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Second Bus Of Migrants Arrives In L.A. From Texas; Biden Traveling To Lithuania, Finland, U.K. July 9th; Biden Announces New Path To Student Debt Relief; Federal Prosecutor Defends Hunter Biden Probe; Thousands Of Twitter Users Unable To Access Site; Actors' Union Hits Pause On Possible Strike; Impact Of Writers' Strike Felt Across Other Industries. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 02, 2023 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:50]

PAULA REID, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Reid in Washington. Jim Acosta has the day off.

It's the Fourth of July weekend, but gun violence in America never takes a holiday. In Baltimore, a mass shooting erupts at a block party. At least two people are killed and 28 others are injured. Here's another sickening number, 14 of the gunshot victims are minors, so under the age of 18. The mayor is asking for any and all help from the community to try to find the people who started shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BRANDON M. SCOTT, BALTIMORE: We are asking again that anyone that knows anything about this mass shooting, and that's what I wanted to call it, it's a mass shooting. We want this shooting to be treated just as it happened in rural America. We want everyone to come forward and say, treat this as if it was your daughter, your son, your brother, your cousin that was out here shot at this event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Police say there were multiple types of casings found at the scene, suggesting there were multiple types of guns. A bus carrying 41 migrants from Brownsville, Texas, arrived in Los Angeles over the weekend. It's the second bus load of migrants sent to L.A. without notice in the last few weeks. Each funded by the government of Texas.

Camila Bernal joins us now from Los Angeles.

Camila, what more can you tell us?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Paula, so these are 41 migrants that I'm being told by activists are really tired, but also really happy. There's this sense of relief by simply just being here in Los Angeles. Of the group of 41, 11 of those were children. And they came from a number of countries, including Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua. And so these migrants essentially say that they have either family or sponsors in the area. And one of the attorneys that was helping them, I spoke to her and she

told me that a lot of these migrants actually had court dates here in Los Angeles for their asylum cases. So they're receiving that legal help here. And officials with the city saying that they did not get an official notification that this bus was coming, but they were able to get confirmation from the city of Brownsville, so what they're telling me is that this time around, the process was a little bit smoother because they knew what they were dealing with here.

And again, what they're saying is that they're going to welcome these migrants with open arms and treat them with dignity.

I want you to listen to Angelita Salas. She is the director at CHIRLA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELICA SALAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE COALITION FOR HUMANE IMMIGRANT RIGHTS: I talked to a couple of young men who have been walking for months themselves. And so this is the first time after arriving at Brownsville, getting on a bus, finally, that they actually get a chance just to sit and rest, and now they are here in the United States. So what we're doing is just making sure that the individuals understand also their legal situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: Now we know that there are Republican governors who were transporting migrants to Democratic-led cities. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas already saying that he's bused more than 23,000 migrants to cities like Los Angeles or New York or Washington, D.C., Denver, Philadelphia. And he has said in the past that essentially, this is a way to show that the border situation, the border security, is not working. So he's used it to criticize the federal government.

We have reached out to his office. He has not responded yet. But there are city leaders here in Los Angeles and in California that say this is essentially a political stunt. And again, are just trying to make these migrants here feel welcome, which they feel did not happen in other states -- Paula.

REID: Camila Bernal, thank you.

And President Biden gearing up for an international trip this week. Biden will be traveling to the U.K. where he will meet the prime minister and King Charles. Biden then goes to Lithuania, where he will attend the 74th NATO summit, and then to Finland for the high-stakes NATO and Nordic Leaders' Summit. All this coming in the wake of the Wagner mercenary group's mutiny in Russia.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins me now.

[18:05:01]

Priscilla, what can we expect from these meetings?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of the focus of these meetings is going to be the war in Ukraine. But as you mentioned, the president going on this three-country trip next week. He's going to start that trip in the United Kingdom, where he's going to meet with King Charles III, who was recently coronated, but President Biden did not attend that coronation, instead the first lady attended.

And he will also be meeting with the British prime minister who was here at the White House last month. So expect the discussions between the two of them to continue, particularly again on the war in Ukraine. And that really is going to be a big focus at the NATO summit. The president has repeatedly talked about that strong alliance, saying, quote, also, that they have never been more united. So expect that they'll be talking about the war, the counteroffensive, which has started, as well as those internal tensions in Russia that we saw play out last weekend.

Now, the president will then conclude his trip in Finland. So all of these countries will have high-stakes meetings for the president and will again focus on those regional partnerships which the president often touts those alliances and what the path forward looks like, especially as this war in Ukraine continues. And you can also expect that the president will be talking about democracy, the importance of it.

It's something that comes up often when he talks about the war in Ukraine and especially in this moment will be something that we'll be looking out for from the president -- Paula.

REID: And could world leaders possibly discuss Ukraine's admittance to NATO during these summits? Do you think that's something that they might bring up?

ALVAREZ: That has been an ongoing debate and it is an issue that will be looming over these meetings, as how and went Ukraine could be admitted to this alliance. Now of course, the Ukrainian president has repeatedly talked about above all else receiving support from these countries, especially again as they engage in that counteroffensive.

So even if that is a debate that has continued among the alliance, we'll certainly have those calls from the Ukrainian president to at the very least continue to provide their support especially as this war is ongoing -- Paula.

REID: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you.

President Biden is launching a new effort to forgive student loans on a large scale following the Supreme Court ruling Friday that struck down his mass student debt cancellation plan. Now, these new programs could give borrowers some wiggle room to pay off their debt without going into default or damaging their credit. But in order for them to go into effect, the Department of Education must undertake a formal rule-making process, and that typically takes months.

Nearly 44 million student borrowers must begin repaying their loans as early as October. So joining me now, Natalia Abrams, the president and founder of the Student Debt Crisis Center. Natalia, thank you so much for being with us because there are so

many, many people who are probably very confused right now about their options. Clearly, the president's post-COVID debt relief program is off the table. That was struck down by the Supreme Court. But while he sorts out his, quote, plan B, there are a lot of programs that have been passed by Congress, have been on the books for a while, that people can avail themselves of.

So what would you tell people right now, so that they can may be get some relief as they begin these payments again?

NATALIA ABRAMS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, STUDENT DEBT CRISIS CENTER: Yes, and thank you, Paula, for having me on. You're absolutely right, there are programs that have existed before what's gone on in this past year with President Biden's cancellation program, that can help you re-pay your student loan if you're struggling, if you make zero dollars, you can pay zero dollars.

The I guess pitfalls with these programs is you have to know about them and you have to sign up for them and re-apply each and every year. But these programs have not been touched. Public service loan forgiveness has not been touched. It's not impacted by anything going on right now, and that really is important and a question we're getting asked all the time.

The other thing I'd say is these programs, which are called income- driven repayment programs, they are not a substitute for student debt cancellation. I will tell you that, student loan borrowers will tell you that. So we still have to keep fighting, but borrowers need to know where to turn to while we continue the fight.

REID: And where should they go? If they were interested in seeing their options for income-driven repayment, income contingent repayment, way back a million years ago when I was in grad school, I think it was called income-based repayment, but where should people go if they want to see if that's an option that could help them?

ABRAMS: So, you know, the number one place to go is studentaid.gov. And I heard a colleague of mine say, type it in. Type in studentaid.gov. And the reason I say that is because there are so many debt relief companies out there, what we call debt relief companies, but scam companies or companies that are going to charge you hundreds up to $1,000 for free government programs that you do not need to pay anyone to help you. And -- or find a trusted messenger.

[18:10:01]

We at Student Debt Crisis Center work with student loan borrowers all the time for public service loan forgiveness or to prevent default, and so do the labor unions and many other organizations. But when in doubt, trust the government site because of those debt relief companies.

REID: And an important reminder, these are federal programs for federal loans and it's free to apply. I guess the cost of time and effort, like you said. It's a little murky, the paperwork. All right, it's been three years since borrowers have had to make

payments. What would you tell people before they have to go back into repayment in October? I know there's been a lot of changes in terms of who owns the loans. I've had my student loans change hands. What would you tell people do in the next few months to get ready for this?

ABRAMS: Yes, turning on the student loan system for 43 million people is going to create major challenges for loan servicers. And you're right, Paula, we've seen 16 million, 20 million borrowers have their servicer change. So first and foremost, check, you know, your -- with your loan servicer. Make sure that everything looks correct. Make sure they have the correct information for you on file.

You know, these new programs, we are still untangling and getting clear information. So you want to stay up to date on that. You know, and we just know after the president's announcement, we still have so many unanswered questions. Borrowers should know that interest resumes September 1st. Payments begin October 1st. And then they will be giving up to a year of a grace period, but what we worry about is all of these different deadlines add more confusion for borrowers as to when to make a payment.

And then again, we have so many, you know, bad actors in this space that are going to make it more difficult. So find your trusted messenger and make sure to stick with them through this process.

REID: And I know you guys are pushing for a widespread debt cancellation, but do you have any efforts on the front end of this? Universities, colleges, schools being forced to control costs, maybe the government changing the requirements, right, because anyone can take out a student loan. They're not dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Are you looking at the front end of this at all, too, to prevent this issue from continuing generation after generation?

ABRAMS: Yes, absolutely. You know, and let's be clear, we're talking about people with student loans, not people who graduated from college. This includes trade school, this includes people that took out, as you said, anyone can take out a loan and not necessarily complete, but in order to once and for all solve the student debt crisis, it's multi-pronged. We have to deal with the cost of college.

We have to take care of having a debt-free college system, doubling, tripling, quadrupling Pell Grants, you know. I live in California where we had -- education was free under the Clark Curve master plan. This is not a new idea. This is an idea -- you know, this is something we need to go back to in our country, not, you know, it's both -- it's incredibly progressive.

REID: Well, Natalia, thank you for joining us. I think it's really important that people know about all these programs out there that can help you offer time or throughout the time that you're paying back your loans. When I first started in journalism making $26,500 a year with law school loans, I used one of these payment programs. It really helped me during that time to start in journalism. Otherwise, wouldn't have been an option with those student loans. So thank you so much for helping educate people about their options.

ABRAMS: Thank you, Paula.

REID: And coming up, amid allegations of bias, the U.S. attorney overseeing the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden is pushing back. What he's saying about the investigation.

Plus, if you've tried to get on Twitter and been hit with this error message, you're not alone. The latest changes to the social media giant that may have users crying foul.

And later, a planned actor strike is now on hold. Where the negotiations stand with SAG-AFTRA now.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:13:07]

REID: Another busy week in the highly publicized criminal probe of President Biden's son, Hunter. The federal prosecutor who led the investigation into the president's son was of course appointed by President Trump, sent a two-page letter to House Republicans on Friday, pushing back on claims he'd been blocked from pursuing criminal charges. Two IRS whistle-blowers have claimed there have been political interference in the Hunter probe and further alleged they were retaliated against for sharing their concerns with Congress.

CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers joins us with more.

All right, Jennifer, let's try to unpack sort of the fact turned to fiction here. Clearly it's unusual for a U.S. attorney to send a letter like this. What was he trying to do?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think, Paula, he's trying to tamp down upon this narrative that's coming out and you can tell that this is a manufactured controversy, because everyone who would know about whether there is interference or pressure on David Weiss, mainly David Weiss, Merrick Garland, and anyone else in that chain of command is all saying the same thing, which was there was no interference and he did have the authority to make the charging decisions and he actually made the charging decisions.

So while it's unusual because there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of interference here, I think Mr. Weiss is just trying to get out ahead of this, tamp down on it, say that everyone's on the same page, we're telling you the truth, and hopefully get them to move on.

REID: And as I pointed out, David Weiss was appointed by former President Trump. He's a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, one of just a few who stayed on so he could continue to oversee this probe.

As we know, Hunter Biden is expected to formerly plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges on July 26th. So how common is it for a case like this, where he failed to pay his taxes on time, did eventually pay them back with fees and penalties, how common is it for something like this to be settled with a plea deal?

[18:20:13]

RODGERS: Well, it's very common. I mean, indeed, some of these cases never get charged criminally in the first place. It's very common for failure to pay taxes to be resolved civilly. Here, we do have charges, but in an instance where the amount isn't particularly high and there's also a proof problem here. You have to remember, as prosecutors are talking about what charge to bring, you have someone who is a known drug user at the time of the offense conduct.

So when they're thinking about how to charge, you know, misdemeanor versus felony, you have to think about that potential proof problem. But I think charging the misdemeanor here and then resolving it through a plea is the smart result all around. It's good for the government to get this resolved this way and it's good for Hunter Biden, who can now avoid jail time pursuant to this plea deal, as well.

REID: And of course, they knew that nobody was going to be happy no matter how this case resolved itself. Republicans are crying foul. Do you see any "there" there on the allegation from the whistle-blower about bias in investigating or charging in this case, based on the facts that you can see?

RODGERS: I don't, Paula. And of course, we don't know everything publicly about the investigation, but given the facts that the prosecutor himself was a Republican, was left in place to do this, was not interfered with from all the facts that we've seen, given the challenges of this case and bringing it as a felony that I just described, it seems to be a good resolution in that sense. I don't see any problem with it.

And I will say in my experience, there's often a bit of a disconnect between prosecutors and the agents who investigate these cases, with the agents wanting sometimes to be more aggressive and the prosecutors not willing to go there because they're the ones, of course, who have to prosecute the case in court and defend it on appeal.

REID: A fair point. Dissension between the FBI and the Justice Department's prosecutors. Nothing new, certainly.

Jennifer Roberts, thank you so much.

RODGERS: Thanks.

REID: And coming up, are the Beatles artificially creating John Lennon's voice for a new song? That's next, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:26:44] REID: The fallout from the Supreme Court's landmark rulings continues. This morning, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first gay cabinet member, spoke to Dana Bash on "STATE OF THE UNION" and offered his response to the justices' decision allowing a Web designer to refuse her services to same-sex couples off of religious objections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: It appears this Web designer only went into the wedding business for the purpose of provoking a case like this. And in that sense, I think there's something in common between this Supreme Court ruling and what we're seeing happening in state legislatures across the country, which is kind of a solution looking for a problem.

In other words, sending these kinds of things to the courts and sending these kinds of things to state legislatures for the clear purpose of chipping away at the equality and the rights that have so recently been won in the LGBTQ Plus community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Lorie Smith, the Colorado Web designer at the center of the Supreme Court ruling, said in her court filings that a man had inquired about his services -- her services for his same-sex wedding. But as CNN has previously reported, the man in question says that he never reached out and is married to a woman. The court ultimately decided that case protecting her free speech rights.

And it appears that turmoil at Twitter is not going away anytime soon. This weekend, thousands of users are complaining of glitches and having trouble accessing the site. Yesterday, Elon Musk announced new limits on the number of tweets people can view. That's just one of the many changes taking place at the struggling social media site.

Joining us now, CNN business producer and host of CNN's "NIGHTCAP," Jon Sarlin.

All right, Jon, what the heck is going on over at Twitter?

JON SARLIN, HOST, CNN BUSINESS "NIGHTCAP": Chaos, right? And, you know, when Elon Musk took over Twitter, we saw significant layoffs of the company. The majority of the staff were laid off. And there was a lot of speculation that the site wouldn't be able to operate normally. That we would begin to see glitches and we did see that. We've seen the site crash a number of times.

This appears to be different. According to Elon Musk, this was an intentional decision by Twitter to limit just how many tweets its users can see. Now, why would Elon Musk and Twitter do that? According to Elon Musk, this was meant to stop data scraping and system manipulation, whatever that might be. We don't have a clarification of that.

But there's a broader context at play here, which is, Twitter's money, you know, Twitter has not been paying all of its bills. We see a number of lawsuits aimed at Twitter for not paying its bills. In January, its landlord in San Francisco sued Twitter for not paying rent. In April, a number of vendors sued Twitter. Some employees have sued for severance. So is this a case of Twitter not having enough money or was this an intentional decision?

But when you look at who stands to gain from this, one person who has to be excited by this is Mark Zuckerberg. Not just because it might distract Elon Musk from training for their, you know, perhaps upcoming cage fight, but also Mark Zuckerberg and Meta have been working on a Twitter-like service that will be integrated into Instagram.

[18:30:05]

So every time Twitter goes down, whether intentionally or unintentionally, it opens the doors for other competitors to move in.

REID: I guess competition is important that way. All right. Here's another controversial story. The Beatles are dropping a new song soon featuring vocals from John Kennon. Now Paul McCartney says it's all thanks to artificial intelligence, but after concerns from some fans, Ringo Starr had to clarify that the Beatles would, quote, "never fake" the late John Lennon's vocals. So what exactly is happening here with the song?

SARLIN: Well, you know, the confusion comes from that AI can make so many different things, right? AI can be -- AI is fueling ChatGPT. It's also in your Roomba deciding which is a living room and what is wall, right? But when it comes to AI in vocals there's two different kinds. One is taking an existing track and cleaning it up. You know, maybe there's music underneath. The audio isn't very clear and you're isolating a voice. This is what Peter Jackson did in the Beatles documentary, right, if you saw that.

Then there's this other, you know, you can say more extreme version of AI that is really cutting edge where you straight-up clone a voice. You might remember the fake Drake and the Weeknd song that went viral a few months ago, they didn't sing it. What happened was an AI was trained on their voices, someone else sang a song, and then that AI was placed on top.

So when fans heard this, I think they might have thought it was the second one, but it's actually according to Ringo and Paul McCarthy, it's the first one. They're taking a demo called "Now and Then, a Beatles song. They're cleaning it up using AI and they're going to release it to the public.

REID: All right, Jon Sarlin, thank you for helping us understand all this chaos and confusion out there.

And make sure to check out Jon's show, "NIGHTCAP," new episodes drop every Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern on the CNN Business Web site.

And U.S. medical experts are going to analyze the presumed human remains found at the Titan's wreckage. The submersible imploded last month after losing contact with its mothership, killing all five passengers on board. CNN's Randi Kaye takes a look at what led up to this tragedy tonight

on CNN's "THE WHOLE STORY." We're going to give you a little preview here of "DEADLY ADVENTURE: TRIP TO THE TITANIC." Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Far deeper than some of the tallest manmade structures in the world, and even dwarfing natural wonders like the Grand Canyon, the Titanic sat at more than 12,500 feet below the surface.

DAVID POGUE, CBS SUNDAY MORNING CORRESPONDENT: You've got to realize how far down 13,000 feet is. The deepest submarine rescue in history was 1500 feet below the surface. This was 13,000 feet below the surface. I mean, it's way farther.

KAYE: But even with those odds, experts, equipment, and resources poured in from all over the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: A new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," "DEADLY ADVENTURE: TRIP TO THE TITANIC," airs tonight at 8:00 Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

And still ahead, the latest on the writers' strike and the negotiations to avoid a potential actors' strike.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:37:36]

REID: Two months into a crippling writers' strike, Hollywood could soon see more picket lines. For now, the SAG-AFTRA union which represents about 160,000 actors is hitting the pause button on a work stoppage. A contract between actors and studios had been set to expire at midnight on Friday. But the union has agreed to push that back until the expiration now on July 12th, as negotiations continue.

Joining us with more, Dominic Patten, senior editor at Deadline.

All right, Dominick. The actor's union, they have not been on --

DOMINIC PATTEN, SENIOR EDITOR, DEADLINE: Hey, Paula.

REID: Hi. They have not been on strike against television shows and movie production since 1980. I mean, clearly, there has been a sea of changes in the industry since then. In some ways, I mean, is this clash inevitable, given all the changes that we've seen?

PATTEN: I think so. I mean, look, this pause that we saw at the kind of the 11th hour, on Deadline last week we already had broke the story there was going to be a contract extension, and let's be honest, that's not that unique. In 2014 and 2017, the union and the studios agreed to an extension that basically resolved there with a new deal on essentially July 4th, in both of those occasions.

So this wasn't entirely unexpected, but what we're seeing here is, I think, a much more militant stance, on both sides. Especially with the writers having been out now on the picket lines for two months, with the directors having made a deal with the studios, and with the studios kind of sitting back and letting themselves reap the rewards of not having to spend that much on production, which of course is pleasing Wall Street, who really runs things.

REID: No doubt. Well said. So what happens if there is a strike? Are people going to not be able to see their favorite shows? What exactly will happen here?

PATTEN: Well, there's two things that are going to happen. The thing that will happen for your and I's uncles and aunts is they won't see a lot happen on, say, July 13th if there is a strike. Already they've seen the late-night shows, "Saturday Night Live," et cetera, et cetera, those have pretty much closed up shop because of the writers' strike. What you will see, though, is even more of an emphasis on the fact that there will not be new shows now coming in the fall.

And you will gradually see I predict many more international shows showing up on streamers like Netflix and what have you, who've been kind of bulking up for this. More importantly, though, for the studios, some of whom have been bragging about, this writers' strike isn't going to bother us, we're great.

[18:40:02]

Well, you're not so great if things like your HBO, which I might add is also owned by the same company that own CNN, and "House of the Dragon," the "Game of Thrones" prequel, gets shut down. Because while they had all their scripts, they didn't have all their filming done. So suddenly you're looking at big, big logjams going into next year and new programming, and that's where things might get quite serious.

On another note, you pointed out that July 12th is where they've extended the contract and the contract negotiations, too, which, oh, my god, just happens to be the day that the Emmy nominations are coming out. So you're going to see some people who have got an Emmy nomination for about eight hours, and then they're not going to have one. And if there is no resolution to this by around July 15th, it's estimated, then you're probably not going to see an Emmys in September.

So already, you're going to start seeing a big drop-off if the actors take to the streets in new shows on both of the traditional networks and the streamers, and you're going to see some of your ceremonies like the Emmys, they're going to go dark.

REID: Uh-oh. This is fascinating, all the moving parts. I want to read you a joint statement from SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television. The producers say, quote, "Outdated contract terms coupled with the evolution of the media business, including shorter season orders, longer hiatuses between seasons making it increasingly difficult for our members to achieve and maintain a middle-class lifestyle working as a performer.

The statement goes on to say that studios are posting enormous profits, and their executives are getting lavish compensation packages. Is that fair?

PATTEN: Well, I mean, fair is like beauty in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? But what I will tell you is this, is we are clearly seeing that there is an outrage and a need for what some people like Meryl Streep and Amy Schumer have referred to in a letter signed that was signed by over 1,700 A-list actors, including I might add Fran Drescher, who is also the president of the actors' guild and the actors' union and is co-leading the negotiations, saying that this is a time for a transformative agreement, that they would rather strike than settle, because they know looking at things like residuals from streaming, looking at minimal pay, looking at things like AI, and what could happen to their likenesses.

And if you don't know about that, I suggest you check out Netflix's "Black Mirror," and the first episode called "Joan is Awful," no disrespect to Salma Hayer, but you'll know what I mean when you see it. So these are real issues that are going to happen in the future, and these are issues that are also happening now. So when you look at this, you look at the profits the studios are making, the money the executives are making, you know, the actors -- writers for instance have been asking for what essentially adds up to about $460 million, which is kind of two CEO salaries.

Now is that where this is going to end? Well, of course it's not. It never is that. And it's always about the money, because nothing says I love you like cold, hard cash. The thing is, are they going to be able to find a deal? If the actors join the writers on the picket line, you are going to see some serious rubber hit the road. And at that point, the director's guild, who actually had a deal last month, they might suddenly feel like they maybe moved a little too fast.

We don't know. What we do know is this. The last big-time the actors joined a national strike was in 1960 when, and this will be a surprise to some in the Republican Party, as well, Ronald Reagan was the head of the Screen Actors Guild. So the great communicator obviously knew how to get a thing or two done. Maybe we need someone like that to step in at this point, because this is serious business and it looks like it's a little bit where the, well, train may have gone off the rails a little bit, at least until July 12th.

REID: Fran Drescher for president? I don't know.

Dominic, thank you so much. I appreciate you joining us.

PATTEN: Always. Have a great weekend.

REID: While those negotiations continues, the Writers' Guild of America is already on strike. Its 11,000 members have been on the picket lines for the past two months. As that strike wears on, many other businesses are being forced to lay off their workers.

CNN's Natasha Chen has more on the devastating ripple effect. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yolanda Cendejas Garcia, a janitor, was laid off from Paramount Studios shortly after the writers' strike began. Fewer productions means less to clean. Nearly two months later, she's collecting plastic bottles for cash, she's buying cheaper groceries, and says she'll soon lose health insurance, and worries about buying her diabetes medication.

And now SAG-AFTRA has announced an extension of talks over its deal with studios, while its 180,000 members have already overwhelmingly authorized a strike. These actors could add to more than 11,000 writers already on the picket line and halt more productions.

YOLANDA CENDEJAS GARCIA, LAID-OFF JANITOR, PARAMOUNT STUDIOS (through translator): The few savings I had are going away. When am I able to work again or what am I going to do? I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of stuff, huh?

CHEN: Marc Meyer Jr. laid off a dozen employees from his set and prop business in early June.

(On-camera): This warehouse is usually full of people buzzing around, loading tables, chairs, lamps, into 15 trucks a day. But listen, right now in this 89,000 square foot warehouse, it is quiet.

[18:45:09]

MARC MEYER JR., OWNER, FAUX LIBRARY: Now, you know, we're lucky to have one order returned.

CHEN (voice-over): King's Deli, down the street from the Warner Brothers lot, is seeing half their business that usually comes from catering for productions. Co-owner Rosie Blosser says even three years after COVID-19 began, they never really returned to normal and now with the strike.

ROSIE BLOSSER, CO-OWNER, KING'S DELI: I'm trying to figure out like what can I do today to keep it going.

CHEN: Corri Levelle does not know the answer either.

CORRI LEVELLE, OWNER, SANDY ROSE FLORAL: We're all dying out here.

CHEN: She says she was forced to move her floral prop business to a new location at double the rent just before the strike began.

LEVELLE: We still have the paper tags hanging on the doors that describe whose office it is because they haven't had a chance to completely get set up yet.

CHEN: She's laid off all but one employee.

The 100-day WGA strike in 2007 and 2008 caused more than $2 billion in economic damage. The writers' union says adjusted for inflation, that means their current strike is costing the economy about $30 million a day.

KEVIN KLOWDEN, CHIEF GLOBAL STRATEGIST, MILKEN INSTITUTE: The overall economic impact is far more widespread across the country than it was last time around.

CHEN: The Milken Institute's chief global strategist estimates that even outside of California there will be at least a $1 billion loss this time in major film hubs like Georgia and New York, impacting people never named as part of making movie magic.

LEVELLE: We're so below the line, we're below the credits.

CHEN: Who are essential nonetheless, waiting for an agreement on a contract they will never even see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And action.

CHEN: Natasha Chen, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID: Another strike is now taking place in Southern California. This time involving thousands of hotel workers. The walkout started this morning after their labor contract officially expired. This leaves 65 major hotels relying on management staff and non-union employees to fill in during a busy holiday weekend.

Workers in Los Angeles and Orange County are pushing for higher wages, as many say that they are priced out of the city's where they work. A spokesperson for the unions tell CNN they intend to remain on strike for, quote, "however long it takes."

Still ahead, a shocking shooting in Baltimore leaving two people dead and another 28 injured. Police are scouring video evidence to find suspects. We'll bring you the very latest ahead, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:52:03]

REID: Tonight, an in-depth look at the year that changed everything, 2020. Tonight's new episode of the CNN Original Series "THE 2010s" examines the decade's final year including the global pandemic, the economic crisis, the extraordinary presidential election, and of course, massive protests.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: People came out to join a movement that had now been in place since at least 2012. Black Lives Matter. And in cities across the country, not just big cities, smaller towns, it was one of the biggest mobilizations that we had seen in a long time if not ever in support of criminal justice reform. VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: You had rallies that were all

white in states that were almost all white saying black lives matter. This was a massive breakthrough.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want us to treat black lives as our own on a daily basis.

HASAN JEFFRIES, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: This was the first time that we heard protests, particularly white protesters, talking about systemic racism as a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer is a historian and professor of Princeton University. As you saw he was just in that clip so he's involved in this special.

Julian, put this into context for us. Look, we were all here for 2020. So just how game-changing was that year?

ZELIZER: Well, we'll see how game-changing it is. But we do know big things happen, historic things. We had a period of social unrest and social movement politics that was huge in terms of scale and scope. We had a global pandemic that was obviously devastating in terms of the human cost but also in terms of the ripple effects on the economy, on society. And finally we had an effort to overturn a presidential election which is not something we've experienced in U.S. political history.

And all three happened at the same time creating great instability in this country, and I think we're still working through that and seeing what direction those different streams move.

REID: And 2020, specifically the pandemic, led to a lot of economic uncertainty and volatility. What was the biggest change that that really brought to the U.S.?

ZELIZER: Well, I think it might change how parts of the economy work. Meaning, unemployment remains very low. It seems that we are now containing the inflation that comes out of 2020. But some of the changes internally, remote work, a more dynamic workforce, where place is not always as important as the substance that you're working on. All of those might continue and reshape how the economy operates.

So I think there might be really long-term consequences in terms of the structure and maybe less so in terms of unemployment rates and again pricing.

[18:55:06]

REID: So I was in the front row of the White House press room throughout 2020. I watched firsthand just how quickly the medical establishment in this country became politicized. What is going to be the long-term impact of that?

ZELIZER: Well, I don't think we will forget how quick and how intensely the polarization that we lived through all the time was influential and impacted how we handled the public health crisis. And I think people in the CDC, people in government, doctors, are always going to remember that when we contend with these major moments of crisis, at least in the near future, it's going to happen in this polarized environment that we live in.

And that adds a huge challenge, especially when you're trying to convince people red and blue to take certain steps to curb the impact and mitigate how these health crises unfold.

REID: And quickly, I think for a lot of people, they'll think, special on 2020, too soon. Not ready to relive that. So briefly, why would you tell people that they need to watch this and really unpack what happened that year?

ZELIZER: First, assessments are incredibly important. The best time to start working, to start a conversation about what happened historically is when people who lived through it can still tell us and feel what it was like. So this is an opening to a debate that we will have for decades. But it's important to start earlier rather than later when the memories are very fresh and some of the feelings that we all had and lived through can be incorporated into the history we tell.

REID: Still very fresh. Julian, thank you.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

REID: And don't miss the final episode of the CNN Original Series "THE 2010s" tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)