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California's Atmospheric Rivers Bring Dead Lake Back To Life; GOP Hopefuls Attending NRA Convention Today; Family Confirms Bank Shooter's Brain To Be Tested For CTE; "The Trek" Airs Sunday At 8PM ET. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 14, 2023 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL L. SWAIN, CLIMATE SCIENTIST, UCLA: So, the ground has literally sunk in some places by 10 or 15 feet over the past decade. That has literally changed the topography of the historical lakebed.

Some places are lower even than they were the last time there was a big flood event. So, there's quite a few unknowns.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: That is UCLA scientist, Daniel Swain. And last summer, he published a paper that found whether whiplash will become only more extreme on an overheating planet. And worse case, Tulare Lake could grow into a vast inland sea.

SWAIN: That as disruptive and as damaging as this year's flooding has been, it's still nowhere near close to what we foresee as the plausible worst case scenario.

DAVE ROBINSON, KINGS COUNTY SHERIFF: The levy that we're standing on is called the Corcoran Levy. It's a 14.5-mile levee that protects the city of Corcoran, the two state prisons, the residents here. There's about 22,000 residents and about 8,000 inmates.

And so the work behind us that you'll see over here, with the tractor work in the distance, they're actually building the levee up another four to five feet. And God-willing, that will protect the city of Corcoran.

WEIR (on camera): There's a race against the melt basically happening, right?

ROBINSON: That's exactly right. So, we've been fortunate with a very slow, mild spring so far, but we know the heat's coming.

MARTINA SEALY, CORCORAN RESIDENT: All of the crops are completely flooded and ruined. So, that's -- it takes a lot of jobs from people. That's a lot of food that provide -- we provide for up and down California and all around the nation. It's pretty scary.

WEIR: And, unfortunately, this is just the beginning, right, because -- SEALY: Very beginning.

WEIR: -- the big melt hasn't even really begun?

SEALY: Yes. This is just from the rain. When the snow melts, there's nowhere for it to go besides here and --

WEIR: So Tulare Lake is back for a while?

SEALY: Yes, it's back and it may take over and put us out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR: I met young families like that, who we're talking about moving. I also met senior citizens who have only known one home in Corcoran, which is right over there, who suddenly have to figure out how to buy flood insurance, which would have been laughable for most of the last few years?

But you can maybe see there the big earth movers locally trying to scrape enough dirt. They're going to try to raise that levee by four feet and hope it holds. But we won't know until the summer.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Bill, I have to say those images from your piece or just jaw dropping. If I wouldn't know better, I thought they were AI generated or something. I mean, that is the reality that residents there are facing in such a short period of time.

And we should note, though, Bill, for all that water, the southwest is still facing a massive water crisis. We've just been talking about cities needing water from the Colorado River, and just there's not enough really to go around.

WEIR: There there's not enough to go around with the system we built for the old world. In the new world, scientists like Daniel Swain would say we have to think about droughts and floods holistically, that this is water that should be captured to get us through the next drought, which is inevitable.

And then you've got to prepare for the next flash flood. That will come after that.

There's hope that some of this could get into the aqueduct system in California. Sluice online or looking at satellite pictures. Like how can we somehow save this?

There's hope it could somehow charge some of the aquifers. But if it's been over pumped, it's not going to do anything until it evaporates.

But really, this is what weather whiplash looks like in the age of climate change. Tulare Lake is back and maybe forever.

GOLODRYGA: It is. It is amazing. I mean, yet another remarkable piece from you and your team and just this look at what is changing, and so quickly.

Bill, appreciate it. Thanks.

[14:33:45]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Several 2024 Republican White House hopeful set to take the stage at the annual NRA convention. The event coming, of course, just days after deadly mass shootings in Nashville and Louisville.

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[14:38:18]

HILL: All right. Now several Republican presidential hopefuls are preparing to make their pitches to gun rights activists. This is at the National Rifle Association convention, which is underway now in Indianapolis.

Both former President Donald Trump, and his former Vice President Mike Pence will be there.

GOLODRYGA: The NRA convention comes just days after a gunman in Louisville killed five people at a bank and roughly two weeks after a shooter killed three children and three adults at a national school.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the event in Indianapolis.

So, Kristen, what can we expect from these speeches? Who are we going to hear from?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bianna, I want to flag what we just heard because former Vice President Mike Pence is on the stage and just addressed those two shootings.

He said that his thoughts and prayers are with the victims and the victims' families.

He also blamed the Biden administration. He said that the Biden administration was ignoring mental health issues, that instead they were trying to take away guns and put further restrictions on them when instead they should be focusing on mental health.

This is what we are expecting to hear from the 2024 contenders.

I talked to a number of sources with these various GOP 2024 hopefuls or these already declared candidates, who said that if they're person decides to mention these shootings these recent shootings, that they would be in the in the frame of being a mental health issue, not a gun issue.

But it is something we're going to be watching very closely.

And it goes to show you, when you look at this lineup of who is coming here today, former President Donald Trump, his former Vice President Mike Pence. It is every major player in major 2024 Republican contender. And it goes to show you just how powerful this voting bloc is. [14:40:58]

It is an important voting bloc for Republicans, especially as we see that primary field beginning to take shape.

So we're watching today to see how exactly they walk that line. Do they address this recent spate of mass shootings more and more frequent? And do they have any suggestion of how this might work in terms of gun reform?

But as I said, from the sources that I am talking to, this will likely be addressed only as a mental health issue, not a gun issue, which, of course, is unsurprising given where we are today.

HILL: Yes, it is, is what we're used to hearing will be interesting to see if there are any actual solutions that they see as part of addressing a mental health crisis.

Kristen Holmes, appreciate it. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: The family of Louisville bank shooter Connor Sturgeon says his brain will be tested for the neurodegenerative brain disease known as CTE.

A friend of the family tells CNN surgeon had a history of what has been described as significant concussions while playing sports in high school.

They say his condition was so serious, in fact, that he eventually had to wear a helmet to protect his head while playing basketball.

The family says it was even known that classmates called him Mr. Concussion.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joining us now.

So, Sanjay, we know you have done a lot of work here and a lot of reporting on CTE. What would we expect to find here? What should we know about this?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the idea of sort of drawing a cause and effect here between CTE and this sort of -- this sort of behavior is a very challenging thing to do, as you might imagine.

CTE itself is something -- you know, I've been working here 21 years. When I first started, CTE wasn't something people really knew much about. We've learned a lot since then.

It stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. And it's kind of an Alzheimer's-like syndrome that has caused by repeated blows to the head, the concussions that people talk about.

When you get a concussion, it's the whole brain that is sort of affected by that, as opposed to a focal area of the brain. And it's that, those repeated blows that have really been associated with concussions.

We have a better idea of how this disease progresses over time. There are different stages. And the progression can happen over years.

So stage one could be hardly any symptoms at all. Stage two is when people start to possibly have behavioral outbursts, severe depression.

Stage three, you get even more symptoms layered on this, including memory loss. Stage four is obviously the most advanced, when you might even have psychotic symptoms.

Again, drawing cause and effect here is a very challenging thing to do in all aspects of medicine, but this is well. It's better defined than it was two decades ago, but we're still learning a lot about it.

GOLODRYGA: So just to pick up on that point, is there any evidence, perhaps not conclusive at this point, that links CTE to acts of violence?

GUPTA: Yes, there is. I think that's -- that's pretty safe to say. Typically, when you -- when you talk about the behavioral sort of associations with CTE, we do talk about violent behavior, impulse control, aggression.

Most commonly, Bianna, it is aggression that is directed inward. People are more likely to take their own lives than take someone else's life. That is typically what is seen.

And they have been these really tragic stories. Junior Sayout (ph), for example, if someone who comes to mind.

But people may also remember people like Aaron Hernandez, for example, and Philip Adams. These are two former football players who were diagnosed with CTE at the time of their death. Philip Adams had severe stage two CTE and Hernandez had stage three.

And you remember, I mean, these are people who were charged with murder. You know, Philip Adams killed six people before he killed himself. Aaron Hernandez killed somebody and then killed himself.

Again, the cause and effect here very difficult to draw. And I just want to be clear, no one is saying, I think, that even if you have CTE -- and there are a lot of people out there who do worry about this or have been diagnosed or are worried about developing a diagnosis of this -- there's nothing to suggest that they will necessarily have violent behavior like this.

But is it a possibility? Yes. Is this something that is going to be used increasingly as possible legal defenses? Yes.

So we'll see. And we'll see what the -- what the final autopsy results show for this gentleman as well.

HILL: We'll continue to follow this developing story.

Sanjay Gupta. Thank you. [14:44:35]

GOLODRYGA: Well, new problems for Boeing, this time, a manufacturing issue with the 737 Max. How Boeing is responding to questions over safety concerns. That's ahead.

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GOLODRYGA: Every day, refugees and migrants fleeing war and persecution and climate change embark on perilous journeys in search of a better life.

One of the most treacherous paths that they go through is the Darien Gap, a wild lawless jungle between Colombia and Panama.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh and his team traveled there hiking for five days alongside migrants who were risking their lives to reach the United States.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At dawn, the first thing that strikes you is how few of them seem to grasp what's coming, gently packing crackers and tying sneakers like waving a Kleenex at a storm.

The second thing that strikes you is how organized the cartel wanted to seem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[14:50:06]

PATON WALSH: They only walk when they're told to.

Their stories here and many, but there is only one goal -- America.

(CROSSTALK)

PATON WALSH: And the dream is just that, a reverence of hope, of conviction that they will be the ones to make it. But the danger, disease, dehydration deportation, about this number every day every year, almost doubling.

The Darien Gap has the only land corridor from South America, where entry is easier to its north, where it's not. There were no roads. Only 66 miles of treacherous jungle from Colombia to Panama and onwards, north 3000 miles to the U.S. border.

We walked the entire route of the Darien Gap over five days in February to document the suffering endured by people milked for cash by cartels, unwanted by any country.

(on camera): What's startling is the sheer number of children on this trick as it begins on a route sometimes adults don't even survive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Nick Paton Walsh joins us now.

It is -- it is stunning. And it is so important. Your report as part of its -- the first episode, I should say. of the highly anticipated new show here. "THE WHOLE STORY" with Anderson Cooper premiers Sunday night.

Tell us a little bit more about what you saw. And also, Nick, the people you met who decided to make this dangerous track.

PATON WALSH: Look it's important to just get your head around how many people are doing this. We were part of a group of nearly 1,000 that left the camp you saw there at dawn.

But given the lag and how long the journey takes, at any given time, there could be 6,000 people in the jungle, making this particular route. And so far this year, we've seen seven times as many perform this particular trek in the first quarter of this year, as we did in the first quarter of last year.

And last year set a record of a quarter of a million people crossing the Darien Gap. So at this rate, we could be looking at well over a million doing it this year.

It's important because so many of them are children. Their ultimate destination is the U.S./Mexican border and all the issues that potentially brings for migration into the United States.

But also, too, their volume causes them problems themselves. They often end up in traffic jams. Frankly, we ourselves found ourselves caught in hundreds of migrants waiting to get through a particular choke point.

The number of them means it's slower. It means they're at greater risk. It means the children are more exposed, potentially, to exhaustion. Have less -- a lack of food, dehydration. So this is a growing problem.

And it's one that a cartel on the Colombian and Panamanian border clearly making a lot of money off. They control the Colombian side of the route. And when you cross into Panama there, you have very much on your own -- Erica, Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Yes. You mentioned the children, and Nick is the most difficult part to watch here and to see these children endure this dangerous trek.

You report from all over the world, in Ukraine now. I'm just curious, from --based on your reporting here, what stood out to you the most? What surprised you the most from this trip?

PATON WALSH: I think how physically exhausting this was for everybody who undertook, including us. But most importantly, the extraordinary generosity of human spirit that you see on something like this. Yes, it's dangerous. Yes, some people do not make it. And we saw their

bodies on some of the older routes there. But what you are again reminded of is the capacity for people to love and care for utter strangers, to not leave people behind.

Being a man in his thirties, who sprained his ankle, fellow Venezuelans made a stretcher for him. They have a 12-year-old girl who's disabled, who, a complete stranger, 27, also from Venezuela, carries her for days because her mother has completely underestimated the dangers of the trek.

And be it, frankly, the love we saw for a sick kid from Venezuela, Louvar (ph), whose father was trying to carry on despite the enormous respiratory difficulties. We're having strangers were trying to help them out.

Everybody was looking out for each other. And it's that remarkable generosity, as I mentioned, that makes you feel what an extraordinary gift these people would be in whatever country they finally settled from.

And you're also reminded, too, how acutely awful the places they must be fleeing from for them to risk themselves and their families through this five days of potentially lethal challenges.

This is really, really hard, not something anybody, frankly, should be doing at all. But it's a reflection of how desperate and how awfully contested migrant passages are around the world these days -- Erica Bianna?

HILL: It is such an important point,

Nick Paton Walsh, appreciate the reporting as always. We look forward to seeing the whole story this Sunday night. Of course, the whole story with Anderson Cooper airs Sunday at 8:00 p.m., right here on CNN.

[14:54:59]

The family of the "Wall Street Journal" reporter who is detained in Russia is now speaking out for the first time in an exclusive interview with the paper. Evan Gershkovich's sister telling "The Journal" she's always been in awe of her brother.

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DANIELLE GERSHKOVICH, SISTER OF EVAN GERSHKOVICH: We're so different. I'm a home-body. He's a thrill seeker and adventurer. I can't even relate to him sometimes in the life he leads, as -- as a reporter.

I think the America reports on -- on Russia, sometimes in a way that makes it seem like a pretty terrifying cold place.

He was really passionate about showing other sides of Russia, the nuance and the beauty of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: He was doing such important work in Russia.

Gershkovich is being held in Moscow now on charges of espionage. Both the "Wall Street Journal" and the U.S. government deny those charges and are calling for his immediate release.

HILL: The suspect accused of leaking classified Pentagon documents is making his first court appearance. Just ahead, what we learned from that appearance and also when he got his top-secret clearance.

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