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Becerra Hits Back on Comments; Trump Makes Millions off Book; Shiffrin Crashes out of Giant Slalom; Dillan Helbig is Interviewed About His Book. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired February 07, 2022 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:31:03]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, a CNN exclusive report that the nation's top health adviser, Xavier Becerra, is fighting back after a recent string of stories painting the health and human services secretary as irrelevant. Now he and the Biden administration are working to boost his visibility.

CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere is joining me now.

Look, any secretary -- this isn't the story, this isn't the narrative that you want to be fighting against here, Isaac. How did Becerra end up in this situation and what does the president think of what's going on here?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, you go back to the beginning of the Biden administration and the president was very intent that coming off of the way things were with the Trump administration he wanted the doctors and the scientists front and center and putting that scientific medical advice out.

That also was accentuated by the fact that Becerra's confirmation was held up for about two months by Senate Republicans complaining that he wasn't a doctor in a pandemic. It should be noted only about three previous health secretaries had any medical experience at all. So that put Becerra behind the ball in being involved.

And he's also then taken a sort of hands-off approach to setting the direction of the pandemic response. He's been doing a lot of the operational work that's been going on in the health department, but not the one making the decisions where most of that has been within the White House, actually, through the Covid task force that's there.

KEILAR: So, at one point he spoke to you about how the Biden administration has been struggling with breaking through to some Americans about Covid guidance. What did he tell you?

DOVERE: Well, look, yes, we spoke by Zoom last week. He's working remotely still for the most part, like many people are. And he said to me, look, he knows that the guidance has been confusing. He said to me that that's one of the things that he knows the administration needs to work on. That if people can't understand it, they can't follow it. And that could potentially cost lives, of course.

And so he says part of what he wants to do is step forward, be that guy who, yes, he's not a doctor, he's not a scientist, but he is a successful politician -- he was a long-time California congressman, attorney general -- and to help say, this is how we can break through. And you've seen an appreciation for that within the White House it seems.

On Friday, I'm told President Biden called him to say, listen, I know what you've been going through. I've got your back. I have confidence in you. And you see a bulking up already of what Becerra is doing. He's headed on Wednesday with the first lady to Minnesota to talk about Covid. A more frontal role than he's had to this point

KEILAR: That will be really interesting to see what his message is there on that trip.

Thank you so much, Isaac. Appreciate it.

DOVERE: Thank you.

KEILAR: So, coming up, a fiery coffee table book is making Donald Trump millions and millions of dollars.

Plus, the RNC voted to censure Congressman Kinzinger and Congresswoman Liz Cheney. Now some Republicans are pushing back. Ahead, hear what Kinzinger has to say about the move when he joins us live.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And you get a queen, and you get a queen, and you get a queen. Sorry, getting the United Kingdom confused with Oprah, real royalty. Some major title changes to the British monarchy.

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[06:38:23]

BERMAN: So, new this morning, Donald Trump making millions of dollars off of a coffee table book. It's called "Our Journey Together." It contains photos from his four years in the White House. And the caption, full of nasty shots at people he doesn't like.

CNN's Kate Bennett live in Washington this morning.

Sounds like a feel-good book, Kate.

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, most presidents take a long time to write their first memoir. Sometimes a few years. But Donald Trump did it his way, of course, a coffee table book, like you said. And this one is a very lucrative side hustle playing right to his base.

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BENNETT (voice over): Donald Trump cashing in as only he can, with a coffee table book released in late November featuring pictures from his presidency, earning him millions sources tell CNN. The book titled "Our Journey Together" features captions that only

Trump could write, and did, a source familiar with the publishing of the book tells CNN. Along with grandiose crowd shots, important events, Trump taking shots at his enemies with his version of their interactions.

Of the late Senator John McCain Trump writes, quote, asking for a job for his wife. I am smiling but didn't like him even a little bit.

On Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg would come to the White House and kiss my ass.

And thoughts about his own head of the military. General Mark Milley looks like he's praying and Yesper (ph), who said yes to everything, that's Trump's nickname for Mark Esper, former secretary of defense, doesn't know if he's alive.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): You're impeached forever.

[06:40:01]

BENNETT: And, of course, Trump's nemesis, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is not spared. She was screaming and shaking like a leaf. She's f-ing crazy. Hence the name, crazy Nancy.

John Reznikoff, founder of University Archives, has been dealing in buying and selling famous or historic items, including presidential memoirs, for more than four decades.

JOHN REZNIKOFF, FOUNDER, UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES: I've never seen a presidential book where not only does he portray his successes, which is OK and everybody's done it before him, but he also takes shots at people in a very interesting and almost comedic way. In my entire career, I've only seen a couple examples of where a president uses that bad of a swear word in a letter or on a book. And it's very scarce. You just don't see it.

BENNETT: But Trump's fans are eating it up. Signed copies of the book go for about $230 each. Unsigned, about $75.

A source tells CNN the first 200,000 copies sold out within eight weeks, grossing $20 million in less than two months.

The publisher, Winning Team Publishing, set up by long-time Republican operative Sergio Gor and Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Junior. The book, near impossible to find right now at stores. But a second print run of 300,000 more, many signed by Trump, is in the works and set to begin delivery later this month.

President Trump was paid a multimillion-dollar advance for the book. Another person telling CNN, he hand-selected the 300 or so images from hundreds of thousands of official photographs taken of him during his presidency. It's a presidential memoir fitting of the take no prisoners president and unlike any before.

REZNIKOFF: Well, I think Donald Trump's imprint is solidly on this book.

BENNETT: President Obama's memoir of his presidency came out almost three years after his term ended at almost 800 pages. George W. Bush's "Decision Points," almost 500 pages. But for Trump, captions are all he wanted to write. And the decision to keep his brand at the forefront is very, well, on brand.

Without an intellectual obligation or an in-depth historic take, a fiery coffee table book making him millions and millions of dollars, well, sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.

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BENNETT (on camera): Now, I'll say this, John, the pictures inside are public domain because they were taken mostly by chief White House photographers or White House photographers. So you could have made this book or I could have made this book. But we probably wouldn't have done the captions that same way.

BERMAN: And I'm still mulling over your phrase, without intellectual obligation. Well --

BENNETT: You can put your name on a stake (ph). You can put your name on a coffee table book.

BERMAN: Well-written. Mulling that over.

All right, Kate Bennett, thanks so much for that report. I appreciate it.

BENNETT: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, fresh off of firing a black coach after two winning seasons and now facing a discrimination lawsuit, the Miami Dolphins make a new hire.

KEILAR: Plus, a man is accused of breaking into Michael Bloomberg's ranch and kidnapping one of his employees. The harrowing details of how all of this happened, ahead.

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[06:47:31]

KEILAR: American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin's first chance for a gold medal ending almost as soon as it begins.

Coy Wire in China with this morning's "Bleacher Report."

Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Brianna.

One of the greatest alpine skiers of all time, and one of the faces for Team USA, Mikaela Shiffrin, she was hoping to medal in all five alpine events here in Beijing but her debut of the defending giant slalom Olympic champ missed a gate just second into her run. She didn't even finish the race. She said she won't ever get over this. But she also said that that's the type of thing that drives her to keep working.

The next opportunity to medal for Mikaela, slalom in a couple of days. An event in which she won gold at the 2014 Sochi games.

Let's go to figure skating, where the legend of a 15-year-old sensation just continues to grow. Here in Beijing, Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee, has become the first woman ever to land a quad in Olympic games. She won the free skate by more than 30 points. And that propelled the ROC to gold in the figure skating team event. Team USA takes silver. Valieva had already set world records. Now, Olympic records too.

All right, let's go to the NFL, where the Dolphins have announced that Mike McDaniel will be the team's new head coach. McDaniel goes to Miami from the San Francisco 49ers were he was the offensive coordinator. The 49ers were one win away from making it to the Super Bowl, having lost to the Rams in the NFC championship. The 38-year-old Yale grad identifies himself as multiracial, making him the league's first minority head coach hire this cycle. McDaniel replaces former head coach Brian Flores, who is currently suing the Dolphins organization and two other teams along with the NFL alleging racial discrimination.

And countdown to Super Bowl IVI in LA is on. A week's worth of festivities starting tonight with opening night. But the teams aren't even going to be there. It's being held at Sofi Stadium. Players and coaches are going to answer all sorts of questions from media members from around the world virtually due to the pandemic.

Cincinnati Bengals fans, they're looking to get one more chance to cheer with their Bengals tonight. They have a pep rally before they fly to Los Angeles tomorrow.

So, Brianna, one of the coolest aspects of Super Bowl week is not going to happen. Kind of, but not really.

KEILAR: Kind of.

Well, one of the coolest aspect is probably John Berman making his nachos. And I think that is probably going to happen. So, you know, that's the -- that's the upside here. He has a very special talent (ph).

BERMAN: If I can find -- if I can find the four and a half minutes it takes to prepare something that complicated, I will do it.

[06:50:01]

KEILAR: Yes. But you are very specific about it. And I think it's something that we would all enjoy.

Coy, thank you so much. So much to talk about in sports right now. We appreciate it. WIRE: You got it.

KEILAR: Coming up, an eight-year-old boy walked into a library. He hid his book, a book that he had written, on the shelf. And now the book is a hit. And there's this long line of people who are on a huge wait list trying to get a hand on this book.

KEILAR: Singer Billie Eilish brought her concert to a full stop to help out a fan. So, what happened next?

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KEILAR: Eight-year-old Dillon Helbig wrote a book and he wanted to share it with other people. Little did he know how far his story would go.

[06:55:01]

The second grader from Boise, Idaho, took his 81-page Christmas adventure to the library. And without telling anyone, he slipped it into the stacks. Well, the librarian found it, and, playing along, entered it into their catalog system. And word grew about the adventures of Dillon Helbig's Christmas by the author Dillon, as he put it, his self. Dillon his self, the author.

Now, if you want to read it, the library says there is a years-long wait.

So, joining us now is the author, Dillon Helbig, and his parents, Susan and Alex.

Thank you guys for being with us.

Dillon, this is one story. I mean, everyone wants to read this. What is your book about?

DILLON HELBIG, EIGHT-YEAR-OLD AUTHOR: It's about a Christmas story.

SUSAN HELBIG, DILLON HELBIG'S MOTHER: Look at the camera, honey.

KEILAR: It's about a Christmas story.

OK, I understand, Dillon, that it's about a boy with your name who is decorating and -- decorating the tree. The star on top explodes. A bomb somehow has been put on it overnight. And then you get sucked into a portal and you go back in time to the very first Thanksgiving. How did you come up with that idea?

D. HELBIG: Um.

S. HELBIG: His amazing imagination.

D. HELBIG: Yes.

ALEX HELBIG, DILLON HELBIG'S FATHER: He's got a big imagination too.

KEILAR: It's unbelievable.

A. HELBIG: With him putting it in the library, we -- we weren't surprised that he did something like that. Like, his -- his determination has always been when he wants to get a project done or he wants to do -- make something happen, he makes something happen. And --

KEILAR: Yes.

A. HELBIG: Yes.

S. HELBIG: Like he did.

A, HELBIG: He did.

KEILAR: Dillon -- Dillon, had you been -- you'd been wanting to do this for a while, is that right? Is this a plan that you kind of hatched for a while?

D. HELBIG: Yes.

KEILAR: Tell me about it. How long ago did you first decide, hey, I want to put a book in the library?

D. HELBIG: Since I was five.

KEILAR: Three years ago?

S. HELBIG: Big career for a little kid.

KEILAR: What -- what gave you -- Dillon, what gave you that idea?

A. HELBIG: He's been -- he's been going to the library for a long time.

D. HELBIG: Yes.

KEILAR: Yes.

A. HELBIG: And we -- we've -- he's been going to the library since he was a baby. So he just loves the library. He I knows that that's where people read books.

KEILAR: So, Susan -- and he wanted his book to be part of it.

So, Susan, the book gets put on the shelf. And then tell us what happens with the librarian.

S. HELBIG: So, after Dillon told me that he left his book at the library, I had called to see if we could retrieve it, thinking, you know, again, it -- maybe it was in the lost and found. And when I called and spoke with Alex, the manager down there at Lake Hazel Library, he said that they actually -- they did find the book. They loved the content of it. They loved the book itself. It was entertaining. They were all laughing about it. And it met all their criteria to actually process and have as a book for entertainment, a book for readers.

A. HELBIG: (INAUDIBLE).

KEILAR: There is only one problem with your book, and that is that it is so popular nobody can get it to read it. So, would you be open -- would you be open to publishing this -- you know, if anyone's listening, would you be open to publishing this so that the world could read your book?

D. HELBIG: Um, yes.

KEILAR: Heard it here.

A. HELBIG: Yes, (INAUDIBLE).

S. HELBIG: (INAUDIBLE).

KEILAR: Look, we can maybe -- maybe we're -- this could be the beginning of the book deal.

Dillon, thank you so much for being with us and sharing this with us.

Susan and Alex, we appreciate it.

S. HELBIG: Thank you. Thank you so much.

A. HELBIG: Thank you.

KEILAR: Good morning to viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. It is Monday, February 7th.

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, who vanished after accusing a retired Communist Party leader of sexual assault, is breaking her silence at the Beijing Olympics. In a controlled interview with a French sports newspaper, the first time that she's spoken to an independent media outlet, Peng claims to have never said anyone sexually assaulted her in any way. She calls the allegation a huge misunderstanding. And she says that she deleted a social media post accusing the state official of coercing her into sex, quote, because I wanted to.

BERMAN: So, in this new chaperoned interview, the 36-year-old also reveals that she is retiring from professional tennis.

Joining us now "Washington Post" columnist and CNN political analyst Josh Rogin as well as ESPN tennis analyst and Wimbledon and U.S. Open Champ Rennae Stubbs.

Thank you both for being with us.

I want to read what Peng Shuai wrote initially on social media before she had a chaperone looking over her shoulder so people understand how this all began. She wrote, that afternoon I did not agree at first and was crying all the time.

Why did you have to come back to me, took me to your home and forced me to have sex with you. I couldn't describe how disgusted I was and how many times I asked myself

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