Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Burkina FASO'S Military Seizes Power In Coup; Palin Tests Positive For COVID, Defamation Trial Delayed; Family Top Of Mind As Tom Brady Considers Retirement. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired January 25, 2022 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SUPERVISING EDITOR, AFRICA: And the army sources have been telling CNN that it was simply time for President Roch Kabore to go simply because he failed to protect the citizens from Jihadist insurgency that has plagued this small African nation since 2018. The U.N. figures puts 1.5 million people displaced internally because of this conflict.

And so, the army is saying that they are now ready to take charge and secure the citizens, which speaks to some of that popularity that we're seeing right now.

But, of course, we don't know where President Kabore is and the U.N., in the past hour, calling for his immediate release. And the U.S. also saying that it's monitoring this situation very closely and that it is a worrying development, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Stephanie. Thank you so much. Keep us posted on new developments -- Laura.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

So we've been promised flying cars for nearly a century now. This new one is called the aircar and let's just say it looks promising. The manufacturer says it received an experimental certificate of airworthiness from the Slovak Transport Authority.

The prototype has a 160-horsepower BMW engine that drives the propeller in the air. And after the touch of a button to fold up the wings, the wheels on the ground. Very cool.

ROMANS: That is very cool. Do you drive it with a stick shift or is it manual transmission? What is it exactly?

All right. A New York restaurant served with a hefty portion of scrutiny after a visit from Sarah Palin.

JARRETT: Plus, will Tom Brady retire from the NFL? Who he's consulting about this decision. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:36:13]

JARRETT: Well, just as free rapid COVID tests are being delivered to homes across the country, the first free N95 masks have started to arrive at pharmacies and grocery stores. It's all part of the Biden administration's effort to play catchup here as COVID cases skyrocketed back in December.

CNN has reporters all around the globe bringing you the latest COVID developments, starting with Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong for us. Kristie, good morning.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Laura, good morning.

COVID-19 cases are rising in Beijing, both inside and outside of the Olympic bubble. In fact, today, the Beijing Olympics Committee reported 15 new cases, and local Beijing authorities reported five new local cases outside the bubble in the Chinese capital.

It's a small number but in zero-COVID China, that means mass testing. That means snap lockdowns. It also means that Beijing has ordered all residents who purchased fever or cold medicine in the last two weeks to get a COVID test. This is, presumably, to prevent people from masking any symptoms of COVID-19.

Now to Vedika Sud in Delhi -- Vedika.

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Thank you, Kristie.

Amid a COVID-19 surge, India will be celebrating its annual Republic Day on Wednesday in New Delhi but with several restrictions in place. According to officials, only a third of the usual strength of spectators will be allowed at this Republic Day parade. They must be fully vaccinated. Unfortunately, children under the age of 15 will have to give this event a miss since they're yet to receive a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Now to Blake Essig in Tokyo.

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Any moment, Japan's government is expected to formally expand quasi-state of emergency orders that will cover more than 70 percent of the country's prefectures. That authorization means local governments can request that bars and restaurants limit their operating hours and stop serving alcohol or else they could face fines.

Now, cases nationwide recently eclipsed 50,000 in a single day for the first time ever. And not only has the daily case count roughly doubled week-to-week but so has the number of patients in serious condition.

Laura and Christine, back to you.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much, Blake, and all of our colleagues, for those reports this morning.

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has tested positive for COVID, delaying her defamation trial against "The New York Times" for 10 days now. The federal judge hearing the case noting in court Monday she is, of course, unvaccinated.

And now, an Italian restaurant on New York City's Upper East Side under scrutiny for letting her dine indoors Saturday night. Now, the city requires everyone sitting inside show proof of vaccination. The restaurant, Elio's, told "The New York Times" the staff just made a mistake.

OK, I have never been to Elio's but I have been out --

JARRETT: I haven't either.

ROMANS: -- I have been out to eat in New York and there is a line socially-distanced outside with people with their cards on their phone and their cards in their hands to get in. It is just (INAUDIBLE) in Washington, D.C. -- in New York, rather.

JARRETT: Yes, and -- well -- and the restaurants have been really strict about it because they face heavy fines. They don't want to get penalized. They're so desperate to have people in restaurants they don't want to get shut down over this. So a lot of questions for Elio's.

ROMANS: So -- and if she is unvaccinated, right -- if that's what the judge said --

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: So if she is unvaccinated that means she went into a restaurant where someone who is vaccinated and thought that they were safe in a vaccinated environment could have been sitting close.

JARRETT: Well, and now the restaurant says it has to notify everyone that was there that they were exposed to COVID and test all the staff regularly.

ROMANS: Wow -- all right.

Just ahead, is the stock market headed for the so-called superbubble? It sounds scary.

JARRETT: And the rock front man now apologizing to Taylor Swift.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER-SONGWRITER: Singing "Look What You Made Me Do."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:43:57]

ROMANS: All right, guys, it's Tuesday. Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.

Looking at markets around the world, pretty much mixed here. You see Asia fell but Europe has opened higher, rebounding here. On Wall Street, stock index futures -- it looks like they're down a little bit here.

Look, it was an insane day on Wall Street -- a huge sell-off and then an epic reversal just before the closing bell. I mean, a real nailbiter.

The final tally: the Dow, down more 1,000 at one point, rebounded to close higher. The S&P 500 up 0.3 percent. The Nasdaq down almost five percent at its low; turns around and gains 0.6 percent.

OK, the problem here, a lot to work through. Ukraine tensions, disappointing corporate earnings, and persistent inflation. Fighting inflation means a new era of higher interest rates. We'll hear from the Fed with a policy update after the central bank's two-day policy meeting. That starts today. Higher rates, of course, eat into corporate profits and that devalues high-worth stock.

So you're seeing this real shift here. That's why 2022 has been so tough.

[05:45:02]

The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 13.7 percent. That is a technical correction from recent highs. The S&P down 8.1 percent from its recent high. The Dow has lost 6.6 percent.

It's a new era after big wins during the pandemic. All the major indices are up double-digit percentages since March 2020.

All right, let's bring in "Business Insider" columnist Linette Lopez to talk about all of these lines here this morning. Linette, so nice to see you this morning.

There are four things really freaking investors out -- you know, inflation, and Russia, potential invasion of Ukraine, earnings, the Fed. And even scarier, this idea that years of easy Fed policy has created this superbubble and that things like mean techs and dodgy cryptocurrencies show that this superbubble is in its late stages.

Where do you stand on this whole superbubble fear?

LINETTE LOPEZ, COLUMNIST, BUSINESS INSIDER (via Skype): I don't know about a superbubble. I don't know how super it is. This isn't going to be like 2008 where the economy goes crashing down. We have a growing economy.

When I think about this I think more along the lines of the market crashing during the tech bubble in 2001-2002 when it was really a moment where retail investors. Regular people started trading on internet platforms for the first time, just like now when people started trading on apps like Robinhood for the first time or getting on Reddit and reading investment advice.

In both times, back then and now, money was easy and people got involved. They were hearing these stories about high-flying tech names and whizbang technologies, and they got in and they took a lot of losses.

And I think that's what this is going to look like here. And that's what is going to make it difficult for regular people -- is that participation in the market right now during the financial crisis was unlike any time --

ROMANS: Sure.

LOPEZ: -- we've ever seen before in modern history. And it looks like from the data some of those people are jumping out. Back in '01-'02 those people never came back to the stock market again and things started behaving a little bit more normally. And then, of course, (INAUDIBLE).

But that's what it looks like is going to happen now.

ROMANS: Yes. I think --

LOPEZ: Instead of all this crazy action it will go back to normal eventually.

ROMANS: Yes. It's been a couple of really nutty years. I mean, the pandemic has been very good for investors. Ironically, what has not been good for Main Street has been very good for Wall Street.

Inflation the big problem on Main Street, of course, and the president is touting competition to cool inflation. Of course, the Fed is on the verge of raising interest rates to control higher prices.

Do you feel like inflation -- the story for 2022 is that we will get inflation under control?

LOPEZ: I hope so. I think it still depends on the virus. A lot of the issues that we're seeing with inflation are due to supply chain disruption.

You know, truckers coming over the border of Canada who have to move a lot more slowly, or simply, people who can't drive the trucks, or shutting down ports in China because they have a zero-COVID policy and they don't want anybody to be sick at all. These things are really important.

Also, the shift in our consumer economy is going to be important when we get rid of this virus, you know? Now people are at home buying goods online. Hopefully, when this clears up they'll buy more experiences. They'll go on trips, they'll go out to dinner, and that will send money into the services economy. What the Fed can do and what President Biden can do about problems

like that are limited. It's almost impossible for President Biden to somehow find more truckers and the Federal Reserve can't go to China and put things on ships.

ROMANS: Right.

LOPEZ: So, while they can have an impact on the economy, the Fed can stoke (ph) up hot money from the housing market and from the stock market and slow down the banking system a little bit.

But a lot of this is due to the virus. It's really weird. It's funky. We've never seen anything like this before.

ROMANS: Yes. And you're right that the --

LOPEZ: We've never shut the economy off and turned it on before.

ROMANS: And you're right that the inflation issue is global. The right -- the far-right will give President Biden a lot of grief about Biden inflation and empty Biden store shelves, but it is a global inflation problem and that's a very good point to make.

I want to ask you about a story stock, quickly. They're sweating it out over at Peloton and not in a good way, Linette. An activist investor wants to -- wants the board to fire the CEO John Foley and explore a sale of the company. The stock price fell below its IPO price.

What's the outcome here or the next move here for Peloton, do you think?

LOPEZ: This is going to be tough. I don't know when exercise will go back to being this super-hot thing and everybody needs a bicycle. Exercise fads are tough in the stock market. They tend to bubble and pop.

[05:50:08]

Peloton -- I wish them well. The reporting that's coming out about demand is not great. I am not a corporate CEO so I don't have advice to them, but I wouldn't be -- I wouldn't be waiting for Peloton to figure this out and have the stock surge back up. This is a real problem.

ROMANS: All right.

LOPEZ: It's a demand problem. It's a 'we can't find the customers' problem.

ROMANS: All right, Linette Lopez. We know the company likes to say it's not an exercise company, it's a social media and technology company. We'll see if they can continue to plug --

LOPEZ: Right. I would say that, too.

ROMANS; -- to plug that line.

Linette Lopez, columnist for "Business Insider," thank you -- Laura.

JARRETT: I'm not the only one who has a bike at home, I think collecting dust right now.

All right, Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady says his family will play a key role in his decision whether to retire. Andy Scholes has it all covered in this morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Laura.

So, you know, leading into the playoffs it wasn't really talked about much that this could have been Tom Brady's last season. We all kind of just have fallen into the eh, it's Tom Brady. He's going to play forever. But retirement seems like a real possibility.

And Brady said on his "Let's Go!" podcast that his wife, Gisele, and his family are going to have a big say on whether he returns for a 23rd NFL season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: It pains her to see me get hit out there. And, you know, she deserves what she needs from me as a husband and my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad. That's what relationships are all about.

It's not always what I want. It's what we want as a family. And, you know, I'm going to spend a lot of time with them and then figure out in the future what's next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, Brady's 44 years old and has said in the past he wants to play to the age of 45. He's already the NFL's all-time leader in both career passing yards and touchdowns. He has one year left on his two-year $50 million deal with the Bucs.

All right, a scary moment during last night's Capitals-Golden Knights game. An air puck was shot out of play by Vegas' Brayden McNabb. It hit a woman sitting in the stands. Play was stopped momentarily while she received medical attention. She reportedly was taken to a nearby hospital and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The Caps ended up losing that game 1-0.

All right, to college basketball. Thirteenth-ranked Texas Tech and fifth-ranked Kansas playing a thriller in Lawrence last night. In overtime, the Red Raiders were up three. Jayhawks' Ochai Agbaji hits the three with under 10 seconds to go. He had a career-high 37 points.

The game would go to double-overtime. Tech now down three. Terrence Shannon Jr. can't get it to go right there. Kansas hangs on to win that one 94-91. At the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal one step closer to a record- breaking 21st Grand Slam singles title but it wasn't easy. And Nadal won the first two sets but was battling some stomach problems. And in that sweltering heat, he dropped the next two sets before taking the last one to beat 22-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

He advances to the semifinals. The men's final is Sunday night.

Meantime, American Madison Keys cruising into the women's semifinals after a straight sets win over Barbora Krejcikova. She's the reigning French Open champion. After winning just 11 singles matches in 2021, Keys has now won 11 in less than a month in 2022. The 26-year-old looking for her first-ever Grand Slam title.

All right, and finally, Nick Kyrgios competing in doubles. This serve hit the net so it wasn't even in play, but Kyrgios smokes it anyway. Unfortunately, it hit a young fan and Kyrgios immediately felt terrible about it. And after waiting for a moment, Kyrgios then went over to the bench, grabbed one of his rackets, and ran it into the stands to give it to the fan.

So, a happy ending there, I guess, guys. But I don't -- I don't know. Would you take a tennis ball to the chest or face if you got a racket in return?

ROMANS: No way.

JARRETT: For a concussion? No.

ROMANS: No way.

SCHOLES: I mean, I would maybe do it if it was Roger Federer because that would be a pretty cool story.

ROMANS: I'm like a -- I'm like one of those safety moms. Like, I want to take my kids to a baseball game wearing a helmet -- a bike helmet. They're like mom, you are so crazy. So, I know -- because one of my kids almost got hit by a foul ball one time and it was really -- it was scary, you know?

SCHOLES: I bet, yes.

ROMANS: So I can see the tears. The tears are justified there.

Thanks, Andy.

SCHOLES: All right.

JARRETT: Thanks, Andy.

ROMANS: All right.

Taylor Swift's got bad blood with Blue front man Damon Albarn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SWIFT: Singing "Bad Blood."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So, when Albarn told an interviewer Swift doesn't write her own songs -- doesn't write her own songs, she fired back with this tweak. "I was such" -- tweet, rather -- "I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this. I write all of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and so damaging. P.S. I wrote this tweet all by myself in case you were wondering."

Albarn later apologized to Swift, writing, "I totally agree with you. I had a conversation about songwriting and sadly, it was reduced to clickbait. I apologize unreservedly..." -- (coughing) -- excuse me. Look, I'm all choked up over this -- "...and unconditionally."

JARRETT: Good for her with the swift clapback. I like it. She wasn't taking it.

[05:55:02]

ROMANS: I know. She will not take your hot take -- no way. And no one -- Taylor Swift -- she is an icon.

All right, thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

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

(COMMERCIAL)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. It is Tuesday, January 25th, and I'm Brianna Keilar with John Berman.

We do begin with the drumbeat of war. The United States placing up to 8,500 troops on heightened alert for possible deployment to Eastern Europe. A Russian --