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At This Hour

U.S.: Navy Planes Had 'Extremely Close' Encounter With Russian Jets; CDC Reviewing Mask Guidance As COVID Cases Drop Across U.S.; Bob Saget's Family Files Lawsuit To Block Release Of Death Records. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 16, 2022 - 11:30   ET

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

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Breaking at this hour, a close call between the U.S. and Russia. It all happened over the Mediterranean this weekend, but the details are just coming out right now. CNN's Barbara Starr joins me now with this new reporting. Barbara, what happened here?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, the Pentagon, the Biden administration has made none of this public but CNN has learned from multiple officials that over the weekend, a U.S. Navy patrol aircraft flying in international airspace over the Mediterranean had what has been called an extremely close encounter with multiple Russian military jets.

This whole encounter, we are told is now rated by the U.S. military as unsafe and unprofessional. They will not yet say how close the Russian aircraft came to the U.S. Navy aircraft, but again, we're being told, extremely close. There's a lot of concern about these kinds of encounters because of course, there can be a miscalculation and you can have a disaster within seconds.

It's not unusual for both NATO and U.S. aircraft to encounter Russians in the skies but the majority of the encounters are routine, safe airmanship on both sides and everybody goes on their way. This one over the weekend was unsafe, unprofessional, and we're told there were multiple encounters.

And it comes as we also hear it CNN reported yesterday, there was another encounter with Russian military aircraft yesterday, Tuesday, over eastern Syria when Russian military aircraft failed to give proper notification, according to the U.S. that they were flying into airspace controlled by the U.S. coalition. The U.S. sent up some of its own jets to escort the Russians out of that area.

So, we now have two incidents within just a handful of days. Nobody thinks the Russians are after the U.S. but that risk of miscalculation is something that worries the Pentagon, Kate.

BOLDUAN: And is very real and very scary. Barbara, great reporting, thank you so much for jumping up for us. Also developing right now, chaotic scenes, like we're going to show you, these aboard flights that aren't just grabbing headlines, they are happening more often than you may think.

The FAA, telling CNN the number of unruly passenger cases that it's referring to the Justice Department has more than doubled since November. CNN's Pete Muntean has this. He's live at Reagan National Airport for us. Pete, tell us more.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, we're talking about the most extreme cases of unruly passengers onboard commercial flights that are now being referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution. The FAA tells us that these are cases of physical assault not only on passengers but also on flight crews, in some cases, instances of sexual assault. 43 new cases have now been referred to the Justice Department.

Add that to the total now, 80 cases have now been referred to the DOJ for possible prosecution. But compare that to the number of reports, 499 incidents of unruly passengers reported by flight crews to the FAA just this year alone, 5981 last year. When you total those up, those new reports to the DOJ represent only about 1 percent of all cases that we have seen so far and that has been reported to the FAA.

But the FAA insists there is a very high bar to clear and simply not every instance of unruly passengers on board a plane really meets that threshold. Remember the rub here, though, that the FAA cannot press criminal charges, it can only bring civil fines. So there was a lot of pressure on the Department of Justice here to prosecute these cases, and also create a federal no-fly list for unruly passengers.

Delta Airlines asked about that earlier this month. Now, eight Republican senators are saying that should not happen, it should be up to Congress and they are equating that move if somebody violated the transportation mask mandate. They say that would simply make them a terrorist and it should not be done. No move by the DOJ on that just yet, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Now, I see that. Now, I see all that forward motion now coming to a screeching halt. We'll continue to track it, Pete. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

There's also this from the White House I want to tell you about. President Biden's now rejecting Donald Trump's attempt to block his White House visitor logs from the January 6 Committee. The logs include appointments for those granted entry to the White House on that day. Trump had decided to block the visitor log from public view for what he said or tried to claim were national security reasons but the Biden administration and even judges have pushed back against those claims.

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BOLDUAN: It's still not clear how detailed the visitor logs were under the Trump administration though or what these documents could reveal to the committee. Much more, come on that. Still ahead for us, as more states lift mask mandates, the CDC is getting more questions about whether it will be updating its own masking guidelines. Hear what the CDC director just said about that next.

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BOLDUAN: Let's turn now to the pandemic and questions about whether the CDC could be changing its guidance on when and where we need to wear masks. I want to play for you what the CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky -- she said earlier this hour at the Whitehouse COVID Response Team briefing.

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DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: We are assessing the most important factors based on where we are in the pandemic and we'll soon put guidance in place that is relevant and encourages prevention measures when they are most needed to protect public health and our hospitals. If and when we update our guidance, we will communicate that clearly and it will be based on the data and the science.

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BOLDUAN: Dr. Walensky went on to say that the CDC is reviewing a wide range of guidance, not just masking. Joining me now for more on this is Dr. Chris T. Pernell. She's a public health physician, a fellow at the American College of Preventive Medicine. It's great to have you here in person.

DR. CHRIS T. PERNELL, PUBLIC HEALTH PHYSICIAN: Good to be here.

BOLDUAN: Thank you. So Walensky's saying we're assessing, we're going to follow the science. Is the science there? What do you think of what the -- what the director said?

PERNELL: She said what I expected her to say and I think what the public needs to hear. Look, Kate, the game clock is still ticking. We can't afford to pause and we can't afford to stop playing while the movement is still in motion. We need to be watching case levels -- case levels and in very hyperlocal fashion. Meaning, how many infections are there where you live, what is the access to vaccines, to treatments, what's the surge in our hospitals in the community where you are?

Are we ready to pull back some of those very bedrocks and baseline public health provisions? I don't think that we are. And if we're following the data and the science, then we will be doing what's in the best interest of the most vulnerable. BOLDUAN: You're hitting on something that I think is really important. With all the rules of the road on this, this far end, the question is what is the bar? What is the measure? What is the metric that we think is going to tell us or all of us when we can loosen up and also conversely when restrictions and guidance need to tighten up again? It's on the case count. And if you look at the case count, they say, you know, areas of high transmission, that's essentially the entire country.

PERNELL: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I think it's 99 percent of American counties. What do you think the right metric is this far into the pandemic when we -- you know, getting through this omicron wave now?

PERNELL" There is no one metric, right? In public health, we're always talking about the multiplicity of strategies. A layered --

BOLDUAN: It's complicated, yes.

PERNELL: -- A layered approach. So we're not only looking at our positivity rate, we're not only looking at how many cases per 100,000 people, we want to know what's happening on the ground for those communities. And in particular, I'm concerned about those very vulnerable and marginalized communities that were devastated by this pandemic. Do they have access to vaccines and therapeutics? Are their hospitals having a surge on it?

BOLDUAN: Or do they have access to the high quality --

PERNELL: To testing --

BOLDUAN: Yes, in testing and mask.

PERNELL: Yes, in the high-quality masks. Those are the things that we must be asking in a very, very consistent and critical fashion.

BOLDUAN: On the vaccine front and as it relates to pregnancy. A new study was just published by the CDC that found that infants of mothers who had had two vaccine doses of either Pfizer or Moderna had a reduced risk of being hospitalized with COVID during their first six months. You have to take that as obviously, that's great news.

PERNELL: Yes.

BOLDUAN: What can that data tell us? What should everyone, not just women who are looking to, to get pregnant, what can that tell all of us, do you think?

PERNELL: It tells us the power of good science, right? The fact that we have these mRNA vaccines that are not only able to protect the mom, but to provide protection in utero, and then post-birth for the child, that's fascinating. And that shows us that this public health tool is not only safe, but it's effective.

And it's the greatest tool that we have in that toolkit right now. And it should just reassure the public that we are following the sentence in a very methodical and rational fashion because we want to do what's in the best interest of those who are most vulnerable. And we know that pregnant women can have a higher chance of having more severe diseases.

BOLDUAN: Oh, absolutely. I mean, speaking of the most vulnerable. I mean, both pregnant women and their --

PERNELL: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And their --

PERNELL: I'm warned out.

BOLDUAN: And their unborn children are the most vulnerable when you're looking at this, so it's right. Good on science. It's good to see you. Thank you for coming in. I really appreciate it.

PERNELL: Good to see you. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Also breaking AT THIS HOUR, annual U.S. Drug overdose deaths are hitting a new record high, doubling over the past six years. Doubling, that's according to new CDC data. And the smartest minds are really saying that there is no single solution that will end especially the worst of these crises, which is the opioid epidemic. But scientists are exploring a new frontier, brain surgery, to try and take on the addiction to these powerful drugs like fentanyl. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has new reporting on this with the help of the Global Health Reporting Center.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): At the age of 15, Gerod Buckhalter was already making headlines.

REX BUCKHALTER, GEROD'S FATHER: So Gerod was a standout football player and he was named Mr. Everything.

GUPTA: A football and basketball star, Gerod was fielding college scholarship offers when a shoulder injury changed his whole life.

GEROD BUCKHALTER, DBS PATIENT: I was prescribed oxycodone for six or seven months. And by the time I was cut off, it was -- it was too late.

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REX BUCKHALTER: I had already resolved myself to the fact that he was going to die. And that's a tough thing to come to.

GUPTA: For 17 years, times were dark, troubled, things happened that Gerod still can't talk about. After countless failed tries at getting sober, Gerod found himself at West Virginia University at the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, considering a radical experimental treatment.

GEROD BUCKHALTER: I came home and I said, well, you know, I'm going to have brain surgery, you know, to potentially help me stay clean.

GINA BUCKHALTER, GEROD'S MOTHER: He said they actually approached me about having brain surgery for addiction. And I literally wanted to pass out on the floor.

REX BUCKHALTER: Are you freaking crazy at your brain?

GUPTA: There's no data. I mean, you were the first.

GEROD BUCKHALTER: What got me through it was when I did my research on Dr. Rezai.

GUPTA: Dr. Ali Rezai spent more than two decades honing a technique called Deep Brain Stimulation, or DBS. You may know it as a treatment for Parkinson's, but it has also been used for obsessive-compulsive disorder and in clinical trials for depression. But using it to treat addiction, with its subtle dance of motivation, reward, and desire is the medical equivalent of a Hail Mary.

DR. ALI REZAI, NEUROSURGEON: There are people dying. 100,000 a year have died of overdoses so these individuals were at risk of dying from another overdose.

GUPTA: When the day finally came, Gerod's mother and father were at his side.

REX BUCKHALTER: And we've kind of said a little prayer and you know, on we went.

GUPTA: Over the next eight hours, Dr. Rezai drilled a hole in Gerod's skull, then, worked in a tiny piece of wire, barely a millimeter thick, and started stimulating deep in Gerod's brain.

REZAI: The target that we do is the base of that compass right there.

GUPTA: Addiction causes physical changes in the brain, hijacking our natural reward system, changing sensitivity to neurotransmitters like dopamine. The DBS probe is implanted to deliver an electrical signal causing changes in two different brain regions.

REZAI: And then there's a comment down there.

GUPTA: Rezai says that stimulating this area. The nucleus accumbens can normalize the dopamine response, essentially rebooting the reward system.

And then the other stimulation is basically trying to decrease impulsivity by adding more frontal lobe activity, better judgment, better executive reasoning, things like that.

REZAI: Exactly. Better decision-making because that part also with addiction is less active.

GUPTA: That would take weeks or months to see if the improvement would stick. First, his life now involves taking the medication, suboxone, to help manage any cravings he may have. And he's also holding down a steady job at a sober living house. But remember, for the last 17 years, he said he had never gone more than a few weeks without using opioids before DBS.

So how many days have been now since your operation, do you know?

GEROD BUCKHALTER: I know it's about two years and about three months, so it's been a little bit.

GUPTA: Sober all the way.

GEROD BUCKHALTER: It didn't seem reachable at one time, but you know, here we are, it doesn't even seem real.

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GUPTA (on camera): Now, Kate, I should point out as well, this fascinating research has been funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in part because they are looking at any and all possibilities at this point to try and address the opioid epidemic. And it's challenging, obviously, the numbers have just gone up.

And these are really, really tragic times in terms of what is happening with opioids. And they also wanted this research done in West Virginia, if possible, because of the Neuroscience Institute there, but also because West Virginia has been a place that has been hit particularly hard by the opioid epidemic.

Dr. Rezai will stress that this type of procedure that you just witnessed is not for everyone, obviously. It's brain surgery for addiction. But there are certain situations where people are at real risk of overdose death. And if this works, that this is an option, it could potentially be saving their lives. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sanjay, thank you so much for that. Coming up still for us, Bob Saget's family files any lawsuit related to his tragic death. What his wife and kids are asking for? That's next.

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[11:50:00]

BOLDUAN: Now to this. Bob Saget's family is filing a lawsuit to prevent the release of records related to his tragic death. Florida police officially closed the investigation last week after determining he died from an accidental fall. CNN's Chloe Melas is joining us now with more on this. Chloe, what does Bob Saget's family asking for here?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Kate, they're asking for privacy, they're asking for photographs and any physical materials that were taken during the investigation to be sealed, but now the Orange County Sheriff's department's saying in a statement to CNN this morning. "While we are sensitive to the family's concerns about the right to privacy, that must be balanced with our commitment to transparency, compliance with the law, and the public's right to know." But the family has said, Kate, via their attorney that the facts of

the investigation should be made public but these materials should remain private. This could end up going to court, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Chloe, thank you so much for that. I really appreciate it. It's really unbelievable how it's all playing out. And before we go, I want to tell you about an incredible story of survival. Police are now identifying a six-year-old girl who has been missing for over two years and found alive. Authorities say they found Paislee Shultis in a secret area built under a staircase found with a biological mom who no longer had custody.

Officers have visited that same New York House several times before, after receiving tips from the public, but they were always told no one at the home knew where she was. The girl's parents and grandfather, they are now charged. Paislee has been reunited with her legal guardian and older sister. An unbelievable story. Two years later.

Thank you so much for being here today. I'm Kate Bolduan. INSIDE POLITICS with John King starts after this break.

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ANNOUNCER: INSIDE POLITICS with John King, next on CNN.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to "INSIDE POLITICS." I'm John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing your day with us. Is Vladimir Putin lying? Russia says it is pulling back troops from Ukraine's --

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