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Judge Upholds Trump Conviction, Sets Sentencing For Jan. 10; Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) Wins Dramatic Vote To Remain House Speaker; U.S. Surgeon General Warns Of Link Between Cancer And Alcohol; Major Winter Storm To Hammer U.S. From Plains To East Coast. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 03, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news. A New York judge is ordering Donald Trump to appear for sentencing one week from today after rejecting the president-elect's efforts to throw out his hush money conviction.

Also breaking, Speaker Mike Johnson just survived a very dramatic vote on the House floor to keep his gavel. Johnson earning another term with a razor thin Republican majority, but not before a handful of conservative holdouts sent a powerful message.

Plus, America's top doctor raises the alarm about the link between alcohol and cancer. This hour, the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, joins me to discuss his new push for warning labels.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

The breaking news this hour, Donald Trump's hush money conviction upheld by Judge Juan Merchan, the president-elect now ordered to appear for sentencing just ten days before he takes the oath of office for a second term.

Our Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid is on the story for us. Paula, take us through this ruling and what it means for the president-elect.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, after this opinion, President-elect Trump is still a convicted felon, but there is some good news here, as the judge is signaling that he does not intend to impose penalties against Trump after being convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records last year.

The judge did have the option to impose a jail sentence. But in a sort of unusual move, he's previewing what he will do next Friday, saying that is not something he is going to do. He says, quote, it seems improper at this juncture -- it seems proper at this juncture to make known the court's inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration. So, he's imposing a sentence of what he describes as unconditional discharge, because that, he says, is the most viable solution. Now, unconditional discharge just means there'll be a sentencing, but there'll be no penalties, no community service, no fine, no jail. So, what happens next Friday will largely be performative.

Now, it's also notable, the judge is making a real concession about the demands that Trump faces as president-elect. This is something that his lawyers have continuously argued. Judge Juan Merchan says, quote, to assuage the defendant's concerns regarding the mental and physical demands during the transition period, this court will permit the defendant to exercise his right to appear virtually for this proceeding if he so chooses.

And this is notable because over the course of this case, Judge Juan Merchan has not been terribly sympathetic to many of the presidential- related arguments that Trump's lawyers have made. But here, they're saying, yes, we know you have a lot of time on your hands, a lot of things to do, not much time, so you should not be burdened with having to travel up to New York for this sentencing.

Now, the Trump team was trying to get the entire case dismissed, have the verdict tossed out. They were not successful here, but they can continue their appeal. But in a statement today, Trump's communication director, Steven Cheung, making it clear they're not overall very happy with how this turned out, saying, quote, there should be no sentencing. And President Trump will continue fighting against these hoaxes until they are all dead, likely referring to the four criminal cases Trump has faced. Of course, the two federal cases filed by Jack Smith are dead, they have been dismissed. The Georgia case is on life support, and here in New York, Trump was convicted, but the judge here signaling he will not face any penalties.

BLITZER: Even though he was convicted of 34 felonies, as you point out. Paula Reid, thank you very, very much.

Our legal and political experts are joining us right now. Jennifer Rodgers, you're one of our legal analysts, former federal prosecutor. Trump is going to be sentenced, but the judge says he won't face any penalties. Explain from your perspective what's going on here.

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the judge has two options, a conditional discharge, which means it comes with conditions. The defendant must serve a jail sentence or pay a fine or have some sort of supervision or an unconditional discharge, meaning there are no conditions at all. The case is just discharged.

That's what Judge Merchan is signaling that he will do, and it makes sense, because once this election happened and Trump was reelected, the die was cast. He was not going to prison. He was not going to be supervised. The only option really was a fine.

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And the maximum fine here is just not high enough to make any difference to Trump. So, you might as well not issue any sentence at all. That makes the conviction final. Trump can pursue his appeal, but it makes it much less likely that the sentence will be stopped. So, I think it actually was wise. I think we want closure here. We want these felonies to be finalized. That's what the people should want, what the jury verdict indicates. So, I think it was actually wise of Judge Merchan to proceed this way.

BLITZER: It's interesting, Maggie Haberman, that the judge is now allowing Trump to appear at this sentencing hearing virtually. How has this reelection changed his view towards these cases? What do you know about the reaction inside the Trump world right now?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So, the Trump team, Wolf, is debating what to do. They have two options. They can ask for a stay to set this aside, so that there is no sentencing on Friday, and then it can -- next Friday, and then it continues, or they can go ahead with this sentencing, virtually or not, and then, you know, the conviction is complete, and then they can begin their appeals process. But that would mean that Trump is going into office having been sentenced as a convicted felon.

Neither of these are options that Donald Trump loves. You know, he's looking -- he's facing a different reality now. He's not facing a reelection campaign. He has been elected to a second term. Constitutionally, that's all he can serve. So, the political benefit to him in, you know, showing up in court and fighting for himself is maybe less than it would be. Otherwise, that having been said, he's very angry about these cases and that hasn't changed. He's very angry about this case in particular. And he may decide that he wants some kind of a display of fighting it. I don't think we're going to know that for another two days or so.

BLITZER: Alyse Adamson, another former federal prosecutor, is with us. This is how the Trump team in a statement responded to this, and I'm quoting now. Today's order by the deeply conflicted acting Justice Merchan in the Manhattan D.A. witch hunt is a direct violation of the Supreme Court's immunity decision. The Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed. How do you respond to that?

ALYSE ADAMSON, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, Wolf, I'd respond that Judge Merchan made it very clear that this decision of his disorder does not contradict the immunity ruling because none of the conduct he found were official acts. And because (INAUDIBLE) fell outside of that immunity ruling, then the jury's verdict should be preserved and dismissal is not required at this time.

You know, what else was the Trump team going to say, quite frankly? I mean, it's the same script. It's the same narrative. And so we shouldn't be surprised that that's the reaction. But let's be clear, Judge Merchan made a very detailed analysis on why this was constitutional and why the jury verdict should stand. And I'm sure that Trump's team will appeal it, but the reasoning was legally sound.

BLITZER: Jennifer, so is this case effectively right now over or potentially could it be revived once Trump has left office?

RODGERS: Well, if the sentencing happens next Friday and he is sentenced, but not sentenced to any penalties, then it is over except for the appeals. Of course, Trump has the right to appeal. He has lots of complaints about rulings during the trial and so on. He has his presidential immunity argument. So, the appeals will still happen. But if the sentencing does go forward (ph), then we at least won't have the whole case held in abeyance, which was one of the options until we got the judge's ruling today. So, it will be over, but not yet completely finalized until the appeals have run their course, which in New York can take up to a couple of years.

BLITZER: As you know, Maggie, Trump has suggested many times during the campaign trail, for example, that he wants to enact some measure of revenge for the cases against him. Is this likely to further that desire on his part?

HABERMAN: I certainly don't think it's going to diminish it, Wolf. I mean, you know, he -- look, Trump was coming in prior to this. The big thing that his legal team accomplished was getting the sentencing delayed in September. They found out it was going to be delayed past Election Day. That was a huge moment of relief for Trump, his political team, his legal team. This moment was always going to come at some point.

But for Trump, who entered office in 2017 with these questions about Russia and his campaign hanging over him, this is a source of tension that he doesn't, I think, want to deal with. And it is also a reminder that he is still facing certain legal challenges. He's obviously not facing the ones that he was facing when he had been indicted four times and convicted one. You know, the circumstances are very different, especially on the federal level, but he is facing these civil cases.

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He still has these challenges in the New York attorney general case, the E. Jean Carroll cases, and so forth. And so, you know, it's not all gone.

BLITZER: Alyse, how do you think Trump's appeal in this case is likely to play out? And how does Trump's being the sitting president of the United States impact all of this?

ADAMSON: Wolf, that's a very good question. I mean, we were in unprecedented times right now. I think the immunity ruling shocked most of us in the legal community. So, you know, at this point, it is hard for me to forecast how they will ultimately -- this will ultimately come out. Now, if he goes to sentencing on the 10th, as was already stated, he'll be able to appeal on the merits of the case. And then they will go back into these rulings and to see whether or not an appellate court agrees with Judge Merchan that no official acts were at play. And because this is so new, it's just hard to tell.

Now, with respect to President-elect Trump being the sitting president, again, because of his likely sentence, which is nothing, no penalty, I think, very much will happen, except his legal team will fight very hard to have this conviction reversed. And they'll also continue to fight very hard to control this narrative. So, I think we can expect more of the same, narrative spin and a lot of legal wrangling.

BLITZER: We shall see. All right, guys, thank you very, very much.

Just ahead, there are new developments around the man behind the Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. Police now revealing the context of a note he left before the blast.

But, first, Mike Johnson reelected as House speaker in a vote exposing divisions, deep divisions potentially, within his own party. Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales is standing by live.

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BLITZER: Now to the breaking news here in Washington, where the House speaker, Mike Johnson, just earned another term leading the closely divided chamber after a dramatic vote that saw several Republican holdouts finally relent and support his reelection.

Our Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is up on Capitol Hill. He's got details. Manu, what are you learning, first of all, about the role that President-elect Trump played today in all of this?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Wolf, I think I just lost your audio, but I'm --

BLITZER: I don't know if you can hear me now, but I'm interested in the role that President-elect Trump played in all of this.

RAJU: Yes, Wolf, I do have your audio, I do hear you now so loud and clear.

Yes, Donald Trump, behind the scenes, reached out to a couple of the key holdouts here, Congressman Keith Self and Ralph Norman. Those two members have voted for another candidate for speaker of the House.

Ultimately, they decided to get on board. They were uncertain whether they would back Mike Johnson, but Johnson decided to provide some commitments to assure them that they could be part of some of the negotiations going forward over some of the big ticket bills that are moving forward on Capitol Hill.

I caught up with those members in the aftermath of those votes, including one congressman, Congressman Chip Roy of Texas, who did ultimately vote for Mike Johnson, who also warned him that if he were not to go ahead with some of the changes to allow more members in the process to potentially cut spending to levels that Roy and other hardliners want, that, as he said, there could be consequences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): I'm happy to support the speaker, the backing of the president, because we need to deliver. But let's make no mistake about it. There are things that will be, in fact, red lines that we need to deliver on. We can have no more of the nonsense that happened before Christmas. If anything happens like happened before, right before Christmas, there will be consequences to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And, Wolf, I asked the speaker himself whether or not he made any deals with any of these members. He said emphatically that there was, quote, no quid pro quo. He said that there was simply a discussion about trying to include them more in the legislative process. But, Wolf, given the narrowness of Mike Johnson's majority, in which he really could only lose in this vote, you could only lose one Republican vote in order to become elected speaker. That's going to be a similar case when it comes time to move his legislative agenda that foreshadows a lot of the challenges that had in this razor thin majority, but the moment the speaker breathing a sigh of relief that this saga is over as they can now concentrate on trying to move ahead with Donald Trump's agenda. Wolf?

BLITZER: It's over, at least for now. Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.

Joining us now, Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us, your colleague, Congressman Andy Biggs, tells CNN that Johnson wouldn't have survived without Trump's endorsement. Do you agree the president-elect effectively won this vote for Speaker Johnson?

REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): I agree that President Trump no doubt helped in this manner, and the reason why he helped is because Mike Johnson has been a great partner to President Trump. So, today, whle it's a chaotic day on the Hill, it is a good day for America, and we got, because we have a speaker of the House. And we got to get back to rooting for America to win regardless of what jersey they're wearing.

So, the more we can get -- the more functionality we can have in Congress, the more problems that we can take care of, the less division we have, the better off all Americans are for keeping us safe. We saw what happened in New Orleans. When something like that happens, when a terrorist action happens, they don't care if you're a Republican or Democrat. So, it's the division, that's not going to go away, but the bickering needs to stop, and we need to get united and get to work.

BLITZER: As you know, Congressman, nine of your colleagues, Republicans, initially withheld their vote from Speaker Johnson, the same number required to trigger what's called a motion to vacate. Were they sending a message to the speaker?

GONZALES: I don't know if they're sending a message or not, but, you know, anytime -- we've gone down this, we've seen this play before, this motion to vacate, pure chaos, does nothing but hamstring our entire government system, which creates no winners at all.

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So, I think at the end of the day, you know, here in a couple of weeks, it is very quickly going to be 217 Republicans and 215 Democrats, meaning any one member can hold up any piece of legislation. Now, that's powerful. That also gives us an opportunity to solve things together in a more united way. I think there's opportunities to do that, especially from the border standpoint.

BLITZER: Yes, two Republican congressmen are about to be -- they've been nominated for cabinet positions in the new Trump administration. We'll see if they are confirmed. That's why we go down from 219 to 215 -- down 219 down to 217. We'll see what happens.

Are you confident, Congressman, your colleagues won't try to oust Speaker Johnson at least at some point down the road like they did with Speaker McCarthy?

GONZALES: No, I'm confident Speaker Johnson is here to stay. He has proven that he can do the job. He's proven he can unite us, bring them together. He can work with President Trump in a very positive manner. He can work with others, like Elon Musk and some outside folks that have certainly been impactful in our politics as well. Mike Johnson is the man for the job, and I think there's nothing but positive things that are coming our way, but he needs help. And this is where members of Congress need to stop talking about the problem and start helping fix the problem.

BLITZER: Congressman Tony Gonzales, thanks so much for joining us.

GONZALES: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up, investigators tonight revealing clues on a potential motive on why an active duty U.S. Army Green Beret blew up a Cybertruck just outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.

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BLITZER: Breaking news. Officials now say the Cybertruck explosion just outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas is a, quote, tragic case of suicide and that the driver wrote about his political grievances in the days just before the blast.

CNN's Natasha Chen is on the scene for us, she has new details. What are you learning, Natasha?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we learned a lot from the investigators today at a press briefing who shared some excerpts from writings that they believe were from Livelsberger. They shared those excerpts with the public in hopes that that can shed some light and give context to why this might have happened.

Generally speaking, these writings were talking about political views, challenges that he had both personally and looking at situations abroad that the United States was dealing with. He had a lot of grievances that he was writing about. And they described a notes app on his phone where he kept a sort of daily activity log of the ten days leading up to the explosion that happened right behind us here at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. Here is one of the authorities at the press briefing talking more about motive. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF KEVIN MCMAHILL, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE: Can we definitively identify why he chose the Trump Hotel Tower location as well as Las Vegas? And the answer is no. In fact, I think when you look, read through some of that, you might find that, you know, there was some other considerations as well for other locations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And he's saying that because, as anyone can see, this was a Tesla Cybertruck, Tesla owned by Elon Musk, in front of a Trump hotel. And so a lot of people asked what his political thinking might have been.

Now, family members have told CNN that Livelsberger actually had a lot of respect for the former president and during President Trump's first term had praised the president for what he had done to help the military. And so -- but the investigators do say on the podium there that he had considered other locations to go to, including the Grand Canyon and the border.

So, there is a lot still to comb through. As they say, they have just scratched the surface of going into the data that are on the devices that Livelsberger owned. So, a lot more questions here, but starting to understand that at the very least, there were serious mental health challenges going on. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, indeed. All right, Natasha Chen in Las Vegas for us, Natasha, thank you very much.

And joining us now, the former Washington, D.C. chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence, Donell Harvin. Donell, thanks very much for joining us.

The suspected man behind this explosion in Vegas left a note saying it was a stunt to serve as, what he called, a wakeup call and shared other political grievances. It's worth noting this man was a supporter, as we heard, of President-elect Trump. What do these new details tell you about his motive?

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER D.C. CHIEF OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE: These new details shed some light on the fact that in my professional opinion, this was not a politically-motivated violence. This is a tragic case as the Las Vegas police said of suicide. It's also worth noting, Wolf, that just last year, the Pentagon put out a report that stated that suicide was actually the highest cause of death among military, active duty military members. They looked at a five-year period and found that active duty military members were nine times more likely to die of suicide than of active combat. And so this provides us an opportunity to think about the men and women that are serving in uniform for us and the services that are being provided to them.

BLITZER: Yes, he was an active duty U.S. Army Green Beret and served in Afghanistan as well. The news conference today, Donell, also gave us some insight into the suspect's movement just before the explosion outside the Trump hotel. He was seen at a Tesla charging station. What stood out to you when you looked at this video?

HARVIN: You know, it's hard to tell when someone's not in the right mind, that he was just probably charging up his car. Clearly, when you look at some of the communications he had with a former girlfriend, he was admiring the car. He was very fond of the car. It was reported that the car matched the color, some sneakers he had when he was younger. And so it sounded like he was very fond of the car.

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He chose that car for a reason. And it looked like, you know, he really wanted to make a statement when he left.

BLITZER: The lead FBI agent in charge of this case called this, and I'm quoting now, a tragic case of suicide. But they aren't using language like, quote, suicide bomber, or calling this a terrorist attack. Can you give us some insight as to why?

HARVIN: Yes. And, once again, I think we should mourn the death of this person who's done everything we've asked them to do for the last 19 years. Now, that does not take away from the eight or so individuals that were injured. And while their injuries were reported as minor, those injuries run deeper than the physical. Obviously, they may have psychological injuries.

The point that they're making here, though, is that this individual had the training, the knowledge, and the capabilities to create mass casualties, had he wanted to. And so, from my standpoint, and for many others, it's clear he did not want to hurt anybody else besides himself, and that's probably why they're not using that term in terms of bomber.

BLITZER: Interesting. Investigators say he likely suffered from PTSD, but he was an active duty. U.S. Army Green Beret, as I mentioned. Is it possible warning signs were missed?

HARVIN: Absolutely. And that Pentagon report that I talked about, that came out just last year, noted that a high pace of deployment, PTSD, including seeing the death or injury of fellow members of service, as well as blast exposure, or we call traumatic brain injuries, are one of the highest causes for suicide.

The other thing they mentioned is the stigma about getting help. And certainly, once again, this is early reporting, communication between him and his girlfriend suggested that he was reluctant to go on and get help for his PTSD. And this may have caused some of the issues.

BLITZER: Yes, good point. Donell Harvin, thanks very much for joining us.

Just ahead, we're learning more right now about the New Orleans attacker, including details about the fire at his rental home authorities now believe he's set before the deadly rampage.

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BLITZER: We're learning new details tonight about the New Orleans terror attack.

CNN's Anderson Cooper is live in New Orleans for us. What are you learning, Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, there's a number of new things that we have learned, most notably, and most immediately, our John Miller is reporting, based on law enforcement sources he's spoken to, that the attacker used what's described as a rare organic compound in the explosive devices that he had set previous to the attack in those coolers that he placed in two locations in the French Quarter.

Apparently, this rare organic compound has not been used before or seen before in the United States and is therefore raising questions among law enforcement about how this attacker, Jabbar, may have gotten access to it. So, that's one very interesting note that our John Miller is reporting.

We've also learned that the attacker, Jabbar, set fire to his Airbnb prior to the attack. Now, you may remember CNN got exclusive access to the door camera images of Jabbar as he was unloading his truck outside that Airbnb late in the night prior to the attack. We saw him going back and forth from that truck. There you see the Ring camera images. We now know that he set fire -- set a deliberate fire in the Airbnb prior to the attack and placed accelerants around the inside the apartment to try to destroy evidence, according to law enforcement.

The fire kind of burned itself out and the fire department was called, I think, around 5:30 or 5:00 A.M. or so in the morning, which was after the attack, we're also learning from law enforcement that a transmitter was found in the truck and that transmitter was intended to be used in order to ignite and set off those explosive devices.

BLITZER: Anderson, I know you also had a chance to speak to the brothers of one of the victims. What did they tell you?

COOPER: Yes. We spoke to the brothers of Matthew Tenedorio, who was killed here on Bourbon Street, Jonathan, Jeremy. Obviously, the entire family is just stunned. They did not know until the morning after the attack when Matthew's parents actually finally went to a hospital and learned that he had been killed in the attack. They knew he'd gone to Bourbon Street, but they hadn't heard from him.

I talked to Jonathan and Jeremy a short time ago about how they are feeling. Obviously, they're just heartbroken and stunned. Here's some of what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Is there anger at all, or I don't know -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kind of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where do you direct it exactly, you know? I mean, we still don't even know all the facts yet, just random. You know, if he would have stayed in the bar for one more drink or left one drink earlier, you know, it's -- he just wouldn't have been there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: There is so much sadness for all of these families here in New Orleans. Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Our hearts go out to those families. Anderson Cooper, thank you very much.

This important note, Anderson, of course, will be back later tonight, 8:00 P.M. Eastern, for his show, Anderson Cooper 360.

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We will be watching.

Coming up, a stark new warning from the nation's top doctor about a potential link between drinking alcohol and an increased risk in cancer. The U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who issued this advisory, is here in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Tonight, the U.S. surgeon general is putting the spotlight on growing evidence of a link between alcohol and cancer, warning that even moderate consumption could increase your risk of the disease.

CNN's Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Straight off the holiday partying season, a stark warning about the effects of alcohol from America's top doctor. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy today issued a warning that alcohol consumption can increase our risk of cancer, and Dr. Murthy called for new warning labels on alcoholic beverages.

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DR. BENJAMIN WEINBERG, GASTROINTESTINAL MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST, MEDSTAR GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: I think it really helps raise awareness that alcohol is a risk factor for certain diseases, including cancer, and that even lower levels of alcohol use can still be associated with the development of certain cancers.

TODD: The Surgeon General's Office says alcohol is now the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, behind tobacco and obesity.

Dr. Murthy said in a statement that alcohol is responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths every year in the U.S., compared to 13,500 deaths associated with alcohol-related vehicle crashes every year.

Dr. Murthy says a majority of Americans are unaware of this risk. How ignorant of it have we been?

WEINBERG: Yeah, so he showed in his survey data that less than half of Americans were aware that alcohol is a risk factor for the development of cancers, whereas more Americans were knowledgeable about other things, such as radiation, tobacco smoke, ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

TODD: The surgeon general's advisory says the link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk is well-established for at least seven types of cancer breast, colorectal, esophagus, liver, mouth, throat and the larynx, or voice box.

We asked MedStar Georgetown oncologist, Dr. Benjamin Weinberg, what exactly alcohol does to the body to cause some cancers.

WEINBERG: Alcohol is broken down into acetaldehyde, which is a breakdown product that can inadvertently cause DNA damage, directly hurting our cells and sometimes causing cells to grow rapidly, causing cancers.

Another mechanism is that it can they can induce inflammation, which can be bad for our cells and also bad for our DNA. They can also raise levels of certain hormones like estrogen, which have specifically been linked to the development of breast cancers.

TODD: Is any amount of booze okay? Does moderate drinking say two drinks a day for men, one for women raise our risk?

WEINBERG: I would say try to drink one drink or less per day and one drink to keep in mind is five ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, 1.5 ounces of spirit. It's not a bottle of alcohol. It's not a six pack of beer. So people need to be aware of those quantities.

TODD: And some of the major spirits companies have been preparing for this news. Top brewers Molson Coors and Anheuser-Busch InBev, and major spirits producers Diageo and Pernod Ricard have all been boosting their portfolios of nonalcoholic drinks to address an increasing number of consumers who are ditching alcohol.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Now, as far as those new warning labels that Dr. Murthy is recommending are concerned, only Congress can mandate those. On the question of whether the incoming Trump administration will support new labels, it is worth noting that President-elect Trump does not drink. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's choice for health and human services secretary, well, he no longer drinks -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: All right. Brian Todd, thank you very, very much.

And joining us now, the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy.

Dr. Murthy, thanks so much for coming in.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Good to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: So you've caused a huge stir out there with your recommendation that there's a connection between alcohol and cancer. Why now? Why did you make this announcement now?

The timing coming near the end of this Biden administration.

MURTHY: Well, Wolf, the data has been building for some time now about the connection between alcohol and cancer risk. And I took a lot of time with my team to really dig into this data, understand its nuance, and what we realized were a few critical things.

Number one, there is a causal link between alcohol and seven types of cancer, including breast cancer and colon cancer. What we also found is that alcohol is now the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, behind smoking and obesity, and it's responsible for 100,000 cases of cancer each year and 20,000 cancer deaths in the United States each year.

BLITZER: Well, what studies concluded that? Because it's so alarming.

MURTHY: Well, there are multiple studies, and this is one of the things we look for is we don't talk about a single study. We look for corroboration across multiple studies. And we're seeing studies from around the world, which are all pointing in the same direction.

And just to keep in mind, this is an area where there's just growing consensus among researchers, growing data supporting this. But what is also clear is that the majority of Americans do not know about this link between alcohol and cancer, and it's one of the reasons, one of the many things I'm causing -- I'm calling for, in addition to more public education around this, is for the warning label on alcohol containers to be updated to include cancer risk, and I'm also calling for a reassessment of the guideline limits right now to take into account cancer risk as well.

BLITZER: So what you're saying you would like to see a warning label not only on alcoholic beverages like whiskey or bourbon, but beer and wine as well. Is that what you're saying?

MURTHY: So right now, all alcoholic beverages have a surgeon general's warning that speaks about the risks of drinking during pregnancy and the risks of drinking while driving or operating heavy machinery. And those two lessons and warnings have been taken into account by the public over the years. But I'm talking now about adding a third warning, which is around cancer risk.

[18:50:03]

BLITZER: Well, do you believe that a Republican majority in the House and the Senate needs congressional approval for this kind of warning to be put on bottles of whiskey or beer or whatever? Do you think that there's enough support there in Congress to go ahead with this?

MURTHY: Well, the good news is that cancer prevention has enjoyed broad support for many years and bipartisan support. And my hope is that this is something that Congress will seriously look at. But its also worth keeping in mind that in 1964, when the surgeon general issued the first report on tobacco and its relationship to cancer, the very next year, Congress passed legislation calling for and placing a warning label on cigarette boxes.

So we have an opportunity to take that kind of action here as well. But again, it's not the only action we can take. Health care organizations, doctors and nurses can play a role in educating patients about this. And I want everybody to know out there that especially if you're concerned about cancer risk, if you have a personal history or family history of cancer, that one of the things that you can do to reduce your risk is to reconsider how much you drink, because we know that less consumption of alcohol means less risk of cancer.

BLITZER: Generations of Americans were told that there were certain health benefits, for example, to drinking red wine. Is that no longer the case? Is red wine dangerous?

MURTHY: Well, I certainly remember hearing that when I was in medical school years ago as well. But what's happened is we've learned a lot more in terms of the science, and when it comes to your heart. And lets talk about that, because that's what people think and have heard that there's benefit. It is possible there may be some benefit to some types of heart disease, like heart attacks, for example, with, you know, low levels or moderate levels of drinking. It's possible -- it's still being debated and investigated.

But we also know that other types of heart disease, like atrial fibrillation, which is an abnormal heart rhythm, heart failure and high blood pressure, that the risk of those conditions increases when you drink. So how it nets out overall for your heart is still a subject of intense debate.

But what we do know with a high degree of confidence is that alcohol is causally linked to seven types of cancers, and that's why I want people to understand that.

BLITZER: Even moderate drinking of alcohol?

MURTHY: Yes, I'm glad you asked, because even drinking within the current guideline limits one drink a day for women, two drinks a day for men. We see an increased risk of cancer. And it's why I've called for a revision of those guideline limits, because they now need to be updated to include and reflect the fact that there's cancer risk at those levels.

BLITZER: And you just mentioned that alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer after tobacco and obesity. So should we have an advisory on a lot of other things as well, including some ultra processed foods? MURTHY: Well, it's a good question. As we think about health more

broadly, yes, it is true that there are many factors that drive our health. Tobacco is a big one for my office. Just two months ago, we released a major report on tobacco and tobacco related health disparities. It still remains the leading cause of preventable death, nearly half a million lives taken in the United States each year due to tobacco.

But yes, there are other areas that we've got to look at as well. I do think food is an important one of those. Like we can do more to ensure our food supply is healthy, very high proportion of our diet right now is ultra processed foods, particularly for our kids. And I have real concerns about the health impact of those on our children and all of us.

But it turns out that alcohol is, again, is one of those areas we've got to look at as well. And when you see the data that we lay out in this advisory, it's hard to avoid the fact that one of the things we need to do now as a country, if we want to reduce cancer risk, is reconsider how much alcohol we consume.

BLITZER: And these advisories, these labels are really important. That's what you're saying.

MURTHY: The labels are important.

BLITZER: The warning labels.

MURTY: The labels can help increase awareness. They're one of several strategies that we have to take. But I want people out there just to know that if you drink regularly, just remember that drinking occasionally or once or twice a week is significantly lower risk than drinking once or twice a day. And less alcohol consumption means less cancer risk. And that's what we want people to keep in mind.

BLITZER: Good to know.

Dr. Vivek Murthy, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for all the important work you're doing. We're grateful to you.

MURTHY: Thank you so much, Wolf. Appreciate you.

BLITZER: And coming up, the biggest winter storm of the season now just a few hours away from bringing very heavy snow and dangerous ice to a large portion of the country.

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BLITZER: Tonight, millions of Americans are on alert for the worst winter storm of the season.

Our meteorologist, Chad Myers, is in the CNN Weather Center for us.

Chad, give us the forecast. CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. Can't sugarcoat this one, Wolf.

This is a -- this is a big storm, 1,300 miles of snow that could be 12 inches deep. So the snow that we're seeing today, that's nothing. That's out of here. That's just the whimpering effects of the -- of the lake effect. There's the storm we're talking about.

In Colorado, it starts to get into Kansas tomorrow. But, Wolf, everywhere that's pink on this entire map. That's a foot of snow or more. Think about what that's going to do to the interstates.

If you are planning on going home on Sunday from all of your vacation travels, think about doing it tomorrow instead, because it does start in Kansas tomorrow, and it makes its way all the way to the East Coast by Monday. And yes, we could see a half to one inch of ice in some spots bringing down trees, power lines, making the roadways completely impassable.

So, here's Saturday, here's tomorrow starts out to the west, but then all of a sudden, by Sunday morning, you've got a large swath I-70, 35, all the way up here to now, I-75, almost all the way to D.C. by Sunday night.

And now we're getting way out in the weeds here almost 60 hours from right now. And this storm still has a lot of energy to it. A lot of snow could be coming down D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore. If this storm is 100 miles farther to the north, New York, you're going to get walloped. A hundred miles farther to the south, Richmond, Virginia.

So this is a big event. This is the biggest snow and ice event of the year, and maybe even for a couple of years.

BLITZER: Wow. All right, Chad Myers, thank you very much.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. I'll be back tomorrow anchoring our special live coverage of ceremonies remembering former President Jimmy Carter in Atlanta from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.