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Quest Means Business

McCarthy Appears To Suffer Defeat On Eighth Speaker Ballot; Amazon Announces It Will Lay Off 18,000 Workers; Ukraine Dismisses Putin's Call For 36-Hour Ceasefire; China's COVID-19 Surge; Crypto's Lehman Moment; Prince Harry's Memoir "Spare". Aired 3-4p ET

Aired January 05, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:24]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: An hour to trade on Wall Street, and it is strong hiring and employment numbers that has spooked the market.

The Dow as you can see is off 260 points. We are off the lows of the day, but things -- there were worse. We're holding 33,000 barely. It is economic

numbers that's moving, not politics.

So the markets are one story and the main events of the day, quite another. Here we go again: Kevin McCarthy appears to have lost the eighth vote for

US House Speaker.

Amazon is planning to lay off more than 18,000 people.

And the latest leaks from Prince Harry's upcoming book reveals he is not done spilling the family secrets.

Live from New York on Thursday. It's January the 5th. I'm Richard Quest, I mean business.

Good evening.

You may be familiar with the classic definition of insanity, doing the same thing again and again, expecting a different result.

Well, by that definition, the US House of Representatives has just about lost its collective mind. The House has only concluded its eighth ballot

for speaker. The numbers basically stayed the same. No movement.

The scene is reminiscent of Bill Murray in the movie "Groundhog Day."

(BEGIN "GROUNDHOG DAY" VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good Morning. Off to see the groundhog?

PHIL, FICTIONAL CHARACTER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it'll be an early spring.

PHIL: Didn't we do this yesterday?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: House members are asking themselves exactly the same question. Frustration is now growing amongst Republicans on the third day of voting.

McCarthy's bid for the Speakership is being blocked by only 20 Republicans, including the so-called five Never Kevins. They will never vote for Kevin,

whatever happens. The group members are not official, and there may be more that will refuse to vote for him under any circumstances, but these are the

five that have at some point said they will never vote for Kevin McCarthy.

And remember, he only can afford, Kevin McCarthy, to lose four votes. So even if he makes concessions, as long as the Never Kevins are there and

won't budge, he is doomed.

Jessica Dean is on Capitol Hill watching the insanity as it makes its merry way. So look, we're at the point now where I guess McCarthy has to keep

going because not to keep going is to give in, and essentially whoever becomes gets the speakership is at the mercy of the five?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I mean, at this point, because the Republicans' margins are so small, they really do have those five have

such power. Because again, he can only afford to lose four, you do the math. That's why they have so much power. Right?

So McCarthy, at this point appears to be forging ahead, having just appeared to lose his eighth round, will they go to a ninth vote today?

That's what we're watching at this point. We're hearing maybe they will, maybe they won't, maybe they'll adjourn to have more discussions.

When he was walking to the floor, Richard, before this seventh vote earlier today, I asked him, you know, what's the plan? And he admitted that not

much was going to change in these four votes in the next, you know, couple of times.

But that he thought that the behind the scenes conversations were going very well. Still, he doesn't have the numbers yet. And one thing to keep in

mind is the more he gives to these hardliners, these more conservative Republicans, the more the moderate start to get twitchy saying, we are not

comfortable with what you're giving away here. So he's kind of doing the splits in as pretty extreme way right now.

QUEST: All right, but the inability to elect the Speaker and the consequences. Now first of all, the House members haven't been sworn in. So

there is no Congress or the House of Representatives as such. They can't pay the staff or indeed the Congressmen themselves. Committee appointments

are delayed, and ultimately, any investigations or -- in other words, they can't get on with the business of government. Does any of this matter yet?

DEAN: Well, I mean, it matters to the Republicans that want to do work. It matters to the Republicans who wanted to show that they could govern but to

these five and to a large extent, these 20, they don't seem to care so much.

They seem to be quite pleased to be slowing this down over and over again on the floor, they keep saying, this is democracy in action, the process is

working, this is what's supposed to be happening.

[15:05:12]

But the fact remains, Richard, that what they sold the American people on to take control all these issues: Securing the border, you know, getting

the deficit down -- they can't do anything about any of this until they have formed their government in the House.

And so -- and look, it is the first thing that they're doing with this majority, is this whole circus, essentially.

And so for a lot of House Republicans, that's extremely frustrating and I think for Americans, it is going to start to become an issue that we don't

have a functioning branch of the government very, very soon.

QUEST: At what point will the Democrats help the Republicans out? I mean, at the end of the day, why not give them the votes to get McCarthy in

and watch him suffer for the next two years with his recalcitrant five?

DEAN: Right. Well, it's a good question. There have been some rumblings around some Democrats that we've spoken to that perhaps they would help

them out in exchange for different things that McCarthy would give them, more power that they would give to Democrats, different Committee

assignments, that sort of thing.

But the fact -- the kind of official line from Democratic leadership in the House is that they don't want to bail them out. They simply do not want to

help them out of this bind. They could. At this point, there is still no appetite for that.

They want to see McCarthy's squirm. They want to see them you know showing chaos to the American people, showing a deep division, that they can't get

it together. They can't govern.

All of this is very good in the eyes of the Democrats, but eventually, you know, how many more votes are they going to have to sit through as well,

we'll see.

QUEST: Jessica, we will talk more tomorrow, probably about this. Thank you.

DEAN: We probably will.

QUEST: Now, as we watch what's happening, the history, the drama being played out is a once in a century event. But the last time the Speaker vote

is 1923, and then it was nine ballots over three days. It was Frederick Gillett who became the House Speaker.

In 1860, it took them 44 goes to confirm William Pennington. In 1856, the Speakership wasn't resolved until the 133rd ballot. Add them all up, there

have been 14 Speaker elections, decided by multiple ballots.

Joanne Freeman is Professor of History and American Studies at Yale, author of "Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War," she

joins me.

If we take that simple fact, democracy or disaster, the fact it has happened so often in the past, arguably, this is part of the process, and

well, nothing to worry about.

JOANNE FREEMAN, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND AMERICAN STUDIES, YALE UNIVERSITY: Well, I don't know if I'd go that far. First of all, it is worth noting

that with the exception of 1923, all of the other times were before the Civil War. It is nothing between the Civil War and 1923.

And when you look at those earlier examples, they're all over the issue of slavery. On one hand, what that did was fracture political parties. And so

there's something in common between those times and the current moment.

But there was a key issue that was dividing people to the point that in 1859, when they couldn't -- that 133 votes -- two-month difficulty

appointing a Speaker, they ultimately asked the three main candidates to publicly state their view on what Congress had done on slavery.

QUEST: Right.

FREEMAN: So that was explicit. What's interesting about the current moment, in contrast, is this isn't ultimately about an issue. This isn't about a

policy. It's not really about an agenda. It is seemingly just about power, which is why what we're hearing about, you know, the demands people seem to

be making of McCarthy like how about one person can call it flash vote, and then oust the Speaker? That's a question of power. That's not a question of

policy.

So what we're seeing now is very typical of our moment, politically speaking, but that's in a way both party-centric, all having to do with

non-policy in the Republican Party.

QUEST: Now, if we look at a wider issue, since the founding of the Republic, I mean, it's always been messy. The Constitutional Convention,

the papers, everything about this process in this country has been messy. It has been fraught. There has been breakups, disputes.

So, again, arguably, this is -- this idea of somehow bicameral democracy, well, it's ugly.

FREEMAN: Well, so I'll give you a historian two-part answer. On the one hand, democracy is messy and certainly, you know I just wrote a book that

talks about 70 physically violent incidents in the House and Senate before the Civil War.

[15:10:10]

So yes, very messy and not just on a national level. And that's the risk of democracy. That is one of the risks of democracy is that if the people have

the power, the people can do what they want to do with the power, and sometimes that's not wonderful, but what the founding generation would have

told you, and what is a problematic factor now, there's a reason why there is a process, a constitutional process in place.

QUEST: Right.

FREEMAN: The founders saw it again, and again, and again. If things go wrong, if we get off the track, turn back to the process, maybe we need to

change it a little bit, but the process of governance, that's what's going to keep us on track.

QUEST: So back to the first question, from what we are seeing, I mean, we just had voted eight, so we're looking at whether it's vote nine. With

your historian hat on, is this democracy? Is it a disaster? Is it a bit of both?

FREEMAN: Well, I would say it's looming to be a disaster. It is certainly displaying the current status of the Republican Party for everyone to see.

It is party politics.

I suppose you could say in some way, it's democracy. The problem with that statement is that some of the people holding the House hostage are not

particularly friendly to our political process and democracy. That's a problematic factor.

QUEST: Good to see you. Thank you.

If we get up to 133 votes, I'll come back to you and have a chat about where we're going to go.

FREEMAN: Come on back.

QUEST: Professor, very grateful that you put it into a wider context, as we do.

To the markets and stocks are lower. It is really nothing to do with what's happening in Washington. The Dow is off 300 points. It is because of the

ADP private payroll report, strong job growth last month, and that strong job market which is in a sense, that's the problem for the Fed, that may

lead to more rate hikes, and longer lasting hikes from them. We'll get the official numbers on the US Labor Department.

At the same time, there is a new round of tech layoffs. Amazon will lay off 18,000 workers. The CEO, Andy Jassy is blaming certain economic situation

and rapid hiring in recent years.

Stitch Fix, the online clothing company says it will lay off a fifth of its staff. The CEO will be replaced by the group's founder. The shares jumped

on the news, you can see it, the best part of nine percent. Amazon today is lower.

Matt Egan is with me.

Amazon employs more than one half million people. So 18,000 is a large number, but relative to their staffing up during pandemic, not so great.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Richard. I mean, context is everything here. I mean, of course, any layoffs are painful to the

individuals, the families impacted. But this comes after a hiring boom in tech at large, and also Amazon specifically.

You mentioned 1.5 million full time and part time workers. Look at that chart, you can see that the number of people employed by Amazon more than

doubled during COVID.

And now Amazon, like other companies, they are looking around, and they're realizing they probably overdid it. They over hired and so, they are now

letting some a small chunk of those employees go, and they are also of course, worried about what is to come in the economy, and so you put that

together and you've had this wave of layoffs in the tech sector.

Today, Amazon, Stitch Fix; yesterday, Salesforce announcing that it is going to cut 10 percent of its workers. HP; Facebook owner, Meta; Lyft,

Twitter. I mean, it goes on and on.

But what is so interesting, Richard, is that, in large part, this really seems contained to tech, a little bit of media as well, but we are not

seeing massive layoffs throughout the economy.

In fact, the latest government statistics show that layoffs are really low. I mean, initial jobless claims, they unexpectedly fell to a three-month low

in the latest week. And so that shows that outside of tech, a lot of CEOs are reluctant to let go of workers right now, in large part because they're

worried they won't be able to get new workers because there is a worker shortage.

QUEST: And we saw that worker shortage you talk about as being a major problem for getting in the post-pandemic economy.

Do you think, as you say employers are saying, well, you know, I mean, normally we would lose people, but let's not do that. Let's run the cost.

EGAN: Yes, I think that you see some CEOs that are holding workers and it makes a lot of sense. I mean, if I owned a business, I wouldn't want to

let go of anyone right now, especially when you think about some of these skilled positions. They go through a lot, it takes a lot of time, a lot of

effort to find these employees.

[15:15:09]

A lot of companies don't want to let them go, and that is why we're not really seeing this play out in the government statistics. Jobless claims

are low. A lot of people from tech companies who are getting laid off, they are getting severance packages.

So they're not filing for unemployment. Others are getting quickly scooped up by other companies, and so, I think that when you zoom out and look at

this jobs market, it still looks pretty strong. It doesn't look anything like a recession and if you're sitting at the Federal Reserve, it probably

looks a little bit hotter than you'd like.

QUEST: Remind us -- we start the New Year together, remind us when the Fed next meets and what they're expected to do.

EGAN: The Fed meets the end of this month. It's a two-day meeting, so the decision comes out February 1, and right now, investors do expect the

Fed to again, slow the pace of rate increases. So they went 50 basis points last meeting, two meetings ago with 75 basis points. The expectation is 25

basis points.

But Richard, it still means borrowing costs are going to go up and the big question right now is at what point can the Fed decide to pause on these

rate hikes?

And I think a lot of that is going to be decided by the next two big numbers: Tomorrow's Jobs Report, and then next week's Inflation Report, and

that will really shape the narrative about what the Fed is going to do next.

QUEST: Matt Egan in New York. Good to see you, sir. Thank you.

President Putin has called for a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine to allow Orthodox Christians to attend Christmas services. Ukrainian officials have

dismissed the proposals as hypocrisy.

We're in Kyiv after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Ten months of the bloody war and thousands -- tens of thousands of people killed and now President Putin has ordered a temporary truce in

Ukraine. It's a 36-hour ceasefire he says to observe Orthodox Christmas.

The response from one Ukrainian official says it all really. "Ukraine," he says "Doesn't attack foreign territory and doesn't kill civilians," tweeted

a senior adviser to President Zelenskyy. "Keep hypocrisy to yourself." He continued.

We're also learning today the extent to which Russia's invasions damaged Ukraine's economy, shrank by 30 percent last year. It is the biggest

contraction since the country declared independence 30 odd years ago.

Scott McLean is in Kyiv tonight.

Orthodox Christmas is just about upon us and I mean, I guess, if there is some form of truce, then I see a temporary ceasefire. I suppose that that's

welcomed in some way.

[15:20:17]

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think, Richard, that you would be hard pressed to find much of anyone inside the borders of Ukraine, who thinks

that tomorrow is going to be any different than today or the day before. They expect that this will be war as usual.

You had a tweet from the Defense Ministry of Ukraine earlier saying after 10 months of genocide, that's how Ukraine often describes this war, isn't

it too late for the Kremlin to think of God and then later sarcastically tweeted, "We welcome the ceasefire offer. During regrouping of the

occupiers we've promised not to shoot them in the back." And that is what we've heard from a lot of Ukrainian officials saying that this is

essentially Russia trying to buy themselves time to regroup, get more weapons to the frontline, get more troops to the frontline.

That's what the Governor of Luhansk region said earlier. The Foreign Minister said this is not to be taken seriously. An adviser to President

Zelensky said that this is pure propaganda.

And you also have Richard, the leader of the pro-Russian Donetsk People's Republic, the occupied part of Ukraine, where much of the fighting is

taking place who said, look, we will respond to provocations and we will not allow the enemy to improve their position on the battlefield.

So essentially, it means that the fighting will likely go on tomorrow and even when you speak to ordinary people in this country, like one civilian

in Kherson, he thinks that maybe, maybe there might be a change in how the top level of the Russian military approaches this 36-hour period, maybe

less missile strikes, maybe no missile strikes.

But on the ground, he finds it pretty hard to believe that any soldiers aren't going to be firing their weapons across the frontline -- Richard.

QUEST: Okay, so now the economy, down 30-odd percent, which is a dramatic fall. How is this being evidenced in what you see? I mean, I know,

I'll just preface this, of course, obviously, the loss of life is paramount. But an economy that shrinks by a third in a year has visible

effects, too.

MCLEAN: Yes, and this is not surprising, obviously, Richard, considering the number of people who have left the country. So you have that going on.

You have a curfew in place, you have people not going about their regular business. You know, it is hard to find a business that isn't affected by

this in some way.

But the Ukrainians actually say that, look, this could have been a heck of a lot worse, you had economists, some of them predicting that the economy

would shrink by 40 or 50 percent last year.

The Ukrainians say that what really helped was the Ukrainians' ability to quickly fix infrastructure problems, to keep the lights on for as long as

they possibly could, to reduce the period of time that the electrical grid goes into blackout.

And of course, the huge influx of foreign aid, weapons from abroad is obviously helping boost the economy in many ways as well.

But surely, 30 percent reduction in the economy is not surprising for a country being absolutely bombarded by this Russian invasion -- Richard.

QUEST: Scott McLean in Kyiv, thank you.

Germany is wrenching away from its reliance on Russian energy. It is doing so while using natural gas and hydrogen. Today, for instance, plans were

announced to team up with Norway to build power plants in Germany, fueled by natural gas, then with hydrogen. It is being pumped through a new

pipeline to connect the two countries.

Also the five floating liquefied natural gas, LNG terminals in Germany now coming online. The first one received its first shipment of gas on Tuesday.

The second will open soon.

And behind some of these operations is Hoegh LNG. The company's chief executive is Erik Nyheim and he joins me from Oslo.

So, I've looked at this in some detail, and it is complicated, very much so between getting the stuff out the ground, converting it into gas, putting

it on a boat, taking it across the ocean, and then you convert -- you have these offshore terminals. How do they actually increase or reduce the

reliance on Russia?

ERIK NYHEIM, CEO, HOEGN LNG: So that's right and thanks for having me.

So, what really happens is that the floating terminals that we provide are an important part of the LNG value chain. So what happens is that at the

production side, the natural gas is cooled down and compressed into liquefied LNG. It is then transported on ships across the oceans and on the

input side, the vessels connects to our floating terminals, pump the LNG into our storage tanks and then we heat it back into natural gas and feed

it into the grid line system in Germany, and it's used for heating homes and powering industry.

[20:25:24]

And at best, floating terminal, which then has been the bottleneck in Europe and particularly Germany, and what they do is really provide access

to global LNG markets.

QUEST: So much will this allow? The increase of LNG through these terminals? Because over the last year, I've seen numerous maps and graphs

that really show it is a shortage of these terminals that has prevented more LNG coming say, from the United States.

NYHEIM: That's right. So, we were quite proud when the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz in his New Year's speech to the German people mentioned our LNG

terminal Hoegh Esperanza, and we've been very impressed with the German government who in a very short period of time, have initiated at least

eight different terminal projects, two of them land based and six floating terminals.

And together with our partners, RWE, Deutsche ReGas, Total, and Uniper, we will deliver the three first LNG terminals into Germany. The first one was

opened in Wilhelmshaven, just before Christmas, the two next ones will be opened in a matter of weeks in Brunsbuttel and Lubmin, and combined, they

will have a capacity of 20 billion cubic meters.

So that's approximately a third of what Germany imported from Russia in 2021.

So we believe this is --

QUEST: So, I just want to jump in, if I may. if I may just jump in.

The related issue, though, of course, is this vast expenditure on these terminals, what happens when the reduction takes place, and Germany is no

longer so reliant? Are these terminals able to assist, for example, Hungary and other places where there will be a reliance for longer?

NYHEIM: So that's why we believe that floating terminals, which are essentially chips, to be fantastic assets, they -- for several reasons, so

first of all, they can be deployed very quickly.

So the first one in Wilhelmshaven, we delivered within 10 months together with our partners. They're also very flexible. So they can basically be

removed when you don't need them anymore, or they can be relocated to another place, or they can be replaced, and they are also cost effective.

So we estimate there, forty or fifty percent lower cost than land-based terminals. So, absolutely, they have a great flexibility to be used in

different places and provide access.

QUEST: Is there an obsolescence built into this bearing in mind we are reducing fossil fuel demand, therefore, you know, or do you see there will

always be a need for these terminals?

NYHEIM: Well, in Europe, definitely, the use of natural gas will be reduced, and the peak year was probably last year, but the pipeline gas

will see the biggest reduction. So actually, when you look at the liquefied natural gas share, it will increase and LNG will increase probably over the

next 10 years. So while natural gas will come down, the LNG share will be will still be very important, and that is because the production, you know,

through the pipelines will be reduced and then particularly replacing the Russian gas.

QUEST: Fascinating. I mean, this is the real -- finally, this is the real solution in a sense. For the last year, we've heard constantly about

the inability to provide more LNG to take up the Russian slack, and this seems to be at least a substantial part of that answer.

NYHEIM: So I mean, a great example is Lithuania. Back in 2012, the then President and government decided that they could no longer be reliant on

Russian gas, so they launched a tender and since 2014, our vessel which was named you know, with the becoming name, Independence, was operational since

2014.

And there were people cheering and waving flags and marching bands, et cetera when it arrived. It was almost celebrated like an Independence Day

and today, Lithuania is completely energy independent and are also providing gas to neighboring countries such as Poland and Latvia.

QUEST: I need to come up and see some of these floating terminals for the future. Well during the year, we will see what we can sort out.

Thank you, sir. Very grateful to have you on the program. Thank you.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight. Huge COVID outbreak which continues to batter China. The reopening in there is being what Health officials, investors

also are extremely interested in how this goes, just how bad is the situation?

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:24]

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

QUEST: Thank you, sir, very grateful to have you on the program. Thank you.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight, huge COVID outbreak continues to batter China. The reopening and there and what is being watched by health

officials. Investors also are extremely interested in how this goes.

Just how bad is the situation?

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. Together, we will have a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. We're going to talk about FTX. What FTX means is some banks

catch pneumonia. Silvergate is the latest institution caught up in crypto contagion.

And a royal ruckus, a real royal ruckus. Prince Harry says, he and his brother had a physical altercation, in a new book. We will talk about that

after the break. After the headlines. This is CNN. On this network, the news always comes first.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST (voice-over): Fresh news into CNN. President Zelenskyy has issued a response to Russia's call for a three-day cease-fire over orthodox

Christmas. In a video address, President Zelenskyy says Russia wants to use the truce as a cover to stop advances in Donbas and bring in more

equipment.

The Ukrainian president said, instead, Russians should free themselves of their fear of President Putin at least 36 hours.

Here are the live pictures of the House of Representatives. The ninth round of voting for a speaker is about to begin. So far there is no sign that

anything has changed. This will likely end the same way as the previous eight, without a winner.

Pope Francis has paid tribute to his predecessor's wisdom and tenderness (ph) at his funeral service in St. Peter's Square. Around 50,000 people

attended the service for Pope Emeritus Benedict.

[15:35:00]

He was the first pope in 600 years to resign rather than hold office for life.

Doctors say the NFL player Damar Hamlin is awake and improving three days after he collapsed during the game from cardiac arrest. They says he

appeared neurologically intact. Hamlin's agent says the player has been able to hold the hands of his family.

Violence has broken out in the Mexican city of Culiacan, where authorities say they're arrested the son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Ovidio Guzman is

considered an important member of the Sinaloa cartel, previously detained in 2019 and then released by the government to avoid revenge.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST: Investors are betting on Chinese companies listed in the U.S. now that Beijing has reopened. JD.com is up 13 percent this week. Alibaba and

Baidu also saw double digit gains.

In China itself, the mood is more somber. A massive outbreak of COVID is now sweeping the country. We talked about it. The World Health Organization

says officials aren't being honest about how bad things are. Ivan Watson reports from Hong Kong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hospital hallways crowded with sick people, patients treated on sidewalks and lines

of vans waiting for entry to busy funeral homes. A huge COVID-19 outbreak is battering China.

The surge coming more than three years after the virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Chinese state television says medical workers

are stepping up to meet the challenge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We have expanded the award, added more beds. We brought in experienced doctors to work with the young

ones to get them up to speed quicker.

WATSON (voice-over): But social media footage shows hospitals in China's wealthiest cities clearly inundated with patients. And a recent Chinese

study projects infections will not surge in less developed, rural parts of the country, until later this month.

Officially, as of Thursday, only 24 people in all of China died from COVID- 19 since December 7th, according to China's CDC, with only six COVID victims in Beijing.

ZHANG, BEIJING RESIDENT (from captions): That is totally ridiculous and not credible, you know, my closest relatives, among them, four -- there are

four that died already. That is from one family. So I hope the government will honestly and credibly tell its people and people in the world what is

really happening here.

WATSON (voice-over): Last month, CNN journalists filmed bodies stored in containers, awaiting cremation at one Beijing funeral home. The World

Health Organization criticizing China for underrepresented the severity of its outbreak and not sharing enough real data on the scale of the outbreak.

DR. MICHAEL RYAN, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We believe the current numbers being published from China underrepresent the true impact of the

disease in terms of hospital admissions, in terms of ICU admissions, particularly in terms of deaths. We would like to see more data, on a more

geographic basis across China.

WATSON (voice-over): Beijing's decision to allow citizens to travel internationally, ending years of self imposed isolation, just as the virus

spreads out of control, has triggered a global debate.

A growing number of governments imposing travel restrictions, ranging from the U.S., which requires preflight COVID tests, to Morocco, which

temporarily banned all travel from China.

Beijing is now threatening reciprocal measures. The growing international dispute of little concern to Chinese families that are struggling with the

sudden loss of loved ones. Some statistical models predict China could lose more than 1 million people due to COVID-19 -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: It has been almost two months since FTX collapsed. And the fallout continues. A nasty case of crypto contagion when we return.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:00]

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QUEST: FTX may be ashes and digital dust. Yet today, we are seeing the effects of its thunderous collapse reverberate around the U.S. banking

system. For instance, Silvergate, a crypto focused lender, down 42 percent after experiencing a crisis of confidence. That will do it.

It saw investors taking out more than $8 billion at the end of last year. Now Silvergate is only one of. Them look at the other institutions

suffering from FTX contagion. It seems when FTX sort of sneezed, those who were dabbling in crypto caught the cold.

After its collapse, the bankruptcy hit BlockFi and could soon be on the way for Genesis. It's laid off 30 percent of the staff. Sequoia Capital has

lost an investment of $150 million. Paul La Monica is with me.

We shouldn't be surprised at one level. But the damage is deep. And I'm wondering who is suffering, besides the investors who bought into these

things.

PAUL LA MONICA, CNNMONEY DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, obviously investors who bought shares of companies like Silvergate, because they thought it was

a way to play the rising tide in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies when that tide was still ascending, obviously, it is no longer doing that, Richard.

But there are so many other publicly traded companies that have been caught in this massive downturn and this well. You have seen firm like Block, the

parent company of Square; its stock price has taken a big hit. Many of the bitcoin mining companies like Marathon and Riot, they've been crushed.

Coinbase, really, really hit hard, a major competitive to FTX that has already publicly traded. Their stock is tumbling to a new 52-week low

today. There are a lot of casualties of the crypto crash.

It is not just Silvergate. But because they allowed so many consumers to make deposits with crypto assets, a lot of those customers are just fleeing

for the exits.

QUEST: How much if any of this is systemic versus sort of a caveat emptor and maybe crypto's new. But I saw yesterday, the Fed continues to talk

about the risk of systemic issues relating to crypto.

LA MONICA: Yes, I think there are obviously many concerns that there are more shoes to drop. FTX was supposedly one of the top firms in the

industry. A couple of months ago, people were talking about how FTX was a savior, a white knight because they were helping to try to prop up and bail

out failing crypto firms.

[15:45:00]

But it looks like their $32 billion valuation was just thin air as well. They have come tumbling down. Now is this a Lehman moment? I am not so

sure. Maybe a Lehman moment for crypto.

So far, Silvergate is by no means a major financial institution. So we don't have any evidence just yet that this is contagion that spreads to

larger banks. It seems unlikely that will happen, especially when you have a guy like Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase who's pretty much trash talked

crypto at every single turn.

QUEST: Paul La Monica, thank you, sir.

Prince Harry hasn't finished washing the royal dirty linen in public. His memoir comes out next week. And from what we know, it is very ugly and very

personal. We'll see what he has to say.

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QUEST: Prince Harry has leveled a particularly ugly accusation at his brother. "The Guardian" says Harry claimed in his book that the Prince of

Wales, Prince William, assaulted him during an argument over Harry's wife, Meghan. CNN's royal correspondent Max Foster is in London and has been

hearing reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new set of revelations from Prince Harry about his family. The British newspaper, "The

Guardian," managing to obtain a copy of his new autobiography, entitled "Spare."

In it, in the newspaper says he describes an argument with his brother at Kensington Palace. The alleged fight started when William called Meghan

"difficult, rude and abrasive."

Painting a vivid picture of the incident, Harry writes that the Prince of Wales grabbed him by the collar, ripping his necklace and knocking him to

the floor. Harry says he landed on the dog's bowl, which cracked under his back, with pieces cutting into him.

CNN has reached out to Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace, who have declined to comment on the alleged altercation. So has a spokesperson for

Harry and Meghan.

To promote the book, the prince spoke to U.K. and U.S. media about his relationship with the family and his future role in the monarchy. In an

interview with Britain's ITV network, he was asked this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you still believe in the monarchy?

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe you will play in part in its future?

PRINCE HARRY: I don't know.

[15:50:00]

FOSTER (voice-over): And as royal preparations are largely underway for King Charles' coronation later this year, Prince Harry put his attendance

into question, saying in the ITV interview there is a lot that can happen between now and then.

PRINCE HARRY: The door is always open. The ball is in their court. There is a lot to be discussed. I only hope they are willing to sit down and talk

about. It

FOSTER (voice-over): In a snippet from an upcoming "Good Morning, America" interview with the prince, Harry was said to have described William in his

book as "a beloved brother and an arch nemesis."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you mean by that?

PRINCE HARRY: There has always been this competition between us really. I think it really plays into what is always played by the past spare.

FOSTER (voice-over): Since tying the knot in 2018, Harry and Meghan's relationship with the royal family has been under intense scrutiny. And

with the release of the couple's Netflix documentary last month, the pair's personal rift with the monarchy has never been far from the headlines.

Although critics question Harry and Meghan's motives for going public, with very private problems, Harry has said that he just wants to take control of

his narrative and ultimately get his father and brother back.

Longing for a family, he says, rather than an institution -- Max Foster, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: So Prince Harry is on the media circuit. And since he and Meghan stepped back from royal duties, we have been treated to several

installments, where they told their story.

You have the Oprah interview and then we had six hours of the Netflix documentary. By our count so far, Harry has sat down with ABC, CBS, ITV and

I have little doubt there will be some more.

And each time we get essentially the same version of a story of family grievances, perhaps with a new element or twist -- uglier and uglier. The

book itself is out next week. Bianca is with me from London.

That is the gist of it, isn't it?

It is all the same but with a little bit of extra.

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and we are getting these details as they are coming in this evening. They are quite salacious and

incredibly personal.

But it is challenging to get your head around the fact that, on the one hand, Prince Harry is saying that he does want a reconciliation. He wants

to rebuild the trust with his brother and his father.

But concomitantly, you have these accusations coming out that Prince William socked him in the face and then threw him to the ground, injuring

him. And all these other details that we're starting to get about the realities of the royal family. And you would know, it's very difficult to

imagine why that would bring them to the table.

QUEST: And more so since the "never explain, never complain."

But here he is, Bianca, describing very personal conversations with the king, who says, please don't make my last years a misery. They will be a --

Buckingham, Kensington and all the other palaces, they will be absolutely not fuming, not seething. They are talking a different language, these two.

NOBILO: Yes, completely at cross purposes. Harry has said that he doesn't think they'll be able to achieve anything in terms of rebuilding the

relationship by silence alone. But I don't think the noise is helping.

And we haven't heard anything from Buckingham or Kensington Palace. We wouldn't expect to. That is the motto, "never complain, never explain."

Also they probably don't want to feed into that narrative that they are briefing against Harry and Meghan, because that is one of the Sussexes'

chief complaints and grievances.

QUEST: Can I suggest to you that one of the things that would be most damaging, at least from King Charles' point of view, the comments about

Camilla, the queen consort. Basically saying they thought she was the evil stepmother.

Now I haven't read the book yet. So I don't know if it goes on to say, everything is fine and hunky dory. All I have seen so far is basically

putting the boot into the queen, too.

NOBILO: Yes, and these excerpts are taken out of context. But they do say that ultimately they understood, if King Charles wanted to be with Camilla,

then so be it. But they didn't want him to marry her. And that was Prince Harry and Prince William saying that.

But a thread which is woven throughout the excerpts that we have seen so far -- and also everything that Prince Harry and indeed Meghan have said

recently, is Princess Diana. And he speaks about the moments in the book that he was told by King Charles, then Prince Charles, that his mother had

died.

He talks about how he and Prince William actually wanted to reopen the investigation because they didn't think hat the results were plausible.

They thought they may have been oversimplified.

Even speaks about consulting a psychic to try and heal and deal with his mother's death and that she apparently wanted to communicate that Harry was

leading the kind of life that she wanted.

[15:55:00]

So I'm sure that those feelings and those complications between Charles and Camilla and Charles and Diana perhaps also play a part in this. I think you

can't avoid it.

QUEST: Listening again to the interviews with them, listening to Netflix, Harry is often talking the language of therapy. Anyone who has been through

it knows that the sort of speak you use when talking about reconciliation or dealing with grief.

He has obviously gone through this process in detail. But I come back to this point. He is talking oranges. The palace, the other royals will be

talking apples.

NOBILO: Yes, he has spoken often about the power of therapy and talking about mental health. You had that from Prince William, too. So it is quite

staggering to have the one brother speaking about his issues with his nearest and dearest family members to the entire world and allowing that to

be the stage where he's asking them to come to him and to apologize.

And also hearing about these physical altercations between the brothers, when we know that these are people that care about mental health and the

importance of talking about your problems. But they do seem to be not on the same page in any way. And this is obviously just taking them and torn

them further apart still.

QUEST: Good to see you, Bianca, thank you.

We will have a "Profitable Moment" after the break. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

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QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment." I'm starting to understand why Kevin McCarthy can't just give in as they start vote number nine. The reason is.

This.

If he does, then of course he is allowing the Never Kevins and the minority to dictate the will of the majority because, time and again, the majority

have voted for him, at least in some way. And they have not -- and this, his party -- and the majority and the minority cannot be seen to win.

The problem is the Never Kevins. They can ultimately hold the whole thing hostage again and again and again. They can also do this with the next

candidate and the next candidate because the nihilism of the Never Kevins arguably is against everything that the rest of the world stands for.

And that is the problem, which is why U.S. media the use words like "humiliating, dysfunctional, disastrous," (INAUDIBLE).

For the time being, it is not calamitous. But as this democratic process continues, still on the rails but barely, one has to ask whether the Never

Kevins or the Kevin Always will actually win.

And that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight. I am Richard Quest. Whatever you're up to the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable.

END