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CNN This Morning
Chiefs and 49ers Square off in the Super Bowl; CIA Chief Attends Hostage Talks; Haley Expectations for South Carolina; Study of Rape Pregnancies. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired January 29, 2024 - 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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[06:30:08]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there it is. The 49ers are going to the Super Bowl!
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Just want that to ring in my ear repeatedly throughout the morning. You heard that right, the San Francisco 49ers are back in the big game for the first time in four years. It will be a rematch of their last Super Bowl appearance against Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Coy Wire was there. He joins us live from Detroit.
So, I am like a huge just Detroit as a city fan. So I'm a little heartbroken for them. But I'm also happy when I get to sit next to a happy Phil. So, this is a good morning for me.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: So happy for you, Philly Boy, and heartbroken for the city of Detroit. I mean the spirit of Detroit's statue back there has a jersey on it. I mean congratulations, though, to the Lions. An inspiring season. And if you're a Detroit fan and you're not at least 32 years, you weren't even born yet the last time the Lions made it to an NFC title game. But, still, a lifetime of waiting to make it to the Super Bowl is going to last a little bit longer.
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WIRE (voice over): Super Bowl dreams seemed like they could become a reality for these fans in Detroit. Looking for their first trip to the big game in franchise history, the Lions, powered by a punishing ground game, went to the Bay area and stormed out to a 24-7 lead at halftime over the 49ers.
But then, led by the last pick in last year's NFL draft, the 49ers fought back. The former Mr. Irrelevant, Brock Purdy and San Francisco overcoming the largest halftime deficit in conference championship history, winning 34-31 in the NFC title game.
BROCK PURDY, SAN FRANSCICO 49ERS QUARTERBACK: I think it's just a testament to God and where he's taken me in life. I've never been the biggest, the fastest, the strongest or any of that. I feel like I've always sort of had to fight for what I get and work for what I get.
WIRE: Lions fans heartbroken after an historic collapse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The heart's really hurting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little speechless. Heartbroken. Some things I just don't understand, why we didn't go for the field goal. And as I look at the score, I don't -- we blew a 17 point lead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very proud of the team, man, because the team hasn't came this far in years, boy.
WIRE: The 49ers have a little bad blood with the team, though, facing the Super Bowl. Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift, with Travis Kelce and the rest of the Chiefs, are headed to Vegas too. Kansas City making it to the Super Bowl for a fourth time in five years after defeating the Baltimore Ravens 17-10. Mahomes, on to his, count them, first, second, third, fourth Super Bowl in six seasons as a starter at just 28 years old.
PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: You never know how many you're going to get to, if -- or if you're going to get to any. And so it truly is special.
TRAVIS KELCE, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TIGHT END: Believe it, baby, we're going to Las Vegas, Nevada, to go get us another one?
WIRE: The victory for Travis Kelce sealed with a kiss from Taylor Swift. She's headed half way around the world, performing in Japan the night before the Super Bowl. Swift is expected to step off stage and rush on to a plane for Vegas. With time difference in Tokyo, she should make it in plenty of time before kickoff.
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WIRE: Swifties rise up. Listen to this, American Airlines created a flight from Kansas City to Vegas, flight number 1989, title of a Taylor Swift album. The return flight? Eighty-seven. Travis Kelce's jersey number. And I am just so grateful to the show team and all the bosses that Phil and Poppy, they're sending you to Vegas to join me at the Super Bowl. And you're going to do Monday's show from Vegas.
HARLOW: We are?
WIRE: It's going to be awesome.
MATTINGLY: Is that -- don't - don't play with me, Coy. Don't play with me, Coy.
WIRE: I'm just putting it out in the newsroom (ph).
MATTINGLY: Coy, I just want to say, it's really great. After Taylor Swift ruined the Chiefs season and destroyed Travis Kelce's career -
HARLOW: Yes. Yes.
MATTINGLY: That they somehow managed to make it through to the Super Bowl.
WIRE: Yes, it's unbelievable. And there's already prop bets for Taylor Swift. Is she going to be the -- be shown during the national anthem.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
WIRE: You know, how long will she be shown on the -- during the game.
MATTINGLY: Lots of times.
WIRE: And my question is, though, is she going to cameo a cameo at the Usher halftime performance. We shall see.
HARLOW: Oh.
MATTINGLY: Oh, I like that prop bet.
HARLOW: Maybe. True story that every time -- let me get this right -- the 9ers had the ball after halftime, they scored points unless they were running out the clock, correct?
WIRE: Yes, unbelievable. And enough with the Brock Purdy slander.
HARLOW: (INAUDIBLE).
WIRE: All the quarterback for the 49ers does is dominate. He's not a fortuitous game manager. He's a beast. Twenty-one-5 as a starter. Phil knows this. Come on, man.
MATTINGLY: Mr. Irrelevant no more. So much sports this morning. I'm here for it.
HARLOW: Working on it.
MATTINGLY: Coy, my man, appreciate you. Thank you.
[06:35:01]
HARLOW: Turning the page here. Overnight, more countries moving to suspend their funding to a U.N. program operating in Gaza after Israel claims some U.N. employees in that program were also involved in Hamas' October 7th terror attack. We have those details ahead.
MATTINGLY: And the voting technology company Smartmatic is now accusing executives of pro-Trump network OAN of possibly engaging in criminal activities while promoting 2020 election lies. The reporting you will see first on CNN. That's ahead.
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HARLOW: Welcome back. So, this morning, more countries have joined the United States and suspended funding to the U.N.'s main relief agency after Israel has claimed 12 of their staffers were involved in the October 7th Hamas terror attacks. Austria, France and Japan have joined these other nations you see on your screen, including, of course, the United States, to pull funding from the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, at least for now. This provides critical humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians. There are fears that a funding pause would really harm that aid that they're able to bring.
MATTINGLY: And at the same time, Israel is in new talks to secure a hostage deal and pause in fighting that had, quote, significant gaps after CIA Chief Bill Burns met with intelligence officials from Israel, Qatar and Egypt Sunday in Paris.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us live from Jerusalem.
[06:40:00]
Jeremy, let's start there. President Biden dispatching Director Burns to Paris for these talks. What are you hearing from Israeli officials about where they stand right now?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Israeli prime minister's office says that there was significant progress that was made during this meeting between these intelligence chiefs, as well as the prime minister of Qatar, describing it as a, quote, "constructive meeting," but they are also underscoring the fact that significant gaps still remain in these talks.
And, of course, we know that one of those biggest gaps heading into this key summit in Paris at least was the fact that Hamas is seeking a total end to this war, trying to salvage its position in the Gaza Strip, while Israel is only willing to offer up to a two month pause in the fighting in order to secure the release of those hostages.
But there's no question that this is the most momentum that we have seen since that last truce that saw the release of dozens of hostages collapse in early December. When you look at the key players in this meeting, these are the same people who were able to get to that last deal back in late November that led to that weeklong pause in the fighting. And so now the question is how much longer will it take to close those remaining gaps and also we know that often the implementation side of these deals is often sometimes the trickiest part of this. So, we'll see. But certainly ongoing meetings expected to happen this week, including today with the prime minister of Qatar sitting down with Secretary of State Tony Blinken.
HARLOW: And just back to the reporting on whether this big U.N. aid program that operates in - in Gaza, "The New York Times" reporting that they have reviewed a dossier that details accusations against some of the members, 12 in total, of UNRWA and the role that they allegedly played in the October 7th terror attack. The fact that the United States, France, Japan, see these as credible enough to pull funding from this program, at least for now, what does that tell you? DIAMOND: Yes, that's right. And this dossier that was provided to "The
Times" was initially provided to the United States. And that's what seems to have led to this pause in the funding. And the accusations are quite startling. One of these UNRWA employees is accused of having helped to kidnap an Israeli woman. Another is said to have helped hand out ammunition on October 7th. Six of those UNRWA employees, based on their phones, according to the Israeli government in this dossier, were actually geolocated as within Israel on October 7th. And several others are accused of being involved in that day's events, whether it was the massacre at several of the kubutz's on the order, or the kidnapping of Israeli citizens and soldiers as well. So, these are certainly very detailed accusations.
And it's prompting more than a dozen countries at this point to suspend, at least temporarily, additional funding to UNRWA at a time when, of course, aid in Gaza, humanitarian aid, is critically needed. When you look at the numbers of hundreds of thousands of people currently facing famine, the United Nations secretary-general says that he was horrified by these accusations and there is a hope within the U.N. that this won't ultimately stop the funding all together because, again, of that critical need in Gaza at this moment.
Poppy. Phil.
MATTINGLY: All right, Jeremey Diamond for us in Jerusalem. Thank you.
Well, Nikki Haley spent the weekend in her home state going after Donald Trump ahead of South Carolina's made or break primary. How long is she going to stay in the race? We'll tell you, next.
HARLOW: Also, later, new CNN reporting on how Senator Joe Manchin could single handedly upend President Biden's re-election campaign.
Stay with us.
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[06:47:44]
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NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And Donald Trump had a total meltdown. A total meltdown. He literally threw a temper tantrum on stage like I had never seen.
He was clearly confused, right? I think we need to have mental competency tests for anybody over the age of 75.
I think we're getting under his skin. Just saying.
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MATTINGLY: That was Nikki Haley spending the weekend on the campaign trail in her home state of South Carolina, where she's been ramping up her attacks on Donald Trump. HARLOW: The Republican primary in Haley's home state less than a month
away. It's February 24th. Polls like this one from November show her trailing Trump by a significant margin. This was 48 for Trump, 19 for Haley.
Back with us, John Avlon, Jamal Simmons, pollster Lee Carter.
Lee, let me just ask you about the interview that Nikki Haley did yesterday, which was, I think, telling in the fact that she said she has to do better in South Carolina by a pretty significant margin than she did in New Hampshire.
LEE CARTER, FORMER REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND POLLSTER: Yes.
HARLOW: It was an 11-point gap, about, in New Hampshire. Can she close - you're a Republican pollster, can she close the gap?
CARTER: I don't see how. You know, all the polling average are not looking good for her right now. The polling average is at 62.5 for Trump, 29.2 for Nikki Haley. I mean that is just not good.
And the other thing that we're not talking about is her favorability ratings, right? She's increased in favorability by ten points over the last six weeks. She's really gotten her groove, but she's still only got a 47-point favorability rating. We're not talking about a hugely popular person. And where she's going to her home state where she's not looking good, I just -- I don't see - I don't see how the math adds up for her.
MATTINGLY: Well, is - this is probably a sad state of affairs. I was struck yesterday in her interview on "Meet The Press" with Kristin Welker, about what she said related to the E. Jean Carroll case, which has been the type of - it's a toxic thing for Republicans to ever touch. She was asked about it and said this.
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KRISTEN WELKER, HOST, "MEET THE PRESS": The jury has now ruled. They have found him liable of sexual abuse. Do you not trust the jury and their findings, Ambassador?
NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I absolutely trust the jury. And I think that they made their decision based on the evidence. I just don't think that should take him off the ballot. I think the American people will take him off the ballot.
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MATTINGLY: Give me a minute, OK.
[06:50:00]
The latter part is the louder part. The former part was actually - I re-read it. I was reading the transcript and I had to re-read it three times because acknowledging that, a, the jury had done it, and, b, agreeing with the jury, trusting the jury, that seems to be a rarity to some - she's really amped up her attacks against the former president in the last week or so.
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. I mean Lee is our polling expert here, but from the Democratic side, we see this a lot, that there are these women who are in the electorate who really don't feel very comfortable with what Donald Trump was doing as a - as a political leader, right? So, she is associating herself, I think, with that cohort of voters. So, taking on Donald Trump is really the only way to take down Donald Trump. And she's got to find some avenue to get at it. And I think this is the one that she's - that she's choosing.
MATTINGLY: And yet you seemed highly unimpressed.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST AND ANCHOR: No, look, I think it's great that she's taken - taken the fight to Trump. I think it's a bit belated, but it makes sense that it's a two-person race.
I think the happy warrior post she was taking on the campaign trail is very effective. That's the way you should campaign. You're always best playing offense rather than defense.
What I was reacting to is the idea that, you know, the sexual assault judgment is not about disqualification of the ballot. That's about 14th Amendment, Section 3. That's about insurrection. That's a constitutional standard which I think, you know, folks have not had their eye on the ball on.
But you just look at the shear - the reason I don't think it's a - it's a done deal, I'm very familiar with South Carolina politics. That poll we showed is from November. We need to say that, right? This was a long way away from the closing of the field.
Is it uphill? Yes. Has she set a bar that she's going to have to be held to? Yes. But Trump has a way, especially as he's coming back in, you know, the frontal lobe of people's minds, I think they're trying to keep him somewhere in the back and be in denial about this, where all of a sudden people are going to need to confront his weakness as a general election candidate. The chaos he is threatening to impose on the United States and the world were he to win, for example, like turning over Ukraine to Putin, which is, in effect, his policy position. Those are serious things people need to take into account. So, I think it makes perfect sense for her to (INAUDIBLE) draw that contrast and do it in a happy warrior way.
HARLOW: And fight through - what was interesting about her saying, I got to do better in South Carolina than New Hampshire, but in the same breath I'm also staying in this through Super Tuesday. What did you make of that, Lee?
CARTER: Well, I think she -- she has to say that, right? I mean she can't - I mean Ron DeSantis said he was in it too, and then two days later he was out of it.
SIMMONS: Right.
CARTER: But you have to act like you're in it for the long haul, even if you know that things are looking bad because, I mean -
HARLOW: Money. Fundraising.
CARTER: Money, fundraising and also the confidence that voters are going to have in you. But I think she's serious about it.
My question really is, what is the end game here? If she doesn't perform as well in South Carolina, which I don't see that she can, where is she really going to go with this? Is she going to be a third party candidate? Is she going to set herself up for 2028? I'm not so sure. But she has really, I think in the last six weeks, found her groove, found her voice. She seems to be having fun. More than she ever has before. And I, you know, it's just all - I think it's too little too late.
SIMMONS: Well, I was going to say, I love - I love that we're back down in the south, in South Carolina, where they have the largest flags you've ever seen. And so you put Nikki Haley - she Looks like General Patton, right, in front of that large American flag. She was great.
MATTINGLY: You know who won? General Patton won. What's that tell you. So connect the dots, people. We'll have to wait and see. We'll leave it there.
SIMMONS: Like the University of Michigan. It's good.
MATTINGLY: Come on, man.
HARLOW: Oh, that was - come on.
MATTINGLY: Just - just kill the whole morning.
John, Jamal, Lee Carter, thank you guys very much, as always.
Well, the big interview is coming up in our 8:00 hour. E. Jean Carroll and her attorney will join us live in studio after she was awarded more than $83 million in the defamation and sexual abuse lawsuit against Donald Trump.
Well, a new study finds that tens of thousands of pregnancies have resulted from rape in states where abortion is not a legal option. The disturbing data, that's ahead.
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[06:57:28]
HARLOW: Happening today, the vice president, Kamala Harris, is making the second stop of her Fight for Reproductive Freedom Tour. She's in California as the Biden campaign aims to mobilize voters around abortion rights ahead of the '24 election.
MATTINGLY: And a new study this morning estimates there have been nearly 65,000 rape related pregnancies in the 14 states that have enacted abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Other research has found that there have been fewer than ten legal abortions each month in states with those bans. Sixty-five thousand rape related pregnancies, fewer than 10 legal abortions a month in each state.
Joining us now is CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell.
Meg, the numbers are jarring when you look at them.
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
MATTINGLY: But walk us through this study. What were they keying on? How did they kind of approach this?
TIRRELL: Yes, so that juxtaposition of facts you just laid out there, the fact that we know that fewer than 10 legal abortions are taking place each month in these states that have total abortion bans is really important. The researchers, led by somebody from Planned Parenthood in Montana set out to try to understand how many people that are in this situation where they've been survivors of a rape and a pregnancy resulted from that, but knowing so few legal abortions are happening, what options do they have.
And so there aren't good data on this. This was really a data problem. They used data from the CDC, the Bureau of Justice and the FBI to look in those 14 states that have enacted total abortion bans since the Dobbs decision, including five states, you can see there, that have rape exceptions, to estimate how many of these rape related pregnancies have happened. And they got 65,000. And so if you think there are fewer than 10 legal abortions happening in those states per month, what they conclude is that people who have been raped and become pregnant cannot access legal abortions in their home state, even in states with rape exceptions. And so it just puts numbers on this problem.
HARLOW: It does. But as you point out, there are some holes in what data has been available, right? So, what questions does this study not answer? You wouldn't know, for example, who sought - who - what rape victims sought an abortion or not, right?
TIRRELL: Yes. That's right. We don't know the outcomes of these pregnancies. This is the estimate of how many pregnancies happen. And so it's possible folks traveled out of state. It's possible they sought abortions using medication abortion and that wasn't recorded. It's possible they carried the abortions to term.
One of the issues here, though, is, even in those five states with exceptions, the authors point out, those exceptions clearly are not working and that could be because they have requirements that the rapes are reported to law enforcement.
HARLOW: That' s right.
TIRRELL: We know a majority of survivors don't report rape.
There are gestational limits as well. And so all of these really are contributing to the fact that even in states with exceptions, the exceptions are not working. [07:00:00]
