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Severe Storms Hitting East Coast As Millions Head Home; Putin Apologizes For "Tragic" Azerbaijan Airlines Crash, Without Admitting Responsibility; U.S. Official: Russian Air Defense Units Potentially Misidentified Passenger Jet For Ukrainian Drone; Video Shows Inmate Fatally Beaten By Corrections Officers At NY Prison; TSA Investigates 2nd Delta Airlines Stowaway During Holidays; CDC: Bird Flu Virus In First Severe Human Case Shows Mutations. Trump Asks For TikTok Ban Delay To Find "Negotiated Resolution"; U.S. Markets Rising And Falling With "Magnificent Seven"; Counting Down The Top Business News Of 2024; "Luther: Never Too Much" Special New Years Day Premiere at 8PM ET/PT. Aired 1-2p ET
Aired December 28, 2024 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:00:00]
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: -- 25, and he faces at least 30 civil suits, ensuring that Combs' legal troubles could be big news for years to come.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and thanks for joining me. I'm Rahel Solomon, live in New York.
Happening right now, 7 million people are under the threat of severe weather after a tornado watch was issued for parts of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. This is happening on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
And as people head home, severe weather may cause more snarls. So far, more than 18,000 flights have been delayed, that's according to FlightAware. Just one day after severe storms hit parts of Texas and Louisiana, the Storm Prediction Center raised its threat level, cautioning a tornado outbreak is likely across the South later today.
Let's get more now from CNN Meteorologist Tyler Mauldin. So Tyler, give us the news. What's the latest here? We can see a lot of red on the screen behind you.
TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we do have an ongoing severe weather outbreak across the Deep South. The red that you see behind me indicates a tornado watch, which is in effect for portions of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi until later this afternoon.
We've had confirmed tornadoes already. One of the confirmed tornadoes has loosened its grip on the western perimeter of Houston, and it does look like this tornado warning over the woodlands will be allowed to expire here in the next 10 minutes. Probably a severe thunderstorm warning tacked onto that, though, because this line is very potent. We do have a four out of five threat for severe weather today across the South. The bullseye is here in Louisiana and Mississippi and stretching into just a little portion of western Alabama.
We do have the chance for EF2 or greater tornadoes. Those are large, destructive, and at times long-lived tornadoes. The threat will continue overnight, and it pushes eastbound as this weather system causing this severe weather continues to push eastbound.
So all of us across the southeast will be under the threat for severe weather and potential for -- the potential for tornadoes as well as large hail all the way through this evening and through the overnight hours. It's not until later tomorrow afternoon that we see the threat for severe weather across the southeast begin to diminish.
Typically, we see tornado activity in the springtime. That's what you think of when you think of tornado season. However, there are some secondary tornado seasons, one being late fall and on into winter, aka the month of December, where on average we see roughly 43 tornadoes during the month of December.
What is sparking that is this little weather maker right here. It is starting to feed off of some really warm, humid, unstable air across the southeast, and it's creating that severe weather here across the Deep South. We are seeing rain beginning to move into portions of the Mid-Atlantic, the northeast. Don't think that will impact your travel, though.
However, shifting gears from the east to the Pacific Northwest, a series of weather systems continue to come onshore, and that is going to potentially impact any air travel as well as ground travel as you head home from the holidays.
Taking a look at the delays for air travel, sure, we're looking at some minor delays because of that activity out west. The major delays are here across the southeast, though, associated with that strong weather system moving through right now.
And those are the two areas that we're going to have to watch over this weekend. We have the threat for severe weather here. You've got the threat for rain and snow across the Pacific Northwest. Both areas, in my opinion, are the areas that we need to watch for the potential for travel delays.
And, you know, we're not just talking about the potential for tornadoes and hail and heavy rain down here across the southeast. Again, we are talking about the potential for some wintry mischief up here across the higher elevations of the west coast as well.
So, again, a lot to watch here. We'll continue to keep you up to date as we go through the afternoon, both on the ongoing severe weather outbreak, which we expect to continue, and as well as this activity here across the Pacific Northwest. Back to you.
SOLOMON: Tyler, we'll check back with you soon. Thank you.
Now to the new development on that deadly plane crash in Kazakhstan. Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin is apologizing for what he calls a tragic incident following that crash of that Azerbaijani airliner that killed 38 people on Christmas Day.
But the Kremlin leader is also stopping short of admitting responsibility for the disaster. This comes as a U.S. official tells CNN that Russian air defenses may have mistaken the commercial jet that crashed on Wednesday with a Ukrainian drone.
Today, Putin admitted that Russia's air defense systems were active when that flight attempted to land in Chechnya on Wednesday.
Let's go to CNN's Nada Bashir who joins us now. Nada, talk to us a bit more about what we heard in terms of this apology and also what happens now for the investigation.
[13:05:03]
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, no clear admission of responsibility from President Putin despite that apology and expression of condolences to the authorities in Azerbaijan that this incident took place after the plane entered Russian airspace.
But there has been, of course, an acknowledgment that Russian air defense systems were active at the time that the area where the plane was heading in Chechnya was under a drone attack by Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.
So clearly, a lot of speculation building and this really feeds into the assessments that we've been hearing from military analysts, from U.S. officials, as well as sources who have spoken to Reuters familiar with the ongoing investigation that the plane may have been impacted by Russian anti-aircraft systems, air defense systems, and that may have led to the plane crashing in the Kazakh city of Aktau. It had been diverted from its original destination to Grozny in the Russian region of Chechnya.
Now, of course, there has been a lot of evidence mounting, of course, and this will be crucial for investigators as they continue to examine what exactly led to this crash. Of course, they have recovered two black boxes now that will provide investigators with flight data as well as potentially with internal recordings from the cockpit.
But what has also raised some serious questions is the holes and perforations that have been seen in the fuselage and the wreckage of the plane, which some military and aviation experts -- military analysts and aviation experts have said resemble shrapnel damage. So could be consistent with shrapnel damage caused by an explosion.
And we've been hearing, of course, from some of those passengers, again, remarkable, 29 people out of 67 on board actually survived the crash, some of whom actually filmed those final moments before the plane crashed and described hearing a loud bang, described the situation inside the plane. So we know that the authorities have been speaking to some of those survivors to get a better sense of what exactly took place in those final moments.
But again, this could be a while before we have any official line from the authorities. The Kazakh government has set up a commission. It is an international commission that will examine the evidence. We know that the aircraft manufacturers will also be supporting in that investigation.
But authorities say it could take around two weeks before there is a final assessment of that black box data. So it remains to be seen whether we get that full confirmation in the coming days as to what caused this crash. But again, a lot of speculation around the potential for Russian anti-aircraft systems, air defense systems leading to this plane crash.
And of course, we've heard from authorities in Azerbaijan and officials who have said they believe the plane faced external, physical and technical interference in the moments ahead of that crash. Rahel?
SOLOMON: Nada Bashir reporting for us there. Nada, thank you.
Let's continue the conversation now. I'm joined now by CNN Global Affairs Analyst Mark Esper, who served as defense secretary in the first Trump presidency. He is also a board member or strategic adviser for a handful of aerospace and defense-related companies.
Secretary Esper, we appreciate the time today. Thank you for being here.
MARK ESPER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Hey, good afternoon. Good to be with you.
SOLOMON: So Putin is now saying that Russia's air defense systems were active when that airline flight attempted to land in Chechnya on Wednesday. But we also heard from Nada's reporting there that he's not admitting responsibility despite making this somewhat half-hearted apology. What do you make of what we heard from Putin?
ESPER: Yes, I suspect he had to say something given the accumulating evidence that paints this as a Russian air defense system that damaged this plane and forced its crash landing. I mean, the evidence is, again, continues to build. You have the fragmentation, the perforations in the fuselage of the aircraft, which is consistent with a fragmentary warhead of either a missile or a cannon round.
You have reports that passengers saw shrapnel come within the aircraft. One person may have been injured. You have video from the passenger cabin. We now have the flight recordings of black boxes.
There's going to be -- the shrapnel will be found in the plane at different spots. So I think it's all pointing to what we suspect it is, and Putin wanted to say something. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point he blames this on the Ukrainians.
But, look, we have an investigation that needs to happen. We'll see what comes out of it. Interestingly, the Russians have launched a criminal investigation at the same time. So much going on.
SOLOMON: If this was an accidental shoot-down while defending against Ukrainian drones, which, you know, we've heard sort of tones of this from some of the officials in Moscow on the heels of this, what does that tell you, Secretary, about Russia's defense capabilities?
ESPER: Well, first of all, accidents do happen, particularly in wartime, unfortunately. We had this happen in the past a few times. Most recently, you know, in January of 2020, where an Iranian air defense system shot down a Ukrainian passenger liner after the United States attacked Qasem Soleimani.
[13:10:08]
So, you had Iranian air defense gunners on edge, thinking that it was American aircraft. So these things happen. I think what it tells me is less about the air defense systems, maybe more of concern is Russian control of airspace.
You would think that if Grozny was under some type of air assault from Ukraine using drones, that they would have anticipated this. They would have seen the drones coming on their radars.
They would have shut down airspace to commercial air traffic. They would have diverted the airliners to other locations to get them out of the conflict zone so that we didn't have an accident like this happen. But instead it did.
You know, if you want to dig a little bit deeper, again, maybe the radar systems on the air defense system weren't adequate. We do know that there was a very heavy fog around Grozny at that time. And maybe the air defense gunners were just getting into the sky trying to knock down these drones.
SOLOMON: Yes. I'm curious what you think the geopolitical impact of this. I mean, how does this incident, if at all, carry over into the incoming Trump administration and the relationship that he has with Putin?
ESPER: It's hard to see it having much bearing right now at all. Like I said, I think the results will come out in a couple of weeks, two, three weeks. What Azerbaijani authorities are saying with regard to the investigation. But by that time, Trump will be in office.
We suspect that his policy team will be making some type of proposal to both sides on how to end this war. I think that'll be much the talk at that point in time. Plus, many are waiting to seeing whether he will stem the flow of U.S. arms and munition shipments to Ukraine upon his entrance into office on January 20th.
That could happen as well. So I think this gets kind of caught up in the bigger events happening at this time with regard to U.S. support to Ukraine and the future of the Ukraine conflict.
SOLOMON: OK. Secretary Esper, we'll leave it here, but we appreciate your time today. Thank you. ESPER: Thank you.
SOLOMON: All right. And coming up next, shocking video shows New York corrections officers beating a handcuffed inmate to death. The attorney general has now launched an investigation.
A new bird flu concerns in the U.S. after the virus mutates in an infected patient from Louisiana. And later, we're counting down the top 10 business news stories of 2024. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:15:56]
SOLOMON: Welcome back. CNN has learned that several New York Department of Corrections employees have been suspended without pay and another has resigned following a deadly prisoner beating where police body cam video showed several officers punching and kicking the handcuffed inmate.
Let's get to CNN Newsource Correspondent Leigh Waldman, who's here with the update. Leigh, both the attorney general and the governor have promised a full blown investigation. Walk us through how this all happened and what happens now.
LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN NEWSOURCE CORRESPONDENT: Rahel, New York's Governor Kathy Hochul has ordered more than a dozen prison staffers to be fired over the fatal beating of inmate Robert Brooks earlier this month. Meanwhile, New York's Attorney General Letitia James has promised a full scale investigation.
CNN has learned that 13 correctional employees, including officers, sergeants and a nurse, have been suspended without pay. We've also learned that another correctional officer has since resigned. Now, what still remains to be seen at this point is what led up to this fatal beating of Brooks.
Now, Brooks, 43, had been serving a 12-year prison sentence for first degree assault. The body camera footage shows Brooks being carried into the Marcy Correctional Facility and Utica, New York. He was then being taken into what is a medical examination room. He is surrounded by those officers and it shows him being beaten.
Now, at one point, his face is bloodied. Something is shoved into his mouth and you can see those officers beating him over and over again. At one point, his body is also lifted up by the collar and he is shoved against a wall. The next day, Brooks was pronounced dead at Wynn Hospital.
Now, this video was released by the New York attorney general, who is promising an investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL: I want to reiterate that we are investigating this case thoroughly and using every tool at our disposal to ensure that there is transparency and accountability for the events that preceded Mr. Brooks' death.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
WALDMAN: Brooks' family attorney is reacting to this release of this body camera video. They said that they have reviewed this video themselves, then a statement to CNN. They are saying, "As expected, watching the horrific and violent final moments of Robert's life was devastating for his loved ones, and will be disturbing to anyone who views the video following its release by the Attorney General's Office. We will not rest until we have secured justice for Robert's memory and safety for the prisoners at Marcy Correctional Facility". Rahel?
SOLOMON: Leigh Waldman reporting there. Leigh, thank you.
Coming up next, new concerns about bird flu in the U.S. and what the CDC is now saying about the virus mutating in an infected patient from Louisiana.
And serious questions are being raised about how another person managed to sneak on a Delta flight undetected until just moments before takeoff. How the person was discovered, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:22:15]
SOLOMON: Welcome back. The TSA is now investigating how a stowaway slipped by security to board a Delta Airlines flight over the busy holiday travel week. It's the second time that someone has boarded a Delta plane without a ticket in just a few weeks now raising serious safety concerns.
CNN's Carlos Suarez has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A stowaway discovered again hiding on an airplane just moments before takeoff on Christmas Eve in Seattle. The unidentified individual cleared a standard security screening the night before the flight getting past checks for identification and flight information without a boarding pass, an airport spokesperson tells CNN.
The following afternoon, they were able to board the Delta flight still without a boarding pass.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Must have been a sweet talker, Betty Crocker, because I don't -- I couldn't imagine how you could ever do that.
SUAREZ (voice-over): When the person was discovered on board, the plane returned to the gate to remove them. According to the airport spokesperson, the suspect then, quote, "ran out of the plane before police arrived and hid in a bathroom in the airport terminal".
Port of Seattle police used video surveillance cameras to find and arrest the suspect.
BRADY BILY, PASSENGER ON DELTA FLIGHT 487 WITH STOAWAY: Nobody knew really what was going on. So we were kind of left in the dark.
SUAREZ (voice-over): All passengers on board were deplaned and rescreened by TSA, delaying the flight for nearly two and a half hours.
BILY: This leaves you to wonder the worst. You're stuck on the plane and what if there was explosives or something?
SUAREZ (voice-over): The incident elevating security concerns during one of the busiest seasons for travel.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: I understand that the Transportation Security Authority agents are besieged, but these are the areas where the system is, you know, blinking red.
SUAREZ (voice-over): So far, officials from the TSA, the port of Seattle and Delta representatives have not explained how this person was able to bypass so many layers of security. Delta apologized to delayed passengers in a statement saying, quote, "There are no matters more important than safety and security".
The TSA said it takes such incidents seriously and, quote, "will independently review the circumstances of this incident".
O'BRIEN: I think the responsibility for these stowaway events so far has been sort of joint between the TSA for letting these individuals pass their I.D. checkpoints and the airline, in this case, Delta, for not being vigilant enough at the doorway to that jetway.
SUAREZ (voice-over): It's the second time in weeks that a passenger boarded a Delta flight without a ticket.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Folks, this is the captain, we are just waiting for the police to come on board.
SUAREZ (voice-over): Just before Thanksgiving, a woman snuck onto a Delta flight from New York's JFK Airport to Paris. It took three attempts to get her back to the U.S. to face charges.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
[13:25:04]
SUAREZ (on-camera): The TSA said that the un-ticketed passenger didn't have prohibited items. Now, officials with the Port of Seattle added that the aircraft and the terminal was swept by a police K-9 and all of the passengers were rescreened.
Carlos Suarez, CNN, Atlanta.
SOLOMON: Right now to a new concerning CDC report about the bird flu here in the U.S. The virus appears to have mutated in a patient from Louisiana, which could possibly increase the chances of human to human transmission. That hospitalized patient is the first severe human case of bird flu in the country.
And CDC officials say that they likely contracted it after contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock. But the CDC also emphasizing that there is no evidence of human to human transmission and that the public risk of infection remains low.
CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell has more details.
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the CDC analyzed these samples that were taken from this patient who was hospitalized in Louisiana with the country's first severe case of H5N1 bird flu. And what they found is mutations in this virus that may make it easier for the virus to infect human cells in the upper respiratory tract.
The bird flu isn't very good at infecting people in our nose and throats. But with these mutations, possibly it could get better at that. Now, the good news is that the patient doesn't appear to have spread the virus to any other humans. And it doesn't look like the patient picked up these mutations from wherever the patient caught this virus in the wild.
So it's not that the patient was infected after having contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock. And these mutations weren't seen in the birds. And so it really seems like these mutations are confined to this one patient.
We have seen similar mutations to these before, also in a severe case of H5N1. This one in a teenager in British Columbia, Canada. Again, in that scenario, it appears that these mutations happened in the patient and weren't spread to anybody else.
So really the threat level would rise if we see human to human transmission of bird flu. And we have not seen that as of this point. Of course, health experts are worried when they see these mutations, it shows they are potentially possible. So they are watching this very closely.
There have been a couple instances where we don't know the source of exposure. And then this one patient in Louisiana is the only one associated with backyard flocks. So this is something that the CDC is following very closely. But they say right now the risk to the public is low, especially because we haven't seen that human to human transmission.
SOLOMON: Thanks to Meg Tirrell there.
And coming up, President-elect Donald Trump is urging the Supreme Court to pause a ban on TikTok, putting him at odds with the current Biden White House position. We're going to have a live report from Florida on what's behind the request.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:31:32]
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN HOST: Welcome back. A new legal tug of war over TikTok is shaping up in the Supreme Court. President-Elect Donald Trump filing a legal brief on Friday urging the high court to pause an impending ban on the social media platform.
Now, that's in direct contradiction to President Biden's White House, which filed its own brief arguing that TikTok's ties to China pose grave threats to national security.
Let's bring in CNN's Alayna Treene, who is live in Florida for us.
Alayna, good to have you.
So Trump signed an executive order the last time he was president that effectively banned TikTok. What is he saying now?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's right. He is changing his tune now, Rahel.
And what he said in this brief filed last night is essentially that he is urging the Supreme Court to put a pause on that controversial ban on TikTok, arguing that such a delay in its implementation would allow his incoming administration to try and work out some sort of negotiation with the app to ultimately save it from being banned.
Now, again, this relates to the law that Congress approved earlier this year, Biden signed it, that would ban TikTok on January 19th, just one day before Donald Trump is set to be sworn into office.
And essentially, it says that if TikTok does not divest from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, that the ban will go through.
Now, what the Supreme Court is currently deciding before it is whether or not that ban violates First Amendment rights. In his brief filed yesterday, Donald Trump didn't really address the First Amendment questions posed in this case.
But he did say this. It said, quote, "President-Elect Trump urges the court to stay the statutes effective date to allow his incoming administration to pursue a negotiated resolution that could prevent a nationwide shutdown of TikTok, thus preserving the First Amendment rights of tens of millions of Americans, while also addressing the government's national security concerns."
Now, what is clear, Rahel, is that Donald Trump recognizes how popular TikTok is. It has 170 million monthly users in the U.S. alone. And recently, we have heard Donald Trump say that he is warming to it and that he believes that many young people who voted for him are fans of the app.
I want you to take a listen to some of what he said this month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll take a look at TikTok. You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points. And there are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that. We -- we did go on TikTok and we had a great response. We had billions
of views, billions and billions of views.
Maybe we've got to keep this sucker around a little while. You know?
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TREENE: Now, Rahel, some things are very notable to point out is, one, Donald Trump met with the TikTok CEO earlier this month at Mar-a-Lago. He also spoke with the TikTok CEO last night, we are told, according to Kaitlan Collins.
All to say that relationship is -- is beginning to take off as Donald Trump is making this decision and asking for a pause on the ban.
Also notable is that, yesterday, the Biden administration also filed their own brief to the Supreme Court asking them to uphold the ban and warning of grave national security concerns and pointing specifically to Chinas influence through the app.
What is still unclear is exactly what the Supreme Court is going to do. But what Donald Trump is really asking for here is to have a pause so that his administration can really take a look at any sort of way to resolve this issue.
[13:35:03]
And also that he wants to try and save the app. it's unclear, though, what that actually could look like. And if Donald Trump is worried himself about some of these national security concerns -- Rahel?
SOLOMON: OK, a lot more to be seen here.
Alayna Treene live for us there. Alayna, thank you.
And coming up next, we'll count down to the top-10 business news stories of 2024. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: Welcome back. And stocks took a dive Friday following sell offs across big tech's Magnificent Seven. Stocks like Tesla, Apple, Amazon and Nvidia each lost a few percentage points.
The lackluster close has analysts advocating for a broader market performance in the new year, cautioning against heavy reliance on a handful of industry giants should they all stumble at the same time.
CNN's Matt Egan has more on the Magnificent Seven, and also examines if the market dominance we saw in 2024 is healthy for investors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) [13:40:04]
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: You remember the Fab Five in basketball? Well, now you have the Mag Seven in the stock market. We're talking about Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. Combined, these companies are now valued at more than $18 trillion. Trillion with a "T."
Some context, that's more than the entire GDP of China. Pretty amazing when you think about it. Apple alone is on the verge of becoming the first company to be valued at $4 trillion.
Now, these seven stocks have been, basically, carrying the market higher. Since Election Day, these seven stocks have accounted for 86 percent of the gains in the S&P 500, 86 percent.
And this trend is not entirely new. Coming into today, the S&P 500 had surged almost 30 percent on the year. But without the Mag Seven, the S&P would only be up 13 percent on the year. So still up, but not nearly as much,
Now, when you think about these seven stocks, what they have in common is, well, first, they're all big, big technology companies. But they're also all A.I. plays. They're investing heavily in artificial intelligence.
And investors believe that they will emerge as among the winners in this A.I. arms race. And we know that A.I. has been the hottest part of the bull market in stocks.
Of course, the question is, how long will they stay hot? Because this market has become very concentrated among just a few players. Goldman Sachs has found that the top-10 S&P 500 stocks make up 36 percent of the index's value.
We've seen a similar situation play out in the past, including the late 1990s before the bursting of the.com bubble, and in 2019 and 2020 before Covid.
But still, this is a record level of concentration, according to Goldman Sachs. So as far as what all of this means, for as long as A.I. stays hot, we could keep seeing the markets go higher and higher.
And this will benefit passive investors, right? Everyone who has their investment portfolios blindly tied to the S&P and other market indicators. You think about everyone who has a 401K or college savings plan.
But in the long run, it's not really healthy to have the market depend on the success of just a few players. It would be like an NFL team that can't score without their running back. What if the running back gets hurt or gets into a slump, right? You're out of luck.
And we have seen that play out in recent days, where the Mag Seven stocks have fallen and they've dragged down the rest of the market. It's almost impossible for the overall market to go up when these seven stocks are all in the red.
I do think that, as we close out what has been a blockbuster 2024 in the stock market, this does expose a potential vulnerability in 2025.
Because for the market to keep breaking records, we're either going to need to see this rally broaden out or these seven stocks are going to have to stay magnificent.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: All right, Matt Egan, thank you.
One of the largest retailers in the U.S. went dark, a port strike threatened global trade, and the richest man in the world went full MAGA.
CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich counts down the top business stories of 2024.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Number 10, it's the end of freeloading. Costco cracks down on membership moochers.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Costco is adding a brand-new layer of checks to make sure that you are using your own membership.
YURKEVICH: Costco cardholders now have to scan membership cards at the door and may be asked to show proof of photo I.D. Membership fees are the bulk of Costco's profits, bringing in $4.6 billion in 2023.
And Disney cracked down on password sharing.
UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Disney CEO Bob Iger is pivoting from a bruising proxy fight to a new challenge, the password sharing blight. Iger saying Thursday that the Disney+ streaming service will begin cracking down on pilfered passwords.
YURKEVICH: Disney started limiting how often customers can share their login information outside their households for their streaming services.
The move came after rival Netflix did its own crackdown and saw 100,000 new daily signups for the two days following the announcement.
Number nine, for the first time in nearly 50 years, dock workers on the East and Gulf Coast ports went on strike.
HAROLD DAGGETT, HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S ASSOCIATION: Now you start to realize who the longshoremen are, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody cares.
DAGGETT: People never gave an (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about us until now. YURKEVICH (on camera): The International Longshoremen's Association was on strike for three days before it reached a deal on wages with the United States Maritime Alliance, with a new strike deadline set for January 15th.
[13:45:06]
The union and the alliance agreed to 62 percent in wage increases over six years.
And at Boeing --
(HONKING)
YURKEVICH (voice-over): -- workers were on strike for seven weeks, the first time in 16 years, before they reached a deal. The company lost billions of dollars and will lay off 17,000 employees.
Members of the International Association of Machinists voted down two contracts before they accepted a deal, which includes more than 43 percent in pay increases for workers over four years.
Number eight, the blue light special now just a dim glow of nostalgia as the last full-size brick-and-mortar Kmart closed its doors this year in Bridgehampton, New York.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This marks the end of an era for Kmart full- size stores.
YURKEVICH: Kmart had a disastrous merger with Sears, where very little was invested in the brand, while at the same time being beat out by more successful, bigger box retailers like Walmart and Target.
(on camera): The brand was founded in 1962 and once had more than 2,300 stores. Kmart still has its online store.
(voice-over): Number seven, President-Elect Donald Trump took Truth Social public in March. The stock initially surged 56 percent at the open but has had a bumpy ride.
The stock was halted twice on Election Day as it soared by 17 percent and then tanked.
(MUSIC)
TRUMP: Hello, everybody.
YURKEVICH: Trump also launched a crypto business, World Liberty Financial, with his family. Trump made the rounds courting crypto voters.
TRUMP: The United States will be the crypto capital of the planet.
YURKEVICH And he's surrounded himself with crypto-friendly advisers, like Elon Musk and his SEC chair pick, Paul Atkins.
Number six --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no trouble. Just sandwiches and Campbell's chicken noodle soup.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Yay!
YURKEVICH: -- an iconic favorite losing its soup? No, not quite. But after 155 years, Campbell's Soup Company is dropping "soup" from their name to reflect the brand's full portfolio.
The Campbell's Company also owns snack brands like Goldfish, Cape Cod and Pepperidge Farms.
While the soup will always be iconic, its sales grew by 3 percent last year versus snacks, which grew by 13 percent.
Number five --
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: TikTok dealt another loss today in its attempt to keep the app alive in the United States.
YURKEVICH: -- a U.S. appeals court denied TikTok's argument that a U.S. ban was unconstitutional.
Instead, it upheld a law that says TikTok cannot operate in the U.S. unless it's sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, by January 19th, 2025. TikTok has since filed an injunction to block it.
TikTok has more than 170 million American users, many who have built entire businesses on the platform.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Add at least two of these to your cart.
YURKEVICH (on camera): Elected officials are calling for the ban over the belief the Chinese government can use TikTok to spy on Americans and collect user data.
SHOU ZI CHEW, CEO, TIKTOK: Rest assured, we aren't going anywhere. We are confident, and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts. The facts and the Constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail again.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Number four --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first rate cut in four years. The most talked-about cut, I think, ever.
YURKEVICH: -- the Federal Reserve made its first rate cut in September by a surprising half a point, the first since before the pandemic.
The cut signaled a sense of urgency to provide Americans with relief from elevated borrowing costs.
JEROME POWELL, CHAIR, FEDERAL RESERVE: The U.S. economy is in good shape. It's growing at a solid pace. Inflation is coming down. The labor market is in a strong place. We want to keep it there. That's -- that's what we're doing.
YURKEVICH (on camera): Inflation cooled to 2.4 percent that same month after 11 rate hikes in 2022 and 2023. And the Fed is closer to the ever-elusive soft landing and circling its 2 percent target.
(voice-over): Number three --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Red Lobster's endless shrimp is kind of a big deal.
YURKEVICH -- a big deal that got a little too big. Too much shrimp is not always a good thing.
Red Lobster's annual $20 endless shrimp was successful for 20 years, until they made it an everyday thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They shouldn't have done the all-you-can-eat shrimp. You don't know how many people are pigs, and they'll just keep eating.
YURKEVICH: The company accounted for a 20 percent increase in customer traffic, but it ended up being 40 percent. It cost the company $11 million, and they filed for bankruptcy.
Number two --
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the real estate world will never be the same after today's seismic court settlement.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: That 6 percent commission real estate agents get for buying or selling a home is now no more.
YURKEVICH: -- in a landmark case, the National Association of Realtors eliminated the rules on commissions and paid $418 million to plaintiffs who argued the fees inflated prices of homes.
[13:50:09]
KEILAR: And analysts expect it to benefit home buyers.
YURKEVICH: Sellers were saddled with hefty fees and often baked them into the sales price of homes.
The historic change could make home prices more affordable. The average home price is $407,200, near record highs.
(on camera): Number one, the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, will soon be a government employee. The X, Tesla and SpaceX owner went full MAGA.
ELON MUSK, BUSINESSMAN: We had one president who couldn't climb a flight of stairs --
(CHEERING)
(LAUGHTER)
MUSK: -- and another who was fist-pumping after getting shot.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): The multi-billionaire lost a few billion on X, which lost an estimated 80 percent of value since Musk bought it two years ago. But he gained a few billion on Tesla, which has soared since Trump's reelection.
MUSK: We want to have a fun, exciting future.
YURKEVICH: Trump appointed Musk the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
TRUMP: We have a new star. A star is born, Elon!
YURKEVICH: And he's been advising the president-elect on key cabinet hires.
Musk is now more than $100 billion richer than the second-richest person in the world, Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: Our thanks to Vanessa Yurkevich there.
Coming up next, a preview of a new CNN film that examines the career of Luther Vandross. Entertainment reporter, Lisa Respers France, joins us to talk about why he's one of the greatest artists of all time. We'll get into it after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:55:47]
SOLOMON: Welcome back. He was one of the most decorated and influential artists of all time. Luther Vandross' iconic legacy will be chronicled in the new CNN film, "LUTHER: NEVER TOO MUCH."
His story will be told by close friends, including Mariah Carey and Dionne Warwick, and through rarely seen archive footage.
Here's a little preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
LUTHER VANDROSS, SINGER: I used to sing background vocals for Roberta Flack on the road, and Roberta sometimes would have interviews, and sometimes she'd be unable to show up at soundchecks, so I would sing her songs for her in soundchecks to test her microphone.
(SINGING)
VANDROSS: What happened is that one day she had come back to the theater and I was singing. And she came over to me and she said, you know, you're getting a little too comfortable sitting on the stool in the background singing oohs and aahs. I really want you to make your own statement and make your own record,
you know? And she, in effect, fired me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Joining us now to discuss is CNN entertainment reporter, Lisa Respers France.
Lisa, always good to have you.
So you have already seen the film. What did you think? What are your thoughts?
LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: I loved it, Rahel. For so many years, decades, literally, since we lost Luther Vandross back in 2005 at the age of 54, people have wanted a documentary like this.
And can I tell you, Dawn Porter, the director, did such a tremendous job. She really left Luther Vandross speak for himself.
She had access to so much footage, like the interview we just saw, which allows him to tell his own story.
And, Rahel, it's just phenomenal. If you don't watch anything else in 2025, you need to watch this documentary. This is how incredibly well done it is.
SOLOMON: Yes, start the new year off right by watching this documentary.
So talk to us a little bit about, for young people who may not be as familiar with his work and his music, the ways his legacy influenced even popular music today?
FRANCE: Absolutely. There are so many artists, including like Usher and John Legend and Boys to Men, who have said that he tremendously influenced them.
Luther Vandross was the smoothest and most elegant dude ever, and he is so beloved, especially in the black community, where he is lovingly known as Luther because people just adore him and his music.
And he really brought a lot of attention to R&B music. And to start, as he did as a kid in the Bronx, who didn't even know he was growing up poor, to become this international superstar who was known for just the smoothness and the romanticness of his voice.
Luther Vandross could sing anybody down. And to see him perform with the likes of Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle and Mariah Carey, he just was -- he was peerless when it came to just his artistry. And he was a perfectionist, and it showed, Rahel, in every single performance.
SOLOMON: Yes. And one song that the younger audience might remember is the Beyonce, "The closer I Get to You" sort of collaboration that she had a few years ago.
FRANCE: Yes.
SOLOMON: Let's talk a little bit about -- and it's funny, in that clip, we heard Luther talk about being a backup singer. But he was a backup singer for Chaka Khan, Bette Midler, David Bowie. And then he himself skyrocketed to success.
But he also struggled with inner demons. Talk to us a little bit about that, which -- which the film explores as well.
FRANCE: Yes, he was a very private person, and there was a lot of conversation about his personal life, in particular, his sexuality. And people really wanted to know.
But it's interesting, Rahel, because people wanted to know, like what his deal was, like who he was romantically involved with. But at the same time, fans gave him that privacy.
He had that rare quality, much like a prince, you know, as an artist where people allowed him to have his privacy and his -- his interior life.
But he struggled with his weight. He also had to file suit one time because when he lost a tremendous amount of weight, I believe it was about 85 pounds or so, there was a tabloid that wrote that he may have had AIDS.
[13:59:54]
So he-- he had a lot of, you know, self-esteem issues. He knew that he was a bigger man. He was clearly not always comfortable with that. Sometimes people made jokes about that.
But at the end of the day, he still was one of the most elegant and just, I feel like, influential artists of our time.
