Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Airlines Scramble to Train Pilots; Daniels Testifies That Avenatti Stole, Lied to Her; Breyer Warns about American Experiment; Evangeline Lilly Attends Anti-Vaccine Rally. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 28, 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]

FAYE MALARKEY BLACK, PRESIDENT AND CEO, REGIONAL AIRLINE ASSOCIATION: Already affected air service and it's going to get worse if we don't intervene now and give people a real path into this career.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The latest estimate that airlines worldwide will need at least 34,000 new pilots by 2025. But entry-level flying jobs require 1,500 hours of experience.

SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: The problem is, the barriers to entry. This is the model really about creating that economic opportunity to let people come in who don't have $100,000 to spend on their certification but have great potential, great ability.

MUNTEAN: Tuition here is $71,000.

When they graduate, students could get hired by a United partner company. First, as a flight instructor, then at a regional airline, and ultimately with United. The airline says 80 percent of all students here are women or people of color.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We definitely need more people of color, more women in the industry.

MARCEL KIMBREL, UNITED FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: (INAUDIBLE) that power out (ph), get us lined up nicely.

MUNTEAN: Adela's (ph) instructor, Marcel Kimbrel, was a United flight attendant. Now he's earning his hours by teaching. And he says there's never been a better time to learn to fly.

KIMBREL, UNITED FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: You know, if I can do it, you can do it. You really just have to step out of there and really take a chance on your dreams.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: One more note on changing the face of flying, John. About 90 percent of commercial pilots in the U.S. are white men. That number, about 80 percent at United Airlines. Still a long way to go, clearly, but United says a program like this is just the start of changing that.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, you've got to change that ratio. If you want to grow the overall numbers, you have to grow the types of people you have in the cockpit.

MUNTEAN: So true.

BERMAN: Pete Muntean, really interesting story. Thanks so much, as always.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, a new addition to the White House. Meet the first cat, Willow. She is a two-year-old short-haired gray tabby. She has green eyes. Clearly likes to take walks there, maybe from the East Room. After First Lady Jill Biden's hometown, that's the -- that's what she's named after, after Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Dr. Biden first met Willow at a campaign stop in 2020. The cat actually jumped on stage at a farm where the event was being held and then immediately bonded with the future first lady.

Willow joins the first family's German Shepherd puppy, Commander, at the White House. And the last time that there was a pet cat was a White House, do you remember, it was a while back, it was during George W. Bush's administration.

You remember that, Berman.

BERMAN: I -- look -- yes.

KEILAR: Softly Socks (ph), was that --

BERMAN: Something like that. I just don't know. I'm happy for all of them. I really am. And I just want --

KEILAR: You're clearly not. Why do you hate cats so much?

BERMAN: I just want -- because what do they do? I just don't know what they do.

KEILAR: They plot. They plot.

BERMAN: You can just get a pillow. Just get a soft pillow.

KEILAR: No, no, no, they -- they're not good pillows. They're not even. They -- I mean, you're their pillow. Your head is their pillow. They -- you know, you serve -- you serve them. That's how it works.

BERMAN: Do they -- do they fetch? Can you walk a cat? I just -- I just --

KEILAR: Well, you can, but there will be judgment.

BERMAN: There's always judgement. I don't need -- I just don't need more of that in my life.

Again, I'm so happy for all of them. I don't want the letters. Don't send, like, you know, the letters calling me a cat hater.

KEILAR: Send them, people.

BERMAN: I'm not a hater. I'm just a denier.

KEILAR: Send them. Tweet them.

BERMAN: I'm just a cat denier, not a hater.

KEILAR: No, send them. We want to hear what you think. So, send that on in.

BERMAN: All right, other -- other news this morning.

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels cross-examined in court by her former lawyer, Michael Avenatti. Why he brought up her claims that she can speak to the dead.

KEILAR: And the Michigan school shooter planning to use the insanity defense. How does that change this case?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:00]

KEILAR: Here in a few hours, Stormy Daniels will face day two of cross-examination by Michael Avenatti, her former lawyer who now stands accused of stealing from her and is representing himself in his own fraud trial. Prosecutors say Avenatti cheated the entertainer and adult film actress and director out of nearly $300,000 of her $800,000 in publisher's advance for her 2018 autobiography "Full Disclosure."

Let's talk about this now with CNN anchor of "EARLY START" and counselor Laura Jarrett.

Laura, tell us about what is happening today. And, also, this is -- I mean this is, just to be clear, highly unusual that he is questioning her.

LAURA JARRET, CNN ANCHOR, "EARLY START": Highly unusual. Good morning, Brianna.

So, this pair became household names, of course, in their quest to take down a sitting president. And now, apparently are determined to take down each other.

Let me bring you up to speed on what has been happening in court, because it is a wild ride.

So, knowing the facts are not on his side, Michael Avenatti is now trying the age-old tactic of trying to discredit the key witness, Stormy Daniels, you can see there in the sketch of her on the stand. Essentially getting her to admit to the jury that she believes in, quote, paranormal activity, that she has been talking to a haunted doll named Susan. All things that she admits. But he is doing that to distract the jury from the fact that the facts here are so damning. As alleged by prosecutors, basically they say he forged her signature

on a letter to her literary agent to make it seem like she had signed over her rights to her book advance to his personal account. All the while she knew nothing about this. They have offered a series of text messages where she's basically saying, hey, what happened to my money? Where is it? And he's like, oh, yes, I'll get on it, all the while having the money in his own bank account and spending it on things like a down payment for a Ferrari. So now the big question, of course, is whether he's going to testify in his own defense. He's defending himself at trial, which is always risky. And if he does, you can imagine a pretty devastating cross-examination by prosecutors.

[06:40:01]

KEILAR: Hours today, is that right? Six hours? Is that what he's saying?

JARRETT: That's what he's claimed he will do. Whether he actually takes up that amount of time, we'll see.

KEILAR: Back to this haunted doll. I mean, look, even someone who talks to a haunted doll can have money stolen from them. But what do you think a jury thinks about that?

JARRETT: I think -- I think that's a risky move. You know, a lot of people, as quiet as it's kept, believe in paranormal activity. If there are people on that jury who, for instance, believe in tarot card reading or like to talk about their horoscopes, he may risk alienating them if he goes too far with this line of inquiry. But, on the other hand, what else does he have? As I said, the documents are bad for him. The text messages are devastating for him. So, this may be his only tact (ph).

KEILAR: Yes. I'd say he runs the risk of a certain legal term, which is called looking like a jerk is what it may be.

Laura Jarrett, thank you so much.

JARRETT: Sure. Thanks.

KEILAR: So, next a warning about the American experiment from a retiring Supreme Court justice.

Plus, the Beijing Winter Olympics now just one week away. We have new details on who's attending and who's not.

BERMAN: And the breaking news. Very important to watch this. A bomb cyclone heading for the East Coast. As much as three feet of snow in major cities. You need to watch this very closely.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:34]

KEILAR: Moving, and at times chilling words from Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in his retirement announcement on the state of democracy in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER, SUPREME COURT: I'll tell you what Lincoln thought, what Washington thought and what people today still think, it's an experiment. It's an experiment, that's what they said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: An experiment.

Joining us now to discuss this, Mara Schiavocampo, a journalist and the host of "Run Tell This" podcast, and Leigh McGowan, host of "The Politics Girl" podcast.

And, you know, what he was saying, Mara, was, he is optimistic about this experiment succeeding, but he also said there is no guarantee. And he said it was up to you, up to his grandchildren. It's up to Americans. It's up to younger people and that they shouldn't essentially take it for granted.

MARA SCHIAVOCAMPO, JOURNALIST: Yes, you know, and it's interesting because the two presidents that he specifically cites are Washington and Lincoln. And these were two war-time presidents. Washington after the Revolutionary War. But not during just any wars. These were wars for the soul of America's country. And he specifically quotes Lincoln during The Gettysburg Address, which was at the height of the Civil War.

So, the question is, why is he making these specific references? And he clearly feels that the American system of democracy is at stake right now. And it is at, in fact, in the greatest danger it's been in since the Civil War because you have groups on the right who are actively trying to make it harder for people to vote, easier to throw those votes out after the fact and are threatening our very system of representative democracy. So what he is saying to future generations is, listen, don't screw this up and don't take this for granted because democracy is not self-sustaining. You have to continuously fight to support and defend it.

BERMAN: He also said his wife paid their kids to memorize The Gettysburg Address. And my question is, are those kids still talking to them?

But, Leigh, look, if a Supreme Court justice is saying that he's not sure that this democratic experiment will survive for his grandchildren, that's pretty stark?

LEIGH MCGOWAN, HOST, "THE POLITICS GIRL" PODCAST: It is stark, but it's smart of him because he's on his way out and people are listening. And he's had over 20 years in the Supreme Court. He's seen it come and go. He's seeing what's happening right now with established laws being taken away from us, things that we have expected to be part of our society. Like Roe v. Wade looks like it's on the chopping block. We see, as Mara said, you know, our voting rights being gutted all over the country. Even the legitimacy of the Supreme Court itself is in question right now. So, he's not wrong.

I mean, I started "Politics Girl" in the first place because I really do believe, like he does, in the American experiment. But democracy is a participation sport. We all have to be involved. And part of that is waking up and smelling the coffee and knowing that we are actually in a very precarious time. And we're at a tipping point.

KEILAR: He's optimistic. But, Mara, what he's saying, or what -- what he's basically -- and I'm not trying to put words in the justice's mouth, but he's giving off the sense that the trajectory is going in the wrong direction compared to when he first came onto the court.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: Yes, and you have to keep in mind that the court has changed a lot over the last few decades. You know this -- this extremism judicial activism that we've seen in the last few decades is relatively recent. It wasn't always the case that you had to be on a certain political side to be nominated by a president representing that same ideological point of view. So, things have changed a great amount even since he's just been on the court. And so he is saying, let's look to the future and protect this.

And let's not forget that we're just one year out from a mass group of people trying to violently overthrow the government. I mean we are still so much in this crisis.

And in terms of the future of the court and who this -- the nominee is going to be who's going to replace him, you know, we're already hearing all of this criticism on the right about Biden explicitly saying that he intends to nominate a black woman. And, first of all, you know, it's a shame that we're at this point in our country's history and there never has been a black woman on the Supreme Court. But I think that it's really important to remember that any black woman who has gotten to the point of being nominated to the Supreme Court has already had to prove herself by working twice as hard and being three times as good. So I think whoever Biden puts forward is going to be a stellar nominee. All of the names that are being discussed right now are really impeccable. And I think the court is going to be in very good hands with whoever takes his place.

[06:50:01]

BERMAN: Leigh.

MCGOWAN: Yes, no, I agree with that. I think that anyone talking about this, any problems with the Supreme Court nominee that's coming up is -- is already -- is a problem in search of an answer. But whoever Justice Breyer is replaced by is going to be an extraordinary woman. And I don't think we have any problem but -- with who's going to come up.

President Biden ran on the idea that he was going to fill an empty seat with a woman of color. And we're really looking forward to see what extraordinary person he puts forward. I mean, I think, at the end of the day, Justice Breyer talking about Washington is really important. You know, when Washington left office, he didn't have to. People would have loved him to stay. And he said, no, my term is done, I've done my two terms and I'm moving on because the country has to continually involved. And that starts with it not being about the power of one man or the power of power of one leadership, but about the country itself and the people.

And we have an entire party right now that wants us to devolve, that wants to go back. And we need to be moving forward. And that's what Justice Breyer is talking about, about his grandchildren and his grandchildren's children. We have to save it for their generations. And if we don't -- if our generation right now doesn't take charge, it might not be around, this American experiment, for those future generations. We have to take that seriously.

BERMAN: Well, Mara and Leigh, you stick around. You guys stick around for a little bit because we have much more to discuss with you.

Marvel actor Evangeline Lilly defending her attendance at an anti- vaccine mandate rally. The same one where RFK Junior spewed deranged, dangerous things about vaccines and Nazis.

KEILAR: And a GOP pollster warning British citizens, America is a, quote, shitshow. He'll join us to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:55:55]

KEILAR: Marvel actor Evangeline Lilly revealing in a social media post that she attended a rally against vaccine mandates last weekend. This was a huge rally. And it was the same event where Robert F. Kennedy Junior compared those mandates to Nazism.

Lilly writes that she attended the rally to support bodily sovereignty and that she believes nobody should ever be forced to inject their body with anything against their will. She goes on to say, I understand the world is in fear, but I don't believe that answering fear with force will fix our problems. She says, I was pro-choice before Covid and I am still pro-choice today.

Back now with Mara Schiavocampo and Leigh McGowan.

Leigh, what do you think about this, about the fallout of her admitting that she went to this -- to this rally?

MCGOWAN: Well, look, it's America. You're free to do whatever you want. You can go to rallies. I fully believe in bodily autonomy. I believe that we all have the rights to our own body and Evangeline can believe that as well. I think that goes for everything from the right to choose to not getting a vaccine.

But we need to be really clear, no one is forcing anyone to get a vaccine. There just might be consequences if you choose not to get one.

And, in this case, it might be a job consequence, you know? We have to wear a welder's mask if we're welding. We have to wear a hazmat suit if we work with chemicals. We have to wear gloves when we cut food in food service. There are rules for our jobs. And if the rules right now, in the middle of a pandemic, say you have to be vaccinated to work with your co-workers and keep everyone safe, then she can choose to not follow those rules. But then Disney Marvel can choose to replace her.

KEILAR: Mara, how problematic or uncomfortable is this for Disney to have one of the stars of one of their biggest franchises at this rally where deranged things were said?

SCHIAVOCAMPO: Yes, you know, John, from a PR perspective, I cannot, for the life of me, understand why any actress or anyone in the public sphere for that matter, would willingly wade into this mess. And by this mess I'm referring to the comments that Robert Kennedy Junior made that now have come to represent this entire rally where he compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.

So, you have to ask yourself, why a full week almost after this event that she'd willingly wade into this mess and say, oh, yes, I was there too, and tie herself to this disaster. But I also think that, from a PR perspective, you know, clearly there are some things that actors do that cross a line that audiences just cannot support. So, Mel Gibson is one big example who comes to mind.

But when it comes to how Marvel audiences and audiences at large are going to respond to this, I think it will ultimately be a blip on the radar. I don't think Disney is going to have to do anything about it because I think people will move on from it very quickly. And I don't think that this rises to the level of offense that audiences are really going to demand some kind of accountability. And, frankly, a lot of people will say what we said, which is, it's her right to go to a rally, it's her right to believe these things and it's her right to be wrong.

KEILAR: Yes, by the way, I should mention, she is vaccinated herself. Just something important to note.

Mara and Leigh, wonderful to have this discussion. Thanks for being with us this morning.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: Thank you.

MCGOWAN: Thank you for having us.

KEILAR: And NEW DAY continues right now.

Good morning to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. It is Friday, January 28th. That month flew by. I am Brianna Keilar with John Berman.

And developing this morning, the East Coast of the U.S. is bracing for a winter weather bomb. A bomb cyclone, as it's called. More than 75 million people in the eastern U.S. are under winter weather alerts. This is all the way from Kentucky to North Carolina to Maine. Four million people are under blizzard warnings.

BERMAN: We're talking about the potential for huge snowfall. Multiple feet of snow. Two feet or higher in plates, including Boston. Winds of 60 miles per hour.

And the cities that might get off easier, like New York City, could see a foot of snow, which is a huge problem in the city. So, this is a big deal.

What makes it even more problematic is the forecast is a little difficult to predict right now.

At this point, more than 1,600 flights have been canceled for tomorrow.

[07:00:02]

We're watching that as well.

Want to get right to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

And, Chad, when you say three feet of snow possible in Boston.