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Ukraine Calls For More Military Aid Ahead Of Potential Russian Offensive; Treasury Department To Designate Wagner Group A Criminal Organization; Three Active-Duty Marines Arrested For Breaching Capitol On Jan 6; Investigator: All Supreme Court Justices Interviewed; Treasury Taking Extraordinary Measures After Hitting Debt Limit; NFL Medical Protocols; On The Hunt For Cheaper Eggs. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired January 21, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:25]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. We begin with Ukraine and a standoff between its western allies. Ukraine says it needs Germany's Leopard tanks ahead of an anticipated Russian offensive, but Germany won't commit to sending the equipment which is seen as more suited for the Ukrainian battlefield than other tanks.

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy addressed a meeting of allies saying the time for talk has passed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: The war started by Russia does not allow delays. And I can thank you hundreds of times and it will be absolutely just in fear given all that we have already done, but -- but hundreds of thank you are not hundreds of tanks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And earlier today Germany said it will take an inventory of its tanks, but again did not commit to sending them.

And in Ukraine the battles rage on. Russian missile strikes hit Kramatorsk on Friday killing at least one person according to Ukrainian officials.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Kramatorsk. So what is the latest, Ben?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well overnight, the town just south of here in (INAUDIBLE) Dniestra (ph) was struck by about 12 Russian missiles. No word on casualty there.

But what we know is that there is mounting frustration among the Ukrainians because as the Germans dither over whether to give this country the tanks it desperately needs, the front line is burning. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: In the trenches outside Bakhmut a mortar crew is at work hoping to repel Russian forces on the verge of encircling the city.

Drone footage shows the impact of their rounds on enemy positions. The refrain among these troops, we need more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speaks about it. Yes, of course. It's more powerful for our wartime machines on the field. But now is 21st century. We need not only tanks, we need (INAUDIBLE).

WEDEMAN: Around Bakhmut slowly and steadily the Russians are gaining ground. Thursday Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, claimed his troops and only his troops took the village of Tshivka (ph) just south of the city.

In the dugout, this officer nicknamed Koleso (ph) explains Wagner's tactics.

"They attack at night. The first wave is less trained, but we have to use lots of ammunition against them," he says. "The next wave of troops has night vision. They are better trained and better equipped."

Tactics seemingly from a different day and age inflicting mounting casualties on Ukrainian forces. This soldier was critically wounded when his armored personnel carrier was struck by Russian fire.

Much of Bakhmut is now a ghost town. The sound of shelling, the danger.

We are inside this tunnel inside Bakhmut taking cover because there is incoming rounds just nearby.

The few civilians left resigned to their fate. "People die from strikes everywhere in Kyiv and Dnipro," says Valentina. "If that's your destiny, death will meet you anywhere."

On a hill above the city, the Soviet-era T-72 tank fires into the distance. Its sound and fury perhaps not enough to turn the tide.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And that T-72 tank dates back about 50 years and we've seen other artillery at the front that dates back to as early as 1950.

This is a war where the Ukrainians are already pressed as a result of this Russian offensive in this part of the country.

[11:04:57]

WEDEMAN: And as we have heard from President Zelenskyy and the soldiers in the trenches themselves, they need more weapons, modern weapons, and they need them now, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And they are pleading very loudly. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much, in Ukraine.

The U.S. Treasury Department is cracking down on a Russian mercenary group that Vladimir Putin is increasingly relying on to fight in Ukraine.

CNN's Katie Bo Lillis has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN REPORTER: The White House announced on Friday that the U.S. will designate the Russian mercenary organization, the Wagner Group, as a transnational criminal organization and will impose additional sanctions next week against the group and its support network across the world.

The administration also released newly-declassified images of Russian railcars traveling from Russia to North Korea and back in November in what the U.S. believes was the initial delivery of infantry rockets and missiles for use by the mercenary organization.

Wagner for months has been fighting an absolutely punishing battle against the Ukrainians in an effort to take the town of Bakhmut. Now this matters because the war in Ukraine and the fight in Bakhmut in particular has increasingly become a grinding war of attrition that military and intelligence analysts say is likely to be decided by who is able to maintain enough ammunition to continue the fight.

According to one senior western intelligence official who spoke to CNN, there are sometimes several thousands of rounds expended a day in Bakhmut alone, which is a staggering expenditure.

The U.S. does not believe that the equipment is likely to change the overall battlefield dynamics in Ukraine at least not immediately, in part because Bakhmut is not seen by the west as strategically significant for either side.

But the concern for the U.S. and the West is that this kind of weapons delivery from North Korea might continue. And again in a fight where access to ammunition is absolutely critical, not just for Russia but also for Ukraine, this is something that the U.S. and its allies are going to want to do everything they can to stop.

The hope for the U.S. is that this terrorism designation and the coming sanctions will make it more difficult for Wagner to do business abroad.

And it's important to remember that Wagner does operate internationally beyond Ukraine. They have operations across Africa as well as in Syria. So this designation does have the potential to impact Russian activities beyond the borders of Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Katie Bo Lillis, thank you so much.

All right. Joining us right now to talk more on this, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor. He is also vice president for Russia and Europe at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Ambassador, so good to see you.

BILL TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Good to see you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. So we just saw that the U.S. is preparing to label the Wagner Group an international criminal organization. What kind of impact could that have?

TAYLOR: Well, Fredricka, as your reporters have been saying, the Wagner Group is able to buy equipment, buy arms around the world.

This designation will curtail that. This will mean that no one can deal with them without being cut across in crosswise with the U.S. sanctions. So that will cut off the supplies to this organization.

But a broader thing about Wagner, Fredricka, is that it shows the problems that the Russians have. Wagner is kind of a rival for the Russian military. And other organizations within the Russian military forces. So this is an indication that they have got problems within their own ranks.

WHITFIELD: And what might those problems be? I mean what are the deficiencies that Russia is experiencing that it would need to lean on a Wagner?

TAYLOR: So the deficiencies that they have are manpower and material and morale. On manpower, they are trying to get, you know, they have to go to Wagner because their draft is struggling. They have had to draft Russians into the army and the Russian men are not interested in fighting this war so they are fleeing the country. So that on the manpower side, they have to look to Wagner.

On material, yes, they are going to where? North Korea. They are going to Iran because the rest of the world, even the Chinese, are fearful of providing weapons and ammunition to the Russians again out of concern for being sanctioned.

Last thing, Fredricka, morale. The Ukrainians are fighting for their land. They are fighting for their existence. And the Russians, they are not sure why they are fighting. They have got prisoners on the front lines fighting and the prisoners are just fighting to get out of jail.

So they've got big morale problems on the Russian side.

WHITFIELD: So who would you describe the people in this Wagner Group to be?

TAYLOR: So we know that there are about 50,000 Wagner troops in Ukraine and we know that only about 10,000 of those are kind of professional contract employees of this military commercial organization.

[11:09:56] TAYLOR: The other 40,000 are convicts. They have been recruited out of Russian prisons, apparently male and female Fredricka, and sent to the front lines.

And as your reporters said, those untrained convicts are being sent really to their deaths. They are being pushed further forward and they are losing their lives dramatically.

WHITFIELD: All right. And meantime, we continue to see this standoff between the U.S. and Germany over sending German tanks to Ukraine. Why does Ukraine want these tanks that are known as Leopard tanks so badly?

TAYLOR: Well, they do because the Ukrainians are preparing for an offensive -- a counteroffensive against the Russians. It's a race against time. The Russians are trying to build up. They got a battered military and they have a lot of -- just talking (ph) -- they've got a lot of work to do to recruit, to draft, to retrain.

The Ukrainians need those tanks in order to be able to fight quickly, soon, with great mobility, to break through the Russian lines. If they have -- if the Ukrainians get those tanks, together with the artillery that they have used very well, together with their armored fighting vehicles, the infantry on the ground, that trio, that triad of capability gives the Ukrainians the ability to preempt a Russian attack and to go on the offensive and to take back territory.

WHITFIELD: So then why is Germany so reluctant?

TAYLOR: Germany is reluctant because they say they don't want to go by themselves. And of course, they are not going by themselves.

The Brits have already promised their main battle tanks. The Americans have already promised their Bradley fighting vehicles. They are not quite tanks, but they are certainly the basically the equivalent.

So my sense is the Germans know that sooner or later, hopefully sooner, they will give the ok. And the reason that's important is it's not just the German tanks. Germany has provided those Leopard tanks to a lot of other countries in Europe like Poland. Poland is very eager to send those Leopards to the Ukrainians right now.

WHITFIELD: So we also learned that the CIA director briefed President Zelenskyy just last week on the potential of a new Russian offensive that is on the horizon this spring.

How important is it that U.S. intelligence is working with Ukraine the way in which it is?

TAYLOR: Very, very important, Fredricka. Very important. We remember that the CIA director Bill Burns also paid a visit to Ukraine, actually several visits, but right before the invasion, well before the invasion, actually a couple of months, just to indicate, to give a sense to the Ukrainians that this attack was coming. This invasion was coming. And sure enough, Bill Burns was right. And the Russians invaded on the 24th of February. So the Ukrainians

know that Bill Burns and this -- U.S. CIA is well informed, has very good intelligence. And so they've been listening carefully to what Bill Burns is telling them.

WHITFIELD: Ambassador Bill Taylor, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

TAYLOR: Thank you, Fredricka. Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, three active duty members of the U.S. Marine Corps had been arrested for participating in the January 6th insurrection. What we know about their alleged role in the riot next.

Plus, the U.S. Treasury Secretary is warning of a global financial crisis if the U.S. fails to reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling. Ahead, the extraordinary measures the U.S. is taking to avoid defaulting on its bills.

And we will take you on a behind-the-scenes tour of the NFL to see how they prepare for medical emergencies before and after every game.

[11:13:46]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

Three active-duty U.S. Marines who work in intelligence have been arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. One is being accused of supporting a second civil war.

CNN's Jeremy Herb joining us now with more on this. Jeremy, so what more are you learning?

JEREMY HERB, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes. That's right, Fred. These three active duty Marines -- Corporal Micah Coomer, Sergeant Joshua Abate and Dodge Dale Hellonen -- they're facing a number of charges, including disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.

Now according to court filings the trio allegedly went into the Capitol for nearly an hour on January 6th. While they were in the building they went into the Capitol Rotunda. They took a red MAGA hat, placed it on one of the statue and took a photo with it.

Now these court documents supporting the charges, they also provide some interesting details about exactly how these three men were discovered.

According to the documents, for instance, the FBI found Micah Coomer because he posted photos on his Instagram page, included a caption, "glad to be part of history".

Now, they also found messages from Coomer sent to an associate after January 6th. and in these messages he said, quote, "Everything in this country is corrupt. We honestly need a fresh restart. I am waiting for the boogaloo."

"What's a boogaloo," the associate asked.

"Civil war 2", Coomer replied.

Now that's a reference to a rallying cry used among some far-right groups.

Joshua abate, another one of the three arrested, he was discovered because he admitted during a security clearance interview that he had entered the Capitol along with two of his friends. He allegedly said during this interview, according to court documents, that he saw the riot was being portrayed negatively and he decided not to tell anyone about his involvement.

We should note that these three men, they have not yet entered a plea when it comes to their conduct.

Now, what this does underscore though is that authorities are still looking for those who entered the Capitol on January 6th even two years now out from the riot at the Capitol.

[11:19:49]

HERB: And in a statement to CNN, the Marine Corps, they said that they are aware of this investigation and of these allegations. And the Marines, Fred, they are cooperating with the authorities as they prepare and go forward with this investigation, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, surely they are just as stunned as everyone else.

All right. Jeremy Herb, thanks so much.

All right. Still ahead, the Department of Justice signaling to House Republicans that information regarding any ongoing investigations is likely off limits after GOP lawmakers sent a flurry of document requests to the DOJ. We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The U.S. Justice Department is now signaling it's unlikely to share information about ongoing criminal investigations with the new Republican-controlled House.

In a letter to House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan, the DOJ indicated on Friday that it may not fulfill House requests for documents related to ongoing investigations.

[11:24:56]

WHITFIELD: House Republicans have made clear they plan to examine the Justice Department's handling of politically sensitive probes, including special counsel investigations into how President Joe Biden and former President Trump handled classified material.

Joining us right now to talk about all of this is Michael Zeldin. He is a former independent counsel and a former federal prosecutor. Michael, so good to see you.

So what's your reaction to the DOJ signaling that it's unlikely to share information from ongoing investigations?

MICHAEL ZELDIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: The key word in that sentence is "ongoing". So the whole structure of our criminal justice system is grand jury secrecy. Do your work in quiet. Make sure the sanctity of the investigation is protected and that witnesses are protected. And so I think that DOJ has this exactly right.

If Congress wants to investigate historic weaponization of the Department of Justice or the FBI, they want to look at Palmer or J. Edgar Hoover, any of the other prosecutors and FBI directors that weaponized the DOJ. That's fair game. But not ongoing stuff.

WHITFIELD: So if the House decides -- especially after the DOJ has made that indication -- decides to issue subpoenas to the Justice Department for documents or for information, legally how would it play out? Would it be entertained any differently?

ZELDIN: Well, we saw how it was played out in the Trump administration, which is they flat out ignored it --

WHITFIELD: Ignored it.

ZELDIN: -- these the subpoenas, and congress didn't go to the courts to fight them. In this case, if the executive branch does the same thing that the Trump executive branch did and said no thank you, we are not going to honor the subpoenas, then Congress has the right to go to court to try to fight them.

But I think that for ongoing cases, it's a hard, you know, road for the Congress to overcome the need for secrecy in these investigations.

WHITFIELD: So what would be some of the documents that House committees could request even if there is some sort of connection to ongoing investigations, is there a path?

ZELDIN: Well, I would think that if the congress wanted to investigate historic stuff, they have probably a good claim to say, we'd like to look at the Mueller investigation. We'd like to understand how this case got started. What was going on with the interview of Michael Flynn way back when and whether or not there was political interference or, you know, thumb on scale type of activity.

But I just don't think they can do that with the Mar-a-Lago classified documents or the Biden classified documents because it's in the middle of a case and, as I said, you need to protect witnesses and the integrity of the investigation so that the outcome is uninterfered with by politics.

WHITFIELD: All right.

So just last month, before the swearing of the 118th, you know, Congress, the January 6th Committee referred, Representative Jim Jordan to the House Ethics Committee for failing to comply with its subpoena. Did he set a precedent that could come back to haunt him now, now that he is, you know, chairing committees, and he is the one who is actually, you know, trying to get information from the DOJ and beyond?

ZELDIN: Yes, for sure. The way the Republicans behaved during the past investigations leading up to and including their failure to vote for impeachment for the executive branch's stonewalling Congress, they can now turn around and say that, well, it was ok for the Republican president to do this, but it's not ok for the democratic to do this.

They've made their bed, in a sense. And one of the things that the Democrats were yelling about is that the way the Republicans were behaving during the impeachment investigations, Ukraine and January 6th was that it was emasculating Congress' power to investigate. They made that bed and now they're, I think, they have to lie in it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Michael Zeldin, we'll leave it there for now. I'm sure we will talk more about it in the coming weeks. Thank you.

ZELDIN: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. We are also following new details as the U.S. Supreme Court investigates the unprecedented breach of court secrecy. Who they say was interviewed regarding the leaked draft abortion opinion. That's next.

[11:29:26]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. We are following new details on the U.S. Supreme Court's investigation into who leaked the draft of the landmark opinion overturning Roe versus Wade. The official in charge of the investigation says all nine justices were interviewed, but she found nothing to implicate them or their spouses.

CNN's Jessica Schneider has more on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The lead investigator of the Supreme Court leak now revealing that she did speak to all nine justices on multiple occasions and she found nothing to implicate the justices themselves or their spouses in that leak.

It's a clarifying statement that was released from the court on Friday. It comes the day after the report itself did leave open that question of whether the nine Supreme Court justices had been interviewed as part of this months-long investigation. Now we know they had, just as it becomes clear to the public that we may never know the identity of this leaker.

The court issued that 20-page investigative report on Thursday. It said that even after 126 formal interviews with 97 employees, they have essentially reached a dead end here. They are unable to identify the person or people responsible for this leak. The report though did reveal some crucial details, including the fact

that 80 people received copies of that draft opinion early last year before it was leaked.

[11:34:54]

SCHNEIDER: Some of those employees revealed that they even shared details of the draft decision with their spouses. That, of course, breached court confidentiality rules.

But despite all of these months of interviews and investigations and forensic work, the leaker has not been pinpointed up to this point and may never be pinpointed.

However, the Supreme Court will be putting into place some new procedures and new protocols to really make sure that something this devastating to the court does not happen again.

Jessica Schneider, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And home prices hit a record high last year even though the real estate market took a downturn. The median price of a home in 2022 was a little more than $386,000, the highest on record going back to 1999 according to the National Association of Realtors.

But home sales had their weakest year since 2014 with just over 5 million homes sold, down nearly 18 percent from the year before.

And the clock is ticking now that the U.S. reached the debt ceiling set by Congress on Thursday. What happens next is a high-stakes showdown with the White House over a critical question: will the U.S. default on its $31 trillion debt?

CNN global economic analyst Rana Foroohar joining me to break all of this down. Rana has quite the resume. Let's go over a little of it. She is also the global business columnist and associate editor for the "Financial Times" and author of the new book "Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World". So see, she knows what she's talking about and we're going to try and get as much as we can out of you, Rana.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: My mother is watching this and loving that you are saying all this, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Good. We are here to please. Always got to please mama.

So help us grasp the big picture, Rana. I mean, in simple terms, what is at stake here? Because sometimes people hear debt ceiling, I still don't get it. Tell me.

FOROOHAR: So great question. Big picture stuff at stake and things that really affect the average person.

So let me start with the former. This is about the trust and faith in the U.S. Government. So the debt ceiling is the limit that on the borrowing essentially that the U.S. government can do to pay bills.

So if we default on that debt limit, we default on our debt because we don't raise the limit, that means the governments that lend us money lose faith in the U.S. and that causes stock market volatility, it makes interest rates go up.

We saw that actually back in 2011 when we had a showdown during the Obama administration. We got right up to the edge and then eventually that debt ceiling was raised. But even that created chaos in the markets.

Now what does this mean for the average person? There are some think tanks who have done research on this and say that it could add $130,000 to the average carrier of a 30-year mortgage because rates would go up so much.

So think about homeowners that have a mortgage. Imagine adding that kind of debt to it. So this is something that really does affect individuals.

WHITFIELD: That really does hurt. And the Treasury Secretary Jessica (SIC) Yellen, used the terminology "irreparable harm" to the economy.

FOROOHAR: Yes.

WHITFIELD: So besides your mortgage, you know, going up, perhaps it makes it -- Janet Yellen, sorry -- you know, besides it being very difficult to perhaps get a car loan, what are the other things that, you know, the average American is going to feel, what is the impact in their day-to-day life?

FOROOHAR: Well, if you think about all of our 401(k)s, right. You know, all of our retirement income, you know, that's sitting in the stock market, that becomes much more vulnerable because essentially if the U.S. doesn't, you know, make good on its own payments of its debt, that means trust leaves the markets. And when trust leaves the markets, a volatility increases. You could see stock prices going up and down, up and down.

You know, if you are somebody depending on that money for retirement, that's a huge deal. And you're going to see interest rates at a time when they are already having gone up, you know, quite a lot, have made debt more expensive, they people, they could go up more. They could be volatile. It would just be very, very difficult for folks to plan, you know, on a month to month basis, what's going on with your own finances.

WHITFIELD: And so, you made reference to 2011. What or who intervened at that time?

FOROOHAR: Well, you know, we had a typical partisan standoff and we eventually got right down to it. And there was some horse trading behind the scenes in terms of what Republicans and Democrats wanted to raise that debt ceiling and we got there.

[11:39:46] FOROOHAR: And you know Fredricka, one thing that I'm really worried about this time around is that because we have, you know, the kind of politics we do on both sides of the aisle, but within the Republican Party itself we have got friction, right? The Never Kevins, the idea that you know, you can now filibuster longer than you could in the past, we could see a lot of varying interests holding up that passage even within the Republican Party, let alone what the Republicans want to extract from the Democrats in order to say, yes, we are going to raise that debt ceiling.

So it seems like this time around there is just a lot of folks in Congress that are willing to go right up to the edge and maybe over the edge in ways that are going to be dangerous for the-country.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And the edge is in June, right? So there are things that can happen between now and June as it pertains to lawmakers, you know, working things out. But then what about for ordinary folks who are trying to figure out, you know, how do I protect myself, how can I be proactive on certain things with my family, finances in the meantime. What would those things be?

FOROOHAR: So great question. I am so glad you asked. For starters, get rid of debt. If you can, if you have any wiggle room in your budget, pay down debt. This is a good time, even if we didn't have the debt ceiling standoff, frankly, because rates are higher than they have been in the past, it's just a really good time to get rid of debt.

I would also, and I have done this myself, build up a cash cushion, build up, you know, certainly, you know, the gold standard is you should have one year of living expenses in cash. Now, very few people can swing that. But get whatever you can as a safety net in case you do have credit card bills that start to go up or you do have a mortgage payment that starts to go up.

Other than that, think about your retirement savings and when you're going to need that money. You know, if like me you are not going to need it for 15, 20 years maybe, I wouldn't worry so much about but what's happening in the market

But if you need that money the next one, two, three years, I would think about moving that into, you know, more safety assets, maybe pulling some of it out. It's going to be a volatile time, you know, in the next few months, and possibly the next couple years, actually.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rana Foroohar, thank you so much. Mom, she is really good. We're glad to have you.

All right. Thanks. Have a good weekend.

FOROOHAR: You too.

WHITFIELD: All right. In the wake of the Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin's terrifying on-field emergency, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes us behind the scenes to see how the NFL's medical teams prepare for possible incidents before every single game.

[11:42:27]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The next round of NFL playoffs is just hours away and tomorrow the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals will face off in the AFC divisional round.

The game comes just weeks after Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field. He has made incredible strides in his recovery, even being with his team at the facility almost every day this week according to the Bills' head coach.

And as we've seen in the NFL, keeping players safe is a job that requires both preparation and speed.

First on CNN, Dr. Sanjay Gupta got an up-close look at the steps medical teams take before every NFL game kicks off.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest, the game stopped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another Bills player is down. Maybe Hamlin.

DR. GUPTA: But for the emergency response team everything was just getting started.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead and go over to the cot. I don't like how he went down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to need everybody. All call. All call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring everybody. We need airway doc, everybody. Bring the cot with the medics, all of you. and get wheels out here.

DR. GUPTA: As rare as this all is, I'm going to explain now the remarkable chain of events that came together to save Damar Hamlin's life.

DR. ALLEN SILLS, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, NFL: This is actually the EAP for --

DR. GUPTA: it starts with this.

What is the EAP? What does that stand for?

DR. SILLS: It's for Emergency Action Plan.

DR. GUPTA: And that takes place for every game?

DR. SILLS: so basically any time or any place that players are going to be active, there has to be an Emergency Action Plan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And administering CPR -- DR. SILLS: The EAP was followed to the letter that night. In that

moment everyone knew what they needed to do, how they needed to do it and had the equipment to do it and felt comfortable.

DR. GUPTA: Dr. Allen Sills is chief medical officer of the NFL. He is giving me a sideline view of the preparedness that goes into every game day. And once you see this, you will probably never watch a game the same way again.

You may have missed this. Pop-up blue tent. It's on every sideline.

DR. SILLS: It's like a medical exam room. We have kind of made this a medical space, even in the middle of a very busy stadium. This is so much easier to do things in here. just like I said, everybody is just more relaxed. You don't have the cameras, you don't have the fans.

DR. GUPTA: or this. The injury review screen.

DR. SILLS: We can be down here on the sideline in the spotter's booth, if they see an injury video, they cue it up for us, put on the video exactly what we need to see. We can ask them to run it back. We can talk to them.

DR. GUPTA: The spotter's booth. They are the eyes in the sky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome, welcome.

DR. GUPTA: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So --

DR. GUPTA: This is it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- another part of our game day medical preparations. The real goal of this booth is to help spot any injuries or illnesses on the field. It could be hard to see the whole field from down there.

DR. GUPTA: Right

[11:49:54]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's probably to me one of the most unique things in sports is the spotter can directly communicate down to the referee. These people can stop the game.

SUE STANLEY-GREEN, CERTIFIED ATHLETIC TRAINER SPOTTER: We watch every play probably minimally four times and then we'll go back and watch it again. We want to make sure we don't miss anything.

DR. SILLS: It's always about the right people, the right plan, and the right equipment. We have almost 30 medical professionals and everyone has a job to do.

DR. GUPTA: E.R. doctors, orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, paramedics, x-ray techs, and airway specialists like Dr. Justin Deaton.

DR. JUSTIN DEATON, AIRWAY SPECIALIST: This is the bag that I carry. And it's got a number of things in here that we could use. The first thing is a portable video laryngoscope. We have a portable ultrasound machine that we can use. And we also have ability to perform surgical airways.

I really have all the resources available here that I would have in an emergency room.

DR. GUPTA: What's the biggest challenge of that scenario versus being in an emergency room?

DR. DEATON: The biggest challenge is the external environment and the chaos of the situation. When you have a larger than average sized person that's laying flat on the ground and not able to be elevated to a certain level with extra equipment plus cameras and other people around.

Those are really kind of (INAUDIBLE) -- the things that make it more difficult to manage.

DR. GUPTA: How does everyone know you're the guy in charge?

DR. DEATON: I wear a red hat on the sideline. And that signifies me as the emergency physician, the airway physician, so that even the other team knows when I come out what my role is.

DR. GUPTA: Every game comes with new lessons. For example, on September 25th, when Miami Dolphin Tua Tagovailoa stumbled after a hit, he was allowed back in the game. That won't happen again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, we changed the protocol earlier this year when you and I spoke to say if we see something that looks like a (INAUDIBLE), they're off, they're done.

DR. GUPTA: And as the teams all warm up, there is one final crucial step.

Every time I'm in the operating room, we do something known as a time- out. Everyone stops what they're doing, makes sure that everyone is on the same page. This is the same sort of thing that's happening here behind me.

It's called a 60-minute meeting. It happens 60 minutes before every game, a chance for all the medical professionals to make sure that they know who each other are, to make sure that they know who's going to do what if there's some sort of crisis out on the field.

DR. KEVIN KAPLAN, ORTHOPEDIC PHYSICIAN: All right. So let's start with introductions so that everybody is familiar with the medical staff that's here in the game. I'm Kevin Kaplan, head team physician, orthopedics with the Jaguars.

DR. DEATON: Justin Deaton, airway management. DR. KAPLAN: So the most important thing, Justin is going to be on our

30 yard line. He's to our right. If a player goes down, obviously, he won't know if it's orthopedic or internal medicine. He'll step out onto the field. Our all call sign is an x. So if you need him to come out, he will come out with an X.

All of the important equipment, airway, defibrillator, all the medications are all behind him with our paramedics on our sideline.

If a player needs to get taken off of the field, the ambulance is going to be in the tunnel to your right. If you need anything at all, we'll be out there for you guys if you need us. Otherwise, hope we have a safe and healthy game. Good luck.

DR. GUPTA: Keep in mind the medical team was able to get to Damar Hamlin within ten seconds, and speed really matters here. Every additional minute that someone in cardiac arrest goes without CPR, mortality goes up but up to 10 percent

DR. SILLS: This is a process that's in place for every single game. And we train in the off-season and just like the players train and practice, we do as well.

So I have tremendous confidence, but you always want to see a game with no injuries. You want everyone to frankly be bored on the medical side. That's a good game from my standpoint.

DR. GUPTA: I hear you.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN -- Jacksonville, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That's a fantastic view.

All right.

Coming up, we're learning chilling new information about the suspect charged with the murder of four Idaho college students and his alleged interactions with the female victims before the incident.

New details straight ahead.

[11:53:56]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: What would you do to get a break on the price of eggs? Well, people are flocking to one farm in southern California for miles away to do just that. What we pay for eggs has now spiked to the highest rate seen in 50 years. So what's it going to take to crack the trend?

Here's Mike Valerio (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you're waiting for egg prices to come crashing down, (INAUDIBLE), the prices we pay are still rising to record highs, like the eggs bound for your kitchen on this egg- lavator.

JEANETTE BOCHMNIAK, SAN DIEGO COUNTY RESIDENT: I've seen 18 eggs for 8 bucks.

LILLY TORRES, MOTHER OF THREE: We have to think about it like do I really need to put three eggs through the (INAUDIBLE) right now.

VALERIO: on average nationwide, families in December paid $4.25 for a dozen eggs. A year ago it was $1.78.

FRANK HILLIKER, OWNER, HILLIKER RANCH FRESH EGGS, INC: I'm doing everything I can to put as many eggs out there for as many people as possible.

VALERIO: Business is booming at Frank Hilliker's egg farm near San Diego. Customers come from across southern California after leaving grocery stores empty-handed or shell-shocked by prices.

HILLIKER: What's made it difficult is we've had to put some limits on what people can get.

VALERIO: Hilliker says his 23,000 birds have so far been spared from the worst avian flu outbreak to ever hit the U.S. the virus has killed tens of millions of birds since early 2022, limiting egg supply and driving up prices.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 23 eggs.

VALERIO: Hilliker says business is a delicate balance. He aims to keep customers coming back by selling a dozen eggs, for instance, 25 cents lower than the national average.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, that's too much.

[11:59:57]

VALERIO: But the pressures are growing.

HILLIKER: Our feed has over doubled. Our packaging has doubled. Fuel is up 50 percent.