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Shawn Triplett is Interviewed about his Hunting Photo; Warrant Issued for Baldwin's Phone; Health Experts Stress Importance of Testing; Peloton Pulls Noth Ad. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 17, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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


[06:31:32]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The whole town was just leveled. That is how a Kentucky man described the aftermath of last week's tornados in his town of Mayfield, Kentucky. He took a haunting photo in the Legion Theater. It captures really the whole situation perfectly. It seems really as if there is a movie there. But, no, that's the reality in Mayfield now.

And Shawn joins me now.

Gosh, you know, that picture really is so beautiful yet so sad in many ways. Just talk to me about what you saw at that moment.

SHAWN TRIPLETT, LIVES IN MAYFIELD, KY, CREATED TOY DRIVE FOR CHILDREN AFFECTED BY TORNADO: Yes, it was just the culmination of a full day of touring the town. There was, you know, a lot of emotions built up, you know, throughout the day. And we finally had a moment to just kind of hang tight and just relax for a moment. And, you know, I saw this thing, and I wanted to remember it forever. And so that's why I took the photo, you know, so, you know, later on, you know, a few days from now or whatever I can look back on it and kind of relive those emotions and, you know, get it all out at that point was my -- my intention.

BERMAN: What are the emotions you're feeling?

TRIPLETT: You know, it -- I can't find a single word for it. I mean it's just a -- you know, there's anger. There's pain. There's sadness. There's, you know, there's also joy. You know, for appreciating what I have. You know, there's -- it's just -- there's a lot. I mean there's so many words. And I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

BERMAN: And as you are thinking about yourself -- and I do hope you take a moment to make sure that you're OK here.

One of the things from being there, Shawn, that I felt is everyone is looking out so much for everyone else, they're not pausing to make sure that they're OK here. So -- and it is so, I think, painful for so many people. So I encourage you to take a moment for yourself.

But, in the meantime, you're just busting your ass to make sure that Christmas happens for everyone there. Tell us what you're doing. TRIPLETT: You know, I didn't sleep that night. And I woke up and I was

like, you know, somebody's got to do something about these kids. You know, they're sleeping on cots. They don't have any toys. They have nothing to play with. You can just see the sadness in their face.

And, you know, the night prior, I saw a, you know, a child embracing his mom, you know, crying and describing how, you know, he had lost his Christmas. You know, and it just -- it broke me in half. It just -- it really just shredded me inside. And I had to do something.

And so, you know, I decided, hey, I was going to reach out to as many people as I could, you know, within my circle and raise as much money as I could and I was going to bring everything to them and get everything going. And it kind of -- it's just -- it's rolled up into this big thing now. I've got a Santa costume. And, you know, we're going to have an event. We're going to put the toys in the kids' hands and let them unwrap them, let them, you know, reconnect with their friends that they might have not seen for days now.

So, it's turned into this really big thing. And I find myself wandering the toy aisles of Walmart and, you know, just listening for kids and their families talking about, you know, how they can't afford things because of their situation that this -- this has caused them. And I find myself playing secret Santa. And, you know, I just -- I approach the kids and the family and I just let them throw whatever they want in the cart.

[06:35:05]

Then I -- I go and I just buy it for them right then and there.

And, you know, we're trying to make as much of a positive effort in this community as we can. And so far it's going pretty well. I really appreciate it.

BERMAN: Well, you've got a week left to grow the beard, Shawn. You know, keep it up.

You're terrific. Let me just say, you're just terrific. And I am so impressed by everything you're doing.

We're going to put the Go Fund Me -- I think we have the Go Fund Me page people can contribute to this.

TRIPLETT: Yes.

BERMAN: We can put it up on the screen. And if we don't, you know, I'll tweet it out so people know. People around the country can help out in what you're doing and make a difference to all the people in Mayfield.

Shawn Triplett, thank you so much for being with us.

TRIPLETT: Yes, and thank you to everybody at CNN. You know, even -- even now I'm still getting help from some of the people that are -- like connecting me with others, you know, for truckloads of toys that are heading our way. So, I'm really excited. And, so, thank you and thank you to everybody that's helped out. I really appreciate it.

BERMAN: That's the least we can do after everything you've done, Shawn. Thank you so much.

TRIPLETT: Sure. Thank you.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: There are new developments in the investigation into the "Rust" movie set shooting that killed the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and wounded the director, Joel Souza, back in October. A search warrant has been issued for actor Alec Baldwin's cell phone according to court documents that were released Thursday from Santa Fe County. The warrant says that officials are looking to obtain messages, call logs, photos and videos, as well as any private messages that were sent on social media platforms in relation to the movie production.

Joining me now is CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson.

Joey, what do you think they're going to get for this?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, so, you know what -- Kaitlan, good morning to you.

Good morning, John.

I think, first of all, there's a due diligence obligation, right? Remember, there's a criminal investigation. And, in light of that, you want to dot your i's and cross your t's. And so whenever you do a search warrant, you know that there's probable cause to believe that potentially a crime was committed and there's evidence that's there that would be material and relevant to that investigation.

So, I think what you do is you not only look for information on that as to anything prior, but during and, more importantly, after. Who were you communicating with? What specifically did you say? What did you know? Was there any collusion with respect to what you should say or what you should tell or who you should tell it to. And I think all of this information goes to whether or not there was a crime committed. I think it's a heavy lift to establish that at that point, but I think that information that they glean with regard to who he was speaking to, photographs, other information on that phone would be critical to the investigation.

BERMAN: Forgive me for having a criminal mind, Joey, but -- but I -- whenever I see this, or Mark Meadows, for that instance, I always wonder -- it's been a long time since the Russian (ph) -- so why wouldn't Alec Baldwin have trashed his cell phone or erased his cell phone?

JACKSON: So, potentially, that could be the case. But, remember, that's problematic also. If you do that, the question becomes, why did you do that? Why would you do that. There's a demonstration of consciousness of some type of criminality. In the event you did nothing wrong, in the event that your communications were pure, in the event that you didn't collude, in the event that there's nothing on the phone, that would be problematic. Why in essence would you do that? And if you do that, it becomes a problem. And there's no suggestion that he would have done that. But there are also a lot of different technological things that could restore and retrieve information that was otherwise taken off the phone.

COLLINS: What's also your take on, something separate, the Kim Potter situation, where she is, of course, this officer who shot Daunte Wright after she says she thought she was grabbing her taser. She ended up grabbing her gun. And now they say that she is going to take the stand in her own defense. Is that a wise move on her behalf or what do you think?

JACKSON: So, I think that it's highly problematic in this instance, right? So, think about this. There's really three reasons why someone wants to take the stand. One is because you want to humanize them. You want to demonstrate that they're an individual just like you. They're relatable, just like you. They're a mother, they're a daughter, they're something, right?

Beyond that, you want to go to the issue of symmetry. People expect two sides to every story. Even through the jury's instructed, you know what, if they don't testify, you don't have to read anything into it. Our criminal system allows you to be quiet.

But, more importantly, they talk about a relevant matter, a fact to dispute in the case. Here, it's problematic highly, Kaitlan, for the following reasons. If you testify, which she's going to testify, she has to make certain admissions. What are those admissions? Remember what she's charged with. Not with intentionally killing him, but in doing it because she was reckless or careless.

So, now, when you testify, it's fair to say that you were trained in the use of a taser, isn't that right? And, in fact, your last training was in March 2021. That was a month before this. You got a perfect score. And that wasn't the only time you were trained. You were trained several times before that. You know the distinction between the two. And, in fact, you indicated that you meant to takes him, no to shoot him, isn't that right?

So, what am I saying to you? I'm saying that she has to make an admission that she was reckless or at least careless. What are the charges here? One relates to reckless conduct, 15 years, the other relates to culpable negligence, 10 years. And so that's a problem.

Last point, and that's this, her attorneys have been arguing that deadly force would have been appropriate in any instance.

[06:40:04]

Well, she's going to have to take the stand and she's going to have to admit, but you didn't think it was appropriate, didn't you, because you didn't employ deadly force, you employed the taser. And, in fact, you said you made a mistake. Oh, my God, I -- she says certain things I can't say.

But, you know what, the bottom line is, I think it's fraught with difficulty because she has to make admissions to negligence, to recklessness, and that admits the element of the crimes, and that construes guilt.

COLLINS: And we've seen so many trials lately where people have been taking the stand in their own self-defense. It will be really interesting to see what she says.

JACKSON: Yes.

COLLINS: Joey Jackson, thank you for joining us this morning, as always.

JACKSON: Yes. Always.

Thank you, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Up next, as Covid-19 cases are surging, there are more treatments to combat the virus this time around, pills, rapid tests, boosters. But there are big questions on whether that's enough.

Plus, "Sex and the City" star Chris Noth accused of sexual assault by two women. What Peloton just did and how the actor himself is responding.

BERMAN: And the RNC agrees to foot a huge sum from Donald Trump's legal fees, not from when he was president, but his own private dealings in New York. What is going on with this unusual agreement?

COLLINS: Very unusual.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:31]

COLLINS: With President Biden warning of a winter of severe illness and death for those who are unvaccinated, health experts are stressing the importance of testing. A federal plan to make insurance providers reimburse Americans for those he rapid at-home tests is still not in effect yet. So, if you want to get tested, you might have to pay for it.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now.

And so, Elizabeth, this is going to be such a big part of this, especially now with this omicron variant that everyone is so concerned about. And people are saying, well, if you are vaccinated, you can get together with your family, maybe take a rapid test first. But while those rapid tests are relatively inexpensive, if you're getting one and buying one for every member of your family and you're taking them pretty often, those costs can add up.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, they certainly can, Kaitlan, especially if you've got an immune compromised person in your family, and a lot of people do, you really want to test pretty often. You want to test a period of time before you see them. Then maybe again. And then right -- then after. I mean there's a lot of testing that goes into this. So, they're only about $7 a pop. But if you've got a big family and you need to test often, that really can add up. And that's why the Biden administration is trying to make it so that insurance companies have to pay for them. But, right now, they don't. And that's a problem. Because if there were easy, rapid, at-home testing that was affordable, people really might do it, and that could really go a long way towards trying to curb this pandemic.

COLLINS: Yes, and the plan so far to have this reimbursement from insurers is that you still have to file a claim to actually get money back for the tests that you buy.

COHEN: Right.

COLLINS: And so it's not like they're just covering it at cost.

And it does raise the question that I've heard from other health experts, and I'm wondering what you make of this, of why other nations have made these tests free or basically free, sometimes they're a dollar in some countries, why the United States hasn't adopted something like that?

COHEN: You know, I don't know. I think you'd have to ask a political expert in some ways why that's happened. But one thing that I've definitely noticed from more of the public health side is that other countries are -- they have much -- they have much more centralized authority in these things. For example, if anyone's ever wondered, gee, why do we keep getting data from Israel. One of the reasons is that they have a single payer system, as most of the world does, they have one authority. They just have more control over these things.

The United States is huge. It's 50 different states. People have lots of different opinions about things. And it's -- you're trying to control sort of a much larger game. And so I think that other countries, it's much easier for them to just sort of flip a switch and say, all right, these are all going to be, you know, the equivalent of a dollar now. It's harder to do that in the U.S.

COLLINS: Yes, and, of course, all of these countries are going to be dealing with the omicron variant. We've seen health officials say they are expecting a wave of infections. And you're already seeing how fast it is spreading, not just in the United States, but all across the world. And so I do think that raises questions about where we are, what position we are in when it comes to this pandemic, as we have been with other variants, compared to the delta variant or the original strain of this virus. And people have said, you know, we are in a much different position when it comes to vaccines being widely available. Boosters, of course, everyone being encouraged to get those. Also treatment.

And, you know, there is this new pill where there was really good signs, good data on how much it could prevent hospitalization, severe illness. But that pill is still not ready yet from the FDA. So, what next steps does it still have to go through before everyone can access it?

COHEN: So before I answer that, Merck has a similar pill, an anti- viral pill. The results are, depending upon who you ask, are pretty similar to Pfizer's. That one does have an EUA. So that one will probably be the first one that people will have access to.

But this second one from Pfizer -- I mean the way the FDA has been doing this, it's been about six weeks or so for them to review the data and to have an advisory committee meeting and make a decision, which is, you know, amazingly quick. Pre-covid, you never got anything even close to that. So, you know, I think in the next month or two we could also see Pfizer's anti-viral pill on the market.

Now, before anyone thinks, oh, an anti-viral pill. So if I get Covid, no big deal, actually the testing stuff that we were just talking about, Kaitlan, that plays into it. You have to get these pills early, like within three to five days of get -- of having symptoms of Covid. So you have to realize you're having symptoms of Covid. You have to get a positive Covid test. And we've just gone through some of the reasons why that can be difficult. You have to get -- if you go for like say a PCR test at a pharmacy, you've got to get the results back. I will tell you that once at a pharmacy, a big pharmacy with a big name, it took more than two weeks for me to get results back.

[06:50:05]

Then the doctor has to prescribe it. None of this is quick.

COLLINS: Of course, none of it is quick, and that is going to be of high concern for a lot of people.

Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

COHEN: Thanks.

BERMAN: And just like that, Peloton pulling this viral ad of "Sex and the City" star Chris Noth after sexual assault allegations surface.

And then new CNN reporting on Congressman Mo Brooks, why he's looking to redeem himself with Donald Trump, just as his Senate campaign struggles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Actor Chris Noth, from "Sex and the City" fame, is facing two accusations of sexual assault. According to "The Hollywood Reporter," the two women who have accused him saying that see him in his Mr. Big character in the new HBO Max series is what, quote, motivated them to come forward.

[06:55:07]

Now, Peloton has pulled its add with Noth that just went viral earlier this week.

CNN's Chloe Melas joins us live.

So, Chloe, what is he saying about this and what are these two women saying about these accusations? CHLOE MELAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kaitlan.

So, two incredibly disappointing and, you know, intense disasters, both for Chris Noth and for Peloton. So, keep in mind, you know, in "Just Like That," the new revival on HBO Max, Chris Noth's character, spoiler alert here, passes away after an intense ride on a Peloton bike. So then you saw Peloton's stock just completely plummet.

And then, in an effort to kind of like spice things up for Peloton, they had Mr. Big, Chris Noth, come back in this ad that actor Ryan Reynolds actually produced showing that, you know, Mr. Big is alive and Peloton, all is OK.

Well, now Peloton pulling these ads, cutting off ties with Chris Noth, in the wake of these, you know, horrible accusations in "The Hollywood Reporter." But Chris Noth is denying these incidents.

So, one alleged incident, Kaitlan, took place in New York in 2015. The other in Los Angeles in 2004. These women used pseudonyms for their names in "The Hollywood Reporter." But like you said, they said that they saw him reprise his role in the HBO Max series (INAUDIBLE) them. But he is sayings, though, that this is categorically false, that he would never cross the line like that with anyone.

COLLINS: Yes, certainly not the attention they wanted to be getting on this show.

Chloe, we know you'll stay on this story and we'll check back in with you. So, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

MELAS: Thank you.

BERMAN: And, look at this man. He is what you would call a daring man. Diving at 176 miles per hour into the crater of the Devil's House. One of the most active and most dangerous volcanos. Ahead, what's wrong with this guy?

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