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[0] Jeff Zucker, the CEO of CNN, sent shockwaves through the newsworld Wednesday with his unexpected resignation.
[1] We have news now to report involving our network.
[2] CNN president Jeff Zucker has just resigned.
[3] What's behind the bombshell resignation?
[4] And where will CNN go from here?
[5] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[6] It's Thursday, February 3rd, and this is Morning Wire.
[7] Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from the view for her comments about the Holocaust.
[8] What prompted the suspension and how is Hollywood responding?
[9] And a new study out of Johns Hopkins University suggests that lockdowns were not effective in stemming mortality from COVID -19.
[10] We talked to an expert about the study's findings.
[11] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[12] Stay tuned.
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[19] CNN president Jeff Zucker abruptly resigned on Wednesday, citing his failure to disclose a romantic relationship with an employee.
[20] The network's top boss had been in charge since 2013 and played a key role in shaping their coverage.
[21] Here with more on this breaking story is Daily Wires Cabot Phillips.
[22] So Cabot, walk us through what happened here.
[23] Yeah, on Wednesday, really out of the blue, Zucker issued a company -wide memo saying he had a relationship with his, quote, closest colleague and, quote, was required to disclose it when it began, but didn't.
[24] He added, I was wrong.
[25] As a result, I am resigning today.
[26] According to Zucker, the details of the relationship came to light during an internal investigation into former CNN host Chris Cuomo.
[27] Now, his his resignation letter didn't mention the colleague by name, but CNN admitted the woman in question was Allison Gulles, the network's chief marketing officer and former communications director for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
[28] She and Zucker had worked together for over 20 years at NBC and CNN.
[29] According to a statement she put out, she and Zucker had been, quote, close friends and professional partners, but their relationship, quote, changed during COVID.
[30] So the implication there is that this was a new development, but that's pretty misleading.
[31] Yeah, so tell us about that.
[32] There was a lot of controversy here as far as the timeline of this relationship.
[33] Well, pretty much everyone who's worked with the pair over the last decade say that at best, that's misleading and at worst, it's a lie to imply that this was something new.
[34] They say the affair began years ago, while the two were both married to other people, it's worth adding.
[35] Former CNN host Soledadad O 'Brien, for example, tweeted that the affair was, quote, an open secret at the network and that the relationship dates back years.
[36] Roland Martin, another former CNN political analyst, also called the affair an open secret, and said the relationship went back before either were even at CNN.
[37] The news also cast new light on a book published last year by Katie Couric.
[38] She described how during her time at NBC, Zucker repeatedly pressured her to let Gulles take over as communications had for the Today Show.
[39] Currick implied it was because the two were having an affair, and even described how Gulles moved her husband and children into the same apartment building as Zucker, right above.
[40] of where he and his then wife were living.
[41] So it definitely seems like there's a lot more to this story than Zucker or CNN is letting on.
[42] So big picture, how much of a shock was this?
[43] Well, CNN's Brian Stelter claimed employees at the network were, quote, stunned by the news.
[44] But there were a lot of conflicting reports throughout the day saying the real shock among employees there was not necessarily that Zucker was leaving, but more of why he was leaving.
[45] CNN has struggled all year with poor ratings and numerous scandals.
[46] So even before this week, there was already some speculation that Zucker might be forced out, but for professional, not personal reasons.
[47] One growing theory is that either CNN was looking for an excuse to push him out and saw this as kind of a perfect opportunity, or that there may have been more serious behavior behind the scenes that hasn't yet gone public, and they're hoping this will help sort of stem the bleeding.
[48] Now, you mentioned some of those earlier scandals.
[49] this definitely isn't the first shakeup we've seen at CNN this year.
[50] Yeah, definitely.
[51] In December, the network fired primetime host Chris Cuomo, after it was discovered that he lied about advising his brother during his sexual assault scandal and then tried to use his media contacts to pressure victims.
[52] Then last October, the network suspended chief legal analyst Jeffrey Tubin after he was called masturbating on a Zoom call for work.
[53] And before that, host Don Lemon was accused of sexual assault in court by a Newark bartender.
[54] And add to that the fact that the network's ratings are down 80 % compared to this time last year, and it's been a pretty brutal year.
[55] Right.
[56] That's kind of an understatement.
[57] Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[58] Anytime.
[59] That's DailyWire's Cabot Phillips.
[60] Coming up, Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from the view.
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[65] Whoopi Goldberg, the co -host of ABC's The View, came under fire for claiming the Holocaust was not about race.
[66] Now, the network has suspended her for two weeks.
[67] Here to give us the details on Goldberg's fallout and what industry watchers expect to happen next is Daily Wire Entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
[68] So Megan Whoopi Goldberg angered up a lot of people on Monday with her comments about the Holocaust.
[69] Let's actually play the clip in case our listeners haven't heard it yet.
[70] Well, also, if you're going to do this, then let's be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn't about race.
[71] No. No, it's not about race.
[72] Maybe it's not about race.
[73] But it's not about race.
[74] It's not about race.
[75] Because it's about man's inhumanity to man. That's what it's about.
[76] But it's about white supremacy.
[77] Well, but it's not about but these are two white groups of people.
[78] So hearing it again now, it's not surprising that she's in hot water right now, huh?
[79] No, no, you know, it's really not surprising at all, especially in this moment where we hear a lot about cancel culture, and we've seen a lot of people lose their jobs over much less.
[80] But I think the bigger issue here is that although she did issue that strong apology statement, That evening, she'd already taped an appearance on Stephen Colbert in which she seemed a little bit flippant about the offense.
[81] And I'm going to guess that that probably made the issue a bit worse.
[82] So here's some of that.
[83] I feel being black when we talk about race, it's a very different thing to me. But I thought it was a salient discussion because as a black person, I think of race as being something that I can see.
[84] So I see you and I know what race you are.
[85] So after that, ABC issued a statement saying that her comments were, quote, wrong and hurtful and that they've asked her to take time to, quote, again, reflect and learn about the impact of her comments.
[86] So what that essentially means, as you said, John, is that she's been suspended for two weeks.
[87] So do you think she's going to try to just, you know, ride this out, you know, the news cycle and be back in a few weeks?
[88] You know, I'm not sure.
[89] We've seen a lot of scenarios like this in the past, and they often end up with the host or anchor making an agreement to leave the show.
[90] It's just a matter of time.
[91] I'm thinking in particular of Sharon Osborne when she defended her friend, Pierce Morgan, overcharges he was a racist when he criticized Megan Markle, CBS suspended her, and then they decided to part ways after that.
[92] And then there was that time NBC fired Megan Kelly for her comments about blackface being acceptable in the context of Halloween costumes.
[93] And the fact that she said Santa Claus is white, you may remember that, yeah.
[94] Well, also, a bit of an interesting connection, I have to say, to the Daily Wire, ABC is owned by Disney.
[95] And of course, the company famously fired actress Gina Carrano from the Mandalorian in early 2021 over a Holocaust comparison that was arguably much less controversial than Whoopi statement.
[96] Yeah, we followed that very closely.
[97] We did, we did.
[98] And you would say that consistency would seem to demand.
[99] that Whoopie would fall under that same sword.
[100] But she's a pretty big A -list star.
[101] She's possessor of the famed egot.
[102] And if you haven't heard of that, what that means is she's got an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.
[103] So ABC could feel that they're going to face more backlash from firing her than maybe if they just let the fear or die down.
[104] Yeah, that makes sense.
[105] Well, I also think a lot of Americans are getting pretty fatigued of deciding who deserves to be canceled or forgiven.
[106] Right, especially, when you could just, you know, let people vote with their TV remotes.
[107] Yeah, it should be that simple.
[108] Thanks for reporting, Megan.
[109] Anytime.
[110] That was Daily Wire Entertainment reporter, Megan Basham.
[111] A new study published on Monday claims that lockdown measures had little or no effect on COVID -19 mortality.
[112] Joining us to discuss is Johns Hopkins, Dr. Marty McCarrie.
[113] Dr. McCarrie, thanks for coming on.
[114] Hey, Georgia.
[115] Yeah, my pleasure.
[116] So there was a study that was just released this week by Johns Hopkins, and it seemed to indicate that lockdowns had either little or no effect on COVID mortality.
[117] So what do we know about this study?
[118] How is it conducted?
[119] What did it look at?
[120] So what they did is they did a meta -analysis of many existing studies and did a mathematical model that looked at the overall mortality from just the lockdown itself and looked at stay -at -home orders.
[121] And what they found is that the result of all these policies resulted in a mortality reduction of 2 -tenths of 1%.
[122] Now, what they did, did not study.
[123] And what we have to compare that number to is the number of deaths from substance abuse, suicide, deferred medical care, and all the other collateral damage that happens from poverty and hopelessness that follows.
[124] So the stay -at -home orders had a range.
[125] So what they did in pooling the studies, they look at the range.
[126] And the state -at -home orders alone without lockdowns resulted in a range of a 10 % reduction to a small added harm.
[127] So what they concluded is that state -home orders may have made a small difference in the beginning, but sustained state -home orders combined with lockdowns really had a very harsh impact on a society.
[128] And again, they looked at the U .S. and Europe, so it was a very comprehensive analysis.
[129] Now, looking back over the past two years and comparing different countries, what information is emerging now about which public health interventions were effective?
[130] So, I mean, are we starting to get a clear picture of what we could do differently next time?
[131] Well, it's very clear that the extreme measures were effective, but they should have been targeted, and they should have been targeted not just in the segment of the population most at risk.
[132] Remember, we lost about half of the deaths initially in nursing homes, but they also should have been targeted chronologically and geographically.
[133] That is, there was no reason to shut down South Dakota or New Mexico in the early days of the New York City lockdowns.
[134] what we should have done is just focused on protecting those who are vulnerable.
[135] So what we had was this sort of indiscriminate policy.
[136] And if there's one mistake we've made the entire pandemic is that we've used the same blanket policy on every age group in the population, regardless of their comorbidity and in every part of the country.
[137] And that is sort of the fatal flaw of the entire policy.
[138] We're still seeing it today.
[139] That's the irony of this study is that we are still seeing nine states with indiscriminate.
[140] indoor mask mandates.
[141] We're still seeing kids now under significant restrictions, even though they are the lowest risk population on planet Earth.
[142] All right.
[143] Well, Dr. McCarrie, as always, thanks for coming on.
[144] Good to be with you, Georgia.
[145] That was Johns Hopkins, Dr. Marty McCarrie.
[146] Other stories we're tracking this week.
[147] After 92 years, the Washington Redskins announced their new team name on Wednesday, the Washington commanders.
[148] The team had faced pressure to change the name due to complaints of racism.
[149] However, a 2019 Washington Post poll found that those with Native American heritage were more likely to report being proud of the team's former name, followed by indifferent.
[150] Three thousand U .S. troops have been deployed to Ukraine as a, quote, deterrent and defensive posture on NATO's eastern flank.
[151] The Pentagon announced Wednesday that 1 ,000 American troops will be repositioned from Germany to Romania, while another 2 ,000 are set to be to Europe from the U .S. in the coming days.
[152] And a winter storm began to affect close to 100 million people on Wednesday as a massive weather event traveled through much of the country.
[153] Thousands of flights are expected to be impacted.
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