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NYC High-Rise Crane Collapse; Bronny James Recovering After Cardiac Arrest; Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) is Interviewed about UFOs; Trial for Postpartum Depression Pill. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 26, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Frank, you can go up and show where there crane did collapse. They said the cab started to smoke - it filled up with smoke. And he said once he saw the crane operator evacuate that cab, that's when he knew it was not a good sign. So, he said that's when the building started to quickly evacuate of all those workers who are now all standing on the streets here around me.

And they -- one of the workers described to me that actually as they were trying to escape that building, they could feel the rumble of that crane swinging, as you see in that dramatic video, hitting that opposite side building and then eventually collapsing.

And I was told again from these workers that because there are spotters on the ground, they were able to get everyone out of the way. And that may be actually what helped prevent so many injuries on the ground after this crane collapsed.

And you heard from the mayor, you heard from those officials that this could have been a lot worse.

So, it does seem that five people were injured, including some firefighters responding here to the scene. It doesn't sound like there were any violations with this construction that was going on at this particular building. But certainly there's a lot of questions about what went wrong.

It does appear to the workers, though, it was some sort of mechanical issue as they were loading that heavy concrete to bring up to one of those top floors where this crane was operating.

But again, five injuries and we'll continue to figure out exactly what's going to happen here on the scene. You can imagine the traffic around here is just incredibly horrible for people who are trying to get to work in this midtown area. But most of these streets are cleared from people and it's just emergency vehicles and onlookers of this incredible incident that happened here in midtown Manhattan.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and to that end, we should say, for folks who are not necessarily familiar with this area, this is a very popular area. It is usually full of tourists. And so as that official said, it could have been a lot worse. At this point, five people were injured. GINGRAS: Yes.

SOLOMON: Minor injuries at this point.

Brynn, we'll check in with you throughout the show. Thank you.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I just have to say, Brynn Gingras, what a pro there, like, dodging the police tape there, rushing to the scene, getting all that information very, very quickly. Great job.

SOLOMON: Yes.

BERMAN: All right, Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, is recovering this morning after suffering from cardiac arrest during a basketball practice. We have the latest on his prognosis.

And House lawmakers hold a highly-anticipated hearing on UFOs, which are now supposed to be called UAPs. Why Congress is taking the claims of sightings so seriously.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:36:50]

BERMAN: This morning Bronny James, the eldest son of LeBron James, is out of the ICU and in stable condition after suffering cardiac arrest during basketball practice at USC. James was considered one of the top high school players in the country when he was recruited by USC.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with us now.

Sanjay, you were with us yesterday when this was breaking. We now know not terribly much more about this case, specifically, but we've had a chance to look deeper into this phenomenon.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BERMAN: I mean how common is it for younger people to suffer something like this?

GUPTA: Well, you know - yes, so if you look at what are called out of hospital sudden cardiac arrests, and specifically look at this - this age group of people, what you find is that this is data based back on 2015-2016 timeframe. And 6,000 to 7,000 of these sudden cardiac arrests occur roughly every year. About 40 percent, 39, 40 percent are related to - to sports in some ways. So, we know it's more common in men. We know it's more common in sports. And basketball is the sport that it's most closely associated with.

As you get older, sports become less of a - of a factor. And once you get over the age of 35 or so what is called a myocardial infarction, or heart attack, a blockage of blood vessels in the arteries that lead to the heart, that becomes a more common cause of these heart problems. So sudden cardiac arrest in younger players, 6,000 to 7,000, most closely aligned with sports, but it changes, John, as you get older.

BERMAN: And the difference between cardiac arrest and a heart attack, because some people use the terms interchangeably, and they shouldn't be.

GUPTA: Yes, it's a good point, a good question.

So, sudden cardiac arrest, think of that more like an electrical problem. If, you know, you look at the heart, you've got electrical -- electricity that's moving through the heart, that actually gets the chambers of the heart to coordinate pumping on time. Pumping in a specific rhythm. That is like an electrical abnormality. It can cause a sudden problem. Somebody might actually just lose consciousness, lose their pulse. They're - they're just not responsive. That's the sort of thing where defibrillation, CPR, is so critically important. Which it sounds like happened here. And it happened really quickly, which makes a big difference in terms of overall recovery.

A heart attack, think of that more like a plumbing or a circulation problem, where you've got these blood vessels on top of the heart, the coronary blood vessels, and one of them may become blocked or occluded, a plaque or a blood clot, something can do that, and cause a heart attack where parts of the muscle tissue die.

Now, when you have a heart attack on a myocardial infarction, that can lead to a cardiac arrest. But not all cardiac arrests are due to heart attacks or MIs, myocardial infarctions.

BERMAN: And what does recovery look like, Sanjay?

GUPTA: Well, you knew, it's speculative at this point. I mean, I think the best news that we heard yesterday was that he was in the ICU for a short period of time and then was released from the ICU, which means the doctors thought he was stable, did not need any kind of intensive care anymore.

[09:40:04]

That's a really good sign. You remember Damar Hamlin, for example, was in the ICU for a few days.

But what caused this? That's still the big question. That's what they're investigating now. They'll look for these electrical problems in the heart. They'll look to see if there was some sort of structural abnormality of the heart that could have caused this. That can take some time.

And then depending on what it is, that will give a good chance of recovery in - for his - for his overall heart, but also the likelihood whether or not he'll play again.

BERMAN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, always great to see you. Thank you so much for all this information.

Rahel.

GUPTA: Yes.

SOLOMON: All right, John, coming up for us, they've been described as a potential national security threat. Now House lawmakers are getting ready to hear from a group of former military service members as they try and learn more about unidentified flying objects, or UFOs.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:15]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

And at any moment now Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, is expected to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors. Want to show you some video of him arriving at the Delaware Federal Courthouse. You can see him here, just emerging right now.

According to court filings, Biden will plead guilty for not paying taxes on time. He also struck a deal with federal prosecutors to resolve a felony gun charge.

Now, today's court appearance is a major step toward the conclusion of the Justice Department's investigations into Hunter Biden's finances.

John.

BERMAN: So, in just a few minutes, the highly anticipated hearing that is being watched all around the world, and maybe beyond. It is about UFOs, unidentified flying objects, though they are now called UAPs, which used to mean unidentified aerial phenomena but now apparently means unidentified anomalous phenomena. But I digress.

The committee holding these hearings calls UFOs, or UAPs, both versions, a potential national security threat. As of May, the Defense Department said it was tracking more than 800 cases of unidentified UAPs. Very shortly this House Oversight Subcommittee will hear from three witnesses who all previously served in the U.S. military. Former Navy Pilot Ryan Graves has reported multiple encounters. CNN has received a preview from his opening statements. One of the things he says is, the UAP we encountered and tracked on multiple sensors behaved in ways that surpassed our understanding and technology. I am formally trained - I am a formally trained engineer and have no explanation for this.

With us now is Democratic Congressman Andre Carson from Indiana, who held ground-breaking hearings about UAPs last year when he led a different committee.

Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

There was a suggestion by the people holding this committee, the members holding this committee this morning, that there is information being withheld from the American people, startling information, including perhaps the presence of alien spaceships in Defense Department custody. What evidence have you seen that information is being withheld from the American people?

REP. ANDRE CARSON (D-IN): Well, I want to say that I'm very happy that more public attention is focused on the issue of UAPs. This time on the House Oversight Committee. However, I would advise my Republican friends leading this effort to do a lot more listening and not jumping to unfounded conclusions, though we understand the importance this - of this issue. I've been sounding the alarm for years. I held the first hearing in 50 years since Project Blue Book. But we have to be careful about the kinds of questions that are raised. We shouldn't attempt to gain political points because our adversaries are listening. Our adversaries and opponents are watching. They're looking for context clues to put together things in terms of where we're placing assets globally. And so we have to be very careful because our national security is at risk.

BERMAN: Is information being withheld from the American people?

CARSON: Well, you know, I'm - I'm -- am I certain that all of these sightings are aliens? Of course not. But I do believe unidentified aerial phenomenon around our top-secret military bases is a possible threat that we have to take seriously. So, I'd like to think that the information we provided to the public at our hearing inspired more people to take this issue very seriously.

BERMAN: So, one of our favorite astrophysicists, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who I wouldn't call a UFO skeptic, but is -- you know, I think he's someone who would very much like there to be proof of life or visitations out there, he says, do you know how many smartphones there are? There are like 6 billion smartphones in a world. Each one has a high resolution camera and video system. We're crowd sourcing an alien invasion were to one ever occur. I'm not convinced it's aliens but it's a fun mystery. Go check it out. Go look for it.

If you're abducted you could stream that. And then he tweeted, you know, cute cat videos go viral instantly. Nearly 7 billion smartphones in the world. Imagine video of an extraterrestrial ship landing with aliens disembarking. I'm thinking that would go viral, too.

Basically what' he's saying is, if - if there are visitations and spaceships and the like, don't you think we'd get a better look at them than the grainy video that we're showing up here on the wall?

CARSON: Well, I'm - I'm a big fan of his work, and he's certainly on to something. To add on to that, I mean, we have over 4,000 satellites orbiting the earth. Certainly, if not from our footage, some other country would have caught a UFO entering the earth's atmosphere. But the greater question is, could these sightings be inter dimensional? We don't know. Stay tuned.

BERMAN: Could they be inter dimensional.

[09:50:00]

Stay tuned.

But that -- that's where I get hung up here because if these sightings are legit, why is it in our d block? I mean if these sightings are legit, if spaceships are visiting, how come Congress is holdings any hearings on post office appropriations? I mean wouldn't this be everything you were doing?

CARSON: Hello. I mean, I'm - I'm in agreement. Certainly when I think about Indianapolis and my district, we're thinking about jobs, the economy and growing our tech sector and - and - and eliminating food deserts.

But I'm interested in new information that may come out of this hearing, plus more conversations in the future. Hopefully it continues to receive the thoughtful bipartisan analysis it certainly deserves.

BERMAN: Congressman Andre Carson, thank you so much for being with us. As we both know from Mulder and Scully, the truth is out there.

Thank you.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: John Berman, I hope you never change. Great interview.

All right, coming up next, promising new data of a first of its kind post-partem depression pill. What researchers found and what it could mean for new mothers.

Plus, investigators say that they have found new evidence, and a lot of it, in the Gilgo Beach murder case after searching the suspect's home for days. We'll have the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

Soon the FDA could approve a new post-partem depression drug that's been shown to help struggling new moms. The drug is a daily pill that's been granted priority review by the FDA. And the drug's makers are hoping to help the one in eight women who the CDC says report symptoms of depression after giving birth. Post-partem depression can last for up to a year after birth. But a recent trial shows that this new drug is safe and effective for new moms.

I want to bring in CNN's Jacqueline Howard. She joins us.

Jacqueline, as we said, this could help a lot of people. What did the researchers find in this - this latest trial?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yeah, Rahel. I mean this study not only showed that the drug was safe and effective, but it showed that it works for some patients within three days, which is much faster than some of the most commonly used antidepressants that some post-partem depression patients are prescribed.

So what this study did, it looked at more than 190 women with post- partem depression. Among those who took Zuranolone, that's this drug, for one day, for a daily -- it was a daily pill for 14 days, by day 15, 57 percent of those women who took the daily pill Zuranolone saw a high improvement in their depressive symptoms. An improvement of 50 percent or more. Among the women who took a placebo, only 38 percent saw that high improvement in their depressive symptoms.

And what this tell us, Rahel, if that this pill, if it is approved by the FDA, it will be the first drug specifically indicated for postpartum depression that's administered as an oral treatment, as a daily pill that you can take at home. And it will be the second medication approved specifically for postpartum depression. The first medication is called Zulresso, and that's administered as an IV infusion. So, this does appear, Rahel, to be a big step for postpartum depression treatment.

[09:55:02]

All eyes are on the FDA decision, which is expected on August 5th.

SOLOMON: OK, so a lot to watch there.

HOWARD: Exactly.

SOLOMON: Jacqueline Howard, great to have you. Thank you.

John.

BERMAN: All right, just minutes from now Hunter Biden in federal court, expected to plead guilty to tax and - well, to tax charges. A judge must agree to that agreement. This is developing now.

And an investigation now underway into the mysterious deaths of three Marines. What we know after they were all found in the same car in North Carolina.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

We have some breaking news just in to CNN. A jury in the U.K. has reached a verdict in actor Kevin Spacey's sexual assault trial. He has been found not guilty on all counts of sexual assault.

[10:00:00]

I want to bring in CNN's Salma Abdelaziz. She joins us now from London.

Salma, this verdict coming out a short time ago. What else are you learning?