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Social Security, Medicare Takes Center Stage As 2024 Wedge Issue; DA Reviving All Cases Tied To Five Ex-Officers Charged In Nichols' Death; Housekeeper testifies On Last Conversation With Victim Maggie Murdaugh; NFL Celebrates People Who Saved Damar Hamlin's Life. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired February 10, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: the population of Florida, especially among states, Social Security, Medicare, these are really important topics. So interesting that there was no comment whatsoever. We'll see if we get further clarification, I guess.

ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN KFILE SENIOR EDITOR: We haven't had any comment. Ultimately, I think people think this is something he's going to have to comment on at some point. But, you know, we'll wait to hear back.

HILL: Yes, we'll see. We'll see whether the position has changed, right? Nice to see you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Joining us now to continue the conversation, CNN political commentator and former Republican congresswoman from Utah, Mia Love, and CNN political analyst and USA Today columnist, Kirsten Powers. Good to have you both with us this morning.

So let's start with you, Mia Love. As we look at those comments, look, we know and I'm sure you know all too well, politicians can change. You can call it flip flopping, you can call it a change, call it whatever you want, it does happen. Does it strike you at all that there is no comment on this from the governor's office? Or is this what you would anticipate?

MIA LOVE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, I anticipate he's going to have to have quite a bit of an opinion or comments on this. One of the biggest lessons we've learned from the Trump's surprise victory in 2016 is that the Republican primary, the Republican base, especially on the right side, they're tired of losing politically and culturally. They want someone who's going to stand up and fight.

And Ron DeSantis has been standing up and he's been fighting. And so I don't -- I anticipate that this is going to be a good issue for him because insolvency is right around the corner.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Yes.

LOVE: And millennials and younger don't believe that they're going to -- penny of Social Security. So we have to do something. What are we going to do when it runs out, and we haven't fixed it? We have the ability to fix it.

If we can stop using it as a political weapon. We have the ability to fix this so that it's there for those when they need it. For Americans when they need it and they paid for it. And they can't go back to work and do it all over again.

SCIUTTO: Kirsten, Mia makes a great point there. Any honest folks in Washington will speak honestly and say, yes, you -- insolvency is probably the number of years. We have to figure out something to do about that. That seems to be what Rick Scott was at least raising in that document there about sun setting some programs despite his protests since then.

But this is a damn difficult political issue to put out there. Just go back to, you know, 2000, right, and debates then. Is this going to be a major issue in the 2024 election?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: If he sticks to this position, yes, it's going to be. Look, it's on video, so it's a little hard for him to pretend that it didn't happen. And people do evolve and they do change. And so it's interesting that he didn't really want to answer a question about this, which would suggest maybe he hasn't evolved or changed on it, but he also recognizes the political peril of doubling down on it, because this just isn't an issue. It's not a winning issue politically.

I also think that there are ways to deal with Medicare that don't involve private -- privatizing it, which is what he's suggesting. So it's essentially saying, let's just throw everything, you know, into the market and not -- you know, he talks about how the free market should be handling this, which is very perilous, right? It's not a guarantee.

And so what people like about Medicare, what people like about Social Security, which he also mentioned, is that it's guaranteed it's not -- it's not dependent on what the markets are doing. And so I don't think that that solution is a solution that a lot of people are going to really find very attractive.

HILL: We know President Biden certainly wants to keep this top of mind for folks. This has been very clear in his messaging since the State of the Union speech. And he's -- you know, he's talked about in interviews. One thing that really struck me is that we are learning Super Bowl is Sunday, as we know, the tradition is whichever network is hosting the Super Bowl, they typically have an interview with whomever is president at that time ahead of the game.

Now, President Biden has sat down with PBS this week, sat down with Telemundo. This week, Kirsten, Fox News Channel telling CNN that at this point, they haven't had a formal no, but they're operating as if the interview is not going to happen. OK. As a strategist here, is this what you would advise President Biden to do? This is a massive piece.

POWERS: I mean, I'm not -- I'm not a strategist. Yes, I'm not a strategist, I'm an analyst but as an analyst -- HILL: Sorry, yes.

POWERS: -- yes, I would. Depending on who they're putting forth. At this point, I don't know who they could put forth, who would do a serious interview?

I think in the past, you know, it could have been a Chris Wallace or somebody like that, but I don't think that it -- you know, I think where Fox News is at this point, I'm not really sure what the upside is for it, because then he ends up having to answer a bunch of questions about, you know, sort of conspiracy theories.

[10:35:01]

So, you know, if he decides he wants to do it, great, but if he decides he doesn't want to do it, I think he's perfectly within his rights to say no to that considering what Fox has become.

SCIUTTO: Mia, is the President, would he be missing an opportunity there to connect with voters?

LOVE: I do. I've always had -- and I took this logic and this idea with me in Congress, that leaders put themselves in uncomfortable situations and get themselves comfortable there. You got to go where people may not necessarily want you, but they need the information, they need the message, they need to know what you're going to do and how you're going to lead.

I think it's a missed opportunity. For instance, when I watched the State of the Union, I thought he -- the humor that he brought in, a little bit of that humor was actually a little endearing. I thought that that was good. It was good for me to see. It gave me a better idea of what his thoughts are, where he's going. So gave me more information.

I think it would be a really bad idea not to do it. I think it shows courage. I think it shows some tenacity. And I think it shows that he is not afraid of his message. He has -- or a plan. He has a plan and he'll go anywhere to articulate that. I think he really should do it.

POWERS: But would you -- but would you think he should do an interview with Newsmax?

LOVE: Well, I can only speak from my experiences. I actually did as many interviews as I possibly could with whoever, even in places --

POWERS: Yes.

LOVE: -- that I knew they were going to escalate to me, because I know I can control what comes out of my mouth. And it's more important to go up than to not show up at all, especially --

SCIUTTO: As we should note, they're journalists at Fox who do cover the White House in this administration not necessarily a Newsmax category. POWERS: But those aren't really the people who would do a high-profile interview like this, though. That's what I'm saying. Like, if they come forward with somebody who is a reporter and somebody who is reliable, we don't know what they're offering, right? So I think that that's the question. It's like, who would do the interview?

And I do feel like even then they are under pressure. Look, I used to work at Fox.

SCIUTTO: OK.

POWERS: And there was a time that I would have said, yes, you absolutely should do that. But I think what they have become is something completely different. And so I think we have to leave for the possibility that we just don't know who they're offering up. And so --

SCIUTTO: Well, question --

POWERS: -- I think if, you know -- I trust the Biden administration to make the right decision here because I don't think he's afraid of having conversations with people that disagree with him.

SCIUTTO: Question for the White House, for sure. Kirsten Powers, Mia Love, thanks so much to both of you.

Coming up next, we are live in South Carolina as Alex Murdaugh's former housekeeper takes a stand in his ongoing double murder trial. What she says Maggie Murdaugh told her the day Murdaugh's wife was murdered.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:29]

SCIUTTO: Prosecutors in Memphis Tennessee say they will now review all prior cases connected to those five former officers now charged in the death of Tyre Nichols, both closed and pending.

HILL: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz joins us now. Shimon, so has the DA said how many prior cases may be tied to these five former officers? What are we looking at here?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. They haven't said, and you could assume it's probably in the dozens and dozens, given the fact that they were with this unit for some time.

And also, the mayor said that when this unit first started, in the first three months in 2021, they made some 600 arrests. So you'd have to assume there's going to be dozens and dozens of cases where these officers were involved.

Other officers who we don't even know that are under investigation by the Memphis Police Department and could potentially be terminated. But anything associated with this unit now, any arrest or anything that they were involved in, is going to fall under some kind of scrutiny certainly within the justice system, and by defense attorneys whose clients have been arrested by anyone in this unit in Memphis.

So, you know, after some time, finally the district attorney announcing that they're going to review cases specifically tied to these five officers, but it's no doubt, guys, I think it's going to grow as we learn more about these officers, as we learn about other officers who were involved in the arrest. And also obviously who were on scene that day.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And expanding investigation. No question. Shimon Prokupecz, thanks so much.

Right now, the Murdaugh family housekeeper is on the stand in Alex Murdaugh's continuing double murder trial. These are live pictures from inside the courtroom.

HILL: Just moments ago, the housekeeper testified Murdaugh's wife, Maggie, had told her that Alex asked both her, both Maggie and their son Paul, to come to the property where they were killed, that he had asked them to come there on the day of the murder.

CNN's Randi Kaye has been covering this, of course, from the beginning. And she is at the courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina. That's certainly an interesting development. What more are we learning from the testimony this morning, Randi?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning to both of you. Really interesting. And it's getting even more interesting, actually, with this housekeeper. She's now talking from the stand about basically doing the Murdaugh's laundry.

And this is critical because she says when she got there on June 8th, the day after the murders in 2021, she found some of Maggie's pajamas laid out on the floor, near the washing machines, which she's never seen before. That was not Maggie style to do something like that.

[10:45:00]

And, of course, this is important because the prosecution has sort of laid the groundwork to suggest that Alec Murdaugh, after allegedly killing his wife and son, he changed clothes, washed up, did laundry, put on a fresh t-shirt, et cetera. Many of the witnesses have said he didn't have any blood on him. So that's why that is key. Her testimony continues.

Before that, we heard from Mark Tinsley, who was a lawyer for the Beach family. He has been talking about these alleged financial crimes that Alex Murdaugh was involved in. He was suing Alex Murdaugh, he had a hearing coming up three days after the murders that would have caused Alex Murdaugh to expose all of his financials and possibly these schemes that speaks to the motive that the prosecution has put forward, saying that he didn't want all of this to be exposed.

And then Chris Wilson, of course, a good friend of Alex Murdaugh, his best friend, in fact, talked to yesterday about speaking to Alex Murdaugh on the phone around the time of the murders. And it's interesting what he said, because he described Alex Murdaugh's demeanor. And after you listen to this, you have to wonder, did it help or hurt the state's case? Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WILSON, FRIEND OF ALEX MURDAUGH: When the phone rang, and it was Alex, and I answered the phone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did he say?

WILSON: He said, hey -- you know, hey, Bo [ph]. It's normally how he would greet you. Hey, Bo. And I don't remember if he said, what are you doing or what. I pretty quickly told him, hey, I've got my hands in the middle of this pool pump messing up. Can I call you right back?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he sound normal to you?

WILSON: He sounded normal. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you said, I'm busy right now. Let me call you back.

WILSON: I did. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what did he say?

WILSON: He said, that's fine. No problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: So as you heard there, Chris Wilson describing Alex Murdaugh sounding normal that night. Certainly, the state has been sort of laying the groundwork again in that area, that perhaps he was making these calls to create an alibi for himself. But, of course, the defense will jump on the fact that he was saying that he sounded normal.

And one last note today, there is some courtroom drama, some courtroom color with the Murdaugh family. Apparently, they've been reprimanded for making some contact and their conduct in court contact with Alex Murdaugh. His sister, Lynn and his surviving son, Buster Murdaugh. Apparently, Buster Murdaugh made an obscene gesture toward a witness when he was testifying on the stand.

And Lynn Murdaugh, according to his source with knowledge of this incident, had passed Alex Murdaugh a book, a John Grisham novel. So they have been moved back in court further from the witness stand and further from Alex Murdaugh. That's it from here.

HILL: Never a dull moment there. Randi, appreciate it. Thank you.

Still to come, a powerful message from Damar Hamlin as the NFL celebrates the people who saved his life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:50:24]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMAR HAMLIN, BUFFALO BILLS SAFETY: Sudden cardiac arrest was nothing I would have ever chosen to be a part of my story. But that's because sometimes our own visions are too small even when we think we are seeing the bigger picture.

My vision was about playing in the NFL and being the best player that I could be. But God's plan was to have a purpose greater than any game in this world.

I have a long journey ahead. A journey full of unknowns and a journey full of milestones, but it's a lot easier to face your fears when you know your purpose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Great message, and boy, did he look great after all that. It's incredible. It was not just onstage recognition, the Bills assistant athletic trainer who performed CPR on Hamlin in those frightening moments, he actually got a fifth place vote for the NFL's MVP award. That's going to be a story to tell his kids.

HILL: Yes, that is pretty great.

And meantime, a tradition all their own, Philadelphia Eagles fans are hoping to climb some lampposts again with a win on Sunday night. While their former coach leaves the Kansas City Chiefs on a mission to avenge their last Super Bowl loss.

SCIUTTO: Those Philly fan. Plenty of drama ahead of the big game before kicks off at Arizona on Sunday last night.

HILL: [inaudible]

SCIUTTO: Yes, exactly. Although jealous judge fan here, let's be honest. Last night, Chiefs' quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, as we said, won the NFL MVP, but that may not be the boost you might expect.

CNN's sports anchor, Andy Scholes, joins us live from Glendale. So, Andy, the last night MVP is to play in the Super Bowl. How do they do?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, not well, guys. Jim and Erica, you know, you think -- you know, you win the MVP, your team is on a roll. You're likely going to win the Super Bowl, right? Well, it hasn't gone that way in a very long time.

The last MVP to actually win the Super Bowl was Kurt Warner way back in 1999. We'll show you a list, nine MVPs who've played in the Super Bowl and lost since 1999. So, you know, is it bad luck to win the MVP and then make it to the big game? Maybe so.

But, you know, if anyone could snap this losing streak for MVP, it's Patrick Mahomes. This was his second MVP award in his six seasons and we've been speaking to his teammates all week about what makes him so special.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERICK MCKINNON, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS RUNNING BACK: No matter where you end up or, you know, how you get open or what space you fill, he can get the ball to you, you know, whether it's underhand or there is no look, whether it's cross body, back across the field, he can get the ball to you.

TRAVIS KELCE, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TIGHT END: He's playing a step ahead. He's -- and he's almost playing chess out there in terms of he's got three or four moves already in his pocket, depending on what the defense does. And, you know, that's a -- that's what's going to make him the greatest ever go down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:55:02]

SCHOLES: Yes, and, you know, guys if there's family most invested in this Super Bowl, it's got to be the Kelces, of course, right? You got Jason, the offensive lineman for the Eagles, you got Travis, the tight end for the Chiefs.

I talked to their dad last night and I asked him, for all the dads out there, what's the secret if you want your son to become a professional athlete? Of course, on top of being a massive individual, he said, have them play hockey. There's the secret. Get their footwork going. Hockey is the secret. That's what he told me.

HILL: Hockey is the secret.

SCIUTTO: Do you know what my middle son just started? He started --

HILL: Hockey.

SCIUTTO: -- playing ice hockey.

HILL: There you go. You know, who's going to be up --

SCHOLES: There you go. Jim.

HILL: -- very early in the morning now to get him to the ring?

SCHOLES: You're on the right track.

HILL: Jim Sciutto.

SCIUTTO: Already happening, man. Andy Scholes, thank you for that tip. I'll report back to you in 12 years.

SCHOLES: Let me know.

HILL: All right. And we want -- we want guaranteed tickets to that Super Bowl, Jim, OK?

SCIUTTO: Sure. Done.

HILL: Thanks to all of you for joining us today. I'm Erica Hill.

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. "AT THIS HOUR WITH KATE BOLDUAN" starts right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)