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Women's Tennis Association Suspends Events in China after Disappearance of Chinese Female Tennis Star Peng Shuai; Patient with Omicron Variant of Coronavirus Located in California; Fifteen-Year-Old Accused of School Shooting in Michigan to be Tried as Adult. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired December 02, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

PATRICK MCENROE, ESPN TENNIS COMMENTATOR: I believe they should. And by the way, I don't believe, John, that that means that we should never do business with China. We're all aware of what a huge cog China is in the economics of the world, OK, and when it comes to sports as well. And certainly, the IOC, the Olympics is a huge event. We all know that. I was lucky enough to be the captain of the team in 2004 in Athens, so I know what the Olympics is about. I know what a privilege it is to represent your country, and certainly for Peng Shuai as well.

But this idea that you can't influence China at all, that we're just going to listen to everything they say and brush it under the table, the time has come for that to end. And the WTA, huge credit to them. The NBA wouldn't do it, the IOC wouldn't do it, but the Women's Tennis Association has done it. And, by the way, John, I believe the ATP, that's the men's professional tour, should follow suit. They don't have as much on the table economically, but they have some huge events in China as well. It's time for them to pull the plug.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Patrick McEnroe, I appreciate your input here. You should know that China apparently is so scared with what you have to say about this that they blacked out the feed of CNN to China during this segment. Underneath we're showing the live feed that the people in China are seeing right now, color bars there. So they don't want China -- the Chinese people to hear what you have to say, Patrick. But we do. Thanks so much for being here.

MCENROE: Hopefully my "Holding Court" podcast as well, John, so hopefully, because I'm going to stay on this topic until we know for sure that Peng Shuai is safe, and is sound of mind, and can speak her mind. The WTA has not gotten any assurances of that thus far. That is a huge problem.

BERMAN: Good for you. We appreciate you speaking up. Thanks so much.

MCENROE: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: NEW DAY continues right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Thursday, December 2nd, and I'm Brianna Keilar with John Berman.

It was inevitable, but still very alarming, this first confirmed case of the Omicron variant now in the U.S. This was discovered in California in a traveler who recently returned from South Africa. We know the person was vaccinated and is now in self-quarantine with mild symptoms that are improving. That's about all we know, though. Here is Dr. Anthony Fauci at a CNN town hall last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER: Having a single person who had what would be considered a breakthrough infection because the person was fully vaccinated doesn't really tell you much at all. It was only a single person, Anderson. So you really can't make a broad general statement or an extrapolation for what would go on with unvaccinated people or people who were boosted. So there is a lot still to be learned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Dr. Fauci went on to say that holiday travel is safe for those who are vaccinated.

Over two dozen countries on six continents have now detected this Omicron variant. Overnight France was added to that list, and moments ago India just reported its first two cases.

BERMAN: Today, President Biden will visit the National Institutes of Health and deliver remarks on his plan to battle the pandemic as we enter the winter months. This includes requiring a negative COVID test for foreign travelers the day before they enter the United States, and extending mask requirements for all domestic travel through March.

Now, one positive element, the U.S. is seeing a significant uptick in booster shots, including 23 percent who already have had them, including me, I got it yesterday at 11:00 in the morning, and another 56 percent who say they definitely or probably will get them.

Joining us now for the latest on the first known Omicron case in the United States is San Francisco health officer Dr. Susan Philip. Dr. Philip, thanks so much for being with us. Can you just give us an update on the condition of this first patient in the United States?

DR. SUSAN PHILIP, CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO HEALTH OFFICER: Well, thank you for having me. Yes, this first individual is doing well. We're so happy to hear that. And they absolutely contributed to our understanding in San Francisco and nationally because they came to our attention. They reported their symptoms, and they called us at public health so that we could start the laboratory process to detect the first case in the U.S.

BERMAN: This person had been vaccinated. This person is not hospitalized. What, if any, sign of transmission from this patient have you found?

PHILIP: Well, we are still in the process of the investigation. We wanted to notify our state and CDC colleagues and the public as soon as possible. So it is still early days, and we are speaking with the individual. But we feel as we said yesterday in San Francisco that the steps that San Francisco is taking now to get boosters, as you said, to continue masking indoors, and to get tested, those things are what needs to happen immediately.

BERMAN: But just to be clear, no signs yet of transmission or no additional cases connected to this one?

PHILIP: Correct, no signs yet. And I think it is important to -- as you noted, that this is the first case detected. It almost certainly is not the first case in the U.S.

[08:05:00]

BERMAN: It is not surprising and isn't necessarily a calamity. This is exactly what people assumed would happen. You talked about what you want to see San Francisco doing. What additional measures do you think are or will be necessary with the presence of Omicron in the United States?

PHILIP: Well, we are going to be hearing from the president and CDC, what they're going to do at a national level. As a local public health officer, I'm focused on the city and county of San Francisco. And we already have very stringent measures in place for masking indoors, for proof of vaccination. And San Francisco is positioned quite well. We have 81 percent of our eligible residents vaccinated. Kids are getting vaccinated at almost 50 percent of the five to 11-year-olds getting a first dose. So we want San Francisco to continue doing what it is doing, and we will continue to watch and look to see what our national and state policymakers and public health leaders advise as well.

BERMAN: And just to be clear, at this moment, no plans to do anything different yet?

PHILIP: No plans to do anything different yet. We keep encouraging people to get their boosters. That is really the most important thing that vaccinated people can do. And for that small percentage of people in San Francisco that are not yet vaccinated, we want them to go out and get their first shot as well.

BERMAN: Dr. Susan Philip, I appreciate the update. Thank you so much for being with us.

PHILIP: Thank you.

KEILAR: The suspected school shooter accused of killing four teenagers at Oxford High School in Michigan has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and terrorism and is being charged as an adult. Fifteen-year-old Ethan Crumbley made his first court appearance yesterday, and the Oakland County prosecutor has said the investigation is ongoing and additional charges could be brought soon.

Let's talk about this now with Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard. Sheriff, first off, I want to focus in on this meeting, actually, two meetings. We know that the suspect had a meeting with school officials the day before the shooting, and then just a few hours before the shooting he had a meeting where his parents -- his parents having a meeting with school officials. What prompted that meeting?

SHERIFF MICHAEL BOUCHARD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN: On the day prior to the tragedy, a teacher in the classroom where he was a student saw and heard something that she felt was disturbing in terms of his behavior. And they had a counseling session about it with school officials. And a phone call was left with the parents.

The day of the shooting, a different teacher in a different classroom saw some behavior that they felt was concerning, and they brought the child down to an office, had a meeting with school officials, called in the parents, and ultimately it was determined that he could go back into class. And so that's obviously part of our investigation. We were never informed of either meeting prior to the shooting or that there were any concerns about behavior.

KEILAR: And now, in retrospect, so he goes back into class, presumably with access or in possession of the gun. Is that right?

BOUCHARD: Correct.

KEILAR: Do you know if he had it in his possession or if he had stored it somewhere?

BOUCHARD: That we don't know. Obviously, our suspect is not talking, so we can't get a specific fact check on that from him. We're trying to do everything we can to make an external verification or determination of that fact. We're walking through very methodically the timelines and his movements within the building from the time he left that meeting until the shooting began.

KEILAR: Was it something he said that prompted this concern from two teachers, or was it something he did, or was it that they knew about the gun or that he had posted it on social media? What was it?

BOUCHARD: Yes, I can't get too specific because, now as you mentioned at the top of this, we have transferred over to the charging part, he has been criminally charged, so a lot of this now is becoming evidence. I can't get too specific.

KEILAR: Were school officials aware he posted about the gun?

BOUCHARD: No, they were not. And, you mean that posting where he had had a gun or said he had been at the target range?

KEILAR: Yes.

BOUCHARD: They, I don't think were aware of it, and certainly we weren't either.

KEILAR: Did they think he was threatening?

BOUCHARD: I can't get too awfully specific in what their thoughts were at the time as this plays out a bit. KEILAR: Why did they let him go back to class?

BOUCHARD: Well, that will all be part of the investigation in terms of what they thought and why they thought that that was the right step. Obviously, it will be viewed in totality and certainly in light of this.

KEILAR: Can you tell us about the videos on his cell phone?

[08:10:01]

BOUCHARD: Horrendously disturbing. Obviously talks about what -- excuse me -- he intends to do, and the kinds of things he's thinking about. It is just chilling.

KEILAR: Do you have any reason to believe that his parents knew about some of the things that he had created or that they knew that he was accessing this new weapon in the house?

BOUCHARD: That's all part of the investigation. At this point we don't have any information that they knew that this was a path he was headed, but, again, that's very much an active investigation. While it feels like a time has passed, we're only a couple of days past this tragedy, and literally we have to interview thousands of witnesses and go through reams of paper and many, many hours of digital evidence as well as video.

KEILAR: Did he, sheriff, have any specific association with the kids that he killed?

BOUCHARD: It appears from everything that I saw that it was random.

KEILAR: I also -- certainly motive, the question of motive is really important here. And we have read some reports of students who say that he was bullied. But I want to be really careful about this, because police say there is no evidence of that. We have seen in other shootings where something like that kind of -- it is like a haphazard observation or something by a witness. Where does that stand? Is that -- is there evidence of bullying?

BOUCHARD: We have seen no evidence of bullying. I personally talked to the anti-bullying coordinator for the school. He wasn't on their list, on their radar. Their focus, obviously, is to prevent bullying and to hear about any child that may have been bullied and to take appropriate actions. He was not on their radar or one that had been brought to their attention. We have not directly heard from any other student as the investigator of this tragedy that he had been bullied.

But I also want to say this. While bullying is terrible and we investigate and it should never happen, nothing that we saw in that day of the tragedy in taking these lives and marring forever everyone else could rise to any kind of acceptable response to anything that he felt had happened to him. But again, we have no evidence that he was in fact bullied or had any kinds of activity in that front.

KEILAR: Yes, no, sheriff, it is a very good point you make, and I appreciate it. Sheriff Michael Bouchard, thank you.

BOUCHARD: Thank you.

KEILAR: Coming up, Mark Meadows calling fake news about claims that he himself made in his own book. What is his strategy here?

Plus, a bigoted attack from Congresswoman Lauren Boebert sparking 48 hours of mudslinging on Capitol Hill. What can be done to tone down the rhetoric?

BERMAN: And a wildly popular Republican governor who was a critic of Donald Trump not running for reelection. And he's not alone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:49]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: A Republican member of Congress made a disgraceful attack on one of her colleagues using bigotry and at least twice as a punch line. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert suggesting to her supporters that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was mistaken by capitol police for a suicide bomber, a terrorist in the halls of Congress. Boebert issued a non-apology apology, sorry for anyone she offended, not sorry to Omar, though, and the two talked and things got worse.

Boebert doubled down on her Islamophobic comments after the call, said she doesn't sympathize with terrorists like Omar. This isn't like when my 3 and 5-year-old are culpable in a spat. Lauren Boebert is in the wrong here and so are Republicans who are sticking up for her or Republican leaders like Kevin McCarthy who is sitting by doing effectively nothing about this bigotry and therefore enabling and encouraging it.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, what Boebert's intolerance has borne is exactly what she wants, attention and mayhem.

So these are just some of the adjectives that lawmakers are using lately to describe each other and public official -- liar, bat-blank crazy, tattletale, grifter, communist, murderer, suicide bomber, terrorist, sympathizer, buffoon.

KEILAR: KKK caucus, black hearted, evil, trash, jihad squad, disgusting, hateful, dangerous, a rented mule, Beavis and Butthead. And it's not just words, poop and clown emojis too, all paid for by your tax dollars.

Joining us now, CNN chief national correspondent and anchor of "INSIDE POLITICS", John King.

I tell you. I get this at home, all right? I have a 3-year-old who just learned how to say H-E word. But I'm getting it at work. We're all getting this. This is what America is listening to when they hear Congress and it's ridiculous.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is beyond ridiculous. It is the people who write our laws that are supposed to be examples. Examples for our children, examples for our country, examples for other dysfunctional democracies around the world. They're supposed to be examples, whether they're Democrats or Republicans, whether they're conservatives or whether they're liberals.

In this case, the source of this, though, and we should not be distracted by this, this gets interesting, that language is ridiculous, we can have fun with it. We can shame it as parents if we want. But the source of it, the source of it is Lauren Boebert. It is Lauren Boebert.

The source of it is someone who spewed hate, vile hate about a fellow member of Congress, about a fellow human being, about a fellow -- and the leadership does nothing, does nothing. They didn't do anything against Paul Gosar when he tweeted a video, says it was a cartoon. He threatened to kill a colleague in a video, nothing done about it.

In fact, not repudiated, rewarded, the leader of the House Republican said he'll get his committee assignments back if they take the majority.

Marjorie Taylor Greene puts phone numbers online. That's hate speech too for Republicans who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure plan, she gets rewarded. Kevin McCarthy, it has been more than a week now, has not publicly called out hate within his ranks. That's the source of this.

BERMAN: John, I want to ask you about a Massachusetts connection to all of this. I want to ask you about the fact that the Red Sox traded for Jackie Bradley Jr. before the lockout. I don't know if you know that, we got Jackie Bradley Jr. back.

KING: I do know that.

BERMAN: I just learned that moments ago. We're not going to talk about Jackie Bradley Jr., which I really want to, I'll talk about Charlie Baker.

The two-term wildly popular Republican governor in Massachusetts, there were speculation he would run for a third term. He announced yesterday he's not going to do that.

[08:20:02]

Now, he says it is not because -- he's been attacked by former President Donald Trump. He's been singled out by the former president, Trump supporters have gone after Charlie Baker. Baker says it is not that, but you do have to wonder if the rhetoric that we're hearing in Congress, from Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, supported by the former president, is contributing to very popular people like Charlie Baker not wanting to be in this game anymore.

KING: I think you're right. There are a lot of people again, not our job to take sides, a lot of people are committed public servants who would get paid more money in the private sector, who throughout the COVID pandemic like Governor Baker and other governors around the country had to deal with the stress of that as well, who are stepping aside because they say it's simply not fun anymore or they want to move on to something else. He could have broken the Massachusetts curse, three-term governor doesn't happen in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, but he decided to step aside.

The former President Trump had already gotten involved trying to get a Trump candidate into the race. There is a Trump candidate into the race right there.

What it does is it takes off the stage, we're having a conversation about who will be responsible in the Republican Party to stand up to the extremism in their midst? There is extremism in their midst. The fringe has been welcomed to the kitchen table of the Republican Party. It was the Charlie Bakers and the Larry Hogans who were standing up to that, but that wing, the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic up to Maine wing of the Republican Party, you have Governor Hogan not running again, Governor Baker now stepping aside. The question is who will be the voices who will challenge, not just Trump, Trump was -- is a seed of this, a source of this, it is everywhere now.

To focus just on Trump is a mistake. He opened the doors to this and it is everywhere. Who will be the voices in the Republican Party as these people step out, hopefully they'll do it from the sidelines, even though you don't have the title governor anymore. But I think that's a giant question.

KEILAR: It is just unleashed this tidal wave, who has the backbone to stand up and say something. There are just so few certainly in the Republican Party, and then you have folks like former Vice President Mike Pence who recently said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: In January of 2017, I took an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States. I know in my heart of hearts on that day we did our duty under the constitution. I don't know if President Trump and I will ever see eye to eye on that day. Or that many of our most ardent supporters will agree with my decision that day. But I know I did the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: I think it is -- I wonder what you think, John, I think it is good he's saying that he did the right thing, and yet that's not so full throated, right?

KING: He's trying to walk this careful place, Brianna, he has this hope he somehow has still a future in National Republican politics. He has some hope that perhaps in 2024 or beyond he could be a candidate for president, that Trump somehow will go to the sideline and wants to keep some loyalty with the Trump base, which is a very difficult task for Mike Pence after January 6th, the former president will try to keep that from happening, if it hasn't already.

But I do think it is significant. He's speaking on the Christian Broadcasting Network. That Mike Pence did do the right thing on January 6th. That doesn't mean he didn't think about was there a way out before January 6th. He did do the right thing on January 6th. We're approaching the one-year anniversary of that.

I think it would be helpful speaking on the Christian Broadcasting Network to talk about the things we just talked about. You don't have to agree or disagree with Mike Pence on issues of, you know, whether it's abortion rights or whether it's taxes and spending, but he has a platform, where is his voice on the hate speech?

I'm sorry to go back to that, but I think it's the biggest defining challenge now in the Republican Party. We need a competitive two-party system. We need to have big debates about big issues in the country. But why listen to the Republicans at all when they invite hate to the table.

Think about it as a parent, if an executive in this organization said or did the things Lauren Boebert did, they would be fired. They would be pushed out. But in the Republican Party, they are not.

And so, yes, Mike Pence did the right thing on January 6th. Mike Pence has a very difficult lane ahead of him in politics, we talked about Charlie Baker stepping aside, it would be nice if Mike Pence added his voice to that, this is not the Republican Party he grew up in and would be nice to get back to a more civil discourse in the Republican Party and the fringe gets shoved back to the fringe.

KEILAR: That would have been a great opportunity to seize, as you point out. John, thank you for being with us this morning.

We'll see you at noon on "INSIDE POLITICS".

KING: Lest, I'll go watch some Jackie Bradley highlights.

BERMAN: Right. Well, I assume that's the lead of "INSIDE POLITICS' as well. I mean, that just goes without saying.

KING: Center defense is back, baby.

BERMAN: Back.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: First (INAUDIBLE) in the lockout.

KEILAR: I know, right?

BERMAN: That's a real problem.

KEILAR: All right. Borders across the globe closing in response to this new omicron variant. But do travel bans actually work?

BERMAN: Stacey Abrams throwing her name into the race for the governor of Georgia. What her chances this time and what do Georgia Republicans think of that?

[08:25:02]

We have one of the leading Republicans in the state joining us, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: As the number of omicron cases around the world grows, including here in the U.S. for the first case was just reported, the WHO has issued guidance against travel bans. The World Health Organization saying that it could have negative impacts on global efforts to respond to the pandemic.

With us now is Dr. Margaret Harris. She's a spokesperson for the WHO.

Thank you so much, Doctor, for being with us. As you know, and I know there is some mixed feelings here among experts in the U.S. about a travel ban, but you have heard Dr. Fauci saying, look, this is about buying time. What do you say to that?

DR. MARGARET HARRIS, WHO SPOKESPERSON: Good morning, Brianna.

And Dr. Fauci is right that if you do do something as drastic as a travel ban, use it well to buy time. But we do know that it won't keep cases out. Usually by the time where countries are aware that there is a risk of importation, that's already happened.