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U.S. Republicans Block Capitol Riot Investigation; U.S. Economic Recovery; Biden Touts Vaccine Progress; E.U. Clears Pfizer BioNTech Vaccine For Kids 12 To 15; Constant Contact Hack; Calls To Cancel Olympics Grow; Lebanon Medical "Brain Drain"; Hundreds Of Tigrayans Released; Packed Planes And Aggressive Travelers. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired May 29, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Going it alone. Democrats push for their own investigation into the Capitol insurrection after Republicans vote down a bipartisan commission.
President Biden unveils his $6 trillion budget next year and we will look at why the spending goes far beyond Washington.
As airlines see more passengers returning to the skies, they are seeing a rise in anger and all-out brawls. We will have a full report.
Welcome to all of you watching in the United States and Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. Democrats are preparing to take matters into their own hands after Senate Republicans blocked a major bill that would have established a commission to investigate the insurrection on Capitol Hill. Only six Republicans sided with Democrats in Friday's vote.
It shows how much of a grip former president Donald Trump has on the party. Democrats are thinking about launching a probe of their own. CNN's Ryan Nobles has the latest on where things may stand.
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RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It may have taken a little bit longer than expected.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted in the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to.
NOBLES: But the outcome was never in doubt. Republicans successfully blocking an attempt to form an independent commission to investigate the January 6th insurrection. The final vote, 54-35. Sixty votes were needed to move the measure forward. SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): But out of fear or fealty to Donald Trump, the Republican minority just prevented the American people from getting the full truth about January 6th.
NOBLES: Six Republicans voted yes. Among them, Maine's Susan Collins who attempted to make changes to the bill to bring her fellow Republicans on board. It was not enough.
Louisiana's Bill Cassidy, who voted yes, and voted to impeach former President Trump, warned his colleagues they will now lose a voice in future investigations. The investigations will happen with or without Republicans, to ensure the investigations are fair, impartial, and focused on facts, Republicans need to be involved.
And Democrats are already hinting that is the direction they will go. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who made a number of concessions to get the bill over the finish line in the House, vowed she was not done investigating what happened on January 6th.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Honoring our responsibility to the Congress in which we serve and the country which we love, Democrats will proceed to find the truth.
NOBLES (voice-over): The Republican refusal to form the independent commission comes at the same time as a CNN review reveals 450 people have been charged in connection with the insurrection. And as moderate GOP voices are increasingly becoming drowned out by the allies of former president Trump.
The former House Speaker, Paul Ryan, speaking from the Ronald Reagan presidential library, the latest to insert himself into the party's civil war.
PAUL RYAN, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality or of second-rate imitations, then we're not going anywhere.
NOBLES (voice-over): His effort mocked by Trump, who called Ryan a, quote, "weak and ineffective leader who spends all of his time fighting Republicans," while Trump clone Matt Gaetz, arm in arm with Marjorie Taylor Greene, making it clear who runs the GOP, like it or not.
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): This is Donald Trump's party. Taking advice on party-building from Paul Ryan would be like taking advice on how to interact with your in-laws from Meghan Markle.
NOBLES: Despite the gravity of this legislation, 11 members of the Senate didn't even show up to vote. Nine Republicans and two Democrats were not here. Some of them offering up excuses for why they couldn't be here and how they might have voted.
Among them, Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey, who said he would have voted yes. Even though he was a Republican, it would not have been enough to change the outcome -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.
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BRUNHUBER: Both the mother and partner of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died the day after the insurrection, went to Capitol Hill to make a last-ditch plea for them to pass the bill. The two sat down with our Jake Tapper to talk about the vote.
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SANDRA GARZA, BRIAN SICKNICK'S PARTNER: I was very disappointed, obviously. I was very optimistic and hopeful, yesterday. But for, you know, obviously, you know, some of them, I was not surprised that they voted no.
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GARZA: But still, clinging to that hope based on our passionate pleas to them.
But I think, you know, it -- it speaks volumes to how they really feel. Not only about the events of that day. But they're also speaking volumes to their constituents. You know, and how much they really care, because it's not just our pleas about how we felt about Brian and, you know, his brothers and sisters in blue and everything that they did that day. But also, the safety of them and everyone else that was in the Capitol that day.
If they can't do their jobs, if something happens to them, that, also, speaks volumes about, you know, how they feel about our democracy in general.
How can they do their job if they are no longer here?
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: You know, we hear a lot about backing the blue from politicians, especially. We talk about the importance of backing our men and women in blue, who protect us.
What does it mean, in that sense, when -- because you know, you are going to hear some of these 35 Republicans talk about, in the future, how important it is to back our men and women in blue? What will you think, when you hear that?
GLADYS SICKNICK, BRIAN'S MOTHER: Unbelievable, that they think like that. You know? Just -- if they had a child that was hurt, was killed on -- on a day like that. They would think very differently. Or if they were hurt -- I mean, they could have been very well --somebody could have been killed, one of the congressmen, one of the senators.
But apparently, they just think, well, we're safe because of the men in blue. But they don't think any further from that.
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BRUNHUBER: Watch Jake Tapper's full interview with the mother and partner of Brian Sicknick on cnn.com.
Earlier I asked Thomas Gift, director of the Center on U.S. Politics at University College London and asked if the Republicans who blocked the commission were just representing the wishes of their constituents.
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THOMAS GIFT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Many Republican rank-and-file voters don't think that this is a big issue.
A survey, last month by Reuters, showed that more than 50 percent of Republicans thought the Capitol riot was initiated by violent, left- wing protesters trying to make Trump look bad. "The New York Times" actually just reported yesterday on polling, showing that the percentage of QAnon supporters in the United States is roughly on par with the percentage of adherents to some major religions in the country.
So clearly, there are some voters who will believe what they want to believe. But I think, to a large extent, what we are seeing here is that Republicans are afraid of three things: the truth, Donald Trump and their own voters. In large part, they are representing them.
BRUNHUBER: So what's next, then?
Democrats say they might launch a select committee to look into it.
So what would be the point here?
Republicans would say, you know, we know what happened. There -- there are several committees that have or are looking into the security response, which is probably the main, actionable aspect of this.
So is there any point, beyond the Democratic political objective of keeping this in people's minds with a view to the midterms?
GIFT: Well, I do expect House Democrats will proceed with their own inquiry into the Capitol insurrection. Invariably, however, as you suggest, Republicans will cast it as a bipartisan maneuver and characterize any findings through the lens of a left-leaning media.
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BRUNHUBER: President Biden won't be making any Republican friends with this. He is proposing a $6 trillion budget for the next fiscal year and it will touch nearly aspect of American life. His administration says it's what is needed to fix an economy that leaves far too many people behind.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden has unveiled his budget and it clocks in around $6 trillion and essentially lays out his vision for expanding the size and scope of the federal government, which we already knew was part of his economic agenda when he unveiled that American Jobs Plan, that infrastructure proposal he has been looking at, and also that American Families Plan, where the White House says they want to rethink the government's role in everyday life when it comes to paid family leave and elderly care and those measures they say should be addressed and was highlighted by the pandemic and why they should be addressed by the federal government.
We had an idea these spending proposals were coming. One thing that is in here that President Biden promised on the campaign trail are the health care reform proposals. But not included is a price tag which is unusual because they try to chart out at least a rough estimate of what that would cost. . And you often saw that in the Trump and Obama proposals, whether it was adding or detracting. But here the numbers are not listed and could come from a future budget in the Biden administration. But they are not included in this one for the next fiscal year. One thing addressed in here is inflation.
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COLLINS: Republicans saying Biden's economic agenda will overheat the economy, cause rising inflation but they say they don't see a big rise in inflation with the big spending proposals that President Biden has put forward.
Of course, all of this is just a blueprint and it has to go through Congress to get enacted and it has not been signed into law but it lays out the vision for what President Biden wants to see -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: Much of President Biden's proposed spending focuses on boosting the economy and it comes as many Republican led states are ending the unemployment benefit early, saying it's causing a worker shortage.
But some workers say the real problem is a wage shortage. CNN's senior national correspondent Kyung Lah reports from Montana.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With just days to go until Montana summer tourist season kicks off, the skeleton crew at this hotel is already exhausted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll probably leave those rooms for tomorrow.
LAH: Working extra hours because of staff shortages.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, trying to do 26 rooms in a day.
LAH: Joshua Dempsey (ph) believes people don't want to return to work because wages for jobs like this don't equal what pandemic unemployment pays.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I make $800 every two weeks. And like my friend gets like $800 a week, so like she doesn't want to work when she's making what I make in two weeks in a week. LAH: Not working at all?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not working at all.
LAH: Signs of a low wage worker shortage are up across Montana. More jobs than employees, especially low wage positions. Businesses her now offer signing bonuses and $15 an hour starting pay, nearly twice the state's minimum wage.
GOV. GREG GIANFORTE (R), MONTANA: Unemployment benefits should be a safety net, not a career choice.
LAH: This month, Republican Governor Greg Gianforte announced Montana will opt out of all federal pandemic unemployment benefit programs including an extra $300 per week supplement.
GIANFORTE: We're going to incent work, not staying home.
LAH: Instead, Montanans will receive a $1,200 bonus if they get a job and keep it for two weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was kind of a huge relief for me.
LAH: At least seven jobs at this hotel are vacant says general manager Ann Marie Bowers.
MARIE BOWERS, GENERAL MANAGER, JORGENSON INN AND SUITES: I anticipate and really hope that will mean more people will be applying.
LAH: Montana is not the only state. Most Republican governors in the country have promised to eliminate one more federal pandemic programs for the unemployed, but not all are able to return to the work force right away.
LACY COLON, SINGLE MOTHER COLLECTING UNEMPLOYMENT: First of all, I'm not lazy. I'm a full-time single mother.
LAH: Lacy Colon says she had never planned to be home full-time.
COLON: I was working in the mornings when she was at school and when COVID hit, it just changed everything.
LAH: Her daughter Juliana has sensory issues and can't wear the required mask for school. So, the former hospitality worker has been collecting unemployment to be here, home schooling since the pandemic began.
Pandemic unemployment benefits have allowed mother and daughter to stay in their home.
COLON: I'm going to be really scared, I already am. I don't sleep at night. I have to figure it out like everybody else has to figure it out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is being portrayed as a worker shortage. What it really is, is a wage shortage. LAH: Blaming the workers says a Montana AFL-CIO, ignores the economic shock of the last year, forcing millions unto unemployment. Nationwide, the minimum wage has lagged behind as the cost of living has increased especially in states like Montana.
Dempsey says he doesn't even earn enough to rent a studio apartment.
Where are you living?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm living in a hotel right now.
LAH: Colon fears that will be her future -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Bozeman, Montana.
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BRUNHUBER: As the U.S. welcomes its unofficial start to summer, travel is surging nationwide, leaving states to use every trick in the book to ramp up vaccinations. We will bring you that coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: It's Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S., known for being the unofficial start of summer. Ahead of the holiday, President Joe Biden praised the success of the nation's vaccine rollout.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I set an ambitious goal of getting 70 percent of Americans at least one shot by July the 4th. Today, with just over a month to go, we are at 62 percent. The future is only going to get brighter.
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BRUNHUBER: While new infections are declining nationwide, so are vaccination rates. To fight vaccine hesitancy, states and businesses are launching creative campaigns to encourage people to roll up their sleeves.
In one of the most extraordinary efforts, California has unveiled a whopping $116.5 million incentive program to entice residents to get vaccinated through gift cards and cash prizes.
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BRUNHUBER: Joining me now from Los Angeles is Anne Rimoin, professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Thanks so much for joining us. So heading into the Memorial Day weekend here, in the U.S., on one hand, as we just saw, cases are going down. And it's the first holiday in which millions of Americans, about half of them, have been fully vaccinated.
On the other hand, now, there are, you know, few restrictions. And we are already seeing so many people acting like the pandemic is basically over. And now, some -- some 37 million people are expect today travel over the holidays. It feels like a big test for the country.
How are you looking at it?
What -- what are you expecting?
ANNE RIMOIN, EPIDEMIOLOGY PROFESSOR, UCLA FIELDING SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Well, you know, I think that we have come so far from where we were just several months ago. And we're starting to reap the benefits of seeing so many people vaccinated; 50 percent of the population has had a vaccine, at least one vaccine. That's fantastic news.
But -- and for those -- and I would say for those who are vaccinated, it's time to really start to enjoy so many of these benefits.
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RIMOIN: But for people who have not yet been vaccinated, the risk of coronavirus infection is still very real and very, very dangerous.
So we're reaching a point now, where people who have not yet been vaccinated are really starting to bear the burden of their decision.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. I mean, as you say, there is so many people who haven't been. They're trying to, you know, find all these creative ways to encourage people, as we saw, lotteries, scholarships, preferential tickets, even dating app badges, these gimmicks.
Do you think they'll -- they'll work?
And what message does it send to those who are the first to get the vaccine, who believed in the science, stood in line to get those shots, now seeing the most reluctant people getting rewarded for holding out?
I hope I am not sounding too bitter here.
RIMOIN: It's interesting that you bring this up. I spent my entire career working in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, where we have been working on these issues of vaccination and vaccine hesitancy, trying to get as many people vaccinated as possible.
And I understand the peril of starting to give incentives for vaccination.
The worry is, what does that mean in the future?
Are we always going to have to incentivize people for vaccination?
I hope not. I really think what's been happening here is to get people's attention, to get them over the finish line.
BRUNHUBER: I want to get your take on the evolving controversy over the origins of the virus. Over the last week or so, we have seen more support from the scientific intelligence communities about the theory that the virus may have emerged from a Chinese lab.
Rather than get into the merits of this debate, given that we have no new hard evidence right now, I wanted to ask you, sort of beyond issues of blame and responsibility, why does it matter?
In other words, how will getting an answer help us going forward to prevent or respond to the next outbreak?
RIMOIN: It's important that we understand how this virus emerged and that we really explore these two hypotheses out there; one, that it was a natural spillover from an animal to a human or it was the result of a lab accident.
Both are both important hypotheses to explore. We need to explore them in a scientific step-wise manner using the scientific method, that is the right way to go forward, get the data, analyze it and really understand it.
If we understand it, then we are going to have more information and a better idea of how to prevent future pandemics from happening.
Listen, if it was from an animal we need to identify that reservoir. We need to be able to understand how to put precautions in place to ensure that we don't see additional spillovers.
And we need to spend more attention and time on paying attention to wet markets, to animal trade, to wildlife consumption.
If it is actually a lab leak, that is a different issue where we need to be very, very cautious and to have some better way to monitor lab accidents, to be able to monitor practices globally, because, as we have learned from this pandemic, an infection anywhere is truly an infection anywhere, no matter how it started.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. You said getting the data is the key and that is the big question right now. Thanks so much for joining us, Anne Rimoin, really appreciate it.
RIMOIN: My pleasure.
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BRUNHUBER: The World Health Organization's European director is reportedly worried that Europe's vaccine rollout is going too slowly.
In an interview with AFP, Hans Kluger also warned the pandemic won't be over in Europe until at least 70 percent of Europeans are vaccinated but fewer than 16 percent are.
So Europe is taking a big step towards getting children protected. For more on that, let's bring in CNN's Scott McLean in London. Scott, young people 12 and over in the U.S. and Canada can get a COVID
shot.
When will young Europeans follow suit?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That decision is up to the 27 member states in the E.U. and there's still work to do. The E.U., as you mentioned, following the lead of Canada and the United States and approving the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for kids 12 to 15. But the size of the trial was not big enough to detect rare adverse reactions.
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MCLEAN: And we will only know about those, similar to the ones we have seen with similar vaccines, once you start giving it to millions of children in the broader population.
That clinical trial was done in the U.S. and had about 2,000 kids involved. Half got a placebo and half got vaccinated. Amongst the vaccinated group there were zero coronavirus cases so the regulator says the real world efficacy could be as low as 75 percent.
Europe has given at least one shot to more than one-third of the population. That is pretty good but it's still lagging behind other Western countries like the U.S. and certainly the U.K., where that number is approaching 60 percent.
BRUNHUBER: Let's talk about the U.K. where you are. There seems to be growing pressures to get everyone vaccinated there because of the so- called Indian variant.
What is the latest there?
MCLEAN: Yes. So a couple of bits of good news. The first is that the Johnson & Johnson shot has been approved for use in this country but they won't start using it until an unspecified date later this year. It's also one shot. It makes it a little bit easier. It doesn't have the same kind of efficacy as the other vaccines.
Four of the 7 have been approved. The U.K. has managed to get so many of the other vaccines that it's scaled back its order of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and is reducing it from 30 million to 20 million.
As you said, this country is trying to ramp up the pace of its vaccination because of the threat of that Indian variant, which spreads much faster than the previous dominant strain. They are not clear how much more.
But one estimate from the British health secretary was that about -- up to 3 of every 4 new infections in this country are the India variant. So there is certainly some urgency to get shots in arms quicker.
They are even shortening the date between the two doses. I just got a text message from the National Health Service the other day, saying they were moving the date of my vaccine up by about four weeks or so, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: That is interesting. Scott McLean in London, thanks so much for that.
A cyber attack targeting dozens of countries is apparently more massive than originally thought. We will have new details and why the timing here matters.
Plus Japan is preparing to welcome tens of thousands of Olympic athletes and staff in July, despite fighting a coronavirus emergency. That is next. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of watching here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The U.S. State Department is urging Americans not to travel to Belarus after that country forced a commercial airliner to land and then detained two passengers. That has provoked a chorus of international condemnation. Friday the Biden White House announced it is working with U.S. allies to impose sanctions on the Lukashenko regime.
Another set of U.S. sanctions unveiled in April are set to go in effect next week and target nine state owned entities in Belarus.
Washington says the cyberattack reported Thursday was much bigger than previously thought. Some 350 American organizations were targeted, including many of the U.S. government. As CNN's Alex Marquardt reports, Microsoft believes a Russian group linked to the Kremlin is behind it.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): More than 3,000 email accounts in 24 different countries hit by hackers from Russia's foreign intelligence service; government agencies, think tanks, human rights and humanitarian groups, all targets.
Microsoft first reported the hack, saying the attackers used an email platform used by the American aid agency, USAID. One email from this week promised a new document from Donald Trump on the election. Instead, it contained a malicious link, designed to allow hackers in and to infect other computers.
It was a loud, brazen attack. The hackers likely knew they get caught.
JOHN HULTQUIST, FIREEYE: They seem to not really care, right? They clearly know that this is going to be discovered. It's really
hard to carry out a 3,000-person spearphishing incident across governments and organizations all over the world and not get discovered.
MARQUARDT: Unlike last year's stealthy, sophisticated SolarWinds breach, that infiltrated at least nine U.S. government agencies, which the U.S. intelligence community said Russian intelligence also carried out.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We concluded that they had interfered in the election and SolarWinds was totally out of -- inappropriate.
MARQUARDT: Last month, the Biden administration sanctioned Russia for its malicious cyber activity and kicked out 10 Russian diplomats. But President Joe Biden also proposed a face-to-face summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to ease tensions set to happen in under three weeks.
BIDEN: We want a stable, predictable relationship.
MARQUARDT: The American punishment and prospect of a meeting between the leaders clearly doing little to deter Russia from stepping up their cyberattacks.
HULTQUIST: This is probably preparation for the upcoming summit. They want to know what we're thinking when we go into that door. You can't really -- they don't really believe in going in negotiations not knowing what the other side is thinking.
MARQUARDT: In an exclusive interview with CNN, Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin said the military has the ability to go on the offense if the President chooses.
GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I have a number of offensive options. And, yes, and we will always maintain credible, effective options.
MARQUARDT: We have gotten an update from Microsoft with some good news. They say in a statement, in part, quote, "We are not seeing evidence of any significant number of compromised organizations at this time."
That's what I've heard also from the White House, that the impact of this series of Russian hacks is rather limited. The Biden administration has not attributed these attacks to Russia but they will likely make that summit between Biden and Putin next month more contentious.
For their part, the Kremlin tells CNN that they don't think the summit will be affected -- Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: The Tokyo Olympic Games are set to kick off on July 23rd, even as the country struggles to get a grip on its coronavirus epidemic. As the torch makes its way to the capital, the president of Japan is extending state of emergency for nine prefectures, warning that the next weeks are crucial to speed up vaccinations and help give strained hospitals some breathing room.
We are just 55 days away from the opening ceremony.
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BRUNHUBER: But as the clock ticks down, opposition to the games is intensifying. Selena Wang in Tokyo tells us about it.
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SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Over the next two months, some 90,000 Olympic participants from more than 200 countries will be flying into Tokyo. Suddenly, opening the floodgates for country that's had its borders closed for most of the pandemic.
COVID-19 cases are surging in Japan. Tokyo and large part of the country are under a state of emergency.
KENJI SHIBUYA, PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT: The Olympics will add another burden of the health system which is already overstretched. As oppose to the symbol of unity and the peace and hope at the Olympics, it become the nightmare with a super-spreading event in Tokyo.
WANG (voice-over): Just around 2 percent of Japan's 126 million people have been fully vaccinated. The roll out slowed down by bureaucracy and a lack of medical staff to administer them.
At the current rate, the rest of the adult population won't even be eligible for the vaccine by the time the Olympics begin.
WANG (on camera): Organizers claim the games will be held in a safe bubble. At this Olympic Village, athletes will be tested daily and monitor with the contact tracing app.
Vaccines are not required but officials say more than 80 percent of the Olympic Village will be. They're asked to practice social distancing, wear masks, except for when training and competing and only use public transport when necessary.
Now experts say though that it's impossible to keep the massive games completely safe. Plus, they say there are plenty of ways for this bubble to be punctured as the Olympic participants come into contact with tens of thousands of unvaccinated volunteers who lived outside the bubble.
Olympic venues are all over Tokyo with a marathon and some soccer matches held 500 miles north in Sapporo.
So whose responsibility is it to keep all these Olympic participants safe?
The Olympic playbook puts the ultimate responsibility on the athletes, rather than organizers or the Japanese government.
Japan is spending more than $15 billion on these games, the most expensive Summer Olympics on record, including $900 million in COVID countermeasures.
But poll after poll shows that the majority in Japan do not want these games held.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I definitely don't think Japan should go ahead with the Olympics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Everyone thinks we shouldn't hold the Olympics but the government isn't in a position to say that.
WANG: Ultimately, it's largely not up to Japan. Olympic contracts are written to favor the IOC. So public opposition and medical system headed for collapse cost overruns are all burdens Tokyo will have to bear.
The IOC has the legal power to cancel the Olympics but they plan to plow ahead -- Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.
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BRUNHUBER: From the pandemic to inflation to last year's port explosion, Lebanon has faced crisis after crisis and now a life-or- death problem could affect people for years to come. Salma Abdelaziz is here to explain Lebanon's medical brain drain.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of Beirut's premier hospitals is in crisis mode.
(on camera): How many of these are leaving?
RAMI RAAD, UROLOGIST: I can tell you that at least -- I would say at least, not less than 25 percent of these doctors have gone.
ABDELAZIZ: Lebanon is losing one of its most precious resources, its doctors and nurses.
RAAD: We're highly disappointed. I mean, this disappointment is huge. We're disappointed in our country, in our politicians.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): For Dr. Rami Raad, this is the moment it all changed. On August 4th, 2020, a powerful explosion at Beirut's port ripped through this building and much of the capital. Medical teams scrambled to treat the walking wounded at their gates.
The blast shattered what little hope was left in Lebanon. Dr. Raad has given up and booked a one-way ticket to Canada.
RAAD: Nothing is left for us here in this country after everything that happened between the economic crisis, the August 4th explosion, the security issues, everything around us is a mess. ABDELAZIZ: Chief medical officer, Dr. George Ghanem says 20 percent of physicians resigned, leaving the stroke unit's cutting-edge machine to stand idle.
GEORGE GHANEM, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, LAU-RIZK HOSPITAL: Now unfortunately, our physicians, the team of physicians who are doing this are leaving the company.
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): And that means more people will die of a stroke in Lebanon?
GHANEM: More people will die and we'll have a huge problem.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Quality of care here could be reversed by a decade, he says. Before the crisis, nurses told us they earned about $75 a day.
Now due to inflation, that's worth just $5. The chief nurse, Lina Aoun, soldiers on.
LINA AOUN, CHIEF NURSING OFFICER, LAU-RIZK HOSPITAL: I belong to this country and we need to motivate all people to stay.
ABDELAZIZ (on camera): Do you feel you have an obligation?
AOUN: It's not on obligation. It's a conviction that I have to stay. Maybe for the time being.
[05:40:00]
AOUN: Later on, we never know.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): She says almost half her team, 80 nurses, quit in the last year.
AOUN: It's very bad because we are losing our assets. We are losing our competent nurses. They are not friends. They are not colleagues. They are family. We are family here. We are working here for many years and I think they have better future, that's why we let our children go.
ABDELAZIZ: Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Still to come, new developments on the violent unrest in Tigray. Men rounded up by Ethiopian and Eritrean troops have finally been released.
Plus tens of thousands are forced to seek shelter as one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes threatens to erupt again. We go live to the Democratic Republic of the Congo next.
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BRUNHUBER: Now to a CNN exclusive on the violent unrest in Ethiopia. Aid workers say that hundreds of men in the Tigray region were released Thursday following a CNN report into their detention that sparked international outrage. Nima Elbagir has been reporting extensively on the conflict and has the latest.
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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It took two statements by the United Nations and a call for accountability and the immediate release by United States senator Chris Coons.
But hundreds of Tigrayan men have now been released. The young men who had been detained, tell CNN, tortured and beaten by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers because, they say, they were accused of being part of Tigrayan rebel forces.
Humanitarian workers at the scene say a handful of men still remain in detention, whom they are seeking access to.
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ELBAGIR: CNN's investigation into these detentions prompted international censure. But this is just one incident. This is just one incident that has now been resolved after the weight of international opinion was brought to bear.
There are so many more incidents in Tigray, so many more families, seeking to know more about lost loved ones. And it really speaks to how difficult the situation in Tigray has proved to resolve, that it takes this much to get Ethiopia and Eritrean soldiers to change course -- Nima Elbagir, CNN, London.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. State Department welcomed the news of the release but denounced the fact that they were detained at all.
A spokesperson told CNN, "Eritrean forces must leave Tigray and all those responsible for human rights violations, abuses and atrocities must be held to account.
"The atrocities being committed are absolutely unacceptable, they shock the conscience and must end."
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo and they are worried about a possible second volcanic eruption in a week. They're seeking the safety of a shelter but many have moved to other cities and have even gone across the border to Rwanda.
And UNICEF warns thousands more, including children, could become homeless if the volcano erupts again. I talked last hour to CNN's Larry Madowo, who was outside of the area and showed us a small part of the heartbreaking devastation the first eruption last weekend has caused.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What you see behind me used to be people's homes. Right next to where we are standing used to be a family of seven, a mother and her six children. And there is nothing left of it. What you see smoldering there used to be a home. Her business, her livelihood, everything she owns has been covered by this lava.
She's been back here for the first time, she's overcome with emotion. She doesn't know what to do or where to start. But she is -- her neighbor next door was luckier, that the lava took down her wall but not the home itself. The house is intact and it's made of wood so it would not have offered any resistance.
And we are hearing so many stories about people and they don't even know how to restart, 80,000 people have been displaced from this, 80,000 households, 400,000 people, according to the local military governor here.
And some people tell us they don't think they are going to get any compensation and they just don't know where to start. And then, on top of that, they are now being told there is a possibility of a new eruption from under the ground or under Lake Kivu, that could come with little or no warning. So they just can't catch a break.
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BRUNHUBER: Flying the friendly skies isn't necessarily that friendly for some U.S. passengers these days. Still ahead, travelers get unruly as air travel rebounds from the pandemic. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Air travel is making a comeback in the U.S. as the economy recovers from the coronavirus. But one flight attendants' union says its members are now dealing with another epidemic: passengers getting aggressive and violent during flights. Aviation officials say the number of those incidents has skyrockets. As Pete Muntean reports, they can get ugly.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The newest problem facing pent-up demand for travel is pent-up frustrations in the sky, with federal agencies citing a serious surge of in-flight fights.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you serious? MUNTEAN (voice-over): In a new letter, Southwest Airlines flight attendants say unruly passenger incidents are becoming intolerable and more aggressive.
These images are from a Southwest flight on Sunday, when a flight attendant had two teeth knocked out by a passenger, according to their union.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They seem to be almost angry before they step onboard the aircraft and they are verbally attacking flight attendants, calling them names, pulling on their lanyards, getting aggressive. We've had to deal with almost riot-like incidences.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Even if you are fully vaccinated, masks are still required on all public forms of transportation and in terminals by the TSA. It is now investigating 1,300 cases of people violating that mandate.
The Federal Aviation Administration says it has received 2,500 reports of unruly passengers just this year, 1,900 of them about mask compliance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Started antagonizing other passengers.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): A crew member on this JetBlue flight says an unruly passenger cut this coast-to-coast trip short, causing it to land in Minneapolis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gesturing, stabbing motions towards the other passenger. And there was also observed erratic behavior and snorting a white substance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to be clear that anyone causing a disturbance onboard an aircraft or within the airport environment will be punished with fines and possible criminal charges.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Even still, health officials are telling fully vaccinated Americans to enjoy Memorial Day. AAA says the rush to return to travel is on, with 37 million people headed out this holiday weekend, only a 13 percent drop compared to 2019.
Airports that were a ghost town last year are now filling up. TSA figures show air travel has already hit 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels, compared to 13 percent a year ago.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been a stressful year and I'm just going to go by myself and have some fun in the Bahamas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It can be a little crowded but I feel pretty safe. I got my vaccine and my mask, hand sanitizer. So should be good to go.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The latest forecast from the U.S. Travel Association says 77 percent of Americans will take at least one trip this summer, up from 29 percent last year. But flight crews hope, with people rushing to return to normal, this does not become the new normal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These actions onboard the aircraft, what may start out as little actions can become really big problems really quickly.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're stuck in a metal tube, where we can't call for help or people cannot walk away. So we've all got to treat each other with respect.
MUNTEAN: Southwest Airlines is telling its workers that the flight attendant who was assaulted on Sunday is receiving ongoing care. But in a new memo obtained by CNN, Southwest says it's not releasing any more information until it is done gathering its own details.
Southwest says it's received hundreds of reports of unruly passengers on its flights and it has a zero-tolerance policy -- Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.
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BRUNHUBER: Atlanta Hawks basketball star Trae Young is not pleased but ready to move on after a fan spat on him at Madison Square Garden in New York. It happened on Wednesday during game two of the Hawks' playoff series with the New York Knicks. A fan spat on Young as he was on the sideline. The Knicks banned the fan immediately.
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TRAE YOUNG, ATLANTA HAWKS: I'm not mad at the fans who chant things or whatever. And that's for another subject. But for spitting and things like that, that's uncalled for in any arena or any environment. So that's disgusting. But I mean, we've just got to move forward and, for me, I just focus on this team.
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BRUNHUBER: Young went on to score 21 points on Friday to lead the Hawks to win over the Knicks, giving Atlanta a 2-1 in the series.
Portugal is coping with an English invasion of soccer fans. Thousands of Chelsea and Manchester fans are there for the finals. Fans packed bars after Portugal eased COVID-19 restrictions; 16,000 fans will be allowed in the stadium for Saturday's match. It was moved to that area because of COVID restrictions in Turkey.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For our viewers in the United States and Canada, "NEW DAY" is ahead. For everyone else, it's "QUEST'S WORLD OF WONDER."
