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New Interview from Trump; CEO Murder Suspect's Health Issues; Alexander Brothers Arrested for Sex Trafficking Scheme; Key Inflation Data Released; Duke Han is Interviewed about a New Study on Alzheimer's. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 12, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Great reporting, as always. Thank you very much.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have new details about a decade's long sex trafficking ring allegedly run by three brothers. Investigators say they found many of their victims on dating apps, lured them in with promises of luxury vacations. Allegations against them now are very serious.

And a brand-new interview with Donald Trump out this hour, weighing in with some important new quotes on aid to Ukraine and also vaccines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:35:06]

BOLDUAN: And breaking this hour, President Trump giving an extensive new interview to "Time Magazine," weighing in on everything from vaccines, to Ukraine, to how he thinks he won this election. This is for the - this is all linked to the fact that he was just announced as "Times" "Person of the Year," the second time that he gets that designation.

CNN's Steve Contorno went through all of it for us as it was just posted. He's here with us now.

What's - there are a couple of things that really have stood out to you.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Take me through.

CONTORNO: And here it is. It's 50 pages. So, there's a lot to get through, and we'll be continuing to go through it.

BOLDUAN: I think they said it was like a 65-minute interview.

CONTORNO: It lasted a long time.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

CONTORNO: But as far as the January 6th individuals who were arrested, Trump gave extensive remarks about what he plans to do with those individuals. And he said that, "I'll be looking at J-6 pardons early on, maybe in the first nine minutes of taking office." And he actually said, interestingly, that he was open to reconsidering whether or not to give pardons to people who did commit acts of violence on that day. Quote, some - the people that were, quote, "really out of control" he may not actually give pardons to. But he is anticipating that he will swiftly move to pardon those who were non-violent on that day.

And then he also spoke and was asked about vaccinations because he has Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now joining his administration and whether or not he believes Robert F. Kennedy should go through with some of his proposals on eliminating vaccines. And he was asked, "if RFK Jr. moves to end childhood vaccination programs, would you sign off on that?" And here's what Trump said. He said, "we're going to have a big discussion. The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there's something causing it."

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump suggesting there that he believes the widely debunked theory that autism is linked to vaccinations, that's what just happened?

CONTORNO: That is what he said in this interview. And then he was - went on to ask, "do you think autism is linked to vaccines?" He said, "I'm going to be listening to Bobby," who, obviously, has made very clear where he stands on this debunked link between vaccines -

BOLDUAN: Bobby, who listened to Andrew Wakefield, the doctor/non- doctor who came up with this damaging theory, faked a study, had to have it retracted, I believe lost his license then and had created havoc in its wake. There is no link between vaccines and autism, but he's still saying that it's a possibility?

CONTORNO: That's correct. He went on to say that he doesn't ultimately think what he does on vaccines is going to be very controversial in the end. But, obviously, 75 Nobel laureates have already come out telling the U.S. Senate to reject RFK Jr. because of their concerns about what he has said about vaccines.

BOLDUAN: That is wild and dangerous. If he - what he does on vaccines, who cares. What you say about it, as we have seen, is damaging enough.

What about Ukraine?

CONTORNO: Ukraine, he continued to push his opposition to further U.S. involvement. In fact, he actually said that he believes that Joe Biden erred by allowing Ukraine to shoot U.S. missiles deep into Russia. He said, quote, "it's crazy what's taking place. It's crazy. I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We are just escalating this war and making it worse." So, very clear there how he views what's happening now and in a critical moment, because as he takes office, we are going to see - he has said he would end this war on day one. And what does that look like for Ukraine?

BOLDUAN: Steve Contorno, much to come from those words from the incoming president. Thank you very much.

John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, back pain is no justification for murder, but it is one piece of information swirling around the background of Luigi Mangione, the man behind bars accused of killing health care CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione claimed in handwritten notes he was suffering from a back injury.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has some of the details in what he's talking about.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, the condition that we're talking about here is something known as spondylolisthesis. Big word. Basically means that two of the bones in the spine are sort of slipping a little bit, one on top of the other.

Let me show you on this model of the spine. I don't know how well you can see that, but this is the neck area up here. The thoracic spine over here. That's behind your chest. And then this is the lower back, or lumbar spine. There's five bones here. And this is the fifth bone in the lumbar spine. And this is your tailbone.

And it's in this area that we're sort of talking about where the bone appears to have slipped forward a little bit. So instead of being nicely curved in this area, this bone has sort of slipped forward.

And that spondylolisthesis. That can cause back pain. That can even cause leg pain if some of the nerves in the area are pinched. So, that - that is the sort of condition that we're talking about.

[08:40:01]

Back pain, in and of itself, is pretty common. I mean 60 million people or so have episodes of back pain in the United States alone. There's billions of dollars in costs associated with back pain, both in terms of the treatment, operations, but also all the days off of work that are lost as a result of back pain.

Sometimes an operation can be helpful. So, take a look at this x-ray. And again, the caveat, I just want to be really clear on this, we're still reporting, still gathering details. But this may be the x-ray that we're talking about.

And you can see in the area that I was just pointing out all of these screws. You see two screws that are in that L5 bone. And you see two screws that are in the sacrum. Those are the ones that are lower down.

So again, get that x-ray in your mind. Now again, look at the spine model. There are screws that are going into this bone here and screws that are going into this bone here.

We don't know much more than that. We don't know how effective the operation was. We're only having that one lateral, that one side projection of the spine. So, we can't even tell how well those screws have really been placed. Although there's some, some concern about that.

But that is as much as we can tell right now. Spondylolisthesis associated with back pain. Sometimes associated with leg pain as well. And that x-ray, an example of an operation to try and address that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Our thanks to Sanjay Gupta.

All right, this morning, new lurid details emerging from a federal indictment against two prominent real estate brokers arrested now in Miami. Federal prosecutors say Tal and Oren Alexander ran a sex trafficking scheme, along with their brother, Alon, that goes back more than 20 years to when they were in high school. According to court filings, the brothers would plot assault well in advance, allegedly working with party promoters to find victims and pooling their resources to pay for the women's travel expenses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMIAN WILLIAMS, U.S. ATTORNEY: The Alexander brothers' sex trafficking agreement went beyond the planned trips and events. On numerous occasions, one or more of the defendants drugged and raped or sexually assaulted women they encountered by chance at bars, at nightclubs, social events and dating apps. These assaults allegedly had many of the same hallmarks as the rapes that occurred at group events, isolated locations, drugged victims, force and physical restraint.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: They've been charged with sexual battery and each face 15 years to life in prison. Attorneys for all three men confirmed that they had been arrested but had no additional comment.

Civil rights attorney Areva Martin is joining us now.

These allegations are unbelievably serious. Prosecutors allege that these brothers have been involved in sex trafficking, sexual assault of women since 2010. It's 2024. Before this, there were also civil lawsuits that were brought by numerous women against them. So, why would it take so long for authorities to go ahead and charge them?

AREVA MARTIN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: That's the billion-dollar question, Sara, why is it that we are, 14 years later, after some of the initial allegations, and now just seeing criminal charges brought against all three of these brothers. It appears that women have been making reports about sexual assault and clearly making allegations in civil suits involving these brothers. We don't know what has transpired with respect to the investigation. Maybe women weren't comfortable coming forward talking to law enforcement. We know that historically it's been very difficult for women to make these kinds of allegations against high profile, wealthy men, like these three brothers.

But the good news in this case is that there is accountability, finally, because there are allegations, Sara, that they were bragging about running, quote/unquote, a train against women, even in their high school yearbook. So, these are very serious and very heinous allegations made against these three men.

SIDNER: When you see these allegations and you see in the indictment that there were others sort of named, they're called "others" in the indictment, potentially involved, how likely is it that there might be more people indicted in this particular case?

MARTIN: I think the likelihood is great that we will see other indictments. As you said, there are allegations of party promoters, people identified as accomplices in the indictment. Clearly, this was a well-orchestrated, a well-planned, thought out attack against these women that involved more people than just the three brothers. So, I would not be surprised.

We know that the prosecutor said that the investigation is ongoing. They've asked other victims to come forward. So, I suspect we're going to see a lot more women coming forward telling their stories and that there may be additional indictments against folks who had knowledge and participated in this sex trafficking scheme.

[08:45:12]

SIDNER: I want to get your take. There was an article in "The New York Times" in July on these allegations. And the real estate company, Douglas Elliman, acknowledged, per the report, that an incident had been raised casually and confidentially to a chief executive, without specifying who may have been involved. But rather than - in the form of an official HR complaint, a company spokesman went on to say this, quote, that they had any such - "had any such complaints been received, those complaints would have been thoroughly investigated."

What do you glean from the statement from the company that they once worked at, where there was something that was said to a CEO, but there was no official complaint with HR?

MARTIN: Well, what I take from that statement is an effort by this company to cover its tracks. Obviously, this has the potential of involving lots of individuals, including perhaps executives at that company, if not in terms of criminal charges, civil charges. Because if someone is working for you and there's a complaint about their conduct, sexual misconduct, there could be liability, civil liability on the part of supervisors, executives and owners of this company. So, clearly, anyone involved with these brothers at this point, we should expect to see them trying to shield themselves from civil liability, as well as the potential of criminal accountability. SIDNER: I can't help but look at this case, when you see how it is

written out, and, you know, have it remind you of another case that's been going on where you're talking about lavish parties, where they're accused of - of drugging their alleged victims, raping them. It sounds disturbingly similar to the Sean "Diddy" Combs cases that have been brought.

What do you see happening here on the timing of all of this?

MARTIN: I think the season, Sara, is here and now for victims of sexual assault. And I mean - what I mean by season is the season to come forward, to demonstrate bravery and courage to make these claims, to be heard, to be believed.

I remember just a decade ago, when women would make claims like this against powerful men, whether it was a powerful record executive like Sean Combs or, in this case, real estate executives, it was very difficult. Oftentimes the women would be maligned. They would be, you know, not believed and oftentimes prosecutors were reluctant to file charges against powerful men.

Since the Me Too movement, we've seen a seismic shift in the way these cases are treated. We've seen more women willing to come forward to tell their stories. And we've seen more prosecutors willing to prosecute these cases. And we've seen convictions. So, we've actually seen these cases tried in courts and convictions obtained by prosecutors.

So, I'm encouraged by this as a civil rights lawyer, as someone who's done this work for decades, to see this moment where victims are being believed and where they are able to hold predators accountable, even if those predators are rich, if they're famous, and if they are typically thought of as being untouchable.

SIDNER: Areva Martin, it is always a pleasure to talk to you and talk through these important issues. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking just moments ago, new data on inflation.

CNN's Matt Egan is with us now.

And, Matt, we were backstage. You got the news. Your reaction was, these numbers are not good.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: No, John, this was not what we wanted to see. We got some hot inflation numbers.

Now, this is producer prices, wholesale inflation. It's inflation before it gets to all of us as consumers.

And the big number here, 3 percent year over year. That's how much producer prices were up in November.

Now, the forecast was for 2.6 percent. Not even close. This is -

BERMAN: A big miss.

EGAN: A big miss and a step in the wrong direction because this metric was at 2.4 percent the month before. Look at this trend here. You can see clearly things have improved from where they were two and a half years ago. Right, we had that inflation crisis. This metric was at almost 12 percent. But it's also clear that it is starting to creep higher again. That is not what we wanted to see.

Now, digging into why this happened in today's report. Goods prices were significantly higher, including food prices. In particular, the BLS called out vegetables, fresh fruit, chicken, and the big one, eggs. Egg prices more than 50 percent higher on the wholesale level. And we know a lot of that is caused by bird flu, right? More sick birds means fewer eggs, higher prices for all of us.

No matter the cause, these inflation numbers from today, plus yesterday's inflation report on the consumer end, which again moved in the wrong direction, that's going to cause some challenges for officials in Washington, right?

[08:50:05]

The Fed, which has got to consider if they're going to continue to cut interest rates, probably going to cut next week. But are they going to pause next year? And also for the Trump administration as they consider whether or not to impose tariffs, which a lot of economists say could make prices go even higher.

BERMAN: I was going to ask just about that question. This becomes a complicated, tenuous environment for Donald Trump, who does want to impose tariffs, which many economists say are inflationary. And there's some new data on that.

EGAN: Yes, we have new research from the Peterson Institute talking about what things could get more expensive if Trump goes forward with his tariffs, particularly his plan to impose 60 percent tariffs on China. And this research finds that, in particular, electronics. Think about smartphones, like iPhones, machinery, toys, clothing, sporting goods. All of them are particularly vulnerable because we get a lot of them from China. Footwear, in particular, we get from China. Ninety- nine percent of all shoes sold in the U.S. are imported. And over half of them are from China. So, it's easy to see how that could cause prices to go even higher.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, we've spoken to just about every footwear executive in the United States so far, and they are all concerned about these tariffs.

EGAN: They are.

BERMAN: Matt Egan, thank you very much. EGAN: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, a first this morning for President-elect Donald Trump. Why he's headed to Wall Street in the next hour.

And coaching legend Bill Belichick will be back on the sidelines, but not for the NFL. We'll tell you what shade of blue hoodies he'll be wearing next season. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:55:42]

BERMAN: This morning, falling for financial scams may be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease in older adults. This is according to a new study out of the University of Southern California.

With us now is Dr. Duke Han, professor of psychology and family medicine at USC. He's one of the lead researchers in this study.

Professor, thanks so much for being with us.

In terms that I can understand, what exactly did you find here that if you fall for a financial scam, it might be an indicator of what?

DUKE HAN, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY AND FAMILY MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Yes, thanks for having me, John.

So there have been many examples of older adults suddenly showing poor financial decision making or becoming the victim of a scam or fraud in the absence of any cognitive impairment. And this has been a mystery as to why in the medical field for some time.

Our study shows that thinning of a brain region known to deteriorate first in Alzheimer's disease, called the entorhinal cortex, is also associated with financial vulnerability in older adults without any cognitive impairment. So, our study therefore helps explain why some older adults may show poor financial decision making, or may become the victim of a scam or fraud in the absence of any cognitive impairment, they may be showing signs of brain changes consistent with early Alzheimer's disease.

BERMAN: Really interesting. The thinning of that brain region, why might it contribute to bad decision making?

HAN: So, the entorhinal cortex is a brain region that connects a brain network that helps us imagine future outcomes, and another brain network that helps us assess value. So, you can imagine that if this brain region, which is important and helps these particular brain networks to communicate, that someone might not be able to make the best financial decision or may not be able to recognize a scam or fraud at the time.

BERMAN: What are some of the implications of this? HAN: So, we - we believe that poor financial decision making in older

age could be a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Now, we need to also state that not everyone who shows poor financial decision making in older age is going to develop Alzheimer's disease. Not everyone with Alzheimer's disease is going to show poor financial decision making as a first sign. Alzheimer's disease is a very heterogeneous disease, and it presents in a lot of different ways.

But what we think is that if an older adult starts showing some poor financial decisions, it might actually be a reason to pursue further testing for Alzheimer's disease.

BERMAN: Really is interesting to think about that, it could be an early warning sign. And everyone wants stuff to look for in this case.

Dr. Duke Han, interesting research. Thank you very much for coming on and sharing it this morning.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Another big story we've been watching, more than 8 million people across Massachusetts and other parts of the northeast are under flood watches this morning. In Boston overnight, it was a wild scene. A major highway tunnel flooded after the city set a new daily record - rainfall record. Video showing the drivers just slowly, appropriately, slowly making their way through.

The storm is moving across the northeast today, bringing with it more rain, gusty winds, more rain. Up to two inches is possible in some areas. That's along with ongoing snow melt. It could worsen the flooding. We don't have snow here yet though.

The University of North Carolina announcing legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick is going to be the new head football coach at the school. The eight-time Super Bowl winning coach and the university agreed to a five year deal. The team he is taking over has not won a conference title since 1980. This will be Belichick's first coaching job since he left the New England Patriots after the 2023 season.

And down the chimney, with a total lack of care. A Massachusetts man attempted his best Santa Claus impression, or maybe it was just the closest thing he could jump into while running from police. Jumping into - onto a rooftop and then into a chimney. And that is where he got stuck.

They say the 33-year-old man, quote, police do, "invoked the essence of the seasonal icon and attempted to hide inside of a chimney. Quickly became stuck in the chimney, and required the assistance of the very detectives he was previously fleeing from."

[09:00:02]

That, kids, is how you find yourself - well, he was already on the naughty list, but, you know, also, just don't jump into chimneys.