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Bill Player suffers Cardiac Arrest; Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is Interviewed about Congress; Idaho Murder Suspect in Court; Dr. Otis Brawley is Interviewed about Navratilova's Diagnosis; Final Respects to Soccer Legend Pele. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 03, 2023 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: And I used to wear a heart guard because I didn't think I was athletic enough to react in time if a ball came back at me. And so I understood perfectly well if they get something right at the heart, at the wrong time, it could all be gone. And it's just so fortunate that they had the medical personnel there because that, I think, may have made all the difference.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, and we need to make it clear, it is suspected that he had this - there was a commotio cordis incident that - what - that caused this, but they don't know for sure now. That will be figured out.

But just, Damar, as a player, since you are a superfan, what did you know about him as a player? A very humble guy. Wanted to pay back and help others.

ENTEN: Right. You know, his toy charity, right, trying to raise all that money online. And, you know, Damar Hamlin is someone whose name I just really learned this season, right, because Bills safety Micah Hyde, who had joined Poyer, formed one of the best dynamic duo safety tandems in the league. Micah Hyde had a neck injury and had to drop out and Damar Hamlin took his spot.

And, you know, all the videos that we have seen, and all the stories that we know, is that Damar Hamlin was just a decent human being, right? And that's really what this story is about is decent human beings and the people, Cincinnati fans, Buffalo fans, gathering outside that hospital. The game becomes so secondary. You know, last night, when it happened, I couldn't move from my couch for two hours. You know, normally, I'm the most talkative guy in the world and I just sat there -

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Really?

ENTEN: In stunned silenced. I --

LEMON: I stopped dinner. I had a friend who had a - a sort of celebratory dinner with like - it was like 12 of us or whatever. And I was like, stop, and I turned on -

HARLOW: When that happened?

LEMON: Yes, you guys have to watch this. You have to - and people were just sort of transfixed by what's happening. It's - it stops you in your tracks. It really does.

ENTEN: It really does stop you in your tracks.

And, you know, the other thing I'll just add is that, you know, Cincinnati and Buffalo sort of have this, you know, lock because five years ago the Bills hadn't -- I used to have a line that the Bills hadn't made the playoffs since before my bar mitzvah.

HARLOW: Yes.

ENTEN: And Cincinnati had to win a game, beat the Baltimore Ravens, for the Bills to make their first playoff appearance since 1999 back - this was back in 2017. And Cincinnati did it. And in response to that, Buffalo sent a slew -- the fans basically raised a ton of money for Andy Dalton's charity, who was the quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengal's at the time. And so there's this real tie between these two sort of, you know, Ohio, you know, New York are right near each other. These sort of smaller cities in these, you know, states that have larger cities. And it's just sort of this - this place where football really means a lot to both of these cities.

HARLOW: And, boy, has Buffalo been through it, man.

ENTEN: And, you know, Buffalo has really been through it. Whether it be, you know, the shooting at the supermarket earlier this year, whether it would be, obviously, the blizzard just, what was it, a week ago?

HARLOW: Yes.

ENTEN: I - you know, I'm losing track of time. But, you know, Buffalo really lives and - I - I hate to - you know, and really just lives through their team, right? This is a city that's lost a lot of population. It's a city where if you look, the ratings in Buffalo for their -- for the Bills' games are higher than pretty much any other team. And to see this happen, I'm -- I - I just -- it's - it's just so tragic.

LEMON: Yes.

HARLOW: Speaking of what a great guy he is, I just want to play, as we go to break for everyone, this sound of him just a few months ago talking about his teammate, Dane Jackson, when he was injured, talking about cherishing life. So, we're going to place this for you quickly as we go to break.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMAR HAMLIN, BUFFALO BILLS PLAYER: I cherish it every second that I can, you know, every second of every day. We just had our prayer, our DB prayer we do every Wednesday outside. He was next to me. And I just grabbed his hand a little bit harder because you know - you never know when, like, the last day could be that you getting to experience something like this, you know? So I'm just -- I'm cherishing it every moment I can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:45]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kevin McCarthy is going to be speaker, but it's not going to be easy and it's not going to be a straight line. It's going to take a little while, and that's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Lawmakers are gearing up for a potentially dramatic and late day here on Capitol Hill where the 118th Congress is about to be sworn in, in just a few hours from now. And among the freshman class is Washington state auto repair shop owner Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. She beat the former President Trump endorsed candidate, Republican Joe Kent, flipping a formerly Republican-held seat in a district that voted for Trump twice to Democrats.

Congresswoman-elect Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is with us now this morning.

Thank you for being here.

It must be remarkable for it to be your first day in Washington. You're going to be sworn in. I know a lot of your family is here. And you're watching all this drama play out on the Republican side. You know, what -- what do you make of it all?

REP.-ELECT MARIE GLUESENKAMP PEREZ (D-WA): I think drama is a great word for it. I have to be honest. Like, I don't think the average American is paying a whole lot of attention or feels very inspired by what's going on with this chaos. So, it's - it's definitely interesting, but --

COLLINS: You see it more of a distraction?

PEREZ: Listen, it matters. Like, having a leader that can get stuff done, that can fix things, that can work across the aisle, that is what people care about. That's what matters to normal working families like mine. Kevin's not that person. He's never going to be that person who can work across the aisle and deliver. So, I think it's -- even if folks aren't paying a whole lot of attention to it, you know, it does matter.

COLLINS: Yes, it does matter. And there's been this idea of a unity candidate potentially emerging if it does, you know, devolve into chaos today. And maybe there is someone that Democrats would actually come across the aisle and vote for. Is that something that you and other freshmen have discussed behind the scenes? PEREZ: I don't know how many folks are discussing it. I mean there are

a lot of Republicans I respect and think would do a much, much better job. So, you know, I think it will be an act of God if we can deliver a unity candidate, but it would be great for American.

COLLINS: Which Republicans would that be?

PEREZ: I mean, honestly, naming names at this point is probably counterproductive. And it's not -- I'm not in leadership. I'm not trying to be a member who's a party insider and spending a lot of energy thinking about leadership questions.

[06:40:08]

So, I'm really -- I am very interested to see what today -- today will not be boring.

COLLINS: It will not be boring, that's safe to say.

You had a fascinating win. As we were just talking about, the district that you won in, it voted for Trump twice. You were Up against this Trump-backed opponent. You had this appeal, though, during your campaign that looked a lot different than what other Democrats were running on across the country, this working-class appeal. And I wonder how you are going to use that to shape your time here in Washington?

PEREZ: Yes, I mean, working for a living, working in the trades, being a rural American, those are things that all inform the way I look at the world and what my priorities are. and that's probably why I don't care too much about the leadership questions and this drama. It's - it's how do we make people's lives measurably better.

Like, my small business has been broken into four times now. Just got broken again into a few weeks ago. Had a -- I had a car stolen a few weeks ago. It's a really difficult time for a lot of people. And it just -- so much of this leadership question feels like drama.

COLLINS: And do you think members of your party are paying enough attention to issues like that, like crime, like the things that you've been dealing with yourself?

PEREZ: I - I - I don't think -- I - I think that -- what I've seen is that to get elected, to - to be in Congress takes so much money. It takes so much -- such a network. I think it's really, really hard for normal people to be elected into Congress. And I feel really grateful to have had this unique set of circumstances where I was able to communicate with my district and - and able to put my experiences to use in a way that I think will serve my district well.

COLLINS: And what can - what can leader, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, learn from that experience and from you?

PEREZ: Well, I don't think it's really about me. I don't think it's about me as an individual. I think it's more about sort of the overriding principles of building a congress that looks more like America. I think that the candidate selection process is fundamentally broken. You know, what people think makes a -- what a lot of like kind of political people think makes a good candidate, a lot of Americans don't agree with anymore. We don't just want, like, single men who have a law degree. You know, we want people that fix things for a living. We want young moms. We want people that struggle to get a mortgage.

COLLINS: And you are one of those young moms, we should note. You have a 16-month-old. I know you have a lot of family members here.

Congresswoman-elect,, soon to be congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us and sharing a really important perspective, I think, on how you're approaching Congress.

PEREZ: Thank you.

COLLINS: Thank you.

Don and Poppy, of course you know we had the congresswoman-elect on right after - after she won. You know, she does have this fascinating perspective of how she's approaching this congress compared to other lawmakers who have been here before. This is her first term. And it does speak to -- we are talking about this Republican majority, Don, that we're going to have today, but also speaks to the Democrats who are new in town as well.

LEMON: Yes. Kaitlan, thank you. We'll see you a little bit later on from Washington, D.C.

In the meantime, tennis great Martina Navratilova diagnosed with throat and breast cancer. We're going to talk about how rare it is to receive two diagnoses at once.

Plus this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE GONCALVES, FATHER OF MURDER VICTIM KAYLEE GONCALVES: We're going to definitely look this guy -- look him in his eyes. He's - he's going to have to deal with this. And has been dealing with this for seven weeks. It's - it's not about to end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The father of one of the murdered Idaho college students ready to face the suspect in court when he's expected to be sent back it Idaho. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:58]

HARLOW: Happening today, the suspect in the killing of four Idaho college students is scheduled to appear in court in Pennsylvania. That is 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger. He is facing first-degree murder charges and has -- is expected to wave extradition. That will expedite his return to Idaho where the murderers - where the murders took place in November.

Jean Casarez joins us live outside in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, again this morning.

Jean, what happens today? Walk us through this.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a simple procedure right here at the Court of Common Pleas in Stroudsburg. And this is where it will all take place. And really, legally speaking, an extradition proceeding is where the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has to allow someone that is within their borders to go to another state to face criminal charges. And it's -- constitutionally it's important. It's important that the judge see the defendant so he can voluntarily show that he is agreeing to do that.

Now, here's what's interesting, because normally when you have any type of proceeding with a criminal defendant at a courthouse, there's sometimes an underground garage that they drive through to park and get him in the courthouse so nobody sees him or there's an underground tunnel between the jail and the courthouse. They don't have that here. So, they are going to have to take him from the correction facility and really just bring him to one of the entrances here.

Now, what we're understanding is that they may drape the entrance so the public cannot see him as he gets out of the car and walks in. However, the judge is allowing pool cameras to be right there in the hallway next to the courtroom so we, and I mean all of us, we are going to get to see this person who is now accused of killing, murdering, four young college students.

Also, I want to say that Steve Goncalves was on our air yesterday and he talked about this. And he is going to be at every hearing in Idaho. And he says he's going to look him in the eye and he's going to have to deal with us. And, today, that process begins right here.

[06:50:02]

Poppy.

HARLOW: It does. We appreciate you and your team being on the ground.

Jean, thank you.

LEMON: Yes.

We want to talk now about tennis great Martina Navratilova. She says that she will fight with all that she's got after being diagnosed with breast and throat cancer. Navratilova says doctors discovered an enlarged lymph node in her neck last year and a biopsy revealed it was stage one throat cancer. While undergoing tests, doctors also found a cancerous site, also stage one, in her breast. Now, she had previously battled breast cancer in 2010.

This is a statement. Martina Navratilova says, this double whammy is serious but still fixable. I am hoping for a favorable outcome. And so are we hoping for that. So, listen, let's bring in now professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins

University, Dr. Otis Brawley.

Doctor, good morning to you. Thank you so much.

This is what the study showed, that two in 17 people -- percent of people, I should say, with cancer find - had these multiple diagnoses. Is this so rare, but it does happen?

DR. OTIS BRAWLEY, PROFESSOR OF ONCOLOGY, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: Good morning.

Yes, this does happen. You know, about 40 percent of us will ultimately get cancer. And it's 15 percent to 17 percent will have two cancers. It's not common for it to happen at the same time, but it does happen that people are diagnosed with two cancers at the same time.

HARLOW: Does it complicating treatment for her?

BRAWLEY: It complicates treatment only a bit. We are actually taught that we should treat the patient as if they have -- treat each cancer separately. Do what treatments you need to do for each cancer. So, the people who treat her throat cancer are going to have to talk to and coordinate with the people who treat her breast cancer. But people can do very well with two low-stage cancers like this.

LEMON: She has been up - she has an upbeat attitude. I read the statement where she said that, you know, this is -- she believes that it's fixable. But as I as said, she dealt with this in 2010. I want to play her talking about her diagnosis and her prognosis, as a matter of fact, as well in 2010. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTINA NAVRATILOVA, TENNIS GREAT AND 18-TIME GRAND SLAM SINGLES CHAMPION: It was a shock to my system. But as an athlete, as a tennis player, we - we are positive. We have to be. And we get into solutions. So, as shocking as the news was to me, it really knocked me on my butt, literally. But I said, OK, what do we need to do? I cried for about 30 seconds and then I got over it and said, OK, what do we do? How do we get in the solution?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Listen, it's great. I'm sure you need to have a great mental attitude, a good, upbeat attitude about it. But, I mean, what does it say that, you know, about what happened with her cancer then and now, Doctor?

BRAWLEY: You know, she showed tremendous courage and grace there. And let's hope that she has the same very positive outcome this time. It is indeed possible.

By the way, it is common that women who have breast cancer might get a second breast cancer 10 or 15 years later. LEMON: Hmm. There you go.

HARLOW: Thank you, Dr. Otis Brawley. We appreciate it. We're all rooting for her.

LEMON: Thank you, Doctor.

BRAWLEY: Thank you.

HARLOW: A farewell fit for a king. Brazil mourning the legendary soccer star Pele.

LEMON: And the latest on the Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin, who suffered a cardiac arrest and is in critical condition after collapsing on the field last night. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:58:07]

HARLOW: Well, this morning, thousands of mourners from all around the world are paying their final respects to the king, soccer legend Pele. Both celebrities and fans flocking to the stadium of his former football club for the 24-hour public wake. Many people dressed in the iconic Brazil and Santos football club jerseys. Some were overcome with emotion as they said good-bye to the king of football.

We're joined again this morning by our Julia Vargas Jones, live in Brazil.

The president arriving as well. The newly-elected president. What a day.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, Poppy, 150,000 people have already gone through the stadium behind me. The people that you see behind me here, though, they tell me they are here to see the president. They want to get -- catch a glimpse of the newly inaugurated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He's expected to arrive here any second now. I think it might be happening.

But -- but Pele's still inside the stadium. His casket laying in the center of the field in the stadium. Soon, after Lula pays his respects, he will be taken in a procession through the city of Santos, going through -- passing in front of the house of his mother, who is still alive, still with us at 100 years old. And, eventually, Pele's casket will be taken to a cemetery not far from here, Poppy. On the ninth floor of the tallest cemetery in the world, the king of soccer will be laid to rest overlooking the stadium where he built his legacy, where he started making soccer into an art form and changing the sport for the rest of the world.

HARLOW: Yes. The king indeed.

Julia Vargas Jones, thank you for being there as we await the arrival of the president of Brazil. LEMON: Yes.

HARLOW: New today.

[06:59:57]

CNN THIS MORNING continues now.