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New York City Police Officer Killed in What Authorities are Calling an Ambush; Surge of Omicron Variant of COVID-19 Appears to be Easing in U.S.; Hospital in Philadelphia Turning Away Ambulances Due to Number of Unvaccinated Hospitalized with COVID-19; Supreme Court Rules House Select Committee Investigating the January 6th Insurrection Can Have All Documents from National Archives that Former President Donald Trump Tried to Block; U.S. Increasing Military Aid for Ukraine as More than 100,000 Russian Troops Amass Along Border; State Department May Remove Nonessential Personnel and Their Families from Embassy in Ukraine. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired January 22, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

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CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Happening now in the Newsroom.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am struggling to find the words to express the tragedy we are enduring. We're mourning, and we're angry.

PAUL: Shock and outrage this morning after two New York City police officers are ambushed during a call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As our first officers approached the bedroom, the door swings open and numerous shots are fired.

PAUL: What we're learning about the attack, the officers, and how the NYPD is responding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've had to divert ambulances over the last several weeks because the huge number of patients coming in.

PAUL: Hospitals are forced to send people elsewhere as unvaccinated patients are straining resources.

Plus, the new data showing just how important those boosters are.

The U.S. embassy in Kiev is asking the State Department to evacuate some personnel as tensions remain high over fears that Russia may try to invade Ukraine, and NATO supplied weapons are arriving in the country now.

New details in the case of Brian Laundrie, what rewrote about Gabby Petito's death in a notebook found near his remains, and how the Petito family is responding.

And a stunning discovery off the coast of Tahiti.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It shows us still how little we know about our own planet.

PAUL: Why researchers are so fascinated by this coral reef and the secrets it could unlock about climate change and the future of life on our planet.

Newsroom starts right now.

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PAUL (on camera): Good morning to you on this Saturday, January 22nd. We're so grateful to have you. I'm Christi Paul.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Boris Sanchez. Great to be with you, as always, Christi, and thank you so much for joining us. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

We start this morning with a tragedy. Flags have been lowered to half- staff across New York as the city mourns the loss of one of its finest. One officer was killed during a shooting last night, a second is in critical condition in what officials are describing as an ambush attack.

PAUL: Authorities say rookie Officer Jason Rivera died last night while responding to a domestic violence call. The officers are the latest to be shot in the line of duty. Officials say three others have been shot this month alone. Yesterday, while speaking to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, President Biden addressed the challenges that police face every day.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We shouldn't be cutting funding for police departments. I propose increasing funding. Look, we ask cops to do everything, including being psychologists and social workers. Guess what, they need psychologists and social workers.

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SANCHEZ: CNN's Polo Sandoval joins us now live. He's been following this story. Polo, Mayor Eric Adams is facing the first really big crisis of his mayorship after a string of violent attacks.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Only three weeks into office, too, Boris, so there certainly is mounting pressure on the mayor to do something to address this, as he promised that he would while campaigning, saying that he was, of course, the main Democrat that has the ability to actually handle this level of violence we have seen on the streets.

Back to this tragic shooting that took place yesterday, what we understand is that Jason Rivera was among three officers that responded to this call of a mother that was having an argument with her 47-year-old son. Rivera and another officer walked down a narrow hallway when the door swung open, according to detectives, and a man now identified as Lashawn McNeil opened fire with a pistol. Look at the photograph that was released by investigators showing that Glock pistol with a high-capacity drum magazine that was attached. We're still trying to find out exactly how this individual came into possession of this firearm since he is apparently, does have prior arrests in New York City, including a probation for narcotics for an arrest in 2003, and four other arrests outside of New York City, including unlawful possession of a weapon, and also assaulting a police officer.

Now, eventually, though, the third officer that was in that apartment managed to return fire, shooting McNeil, who we are told is currently in the hospital. What we are seeing right now from not just the police commissioner, who is calling this loss just beyond comprehension, but also, we are hearing from the mayor himself, who is certainly angry about this, calling on something to be done. In fact, he was at a vigil for a baby who was shot in the face by a stray bullet earlier this week when this particular shooting happened.

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[10:05:01]

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: An 11-month-old baby was shot just a few days ago. Five officers were shot in this city. The unification of fighting this battle goes beyond the debate and rhetoric. It is time for us to save our city, and we are going to need everyone on the same page to accomplish this task.

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SANDOVAL: So, after a very violent three weeks with various incidents that we've seen throughout the city here, this is certainly testing Eric Adams' vow to be able to respond and to try to restore a level order and peace to certain pockets of neighborhoods that have seen high levels of violence recently.

SANCHEZ: Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

Last night, Mayor Adams called on Washington to help get guns off American streets, and earlier today I spoke with the former police commissioner of Philadelphia, Charles Ramsey. He says cities should not be waiting for federal help. Listen to this.

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CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I can understand the mayor is frustrated. He's upset. He's asking Washington to do something. But quite frankly, Washington can't get out of its way. Our Congress is totally useless when it comes to things like this. So, we're going to have to deal with it at the local level the best we can. But it's going to be a tough fight. Last year we had increases in violent crimes in cities across the country, including the one I'm in right now, Philadelphia, that had a record year in terms of homicides. And so far this month, that number has exceeded last year's January total. This isn't going to get better on its own. We're going to have to take strong action, get these guns off the street, and more importantly, get the people who are using these guns off the street. They need to be incarcerated.

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SANCHEZ: We do have some good news to share with you this morning, growing optimism that the surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is easing. COVID hospitalizations are dropping in the northeast, the Midwest, with the average of new daily cases trending down compared to last week.

PAUL: Plus, new CDC studies show the COVID-19 booster shots are 90 percent effective against hospitalizations from Omicron and provide the best protection against the variant.

SANCHEZ: But the CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, is still stopping short of changing the definition of fully vaccinated to three doses, instead saying that the focus is on what it means to be, quote, up to date.

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DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: And what we really are working to do is pivot the language to make sure that everybody is as up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines as they personally could be, should be, based on when they get their last vaccine. So importantly right now, we're pivoting our language.

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SANCHEZ: Right now, only 25 percent of Americans have received a booster shot.

PAUL: Health care leaders say the unvaccinated continue to make up the majority of COVID patients in hospitals. Dr. Robert Jansen with us now, he's the chief medical officer and chief of staff at Grady Health System in Atlanta. That's where they're having to divert ambulances to other hospitals because of this surge. Dr. Jansen, thank you so much for being with us.

That is what I want to ask you first and foremost, because I think that's one of the most alarming pieces of information that we've gotten lately, that you are diverting ambulances because you just done have the resources to treat people. How long has that been necessary up to this point? And how is it affecting the hospitals that are receiving those patients?

DR. ROBERT JANSEN, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER AND CHIEF OF STAFF, GRADY HEALTH SYSTEM: So good morning, and thank you for having me. We've been having to divert ambulances off and on for the past several weeks as the number of patients that are admitted with Omicron variant of COVID has increased. And we've reached a critical point where we have no room in the hospital or in the emergency room to take additional patients, and that's caused us to have to send ambulances to other facilities. The problem with that is that Grady is the major trauma center for the

city of Atlanta. And when this is happening, patients sometimes have to go to places that are not as well equipped and accustomed to that type of patient. So that's devastating to people who need the care that we normally are able to deliver.

PAUL: I wanted to ask you, too, if you have any indication how that is affecting the care of the patients once they get rerouted. They're coming to you in a situation of an emergency, which usually means time is of the essence.

JANSEN: Right. And so, particularly in trauma and patients with strokes or heart attacks, time is critical, and having the right resources available and the skill set to take care of those patients in those first few hours is so important. So, having patients go to hospitals that are not accustomed to that type of patient has a significant impact on those patients and their outcomes. And that's our biggest concern.

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PAUL: You've argued that COVID-19 isn't going away after this wave, that there will be other variants. We've had so many conversations with front line workers who are fatigued, who are frustrated to the point of desperation and depression. What is your level of concern for your staff, for the doctors, for the nurses who even have left the profession, even if they've done so temporarily?

JANSEN: So, we have taken a work force that was already understaffed, and now we have started bringing in more and more patients. And it is demoralizing. It's discouraging. We already have difficulty having an adequate staff, and now they're having to take care of patients who, some of this could have been prevented. And so, it's discouraging to people. They feel like they're fighting a battle that other people are not fighting with them.

Having said that, they continue to do a great job. Our staff is incredible. They show up every day. They take care of patients every day. But then they have to go home, and many of them are dealing with sick loved ones at home as well. They have lives as well. And so, they have to cope with all of this at this time, and it's very difficult on them.

PAUL: It's interesting to hear you talk about how the staff and the doctors and nurses feel like they are fighting sometimes alone without -- without the thought of the people that come in. And we know that there would never be any compromise of care. It would not be unusual from a human standpoint to think that maybe some of the staff does have some resentment for people who come in unvaccinated, and again, some people are unvaccinated for legitimate reasons in terms of their health would not allow for it. But have you had those kinds of conversations?

JANSEN: Absolutely. It's human nature to be angry when you think something could have been prevented. And we talk to the staff about it. They're open about it. But they're professionals, and they do their jobs, but it is very frustrating. You're absolutely right, some people legitimately could not be vaccinated. Other people have just chosen not to be vaccinated. And that's their choice, and we will continue to provide their care, but the ones who are not vaccinated are the ones who are flocking to the hospitals right now. And that's creating the problem.

PAUL: Before I let you go, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, we heard her just before this talking about shifting the verbiage for what up to date means and fully vaccinated means. Do you think that right now we are seeing the consequence of the confusion in protocol that we have seen up to this point?

JANSEN: I think we have to share some responsibility in that confusion, and by we, I mean health care workers and those folks who talk to the public. It has been confusing at times. And that's because the science has shifted, our understanding of the disease has shifted. Omicron is just another variant of this pandemic. And we're still learning. And I think one of the things we have to emphasize is we are still learning. So, what we thought yesterday may not be what is true tomorrow. And we just have to be open about that.

So, vaccines, I think three doses it's been pretty clearly shown is what you need to have full protection at this time. But vaccines are not perfect, and we have to admit that. And some people still get infected, and occasionally even if you've had three doses, you may require hospitalization. But that is rare now. So, the truth has changed because we're learning so much.

PAUL: Yes. Dr. Robert Jansen, thinking about you and your staff always. Thank you so much for everything that you do.

JANSEN: Thank you.

PAUL: And taking time for us.

JANSEN: Thank you, take care.

PAUL: You as well.

So, the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection now has all of the documents from the National Archives that former president Donald Trump spent months trying to block.

PAUL: Yes, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the panel to receive all 700 plus pages earlier this week. And now these records could help answer some vital questions about what happened the day the attack on the Capitol took place. CNN's Annie Grayer joins us now. And Annie, what more do we know about these documents that the National Archives turned over to the committee.

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ANNIE GRAYER, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: So, Boris, as you mentioned, all White House records go to the National Archives. And at the beginning of the committees' investigation, it requested to get the records from the Trump White House to be part of its investigation. As soon as they did that, Trump tried to intervene and prevent the committee from getting those documents. And that then was -- these documents were then tied up in court for a very long time. But the Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that the committee could then get those documents.

Now, the committee has in its possession, as you mentioned, over 700 pages that Trump tried to keep secret. We don't know exactly what's in those documents, but based on court filings, we know that these documents contain handwritten notes from Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who's refused to cooperate with the committee, call logs and visitor logs for Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence, and as "Politico" reported yesterday, these documents also contain a draft of a memo for a plan for how the government could seize voting machines, and this would halt the election certification process.

Now, obviously that didn't happen, but that new detail just shows how specific the documents that the committee is now having in its possession. And just taking a step back, these documents can really fill a lot of investigative holes for the committee, answer a lot of questions about what was going on in the White House in the lead up to January 6th, and specifically, what Trump was doing and who he was talking to on that day.

PAUL: We know Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, former Vice President Pence's security adviser, has spoken to the committee, spoke about Ivanka Trump being in the room a couple of times. What is the value of Ivanka Trump now being called, particularly voluntarily, to cooperate? Why is that significant?

GRAYER: So, Christi, Ivanka is the first Trump family member that we know of that the committee has reached out to, to speak directly, and Ivanka was at the White House on January 6th and can speak a lot to the former president's state of mind as the attack was unfolding. We know that she went to talk to her father at least twice to try and get him to stop the violence that was unfolding that day. We know that she was in the Oval Office with her father and Keith Kellogg, as you mentioned, who testified to this, listening to a phone call that Trump was having with Pence the morning of January 6th, trying to convince him to not certify the election.

So Ivanka can provide a lot of key testimony to what her father, the former president, was doing on January 6th.

SANCHEZ: All right, Annie Grayer, thank you so much.

PAUL: Thank you, Annie.

SANCHEZ: Making good on promises to help Ukraine, the first shipment of U.S. directed assistance arriving in that country. Up next, the message this sends to Vladimir Putin as the threat of an invasion looms.

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[10:22:17] PAUL: Lethal weapons, the U.S. stepping up military aid for Ukraine where more than 100,000 Russian troops are amassed along the border. And the U.S. says the first shipment of military assistance for Ukraine arrived last night. There are the pictures there. It includes about 200,000 pounds of lethal aid, including ammunition. And this is happening as the U.S. is warning Russia that any invasion of Ukraine will be met with a, quote, severe response.

SANCHEZ: Also, the U.S. embassy in Kiev is asking the State Department to authorize the evacuation of nonessential personnel and their families. That would be a huge step. We have in depth coverage from CNN international diplomacy editor Nic Robertson who is in Moscow. We also have White House reporter Natasha Bertrand with us from Washington. Nic, let's start with you. How significant is the arrival of this U.S. military assistance for Ukraine? Is this more, perhaps, symbolic than strategic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Look, I think this is obviously not going to stop a very heavily armored Russian military rolling across the border if they so decide. They're saying they're not going to do that. So, this ammunition, will it change President Putin's calculus? Will it make him believe or understand that if his troops cross the border, there will be a higher rate of casualties than he might have otherwise realized?

There's certainly growing concern in Kiev and there's certainly growing concern in the United States and among European allies that as diplomacy goes on, so Russia's troop buildup continues. So, the British have also sent some weapons systems to the Ukrainians to take out a battlefield armor. The Estonians have sent javelin missiles. We know they're good against T-72 tanks, which Russia has a lot of. We know the Latvians and Lithuanians are sending stinger surface to air missiles, which are useful against helicopters and low-flying jets.

So certainly, there's been this push to get more weapons systems in the hands of the Ukrainian, but not in a quantity, and not with the training, and not with the flexibility of maneuver to place them on the battlefield, the many places where Russia could come across the border in a timely fashion to be ready for that, to make a military, a huge military difference to stop the Russian military. So, it has to play on President Putin's calculation here and potentially also, potentially slow down a little an advance that allows some other diplomacy to play out. And as we heard from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, if there is invasion from Russia, then diplomacy is off the table. So, all you're left with is the military hardware.

PAUL: Nic, thank you for that.

Natasha, I want to ask you now, what more do we know about the reporting that the U.S. embassy is calling on the State Department to authorize evacuations from Ukraine?

[10:25:06]

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Christi, so this is news we broke last night, that the embassy in Kiev has asked the State Department for permission, essentially, for authorization to allow nonessential staff in that embassy and their families to evacuate, to head back to the U.S. amid these rising threats from Russia that are causing a lot of concern that Russia is going to move for a renewed invasion.

This is something that Antony Blinken, the secretary of state last week when he was in Kiev, he met with members of the embassy and told them that the U.S. was considering this kind of contingency planning, that the United States values the safety of American lives above all else, and that if they needed to evacuate, then they would make plans to do that.

Now we know that this has, in fact, escalated to the point that the U.S. embassy in Kiev feels that the threat is significant enough that they want to get as many people as they can at this moment out. Now, that does not include essential staff, people that will need to be there, like the charge d'affaires, for example, to keep the embassy running, because of course, Russia has not yet invaded, and it remains to be seen whether they actually plan to do that. But all of the signs are pointing in a very negative direction, and this is evidence that the embassy is fearful that if the personnel get caught in the crossfire, it could be a very messy and dangerous situation.

Now, we are told that the Ukrainian President, Vladimir Zelensky, spoke to Antony Blinken about this, and said that if the U.S. actually took this step of evacuating some of its personnel from the embassy, then it would be a dramatic overreaction. But the secretary of state responding to Zelensky, telling him that above all the safety and security of U.S. personnel overseas is what the U.S. State Department and U.S. government cares about the most. So it remains to be seen when these evacuations will begin, but we are told that they could start as soon as next week.

SANCHEZ: A move that would have enormous implications. Nic Robertson, Natasha Bertrand, thanks to both of you.

With us this morning to discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and several other pressing issues is Republican Congressman from Florida, Mike Waltz. He is a combat decorated Green Beret and a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, grateful that you're sharing part of your weekend with us. So, the Armed Services Committee received a classified briefing on the situation in Ukraine earlier this week. Up to this point, have you seen any evidence that Vladimir Putin can be persuaded against an invasion of Ukraine?

REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): In that briefing, there was bipartisan frustration, I think. In my visit, which was also a bipartisan trip to Ukraine a month ago, there was frustration at just how slowly this lethal aid has been moving in. And meanwhile, during these negotiations, which I think Putin is really putting on for show, for his domestic political propaganda, we have seen massive amounts of tanks, planes, and ships, moving from east to west to the Ukrainian boarder. And it's not just the numbers. It's the types of troops. Many of them

are from his reserves and National Guard, which are primarily intended for occupation duty. So, I do think this invasion is imminent. And we have to look at why Putin is doing it now. He's doing it because he got away with it in 2014 under the Obama administration. He's doing it because he has achieved his top foreign policy priority and an extension of the new START nuclear arms agreement at the beginning of this administration with no concessions, but also the attack on the Colonial Pipeline with really no retribution. And then of course Afghanistan, which I think was incredibly damaging, devastating, really, to American credibility.

So, at the end of the day -- oh, and we can't forget the Nord Stream 2 pipeline coming online, which will then allow Putin to bypass eastern Europe and Ukraine while maintaining oil and gas, some of which is the dirtiest form of gas in the world, to head into western Europe, which will compromise any type of unified response.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, you mentioned Afghanistan, and I specifically want to pull that thread, because 20 years of war and a messy withdrawal, I don't think many Americans are eager for foreign conflict, and there's a lot going on domestically that consumes the attention of our friends, families, and neighbors. So why should Americans watching right now pay attention to what's happening in Ukraine? And how far do you think the U.S. should go to prevent an incursion?

WALTZ: Global stability has been underscored and supported by American leadership since World War II, backed by diplomacy and military power. And if in the course of a year two major allies where we've had significant investment, both Afghanistan and Ukraine, are taken over by a terrorist regime and by Russia, Americans should care.

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Because China's watching, North Korea's watching, Iran is watching, and our eastern European allies are incredibly concerned and watching. Authoritarianism is on the march when they believe that this White House doesn't have the political will to utilize American power, and our alliances are America's greatest strength. And right now, I think that our credibility to support them is under great strain.

SANCHEZ: So how far should the United States go in protecting Ukrainian sovereignty?

WALTZ: Well, look, nobody is calling for hundreds of thousands of American boots on the ground. But I think there's a lot more we can and should be doing to support Ukraine. This lethal aid should have been moving faster. They had been asking for it for months, and it's just now arriving. And it's the types of lethal aid, the things the Russians most fear are those surface-to-air missiles and antiship missiles, they're called harpoon missiles. Again, the Ukrainians have been asking for them, and there's a real sense of the White House not wanting to provide it because they don't want to provoke Putin. I think that's the exact opposite approach. It actually emboldens Putin. The other piece is a strong statement from the president that we will

continue to support any type of Ukrainian resistance. We need to be focused on deterrence on the front end to complicate Putin calculus, to stop him up front, not talk about the response we're going to have after he invades. By then it will be too late, just as it was in 2014. So again, I think we need a real policy shift towards deterrence first, rather than aggressive response. And at the end of the day, sanctions have to be in both euros and dollars. And as long as Germany, the strongest economy in Europe, is dependent on Russia for its gas to heat its homes, I don't think you're going to see a strong response. Russia knows it, and that's why they're not deterred by just a sanctions first approach.

SANCHEZ: Mike, I want to ask you about the legislation that you introduced this week specifically aimed to target the International Olympic Committee, given that China is hosting an Olympics and simultaneously conducting a genocide against Uyghurs. It's a bipartisan legislation that would strip the IOC of its tax-exempt status. How does that help Uyghurs? And why should Americans care about what's happening in Xinjiang?

WALTZ: Well, the IOC is tax exempt in the United States, it's 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. And if you look at what's happening in China right now as we speak, a million Muslims in concentration camps, forced rape, forced torture, forced labor, sterilizations, abortion, that's going on, not to mention stamping out freedom in Hong Kong, Tibet, unleashing COVID on the world, covering it up, and threatening Taiwan. This is the last place the IOC should have been hosting the Olympics.

We have been asking them to move it for years. And of course, we want our athletes to compete. But it's the IOC who has now put them in a position of ignoring their values and ignoring these atrocities in order to be able to compete. And then secondly, I'm very concerned about their safety. They have been told not to take phones, not to take laptops. China is a surveillance state. And not to speak out about any of this for fear of arrest. NBC itself isn't sending its broadcasters. I don't think this is a place we want to send young athletes.

And then finally on the tax status, that NBC contract alone, is $7.5 billion. And the IOC is sending $800 billion into Beijing for its infrastructure. Again, the tax -- the American taxpayer should not be subsidizing an organization that rightly took a stand against apartheid in South Africa for 30 years and banned any Olympics there but is turning a blind eye to genocide. And the only difference really is the amount of money involved. And enough is enough. We need to take a moral stand in line with our values and our morals.

SANCHEZ: I want to press you there, Congressman, because in announcing the bill, you note that, quote, "The corporate partners for the 2022 Genocide Olympics should be ashamed to be associated with the IOC and the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda ploy." You list Coca-Cola as one of those sponsors, one of many, yet that company along with several others that profit mightily from China also make large political contributions. Kevin McCarthy's leadership PAC got $5,000 from Coke last election cycle. Coke donated some $2 million to different political campaigns during that cycle. Would you be willing to renounce donations affiliated with corporations that are profiting from China?

[10:35:08]

WALTZ: I will certainly renounce any that are sponsoring this genocide Olympics. And by the way, they have lobbied heavily to kill an amendment to the defense bill that I had that said they shouldn't be making millions off of defense contracts but then pumping billions into China's military buildup through its civil-military fusion. Where is a level of corporate patriotism here? And many of these companies preach social justice and good corporate governance here. They want to boycott Major League Baseball in Georgia and take other stands here. That doesn't stop at America's shores, particularly when you have an ongoing genocide as defined by multiple administrations and including this State Department.

Again, when it comes to women's rights, when you have mass rape, sterilization, and abortion campaign going on, that is gross, disgusting. These companies should be ashamed of themselves, and I certainly wouldn't take a dollar for them.

SANCHEZ: Plenty more questions to ask. Unfortunately, we have got to leave the conversation there. Congressman Mike Waltz, appreciate your time, sir. Thank you.

WALTZ: OK, thanks so much.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

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SANCHEZ: -- California, Arnold Schwarzenegger was involved in a multivehicle crash last night in Los Angeles.

PAUL: CNN's Natasha Chen is with us now. So, Natasha, what have you learned about this?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christi and Boris, we don't know exactly what caused the collision, but LAPD has released a statement saying that neither drugs nor alcohol are suspected to be factors in this collision. A representative for Arnold Schwarzenegger told "people" magazine that he is fine but concerned about one woman who was taken to the hospital after this crash. LAPD did confirm that they took one woman to the hospital with an abrasion to her head.

This happened about 4:35 in the afternoon local time yesterday along busy Sunset Boulevard in west L.A. Police say that there were four vehicles involved, and everyone involved stayed on the scene. If you look at the nighttime aerials there, very dramatic, they had to actually pull the large SUV off of another car, towed away that red Prius. So, again, 74-year-old former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, representative saying he's OK and mainly concerned right now about the one woman with an injury to her head. Christi and Boris?

PAUL: Natasha Chen, thank you so much for the update. We appreciate it. We'll be right back.

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SANCHEZ: This is really incredible. Scientists have made an astounding discovery of the coast of Tahiti. They say they found one of the world's largest untouched coral reefs.

PAUL: CNN's Rene Marsh takes us below the ocean's surface for a closer look at this rare find.

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RENE MARSH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here off the coast of Tahiti, a stunning discovery. Resting up to 230 feet below the surface was this, a huge untouched rose shaped coral reef nearly two miles long. Researchers on a United Nations led scientific mission discovered it diving near the depths of the ocean known as the Twilight Zone, 100 to more than 200 feet below the surface where there's just enough light to sustain life. That's where they found one of the world's largest coral reefs, appearing unaffected by climate change, stunning since warming waters have wiped out nearly half of the earth's known reefs. And over the next couple of decades, there will be a 90 percent decline, according to the latest projections.

EVERT FLIER, NORWEGIAN MAPPING AUTHORITY: It shows us how little we know about our own planet and how important it is to gain more knowledge to better understand the processes of those oceans that will, again, influence life on our planet.

MARSH: Norwegian Oceanographer Evert Flier is helping to lead an international network of governments, ocean scientists, industry, and volunteers in a mission to map the world's seabed by 2030.

FLIER: The shape of the seabed and how deep it is, and the ocean currents, it all influences to a great extent how climate will develop and how climate will change. And therefore, if we lack parts of the knowledge on which these climate models are based, our climate models are not as good as they could be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It also depends where the currents are.

MARSH: The topography of the ocean floor dictates how currents move warm and cold water throughout the planet, and that impacts climate. Ocean sea floor mapping is critical for precisely predicting and preparing for the climate crisis, melting glaciers, and storm surge.

JAMIE MCMICHAEL-PHILLIPS, PROJECT DIRECTOR, SEABED 2030: That will allow lots of clever people to use that information to conduct all sorts of science, all sorts of modeling.

MARSH: This mission is underway in various parts of the world, but so far, just 20 percent of the world's ocean floor has been mapped. That's the equivalent of the continent of Asia and Africa, but what still needs to be mapped is almost double the landmass of all of the earth's continent. It's estimated it will cost $3 billion to $5 billion to complete the mission. The technology exists, but the financial appetite to do it is not robust. Countries, militaries, and private entities like oil and gas companies map areas central to their work at sea but are not always willing to share the data. The leaders of the Seabed 2030 mission are now calling on everyday citizens.

MCMICHAEL-PHILLIPS: Whether you're a master of a bulk carrier, whether you're a yacht skipper, whether you're a ferry boat captain, then you're in a position to gather data to help us chart the seabed.

MARSH: The United Nations has endorsed the mission to map the world's ocean floor, and anyone with a boat can get involved by visiting the Seabed 2030 website. As for those beautiful coral reefs, researchers hope to learn how and why it's been able to thrive despite the climate crisis, and what they learn may enable them to save the rest of the world's reefs which protect coastlines from storms and erosion.

Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.

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[10:50:07]

PAUL: Rene, thank you so much.

Next, some answers for the family of Gabby Petito, finally. What the FBI is revealing about her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, and what he wrote before he died.

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SANCHEZ: This morning, there is new information in the death of 22- year-old Gabby Petito. Authorities say that in a notebook found near his body, her fiance, Brian Laundrie, admitted responsibility for her death. He, of course, later took his own life. A revolver was also found nearby.

[10:55:03]

The couple's saga gripped much of the country last fall after she went missing during a cross country trip that was documented on social media. The FBI now says that all logical investigative steps have been concluded in this case.

PAUL: Right now, a national summit where thousands of anti-abortion advocates are gathering is in Washington. It is today former Vice President Mike Pence who has called for reversing Roe versus Wade, is also speaking there this morning. This is happening as the Supreme Court is weighing a decision that could allow states to impose tighter restrictions on abortion rights in the coming months, and possibly even overturn the landmark decision altogether.

We'll keep you posted on that and all the day's news. Thank you so much for spending time with us. We hope you make good memories today. Fredricka Whitfield is coming at you next.

SANCHEZ: And don't forget to watch the new CNN original series, "Reframed, Marilyn Monroe," that airs tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m.

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