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Study: Vets Exposed To Chemical TCE Face Higher Parkinson's Risk; NC Governor Vetoes Bill That Would Ban Most Abortions After 12 Weeks; Turkish Presidential Race Likely Headed For Runoff As Erdogan Leads; Grizzlies Suspend Star Ja Morant Again For Appearing To Flash Gun In New Video. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 15, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:30:20]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A new study published today shows that veterans who were stationed at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune may have a 70 percent higher risk for developing Parkinson's disease.

Researchers looked at the health records of servicemembers who were assigned to the base between the years of 1953 and 1987. That is the time when the water at the base was known to be contaminated with a chemical called TCE.

The veterans and family members could now be eligible for benefits.

CNN's senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is with us now.

Elizabeth, toxic exposure of servicemembers has obviously been an ongoing issue for decades now. What did researchers learn in this case?

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, researchers were looking at exposure, the Marines exposed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, to Chloroethylene. It's a chemical used in all sorts of manufacturing processes.

It was in pretty high levels, very high levels in the water for decades at Camp Lejeune.

And so what they did is they did something very interesting. They compared the rates of Parkinson's disease for Marines who were there at a certain period of time to those who are -- to Marines who were at Camp Pendleton. So all Marines just in two different places.

They found the risk of Parkinson's was increased by 70 percent among the Marines at Camp Lejeune.

And the concerns really -- for this study, this study was just about Parkinson's disease but there are also concerns about links between this chemical and things like miscarriages and cancer -- Brianna?

KEILAR: It's stunning, 70 percent. As you said, so many other conditions they're fearful of may be linked to this. We'll keep an eye on this story.

Elizabeth, thank you.

Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Now to a battle over abortion rights brewing in North Carolina.

In front of a crowd of supporters this weekend, the state's Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, vetoed a controversial bill that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks.

The bill's fate is now back in the hands of the state legislature where a Republican super majority could override that veto.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is tracking this story for us live from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Dianne, Governor Cooper is urging certain Republican lawmakers to essentially back off of overriding his veto. What comes next?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Boris, next is that expected override vote in both the House and the Senate. But that's the key.

You mentioned that Governor Cooper has been zeroing in on specific Republicans. And that's because of the margins here in North Carolina.

Republicans have the exact number of members to make up that super majority. What that means is they can override the veto.

But what it also means is that if just one Republican either defects or is even absent, that the veto would be sustained. Effectively killing this bill.

And that is why the governor has essentially traveled across the state. This sort of pressure campaign on those four Republicans that he has zeroed in on.

Now two of them have pushed back, Senator Michael Lee and Representative John Bradford, saying they don't feel that their past positions are in conflict with this bill.

But there are two others that most politicos here in North Carolina and constituents as well are watching very closely.

One of those is Representative Ted Davis. He is the only Republican in the House who did not vote for that abortion bill when it was rammed through less than 48 hours after it was introduced about a week and a half ago.

He has told CNN he has no comment on this pressure campaign or how he will vote.

And then there's Representative Tricia Cotham, who you may remember infamously switched parties from Democrat to Republican just last month.

She did vote for this bill just about a week and a half ago. But she also is a sponsor on a bill from earlier this session that would have codified Roe. And she has been a major proponent for abortion access for more than a decade here in North Carolina.

The governor, again, is homing in on that and asking constituents to make their voices heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ROY COOPER (D-NC): Now we need people all over this state to learn how bad this bill is. And maybe it will be a friend, a family member, a minister or even a doctor of one of these Republican legislators who convinces them to step up and do the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now, Republican leaders have said that they believe that they can swiftly override this veto. Boris, they say that it could happen as early as this week, potentially even beginning the process tomorrow.

[13:35:04]

Republicans call this bill a compromise, saying that they feel it is mainstream.

But Democrats, medical associations, abortion advocates here in North Carolina, point to the details in the bill, saying that it creates new requirements and hurdles for people who are seeking abortions in that first trimester, including medication abortions.

And also could add regulations that could make it difficult for abortion clinics that currently exist here to continue operating under this law.

SANCHEZ: North Carolina now one of many states where this rift over abortion law specifically among Republican lawmakers is front and center.

Dianne Gallagher, from Charlotte, thank you so much.

Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Turkey's hotly contested presidential election is now heading to a runoff. Why the outcome could be critical for the U.S., also for NATO.

And a kayaker's relaxing fishing trip interrupted by a giant shark. It was all caught on camera. We'll see more just ahead.

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[13:40:26] KEILAR: Turkey's consequential presidential election is now headed for a runoff as its leader, the current president, faces the biggest challenge of his 20-year rule of the country.

Nearly all the ballots have been counted. No candidate hit the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright and avoid a runoff.

State-run news reports that the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leads with just over 49 percent of the vote while the leader of the opposition just under 45 percent of the vote.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is in Istanbul for us.

I guess the big question now is, where do the votes of the third-party candidate, who got close to 5 percent, go? I imagine there are spirited negotiations under way.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And this is exactly, Jim, what we have heard from him. He spoke a short time ago with our colleague, Becky Anderson, saying that he is in consultation with the rest of his four-party coalition to decide where they're going.

It's quite complicated. This is an ultra-nationalist who was running as a presidential candidate in this election and his electorate just over 5 percent of the vote.

It's a combination of nationalists who are not happy with President Erdogan's alliance. And then you've got, on the other hand, some of these protest voters who were not happy with the choice of candidate that the opposition went with.

So we'll have to wait and see what happens, whether they're going to follow whatever this presidential candidate, Sinan Ogan, decides in the coming two weeks, or are they going to go their own way and decide to vote for either of those candidates in the next round of voting?

And then you've also got the undecided voters, Jim. We'll have to see if there's any major changes.

But we have to look at President Erdogan's performance here, Jim. Going into these elections, everyone knew this was going to be a tight race. But he has divided expectations.

This is not a victory that the president is used to but it certainly is a win. Ahead of the elections, polls had the opposition's candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, with a slight lead.

And now you look at it, and it's the other way around where President Erdogan, despite all the criticism, despite the fact that his ratings have been on a downward trajectory, he has managed to gather around 50 percent of the vote.

A real reflection here of the state of polarization in this country -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: Yes. And after just a devastating earthquake there. There were machinations from both sides around this election questioning whether there was interference, questioning some of the counting, et cetera.

Are we certain that the declared winner will accept the results?

KARADSHEH: We've heard from both sides saying that they will accept the results.

President Erdogan, several times ahead of this election, being asked if he did lose this election whether he would accept the results and he said that he believes in the Democratic process, saying that he will accept the results.

And we've also heard, Jim, from international observers saying that the actual voting process itself appears to be fair.

It is what the lead-up to these elections is. It's the campaigning that they say is not fair and free in this country.

Where President Erdogan and his party do have the advantage with the control of the state institutions, with so many opposition figures, political parties, and journalists behind bars in this country.

But when it comes to the actual voting -- and you hear this not just from observers, Jim, also from Turks -- they tell you that is the one place where they believe Turkish democracy is still alive.

SCIUTTO: Questions about restrictions on Twitter in advance of this as well.

Jomana Karadsheh, in Istanbul, thanks very much.

Brianna?

KEILAR: So here's a look at some of the other headlines that we are following this hour.

The four University of Idaho seniors who were stabbed to death in their off-campus home last year were honored in the school's graduation ceremonies over the weekend.

The parents of all four victims were there to accept their loved one's degrees posthumously.

Saturday's graduation was exactly six months after the students were killed. The man charged was a graduate student at nearby Washington State University.

Also, a lone fisherman off the coast of Hawaii unexpectedly -- look at this -- drifted into -- it looks like a scene from "Jaws." A giant tiger shark jumping out of the water trying to eat, attack his kayak. He was only about a mile offshore from Oahu.

[13:45:02] A go-pro camera mounted to the kayak captured this sneak attack. The fisherman luckily was not hurt. He just kept on fishing after kicking the shark away.

And Taylor Swift taking time out of her own concert in Philadelphia to defend an audience member.

She was in the middle of singing her hit song "Bad Blood" when she suddenly started yelling at a person in the crowd, who one person, actually my producer, Margaret, who went to this concert, said appeared to be security at the concert.

Here's the moment.

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(SINGING)

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER: He wasn't doing anything! Hey, stop! Stop!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Turns out she saw a security guard hassling some of the fans there in the front row. They have reportedly been given tickets to another concert.

Boris?

SCIUTTO: Pretty sweet deal there. Wish I could get yelled at by a security guard at the next Taylor Swift concert.

So still ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, one of the NBA's biggest stars is back in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Ja Morant seen on social media appearing to wave a gun again. NBA fans are wondering why the star has not changed his behavior. An important conversation when we come back.

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[13:51:20]

SANCHEZ: NBA superstar, Ja Morant, is in trouble once again. The Memphis Grizzlies have now suspended him from all team activities after another incident involving a gun and social media.

An Instagram Live video over the weekend appears to show him in a car flashing a firearm.

CNN has reached out to Morant's representative, the Grizzlies and the NBA for comment.

Remember, in March, the NBA suspended Morant for eight games after another social media incident, that time a video, again on social media, showing him at a nightclub flashing a gun.

Joining us now is Bomani Jones. He's host of the ESPN podcast, "The Right Time with Bomani Jones."

Bomani, you've spoken out with your concerns about Ja Morant's mental health. You say that we're watching someone self-destruct. Why?

BOMANI JONES, HOST, ESPN PODCAST "THE RIGHT TIME WITH BOMANI JONES": Well, I mean, obviously everything we've seen him do has been trouble for no actual benefit.

The idea of pulling out these guns, things that look like guns, whatever they happen to be, to put that out for public consumption, the only thing that you can get from that is trouble. He seems to be willingly walking into these things.

What I can't help but wonder, from where I am, is whether the pressure that comes from being 23 years old and having the burdens that he has, that come along with his job that everybody else says they would love to have, but and he's the only one that has to live with the consequences that come from it.

I worry more about how he's doing than anything else. I think hopping up on some hyper-moral kick about the idea of him having a gun gets us to our American confusion about guns.

But in the short run, and just looking at how it affects him, I just worry that he keeps doing things that don't hurt anybody but himself as of now.

SANCHEZ: I'm curious to get your perspective on the potential for there being a double standard.

And I don't mean to defend his actions in any way. But what we've seen him do on social media is not all that media from what we've seen certain lawmakers do in political ads, brandishing weapons, trying to score political points.

Do you see a double standard here?

JONES: Well, if you're going to identify a double standard there, it would be that, if the people that support those folks with the A.R.- 15s in their family pictures are also the people that didn't condemn Ja Morant. Those are the people that would have to answer for whether or not there is a double standard.

What I do think, in our society we have, which is something that people need to kind of stop and think about, which is things that can get you fired are also things that can get you elected.

And so those people, who put those Christmas cards out and everything if you're a politician, you're just banking on a popularity contest. If enough people like it and they think you're cool, OK, they'll vote you into office.

Chances are they have been voting you into an office in a district that has been narrowed to make sure as many people as possible are the people that like seeing you take those pictures.

Ja Morant works for a corporation. Corporations have different sets of rules.

Now how people in the mass decide how they want to handle it, yes, there are probably some people that are being inconsistent about it. There's also some people like me who think that both sides on that end look ridiculous.

SANCHEZ: Bomani, you spoke about the corporation that Morant works for. He's seen as the bright future superstar for the NBA. He's already met with Adam Silver. They apparently had a candid conversation earlier in the spring.

Where does the NBA go now? How do they handle this?

JONES: I would imagine that a hammer is coming when you get caught doing the exact same thing that they already came down on you for and, honestly, came down on you fairly delicately for the first go-around.

So I expect the league will probably do something fairly significant in terms of punishment, at least as significant as they can. I'm not exactly sure how the bylaws work on this thing.

But I think there is something to note that, when we start looking at this --and our first question is just about what the punishment is.

[13:55:01]

I'm less concerned about what the punishment is from the league than my question about the league and the Grizzlies about, what are you going to do to help this dude? Because it appears that he needs some measure of help.

Throwing down a punishment is something you do because the public really gets off on that. Is that really going to be the thing that's helpful? It might be. Right? He might be a person that needs negative reinforcement.

But I think there needs to be an identification that there's a larger problem at play, much larger than they seem to think it was when they tried to tell us he spent a weekend somewhere and came back and he was all good because he learned how to do breathing exercises.

That was a sign to me that none of the parties involved were actually taking that seriously. If he could have fixed it in three days, and we wouldn't have been talking about it in the first place.

SANCHEZ: Yes. It seems like the issues are much more deep than just spending, as you said, a few days at a Florida retreat and trying to piece his life together there.

Bomani Jones, thank you so much for the perspective. We appreciate you joining us this afternoon.

JONES: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Success on the battlefield. Ukraine may be gaining the upper hand in the fight for Bakhmut. What the battle could mean ahead of this much-anticipated counteroffensive.

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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