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Mccarthy Wins On 15th Ballot; Court Documents Shed New Light On Idaho Murder Investigation; An Economic Look At 2023; U.S., Germany Sending More Firepower To Ukraine; Bills Heap Praise On Hamlin's Hero First Responders; Bombshell Revelations In Prince Harry's "Spare". Aired 5-6a ET

Aired January 07, 2023 - 05:00   ET

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

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world, I'm Paula Newton. Ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM:

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The honorable Kevin McCarthy of the state of California, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.

NEWTON (voice-over): Fifteen ballot votes later and Kevin McCarthy is finally the new Speaker of the House. We look at all the drama and, of course, the historical background of this long battle.

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NEWTON (voice-over): And new details on the murder investigation in Idaho. A look at the painstaking hunt that finally led the suspects to capture.

Plus, CNN's Andy Scholes joins us here live on the set to discuss Damar Hamlin's remarkable recovery and what he said to his Buffalo Bills team.

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

NEWTON: So 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 over so many days to resolve.

Out of 222 Republicans in the House, it only took six hardline conservatives, six, to derail McCarthy in the 14th ballot on Friday night. Now a vote he had believed in fact that he had it won, that he had it. But right wing Matt Gaetz, who had sworn to never vote for McCarthy, cast in fact the deciding vote that doomed him on the 14th ballot. Now we get to the 15th ballot and that was the charm. All six

including Gaetz voted present, assuring the gavel would go for McCarthy. Here's some of what the new speaker had to say afterwards.

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REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: It is time for us to be the voice and worthy of their votes. Let me close with this. I may not know all of you. Some of you are new. But I hope one thing is clear after this vote.

I never give up. I make this promise, I'll never give up for you, the American people. And I will never give up on keeping our commitment to America. Our nation is worth fighting for. Our rights are worth fighting for. Our dreams are worth fighting for. Our future is worth fighting for.

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NEWTON: President Biden quickly congratulated McCarthy on becoming speaker saying, quote, "As I said after the midterms, I am prepared to work with Republicans when I can. And voters made clear that they -- that that's what they expect.

"Republicans should be prepared to work with me as well now that the leadership of the House of Representatives has been decided. It is time for that process to begin."

U.S. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer was much more reserved in his response, warning that McCarthy's dream job could turn into a nightmare for the American people.

He added, in fact, that Americans want bipartisan cooperation in Congress, not more gridlock. Now that that marathon battle is over, CNN's Manu Raju has the details on how the final 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.

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RAJU: 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.

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.

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NEWTON: Joining us now is Natasha Lindstaedt. She is a professor of government at the University of Essex.

At times I felt we were doing a sports play by play just on the floor with everything going on. What did you take from this extraordinary process?

I mean, it's been called many things, chaotic, historic.

What do you think is the underlying message here what we're about to see in Congress?

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Well, like you, I agree, it was pretty riveting. It was a train wreck. It was embarrassing. It makes me very concerned for our democracy in some ways.

I know the Republicans are trying to spin it that this was really great for democracy.

But democracies really need political parties to function and political parties, to some level, need to have some kind of party discipline in order to come together to achieve outcomes, to overcome collective action problems and to be really focusing on representing and actually legislating.

I think what we see is this is the residue of Trumpism, of Trump's championing of personalism over any kinds of acts of service. We see politics as really deteriorated. It's personality driven. It's about an unrelenting quest for power and fame.

It was almost like watching a game show. It was a spectacle. And you see that you have very far right fringe elements of the party able to take it hostage.

And so what do we have in the aftermath?

We have an incredibly weak speaker.

Who knows how long Kevin McCarthy is going to last?

And we also have a weak legislature. I think we'll see a lot more paralysis and extremism. We don't really want six people to be holding the entire country hostage. And that's in effect what happened here.

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LINDSTAEDT: So I think actually in the end this wasn't particularly good for democracy and it's very concerning what they're going to be able to accomplish in the next two years, given the way that they -- they couldn't even really decide on the Speaker.

NEWTON: You know, I want to touch on a point that you made there, was that this was embarrassing. I mean, many around the world have commented that political power has just become so fragmented, especially when you look at the use of social media platforms.

Does it mean though that these fringe radical elements have more agency, that they will continue to have more agency governing and not just in the United States?

LINDSTAEDT: Right. That's a good point you bring up about the effect of social media, which I think some originally thought was going to be good for democracy. We're seeing it's more of a mixed bag and, in some cases, not particularly good for democracy.

It gives a platform for those that don't do the legwork, the groundwork that is often required to gain a following. And they can -- it basically allows independence to flourish. Independent candidates aren't that good for democracy because they don't have to be part of a party, which is a building block to democracy.

They can go and do their own thing. It becomes very much of a free- for-all. If you decide you don't like something one day, then you don't really want to do it. We see with some of the concessions that Kevin McCarthy made with his far right group, that only one person could vacate or file a role to vacate the role of speaker.

This means if one person decides they don't like him, they're not getting along with him, they could upend his role as speaker and we need more stability in a democracy. I think that's one of the elements that social media brought in, is it attracts different types of candidates, different types of characters to work in politics.

NEWTON: We will leave it there now. Thanks so much for being with us on this historic day.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

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NEWTON: Now Friday's 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 Capitol on that day.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: David Sicknick.

NEWTON (voice-over): The names of officers who died after the riot were read out at this ceremony outside Capitol Hill. President Biden recognized them as well as others who resisted efforts to overturn the election. He said history would win over courage.

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NEWTON: Earlier Friday police arrested the mother of a woman who died during the Capitol attack. Police say Micki Witthoeft was protesting on Capitol grounds Friday without a permit. She was charged with two violations of illegally blocking traffic.

Now we are getting, in the meantime, new details about the evidence police uncovered in the murder of those University of Idaho students two months ago.

Law enforcement source says the suspect Bryan Kohberger thoroughly cleaned his car and was seen several times wearing surgical gloves while doing so. That was just days before he was finally arrested. And as the families of the victims try to come to grips with this

tragedy, one father told CNN, it's clear the killer singled out the victims far in advance. Gary Tuchman looks at what we know how the police cracked the case.

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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the probable cause affidavit, a Moscow Idaho Police Corporal says after finding the victims who were killed, "I noticed what appeared to be a tan leather knife sheath laying on the bed. The Idaho State Lab later located a single source of male DNA left on the button snap of the knife sheath."

Police say the DNA is suspect, Bryan Kohberger's.

TUCHMAN: This is the house where the college students were killed. According to the affidavit, when police arrived, they went through that door where the Christmas wreath is.

On the second floor to the right of the door is the bedroom where Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were killed. Also on the second floor to the left in the back of the house, according to the affidavit, that is where the witness DM was.

And finally on the third floor, you see that window right there, according to the affidavit, that's where Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were and that's where the knife sheath was found.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Based on the affidavit, it appears Bryan Kohberger has been near this house many times before. The affidavit indicating Kohberger's cell phone signal was detected 12 times near the house over a period of five months prior to the murders.

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All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days.

(On camera): It wouldn't necessarily be suspicious if Bryan Kohberger drove past this house twelve times over five months, if these were busy or prominent streets.

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TUCHMAN: or streets on the way to another neighborhood. But to come here, you have to be looking for, this doesn't connect anywhere else. These roads are windy, they're narrow, they're curvy, in short, it seems difficult to accidentally end up here. The affidavit states that one of the students who survived with the initials DM heard crying and opened her door three times. She saw a figure clad in black clothing in a mask that covered the person's mouth and nose, walking towards her. DM described the figure as 5'10" or taller, male, not very muscular, but athletically built, with bushy eyebrows. The male walked past DM as she stood in a frozen shock phase. The male walked towards the back sliding glass door. DM locked herself in her room after seeing the male. DM did not state that she recognized the male. This turned out to be critical information because on November 25, shortly after the murders, Moscow police asked law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for a white Hyundai Elantra that had been seen near the murder site.

Four days later, police discovered a white Elantra in this parking lot just across the state line in Pullman, Washington. According to the affidavit, it was registered to Kohberger who lived up these stairs in this townhouse complex. Police acquired his driver's license information and they say, according to the affidavit, that it was consistent with DM's description of the man she saw, who was wearing black clothing and a mask.

The affidavit does not contain information about motive or if the alleged killer knew any of the victims, but authorities could very well have leads about those topics that are not being publicly released yet.

Next Thursday in this courthouse Bryan Kohberger will have another hearing. This will be a status hearing to discuss scheduling. Within the next couple of weeks he will be arraigned -- Gary Tuchman, CNN, in Moscow, Idaho.

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NEWTON: A 6-year-old boy is in police custody after an elementary school teacher was shot and badly wounded. It happened on Friday in Newport News, Virginia. The police say the child shot at a female teacher inside the classroom.

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CHIEF STEVE DREW, NEWPORT NEWS POLICE DEPARTMENT: The individual is a 6-year-old student. He is right now in police custody as we're working it the best way through our partners and different resources to address that situation.

We have been in contact with our commonwealth attorney and some other entities to help us best get services to this young man.

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NEWTON: Police do not believe the shooting was an accident and that there had been an incident between the teacher and the student. Officials are investigating. The police chief said the teacher is now in critical condition, thankfully showing some signs of improvement.

After a brief break from the rain, Californians are gearing up for another round of severe storms. Just ahead, a look at the storm damage and what communities are trying to do to prepare now.

Plus, wages in the U.S. continue to rise but at a slower pace. We'll explain why Wall Street considers that a good sign for the economy.

And good news, great news for the NFL player, who collapsed on live TV after a hit during a game. An update on Damar Hamlin's condition. You'll want to hear this.

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NEWTON (voice-over): Wow, look at that. A look at the strong storms that hit California. The region is preparing for another round. More than 50 million people across the state are now under flood alerts because of those approaching storms.

Northern California has already been hit hard. Two people were killed and tens of thousands are still without power. Now they're getting ready for what is to come.

CHIEF ANDY DAILEY, CAPITOLA POLICE DEPARTMENT: This particular event is over but there's also significant weather that's still coming. So we're also monitoring another weather system that is a little bit different but there's significant rainfall. So we're going to have to look at that event that's coming up that's projected for this Monday.

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NEWTON: Tracking that next storm, it will bring heavy rain in northern and central California and through next week. In our next hour, we will have a live report from the CNN Weather Center and give you an update on that.

I want to check out the live pictures coming from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano. As frightening as this may be, the alert level has been downgraded. That's because the current activity started on Thursday but authorities say they expect this eruption to in fact stay confined to the summit. Kilauea has been erupting on and off since 2021.

The U.S. stock market ended in positive territory on Friday. Slowing wage growth and a downbeat report about the services sector led to a kind of bad news/good news rally. Investors are getting -- are waiting or betting as well that the Fed will raise rates by only a smidge next month.

Here's how the markets closed on Friday. The Dow rose by a quarter of a percent. And the S&P gained more than 2 percent. This is key, the tech heavy Nasdaq rose more than 2 percent, a sign that investors believe inflation is moderating.

Now Wall Street's rally came after the U.S. economy capped off a strong year of growth. The country added more than 220,000 jobs in December and that is bringing the unemployment rate down to 3.5 percent.

Average hourly earnings, though, this is what everyone watched, they increased by 0.3 percent. And that, in fact, is a slower pace that Wall Street -- yes, they liked it, believe it or not. Earlier I asked analyst Ryan Patel why markets reacted so positively to just one data point.

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RYAN PATEL, GLOBAL BUSINESS EXECUTIVE: The market always wants to pick one data point to be happy about.

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PATEL: And the data point I think they're looking at isn't the unemployment rate, because the unemployment rate went the other way -- Fed chairman Jerome Powell wanted it to go the opposite direction.

It was the average hourly earnings that continued to kind of soften. And that's what you saw the market react, hoping it will be a softer landing. That word to me is not in the vocabulary. A soft landing would be ideal but there's more variables than just one data point.

At the end of November, we're talking about 1.7 job openings for every available worker. The labor force participation is 62.3 percent, still a full percentage point below February 2020. So there's still a lot of room. One data point to be happy with but lots to be there.

NEWTON: Yet the markets did like it. I want to get to what the IMF has been saying the last few weeks, because they're not optimistic about global growth. Most economies remain more vulnerable than the U.S. economy. You see what's going on in China or Europe.

Some economists believe a good U.S. labor market and a confident U.S. consumer can help lift the global economy.

Do you think that's too optimistic an outlook for 2023?

PATEL: I love the keywords "most of them think" help.

How much help is the question.

Yes, if the U.S. is in a better position, will that help?

Sure, it will. But I have to be honest here. We are more interconnected than before. The U.S. is having its own issues trying to get there. Doesn't mean it's going to lift everybody out of one- third of recession that the IMF said.

So I would be careful. It will help but we are deep-rooted in many of these issues, especially when you think about the E.U. going to have the economic spillover in that region as well as Asia with China. So the U.S. by itself will not be able to uproot all of that.

Will it be helpful?

Sure. I can say that. But we don't know how much.

NEWTON: Ryan Patel, thanks so much, good to see you. PATEL: Good to see you.

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NEWTON: Kevin McCarthy finally came out on top after the longest speakership battle in modern times. We ask a historian to try to put it all in context for us.

Plus, heavy weapons in the battle in Ukraine on a day when Russia's president promised to keep the guns silent.

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NEWTON: And welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Paula Newton and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

Now the U.S. House finally has a new speaker after days of chaos and Republican infighting. Kevin McCarthy secured the top spot in a 15th round of voting Saturday but he had to offer a series of concessions to get key holdouts to finally fall in line.

Among them, allowing any single member to call for a vote to oust him and adding more ultraconservative Freedom Caucus members to the Rules Committee. And that's significant. Former president Donald Trump also helped McCarthy seal the deal apparently. The new speaker gave him credit after being sworn in. Listen.

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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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now Democrats officially have a new leader as well, as House minority leader Hakeem Jefferies is the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress. Listen.

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REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: Out of many, we are one. That's what makes America a great country. And no matter what kind of haters are trying to divide us, we're not going to let anyone take that away from us, not now, not ever.

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NEWTON: Listen up. There's a history lesson. This isn't the first time in history the House has struggled to elect the Speaker. It's taken multiple ballots on 15 different occasions since Congress first met in 1789. Most of them took place before the Civil War.

The last time, though, was a century ago, when it took nine ballots for Republican Frederick Gillett of Massachusetts to be elected speaker in 1923. The parallels between then and now are, in fact, striking.

Opponents of the eventual winner angled for rule changes to give them more influence and more committee slots. That's sounding familiar. Just as hard right Republicans have done now. CNN's presidential historian Tim Naftali joins me now. He is the former director of the Nixon Presidential Library.

Is there any magic to this?

They say the concessions they extracted, they claim, are transformational. They claim it will bring more accountability to Congress.

Is that true?

And is that something that they're going to be able to sell to the American people, given historically what the Speaker's role is supposed to be and what the role of Congress is supposed to be?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: That's a great question because it depends how you define accountability. After all, every single member of Congress is accountable to the American people. That includes Democrats.

And what the ultraconservatives have achieved is they're trying to get a veto power. That's a small minority. A sliver of the American electorate wants to get a veto power over the actions of the entire House. I'm not sure that makes the House more accountable.

It makes them more accountable to the base that voted for the small, narrow group of ultraconservatives. So what's going to happen -- I mean, what is likely to happen is that speaker McCarthy is either going to have to rely on a few Democratic votes for major votes like continuing resolution.

That's what the House has to pass in order to keep funding the U.S. government in the absence of a budget.

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NAFTALI: Or if the House of Representatives wants to avoid a default on the American -- on the American obligations abroad, the -- they'll have to vote for raising the debt ceiling. In those instances where it's clear ultraconservatives are not going

to vote for business as usual, McCarthy may have to rely on Democratic votes. Now that doesn't mean that the House is more or less accountable.

The issue here is how much power the ultraconservatives can get so that they can prevent establishment Republicans and Democrats from achieving what is better for the nation.

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NAFTALI: I think that's accountability and obstructionism.

NEWTON: Clearly they think that obstructionism is working and continues to work. I want to point out all of this unfolded on the two-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, an anniversary, as you just said, you described them, this is a new brand of insurgents now that seemed to win the day on the floor of the House.

They continue to win the day by disrupting that status quo that you described.

I want to ask you, do you see this as weakening American institutions, changing them?

Do you see this as an actual blow to the pillars of governance in America?

NAFTALI: I see it as a blow to governance in America. It's not necessarily a blow to the institution of the House, because the House has evolved. The rules for speakers have evolved. There are -- there have been times in American history when the Speaker's been extremely powerful, more powerful than Speaker Pelosi, for example.

And there are times in American history where the Speaker has been very weak. Speaker, soon to be or likely speaker McCarthy, is going to be one of the weakest speakers in American history.

The issue is whether we can have compromise in Washington. We've just had in the 117th Congress a series of bipartisan successes, moving the ball forward for the nation, moving the ball forward on issues like support for some green policies, support for infrastructure, support for marriage equality, support for Ukraine.

There have been a series of remarkable bipartisan achievements in the 117th Congress. What the ultraconservatives want to prevent in the 118th Congress is any similar bipartisan achievement.

If we can't seek compromise as a country, then we all suffer. The ultraconservatives don't get this. It's unfortunate and it's going to make governance for both Democrats and Republicans much harder in the 118th Congress and apparently the ultraconservatives don't care.

NEWTON: Yes. That really helps us to see what this fight for the role of the Speaker means in the here and now, as we see, you know, the incredible events unfold there in Congress. Tim Naftali, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

NAFTALI: Thank you. Thank you very much.

NEWTON: A pro Russian official says a drone was shot down over occupied Crimea this morning and it happened during what Russia promised would be a peaceful orthodox Christmas during a unilateral cease-fire, something Ukraine said it never really took hold.

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NEWTON (voice-over): That was a Ukrainian tank opening fire as Russia reportedly attacked Ukrainian positions across the country's east and south. Kyiv says some of those happened during the cease-fire ordered by Vladimir Putin.

It never agreed to the cease-fire and Russia accused Ukraine of being the attackers. Meanwhile --

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NEWTON (voice-over): Something that never happened before, an orthodox monastery in Kyiv held a service in the Ukrainian language. It happened after a lease agreement in Ukraine expired.

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NEWTON: Nina dos Santos is monitoring developments for us.

We now have word that this drone was shot down.

What more do we know?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR: That's right. Thank you very much, Paula.

What we know is the Russian installed governor of Sebastopol said that a drone was shot down over the city's north pier into the Black Sea on Saturday evening.

That would have been during the cease-fire, 36 hour unilateral cease- fire, proposed by Russia, repeatedly rebuffed by Ukraine as a ploy by Russia to mobilize more men and to restock its munitions there.

But this appears to have been evidence that they say a Ukrainian drone made its way into Russian occupied territory at the same time as you said before.

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DOS SANTOS: Ukraine says that it has suffered incoming fire from Russian troops as well even hours into this 36-hour cease-fire as well.

Now when it comes to Ukraine, they say that the heaviest of the fighting or this targeting has been in places like Dnipro in the south and Donetsk as well. Both of those two cities as well, dozens of civilian settlements have been targeted either by a missile strike or also by rocket fire as well.

That was the latest we knew from yesterday evening. So far what we know is that obviously people on the front line there in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine had to celebrate Christmas Eve in bunkers, sheltering from this kind of oncoming attacks.

In Kyiv, as you pointed out there, though, obviously it's a lot safer picture. And there has been the first sermons taking place in the Ukrainian language in this 1,000-year-old monastery. It falls under the auspices of a more independent future.

Another sign of the outcome of their supposed initial 10-day military operation that Vladimir Putin suggested, which is headed into the 300th-plus day, now what's going to turn the tables here is a big installment of U.S. military aid, which has been announced in the last few days, $3 billion.

That will include the crucial 50 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles as well as towed howitzers, those that don't have to be towed and air defense systems. What we know is President Zelenskyy has pointed out that this is critical to the future of defending his country. This comes alongside aid not only from the United States but France and Germany as well.

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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.

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DOS SANTOS: And just briefly, Paula, that package comes on top of a big package at the end of last year, with the Patriot missile defense system is heading its way toward Ukraine.

All of this is a recognition that the nature of the fighting is changing and also that the Western forces and Ukraine are preparing for a big onslaught from Russia as we head into February and March.

NEWTON: Nina dos Santos, thank you for that.

British tabloids are having a field day as they publish exclusive excerpts from Prince Harry's book days before its official release.

Next, the football player who had a cardiac arrest on live TV. Here's how one of Damar Hamlin's teammates reacted to the news he's recovering. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got our boy, man. You know what I'm saying?

That's all that matters. We got our boy. The excitement was beautiful. It was amazing.

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NEWTON: Last Monday the Buffalo Bills' Damar Hamlin collapsed on a football field in Cincinnati with medical staff applying CPR almost immediately. That was after a brutal hit to his mid-section causing cardiac arrest.

His breathing tube has been removed and he's able to speak. Hamlin surprised his team yesterday with, in fact, a FaceTime chat. Here's the Bills head coach on what was an emotional moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN MCDERMOTT, BUFFALO BILLS COACH: The thing that makes me laugh is he did this to the guys, you know, right away. He flexed, he flexed on them, I guess. And he's just got some staple things that they know him for and he does.

And he made the heart symbol probably more than anything. And he gave them a thumbs up. And some were in the midst of that. It was a little bit hard to hear but as you imagine, he said, I love you, boys. And, of course, I think that got the guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Yes. As it would. CNN sports anchor Andy Scholes joins me now.

I still have that vision, Andy, of the team praying, the ambulance in the background.

What happened on the field is really what led to this better than anticipated recovery, right?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORT CORRESPONDENT: I know. Paula, it's amazing that was only this Monday. It's amazing where we are. The doctors are saying Hamlin's recovery has been just remarkable. Four days after going into cardiac arrest during Monday night football, Hamlin is awake now, talking to his friends and family and teammates.

He does though remain in critical condition but doctors said removing the breathing tube and breathing on his own, that's a very important step toward going home. All of this positive news meant the world to the Buffalo Bills as they prepare to take the field on Sunday against the New England Patriots.

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DION DAWKINS, BUFFALO BILLS OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: We got our boy, man, you know what I'm saying. That's all that matters. We got our boy. The excitement was beautiful. It was amazing.

It has given us so much energy, so much, you know, bright, high spirits, whatever you want to call it. It has given it to us to see that boy's face, to see him smile, see him go like this in the camera.

It was -- it was -- it was everything. So -- and then to hear him talk to us, it was literally everything. That's what we needed. Literally, that's all we needed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Hamlin's doctors say his amazing recovery is a result of the incredible work from the first responders. Assistant trainer Denny Kellington is being called a true hero for taking charge and administering CPR to Hamlin there on the field. The Bills GM says Kellington and many others deserve so much recognition.

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BRANDON BEANE, BUFFALO BILLS GM: A lot of heroes, when we look at sports. We all have heroes on the field but there's so many people that saved this young man's life. If you know any of these people, you're in Cincinnati, take care of them and thank them. You know, they are heroes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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MCDERMOTT: They've just been incredible. Obviously the doctors that I mentioned yesterday out there, the staff. It was funny, I was driving to work this morning. I'm listening to XM radio and I've got a country station on, it's called Highway Country or something like that.

Who are they taking about but Denny Kellington, the assistant trainer from the Buffalo Bills.

[05:50:00]

MCDERMOTT: I've got to imagine that's a national station. I shared that with Denny this morning. He got a good kick out of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott, they're going to do so many special tributes. It's going to be pretty awesome.

NEWTON: Such good news. We all needed it. Thanks for bringing it to us, Andy.

We'll be right back with more news in a moment.

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NEWTON: The new memoir by Britain's Prince Harry, "Spare," won't be released until Tuesday. But royal watchers are already trying to digest a number of bombshell pieces from the British press.

Harry wrote about his time in Afghanistan. His accounts are being heavily criticized by some military members. CNN's Max Foster has our report.

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MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the serious to the salacious, Harry's memoir, "Spare," has leaked. And the excerpts are shocking the U.K. We learned he lost his virginity to an older woman at 17.

[05:55:00]

FOSTER (voice-over): "It was humiliating," he said, according to Sky News.

"One of my mistakes was letting it happen in a field just behind a busy pub."

Harry opens up about his mother's death. He visited the site of the car crash in a bid for closure.

"I thought driving the tunnel would bring an end or brief cessation to the pain, the decade of unrelenting pain," he writes.

By Harry's own admission, he may be oversharing. But that's what makes this book remarkable and these Brits are sympathetic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's showing that he's a real person and he's not afraid to embrace that. I think that's really brave.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a good person, even though I don't know him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think more people should be like Harry.

FOSTER (voice-over): The tabloids are having a field day and Harry won't be surprised. It was a newspaper that exposed his relationship with Meghan and since then, it's been war.

PRINCE HARRY: I had no idea the British press were so bigoted. I didn't see what I now see. FOSTER (voice-over): But one revelation, that he killed 25 insurgents

as a soldier in Afghanistan, has created a backlash amongst some of his former comrades.

COL. RICHARD KEMP, FORMER BRITISH ARMY COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN: Publicly standing up and saying, I killed 25 Taliban, obviously he's got concerns about his own personal security. And making such a public announcement just makes it worse.

FOSTER (voice-over): Harry served in the British army for 10 years. And he completed two tours in Afghanistan. It's this criticism that may sting him the most.

FOSTER: And there are more revelations to come. Two big interviews this weekend, another on Monday, all part of the buildup to the official book launch on Tuesday.

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NEWTON: And that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton. For viewers in the United States, "CNN THIS MORNING" is up next. For the rest of the world it's "AFRICA AVANT-GARDE."