, we take joy in making every customer well happy. carvana will drive you happy. good morning, everyone. it is a very busy day. it's thursday, december 15th. welcome to cnn this morning. a lot of news. we'll catch you up on the five things you need to do. at least three are dead after a storm system tore through

louisiana. more than 50,000 people are without power right now. there remains a severe weather threat with possible tornadoes for hundreds of thousands of people in georgia and florida this morning. >> the man accused of attacking speaker nancy pelosi's husband, paul pelosi, apparently had plans to target other very well-known people. suspects say they had a hit list including actor tom hanks during a preliminary hearing on wednesday. the judge ruled there was enough evidence to proceed to trial. >> and first lady jill biden is now supporting the idea of her husband running for reelection. a new cnn poll shows most democrats right now say they prefer someone other than biden at the top of the ticket. >> an unexplained fluid leak at

the internation space station cancels a space walk for two russian cosmonauts. the spacecraft is docked to the iss. it not known how long repairs will take. >> and the final three episode of the harry and megan show on netflix dropped overnight, prince harry revealed how his brother screamed at him and megan talked about her struggle with suicidal thoughts and realized the royal family was, quote, feeding her to the wolves. >> tornadoes ripping through the south, killing at least three people in louisiana where this morning more than 10,000 customers across the state still don't have power.

cnn's knick valencia shows us first hand. >> busted pipes, water pouring out of the building. the damage here in this community was extensive. >> severe storms unfortunately are continuing to threaten the southeast today. joining us to talk about this is the lieutenant governor of louisiana. thank you so much for joining us this morning. we've been paying close attention to this. what is the latest that you have when it comes to the understanding of what the damage looks like statewide. >> well, it's widespread. we had tornadoes from north louisiana down to the south. you were just talking about the one that went through three parishes, jefferson, new orleans and they're still assessing the damg. the latest i got last night, there was about 50 people that couldn't go back to homes. they were completely destroyed.

we're moving trailers to our state parks to try to house those people closer to where they live. >> i have to ask you about deaths, lieutenant governor. any confirmed deaths this morning is this. >> there's three death, two. a young lady and her son were found i hear blocks from her home, horrible deaths in this horrible storm. >> that's terrible to hear. i wonder about missing people. are you aware of any missing people? >> you know, last night they were still looking to identify where people were. they are still going through the neighborhoods and going through the rubble. like i said, it's cross many many parrisishes.

>> thanks for joining us for this important update. >> thanks, governor. >> thank you. >> in health this morning, cancer survival rates are continuing to improve in the united states. this is according to the american association for cancer research. the number of survivors of cancer in the nation rose by more than a million over the past three years and that's partly as a result of catching and treating cans are early. and a report suggests we still have a long way to go in the detection. dr. sanjay gupta joins us. i was stunned to see this number, sanjay. good morning. >> you was as well. i really have no idea of trying to figure out just how many cancers that are found every year, how many are actually found by recommended routine screening tests and that's the number on the screen. 14.1%. that's what they found. when you look at all the cancers diagnosed in any given years, look at all those cancers and say let's look back and say how

exactly were these cansscers diagnosed and the vast majority for other reasons, people developed symptoms that take them to the doctors or what are called incidental findings, someone goes in for something totally unrelated, in my world of neurosurgery, they get a scan of the brain and they find something unrelated to the car accident. that happens quite a bit. but that's sort of where things stand right now. >> sanjay, that doesn't give me and i'm sure most people about cancer screening. what does this say about cancer screenings? >> let me give you a little bit of context here. first of all, when you look at recommended screenings, there are only four cancers that actually have routine recommended screenings now,

breast, colorectal and lung. people are screened for lung cans are if they have a 20-pack year history of smoking meaning they smoked at least a pack a day for 20 years or two packs a day for ten years. some of those screening tests are better than others. there's lots of other cancers out there that don't have recommended screening tests, like prostate cancer, for example, but there are screening tests out there that can be effective. i think there's two messages here. one is if you look at the data more closely, you still see a lot of people simply aren't getting the screening tests. they're just not doing that. and we also need better screening tests. so more people need to get screened and we need to do a better job of getting screening tests out there that are even more effective at picking these

cancers up. i don't think they should feel discouraging or we should just stop doing it. if anything, just the opposite, you have to lean more into these. >> how many does this have to do during covid a lot of people didn't get cancer screenings and how much did that affect this? >> this data that we're showing you is from just before the pandemic. that's the last year this sort of data was made available. it's quite possible those numbers did go down in terms of people going and gotting scregetting screenings during the pandemic. people see the 14% number today. think of it as a rallying cry as opposed to discouragement. my mom found breast cancer on a routine ma'am oaf gram and i think she's here today because of that. a lot of people have stories like that. hopefully this isn't something that he going to be discouraging to people.

>> the biden administration bracing for a surge of migrants at the southern border. coming up, we're going to speak to hidalgo county judge richard cortez who has asked presisiden biden twice to help controrol t influx at the border. from paying g your people from anywhere to supporting your talent everywhere, we use data driven insnsights to design hr solutions and services to help businesses of all size work smarter today. so, they can have more success tomorrow. ♪ one thing leads to another ♪

merry christmas to each d every one. as we celebrate christmas you may wonder if jesus christ can make a difference in your life. you bet he can. that's why he came, to save us from our sins. he came to this earth as a baby, took our sins to the cross 33-years later, and he shed his blood on that cross, and he died for you and for me. but on the third day, god raised him to life. he's not dead. he's alive. if you have never invited him into your heart. if you've never trusted him as your savior, you can do that right now. just pray this prayer with me, just say, "dear god, "i'm a sinner. "i'm sorry for my sins. "forgive me. "i believe that jesus is your son. "i believe that he took my sins to the cross, "that he died in my place, "and i believe that you raised him to life. "i want to trust him now as my savior, "and follow him as my lord. "i pray this in jesus' name, "amen." if you prayed that prayer, call that number.

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migrants at the border next week. officials are allowed to turn away migrants under a public health authority. officials in texas say they're already overwhelmed. cortez has urged president joe biden to visit the region to see their challenges firsthand for himself. judge cortez joins me now. we appreciate you joining us. thank you so much. it's a very important topic. >> good morning. it's my pleasure. >> good morning, thank you. let's get into this, judge. please tell us what you're seeing at your portion of the border right now. what is your situation like on the ground? >> well, the situation is pretty much the same. we continue to have a large inflow of migrants coming in. i speak to the border patrol

often. they tell me that now with having the two of the title 42, they're managing that flow of immigrants but they're very, very concerned that when title 42 is lifted that the influx will be overwhelming and turn a manageable situation to an unmanageable situation so we're very concerned. >> we're looking at pictures now of ten cities across the border in mexico and people are just hanging out there and waiting to cross the border. i wanted to ask you about this memo. dhs is warning if title 42 ends, right, next week, it will likely increase migration flows immediately. how is that going to impact your community that is already under stress? >> well, it's going to have a huge negative impact. and, as you know, the immigrants, we don't know, some may have infectious disease,

some may be criminals. we'll get a mixed bag of them. many of them are honest people that want to come here and work, but we have a mixed bag of things. and none of them really want to stay here in our area. they're all moving east or west to other municipalities. there's always a concern to us when they come into our airports or our bus stations to our neighborhoods in such large numbers, it presents a logistic problem and thank goodness we have some non-governmental agencies that have been assisting with this process but it puts the burden on not only cities but all our federal agents. we're going into a holiday season that hopefully there are people that are entrusted and will spend some time with the families but it is going to be all hands on board, everybody working and it will really be a nightmare. >> you have been calling on the president to do something. as i said in the introduction,

you said the president should come down and see the situation for himself. you pointed out the problems and the issue here. the question is solutions. you have to figure something out. what do you want the president and his administration to do? what action do you need them to take today? >> well, i'll look at things on an objective basis because many people, many americans have subjective beliefs on what is happening but let's look at the data. the data says that america's economy will not sustain or grow itself without immigrants. obviously that's telling america that america needs immigrants. that's true and we all want our immigrants to come here legally, then the president and the congress need to have an easier way for immigrants to be able to come here that want to come and work. america has been trying to deal with this border problem with an enforcement policy. i've been chairman of the border trade alliances.

we've had this issue since way back in 1986 when president reagan gave amnesty to many illegals that were here and nothing has changed because the laws haven't changed. we have outdated laws that congress needs to look into and our president needs to provide leadership. >> just to be more specific because in a statement the department of homeland security said it has deployed additional agents and assistance to the el paso region. is that enough? you mentioned the laws. the laws and what? >> i'm smiling because we have a leak. we need a plumber to come and stop the leak. instead they're sending us more buckets to hold the water. that is not the solution. we have a mixed bag of people coming in, some we want and some

we don't want. if you talk to the border control, people are coming in, 28% are economic immigrants that simply want to come and work. can you please tell me which are the two bad ones and which are the 28? we don't know. so we have to go after all of them. one way to reduce the flow of immigrants is to give them an easier path to come here, the ones that we do want and eliminate having the violence they're having to deal with. with this amnesty program, what will happen here if it's lifted, we're going to have to redeploy people in between the points of entry because they only have so much time to come and administer to those people by law. that manse they're going to take people out of in between events and put them -- to me that's not a plan to work. that's why i would like the president to come here and see

it for himself and quit trying to solve the enforcement problem. if someone thinks we can solve it with enforcement only, then i've got a bridge in new york i want to sell them. >> there is an immediate deadline coming up. let see what happens in the coming days. judge, we appreciate you joining us here on "cnn this morning." thank you so much. >> in london this morning, buckingham palace says they're not going to comment on those new episodes of the harry and megan netflix series. they talk about their split from the royal family, including harry's claim that his brother, princess william, screamed at him. max foster has more. >> what she said to me was it's

like [ inaudible ]. >> the second installment has landed. harry and megan's netflix docuseries could prove to be a lot more explosive than the last time 'round. >> what is that? what is it doing here? it doesn't look like us, it doesn't move like us, we don't like it, get it off of us. >> it starts with fond recollections of their wedding, it goes on to accusations that the institution became jealous of the couple during their triumph and tour of australia in 2018. >> when someone who is the supporting act is stealing the lime light or doing the job better than the person who is born to do this, it upsets the balance. >> for megan, her claims of jealousy, lack of protection from the palace and leaking of negative stories was too much,

she says triggering a miscarriage and suicidal thoughts. >> all of this will stop if i'm not here. and that was the scariest thing about it is it was such clear thinking. >> i remember her telling me that, that she wanted to take her own life. and that really broke my heart. >> i was devastated. i knew that she was struggling, but i never thought that it would get to that stage. and the fact that it got to that stage, i felt angry and ashamed. >> in late 2019 harry says conversations with leaked between him and his father about megan and harry taking reduced roles and leaving the u.k. in early 2020 they issued their own statement laying out their plans which culminated in a

family rao. >> my father screaming at me and my brother saying things that aren't true and my family sitting there and taking it all in. >> a story leaked that megan this bullied her palace staff. >> to see this institutional gas lighting that happens is extraordinary. and that's why everything that's happened to us was always going to happen to us because if you speak truth to power, that's how they re spond. >> harry speaking out for his wife but also his mother. buckingham palace and kensington palace say they won't be responding to the netflix series. >> i was just telling them that i have a lot to watch on vacation next week.

>> when we talked earlier, i didn't even think about the mom part because thinking about what happened with the paparazzi and the media -- >> diana? >> yeah. >> oh, yeah. >> there's so many layers to it . >> still ahead, we're going to talk about the twitter files. they have become a political lightning rod. what is fact and what is fiction, we will tell you on "cnn this morning" next. contestants ready? go!! only pay for whahat you need. jingle: liberty. libiberty. liberty. liberty. take a picture. i'm stuck! is that the new iphone? yup, i just got the new iphone 14 with its amazing camera at t-mobile. wow! at t-mobile, get four iphone 14on us. for $25 bucks a li. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. ♪things are getting clearer♪

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welcome back to "cnn this morning." coming up thois morning, the first avitar movie set records. is there any chance the sequel can live up to that success? and efforts to reform the criminal justice system. and the actor ben mackenzie is telling congress the crypto market is the largest ponzi

scheme in history. he'll join us live to talk about that. >> let's begin with the so-called twitter files. elon musk has claimed he wants to bring transparency to twitter. it's not totally what's happening. queue of birth of the twitter files. must being selected a handful of people with whom he has shared internal twitter systems and communications that seemed to focus on some of twitter's most high profile and sometimes content moderation decisions. these files, which journalists tweet out, appear to call into y question the integrity of the leadership. elon musk said, yes, there were mistakes made but he believes, quote, there was no ill intent and hidden agendas and everyone acted according to the best information we had at the time and added later, i wish they were released wikileak files.

let's bring in cnn media reporter oliver darcy. we'll get to your reporting in just a minute on these. i would, though, like to begin with what i think is maybe the most talked about twitter file. is that right? >> the twitter files. >> the hunter booiden laptop and your "post" story thasquashed ws ahead of the election. >> i think that we need to say that jack dors ear admitted that suppressing the new york story was a mistake. the twitter files, though, they really showed i think the messy content moderation that was

happening behind the scenes and i think we're seeing and it's probably no surprise but we seeing that not everyone agrees on the same page when they're making these complex decisions. i will say on this specific twitter files drop, i thought what was really noteworthy was there was no evidence of government involvement in trying to suppress this story and that was a a big claim that elon musk had made earlier when he was hyping these twitter files. i think that's very important to point out here. >> and part of this is also not just the story, it the way it being covered. you wrote it your news letter saying the reason most news organizations aren't up in arms, it because the releases have largely not contained any regulatory information. gerard baker, the conservative former top editor of the.

>> i think if u, you remember in 2016 when we learned about the russian trolls and influence campaigns and the hacking and everything like that, people were up in arms and blaming silicon valley. they all tried to get their act together in 2018, 2019 and 2020. whether they did that successfully or not was up for debate. but they were having conversations regularly and one thing that was frustrating about these files is it presents this as a huge revelation. we never knew that twit was was talking to the fbi. silicon valley were putting up prs relesses. that be part of the job we've been doing the last few years is

holding these tech companies accountability. >> and picking a for -- it's a very, very big deal. >> i don't know. i kind of don't care. i know it sounds awful. i care about twitter when it comes to people who live in countries where there's suppressed speech and writes, that kind of thing. it's a good news advocate. this whole idea about people h the loudest, when you see donald trump jr. tweeting a ham, i just go stop. figure out what's important. >> doesn't it matter? i hear you. >> yeah, it does matter. >> a big, powerful company if they use there -- no one has a right to be on twitter, okay? you can be on twitter or not be

on twitter. it's a private company. they can set the rules they want to set. i feel especially this whole hundredor biden thing is like a rorschach test for what you believe politically. for me it doesn't interest me in. >> it's the free speech debate. >> free speech is about government. >> right. it doesn't afly to twitter. >> i think people in silicon valley -- many of us would luke to think the spirit has pro vooed such a plut ka and trump got kubd off the platform in thos dawes after january 6th. lots of people were saying, twitter, what are you doing

here? and angela markell said it's a bit concerning to see that a platform this powerful can kick off the president of the united states, even if he has outlets elsewhere. and i think a lot of the twitter files, and your transpaul ryan you is is fwt. i would love to have. >> i think the problem is elon musk is effectively serving as a gatekeeper for this information. he is not giving it to news. he is giving it o to hand-pubd journalists. >> s

possibly dangerous acts in the real world. and, yes, he turns that all up on his head last night when it comes to private jets and he says this is dangerous, we're going to shut this down. and he rewrote twitter's rules to get that jet to come kick off the platform. i do think if i had a private jet -- >> you don't? >> nobody rides on my private jet. >> i that's your ryder for cnn morning. >> if you're all about --

>> can i be clear that i'm going to be in the middle? >> he knows what private yet means. >> i'm going to be on a -- >> i would aspirational. i would get in my own plane and go see my mom every day but i can't. >> so i hate turbulence. i'm like dealta, take me home. >> thank you united or american. >> they're playing us off. >> that you this morning's number is 2 billion! we'll tell you why next.t.

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instagram he won't return for the iconic role of superman writing "this news isn't the easiest but that's life. the changing of the guard is something that happens, i respect that. my chance to wear the cape has passed but what superman stands for never will. it's been a fun ride jove all, on wards and upward." the movie will focus on the early part of the american's live. >> the long-awaited sequel to "avitar" opens tomorrow. with us is cnn senior reporter hair ear entienne. i hear he can't go to the premiere because he had covid. he needs to make 25 bazillion

dollars. the number is $2 billion. for avitar to make a profit, it needs to make $2 billion. the total do. bach office in 2022 based on twine, it's down 89%. the biggest hit, "top gun maverick" only had a gross of 1.5 billion. let's do a little bit of math together. "avitari, if avitar 2's gross is down -- >> they're going to do it. >> i think they're going to do it. i just want to talk about the fact that movie struggles speak to the largest.

>> going to the moch easy dream of going to the movies one day. >> maybe you and i can go together one day. we can bring don and kaitlan. >> we'll check our schedules but we might be busy. >> don is going to sit two rows back from harry. and this morning children's lives have been turned upside down by the criminal justice system. these kids whose parents are in prison for what is known as technical violations spent the day with the 76ers and the eagles. michael rubin put on the event. it's about these children. >> and they're the oning being

left behind what they say is a broken system when it i will tell you and many people felt it was unjust. take a listen. from 21 to 32 years old i've been in prison three or four times, on house arrest four or five times. could have lost my businesses fortunately i am a celebrity and i was making money for myself. for the average person to lose your job, your household for a technical violation, that would put you back to amential state that would make it hard to focus on to the system. there's many layers to the system and i just want to try to direct the president or the administration so what to to with reform because i couldn't got good answers.

but with and fathers leave their kid all the time in the house because they may have smoked marijuana or got addicted to a percocet or went to cross the philadelphia/new jersey state line to talk their children to forkball practice. i would say probation and parole, taking a look at that is a real thing. >> and biggest technical violations, people smoked weed. people missed a probation appointment. i met somebody else yesterday who lives an hour from where the probation officer is and they go twice a week every week to see their probation officer. that's four hours to see a probation officer. how do you given to got ma'amly. now you've got all these other thungs that are working against you. so the point of probation and parole is how do we help people

to rebuild themselves. that's what it's here for. and, by the way, it's actually not the probation officers, it's the underlying system is broken. >> so what the reform alliance is trying to do is shorten probation and parole terms. and these kektechnical issues c land you in jail and the kids are home with no mom, no dad and no care giver. >> i love this work and that you did this. gli went to visit him in prison. and then i interviewed him while he was in prison and i reported after he got out. he promsed to. >> they have passed 16 bills in ten states. >> that is great to both of

them. congratulations. keep it up. >> great reporting. thank you. >> up next, the actor ben mackenzie is going to join us live on what he says is the, quote, largest ponzi scheme in history. >> he estimated 40 million other americans who have invested in crypto currency have been sold a bill of goods. ne have been lied to. ♪ we all have a purpose in life - a “why.” maybe it's perfecting the that you want to keep in the famil.. ...or passing down the family business... ...or giving back to the plac that inspire you. no matter your purpose, at pnc private bank, we will work with you every step of the way to help you achieve it. so let us focus on the how.

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you might remember him as ryan at wood, the rough and tough kid who found himself living among the wealthiest families in orange county in the 2000 classic "the oc." >> no way. look who's back. a little far from eight mile. >> luke, don't. >> what are you? like the spokesperson for geeks of america or something? >> you know what i like about rich kids? nothing. >> these days actor ben mckenzie is taken out a different role as a critic of cryptocurrency he says driven completely by speculation. >> the supposedly multitrillion dollar industry was nothing more than a massive speculative bubble bound to pop. in my opinion, the cryptocurrency industry represents the largest ponzi scheme in history. in fact, by the time the dust

settles, crypto may well represent a fraud at least ten times bigger than madoff. >> he testified before the senate banking committee yesterday in its investigation into the collapse of the ftx crypto exchange. senator john tester was asked by a reporter after if congress could have helped prevent the sudden collapse of ftx. >> i don't know, because i don't know that anybody fully understands what the hell crypto even is. >> joining us now to discuss is the actor and co-author of "easy money," ben mckenzie. ben, you have been warning about the dangers of this for some time now. you even took a 24-part online court with sec chair gary gensler on this. i wonder if you've been proven right. >> yes. i do feel like i've been proven right.

i started warning people in october of last year. the market peaked in november, so just a month after jacob silverman, my colleague and i, wrote our first book, warning celebrities about the dangers of these cryptocurrencies and whatnot. since then, the market has lost 70 to 75% of its value. that's just the value on paper. cryptocurrency is this opaque, largely unregulated market. so you can't even fee if the numbers are real. >> i wonder how you think you saw this when so many other celebrity have been pushing it, have been hawking it, encouraging their fans to get involved in this. how were you so skeptical of it in the first place? >> i have a degree in economics. i like to say the book i'm writing is about money and lying. i know about money from my economics degree and from making a little bit of it with 20 years

in showbiz. i know about lying because i do it for a living. as an actor, you're aware of what people are doing and how they're using language. language is an incredibly important tool that we discount to our peril. when cryptocurrencies call themselves currencies, they are not currencies by any reasonable economic definition. they are in stead securities, meaning investments. but they're unregistered, unlicensed securities. we've actually tried this. in the 1920s, the roaring '20s before the great crash of 1929 and the depression, we didn't have federal securities laws. it's pretty ironic that 100 years later we're revisiting that era. unfortunately what happens is a lot of people get sucked in and a lot of people lose money. >> a lot of people, a lot of regular people. i think that is at the heart of this. something you said when you were testifying is basically you believe the millions of americans and people who have been drawn into this have

basically just been sold a bill of goods. >> they have. the lies are both big and small. the first lies start with language, but they do get bigger. robert schiller, the nobel prize winning economist has talked about how economic narratives form. they're stories in response to real things. the creation of crypto is a response, supposedly, to the subprime crisis. the huge debacle that created a lot of understandable mistrust of our financial institutions has given cryptocurrency the story a lot of its power. everyone knows we have big problems in this country, a lot of problems with our regulated financial system. crypto says, oh, we can fix all that. we can bank the unbanked, build generational wealth, it's the future of money, it's this, it's this, it's this. unfortunately the problem is that all of those stories are not true. none of them are true.

you see now unfortunately, almost when it's too late the power of those lies. people wanted to believe in it so much, and i understand why, that they got sucked in. now unfortunately 40 million americans, the vast majority of 40 million americans have lost money. >> what do you think when you hear someone like senator tester say i don't think a lot of people even know what crypto is. when it's lawmakers and their role that they could have been playing here. what do you think they need to do differently? >> well, it's really interesting. when you talk to the 80-plus percent of the country that has not bought cryptocurrency, they almost say the same thing. i've been traveling around the world and talking about this with lots of different people from sam bankman-fried himself to other investors. people always say the same thing, or almost always. they say i don't really understand it but it seems kind of scammy. i say no, no, no, you got it.

it's not really that complicated. blockchain, this supposedly innovative technology, it's a ledger. it's a way of storing information. it's really not revolutionary. it's been around for 30 years, it goes back to at least 1981 when the first blockchain was created. blockchain is a ledger. what they're doing is they're using it to sell you on a story that it's the future of money. ironically enough, it's actually the past of money. it's an attempt at private money which is something we tried in the 19th century and it failed. in part it failed because of fraud. all of these things are stories, but as i know as a storyteller, just because it's a story doesn't mean it's a true story. >> that's a really good point. your testimony was really impactful. everyone should watch it. ben, thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> it was my pleasure.

thank you. >> that was such a great conversation. >> i was going to say, smart guy, great actor. >> saw all of this before it happened. >> what he said about what happened that we tried this before is a very important point because we did. >> student of history. >> also an actor so he understands how people lie. >> he said i lie for a living. >> thanks for joining us everyone. "cnn newsroom" starts right after a quick break. have a great day. ♪ breeze driftin' on.n... ♪ [coughing] ♪ ...by, you know h how i feel.♪ if you're tired of staring down your copd,... ♪ it's a new dawn, ♪ ♪ it's a new day... ♪ ...stop settling. ♪ ...and i'm feelin' good. ♪ start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy makes breathing easier for a full 24 hours, improves lung function, and helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems.

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