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CNN This Morning
Sarah Matthews is Interviewed about Mark Meadows; Reports that Pope Benedict is Very Sick; Russian Shelling Destroys Maternity Ward; Sha'Kyra Aughtry and Yvonne White are Interviewed about Joey White Who Was Rescued from the Blizzard. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired December 28, 2022 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00]
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: What your former colleague testified about Mark Meadows burning documents in his office.
SARAH MATTHEWS, FORMER DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: You know, it doesn't surprise me. Mark Meadows was consistently one of the biggest enablers of Trump. And just hearing from folks that I worked with who were often in the room with him when he was with President Trump, he usually didn't push back on Trump. And so it doesn't surprise me to hear that he wasn't acting in accordance with the law.
COLLINS: What kind of -- can you remind just viewers what kind of chief of staff Mark Meadows was. You said he was a huge enabler of Trump. You know, what was it like working underneath him?
MATTHEWS: Yes, I think I consistently felt like that he didn't necessarily look out for the staff and that his biggest concern was just protecting his own reputation or protecting himself in the eyes of the former president and trying to always make sure that he was appeasing former President Trump and staying on his good side.
COLLINS: And the documents aspect of this is so notable because in the White House you have to preserve those documents. You can't just throw them away like - like you would typically throw away a piece of paper at home or in a regular office. You have to make sure that they're despised of in a proper way and in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.
MATTHEWS: Correct. Yes. And all of the White House staff were aware of this. This is something they tell you on day one and they show you - we had bags that you would place documents in that needed to be burned if they were sensitive material, but that was only if they were copies.
One of the things with the Presidential Records Act is that if they were the original copy, then that is not something that you can dispose of. And so that's what will be interesting to learn is, were those documents that Mark Meadows was burning in his fireplace original copies and what was the nature of those documents. COLLINS: Yes, and I should note, Cassidy Hutchinson testified she
didn't know if they were originals or if they were copies, what that (INAUDIBLE). We haven't heard from Mark Meadows on that.
Another revelation, though, from her transcripts was about - or from the transcripts that we got yesterday was also from Judd Deere, your colleague who was a deputy press secretary, who said, in the week after the election he heard there was gossip around the building, meaning the West Wing, that Trump was considering conceding and even strongly considering inviting the president-elect and the incoming first lady to the White House. Had you ever heard that gossip when you were there?
MATTHEWS: I hadn't heard that gossip necessarily, but I had heard some gossip in terms of behind closed doors, in private meetings, President Trump would admit to staff that he had lost. You know, he would kind of slip up and acknowledge the incoming administration and things like that. So, it seems like in those weeks after the election, he was aware that he had lost, but then as the weeks went on, he clearly didn't want to leave the White House. And so he started pursuing any theory he could, even if there wasn't evidence to support those theories.
COLLINS: And how did that change the attitudes of your colleagues who were working there, who they had privately acknowledged that he lost the election, that, yes, we're going to be leaving the White House come January. You know, what was it like? How did staff and your fellow colleagues react to seeing Trump act in that manner?
MATTHEWS: I think a lot of people were disappointed. You know, kind of his obsession with trying to overturn the election and not being able to accept the fact he lost started to put a shadow on all of the accomplishments he had done over the last four years. And so a lot of the staff was encouraging him to focus on, you know, touting his accomplishments and highlighting his legacy in those final weeks of his administration. But, obviously, he chose to not do that and chose to solely focus on trying to overturn the election. And that was disappointing for a lot of folks, myself included.
And so I think then on January 6th, when, you know, he failed to act and was kind of inciting an insurrection, I ultimately chose to resign because I was just disappointed with his behavior after the Election Day and on January 6th itself.
COLLINS: Yes. And Cassidy Hutchinson also testified about the conversations that happened inside the West Wing with top ranking West Wing officials about QAnon, with lawmakers like Marjorie Taylor Greene discussing QAnon supporters with Trump, talking about how they were coming to Washington to support him on January 6th. What had you heard about those conversations, if anything?
MATTHEWS: I hadn't heard anything relating to that specifically, relating to QAnon. I knew that Marjorie Taylor Greene was visiting the White House and, you know, having more close contact with the president as she was about to become a congresswoman in that following Congress, but I think that it just shows that in those final weeks of his administration, he started to listen more closely to people who were feeding him things that he wanted to hear and conspiracy theories and stopped listening to the better advice and counsel of some people who were trying to tell him that there was no evidence of the election being stolen.
[08:35:18]
COLLINS: Sarah Matthews, thank you for joining us.
MATTHEWS: Thank you so much.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, doctors in Ukraine are delivering babies moments before a Russian air strike hits their maternity ward. We'll have live reporting from the ground, next.
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[08:40:40]
COLLINS: All right, you can see the Vatican there. This comes as this morning we are learning retired Pope Benedict is, quote, very sick. That's Pope Francis asking for prayers for his predecessor.
CNN's Delia Gallagher joins us now from Rome.
Delia, what are you hearing about his condition?
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kaitlan, it was something of a surprise this morning when Pope Francis announced that he was asked for prayers for Pope Benedict, saying he was very sick. Let's take a listen to what he had to say just a few hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE FRANCIS (through translator): I want to ask you all for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict, who sustains the church in his silence. He is very sick. We ask the Lord to console and sustain him in this witness of love for the church to the very end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: So just after that, Kaitlan, the Vatican issued a statement saying, yes, in the last few hours, Benedict's health had deteriorated due to advanced age, they say. He's 95 years old. And that doctors are monitoring the situation. We know also the Vatican says that Pope Francis went to visit the pope emeritus just after making those comments.
That is all we have at the moment, except to say that the Vatican would not be making this public were it not serious. So, we are standing by for updates. We'll bring that to you as soon as we have them.
COLLINS: Yes, a sign of how serious it is. Delia, keep us updated. Thank you. HARLOW: Well, this morning, Ukrainian officials say relentless Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson has hit a hospital maternity ward where five women had just given birth and doctors managed to complete a c-section.
Let's go to Ben Wedeman. He joins us live on the ground in Kyiv, Ukraine.
This is not the first time that a maternity ward has been targeted and hit. What do you know?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this has happened overnight. And that was just one strike of many on the city of Kherson, which was liberated from Russian forces on the 11th of November. But since then it has been relentlessly pounded by Russian forces.
Overnight, in the Kherson region, 50 separate strikes on the city itself. Twenty-three (ph) - three people were injured. Now in addition to that maternity ward in the hospital, there were strikes on a bakery, kindergarten and residential apartment buildings as well.
And really since right before Christmas, on the 24th of December, there was a massive Russian barrage on that city which killed at least ten people and more than 50 others. And, in fact, the bombardment on Kherson over the last 24 hours is actually lower than the average, which, by CNN's count, is running at about 60 to 70 a day.
Poppy.
HARLOW: Wow. Ben, we appreciate the reporting. Glad you're on the ground. Thank you.
COLLINS: Absolutely.
Coming up, a western New York woman is proving why Buffalo is known as the city of good neighbors. More like great neighbors. After she desperately pleaded on Facebook Live to get a man that she saved on the street during the freezing winter storm the medical attention he so desperately needed. She's actually going to join us live next. You do not want to miss this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHA'KYRA AUGHTRY, HELPED SAVE FROSTBITTEN MAN FROM BLIZZARD: Joe, ready to go. He ready to go. He needs to go because he needs medical attention! He needs medical attention!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[08:47:47]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHA'KYRA AUGHTRY, HELPED SAVE FROSTBITTEN MAN FROM BLIZZARD: I've called the National Guard. I have called 911. I've called everybody. Agents keep telling me I'm on a list. I don't want to be on no list. I don't care about nothing else. This man is not about to die over here on 111 (ph). Y'all need to get this man some help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The woman you see there is Sha'Kyra Aughtry, a Buffalo resident who is now being hailed as a hero. She is a hero.
HARLOW: She is.
COLLINS: Aughtry was at home with her boyfriend on Christmas Eve as a deadly winter storm was battering western New York when she heard a cry for help. It was 64-year-old Joe White, who goes by Joey, and is developmentally disabled and lives in a group home. He found himself caught in the storm outside of Aughtry's home after his sister believes he tried to walk home from work in blizzard-like conditions. When Aughtry found him, Joey was in pain, understandably scared and showing signs of frostbite. She brought him inside, cut off his clothes off of him, and began drying him with a hair dryer to try to warm him up. Luckily he remembered his sister's phone number, so she was able to call her. But after her 911 calls went unheeded because of the difficulties with the storm, she knew that he needed serious medical attention and she started recording.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHA'KYRA AUGHTRY, HELPED SAVE FROSTBITTEN MAN FROM BLIZZARD: When my boyfriend found him, he had a bag - he had this Tuffs (ph) bag, this bag on - in - on his hands. It was frozen to his hands, OK? I cut it off. After I cut it off, when I - when I cut it off, his hands, I turned around and I had to blow dry the ice off of him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: After that, neighbors came over to help plow the snow. They wrapped Joey in a blanket. Aughtry rode with him to the hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHA'KYRA AUGHTRY, HELPED SAVE FROSTBITTEN MAN FROM BLIZZARD: Thank y'all so much. I'm so happy y'all responded so fast.
I'm right here. You OK? I love you, too, sweetie.
You OK?
JOE "JOEY" WHITE: (INAUDIBLE).
AUGHTRY: No, nothing's going to happen. Just breathe, breathe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Joey remains in ICU this morning. He has fourth degree frostbite. His sister, who is grateful for Aughtry's help, says -- Yvonne White is going to join us now, alongside Sha'Kyra Aughtry.
We are so glad both of you are here this morning.
And, Sha-Kyra, I just want to start with you because you are a hero for saving him.
[08:50:02]
And I just want you to recount what it was like to find him and bring someone that is a stranger to you into your home as this storm was underway.
SHA'KYRA AUGHTRY, HELPED SAVE FROSTBITTEN MAN FROM BLIZZARD: It was very -- it was very devastating. Very devastating. It was heartbreaking to even see someone so helpless and he just needed some help.
COLLINS: And you made him pancakes, right? Tell us what it was like.
AUGHTRY: Yes, he actually woke me up on Christmas morning. I told him the day before Christmas, I said, hey, Joey, it looks like if -- you're going to wake up with me on Christmas. And he said - and he said to me, OK, are you -- can I get a Bruce Lee shirt? And I said, yep, we can. So, Christmas morning happened and I heard, hey, hey. I'm like, yes. He was like, are you going to make my pancakes? And I was like, yes, I'll make you pancakes.
HARLOW: The ultimate caregiver.
Can you tell us, Yvonne, how your brother is doing? How's Joey doing?
YVONNE WHITE, HER BROTHER SUFFERED SEVERE FROSTBITE IN BLIZZARD: I spoke to the hospital probably about 35 minutes ago. At this point he's sleeping. So, obviously, I didn't want to wake him up. I will call him in a little bit. But he's still the same. They're still watching him. Fourth degree burns. His voice -- I spoke to him yesterday. He's very weak. He sounds very sad. But guess what he wanted to do, my dear, Facetime. So - so I told him when I go there I'll check his phone because I just got him a new phone a little while ago and we'll see if we can hook that up so he can talk to everybody and see everybody. He's sad and he's scared.
AUGHTRY: Oh.
COLLINS: Are you - are you -- I know, we hate to hear that, but, I mean, he's been through so much. And luckily Sha'Kyra was there to help him. But, Yvonne, are you scared about what would have happened to your brother had someone like Sha'Kyra not been there to help?
WHITE: Petrified. I mean, honestly, honestly, I'm sure he would have perished. Like I told Joey, we gained a family.
AUGHTRY: Yes.
WHITE: I'm - I'm looking at my sister. I'm looking at Trent, who's my brother. And now I'm thrilled because I have three nephews. And that's -- that's how I feel because this woman just -- just what she did, above and beyond, for a stranger. What she did is just heartwarming and it makes me cry. I mean both of us were crying for two days.
AUGHTRY: Yes, we were.
HARLOW: We -- I think we - we, in the media, and just a lot of people talk about how divided this country is. And it is.
AUGHTRY: It is.
HARLOW: But let's not forget folks like you and Sha'Kyra, what you did. I don't - I think we all would want to say I would do the same. I don't know. I don't know if I would.
AUGHTRY: Right.
HARLOW: You just -- where did that come from in you?
AUGHTRY: Paying it forward. How I was raised. My family, you know, always taught me, you know, to have compassion. And that's what I did. It was - you know, I just had to jump in. I just had to jump in and do what I can do. And I tried to as long as, you know, to help him come to me, me and -- me and his sister just, you know, we bonded over the time throughout the course of the time of him being with me. I made sure to make her at ease, to make him feel comfortable. I sent her multiple pictures. We called. We Facetimed. On the very first time we Facetimed, he did not understand. What did he say, hey, what is that? What are you doing?
WHITE: (INAUDIBLE).
AUGHTRY: And I'm like, it's Facetime. He was so surprised. He didn't - he couldn't understand it. And throughout the time my family, my little cousins, my children, because everybody was stranded, we all Facetimed him. And I let him know, I said, here - you know, I would say, hey, guys, here's Joey. And he would -- he would smirk and he would smile and everybody would say, hi, Joey. We just immediately brought him in like family.
I would do it 100 more times no matter what the situation was. I'm glad I was able to have power. I'm glad I had food. I'm glad I had heat. I'm just so thankful that I was able to give back and actually pay it forward, you know, to him, to his family, to show other people, you know, we have to work together. Regardless of the skin color that we are, regardless of the age, just jump in and just do it. Just do it.
And I'm just so glad that Joey at least knew his sister's phone number because when he started saying phone numbers, I didn't really know it was real but I called it. And when I called it, she - the first time she didn't answer but when she answered the second time it was like, a weight lifted off of our shoulders immediately and we began to start working together because outside of that it was just me and my family working together.
So, I would do it again and I'm just so grateful I was able to save his life. I'm grateful of that. Trent was able to pick him up and bring him in here. My father, you know, encouraging this, like I said, we were going to - at first we was like, well, maybe we can put him in a vehicle, but he just needed more. He needed more than that. We had to help him. And I'm so grateful that we did. And I just hope other people in other areas, that they have a devastating storm or anything, if you see something, help somebody.
[08:55:04]
You know, this wasn't even about my life, it was truly about him. I just - I just wanted to do the right thing (ph).
COLLINS: Sha'Kyra, do you feel like you've gained another family member in all of this?
AUGHTRY: Oh - oh, for sure. For sure. For sure. That's Uncle Joey.
HARLOW: Uncle Joey.
When -
WHITE: Joe - Joe is going to - Joey's going to hold you to that, my dear. He's going to hold you to that.
AUGHTRY: I know.
WHITE: He's going to sit there and say, you know, these are my best friends, Yvonne.
AUGHTRY: I know he is.
HARLOW: You guys - first of all, I just got a text from a friend who's crying. So there's that. You're bringing people to tears.
AUGHTRY: (INAUDIBLE).
HARLOW: And, second of all, you know there's got to be a reunion of all of you and I -
AUGHTRY: Oh, for sure. I -
HARLOW: We want to be there. CNN wants to be there, OK.
AUGHTRY: Yes. Yes, we definitely going to have a reunion I think.
WHITE: I believe something is in the works.
HARLOW: What did you say, Yvonne?
WHITE: I believe something is in the works. We're trying to work it out because, I tell you, the first thing I'm going to do is give my sister a hug.
AUGHTRY: Yes.
WHITE: And I know -- I know it's going to be heartfelt. We're very similar. We're very similar.
AUGHTRY: Yes.
WHITE: And that's the sweetest part. Like, our favorite movie is "Pay it Forward," and we love The Disney Channel.
HARLOW: Oh.
AUGHTRY: Yes, we do.
WHITE: So, you know, you can't - you don't find people like that, that often.
COLLINS: You don't. You don't find people like either of you.
HARLOW: No.
COLLINS: And - and we are - I - we just -- we love this story. And the minute we saw it, we were so grateful to the local Buffalo outlet that picked it up first. And we are just - we're so grateful that you guys came on to share it.
And, Sha'Kyra, we're so grateful for you, for your -- what you did. I mean it's just - it's an amazing show of what people can be like when they're their best selves. And, so thank you both for being here. We're rooting for - we're rooting Joey.
AUGHTRY: Thank you.
COLLINS: We hope that he - he recovers and that he's back soon and you guys can all be together.
AUGHTRY: Yes, thank you.
HARLOW: And we'll see you at the reunion.
AUGHTRY: OK.
WHITE: Thank you, guys.
HARLOW: And if Disney's listening, I think y'all deserve a trip to, you know, Disney World, on them.
Thank you.
WHITE: Well, I mean, we --
AUGHTRY: Thank you.
WHITE: There is -- we are taking cards for Joey at ECMC (ph).
HARLOW: OK. OK. Keep us posted, Yvonne, on how he's doing, OK?
WHITE: OK, hon, thanks.
HARLOW: OK. Bye. COLLINS: Thank you both for being with us.
HARLOW: Well, that's a way to end it, right?
COLLINS: That was -
HARLOW: I'm so glad -- she found this story, by the way. Good job.
COLLINS: I love this story. This is -- good things come from Twitter sometimes. This is where I saw it.
HARLOW: There's that. There's that.
COLLINS: All right, thank you for joining us this morning.
CNN "NEWSROOM" starts right after this break.
We'll see you tomorrow.
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