Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Source: Trevor Reed Wounded Fighting In Ukraine; LeBron James' Son, Bronny, Suffers Cardiac Arrest; UPS And Teamsters Reach Tentative Labor Deal, Potentially Avoiding A Crippling Strike. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 25, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: The former U.S. Marine who was recently released by Russia in a prisoner swap has been wounded on the battlefield fighting Russia in Ukraine. We're live from the Pentagon just ahead.

And we are watching for any developments outside of a federal courthouse in Washington, DC as a potential third indictment looms over former President Donald Trump. A grand jury is expected to meet today to hear more evidence from the special counsel, Jack Smith.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And LeBron James' son Bronny is recovering in a hospital after suffering cardiac arrest during basketball practice. What the family is saying about how he's doing? We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SCIUTTO: An American wounded on the battlefield in Ukraine just a year after he was released from Russia in a high-profile prisoner swap. A Biden administration official tells CNN they are aware that the Marine veteran, Trevor Reed was wounded while fighting in Ukraine. They are emphasizing that Reed was not fighting on behalf of the U.S. government. The U.S. is consistently concerned about the escalation with Russia.

CNN's Oren Liebermann. He's at the Pentagon now. Oren, where is Reed now? Do we know the severity of his wounds?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Jim, right now, Trevor Reed is in Germany. He's come out of Ukraine, according to the State Department with the help of an NGO that got him out of Ukraine with his injuries.

We don't know at this point how he suffered those injuries or the extent of the injuries. But we know he was treated at first in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and is now en route to further treatment in Germany. Where exactly? That too remains a question where we're waiting for an answer.

Trevor Reed, as you point out, was released from a Russian prison in April of 2022. He'd been held for three years on Russian charges of endangering a law enforcement officer there. When he was released, it was in a prisoner swap for a Russian serving a 20-year sentence for cocaine smuggling, Konstantin Yarashenko. That exchange taking place in Turkey.

Since then, it seems that Trevor Reed has spent most of that time in the United States. In fact, he was on our air in May talking about another wrongfully detained American Evan Gershkovich. And he was tweeting fairly regularly up until just a few weeks ago.

At some point, though, it seems he made the decision to go and fight in Ukraine as a private citizen. Though he was a Marine, he wasn't fighting there on any DoD mission. And the administration has made this very clear.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

LIEBERMANN: An administration official tells CNN this. I want to be clear, Mr. Reed was not engaged in any activities on behalf of the U.S. government. The U.S. government has been extraordinarily explicit in warning Americans not to travel to Ukraine, let alone to participate in fighting there.

Jim, so we're still waiting for more updates on this point. Where is he, how was he injured, the severity of those injuries, and when was he injured? When did he make that decision to go and fight there? We'll keep you updated on what we learned.

SCIUTTO: Yes, that administration's statement is part of a general policy here, the right of attempting not to escalate with Russia to make it clear that these are volunteers. But there have been many U.S. volunteers who have gone there.

LIEBERMANN: Of course.

SCIUTTO: Oren Liebermann, at the Pentagon, thanks so much. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Another major headline we're following this afternoon. The federal grand jury that could vote on the indictment of former President Donald Trump is expected to be meeting today. We're closely watching the activity around the federal courthouse in Washington.

It comes as Special Counsel Jack Smith continues to make moves in what appears to be the late stages of his investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He just received a trove of documents from former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik. Kerik alongside former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani led the Trump campaigns probe into false claims of voter fraud.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz is outside that federal courthouse where the grand jury is expected to meet. So, what other developments, Katelyn, have there been from the special counsel's office?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME & JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Boris, after months and months of this grand jury coming in Tuesdays and Thursdays working diligently hearing from witnesses, having other information being brought to them that was coming in the documents, they do not appear to have convened today. There aren't prosecutors over here.

[14:05:08]

However, that doesn't mean that the special counsel's office is not busy at work. And the primary thing that we know that they have now that they didn't have before that no investigator had before were all of these documents that Bernie Kerik. A close associate of Rudy Giuliani had as he was working with Giuliani and others after the election. Working for the Trump campaign.

Essentially, there were a collection of lawyers led by Giuliani who were trying to gather information about voter fraud. They didn't find evidence of widespread fraud, but they had lots of communications between one another. And those documents that Bernie Kerik had into the hundreds, they had never been handed over to Congress.

The Trump campaign would not allow them to be handed over even in lawsuits -- defamation lawsuits against Giuliani and others. And now the special counsel is getting access to those records. It is because there was a lawsuit where Kerik was on the road to turning over those documents. But now, the special counsel's office has a significant number of papers to be sorting through.

What that means, though, Boris, for the case against Donald Trump? Clearly, the Justice Department was at a place where they felt that they could alert Donald Trump that he was a target and may be charged with a crime -- a case that a -- that sort of thing happens in a very end stage of a case. But whether these documents would factor into what's happening now with no grand jury convening today, meaning they can't return an indictment if the quorum of the grand jury doesn't come in, we really just don't know exactly what's next here.

But that grand jury is something to continue to watch because whenever they gather, they can hear from more witnesses. They can see more evidence. And of course, they could be asked any day now by the Justice Department to approve an unprecedented indictment against the former president of the United States related to his 2020 election result.

SANCHEZ: Katelyn Polantz, thanks so much for keeping your eagle eyes on what's happening at the federal courthouse. Thanks. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Now, to news -- shocking news that LeBron James' son, Bronny, suffered cardiac arrest. This happened during basketball practice at the University of Southern California. Here's what we know at this time.

The 18-year-old is hospitalized right now. His family says he is in stable condition. Crucially, no longer in an ICU. According to TMZ, he was unconscious when taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Joining us now, Dr. Jonathan Vitor, CNN -- Reiner, rather, CNN medical analyst, Professor of Medicine and Surgery at George Washington University.

First of all, Doctor, of course, the difference between a heart attack, and cardiac arrest. This is cardiac -- in cardiac arrest, the heart stopped. He's a young man. He's participating in a sport here. How common is this sort of thing? And when you look at this, how severe?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, the -- there's a lot of information, Jim, that we still have yet to learn. So, first of all, if Bronny indeed had a full-on cardiac arrest, typically that involves a heart arrhythmia that would then be treated with an electrical shock to basically restart the heart. We don't have that kind of data yet. But if they are saying he had a cardiac arrest, that's what that would mean.

There are about 2000 cardiac arrests in people under the age of 25 every year. You know in the United States, as a holder about 365,000. But it's fairly very rare in young people. And the most common cause in a young person would be something like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is a thickening of the heart muscle.

And there are ways to screen for that. And I'm guessing that we'll hear over the next several days a little bit more information that will help us understand why Bronny had this event. And I'm thrilled that we hear that he's out of the ICU and in a -- in a stepped-down kind of situation because that has a very favorable prognosis for him.

SCIUTTO: Right. We have seen this happen with athletes before often in the public eye. Damar Hamlin, of course, his case --

REINER: Yes.

SCIUTTO: -- he'd be different because that he was struck in the chest to which is presumed to be the cause of that. But we saw an international soccer player. This happened on live television. He actually went back to playing. I wonder -- and again, there's a lot you don't know, but is it possible for someone to come back from this or likely?

REINER: Well, it was different for Damar Hamlin because that was a very rare but well-described event related to a blow to the chest which caused an arrhythmia. The question for Bronny James is does he have a congenital abnormality that has -- that will predispose him to another event going forward?

[14:10:00]

About 30 years ago, a player for the Boston Celtics, Reggie Lewis, sadly died during practice from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. And that led to a lot of discussion about how athletes are screened for that disorder. So, it depends on what the specific cause of this, but many of these etiologies are causes for young athletes are lifelong disorders, which would rule out high-level competitive sports in many athletes.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Goodness. Well, we can only wish him the best, of course, immediately just getting over this. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thanks so much. I want to bring in now CNN contributor Cari Champion. She is the host of "The Cari Champion Show" on Amazon Prime. Cari, thanks so much for being here.

Bronny James. Listen, he grew up in the spotlight. Son of one of the greatest basketball players ever. And now he's developed into a fantastically talented player himself. And to have this happen at this age, just some shocking shocks, but also supportive comments coming in from across the sports world.

CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, definitely shocking. When we first heard the news today, we thought to ourselves, oh, my goodness. The first thought was, Is he OK?

I think that in terms of giving context to your viewers, the way in which we see LeBron James, he's very much a huge advocate for his family. They call him the James Gang. And so for me, this was personal.

We've watched him grow up. We all know that LeBron has said over and over again, he's extending his career because his hope is to play for his son. And this is not uncommon as the doctor just mentioned.

I can give you -- I can point back to more recent -- more realistic incidents. For instance, Shareef O'Neal, Shaquille O'Neal's son, had something very similar happen to him. And he stepped out of the limelight. And he no longer played college ball. Now he's in the G League or trying to remain in the amateur league if you will of the NBA.

We can think of Damar Hamlin. Two different incidents, I go even further back to the Hank Gathers story.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CHAMPION: He played college basketball. And there was -- we've seen this happen. But I think the big thing that we should be trying to advocate and I talked to a few medical professionals today was that this is why the importance of CPR education is so important.

Because this can happen often. And we have no idea what to do because we think of these young athletes, especially at that age as strong and independent and seemingly invincible as they do themselves.

But we all need to be prepared. And by we all, I mean, in this world of sports, in this community that we continue to be prepared for incidents such as these. We've had two major ones within the last year.

SCIUTTO: Yes. There's a lot of talk about that about defibrillators after the Damar Hamlin case, including at the youth sports level, because there's -- there are youth athletes -- young athletes who experienced the same thing that Damar Hamlin did. You mentioned LeBron James saying his dream was to play in the NBA alongside his son. I want to listen to him talking about that and just get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, BASKETBALL SUPERSTAR: I would love to do the whole Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. thing. That's -- that will be ideal for sure being with him, spending a full year with him in the same uniform. That would be -- that would be the icing on the cake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: As a father myself, I can only imagine the joy -- the joy of that. Tell us about the relationship between LeBron and his son.

CHAMPION: LeBron James and his son -- and both of his sons, for that matter, have a very close relationship. Most recently at the ESPYs, I thought it was a very important note to see LeBron's family, his two sons, his daughter, and his wife, present him with the award. And it was very, very clear that he was emotional because this family that he had started very young has went through so much with LeBron and his children who since they are close in age, 20 years apart, really have become his brothers if you will. De facto.

And he talks about that in a way that is so endearing, so much so that we see this GOAT of our time, this once-in-a-lifetime generational player coaching AAU basketball tournaments during his offseason. We've never seen it from the likes of Michael Jordan or anyone else who has that same type of stature. This family is extremely close and they pride themselves on that.

I will say this, though, in terms of putting everything into context. I bet right now in this moment knowing LeBron and how close he is with his family, sports is taking a backseat. It's about life. It's about health. And sometimes we need to have this adult. We need to be able to say what really matters.

And it's also important that when something happens to a player such as Bronny James with this type of attention on him, we start looking at how we can be prepared in our world to take care of those who experience this. So, as you mentioned, defibrillator, CPR all of the things -- these are the things that matter. We should be focusing on that right now. Wishing Bronny James as well as his family speedy recovery, healing, and healthiness.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CHAMPION: But this is just a moment to bring this back to reality for what matters the most, Jim.

[14:15:02]

SCIUTTO: No question. Not unlike what we saw after Damar Hamlin. Cari Champion, so good to have you on. As Cari said, we wish him and his family the very best. Boris.

SANCHEZ: The U.S. economy may have just dodged a bullet. The Teamsters and UPS reaching a labor deal avoiding a strike that could have crippled the country's supply chain. Details of the deal and how the White House is now reacting. And later. Doctors are questioning whether there are new side effects from popular weight loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. We're going to tell you what they're concerned about.

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: UPS and the Teamsters have reached a tentative deal on a new contract. It could head off would have been a crippling strike. There were fears such a strike could have started as soon as next week and paralyzed U.S. supply chains. At least one group estimated that a 10- day UPS strike could cost the U.S. economy more than seven billion dollars, making it the costliest work stoppage in American history.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich joins us now. Vanessa, what do we know put the two parties over the edge on this?

[14:20:06]

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: The Union calling this deal historic. UPS saying this is a win-win. But this all came down to money. Came down to wages.

$30 billion in new investment from UPS in this new five-year contract right off the bat. This year, both full-time and part-time workers are getting a $ 2.75-an-hour wage. And over five years, that's going to be $7.50 an hour in terms of raises.

Also, we're talking about part-timers here because this was a key sticking point in these negotiations that really stalled the negotiations until the last minute. Part-timers currently make $6.20 an hour. In this new contract minimum starting pay of $21 an hour.

And also, UPS reconfirming their commitment to air conditioning and all new vehicles for full-time drivers. And also, UPS saying they're going to hire 7500 new employees.

We are here at a local UPS union hall -- at Teamsters' union hall in Philadelphia speaking to one driver. A full-time driver. He's been with the company for 17 years. Since he was 18 years old -- 18 years old. Listen to what he said right after the deal was struck.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL MORTON, UPS DRIVER: Shocked. Shocked but excited. You know, just for the simple fact that you know talking about a strike. Tensions are high. Emotions are high.

This is good. This is a start. I mean -- I mean the language is there. But if everything they said is true, we're happy about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: Now, of course, this is good news today, but this deal still has to get a vote by 340,000 members. The voting is going to start on August 3rd and run through August 22nd. A lot of people that we've spoken to here today at this union hall really liked this deal.

But we've also spoken to some part-timers who feel like $21 is not enough still. They wanted to see 25 an hour at a minimum. So, you may get some no votes from part-timers. And part timers' guys makes up more than the majority of UPS workers. So, of course, a strike avoided on August first, but we will have to wait until the end of the month to see whether a strike is averted in the long term, guys.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And I mentioned part-timers don't get access to all of the benefits. So, key question there we'll be watching. Vanessa Yurkevich, in Philly, thanks so much. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Well, UPS and the Teamsters may have reached a tentative deal, the big three carmakers are still negotiating with the Auto Union to avoid their own potential strike. And there's the ongoing writers and actors strike something the White House says the president supports. All of it can be a lot for the self-proclaimed pro-labor president. So, let's discuss with someone at the White House.

Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Sue joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us, Julie. You have said in the past the Biden administration would not be getting involved in any discussions between UPS and the Teamsters Union. Did that remain the case or did you and -- or anyone else in the administration get involved in the conversations?

JULIE SU, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF LABOR: I mean, all congratulations here go to the parties. The Teamsters and UPS sat down at the table together. They grappled through some hard issues. They reached a tentative agreement. This is as the president says how collective bargaining works.

Why? When workers are strong, when unions are at the table, when employers agree to share a fair share, it's good. It's good for working people. It's good for employers. It's good for the American economy.

SANCHEZ: It absolutely is because it avoids the potential for supply chain issues and ugliness in the economy we didn't want to see. But I didn't hear you specifically say the White House was not involved in the discussions. So, did anyone in the administration get involved?

SU: No. The parties reached this agreement on their own.

SANCHEZ: OK.

SU: And I think that's an important thing. You know, when we say we respect the collective bargaining process, that means we know if there's a moment to be helpful -- to be helpful. But sometimes the moment is to stand back, let the parties do their work, respect their space, and allow them to hash out the issues that will allow them to find a path forward.

SANCHEZ: Unfortunately, in this case, good things appear to have happened. Have you spoken with the president since the announcement of this tentative deal? What was his reaction? SU: I've not spoken to him directly but I know that this fits squarely within his vision for what he wants the economy to look like. Like he says empowering workers is critical to how we create a strong economy. He says that he wants to be the most pro-worker, pro-union president in history, and I think this outcome is an example of that.

We have to know that workers should build exercise every right they have in the collective bargaining process. That was part of the request from the union's press not to get involved and so we didn't. And again, like -- we celebrate with the parties resolving and getting through some really difficult things.

[14:25:07]

SANCHEZ: Julie, on the question of the auto unions. Last week, the president met with the auto union president. There's a potential strike against the big three automakers. What message do you have for the parties involved there? How closely is the White House watching that situation?

SU: I think it's important for us to shift a little bit how we talk about these things, right? The issue is not -- the focus on a potential strike is not the right focus. Their issue is that when workers have a seat at the table when parties are bargaining for things like fair wages, like air conditioning in vehicles, like holidays, and overtime, those are all elements of what it means to have a good job. And this president is laser-focused on creating good jobs across the economy.

So really, what we should be saying is, there are processes going on across the country in which workers are empowered to make demands to create better jobs, to work with their employers to get them. And that is fundamental to how Bidenomics is going to help improve the situation for workers and the economy overall.

SANCHEZ: Sure. And, Julie, do you have any updates on the progress in those negotiations, quickly?

SU: So, those negotiations have only just begun. So, we are -- you know we're monitoring, we're respecting, and we're hopeful that the parties will be able to do what they need to do to reach a win-win solution there as well.

SANCHEZ: And, Julie, while we have you, your nomination to become the Secretary of Labor has been stalled in the Senate for months now. You've not received Senate confirmation. Is it your intention, or is it the intention of the president to have you continue serving without Senate confirmation?

SU: I'm honored to be in this position. I'm honored that the president has nominated me for it. I do continue to serve as acting secretary and will continue to hope that as we see good results that the Senate -- that the Senate will take a vote and I will be confirmed but I have appreciated the support of a whole lot of Senators.

SANCHEZ: Julie Sue, thank you so much for the time and perspective. Always great to see you.

SU: Thank you so much. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Jim?

SCIUTTO: It is standing room only for Republican presidential candidates and some in the party want that crowd to shrink sooner rather than later. We'll explain who and why just ahead. Plus, China's Foreign Minister missing for a month has now officially been replaced. We're going to have the details. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)