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U.S. Evacuates Diplomatic Staff, Families From Sudan; No Plans To Evacuate U.S. Citizens From Sudan; American Airlines Plane Catches Fire After Bird Strike Over Ohio; NAACP Sues Mississippi Over New Laws Expanding State Police In Jackson; Debt Ceiling Vote; Biden's Announcement This Week; Scooping Up Organic Waste. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired April 23, 2023 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: 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.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: 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 said this was revenge for whom it was satisfied. Not just to see his son on TV, but to know that --

DASH: Yes.

BLITZER: The child of holocaust he had was, you know, 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)

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

And U.S. diplomatic personnel and their families are now out of Sudan. They were airlifted to neighboring Djibouti in a dramatic overnight evacuation. More than 100 U.S. special operations personnel were involved in the extraction. The U.S. embassy in Khartoum has now suspended operations.

Violence in Sudan broke out more than a week ago. Heavy fighting between rival military factions, leaving more than 400 dead and thousands injured.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon for us.

So, Oren, what more are you learning about this operation?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: This was an operation carried out effectively in the dead of night by a fairly small group of special operations forces right around 100 there that flew from Djibouti in large, heavy lift chinook helicopters to the embassy in Khartoum in Sudan to evacuate under 100 personnel there, that includes the diplomatic staff as well as their family members, and take them out safely first to Ethiopia, and then onwards to Djibouti.

DOD, the Defense Department, that I, and the State Department have been watching the situation very closely as of course was President Joe Biden, who was getting regular updates. Because it was so volatile there was a declared 72-hour ceasefire between the warring factions. But according to our reporting, it wasn't holding and there were violations. But in the end, the decision had to be made and was made that there was enough of a window there to get in across a long route.

This is a flight of some 750 or more miles from Djibouti to Khartoum. And then, of course, pick up the embassy members and their family, and then get them out. So it was an operation that was carried out successfully. The safe evacuation via military aircraft out of Khartoum. And as you pointed out, that means the embassy for now is closed in Khartoum. The question what happens from here?

There are thousands of dual citizens, Sudanese Americans in there, who may be trying to get out or maybe monitoring the situation. DOD said in a briefing after the completion of the evacuation mission that they're considering a number of options, including monitoring from above the land routes out that would either be the port of Sudan, where you could get out by sea or trying to make it to one of the land crossings.

They're also considering setting up deconfliction lines or mechanisms to try to keep in touch with the warring parties there. To see if it's possible to do something like that, some way to guarantee a safe way out, or at least a safer way out. If there are any American citizens there who are looking to get out, Fredricka, they're still monitoring the situation very closely. The fighting there now entering its second week.

WHITFIELD: All right. Oren Liebermann, thanks so much for all of that.

We're also getting reaction from the White House and the U.S. State Department. CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House.

Kevin, what more are you hearing?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly. President Biden is keeping a watch on this from Camp David. That is where he is spending the weekend and we know that he has been updated on this regularly, really over the past week or so, really looking for the right moment to execute this evacuation. He had ordered the pre- positioning of military assets in Djibouti, and he had also ordered the diplomats to sort of come together at the embassy, consolidate the presence there at the diplomatic compound.

It's on the outskirts of Khartoum, so it's been described to me as a fortress-like structure. So once all of the diplomats were assembled there, this mission was executed and the president did announce it last night in a statement.

Now we do know that the president is also keeping tabs on these efforts to potentially assist private citizens who do remain in the country. But what the White House and what the Biden administration has said is that a largescale military evacuation of citizens is not in the offing at this point and the president in his statement said, "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 the effort."

And the president goes on to say, "This tragic violence in Sudan has already cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians. It's unconscionable and it must stop."

[16:05:03]

So the president making clear there while the U.S. will do what it can to help these private citizens get out of the country, it won't be able to do the sort of evacuation that you saw underway last night with the military sort of taking the lead. What the White House has said is that the Biden administration has provided warnings to American citizens that it is not safe to travel to Sudan, it's been providing those warnings for months.

It has advised citizens to leave, that it isn't safe. So if citizens are there now they're advising them to potentially shelter in place, to look for these alternate routes out, but it won't be able to provide this sort of military evacuation that it was able to provide two diplomats last evening -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kevin Liptak, thank you so much.

So the U.S. evacuation mission began in the East African country of Djibouti, and that's where CNN's Sam Kiley is. We're going to try to connect with him momentarily. All right. All right. We're going to try and reconnect with Sam Kiley momentarily.

All right, a pair of fiery flights on two different American Airlines planes had passengers on edge in this country. Over the skies of Ohio, just take a look, and you can see flames shooting out of the wing as the plane was making its way back to Columbus and in a different situation, a plane was forced to return to Charlotte, North Carolina, airport after a fire happening there and you can see the flames.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is following all of this.

Polo, frightening moments for passengers on two separate planes. Common denominators, fires, American Airlines.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, these two incidents, Fred, not appearing to be related, but both causing some very tense moments for passengers aboard these two separate flights the last couple of days. Let's get to the first one. Ben Nines telling CNN that he walked out of his Columbus, Ohio, home for a morning jog today, looked up and he saw and heard this.

And we're going to try to show you some of the video in a little bit, having some technical problems, but let me just explain what actually went down this morning there in Columbus, Ohio. It was American Airlines Flight 1958 that left the airport headed to Phoenix when, at one point, according to officials that apparently hit a flock of birds, and that's when authorities say the pilots and just some really talented crew here, then quickly running into this emergency situation and then returning to the airport.

The airline confirming that that Boeing 737 experienced a bird strike, causing a mechanical issue. The airline saying that the flight landed and taxied safely at the gate under its own power. The aircraft taken out of service and now the airline trying to get them to their final destination. The passengers that is.

The FAA investigating this video from a separate incident. This one, though, on Thursday evening, capturing some really scary moments of passenger looking out her window and seeing this. This is American Airlines Flight 2288, with service from Charlotte-Douglas airport to Dallas. This one never even got off the ground. The plane was in the process of taxiing. Passenger Frankie Leggington, capturing smoke and flames appearing from the wing of the aircraft.

Not sure we have it, but I do want you to listen to a conversation that she had with our affiliate WSOC describing what happened.

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FRANKIE LEGGINGTON, PASSENGER: Nobody knows what's happening. So it's the first instinct if the plane is going to blow. So everyone's grabbing their bags trying to get up and running the aisle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Yes, both of these incidents currently under investigation.

Back to the most recent one, Fred, that American Airlines flight that hit a flock of birds. You know, we all remember the miracle on the Hudson actually, ended in the river that you see over my shoulder here, and the federal authorities they say that these kinds of incidents they actually happened frequently, but it's a very small percentage of those incidents that actually lead to damage of the aircraft.

But nonetheless, the NTSB, the FAA, they certainly have been working for years now to increase awareness about the risks that come with situations like this -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Very scary. So glad nobody was reported hurt. All right, Polo Sandoval, appreciate that.

All right, now back to the evacuation of about 100 U.S. diplomats, their family members, out of Sudan and how the nearby East African country of Djibouti was pivotal in this mission.

Sam Kiley is in Djibouti right now. He's back with this. We've reconnected a signal.

There you are. All right. So, Sam, how did this mission happen?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, here in Djibouti, it is -- there is a substantial U.S. base here in Djibouti, and that has been the hub really, not only of the United States effort but also in the vanguard of an international effort. Local authorities here are saying that they've got the militaries from some 11 nations using the Djibouti International Airport for their own evacuations or part of their own evacuations.

[16:10:08]

But the Americans got underway at first light this morning with a mini extraordinary move of at least three chinook aircraft that flew into Ethiopia from here. That in and of itself is quite a long way. They refueled there and then flew very low and relatively slow, only about 100 miles an hour, for many hundreds of miles into the capital Khartoum, where they were on the ground for less than an hour.

About 100 troops, mostly special forces involved in that evacuation of between 70 and 100 personnel almost simultaneously with that British special forces were also in the country alongside the French also evacuating about 100 of their nationals. And, excuse me, the French also evacuating the European Union embassy.

Now most of the evacuations at the moment, and particularly the American one, has been focused on evacuating embassy staff. The embassy is now staffed only by local nationals, the ambassador out of the country now. The embassy essentially mothballs, but they're at least, potentially rather, 19,000 Americans still inside Sudan and many thousands, rather, of other nationals, all trying to get out.

There is an ongoing process. Most of it has gone quiet overnight because they have very high risks attendant to these operations, but not only the Europeans, but the Egyptians have got nearly 500 people out by road going north into their own territory. Other road moves have gone many hundreds of miles across the desert to Port Sudan. American officials imploring their nationals to stay across the events.

Stay safe in their own homes, even though there is dwindling water and food and fuel supplies because there's deep concern that any land moves, moves by convoys, could be met with violence in this very chaotic situation in which the ceasefires that was supposed to prevail through this process had broken down. There was a degree of fighting going on in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country whilst these international operations were going on, as I say, led by the United States, those three chinooks came back into Ethiopian territory.

A lot of thanks going to the Ethiopians for their help, not just with the Americans, but the international community. And, of course, here in Djibouti, very much the hub of what is an ongoing evacuation as violence continues to spiral in Sudan.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's significant. And then, Sam, as reported earlier for many of the Americans, the 16,000 or so Americans or upwards of 19,000 Americans who remain in Sudan, while they won't necessarily be able to rely on evacuation missions organized by the State Department and White House, there has been kind of an urging of many of those Americans to reach out to French authorities or other allied nations who were doing similar kind of evacuations that they might be able to kind of piggyback, so to speak, off their missions?

KILEY: Yes, I mean, the Americans are part of this international effort that is ongoing. I think that that kind of coalition will start to come together, particularly as Middle Eastern countries get more and more involved. The Jordanians have got special forces and some of their aircraft also going on. There were roads moves that have been planned, that have been ongoing run by the Emiratis and others.

These are countries with a bit more influence potential, particularly Emiratis, more leverage with some of the warring factions inside Khartoum, and there's been obviously a hope that the safest route out at least two places out in the desert where they can be collected have to be organized. That ultimately is the hopes. Very difficult indeed to go in with special forces all over the place in the midst of ongoing combat. There are airstrikes still going on in Khartoum, for example.

WHITFIELD: All right. Very tenuous. Thank you so much, Sam Kiley, for joining us from the East African country of Djibouti.

All right. Still ahead, if you have a Bed, Bath and Beyond coupon in your drawer, it is only good for a few more days. The retailer is now filing for bankruptcy. Details on what's next straight ahead.

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WHITFIELD: One of America's most recognizable storefronts is closing up shop. Bed, Bath and Beyond officially filed for bankruptcy today, following years of struggling to stay afloat. The company's remaining 360 locations and it's 120 Buy Buy Baby stores will remain open for now as well their Web site. A statement posted on the company's Web site said, "Thank you to all of our loyal customers. We have made the difficult decision to begin winding down our operations."

The company says it will stop accepting the 20 percent off coupons on Wednesday and the going out of business sales expected to begin shortly thereafter.

And a fiery end to family fun at the happiest place on earth. Just take a look at this. An animatronic dragon caught fire at the final showing of Disneyland's Fantasmic stage performance. Disney says it was quickly extinguished, employees were safely evacuated and attractions near the show were cleared as a precaution. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. And nearly two weeks after Oscar Award winning actor Jamie Foxx had a

medical complication, he remains in the hospital. His daughter shared on Instagram last week that her father had experienced a health- related incident April 11th, though she did not specify what occurred. She added in her post that due to quick action and great care her father is on his way to recovery. Foxx is being treated in Georgia, where he was filming his latest movie "Back in Action."

[16:20:09]

Coming up, the NAACP is challenging new laws in Mississippi that expand the state's police reach in the city of Jackson. What the NAACP is arguing and the governor's defense, straight ahead.

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WHITFIELD: The NAACP is suing the state of Mississippi over new legislation that they say equates to a state takeover of Jackson, Mississippi. The laws signed by Republican Governor Tate Reeves expand state police jurisdiction in Jackson and establish a new court system in a district created by the state.

[16:25:07]

CNN's Isabel Rosales back with us now with more on this.

So the NAACP is alleging that these are new laws that are racially discriminatory and will bring back a separate but unequal policy state.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these pair of laws are certainly causing a divide. Some in the city they're hoping that these new laws will save the capital city after a spike in crime. Others are seeing really echoes here to a racist past. So supporter of the laws are pointing to the crime rate specifically homicides per year that have doubled over the past decade, peaking back in 2021, more than 12 times the national average.

So they're saying that Jackson here because of that is one of the deadliest cities in the U.S. and the police force needs some help. So let's dig a little deeper into these laws and what they do because there are important here. So the laws will allow the state of Mississippi to expand reach of state control law enforcement to the entire city of Jackson.

Now this is a force that has primarily stuck to protecting the capital and the surrounding area. This is not a force that has been engaged with city law enforcement up until now. This is a force that does not answer to local officials but to state appointed leadership.

Here's the other part of these laws. The judicial system, major changes coming to that, including establishing a new court within the boundaries of a new capital complex improvement district. The judge there will be appointed by the Republican state chief justice and the prosecuting attorneys appointed by the Republican state attorney general. Let's listen to one of the supporters of the laws that actually signed

them into laws, Governor Tate Reeves. He spoke about this before doing the sighting. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TATE REEVES (R), MISSISSIPPI: I won't what's best for Jackson, but for us to continue to see young kids getting killed in the streets, for us to continue to see property crimes that are happening here, that are causing businesses to leave, we've got to make sure that we have law and order, and I don't think there's any doubt that if you talk to businesses, if you talk to the residents of Jackson, capitol police shows up when there's a crime being committed and they're called.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: So the heart of this controversy is representation and racial justice. The legislators who introduced these laws as bills originally they represent districts outside of Jackson. The state legislature is primarily Republican and white. But the city of Jackson is right there at the top, one of the most black cities in America, over 80 percent black and primarily Democratic.

The NAACP filed a lawsuit on Friday, the same day that the governor signed these into law. And here's what they had to say in a statement. "If elected officials in Mississippi want to help address the results of their negligence and improve the lives of Jackson residents, they should start with completing improvements to Jackson's water system, not undermining the constitutional rights of their citizens."

And Fred, this goes into effect July 1st. We've reached out to the governor's office and also to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to get an understanding here of how they're going to actually implement these laws, we've not heard back.

WHITFIELD: And these laws are only applicable to Jackson. That's the only Mississippi city that's being targeted.

ROSALES; Correct. Only Jackson.

WHITFIELD: All right. Isabel Rosales, thanks so much.

All right. Still ahead, a showdown is taking shape in Washington, D.C. as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy scrambles to unite his party on a debt ceiling plan. Can he get the votes to avoid a financial crisis? More on what's at stake, next.

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[16:32:54]

WHITFIELD: House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, faces a high-stakes make-or- break week on Capitol Hill, just days after unveiling his sweeping 320-page debt ceiling plan, to mixed reaction from his fellow Republicans. McCarthy is now vowing to bring the ambitious and divisive plan up for a vote this week. President Biden and the House Speaker are locked in an ongoing standoff over raising the debt limit.

CNN's Alayna Treene is following these developments for us. Alayna, so walk us through what we can expect this week.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, this is a very consequential week for House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, Fred, and a huge test of his leadership capabilities. The speaker has teed up a vote on a bill to raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion.

But this vote is not going to be easy, especially given Republicans have a slim majority in the House and divisions within their party. Now, Kevin - Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, talked about this this morning. Let's hear what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN MCCARTHY, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We do have a very small majority, only five seats one of the smallest we've ever had. But I cannot imagine someone in our conference that would want to go along with Biden's reckless spending.

We will hold a vote this week, and we will pass, and we will send it to the Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Despite his confidence Friday, key question is whether conservatives will get onboard with this plan. As of now, many conservatives, like Congressman Andy Biggs, tell us that their night -- not quite there yet.

As for the White House, they insist they will reject to this plan outright. But heading into this week, the President is facing pressure from many Democrats who think that he needs to begin conversations and negotiations with Congress right now.

WHITFIELD: And walk us through some of the spending cuts that McCarthy is, you know, hoping to push for.

TREENE: Well, members had a chance to review this 320-page bill over the weekend, and it includes a series of cuts to domestic spending programs across the board. Those cuts include a plan to block the President's student loan forgiveness plan, as well as rescind new funding for the internal revenue service. It would also provide new work requirements for social safety-net programs like Medicaid.

But the bottom line to focus on, Fred, is that Congress is running out of time.

[16:35:02]

TREENE: The current estimates for when Congress needs to reach a debt limit deal put them at some point this summer. And some say it could come as early as this June. So, that has many members on both sides of the aisle on edge.

WHITFIELD: All right, Alayna Treene, thanks so much.

TREENE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Alright. And amid these Capitol Hill battles over a debt ceiling and abortion, the President, President Biden, is expected to make his reelection bid official this week with an announcement that he is running for president in 2024.

With me now to discuss, Julian Zelizer. He is a CNN Political Analyst, and historian and professor at Princeton University. Julian, always great to see you.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Nice to be with you.

WHITFIELD: If Biden does indeed make his announcement on Tuesday, it will be four years to the day after he launched his last presidential bid in 2019. But a lot has happened, right, in the last four years, domestically and even globally. So, what does he need to consider in how he shapes this campaign?

ZELIZER: Well, I think there is two differences. One is that the problems and some of the struggles that the nation has gone through, whether that be economic or foreign policy, are now his. That's the difference when you're running the first time, versus when you are in the incumbent. And he's going to have to respond to his vision for the economy, his vision for how he hopes to try to bring the conflict in Russia to an end. It's now about him.

And the second for him is that, on the one hand, the former President Donald Trump has faded a little bit to the background. He's not as much on the mind of the electorate. On the other hand (ph), he's obviously running, and, pretty soon, he'll be part of the story.

So, he'll have to draw that same sharp contrast to what a Biden second term would look like, versus what a Trump second term would look like, and make that a theme of the campaign.

WHITFIELD: And Biden, he really is facing some headwinds, right, because there's a lot of polling that shows his approval rating is low. And we've even heard some Democrats who have voiced their concerns about his age.

The "New York Times" editorial board just released an editorial urging Biden to take voters' concerns about age seriously. And in the op-ed, the board writes, quote, "If he runs again, Mr. Biden will need to provide explicit reassurance to voters. Many of them have seen family members decline rapidly in their 80s. Americans are watching what Mr. Biden says and does just as he has asked them to do."

So, Julian, Biden is 80 years old, you know, now. And if he were to run and were to win in 2024, he would be 86 when he wraps up his second term.

So, what does he need to do, or even say to reassure people who have concerns about his age? Even though he has also won the support of, you know, many Democrats who have said he is, you know, executed, you know, great - he has demonstrated lots of great advantage with his experience.

ZELIZER: Well, I think there's not much he can say. There's not a sentence he can deliver that would ease those kinds of concerns.

I think what he can do is govern. He could continue with what's called the Rose Garden strategy, where he campaigns, in some ways, by being president. By showing his ability to make big decisions. By speaking on the issues of the day.

And, in the end, that's the best way to assure people that you're still up for the job. That you're still in good shape to handle the job over the next few years. I think that's more effective than one line, perhaps, in a debate that will somehow alleviate these kinds of concerns.

And he talks about his record. He has a, you know, significant four- your record, where he can say, that's the proof of what I'm still able to do.

WHITFIELD: And what role do you think Donald Trump has been playing into Biden's 2024 calculations? He beat him in 2020. I mean, he's no spring chicken either, if that's what, you know, people are, you know, looking for.

But it appears, right now, you know, Trump seems to be the leading GOP candidate. How might this shape Biden's approach?

ZELIZER: Well, it's going to define his approach. I think you remember 2020 and the way in which Biden defined himself, in many ways, by being the antithesis of Donald Trump. That he was stable. He would govern. He would be responsible. He would be normal, in many ways, was the message.

And my guess is, as it becomes clearer and clearer, that Donald Trump will be the nominee, assuming that is the path this takes. I think you're going to see a repeat of some of those themes. Because, from Biden's perspective, that's the best bet.

[16:40:00]

ZELIZER: That is what he brings to the table. And that sense of stability is what a lot of voters still want, especially as we go through, you know, challenging economic times.

WHITFIELD: All right, Julian Zelizer, we'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much.

ZELIZER: Thanks for having me. :

WHITFIELD: And former vice president, Mike Pence, now says his legal team has worked out a date for his testimony before the special counsel's ongoing Grand Jury investigation of the Capitol riot. Pence decided, earlier this month, not to appeal the court order compelling his testimony. The special counsel wants Pence to provide documents and testimony about Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALE, ANCHOR, CBS FACE THE NATION: Have you set a date with the special counsel about your appearance?

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, our attorneys have worked that out with the Justice Department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: While Pence has worked out a date to testify, he has not yet specified when that testimony will happen.

All right, coming up, a look at a new episode of "The Whole Story." We'll meet some of the climate experts racing against time to build innovative solutions to protect the planet from the looming effects of the climate crisis.

[16:41:17]

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WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Science and - scientists, rather, say cutting back on planet-cooking fossil fuels is no longer enough to reverse climate change. We must pull billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the air, over the next 25 years. Problem is there are multiple ways to do this, and they are all newly developed or still in the development stages. In Sunday's "Whole Story," that's tonight, hosted by Anderson Cooper.

CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir takes a look at some of the proposed solutions, including one focused on farm waste.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You're part of the movement to basically build the oil industry and reverse.

PETER REINHARDT, CEO AND FOUNDER, CHARM INDUSTRIAL: That's right.

WEIR (voice-over): After making a killing in software and becoming frustrated with carbon offsets, Peter Reinhardt helped found Charm.

REINHARDT: So, this over here is the is the paralyzing -

WEIR: A startup that scoops up the organic waste, usually left to rot in farm fields. Heats it into bio-char, which improves soil health, and bio-oil, which he injects down into old oil wells.

(on camera): How much have you injected to date?

REINHARDT: We've sequestered about 5,450 tons of CO2 equivalent. That is a drop in the bucket, right, compared to the 50 billion tons a year that we're emitting as a -- as a civilization. WEIR (voice-over): Confirming Peter's claim independently is tough

because carbon removal verification is also brand new. But if he's right, his teeny drop in the bucket would be about half of all the carbon ever removed.

(on camera): No offense, this is awesome, but it's a couple of containers in a parking lot in San Francisco. And we were in Iceland and saw what's there, and that's it in the whole world? Should I be depressed by that, or -

REINHARDT: Or you could view it as an opportunity.

WEIR: I guess.

REINHARDT: Do you want to start a carbon removal business?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Bill Weir joining us right now. Bill, so very innovative ideas, yay, but also costly. So, how are these entrepreneurs going to make it happen? Where's the money coming from?

WEIR (live): Right now, because there's no real price on carbon, Fred, you know, for governments, they're - we're operating, really, on the largesse of Silicon Valley companies, like Stripe and Alphabet and Meta, who've put together a billion-dollar fund. A guaranteed sort of market for startups like Charm. You have to come up with a whole verification system, as I mentioned there.

So, you know, how do you pay a farmer who is maybe grazing his livestock in a way that brings down an extra ton of carbon a year? How do you compensate him when you compare him to Peter's operation or somebody who works with seaweed or rock weathering or all these other machines? Some are $1,000 a ton now. Peter's $500 a ton.

You know, the idea is that there will be a price on carbon. Society will understand the need for this and fund it in a way that will be a thousand startups a week maybe, trying to tackle the problem.

WHITFIELD: So, how long are we talking before any of these, you know, great initiatives might come to fruition?

WEIR: Well, as you saw Peter's, he's already doing it. He's got thousands of carbon godzillas, we're calling it, in this special. He's chopped that down and put it in the ground. Others are ramping up now. There's the $100 carbon XPrize. Elon Musk is helping fund that. That's a contest. And those winners will be announced next year.

And so, it's all really ramping up. The big oil companies might be incentivized to do this earnestly. A lot of times, it was sort of used as a fig leaf to keep drilling. But, now, there is incentives in legislation that makes sense to do this. And the sooner the better.

WHITFIELD: All right, save our planet. Bill Weir, thanks so much. We'll be watching tonight. Everybody, you can see Bill Weir's full report in "The Whole Story" tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. "The Whole Story" is a new weekly program, hosted by Anderson Cooper. One whole story. One whole hour.

All right, straight ahead, firefighters in California's mountain communities went beyond the call of duty, after unrelenting snow trapped some people in their homes last month. How they came to the rescue, next.

But first, this week, we celebrate Earth Day and the importance of environmental protection. Beneath the ocean, coral reefs support a bio-diverse community of marine life and protect our coastal areas.

[16:50:02]

WHITFIELD: But these valuable ecosystems are threatened. This week's CNN Hero is committed to rebuilding them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coral reefs, without them, nothing is here. Simply put, they are what it is that brings the ecosystem together. Sadly, I've watched us lose that coral reef and the disappearance of that diverse marine ecosystem.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, I.CARE, are we ready? All right, let's go down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, then, he says, you know what? I'm going to do something. I truly believe we're going to be successful with this restoration work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated): It's amazing how fast this coral is growing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see things, every time I go in the water, that gives me hope. I love being a part of it. I wake up every day and say, look what I get to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: To learn more about Mike (ph) and the dive community, go to CNNheroes.com. And, while you're there, nominate your hero.

[16:51:14]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A grim trip on a Celebrity cruise liner has one family filing a lawsuit. Robert Jones died of cardiac arrest - a cardiac event, rather, onboard a ship back in August of last year.

And his family claims that instead of the morgue, the cruise liner improperly stored his body in a beverage cooler for six days which led to decomposition. The Jones' family filed a lawsuit in Florida on Wednesday, seeking $1 million in damages. CNN has reached out to Celebrity Cruises for comment.

And stranded by feet of snow. A man in desperate need of his medication gets help from a California sheriff's department which goes beyond the call of duty.

CNN's Veronica Miracle has more on the heroic mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The call came in early March, after unusually heavy snowfall closed off this mountain community near Fresno, California.

JARED COOK: I've never seen a year like this.

MIRACLE: Jared Cook was at his family's cabin near Huntington Lake for what he thought would be a weekend getaway until a monster storm hit.

COOK: Every day, another two feet of snow kept coming in and there was no way to get out. Ultimately, I was just trapped.

MIRACLE: Ten to 12 ft of snow had piled up. The National Weather Service issued a dangerous weather alert. And the only road in was completely shut down for weeks.

STEVEN KIRKPATRICK, DEPUTY SHERIFF, FRESNO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: It came so fast and so dense between each storm, so within that, it was just powder on top of powder.

COOK: It was kind of like Groundhogs Day.

MIRACLE: like a couple of days thing turned into two weeks of you in isolation.

COOK: Total isolation, total solitude with no other human beings around.

MIRACLE: Two weeks in, Jared was running out of his three heart medications. Out of desperation, he reached out to the local Huntington's Lake Fire Department, but even they had no way to reach him. So, they called in the Fresno County Sheriff's Office which tried to reach Jared by helicopter during extreme weather conditions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We kind of reserve this one as a rescue conference. This is the one that we were actually flying that day.

MIRACLE: In a remote location.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This cabin was stuck between 100-foot-tall trees.

MIRACLE: Amid snow piled higher than the cabin.

GREG VILLANUEVA, DEPUTY SHERIFF, FRESNO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: If we land, we could get what we call a whit-out condition, where the snow just comes up, and basically you lose all visual reference. MIRACLE: The team in the air had to come up with an alternative way to get the medicine to Jared.

COOK: They said, when you hear us, go outside and try to get in view and wave us down.

VILLANUEVA: We ended up going with Plan B and just kind of hovering over the house and over the roadway, and we dropped it off to him.

MIRACLE: In flight, he got the door open. You're about to drop it. What's going through your mind about, like, what could go wrong?

VILLANUEVA: Number one, I was flying high enough so we don't hit the trees. Number two would be probably not hitting the gentleman with the bag. And the most important is probably not damaging the helicopter while we're in flight.

I had to hold the door open with my left hand, and I had to drop the bag in between the skid and drop it into this little area right here.

COOK: They did the drop and I just saw powder fly. The bag had dropped through the snow. So, I dug it out. And once I had it and located it, you know, I just gave him the thumbs up.

VILLANUEVA: I think that's what we all do the job. You know, the teamwork. The sheriff's office came to gather the team. You know, we made a plan quickly, and we were able to help somebody that was in need.

COOK: They really are heroes to me.

MIRACLE: Veronica Miracle, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Veronica, and to the heroes.

All right, and a beach in Hawaii is blocked off to keep a new monk seal pup safe from human interaction. Authorities in Waikiki put up a temporary fence and will patrol - will patrol the area 24-7 to keep people away from the endangered animal and it's mom.

Officials are warning people to stay away. While the baby seal is really cute, it's mama is fierce. Mother seals have been known to be very protective of their pups and have bitten and seriously injured people in the past. Hawaiian monk seals are one of the most endangered seal species in the world.

And a big congratulations going out to another Olympic star. USA gymnastics star and seven-time Olympic medalist, Simone Biles, is officially married. The four-foot-eight world champion posted photos of her beautiful white dress and wedding to NFL player, Jonathan Owens, on social media yesterday.

[17:00:02]

WHITFIELD: The two professional athletes had made a strong connection during the pandemic and announced their engagement last year.