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Judge Voids Mask Mandate For Planes, Public Transportation; Ukrainian-American Pastor Recounts Arrest by Russian Soldiers; More Republican-Led States Pass Anti-Abortion Legislation. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 19, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN NEWSOOM: Uber is just the latest company to drop its mask mandate after a judge in Florida struck down the Biden administration's requirement for face coverings on public transportation. Several major airlines now say masks are optional. Listen to how a Southwest flight attendant announced the change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do require every passenger on aircraft to be treated with kindness and respect so will not have everyone any issue someone for wearing a mask or not wearing a mask, it is all up to you guys right now. So, enjoy the fresh air.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: And take a look at these passengers on a Sun Country flight from Las Vegas wasting no time taking their masks off and throwing them away for added effect.

Well, here with me now is CNN Safety Analyst David Soucie. He is a former FAA safety inspector. David, great to have your voice weigh in on this.

I'm curious, the federal transportation mask mandate was set to expire in two weeks. So, given that, do you see this administration challenging this ruling now from this judge?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: There hasn't been any indication that they have yet. I think that they probably will, just to test it out to see what's happening. It's going to be nice to see people's smiling faces once again on the airplanes.

GOLODRYGA: So, are you in favor then of the ruling? Do you think now is the time?

SOUCIE: I am not in favor of it, no, I think it is not the time. And I personally will still be wearing my cap and my mask and my glasses that I wear when I fly just simply because it's my decision and it is everyone's decision now to do that.

So, out of respect for myself, out of respect for others, I will be continuing to wear my mask, but I'm concerned about how it's going to be received on the airlines right now.

GOLODRYGA: Concerned about how other passengers will receive maybe their seatmates wearing a mask, is that what you're saying?

SOUCIE: Exactly, exactly. That, I think, is going to create some problems for the flight attendants. And we might actually see some pushback from the flight attendants and the pilots' unions, because what they're doing is they're up and down that aisle, which is where most of the air circulates and comes back through. So, in your seat, you're much safer because you have the air coming down over the top of you and being drawn out of the bottom, but as a flight attendant, that air is cycled around through the aisles.

So, there's a little bit more risk, in my opinion, on the flight attendants, but I do think that there will still be some challenges ahead.

[10:35:02]

It's going to be really difficult for a lot of people to accept this. And for those people who can't deal with it, I would say, don't fly if it's that big of a deal to you, which it is to me but I'm going to take safety precautions. I'm going to continue to wear my mask for my own personal safety as well.

GOLODRYGA: Well, listen, I think that's the key takeaway here, people are now in a position where they can make their own decisions and they should not be judged whether or not they want to wear their mask or not. Mask optional does not mean that everyone needs to pressure somebody to take their mask off if they see someone. You don't know the underlying conditions may be. David Soucie, thank you.

SOUCIE: All right. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Still ahead, our next guest was taken by Russians when they invaded his town in Melitopol. How U.S. Missionary Dmitry Bodyu made it through captivity and then escaped to safety. We'll tell you his story up next.

Before we take a break, a quick preview, CNN Sun Dance award winning film, Navalny, you can watch the unbelievable true story of the man who took on Putin and lived to expose the truth. That's Sunday at 9:00 P.M. Eastern here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello? ALEXEI NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Remarkably, Vladimir Putin faces a legitimate opponent, Alexei Navalny.

NAVALNY: I don't want Putin being president. If I want to be a leader of a country, I have to organize people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Kremlin hates Navalny so much that they refuse to say his name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Passengers heard Navalny cry out in agony.

NAVALNT: Come on, poisoned seriously?

We are creating the coalition to fight this regime.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you are killed, what message do you leave behind to the Russian people?

NAVALNY: It's very simple. Never give up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Navalny, Sunday at 9:00 on CNN and streaming on CNN Plus.

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[10:40:00]

GOLODRYGA: Millions of Ukrainians have made the decision to leave their homes for safety. But some who remained were subject to harsh treatment. Our next guest is an American missionary who was determined to stay even as the invasion began.

Russian forces took him prisoner when they overran the south of city of Melitopol. He was one of the fortunate ones though released eight days later and reunited with his family. They made the decision then to flee Ukraine.

Dmitry Bodyu joins me now from Warsaw, Poland. Dmitry, first of all, I am just so glad that you and your family are safe. You made it to Poland. I can't even imagine this ordeal that you went through and how frightening that must have been. Can you talk to us about that day? I know you described being at home and your wife started screaming that Russian soldiers were approaching your home. What happened after they took you captive?

DMITRY BODYU, TAKEN HOSTAGE BY RUSSIANS IN MELITOPOL, UKRAINE: Well, like you said, they jumped over the fence and they came to our house. I don't know how many of them as far as I know, it's about 14. It was four SUVs that came. And they talked with me and they took our equipment, our telephones and computers. And then they took me to church and they searched the church also and took the computers from the church and then they escort me to the prison. They put a black bag over my head and took me up there. GOLODRYGA: Did you think you were going to die?

BODYU: Not at that time. I was not thinking, am I going to die, but I hope that they will release me pretty soon because I didn't know that I did anything wrong.

GOLODRYGA: Well, clearly --

BODYU: Those guys, you know, you don't even have to do anything to get in trouble.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And you had described that some had been troops there, in military, and some appear to have been secret service members.

BODYU: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: How were you treated over the course of those eight days?

BODYU: Well, I was treated okay. They never touched me or anything. It was just interrogation, first day, as pretty much every day, I had interrogation. And the first interrogation, they said that military have big issue with me for some reason that they don't even know. And they said that they want to kill me. And it was a big news for me.

But later on, they said they will negotiate, the secret services. They said they will negotiate with the military so I can stay alive and, eventually, they will let me go but nobody knew when.

GOLODRYGA: So, they seem to know who you were. Who did they think you were? Did they think you worked for the U.S. or why were you on their radar?

BODYU: Yes, yes. Well, they were watching me for a couple of days because my neighbors later, they said they saw a helicopter flying over my house constantly. And they were thinking that I'm the U.S. spy because they were asking how long I've been working with the FBI and who was contact and what I'm supposed to do here and things like that.

[10:45:11]

And I never had an experience like that. But they never believe. They saw there were some people from U.S. helping us financially because there was a lot of trouble, as you know, and we've been trying to find food and medicine for people and help some elderly people, to give them cash and things like that because banks were closed, stores are empty. So, it was a lot of work.

And they said, well, there is U.S. supporting you, sending you money, things like that. And I said, well, I mean, if you have a problem in your family and you have friends, would your friends help you? I have a lot of friends in the U.S. and other countries and they're helping us because we're in trouble. So, there is nothing illegal in these transactions.

GOLODRYGA: Well, clearly, you were able to convince them to let you go and thank goodness for that. I know you had seen and witnessed others being interrogated there and not treated as well as you were. But I was just fascinated to hear the route and the way in which you were able to flee the country. It wasn't just going through Western Ukraine. You actually went through Crimea and then through Moscow. How did that happen and how did you manage to leave from Moscow then to Poland?

BODYU: Well, the reason we went this way because they convinced me if I'm going to go through the war zone, they will kill me because soldiers know who am I and they will check my papers and passport, of course. And before I can get to the war zone, I have to pass, at that time, it was 13 block posts, and each block post, they're looking your passports, they check in your car and you personally, and so on. So, they said, if you're going to go in that direction, they will probably kill you. That's what they want.

So, we're not allowed to go that way because they were watching me pretty much every day after they released me. They come to my house or call me into their place and they're coming again constantly. So, they said, we only allow you to go this direction.

So, we went to Crimea and on the Crimea border and it took us almost 18 hours to go through that border and they interrogate us for eight hours. I was thinking that I would go for the second time into prison. But, finally, they released us.

GOLODRYGA: Well, thankfully, they released you and we just wish you now a speedy trip back now to the United States. I know you're trying to get visas for your family there in Poland. Dmitry Bodyu, we're so glad that you're safe. Thank you.

And we'll be right back.

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[10:50:00]

GOLODRYGA: Several Republican-led states passed a wave of new abortion laws, as the country awaits a critical Supreme Court ruling on the issue later this year.

CNN's Jessica Schneider reports.

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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the latest Republican to roll back abortion rights.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): This will represent the most significant protections for life that have been enacted in this state in a generation.

SCHNEIDER: Florida now the third state along with Arizona and Kentucky to ban most abortions after 15 weeks. And in Oklahoma, protests flared after lawmakers approved a near total ban on abortion. GOV. KEVIN STITT (R-OK): We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma.

SCHNEIDER: Oklahoma's new law makes performing an abortion a felony, punishable by up to ten years in state prison, a fine of up to $100,000 or both with no exceptions for rape or incest. Abortion rights advocates there argue that this crackdown was ushered in by the Supreme Court's inaction.

EMILY WALES, PLANNED PARENTHOOD GREAT PLAINS: Oklahoma has been moving some of the most aggressive bans and restrictions we've seen. And in the past, we've been able to rely on the court as a backstop to block some of the most egregious laws they've proposed, but we know that's not true anymore.

SCHNEIDER: Last year, the Supreme Court refused to step in to stop a Texas law that bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, allowing private citizens to sue to enforce the law. In response, at least eight other states move to enact similar bills with Idaho becoming the first to implement a so-called heartbeat bill, since it bans most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected.

The Supreme Court is now poised to issue what could be its most consequential decision on abortion in nearly 50 years. The justices will issue a ruling by the end of June on a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks. If the Supreme Court lets the law stand, with states like Florida, Arizona and Kentucky are betting it will, that would gut the precedent set by Roe v. Wade and Casey, that the Constitution protects a woman's right to abortion and that right is protected for most state interference between 23 or 24 weeks.

It's also possible the Supreme Court could strike down Roe v. Wade completely, clearing the way for states to ban abortion outright.

[10:55L06]

STEVE VLADECK, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think we're going to see virtually no matter what the Supreme Court does in the Mississippi case, this overnight seismic shift in abortion access in a large chunk of the country. And that those consequences are going to be felt most harshly by people living in those states who lack the means to leave those states if and when they need an abortion.

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SCHNEIDER (on camera): And already some Democratic governors are bracing for big change and they're fighting back. Michigan's governor just filed a lawsuit challenging state's abortion ban that's actually been on pause since the 1970s but it would go back into effect if the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade. And Colorado's governor just signed a bill guaranteeing the right to get an abortion in that state no matter what the Supreme Court does. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: All right. Jessica Schneider, thank you.

And thank you so much for joining us today. I'm Bianna Golodryga. At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts right now.

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