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CNN This Morning
Biden Administration Wants End to Title 42 But Not Yet; Musk Says He Will Resign as Twitter CEO; Shortage of Children's Medications; Ethics Lawyer Urged Aid to Mislead 1/6 Committee; U.S. Parts in Iranian Drones. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired December 21, 2022 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:32:31]
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING.
Ahead this hour, the Biden administration is gearing up for the end of Title 42 as the Supreme Court considers whether to keep it in place. We are live on the border.
Plus, is there someone out there, quote, foolish enough to replace Elon Musk as the head of Twitter. That's what he wants to know before he is stepping down.
And a children's medicine shortage has sent parents scrambling as flu season is well underway. What some drug stores are now doing as the demand is skyrocketing.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And this morning, the Biden administration says it does want the Supreme Court to end Title 42 border restrictions, but not just yet. They are asking for at least a week to prepare for the possibility of migrant arrivals to double once the policy is lifted.
Rosa Flores is live in Brownsville, Texas, this morning for us.
Good morning to you, Rosa.
We're looking at another week of Title 42. How is that playing out on the ground?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, anxiety is really building. I'm here in Brownsville, Texas. What you see behind me is the border wall. And across the river in Matamoros (ph), I've been talking to the migrants who are there. They're in a camp. They're waiting and have been waiting for weeks for Title 42 to lift. And they're losing patience.
Take a look at this video that we obtained from one of the migrants. It shows migrants using inflatable rafts to cross the Rio Grande. And if you look closely, you can see, I mean this is broad daylight. There's a group of migrants that are congregating on the Mexican side and they're also providing commentary. You can hear them say that they're tired of waiting. And also they point out that across the river they can see U.S. immigration authorities watching all of this unfold.
And so, Kaitlan and Don, I've got - I've got to share. Like, a lot of these migrants are saying that they were really hoping that today, the day that Title 42 was expect to lift, that they were going to be able to walk to a port of entry, like the one that you see behind me, and turn themselves into authorities, and they wanted to enter the U.S. legally. But they were preparing for the worst. That's why they got those inflatable rafts as well.
LEMON: Yes. Rosa Flores, on the border for us. Thank you very much, Rosa. Appreciate it.
COLLINS: All right, new this morning, Elon Musk says that he will step down as Twitter's CEO following that poll, just not quite yet. First, he says that he needs to, quote, find someone foolish enough to take the job, in his words. That decision after, as you saw, more than 57 percent of people responded saying that, yes, he should step down when he posted on Twitter asking users to decide for him, promising to oblige by whatever they decided.
[06:35:02]
This comes after weeks of tumultuous leadership decisions and user backlash on Twitter. Most recently he sparked controversy after he suspended several journalists who covered him and also banning links to other social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, which is that Twitter competitor, and Truth Social. That was a policy he reversed less than 24 hours later.
So here to discuss is CNN's chief business correspondent and "EARLY START" anchor, Christine Romans.
A lot - I mean every day.
LEMON: You couldn't pay me enough. That may be the truest thing that he said recently is -
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
LEMON: If anyone is foolish enough. You could not pay me enough right now.
ROMANS: Because he - because he owns it. It's not a public company anymore, it's his personal company, Twitter is, and he has to find somebody who's going to run it. Who's going to run it and essentially work for him, right? And you've seen his erratic behavior, his decisions and then reversals of his decisions. And, honestly, just riffing about what this company does and what he wants to do with this company.
This has been a nightmare for Tesla shareholders. He is the CEO of Tesla. And Tesla is a public company that has the -- real investors, mom and pop investors are invested in Tesla. That stock is down 30, almost 40 percent since he took over at Twitter.
LEMON: Wow.
ROMANS: And it's down more than 60 -- 66 percent this year. One analyst, Dan Ives, calls this a painful, nightmare situation for Tesla shareholders. And he says that Musk is using Tesla as his personal ATM to sell Tesla shares so that he can raise money to fund what's happening at Twitter.
So, you've got Twitter, which is a rather small platform, private company, that is getting all of this attention from Elon Musk when you have a big public company making electric cars that investors have exposure to that he is the CEO of. So it's a very fascinating situation here. There are big shareholders in Tesla who want Elon Musk to stay focused on Tesla and let go of Twitter here.
COLLINS: The numbers are crazy. Tesla's stock has lost $565 billion in market value since it peaked at more than a trillion in late 2021. A year ago.
ROMANS: Yes. Yes. I know. It's amazing. And now, look, there's been a run on these tech stocks, right? I mean tech stocks are down worse than the overall market. The S&P is down 20 percent. Tech stocks are down worse. So there's - there's also this high interest rate environment. And tech stocks have been overvalued. And so there - so there's a couple of things are going on there.
But Tesla is doing worse than some of these other tech companies. And there's a - and it is a time when Tesla shareholders, many of them, think that Elon Musk has got to stop the distraction with Twitter and get focused back again on what his core -- his core companies are.
LEMON: I just -- like I said, you couldn't pay me enough.
ROMANS: I know.
LEMON: I don't - I don't understand what - I don't understand the strategy you're considering, the money actually does come from Tesla, right?
ROMANS: Right.
LEMON: And so - and you have Twitter, as you said, sucking all the oxygen out of the room when -
ROMANS: And you've got Mastodon, 180,000 people joined something called Mastodon in one day last week. Another - something called Post (ph) has 180,000 people on its wait list, 20 people -- 20,000 people had been invited to join, 16,000 have activated. So, you have smart people on Twitter who are talking about, where are we going to go and continue this conversation?
LEMON: That's my point.
ROMANS: Because this noise here on Twitter is not good anymore. LEMON: Well, that's the point because everyone says, oh, but Twitter
can't go away. It's too big to fail. But that's not true because there will - someone will come in, right?
COLLINS: These, Mastodon and Post. A lot of people are going to them.
LEMON: You've got - yes.
ROMANS: But is -- is Twitter too big?
LEMON: I don't think so.
ROMANS: I mean my parents don't even - they're like, why do you keep talking about Twitter and Elon Musk and Twitter?
LEMON: Come here (ph).
ROMANS: Like, who - who -- why are you talking about this?
COLLINS: Because it's - it's -
ROMANS: My parents are like -
LEMON: I think the same thing.
ROMANS: He makes electric cars. What are you talking - why are you talking - what is - what is this Twitter.
COLLINS: Hey, I'm saying the Twitter user here at the table who's going to be like, OK, but I love Twitter and I think it's really, really functional.
ROMANS: I use it too. Would you go someplace else?
COLLINS: I don't know.
ROMANS: Are you seeing people go someplace else.
COLLINS: Donie's trying to get me to sign up for Mastodon. So, we'll see.
ROMANS: Really?
LEMON: What's important, as we should point out, it's a - it's an important news aggregate -
COLLINS: Yes.
LEMON: But it's also important for people who live in places where there's not a free media.
ROMANS: Agree. Agree.
LEMON: And restriction. Iran and such.
COLLINS: Yes. ROMANS: Oh, it's a game changer in some of these -
LEMON: Right.
ROMANS: In some of these - in some of these places. You're absolutely right.
LEMON: And someone will pick up the slack, right? The vacuum, if there's a vacuum there. There will be other platforms where people can go to like you guys said Mastodon or whatever. But, you know, Kaitlan, it's going to be tough for her to get off of Twitter.
ROMANS: I'm not paying $8 a month for a blue check.
LEMON: I wish I could quit you. That's what she's saying about Twitter.
COLLINS: Christine Romans -
ROMANS: Just tell me what I need to know.
COLLINS: We don't want to quit you but -
ROMANS: Would you be my filter?
COLLINS: Yes, I'll give - I'll give you a heads up.
ROMANS: Thank you.
LEMON: All right, thank you so much.
COLLINS: All right, it has been a brutal respiratory virus season for millions of Americans. It's also forced U.S. drugstores to limit purchases of children's pain medication. Some parents are being limited on how much they can buy. We'll tell you those numbers, next.
LEMON: Plus, the Biden administration launching a task force to investigate how American-made parts ended up in Iran-made drone. The CNN exclusive report straight ahead.
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LEMON: Welcome back, everyone.
So, if you have a sick kid at home, you know the struggle is real to find a pain medicine for them. And now pharmacies are limiting the number of bottles customers can purchase as cases of the flu, Covid and RSV remain high.
Now, check these out. These are the signs that one of our producer's husbands found at a CVS. A maximum of two children's pain receivers per customer. And he finally found some on the shelf after trying five other stores.
Our medical correspondent is Dr. Tara Narula, and she joins us now.
Good morning.
What -- good morning.
DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
LEMON: What is going on here? What - what is happening with the manufacturers here?
NARULA: Right.
LEMON: The supply chain. What is this? Is it just the culmination of this sort of trifecta we have of different things?
NARULA: It is. And we actually - we heard Poppy tell us earlier that she spent an hour walking around Brooklyn. So, I mean, this is not unusual. People are reporting these shortages all over the country. Also, in Canada as well. And this has been going on now for almost a month. And really it is a demand issue. We know that sales of these particular drugs are up about 65 percent compared to the same time last year.
Unfortunately, when we try to figure out, when is this going to end, we spoke to an official at the Consumers Health Care Products Association, and they said there is no real timeline yet for when this supply is going to catch up to the demand, although manufacturers say they are really working 24/7 to reach the stores with the product.
Now, CVS and Walgreens taking that step that you just said, which is to limit so that we can promote equitable access, so people aren't hoarding at home. And so CVS is saying, look, you can only buy two products in store or online of these favor - of these fever or pain relivers for kids, and Walgreens is limiting it to six purchases online. There's no instore limit.
So, I think the reality is, once cases start to come down, then we are going to see this get better. But, for now, this is the situation.
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You're seeing it play out.
COLLINS: But when do you think cases like -- will come down? Like, could this last through the spring or what are we looking at?
NARULA: It - it's possible. We are seeing, obviously, peek already in RSV. Flu cases were the lowest last week as compared to the weeks before. So, I have a feeling, over the next month or two, we will start to get some relief from this. But we're probably realistically talking about into February, March.
LEMON: So then what do you do if you're a parent and your kid is sick, is running a fever and what do you need -- you don't have the medication, what do you do? NARULA: It's scary as a parent to see your kid feeling unwell, to feel
them burning up and not know - and not have the appropriate way to treat them. The reality is, for a lot of parents, you don't have to treat a fever. We keep trying to get this message across. You know, if your child is over two or three months and they have a fever and they are active, they're eating and drinking, they're going to the bathroom, urinating, this is not something that necessarily needs to be treated. If the fever lasts for several days, if it's very high, if, as I said, they're not keeping down liquids and staying hydrated, then that's concerning.
LEMON: But it's like the old school, because, you know, my parents, I am sick, I have a fever, go get in bed.
NARULA: Right
LEMON: Right. And there was no - I mean so is there -- should we kind of go back to that because you don't have to treat every single symptom with a medication.
NARULA: You don't. And we've talked about this as well. I mean cool compresses, lukewarm baths -
LEMON: Right.
NARULA: Taking clothes off the kid, keeping them in a cool room. There are other ways to treat it.
But it is hard, I will say, as a parent, to have your kid looking miserable and feeling miserable and not be able to give them anything.
COLLINS: Yes, especially at Christmas.
NARULA: Especially at Christmas, yes.
COLLINS: Doctor, thank you for that update.
LEMON: Thank you.
COLLINS: All right, CNN THIS MORNING has an exclusive report on a former Trump ethics attorney who alleged told a former Trump aide to mislead the January 6th committee. We have details on that next.
LEMON: Plus, it has been five weeks since four University of Idaho students were brutally murdered and still no arrests. Why an attorney said that local police may not be the right team for the job. That's straight ahead.
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COLLINS: We have a CNN exclusive this morning. A stunning allegation from the House January 6th committee, and CNN is now learning that the committee says the top ethics attorney in the Trump White House urged a key witness to give them misleading testimony. Sources say that Stefan Passantino urged Cassidy Hutchinson to tell the committee she did not recall details that she did recall. Details like her testimony that former President Trump insisted on being taken to the Capitol despite knowing there were armed protesters there. Passantino told her to avoid topics that would cast a bad light on Trump, urging her, quote, no, no, no, no, no, we don't want to go there.
Here with the exclusive reporting is CNN's Paula Reid.
Paula, we saw this in the summary that the committee released and there was some speculation about who this person was and now we've learned more about it.
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Kaitlan. The committee did not identify these people, but CNN has learned that Stefan Passantino, the top ethics attorney in the Trump White House, is the lawyer who allegedly advised his then client, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, to tell the committee that she did not recall details that she actually did.
And, interestingly, Trump's Save America political action committee funded Passantino and his law firm, including paying for his representation of Hutchinson.
Now, in a statement to CNN, Passantino said he didn't advice Hutchinson to mislead the committee. He said, quote, I represented Ms. Hutchinson honorably, ethically and fully consistent with her sole interests as she communicated them to me.
Now, before her public testimony, Hutchinson dropped him and got a new lawyer.
But, Kaitlan, this is just one of several instances in which the committee has accused members of Trump's orbit of trying to obstruct the panel's investigation.
COLLINS: And, today, the House Select Committee is also expected to release the full final report. What are - what are we expecting this to look like?
REID: Well, Kaitlan, in addition to releasing this comprehensive final report, the committee is also expected to begin releasing transcripts of some of the interviews that it's conducted behind closed doors.
Now, Kaitlan, there is one thing -- pretty much just one thing that people on all sides of this, DOJ prosecutors, Trump attorneys, lawmakers who are hostile to the committee, that they all agree on, and that is they all want to see these transcripts. And a source tells CNN that the Justice Department's special council, Jack Smith, he sent a letter to the committee earlier this month requesting all of the information from this investigation. We've learned the committee has been sending documents and transcripts in the last week focusing on evidence related to former Trump attorney John Eastman and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Interestingly, the Justice Department also has Mark Meadows' text messages that, you may remember, those provided some of the most significant evidence released to this investigation so far.
But in talking with the former president's legal team, they also want to see these transcripts. They believe there have been witnesses who have given testimony that undercuts the committee's narrative and that was excluded from public hearings.
Now, the committee chairman tells CNN they will release hundreds of transcripts, but some witnesses with sensitive material the panel has vowed to protect.
COLLINS: All right.
LEMON: Can I jump in before you thank her to ask her -
COLLINS: Of course.
LEMON: Paula, let me ask you something. You're an attorney, right?
REID: Recovering, but, yes.
LEMON: OK. So, all the time we hear people in depositions -- right, you and I were discussing this - in depositions and in the courts asking, they're like I don't recall, and they're saying -- constantly saying I don't recall, I don't recall. Is it really unethical to say - to advise someone to say I don't recall? Because we hear it all the time. And you know they do recall.
REID: Well, here the problem is it appears that they had a conversation where he knew that she did recall some of these things. So, if you intentionally advise a client to mislead a committee, which is - is the allegation that the committee was making, though they didn't specify who, that's really playing at the edges of what is ethically sound. And, again, this is part of a larger pattern that the committee is trying to set up, arguing that people in Trump's orbit were trying to obstruct this investigation. Now, there's no indication there will be charges or anything like that, but ethically, no, if I client tells you, I remember this, to tell them, you'd be like, no, no, you don't. I mean that's - that's really pushing - pushing the bounds.
LEMON: Well, we certainly learned a lot about the legal system over the last seven years since the former administration was in office.
COLLINS: Paula Reid, thanks so much.
LEMON: Thank you.
OK, also this morning, the Biden administration task force is investigating why the hundreds of Iranian drones that Russia is firing into Ukraine have been found with American made parts inside. Officials are scrambling to cut off the supply by urging companies to monitor supply chains more closely.
CNN's Natasha Bertrand joins us now with this exclusive report.
Good morning to you. How do officials believe Iran is getting the parts?
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NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: You know, Don, these are extremely easily accessible components that the Iranians are getting. And that is part of the major issue here, why the administration is so concerned and has launched this really expansive task force, spanning across several administration agencies, to try to figure out how to stop that because the micro components, these microelectronics, things like chips for example that are going into these Iranian drones, are available online. I mean these are things that are being sold by resellers. That companies in the United States don't necessarily have full visibility into at all times.
And just to really drive home the scale of the problem here, last month this U.K.-based investigative firm called Conflict Armament Research, which tracks these kinds of issues, examined some of the downed Iranian drones that have been found in Ukraine and found that 82 percent of the components in those drones were actually manufactured in the United States. So, it's a really huge issue that the administration is trying to tackle now.
LEMON: All right, Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
COLLINS: Still ahead this morning, a dramatic surprise visit to Washington. Zelenskyy is going to meet with President Biden today and also address Congress in just a matter of hours.
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COLLINS: All right, now to sports this morning in the NBA. The Phoenix Suns are on the verge of being sold in a record-setting deal. According to multiple reports, 42-year-old mortgage lending tycoon Mat Ishbia will sell out $4 billion to buy a majority stake in the team, almost doubling the previous record for an NBA franchise when the Brooklyn Nets sold for more than $2.3 billion in 2019. The WNBA's Phoenix Mercury will also be included in the deal. And Ishbia played basketball in college, winning a national title for Tom Izzo and Michigan State in 2000, as you remember. The current Sun's owner, Robert Sarver, put the team up for sale in September after a damning reporting into the racist and sexist behavior during his time as the owner.
We also have shocking news in baseball overnight. In a stunning turn of events, the shortstop Carlos Correa now appears to be heading to the New York Mets. On Tuesday the San Francisco Giants postponed his introductory press conference. Reports were that there was a difference of opinion over his physical.
Well, the Mets swooped in and are now reportedly signing him to a 12 year $315 million deal. He's agreed to this with the Giants last week, we are told. The Mets already had the highest payroll in baseball history before this. Now it is way up there.
LEMON: $350 million, 15 - COLLINS: I mean -
LEMON: We're in the wrong business.
[07:00:00]
COLLINS: We're in the wrong business. Well, my pitching arm is not very good. So, I'm going to probably stay in this business.
LEMON: Oh, boy.
COLLINS: All right, and CNN THIS MORNING is going to continue right now.
