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Mike Eruzione is Interviewed about the Olympic Boycott; Bill de Blasio is Interviewed about the Business Mandate; Patriots Outrun Bills. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 07, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Whole in his credibility that the jury is going to look at carefully, regardless of what happens today in cross examination.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: He said, what, he took it off. Then someone said, don't tamper with evidence, so he put it back on.

CALLAN: It put it back on, yes.

BERMAN: It's hard to follow, but we'll see what the jury pays attention to and what they pick up on.

Bernarda, Paul, thank you both very much. It was great to see you.

BERNARDA VILLALONA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY AND FORMER PROSECUTOR: Thank you.

CALLAN: OK, thank you, John.

BERMAN: So, some business owners say they were caught off guard by New York City's new vaccine mandate. Mayor Bill de Blasio responds live, coming up.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: First, he helped pull off an Olympic miracle during Cold War tensions with Russia. Mike Eruzione is giving us his take of the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing winter games, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The Biden administration officially announcing it will not send U.S. diplomats to the Beijing winter Olympics next year, coming up very soon. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the decision is meant to make a statement against China's recent human rights abuses and to make a distinction from business as usual.

Now, important to note that this type of boycott means eligible athletes are still allowed to represent the U.S. and compete in the games.

[08:35:01] So joining us now to talk about this and what this means to athletes and to Americans is the former captain of the U.S. hockey team during the 1980 Olympics "Miracle On Ice" game, Mike Eruzione.

Mike, I want to thank you much for being with us. It is really an honor to speak with you.

I wonder how you're watching this diplomatic boycott, especially as someone who -- you know, your team victory was one of the most famous, one of the most emotional Olympic moments of all time amid, obviously, tensions with the USSR.

MIKE ERUZIONE, CAPTAIN, 1980 OLYMPICS "MIRACLE ON ICE" GAME: Yes, you know, and I was part of the U.S. delegation in Vancouver with then Vice President Biden and there was Peggy Fleming, the great skater, and Bennetta Flowers (ph). And we were there for a week in Vancouver as part of the delegation. And we really didn't do nothing other than go to hockey games and watch sporting events. So we had a lot of fun.

So, there's no reason to send them there. There's no reason to send the diplomats to China. It's a great way, an opportunity to showcase, you know, the support for our athletes by sending our athletes.

You know, these athletes and Paralympians, men and women, who have been training for years for that one moment, that one race, that one chance. And to, you know, not allow that, which I hope they don't make that decision, would be -- would be a travesty. It would be sad for those athletes.

You know, what we've been dealing with in this country the last couple of years with the pandemic and all the issues that we're faced with, I think we need something like that. Send our athletes over there. Watch them perform. Watch them compete. Hopefully we'll have a lot of them standing on the medals stand, hear our anthem being played and maybe bring some pride back to our country right now that we're -- we're kind of struggling to find.

And I think in 1980, that was a similar situation. You know, we boycotted the summer games. And who gained anything? You know, it was a boycott because the Soviets had invaded Afghanistan. Well, look what happened with Afghanistan.

So, you know, to leave the athletes behind I think would tragic and I hope that the government stands by the diplomatic decision, but let our athletes go and let them compete.

KEILAR: Yes. I mean, look, there's no indication, Mike, that the athletes will be part of this boycott. I think that's very important that we need to note that for Americans who are very much looking forward to seeing their games.

That said, does the diplomatic boycott have any effect on the athletes as they're trying to perform their best?

ERUZIONE: Oh, I don't think it has any effect at all on the athletes. You know, they've been training, they've been working, they've been sacrificing, they're spending their time, you know, looking at the skills that they have, and the moment they're going to be a part of.

So, the diplomats has nothing to do with this whatsoever. It's all about the athletes and their opportunity to represent our country. There's no greater feeling than putting a USA jersey on. It's not like a Super Bowl or a Stanley Cup. It comes every couple of years and the Olympic games, every four years for each sport. And when you train that hard and that long, just, you know, you want that opportunity to compete and set the politics aside.

KEILAR: You know, ideally, these athletes go to these games as kind of emissaries in a way informally for their countries, and it's a chance to build understanding. Was that your experience in 1980?

ERUZIONE: Well, I think so. I think, again, like I said, you know, in my case it was unbelievable because it was in Lake Placid, in was in your own country And what a great atmosphere it was.

But, again, I can't stress enough, when you stand on the podium, and you see your flag being risen just a little higher, it's a proud, proud moment and something that our country looks at. We -- we -- we, as athletes, represent the United States. We represent everybody. Not only again our Olympians, but our Paralympians who are training just as well and just as hard. So we do represent this country. We go there with the hope and dreams of winning a medal.

But there are also athletes that aren't going to win medals, but they still want to be there. They want to have that experience. They want to know what it's like to stand, you know, and march in the opening ceremonies and be a part of something that's so amazing and so special. Imagine if we boycotted the games in 1980 what would have happened with our hockey team? We never would have had that moment and that moment brought a country together.

KEILAR: Yes, an unbelievable moment. And, you know, maybe we'll see another one. Maybe we'll see another moment ahead here in the coming months.

Mike, it's --

ERUZIONE: I hope so.

KEILAR: Yes, I do too.

Nike Eruzione, thank you so much.

ERUZIONE: Brianna, thank you for having me.

KEILAR: Here's what else to watch today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ON SCREEN TEXT: 10:00 a.m. ET, Biden speaks to Putin.

12:30 p.m. ET, White House Covid briefing.

2:00 p.m. ET, White House press briefing. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, it could be one of the most consequential foreign policy calls of Biden's presidency.

[08:40:02]

What needs to be said to counter Russian aggression toward Ukraine?

KEILAR: And New York City business leaders say they were blindsided by the city's new vaccine mandate. Mayor Bill de Blasio is here to respond.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's announcement of a new vaccine mandate for private sector employees caught some businesses by surprise. The mandate requires 184,000 businesses to have all of their workers vaccinated starting December 27th. That's just days before New York's next mayor, Eric Adams, is set to take office.

Joining me now is New York City's Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Mr. Mayor, thanks so much for being with us.

We say it caught businesses by surprise. "The New York Times" has a quote from Kathryn Wylde, the president of the business group Partnership for New York City. She says, we were blindsided. There was no forewarning, no discussion.

Why the surprise?

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: John, I don't think anyone should be surprised by what we're seeing with the omicron variant, with the extraordinary growth of cases that we're experiencing in this city and all over this country.

[08:45:09]

Look at a country like Germany. Right now, shutdowns, restrictions, we cannot let that happen. So we had to take decisive action.

And, look, this omicron variant moves fast. We have to move faster. That's why we did this.

BERMAN: It doesn't take long to call a business association.

DE BLASIO: We've talked to business leaders for months about the reality of the delta variant. And the whole reality of Covid, you know what they tell us, one, when the government acts, it makes it easier for them to act. They like to see the government lead the way. We did that with our own public employees, our own public schools. We proved it works.

And then what we also heard from business leaders is, whatever you do, don't let us go back to shutdown. Don't let us go backwards. This is a preemptive strike. This is to get ahead of something that's now threatening us in a new way. You had the winter weather, you had the holiday gatherings, now omicron. I mean we're getting a lot of warnings here. We better be aggressive.

BERMAN: How will you enforce this?

DE BLASIO: We -- you know what, have a great model because we already did this with restaurants, with indoor entertainment, with fitness, in this city, over months we've been doing this. We had a requirement, customers and employees. And, you know what, we've heard from business owners and customers, they feel safer. They go to a restaurant in New York City, you know everyone's vaccinated, you feel safe and it's worked.

BERMAN: But, literally, who enforces it? Like who is the person -- do you check with each company to make sure all their employees are vaccinated? Are you going to fine the companies if they don't?

DE BLASIO: So, we have experienced already with the public sector with, as I said, restaurants and others, indoor entertainment. We had almost no fines. There was a lot of cooperation. Our department of health is going to work with the business sector. We're going come out with specific protocols by December 15th, so people have time.

And, look, in the end, we know we just can't sit here and let this situation get worse. I mean, lives are at stake. And the last thing we could possibly allow in this city or this country is to go backwards because that's a danger. I mean Germany, a very advanced nation, they're going through those restrictions and shutdowns.

Look, my message every governor, every mayor in America, get in place some mandates now before it's too late because we cannot -- people's livelihoods, people's lives, we can't go through more shutdowns and restrictions.

BERMAN: So this goes into effect four, five days before you leave office. I know you say you have spoken to the mayor-elect, Eric Adams, about this, but his people put out a statement that says the mayor- elect will evaluate this mandate and other Covid strategies when he's in office and make determinations based on science, efficacy and the advice of health professionals. That's not a yes, we're definitely going to keep it in place. Did he tell you he would?

DE BLASIO: I've had great conversations with the mayor-elect. He and I have a great, close relationship. What he always says is he's going to listen to the health leadership. Our health leadership in New York City said it's time for this. We need this. They look at omicron, they're saying, look, we don't know enough, but we know one thing, it appears to be highly transmissible, even more than delta, and we've got to do something aggressive.

I think the mayor-elect has been consistent. He will follow the ideas and concerns of the health leadership.

BERMAN: But he didn't tell you that? He didn't tell you he was going to keep this? DE BLASIO: I'm not going to talk about private conversations. I'm going to say, he has been true to his word, he listens to the health leadership.

BERMAN: Look, I want to be clear, is that people who I know in New York City and when I've gone out to restaurants in New York City, people that I've seen were thrilled to take their vaccine cards out and they feel much safer walking in. So, let's stipulate that I do know a lot of people like this.

There are those raising questions about tourists coming to New York City. Another part of this is you're going to require kids five to 11 to show proof of vaccination earlier than December 27th, that starts December 15th, right?

DE BLASIO: December 14th. And that, obviously, we've had now the vaccine for some weeks, thank God.

BERMAN: We have. But what about tourists coming in? What are you going to do about people who are coming to New York to spend their money who may not have the vaccine requirements?

DE BLASIO: Look, first of all, every child 12 and up right now is under that same requirement for our restaurants and it's working fine. The restaurants are full, I'm happy to say. We are hearing great response from restaurant owners and business owners that their business is going real well. Anyone who comes here, we're going to provide vaccination if they need it. We're happy to provide that. And one shot is -- that's the requirement now, one shot and you're in, because we want to encourage everyone. And parents, let me tell you, John, parents, this is the moment, and I'm saying this as a parent myself, we need to get our kids vaccinated.

BERMAN: That does raise a question for me here.

Talk to me about the consistency, the intellectual consistency with requiring vaccinations for kids to go into restaurants but you're not requiring it to go into schools.

DE BLASIO: Yes, I can tell you that for sure. Look, we would love it when people go to our restaurants or our movie theaters, but those are, obviously, for fun, for enjoyment. A school is absolutely basic to a child and their development, their future.

I don't want to hold it against a child if their parent doesn't take the time to get them vaccinated or for some reason hesitates. I don't want that child to miss out on education. We'll keep evaluating as we go along. But right now, after a lot of our kids -- again, I'm a parent.

[08:50:03]

My kids went to New York City Public Schools. Some kids went a year and a half without being in a classroom. That's extraordinary setback for those kids. We can't let that keep happening. So that's why I thought it was important, every child welcome. But let's really push vaccination. For the older kids, the 12 and up, it's over 80 percent now vaccinated.

So I think we're going to get there with the younger kids, but I'm trying to give parents a sense of urgency. We're dealing with a new reality. This is not the fall, this is the winter. We see Covid go up in winter. Big holiday gatherings. Omicron, it's time to get vaccinated.

BERMAN: If omicron -- were waiting a week to find out if it's more severe. If it turns out to be less severe, how will that impact this? Will you re-evaluate?

DE BLASIO: We've talked about that exact scenario. What the doctors say is they're pretty certain of the one thing, the transmissibility. That means more cases on top of delta. Delta's pretty virulent to begin with. So, what our doctors have said, if you just keep adding cases, cases, cases, even if it's less bad than we feared, you still have a lot of vulnerable seniors, you still have a lot of vulnerable people with a pre-existing condition. You still have hospitals where you've got to worry about their capacity. And those are the things that start to push you towards, again, the things we want to avoid, the shutdowns and the restrictions.

So, we know enough about omicron right now to say, it's going to be a big factor. Let's get ahead of it.

BERMAN: Mayor Bill de Blasio, thank you very much for joining us. I know you're a Red Sox fan. Are you a Patriots fan also?

DE BLASIO: I am indeed. A great victory last night.

BERMAN: So you know, you know what I'm about to tease right now.

Coming up, glory! I've never seen a football game like this, right? The Patriots threw three passes total, but they didn't need more than that because of this right here.

DE BLASIO: Whatever works.

BERMAN: The Patriots defeat the Bills in Buffalo. History is made. Buffalo Bills fan Harry Enten joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:56:21]

BERMAN: It's so -- it is time for "The Good Stuff." The very good stuff if you're a New England Patriots fan. Maybe not so good stuff if you're a Buffalo Bills fan. That was Damian Harris, by the way, running for a touchdown there.

I am joined now by Bills fan, senior data reporter, Harry Enten.

Can I just tell you, this wasn't my idea. I would never drag an opposing fan in to come in and gloat to him the day after such a painful loss. Nevertheless, the team wanted you to be here. Here you are. HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes.

BERMAN: Your reaction? The Patriots, just so people know, the Patriots threw three passes the entire game.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: Which data reporter is the fewest since when?

ENTEN: Well, it's the fewest -- it was the fewest for a victory since 1974, I do believe, when the Buffalo Bills were the ones behind the electric company and O.J. Simpson were able to do it.

I believe the fewest passes previously for a Pats win was five in 1982, the snowplow game where they literally had a fellow come in and clear the field of snow in New England.

BERMAN: But a team hasn't won a football game throwing three passes or fewer since 1974. It just doesn't happen.

ENTEN: No, it doesn't happen. I mean this is typical for the Buffalo Bills, right? You know, my old joke was that the Bills haven't been in the playoff since before my bar mitzvah. Now, that's no longer the case because they made the playoffs in 2017, 2019, 2020.

But this, I mean, as a Buffalo Bills fan, this is what you get used to. You're used to the heartache. You're used to this idea that a team that's supposed to be -- this is supposed to be the Buffalo Bills year and yet we go in on Monday night, you come into our house, our house, bad weather, we're supposed to be a bad weather team. This is the reason we got Josh Allen to throw the ball through the wind. And he had some success doing it. But the fact is, you ran the ball down our throats. We got the ball into the red zone a few times and couldn't score. And I believe it was the shortest kick missed by our kicker throughout his entire career. It's just typical for a Buffalo Bills fan.

BERMAN: I should explain to people why, if they can see here in this picture, the reason why the Patriots only threw it three times is that the wind was blowing 40 to 50 miles an hour.

ENTEN: Yes, the wind was blowing 40 to 50 miles an hour. I mean, look, we know we play on the lake, right? We know this is what Buffalo is all about, snow, wind. We won in a windy game last year against Lamar Jackson, right, in the AFC divisional round.

But this time around, Bill Belichick -- look, Bill Belichick has one game plan that's uniform across his games, and that is just win, baby, as Al Davis used to say. And the fact is, he came into this game plan, look, we're going to run the ball, run the ball, run the ball We'll throw the ball very minimally. And that is going to be the bet that we made.

We were talking beforehand, right, you said it was kind of the roulette wheel kind of way of going about it. And, you know, it was essentially, look, this is not the perfect game plan, but it's the game plan I'm going to stick with, and it worked.

BERMAN: My analogy there was, when you play roulette at a casino and if you bet on black the whole time, you actually will win less than half the time.

ENTEN: Right.

BERMAN: You got like, what, 48 percent chance here of winning.

But -- and Belichick did that last night. He's, like, look, I may not win more than half the times we do this, but I may -- you know, but I may be able to walk away from the table ahead here.

ENTEN: And that's exactly what happened. He got the one -- he got a huge break. You know, they broke out that long 65-yard run, whatever it was. The Bills, unfortunately, had a turnover when they were on the Patriots side of the field. And the fact that I'm just used to it as a Bills fan. I'm used to it.

BERMAN: Well, can I -- can I ask you, since you did wake up and come in, can you describe to me the moment when you knew the Bills were going to lose last night and how excruciating it was for you?

ENTEN: It was about 7:30, long before the game started. I had no faith whatsoever. And it felt excruciating. But the fact is, I'm used -- I'm a glutton for punishment. That's why I'm a Bills fan. If I wanted to actually win, I'd root for New England.

BERMAN: Well, come on board.

ENTEN: No. No, I'm not a frontrunner. I hate the Yankees. Hate the Patriots. Sorry.

BERMAN: It's been -- it's been a good run. Harry, I appreciate it. You're a good a sport.

KEILAR: That's kind of -- kind of sadistic with that line of questioning there, Berman.

[09:00:01]

ENTEN: He's a sadistic guy.

BERMAN: He was here. He was here. I figured I had to.

KEILAR: But, whatever. You know, Harry, you're a Bills fan. You're kind of a bit of a masochist, I will say.