Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Experiments Test How Electrical Currents Stimulating Parts of Human Brain Affect Memory; Democratic Candidate Wins in Battleground District in New York; Democrat Representative Jerry Nadler Defeats Democratic Representative Carolyn Maloney in Redistricting Election; Today: Biden Announcement on Student Loan Debt Forgiveness; Ex- Louisville Officer Pleads Guilty in Breonna Taylor Case. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 24, 2022 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They basically took these alternating electrical currents and stimulated two different areas of the brain. They stimulated something further forward over here and then something further back in the parietal lobe, which is in the light purple over there. They did this with different types of electricity, and I don't know if you can see the images here. They basically put a skullcap on somebody. It's again, non-invasive. People may feel a little bit of heat, a little bit of pressure in the brain, but really low side effects, and they basically then gave that alternating current to these areas of the brain.

And they did this for about 20 minutes, they did this a few times, and they're basically then giving people lists of words and asking how well they remembered them. And that was the goal of the study. This was, again, pretty early stuff. But the idea, first of all, that memory is stored in specific different areas of the brain, long-term memory, closer to the front, shorter term memory, closer to the back, and that you could stimulate it in some way was really the goal of the study.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Did it work? What did they find?

GUPTA: Well, so again, I just want to say again, it's early, these are small studies. I think in some ways this was proof of concept. But take a look at some of the findings here. So gamma waves, these are going to be the shorter, high energy waves that were stimulating the front part of the brain, they found that that actually did improve overall longer term sort of memory. Again, they were giving people lists of words, people were able to remember the earliest words better when they stimulated the longer term memory stores.

The fadeaways, you saw that in purple, those are the shorter term memory improvements. And again, significant memory improvements in this small group of people. They tested 20 people in the gamma group, 20 people in the theta group, and they also did a sham group as well, basically put the skullcap on but did not deliver electricity, and they found that that did not have an improvement. So it was clearly this electrical current that was making a difference. Not invasive, potentially beneficial for people who have the worst memory in the first place. Who knows? We'll see. This has to be vetted up in larger trials.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It does have to be vetted out, but it would be life changing for a lot of people if it comes to fruition. Sanjay, good to see you this morning. And thanks for that update.

GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.

COLLINS: And NEW DAY continues right now.

BERMAN: So the votes are in, most of them. And the faint whiff this morning of Democratic optimism. I'm John Berman. Brianna is off. Chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins with me this morning. And there were some big names on the ballot in several states overnight, but it's a special election in New York that could, could point to some national trends.

CNN projects that Democrat Pat Ryan will win the battleground 19th district. This is a district that Joe Biden narrowly carried in 2020 but that Republicans had real hopes of flipping overnight. Democrats worked from the beginning to make abortion rights the central issue in this race. Much more on that in just a moment. Also in New York, powerful committee chair Jerry Nadler easily defeated powerful committee chair Carolyn Maloney in a bitter race between incumbents which illustrated redistricting struggles for Democrats.

COLLINS: In Florida, also, Democratic Congressman Val Demings, who is a former police chief in Orlando, is going to challenge Senator Marco Rubio for his Senate seat, and Governor Ron DeSantis is going to be facing former Republican governor, now turned Democratic congressman, Charlie Crist. Earlier on NEW DAY, I asked Crist about what his plan is to beat the powerful Republican incumbent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHARLIE CRIST, (D-FL) FLORIDA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: To tell the truth, to tell how he's tried to tear apart my state, attacking LGBTQ children, attacking women and their right to choose, disrespecting women, attacking African American voters, making it more difficult for them to vote, it is like he wakes up every morning about the new group he wants to attack. We don't need to tear my state apart. We need to bring my Florida together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's run through the key results. I am joined by CNN political director David Chalian. David, let's start with this special election in New York.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: So, John, there are two things I want to say here. One, we should be careful about overreading too much into a single district, special election. However, we shouldn't miss noting a moment that shows a shifting political dynamic in the country right now with less than 11 weeks to go before the midterms.

Pat Ryan, as you noted, the Democrat, wins this district. This is a district that went for Barack Obama, then Donald Trump, then Joe Biden, a real battleground district, both sides poured money in. So everyone was watching because Republicans just a few months ago were saying, hey, if you're in a district that Biden won by 10 points, you're in trouble as a Democrat. Not so. And by the way, this is a bigger margin than Joe Biden won in 2020.

[08:05:02]

Take a look in that New York congressional race in Manhattan. You said these two big time liberal lions of Democratic politics here in New York City, Jerry Nadler just walloped Carolyn Maloney at the end of the day here in this member on member primary. He had the help of "The New York Times" endorsement. It probably still matters here more than anywhere else in the country, and Chuck Schumer. So Jerry Nadler ends Carolyn Maloney's career.

And as you noted, in Florida, Charlie Crist, big winner in the Democratic primary, now goes on for the much tougher challenge which is taking on Governor Ron DeSantis in his reelection bid.

BERMAN: David Chalian, a lot to talk about. Walk with me, if you will, walk with me. Joining us now --

COLLINS: We're waiting.

BERMAN: Much more about this, waiting for a very big discussion. Kasie Hunt, CNN anchor and chief national affairs analyst. David gave us a warning, set this up, to say you don't want to read too much into a special election. On the other hand, you don't want to miss the sign of a trend.

KASIE HUNT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: You don't. And of course, I would never contradict the great David Chalian, who I looked up to for so many years. But look, the reality here is this gives Democrats a reason to be encouraged at a time where they otherwise have been pretty discouraged. And I think it reflects a lot of the changes that we have been seeing, whether it's the Dobbs decision increasing Democratic enthusiasm or a reflection of some of the legislative wins the president has had.

BERMAN: Do we have the graphic in the control room, guys, that we can show. If people want to see how Democrats were faring in special elections before Dobbs and after -- put it up. If we have it, let's take a look at it, so people can see. Here it is. Pre-Dobbs, which is the overturning of Roe versus Wade, on average, Democrats were running six points worse than -- in special elections. These are elections that actually have results, people take seats. And in the four special elections since Dobbs, they're running five points better.

COLLINS: Which makes the question, is this a trial run for what we are going to see in November?

CHALIAN: Yes, the answer to that is yes, and I think you're going to see any Democrat that hasn't already put abortion rights front and center in their campaign, they're going to add advertising dollars to that very message going forward here.

There is little doubt, both in the electoral results you just pointed to in these special elections, in the polling that's out there, and in the way these candidates are spending money and messaging on this, that this is a motivating force. In addition to the special election, remember, there was that ballot measure in Kansas on abortion rights itself, that showed a big outpouring of Democratic turnout there. This is an issue that is igniting Democrats at precisely a moment they needed to be ignited.

There are these still larger factors in American politics, right? Joe Biden's approval rating is down in the low 40s. There are real cost of living issues for Americans. But there is something shifting in the sand in politics that Republicans are going to start to wonder might their potential wave have crashed a little early.

HUNT: The thing about the abortion issue, too, I think some of the reporting that came out of the Supreme Court on how this decision unfolded and the fact that John Roberts apparently wanted to take kind of a slightly more middle ground, I think that actually all reflects where the country is on abortion. Because a big part of this is how extreme the decision felt to many voters, and how it's being implemented in extreme ways in some of the red states.

The fact is Americans, even many of whom oppose abortion at all, at some point, in pregnancy, they want exceptions for rape, for the life of the mother, for incest. and there are some of these states that are saying you can't do that, and the horror stories are simply piling up. It's affecting miscarriage care and women who actually really want to have children.

That is just -- that's a different reality from a Republican Party that was encouraging some sort of compassionate limit on abortion at say 20 plus weeks, right. That's just not where the Republican Party is. And I think it's clear that that's potentially a major strategic mistake for them.

COLLINS: And Pat Ryan, in this not well known name, in this 19th district in New York, outperformed Biden actually. Were you surprised by that?

CHALIAN: This is exactly what we were just showing there. We are seeing this overperformance of Democrats in these special elections since the Dobbs decision, New York 19 included. And by the way, Democrats aren't winning every one of these. Last night there was a race up in the 23rd congressional district in New York. It's a Republican district, the Republican won, but we still saw the Democrat perform better than Joe Biden. You're seeing this overperformance.

And this is precisely what we saw in 2017 and 18 before the big Democratic wave. These special elections, so many of which were taking place in deep Trump districts, but even if the Democrats aren't winning, they were making gains, and that spelled real success for them at the ballot box. BERMAN: Maybe it is Dobbs. Maybe it's gas prices, which have dropped

for 71 straight days. And let's just -- people see those signs, all the time, when they drive. Maybe it's the things that have passed in Congress and Joe Biden has signed, his approval rating is ticking up.

[08:10:00]

Charlie Crist, Kaitlan had an interview with Charlie Crist, the Congressman who is now the Democratic nominee for governor, and the last question was, do you want Joe Biden to come campaign for you? And the answer was --

COLLINS: Emphatic, emphatic yes.

HUNT: Yes, look, I think so many races, especially midterms, are about getting your base excited, right. So it is not going to do a lot of good, I don't think, for some of these candidates to openly snub Joe Biden. And I also think they really need -- his answer to you, I thought, was interesting, because he's talking about African American voters, for example. There are some factors in Florida, if Val Demings is running against Marco Rubio gets black turnout through the roof, that potentially is an X factor for Charlie Crist.

CHALIAN: I would also just note on the Biden factor, I'm always amazed, I totally agree with what Kasie said, because I'm always amazed when Democrats really struggle with this, because Democrats are coming home to Joe Biden right now after these legislative wins. It's not, I don't think, a big decision, do I embrace him or not, I don't think it is that big, because in the most recent polling that I saw, I think it was from pew this week, not only is Joe Biden's approval rating down, certainly it is, but fewer and fewer people are saying he is a factor in their midterm decision. There seems to be a separation right now in the public's mind of what's happening politically in front of them and Joe Biden. That has not been the case before, and maybe in November it won't be the case again. Maybe history will prove right here yet again. But right now there seems to be a separation.

BERMAN: Go ahead, sorry.

COLLINS: Well, I was just going to ask on the stream of Democrats who are running, it seems like the more mainstream candidates are the one that are performing well in the races from yesterday. That was the argument you heard from Sean Patrick Maloney and others who were successful ultimately.

CHALIAN: Yes. So in Sean Patrick Maloney's district, he's the chairman of the Democratic Campaign Committee as well, he had a progressive challenger that he defeated quite easily. I know other organizations have projected a winner in the 10th congressional district. We have not. It's only a 1,300 vote margin right now where Dan Goldman is out in front. The more moderate lane --

COLLINS: The prosecutor who helped impeach Trump.

CHALIAN: Exactly, and has helped chosen a more moderate path in this race against a progressive challenger, establishment, for sure, exactly. Obviously it is New York, so.

(LAUGHTER)

CHALIAN: So there is an argument to be made that that may be something we're seeing, that the progressives have not had as much success in these primaries.

HUNT: Look, I think my takeaway from it is that Democratic voters, voters in the Democratic Party seem to be taking a pragmatic tact. You saw that in the presidential primary. That's why Joe Biden is president and not somebody else. And I think it's clear regardless of whether we think abortion is going to be this major factor or whatever, people feel the stakes are extremely high, right? And I think it seems like that is playing out in these races. Democrats are looking -- they're hearing about Donald Trump, the idea he might be back on stage, become the nominee again, then become president again, that I think is also part of what is animating some of these people to say, look, we can't -- we can't do that. I think it is a pretty interesting phenomenon, because I think you saw Democrats react that way in 2020 when they felt they wanted to get Trump out of the White House, and maybe something similar is happening now.

BERMAN: As we approach Labor Day, it's a different election environment than we had on Memorial Day. I think that's for sure. It shows how fast --

HUNT: Lifetime in politics.

BERMAN: Eleven weeks from now, things could be wildly different. Kasie, David, thank you both so much for being here.

COLLINS: All right, at the White House, another political factor, a decision on student loan forgiveness that is set to come down today and has reignited the debate on whether or not it is inflationary. We'll tell you what at least one top economist is saying.

BERMAN: President Biden orders air strikes against Iranian-backed groups in Syria. The State Department spokesman joins us with the latest.

Plus, NASA releasing an audio of what black holes sound like, sort of.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:27]

COLLINS: Today, the White House is expected to announce its plan to forgive up to $10,000 of student loan debt for borrowers who make less than $125,000 a year. Democratic senators like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, even Raphael Warnock, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have all urged President Biden to forgive more, while some centrists are arguing it might make inflation worse, what he's already doing so far.

So joining us now to discuss this is business journalist Marc Stewart.

Thanks for being with us.

And, basically, let's start with what he is going to announce today.

MARC STEWART, BUSINESS JOURNALIST: So, this is not going to be a situation where the president is going to say, send me your bills, we're going to shred them all up.

COLLINS: Unfortunately for me.

STEWART: Unfortunately. For a lot of students, unfortunately, that is not the case.

There is going to be a threshold. As you reported, as CNN has been reporting. It will basically -- in order to qualify, the borrower has to make less than $125,000, then $10,000 would be excused. There is obviously some discussion about larger sums to be included. That has not happened at this point.

I think it is also significant to point out that student debt has been an issue long before the pandemic. This pause in payments was seen as some relief, but you look at census data, it is one of the largest contributors to household debt and can haunt many students throughout their lives.

I think for an undergrad right now, based off some data, I was looking at Nerd Wallet, the average debt is about $28,000. Pretty close to $30,000.

BERMAN: Look, it hangs over you for years and years, and it keeps you from entering into the economy in a serious way, buying a house and other things, which is why there are some Democrats saying, ten grand isn't enough.

The flip side of that, well, there are some people who say it is wrong, period. And then there are people like Larry Summers who are saying, it is inflationary. Let me read you what the former treasury secretary is saying.

Student loan debt relief is spending that raises demand and increase inflation. It consumes resources that could be better help those who did not, for whatever reason, have a chance to attend college. It will also tend be inflationary by raising tuitions.

STEWART: This is something I heard from an economist about just last night. I posed this question to an economist. He said the inflationary question, it could be debatable. Perhaps some students feel like if I don't have to pay this obligation, I have money to spend elsewhere. That could contribute to inflation.

The bottom line is this, if these loan forgiveness acts go through, it is not like this money or this debt will just disappear. Eventually the federal government is going to inherit it and have to deal with it.

[08:20:03] As far as the dollar amount, it could be hundreds of billions of dollars. I think collectively if you were to excuse all federal loans, it would be $1.6 trillion. But eventually that's going to be -- that's something that's going to have to be dealt with.

One nonpartisan think tank that looks at these economic issues said that this could be very bad, it could be very detrimental, especially at a time when there has been so much talk, especially by this administration, to try to create some balance on the ledger sheets, especially with the federal deficit. Some work has been achieved.

COLLINS: So what does that look like, if they do follow through with this? It seems like a situation where the White House is really wrestled with this, of what exactly to do. They have tried to be targeted about it. But it seems like it is angering progressives who want it to be higher, but then it is also got the flip side as John was pointing out of people very concerned about inflation and this making things worse while not ultimately solving the problem, which is that it is way too expensive to go to college.

STEWART: And these debt issues are not equally impacting folks. Black students, for example, have a much greater racial disparity in their payments. When you look at the adult population, Black adults carry on this debt burden longer than their white adult counterparts, according to data from the census.

So that is why the NAACP, for example, is saying that perhaps this threshold should be raised to $50,000 and it would create some more economic parity and a broader scale.

COLLINS: Yeah, they're unhappy with this. They said the plan cannot become the latest example of the policy that left black people, especially black women behind.

Thank you for joining us. It is a complicated issue. And it is an issue that affects a lot of people and could affect generations to come.

STEWART: Yeah, we'll see how it plays up in a few hours.

COLLINS: Yeah, we will. Thank you.

BERMAN: So a stunning admission by a former Louisville police detective pleading guilty to federal charges in connection with the deadly raid at the home of Breonna Taylor.

CNN's Jean Casarez here with the details -- Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

You know, that former detective Kelly Goodlett, she pleaded guilty to falsifying an affidavit that allowed law enforcement to enter Breonna Taylor's apartment that night in March 2020.

According to the plea agreement, Goodlett admitted helping another detective and their supervisor obtain a warrant, but she knew that there was no probable cause to search that apartment. According to the Department of Justice, another Louisville police department detective claimed a U.S. postal inspector had verified that a target of their narcotics investigation had been receiving packages of Breonna Taylor's home and even used it as a current home address. Goodlett admitted to authorities she knew this claim was false, but she didn't speak up and she knew the affidavit was requesting a no knock warrant executed at night.

Now, according to the Department of Justice, Goodlett admitted that this claim was misleading, because officers knew that JG did not live at Taylor's home. In fact, Goodlett acknowledged she and the other detective knew of no evidence that JG had even visited Taylor's home for several weeks before the warrant was obtained. The Department of Justice says that decision resulted in the 26-year-old being shot and killed inside her Louisville home.

Goodlett admitted she and another detective conspired to obstruct justice by providing investigators false information after Taylor's death. Goodlett is expected to testify against her former colleagues. Court records show she is scheduled to be sentenced on November 22nd, could face five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, you might remember earlier this month, three other current and former Louisville police officers involved in the deadly raid were charged with civil rights violations -- John.

BERMAN: Important legal development, but I also know this is going to hit a lot of families very hard down there.

Jean Casarez, thank you so much for being with us.

A jury convicting two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

COLLINS: And we'll also be joined by State Department spokesman Ned Price as Ukraine is bracing for a possible Independence Day attack from Russia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:28:25]

BERMAN: New overnight, U.S. airstrikes in Syria against what the U.S. calls Iranian-backed groups. President Biden ordered the strikes in an eastern province, you can see it in this video obtained by CNN. The strikes come a week after rocket attacks near a military base in Syria housing U.S. troops.

With us now, State Department spokesman Ned Price.

Thanks so much for being with us.

Why were these strikes deemed necessary?

NED PRICE, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Well, John, we've always said, we will take action whenever, wherever necessary, to defend our interests, to defend our personnel.

Our personnel have come under repeated attack by Iran-backed elements in the region, with the president ordered overnight was proportional, decisive operation to respond, using his Article 2 authorities as commander in chief to take action when it's in the national interest and as a matter of our self-defense.

BERMAN: Any assessment of the success of the operation?

PRICE: I will leave it to our colleagues at the Department of Defense to speak to that. Of course, we're watching very closely and we stand ready to take action once again if it is necessary to advance our self-defense and protect it.

BERMAN: How do you explain to the American people that you're conducting air strikes on groups that you call Iranian-backed militias in Syria -- Iranian-backed -- at the same time as you were sitting down at a negotiating table with Iran trying to reignite the Iran nuclear deal?

PRICE: Well, it's really quite simple, John. There would be no greater challenge that the United States and our partners around the world could face than an Iran with a nuclear weapon. The JCPOA, the Iran deal, it's about one thing and one thing only.