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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Primary Challenges Loom After Voting Rights Defeat; DeSantis Proposes Florida Election Police Force; Reporter Hit By SUV On Live T.V. Gracefully Rebounds. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired January 21, 2022 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:32:18]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.
Fresh fallout on Capitol Hill over the failure to pass new voting rights in the U.S. Senate. Democrats could be targeting two of their own in primaries now.
CNN's Daniella Diaz is live on Capitol Hill this morning. Daniella, good morning. What do you know?
DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Laura, I want to talk specifically about one potential primary challenger to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona told our CNN's Manu Raju yesterday that his phone has been ringing off the hook, Laura, with Democratic colleagues urging him to primary Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for her vote this week on voting rights legislation -- opposing that rules change to pass voting rights legislation by a simple majority.
You know, there's been a lot of tension with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia for their -- both against their own party.
You know, first, it was the Build Back Better act. They did not support that $3.5 trillion price tag. They wanted to pare down that package. And in the end, Sen. Joe Manchin did not even support the final $2 trillion package they were discussing.
And now, it was voting rights legislation that they did not support -- that rules change so that they could pass voting rights by a simple majority, 51 votes, instead of the initial 60 votes needed to pass -- excuse me, to break a filibuster. And as a result, their more progressive colleagues are incredibly frustrated with them. They want to see them primaried.
And Congressman Ruben Gallego, of course, told us that he has been -- even Senate Democrats urging him privately to primary Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in the 2024 election. But right now, he has not made a decision.
And I do want to emphasize Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin have both shrugged off any potential primary challenges. And there's no decisions yet but we'll keep an eye on it -- Laura.
JARRETT: All right. Daniella, I know you will stay on top of it. Thank you.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, to Florida now where Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing for the country's first armed election police force.
JARRETT: Yes. It's just the latest in this list of eyebrow-raising proposals from DeSantis -- everything from voting rights rollbacks to what's taught in public schools there.
Joining us now to dig a little deeper into these policies is CNN reporter Steve Contorno. Steve, so nice to have you on EARLY START this morning.
ROMANS: Welcome.
JARRETT: So, tell us, how exactly would this election security force even work? Are these police officers?
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Yes. This would be a dedicated sworn force of 20 police officers and another 32 individuals that would support them in investigating election laws in the country. And election experts say that this is unprecedented. No other state has a dedicated police force that is solely looking into election laws that is under the jurisdiction of a governor.
[05:35:11]
It's an arrangement that alarms not only Democrats in Florida but also voting rights groups, national voting experts, and election officials -- local supervisors of elections that administer voting in Florida.
And the governor has said this is something that is needed to ensure the security and integrity of elections here. There has been, obviously, a lot of talk from Republicans across the country following --
ROMANS: Sure.
CONTORNO: -- President Trump's unfounded claims of voter fraud and this is a measure that's in response to that.
ROMANS: It was President Trump --
CONTORNO: No voting fraud has been --
ROMANS: Right.
CONTORNO: -- found here on a massive scale, obviously.
ROMANS: I was going to say President Trump's own Justice Department found no widespread voter fraud. And many just poopooing this as a political move -- a solution in search of a problem, really. A fake solution in search of a problem. Turning now to the DeSantis-backed bill to prohibit schools from
making people feel discomfort or guilt based on their race, sex, or national origin.
What are -- what are teachers saying about this?
CONTORNO: Teachers are concerned. They're worried that they are now going to be monitored for what they say and do in classrooms. That parents will use this as a way to complain about instruction over things like slavery or Jim Crow laws.
Republicans say that's not their intent. That this legislation is not intended to whitewash the dark days of U.S. history. But Democrats have raised a lot of concerns that this -- the very presence of this on the law -- on the law books will stifle conversations about race and racism and the experience of minority Americans, and keep us from moving forward from systematic racism and our past.
JARRETT: Yes, and we should note it's not just schools, it's workplaces.
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: You can't even do sort of the -- sort of the employee trainings that we all go through here at CNN -- that so many people go through trainings that talk about diversity. Those now in jeopardy as well.
Steve, thank you.
ROMANS: All right, nice to see you -- thanks.
Local West Virginia T.V. reporter Tori Yorgey is thanking everyone for their concern after being hit by a car while she was doing a live shot. In a tweet she says, "I am flattered by the kindness and well wishes. I am feeling fine, just a little sore! Thank you all so much."
JARRETT: Yorgey was covering a water main break in Dunbar on Wednesday when she was accidentally hit by an SUV -- watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM IRR, WSAZ ANCHOR: And now we're starting to experience -- unfortunately, in freeze-thaw, we see this -- water main breaks.
TORI YORGEY, WSAZ REPORTER: (Hit by car) Oh, my gosh. I just got hit by a car but I'm OK. I just got hit by a car but I'm OK, Tim. I'm OK.
IRR: Well, that's a first for you on T.V., Tori.
YORGEY: Whoo, we're all good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you OK?
YORGEY: I'm OK, yes. You know, that's live T.V. for you. It's all good. I actually got hit by a car in college, too, just like that. IRR: Wow.
YORGEY: I am so glad I'm OK.
IRR: Yes.
YORGEY: You're OK, you're OK. We're all good. This is a -- oh -- you know what? It's a one-woman band.
IRR: Are you sure you're OK, Tori?
YORGEY: We're good, Tim.
IRR: Are you sure you're OK?
YORGEY: Ma'am, you are so sweet and you're OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am so sorry.
YORGEY: It is all good. You know, I -- oh, lord.
IRR: So you --
YORGEY: You know it's my last week on the job and I think this would happen.
IRR: So you were bumped in --
YORGEY: (INAUDIBLE) to me, Tim.
IRR: Were you bumped down low, Tori, or were you hit up high? I couldn't really tell from looking.
YORGEY: Oh. I don't even -- do you know if I was bumped down low or up high, sir?
IRR: I just saw you disappear out of the screen.
YORGEY: I don't even know. I don't even know, Tim. My whole life just flashed before my eyes.
IRR: Oh, I can imagine.
YORGEY: But this is live T.V. and everything's OK. I thought I was in a safe spot but clearly, we might need to move the camera over a bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: So glad she's OK.
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: She later went to the hospital just to get checked out.
You know, Christine, a lot of people watching that were really disturbed by it. She's out there by herself. She's doing a -- you know, a live shot -- sort of the one-man-band where she's setting up the camera. She doesn't have anyone out there with her.
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: It's the middle of the night. You'd think if it was a big enough deal that they thought they needed to send her out there that they could send someone with her.
ROMANS: You know -- and a lot of people who are veterans at this talk about how this is why it's really -- it -- you've got to have a cameraman, you've got to have a backup.
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: It's really hard to be a one-man-band like that.
JARRETT: She can't see what's coming from behind her.
ROMANS: Right, absolutely. You know -- and you're so focused. When you're in a live shot like that you're so focused on the person in your ear and telling the public what they need to know --
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: -- that you're not really aware of your own surroundings. So that's why it's always important to have a team.
JARRETT: Glad she's OK.
ROMANS: Me, too.
All right, tributes are pouring in right now for a rock legend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEAT LOAF, SINGER: Singing "Paradise by the Dashboard Light."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Remembering Meat Loaf, next.
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[05:44:10]
JARRETT: Tributes pouring in this morning for Grammy Award-winning singer Meat Loaf who died last night. CNN's Chloe Melas joins us with that story and more. Good morning, Chloe.
ROMANS: Hi, Chloe.
CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER (via Webex by Cisco): Good morning. Such a sad story. We've lost another great artist and 2022 has just begun.
His real name was Marvin Lee Aday. He was from Dallas, Texas, my hometown. And he was most famous for "Bat Out of Hell" but he had worked with so many artists.
The tributes are pouring in. No cause of death as of right now has been revealed.
That's my favorite song -- I'll Do Anything for Love" -- right? He was only 74 years old.
[05:45:00]
Cher, who worked with him in "Dead Ringer for Love," had a really sweet tribute to him on Twitter, saying that how much she's going to miss him. Andrew Lloyd Weber -- he said that "The vaults of heaven will be ringing with rock." And, you know, that is definitely true.
JARRETT: The songs of a generation.
And Chloe, speaking of the songs of a generation, Adele devastated, it looks like, because she's going to have to cancel her Vegas residency. Everyone's got COVID. What happened?
MELAS: Yes. So I'm scrolling through Instagram last night trying to see if I've missed anything throughout the day. And I'm like already in bed. I put my kids to bed and I'm about to go to sleep.
And then I see Adele crying to her fans in this over-a-minute video, saying that her members of production had COVID. It's really impacted their ability to be able to get ready for the Las Vegas residency.
She was so upset, so apologetic. She told her fans that they will reschedule all of the dates but that they're just not ready and that she has been up for 36 hours, you guys, trying to decide if they could get things together.
But look -- I mean, she wants it to be perfect.
ROMANS: Yes.
MELAS: A Las Vegas residency is a huge deal, so you can imagine that she's clearly not taking this decision lightly.
ROMANS: Let's hear some of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADELE, SINGER-SONGWRITER: I can't give you what I have right now and I'm gutted -- I'm gutted.
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ROMANS: Wow, she is so -- she is just so talented.
MELAS: I know -- she really is.
ROMANS: Let's talk about -- we got a sneak peek. What about the Super Bowl? What are we hearing about the Super Bowl and the entertainment there? MELAS: You know what? Let's just watch, guys. Take a look at this.
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Pepsi hypes Super Bowl LVI halftime show with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.
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MELAS: I'm a 90s kid so -- I mean, I was born in the 80s, just to be clear. I wasn't born in the 90s.
JARRETT: I know. We're the same age.
MELAS: I'm not that young. But this is my kind of music.
So everybody's going to be convening at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles for the Super Bowl in just a few weeks. And Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre clearly are all going to be there and it is going to be what appears to be maybe one of the greatest Super Bowl halftime shows of all time -- maybe.
JARRETT: And everything in person, right? Despite COVID, everyone is going to be there in person -- wow.
MELAS: Yes.
JARRETT: OK.
Chloe, we also want to ask you what's going on with Britney Spears? Obviously, she got out of that conservatorship. You covered that so much. Now, more allegations against the dad?
MELAS: So there was an explosive court hearing earlier this week. CNN's Paul Vercammen -- he was inside the courtroom. And the lawyers for Jamie Spears, her father, and for Britney Spears were battling out, really contentiously, because Britney Spears' father wants his daughter to pay his legal fees.
And according to Matthew Rosengart, who has represented Britney and is one of the main reasons why she's out of this conservatorship -- he says hold on. Britney has paid upwards of $30 million in legal fees over the course of her 13-year conservatorship and you, sir, have allegedly made over $6 million off of your daughter's estate. And you also tried to pitch a cooking show in 2015 to the Cooking Channel called "Cruzin' and Chaos with Jamie Spears."
So, all of that being said -- a lot of things being said back and forth -- Judge Brenda Penny that Britney does not have to put aside any money in a reserve for her family's legal fees as of right now. There are two upcoming court dates.
But even though Britney is out of the conservatorship, we knew all along she said the conservatorship was abusive. She said that she wanted to charge her family -- and specifically, her father -- with conservatorship abuse. And Mathew Rosengart said he was going to see this through. That he was going to depose and he was going to try to prosecute anybody who potentially mismanaged Britney's life and funds.
JARRETT: Yes.
MELAS: So this is a 'to be continued' situation right now.
ROMANS: All right, Chloe. Nice to see you this morning. Thank you. Have a great weekend.
JARRETT: Thanks, Chloe.
MELAS: You, too.
ROMANS: Let's get a check on CNN Business while we've got you here, folks.
Looking at markets around the world, a mixed performance in Asia. Europe has opened lower. On Wall Street, stock index futures at this hour, at the end of the trading week, also super mixed.
Stocks fell Thursday and an early rebound fizzled. All three indices down. The Nasdaq losing 1.3 percent. You know, it failed to reverse losses after slipping into a technical correction, or a 10 percent drop from its high.
A bumpy few days. You can blame rising bond yields here. The 10-year Treasury yield still trading above 1.8 percent. Those are pre-pandemic levels. That will eventually lead to higher borrowing costs for autos, homes, and other consumer debt.
[05:50:00]
First-time jobless claims climbed 286,000 last week. That's more than expected. That's the highest since October. Layoffs are likely related to the Omicron surge. But jobless claims are still at pre-pandemic levels.
All right, this pandemic winner, Peloton.
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PELOTON COMMERCIAL: Let's go, Peloton. Bring that thunder.
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ROMANS: Bring that thunder, or maybe bring on some layoffs and a production reset. That's what the CEO is saying after this bombshell CNBC report of a big drop in demand for the company's bikes.
CEO John Foley acknowledging Peloton is considering all options. He's denying rumors of a production halt, though. A production reset is what they're calling it.
The CNBC report sent shares plummeting almost 24 percent on Thursday, Peloton's worst day in more than two months.
Foley, the CEO, also added the company plans legal action against a leaker of confidential company info.
You know, you look at Netflix, you look at Peloton -- they were some of these pandemic winners that were --
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: -- pandemic trades. Like, we were all at home, right --
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: -- buying the bike, buying the tread, signing up for all these streaming services.
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: And now I think two years into it you're starting to see a little bit of consumer behavior that's changing a bit, and that means some of that -- some of that --
JARRETT: Yes.
ROMANS: -- those big gains are not going to be so easy.
JARRETT: Yes. People either not -- going back to the gym --
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: -- or not working out at all.
ROMANS: Right.
JARRETT: All right, we're two weeks away from the Winter Olympics and already, some COVID-19 cases among the guests starting to crop up. Coy Wire has it all covered in this morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Laura.
COVID-19 detected in recent Beijing Winter Olympics arrivals. The USOC says all American athletes are vaccinated and that's about 200 of those athletes. But they're trying -- they're scrambling, the Olympic Committee, to find ways to keep the COVID out of this Olympic bubble.
Now, 11,000 people are expected to arrive in Beijing for the games. Officials are, as I mentioned, straining to keep that bubble and those outside the bubble as safe as possible.
The International Olympic Committee says the positivity rate, Laura, among those arriving for the Olympics, so far, is just over 1 1/2 percent. And it stresses that no infections have occurred within what's called that closed-loop covering everything from the airport, Olympic transport systems, hotels, the villages, and the sporting venues, of course.
Now, entry into that closed-loop system requires all athletes, officials, and media to test negative twice before flying into Beijing. As I mentioned, the U.S. Olympic Committee says about 200 members of Team USA have all been fully vaccinated. Opening ceremony in Beijing February fourth.
Elsewhere, fourth-ranked NC State had an epic fourth quarter against number-three Louisville in women's hoops. The Wolfpack trailing by 14 after three quarters but outscored the Cardinals 31 to eight in the final 10 minutes.
Diamond Johnson shined like one, 14 of her 16 points coming the fourth.
NC State stunning Louisville, snapping the nation's longest winning streak at 15, taking sole possession of first place in the ACC.
And finally, just one day away from the divisional round of NFL playoffs with some huge matchups on tap, like my Buffalo wings versus me, the wings don't stand a chance. Titans and Bengals kicking it off on Saturday, followed by Packers and Niners. Then massive matchups Sunday with the Bucs hosting the Rams. The Bills face the Chiefs in Kansas City.
Now, Tom Brady is gearing up for an eighth Super Bowl title -- a 35th career playoff win. Only three teams have more than that. He's 44 years old and Brady is locked in and as ready as ever.
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TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: This isn't the time for the -- you know, trips to the movie theaters or the -- it's a time to lock in football because this is all we have is three days left and we've got to earn more. So, you just look at it like that.
Everything you kind of put off until the end of the year and we just certainly hope the end of the year isn't Sunday night. We've just got to keep -- we have to earn it. You've got to go win and move on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: All right.
Check out this Bills fan. Eric Jones making an incredible sculpture in honor of the Bills star quarterback Josh Allen. I mean, he was out there despite three-degree wind chills, Laura and Christine. That is dedication. And that is why I'm taking my former team by a million in this one over the Chiefs.
JARRETT: The level of detail. He's pretty talented.
WIRE: It's so good.
ROMANS: Talented.
All right, nice to see you, Coy. Thank you so much.
WIRE: You, too.
JARRETT: Thanks, Coy.
ROMANS: And that's for joining us, everybody. I'm Christine Romans. Have a safe weekend.
JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
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[05:59:53]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Friday, January 21st.
I'm John Berman. Brianna is forsaking us for one more day but has instructed Kasie Hunt to watch over me. Great to see you.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's been a tough job --
BERMAN: Yes.
HUNT: -- I've got to tell you.
