Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Mahsa Amini's Family Demands Answers, Justice after her Death; FEMA to Reimburse Cities for Cost of Dealing with Migrant Influx; Stocks Fall after Central Banks Announce Rate Hikes; Retail Stores are Hiring ahead of Early Holiday Shopping Season; Employee Performance Reviews Making a Comeback. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 23, 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]

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Investigation is still ongoing but he seemed to still standby the government's version of events, that the 22-year-old died of heart attack saying the corner investigation so far has found no signs of beatings or abuse and that is something that is likely going to anger her family and enraged those already on the streets, Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST, EARLY START: Yes, absolutely. Jomana Karadsheh thank you for that! OK, new video shows an unruly passenger physically attacking an American Airlines flight attendant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God! What are you doing?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: OK, this happened on a flight from San Jose Del Cabo Mexico to Los Angeles. Law enforcement met the flight at the gate. Prosecutors have charged him. He has a court date on Monday and American Airlines says he will never be allowed to fly American Airlines again.

All right just ahead with the White House now says about Republican Governors sending migrants to Democratic cities to the north, and the workplace performance review. It's coming back after a pandemic hiatus and not everybody's happy about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:35:00]

ROMANS: Alright New York City plans to open emergency centers to provide support for a sudden rush of migrants and asylum seekers. Mayor Eric Adams has two centers will provide shelter, food and medical care and a range of settlement support services to hundreds of asylum seekers arriving now every day from Texas and other border states.

The Biden Administration expects Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, to keep sending busloads of asylum seekers north and they're preparing for it. Jasmine Wright has the latest for us this morning from Washington this Friday morning. What is the White House doing here Jasmine to prepare?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Christine, they're closely monitoring the situation. Now to be clear, as of Thursday night, the Biden Administration was not aware of reports that one of these Republican Governors could be sending more migrants or given any notice.

But basically, in any of these flights for the last few weeks, they haven't received any notice from what the White House has called political stunts from these Republican Governors. I mean, or even earlier this week, Christine, there were the White House was kind of sent scrambling trying to prepare after flight plans and reports said that a flight from Texas was heading to Delaware, the President's home state.

So now the White House says that for those cities that they know are receiving an influx of migrants that includes New York City, as you just said, Chicago and here in Washington, D.C., there is somebody from FEMA, that Federal Emergency Management Agency ready and willing to really help those cities, when it comes to management of these influx of migrants including reimbursing some of those cities.

That's a part of the kind of the response that the White House is now giving. And of course, the White House says that additionally, folks within the building are in contact with those local officials. But the bottom line here, Christine, is that the White House understands that it is in a challenging position here, of course with the threat of these Republican Governors to send more migrants across the country.

And of course, the new record that is being broken when it comes to encounters and arrest at the southern border. They know that they're in a tough spot. And of course, we know that Republicans want to use the issue of immigration against Democrats when it comes to the midterm elections really to provide some of that red meat you could say to their base.

So as a White House official put it there is no reason to believe they say that any of these flight or - Governors is going to be finished, Christine.

ROMANS: Yes, sounds that way. All right, Jasmine, right. Thank you nice to see you this morning! An Indiana judge blocking the state's near total abortion ban for being enforced just a week after it went into effect the Indiana law bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy limited exceptions. The judge issuing the temporary injunction in a suit by abortion clinic operators claiming the law violates the state constitution. The court order allows abortions up to 20 weeks of pregnancy to resume now in Indiana.

House Democrats clearing internal party hurdles to pass a series of bills to fund the police. The centerpiece of the four bill package calls for a $60 million investment in local police departments. The funds can be used for purchasing body cameras and conducting de- escalation training the legislation a victory for Democrats in part to counter Republican attacks ahead of the midterm elections that they are soft on crime.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas at Walmart, the giant retailer offering hot holiday deals a lot earlier this season. And conductor Oz win over Republicans in Pennsylvania's high stakes Senate race.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:40:00]

ROMANS: Well, let's get a check on CNN Business this Friday morning looking at markets around the world losses in Asia and Europe has opened pretty strongly lower here on Wall Street stock Index Futures also down looks like it's going to be another route on Wall Street today.

One analyst calling yesterday super Thursday central banks around the globe raising interest rates in their global fight against inflation. That meant another nose dive yesterday, the DOW dropping more than 100 points the NASDAQ down 1.3 percent the S&P 500 down about just shy of 1 percent.

Gas prices ticking up a little bit a penny overnight now 3.69 a gallon. The results of those rate increases a jump in mortgage rates up for the fifth week in a row Freddie Mac says the 30 year fixed rate mortgage hit nearly 6.3 percent this week. That's the highest since October 2008. Up from 6.02 last week and way above last year when it was about 2.88 percent.

The hype comes in the wake of yet another aggressive 75 basis point interest rate increased by the Federal Reserve mortgage rates have almost doubled since the year started. Right Christmas 92 days until Christmas but it's coming early at Walmart.

The retail giant says it's starting the holiday shopping season at its stores and online as early as next month. It'll start offering deeper deals on popular gift categories and its boosted suppliers of what it expects will be holiday hot sellers. CNN Business Consumer Reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn joins me now.

So they're preparing for an early shopping season and they're hiring what 40,000 workers target starting to hire for the holidays shoot what's happening.

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: So yes, Walmart is hiring 40,000 temporary and permanent employees for the holidays. Target is bringing on 100,000 temporary workers so these retailers are really ramping up for the holidays. But when you think about these jobs the nature of retail work has changed because of online shopping.

[05:45:00]

MEYERSOHN: These are not just cashiers in stores, or retail sales clerks. These are increasingly jobs in warehouses and across retailers supply chains. They're focused on getting online orders to customers as quickly as possible.

ROMANS: What is all - telling us about what consumers should expect for the holiday shopping season? It was so interesting the last couple of years, you know, there were shortages of things, you know, and then there was too much stuff for the retailers. I mean, is it going to be kind of a more normal holiday season?

MEYERSOHN: So I think we're going to expect a lot more discounts this year than last year. You think last year shortages, supply chains were stuck. Right now the retailers have too much stuff. And the reason for that is because shoppers have cut back their discretionary spending, especially for the big ticket items like furniture and televisions because of inflation.

So Deloitte the consulting firm is expecting a slower holiday shopping season this year sales growth of four to 6 percent and that's down from 15 percent a year ago.

ROMANS: Did I hear you say there'll be bigger discounts?

MEYERSOHN: bigger discounts Christine?

ROMANS: Big screen TV bigger discounts all right. Talk about a GAP the different story there what's happening to GAP.

MEYERSOHN: So Gap has really been struggling over the last few years. This year though that the troubles have accelerated the stock is down 50 percent it's lost half of it's - almost half of its value.

ROMANS: Out?

MEYERSOHN: Right. So GAP was you think of GAP it was the poster child of the mall boom in the 80s 90s 2000s they built out thousands of stores in these suburban malls when malls were the go to place to shop. Online shopping has changed that.

This model no longer works they're overextended. So GAP is they're closing stores. They're laying off 500 corporate employees and on top of that GAP owns Old Navy which had been really strong but now Old Navy is struggling so GAP is really getting hit from all sides here.

ROMANS: Fascinating. All right, Nathaniel Meyersohn have a great weekend. Thanks for coming by.

All right underway right now in four occupied regions of Ukraine a vote that the West is calling a sham, and the boss has some bad news performance reviews, they're back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:50:00]

ROMANS: OK, they are generally hated by bosses and employees alike. And now the dreaded workplace performance review went on hiatus of course, during the pandemic, it's making a comeback. Let's discuss with Jessica Kriegel, the Chief Scientist of Workplace Culture at Culture Partners. Why now? Why are they resurrecting this now? And what do they hope to get out of the process?

JESSICA KRIEGEL, CHIEF SCIENTIST OF WORKPLACE CULTURE, CULTURE PARETNS: I mean everyone is afraid right now. We've got so much to be worried about. We've got the pandemic, there's war happening inflation, recession, think about your last segment, mass layoffs are coming. And I think many executives are saying it's time to figure out who is the weakest link?

How are we going to identify those people get them out of the organization and performance reviews is their best idea. It's terribly misguided. Because what we don't want to do is give employees the experience of we don't give your ongoing feedback and now suddenly, we're going to have this conversation in which we tell you whether the you're in or you're out that is not going to create a culture that people want to work in.

It's in fact going to incentivize people to look elsewhere. And not only is all of this happening in terms of recession, and inflation and fear of layoffs, but there's also a staffing shortage. So people are feeling pulled in all directions. And it's just a nightmare for everyone involved.

ROMANS: I mean you make a really good point that if you are a boss, for example, and you are giving a performance review, and there are any surprises in that review, then the boss has not done his or her job, right?

You should always be talking to workers about what they can do better. But how do you assess workers in this climate where some people are working remotely? Some people are working, you know, 14 weeks if they can see we haven't seen some people in two years?

KRIEGEL: Yes, you're absolutely right. The instinct to want to communicate with employees is a good one but the way that we're doing it with this once a year, maybe twice a year bomb drop conversations about performance is not going to get us there.

We need to be having ongoing feedback conversations. It's like when you put a plan on autopilot, we're making little adjustments. Every time we speak with our employees, we can be doing a feedback conversation, which creates a really positive experience actually.

We have seen studies that show that companies can reduce turnover by 15 percent if they're giving their employees regular, ongoing feedback experiences. And that's all the time it's not scheduling a meeting and saying, OK, it's time to tell you whether you're in or out.

It's about every day throughout a project once the project is over, with your peers, with your manager constantly talking about what's working, what's not and how we can adjust.

ROMANS: So do you think the performance review coming back is a function of where we are in COVID in the pandemic? Or is it a function of these companies trying to, I guess, arm themselves with more information so they can decide who to lay off if the economy goes south? KRIEGEL: Yes, I think its preventative. Honestly, right now everyone is freaking out. It is a fear response. And when we are fearful, most of us need to do something, we got to do something, maybe performance reviews is what we should do right now.

We talk about that at Culture Partners as being the action trap. We're not getting the results we want. Let's do something different than we try and see if we get the better results. And then that doesn't work. We do something different again.

Culture is about cultivating the beliefs that will drive the actions we want to see and build beliefs are driven by experiences.

[05:55:00]

KRIEGEL: So if you create new experiences in which we have ongoing feedback conversations that will lead me to a belief that I'm safe that this is the place for me. I know what's expected of me. In fact, our research shows that if you have a clarity of the results you're trying to achieve, you can improve your culture strength by over 40 percent.

So that's what you want to do create safety and continuous conversations, not these scary performance reviews if you haven't been doing them.

ROMANS: Lightning flash answer here. Who has the upper hand right now? Is it workers are the bosses?

KRIEGEL: It's still the workers. It will be the bosses soon, but you know, I've talked to hundreds of CEOs all year, and they're afraid of how they can attract talent. And so I think that the people who get laid off they're going to be just fine.

ROMANS: All right, Jessica Kriegel thank you always nice to see you have a wonderful weekend!

KRIEGEL: Thank you, you too.

ROMANS: Alright, Yankees Slugger Aaron Judge was oh, so close to putting his name into baseball's record books last night. Andy Scholes stayed up for it has worn this morning's Bleacher Report hey, Andy!

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Christine. So the more than 43,000 fans on and last night Yankee Stadium, they were hoping to witness some history and everyone for a moment thought they had.

Judge's at the played bottom of the ninth high game. He crushes this ball from center even - thought it was long gone. But no, it really catered and is under it for the out. That one went 404 feet would have been a home run in 13 ballparks but not Yankee Stadium.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON JUDGE, NEW YORK YANKEES RIGHT FIELDER: Just got underneath it a little bit. pretty windy night so I was hoping maybe it was blowing out the time I was hitting but you know, just missed it but I lined up for a nice little JT walkout. That's for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And as Judge just mentioned, the Yankees did win in a walk off by Josh Donaldson in the 10th inning to clinch a playoff spot. So homerun watch continues tonight at Yankee Stadium. The game is on Apple TV, so fans will need to download the app if they want to watch.

Elsewhere the Celtics suspending Head Coach Ime Udoka for the entire season multiple reports say Udoka had a consensual relationship with a female staff member which violates team rules.

The Celtics say the suspension is effective immediately and the decision on his future will be made at a later date. In a statement to ESPN Udoka saying I want to apologize to our player's fans, the entire Celtics Organization and my family for letting them down. I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation. And I accept the team's decision. Udoka lead the Celtics in the NBA Finals in his first season as coach last year. Assistant Joe Missoula were poorly serve as the interim Head Coach.

Week three of the NFL season kicking off last night Browns looking to rebound from their epic collapse against the Jets they're hosting the Steelers, Rookie wide out Pickens with an early catch of the year nomination. Just an incredible one handed grab with the defender all over him. He is shades of Odell Beckham Jr., I would say.

Steelers had a one point lead at halftime but the Browns pulling away in the second half thanks to 113 yards rushing and a score from Nick Chubb. Browns win 29-17 they are now two in one on this season.

Finally ever think you've hit a homerun in life when actually you came up short. Well, Delvin Perez really did that on the field. He did a backflip put his head down and just started rounding the bases. But as you can see, the ball was caught well sort of the warning track and Perez he doesn't even realize he was caught until he was rounding third base Christine.

You know, I always teach my boys you know, you hit the ball, you just put your head down and run to first. But I mean this was certainly a situation where maybe he should have checked where the ball went first before just thinking you should have rounded the bases.

ROMANS: Keep your eye on the ball. All right, Andy Scholes nice to see you have a great weekend Andy!

SCHOLES: You too Christine.

ROMANS: OK, good. Thanks for joining me. I'm Christine Romans. "New Day" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: 55,000 Russian soldiers died it was for six months tens of thousands wounded. Do you want war? No than protests like runaway away or surrender to Ukrainian activity these are the options for you to survive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST, EARLY START: That is the President of Ukraine calling on Russians to revolt as Vladimir Putin faces an uprising from some of his own people this morning. I'm Brianna Keilar with John Berman.

Hours after Putin shocked his people by announcing a draft the Russian Leader continues to face major turmoil at home. His order sparking angry protests across the country and leading to more than 1300 arrests the move is now causing some Russians just to leave here you see emotional farewells as this mobilization.