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CNN This Morning
Blinken Urged to Discuss Detained Americans with China; 2024 Republican Presidential Race; Cost of Super Bowl Ads. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired February 03, 2023 - 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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[06:33:32]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: So, Italy has captured a most wanted mob boss on the lamb for 16 years in France. Police say 63-year-old Edgardo Greco was busted working undercover, get this, as a pizza chef on Thursday. He was even featured in a French paper as an authentic Italian pizza maker. That's according to Italian media. Greco was sentenced back on the '90s for the murder of two brothers who are presumed to have been dissolved in acid.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, the Pentagon is tracking a high altitude suspected Chinese spy balloon - yes, you heard that right -- that is hovering over the United States. This risks adding further strain to the already tense U.S.-China relations. And it comes just days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to visit Beijing, a trip notable in and of itself because he's the first American top diplomat to visit there in six years.
While there, he is expected to address major issues, including Russia's war in Ukraine, trade. But the families of wrongfully detained Americans are also urging him to make the release of their loved ones a priority.
CNN's Kylie Atwood has been covering this. She joins us now.
Kylie, what is the State Department saying? Do they expect Blinken to bring up these wrongfully detained Americans while he's sitting down face-to-face with these Chinese officials?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, they're not getting ahead of the meeting, but what they say is that he raises these issues in every single country where detained Americans are a problem. And of these three wrongfully detained Americans in China, one of them has received a lifetime in prison sentence.
[06:35:01]
Another one a death sentence. And here's a story of Kai Li, who raised his family in Long Island, New York.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ATWOOD: American citizens Kai Li took a trip to China six and a half years ago that unexpectedly resulted in no return.
HARRISON LI, FATHER DETAINED IN CHINA: Never would we have imagined in our wildest dreams that he'd be whisked away by agents of China's ministry of state security on these charges of espionage.
ATWOOD: Kai Li's son, Harrison, says he's now in Qingpu prison facing a ten year prison sentence for espionage. Charges he vehemently denies.
The only way they communicated for three years was through closely monitored letters. More recently, Kai Li is allowed seven-minute phone calls to his family, or U.S. officials, twice monthly.
LI: With these Covid restrictions, the authorities simply just lock them in their cells 24/7. They don't even have access to bathing facilities. What they do is they just take a big pot of lukewarm water and just deliver it to the cell remotely for those kinds of needs.
ATWOOD: Kai Li is one of three Americans the State Department has declared to be wrongfully detained by China, along with David Lin and Mark Swidan. Their families are closely watching as Secretary of State Tony Blinken visits Beijing in the coming weeks.
LI: I just would like to tell Secretary Blinken, you know, use every possible tool that the administration has available to get my dad home.
ATWOOD: Dianne Foley, whose son was detained and beheaded by ISIS in 2014, created a foundation to support the families of Americans wrongfully detained all over the world. She says adversaries use the lives of American citizens as weapons.
DIANE FOLEY, James FOLEY FOUNDATION PRESIDENT: They seek to interfere with our foreign policy and our national security. And that is obvious. They use it like a tactic of a silent warfare.
ATWOOD: Asked if Blinken will raise the issue, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said the secretary has no higher priority than the safety of Americans abroad.
NED PRICE, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: Every time the secretary has a significant bilateral engagement with a country where this is, in fact, a concern of ours, it is something that is raised. We raise these cases on an individual basis.
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ATWOOD: Now, obviously, it requires a ton of negotiation to get these Americans who are wrongfully detained back to the United States. And as far as we can tell, there are no active negotiations with China underway. But the State Department says just because you don't see something on the surface doesn't mean it's not happening.
Kaitlan. COLLINS: Yes. And certainly their families want that to happen, even behind the scenes or in public.
Kylie Atwood, thank you.
Also, former President Trump is ramming up his 2024 campaign, not with events, but with attacks. Attacking anyone who might step in the ring with him. Why having as many opponents as possible could be a good thing for him. We'll tell you that next.
HARLOW: Also, the FBI is expected to search former Vice President Mike Pence's home and office in Indiana, looking for any -- potentially more classified documents. That story ahead.
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[06:42:25]
COLLINS: Former President Trump is in attack mode against his potential 2024 rivals. Even claiming that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis cried as he saw Trump's endorsement.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Ron DeSantis got elected because of - you remember he had nothing. He was dead. He was leaving the race. He came over and he begged me, begged me for an endorsement. He was getting ready to drop out. And there were tears coming down from his eyes. He said, if you endorse me, I'll win.
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COLLINS: As for Trump's former U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, Trump says she is, quote, overly ambitious as she is now reported to officially planning - be planning on jumping into the race next week.
A big question, though, for many people is, how many other Republicans are going to throw their hats in the ring and what does it mean for Trump's chances?
Joining us now to talk about this is CNN political commentator and anchor, Michael Smerconish.
That is a good question. And, you know, this is a real concern that I've heard from people who don't want Trump to be the nominee but they think it's going to be a 2016 repeat. A lot of Republicans. And it helps Trump in the end. What do you think?
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I will never forget, Kaitlan, being at the Reagan Library for what was the first Republican debate of the 2016 cycle. There were so many candidates. The number was 15 or 16, that they had to be split into two. There was like a JV debate before the varsity debate.
And, you know, Donald Trump was then able to pull 25, 30 percent of those primary caucus states, which was enough to cruise to victory. If the polls are to be believed, he's somewhere in the upper 40s or nearly 50 percent right now.
So, the more the merrier is the bottom line. I think he wants Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo and a whole host of others to get in. He holds that base. He secures the nomination. Unless, of course, he's indicted along the way.
COLLINS: Yes, of course, the investigation still a big question.
OK, but can you square the circle for me? Because listen to what Trump said yesterday, talking about Mike Pompeo, who, of course, was his secretary of state, and his potential run.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: So, you know, I've helped all those people. I took Mike out of nothing and, you know, I'm surprised - because Mike said I believe the same thing. I believe he always said he'd never run against the president. And, you know, time goes by and then they want to run because they're ambitious people. But, you know, they're polling very poorly.
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COLLINS: He has this - this mentality, and I've heard this privately, he doesn't think anyone should challenge him for the nomination. But to your point there, it actually would kind of help him the more people who get in and run against him.
SMERCONISH: I don't think that he can resist taking a shot at anybody who would step forward. I mean he has said similar things about Nikki Haley, and yet she says that she told Trump that she was going to get into the race and he essentially said, well, follow your heart.
[06:45:05]
So, I think he wants to wound you, you know, before you get out of the gate. But at the same time, he'd rather you be in than not be in at all.
HARLOW: So -- good morning, Michael.
How do you then square the circle on Republicans like Governor Sununu of New Hampshire, who's, you know, considering a run himself? And Larry Hogan, who said he won't support Donald Trump. But they're both -- their position is, well, he's not going to be the nominee anyways.
Let's listen to what Sununu said yesterday.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Do you commit to supporting the GOP nominee, whoever it is?
GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): Yes.
CAMEROTA: Even if it's Donald Trump?
SUNUNU: Yes. I don't think it's going to be Donald Trump. But, yes, I'm going to support the Republican nominee to be sure.
CAMEROTA: Because, I mean, I think that you did, at a dinner, call Donald Trump f'ing crazy.
SUNUNU: Yes, that was funny. It was a roast. It was a funny joke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: So, Michael?
SMERCONISH: I'm laughing. I guess it was a funny - I - it was. Listen, they don't want to alienate that base. I mean Larry Hogan had a similar episode just yesterday on a radio program where, will you support the nominee? Yes, I'll support the nominee. Same thing. And if it's Trump. Yes. And then he -
HARLOW: But then he had to come out and correct it. Remember that, Michael, he had to correct it yesterday.
SMERCONISH: He had -- exactly. So - so they -- they don't want to alienate that hard core of the party.
And this is why it's so hard, threading the needle of being the opposition to Donald Trump but not alienating the very hard-core Trump people who are within the GOP.
HARLOW: Yes. So, what do you think happens here, Michael? Do we see -- I remember so well, was that the debate where the plane was behind them and they had --
SMERCONISH: Absolutely.
HARLOW: Right.
SMERCONISH: Yes.
HARLOW: It was so crowded. Two different stages. Two different times.
Do you think that's what we're heading into again?
SMERCONISH: No, I don't think so. I don't think we're headed for 15, 16. I don't - I don't see senators coming forward. I see a lot of those you might anticipate getting in who are going to think twice about it this time. What remains to be seen, though, is the total number of the field and whether Donald Trump can maintain the support that he has.
Can I remind you that at this stage in the last cycle where he was successful, meaning February of 2015, he wasn't showing up in the polls. And most of - I'll say us, never took seriously that he would run. I argue he's in a stronger position today than he was in that cycle. Former president and half of Republicans who are standing with him.
HARLOW: You heard it here first from Michael Smerconish. Thank you, Michael. COLLINS: Thanks, Michael.
HARLOW: Everyone, you can catch Michael's show, 9:00 a.m. Eastern tomorrow right here on CNN.
Well, coming up for us on CNN THIS MORNING, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH MCLACHLAN, MUSICIAN: Hello, I'm Sarah McLachlan. For just dollars a day you can help helpless animals find shelter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Busch. Wrong shelter, Sarah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: It is that time again, bringing on the Super Bowl ads. But how much will they cost this year? Harry Enten with this morning's number.
COLLINS: I'm always fascinated by how much they cost.
HARLOW: I -
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[06:53:00]
HARLOW: Time is money, as they say. So, how much money will seconds of airtime cost advertisers at Super Bowl LVII? CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten is here with the morning number.
How many gazillions?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, my goodness gracious. OK, this morning's number is -- the cost of a 30 second ad is $7 million. $7 million is this morning's number in 2023. My goodness. I don't know where those companies get that money. I guess it's because we give it to them.
But take a look here. I think this gives you an understanding of how much the cost of a Super Bowl ad has gone up over the years. If you go back to the first Super Bowl, accounting for inflation, it was just $383,000 for a 30 second ad. By 1980, it jumped to $847,000. The beginning of this century, $3.5 million. But now it's double that at $7 million per - we've even seen a jump from 2020.
I guess my question to you, Poppy, is, what's your favorite part of watching the Super Bowl? Because 24 percent of Americans say the commercial. I'm with this 58 percent who say the football game. But what do you think?
HARLOW: Obvious, the football game. Hold on, Carolyn (ph), what did you say, how much a second? $233,000 a second.
ENTEN: Oh.
HARLOW: Oh.
ENTEN: Yes.
HARLOW: I have a really - we've got really smart producers back there.
ENTEN: We've got really - Carolyn is a very smart producer.
I don't know who these -
HARLOW: It's the football for me. I'm not as obsessed with the commercials. But I know a lot of people are.
ENTEN: I don't know who the 2 percent who say the pregame show is the favorite part of watching the Super Bowl, but I'm part of the 58 percent. But I will say this, broadcasters are getting a lot for their dough because take a look at the top broadcast of 2022 on any one network. Look at how many people tuned into the Super Bowl.
HARLOW: Wow.
ENTEN: It was 99.2 million. That was double the next highest, which is the NFC championship at 50.2 million. And the top non-sports event was just 22 million. So, that's a lot of money, but those advertise -
HARLOW: And who gets this? Who's airing the Super Bowl this year?
ENTEN: Fox is airing the Super Bowl.
HARLOW: OK. Harry, thank you.
ENTEN: Thank you.
HARLOW: Thank you. Thank you.
Millions of Americans in the northeast bundling up this morning amid the coldest wind chills in decades. How cold is it going to get? That's ahead.
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[06:59:05]
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GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): What we're likely to encounter over the next 36 to 48 hours is going to be really unprecedented.
This is going to be a cold weather crisis from Seabrook to Colebrook.
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COLLINS: OK, you know when you're hearing that from New Hampshire's governor, it's going to be really cold.
HARLOW: Yes, it's going to be really cold.
COLLINS: They don't play around with the weather.
Good morning, everybody. Don is on assignment in Los Angeles this morning.
And we are reporting on a dangerous arctic blast that is descending upon the northeast, bringing extreme cold, the likes of which we have not seen in decades. We have reporters live on the ground across the region. We're going to bring you the latest forecast on where the wind chills could plunge to 50 below zero.
HARLOW: Also, a suspected Chinese spy balloon is hovering over the United States this morning. What is it doing here? And why the Pentagon is not shooting it down.
Plus, this.
[06:59:58]
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REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Consistency. There is nothing consistent with the Republican Party's continued attack, except for the racism and incitement of violence against women of color in this body.
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COLLINS: Democrats.
