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CNN International: New Revelations Detail Pattern of Alleged Sexist Comments by Tucker Carlson; GDP Grew at Much Slower Pace in First Quarter Than Expected; Yoon Stresses U.S.-South Korea Alliance in Speech to Congress; Giant Panda Ya Ya Arrives in China. Aired 4:30- 5a ET
Aired April 28, 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.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster. If you are just joining, us let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.
Sources tell CNN that former Vice President Mike Pence testified more than five hours before a federal grand jury on Thursday. Prosecutors wanted to know about Pence's direct conversations with Trump leading up to the riot on January 6, 2021.
Plus, the suspect in the Pentagon leaks case will remain in jail for now as a judge can seduce bail. Prosecutors argue 21-year-old Jack Teixeira still poses a threat because of the number of documents he allegedly accessed. A trove of weapons they found in his room, and his alleged history of violent threats. Much more ahead on these stories in about half an hour on "EARLY START."
NOBILO: The woman who is suing Donald Trump for allegedly raping her in a New York department store dressing room in 1996 was back on the stand on Thursday. Trump's attorney pressed E. Jean Carroll about the alleged incident, asking repeatedly why she did not scream for help. Carroll said she was in too much panic to scream and told the lawyer that he couldn't beat her up -- beat her on because of it.
The former magazine columnist said, quote, I'm telling you he raped me whether I screamed or not. I do not need an excuse for not screaming. Trump has repeatedly denied her allegations.
FOSTER: We are learning new details about Tucker Carlson's alleged pattern of making offensive comments. The former Fox News host is being accused of rampant sexism and misogyny by an ex-producer on the show.
NOBILO: She is suing Fox News for how she was treated while working there. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER CARLSON, TV HOST: Good evening. It's Tucker Carlson.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): new revelations about Tucker Carlson's alleged pattern of offensive and sexist comments towards women.
"The New York Times" obtaining a video capturing Carlson off camera wondering if his post menopausal fans will like how he looks on the show. And in another video describing a woman as yummy.
ABBY GROSSBERG, FORMER PRODUCER, "TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT": Women were objectified. It was a game. It was a sport. Female politicians who came on the show were mocked. There were debates about who they'd rather sleep with. C-word, all the time.
SERFATY (voice-over): This comes as former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg has accused Carlson in a lawsuit of pervasive sexism and misogyny at his show.
GROSSBERG: There are literally pictures like this big of Nancy Pelosi in a bathing suit in Europe, plastered all over.
SERFATY (voice-over): Grossberg claiming Carlson encouraged a work culture that subjugates women based on vile sexist stereotypes. Where women were subjected to crude terms out in the open like discussing which female guest were f-able. The lawsuit alleges -- no woman whether she was a Republican politician or a female staffer at Fox News was safe from suddenly becoming the target of sexist, demeaning comments such as being called a C-word.
That offensive slur also appearing in a text revealed in Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox, showing Tucker calling then Trump lawyer Sidney Powell that C-word.
Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who in 2016 went public with sexual harassment claims against then network head Roger Ailes, saying --
GRETCHEN CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: Fox made a big point of saying that they had changed their culture. The Abby Grossberg lawsuit and her claims apparently prove that's not the case.
CARLSON: Bring them back.
[04:05:00]
SERFATY (voice-over): Meantime, a long trail of past comments made both during and before he became an anchor at Fox, paints a similar picture, with Carlson repeatedly disparaging women.
Carlson saying of Supreme Court Justice Elena Keegan.
CARLSON: I feel sorry for unattractive women. I mean, it's nothing they did, you know?
SERFATY (voice-over): Describing Hillary Clinton anti-penis.
CARLSON: If you look at Hillary and you know in your heart if she could castrate you, she would.
SERFATY (voice-over): Saying of then Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard --
CARLSON: I don't know what this is really about, but I do know that according to every website on the entire internet, she's the prettiest member of Congress.
SERFATY (voice-over): Referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as --
CARLSON: The ex-girlfriend of Montel Williams and will be described that way forever after on this show.
SERFATY (voice-over): And stating of feminism --
CARLSON: I don't think anything has changed our society more for the worse.
SERFATY: And Tucker Carlson has not gotten back to CNN in response to these allegations. We also did not receive a response or his lawyer on the newly uncovered video of Carlson obtained by "The New York Times." Meantime, Fox News has denied the allegations that Abby Grossberg has made in her lawsuit.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: One of four men who escaped from a jail in Mississippi last week and has been captured in Texas. Officials say Jerry Raynes was taken into custody on Thursday in Spring Valley, Texas, after being spotted there on Sunday.
FOSTER: On Wednesday, Mississippi police confirmed the body of escapee Dylan Arringon was found in a burned-out house after two-hour standoff with police. Authorities believe Arrington killed a pastor and stole his truck. Meanwhile, the manhunt continues for the other two inmates who escaped last Saturday. Casey Grayson and Corey Harrison.
NOBILO: The new trading day gets underway in the U.S. in just over five hours time. And here is where things are looking right now. In the meantime, European markets are up and running, and as you can see, also not a particularly positive picture, a bit more mixed. And here is a look at how markets across Asia fared today. All looking up.
FOSTER: Meanwhile, Wall Street is celebrating its best day since January. The Dow gained 525 points on Thursday, thanks to a slew of strong earnings reports. Investors were also encouraged by new data that show resilient consumer spending in the first quarter, and the Dow gained more than one and a half percent. The Nasdaq finished two and a half percent higher. And the S&P 500 gained almost 2 percent.
NOBILO: The first quarter it was not so good for the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. GDP data shows the economy grew at a much slower place than economists had expected. CNN's Rahel Solomon explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The world's largest economy is still growing but slowing. The latest numbers show that the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023. Now for context, economists were expecting a figure of twice that or at 2 percent. 1.1 percent is also lower than the previous two quarters.
The report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows a still remarkable U.S. consumer, despite inflation and despite higher interest rates, continue to spend on both goods and services. Even durable goods. So, big items like appliances or electronics which tend to be a bit expensive, that came in stronger than what we have seen in years.
We also see our increases in net exports and government spending at the federal state and local levels. But business spending, they have slowed. We saw a steep decline in private inventory, so this includes all types of inventories from wholesale, to retail, also wholesale manufacturing.
And while this report suggests a slowing economy, it's how and where the economy is slowing that could give us a sense of what's ahead.
Mark Zandi, the chief economist of Moody's Analytics telling me Thursday: Usually it's the consumer that pulls back, and the businesses respond. This go-around, the things feel a little uncomfortable, is if we go into a recession, it will probably be business pulling back and forcing consumers to follow.
In other words, businesses pull back, stop hiring, laying off workers, and thus spark a recession.
All eyes now on the federal reserve. It meets for its next policy meeting next week. Zandi tells me he expects another rate hike. But that at this point, they have enough evidence of a slowdown which could soon mean an end to the rate hiking cycle.
Rahel Solomon, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Still ahead, rallying allies, South Korea's president addresses the U.S. Congress warning that the countries must present a united front against threats from North Korea.
FOSTER: And later, after 20 years in the U.S., a giant panda is back in China. A look at the life of Ya Ya and the controversy surrounding her return.
NOBILO: Plus, Brittney Griner shares her story. The Olympic gold medalist and WNBA star opens up about being detained in Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRITTNEY GRINER, WNBA BASKETBALL PLAYER: I'm no stranger to hard times. (END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:10:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: South Korea's president delivered a passionate speech to the U.S. Congress on Thursday. Yoon Suk Yeol was welcomed with enthusiastic applause from lawmakers as he marked 70 years of South Korea's alliance with the U.S.
NOBILO: He accused North Korea of threatening peace with its nuclear program and missile test and said Pyongyang's obsession with nuclear weapons has thrown its people into an economic and humanitarian crisis. Mr. Yoon rallied lawmakers to his caused by referencing former U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOON SUK YEOL, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT: To deter his reckless behavior the alliance must stand united with determination. As President Reagan once said, there is a price we will not pay. There is a point beyond which they must not advance. We must make his words clear to North Korea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The South Korean president went on to condemn Russia's war on Ukraine. He vowed to help Kyiv as other democratic countries helped Seoul during the Korean War. But of course, he's famous on social for one thing.
NOBILO: And one thing only.
FOSTER: That video we showed yesterday, singing "American Pie."
Now, after a 20-year loan, the giant panda Ya Ya is back in Shanghai. She's been living in the U.S. Memphis Zoo.
NOBILO: She came to the United States in 2003 as a symbol of a positive relationship between China and the United States. But as CNN's Will Ripley explains, her return to China now has become symbolic of how far that relationship has fallen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In China, a hero's welcome for Ya Ya the panda at the end of the 16-hour flight from Memphis to Shanghai.
Crowds gathered outside the airport, trying to catch just a glimpse of Ya Ya's crate, her first moments back on Chinese soil.
She'll spend the next month in quarantine at the Shanghai Zoo, where a media feeding frenzy is in full swing.
[04:15:02]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And many Chinese have been working closely and looking forward to see Ya Ya's return.
RIPLEY (voice-over): This geriatric giant panda is a household name in China for all the wrong reasons. When Ya Ya's panda playmate died of heart disease in February, pictures of Ya Ya with scraggly fur and sagging skin sparked online pandemonium, a Chinese social media frenzy fueled by false claims.
Rampant rumors, denied by the zoo, of panda abuse and neglect in the U.S. Outrage amplified by anti-American sentiment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ya Ya come back home.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Bring Ya Ya became a rallying cry for millions of Chinese. The panda's picture plastered on billboards from Beijing to the Big Apple. It's true, Ya Ya was young and fluffy when she arrived at the Memphis Zoo 20 years ago, on a long-term multi-million-dollar lease from China.
U.S. and Chinese scientists say she has a genetic condition affecting her skin and fur, a condition that worsens with old age. No impact on her quality of life, just her looks.
They even issued a joint statement saying: The fact is, Ya Ya had excellent care.
But facts do not always matter in a world full of fake news. Anti- American panda propaganda is filling the feeds of Chinese social media users, no mention of the healthy pandas at two other American zoos, but plenty of pictures of an active and playful panda in Russia. A panda, Chinese state media, praises for improving bilateral ties.
Ya Ya's saga will end where it began, the Beijing Zoo where she will live out her final years. She just might be the world's most politicized panda, a beloved bear that brought the U.S. and China closer, now being used to divide.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: She seems pretty happy, doesn't she, come when you look at pictures.
NOBILO: Yes, jumping on some bamboo, which incidentally, pandas spent 16 hours a day doing.
FOSTER: Do they? (INAUDIBLE).
With just over two weeks until a critical election, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, canceled several campaign events for health reasons on Tuesday. He abruptly ended an interview in the middle of a question returning later say, he had a, quote, serious stomach flu. Several public events were scrapped so he could rest. NOBILO: Mr. Erdogan did appear via video link at an inauguration
ceremony for nuclear power plant on Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin also attended the event virtually.
FOSTER: After a short break, when you come back, is down to the wire for the Boston Celtics in the Atlanta Hawks. One team goes home. The other moves on to the next round of the NBA playoffs.
[04:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Brittney Griner says she will never play basketball overseas again unless it is for Team USA at the Olympics. The WNBA star made the comment on Thursday while speaking to the media for the first time since being in detention in Russia last year. The two-time gold medalist urged other Americans held overseas to stay strong, and not to give up hope. Griner became emotional whilst speaking about her experience and how she survived.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRINER: I am no stranger to hard times -- you cry and you made me cry. Just digging deep honestly, you know, you're going to be faced with adversity throughout your life. This is a pretty big one. But I just kind of relied on my hard work getting through it. I know the sounds so small, but you know, down in practice, you know, and just hard workouts, you find a way to just grind it out. Just put your head down and just keep, going. Just keep moving forward. You know, you can never stand still and that was my, thing. Just never be still, never get too focused on the now and just, you know, looking forward to, you know, what is to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: And Brittany is writing a memoir about her time in detention in Russia.
The Boston Celtics moving on to the next round of the NBA playoffs. They beat the Hawks 128 to 120 in a game -- nailbiter on the road in Atlanta. Jayson Tatum scored 30 for Boston and Jaylen Brown had 32.
Atlanta didn't go down without a fight though, Trae Young led the Hawks with 30 points. The Celtics won the series four games to two. And they'll host game one of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.
FOSTER: For the second time in less than a month, there's a new highest paid player in the NFL. The Baltimore Ravens have reportedly agreed to a five-year -- a new five-year contract with quarterback Lamar Jackson worth $260 million.
NOBILO: That's 10 million more than the last one.
FOSTER: Yes, it means a quarter billion basically. Jackson was the league's most valuable player in 2019, but he had requested a traded from Baltimore in March. The Philadelphia Eagles agreed to a $255 million contract with the quarterback earlier this month.
NOBILO: And you are asking a second ago for my smoothie recipe.
FOSTER: It's not something he has to worry about, is it?
NOBILO: No.
FOSTER: That is incredible, but then, you know, that's the business. If you call someone Pele in Portuguese, you might be on top of your flattery game.
NOBILO: That is because the name of the Brazilian football legend has just been officially added to the Portuguese dictionary. Its meaning, something that is out of the ordinary, just like Pele himself. The word was added after a public campaign collected more than 125,000 signatures. Pele, who's considered one of the best players of all-time passed away in February.
FOSTER: Who's better? What would Bianca mean? Would that mean the dictionary?
NOBILO: I don't know, I was going to call you Pele as sort of a --
FOSTER: Wow!
NOBILO: -- pleasant gesture, but then we're just too British for that?
FOSTER: Yes, it's a bit awkward, isn't it?
NOBILO: I can't do it.
[04:25]
Here is a reminder that students, schools, and livestock don't mix. A group of Illinois high school seniors brought animals to campus as a prank but alas, a cow escaped --
FOSTER: Let's see it then, they've all loose in nearby neighborhood. Are they expert cattle herders? The police had to corral the beast, turning the area into a real live rodeo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We saw the track, so we walked on over to see if there really was a cow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what did you do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We really saw a cow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was standing kind of by the truck and it looked like a rodeo.
MATTHEW MICHELINI, NEIGHBOR: It was crazy. It appears now, if you wouldn't be expecting to see a cow, you know, maybe a deer or two, but you know, this is a great way to start off the summer, right, like it's a little present.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: A new tradition. Now if you ever -- if you never got the chance to see the original "Star Wars" movies on the big screen, I'm pretty wary here because frankly we are not "Star Wars" fans. But Catherine our producer --
NOBILO: No, we are not. I mean, we're not. Most American (CROSSTALK)
FOSTER: If you did, you want to relive the glory, you are in luck.
NOBILO: "Return of the Jedi" will soon return to theaters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUKE SKYWALKER: Is Darth Vader my father?
YODA: Your father is dead.
OBI-WAN KENOBI: Your father was seduced by the dark side. You must face Darth Vader ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: The greatly beloved, but also lampooned 1983 movie introduces us to Ewoks and Jabba the Hutt. And it brought the first Star Wars trilogy to a close.
FOSTER: It certainly did. It will play in select theaters beginning April the 28. I did like them, I just felt they were bit long.
NOBILO: Do you know any Star Wars quotes?
FOSTER: May the force be with you.
NOBILO: That actually happen in one of the films?
FOSTER: Catherine?
NOBILO: We're asking our, producer.
FOSTER: It does.
NOBILO: I does.
FOSTER: Oh dear. You want a light saber. That is what you admitted off camera.
NOBILO: I do.
FOSTER: Have I embarrassed you?
NOBILO: No.
FOSTER: Thanks for joining us here on CNN newsroom. I'm Max Foster.
NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" is next right here.
