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CNN This Morning

Negotiators Reveal Bipartisan Breakthrough on Funding Government; Title 42 Expiration a 'Federal Crisis'; Bail Denied for 'Crypto King; Children's Painkillers Disappearing from Shelves Amid Surge; 10 Years Since Tragedy at Sandy Hook; Biden Signs Landmark Bill to Protect Same-Sex, Interracial Marriage. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 14, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

MIKE LEACH, FORMER MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL COACH: Then you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:00:06]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Christine, that was at my old station, KMAC (ph). I interviewed Leach many times. An amazing person. He will be missed.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR/CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Think of the impact he's had on so many lives. Right?

SCHOLES: Yes.

ROMANS: All right. Best to his family.

All right. Thanks, Andy. Nice to see you this morning.

And thank you for joining me. I'm Christine Romans. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got in the shower, like I said, and all of a sudden, by the time we got hunkered down here, it was gone. The roof was gone. You know, they always say that you hear a train coming. Well, this was a big train that come through here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That is the truth.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.

LEMON: Man, oh man. That was a woman in Farmerville, Louisiana, talking about the damage the tornado left behind overnight. We're going to take you there live in just a moment.

Good morning, everyone.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

LEMON: But first, top congressional negotiators say there's been a breakthrough on a spending bill that would keep the government funded for a full year.

COLLINS: Also FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried now being held without bail after he was arrested in the Bahamas, despite pleading with a judge to be freed because of his vegan diet and ADD. We are live inn Nassau.

HARLOW: Also, another looming emergency at the Southern border. Why the Biden administration is preparing for an overwhelming surge there.

LEMON: And over-the-counter medicines disappearing from store shelves. What is causing this shortage?

HARLOW: But we do begin with a breakthrough. Some good news on Capitol Hill. Congressional negotiators announcing they have an agreement on the framework of a spending deal that will keep the government funded for a full year.

Lauren Fox joins us live from Capitol Hill this morning. A deal, and it's not -- it's like the 10th hour not the 11th hour, I guess.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. This is a significant step forward, Poppy, after being in a logjam for the last several weeks. Negotiators announcing last night that they do have an agreement on a framework.

Obviously, there's still a lot of work ahead. They have to negotiate hundreds of pages and dole out millions and billions of dollars for the U.S. government.

But obviously, this is a significant breakthrough, a significant development. And Senator Roy Blunt, a Republican appropriator, told me yesterday they were getting down to the final seconds where it was going to be physically possible to move the bill through the House, the Senate, and get it signed by the president before the Christmas holiday.

HARLOW: One thing is -- that's so notable, and this is reporting from you and your colleagues overnight, the divide between Mitch McConnell, wanting to get something done, and Kevin McCarthy, you know, soon to maybe be House majority leader, and I -- I guess I can say this at 6 a.m., hell no. That's a quote from him on supporting the agreement. So what does that mean for all of this?

FOX: Well, there's a whole group of people in Washington who are lawmakers who we like to refer to, Poppy, as being a vote no, hope yes group of people. And I think that's where Kevin McCarthy is right now.

He knows that getting this spending bill passed before he takes the speaker's gavel, if he takes the speaker's gavel, is going to be a huge breakthrough for him. Because he knows that he's going to be looking over his shoulder at his right flank for the months ahead.

And he probably wouldn't be able to cut a deal with Democrats, because there are going to be so many concessions he's going to have to give conservatives in order to get that speaker's gavel.

So McCarthy in a very difficult position here, and like you said, telling his caucus yesterday that he was a "hell no" on this spending deal. That just gives you a little bit of preview of what this is going to look like when you have a Democratic Senate, a Republican House, potentially led by Kevin McCarthy, and the president of the United States, a Democrat. It's going to be a big mess next year when it comes to legislation.

HARLOW: Oh, great. A lot to look forward to. Vote no, hope yes. That's a new one. All right. Lauren, thank you.

LEMON: And this morning, a crisis at the Southern border. Biden administration sending additional Border Patrol agents to El Paso, Texas, amid a surge in illegal crossings.

This all comes as a Trump-era policy, known as Title 42, is set to expire next Wednesday. It was implemented during the height of the pandemic.

Now these 19 Republican-led states are asking a federal appeals court to keep Title 42 in place, which largely bars asylum seekers from entering the United States.

Straight now to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, live for us in Washington, D.C.

Priscilla, this is being called a federal crisis, the situation on the border right now.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And simply put, this is a challenge of too many people and not enough personnel and resources. And it's unfolding in El Paso, Texas, which is now seeing 2,500 migrants per day.

To remind viewers, Don, this is a city of about 700,000 people. So it's a strain on their infrastructure, on transportation, on shelter. And city officials are raising the alarm of what may just be the beginning of this challenge -- Don.

[06:05:00]

LEMON: You say you have some new reporting on the growing internal concerns the administration has as Title 42 comes to an end? What do you know about that, Pricilla?

ALVAREZ: Homeland Security officials are telling me they are worried within the administration, concerned.

But it's not just them. Lawmakers are calling the administration officials on a more frequent basis as this termination looms, asking about preparations. In fact, we learned about a call with Senate Majority Leader Chuck

Schumer and President Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, about those concerns and what is going to happen along the U.S./Mexico border. And it really speaks, Don, to what is a very complex policy and political moment for this administration.

LEMON: All right. Priscilla Alvarez in Washington for us this morning. Thank you very much -- Kaitlan.

COLLINS: All right. Also this morning, the so-called Crypto King, Sam Bankman-Fried, is waking up in a Bahamian jail. His bond has been denied. The judge calling the founder and former CEO of FTX a flight risk as he awaits extradition to the United States to face fraud charges.

CNN's Carlos Suarez is live in the Bahamas for CNN this morning with more on this.

PHILLIPS: Carlos, you know, what struck me about this court appearance yesterday was hearing that U.S. attorney for the Southern District in New York saying, yes, you can commit fraud in T-shirt -- in a T-shirt and shorts.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right, Kaitlan. As for the 30-year-old, well, throughout that entire hearing, he kept his head down for most of it.

As you said, he told the judge that he was going to go ahead and fight the extradition to the U.S. And you can understand why. Because if he's convicted of the charges out of New York City, he's facing the possibility of up to 115 years in prison.

Now during the hearing, Bankman-Fried also told the judge that he's been taking medication for some time now to treat insomnia, depression, as well as attention deficit disorder. It's a point that his attorney wanted to convey ahead of the judge's decision that he was going to be denied bail.

The judge, of course, made sure to tell SBF that that medication would continue to be made available to him while he is in prison here in the Nassau -- in Nassau, rather -- Kaitlan.

COLLINS: And I understand that his parents were actually there when he got arrested, and now they're also facing scrutiny. What's going on?

SUAREZ: So both his parents have been in the Bahamas for several days now. At least that's what we're being told.

His mother and his father, they were in court yesterday, they sat behind me throughout this entire hearing.

Now, the two of them, they did not want to talk about the allegations that were made against their son; and they did not want to talk about the fact that FTX's new CEO says that the two of them are being looked into, the role they may have played in the company.

COLLINS: Carlos, thank you so much.

HARLOW: OK. If you have been dealing with a sick child lately, you've probably had trouble -- right? -- finding over-the-counter medicine: Tylenol, Motrin, ibuprofen for them. And it's happening all over the country. Children's painkillers, fever reducers are in very, very high demand.

And this could not come at a worse time.

Our medical correspondent, Dr. Tara Narula joins us now. They know --

LEMON: Do the shelves look like that?

DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They do. They do in some places.

HARLOW: So many pharmacies. I told you, I spent an hour walking around Brooklyn the other week, looking. They all looked like that.

NARULA: Yes.

HARLOW: So this is not just Tylenol or Motrin, not just the brand names. It's the store names, too: ibuprofen, the generics. Why is this happening?

NARULA: It can be. It's really a demand issue, as we were discussing. This combination we keep talking about of RSV, COVID, and the flu. It can be really unsettling -- I'm a parent of two young kids -- to open your medicine cabinet and not have Tylenol or Motrin there. We use these so often.

So you know, we've talked about drugs like Amoxicillin and Adderall, right? But for something like this, it's really a staple.

And so the FDA is not actually labelling this a true shortage at this point, although you see the pictures. Clearly, there are issues.

They are working with manufacturers. Manufacturers say they are working 24/7 to resolve this issue. Hopefully, in the next couple weeks, the shelves will be restocked.

But for the time being, it's tough for parents. And they may have to go to multiple stores to find what they need or try different brands than exactly what they would be used to using.

LEMON: Was it last week, Poppy, that I asked you about, like, splitting --

HARLOW: It was a good question. Ask it again.

LEMON: Yes. So she's a parent but you're the doctor.

NARULA: And a parent.

LEMON: So you would know. I said, Well, can -- can you manage -- can you split the pill to give it to a kid? Or you can't -- HARLOW: Like, an adult pill?

LEMON: An adult-sized pill?

NARULA: So not -- it's not really a great idea. I mean, there are ways to do it, but the recommendation is if you are going to do that, you really should talk to a pharmacist and your doctor and have them walk you through exactly how to do that.

There are some other no-nos. For example, don't give your child aspirin if they're under 18. In the setting of a viral infection, that can cause a rare and serious condition known as Reye Syndrome, which can cause brain and liver inflammation.

[06:10:00]

You also don't want to put them in a cold bath. Right? So you feel your kid burning up, and the temptation is put them in a cold bath. If the temperatures rises too fast, that can cause a febrile seizure.

And then some parents may have other over-the-counter drugs that have other things in them with Tylenol or Motrin, like decongestants. And you don't want to give that to your child if they don't need those other components, really, as well.

So those are the no-nos.

But there are some things that parents can do.

HARLOW: Should we talk about -- yes.

NARULA: So I mean, it's important to remember that, if you can't give Tylenol, for example, you may be able to give Motrin or ibuprofen or Advil, if the child is over 6 months. You can give the generic version. In some cases, suppositories. Of course, we hate using those.

HARLOW: Have to buy them.

NARULA: Exactly. Or chewables, if the child is old enough to chew, if they're over two.

And then not every fever needs to be treated. So it is the gut instinct as a parent to want to give that if you feel your child has a fever. But if they're over 3 months, and they are febrile and they're able to eat and drink and they're, you know, active, it's not necessary to treat it. The fever is actually the body's natural response to fighting infection.

Now, it's different, clearly, if it's a very high fever, if they're very young, or if it's lasted for a long time.

Cold compresses work. Keeping the kid -- lots of times I remember my parents used to put a lot of clothes on me to make me sweat. Actually, you want to take the clothes off and let them cool off and keep the room pretty cool. So there are other things parents can do.

HARLOW: And good reminder that -- it saved us a lot -- if you -- You can switch off ibuprofen and Tylenol, Motrin and Tylenol.

NARULA: Correct.

HARLOW: They work differently.

NARULA: Right.

HARLOW: So it's like every four hours is Tylenol, six is Motrin.

NARULA: Exactly. Read the time.

HARLOW: Find out. Thank you, Doc. Appreciate it.

LEMON: It's hard to believe that today marks ten years since an unthinkable tragedy struck Connecticut. A gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School, killed 20 first graders, six adults.

Here's how it unfolded on CNN's air. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: It is just coming across the wires here. I'm reading straight from it. Connecticut State Police responding to reports of a shooting, we are told.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, FORMER CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Some heartbreaking news now from a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation, that close to 20 people have been killed at a school shooting, and among them, at least 10 are children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was when they told the parents. All these parents were waiting for their children to come out. They thought that they were, you know, still alive. There's 20 parents that were just told that their children were dead.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The majority of those who died today were children. Beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.

They had their entire lives ahead of them: birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Very, very emotional moment for the president of the United States. Dare I say, for all of America. Much of the world right now. You don't often see a president of the United States showing such emotion, wiping away tears as he speaks of these little kids, 5- to 10-year-old kids, the majority of the victims who were killed in the mass shooting in Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Well, later on in the show, we're going to be talking to a Sandy Hook survivor. She was a second grader at the time. She is now 17 years old.

HARLOW: It's the worst day. LEMON: I know. It was the worst day. It's -- when you've been doing --

do this business for a while, there are things that you remember, stories that change your life.

HARLOW: This one.

LEMON: This one is the -- probably the one that changed me as a person, being -- reporting the breaking news and then getting off the anchor desk and then rushing there and seeing those people.

I hate to share this story, but I think it's important. I remember being there, ten days. I forget what it was. And there were funerals were going on, and it was my last live shot.

And I was -- I was like, I don't know how much longer I can do this. Btu anyway, it was my last live shot. There was this little coffin in the back of the hearse. There was a dad on one side with his head on the window and a mom on the other side with the -- her head on the window.

And I just remember them saying after the live shot, they said, "You're clear. You can go home."

And I thought, I can go home, but these people can't go home.

COLLINS: Yes.

LEMON: That they are going to have to live with this for the rest of their lives. And for me it was ending, and I was happy to get in the car and go home. But for them, it was just beginning their lives without their children. And that story changed -- I mean, I think it changed all of us, don't you agree?

HARLOW: Yes. I didn't have kids yet.

LEMON: Yes.

But I went days after you guys. I was up there a few days later, because I was away when it happened. And sat down with the coroner and the funeral director, the only funeral director in the town, who had to bury 11 of the 26.

LEMON: Yes.

[06:15:17]

HARLOW: And from that day forward, I knew that everything that matters -- that's everything that matters, is your kids. So -- anyways, we're going to be joined by a survivor later, as you said.

COLLINS: And not just the fact that she's 17. I think that's so striking to people, to think of them as these little kids. My little sister was their age when this happened. She was in kindergarten. And she's 16 now. And it was something that just -- I went home. I drove home from college that day, and we just --

HARLOW: Because of it --

COLLINS: We were going home anyway, but we -- it was -- it really, like, completely changed, like, the perspective. I think for everyone. And to see all the parents of those children, how they've used the last decade to really speak out. And they come on CNN a lot. They go out. They're on Capitol Hill a bunch. They've really used that, in a way, to -- to honor the lives of their children.

LEMON: They just keep going. They just keep going. And I can't wait to hear from her. So thank you for sharing all of that, everyone.

So we move on now. After President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, I sat down with the survivors of that mass shooting at a Colorado LGBTQ nightclub. Their thoughts on the legislation. That's next.

COLLINS: We're also live on the ground after a tornado ripped through parts of Louisiana overnight. You can see the destruction here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The trailer was sitting over here in the wood. Like all this stuff you all see over here, all this rubbish, everything that y'all see over here.

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[06:20:47]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Love is love. Right is right. Justice is justice. These things are fundamental things that America thinks matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That was the president of the United States, Joe Biden, speaking at the White House as he signed the Respect for Marriage Bill into law.

The landmark legislation will provide new federal protections for same-sex and interracial couples. The signing comes just over three weeks since the deadly mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs. A gunman opened fire inside the club last month, killing five and injuring many more.

I spoke at the White House with Club Q owner Matthew Haynes; the club's bartender, Michael Anderson; shooting survivor James Slaugh; and GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis on the importance of this new legislation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: How are you doing, James? It's been three weeks now since the Club Q shooting. JAMES SLAUGH, SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Yes. I'm doing better, relatively

speaking. I mean, I know we did an interview back when I was in the hospital, a bullet in my arm, a shattered humerus, a rod through my arm, that surgery.

Luckily I have a lot of mobility. It's coming back. I still have to go through P.T., most likely. But, you know, better relatively. And seeing all of this, this is -- this is it. This is like they said, inspiring. That's the best word; that's the best way to put it.

LEMON: As the club owner, did you ever think, in a million years that, obviously, that this would happen?

MATTHEW HAYNES, CLUB Q OWNER: No.

LEMON: You've spoken about that.

HAYNES: Yes. I can go further back. As a gay male coming out and struggling when I was coming out, never would I imagine that I'd be here at the White House actually seeing that our right to marry is now protected by federal law.

And then, of course, then you throw our little club in Colorado Springs that never did we think that it would have a voice. And, of course, for all the wrong reasons is why we're here, is because we were attacked, and -- and our community was invaded.

But again, this is -- we'll use our word, inspiring. This is inspiring. And it -- it gives you hope, and it's actually probably the most uplifting thing, you know, certainly, that -- that I would say all three of us have experienced since the incident happened at Club Q.

LEMON: When I spoke to you right after it happened, you hadn't had much sleep, but you know, you were like having trouble putting words together. I am now because I'm exhausted, but I'm also overwhelmed --

MICHAEL ANDERSON, BARTENDER, CLUB Q: Yes.

LEMON: -- by being here, and it's hard to, like, put this into context.

ANDERSON: Yes.

LEMON: Did you think three weeks later, that you'd be standing at the White House with the president of the United States after such a horrific event?

ANDERSON: I -- I did not. But I'll tell you this moment today stands alone, by itself, as something historic that we're all very proud of. But with the backdrop of what just happened, it just shows you love overpowers hate in the end.

And now, a month ago, I was telling him, we never imagined we'd be in Washington, D.C., or even here today at the White House, particularly. But we are here today, and we're grateful for that. LEMON: Sarah Kate, I have to ask you. Does this help, do you think? Do

you think, when you have the president of the United States and the -- and it is now law; and people see, you know, families that are part of the LGBTQ+ community, do you think it helps bring down the temperature? Should we feel hopeful about this? Put this into context.

SARAH KATE ELLIS, GLAAD PRESIDENT: I think this is a great step in the right direction. We need a lot more, though. It's a lot that's going on in terms of the negative and rhetoric that's happening right now that we continue to hear, that is not stopping and then is amplified by social media.

And that hate on social media has turned into action. And that's what we saw at Club Q. And we will continue to see that until we turn that down.

Today was a great step in the right direction. But we need many, many more.

LEMON: So give us some words of encouragement or hope or however you're feeling right now.

SLAUGH: So I'm feeling hopeful. I got into the hospital, and my first thoughts were, I'm not going to let this beat me. Bullets will not stop love. Bullets will not stop our community and the majority of the community around us, our allies. And we're going to prevail. Love wins.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[06:25:14]

HARLOW: What was it like? I was --

LEMON: The -- let me just say something. James has a sister. She was shot five times, and she is recovering. She's doing better. And there was another young man who was there who was shot, and he didn't want to be on camera. I just want to get that before we --

HARLOW: Sorry to jump in. I just caught Tim and Don on with Jake yesterday from there.

LEMON: Yes.

HARLOW: Just to be there, what it was like?

LEMON: Jake Tapper, like, pulled Tim in. It was -- Kaitlan, you know what it's like when everyday people come to the White House. Right?

COLLINS: Yes.

LEMON: You're in awe. It gives it -- people feel how important it is.

The -- the whole country is behind you. You have the president of the United States who's saying you are legitimate, basically. That your marriage and your love is legitimate. You know that in your heart, but to have it recognized by the

president of the United States and by, you know, the leaders in Washington, it just -- you know, it just says that, OK, I'm just like every other American.

And -- and just -- and having those people there who have been shot and injured in a club just was, like, an added thing on top of it that said maybe we're moving in a better direction.

COLLINS: Yes. Especially with, like, all the rhetoric and what we talked about around that shooting. And to be able to see them have a moment at the White House is really nice.

LEMON: I thought about you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Why?

LEMON: Because as Tim and I were standing there, and you've known us for such a long time. You knew me before Tim, and previous relationships and all that stuff -- So --

HARLOW: We've been on a journey.

LEMON: We've been on a journey together. But I thought about you, because, look, this is just how we grow up in America. Like, you know, girls think about, when I get married, for the most part. I'm generalizing here. I want this beautiful princess wedding or whatever. And it's something that you don't really think twice about. It's just normal.

But I never had that. Right? I never thought that I would be married. I never thought that the state would, like, legitimize my relationship.

And so I thought about, like, going to your wedding and going to my friends' weddings, and then going to now, same-sex couples' weddings. And now I feel like, you know, people can growing up and say, I want to be a princess, two princess. You can have two princes.

HARLOW: Two princes.

LEMON: Two queens, two kings. Or whatever it is. So --

HARLOW: It's about time.

LEMON: So congratulations.

HARLOW: I'm so glad.

LEMON: So I'm going to be joining you soon, lady.

HARLOW: We're going to be there with you.

COLLINS: Flower girl?

LEMON: Ring bearer. Here you go. Thank you. COLLINS: That's a lot of pressure.

HARLOW: It's a big one.

We're really glad you were there.

LEMON: Thank you.

HARLOW: And yes, what a day.

LEMON: Thank you. Yes, it is, in more ways than one.

HARLOW: All right. Turning the page here to something really fascinating, guys. It is happening from Republican governors across the country, calling it a national security concern. They are banning TikToks on government devices on their states.

COLLINS: Also, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us to fact-check Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in his latest effort to cast doubt on COVID vaccines.

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