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1 Dead, 2 Missing After Explosion at Illinois Silicone Plant; NTSB Investigating Boeing 737 Skidding off Runway into River; North Korea Launches Multiple Short-Range Projectiles; What Latest Launch Means for Already Fragile U.S./North Korea Relationship; Israeli Officials: Gaza Militants Fire 200 Rockets Toward Israel; Nadler Threatens to Hold Attorney General Barr in Contempt; Chinese Mother Admits She Paid $6.5 Million to College Scam Ringleader; Cruise Ship with Confirmed Measles Case Back at Home Port; Prince Harry Cuts Official Trip Spurring New Baby Speculation. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired May 04, 2019 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We're following several breaking stories this hour. Right now, at least one person is dead and two people are missing after a silicon plant exploded overnight in Illinois. The massive fireball lighting up the night sky. Firefighters say the fire is now out. And as you can see, the damage is quite extensive. More on that straight ahead.

We are following breaking news out of Florida. Look at these pictures out of Jacksonville. A military charter flight carrying 143 people skidded off a runway into a nearby river. The NTSB arriving on the scene minutes ago. We'll take you there, live.

And a surprising move by North Korea. The country launching what officials are calling, quote, "several projectiles." Reaction from the U.S. and South Korea.

Let's begin in Illinois where the search has been suspended for two people missing after the explosion in a silicone plant.

Brynn Gingras is following the story for us.

Brynn, what do you know?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, this happened at 9:30 last night at a silicone manufacturing plant, called A.B. Specialty Silicone. It's located about 40 miles north of Chicago. When it happened at night, we know from authorities nine people were inside the plant. And the explosion, as you are seeing from the video, rocked that area. It could be felt in towns away. It impacted five buildings around it. There was smoke. You can see it leveled the entire building there.

At this point, like I said, nine employees were in the plant at the time of that explosion last night. Authorities say four went to the hospital and then there was a search for three others. Authorities tell us that one body has been recovered. They cannot look for those other two people that are missing at this point because of the structure stability, as you can imagine, of that plant. Right now, they are trying to, what they call, bring in heavy equipment. That's the only way they are describing it to get in there eventually to continue the search effort for the two missing people. What an incredible explosion last night. At this point, it's unclear what caused it.

WHITFIELD: Brynn Gingras, keep us posted. Thank you so much.

GINGRAS: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Also, we are following breaking news out of Jacksonville, Florida. NTSB investigators are working to determine why a plane skid off a runway and into a nearby river. The military chartered flight carrying more than 140 people was arriving from the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba when it went into shallow water off the naval air station in Jacksonville. Only a few minor injuries are being reported.

CNN national correspondent, Natasha Chen, is live in Jacksonville.

Natasha, give us an idea of where investigators are now.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The vice chairman of the NTSB just talked to the media moments ago. He offered condolences to people who suffered injuries. They were apparently minor injuries. That's really good news that more than 140 people made it off this plane relatively safely. He says the team of 16 investigators are not all here yet, though the folks from D.C. have arrived. There were investigators from other cities still coming in. They are going to the site now of the plane that is still sitting in those shallow waters of the St. John's River. You see those amazing images of this plane sitting there. You can see the passenger windows are above water. You can see the wing there. You can imagine how those people got out last night wearing their life vests and using inflatable raft to get out of there.

So the NTSB is looking at three factors, potentially, like they do in all investigations, seeing if there's human error involved, a problem with the aircraft and whether there was a weather event that might have contributed to this. So, Fred, they are going to take a look at many factors.

WHITFIELD: Then, Natasha, there was one woman on the plane who spoke about her experience. What has she said?

CHEN: She did talk about the fact that the plane came through a thunderstorm with lightning as they were making that hard landing. I want to share with you how she described that chaotic moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED PLANE PASSENGER (voice-over): As we went down, we had a really hard landing and then the plane bounced and screeched and bounced more. It lifted to the right, then lifted to the left. Then it sort of swerved and then it came to a complete, like, crash stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHEN: She said that everybody was really helping everyone else on that flight, that the crew was extremely helpful.

Now, most of the people on this flight, we understand, are military and civilian folks who worked at the Guantanamo Bay site. There are a bunch of people there involved with the 9/11 terrorist case. They had pretrial hearings this whole week. They are still at Guantanamo Bay. The defense, the prosecution, the judiciary, they were supposed to take a similar charter flight this morning that has now been delayed until tonight because of this incident. There's a bit of a ripple effect there -- Fred?

[13:05:15] WHITFIELD: All right, Natasha Chen, in Jacksonville, thank you so much.

South Korean analysts are trying to determine what short-range projectiles were launched from North Korea's eastern shore overnight and whether it includes missiles. Japan says the objects fell short of its territorial waters. President Trump reacted earlier, tweeting, in part, "Kim Jong-Un knows that I am with him and does not want to break his promise to me. Deal will happen."

With me now, Nic Robertson, in London.

Nic, President Trump doesn't appear to be coming down very hard on Kim Jong-Un. What's behind his sentiment?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, perhaps no surprise because President Trump, since January 2018, has suddenly became the man who believes he can get Kim Jong-Un to denuclearize his nuclear weapons, and it's just not happening. The talks they had in Hanoi the end of February failed and President Trump walked away. Kim Jong-Un saying clearly that, you know, peace and security on the peninsula is essentially in the hands of the United States, it depends on the future attitude of the United States. He is not happy with President Trump right now. He believes the United States is putting too much pressure on him. We were talking last hour about the fact that Kim Jong-Un met with Vladimir Putin in Russia just over a week ago and how that might impact the North Korean leader's thinking.

If we look at the way the Kremlin frays, the conversation, the phone conversation Vladimir Putin had in the past day or so, the Kremlin says that North Korea is meeting, is diligently meeting its obligation and it's up to others to meet their obligations, meaning the United States, meaning sanctions relief for North Korea. North Korea really feels they have the of ear of Russia and Russia is parroting what North Korea, what Kim Jong-Un is saying. It seems Kim Jong-Un, at the moment, is testing President Trump. And obviously, President Trump has said clearly, he thinks he can deal with North Korea. It's not in his interest to make a big deal out of what Kim Jong-Un has done with these projectiles. It's clear to the rest of the world that Kim Jong- Un is showing dissatisfaction with the United States. How is President Trump actually going to handle this is not clear.

WHITFIELD: Is there any potential that the testing or launching of projectiles could lead to any new sanctions from the U.N., if not the U.S.?

ROBERTSON: You have Russia and China there, permanent Security Council members of the United Nations, and they will very likely block further sanctions placed on North Korea. What President Trump has said, we have sanctions. He wants the maximum effect of the sanctions. But the sanctions are leaking because Russia and China aren't holding up their obligations on those sanctions. And they border North Korea so they can have a direct impact on whether or not the sanctions hold. That's the problem. Kim Jong-Un has the ear of Xi Jinping in Beijing, the Chinese president, and he has the ear of Vladimir Putin in Moscow and Russia. These are key players on whether or not the sanctions hold. I'm not sure the United States has the diplomatic clout at the moment to tighten those sanctions on Kim Jong- Un. Kim Jong-Un knows that. It does seem to be that's what has been playing for, sympathy of the country to take a tough position against the United States.

WHITFIELD: Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

So, what does this latest launch mean for an already fragile relationship between the U.S. and North Korea? That's next.

[13:09:03] Plus, Democrats threatening to hold the U.S. attorney general in contempt if he does not turn over redacted -- un-redacted information in the Mueller report by Monday morning. How is this likely to play out? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: North Korea launched a series of short-term projectiles from the eastern shore. South Korea says its analysts are trying to determine whether the launch included any missiles.

I want to bring David Rohde. He's the executive editor of the "New Yorker" Web site and a CNN political affairs analyst.

Good to see you David.

What is the message, perhaps, that Kim Jong-Un is sending by making the launches days just days after meeting with Vladimir Putin?

DAVID ROHDE, CNN POLITICAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think he's testing President Trump. He's saying he wants a deal and pushing Trump. If the president sort of lashes out at North Korea publicly, you can see Kim, you know, re-engaging in terms of launching again these long- range missile tests that created a crisis last year. I think he's always showing there's other options in the world. He just had a meeting with Putin. As Nic Robertson mentioned earlier, China is helping North Korea as well. The U.S.-backed sanctions are not being effective at this point in North Korea because China and Russia are not enforcing them.

WHITFIELD: What would be the deal that the president makes reference to in his tweet, the kind of deal that North Korea would want, is it simply lifting sanctions or is there something else? ROHDE: I think, for North Korea, it's what they proposed in Hanoi,

which is they have a large decrease in U.S. sanctions on North Korea in exchange for partial denuclearization. That would be a terrible deal and a huge setback for President Trump. I think this is a broader challenge to President Trump's foreign policy legacy. There isn't a big success at this point. He's talking tough on Iran, but Iran seems to want to wait out to see if he wins re-election or not. There was the attempted coup, the uprising in Venezuela, that failed this week. And the president had a call with Vladimir Putin where he's saying great things about Russia, yet Russia is helping North Korea. He could pull it out with trade talks with China, but this is another big question mark about the president's foreign policy.

[13:14:58] WHITFIELD: Perhaps if you're Russia, North Korea is a sign of strength or weakness that the president would tweet out, you know, I'm still with you, you know, and a deal is forthcoming and, paraphrasing, you know, is that -- here's the tweet. Is that a sign of North Korea, as you know, strength, over the president of the United States, weakness or vice versa?

ROHDE: I think it's a sign of the president's strategy with North Korea but it's not working. This is for some reason to savage Iran, savage Democrats but go gentle on North Korea and go gentle on Vladimir Putin. I think North Korea is waiting out this president's term. The election is coming soon. They will wait him out and not make any major deal. The chance for that has come and gone. And being nice to North Korea in your tweets, it's not working.

WHITFIELD: Do you see on the horizon that the U.S. or perhaps the U.N. would want to pursue further sanctions?

ROHDE: They could. This is my confusion with the president's strategy here. He is being as gentle as possible with Kim Jong-Un after attacking him in his first year in office. So, once you make those threats and then turn very nice, you know, Kim Jong-Un has no reason to believe the threats, he has no reason to believe Trump will harshly crack down on him.

WHITFIELD: David Rohde, thank you so much.

ROHDE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We are following breaking news out of Israel where officials say more than 200 rockets have been fired from Gaza toward Israel, injuring two Israelis. The Palestinian Ministry of Health says two people died, including a baby, after Israel retaliated with air strikes.

Oren Liebermann is near the Gaza border for us.

Oren, what's happening now?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, over the course of the last 15 minutes or so, we have seen a number, five or six launches of rockets from Gaza to Israel and those intercepted mostly by Israel's Iron Dome Aerial Defense System. Some over to my left. There's quite a number right above our head here and maybe you'll see some in the course of the next few minutes.

The fighting started early today, about 10:00 local time, with a barrage of more than 50 rockets in an hour coming from Gaza into Israel. Very much continues. And we have seen an escalation throughout the day. Israel says, to this point, Hamas and other militant factions inside of Gaza have fired more than 200 rockets toward Israel, hitting a number of rockets. Most of those short-range rockets, but some have gone 20 or 25 miles outside of Gaza, indicating a more powerful rocket. Israel says dozens of those rockets have been intercepted by their Iron Dome Aerial Defense System.

Meanwhile, Israel has carried out a series of strikes hitting more than 30 targets, they say, are Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad military targets inside of Gaza, including destroying an Islamic jihad tunnel, cross-border tunnel between Israel and Gaza. In the strikes, the Palestinian Ministry of Health says two people were killed, including a 1-year-old baby girl, her pregnant mother critically wounded.

This round started on Friday afternoon and shattered what had been weeks of relative quiet between Israel and Gaza essentially going back a month here. During weekly Gaza protests on Friday, Israel says a sniper inside Gaza wounded two Israeli soldiers, one moderately, one lightly. Israel responded by hitting a Hamas military post and crucially killing two members of Hamas' military ring. That led began to what has led us to where we are right now, a day of escalation we've seen. Even if Israel and Hamas they say they are not interested in larger fighting, well, fighting is what we are seeing right now.

My producer is flagging something behind me so we are going to take a look. There was, I think, a launch here that we've already lost sight of just given the dark hour. But, Fredricka, we'll keep you posted on how this kinetic this border is throughout the course of the evening.

WHITFIELD: Please do.

Oren Liebermann, thank you so much.

Still ahead, the clock is ticking. Democrats have given the U.S. attorney general, Bill Barr, until 9:00 a.m. Monday to turn over grand jury material related to the Mueller report. Will they follow through on their threat to hold him in contempt if he does not?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:22:48] WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Democrats issuing an ultimatum to U.S. Attorney General William Barr. He has until 9:00 a.m. Monday to provide redacted parts of the Mueller report and its underlying evidence or the top law enforcement official in the land will be charged with contempt of Congress. That's the promise House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler is making in a new letter. House Democrats are also upset Barr refused to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): The failure of Attorney General Barr to come to the hearing today is simply another step in the administration's growing attack on American democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: With me now, Ross Garber, who teaches political investigations and impeachment law as an adjunct professor at Tulane's Law School. Also with me, Lisa Lerer, a national political reporter for the "New York Times" and CNN political analyst.

Good to see you both.

ROSS GARBER, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: Ross, you first. If Barr is held in contempt, what would that mean for the U.S. attorney general?

GARBER: Basically, nothing. It may be a sort of writ of passage for attorney generals to be held in contempt. You'll remember that Eric Holder, President Obama's attorney general, was held in contempt of Congress.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

GARBER: Here is the issue. Congress has very limited powers to enforce their demands for information and to punish those or compel those who don't produce the information. You know, they used to, back before the 1930s, they used to lock people up who didn't comply with their subpoenas. They don't do that anymore for lots of reasons. They can refer people for criminal prosecution, but here, that obviously isn't going to happen with the attorney general, since he is responsible for criminal prosecution. The last option is filing a civil lawsuit, which is what they did against Eric Holder, the attorney general under Obama. That case went on for years and went nowhere. So, you know, the answer is a contempt citation is probably not going to mean anything.

[13:25:05] WHITFIELD: Is it your feeling with that precedent, Barr figures if that happens to me, no big deal?

GARBER: I think that's the answer.

WHITFIELD: OK.

GARBEER: I think this is all sort of a big dance that probably winds up going nowhere.

WHITFIELD: Lisa, Barr's refusal to testify, this coincides with the White House fighting back hard against the Democratic probes of the Trump administration. What kind of constitutional or perhaps political battle might be brewing as a result of Barr digging in his heels?

LISA LERER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, this is a political strategy, of course, like most things in Washington by the White House. President Trump has long felt and long believed in his ability to leverage the courts on his behalf. There was a "USA Today" analysis that was conducted before he took office that the president and his companies were plaintiffs in something like 1900 different lawsuits. He's very comfortable using the courts.

They see this as a way to make really two political arguments. The first is to feed into this idea that they are trying to develop, which is that Democrats are overreaching and this is, as the president likes to call it, presidential harassment. They feel that is an argument that could be compelling to some Independents and help the president's re-election effort. The other strategy, here is more tactical. As Ross pointed out, they can linger in the courts for a very, very long time. The idea is, if there's potentially embarrassing information, you go into the courts and, you know, the public might not hear about it in any way until after the election is already complete.

WHITFIELD: Running out the clock?

LERER: So it's a stalling tactic. Right. A way, exactly, of running out the clock on things that might hurt him.

WHITFIELD: So, Ross, Chairman Nadler, you know, in his letter, cites the release of evidence in the Clinton email probe to support his assertion to see the redacted parts. Un-redact them. Is that, you know, a fair and fair comparison?

GARBER: It may be a fair comparison. Remember, all this information is in the hands of the Department of Justice and the Department of Justice can say, look, maybe we should --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: -- an effective -- will it be an effective comparison?

GARBER: It's not -- it's really not going to matter that much. By the way, I think it's actually, you know, potentially in Chairman Nadler's interest to have this process go on through the 2020 elections. You know, then I think the Democrats can run against Trump, you know, run on the issues and, you know, this will sort of be pending out in the either in litigation.

LERER: I think the thing Democrats are concerned about is that this builds the pressure for an impeachment proceeding, which the White House is really trying to goad Democrats into pursuing. They believe they have protection with the Republicans in the Senate from actually moving forward in any substantial way. I think there's a number of people in the Democratic Party that are worried that could hurt them in the 2020 race with Independents, with left leaning, but perhaps not extremely liberal voters.

WHITFIELD: Is time a factor? If there's enough time in which to follow through with proceedings if they get under way?

LERER: Oh, you mean --

GARBER: I -- in terms of impeachment? WHITFIELD: Yes.

GARGER: Yes. I think time is potentially a factor. Remember, the Democrats control the House. They control the clock on impeachment. It can take, you know, really as long or as short as they want it to take. I think that's one of the reasons why they want to avoid heading down this path. Because then all eyes are on the Democrats in the House because Nancy Pelosi and they control the process. They have the votes to impeach the president, essentially whenever they want.

WHITFIELD: Lisa, you want to add to that? Except when Nancy Pelosi is talking about criminal behavior, as it pertains to the attorney general, I wonder if she is also now changing her point of view on any kind of impeachment proceeding, even of the president?

LERER: I think she's doing a very careful dance on this issue. She knows she has this element in her caucus and this element in the party that really, really wants to move forward with impeachment. A little bit of the pressure has been let out of the balloon now that Democrats have a foothold of power in Washington and the House. But she made it clear in an interview with the "New York Times," with one of my colleagues, that we put out this morning, that she sees the path to victory through Independents and left-leaning voters, which is how Democrats won back the House. Yes, the more liberal members are getting a lot of attention from the press. What gave the Democrats their numbers was flipping these suburban districts that are much more moderate. She wants to make sure they have that, the party has that same pathway when they move into the 2020 race.

[13:30:00] So, look, she's trying to balance the two sides of the party and walk this careful line. And at the same time, you see the White House, with all these various, you know, ways to put barriers in front of these investigations, is really trying to push her and put as much pressure on Democrats as possible.

WHITFIELD: Lisa Lerer, Ross Garber, we'll leave it there for now. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

GARBER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM. But first, a quick programming note. Be sure to tune into Dr. Sanjay Gupta and his voyages through one of the darkest, coldest countries, Norway. He finds some of the happiest people there. What's their secret? Watch "CHASING LIFE" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, tonight, at 9:00 eastern, on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. So $6.5 million is the size of the check a Chinese mother says she paid to the ring leader of the college admissions scandal after her daughter was admitted to Stanford University. The woman is the wife of billionaire pharmaceutical executive, Tao Zhao, pictured here at an event with President Trump and the first lady two years ago. She says she contacted ring leader, Rick Singer, simply for college counseling services because she wasn't familiar with the admissions procedures with American colleges. She also claims, after her daughter got into Stanford, Singer asked her for a donation to the school through his foundation, a check she says she was willing to write to help fund scholarships for less-fortunate students.

Her daughter talked about her acceptance to the highly competitive university in a video she posted online back in 2017.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:35:17] YUSI "MOLLY" ZHAO, PARENTS PAID $6.5 MILLION FOR HER ADMISSION TO STANFORD UNIVERSITY (through translation): I want to tell you all that I gained my admission into Stanford through my own hard effort. I would like to share my experience. For example, I wasn't doing well academically when I was in elementary school but I can now go to Stanford after working hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The "New York Times" cites prosecutors as saying Rick Singer tried to get Ms. Zhao recruited to the Stanford sailing team, provided a bogus list of sailing accomplishments, and made a half- million-dollar donation to the sailing program after she was admitted.

The Zhao family has not been charged, but a source says investigators are looking into what, if anything, the parents knew about the scheme. Stanford University has released a statement saying it had no knowledge of the payment and did not receive any money.

Here to dig into this, Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor, and criminal defense attorney, Richard Herman.

Good to see you both.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Fredricka.

RICHARD HERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hey, Fred.

WHITFIELD: The list is long. We have 50 people charged in this scheme.

Avery, what makes this family situation any different from the other parents facing very serious charges?

FRIEDMAN: I don't think it makes any difference. I think, while federal prosecutors probably made them targets, I think they are working with the Chinese families. This family, the Zhao family had, you know, enormous contribution. There's another Chinese family that did similarly. What's going on right now is the U.S. attorney is looking into the scheme involved with companies that are promising Chinese students, guaranteeing their acceptance to Yale, Stanford, some of the best universities in the United States. The case is really bigger than mom and dad getting a child into school. It's the scheme going on that involves racketeering. And we haven't seen -- this is merely the tip of the iceberg, Fredricka. We are going to see a lot more evidence involving the plan, the schemes going on with very well-to-do people.

WHITFIELD: Richard, does this, you know, investigation now reveal you have some families who were taking advantage of this opportunity by way of these schemes and then you have families being taken for a ride because they are being misled as a result of the schemes?

HERMAN: It's a fine line, Fred. The case you just mentioned about the Chinese student, it's interesting, because the money, the 6.5 million was paid after she got admitted into the school. So, it wasn't like I'm going to pay you the money to get her in. I think what happened here -- and it's just conjecture -- this Singer forgot about this woman, forgot about this. He never thought she was going to get into Stanford. When she did, he was surprised. He realized how wealthy the family was. So he went after them. He's the animal, this guy. He set them up to give them $6.5 money several weeks after she was admitted into the school. Of course, Stanford says we did not get 6.5 million. Singer put it in his pocket. This is a different situation, Fred, from the ones where families are paying, like Lori Loughlin, $500,000, and knowing the tests are being cheated on to get in and their daughters are being admitted as student athletes in crew, when the only boat they have been on is probably the QE2. That's absurd. And it's a very difficult defense case. These people are rejecting plea deals, they are not going to get the same offers down the road. And money laundering --

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

HERMAN: -- and conspiracy to commit fraud --

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

HERMAN: -- that's serious, Fred --

WHITFIELD: Yes.

HERMAN: -- and prison time down the road.

WHITFIELD: Avery, in the case of this young lady, the Zhao family, she's no longer going to be able to attend Stanford.

HERMAN: Right.

FRIEDMAN: Well, I'm not sure that's right. While there's been press reports that indicate she's been expelled, the fact is that all Stanford is saying is they have expelled a student for fraudulent application, but they are not confirming this is the individual student. It may be the case. We don't know if she's there or not. Although, her student profile has been deactivated. I think she probably is gone.

But I do feel that the larger issue of these organizations -- not just Rick Singer, there are others involved in bribery and related activity that, frankly, is affecting universities and they are changing their admission policies to make sure that this sort of behavior is minimized.

[13:39:59] WHITFIELD: So, Richard --

HERMAN: Fred --

WHITFIELD: -- how perplexing it is, in your view, that you have parents facing charges, you have some athletic coaches who have been removed and facing charges, you have Rick Singer now --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: -- you know, then -- right, but then, OK, he pleaded. What about higher up, you know, in some of these institutions? I mean, so they don't know anything about it? Or is it possible there will be other charges involving people higher up in some of these institutions?

HERMAN: Fred, this is -- Fred, this is the tip of the iceberg. From what I understand, there are numerous new target letters being sent out. They are promising additional indictments coming from this. This is outrageous. When you think of the students that break their behinds, they are in school every day, they study so hard for the exams, they do every extracurricular activity they can do, anything and everything to get into the schools the right way, and don't get in because a rich parent paid a half million dollars to get their kid in as a crew athlete. It's outrageous. It's not sympathetic. The government is looking to make deals with some of the people to get information about the process and to see who they may have interacted with --

FRIEDMAN: That's right. That's right.

HERMAN: -- at the university, Fred. You are right, they want to go higher up in the university. This is massive. This is not going to end in the near future, Fred. We will be covering this for the next year, at least. Massive story here.

WHITFIELD: All right.

FRIEDMAN: I agree.

WHITFIELD: Oh, agreement.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: How disappointing and discouraging --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: -- all of this is. So many discoveries being made. All right. So many kids trying really hard to get into school.

Richard, Avery, thank you so much.

FRIEDMAN: You, too.

(CROSSTALK)

HERMAN: Take care.

WHITFIELD: See you guys.

Still ahead, a cruise ship that was quarantined over measles. Concerns now? It's returning home. What officials say has to happen before anyone is allowed to get off the ship. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:46:03] WHITFIELD: A Church of Scientology cruise ship is now back at its home port after one of its crew members tested positive for measles. The "Free Winds" ship was under quarantine in St. Lucia after the measles case was discovered.

But as Natasha Chen reports, the ordeal is not over for the cruise ship passengers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIOINAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The "Free Winds" cruise ship owned by the Church of Scientology returned Saturday morning to its home port of Curacao after being quarantined three days in St. Lucia. A crew member tested positive for measles. Now the Curacao government will not let any of the 300 people off the ship until they have determined who is susceptible to the disease.

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's not going to be easy. Who carries around their immunization records, right?

CHEN: White quarantined, the ship's doctor requested 100 doses of the measles vaccine Thursday, which St. Lucia's Health Ministry said they provided for free.

This Scientologist says she was on the "Free Winds" the week before this particular trip.

UNIDENTIFIED SHIP PASSENGER: The "Free Winds" does not play around with the people who board the ship. They are very serious about security. They're very serious about health. They're very serious about high integrity. For me, it's the safest ship.

CHEN: The Church of Scientology didn't respond to CNN's request for comment. It says on its Web site, "The ship is a religious retreat at the pinnacle of a Scientologist spiritual journey." The church has no official stance on vaccinations. But Professor Stephen Kent, an expert on Scientology, says there's a church philosophy that high- ranking Scientologists can fend off illness.

STEPHEN KENT, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE: The issue with the "Free Winds" is it's filled with high-ranking Scientologists. So consequently, a high-ranking Scientologist very well could imagine that the "Free Winds" would be one of the last places on earth that a person would get sick.

CHEN: Yet, now people must remain on board until cleared by health officials.

Natasha Chen, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, Prince Harry cut short an upcoming trip to the Netherlands, stemming new rumors about the arrival of the royal baby. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:51:47] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. So Prince Harry cutting short his planned trip next week to Amsterdam and, of course, you know what that move is doing, it's fueling speculation that his wife, Meghan, is about to give birth. The Duchess of Sussex was due to give birth to their first child in mid-April. Look at the calendar. The couple has been real mum about details.

Joining us right now from Washington, is CNN contributor and author of "Elizabeth the Queen," Sally Bedell Smith.

Sally, good to see you.

SALLY BEDELL SMITH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good to see you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Are you on the edge of your seat? Are you thinking that little baby has been born already and they're being mum about it or are they just doing it their own way, and maybe the baby is taking a little time before making its appearance?

BEDELL SMITH: Well, the rumors have been flying. Buckingham Palace said a little while ago that they would announce the birth. So I don't think anybody's withholding it from us. The latest report is that her due date was on the 29th. Now, in the U.K., the obstetricians are under pretty strict guidelines not to allow anybody to go beyond 10 days after the due date, so I think we're looking at an outer limit of the 9th.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: OK, So we're still in the window. My first born was 10 days late, you know, so it could happen.

BEDELL SMITH: Yes. Yes.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

BEDELL SMITH: Yes, it absolutely can. And they're not supposed to go beyond that. And if nothing has happened, they will induce?

WHITFIELD: That's right.

BEDELL SMITH: That's right.

WHITFIELD: They will make it happen if it doesn't happen.

BEDELL SMITH: Yes.

WHITFIELD: So take me behind the scenes of the whole, you know, planning here. Because you know, Harry and Meghan kind of want to do it their way. Apparently, she is not going to birth at the St. Mary's, which is where Kate Middleton birthed her kids, which has kind of become tradition with a lot of the royal families.

BEDELL SMITH: Right.

WHITFIELD: So how much do we know about how they are planning this kind of secretive arrival? I mean --

BEDELL SMITH: Well --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: -- is there a midwife or something?

BEDELL SMITH: Well, Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex do their own thing. And you know, in a way, if they are -- if they -- they said simply that they are going to do it privately. And everybody has been interpreting that, well, could that mean a home birth. Home births were traditional, until the first one, not to have a home birth, was Princess Anne's son, Peter Philips, who was born in 1977. He was the first to be born in the Lindo Wing at St. Mary's hospital. The queen gave birth to all of her children at home, either at Buckingham Palace or Clarence House.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

BEDELL SMITH: Her sister, Princess Margaret, gave birth to her two children at Clarence House and Kensington Palace.

And this is a tradition that goes way back. The queen herself was born in her grandparent's house in London. And her second child -- her sister, Princess Margaret, was born way up in Scotland at Glamis Castle. The queen's birth was complicated. They induced her. Her mother, later, the queen mum, had a very difficult labor and the queen was born by cesarean section, which they euphemistically called later on a special procedure.

Now, there are risks in having a home birth, of course. But I think something like one in 50 births in the U.K. are at home. There's --

(CROSSTALK)

[13:55:27] WHITFIELD: But there's is not the ordinary home. You know --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Well, they've moved out of Kensington Palace and they're living in a college. They do have the accoutrements of royal extras.

BEDELL SMITH: They do. And she has the queen's obstetrical team on call. And she has said, supposedly, that she wants some of her own people to be involved. And it is worth knowing that only a half hour away is Brimley Park Hospital in Surry, so if anything were to go wrong -- my guess is she probably wants to stay home as long as possible.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Well, we --

BEDELL SMITH: And if there's a need, she will go to the hospital.

WHITFIELD: Of course, we're all on the edge of our seats. But at the same time, we are all wishing them well, and a beautiful blissful, you know, good healthy experience. But as soon as you learn something, you let us know, Sally, because I know you have pull.

BEDELL SMITH: I am on a vigilant and I'm on a watch -- we all are - a baby watch. It is a fun thing to be on.

WHITFIELD: It is a fun thing.

Sally Bedell Smith, thank you so much.

BEDELL SMITH: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

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