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Drone Strike In Afghanistan Initially Claimed To Hit ISIS Target Instead Killed 10 Innocent Civilians Including Children; Capitol Police Increase Security For Right-Wing Rally Held In Support Of January 6th Insurrectionists; Rally In Support Of January 6th Insurrectionists Takes Place Without Violence; Thousands Of Migrants Gathering At U.S.-Mexico Border Causing Humanitarian Crisis; COVID Patients Occupying More Than 60 Percent Of ICU Beds In Idaho. Aired 2- 3p ET

Aired September 18, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think this is going to be a very key piece of the picture of what happened to explain to the family who were the victims. I met with one of the brothers today. He lost a daughter.

We were standing in the wreckage around the wreckage of the vehicles. He showed me around the damaged house and explained to me everything they knew. He was happy that the Pentagon belatedly admitted that his brother was not a terrorist. He said that was a positive.

But he had this question. He said, I can't understand, they must have known, they must have seen that there were children there, because what happened was when his brother was coming home from work that day, it was a routine with the children there.

It's a very narrow sort of turn for the lane into the compound of the house, a small compound, and the children would come out and help their father, guide him, point him in the right direction to get the vehicle snugly into that tight space. And part of the fun for the children getting to be with their father at the end of the day was to get the vehicle with him.

And he said that was what was happening. Children got in the vehicle with their father as he'd driven in, and then they were going to help him pass the water out at the house. There's heavy containers of water that the drone operators had seen him loading into the vehicle that they had feared might have been explosives.

So the brother wants to know why, if they were children in the vehicle milling around the car as it came in, why wouldn't that have been seen? And this perhaps gives us a little more understanding about why the CIA have now said that they issued a warning after the hellfire missile was fired, but a warning that there were civilians in the area. I think this paints a bit more detail into that picture right now, Fredricka.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: And then Alex, tell us more about this CIA issuing this warning, but it just simply came too late. Are we talking about an issue of minutes or seconds?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It is seconds, Fredricka. And the picture that Nic was just talking about, what this does is it just really adds to the confusion of what was going on in that moment, and it really does raise more questions about the U.S.'s ability to carry these over-the-horizon attacks against terrorist targets in Afghanistan. More questions on top of the ones that already existed.

What we understand from three sources speaking to our colleagues Katie Bo Lillis, Zach Cohen, and Natasha Bertrand, is that it was just seconds before that hellfire missile tore through that white Toyota Corolla that Ahmadi was inside and killed him and nine others, that the CIA had issued this warning. This was a military operation. The drone was controlled by the military. The drone, this strike was ordered by the military.

But of course, you have intelligence services, in this case, the CIA, working hand in glove with the military. And what this does is really paint the picture of not only a fast-moving environment, but a miscommunication where the CIA put out this warned, offered this warned to the military, which was the lead on this operation, but it was, in fact, too late.

Yesterday, when we heard from General McKenzie, the head of Central Command, he kept talking about the context of the situation that led to this mistake as he called it. We know that there had just been an attack at Kabul international airport that left 170 Afghans dead as well as 13 American service members, and we know that there was an imminent attack.

And so there was intelligence. There were 60 different pieces of intelligence according to General McKenzie that indicated that an attack was imminent. And one of those pieces of intelligence was that a white Toyota Corolla was involved. In the end, they ended up tracking the wrong one and certainly killing the wrong person. Not only were these 10 civilians collateral damage during a strike against an ISIS target, there was no ISIS target at all, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Juliette, let's talk about what sometimes is a strategic reward that comes with these drone strikes, but then of course this underscores the huge risks.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. But I'm confused a little bit about why the Pentagon keeps insisting that they're going to stand by their intelligence. This is an urban environment, and it's just clear that there's going to be civilians around.

So the only thing that would have justified a drone attack, because remember, we still have military presence there, would have been that the benefit of going after someone with a drone outweighed any potential collateral damage. And that is where the intelligence was just so off and inexplicable at this stage, I have to admit.

What the CIA told the Defense Department that there might be civilians around is obvious if you just look at any per. As Nic was saying, a narrow driveway around a residential neighborhood, you knew that the attack would have collateral damage.

[14:05:03]

And I do want to raise the challenge, or at least a challenge for the Biden administration as they try to offset the gaps that are going to exist in our counterterrorism efforts now that we no longer have a presence in Afghanistan, this over-the-horizon aspect to our counterterrorism, both against Al Qaeda and then any other elements of ISIS that might target western targets. This is not a sign of confidence that we have the intelligence or the interagency communication to begin that battle.

So, look, the military has been open, at least so far, after the "New York Times" story, though, let's just be clear here, and then needs to assess how was their intelligence so off, and how did they convince themselves that this was a target worth getting in the middle of in urban environment. And that has to be answered immediately if we're going to continue this counterterrorism effort.

WHITFIELD: And it sounds like you also have a beef with the elapse of time, the explanation for that now this far out from it.

KAYYEM: Yes, we would have known, would have known that children were targeted within moments, were impacted and killed within moments. So.

WHITFIELD: All right, Juliette, Mark, Nic, thank you -- Alex Marquardt, to all of you, thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

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[14:10:39]

WHITFIELD: All right, now to Washington, D.C., where the nation's capital remains on guard even though that planned protest in support of the insurrectionists, it is officially over. However, there continue to be a few people who are mingling there on the mall.

Remember, it was just nine months ago that we saw terrifying scenes unfold, hundreds of people scaling the walls, breaking windows, storming the hallways of the Capitol, yelling to find Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, and threatening to hang the vice president, Mike Pence.

All of this as lawmakers and the vice president ran to their safety. Capitol police horribly outnumbered, even targeted. One officer was killed. More than -- or I should say, one officer died, and more than 100 were hurt, some seriously, and three others later died by suicide.

Today, things looking quite different. Barriers, fencing surrounding the Capitol, hundreds of officers in position. But the demonstrations did not turn violent today. Shimon Prokupecz has been monitoring for us all day there on the mall. So Shimon, how is this being assessed?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This is exactly I think the way the police expected it to go. When I talked to the police chief this morning before the rally, he said he expected it to be over around 1:15 or so and that it was going to be peaceful. So that's the case.

They're actually now taking the stage down. The event organizer, just after 1:00 came out. He spoke to the people who were here. He said, it's time to go home. Let's exit, exit together. They actually thanked the police officers for being here. He said, thank police officers as you walk by, because there were so many police officers here.

There's still Capitol police, there's hundreds of them still out here because there's still stragglers, and obviously for them, the concern was also post-rally, what happens afterward. But most people have left. Even some of the police officers who were here on this side, they have now left. So things, peaceful. Things went as well as the police had hoped, and certainly as well as they expected.

I don't know how the event organizers feel. In listening to them address the crowd, they felt a lot of people were afraid to come here in part because the media was making so much out of this, and, obviously, all the police that was here, but also this idea that this was some kind of a false flag kind of situation. People were afraid to come because they thought they were going to get arrested. So they were blaming it on all sorts of reasons for why they feel people didn't show up.

For the police, though, I could tell you they were prepared, and this is about as good as it could have gotten for them. So things now obviously have ended and people have left. And they're sort of just milling around, but for the most part, this is over, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So another excuse or explanation. Can it be that it's representative of a dwindling support of the big lie? Were there dozens? Were there hundreds? How many people ultimately did turn out for this?

PROKUPECZ: It was hard to tell. So they had a permit for 700, but at times, this looked like there was more media out here because a lot of the media is still here. So colleagues of ours were out here reporting on this just like us. Some of them are still here interviewing people.

The thing is, I spoke to some of the people who were attending this, their mind is made up. They feel the way they feel about January 6th. There is no changing their mind. Some of them are so crazy that they don't even believe the video that they're seeing.

All the hundreds and thousands of video that the police released of them being physically assaulted in this combat with the insurrectionists, they don't even believe that. One guy telling me, well, it was the police officer's fault, it the police fault because they should have kind of gotten out of the way.

And they're all sort of treating this as nothing serious, just a bunch of trespassers who entered the Capitol, and that they're all being treated unfairly by the justice system. So you did hear a lot of that from the folks here. It's hard to tell if any of the support is changing. Some were upset

at the former president because they felt that he, by coming out and saying people shouldn't come, or they felt he wasn't strong enough in support. So I did hear from some of those folks who took issue with it, but I didn't hear them changing their opinions or their support of the former president.

[14:15:07]

And as much as -- I just want to make one other point. As much as the organizers said, well, this wasn't political, this wasn't about politics, it really was, in the end, because everywhere you went here, you did hear, you did see signs about the former president.

WHITFIELD: All right, it remains perplexing. I'll just say that. Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much. Thanks for being there. Appreciate it.

All right, still ahead, a new turn in the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Gabby Petito. Police are now searching for her fiance in a Florida nature preserve. His family saying they haven't seen him since Tuesday.

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[14:20:13]

WHITFIELD: Not missing but hiding, that is how the lawyer for the Petito family, whose daughter has been missing for a week now, describes her fiance, Brian Laundrie. It's a bizarre case that has police and the FBI combing through the couple's travel itinerary for clues of her whereabouts. Polo Sandoval is following the story for us from New York. Polo, bring us up to speed.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, this is a bizarre case that just recently took an extremely peculiar twist. Rather than just one missing person investigation, North Port Police Department now has two missing persons investigations, that being Gabby's fiance.

This initially started yesterday when authorities were contacted by Brian Laundrie, reporting that they had not seen their son since Tuesday, and that's what triggered a search that was tweeted just a short while ago, or actually earlier today by authorities there in North Port, saying they are currently actively searching right now an area near North Port, actively searching for Brian Laundrie, the 23- year-old fiance of Gabby Petito.

What they're doing right now is they're searching an area of about 200 acres, a state park there that has recently bridged over to the Carlton Preserve, which is an additional 25,000 acres. This is extremely muddy, wet terrain where authorities of about 50 law enforcement individuals right now from about five to six agencies are using canines, ATVs, drones to try to track down Brian Laundrie.

As we look at these pictures, it's important to remind viewers, he's not a suspect. He is at this point in this investigation when it comes to Gabby's disappearance, they are only seeking to talk to him about Gabby's whereabouts.

And as recently as two days ago, we heard from the North Port police chief saying that he knew exactly where he was, and now authorities being contacted by his family last night asking that they actually speak to his family, even took some articles of clothing so that the canines could actually try to track him down in this surrounding area.

So again, this now is turned into two separate searches for two individuals. And obviously, the family of Gabby Petito insists that he has to hold the key or at least some information that could lead them to his daughter. And it was just recently yesterday the Petito family attorney said that Laundrie is not missing but, quote, he is hiding.

But really, this does speak to the frustration for law enforcement there in Florida that continue to lead this investigation, Fred, that they are at this point, there is no report of an actual crime. So that this is not a criminal investigation. They're simply searching for two individuals. Gabby, who was reported missing a week ago today, and now her fiance, Brian Laundrie, who was exercising his Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent and now is nowhere to be seen.

WHITFIELD: Wow, it is bizarre indeed. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

SANDOVAL: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Straight ahead, the FDA says those over 65 and high risk should get a booster shot as COVID cases surge and critical care at some hospitals becomes more difficult to provide.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: An overwhelming situation unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border. Officials there are about to give a news conference and say right now more than 14,000 migrants are packed under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, all of them being held for processing by U.S. immigration agents. CNN correspondent Rosa Flores is in Del Rio. Rosa, what is the situation?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see that the press conference is going to be happening behind me, but I'm going to swing the camera over to show you where this humanitarian crisis is actually happening. Beyond this fence, you'll see a lot of law enforcement activity. Beyond that, that is where more than 14,000 people are waiting to be processed by federal immigration authorities. That's the latest number that we've got this morning, but we're hoping to get an update on that here shortly during this press conference.

Right beyond that bridge, that's where the camp is being set up. That's where tents are going up and then people are starting to live there because it's been taking so long for them to be processed out. Today, DHS announcing a six-point plan, a strategy to try to respond to this humanitarian crisis. Among some of the things that DHS says that they're going to be doing

is in the next 72 hours, they're going to be increasing the number of flights to expel and remove Haitians to Haiti. And this, according to DHS, is a strategy to try to deter Haitians from coming here to Del Rio.

Other things that we're learning is they've closed the bridge that you see behind me and rerouted traffic to Eagle Pass, Texas. That's about 57 miles south of where we are. That was announced and happened yesterday. We still see that the bridge is closed. ICE and the U.S. Coast Guard are also getting involved to try to move some of these migrants to other processing facilities so that they can get that processing done a lot quicker.

[14:30:00]

I can tell you from talking to a migrant just within the last hour, I was in a shelter where some of the migrants are getting help, and he was able to paint a clearer picture of what is actually happening underneath this bridge. He explained that when migrants get to the bridge, they're given a ticket, a number. His number was more than 4,000 when he arrived on Tuesday, and he says that people are divided into sections, men, women, pregnant women, and families. The pregnant women and families get priority. Those are the people that are being processed faster.

Now, we've heard from the U.S. government that DHS is providing water, towels, and toilets. And one of the big questions has been, what about food? This particular migrant says that there's an economy underneath this bridge. He says that some people cross into Mexico, buy food, come back into the United States and sell it.

He says that a small plate costs you $5. If you want a drink, it will cost you $7. And so he says that they're having to figure out how to live in this under this bridge while they're waiting for U.S. immigration authorities to process them.

So Fred, again, we're waiting for this press conference to learn more about what's going to happen, how quickly some of these flights are going to happen, how quickly ICE and the U.S. Coast Guard are going to be mobilizing so that number of people living under this bridge can be reduced. Again, one of the biggest concerns here is the public health concern, Fred, because there's just so many people that are in a very small area under a bridge.

WHITFIELD: Understood. All right, Rosa Flores, we're going to come back to you when that press conference gets under way there in Del Rio, Texas. Thank you very much.

In the meantime, the CDC is projecting that the U.S. will see a decline in COVID hospitalizations over the next month. But right now, COVID patients are taking up more than 60 percent of the ICU beds in Idaho. And due to an overflow of mostly unvaccinated patients, state health officials have just activated a crisis care plan allowing hospitals to ration care when necessary. Joining me right now to discuss, Dr. Esther Choo, a professor of

emergency medicine at Oregon Health and Science University. Dr. Choo, so good to see you. So hospitals in neighboring Washington state are now picking up the slack due to the lack of resources in Idaho, and this is happening in other states as well. How is this impacting everyone?

DR. ESTHER CHOO, PROFESSOR OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE, OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY: Yes, Idaho is also a neighboring state to Oregon, so this is very real and personal for us as well. And it's important to remember in crisis standards of care, we're talking about denying care to people who need ICU care, ECMO, renal dialysis at their bedside in the ICU, but it affects every single kind of care.

So when our ICUs are that full, our hospitals are also full, and we are starting to delay necessary surgeries and other procedures as long as they're not immediately fatal. So there are patients waiting for bone marrow transplants, waiting for certain types of cardiac surgeries who cannot get it.

And of course, in Washington and Oregon where we've taken really strong public health measures, we, of course, want to help our neighbor, Idaho, and our colleagues who are suffering in the hospitals there just trying to stay afloat.

But we also approach crisis standards of care here, and how do we balance the need to take care of our own when there's this state that has made really unfortunate decisions to not apply public health measures to try to curb the pandemic there, how much do we try to bail them out when we're also facing our own crises? So it's just a very difficult and sad situation for all of us.

WHITFIELD: These are difficult decisions that every hospital has to make, but then I wonder, too, personally, how fatiguing this is for you and your colleagues, doctors, nurses, all staff when they're seeing that all of this is very preventable, but here we are.

CHOO: I think we've kind of run out of words to explain how we feel. It's the everyday exhaustion from working much more and harder than we're used to for such a long period of time, and recognize that we're facing huge staffing shortages, and so everybody is doing more than their regular jobs.

And then on top of that, you walk out and you see all these people who don't even want to do basic things that are accessible to them, like wear masks regularly so that we can get some respite a month or two from now. So that feeling of betrayal, it really adds to our stress and our exhaustion and just feeling super sad every single day at the situation that we're in.

WHITFIELD: And adding to the heartbreak, now there's this. In states like Mississippi, officials there are reporting an increase in deaths among pregnant women, most of whom were not vaccinated. What's the message you want to send?

CHOO: The misinformation machine has been so strong. The American College of on Obstetrics and Gynecology in addition the CDC have very strong recommendations about pregnant women getting vaccinated, but only 25 percent of pregnant women above the age of 17 have gotten even at least one dose of the vaccine because of concerns that are not based in data about the impact on their pregnancy.

[14:35:17]

And so that is really hard to see. Obviously, when we see pregnant women, we have this instinct that we want to do the best for them, and we're seeing that they're get sicker, being hospitalized, and dying at higher rates than the general population.

So this is why we continue to need to do outreach to pockets of our nation that remain unvaccinated. In our hospital and our ICU, pretty consistently over 90 percent of hospitalized patients who have COVID are unvaccinated in our ICU. The sickest patients are 95 or 96 percent unvaccinated. And so this is really, from the health system perspective, vaccinating the unvaccinated remains our biggest mission right now.

WHITFIELD: It is tragic. Dr. Esther Choo, thank you so much.

CHOO: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead -- toxic for teens. A stunning new report this week reveals just how damaging Instagram can be for young people, and how the company knew all about it.

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[14:40:58]

WHITFIELD: Facebook is on the defensive after a damning report this week by "The Wall Street Journal." Reporters leaked internal Facebook documents detailing the company's own research that shows how harmful its platform is, especially to teenagers. Researchers warned top Facebook officials that because of its app Instagram, which it bought in 2012, I'm quoting now, we "Wake body image issues worse for one in three teen girls," end quote.

Here to talk about it, the host of CNN's "This is Life with Lisa Ling," Lisa Ling joining us right now. Lisa, so good to see you, because you actually talked about this very subject on your show back in 2018. So any surprise to you that Facebook is acknowledging, by way of this research, that it had these conversations internally?

LISA LING, CNN HOST, "THIS IS LIFE WITH LISA LING": Well, it does surprise me that they're acknowledging it, but the results of their study, or their internal documents, don't surprise me at all. As you said, I did a report on this in 2018, and I'm part of an organization called the California Partners Project, and one of our focuses specifically is the impact of technology and social media on teenagers' brains and mental health. And we recently conducted a study and asked teenagers how social media made them feel.

And every single one of them in this study said it made them feel worse. And in the episode that I produce for our show "This is Life," I interviewed the mother after a 15-year-old who took her life. And this mother was a behavioral health nurse.

She knew all the signs to look for. Her daughter was a popular girl, had so many friends, and when she turned over her daughter's devices to authorities, they came back and they said did you know that she had this other life on social media. She had another account on Instagram that was being called a Finsta, which is a fake Instagram, that was so, so dark.

And Instagram knows that this is happening. Parents are not as savvy as their kids. This is a major, major crisis, Fredricka, parents need to be more aware of. And these companies, companies like Facebook and Instagram, they need to be held accountable because they know this information.

WHITFIELD: They're creating it. They've created it, and they see the traffic, so they actually know. They can't act like they don't know what's happening. So then when you talk to the teenagers who admit to being sucked in to these platforms, or this Instagram or other social media platforms, what do they say, or what have they said why they can't turn away, even if they know it's damaging, if it's making them feel, you said a moment ago, you said when you talked to them, they said it makes them feel worse.

So then why can't they go away from it? What's going on?

LING: You know we all can't. We are all addicted to our devices. And when you take a child that is in the prime stage of brain development from one to 17, the things that they experience, they can't process all of this information. These phones, these devices, they are super computers. They're not just innocuous phones.

And I don't blame parents because I don't think parents really realize how they are designed to suck you in. They are designed to addict you. That's why there has to be some accountability held by these corporations because they know.

WHITFIELD: They know, that's right. Of course, they know, and they keep it going. They're also answering to the consumer, right? They're changing, making modifications to keep a captured audience. That's how a business works, right? And this would be the same thing.

LING: Absolutely. What we need to do is demand that they have a conscience. We realize that we're all reliant on our devices and on technology. But when it comes to things like social media, I know that Instagram was thinking about taking off the "like" feature, right?

That could help enormously, because you and I know, when we post things on Instagram, we're so compelled. It's this instinctive thing. We want to know how many likes we got. Think about kids whose brains are still developing that aren't mature enough to understand that their mental health is being so severely affected by that need for validation.

WHITFIELD: And you used the word "conscience." Those who are in the business of designing, whether it's Instagram, Facebook, they're creating this product. Some of them are parents, right. And why are they not thinking about their own kids, and the kids of others who are, like you say, getting sucked in? Why are they then not compelled to make some modifications, be responsible?

Lisa Ling, we could talk about this for a long time because it's getting me all worked up, too. Thank you so much for being with us. And of course, you can catch an all-new season of CNN's "This is Life with Lisa Ling." Congratulations on a new season, starting Sunday, October 10th, at 10:00 p.m. Thanks so much, Lisa, appreciate it.

LING: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: As promised, let's go to that press conference in Del Rio, Texas, now as they are addressing what has become a real crisis, 14,000 people, migrants, who have been living under a bridge for a long time. Let's listen in. Here's the mayor.

MAYOR BRUNO LOZANO (D), DEL RIO, TEXAS: -- Congressman Pfluger. He has been down here from the San Angelo area to assess the challenges that Del Rio and Border Patrol is currently facing with the influx of migrants. As of right now, I believe it was 14,812 individuals that are waiting to be detained, as we mentioned earlier yesterday, what that actually means.

Today has been a significant change in strategy. We have much more resources that are being delivered to the Del Rio area, including state and federal equipment, manpower, logistical support.

We're going to be seeing even more buses loading up here and taking us to other stations. At those stations, whether it be Eagle Pass, Laredo, they've cleared them out to really just drive these migrants over so that those stations can begin the process and capabilities at those stations.

That being said, we're also going to be seeing aircraft coming in, not just to our air base here but we're also trying to get the local airport to be used, utilized as well. Our communication with the San Antonio Airport System is to get air stairs since we don't have that type of aircraft here. That's what I know of right now as far as the logistical component goes. Sorry, it's been a long day.

But also distribution when we do know that there's a lot of local distributors that want to assist. We're just asking that you please do not produce the food until we contact you. We don't want to waste any food. It expires really quickly in this heat, so please let border patrol or the point of contact that they have reach you.

That was the message that they wanted me to send out to the community. We do thank you for your food. We know you want to feed our officers and the migrants or what have you, but we just don't want that food to go to waste.

I'm going to go ahead and just mention the congressman and I were having a conversation with Governor Abbott. He definitely wants to provide as much assistance as he can utilizing state resources to protect the city of Del Rio and Val Verde County. On that note, I'm going to yield the floor to Congressman Pfluger and have him speak --

WHITFIELD: You were listening there to the Del Rio, Texas, Mayor Bruno Lozano there talking about facilitating more buses, more stations, and even the local airport all in the spirit of processing and also returning migrants to their home countries. Again, some 14,000 migrants who have all been converging under a bridge, a highway bridge there, and how that city and other localities are now trying to address it.

We'll have much more after this.

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[14:53:44]

WHITFIELD: Nearly 70,000 Americans died of an opioid-related overdose last year, setting a new record. In today's "The Human Factor," a doctor who lost both of her sons to overdose is hoping to change that.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am a cardiac anesthesiologist. I have tragically lost both of my adult sons to accidental opioid overdoses. I got involved in my local drug and alcohol commission. We developed a training program about how to recognize an overdose, and how to reverse it. Also, CPR skills. Narcan can be given to someone who has overdosed on opioids, and it will reverse the effects of the opioid and allow the individual to become conscious again.

Tip their chin back. Put the dose in their nostril.

I have had the experience on multiple occasions where I had to revive one of my sons. So whether you're a concerned citizen or anyone who has an opioid prescription in their home, you too live in a high risk home. You need the training. There are many online training sessions. The medication itself, you can have it mailed to your home for free.

[14:55:07]

The average time that it takes for EMS to arrive at your home is seven minutes. If you're rural, it can be 14 minutes. Time is critically important. I know what this looks like in my home. I know what this can look like in your home.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, 2021 is shaping up to be a particularly deadly year as it relates to gun violence. There have already been more than 14,000 gun deaths in the U.S. so far. And as those numbers escalate, so does the national debate over gun control. The all-new CNN film "The Price of Freedom" examines how the NRA became a political force that has shaped American gun policy and culture for more than five decades. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The NRA has played a singular and important role in cultivating an identity around gun ownership in which guns are not simply tools that a lot of folks use, but instead are symbols of who they are, what they value, and how they view their place in the world. NRA has taken this identity on gun ownership and politically weaponized it. I see the NRA portraying gun control as threats to who its members and supporters are. When people's identities feel threatened, they're much more likely to take action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. with us now to talk more about all of this, Yohuru Williams. He's a professor of history at St. Thomas University, and the author of "Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement." So good to see you. My goodness, So the NRA is a powerful force. That everyone knows. But how did it become such an influential political player?

YOHURU WILLIAMS, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, ST. THOMAS UNIVERSITY: Well, it's actually a fascinating story, Fredricka, because people think of the NRA in terms of its modern incarnation. But in reality, the organization was formed in 1871, and for most of its history was really concerned with responsible gun ownership.

It was founded by two Union war veterans who in the aftermath of the war recognized the need for Americans to be more familiar with guns and the responsible stewardship of guns and marksmanship coming out of the experience of the Civil War.

It really begins to change in the 1960s in the aftermath of a wave of political assassinations, including the killing of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of Martin Luther King, and then the number of riots that sweep the nation which are fueled by gun violence.

And as their efforts by the Johnson administration to deal with that gun violence, as there are political movements like the civil rights and black power movements with organizations like the Black Panther Party actually appealing to the need for armed self-defense in the wave of police violence against African Americans, you see the NRA really changing as an organization.

A new layer of leadership ushered in by Harlon Carter seeks to take control of the organization and move it away from this kind of earlier focus on responsible gun ownership into advocacy in defense of the Second Amendment. But it's really a reimagination of the NRA that takes place in that moment.

And that work is completed in 1977 at their convention, where Harlon Carter and those are in favor of this advocacy model really take over the organization and change it from its foundations.

WHITFIELD: In the film, you also talk about the role race has played in the gun debate. To what degree?

WILLIAMS: Well, race has always been central to the conversation about guns in America and gun control. One of the arguments that the NRA makes consistently is that the founders were not in favor of gun restrictions, but the reality is that there were hundreds of laws that were passed in the United States dealing with the ownership and restriction of ownership of guns.

And a lot of those laws focused on access to firearms for African Americans. During slavery, there were prohibitions against the ownership of guns and other weapons by slaves out of fear of what slaves might do if they had access to those weapons. And even in the aftermath of the Civil War you see efforts by the former states of the Confederacy to restrict gun ownership for African Americans.

If we think about our recent history, last year we documented, this year we documented the Tulsa race riot of 1921. One of the immediate responses to the violence in Tulsa was to strip African Americans of firearms in order to prevent them from defending their homes.

And again, if we go to the 1960s, the Black Panther Party, the effort to end gun ownership for African Americans in California, which began in that moment around trying to prevent African Americans, in this case the Black Panthers from owning weapons.

WHITFIELD: Professor, I hate to cut you off because I know there is so much more you want to add to that, but we're going into the next hour. Professor Yohuru Williams, thank you so much. Of course, we'll all be watching the all new CNN film "The Price of Freedom" premiering tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.