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Quest Means Business

Johnson Re-elected US House Speaker After Dramatic Vote; NY Judge Upholds Trump's Conviction in Hush Money Case; Investigators Suspend Efforts to Detain President Yoon; Bourbon Street Reopens After Deadly New Year's Attack; Barriers Were Under Repair Ahead Of February Super Bowl; U.S. Surgeon General: Alcohol Linked To Higher Cancer Risk. Aired 4-4:45p ET

Aired January 03, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:10]

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: The National Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Association ringing the closing bell this Friday.

Stocks are rising. The S&P 500 looking to snap a five-day losing streak, perhaps paring back some of the positions into the weekend. Those are the

markets and these are the main events.

Republican Mike Johnson holding on to his Speakership after a nail biting vote in the US House.

President Biden blocking a Japanese firm's bid to take over US steel, calling it a National Security threat.

And shares in the world's biggest brewers fall as the US Surgeon General calls for cancer warnings on alcohol.

Live from New York, it's Friday, January 3rd. I'm Julia Chatterley in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

And good evening once more.

Tonight, a major political victory for Donald Trump. Republican lawmakers reelecting his choice for House Speaker on the first ballot.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

CHATTERLEY: Trump giving Mike Johnson his wholehearted endorsement before the vote, but that doesn't mean there was a shortage of drama. Johnson

could only afford to lose one Republican vote, and he initially lost three.

Two of the holdouts changing their minds last minute and supported his bid. Johnson spoke after the vote, setting expectations for the path ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We have a big agenda. We have a lot to do and we can do it in a bipartisan fashion. We can fight high inflation and we must.

We will give relief to Americans and we will extend the Trump tax cuts.

We are going to protect our industries from -sided trade deals, and we are going to bring overseas investments back to America's shores. We will --

that's right.

We will defeat the harmful effects of inflation and we will make life affordable again for America's hardworking people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: And Annie Grayer is on Capitol Hill for us.

Annie, success for Speaker Mike Johnson, but not without the odd twist and turn.

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Right. It was not smooth sailing. We saw members vote for Johnson, but he quickly developed three holdouts

when he could only lose one, and Republicans decide to keep that vote open and see if they could do some convincing and negotiating behind the scenes

and try and seal this still with that one vote. That's why it took so long, but why it ultimately ended with Johnson being elected on the first vote.

And I am told from sources that during that extended time, when Johnson was meeting with groups of different lawmakers, President-elect Donald Trump

was making calls of his own and speaking directly to some of the holdouts, including Republican Congressman of Ralph Norman of South Carolina, because

Trump knows how much is at stake here, and he has backed Johnson. So he has a lot -- he is deeply involved in this process and wanted to make sure that

the person that he endorsed for Speaker, Mike Johnson, actually succeeded in clinching that gavel.

So that's why it was such a kind of chaotic couple of hours there, but it ended ultimately with Ralph Norman and Congressman Self changing their

votes at the last minute to give Johnson the margins he needed to become Speaker.

And now the real work begins, I mean, Republicans elected Mike Johnson, but they are still deeply divided on a number of issues. In fact, a group of

Republicans put out a letter who ultimately supported Johnson, but only kind of begrudgingly about the list of demands that they now want to see

Johnson enact moving forward.

So Johnson has a very tight rope that he will be walking, but with Trump's backing, he is safe in his position for now.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, there are some Republicans out there, I think that would say chaotic is a strong word, particularly after the last time in the

way that he got into the Speakership position the first time around. But today, it ended in success.

Annie Grayer, great to have you. Thank you so much for that.

Now, the Speakership vote was one of the first big tests for Donald Trump since his re-election. The president-elect backed Johnson wholeheartedly,

and he needs to keep the Republicans united to advance any legislation.

There were also personal stakes for the president-elect. The House needs a Speaker so it can certify the outcome of the 2024 presidential race.

CNN senior political commentator, Scott Jennings is with us now.

Scott, what do you make of what happened? Just one vote, but a little extended at the back end.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, we had a modicum of drama today, but it is nothing like what we saw a couple of years ago when Kevin

McCarthy got elected after a number of ballots.

I think one thing it shows is that we have a more unified Republican Party here, and it shows the power of the presidency. Last time around, you know,

there was no Donald Trump really going into the White House, of course, and this time, he is and he is sitting on top of this party more powerful than

ever, and two of the votes that flipped there at the end for Johnson, Donald Trump called them up.

[16:05:16]

So a lot of people today were predicting or maybe speculating that Trump doesn't quite have the grip on his party that he claims to, that was

totally obliterated today.

Trump got his man. He wanted Johnson. Johnson got it on the first ballot, and Republicans voted for a unified party to get to work on the trump

agenda. That's what you're going to see now.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, as Annie was saying, the president-elect calling those holdouts during that gap where we waited, how do you think those

conversations went? Because surely some form of concession was provided in order to get those votes on board? Or did he just say, uh, get with the

program?

JENNINGS: Well, my guess is, in maybe in not so many words, he said, get with the program.

CHATTERLEY: Yes.

JENNINGS: I need the Speaker so you guys can organize the House so you guys can start doing things like, I don't know, passing legislation. My

understanding is Speaker Johnson would like to pass some bills between now and January 20th so that Donald Trump can sign some bills on day one, and

that will go along with a bunch of his executive orders that he is going to sign as well.

I saw a letter that some of the holdouts put out this afternoon. You know, they want to cut spending and do other things. But the reality is, this

body is a majority body, and the Republicans have a thin majority. And so if they don't stick together, they will get nothing accomplished. That just

won't be acceptable to Trump.

So I think the message that he and Johnson have been going with here, which is, teamwork and party unity is vital ultimately is what carried the day. I

am sure that's what he told those members on the phone.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. I mean, what they have to face is the mathematics here, which is the narrowest House Majority, to your point, in what, nearly a

hundred years.

One of the holdouts, Keith Self, said to CNN after this vote, he had a lively discussion with the president-elect, which we can only imagine. But

he did say that they shored up the reconciliation team, to your point, Scott, and this is what you're saying. Look, they clearly have some sway.

They want to be involved in this, but they also have to get stuff done.

JENNINGS: They do. And look, Trump laid out an ambitious agenda. He is going to want to extend his tax cuts. The 2017 tax cuts are up for

extension. They are going to want to cut some spending, I think.

They've got a bunch of stuff on energy they want to do, unleashing more American domestic energy production. They've got immigration work to do.

You know, they're going to want to pass some laws on immigration to go along with what I assume will be a lot of executive orders from Trump on

immigration. It is a really ambitious agenda.

What you don't want is to have a fractured team when you're in such a closely divided chamber. So hopefully the spirit of unity, for Trump's

sake, will overtake the Republicans in the House today, and they will move forward on this together, and largely agreeing, yes, we have to help Donald

Trump be successful.

If these guys spend all their time fighting amongst themselves, it means they aren't passing bills. It means they aren't helping Donald Trump. That

won't sit well down at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

So I am glad Trump got engaged with this because it showed that he deeply cares about who is in charge and that those people are helping him pass the

agenda that he ran on and ultimately won the election on.

CHATTERLEY: Very quickly, also for the voters back home, because they didn't vote for President Donald Trump in the future, and also then vote

for someone to thwart him in his progress as well. It is not just about Pennsylvania Avenue, surely, it is about the voters back home.

JENNINGS: Yes, they wanted -- they voted for Republican control of everything.

CHATTERLEY: Yes.

JENNINGS: Republicans have the House, the Senate and the White House. They didn't vote for Republicans to fight amongst themselves. They voted for

Republicans to fight the Democrats and to roll back what happened during the Biden years, and so we overcame that today.

The Republicans sort of overcame that. There was a belief early in the day that this was going to be a protracted fight, and Republicans were going to

be, you know, a party in chaos, that ultimately didn't happen.

And from that perspective, Trump was like a calming influence on the party getting them to do all this on the first ballot, but back home, voters,

they want change. This was a change election. Three-quarters of Americans think the country is off on the wrong track. That means they want something

to change, and the Republicans have a chance to start to enact that change.

With Johnson installed, that work now begins.

CHATTERLEY: I think the president-elect would love to be called a calming influence on the party.

Scott, great to have you. You heard it here.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: Thank you.

All right, President Biden blocking the takeover of US Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel, saying the deal posed a National Security risk.

Both companies plan to fight the decision in court. US Steel says it may have to shut down plants if it doesn't get the investment promised by

Nippon Steel. The steelworkers union, however, praising President Trump's decision to block the deal.

Vanessa Yurkevich is in New York for us.

Vanessa, this is on domestic political grounds, I think everybody would say we completely understand the decision, but consequences for US Steel,

certainly, and for those potentially that are looking to invest in the United States.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there are a lot of questions here about whether or not this decision by President

Biden was politically motivated or something else, and I think a lot of people are looking at this and saying, well, if the president decided that

this sale is not to go through, what does it mean for foreign investment here in the United States?

US Steel, for their part, saying they very much needed this sale to go through in order to keep these union mills open and operating here in the

United States.

[16:10:10]

However, the union says that if this sale did go through, they were not seeing the guarantee from the Japanese company, Nippon, who was -- they did

not see the language there that would have kept mills open and kept their jobs secure.

And I think more than just the economic impact, Julia, here is the fact that this is a company, 124 years old. This was the world's leading

profitable company in the early 1900s. The first company to make a billion dollars, and there is a lot of emotion tied up in this.

In the 1940s, during World War Two, they employed some 340,000 workers. Today, it is just 14,000, and there was so much more steel output during

World War Two than there is today.

US Steel is about the 27th in line for steel production in the world. So this is a company that really had its heyday, but has since really fallen

on troubled times, as most of the steel production has shifted to China, Julia.

So I think what you're seeing is people looking at this company and wondering, well, what is going to happen to it if this sale does not go

through? But for these union workers who have had their fathers work at this company, their grandfathers work at this company, they want to see

this company controlled just by US Steel, not by any other foreign entity.

But at the end of the day, can the company survive? Some think, yes, it can for a little while, but we've seen this happen with other steel companies.

They have gone under just because so much of the production of steel is shifting abroad. And for US consumers, you know, we are buying cars made

with less steel. A lot of our appliances, which is made with steel, come from abroad.

And so this is an interesting decision by the president. Some officials close to him are saying maybe it is not the best decision, but President-

elect Trump, Julia agrees with this decision very much, siding with the union here, that this company should remain owned by a US entity and no

foreign entity should own US Steel.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it is fascinating, isn't it, to block this on National Security grounds based on everything that you just said, especially when

CFIUS, which looks at sort of the viability of foreign investments, also failed to make a decision based on National Security grounds and pushed it

to President Biden.

And I think to your point, I also think it is interesting that the US doesn't want this Nippon Steel investment, but they are also or at least

the president-elect is welcoming $100 billion from Softbank, which is a Japanese company, into AI and the tech industry, which one could argue is

far more sensitive today than something like steel -- Vanessa.

YURKEVICH: Yes, and there is a lot of consensus, though, that this Softbank deal will actually move forward, that this decision by President Biden and

the president-elect saying that he supports the fact that the US Steel will not be purchased by a foreign entity. It is sort of in two different

baskets, right?

There's the US Steel conversation, and then this other investment into artificial intelligence. But I think for the folks who are on the ground in

these places, critical battleground states like Pennsylvania, US Steel is everything to them. And for there to be a question mark about what happens

with the company, whether its sold or whether it can be viable here in the United States, I think that's important for the president-elect coming in,

President Trump, to know that he has their backs.

I think a lot of this, obviously, is politically motivated in many ways to make sure that a lot of people here in the United States, especially those

steel workers, understand that not only is the president investing in the country, but in jobs, bringing in foreign investment, but also investing in

the jobs that already exist right here on the ground, especially in those key states like Pennsylvania -- Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. I was absolutely going to say that if you didn't, certainly and politically motivated about Pennsylvania in this case in

particular.

Yes, Vanessa Yurkevich, great work. Thank you.

YURKEVICH: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: And to breaking news now, a New York judge has rejected Donald Trump's efforts to toss his criminal hush money conviction. The president-

elect has been ordered to appear for sentencing on January 10th.

James Sample is Professor of Law at Hofstra University, and he joins us now from New York.

James, good to have you with us. So does his legal team, the president- elect's legal team have any other options here? Or he is going to have to appear in some manner in court for sentencing on January 10th.

JAMES SAMPLE, PROFESSOR OF LAW, HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY: I think at this point, his options are to appear either in person or virtually, and Judge

Merchan's order indicated that a virtual appearance would be acceptable, which is unusual in the criminal context and in a context like this, but

these are unusual circumstances.

The judge made clear that Mr. Trump will not be sentenced to a term of incarceration, but the judge also made clear that the immunity ruling of

the Supreme Court this summer does not preclude and in fact authorizes, this kind of a proceeding against a president-elect even if had he been

president when these things occurred and if he were president now during sentencing, the result might be different.

[16:15:13]

So Judge Merchan is trying to get out ahead of the January 20th Inauguration Date here.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, it is astonishing, isn't it, because that's certainly what their legal team was trying to do is at least push this back until

after the inauguration, just to have this within ten days of an inauguration is pretty astonishing.

So what you're saying is, there is no other options? Immunity doesn't hold?

Go on.

SAMPLE: Yes. I mean, there were other options for Judge Merchan. I don't know that there are other options at this point for President-elect Trump.

And to be clear, remember that this is a sentencing that has been delayed multiple times because of those remarkable, and as you say, and absolutely

correctly say, astonishing circumstances.

But if this were a garden variety, normal criminal defendant, the sentencing would have already occurred. And so it certainly will get more

rather than less complicated, starting on January 20th and I think Judge Merchan is saying, look, there was a jury of 12 individuals who heard all

of the evidence in this case, their verdict and the prosecution's effort needs to be respected.

And one way to respect that verdict is to issue the sentencing order, and then a week from today, the sentencing itself, without waiting for a four-

year term of office.

CHATTERLEY: So the decision by the judge, is it actually its cleaner to do this sooner rather than later. What might that sentence look like, given

that it is being handed out to a president or a future president and president-elect of the country?

SAMPLE: It is a really good question, and I think we are in uncharted waters, but I think that the judge wanted to get out ahead of some of the

hysteria that this might cause. It is certainly a jarring turn of events. But by saying in advance that it will not be a term of incarceration, he

will not order the president jailed, the prosecution itself said that that's no longer a tenable solution.

I think we are looking at something that will be very mild, but that will also indicate to Mr. Trump and to all lawbreakers of the law that there are

consequences for actions, even if those consequences here are mitigated and muted by significant measure due to the results of the November election.

A slap on the wrist, whatever form that ends up taking it could have been worse for Mr. Trump, certainly.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, we were just showing the images that were taken in the court of the president-elect's face. And there is certainly, I think, lots

of voters that believe that this case and the charges against him were politically motivated.

Just gut instinct, do you think the president decides to appear in person, or do you think he Zooms in or does it virtually? If you're trying to make

a statement, what do you do?

SAMPLE: It would certainly be on brand for Mr. Trump to appear in person and to turn this into a kind of pre-inauguration inauguration. On the other

hand, he may just simply decide to stay away and to participate only virtually and to sort of give the proceeding and the judge the back of the

hand.

Predicting what Donald Trump will do is a business that I have tried to get out of because I am basically wrong most of the time in that regard.

I think he will make a decision that will be based on what he thinks is best for him and that is hard to measure.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, we stay away from that, certainly.

James, good to have you, sir. Thank you so much.

SAMPLE: Pleasure.

CHATTERLEY: All right, still to come here for us. A failed police attempt to detain South Korea's impeached president. We will have the details on

the dramatic showdown at the Presidential Palace next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:21:20]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back.

South Korean investigators have backed down from trying to detain President Yoon Suk Yeol after a dramatic standoff in Seoul.

Police entered Yoon's compound early Friday to serve an arrest warrant. They were blocked by a human wall of 200 soldiers and members of his

presidential guard. Yoon was impeached last month for declaring martial law.

Our Mike Valerio in Seoul says the warrant for his arrest remains in effect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So the question now is this: What do prosecutors and investigators do to make sure that there is not a repeat of

this again? Or will they even try again to arrest South Korea's suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol. But to give you an idea of the backdrop that we

have right now, all the people, the hundreds of people who you see spanning a few blocks with all of their South Korean flags, those are supporters of

South Korea's suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol.

And for his part, Yoon issued a clarion call as soon as this warrant for his arrest was issued on Tuesday. He sent a letter to his supporters,

paraphrasing here saying, hey, I need you all to come out and make it much harder for law enforcement to detain, make it much harder for law

enforcement to arrest me and they answered that clarion call.

So fast forward to earlier this morning, we have not only his supporters, but the equivalent of South Korea's Secret Service protecting the president

and refusing to turn over suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol to investigators, investigators who want to hold him accountable for putting

this country down the road of martial law, declaring martial law one month ago, on December 3rd into the early morning hours of December 4th. So this

is dealing with criminal charges.

Meantime, we have new reporting that the suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol has the first date of his impeachment trial. The first trial session of the

impeachment saga, which is set for January 14th.

So, in sum, we are waiting to see the next move. What will prosecutors and investigators do? Will they try again to bring South Korea's suspended

President Yoon Suk Yeol into custody?

Mike Valerio, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: Our thanks to Mike there.

And I want to bring in Jeremy Chan. He is the Eurasia Group senior analyst of China and Northeast Asia.

Jeremy, good to have you with us.

JEREMY CHAN, SENIOR ANALYST OF CHINA AND NORTHEAST ASIA, EURASIA GROUP: Hi, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: To Mike's point there, I don't believe that the anti-corruption office of the CIO is going to go and try and arrest the former president

without having some agreement from the security services, the presidential security services, that they will stand down this time around surely.

CHAN: You mean they won't try again, right?

CHATTERLEY: Yes.

CHAN: Yes, because they already tried on Friday.

CHATTERLEY: Right.

CHAN: And clearly there was no agreement there. They are already signaling they're going to try again this weekend. The forcing factor here is that on

Monday, the warrant expires.

CHATTERLEY: Right.

CHAN: And if they don't try again before then, they will have essentially suspended the criminal investigation into Yoon until basically the

constitutional court rules on the impeachment motion and removes him from office, at which point a lot of his immunity goes away.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, the CIO was saying that they would ask the acting president to provide some kind of an assurance that that the presidential

security service will step back, to your point. So even if they're signaling that they're going to try again, surely we are just going to end

up in a similar standoff if there isn't some change on the on the PSS, the presidential security side, that they will stand down.

CHAN: That's right. That's why we believe it is highly unlikely that he is going to be removed through this method. Short of there being a deus ex

machina solution, such as an acting president, for example, or a higher court like the constitutional court ruling on the legality of the warrant

that was handed down by the Seoul Municipal Court, authorizing the CIO to detain Yoon on these insurrection charges.

[16:25:20]

CHATTERLEY: Okay, but do you expect that to happen over the weekend? To your point, I think is very important that it accelerates the need for the

constitutional court to act here. But surely they are not going to be able to do that before the arrest warrant ends on Monday.

CHAN: That's absolutely right. It is already Saturday morning in Seoul. So, the likelihood of that happening short of there being mass unrest or

violence on the streets is exceedingly low in the meantime.

That does not, however, foreclose the possibility that the CIO can go back to either this Seoul municipal court or a separate court as of Tuesday of

next week, and seek an additional detention warrant, which means we could be back in the same dilemma that we are in right now, a week and two weeks

hence, pending that ruling by the constitutional court on the impeachment.

CHATTERLEY: Okay, so what happens? Do they try and extend that the capacity of the arrest warrant beyond January the 6th? Jeremy, what do you expect to

happen over the coming days?

CHAN: So I expect that the CIO will essentially climb down a bit and slow roll the process going forward. They will have a much easier pathway to

investigate him and likely imprison Yoon after he has been formally removed from office.

We believe that at the -- you know, the most likely date that the constitutional court will make a ruling is sometime around early to mid-

March, which means it is really only a couple of months from now before Yoon is no longer a suspended or impeached president, he is just a normal

citizen, and therefore, you know, much, much more likely to be to be prosecuted under sort of normal legal procedures.

CHATTERLEY: Jeremy, can we just take a step back? What on earth is going on? Why all the knee jerk reactions beginning with the announcement of

martial law, the reaction now of the anti-corruption office, the president's refusal or the former president's refusal, the acting president

-- it is just pretty crazy.

CHAN: It is pretty crazy. That is a great summation. I think that it is not properly appreciated outside of South Korea just how divisive the political

dynamics are in the country.

CHATTERLEY: Yes.

CHAN: High levels of polarization, high levels of just accusations from one political party to the other of illegitimacy on the other part and so real

fisticuffs and hardball tactics played, played by both sides.

And so if you're a supporter of Yoon, you view the December 3rd imposition of martial law as a legitimate act that he took in the face of the

"national emergency" that was forced upon him by the sort of scorched earth tactics of the center left opposition. However, if you're a supporter of

the left, you view Yoon as an authoritarian type figure, harkening back to the dark days of the 70s and the 80s of sort of South Korea's military

rule, you know, its pre-democratic period, and neither side is really willing to give a lot of ground to the other at this point.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, Jeremy Chan, good to have you, sir. Thank you so much for your time.

CHAN: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: All right, coming up for us, New York City's controversial plan to reduce traffic takes effect this weekend. We will speak to one group

lobbying to exempt food and drink distributors from the congestion pricing toll. That's next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:30]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. Authorities in New Orleans are now investigating why temporary barricades in place were unable to prevent the worst terror

attack on U.S. soil in years. Bourbon Street is open again with extra security after the New Year's Day truck attack left 14 people dead and

dozens injured. Omar Jimenez spoke to local officials about the tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): So, you're the council member that represents the French Quarter, how would you assess the

ability to prevent something like this before New Year's Day in this area?

FREDDIE KING III, COUNCILMAN, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL: Well, seeing how it hadn't happened before, I would assume that for some figures that we had it

fitted under control. But after the events on New Year's Day, we clearly have weak spots. We clearly have vulnerabilities.

JIMINEZ: I saw some of those archers on the streets, those yellow ones on the sidewalks now, why weren't those there before?

KING: That is a question for our law enforcement.

JIMINEZ (on camera): This is where that truck entered Bourbon Street in the early morning hours of the new year. There was a police vehicle here

essentially stationed as a makeshift barrier, as some of the city's previously installed barriers were under repair. But even if a vehicle took

up this entire street, you can see there still is a good amount of space to go around that onto the sidewalk, which, as we know from video, is

essentially what happened.

Now you see some yellow temporary archer barriers on the sidewalk, but those were not there when this attack unfolded.

JEAN-PAUL MORRELL, INCOMING PRESIDENT, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL: We have had some contradictory messages from internally as far as when the work was

awarded and when it should have started, and we are going to do our own deep dive investigation.

JIMINEZ (voice-over): The City Police Department has made clear in recent days that barriers previously installed to try and prevent vehicles from

coming down the street were under repair ahead of February's Super Bowl in the city, and many of the current measures in place are temporary.

SUPERINTENDENT ANNE KIRKPATRICK, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: We are going to make it where any penetration would be almost an accident possible to get here.

So, that's what you're seeing here.

JIMINEZ (voice-over): But going back years to 2019, a private security firm warned the risk of terrorism, including by vehicular attacks remained

"highly possible" and recommended the vertical safety structures that can move up and down, known as bollards, be fixed and improved immediately. The

district attorney expects this incident to spur changes in security for the French Quarter.

JASON WILLIAMS, ORLEANS PARISH DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We were working on some solutions and some new tools and technology that can be brought in the

French Quarter, because it's a finite area. It's not that big to increase public safety here.

JIMINEZ (voice-over): For some business owners who were open at the time of the attack.

CHARLES WEBER, CO-OWNER, THE ALIBI BAR AND GRILL: It was traumatic. You know, it wasn't just like a random shooting or something or whatever. This

was like you will see in it all down the street.

JIMINEZ (voice-over): The extra barricades are a welcome sight for him.

WEBER: It's very nice to see him and we know we have more to go. I'm happy to see him all, and I'm happy to see, you know, all the police officers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: Thanks to Omar for that report. Now the U.S. Surgeon General is sounding the alarm about the link between alcohol consumption and at least

seven types of cancer. His report, which calls for a warning label, sent shares of major brewers like Anheuser-Busch and Molson Coors lower. Dr.

Vivek Murthy also says it's time to reassess the health guidelines for drinking. Meg Tirrell has more.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The Surgeon General's advisory really comes as the scientific evidence has been mounting that less alcohol

is better for your health, and that kind of flies in the face of what we've really been told for decades that perhaps a little bit of alcohol, maybe

red wine in moderation could even be good for you. Increasingly, the evidence has suggested otherwise.

[16:35:08]

And in this advisory today, the surgeon general is really warning about the particular links to cancer saying that alcohol consumption is the third

leading preventable cause of cancer, after tobacco and obesity, and noting that a majority of Americans actually don't realize that risk between

alcohol use and cancer. The seven different types of cancer that the surgeon general says has a causal relationship to drinking alcohol include

breast cancer, colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer and mouth throat and voice box cancers.

He says that, on average, about 100,000 cases of cancer per year and 20,000 deaths from cancer each year in the United States can be linked to alcohol

consumption, and so as part of this advisory, he is calling on Congress to update the health warning labels on alcoholic beverages to reflect that

cancer risk. That, of course, does require Congress to act. So, we'll have to see if they do.

But in this advisory, the surgeon general really laying out that there have been hundreds of studies showing these links between alcohol consumption

and cancer. And of course, all of this is coming as the U.S. is considering updating the new dietary guidelines and how they consider alcohol as part

of that. The surgeon general really trying to make clear here that folks should take this risk into consideration as they consider whether to drink

alcohol and how much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Our thanks to Meg Tirrell there. Now you're looking at live pictures of the George Washington Bridge. It brings traffic from New Jersey

to New York and pretty soon, commuters will have to pay a lot more to make the journey downtown. From Sunday vehicles entering the congestion relief

zone in Manhattan will be charged a toll, and that includes local streets and avenues at or below 60th Street.

It aims to reduce overcrowding and improve air quality. New York's congestion pricing will be the first of its kind across the United States.

Similar programs have been implemented internationally, though, in cities like London and in Stockholm. Not everyone is for the congestion pricing,

especially restaurants and food businesses who argue the plan will increase overheads throughout the supply chain.

Food distributor Baldor puts it simply, if you eat food in New York City, the cost is going to go up. Baldor is leading an industry coalition to have

food and beverage distributors exempt from the charge. Seth Gottlieb is the Senior Vice President of logistics at Baldor Specialty Foods and he joins

us now. Seth, fantastic to have you with us. I know you're just one of an entire coalition within the industry that saying, look, something has to be

done here.

But have you worked out how much these tolls will cost you as a company, specifically extra just on an annual basis?

SETH GOTTLIEB, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF LOGISTICS, BALDOR SPECIALTY FOODS: Yes, we have. It's going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars of

incredible cost over what we're doing today.

CHATTERLEY: And how much of that can you mitigate, and how much of that will you have to pass on?

GOTTLIEB: So, our plan is to mitigate all the costs and capture all that internally through efficiencies. Our plan is not to pass it on to our

customers, but we know other partners around the Hunts Point community are not going to be able to do so, and we're also very concerned about our

customers who are in the business district who are going to be sourcing all of their supplies from outside of the congestion zone. So their costs are

going to be increased for every supply coming into their businesses.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, can you give me a ballpark what -- because I know you're having conversations and it's great that you're saying, actually,

look, we're not going to have to pass any costs on because we can somehow be more efficient. But what kind of price increases for consumers we're

talking about here?

GOTTLIEB: Yes. I mean, I think it's going to depend on the industry and who's bringing the products in. For us, you know, we're seeing hundreds of

thousands of dollars added into our cost structure that we're going to need to absorb. I think for customers, they're going to certainly see that pass

through, through restaurants and retailers. But one of our larger concerns really is around the impact to food banks,

Members of our coalition support hunger relief efforts, and this is going to create an extra burden on those carriers bringing product to people who

need it the most.

CHATTERLEY: I think this is the critical point, Seth, because I think the - - as high as prices are, and as painful as it is, it's the people who can least afford it that are going to bear the burden here. As you're saying,

the higher costs on the lower income families on food banks, for example, that may, I guess, have less food available. That's what you're saying.

GOTTLIEB: Yes. The Hunts Point community supplies 60 percent of the fresh food into New York City. These also support hunger relief organizations as

well. This congestion pricing plan is going to put undue burden on those organizations and their ability to serve underprivileged communities and

provide them with fresh food. So, we are concerned. Partners in our coalition are also very concerned, not just our customers, but we also

supply schools and hospitals.

[16:40:04]

So, not only will this pass on to the end consumer at restaurants, but the overall food supply chain which is an essential service into New York City

is going to be greatly impacted by this.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. And I will say in the letter that was sent to the governor who enacted this. The message was, look, we understand the benefits,

perhaps to cleaner air, to less traffic, perhaps to less food waste, for example, as well. But notwithstanding that, there are challenges. There are

several state and federal lawsuits pending, I know against this law. How hopeful are you that one of them might at least suspend it or provide some

form of carve outs, because you're not the only industry body, I know the fire services is upset about the implications for their fire men and women

as well.

There's all sorts of pushback against this. How hopeful are you that there'll be some sort of legal challenge that prevails?

GOTTLIEB: Yes. I mean, look, a lot of the -- a lot of the impacts that you spoke about are unintended consequences of this plan. A lot of the focus

has been on leaders and cars going into the city and the alternate for subway. But, you know, there's a lot of essential services, like firemen,

like you spoke about food services that you spoke about. We all support the goals of reducing traffic, of improving air quality and supporting the MTA.

But it's just going to be too challenging with this program going in. We are not hopeful at this point. It's going in on Monday. We know a lot of

the lawsuits have not come to fruition in terms of a delay, but we are hopeful that, you know, for essential services like food banks and

ourselves supplying food, that some exemption will be made for the members of the coalition, as well as relief for businesses that are inside the

district.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, vitally important. Seth, good to have you on the show with us, and we'll stay in touch and see how progress goes. Thank you, sir. And

that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Up next, Richard Quest's World of Wonder. Stay with CNN.

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