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Trump Sues Letitia James; NHL Set to Pause Season; Covid Update from Around the World; Deliberations Resume in Potter Trial; Michael Dowling is Interviewed about Covid in New York; Roy Dotson is Interviewed about Covid Fraud. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired December 21, 2021 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, Paula, there's also news because the former president has taken the step -- it's not extraordinary for him because he sues everyone and everything, but he is suing the New York attorney general, Letitia James. Why?
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So in this lawsuit, he's asking a federal court to block James' long- running civil investigation into the Trump Organization. For roughly two years, James has been investigating whether the Trump Organization misrepresented its assets to get better loan terms, better insurance rates and, of course, to pay lower taxes. Her investigation mirrors a similar criminal investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney that has already resulted in charges against the organization and one of its executives.
Now, interestingly, the timing on this lawsuit. This comes as James is seeking to depose the former president under oath next month.
Now, Trump and his lawyers have long argued that James is politically motivated. They point to the fact that she campaigned on a promise to target Trump, and that is the basis of their lawsuit where they argue that she is violating Trump's constitutional rights and abusing her office to pursue her own political aims.
Now, James has responded in a statement saying, quote, to be clear, neither Mr. Trump nor the Trump Organization get to dictate if and where they will answer for their actions. Our investigation will continue undeterred because no is above the law, not even someone with the name Trump.
BERMAN: Paula Reid, thank you very much.
New overnight, the NHL putting its season on ice, at least briefly, in response to the Covid outbreak. Details behind the decision.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And, New York hospitals bracing for a surge of new patients as cases of the omicron variant skyrocket. We'll speak with one hospital official who says there is reason this morning to be optimistic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:35:17]
BERMAN: Overnight, a major announcement from the National Hockey League, a pause to its season through Christmas due to the surge in Covid cases.
Andy Scholes has this morning's bleacher report.
Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John.
So, the NHL, it's going to play two games tonight, and then after that the league is shutting down through Christmas due to the rise in Covid cases.
Team facilities are going to reopen on Sunday, and daily Covid testing for players is going to resume them.
Nine NHL teams already had their seasons put on pause before this announcement. The league had also shut down travel to and from Canada through Christmas. Games are scheduled to resume on Monday. There have now been 49 NHL games postponed so far this season.
All right, the NFL, meanwhile, adding 51 players to their reserved Covid-19 list yesterday. It's the highest single day total since the pandemic began. Among the big names on the list are Chiefs' tight end Travis Kelce and the Chargers' Joey Bosa.
This comes as the NFL moved away from weekly testing of vaccinated players. Going forward, the leagues says they're only going to test vaccinated individuals showing symptoms and random groups each week. Since the start of last week, 213 players have reportedly tested positive for the virus. That's nearly 10 percent of the league.
And, John, as we see, you know, leagues start to make changes to their Covid protocols as cases continue to rise, so far, things haven't really changed for fans. You know, we're still seeing full stadiums and arenas across the country with teams not really changing what their protocols were before all of this started happening with this new rise of cases.
BERMAN: Yes, we're watching. I mean things could change on a daily basis at this point.
Andy, thank you very much.
HILL: Coronavirus cases in the U.K. exploding, fueled by that fast- spreading omicron variant. The country's prime minister is now debating whether to impose another round of restrictions before Christmas, of course just days away at this point.
CNN has reporters covering the pandemic around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NADA BASHIR, CNN JOURNALIST: I'm Nada Bashir in London, where U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson is coming under mounting pressure from health experts to bring into force tougher Covid-19 restrictions to stem the spread of the omicron variant. The government has, at this stage, stuck to its plan b measures, including mask wearing and working from home. But as health experts warn against a surge in hospital admissions and new cases in the new year, the prime minister hasn't ruled out the potential for another national lockdown.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Fred Pleitgen in Berlin.
Several European countries are already dealing with large-scale omicron outcomes. Germany is bracing for the coronavirus variant. The chancellor, Olaf Schulz, is today meeting with state leaders to talk about tough, new restrictive measures.
Now, those new measures are not only going to count for unvaccinated people but for vaccinated people as well. The government is saying that those measures will not take hold for Christmas but will certainly impact New Year's Eve, making large-scale celebrations all but impossible.
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN JOURNALIST: I'm Elliot Gotkine in Jerusalem, where senior Israeli ministers have been meeting to discuss new Covid restrictions in a bid to slow the spread of Israel's fifth wave. According to Khan (ph) public radio, they raised a number of proposals, including putting further limits on large gatherings, extending the list of places requiring a green pass to prove vaccination or recovery, and ending free antigen tests for unvaccinated children.
On Monday, the country's daily Covid case load jumped 30 percent to more than 1,300, a two-month high. With cases spiking, Israel is trying to cut off its main source of omicron infections by adding more countries to its red, no-fly list. From 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, the U.S., Canada, and eight other nations will turn red, meaning these countries will be off limits for Israelis unless they get special permission.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Our thanks to our reporters all around the world.
So, this morning, we are on verdict watch in the trial of former Officer Kim Potter, who shot Dante Wright at a traffic stop. Why her lawyer says the deadly mix-up between a Taser and a gun shouldn't matter.
HILL: And former President Trump booed by his own supporters after revealing he got the booster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY: Did you get the booster?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Yes.
O'REILLY: I got it too.
OK, so --
TRUMP: Oh, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. Don't -- no, no, that's --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:43:20]
HILL: Day two of deliberations will begin later this morning in the trial of Kim Potter, the former Minnesota police officer who's charged in April's shooting death of Daunte Wright. The jury deliberating for about five hours yesterday after some emotional closing arguments.
CNN's Adrienne Broaddus has been following this for us and she joins us from Minneapolis this morning with more.
Adrienne, good morning.
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
About three hours into deliberations, members of the jury had a question. They wanted to know when former Officer Kim Potter met with Dr. Miller. You may remember, Miller is the psychologist called by the defense, a day before Potter testified.
Now, the judge didn't give any specifics. However, it was revealed during -- over the eight days of testimony that Potter interviewed with Dr. Miller. And during that Zoom session, she told Dr. Miller she does not make mistakes. By contrast, her defense attorney, Earl Gray, said this was all a mistake. Even telling the members of the jury to consider this question, how could Potter recklessly handle a firearm if she didn't know she had a gun in her hand?
On the other hand, the prosecution started its argument by saying Dante Wright was shot to death by the gun in the hand of a highly trained officer. And prosecutors called this reckless.
Listen in to some of those arguments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EARL GRAY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No. Dante Wright caused his own death, unfortunately? So, within seconds, he all of a sudden breaks away.
[06:45:04]
That's the cause, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. That's what caused this whole incident.
MATTHEW FRANK, PROSECUTOR: I want you to consider, if we accept that argument, that he caused his own death, we have to accept that any time a person does not meticulously follow the commands of a police officer, they can be shot to death, and there would be no consequences.
GRAY: Objection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROADDUS: So, the jury did not reach a verdict yesterday. They will return for deliberations later this morning. And in the deliberating room, they have access to the gun that Potter grabbed, as well as the Taser she intended to pull from her holster. It's an opportunity for them to compare and contrast the two weapons.
They also have a laptop which contains video evidence. And when we say video evidence, we're talking about the body camera footage. They can stop it, play it, fast forward at their own discretion.
Jury deliberations will continue today, and it is important to underscore that laptop has been disabled from internet usage.
Erica and John.
HILL: Adrienne Broaddus, appreciate it. Thank you.
BERMAN: So, Covid cases spiking in the state of New York with a three- fold increase in just the past week. That's cases. So what does that mean for hospitals?
Joining me now is Michael Dowling, the president and CEO of Northwell Health, which has an extensive network of 22 hospitals and other health care centers in New York state.
Michael, thank you for being with us.
MICHAEL DOWLING, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORTHWELL HEALTH: Thank you.
BERMAN: What is the current situation in your hospitals?
DOWLING: Yes, we're doing very, very well. Very manageable. There's no crisis. So let me just give you a little bit of perspective.
We have, right now, about 460 patients in our hospitals. That's less than 10 percent of our overall capacity. And this time last year, during the second wave, we had almost 1,000 cases this time last year. And compared to where we were back in the first wave, we had 3,500 patients in our hospitals. So when you look at the numbers today, they're relatively modest. And they have been increasing, you know, relatively slowly since -- since Thanksgiving.
We do expect an increase now over the holidays, but it is all manageable. We will be able to deal with this. And I think it's time for people to get -- be a little bit calm, you know, a little bit more rational. And while the positivity rate in the community is increasing dramatically, that does not mean that they automatically convert into hospitalizations. So on the hospital side, right now, we're doing quite well. Very manageable indeed.
BERMAN: So you -- do you think there's an overreaction in terms of the overall attitude out there?
DOWLING: Well, you know, we're in the middle of a pandemic, you know, going into a third wave. You're going to have surges. You're going to have more positivity. There's going to be more testing, which there should be. More testing sites are going to open up. So you're going to have an increasing rate of positivity. Which, by the way, if you think of it, if people are not that sick and they are not in the hospital, you're building up herd immunity.
So, from that point of view, it's not -- it's not the worst thing in the world, even though people are -- may not feel well for a couple of days. So, if you get it and you don't feel well for a couple of days, you can handle this. It's a lot better, of course, than being in the hospital. I focus primarily on the hospital numbers because that's where you don't want to be.
BERMAN: No.
DOWLING: And we're going to have to deal with this, you know, over the next number of months. We just got a -- it's the reality of the circumstance, and just deal with it.
BERMAN: I've talked -- I have spoken, Mr. Dowling, to a number of hospital officials in other places in the country where they don't have as much capacity. And one of their concerns going forward is that health care workers, hospital employees, could get infected.
And, look, even if it's not with a serious infection, it would mean they're offline for a few days, whether it be ten days or maybe a shorter period of time. So, how much slack do you have in terms of your health care worker capacity?
DOWLING: Well, obviously, that's always a concern when you're in this business. We have right now about 300 workers that are out because of Covid. They're either being quarantined or they were with somebody that might have had Covid.
But, you know, we have got about 70,000 employees, 78,000 employees.
The issue here is everybody has to get the booster. And if all of the precautions are taken inside the hospitals and everybody gets the booster, then you're fully vaccinated. And that -- that has to be a focus, not only for health care workers, but for people in the community. And -- and the other thing I just want to mention is that 80 percent of the people in our hospitals today, 80 percent of the 460, are non-vaccinated.
[06:50:05]
They are unvaccinated. So this is a non-vaccinated issue.
And if everybody was vaccinated, then the numbers in our hospital right now would be very minimal indeed. So this is, you know, something I cannot fully understand why people are still out there, even in the current situation, deciding that they don't want to get vaccinated. It makes no sense. It's illogical and, quite frankly, pretty stupid.
BERMAN: Eighty percent unvaccinated still in the hospitals.
DOWLING: Right.
BERMAN: Well, Michael Dowling, we appreciate your time this morning, your perspective. A reality check. At least for now, your hospitals have plenty of capacity, which we are glad to hear.
DOWLING: Yes.
BERMAN: President and CEO of Northwell Health, thanks for being with us.
DOWLING: Everybody, stay calm.
Thank you.
HILL: Breaking news this morning, the White House planning to deliberate 500 million free at-home Covid tests to Americans across the country. How exactly will that plan work, and how quickly could you expect to get one of those tests?
BERMAN: And the Secret Service stepping in to reclaim billions of taxpayer dollars stolen by people who defrauded the Covid relief program. We'll speak to the new Covid fraud czar.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: Billions of dollars in Covid-related funding stolen. As of this morning, the U.S. Secret Service is running more than 900 active investigations as the federal government aims to crack down on an explosion of scams related to federal and state Covid-19 programs. Already, more than $1 billion has been seized, but there is still more to find. The agency naming Special Agent Roy Dotson as the first National Pandemic Fraud Recovery coordinator, and he joins me now.
Good to have you with us this morning.
I have to say, a lot of people may see this, and I'm guessing there are two thoughts out there. Number one, the Secret Service does this? And, number two, that is a lot of money. Where -- where are you focusing these efforts? I mean just -- just how bad are these scams?
ROY DOTSON, SPECIAL AGENT, U.S. SECRET SERVICE: Well, to date -- good morning.
To date, the Secret Service has seen enormous fraud related to unemployment and SBA loans. We have seized, as you said, over $1.2 billion and returned over $2.3 billion via HCH returns.
We just, you know, continue to see an uptick of that. You know, criminal -- criminal individuals are opportunistic. So when the federal funding from the Cares Act was released, they, obviously, pivoted to that and began targeting that -- those programs.
HILL: You know, one expert told CNN, this was like the Super Bowl and the World Series rolled into one for scammers and hackers.
What is it about this funding or the release of these funds that made it seem like such a ripe opportunity?
[06:55:01]
Was it that they could go -- you mentioned unemployment. Is it that they could sort of go after those funds as individuals, or try to go after individuals?
DOTSON: Well, I think the availability to file online applications made it ease to use. And then the use of individuals. There is numerous identity theft victims that are involved in -- in these cases. It's just -- you know, the primary thing that we saw was that individuals and criminal organizations could readily file these online applications and receive these benefits rather quickly.
HILL: You mentioned those online filing. Is that where you're seeing the biggest growth in these scams, in this fraud? Is there one area in particular that really has you concerned?
DOTSON: Well, the concern continues to be just the ability to, you know, continue to get funding. We see that individuals and organizations are always looking for different ways to circumvent the system. And I think that it's -- it comes down to us being able to identify different mediums that they can use. Obviously, with the modern conveniences today of online banking, cryptocurrencies, this allows fraudsters to move monies much more quickly. And fast money equals fast crime.
HILL: Yes, absolutely. Is it also leading to perhaps changes in the way funds need to be distributed or questions about security with that, you know, fast money?
DOTSON: Well, it definitely presents challenges and causes us to develop new investigative techniques. But, you know, with the expertise we have, with our cyber fraud task forces, which are made up of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, we have the individuals that can still investigate those cases and -- and are able to apprehend those individuals that are committing these crimes.
HILL: This is a lot of money. Some 900 active investigations. You confident you're going to be able to get it all back?
DOTSON: Well, I'm -- I'm an optimistic individual, so I believe that, you know, knowing -- you know, we're going to do our best. The Secret Service, our cyber fraud task forces, all of our federal, state, and local partners are working tirelessly to identify new cases, to identify and recover funds. We're working hand-in-hand with the private and public sector, which has been an invaluable asset to these cases.
HILL: Special Agent Roy Dotson, good to have you with us this morning and good to have you on the case.
Thank you.
DOTSON: Thank you.
BERMAN: Well, look, on the subject of security, the latest to be granted White House security clearance, a German shepherd named Commander.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hey, pal. How you doing? How are you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: President Biden welcoming the new first pup to the family. The four-month-old Commander is a belated birthday gift from Biden's brother James and sister-in-law Sarah. As you will recall, Champ Biden, seen there on the right, passed away in June at the age of 13, which is 91 in dog years. Their rescue dog, Major, had some biting incidents with White House staff and has been in something of a permanent time-out, living with Biden's friends in a quieter environment. Also joining the White House family next month, we are told, a cat, Erica.
HILL: Listen, I say the more pets, the merrier. But if my husband's watching right now, we're not getting a second dog, just to be clear. But I'm very happy that there are more pets in the White House.
BERMAN: I feel like the cat is unnecessary. I don't mean to be judgy (ph), but.
HILL: Wow. Wow.
BERMAN: Well, I mean, what do they do?
HILL: Cue -- cue the cat -- cat hate mail. People hating you for hating cats, that's what I meant. Yes.
BERMAN: I'm not hating. I'm not hating cats.
HILL: OK. You're just questioning.
BERMAN: I just don't acknowledge them.
I will say, what I particularly liked about Commander is the music that apparently seems to follow him wherever he goes. Whenever he's videoed, he gets his own theme song.
HILL: Yes, there he is.
I feel like you need a theme song, Berman. Maybe we should come up with one for you.
BERMAN: That's fantastic. If only I were a four-month-old cute dog, I would have music with me all the time.
All right, NEW DAY continues right now.
[07:00:06]
Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world.
