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Vice President Kamala Harris and Members of Congress Attend Munich Security Conference; Vice President Kamala Harris Accuses Russian Military of Crimes against Humanity Committed in Invasion of Ukraine; North Korea Launches ICBM that Lands Near Japan. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired February 18, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:31]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone and good morning. It is Saturday, February 18th. I'm Amara Walker.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Great to be with you for another hour, Amara. I'm Boris Sanchez. You are live in the CNN Newsroom.

And up first this morning, Vice President Kamala Harris says the evidence is clear outlining crimes against humanity she says that Russia has committed in the invasion of Ukraine.

WALKER: Yes, the vice president making the declaration before world leaders at the Munich Security Conference today. She recounted some of the atrocities Russia has committed in its war against Ukraine. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Think of the images of Bucha. Civilians shot in cold blood, their bodies left in the street. The jarring photograph of the man who was riding his bike. Think of the four-year-old girl who the United Nations recently reported was sexually assaulted by a Russian soldier, a four-year-old child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Harris also reiterated the commitment the United States has made and the west has made to Ukraine in its support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Again, the United States will continue to strongly support Ukraine, and we will do so for as long as it takes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Let's bring in CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson who is in Munich, and our senior national security correspondent Alex Marquardt on the ground there in Kyiv. Nic, let's start with you, because we heard Vice President Harris saying that, look, there's no doubt. She laid out some of the evidence that Russia committed crimes against humanity. And she vowed that those responsible will be held to account. But of course, bringing justice, not as easy as it sounds.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's not as easy as it sounds, and those who perhaps might be caught first and held to account will be the troops on the front lines because they're more likely to fall into the hands of the Ukrainian military. Some of them are giving up on the fight and going over to the Ukrainian side. Others will be captured through the course of the war. So they can expect not only to face the potential for justice in Ukraine. Of course, a lot of prisoners do get exchanged at the moment.

But there is the potential that that can be upscaled to an international forum. And certainly, European nations are working to build the capacity and capability to do that. They're pointing toward the Hague in the Netherlands as the venue for that. But a lot more work needs to be done, but it's clear that's where the momentum is going.

And of course, for the leadership, those that stay inside Russia are very unlikely to be picked up, which also would raise the question for President Putin, should he ever decide to back down in this war and try to flee the country and get out, it perhaps shuts down opportunities there for him to flee Russia. I don't think anyone is really expecting him to do that, but now he knows that he will potentially face accountability for those crimes.

SANCHEZ: Nic, staying with you, I noticed that along with Vice President Harris, there's a large contingent of U.S. lawmakers, a large number of congresspeople that are at the Munich Security Conference. They're trying to send a united message about continued support for Ukraine. But here in the United States, polling has indicated a dip in that support. Do you think there's a consensus at least internationally that there needs to be continued support for Ukraine?

ROBERTSON: The United States internationally is perceived here as a very necessary and essential part of the alliance that supports Ukraine, that props up the right --

SANCHEZ: It appears as though we have lost Nic. We're having some technical difficulties there.

So let's pivot over to Alex Marquardt who is live for us from Kyiv. Alex, these remarks from Vice President Harris coming at a pivotal point in Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

[10:05:01]

WALKER: All right, it looks like we lost both unfortunately. But we got the gist of what's been happening. Nic Robertson and Alex Marquardt, appreciate you at least coming up. Lawmakers from both parties are attending the Munich Security

Conference, as Boris was just mentioning. And we spoke with Democratic Congressman Jim Himes about Vice President Harris's speech and efforts to hold Russia accountable for crimes against humanity. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): The real specificity and strength with which the vice president made the case that Russia is committing crimes against humanity. And it really serves two purposes, right. And it's hard to explain what the atmosphere is like here. The free world has gathered in Munich right now. And of course, there's a hunger for justice here given the images that continue to come out of Ukraine.

But the other thing that's really important about this is that, from the private on the battlefield in Ukraine right now, the Russian private, right up to the masters in the Kremlin, they need to understand that this ends with them in handcuffs, that this ends with them being held accountable, as the vice president said, for these crimes against humanity. And that may serve the effect of creating a little bit of tension within Russian ranks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Again, that was Congressman Jim Himes in Munich speaking to Amara this morning on CNN this morning. We want to go back out to Alex Marquardt. It sounds like we've been able to iron out some of these technical issues. Alex, we were trying to get a bigger context of the timing of this speech, the timing of the Munich Security Conference in light of this renewed Russian offensive into Ukraine. What's the significance of the moment?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, there's a huge amount of symbolism, of course, with us marking the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in just a couple days' time. But it comes at a very pivotal moment here on the ground with both Ukrainians expected to soon carry out a new counteroffensive and the early stages of a new Russian offensive we believe is beginning to build.

Now, it is not going very well for the Russians on the ground, but that doesn't mean that they've stopped trying to hit and hurt Ukraine from the skies. Of course, we've seen week after week of huge missile salvos being targeted all across the country. Just today, a smaller one, four cruise missiles fired into Ukraine from the Black Sea. Two, we understand from the Ukrainian air force, were intercepted, but there were two strikes in a southwestern city including one on a military target.

So Russia does continue to try to hit Ukraine both on the ground and in the air. We've heard a number of top Ukrainian officials, including President Zelenskyy renew their calls for more weapons. And Boris and Amara, not just more weapons, but more weapons faster. President Zelenskyy saying that time really is of the essence here. Speed is key to prevent Russia from using their potential. That's a reference to the fact that they still have a huge amount of weaponry and men in reserve despite the fact that they have been suffering quite significantly on the ground.

In terms of weaponry, we also just heard the foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, renew the call for fighter jets. Fighter jets is something that we've heard Ukrainian officials call for time and time again. Western countries, NATO countries not saying that they are going to do that any time soon. The U.K. has committed to training some pilots, but if Ukraine were to get fighter jets, that is likely a couple years off. But Ukraine's foreign minister saying he is quite confident that eventually at some point they will be getting those fighter jets.

More immediately, in terms of that counteroffensive, the U.S. and others would like to see Ukraine shift its focus from the fight in Bakhmut, in the eastern part of the country, which has been so fierce for the past few months, and carry out a counteroffensive in the south. And that is why we've seen the U.S. donating, contributing these armored vehicles over the past few weeks as well as a new training program for hundreds of Ukrainian troops at a U.S. base in Germany. Boris and Amara?

SANCHEZ: Multiple fronts in the eastern part and southern part of that country under attack. Alex Marquardt, thank you so much for the update from Kyiv.

More international news to bring you now. We're following a developing story out of North Korea, because South Korean officials saying the North launched at least one missile into the waters off the peninsula.

WALKER: Yes, and it's not just any missile. CNN's Will Ripley joining us live with more. I know, Will, Japanese and South Korean officials always monitoring the situation. What do we know?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is different. North Korea last year was launching barrages mostly of short-range missiles, cruise missiles. This was an ICBM, suspected ICBM. It's the second time that they've launched one in the last -- well, not since November have they actually launched one. So what is that, six months? So it's not happening as frequently.

[10:10:00]

But when North Korea does launch these, they travel very high. You're talking about almost 1,000 kilometers up. And even though it splashed down in the waters near Japan, so it didn't travel a very long distance along the ground, it essentially went up close to space or near space, as we've been talking about, 60 miles or so up. And then it comes down so close to Japan that they actually consider that their exclusive economic zone.

This missile, the Hwasong-17, it was tested back in November, Japan warned the United States that this missile can probably hit any American city. The missile that was launched today, it was in the hair for one hour and eight minutes more or less, which is the same distance or at least the same time that the previous ICBM test by North Korea was in the air. So now the question is, is this an old ICBM, or is this one of the new

ICBMs, the solid fuel ICBMs that North Korea unveiled at a military parade just last week when Kim Jong-un basically vowed to mass produce these kinds of weapons. Of course, analysts say that North Korea was actually able to launch a large group of these. It would be very difficult in the event of a worst-case scenario for a U.S. missile defense to intercept all of them. So this is a real threat. And that's why you have South Korea holding a national security council meeting. You have the U.S. and South Korea preparing for joint military drills starting at the Pentagon in just a matter of days.

WALKER: Yes, a real threat, a real concern, especially there in the peninsula. Will Ripley, appreciate your reporting, as always. Thank you.

The Biden administration says it has deployed federal medical experts to East Palestine, Ohio, to help address residents' growing health concerns after a train derailment there two weeks ago caused a toxic chemical spill.

SANCHEZ: Remember, hundreds of people were forced to evacuate earlier this month. And since they've returned to their homes, many of them have been reporting health issues. CNN's Polo Sandoval has been following this story for us. Polo, those health issues, those reports coming despite officials testing the air and the water and saying that the tests come back showing no signs of contamination that could make folks sick.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Amara and Boris, good morning to you. And late yesterday evening we learned from the state of Ohio and from federal officials that FEMA will be supplementing the federal response on the ground in the coming days in the form of a FEMA senior response official, and also what that federal agency describes as a regional incident management assessment team, basically assessing what the long-term needs will be there in eastern Ohio. This coming just days after we heard originally, initially from the governor of Ohio saying that the state would not qualify for any kind of FEMA support.

So what has yet to be seen, though, is to what extent will these additional FEMA resources actually benefit the region. As you mentioned a little while ago, frustration continues to build, as do concerns. Our teams have heard from residents there in East Palestine, Ohio, saying that they are experiencing things like rashes, sore throats, headaches, feelings of nausea as well. And they're concerned that that could be directly linked to this train derailment that happened earlier this month, this after local and state officials saying that those ongoing tests of the air and also of the water quality should hopefully reassure residents that it is safe to return back home.

But again, that may not be enough for many of the people there that still want more to be done. And there is help on the way, as you mentioned, as federal officials are sending in medical experts, top experts in the field of toxicology as well to hear the concerns and to physically examine some of these individuals that are coming forward with these concerns. Amara, Boris? SANCHEZ: We'll keep our eye on that story. Polo Sandoval, thank you so

much for the update.

Meantime, five former Memphis police officers have pleaded not guilty in the beating death of Tyre Nichols. They each face several charges, including second degree murder, kidnapping, and assault. Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, was repeatedly punched and kicked by the officers after a traffic stop and a brief foot chance in early January. That second degree murder charge carries a penalty of 15 to 60 years in prison.

Meantime, funeral service are going to be held today for an unarmed black man shot by police in Louisiana.

WALKER: Alonzo Bagley was killed on February 3rd after Shreveport police officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at an apartment complex. An officer was charged with negligent homicide. CNN's Isabel Rosales joining us now with more. Isabel, Shreveport police released the bodycam footage of the shooting. Very difficult to watch and listen to. Walk us through what it shows.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, extremely tough, Amara and Boris. The entire incident took under two minutes.

[10:15:00]

But it ended with a man taking his last breaths on body camera footage, and a police officer breaking down crying. We'll break down what happened here, but first, a warning. Some of these images are graphic, extremely graphic, not suitable for everyone.

This encounter, police encounter, it started about two weeks ago on February the 3rd with police responding to a disturbance, a domestic disturbance call at the apartment complex of Bagley. You see him opening the door here. Alonzo Bagley refuses to come outside, saying he's got to put his dogs away. Police follow him inside of the unit. And then they notice he's making a run for it. He jumps over this balcony and runs off on foot here.

Police officers begin to chase after him. Here you see he's about to take a turn right here at the corner, and that is when a shot is fired. As we freeze this, in that split second, you see his hands are up. Investigators did not find a weapon on him. The officer who shot him, Alexander Tyler, after that shooting, we see on body camera the other officer whose body camera footage you're watching, he starts first aid and calls EMS. Tyler, meanwhile, audibly distraught. The voice you will hear crying is Officer Tyler. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, come on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, man, no. No, man, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, dude.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dispatch, send EMS right now 1018, 1018.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, dude. Stay with me. Stay with me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, come on. You're good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay with me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're good, bro. You're good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And Tyler's attorney, the police officer who took that shot, insists that despite Bagley not being armed, it doesn't mean that he didn't pose a threat to officers. So perhaps this is a preview of the argument that they will make in court.

Meanwhile, we did hear from Bagley's brother who says he is pleased with this charge of negligent homicide, but says there's a lot more answers he still needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XAVIER SUDDS, ALONZO BAGLEY'S BROTHER: It was just -- it was really, really sad to watch. Hurtful to watch, hard to watch.

I won't be OK until I know, we know, I know that justice will be served. Charges, that's fine. That's cool and all, but we need to see more action behind that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And Officer Tyler doesn't just face a charge in the criminal justice system, but also a federal wrongful death lawsuit from Bagley's family who are alleging that he violated Bagley's Fourth Amendment rights. They're asking for over $10 million in damages. Boris, Amara?

WALKER: I'm sure you'll stay on top of the story. Isabel Rosales, thank you very much.

And still to come, a special grand jury investigating former President Trump's false election claims say there was no widespread voter fraud in Georgia. The details are ahead.

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WALKER: This week a special grand jury investigating former President Trump's false election claims have unanimously concluded there was no widespread voter fraud in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election. That is according to newly released portions of their final report.

SANCHEZ: The grand jury also said they believe at least one witness may have lied under oath and urged the local district attorney, Fani Willis, to consider perjury charges. For more on this, here with me is CNN political reporter Jeremy Herb. Jeremy, thanks for joining us this morning. Has the D.A. said whether or not charges are coming?

JEREMY HERB, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Boris, that is still the one question we still do not have a firm answer to yet. But we did learn some new details from this report about potential charges that could come. As you mentioned, the grand jury recommended that -- excuse me, the district attorney could consider perjury charges for one or more of the witnesses who testified before the grand jury that was investigating the efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

Now, the grand jury, it heard from 75 witnesses in all, everyone from election workers and state officials to election deniers and some of the former President Donald Trump's aides and advisers. What we don't know is who it is exactly that the grand jury says committed perjury. So that is a question that is still lingering out there after the release of this report.

We also don't know what other recommended charges the grand jury may have made. We just got excerpts from this report. In addition to the perjury charge, we learned that the grand jury unanimously found that this was a legitimate election that happened in 2020, which the finding they say came after hearing from extensive witnesses about the election. This is important because it lays the foundation for the potential for charges of overturning what is a legitimate election.

The big question, of course, now is what does this mean for Donald Trump? And will Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, will she consider charges against the former president? The president's spokesman this week said again that he made a perfect call when he asked the Georgia secretary of state to find enough votes for him to win, a claim he's made over and over again since the 2020 election. We're just going to have to wait and see, though, whether that call and this investigation will ultimately lead to charges for the former president, Boris and Amara.

SANCHEZ: We know you'll be watching it for us very closely. Jeremy Herb from New York, thank you so much.

This morning, new revelations on what FOX News personalities were telling each other privately about the validity of the 2020 election results while the tone of what they were telling their viewers was something different.

[10:25:02] Court documents made public Thursday as part of Dominion Voting System's $1.6 billion lawsuit against FOX News shows the hosts, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, all ridiculed former President Donald Trump's election fraud claims while promoting them on air.

WALKER: CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Is the fix already in?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It is a damning indictment of Fox News --

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: The outcome of our presidential election seized from the hands of voters.

SERFATY: -- as the network publicly and repeatedly promoted former President Trump's 2020 election fraud claims to millions of their viewers.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Every American should be angry. You should be outraged. You should be worried. You should be concerned at what has happened in the election and the lead up to this election.

SERFATY: Privately, top anchors and executives mocked Trump's lies, calling them ludicrous, really crazy stuff, and totally off the rails. The revelations coming from hundreds of pages of newly released evidence in the legal filing as part of the Dominion Voting System's lawsuit against Fox News.

In this text exchange two weeks after the election, Tucker Carlson texting other Fox News hosts, "Sidney Powell is lying, by the way. I caught her. It's insane," he says about Trump's lawyer, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani's unfounded claims. "Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy," Laura Ingraham wrote back.

Tucker responds, "It's unbelievably offensive to me. Our viewers are good people, and they believe it."

Even as the same host went on the air arguing completely otherwise.

INGRAHAM: All right, these election challenges are still going on, and disturbing irregularities have been found and must be investigated to the fullest.

SERFATY: On election night, the network first to call Arizona for Biden.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: The Fox News Decision Desk is calling Arizona for Joe Biden. That is a big get for the Biden campaign.

SERFATY: As Trump's baseless conspiracy theories started to take hold.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a fraud on the American public. So, we will be going to the U.S. Supreme Court.

SERFATY: Carlson wrote his producer warning that Trump "could easily destroy us if we play it wrong." The court documents showing a scramble behind the scenes as viewers rebelled against Fox for calling the contest in Biden's favor, and a course correction internally to prioritize profitability over the truth.

After Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich fact-checked a Trump tweet about votes being destroyed, Tucker Carlson texting his colleagues, "Please get her fired. Seriously, what the F? It's measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down."

Fox News in a statement argues the court filing contains cherrypicked quotes lacking context as Fox News host continued this week to sow doubt.

CARLSON: Was the 2020 election a miracle? Honestly, we don't know. We don't expect to get an answer to it tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY (on camera): And this public versus private narrative extended all the way up to the highest levels of Fox. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, according to court documents, did not believe Trump's election lies, and not only did he say in an email weeks after the election that the Trump team's claims were really crazy stuff and damaging, but he even floated the idea of having Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham appear together in primetime to declare Joe Biden as the rightful winner of the election, something that, of course, never happened.

SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Sunlen Serfaty for that report.

Still to come today, the Michigan State University community will be saying goodbye to two of the three victims of this week's mass shooting. We have more on that and the investigation in just moments. Stay with us.

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[10:32:58]

SANCHEZ: This morning a man is under arrest in connection to the killings of six people in Mississippi. Richard Crum is charged with first degree murder. And the sheriff's office says that additional charges are likely to be filed in the coming days. Police say he opened fire on the group outside of a store, and we're told one of the victims was actually his ex-wife.

WALKER: Funeral services will be held today for two of the students killed in the Michigan State mass shooting earlier this week. Family and friends will say goodbye to Brian Fraser and Alexandria Verner in the next hour. The third victim, Arielle Anderson, will be laid to rest on Tuesday. Five injured students are still in the hospital, and it's unclear why the gunman, a 43-year-old man with no known ties to MSU, targeted the university. A California man is now facing hate crime charges in connection with

the shooting of two Jewish men in Los Angeles.

SANCHEZ: The shootings come as antisemitic violence is on the rise across the United States. CNN's Camila Bernal joins us now live from Los Angeles. Camila, bring us up to speed with the latest details on these shootings.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Boris and Amara. Good morning. So two different shootings, but both very similar, one happening on Wednesday, the other one on Thursday. Two different men walking back from their religious services, different synagogues, and they were both shot in this neighborhood. So after these shootings, police obviously searching extensively and they were able to find the suspect about an hour away from this neighborhood.

Once he was arrested, he told authorities that, yes, he targeted the people that he shot. He specifically said that he was looking for kosher markets in this area, and then pointed to what he described as headgear that these men were wearing. So obviously, they were easily identifiable as Jewish men who were simply walking back home from their synagogues. So authorities, of course, pointing to all of this, and also saying that there's history of antisemitism in terms of the shooter, saying that he had sent text messages and messages to students or former classmates saying hateful things and also threatening them.

[10:35:13]

And so the U.S. attorney who is handling this case essentially denouncing the hate here and saying that this suspect could face life in prison for what he did here. Here is that U.S. attorney in charge of this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN ESTRADA, U.S. ATTORNEY, LOS ANGELES: Over the past two days, our community has experienced two horrific acts. An individual motivated by antisemitism, hatred for people in the Jewish community, committed two tremendously horrible acts, targeting individuals because of their Jewish faith, targeting two victims as they departed for religious services at two different synagogues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And one of the victims is speaking out, telling his friends that he is very lucky to be alive. The injuries were minor. He was released from the hospital and was able to go back to his synagogue, has been multiple times now, and is planning to continue to go to his services and says that he is actually going to pray more after this shooting.

Now, it is important to point out the big picture here. There is so much fear in this community. I talked to many people in the area who told me, look, I don't want to let my kids out this weekend. I'm afraid of my husband walking to the synagogue. There is just an overall fear in the community despite the arrest, because people say, look, I do feel reassured that this man has been arrested, but, of course, there is still that fear of someone else doing the same thing.

And it's important to point out the rise in antisemitism, not just here in Los Angeles with these two cases, but in general nationwide. So I think the big picture here is to remember that there's people in this community who are in fear of what happened and what could happen next. Boris, Amara?

SANCHEZ: Camila Bernal reporting from Los Angeles, thank you so much.

The U.S. military is now calling off their search for the flying objects that were downed over Alaska and Lake Huron. This after days of searches that could not locate any of the debris. Canada also calling off their search efforts for an object downed over the Yukon territory, saying that continued snowfall has hindered their search. Remember, President Biden said there was no indication that these objects were related to the alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down over the Atlantic where debris was recovered.

So sources say the FBI is now investigating a malicious cyber incident on the Bureau's computer network.

WALKER: The FBI says the hack has been contained, but there are still questions surrounding the source of the incident. Here is CNN's Sean Lyngaas.

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Boris and Amara, CNN reported exclusively on Friday that the FBI is investigating a hack of part of its computer network, specifically the part that the Bureau uses to investigate child sex imagery exploitation. So this is a very serious matter that in recent days FBI officials have been trying to remediate. They've been isolating the incident, keeping the malicious software from spreading within the network. And it's still very much a developing situation, what we do know, what we don't know.

What we don't know at this point is who carried out this hack or why. What we do know is that the FBI is being very tightlipped on this and may not be providing many public updates unless our reporting shakes some updates loose. What we can say is this is somewhat of an ironic situation because usually the FBI is who you call when you get hacked. So the FBI has to turn internally to its experts to try to get to the bottom of this and remediate it. Boris and Amara?

WALKER: Sean Lyngaas, thank you very much.

A startling CDC study reports that a significant percentage of youth say they're experiencing feelings of sadness or hopelessness, even having suicidal thoughts. We're going to discuss why with an expert.

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[10:43:21]

WALKER: A really troubling survey from the CDC finds that a high number of American children are suffering through mental health challenges. According to the CDC youth risk behavior survey, 42 percent of high school students said that they experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. The results were collected in the fall of 2021 giving us one of our first looks at the trends that have affected teens during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joining me now to discuss all this and the results and the why and how we can help is Dr. Deb Houry, chief medical officer at the CDC. Pleasure to have you on, and thank you so much for coming into the studio.

Just the statistics are heartbreaking and staggering and really concerning. And one of them that stood out to me is that 13 percent of teenage girls attempted suicide. I'm sorry, one percent is too high, right. And 30 percent seriously considered suicide. And we're talking mostly teenager girls. What is going on?

DR. DEB HOURY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: It's a call for help. And what I think is so important to realize is if somebody attempts suicide and you can intervene, really, really likely they won't go on to die from suicide. So if you can intervene or prevent it, huge impact that you can have in preventing the loss of a life.

WALKER: Are we seeing an increase in the numbers of mental health challenges amongst our youth? I mean, persistent feelings of hopelessness and sadness, that sounds like clinical depression to me.

HOURY: I think a few things are going on. And we saw that this was an issue before the pandemic.

[10:45:00]

And certainly, during the pandemic we saw it worsen because of social isolation and fear and stressors and certainly challenges at home. So we saw this get worse, particularly in girls. And I think this is where we have to talk about what we as parents or a community can do.

WALKER: When we say we're seeing it get worse in girls, is it just in general societal pressures that are just never seemingly go away?

HOURY: I think that's part of it. The study didn't look at the why. But I do think when you look at social media, stressors of pandemic, school issues, bullying, if you're experiencing sexual violence, all those things will lead to more mental health symptoms.

WALKER: So you're a mom of a 14-year-old girl. This must have been not just eye opening but disturbing to you. What do you tell your daughter? How do you prevent her from getting over that line?

HOURY: So I think you have to talk with your child, but also your child's friends and your child's friends' parents. It's really the community. It's really important to know who they're with and what their parents are supporting them, and to know that they can come talk to you. You really want to make it an open conversation so if anything ever happens to your child, they're comfortable coming to talk to you, and they know what to look for, because some people don't realize that being forced to kiss someone or to have sex is wrong. And so talking with your child about what is expected and what they can do and you will always support and love them is important.

WALKER: Tell us about those numbers, because that was also very disturbing that we're seeing an increase in sexual violence and forced sex?

HOURY: Yes. And I think it's important to realize that people say, what's going on with girls? When you look at who is perpetrating the violence, oftentimes it's boys. So how do we look at boys and girls and talk about healthy relationships? And this is something that schools have a really important role to play, too. They can talk about conflict management, life skills, healthy relationships as part of health education in schools.

WALKER: And how do we raise our boys, it's not just about focusing on the girls.

HOURY: But to be allies and support and intervene.

WALKER: Right. And speaking of allies, the LGBTQ community, this is a community that has been marginalized in so many ways and also suffering almost silently.

HOURY: Yes, we saw huge rates of this in our gay, bisexual, and questioning youth. And I think that's another area to where, if you have a child that is gay, bisexual, or questioning, talk with them about it. Tell them that you love them and support them, particularly when we saw attempted suicide, it was devastating when you saw the numbers in those populations.

WALKER: So the takeaway is talk to them, let them know that you're there to support them. They have a community that they can rely on. They're not alone.

HOURY: A hundred percent. And I would say, if you're worried about anybody, call 988, that's the suicide prevention live line. And communities and schools have a huge role to play through mentorship programs, apprenticeship programs, things like big brothers, big sisters. Building that connectedness in protective.

WALKER: And it's usually the teachers, right, the educators who are the first line because they're the ones who see the children day in and day out and they know what kind of behavior is not ordinary.

HOURY: A hundred percent.

WALKER: Pleasure to have you on Dr. Deb Houry. Thank you so much for joining us for this very important conversation.

HOURY: Thank you.

WALKER: Boris, to you.

SANCHEZ: A great conversation and an important one there, Amara. Still to come, the NBA's best and brightest converging on Salt Lake

City this weekend. We're going to put a spotlight on the all-star festivities in store next.

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[10:52:56]

SANCHEZ: We're going to finish Newsroom with some lighter news. NBA All-Star Weekend is under way in Salt Lake City celebrating all things basketball.

WALKER: The biggest names in the game will take part in the game tomorrow, but there are some much-anticipated events happening tonight. CNN's Andy Scholes here with all the excitement from Utah. Hi, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Boris and Amara. We're at Huntsman Arena on the campus of University of Utah. So this is where all the all-stars are going to come for a practice and to meet with the media. But the festivities, they got started last night with the rising stars, and they did it different this year. All of the rookies and sophomores were drafted onto three different teams, and they also had a G league team, and they played a tournament to decide a winner.

And it would be undrafted Jose Alvarado just stealing the show last night. He was named the event's MVP after a great performance that included a game-winning three for team Gasol. You have got to check out the cute moment after all of the games as Alvarado's daughter, she runs over to be with him while he was being interviewed. The Pelicans guard who, again, was undrafted, he said he's just proof of what you can accomplish with hard work and determination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE ALVARADO, NEW ORLEANS PELICANS GUARD: It's hard to put in words. This is just something that you can't write -- you can wish for. Then, you know, like you said, anything is possible. I'm not 6'5", I'm not athletic. I don't got the crazy wingspan. But I've got heart that you can't measure. And if you bring that and you be yourself at all times, I think a lot will just come your way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, and the festivities, they continue tonight with all-star Saturday night, always so much fun. You've got the skills competition, three-point, the dunk contest. Coverage starts at 6:00 eastern on TNT. And I talked to our friends over at "Inside the NBA" who are certainly excited for this weekend here in Utah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, 15-TIME NBA ALL-STAR: Just enjoying the festivities, seeing who wants to make a name for themselves here, seeing who is saying, you know what, I want the world to know about me. I'm looking to see which young guy is coming to take over.

[10:55:07]

CHARLES BARKLEY, 11-TIME NBA ALL-STAR: All-Star Weekend is just a great celebration for the NBA family. And it's great to come back here. Two of the best players in NBA history played here for 20 years basically. So we used to come here quite a bit. They've got great fans here. And it's going to be really fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, and as I mentioned, all the all-stars are going to be here practicing a little later on today, guys. But it's going to be interesting, because they're practicing as east-west. They're not going to draft the teams for the actual All-Star game on Sunday until right before the game. So it's not like they're going to be doing any legit practicing. It's more of just having fun for the fans.

And when it comes to the draft before the game, guys, I was talking to Chuck and Shaq about it, and I was like, do you think it's going to be awkward for the guys that end up getting drafted last on the court tomorrow? They said, maybe. You're an All-star but you still don't want to be picked last.

WALKER: I was always picked last. I know that awkward feeling.

SANCHEZ: You are not getting packed last today. I'd take Amara over Andy in a basketball tournament any day.

WALKER: I love that.

SANCHEZ: Anyway, Andy Scholes from Salt Lake City, thanks so much, Andy. Appreciate it.

WALKER: Thanks, Andy. Thanks for your time everyone.

SANCHEZ: We're getting yelled at because we've got to get moving. There's still much more ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom, though. Fredricka Whitfield is up next.

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