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CNN This Morning
America's Largest Banks Extend Lifeline; Julie Potash Slavin is Interviewed about the Swift Release; Options for Watching NCAA Games. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired March 17, 2023 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00]
MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Received money from a Chinese-based energy company. But the House Oversight Committee is now providing new details about those payments, including that one of the recipients was Hallie Biden. She is the widow of Beau Biden. She was also romantically involved with Hunter Biden after Beau's death. And the House Oversight Committee was able to glean this information by obtaining financial records from an associate of Hunter Biden. His name is John Robinson Walker. He's someone that Republicans have scrutinized for many years. He transferred just over a million dollars to three members of Biden's family after he received $3 million from that Chinese-based energy company.
But, I want to be crystal clear here because this memo does not directly tie these payments to President Joe Biden in any way, nor does it provide any evidence that Biden directed these payments or took any action during his time in office to enrich his own family members. Hunter Biden's legal team also says that Hunter pursued these legitimate business deals. That he has a right to do so as a private season. That all the money was earned legitimately. And so I think it's important to underscore here, Republicans, they are continuing to dig on this issue. They are ramping up this investigation but they have not yet proved the entire purpose of their investigation.
Kaitlan.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Melanie Zanona, live on Capitol Hill, thank you.
All right, and we have a look at stock futures this morning. Markets are set to open in just about an hour from now. We're keeping an eye on that very closely as we are seeing regional banks get help from bigger banks in an unprecedented move. We're going to discuss it all with Christine Romans, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:35:29]
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: So, this just in to CNN. A new crackdown on those annoying spam text messages that you get from unknown numbers. The Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules requiring telecom companies to block text messages from phone numbers that appear to be invalid allocated or unused. The agency, HAD, received more than 18,000 consumer complaints and it mirrors a similar effort to shut down illegal robocalls. I am definitely down with that.
COLLINS: Fully endorsed.
All right, also right now, U.S. stock futures are mixed as we await for the market to open just moments from now. Wall Street, however, still headed for a winning week after a group of America's biggest banks announce that they will come to the rescue with a $30 billion package for First Republic Bank.
CNN's Christine Romans joins us now with the major news on Silicon Valley Bank's parent company.
What are we learning?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. OK, so this just crossed. The parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, the bank that failed and started this whole mess, or highlighted this whole mess, has just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York. It's got $2.2 billion of liquidity. So, now we've got the next step of this process there. So that -- we had expected this, but that filing just happened here.
And then the other big news is this unbelievable private sector push to shore up First Republic. We learned yesterday afternoon that banks led by JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup, Wells Fargo and others were all kicking in billions of dollars of their own money to cover the deposits of First Republic. So, this was another big effort in the last week to really project confidence and reassurance in the American financial system. This is essentially a bank-led bailout of one of their competitors because the idea here is --
COLLINS: But it helps them?
ROMANS: It helps them because financial security is good for their business. Financial security is, of course, goodwill for the American economy. So that's what we're seeing there. And you can see all that money flowing into there.
Futures are a little bit lower here right now. We're on track for an up week. But I'm going to very closely be watching the regional bank stocks to see if they can get -- find some footing here.
COLLINS: That's the thing because, yes, these big banks are coming up with $30 billion. What about the rest of the other banks, though, the other small and mid-sized banks that are struggling?
ROMANS: Yes, you know, some of them are struggling but they're going to be OK. Others, we're watching very closely.
When I talk to banking experts and policymakers, they say the U.S. banking system is strong and it is sound but we could have more bank bankruptcies. Both of those things could happen in the same environment. And that's - that's just where we are after a year of much higher interest rates.
LEMON: You see some of the small and some of the regional banks, their stocks are going up. So, it's a (INAUDIBLE) --
ROMANS: Yes, you know, they're trying to - just searching for stability is what I keep saying. Like, putting a floor under this thing. You know, the fire is out but the embers are still - are still smoldering.
LEMON: Smoldering.
ROMANS: So, we all have to be on guard.
LEMON: Thank you, Christine.
COLLINS: Yes, just an amazing effort.
ROMANS: Yes, it is. It is.
COLLINS: Christine Romans, thank you for being with us all week here at the desk.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Also, while you were sleeping -
LEMON: Oh, boy.
COLLINS: In addition if you're not paying attention to the banking crisis, Taylor Swift was releasing. We have her new and newish music. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:42:31]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAYLOR SWIFT, MUSICIAN (singing): All of the girls you loved before made you the one -
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: That is Taylor Swift's newly released track "All the Girls You Loved Before." It is part of a surprise drop that happened overnight and had her fans waiting for the chock to strike midnight. She went public with four previously unreleased songs, including a few gems from the past which are branded as Taylor's version, as the ones she releases are now. The release is coinciding with her highly anticipated "Eras" tour. It is her first four in five years. It's kicking off in Arizona tonight, months after that Ticketmaster fiasco that left millions of her fans empty-handed and actually prompted a congressional investigation - or a congressional hearing, I should say, on the lack of competition in the ticketing industry. So, here with us to discuss now is Julie Slavin, also known as DJ Hesta Prynn, which is the preferred name, right? JULIE POTASH SLAVIN, DJ HESTA PRYNN: Hi. That's my preferred name,
yes.
LEMON: DJ Hesta Prynn!
SLAVIN: What's up!
COLLINS: I mean it has to be remarkable, from your vantage point, to just view how insane the demand for this has been.
SLAVIN: Yes.
COLLINS: How Taylor Swift has just, like, she kind of rebrands herself in a different, varying way each time she goes on tour. It's amazing to watch.
SLAVIN: I agree. You know, I looked at the new songs this morning. I listened on YouTube. And they had 51 million views -
COLLINS: From midnight.
SLAVIN: At 6:00 a.m. this morning. I haven't even looked in two hours.
LEMON: Wow.
COLLINS: Wow.
SLAVIN: And what's essentially amazing about Taylor, with all the Taylor's version, if you're following it with the masters is that she's really become, like, a legal activist. And when you think of a pop star, especially a pop star who appeals to, such, like, a young age group, you don't think about the kids learning about intellectual property rights and how to -
LEMON: Business.
SLAVIN: Yes, you don't think of them learning about business.
LEMON: Business. That's how so many artists get tripped up on that, right, and they lose all of their money. But not Taylor. She owns her masters now, right?
SLAVIN: She does. Yes.
LEMON: She fought to get her masters back.
SLAVIN: Yes. She kind of -- I know you're a fan of early Prince? Am I getting that right?
LEMON: I'm a fan of - yes.
COLLINS: Oh.
LEMON: I love all genres of music.
SLAVIN: Yes. LEMON: I like Taylor Swift. I'm just not as - I - as -- what's the word? Knowledgeable about her music as much as Kaitlan.
SLAVIN: Yes.
LEMON: Kaitlan's like really into it. Kaitlan's going to see her on Friday in Las Vegas.
SLAVIN: Oh.
COLLINS: Yes.
LEMON: But, just a simple question, do you have favorites when you're looking at the music? Did you like?
SLAVIN: Yes, I mean, I love this new record more than anything. I'm not a Swiftie, like full disclosure. It sounds like maybe you're more of a Swiftie than me.
COLLINS: I think I - I crossed that threshold the most out of anyone at the table.
SLAVIN: Right. I like that. But I use -- because I'm a DJ, I use music.
COLLINS: Yes.
SLAVIN: And what I love about Taylor is, you can really, like, jump off from Taylor into any genre. If you're mixing a set, you can go from, "We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together," to, like, on to the next one -
[08:45:00]
COLLINS: Yes.
SLAVIN: Jay-z and, you know.
COLLINS: Yes.
SLAVIN: And then you can go into like, "Started from the Bottom" by Drake, who I think you guys are also a fan of. I heard you talking about Drake this morning.
LEMON: Yes.
SLAVIN: Yes. A lot of music talk on the show.
LEMON: Yes, who's not. Come on, everybody is a fan.
SLAVIN: I mean, please, I'm always talking about Drake.
COLLINS: But her influence really is amazing because even if you're not this diehard fan, I mean, it's hard to deny the impact she has. Look at what happened with the ticket sales.
SLAVIN: Yes.
COLLINS: She's kicking off in Glendale, Arizona, tonight. I love this proclamation that we got from the city's mayor. They're naming it Swift City tonight for her - for her kickoff.
SLAVIN: That's crazy.
COLLINS: And I just think - it is amazing the influence she's had.
SLAVIN: Yes, I totally agree with you.
LEMON: It's not just teenage girls as well, right?
SLAVIN: Not anymore. I mean the thing with Taylor is like, people grew up with her and she's changed so much. I think when I -- when you think about, you know, I talk on my radio show, it's music is therapy, we talk about the emotional connection to artists. And I think Taylor has everything because she talks in her lyrics. She's so candid. We know what she's singing about. And there's something about her vocal tone that everyone kind of connects with.
I have a three - I had a three-year-old that - she's now nine, but I remember I played her Taylor Swift early on and halfway through the song she turned to me, not knowing anything about Taylor's story or all of those things and she said, mommy, this is my favorite singer. That really happens.
LEMON: Wow.
SLAVIN: There's something about her vocal tone that really, like, takes people and grabs them and brings them in.
COLLINS: Yes.
SLAVIN: So, because of that, because people feel close to her and like they know her, when she says, I want you to stream Taylor's version, because that means that I get paid because I own this.
COLLINS: Yes.
SLAVIN: Because artists should own their work, people follow that. They do what she says because they feel so connected to her.
LEMON: Well, that's the thing about artists and artistry, it's the unknow. As they say, someone has the je ne sais quoi.
SLAVIN: That's right.
LEMON: She has that.
SLAVIN: She has it.
LEMON: That's the only word I know.
SLAVIN: Yes.
COLLINS: Safe to say.
SLAVIN: I like that.
COLLINS: Thank you for joining us on set here.
SLAVIN: Thanks for having me. Have a great time at that show.
COLLINS: I will.
SLAVIN: Yes.
LEMON: Thanks, DJ, good to see you.
Oh, my gosh.
COLLINS: All right, this is not Taylor Swift, but also still craziness that's been happening.
LEMON: The first round of March Madness was pretty dramatic, right, and probably busted your bracket. Harry Enten has this morning's numbers. Come on, bust a movie there, Harry.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:51:18]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the Cavaliers are playing with four guards and the four guards out there, along with Cedric, are their best free throw shooters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clark in a straitjacket.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, he didn't need to do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He threw it away! He threw it away! (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Furman University stunning Virginia with just two seconds left on the clock. That game-winning shot was the first major upset of March Madness. The first round of games continue today. And, turns out, your choice of cable or streaming could be setting you up for a major spoiler.
CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten has this morning's number.
That applies to me, especially with the streaming service that I have on my phone. When I'm watching from the phone I notice everybody's like 40 second ahead of me.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, it's a thing and something that I've run into a lot, so I got really interested in this.
So, this morning's number is 25 percent because that's the percentage of NCAA fans who streamed at least one game over the last year. So, streaming is becoming a lot more popular. And, you know, you're talking about streaming and someone like me who might be watching on cable and talking about that lag, that lag, right? And it turns out there's a massive lag.
So, how much lag behind real-time action? This is an estimate using this past year's Super Bowl as an example. So, cable lags behind real- time action by about 28 seconds. But look at the average streamer, a bundle, let's say your Fubus, let's say your Hulus, let's say your YouTube TV, that lags by an average of about 67 seconds. And so streaming lagged cable by about 39 seconds overall.
And I want to give you an idea of how this works in real-time with a good example up here.
So, we literally have cable, right? And then we started the clock for 39 seconds. And you'll look at streaming TV. Nothing is going on at this particular point. And why is this so important? Because maybe you want to be texting with friends, Don. Maybe you're on Twitter, right, and you're following the action. Or maybe you have a sports app and it's updating you. And, of course, they get the action in real-time and you're watching, let's say, YouTube TV and all of a sudden the action is happening and you have no idea what's going on. And I, for one, can't stand this, especially when I'm watching an NFL game, and I can't watch my Buffalo Bills streaming, I have to make sure that, in fact, I'm getting it in real-time.
And look know, we just hit zero, and the streaming just started. That's how much of a delay that we're talking about here. And so when you're, let's say, texting with your friends on the NCAA buzzer beaters, all of a sudden you might not necessarily know what's going on.
So, let's just sort of walk back here a little bit and, you know, again, as I mentioned, it's your friends texting. It's Twitter. It's your sports app. All that lagging really hurts.
But, you know what, Americans really hate spoilers. And it's not just about sports streaming, right? Twitter can spoil stream shows. Let's say "Succession," right, for example. And here's where I love that we have polling for everything. About 75 percent of Americans hate spoilers of any type. If they ruin "Succession" for me, I'll just be really angry, Don.
COLLINS: I mean it's amazing to see how far behind it was. It's a great argument for cable, by the way.
LEMON: I live that. I live that. I'm glad you said that. I was just going to say, just get cable. It's just right there. It's in real-time pretty much.
COLLINS: You're going to get the notification from CBS Sports before you even find out what happened to the game.
LEMON: Yes. So, there you go.
ENTEN: It's awful. I can't stand it. It annoys the heck out of me.
LEMON: Cable. All of this. And you spend more money, I find, on all of these services than just cable. I mean someone should sort of figure it out. It's called cable.
COLLINS: Yes. We have a lot of games to watch today.
LEMON: Yes.
We'll be right back, Harry.
ENTEN: Bye.
LEMON: Bye.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:59:03]
COLLINS: Nearly 30 years after a civil war in Guatemala, the country is still struggling. The father of this morning's CNN Hero was killed during the conflict, but she has turned that pain into purpose.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The children come to the library looking how to do homework because they don't have the resources at home.
The parents don't know how to read.
They began to come with that desire to get ahead. Then, I began to realize that there were more obstacles that impede them from studying.
We provide educational opportunities and the tools so that they can break that cycle of poverty.
We now have children who say they want to be engineers or that they want to be chemists.
Away!
We are hundreds of people involved. We give to people love, respect and dignity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[09:00:06]
LEMON: Always (INAUDIBLE).
COLLINS: And for more you can -- yes, so good -- you can go to cnnheroes.com. You can nominate your hero there.
LEMON: Our hero, you guys for watching this week. Thank you so much. We'll see you next week. Have a great weekend. Happy St. Patrick's Day.
COLLINS: Have a good one.
LEMON: CNN "NEWSROOM" starts right now.
