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Aerial Footage Reveals Utter Destruction In Mariupol; Officials: Some Ukrainian Towns Almost Out Of Food; Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Faces Second Day Of Senate Questioning; Tornadoes Rip Through New Orleans Area; China Asks U.S. To Help With Baffling Airliner Crash Probe. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired March 23, 2022 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[13:32:04]
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Don Lemon here live in Lviv, Ukraine.
And we're getting a fresh look at the overwhelming damage and destruction in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol.
Take a look at this. There's new drone video shows that was once a thriving city now reduced to ashes, rubble really.
President Zelenskyy is saying about 100,000 people are still trapped there.
And now Russia is reportedly stealing their chances of making it out alive. Ukrainian officials say Russian troops have commandeered evacuation buses heading into Mariupol to rescue civilians.
And we're seeing dire conditions in other cities around Ukraine as well. The humanitarian aid group, Mercy Corps, estimates some towns only have a few-days-worth of food.
So the perfect person to discuss this with is senior vice president of programs at Mercy Corps, and that is Craig Redmond.
Craig, thank you. Really appreciate you joining us. Your team and you are doing really great work here.
CRAIG REDMOND, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF PROGRAMS, MERCY CORPS: Thank you.
LEMON: Tell us about this situation. How dire is it?
REDMOND: The situation is terrible.
And the interesting thing about this conflict, you see some cities that are basically running out of food. Others have people that are able to flee.
So you have this wide variety of situations happening. But overall, it's a desperate situation. LEMON: In a few days? A few days?
REDMOND: A few days, yes.
Well, those besieged cities, they're circled. There's no humanitarian corridor going into those places so they don't have access to food.
LEMON: Is that the breakdown in the supply chain? What is it?
REDMOND: It's a breakdown of the supply chain. It's just that the supply chain itself is too dangerous. So the people transporting food in and out can't do it safely.
LEMON: We showed the video of this convoy of evacuation buses.
REDMOND: Yes.
LEMON: That's what the reporting is showing. About 11 driving towards -- trying to get some help, commandeered by Russian forces and taken into an undisclosed location.
What's your reaction how something like this is affecting the Ukrainian people and the effort to get aid to the areas where Ukrainians really need it?
REDMOND: My reaction to that is, here is the thing we're off-lining. We're seeing the incredible bravery of the Ukrainian people as they rise to this.
In fact, the response, the humanitarian response here in this country will be on Ukrainian terms. It will be led by Ukrainian organizations that are responding to this with support from organizations like Mercy Corps.
They're the ones who are going to be helping us to understand how to navigate the complexity we're seeing on the ground.
LEMON: How much longer can these folks hold on? How much longer can they hold out before it's --
REDMOND: It depends on where we are. Some places, people are desperate. In some places, there's a bit more time for us to mobilize organizations to help us get the stuff that's needed, food, non-food items, all kinds of things into people.
LEMON: There are reports out there about Russian soldiers stealing food and some of the humanitarian aid coming in. Have you heard that?
REDMOND: I'm not surprised to hear that.
LEMON: Why not?
REDMOND: Because it appears they are also desperate. They, themselves, may well be running out of their own food. It's not surprising to hear that, actually.
[13:35:04]
LEMON: When you sat down, we were saying, all of this, and for what? Do you have an answer?
REDMOND: Yes.
LEMON: I don't have an answer.
REDMOND: I don't have an answer for that. I don't.
But, Don, just like other emergencies, other humanitarian crises around the world, you have to ask yourself, for what? To what end? This one also doesn't make any sense.
LEMON: We have been here on the ground and so many people are helping. There are people who are letting refugees or displaced people into their homes. Families helping each other.
Most of the mothers, the young mothers here are single moms now because their husbands are off fighting the war on the front lines.
REDMOND: Yes.
LEMON: So much help coming in from here.
But what can people at home, who are watching, what can they do to help? Is it money? What is it?
REDMOND: If you can support organizations like ours, wonderful. If not, I'll tell you one thing about this crisis is that it has raised everyone's awareness of what it means to be a displaced person, what it means to be internally displaced or a refugee that crosses borders.
I think that will bode well for our support of these kinds of crises in the future, paying attention, talking to our representatives about getting the support where it's needed.
LEMON: Are you surprised -- this one surprises me every time I'm on a scene similar to this. But this one, I mean, it's not a natural disaster.
REDMOND: It's not a natural disaster.
LEMON: It's unprovoked.
REDMOND: It doesn't make sense.
And then, at the same time, the incredible bravery of the Ukrainian people that we've seen that our organization has been working with.
We're just trying to give them the resources they need so they can take action.
LEMON: Continue doing the great work.
REDMOND: Thank you so much. LEMON: Craig Redmond --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: -- of Mercy Corps. Appreciate it. Appreciate it so much.
We want to show you this. These are images, some new images coming in of children impacted by Putin's war. Look at your screen, the youngest among us, right?
On your screen right now, that is 13-year-old Malina. Her name is Malina. She was reportedly shot while fleeing Mariupol.
Not far from Malina lies 5-year-old Delagay (ph). Their fight clearly not over as their windows are covered by sandbags to block bullets or shrapnel.
And back in the U.S., we're getting new pictures of Ukrainian pediatric cancer patients arriving from Poland.
The first group officially making it to St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis where they will be able to continue their treatment thanks to the hospital's humanitarian outreach.
There you go. The littlest among us, some of the biggest victims.
We'll be right back.
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[13:42:15]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Right now, historic hearings continue on Capitol Hill. Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, is facing a second day of questioning.
Senators are grilling her on the separation of powers, her judicial philosophy, and the growing diversity of the court.
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JUDGE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, U.S. SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I do consider myself, having been born in 1970, to be the first generation to benefit from the civil rights movement.
From the legacy of all of the work of so many people that went into changing the laws in this country so that people like me could have an opportunity to be sitting here before you today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: CNN Supreme Court reporter, Ariane De Vogue, joins us now.
Ariane, you've been following this closely. She survived GOP attacks on day one. What are the key takeaways today? ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: It's so interesting that
you played that sound from her this morning, Ana. Because it really takes the audience back to the fact that this is so historic. She is the first black woman to be at the Supreme Court.
Her two parents and her brother have been sitting right behind her all this time during these hearings.
And, of course, one other interesting thing is the fact that the Republicans are continuing to grill her here. They're asking about her views on abortion, the Second Amendment, her judicial philosophy.
They, most of all, they are still pressing her on what she thinks about the idea of court packing, adding more members of the court.
And of course, ideas on whether or not her ruling against Trump went too far. In one, she said, "Presidents are not kings."
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JACKSON: My brother followed in a long tradition in my family of public service.
He, I think, looked up to my uncles, who were often around in their uniforms, keeping their weapons away from the kids by putting them up on high shelves.
We looked up to them. And we understood, through their service, what it meant to give back to your community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: So, Ariane, that was her taking on some of the criticism that Republicans have tried to lob her way regarding her views and record trying to suggest she is soft on crime.
DE VOGUE: Right. I think that's an interesting answer there.
While they're saying she's soft on crime, she is telling people, look, I come from a family of law enforcement. My brother was in law enforcement. My uncles were in law enforcement.
[13:45:02]
As a child, I grew up with my uncles coming to the dinner table putting their weapons on a high shelf so kids wouldn't get to them.
She really wants to press the point she understands the importance of public safety and law enforcement.
And she told that personal story to sort of emphasize it there -- Ana?
CABRERA: All right, thank you very much, Ariane De Vogue, for that update.
Tornadoes ripped through New Orleans, flipping vehicles, tearing homes from foundations. In the New Orleans area, I should say. Today, crews are combing through the rubble. We'll go there live next.
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[13:50:00]
CABRERA: Cleanup is underway near New Orleans where at least two tornadoes struck Tuesday night leaving some neighborhoods badly damaged.
Take a look at this. You can see a school bus flipped over. A rooftop completely ripped off.
Authorities say at least one person was killed in St. Bernard Parrish and several other people were injured.
CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is there in St. Bernard Parrish.
Derek, what are you seeing?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Here's that exact same school bus that was tossed like a toy over 100 yards from where it was parked.
Ana, I want to take you to the skies because we're starting to gain access to more communities impacted by this devastating and what we know to be a deadly tornado as well.
This is part of the long-track tornado or the duration of the tornado that went from the south to the north.
And we see from this video a house that has been completely removed from its foundation and deposited, literally dumped on to the road in front of it, blocking part of the access to that neighborhood.
This was just some of the scenes that, moving on around, that are taking place across the St. Bernard Parrish.
We've talked to residents that lived through this horrible moment in time. And the way they described it to me was it felt like they were living a real-life movie.
They literally could feel the pressure drop in their ears as the tornado approached them. The windows crashed in around them. They had to take a mattress and hide their children as well as their other family members in the bath of their home.
Fortunately, they survived with no injuries. But they were there to tell the story.
These are the common stories taking place here. And it's all because of the powerful winds surrounding the storm.
IN fact, the National Weather Service has just done a preliminary storm survey of this particular tornado and they have come to the conclusion this was at least an E.F.-3 tornado.
So that means winds of 136 miles per hour up to 160 miles per hour. So that's just preliminary. They could find damage that's higher than that, with higher winds.
This is potentially record-breaking territory for St. Bernard Parrish because the strongest tornado to ever impact this area, February 7, 2017, was an E.F.-3. Caused devastation basically in the same location.
The Lower Ninth Ward, St. Bernard Parrish, this area cannot catch a break. Natural disasters, from Katrina to Andrew, Ida last year, and now we have yet another tornado to talk about -- Ana?
CABRERA: Those images are just incredible. The bus that was thrown a whole football field. That house lifted and just dropped, plopped in the middle of a roadway.
And to think -- I know these are preliminary numbers -- one person dead. But still looking at those images, it seems like it could have been such a devastating and much more deadly storm.
Thank you so much, Derek Van Dam, for your reporting.
Let's head overseas now. Chinese authorities have asked the NTSB to help investigate the crash of the passenger plane with 132 people on board.
Search crews now say they have found the Boeing 737's cockpit voice recorder.
So far, Monday's crash has really baffled investigators. Not only did it happen during the cruising portion of the trip, but officials say China Eastern Airlines flight 5735 didn't send any May Day signals.
I want to bring in CNN aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean.
Pete, help us understand why this crash is so hard to explain and what could be on the cockpit voice recorder?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Data from the cockpit voice recorder is so key, Ana. It picks up not only what the pilots say on the radio, but also between themselves, over the intercom and the ambient noise, like the whine of the engines. It is a lot of information.
And that could quickly determine whether this was an intentional act, like the German wings crash of 2015. Experts tell us that possibility cannot be eliminated until investigators listen to these recordings.
Because the big mystery still persists. Why did flight 5735 make such a dramatic and blistering dive? It started around the same time the flight was about to make its normal descent for landing.
Data from Flight Radar 24 shows the plane lost 25,000 feet in less than two minute's time.
Chinese aviation authorities say there was no radio contact with the crew during that dive even after they were prompted by air traffic control. Chinese investigators now confirm there was a third pilot on the
flight deck. But they also underscore that the pilots were deemed in good condition before the flight and they were not experiencing any family problems at home.
We also now know Chinese investigators have invited the NTSB from the United States to be part of this investigation.
But there's one big wrinkle in all this, Ana. Will the data from the cockpit voice recorder be usable?
Look at this video of the dive obtained by Chinese state television. Pilots have been telling me the impact had to take place with such tremendous force, they wonder if the voice recorder solid-state memory is still intact.
[13:55:04]
If it's not, it puts a lot of faith in the flight data recorder, which has not yet been recorded -- Ana?
CABRERA: It's so incredible to see the video. And there was no warning. Right? Obviously, a huge mystery.
Pete Muntean, thank you very much. I know you're going to stay on that reporting.
That does it for us today. Thank you for joining us. We'll be back tomorrow, same time, same place. Until then, please join me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera.
Our special coverage continues after a quick break.
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