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Former President Jimmy Carter Receiving Hospice Care At Home; Norfolk Southern: There For Long Haul After Chemical Spill; Secretary Of State Blinken Meets With Chinese Counterpart; Lawsuit Alleges FOX Hosts Bashed 2020 Election Lies Off-Camera; Search & Rescue Efforts Ongoing In Turkey, 12 Days After Quake; Tiger Woods Makes PGA Tour Return Amid Controversy. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired February 18, 2023 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:32]
SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: I'm Sara Sidner in New York. Jim Acosta has the day off. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We begin with breaking news here at CNN: Former President Jimmy Carter will begin receiving hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia. That is according to a statement from the Carter Center, which says the 98- year-old has decided to spend his remaining time surrounded by his family and forego any further medical treatment.
Our Jeff Zeleny has the latest.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, the decision of former President Jimmy Carter to remain in Plains, Georgia after a series of hospital stays certainly speaks to the center that this town has really been to his life.
He has spent nearly all of his 98 years in Plains, Georgia with the exception of his time, of course, in the White House and his time as a young man serving in the American military, but Plains, Georgia, a town of about 140 miles or so south of Atlanta really has been the place where this former President has done his life work in the post presidency.
He has talked about democracy. He has been a leader for housing, building homes himself through Habitat for Humanity, talking about democracy. So clearly, Plains, Georgia has been his lifeblood, and that is where he is choosing to remain as opposed to being sent back to the hospital.
The Carter Center on Saturday afternoon put out the news that after a series of hospital stays he has chosen with his family to remain in Plains, in hospice care.
We are learning from family and friends that he is comfortable, and his grandson, Jason Carter, who is a former Georgia State Senator ran for Governor in Georgia unsuccessfully, he said he visited with his grandparents on Friday, and he said the house is full of love.
Now, President Biden of course, has a long history with former President Jimmy Carter. A young senator Joe Biden was the first Democratic senator to endorse Carter's presidential candidacy, all the way back in 1976. So I'm told that President Biden is keeping in close contact with the Carter family as well. Of course, he visited the Carter's on the 100th day of his presidency back in the spring of 2021.
So, all thoughts in Washington certainly are on the life and the legacy of Jimmy Carter.
SIDNER: That is our Jeff Zeleny, and we thank him.
Let's bring in CNN medical analyst, Dr. Leana Wen for more on this.
Dr. Wen, first, for a lot of people, you know, we've heard the word hospice care. What does it mean to those of us who don't know the exact definition of what it is supposed to do for you and the family? And what that might mean in a different way for the former President? Is he receiving something for example, differently than then the rest of us would?
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, hospice -- right, so hospice care is a specialized type of medical care that is focused on ensuring comfort, and so, it focuses on reducing physical pain, and also caring for someone's psychological needs, spiritual needs, with an interdisciplinary team of providers.
So generally, people who qualify for hospice care are people who are near the end of their life, people with life expectancy of less than six months and individuals also who have an incurable medical condition.
This is not about giving up on medical care, but rather it is tending to the individual, tending to their caregivers, tending to their family, and it's a type of care, I think that's really heavily underutilized.
There are a lot more people who qualify for a hospice care and who would probably benefit from it. And in this case, I'm sure that it was a difficult, but important decision that the former President and his family made.
SIDNER: I want to talk to you about a personal matter, and I hope you're okay sharing this with us, Doctor, when your own mother had cancer and she also was given hospice care. What goes into making a decision that this is the best path for the family and for the person who is suffering through this difficult time.
WEN: My mother had metastatic breast cancer. She had gone through multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. She was in remission multiple times. But then she had another recurrence, and she decided at some point that this was enough, that she didn't want to go through more rounds of chemotherapy or radiation and surgery that had all kinds of side effects.
She decided that she wanted to live the rest of her life in as much peace and with as little pain as she could, and it was very difficult for our family.
[18:05:10]
WEN: My mother was 56 years old at that time. And we -- and it was me, and also my little sister, who was in her teens, and it was very -- it was a very difficult decision for my mother, but at the same time, we also understood that she had fought for so long and she wanted something else. We knew that there was no cure possible, and that the best thing for her to improve the quality of her life, for the remaining time was hospice care.
And this type of care is offered to people with advanced dementia, with kidney failure, with chronic heart and lung disease, other cancers. And again, it is something that's really underutilized because there are so many studies that have shown how it's important, how it improves the quality, and actually, some studies even indicate that hospice care increases the length of someone's life towards the end of their life, too.
SIDNER: Wow, Dr. Wen, can I just thank you for sharing your personal story there. It really took my breath away the fact that your mother was 56, and that you and your sister had to sort of go through this heart wrenching moment of everyone always wants their parent or the person they love to survive, and when they decide that they don't want to go forward with treatment, it can be really, really hard. So thank you for sharing that.
I do want to talk to you about some of the things I've heard about hospice care in recent years. One of my dearest and closest friend, Emily Wax's husband is dying, and he ended up dying this past week, but for years he was going through -- he had cancer that had spread around and through his body, and she talked about hospice care and what she went through with that, and that it wasn't as she had hoped it would be, that there's been a lot of moneys that have not gone to things like hospice care. Is that something that you have found that it isn't as funded as it once was?
WEN: Well, I think that this is a branch of Medicine that is really well-studied. There are incredible providers who are in this field, but unfortunately, not a lot of people know about it, not a lot of people know to enroll their loved ones in hospice care, that it is even a possibility and it certainly is something that deserves a lot more funding.
But at the moment, Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, they do cover hospice as an option and I would just say that for individuals who are near the end of their life, and for family members who are also struggling with caring for their loved ones and who are seeing them in a lot of pain, it is something to explore with your providers.
SIDNER: Dr. Leana Wen, I thank you for sharing your story and thank you for giving us some insight into hospice care as we have learned former President Jimmy Carter is now dealing with hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia. Appreciate you.
WEN: Thank you, Sara. SIDNER: The CEO of Norfolk Southern Rail Company met today with rail workers and residents of East Palestine, Ohio two weeks after one of the company's freight trains derailed in that town, sending toxic chemicals into the air, water and soil.
Criticism has been growing for some time over the company's handling of the spill and its aftermath.
Our Polo Sandoval has the very latest.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, good evening.
It is Norfolk Southern, that is the rail company that the US EPA maintains will be held accountable for its role in this disaster. The company for its part, though, as recently as earlier today tweeted saying that they will not walk away, that they will be in the community as they have been from the beginning and working with officials there as part of the cleanup that they described as a responsible and safe cleanup process.
They also tweeted access to home and business air testing services free of charge. The company is offering there, and again reiterating that they are in for the long haul, but this is really not assuring many of the residents in the community that is deeply affected by this. They say that some have even developed rashes, sore throats, nausea, and also headaches.
They are worried that these symptoms could potentially be related to the chemicals that were released after that derailment just over two weeks ago, then they still have these concerns as you're about to hear even after they've heard from authorities on the ground who have already said that even after multiple tests, they have not seen any elevated levels of chemicals in the tap water or in the air.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTINA FERGUSON, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO RESIDENT: We need help. We do we need. We need President Biden. We need FEMA housing.
People are getting sick.
JAMI COZZA, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO RESIDENT: The railroad sent out his toxicologist who deemed my house not safe, but had I not use my voice, had I not thrown a fit, I would be sitting in that house right now when they told me that it was safe.
[18:10:05]
JIM STEWART, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO RESIDENT: I don't recommend you put anything in the ground. I mean, vegetables or tomatoes or anything this year, because we don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: And that was from our Polo Sandoval there. We are changing tracks here, a California man accused of targeting and shooting two Jewish men in separate incidents has a history of antisemitic acts. The suspect told investigators he was looking for Jewish people. According to prosecutors, the first shooting happened Wednesday morning as the victim walked through his car after leaving religious services at a synagogue in Los Angeles. The second incident happened the next morning, just three blocks away. Video shows the victim just moments after he was shot in the arm.
Police say both men were taken to local hospitals and they are in stable condition.
CNN's Camila Bernal joins us now from Los Angeles.
Camila, so good to see you.
How is the community reacting to this clear hate crime?
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Sara.
It's a community in fear. So many people that I talked to told me, look, we are reassured, they arrested the man responsible for these shootings, or at least the man police believe is responsible for these shootings. But nonetheless, they are worried about the next attack, and that is because the man in this case said he specifically targeted these two men that he shot. That's what he told authorities when he was arrested.
This was two different shootings, very similar to each other; one happening on Wednesday, the other happening on Thursday, and authorities saying that these were two men who were walking home after being at the synagogue.
And so after they saw these two shootings and began investigating, they were able to find him about an hour away from this location, an hour away from this area and the authorities said that once they arrested him, he did admit to having targeted these two men saying that he searched for kosher markets in this area and targeted the two men because what they were wearing, he called it headgear.
And so of course, these are things that identify these two victims as Jewish men, and that is part of the reason why this community is in so much fear. A local Rabbi, or a very prominent Rabbi here in Los Angeles sort of explaining that fear. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RABBI ABRAHAM COOPER, SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER: Parents will be looking over their shoulders, walking to houses of prayer on the Sabbath. It is not a situation that should be normal anywhere.
The security measures at the houses of worship and Jewish schools are already in place.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BERNAL: And look, we have seen security guards at many of the synagogues in this area. We saw Mounted Police throughout the day, essentially going up and down the street trying to reassure the public that they are okay.
In addition to that, the US Attorney handling this case also denouncing hate and saying that he will essentially bring justice later on as this process plays out. Here he is right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN ESTRADA, US ATTORNEY, CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA: This type of criminal conduct is completely unacceptable. Hate crimes have no place in our community, antisemitism has no place in our community.
Those who engage in these types of hate crimes will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERNAL: And something very interesting, one of the victims, the one you see in that surveillance video saying that he is okay and that he is lucky to be alive, but also saying that this motivates him to pray even more.
So again, despite what happened, there is some resilience here -- Sara.
SIDNER: Camila Bernal, thank you so much for reporting out that story for us.
Today, two funeral services were held for victims of the Michigan State University mass shooting. Brian Fraser and Alexandria Verner were laid to rest in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. The third victim, Arielle Anderson will be remembered on Tuesday.
This afternoon, Michigan athletics resumed. The school was expected to honor the victims during the opening of the men's and women's basketball games. Three students died, five others were injured after a gunman opened fire on the campus earlier this week. It is still unclear why the gunman, a 43-year-old man with no known ties to MSU targeted that university.'
Still ahead, the top diplomats from the US and China are finally meeting after the shoot down of that suspected Chinese spy balloon over the United States.
Plus, Vice President Kamala Harris formally calling out Russia for what the US says are crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
And what a legal filing reveals about FOX News and what its top talent was saying about the 2020 election while telling their viewers something entirely different.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:19:06]
SIDNER: "Very direct and candid," that's how the State Department is describing today's talks between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's top diplomat.
It is the first meeting between senior officials from the US and China since tensions spiked after a US fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that was hovering over the United States' territory. A short time ago, the Chinese diplomat said the US must repair the damaged relationship after the balloon incident.
Also new this evening, the State Department says Blinken was quite blunt in warning China to not provide lethal aid to Russian forces in Ukraine.
CNN's Nic Robertson is at the Munich Security Conference where the diplomats ended up meeting and he has the very latest for us.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Sara, there have been a lot of uncertainty and speculation whether this high-stakes meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart Foreign Minister, Wang Yi would actually take place.
We now know some of the details of the conversation.
[18:20:08]
ROBERTSON: The Secretary of State telling Wang Yi directly that this was a violation of US airspace and international law, that this balloon, this Chinese balloon should fly across the United States.
He also warned China about increasing and the risk of it increasing its support for Russia, and also spoke about the importance of peace and stability around Taiwan, and this comes on a day when the United States has been telling its allies and partners here in Europe that it is concerned that it sees disturbing trend lines, that China is, in fact, increasing its support for Russia, that it is potentially walking up to a line, a threshold line, if you will, of moving towards giving Russia lethal military aid for its war in Ukraine.
That is a concern that was shared with European allies and partners. The concern for the United States is that the Chinese are trying to sort of sell themselves as peacemakers in the situation right now, while at the same time beginning to consider a move closer to giving that military support.
And I spoke on that particular issue with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President, a very senior and prominent European diplomat, she said that there was concern about China and whether or not it was going to increase support for Russia. They were watching closely, but at the moment, she said, it's an open question.
And on that issue, this was something Secretary Blinken, very clear with his Chinese counterpart of the consequences of ramping up support for Russia in its war military support -- Sara.
SIDNER: Our Nic Robertson reporting there for us from Munich, thank you to him.
New today, Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a stinging indictment of Russia saying its soldiers in Ukraine have committed crimes against humanity. Harris leveled the accusation before world leaders at the Munich Security Conference.
For the first time in two decades, Russian leaders were not invited. Harris recounted some of the Russian atrocities committed in Ukraine.
KAMALA HARRIS VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we've all seen the images of the theater in Mariupol where hundreds of people were killed. Think of the image of the pregnant mother, who was killed following a strike at a maternity hospital where she was preparing to give birth.
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)
SIDNER: The Vice President says the evidence is overwhelming, and she says the soldier who committed the atrocities and the superiors who are complicit should be and will be held to account.
Still ahead, FOX News exposed. Text messages and e-mails from illegal filing revealed top talent knew claims from the former President and his allies about the 2020 election were simply bogus yet, they told their audience otherwise and still continue to do so today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST, "TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT": There are so many unanswered questions, some of them lingering.
Was the 2020 election a miracle? Honestly, we don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: It was not a miracle. It was what it was. Donald Trump lost.
Will there be any legal consequence? That, we will discuss coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:28:24]
SIDNER: Core documents revealing how the most prominent FOX News stars and executive privately mocked Donald Trump's election lies while promoting them publicly.
It's part of Dominion Voting Systems $1.6 billion lawsuit against the FOX Network.
CNN's Brian Todd takes a closer look at the damaging messages and testimony.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Immediately after Joe Biden's 2020 victory, FOX News hosts were unabashed in promoting the false declarations that the election had been stolen from Donald Trump.
CARLSON: Electronic voting machines didn't allow people to vote apparently and that whatever you think of it, the cause of it, it shakes people's faith in the system. That is an actual threat to democracy.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST, "HANNITY": It will be impossible to ever know the true fair, accurate election results.
TODD (voice over): But new Court filings show that in private, FOX hosts Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity were brutally ridiculing the claims of election fraud and the people who were making them.
Their private messages in a legal filing that's part of Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion lawsuit against FOX News, one person they insulted, Trump campaign lawyer, Sidney Powell, a vociferous election lie promoter.
SIDNEY POWELL, TRUMP CAMPAIGN LAWYER: What we are really dealing with here and uncovering more by the day is the massive influence of communist money.
TODD (voice over): In one text revealed in the Court filing, Tucker Carlson texted Laura Ingraham saying: "Sidney Powell is lying. I caught her. It's insane." Ingraham responded:
[20:30:15]
"Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy," a reference to Trump lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his post- election claims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP LAWYER: There was a plan from a centralized place to execute these various acts of voter fraud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): In other messages, Sean Hannity said Giuliani was "acting like an insane person." Ingraham described Giuliani as an "idiot." FOX Corporation Chairman, Rupert Murdoch, said it was "really bad" that Giuliani was advising Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIK WEMPLE, MEDIA CRITIC, THE WASHINGTON POST: This tells you a lot about FOX News' internal machinations. It tells you that they have one version of the world that they keep to themselves and another version of the world that they broadcast to their viewers. The two are entirely incompatible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): But FOX kept promoting election denialism. Why?
The filings in the Dominion suit illustrate that FOX executives were worried about losing viewers to Newsmax, a smaller conservative channel that was constantly pushing election denial.
Trump himself furious that FOX had called Arizona for Biden, had encouraged his followers to switch to Newsmax.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEMPLE: Since 2002, FOX News has basically been the preeminent ratings champion in cable news. And you see here, the moment that they see any sign that might be slipping away, it is panic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): But the Dominion filings also say that when then- President Trump tried to call into FOX on January 6th, the day his supporters attacked the Capitol, FOX executives refused to put Trump on the air.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (on camera): FOX News denies Dominion's claims in the lawsuit and says it is proud of its 2020 election coverage and says those court filings contained cherry picked quotes that lacked context.
In a statement, FOX accused Dominion of generating "noise and confusion" and said the core of this case remains to be about freedom of the press and freedom of the press.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
SIDNER: CNN Senior Legal Analyst and former Federal Prosecutor, Elie Honig, joins me now, the man never stops working. His new book is Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away with It.
You've got a new book, you're working on a Saturday, thank you for all of that, Elie.
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Happy to be with you always, Sara. Anytime for you.
SIDNER: Can you tell me what these revelations mean for the lawsuit? HONIG: So Sara, this really means that FOX News is in some trouble. It is really difficult, legally, to make out a defamation case, if you're a plaintiff like Dominion is here. It's not enough to simply show that the media outlet got it wrong. You have to show actual malice, meaning you have to show that the reporter or whoever is making the statements knew that they had it wrong and said it anyway.
And here, if you look at this brief that was filed the other day, it's remarkable. It opens up with just a string of quotes from leading FOX anchors and executives that use term that we just heard in the peace like: lies, insane, nuts. I mean, that is about as straightforward evidence of actual malice as you will realistically see.
SIDNER: So with all of that said and this is obviously their version of things and I'm sure that FOX will have its version of things as in any court. But having those messages, I mean, those are receipts that you can't undo. Do you think that FOX could end up finding itself on the hook for $1.6 billion, because that's the amount that Dominion is suing for, because of how they damage the company according to Dominion.
HONIG: So I do think there are real questions about that damages amount. Dominion is essentially arguing, A, they destroyed all of our business viability going forward, and B, we are worth $1.6 billion. But if you look at the paperwork, in this case, there actually had been prior evaluations of Dominion at a fraction of $1.6 billion in the 10s of millions of dollars. It's a large business. It's a profitable business.
But 1.6 billion is the upper end, it may be an optimistic outcome by Dominion, but ultimately will be up to a judge and later a jury or a jury and then a judge to decide just how much damages Dominion has sustained if there's a finding of liability against FOX.
SIDNER: I'm assuming there could be punitive damages and that's sometimes where those high numbers come from. Some of these FOX anchors that we just saw, basically mocking Donald Trump saying that his idea that this somehow the election was rigged, as you say, didn't buy it. They actually thought it was insane. But on the air, that's not what they said. They seem to just be agreeing with him and pushing his lies, listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEW HOST: So much for those claims that voter fraud never happens. Of course, it happens. They knew it happened when they told us it would never happen because they're liars.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could see these people hand over what appeared to be white envelopes. I thought those are ballots.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And today more reports of dead people voting from beyond the grave, amazing system we set up.
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS HOST: This is disgusting and we cannot allow America's election to be corrupted. We cannot. (END VIDEO CLIP)
[18:35:00]
SIDNER: What is also disgusting is pushing a lie when it comes to democracy, one that clearly some of those people spewing that stuff didn't believe themselves --
HONIG: Yes, Sara. I --
SIDNER: -- what are your thoughts now after seeing this newly released court filing?
HONIG: Well, I think this is exactly what we'll see if this case does go to trial, if the parties do not settle. We will see the plaintiffs here, Dominion offering this sort of side by side. The clips that you just showed put next to those texts behind the scenes, which are saying, in some cases, the exact opposite. And I think the argument to a jury is, this is the definition of actual malice.
It's one thing to get it wrong. The media enjoys very broad First Amendment protections, that's - as it should be under our Constitution. But the First Amendment is not without limit and the limit set under the law, really, of all states, but including Delaware, where this lawsuit is, is that you cannot intentionally spread a falsehood about another person. And so I think that's the argument we're going to see from the plaintiffs here.
This was intentional. They knew what they're doing. And as you said, the plaintiffs here have a theory about what the motive was. The motive was they didn't want to lose ratings. They were terrified for their bottom line. So I think that's a good summary of the plaintiff's case.
SIDNER: You talked about the First Amendment and that is, of course, a really important amendment to us personally, but also to anyone who wants to say whatever they want to say. And FOX statement has sort of alluded to that this is all about the freedom of the press and freedom of speech and Dominion Voting Systems is cherry picking things. Does that hold water?
HONIG: Well, they're right that the First Amendment is very broad, they're right that it should be broad, they're right that all of us in the media and elsewhere rely on a very broad First Amendment, but it is not limitless. It doesn't mean anyone can say anything they want at any time, even if they know it's wrong without any consequence.
I see that FOX News just sort of responses that these quotes are cherry picked, I guess they are. I mean, that's what you do in discovery.
SIDNER: That's right.
HONIG: You go through the 10s of thousands of pages and you say, here's the best evidence.
SIDNER: Right.
HONIG: So you want to call that cherry picking fine, but that's what lawsuits are all about. And in terms of them being out of context, I mean, the law - the brief that was filed the other day actually has quite a bit of context. In some cases, you'll see the entire text or you'll see several exchanges back and forth.
So it's one thing to say it's out of context. It's another thing to show and maybe they can convince a jury who knows that it's out of meaningful context.
SIDNER: Well, I hate talking about the media, frankly, because --
HONIG: Yes.
SIDNER: -- we shouldn't be telling people stories, but this is a story that definitely needs to be watched because it's important and if lies are being spewed, they should be called out. Elie Honig, thank you so much.
HONIG: Thanks, Sara.
SIDNER: Still ahead, the number of people killed in Turkey and Syria from a recent earthquake now tops 46,000 people. But search and rescue efforts are not stopping. They are ongoing 24 hours a day. More of my reporting from Turkey next. You're in the CNN Newsroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:41:55]
SIDNER: It's been 12 days since that massive earthquake hit Syria and Turkey. There were actually two, one right after the other. Turkey's vice president says more than 100,000 buildings have now collapsed or need to be demolished. This as the death toll continues to climb towards a staggering 47,000 people.
But there have been glimmers of hope and a rare one this morning. Look at this. This video from southern Turkey shows the moment a family of three was rescued from the rubble in incredible 12 days after their building collapsed. Look at that tiny space they're surviving in. Sadly, the little boy died shortly after he was pulled out.
This week, I was able to go alongside the brave men and women in Turkey searching for survivors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA (voice over): Rescue teams from around the world attack the piles of crushed buildings, sometimes with brute force and other times as carefully as possible. It's a delicate balance trying to save any possible life underneath, or at the very least, keep bodies intact.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to take thousands of rescuers here, not just the United States, but it's going to take a collaborative effort of all the rescue teams here.
SIDNER (on camera): People are actually just hoping to find anybody even if they're dead so that they can bury them properly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's very important, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER (voice over): The teams do this as bereaved families look on watching their every move.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEHMET AYDIN, NEPHEWS TRAPPED UNDER RUBBLE: (Foreign language).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER (voice over): "I swear I have lost my days and nights," he says in tears. "Our sorrow is great."
While he waits, he prays for the four members of his extended family to emerge and remembers the terror of waking up to the sway of his own building.
"Her building was bending like this, but unlike this one, his building did not break apart."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give you (inaudible) --
SIDNER (on camera): Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER (voice over): Los Angeles County civil engineers are on the site with USAID to help the Turkish government sort out which buildings have light damage, major damage or which need to be demolished.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLIN HANNON, LOS ANGELES COUNTY CIVIL ENGINEER: I think it would be OK to live here.
SIDNER (on camera): You would?
HANNON: Yes. I think - from this viewpoint, the main concern is actually the building next to it falling on top of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER (voice over): We are there when the owner of an apartment building approaches asking whether it's safe for her to live here again. And Engineer Hannon goes with her inside. While the homeowner decided she was too afraid to stay in her building, despite Hannon saying it was assessed as being safe, others Hannon has met are relieved to hear an assessment like that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANNON: A lot of them that we've gone in are actually doing well. And once we tell those people that, they'll start crying, give us hugs and it's heartbreaking. But to be able to tell someone your house is safe and it kept you safe during this, it's something we can help with, something small we can do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over 6,000 structures we put eyes on just to assess at a very quick glance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[18:45:03]
SIDNER (voice over): The findings of civil engineers are then put into a grid created by Los Angeles County Fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we can see where rescue is needed --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER (voice over): It's a guide for the Turkish government to see the status of thousands of buildings affected by the quake.
Still, nine days on miraculous rescues are rare, but happening.
In Adiyaman, a man is left speechless in grief while he awaits any signs of life. Five of his family members are buried in this rubble.
A few hours later, an 18-year-old is pulled alive from this pile of death. Once again, spurring hope in those waiting for more people to be pulled to safety.
Even in the disaster zone, children find a way to soothe themselves despite the grief that continues to weigh heavy on everyone here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (on camera): Even with all the destruction it was so beautiful to see kids playing and laughing and just being children in all of that.
Now, to another story that involves sports. Tiger Woods is back and making the cut at the PGA Tour event but that is not the only reason that he is making headlines this weekend. The prank involving a tampon and his apology coming up next year in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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[18:50:54]
SIDNER: Right now, Tiger Woods is making his official return to competitive golf at the Genesis Invitational in California. But his play is being overshadowed by a prank he pulled.
CNN Sports Analyst and USA Today Columnist, Christine Brennan is joining us.
We are lucky to have you, Christine.
We thought you'd be talking just about Tiger Woods' return. He is an incredible athlete, but instead, golf fans cannot believe his juvenile joke when Woods handed a tampon to a fellow golfer and hat golfer was Justin Thomas. Christine, what's your reaction when you heard what he did and why?
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: As you said, Sara, just a juvenile act. I mean, Tiger is a 47-year-old father of a girl dad - of a girl - he's a girl dad, an athlete, a 15-year-old daughter, Sam, is a soccer player. And for Tiger to be that girl dad and to be nearing 50 years old and playing the kind of prank that boys did maybe in junior high middle school, high school and have long since moved on from it was extraordinary.
And it certainly was not the biggest deal, Sara, in the world, clearly. It's not the biggest news as we all know. But it is illustrative of a problem that golf has and really golf alone in terms of the misogyny and the sexism in a sport that is desperately trying to attract women, Title IX women, millions of them who are out and going to play sports the rest of their lives to play golf and for generations the sport had a stop sign up.
Augusta National, no women members and so many other places. Augusta changed that in 2012.
But the bottom line is that golf has been really quite hostile in many ways to inviting women to play and this just adds to that storyline, the most famous golfer of all doing something so ridiculous. And then, of course, it just blows up because it's Tiger and he's going to get that kind of attention. And he knows, Sara, that he's going to get that kind of attention.
SIDNER: Yes. I mean, he is Tiger Woods.
I do want to say, I mean, I don't know what he's trying to say by handing the tampon over, because women bleed and they still play sport and they still kick ass. It doesn't matter. So I don't know what he was trying to say using that, but I can guess, but he is apologizing.
BRENNAN: Well --
SIDNER: I'm going to let him - we'll talk on the other end of it.
BRENNAN: I was going to say it feels "you play like a girl," right?
SIDNER: Right. BRENNAN: That you play like a girl.
SIDNER: And girls are freaking awesome. So he was actually giving him a compliment, in my view. But that's just me.
Let's listen to how he explained why he did what he did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIGER WOODS, 15-Time Major Champion: It was supposed to be fun and games, but obviously it's it hasn't turned out that way. And if I offended anybody, it was not the case. It was just friends having fun. And as I said if I offend anybody in any way, shape or form, I'm sorry. It was not intended to be that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Okay. I get very tired of hearing if I offended anybody in any way, if you meant it as an offense by handing that over to your colleague who's a man, own up to it. But you wrote an opinion column for USA Today and in it, you say while this is by far - it's far from the biggest issue in sports these days, it does play right into a decades-old narrative that the leaders of golf are desperately trying to change, clearly with limited success.
What is that decades-old narrative? You talked a little bit about at the beginning that they've been trying to get women into the sport and yet they're not welcomed.
BRENNAN: No. And golf doesn't even realize how badly it's done. Basically, Sara, the greatest capitalists among us, many of them members of some of the elite golf clubs, I think we all know who we're talking about. It might be someone's grandfather or the neighbor, the country club set, those men mostly in almost all cases are the greatest capitalists that we know.
And for generations, they have chosen sexism over capitalism, hard to believe. And one of the more mind-numbing decisions a business has ever made, the business of golf.
[18:55:03]
You want women to join to buy more golf shoes, and golf clubs and play more rounds of golf and yet golf pushed away its growth industry for, as I said, for generations. Now it's trying to catch up and I do give credit to Augusta National, they have the Women's Amateur now, but that is a - that's absolutely telling people women can play golf.
And again, while the tampongate as we could call it is not the biggest thing going on and obviously we're laughing and Tiger's - from that apology - was ridiculous. Just own up to it and say you're sorry. But it does illustrate that same exact point that why would a 22-year-old grade athlete who is coming out of college and can play any sport and there's hundreds of sports you could be playing or leagues you could be in, why would you choose a sport with a - that has a dude who's given some guy a tampon and that's the problem for golf. SIDNER: It is an old boys club, but that has been broken by quite a few female athletes, so we will see how this goes.
Christine Brennan, it is always lovely to hear from you and you write great columns, people should read every single one in my opinion. Thank you so much for coming on.
BRENNAN: Thank you, Sara.
SIDNER: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, we're learning tonight that former President Jimmy Carter will receive hospice care at his Georgia home. What we know about the 98-year-old's health coming up next.
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