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$98 Billion Aid Package Passes House, Advances To Senate; Opening Statements In Trump's Criminal Trial Set For Monday; Israeli Strikes In Iran Raise Fears Of Widening Conflict; Pro-Palestinian Protesters Gather Again At Columbia University; FAA To Increase Time Off Between Shifts For Air Traffic Controllers Amid Fatigue Concerns; Speaker Johnson Keeps His Gavel After Testy Foreign-Aid Fight. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 20, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:40]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alex Marquardt here in Washington. Thank you so much for joining us today.

We begin with President Joe Biden urging the Senate to quickly send a foreign aid package to his desk so that he can sign it into law. Senators are expected to take up this series of bills this Tuesday.

Those were just passed moments ago by House lawmakers in a special Saturday session. It will be combined and they include $95 billion in military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and for Taiwan, as well as billions in humanitarian aid.

President Biden says the House's passage of the bill sends a clear message about the power of America's leadership in the world.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is here with me here in Washington. So what else are we hearing from the White House?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, they are applauding this move, one that they have been waiting for, for months. To remind viewers, this was an ask that the White House made last October, so this has been wrangling that has been ongoing for some time now.

So as soon as this passed, the White House applauding it and the president saying in a statement, "Today, members of both parties and the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage. At this critical inflection point, they came together to answer history's call passing urgently needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure."

He goes on to say that he urges, "... the Senate to quickly send this package drew my desk so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs."

Of course, Alex, the president, has been banging on this drum again for a while now, especially framing it as a national security priority and talking about this last October when they made that supplemental request, he addressed the nation and he told America, this isn't just about a conflict abroad and helping an ally, but rather this affects US national security and making the point that they should not cede any ground to Russia.

And so the president and US officials have been saying the stakes are high. We saw that sort of elevated this week, in particular, with CIA Director Burns saying that Ukraine could lose the war by the end of the year if they did not get that funding.

And then separately from the president who said in a "Wall Street Journal" op-ed before this vote that it was a pivotal moment.

So clearly, a lot of applause for House lawmakers coming to do this, but we should also note that in talking about the stakes of this, US officials were also over the course of all of these months making the connection to battlefield losses in Ukraine and pointing directly to Republicans and saying that their stalling the aid package is what led to some of those battlefield losses.

So of course, this is a moment that packages all of this together and just speaks to the urgency that the president and the White House has been talking about for some time.

MARQUARDT: And this is why Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine has been lobbying not just the administration, but lawmakers as well. We've heard thanks today from President Zelenskyy. He tweeted that this will keep history on the right track.

But to your point, this has been, this delay has been attributed to or rather, it has led to some are saying Ukrainian losses and Russian gains on the battlefield.

ALVAREZ: Indeed, the Ukrainian president's tweet, came only minutes after the vote, which goes to show how closely Ukraine was watching this and how much of a lobbying effort it was.

I mean, the president had spoken with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in February. He had also met with the vice president, Vice President Kamala Harris. So this has been an ongoing effort and a difficult one, a strenuous one as it was continuing to be pushed on the Hill.

In fact, Zelenskyy also spoke with House Speaker Mike Johnson, so he was appealing across the administration with lawmakers and clearly watching the vote very, very closely today.

But I want to note, Alex, that in this statement, the president talks about the power of American leadership, and that has really been central to all of this, is the US trying to reaffirm his leadership on the world stage, and the president making the point to world leaders in multiple conversations that he had over the last several months, that the US would stand by Ukraine.

That was a difficult argument to make when this aid couldn't get through Congress. Now, it has.

So this is also just a really key part of all of this moving forward.

MARQUARDT: Yes, I've spoken to a number of Ukrainian officials in the past few months who have been very worried that this wouldn't get through. This will be, not just a huge material boost, but a real boost in psychological support as well for those Ukrainian soldiers out there facing the Russians.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much for all your reporting.

[18:05:04]

We have our jury, those were the words of New York Judge Juan Merchan this week during the hush money trial of Donald Trump. This is the first time in history that a former US president is facing a criminal trial.

With opening statements due to start on Monday, Trump, this weekend is campaigning, today specifically in North Carolina. This comes after a dramatic final day of jury selection with all 12 jurors and six alternates sworn in by Friday afternoon.

Jury consultant, Richard Gabriel joins us now from Los Angeles.

Richard, thank you so much for joining me.

This process seemed to move faster than expected. Do you think that this jury is going to hold and in such an unusual high profile case, do you think that the six alternates are enough?

RICHARD GABRIEL, JURY CONSULTANT: Well, it remains to be seen. I mean, six alternates ordinarily for a six-week trial should be plenty, but as we've seen in all of these high-profile trials, crazy things can happen, and depending what happens, even on Monday, whether jurors come in and go, this is too much pressure. I didn't realize this was going to be so extensive, they could replace jurors even next week.

So I think the judge is hoping that it will be enough. It should be enough.

The thing about this jury is that there is a lot of high profile people on the jury, there's lawyers, there's engineers, there's financial people, who I think do feel a little bit comfortable probably won't feel as intimidated.

So, I think this is a pretty solid jury. The judge in this case is absolutely going to try to keep this jury and protect them the best he can.

MARQUARDT: But there is no question that this is going to be very intense, Richard, for those jurors and the alternates as well.

Just yesterday, we saw that two potential jurors were excused. They told the judge that the trial was too stressful. One even began crying in the courtroom.

So how difficult is this going to be for the jury? How high are the stakes for these 12, well, 18 individuals with the alternates?

GABRIEL: Well, the stakes are much higher for Mr. Trump, but they are -- there is a tremendous amount of pressure on these jurors. They do not only have to face the scrutiny, obviously, their family and some friends probably know they are going to be on the jury and so there is that social pressure that creates that.

Also, there is internal pressure to try to understand, okay. I've got my opinions. I've got my beliefs, but I've got to somehow set those aside and only focus on the facts and the evidence of the case.

There is the potential for some of these jurors to be threatened. There has been some overtures about that. So there is that concern there.

So there is a lot that is riding on this jury, a lot of pressure, but hopefully they will rise to the task.

MARQUARDT: Yes, I mean, their safety is obviously a huge concern. We have some identifying details as you say, things can leak out through family and friends who know that they are on this jury.

How confident are you that the judge can keep this under control?

GABRIEL: I think, he is going to do a good job. He has already asserted a very strong hand here. He has admonished the press. He is going to admonish the parties there.

He is going to do whatever he can to keep this jury safe and I think as the public, we should also make sure that we don't second guess them, we let them do their jobs. That's one of the beauties of the jury system, 12, diverse individuals from different walks of life, all getting together to make this really important decision.

I think we have to honor that and let them work.

MARQUARDT: Do you think that a Judge Merchan will ultimately decide to sequester the jury?

GABRIEL: It could happen. I mean, there is a lot of steps that is going to happen before that. It is obviously a huge cost for six weeks to sequester the jury. There is also personal hardships on jurors who have childcare and stuff like that. We could lose jurors even with sequestration.

But ultimately, if he feels that he cannot protect these jurors in their own homes and they are being individually threatened, he may take that step.

MARQUARDT: You noted the high profile of some of these jurors, 18 of them, the 12 plus the six will be meeting as a group for the first time on Monday. They are highly educated, many of them, there are two lawyers, two engineers, many with a masters' degree.

What do you think that means for the defendant, former President Trump? GABRIEL: Well, I think both sides are going to count on them. I think obviously, the prosecution is counting on them to really make the direct connections, the lawyers to be able to say we have to follow the law on this. If the evidence does meet the law, then, he is hoping to help educate some of the other jurors about how to make those connections to actually obtain a conviction in this fairly unique legal theory here.

I think, obviously, the defense is looking at these people to really scrutinize them, hold them up to a very high burden to really prove their case because it is beyond a reasonable doubt.

[18:10:00]

And if they can't prove intent, which is something that is going to be a key element here. The intent to defraud the voters, then I think the defense is hoping that either juror number two, who is a Truth Social follower, some of the financial people will just kind of look at this conduct and go, this may be transactional, I am not sure it rises to the level of a felony.

So I think both sides are trying to count on these folks to carry a lot of water there for them.

MARQUARDT: And just as a reminder, these aren't just New Yorkers, these are all Manhattanites, they are all just from the Manhattan borough.

And when you look at the different characteristics that we know about these jurors, do you have any guesses about what the group dynamics is going to be?

GABRIEL: Well, it is super interesting because you know, normally you pick -- are picking one or two opinion leaders. People who are going to really sort of drive the jury in one direction or another.

But you've got a lot of pretty high profile individuals on this group. We've got really experienced financial people also, probably at the top of their profession, you've got the lawyers, you've got the engineers here.

So there is a lot of people, and so the personality dynamics is going to be important because obviously the prosecution needs a consensus jury.

They need everybody to work together to get along, to not have any -- a lot of dissent here to come to a verdict. Obviously, Donald Trump wants to find at least just that one juror who is going across their arms, dig their heels in and say, I just don't see it. I don't think the prosecution has met their burden of proof here, and I am not going to convict.

So that dynamic, that personality interaction is going to be very interesting to see how this jury gels or doesn't.

MARQUARDT: All right, very big week ahead for the former president for these 12 jurors, for the six alternates and really for the country, it is the first time.

Richard Gabriel, thank you so much for your insights and your time this evening.

GABRIEL: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: We will be having special coverage from the start of opening statements on Monday with a live stream starting at 9:00 AM on CNN, as well as on Max on CNN on Max.

We have new reporting tonight that the State Department is close to announcing sanctions for a group of IDF soldiers accused of human rights abuses in the occupied West Bank.

This comes as Israeli soldiers say that they engaged terrorists at a refugee camp in the West Bank. We will have the details ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:16:56]

MARQUARDT: The Israeli military says that forces have killed what they are calling 10 terrorists in an ongoing operation at a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, but the Palestinian Ministry of Health claims that it was 14 people who were killed during that Israeli operation near Tulkarm in the West Bank.

Videos filmed by residents show a bulldozer destroying a building as IDF vehicles leave the camp more than 24 hours after the start of the raid.

In a statement released today, the Israeli military claims that security three forces also apprehended eight wanted suspects.

I wanted to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East with Ali Vaez. He is the International Crisis Group's Iran Project director and one of the foremost experts on Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

Ali, thank you so much for joining us.

We've seen an incredibly dramatic week last weekend, of course, that massive strike against Israel by Iran. A couple of days later in the wee hours of Friday morning in Iran, we saw Israel strike back, but in a very limited way in Isfahan, a city in Central Iran.

Now that the dust is settling a little bit, what do you make of what you're hearing out of Tehran from political leaders as well as IRGC leaders in terms of what they may do in the coming days and weeks in response.

ALI VAEZ, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP'S IRAN PROJECT DIRECTOR: It is great to be with you, Alex.

Look in any geostrategic rivalry, the most dangerous phase is when parties start rewriting the rules of the game, and this is precisely the phase that we are in right now.

Of course, Israel crossed the line by targeting Iran's consulate in Damascus on April 1st, then Iran crossed the line by targeting Israel directly from its own territory and if indeed, the attack that happened yesterday against Iraqi militias based in Iraq was also conducted by Israel, then Israel has also entered into a new phase of targeting Iranian allies in the region.

So we might not be out of the woods yet, and there is plenty of space for miscalculation when in a phase, like the one that we are in right now.

MARQUARDT: And I know that he is not the most important player, but the Iranian Foreign Minister did speak with CNN just hours before that Israeli strike in Isfahan saying in a kind of blustery way that an Iranian response would be maximum compared to the minimum response they had given the weekend prior, that it would be immediate.

Is that just bluster or how keen do you think Iran is to actually lower the temperature?

VAES: Look, I think Iranians absolutely have no interest in an all-out confrontation with Israel or the United States, which from a conventional military perspective, are much stronger than Iran and could inflict much more harm on Iran the other way around.

But also, I think it is important for them to make sure that they do not signal weakness. The reason that Iran mounted that very calibrated, but massive attack on Israel, which resulted in no casualty was precisely because it wanted to say an attack on its own soil would be a red line.

[18:20:12]

And it was worried that Israel, after attacking its consulate, which is akin to another country's soil would feel that it can cross that line as well.

So I don't believe that what the prime minister is saying is pure bluster because Iran, again cannot protect its own soil as effectively as Israel did, but at the same time, Iran doesn't want to necessarily trigger a bigger confrontation and that's a very difficult balance to strike.

I think in this first round of tit-for-tat, the parties have managed to do it, but there no guarantee that they would be able to do so if these tensions continue.

And at the end of the day, the proximate cause for all of these tensions is the war in Gaza, which is ongoing and currently, there is no light at the end of that tunnel.

MARQUARDT: For a long time, for years, there has been this understanding, I think among analysts and intelligence and military experts that Iran would seek to avoid confrontation, that they were all too happy to have others, proxies that they support carry out these attacks, but they were not looking for direct confrontation with Israel.

To what extent what we've seen in the past weeks is that upending your understanding or making you question your understanding of how Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini and the IRGC is willing to go about things and carry out direct confrontations like this.

VAES: Well, I think there are two elements here. One is that there is clearly a much more tolerance for risk within the Iranian leadership than was the case in the past, and this is partly reflective of the fact that the center of Iranian politics has shifted to the right and we have now much more ultra-hardliners at the decision-making centers in Iran and there is not a lot of voices of restraint left in the system, and that is reflective of the fact that Iran is the only country in the world, when in the course of the past four months has targeted two nuclear weapons states -- Israel and Pakistan.

But it is also reflective of the fact that Iran's regional deterrence, its network of partners and proxies in the region clearly did not stop Israel from going after senior Iranian officials in Syria, from targeting Iranian diplomatic facilities and that's why the Iranians, I think adopted a different approach.

MARQUARDT: Ali, before I let you go, do you think that these sanctions that the US, the UK, and EU rolled out this week are going to have any real impact?

VAES: Look, Alex, we are now basically still implementing the previous administration's maximum pressure policy, and one of the side effects of pursuing a policy like that is that you basically maxed yourself out of leverage, and I don't think there is much more that could be done to the Iranian economy that would have an impact on the regional policies.

So I am not holding my breath.

MARQUARDT: All right, Ali Vaes, really appreciate your thoughts and your perspective this evening. Thank you.

VAES: Great to be with you.

MARQUARDT: As the death toll continues to climb in Israel's war against Hamas, so does global outrage. Most recently over the shocking images of dead Palestinian children, who were allegedly killed in an Israeli airstrike.

I do want to warn viewers that this story contains graphic video of dead children and is not suitable for all audiences. CNN did receive permission from the family of a 10-year-old who shared her last moments. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A moment frozen in time, the bodies of at least four children splayed around the foosball table, laughter and shrieks of joy silenced in an instance, blood now marking where they stood only minutes earlier. (UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

DIAMOND: "Shahid (ph), no way, Shahid, my beloved," her cousin screams from behind the camera. Ten-year-old Shahid) is one of those children.

Her bright pink pants unmistakable in the arms of the man carrying her away. With her family's consent, CNN has decided to show Shahid in life and death in order to give a face to this war's deadly impact on children.

At Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, those who can still be saved arrive alongside those who cannot. Amid the chaos, Shahid's pink pants dangling as a doctor confirms what is tragically obvious.

But Shahid is not alone. She is one of eight children who died on that crowded street in Al-Maghazi. The hospital says they were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

[18:25:00]

By publication time, the Israeli military said only that the incident is under review. One after another, their small bodies arrive at the hospitals morgue.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

DIAMOND: And into the arms of grieving parents.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

DIAMOND: His eyes swollen in red, the father of nine-year-old Lujain (ph) recounts his daughter's last moments, playing foosball with her friends.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

DIAMOND: "This is my eldest daughter," he says. A drone strike hit them while they were playing. They are all children."

Hours earlier, Yousef (ph) was one of those children, playing alongside Shahid and Lujain when he was suddenly killed in a war he did not choose. His mother still clinging to her son., neither does this boy who cannot believe his brother is dead.

(UNIDENTIFIED BOY speaking in foreign language)

DIAMOND: "He is still alive," he cries. "Don't leave him here."

Amid the outpourings of grief, there is Shahid, her blood stained pink pants once again impossible to miss.

(PEOPLE speaking in foreign language.)

DIAMOND: "Dear God, what did they all do?" One man cries, "What did they all do?"

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Just one of so many horrific incidents in Gaza. Our thanks to Jeremy Diamond for that powerful report.

Now protesters are still making themselves heard outside Columbia University in New York, as days of demonstrations both for and against Israel continue.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:14]

MARQUARDT: Pro-Palestinian protesters are gathering, again, today at New York's Columbia University. You can see it right there, it caps off a week of protest and a subsequent arrest of more than 100 people. It also follows an appearance by the university's president this week on Capitol Hill, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MINOUCHE SHAFIK, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: Trying to reconcile the free speech rights of those who wanted to protest and the rights of Jewish students to be in an environment free of discrimination and harassment has been the central challenge on our campus and numerous others across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: CNN's Polo Sandoval is in New York at Columbia University. Polo, we understand that you were escorted onto the campus earlier. What's the scene? What have you been seeing?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, there's an important distinction to be made here, Alex. There's the peaceful demonstration that's taking place on campus, essentially a sit-in that I'll show you in just a few moments. But then there's this very vocal group of individuals, pro-Palestinian folks, who've gathered literally at the gates of Columbia University here in Manhattan. The reason they cannot go any further than these gates is because the university officials here have basically locked it down, restricting access to only students and staff.

In fact, normally, if you're open to the public, you can go off through the campus, but right now you need a student ID to get in there. So, through the Columbia School of Journalism working with school officials here, we were able to actually gain access to the university for a couple hours earlier today. And what you see there in the south lawn here at this campus is basically a sit-in. What remains of that situation that played out just a couple of days ago when the president of this university turned to the NYPD, calling on the agency to basically step in and remove some of these members of this protest after she called it a disturbance, saying this was about safety. So, what resulted was well over 100 individuals that were detained by officers, many of them suspended after repeated threats from the university that they would take disciplinary action. We caught up with a Barnard College university student that was actually participating in that demonstration. She told me earlier today that she was suspended, was basically taken away in zip ties, and then processed for a trespassing charge.

But she told me she'd do it all over again, because she believes in what this movement represents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARYAM IQBAL, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, BARNARD STUDENT: I don't regret anything that I did. I - like, this is probably the best moment of my life. I remember, like, for the last - so many years of my life, it's been, like, nobody knew what Palestine was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: So, you heard from that one 18-year-old, and we hear time and time again, Alex, the main message they continue to stress here is urging, pressuring Columbia University to divest funds away from Israeli companies. So it really speaks to the broader picture here.

But the other broader picture is really about universities, Alex. These are the kinds of scenes that have been playing out on campuses throughout the country since October 7th, some, of course, more intense than others. So this certainly is a key moment for universities as well as they grapple with how they will handle these kinds of demonstrations on campus and the subsequent counter demonstrations that we've also seen play out.

MARQUARDT: And Polo, there have been calls for amnesty for those who are arrested in some quarters. Do you have any update on the people who were arrested?

SANDOVAL: Well, the young woman that you just heard from told me that this suspension is interim at this point, so she's waiting for Monday to hear about what will happen with the rest of her studies. In terms of the potential criminal charge here, we do understand that she does hope that this will not actually be prosecuted, though that's going to be yet to be seen.

She did tell me that this was kind of a lower trespassing charge that she was potentially facing.

MARQUARDT: All right. Polo Sandoval in New York at Columbia University, thank you very much.

[18:35:00]

During the days long process of finding a jury for former President Trump's historic criminal trial, dozens were excused because they said flat out, they couldn't be impartial. CNN Senior National Correspondent Miguel Marquez asked New Yorkers, could they be fair in the courtroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know Donald Trump for many years. What is - what was your impression of him before he was president?

ALLISON EGAN, RETIRED NURSE: An arrogant son of a (expletive), but not a bad person.

MARQUEZ: But you think you could be in that courtroom and you could judge the evidence fairly?

EGAN: Yes, because I haven't delved into the details of him or anything. He doesn't really interest me that much.

MARQUEZ: Do you think you could be a fair and impartial juror in the Trump trial?

ELIZABETH TIULESCU, RETIRED FUNDRAISER: No, absolutely not. Absolutely not.

MARQUEZ: Why?

TIULESCU: Because, as I said before, I really hate him. He's a total catastrophe.

MARQUEZ: We are going from the top of Manhattan to the very bottom of Manhattan talking to Manhattanites, potential jurors and whether they could be fair and impartial in the Donald Trump trial.

On the 34 counts that he is charged with, you could make a fair and impartial decision?

TARIK BARBEE, SECURITY GUARD: Sure, if I listen to the facts and everything, yes. I think I can - I won't let him being a jerk cloud my legal sense of fair play.

JESSE BERGER, CONSULTANT: I don't have any biased opinion about him. I think people should be judged by what they've done before.

MARQUEZ: Right.

BERGER: And anything they've done, they've done. And it's history and it's evidence, so I should be judged by that.

MARQUEZ: Do you think you could be fair to Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely. It's just - I mean, everyone I feel like deserves that.

KATHY PROUNIS, ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER: Yes, I would totally be fair and impartial because that's what I believe in. And I'm always - I'm a New Yorker. I'm upfront and I'm honest about everything.

MARQUEZ: Could you be fair and impartial? STACY DONNELLY, MAKEUP ARTIST: No.

MARQUEZ: Why?

DONNELLY: Because all the TV and speculation and things that I've seen that he's done, and I don't really agree on his character.

MARQUEZ: In 2020, Manhattanites voted Democratic in overwhelming numbers. Just over 12 percent for Trump. For Biden, nearly 87 percent.

Do you think Donald Trump can get a fair trial in Manhattan?

AFI FRENCH, CONSULTANT: I would say yes. If there's a place that's going to happen, it's going to happen here. Because New Yorkers in general, I mean, we may have opinions, but I feel like we set the tone for fair and equity. Like, that's what we do.

PAUL LIPPERT, RETIRED FILM PROFESSOR: Clearly, our justice system, our system is being attacked. I think it's up to us to defend it, to defend due process and to defend the rule of law against all of its enemies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: All right. Our thanks to Miguel Marquez for that report.

Boeing is pushing back after its reputation was in focus on Capitol Hill this week, after two Senate hearings focused on the safety issues at the aerospace giant, including two whistleblowers. The disturbing details coming up. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:42:26]

MARQUARDT: The name is more than just a name. There is a legal battle in the Bay Area in California over proposed renaming of an airport. Commissioners in charge of Oakland International Airport just got approval to add San Francisco Bay in front of the airport's name. Oakland officials argue that it's hard to get people to fly into Oakland because they actually don't know that it's in the Bay Area.

But San Francisco is suing with officials there claiming that the new name infringes on their own airport's trademark, San Francisco International Airport or SFO. The final vote on the name change comes next month.

Giving air traffic controllers more time to rest between shifts, that is one of the many recommendations by an expert panel following a string of near collisions on runways across the United States. The Federal Aviation Administration announced this week that it will soon require controllers to have at least 10 hours off between shifts and 12 hours off leading up to a midnight shift.

Joining me now is CNN Aviation Analyst Mary Schiavo. She is a former inspector general of the Department of Transportation. Mary, thank you so much for joining me.

What will these new rest requirements do to improve safety?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, it's an incremental change because before they were required to have eight hours off. But it just gives them the chance to get literally eight hours behind the door in the bed to rest. And of course, if you work the midnight shift, the overnight shift, which is a - is a tough one on the controllers. Then you have to have at least the 12 hours off because you have a better chance of getting really good rest with a little bit more time.

So it's an improvement that was needed. But they're going to have to solve some other problems as well, which is the staffing shortage. The problem with some of the scheduling and overtime that they're encountering. So this will help, but it doesn't solve all their problems. They have a lot more to deal with.

MARQUARDT: Yes, those are always terrifying stories when you hear what air traffic controllers are going through, so this will probably be a welcome change for them. I want to shift gears a little bit.

Boeing was the topic of two hearings this week on Capitol Hill in Washington. We should note that no one from the company was there to actually respond to these claims. But one whistleblower said the company is putting out "defective airplanes." Here's what he told NBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would happen if you had a fatigue failure in a 787 at altitude?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plane will fall apart at the joints where - we're talking about. Once you fall apart, you're going to descend all the way to the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:45:00]

MARQUARDT: And Mary, I also have to note that you are involved with litigation against Boeing, but not connected to this case, to be clear.

Boeing has previously pushed back against claims of airframe fatigue. What do you make of this?

SCHIAVO: Well, unfortunately, the whistleblower is right and there were four whistleblowers that testified at this hearing. And you would think that there just could be nothing new under the sun to come out against Boeing. But I have to say some of the testimony was quite shocking.

So Boeing says, look, you're talking about a couple pieces of paper is the difference in this - the gap that they're talking about. But what the whistleblower said is when you fit the pieces of the fuselage together, it's like fitting four tin cans together. And they have to fit very closely and the pieces do not fit according to the specifications for the certification of the aircraft.

And he said they were doing things like forcing them, jumping on them, et cetera. And when they don't fit properly, that causes a lot of fatigue. And eventually, when you fatigue an airframe, because every time you pressurize it, it's like blowing up a balloon, then you can have stress fractures, et cetera.

And when that happens on the major pieces of fuselage, unfortunately, that can be a catastrophic failure, the plane would come apart. Obviously, it would fall from the sky, just as the whistleblower said. But Boeing has said in other fora, not at this hearing, that it's just a small gap and that they have taken measures to overcome that difficulty.

The whistleblowers say, no, they haven't and those measures are not good enough. And having to jump up and down on pieces of an airplane to get them put together does not meet FAA standards. And I have to say, the whistleblower is right, it doesn't.

So that was one of the most shocking things at the hearing. There were other things. But it was an interesting hearing.

MARQUARDT: And Boeing, of course, has been in the headlines a lot. And in recent years, they have faced a slew of problems. What do you think the public deserves in terms of transparency and answers at this point?

SCHIAVO: You're exactly right. The public deserves transparency and answers. And there's been a kind of a musical chairs, it appears, going on at Boeing where they've changed key executives. They've changed key personnel. They have moved people from Seattle to Charleston, North Charleston, trying to get things squared away. But people deserve transparency. And that was the other thing - disturbing thing at the hearing.

And that was that even more things came out about what Boeing knew, for example, before the 737 MAX 8 crashes, what they knew about problems with the 737 MAX 9. Now, that was the one where the door blew off in Alaska.

And so what was really, I think, probably most damaging to Boeing was not that the hearing was held, but there is still more startling revelations coming out. At some point, Boeing just simply has to come clean with the FAA and the FAA bears some of the fault here as well. They are supposed to be overseeing all this. They should be out there at Boeing inspecting.

And this year, the FAA finally said they're going to increase hands-on inspections. And the traveling public says, wait a minute. You mean you weren't doing that before and why are you announcing this as something new.

So not only does Boeing have to be much more transparent and get all this bad news out there and address it, when it dribbles out like this, it is just torture for Boeing and the flying public.

MARQUARDT: Well, we'll see if that happens. Mary Schiavo, thank you very much for your time this evening. Appreciate it.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: And we'll be right back.

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[18:53:16]

MARQUARDT: Speaker Mike Johnson went into today's tense House votes knowing that by supporting billions in military aid to Ukraine he might be putting his job on the line. Hard line members of his party did not take action today to strip him of his gavel but the heat is still very much on Johnson.

CNN Correspondent Gary Tuchman takes us to Johnson's hometown in Louisiana where we get a look at the Speaker's constituents and hear what they're saying about him as he tries to make it to his six month anniversary in the job under Republican chaos.

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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the small northwest Louisiana town of Benton, where Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and his family live --

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know he and his wife, Kelly, well.

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TUCHMAN (voice over): Many people, not so surprisingly, offer glowing reviews about the speaker.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that he's very fair minded and he's led by God and he really tries to make his decisions according to prayer and his heart.

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TUCHMAN (voice over): And when you go elsewhere in Johnson's congressional district, like its biggest city, Shreveport, you will hear similar vibes.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a great guy. He's got great morals. And I think what he's doing is great.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's a good Christian man. I think it's what our country needs and I trust him.

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TUCHMAN (voice over): And even from non-Republicans.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a Democrat.

TUCHMAN (on camera): But you support --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I support Mike. I like Mike.

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TUCHMAN (voice over): So with that being said, what do the speaker's Louisiana constituents think of Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene trying to take him down?

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DELTON SMITH, LIVES IN JOHNSON'S DISTRICT: I think that there's different factions within the Republican Party that all have - all want to be heard and I think that Mike's doing a good job of managing all those different opinions. And I think Marjorie Taylor Greene is just causing trouble.

TUCHMAN (off camera): Does it anger you?

SMITH: Yes, it does, because I think that the last thing we want to do is get back in a situation where the House is in turmoil and there's no leadership.

[18:55:06]

TUCHMAN (off camera): What do you think of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman from Georgia, trying to oust him as Speaker of the House?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't like it. I don't - I mean, why is she doing it?

TUCHMAN (off camera): She doesn't like his stances on a number of things, like funding for Ukraine, for example. She doesn't want it. So what do you think about that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we started helping them, I think we should continue helping them.

RITA HUMMINGBIRD, LIVES IN JOHNSON'S DISTRICT: I think she's making a big mistake promoting that. That's just - she's not my favorite congressperson.

TUCHMAN (off camera): What do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so glad she's not my representative. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN (voice over): We go inside this office building in downtown Shreveport and meet with this man in the oil and gas business.

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ELVIR CEHAJIC, LIVES IN JOHNSON'S DISTRICT: A lot of things that are happening today in this country remind me of what happened back in the 90s in old Yugoslavia.

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TUCHMAN (voice over): Elvir Cehajic is from Bosnia and says he immigrated to the United States three decades ago in the midst of the sectarian war, which led to the breakup of Yugoslavia.

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CEHAJIC: It's a beautiful country. People were getting along, a lot of good people and the divisiveness between politicians have caused a major war. And a lot of innocent people suffered.

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TUCHMAN (voice over): In this office, in this congressional district, we've talked to a lot of people wanting Republicans and Democrats to work together. And in this case, Republicans and Republicans.

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WILLIAM O'BRIEN, LIVES IN JOHNSON'S DISTRICT: It's not good to be throwing bombs at each other. Instead, just let's work together and move forward.

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MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Gary Tuchman for that report and we'll be right back.

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