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AAA Predicts Record Air Travel Through New Year's; Voter Urges Haley to Agree That Trump is a "Danger"; Harvard Pres. Requests New Corrections as Probe Expands. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 22, 2023 - 06:30   ET

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

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Record air travel this holiday season. CNN's Polo Sandoval joins us now from New York's LaGuardia Airport. Paul, what are we expecting as we head into a very busy time?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, Phil, I suppose you could just arrive at the airport just a couple days before Christmas and try to get on a flight, but good luck. You see, there will be that increase in the number of travelers that's here according to AAA.

And I have to say so far, so good based on what we've been seeing, though, it is still relatively early here. We have some AAA numbers to share with you to give you an idea just of what we expect on what American Airlines is describing as the busiest day of the travel period that started just a couple of days ago.

Per AAA, about 7.5 people -- 7.5 million people will be traveling this weekend through New Year's Day. A lot of people, a lot more, will actually be choosing to drive, about 104 million choosing to get in their cars to actually drive to their destination.

But overall, the wider picture in terms of the number of people that will be on the move this holiday season, close to 115 million per AAA. That's up nearly 3 million just from last year. We all remember the meltdowns of years past, which is why legislators and the federal government have really been strongly urging airlines leading up to this busy holiday season to really invest in some of their infrastructure and develop plans to make sure that they can avoid some of the absolutely disastrous delays and cancellations that we experienced just a couple of years back here.

And in terms of what AAA is predicting, though, compared to previous years, this will likely be one of the busiest ones travel season since before the pandemic. And finally, a couple of tips and recommendations that we're getting from travel experts.

There is always that one that you hear about getting to the airport. A little bit earlier, but also reserve your parking spaces, especially if you're going to be leaving your car behind while you head out to visit with friends and loved ones for Christmas and New Years.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, we almost missed a flight because I who knew that you have to like reserve parking spots on the internet -- MATTINGLY: -- the AAA.

HARLOW: -- before you go to the airport.

MATTINGLY: -- number one, and Polo, number two, because he was just telling people.

HARLOW: I had no idea.

MATTINGLY: And these are why the tips are perfect. Polo, thanks buddy, appreciate it.

HARLOW: A new campaign memo obtained by CNN revealing details about President Biden's campaign strategy heading into '24.

MATTINGLY: And today, parts of Southern California will see even more rain. Look at those pictures. Knee deep floodwater filled the streets of Santa Barbara yesterday after an atmospheric river dumped up to five inches of rain. Cars were left stuck, stranded in the streets this morning, 27 million people across Southern California and Southern Arizona are under flood watch. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:17]

HARLOW: New this morning, we are learning that President Biden's reelection team plans to make Donald Trump's threat to democracy a central focus of the 2024 campaign. This is according to a memo obtained by CNN. It reads in part, quote, "The choice for the American people will be about protecting American democracy and the very individual freedoms,' we as Americans, enjoy. It goes on to read, 'The threat Donald Trump poses in 2020 to American democracy has only grown more dire since then."

Back with us, Errol Louis and Emily Know. You were indicating earlier in the program, I think if I read you right, this is a really strong political card for Biden. Is it the strongest?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It is. Well, after all, others fail, right? I mean, he's tried to use Bidenomics because the economy is always the number one issue. The polls are suggesting that that's not necessarily going over very well with people, in part because of inflation, maybe misperceptions about some other things, maybe just an unfortunate lag. You know, yeah, sure, the economy might be getting better, but if voters don't perceive it in time, then he'll lose. So I think they've moved on to the next thing. And the polling suggests that it is. In fact, the defense of democracy is very high. There are some split decisions over what to do about it, and that's where the art of the campaign is going to start to really take the precedence.

But as a starting point, it worked for him in 2020. It was his origin story, right? He said when he saw the march in Charlottesville, the hate march, and that he associated that with Donald Trump and said, we've got to do better. That was kind of, you know, his core political message. And because he won, you've got to assume that it worked. MATTINGLY: I think it's important to note that this isn't just --

these aren't separate issues, right? This isn't just Trump legal or what Trump did in 2020 versus where Democrats are or where Republicans are. Despite what I think some Republican candidates have wanted. Yesterday was a fascinating day on the Republican campaign trail. You had Ron DeSantis weighing in on how this has sucked all the auction out of the room. And then you had Nikki Haley confronted by a voter. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOTER: I want to support you, I also want to hear from you that you also think there's a danger here. Because this is not good for our country and it's not good for the church. And I want to be able to support someone who agrees with that.

NIKKI HALEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wouldn't be running if I didn't think that he's not the right person at the right time. I have said multiple times I don't think it's good for the country, for Donald Trump to become president again. I've made that very clear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: It was the question because it's not the majority of the Republican Party right now, but the answer as well. What did you make of it?

EMILY NGO, CO-AUTHOR, POLITICO'S NEW YORK PLAYBOOK: It's interesting because what Errol has been saying is that people are starting to take notice, that we've strayed very far from democratic norms and something should be done to bring us back to the center, to the country that we once were. Nikki Haley goes on to say something to the effect of anti-Trump Republicans, think that she's not critical enough of the former president, and pro-Trump Republicans think that she doesn't love him enough. And that underscores the spot that she's in, right? Where she can't, one, she has a problem because the anti-Trump vote in the GOP is split among several primary candidates. And two, she can't sway Trump supporters, and there's not too many, as you noted, that feel the way that voter does.

HARLOW: The thing is, this voter said, Errol, I also want to hear from you that you think he's a danger.

LOUIS: Yeah.

HARLOW: And she didn't say that, she reverted back to her point. I don't think he's the right person at the right time.

LOUIS: She's a very skilled politician who also spent several years as a diplomat, right? So she was speaking very diplomatically, right? Oh, I've said he's not the right guy at the right time, which is not quite the same as saying --

HARLOW: It's actually quite different.

LOUIS: Right, right. It's not -- and she's trying to get to the bottom line, which is she's a couple of weeks out from the first caucus and she needs people to come out and vote for her, and she wants them to feel good while they're doing it.

[06:40:04]

And that in some ways is the same difficulty that Joe Biden is going to have politicians instinctively, because they know that it works, they like to make voters feel good, you know, telling people, if you don't do this, we're going to lose democracy. That's -- it's a tough message, you know? I mean, it's not what people want to hear when they're at the state fair with their kids, right? So if you have to do that, and I think Joe Biden feels like he has to, that's one thing. If you can get around it, I think that's what you're hearing from Nikki Haley. Like, look, if you like me enough to -- like my pleasant demeanor and my diplomatic words, then come out for me in the caucuses, as opposed to, if you vote for the other guy, we can lose everything.

MATTINGLY: Is that a remotely plausible winning strategy?

NGO: I just want to note that interestingly, the person who will say what Nikki Haley hasn't, which is that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, is Chris Christie, and he just won't get out of Haley's way, even if she's polling better than him. And he's the one with the way with words he can attack in these soundbites of making it a chyrons and making it a tweets where she can't. And they just haven't been able to work together to face off against Trump, who is their common enemy.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, he rejected again this week the idea of dropping out. Let's see what happens. Guys, thanks so much, as always.

HARLOW: The Harvard President, Claudine Gay, has requested more corrections to some of her past work, including her own dissertation after being accused of plagiarism. The latest on the House Committee's probe now looking at this.

MATTINGLY: And for some reason, 33 years later, the internet is shocked by how rich the family from "Home Alone" was. I -- I -- It's -- it's -- the thing everyone's talking about, real life economists, they did the math. We've got a breakdown ahead.

HARLOW: The best movie ever.

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[06:45:53]

MATTINGLY: This morning, Harvard University President Claudine Gay is requesting three new corrections to her 1997 PhD dissertation. It's the second time this month she's submitted changes as allegations mount that she plagiarized her published work.

Now, a House Committee is expanding its investigation into the university to include those claims. CNN's Danny Freeman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Gay --

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Harvard University's President, Claudine Gay, back in the hot seat.

CLAUDINE GAY: Thank you, Congresswoman.

FREEMAN: After the elite school said it found two more instances of inadequate citation in the embattled president's writings. Now, a U.S. House Committee already investigating anti-Semitism at Harvard says it will also look at the plagiarism allegations.

In a new letter to Harvard's highest governing body, the Committee's Chair cites Harvard's Honor Code that states, "members of the college community must commit themselves to producing academic work of integrity," and asks, "does Harvard hold its faculty and academic leadership to the same standards?"

Last week, Gay submitted corrections to a pair of papers she wrote as a professional academic in 2001 and 2017. But a CNN analysis of her writings documented other examples of plagiarism from the 90s when Gay was studying for her PhD at Harvard.

Gay's 1997 dissertation lifted one paragraph almost verbatim from another source without citation. Jonathan Bailey is a plagiarism expert.

(On camera): What troubled you about the specific dissertation allegations more than others?

JONATHAN BAILEY, PLAGIARISM EXPERT & COPYRIGHT CONSULTANT: That paragraph showed a length of text that clearly could not have been produced any other way than through copying was not quoted and was not properly cited in the paper. So that's what made me worry about that one.

FREEMAN: A Harvard spokesperson told CNN in a statement Thursday, the University reviewed more of her writings and Gay plans to update her 1997 work to correct these additional instances. Harvard said the inadequate citations weren't regrettable but were not research misconduct.

In a previous statement about the earlier allegations, Gay defended her work, saying, I stand by the integrity of my scholarship. Throughout my career, I have worked to ensure my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards.

The latest development, coming a week after Harvard's top governing board unanimously stood behind Gay following intense calls for her to resign over her congressional testimony on anti-Semitism on college campuses.

REP. ELISE STEFANIK, (R) NEW YORK: So the answer is yes, that calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard code of conduct, correct?

LIZ MAGILL, FORMER PENN PRESIDENT: Again, it depends on the context.

FREEMAN: The allegations against Gay, who is the first black woman to serve as president of Harvard, have largely originated from conservative activists. But the question persists, is the school holding its president to the same standard as its students?

BAILEY: Plagiarism really exists on a spectrum between completely original writing and completely copied and pasted and trying to pass off someone else's work. And right now, the best we have on Claudine Gay is sitting somewhere in the middle between the two.

GAY: All the support that they can --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: Now, Phil, despite this increasing scrutiny over these plagiarism, allegations, Harvard for its part is still very much standing by its president. That being said, this House Committee is moving along. They've requested troves of documents related to this issue. So while these new corrections are coming, this story likely not over yet. Phil?

MATTINGLY: Yeah, very good point. Danny Freeman, thank you.

HARLOW: Go ahead, more on this reporting this morning from the Detroit News, then President Trump was heard and recorded pressuring election officials not to certify the 2020 vote in the State of Michigan. We'll speak to the reporter who broke that story, next.

MATTINGLY: And CNN's Coy Wire speaks to Buffalo Bills' head coach Sean McDermott. They talk playoffs, football, safety, and of course, Damar Hamlin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN MCDERMOTT, BUFFALO BILLS HEAD COACH: And if it was my son or my daughter in that situation, I would want the coach to care enough to go there and put that in his health and his care over the game at that point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:50:00]

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HARLOW: I hope Wolf Blitzer is awake and watching because the Buffalo Bills are fresh off back-to-back wins against the defending Super Bowl Champions, Kansas City Chiefs and the Dallas Cowboys. It's putting them in pretty good shape to reach the postseason for a fifth consecutive time. Head Coach Sean McDermott has helped transform the culture of the franchise since he took over in 2017.

MATTINGLY: He has been in the news recently for using the 9/11 terrorist attack as an example of good teamwork. He did apologize, and his team appears to be rallying behind him. In this morning's installment of coaching life, CNN's Coy Wire sat down with Coach McDermott to talk about his journey in prioritizing the safety of his players, especially after safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest last season.

[06:55:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCDERMOTT: I believe as a coach, when you coach a player, that you care for them, not only when they're on the field but off the field and when a player is going to the hospital --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like how he went down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to need everybody, all call, all call.

MCDERMOTT: And the condition Damar was in, I just felt strongly that I needed to be there because if it was my son or my daughter in that situation, I would want the coach to care enough to go there and put his health and his care over the game at that point.

COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: Even as his team dealt with safety Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest during a game, deadly winter storms and a mass shooting in their community all within the span of a year, Sean McDermott, is one of the winningest coaches in the NFL the last several years. An NFL coach who's not the norm, while navigating difficult times, he's figured out a way to unite his team and transform the culture of the franchise in the process.

(On camera): What kind of effect have you seen leading with compassion, your focus on mental health, have on the team?

MCDERMOTT: It's huge. It is. You know when people come to Buffalo and in our facility in particular, we always want to say they play their best football here. They become the best version of them here.

That's a heck of a win, man. Heck of a two-win.

Years ago it was very macho, it was very, hey you make it to the NFL or you play college ball or you're a football player overall, man, you're an alpha male, you don't need anybody else's help. It's stick your chest out, pull your shoulders back and you must be a tough guy. Well, I think that's changed tenfold.

You stick together. Not only a football bit like, you stick together.

One of the things we try and do here is provide for the mind, body and spirit of a player. We're all here to win games, but if you serve the person first, you get the player that you're looking for.

WIRE: I've heard you say before how going to get help or to see someone to talk about your feelings isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength?

MCDERMOTT: Absolutely, yeah. It's probably looked at, especially years ago, the other way. As they sign a weakness, a lot of people not wanting to disclose that, hey, I go and see this person for help, or I go and see a counselor. And I feel strongly that it's really a sign of strength, and that vulnerability is huge.

WIRE: Growing up in the Philadelphia suburbs, McDermott says he was introduced to the game of football at a young age.

MCDERMOTT: I grew up in a football family. My dad was a coach, coach at the college level and the high school level also. And I just kind of grew up around the game. And so when I was about, I think about six, seven years old, I was like, I want to start playing. And I've loved it ever since.

WIRE: Do you find yourself seeing what you've seen maybe being more concerned about your son playing as a dad?

MCDERMOTT: Man, yes, I do. I love my son and my kids like anybody else and I let my son play football. And I do that because I want to give him the experience that I had and give him the things that I learned and I took from the game that now he can experience. And there's risk, inherent risk in any sport that you play that there's going to be injuries. And in this case, I allow my kids to play.

WIRE: In 2007, I was playing on that field and my teammate Kevin Everett, we were covering a kick together. And he was paralyzed, same scene as Damar, guys crying and huddled around him in prayer. The ambulance came on the field. And -- but the difference was, he got taken away and they said, all right, buckle up, that's you in the bus, time to go. How much change have you seen from phase of the past?

MCDERMOTT: Yeah, it's significant, significant. You know, every year the NFL puts in so much time into researching things that can make the NFL better and one of those areas that they spent a lot of time in is player safety and as we saw executed that night on the field with the medical team, but you're also seeing it in the way that there's advances in equipment, there's advances in sports science making it safer and doing so making it making it better. We weren't perfect. There was no playbook for us in that moment. It's a physical game that we play and we're a part of, but by trying to put player safety at the forefront of every decision, we're doing it right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: One of the many reasons why we love Coy Wire so much.

MATTINGLY: Yeah.

HARLOW: What a piece.

MATTINGLY: Fascinating piece, fasting series, by the way, bias on that one.

CNN This Morning continues right now.

[07:00:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A couple days early on after election day when Trump seemed to be aware that he had lost according to multiple people, and then.