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New Day
Homes Guilty of Defrauding Investors; Covid Headlines from Around the World; Record Number of Child Hospitalizations with Covid; Antonio Brown Appears at NBA Game. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired January 04, 2022 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A wide range of blood tests using just a few drops of blood, but did not deliver.
ELIZABETH HOLMES, FORMER CEO AND FOUNDER, THERANOS: So this is the little tubes that we collect the -- the samples in.
BERNAL: They argued that Holmes lied about the accuracy of the blood test, the capabilities of her technology, the company's relationship with the military, and its validation from pharmaceutical companies.
SARA ASHLEY O'BRIEN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: So, we saw kind of the charisma, the charm, the way in which she likely spoke to investors in her meetings with them, you know, when she was pitching the company.
BERNAL: She captured the attention and money of powerful and wealthy investors. Among them, former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Schultz, former Secretary of Defense General Jim Mattis, the family of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and media typhoon Rupert Murdoch.
O'BRIEN: She was hailed on the cover of magazines as the next Steve Jobs. She claimed to have revolutionized blood testing.
BERNAL: But the prosecution proved otherwise, and they're hoping to do it again in the trial of her long-time partner and COO of Theranos, Ramesh Sunny Balwani, who is potentially facing decades in prison for the same charges. The trials were separated after Holmes made bombshell accusations of sexual and emotional abuse against Balwani. He has denied the allegations and has pleaded not guilty to the federal wire fraud and conspiracy charges.
And, in the meantime, the darling of Silicon Valley, with a vision of the future, now facing the consequences of her past.
Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Up next, pediatric hospitalizations hitting a record high, even as generally hospitalizations aren't quite there as omicron shatters more records.
And almost one year from the Capitol attack, Trump supporters are still in deep denial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The January 6th attack was not the Republicans nor Trump. It was the Democrats were behind it all. They're the ones that caused it all.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You really believe that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know it. And there is no way that a Republican would act that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: A report you have to see, ahead.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, Janet Jackson breaking her silence on her brother, Michael, and his child sex allegations. Why she says she felt guilty.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:36:54]
BERMAN: This morning, the omicron variant tightening its grip on Europe and Asia, forcing China to take new measures as the Beijing winter Olympics draw closer. We have the latest from CNN correspondents all around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Phil Black in Essex, England.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the health system here will face significant pressure in the coming days and weeks. It follows surging, record case numbers over the holiday period. While the omicron variant often results in milder illness, the concern here is case numbers are so vast they will inevitably mean many more people experiencing serious disease.
The hospitals here report one positive trend so far, a key difference from previous waves. They're not yet seeing large numbers of older patients needing critical care. It's thought that is the vaccine effect.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jim Bittermann in Paris, where a stormy session in parliament last night may have thwarted government plans to extend the nation's health pass on January 15th. The pass must be displayed to access public places, bars, restaurants, and the like. It is proof that a person has either been vaccinated or recently tested negative for Covid.
But the government wants to eliminate that testing exception. In other words, a person would have to be vaccinated in order to engage in practically any public activity. After a noisy debate, the parliamentary session was suspended at midnight, but the government will try once again to push the legislation through, perhaps as early as today.
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Blake Essig in Tokyo.
Here in Japan, the daily case count remains relatively low. Earlier this week, Japan's southern most prefecture of Okinawa reported its highest single day total since last September. And Okinawa's local government is blaming the U.S. military.
Now, earlier this week, the U.S. military reported nearly 3,700 cases across the prefecture. Okinawa's governor said he's outraged because of the rise in the number of infected among U.S. military personnel, suggesting that their management is not enough.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.
The winter Olympics is only one month away, and the bubble has begun. The games will be held in a close-loop system around Beijing, covering all stadiums, venues, and accommodation. Athletes and participants must stay inside the bubble and undergo daily Covid-19 testing. And according to the "Global Times," the pre-game bubble officially starts today for overseas Olympic personnel. The winter games will be a test of China's zero Covid control measures, which will be hard given the highly infectious nature of the omicron variant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Child coronavirus hospitalizations soaring nationwide to a record high, with more than 500 children being admitted each day. In Texas, a Houston pediatrician says staggering numbers of children are coming into the hospital. The CDC says the majority of kids being hospitalized are unvaccinated.
CNN's Miguel Marquez joining us now.
[06:40:00]
Miguel.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
Look, at Texas, at Texas Children's Hospital, they are seeing a record number of admissions of kids with Covid-19 there. Most are unvaccinated. About a third are the most vulnerable, under fives, who cannot get vaccinated yet. And the worst is yet to come.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ (voice over): Four-month-old Grayson Parry (ph), his tiny belly rapidly expanding and contracting. One of many children here with Covid-19 struggling to breathe.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Are you afraid they're going to have to intubate him? GAYVIELLE GOFF, MOTHER OF COVID-19 PATIENT: Yes. A little bit. It's
just really scary. So I just hope that, you know, he's able to get better and go home.
MARQUEZ (voice over): Gayvielle Goff, mom to three, thinks her youngest picked up the virus at a Christmas family gathering. Her only job now, keeping her son in good spirits.
GOFF: I do talk to him in like a little baby voice. I sing to him. I can't sing, but he likes it.
MARQUEZ: One of nearly 70 children now hospitalized at Texas Children's. A new record high for the nation's largest pediatric hospital.
In just the last two weeks, hospitalizations here have increased more than four-fold, most unvaccinated or not eligible for vaccines, from toddlers to teens.
AMY WOODRUFF, MOTHER OF COVID-19 PATIENT: Our Covid journey began June -- or, see, I don't even know my days. Brains are mashed potatoes. We began November 29th. Me and my daughter both tested positive for Covid.
MARQUEZ: Amy Woodruff's daughter, Hailey, her 17th birthday the day we visited, has been intubated, in an induced coma, for nearly a month. She also gave birth nearly three weeks ago. She knows none of it.
WOODRUFF: She had a c-section in Amarillo on December 9th to a beautiful little baby girl, three pounds, six ounces, 15 and a half --
MARQUEZ (on camera): Who she has not seen yet?
WOODRUFF: She has not seen. And she was Covid negative, praise Jesus.
MARQUEZ (voice over): From Pampa (ph), Texas, Hallie was moved to Amarillo, then Houston, for advanced care, still unaware her three- week-old daughter, Zyla Fay (ph), is 900 miles away in an Amarillo newborn intensive care unit.
MARQUEZ (on camera): What will you tell her when you can speak to her?
WOODRUFF: I don't even want to think about it. That's my -- my little girl. Being away from her little girl, my heart bleeds for her.
MARQUEZ (voice over): The omicron variant now ripping through the lone star state. Texas Children's preparing for even more sick kids, as Covid-19 cases skyrocket.
MARQUEZ (on camera): What is your sense for what the next few weeks are going to hold?
NICOLE LEATHERS, NURSE MANAGER, PEDIATRIC ICU, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: You know, I think the bar for resilience just keeps moving. You think that, I don't know how we could do this again, and then we keep doing it again. MARQUEZ (voice over): As Texas children's readies for a fourth
coronavirus wave, already its ER is seeing a spike in kids suffering mild symptoms. Their parents seeking testing, bogging down triage for the seriously ill.
DR. BRENT KAZINY, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: We're seeing a lot of patients present with mild respiratory symptoms, cough, congestion, fever, known Covid exposures, et cetera, and are really, I think, a lot of them are really seeking testing.
MARQUEZ: Like previous waves, the sickest kids, those needing hospitalization, are having a tough time breathing.
DR. MELANIE KITAGAWA, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, TRANSITIONAL ICU, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: So, they're getting a lot of respiratory symptoms, as we've been expecting. Pneumonias, needing respiratory support to help them breathe better.
MARQUEZ: Viral spread expected to intensify in the weeks ahead. And even if the omicron variant isn't as severe --
DR. JIM VERSALOVIC, PATHOLOGIST IN CHIEF, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: The problem is that with so many children and adults infected, even if the percent -- percent hospitalization rate is lower, we're still -- we could see more children hospitalized over a very short period of time. So, that certainly puts a strain on our health care resources.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: So, school starts back in session today in Houston and many cities across the country. That is expected to be another vector. They're not quite sure where the top of this current wave is. They believe mid-January into February is it. It's going to take a lot of patience and a lot of parents on guard in the days ahead.
Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes, it's heartbreaking. Look, we're seeing kids pay the price. And some of them, as you mentioned, a big chunk of them, still unprotected, and not by choice.
Miguel, thank you for that report.
MARQUEZ: You got it.
KEILAR: Coming up, Donald Trump, once again, shows that he wants to be a strongman.
BERMAN: And he was abducted at four years old. Thirty years later, he drew this map from memory. Who found him, and the emotional reunion, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:49:03] KEILAR: Former President Trump throwing his weight behind Hungary's authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban, with a ringing endorsement. Yesterday, Trump made this statement. Quote, Viktor Orban of Hungary truly loves his country and wants safety for his people. He has done a powerful and wonderful job in protecting Hungary, stopping illegal immigration, creating jobs, trade, and should be allowed to continue to do so in the upcoming election. He is a strong leader and respected by all. He has my complete support and endorsement for re-election as prime minister.
Now, Orban is a right-wing strongman who has shifted Hungary away from democracy and toward autocracy in the past decade. He has weakened judicial independence, attacked the rights of journalists and doubled down on the government's control of media. And for all of those anti- American moves, he has been rewarded with quite the following in pro- Trump circles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Here's Viktor Orban. His accent is pretty thick, but his English is precise.
[06:50:03]
He's worth hearing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: But Orban is not special. He is just the latest strongman flavor of the week receiving Trump's affections. As Trump has made clear that he, himself, would prefer to be a strongman rather than a democratically-elected president at the helm of a co-equal branch of government that is the foundation of the American experiment. If this were a rose ceremony on the "Bachelor," Orban would be just a face in the crowd, in competition with a litany of other despots, like Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump has been particularly smitten.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY: Putin's a killer.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: A lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country's so innocent? You think our country's so innocent?
O'REILLY: I don't know of any government leaders that are killers in America.
TRUMP: Well, take a look at what we've done, too. We've made a lot of mistakes. I've been against the war in Iraq from the beginning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Being a killer normally disqualifying for a love match, but not for Trump when it comes to Putin or the leader of China.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: You know, I had a great relationship with President Xi. I really believe he liked me and I liked him. I had a great relationship.
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX BUSINESS HOST: He's a killer.
TRUMP: He is a killer, but I had a great relationship with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: To quote "The Princess Bride," mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam. Because a marriage, or a mawage, between Russia or China and the U.S. should be as destined to succeed as one between Prince Humperdink and Princess Buttercup. President Xi Jinping of China, after all, has consolidated power. He has detained hundreds without due process and has one of the worst records on human rights in the world.
But Trump is certainly not one to let that get in the way of a relationship, certainly now with Turkey's strongman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I had a very good conversation with President Erdogan. I respect him. We have a very good relationship. Yes, I agree, he's a tough guy, but we have a very good relationship. I seem to do better with tough people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Trump also enjoys the company of a guy who overthrew his nation's first democratically elected government, the president of Egypt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I will tell you, President el- Sisi has been somebody that's been very close to me from the first time I met him. I met during the campaign.
ABDEL FATTAH EL-SISI, EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT: Yes.
TRUMP: And at that point there were two of us, and we both met. And hopefully you liked me a lot more.
EL-SISI: Yes.
TRUMP: But -- but it was a very long -- it was supposed to be just a quick, brief meeting, and we were with each other for a long period of time. We agree on so many things. I just want to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, that we are very much behind President el-Sisi, He's done a fantastic job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And cold-blooded murder? Trump is not one to let that interrupt affairs of the heart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: A friend of mine, a man who has really done things in the last five years in terms of opening up Saudi Arabia. And I want to just thank you on behalf of a lot of people. And I want to congratulate you. You've done really a spectacular job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Very early on in his presidency, Trump congratulated his counterpart in the Philippines, despite Rodrigo Duterte green lighting extrajudicial killings in the name of fighting drugs, resulting in thousands of deaths.
Trump also bestowed a rose on the Trump of Brazil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Today, I'm very thrilled to welcome President Bolsonaro of Brazil for his first visit to the White House.
President Bolsonaro, I want to congratulate you again on your tremendous election victory. Last October, it was an incredible feat. And, really, a truly incredible challenge. And the end result was something the whole world was talking about. I also know that we're going to have a fantastic working relationship. We have many views that are similar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Similar. Kindred even. Bolsonaro makes offensive and sexist remarks and has taken extreme views. He's also downplayed the pandemic, unnecessarily costing the lives of his countrymen, and yet he's still not the one.
No, that would be North Korea's dictator. As Sinead O'Connor might say, nothing compares to you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: He wrote me beautiful letters. And they're great letters. We fell in love.
Hey, he's the head of a country. And, I mean, he is the strong head. Don't let anyone think anything different.
STEVE DOOCY, FOX NEWS HOST: Right.
TRUMP: He speaks, and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.
DOOCY: Right.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: Well, yes, they sit up at attention because they might be killed if they don't.
[06:55:01]
But Trump isn't one to let that get in the way of wuv, twoo wuv.
A Fox host says it out loud, cheering on American divisions for ratings.
Plus, one day after his sideline meltdown, football player Antonio Brown was seen at a basketball game, this time wearing a shirt.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Just one day out from removing his uniform and storming off the football field, Antonio Brown found himself fully clothed courtside at a Brooklyn Nets game. Despite Buccaneers Coach Bruce Arians saying on Sunday that Brown was no longer a Buc, he actually remains on the team's roster as of Monday night.
Joining us now to talk about this is Cari Champion, she is a former ESPN anchor and the host of the podcast "Naked with Cari Champion."
Always great to see you, Cari.
You know, we should also mention that somewhere in between the end of that game and getting to that other game, a basketball game, to watch it, there was sort of an interesting series of events for Antonio Brown.
What do you make of him popping up here?
CARI CHAMPION, HOST, "NAKED WITH CARI CHAMPION": You know, I think It's interesting for a couple of reasons. And you say this well. We all were under the impression, there were all of these -- these ideas and images also of him trying to get out of, so we thought, New York on Sunday because, obviously, he left the Jets game. But he decided to stay put, from what we're hearing.
And when he popped up at the game, my first thought was this, this is why I know we go back and forth with him. When I said I had mixed emotions about him regarding whether or not he should get help. Yes, he does need help. But then he does something like this that is very seemingly in your face. Like, you know, I'm fine. I don't really care that I got kicked off and I quit on my team. I'm sitting courtside because I can live this type of life. He also released a rap single.
[07:00:00]
So, I find him to be -- I mean, it really is an enigma in so many ways because you want to feel like, please, get some help, but then he does this. It's a brazen, like
