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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Two GOP-Led State Legislatures Fail To Pass Abortion Restrictions; At Least 23 Killed In Russia Missile Strike On Apartment Building; Florida Republicans Clear Path For Gov. DeSantis To Run For President Without Resigning From Office; Alito To WSJ: I Have "Pretty Good Idea" Who Leaked Draft Roe Decision; Weight Loss Company Jenny Craig Reportedly To Start Closing Some Centers, Warns Of Potential Mass Layoffs. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired April 28, 2023 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:04]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: You see President Obama there, of course. That one earlier you saw Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And the chairman of the joint chiefs, Mike Mullen, there with the vice president at the time.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Quite a night, and it almost 12 years ago exactly to the day because it was the day after the White House correspondents' dinner, and I remember being there that night and just how calm everybody was. But lots of folks were checking their Blackberries, I remember that.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A lot of stuff going on in the background.
KEILAR: Certainly, certainly.
That does it for "CNN NEWS CENTRAL."
But don't go anywhere, THE LEAD starts right now.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: A new chapter in the battle over abortion rights, Republicans and Democrats unite.
THE LEAD starts right now.
Attempts to restrict abortions in two separate states shut down. I'll speak with a group of women who pulled off a legislative maneuver to stop one ban from moving forward.
Plus, a new wave of Russian attacks across Ukraine, an apartment building among the targets hit. A CNN team is on the ground as the death toll continues to rise.
And downsize. As more people turn to drugs such as Ozempic to drop the pounds, it's taking a toll on household names in the weight loss industry.
(MUSIC)
GOLODRYGA: Welcome to THE LEAD, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga, in for Jake Tapper.
We start in our health lead and the fight over access to abortion front and center. As state legislatures are cracking down on abortion access, Democrats in two separate states controlled by Republicans fought back. And in one case, Republicans stepped in to help.
In Nebraska, Democrats cheered after blocking a bill that would have restricted abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. The bill fell just one vote shy of passing when two Republicans refrained from voting. And in South Carolina, a dramatic showdown on the state Senate floor after five women, including three Republicans, blocked a voted on a bill that would have banned most abortions in that state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATRINA SHEALY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE SENATE: They don't care about the children. They care about a victory.
SANDRA SENN (R), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE SENATE: We the women have not asked for as the senator from Orangeburg pointed out yesterday, nor do we want your protection. We don't need it.
PENRY GUSTAFSON (R), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE SENATE: There are millions of women who feel like they have not been heard, and that's why I'm standing up here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: And we start our coverage with CNN's Dianne Gallagher who has the reaction from both sides of the aisle on the two high stakes votes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUSTAFSON: There are millions of women who feel like they have not been heard, and that's why I'm standing up here this long. And I've never done this before.
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lawmakers in two conservative states, South Carolina and Nebraska rejecting extreme abortion restrictions Thursday by the slimmest of margins, just one vote. For the third time since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade last summer, the South Carolina state Senate where Republicans outnumber Democrats nearly two to one blocked a ban on abortion in the state with limited exceptions for rape and incest. The five women senators, three of whom are Republicans led a filibuster where they spoke for days about biology, backlash and the concept of control.
SHEALY: Once a woman became pregnant for any reason she would not become property of the state of South Carolina.
SENN: Abortion laws have always been each and every one of them about control.
GALLAGHER: In Nebraska, Thursday, tears and cheers, after lawmakers killed a bill that would ban abortion around the sixth week of pregnancy, often before someone knows they are pregnant, a vote to break a filibuster failed by just one vote when two senators abstained, one of them the bill's cosponsor, 80-year-old Merv Riepe who said he'd done more research and offered an amendment moving the deadline to 12 weeks. That never got a vote.
MERV RIEPE (R), NEBRASKA STATE SENATE: The six-week ban appears to be a winner-take-all position, and the pushback will be strong. It will be immediate, and it will be funded heavily as now seen in other states.
GALLAGHER: His warning on the pushback felt nationally, and the first real test after the Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling gave states the final decision on abortion, Kansas voters shocked Republicans with a resounding rejection of restrictions at the polls. But since then, several states have enacted new laws severely limiting abortion access, especially in the south, though some states remain tied up in the courts.
South Carolina did pass a six-week abortion ban, but the state Supreme Court struck it down. So as neighboring states shut down access, South Carolina has seen a sharp increase in out of state patients seeking abortion care.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GALLAGHER (on camera): Now, right now, abortion is currently legal in both Nebraska and South Carolina from roughly 20 to 22 weeks, but look, further restrictions are not necessarily off the table, especially in South Carolina where the state Senate has passed a bill that addresses some of the issues that the state Supreme Court had with that six-week abortion ban that does include exceptions.
[16:05:07]
The state house so far has not taken up the Senate's six week with exception bill, and there's just one week left in session. Bianna, that total ban that was rejected by the state Senate can carry over to the next session.
GOLODRYGA: Nonetheless, a significant hurdle in that bill.
Dianne Gallagher, thank you.
Well, joining me now are those three Republican women state senators who you just heard from who blocked the South Carolina abortion ban from passing -- State Senator Sandy Senn, Katrina Shealy, and Penry Gustafson.
Thank you all so much for joining us.
Senator Gustafson, let me start with you, because I know you do not support abortion after six weeks. So what then led you to team up with not only the other two women there with you now but also the only other two female state senators, one of whom we should note is a Democrat, the other an independent, to help stop this bill? GUSTAFSON: Well, first of all, thank you for having us all on your
show today.
We knew as we discussed with each other that this bill, this house bill would not stand up to scrutiny under our South Carolina Supreme Courts. If it can't go past the courts, then we can't have it implemented. So what good is it?
We knew that our Senate bill was the better bill and the one that most of our constituents in South Carolina supports, so we had to move together towards that effort to make sure that this bill did not pass with all the issues and problems and the other one still has a chance to pass.
GOLODRYGA: Senator Shealy, you really took your fellow Republicans to task. I want to play for our viewers one moment from you on the Senate floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEALY: The biggest proponents of the Human Life Protection Act are also the same proponents of constitutional carry, school choice, parental rights, regulating vaccines for everyone especially children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Do you believe that you're speaking for the majority of Republicans in South Carolina when you make that specific argument?
SHEALY: I do believe I'm speaking for the majority of Republicans. I think that most Republicans in the state of South Carolina or the majority won't -- they won't ban (ph) their Second Amendment rights. They won't -- you know, we had a great debate over the mask issues, over vaccine issues when we had COVID.
But I think this is one step too far. This abortion bill is just one step too far, jumping into privacy rights of women. We want to control health care for women.
We don't want -- it's kind of like Senator Senn said, we've stepped into handmaid's tale. Once women do become pregnant, they no longer have control over their bodies. They no longer have control over anything.
Doctors and women know better about their bodies than 170 legislators in the state of South Carolina. I think we have one doctor in all of the 170 legislators, I know we have one pharmacist and I don't think any of those are qualified to tell me what to do with my body, and they're certainly not qualified to tell all the women in the state of South Carolina what they should do when they become pregnant.
GOLODRYGA: Senator Senn, you heard your colleague just reference you there. Currently, South Carolina allows abortion up to 22 weeks, and Nebraska, I believe up to 20 weeks.
So where do you see this fight headed next in your state? SENN: Well, right now, it's at an impasse, and I personally do
believe that 22 weeks is too long. I would support first trimester because I think that's a good balance, you know, between mother and at that point, what is not even a child, it's not a fetus even. It's not an embryo. It's cytoplast cells. At some point we have to distinguish between rights of the mother and what she is carrying. And to me, that's at 12 weeks.
Twenty-two weeks I do think is too long, but they are actually saying it's all or nothing. The House is saying that we will not do anything unless it's going to be a total ban, and we in the Senate are not going to let that happen. They can put this bill up again and again, which they have, and we will stand up again and again.
And our language will get tougher, and we will get madder. They don't have the votes to pass this and they won't until they try to get us kicked out of the Senate. My own Senate majority leader actually told the press locally that basically he would have a response for me in 2024.
[16:10:08]
So I guess five females is too many out of 46 senators. I don't know.
GOLODRYGA: It's a sign of the times and gives you a sense of what the five of you have accomplished. I'm just curious, Senator Gustafson, you heard your colleague there, Senator Senn, that she believes the cutoff mark should be at 12 weeks. You believe it should be at six weeks. So you're aligned right now.
Do you envision a point in the near future where that will change?
GUSTAFSON: I do, I do. It has to change. We have way too many abortions happening in South Carolina right now. We all agree there needs to be restrictions.
The Republicans seem to disagree on where those will stand in the law. I really think it's going to be somewhere between 6 and 12 weeks. That's what's going to end up passing, but there is a current bill that we have already passed in the Senate at six weeks. So I'm praying that will be taken up in the next two weeks by the House.
GOLODRYGA: In the next two weeks, you believe.
Senator Shealy, given everything -- yeah, given everything that has gone down there recently and even today, are you concerned for your party if these extreme bans are continued to be pushed across the country? It could hurt Republicans in the next presidential election. I mean, that's what a lot of analysts are predicting.
Do you agree with that as well?
SHEALY: Well, I am concerned for my party, but I to want to say -- I want to say this because I think it's important. The three Republican women and one Republican man, Senator Tom Davis, did introduce a 12- week bill this year, and we introduced a 12-week abortion ban with all the exceptions, and they wouldn't even hear our bill in medical affairs because they said a woman shouldn't introduce it, that they needed a man to introduce it for it to get heard.
And I thought that was just the utter insult to women that we couldn't introduce the abortion bill or a ban bill because we were women and they didn't think we would get the respect we needed on the floor to introduce a bill that had something to do with our bodies. We had a 12-week abortion bill and they wouldn't let us introduce it.
Back to the question you asked me -- yes, I think it will have an effect on us. The people in South Carolina are getting younger. They're moving here from all over the country because South Carolina is a beautiful place to live, and people are moving here. We have jobs. We have all the things people want. So we have a younger population.
And people have different values than they had in 1940, and I think it's going to make a difference at the polls. You know, different areas already have different, you know, the area where Senator Senn lives is different than the area where I live than where Senator Gustafson lives. So, yes, that's true. Very different.
GOLODRYGA: I just have to say, Senator -- I have to say, Senator Shealy, it is just jaw dropping and stunning that in 2023, that what you just told about one of your male colleagues saying that bill has to be introduced by a man, I don't even know how to respond to that other than just pure shock.
State Senator Sandy Senn, Katrina Shealy, and Penry Gustafson, thank you so much for your time today. Have a great weekend all of you. Thank you.
GUSTAFSON: Thanks.
SHEALY: Thank you so much for listening. Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: And still ahead, a wave of strikes in Ukraine, one so powerful it's created a disaster zone at an apartment complex. CNN is there on the ground.
And a stunning revelation from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. He reportedly has, quote, a pretty good idea who leaked that draft Roe decision, but where is his proof?
Plus, the quick thinking on a school bus full of students when the driver passed out. We'll show you what happened. That's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:18:08]
GOLODRYGA: Utter destruction in Ukraine tops our world lead today, a wave of early morning Russian missile attacks killed at least 23 in the central Ukrainian city of Uman. A mother and her 2-year-old also killed in Dnipro.
Today, Russia aimed its strikes at cities far from the front lines.
CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton put it plainly this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: This is a war of terror against the civilian population. There's no other way to describe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: CNN's Nic Robertson is in Uman, the once quiet city now scarred by a single devastating strike.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Residents asleep as a Russian missile ripped through their apartments. Rescuers in this small central Ukrainian city, Uman, on the scene fast.
Serhyi was one of the first.
SERHYI ALEKSEEV, UMAN RESIDENT (through translator): There were terrible screams of children. The explosion was very powerful. The houses started to shake in the nearby areas. The first one we pulled out was a living woman who was put in the ambulance, but she died in hospital.
ROBERTSON: The death toll climbing through the day. This lady telling us she heard the missile, put her kids in the bathtub, and pillows over their heads and hoped they'd live. Fighting back tears, she said so many children live here, a gaping concrete and rubble wound where those innocent lives shattered, the first missile strike in Uman since march last year.
Families and friends desperately awaiting news of loved ones. This lady telling us her friend on the eighth floor survived but the friend's two daughters, one 13 years old and the other just 7 are still missing.
[16:20:09]
A firefighter takes us up to see those top floors. Onto the roof, nine floors above the recovery teams.
You can see how the building has literally collapsed down here. There should be building right out here, and the floors pancaked down with the roof tipping over down there.
From here, the damage even more devastating than below. More than half the building's 46 apartments destroyed.
So, the firefighters will come up here, and as they've been doing all day in this dangerous mission here literally putting themselves in danger to try to recover, to clear out the site, to bring solace (ph). Ukrainian officials believe all this devastation caused by a single
Russian KH-101 stealth cruise missile. It is the single deadliest strike on civilians since January, 109 people registered living here. As night fell, many of them still unaccounted for.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (on camera): And I just want to give you a look at what's going on here right now. Those firefighters literally clinging on the outside of the building, they're like mountaineers up there, they're trying to get their way down to that pancake rubble. There's one just lowering himself down, literally hanging off the face of that building there.
We've seen them slowly, steadily trying to get down to all that rubble because that's where they want to get to. They want to be able to see are there any more bodies in there. They told everyone who lives around here, they're going to work until this job is done. They're still at it.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, and sadly, the number of victims continues to rise from that attack.
Nick, just curious, Russia is claiming that it was a concentrated strike aimed where Ukrainian reservists were gathered. You are there. You have seen all of this. We know the facts as to who these victims were.
Any signs that any of them were indeed reservists?
ROBERTSON: There's absolutely zero evidence of that whatsoever. As many people here have told us, lots of families live here. There is no evidence whatsoever to indicate that there is any kind of military use for these buildings, military men in and around these buildings, none whatsoever that we've seen.
GOLODRYGA: Even worse knowing that so many children were among those victims. Another war crime there to report.
Nic Robertson in Uman, Ukraine, thank you for your reporting.
Also in our world lead, what do Mikhail Baryshnikov, Margaret Atwood, Benedict Cumberbatch, and J.K. Rowling all have in common? Well, they all just signed onto an open letter, along with 100 other public figures demanding that Vladimir Putin release jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny.
The letter published in "The Economist" says Navalny, quote, has been consistently returned to solitary confinement, squeezed into a concrete cell the size of a dog kennel with no ventilation despite running a fever, he is required to stand all day. We add our voices to those of the 600 Russian doctors requesting urgent and immediate independent medical help. It is in your power.
His condition continues to deteriorate. Well, up next, the bill headed to the desk of Florida Governor Ron
DeSantis that almost guarantees his paycheck if he runs for president and does not win. We'll tell you more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:28:11]
GOLODRYGA: And we're back with our politics lead.
Today, Florida Republicans cleared the path for Governor Ron DeSantis to run for president without resigning from his current job.
CNN's Steve Contorno is in St. Petersburg, Florida, for us.
So, Steve, the irony here is that this will become law as soon as DeSantis himself signs it. Explain it for us.
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Bianna, but Republicans thought that this was a necessary step they had to take for the governor because in Florida we have something that is called the right -- the Resign to Run law, and what this law says is if you are an elected official and you want to run for another office, you have to resign from your current office by the time you qualify for -- to run for the next one.
And there's always been this question as to whether or how that law applies to someone running for president. There's not a career qualification date. Is it when they qualify for the ballot in New Hampshire, or is it when they qualify for the ballot in Florida, or when they're the party's nominee and qualify for the general election ballot.
So what Republicans did here is they took this issue off the table and said, look, if you're running for president and you're an elected official in Florida, you don't have to resign your office to run.
Now, Democrats are saying this is a provision that helps one person, Ron DeSantis, and they said that, look, if you're the governor of the third largest state, you shouldn't be also going around the entire country trying to become president at the same time.
But Republicans, Bianna, hold all the cards in Florida, and they pushed this through to DeSantis's desk.
GOLODRYGA: Going around the whole country, he's going around the whole world, we saw him in Israel yesterday.
Steve, we should note, this comes on the heels of Florida Republicans trying to shield some of DeSantis's records from the public. What more do we know about that?
CONTORNO: Yeah, that -- there's a bill that's moving in the state legislature right now that says that records related to Governor DeSantis's travel would be exempt from the state's robust public records law, and that says that records that give the public insight into the inner workings of their government belong to the public.
[16:30:11]
Well, records related DeSantis's travel would be exempt. So would visitor's logs and who's coming to say hi to DeSantis at the mansion, that would be exempt as well.
Now, Republicans say this is necessary as a security precaution, there could be bad actors out there collecting this data, trying to build -- figure out where the governor's going to be and use that information to plot some kind of attack. Democrats say that's absurd and that this is clearly designed to help DeSantis keep certain things from the public that could embarrass him before he runs for president.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Steve Contorno, thank you.
So let's discuss with our panel.
David, let me start with you. Surely, I would have to imagine DeSantis's camp knows that they will receive a lot of criticism for trying to block any of this information. So to me at least, it comes across as either he has something to hide or is rather thin-skinned.
I mean, can you come up with any sort of justification for this?
DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you know, Bianna, the justification is what was alluded to earlier, a public safety justification. It just doesn't shield the governor, it shields other top executives in the state, the attorney general, lieutenant governor, the Supreme Court, et cetera.
But clearly, it's designed so that the governor doesn't get bad stories written about him. It's been done in the past with other previous chief executives in the state of Florida like Lawton Chiles, Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist who used state aircraft to kind of fly to fundraisers or political events or fly to their home, so I think they're trying to get around it and avoid some bad press potentially, and so there's, you know, it's part of being in the game as you're going to get knocked around a bit.
GOLODRYGA: But, David, you agree this isn't typical of candidates to do?
URBAN: Well, listen, I think that Governor Bush and Governor Chiles and Governor Crist, I bet you they wish they had thought of it before. But, look, I think the citizens of the state of Florida deserve to know what their governor's doing, where he's traveling and what he's using his resources on. So I'm not a fan of the blocking, and I think people are entitled to know and it shouldn't be done.
GOLODRYGA: Jamal, so as we know, the governor has been traveling. He was in Japan and currently in Israel and at an event yesterday there, DeSantis was asked about a former Guantanamo detainee who claims that DeSantis had watched him being tortured.
Here's how DeSantis responded to that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: How would they know me? Okay. Think about that. Do you honestly believe that's credible? So this is 2006. I'm a junior officer.
Do you honestly think that they would have remembered me from Adam? Of course not. They're just trying to get into the news because they know people like you will consume it because it fits your preordained narrative that you're trying to spin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: So, Jamal, how do you think DeSantis is handling the increased spotlight he's under?
JAMAL SIMMONS, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, VP KAMALA HARRIS: He's wilting. That's how he's handling it. Here's what's going on. Running for president is really hard.
And Donald Trump and his team, his allies. I don't know anything about the Guantanamo particular thing, but if you watch Donald Trump's ads, if you look at the stories that are being leaked about DeSantis, they are dismantling his character brick by brick.
If I was going to give him one piece of advice, it takes a horse to beat a horse. What you've got to do is figure out what is the alternate story that you want to get out there because Trump is just pulling apart his character.
And in regards to the records issue, I did want to say this. This is classic Republican, MAGA Republicanism, right? If you don't like the results, just change the rules in the middle of the game, right? Challenge the institution, change the rules.
This is not the way the American people expect politics to work, and I got to say, it's going to hurt Ron DeSantis in the end because he's looking more and more like a typical MAGA Republican.
URBAN: Hey, Bianna, Jamal, good talking points there buddy about the MAGA Republicans. Ride those hope -- I know the Democrats are looking to ride those to victory.
Quickly back about the governor's press conference there in Israel, look, I 100 percent think the substance of what he's saying is completely true and, look, it's 17 years ago. The likelihood that this gentleman remembers a young, you know, officer named Ron DeSantis standing in the crowd is strains credibility, but his response I think is what's notable. I think the governor needed to exhale there and just say, look, this is clearly not something that's truthful and kind of move on, rather than having such a forceful response makes him seem not ready for the spotlight of, you know, the national press corps versus the Tallahassee press corps.
SIMMONS: He's like a little ship that's being batted about right now. He really does have to get his footing and figure out how he wants to fight this race.
GOLODRYGA: David, you had mentioned former President Trump. He was already on the campaign trail yesterday and made a stop in New Hampshire.
[16:35:02]
And according to "The Washington Post," he praised and hugged a convicted January 6th rioter and told her, quote, listen, you just hang in there. You guys are going to be okay.
I mean, is this really something that's going to win over Republicans and independents who Trump needs if he's going to win this race? I mean, he's still doing these things.
URBAN: Right, so the macro answer to that is, look, it's obviously -- January 6th was an abomination. People who attacked the Capitol should be punished. This particular woman, she was convicted of -- she had climbed the scaffolding on a tower that was well outside the perimeter of the Capitol.
She didn't come down, the Capitol police asked her to come down several times, and she didn't, so she was arrested and sentenced to 180 days. I think she served 160 days of her sentence there.
But to your broader point, Bianna, look, coddling someone who was there and defied a lawful police order who was convicted, I think is not a great look. I think you need to say what happened on January 6th was wrong, and you can say it forcefully and loudly, and those who broke the law should be -- you know, they pay their price and served their time --
GOLODRYGA: But, David, I have no doubt that you believe that, but the president -- the former president has had plenty of time to come around to that, too, and he hasn't. I mean, he's a known germophobe. There's not that many pictures that you see of him just hugging his supporters, but yet who does he hug? Somebody who was a January 6th --
URBAN: Well, I would say -- I've seen him hug people in green rooms and walking through the kitchen. So the president is -- he's not a germophobe to that extent, but I do agree it's a bad visual.
Look, it's something, again, that the president should be condemning, not hugging, right? I wouldn't be hugging the folks who broke the law. If you broke the law, you know, you should serve your time.
You're an adult. Don't try to blame Donald Trump for it. It's further association with those who did this is not helpful, as you said, in a broader general election.
SIMMONS: Bianna, I spent a lot of time in my life in New Hampshire with candidates, and I have to tell you, every once in a while something happens, you hug somebody or take a picture, you don't know who they are, and the picture shows up and it bites you in a place you don't want to be bitten.
Here's the thing about this moment. It was premeditated. He knew who she was. He knew what she'd done.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, he addressed her.
SIMMONS: He had a moment to walk away, and then he came back. He did this on purpose because he's trying not to hold out any daylight between him and his insurrectionists who were willing to overthrow the United States government or at least challenge the governing of how we have a presidential election on his behalf that he instigated.
So I think this is Donald Trump at his worst, and I think as long as Donald Trump is the standard bearer for the Republican Party, this nomination is going to help Joe Biden out, we won't be talking about anything else about Joe Biden and Vice President Harris.
GOLODRYGA: David, I give you the last word because, you know, you rightly are criticizing optics like this, but his poll numbers continue to rise among Republicans at least, so what does that tell you?
URBAN: Well, it tells you that, you know, Jamal and folks, other folks maybe watching don't really understand the president's base, right? The folks that love Trump, they understand this may be an aberration.
I think largely the Republican Party, poll after poll shows found January 6th abhorrent, and like the president -- former president to distance himself from that, and if he doesn't, as Jamal correctly points out, people will not be speaking about the issues. They'll be talking about this January 6th debacle.
People should be speaking about if Donald Trump wanted to have a debate on the issues, which he can rightfully do and put, you know, administration -- administration versus administration, that's great, but by continuing to have these kind of photo ops, we're never going to get to that. That's just unfortunate.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Jamal and David, we'll have to leave it there. Thanks so much for joining me.
URBAN: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: I appreciate it. Enjoy your weekend.
SIMMONS: Thank you, Bianna. You, too.
GOLODRYGA: Well, supreme drama, one of the Supreme Court justices says he has a pretty good idea who leaked the draft opinion that overturned Roe, so is he naming names?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:43:08]
GOLODRYGA: In our politics lead, a major insinuation from a Supreme Court justice. Samuel Alito tells "The Wall Street Journal" that he has a pretty good idea who leaked the draft opinion that overturned Roe versus Wade, and he's certain about the motive.
CNN's Jessica Schneider is with us with more on this.
So, Jessica, is there any new evidence to back up his claim?
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: No details, no proof, Bianna, but Justice Alito is hinting that he has these suspicions about who leaked the draft. He does acknowledge his suspicion is far short of any proof. He really seems to be speaking out here to throw cold water on this theory that has been floated that a conservative justice or someone affiliated with a conservative justice is actually linked to that leak of the draft last may that locked in the votes to overturn Roe v. Wade.
So Justice Alito is telling "The Wall Street Journal": That's infuriating to me. Look, this made us targets of assassination. Would I do that to myself? Would the five of us have done that to ourselves? It's quite implausible.
And after that, Justice Alito does insinuate that he believes the leaker was likely someone who did not want Roe v. Wade overturned.
So, this was all part of an extensive interview Justice Alito to "The Wall Street Journal". It was conducted just a few weeks ago, in mid April. Justice Alito also talks about how the leak itself has created this atmosphere of suspicion and distrust at the court that's kind of gone away in recent months, and he talked about how each justice now has 24/7 protection because of the threats they faced.
Justice Alito basically saying he's being driven around in a tank now with full security. And Justice Alito really lamented about the attacks on the court's legitimacy. He said this, he said this type of concerted attack on the court and on individual justices is new during my lifetime. We are being hammered daily and I think quite unfairly in a lot of instances, and nobody, practically nobody is defending us.
SCHNEIDER: Justice Alito, here really talking about the barrage of criticism, how it's undermining confidence in government, not just with the Supreme Court but also in the hold, too.
[16:45:10]
And, Bianna, what's interesting about this is Justice Alito, this is probably the most wide-ranging comments he's given on the leak and other issues at the court, and it comes at a time when this court is just weeks away from issuing other consequential decisions on things like affirmative action and gay rights here, Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: He's not holding back, at least on anything other than the proof, maybe that will come later.
Jessica Schneider, thank you.
Well, Monday marks 12 years since SEAL Team 6 raided a walled off compound near a military base in Pakistan and killed the most wanted man in the world, al Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Wolf Blitzer is getting ready in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Wolf, I think we all remember where we were that day, and you're talking to the photographer who was in the Obama White House Situation Room during that raid. Tell us more about that.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: Yeah, the other Situation Room, Bianna.
Pete Souza, the then White House photographer, he's joining us to discuss trove of never before seen images that were just released, photos he took of then President Obama, then Vice President Biden, and other top officials during those very tense moments during and around the bin Laden raid. We'll get his perspective on what was happening then and what those extraordinary photos reveal now about the historic mission to take out bin Laden. That's coming up in our SITUATION ROOM that begins right at the top of the hour.
GOLODRYGA: Our favorite SITUATION ROOM I should note. Thank you so much, Wolf. We'll see you in a few.
Well, coming up, why medical advances in the fight against obesity has diet company Jenny Craig warning that it may need to trim its fat.
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[16:51:11]
GOLODRYGA: In our money lead, weight loss company Jenny Craig is reportedly starting to close down some of its centers signaling potential mass layoffs.
So, let's bring CNN's Rahel Solomon for more on what's happening at the company.
And, Rahel, this has been a popular company for decades. So, what's changed now?
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Truly. So, look, the major weight loss -- major changes in the weight loss industry that's been under way for some time. You think about, for example, the popularity of drugs like Ozempic.
So people still want to lose weight, but it's how they're look weight that's creating challenges for companies like Jenny Craig. So, NBC News reporting that the company now announcing and now warning some of its employees potential -layoffs as it begins to wind down some of its physical operations and perhaps even look for a buyer. The company saying in a statement to CNN that we are currently transitioning from a brick and mortar retail business to an e-commerce driven model, that helps in terms of managing overhead expenses.
Now, Jenny Craig does have about 500 weight loss centers. Unclear at this point how weight loss centers, many physical locations would be impacted, but certainly sound like more to come here. But to be clear, those prescription drugs are creating quite a disruption to the weight-loss industry for sure.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, people want a quick fix I guess. This isn't just a problem that Jenny Craig is facing. I mean, Weightwatchers is also under pressure, too.
SOLOMON: Yeah, absolutely. So, Weightwatchers is actually -- appears to be addressing the disruption in a very different way. So it is actually getting into the business. It announced last month that it was acquiring, it was buying a telehealth subscription service, that name would be Sequence, the company.
It's $106 million deal. Essentially what it does is connects doctors and clients, doctors and patients, so doctors can prescribe different weight loss and diabetes drugs. You can see Weightwatchers sort of approaching or handling this disruption from the prescription drugs that cause weight loss in a very different way, essentially getting in bed with them.
GOLODRYGA: While we have you here, another really important story that I know you've been covering and juggling today. And that is the Federal Reserve out with its own report on how Silicon Valley Bank just fell apart there in the final few days. And pretty honest assessment about where the responsibility and fault lies.
What more do they say?
SOLOMON: Yeah, this was a self-assessment. It was very thorough. It was more than 100 pages. And the bottom line was that there was plenty of failure to go around. It was a failure in terms of bank management, in terms of the board of the bank, and also the Fed. So, we knew, Bianna, that the Federal Reserve had known about SVB's problems for more than a year. The question was, why were they so slow?
And what we learned is that, according to the report, that they were gathering more evidence, clearly taking their time with that. So, a lot of questions now about maybe some regulatory changes or even without an additional climate change to regulations what they could do now differently to prevent something like this from happening again.
GOLODRYGA: A really honest assessment here, and a lot of concerns still remain in the banking sector. You've got a lot to cover as you always do so well for us.
Rahel Solomon, thank you.
SOLOMON: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: And still ahead on THE LEAD, how a seventh grader jumped to save a school bus full of students. We'll tell you the incredible story here, next.
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[16:58:39]
GOLODRYGA: In our national lead a heart-stopping moment as a school bus driver loses consciousness in traffic with dozens of students on board. But one of those kids happened to save them all.
Dillon Reeves, a seventh grader in Warren, Michigan, was seated about five rows back and quickly jumped into action. Watch what happens when he runs to the front of the bus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DILLON REEVES, MICHIGAN STUDENT: Someone call 911, now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Now, you see him grab the steering wheel and bring the bus to a slow and steady stop in the middle of the road. In the midst of that understandable panic, he even thought to have the other kids call 911.
The bus driver, thankfully, is now in stable condition. These calm, heroic actions would be remarkable for an adult, much less a middle schooler. How did he instinctively know what to do? Well, Dillon's dad says he's an observant kid who's been drying golf carts on country roads since he was 4. I guess it paid off. Way to go, Dillon.
And coming up Sunday on "STATE OF THE UNION," independent Senator Bernie Sanders and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson who just launched a bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Don't miss it. That's Sunday morning at 9:00 Eastern and again at noon right here on CNN.
And if you ever miss an episode of THE LEAD, you can listen wherever you get podcasts. Our coverage continues now with Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM." I'm Bianna Golodryga. Thanks so much for watching.
