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Hundreds Of Ukrainian Civilians Sheltering Below Destroyed Steel Plant In City Of Mariupol; Ukrainian Who Fled Home City Making Efforts To Unite Ukrainian Family And Friends Separated By Russian Invasion; Text Messages Reveal Cooperation Between Fox News Host Sean Hannity And Trump White House; President Biden To Attend White House Correspondents' Dinner; Billionaire Elon Musk And Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Engage In Dispute On Twitter; Manhunt Underway In Alabama After Corrections Officer And Murder Suspect Both Disappear; U.S. Stock Market Drops Precipitously After Report Economy Shrank In First Quarter Of 2022; Severe Storms And Multiple Tornados Devastate Parts Of Kansas And Nebraska. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired April 30, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:19]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Right now hundreds of Ukrainian civilians are sheltering below this destroyed steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol. Some of them have not seen the sun in weeks.

But today, a small breakthrough, 25 people, including at least six children, have reportedly gotten out. CNN has not verified that report by Russia's state news agency.

But here's what we know. Citywide, some 100,000 civilians remain. New satellite images show what's left of the city that the steel plant CEO compares to a concentration camp. And in Odessa a short time ago a Russian strike hit an airport, potential continuing a trend of Russia targeting supply lines and transit infrastructure this week.

But the Ukrainians fighting back. Jaw-dropping footage shows Ukraine forces striking Russian armor in the east today. This after Ukraine claims it has retaken a town near Kharkiv and downed a Russian aircraft.

Let's go to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in central Ukraine. Nick, great to see you as always. What more do we know about this small group that apparently got out of the Mariupol steel plant? What can we say about more evacuations that could be on the way?

We were talking to Colonel Cedric Leighton in the last hour. He was wondering whether this might be just some Kremlin propaganda trying to show we're being humanitarian to some extent. What do we know?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: That report about the 25, including six children, is from Russian state media, so it comes with that enormous caveat that it may be fictional.

But it does fit with some other signals possibly suggesting that there may be the possibility of some kind of evacuation from one of the shopping malls there. That's been hinted by Ukrainian officials.

But at the same time too, the presidential level, an adviser to the Ukrainian president has said that the Russians are essentially rejecting all proposals here. But the clock is ticking, frankly, for the ability of those stuck there to survive.

Remember, there are 100,000 in the city across it, so we're not always talking about the Azovstal steel plant when we talk about these evacuations. But across that city, as the temperature rises, the threats of disease, frankly, because of the number of bodies there, because of the obviously devastatingly lack of hygiene or basic supplies for people stuck in there, that threat of disease rises too.

That's also a threat for the new Russian occupiers there as well. So clearly a clock ticking. Certainly, moves become made by the U.N. and the Red Cross trying to facilitate this. But essentially this rests with one man's decision, that's Vladimir Putin. And so far those big corridors have not been opened, Jim.

ACOSTA: And Nick, what do we know about these new strikes in Odessa?

WALSH: Yes, look, this is all part of the confusing picture of what Russia's ultimately goal is here. And so we will see, I think, continued activity in Odessa, a vital port city on the Black Sea which is near the Moldovan border. We've heard rumors of possible activation of military assets in the separatist area of Moldova that is backed by Russia, all part, I think, of this bid by the Russians to keep Ukraine guessing where its ultimate goal is.

We know that they are making some kind of slow progress in the south where I'm standing, at times pushed back by Ukrainians again, but trying to move forward. And I think the guess they're trying to get Ukraine to keep having to make is are they heading east to meet up with their forces on the offensive there?

Are they headed here to the president's hometown? Or are they headed west towards Odessa? Those strikes hit the runway there in Odessa, not being used at this point because there's no air traffic over Ukraine, but hitting infrastructure, possibly making it harder for Ukraine to reinforce its positions there by strikes if they chose to do that, and again, keeping everyone guessing.

Combat planes seen over the sky in Odessa, a city of a million people. They've been ready, frankly, for months for this to possibly happen and are constantly being kept guessing as to whether it will. My money is, frankly, it's too big a move for Russia to try and attempt to head west, and so I suspect we're looking at more removes along the western side of the Dnipro River, possibly in an eastern direction. Jim?

ACOSTA: Nick Paton Walsh, thank you very much, as always. We appreciate it. More than 13 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes

as Russia continues its relentless attacks on civilian areas, including bombing apartment buildings and hospitals. We first introduced you to our next guest earlier this month. Alex Dayrabekov is a father of three whose youngest child was born just weeks before Russia invaded.

He was forced to flee his home in Irpin with his wife and kids and now uses social media to document daily life raising a family in a war zone. You may remember the song he sang to his baby son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:05:01]

ALEX DAYRABEKOV, ESCAPED FROM IRPIN: Yesterday all our troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they're here to stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And now he's singing a new song. Check this out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX DAYRABEKOV, ESCAPED FROM IRPIN: And today we have had very good news. I mean, this week we had very good news. And because of that good news that came from U.S., from Europe, about new weapons that will help us fight, we will sing a very patriotic song.

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Beautiful stuff. And Alex Dayrabekov joins me now. Alex, it's so good to see you and so good to see your son there. I feel like he's gotten bigger since the last time we spoke with you. I guess that happens. And the look on his face when you're singing to him is just, just priceless, absolutely priceless. How is your family holding up?

DAYRABEKOV: Hi, Jim, it is my pleasure to talk to you. In fact, a month, almost a month passed, and you can see a smile on my face. And I think this is a smile on Ukraine's face because we really feel the support. It came a little long -- it took a little long to come, but we feel the support from the west.

We feel it is enormous and strong, powerful support. And I'm sure that my son, he will actually witness how we will push back the Russian army out of our country.

ACOSTA: And it's amazing to see you instill this national pride, this patriotic spirit in your son there. It's just a beautiful thing to watch.

And I want to show some images that you shared with us, these pictures that show your old apartment building in Irpin totally blown apart. And this wasn't too far from Bucha where we have just learned about another mass grave there. What does, I guess, justice look like for you at the end of all of this?

DAYRABEKOV: Justice is when the entire world, not the world that already knows but also the other part of the world that still thinks that it is kind of a special operation, that Russia has the right, including them, the entire world understands by facts what it actually was.

And it was a genocide, just like several countries already stated. We want a court, an international court, international tribunal, Hague, whatever, that will actually prove it. And I am actually helping to collect such evidences, such testimonies, giving a little input into this effort.

ACOSTA: And this week, the head of NATO said that this war could keep going on for months, even years. I know that you feel as though, and others like you feel as though things have gotten a little better in recent weeks, in recent days. But really, the toll must be excruciating, just enduring this on a daily basis must be exhausting.

How do you stay strong? I guess part of it is singing to your son and other things. But how do you say strong knowing that this could keep going for a while?

DAYRABEKOV: First of all, this has lasted for eight years, not just months. So we are kind of used to that. Of course, it's a totally different level. But we are going to stay as long as needed. Ukrainians are ready to survive. Ukrainians are ready to fight. And we will fight to the end. If it takes months or years, doesn't matter. We need to liberate our land.

ACOSTA: And you have a Facebook group to help reunite families separated during this war. That must be absolutely necessary because of all of people who have fled.

[14:10:02]

It now has more than 500 members in terms of your Facebook group. Tell us about that work, tell us how that's working for you.

DAYRABEKOV: In fact, that specific group is specifically for Kramatorsk, for the tragedy that happened in Kramatorsk, for the people to find those who are deceased. And I hope it helps several people, because I first started to look for witnesses of this tragedy myself, to connect them with journalists or with, again, international lawyers.

And then gradually I just started collecting the open data materials and posting it there. And now we have specific 20 names of those who were killed out of 59, the official data. And I'm now thinking about other groups to help those who died in different tragedies to get connected. This is how I can help. This is my little input as well.

ACOSTA: And I have to ask you a serious question here, if that's OK. Putin has apparently accepted an invitation to the G20 summit this November. And the United States has made it clear he should not have been invited.

What's your reaction to that, that Putin would be welcomed on the global stage at an event like that given everything that's going on in your country right now?

DAYRABEKOV: Honestly, I'm sure he will not be welcomed. I am sure that he will not come there, because the international community, the part that understands what's going on, will just not let it happen.

ACOSTA: All right. Alex, we appreciate you coming on. Thanks so much, and please keep sharing those videos of you singing to your son. I know it gives us a boost here on our show, and we hope to have you back again soon.

DAYRABEKOV: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: And if he starts to coo along with you, if he starts to sing along with you, please get that on video. We would love to see that as well.

(LAUGHTER)

DAYRABEKOV: OK. Got you. Got you. Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Quick programming note, make sure you join us next hour. UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom, that's right, he is going to be here to discuss his work with Ukrainian refugees. You don't want to miss that important conversation. That's coming up in the next hour.

Coming up, a CNN exclusive, FOX and the White House, the 80-plus page text messages that reveal the advice Sean Hannity got from Trump's team after the 2020 election. Plus, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez and the billionaire who announced he's buying Twitter, Elon Musk, get into a spat on, where else, Twitter. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:22:05]

ACOSTA: And now a CNN exclusive. Dozens of newly revealed text messages between FOX host Sean Hannity and former president Trump's White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, they provide some new real time insight into the role that Hannity played in the days and weeks after the 2020 election. CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel has more. Jamie?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: -- of those messages are between Mark Meadows and FOX personality Sean Hannity. He is one of the most frequent texters in the logs. And what we see is Hannity both giving advice to the White House and also getting guidance from Meadows.

Just for context, Hannity doesn't see himself as a journalist. He sees himself as a TV host and entertainer. He is certainly someone Trump considers a friend and who has been called the shadow chief of staff while Trump was in office.

So this starts out on Election Day. Hannity sounds all in. He's asking Meadows where do you need to get out the vote. Meadows tells him where, and Hannity responds to him, quote, "Yes, sir." But just a month later, by December 6th, Hannity and Meadows are talking about life after Trump and how they might work together.

Here they are on December 6th, quote, "If this doesn't end the way we want, you, me, and Jay are doing three things together. One, directing legal strategies versus Biden. Two, North Carolina real estate. Three, other business. I talked to Rudy. Thanks for helping him."

There is also, Jim, another exchange where Hannity suggests that Meadows comes to work at FOX after the Trump presidency. It really shows they knew the election results were unlikely to change. Then, as January 6th is approaching, there's a change.

Hannity sounds worried. He's worried about whether the White House counsel might resign in protest. And also he talks about, quote, "the fringe" fighting for Trump, and he refers to some of those individuals as, quote, "f-ing lunatics."

Finally, on January 6th, while the attack is happening, Hannity, someone who is very close to Trump, texts Meadows to try to get the president to do something. And here is what he says, quote, "Can he make a statement? I saw the tweet.

Ask people to peacefully leave the capital." Mark Meadows, "On it." Sean Hannity, "WTH," what the heck, "is happening with VPOTUS?" meaning Pence. It's one of the few references we see to Pence.

Jim, while Hannity was fiercely loyal to Trump on air, on radio, on his TV show, what these texts also show is his off-air relationship was sometimes more complicated.

[14:20:06]

He sometimes complained about Trump's conduct and that the president was actually hurting the Republican Party. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right, thank you, Jamie.

And joining me now, CNN political commentator Ana Navarro and the editor at large for "The Daily Beast" Molly Jong-Fast. Molly, I think maybe our outrage censors are so worn down that we don't even see -- this is not as big of a deal, it's not that huge when you compare it to everything else that has come out in these January 6th filings, and so on.

But Molly, in some of these text messages, 80-some text messages, Hannity is replying "Yes, sir," "On it," "Got it." Wait a minute, what's going -- this is a television personality, I guess, coordinating with the White House. How does this sound to you? This sounds like Hannity is essentially working for Donald Trump.

MOLLY JONG-FAST, EDITOR AT LARGE, "THE DAILY BEAST": Right, it sounds like FOX News is the propaganda arm of the GOP, which we sort of knew. But it's weird to see it in a text message right in front of us. Clearly, the texts that I think in some ways are the most damning are the ones where Hannity is saying, where do you need people to show up? Where do we get the vote out? This is like journalistic malpractice.

This is not what's supposed to happen. And the fact that they are not at all apologetic -- if this happened at a regular news station, it would be the end. And that's not what's happening here.

ACOSTA: What do you think, Ana?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think you're right, my outrage machine must be broken today, because this is the most anticlimactic thing. And I think it's because we've known for a while, right. We've seen Sean Hannity show up at campaign events, do all sort of things that journalists don't do.

We've known that Sean Hannity and Donald Trump spoke very often, nightly. Look, these texts from Hannity, he's texting more than a teenage boy with his first crush in high school, right?

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: I don't think this is his first crush, but one of many, perhaps.

NAVARRO: But I wish I could get that kind of response and attention from my husband when I ask him to go by the supermarket and pick something up.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: But look, it's journalistic -- it violates all journalistic ethics. Frankly, it's something that touches us very directly because some of our colleagues and friends have been fired for less from this network. You can ask Donna Brazile.

We've had the issue, and the right wing pounced on people like Chris Cuomo, like Donna Brazile -- then they hired her at FOX -- things that happened at other networks. But when it comes to them --

ACOSTA: Teflon.

NAVARRO: -- they don't see anything wrong with basically directing a campaign, being complicit, acting as campaign staff and White House staff.

ACOSTA: Yes, and I guess it's hard to call what Sean Hannity did journalistic malpractice when he doesn't really do journalism. But Molly, it wasn't just Sean Hannity. Maria Bartiromo was running questions by the White House.

Here is one text, "You've said many times this election is rigged and the facts are on your side. Let's start there. Wwhat are the facts? Characterize what took place." She also says, "Please make sure he doesn't go off on tangents." Wait a minute, has she ever interviewed Donald Trump before or been around him before? What do you think?

JONG-FAST: Also, you're never, ever, ever, ever supposed to let the interviewee the questions beforehand. That's 101. The fact that he needed to know these questions, these questions were not exactly Nixon/Frost. They were pretty weak.

So, the questions were like, riff on how mad you are that you didn't get your own way. But I guess he still needed to see them before. It's sad because Maria Bartiromo was known at one time known as a financial journalist, but another everything Trump touches dies.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Ana, we're all waiting to see what Biden is going to say at tonight's White House Correspondents' dinner. We all know that Biden can be funny. Here's a look back at a skit he did for the --

NAVARRO: Sometimes even on purpose.

ACOSTA: Even on purpose, that's right.

(LAUGHTER)

NAVARRO: And here is what he did back in 2014 with Julia Louis- Dreyfus from "Veep." This was good stuff. I remember this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, ACTRESS: Hello?

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Selina? What are you doing?

LOUIS-DREYFUS: Oh, God. I thought you were the president. Hey, listen, had you going to this snore-espondents dinner tonight?

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: No, I'm not going. I've been there once. It's a bunch of politicians trying to explain politics to Hollywood. It's not worth it.

LOUIS-DREYFUS: Exactly. Who wants to see David Gregory crying in the corner all night? Hey, do you want to come and pick me up?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Of course, he's in the corvette there. And this -- but this speech comes when his approval ratings are down, there's a war in Russia, Vice President Harris just tested positive for COVID, Dr. Fauci says he's out of this event tonight because it's just too big of a risk. What do you think we're going to see tonight, Ana, from the president?

[14:25:14]

NAVARRO: First of all, let's remember what this dinner is really about, right? It's a great time and there's laughter and there's comedians and there's all of that. But it's about raising funds for scholarships for journalism students. And I think it's necessary for him to show up because we're beginning to have to live with COVID and live with all of this.

And so I think part of the roles that the president needs to play is to be consoler in chief, to be commander in chief, but also to show up and show the country and the world that we can walk and chew gum at the same time, that life doesn't stop, that it's multifaceted.

I think he is capable of being very funny. He's got good comedic timing. He's good self-deprecating humor, which is good because things are not going all that well, but this is a good time to be self- deprecating. There are obviously things you cannot touch. You don't laugh about what's happening in Ukraine.

You don't laugh about the number of deaths of COVID that America and the world has suffered. There are things that are not about joking, but there are things that he can joke about, primarily himself and the press.

ACOSTA: He can certainly laugh at us, that's for sure.

NAVARRO: I suspect there will be some CNN jokes. And we can laugh and pretend -- we can also laugh.

ACOSTA: We'll pretend that we're going along and enjoying the moment.

NAVARRO: But I think this is an important signal that this president does not think that the press is the enemy of humanity.

ACOSTA: And I think he's going to say that tonight. He used to say that out on the campaign trail, that the press is not the enemy of the people, and it will be a huge change from what we saw from the former president.

And Molly, there has been this Twitter spat going on between Elon Musk, who has been tweeting a lot lately, which this spat between Musk and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She had posted something about a billionaire with a big ego problem.

Musk, I guess, took that to mean him even though she later said it was about Zuckerberg. Anyway, he ended up posting "Stop hitting on me" to her on Twitter. It went back and forth. What do you make, Molly, of what Elon Musk is doing right now with Twitter?

JONG-FAST: He's getting a lot of attention, which it seems like might be his goal. I think if I were him, I would not want this kind of attention. It seems very negative. But he was making suggestions about psychiatric medicine earlier today.

He's really kind of getting over his skis. I think he thinks that's exciting. I think he thinks that's bringing people to the social network. I don't know. We'll see how it plays out. If I were a shareholder in one of these companies, I would not like it.

ACOSTA: It almost sounds like he's trying to be Trump. Trump's not on Twitter, so he's trying to be Trump.

JONG-FAST: I also think he thinks the attention is good for him, which I don't necessarily think.

NAVARRO: I don't understand how people can be so rich, can be running businesses, can be in Congress, and can have time for Twitter spats and back and forth. Don't they have something better to do? Don't you think that if you had billions and billions of dollars, you could be on a yacht in the Mediterranean instead of getting into some Twitter spat with a congresswoman who is not even your congressperson?

ACOSTA: Running all these important companies you're supposed to be running.

NAVARRO: And the congressperson, by the way, should be working, too. I don't get all of these congresspeople who all they do is fight on Twitter. For the love of God, go pass some legislation. You, Elon, I don't know, go to space. Stay there.

ACOSTA: And in the meantime, we'll go back to work. Molly and Ana, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Coming up, the mystery and the manhunt after a corrections officer and an inmate being held for capital murder, they never make it to court. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:33:31]

ACOSTA: Right now a manhunt is underway in Alabama after a corrections officer and a murder suspect both disappeared. Officials say veterans corrections officer Vicki White was supposed to be driving inmate Casey White to court for a mental health evaluation but the pair never made it, and it turns out no mental health evaluation was even scheduled.

CNN's Nadia Romero is following the story for us. Nadia, this sounds awfully suspicious. This is a very violent convicted felon on the run. Tell us more.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there are a lot of unanswered questions right now, Jim. But here's what we know about Casey White. You mentioned it, he is a violent convicted criminal.

You can take two pictures of him right there, an earlier shot of him. A mug shot shows a shaved head, a clean face. Then you have his more recent look with hair.

But here is one way that should help him stick out. He's six-foot- nine. He should stick out in just about any crowd. That's who police are looking for. He was already facing 75 years in prison, serving prison time for multiple charges.

And Jim, you mentioned his violent history. There it is, charges of burglary, attempted murder, kidnapping. That's why he was already in prison.

Let's talk about that corrections officer that he was with, at least yesterday. This is Vicki White. Now, they do have a last name the same, but the sheriff says they are not related. She was in the sheriff's office for some 16 years. She's the assistant director of corrections.

And that's why the sheriff says she should have known the policy, the policy that two sworn officers should escort an inmate at all times. That didn't happen.

[14:35:04]

And then of course there's the story about needing to take him to a mental evaluation at the courthouse. That just wasn't true. Here's the sheriff saying why he believes this case just isn't adding up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF RICK SINGLETON, LAUDERDALE COUNTY, ALABAMA: Was she overpowered and kidnapped? And the other, of course, obvious question is, did she assist him maybe in escaping? And if she did, did she do it willingly or was she coerced or threatened somehow?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: And there are, of course, people who are very frightened right now because of Casey White, the inmate who has escaped. He's out on the streets right now. And that includes the family of 59-year-old Connie Ridgeway.

This woman was murdered in her apartment back in 2015. And you can see her there standing next to her sons in some of these pictures, Austin and Cameron. They held on to that fight, the hope that they would find the person responsible.

And police say that Casey White, the escaped inmate, he confessed, he admitted to killing their mother, Connie Ridgeway. Listen to her son Austin explain why he wants to see that inmate back behind bars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN WILLIAMS, SON OF MURDER VICTIM CONNIE RIDGEWAY: I see a very troubled person. I see someone who is really is like, you want someone to be able to be rehabilitated, but at this point it's like someone who is just very, very troubled, and just needs to be put away from human society.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: Casey White has not been convicted in the death of Connie Ridgeway. He was supposed to be awaiting trial, tentatively scheduled for this summer. But now, of course, Jim, we know he'll face some other charges because of this escape.

The FBI is investigating, but the sheriff says they don't have video of the escape, so there are still plenty of unanswered questions, Jim.

ACOSTA: Definitely. Nadia Romero, thank you so much.

And up next, the Dow drops nearly 1,000 points in a single day again. What it means for you, next.

You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:38]

ACOSTA: Another Friday, another near 1,000-point drops for the Dow. By now the headlines are starting to cause a lot of heartburn for Americans. Inflation is high, meaning you're paying more for almost everything. Mortgage rates, rent, housing prices all still rising. But there are still jobs out there with unemployment historically low. Some of the good news there.

But so what comes next, and why does it matter to you? Gillian Tett is the chair of the editorial board and the U.S. editor at large for "The Financial Times," and her book "Anthro-Vision, How Anthropology Can Explain Business and Life" is now out in paperback. Gillian, thank you so much for being with us.

A lot of people were rattled by what happened on Wall Street on Friday. People were looking at their 401(k)s last night, saying what in the world is going on? And everybody is wondering if a recession is around the corner. What do you think?

GILLIAN TETT, CHAIR OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD, FINANCIAL TIMES: In many ways what people should be watching right now is not so much the "r" word, recession, but the "s" word, stagflation, because although policymakers don't want to talk about this in public, or not in polite company, that is a big risk that is really scaring the markets, the fact that on the one hand you've had these unexpected data on Friday showing that the U.S. economy had a quarterly contraction unexpectedly.

Europe is slowing down. China is really slowing down as a result partly of these COVID lockdowns.

And on the other hand, you have these inflation numbers which are very likely to force the Federal Reserve to tighten rates by as much as 50 basis points next week.

So you put this together, and it's a pretty scary mix, because the reality is that anybody who is old enough to remember stagflation in 1970s will see this cocktail as being quite familiar. But most people who have their 401(k)s today or are trading in financial markets simply haven't seen this before in their own lifetime.

ACOSTA: And Gillian, one of the things we've gotten used to seeing in our, I guess, daily lives on a regular basis when it comes to the economy is all those Amazon trucks that we see crisscrossing our neighborhoods at all hours. Yesterday, shares of Amazon fell 14 percent, the company's worst day

since 2006. And that might be pocket change to Jeff Bezos, but is it some proof that Americans are starting to spend less?

[14:45:00]

Are they pulling back in places like Amazon, receiving fewer of those boxes at their house and so on? And might that be having some kind of an effect?

TETT: One of the problems right now is that the COVID-19 lockdowns have thrown all the comparisons in terms of year-on-year growth rates -- really made them haywire. And so what we've saw during the pandemic was an explosion in the amount of online shopping, and things like Amazon were really big beneficiaries.

And they exploded at a rate that, frankly, was almost unimaginable a few years ago.

Now, what people have never known is whether that kind of scale of growth was simply a case of a lot of the trends which were going to happen in the future anyway being brought forward and happening very, very fast, and inevitably you're going to get a slowdown as people start going back to the shops.

So that could be part of it. Another aspect could be that actually people realize that they like the physical experience of actually seeing people, walking around high streets, main streets, and actually don't want to keep online shopping as much as they were in the past.

But the other aspect which is very important is really playing into some of these bigger concerns in the markets right now and stagflation, because Amazon is grappling with supply chains which are all messed up. It's got a lot of information in the pipelines.

The cost of paying workers, the cost of moving good around, all of that is spiraling, and that's creating more pressure for a company like Amazon as well.

ACOSTA: All right, well, Gillian Tett, thank you very much. Let's hope things get turned around. It was a spooky week on Wall Street last week. We'll see what happens on Monday. Gillian Tett, thank you so much.

Coming up, a tiger shark bites off more than expected. The jaw- dropping video you're going to see, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Just when you thought it was safe to go filming in the water, check it you on. A tiger shark chomped down on a camera, giving us an incredible inside view of its mouth. Take a look at that. That is just an amazing sight.

Look at that, that is incredible. The camera was there because divers were shooting a documentary about shark conservation in the Maldives, and tiger sharks are known as the garbage can of the ocean because they can eat just about anything.

But in this case it spit the camera out. So I guess you can say, they're going to need a bigger camera next time.

And we have brand new video of Oscar sinning actress Angelina Jolie as she made an unexpected trip to Ukraine. Jolie visited a boarding school and medical institution in Lviv, meeting with children affected by a Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian train station that was helping to transport refugees.

A Ukrainian journalist also said she ran into Jolie during a coffee run in Lviv. Apparently many in the cafe didn't even notice her. Jolie is a special envoy for the U.N.'s refugee agency, but a spokesperson says they are not involved in Jolie's visit, and she is in Ukraine for her own personal visit, in her own personal capacity. We'll stay on top of that.

And speaking of celebrities, make sure to join me next hour. UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom will be here with us to discuss his work with Ukrainian refugees. You don't want to miss that important conversation. It's coming up in just a few minutes. Stay with us for that.

And more than 40 million people across the Midwest and southern plains could see severe storms today. It's all part of the same system that unleashed a string of tornados in Kansas and Nebraska yesterday, as many as 14 twisters.

You can see debris getting picked up into the air in this incredible video that you're looking at right now. A tornado ripped off the walls and roof of this home in Andover, Kansas, near Wichita. The family who lived there, they are trying to remain hopeful.

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KLOEY VALENTINE, TORNADO DESTROYED HER HOME: It's really sad. I hate seeing my family cry because they lost everything. I hate that all these things are, like, gone. I keep thinking, like, what now. And like, I have nothing.

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ACOSTA: New drone video shows some of the dozens of other homes that were levelled. Officials say nearly 1,000 buildings were in the tornado's path. About a dozen people were hurt.

In this week's "Taking Care of Business" we head to Orlando, Florida where a brother and sister are using their love of animals and community to revamp the pet services industry.

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LUIS SANTI JR., CO-FOUNDER, EOLA PETS: We're a brother and sister team. Obviously, I've known her all my life.

FRANKI SANTI: We are in the most fun industry in the world, the pet industry. Eola Pets is a pet community in downtown Orlando. Eola Pets was founded in 2016. Our family is from Puerto Rico. Our parents actually have their own doggy hotel and dog grooming business. Our services include dog walking, in home pet sitting and training, and bathing services. We have our retail store. We also have our online platform.

LUIS SANTI: In 2020 we had to scramble, and we were nervous about basically our staff, our business.

FRANKI SANTI: My mom actually gave me some really great advice. She said don't make long term decisions based on short term problems. We turned to our clients and asked what they needed. Everybody was home, and so were the dogs.

We started the Amigos Pack walk. It's great socialization for all of our dog clients, honestly, our best service since we opened. In 2021 we reached numbers we definitely never thought we would.

Inclusivity is a huge value in our business.

LUIS SANTI: We make really great efforts to hire very diverse people. We don't want you to have to change.

FRANKI SANTI: This year we're actually expanding our bakery.

LUIS SANTI: Yes, the cookies and the cakes are actually customizable. We ask what colors you like and what phrase you would like to put on them.

[14:55:01]

FRANKI SANTI: I think the future of our business has a lot of expansion. We'd love to help other small businesses. I want people to know it's possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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