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East Coast Beachgoers Urged To Watch Out For Sharks; Navy To Overhaul Seals Program After Candidate's Death; Airbnb Adding Measures To Crack Down On Memorial Day Parties. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired May 26, 2023 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look. They are concern -- authorities are concerned enough that they're adding more drones this year in New York and more boats to keep watches -- watch on the beaches here for sharks. Me, not so worried. This is a great deal for me. But I want to show you, so here.

We're at Rockaway Beach. This is New York City -- surfing in New York City. I know this is -- you know, everybody thinks, oh, New York, they don't have waves. They don't have beaches. They don't have surfing.

Every day, people are out here even in the wintertime. And this morning, we spoke to one surfer out here who says they actually think that they saw a Thresher shark about six-foot-long, and then got out of the water when he saw that. And another surfer says that he was approached by a shark last year and got out. So, it does happen even in New York City.

The most serious incident we have recently was the Turks and Caicos where a 22-year-old woman when they were snorkeling past the reef on a -- on a -- on off of a private boat, and the shark took her leg amazingly enough. And she is alive, thanks to very quick work by the tour company that they are with. But a very, very serious bite for her. They're -- They think it was a case of mistaken identity but not entirely sure. That means that the shark may have thought she was food.

There was also a young woman in New Jersey, that her foot -- she was surfing, her foot got bitten by watching things with a shark. And there was a young woman in Florida who was just sitting out in the water off the beach, and she got bit by a shark in her stomach and on her arm. So, snorkeling, surfing, just sitting in the water right near the beach -- the shore, nothing is really safe. You have to pay attention.

This is their backyard. This is their front yard. So, you know surfers telling us they are very respectful of that. And they also say look, if you see schools of fish or seals, places to stay away from, you do not want them thinking you're a meal. Back to you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Excellent advice. Look, just pay attention to the advisories. Be aware of your surroundings. And, Miguel, I think your feet just got wet. So, Miguel Marquez, at the beach for us, thanks so much for your report. Rahel?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John Berman never wants to miss a detail. Thank you.

Well, it is one of the most grueling training programs imaginable, but big changes could be coming to the Navy SEAL's Hell Week. This after a candidate died. We'll tell you what an investigation found.

Plus, a deadly attack on a Dnipro medical facility. Two dead, dozens injured, as world leaders condemned the assault.

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[11:36:46]

BERMAN: Authorities in Italy have recovered thousands of ancient artifacts in a nationwide crackdown on stolen items. Nearly two dozen people were arrested in the operation which involved hundreds of officers. Police say items including ancient vases, oil lamps, weights, cups, and plates, even coins, dating back to the fourth century BC. Some of the items were found at grave sites or an archeological digs. Police are still looking for dozens more suspects.

Search crews trying to locate a missing boat carrying around 500 migrants last seen off the coast of Italy. An organization working to help the migrant says they will believe to be from Libya and included dozens of pregnant women. More than a thousand migrants from two other boats are rescued at sea.

At least two people are dead and dozens more injured after an attack on Dnipro which is in East Central Ukraine. Officials say a medical facility, a veterinary clinic, and a --in many multi-story buildings -- or several multi-story buildings were among the targets. Authorities are still trying to reach three people who may have been at the medical facility at the time of the attack. Rahel?

SOLOMON: Well, a new highly critical report details how the notoriously brutal Navy SEAL selection course known as Hell Week left several candidates dead -- or several candidates injured excuse me, and one dead. Kyle Mullen died last year just eight hours after completing the grueling training and undergoing a medical check, which found that he suffered respiratory issues. Last year, Mullen's mother said that the total lack of proper medical care means she will never see her son again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REGINA MULLEN, SON DIED AFTER NAVY SEAL TRAINING: They had opportunities to save my son. And he's dead because they didn't treat him. No mother should feel my pain that I have right now. My son is dead and never coming back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: CNN's Oren Liebermann joins us live from the Pentagon. So, Oren, the Navy launched an investigation into his death. So, what were some of the findings here?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Rahel, this was an investigation not only into his death but into some of the broader issues related to this training course. Obviously, one of the most brutal, demanding, and grueling training courses within the Navy, as it's meant to be a selection course for SEALS. It was -- however, the medical oversight of this course is what's at issue here.

And it was -- and I'm quoting here from the investigation. "Poorly organized, poorly integrated, and poorly led." That is a damning criticism of the medical oversight of this course and prompted the Navy to overhaul how SEAL candidates are overseen by medical personnel throughout what's known as Hell Week and even before and after.

Let's take us back to the beginning. Kyle Mullen, a Navy SEAL candidate, 23 years old died after finishing Hell Week. He had to gotten through that, even had a medical checkup at the end of Hell Week, and hadn't medical personal -- or personnel rather overseeing him throughout the end of the course here and for some 24 hours afterwards. But he died within that period, only eight hours after the end of the course.

During the course itself, he suffered respiratory issues. He had afterwards been coughing up in orange-red fluid. And I -- and I should say that the report itself, which we've linked to online has even more of the details of what he was going through in the hours after the course. But none of this information about the respiratory issues he suffered during the course was passed on to medical personnel who needed to know this afterwards.

[11:40:06]

And that, the investigation found was one of the reasons he didn't get the necessary treatment, even though he was -- he did afterwards refuse more thorough treatment and more thorough investigation, simply because he didn't want to be flagged as essentially being not being tough enough, the investigation found. And that is one of the contributing factors that led to his death.

In terms of what the Navy did afterwards, there was no thorough medical oversight afterwards. There are required screenings every 24 hours during Hell Week including 24 hours after Hell Week. The recovery center now much closer to the medical clinic itself.

One other step the Navy looked at, the use of performance-enhancing drugs here. There is more thorough testing and more thorough evaluation for Navy SEAL candidates when it comes to PEDs, Rahel.

SOLOMON: Oren, thank you for bringing us that. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: An American veteran who went to Ukraine to help support those troops has now become a casualty of that war. The remains of retired Army Staff Sergeant Nicholas Maimer, are now in the process of being returned back to the United States and back home to his family. Yesterday, the leader of the Russian-backed Wagner paramilitary group handed over his remains to the Ukrainians. And the Wagner leader also put out a video of two coffins, one draped with an American flag, and one with a Turkish flag saying that Maimer died in the battle for Bakhmut, also saying that his body was found in the rubble of a destroyed building.

Joining me right now is retired Lieutenant Colonel Perry Blackburn. He's the founder of a nonprofit, AFGFree, who -- it's an organization that providing humanitarian aid and training in Ukraine, and he'd been working with Maimer for about a year is what I -- is my understanding when this all happened.

Colonel, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I also read that you may have been one of the first people -- because of your work together and your coordination with folks on the ground there, you may have been one of the first people to get the call that he had been killed. What's your understanding of what happened?

LT. COL. PERRY BLACKBURN (RET), U.S. ARMY: I was actually one of the first people to get that phone call, unfortunately. And it's not the first time that's happened in my life as a veteran, and particularly in this area of the world where we've seen a lot of violence and conflict. And so, it was pretty -- it was really difficult. Obviously, it's always tough.

But Nick and I were partners in humanitarian work over there. And we were -- we had been talking constantly about the activities that were happening. And we were -- we would just talk probably about three weeks prior to him getting killed about an offensive that was about to occur and what the humanitarian aid would look like in that area.

because as we've seen in the past, is pretty devastating. And if -- we all know from the -- what we've seen Bakhmut, Bakhmut is devastated. But there's casualties other than the combatants, right? And they're civilians and they're non-combatants. And that's who we really were focused on to try to give a to -- and really what we do most of the time.

And so, that was truly what Nick was primarily focused on, was helping the people. And he's a great humanitarian. It's a huge loss to our community, to the Special Forces community. It's a huge loss to the Ukrainians. And I have to say the Ukrainians have done a great job all along the whole time here to get Nick back. I think he's probably one of the quickest returns that we've had. There's a lot of informal lines of communication that we used to try to get to ensure that he was returned safely and in a dignified manner.

BOLDUAN: Yes. I saw an interview, Colonel, that Nick had done with the Idaho Statesman, actually, newspaper last year, and he talked about in that interview, what was -- what drew him to Ukraine. I want to read this for everybody.

He said I think this is one of the most clear-cut unjust invasions in recent history. That's what he told the newspaper. It's really obvious to everybody, that it's an unjustified invasion. So, I felt like my moral compass just pointed me towards it.

I read that and kind of wondered what -- how that sits with you today, especially as we're heading into -- you know, we're heading into Memorial Day weekend and just in the face of it all.

BLACKBURN: Right. Nick and I talked about that many times. And part of it is, I spent 34 years in the military, I spent my youth truly at war in defense of this country. And then we saw an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation of Ukraine.

And I had a couple of touchpoints there with people that reached out to me, but Nick didn't. Nick was the opposite. He felt exactly what you just read. And that connected us. That connected us in a way more powerful than even being -- both of us being Green Berets. And being in the same area at the same time.

[11:45:06]

It's that the -- was the desire to help people that were unjustly attacked, and we knew how this was going to go, unfortunately. And we're seeing it play out. There's -- it's World War Two tactics with 2023 technology.

That's the continuous bombardment and punishment of areas until it's unoccupied in this -- then it's seized by the enemy. And once it's occupied by Russian forces, there's no commerce that come -- is able to come in and out of that area. So, we knew that those folks that were stuck in that area behind enemy lines if you will, but really encircled because there's no line of the enemy on one side and running on the other, it's just embattlements, that those people were going to need help.

And that's what really, truly brought us together to provide that aid for Ukrainian people that were suffering because of an unprovoked war. And still unprovoked. I mean, there's -- I -- we've all listened to numerous people talk -- you know, talking heads and experts try to understand what is going on. And nobody can clearly articulate the justice of this war.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Lieutenant Colonel, thank you so much for sharing that with us. We're -- there's a picture right next to your image on our wall of Nick, as he now -- as he now makes his journey home to be with his family. I sincerely appreciate your time and speaking about his work and all the work that you're doing over there. You can truly see your love for service in this conversation, so thank you for what you're doing with AVG free, and thanks for coming on.

BLACKBURN: Thank you for having me.

BOLDUAN: Thank you -- thank you for your service, sir. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of CNN's "CHASING LIFE" podcast.

If you're planning to travel this summer, you might find yourself sitting in a cramped seat in one of these, sometimes for hours on end. Even though you may just be sitting there, a lot could still be happening to your body. So, here are a few quick tips from a frequent traveler like me, far and away.

The best thing you can do, make sure you're drinking enough water. Keep in mind, airplanes are very dry environments, so you can become quickly dehydrated without even recognizing it. And it also means something else than yes. Yes, you should limit alcohol when flying. Alcohol tends to dehydrate you even more.

Now, besides drinking water, move as much as possible. Moving to prevent the formation of blood clots in the legs, something known as deep vein thrombosis, DVT. So, yes, make sure you get up and walk around. This could mean just stretching and flexing your legs and your feet under the seat. And while not a fashion statement, compression socks can also help reduce the risk of clots.

You can hear more about how to optimize your health and chase life wherever you get your podcasts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:53:26]

BERMAN: This morning, Airbnb says they are implementing "anti-party measures" ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend to crack down on what they call disruptive and unauthorized parties. They first tried this last year for the July fourth weekend and the company says it was effective.

CNN's Nathaniel Meyersohn is here. I assume they're only talking about disruptive and unauthorized parties at Airbnb, they're not coming to my house, right?

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN CONSUMER REPORTER: Promise me you're not going to be throwing any parties at Airbnb this weekend, John, because they're going to crack down. So, there has been a lot of frustration from neighbors over parties at Airbnb, so the company's implementing some new policies. They're going to start blocking one and two-night reservations from people who haven't signed up, try to prevent these parties. They also want neighbors to call a special hotline that they've set up if they see a party in place, so they're asking neighbors to snitch.

BERMAN: 1-800 -- like there's a keg next door?

MEYERSOHN: 1-800 -- pour out your beer.

BERMAN: Yes, exactly. That doesn't sound very fun. All right, Airbnb cracking down. If you are doing like an authorized and not disruptive party this weekend, maybe barbecuing, what kind of food should you be looking for if you want to save some money?

MEYERSOHN: So, good news and bad news on the Memorial Day cookout front. Beef prices have dropped about 0.5 percent. We're not seeing these super high meat prices that we saw earlier in the pandemic. Hotdog prices up a little bit more 2.2 percent but still, that's lower than the rate of inflation.

But the other stuff is going to cost you. Bread, buns up about 13 percent, condiments like ketchup and mustard, about 10 percent, and soft drinks also up about double digits. But -- so some good news and bad news.

[11:55:12]

BERMAN: So, you'll just take like the burger with nothing on the side and no bun.

MEYERSOHN: Right.

BERMAN: Or two or three of them.

MEYERSOHN: There you go.

BERMAN: You do what you have to do to save the money. All right, Nathaniel, thank you very much for that. Kate?

BOLDUAN: That's like a diet plan. I mean, like a burger, no bun, no side -- I'm just kidding.

SOLOMON: That doesn't sound fun. Just like a party that's not disruptive, that doesn't sound fun.

BOLDUAN: Add it all together, John Berman is a killjoy.

BERMAN: Yes, it's -- you may -- well --

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: You can have responsible -- but I'm saying this now because someday my kids may see this.

SOLOMON: OK.

BERMAN: You can have responsible parties.

BOLDUAN: Headache?

BERMAN: Parties don't have to be disruptive.

BOLDUAN: They can -- yes --

SOLOMON: I'll take your word for it.

BOLDUAN: -- we can all be responsible as well as everyone should be this weekend. Rahel.

SOLOMON: I'll take your word for it, John Berman.

BERMAN: All right. Thank you for being with us.

BOLDUAN: It really is. Good to be with you, guys. We might see you next week. SOLOMON: I think so.

BOLDUAN: Perfection. Thank you all for joining us. Have a wonderful weekend. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.

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