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Migrants Found Dead In San Antonio; Train Hits Dump Truck In Missouri; Harris Speaks About Abortion Ruling; Demand For Emergency Contraception Surges; NATO Outlines Priorities For Next Decade. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired June 28, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Their ages, but children among those hospitalized. Do we know anything about their condition and do authorities have any leads on who could be responsible?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, we're still waiting to hear more about the conditions of the 16 people who were transported to the hospital yesterday. Authorities said that of those 16, 12 were adults, four were pediatric, meaning they were minors.

And they also have three people in custody, but they don't -- they haven't elaborated on what their connection, if any, is to this incident.

But, Poppy, this may be the deadliest incident of this kind so far. I mean the authorities said that when they arrived to the scene, there were some people who were alive in the tractor trailer, as you mentioned. Authorities said they were hot to the touch. They were suffering from heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Authorities said that there was no air conditioning and there was no water.

To give you a sense, here in Texas, temperatures have been in the triple digits. So, this is a situation where people may have been inside for a prolonged period of time, in excessive and sweltering heat. And authorities calling this a human tragedy.

Take a listen to the mayor of San Antonio and what he had to say about it this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RON NIRENBERG (I), SAN ANTONIO: But I can tell you this, this is probably the worst tragedy in terms of migrant -- migration that I know in recent history. And the people that are responsible for subjecting other people to these conditions should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, Poppy, this is now a federal investigation and it is an ongoing investigation. And we'll hopefully learn more details in the days to come. Poppy.

HARLOW: Wow, what a tragedy.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you for your reporting. And we hope every one of those 16 people in the hospital behind you survives. Thank you.

Federal investigators are on their way to a deadly train crash in northern Missouri. An Amtrak train derailed after it hit a dump truck at a crossing. One person in the truck and two on the train were killed. At least 50 injured in this incident. Many passengers had to climb out of windows after their train cars derailed and flipped on to their sides.

Pete Muntean joins me now.

Pete, how did this happen?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION AND TRANSPORTATION CORRESPONDENT: You know, Poppy, investigators from the NTSB are just now arriving on the scene, and they have already made a pretty key finding. You know that they will look at the speed of the train, whether or not there was an effort to brake, what the shape of the tracks were. But we know that this train crossing was an uncontrolled crossing. And that is so critical. In the railroad community they're known to especially dangerous. There are thousands across rural America. That means that there are no blinking lights, no retractable barriers.

This dump truck was in the middle of that crossing when it was hit at incredible force. It practically pulverized that truck. One person on board that truck was killed. Practically ripped the truck off of its chassis.

Eight of the ten cars of this Amtrak train tipped on to their side and derailed. There was incredible video from passengers on board as they were still in shock. They pretty quickly realized that this train hit a truck. Two hundred and seventy-five passengers on board.

Maybe one bright spot here, because this is a rural area, it takes a while to get help, there were 16 Boy Scouts on board from a few troops in Appleton, Wisconsin, and they were miraculously uninjured and they quickly swooped in to help other passengers on board who were hurt.

I want you to listen now to one of the Boy Scout troop leaders who described the scene for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN SKRYPCZAK, SCOUTMASTER, APPLETON TROOP 73: Proud of them. One scout, you know, wrapped his hand and -- took his shirt off, wrapped his hand and had to break some window to get people out. Another scout went and comforted the driver of the truck that was hit and tried to stabilize him. And they were tandem working on that gentleman when he expired. That scout is pretty shook up.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MUNTEAN: Investigators will not only be gathering so much video from passengers who were on board the train, but also train cameras that are hardwired into the train itself. Amtrak revenue (ph) trains have these cameras that look at the tracks. That will give investigators some pretty key clues here.

What is so eerie here, Poppy, is that this train crossing was identified by the Missouri State Department of Transportation as needing fixes only a few months ago, back in February.

Poppy.

HARLOW: Wow. Obviously they need many answers about why this didn't happen.

Pete Muntean, thank you for your reporting from Missouri this morning.

Well, demand for emergency contraception and what are known as medication abortions has spiked, of course, since Friday, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

[09:35:06]

What are they? How do they work? Our Dr. Sanjay is with me next.

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HARLOW: Well, in her very first interview since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Vice President Kamala Harris told our very own Dana Bash, it is now up to Congress, and only Congress can do it, to codify abortion rights into law.

Watch.

[09:40:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You're saying now the president said that this fall Roe is on the ballot. But what do you say to Democratic voters who argue, wait a minute, we worked really hard to elect a Democratic president and vice president.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes. Yes.

BASH: Democratic led House.

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: And Democratic led Senate. Do it now.

HARRIS: But do what now? What now? I mean we -- we need - we -- listen, what we did, we extended the child tax credit for the first year.

BASH: Well, I'm sorry, when I say do what - do it now - HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

BASH: Act legislatively to make abortion rights legal.

HARRIS: We feel the same way. Do it now. Congress needs to do it now in terms of permanently putting in place a clear indication that it is the law of the land that women have the ability and the right to make decisions about their reproductive care and the government does not have the right to make those decisions for a woman.

BASH: So, one of the ways you can do it, obviously, one of the - the only way that is legislatively procedurally possible is by doing away with the filibuster on this issue. President Biden told my colleague Anderson Cooper he would be OK with eliminating the filibuster to pass voting rights and, quote, maybe more. Would you support eliminating the filibuster in order to pass federal legislation for abortion rights?

HARRIS: Right now, given the current composition of the Senate, the votes aren't there. And so that's what -

BASH: But would you use the bully pulpit to say, yes, I support it?

HARRIS: But - well, here's the thing, I understand what the -- why you're asking the question, but the reality of it is, we don't even get to really answer that in terms of whether it happens or not if we don't have the numbers in the Senate. And, again, that's why I keep coming back to the importance of an election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Our chief political correspondent Dana Bash joins me now.

Dana, great interview. I encourage people to watch a lot more of it online.

But what's notable is, you pressed her, she would not say if she supports abolishing the filibuster to protect abortion rights. And, yes, the numbers have not been there in the Senate, but it's an entirely new world now with Roe v. Wade overturned.

How is the administration planning to move forward if not that?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, one of the reasons I asked her that question wasn't because I don't understand the math. We all do in the Senate.

HARLOW: Right.

BASH: But it is - it is about the -- the passion that a lot of progressives and beyond the progressive wing of the party, Democratic voters, are imploring the administration and their elected leaders in Congress to address this issue with. And so that's why it's a question of just, you know, talking about doing everything that is possible, including abolishing the filibuster, to sort of rhetorically make clear where they stand. But beyond the rhetoric and the posturing, what does matter is what

they can do.

HARLOW: Right.

BASH: And that goes to your question, Poppy. And the answer is, they don't really have clear answers yet because the executive power is limited, particularly on issues like this. And so they are looking at things like making the DOJ, the Department of Justice, giving them teeth and giving them the power to litigate if state laws say not just that you can't have an abortion in our state, but that you can't travel to another state to allow that to happen. That's going to be a big issue.

HARLOW: Right.

BASH: Another issue that we didn't get to, but I've certainly heard from a lot of people who are working on the abortion -- in the abortion realm is data. And that's going to be another thing that the DOJ, no question, is going to be looking at because there is a lot of data out there in the world that women have on themselves and on their bodies. And so one of the questions is whether or not that data can be used against them when it comes to their reproductive systems.

HARLOW: Right. That's a great point. And, you know, will big tech companies be compelled to turn that data over if asked for by the authorities and what protections can there be?

Dana, thanks -

BASH: It's the - it's the wild west on a lot of this stuff.

HARLOW: Yes, it totally is. You're absolutely right. Great interview. Thank you.

BASH: Thank you.

Well, CVS and Rite Aid are now limiting purchases of emergency contraception pills, you probably know them as Plan B or Aftera, to three a customer because of the huge surge in demand they have seen since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday. In fact, the organization Hey Jane that provides medication abortion in some states says it has seen demand more than double since Friday.

[09:45:01]

And those are two separate medications.

We'll talk about it all with our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, great to have you. Thank you for being here.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Poppy.

Explain the difference. Plan B is different, very different, than a medication abortion. Explain how the latter works and how common it is.

GUPTA: Yes, people often co-mingle these things, but they are different, as you mentioned. Plan B is an emergency contraceptive. It's designed to prevent a pregnancy from happening. Somebody has to take it within a couple of days of unprotected sex. That's different than medication abortion, which is something that is - that is taken after a pregnancy has already been established.

And this is -- you know, both of these are medications that sort of came around about 20, 25 years ago, late '90s, early 2000, and you can see with medication abortion, you know, back in 2000, it was just coming into the market, so there wasn't much use of it. But if you sort of track it over time now, using these types of medications, there's two pills, mifepristone and misoprostol. When you take those, it now comprises more than half of abortions in the country, more than half of abortions are performed this way. To give you some context, Poppy, I think in 2019, according to the CDC, there was about 630,000 abortions performed in this country, in the United States. About 340,000 were performed using these medications.

The first pill essentially blocks progesterone. That's a hormone that causes the inner lining of a woman's uterus to sort of break down. The second pill causes the uterus to contract. That's how that medication works, Poppy.

HARLOW: So, Sanjay, I heard something on CBS "Face The Nation" this weekend, on Sunday, that I wanted to ask you about, and that was South Dakota's Governor Kristi Noem explaining why she wants to block people from getting this medical abortion mix of pills, and she just flat out said that they are dangerous.

Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: The woman is five times more likely to end up in an emergency room if they're utilizing this kind of method for an abortion.

MARGARET BRENNAN, HOST, CBS NEWS "FACE THE NATION": This is an FDA- approved drug.

NOEM: So, it's something that should be under the supervision of a medical doctor, and it is something in South Dakota that we've made sure happens that way.

BRENNAN: Right. But -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You heard Margaret Brennan trying to correct her and stop her there, but it's important for everyone to know the facts on that. Are they safe?

GUPTA: Yes. I mean, so there's data on this now because I just showed you how long these medications have been used. And if you look at independent journals, and sort of track the likelihood of having major complications, it's not zero, but it's pretty close if you look at major complications overall. A 0.4 percent risk with these medications. And the risk of mortality, of dying, 0.0001 percent with these medications.

So, you know, again -- and there are several states, Poppy, that do require that you have a healthcare visit when you're getting these medications. Some states require that the medications actually be taken in the presence of a healthcare provider. But that's - that's, you know, it -- we'll see how this sort of shakes out over the next several days and weeks in terms of how states are going to regulate that.

But there is - there is good safety data on this. And, you know, now over 25 years. We also have good efficacy data. If you just quickly look at the effectiveness of these pills now. In the first nine weeks, they're very effective at actually terminating a pregnancy, 99.6 percent, and up to week 10 or 11 even, 87 percent effective at that, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. Really helpful to have the data.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much.

GUPTA: Yes. Thank you.

HARLOW: In about 15 minutes, President Biden will meet with the Spanish prime minister in his first meeting, bilateral meeting, at the NATO summit. We'll take you back to Jim live in Madrid just ahead.

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[09:53:30]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: For the first time NATO leaders are expected to label China a systemic challenge when they endorse a new so-called strategic concept outlining the alliance's goals for the next decade. Remarkable considering the alliance began as a defense against the Soviet Union. What exactly does that mean? What effect will it have for the alliances as it expands its definition of threats around the world.

Let's get now to CNN's senior international correspondent Will Ripley. He spent a good amount of time covering in Asia.

So, Will, the focus of course her enow, Russia's war on Ukraine, but the U.S. has been talking for some time about how it wants to shift its strategic focus to Asia. And it seems that the alliance wants to make clear it's certainly not forgetting about China either.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And this is a view shared in the Biden administration. And previously officials in the Trump administration that I spoke with, they -- even when North Korea was launching missiles, they were focused on China, laser focused, not calling China an adversary, but saying that China is a challenge to the interests, security and values of NATO. So, these 30 leaders, for the first time, are going to have this clear

language where they have to, you know, really figure out how to balance this growing threat from China's massive military, their new cyber capabilities, nuclear weapons, but also they need China's help in fighting the global crisis, food, energy supply concerns.

And then, of course, the west has been asking Beijing to condemn Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, but Chinese President Xi Jinping raising concerns because he's refusing to do that. In fact, in many ways he's even more in lockstep with Vladimir Putin, which is certainly puzzling to a lot of observers in the west, wondering why President Xi would stick his neck out, if you will, for, you know, his best friend, as he called it, who clearly is, you know, believed to be engaging in war crime, which China has never even reported about in their state media.

[09:55:23]

You know, they're actually helping Russia. China is helping Russia propagate disinformation.

And so the concern, Jim, is that you have Russia, you have China basically now -- this united front. You know, you have NATO leaders who cycle through every few years, but Putin and Xi plan to be in there for quite some time. And they're really digging in this alliance. And what does that mean for the world order. That's the big question.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Yes. And China's certainly buying a lot of Russian oil as well and that propping up the Russian economy in the midst of western sanctions.

Will Ripley, thanks so much.

Poppy, a lot to focus on here in Madrid, Russia, China, Ukraine and more.

HARLOW: Yes, a lot. Yes, so much on their plate.

All right, Jim, we'll get back to you in just a moment.

Still ahead, the mystery witness revealed for today's surprise January 6th hearing. What we are expecting to hear from a former aide to Mark Meadows, next.

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