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Family Friend Now Person Of Interest In Missing TX Girl Case; U.S. Vetoed Proposed Resolution For "Immediate Ceasefire" In Gaza; NASA Looking For Volunteers To Simulate Living On Mars. Aired 11:30a- 12p ET

Aired February 20, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The area and of -- and of course, they continue to search. Now, he also mentioned that the person of interest, Don McDougal, on the day of the disappearance, he actually searched this area for this little girl. According to the sheriff, he was knocking on doors asking if anybody had seen this little girl in this area.

Now, this is the area where I'm live right now. This is the area where she was supposed to take the bus to go to school. And the sheriff says, of course, that she never made it to the bus stop. She never made it to school.

And he says -- the sheriff says that he knows that Don McDougal, the person of interest, knows more than he's saying. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYON LYONS, SHERIFF, POLK COUNTY, TEXAS: The missing part of this is, is that Mr. MacDougal will not stand up and tell us where that baby's at. That's the missing piece. I truly believe that he knows where she's at.

FLORES: How big of a responsibility does that weigh on you to make sure that those charges stick once you do find the evidence to charge him or anybody, you know?

LYONS: It is a weight that is unbelievable. Most folks would never ever feel the responsibility that a lot of -- that some of us have to bear.

FLORES: Have you cried over this?

LYONS: Several nights. Several days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, Sara, he says that he has cried. A lot of people in this community have cried. A lot of people in this community have volunteered to try to find this little girl. They've searched the wooded areas, by water and near that dam where they found the backpack. And, of course, those search efforts continue. I should mention that the sheriff says that they believe and that McDougal admitted to being the last person who saw this little girl. That they left the home -- because this man lives in the back of the house where Audrii Cunningham lived. That they left together. And this little girl is nowhere to be found.

And now, I have to add this, Sara. We have tried to contact McDougal's attorney, and he has no attorney of record. And we have tried to contact his family. We have not been able to get a comment on this.

And it's very important for me to note that he is in custody right now but on an unrelated case. He has not been charged in connection to this little girl's disappearance, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: I know the family is just beside themselves looking for Audri. She's just 11 years old. And there are pictures that we've been showing of her in case anyone there in that community is watching and sees this little girl who continues to be missing with someone a person of interest that the police are now talking with.

Rosa Flores, thank you for all your reporting. That's great stuff. Fred?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: I'll take it. Alabama's highest court has ruled that frozen embryos are children and are protected under state law. It's a first-of-its-kind decision and it stems from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by three couples after their frozen embryos were accidentally destroyed. It also comes, as we well know, states across the country are making moves and wrestling with the definition of when life begins.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher has much more on this. She's joining us now. Dianne, what are you learning? What are you hearing about this decision?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kate. Yes, unprecedentedly as you said. This is a seismic ruling that will undoubtedly have a major impact for families in Alabama who are seeking to grow their families through assisted reproductive technology or in vitro fertilization.

Now, there was a lot of uncertainty at this point. People are unsure. There is fear after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos that were created through IVF count as people and therefore, are protected underneath Alabama's wrongful death of a minor Act.

Now, this overturned that lower court ruling that involved couples whose lawsuit states that a patient wandered into the cryopreservation freezer and accidentally dropped their embryos, thus destroying them. The High Court held that the person who dropped those embryos could be held liable in a wrongful death lawsuit. The chief justice in his concurring opinion with the majority quoted the Bible and basically said those three to 5-day-old frozen embryos are the same as any child.

"Carving out an exception for the people in this case, as small as they were, would be unacceptable to the people of this state who required us to treat every human being in accordance with the fear of a holy God who made them in his image." That was an eight-one ruling. The lone dissenting judge noted, "no court anywhere in the country has reached the conclusion the main opinion reaches. And the main opinions holding almost certainly ends the creation of frozen embryos through in vitro fertilization in Alabama."

So, why did he come to that conclusion? Well, look. IVF is a costly procedure emotionally, physically, and financially. And fertility advocacy groups say that they fear that at best, this will make an already cost-prohibitive procedure even more expensive.

[11:35:08]

But they worried that, at worst, it would make it completely inaccessible in Alabama because at its core, IVF typically, the goal is to get as many embryos as possible to give these families a better chance at having a live birth or births. Again, these fertility advocacy groups say that this particular ruling undercuts that goal for IVF.

BOLDUAN: Dianne, thank you so much for laying it out. Let's see where this goes, for sure. Thank you. Fred?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, Kate. In the last hour, the U.S. was the lone country to veto a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Details on the proposal the U.S. is offering instead. Plus, we have a new video of patients being evacuated from one of the few remaining hospitals in Gaza as the IDF takes control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the former emergency department of the National Medical Complex. And it's a death zone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:31]

WHITFIELD: The United States has just vetoed a draft resolution at the U.N. calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The U.S. was the only nation to vote against the proposal, claiming it would have negatively impacted ongoing negotiations in the region. It is the third time the U.S. has vetoed a resolution like this. Instead, the U.S. drafted its own proposal. It does not call for an immediate ceasefire, but for a temporary one as soon as practicable.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is with us right now from the Pentagon. So, Oren, walk us through why the U.S. rejected this proposal and what they want to see happen.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, part of the question here is on the timing and the conditions around a ceasefire. And U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield made it clear that's one of the reasons the U.S. vetoed this resolution, even though all of the other countries except the UK, voted for it, the UK abstained in this case on this vote.

Part of the U.S.'s issue is that a ceasefire right now could disrupt sensitive negotiations that are ongoing to try to secure the release of the hostages. And that's another reason the U.S. vetoed this resolution because it doesn't call for a release of the hostages as part of a call for a ceasefire. Here's what Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in explaining the U.S.'s veto here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: And so, while we cannot support a resolution that would put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy, we look forward to engaging on a text that we believe will address so many of the concerns we all share. A text that can and should be adopted by the council so that we can have a temporary ceasefire as soon as practicable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: Now, that's a big question here. When is as soon as practicable? Because the U.S. resolution -- and it's unclear when exactly this will be put forward, does not call for an immediate ceasefire. Instead, it calls for that ceasefire, as soon as is practicable.

Now, according to Linda Thomas-Greenfield and the White House, this relates to not only the negotiations themselves that are ongoing, even if they don't appear to be on the verge of reaching an agreement here for a temporary ceasefire, but the U.S. has also in its draft resolution calling for more humanitarian aid, as well as calling on Israel not to conduct a ground operation in Rafah in Southern Gaza where more than a million Palestinians have taken refuge in essentially large tent cities that have sprung up to house so many Palestinians here.

So, that's part of the issue here. Again, should that ceasefire be now which the U.S. opposes as these negotiations are ongoing? That is what the U.S. is pushing for here. Progress in negotiations, as well as trying to create pressure on Israel not to carry out its ground operation in Rafah.

Fred, it's also worth pointing out that the U.S. now, it seems comfortable using the words temporary ceasefire. That's something they had avoided until now.

WHITFIELD: That is a distinction. All right. Oren Liebermann, thank you so much. Sara.

SIDNER: Thank you, Fred. A new video is showing the situation at one of Khan Yunis's only functioning hospitals in Gaza. It's worsening. Patients are now being evacuated from Nasser Hospital.

It comes just one day after witnesses told CNN the Israeli military rounded up some of the medical staff there and forced them to strip and wait in the cold for hours. Only five workers were allowed back inside to treat patients. One doctor is describing what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. AHMAD MOGHRABI, HEAD OF PLASTIC & RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY: He took my nurse. They forced him -- they forced him to took off all his clothes in front of all people. And when they took him inside, I heard him. He was screaming from the bench. They used to beat him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN's Nic Robertson is joining us now. Nic, what is the IDF saying about these allegations from people inside of Nasser Hospital? You hear that doctor saying they took his nurse, and they forced him to strip. What are you hearing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the IDF says that they're following the international humanitarian laws of warfare. When they went into this hospital originally, they said that they had leads that there could be hostages. There are hostages buried there. But the IDF says that they've discovered medicine that addressed the hostages but never delivered to them. Now, this appears to be part of an agreement that Qatar helped broker, whereby Israel would send medicine to elderly hostages and sick hostages. So, that didn't seem to get through.

[11:45:06]

But I think from the IDF's perspective -- and they haven't addressed the allegations of -- specifically of people, including doctors being left out in the cold, but they do say that they filtered the displaced people and the medical staff in the hospital and detained more than a hundred people they describe as terrorist suspects. We haven't seen the evidence that would indicate that they are terror suspects. Israel typically takes people like this away for questioning and releases those that it deems safe to release.

So, Israel's reason for going in there seems to be a military one. And, at this time, it remains -- it appears an IDF military base where W.H.O., the World Health Organization, and others are saying that the hospital isn't really effective. And that reconstructive plastic surgeon you heard from there at the beginning of this, he also spoke about the conditions for him and his family while they were under siege at the hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOGHRABI: During the siege over the hospital -- the hospital was by siege, three weeks, I couldn't offer anything to my children. We used to eat only -- you know, only bread. My children, they want some sweets. I couldn't provide some sweets for my children.

My little -- my little girl, three years old, chose to ask me many things, but I couldn't provide my little girl that. So, we used to eat only once a day. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, he is now out of the Nasser Hospital in another hospital in the south of Gaza. But I think you can hear in his voice the emotion and the strain of that period of intense fear trying to provide for his family and failing to be able to do it adequately.

SIDNER: Yes. It's been really difficult for anyone trying to provide any kind of help in some of the hospitals with all that is going on there. Nic Robertson, thank you so much for all the reporting and for your team there in Tel Aviv. Appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes. Coming up for us. NASA is taking applications for people to take part in a year-long simulated mission on Mars. And also, Russia just put Alexei Navalny's brother on a wanted list. Why?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:56]

SIDNER: Just in this morning. The White House will announce major sanctions against Russia on Friday. According to National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby, the sanctions will hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for what happened to Alexei Navalny and for its actions involving the brutal two-year war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Alexei Navalny's mother released an emotional video appealing directly to Russian President Putin. Standing in front of the penal colony where her son died, she pleaded for the release of his body. Also, this morning, Navalny's younger brother has been added to Russia's wanted list for unspecified charges. Kate.

BOLDUAN: OK. Are you a Martian? Do you want to be? NASA is taking applications for a group of people to take part in a year-long simulated mission on Mars. CNN's Tom Foreman, also known as the first applicant, is here with us now --

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BOLDUAN: For more. Can anyone apply? Will they let your kind of nonsense in there?

FOREMAN: Not anyone can apply. Look. You have to be a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident, a nonsmoker, 30 to 55 years of age, a master's degree in STEM or two years of professional experience, and -- or another possibility is a thousand hours of piloting an aircraft.

What are they asking you to do? You're going to be part of a four- person crew if you get selected for this. You will live and work for a year inside this space of 1700 square foot. It's a 3D-printed space.

1700 square feet is not that big but it's not really that small either. And you'll just spend the time there with these people. Very little communication with people back on Earth. And if you do, they'll do the delay, like it would be on Mars where for example, at best, you would send a message, and five minutes later, it would get to Earth, and five minutes later you get the response back. So, pretty isolating challenging environment.

BOLDUAN: 1700 square feet. Yes, it may be larger than your average, you know, starter New York apartment. But you put people -- three other people in there with me in 1700 square feet, they're all going to be like there is not enough room in here. Tom, what --

FOREMAN: Yes. see?

BOLDUAN: What are the -- other than -- other than, you know, pretending they're Martians, what are they actually going to be doing?

FOREMAN: Well, they're going to go on simulated spacewalks, which means they're going to walk around in red dirt as if they're in space. They're going to do robotic operations, habitat maintenance, cleaning things up, exercise, and crop growth. That will be monitored.

When they go outside to do that, it's not like they're going to slip away to Applebee's for lunch. They have to be there and do what they're doing. And I agree, the biggest challenge here -- and the reason they're doing this exactly what you said, Kate. The question is, psychologically, how do we all get along?

We all got a little experiment with this during COVID really. But the question is, can people get along in this environment? Can they get along well?

Look. Like, if it were you, and me, and Fredricka, and say, Evan Perez, you know, we'd be fine. Imagine if Jake Tapper --

SIDNER: Oh, he's going to cut me out.

WHITFIELD: We know that he's going --

FOREMAN: If Jake Tapper were in there, you know --

BOLDUAN: If Sara Sidner was in there --

FOREMAN: Jake could be like this whole, oh, let's talk about the -- let's talk about the electoral college. And we've got Jake, you've talked enough about that. We're in space now.

[11:55:07]

BOLDUAN: Jake can't -- Jake Tapper can't even spend enough -- time in a room alone with himself.

FOREMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Well, those three other people on Mars.

FOREMAN: To the four of us. The four of us -- the four of us together --

SIDNER: I can do it. FOREMAN: What a great time we would have in space.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Let's not -- let's be honest.

WHITFIELD: I don't know.

BOLDUAN: We know that you won't be so well. Could you spend a year stuck in one room with me?

SIDNER: I could do it.

BOLDUAN: You are -- that is you're lying face.

WHITFIELD: Well, I say -- I mean, they have padded walls in there for a reason. Look.

BOLDUAN: Exactly right.

SIDNER: That's true.

WHITFIELD: Padded wall.

FOREMAN: Yes.

SIDNER: How would you get a timeout? Like, how would you tell us like I need some time? I need a minute. You just go into the -- (INAUDIBLE)

(CROSSTALK)

FOREMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: You know what?

SIDNER: Tom, you did invite me --

FOREMAN: I think -- I think we should -- I think we should do it -- I think we should do it, and Kate should be learning to play the bagpipes. I think that would be --

SIDNER: I'm going to bring my guitar. How about that? You guys?

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: She has this employer's thing. Tom Foreman runs ultra marathons. Like, Tom Foreman, you could not survive in this thing. Like you're going to exercise. You need --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Tom would be running the entire year.

FORMEN: All those of ultra-athletes would be good people to put in there.

SIDNER: That's true.

FOREMAN: You know, when you -- (INAUDIBLE) for fun, that's the person you want in there.

WHITFIELD: I know what -- I know what Kate does there.

BOLDUAN: Tom Foreman -- Tom Foreman is a party. I love you guys. I love you, Tom.

SIDNER: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right.

SIDNER: Thank you for joining us. This is not a lying face, by the way. "INSIDE POLITICS," watch. I will be right about this. It's up next.

BOLDUAN: Lying face.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)