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CNN This Morning

Ex-FBI Informant Charged with Lying; U.S. Back on the Moon; Jackie Faherty is Interviewed about the Moon Landing; Wendy Williams Diagnosed with Aphasia and Dementia; Pandas Return to San Diego. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 23, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:02]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.

So, the former FBI informant indicted for lying about President Biden's family is in jail. On Tuesday, Alexander Smirnov was released by a magistrate judge in Nevada under several conditions. Those included GPS monitoring and the surrender of his passports.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: But yesterday his lawyer said he was re- arrested, quote, "on the same charges and based on the same indictment."

CNN chief law enforcement intelligence analyst John Miller joins us now.

I'm sorry, what? Why?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, picture the scene, right? I'm Alexander Smirnov, international man of mystery, at the center of the alleged $5 million bribe scandal to Joe Biden. I'm sitting in my lawyer's office and there's a knock at the door and it's the FBI. And here's Smirnov, his lawyer, David Chesnoff. They're like, Alexander Smirnov, you're under arrest. We have an arrest warrant. We are commanded to arrest you. And they're like, yes, we know that, OK. He's already been arrested. Like, we're arresting him again. On new charges? Now, on the same charges. Guys, I know this is fun, but you just can't keep arresting somebody over and again. And they're like, we have a different warrant from a different judge on the same charges.

So, what the FBI did was the magistrate set bail saying, look, he's not a danger to the community. He's not a mob hitman. He's not a gang leader. Yes, he's a political lightning rod, but that's a political problem, not a public safety one. So, I'm going to give him an ankle bracelet and we're going to, you know, secure some bond and let him out. They went to the trial judge in California and said, we want to bring him right to you and have a new bail hearing because you're the trial judge. You're the one he's going to have to show up for. So, they got this arrest warrant. His attorney has filed papers to hear all that out. But I can't remember quite seeing anything like this.

And, you know, the government is very serious about it. In their original application, these words are, there is no set of conditions or combination of conditions that can reasonably assure the return of Alexander Smirnov to court.

HARLOW: How -- what does this indicate to you about how dead set the FBI is on keeping this guy behind bars right now?

MILLER: So, this isn't just the FBI. It is. But it's also the special counsel, who we should remind people is a Republican appointed prosecutor who became the special counsel on the Biden case, who are worried that a guy who's sitting on $6 million in his accounts, $3 million in his wife's accounts, with an Israeli passport and a U.S. passport, and contacts high up in the Russian intelligence services, could flee the United States, end up resettled with the KGB or the GRU and Russia, and become a propaganda tool where he starts repeating the same lies that he was just rested for, for the FBI. So, it's complicated. But the judge's point is, yes, complicated, scandalous, but is it really dangerous?

MATTINGLY: Yes. That's fascinating.

HARLOW: What do -- yes. What do you think's going to - do you think he's going to stay behind bars?

MILLER: So, you know, it's - it's a -- trying to read the next judge is, they're going to -- they're going to argue -- David Chesnoff will probably make an argument similar to the one I just made, which is, he's not a danger to the public, and we need him to prepare for his defense.

HARLOW: Yes.

MILLER: We'll see how that goes with Judge Otis.

HARLOW: John Miller, thanks.

MATTINGLY: Thanks.

MILLER: Thanks.

HARLOW: So, this was very exciting. You're looking at the first image of the moon. This is from the lunar lander. It is the first U.S. spacecraft to touch down on the moon in 50 years. We'll talk about the significance of the mission, next.

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[08:36:58]

HARLOW: This was the best moment of my day yesterday. Yours?

MATTINGLY: I was way more engaged than I thought I would be.

HARLOW: Yes, with our kids watching the lunar lander Odysseus. It has become the first U.S. spacecraft to touch the moon in more than a half-century.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know this was a nail biter, but we are on the -- on the surface and we are transmitting and welcome to the moon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Odie, that's it's wonderful nickname, shout-out Garfield, is upright and has been sending back lots of data.

CNN's Kristin Fisher has more on its historic journey.

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KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Intuitive Machines has just made history as the first private company to successfully land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to the moon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston, Odysseus has found his new home.

FISHER: Its Odysseus lunar lander is standing upright, according to the company, and is successfully transmitting data. Although we're still waiting for those first few pictures.

Now, this was really a tense final few moments for this mission. Just a few hours before landing, Intuitive Machines announced that there was an issue with Odysseus' navigation system. It wasn't working. But in a spectacular example of a public/private partnership, it just so happened that one of Odysseus' or Intuitive Machines' paying customers, NASA, had an experimental piece of equipment that did the exact same thing as this broken piece of navigation software. And so engineers on earth were able to patch up a fix and allow Odysseus to safely navigate that treacherous terrain on the south pole of the moon, dodging craters and boulders to find a safe space to land.

And so that is what happened. It took a little bit longer than the company thought to communicate with the spacecraft, but it is sending back data now. And this is now the first time that any American spacecraft has landed on the surface of the moon since the end of the Apollo program back in 1972.

So, it's a win for NASA as a sponsor of this mission, but certainly a win for this Texas-based company, Intuitive Machines. They were able to do for about $100 million what NASA was able to do with the Apollo program with a much larger budget. So, some big cheers from that mission control room when the landing happened, and now we get to see what Odysseus can do on the surface of the moon for the next week or so.

Kristin Fisher, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And joining us now, astrophysicist and astronomy at the American Museum of Natural History, Dr. Jackie Faherty.

We so appreciate your time.

To where Kristin ended, which is, what should people be looking for in the near term, and then what does this mean for the long term?

[08:40:03]

JACKIE FAHERTY, ASTROPHYSICIST: Yes, great questions. Great questions.

So, first of all, it's the area of the moon that we landed that's really critical, at the south pole of the moon, because there are -- there are secrets of astronomy that you can uncover if you can get to an area like that. And that's part of why you'll see all eyes on the south pole of the moon.

Theres these craters that are in shadow and in these cold tracks (ph), as we call them, are water and also the remnant of the origin story of the solar system. So, remnants of what probably will lead us to understand how the solar system formed. And so that's why we want to go to the south pole. And that's what people should really be thinking about as we talk more about the moon from a science side of things.

HARLOW: Dr. Faherty, can you talk about that moment when there was the holdup? I remember logging on last night about 5:20 to watch this, on NASA, and then it was like delayed till 6:30. And then I'm listening to them and they're talking about, there's a little communication error here. The fact that, as our colleague Kristin reported, they were able to use an experimental tool, if you will, that NASA had created, and effect it in the middle of this mission, as this thing is landing on the moon, and it all worked out, I mean it just seems extraordinary.

FAHERTY: It is extraordinary. I mean I think this was a teamwork mission, but also this is the little engine that could now people. Weve got - we've - we've got private companies that are doing something that NASA was the big guns at before, but now were getting NASAs coming along for the ride, helping along the ride. But you're seeing a company like Intuitive Machines get the job done.

So, I was in this, watching with trepidation, probably with a lot of other people. Even if it had crashed, it would have been an amazing feat that had been done. But really what I was so excited to see happen was a private company get done what the big guns were doing prior to this from the United States perspective. So, for that, it was an excitement for commercialization of space at some level. Let's go to the moon again kind of thing too.

HARLOW: Yes. I can't wait for that moment.

Jackie Faherty, Dr. Jackie Faherty -

FAHERTY: (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: What'd you say?

FAHERTY: We want to send people back to the moon.

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

FAHERTY: And if that's going to happen, these are the kinds of missions that need to happen first as we test out what this area of the moon is going to be like and also then we need the water, people.

HARLOW: Right.

FAHERTY: So that's also why we're going to the south pole. So.

HARLOW: I needed you last night. I was like, why the south, its hard, but there is ice there. Maybe - and dah, dah, dah. I needed you last night with my five and seven-year-old.

Dr. Faherty, thank you very much.

Well, now to this, ahead for us this morning, there's news that former talk show host Wendy Williams is battling dementia and aphasia. What her family is saying, next.

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[08:47:20]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WENDY WILLIAMS, HOST, "WENDY WILLIAMS SHOW": How you doing?

CROWD: How you doing?

WILLIAMS: I'm glad I survived the weekend. Let's get started. It's time for -

CROWD: (INAUDIBLE).

WILLIAMS: Yes, come on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Well, for more than a decade, talk show host Wendy Williams asked her fans how they were doing. This morning, her fans are finally finding out how Wendy herself is doing. Her show ended in 2022. She vanished from the public eye. Her care team has revealed that Williams has been diagnosed with progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, crippling her ability to communicate.

HARLOW: Tomorrow there will be a new two-part documentary on her life on Lifetime. And our colleague Elizabeth Wagmeister joins us now from Los Angeles.

So, cameras followed her for more than a year. What did you learn?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Poppy and Phil.

This is an incredibly sad diagnosis. And as you said, cameras have been following Wendy Williams. A documentary will air this weekend on Lifetime. I have to tell you, I have screened the documentary early. It is tough to watch. But the producers behind the documentary tell me that this is Wendy's truth, and that is why they are showing it.

I also spoke to Wendy's family. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WAGMEISTER (voice over): The daytime TV icon with unfiltered commentary and off the cuff celebrity gossip. Wendy Williams talk show redefine daytime television and ran for 13 seasons, with an audience who had a front row seat to her extreme candor and, at times, personal demons.

WENDY WILLIAMS, TALK SHOW HOST: And you know I've had a struggle with cocaine.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): In 2019, she tearfully revealed that she was living in a sober house. Two years prior, she fainted, live on air.

Williams' well documented health concerns often resulted in hiatus after hiatus. In her absence, the series ultimately ended in early 2022. The years after, however, have been somewhat mysterious for her fans and even family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the peak of her career, she was gone.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): A new docuseries on Lifetime explores the Williams' saga. It's executive produced by Williams herself. She pitched it as a behind the scenes look at her life with hopes of launching a podcast, but producers soon realized that they were capturing something very different from a comeback.

ALEX FINNIE, WENDY WILLIAMS' NIECE: You are bigger than this. You are better than this.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): Her niece, Alex Finnie, participates in the documentary. Producers say they finished shooting Wendy's portion last year.

WILLIAMS: Are we ready?

WAGMEISTER: Where is your aunt today?

FINNIE: Well, you know, she is away at some sort of facility and she is healing. You know, Elizabeth, part of what has been so complicated and challenging about this for myself and I'll speak for my family in this instance, and that is, we don't have an exact location in terms of where she is.

[08:50:06]

We have no way to actually call her personally. WAGMEISTER (voice over): A care team for Williams says the former host has been diagnosed with aphasia and dementia, which can impact communication, personality, and the ability to understand language.

Her niece also says the former host has been suffering from alcohol abuse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you drink this whole thing today?

WAGMEISTER (voice over): Shortly after her talk show was canceled, a New York court appointed a legal guardian to oversee her finances and health. The case has been sealed, along with the identity of the guardian.

WAGMEISTER: Can you explain the process of this guardianship and how involved the family is, if at all?

FINNIE: To put it really simply, the family has been shut out. My aunt was placed under this guardianship in April of 2022. She went into court. It was closed, so we don't know the details. When she came out, she was under this court appointed guardian. And here we are now, in February of 2024, and that information is still really limited.

WAGMEISTER: CNN has been unable to speak directly to Williams about the project or verify her family's account of their conversations. But we reached out to the care team and they declined comment.

As for Finnie, she says she speaks to Williams over the phone and she's hopeful for her aunt's progress but still has concerns.

FINNIE: Some stuff that people are going to see in this documentary, it's just not adding up. I think a lot of people are going to have questions in terms of, where is the guardian? Where is the oversight?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WAGMEISTER (on camera): You know, I was actually a guest on the "Wendy Williams Show" for years. So, I got to work closely with Wendy. And what is portrayed in this documentary is very different than the woman that I got to know.

Now, if aphasia sounds familiar, it's because this is the same diagnosis that actor Bruce Willis also was diagnosed with. And that is why this sounds familiar. And also it's very disturbing and mysterious too many fans who are obviously concerned about both Bruce Willis and Wendy Williams' health.

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Yes. And our thoughts clearly with her and her family.

Elizabeth Wagmeister, great reporting. Thank you.

HARLOW: Wishing her all the best in recovery.

MATTINGLY: Certainly. Well, when we come back, there is a new era of panda diplomacy. And,

of course, were going to have Harry Enten break down what that all means.

Stay with us.

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[08:55:59]

HARLOW: Now to our favorite story by far of the week. The pandas are coming back. Thank goodness. For the first time in two decades, China will lend two giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo. This news comes several months after the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington sent its three pandas back, ending its 50-year panda programs.

MATTINGLY: So, naturally we have to go to our senior data reporter, Harry Enten, who joins us now to talk about what I think has probably been the animating feature of my time on this show, which is pandas and panda diplomacy.

What do we know about these pandas? What's the deal?

HARLOW: And sun bears.

MATTINGLY: And sun bears. Yes.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: And sun bears. I remember the sun bears. I love the sun bears.

MATTINGLY: Yes, I'm sun bear guy.

ENTEN: Remember that school called in.

Giant pandas make us happy. And I like making us happy, right? So, let's talk about some stats with some pandas. U.S. pandas by the number. There are only four currently in the United States, on in Atlanta. Those folks are probably going be heading back soon. So were getting too fresh pandas going to San Diego. Two fresh pandas. So, there will be six if they do overlap. We'll see if that occurs.

Some numbers on some pandas. There have been 27 pandas in the U.S. since 1995, nine in Atlanta, two in Memphis, nine in San Diego, there will be an additional two coming to San Diego, so then we'll end up with 29, and there have been seven in the district of Columbia. You mentioned the Smithsonian. So, we've had a lot of pandas come over.

And look at this little guy over here. He just looks so cute. As I said, giant pandas make us happy.

HARLOW: Can we talk panda history back in the '30s?

ENTEN: Yes. So, let's talk about some key dates in pandas. So key dates in U.S. pandas. In 1936, the first came to the United States, Chicago, it was brought over by a socialite, Su Lin. Unfortunately, Su Lin passed shortly thereafter. In 1972, that's when China's panda diplomacy began. Of course, back then, they, in fact, gifted the pandas instead of loan them. But it was in 1984 when all of a sudden this loaning program again, hence the pandas have been going back over to China as we've seen over the last few years.

And let me just end with a plea. Harrys giant panda plea. Can we please bring back the giant panda global award? They were stopped after 2020 for some reason. And I would just like to know who the cutest giant panda is in the entire world. But the truth is, if I held the awards, I would just love all of the pandas. I just loved pandas. Guys, don't you love pandas?

HARLOW: Obviously.

MATTINGLY: We obviously do.

Your reference to, quote, "fresh pandas" kind of creeps me out a little bit, but like I love -

ENTEN: What else is new?

MATTINGLY: Your enthusiasm underscores that it is a genuine feeling.

ENTEN: I love the pandas. They're just so cute.

And let me just say, Phil and Poppy -

HARLOW: And we love you.

ENTEN: It has been an absolute pleasure to work with you in the morning.

HARLOW: Oh, thank you, Harry

MATTINGLY: Always (INAUDIBLE). Thank you.

And before we go, a quick point of personal privilege, as the folks we cover on Capitol Hill might say. And the word privilege here I think is particularly appt because that's what it has been every day, and night, and very early morning to work with our extraordinary team here. To our directors, our producers, bookers, writers, editors, APs, PAs, you are the heart and soul of something for which we're both incredibly proud. Your immeasurable talents have infused every show. Your good humor, your smiles have filled every morning. And the fact that you are willing to share that with both of us while working let's charitably call them less than ideal hours, well, that's a testament to your character and explains our shared and unyielding belief in your limitless futures.

HARLOW: Guys, this is it. This is our studio team. Jimmy, Enza (ph), our floor managers, our camera operators, our audio, our tech operators, somehow, in some remarkable way, I'm the problem here. You guys have seemed to manage to keep mainly me on time, in the right place at the right time. No surprise, Phil is early all the time and I'm running in at the last minute. But seriously, guys, we'd literally be nowhere without you. All while managing to crack the best jokes at the perfect time in every commercial break.

As a viewer, you don't get to see these folks. They are the real deal. They make it happen. You've seen their work every single morning. You and we are better for it. You are the best partner in the world, Phil Mattingly.

MATTINGLY: (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: We will see you all soon. That is it for us. Have a great weekend. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" is next.

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