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Transgender State Rep. Zoe Zephyr (D-MO) Discusses Supreme Court Hearing Case On Gender-Affirming Care For Minors & Montana State Lawmakers Blocking Transgender Bathroom Bill; CNN Obtains Video Of Fatal Shooting Of UnitedHealthCare CEO; Cyber Monday Biggest Online Shopping Day Ever In U.S. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired December 04, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

SEN. BILL HAGERTY, (R-TN): He wants to see real change take place.

So inertia is the most powerful force in the universe. It's happening right here in Washington, too. That's why we're seeing all this resistance. Washington doesn't want to change. President Trump was elected to do just that.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: Senator Bill Hagerty, of Tennessee, thanks so much, sir. Appreciate it.

HAGERTY: Thank you, Phil. Thank you.

MATTINGLY: And still to come, Montana lawmakers rejected a bill that would have banned the first openly transgender legislator from using the women's restroom.

We'll get State Representative Zoe Zephyr's reaction to that, coming up next.

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[13:34:58]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Oral arguments are now over in the landmark Supreme Court case surrounding transgender rights.

And it appears the court's conservative justices, the majority, are ready to endorse the Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for minors.

A decision is expected by July, when the session of the court ends.

But today, history was made as the first openly transgender lawyer argued before the high court. Chase Strangio, who is an attorney for the ACLU, told the justices that Tennessee's law, quote, "Took away the only treatment that relieved years of suffering for each of the adolescent plaintiffs."

There are three plaintiffs here, as well as a doctor.

And we're joined now by the first openly transgender female legislator in Montana, State Representative Zoe Zephyr.

Zoe, I know that you have been outside of the court. You have been monitoring the arguments as they were going on. What really stood out to you?

STATE REP. ZOE ZEPHYR (D-MO): You know what stood out to me is the solicitor general's simple argument that this is sex discrimination.

You have a type of care, from puberty blockers to hormone replacement therapy, that the Tennessee bill says, if you are cisgender, you can have this medication. If you are transgender, that's when they're going to pull your access to that medication.

To me, that was very plainly sex discrimination.

KEILAR: And yet, when you hear analysts who follow the court say, as they are listening to this argument, it seems like the conservative majority is leaning towards siding with Tennessee. What do you think?

ZEPHYR: You know, I think, what I saw in legislators legislatures across the country, much like I saw in the court today, is people who want to imagine that this case is happening in isolation, that it is just about this Tennessee law here and that's the only thing that we can see.

It is blind to the broader context of over 1,000 bills in the last two years targeting transgender Americans across the country, whether it's youth care bans across the country, some adult bans, looking at Florida.

You look at bills like in Montana, where they tried to write trans people out of code entirely from birth certificates to wedding certificates to death certificates.

So for me, when I hear the court saying, well, this isn't actually about this or it's just this type of narrow policy, I think that fails to see the open hostility that trans people in this country are facing day to day.

KEILAR: The state, in this case, has to have a compelling interest in applying a law. And Republican lawmakers in Tennessee who wrote this law said the state has a "legitimate, substantial and compelling interest in encouraging minors to appreciate their sex, particularly as they undergo puberty."

What do you say to that?

ZEPHYR: I would say you cannot craft a policy, just like in the Dobbs decision where they allowed abortion, you cannot -- that does not remove women's need to access abortion.

If you ban gender-affirming care for trans youth, you do not make them no longer trans. You just ban the medical care that allows them to live fulfilling lives.

And again, when they talk about, you know, encouraging someone of that sex, we know that in states, from a study in nature, human behavior, in states that have banned this care, we've seen an increase in suicidality up to 73 percent.

They are not protecting these children. And courts across the country, including in my state of Montana, noted that these policies are crafted with, quote, "open animus towards transgender people."

KEILAR: So what happens if the court, you know, sides against what you're talking about? What is going to happen, do you think to, not just trans kids, but trans Americans broadly?

ZEPHYR: You know, I think Justice Brown touched on this a little bit where she talked about the way in which that opens up attacks, not just on trans adults, but things like loving and interracial marriage.

If you are going to sort of skirt by the Equal Protection Clause, I think it obviously has the practical effect of making it much more difficult to access the medication that keeps us alive.

It makes it more likely that we will see the negative outcomes, from ostracization to suicide, depression, et cetera.

But I also want to push back a little bit and say that, you know, this decision or Tennessee's law, there is nothing that they could craft in policy that would make trans people vanish.

We will -- we have been here since, you know, the early 1900s and before, and we will continue to be here, regardless of the policies that they push against us.

KEILAR: You mentioned other bills, other laws. And separately, but related, in Montana, you watched a measure that would ban you from using the women's restroom at the state capitol fail in committee yesterday, after a few Republicans actually voted against it.

You've been in the State Senate for almost two years at this point, so what do you make of that timing?

ZEPHYR: You know, I think it's obviously falling on the heels of Congresswoman Mesa's efforts to ban Congresswoman-Elect McBride from the bathrooms in the capitol building.

And I think there's a subset of the Republican Party who believes that they found a winning issue with the electorate, and so are going to push this culture war.

[13:39:59]

What I see is, from my colleagues on the Republican side, many of them recognize that this is a distraction. This isn't what we were sent to our legislatures to do.

And for the folks who are on the right trying to craft a law that would specifically ban me from using a restroom that I used with my Republican female colleagues without issue in the last two years, to me, it's just a -- it's a grab to try to villainize trans people in a moment where there's a lot more pressing things that our country should be focusing on.

KEILAR: Montana State Representative Zoe Zephyr, thank you so much for joining us in person. We really appreciate the conversation.

ZEPHYR: Thank you.

KEILAR: And well be right back.

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[13:45:05]

KEILAR: We have some breaking news. CNN has obtained new surveillance video from the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthCare CEO.

We do want to warn you that the video is, of course, disturbing.

MATTINGLY: CNN's Brynn Gingras joins us.

Brynn, take us through this video.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Phil and Brianna, so we are only showing a few seconds of this video that CNN obtained, obviously, because it is very alarming to watch.

Essentially, what we see in that video is the CEO of UnitedHealthCare, Brian Thompson, walking toward the hotel here behind me, and behind him comes the suspected gunman that police are still searching for.

So you can see how he approaches Thompson from the back before then, where we freeze the video, he fires those shots at Thompson.

What you do not see from these five seconds, and I can tell you, is that we also see someone sort of running the opposite direction.

So that is something, of course, that police are going to be looking into in this video, breaking it down frame by frame by frame to kind of figure out who might have witnessed this, witnesses. They, of course, are going to want to talk to anyone who might have witnessed this.

Again, it happens at the really front step of this entrance of this hotel. So there's possible some security there as well.

And then of course, follow the path of that gunman. As we already have learned, he flees from the scene, going down a dark -- a back alley behind a theater that's across the street from the hotel where we are, and then hops on a bike where they basically lose his trail in Central Park.

So again, we know that police are offering a $10,000 reward for any information that's going to help find this suspected gunman, but that manhunt is underway after this brazen shooting in midtown Manhattan -- guys?

KEILAR: All right, Brynn, if you can stand by for us. I want to bring in CNN security correspondent, Josh Campbell.

Josh, what stands out to you in this video?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, indications is this looks like a professional hit job. You look at all the characteristics that we've seen, from essentially lying in wait for the CEO to walk by.

We can see on that video that we obtained there that he essentially is behind a Suburban, the shooter. And as the CEO walks past, you see him then step out, the gun comes up on target and he begins to fire.

There is a level of sophistication that we can tell from the shooter from that video, as well. And that is because, as he's firing -- we know that he used a suppressor on that gun. That's to muffle the sound. That is something that someone would use, obviously, if they don't want to draw attention to a particular shooting.

And you see him, you know. racking the slide of that gun, which typically happens on its own with a semiautomatic .9-millimeter-style gun. But when you have that suppressor there at the end, if you don't have perhaps the proper parts or it's not properly lubricated, that gun won't cycle. And so you see him essentially racking the slide for every round that he fires.

And also, at one point, and this is what the police had indicated as well before we obtained this video, that the gun had malfunctioned at one point. And you actually see him doing a clearing drill on that gun.

And this is something that those of us who worked in law enforcement practice on over and over, where you essentially have these so-called immediate-action drills where they practice for a round not to fire, either, you know, it could get dislodged, there could be a double feed of ammunition.

But in this case, the shooter quickly racks the slide, gets it back up on target, continues to fire, and then finally he makes his way of escape. So he not only came there, obviously, very stealthy, but he still has not been found.

Reports are that he fled on an E-bike, E bicycle, which, obviously, within the city of New York, a place where you have tons of license plates -- license plate readers that a vehicle could perhaps be picked up on.

Instead, this person chose to use a bicycle, which is -- obviously provides a more agile means of -- of escape there.

And so again, a lot of characteristics here that show this is someone who clearly was operating with some level of sophistication.

Of course, now the big question comes down to motivation. That's work that's going on behind the scenes right now as well by authorities.

MATTINGLY: Brynn, what we saw in that video has been described -- to actually watch it is just absolutely chilling.

When you talk to your sources within the NYPD, law enforcement right now, what -- what's their sense of things in terms of how the manhunt is playing out, what resources they're actually utilizing, when they may actually find the suspect?

GINGRAS: Yes, I mean, every resource is being utilized at this moment, Phil. Certainly, this has been -- you know, we're now about six or so, seven hours into this investigation and this is a major manhunt.

And it does appear, of course, they came out right out of the gates saying we have a $10,000 reward, Crimestoppers, here are pictures of this suspect at the scene here. And also on the bike. We need your help.

So certainly they are trying to get this wrapped up as soon as possible and find this suspect.

But certainly, they -- you know, they point to this suspect and they made it very clear in that news conference that we heard earlier today by the NYPD that this was a targeted attack.

And everything I've heard from sources, and as Josh has sort of underscored, is that this person knew what they were doing. They seemed to be sophisticated with the fact that they had that silencer.

[13:50:07]

Some sources have told me they haven't seen a silencer on a handgun like that in forever. Like calling it almost like a mob hit.

So it's pretty startling to not only us, as people who are, you know -- in just the normal people, but also to law enforcement, wondering who this person is with this level of sophistication.

MATTINGLY: Yes, it was striking in the news conference how unequivocal they were that this was planned. Now you see why.

Brynn Gingras, Josh Campbell, thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

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KEILAR: Cyber Monday absolutely shattered records this year, becoming the biggest online shopping day ever in the U.S. Americans spent a staggering $13.3 billion in a single day.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is here to break it down.

All right, Vanessa, what's the damage? And was it what we expected?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: It was more than what we expected. Analysts were forecasting about $13.2 billion spent -- $13.3 billion spent. That's up about 7.3 percent from the year before. And during those peak shopping hours, from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., $15.8 million was spent by Americans every single minute. People we're looking for deals, people we're looking for sales, and they got them over the holiday season.

Cyber Monday was interesting, though, because it actually didn't have the largest sales growth year to year. It was actually on Thanksgiving. That was the -- excuse me -- Black Friday had the largest sales growth, followed by Thanksgiving and then followed by Cyber Monday.

Also, on average, Americans we're spending about $235 this holiday weekend. That's about a quarter of what the National Retail Federation expects Americans are going to spend this entire season.

Some trends that we saw, "Buy Now, Pay Later," $1 billion spent on "Buy Now, Pay Later" over Cyber Monday. That's where you pay in installments, so maybe people looking for some flexible spending there for holiday gifts.

Also, Brianna, super interesting, social media influencer's drove about 20 percent of sales on Cyber Monday. That's up a staggering almost 7 percent year over year.

[13:55:03]

So it goes to show you that when you're scrolling on Instagram and these influencers are posting about their favorite items, people are actually clicking on those and making purchases.

Social media influencer posts had a six times greater engagement rate than any other social media out there. So influencers clearly doing their thing and influencing, particularly on Cyber Monday -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Really interesting stuff.

All right, Vanessa, thank you so much for that.

Trump's defense secretary, Pete -- President-Elect Trump's defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, is back on Capitol Hill today vowing to stay the course as Trump is reportedly considering replacements. Stay with us for that.

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