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U.S. Evacuates Diplomatic Staff, Families From Sudan; Ukraine Commander: Russia Is Shelling Around The Clock; Bed Bath & Beyond Files For Bankruptcy. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired April 23, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They've got a large number, at least 11 foreign national aircrafts, military aircrafts or groups of aircrafts now gathered on the airfield here in Djibouti as part of these ongoing evacuation efforts. Again, with the US evacuation this morning, local time, which is in and of itself something of a feat. It involved flying via Ethiopia, refueling there, three Chinook aircrafts and flying at a hundred miles an hour for eight hours or so over into Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

Less than an hour on the ground, they were able to pluck some 70-plus Embassy staff and their families, plus a small number of foreign nationals the State Department said out of the country and then flying them back, at least to Ethiopia.

Now, there were no contacts with any kind of violence in that operation. There have been some unconfirmed reports that almost simultaneously, almost simultaneously, a French evacuation effort may have come under fire, but that has been unconfirmed at this stage.

The British Special Forces and the French Special Forces evacuated some hundred-plus people from their nationalities and other foreigners. The Belgians, Dutch and even the Norwegians and now and Germans are now carrying out their efforts, but there are 19,000 potentially Americans still stuck in Sudan, many of them dual nationals, not all of them necessarily wanting to be evacuated.

But this isn't just focused on Khartoum in terms of the need for evacuation, there is violence spreading across the country. And it's for that reason, the State Department is asking Americans to remain in contact with other foreign national groups that might be running evacuations, particularly over land, but also warning that they are risky.

There's an Emirati effort that has been made to use land routes, potentially to Port Sudan, but that itself is a day's drive through deserts, with very limited supplies of food, fuel, and water above all, so both -- all of those three absolutely essential items are also running out for Sudanese nationals in the capital, but also the large numbers of foreigners that still remain there.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, Sam. Kylie Atwood at the State Department, I mean, this was a huge operation, one of intense coordination. What can you tell us from the State Department?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. I mean, the State Department has evacuation plans for its embassies around the world, but what we saw over the course of the last few days, Fred, was the US military and the State Department working together to actually put the pieces into place to carry out this evacuation.

Now, earlier in the week, one of the top State Department officials told Congress that the situation on the ground was just too violent for them to carry out this evacuation, but of course, with the approval of the Secretary of State and President Biden on Saturday night, they went ahead with this operation.

It was quick. They went in and there were about a hundred Special Forces who flew into Sudan on the ground for less than an hour. Getting out, as Sam said, less than a hundred people, most of them US diplomats and their family members, a few other diplomats from other countries and then they flew them out to Ethiopia on these US military helicopters aircraft out of the country.

What this means that there are no US diplomats in the country anymore and the US Embassy has temporarily suspended operations. It is effectively closed for now. Of course, the State Department would like to reopen it when conditions allow for that. But obviously, we don't see that happening right now.

When it comes to those Americans who are still in the country that you guys were discussing earlier. There are a number of them who have reached out to the State Department to try and get some sort of help from them, as they look at options to try and get out of the country. With that main airport, obviously shut down to commercial flights, it is not easy with the streets full of violence.

What the State Department is saying right now is that they don't foresee a plan, a US government plan to evacuate those citizens right now or in the coming days. Of course, we'll continue to watch that space as it evolves. If there is more demand, if they can do anything more. But right now, what they're saying is that they want to help US citizens, provide them with some sort of support as they look to routes to get out of the country, and there are some convoys that other countries are leading.

The State Department is channeling US citizens to say, hey, look to these options, but telling them to do so at their own risk.

WHITFIELD: All right, Kylie Atwood at the White House. Now, Kevin Liptak, is the White House willing to explore options or even share that it is exploring options about potentially getting other people out?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, certainly the President is being updated on steps that the US might take to assist Americans who remain in Khartoum, but they have been clear really for the past week or so that they do not see a large scale military evacuation of private American citizens to be in the offing here. [15:05:09]

LIPTAK: And they say that for a number of reasons. One, it's not standard for the US government to evacuate its citizens from places that are warzones. That is not something that the US routinely does. And they've also made the point that the US State Department has given American citizens ample warning that it is not safe to remain in Sudan. It has warned against travel there for several months.

And so they say they will do what they can, but they cannot provide a sort of this -- the type of evacuation that you saw last night for American diplomats. Of course, President Biden did monitor that from Camp David, that is where he is spending the weekend.

He did spend the last several days sort of looking for the right moment for this evacuation to begin, and one of the things that he wanted to do was to have all of the diplomats assembled at the diplomatic compound there in Khartoum, at the embassy, it's on the outskirts of the city. It has been described as a fortress, that in itself was quite an undertaking.

The roads in Khartoum are quite unsafe. It wasn't really just a matter of hailing a taxi and going to the Embassy. They had to get the diplomats there before they could get them out of the country. Once they were out, the President did release a statement announcing the operation, saying in part: "I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our Embassy staff who performed their duties with courage and professionalism and embodied America's friendship and connection with the people of Sudan."

And the President went on to say and this is important: "I am receiving regular reports from my team on their ongoing work to assist Americans in Sudan to the extent possible. We are also working closely with our allies and partners in this effort."

And so the President in there, making the point that they won't be able to do everything that they can to get these Americans out, but they will do what they can going forward -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. It will remain volatile for a bit.

Kevin Liptak, Kylie Atwood, Sam Kiley, thanks to all of you. Appreciate it.

All right now to Ukraine, where officials say Russian attacks are being reported along the length of the war's frontline, especially in the Eastern part of the country. One Ukrainian military spokesman said shelling in these areas has been going around-the-clock and it comes ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive, which could happen within weeks or months.

And for one town in Southeastern Ukraine, it can't come soon enough. Nick Paton Walsh has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Studying the silence and the violence the punctuates it, that's the job here in Southern Hulyaipole where life in the ruins waits for Ukraine's counteroffensive to push the Russians right out of their space.

Ludmila hasn't left since the war began and knows her artillery.

(LUDMILA speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: When there is incoming, there is echo. And then you hear the cracking sound, that's outgoing.

WALSH (voice over): It's all they've had to do as they wait down here with only a radio. They say it brought their best news yet this day, learning the Russians have bombed themselves by accident in Belgorod.

Recently, Nina thinks she has noticed a change in the bangs.

(NINA speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: The shelling is not as heavy as it was. Maybe, it is father away, or different guns.

(LUDMILA speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: The scariest was the start of the war. Now, we are used to it. That's a bad habit.

WALSH (voice over): Drive out into the plain's earlier this week and the signs are there in the tracks in the berms that Ukraine might be aiming south to cut Crimea off from Russia.

It's quiet, then loud.

With the Russians firing from close by, drone operators fly in gaps between electronic jamming.

WALSH (on camera): In these open fields here, each side trying to spot the other, weaken the other, ahead of this counteroffensive.

WALSH (voice over): One road is their target, the cars, the buildings, tiny changes and signs of weakness.

WALSH (on camera): Are they getting ready for the counteroffensive or just doing nothing?

(OLEKSIY speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: They are preparing all the time. Constantly digging trenches. New ones appear all the time. Vehicles moving all the time, including mechanics.

WALSH (voice over): Yards from his head, a Russian booby trap left behind. It's not clear if the Russians they are facing now have similar experience. (UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: They seem to be training. There is a rifle range there.

WALSH (voice over): After 90 minutes, each drone parachutes down again, soon replaced by another. Fly, spot, shell, and repeat. The waiting and watching will soon be over.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Hulyaipole, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:10:10]

WHITFIELD: Coming up, an iconic American retailer just filed for bankruptcy after a tumultuous struggle to stay in business over the past several years. Bed Bath & Beyond is closing its doors. What will happen to the company's 360 locations? Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It was one of America's most popular businesses,. But now, Bed Bath & Beyond is closing up shop.

The company officially filed for bankruptcy today. Its remaining 360 locations and it's 120 Bye-Bye Baby stores will remain open for now as it tries to liquidate assets.

It's a stunning fall for a company that once saw nearly $8 billion in sales annually.

[15:15:00]

WHITFIELD: Here with us now is David Katz. He is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Randa Apparel and Accessories.

So good to see you, David. But this is sad. I mean, my goodness, and surprising, at least to many of us who really love going to Bed Bath & Beyond, that it is closing its doors. It's official: Bankruptcy.

How do you see this?

DAVID KATZ, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, RANDA APPAREL AND ACCESSORIES: Well, Fredricka, thanks for inviting me on this beautiful for some of us, but painful for quite a few Bed Bath associates Sunday.

I think what we're seeing is something somewhat inevitable. The eruption of retail, large box retailers in general has been happening for a decade, particularly the perfect storm we've seen over the last three or four years. You had COVID and you had supply chain issues, the incredible growth of Amazon and online shopping, changes of immediacy of shopping.

I think all of those factors, plus the somewhat behind the track e- commerce platform for Bed Bath made this a somewhat foreseeable outcome.

WHITFIELD: Gosh, but it did seem to be one of the dominant, you know, retailers out there for a very long time. It's been an incredible ride, right? But like you said, you have these big box kind of items stores. I mean, it seems like it's falling, the wayside of just like a Toys R Us or a Circuit City, even though these are very unique stores.

I mean, they don't have huge competition in terms of a store that, you know, focuses on one particular thing, but is it a testament to just the fact that people want to buy things online? And it's just you know, these stores, these brick and mortars just can't compete with the kind of convenience, the ease with which retailers would you know, prefer to shop -- shopping online.

KATZ: I don't think that's really what's happening. I think that the customers and most retail sales are still done in mortar and brick stores. I think e-commerce is not a business model, it is a channel of shopping that adds to the entire consumer experience, but I don't think it's about purely e-commerce. I think it's about relevance.

I think today, the consumer calls the shots about what they want to buy, what brands, where, how, and when. And the things for Bed Bath, I mean, Bed Bath used to be this incredible destination for back to school. You could see the sort of incredible assortment you could buy at the last minute before school started. I mean, with all of these things, there are other places you can get this at last minute now at prices as good or better.

And remember, Bed Bath also adopted a private label strategy over the last couple of years and many retailers, private label in theory, if you do it well, it might give you a better margin, a profit margin because you're buying directly from the factory and you're sourcing it yourself. On the other hand, it also means you own your inventory destiny.

There is no supplier like an All Clad a Ralph Lauren for bed products, or Calvin Klein for sheets to supply you with inventory, and if you have supply chain issues, you own those. If you have too much inventory, it's your inventory. If you have too little, you can't get it and going into holiday, your Bed Bath was out of stock on nearly half the key items that they needed and they didn't have the brands that people were shopping for.

And I think you combine that with the other elements we're talking about, this was a tough path for them. I don't think you can navigate a new landscape using old maps and they were relying on old maps.

WHITFIELD: David, okay, I'm depressed now. Okay, but what's next? Because, okay, Bed Bath & Beyond, David's Bridal, these are just, you know, recent announcements, Party City, Tuesday Morning -- all, you know, soon to be bye-bye.

I'm somebody who still likes to go into a store and shop. I mean, great, you know, online shopping. That's great. That's convenient and everything, but sometimes you just want to touch the stuff. You want to see the quality and all that good stuff. One day, are we looking at never really being able to enjoy that at all again?

KATZ: No. You know, as I mentioned a moment ago, I think most shopping will continue to happen in mortar and brick stores. And I think some of that is classification.

If you're looking to replace or replenish a certain amount of bed sheets or towels or toilet paper, toothpaste, you may be able to do that pretty easily online, but if there is a new product introduction or a new release, right, you can touch it, and there's also a social experience about walking into a store and talking to people and engaging particularly when somebody lives social media and online. I think you will see the importance.

In general, the industry, a couple of years, when you know wholesale was dead, mortar and brick is where it is, it's all about direct to consumer, e-commerce and vertical stores and in the last year, they've realized, that's not really true.

[15:20:01]

KATZ: I mean obviously, it shifted people online when stores were closed, but now we're seeing this shift back to buying and touching and interacting with products and people and experimenting with new things and trying and as you said, touching the towels.

So, I think that is going to go on for a very long time.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Okay. All right, there is a little glimmer of hope there. Thanks for that.

David Katz, appreciate it.

KATZ: Have a great Sunday.

WHITFIELD: You, too.

All right, still ahead, the launch of the most powerful rocket ever built ended with a big explosion, but SpaceX says the test was a success. What is next for the company and the mission? I'll discuss with a Professor of Astrophysics next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:09]

WHITFIELD: Major flood warnings and flood advisories are in effect across the Midwest this week as temperatures continue to rise. The snow melting across the region may cause river gauges from the Dakotas all the way to Missouri to overflow.

CNN meteorologist, Allison Chinchar has the latest weather update for us.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's that time of year again. Temperatures are rising and the snow is melting. The concern is when you get that snow melt rapidly, all of that water ends up flowing into the rivers, creeks, and streams.

And right now across the Midwest, we have several river gauges that are already at moderate and even major flood stage across the upper Midwest, but we're going to start to see a lot of that spread farther south, States like Iowa, Illinois, and even into Missouri, where those river gauges could potentially get up to moderate and even major flood stage by the end of the week.

One specific gauge we're looking at is the Mississippi River at St. Paul right now sitting at about 17-and-a-half feet, that does put this at major flood stage. It is expected to crest Friday, maybe perhaps Saturday of this week at just shy of 19 feet. And while that will cause some local concerns, it's not expected to get to the record crest, which was just over 26 feet.

The reason behind all of this melt is all of the snow that is still on the ground across areas of the Midwest, especially after in some cases, a pretty epic snowfall for just specifically the month of April.

All of this is going to end up warming up, melting and flowing back into those rivers, creeks, and streams. But in addition to that, we also have the potential for some rain by the end of this upcoming week.

And while it may not seem like much one, maybe at most two inches, is just going to exacerbate a lot of the already ongoing issues for some of these areas where they are already dealing with swollen rivers, creeks and streams.

And temperatures right now are on the cool side averaging 10 to 15 degrees below average. That's a good thing. That is allowing for this to be a gradual rise of that water across the rivers, but if these temperatures begin to warm back up at the end of the week, or into the weekend, we could potentially start to see those rivers rise a little bit more rapidly.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Allison Chinchar.

All right, SpaceX is already looking forward to its next rocket launch in the coming months following it spectacular explosion just a few days ago.

On Thursday, SpaceX's Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built lifted off from a South Texas launchpad to cheers, but then just minutes into flight, the massive starship exploded in midair after it was unable to separate from its powerful booster.

The stunning explosion lit up the sky and sent debris in all directions over the Gulf of Mexico.

And with me right now to talk about this is Adam Frank. He's a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rochester and is the author of the book, "Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth."

Professor, good to see you again.

ADAM FRANK, PROFESSOR OF ASTROPHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: Good to see you again as well.

WHITFIELD: Okay, so is this a success or failure? Because SpaceX has embraced this explosion with CEO and Founder, Elon Musk saying that such accidents are the quickest and most efficient way of actually gathering data. So, how do you see it?

FRANK: It was a success in that way. You know, I mean, on one level, there is nothing cooler than watching a giant rocket explode as long as there's nobody on it, of course. But really, you know, this technology, it's hard to overstate how radical the technology these guys are playing with here.

It is fueled by methane. It's an entirely new kind of fuel. It is the most powerful rocket ever built. It's made of stainless steel, like some kind of 1950s science fiction movie. It lands upright, you know.

So, it is like everything they're trying here is really pushing the envelope, and so just even getting it you know, past the gantry was a major success.

So you've got to expect that things like this are going to happen and they learn something from it every time. And if SpaceX really lives up, or the Starship lives up to its promise, it's going to change everything for space exploration and space settlement.

WHITFIELD: Yes. it sounds like -- I mean, this is part of the fine tuning, right? And this is when you want to learn this stuff when it is unmanned. So Elon Musk has long stressed that he founded SpaceX, back in 2002 primarily to help humanity colonize Mars, and the billionaire entrepreneur, you know, believes the Starship, the one that exploded, it is the vehicle that will eventually allow us to do that. Are you as optimistic?

FRANK: You know, I think the eventual settlement of Mars or the solar system is, you know, something I'm very excited about and I think is absolutely part of the human future and this kind of launch system is going to be important, but even beyond that.

[15:30:07]

FRANK: I mean, Starship is going to be transformative for our settlement of the moon. It's a big part of NASA's Artemis Program for getting people on the moon. The Starship is what's going to land on the moon, essentially.

And then for even in my own field in Astronomy, the capacity to put big, really big telescopes into space that Starship may allow. There was just a recent paper that some astronomers wrote saying that, look Starship will be revolutionary, like we'll be able to put all kinds of even more advanced telescopes in the JWST into space, if Starship really lives up to its promise. So even without Mars, it is already going to change our understanding of what we can do in space.

WHITFIELD: Okay. All right, well, let me shift gears now to another out of this world topic. You know, this week, at the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee hearing, The Pentagon says the US is tracking 650 potential UFO cases. So, how does that make you feel?

FRANK: Well, you know, most of these cases are -- most of these cases, as was discussed, are going to turn out to be you know, a nothing burger. They are going to be either natural phenomena or balloons, or other kinds of things.

You know, the whole history of UFO is -- I am working on a new book about aliens, space aliens.

WHITFIELD: "The Little Book of Aliens," in fact is what it is called, right?

FRANK: "The Little Book of Aliens," yes.

WHITFIELD: That's kind of cute to call it.

FRANK: It is coming out in the fall. And so I've been doing a lot of work on the UFO stuff as well, and what you see is there are just these cycles that we'd have over and over again, the public getting excited, there are more sightings, and then they look into it and it always turns out that the vast majority of the cases are explainable.

Now, there are some cases that turn out to be weird. Most likely, those are going to be about National Defense, but we'll have to see, and what is good about what's happening now is that it is finally -- the stigma about reporting UAP is going away, because the only way you're going to know what's going on is that people don't feel comfortable saying that they've seen something, and then you can do the hardcore science, which has never really been done before, to be able to tell you what these things are.

So I was -- you know, we should note also that Sean Kirkpatrick, the only person who testified for the government said, look, there is still nothing we see here that has anything to do with life outside of Earth, but at least now we're starting to have the real kind of hardcore data taking, which is how the standards of evidence necessary to know what these things are, the same standards that my colleagues and I as we study life on distant planets are going to be held to.

You know, the UFO sightings are going to have to be helped, so it's a positive development, I think.

WHITFIELD: So with your book, "The Little Book of Aliens" coming out in the fall, does this mean that you are a believer that we're not alone?

FRANK: Well, I am -- I feel I'm a scientist, so you know, for me, it's all about the data. When I look at the numbers of how many habitable planets there are out there, there are 10 billion trillion planets in the universe where life may have started. So, you know, I'm an optimist that somewhere else in the universe, what has happened here with us has happened out there.

I don't -- I'm very doubtful that we're being visited by anybody because you know, if you could go anywhere in the universe, would you come here? You know? No. You'd go to, you know the Interstellar Venice or the -- you know, someplace.

WHITFIELD: Well, I don't know, it is a pretty cool place that we live on. I like it.

FRANK: It's true. It is a place no other, and maybe that's where we are getting --

WHITFIELD: All right --

FRANK: But in general --

WHITFIELD: Okay, good. Hey, I love your enthusiasm. Always.

FRANK: But I was just going to say, in general, I think it is -- good, good.

WHITFIELD: Professor Adam Frank, thanks so much.

All right still to come, now, that's some enthusiasm. The 15-year wait is over for this team celebrating a big, big win. What this means for the team, the owners and its fans in Wales and around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:38:18]

WHITFIELD: All right, quite the magical Hollywood moment for a soccer team with help from some Hollywood faces. Wrexham AFC is returning to the English Football League after a 15-year drought. The club clinched the promotion and a National League title in its win on Saturday. Can you feel and see that excitement or what?

I mean, the club's celebrity owners, actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds were there to soak it all in. it is a huge accomplishment, and host of CNN's World Sport, Don Riddell is here to break it all down.

You let me know about it this morning that this is a big deal.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT HOST: Yes, it's such a cool story. It's been years in the making, arguably 158 years. Wrexham is one of the oldest teams in the world, but unfortunately, they've fallen on really, really hard times.

They were stuck in this division that they were really struggling to get out of and everything changed when Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took over a couple of years ago, and they have completely transformed not just the team but the town and the community. The team became the subject of a documentary series called "Welcome to Wrexham," which is highly entertaining and that is why they've now got fans all over the world.

This tiny little team, Fred, I host a sports show on CNN International. We would never talk about Wrexham, but we've talked about them loads since these guys have taken over because it is just --

WHITFIELD: But why did they want to over that team?

RIDDELL: So McElhenney had this idea, he didn't really know much about soccer, football, as we call it, but he discovered that unlike American sports, you have something called promotion and relegation, which means in theory you can buy a tiny little team and take them all the way up into the Premier League. It'd be like taking A baseball team into the majors, like it wouldn't happen in this country, it just couldn't, but in Europe it can.

[15:40:03]

RIDDELL: And so he had this idea, he looked around, persuaded Ryan Reynolds to get involved. Those who have become best mates as a result of this project.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Nice.

RIDDELL: The documentary is so entertaining. It really is inspiring and uplifting, and I feel like we shouldn't have given our viewers a spoiler alert, because we've just talked about how Season 2 is going to end, but it's going to be a happy ending.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's nice.

RIDDELL: And arguably, this story would have ended --

WHITFIELD: And with the wiping of the tear, I saw on the stands.

RIDDELL: They were emotional. They were really, really emotional.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

RIDDELL: But yes, the team is going from strength to strength and the Hollywood ending might actually just be the beginning, because what might now happen?

WHITFIELD: Oh, it is going to be a good story. I mean, it continues to be a great story. And so what about this little tiny town in Wales? They must be over the moon.

RIDDELL: Yes, so it's a post industrial town that had a steel industry and mining industry, they had breweries, and all of that has kind of closed down and gone away, and the town was really down on its luck, but the football team remained the center of this community.

But unfortunately, they were really down on their luck as well, twice in the last 15 years, they could have gone out of business. The fans themselves had to put their own money in just to keep the team afloat.

WHITFIELD: Really?

RIDDELL: So it just means so much to so many people. And now, because of the show, the town is on the world map. Now, you've got people coming from all over the world to see the games. You've got, you know, a lot of American sports fans who are now going to this tiny little town in Wales.

WHITFIELD: Oh, I love it.

RIDDELL: To follow the team.

WHITFIELD: Now, what about the players? Because something tells me there isn't -- there are unique stories, you know, that are representative of each of these players. I mean, they certainly didn't expect to find this kind of notoriety.

But then obviously, they had the love of the sport and the skill and all of that that came together believing in themselves and team.

RIDDELL: Well, some of the players that were there when these guys took over are no longer there, because they had to invest in the team. They had to get better players in. So a lot of the players are new and a lot of these players kind of took a bit of a gamble on their careers because they dropped down a couple of divisions to try and help Wrexham get back up.

But for them, the gamble has paid off. They are now world famous as well. And you know, this team might one day be in the Premier League. I asked Rob McElhenney, what is your goal? And he said, people will laugh, but it is the Premier League. He said, why wouldn't we dream of that? It's possible.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

RIDDELL: We will see.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's cool. I mean, so there's a great documentary. And now I mean, this has the makings of yet another movie. I mean, just an interesting --

RIDDELL: It is rumored that Wrexham will feature in the next "Deadpool" movie, because that's Ryan Reynolds'.

WHITFIELD: Of course. That makes sense.

RIDDELL: So why not?

WHITFIELD: Why not? All right, Don Riddell, thank you so much. Thanks for bringing that to us. I loved it.

All right, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:58]

WHITFIELD: This week in Nashville, families will mark one month since six teachers and children were gunned down at an elementary school.

Ahead of that anniversary, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is now calling for a special legislative session to tackle gun reform and among those pushing for immediate action on tighter gun laws are three State Democratic lawmakers dubbed the Tennessee Three and they have emerged as some of the most powerful voices on gun reform after being punished for protesting on the Tennessee House floor.

All three are heading to the White House tomorrow to discuss gun violence and discuss what can be done with President Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN JONES (D), TENNESSEE STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I'm going to lift up the names of Akilah DaSilva, of Michael Hill, of these children whose lives were taken in Nashville and ask for the President to declare a Public Health Emergency when it comes to gun violence.

I think that we need an emergency response when we're facing a crisis situation. And that in States like ours, we need help from our national leaders.

JUSTIN PEARSON (D), TENNESSEE STATE REPRESENTATIVES: I think there's a really a holistic approach that has to be taken that isn't just addressing guns, but is addressing how we prevent gun violence and how we support communities that are suffering because of the inaction of people like the Republican Party in Tennessee.

GLORIA JOHNSON (D), TENNESSEE STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Now the reality is in my district because I'm a teacher, I taught for 27 years. I was in a school that had a school shooting, gun violence has always been a big issue for me and I have run Red Flag Laws in the past, but we hold in my district in Red Knox County and overwhelmingly the majority of Republicans in my district support Red Flag Laws.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, the first two lawmakers you saw there were expelled, removed from their seats in the Legislature before being reinstated.

Tennessee's special session on gun reform is also set to begin now tomorrow.

All right, this week on "Searching for Mexico," Eva Longoria visits Jalisco, where much of what is seen as quintessentially Mexican originated like mariachi bands and tequila, but she discovers that it's also place of innovation with some of the country's most cutting edge restaurants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(EVA LONGORIA speaking in foreign language.) EVA LONGORIA, CNN HOST, "SEARCHING FOR MEXICO": Wow. This smells so good.

(EVA LONGORIA speaking in foreign language.)

LONGORIA: Wow. Wow. It so soft.

(EVA LONGORIA speaking in foreign language.)

LONGORIA: Oh my gosh, this broth is amazing.

I can see why this Jaliscan stew has become as legendary as the charros who eat it. They have skillfully transformed goat meat into a pillar of Mexican gastronomy.

This is really amazing. These crafty charros have one more trick up their sleeve

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

(EVA LONGORIA speaking in foreign language.)

LONGORIA: Oh my God, that's so big. You're trying to kill me on my first day and they're trying to kill me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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WHITFIELD: I want to be part of that. Watch as Eva Longoria explores Jalisco a new "Searching for Mexico" airs tonight at nine Eastern right here on CNN.

We'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: This week, CNN's Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer traveled to Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration camp where more than one million people, mostly Jews were killed during the Holocaust including Dana's great grandparents.

And now more than 80 years later, they returned to walk the same forsaken ground where both of their families had their humanity stripped away and their lives taken.

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DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I've never been here.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": You've never been here?

BASH: No, I've never been to Auschwitz. I've never been to any of these camps.

BLITZER: Ever since I was a little boy, I knew my parents were Holocaust survivors. I knew my dad was from here.

BASH: He was from Auschwitz.

BLITZER: He was from the town here, which had a Yiddish name, Auchwitzen. This is so painful for me. It's so personal for me because all four of my grandparents were killed during the Holocaust and two of them, my paternal grandparents, my dad's mom and dad, were killed here at Auschwitz.

BASH: And your dad's siblings didn't survive.

BLITZER: One sister survived. One younger sister, the others were all killed.

At the end of the war, they were liberated at Bergen-Belsen, and they were taken on this forced march by the Nazis.

BASH: Yes. The Death March.

BLITZER: The Death March, yes.

BASH: That's how my Great Aunt died, it was --

BLITZER: And that's -- my dad's younger brother died in the Death March.

BASH: My great grandparents, they were Hungarian. So they were safe until 1944 in Hungary, because Hitler didn't invade there until close to the end of the war.

So my grandparents were in the United States, and they were receiving some letters from my grandmother's parents. And as the letters came, they were getting more and more dire, and we have the final letter that says, "Until this moment, at least, I could hold myself together, but now I have to write a farewell letter to my dearest children. My heart is getting very heavy. I must stop after every word and collect myself in order to continue writing."

And they were saying goodbye before they came here.

BLITZER: They knew what was about to happen.

BASH: They knew what was going to happen by that time. They knew. And I'm looking around and I'm thinking I don't even know if they made it into the barracks.

BLITZER: Or just got off the train and to the gas chamber.

This is where they believe my grandparents were killed.

BASH: You think your grandparents were killed right here.

BLITZER: Yes. In this gas chamber. It is terrible. They deserved better than that.

BASH: But they were nothing, not people.

There are so many people here, because today is --

BLITZER: It is a special day.

BASH: March of the Living.

BLITZER: Yes.

BASH: And it's called March of the Living because.

BLITZER: The Nazis took them out for the Death March and today, we're doing the March of the Living, which is so powerful and people from all over the world.

BASH (voice over): People from all over the world come --

Including rapper, Meek Mill, and invited guest, the New England Patriots owner, Robert Kraft.

ROBERT KRAFT, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS OWNER: It behooves all of us to stop all kinds of hate --

BASH (voice over): Who started an organization to combat growing antisemitism, Stand Up to Jewish Hate.

BASH (on camera): Why was it so important for you to come here?

MEEK MILLS, RAPPER: First of all, I think it's important for me to learn humanity's history. I wanted to come here and see this for myself and learn about it for myself.

BASH: Kanye West has said some really antisemitic things. How do you see your role here in trying to beat that back?

MILLS: We are two different artists. We represent two different things. Even when he was speaking on things I wasn't educated to even know, right from wrong, but I know a lot of the things he was saying was wrong, because it sounded like hate, and now that I had an education, I'd definitely spread the word to people in my culture about what I've seen and what I've felt at that concentration camp today.

BASH: What did you see and feel?

MILLS: Seeing their pain, some you can't really explain it was -- it was not nice to see.

BLITZER: I am really happy that they've kept this place.

BASH: I was thinking about that.

BLITZER: So that people can see and know that it was not some myth.

BASH: Did I ever show you this necklace?

BLITZER: No.

BASH: This is Matilda Vidor, my great grandmother. She was killed right here in Auschwitz, and she gave this locket to my grandmother the last time they saw each other in Hungary.

And then my grandmother gave this to my mother and when my son, Jonah was born, my mother gave it to me. This is my most prized possession.

BLITZER: Beautiful.

BASH: And I wanted to wear it here hoping that she somehow knows somewhere that her legacy lives on. What you always say Wolf, about when your father would see you on TV.

BLITZER: He'd say, this was revenge. For him, it was satisfying, not just to see us on TV, but to know that a child of Holocaust survivors was reporting the news.

BASH: The best revenge is to survive and to thrive.

BLITZER: Yes. That's why it's so important that we educate, and we show the world what was going on and that's what we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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