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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Major American Cities Focus On Gun Violence; Fauci: U.S. Covid Wave "Going In The Right Direction"; China Flies Warplanes Over Taiwan After U.S.-Japan Show Of Force. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired January 24, 2022 - 05:30   ET

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


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[05:30:48]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, major American cities zeroing in on guns.

In Houston, a manhunt underway after 12-year veteran police officer Charles Galloway was killed at a traffic stop.

In New York, just days earlier, Officer Jason Rivera was shot and killed in Harlem. He was responding to a domestic incident. A second NYPD officer was shot and is in critical condition.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is responding to this spike in gun violence by reviving the controversial plainclothes anti-gun unit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: Well, immediately, we're going to reinstitute a new version of a plainclothes -- modified plainclothes anti-gun unit. I talked about this on the campaign trail. Our team has done the proper analysis and now we're going to deploy that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Let's bring in retired NYPD officer Bill Stanton, author of the book "Prepared Not Scared: Your Go-To Guide for Staying Safe in an Unsafe World." Thank you for joining us this morning.

You just heard the mayor say he's bringing back that plainclothes unit. You know, it had been dismantled after some of the tactics were found unconstitutional.

What do you make of what Mayor Adams is doing here? BILL STANTON, RETIRED NYPD OFFICER, AUTHOR, "PREPARED NOT SCARED: YOUR GO-TO GUIDE FOR STAYING SAFE IN AN UNSAFE WORLD" (via Webex by Cisco): Mayor Adams sees the statistics -- the crime statistics. He sees officers being shot. He sees his constituents -- he sees the people that vote for him in this city being shot, robbed, and worse -- murdered.

He is taking an old system, revamping it, and using it to fight crime.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Sir, New York is also adding mental health professionals, we understand, to police teams in the subway system. This, as this terrible case last night -- a 62-year-old man, we understand, was pushed to the tracks. He's, thankfully, OK.

But, you know, subways are tough because if you think about it, you're in this enclosed space. You're trying to get to work, you're trying to get anywhere, and the tracks are obviously just sort of -- you're just sort of a sitting duck there.

What's the most effective way to make subways safe?

STANTON: Well, it's a combination of self-awareness -- if you're a citizen in New York City using the subway system you want to be prepared, not scared. You don't want to stand next to the edge of the platform. You want to have situational awareness -- looking around you.

And you always want to look for a cop. Having a cop close by is your best defense against predators and criminals looking to do harm for you in this city.

ROMANS: And we know that 62-year-old man -- his message to people was stay away from the edge of the subway platform. Move -- you know, we know everyone's jockeying for a position trying to get through those doors but stay away from the edge.

The officer who was killed Friday in New York was responding to a call from a mother who was arguing with her son. He was having some sort of an incident. We call these domestic calls but really, these are highly dangerous situations.

Should there be a different response in place for everyone's protection?

STANTON: Well, you said it. One of the most dangerous situations a police officer can go into is a so-called domestic dispute because that's a general term and you don't know what's going to be past that doorway. You know, going in with multiple officers assessing the situation and making the proper call -- arrest, don't arrest, call for an ambulance, call for psychological assistance -- these are things frontline police officers face every day.

General folks have no idea how dangerous this is, going into situations like this. And ultimately, it resulted in the loss of Officer Rivera and other officers being shot.

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: Yes.

All right, Bill Stanton. Thank you so much for your perspective this morning, sir -- appreciate it.

ROMANS: Yes, great to see you. Thank you.

STANTON: Thank you.

ROMANS: In Washington, it turns out the House select committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol has been quietly talking to a key person, former attorney general Bill Barr.

Katelyn Polantz has the latest from Washington. Good morning.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Good morning.

Bill Barr back in the mix -- so that's what --

ROMANS: Yes.

POLANTZ: -- Rep. Bennie Thompson acknowledged this weekend on CBS, on Sunday, when he was speaking in an interview.

And the reason that Barr's name came up -- we didn't get a lot about exactly how much Bill Barr might know -- what he might actually be in the context of an investigation like this that the House is doing. He could be a witness. He might not be as well because we do know that Barr was out of the mix. He had left the Justice Department in December of 2020.

[05:35:10]

But what Rep. Thompson was speaking about, Christine and Laura, was a more broader idea that the committee is pursuing that they are looking now at a draft executive order that was not signed by the president but that they appear to have received in this batch of documents that was sent over by the National Archives, essentially allowing the Justice Department -- or, I'm sorry, the Defense Department legally to seize voting machines in various states.

And so, Thompson is bringing this up and he's mentioning Barr because he is saying that he wants the committee to be able to, if there is evidence, show the use of federal assets, including agencies, in this attempt to overthrow the election. And that, of course, would mean looking very closely at what was happening at the Justice Department and at the Defense Department in the days leading up to January sixth.

ROMANS: Katelyn, the leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, is awaiting trial on seditious conspiracy charges. We understand he has a court hearing today?

POLANTZ: He does, indeed. He will be in court in Texas.

So, Rhodes was arrested about two weeks ago in Texas. He was picked up by the Feds. His case is in D.C. But before he could ever come here -- before he starts that long journey in front of a judge and his co- defendants here in court in D.C., he has to appear before a judge in Texas. So that's going to happen today.

And what they're going to be talking about is whether he should stay detained as he awaits trial. He has been in jail, so far, and he will go before this judge today who will make a decision.

The Justice Department has already stepped up and they say that they believe they want him to stay in jail because they believe if he's released he could be a danger to the community.

ROMANS: Wow.

POLANTZ: And there are other co-defendants of his, Christine, who are awaiting trial in jail. So we'll see what happens today.

ROMANS: All right, Katelyn. I know you'll be following all of it for us. Thank you so much -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right, to COVID now as the nation's top COVID expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says he is cautiously optimistic about the state of the pandemic here in the U.S. Listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE: There are still some states in the southern states and western states that continue to go up. But if the pattern follows the trend that we're seeing in other places, such as the northeast, I believe that you will start to see a turnaround throughout the entire country. So things are looking good. We don't want to get overconfident but they look like they're going in the right direction right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: So here's what Dr. Fauci is talking about. This pattern you see in New York, the U.K., South Africa -- it's a rapid surge in cases followed by a steep decline in numbers.

We have reporters across the globe covering this pandemic, starting with Scott McLean live for us in London -- Scott.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Laura. Yes, life here in London is about to feel very pre-pandemic as almost all remaining restrictions in England are set to be lifted later this week.

Meanwhile, though, just across the channel in Brussels, protests there turned violent this weekend over COVID restrictions.

And the French president's plan to piss off the unvaccinated seems to be working. Protesters turned out in Paris against the new health French pass law, which takes effect today and requires people to show proof of vaccination to access a range of everyday activities. A negative test is no longer good enough.

Now, here's David Culver in Beijing.

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Scott.

More confirmed cases within the Olympic bubble here in Beijing -- six added today, bringing the total number to 78. Now, officials say so far, roughly 3,200 people have arrived here in China for the Olympics. They're going to be kept separate from the rest of us and the rest of China's population.

Forty-three of those cases, by the way, that tested positive did so upon arriving here. And we're told that one case was either an athlete or an official. Olympic organizers did not specify but they stressed there's no widespread infection that's going to affect these games.

Now to New Delhi and CNN's Vedika Sud.

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Thanks, David.

According to India's Health Ministry, it's the fifth consecutive day that the country is reporting over 300,000 new daily cases of COVID- 19. A conglomerate of labs that have been genome sequencing COVID-19 samples here in India have said that the Omicron variant is now in community transmission stage and is the driving force behind the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases in the big cities across the country.

Now over to Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.

JARRETT: All right, our thanks to Vedika and the rest of our correspondents around the globe there.

Back here in the U.S., after nearly two years of screaming silently into a pillow, probably, a group of moms in Boston let it all out.

[05:40:00]

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Boston moms screaming.

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JARRETT: That's the primal scream of moms fed up. Between work and kids and everything else in between, they are exhausted. And so they got together at the 50-yard line of a high school football field last week and for 20 minutes they screamed --

ROMANS: I know.

JARRETT: -- and screamed and screamed. You can feel the energy on that field.

ROMANS: One by one, they came out of the tunnel, right, and took their place -- JARRETT: Should we be organizing this at CNN?

ROMANS: I know.

JARRETT: Just a weekly scream?

ROMANS: I think it's awesome. It's healthier than a bottle of white wine, right? Getting out there and --

JARRETT: Well.

ROMANS: It is healthier than a bottle of white wine. But I'll tell you, that is what we all feel, right -- the silent scream. There it is.

JARRETT: Well, as you talk about all the time, Christine, this pandemic has had just untold --

ROMANS: Exhaustion.

JARRETT: -- effects on moms, right?

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: It's just moms are the ones who are bearing the brunt of this.

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: Obviously, dads, too. There are a lot of different situations.

ROMANS: Sure.

JARRETT: But it's been just so hard and I think for so many -- so many, they just need a release.

ROMANS: I mean, every day is a major exercise in risk management --

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: -- for your family and getting organized and figuring out what your priorities are. And that happens every single day. It is COVID exhaustion. I -- hats off to them. Yes, let's organize a scream, Laura.

JARRETT: All right.

ROMANS: All right.

Just ahead, Chinese warplanes in Taiwan's airspace.

JARRETT: And how Adele surprised some disappointed fans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADELE, SINGER-SONGWRITER: Singing "Easy On Me."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[05:45:35]

JARRETT: Welcome back.

This morning, China is escalating tensions with Taiwan, flying 39 warplanes into the island's air defense zone Sunday -- China's largest mission over Taiwan this year.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live in Seoul on this story. Paula, was this in reaction to that huge show of force between the U.S. and Japan that they put on on Saturday? Is that what this is about?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, that's certainly the assumption at this point. There's rarely a coincidence when it comes to these kind of aerial incursions by Beijing. Now, they have done these frequent flights into the Air Defense Identification Zone of Taiwan over the years. This one, as you say, was the biggest so far this year. Among them, there were 34 fighter jets and a nuclear-capable bomber.

So, Taiwan did what it often has to do in these cases -- it has to scramble. It said that it issued verbal warnings -- radio warnings. It also activated its missile defense system. But it really criticizes China for what it calls carrying out these gray zone tactics to try and put the pressure on Taiwan.

But as you mentioned, Laura, there was that massive military drill -- a naval drill on Saturday between the U.S. and the Japanese navy -- a massive show of force. So it is presumed that is what Beijing is reacting to at this point.

From the U.S. point of view, there was a Navy aircraft carrier, amphibious assault ships, a Japanese helicopter, destroyer in the waters off the east coast of Taiwan -- so in the Philippines. We don't know exactly how close to Taiwan but presumably close enough that it wasn't acceptable or pleasing to Beijing.

Now, the U.S. has consistently said that they are pushing towards freedom of navigation in these waters and also in the South China Sea. A U.S. statement from the Navy pointing out that they were conducting training to preserve and protect a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Clearly, not the way that Beijing sees it. They see that they have territorial claims in these areas and they actually see Taiwan as a renegade province that needs to come back into the fold -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right, Paula. Thank you for staying on top of this one for us.

ROMANS: All right, 47 minutes past the hour. Let's get a check on CNN Business this Monday morning. Looking at markets around the world, Asian shares closed mixed. Europe has opened lower here, and decidedly so. And on Wall Street, stock index futures this hour are also down.

It was a tough week on Wall Street. The Nasdaq shed 2.7 percent. It's correction mode for tech, down 10 percent from the recent high.

It was the worst week for the Dow since October 2020, and the worst of the Nasdaq and S&P since March 2020. Remember then? Those were bad old days in the stock market.

Investors are worried about rising interest rates. Bond yields are climbing in anticipation of the Fed. The Federal Reserve raising interest rates this year to fight inflation.

And attention turns this week to the Fed. No rate hike is expected this week when the central bank meets. Instead, Wall Street is betting the first one comes in March, and some economists are expecting rapid rate increases after that.

The recent blast of winter weather could mean record-high heating costs for some Americans this year. The U.S. Energy Information Agency says natural gas that's used to heat nearly half of all U.S. homes is 32 percent more expensive than last year.

Electricity up six percent, almost. Heating oil up 35 percent. And look at propane costs. These are real tough increases for consumers, up 44 percent.

That means, taken together, U.S. households will pay up to $1,700 more for heat this winter depending on where they live and what type of fuel they use.

All right, spoiler alert. If you're a fan of Showtime's "BILLIONS," Wags says he's not going out like Mr. Big -- watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, you're having a heart attack. We're here to just get you to --

DAVID COSTABILE, ACTOR, "BILLIONS": I'm doing a Peloton lesson with Tunde so I don't have a heart attack keeping up with my girlfriend. She's young.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That's Wags in the season six premiere with a heart attack on a Peloton bike.

Remember last month, Peloton shares plunged when Mr. Big died after riding a Peloton in the "SEX AND THE CITY" spinoff series, "AND JUST LIKE THAT."

We've got some T.V. drama joining some boardroom drama, folks. An activist investor has taken a big stake in Peloton, demanding some changes. The stock is now trading below its IPO price.

[05:50:05]

JARRETT: Yes, and Christine, I love that Tunde is now a household name, right?

ROMANS: You know, I'll tell you --

JARRETT: Everyone's favorite instructors.

ROMANS: -- the pandemic -- right. But the pandemic has made so many of these Peloton instructions almost famous, right?

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: I mean, famous for all the right reasons -- healthy, energetic. But the portrayal on T.V. hasn't been that positive, actually.

JARRETT: Well, you know, it's interesting. They filmed that scene before the one in "SEX AND THE CITY" --

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: -- so both networks had the same idea. And then they dubbed in the part on Mr. Big after Mr. Big's demise.

ROMANS: Oh, I didn't know that.

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: Laura with the great detail.

JARRETT: I'm up on my pop news this morning.

And more here. Adele gave some disappointed fans quite a surprise. CNN's Chloe Melas joins us with more on this. OK, Chloe, so she had to cancel her shows. She was so upset, as we saw, but I think she made up for it.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER (via Webex by Cisco): P.S., I'm a big "BILLIONS" fan.

ROMANS: Me, too.

MELAS: And Laura, now that I know you that you watch, you're going to see me in your DMs, OK?

JARRETT: I love it.

MELAS: So we're going to recap the show together if we want to stay awake to watch it.

OK, so --

JARRETT: Well, you know I'm not watching it live. MELAS: Right -- neither am I.

So, I just want to remind you guys for those of you that have heard bits and pieces over the weekend, like my mom and everybody's asking me about Adele and what's going on with her residency. Let me, guys, remind you what she said on Instagram that shocked the world on Friday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADELE: I'm so sorry but my show ain't ready. We've tried absolutely everything that we can to put it together in time and for it to be good enough for you, but we've been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and COVID. I can't give you what I have right now and I'm gutted -- I'm gutted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELAS: Clearly, upset. But this is why people are so taken aback by the fact that Adele is postponing this residency that's been in the making for quite a while at Caesar's Palace that was supposed to start on Friday night and go until April, is that she made the announcement on Friday, just about 14 hours or less before the show was supposed to begin.

Fans were already en route. Fans were in Vegas. People had bought tickets, hotel rooms -- you know, you name it -- for a fabulous weekend with Adele.

And obviously, this is costing millions of dollars to put this residency together. Adele saying that it's because cast -- or crew members and different people behind the scenes had a surge in COVID. That they couldn't get things together. But a lot of fans were upset as to why she couldn't just get up on a stool and perform acoustically.

Well, we spoke to one of those fans. His name is James Mason Fox. He said, guys, that he was actually on the plane when he saw on his phone that Adele had postponed it and the doors were closing and he begged the airline to let him off the plane and they wouldn't. He goes to Vegas and as one does, he complains on TikTok.

Adele slid into his DMs -- he thought it was a joke -- and invited him to come to this pop-up in Vegas. He goes and there she is on Facetime -- someone from her team was there -- and she was talking to some of the fans who were in town who didn't get to go to the concert. And she was apologizing very tearfully.

JARRETT: That's amazing.

ROMANS: Oh.

MELAS: But she's getting a lot of criticism, yes.

ROMANS: Yes but that was -- that was a smart move because there are a lot of people who showed up in Vegas to see the show and didn't have time to change their plans.

MELAS: Yes.

ROMANS: Let's talk about "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE." Pete Davidson and Colin Jost -- they made fun of themselves for buying the Staten Island ferry -- a Staten Island ferry boat that was for sale. What happened here?

MELAS: All right, so they are boat guys now. So, Colin Jost, who I didn't realize until yesterday that he actually was born and raised in Staten Island. I think we all know by now that Pete Davidson is proudly --

ROMANS: Yes.

MELAS: -- from Staten Island. Well, these two guys, who are buddies and also on "SNL" together -- they bought a decommissioned Staten Island ferry. And it's not a joke but they did joke about it on "SNL." Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE DAVIDSON, CAST MEMBER, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": We bought a ferry.

ALEX MOFFAT, CAST MEMBER, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": The windowless van of the sea.

COLIN JOST, CAST MEMBER, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Yes, it's very exciting. We thought the whole thing through.

DAVIDSON: Yes, I know. Even the mayor tweeted about it, which is how I found out we have a new mayor. What happened to Bloomberg?

MOFFAT: I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: What are they going to do with this ferry?

MELAS: OK. So, it turns out that they also bought it with a guy named Paul Italia. You might know him for owning The Stand, a comedy club in New York. They bought it for a little over $200,000 and they're going to turn it into -- drum roll, please -- a nightclub.

JARRETT: Wow, all right.

MELAS: A floating nightclub.

ROMANS: All right -- on the ferry.

MELAS: So they say it's going to take millions of dollars --

ROMANS: I'm sure.

JARRETT: Sure.

MELAS: -- to renovate this Staten Island ferry, but that is the plan eventually. So, I don't know, interesting.

ROMANS: All right.

JARRETT: All right, we'll see. Thank you, Chloe.

MELAS: Thank you.

ROMANS: I can't weigh in on to the soundness of that financial move but we'll watch -- we'll watch and cheer on from the sidelines.

[05:55:03]

Thanks for joining us, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: They should have consulted Christine Romans on that purchase.

I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Monday, January 24th --