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CNN This Morning

Boeing CEO Admits "Mistake" After Alaska Airlines Blowout; New Book Examines Rise of Economic Populism On The Left; Former First Lady Melania Trump's Mother Has Died. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 10, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:01]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: At that point, they determined that he also has these collections of fluid in his abdomen that's sort of causing problems with his gut. They put a tube into his stomach. All of this is not using general anesthesia, but it was probably a very uncomfortable time for him over those several days, and eventually he was able to resume his duties on January 5th.

So, it was supposed to be a one or two-day sort of thing in the hospital, recover at home, but it turned into a much more prolonged sort of thing because of the complications that he had.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: And, Sanjay, the complications themselves, are they common for somebody undergoing a surgery like this or is it just a rarity?

GUPTA: Well, I would say there are known complications, but pretty rare. You know, just 1 or 2 percent, less than 5 percent of the time this happens.

Think of it like this, Phil, when you're -- when you're operating really anywhere on the body, the possibility of infection and bleeding is always there. When you're doing prostatectomy, removing the prostate, which is what the secretary had done, you can get fluid that's leaking from around that area where the operation was done, that can lead to infection.

But the fluid can also accumulate in your abdomen. If you have fluid in the abdomen and it's pushing on the outside of your intestines, for example, your intestines do not like that and your intestines will essentially become paralyzed, so you're just not moving your intestines anymore, and that's why you have to have this tube placed into your stomach.

You got to do all these things. You've got to drain the fluid in your stomach, but you also have to put these tubes into the abdomen to drain that fluid as well. That's the infected fluid.

So, it's a process. A few percent of the time it happens, known but not common.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: What about long-term recovery prospects here?

GUPTA: Yeah. You know, it should be really good, Poppy. You know, the thing is that if you catch these types of cancers early, the prognosis is really good. And this may sound counterintuitive, but if you do an operation, that basically means, hey, look, we think this thing is localized. We don't think it has spread. We think we can get it.

So, having done an operation is actually a good sign in the sense of his overall prognosis. But take a look at the numbers. I mean, prostate cancer is a common cancer among men. One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. One in 41 will die.

When it comes to Black men, for all sorts of different reasons, the numbers are much higher even. So, close to two times more likely to be diagnosed, 1.7 times more likely to be diagnosed and 2.1 times more likely to die.

So, for all sorts of different reasons, from genetics to the fact that screenings aren't done as often in Black men, all sorts of different reasons, the numbers are higher. But for Secretary Austin, given that it sounds like he was an early prostate cancer, besides the complication, it sounds like the operation went well -- meaning they got the cancer out. The prognosis should be good.

MATTINGLY: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, appreciate it. Thanks.

HARLOW: So, the CEO of Boeing owning up to mistakes, that's a word he used, that the company made. This announcement to all of their employees, coming after part of one of their planes blew off mid- flight. The woman leading this investigation joins us next.

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[07:37:14]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE CALHOUN, BOEING CEO: We're going to approach this, number one, acknowledging our mistake. We're going to approach it with 100 percent and complete transparency every step of the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That is Boeing CEO acknowledging errors by the company after part of a Boeing Alaska airlines plane flew off mid-flight. During a safety meeting on Tuesday, Dave Calhoun addressed all of Boeing's employees. This is the first time we've heard him speak publicly since the terrifying incident involving one of their 737 MAX 9 jets. Calhoun describing the moment he saw the image of the hole for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALHOUN: I didn't know what happened to whoever was supposed to be in that seat next to that hole in the airplane. I got kids, I got grandkids, and so do you. This stuff matters. Everything matters. Every detail matters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Certainly. This comes as investigators have now turned their attention to the four bolts designed to hold the part that ripped off in place. The NTSB stating that they cannot say for sure if the bolts were ever there to begin with.

Joining us now is the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy.

Jennifer, thank you very much for being with us.

It is not clear yet what the mistake is that Dave Calhoun is talking about and I wonder if you know. Does the NTSB know?

JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR OF THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: I have a lot of questions on that statement. We don't know. We've been very focused on the door plug and on the surrounding structure, so I did ask for clarification, but I haven't received anything yet.

HARLOW: Have you talked to the CEO of Boeing?

HOMENDY: I have not.

HARLOW: What are your questions for him after hearing what he said yesterday?

HOMENDY: Well, he stated that mistakes were made, and I'd like to understand what mistakes he's referring to.

HARLOW: Isn't it crucial for your investigation to get answers and to know what that means?

HOMENDY: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Okay.

HOMENDY: Yes, absolutely. It's crucial for the investigation.

HARLOW: Has the NTSB reached out to Boeing to speak with him about that?

HOMENDY: I haven't reached out to him. We do have several representatives and engineers from Boeing's team here in Portland that is helping us gather some of the technical information we need to continue our investigation, and that's really what's important right now.

We know what broke. We need to understand how it broke.

HARLOW: And why.

HOMENDY: What's critical there -- go ahead.

(CROSSTALK) HARLOW: No, go ahead.

[07:40:00]

Go ahead.

HOMENDY: What's critical there is, you know, once we know how, that helps inform the FAA and others that they're really targeting the right concerns when they're doing the inspections and conducting repairs, but they really need that information on how this occurred before they can take actions to unground the planes. At least that's what I would urge.

HARLOW: Let's talk about the four bolts because your team had said that those four bolts that hold that door plug in place and keep it from moving off its stops were missing. My question to you this morning is, has your team determined if the door plug bolts were never installed?

HOMENDY: Well, we don't know yet that they were missing. We know that there's a fracture on the top of the door plug, on the components that kept the door plug in place, but there are bolts that go there and so we don't know if the bolts broke, we don't know if the bolts weren't there in the first place. So when we take that door plug back to our laboratories, we're going to look at it in a microscope and figure out were there bolts here in the first place. If there were not, then we have even more questions.

HARLOW: One of the other stunning things that you and I talked about when you joined us on Monday is that during all this depressurization, the cockpit door just flew open and that's not in the manual for the pilots. They didn't know that could happen. We all know after 9/11 how secure those doors were supposed to be.

But one thing you said struck me. You said that's more a feature than a flaw of this plane. Meaning, it's not in their manuals, it's meant to happen. Does that need to change? Does something significant need to change on that front for these planes?

HOMENDY: Well, you can't have a flight crew that doesn't know what's expected in an emergency. So the pilot and the flight -- the flight attendants, first officer, no one knew that cockpit door could fly open during rapid decompression. We still have some questions about the manufacturer of that, the design of that, and why they designed it to open during rapid decompression. So, we're still pursuing some questions in that area.

But you can't have a situation when there's an emergency and people -- and the flight crew be surprised when something like that happens. They have to be able to anticipate those things. And what happened in this case, the door flew open, a flight attendant got injured. She was trying to get the door closed.

It was very loud. It was very windy inside the cockpit. Headsets came off. The first officer's partially came off, the captain. And they had very difficult time communicating with each other, with the flight attendants and with the air traffic control because it was so loud.

HARLOW: One of those headsets actually flew out of that hole in the plane, which is just stunning. Should MAX 9s, should Boeing MAX 9s be flying anywhere in the world until all of those questions are answered, both on that cockpit door and these bolts and that doorstop?

HOMENDY: Well, that's a decision by the Federal Aviation Administration, and I'm very thankful that they took swift and decisive action to ground the MAX 9s. But I would recommend that they not put those back in service until they absolutely know how this occurred. That will tell them what inspections need to take place and what repairs need to make -- to take place.

HARLOW: Jennifer, thank you very much. Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the NTSB. We appreciate it. Good luck with the continued investigation.

HOMENDY: Thank you so much, Poppy.

HARLOW: Of course.

MATTINGLY: Well, as President Biden looks to win over voters, our next guest suggests digging into the populist progressive playbook the president and his team used in 2020 might just be the answer.

Stay with us.

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[07:48:26]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: We have an economy that's so fragile. When there's a crash, I hope it's going to be during this next 12 months because I don't want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president, I just don't want to be Herbert Hoover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Former President Trump pushing his campaign message that Bidenomics is a bust. And despite falling inflation and rising jobs numbers, Republicans say Biden embraced a progressive priorities during the 2020 campaign is to blame.

Those in Biden's own party, especially those in the progressive wing, are trying to convince voters that Bidenomics works, and that the president's work over the past four years will continue helping the middle class.

MATTINGLY: Our next guest has published a new book detailing how the 2008 financial crisis fueled the rise of the populace moment on the left to help progressive lawmakers like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, convince Biden to take up their causes. He writes, quote, traditionally when a Democrat locks up his party's presidential nomination, he or she pivots toward the center to appeal to the broadest group of voters. But after Biden won the 2020 primary, he turned to the left -- he felt he had to.

Joining us is Joshua Green, senior national correspondent for "Bloomberg Businessweek", my former colleague.

I'm glad to see that you're doing good things with your life, Josh.

This is a fascinating book because it tells the story that I think maybe some people who will watch the policy or watch the administration or watch the campaign know, but more broadly, I think is misunderstood. From a progressive standpoint, has Joe Biden been a progressive president up to this point?

JOSHUA GREEN, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK: Yeah, I think ironically or maybe skillfully, he really has. I mean, the book tells the story of the rise of this populist Democratic politics which in my thesis really generated from the 2008 financial crisis and the aftermath gave rise to outsider politicians like Warren, like Bernie Sanders, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

But one of the things that happened since then, is that brand of politics is filtered into mainstream Democratic politics and I think President Biden is a key figure because one of the reasons this populist movement came up was a frustration in the dissatisfaction with the government's response to the last crisis.

Of course, Biden was in the White House with Barack Obama then. So when he was elected in 2020, he happened to land in the middle of another big financial crash, the COVID crash, and instituted a much more robust middle class focused response effort that really owed a lot to these three characters and the rise of that brand of populist economic policy.

HARLOW: It's interesting to that point you write about in the fact it wasn't Warren or Sanders that sort of carry this across the finish line. It's Joe Biden. You write, it took a non-threatening moderate who didn't excite anybody to finally bring major elements of the populist agenda into being.

Can he still like claim to being a moderate?

GREEN: I -- you know, I think he can in the large part. I mean, Biden doesn't code as a radical. I think one of the things that stopped Warren and Sanders from winning the democracy nomination in the White House was that too many people were scared of this idea that they are too far left -- they are too radical. But, you know, Biden is the furthest thing from a radical. He was able to take up a lot of policies and get them implemented.

So, certainly, you know, if I look at his policies today, industrial policy bringing jobs back, the big stimulus after COVID, he even came out in the State of the Union Address last year and proposed a billionaire's tax. This is pretty progressive. You don't expect that from moderate Democrats.

But at the same time, I don't think he's lost the kind of centrist normie politician bearing that got him elected in 2020. I think the challenge for Biden is he's got now a really positive rise in set of economic number, but they have not yet translated into positive polling numbers.

HARLOW: It's befuddling to them and I think a lot of people. It's why not (ph).

GREEN: I think that's right.

HARLOW: No, but it's also -- he also has a legislative break, right?

GREEN: Yeah.

HARLOW: And it's not just that they have positive economy. It has defied all expectations. He has one of the most sweeping legislative records of a first two years president in decades.

And you just had a great piece in "Businessweek" this week where you went to Aliquippa and it's -- you look at the implementation of those laws, and they have huge long term potential impacts on the very places that moved towards Trump or Bernie Sanders because of populism. What did you see?

GREEN: S I wanted to go out into the Rust Belt swing states that have decided the last two elections and take a look, as you said, at the implementation of these things. And I think it told the story of Biden's political situation in a nutshell.

On the positive side, the town was about to build a new low carbon steel plant. Unemployment was down, they were building market rate housing for the first time in decades. The Democratic mayor was very excited about the direction things were going.

But on the other hand, he said, you know, Biden hasn't been out here, so nobody knows to give credit to Biden. And in fact, if you walk around town talking to people which I did, most people think this is because of Donald Trump. So I think that's Biden's problem in a nutshell, you are getting a lot of the positive economic response you want in the places that you targeted, the kinds of places that were left behind after the 2000 financial crisis, but people have not yet connected that to the president.

HARLOW: Aren't the courts also another big problem for them? I mean, if you look at post-2008 financial crisis, Elizabeth Warren's brainchild the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is now been undercut by the court. Three years ago, they said, essentially, the power structure is unconstitutional. Now, this court is going to rule on whether the way that it is funded is even constitutional. So, it's just an interesting additional threat to dismantling some of what they fought so hard for.

GREEN: Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, Washington and two parts of the establishment didn't just sort of roll over and say like, yes, let's do populist. There is always a fight. There's always a tug of war.

HARLOW: Overturning student loans for example also. GREEN: Yeah, exactly. I mean, a big Warren idea that Biden

implemented and that was mostly struck down by the court. So I think that that shows --

HARLOW: Yeah.

GREEN: -- that that ongoing tug of war between the forces of left populism and forces on the right who don't want that being implemented and who use the courts in the regulatory process to fight back and try to stop it.

MATTINGLY: The book is "The Rebels" by Josh Green. It's just -- it's a fascinating --

HARLOW: Great cover also.

MATTINGLY: Your last book which is about Bannon and the rise of populism on the right was excellent, this is also excellent. Thanks so much for coming on, man.

GREEN: Thanks so much, guys.

HARLOW: Congratulations.

It is a critical night for Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis. They are facing off head to head for the first time in CNN's debate.

MATTINGLY: Meanwhile, former president with an ominous warning about what could happen if he's not granted immunity from criminal prosecution. We'll explain, next.

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[07:59:16]

HARLOW: Some sad news to report. The mother of former First Lady Melania Trump has died. In a post on social media, Ms. Trump described her mother, Amalija Knavs, as a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth and dignity. Ms. Trump writes, we miss -- we'll miss her beyond measure and continue to honor and love her legacy.

MATTINGLY: Former President Trump wrote: She was an incredible woman, and will be missed far beyond words. The cause of death has not been revealed. Amalija Knavs was 78 years old.

CNN THIS MORNING continues right now.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you join with us in this fight, I promise you, our best days are yet to come.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTAIL CANDIDATE: Being the underdog suits me better. So I hope people can -- you know, will underestimate, you know, and we're going to do well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're reaching the end where I'm finally making the decision on what I'm going to do on Monday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And then there were two on the debate.