Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CDC Subcommittee Votes On Priority Groups For Next Vaccinations; First Shipment Of Moderna Vaccine Leaves Distribution Facility; Congress On The Brink Of A Deal On $900B COVID Relief Package; Interview With Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) About COVID Relief Bill; Trump Holds Oval Office Meeting; U.K. In Lockdown; Georgia Teen Jailed; CNN Heroes; One Medical Use Of Psychedelics. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 20, 2020 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: They include now frontline essential workers and people 75 and older, not just the elderly in long-term health care facilities. And all this comes as a second coronavirus vaccine is being shipped out right now to all 50 states. The first truckloads of the Moderna vaccine leaving distribution facilities in Mississippi, and now the U.S. is the first country in the world with two vaccines battling the disease.

Meanwhile, Congress may be closing in on a deal for millions of Americans in desperate need of relief. Among the still to be finalized details in the $900 billion package, jobless benefits, money for individuals and small businesses.

It's another dire time. Another 2500 COVID deaths Saturday alone. The U.S. is closing in on 320,000 Americans killed. Nearly 1 out of every 1,000 Americans gone. That's more American lives lost than in any war fought involving U.S. troops and it happened it just 10 short months.

We have a team of reporters covering the latest developments. First, let's talk about the CDC subcommittee just voting on who will receive the next wave of vaccinations in the U.S. Last week's vaccine rollout saw frontline health care workers and those at long-term health care facilities receiving the first doses.

Natasha Chen with us now.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Fred. And in the last 30 minutes or so, this advisory committee voted 13-1 on the next two phases of who should be prioritized for this vaccine. As you just mentioned, we've already been seeing frontline health care workers and long-term care facility residents getting this vaccine already. And so what we're seeing now is what they call the phase 1-B and 1-C that they just voted on.

So let's look at that chart because what they're trying to balance here is saving lives, especially of the vulnerable, as well as making sure society runs well. So, at phase 1-B, that's where most of the committee really agreed on this with no problem. We're talking about people age 75 and up as well as frontline essential workers. That's, you know, teachers, firefighters, policemen, et cetera.

The phase 1-C is kind of where we saw more debate among the committee members today because we're talking about 65 to 74-year-olds. We're talking about younger people with chronic health conditions. And that's where they were debating what exactly -- which conditions should be listed here as the priority. So we're going to find out some more details about that.

But here, take a look at this list of essential workers. This is how it's going to break down between the next phase 1-B and then the people who follow that in 1-C. On the left side you have the frontline essential workers, as I mentioned, emergency responders, teachers, et cetera, about a group of 30 million. And then following them, other essential workers, another 57 million people or so.

So a lot of the discussion today, you could hear in the tone of their voices that they were really hurting to even have to make these decisions. This is all being done because we have limited quantity of the vaccine to start with, but that it will ramp up eventually and hopefully get to the rest of the population in a timely manner -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: So, while there are these categories, it doesn't necessarily spell out the time frame. I mean, for how long are we actually in phase one since all places have not received the first doses even of the Pfizer? And what's the expectation of when this phase two distribution would begin? Are we talking weeks from now or days from now?

CHEN: Yes. Well, that's a great question. I think everybody is eager to find out. You know, what we've seen so far is that thousands of people across the country have already gotten the first shot to the arm this past week and that's a good sign. What they're trying to figure out is if the vaccine distribution is still in some limited fashion, that's what these priority groups are really for.

The secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, estimates that by the end of January we're going to see 50 million people vaccinated but the problem, as you start getting to further and further groups is, for example, one of the committee members today said, when you look at the people with high-risk conditions, that's more than half of the adult population of the U.S. and there clearly aren't that many doses of vaccine spread out across the country yet. So a lot of that we're just going to have to wait and see how fast it goes -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. All right. Still very complex and complicated. Natasha Chen, thank you so much.

All right, let's turn now to the actual rollout of the Moderna vaccine. As of this weekend, nearly six million doses being delivered in the next few days. CNN's Pete Muntean is at a distribution facility in Memphis, Tennessee.

[16:05:05]

Tell us about the details of this rollout. It's a massive one. PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fredricka. You know,

the Moderna vaccine arrived here not all that long ago. In fact, two truck-fulls came here to the Memphis International Airport from McKesson distribution facility, over the state line in Mississippi. On board the vaccine going to 3,000 facilities across the country. Those are places like hospitals, pharmacies, CVS and Walgreen's.

The deliveries there begin tomorrow. This rollout, four times larger than the initial Pfizer vaccine rollout of last week. Six million doses in this shipment, as you mentioned. And the Department of Health and Human Services now says 20 million people could be vaccinated by the end of this month. This is a huge expansion of Operation Warp Speed thanks in part to the Moderna vaccine advantage.

And so the Pfizer vaccine (INAUDIBLE), the Moderna vaccine can actually be stored in a refrigerator or a freezer. A lot more flexibility for rural areas that do not have deep freezers. They don't need extra infrastructures. This is just the start of a massive movement. And you have you to think about the accomplishment here. Two vaccines in just one week's time, now going out to all 50 states and all U.S. territories -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That's quite extraordinary feat, for sure. Pete Muntean, thank you so much in Memphis.

And his location not only a big hub distribution, air and land for FedEx, but it's also right near the Memphis Airport, so that explains the aircraft.

All right, happening right now, we're keeping an eye on Capitol Hill. That's where Congress is now on the brink of a $900 billion coronavirus relief package that could be finalized within hours.

CNN's Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill. So, Manu, any indications from Senate leaders where this deal is?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're still hearing that it's close and the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is pushing for a House vote late tonight. We could expect a very late tonight potentially in the House.

This deal is not done yet. This is a massive proposal. $900 billion that they have put together over the last several days after months of not talking to each other, the two sides cutting a deal -- very close to cutting a deal here that would do a number of things to help people who are suffering from this pandemic, including providing more than $300 billion for small business loans, $300 a week of unemployment benefits that would start on December 11 -- December 27 and last for 11 weeks, $600 in direct payments for individuals that would be for people who make $75,000 a year or less and an additional $600 per child and person in that family.

And we also expect money for vaccine distribution, more than $80 million for schools. So this is a very significant rescue package that they are trying to iron out. But it is taking time to draft it. They still need to get the final cost estimates. There are still some disputes including how much money to give to private schools. That's a lingering dispute. One major dispute has been ironed out, which is the role of the Federal Reserve should play in intervening in the economy. That appears to be done.

So they're trying to finalize these final -- these outstanding details, release the bill text, try to get their members some type of review. They're certainly not going to have enough time to review it before there's actually a vote scheduled on the floor of the House and the Senate. And the big question, too, is, can they avert a government shutdown? At midnight tonight the government runs out of money.

The leadership is trying to tie this $900 billion COVID relief to a $1.4 trillion package to keep the government open through September. No one has even seen the details of that package either. But they plan to unveil it. They're still trying to jam a vote through the House tonight. We'll see what the Senate, a little more complicated to get it quickly done in the Senate. We expect it to potentially spill into earlier this week. So people may have to wait a little bit of time but at least it appears that a deal is finally close here -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Close is good, but not done yet. All right, Manu Raju, Capitol Hill, thank you so much.

All right. Want to talk about all of this now, joining me from -- there you are, in Washington, OK, Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi.

Congressman, good to see you.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Hi, Fred. How are you doing?

WHITFIELD: I'm great. All right. So are you confident there'll be a deal by midnight tonight?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I feel confident. I think that Speaker Pelosi and the others have done a herculean job at this point of pulling together this package. You know, we're at kind of a point the Friday before Christmas where if we don't deliver the stimulus package, it would be putting a lump of coal in everybody's stockings. And that's completely unacceptable at this point.

WHITFIELD: And then how concerned are you that averting a government shutdown may not happen?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Actually on that score, I think that the negotiations have been pretty going pretty well and I think that we are looking at a good chance of completing that in short order.

[16:10:10]

I think the stimulus is just taking longer because as Manu just alluded, it's such a huge package. The text needs to be written for so many different programs and it needs to all get ironed out very quickly, but I do feel confident that everything is going to come together by tonight. WHITFIELD: OK. You wrote an op-ed on Medium and saying this, quote,

"Without action, by the end of this month, 12 million Americans will lose the unemployment benefits enacted through the stimulus including gig workers who are eligible for benefits for the first time and others who receive 13 additional weeks of benefits. Many won't be able to pay their rent or mortgage. Food depositories are already facing record demand, even in suburban districts like mine, and once again frontline health care workers including my wife, an area doctor, are seeing local hospitals filling up with coronavirus patients."

Do you feel like other members of Congress have been attuned to these needs, these signs of desperation, or do you feel like it's been falling on deaf ears and that's why we're now at this moment, you know, encroaching on some very critical deadlines?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think everybody is feeling the pressure, Fred. It's funny, I just received some text messages about some constituent cases. We have a school bus driver who's worked for the district for 20 years. As you know, a lot of the schools are closed. And so he's on unemployment and he's facing a cliff.

I have another text message showing that a waitress, who's now suffered three different shutdowns of three different restaurants where she worked, also on unemployment and facing the cliff. So those cases and those types of stories abound, as you know, and they're afflicting constituents across the country.

So right now as we talk about football Sunday, for instance, we are at the one-yard line. We can't have the Senate Republicans or anyone else fumble the ball. We've got to get into the end zone and deliver this package right now.

WHITFIELD: The president hasn't said a whole lot about this nor has he said much about this cyberattack on U.S. agencies, and this morning Congressman Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, in which you are a member, said he doesn't think there's any question that Russia was behind this cyberattack. Then why, in your view, do you see President Trump is taking a posture of protecting Russia by instead suggesting it must be China?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: This is crazy. All the evidence is pointing to Russia. It's the work of SVR, also known as Cozy Bear. And I mean, the persistent question with this president is why does he keep cozying up to the Russians? Why does he not want to call them out? And why does he not want to make them pay a cost for this attack? I'm glad that Joe Biden has already made it clear that in his administration, there will be a cost, including sanctions, and that we are going to make cyber security a top priority because this is a massive attack, Fred. And the attack is persisting. It's even continuing today. And so we have to take this very seriously.

WHITFIELD: What do you wish the response would be to this cyberattack?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think that we have to do a couple of things. One, obviously we have to hunt for the malware that's embedded within our cyber infrastructure, get rid of it, stand up new clean systems. Two, we have to pass this NDAA, which the president, by the way, has threatened to veto, which gives the DHS, the Department of Homeland Security new authorities to keep our cyber infrastructure clean.

And then third, and this is very important, we have to exact a cost on the Russians for these repeated attacks on our cyber infrastructure. We haven't done so. Even though we know that the Russians have wanted to make this type of attack on our supply chain repeatedly over the years, over the last four years. So now is the time to take significant action. And if we don't do so, we're just inviting more attacks.

WHITFIELD: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you so much.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Have a peaceful and safe holiday to you and your family.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Happy Holidays. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

All right, coming up, a teenager sentenced to four months behind bars for breaking coronavirus restrictions in the Cayman Islands. Her family worried sick and desperate for answers.

Plus, a new form of coronavirus rapidly spreading across the United Kingdom. And experts say it's more transmissible. Now countries all over Europe are banning flights from the U.K.

[16:15:02]

Then later, fury and frustration inside the Oval Office. What we're learning about a heated meeting about martial law and more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: With the pandemic surging, new COVID vaccines rolling out, and the U.S. under a massive cyberattack, the president of the United States instead remains focused on his desperate efforts to stay in office.

President Trump is reportedly lashing out in fury and frustration over the election results. People familiar with the White House clash say that it involved the president discussing declaring martial law to overturn the election and seizing voting machines to inspect them.

For more on this, let's bring in Jeremy Diamond at the White House.

So, Jeremy, walk us through who was at this meeting and what happened.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. By all accounts, this was a raucous meeting at the White House on Friday. It happened in the Oval Office with the president of the United States allowing Sidney Powell, that controversial attorney who has floated these debunked and deranged conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and Michael Flynn, his disgraced former National Security adviser, to essential float these really outlandish and dangerous ideas about overturning the results of the 2020 election.

[16:20:14]

We know that the president is, in fact, considering appointing Sidney Powell as a special counsel to investigate these voter fraud allegations in the 2020 election, despite the fact that her crazy conspiracy theories got her removed from the president's own legal team. And Michael Flynn, he a few days ago floated publicly this idea of using martial law to essentially rerun the election in several key battleground states. That is also an idea that we're told was discussed in this Oval Office meeting.

Now there's no indication that martial law is going to be imposed, but certainly for that to be raised in the Oval Office is pretty wild and it caught the attention of Republicans and Democrats who have been criticizing it. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): Well, it's not going to happen. That's going nowhere and I understand the president is casting about, trying to find some way to have a different result than the one that was delivered by the American people. But it's really sad in a lot of respects and embarrassing because the president could right now be writing the last chapter of this administration with a victory lap with regards to the vaccine.

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY NOMINEE: It's irresponsible and it's dangerous but at the end of the day this is a country of laws. And the American people have spoken. The election took place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And another idea that was floated in this meeting apparently was an executive order that would permit the government to access voting machines and inspect them. Again, no indication of how seriously this is being considered. But as Mitt Romney said there, you see the president not focused on the vaccine rollout, not focused on the cyberattack carried out by the Russians but, instead focused on hyping up these baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud and continuing to try to overturn the results of a democratic election.

WHITFIELD: And then, Jeremy, what's this about yet another attempt by Trump, his campaign, to try to this time petition the U.S. Supreme Court even after they've already weighed in, other legal challenges were defeated, but now a new method?

DIAMOND: Yes, dozens of the Trump campaign and their allies' lawsuits have been thrown out, laughed out of federal courts, states courts all across the country. And most importantly in several of these key battleground states, and yet we're seeing the president and his campaign attorneys continuing to try and overturn the results of this election. This time Rudy Giuliani announcing through the Trump campaign statement that they are petitioning the Supreme Court to overturn rulings in three Pennsylvania state Supreme Court cases. They're asking for an expedited ruling despite the fact that these are

cases that were settled weeks ago. And again, legal experts so far have indicated that this has no chance, little chance of actually getting anywhere, but once again, we're seeing the president continuing to try and engage in this kind of behavior, despite the fact that the electoral college has already voted and certified the results of the 2020 election. Joe Biden will be inaugurated in about a month -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeremy Diamond at the White House, thank you so much.

All right, with me now to discuss Trump's latest legal challenge to the election, Shan Wu. He is a former federal prosecutor and a CNN legal analyst.

Shan, good to see you.

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good to see you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. So this petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, I mean, is this serious or is this a futile exercise?

WU: I think it's a futile exercise, as Jeremy indicated. They're invoking the Supreme Court's court original jurisdiction to hear matters between the states that already -- it was a losing argument when they tried that with Texas. They're also, we should note, once again, not alleging fraud. They're kind of going back in time to attack Pennsylvania Supreme Court decisions which, frankly, they could have done that a while back.

And also I think importantly here, they finally got the idea that they needed to allege numbers big enough to make a difference because they hadn't been up until this point. But the legal theory is really flawed. I mean, they're trying to use Bush versus Gore. And that's a precedent which has long been really abhorred, although recently, Alito and Kavanaugh and Gorsuch have indicated, you know, some possible interest in using it again.

But here's the critical point. Bush versus Gore was very much limited to the facts of Florida. And that's why it's not good precedent. And in Florida, the count was still going on when that case came down. Here, the count's already done.

WHITFIELD: And so while this latest petition will not center on voter fraud, instead it will try to challenge the mail-in ballots, and we're talking about the attempt to overturn three rulings by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and try to overturn the results of that state's election. What needs to be there in their complaint and in their petition?

[16:25:03]

WU: Well, they need to show that there is some massive problem with the way the counting was conducted and one thing that's important to note is that in election precedent, the courts are very unlikely to overrule votes that have been counted when the voters relied in good faith on the rules in place. This is after the fact, basically trying to hijack the entire elections as they've been trying to do with these hail Mary passes.

So they need to show what exactly are the massive problems that took place. And they just don't really have that. And, frankly, even if the court were to entertain this, the Supreme Court under its original jurisdiction, they need to do fact-finding. They're not set up for that. They have to appoint like a special mass or something to look into these circumstances. This is not going to be a slam dunk legal issue they can just rule on.

WHITFIELD: And then, you know, what about something that was being bandied about, considered during that White House meeting that apparently is getting a lot of press for being quite, you know, furious, that right-wing attorney Sidney Powell, the president might want her to be the White House special counsel to oversee any investigation of voter fraud.

Usually in terms of a special counsel, Congress would appoint that person, but what is the distinction here with a White House special counsel? Can the president do this?

WU: Well, it's really a White House special counsel versus a DOJ special counsel the way Mueller was. I suppose he can do and call her whatever he wants with the little bit of time remaining in his presidency, so she would have power, I guess, to assemble a staff, try to start to investigate issues. Although it's hard to imagine what she would be doing given that the DOJ has already looked at it, even Barr indicated that there wasn't any fraud to be found.

So he has the power to appoint his own White House special counsel. It's a real question as to what she actually would be able to do, which is probably nothing.

WHITFIELD: So it sounds like it's really just about keeping the noise level up?

WU: Absolutely, Fred. I think this is really laying the basis for the next election cycle where you might see some of these legal issues actually have time to take fruition and they could use it then.

WHITFIELD: All right. Shan Wu, we'll leave it there. Have a great happy, safe holiday season.

WU: You, too, Fred. Thanks.

All right, up next, a new form of coronavirus spreading rapidly throughout the United Kingdom. Countries in Europe are taking extra precautions but what about the United States?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:00]

WHITFIELD: All right, this just in. New information on the Pfizer vaccine as Moderna begins distributing its first shipments across the country. More than 556,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been administered in the United States. That's according to the CDC, which says 2.8 million doses of Pfizer have actually been distributed across the country so far. The first doses were given out last Monday.

Meanwhile, countries across Europe are banning flights from the U.K. Following reports of a new and alarming variant of COVID-19. This afternoon, up to 13 countries have issued some form of restriction on flights from the U.K.

And in the U.S., New York Governor Andrew Cuomo weighing in, just moments ago, slamming the U.S. government for not restricting travel from the British islands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: We have about six flights a day coming in from the U.K. And we have done absolutely nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is in London with more on the situation there.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Fredricka, country after country now rushing to ban travelers from the U.K. from entering their nations, just one day after the government here announced that there is a new variant of Coronavirus that is common in London and parts of southeast of England. And that that new variant is up to 70 percent more transmissible. That's how much quicker it can spread.

Now, it is not more deadly, according to health experts, nor is it immune to the vaccine. But it does spread faster, according to the authorities here. Of course, nations scrambling to stop British travelers from entering their countries, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, I can go on and on.

I know our viewers are looking at a map of countries in red that have already put in restrictions to stop British travelers. More expected to follow suit. All of this after an 11th hour announcement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday night, where he said that new restrictions needed to go into place to deal with the spike caused by this new variant.

Now, London and all of these effected regions are under tier four rules, essentially localized lockdowns that went into place on Sunday, today, banning people from leaving home. Do not leave home. Work from home. All nonessential shops must close.

And, for course, crucially, travel in and out of these regions is restricted. But many Londoners are flouting the rules. They're breaking the restrictions. Some feeling frustrated that the prime minister is acting last minute when he had been so adamant for days against the advice of the medical community to refuse to put restrictions into place. He was actually planning to ease restrictions for Christmas time. Now, this absolute about-face, this complete U-turn at the 11th hour. The question is, will people comply?

[16:35:00]

ABDELAZIZ: Again, you also have to remember, these rules went into place on Saturday night, right in the middle of the holiday weekend when people were already heading to the airport, already heading to the train stations. And that's what many Londoners did when they heard about these new rules. Rather than stay at home, they tried to rush out of the city. one British op-ed put it perfectly, the right rules, the right restrictions, the right decision. But at the wrong time and in the wrong way -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And then, Salma, while you have been talking, we had mentioned there were 13 countries that were banning flights from the U.K. Well, now add Israel and turkey. They, too, have now banned flights from the U.K., as a result of reports of this now variant strain of COVID-19. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right. Up next, a Georgia college student sentenced to prison for breaking Coronavirus rules in the Cayman Islands. Does the punishment go too far? I'll talk live with her grandmother. [16:35:58]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: an 18-year-old college student from Georgia has been sentenced to four months in prison in the Cayman Islands. Skyler Mack was sentenced after attending her boyfriend's jet skiing competition there. Visitors to the island are supposed to self-isolate for two weeks. The island's governor stressed the importance they put on these protocols.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MARTYN ROPER, CAYMAN ISLANDS: All of us have to show individual and collective responsibility if we're going to effectively deal with this pandemic. And I particularly appeal to all travelers coming back to the islands. Please, comply fully with the guidance and the advice that you're getting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, Skylar Mack, the college student, pre-med college student in Georgia, was originally sentenced to 40 hours of community work but the sentence was appealed by prosecutors. I'm joined now by Jeanne Mack. She is Skylar Mack's grandmother. Good to see you. So, you know, first off, you have spoken to your granddaughter since she has been incarcerated. And how does she sound? What is she saying?

JEANNE MACK, SKYLAR MACK'S GRANDMOTHER: Well, you know, some times are better than others, but pretty much every call starts with, Grammy, I'm so sorry. And a lot of crying and begging to come home. And I'm really worried about her. She's not eating. You know, she says she tries but she's just -- I mean, she's pretty messed up right now. She's very sad. She's very, very remorseful. She can't believe she did something like this and she's also feeling like she's been made an example of.

WHITFIELD: And meaning -- you know, she went to the Cayman Islands. And, apparently, the protocol is, for tourists, and I'm reading here now from their regulations, that a person who contravenes this regulation, you know, commits an offense and is liable on conviction to a fine of $10,000 and to imprisonment for two years.

When a tourist comes there, they are supposed to be in isolation for 14 days. Apparently, she -- what's being reported is she went there and, just within a matter of days, went to the competition, right? She did not self-isolate. And so, that is why, now, she has been imprisoned for four months?

MACK: Correct. That is correct. And she did just what you said. The issue we have is about five to seven days before Skylar went, there was a couple from Canada that went and they breached isolation.

They actually have videos and pictures of that couple breaching isolation at least, you know, 15 to 20 times. Going -- you know, jumped the fence in their hotel to go to another hotel to swim, being on the beach, being in clubs, being at the grocery store. And they granted the fine. The law was still the same. The fine was different. At that point, the maximum fine was 5K per person, and six months in jail. They walked away, each paying $1,000 and going home.

WHITFIELD: So, is the feeling of your family and, you know, for Skylar that because they, you know, got away with it, she should have been able to get away with it, so to speak, too?

MACK: Well, I don't think she expect ed to get away with it. We are all for paying whatever fine they think. But they have never imprisoned anyone for breaching isolation. They've had people, local people, actually breach quarantine because they're positive, and they breach quarantine and all they do is send them back home.

There's a -- right now, there's a 19-year-old university student. He lives in the Caymans. He goes to school outside of the Caymans. Flew home. The very first day he was home, he breached his isolation. Because they isolate at home. All tourists, you know, they can isolate where you are. But once you breach it, you go into a government quarantine and you're responsible for paying. It's a hotel, and you're responsible for paying the hotel bill. They let him go back.

WHITFIELD: So, I wonder -- yes, sorry to interrupt you. But I'm just wondering, do you feel like you're able to get any U.S. government help? What kind of assistance do you think you're going to be able to get in order to get her out of this situation?

MACK: Well, I'm hoping that the federal government will step in. What we're hearing so far, our Georgia senators and Governor and Attorney General, they're all very sympathetic and doing what they can.

[16:45:00] MACK: I did, out of sheer desperation, write to the White House. And they promptly responded and said they were really sorry. They were going to -- you know, they were going to review what was going on. And then, when they put her in prison, which stunned all of us, they -- I wrote back to them. And, according to them, they have turned it over to the appropriate federal agency to do an investigation. I don't know if that will help or not.

Now, the -- you know, Skylar -- the people there are very verbal. They -- there are people that say, why are you making an example out of, you know, an 18-year-old American when, you know, -- that's a lot of their tourism is Americans. And why is this 19-year-old kid, you know, that lives here able to do whatever he wants to do because his mom happens to work for the government? And why did the Canadians not have to pay? They -- you know, they were older than her and should have known better.

And so, a lot of them, while some of them are very angry and truly hate mail on her, some of them are saying, let's do this right. If we're going to do it, then do it. But you can't just single out an American and do her. And she's 18 years old.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Well, Jeanne Mack, you're going to have to keep us posted on how things go. Of course, we're wishing you all the best in what is definitely a very terrible, uncomfortable, sad situation. Jeanne Mack, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time.

MACK: Yes, thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

[16:46:37]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alan (ph) began to crumble under the emotional weight of his diagnosis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have tried a minimum of 16 different antidepressants on me and none of them worked. At least half of them had the exact opposite effect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But worst of all were the nightmares.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only way I know to describe this is someone is holding me under water and I can't get my breath. Panic, pure, extreme terror. And you don't go back to sleep after something like that. So, that's when they diagnosed me. You definitely have PTSD.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Tonight on "THIS IS LIFE," Lisa Ling. So, Lisa, I mean, he explores the medical uses of psychedelics and examines how, for some, a hallucinogenic might hold a key to a healthier future.

Joining us right now, the host of "THIS IS LIFE," Lisa Ling. Lisa, he sounds really traumatized, you know, and had been for a very long time. Did it turn out that psychedelics was the answer for him? And what are we talking about when we say, psychedelics?

LISA LING, CNN HOST, "THIS IS LIFE": Well, Fred, psychedelics are substances that are found in nature or made synthetically in a lab. And Alan, from the clip, was talking about how he has started to produce Psilocybin mushrooms. That's the key ingredients in certain kinds of mushrooms. And you heard that he had taken about 16 different antidepressants. He took one every day or multiple pills every day for years and none of them worked.

He started micro-dosing psilocybin. He takes a capsule, that he produces himself, three -- every three or four days, not even every day. And he says that, for the first time in decades, he is actually out of depression and no longer has PTSD, as a result.

WHITFIELD: Wow. That's quite extraordinary. And his experience is going to be one that we'll all become more intimately familiar with this evening on your show. Lisa Ling, thank you so much. And be sure to tune in on an all-new episode of "THIS IS LIFE" with Lisa Ling, airing tonight at 10:00 p.m., only on CNN.

This year's "CNN HEROES, AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE," celebrate people fighting the pandemic and fighting racial inequality. Here is Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sometimes a photograph can capture the mood and the attention of the world. In June, one image did just that. During protests on the streets in London, events turned violent. A Black Lives Matter group was there to condemn statues of people with racist ties and many white protesters were there to protect the statues.

Things got heated. One man, Bryn Male, a white former police officer, wandered into the crowd and he started to get beat up. One of the Black Lives Matter protesters, Patrick Hutchinson, saw he was in peril. Patrick moved in, picked up the injured Bryn, carried him through the crowd to safety.

PATRICK HUTCHINSON: The biggest thing for me was making sure no harm came to him. because I knew if harm had come to him, the narrative would just be changed. And then, the blame would be -- fall on the young Black Lives Matter protesters. We made sure we got him out of there safely.

COOPER: Patrick, a father and grandfather, hopes that everyone who sees the image, understands that the responsibility to do the right thing resides in all of us.

HUTCHINSON: We just want equality for all races, for all people. That, right now, we're the ones who seem to be the oppressed ones. And it's about time things will change, you know, the world over.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: And you can watch "CNN HEROES, AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE" at any time on CNN Go, CNN on Demand, and HBO Max.

Thanks for being with me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The "NEWSROOM" continues with Bianna Golodryga in just a moment.

[16:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:00]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.