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CNN This Morning

CA Gov. Newsom: I won't Challenge Biden For 2024 Dem Bid; Ex- Cop Accused Of Killing Mom, Grandparents Of Teen He Met Online; 2 Dead In AL After Massive Storm Spawns 30+ Tornadoes In South; Democrats Can Now Access 6 Years Of Trump Tax Returns; Base Jumper Slams Into Cliff In Moab, Utah. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 01, 2022 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It's Thursday, December 1st. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. That was French President Emmanuel Macron in Washington for the first state visit of Joe Biden's presidency. We're going to be live from the White House straight ahead.

Also coming up, he has been coveting the post for years, but now that it's seemingly within grasp, will five Republicans block Kevin McCarthy's path to the House speakership? We'll discuss.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And her sister and her parents were killed in an alleged cat phishing scheme, and now she is sounding a warning, saying the same thing could happen to anyone.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: We are waiting for the release of a key inflation report that will give us more insight into how this economy is doing. Plus, why your boss may be more willing than ever to consider a four-day workweek. That's a newsflash to us here.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: But first we're going to start this morning with the arrival of the French president and his wife at the White House. We're waiting on that to happen any moment now. It is the first state visit that has been hosted at the White House since President Biden took office, obviously because of the pandemic. Biden and Macron are expected to meet and talk about Ukraine, Iran, China, space. They're also going to hold a joint news conference this morning before a black tie dinner tonight.

As you see here, the two leaders and their wives had a little informal dinner in Washington last night. CNN's M.J. Lee is live on the White House for us this morning on the South Lawn where they are getting ready to have this. I love these state visits because they're so fascinating, with all the pomp that we have not really seen in the last several years. But there are some really serious issues, M.J., for these two leaders to talk about.

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kaitlan, as you mentioned, you can see that it is a very different setup this morning. We are coming to you from the South Lawn of the White House where any minute now we are expected to see the French president, Emmanuel Macron and his wife, the first lady of France, arrive here at the White House for President Biden's first state visit that he is hosting at the White House. We will begin with the morning arrival ceremony. That will be a big deal. You can hear the band playing behind me. And then of course the day will end with the big state dinner where hundreds of guests are expected to attend this formal dinner. There will be a tent set up outside here on the south lawn. If you are anybody who is anyone in Washington, D.C., you want an invitation to this dinner.

But I should talk about the middle portion of the day. That is the working portion of the day where the two leaders are going to have a lengthy bilateral meeting followed by a press conference. And as you said, there is so many things for the two men to discuss on the agenda, including things like the ongoing war in Ukraine, challenges posed by countries like China and Iran. So it is going to be a very busy day, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: You can't ignore the tension that happened between these two leaders when the Biden administration basically pushed France out of that deal that they had for the nuclear submarines with Australia. It caused a lot of issues between the two of them. I know that will be a backdrop here, but we are told China is expected to be one of the biggest focusses.

LEE: That's absolutely right. Senior ADMINISTRATION officials have been very clear that China is at the very top of the list of issues that the two men are expected to discuss, and what officials have basically said to reporters is that, look, the two countries don't see exactly eye to eye on this complicated issue, but really that there are so many areas where they should be speaking from a common script. We are, of course, talking about the fact that China poses an economic competitive issue around the world, how China has been dealing with the war in Ukraine, and also how the two leaders are dealing with Chinese President Xi Jinping. You know that a couple of weeks ago President Biden himself had a very lengthy bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping.

But we are told that the two men are going to be trading notes on how they deal with Xi Jinping, especially because Macron himself has said that he might making a visit to Beijing sometime soon. So again, that middle portion of the day, of course, is the most important diplomacy- wise. But right now it feels all pomp and circumstance out here on the South Lawn.

COLLINS: Yes, and we'll see what they say when they take questions from reporters. M.J., thank you.

LEMON: President Biden and President Macron kicked off this trip with a quiet dinner, but during the Trump administration, Macron sometimes bromance sometimes with the former president got the world's attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(DRUMS)

(LAUGHTER)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We do have a very special relationship. In fact, I'll get that little piece of dandruff off. We have to make him perfect. He is perfect.

MELANIA TRUMP, FORMER FIRST LADY: Long live France. Thank you.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: I like him a lot.

It's only a prediction.

MACRON: Thank you.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

MACRON: Thank you.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: This was --

LEMON: Do you remember that?

COLLINS: Like it was yesterday truly. It was April, 2018. I remember all of those moments. And also, this is still a relevant issue because remember when they took all those documents from Mar-a-Lago, there was something about the French president. We've asked French sources if they know what it is. They've said no. But it's just this whole dynamic between --

HARLOW: Did anyone notice the clock, the countdown clock for how long they held hands?

COLLINS: Men. No offense, but men. You don't have to hold hand for that long.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Men can't hold hands?

COLLINS: No. That's not what he's thinking at all.

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW: The handshake. No, that is not what she was saying.

COLLINS: All right, we're waiting to see -- we'll see how long Biden - LEMON: Oh, yes, the thing that got me was not the one where they were

holding hands, shaking hands, but the one where they were -- I don't know if they were on the lawn or they were walking back, and he was like I like this guy, and they were holding hands, walking back to the Oval Office. That was a little bromance.

COLLINS: We'll see how it went.

LEMON: It is what it is.

HARLOW: It is what it is.

It is, did you know. World Aids Day today. And there are approximately 1.2 million people living in the U.S. with HIV today, many of them restricted on when they can donate blood. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now considering revising their donor criteria, moving away from blanket assessments about donors, ones they consider a risk for transmitting HIV. This is fascinating. Our Dr. Tara Narula is here. What's changing?

DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So let's take a little bit of a look back historically. And so in the early 90s, around 1985, is when we first saw this ban on men who have sex with men. So from 1985 until 2015 they were not allowed to donate blood at all. And this was really born out of the beginnings of the AIDS episode. And then in 2015 the FDA changed its plan and said actually you can, if you're a man who has sex with another man, donate blood as long as you've been abstinent for a year.

Fast forward to 2020, the height of the COVID pandemic when were saw a lot of shortages, they then amended it to say as long as you've been abstinent within three months, you can donate blood. A lot of groups, the America Medical Association, the Red Cross, in fact 500 doctors and health care petitioners wrote an open letter back in 2020 saying, look, these polices are based on stigma, not science. The ability to test for HIV has changed dramatically in the last 20 years, and so now we can actually find out if someone is infected within seven to ten days of active infection.

We also know that other countries have changed their policies, either eliminating these bans completely, or using more of a questionnaire based screening. And the issue really comes down to the fact that a lot of these groups are saying this should be a targeted screening approach based on your individual risk, whether you are high risk and how you have sex, what are your sexual practices, not based on how you identify and who you have sex with. So for example, there are a lot of men who have sex with men who are at low risk. They use prep. They're in monogamous relationships. And they're not allowed to donate blood compared to men or women who have sex with the opposite gender unprotected, multiple partners. They are allowed to donate blood. So there's a lot of issues here and a lot of groups saying this needs to change.

COLLINS: So what are these changes from the FDA, what could they look like? NARULA: Right, and the so FDA has not really given us a timeline when they're going to announce this, but they are planning to release some new guidelines hopefully in the next couple of months. And they're basically basing this on a study that was commissioned based on community health centers using this questionnaire-based screening and to see, can that work better than these time interval approaches. And also they're looking internationally at what other countries are doing. So as I said, there are a lot of other countries that have changed how they're handling this. So hopefully we'll be seeing some of these updates soon.

HARLOW: Science ever stigma.

NARULA: Correct.

HARLOW: That's the director, finally.

NARULA: Finally, yes.

LEMON: Thank you, Doctor. We appreciate it so much.

So current House, I should say, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is warning House Republicans, get in line and support his big for speaker, or expect disaster. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Having a challenge on the floor is never going to be positive. And really you tend to fall over to the Democrats when you do that.

This is very fragile that we are the only stopgap for this Biden administration. And if we don't do this right, the Democrats could take the majority. If we play games on the floor, the Democrats could end up picking who the speaker is. We need to do this for the American people. We either are successful together or we will fail individually, and we will not be given the possibility or the opportunity to be in the majority again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So at last five House Republicans say as of now they won't support McCarthy's leadership bid.

[08:10:02]

So now what? What is next? So joining us now, CNN political analyst Jonathan Martin, senior political columnist at "Politico."

JONATHAN MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Don.

LEMON: Good morning, so glad you could be here. It's good to see you in person. This is about raw numbers. So McCarthy needs 218 votes. If every other lawmakers besides those five vote on party lines, he's two votes short. So is he really in danger here? MARTIN: He's in real danger. Now, the good for McCarthy is that today

is December 1st, not January 1st, so he's got a little bit of time to work those members. Look, when you're the leader of a party in Congress, you have a lot of tools at your disposal. You can either offer carrots and sticks. And for the month apart, McCarthy is going to be doing a lot of that, trying to reel in just enough people with various carrots, and a couple sticks.

HARLOW: Two quick questions there, kind of combine. If not McCarthy, who? And how is this different from Paul Ryan in 2015?

MARTIN: The obvious backup would be Steve Scalise who is the number two from Louisiana, Don's home state, who is somebody who is seen as a mainstream conservative and isn't as despised, I guess, by the far right as McCarthy is in the House. And in terms of the Ryan question, this is part of the challenge the House GOP has. There's no Paul Ryan waiting in the wings here who can step forward and be a broadly popular and super impressive pick. It's no offense against Steve Scalise. He's perfectly capable. But he doesn't have the background that Paul Ryan had. Ryan had been on a national ticket in 2012, obviously, before he became Speaker of the House.

COLLINS: I've been struck by the Republicans who have come out and supported Kevin McCarthy in this very difficult time. He's saying basically if we don't stay united, Democrats are going to end up picking who is our House Speaker because the margin is so dang slim.

MARTIN: Yes, this doesn't happen in Congress, but it has happened in states over the years where you have a very tight legislature, and there's some kind of a bipartisan deal to elect a compromise candidate. I think in a very polarized Washington, that's still pretty darn unlikely that you would see that kind of a pick emerge from the political center, if you will. I think it's more than likely, Kaitlan, that we'll see a Steve Scalise, a sort of conservative backup plan if McCarthy can't get there.

HARLOW: Can we talk about the rail strike and the president. So Amtrak Joe, right, and union guy, and someone who voted in favor of unions in a similar kerfuffle in 92, this is the president, Biden is now bucking the unions and saying it is just too economically devastating to let their base strike. What is the big context here?

MARTIN: Christmas and not wanting to be -- creating a disaster.

HARLOW: Christmas?

MARTIN: Yes. Look, I think the fact is that Biden's fear of a rail strike causing a massive economic disruption before the holidays is the biggest driver in this. and I think he just wants to get a deal done, because he feels like the fallout from this could be devastating if there is not an agreement.

LEMON: The real peril here, he believes, is he has more peril if there's a strike rather than if he upsets members of the union.

MARTIN: Yes. And what's striking about this is that labor has been somewhat quiet about this. They're not out there jamming Biden day in and day out, so he's got some latitude on this.

COLLINS: But the House is passing this -- they passed these two separated provisions. One is this agreement that they got in September, one is for the sick paid leave which has what has been really the centerpiece. Is the Senate going to pass that?

MARTIN: That seems less likely because in the Senate you have to find 10 folks in the GOP to vote for that sick leave and it doesn't seem like today they're going to be able to find those votes.

LEMON: So can you talk to us about Gavin Newsom?

MARTIN: I'd love it.

LEMON: OK, so you have reporting on this. He has said I'm not going to run, not going to run.

MARTIN: I spent election night in Sacramento with Governor Newsom, kind of embedded with him in the governor's mansion watching the returns, and it was fascinating, because here's somebody who is a very ambitious person, mayor of San Francisco, lieutenant governor, now governor. He's won three elections in five years, guys, because he won the recall last year. And here he is in the biggest state in America, the fifth biggest economy in the world, and he's got nowhere to go, because like a lot of Democrats he's bumping up against an incumbent president who appears to be poised to run for reelection. So what Newsom told me is, look, I'm not going to challenge Biden, but he has conveyed to the White House very directly, use me, send me out there.

HARLOW: As a surrogate.

MARTIN: Yes, a sort of super surrogate to confront folks like Ron DeSantis and Gregg Abbott in Texas, deploy me out there. I think what he's getting at is if and Biden does run again in 2024, he will be almost 82 years old, that's going to be a Rose Garden campaign. And Biden is going to need people in the party to go out there on the trail doing that kind of work. I think Newsom is basically saying sign me up for that.

COLLINS: That's interest. So he is basically saying he doesn't expect Biden to have this really aggressive campaign that he'll be doing.

MARTIN: I think that's the unspoken, but I happened to be there when Biden called him on the phone that night, and I heard Newsom's side of the conversation, total dumb luck happenstance, and he directly told Biden. He said put me in, coach. I'm ready to go.

HARLOW: There you go. Good timing, good reporter.

MARTIN: Dumb luck.

[08:15:00]

LEMON: Lucky than good, right?

MARTIN: Absolutely. LEMON: (INAUDIBLE) Thanks y'all.

HARLOW: Thank you. And now, turning to this, a very serious turn, a woman whose parents and sister were killed last week in that alleged catfish triple homicide pleading with parents to use her family story as a warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE BLANDIN, WINEK FAMILY MEMBER: Please, parents, guardians, when you are talking to your children about the dangers of their online actions, please use us as a reference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A California woman whose family was killed in that alleged catfish scheme is now urging other families to talk to their children about online safety, talk to them about what they're doing online. Detectives believe that a former Virginia police officer traveled to California in an effort to continue an inappropriate relationship he was having with the woman's niece, and he killed her family. CNN's Josh Campbell is joining us live from Los Angeles. Josh, the details of this story are just hard to hear, but she does have an important message about what she wants people to learn from this tragedy.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is truly a horrific case, Kaitlan. And you know, I've dealt with countless family members of crime victims over the years in both law enforcement and journalism, and that is always the toughest part of the job, knowing that so many of these people will be forever scarred by tragedy.

[08:20:10]

But in this case, mere days after this triple homicide, these family members of those who were killed are bravely speaking out and warning parents out there about these online schemes that are targeting America's children. They tell us that they don't want any other family out there to have to experience the pain that they're having to endure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLANDIN: This horrific event started with an inappropriate online romance between a predator and child.

CAMPBELL (voiceover): The child, a 15-year-old girl is still in protective custody, undergoing trauma counseling, and receiving extensive medical care after a law enforcement officer allegedly brutally killed her mother and grandparents.

POLICE DISPATCH: We have possible murder victims, multiple victims.

CAMPBELL: Then set the family's Riverside California home on fire, and took off with her, driving for two hours until a pursuit ended with her fleeing the car and the suspect shot and killed by law enforcement. The suspect, 28-year-old Austin Lee Edwards was hired in Virginia by the Washington County Sheriff's Department just days before the murders, according to law enforcement, and was a former Virginia State Trooper.

LARRY GONZALEZ, RIVERSIDE POLICE CHIEF: We asked the same questions you all ask, how did this person get passed a background investigation? How did this person get passed a polygraph investigation?

CAMPBELL: Police say Edwards developed an online relationship with a teen on social media, posing as a teenage boy, texting her from Virginia.

BLANDIN: This was an adult that traveled across the country to kidnap a 15-year-old girl with the idea to kidnap her and kill and devastate our family.

CAMPBELL: Police unsure if she was kidnapped or coerced.

RYAN RAILSBACK, RIVERSIDE POLICE OFFICER: We don't know if this was the first physical encounter they had. It's very possible it was. But we also don't know yet if he -- if she knew that he was coming to California.

CAMPBELL: This was a case of catfishing and much more according to police, where the suspect impersonated another individual for the purpose of exploitation.

GONZALEZ: This type of victimization takes place across every platform, social media, messaging apps, gaming platforms, et cetera.

CAMPBELL: Police and the victim's families are urging parents to talk to their children, and to monitor them.

BLANDIN: Please, please know your child's online activity. Ask questions about what they are doing and whom they are talking to.

ROB OLSEN, RIVERSIDE POLICE DETECTIVE: I work directly with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. And in 2021, they received over 22 million reports from service providers and the community for exactly this sort of thing.

CAMPBELL (on camera): And what is your message to parents out there? What guidance do you give them to try to make perhaps, you know, prevent something like this?

OLSEN: Pay attention. I think you'd be astonished to know how many parents just aren't paying attention to their child's online activity.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMPBELL (on camera): Now, Kaitlan, detectives here tell me that they are pouring over a trove of online evidence, trying to determine the extent of the relationship between this suspect and this 15-year-old minor. They also tell me that they're working to determine whether if there were other potential victims out there who may have been targeted by this former cop.

COLLINS: Yes, big concern for parents, Josh. Thank you.

CAMPBELL: You bet.

HARLOW: Josh, thanks very much. Well, caught on video, the moment a base jumper slams into a cliff. Look at this. This is in Moab, Utah. He is alive, I want to tell you this. How's he doing? We'll give you an update on his condition.

LEMON: And today, we are remembering singer songwriter legend Christine McVie.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All those "5 THINGS" we go now to CNN's Brynn Gingras. Good morning.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. Listen, we have some tragic news coming out of your home state, Kaitlan. Two people have died in Central Alabama after severe storm spawned more than 30 tornadoes in the South, making 100 (INAUDIBLE) homes, downed trees, and power lines, and left thousands in the dark. The IRS has turned over six years of Donald Trump's Federal tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee. The handover had been on hold until the Supreme Court declined (INAUDIBLE) last week. The committee is planning to meet later today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOEL ROTH, FOUNDER, FTX: I mean, look, I've had a bad month. This is not very funny for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: The founder of collapse crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman- Fried says he never tried to commit fraud on anyone, but admits (INAUDIBLE) that comes after his $32 billion company plunged into bankruptcy in less than a week. A warning about this next video that you might find disturbing. Caught on camera, dramatic video of a base jumper in Moab, Utah, who slammed into a cliff on his way down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my goodness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Is he just hanging there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Oh my God is right. He then dangled 70 feet off the ground when his parachute caught the cliff's edge. The man was airlifted to the hospital. He's in critical condition. And this morning, the music industry is remembering a legend.

[08:30:00]