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Flights Canceled Due to Storm; Olivia Nuzzi is Interviewed about Trump's Run for Re-election; Unwanted Holiday Gifts; Jerry Edmond is Interviewed about Being Heckled. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 26, 2022 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:37]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN this morning.

Look at those images. A state of emergency still in effect in western New York. An unprecedented winter storm has killed at least 17 people, most of them in the Buffalo area.

Also, an inside look at Donald Trump's re-election campaign. We'll speak with journalist Olivia Nuzzi, who recently profiled the former president's run again.

And New England fan Jerry Edmond is here to tell us how he wound up getting the true VIP treatment from Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, holiday travel is a nightmare again for many Americans as more nan 1,500 flights are canceled nationwide because of the weather that Poppy was just showing you. The world's busiest airport, that's Atlanta, topping the list of most canceled flights a day.

CNN's Carlos Suarez is live at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International with more.

The lines look like they're growing, not shrinking, Carlos.

HARLOW: Yes.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

Sara and Poppy, good morning.

A disaster is a built of an understatement. This is the busiest I've seen this airport. And we have been here since Saturday.

At this hour, 151 flights out of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport have been canceled because of the cold weather. You really can't walk to far around here without running into any number of lines. Folks either have to see a ticket counter to get a boarding pass, they've got to come over here to drop off their bags, and then they've got to head over to TSA where the line there is at least several hours long. Across the country we're looking at well over 1,500 flights that have

been canceled because of this cold weather. That number yesterday was well over 3,000. And, of course, we're talking about hundreds of more flights that are being delayed across the U.S.

We caught up with one woman who was able to make it to Atlanta, but she's stuck here for now. Here's what she told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA GRAY, TRAVELER: I went out to Salt Lake to see my sister for the holidays. And everything was looking good, but the pilot, he got delayed. So, we had our whole crew, everybody was good, but they had to cancel the flight because the pilot got delayed.

I was super lucky. It was a Christmas miracle, man. I made the last flight out to Atlanta, spent the night here. Hopefully I'll get back to Tennessee today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: So as you can see, the real estate out here is a bit tight. Folks are being told, if you have a flight out of Atlanta, get here really early because things aren't going to get a whole lot better.

Ladies.

SIDNER: Did he say seven hours?

HARLOW: Seven hours.

SIDNER: Seven hours? Did I hear that?

HARLOW: You said hours in the TSA line, right?

SIDNER: Oh, hours. OK. That freaked me out.

SUAREZ: Yes, hours. Yes, yes, yes, no, excuse me, several hours.

HARLOW: Several.

SIDNER: OK. OK.

SUAREZ: Yes, not seven. It's -- seven -- it's pretty bad considering -

HARLOW: Several is still bad.

SIDNER: It's still bad.

SUAREZ: Considering I've got a flight out of here myself today.

SIDNER: Good luck.

HARLOW: OK, friend, make it out. Thank you.

Coming up, journalist Olivia Nuzzi profiled former President Trump for "New York Magazine." She calls the beginning of his re-election campaign, quote, sad, lonely, thirsty, broken and basically pretend, but she says, which isn't to say he can't win. She'll join us with all she learned ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:38:41]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Quote, the magic is gone. That is how one Trump advisor put it in the upcoming issue of "New York Magazine." Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi takes a deep dive look at former President Trump's, quote, quiet and lonely run for re-election. CNN has reported that allies are worried about Trump's slow start and the direction of his campaign. Nuzzi, for her part, interviews Trump. It is a fascinating read. She also talks with some of his closest aides. One adviser tells her, quote, he has retreated to the golf course and to Mar-a-Lago. His world has gotten much smaller. His world is so, so small, closed quote.

Olivia Nuzzi joins us now.

This is so riveting. But I want to start with the headline, because your headline on the piece is, inside his sad, lonely, thirsty, broken, basically pretend run for re-election. But then it, in parentheses, which isn't to say he can't win. What did you learn?

OLIVIA NUZZI, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK MAGAZINE": It's very subtle.

HARLOW: Yes.

NUZZI: Yes, well, I think -- I think the sweep of history of the last seven years or so, since Donald Trump was first running for the Republican nomination in 2015 proves that stranger things have happened and strange things may continue to happen and it's important to always factor that in. And when I was working on this piece, I was going back and, you know, watching those primary debates, reading the coverage from that first period of that campaign and it was sort of humbling to see just how wrong everybody was, just how wrong I was, just how wrong a lot of us were.

[08:40:10]

And so I was trying to keep that in mind as I was assessing this campaign, which is not going well. I mean the only thing that they've really done so far in this campaign is release an NFT collection. And Donald Trump has dinner with a white supremacist and Kanye West. So, that's, by any standard, not going great.

SIDNER: I suspect the more, though, that we in the media talk about him and he hears this, he tends to be reactive. So, it will be interesting to see how he reacts to your piece, which was, girl, I don't know how what -- I'm sure you're going to get a lot of comments about it.

I want to read another quote from your piece that speaks to the sort of magic is gone idea. It's -- you say, quote, in this business, you can have it and have it so hot, and it can go overnight and it's gone and you can't get it back. I think we're just seeing it's gone. The magic is gone, according to an advisor.

When you say the magic is gone, he's saying he's not going to be able to get it back. And he is, right now, the only person running as a Republican for the 2024 president - the presidency in 2024.

What do you see that -- how is that going to affect all the people who have stood by him?

NUZZI: Yes, you know, that was an advisor speaking to me saying that the magic is gone and that this person did not -- was not sure that - that Trump would be able to get it back. I think that's sort of the difficult thing about a campaign that is just really about a personality, right, is that even if it were to be run in a really common sense way, it was really well run, would it really matter if the personality that the whole thing is built around, that the entire political movement is about, if that personality is not really on his game, if he's like lost his mojo in some way. I don't know.

But I think that, you know, Donald Trump, when he's cooped up, when he's got his wings clipped, historically is kind of a dangerous creature who's prone to listening to even crazier ideas than normal and - and doing even crazier things. And one former White House official in this piece talking about, before the insurrection, before he officially lost the campaign in 2020, already he had become this sort of terrifying figure who, in his Covid isolation in the White House, kind of locked away and kept from having contact with regular Americans or just with more normal people who might be around him in a busy place like the West Wing, he really had cracked and begun to lose his mind. And that this person began to move further and further away from him.

But, you know, Sara, in terms of what Trump might think about this piece. It's like an 8,000 or 9,000 word piece. I don't know that he's going to be sitting down to read it. I think he'll probably just look at the cover, look at the headline and think, ah, it's fake news and move on from there.

HARLOW: I - but it -- first of all, he talks to you. So, I mean, you know, that is -

NUZZI: Well, he loves -

HARLOW: Go ahead.

NUZZI: He loves attention.

HARLOW: Sure.

NUZZI: And women and magazines in that order. So, I don't think it's all that surprising.

HARLOW: Oh, OK.

SIDNER: Wow.

HARLOW: OK. You said it. No, it -- I joked when I came in this morning to the team. I'm like, Olivia's piece was amazing. It took me like an hour to read, but it really was great.

But I just want to - before you go, I want to get to one thing, because you open up by talking about how for 28 days he has not - since he announced, he has not left the state of Florida. And then he's like, I leave all the time. I go to Miami. But it's really to go to like Doral and golf, right?

NUZZI: Yes.

HARLOW: So talk - I mean just talk about that and that this theme that runs through the piece of smallness, which is just antithetical to what he wants and how he perceives himself.

NUZZI: Yes. I mean in 2015 - remember, and he announced much closer to the actual nominating contests. But when he came down into the atrium of Trump Tower on that fabled escalator ride to hell, he then immediately left and got on Trump Force One, as he was calling his plane, went to Iowa. The following day he went to New Hampshire. And then shortly after that he went down to the border with Rudy Giuliani. And so it was a very quick, very like rapid him just going directly onto the campaign trail and not really stopping until - until he won the election.

And this time he invited people to like his living room and he hasn't left since. And the campaign is like very, obviously, self-conscious because the candidate is self-conscious about this. And they're doing their best to proclaim that he's extraordinarily busy. They sent me this list of events. It was 11 events that he had allegedly taken part in since the announcement, including the announcement itself, including like five video events that he was not actually physically at, including a bunch of things also at Mar-a-Lago. He just isn't all that busy and the midterms are over and I guess there's not a lot of justification for a MAGA rally at this point.

And he is stuck there. He's at Mar-a-Lago and playing golf and people are coming to see him.

[08:45:04]

And I don't think that he really knows what to do with himself in this sort of lame duck period as the only candidate. He's running against himself.

SIDNER: At the - at this point.

All right, Olivia Nuzzi, thank you so much. By the way, I'm halfway through, so, forgive me, but it's -

HARLOW: It's - it's -

SIDNER: You're such a great writer that I will read the rest.

NUZZI: Oh, thanks.

SIDNER: So, thank you so much for coming on.

HARLOW: And every word is so deliberate.

SIDNER: Yes.

NUZZI: Thanks, guys.

HARLOW: It's a great piece. Thank you.

NUZZI: Thank you. Bye.

SIDNER: This morning's number is 0.4. We'll tell you why that is, coming up.

HARLOW: A tiny number.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Why?

I'm now figuring out why Sara and I were having this conversation about returning gifts.

SIDNER: Yes. Complaining. Sorry.

HARLOW: We're - we're about experiences more than physical gifts. But if you're unhappy with one of your gifts this Christmas, don't worry, you're not alone.

CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten explains what Americans are doing with their unwanted gifts.

None of your girlfriend's gifts to you are unwanted, though.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: No, they're all wanted. They're all wanted. They were all fantastic gifts.

Let's walk over to the wall and we'll say what this morning's number is. It is 0.4. How many Christmas gifts does the average person return, 0.4, compared with gives 12 gifts and receiving six. I think I received more than I gave. My girlfriend was the opposite. Thanks, I love the new Buffalo Bills attire that I received yesterday.

[08:50:00]

So, let's talk about the gifts that we don't like. When you get a holiday gift you don't like, what do you do with it? Forty-nine percent of Americans say they actually keep gifts that they don't like, 31 percent say that they, in fact, return those gifts, which perhaps to me is what I would suggest, 16 percent actually regift it and give it to somebody else. And what happens when you do, in fact, return a gift? Do you tell that person that gave you the gift that you're returning it? Forty percent said never, 32 percent said sometimes, and this 17 percent said always. I don't know who these people are, but they are brutally honest people. That much I know.

SIDNER: Coming here with the Grinch, the guy that returns all the Christmas gifts, sorry, what do you think is the greatest gift of all for children, Harry?

ENTEN: The fact that they are off this week. The fact that they are off this week. So, take a look at the top five school districts in the country. New York, they're all off. Los Angeles, off. Chicago, off. Miami-Dade, they're all off. Clark County, they're off. And this is the only week in which all five of these districts, outside of summer, are off.

But, of course, it's not just about the kids. What about the adults? What is it going on for them this week? Well, the decorations have to come down. When do you start taking down your Christmas decorations? Six percent say today, that's the day after Christmas, 16 percent say this week. First week of January is the most popular at 41 percent, 16 percent say later in January. How about that, 4 percent who say February or later. But I guess we all have somebody in our lives who just don't want to let go.

HARLOW: Or you just leave the lights up all year, you know.

ENTEN: Yes. Why not? Leave it up all year. It will be a festive time, especially in the deep darkness of January. Leave those lights up. Bring us some happy faces.

SIDNER: Fair enough.

HARLOW: Thanks for the joy this morning.

ENTEN: I try.

HARLOW: Nice new shirt.

SIDNER: Yes. Present? Present?

ENTEN: Thank you. This, of course, from the girlfriend.

HARLOW: Yes.

ENTEN: Yes.

SIDNER: She did a good job.

ENTEN: Yes.

SIDNER: And coming up, Anderson and Andy, speaking of the first year of January, are back for another global celebration. Join them for "New Year's Eve Live" from Times Square starting at 8:00 p.m. on CNN. And you will also see our Don Lemon hosting from New Orleans.

HARLOW: Hopefully a cameo from Mama Lemon, too. We'll hope.

SIDNER: Oh, that would be so sweet.

HARLOW: We'll hope.

SIDNER: Oh, also this, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft personally inviting a fan to his suite Saturday, giving him a hug after a video of the fan getting heckled at a game a week ago went viral. You will understand why he got that invitation because of his response to that heckling. That fan joins us live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:56:49]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY EDMOND, PATRIOTS FAN HECKLED BY RAIDERS FAN: How are you, man?

ROBERT KRAFT, OWNER, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: How are you? Good to see you.

I'll tell you, what you did was so classy and you represent what our whole franchise is about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That was Robert Kraft talking to Patriots fan Jerry Edmond, welcoming him to Foxborough. Edmond went viral for keeping his cool despite being heckled. And when I tell you heckled, she was in the man's face over and over and over again. She was clearly a Raiders fan. Y'all have such a bad rap. I mean, come on. Following a brutal last-second loss in Las Vegas last week. He stood quietly and chose not to respond at all. He doesn't even move as the Raiders fan yelled in his face time and again at his very first NFL game.

Now, here's what happened after the incident. He accepted an invitation to watch the Patriots play at a home game from the comfort of, yep, Robert Kraft's box on Saturday. That fan sitting there watching the game from the fancy boxes, which I've never been in, Jerry Edmond joins us now.

Thank you so much for joining us, Jerry.

JERRY EDMOND, PATRIOTS FAN HECKLED BY RAIDERS FAN: Thank you for having me.

SIDNER: You know, I've got to start with this because you - you said something that was poignant that talks about the moment that we are in, in this country. You said, as a black man in America, any reactive response would result in a lose-lose situation.

Tell us more about what you meant by that.

EDMOND: Just being in that situation, being who I am and being like around everyone I was, around everyone that was there, it was kind of just like me knowing any type of retaliation, any type of action on my end, it could have shifted the story, it could have shifted the dynamic of the situation, turning me into an aggressor versus how it actually went. And I didn't want to cause any trouble to anybody else, I just wanted to continue trying to enjoy the game the best way I could and not ruin it for anybody else, either.

SIDNER: Can I just ask you what she was saying to you exactly? I'm curious. Was it just yelling, like, we're the best or -

EDMOND: No, she was kind of like -- she was swearing a lot in my face. It was more so -- I was more so focused on the field, trying to ignore her, on like how we actually lost. So, I guess that was kind of helping me ignore how she was coming at my face and everything like that. But it was more so like swearing and just a whole bunch of other expletives.

HARLOW: You did what we all hope we would do, but I don't know if we would have patience for what you had patience for.

Let's talk about the happy ending to this.

SIDNER: Yes.

HARLOW: And that is what Bob Kraft did for you. I heard, at one point, you even were face timing with Jay-z. Is that right?

SIDNER: What?

EDMOND: Yes. Yes, that was after -- after he gave me the gift with my name on the jersey, he surprised me with a facetime with Jay-z.

SIDNER: That is so cool.

Can you just quickly tell me what that experience was like, because that was your first NFL game, right, where you're heckled and then you go to this game in a whole different way.

[09:00:06]

EDMOND: It's like my friend said, they think I peaked (ph) because you can't go from how amazing that game went and how my experience was with meeting Robert Kraft, facetiming Jay-z, sitting in the suite, going out on the field. And one thing that did make me feel good is going out on the field and everyone chanting out "Jerry."

HARLOW: Oh!

SIDNER: Nice.

EDMOND: People like recognizing me and everything like that. And I was -- it was an amazing experience.

HARLOW: I love that.

SIDNER: You are an example, sir.

HARLOW: And I bet you even made Bill Belichick smile.

Thank you.

EDMOND: Yes. No, it was - that was one thing I would -- that was one thing that made me happy, him walking up to me with a smile on my face and giving me the handshake. That one I'll treasure.

HARLOW: See. See. See.

SIDNER: I love it.

HARLOW: Jerry, may we all be like Jerry in 2023. Thank you very much.

EDMOND: Thank you.

HARLOW: Thanks to all of you for watching. Thanks for getting up early.

SIDNER: Yes.

HARLOW: It's a pleasure to be with you.

SIDNER: You're fun.

HARLOW: We will see you back here tomorrow morning.

CNN "NEWSROOM" starts now.