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Quest Means Business
Judge Dismisses Top Count Of Second Degree Manslaughter Against Daniel Penny; US Economy Adds 227K Jobs In November; CNN Speaks With Main Rebel Leader Amid Shock Offensive; TikTok Moves On Step Closer To Being Banned In The U.S.; Source: Israel President Herzog Called Elon Musk About Reviving Hostage Release Talks; ICAO Combats Rising Air Traffic And Climate Change. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired December 06, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:11]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Closing bell ringing on Wall Street Friday. We're together at the end of the week, Chain
Bridge Bank office ringing the closing bell. The market is bifurcated, as we say. There you see it, the way the NASDAQ and the S&P are up, but small
losses on the Dow. The bell, all right, sir, go ahead.
One -- oh, dear. We've been short changed. We only had two gavels. Normally, you get three at the end, or maybe Chain Bridge a little bit
frugal on a Friday. I haven't got my bell here, certainly, together -- to actually join in on that.
Those are the markets and the main business events of the day.
Jobs numbers in the United States just added a quarter of a million plus jobs last month, a sign of strength and the economy that Donald Trump will
inherit.
An exclusive interview of Syria's rebel leader who projects himself as a moderate voice, the voice of reason. Is he really that?
And TikTok ticking its way towards one step to being closer to a ban. The company loses its appeal in court.
We're live in New York. It is Friday, December 6th. I'm Richard Quest, and I mean business.
Good evening.
Breaking news to bring to your close attention. A New York judge has dismissed the second degree manslaughter charge against the former Marine,
Daniel Penny. He was charged for the chokehold death of a man on the subway last year.
Penny's lawyers had argued that the victim, Jordan Neely was threatening passengers. Now, Joey Jackson is with me.
This is the -- this is the charge that the jury were deadlocked on, if I'm not mistaken. Do jump in and correct me at any point.
So getting rid of that charge means what?
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So it's very significant, and here's why. What it means is, first of all, what's the charge? The charge is
manslaughter. What's the distinction? This is not a murder case where anyone is claiming there was murder that was done with intent. The issue
with manslaughter is whether or not you acted recklessly. What does that mean in English?
It means that you consciously disregarded the risk that the behavior you engaged in can cause death. What's the behavior? You have somebody in a
chokehold, would it not be substantially likely that they could die as a result of the lock on their neck?
So the issue in manslaughter is recklessness, right? The consciousness regard that your behavior could actually cause something to go amiss. And
so here, the jury was deadlocked on that issue.
I'm presuming, right, without having been in the room, that there were some who were saying, You know what, regardless, I don't think I'm going to
convict, because this was, as the defense said, self-defense, meaning there were people in immediate fear of being injured or killed, and he there,
quite intervened. I think that's one reason, right? So, I think --
QUEST: But Joey, let's not concern ourselves just a second as to why they may have decided that. More significant, arguably, is, if you get rid of
the top count, what is the count that takes its place if anything. What is the lesser offense that they're clearly looking at?
JACKSON: Yes, so what happens is, is that this is a significant victory for the defense, because without that, and the reason I got into that, right,
Richard is because the jury clearly was having difficulty establishing that the prosecution can prove their case as it relates to the top count.
And so because of that difficulty in establishing that, now what happens is, prosecution moves to dismiss the case. The judge dismisses that case.
Now, they go to the next thing they could be charged with to the core of your question, and that is what they now consider is what's called
criminally negligent homicide.
And what that means is the jury now will consider whether or not he was negligent as we look at the defendant there, right? Negligence is, as we
know, negligence, you were careless, right? You didn't perceive a risk that you should have perceived. So now we're looking at an E felony, which means
he can face up to four years in jail if convicted. If he were convicted of the top count that was just dismissed, that would be 15 years.
And so the answer to your question is, that's the charge that they'll be focused on fighting about when they come back and they start the
deliberations again.
QUEST: Right, just to be clear. So when they go in on the top count, it's not one of those murder, manslaughter things where you can do, you know,
you can consider both at the same time, come back with guilty on one, not guilty on other.
Here, they're going to have to go back and recharge the second again,
[16:05:08]
JACKSON: Yes. So what happens is, is that the reason this is critical is, before you can get to criminally negligent homicide, if you're a jury, you
have to reach a decision as to the top count, which was manslaughter.
They could not, the 12 member jury do that, they were deadlocked. So with that charge now dismissed, they are then permitted under the law to get to
that next count, which is criminally negligent homicide. No matter how you slice this, no matter how you argue about this, this is a significant
victory for the defense, because it means their client's exposure has just gone from 15 years in jail if convicted, to up to four years in jail if
convicted of the criminally negligent homicide. So that's what the core issue will be when the jury resumes.
QUEST: I'm grateful to you, sir. Thank you.
Now to our business agenda. US jobs roared back, 227,000 jobs. It was higher than expected, a strong rebound from the month before needs context.
The context is the labor strikes, Boeing, for example, and two major hurricanes, which took their toll.
November's unemployment rate actually ticked up 4.2 percent, but it has been above four percent now for some six straight months. Now the Fed Chair
Jerome Powell, gave his verdict on the state of the economy earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, US FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Growth is definitely stronger than we thought, and inflation is coming a little higher. So the good news
is that we can afford to be a little more cautious as we try to find neutral.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The latest economic numbers at the moment. So we have GDP, a solid 2.8 percent in Q3. Inflation just marginally higher, 2.6 percent, first
time it's risen since March. But the preponderance of views is that the wage growth is not -- it is about four percent, you've got productivity of
two percent, therefore you're believing that inflation is well contained at the moment, and certainly not -- the accelerated rate of unemployment is
not an issue.
Investors, therefore are now expecting the Fed to cut interest rates this month. The target range comes now, then down to four-and-a-quarter to four-
and-a-half.
The acting labor secretary, Julie Su says the administration, the Trump administration now has been set up for success.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIE SU, ACTING US LABOR SECRETARY: The reality is that much of what we've put in place, the benefits of those things, are going to be seen in two
years, in four years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: So Julia Coronado is the president of the MacroPolicy Perspectives and a former Federal Reserve economist. The core issue here, because the
numbers significant in November and December are, this is the economy that Donald Trump inherits.
You know, people are always saying, we inherited a disaster, we inherited a crisis. We inherited this, that and the other, so we've got this number.
He's actually being handed a really good economy.
JULIA CORONADO, PRESIDENT, MACROPOLICY PERSPECTIVES AND A FORMER FEDERAL RESERVE ECONOMIST: For the second time, yes, he is being handed a
Goldilocks economy with solid growth, moderating inflation, that good self- reinforcing feedback loop between hiring and spending nicely intact and a Fed that's on a rate cutting campaign. So a pretty ideal circumstances to
take the reins of the US economy.
QUEST: Which arguably, is going to get stronger because we're going to have another Fed rate cut. I assume, well, actually, I won't assume -- are you
in the camp that believes there will be a rate cut in December as well?
CORONADO: Yes, I think that we will get the rate cut in December and then they'll strike that more cautious tone you just referenced from Chair
Powell that from here on, they're going to take a little more time between rate cuts, evaluate the landscape, make sure inflation continues to cool.
So they're going to slow down the pace a little bit next year, so it'll be both kind of a good news, but also another dose of caution --
QUEST: They have to be careful, because many of the policies that the administration, incoming administration, are putting forward are
inflationary. So we've got tariffs, which are inflationary. We have got, obviously, a loosening of regulation that is potentially inherently
inflationary. We've got tax cuts, now can I forget those, definitely inflationary; and more government spending, traditionally inflationary.
CORONADO: Immigration restrictions also inflationary.
QUEST: Yes.
CORONADO: Huge tailwinds to the US economy and a big differentiator across other countries. So turning off that spigot is going to take a toll on the
run rate on growth and potentially put upward pressures on inflation as well.
So yes, the entire package looks like it poses some inflation risks for the US.
[16:10:10]
QUEST: If we are in a Goldilocks scenario where essentially you really would like rates to be heading to the neutral, which is what two, two-and-
a-half, three percent, we can argue about a blip here, or a blip here or there, but they're going to want to watch and see how much leeway do you
think they're going to give the incoming administration before they stop cutting?
CORONADO: Well, I think that, you know, again, that we have the advantage of the Goldilocks economy, which as Powell cited, gives them some time,
some sort of the luxury of taking a little more time before making a decision. You know, that sort of sets us up for a skip in January, and the
next potential cut being in March.
By March, I think we're going to know more about how significant is the tariff campaign we are looking at, how near term, same with the
immigration, the mass deportation campaign. We'll just have a little more clarity.
Fiscal policy is probably going to take most of the year to legislate, so that's just not going to be a near term goal for the Fed, but the others
might.
QUEST: Forgive me, we have a delay. Forgive me.
If the stock market is juiced up because of deregulation, crypto and the like, now we have a wealth effect then, people feel wealthier, they spend
more, let's argue. Is a rising stock market, in your view, a disproportionate rising stock market? Is that inflationary, too?
CORONADO: You know, that's a really great question, and it's a complicated answer, because we have been seeing an increased discrepancy in US economic
performance amongst consumers with middle and lower income consumers feeling the brunt, bearing the brunt of higher interest rates.
We're seeing rising delinquencies on loans. We're seeing consumers at the middle and lower and being more price sensitive, more cautious. Meanwhile,
you know, record stock prices are fueling a wealth effect, so we're already dealing with this sort of two speed economy.
In general, we think inflation is set at the median consumer, that is, you know, the wealth effect can drive consumer spending, but if the average
consumer is price sensitive, that's what's going to be captured in the CPI and other metrics of inflation.
So I don't think the wealth effect is inherently inflationary to consumer price inflation, but it is a complication for the Fed in terms of who are
you setting policy for?
QUEST: Right.
CORONADO: You don't want to cut rates to juice up an already buoyant stock market with stretch valuations necessarily; at the same time, you do want
to provide relief for that middle income consumer that's been paying a lot higher interest rate on their credit cards and on their car loan.
So, you know, it's a complicating factor for sure.
QUEST: Grateful for you tonight. Thank you. Have a good weekend. Thank you so much.
CORONADO: You be the same.
QUEST: Now to Syria, where the rebels are pushing closer to the key city of Homs right now.
If they can capture Homs, it would split the territories in the control of President Assad into two. You can see there on the map. And it raises the
possibility that the government in Damascus could face an assault from both the north and the south.
The leader of the main rebel group driving the armed revolution has been telling us the ultimate goal is to overthrow President Assad.
Jomana Karadsheh sat down Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham for an exclusive interview where she asked what future HTS
would look like for the Syrian people.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABU MOHAMMED AL-GOLANI, HAYAT TAHRIR AL-SHAM LEADER (through translator): People who fear Islamic governance either have seen incorrect
implementations of it or do not understand it properly.
We are talking about something that aligns with the traditions and nature of the region. The most important thing is to build institutions.
We are not talking about rule by individuals or personal whims. It's about institutional governance.
Syria deserves a governing system that is institutional, not one where a single ruler makes arbitrary decisions.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Many Syrians are happy and will be happy to see the end of the Assad regime, but they're also
worried about what HTS rule would mean, including minorities.
AL-GOLANI (through translator): No one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and
no one has the right to eliminate them. There must be a legal framework that protects and ensures the rights of all, not a system that serves only
one sect as Assad's regime has done.
KARADSHEH: You know, listening to you speaking, you've gone through quite the transformation. Once an al-Qaeda leader, your group has had
affiliations with al-Qaeda, with ISIS, and now you are projecting this image of a moderate leader and a moderate group. What is HTS right now?
[16:15:19]
AL-GOLANI (through translator): Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is one of the factions in the region, just like all the others. Now, we're talking about a larger
project. We're talking about building Syria.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is merely one detail of this dialogue, and it may dissolve at any time. It's not an end in itself, but a means to perform a
task confronting this regime.
Once that task is complete, it will transition to a state of governance, institutions and so on. I believe that everyone in life goes through phases
and experiences, and these experiences naturally increase a person's awareness.
A person in their 20s will have a different personality than someone in their 30s or 40s, and certainly someone in their 50s.
KARADSHEH: So are those days behind you?
AL-GOLANI (through translator): Sometimes it's essential to adjust to reality, and because someone who rigidly clings to certain ideas and
principles without flexibility cannot effectively lead societies or navigate complex conflicts like the one happening in Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Now, Jomana's full interview with him will air in about two hours at 6:00 PM Eastern Time.
So the search for the man suspected in the murder of the insurance CEO in New York City streets is broadening. The authorities believe the gunman has
left town, and now the investigators are focusing on where he might be, in a moment. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: New York Police believe the man that they're seeking, who they believe murdered Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, has already left
the city.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA TISCH, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: We do have a person of interest in the case, and we have released the photo yesterday. We would
appreciate you getting that photo out to your audience, because we also have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City.
So we want a wider audience to see the picture outside of New York City.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now they are also trying to find more images they can load into the facial recognition software in hope of further tracking him, and they're
testing several items that likely to have been touched by him for possible DNA.
[16:20:07]
Our chief law enforcement intelligence analyst, John Miller is with me.
We talked yesterday. They've had all of this and the number of cameras and how you stitch it together like a big piece of knitting to go to picture.
But listen John, now, if he has left the city, how sophisticated is the systems of other cities that they can feed the New York pictures to
Philadelphia to Baltimore to all of the other places, and therefore have more people looking.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So you know, they have him coming into the city through the Port Authority Bus
Terminal, and now they have video of him going back into the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and they don't have video of him leaving, strongly suggesting
he got on another bus, probably to where he came from.
Remember, when he's doing these things, his face is not out in the news yet, that photo hasn't been released. He doesn't know that they've traced
him to the bus terminal, so he is probably believing the coast is clear.
The bus he came in on originated from Atlanta. We don't know where he got on that bus along the route from Atlanta to New York, but one could start
to guess that the bus that's smoking out of here the day of the murder is probably going down the same route.
That means they can reach out to those cities along the way, and especially at bus terminals, where, in most cities, the bus terminals will have video
cameras or stops along the way, where the bus stops to let people off during that drive to grab something to eat, they may have captured an
image. They may find an end place which tells them what the other city they're looking for him is.
QUEST: And are they going -- I mean, the busses themselves have cameras on them, in many, many cases, for the protection of the driver and the buses.
I presume that they are trawling and getting all the video in from every bus that says -- this is Herculean in nature.
MILLER: Well, it is, and that's why the New York City Police Department, there's nobody really better than this than them, because they have made it
a priority. They don't just send detectives out and say, try and collect the video along this route, much like the police in London, they have video
collection teams. That's all they do, and they have been to most of the cameras in the city on some other case, they literally have maps and charts
that tell them where all the cameras the NYPD can draw into their LMSI System are, but they also have mapped where all the other cameras are.
So, they are really good at doing this kind of grid search, and they're waiting for that moment where he pulled down the hood, picked up the mask,
to see if there's a full head shot of him that might be a better candidate for things like facial recognition or Clear View AI.
But remember, Richard, the DNA samples taken from the water bottle, which we think he drank from, from the phone, which he definitely touched, got to
the medical examiner's office today. They'll be entered into CODIS. We'll see if there's a hit, maybe the system has seen him before, and they'll be
put in the file, so if they do get a suspect, they can compare them.
QUEST: You're -- I don't want to say confident that -- you're quite sanguine that they're going to find him, aren't you?
MILLER: You know, I'm comparing it to other cases, Boston Marathon bomber, you will remember, as do I, Cesar Sayoc, who sent all of those bombs to CNN
a few years ago.
QUEST: Of course.
MILLER: You know, I went to bed at 1:30 in the morning. We had nothing on that guy. We didn't know. All we knew is we had a mad bomber out there. By
4:30 in the morning, the FBI lab had developed DNA from a hair that had fallen onto a piece of tape, a partial fingerprint from a piece of
something else. And suddenly we had a name, we had DNA, we had a cell phone, we had a tracking system, we had a surveillance team following a van
down a highway, and we set up a SWAT team and an arrest at a 7-Eleven. That's how quickly these can turn.
QUEST: I'm grateful to you, John. Have a good weekend. Thank you, sir.
MILLER: You too, Richard.
QUEST: The reaction on social media, now, this is an interesting aspect to it -- just before we even go down this road, let us make it clear that, of
course, the heinous nature of the crime stands alone and will not be tainted by any further discussion about social media or anything like that.
But what we are seeing is what this social media reaction has exposed is this incredible deep frustration with the US healthcare system and how it
is managed.
A new Gallup poll shows just three percent, three -- now, I didn't get that wrong -- are fully satisfied with it. Most people say the price of
healthcare is the system's biggest problem. Only one in five is happy with its costs.
Clare Duffy is in New York.
[16:25:06]
Now, what this heinous murder has done, it has unleashed forces whereby people are now criticizing the healthcare system and using it as a vehicle,
perhaps distastefully, some might say, but it is exposing a very raw anger.
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Richard, obviously, as you said, there is no justification for this kind of violence, but we are seeing this
reaction on social media, this bubbling up of a lot of the pent up anger and frustration and distrust that Americans feel towards the healthcare
industry, and in particular, health insurers.
We're seeing lots of people sharing stories of times that they had health claims denied by their insurers. I want to play an example from TikTok
here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had to give her haircuts and showers, and until you've had to do that with your own mother, you can't know what it's like.
But to UnitedHealthcare, she was a number. She was a dollar amount. $90 billion in profits and anyone on here who is saying, oh, all of you
commenters have no compassion for him, you're right, we don't. He had no compassion for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUFFY: So as you hear there, that is a daughter talking about her mother in home rehab claims denied by insurance and experts say that these claim
denials are a source of a lot of the frustration that people feel.
This is a kind of common problem. More than half of insured Americans, 58 percent said that they experienced some kind of problem with their
insurance over the course of the year, and that includes claim denials and pre-authorization issues, and 15 percent of those people said that their
health actually declined as a result of those denials that can lead to delays in care and anxiety, things like that.
QUEST: Right.
DUFFY: So, this is a much bigger problem than what we're seeing today, but we're seeing that come out in this reaction.
QUEST: We are, but my guess is also that the healthcare industry is well aware of this. I mean, I'm guessing that we're not telling them anything
they don't already know from their own.
So the question becomes, do they take notice? Because social media, not social media, per se, if we run our lives by social media, God help us all,
but social media has provided a vehicle by which the true size and scale of this problem is now known. Does the industry take notice?
DUFFY: Yes. I mean, it is quite shocking. Normally, somebody is shot and killed in the street. The reaction is one of sympathy, not one of sort of
frustration and finger pointing at the industry. So I do imagine you have executives of other health insurance companies looking and taking note of
this reaction. I think it is an open question whether we see them change their behavior the way that they're operating because of this, but I do
think that this reaction points to a feeling by a lot of Americans, and I think the companies probably would push back on this, but that these big
insurers are putting profits over people -- Richard.
DUFFY: I'm grateful for you tonight, as always. Thank you very much.
TikTok is running out of options in the fight against being banned in the United States. An appeals ruling upheld the law forcing it to find a new
owner. Now, the company wants to plead its case the Supreme Court. In a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:27]
QUEST: TikTok's future in the United States could now depend on whether the Supreme Court will step in to help it out. President Biden signed a law
back in April. It required ByteDance, the owners to sell TikTok to a non- Chinese owner. TikTok claimed that law violated its constitutional rights. Today, a U.S. Supreme -- sorry, U.S. appeals court ruled against it and now
TikTok says it will -- it will challenge that ruling.
Sara Fischer is in Washington. The deadline is, of course, January the 19th. That's where the new president takes over. So, now Sara Fischer is
with me in Washington. What -- the ruling was quite clear and left very little room for ambiguity on the First Amendment issue. There is the
potential of the Supreme Court but the sale is supposed to be by Jan -- by the -- just before the inauguration. What happens next?
SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: So obviously, TikTok is going to push for an injunction, Richard. So basically what would happen with a ban is that
it would force the various app store owners, so that would be like Apple and Google to stop allowing TikTok to be made available in the app stores,
which meant that if you currently are one of the 170 million Americans that has TikTok on your phone, you just wouldn't be able to update the app, and
then eventually it becomes obsolete.
Now from a legal perspective, there's a few things that could happen. One, if TikTok gets some sort of temporary injunction, that could mean that we
don't actually have to force these app stores to ban the app, which is a possibility. Two could be, if the Supreme Court decides to take this up,
you're looking at a very long process for which we could finally come to an answer here. And so, I think it's actually unlikely that Americans are
going to see the app completely go away on January 19th.
And then, of course, the third option is that there is a seller that comes up front. Though, the problem is, even though there's a lot of people who
have indicated interest, as you know, Richard, China has said that they do not feel it's appropriate for ByteDance to sell off the U.S. arm. And so,
if I had a guess, I think this is going to be like a very long standoff before we get an answer here.
QUEST: Right. But then you've got this deadline, so we -- and really it becomes, how does the new president view this? And that could change the
whole picture. Could it not?
FISCHER: It could. So, let's talk about that. So, Donald Trump originally was the first person really pursuing this ban of TikTok during his first
administration. Obviously, he flipped his tune during his campaign, and you can imagine why, for political reasons, it looks really good to support an
app that more than half of the country has. But in terms of what power he has to actually do anything, it's sort of limited.
You know, he could push a Republican led Congress to try to appeal -- repeal the law. That seems somewhat unlikely, because especially in
Congress with the Republican majority, a lot of these conservatives have an anti-China stance. He could pressure the DOJ not to enforce it. He could
try to argue that it actually already complies in some ways from a national security perspective. But all that seems pretty unlikely and effective.
QUEST: Can I just take it to one other story that I'm just watching closely? This report that apparently the Israeli -- the Israel president,
President Herzog called Elon Musk about restarting hostage negotiations. Now, what role is Musk playing in all of this? He's got no formal role at
the moment in government, and yet, we've now got him a as being Mar-a-Lago whisperer.
FISCHER: Yes. That's exactly right. And I think if you're Herzog, you recognize his proximity to the president.
[16:35:07]
You recognize his influence over his decisions. And you leverage that to the best of your ability to get done what you need to get done. If I were
the prime minister, I'd be calling every single person within Donald Trump's orbit to try to influence him on this. Because we know that Donald
Trump supports Israel, obviously allied with Bibi Netanyahu. But is he going to put this issue at the top of his list and take immediate action on
it?
Probably not, in case, unless he has some sort of, you know, inner circle that's going to be pressuring him to do it. That is why you call Elon Musk.
He is in the center of that center circle.
QUEST: I'm grateful to you. Thank you so much. Sara Fischer, we'll talk more about this. So many more things we're to talk about.
TikTok is at the heart of an election controversy in Romania where results have been annulled over fears of foreign interference. A fringe far-right
candidate relied heavily on TikTok to claim the first round. Romania's top court now ordered the election process to start anew. He classified
intelligence documents found evidence of Russian influence. The country's current president says he will stay on until a replacement is elected.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KLAUS IOHANNIS, PRESIDENT OF ROMANIA (through translator): The new government of Romania will set new dates for the two rounds of the
elections for the president of Romania. So once again, the new parliament will be convened, the new government will be elected. The new government
will determine when the new presidential elections will take place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Anti-government protests in Georgia are now in their second week. These are live pictures through tonight coming true to from Tbilisi. You
can see the demonstrations. They began after the country's ruling party suspended talks to join the European Union. The police have been cracking
down on protesters and those -- that cracking down has been an increasing force. One journalist was beaten while reporting.
Now some of you may find some of the images in Sebastian Shukla's report somewhat disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN FIELD PRODUCER (voice-over): In the middle of this chaos on the streets of Tbilisi is veteran journalist Guram Rogava. He's
reporting live on air the next he's crumpled on the floor, blood pouring from his face. His assault captured from different angles, including this
one. You clearly see the black clothed policeman bludgeoning him as he backs away.
Rogava tells CNN he fractured a bone in his neck, injuries that could have been life changing, he told me, doctors said --
GURAM ROGAVA, GEORGIAN JOURNALIST: And we don't know how it's possible that you still can speak and move your legs and hands.
SHUKLA (voice-over): Attacks like this have become commonplace over the past week. Thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets all over the
country, furious at the government's decision to suspend talks, joining the European Union and perceived closeness to Moscow. The government's response
has been to quash the pro-Western protests using force. These unmarked men in black.
ROGAVA: They look like criminals and they act like criminals. They catch them, they hit them and they swear at them.
SHUKLA (voice-over): Another beating by police. This time two brothers swarmed by dozens of faceless officers. Erkele Loladze told CNN his jaw was
broken in two places. He could only answer our questions in writing.
ERKELE LOLADZE, GEORGIAN RESIDENT (through translator): They shouted, hit him in the head. Kill him. Multiple groups of them assaulted me, knocking
me down four or five times. They kicked me all over my body and at one point someone stood on me with both feet and jumped.
SHUKLA (voice-over): Opposition politicians have also been targeted. Nika Gvaramia, a leader of the Coalition for Change movement in a standoff with
more masked policemen before they raided his office, thrown to the ground, beaten unconscious and hauled into detention. The Interior Ministry says
he's been arrested and charged for, quote, disobedience to the police.
The prime minister also accusing the opposition of stoking the protests.
IRAKLI KOBAKHIDZE, GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): One thing is confirmed, people were systematically supplied with pyrotechnics and
other means by the relevant political forces.
SHUKLA (voice-over): Georgians fear their country slipping back into Russia's orbit. The ugly scenes of violence and political repression have
more than shades of a Russian style crackdown.
ROGAVA: We all understand that now we are fighting against Russia. There is war in Georgia now.
SHUKLA (voice-over): Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The U.N.'s Aviation Agency, ICAO is celebrating its 80th birthday. Joining me in a moment is the president of ICO. There we are, sir, we can
see you. We look forward to hearing you and talking to you after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:43:13]
QUEST: The United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization is known as ICAO, its 80th anniversary, and there's a whole load of new
challenges that the ICAO has to face. For instance, you've got the managing of limited air space as we fly more so air traffic becomes more controlled,
more difficult, more congested. You have net zero emissions by 2050 where there are many people who now say the target simply cannot be reached.
And one reason for that is that the production of sustainable aviation pools SAF. The latest decarbonization efforts just simply not happening
fast enough. And all of this is relevant because aviation is 2-1/2 percent of emissions. But the industry itself gets a much worse rap in terms of the
critics and the activists. Salvatore Sciacchitano joins me now from Montreal. The president of ICAO. Good to see you, sir. Congratulations.
And the reality is, though, ICAO is one of those organizations that's at the very heart of aviation, but actually it's very difficult in ICAO to get
things done because of your consensus nature and the U.N. way in which you operate.
SALVATORE SCIACCHITANO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ICAO: Well, as part of true is true that ICAO is a U.N. specialized agency and as a U.N. special
agency works on the basis of a multilateralism. That's definitely correct. But it's also true that he's able to take decisions through negotiations,
following compromises, sometimes what we take -- you just mentioned two achievements.
[16:45:00]
For example, the net zero by 2050 is a decision as a result of long negotiations in the assembly 2022. And to be frank, we are realistic, that
we consider that this is achievable.
QUEST: Most people don't believe that. I mean, it's not just the ICAO is talking, but most people do not -- I'll rephrase that. Many people do not
believe that these targets can be met.
SCIACCHITANO: Well, let's put in this way. Of course, in order to achieve the net zero by 2050, there is a huge change to be introduced in aviation,
that is the deployment of the sustainable aviation fuels. And if you're right, currently, the sustainable aviation fuels are available in a very
limited point. But that's the point, the global framework that was adopted by ICAO and when I say, ICAO has been a member (INAUDIBLE)
In 2023 the global framework has several provisions. I will not remember those in detail, but one important goal is to have a CO2 emission
reduction, five percent CO2 emission reduction by 2030. This has already triggered an increase of production of stuff. And I would say that two
years ago, we had just very, very few limited productions (INAUDIBLE) one kilotons. This year we will have 1.5 megatons. We need 14 megatons by 2030
--
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: So, a long way to go. A long way to go.
SCIACCHITANO: The thing about -- the thing -- the thing about ICAO -- sorry, we have a delay, obviously, between here and yourself. The thing
about ICAO is it is this organization. I mean, I think of the various treaties, the Chicago treaty, the Montreal treaty, that wonderful line.
This is not the baggage check under Article Four of the Warsaw, whatever. All these wonderful things, it is the backbone.
But I wonder whether it needs a higher profile. I wonder -- like many new agencies now, it needs to be more driving the bus through majority voting
rather than consensus.
SCIACCHITANO: Well, that's something that is already done in ICAO but you have to consider that you can take majority decisions that would be
partially implemented. For this reason, when referred to multilateralism, it means to find solutions that will be really implemented, really
implemented. And let me say that regarding the net zero by 2050 target, we have already a roadmap.
We already working, because this is something totally new for ICAO, that is an aviation agency to work with fuel (INAUDIBLE) to work with the investors
and to create a mechanism of the match making mechanism where states and producers and investors can match, because we know that sustainable
industrial fuel is very low. For example, the production in Africa is approximately zero, and we needed to create conditions for investments.
So, it's a process. That's something that I want to stress, it's not myself or the council, it's the organizational composed by states that is working
this direction.
QUEST: I am -- I'm grateful to you, sir. Happy birthday. Thank you. We'll come and visit you. Thank you very much. ICAO.
Now as we continue tonight. Pizza Hut is looking for a new look for its restaurants. The redesign for the new -- all sorts of things, ordering
kiosks, warm up, pick up ovens, you name it, and even get you -- watch how you have pizzas made after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:51:22]
QUEST: Now there's nothing like a good Friday or Saturday night, and that involves our Pizza Hut. Now, Pizza Hut is trying new recipes for its --
well, you can see there the way the look of its restaurants. Top of the list, of course, is layering on personalization. Pizza just decided that
what people really want is to be able to layer, have more choice, not a one size fits all. And then best of all, in all of this, they want there to be
a pizza making window, because we all want the entertainment of seeing our pizzas actually made.
But how do you do all of this and add speed of basically drive through, making things quick and easy to do. And then ensuring you have it all ready
in a timely fashion. Increased customer satisfaction to help it compete in new tighter markets. Nathaniel Meyerson, Nate Meyerson is with me, joining
me here in New York. Why are they doing it? Don't you start. Don't you start.
NATHANIEL MEYERSON, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Richard, if I walked into Pizza Hut and you were making, I'd go right back to my car. But very, very good.
So, what I think is so interesting about this, Richard, is it shows kind of the changes in the industry. Back in the day, back in your day, Pizza Hut
was a sit-down restaurant. They had the kind of the kitschy red roofs, that was what it's known for.
But now what people want is speed. They want the drive through. They want the pickup. And so, Pizza Hut is completely adapting to these changes. And
so that's what you're seeing with this new -- this new restaurant.
QUEST: That's true. People want that speed, et cetera, et cetera, but they also want the bespoke experience. They want the entertainment aspect of it,
the way they do it, and it's marrying that. And you and I have talked about this. How do you do bespoke entertainment if you will experience but still
make thousands of these things by the hour?
MEYERSON: Yes, I think that, you know, we talk a lot about this when it comes to Starbucks. Starbucks is trying to be bespoke. They're trying to be
kind of the local coffee chat, but they have struggled to do that. Chipotle, on the other hand, you know, Chipotle is really been able to kind
of merge the bespoke element with speed and Pizza Hut is kind of replicating what Chipotle has.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: So, how far behind are they do you think? How far behind are they? Because has -- pardon the pun here, has Chipotle et cetera got a secret
sauce that people like Pizza Hut will find very difficult to replicate?
MEYERSON: Pizza Hut is very much behind. You know, in the pizza industry, Domino's is miles ahead. Domino's is really kind of the leader here.
Chipotle has been incredibly success -- successful because it's -- one of these more fast casual chains. Pizza Hut is kind of QSR quick service
restaurant, really kind of thought of more as fast food. You know, they're trying to go a little bit more upscale with this new model.
But look, it's just one restaurant. It's in Texas. Can they really do this at scale? Lot of -- lot of skepticism here.
QUEST: Nate Meyerson, have a good weekend.
MEYERSON: You enjoy that.
[16:55:04]
QUEST: I was going to invite you over for dinner, but you've had that now. You know if you can
Do. Got to do Starbucks. Thank you. Nete Meyerson, have a lovely weekend. We have a profitable moment after the break. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's profitable moment. So, we now have a very good picture of the economy that Donald Trump will inherit. Whether it's GDP, jobs or
inflation. We know the broad jigsaw puzzle and what it looks like. And the truth is it -- Donald Trump will be handed an extremely good economy. To be
sure, consumers and Americans still feel that inflation is too high, that prices are too high because, of course, what happens is they're still going
up, just not as fast, but they're not coming down.
And frankly, I don't think they're ever going to, that's just not the way it works. But Donald Trump's ability to maintain this good economy without
necessarily juicing it up. And by the way, juicing it up is exactly what Joe Biden did with his unnecessary stimulus package, which then caused the
Fed to move even faster. Donald Trump could make the same mistake. The raft of policies being put in place will all increase growth at a greater speed,
and the Fed will be slower to cut interest rates.
We all know this. It's economics 101. But anybody who tells you that the economy is in a bad state, it's simply not true. And that's QUEST MEANS
BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. I'm on assignment next week in Morocco. If you see me on the way, give me a wave. We'll say hello.
Whatever you're up to in the days ahead, I hope it is profitable tonight. I'm going to have a Pizza Hut tonight.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. We're going to start this hour with breaking news. New York police saying the suspect
and the killing of the healthcare CEO earlier this week could now be anywhere in the United States. Top NYPD officials told CNN this afternoon
that they have reason to believe the alleged gunman has left New York City because investigators have video footage showing him entering Port
Authority, a bus terminal.
The New York police commissioner says at this hour they are, "processing a tremendous amount of evidence."
[17:00:06]
END
