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CNN This Morning

Key Inflation Report Released; Brian Walshe to be Charged in Wife's Murder; Walshe Charged with Improper Transport of a Body; Apple Surging in PC Market. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired January 18, 2023 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Clear as day.

Omar Jimenez, thank you for that report.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Different from that (ph).

COLLINS: Yes, quite different.

COLLINS: Just in, another new charge for the husband of the mother who disappeared three weeks ago. This as he is set to be arraigned for her murder today. We are live outside the courthouse with brand new details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(VIDEO CLIP OF "GHOST")

LEMON: I mean one of the best movies ever. "Ghost" might be coming back to life thanks to, I'm Channing Tatum. In a new "Vanity Fair" interview, Channing Tatum says that his production company has the rights to the iconic Patrick Swayze film and he is thinking about a remake. Tatum would potentially take on Swayze's role. He says that the new movie would be different to avoid some of the now problematic stereotypes in the original. The original starred Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi - Whoopi Goldberg as they confront the spirt world and afterlife. Goldberg also won an award for best supporting access for her role.

[08:35:06]

You in danger, girl. Do you remember that? You in danger, girl.

COLLINS: Uh-uh.

LEMON: Are we in danger? Are we in danger, girl?

COLLINS: That's a good question for Christine Romans.

LEMON: That was what -

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No. LEMON: You in danger, girl.

So, the Labor Department now releasing a new key inflation report. So, are we in danger? What's going on? What did the -

ROMANS: Danger appears to have passed.

LEMON: Good.

ROMANS: I mean, look, inflation is still too high, but it's coming down. This is more confirmation, folks, of what we've been telling you for the past few months.

Year over year inflation, Producer Price Index, this is factory floor inflation, 6.2 percent. That is the slowest since March 2021. And when you look from month to month, and this is what we want to see, from November to December prices, wholesale prices fell 0.5 percent. Falling prices. Something we haven't been able to say very often.

When you look at the bar chart here that I always say, you know, the trend is your friend, you can see how that price peak seems to be behind us.

This is still way too high for the Fed's comfort. They want something more around, you know, the 2 percent range for consumer prices. But coming back down to earth there.

And we also got -- it's a double whammy this morning of news about the economy, right? And we got retail sales from December. The last month of the year. And retail sales fell a little bit. Year over year they're up 6 percent, but they fell from month to month.

And when you look at the last couple of months, this shows, I think, when we pull up the bar chart here, I think this shows that consumers are getting picky. They're tired of higher prices. They're looking for lower prices. We've seen some big name brands realize they can't keep passing on price hikes to consumers.

There's this old saying, you've heard me say this before about the oil market, but, you know, high prices can cure high prices at some point. A consumer is like, you know what, I think I'm going to just reign in a little bit because I - I don't - I want - don't want to keep paying high prices, and that can actually help cool inflation.

So that's a couple of the things that we're seeing here this morning in terms of the economy.

LEMON: But, overall, big picture, because people at home are wondering -

ROMANS: Yes.

LEMON: Is this good? Is it 401(k), for the future of inflation, for rates and all that -

ROMANS: Yes. LEMON: Are we moving in the right direction?

ROMANS: I mean I think you can expect interest rates to keep rising, official interest rates, this year. But the stock market is up in the beginning of the year after a terrible year last year. So the 401(k) seems to have stabilized a little bit.

Used car prices are coming down. New car prices are coming down too. I think that's an important sign for people, you know, as you're trying to build your life and maybe change out your car.

So, I think that the worst price increases of the past year are behind us and we're getting to a little bit of equilibrium here.

COLLINS: Well, in the words of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker just told us, you can't raise interest rates forever.

The White House, though, they're going to take credit for inflation in the numbers here today. They have said that this has to do with Biden's economic plan and his message. Do they deserve credit for that?

ROMANS: Well, there are all kinds of different levers that they have pulled. I think, more than anything, you have supply chains that are starting to work themselves out. You have corporate managers who have figured out how to try to move around higher prices. You had those artificial increases in used car prices and new car prices. Those are coming down. As chips become more available, they can actually get cars off the lot.

So, I'd say, Kaitlan, it's a really complicated picture. There are a lot of - a lot of reasons. And I don't think you can put, you know, why inflation is falling on a bumper sticker, you know? It's just way more - way more complicated than that. But inflation is cooling and I think that is the bottom line.

LEMON: Christine, thank you. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: Thank you.

COLLINS: A bumper sticker on your car that is costing less hopefully these days.

ROMANS: Right. Exactly.

LEMON: Yes, and cheaper gas, hopefully.

COLLINS: Christine Romans, yes, thank you.

All right, just in, we have some breaking news. Brian Walshe has just arrived at a court in Quincy, Massachusetts, where he is going to be arraigned on a murder charge, accused of the death of his wife Ana. The wife, the mother of three, has not been seen for two and a half weeks. Police have uncovered a lot of evidence in that time period. Walshe is also now facing a charge of improper transport of a body.

CNN's Jason Carroll is live outside the courthouse, where he just arrived in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Jason, this new charge is a development. What do we know about it and what are we expecting today?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, once this arraignment gets underway, and now that Walshe is here expecting that to happen sometime this morning, or later this morning. The D.A. has already indicated that more evidence, more details will be released during this arraignment.

So, what could that look like, Kaitlan? It could possibly be more forensic evidence is revealed in this case. You remember investigators retrieved that hacksaw from that facility, that trash facility, in north Boston. They also retrieved a bloody knife from the home, blood on the floor. So, if there's any way, after running DNA or blood tests from some of those items they can connect that to Ana Walshe, that would be forensic evidence that would perhaps be presented during this arraignment.

We've already seen a pattern of behavior that prosecutors outlined last week during a - during another court proceeding where they talked about how Brian Walshe had spent some $450 on cleaning supplies at that Home Depot. Also talking about the internet search that he allegedly conducted, searching for how to dispose of a 115-pound woman's body and how to dismember a body.

[08:40:10]

So, during this arraignment proceeding, which, again, expected to get underway, it could be at any moment now, we're expected to learn more details about what they've uncovered in their case.

Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes, we'll check back with you for those details.

Jason Carroll, thank you.

For more on this let's bring in CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson.

I think our first question when we got this alert from our reporting about being charged with illegal transport of a body is, how does that happen if there is no body?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, so it must mean, and it could mean, that they have information, Kaitlan, Don, we could very well learn, right? Do they know anything with respect to the body or any traces or remnants or remains of the body. And so I think that is yet to be determined. But that would lead me, Kaitlan, to that conclusion.

What I'm interested in knowing, obviously, as we look today at what happens, is what else they have, right? We're going to be looking for forensics. What do they have with respect to that? What do they have in terms of cell phone data that would connect him? A lot of circumstantial evidence. What do they have in terms of his whereabouts and the timelines? How do they fit in all of this misleading information he gave them. So I think we're going to learn a lot today with respect to what authorities have and what they're going to be doing moving forward.

LEMON: It isn't unheard of, is it, to prosecute without a body? Is it - but does it make it - it makes it more difficult?

JACKSON: You know, it does, Don. The prosecutions are difficult with a body, right, and all that you can glean from a body with respect to the trauma and what happened and how it happened and where it happened and when it happened. So without it there are challenges.

But if you look at this particular case, wow, circumstantial evidence aplenty, right? But circumstantial evidence, we have to remember, is evidence. When you have information with respect to bloody knives in basements with regard to you leaving your residence when you're supposed to be on probation and supposed to be taking your kids to school but you didn't do that. And it's not only the $450 in cleaning supplies, it's the paying for them in cash. What was that all about, right? It's the misleading investigators. It's saying your wife left to the airport, when, guess what, the cell phone pings there. We don't know what police uncovered, Don, Kaitlan, as it relates to their trash that they've been going through and the different searches.

So, why do I say all this. No body, but, boy, is there compelling circumstantial evidence that leads in his direction.

COLLINS: What about what degree murder charge? Because it doesn't seem that we know first, second or what it could potentially be. Is that something you're going to be paying attention to?

JACKSON: Yes. You know, at the essence of it is, at the end of the day I think we're looking at a murder charge. The degree to which will be predicated upon the evidence. But just let's talk about that briefly. It will be interesting to know what the theory is, right? People ask about motive, motive, what's the motivation? Of course, you don't have to establish motive as a prosecutor, but inquiring minds, if it goes to a jury, want to know, what would lead you to do this?

Why do I mention motive? Because it goes to intent. Is this going to be a case where it was premedicated or is it a case, right, where it was a crime of passion? Was it a case where it was some other type of murder? So, I'll be looking to know what the theory of the prosecution is as it relates to the murder charge that they ultimately put forward.

LEMON: There's usually, at some point - listen, again, due process, innocent until proven guilty.

JACKSON: Always. Yes.

LEMON: But a you know from doing this forever, you've been doing this a long time, the evidence all -- often points to a significant other in these cases. When does that -- in the process of this, when does that usually - when is that usually reveal? Does a person come around and say, OK, this is way too much pressure. Let me give you the information that you're looking for.

JACKSON: So, you know, the bottom line is that you don't have to speak, right? The problem is, is that many defendants do enter into questioning and they give information that comes to be very valuable to authorities and not very valuable to them. But even in the absence of someone breaking, Don, or in the absence of them saying, well, I did it, and this is how, and his is why, et cetera, you know, authorities have been pretty good over the years at piecing things together. There has been information about the relationship, about some information of 2014, I believe, where there was a threat on her life, presumably from him. Whether that sees the light of day at any trial is another question. But I think that they will, authorities, through looking at text messages, emails, interviewing people about the nature of their interactions, et cetera, try to glean why he would do this.

So, there's a lot we don't know. I think there's a lot more we'll learn today. But always remember, prosecutors keep back enough, right, so that they can, at that jury trial, really let the jurors know why he's guilty in their view.

LEMON: That's what I was going to say, there's a lot, you know -- they don't tell everything.

JACKSON: Exactly right.

COLLINS: And they've said so much.

LEMON: Yes.

COLLINS: So that is saying a lot.

JACKSON: Yes.

LEMON: Thank you, Joey. Always a pleasure. Appreciate it.

JACKSON: Thank you, Don. Thank you, Kaitlan.

LEMON: This morning's number, 4-5-5. We'll tell you why. Did that rhyme?

COLLINS: I don't think so.

LEMON: Fe-fi-fe-fi.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:49:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": Biden had a visit with the prime minister of the Netherlands. And look at this.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you again, Mr. Minister. We've had a great relationship with our countries personally and I look forward to discussing a lot more in detail.

MARK RUTTE, PRIME MINISTER OF THE NETHERLANDS: Thank you. Thank you so much. And also thank you for hosting. It's the first time in my five visits that the fireplace is on.

KIMMEL: Yes, that's because he's burning classified documents in that fireplace.

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": A radio clip that had surfaced from 2020 demonstrates just how much Santos loves spreading his lies. He does it with a real (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

GEORGE SANTOS: When I was in Baruch, we were the number one volleyball team.

SID ROSENBERG: Did you graduate from Baruch? Did you graduate from there?

SANTOS: Yes, I did.

ROSENBERG: So did I.

SANTOS: I did.

ROSENBERG: So did it.

SANTOS: Oh, very cool. So, great school. Great institution. Very liberal -

ROSENBERG: Yes.

SANTO: But very good - very good professors.

COLBERT: Oh, yes, yes, great - great - great school, great professors. Dumbledore, McGonagal, the - the nutty (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That was -- we needed a laugh after all of that madness.

COLLINS: It's crazy how much the George Santos thing has become like just an everyday conversation, everyday joke.

[08:50:05]

I was at the airport the other day and I walked by these two older gentlemen sitting together and they were talking about George Santos and roasting him for what we were talking about, the - lying about the volleyball championship.

LEMON: Yes, someone -- one of the guys came in the studio a few minutes ago and said, are you guys upset that he's on the Air and Space Committee or whatever it is, you know, him - after (ph) being a former astronaut? It's like -

COLLINS: The jokes write themselves for these guys.

LEMON: OK, it was funnier when he said it.

OK, so -

COLLINS: It was funny when you said it, too.

LEMON: All right, thank you. Maybe I should try out for Trevor's spot.

COLLINS: OK.

LEMON: Apple has unveiled two new versions of its popular MacBook Pro laptops, a 14 inch and 16 inch options. It is the latest update for a tech giant that has seen incredible growth over the past 20 years.

CNN's senior data reporter knows all about it, Harry Enten.

Harry, what does this 455, what's this number about?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: All right, so this morning's number is Apple's share of the USPC market by units shipped. It's up 455 percent since 2003. The third quarter of 2003. Incredible growth. Incredible growth.

And I just want to zoom in on this and it gives you an understanding. Apple's share of the USPC market by units shipped, look back in 2003, it was just 3.1 percent. Nobody I knew, nobody I knew basically had an Apple. It was the less cool option. Everyone wanted, say, something that had Microsoft Windows on it, whatever the latest version was at the time. But look at the growth. 11.5 percent in 2013, and now 17.2 percent of the PCs that have been shipped are Apple. It's an unbelievable growth story over the last two decades, guys.

LEMON: OK, so then what's the reason for this? Are they easier to operate than the old --

ENTEN: No. I think that might be one of the reasons. But Apple has always been easy to operate. It was something I could operate as a five-year-old.

Take a look here. U.S. adults owning an iPhone. This is based on my estimate, based on polling and some market reports. You know, back in 2003, there was no iPhone. By 2013, about 22 percent of Americans owned an iPhone. Now, 44 percent.

I think what's essentially happening is, people are like, oh, I like my -- my IOS and now I want to be able to use it with my computer, so I'm, in fact, going to use a Mac PC. So you essentially get this situation where people are migrating from an iPhone over to a PC. It's one of those very interesting things.

Of course, the iPhone still far more popular than the PC, at least in terms of Mac. But in terms of the bottom line, I think this says it all, Apple's stock price. Look at that, it was just 25 cents back in 2003.

COLLINS: Wow.

ENTEN: Look where it is today, $135.94. Massive growth. If you owned Apple shares back in 2003, you made a ton of money. I wish I bought into it.

LEMON: I did. I knew nothing.

COLLINS: Wow.

LEMON: I just went on like, what is it, one of those E-Trade things and bought Apple stock. Not a ton of it, but, I mean, it's crazy. I had - I had no idea what I was doing. It was like Ameritrade or something like that.

COLLINS: It's amazing.

ENTEN: Better to be lucky than smart, Don.

LEMON: And, that's true, because I am a lot luckier than I am smart. Speak for yourself there, Harry.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you.

COLLINS: All right, also turning to a story that we have been following all morning here on CNN THIS MORNING. Ana Walshe's husband, he is the man suspected of killing the mother of three, he has just arrived at the courthouse moments ago. You can see him there. Those are brand-new images. He is set to be formally charged in just a bit. We now know he's actually going to be facing three charges, murder, improper transport of a body and misleading investigators, the initial charge that he was jailed on. We have reporters at the courthouse. CNN is going to bring you the latest developments as we learn more from the prosecutors.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:58:13]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEONARDO DICAPRIO, ACTOR, "TITANIC": Kick for the surface and keep kicking. Do not let go of my hand. We're going to make it, Rose, trust me.

KATE WINSLET, ACTRESS, "TITANIC": I trust you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: It's been a hotly contested debate for 25 years. Now James Cameron is trying to put an end to that age-old question about whether Jack and Rose could have survived on the door in the middle of the Atlantic. In an upcoming documentary, because the movie is turning 25 years old, which is hard to believe -

LEMON: Yes.

COLLINS: National Geographic recreated the scenario to prove scientifically once and for all whether it was possible for two people to be on that door.

Using stunt doubles with sensors in cold, but not freezing, water, they consulted hypothermia experts about the matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

James CAMERON, DIRECTOR, "TITANIC": The faster your heart's beating, the faster that cooling blood from your arms and legs is coming into your core, taking your temperature down. So, I was really curious to see what that did to Jack's situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The documentary is going to premiere on February 5th. Cameron says you're going to have to wait until then for the answer. What do you think?

LEMON: I love James Cameron, but it is a movie. I mean just --

COLLINS: I know but people actually think this.

LEMON: It's a -- it's not real. I mean, you know, it's about -- it's about the real Titanic, but it is a movie and poetic license.

COLLINS: It's crazy to think it's 25 years old.

LEMON: It is. It's crazy it's 25 years old. But what were we talking about before, redoing "Ghost." Look, I think it's very interesting I'll probably watch the James Cameron thing. But, like, I don't know, why would you remake a movie that is a classic and why would you try to ruin it with whether you can -- on a door. Just go to the movie, enjoy it and, yes, they can do it. Remember -

COLLINS: This is why I don't get on cruises.

LEMON: I'm the king of the world.

[09:00:00]

That was my favorite part of the movie.

COLLINS: All right, while we're debating this, CNN's "NEWSROOM" continues and starts right now.

LEMON: I need some sleep.