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Biden Says The Single Most Important Thing Is To Beat Trump; Rep. Justin Amash (R) Michigan Says Trump Has Engaged In Impeachable Conduct; Times Square Billboard Bursts Into Flames; 70 Plus Million Under Severe Weather Threat This Weekend; Mayor Mark Bogen (D) Broward County, Florida Says Bring Migrants To Trump Hotels; Two Florida Voter Databases Hacked By Russians In 2016; "Champions For Change" Focuses on Kevin Hines Who Helps Others Through Suicide Prevention; Pregnant Woman is Lured in for Free Baby Supplies and Murdered. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 18, 2019 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We choose hope over fear, truth over lies, and, yes, unity over division. So, folks, it's time for us to lift our heads up, open our hearts and remember who we are. We are the United States of America. I mean this. There's not a single thing we cannot do if we do it together.

We lead by the power of our example, not by the example of our power. The only thing you can tear America apart is America itself, and we cannot let that happen.

Will we be the ones to let the government of, by and for the people perish on the face of the earth? Would we let that happen? Would we dare let that happen? Absolutely not, and we will not. I will not. You will not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANA CABRERA, CNN NEWSROOM: Biden also spent a lot of time namedropping his former boss. You might have heard of the guy. He used to work in the Oval Office. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Barack Obama was an extraordinary man, an extraordinary person. I watched up close. He has character, courage and vision. He was a president our children could and did look up to. He was a great president.

Consensus is not a weakness. It's the only way our founders down the road there thought it was the long way we could govern. It was necessary. It was designed the way the constitution sits. It requires consensus. You know, I did it when I was a senator. It's what I did as your Vice President, work with Barack Obama. And it's what I will do as your President.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: Now, finally, Biden threw plenty of shade at the guy currently occupying the White House, opening fire with insults and zingers aimed squarely at President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Folks, let me tell you something. The single most important thing we have to accomplished to get this done, the single most important thing we have to accomplished is defeat Donald Trump.

As long as Donald Trump is in the White House -- as long as Donald Trump is in the White House, none of these things, these critical things are going to get done. So you ought to know what the first and most important plan in my climate proposal is, beat Trump. Beat Trump. Beat Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Biden's kickoff event today squaring him up to face all 22 of his democratic rivals running for president, a whole lot of contenders.

Here in New York with me now, Democratic Strategist and former Clinton White House Aide, Keith Boykin, and host of S.E. Cupp Unfiltered right here on CNN next hour,

S.E. Cupp.

Okay. On a scale of one to ten, S.E., one being Trump should pick out new drapes for his White House Oval Office and then being, you know, bring out the moving boxes, how do you think Biden did in his speech?

S.E. CUPP, CNN S.E. CUPP UNFILTERED: Eight. Look, if the general election were tomorrow, I think Biden would clean the floor with President Trump. His problem is he has to get through a primary. And while I like his message, and I think that message resonates with a lot of people in the country, a message of unity and hope and on the optimism, I think there are a lot of people in his own party that are angry and aren't really here for the comedy, aren't here for the talk of unity.

I mean, you just remember democrats very recently sort of dragged Joe Biden for saying something nice about Mike Pence, for saying something nice once about Dick Cheney. It's so tribal now in both parties that I don't know if his own party is really interested in that kind of message. We'll have to see.

CABRERA: What do you think, Keith? Did he thread that needle of firing up the passion in people in the democratic base at the same time, you know, presenting himself as a healer and a unifier?

KEITH BOYKIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you know, he gave a very strong speech. So I think it was a traditional democratic speech. You could imagine a democrat giving a in 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999, 2009 --

CABRERA: So he's showing his age, you're saying. BOYKIN: I'm not even saying that. I'm saying this is the type of speech that democrats have been giving for 50 years.

CABRERA: Yes.

BOYKIN: The question is we are in 2019, and is this the speech that democrats want right now?

CABRERA: Right.

BOYKIN: I don't entirely agree with S.E. that democrats want somebody who is angry at republicans, but I think democrats want somebody who recognizes that republicans haven't been willing to work with democrats over the past several years. So I think they want somebody who is realistic about what they are facing.

And when Biden talks about let's work together in comedy and unity is not a bad thing. Yes, we all agree on that, but we're dealing with a party where Mitch McConnell said his top priority was to make Barack Obama number one president, a one-term president, and a party that wouldn't even allow Barack Obama to have his Supreme Court nominee get a vote.

[17:05:02]

So Biden knows that because he was there. Barack Obama knows that too because he was there. And I think a lot of democrats are saying, we tried that be nice routine before and it didn't get us anything. So let's have a president who is going to be realistic about the obstacles we're going to face with the Republican Party.

CUPP: I think that is the existential crisis, right? You put them up, there is 23 people running and that's the existential crisis. Do democrats want republicans to pay for the past, you know, ills, their grievances for Merrick Garland, for all kinds of things, or do they want the country to heal?

And I don't think you can be all things to all people. I think someone like Beto is trying to sort of take the optimistic road. He's trying to sort of be like Biden, a more hopeful message, a young messenger.

CABRERA: (INAUDIBLE) also talking about love.

CUPP: That's right. And then you've got the Elizabeth Warrens who are decidedly more strident, and, yes, I think angry. And there is a lot of talk of punishment. Punishing, you know, corporatists, punishing Wall Street, punishing X, Y, Z. I think the party is going to have to figure out which is the winning message. You can't do them both.

CABRERA: One thing I thought was really interesting was that Biden seem to embrace the strong economy. He isn't shying away from an issue that could be the President's biggest strength. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BIDEN: I know President Trump likes to take credit for the economy and the economic growth and the low unemployment numbers, but just look at the facts, not the alternative facts. President Trump inherited an economy from Obama/Biden administration. That was given to him just like he inherited everything else in his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Do you think that was a smart move for him to talk about the economy and take on Trump on this issue?

BOYKIN: Absolutely. He has more authority to talk about it than any other candidate in the race actually because he was part of the Obama/Biden team that inherited a recession, the great recession from President Bush. The economy was losing 800,000 jobs a month when Barack Obama and Joe Biden took office in January of 2009.

When they left office and turned over the keys to Donald Trump, we were gaining 200,000 jobs a month. That was an incredible turnaround from an economy where we are experiencing financial collapse, where they bail out the banks, where they bail out auto industry. GM was on the verge of collapse.

And when we left office -- when they left office, the unemployment rate had been cut in half. Jobs were starting to come back in a number of different sectors. We started to see also that the deficit had been cut in half. And now, Trump inherited all this, yes, but has he actually taken advantage of it or has he squandered it?

I think the argument that Biden is making is that Trump has squandered it. The middle class incomes are barely rising. They're just starting to rise a little bit after that.

CABRERA: But they are rising. The unemployment rate is continuing to drop. It's the lowest level in half a century.

BOYKIN: But here's the thing. Unemployment was going down before -- this is what's so crazy about what Trump inherited. If you look at the black unemployment rate, Trump always talks about this is the lowest rate in history. The black unemployment rate was cut in half under the Obama administration from 16.8 percent to 7.8 percent, and it has come down from 7.8 percent to 6.8 percent under Donald Trump. That's a very infinitesimal drop compared to where it was going before. And so a trend line that he inherited from Barack Obama. So if a democrat had been in office right instead of a republican, the democrat would have gotten credit for it, but Trump gets credit for it because he walked in at the last minute.

CUPP: The reality is voters don't look at trend lines. And, well, everything you are saying might be true, I just don't think that's how a lot of voters are going to approach the economy. And when it comes to the economy, democrats have got to deal with tough hands this election because it's good. We shouldn't lament that. Of the ways you could handle it, I think Biden's is a better one because you can't say, most people aren't feeling it, some people aren't feeling it. I just -- I think that's a bad tactic. CABRERA: I want to ask you about some breaking news we're just getting in. A republican congress member has broken rank and officially calling for impeachment of President Trump. Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan has just posted a lengthy thread on Twitter, and let me read some of it too.

He writes, Here are my principle conclusions. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented the Mueller report. President Trump has engaged in impeachment conduct. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances. A few members of Congress have read the report. So he's weighing in on the Mueller report, which he says he went through in a thorough fashion. In contrary to Barr's portrayal, Mueller's report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a behavior of -- a pattern of behavior that meets the threshold for impeachment.

He goes on to say that, in fact, Mueller's report identifies multiple examples of conducts satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice, and undoubtedly, any person who is not the President of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence.

[17:10:01]

S.E., is this significant since he is a republican?

CUPP: Sure. Justin Amash has not been afraid to sort of be on a lonely island criticizing the President since he took office. To what effect, his argue is questionable because as one -- as one person, he really hasn't been able to muster a lot of support around his positions. Occasionally, you'll have Ben Sasse weigh in on a sort of similar line. But it's a good thing that a republican is standing up and saying what he thinks is right, even though he must know he will not have the backing of the majority of his party.

CABRERA: Keith, he's going further than some democrats.

BOYKIN: He is. And I think it's important to understand how these procedures work. If you look back at the impeachment proceedings for Richard Nixon in the 1970s, a year before Nixon was impeached, 19 percent of Americans thought that Nixon should be impeached, only 19 percent after they had already started the work (ph) in impeachment proceedings. It wasn't until a year into the hearings when the majority of Americans believed that Richard Nixon should be impeached.

So democrats who are sitting back and saying, oh, only 30 percent or 40 percent of Americans think that Trump should be impeached, that's a higher number than you thought that Nixon should be impeached when Nixon impeachment proceedings began in the 1970s. So if you have republicans who are now saying that the President has engaged in impeachable --

CUPP: A republican.

BOYKIN: A republican.

CUPP: Yes. BOYKIN: But, you know, there are numbers out there who were not elected who were saying the same thing.

CUPP: Sure, yes.

BOYKING: And as long as you know that that's the case, and you know that Donald Trump is violating the law, and you know the consequences of not holding him accountable are that other presidents and this president will feel more emboldened. Then I think this gives democrats more ammunition to after Trump and to hold him accountable in an impeachment proceeding, if you will.

CABRERA: Well, remember, Amash is from Michigan, a state Trump won. That was one of the --

BOYKIN: By 10,700 votes.

CABRERA: Exactly, which was a huge blow to democrats though. And Trump won is a fact that Amash, I would assume, is also reading the politics in his home state. That's significant, isn't it? If you are the president, should he be worried about Michigan?

CUPP: Yes, 1,000 percent, and it's why people like Joe Biden, I think, are going to do really well moving through the rust belt, going through the Midwest. I think there is a real opportunity, and democrats know it, to sort of reverse those pickups that Trump got in 2016 because democrats had a weaker candidate. This time around, they might not.

CABRERA: Okay. Thank you both, Keith Boykin, S.E. Cupp. S.E. will be back, of course, at the top of the hour with S.E. Unfiltered, 6:00 P.M. Eastern here on CNN.

Tornadoes are destroying homes in a severe weather outbreak through multiple states. We're just getting some more images and more than 30 have touched down. And the worst could be yet to come when a second round is expected to hit. That's next.

And we also have this just in, a billboard catching fire in Times Square, what we're learning about the cause. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00]

CABRERA: We have this just in. A billboard at one of the world's most iconic corners literally on fire, you're looking at pictures of an electronic billboard four stories high in the heart of Times Square in New York City burst into flame this afternoon. According to the New York Fire Department, the blaze did not extend to the building connected to it. That's good news. And no injuries reported. Fire, we're told, is now under control. The cause is still under investigation.

Now to that wicked weekend weather menacing the country's midsection. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The road in front of us, a semi over the road. Good night. Look at that. It just now knocked the semi over. We're going to check on this driver.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Storm chasers did manage to free that driver. This tornado was 1 of 34 since yesterday morning. Another tornado destroyed homes near Geronimo, Oklahoma this morning. The National Weather Service confirms this damage was done by an EF-2 tornado. And look at this destruction. It's amazing that emergency responders tell us no one was seriously injured.

Looking now at Abilene, Texas, it's under an emergency declaration right now after high winds roared through this morning. A nursing home had to be evacuated. Several businesses were damaged. Brace yourself. This isn't over yet.

I want to bring in CNN Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera. Ivan, this thing is more than 70 million people from Texas to Minnesota on edge.

IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's the threat, no question about it, Ana. This has been ongoing, as you mentioned since yesterday. This is day two. We're going to be in day three tomorrow, and then some heading into the early part next week.

The 70 million you mentioned, that is the area that's under threat. Specifically though under tornado watches, we have essentially north of 30 million people from San Antonio heading into Little Rock and into Southern Missouri. The tornado watch means be prepared for tornadoes. When you get a warning, that means you have to take action.

And we've had certainly warnings throughout the day today. 650 miles of the tornado watch, and then the threat expands all the way up as far as the thunderstorms into Chicago, more than 1,100 miles. You get the idea. It's a big scope as far as the thunderstorm coverage.

Dallas getting rocked. North of 80,000 people now without power in Dallas as a result of the thunderstorm activity that rolled through, and these weren't even tornadoes, just straight line winds that will bring down power lines easily with 80-100 mile-an-hour winds coming through. This is the area for the remainder of tonight and then to the early part of tomorrow, so from Eastern Texas, all the way into Chicago, the potential for damaging winds, tornadoes and very large hail.

Then tomorrow, the area expands to the north and expands to the east. And I think even D.C. is in the crosshairs for the potential of strong storms. I just don't think tomorrow will be the kind of outbreak we've had the last couple of days.

Monday, this is an entirely different storm. That is going to be coming in from the west, and that is also going to be wreaking havoc, I think, heading into Monday afternoon. Before the remainder of this evening, there you see the thunderstorms, these will have the potential to be quite strong and quite violent. So make sure your weather alerts are up, because this is going to be happening as we hit through the overnight hours and into the early part of tomorrow as the threat, as I mentioned, begins to then expand further to the north and to the east.

I just want to break this down as far as what you expect through the remainder of today. So, again, ongoing threats, south to the Midwest, power outages are going to be ongoing, the potential for flooding and damaging wind there with tornadoes, and that threat, as I mentioned, Ana, then begins to move to the east. We are on day three tomorrow, and then with a new storm by Monday.

CABRERA: Okay, it's not over yet. We'll, of course, stay on top of it.

[17:20:01]

Ivan Cabrera, please keep us posted and thank you for that updated.

Two Florida counties are bracing for an influx of migrants that they didn't ask for, and can't pay to support, so one official is floating this as a solution, Trump hotels as shelters for immigrant families. Is he being serious? I'll ask him next. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: An elected official in Florida is suggesting one way to house and feed sudden -- a sudden influx of immigrants that could be heading into his county, he says, is take them all to Trump hotels and ask the President to open up his heart and home to the scores of migrant families being sent all over the country. The official floating this idea is Mark Bogen, the mayor of Broward County, Florida, and Mayor Bogen is is here with us now.

You were being facetious, at least I think so, when you suggested housing immigrants at Trump hotels. But, really, this illustrates a challenge you are potentially going to

face if you receive hundreds of people, perhaps thousands released from detention on the U.S.-Mexican border. You don't have any designated shelters. You don't have any special funding. What are you going to do?

MAYOR MARK BOGEN, BROWARD COUNTY (D-FL): Well, that's a really good question, Ana. I mean, you know, being told that 135 people are coming here every week with no food, no money, no shelter. We don't know the health condition of anybody.

[17:25:01]

We don't know if they are seniors, we don't know if they're children, we don't know if they are adults, not have any clue, no information except one thing. We have been told 135 every week, 500 a month for Broward County, 500 a month for Palm Beach County, and it's a humanitarian crisis in the waiting.

CABRERA: So if not your county though, some other county or city will need to help take care of these people. So why shouldn't Broward help shoulder the burden?

BOGEN: No. I mean, 1,000 people, we've been told, will be coming every month, half going to our county, half going to Palm Beach County. Look, Broward County is a county of many nationalities. We're welcoming. We're inclusive, but you need a plan. You need to be organized. You need funding. You need resources, and otherwise it's going to be a disaster and a humanitarian crisis.

The way that we have been told it is now, is that they're just looking to be a tent city. Because if you don't have resources and you don't have anywhere to go -- right now, our homeless shelters are full and we don't have structures for people. So you need a plan and you need some type of organized system in which to receive people.

CABRERA: Why do you think your county, as well as Palm Beach County, were selected?

BOGEN: That's a good question. You know, first of all, the President said in April, I believe he said he was going to send people, migrants to sanctuary cities. Now, in March, 2017, our county commission voted that while we are a welcoming county, an inclusive county, we are not a sanctuary county. So the only reason I could believe that he's going to send them to Broward County is because we're a very democratic county here in Florida, and maybe it's just out of vindictiveness. I don't know. But I believe that would be the reason.

CABRERA: One official says that they were looking for places that have temporary detention facilities, adequate computer systems to be able to process the immigrants upon arrival, and that those locations just happened to be primarily along the northern and coastal border. Does that make sense to you?

BOGEN: No. I mean, Broward County, we're the 15th largest county in the United States, but we don't have facilities. I mean, right now, as I mentioned, our homeless facilities are full. We don't have detention facilities to put people in. And, again, without planning, without money and without resources, you're asking that you're going to create a tent city.

And that's when I made my off the cuff comment that if the administration wants to create a tent city, then let's get a bus and bring them over to his hotel. It was kind of an off the cuff comment but, you know, let the President open up his heart and home as well as he's asking us to open our heart and home.

CABRERA: Even Florida's Governor, a republican, Ron DeSantis, is against what he calls dumping undocumented immigrants in Broward County or anywhere in Florida. He says he was caught off guard by this plan. Are you working with the Governor's Office, and is this a time perhaps when democrats and republicans can put politics aside to solve this, what you are calling a humanitarian crisis? BOGEN: Well, the one great thing is politics have been put aside. When this happened, we wanted to know, you know, what do our federal elected officials know, what do our state officials know? So we contacted our U.S. senators, we contacted our congressmen, we contacted Governor DeSantis' Office. Nobody knew anything. There was no information, it just emanated. And one thing which is great is, you know, the republicans and democrats all have worked together on this, and were talking together about what we can do.

So this really is not a democratic or a republican problem. This is a humanitarian problem, and that's what we need to focus on. But we're all trying to work together. We're just not getting any information.

CABRERA: Let me ask you a different subject, because and you are there in Florida, obviously, a big county, Broward County. What is your reaction to the new revelations that not one, but two, Florida counties had voter registration systems hacked in 2016, and important to point out that the vote counting systems were not hacked according to officials?

BOGEN: It's pretty scary. It's pretty scary when you know that your voter registration system has been hacked. We have been told that it's not Broward County. I don't know if that's not a fact or not. They're not released the names of the counties that have been hacked. But it makes us more apt to get more security features and we have been inquiring from our Supervisor of Elections what we need to do to have security precautions, to protect the voters and the voters' wishes of who should be elected.

CABRERA: Real quickly, you said, we've been told Broward County was not hacked. Who told you that? Was it the FBI? Was it the DHS?

BOGEN: You know, I honestly forgot. We were being informed about whether it was Broward. I believe, and I might be wrong, I think it was somebody in the Supervisor Elections Office that we believe it wasn't Broward County, but, you know --

[17:30:06]

CABRERA: And do you know which two countries that were hacked, which they are?

BOGEN: No. For some reason -- again, it's, like, no one's releasing any information.

Just like the situation here with the migrant issue. Now we have just recently, in the past 12 hours, we were told that maybe this whole issue with the migrant issue may be just a contingency plan.

And so nobody's calling our county. Nobody's calls our administrator or anybody from the federal government to give us any information.

So whether it talks about the issue with the voting or the issue with the migrant, nobody calls. We have not received one phone call letting us know more information.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Maybe they're watching.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: Mayor Mark Bogen, really appreciate you joining us. Thanks.

BOGEN: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

CABRERA: The day Kevin Hines attempted suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, he told himself that he wouldn't follow through with it if one person was kind to him. After surviving, he is now dedicating his life to showing others compassion. We'll show you Dr. Sanjay Gupta's "CHAMPION FOR CHANGE," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:34:57] CABRERA: All this week, we have been bringing you stories of some incredible people who are true "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE."

You're about to meet a man who made a lasting impact in our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. In 2000, Kevin Hines tried to end his life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Not only did Kevin survive, but he has dedicated his life to suicide prevention.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(LAUGHTER)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I thought you might like this.

KEVIN HINES, SUICIDE SURVIVOR: Oh, my brother. This is amazing.

GUPTA: The thing that you've been fighting for, for nearly 20 years, there it is.

I know -- I know this is emotional, but this -- this is -- this is in large part because of you, man.

I think we tend to be very reductionist when we cover stories. It's very binary, here's what happened, here's the outcome. I think what Kevin Hines and this story did for me was make me realize that the shades of gray in between stories aren't things that you should just dismiss.

GUPTA (voice over): No detail is too small, especially with the story like the one I'm about to tell you.

On September 25, 2000, 19-year-old Kevin Hines walked to the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge and jumped.

HINES: So, you know, I'm falling headfirst and I -- I immediately recognize, if I hit headfirst, I will die. I hit the water and the impact reverberated through my legs and it just shattered my T-12, L-1 and L-2. When you hit from that height at that speed, it's like hitting a solid brick wall.

GUPTA (on camera): And what did you -- what did you -- what was going through your mind?

HINES: The very millisecond my hands left the rail and my legs cleared it, instant regret. Instantaneous regret.

I just wish I could go back in time.

GUPTA (voice over): Kevin and I first met back in 2003. His was one of the first stories I reported at CNN.

GUPTA (on camera): Why did you come here? Why the Golden Gate Bridge?

HINES: I was under the impression that it was the easiest way to die.

GUPTA (voice over): Over the last two decades, the suicide rate in the United States has gone up 33 percent. That makes it the number-two cause of death in this country for people age 10 to 34. And over that same time period, 537 people have died after jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Kevin Hines has spent the last 16 years trying to change those tragic numbers. His singular goal, to get a net placed on this beautiful bridge, a barrier to stop someone from dying, someone like him.

HINES: What are the aesthetics of a bridge compared to one human life? What if that was your mom or your dad?

GUPTA (on camera): This is the place where you jumped.

HINES: Yes. This is the place where I lived.

GUPTA: I love that.

What surprised me then, and still surprises me now, is this story that Kevin tells about the day that he jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. He made this -- this pact with himself, which was that if anybody basically is kind to me, if anybody looks at me and says, what's wrong, can I help you, wants to be compassionate in some way, if anybody had done that for him, he wouldn't have jumped.

That stuck with me and I think it's -- I think in some ways it has influenced and directed a lot of the other stories that I do. It's never about a single individual. It's always about the circle of individuals, the ecosystem of society as a whole.

In some ways you look like a totally different person.

HINES: Yes.

GUPTA: I mean, first of all, just physically. I mean both of us, I mean, in some ways, I think, look better now, you know?

I think Kevin first got me thinking about this idea that if someone drops, all of a sudden, in front of you from a cardiac arrest, most people would have some idea of what to do, call 911, you know, start pushing on the chest. But if someone is clearly in trouble from mental illness, somebody who may be clearly suicidal, not only do we often not know what to do, we often turn the other way.

HINES: Today is our gift.

GUPTA: Kevin Hines won't admit this, but he has probably saved many, many lives. People who thought nobody cared and then Kevin Hines shows up and says, I love you, I care about you, I understand the pain that you're feeling and there's something that we can do about it.

Let's go check this out together.

HINES: Yes, man, let's do it.

GUPTA (voice over): And, today, I get to show him that his story, his fight, has meant something. That net is finally going up.

[17:39:58] HINES: That's the net. That's it. It's going up on the Golden Gate as of 2021. Not one more death by someone's hands off the Golden Gate Bridge. This is one of the most special days of my life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Don't you just feel that?

We have more inspiring stories tonight. Don't miss a one-hour prime- time special hosted by Sanjay. That's at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

At least seven states, multiple bills. It's just the latest challenge for federal abortion protection under Roe v. Wade. What's the likelihood this issue could make it to the Supreme Court, and when?

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:44:56] CABRERA: Both Missouri's House and Senate have voted to pass a restrictive bill that prohibits abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy. The next step is to get the bill certified and on the desk of the governor. All of this on the heels of Alabama's passage of a near-total ban of abortion this week. This is just the latest challenge to more than 40 years of federal abortion protection under Roe v. Wade.

CNN legal analyst, Joan Biskupic, is joining us now. She's also the author of a new book, "The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice John Roberts."

Joan, our colleague, CNN legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, had quite the prediction last year when it comes to this issue. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Let's talk about what America is going to be like that's different. You are going to see 20 states pass laws banning abortion outright, just banning abortion. And because they know that there are now going to be five votes on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. And abortion will be illegal in a significant part of the United States in 18 months. There's just no doubt about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joan, what is the reality of where this goes from here? When could this reach the Supreme Court?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: OK. So let me just start by saying that none of the laws in this recent chapter we have had, from Alabama, from Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio, the ones where they're talking bans for six-week fetal heartbeat bans, those are not going to ever be able to take effect as the law is written now.

Because the Supreme Court -- the current Supreme Court -- has said that government cannot put an undue burden on a woman's right to end a pregnancy before the fetus is viable, and that's at about 24 weeks, is when it starts.

Everything that you are seeing right now will not take effect actually because there's not a single lower court judge or court that could do that without outright defying the current Supreme Court. So it's going to take a while. It's going to take some years for those bans to be tested on the merits.

But, Ana, I have to tell you about an earlier chapter of abortion regulations that are now at the Supreme Court, pending, and could be taken up --

CABRERA: Right.

BISKUPIC: -- at any point over the next couple of months. And those are ones that restrict access to abortion and could slowly undermine the 1973 Roe v. Wade. And they could have a crucial effect on abortion rights, but not do the ultimate showdown that we will be watching for in three to five years.

CABRERA: So who are the key justices you'll be watching on the upcoming issue, and beyond?

BISKUPIC: First of all, Justice Kavanaugh, who replaced Anthony Kennedy, the key fifth vote to uphold abortion rights back in 1992, and more recently in 2016. We'll have to see where Brett Kavanaugh goes.

But I think the real center justice who controls everything now would be Chief Justice John Roberts. He has now moved to the ideological center of this Supreme Court on abortion rights. And Ana, what you should know is that he has always voted for abortion regulations. Tough abortion regulations. He has a narrow idea of abortion rights.

But as the center of the court and the chief justice, he is concerned about the court's legitimacy and its stature and could inch in the other direction now.

CABRERA: All right, we'll be witchingly closely. Joan Biskupic, always good to have you with us.

BISKUPIC: Thanks.

CABRERA: Thank you for your expertise. It's very much appreciated. Thank you.

BISKUPIC: Thank you.

CABRERA: A couple of "CNN Heroes" join forces to help a young girl. Amanda Boxtel is one of these heroes. She assists people who have mobility impairment. And Ricardo Pun-Chong provides free housing and support for sick children and their families while they receive medical treatment. Together, they work to deliver the gift of mobility to a child at Ricardo's shelter in Peru.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA BOXTEL, CNN HERO: He sent me a video of a little girl who is 8 years old, named Doleska (ph). She has cerebral palsy. She's been in a stroller for her whole life. It's time, don't you think, for her to have a wheelchair to call her own?

Look what we have for Doleska (ph). We had to think of everything because, you know, she's going to grow with this wheelchair.

RICARDO PUN-CHONG, CNN HERO: This chair is fantastic. Doleska (ph) is going to be so happy. She's going to have a better life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: To nominate someone you think should be a "CNN Hero," go to CNNheroes.com.

A pregnant teenager thought she was picking up baby items from a person she met on Facebook, but police say a mother and daughter duo lured her to her death to take her baby. The disturbing details coming up.

[17:49:51] You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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CABRERA: Welcome back.

We're learning disturbing new details about the murder of a pregnant 19-year-old Chicago woman. Police say her killers plotted for weeks before they attacked. According to court documents, the suspects lured the young mother into her home and then strangled her and removed her unborn baby.

CNN's Jean Casarez has more.

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JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chicago police say these two women are responsible for the murder of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, forcibly removing her baby from her womb.

EDDIE JOHNSON, SUPERINTENDENT, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: I really cannot express how disgusting and thoroughly disturbing these allegations are.

CASAREZ: Forty-six-year-old Clarissa Figueroa and her daughter, Desiree, are charged in the strangling death of Ochoa-Lopez. The elder's Figueroa's boyfriend has also been charged with concealment of the crime.

Ochoa-Lopez was nine months pregnant when she disappeared last month. Her body was found May 14th on the suspect's property.

JOHNSON: It was there that detectives finally located the remains of a female in a trashcan that were later verified to be 19-year-old mother-to-be, Marlen Ochoa.

CASAREZ: Clarissa Figueroa responded to the 19-year-old's social media post for baby items and allegedly lured her to her home with an offer of baby clothes and other items. The two met on April 23rd, hours later, a 911 call from the home, not from the mother-to-be, but from the now defendant, Figueroa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE EMERGENCY MEDICAL RESPONDER (voice-over): The caller gave birth 10 minutes ago, 46 years of age, the baby isn't breathing.

[17:55:01] CASAREZ: The next day, Ochoa-Lopez's husband reported Marlen missing but it wasn't until May 7th when the case took a turn after a friend of the victim told detectives about Ochoa-Lopez's Facebook chat site where authorities found exchanges with Figueroa. This led officials to Figueroa's home where they spoke to her daughter.

DET. BRENDAN DEENIHAN, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: They talked to Desiree for a while. And they are able to kind of solicit from Desiree, well, where is your mom at. They continued to talk to her and talk to her, and Desiree says, well, my mom also did just deliver a baby.

CASAREZ: Police interviewed Figueroa at the hospital where she claimed the baby was hers and admitted to knowing the victim saying she gave her baby clothes in the past but denied seeing her on the 23rd. She was arrested after DNA evidence showed she was not the mother of the child.

UNIDENTIFIED FAMILY MEMBER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CASAREZ: Ochoa-Lopez's family say they want justice for their only daughter.

All three defendants were denied bond.

Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CABRERA: I'm Ana Cabrera, in New York. Thanks for being here. I'll see you one hour from now.

My colleague, S.E. Cupp, continues our coverage of today's news right after a quick break.

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