Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

50 Cent Tackles Hunger; Erin Burnett's Roots Journey; U.S. Economy Grows 5%

Aired December 23, 2014 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for the five things to know for your new day.

Number one, the NYPD is heightening securities in Times Square during next week's New Year's Eve celebrations. The mayor is calling for a pause in protests until after the funerals of two officers shot and killed Saturday.

A Milwaukee police officer will not face charge for killing a mentally ill man, shooting him more than a dozen times. The D.A.'s office ruled Officer Christopher Manney acted in self-defense. Manney has been fired from the force for breaking protocol.

North Korea's Internet struggling to stay online. It was knocked offline for more than nine hours. It's been intermittent since first coming back overnight.

A Delta baggage handler is accused of teaming up with a former Delta worker to smuggle more than 100 guns onto planes from Atlanta to New York. Several of them were loaded.

Republican Congressman Michael Grimm of New York expected to plead guilty today to one count of tax evasion, but he'll have to admit all conduct alleged in the 20-count indictment as part of that deal. Prosecutors will push for at least some federal prison time.

We are always updating the five things to know, so go to newdaycnn.com for the very latest.

Alisyn and Chris.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, thanks, Christine.

Well, just having food on the table is cause for celebration for 49 million hungry Americans this holiday season. In today's "Impact Your World," rapper and media mogul 50 Cent or fitty cent, as Chris would say, plans to reduce that number using his business savvy and some good old-fashioned elbow grease. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): From international hip-hop star, to creator of a multimillion-dollar empire. Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson remembers a time when things weren't so easy. That's why he says he's paying it forward by working with Feeding America.

50 CENT MEDIA MOGUL: I had it pretty rough, but not to the point where there wasn't something to eat. But now seeing a lot of kids that have even tougher stories than what I experienced. Feeding America, it is the best charitable organization to be a part of if hunger's your cause.

ANGELA DEPAUL, FEEDING AMERICA: Feeding America is the nationwide network of food banks. We have more than 200 members who help provide food to low income people in need. More than 49 million Americans are food insecure in this country and we're feeding more than 46 million.

CUOMO: 50 recently joined other celebrities to volunteer at the food bank for New York City.

50 CENT: During the holidays, food is a big part of how to enjoy yourself. You know, to be able to have people provide these meals for them in this time period is great.

CUOMO: For many, it's a lifeline.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have kids and I really need help right now as far as food is concerned. And I'm so grateful. Very grateful.

CUOMO: Now a partnership between Feeding America and 50's company means every pair of SMS audio headphones purchased online provides 250 meals to those in need. And proceeds of 50's energy drink Street King goes to help the U.N. World Food Program.

50 CENT: When you look at hunger itself, it takes so much to solve it that the only place that I see enough finances to do it is in business itself. This is the real part where you give back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good for 50. It's killing me that I didn't say 250 meals.

CAMEROTA: I wish you had.

CUOMO: I should have. That's going to bother me for a long time. But he's doing the right thing. And, you know what, if you want to help, you can go right online, figure out how you can impact your world as well.

So, we've been telling you this morning, some of us here at CNN had the rare opportunity to retrace our roots, right?

CAMEROTA: Right.

CUOMO: We have Erin Burnett's story. A really emotional journey. You know, she had her -- this chance to discover all these long lost relatives in Scotland and it really was a path she never expected. We're going to show it to you ahead. It's beautiful.

CAMEROTA: It's beautiful.

CUOMO: It's beautiful, too.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: This year, some of CNN's anchors got to take the rare opportunity to discuss their roots and embark on journeys all across the continents to discover more about their family history. Isn't that great? Erin Burnett had an especially good one. OK, her parents moved out of the farmhouse that she grew up in, the one place that she'd always known as home. So Erin got the chance to visit somewhere else her family had called home, the rolling green hills of Scotland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN BURNETT, HOST, "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT": I grew up in a small town called Mardela Springs, Maryland. And when I say small, I mean really small. I believe the last census had the population at about 420.

We used to buy all the rabbit food here.

And it felt that way.

My parents were very idealist. When they were young, they had this dream of having this farm. It's so funny hearing them talk about it now. Their eyes still light up.

I want my son to know what it's like to have grown up here. Talking to my parents, you know, they thought they'd live there forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, how you doing?

BURNETT: How you feeling?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. Hello, Nyle.

BURNETT: Your definition of forever changes as you get older.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know where you are?

BURNETT: Are you at White Chimneys (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You aren't going to remember it like the other ones, but at least you can say you've been here.

BURNETT: When they finally got to this point that they were ready, that this was it, that the boxes were actually being moved, I couldn't really believe it.

Want to go see where mommy's room was? Yes. You get to see the farm this one time? Yes? OK. That was uh-huh.

It was hard for me to go through the house and see everything packed up.

Oh, this is my dad's den. Nothing's changed in here. He may be moving in two days, but this is the way it's looked for our whole life.

OK, buddy, ready to go upstairs and see mommy's room where mommy was a little baby? Oh, it's all packed up.

That room was my - that was my home for so long.

Makes mommy sad.

It's hard to say good-bye.

So CNN says we're doing this project on our roots.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BURNETT: I find out about it right before your last weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isn't that amazing.

BURNETT: Yes, it's a good omen for something, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes, you reminded me to pack up all the papers I've got somewhere about some of the roots.

BURNETT: So you -- you looked into it once, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I - yes, I've looked at a lot of it, but never, you know, really in-depth.

BURNETT: So I had a lot of questions, right? There's these pictures and who are they, where did they come from? So we actually met a genealogist back at CNN who looked into my past.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are focusing on the Stewart line, which is your mother's family, right?

BURNETT: My mother's family, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. So we are going to start with John. He was the first generation in America. And this is a 1920 census for John Stewart. This is him right here. This is a passenger's contract ticket.

BURNETT: Oh, this is to come from Scotland to Canada?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. This tells us where in Scotland they are from. Can you read it?

BURNETT: That's where it says Skye. I first heard Isle of Skye, I thought, that is a great name. I bet that place is - that place is a cool place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is saying they came in 1858. Now contextual history tells us that 1858 is the repercussions of the Irish potato famine. So they only are taking four of their seven children with them. So it's possible you could have family in that area still.

BURNETT: After I found out there were relatives that did not get on that ship, I wanted to find out what happened to them. When we had this opportunity to go to Skye, I wanted to share it with

somebody. My mom has a brother, Uncle Buzz (ph). His real name is Charles. My mom wasn't able to come, and so I thought for about point two second and then I realized Uncle Buzz would want to come. If it's going to be neat and it's going to be adventure, he's there.

We flew from New York to Glasgow on a red eye, landed around 7:00 a.m., got straight in a car, drove a few hours to get to a little town called Malay (ph), Scotland. And that's where our ferry to Skye was waiting.

Are you ready for this, Uncle Buzz?

UNCLE BUZZ: The beginning.

BURNETT: The beginning.

UNCLE BUZZ: The beginning of the adventure.

BURNETT: And so it begins.

It was a beautiful day. It was perfect. It was the way I wanted to arrive. You could see the coast and the skyline of Skye and it just was so glorious.

The first thing we did was we got in our little red rental car and we zipped on the wrong side of the road.

All right, here we go. I'm very glad that I know how to drive stick, but you guys are putting your lives in my hands driving stick, on the wrong side of the road. And that's going to be (INAUDIBLE).

Driving on Skye was an adventures. The roads were really tiny and really narrow.

Because I'm left-handed. Oh, wait, right, wrong side of the road. Sorry, guys.

In this castle actually is an archive where they trace a lot of the genealogy. And it's incredibly in-depth and the woman in charge there, her name is Maggie McDonald (ph), and she knows everything about everyone.

MAGGIE MCDONALD: This is a rental and everybody who paid rent to Lord McDonald (ph) is listed in here. So we have Stewart at number four. And his rent was three pounds and four shillings a year.

You can see that most people were in the rears of rent.

BURNETT: Look, he was among the -- he was the best.

UNCLE BUZZ: He was doing well.

BURNETT: He only owed 1 pound 12 shillings.

Of course, it was the woman who was paid up, the two paid up, the two widows.

UNCLE BUZZ: I'm going to let that slide.

So the daughters.

MCDONALD: Yes.

UNCLE BUZZ: Do you know anything about where they have resulted in ending up?

MCDONALD: Well, they -- their families, as far as I've been able to find, have stayed in Skye. I think you're going to meet grandchildren.

BURNETT: Maggie told us there were two relatives that she knew of on Skye right now that we were going to meet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Oh, look at those beautiful landscapes.

ROMANS: Isn't it gorgeous.

CAMEROTA: So where did Erin's journey lead her? You don't want to miss it. We'll come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Erin Burnett's search for her roots in Scotland resulted in a few surprising twists. When we went to break, Erin was about to meet some of her long lost relatives. Here's how that all turned out.

CUOMO: Erin Burnett was not hurt in the making of this story.

CAMEROTA: Here's where it led.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: So, it turns out that our family has been in the hotel business for about 50 years, this is the Tongadell hotel, the man who owns it, named Malcolm, who we're related to, and his brother Donald owns a hotel just around the corner came over and had beers with us.

TurnS out we're from Skye and we're related to Stewart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does that ring any bells for you. I know this (INAUDIBLE).

BURNETT: I was eager to see him. He looked very quintessentially Scottish to me. Donald was at first a little bit shy, he was a little reticent.

Oh, you've done the family tree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not full (ph).

BURNETT: And then he was going through all of the genealogy, and he had all sorts of papers, most of them were not related to us. But then he told us where our land actually actually.

A toast to cousins. A toast to cousins.

After Donald told us where our land was we zipped down the main road from Fortury (ph). 30 kilometers and I'm told I need to go the speed limit.

It was very quiet. And there were clouds and that was an appropriate time to see the land. Look at that view down there, too, on those mountains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know the one that sticks out for me, it is very emotional to be on the actual ground that ancestors came from.

BURNETT: When you're here and you realize that they were here. It is pretty incredible. They loved, they had children, all that happened right here. And as the potato famine really took control of things, all of a sudden they couldn't afford to pay their rent. And so they were actively told to leave.

And it was bigger than just my family and it was bigger than just Skye. It was Scotland and Ireland. Buzz and I were saying, gosh, we really wish we could be sharing this with my mother and Buzz' wife, my Aunt Beth. We also wanted to share with them our great curiosity about the one undiscovered part of Scotland at this point, which was Ronald McDonald. We get to Portree, and Portree, which is the biggest town in Skye, is still very small.

It turned out right at the end of the main street was the address Ronald had given us and it was a little art gallery. This is when we found out the most amazing thing.

It turns out Ronald McDonald is an eminent economist. He has done work for the IMF, for the World Bank, and he was a very significant player in Scottish independence. I buy a newspaper and I'm reading about Scottish independence, and there's this person quoted, really prominent economist named Ronald McDonald. And I said to my team, I guess it's a really common name around here.

(LAUGHTER)

And then I get to Skye, and they say, well, and you're the most famous person on Skye. You are the most -- everybody is oh, you're related to Ronald McDonald. Clearly - and they say do you know he is an economist, and all of a sudden, I said, oh, he is the Ronald McDonald.

Ronald really wanted to show us one particular picture, a picture that he had taken of our land. This is with we're all from.

MCDONALD: This is basically where we're all from, where it all started right about here.

BURNETT: So, when you took this picture, you obviously knew we were from here?

MCDONALD: Yes, I did. BURNETT: Ronald, obviously, is one of the most accomplished economists in the world. But I had originally started in business journalism. So, I felt a kinship with him.

It's such a joy for us to meet you.

We went back to town, and Uncle Buzz and I were talking about the past few days that we had spent together. That was a moment where it all really came together for me.

Thank you for coming. This was really special to me to do this with you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for having me. But suddenly, I just thought of something your grandfather would have loved to have seen your success and to see us both in Scotland. I'm starting to get weepy when I think about it, because he just would have thought this was so wonderful.

BURNETT: I didn't think I'd (INAUDIBLE), but you know who's going to like- - now I'm feeling sad. But my mom is going to love it. Oh, my gosh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd never make it in this business.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Oh, great. Now I'm crying.

CUOMO: The Scots, when they're not laughing they're crying.

CAMEROTA: Love that accent, love that accent. Isn't it beautiful?

CUOMO: What a great trip for her to - - Are you all right? You going to be okay?

CAMEROTA: It's just all of these are so poignant, to go back and, I mean, I find all of these so effecting because you get to hear your family stories and see, you know, your origins. And also, we get to see these like great travel logs. I want to go to Scotland now as a result.

CUOMO: What's going to happen when you do your story? What's going to happen?

ROMANS: I see things about these people - -

CUOMO: Going to have to have you in a kiddie pool.

ROMANS: They're all different, but they are so similar that all of us are in the same place, but we came from such different places. And it was a great grandparent or great great grandparent who took extreme, extraordinary risks.

CUOMO: Right.

ROMANS: Or was thrown out of a country, or had to flee a country. I mean, taking the biggest risk possible, and we're all here together - - the same place. It's so cool.

CUOMO: It's also a window into what motivates people to do what they do. I mean, you know, I've known Erin a long time and, you know, your sense of who you are - -

ROMANS: Yes.

CUOMO: And where you fit in this country, and what motivates what you see as your own, you know, your own purpose is really interesting.

CAMEROTA: It really is.

ROMANS: I love the business journalism angle on that. And to bring in some breaking news, on business news, I wanted to you right breaking news into CNN right now. The U.S. economy grew 5% in the third quarter. The Commerce Department is telling us 5%. That is the strongest economic growth, guys, since 2003.

CUOMO: Why did it happen?

ROMANS: It is telling - - Consumers are spending money and businesses were spending money on equipment, on fixed expenses, they were building up their inventories heading into the end of the year. Maybe you'll see it a little softer than that in the fourth quarter. Who knows? Third quarter is the rear view mirror, but it is a strong performance by the American economy. We've seen strong jobs growth, stock markets at records, gas prices, low, there are a lot of things really going for the American economy right now.

CAMEROTA: And those numbers were revised up.

ROMANS: That's right.

CAMEROTA: We already got the third quarter numbers, but now these are even more impressive.

ROMANS: That's right. 3.9% was the most recent read on what the third quarter looked like. 5%, the strongest growth - -

CUOMO: Pretty big jump.

ROMANS: It is, and it's the strongest growth since 2003. Think back how long ago that is, 2003. So that's a remarkable number. We'll watch to see if there are new records in the stock market today.

CUOMO: Well, if they don't like that, they won't like anything.

ROMANS: Yes, it will be easy to make a record because there have been 50 records in S&P 500 this year.

CUOMO: All right, so we're going to want to get into that. Let's take a break first, and then you'll get more news on this big breaking news about the economy in the "NEWSROOM" with Randi Kaye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)