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House Recesses For Holiday Weekend Without Making Debt Limit Deal; New Superbug-Killing Antibiotic Discovered Using A.I.; South Korean Plane With 200 On Board Had Door Opened 700 Feet In Air, Man Arrested; Multiple Shark Attacks Reported Over The Last Few Weeks. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired May 26, 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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[13:30:43]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: So Congress is taking the Memorial Day weekend off, even though there is no budget deal yet. Still, members are being urged to at least keep an eye on Washington. If a deal is made on the debt ceiling, they'll be given 24-hours' notice to return to Capitol Hill for a vote.
Just six days remain before America could run out of money to pay its bills, an economic calamity that never happened before, without precedent. It could trigger a recession here at home, economic turmoil abroad. The markets agree on that.
CNN's Manu Raju joins us now with the latest on that.
Manu, I want to say there are glimmers of hope because, every once in a while, someone will come out of a room somewhere and say, oh, we made some progress, and then, 45 minutes later, you'll hear, well, we're still far apart.
Reality check, what's happening?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I just spoke to Patrick McHenry, one of the top negotiators, who came out of the speaker's office and told me that talks, the deal could either quickly come together or totally fall apart, really on the brinks. Some key decisions need to be made here.
And sticking points still remain, namely over the issue of work requirements for social safety net programs. That's something Republicans have pushed for, programs like food stamps, temporary assistance programs for needy families. They want additional work requirements. Democrats have resisted that.
They've been going back and forth about that issue, exactly how to deal with spending cuts, a cut below this year's level in federal spending. Democrats and Republicans have been negotiating on that issue for some time.
And there's policy issues, too, such as the easing of construction projects and overhauling the permitting process to make it go forward. Some Democrats are uneasy about that as well.
And there's also talk of extending the debt ceiling through the 2024 election so this Congress doesn't have to deal with it again.
That has prompted push back from conservatives, who want this to go from one year so they can fight this again next year.
Kevin McCarthy was asked about the growing number of concerns from hard-right conservatives and he indicated a deal isn't done yet.
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REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): You're talking to people who don't know what's in the deal, so I'm not concerned about anybody making any comments right now about what they think is in or not in. Whenever we come to an agreement, we'll make sure we will first brief our entire conference.
REP. PATRICK MCHENRY (R-NC): There is forward progress. But each time there's forward progress, the issues that remain become more difficult and more challenging. So that is step by step, small step by small step. And at some point, this thing can come together or go the other way.
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RAJU: But the timeline here is so significant because Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, has warned the national debt limit of $31.4 trillion must be raised by early June or we could see that first ever debt default as early as June 1st.
It will take time just to draft the text after a deal is reached, if one is reached. A couple of days for that. Three more days to review it before there's a vote on the House floor. And then, it moves to the Senate, which could take up to a week.
And we're hearing concerns among the rank and file from both sides of the aisle, can they get the votes if they get there. So step one is getting the deal and all the challenges that remain before trying to avoid a default -- Jim?
SCIUTTO: So I wonder, we're watching the market go up 300 points because the market perceives progress here. Is the market getting it wrong from what you're hearing out there in the halls of Congress?
RAJU: Well, the market is expecting it because we have seen these fights go all way to the brink and deals being reached in the last moment.
Both sides recognize the stakes here, which is perhaps why they believe, ultimately, they'll get a deal. But it's still uncertain at this moment what that deal looks like.
Can they get it done quickly and can they get the votes to get it out of Congress -- Jim?
SCIUTTO: All right, you'll let us know.
Manu Raju, on the Hill.
Boris, over to you.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A California man has been freed from prison after serving 33 years for a crime prosecutors say he did not commit. Up next, the evidence that has finally cleared his name.
And researchers say they found a new type of antibiotic that works against a dangerous superbug. We're going to show you how the discovery was made using artificial intelligence.
[13:34:50]
Stay with us. We're back in moments.
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SANCHEZ: This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Here's a look at some of the other headlines we're following this hour.
A man who spent decades in prison for a crime he insisted he did not commit has been exonerated. Daniel Saldana was released from a California prison after serving 33 years for attempted murder.
His conviction was tossed out after another defendant eventually told officials Saldana was not at the scene.
Here he is.
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DANIEL SALDANA, WRONGFULLY CONVICTED OF 1969 ATTEMPTED MURDER: I knew one day this was going to come. I'm just so grateful. I just thank God, Jesus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Also some sad news to report. A source tells CNN that Celine Dion will likely never tour again as she continues to battle a rare neurological disorder. The grammy winner canceled her 2023 world tour earlier today.
[13:40:09]
Last year, Dion announced she'd been diagnosed with Stiff-Person Syndrome, a condition that she says does not allow her to sing the way she's used to.
And it was a big surprise for graduating seniors at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. As diplomas were handed out yesterday the commencement speaker, Rob Hale, announced he was giving each graduate $1,000, two envelopes to each person.
Hale said the first envelope had $500 as a gift to each student, a celebration of all they did to get to this day. The second $500 envelope, he said, was for the students to give to someone else, an organization or a cause who could use it more than them.
Jim?
SCIUTTO: Wow. Instead of advice, cash.
Artificial intelligence made a promising new discovery in the world of medicine. Researchers using A.I. uncovered a brand-new antibiotic, which they say can kill a drug-resistant superbug known for illnesses such as pneumonia and meningitis.
CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us now.
Elizabeth, we hear a lot about the dangers of A.I., fears, et cetera. Here's a case where A.I. seems to have made a difference. Tell us how this happened.
DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is really being used for good. Jim, when you're developing antibiotics, it's a long and tedious process.
And we need new antibiotics because bacteria are getting smarter than us. And they're learning how to basically outsmart the drugs we have.
So conventionally, sort of pre-A.I., if you wanted to test out a bunch of different drugs to see if they might work, you could do a million in months to years. It would take you months to years. With A.I., you could do 100 million in just a matter of days.
So that's what Canadian and U.S. researchers did is they tested out a bunch. They found one that worked on human tissue that was brought into the lab, infected tissue that was brought into the lab.
And on real-life mice, they gave them a wound and put this bacteria in there and it worked.
The question is, when will this be on the market? And I will tell you it's going to be years.
This is very exciting day if you're a mouse, but for people, they still have so much more research to do.
SCIUTTO: Tell us the importance of a discovery in this particular area. Because meningitis and pneumonia have been around for ages but, sadly, they still take lives today. And of course, resistance, antibiotic resistance is an increasing issue.
COHEN: Yes, absolutely. So if you get infected with this particular bacteria -- and this particular strain of this bacteria mostly affects people who are in the hospital -- you have a one-in-four chance of dying within a month.
That's not good -- a month from your diagnosis. That is not good. That means we do not have the drugs to fight this. As a matter of fact, when the World Health Organization set out to
make their most-wanted list, their priority pathogen list, this was number-one critical on their list that we need to find antibiotics to fight it.
SCIUTTO: You mention how this is done traditionally, right, with mice and then you work your way up to human trials.
But are you saying here, with A.I., you can take that out of the equation, right? You move towards a space where you don't need the lab -- the lab animals, in effect?
COHEN: No, you do still need the lab animals. But think about it this way. Computers are smarter. In many ways, computers are smarter than we are.
For example, last year, I went to an MIT A.I. lab in Massachusetts and they showed me how a computer is better at looking at mammograms in many ways than a human eye.
Can dice through that image so much more quickly than a human can. Now you still need humans and you still need lab animals but A.I. helps things move along faster.
SCIUTTO: Understood. Listen, so many areas to be exploited here hopefully for benefit. Elizabeth Cohen, here's one of them. Thanks so much.
Boris?
SANCHEZ: So shark attacks are extremely rare, but a series of incidents recently have officials coming out with a new warning for beach goers this Memorial Day weekend.
[13:44:17]
But first, who else thought this only happened on movies? A plane in flight, video showing the terrifying moment someone onboard opens an emergency door. This story is next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
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SCIUTTO: All right, this frightening midair scare is now under investigation in South Korea. Just look at that. This, after an Asiana flight was forced to land after someone managed to open an emergency exit door.
You can see how people -- listen, I mean the force of the wind there. They had to hold onto their seat white-knuckled, the wind in their faces.
Listen to how loud it was inside that Airbus 321 as it descended. It was about two to three minutes of this before landing.
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(WIND NOISE)
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SCIUTTO: Got to be scary.
An airline official says this man, seen over here, as passengers held onto him, is the one who allegedly opened the door. We're going to show that picture in just a moment. You will see the passengers got on top of him in one of the seats.
[13:50:10]
One of the passengers, who did not want to be identified, spoke about the harrowing flight.
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UNIDENTIFIED AIR PASSENGER (through translation): He must have been trying to get off. Suddenly, he tried to get off and the crew went, help, help. So about 10 passengers went and pulled him back.
The exit at the farthest back was open and we flew with that open for three to five minutes, and then landed.
The children were so shocked. Yes, they were so shocked. I was sitting at the far back so I didn't know, but when I got off, the kids expressed dizziness.
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SCIUTTO: Here is that picture now. You can see other passengers managing to pin this person down, who the airline says was responsible.
Tom, I've flown a lot, as you have. I always thought there were multiple steps for someone to be able to open a door midflight to prevent exactly something like this.
Do you have any sense of how this was able to happen?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's supposed to be impossible. And I will tell you why it's supposed to be impossible. Passenger jets will fly between 30,000 and 40,000 feet, normally somewhere up in there.
The air pressure up there, these planes are designed so the pressure inside the cabin to keep you comfortable is pushing against these doors like the stopper in a drain.
They're actually pushing them harder into the opening so they can't come out. So much so that experts say, if you could grab that door, if you actually could pull it in, it would be like lifting a car.
SCIUTTO: Wow.
FOREMAN: It's supposed to be impossible. And they're locked. Let's talk about this plane. Because that will be the difference. A
lot of planes have different designs. If you look at this plane, importantly, look at the altitude and speed of this plane. This thing was still moving along pretty good when all of this happened.
But it came down to about 700 feet. There you don't really have a pressure issue and you've already started equalizing the cabin in a way that maybe there is no real pressure on the door.
Estimated speed, 170, 200 miles an hour. Something like that. Still there will be a question, mechanical issues or something that allowed it to happen.
SCIUTTO: You're saying to be able to do this likely at 700 feet or possible, but not at 37,000 feet --
FOREMAN: Exactly.
SCIUTTO: -- given pressure and other --
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FOREMAN: Exactly. If the door were mechanically unlocked. But they are unlocked. The question is, how did it become unlocked anyway?
SCIUTTO: That's still pretty darn dangerous at 700 feet.
FOREMAN: Yes.
SCIUTTO: And what the passengers had to go through. You would assume there are other fail-safes to prevent this happening even at that altitude.
FOREMAN: Absolutely. It's happened -- this kind of incident has happened many times before. People have tried to open the plane doors, with no exceptions I can think of, they don't succeed because of all these other reasons.
SCIUTTO: Do we know anything about the suspect sm.
FOREMAN: Authorities took him into custody and they said they weren't able to question this man because they said he was in a bad mental state. He could barely sit up.
I'm sure they have a lot of questions for him, if they ever get an answer. But more questions for the airline to say, how was it possible, no matter the motivation.
SCIUTTO: I have that very same question.
Tom Foreman, thanks for walking us through this.
Boris?
SANCHEZ: From a scare in the air to one in the waves. An American woman remains in serious condition after surviving a violent shark attack in Turks and Caicos. Police say the shark bit her leg off.
This is just the latest in a series of attacks in the last few weeks. And although the chances of being bitten by a shark are astronomically low, officials around the country are taking extra precautions this holiday weekend.
Let's go to Rockaway Beach in New York with Miguel Marquez.
Miguel, are folks there on high alert?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not on high alert. They're having a great day at the beach because it's sunny and beautiful today but they are aware.
We talked to several surfers. One thinks they had a shark sighting this morning, a thrasher shark about six feet long. Another guy said a shark approached him last year.
I mean, this -- you wouldn't know you were in New York. The guy air guitaring his surfboard and people just surfing and having a great time.
Look, the Turks and Caicos incident, this was a woman who was snorkeling just beyond the reef there.
There was also an incident in southern New Jersey where a teenager was surfing and got bit in the foot by what they belief was a shark.
In Fort Pierce, Florida, there was a young woman sitting in shallow water next to the shore and a shark bit her there.
Everybody has survived. The woman in the Turks and Caicos is particularly lucky because there was a tour boat nearby that was able to jump into emergency mode and get her to help as quickly as possible.
Here in New York State, the governor is adding more drones around beaches and watercraft to watch out for sharks to ensure that it is a shark-free summer, at least a shark bite-free summer here in the New York area.
People very respectful, though. Reminded that this is sharks' back yard and front yard and to treat it with respect.
[13:55:04]
Back to you.
SANCHEZ: It is their natural habitat. That's where they should be. They're natural predators. Sharks being in the ocean is a sign of a healthy ocean. So it's a good thing.
Miguel, if you squint hard enough, Rockaway Beach looks like southern California. It's beautiful out there. Glad you got that assignment.
Good to see you, Miguel. MARQUEZ: It's not just Cali that has the beaches. New York City, too.
SANCHEZ: Jim?
SCIUTTO: The Indiana doctor who made headlines after she revealed she performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim is now facing consequences from the state's medical board. We'll have new details just ahead.
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