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Anit-Government Protests Erupt in Beirut; Three American Heroes Recount Terror Takedown; Wildfires in Washington State; French Authorities Question Suspected Train Gunman Ayoub El Khazzani; Biden's Private Meeting With Senator Elizabeth Warren Causes Furor In D.C.; Former President Jimmy Carter Draws Worldwide Crowd To His Sunday School Teaching In Plains, Georgia; Deadly Weekend At Two European Air Shows. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired August 23, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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

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[16:00:31] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, thanks for joining me now. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin with breaking news out of Beirut.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

WHITFIELD: Police are using water cannons and tear gas on huge crowds of protesters. People have been taking to the streets, angry over garbage piling up in the streets. Those demonstrators in the thousands. Look the at those growing piles of garbage and point to government dysfunction.

We're joined now on the phone by one of the protesters in Beirut, Karma Hamady. So Karma, tell me what it's been like on the streets. What happened?

KARMA HAMADY, PROTESTER (OVER THE PHONE): Well, it started off pretty peaceful. Basically crowds of people have finally joined together, shaking off their apathy at what's going on in the country and join hands under one cause, which is, you know, we're sick of the corruption and the government and that includes taking care of the garbage as well as so many other things.

So basically what's going on is there's a call for protests especially, specifically by a movement called You Stink. This is the second day of protests. Basically I believe at this point, at this moment in time there are many saboteurs that are trying to hijack the very righteous cause that has joined so many different Lebanese people from different backgrounds and different financial backgrounds and educational backgrounds and religion and generations, and basically they are trying to turn it into a chaotic kind of typical mess.

WHITFIELD: So Karma, we're looking at live pictures right now which show the billowing smoke, the fires. We have reported that water cannons have been used to disperse the crowds and in some cases actually try and put out some of the fires. You know, there was a motorcycle that was on fire earlier and then even tear gas. So as you look at these fires that are taking place, was it demonstrators who were setting the piles of garbage on fire and that has kind of made for a very dangerous kind of cocktail of events there? Or describe for me from your point of view what has been happening here.

HAMADY: Let me just be very clear. The people that are part of the You Stink protest and the movement and the people that were there today and yesterday and I've been to both events. I've been gassed yesterday. Those people are peaceful. They're asking for a very peaceful movement. There's people -- the things that are happening, whether they're fires or rocks being thrown or any kind of basically violence that is coming from our side is not us.

These are saboteurs, a lot of followers of political parties, their thugs. They do not represent our movement, they do not represent what the Lebanese people want. And so basically they're trying to wreak havoc. And it's working for tonight. And I'm optimistic that it won't continue because I think many Lebanese are very aware of what's going on and they will refuse it. You know, we don't want this kind of reaction. We don't want this kind of movement. We're a peaceful movement, simply demanding our basic rights as citizens of a democratic country.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder as we continue to look at live pictures and we're seeing people hurling -- they're throwing things, perhaps rocks or some other types of objects at police, we saw people in riot gear. We're looking at live pictures again of the fire and the smoke in the air. You say that it's the saboteurs that are hurling the rocks and that are setting the fires and that might be distracting from what the peaceful demonstrators are trying to convey, that the government, you know, is dysfunctional, that it's taking advantage through corruption.

HAMADY: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And that the elected officials are the ones that are living the wealthier -- the good life, so to speak. So do you worry that the fires, the hurling of rocks or other hard objects will distract from what you say the peaceful protesters, the message that they want to send to the prime minister?

[16:04:08]

HAMADY: Let me just be clear. There's a lot of anger in the streets right now. I don't -- I don't believe -- this is meant to detract from our message. But I do believe that the message that -- the original You Stink movement is sending, they have done a really good job of being as organized as they can (INAUDIBLE) movement. It's not backed by anyone, it's purely a group of people that have joined together under one cause.

And just to be clear, I'm not directly affiliated, I'm not one of the organizers, but I am definitely a follower. But what I want to say is basically they are doing their best to be organized, doing their best to get their messages across, they are doing their duty to deal with the police, explain to the police, tell them that they are on the same side when it comes to this kind of violent action.

They are sending out messages through social media to make sure that people know that they are not these thugs that are in the street.

WHITFIELD: OK. Karma Hamady.

HAMADY: They are organized people asking them to leave. Sorry?

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much. Karma Hamady. You painted a very clear picture, I think it's very clear on what your intentions are, what the intentions are of the movement. You're not one of the organizers but one who is participating in that peaceful protest.

Again, we're looking at images, both a mix of live and taped images that show a very volatile situation there on the ground in Beirut, Lebanon. Thank you so much for your phone call as well.

All right. Now meantime, also for the first time we're hearing from all three Americans who helped prevent what could have been a massacre on a European train. Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos, the three of them shouting "let's go" before tackling and subduing a man armed with guns and a box cutter.

You're looking at the videotape and you saw the person who was tied up there. That was the gunman that they tackled. At the U.S. embassy in Paris today, the three are being hailed as heroes. Sitting alongside the U.S. ambassador to France, they talked about their courageous takedown saying they were just acting on instinct.

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AIC SPENCER STONE, U.S. AIR FORCE: I turned around and I saw he had a -- what looked to be AK-47. He looked like it was jammed or it wasn't working and he was trying to charge the weapon. Alek just hit me on the shoulder and said "let's go." And ran down, tackled him. We hit the ground.

Alek came up and grabbed the gun out of his hand while I put him in a chokehold. It seemed like he just kept pulling more weapons left and right. Pulled out a handgun. Alex took that. Took out a box cutter and started jabbing at me with that. We let go. All three of us started punching him while he's in the middle of us and I was able to grab him again and choke him unconscious while Alek was hitting him in the head with the pistol or rifle, I can't really remember.

ANTHONY SADLER, HELPED THWART TRAIN ATTACK: These are my friends. I was the third one to get up and I just like want the lesson to be learned that basically in times of like crisis like that, I would want it to be learned that basically to do something. Hiding or sitting back is not going to accomplish anything. And the gunman would have been successful if Spencer had not gotten up. I just want that lesson to go forward in times of terror like that, to please do something, don't stand by and watch.

SPC ALEK SKARLATOS, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD: I feel our training mostly kicked in after the assailant was already subdued, frankly. When it came to providing security and making sure there wasn't another shooter. In the beginning it was mostly gut instinct, one survival, basically like Spencer said. What was the other part, sorry? Describe him? (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

Not necessarily. I mean I didn't really have much of a state of awareness. It wasn't really a conscious decision, we just kind of acted. There wasn't much thinking going on, at least on my end. I don't know about them. Spencer?

STONE: No, not at all.

SKARLATOS: He was about -- I don't know, do you guys want to help me out. He was skinny, like probably 160, 170.

About 5'10".

[16:10:00]

STONE: Well, I trust both my friends very much. If it wasn't for them, I would have been dead and so we all had a critical role in what happened and everyone else that helped. The conductors, the guy at the bathroom. Everyone played their own part. No one specifically is to praise, I feel like so.

SADLER: I know for me personally, I don't know what I would have done if I was by myself. I don't know. I saw Spencer get up, I saw Alek get up and those are my close friends so I was just --

SKARLATOS: Yes. He clearly had no firearms training whatsoever. And yes, if he knew what he was doing or even just got lucky and did the right thing, he would have been able to operate through all eight of those magazines and we would have all been in trouble and probably wouldn't be here today along with a lot of other people.

STONE: I just want to say to the French people, you guys have been more than kind, the medical staff and the cops and everyone. The surgical team that reattached my thumb and tendons and nerves and everything like that, I just want to say thank you. All the nurses, techs, paramedics, they were great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Really grateful three young men, but of course, it's the nation of France and beyond there in Europe, people thanking them for their bravery, so it's going to be very busy for those three the next few days. Tomorrow they will meet French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace along with a variety of French dignitaries.

Anthony Sadler is expected to return to the U.S. soon but Alex Skarlatos and Spencer Stone will be heading to Germany for medical treatment and evaluation at U.S. military installations.

All right. So let's get more on the heroic actions of these young men on that train. Let me bring in now Lieutenant Colonel Mark Hertling. He's a CNN military analyst and former U.S. commanding general in Europe and senior international correspondent Nic Robertson in Paris.

Nic, let me begin with you. Let's talk more about this ceremony that would happen tomorrow at the Elysee Palace involving these three Americans. Would it also involve like the British national as well?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. That's exactly what we're expecting, Chris Norman will be there. What the Elysee Palace, what President Francois Hollande wants to do is honor and respect and pay tribute to everyone that had a hand along with these three young brave Americans in taking down this would be mass killer on the train.

So the government here -- I mean look at the speed with which they responded. This is quite incredible. They really have put this at the forefront of their agenda at the beginning of the week. It's the first thing the president is doing Monday morning. The prime minister will be there, the foreign minister, the interior minister, the transport minister. Every minister that's connected with this will be there to thank these young men.

This is a huge tribute. Everyone in this country from the top, to the people we talk to on the streets here, they're grateful. They know what these men did. They saved a lot of people. This could have been a very, very different picture. Let's not forget it was only a few months ago now that here in Paris gunmen ran amuck on the street. People, more than 10 people killed, cartoonist killed at the hands of radical Islamists. This is close to the heart of this country right now. These three young men have really come much closer to the heart of the country as well.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Incredible, there were more than 500 people on that train. General, these young men describe that there was a mix of adrenaline and there was instinct that kicked in. You heard from Alek who actually said he didn't think about his military training until really the guy was already on the ground.

But nonetheless, I mean, their instincts were, you know, driving their actions here. They identified something wrong, they jumped into place. What does that military training, background tell you about what dictated their actions?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: First, Fredricka, isn't this a great story?

WHITFIELD: It's beautiful.

HERTLING: It just shows some terrific things going on in these young people's minds. And yes, military training certainly contributes to this. I mean when we bring in young men and women into the service, we teach them to be action figures. We talk to them about personal courage, doing the right things under the right situations.

We talk to them about values and how they do -- how they see the world around them. And then also we talk -- we teach them to be situationally aware, to see their surroundings and how they fit into it. It's not only in a combat zone but also in a train car. When you're talking about Airman Stone, who's a medical technician and Specialist Skarlatos who is an Army national guardsman and Mr. Sadler, who as a student, these are action figures. These are young men and women, in this case three young men, who are contributing to the world around them. I think they gained a little bit from their military training, at least two of them did. It's certainly valuable in a situation like this.

WHITFIELD: Yes and their friendship was at the core too.

HERTLING: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: As Anthony said "I saw my two friends jump up and I didn't hesitate to jump up as well." In fact, he was kind of the one who spotted it initially.

[16:15:03]

So Nic, let's talk a little about this suspect if we could. He's been identified as Ayoub el Khazzani. He was on S list, a list in France that said he had engaged in some suspicious activity. What more do they hope to learn from him in terms of whether he was acting alone or whether there was someone else or others who may have given him a directive even?

ROBERTSON: Sure. The warning sign here is this is a man who's got two automatic weapons, a large number of magazines for those weapons. That alone tips authorities here to think he is unlikely to have acquired those by himself. That would be the initial assessment. So who supported him to do that?

Some of the clues in that are the communities that he's associated with. When he lived in Spain last year, France this year, France last year as well, Belgium. He's associated with radical Islamists. But the real concern here is that he went to Turkey a few months ago in May, came back in July. Believed to have associated with a group of French ISIS in Turkey.

So let's think about this. He didn't have to get to Syria to get to ISIS. There in Turkey. Getting into Turkey is a real easy deal. You can get there by plane or train or boat. It's easy. So this is a concern for the French. If ISIS can get their hands on people like him and turn them into attackers back home, that's a worry. The reason that worry is accentuated and they want to know more from him, is because they believe that the same French ISIS cell in Turkey turned a young Algerian student into an attacker here in Paris here in April.

Fortunately he didn't manage to attack the church, but before he did that, that's what he was targeted to do, to kill a French woman. So this is what they're looking at in this investigation.

WHITFIELD: Yes, incredible sequence of events. I wonder too, general, really quickly as it pertains to any U.S. military investigation or involvement given that two out of the three Americans was U.S. military, they'll be going to Germany for examination, a physical and even just questioning, do you see the U.S. military in any way or even U.S. forces in any way getting involved in this kind of investigation?

HERTLING: Oh, certainly. And first of all, both the two military people will go likely to Landstuhl Hospital in Germany. It's right outside Ramstein, which, by the way, is where U.S. Air Force Europe is assigned. I'm sure they're going to want to welcome Airman First Class Stone. He's assigned to U.S. Air Force Europe. He's in (INAUDIBLE) outside of Portugal, so they are very proud of him over there.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

HERTLING: They will generate some information and some intelligence briefings. U.S. military intelligence centers will work with the governments of both France and Germany and other nations in Europe as they've done all along to try and break down some of these cells and networks. There are likely connections not only, as Nic said, to Turkey but potentially not only in France but into Belgium.

WHITFIELD: All right. Excellent. We'll leave it there. Gen. Hertling, Nic Robertson. Thanks so much, gentlemen, appreciate it.

ROBERTSON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, an unprecedented effort is under way to fight wildfires in Washington state. Stephanie Elam is on the front lines.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. We are taking a look at some of the devastation from these wildfires in Washington state. 520,000 acres still burning. You can take a look right here and see that this fire where the devastation happened is still smoldering.

We'll show you more, coming up.

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[16:21:32]

WHITFIELD: All right. Wildfires continue to rage across the state of Washington. The governor calling the situation unprecedented. And for the first time ever the Department of Natural Resources is calling on civilians to join the fight against the fires.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFED MALE: We want to make sure that anybody we send out there in the fire lines has at least the basic training to get out there and do the job and do the job safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Our Stephanie Elam is in Washington State on Lake Chelan. Still on a boat there. Really the only way to see some of the damage of those lakeside homes and they're still a great thickness of smoke in the air there, Stephanie. So active fires are very close by.

ELAM: It is. It is. Yes, they're close by, but it's starting to clear now, as they expected it would. In the distance you can see we got another one of those helicopters coming in to pick up some water here to go drop on the fire lines because, you're right, it is smoky out here which means there are active fires still burning close by.

So this is what they're working on. There's also a red flag warning that went into effect this morning that will run through tomorrow as well. So we've been seeing this helicopter come in, pick up water, take it to the fire line and drop it to help out those firefighters and then come back in for more after that.

It's a very repetitive process but it's a very helpful process because of the amount of water this helicopter can pick up at one time and then drop off. So the other thing that's phenomenal about it is how quickly these helicopters are able to pull up so much water. He just needs to hover there for a few seconds. As you can see he's pulling out, closing off that tank and will take off over the hillside there to go back to the active fire line.

It's really a very streamlined, very neat process that they have worked out to make that happen. So we've been watching that. Now that we've made our way onto a boat here, we can show you some of this devastation. I want to show you this boat here that was obviously docked here on this Lake Chelan where we are here in Washington state.

Just think about how hot this fire had to be to burn down through these trees, come down, burn these houses and then to continue out and burn out these piers. And to also burn out these boats. There's another one right here to the left that I want to show you as well that it's just unbelievable to take a look at, Fred, when you see how much is burned out there, right in the middle of the water. It's almost like a non sequitur, it doesn't seem to go together but it just shows you how hot it was.

For many of these people who live up in this area, they're still under evacuation orders and that is because there are still hot spots that are burning up in the mountains behind here. And if the wind changes, as the smoke lifts, that means it's better air quality getting into those fires, which means those fires could explode again and that means these houses that didn't get burnt, like just up the lake from us, they could be in danger again.

So that's something that's really important that they are looking at. That's why they haven't let these people all back in, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow, this is extraordinary. But I'm seeing some people in the distance, if your camera can pan over to the right again, those people who are on the small boats directly behind you or even on jet skis, what's their role?

ELAM: Yes. Well, a lot of these people are coming to check it out like we are. They're just coming to see what's going on. It doesn't take a lot to get from the other shore of the lake. It's kind of a long skinny lake and so they're coming to see what the devastation is. You can't get here by the street because officers have it all closed off. They don't want people back here. So a lot of people just coming to see what it looks like. You can easily do that in this lake. You have to imagine for the people that own these homes, the devastation of losing everything up here in this community, it's a gorgeous place but a lot of it is about summer recreation.

[16:25:10]

This is the high time for this lake here, during the winter not so much. So for a lot of people to see that this happens and for the people that live here year round, it is just devastating.

WHITFIELD: It is devastating. All right. Stephanie Elam, thank you so much on Lake Chelan.

Coming up, what we can expect as Wall Street reopens tomorrow after last week's massive sell-off and the five things investors should not do.

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WHITFIELD: All right. There's a lot of anxiety just one day before the markets open on Wall Street. Now after Friday's sell-off. What now for your investments and 401(k)s?

CNN's Cristina Alesci joins us now from New York. OK. So it's more like what not to do, isn't it?

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. First, personally speaking, don't panic. Because to a certain extent these moves, this 10 percent drop that everyone is freaking out about, that is somewhat normal. If it doesn't seem normal, it's because we haven't had one in so long. And that's abnormal not to have one. Usually when you talk about a 10 percent drop or a correction, that's what people are calling this, right, that's the technical term for it, you see that every year and a half.

[16:30:01] We haven't had one in almost four years. That's why it feels the way it does. But also keep in mind that you shouldn't fixate on any of this terminology. You shouldn't fixate necessarily on the news when you're talking about your retirement savings because those really depend -- the performance of those really depend on what the stock market does over the long term.

But on the same -- at the same time, you shouldn't be complacent about your allocations and what you own in your retirement account, because some advisers and some sources that I've been speaking to are saying, look, this may be an opportunity to actually buy on these dips because you can maybe get some kind of bargains, if you will. But let's put this into context. No one really knows what's going to happen from here. So if anybody tells you they know what's going to happen, don't believe them. You know, we can get another 10 percent drop, stocks could go up before they go down again. So it's very risky for an individual investor to play these moves. Just based off of what happened last week. There are a lot of different factors that can affect things here.

WHITFIELD: All right, great advice, Cristina Alesci, thank you so much in New York. And we'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: All right, new developments on the thwarted train terror attack out of France. Authorities are questioning the suspected gunman, Ayoub El Khazzani. Three Americans and two other passengers stopped the attack aboard a high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris Friday. Earlier today at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, the U.S. ambassador praised the three Americans as humble heroes and tomorrow they will be hosted by the French president at the presidential palace. Polo Sandoval has more details for us. So it's a pretty remarkable story all the way around on how these young men ended up on that train. They're friends traveling together in Europe and then they were really tested, weren't they?

[16:35:01]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Truly at the right place at the right time, Fred. We already heard from Alek Skarlatos yesterday. We already heard from Anthony Sadler. Well now today we get to hear for the first time from that third hero himself exactly how he was able to confront this gunman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It feels very unreal. It feels like a dream.

SANDOVAL: Bearing the visible reminders of a bloody confrontation, U.S. Airman Spencer Stone relives the moment. He led a charge against a gunman on board a French train.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I turned around and I saw what looked to be an AK- 47. He looked like it was jammed or it wasn't working. He was trying to charge the weapon. Alek just hit me on the shoulder and said let's go.

SANDOVAL: Those two words rallied three friends together, Stone, Alek Skarlatos, and Anthony Sadler sprang into action, tackling the gun- wielding man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he entered the car, we saw him cocking the AK-47. So at that time it was either do something or die.

SPENCER STONE, THWARTED TERROR ATTACK ON TRAIN: Alek came up and grabbed the gun out of his hand while I put him in a chokehold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't really have much of a state of awareness. It wasn't really a conscious decision, we just acted.

SANDOVAL: The attacker was eventually tied down by Sadler and a British passenger, but not before nearly severing Stone's thumb with a box cutter. Battered and bloody, Stone rushed to help not himself but another injured passenger. STONE: I just went over, saw that he was squirting blood out of the

left or right side of his neck. I just stuck two of my fingers in the hole, found what I thought to be the artery, pushed down and the bleeding stopped. So I just said thank god and held that position until the paramedics got there.

SANDOVAL: Stone, Skarlatos and Sadler shrug off the title of hero. They credit instinct and the bond they have shared since childhood.

STONE: I trust both my friends very much. If it wasn't for them, I would have been dead. So we all had a critical role in whatever happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Extremely critical. You know, Fred, one thing is to hear Stone describe how he used his training as an Air Force field medic. Another is to actually see it in that video as he was over that passenger, Stone not really caring much about his injuries, instead focusing on rendering aid to the stranger. So what comes next for these heroes? We are told that tomorrow they'll be meeting with French President Francois Hollande, along with that French passenger as well. From there two of them -- namely Skarlatos and Stone are expected to stay in Europe for a while longer. As for Sadler, he's expected to return to the U.S. as he's a college student and he'll be returning for his fall semester.

WHITFIELD: So many amazing components of that story. It really is extraordinary. Thanks so much, Polo Sandoval, appreciate it.

SANDOVAL: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, new details on the secret meeting between the Vice President and an outspoken Senate Democrat, what it could mean for a possible presidential bid.

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[16:41:29]

WHITFIELD: All right, a new sign perhaps that Vice President Joe Biden may be seriously considering jumping into the race for President. CNN broke the news that Biden met privately with Senator Elizabeth Warren at his naval observatory residence in D.C. The move came as a surprise since Biden's official schedule showed him spending the weekend at his home in Delaware. With me now from Washington is CNN's Athena Jones. So, Athena, what more has been learned about this meeting?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. This is probably the biggest political story of the weekend, certainly on the Democratic side. My colleague (Inaudible) broke it. We've learned that this meeting took place at the Vice President's request. It lasted about two hours. We're told that during the meeting the Vice President made clear that he is seriously thinking about making another run for the White House. This would be his third run. He talked with Senator Warren about her thoughts on that. They also talked about economic policy and foreign policy.

This is significant, of course, because Senator Warren is something of a liberal icon. She has a lot of fans, people who have been pushing for her to jump into the race for the White House. She declined. She's sitting this out but hasn't endorsed any candidate, so it's interesting and important that he met with her. But she's not the only big-name Democrat that the Vice President has met with. We learned this morning on State of the Union that Democratic Candidate Jim Webb, Former Senator from Virginia also had his own private meeting with the Vice President last month. That meeting also lasted about an hour. So interesting things we're learning.

WHITFIELD: Right. But interesting, Jim Webb said but you don't want me as a Vice President so it doesn't sound like that conversation went in that direction whether he would partner up. So the meeting that Biden did have with Warren, is it potentially a reaction to Hillary Clinton's favorability ratings that have sunk? A recent Quinnipiac poll had some interesting findings.

JONES: You've got to believe that Biden and his team, his supporters are looking very, very closely at this race. They're looking at the numbers, they're looking at the big appeal that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders had. He's another big liberal who's drawn big crowds, a lot of enthusiasm. But if you look at the polls, yes, those high un- favorability numbers for Hillary Clinton as compared to Joe Biden are certainly going to come into play. We expect an announcement in about the next month, certainly by October 1st. That's the thinking.

WHITFIELD: All right, Athena Jones thanks so much in Washington. Appreciate it.

JONES: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. Two deadly crashes at two air shows, and there may be more victims, the details on the search, next.

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[16:46:39]

WHITFIELD: All right. People came from as far away as Africa to hear former President Jimmy Carter do what he loves, teach Sunday school at his church in Plains, Georgia, and he talked openly about his cancer treatment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was found that I had cancer and so they removed part of my liver and I think they got all the cancer from my liver. Then we had another MRI and it showed up that I have four places in my brain, and so this Thursday they treated that with radiation. And I'm taking some additional medicine through -- to stimulate my autoimmune system to fight against the cancer.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: All right. Our Nick Valencia is joining us now from outside the church there in Plains, Georgia. So what an incredible experience for the hundreds that turned out.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You could tell that it was a very important day for those who were visiting from outside of Plains, Georgia. Those that live here, over the years they have become pretty used to seeing Jimmy Carter teach Sunday school. This according to his grandson is nearly the 700th time that he's done so, but the first, Fredricka, the first that he's addressed this congregation since publicly announcing that he was diagnosed with cancer. He got up there for about an hour, spoke with ease.

Some would say that he looked way better than your average 90-year- old. He was even making jokes with the crowd at one point. He did start out by asking where everyone was from, this congregation, usually about 40 people on average per week. Today that crowd swelled to well over 400 with people visiting from all over the world. One person said they were from Guatemala, another person that they were visiting from Ghana. I caught up with a couple of parishioners who said they drove just of couple of hours but they wanted to show the former president that they support him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: What really stuck with you when you walk away and head back home? What are you going to be thinking about?

RENEE LEWIS, ATTENDED SERVICE: What an awesome spirit he has going through the trial that he's going through, and he certainly has exemplified the person that we've known him to be. He's just a giant in my world.

VALENCIA: What about you, Gwen?

GWEN GREEN, ATTENDED SERVICE: I think his faith stood out, that the whole congregation and President Carter, Mrs. Carter is strong faith- willed people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: His message on this Sunday was one of love, saying that Christianity is about love. He also talked about challenges and overcoming those challenges and finding resolution to conflict. He did briefly, as you mentioned, touch on his cancer diagnosis. He said that he had already received his first radiation treatment just a couple of days ago.

But from those who were watching him in the crowd, you couldn't really tell that he was battling this cancer. He was very spry and upbeat, smiling most of the time, accompanied by his wife Rosalyn. He did say that he was receiving additional medicine intravenously, a process that took about 30 minutes each time he got that drug. But he said that he has plans to keep up with his commitments, even though his doctors want him to rest a little bit more. He says he plans on going to Nepal in November to continue a Habitat for Humanity project that he has going there. He also says that he plans on continuing being a Professor at Emory University and of course showing up here every Sunday to teach Sunday school, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow, pretty impressive. All right, Nick Valencia, thank you so much in Plains, Georgia. All right, we'll be right back.

VALENCIA: You bet.

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[16:57:01]

WHITFIELD: All right. A deadly weekend at air shows in Europe, one in Switzerland, the other in England. In the Swiss accident, at least one person was killed after two small planes collided in midair during an air show. And today police in Sussex, England, are searching for more victims from yesterday's air show crash on a busy U.K. highway. As many as 11 people may have died, but the pilot of the vintage military jet survived. On the phone now from London, CNN's Ian Lee, so Ian, tell us about the way this pilot was able to survive.

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know that's the big question a lot of people are asking. We put that to police today, and they really don't have an answer how he was able to get out. We're hearing that he was pulled from the wreckage, but when we asked if he was able to eject at the last minute, they just don't have an answer yet to that question. And they are still finding bodies in this wreckage.

That number increasing to 11. They say are likely dead. They say likely because they're cross-referencing with families who say they have loved ones who are missing and they say they still have people calling, looking for their loved ones. They expect that number to possibly increase tomorrow when they're moving away the wreckage of the aircraft. It has been very dangerous. There's still a lot of jet fuel, a lot of hazardous materials there. They have been moving very slowly, methodically, to make sure that no one else gets hurt but also make sure they get it right and discover really what the cause of this deadly crash, Fredricka

WHITFIELD: Ok. And so when we look at this vintage plane there, this vintage military plane and how it went down, this busy highway is why so many lives have been claimed, right? So when you talk about people who have been missing, we're talking about people in the area who say they just haven't seen their loved one and they expect that they may have been on this highway?

LEE: That's right. These were motorists. People who were -- this was a weekend going on vacation, going to back and forth. This is a busy highway. And so these are people who weren't a part of this air show and they didn't see this coming. Talking to some of the organizers or people around there, they say that pilots are not allowed to do stunts over spectators' neighborhoods or anywhere where people are, because of this sort of incident could happen where a plane could crash and kill people on the ground. So that's going to be one of the major questions going forward. Also talking to people saying it just didn't seem right, right before the moment of impact. It looked like the plane was struggling, wasn't able to get enough speed.

WHITFIELD: Ok, Ian, we're going to have to leave it right there. Thank you so much from London. All right, thanks so much, everyone, for being with me this afternoon. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, much more in the NEWSROOM straight ahead.