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Tornado In Northern Michigan Kills Two, Injures More Than 40; Average California Gas Prices Jump Above $6.00 A Gallon; S&P 500 Teetering On Bear Market After Friday's Close; U.S. Topping 100K-Plus New COVID Cases Per Day; "Operation Fly Formula" Airlifting Supplies From Europe; GA Sees Record Early Voting Turnout, Especially Among Republicans. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 21, 2022 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:21]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are still downed power lines. There is a lot of danger out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that whole block, that whole neighborhood just got wiped out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than 35 million Americans are under heat advisories today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have records potentially being broken everywhere from Texas all the way up to New Hampshire.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Paul Vercammen. I'm here at the Crenshaw Farmers Market in Los Angeles and here, you're going to hear stories from customers and especially vendors who are getting jackhammered by rising inflation, especially the cost of gas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember when gas was like $2.50 a gallon. For gas going up this high, it is kind of like hard to fill up your tank for just $40.00 now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today at Ramstein Air Force Base, we've been watching service members put together these pallets. This is one 1.5 million eight-ounce bottles of infant formula.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We are following several major stories for you in the next three hours. Extreme weather across America, a town in Michigan tonight is sifting through the wreckage of a deadly tornado, while more than half the country bakes in record heat.

Meantime, two U.S. military planes are set to fly supplies from Germany to the U.S. tonight to help ease America's baby formula shortage.

And also tonight, The FBI is sounding the alarm on so-called sextortion scams targeting vulnerable teenagers. And as prices soar, top personal finance experts Suze Orman tells you how to protect your money.

And we begin this hour with extreme weather baking and battering much of the country in moments that must have felt like an eternity, a tornado reduces a small town neighborhood to a debris field in Northern Michigan. Two people are dead and at least 44 are injured.

Heat and health risks nearly half the population in 48 states, some 170 million Americans will face temps of 90 degrees or more over the next few days. Today, heat advisories cover 35 million people from Philadelphia to New York to Boston.

And in New Mexico, the largest wildfire in the state history is now burning into its sixth week. More than 300,000 acres burned and only 40 percent contained.

The National Weather Service now says the tornado that ripped through Gaylord, Michigan was an EF-3. So that means the winds were blasting at about 140 miles an hour when these RVs were hammered like bowling pins. Look at this. Michigan's Governor has declared a State of Emergency for that area.

And the hardest hit area is the Nottingham Forest Mobile Home Park. This is where two people died. They were each in their 70s. The County Fire Chief says 95 percent of the homes are destroyed.

One man describes the terrifying helplessness of being down the street and watching the tornado descend into his neighborhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DECLAN CLAYTON, LOST HIS NEIGHBORHOOD TO TORNADO: We actually lived over in Nottingham where the epicenter started and that whole block, that whole neighborhood just got wiped out.

I was actually right up the road at the gas station when I saw the cloud start swelling. I called him because he was back in the house with our dogs, and I was like get your stuff, get ready, and as soon as I hung up the phone, it touched on and ripped through before I could even blink and like I called him made sure he was all right, and then by time I even got back to Nottingham, the whole neighborhood was already gone. People being pulled out of rubble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The town's mayor says people have set aside their own losses to help the community. He says that seemingly anyone with a chainsaw or a rake has helped clear roads or assist neighbors.

So let's get back to that stifling heatwave and the rest of the extreme weather rocking the U.S. Meteorologist Gene Norman is in the CNN Weather Center. Gene, you have no shortage of things to monitor, do you?

GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Exactly right, Pamela. Forget what the calendar says. We've got everything from heat to storms to snow. We'll start with the heat because records have been tied in these places. Georgetown, Delaware, the Dulles Airport in Virginia, even Western Massachusetts seeing temperatures close to -- or actually tying records from 94 to 88 degrees.

And we're still going to get a few more records coming in over the next couple of hours when these stations report, but right now, it feels like it's 96 in Philly. It feels like it's 90 in D.C. That's a combination of the temperature plus the humidity. They are going to run the Preakness in about an hour and the temperatures will be in the upper 80s in Baltimore when they do that.

Heat advisories had been extended into tomorrow because temperatures will feel like 95 to a hundred again, but it'll just be one more day of this high heat in the Northeast. The reason why?

[18:05:09]

NORMAN: Big line of storms stretches all the way from northern New England back down toward Texas. The yellow boxes indicate severe thunderstorm watches. Places that could see damaging wind as well as hail into the overnight hours as these storms push east.

And on the back end of that system, believe it or not, there has been snow, yes, that's what it looks like on the radar, but nothing says it like a live picture. Breckenridge, Colorado, 28 degrees with the flakes still flying.

And Pamela, maybe that might make you feel a little bit better than the 90 degree heat but temperatures are going to drop between 20 and 30 for Northern Minnesota back down toward Denver. What a wild weather ride today.

BROWN: Yes, those are some wild swings across country. Gene Norman, thank you.

I want to turn now to the economy where buyers and sellers are feeling the pain from soaring inflation and California gas is hovering above $6.00 gallon. Local business owners are struggling to keep up with higher costs and that left many with a difficult choice. Pass the pain on to their customers or close up shop.

CNN's Paul Vercammen has the latest from the Los Angeles area farmers market.

VERCAMMEN: Pam, while most people are upbeat as you expect from a farmers market, the talk is inflation and these gas prices, just under $6.10 here in Los Angeles. We have these vendors who are coming throughout the region, here some of them telling us that they used to pay about $80.00 round trip to bring their fruits and vegetables here, and now, they're spending $200.00.

And the basics, the staples are causing all the prices to be driven up. The consumers are struggling with them. This is Mommy Helen's Bakery. Very popular here famous for a number of items, not the least of which is a five berry rose berry pie. But because the staples cost so much. For example, sugar, as well as things like the berries and the peaches. They raise their prices and they have to try to accommodate the consumers who are telling us they are now making choices.

Things like entertainment, and all sorts of other things for disposable income, that trip to the nail salon, they are no longer going. The people here of course are choosing to continue to go to the bakery or get their fresh fruits and vegetables. But they are indeed having to make very serious choices as they navigate these horrific gas prices here in California.

Reporting from the farmers market in Crenshaw, I'm Paul Vercammen.

Back to you now -- Pam.

BROWN: Thanks, Paul.

All right, I want to bring in now Suze Orman, everyone, of course, the well-known financial expert and the host of "The Women and Money" Podcast.

Suze, so great to have you on the show. It is so timely because of what is happening right now in the economy. The market is tumbling, the Dow is on his longest weekly losing streak since 1923. How panicked should we be?

SUZE ORMAN, HOST "THE WOMEN AND MONEY" PODCAST: Well, panicking isn't going to help anybody truthfully, Pamela. What's going to help everybody is to really understand that this is here to stay for quite a while if you ask me.

So you have to really now start to spend less and save more. It's really, I want to say just that simple, because inflation may be here for the rest of this year, possibly even could continue up, we don't know.

So you have to really watch every penny you spend at this point in time and that is hard because everybody is feeling free and they want to go out and they want to travel and they want to go out to eat. You really have to start to cut back and conserve, conserve, conserve.

BROWN: Why do you think this is going to be the situation for a while?

ORMAN: Well, for a number of reasons.

First of all, inflation started because shipping and everything contracted during what -- the pandemic, you know, with COVID. We haven't really solved that problem. We have China that has totally shut down, practically speaking, and when they open up again, then all this material will be going back on the market, but then we're going to have a shipping problem again, because it's going to get stalled because of how much is being shipped over.

So because we became so dependent on globalization and other people manufacturing for us, we don't have the product. And when we don't have the product, everything starts to become more expensive. Gasoline and oil started to go up a lot. Part of that is because of what's happening with Russia. I don't expect that's going to change anytime soon.

So I just don't see with the Fed raising rates, how that is going to stop this inflation for quite a while because it's just not. You can see it all over the place.

BROWN: I think it's really an important that what you're doing right now and that is setting realistic expectations for everyone, right, sort of like buckle up. This is going to be the situation for a while. This is the new reality in America.

[18:10:11]

BROWN: And I'm curious what you think about what is going on in the stock market, right? Because the S&P 500 briefly fell into bear market territory on Friday, before climbing out of it just before close. Tell us a little bit about what that signifies and what those of us who have money in the stock market should do right now?

ORMAN: If at this point, you're invested in the stock market, and you're invested in good quality stocks, stocks that make things, stocks that pay dividend, stocks that have earnings, and they've been hit because everything has been hit, you have to just stay there.

You know, recently, Warren Buffett just said, the best thing you could do right now is don't look, just don't look. But all of you have to know what you're invested in and does it make sense? This is not the time anymore, where these high flying stocks are what's going to give you your return.

It is very possible that you might see the markets go up for a week or two here, but long run, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, really, but it is what I believe, is that maybe it goes up a week or two, but then it starts a downtrend again.

I would not be surprised to see the NASDAQ go down another 14 percent. The Standard and Poor's go down another 10 percent. But if you are in it for the long run, if you don't need your money for five years, 10 years, 15 or years or longer, you just have to wait.

Now, what you should be doing is continue to dollar cost average. If you're in a 401 (k) plan or a retirement account. Don't stop now.

And this is not the time to be taking out loans, Pamela, from your 401 (k), because if you take out the money, you're taking it out why markets are low. But there are things you can do with your money that make total sense at this point in time. And if all of you are not purchasing series I bonds right here and right now, you are making the biggest mistake of your life.

BROWN: I mean, did everyone hear that that's listening? I know we actually had someone on recently you said the exact same thing. I want everyone to talk about that. Tell me about series I bonds, why that is so important. ORMAN: Yes, series I bonds are bonds that are issued by the government, you get them at treasurydirect.gov. They are currently paying you 9.62 percent on an annualized yield, because the I in series I stands for inflation. What you have to know about them is once you invest in them, and you can invest anywhere from $25.00, all the way up to $10,000.00. And there are other ways for you to get up to $30,000.00 if you want in them, but you cannot touch them for the first year years two through five, there's a three-month interest penalty.

But even with that, you're so far ahead. The rate resets every May and November 1st. And truthfully if you want to learn everything you could possibly know about series I bonds, on "The Women and Money" Podcast, the April 17th date, I did a masterclass on it and it will teach every single one of you why you have to do it, how it works, and how to know how to put more in than just $10,000.00 a year because most people think that's the max you can put in, but it's not.

BROWN: Okay, I'm so listening to that after my show tonight. I cannot wait to listen to that. Can't let you go until we talk about cryptocurrency. As you well know, the value has cratered in the last couple of weeks. What do you think about cryptocurrency? Is it something that you're investing in? What do you advice?

ORMAN: So cryptocurrency is a broad field. Let's boil it down to right now Bitcoin, which is what most people know about.

Bitcoin did not act as an inflation hedge, which we all thought it was going to, and Bitcoin can go either way right now.

Bitcoin has a support level of $27,200.00 and a support level is something that every time it hits it, it should bounce off of it. If it goes through it and it absolutely could, the next support level is what? $20,000.00 and from there, it's $14,000.00.

However, if the NASDAQ continues up because it's been acting like it's the NASDAQ, you can see it at $42,000.00. So what's the bottom line here you should all do on Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is something that you should not invest a lot of money in. Most of you, if you invest in it, it should be money that you can afford to lose in my opinion, and it is there for the long run. It's not just to be traded up, back, forth, no. You want to see what happens with.

I have a very small amount of money in Bitcoin I'm now getting more interested in Ethereum, the second version of it. So you just have to be very, very careful here, everybody. That's the bottom line there.

[18:15:16]

BROWN: I think, it is so key what you said that whatever you invest in it, be prepared to lose it. It should be the amount of money that you can lose. Suze Orman, this is all such sage advice as we try to navigate this uncertain time in our economy, let's put it that way.

Thank you so much. We'd love to have you back on the show soon. So great to see you.

ORMAN: Anytime, my friend. Take care.

BROWN: You too.

And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Tonight, relief at last for desperate parents. Two military plane loads of baby formula will soon be on the way to the U.S. from Europe. We're going to take you there.

And meantime, CNN is traveling with President Biden in Asia as he considers ramping up military exercises in the face of North Korean aggression.

And as monkeypox cases are confirmed in more countries, we're going to explain what it is and how serious it could get.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:20:17]

BROWN: Just hours from now, the first shipments of baby formula will begin their journey from overseas to desperate families here in the U.S. This is the scene at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany. One American military flight carrying 132 pallets of formula will take off from there at 2:00 AM, Eastern landing in Indianapolis around midday tomorrow. And then another flight will take off around 4:00 AM Eastern.

The Biden administration made a deal with Nestle to bring in up to a million and a half bottles of formula from abroad, and that includes brands that are hypoallergenic for kids who have allergies to cow's milk. But it may not be enough to fill shelves like these back home quickly, and the tension among desperate families is heating up.

Listen to this confrontation at a Target store in Massachusetts after one shopper accused another of hoarding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at the look at all this. Look at all this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I need it for my baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at the shelves. You don't think I need it for my baby, too?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the whole reason why there's a formula shortage. You take all the formula off the shelf and buy it all at once.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You come after me, I don't know you get this one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't matter. I'm saying this is the whole reason why there's a formula shortage. You come and you buy all the formula at once, and there are kids who need formula today who won't be able to get it because you just want it to stock up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Meanwhile, in South Korea today, President Biden signed a bill to improve access to formula for families in need.

A tantalizing new possibility about President Biden's trip to Asia: Could he really meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un? Here's what he said earlier.

(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 be dependent on whether he was sincere and whether it was serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Meanwhile, President Biden's first trip to Asia as U.S. leader is taking place with the very real possibility that North Korea could choose to stage a missile or nuclear test while he is in the region.

CNN's M.J. Lee joins me now with the latest. So M.J., how surprising were President Biden's remarks?

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Pam, I don't know how surprising it was that President Biden said that. I mean, what he was essentially saying was that if Kim Jong-un is serious and sincere about exploring diplomacy, then he would be open to having a conversation. As you know very well, that's sort of the Biden administration's overarching policy when it comes to diplomacy that they are always keep the door to diplomacy open, regardless of who the person is that they are talking about.

And it is just such a hypothetical question, right? We have no idea if Kim Jong-un has any interest in having that kind of conversation with President Biden right now, and what he's doing right now is sort of flexing his muscles on the global stage.

He has launched these missile tests a number of times already so far this year, and as you said, there has been this threat of a potential long range missile test or a nuclear test during President Biden's visit out here to the region.

And I have to say, another wildcard, too is this issue of COVID because we know that there is this widespread outbreak in North Korea. This is a population that is not vaccinated. And what President Biden said last night here in Seoul, is that there has been an extension, an offer of vaccines to the country, but he said that he essentially hasn't heard back from North Korea.

Now, of course, the big news coming out of last night's bilateral meeting with the South Korean President Yoon Seok-youl was the two leaders saying that they are going to consider expanding these joint military exercises. That of course, as you know, would be a shift in the policy from what we saw from former U.S. President Donald Trump -- Pam.

BROWN: All right. M.J. Lee, thank you so much, live for us there in Seoul.

And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Right now, there are 80 confirmed cases of monkeypox around the world and another 50 cases under investigation. So, how concerned should we be? I'll talk to the former senior adviser to the Biden administration's COVID response, Andy Slavitt, about this and the rise in COVID cases here in this country. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:29:00]

BROWN: Hi, there.

Taking a look at a live picture right now of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. It is 6:28 PM Eastern Time in a very hot and muggy day here in Washington as you are seeing record temperatures really across the country today.

So here's a question for you: Are you still wearing a mask in public indoor spaces? The CDC says many of us should be. Across the nation, new COVID cases are up 55 percent and look at this map right here, 31 states the ones in dark red have seen cases go up at least 50 percent in the last two weeks. Overall, the U.S. is topping 100,000 new cases per day, a level not seen in months.

And this week, CDC experts overwhelmingly recommended a Pfizer booster dose for kids ages five to 11. Their infection rates are up, too.

[18:30:16]

Joining me now with more on this, Andy Slavitt, former adviser to the Biden administration COVID Response Team. Good to see you, Andy. It's been a while since we've seen you. So we'd love to hear your perspective on what's going on right now. Why do you think we're seeing cases and hospitalizations rise right now?

ANDY SLAVITT, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION COVID RESPONSE: Well, it's good to see you, Pam. Well, what's happening here is really a reflection of what's been happening around the world, which is that we have new waves of Omicron, new versions of Omicron that have been generating around the world beginning here and with some frequency.

So these are different versions of Omicron. These are generating new cases, particularly in the northeast. This is a pretty significant number of cases. The good news is that there are much fewer hospitalizations and so far much fewer deaths.

BROWN: Right. I mean, you're talking about the northeast, look at this map right here that we have and it's just showing exactly how bad it is there. And it makes me wonder, for you, Andy, are you regularly masking indoors again or if you are in this - one of these areas where we're seeing it bright red, would you suggest masking indoors?

SLAVITT: Well, if you don't want to get COVID-19, you should mask indoors. If you don't want to pass COVID-19 onto others, you may want to consider masking indoors when you're around other people. You should consider being in a well-ventilated spaces. If you are indifferent to getting COVID-19, if you don't think that this is something that should worry you and I think a lot of people count themselves in that category, they're not wearing masks.

But COVID-19, as we know, is very prevalent. It is no picnic and there's the potential for it to cause long COVID.

BROWN: Yes.

SLAVITT: So I would urge a little caution. I know my wife and I both certainly wear masks when we go out indoors.

BROWN: So you do, that's interesting. Yes, I was flying recently and I noticed a lot of people they weren't wearing masks. And I think you're right that we are at a stage now where people are just making decisions for themselves what their risk tolerance is, what their own medical risk is if they get COVID.

I want to ask you, though, about this New York Times report that caught my attention and it suggested there could be multiple mini outbreaks of COVID-19 each year and that people could be reinfected multiple times because of the variants and sub-variants. What do you think about that? Do we have any data on how often that could happen? Is that a concern for you?

SLAVITT: Well, so first of all, I don't think we know yet. I think we're trying to figure out what a steady state looks like. But what it's telling, at least, at this point in time is I think we have this expectation that maybe we end up with something like a seasonal flu, it comes once a year, it's more severe. But if you're vaccinated, you're basically protected. That's not what's happening so far.

What's happening so far is we're seeing waves every four to six months. So that would be two to three times a year. And that's more like a kind of a constantly circulating common cold, much more dangerous than a common cold with the ability to cause real chronic issues. But it's unclear whether that's what's going to last.

But if we were to just take a snapshot of where we are today and say what do we know today, you have this laddering of Omicron different versions, different decimal places that seems to - more of every four to six months. And so we're going to need a scientific strategy, a vaccine strategy that can keep up with that.

BROWN: All right. So let's talk about that because Dr. Ashish Jha, the coordinator of the White House COVID-19 response says the U.S. doesn't have enough money to buy more vaccines, treatments and manufacture COVID chests for the fall. Congress, as you well know has yet to pass President Biden's request for $22.5 billion of COVID funding. So could free vaccines become a thing of the past? SLAVITT: Well, this is really, really, really important issue and I can't - we can't talk about it enough. We just committed $40 billion to Ukraine to help win the war against Russia. This is what leaders do. We fund things that are going to be critical for the globe and this $22 billion that Dr. Jha and the White House are talking about is also incredibly essential and we have to do both.

We can't look at this and say, well, we have only - we can only focus on one problem at a time. Because as you rightly point out, Pam, if we end up in a situation where we can only - only some people in this country can afford to get vaccinated and others can't.

Well, what does that mean practically when you have an infectious disease? It means you're just spreading this disease in areas around the country that can't afford to get vaccinated. That's definitely unfair, but it blows the lid off of the virus.

And I believe we're going to see a new type of vaccine this fall and so it's essential. It's essential that Congress puts the funds out for all Americans to get it.

BROWN: All right. I'm going to ask you, because as if COVID is not enough to deal with it, we're now hearing about 80 cases of monkeypox in 11 countries around the world, including the U.S.

[18:35:05]

Now, this is considered a rare disease although it is a cousin of smallpox, but how concerned are you about this situation?

SLAVITT: Well, let me tell you what we hear from experts, what we know and what we should - what - there's some things that should really assure us and there's some things that I should say should make us curious. I wouldn't say worried, but I'd say, at this point, curious.

What should assure us is that this is not a novel virus. It's from the pox family. It's been around for decades. It spreads actually much more slowly than COVID-19 and historically not asymptomatically. We have abundant vaccines and therapies already because the smallpox vaccines work and it typically requires prolonged exposure or contact with either a person or in an area or bed sheets or something where lesions may have existed, so it's much more difficult to catch.

So that's - those other things should make us more assured. The things that should make us curious is we're seeing some unusual behavior with monkeypox this time around. It seems a bit different. We're seeing outbreaks, as you pointed out, in multiple countries. It's spreading - is it spreading through different means? We don't know. Does it have other animal hosts? We don't know. Is there a variant version? We don't know.

So these are all questions we shouldn't jump to conclusions on. We should get them answered and rather than put out misinformation, we should just be curious and learn. And I think as we sequence this virus, we will learn these things pretty quickly. BROWN: All right. Andy Slavitt, we have to take a quick break. Stay with us, though, because we have much more to discuss including the baby formula shortage. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:41:17]

BROWN: And we are back with Andy Slavitt, former adviser to the Biden administration COVID Response Team. Hey, Andy. So let's talk about this baby formula crisis. The FDA first heard there might be trouble at that Abbott plant last September and didn't investigate until almost four months later. Do you think this crisis could have been prevented or at least mitigated given how long the administration had to act?

SLAVITT: Well, I'm as curious as anybody else. I don't think we know at this point. I think what we do know is that we need to mobilize. We are mobilizing, taking significant action now not only with the deal you described to purchase more from Nestle but to support WIC.

We've got a bill that that has been signed and sent to the President's desk and a bill to support the FDA which - it was supported by all the Democrats and only eight Republicans, curiously, 200 Republicans voted against the bill to help the FDA ease the shortage. So people are playing politics with this. This is serious and it's not time to play politics.

BROWN: And as you know, the Republicans who vote against it, they said that this would not fix the problem, that this would just be increasing salaries of FDA workers who had been to blame for this crisis. That is what the Republicans say. The CEO of formula maker Abbott is out there with a new op-ed in The Washington Post tonight apologizing for their role in the shortage.

He lays out steps they're taking, including reopening its closed formula facility in June and setting up a $5 million fund for families. Robert Ford writes, "These steps we're taking won't end the struggles of families today. Some solutions will take weeks, others will take longer, but we will not rest until it is done. I will not rest. I want everyone to trust us to do what is right and I know that must be earned back." So do you think these companies are doing enough?

SLAVITT: Well, it sounds like it was put together by a high quality PR agency and it's what you'd expect people do at this time. But the reality is we have - the fact that we are in this situation means that we have - we are running too thin on supplies that are essential for people to live. Now, these are structural problems and the fact that Abbott is in this situation right now clearly needs to be investigated as to why and how we got here.

So, hard to take a lot of solace from an op-ed and $5 million. We do need to mobilize much more resources that - I see the President doing that and I think that's encouraging. BROWN: And we are certainly seeing that with these shipments from overseas coming in, these military flights that will help fill the shelves, perhaps not immediately. But I'm just wondering, what do you think? I mean, how do you get past the politics of something like this? We talked about Republicans voting against the bill, the GOP is slamming Democrats.

When it comes to something so important like this, how do you think as a country, we should just move past the politics and just feed hungry babies?

SLAVITT: Well, look it's 2022, it's an election year. So it's unrealistic to think that we are going to play political games, but what really should happen is we need to fix the problem and then investigate what happened and what went wrong and where there's blame and accountability, we need to point the finger and hold people accountable.

But at this point, I think we have people in Congress making irresponsible statements as if they know what happened and if they know who's to blame, voting against bills, let us fix the problem, let us all work together to fix the problem.

[18:45:01]

This is a time when the country doesn't want to see people pointing fingers at one another. They want to see us solve it and then there should be a time after this where we say you know what, this is what the - when we look at this and we look at what happened, here's what went wrong and here's who to blame and we got to hold people accountable, but I don't think we're at that point.

BROWN: Okay. Yeah. And there's lots of questions too about if this happened again, will there be a supply to fill the shelves in case there's another shortage, there's all kinds of questions and what more the government can do to make sure to avert a crisis like this in the future. Andy Slavitt, thank you so much.

SLAVITT: Thank you, Pam.

BROWN: Well, President Trump has Georgia on this - on his mind this weekend. He is backing several candidates ahead of Tuesday's primary, but are his endorsements going the way he hopes? Harry Enten joins me next to run the numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:15]

BROWN: Voters in Georgia are days away from casting ballots in several high stakes races. The Peach State has already seen record early turnout, especially among Republicans. That's partly because of several closely watched GOP primary elections. And the race for governor polls show incumbent Brian Kemp with a commanding lead over Trump-endorsed former Senator David Perdue. That's despite attacks from Perdue and the former president for not joining efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID PERDUE, (R) GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: He divided our party. He allowed him to steal the election. He denied it. He is now covering it up and he's suppressing evidence.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R) GEORGIA: I've done exactly what I told people I would do. That's what Georgians want. They want somebody fighting for them. They're not worried about people from around the country that have been criticizing us, they've been doing that for two years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Meanwhile, another Trump-endorsed candidate Herschel Walker is the clear favorite to win the GOP nomination for Senate. If victorious, Walker will face Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in the general election. So let's bring in CNN Senior Data Reporter, Harry Enten. Hi there, Harry. President Trump really threw his weight behind Kemp's opponent, David Perdue. How's that working out for him?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPOERTER: He's about to get embarrassed on Tuesday. I mean, that's really the word. I keep using it because if you look at the data, what does it show? We had a Fox News poll that was out this past week and we see, get this, a 32-point advantage for Brian Kemp, 32 points and he's well above the 50 percent threshold in order to ensure that he will not have a runoff.

But it's more than that, right? Perdue has been going after Kemp for the last few months and what has been the result? The result is that Kemp's lead has actually risen. It's gone from 11 points to 32 points and there's a reason why the local paper is down in Georgia basically said that Perdue is hiding and why Donald Trump really is not going all out for David Perdue because he knows he's going to get embarrassed in that primary on Tuesday, at least in the gubernatorial race.

BROWN: And if that is the case, that's also with - lying to people saying the election was stolen as part of his campaign, which was it's just not true and there's verifiable evidence that is not true. So tell us how Trump's endorsement played a factor at all for Perdue, did it help him? I mean, what is your take on that?

ENTEN: I mean, if you look at the numbers ...

BROWN: What does this mean?

ENTEN: ... it means kind of, sort of ...

BROWN: Okay.

ENTEN: ... I mean, look, that was - the question was did Trump's endorsement of Perdue make you more supportive of Perdue? Thirty-seven percent of voters said, yes, that, I guess, was the plurality opinion. But look at that, 24 percent actually less supportive of Perdue. And when you add that 24 percent with that 36 percent who said no effect, what we see is the clear majority of voters actually said that either it made them less supportive or no effect.

Donald Trump was hoping to get Perdue over the finish line. But in fact, he hasn't been able to do that, because most voters don't really think very much of Donald Trump, at least to the degree that it can actually get Perdue over the top. And the other thing I'll just add is, of course, you're right. The idea that that election was stolen is hogwash and I think the voters at least in this particular case, think it was enough hogwash that they're willing to re-elect Brian Kemp even in Republican primary.

BROWN: Yes. I think that's an important point. So is this part of a larger pattern (inaudible) Trump problems in gubernatorial races?

ENTEN: It is. I mean, if you look at the Trump sort of losses over the past few weeks, look at gubernatorial primaries that didn't go his way, you saw it in Idaho, right? Brad Little was able to beat a Trump- endorsed candidate. You go back to May 10th, you saw the Trump endorsed candidate Charles Herbster lost. Mike DeWine, there was no endorsement in that race from Trump, but the fact was, Donald Trump was not a fan of Mike DeWine and I think in that particular case, you see that as well where Mike DeWine was able to beat back three pro- Trump challengers.

BROWN: So Georgia clearly is not the only place then where Trump may have a bit of a problem on Tuesday.

ENTEN: No. We're all focused on Georgia.

BROWN: Right.

ENTEN: I think Alabama is actually a more fun primary, the Alabama senatorial primary. Remember back in March, Trump withdrew his endorsement of Mo Brooks in the Alabama Republican Senate primary. He withdrew it because he didn't want to lose. He was so afraid of losing that the time Mo Brooks was losing. You jump ahead to now, what do you see? You actually see that Mo Brooks is tied for a runoff spot.

Boy, if you go to Georgia and he loses that gubernatorial primary and then you go to Alabama and in that Senate primary the candidate where he withdrew that endorsement actually makes the runoff. I honestly think that Tuesday is shaping up to be one of Donald Trump's worst nights of the primary season, probably extending all the way back to his point presidency.

[18:55:00]

BROWN: Wow. Harry Enten, quite a statement. We'll be watching on Tuesday to see how that shakes out. Thank you so much. Appreciate you spending a part of your Saturday with us, Harry.

ENTEN: Bye.

BROWN: Bye.

ENTEN: My pleasure. BROWN: Well, the first flight of baby formula from overseas will arrive in a matter of hours. From now, the Air Force has packed and loaded pallets of formula onto planes in Germany. The latest on Operation Fly Formula.

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