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Science Behind Internet Use; Police Seek Motive in Wisconsin School Shooting; House Votes to Release Ethics Report on Matt Gaetz. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired December 18, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:31:13]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Back to our breaking news from Capitol Hill.

The House Ethics Committee held a secret vote to release its report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz, and it comes just a month after the panel voted not to release it. The report concludes a yearslong probe of the Florida Republican on allegations, including sex trafficking and drug use. Gaetz denies any wrongdoing.

CNN's Tom Foreman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FMR. REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): It is a horrible allegation and it is a lie.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Having sex with a teenager, paying for sex, using illicit drugs, accepting improper gifts and dispensing special favors, those are just some of the accusations that have swirled around the former Florida congressman.

Matt Gaetz has always denied them, saying political enemies and even extortionists have pushed the claims.

GAETZ: I am the most investigated man in the United States Congress.

FOREMAN: To be sure, a Justice Department probe into whether Gaetz was involved in sex trafficking produced no charges last year, even as another Florida politician in Gaetz's circle pled guilty.

But there is more. Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy says Gaetz helped push him out precisely because McCarthy would not derail the House probe into Gaetz's behavior.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): A member of Congress wanted me to stop an Ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old. Did he do it or not? I don't know. But Ethics is looking at it. There's other people in jail because of it.

GAETZ: Chaos is Speaker McCarthy.

FOREMAN: A conservative firebrand, Gaetz was also a firm ally as Donald Trump faced his own legal troubles.

GAETZ: Supporting our friend, President Trump.

FOREMAN: Standing with the embattled former president when he was convicted of dozens of felonies, which Trump also disputed.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R) AND CURRENT U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: The people of our country know it's a hoax.

FOREMAN: But lawmakers left and right are saying Gaetz is not Trump and they want to see the House investigation report into his behavior.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: That's CNN's Tom Foreman. Thanks for that report.

To better understand everything going on, let's bring in Alayna Treene.

How is Gaetz responding to this decision? Tell us more, Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, so we just saw Matt Gaetz respond to this on X, responding to a reporting that the House Ethics Committee has secretly voted to release this report, in a reversal from before.

I want to read for you some of what he said. First of all, he said that he was -- quote -- "fully exonerated" by that separate Department of Justice probe that Tom Foreman just walked through. He went on to say that he had never had sexual contact with someone under 18, a claim that we know is addressed in this House Ethics Committee report.

So we will learn more once this is published what exactly it says. But he addresses that claim that we know is in the report. He goes on to say -- quote -- "My 30s were an era of working very hard and playing hard too. It's embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank, and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now."

Now, look, Matt Gaetz has repeatedly and vigorously denied these allegations, both when it was a DOJ probe, but also anything that he knew that the House Ethics Committee was investigating, all of these allegations into illicit drug use, into sexual misconduct, into potential bribery.

So that's one thing that is clear. He is maintaining and really denying all of this. But just to give you a little bit more context into some of this reporting, because I think the timing of this is so notable, when the House Ethics Committee last month first voted not to release this report, they had believed and said at the time that they thought that the report was still being finalized.

But Matt Gaetz at that point was still under consideration, was still Donald Trump's pick to be his attorney general. He abruptly resigned once Donald Trump made that announcement, a sign that many people argued was potentially his way of trying to bury that House report, because, typically, this committee does not release reports into former members of Congress. They have done so on occasion.

[11:35:00]

But that was a sign that many people thought that he wanted to keep this under wraps. However, now, and this timing of this, when this vote happened, he had already withdrawn his name for consideration for attorney general.

All to say, this report has been going on for years now, and it does have the potential impact to be very damaging to Matt Gaetz. He is not going to be back in Congress. He is not currently being floated for any Trump administrative roles, but he is still a big player in Republican politics and remains very close to the president-elect -- Pam.

BROWN: All right, Alayna, thanks for bringing us the latest.

You broke the story about the secret vote to release the report, along with your colleagues. Thanks so much.

And just ahead: A tight-knit community gathers to grieve as investigators hunt for the motive in a deadly school shooting.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:19]

BROWN: Well, there are some new details this morning about the 15- year-old girl police say went on a deadly shooting rampage Monday at a school in Madison, Wisconsin.

A teacher and a student were killed and six other people were injured. Authorities are still trying to nail down the shooter's motive, but information is now coming out about her family life. Court documents show that her parents were divorced and remarried multiple times, and that she moved between their homes every two or three days.

"The Washington Post" reporting those details. There's also this photo from her dad's Facebook of her at a gun range in August. Authorities aren't sure how she got hold of a weapon to carry out the attack, but, as law enforcement investigates, the community is mourning.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Wisconsin state capitol last night for a vigil and to express their grief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYA CULLEN, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDENT: How many more lives need to be lost? How many more lives need to be taken for people to wake up? I mean, our children, our loved ones are stuck between a crossfire. When is it enough? When is it enough?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: One of the vigil organizers joins us now.

Michael Johnson is the president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, Wisconsin.

Michael, it's just been such a tough week for you all there. The mayor says that Madison will never be the same. You agree?

MICHAEL JOHNSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF DANE COUNTY, WISCONSIN: Yes, I agree. This has really impacted our community in a way that I have never seen before.

And, Pam, I just want to just first say we give our heartfelt condolences to all of the students, to all the staff, and our community members. This is heavy on our community.

BROWN: It certainly is.

And, fortunately, they have a place like the Girls and Boys Club to come and mourn together. Tell us about this vigil and what that was like.

JOHNSON: Yes.

So I have been -- I grew up on the West side of Chicago and I have been going to these vigils since I was 16 years old. And I'm now almost 50. These incidents continue to happen week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade.

And, sometimes, you ask yourself, when will this stop? When this incident happened, I was on the road traveling back from out of town. And I was just broken, and started getting phone calls from parents and kids, and decided that we would hold a community vigil and bring people together to start the healing process in our community.

Yesterday, about 600 people came to the vigil. We wanted to make sure that we prayed for those that was impacted by this and wanted to just bring everybody together to start the healing process in our city.

BROWN: Yes, you say you felt broken when you found out about what happened.

Do you know anyone who was personally affected by the shooting?

JOHNSON: Yes, two of our members go to that school. And we were very concerned because we didn't hear from her that night, and she comes to -- both her siblings. And they didn't come to our club that evening.

So we were worried about them, but we ended up talking to her father yesterday morning. And she's OK. One of our community partners who was a former mayor was at the vigil last night. And I watched his daughter, who goes to that school. And she was in tears.

And then there was a grandmother who -- a child that we buried right here in this community by the name of Anisa Scott was killed in gun violence. And her grandmother whispered in my ear yesterday and said: "My sibling" -- her siblings -- "My grandbabies are afraid to go to school."

And so this has really not only impacted the kids and the staff at that school, but it's impacted kids and families throughout our city. We're going to try to do everything that we can to lend a helping hand and then utilize our lives and let our kids know that we love them.

And enough is enough. And now we're going to try to play our small part to do what we can to wrap services around our babies.

BROWN: You were talking about since you were 16 you have been going to vigils like this. I just can't imagine.

How are you talking to your staff and advising them on how to talk to kids about this shooting and how they can move forward and feel safe going to school?

JOHNSON: Yes, so there's a couple of things we have done.

Yesterday, we issued 10 points to parents on how they deal with school shootings and how to grieve. We didn't want to just offer our thoughts and prayers. We wanted to act, right? And we want people to pray, but we also have to act and we also have to do something.

[11:45:05]

So we laid out on our Web site group counseling sessions that were happening in our Boys and Girls Clubs. And we're so thankful that people from all over the country has contacted us, to a group of women called Canines. They're a canine group who they're coming to our city to provide therapy -- therapeutic services for our kids.

There is a woman who was a victim in the Highland Park incident who's doing a trauma-informed toy drive for our kids. There's community leaders that set up a community fund, United Way, to make sure that the families get the support that they need.

And also the city of Madison has created a Web site to make sure that those who are challenged about this incident have the resources that they need.

BROWN: Well, Michael Johnson, the community is lucky to have you, and the community is lucky to have each other.

Thank you for coming on. We wish you the best as you all heal.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:04]

BROWN: Well, this morning, we are breaking down the science behind brain rot and the impact excessive phone use can have on your brain.

Be honest with yourself. Are you guilty of that? I know sometimes I can be guilty of it, especially when I look at usage on my phone at the end of the week. Earlier this week, we asked you to submit your questions about what overconsumption of online content can do to our bodies, our brains.

Now CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on call and back to answer your questions.

All right, Sanjay, so we saw a lot of versions of the first question.

Anne asks: "What to do if you think you or your child is addicted?"

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of questions about this.

And I will answer in part as someone who's reported on this for some time, also a student of the brain, but mostly Pamela as a father of three teenage daughters. I mean, it's something that we think about all the time.

First of all, just the term addicted. A lot of people don't like to use this word in part because the strategy for addiction is often abstinence. Stop doing whatever it might be that you're addicted to. Just not possible with these devices, whether you're a kid or an adult. We're very dependent on them, but they can become problematic, which is a real concern.

And some of the things that people look for, is it interfering with your daily life? Is it interfering with your sleep? If you're a kid, is it interfering with your grades? One thing that a lot of experts in this area point out is that these devices and social media is often used as a way to self-soothe or self-care.

And it sort of gets at these bigger questions, I think, for parents. Why is your kid needing the self-soothing? Is there something else that can be done? So it's a big issue. It's a growing issue. I think for a lot of people, there are some practical ways to approach it.

Catherine Price, who's thought a lot about this, written a book about it, she says, every time you pick up your phone, you should essentially ask yourself three questions: What for? Why did I just pick this up? Why now? And what else? What else could I be doing?

I think it's interesting because it just creates a break in your thinking so that you're not just mindlessly picking up the phone. Also, another practical thing -- again, I say this as a parent -- is that you can set up time limits on your kids' phones.

You can set up time limits in terms of how much they can use it, but also the hours at which they can use it, so making sure, for example, it's not keeping them up at night. It's a struggle. It's a balance, I will tell you, having gone through this, because kids are -- again, they're dependent on it sometimes for their own studying and for their own interactions with their classmates. So you got to find that balance.

BROWN: Find the balance, hold yourself accountable when you want to pick up your phone and just scroll. GUPTA: Yes.

BROWN: A number of questions came from people like 69-year-old and retired Marine William Bellamy (ph), who asked: "Have there been any studies of seniors online?" I think that's a really great question.

GUPTA: Yes, there have been a ton of studies.

It's interesting because we talk a lot about teens, but everyone, just about everyone thinks about having a phone, using the Internet, and a lot of people using social media. So, when it comes to people age 65 and older, first of all, about 45 percent say they are using social media.

I was actually surprised by that. I think the numbers are probably even higher. A lot of people are using it to communicate, as opposed to just scrolling, so they're using it differently; 75 percent of people say they are using the Internet. Close to 10 percent say they are doing it almost constantly. Again, this is people 65 and older.

Let me just show you this graph as well really quick. This sort of gives you all the various age groups. That middle graph in particular about social media use, I don't know if you can see that well. Maybe we can blow that up.

But, basically, what you're seeing is that, going back to 2010, it was the younger people who were the earliest adopters of this technology, but then they have stayed sort of flat and even come down over the last 10 years. Very interesting, whereas you look at the older age groups, especially people in my age group, 50 to 65, it's gone almost straight up.

[11:55:07]

And amongst people 65 and older, it's gone up as well. So that's a note, something worth paying attention to. The earliest adopters have stayed high, but flattened and even come down a little bit.

We will see what that portends for older age groups in the future as well.

BROWN: Right, and what that means for the feeling of maybe loneliness and a lack of community. The more you're on your phone, the less you're connecting with your fellow humans. And it's worthy of discussion.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much.

GUPTA: Thank you, Pam.

BROWN: And thank you all for joining me. I'm Pamela Brown. You can follow me on Instagram, TikTok and X @PamelaBrownCNN. I'd love to hear from you.

Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" starts after a short break.