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Pardoned January 6 Defendants Being Released from Prison; Wellness Influencers Gather for Trump Inauguration Ball; Trump Announces $500 Billion Investment in AI Infrastructure; Trump Administration Brings New Challenges for Global Leaders. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 22, 2025 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Here are some of the top stories we're following today. Turkey is observing a national day of mourning after dozens of people were killed in a hotel fire at a ski resort.
Witnesses say some people jumped from their windows whilst others tied bed sheets together to escape the flames. The fire is under investigation and nine people have been detained.
Crews in Southern California are fighting a new wildfire east of Los Angeles, again fueled by strong Santa Ana winds. The Clay Fire is close to residential areas, but mandatory evacuation orders have not yet been issued.
And the YouTube and TikTok star known as MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, is part of a bid to buy TikTok in the U.S. The group did not disclose the amount of the bid, but some analysts estimate TikTok's U.S. assets, without the crucial algorithm, are worth between $40 to 50 billion.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds of people arrested for their roles in the January 6th U.S. Capitol riots have been unable to get jobs, licenses or firearms. But Donald Trump's pardons and commutations are changing all of that.
Jacob Chansley, also known as the QAnon Shaman, was released from prison last year. Now that he's been pardoned, he says he can't wait to buy some effing guns. Donie O'Sullivan spoke with some of the other rioters already released from jail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're a true patriot.
RACHEL POWELL, PARDONED JANUARY 6 DEFENDANT: I don't even know what to feel. I mean, I guess I should feel joy. I just, maybe I'm just shocked.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The end of a long road for Rachel Powell. Pardoned by President Trump and released Tuesday from a jail here in Washington, D.C. Rachel became known as the Pink Hat lady when footage emerged of her breaking a window at the Capitol with an ice axe during the January 6th attack.
A mom to eight and a grandmother to seven, I interviewed Rachel before she began what was supposed to be a years long prison sentence last year.
POWELL: How do I have time to plan an insurrection when my life is busy like this?
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): On her release on Tuesday, she was met by activists who gave her new clothes, new boots and a new pink hat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow, lordy, I don't know, thank you Lord.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This man came from the Philadelphia jail. He got out at 3:00 a.m. That doesn't make sense. He's wearing prison shoes and Philadelphia's finest prison gear.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Pardon January sixers from elsewhere began arriving in Washington, like William Patrick Sarsfield III, who was convicted of a felony offense, obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder.
WILLIAM SARSFIELD, PARDONED JANUARY 6 DEFENDANT: Well, I was heard through different apps and different programs and different phone calls from people that we still had brothers and sisters that were still locked up and haven't been released. And being somebody that's been in D.C. that everybody should be released. Because a pardon for J6ers, it's for all of us.
O'SULLIVAN: You got out of prison last night?
ROBERT MORSS, PARDONED JANUARY 6 DEFENDANT: Well, I was locked up for three and a half years, and I was taken to the halfway house on August 29th.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Robert Morss says he was released from a halfway house in Pittsburgh late last night and came to D.C. to celebrate. Morss, a former Army Ranger, was found guilty of assaulting police officers, among other crimes, on January 6th.
MORSS: I had no intention of going anywhere near the Capitol that day. That's how crazy this got. So a lot of people were taken advantage of and were lured into a lobster trap that January 6th was designed to be.
O'SULLIVAN: In terms of personal responsibility. Do you take -- I mean, do you regret --
MORSS: Completely, without a doubt. I said that in my sentencing speech. I said the words, Donald Trump did not force me or coerce me to do what I did that day. I did it on my own accord.
O'SULLIVAN: What's your message to people watching this who say, she shouldn't have been pardoned? None of these people should have got out of prison. They're criminals.
POWELL: OK, you know what? It's time to stop worrying about that and move forward in this country.
O'SULLIVAN: Folks there feeling very emboldened, clearly, by President Trump's pardons. And what we're expecting over the course of the next few hours and the next few days is as these cases continue to be processed, these pardons continue to be processed. We'll see people trickling out of jails like this one in Washington, D.C. And also out of jails and prisons all over the country.
Donie O'Sullivan, CNN at the D.C. jail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Goodness me, right. President Donald Trump says he has granted a pardon to the founder of the dark web marketplace Silk Road.
[04:35:00]
Ross William Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on a variety of charges including money laundering, drug trafficking and computer hacking.
FOSTER: Prosecutors describe described Silk Road as the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the internet. It allowed users to anonymously trade drugs and other illegal goods and services in near total secrecy using Bitcoin.
Now, Donald Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, trying to sink one of Donald -- President Trump's cabinet picks. An advocacy group founded by Pence is urging senators not to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The group accuses RFK Jr. of embracing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and abortion rights and calls his views disqualifying.
MACFARLANE: But RFK Jr. appears to have the backing of conservative influencers in the wellness industry. CNN's Meena Duerson went to the inauguration ball for the Make America Healthy Again movement.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEENA DUERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the MAHA ball, which is the Make America Healthy Again party thrown in honor of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is President Trump's pick to lead the department of HHS.
There's about 800 people here who are some of his biggest supporters, from health and wellness influencers to big conservative stars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: MAHA ball is like one of the, you know, the biggest balls here in town. We are literally have 1,000 people on a waiting list right now.
DUERSON (voice-over): MAHA was born when Kennedy ended his presidential campaign and joined forces with Trump.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., SECRETARY OF HEALTH NOMINEE: Don't you want a president that's going to make America healthy again?
DUERSON (voice-over): Trump's inauguration put the MAHA agenda on its biggest stage yet.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Together, we will end the chronic disease epidemic and keep our children safe, healthy and disease free.
VANI HARI, INFLUENCER: Him specifically calling out fixing the chronic disease issue, I cheered from my seat.
DUERSON (voice-over): Vani Hari isn't a medical professional, but she's built an audience of over 2 million followers on Instagram as the food babe. She was an Obama delegate in 2012 but spent this weekend with Trump's picks to lead health.
HARI: The people I've been meeting with have been unreal.
DUERSON: Is this the first time that health and wellness influencers have had the ear of the president in this way?
HARI: Yes.
ALEX CLARK, HOST, CULTURE APOTHECARY PODCAST: I was radicalized during the pandemic. I was greatly disturbed and confused about mandating a vaccine for everyone to take. That led me to start diving deeper into corruption in pharma and in food. And that's really a lot of conservative female story.
DUERSON: Alex Clark doesn't have a formal background in food science or medicine but hosts a popular podcast on health and wellness for the conservative youth group Turning Point.
DUERSON: What are your top things you want to see happen? You know, in the next 100 days, the next four years?
CLARK: We're going to completely revamp public school lunch and we're going to get pharmaceutical ads off of TV.
HARI: We have to address this fundamental, unethical, hypocritical issue of American companies. We need an America first standard with our own American food companies.
Poison is not partisan.
DUERSON (voice-over): A recent poll found some of RFK's positions are resonating. Nearly half of Americans see chemicals or unsafe food additives as a risk, but there's far less support for policies he's advocated, like removing fluoride from water or ending vaccine requirements in public schools.
KENNEDY: I'm not anti-vaccine. I just want good science. I want -- people should be able to make informed choices. I am against vaccine mandates.
DUERSON: Close to 20,000 doctors have signed an open letter saying the Senate should not confirm Kennedy. They said he is unqualified, actively dangerous.
DEL BIGTREE, CEO, MAHA ACTION: Now, I don't know what these 17,000 doctors do. I think someone should audit that list.
DUERSON (voice-over): Del Bigtree was Kennedy's communications director during his presidential campaign and is now the CEO of MAHA Action.
DUERSON: How do you lead people who are scared of you and what you might do?
BIGTREE: You don't do dramatic and drastic things that scare them. The news has made Bobby seem scary. No ones taking anything away from anyone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not coming for any one thing. He's coming for transparency.
CLARK: I don't understand what they're scared about. What is wrong with saying we want to make sure that every single vaccine on the schedule is completely foolproof, that there's evidence that these are working, that these are necessary.
CALLEY MEANS, AUTHOR, "GOOD ENERGY": We are the sickest country in the developed world. So the worst thing we could possibly do is more of the same.
HARI: This movement is unstoppable. We have had this pent up frustration that we have not been heard from our government leaders. And for the first time, we are being amplified and it gives us an electrification that could be measured.
DUERSON: And it's important, you know, for me to note that this issue of child vaccine schedule and the safety and efficacy of vaccines comes up repeatedly in this MAHA sphere, but the agencies that Kennedy is slated to lead, if confirmed, the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC, state unequivocally that they are safe and effective and scientifically proven to be better than the alternative.
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[04:40:06]
MACFARLANE: Well, it's not just health. The new Trump administration is going big on artificial intelligence, too. When we come back, details on the massive investment Donald Trump is proposing for AI technology.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACFARLANE: Donald Trump is pledging a $500 billion investment in artificial intelligence. He made the announcement Tuesday alongside the heads of OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle.
FOSTER: The president says the three companies will partner on a new project called Stargate, which will build data centers across the U.S. to power the next generation of AI.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAM ALTMAN, CEO, OPENAI: I believe that as this technology progresses, we will see diseases get cured at an unprecedented rate. We will be amazed at how quickly we're curing this cancer and that one and heart disease. And what this will do for the ability to deliver very high quality health care, the costs, but really to cure the diseases.
MASAYOSHI SON, CEO SOFTBANK: This will help people's life. This will help solving many, many issues. Difficult things that otherwise we could not have solved with the power of AI.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Join us now. Cathy Li, she is head of AI, Data and Metaverse at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland. Thank you so much for joining us.
Well, what do you make of it?
CATHY LI, HEAD OF AI, DATA AND METAVERSE, WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: Well, we definitely see a huge surge in terms of AI investment during the past few years. Right now, the AI related spending across the industries are projected to grow to $630 billion by 2032. And that represents an annual compound growth rate of 29 percent. And there's no signs of stopping.
[04:45:00]
That's definitely what's happening. And at the same time, we're seeing all the industries and the leading companies that's adopting AI technology are seeing a 15 percent revenue growth annually. The figure is going to expect to double by 2026.
And at the same time, it's going to add a total contribution between $7.6 to $17.9 trillion to the global economy by 2030. So obviously, there's a lot of spending. There's a lot of expectation. But at the same time, obviously, there's many pitfalls to watch out for as well.
MACFARLANE: Cathy, when we talk specifically about the U.S., I believe that currently only 5 percent of U.S. companies actually use AI. So what impact is this $500 billion investment going to have for the U.S. alone?
LI: So I do think the figures are questionable because from our survey, we have the AI Governance Alliance community, which consists of 463 organizations, and we surveyed all of them. And many of the companies are telling us that they are using the technology in one way or another. The challenge is we see that only 16 percent of the companies are fully prepared to scale AI adoption, with 74 percent of companies are trying.
By the same time, they are limiting the use in their daily jobs and are facing scaling challenges. FOSTER: The big challenge for all governments with AI is regulation, isn't it? Because governments effectively need to work together in order to make it happen. I don't think in the U.K. they've even got a government department overlooking AI. That's sort of the -- you know, that's the point at which organizations like yours come in, coordinating different countries.
But it's pretty clear that Donald Trump wants to win in AI, and he wants to do that within the U.S.
LI: Yes, that's a great question because technology is a global force, and geopolitics is not. Other countries must watch out for their own interests. But when it comes to technology as ubiquitous as AI, local and national governance is not enough.
You do need a coordinated approach. You need regulatory interoperability. That's the only way to also make sure that AI innovation happens, because you cannot afford for companies to go from country to country, market to market, facing very different challenges.
And that's exactly why at the forum we promote this kind of impartial platform for public-private partnership, because only by having that shared understanding will we be able to understand how to use the technology more responsibly, equitably, and also how do we govern it together more effectively as well.
MACFARLANE: I think another concern people have on a more basic level about the AI wave is about retaining their jobs. Is it inevitable, do you think, that jobs in certain sectors will be sacrificed for productivity, for cost-cutting that AI will inevitably bring?
LI: So here's one way to look at it. There's no doubt that AI integration will change the way how people work. Through our early survey, we already are seeing that up to 40 percent of global working hours will be impacted one way or another in the next five years.
But it doesn't mean replacement. One thing that's very unique about AI, and particularly generative AI, is that it's working at its best when it's augmenting people, not replacing humans. So in the future, I don't believe that we will be replaced by AI, but the people who know how to use AI might replace, you know, the workforce that doesn't know how to leverage AI. That's more of a realistic picture.
MACFARLANE: So get on board, so you don't become obsolete.
FOSTER: Well, it's happening, isn't it?
MACFARLANE: Yes. Cathy Li, we appreciate your time there from Davos. Thank you.
Well, President Donald Trump is promising four years of radical change. Coming up, details of the challenges that lie ahead, explained through a game of ice hockey.
FOSTER: Of course. MACFARLANE: Thank you, Richard.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACFARLANE: Now, unsurprisingly, President Donald Trump's economic and foreign policy plans are the hot topic at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
FOSTER: Yes, and to help explain the challenges his agenda could face, Richard Quest takes to the ice.
MACFARLANE: Naturally.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: It's a wrist movement, isn't it? As opposed to a golf swing. Right.
So this mini course it's all about ice hockey. It's perfect to exhibit the problems facing the global economy in the new era of the Trump administration.
So here we go. This one, of course, is tariffs. Lots of tariffs and there's many different countries that could be tariffed. And that's going to be the goal of economic growth.
So let's see. Can we do it?
Pull it back. And one -- and we've hit a tariff -- two, three. And -- oh, another tariff.
The problem with tariffs is once you have got into the mess of tariffs you can't get out of them as you can see from this.
Do I go this way? But I've got no leverage, look. No leverage. Or do I go this, but I have to go back?
This is very difficult. Oh! So close! And -- yes! We have beaten the tariff war.
Let's go to Greenland. And this is Greenland.
[04:55:00]
Now you see the problem. European Union, Denmark, Greenland. The first thing we've got to do is get over this. So the temptation here is to give a good, solid whack. Are you ready?
Oh! Hey! Out of the Panama Canal. This looks like the Panama Canal. We're going to have one go. Yay!
I got through. Whatever happens, the challenges over the next four years are not going to be easy. But we'll get there.
You ready at the other end? Did it come out at great speed?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it did.
QUEST: Did it hit you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
QUEST: I think global politics is easier than this, actually. This was way too difficult.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Bit of a reach, but I think he more or less managed it.
And finally, we leave you with this. Friendly rivalries have emerged as rare snowfall dresses parts of the southern U.S. in white.
FOSTER: In Houston, a snowball fight breaking out between the fire and police departments. Emergency responders taking to the snow to battle it out in between calls. Do you think the police or the fire would win that?
MACFARLANE: Definitely the fire.
And further east in Louisiana, prayers in the St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church were paused as these nuns and priests seized the unexpected snow day for some light-hearted shenanigans. No doubt the nuns are going to win that one, too.
FOSTER: He went straight for the face just then, on a nun. Can't be in the Bible.
Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
MACFARLANE: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up after this quick break. Stay with us.
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