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Spirit Airlines Files For Bankruptcy After Mounting Losses; Trump Confirms Plan To Use Military For Mass Deportations; Economists Warn Mass Deportations Could Drive Up Grocery Prices; White House Condemns Neo-Nazi March In Columbus, Ohio. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 18, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: New today, Spirit Airlines, the pioneer of no- frills, low-cost travel, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, this comes after a string of setbacks and just 10 days before Thanksgiving, which, of course, is one of the busiest travel days of the year.

So how might this impact you? We have CNN aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean, here with answers.

All right, Pete, what are you learning about this new bankruptcy filing?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: People really love to hate on Spirit, but the fact is that it really changed the industry in a really big way.

First, I should mention, though, that we just got this message from Spirit CEO Ted Christie. This went to a lot of Spirit customers. He says that this will not be complete until the first quarter of 2025. So you still have some time to fly on Spirit and things should continue as normal.

The big thing here about Spirit is that it ushered in the term "ultra" low-cost carrier, and that forced the major airlines to introduce the notorious basic economy fare.

And bottom line here is that this could have big implications for every other U.S. airline. Pretty competitive industry. So this might lead to ticket prices going up on other airlines.

Here's the good news, though. If you have a ticket or a credit on Spirit Airlines, you will not notice any change for now.

Spirit insists in a statement this morning that "guests can continue to book and fly without interruption, and can use all tickets, credits and loyalty points as normal."

Also no impact to workers. We're hearing from Spirits flight attendants union that they will remain on the job. Their contract is still in place. No changes to pay or benefits, so no immediate job furloughs as we saw airline do at the beginning of the pandemic. Also, Spirit underscores that vendors will continue to be paid.

Big questions now about what will happen to Spirit Airlines in the long run. Remember Frontier Airlines tried to merge with Spirit in 2022. Just after that, JetBlue tried to do the same thing. But that acquisition of Spirit was blocked by the Justice Department on antitrust grounds. Frontier ended its merger plans with Spirit earlier this month, which led to this bankruptcy filing.

No more apparent lifelines for Spirit Airlines. Saddled with about $3 billion in debt. And now it's really on passengers to pay attention here especially if you have a Spirit ticket or a credit, like I do.

Top airline consumer advocates tells me that flights could be eliminated in the months ahead. So it's especially important to sign up for alerts, check in on your flight status obsessively online.

The silver lining here, no real impact on Thanksgiving or holiday travel. Kind of hard to believe that the Thanksgiving rush is really just only a few days away now.

SCIUTTO: Yes, we're going to be flying, too, so I'm taking particular --

(LAUGHTER)

SCIUTTO: -- interest in this.

So what is -- what is AAA saying about the holiday?

MUNTEAN: The big number from AAA now is that 80 million people will travel 50 miles or more over the seven-day holiday travel period for Thanksgiving.

It used to be a five-day period, but they've now expanded that to include a couple extra days on the front end and the back end, because a lot of people are able to flex their time. A lot of people are still working from home. A lot of people are putting off the trip back home until the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Usually, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the day we get the really big numbers. Worst times to drive, about 70 million people driving, are Monday through Wednesday in the afternoon. Wednesday is a peak day.

Thursday usually pretty good. Friday morning is bad. And then all day on Monday, December 2nd, the day that everybody comes home all at once. It's going to be a really big one.

[13:35:12]

SCIUTTO: Yes, you think, hey, I want to travel on the Sunday. Monday is going to be fine. And then you're like sitting in your car, right?

(LAUGHTER)

MUNTEAN: Exactly.

SCIUTTO: Pete Muntean, thanks so much.

MUNTEAN: Sure.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, President-Elect Trump vowed to bring down prices during his campaign but that promise may collide with another one of his biggest promises, carrying out mass deportations. Up next, how that could actually drive up prices.

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[13:39:57]

SCIUTTO: Today, we're learning more about how President-Elect Trump apparently intends to fulfill his pledge to conduct the largest deportation program in U.S. history.

Responding to a post on Truth Social, Trump simply wrote, "True," about declaring a national emergency and then using military assets to deport millions of undocumented migrants.

But as Trump gets set to fulfill his campaign promise, experts in the food and agricultural industries are sounding alarms, warning that his deportation plans could lead to higher food prices.

CNN's Matt Egan joins me now.

Matt, this is something we heard economists warning, warning about during the campaign as Trump was making exactly these promises that there would be costs. Tell us why.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Jim, it's no secret that Americans are fed up with high prices at the grocery store. But what may surprise some is that mass deportations could make them go even higher.

Now, the economic problem here -- and I know there's legal and moral problems too -- but the economic problem is that this is an industry that is heavily reliant on foreign workers. And, yes, many of them are undocumented.

Just look at farms. If you look at crop farm workers, a plurality of them, 41 percent, are unauthorized according to the USDA.

And I talked to a farmer in Michigan, and he told me that mass deportations would be devastating to the ag economy because there just wouldn't be enough people to pick the crops.

But this is not just about farms. Undocumented workers play a key role across the food supply chain in everything from food processing to wholesale grocery, of course, and restaurants.

A total of 1.7 million people are estimated to be undocumented in the food supply chain. Now we've reached out to the Trump transition, have not heard back in

the past. They've argued that his policies will not be inflationary, and that inflation was not a major problem during his first term.

Of course, that was before Covid. And economists warned that if you have fewer workers, it means less food. And, yes, higher prices -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: That's just it's in the data, right? It's in the math.

So, so what do farmers and agricultural companies say about why, if they're relying on 41 percent undocumented workers right now, why they don't or cannot hire more U.S. Citizens to do the work?

EGAN: Well, Jim, farmers say again and again that these are jobs that by and large American citizens don't want to do. These are hard jobs. They're dirty. They're out in the elements. And that's why they are relying on foreign workers.

In fact, farmers say they need more foreign workers. They want more visas. They want to be allowed to keep the undocumented workers who are in the country now legally. They don't want them to be deported.

Now, listen to this warning from Chuck Connor, a former Bush official, who's now the CEO of the National Council of Farmer Coop. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK CONNER, PRESIDENT & CEO, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF FARMERS COOP: You take away from those workers, you're not going to have production. There's only one way prices are going to go. They're going to go dramatically higher.

And when cows don't get milked, when apples don't get picked, when fruits and vegetables are not harvested, your supply is going to fall, probably fall dramatically. And that only drives prices up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: Of course, higher prices is the last thing that Americans want to see.

Jim, I think, at the end of the day, this all comes down to the details here. How many people does Trump really want to deport? How many is it even logistically possible to deport?

And how do legal challenges along the way slow that process down? I think the answers to those questions are going to go a long way to determining exactly what happens next on this inflation front.

SCIUTTO: I mean, there are campaign promises. There are economic realities. We'll see how those two worlds collide.

Matt Egan, thanks so much.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour.

Back-to-back shootings during a parade in New Orleans. Police say nine people were wounded in the first shooting.

And then, 45 minutes later, even more parade route. And that second incident, there were two people killed and a third person was critically wounded. No suspects have been identified and police are asking the public for help.

Also, world renowned Russian ballet star, Vladimir Shklyarov, has died at age 39. Officials say that he fell from the fifth floor of a building over the weekend, and that he had been taking serious painkillers for some time. That was a quote.

Russian state media reports the preliminary cause of death has been ruled an accident while an investigation is underway.

Shklyarov was married to fellow Mariinsky Theater dancer Maria Shklyarov, and they had two children.

And British police confirm that thieves broke into the grounds of Windsor Castle, near London, and stole a quad bike and a pickup truck.

This is something that happened more than five weeks ago, but it was first reported yesterday by British tabloid, "The Sun."

[13:44:59]

And according to the report, two masked men scaled a six-foot fence, entered the crown estate land, then used the stolen truck to smash through a security gate and flee the scene.

King Charles and Queen Camilla we're not staying at the castle at the time of the reported burglary.

And the White House is now joining state leaders in condemning a Neo- Nazi march on the streets of Columbus, Ohio. We're going to speak with a city official next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:50:10]

KEILAR: The White House is condemning a group of Neo-Nazis that marched down an Ohio street yelling racial slurs. In a statement from President Joe Biden, he called the action, "hostile to everything the United States stands for."

Videos posted to social media show the masked group of about a dozen people parading down a sidewalk, with some carrying black flags with red swastikas.

No arrests were made, but police briefly detained some of the marchers. In response, Columbus community leaders organized what they described as a pro-peace unity march on the same street.

And this is coming after another demonstration in Michigan, where a group of people waving nazi flags demonstrated outside a community theater performance of "The Diary of Anne Frank."

The Anti-Defamation League says the Columbus event fits a recent pattern of white supremacist incidents. The group tracked 282 such events last year, marking a 63 percent increase from the year before.

Columbus, Ohio, city attorney, Zach Klein, is with us now to talk about this.

Zach, thanks for being with us.

Tell us your reaction to this happening in your city. And tell us what you can about who these people are.

ZACH KLEIN, COLUMBUS, OH, CITY ATTORNEY: Well, I got to tell you, the first I heard about it, not only was I disgusted, but I was angry because Columbus is the 14th-largest city in the United States.

What makes us great is our celebration of diversity, our culture, our differences. And that's what makes our neighborhoods, our economy so strong.

And so when you have these -- these outside groups come in masked and parade up and down one of our most celebrated touristy areas of town carrying nazi flags, it's disgusting. It's vile.

And they need to go back to where they came from and not come back to the city of Columbus because they're not welcome here.

KEILAR: So where did they come from?

KLEIN: Well, we don't know. I can tell you that they do not match or fit with the ideology and what we believe in in the city of Columbus.

You know, these folks don't belong in the city of Columbus. We don't appreciate what they do. We reject them.

You know, you've got to remember what Naziism is. These are just folks that are masked, carrying a couple swastikas. Naziism, by definition, is the supremacy of the white race. But it's also to the elimination of others.

So they're parading around our town with a flag that means that they want to eliminate and kill and destroy our LGBTQ friends, our Jewish friends, our black friends. Like that is not acceptable. And that is not welcome in the city of Columbus.

KEILAR: And I understand what you're saying there. But if they were briefly detained, if police briefly detained some of these marchers, did they identify any of them?

KLEIN: Yes. So look, there's an ongoing investigation. And I welcome anyone that has tips on anything that they've done outside the bounds of First Amendment. That could be criminal activity to report that and work with law enforcement.

I've drawn a strong line in the sand as the Columbus city attorney, as a prosecutor, that we have prosecuted hate crime in our -- in our community. And we're not going to let up. We draw those lines in the sand because we appreciate and respect the diversity and culture of others.

And as long as I'm the city attorney, we're going to fight like hell to make sure that these people are held accountable and that they have no place in our culture and in our city.

KEILAR: Columbus city council president, Shannon Hardin, posted on X in response, quote, "I am sorry that the president-elect has emboldened these creeps."

What is your reaction to that?

KLEIN: Look, I think that there's not a time to be political about this because our friends in the Jewish community and LGBT community, they're hurting. They're scared.

And this is a time for us to call out what it is. And as a matter of fact, when we politicize it, I think people can gloss over it and they can just say, well, that's just a political thing. It's not. It's not a political thing.

This is happening in our community. You mentioned it happened in Michigan, but the Anti-Defamation League has mentioned several hundred instances of Nazism rearing it's ugly head across our country.

It is anti-American. And it's important for all elected leaders like our governor, Republican governor stood up and criticized this, the president to stand up, elected leaders to stand up and hold these people accountable and call out this vile nonsense for what it is.

It is anti-American because it threatens our individual liberties and the celebration of who we are.

But it also needs to be called out and talked about in our classrooms with teachers, our parents at home, in the pulpit, in the synagogue. We cannot normalize this behavior because it is not who we are as a country.

We need to call it out and not let it hide.

KEILAR: Are you concerned this may be part of a trend? I mean, we did detail the numbers there that there's been an uptick recently.

KLEIN: Well, that's why we can't hide from it. And we have to call it out and denounce it every step of the way. And why this is not just an elected official response, and it shouldn't be a political response.

It needs to be a family response. It needs to be a church response, a neighborhood response, a community response.

[13:55:04] And I can say that in talking with community leaders and church leaders in our own community, they are rallying a walk in our own city this weekend to go against that, church leaders.

This is a time for us to understand what exactly this means, how we can denounce it, how we can call it out and how we reject it as a community.

Because it's disgusting and it has no place in America and certainly no place in Columbus, Ohio.

KEILAR: Why do you think -- I mean, it is appalling. I think so many people look at it, it's almost unbelievable. But the fact is, it's happening more and more and we've seen this trend.

Why do you think that is? As you're saying, that people need to denounce this. There are clearly some people who are feeling more comfortable going out there and, appalling as it is, there's also a free speech issue here.

But they are feeling more comfortable going out there, even if they're wearing masks, and saying this in public. Why do you think that is?

KLEIN: Look, I think that folks have come out from under their rock and that they feel emboldened to say these things. We've seen the incidences that you referenced.

But we have to reject it as a community. We have to reject it as a city. We have to teach people exactly what it means. Because I think sometimes we may gloss over the fact of what the history of what happened with our Jewish friends and Jewish ancestors in World War II and just gloss over it as part of history.

But understanding what this means. It means the annihilation or elimination of whole groups of people. And that is not who we are as a human race. But it's also not who we are as Americans.

And so we have this, I think, call to action to stand up and fight for what we believe in with our words and our actions. And the moment these individuals crossed the line and it gets into hate crimes, when prosecutors like myself can step up and hold them accountable.

We cannot let them, you know, continue on with actions that threaten and actually impede the freedoms of others.

KEILAR: Columbus city attorney, Zach Klein, thank you so much. We'll continue to follow this, as we know that you are searching for more information. We will continue to check in with you on that.

Thank you so much.

KLEIN: Appreciate you. Thank you so much.

KEILAR: And we'll be right back.

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