to use the vehicles.

In response, Russia slammed Washington and Berlin for the new military aid. But German chancellor Olaf Scholz told Mr. Zelenskyy on Friday he can count on more.

Ukraine says the day of Russia's promised holiday cease-fire was anything but peaceful.

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HARRAK (voice-over): That is a Ukrainian tank opening fire after Russia attacked Ukrainian positions in the east and south. Ukraine says some of the attacks happened after a unilateral cease-fire ordered by Russian president Vladimir Putin went into effect on Friday.

He told his troops to cease hostilities for orthodox Christmas which most orthodox Christians celebrate on January the 7th. But Russia accused Ukraine of conducting new strikes on Friday, even though Kyiv had not agreed to the cease-fire.

CNN's Nina dos Santos joins us from London with more.

Nina, no peace on the battlefield in Ukraine on the orthodox Christmas.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR: Yes, that's right, Laila. In the last hour, we have seen religious figures and also observers gather at a 1,000-year old monastery at a cave in central Kyiv to celebrate orthodox Christmas for the first ceremony in Ukrainian language.

Just as people in the capital are able to do that in safety, in the south of the country in places like Dnipro and Petrovsk (ph), the east in Donetsk, these contested areas, they had to head to bomb shelters and spend Christmas Eve there instead of celebrating this important and usually peaceful occasion inside the country.

This is despite the fact that we are now many hours into this unilaterally declared cease-fire that Russia floated earlier on in the week. It was rebuffed by President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, saying this was just a ruse for Russia to regroup and rearm and also to get Ukraine to temporarily push the pause button so that they were able to do that.

Ukraine has continued to fight to reclaim this territory. Even despite this cease-fire, they have witnessed one missile attack and various if not 12 attacks by rocket launchers. They say that 19 civilian settlements were hit in one direction. We also saw another 15 civilian settlements hit the near the area of Bakhmut.

That has been a pressure point over the last few weeks. There is no sign of letup in the battle, despite this week, which has been dominated by talk of a cease-fire, which was rebuffed.

Also Ukraine also has energy now given the fact that there have been these promises of increased military hardware not just from the U.S. but also from France and Germany. The U.S. is saying they are hopefully going to be training the Ukrainian troops as soon as possible, possibly as early as this month. Laila.

HARRAK: Nina dos Santos reporting, thank you so much.

Andriy Zagorodnyuk is Ukraine's former defense minister, a major architect of military reform in his country. He is also the chairman of the Center for Defense Strategies. He joins us now live from an undisclosed location.

Sir, it's good to have you back with us.

How would you characterize the security situation across Ukraine right now?

[03:25:00] ANDRIY ZAGORODNYUK, CHAIRMAN, CENTER FOR DEFENSE STRATEGIES: Well, Russians are certainly preparing a new mobilization, most likely. The current situation is not helping them. They are struggling with advancing in the east. They essentially can't reach their operational objectives.

They most likely will have some kind of new offensive with the mobilized personnel, which they gathered in the last year. Currently, they're going under training. So we will most likely see some intensification at the end of February or the end of March.

HARRAK: I want to ask you about the additional lethal support to the Ukrainian army which has been announced by the U.S., Germany and, France. We are seeing a shift in their policy. Weapons that Ukraine had previously asked for repeatedly will now finally be sent.

Why is this happening now?

Is there an expectation that a major Russian offensive could take place soon?

ZAGORODNYUK: First of all, yes, that could be the expectation. And also, the fact that Western leaders, after some hopes for some negotiated settlement, peace agreements or peace talks, they see that Russia is not interested in any of that strategically.

They still are pursuing the goal of destroying Ukraine, despite the losses they have. So Western leaders understand it. They need to help Ukraine to win. Right now, we basically have all sorts of substantial shift in rhetoric from European leaders.

For example, President Macron started to say that France is helping Ukraine until Ukraine wins. That never happened before. So they were careful about their verbiage. We see that there is a shift in Western politicians, understanding ,that unfortunately, Russia is still going and we need to keep pushing them out.

There has been some success last year. That needs to be continued so they bump up Ukrainian capabilities.

HARRAK: I want to talk more, too, about that.

Are you surprised that they are crossing their own red lines?

The likes of President Macron and Chancellor Scholz breaking previously held taboos in a very remarkable way.

ZAGORODNYUK: We will see that more, to be honest, I think. I think they will be realizing political establishments of the Western countries, they will be realizing the true essence of this war as more and more.

Unfortunately, it is not getting toward peace until Russia is still expecting some victories. We see, despite major losses, incredible losses, the Russian president is still pushing for the offensive. So it is clearly a situation where the Western coalition in Ukraine,

they need to stay strong. We see that strength coming up. This is a remarkable development, I have to say.

HARRAK: Eleven months of war.

Is Ukraine any closer to regaining its territory?

What would be the game-changer for you in terms of military capability?

ZAGORODNYUK: We believe that the game-changer would be a critical mass of the equipment, which we still expect to come. When we have some sort of parity with the Russians on some specific front, key sections of the front, we have seen already some substantial counteroffensives.

And I believe the war will go the same way. There will be areas where Ukraine suddenly begins to push Russians out. There will be another area and another area. So it would be piece by piece but the overall game-changer would be when we see some critical equipment coming, long-range firepower, tanks, armored vehicles, et cetera.

HARRAK: Andriy Zagorodnyuk, thank you so much for joining us.

ZAGORODNYUK: Thank you.

HARRAK: A speaker at last -- how Kevin McCarthy finally secured the top spot in the U.S. House in the 15th round of votes.

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HARRAK: Welcome back. I am Laila Harrak and you are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

The U.S. House finally has a new speaker after the longest leadership battle in 164 years. Republican Kevin McCarthy secured the gavel in the 15th round of votes early Saturday. A small group of GOP hardliners had held up the process for days.

A dramatic moment after a failed vote, McCarthy confronted congressman Matt Gaetz. He and other key holdouts finally relented after several concessions and phone calls from Donald Trump. McCarthy said the former president's support was key to his victory.

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MCCARTHY: I do want to especially thank president Trump. I don't think anybody should doubt his influence. He was with me from the beginning. Somebody wrote the doubt that whether he was there, he was all in.

He would call me and he would call others. He really was -- I was just talking to him tonight -- helping get those final votes.

What he's saying for the party and the country, we have to come together, we have to focus on the economy, we have to focus, make our borders secure. We have to do -- so much work to do and he was a great influence to make that all happen so thank you president Trump.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:35:00]

HARRAK: Joining me now from Palm Desert, California, is KABC talk radio host John Phillips.

Thank you so much for joining, us John. We just heard the Speaker of the House thanking former president Donald Trump.

What does that tell you?

JOHN PHILLIPS, TALK RADIO HOST: Well, it tells me that Donald Trump did come through in the end when the chips were down. Not only Donald Trump but Jim Jordan, who is one of the more respected members of the Freedom Caucus.

You've been showing these images all night. The scene on the floor of the House of Representatives. Now that we live in this digital age, you see the cell phones being passed around, I think Marjorie Taylor Greene was one of them.

She was on the phone with Donald Trump, handing the phone to people whose votes were still up for grabs. He was whipping up those votes until the final votes were cast. So certainly, Kevin McCarthy owes a portion of his victory tonight to the former president.

HARRAK: So he has done it with the help of the former president. Kevin McCarthy is now speaker on the 15th vote.

Is there a sense of relief that this vote is now finally over?

PHILLIPS: Oh, sure. Tonight was a reminder that democracy is not like Domino's Pizza. You don't get it in 30 minutes or it's free. Sometimes, it takes longer than you wanted to. Sometimes, there is yelling. There are bad words. Ultimately, what you end up with is compromise.

You end up with something where not everyone gets exactly what they want but you get something that you can all live with. Kevin McCarthy now has an opportunity. He will now have the speaker's gavel.

He will have a chance to follow through with all of the things that the Republicans promised in the last cycle, on crime, on the border, on inflation. He will have a chance to be able to enact this agenda. If he gets it done, he will be speaker for quite a while. If he does not get it done, he will be sitting in the peanut gallery being regaled with stories.

HARRAK: This is what I was going to ask you. Is this a pyrrhic victory, a victory at such great cost that it

outweighs the benefits?

PHILLIPS: It's not uncommon. What you just described is true. We have not had a battle like this with this number of ballots in a very long time for the speaker position. Go back to Nancy Pelosi's run in this last time to be speaker. That was not a foregone conclusion.

You had various members of the Democratic caucus who ran for election saying they would not support her for speaker. She had to make concessions to her caucus, including imposing self-imposed term limits on herself, letting them know she would not stick around forever.

There was a moment in time when Marcia Fudge, who was a congresswoman from Ohio, was threatening to run for speaker against Nancy Pelosi.

So what Pelosi did to bring her on board and eliminate the threat was to make Marcia part of the Democratic leadership by co-opting her, giving her skin in the game to make sure the success of the majority was important to her and not just to Nancy Pelosi.

In many ways, what Kevin McCarthy did, while it took much longer and certainly was more acrimonious than what happened with Pelosi, many of the tools that he used to get to the magic number were tools that have been used by people in the past.

HARRAK: Voters who are watching this, paying attention to these proceedings, how do you think it will impact their perception of the Republican Party?

Will the GOP retain their support?

PHILLIPS: Well, I mean, it certainly looked dysfunctional. But this is democracy. This is what happens when you put together winning coalitions, when you put together the votes you need.

For the political animals, they were certainly following all of the palace intrigue. If politics is something you're interested in, I mean, oh, my gosh, the drama that has been playing out has just been catnip.

For your average person, I don't think they follow the ins and the out of every single vote that took place. I think ultimately what they will judge Kevin McCarthy on, any Republicans in Congress and everyone else who was involved in what you just saw play out, is, did they deliver on their promises?

Did they deliver on what they campaigned on?

Two years from now, that is when voters are going to evaluate them in totality and decide whether or not they deserve to remain in power.

HARRAK: My final question to you, how did the party get this way?

PHILLIPS: Well, the Republican Party has always been a party that has had very different aspects of its coalition. [03:40:00]

PHILLIPS: I mean, look, if you're in Europe and you have 9,000 different parties, you have a lot of people who are ideologically on the same page. But when you are dealing with the American political system, you have everyone from Matt Gaetz to the most liberal Rockefeller Republican who are playing on the same team.

When you have margins that are as thin as what you have in this Congress and what you had in the last Congress, you need these disparate elements to vote with one another in lockstep.

That is something that is not easy to do. You're going to have conflict and that conflict is not going to go away. You're. Going to see what you saw play out over the last several days on any major vote of any kind of consequence.

It is Kevin McCarthy's job to keep it together and to keep moving forward and to check off as many boxes as he can on his agenda.

HARRAK: Thank you so much for taking our questions.

PHILLIPS: Thank you for having me.

HARRAK: Police in Virginia say an elementary school teacher is hospitalized and in critical condition after she was shot inside a classroom. The alleged shooter is a 6-year-old boy. It happened at a school in Newport News.

Police say there was an altercation between the teacher and student. They do not believe the shooting that followed was an accident. The student was taken into police custody. It is not clear how he got the gun.

The police chief said the teacher suffered life-threatening wounds but was showing some signs of improvement.

We are getting new details about police evidence as they investigated the murder of those University of Idaho students almost two months ago. A law enforcement source says the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, thoroughly cleaned his car and was seen several times wearing surgical gloves days before he was finally arrested.

According to the source, authorities also observed Kohberger at his family's home in Pennsylvania, putting trash bags in a neighbor's garbage bins. The items were recovered and sent to the Idaho state lab.

As the families of the victims try to come to grips with the tragedy, one father told CNN it is clear that the killer singled out his victims far in advance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN GONCALVES, KAYLEE'S FATHER: You read the affidavit and you just find out that no one understands exactly why. But he was stalking them, hunting them. He was just a person looking for an opportunity. It just happened to be in that house. It's hard to take.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: Good news for the NFL player who collapsed on live television. Just ahead, an update on the condition of Damar Hamlin.

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HARRAK: The Buffalo Bills player who suffered cardiac arrest live on TV during a game is breathing on his own and talking. The team confirmed that Damar Hamlin's breathing tube has been removed. In a surprise, he appeared on screen for his teammates. Here's Ryan Young with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DION DAWKINS, BUFFALO BILLS: We got our boy. The excitement was beautiful. It was amazing.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A team overjoyed with good news.

DAWKINS: To see that boy's face, to see him smile, see him go like this in the camera, it was -- it was everything. So -- and then to hear him talk to us, it was literally everything and that's what we needed.

YOUNG: The Buffalo Bills announcing more progress after Damar Hamlin's breathing tube was removed overnight.

SEAN MCDERMOTT, HEAD COACH, BUFFALO BILLS: He said I love you, boys.

YOUNG: The 24-year old now able to breathe on his own, briefly joining Friday morning's team meeting with players and coaches via FaceTime.

MCDERMOTT: To see the players' reaction they stood up right away and clapped for him and, you know, yelled some things to him.

YOUNG: Hamlin injecting his sense of humor into the call.

MCDERMOTT: The thing that makes me laugh is he did this to the guys, you know, right away. He made the heart symbol probably more than anything.

YOUNG: The signs of progress welcome relief for players and staff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like how he went down.

YOUNG: New audio of the intense moments on the field after Hamlin's collapse as medics fought to save his life. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring the cot with the medics, all of you and get wheeled out here.

YOUNG: A reminder of how far Hamlin's condition has improved.

DR. WILLIAM KNIGHT IV, UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI: I don't think that we can emphasize enough the immediate medical response.

YOUNG: The Bills' general manager praising Hamlin's parents as well who were at his bed side the entire time.

BRANDON BEANE, GENERAL MANAGER, BUFFALO BILLS: I was in awe, just watching their strength through such difficult up and down moments. And man, it was a pleasure to be a part and see how they handled it. I don't believe I would have handled it in the same strength if that was my son.

YOUNG: The news of Hamlin's recovery comes as the Bills prepare to face off against the Patriots on Sunday.

MCDERMOTT: All the improvements of Damar make life so much easier to focus on as you mention the task at hand and that being the New England Patriots.

YOUNG: Buffalo teasing a special number 3 patch players will wear in a number of tributes this weekend including highlighting the number 3 on the field. The NFL encouraging teams to show league wide support for Damar, the first responders and medical caregivers.

[03:50:00]

DAWKINS: It'll be emotional. It really will be.

YOUNG: As the players now shift their focus from that dramatic moment to future games --

DAWKINS: We're going to use all the positives to help us win.

YOUNG: -- their teammate's future still top of mind with a long recovery head.

KNIGHTS: His future in professional football, it's entirely too early to have a conversation. He still critical in the ICU. Our focus is on getting him better.

YOUNG: We've been using the words unprecedented all week and the NFL stepped in to make some moves when it comes to the playoffs. They said the AFC championship could be played at a neutral site if needed.

Also, if the Bengals and Ravens have to face each other in a wild card came, home field advantage will be determined by a coin flip. But everybody right now is happy and pleased with the improvements that have been made during this week -- Ryan Young, CNN, Cincinnati.

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HARRAK: And we'll be right back.

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[03:55:00]

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HARRAK: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's granted accelerated approval for a new drug to treat Alzheimer's in what could be a breakthrough in fighting the disease. The drug appears to slow the progression of cognitive decline in phase III trials. But there are safety concerns because of adverse events like brain swelling.

The accelerated approval program permits early access to certain medications while studies continue. If trials confirm the benefits of this new medication, the FDA could grant conditional approval. Encouraging news.

That wraps up this hour CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Laila Harrak. Paula Newton picks up our coverage after the break. Please stay with us.