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Shipments Of Baby Formula From Overseas Arriving In U.S. To Help Alleviate Supply Shortages; President Biden Visits South Korea; Tornado Devastates Town In Northern Michigan; Wife Of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Criticizes For Involvement In Attempts To Overturn 2020 Presidential Election; Heatwave Hits States In Northeastern U.S.; South Dakota Trigger Law Would Immediately Outlaw Most Abortions If Supreme Court Overturns Roe Versus Wade; High Gas Prices Increasing Food Costs At Farmers' Market In Los Angeles; Ford Recalling 39,000 SUVs Due To Possibility They Might Catch Fire; American Marine Veteran Trevor Reed Interviewed About His Captivity In Russian Prisons; Music Festival In New York's Central Park Raises Awareness Of Mental Health. Aired 2-3p ET.
Aired May 21, 2022 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:00:15]
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, thanks for joining me. I'm Alex Marquardt in on this Saturday for Fredricka Whitfield.
We do begin this hour with efforts to ease the baby formula shortage in the United States with some help from the Pentagon.
A U.S. military cargo plane is getting ready to take off, leaving from Germany with more than 1 million bottles of baby formula from Europe.
CNN's Polo Sandoval has been following all of these developments. Polo, what more do we know about this flight and its precious cargo?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alex, well over three months into this shortage, this is exactly what so many parents wanted to see, at least those supplies coming into the United States.
And at least they're not being mass produced in the United States, or at least not able to keep up with that demand. And these are pictures right now of trucks delivering the supply that is expected to be flown to the United States later today.
The Department of Defense basically assisting a European company that's come forward offering about 1.5 million bottles of baby formula.
What's important to mention here is that in this precious shipment of baby formula, we can also expect some of those specialty formulas for some of those children that perhaps have special dietary needs.
So this is something that certainly parents have been wanting to see. It will be a welcome sight. But it's an important perspective that it's still just 1.5 million bottles when you have millions of infants in the United States that require this kind of nutrition.
So a lot of parents, as they take in these very important pictures, and no doubt extremely grateful to see this kind of action being taken, many parents are still somewhat skeptical, though, and hopeful that they will begin to see the real impact at their grocery store shelves.
MARQUARDT: Just remarkable to think that the crisis is so bad that this needs to be imported and that the U.S. military needs to get involved. Polo, you've also been speaking with families who have been impacted by this shortage. What have they told you?
SANDOVAL: Yes, especially as we've tried to get to the heart of another aspect of the shortage here, and that's those parents who cannot just find any formula on the market and feed it to their children.
We're talking about parents with babies with special dietary needs. I spent some time yesterday with Adrianna and Justin Eith. They live in Long Island, and little Cooper just turned four months yesterday.
And it's been keeping them up at night not knowing where they will be able to track down PurAmino, which is the baby formula that they found out that their baby can actually hold down.
They tried about four different kinds of formula and finally were able to find that one that they could feed him.
The concern here, though, is they have reached out to family and friends throughout the country have been able to secure at least two weeks' worth of formula, but the concern is what about after then.
And that's why you're about to hear from mom, she worries not so much about the short term but the long term nutritional needs of her little boy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADRIANNA EITH, MOM: I don't sit here wanting to make it seem that my son has a greater need, because I believe every baby has a need, every baby needs to be fed. But it is scary when there is a medical need. And even past my son, because there are kids with greater health issues. How do they eat?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: Eith also has been closely following what she has seen from the Biden administration, also most importantly what she did not see earlier during the shortage here.
She said she's certainly relieved to see various actions being taken, but at the same time she certainly wants to see more being done, and asking herself why it reached this point where they now have to bring in some of this formula from overseas.
I will leave you with this. The company that actually manufacturers that prescription baby powder that Cooper takes, we do understand that they will be increasing, or they will be continuing to increase at about 35 percent their manufacturing.
And they also have offered unlimited overtime for employees at that plant to try to rachet up their supplies, Alex.
But ultimately Reckitt, that manufacturer, is saying it's still too soon to say and to predict just how soon those grocery store shelves or, in this family's case, those pharmacy shelves will be back to 100 percent anytime soon.
MARQUARDT: And it's such an important point, Polo. There are all kinds of different kinds of formula, and babies have specific needs.
We should note the formula that's coming in on that military flight from Nestle in Switzerland is hypoallergenic, and there are a million bottles' worth of formula coming in on that flight from Germany.
Polo Sandoval in New York, thank you so much for that terrific reporting.
SANDOVAL: Thanks, Alex.
MARQUARDT: Now to the developments from an important overseas trip for President Joe Biden. Today in Seoul, the South Korean capital, the American and South Korean president say that they are ready to restart and expand military drills.
[14:05:07]
Those would be in response to North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threat. During his visit to South Korea President Biden also left open the door to meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond is with the president in Seoul. Jeremy, when asked about a potential meeting with Kim Jong-un, he wasn't very committal.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, he certainly was not, Alex. And that's because there's been a serious pivot by the Biden administration in terms of how they're approaching North Korea policy, particularly as it relates to how former President Trump approached North Korea policy.
You'll remember President Trump met with the North Korean leader three times, including not far from here at the DMZ when President Trump crossed over the line.
That kind of showmanship, that kind of glitzy diplomacy that ultimately yielded no progress toward denuclearization, that mode of diplomacy is completely out with President Biden.
Instead, President Biden saying that he would only meet with the North Korean leader if he was serious and sincere. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With regard to whether I would meet with the leader of North Korea, that would depend on whether he was sincere and whether it was serious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: And he might as well be saying that he would not meet with the North Korean leader because senior administration officials have told me that they do not assess right now that the North Koreans are serious about diplomacy.
That's despite their best attempts to try and reach out to the North Koreans over the last year-and-a-half. The North Koreans have not engaged with any of those attempts to reach out.
They have not held a single working meeting between U.S. and North Korean officials since President Biden came into office.
And instead, what we've seen from the North Koreans is this ramped-up pace of ballistic missile tests, 15 so far this year, and U.S. intelligence now warning that it is very possible that the North Koreans could be preparing to test fire an ICBM while President Biden is in the region.
There is also still the possibility of a nuclear test looming on the horizon.
At the same time, some experts have said there is a potential opportunity with what has been an explosion of coronavirus cases in North Korea, that is to say, perhaps an opportunity for North Korea to reengage with the world.
Both the U.S. and South Korea have offered assistance to North Korea as it relates to that coronavirus outbreak in the country there, but so far the North Koreans, Alex, they're still not engaging.
MARQUARDT: Yes, a real concern over a potential missile test. They do like to do them, we know, at symbolic times. Jeremy Diamond in Seoul, thanks very much.
CNN has learned that Rudy Giuliani met with the January 6th Committee for more than nine hours on Friday. Two sources tell that to CNN.
Giuliani was a central figure in former President Trump's failed bid to overturn the 2020 election. He was subpoenaed in January by the January 6th Committee.
He backed out of his original deposition, but then he finally sat down for a virtual interview this week.
Over to the Supreme Court where a justice's wife is facing new criticism today. There are newly released emails from Ginni Thomas, who is married to Justice Clarence Thomas.
And in those emails we see Ginni Thomas pressuring two Arizona state lawmakers to upend the popular vote victory by President Joe Biden in 2020 in that state. CNN's Ryan Nobles has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ginni Thomas, the wife of sitting Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is once again under fire for her political activism.
This after a series of emails that she sent to lawmakers in Arizona were revealed that show her pushing to get these lawmakers to try to intervene in the certification of the 2020 election.
These emails, which were initially uncovered by "The Washington Post" and then were shared by the lawmakers in question, showed that Thomas used essentially a form letter from a website that was trying to push lawmakers to intervene in the 2020 election.
And what that email ended up saying to these lawmakers is that Thomas and others were interested in them pushing for what they called a clean slate of electors to come from the state of Arizona that would address what they viewed as problems with election fraud.
Now, this comes as CNN and other news outlets revealed that Thomas was in regular communication with Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff in that time in between the 2020 election and January 6th, encouraging him to do everything he could to try and prevent the certification of the 2020 election.
And it's raised serious questions about a conflict of interest for the Supreme Court justice himself, Clarence Thomas.
Ginni Thomas has not given hardly any interviews on this topic. She did talk to the conservative "Washington Free Beacon."
[14:10:02]
She did admit that she was at the rally, the Stop the Steal rally that took place on the ellipse outside the White House on January 6th, but that she left the grounds before any of the activity took place here on Capitol Hill.
Thomas also said in that interview that she and her husband live completely separate lives and her political activism has nothing to do with Thomas' work on the court.
But it has intermingled because Thomas has had to rule on cases before the Supreme Court that have to do with the acquisition of information by the January 6th select committee, and it's clear that Ginni Thomas was talking to people that the committee may be interested in.
So at this point, Thomas not responding to this new revelation of her efforts at the state level to try to get people to intervene in the 2020 election.
As for the lawmakers involved, they provided the emails, even the correspondence back and forth between the two. They say it was no different than the many other people from around
Arizona and beyond that were in contact with them about the election results after the 2020 election.
Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Ryan Nobles for that report.
Coming up, extreme weather is gripping all parts of the United States. In Michigan, a powerful tornado left behind catastrophic damage. And we will speak to the mayor of that town, coming up.
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There is a state of emergency in Michigan after a powerful and destructive tornado ripped through the northern Michigan city of Gaylord. At least two people were killed, more than 40 others were hurt.
New photos show catastrophic damage, you can see right there, the tornado touching down in a mobile home park and leaving a path of destruction in its wake. It also hit a bustling area in town with shops, restaurants, and retail stores.
Joining me now is the mayor of Gaylord, Michigan, Todd Sharrard. Mayor Sharrard, thank you so much for speaking with us in what is a very difficult time.
MAYOR TODD SHARRARD, GAYLORD, MICHIGAN: My pleasure.
MARQUARDT: I want to say right off at the top, of course, we're very sorry with how much destruction this tornado caused your town, and my sincere condolences for the lives that were lost. How are you and your family doing right now?
SHARRARD: Well, actually, myself, I'm doing really well. As far as my family has gone, they're doing really well as well. They're actually out and about, serving food to the community all around us. So that's what they're doing, busy doing.
MARQUARDT: As I just mentioned before speaking with you, we last heard two people had been killed and 40 injured. Are those numbers still the case?
SHARRARD: That is correct. There's been about 44 injuries, and those injuries were sent amongst northern Michigan to different hospitals, as well as two fatalities.
MARQUARDT: Can you tell us more about the injuries, what kind they are?
SHARRARD: Well, obviously because of HIPAA, there's a lot of that information we can't get. We just know there's been injuries. So we really can't answer that question when it comes to HIPAA. MARQUARDT: Understandable, but are they severe? Are you worried about
the death toll going up?
SHARRARD: No, not at all. I wouldn't say it would be to that category for sure, because the individuals, obviously the two that were fatalities were two folks in their 70s, happened to be at the hardest- hit place called Nottingham Forest. And so my heart goes out to them and their families.
MARQUARDT: I imagine a lot of people are pitching in to try to help right now. How are the cleanup efforts going?
SHARRARD: Well, the community of Gaylord is very, very strong. And it's tightknit. The city limits, we have about 3,800 residents living in our community.
And I've been out and about touring earlier today, and the cleanup is happening as we speak right now. Between everybody and anybody that has a chainsaw or a rake or a shovel is just out cleaning up our community.
We've lost probably a dozen homes as well, too, and probably up to 50 cars are gone as well.
MARQUARDT: And while you're speaking, we're showing some extraordinary images of that destruction. It's just incredible.
In your county, a state of emergency was declared by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Have you been in touch with her office? Have you made clear what you need right now?
SHARRARD: Oh, absolutely. We had the opportunity to speak with Governor Gretchen Whitmer yesterday. She came up to the Gaylord area and arrived here around 10:00, when she signed that declaration.
So we definitely talked with her. As a matter of fact our lieutenant governor will be here shortly as well.
MARQUARDT: I think when people hear what you have to say and see some of these images of what happened to your town, they're going to be asking themselves what they can do to help. What would you say is most needed by the people in your town right now?
SHARRARD: There again, it's such a tightknit community. As far as, we do have a lot of folks reaching out to us in regards to volunteering and this and that. And those are out help clearing debris right now as we speak.
We have another facility outside of town that has our American Red Cross, and they're feeding the people of the community as well as the food trucks here at our emergency command center.
MARQUARDT: Mayor Sharrard, thank you again for taking the time to speak with us. Our thoughts, of course, are with you, with your family, and with everyone in Gaylord, Michigan. Mayor Todd Sharrard, thank you so much. [14:20:01]
SHARRARD: Thank you very much, we really appreciate that.
MARQUARDT: All the best of luck to you.
Across the northeast, it is the extreme heat that is posing a real danger from New York to Philadelphia to Boston. More than 35 million Americans are under heat advisories today.
Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is at the CNN Weather Center. Allison, these are incredible temperatures, and it's, as we've been saying, it's still only may.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, and I think that's really the key message. When you get these temperatures in June or July, or even August for that matter, people are used to it.
In this particular instance, it's about the acclimation, how quickly can your body adapt to this heat.
And that's why you often see people susceptible to things like heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses, because they haven't really had a chance to adapt to the heat, especially in the instance of areas in the northeast and mid-Atlantic where this really is the first widespread heatwave for these regions this year.
But it's not the only spot. You have records potentially being broken everywhere from Texas all the way up to New Hampshire, not only today, but in some areas also tomorrow will be another record-breaking day.
You have heat advisories in effect today and even lingering into tomorrow for some areas of the northeast. This stretches from northern Delaware all the way into New Hampshire. Again, it's the culmination of not only the heat but the humidity.
So that feels like temperature often several degrees warmer than the air temperature itself.
Right now, in Washington, D.C., the temperature itself is 91, but it feels like it's 94. Philadelphia, 93, but it feels like it's 96. So again, humidity may not be all that high, but it is enough to bring that heat level back up to where it feels as though it's even more.
And heat is one of the components that's also helping to fuel some severe thunderstorms in some of these areas. Right now, the main focus is across areas of the Midwest and the Great Lakes region.
We do have a severe thunderstorm watch, that's the yellow area you see here. This includes Indianapolis as well as Cincinnati. It's valid until 7:00 p.m. tonight. It's this main line of thunderstorms right here that are going to be sliding through.
But you also have other showers and thunderstorms around the area. Essentially everywhere from Maine all the way back to Texas has the potential for some strong to severe thunderstorms today. The main threats are going to be damaging winds and the potential for
hail, but we cannot rule out the potential for some isolated tornadoes. This is the same system that hit Michigan in the last 24 hours.
So again, you have that same line of showers and thunderstorms continuing to slide off to the east in the coming 24 to really 36 hours.
And again, it's not just that main line. You also have a lot of these showers and thunderstorms that are firing up across the southeast that also have the potential to be strong, especially this afternoon and evening.
One thing to note, though, this main cold front that's bringing those showers and thunderstorms, once that moves through, the heat goes away with it. So you're going to see a big drop in temperatures.
Take a look at this, Alex, New York going from 91 on Sunday down to 67 on Tuesday. Philadelphia seeing a similar drop from the 90s back down into the 60s.
MARQUARDT: Thank goodness for that. What a range, from snow in Denver to those potentially record temperatures here in the east. Allison Chinchar in the CNN Weather Center, thank you so much.
Still ahead, how South Dakota's trigger law would outlaw most abortions if the Supreme Court does decide to overturn Roe v. Wade. We'll be right back.
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[14:27:43]
MARQUARDT: The Department of Justice is saying that it intends to appeal a federal judge's ruling that has blocked the end of a controversial public health authority which is known as Title 42.
Yesterday, a federal judge in Louisiana blocked the Biden administration from ending the Trump era pandemic restriction just days before it was set to expire.
Back in early April, the CDC announced plans to terminate the order, stating that it was no longer necessary. Title 42 allows officials to turn migrants away at the U.S.-Mexico border in order to stop the spread of coronavirus.
According to the CDC, under Title 42, authorities expelled migrants at the border more than 1.9 million times in just over two years.
South Dakota is one of several states where a trigger law would outlaw most abortions if the Supreme Court overturns Roe versus Wade. It's a state where those who are seeking abortions already rely on doctors traveling from out of state to see patients. CNN's Kyung Lah has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next stop, Gate C-22 through C-27.
DR. SARAH TRAXLER, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, PLANNED PARENTHOOD, NORTH CENTRAL STATES: So I am going to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to the Planned Parenthood health center to provide abortions.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The clock starts ticking in Minnesota on the first flight to her neighboring state of South Dakota. Dr. Sarah Traxler has only today to see her patients who want abortions.
Greeted by private security, they drive new routes each time, to the one and only abortion clinic in South Dakota.
How long have you been doing this?
TRAXLER: I've been doing it about seven years.
Patients should be able to access the health care they need in the cities, in the states that they live in. And if there's nobody else willing to do it, this is what we feel like we need to do in order to give patients access to that car.
LAH: Dr. Traxler comes twice a month because no doctor in-state will.
MISTY, HEALTH CENTER MANAGER: They either won't because it's against their beliefs, or they don't feel safe doing it because of the atmosphere and the climate in South Dakota.
LAH: That climate is why Misty only uses her first name in our interview.
MISTY: We're here, we're functioning. We're seeing patients, abortion patients. Our schedules fill weeks out.
[14:30:00]
But that doesn't mean that it's accessible to everybody who needs it. It absolutely is not.
LAH: Governor Kristi Noem has pledged to make South Dakota the most antiabortion state in the country with a trigger law is already in the books.
GOV. KRISTI NOEM, (R) SOUTH DAKOTA: As soon as Roe v. Wade is overturned, our state laws are ready to protect every unborn child here in South Dakota.
(APPLAUSE)
LAH: A conservative state, especially on abortion access, South Dakota is bright red politically. Largely rural, it already has some of the country's most restrictive laws, dictating when, how, and where women can get an abortion. But Roe v. Wade still allows Dr. Traxler to continue her work. On this day she sees 11 patients. TRAXLER: We want to get them seen, get their ultrasounds, get their
education in so that we can timestamp their visit.
LAH: It's then a state-mandated wait time of 72 hours kicks in before the patients can legally get abortions.
Tell me a little bit about these 11 women.
TRAXLER: So they come from all walks of life -- young, old, never been pregnant before so this is their first pregnancy, and several who have multiple children. Many of them traveled several hours to get here today.
LAH: Hanging over each visit, the Supreme Court's draft decision overturning Roe.
TRAXLER: If the decision comes tomorrow, we would not be able to complete their visit 72 hours later. We would have to call all of those patients and let them know that they can't be seen, and they need to go somewhere else.
LAH: South Dakota's trigger law would immediately end all abortion here except when the mother's life is in jeopardy.
TRAXLER: It's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking that this is not going to be available to them anymore. It's unfair. It's unjust. It's very frustrating to me that we are at this place because I don't think that bodily autonomy should be up for debate.
And it makes me very fearful that we're going to see an increase in the number of people who are seeking out unsafe alternatives.
LAH: The clock resets for Dr. Traxler -- 72 hours later she will make this journey again to see those same patients for as long as the Supreme Court will let her.
Meanwhile, the clock keeps on ticking -- 72 hours later, the women return to the clinic where Dr. Traxler can legally perform the abortions.
The only thing that stops the clock immediately is if Roe is overturned and then South Dakota's trigger law goes into effect, preventing those 11 patients from getting their abortions legally.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Kyung for that report.
Coming up, Ford is advising the owners of thousands of SUVs to park their cars outside because they could spontaneously catch fire. Those details are coming up.
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[14:37:27]
MARQUARDT: Across the United States, drivers are digging deeper into their wallets to pay for their gas.
Nowhere is that more evident than in California where record-breaking high prices are topping more than $6 a gallon, $6. According to AAA, prices are hitting $7 in some areas. But higher prices don't stop at the pump.
The rising cost of fuel, especially diesel, means that anything that is transported by truck, train, or even ship, is going to cost you more.
CNN's Paul Vercammen joins us now from a farmers' market in Los Angeles. Paul, those gas prices, as they get higher, how much are those high prices seeping into the cost of food at farmers markets like the one you're at?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alex, it's a torrent at times. For example, right over here, peaches now $4 a pound from this farm in California.
They used to be $3. And think about what is happening to this farmer in terms of these prices.
You have a situation where they used to pay $80 per round trip coming from the San Joaquin Valley. Now it's $200. So they can't help but pass it on to the consumers.
And then for the consumers here, it's absolute sticker shock when they go up to the gas pump and begin putting gasoline in their car at more than $6 a gallon.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ZARITA PORTER, FARMERS' MARKET SHOPPER: For gas, I remember when gas was like $2.50 a gallon. So for gas going up this high, it's hard to fill up your tank for just $40 now.
So it's a lot more. But it's a lot of drivers, we have to get where we need to go. So we just want to have to do it for less.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERCAMMEN: And so they continue to drive. This farmers' market, these farmers, they come from San Luis Obispo. They're paying $150 per round trip, and the cost again being passed on.
You can see these cartons are telling us that they have to pay more for everything including the cartons they put their eggs in.
What's a possible solution? You might have heard that Governor Newsom has floated this idea that he would give a $400 rebate per vehicle up to two per family.
That idea not being welcomed in all areas because someone here in the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw area would say why should someone in Beverly Hills making a ton of money get the same rebate as us? That rebate is going to turn into a debate.
Back to you now, Alex.
MARQUARDT: It's $6 or $7 a gallon, unbelievable. Paul Vercammen in Los Angeles, thank you very much.
[14:40:02]
Now, speaking of driving, Ford is recalling 39,000 Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators that were all built between December of 2020 and April of 2021.
And it's not for what they do on the road but what they do when they're turned off. They can suddenly go up in flames.
Ford is saying that so far, 16 of the SUVs have caught fire while parked and powered down. Ford says owners don't have to stop driving the SUVs, though.
CNN business senior auto writer Peter Valdes-Dapena is with us from New York. Paul -- I'm sorry, excuse me -- Peter, what does the company think that is causing these fires in these SUVs?
PETER VALDES-DAPENA, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR AUTO WRITER: I just checked with them again this morning, and so far they actually don't know.
This is a little bit unusual, that they have a lot of information about exactly which vehicles are involved and even where in the vehicles the fires are starting. They're starting in the engine compartment, on the passenger side, in the back.
But they don't know yet what's causing it. So they don't know really what to tell people to do. They don't have a fix to go to your dealer yet.
But what they are saying is, and they're going to start identifying the specific owners that have the specific vehicles involved and reaching out to them individually and warning them, look, when you park it, just don't put it in your garage, don't put it near any other structures or anything that could catch fire.
The risk isn't enormous, but the risk is there, so you want to be careful about it.
MARQUARDT: And Peter, how unusual is this? It sounds extremely worrying.
VALDES-DAPENA: Well, remember, the risk overall is still not huge. And it is 39,000. Obviously, Ford sells many, many more of these vehicles per year.
People that want to can reach out to Ford or reach out to their dealers if they want to try to find out sooner if this is one of theirs. But it is unusual in that there's a lot of information about the vehicle population involved.
They know exactly which ones, where the fires are starting. But they know enough to warn people, but it's a little unusual in that they still haven't identified exactly what the problem is, let alone how to fix it. So that's a bit unusual.
Also, we've gotten used to hearing about these sorts of fires in electric vehicles, right? We've heard about Chevy Volt EVs having these problems, maybe some Hyundai SUVs, electric vehicles having these problems.
But this is a reminder that gasoline powered vehicles can sometimes have fire risks as well.
MARQUARDT: Hopefully they figure that out soon. Peter Valdes Dapena, thank you so much.
The author and journalist Sebastian Junger is used to dodging bullets in warzones, so he didn't expect to almost die in his own driveway. His incredible survival story and why he now thinks it's so important to donate blood, this is in today's "The Human Factor."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN JUNGER, AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST: I've been a war reporter for a very long time. The most danger I've ever been in by far was in my own driveway.
I had an undiagnosed aneurysm, a ballooning of the artery, my pancreatic artery in my abdomen. It was asymptomatic. And one fine day, it ruptured.
Pain shot through my abdomen. Right when we pulled into the E.R., my body let go. I came within minutes of dying and they pulled me back.
One doctor guessed I lost two-thirds of my blood, something like that. I needed so much blood so quickly that they asked permission to cut my neck and put a line into my jugular.
And I said, you mean in case of an emergency? He said, this is the emergency.
And I just kept thinking of my little girls. If something happens to me, I'm OK. I've had a good life. But girls growing up without a daddy, that just crushed me.
So I never thought about blood donation before. Then one of my closest friends died of blood loss. And then I almost died, but I survived because 10 people donated blood.
Ten anonymous people that I'll never know saved my life and allowed my little girls to have a father.
So I suddenly started thinking about blood donation. And blood is this sort of miraculous thing where your body creates it for free. So give blood, vote, serve jury duty, and you will feel like you were
part of something greater than yourself, which is one of the best feelings a person could have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:48:50]
MARQUARDT: Now to a CNN exclusive. Marine veteran Trevor Reed, who was recently freed after nearly three years in a Russian prison, is speaking out about what he suffered through.
He spoke to CNN's Jake Tapper about the extreme conditions that he lived in, describing blood and waste on the walls of a cell that she shared with known killers.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: What was the worst conditions that you had, that you experienced during that time?
TREVOR REED, FORMER MARINE JUST RELEASED FROM RUSSIAN DETAINMENT: The psychiatric facility. I was in there with seven other prisoners in that cell.
They all had severe, serious psychological health issues. Most of them, so over 50 percent of them in that cell, were in there for murder, or like multiple murders, sexual assault and murder. Just really disturbed individuals.
And inside of that cell, that was not a good place. There's blood all over the walls there where prisoners had killed themselves or killed other prisoners or attempted to do that.
The toilet's just a hole in the floor and there's, you know, crap everywhere, all over the floor, on the walls.
[14:50:07]
There's people in there also that walk around there that look like zombies.
TAPPER: Were you afraid for your life?
REED: I did not sleep there for a couple of days. So I was too worried about who was in the cell with me to actually sleep.
TAPPER: You thought they might kill you?
REED: Yes. I thought that was a possibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: In response Russian officials have defended the conditions he was in as satisfactory or in line with Russian law. Jake Tapper's interview with Trevor Reed airs tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN.
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MARQUARDT: The Cold War Kids are headlining the Sound Mind Live music festival in New York's Central Park today with the aim of ending the stigma around mental health.
The band is joining other big names like Big Boi and American Authors to raise money and fuel understanding of Mental Health Awareness month, which is this month.
Joining us now, the front man for the Cold War Kids, Nathan Willet. Nathan, thank you so much for joining me today. This is the fourth year of this festival.
NATHAN WILLETT, PERFORMING IN SOUND MIND MUSIC FESTIVAL FOR MENTAL HEALTH: Hi, thanks for having us.
MARQUARDT: My pleasure, man. This is the fourth year. Why was it so important for you guys to perform this time?
WILLETT: Yes. I think it just -- for me it hits close to home. I think it's such a huge conversation around mental health awareness that is being had more and more everywhere, everywhere you look.
And to be able to contribute to that is just like, it's exciting, it's cool. It's more meaningful than just a show. So that's always nice to do.
MARQUARDT: Do you think that there still is a stigma around discussions over mental health? And if you do, do you think that that stigma is fading a bit?
WILLETT: I do think so. I'm 42-years-old. I know that like growing up for stuff like -- for me, I had a lot of anxiety, growing up and stuff like panic attacks when I was like teenager to early 20s, and before I got on like some anxiety medication, started to do some therapy, that I think having my own -- having conversations with friends and family and knowing like, yes, there's still -- there's definitely a stigma for me in that journey.
So it's -- to see how much more normal it is now is -- I do think there's been a big change, and especially in the last couple years with the pandemic. And so yes, I think there's been a lot of progress.
MARQUARDT: And a lot of people had a really tough time during COVID, staying at home, not seeing people.
Thankfully we're coming out of it quite a bit, with things like music festivals back on. People are able to gather again.
But speak more about your own experience. What's it been like for you to go back on tour and play big shows like this? WILLETT: Yes. It's wild. I always -- for having toured for like 15
years, I have a family, I have three kids now. I always kind of thought like there should be a time where I truly just take a year off of no traveling, no touring.
So it's almost, in hindsight, in some ways I think it's kind of the best thing to ever happen, to not even be able to tour. Obviously, that's such a luxury that we have, to be able to -- for me to be at home, to be a dad, to be present, not always catching a flight and on the move.
But yes, to go back into performing, and we played a show last week in L.A., a big outdoor thing in Redondo Beach, in Mexico the week before that. It's definitely a process getting used to it again and being around big crowds of people.
And yes, more than ever I just feel like it's about those people, and trying to speak to them, trying to almost like applaud them for making it through this pandemic and for like the courage that it takes to come out and celebrate music together, see each other, like it's really important.
And I know from talking to people, fans and people all the time, it was just like, it's their -- it's their like -- this big return is really a big deal to them. For me it's like we're in our backstage.
I'm not surrounded by a zillion people, but I know that that, it's really meaningful to fans.
[14:55:07]
MARQUARDT: Nathan Willet, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for raising awareness, and best of luck at the festival.
WILLETT: Thank you so much for having us. Appreciate it.
MARQUARDT: And that's going to do it for me. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Alex Marquardt. CNN Newsroom continues with Jim Acosta right after this short break. Take care.
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