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tv   Anderson Cooper 360  CNN  December 14, 2021 9:00pm-10:00pm PST

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good evening. tonight's house vote expected shortly to cite former white house chief of staff mark meadows for contempt of congress. certainly, speaks loudly on its own. after all, it's not often that a former presidential right-hand man faces criminal charges for anything, let alone obstructing the inquiry into the attempt to overthrow democracy itself. that much is historic. but like every other development in the 11 months since the former president incited a mob to attack the very site where the vote tonight takes place, there is so much more leading up to and surrounding it. for instance, in tonight's floor debate, members of the select committee revealed more of what was in the documents that mark meadows gave the committee and now refuses to answer questions about. >> we've learned that mr. meadows made a surprise visit to a state-run audit in georgia, which led to the now-infamous
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call in which mr. trump improperly asked the georgia secretary of state to find votes. we need to talk to mr. meadows about that. we need, also, to ask him about text messages which he provided to our committee that show an official in georgia texting mr. meadows during the trump-raffensperger call saying that they, quote, need to end this call, unquote. and emphasizing, quote, i don't think this will be a productive -- will be productive much longer, end quote. >> and to that point, committee member adam schiff unveiled another text we hadn't known about until now. this one, to meadows. sender, unknown. applauding the justice department appointment of jeffrey clark, who as you know was pushing the former president's election lies. >> i heard jeff clark is getting put in on monday.
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that's amazing. it will make a lot of patriots happy, and i am personally so proud that you are at the tip of the sphere and i call you a friend. >> the former president, you'll recall, tried to make clark acting attorney general to have someone at the department of justice who would do his bidding. another new text about precisely what this all was leading to was revealed by committee member pete aguilar. >> in one text message to a lawmaker, mr. meadows wrote, he -- he, presumably being president trump -- quote, he thinks the legislatures have the power but the vp has power, too. end quote. >> the power to do what? we could guess the power to overturn the election results. the power to reject the will of the voters. and days later, a violent mob tried to get vice president pence to do just that. >> well, these texts come on top of others to mark meadows revealed last night on efforts by those close to the former get him to tear himself away from the television, reportedly pleased at what he was seeing,
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and say something to call off the mob. now, implicit in this, of course, is their presumption that, in fact, it was his mob to call off, not antifa or the deep state or anyone else but his violent supporters. several fox news figures, one coming from don jr. >> he has to lead now. it has gone too far and gotten out of hand. mark, the president needs to tell people in the capitol to go home. this is hurting all of us. he is destroying his legacy, laura ingram wrote. please, get him on tv. destroying everything you have accomplished. brian kilmede texted. quote, can he make a statement ask people to leave the capitol, sean hannity urged. >> these are the same people, of course, who quickly pivoted to downplaying the significance of a day which they saw in the
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moment for what it was. the danger it presented who could stop it. by implication, who controlled it. he is destroying his legacy. get him on tv. it has gone too far. these aren't people lamenting the weather or taking a turn for the worse or some other random act of god or nature. they are not speaking as passive observers. they are talking, it would appear, about something the former president and the people around him nurtured and incited and set in motion and was now refusing to reign in. just the last several days of contempt proceedings have lifted the veil on. as for the consequences beyond what happens to mr. meadows, we do know one thing and it's not exactly promising. it's playing out right in front of our eyes and it's this. rather than being horrified by what happened to america on january 6th, republicans are now running for office on the lie that led to it. it's good politics for them. people like it. former senator david perdue, for instance, who is running to replace georgia governor brian kemp -- a staunch conservative.
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kemp, as you know, went against the former president's plot to overturn the results in his state. perdue, on the other hand, says he would have gone along with it. this is the tune they are dancing to because this is the piper calling it. saying this is just a few days ago about the vice president who was fleeing for his life from a crowd threatening to hang him while he tweeted egging them on. >> mike should have sent those crooked votes back to the legislatures to approve and you would have had a different result in the election, in my opinion. i think mike has been very badly hurt by what took place with respect to january 6th. i think he's been -- i think he's been mortally wounded, frankly, because i have seen the reaction he is getting from people. >> so, that's the tune he is calling today. it's the tone he is setting for the party in the coming midterm elections, not to mention signaling what he might do in 2024.
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the only question, will don jr. or anyone around him then be able to reach him the next time? so, there is a lot to cover tonight. starting with cnn's ryan nobles at the capitol, ryan, what is happening on the house floor right now? >> anderson, right now, the house is debating a bill related to islamophobia that they will pass later tonight and after this debate wraps up in the next 35 or 40 minutes, that's when we will have the full vote by the entire house on this resolution that will refer mark meadows for criminal contempt of congress. this comes after the select committee voted that out of their committee in a business meeting last night. it passed out of the rules committee earlier today. so, that vote we expect to be largely along party lines. there will be at least two republicans that vote for it, liz cheney and adam kinzinger who of course are members of the select committee. we expect all democrats to support it and outside of those two republicans, saying -- voting yes, most republicans are expected to vote no, anderson. that won't matter. it will be enough for the resolution to pass. >> so, if -- assuming the resolution passes, then what
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happens? >> so now, the next step is that it gets referred almost immediately to the department of justice. and the u.s. attorney for the district of columbia will be responsible for taking a look at the report that the committee has put together. and then, deciding whether or not the department of justice will prosecute mark meadows for contempt of congress. that means there will be a trial if it -- they take that step. and it could lead to jail time for mark meadows if he refuses to comply with the select committee and their desire to -- for him to answer questions. now, this is not a slam dunk that the department of justice could take this step. there is a bit more complicating factors to this claim that the select committee has about his defiance of their request. he was the white house chief of staff, so he does have some privilege claims. but the committee believes they are on firm ground primarily because he's handed over 6,000 documents that he's already deemed as not being covered under privilege, and they want to ask about that.
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and of course, he did write a book where he talked extensively about his conversations with the then-president donald trump, which those clearly are also not protected by privilege. >> and former-vice president pence's former national security adviser, keith kellogg, just wrapped up testimony in front of the january 6th select committee. i understand he briefly spoke to reporters a short time ago. what did he say? >> yeah, he didn't say too much. he and his attorney, anderson. but it is very significant that we saw kellogg today appear in front of the committee. it was behind closed doors but kellogg is someone that was close with not only pence but with donald trump, as well. he was in the oval office on january 6th. so, the fact that he is willingly cooperating with the committee -- his attorney saying after the fact that he did not cite executive privilege to any of the questions that the committee asked him is a key sign that they are making progress trying to get information about what happened in the white house on january 6th. kellogg is a -- a key factor in all of this. kind of a bridge between the pence side of this and the trump side of it.
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if they are able to get some answers from him, it could signal the committee making serious progress. >> appreciate it. thank you. we will check back shortly as the vote draws closer. joining us now, gloria borger, cnn legal analyst, norm eisen. and former ambassador to the czech republic. also, cnn political analyst carl bernstein. during watergate. and of course, bob woodward made their reporting on including white house chief of staff, bob haldeman, who would wind up doing prison time. so, carl, how significant is this moment? >> it's hugely significant because what we are seeing is evidence of a conspiracy led by the president of the united states. and his chief aides to undermine american democracy, free elections, and to incite a insurrection against the united states of america. you have to go back to the civil war to see anything comparable in our history. such an attempt by a president of the united states to utterly undo constitutional law and the very fabric of our governmental system. >> gloria, i mean, if you look at the texts that have come out
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over the past 24 hours, how damning are they for mark meadows? >> well, i think they are damning. i think they are very troubling and, you know, i want to say that after all, he did hand them over to the committee. and he is the center of every story line we have been talking about for weeks and weeks. first of all, he seems to be the center of the big-lie story line. lining up with donald trump. trying to talk to election officials to get them to change election results. figuring out what they could do. you know, right there alongside of donald trump. and then, on january 6th, again, with the president of the united states getting these e-mails. begging him to please make the president get -- go out there, give a statement, et cetera, et cetera which he told donald trump jr. he was trying. he was pushing. but he couldn't really get very
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far, but there he was, again, with the president of the united states. this is why the committee wants to hear from him. and, um, it seems that, you know, they have to take this vote tonight because while he did hand over these documents and seem to be making an awful lot of progress in terms of working out some things with the committee, they could not get to yes. >> ambassador eisen, i mean if the house votes to refer meadows to the justice department, do you believe the doj would actually prosecute him? >> anderson, i do believe that the doj will prosecute him, as they prosecuted steve bannon on the prior referral. meadows has helped the department with its case because he's turned over a plethora of documents, thousands of pages without asserting privilege. and those documents are a legitimate basis for him to show up and testify. so based -- you don't even need to get into the executive privilege argument. now, the d.c. federal courts
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have also said that president trump's executive privilege claims are unavailing. so that's a weak point, too. just because his case isn't as much of a slam dunk as bannon's doesn't mean he has a good one. he's at very substantial criminal risk. i think he'll be prosecuted. >> carl, does it make sense to you that the committee released these text messages from, you know, sean hannity, don jr.? um but they haven't released the name of the lawmakers, themselves? are they hoping to get cooperation perhaps from some of these lawmakers? >> i don't know if that's the objective. but seriously, what we see here is that there are some republicans who understand what has happened here and that they will probably be named in the future. i think that it's inevitable. there might be some negotiating room here but i think we need to go back to this larger idea. one of what happened? who these people are. mark meadows, the president,
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these acolytes of the president that incited this insurrection. then, saw -- the president's son saw what was happening and said the optics of this are terrible. we have to desist. but also, this is part of a much greater story and, that is, this was a dress rehearsal for 2024. there is an ongoing conspiracy to undermine that election. we have seen the infrastructure, right in front of our eyes at this moment, being built to continue the big lie. make it impossible to have an honest, fair election. there is a great piece written by barton gelman in the atlantic magazine this week. that one of the best pieces of journalism to come out of what's happening, and everybody should read it and we should all be reporting on this ongoing conspiracy that donald trump is leading. a continuing conspiracy to undermine the united states of america. >> gloria, after the deposition by the committee of the former
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national security adviser to pence, keith kellogg, told reporters this evening, quote, nothing's been said that hasn't been reported. what does it say to you that general kellogg is basically downplaying his testimony? >> yeah, i think -- i think he is. i think he wants to. he is cooperating and, look, this is a man whose national security adviser to mike pence. also, before, had worked for donald trump. also, was in the white house on january 6th. um, this is a man as ryan nobles pointed out, who is kind of a bridge between the pence folks and the trump folks. and there is a problem between those -- those two folks, and so i think kellogg going in there, volunteering information, um, in a what seemed to be kind of a friendly environment. although we really -- we really don't know because we're not inside the room. um, is telling.
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i'm not quite sure whether it means that he would go in there and criticize donald trump. or he would go in there and defend mike pence. i mean, we -- we don't -- we just don't know. we just don't know because he's close to both men. >> ambassador eisen, i mean, if meadows suddenly wants to cooperate after likely being held in contempt, what would then happen? >> well, meadows could still cure his contempt by coming in and cooperating. he seems to be determined, anderson, on a course of noncooperation. >> right. seems highly unlikely after wavering like he has that he would do it again. >> well, he -- i agree it's unlikely. he has flip flopped once. you know, thank goodness for the country this is the gang that could not shoot straight. um, meadows has worsened his own situation so badly. but, anderson, the more telling thing is it's not just kellogg. it's over 300 cooperators. it's the vice president's former
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chief of staff who's gone in and talked, as well. mark short. and the theater of what we saw today. the strategic release by the committee to tell the story of meadows' culpability. i mean, this is a very able investigation -- having been inside of one. and that's why i think you are seeing the keith kellogg's of the world who are cooperating. they don't want to face the criminal charges that now are confronting mr. meadows. >> yeah. norm eisen, appreciate it. carl bernstein, gloria borger. coming up next, as we wait for the house to vote, one of the organizers of the january 6th rally, the information he says he is providing to them. also, infectious disease specialist michael osterholm on the new omicron strain and how fast it's spreading. that, plus hopeful news on how effective the new pfizer pill is at keeping people out of the hospital.
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meadows. as gloria mentioned before the break, he is at the center of so many story lines. they are expected to vote in about 10 or 15 minutes. as you might imagine, that is only our best estimate. these things tend to change. first, i want you to hear this. it is an interview i did just before air time with someone who testified today in front of the committee. he is dustin stockton, one of the organizers of the january 6th rally on the ellipse washington preceding the capitol attack. i spoke with him and josh nash, his attorney. >> so, dustin, you were subpoenaed by the january 6th committee. just to be clear, today when you showed up, did you show up at the capitol because you wanted to help the committee get to the bottom of the events surrounding the insurrection? or because you didn't want to be held in contempt like mark meadows and steve bannon? >> well, um -- >> or a little bit of both? >> yeah, probably, i mean, there
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is a little nuance there. um obviously, the committee's seriousness with other people made it clear that they weren't just being but since the event, my fiancee and i have given numerous at-length, on-the-record interviews because we think it's really important to get to the bottom of what happened. and we also want to represent the voice of the vast, overwhelming majority of people who answered the call came -- to come to d.c. and didn't do anything wrong. didn't cause any violence, didn't participate at the capitol. and the people -- anyone who played a part in doing that should be held responsible. it's torn our country apart, and if -- if there's ever been a time for us to come together as a country and kind of have a truth and reconciliation moment, um, i -- i think this calls for it. >> what are your thoughts about the former president at this
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point? um, obviously, you were a huge supporter of his. um, and, you know, really instrumental in many things. um, where -- where -- how do you view him now? do you feel a sense of betrayal? >> definitely, a sense of betrayal. um, it -- it -- it's really hard, like, to -- it's -- it's been something i've -- i've really struggled to come to terms with because this was somebody who we -- we sacrificed for. we -- we invested our lives and our time and at -- in a lot of ways, the warning signs were there. we saw other people come forward
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from his inner circle. essentially, he abandons people when the going gets tough for people. and, you know, in some ways, it's embarrassing to think that in a lot of ways, we bought into what essentially turned out to be a bluff or a con. >> your attorney, josh, who is with you there, said this morning that you have text messages and e-mails with people who are, in your attorney's words, very senior in the former president's orbit, as well as with members of congress and you would turn those over to congress today. you declined to share that evidence with us. can you give us more specifics? >> well -- so -- >> anderson, can i intervene just for a minute? >> sure. >> firstly, i just want to make a -- address your first question because i have a very unassuming client, as you can tell. he didn't show up today to comply with the subpoena, and to provide testimony out of fear of being held in contempt. he showed up today because he views this as his civic duty, and his patriotic duty to his country to be fulfilled. um, the events of january 6th were a stain on our democracy, a blemish on our republic. he recognizes that to be clear. um, he is a witness. that's why he got a subpoena. he was not involved in the events of january 6th, and
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certainly not involved in the events at the capitol. um, and, you know, that's an important and material distinction to make. >> it's been reported that katrina pearson -- it is bean reported that katrina pearson was one of the people that he communicated his concerns to. is that correct? >> yeah. so, um, some -- some of this, we want to be -- we have to be sure to be extremely accurate. there was a team of us who organized the two bus tours and the rallies in not just january but in december and november. and there were -- as this whole thing played out -- there were obvious concerns about a lack of infrastructure. that the only rally that
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happened in d.c. after the election, that i didn't have some kind of leadership position in the logistics and security of is what happened at the capitol. and um, i was frustrated leading up to that because i -- i take the responsibility of making sure that when people come to exercise their first amendment rights of peaceful protest, um, that it's done in a way that he is safe and productive. i -- i -- i was given no access or control or even input on the event at the capitol. um, and -- and had loudly made my concerns to everyone available. and -- and really, my -- the whole team i was working with on
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the bus tour at the time were voicing those concerns to everybody that we could. um, hoping to make sure that a potentially volatile situation wasn't going to happen and unfortunately it was the worst-case scenario. >> you obviously have long history with steve bannon. you worked on the private effort about the wall for which ban was arrested and you were raided, as well. never charged, i should point out. in the days leading up to the capitol riot, some of the former president's, you know, most vocal loyalists. they set up what they called a command center at the willard hotel near the white house. bob woodward rights about it in the book "peril." former president called rudy giuliani, steve bannon at the willard on junior 5th according to woodward's book. i know you were staying at the willard. were you in this so-called command center? and can you tell us anything about those conversations? >> well, so there were actually several, quote/unquote, war rooms at the willard. uh, basically, it was the central hub of all of the
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different organizing efforts. um, i was not a part of the war room described in bob woodward's book but i -- i did regularly run into and see a whole host of senior advisers to the trump campaign and prominent figures on the right and in the america first movement. um, and -- and had occasion to visit many of these different rooms at different points. but no, i -- i didn't have access and -- and wasn't in that specific -- >> so you didn't hear -- you didn't hear the former president calling in? >> no, i definitely didn't hear the former president calling in. >> i -- just wondering, when you -- i know you -- you have said you had communication with paul gosar. he has denied those communications. um, but i want to ask you, when you hear what some of, you know,
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paul gosar and others are saying about what happened on january 6th, the way they characterize, you know, it wasn't -- you know, it was like tourists coming to the capitol. things like that. i'm wondering what you think? >> well, so i -- a lot of what has been printed about dr. gosar, i -- i have a long friendly relationship with him. i -- i also don't believe that he did anything wrong in his interactions with me. i think the way the talk about potential pardon has been mischaracterized by a lot of the media. so, i definitely want to just try to clear that part up. um, i -- i think one of the most stunning -- i'm sorry -- revelations that -- about these recent text messages from fox news producers and trump jr. and all these other people is that they were doing the right thing as things happened. and yet, they've continued to
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mischaracterize it afterwards which is the -- those text messages make it clear that they knew the violence was unacceptable, that it needed to be condemned in the most serious possible way. and yet, they -- they continue to downplay it and underplay it and i think that is part of the big reason here we are nearly a year later and there is still no resolution amongst the american people about what happened. >> just finally, i mean, ultimately, who do you blame for the attack on the capitol? >> well, so, i -- i always like to point out that the people who committed violence, the people who attacked police officers or defaced the capitol are responsible for their own actions, first and foremost. but the buck's got to stop at president trump. um, he knew better and there's no excuse for him sending people
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down into that situation without having the logistics, the security, the stage and sound system to control the crowd. that stuff could have been in place, and should have been in place before he ever sent people down there. and the -- the fact that he delayed for so long responding, i -- i think really speaks ill of what his intentions were and what he was doing. >> dustin stockton, josh nash, i your time tonight. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. quick note about the timing around the contempt vote in the house. our team on capitol hill says it has now been delayed by a few more minutes so we will continue to track that as we learn more. in the meantime, there is new information about how fast the omicron covid variant is spreading. plus, some good news about pfizer's covid pill. we will tell you how well it works, next.
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criminal justice reform. chesa's not it. recall chesa boudin now. well, there is a grim new milestone to report tonight. according to data from johns hopkins university, more than 800,000 people in the united states have died of covid since the start of the pandemic. also tonight, new cdc data shows the omicron variant is more transmissible than the delta variant and is being detected at a rate of about 3% around the country right now. here in new york, cornell university shut down its campus after more than 900 covid cases among students this week. according to university officials, a quote very high percentage of those cases are omicron variant cases in fully-vaccinated individuals. there is good news about pfizer's antiviral covid-19 pill. according to the company's final analysis, they say it is nearly
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90% effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk patients. joining us now to talk about it all, michael osterholm, director for the center for infectious disease research and policy at the university of minnesota and a form member of the biden transition team covid advisory board. professor osterholm, appreciate you being with us. so, this outbreak at cornell, what does that tell you? i mean, 900 new infections. university shut down. i mean, more, if not all, fully-vaccinated individuals. what does that say? >> well frankly, it's a harbinger of things to come. this is a highly infectious virus. as we see it move around the world and become established even at a few percent, we are starting to see more and more really large outbreaks developing and so i think we are watching a war right now between the delta variant and the omicron variant as to who's going to become the king of the viral hill. and i think right now, omicron's transmission potential means that it probably will win. >> so, you know, professional sports leagues are highly vaccinated, highly tested. the nfl, the nhl, are seeing
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rises in infections. a league source telling cnn that 28 players tested positive today after 37 did yesterday. i mean, what does a rise in cases among pro-athletes tell you about what might be going on in the general population and people who aren't regularly being tested? >> well, you have to realize, again, we have a different categories of people who are vaccinated. those unvaccinated, of course, which we realize continue to drive a large part of the serious illness. with the delta situation. but we are also beginning to see more and more people who have not been boosted, meaning that they are six or more months out from their original first-two doses of the mrna vaccines. right now, only about 30% of the country has actually been boosted of those that could be. many of the athletes we are seeing right now are actually in that category and that's why, as you heard yesterday, the nfl, in fact, put in place mandatory vaccination for teams -- not the players -- but everyone else on the teams because of that very issue. so, this is why we have talked
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over and over again about why boosters are so important. that's what is going to continue this drive this situation. >> so what do you expect this winter to be like in the u.s.? >> you know, anderson, every morning when i get up, i try to scrape the 5 inches of mud off my crystal ball and be able to predict that. and, you know, so far, we have done a pretty good job of predicting where this would be. i think the battle between omicron and delta is going to be a key one. if, in fact, omicron is not as severe -- and i know many people don't want to hear that because they are afraid that will give people complacency -- but i think the data, so far, shows it's not as severe. but if you have it offset by many, many more people getting infected than we would with delta, then you might still have the same impact on the healthcare system. and right now, we are watching delta explode in this country, particularly in the east and the southern states right now are starting to see some increase. and so, i think that if delta wins out, then in fact we are going to see a major increase in severe illness.
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if omicron wins out, we may see an increase in severe illness and we just don't know, yet. >> you know, obviously, look. a lot of people listening right now at home are probably just kind of despairing because it just seems like we are going backwards. one step forward, and then we go backwards. does this just go on and on like this for years? i mean, you know, some people had suggested, well, ultimately, the virus will kind of weaken. and it's -- its ability to spread will weaken and that's when, you know, and more people will be vaccinated and that's when we sort of emerge into a new normal. >> well, one of the challenges we have right now is we don't really understand what it takes to be immune as a human. we know that the vaccines we have are remarkable tools but we are also realizing they may only provide limited long-term protection. and so, until we can get potentially a better er 7b9le
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understanding of that, the we will come up do we need new boosters six months from now? we don't know and we have to be honest with the public and say that. this is a time where science is learning by the day and then trying to translate, by the night, to the public. and so, it's very clear we are in a confusing situation. i don't think it goes on like this forever. but it -- for the -- this immediate period, it's not clear what's going to happen over the next few months. we can see no matter what happens, though, you are going to be better off if you are fully vaccinated. first times and to get your booster dose. you will be better off. >> and what do you make of pfizer's new pill to treat covid? >> i think it could be a real game changer. i think it's a very important development. my concern is exactly what i have said for the last year around vaccines. you know, i have been saying there is the last mile and the last inch. the last mile's getting the vaccines to the people. the last inch is getting the needle in the arm. we have seen that 40% of the u.s. population won't take that needle. we're already hearing feedback from the street that some people were saying, well, that new drug is just part of the biden administration. a biden poison bill. we are going to stick with our
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ivermectin and not get the drug. these would be the same people that have not yet been vaccinated. if that happens, we will waste an incredibly, incredibly important tool in reducing severe illness. and so, time will have to tell on that, too. >> professor michael osterholm, appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you. south carolina attorney alex murdaugh was set this week as he faces dozens of new charges with him accused of financial wrongdoing and setting up a suicidal insurance fraud scheme. now, he reached a settlement with the family of his former housekeeper who allegedly died after a fall at his house years ago. we will have the latest on that next. ♪ limu emu... & doug ♪ ♪ superpowers from a spider bite? i could use some help showing the world how liberty mutual customizes their car insurance so they only pay for what they need. (gasps) ♪ did it work? only pay for what you need ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ spider-man no way home in theaters december 17th
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the case into disgraced south carolina attorney alex murdaugh is taking some new turns now that he agreed to a $4.3 million settlement with the family of his former housekeeper. she died after allegedly falling in the murdaugh home. he was arrested in jail in october this year for allegedly misappropriating funds meant for the housekeeper's family. yesterday, his bond was set at $7 million. he now faces a total of 48 charges on the accusations of financial wrongdoing and setting up a suicidal insurance fraud scheme. there is still questions also surrounding the mysterious deaths of murdaugh's wife, son, and others i just touched on. there is also questions about
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murdaugh arrange for his own killing in september when he was shot in the head so his survooiing son could collect the life insurance payout. it is a bizarre story. 360's randi kaye has details. >> reporter: june of this year, a disturbing 911 call from the murdaugh family home in islandton, south carolina. >> are they breathing? >> no, ma'am. >> okay. and you said it is your wife and your son? >> my wife and my son. >> and what is your name? >> my name is alex murdaugh. >> reporter: that's alex murdaugh on the line. the victims are his wife margaret and their 22-year-old son paul. the shooting happened here at the family's home. you can't see the house from the road. it's behind this gate. but we are about 90 miles west of charleston, south carolina. when county sheriff's deputies arrived at the house that night of june 7th, they quickly determined both victims had been shot multiple times. alex murdaugh said he returned
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home and found his family shot. he's denied having anything to do with their deaths. six months later, who killed them and why remains a mystery. but what makes this all even more bizarre is that others with connections to the murdaugh family have also mysteriously died. >> remember, five people died in his orbit. i don't know anybody in my 60 years of life that had five people die in their orbit. >> reporter: those five people include 19-year-old mali beach. she had been out boating with paul murdaugh and friends in february 2019. about two years before paul was killed. at the time of his death, he was facing charges of boating under the influence and causing her death. he allegedly hit a bridge while driving his father's boat drunk and beach was ejected. the investigation is ongoing. >> we are in a boat crash on arthur street. there is six of us and one is missing. >> are we going to get answers on that? or is it going to just die with
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his death? >> reporter: lawyer eric bland filed a lawsuit on behalf of the children of gloria satterfield. she was murdaugh's longtime housekeeper who died in 2018 after allegedly falling down stairs at the family's home. murdaugh's wife and son were both still alive at the time and called 9-1-1. >> my housekeeper has fallen and her head is bleeding. i cannot get her up. she's cracked her head and there is blood on the concrete and she is bleeding out of her left ear. >> reporter: gloria satterfield later died in the hospital. according to this letter the coroner sent to law enforcement, an autopsy was never done and her manner of death was listed as natural the coroner noted that was inconsistent with injuries sustained in a trip-and-fall accident. >> the natural death is somebody that has a heart attack or is sitting here talking and a
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seizure or a stroke. >> reporter: in september, police opened a criminal investigation into the housekeeper's death and the handling of her estate. >> why do you think they have decided to re-open the -- the s investigation into gloria satterfield's death? >> because then everything around alex is a lie or deception or half answers. it's a family that's cloaked in secrecy. >> reporter: police have also announced they are reexamining the puzzling death of 19-year-old steven smith based on information gathered while investigating the double homicide of margaret and paul murdaugh. authorities have not said what, if anything, smith's relationship was with the murdaugh family. in july 2015, steven smith's body was found in the middle of a rural road here in hampton county, south carolina. the highway patrol's incident report said he suffered from blunt force trauma to the head. a pathologist noted that it appeared he had been struck by a vehicle but the highway patrol said it didn't find any skid marks or any evidence to suggest that was the case.
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more than six years later, and not a single suspect or person of interest named in his killing and alex murdaugh isn't talking. >> i want to know is this possible? how did these people die? is it all just by coincidence or was it by design? >> this is -- it's such a bizarre story. i mean, when it comes to the housekeeper's death, randi, do we know any more about how she died or why it is now a criminal investigation? >> well, the lawyer we interviewed for that story, anderson, represents the housekeeper's sons and he told me that murdaugh told those boys that their mom -- the housekeeper -- had actually tripped over the murdaugh family dogs and that's how she had fallen and this is where things get really complicated because the lawyer also said that murdaugh then hired a friend of his who was a lawyer -- this is another scheme apparently -- hired this friend to represent the boys and to sue murdaugh and then -- because it was his dog's fault apparently. and then, when the insurance money came in, millions of dollars, instead of funneling
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that money to the boys who deserved it, the money went to alex murdaugh somehow. so, just this week in court he settled with those boys for $4.3 million because that money should have gone to them. i spoke with his lawyer by phone today. he said he has no comment on alex murdaugh's case, he has no comment on these death investigations but i can tell you the chief of the south carolina law enforcement division has said that his agents are going to work tirelessly to solve these cases and that he will make sure that justice is served, anderson. >> all right. randi, appreciate it. thank you. president biden travels to kentucky tomorrow to tour the damage left by those powerful tornados. what he can expect to see and incredible story of survival from our gary tuchman.
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whatever stereotype you're gonna try . . . . . . to put on me about having hiv isn't gonna fit. that's for sure. my name is zach and i'm on biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment . . . . . . used for hiv in certain adults. it's not a cure but with one small . . . . . . pill, biktarvy fights hiv . . . . . . to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a build-up of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding . . . . . . or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea,
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and headache. if you're living with hiv . . . . . . keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. we're following new updates out of the devastating tornadoes that tore through kentucky and seven other states last weekend. president biden is set to visit kentucky tomorrow to survey the damages. today governor beshear said of the at least 74 people killed, 12 of them were children. more than 100 people are still unaccounted for. officials saying some homes will be without power for a month. the governor says some survivors just have the clothes on their backs. one was an elderly man seconds away from being crushed as his house fell around him. gary tuchman tonight has the story.
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>> reporter: the tornado tore right through this house in bowling green, kentucky, where an elderly man lived by himself. this was his living room where he fell asleep friday night. while sleeping on the couch, tornado alerts from his smartphone went off, and the alerts saved bob newman's life. >> i just have a positive attitude about anything. i can survive most things so that his home where he lived for 50 years is destroyed. sentimental treasures broken or gone. bob newman suffered cuts to his hand, but here is why after hearing the alerts he wasn't seriously hurt or killed. >> the winds were increasing and getting louder. bob realized he was in danger. he had been sleeping on this couch, but believed this living room would not be a safe place to be. he started crawling. he had heard be in the center of your house under the center beam. he crawled, got on his knees,
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put his arms over his head, and within seconds the tornado came through the house. this doorway survived, and so did bob. >> and as the house was being destroyed around you, what was going through your mind? >> it went so fast, i didn't have time to whom about it. boom, it was gone. >> reporter: bob truly is a survivor. he was a leukemia patient, has triple bypass surgery, and sadly lost his wife of 55 years in march. they had lived in the home for almost their entire marriage. and it's where their son, steve, in this picture was born. steve frantically rushed up to kentucky from his home in tennessee after not being able
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to get in touch with his dad. he encouraged his father to get a smartphone in case of a disaster just like this. >> could you believe what you saw when you got here and that your dad survived it? >> that was pretty incredible. i was, like, how in the heck did he survive that? with only a couple cuts. it's one thing to survive, but with only a couple cuts, and he's got a tremendously positive attitude that he was going to make it. >> reporter: bob doesn't know if he'll rebuild this house. he does know that he's grateful he can go on with his life. >> you got to get over things. i'm already over this. this is, you know, -- what is this? it's destroyed property. it's not life or i so you have had it. >> time for you to move on? >> yeah. you can't let things like this bother you, you know. >> that's a great attitude. where is he going to live now? >> reporter: bob's son says he can live with him in nashville. bob is from bowling green originally, he was an insurance man for decades, a middle school teacher before that. we're just glad that he's safe and okay. >> yeah. and that his son was able to get there is great