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Overturned Tanker Truck Catches Fire On Highway In Maryland; At Least 13 People Killed In Powerful Storms Across U.S.; Marianne Williamson Announces 2024 Presidential Run; Former President Trump Attempting To Block Former Vice President Mike Pence From Testifying In 2020 Election Interference Probe; Former President Trump To Speak At CPAC; Russian and Ukrainian Forces Battle For Ukrainian City Of Bakhmut. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired March 04, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:11]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And this breaking news out of Maryland. An overturned tanker truck is on fire, likely causing house fires in the city of Frederick. Just take a look at these images right here, massive flames, thick smoke billowing into the air. Emergency officials are now on the scene, and the city's mayor is asking residents to avoid this area. Police are now saying the driver of that tanker has died.

Joining me right now on the phone is Vera Scates-Barefield, who took this video that you are seeing. So Vera, tell us what you heard, what you saw. Quick into action by getting this video.

VERA SCATES-BAREFIELD, WITNESSED TANKER FIRE: It was a scene out of a movie. The flames, the smoke, it was everywhere. My husband and I were driving, like, oh my goodness, look at all the smoke, all this black smoke, white smoke. We didn't know where it was coming from. And we found it, and everybody was out standing and praying. It was crazy.

We were across the street from where the fire was at and where the tanker truck was at, and we could feel the heat. The firemen, the cops, it feels normal right now. The firetrucks are still over there, the police are still out. We've got to drive around the city to get to a certain destination. Yes, it was really bad, really bad. People were just like crying and praying for the driver.

WHITFIELD: It looks really bad. Of course, we have just learned that the driver has died. And when we look at these flames from the video that you shot, we are seeing houses that are really close. Have homes caught fire too?

SCATES-BAREFIELD: Yes, two of them. There were two house fires. The truck, I guess, ran into that area. So yes, there's two house fires that they were trying to put out, yes.

WHITFIELD: Now, was this near the main highway there, 70, 270 that turns into 70? Or tell me about the road that this seems to be on.

SCATES-BAREFIELD: It is 15 North. So they had closed down 15 North and 15 South. So it is the main highway for us to get to 270 and to get to 70, if you are on one of the main highways. But they had to close that down. So yes, this happened right on the interstate, but our main highway is 15, yes.

WHITFIELD: And then do you smell chemicals or anything like that? Tell me what kind of senses you experienced. You talked about the heat, feeling the heat. What else?

SCATES-BAREFIELD: No, there was no smell. I didn't smell any gasoline. I didn't smell chemicals. I just smell fire. There was nothing of those strong scents, nothing like that. It's just the heat and no chemical smiles at all.

WHITFIELD: And where are you now? Are you able to watch the smoke and fire right now?

SCATES-BAREFIELD: There's no longer -- I don't see any more fire. I guess they're cleaning up and investigating. They still had the highways still closed down. So people are still out there watching as they are doing the cleanup.

WHITFIELD: About how long did this fire go on?

SCATES-BAREFIELD: Maybe an hour or more. It has been going on for a while, yes.

WHITFIELD: And you have said that the fire is out now, is there still smoke in the air?

SCATES-BAREFIELD: No, no more smoke. No more fire. There's a lot of action. There's a fire truck, the police, the ambulance and all of that over there.

WHITFIELD: And then what do you know about the homes that you said did catch fire, do you know anything about people who were in the area?

SCATES-BAREFIELD: No, I don't. I'm not sure. I said that to my husband. I said I wonder if anybody was home, did then make it out. The house, it just went up. So I am hoping and praying nobody was in the houses.

WHITFIELD: Very frightening moment. Vera Scates-Barefield, thank you so much for joining us. And of course, we appreciate that you shared with us the video you were able to capture there as it happened. And I know it was a very frightening scene. You have done a great job describing for us what you experienced. Thank you so much. All the best to you and all your neighbors there.

All right, severe storms wreaking havoc across the country now, leaving a deadly wake of destruction. The death toll rising again. At least 13 people killed as powerful storms brought tornadoes, hail, and heavy rain too much of the south. Intense winds tearing trees out of the ground and ripping homes apart in several states. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The back door started shaking, the house started shaking, and then I couldn't see nothing but white.

[14:05:00]

We didn't have time to get anywhere. It was right on top of us. The house was shaking. We were all close together in the middle of room of the house still. But wow. This is the craziest thing I have ever been involved in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: More than 20 million people are now under high wind alerts in the mid-Atlantic, northeast, and western U.S. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is watching all of this for us. So Allison, what is happening now and what is next?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right. It has been a very active 24 hours from this particular system. Again, you can see all of these dots represent some type of severe weather report. The bulk of those were damaging winds. But we did also have a few tornado and hail reports as well.

For as to what is left in this particular system, it has moved very quickly up into the northeast and New England. That is where a lot of the moisture remains. At this point, it's mostly snow for the interior portions and then a little bit of rain down here across areas of coastal Connecticut and coastal Massachusetts.

Wind is still a factor at this point in time. You have got wind advisories in the orange color you see here, and a few high wind warnings across areas of Massachusetts where you are talking about wind gusts that could get up to 50 to even 60 miles per hour. The concern there is bringing down additional trees and triggering some more power outages for that area.

The wind is likely to stick around for the rest of the day today, same thing with the low pressure system before it finally moves off. But the next major storm system is actually in the western U.S., just now starting to slide in across areas of Washington, Oregon, and northern California. But that moisture will begin to spread into southern California and especially into the intermountain west as we go into the day Sunday and even Monday. That is why you have the winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings for other places, not just right there along the coast, because of where the system is anticipated to go.

It is going to be several waves. So you will notice the first wave come in and then additional waves bringing in more moisture in the form of rain and snow. You are talking pretty significant amounts of snow across much of the intermountain west, but really that target point is going to be the sierras where, yes, we are talking about measuring feet, one to five feet of snow. Not just a few inches but considerable amounts. That also means travel likely going to be very difficult, if not impossible, as you are crossing into the sierras.

When we talk about the rainfall, the heaviest is going to be right there along the coast, especially for northern California and areas of Oregon. You are likely picking up one to three inches. The concern is going to be how quickly it comes in, because if a lot of that comes in very quickly, then you have to start to be concerned, Fred, about flooding as well as the potential for mudslides. So certainly something we will have to keep an eye on in the coming days.

WHITFIELD: Keep us posted, thank you so much, Allison Chinchar.

In areas of California that were hit hard by recent storms, some people are still trapped after days of being stuck in the snow. You see they put out the help us sign right there in the snow. More than 100 inches falling in some mountain areas. And supplies are running low. Community members are coming together to help those dealing with the icy aftermath as well. But some who left their homes, our now unable to get back to their homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ILIANA VARGAS, UNABLE TO RETURN HOME BECAUSE OF SNOW: Basically, what we are going to do is save our home. That is all we want to do. We want to get home. They should let us up there. We actually bought a lot of groceries yesterday. Even the restaurant asked us for stuff. We have tons of food that had to go to waste because we had nowhere to store it. They need food, some ladies need diapers. Some people need medicine. Some people cannot get their insulin on time. The pharmacies are closed. I mean, it is crazy up there. And then they are not letting us go up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Camila Bernal is in San Bernardino. So Camila, what is the latest on people being up to go up and down the mountains there?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Officials are saying they are going to have to wait about five days. That is why you are hearing so much frustration, anger, and some of them telling me they are even scared because of what they are having to deal with. There are a number of trucks that we have seen throughout the morning going up, bringing in supplies. We know the National Guard is up there. There are crews trying to clear the roads. That is the main priority. But officials are saying that people here are going to have to be patient because this is going to take a long time.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DEREK HAYES, STRANDED IN SNOW: At first it was really frustrated, but now it's to the point where we're somewhat scared.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Derek Hayes trapped in mountains of southern California after an epic winter storm.

HAYES: There is nowhere to put the snow. There is no way to walk around it. It is up to my neck in a lot of places. You take a step, you sink all the way down and you have to crawl yourself back out of the snow to try to get on top of it to even move around.

BERNAL: Derek just one of many who are stranded.

HANNAH WHITEOAK, STRANDED IN SNOW: It's pretty unfathomable.

BERNAL: The only thing they can do is just wait for help.

CHARLENE BERMUDEZ, STRANDED IN SNOW: It's just crazy. There's no way to get out anywhere.

[14:10:00]

BERNAL: Their concerns -- food, heat, medical emergencies or medicine, and food for their pets just to name a few.

The San Bernardino mountains do get plenty of snow in the winter, but the past few weeks have been unprecedented, with the National Weather Service issuing its first-ever blizzard warning.

ROMAN DURAN, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL: Our main concern right now is to try to get the infrastructure up the mountain to be able to clear some of these roadways so that we can essentially get the people that live up there back to their houses, and the people that are stuck up there, back down.

BERNAL: Emergency crews so far carrying out roughly 100 rescues. Governor Gavin Newsom also declaring a state of emergency for San Bernardino County and 12 others, activating the National Guard. Residents say lives are in danger.

BERMUDEZ: We're actually going to be getting a neighbor out of his house. He's a cancer patient who is elderly, and he has a doctor's appointment that he is going to try and get to.

BERNAL: Some have been shoveling nonstop.

WHITEOAK: We got in the truck for the fourth time.

BERNAL: But not all are able to do so.

WHITEOAK: It's one of the roughest, roughest experiences, and you go into survival mode. And you just keep pushing through. I feel incredibly bad for anyone that hasn't got that physical presence.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BERNAL (on camera): And I have been talking to a lot of these residents. Derek Hayes, who you heard from in the story, talked to me a few minutes ago, telling me that finally after eight days, he saw some movement. A frontend loader just essentially trying to clear some of the streets near his home. But he says he hopes that they are going to get to his house. He still doesn't know. That is a situation that a lot of people are in. They do not know when they are going to get help, and they are just going to have to wait for officials to clear those roads, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Camila Bernal, thank you so much in San Bernardino.

On the road to the 2024 presidential race, right now Marianne Williamson is announcing her run for resident, setting up a likely long-sought primary challenge to President Biden. Let's listen in.

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Martin Luther King said that our lives begin to end on the day that we stop talking about things that matter. And we are here today to talk about something that matters a lot, and that is the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

WILLIAMSON: Now, we are all here because we care about this country. But we are all here, or at least many of us are, because we are upset about this country. We are worried about this country. We are concerned about this country.

(APPLAUSE)

WILLIAMSON: And we know this country is plagued by many challenges now, not the least of which is hatred and division, which is greater than any of us have experienced in our national life. And it is our job to create a vision of justice and love that is so powerful that it will override the forces of hatred and injustice and fear.

(APPLAUSE)

WILLIAMSON: It's one thing, though, to say that we are here because we want to do that. It's another thing to know, how do we do that? And, as one young man who might be in the audience today with such youthful sincerity once said to me, he said, Marianne, what are we going to do?

But what I've learned in my life is that the first question isn't always, what do I do? The first question is often, what do I need to understand? And before the United States or any of us can know what it is we need to do, we need to know what it is we need to understand. This country is drowning in information and starving for understanding.

(APPLAUSE)

WILLIAMSON: What we need to understand is the American story. And so just as when sometimes you are trying to understand your own life better by looking at your parents, at your grandparents, at your ancestors, it is time for us to look at the entire sweep of the American story, to understand better our past, that we might better understand where we are now. We need to know, what do we owe our ancestors and what do we owe our descendants? And we can't know any of that until we see where we stand in the midst of our larger scope of the American story.

[14:15:00] Now, the American story began as an established nation in 1776. And in 1776, some very brave men -- yes, they were very brave, because if the British had won the war, all of them would have been hanged as traitors against the king of England. Fifty-six men who came together and signed a document that infused the founding of a nation in a way that had never occurred before, with the idea, repudiating the idea of the divine right of kings, repudiating the idea of an aristocracy, repudiating the idea of that a few would be up to suck up the resources of the country and make everyone else nothing more than an economic serf.

They repudiated that. And declared all men were created, that all men are given by God inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They declared it is the job of government to secure those rights, and that if government isn't doing its job, then the people have the right to alter it.

(APPLAUSE)

WILLIAMSON: Now, that was extraordinary, of course, but it is also where the story got very gnarly. For out of the 56 men who signed that document, 41 of them were slaveowners.

So that dichotomy between the extraordinary enlightened principles, enlightened principles politically and enlightened principles morally on which we purport to stand is often at odds with forces within our country who usually, for their own economic purposes, have no intention whatsoever of seeing those principles actualized and have proven in every generation, even unto ours, that they will go to the most violent means to make sure they don't.

(APPLAUSE)

WILLIAMSON: That, ladies and gentlemen, and everyone else, is the American story. That dichotomy, that split mind which is American consciousness is baked into the cake, and it has been with us from the beginning and every generation of Americans reiterates the story. What we are going through right now is baked into the cake here. It is no different than what other generations have faced. But I am here to say to you, other generations stood up and pushed back, and now it's our turn. That is what we need to do.

(APPLAUSE)

WILLIAMSON: Yes, we need to identify the problems in our past, but we need to identify with the problem-solvers in our past. We responded to slavery with abolition. We responded to the institutionalized oppression of women with the women's suffrage movement. We responded to the gilded age with the establishment of the labor movement and the new deal. We responded to segregation with the civil rights movement. And it is our turn now.

(APPLAUSE)

WILLIAMSON: But once again, we have to understand what is happening here, because for the abolitionists, the problem was the institution of slavery. For the women suffragists, it was the fact that we didn't have women's suffrage and needed to pass a constitutional amendment. We needed to establish the labor movement. We knew that the problem was segregation. And so you needed a civil rights movement, you needed civil rights legislation, you needed voting rights legislation.

The reason we have such a problem today is because it is not one specific institution that plagues us and that opposes real democracy and that opposes the equality of people and economic justice, that opposes the very principles on which we stand. It's not one institution this time. It is an atomizer spray of economic injustice. It is over here.

(APPLAUSE)

WILLIAMSON: It's Flint, Michigan -- it's Flint, Michigan over here, and it's waters drying up in aquifers and rivers drying up the American south over here, it's mass incarceration over there, it's 68,000 people who die every year from lack of health care over here.

(APPLAUSE)

WILLIAMSON: It is nowhere one particular thing.

WHITFIELD: Marianne Williamson making a second run for the White House in this presidential race, 2024, and her official announcement happening right now.

[14:20:05]

And this just in. Former President Donald Trump is attempting to block former Vice President Mike Pence from testifying in the 2020 election interference probe. Trump just submitted a request to the court. Those details, next.

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back. In just a few hours, former President Donald Trump will headline the final day of the Conservative Political Action Conference. At any moment now, CPAC will announce the results of its presidential straw poll for this year. Trump has won the last two CPAC straw polls with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis coming into second place both times. DeSantis has yet to formally announce he is running for president in 2024. And he chose to skip this year's CPAC event.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is at CPAC for us. Kristen, what are the expectations for this year's straw poll?

[14:25:03]

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So I do want to say one thing about the straw poll before we get into it, which is that it is unscientific. It is an unofficial poll, and it is only represented of the people that are here at CPAC, not the entire Republican Party.

Now, that being said, it will be a huge blow to former President Trump and his team if he is not the winner of this unofficial straw poll because this event has been largely a who's who of MAGA world. Almost every speaker has said they support Trump, they support him in 2024, which obviously is not indicative of the Republican Party as a whole.

We are expecting to hear from the former president today. He's going to make his pitch to the people here. And I am told that he is not going to directly attack Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but he is going to make some comparisons without naming him to policy, particularly when it comes to Social Security and Medicare.

As we have been reporting for weeks, Trump has been fixated on the Florida governor, who, even though, as you say, he has not yet entered the presidential race, he is considered Trump's most formidable opponent should he actually enter the race. And it has seemed as though he is inching closer and closer to an announcement.

Just because he is not going to be going after him directly in this speech, and I will say Trump has not changed in the last several years. All of his people tell me that it's not in the speech, but he could riff, he could go off script, something that he is known to do. He has been attacking DeSantis over and over again on his social media page.

And just what we have seen here, the kind of ugliness between the people who support Trump and those who don't, Nikki Haley was here. She is running for president. She gave a speech. There was a lukewarm response. But then when she left, she started getting heckled in the crowd by people chanting Trump's name. So this is all indicative of where the Republican Party is right now, and it is clearly fractured. And many expect this to be a pretty ugly presidential primary as we head into 2024.

WHITFIELD: Kristen Holmes, thank you so much there at CPAC.

This just into CNN. Former president Donald Trump has asked a federal court to block former Vice President Mike Pence from speaking to a grand jury investigating Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Trump claims executive privilege prevents Pence from speaking about certain matters in the January 6th criminal investigation. CNN's Jeremy Herb joining us right. So what more do we know about this new court filing?

JEREMY HERB, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, that's right, Fred. This filing, it was done under seal, which means we don't yet have the specifics of the arguments that are coming from Trump's legal team. But sources tell CNN that Trump's lawyers are asking a judge to block his former vice president, Mike Pence, from testifying about certain matters related to January 6th. Pence was subpoenaed last month by Special Counsel Jack Smith in what was the latest sign that the special counsel's probe into both January 6th and the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, that this probe was accelerating.

Let's take a step back and remember what does Smith want to talk to Pence? Pence, of course, was at the center of the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The former president and his allies, they pressured Mike Pence to try to come on the floor of Capitol Hill, on the congressional -- when Congress certifying the 2020 election, they wanted Mike Pence to unilaterally block Joe Biden's win. Pence, of course, refused, but that effort is a key part now of the special counsel's probe.

It is worth noting, too, that former Vice President Mike Pence, he is trying to block the subpoena he has been issued for a different reason. Pence argues that he is protected by the Constitution's speech and debate clause, which protects the legislative branch from certain law enforcement actions. Pence argues that because he was acting as president of the Senate on January 6th, he falls under that clause.

The Justice Department, it has already been fighting executive privilege issues for several top Trump and Mike Pence aides. Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, former top Pence eight Marc Short. But these latest filings, both Pence's indication and this latest Trump filing, it really is a sign that the special counsel faces a difficult road ahead in court to try to compel these witnesses to testify and really to try to get these witnesses in to finish his probe, which is up against this clock, as we see the former president at CPAC, to try to finish the probe before the 2024 election really gets into gear, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Fascinating. Jeremy Herb, thanks so much.

Coming up, a fierce battle on Ukraine's front line right now as Russian forces are intensifying the fight for the key city of Bakhmut. The latest on the battlefield straight ahead.

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[14:33:57]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. In Ukraine, Russian forces led by the mercenary Wagner Group said they have the city of Bakhmut all but surrounded. Intense fighting continues on the outskirts of the city, but Ukraine's military says its fighters are still in control and there has been no mass withdrawal of troops. One Ukrainian commander saying every hour in Bakhmut is like hell. In Friday's fighting, a Russian missile destroyed a vital supply bridge into the city. Bakhmut has seen intense fighting for weeks as Russia tries to claim a victory in eastern Ukraine.

Friday, the Pentagon announced another $400 million U.S. military aid package for Ukraine. The package includes ammunition for rocket systems and vehicle repair equipment.

And the daughter of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is sending a message to Vladimir Putin about her father and the war in Ukraine. Navalny is serving a nine-year sentence on fraud charges that are considered to be made up.

[14:35:00]

CNN's Erin Burnett spoke with Navalny's daughter in this CNN exclusive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: So what do you say, and I understand you're

not saying this and he's going to listen to a reasonable argument, but what you say to Vladimir Putin?

DASHA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEY NAVALNY'S DAUGHTER: I say, I have a couple of things to say to him, that he should stop this incredibly unnecessary and terrible invasion of Ukraine, that he should release my father and all of Russia's political prisoners who are just fighting for a better, democratic, more prosperous country. And that until those two primary goals, among others, are met, we will not stop fighting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The CNN film "Navalny" follow Alexey Navalny through his political rise, attempted assassination, and search to uncover the truth. It airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:13]

WHITFIELD: House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has touted the allegations of what he claims are dozens of whistleblowers who he says have evidence that the federal government has targeted people with conservative political views. But Democrats are raising questions about the legitimacy of these whistleblowers and the relevance of their testimony.

CNN's Annie Grayer is here with me with more on this. Annie, so three whistleblowers have come in for interviews with the committee so far. And what have you learned about those interviews?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN REPORTER: So, Fredricka, the legitimacy of these whistleblowers is really being called into question. One whistleblower, Steve Friend, who I spoke to, was suspended from the FBI because he objected to using a SWAT team to arrest an individual who was at the capital on January 6th. Friend has filed claims with official government entities and had his claims rejected.

Another whistleblower, George Hill, is a retired FBI analyst who in his interview did not appear to have firsthand knowledge about the claims he was making.

And the third whistleblower who has come in is FBI suspended agent Garrett O'Boyle, who did not appear to have any documents or evidence to provide to Democrats about why he was suspended.

So I have learned all of this from interviews with sources and even getting an exclusive look at these transcripts.

WHITFIELD: And then what does this mean for Jordan's investigations?

GRAYER: So, Fredricka, Jim Jordan has largely based his claims that the FBI is weaponized against conservatives on what he has learned from these whistleblower interviews. No, these first three interviews for the first time that Democrats have actually gotten an inside look as to what these whistleblowers know, and they are not impressed by what they are learning. They are raising a lot of questions about the legitimacy of these whistleblowers and the relevancy of their testimony.

Now, Jordan says he has dozens of other whistleblowers that he wants to bring in. But those interviews have not been scheduled, as far as we know. But the takeaway here, Fredricka, is the whistleblowers are really going to be a partisan flashpoint on Capitol Hill between Democrats and Republicans.

WHITFIELD: Indeed. Annie Grayer, thanks so much.

Still ahead, are you suffering from tipping fatigue? It turns out you're not alone. We'll discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, if you have made any kind of in-person transaction recently, chances are you were probably asked to leave a tip. New data shows more and more places are asking customers to leave a gratuity. Even more quick service places like Starbucks, Panera, and McDonald's are giving customers tip options, and that may be leading to people feeling a rather rip fatigue. CNN Business reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn is here to walk us through what is happening. So why are we seeing so many options of leaving tips these days?

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Right, Fredricka. So, Americans definitely have tipping fatigue, and it is being driven by high inflation, the high cost of meals, and all the different places that now give us the option to tip. There is some new data that shows that tipping is down at sit down meals, takeout orders, and also delivery orders. That was in 2022 compared to 2021. So clearly a trend here.

But not every state in the country tips the same. Delaware and Indiana, they are known for leaving higher tips, and then Washington and California, where the cost of living is higher and you are paying a little bit more for a meal, those states leave the least generous tips.

WHITFIELD: And it seems like every store offers you the option to tip on a screen when you pay with your credit card or with your phone. Are those numbers down or up?

MEYERSOHN: Those numbers are up. So this is not just your imagination. More places are actually giving you the option to tip. You look at quick service restaurants, that includes Starbucks, Panera, those tips, the number of places of those types of companies that have given you the option to tip have increased 11 percent from pre-pandemic levels.

And that is being driven by the fact that companies have taken away the old-fashioned tip jar where you leave some cash behind. We are paying more with our credit cards and our phones. So they are just sliding across those screens, and it is an increasingly awkward experience for customers. They are confused about how much to tip, 10 percent, 20 percent. So, it is a confusing experience and definitely a change for folks.

WHITFIELD: It is changing, it's modifying a lot of people's experiences.

OK, and then tell us about Temu, this new online discount site with Chinese roots. It has become one of the most downloaded apps in the U.S. This is not a tip issue, but just a business that seems to be doing well. What is going on, and what are the concerns?

MEYERSOHN: That is exactly the right, Fredricka. So, Temu, which launched in the U.S. in September, it's parent company is based in China, it has gone on a meteoric rise. It has become one of the most downloaded apps in the country. During the Super Bowl, they ran an ad that introduced it to new customers. It is all over social media.

[14:50:01]

And it is really driven by the fact that Temu offers incredibly low prices -- $14 shotes, $10 wireless headphones. So bargain hunters, they are going to Temu. They are looking for discounts. But there are concerns with Temu, especially environmental concerns. People are wondering how do you sell that stuff for such cheap prices and where does it go after you're done with it? Fast fashion companies, they've come under a lot of scrutiny for environmental waste and pollution. And analysts that I talk to, they say that Temu is fast fashion on steroid.

WHITFIELD: Wow, indeed. I hadn't heard about it until now, so thanks for letting us know. Nathaniel Meyersohn, thank you.

MEYERSOHN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: How did HQ Trivia go from Internet obsession to total meltdown? The million-dollar question, what happened, the new CNN Flim "Glitch, The Rise and Fall of HQ Trivia," premieres tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm working with these guys who started Vine, and they wanted to do this trivia show on an app. To me, I didn't have high hopes for it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is HQ. I'm Scott, the host.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: HQ Trivia was everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could actually win real money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just keep getting bigger with bigger prizes, bigger celebrities. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People dressed as me for Halloween.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was doing the "Today Show," Colbert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had a Super Bowl commercial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This company is going to make at least $100 million.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just got so popular. And the app is not ready to work with too many people on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Freezing. Disconnection. And it crashes. That's when the cracks started showing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Colin and Rus started as co-founders, but both competed to be CEO.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you have a lack of trust between the two people running the company, it leads to chaos.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You had HQ imitators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will Facebook copy this? They did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was some jealously. I was the fact of the product he created.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Working day and night, really grueling hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what did they do? They got drunk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the end of it, who lost their life?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't we grab lunch and we can do this at lunch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cut.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Glitch, The Rise and Fall of HQ Trivia," tomorrow at 9:00 on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, so the U.S. may be divided politically, but it turns out a few mullets and a few pairs of sunglasses can really unite the masses. As CNN Jeanne Moos reports, you can now see all of the America's presidents sporting a mullets and decide for yourself who sports at best.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's enough to warm -- all of America's presidents getting the Billy Ray Cyrus treatment, treated like Joe Dirt, from LBJ to JFK.

CAM HARLESS, CREATOR, PRESIDENTIAL MULLETS: These presidents look dope in a mullets.

MOOS: Podcaster and comedian Cam Harless better think so. He created them, inspired by the movie "Roadhouse."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just lucky I guess

MOOS: Cam used an artificial intelligence are generator called Mid Journey. It took only three hours. There's Joe Biden looking like a new and improved Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Abe came out looking like a babe.

From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton, the U.S. may be hopelessly divided --

HARLESS: But all it takes is a few mullets and a few pairs of sunglasses, and we are more unified than we've ever been.

MOOS: Some presidents, like Richard Nixon, tested the intelligence of artificial intelligence, as did Dwight Eisenhower.

HARLESS: The A.I.'s attempt to give that old man a mullet was commendable.

MOOS: Ike ended up with a mohawk, not so much a mullet as a skullet. And to think that 20 years ago, instead of artificial intelligence we had to resort to wigs to see what we'd look like in a mullet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You look beautiful. Now come on.

MOOS: The A.I. had trouble with Woodrow Wilson and George Washington. But one fan urged, but that on the dollar bill. For $16 you can get a poster of all of the mulleted presidents, the Hell Yeah edition, it's called. A teacher ordered one for a social studies class.

HARLESS: I was like, yes.

MOOS: As a child born in the 80s, Cam experienced the mullet firsthand. It grew on him literally. Hail to the mullet. Pop your head to this.

(MUSIC)

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: That's a little fun, and a little shaft.

Congratulations, by the way, are in order, for our very own Kasie Hunt. You're not going to believe this. The CNN anchor welcomed her second baby unexpectedly early. Baby Grey was born right there at home, Wednesday morning, one day before a scheduled C-section. Labor lasted just 13 minutes, too fast for paramedics, but they did show up after baby Grey arrived.

And there is our Kasie Hunt after delivery, still looking great after what she went through, especially, wow, with D.C. Fire and EMS tweeting, quote, "Congratulations, and we are proud to have played a role in bringing this beautiful child into the world. It's what we train for."