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CNN International: Santos Charged in 2017 for Theft Over Bad Checks; Southwest Airlines Exec on Holiday Chaos: We Messed Up; Second Council Member in New Jersey Shot and Killed; White House Details Plan for End of Covid-19 Public Health Emergency; Best Friend of Murdaugh Takes the Stand. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired February 10, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. And if you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with the top stories this hour.
The death toll from Monday's earthquake across Turkey and Syria is now close to 22,000. And the first U.N. aid convoy has finally crossed from Turkey into Syria carrying desperately needed supplies.
Plus, former U.S. that Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating Donald Trump's role in the U.S. Capitol riot. The Justice Department wants Pence's testimony about his interactions with Trump leading up to the 2020 election and on the day of January 6. We'll have more on both those stories on "EARLY START" for you.
New revelations about embattled U.S. House Republican George Santos. We've learned that he was charged with theft in 2017 over several bad checks to dog breeders in Pennsylvania's Amish country. New York County District Attorney's office tells CNN that the case was considered theft by deception and was later dropped. The allegations are the latest controversy swirling around Santos who is facing multiple investigations after lying about his background.
The Pennsylvania case centered on a series of checks that went to dog breeders totaling more than $15,000. A former friend who helped Santos with the case says that Santos claimed to be a victim of fraud. Tiffany Bogosian told our Erin Burnett that she no longer believes his account of what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TIFFANY BOGOSIAN, HELPED SANTOS WITH THEFT CHARGE: It did seem weird because of the fact that he also ran a puppy kennel. So, it just seem like so many coincidences. And I believe a week after the checks were written, he held an adoption where he did sell, you know, puppies. I don't know if they were the same puppies, but it was reported that, you know, a week after these checks were written, he held an adoption function.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And someone steals his checkbook and writes checks for puppies to Amish dog breeders. Then he has dogs from Amish dog breeders, it was like ,OK.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Curiouser and curiouser.
Southwest Airlines is promising to fix the problems that led to airline's holiday meltdown. A top executive was grilled by a Senate committee about the December debacle that saw more than 16,000 flights canceled across the United States and 2 million passengers stranded. CNN's Gabe Cohen reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREW WATTERSON, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: Let me be clear, we messed up.
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Southwest's chief operating officer in the hot seat facing lawmakers over their December meltdown.
WATTERSON: I am deeply sorry.
I humbly apologize.
I apologize once again.
CAPTAIN CASEY MURRAY, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES, PILOT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT: It was a failure epically from top to bottom.
COHEN (voice-over): The pilots union says it sounded the alarm about Southwest's flawed systems for years but were ignored.
MURRAY: Poor performance was condoned. Excuses were made. Processes atrophied. Core values were forgotten.
SEN. ED MARKEY (D-MA): Why didn't you do anything about it?
WATTERSON: Thank you, Senator. We were addressing part of those issues. Obviously, it was unsuccessful but with regard to some of the crew scheduling, we didn't invest in those areas.
[04:35:00]
MARKEY: Well, again, because you did not listen to those warnings catastrophic conditions were created for passengers by the hundreds of thousands all across our country.
COHEN (voice-over): The airline vowing to do better. They'll upgrade their winter resiliency and are working on a top to bottom fix.
WATTERSON: Undoubtedly, it will be in the millions and millions of dollars but it won't be until probably in March, we'll have finished the assessment of how much and where.
COHEN (voice-over): The airline canceled more than 16,000 flights, stranding more than 2 million passengers over ten days in December. Most could not reach customer service for help.
SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): So you won't guarantee that in a canceled flight, especially in an instance like that, that anybody will be able to reach a live person at southwest? That's what you're telling me?
WATTERSON: Senator, on a day like today or analogous today, yes, that we will. But it will do an exact repeat of that situation I apologize. We can't staff -- there's no way we could staff that high.
COHEN (voice-over): Southwest says they've reimbursed 273,000 customers with less than 11,000 to go.
WATTERSON: But those are the ones that have been submitted most recently and we were within the DOT timelines of 30 days for processing all of those.
COHEN (voice-over): The chair of the committee, Senator Maria Cantwell, critical of Southwest CEO's Bob Jordan's absence from the hearing.
SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D-CA): Your CEO didn't want to show up.
COHEN (voice-over): The airline tells CNN he had a scheduling conflict.
COHEN: Now some lawmakers also called out the FAA for their system failure that caused the national ground stop last month. But the agency itself was not on the panel today. Next week they'll have their turn in front of this committee with the FAA's acting administrator set to testify Wednesday. And there is sure to be many tough questions about both that ground stop situation, as well as the recent near collisions on runways at JFK and Austin.
Gabe Cohen, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: A boat packed with 114 Haitian migrants landed on the shores of the Florida Keys Thursday morning. They were transferred to a local border patrol station where they were to be processed and given medical screenings. The state has seen an influx of migrants lately. Last month Florida Governor Ron DeSantis activated the National Guard to help local governments deal with the migrants.
And in New Jersey a member of the Milford Borough Council has been shot and killed just one week after a similar incident elsewhere in the state. Prosecutors say that the 51-year-old Russell Heller was in the parking lot of an energy company when an employee approached him and shot and killed him. This happened about 50 miles from where Eunice Dwumfour, a member of the Sayreville Council, was killed more than a week ago. Law enforcement officials called the killings a dreadful coincidence. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CHIEF CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENCE: Authorities there in Milford say that they don't believe this is even politically connected. What they believe is that this was a co-worker of Russell Heller. They suspect that he is the person that shot him as he was getting out of his car to go to work over at PSE&G.
The suspected shooter, Gary Curtis, was found dead a couple of hours later. Police say from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They don't believe that this is connected in any way to a second shooting that happened about a week ago in New Jersey where in a separate county, in Middlesex County, 30-year-old Eunice Dwumfour was found dead. Police don't know the motive there. They are still investigating that. That happened about a week ago.
But you know, of course obviously this is bringing great shock to both of these communities as police continue their investigation on the one that happened a week ago and then the one that happened yesterday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Shimon Prokupecz for us.
Social media giant Meta has restored Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts allowing the former U.S. president to once again, post and raise money on the popular platforms. It comes two years after he was banned in the wake of the January 6 insurrection and as the campaign ramps up ahead of next year's presidential election. A current Trump adviser tells CNN the campaign would leap at the opportunity to resume using his likeness and advertisements on Facebook.
Still ahead, preparing for the end. The White House outlines the plans to transition out of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Plus, a South Carolina court hears testimony about Alex Murdaugh's alleged addiction issues as the murder trial pushes through its third week. That is coming up ahead.
[04:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: The White House is outlining what will happen when the U.S. transitions out of the COVID-19 health emergency in May. On Thursday the Biden administration sent details of the plan to state governors about what exactly the end of the emergency declaration will mean for residents. Measures are slated to end on May 11 as the government considers the nation to be past the emergency response phase.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROBERT CALIFF, FDA COMMISSIONER: Our affects are also a little modest because our EUAs are independent of the public health emergency so we can keep them going as long as we need to. We've been preparing the industry since day one to be ready for the transition.
(END VIDEO CLIP) NOBILO: So how will this impact Americans? The end of the Public Health Emergency will affect certain Medicare and Medicaid waivers coverage for COVID-19 testing, data reporting on the coronavirus, telehealth appointments and much more.
U.S. Senator John Fetterman did not have another stroke, that is the word from his office after he was admitted to a Washington, D.C. hospital on Wednesday after feeling lightheaded. Fetterman's communications director says the results from an MRI and other tests have ruled out a new stroke and so far, there are no signs that he had a seizure. He's still being monitored. The Pennsylvania Democrat was elected to the Senate last November while recovering from a stroke that he suffered back in May.
Nearly five million bottles of Fabuloso cleaning products are being recalled by the company over a bacterial risk. The measure involves Fabuloso multipurpose cleaners in various scents. The producers says that a preservative was not added at the intended level during manufacturing which is could mean that bacteria might grow. While that may cause a serious infection in those with weakened immune systems, no incidents or injuries have actually been reported. The company is offering a refund.
More legal trouble for actor Alec Baldwin in the deadly shooting on the set of his movie "Rust." The family of slain cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is suing Baldwin and producers involved in the film. Hutchins died after Baldwin allegedly fired a prop gun on the New Mexico set in 2021. The new lawsuit, filed by Hutchins parents and sister who live in Ukraine, is separate from the settlement reached by her husband Matthew and son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) [04:45:00]
GLORIA ALLRED, ATTORNEY FOR HALYNA HUTCHINS FAMILY: Well, the settlement was for Matthew and his child. And we are now representing others in the family, mom, dad and sister, and there has been no settlement for them. As a matter of fact, there has been no outreach to them by Mr. Baldwin to even say that he was sorry. So, we want accountability and justice for them. It's as simple as that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Baldwin and the movies armorer face criminal charges related to the shooting.
An attorney who says that he was the best friend of the South Carolina man accused of murder took the stand in court on Thursday. Alex Murdaugh is accused of killing his wife and son. His friend attorney Chris Wilson testified about his conversation with Murdaugh the night that the crimes took place. Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. CNN's Randi Kaye has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What time was that first call? CHRIS WILSON, FRIEND OF ALEX MURDAUGH: Looks like it was at 09:11 p.m. incoming from his cell phone.
RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alex Murdaugh's best friend, Chris Wilson, testifying that Alex called him at 09:11 p.m., the night of the murders. That would have been about 20 minutes after prosecutors say Alex's wife and son were killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he sound normal to you?
WILSON: Sounded normal, yes, sir.
KAYE (voice-over): Normal is how he said Alex sounded. Wilson told Alex he had to call him back later.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what did he say?
WILSON: He said that's fine, no problem.
KAYE (voice-over): That phone call could be key. Prosecutors seemed to be trying to show Alex was allegedly trying to create an alibi after the murders. Chris Wilson said he called Alex back at 09:20 p.m. And Alex told him he was almost at his mom's house. All of this tracks with prosecutors saying Alex fired up his car and left the property where the murders took place about 09:06 p.m. that night.
Alex said he was napping before that and was not with his family around the time they were killed. Wilson said Alex then sent him a text at 09:52 p.m. saying, call me if you're up. Wilson testified he called Alex back at 09:53 p.m. on the night in question to discuss a case.
WILSON: I told him I needed to talk to him, and he said, hey, that's cool, but I'm about to get back home. Can we talk tomorrow? And I said, sure, fine.
KAYE (voice-over): That last call would have been just before Alex returned home. Just before he says he found his wife and son bleeding. Alex called 911 at 10:07 p.m. On cross examination, the defense leaned on Wilson to tell the jury what a loving family the Murdaughs were.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you agree that Alec's number one priority was his family?
WILSON: Yes, sir, it appeared that way to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I say his family, I'm talking about Maggie and Paul, and Buster.
KAYE (voice-over): Randi Kaye, CNN, Walterboro, South Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Tennessee authorities will review previous cases involving the five former Memphis police officers charged in the death of Tyre Nichols. The Shelby County district attorney's office says that it will examine all of the cases that the officers handled both closed and pending. But officials aren't sure exactly how many cases there are. The former officers will be arraigned in connection with Nichols's death next week and they each face seven charges including second degree murder and aggravated assault.
A small town in Louisiana is recovering after a tornado touched down Wednesday night. The sheriff says that the biggest concern now is water damage from the five hours of heavy rain after the tornado. He says some minor injuries were reported including a family whose mobile home blew over while they were inside. Two neighbors describe what they heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was hearing the crackling, me and my husband was sitting in the living room. Wind picked up real heavy and then it started raining.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It lasted about two or three minutes and it was over with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Officials are working to reopen roads and restore power to the community.
Instead of having love on the brain, singer Rihanna says her mind is focused only on her Super Bowl halftime show. Now just two days away. Ahead the toughest part of her preparations.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: Superstar singer Rihanna is warming up for her big comeback seven years after her last album and tour. She is set to take center stage at the Super Bowl halftime show this Sunday and says the performance is the only thing on her mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIHANNA, SINGER: Now I've been so focused on the Super Bowl I totally forgot that my birthday is coming up. I totally forgot about it. I didn't for days, I was just like Super Bowl, Super Bowl, Super Bowl. So, a lot of preparation, a lot of moving parts. And this week, this is the week that it really is being tested. I mean it's literally like 300 to 400 people breaking the stage down and building it back up and getting it out in eight minutes. It's incredible. It's almost impossible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Rihanna added that the toughest challenge has been figuring out which of her songs will make the cut. She said that trying to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes has been difficult. On the field history will be made when two brothers compete against
each other for the first time during a Super Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce are both vying for the Vince Lombardi trophy. But their mother isn't worried at all when it comes to figuring out which she wants to cheer for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONNA KELCE, JASON AND TRAVIS KELCE'S MOM: It's going to be easy. You know, I have stand and cream the entire day. They're both on offense. So, every time someone has the ball I'll be clapping, and every time anybody gets a touchdown I'll be thrilled. And I will go to the post game hotel after the ceremony and I'll give my son a huge hug and a kiss because there's nothing that I can say that will, you know, mean anything at that point.
[04:55:00]
He's going to be a broken, you know, person. So, you know, he'll be happy for his brother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the 2022 A.P. most valuable player is -- Patrick Mahomes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes heading to the Super Bowl with some new hardware. He was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player during the NFL on his program Thursday night in Arizona. It's the second MVP title for Mahomes. In his video message he thanked his teammates saying he couldn't do it without them. Mahomes and the Chiefs face off against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.
And ads for the Super Bowl are upping their game this year including this nod to one of the classics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN TRAVOLTA, AD FOR THE SUPER BOWL, T-MOBILE: Try T-Mobile, it sets up so fast, it's like wi-fi that runs on 5G.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: That was John Travolta reprising his role as Danny in the film "Grease." This time instead of singing about summer nights he singing T-Mobile's Internet alongside fellow actor Zach Braff and Donald Faison. It is bittersweet, Travolta's "Grease" co-star Olivia Newton John passed away last year.
And before we go, take a look at this -- that is the sound of aerospace history. SpaceX testing the engines of what is expected to be the most powerful rocket ever built. The company founded by Elon Musk conducted what's known as a static fire on Thursday. Its super heavy rocket booster simultaneously ignited 31 of its 33 engines to reach orbit.
Thank you for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London "EARLY START" with Christine Romans is coming up for you next.
