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At Least 11 People Shot Overnight In Chicago; Trump Falsely Claims His Impeachment Violates The Constitution; Ukraine's Aid Frozen After Trump's Call With Zelensky; House Leaves For Holidays Without Sending Articles To Senate; New Activity At North Korea Linked To Production Of ICBM Launchers; Pompeo Rebukes China And Russia For Vetoing U.N. Aid To Syria; Dangerous Counterfeit Products On Amazon; Two Maryland-Bound Freight Cars Plunge Into Potomac River; Eddie Murphy Returns To SNL As Mister Robinson, Gumby And Buckwheat; Prince Harry And Meghan Spending Holiday Outside U.K.; NFL Quarterback's Brother Killed In Nashville. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired December 22, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:14]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If there was any doubt that President Trump had impeachment on the mind, there is no longer.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Generations of patriots before us did not work, fight, and sacrifice so that we could surrender our country to a raging left wing mob.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New satellite images suggest North Korea could be expanding its intercontinental ballistic program.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North Korea promising this ominous Christmas gift to the United States.

EDDIE MURPHY, ACTOR: If you told me 30 years ago that I would be this boring stay-at-home house dad, and Bill Cosby would be in jail, even I would have took that bet. I would say who is America's dad now?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning to you. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Sunday everyone. I'm Amara Walker in for Christi Paul.

We begin this morning with breaking news of a mass shooting in Chicago.

BLACKWELL: Here is what we know from police. At least 11 people have been shot. Now officers say this might have happened during a house party.

Let's bring in now Michael Kowal. He is a photojournalist, T.V. photojournalist. He's on the line now. Michael, you were covering another shooting in that area when you got the call about this one. What did you see?

MICHAEL KOWAL, T.V. PHOTOJOURNALIST: That's correct. I was at a shooting where two teenagers were sort of shot and then overheard on the radio traffic (INAUDIBLE) police say with the 7th (ph) district radio traffic that there was a shooting in the 5700 hundred block of May. And things seemed fairly calm.

The police officer entered the house and you could hear some chaos in the background and immediately following that you could tell the police officer had the heightened sense of awareness asked -- he then asked for some extra help and soon, thereafter, within seconds, had asked for what's called a 101. And a 101 is asking for many police, any available police officer, any officer that is nearby.

And long story short what happened is that several police officers to the tune of 100 or so came from many nearby districts to that scene. And in the interim, they had asked for a couple of Chicago fire department ambulances. They didn't know how many people were shot.

First, it was said that there was one and then two, then five, and then it was eight, nine, and 10. And now eventually at the end here we find out there are -- that there were 11 shot. But they did a very good job. I mean, both police and fire department and what they executed out there.

WALKER: Eleven people shot. I mean, this happened at one location apparently inside a home. I was reading the local paper, "The Chicago Tribune" that this -- this gather was in honor of a young man who had been killed during -- shot and killed during a carjacking. They were honoring his birthday. Do you know more about why they were gathering and what may have led to the shooting?

KOWAL: No, I actually did not. I stayed fairly -- fairly -- at a fairly good distance. There was a little bit of time there, very brief time where things were chaotic outside and there were things being thrown such as bottles and small bricks and some rocks, a cell phone that I actually got hit with. But I stayed back pretty far. I walked up there and then left.

BLACKWELL: All right. Michael Kowal for us there at the shooting in Chicago. At least 11 people shot, according to police. Michael, thanks so much.

KOWAL: Thanks so much. Have a great day.

WALKER: Well, President Trump may be on vacation but he is not taking a break from his impeachment battle. Speaking to supporters last night, the president falsely claimed that Democrats violated the constitution when they impeached him last week.

BLACKWELL: Also newly released e-mails show that the president ordered the congressionally approved aid to Ukraine before -- to be frozen right after his call with Ukraine's president. WALKER: CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood joining us now from West Palm Beach, Florida, with more. And, yes, Sarah, I mean, the president was fired up last night. He slammed Democrats and the process.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Amara and Victor. And good morning.

President Trump continuing his argument last night, what we have heard him make over and over since the impeachment vote that the reason, in his eyes, why Speaker Pelosi has not transmitted those articles of impeachment to the Senate yet is because she doesn't have a case. That House Democrats don't believe their case is strong enough and that's something that has been echoed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who is supposed to be in charge of the process that will dictate what that Senate trial will look like.

[06:05:00]

McConnell has argued the reason why Senate Democrats are asking for more witnesses in the trial is because the House case is insufficient. But Speaker Pelosi has made clear that the reason why she's holding on to those articles for now is that she wants to ensure that that trial is fair. She wants to ensure that the procedures aren't tilted in favor of President Trump. Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate and McConnell are still expected to be hashing out what that Senate trial will look like but they went into the holiday recess without an agreement.

And meanwhile, last night speaking at a gathering of young conservatives here in West Palm Beach President Trump continued to argue that there was no impeachment, that there should not have been impeachment despite the vote that we saw in the House this week. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: How about that deal where they had nothing. There is no crime. There is no nothing.

How do you impeach? You had no crime. Even their people said there was no crime. In fact, there is no impeachment. There's no -- their own lawyer said there is no impeachment.

What are we doing here? The world is watching.

Crazy Nancy. She is crazy. No, no. So now she says she has no case, she has no case, so let's not submit it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now President Trump wants a trial. He does not just want to be acquitted. He wants to be vindicated by the Senate even though McConnell said that what Pelosi is doing not really leverage to withhold something the Senate doesn't really want to deal with in the first place. All of this as newly released e-mails show that some aides may have had concerns about the suspension of the aide at the time that it happened over the summer and that the request to freeze the security assistance to Ukraine was described at the time as sensitive in nature, Victor and Amara.

WALKER: All right. Thank you for your reporting, Sarah Westwood.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about those highly sensitive e-mails about the aid to Ukraine that had just been released. The reason they're important is because they provide new details about when and why aid was put on hold. They are written by Michael Duffey. He is a White House office at the Office of Management and Budget.

Here is what he said. This is July 25th. "Based on guidance I have received and in light of the Administration's plan to review assistance to Ukraine, including the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative please hold off on any additional DoD obligations of these funds, pending direction from that process."

Duffey's e-mail also suggests that he knew the hold could raise some red flags. He went on to say this. "Given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction."

Let's talk about this with CNN political commentator Errol Louis, also political anchor for "Spectrum News." Errol, welcome back.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to see you, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Good to see you.

Let's start here and the implications for the Senate trial. In his argument against calling live witnesses, Mitch McConnell says that there is no need to investigate further but there will be more reporting like this and there will be the fulfillment of freedom of information act requests. The implications for this type of parallel reporting and these revelations, as that trial without the witnesses goes on.

LOUIS: That's exactly right. Look. During the Clinton impeachment, we should keep in mind that a lot of witnesses were called. Now they didn't come out. There was no dramatic moment on the floor of the Senate in the midst of the trial but they did submit videotape depositions that became part of the record. Something akin to that could happen here and we should keep in mind, Victor, that it's not solely Mitch McConnell's call to make when it comes to this stuff. He signaled that he wants to do everything he can to protect the president and that he doesn't even want this to happen in the first place.

However, his voice is not the only one that counts. In addition to the minority leader Senator Schumer you have got a Supreme Court chief justice who's going to be the presiding officer over this trial when it gets to the Senate. It's not going to be Mitch McConnell. It's going to be Justice Roberts who makes some decisions at least about what evidence comes in and what doesn't. We should also keep in mind politically speaking there are a number of members of Mitch McConnell's relatively thin majority, he has only got 53 members there, but there are a number them who are up for re- election and who don't necessarily benefit politically by taking this kind of hard-line approach of dismissing all of that and simply kowtowing to the president. So, there're going to be more considerations that come into play here and it is more likely than not, in my opinion, that some of the kind of information that you're referencing, some of these key witnesses, that information is going to make its way into the trial.

BLACKWELL: Errol, I think it's also important to point out every time we get another example of it, if this was so innocuous, this hold that was placed, why did so many people go through so many steps to keep it as it's written by Duffey close to those who need to know to execution direction instead of the normal process?

LOUIS: Well, it's remarkable, Victor, that the president -- every time somebody comes forward and indicates the alarm with which -- whatever reaction they had to his so called perfect phone call, some reacted with alarm and started calling lawyers.

[06:10:15]

Some tried to sort of bury the information. In this case you got somebody saying, hey, this is super sensitive, we are getting some directions that are clearly going to sort of ruffle some feathers, let's not -- let's make sure the information doesn't spread too widely.

All of those kinds of reactions work directly against the president's claim and when he does his call anybody who seems to have this kind of alarmed reactions never Trumpers. And I think the public sees past it. The polling suggest that people just aren't buying this stuff. If that is the case he is taking before a Senate trial, I think he is going to have a very hard time getting the full vindication that he is seeking.

BLACKWELL: Before we get to Senate portion, the House, Speaker Pelosi still has these articles and I wonder your take on if the strategy of holding them until she gets some insurances from leader McConnell is hurting some of those Trump district Democrat. I spoke with Representative Haley Stevens and I asked her if she supported the strategy being executed by Speaker Pelosi.

I want you to listen as I try to get an answer to that three times. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HALEY STEVENS (D-MI): I think everyone knows we want to have a fair trial. Everyone wants a fair trial. The president even said that.

I'm fully convinced that this will be negotiated by then in the right and fair trial will be put into place -- BLACKWELL: But if it isn't --

STEVENS: I think that we navigate a lot of technicalities between the House and Senate going forward, and we certainly don't want to do so at the expense of fairness.

BLACKWELL: I'm looking for a yes or no.

STEVENS: I think what we do going forward here in terms of moving with our -- we want fairness. I'll say that, we want fairness here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: She would not give a straight yes or no answer to the question if she supports this strategy. Is this adding additional strain, I mean, on top of her votes to support the articles of impeachment the way that Pelosi is executing this?

LOUIS: Well, sure. This last bit -- I mean, look. Much of it. There are many -- there are many members of the Democratic conference under Nancy Pelosi who are very uncomfortable with this vote, who are going to have political problems that stem from it or political challenges, shall we say. And this last bit of it is going to be no exception.

I think of this mostly, Victor, as a timing question. When -- not if. When does Nancy Pelosi want to send this over? By what process does she want to sort of make Mitch McConnell squirm a little bit?

The two of them are dueling in a very kind of insider game to sort of see who blinks first. But in the end a big part of this is going to be timing. Does this happen right before the Iowa caucuses? Does this happen in the middle of the primary season? Does this happen in February as opposed to in January? What she wants to do and why she wants to do it is --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LOUIS: -- part of her strategy and if she -- if she -- if she knows what it is, she is certainly not telling.

BLACKWELL: And I wonder if that agreement, the announced agreement on the State of the Union on February 4th is part of potentially a soft deadline to determine if things could happen by then. Errol Louis, good to have you back.

LOUIS: Good to see you, Victor.

WALKER: Is North Korea inching closer to making good on its Christmas gift promise? The new satellite images and why Kim Jong-un met with his top military officials. That's next.

BLACKWELL: Plus, after 35 years -- I am so excited about this. Eddie Murphy returns to "Saturday Night Live" and talks about how his life has changed dramatically.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MURPHY: If you told me 30 years ago that I would be this boring stay- at-home house dad, and Bill Cosby would be in jail, even I would have took that bet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:25]

WALKER: CNN has obtained new satellite images out of Pyongsong, North Korea. They show expansion of buildings associated with building missile launchers.

BLACKWELL: We also learned that Kim Jong-un met with his top military leaders. And you'll remember earlier this month the country sent a stark warning to the U.S. threatening to send a Christmas gift.

CNN's David Culver is following all the developments. David, what more have you learned about the significance of these new images?

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Amara, it's a car factory essentially. This is an automotive plan but it goes far beyond that especially according to experts here. They say this is a place where North Korean military in particular can take some of the imported launchers from China, can modify them, as well as some domestic vehicles and retrofit them so that they can contribute to the intercontinental ballistic missile program that's under way there.

Now couple that with what we have seen over the past two weeks and that's North Korea admitting that they have conducted several significant tests, in their words, at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station. What has been going on there exactly? Well, they are not saying in detail but U.S. military analysts believe that they are likely testing some rocket engines. Rocket engines that could likewise be used to contribute to a long-range missile.

You got to put all of this in context. We have this war of words between the U.S. and North Korea. This intensifying of rhetoric and this really deterioration of any sort of relationship between the two countries.

And I was talking to one former U.S. military official who says this is not just posturing. You can't look at this as just words being thrown back and forth. This is more concerning than that because these words often turn into a forced narrative that then becomes action and could in this case be very dangerous action which makes the words of a Christmas gift from North Korea to the U.S. all the more alarming here.

What will that Christmas gift if anything be if it comes to fruition? There's speculation that it could be a long-range missile that would be tested the first time in two years or perhaps, Victor and Amara, something nuclear-related. That is even more alarming for folks. WALKER: Yes. Obviously a lot of concern here and that is why U.S. military officials are watching very closely what North Korea does next. David Culver, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is condemning Russia and China accusing them of having blood on their hands. He's reacting to both countries vetoing a draft U.N. resolution to give aid to millions of Syrian civilians. Moscow and Beijing say the situation in Syria is better than what the U.S. says it is. Pompeo says the veto is shameful.

WALKER: So did you do any of your holiday shopping on Amazon? If so you need to see our next story before giving those gifts to anyone.

[06:20:04]

In a CNN exclusive report, we show you some of the fake and dangerous products turning up for sale on Amazon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Amara Walker.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell.

WALKER: Chances are you did at least a portion or all of your holiday shopping, Victor, on Amazon. But are the products you purchased dangerous?

BLACKWELL: A month's long CNN investigation turned up dozens of bogus baby and children's products for sale on Amazon and those fake items could be putting kids at serious risk. CNN's Clare Sebastian has details for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a simulated 30-mile-per-hour collision, this infant car seat lurches forward and fractures near the seat belt path, sending shards of plastic into the air, failing a standard test required on the U.S. Federal Safety Regulations.

This is where we bought that car seat, on Amazon. Part of an alarming trend, copycat or counterfeit versions of popular children's products turning up for sale unchecked, unregulated, and in this case, potentially unsafe.

The seat we purchased is designed to look like a Doona; a sort-after brand of car seat that folds out into a stroller. The Amazon listing even used some of Doona's own promotional images, and it's about $200 cheaper than the real thing.

[06:25:04]

Two pediatricians who watched this video told us a child in the seat would have been at serious risk of head and neck injuries. We also showed the results to Doona.

AMIAD RAVIV, COMMERCIAL MANAGER, DOONA: It's unbelievable to see how a product that looks very much like ours performs completely different in a crash test.

SEBASTIAN: We did put a genuine Doona through the exact same crash test in the same lab, it remained intact, meeting federal standards. Doona says this isn't just an Amazon problem, it's been working with various e-commerce platforms for more than two years now to take down counterfeit products.

RAVIV: We've taken down just this year more than 40 pages which had infringing products or fake products just from the Amazon platform alone. And if you assume that each one of these pages is up for, you know, three to seven days, then you're talking about a good period of the year in which fake products, dangerous products are being sold on Amazon.

SEBASTIAN: Shortly after we purchased the fake car seat in October, the Amazon listing was taken down.

(on-camera): After seeing our crash test report, Amazon e-mailed customers who had bought the product, urging them to stop using it immediately and offering a full refund. We reached the seller, a company based in China called Strollex (ph) by phone, a man who refused to identify himself told us, quote, "my products are safe" and then refused to answer any more questions.

(voice-over): An Amazon spokesperson told us, "Safety is a top priority at Amazon. We require all products offered in our store to comply with applicable laws and regulations and have developed industry-leading tools to prevent unsafe or non-compliant products from being listed in our stores."

(on camera): We've spoken to seven different baby and children's brand selling on Amazon, all of whom tell us, they face a constant game of whack-a-mole when it comes to counterfeit and copycat versions of their products on the site, and it's hurting their businesses. Several of them also tell us they have safety concerns.

(voice-over): The U.S. distributor of these popular infant swaddles told us one customer contacted them about a fake where the zippers were falling off. A serious choking hazard for an infant.

The manufacturer of this white noise machine, the baby shoo-shoo design to help infants sleep says they have had multiple complaints from customers who had turned out had bought fakes. One customer who bought the product last year told us it fell apart when she tried to change the battery.

Amazon says they strictly prohibit counterfeits and told us these are isolated incidents. They're investigating and will take appropriate action against the sellers involved.

(on camera): Part of the issue is that consumers look at Amazon as a trusted retailer. But most of the items sold on Amazon are not actually sold by Amazon. In 2018, 58 percent of the company's sales came from third party sellers.

(voice-over): Amazon has stepped up its efforts against counterfeits with three different programs brands can opt into to help them protect their trademarks and make the process of taking down fakes more efficient. Sellers tell us it's not enough.

JASON DRANGEL, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWYER: This is an authentic baby shark product --

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Jason Drangel has been working with the toy industry on counterfeiting cases for 15 years. He now represents some of the biggest toy companies in the U.S. and deals regularly with online platforms.

(on camera): Do you worry that it's going to take a serious incident, a child getting injured for something to really be done about this?

DRANGEL: Yes, I mean, I'm actually shocked that it hasn't happened already, given the severity of the problem.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Frightening stuff.

BLACKWELL: Two freight cars plunged into the Potomac River Saturday after the train pulling them partially came off the tracks.

WALKER: A railroad spokesman tells CNN the train was traveling between West Virginia and Maryland when it partially derailed. All of the derailed cars were empty and, fortunately, there were no injuries.

Eddie Murphy made his long anticipated return to "Saturday Night Live" with some of his iconic characters, but he -- did he live up to the hype?

(VIDEO PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]

AMARA WALKER, CNN NEW DAY: Eddie Murphy returned to Saturday Night Live after 35 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDDIE MURPHY, AMERICAN ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: Kids now, 11, if you count Kevin Hart. I'm kidding. I love Kevin Hart. I'm just teasing. My kids actually are pretty much my whole life now. But if you had told me 30 years ago that I would be this boring, stay-at-home house dad and Bill Cosby would be in jail, even I would have took that bet. I tell you who is America's dad now?

This is why I came back to Saturday Night Live for moments like this. Like when was the last time we was together like this?

CHRIS ROCK, AMERICAN ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: Last Thursday at Sinbad's.

DAVID CHAPPELLE, AMERICAN COMEDIAN: All right. Now, you're looking at half of Netflix budget right here on set.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN NEW DAY: You saw Chris Rock, Dave Chappell, Tracy Morgan and Keenan joined them later on stage there for the opening monologue.

Let's talk about this with Zachary Pincus-Roth, Washington Post's Style Editor. Zach, welcome back.

Listen, I -- my prep for this show starts at 11:30 the night before. The first 90 minutes of my prep was watching this show from start-to- finish and I was not disappointed. What did you think?

ZACHARY PINCUS-ROTH, STYLE EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes. I thought he did really well and he brought back many of the famous characters that he did on SNL very iconically back in the early '80s. He brought back Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood, which is this famous spoof of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood but kind of set in a more less well- off neighborhood and --

BLACKWELL: Less well-off, that's a nice way to put it.

PINCUS-ROTH: Yes. I mean, it was great. The joke this time was of three decades later, the neighborhood had been gentrified, which I thought was a really good take.

[06:35:04]

He also brought back Gumby, which is his sort of Borscht Belt old- school comedian take on the famous claymation character. He brought back Velvet Jones, who's kind of this pimp meet self-guru. And he brought back Buckwheat, which is his character that he actually killed off on the show back in the '80s and this brought back as a contestant on the reality show of The Masked Singer.

WALKER: Well, let's take a look at some of these clips of the iconic characters that he brought back. This is him as Mr. Robinson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MURPHY: So much has changed since we last spent some time together. My neighbor has gone through so much. He has gone through something called gentrification. Can you say, gentrification, boys and girls? It's like a magic trick. White people pay a lot of money and then, poof, all the black people are gone.

You all probably wondering how Mr. Robinson can afford to live in this fancy neighborhood. Well, that's the word of the day, squatter's rights. It's like finders, keepers, but for other people's houses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: I have to say -- I mean, I was just telling this to Victor. I mean, he is ageless. I mean, he was doing this 35 years ago. It looks like time just hasn't really passed for him. But Eddie Murphy was mentioning that he felt like he was under a lot of pressure before last night, especially with his ten kids there in the audience, but he didn't skip a beat.

PINCUS-ROTH: Yes, definitely. He didn't quite have the effortlessness, I think, he had back in the '80s when he was a big star. But I think you have to remember that we are looking back on those episode, we are looking back at the best stuff whereas SNL can be kind of clunky on a week-to-week basis. So I think you kind of have to forgive it a little bit.

And you also have to remember that back when he was on SNL, he started on the show when he was 19 years old and he was really credited with saving that show. It was on the verge of being cancelled after the original players had left, like Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray. And he really was the breakout star.

BLACKWELL: So let's use this as an excuse to see more of this show. Let's watch another clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MURPHY: How the hell are people not going to know who I am? I am Gumby, damn it. Let me tell you something. I saved this damn show from the gutter and it's thanks to me. This is the thanks that I get for saving this show? Shame on you, Lorne Michaels, shame on you NBC. Shame on you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry. Gumby, just calm down. Calm down.

MURPHY: Don't tell me to calm down, trailer boy. And I got to sit and listen to this black bastard telling me people don't remember who I am? You know why you two are behind this desk? Because your jokes don't have legs, you schmucks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, I mean, it was great to see all of the characters from SNL brought back. What else is next? What else does Eddie Murphy have going on now?

PINCUS-ROTH: Well, yes. I mean, it he seems to be having a bit of a career renaissance. He was in this movie, has a movie, Dolemite is My Name, which is on Netflix and just got a Golden Globe nomination for that. Coming to America 2, the sequel to his very popular 1980s movie is coming next year. I even read that Beverly Hills Cop 4 is in the. And he's even contemplating a return to stand-up tour next year.

WALKER: You were mentioning, and I think a lot of people might not know this, that when Eddie Murphy first appeared in SNL, was it back in 1980, it wasn't doing so well and he was credited, as you were saying, with saving the show. Do you think we're going to see more of him on SNL or these comedy shows?

PINCUS-ROTH: Yes. I guess we'll have to see. I mean, I think that -- you know, I think people felt that he did pretty well last night. So I think, you know, if he wants to be back, I think they would let him back on.

BLACKWELL: All right. Zachary Pincus-Roth, good to have you this morning.

PINCUS-ROTH: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: I am legit nervous though about Coming to America 2.

WALKER: Why?

BLACKWELL: Because I love Coming to America so much.

WALKER: You think you'll get disappointed?

BLACKWELL: I don't them to ruin it.

WALKER: Yes. Sometimes the sequels don't match up.

BLACKWELL: Just let it live as it is.

WALKER: How about you have someone watch it for you and then that memory will live on, and it's not very good so you don't have to watch it.

BLACKWELL: Please don't mess it up.

Christmas eve is two days away now. Allison Chinchar is with us. A lot of people are going to have some trouble.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We're still dealing with flooding across portions of the Pacific Northwest. Now, we're going to be detailing new flooding concerns in the eastern half of the country. That's all coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: Flooding, severe weather, maybe some snow, a recipe for some tough holiday travel.

WALKER: Not like what I'm hearing. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar joining us from the CNN Weather Center with your holiday forecast. I've got a flight to catch. I hope it doesn't put a kink in my plans.

CHINCHAR: Yes, because you've got not only rain but also some gusty winds to worry about in the southeast, so, yes. Here is a look at the live radar now. It started raining in a lot of these places yesterday. now, it continues today and into tomorrow. Because of that, you're going to have a flood threat. So we've got all of these flood watches in effect for several states here that you can see into the southeast, and that may even continue spread further into, say, North Carolina or even Virginia, because look at the amount of rain that we expect over the next couple of days, widespread two to four inches, but especially portions of South Carolina and Georgia, five, six, even seven inches of rain not out of the question. It's very slow-moving.

So that's why it's really going to be a washout, unfortunately, for several cities today, Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah, even Jacksonville. The majority of your day is likely going to include shower chances.

On the southern edge of Florida, we're also talking severe storms, the potential here for some very damaging winds and perhaps even some tornadoes for cities like Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, even stretching down towards Key West.

Winds are also going to be a factor not just in South Florida but also Georgia, the Carolinas. Look at this wind gusts up around 40 to 60 miles per hour.

But the ultimate question that everyone wants to know, will there be a White Christmas? Here is the thing. It's actually very warm across much of the country right now. Here is where we have snow as of right now. So you can see some places still likely to keep what's on the ground.

Now, in terms of the forecast snow, very few places are expected to get it from now until Christmas. That purple color is just about it. So maybe out west some additional fresh snow but some other areas like the Midwest, that stretch you see there from Ohio to Illinois, that may actually melt in the next few days.

[06:45:02]

A city like Chicago is actually going to be well above average the next few days. The problem there is some of the snow that they may have on the southern portion of Illinois may end up melting. Look at the forecast, temperatures staying in the 40s for much of the rest of the week.

Here is a fun fact, back on Halloween, Chicago actually had several inches of snow. Now, their temperatures are actually going to be running about 20 degrees above average. Clearly, Mother Nature did not get the memo about the weather on the holidays this year.

WALKER: I guess they got a white holiday earlier in October, right?

CHINCHAR: Yes.

BLACKWELL: So we had -- I was looking at the graphics. The tree came down, that big beautiful tree and then the map just went over it. What happened there?

CHINCHAR: You, obviously, didn't have enough time to blink. The snow globe I feel like it more than makes up for it.

BLACKWELL: Yes, that's true. All right.

WALKER: Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

BLACKWELL: Thanks, Allison.

CHINCHAR: Thanks.

WALKER: Well, Prince Harry is celebrating the holiday with his wife, Meghan Markle, and their son, Archie, in Canada. He also released a new seasonal video that shows the Duke of Sussex dressed as Santa Claus sending a message to orphaned children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX, UNITED KINGDOM: Losing a parent is incredibly hard that I know that every single one of you, by helping each other out, that you will have an amazing future ahead of you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So Prince Harry eventually dropped the beard and showed his own beard, I guess. The video was shown to a charity for children who have lost their parents, and Harry was just 12 years old his mother, Princess Diana, princess of Wales, in a car crash.

WALKER: The New England Patriots' success has reached even higher heights. How is that even possible, Carolyn?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS RERPORTER: Amara, you would think that after six Super Bowl wins, there could not be any more records for the Patriots to possibly accomplish. You would be right if you were limiting the conversation to strictly the NFL, but New England is now making its mark on all of Americans sports. We'll have that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Police are looking for answers in the death of an NFL quarterback's brother. Clay Beathard was stabbed to death outside of a Nashville bar early Saturday this morning, according to police, and they're looking for this man, calling him a person of interest in the case but they have not named suspects.

WALKER: Clay Beathard is the younger brother of San Francisco 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard. The elder Beathard missed San Francisco's came last night instead flying to Tennessee to be with his family.

Here is 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLE SHANAHAN, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS HEAD COACH: Also I don't know what to say to you guys at the beginning of the day because you guys know how -- well, what happened last night, man. And having to go spend an hour with C.J. last night and just being with him during that, you guys know how tough it is for him and his family right now.

And what I can tell you, I spent an hour with him last night. And he was exactly like any one of us would have been, distraught and struggling to talk. And he barely could talk. And the last thing he said to me when I we'd out the door, he stopped me and he just goes, you make sure the guys win this game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Obviously a very emotional day for everyone involved.

BLACKWELL: Let's turn to the game now. Carolyn Manno is in New York with us this morning. Special motivation for that team today.

MANNO: Oh, absolutely. Good morning, Victor and Amara. And after hearing that gut-wrenching news, it was really a night when it seemed like nothing was going the 49ers way out on the field. The team did find a way to deliver for the Beathard family when it was all said and done.

San Francisco was looking to bounce back from a confounding loss to the falcons off to another awful start last night against the reigning NFC champions, the Rams. They were down 21-10 at one point. But the Niners would battle all the way back.

Down a score in the fourth Jimmy Garoppolo connecting with George Kittle for a touchdown just barely. Kittle and San Francisco starting to feel it up three, the Rams tie it up, so under a minute to go. And it's Garoppolo, a bomb to Emmanuel Sanders, 46 yards deep into Rams territory and it helped set up Robbie Gould knocking home the game- winning field goal. The Niners win by three. They are back on top of the NFC standings. With the loss, the Rams are out of playoff contention.

Meantime, the Patriots strangle-hold over their division continues. The Bills put up a fight, but in the end, Tom Brady and the offense doing what they do, finding a way to win down one in fourth, Brady hitting Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman for a huge 30-yard catch to set up the game-winning score. From there, Rex Burkhead would finish it off, trucking right through the third ranked defense into the end zone and that could top the AFC East 11 straight division titles for New England, tying the Atlanta Braves' longest streak across major American sports. And even that is enough for Head Coach Bill Belichick to feel the spirit of the season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Bill, we saw you had some company up there at the podium, some elves on the podium, so to speak. Is that the holiday spirit behind?

BILL BELICHICK: Yes, just what I need. Happy holidays.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: So that means Buffalo is going to be one of the wildcards. And after the Texans beat the Bucs to win the AFC sout title yesterday, there are just two spots left in the playoffs, the NFC east winner which could be decided today between the Cowboys and the Eagles and the other AFC wildcard.

I don't want to call Bill Belichick the Grinch, but that's about all you're going to get.

WALKER: We just did as we were watching that. I said, what a Grinch.

BLACKWELL: Is that all you get? Happy holidays.

MANNO: That's all you get.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Carolyn.

All right, ten Grammys, multiple platinum albums, the first artist to simultaneously top the pop, country, R&B chart. Linda Ronstadt is a musical legend. CNN Film's Linda Ronstadt, the Sound of My Voice, premiers New Year's Day at 9:00 on CNN.

[06:55:00]

WALKER: This is a song that gets me into the Christmas spirit, I have to say. And, of course, as you heard Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas, that song first came out in 1994 but it finally number one on Billboard's Hot 100 chart this week. Yes, do the math. That's 25 years after it was first released.

BLACKWELL: Carey also debuted a new video for the Christmas classic this week. It stars skating Santas, toy soldiers and her eight-year- old twins. Now, if this won't get you in a holiday mood, you're a lost cause.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)