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Trump Makes His Case To Iowa Voters Ahead Of Caucuses; Jewish Parents Rethink College Choices Amid Antisemitism; Poison Control Centers See Spike In Calls Related To Injected Weight Loss Drugs. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired December 14, 2023 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

LIZ NAFTALI, GREAT AUNT OF 4-YEAR-OLD FREED HOSTAGE ABIGAIL EDAN: -- committed to making sure that the pressure is on. And while disappointing to hear that the Israeli government has not sent him to continue those talks, we do believe that those talks are continuing.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: OK.

NAFTALI: And as I said before, our commitment is to make sure that these talks do continue. These are over 110 people -- fathers, sons, and a lot -- and children, and mothers, and daughters.

And the thing that everybody has to understand -- and this is where the pressure is -- they've been there for 69 days and many of them left with bullet wounds. One young man without an arm. And their conditions are untenable. They're not eating. They don't have food. They're drinking saltwater.

And so, for us to sit her and say what should or shouldn't, we're not diplomats. We're just people who have family members.

And while I am blessed that Abigail, our grand niece, returned to our family, I want people to remember that before she was kidnapped she witnessed her parents -- she and her siblings witnessed her parents being murdered.

And so, all of these hostages are people's family --

HILL: Um-hum.

NAFTALI: -- and so, that must be the most urgent matter that the Israelis take on to get back these people to come back to their loved ones.

HILL: And Liz, you have spoken about -- so beautifully -- as have a number of other family members of hostages how you all have become a family. You were very committed to this. As you noted, Abigail is home. That does not end this fight for you.

How is Abigail doing a couple of weeks on now?

NATFALI: Well, Abigail is a beautiful 4-year-old, smart, thoughtful, little girl who just wants to play with her siblings and play with her friends. Kick the soccer ball, play the memory game. You know, on the surface, Abigail is OK. And on the surface, her siblings are doing great. And that is because they're with family. They're with their aunts, their uncles, grandparents, and their loved ones and they are going to be embraced. And our job is to protect them and make sure that they have a beautiful life.

And so, Abigail is going to be OK. But on the surface, she's wonderful. But what she saw and what she experienced -- those are things that as we all know -- and mothers and fathers that are listening -- we don't know what those -- what is going to come from this. But what I do know is that she is getting a lot of love and a lot of care, and she has a beautiful family.

HILL: Liz, always appreciate you joining us. Thank you.

NAFTALI: Thank you for having me.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, aid for Israel and Ukraine is in limbo. Federal spending talks still stalled and there seems to be no breakthrough on border talks, but the House has time to debate milk. We'll discuss.

HILL: It does a body good.

And CNN is the first Western media outlet to cross into southern Gaza to report independently without the Israeli military. Clarissa Ward joins us to talk about what she saw after this rare access inside the war zone.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:36:25]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Were you better off four years ago, or are you better off today?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: It is the critical question as 2024 kicks into gear. Donald Trump issuing a stark warning from the campaign trail last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If we're not elected, we'll have a depression the likes of which I don't believe anybody has ever seen -- maybe 1929. That's what's going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: The clear Republican frontrunner moving to press what poll after poll after poll has shown as a clear advantage on the issue voters care most about, the economy. As for the evidence underpinning that dark prediction -- well, it's

fair to say the timing probably could have been better on that front. Trump's comments came the same day the Federal Reserve painted probably the most optimistic view of the country's economic future in months. It came at a moment when inflation continues to show meaningful and consistent signs of dissipating. It also came just hours after the Dow closed at a record high for the first time in 23 months.

Joining us now, Washington correspondent for Bloomberg, Annmarie Hordern. And CNN political commentator Scott Jennings.

I'm very glad you're here because despite everything that happened yesterday on the economic front, the clear advantage Trump has on the economy is very real, and the clear disconnect between the macroeconomy --

ANNMARIE HORDERN, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: -- and what voters think about what this administration has done is also very significant.

HORDERN: Everything is colored by inflation. And the fact of the matter is -- and we have a new poll out this morning that just looks at swing state voters -- is that when you -- every economic issue from kitchen table issues, consumer goods, groceries, to interest rates -- they all trust the former president more.

And it's the first time we actually see in our poll that Trump is now also ahead in Michigan. Yes, it's with the margin of error, but where Biden is losing is women who, historically, are the ones that really go see these grocery prices, Black Americans. But I think it shows that if Biden is losing those individuals that he won in 2020, he has a year to make them up. And what the macro data is showing is that it is moving in the right direction for potentially, inflation to come down.

I would point out one more nugget on the economy --

MATTINGLY: OK.

HORDERN: -- and that's because our poll looks at how you -- we asked people how do you feel about how the state of the overall economy is going for the country, for your state, for your local municipality. And more people feel better -- there's more positive trends about how they feel their own town is doing and their own economic progress. So that's something the Biden campaign could build on.

But overall, at the moment, they trust Trump more.

HILL: Which is -- that is fascinating polling, right? Because what we have seen over the last several months is yes, the numbers are actually pretty good but people don't feel it.

So if they are now, Scott, starting to say we're feeling a little bit better about things where do you take that? The Bidenomics messaging, let's just be clear, does not seem to be working.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: No. It's not the jobs, it's the inflation. I mean, people don't -- people do not feel like inflation is any different. Prices may be coming down a little but they get raised up so much --

MATTINGLY: Compared to what?

JENNINGS: And so, there's like this nostalgia for the good old days of the Trump years. I mean, Biden ran on getting rid of Trump and Trump's chaos, but this inflation feels very chaotic for a lot of households.

And the interest rates -- I think it's the core of the American dream. Can I afford to buy a house or a car if I wanted to? And a lot of people feel priced out of that right now. I mean, the average mortgage rate in this country is like double what it was under Trump because of the interest rates.

And so, people are looking back on the Trump days saying he seemed to have it under control. And they're looking at Biden and saying not only does he not have it under control but he doesn't seem up to the job of getting it under control.

HORDERN: But one really important statistic I think we need to look at is the price of a gallon of gasoline. It is just over $3.00 a gallon. Trump, last night, was saying it's $5.00, $7.00, $8.00, $9.00. That's not true anymore. And the height was last summer at $5.00. But it's coming down.

[07:40:10]

So the only argument I have when you look a little bit deeper in the data -- yes, Trump -- by and far, people -- there's a trust deficit with the economy with Biden. But by and large, the macroeconomic outlook when you have unemployment below four percent and inflation is coming down, the University of Michigan sentiment shows consumers are feeling a little bit better. It's just the timeline might be on their side. But they have a tremendous amount of work to do.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, there's no question about that.

Scott, I want to ask you something we heard from the ghost of everyone's Capitol past, Paul Ryan.

HORDERN: Young Gun.

MATTINGLY: The former Speaker of the House -- rest in peace, Young Guns. That literally, none of them are in Congress anymore. It was a very different time.

But to that point, I think Paul Ryan is still very reflective of where the Republican Party used to be. And there's still a lot of Republicans that are there. You're -- I want to follow up on that head nod there. But listen to what he said at a (INAUDIBLE) conference. JENNINGS: Um-hum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RYAN, (R) FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Historically speaking, all of his tendencies are, you know, basically, where narcissism takes him, which is whatever makes him popular and makes him feel good at any given moment. And he doesn't think in classical liberal-conservative terms; he thinks in an authoritarian way. And he's been able to get a big chunk of the Republican base to follow him because he's the culture warrior.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And Scott, I don't think Paul Ryan's general disdain for the former president is a secret. That was very candid -- a level of candid he wasn't when he was Speaker of the House.

How many people feel like that inside the party right now?

JENNINGS: Well, first of all, we should put Paul Ryan down as a maybe on Trump next year, and it's a year to work --

MATTINGLY: Yeah. Just like Biden has a year to work on the economy, Trump has a year to work on Paul Ryan.

JENNINGS: Yeah, yeah.

MATTINGLY: I'm sure this --

JENNINGS: Look, I think that -- I think he's articulating the divide between the old school Republican Party -- the elite leadership --

MATTINGLY: Right.

JENNINGS: -- and where the vibe of the Republican grassroots is today. I think the people who love Donald Trump would be inclined to hate someone like Paul Ryan, and they did because they just didn't feel like the leadership of the party at that time was being responsive to what they wanted. And that divide persists today. It's just that -- it's just that Trump has got, by far, the largest share of that vibe share or whatever you want to call it.

But you would hear that sentiment expressed all over Washington, D.C.

MATTINGLY: But you would at the Capitol from a lot of people --

JENNINGS: But you --

MATTINGLY: -- who've endorsed Donald Trump.

JENNINGS: Yeah, but you wouldn't hear it -- but you wouldn't hear it in Iowa, necessarily, from folks who were going into the caucus.

HILL: Look, there's been a lot made of the House impeachment vote that we saw -- MATTINGLY: Yeah.

HILL: -- yesterday. Also, what is or is not getting done. Hey, milk got done --

HORDERN: Yeah.

HILL: -- and that's a big win.

How much of a --

MATTINGLY: That's right.

HILL: -- selling point is that?

HORDERN: Yeah, at one point, the House floor was debating chocolate milk and whether or not we should allow that.

MATTINGLY: Let me ask you. There was a very important moment. Can we play the congresswoman's sound?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. VIRGINIA FOXX (R-NC): The nutrients in whole milk, like protein, calcium, and vitamin D, provide the fuel Santa needs to travel the whole globe in one night. Whole milk is the unsung hero of his Christmas journey. It begs the question if whole milk is a good option to fuel Santa's extraordinary Christmas Eve journey, then why isn't it an option for American schoolchildren in their lunchrooms?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Contextualize for people, real quickly -- this might seem why are they debating whether or not what Santa drinks -- Scott always gives them bourbon, I'm pretty sure -- but also why is this happening on the House floor.

It's related to basically the government -- federal government under the Obama administration putting in regulations that kept whole milk out of schools. Republicans have been pushing back about that. Also, Democrats from ag districts with dairy representation have been getting a lot of heat on it as well.

It passed the House by a wide bipartisan margin. This wasn't just some Republican thing.

You're dairy-free so I feel like we've got to --

HORDERN: I give Santa almond milk, oat, soy milk.

MATTINGLY: There's a debate about almond milk and soy milk as well.

HORDERN: Well, there's a lot of people who don't actually want to call it that. They think it should be called nut juice or beverage.

MATTINGLY: That was actually the debate on the floor. Did I spend too much time watching the debate on the floor?

HORDERN: I think you did.

MATTINGLY: I may have. I may have.

JENNINGS: Where's the big cookie in all of this? I mean, why is -- why is big milk getting all the --

HILL: You mean Cookie Monster?

JENNINGS: Well, why is he -- why are they getting all the credit for --

HILL: He also votes for fruits and vegetables.

JENNINGS: -- Santa's trip when big cookie is like wait a minute --

MATTINGLY: You know why?

JENNINGS: -- we're also providing energy here.

MATTINGLY: Because (INAUDIBLE) juice.

HILL: The reindeer -- the reindeer are flying.

MATTINGLY: Yeah.

HILL: What would they do without their carrots?

MATTINGLY: We're asking all the right questions -- important questions.

HILL: We have a lot cover and --

MATTINGLY: Annmarie --

HILL: -- we're in trouble. We're getting yelled at in our ears.

MATTINGLY: Annmarie, Scott, we appreciate it. Thanks, guys.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

HILL: On a much more serious note, the rise of antisemitism in the United States now has a number of students rethinking where they want to apply to college. CNN sat down with more than a dozen Jewish families who say their priorities have shifted.

[07:45:02]

(COMMERCIAL)

HILL: As incidents of antisemitism spike on college campuses nationwide, more Jewish parents are rethinking where they want their kids to go to school.

Here is CNN's Gabe Cohen. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With growing concerns about antisemitism on elite college campuses --

MERAV, JEWISH MOTHER: I didn't think I would have to readjust a college list based on concerns about safety for Jewish students.

COHEN (voice-over): -- some Jewish parents are reconsidering where their children will go to college with safety and how schools have handled antisemitic incidents on campus playing a huge role.

ANNA, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: I'm running out of schools.

MERAV: Yes, you are kind of running out of schools.

COHEN (voice-over): Merav and her daughter Anna, a high school senior in Atlanta, are still adjusting their list.

MERAV: Our priorities have shifted significantly. The shiny allure of an Ivy has been dulled by their administrative responses to the current conflict.

ANNA: As much as I admire resilience, I'd like not to have to be continuously resilient in terms of finding safety.

CHRISTOPHER RIM, CEO, COMMAND EDUCATION: We have had students completely revamp their entire application. So --

COHEN (voice-over): Christopher Rim, who runs a company that helps students apply to top-tier colleges, says some families are removing schools like Cornell and Columbia, both under investigation by the Department of Education after alleged threats to Jewish students, as well as the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, and Harvard after last week's disastrous Capitol Hill testimony from their presidents.

[07:50:17]

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn's rules or code of conduct? Yes or no?

LIZ MAGILL, THEN-PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: If the speech turns into conduct it can be harassment.

COHEN (voice-over): Replacing those schools, in some cases, with colleges further south, like Emory, Vanderbilt, and Wash U, considered by some to be safer for Jewish students.

COHEN (on camera): Do you get the sense that these students and their families are really willing to pass on the opportunity to go to one of these elite schools because of these concerns?

RIM: Definitely. I mean, I've seen students who I thought would be a shoo-in -- in, for example, like Columbia -- completely make a decision to no longer apply their early decision. COHEN (voice-over): Jennifer Schultz watched her eldest son graduate

from Cornell like her father did decades ago. But she's soured on the school since a series of threats to kill or injure Jewish people in October ended with a Cornell junior facing federal charges.

JENNIFER SCHULTZ, JEWISH MOTHER: After what happens on campus and the death threats to Jewish students it doesn't feel safe.

COHEN (voice-over): She says her youngest, a high school junior, won't apply there or a few other top-tier schools.

SCHULTZ: There are places that we felt very comfortable with and it is devastating for them to be places where our Jewish children are not safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Now, we have seen a lot of schools take public steps to address these concerns in recent weeks. Columbia and Harvard assembled antisemitism task forces. And we saw Penn's president resign over the weekend days after that Capitol Hill hearing with the interim president already saying that every student should feel safe.

But look Phil, Erica, it is important to note that supporters of Palestinian rights, free speech advocates, including a lot of students on these campuses, say that colleges really should not be silencing protests or any criticisms of Israel, and they worry that schools are heading in that direction. So they're really getting pressure from both sides here.

HILL: Yeah, absolutely, Gabe. Such an interesting story. Appreciate it. Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, poison control centers across the country say they're getting a lot more calls about people accidentally overdosing on weight loss drugs. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will explain what's going on. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:56:49]

HILL: Oprah Winfrey revealing she uses weight loss medication. Oprah recently stunned at the Color Purple premiere. And then in an interview with People magazine she didn't name the specific drug she takes but said, "The fact that there is a medically-approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier feels like relief, like redemption, life a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for."

MATTINGLY: Also this morning, poison control centers across the country say they're seeing a 1,500 percent increase in people accidentally overdosing on injected weight loss drugs -- 1,500 percent.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now. Sanjay, are these all connected? Why is this happening?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is kind of amazing. If you look at just the number of prescriptions that have gone out there, it's skyrocketed. These drugs have only been around a few years now, but just take a look at sort of what's happened over the past few years.

Close to two percent of the population of this country has been prescribed this medication at some point. That's shocking. I mean, these are huge. And obviously, even around the world, this is prescribed a lot. As you prescribe more and more, you're not surprised to get more and more sort of accidental poisonings, overdoses, and things like that.

But I want to show you something else that I think is important here. You started to see the numbers go up. In March of 2022, all the shortages started happening and what happened as a result? Pharmacies came in and they started making their own. They started making their own compounded sort of versions of this that were not tested for safety and efficacy. And you started to see the poisoning rates go up at that point as well. So that may be part of this.

I think a lot of it also has to do with -- I don't know how many of you have actually seen the Ozempic pen. So this is it. You open it up, you put a needle on there, and then you dial in the dose that you're actually going to give yourself. You do that.

So people starting to work with this may say hey, look, it's working. Let me give myself more and more of this.

HILL: Um-hum.

GUPTA: And that could be part of the problem as well. They're just -- they're overdosing on it.

HILL: So when we talk about this massive jump when it comes to poison control centers, what are some of the symptoms?

GUPTA: Yeah. You know, the way this medication works, first of all. You eat and then your body releases hormones saying I just ate. I'm not hungry anymore. What this is doing -- that hormone is called GLP- 1. That this drug is doing is saying let me just sort of make the body make that hormone so the body thinks it has just eaten. So that's essentially -- you feel full. You don't have an appetite. That's how it works.

It also slows down the intestines so you're not moving things as long -- as well, and that's why you feel full also.

And as a result, these are the sorts of symptoms that people might have as a result of having all of what I just described work too well. That's sort of the issue.

MATTINGLY: I'm still fascinated by the fact you can change your dose with the pen.

GUPTA: You do that, right.

MATTINGLY: But if you have any of these symptoms -- if you're somebody who feels like they may have overdosed, what do you do?

GUPTA: Well -- so, there's a poison control center, first of all, and people should know this number. We can put it up -- 1-800-222-1222. We can put that number up there. Remember that number. That's a good number to have.

If you're getting really sick, obviously talk to the doctor. But one thing to keep in mind is with these medications -- unlike like an opioid, for example -- they last a long time, so there's not an antidote for this. And usually about a week is the half-life.

HILL: Wow.

GUPTA: So people are going to deal with symptoms with this for some time.

So be careful with what you're taking and don't overdo the dosage. If it's working, let it work.

[08:00:00]