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CNN NEWSROOM
USA Women's Soccer Advances to Semifinals; Simone Biles Posts, Then Deletes Videos of Her Struggling During Practice; USA BMX Racer Hospitalized after Crashing Suring Semifinal Event; Senate Votes to Move Ahead on Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Deal; Jan. 6 Committee Holds Strategy Session, Prepares for Subpoenas; Scarlett Johansson Dues Disney Over "Black Widow" Release; My Pillow Guy Pulling Ads from FOX News over "Big Lie" Beef; CDC Internal Document: Fully Vaccinated People Might Spread Delta Variant as Fast as Unvaccinated People. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired July 30, 2021 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:33:17]
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: A major victory for the women's USA soccer team in Tokyo today as they advance to the semifinals.
Meanwhile, gymnast, Simone Biles, posted video of her practicing on the uneven bars. Whether she'll compete is still unknown.
CNN's Selina Wang is in Tokyo for us.
Selina, let's start with the USA women's soccer team. Tell us about Megan Rapinoe.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Well, Alisyn, they are keeping their dreams for gold alive. But, man, that was a grueling, difficult, dramatic match.
You had several major saves from U.S. goalie, Melissa Meyer (ph). She blocked several attempts from the Netherlands.
They went into extra time, a penalty shootout. And Megan Rapinoe made the winning kick during that penalty shootout that allowed them to beat the Netherlands, 4-2.
Alisyn, it has been a rocky ride for USA women's soccer team but they are rebounding now.
CAMEROTA: OK, let's talk about Simone Biles. So, she posted these practice videos on her Instagram page. Do we know if that means that she'll compete?
WANG: We still don't know if she's going to compete in these individual events that start on Sunday.
But she said in these videos that she is still dealing with this mental block that gymnasts call the twisties.
She said in her Instagram video that she literally can't tell up from down and it is petrifying, terrifying to try these skills when her mind and body are not in sync.
She said she literally does not have control over an inch of her body. And she posted those practice videos. You could see her struggling with the dismount.
She says she's going to take it day by day. She said she's had the twisties before but it takes two weeks or more to get over it.
So not a great sign given these events start on Sunday -- Alisyn?
CAMEROTA: Gosh, that is more serious than I think people at first thought when she started saying that she wanted to take a little break.
[14:35:04]
OK, so, now, can you update us on the BMX racer, Connor Fields?
WANG: Yes, this was a really unfortunately turn of events. Essentially, BMX racer, Connor Fields, he was in a violent crash.
You can see in the video that he got tangled with a few other racers, and he fell violently.
And he was taken off the course on a stretcher. He was then taken away by ambulance.
He was favored to win gold. He is the reigning champion.
But thankfully, the medical team said he is awake and he is awaiting further medical evaluation.
He did not compete in the finals. However, this is a major blow for an athlete who was favored -- Alisyn?
CAMEROTA: That looks really tough.
Selina Wang, thank you.
OK, so, developing news out of Capitol Hill now. The Senate votes to move forward with that bipartisan infrastructure package, but the fight is not over yet. So, we have a live report from Capitol Hill for you next.
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[14:40:32]
CAMEROTA: Developing news on Capitol Hill. The Senate is moving forward with that massive trillion-dollar bipartisan infrastructure package. Debate picked up this morning. And now, we're waiting for Democrats to release the official text of
the bill, which would give full details for the first time of where that money would go.
CNN's Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill for us.
And, Manu, what are you hearing?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is the big question still, when will that bill text be released?
That is the very significant here because this is going to be a massive bill, more than $1 -- about $1.2 trillion over eight years.
Probably more than 1,000 pages. There's talk of up to 2,000 pages of bill text. We've seen so far a 55-page summary.
But the details here matter because, ultimately, that could -- is what could become law.
There will be an effort to amend this bill on the Senate floor once that bill text is released.
But it's going to be difficult to do that because, in order to change the bill, most certainly it will require 60 votes to do that. That would mean there would be a significant amount of support on both sides to get there.
And it's pretty clear that this bipartisan coalition will try to fend off amendments that it views as trying to undercut the core of this proposal, which would spend about $550 billion in new money over five years, dealing with everything from roads, bridges, waterways, broadband.
It would be paid for by a range of measures, including redirecting already enacted COVID relief money.
But how this ultimately plays out is still uncertain because they do have to go through that amendment process.
And then, at that point, Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, would move to shut down debate, which requires 60 votes to overcome any filibuster attempt.
And then try to get it out of the Senate. And then the question will be, will the House approve it? Still an open question as liberals say that it does not go far enough.
And then you worry about the big $3.5 trillion Democratic-only plan. And that is a headache for Democratic leaders at a later date. They're still trying to sort the details there.
But the big question now is, when will this $1.2 trillion bill be released? People want to see the details.
CAMEROTA: Manu, let's talk about another big story. This morning, members of the January 6th Special Select Committee met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for what they called a strategy session.
And the chairman of that committee, Congressman Bennie Thompson, says his panel will send quite a few subpoenas soon.
Do we know who they'll send them to?
RAJU: No. And in fact, I asked him that directly and I tried to get him to pin him down on the number of subpoenas that he is looking to issue. I said, talking about 20, 30? He said, I'm not going to say, just quite a few. He says they're going to come soon.
One of the ways we can look at this as likely people from Trump -- the former Justice Department officials in the Trump Justice Department.
Especially since we know Donald Trump was leaning on justice officials to try to do something to suggest that the election was stolen from him, of course, which is not true.
But those interactions, we know, happened, and this committee is going to try to get to the bottom of that.
And this -- the Biden Justice Department, has said that the Trump Justice Department officials can testify before Congress on issues related to January 6th. They are not going to try to block that testimony.
And Bennie Thompson told me that that decision will make it easier to get that kind of testimony.
Now, he's -- it's also undecided what the next hearing is going to be. They have not made that decision yet. They're still trying to figure out staffing issues.
So they're still trying to get off the ground and get this investigation going.
But it's going to take some time to get through all the information they plan to pore through the investigations that have already happened in various committees and are going to provide them with the information that they have already uncovered.
So -- and they want to go through other information as well. So a lot of details that need to sort out.
But the big question is, who will be the first ones hit with the subpoenas? According to the chairman, a lot of people will get them -- Alisyn?
CAMEROTA: Manu Raju, thank you.
RAJU: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: All right, there's a new Marvel Infinity war that's just unleashed. "Black Widow" star, Scarlett, Johansson files a lawsuit against Disney over the release of her new movie. So we'll tell you how Disney is responding. [14:44:42]
And join CNN for the "We Love New York City," the homecoming concert, featuring Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jennifer Hudson, just to name a few. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. It's Saturday, August 21st, exclusively on CNN.
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CAMEROTA: The "Black Widow" biting back today. Scarlett Johansson suing the Walt Disney Company.
She says that Disney breached her contract by releasing her new movie in theaters and on its streaming service at the same time.
CNN's Brian Stelter is following the story.
So, Brian, if it's in her contract that she gets a cut of ticket sales, they are ripping her off, right?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": The film is streaming online, you're able to pay $30 to watch it online, she wants a cut of that as well.
We're seeing this big battle over the future of Hollywood economics. Today, it's about Scarlett Johansson but it effects a lot of actors. I think it will rewrite the rules for Hollywood filmmaking economics.
[14:50:01]
But oftentimes, these stars, they're betting on themselves. They bet their movie will be a big hit. So they want to have a cut of whatever happens in the theaters.
Now, with this shift towards online and on demand, the rules are changing.
Netflix, when they make movies, they pay the stars a gazillion amount up front. But the stars don't get paid months or years later for how well the film does or doesn't do.
So the Netflix rules are different than the Disney rules and we're seeing this battle play out.
And everyone in the entertainment world is watching this lawsuit. It's the first time we've seen one of these blockbuster stars go to war with her studio over how much she earns.
By the way, Disney says, hey, we've already paid her more than $20 million.
(CROSSTALK)
STELTER: They're basically calling her greedy.
CAMEROTA: I saw that. But isn't she saying that they owe her $50 million?
STELTER: Yes. She says there's a lot more left on the table. And that's why apparently this is worth going to court.
And a lot of other actors are watching to see, hey, am I going being treated fairly, too?
CAMEROTA: Yes. She'll end up being a trailblazer --
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STELTER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: OK. Let's talk about another battle royale brewing between FOX News and Mike Lindell, the My Pillow guy.
STELTER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: What's happening?
STELTER: Yes. Mike Lindell has pulled his ads from FOX News. Which is remarkable --
CAMEROTA: Why?
STELTER: -- because he's one of the biggest advertisers on FOX News. You turn on FOX, you can hardly avoid a My Pillow ad.
CAMEROTA: That's the reason we know about the My Pillow guy.
STELTER: That's right. It's ubiquitous. Everyone knows the tune because of Mike Lindell and FOX News.
But he has broken off with FOX because he wants to run an ad promoting his crazy voter fraud lies.
He wants to promote this livestream where he's going to reveal where Trump is the real president and that Biden is a loser.
He says the Supreme Court is going to intervene and -- look, it's whacky. It's even so whacky that FOX will not run his ad.
So as a result, he's taking the rest of his toys, he's taking the rest of his money away from FOX News.
But this actually doesn't matter because he spends tens of millions of dollars on FOX News. It's actually a business issue for the network if he does not come back.
CAMEROTA: Just explain to this to me. Mike Lindell's delusions are a bridge too far for FNC?
STELTER: You heard right.
CAMEROTA: But they let Donald Trump go on, on these endless phoners, saying the same stuff? STELTER: I think it may come down to a fear of lawsuits.
If you're selling commercial time, you know in advance what the commercial is going to say, so you have to have a certain level of standard for that ad.
Whereas, if you have Trump call in, you don't know what's going to happen. That might be part of the calculation here.
Alisyn --
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CAMEROTA: Well, you kind of know what's going to happen when he calls in.
STELTER: By the way, FOX says he's just pausing his commercial time. They think he'll come back as soon as those pillows stop selling.
CAMEROTA: How much money are we talking about? How much money does he give FOX?
STELTER: Last year, $50 million in advertising. That's a real significant amount to FOX's bottom line. But he's able to do it because a lot of people do use the pillows.
Have you ever tried a My Pillow?
CAMEROTA: I have. But I'm reluctant to say something on TV because of fear of a lawsuit.
(LAUGHTER)
CAMEROTA: But I will speak for myself.
STELTER: OK.
CAMEROTA: I don't understand those pillows.
STELTER: No.
CAMEROTA: Those pillows are not comfortable.
STELTER: No.
CAMEROTA: Do you -- I think you've weighed in on this, haven't you?
STELTER: I have. And they're not my personal favorite. But, you know, hey, to each their own. I guess if you want a Maga pillow, if you want a "Trump is the real president" pillow, that's the pillow for you.
(LAUGHTER)
CAMEROTA: Wow. Diplomatically said.
But my point is, who's going to win this? He needs FOX more than FOX --
(CROSSTALK)
STELTER: I think he needs FOX a lot more than FOX needs him. He needs to reach people to sell sheets and towels and pillows. He needs to get his message out.
A lot of his connections and a lot of his retailers have been cut off because of his crazy voter fraud lies.
He's going down a rabbit hole deeper and deeper and deeper. But I don't see any ladder for him to climb back out.
CAMEROTA: And they can walk away from that $50 million?
STELTER: It's going to be painful for some shows that don't have a lot of advertisers. Mike Lindell was a big one. But maybe they think they can afford it because they have to take a stand.
Even FOX, it turns out, does have a standard.
CAMEROTA: OK, there's a lot of news there.
STELTER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: Brian Stelter, thank you very much. Great to talk to you.
[14:53:52]
OK, so school is starting soon in some states. The CDC's new data shows now, today, how serious the Delta variant is. And now one school in Georgia is considering requiring its staff to be vaccinated? How is that going to go over? That story ahead.
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[14:59:07]
CAMEROTA: Welcome back to NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Alisyn Camerota.
As coronavirus cases surge across the country, the CDC is now sharing new findings about the highly contagious Delta variant and the threat that it poses to both unvaccinated and vaccinated Americans.
The new data shows the Delta variant causes more severe disease than the original strain.
And it's also one of the most transmissible viruses ever. It is just as contagious as the chicken pox and more contagious than the common cold, the seasonal flu, smallpox, Ebola, and SARS.
The CDC says it does not matter if you are vaccinated or not, you can get the same viral load in your nose and transmit it to others, infecting as many as eight or nine other people.
Just look at how quickly it spreads. You can see the models on your screen. This is compared to the original strain.
[15:00:02]
And then there's that cluster in Provincetown, Massachusetts. And 469 residents there got infected with COVID in a July 4th outbreak. And of those, 74 percent, meaning 346 people, had been vaccinated.
