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Madonna Recovering after ICU Stay; President Promotes Economic Vision; Anheuser-Busch Ready to Move Past Controversy; Melinda French Gates is Interviewed about Women in Public Office. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 29, 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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[06:30:39]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, music icon Madonna is being forced to postpone her world tour due to a health scare. Her manager said on social media that she spent several days in the ICU battling a serious bacterial infection. A source says she is now out of the ICU, that's good news, and she's recovering.

Our Meg Tirrell joins us now with more.

Glad to hear she's on the mend, but really scary.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, absolutely. I mean we don't have a lot of details about what happened to Madonna. We know that it was on Saturday that she developed this infection and went to the ICU. As you said, you know, on her road to recovery and her manager saying on Instagram they expect her to make a full recovery. So, that's good news.

But without knowing a ton of details, some of the experts I've been talking with, doctors in infectious diseases, note that it is one of the most common reasons to go to the ICU, a severe bacterial infection. This is something that happen relatively frequently. It does happen more in people who are elderly or have underlying health conditions or are immunocompromised.

And the word that kept coming up, every doctor I spoke with, was sepsis. And so that is something that a severe infection can lead to. It's a life-threatening reaction to that infection. It can cause dangerous drops in blood pressure. It can cause your organs to shut down. So, that is a concern that maybe this is possibly what happened. We don't have the information. But, obviously, going to the ICU means it was extremely serious and potentially life-threatening.

PHILL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: You know, you mentioned her manager saying that there would be a - that she would have a full recovery. And, again, with the caveat that we don't know a lot of the specifics here, which is exactly why I'm going to ask you specific questions. But I do think that if you're reading this story and you're seeing kind of the dynamics that led to the ICU, you're sitting there saying, this sounds terrible.

TIRRELL: Right.

MATTINGLY: Is full recovery in the types of infections when you were talking to experts something that is normal, something that is usually what happens?

TIRRELL: Yes. You know, they noted, there can be a broad array of reactions to something like this depending on the person, depending on the circumstances of infection. They said some people do have a full recovery in days to weeks. Other people still don't get back to their baseline at a year after being hospitalized in the ICU. So it really depends on the person. So everybody, obviously, is really rooting for Madonna.

HARLOW: She's such a - she's been such a picture of health. Like she exercises a lot clearly and so hopefully that is all going in her favor as she fights this off.

TIRRELL: Yes. Definitely.

HARLOW: Thank you, Meg, very much.

TIRRELL: Thanks, guys.

MATTINGLY: All right, well, Bud Light says it's ready to move on after slumping sales in a very significant recent controversy. How it plans to do just that.

HARLOW: Also, President Biden laying out Bidenomics, right? He says the media came up with the term but now they're embracing it. What does it actually mean? The details ahead.

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HARLOW: President Biden pitching what she calling Bidenomics to American voters. A set of economic policies he hopes will help secure him a second term.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Bidenomics is about building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down. And there are three fundamental changes that we decided to make with the help of the Congress we've been able to do it.

First, making smart investments in America. Second, educating and empowering American workers to grow the middle class. And, third, promoting competition to lower costs to help small businesses.

HARLOW: Let's bring in our chief business correspondent Christine Romans.

It's really interesting -- it now has the name, sort of how Obamacare got the name -- this is Bidenomics.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

HARLOW: But it is meant to be the opposite of Reagan-esque trickle down.

ROMANS: That's right, building the middle class from the middle out and the bottom up and really focusing on that part of the economy. And that's the way they've been framing it.

And the president, yesterday, saying, rightly, 13 -- more than 13 million jobs have been added since he's been in office. There is record low African American unemployment, record low unemployment rate for Hispanic Americans and a record labor force participation for women. The president saying half of the labor force are women and two- thirds of the smart was a little Joe Biden humor there.

HARLOW: Love that.

ROMANS: But all of these things are true. And the White House this week put together this -- sort of this framing of it, average job creation per month, to show just what's been happening in the rock and roll job market that we have right now. Now, of course, it's distorted a little bit.

HARLOW: I was just going to say, Covid.

ROMANS: Covid hit here.

HARLOW: Yes.

ROMANS: And so millions of jobs were lost. And then the economy bounced back -

HARLOW: Not apples to apples.

ROMANS: Right. The economy bounced back and millions have been added. But when you look -- you look at the job creation. We've had -- we had a very, very strong job market. So, on that, the White House is definitely right.

HARLOW: I think it's so interesting that the numbers tell the story but the majority of the people aren't buying the story.

ROMANS: That's right. So, you look at these -- you look at these investments, once in a generation investments, over the past couple of years. Infrastructure, bipartisan infrastructure there. The semiconductor industry really much needed advances in there. Clean energy credits. High speed internet access. Lower costs for seniors.

And then you look at the polling. And so there's this disconnect. And I think that's why they're trying to brand Bidenomics and go out on the road and really sell it here.

And one of the reasons I think that it doesn't resonate is because inflation is the thing that every week people are still feeling. Inflation is down 11 months in a row, but this is year on year. Consumer prices from - this is May, I think. Still, prices are up from last year and people feel that. And so that is the thing that they have to overcome to sell this Bidenomics.

HARLOW: It's so interesting with the inflation picture like this and people not thinking he's doing a great job in the economy, they're still pushing the economy as a huge focus for him right now.

[06:40:07]

ROMANS: Right. It's true. You know, and presidents get too much credit and too much blame.

HARLOW: Of course.

ROMANS: So, when - you know, when you're trying to take credit for one part of the economy, you're going to take the blame for other parts.

So, we'll see how the White House tries to sell it. They've got a long runway here before the election.

HARLOW: Yes, they do.

Thank you, Romans, very, very much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

HARLOW: Phil.

MATTINGLY: All right, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch says the company is ready to move forward after boycotts over its partnership with the trans influencer tanked its sales. Now, the beer giant launched a new ad campaign yesterday, you're seeing some of it here, focusing on the people who help make the company's beer. Bud Light lost its top spot in the market in May after partnering with and sending trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney a personalized Bud Light can.

CNN business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich is here.

Vanessa, I have been fascinated by the business element of the story and the very real, tangible impact this has had on the business of Anheuser-Busch, on Bud Light specifically. The CEO saying they're ready to move forward. How?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: So, this is the CEO of Anheuser-Busch, Brendan Whitworth, trying to move the conversation away from the controversy and back to the beer and the people that make the beer. Sixty-five thousand employees that help to bring Bud Light to Americans across the country.

This controversy really had financial impacts on the company and some scary impacts. There were bomb threats and harassment against employees at breweries. Sales of Bud Light tanked 24 percent in the week ending June 3rd. And Bud Light is no longer the best selling beer in America. That's a title they've held for many decades.

So, the CEO went on "CBS Mornings" and talked about how he plans to move the company forward.

Listen.

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BRENDAN WHITWORTH, CEO, ANHEUSER-BUSCH: But as we move forward, you know, we want to focus on what we do best, which is brewing great beer for everyone, listening to our consumers, being humble in listening to them, making sure that we do right by our employees, take care and support our partners and ultimately make an impact in the communities that we serve.

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YURKEVICH: And part of that support is financial support to all of the people, all of the distributors, all of the farmers that are helping to bring Bud Light to America's tables. And part of this is giving actually distributors about $0.20 to $0.50 per case because of the loss in revenue that they're seeing, including to help support them on fuel costs and also really looking to beef up their marketing around the employees, trying to move the conversation away from the controversy.

But this has lingered for months now. This wasn't something that happened on social media and stayed there. This has had significant impacts on the companies. And people on both sides, conservatives and the LGBTQ community, are both upset with the company saying that they haven't done enough in their respective ways.

MATTINGLY: I know you can't separate the cultural from the business, but I find it, from a business perspective, to be completely fascinating because I feel like we've seen things like this happen and it doesn't have a tangible bottom line impact.

YURKEVICH: Yes, it fizzles out sometimes.

MATTINGLY: It becomes like a kind of a hot thing on Twitter and then kind of, to your point, fizzles out. This had a tangible impact. Now they're trying to recover from it.

Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks so much.

YURKEVICH: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting that the Chinese spy balloon that floated over the U.S. earlier this year and was shot down, it's actually carrying American made equipment to spy on Americans.

HARLOW: Also, philanthropist Melinda French Gates now focusing and putting a lot of money behind getting more women elected to public office. She joins us to tell us about the fight and who she's supporting.

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MELINDA FRENCH GATES, FOUNDER, PIVOTAL VENTURES: Well, sometimes I vote Republican. Sometimes Democratic. I'm a very independent voter. And I don't want to be pegged as one or the other.

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MELINDA FRENCH GATES, CO-CHAIR, BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION: First let me say public office is really important to have more women and people of color in state legislatures, in local city councils, and also at the federal level because when you get women and people of color in these state houses, they make new policies for society. They change society.

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HARLOW: So that is philanthropist Melinda French Gates. She's, of course, a co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world's largest non-profits. That foundation has given away more than $70 billion in grants. A long-time advocate for women and girls, she is now focused on getting more women elected to public office.

French Gates explains why in a recent op-ed, quote, only one in three state legislatures in the U.S. is a woman. And at the federal level it's closer to one in four. There is evidence that women govern differently, working more collaboratively across party lines and introducing legislation on issues that have historically gone unaddressed.

I spoke with her yesterday about those efforts, also her concerns about AI and life now after her very public divorce from Bill Gates.

Here's part of our conversation.

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HARLOW: So, you start this op-ed in "Time" writing, in 1976 Anna Belle Clement O'Brien, known as the first lady of Tennessee politics, ran for office on the slogan, a woman's place is in the House and the Senate too. Why is so much of your effort and your money going to getting more women elected?

:MELINDA FRENCH GATES, FOUNDER, PIVOTAL VENTURES Well, because I believe women should have their full power and influence in the United States. And in 2019 I made a billion dollars commitment to ensure that really starts to happen more, with more momentum. And I'm just seeing that we aren't there yet. You know, too often we have decisions made -- being made for women, not by women. And as she said, and also as Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, I believe women should be every place that decisions are being made. And that's just -- we're just not there yet as a country.

HARLOW: What's interesting about your effort is you're really keenly focused on state legislatures. Why?

GATES: Well, I'm focused on making sure that women have their rightful place at all levels of governing.

[06:50:05]

But state legislators are particularly important. There are 7,000 seats at the legislative level at states. They control $2 trillion in resources. And they make really important policies and laws that affect everyone in their state.

So, really focusing there where there's so many seats, but also for those women who do want to go on and be in the halls of Congress, it's a great training ground for that.

HARLOW: Democrats and Republicans? You want to help across parties?

GATES: Of course. We need our government to represent all of us. And we have different points of view depending on what state you're in, depending on your political leanings. So, absolutely, both sides of the aisle.

HARLOW: So, former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney was quite blunt speaking in New York this week.

Here's what she said.

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LIZ CHENEY (R), FORMER WYOMING CONGRESSWOMAN: What we've done in our politics is create a situation where we're electing idiots. And - and so I don't look at it through the lens of like, you know, is this what I should do or what I shouldn't do. I look at it through the lens of, how do we elect serious people? And I think electing serious people can't be partisan.

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HARLOW: I'm wondering if you agree, if you think that electing more women helps solve that problem?

GATES: I think we need to make sure that everyone in this country's voice is represented. So whether that's a female, whether that's a male. And we have to realize, we just aren't there yet. One this three state legislators are women. One in four are women in Congress. And yet we're 50 percent of the population. How can we have 16 million black women in this country but zero black senators?

HARLOW: Yes.

GATES: So, we know that point of view isn't being represented, and we need to do more to make sure that women are represented.

HARLOW: I, obviously, couldn't help but notice you wrote this. This was published really at the one-year mark of Roe versus Wade being overturned. Was that a coincidence?

GATES: Not at all a coincidence. I mean to have a law on the books for almost 50 years around women's reproductive rights, and then have it rolled back. And when you really go and talk to and do the research about what do Americans believe, they believe that law should be in place.

HARLOW: Yes.

GATES: So, to me, it was a decision, again, where a decision made for women, not by women. We should never roll back a law like that, that has to do with women's health. That's a very private, hard, emotional decision. The government shouldn't be involved and hasn't been involved in 50 years, so why would we change that?

HARLOW: This reminded me of something you've said a long time ago when I - when I spoke to you. You said that your mother taught you, set your own agenda or someone else will. Does all of this really stem from that, set your own agenda or someone else will?

GATES: Yes, because the agenda being set by the United States is being set by a group of people that doesn't represent all of us. And what we know is that women, when they come into halls of power, they introduce new pieces of legislation that have historically not been there because they have a different lens on society. And so this is about making sure we set the agenda for all the American people. Our democracy should represent us, and it does not today.

HARLOW: So, in all of my years of interviewing you, you have never endorsed publicly, am I right, a candidate?

GATES: I think that's right.

HARLOW: Does this change -- does that change now, Melinda?

GATES: No, I - I have given personal resources and continue to give personal resources to many candidates on both sides of the aisle, but I don't endorse a specific person for office.

HARLOW: But can I ask you why, if you're - you're really putting a lot more money and energy behind politics and getting women elected and behind causes that you're passionate about, Roe versus Wade being overturned as an example, why not publicly endorse if there are candidates in this next cycle that you think are necessary in office?

GATES: Because I vote in any election on both sides of the aisle. Sometimes I vote Republican, sometimes Democratic. I'm a very independent voter. And I don't want to be pegged as one or the other. I think that the best policy is made when we reach across the aisle. And so I think if I come out for a particular candidate, they're going to say, oh, she always supports Republicans or she always supports a Democrat, and that's just not true.

HARLOW: So many people are focused on artificial intelligence now, and you've been warning for years, not just about what is ahead with AI, but about bias built into AI. And you've equated it to the bias built into the Constitution, right? Who was the Constitution written by.

How nervous are you that that could be playing out again when it comes to AI? [06:55:01]

GATES: I'm very nervous because we don't have enough women, again, who are computer scientists and who have expertise in artificial intelligence. And without that, we will bake bias into the system.

Again, the system needs to take all people's points of view in and see society and, quite frankly, see the world writ large as it is. When you have women at any of these places, when you're creating something, when you're making this decision, when you're setting a law, you're bringing that perspective of society that is just so vitally important.

HARLOW: You have, Melinda, described this moment in your life as incredibly joyful. So many people in America and around the world have gone through painful divorce. Can you talk a little bit about your journey in finding this joy?

GATES: I think, you know, you have to look for it every day. And so even when you go through a painful time, which I did for several years, you - you gather these moments of joy during the day and then you reflect on them at the end of the week.

And so I happen to be in a situation now in life where, you know, I have a granddaughter. My three children are out of the house now. And so I just really surround myself with family and friends who bring me a lot of energy and joy so that when I do go out in the world and do this kind of work, or I travel to places that are very difficult, I can lean into that joy and lean into that network of family and friends that support us.

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MATTINGLY: I think, Poppy, we talked about this a little yesterday after the interview and then I'll acknowledge, candidly, I went back and was watching the feed in our system -

HARLOW: You did?

MATTINGLY: To -- just because I was very interested in the actual interview itself. But you mentioned it yesterday, and I want to follow up on it, because your perspective on the non-endorsements.

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Particularly when you take a very straightforward line on Roe versus Wade, and I've seen a lot of people with a lot of money in politics try and strike this middle ground and within a year or two their grand efforts have completely faded away. Why? What was your - what was your perspective?

HARLOW: Why doesn't she endorse? I think you heard her say there because she's not just a Democrat, not just a Republican, she's an independent, but you could still endorse certain candidates.

MATTINGLY: Why? HARLOW: I think she doesn't want to alienate people. I think she believes that she can make change without publicly saying who, not just with money, but with resources, with the writing that she does. But it was really interesting.

It's just been fascinating over the last decade to watch her evolution in terms of such support of women and girls and now really in politics. And as you heard the timing of this, on the one year mark when Roe was overturned was not a coincidence at all. I think you're going to see and hear a lot more from Melinda Gates on this front. Maybe one day she will endorse.

MATTINGLY: We'll see. It was a great interview.

HARLOW: We'll see. I did ask, are you going to run? Is she going to run? No. Never. Never.

MATTINGLY: Not a chance. I got - yes, that seemed pretty obvious (INAUDIBLE). All right, great interview, Poppy.

HARLOW: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: All right, it was a terrifying emergency landing in Charlotte where a Delta flight touched down without its landing gear. We're going to show you that moment and what it was like for the passengers inside.

HARLOW: Wow.

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