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Stalemate In Debt Limit Talks, Two Sides Unsure When They Will Next Meet; Ukraine Refutes Russia's Claim Of Total Control Of Bakhmut; Ex-Trump Attorney Claims Infighting Caused Him To Leave Legal Team; Abortion Access Threatened As States Pass New Bans; Gov. Josh Green (D-HI) Talks About The Rescue After Seeing Car Crash; Sen. Feinstein's Office Details Complications From Illness. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 20, 2023 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:25]

PAULA REID, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Reid in Washington. Jim Acosta has the day off.

We begin with several stories unfolding this hour. The US inching closer to running out of money to pay its debts. A deadline is as close as 12 days away, but the high-stakes negotiations between the White House and Republicans have collapsed and it is not clear when face-to-face talks will resume.

Meanwhile, President Biden will cut short his Asia trip to address the looming debt crisis, but before heading home tomorrow from the G7 Summit in Japan, Biden will meet with Ukraine's president. President Zelenskyy is making a dramatic appearance at the gathering to ask world leaders for more help in the war against Russia.

Zelenskyy's plea comes as Russia claims a major victory in Ukraine. Today, the head of the mercenary Wagner Group says his fighters have captured Bakhmut after months of brutal fighting, but Ukraine says it still holds a small portion of the city.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Phil, let's begin with the debt crisis. A US default would of course, hurt economies around the world. So what is the level of concern there and where do things stand?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Paula, it has been interesting White House officials acknowledge that it has come up that leaders and their top advisers are asking and have asked the president for a read on what's actually going on. And what the White House is saying, what White House National Security adviser, Jake Sullivan has said he has told them is that the President is confident there will be a resolution.

The President believes there's a path forward and this will get solved before the first default in US history. The problem at this point in time, or at least the kind of divergence between the President's words and what he's telling foreign leaders and the reality is there is no path forward in the current talks, at least as they stand. There have been no meetings between top White House negotiators and their Republican counterparts today. There is no schedule for a next meeting. And the pathway forward now seems to be further apart than it did just a couple of days ago.

I think that creates significant problems, not just because of the domestic problems, the domestic economy, how catastrophic a default would be for the US, but the cascading effect across international markets, across the world's economy is very real, very palpable. And, Paula, as you noted, it is just 12 days away, something needs to start happening soon.

I think the reality is, when President Biden returns home, things aren't going to be much further along than they were when he left. He is going to have a pretty big issue to solve on his plate and not a lot of time.

REID: Big indeed. President Biden is of course, also meeting with President Zelenskyy, just hours from now. What is expected to come out of that meeting?

MATTINGLY: I think from a tangible deliverable perspective, there will be money, a new lethal assistance package coming from the US. It will be announced after the meeting, or at least in coordination with the meeting, a couple hundred million dollars more particularly focused on munitions as Ukraine prepares for the counteroffensive that has long been telegraphed and expected.

That will be a critical component of that, but I also think this is another opportunity for the president and Zelenskyy to meet face-to- face, to talk about the battlefield, their view of the months ahead. I think the reality of trying to maintain the Western coalition support has been so central to both President Biden's efforts and also President Zelenskyy's efforts up to this point -- Paula.

REID: Phil Mattingly, thank you.

Now to the fighting in Ukraine. Russia's ministry of defense claims Bakhmut has been "liberated" by the Wagner Forces after months of bloodshed. What you're seeing now is the head of the Wagner mercenaries speaking from the war-torn city with a Russian flag right behind him.

Now, Ukrainian officials claim the fight isn't over though they do concede the situation is critical. That of course makes Zelenskyy's visit to the G7 all the more important.

CNN's Nic Robertson reports from eastern Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): Volodymyr Zelenskyy's diplomatic reach is lengthening, landing in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on his way to the G7 in Japan, appealing to Arab League leaders to reject Russia's propaganda. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here among you who turn a blind eye to those cages and illegal annexations, and I'm here so that everyone can take an honest look no matter how hard the Russians try to influence.

[18:05:07]

There must still be independence.

ROBERTSON (voice over): A day later, among allies in Hiroshima, the furthest he has been from Kyiv since the war began, maximizing the diplomatic moment, meeting with leaders individually, shoring up what has been tantalizingly beyond his grasp for so long -- a commitment from the US and partners to get Ukrainian pilots F-16 fighter jets.

The news broke while he was still on his way. Zelenskyy tweeting his gratitude for the historic step, saying: "This will greatly enhance our army in the sky. I count on discussing this practical implementation of this decision at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima."

But the G7, not just an F-16 victory lap for Zelenskyy. On the sidelines, meeting with the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, an outreach invitee of the Summit who continues to help fund Putin's war by buying Russian oil and is yet to directly call out Russia's brutal aggression.

Zelenskyy pushing Modi for more support and apparently getting it.

NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I want to assure you that to provide a solution to your difficulties, India, and I personally will definitely do everything we can.

(YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN speaking in foreign language.)

ROBERTSON (voice over): In Ukraine, less positive news, Wagner mercenary boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin claiming to have taken Bakhmut, not surprising, given the heavy fighting, a month of losses, the Ukrainians have endured there, but they are yet to call it quits on the town.

(VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY speaking in foreign language.)

ROBERTSON (voice over): Zelenskyy's diplomatic triumph, trumping more Prigozhin's propaganda.

ROBERTSON (on camera): So you feel better if you have an F-16?

LT. COL. GIORGI KUPARASHVILI, 3RD SEPARATE ASSAULT BRIGADE: Sure. And every single soldier could say that yes, it will change the gameplay.

ROBERTSON: How?

KUPARASHVILI: Radically.

ROBERTSON: In what way?

KUPARASHVILI: Every way. First of all, you have an air superiority.

ROBERTSON (voice over): Reality here that every soldier knows. Promises count for little until the weapons are in their hands.

Nick Robertson, CNN, eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID: Here with me now is CNN military analyst retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. All right, Colonel, President Biden has said that he has previously been opposed to providing Ukraine with F-16s, but it sounds like he might be changing his tune. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We've reached a moment where it is time to look down the road and to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward? F-16s, fourth generation fighter aircraft are part of that mix.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: How will F-16s potentially change the situation?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, F-16s are really an all-purpose aircraft. They can do close air support, they can do air-to-air attacks, they can do ground attacks. They're an exceptionally versatile platform and for that reason, they are the desired platform for the Ukrainians.

They do have some drawbacks. They can't be used on steer runways, for example. But what they can do is they can fly fairly great distance, depending on the model 500 to 1,500 miles without refueling. And they can also return back to base, get new armament and, you know, continue to prosecute the war effort.

REID: And the President told G7 allies that he would support joint training exercises. You obviously know all about that, so what would that kind of support look like?

LEIGHTON: So what this would do, there are several aspects to the training part right here. This is maintenance training that's going on for this so they'd have to do pilot training and maintenance training.

For the pilots, they would take anywhere from, you know, four to five months to train up on this aircraft. The maintenance crews may take a little bit longer depending on their particular specialty, but they handle everything from avionics to the munitions, all the things that are necessary to actually make this aircraft work.

REID: I want to turn now to Ukraine, in Bakhmut. Wagner forces are declaring victory there. What is the situation on the ground?

LEIGHTON: So one of the key things to keep in mind Paula is Bakhmut, which is right here is kind of in the middle of the eastern front. If what the Wagner Group has said is true, that means that the Russians have gained basically a focal point from which they can move either north or south in this particular area. So, if you go to the eastern front in detail, what the key thing is, is that a Bakhmut is on the road to Kramatorsk.

What the Russians want to do is they want to capture the remainder of the Donetsk Oblast, the Donetsk region right here. What that would do then is from here to here, give the Russians more control, give them more territory, give them more leverage at that particular point.

[18:10:10]

Now for Bakhmut specifically, what you see here is Russian-controlled areas, Ukrainian-controlled areas. What the Russians and the Wagner Group specifically are saying is that they have basically control this area right here. The Ukrainians are disputing that.

In fact, the Ukrainians say that they've been able to do things here in these areas that have liberated those parts of the Bakhmut area from the Russian forces.

So this area is still being contested quite a bit, because you know, what Prigozhin is saying in these kinds of videos right here is one thing, but the rest of the town basically looks like this and it is very much contested, because you've got these high rises here that are being used as entry points for snipers. They're being used in many different ways that really means urban combat in a large -- on a large scale here.

REID: And the Wagner Forces say they intend to transition control of this area to the Russian military in the coming weeks. What could that transition look like?

LEIGHTON: So when you look at this type of thing, if the Russian Army were to come in to ground combat like this, you would see them really controlling everything in to this area right here. This is basically all of Bakhmut. They would also have to take over areas here and here, basically, from the south to the north, and that would broaden their front.

But I don't think they have the forces to do that and if they do try to control Bakhmut, they would then control it only in a haphazard fashion.

REID: And of course, we know President Zelenskyy is at the G7 appealing for more support, more assistance. How significant is this for him?

LEIGHTON: This is really huge. Right here, you see a meeting with Prime Minister Modi of India. India, as Nic mentioned, is really a big customer of the Russians in terms of oil. They have had a substantial relationship with the Russians for many, many years going back to the days of the Soviet Union.

They are a major arms supplier for the Indians as well, the Russians are. And what Zelenskyy wants to do is he wants to use Modi's leverage with Russia to get Russia to stop doing what they're doing in Ukraine.

REID: Thank you so much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Paula.

REID: And coming up, he didn't say anything too terrible. That's what Trump's former attorney, Tim Parlatore told me about the former president's comments on classified documents at the CNN townhall.

CNN's Elie Honig is here to break down all of these defenses next.

Plus, back on the court, inside Brittney Griner's first game back with the WNBA and what she said about using her voice to advocate for others who are wrongfully imprisoned.

And later, an incredible moment where Hawaii's governor helped rescue a driver who had flipped his car into a lava pit.

Governor Josh Green joins me ahead.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:17:12]

REID: Earlier today, I asked former Trump attorney, Tim Parlatore why he left the former president's legal team earlier this week. Here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY PARLATORE, ATTORNEY: It had nothing to do with the case itself or the client. The real reason is because there are certain individuals that made defending the president much harder than it needed to be.

In particular, there's one individual who works for him, Boris Epshteyn, who had really done everything he could to try to block us to prevent us from doing what we could to defend the president, and ultimately, it got to a point where it's difficult enough fighting against DOJ, and in this case, special counsel, but when you also have people within the tent that are also trying to undermine you, block you and really make it so that I can't do what I know that I need to do as a lawyer.

And getting into fights like that that's detracting from what is necessary to defend the client and ultimately was not in the client's best interest, so I made the decision to withdraw.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: We asked Trump's team for a response. A spokesman told me, "Mr. Parlatore is no longer a member of the legal team. His statements regarding current members of the legal team are unfounded and categorically false." Now joining me to discuss more about what Tim told me, CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig. He's also the author of "Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away With It."

All right, Elie. There's a lot to dig into here.

Let's first listen to what Tim said about the Mar-a-Lago documents case when I asked him if he had ever seen a declassification order, which of course the former president's lawyers said initially after the Mar-a-Lago search warrant was executed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PARLATORE: I never saw the order itself. Yes, that would not be something that we would have access to, if it was a written order, as opposed to oral orders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: What do you make of that?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, Paula, it was really interesting and I think, nuanced interview, a lot of news coming out of it, and I think that's one piece of it.

Tim Parlatore is a smart, experienced attorney. If there was a declassification order, written or verbal, he would absolutely have seen it or known about it as a defense lawyer. This is a central issue in the case.

We heard Donald Trump just last week in our townhall tell Kaitlan Collins that he had declassified. Now, his story has varied a bit as to how exactly he declassified, but absolutely, that is something that I think the defense team would have known about and seen, and I think Mr. Parlatore's comments there confirm that there never was a declassification order given in writing or verbally.

[18:20:00]

REID: And Tim also said, I asked him about the certification, a lot of people have had questions about the legal team certified that there had been a search for documents, but he said that the certification didn't necessarily mean that all documents had been turned over, just that the ones that they found had been turned over.

What is your assessment of that? Because we have never seen this certification.

HONIG: Yes, he said that, you know, this was a very carefully lawyer's statement and he basically said that all we certified was that we did our search. And to the best of our knowledge, we turned over everything we found.

That might hold water if all they had missed was, let's say, one box of documents, or two or three documents here or there. But the fact of the matter is, after this certification was made, DOJ and the FBI went in there for the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago and they found 15 boxes, 100-plus classified documents.

So there is still a major problem with Trump's team a couple months before that telling DOJ, hey, we looked really hard. We did our diligence and we've given you everything we had. That's going to remain a big issue for the team.

REID: So here's how Tim reacted to Trump's comments about classified documents during CNN's townhall when he was asked if he had shown them to anyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PARLATORE: Look, it's different when you have a client that is talking. Most of my clients when the criminal investigation is going on, that is the only most important thing in their life, and they don't talk to anybody except for me and their spouse.

So it's always a little nerve wracking, especially when you know that he's going to be asked questions about it. but ultimately, I didn't think that he said anything. too terrible in there.

Yes, maybe some, in artful things like that, but ultimately, nothing that really changes the tenor of the investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Not too terrible. The soundbite that I had played for him was where the former president was asked if he had shown anyone classified documents and his first response to our colleague, Kaitlin Collins was "not really."

I mean, that's definitely going to put lawyers in a tough place, right?

HONIG: Yes. I empathize with Mr. Parlatore and with Donald Trump's defense team. It's a really difficult thing when you have a client who talks like that. The first piece of advice any defense lawyer gives is don't say anything. And I guarantee you prosecutors were watching that townhall, taking notes and what Donald Trump actually said there, I think is going to be a problem for his defense team.

Because we heard Mr. Parlatore many times over in the interview with you, Paula, basically he said the defense is, he didn't know what was in those documents. We, the lawyers still haven't even been able to see all those documents. It comes down to a lack of knowledge yet, Trump told Kaitlan Collins several times over, he knew what was in there, he had the right to take them, he laid them out on the sidewalk, and people were taking pictures of them.

So again, there's an internal inconsistency and a contradiction in what Trump has been saying publicly, and what his lawyers seem to be trying to set up as, as his defense.

REID: Exactly. And we asked him, how can it be true that you told Congress if he didn't know it was in these boxes, but he's telling everyone that he did this automatically. In one case, he told Fox News, he did it with his mind.

All right, so we also talked about another investigation that Trump is facing in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. What did you think of his response there?

HONIG: So I think that's a really important strategic factor that we all need to keep in mind, both with the charges already been made by the Manhattan DA, which is a state level, a county level prosecutor, and with charges that I believe are quite likely to come from the Fulton County DA down in Georgia and they've signaled that that will happen later in the summer.

And the argument that Trump's team already has made in the Manhattan case, and will make according to Mr. Parlatore in the Georgia case is it is unconstitutional, it is inappropriate to have local elected partisan Democratic, in this case, elected prosecutors bringing charges against the former president, if those charges touch in any way, on the official job duties.

They have actually already made a motion in Manhattan to push that case over to federal court. They are going to make the exact same motion in Georgia. I've predicted that in my book, and Mr. Parlatore seems to have confirmed that they will be making that motion. And if they can get these cases, either or both of these cases move from the local state courts into the federal courts, the next move -- and Mr. Parlatore said this to you as well, Paula, is then they're going to say now dismiss it because he has constitutional -- Donald Trump has constitutional immunity, because this conduct related to his tenure as president.

I don't know if he's going to succeed, but that's going to be a crucial legal strategy and a legal battle that we need to watch for.

REID: And at the beginning of the interview, we asked him why he left the team and he pointed to one of his former colleagues, Boris Epshteyn, and he even suggested that Boris had tried to prevent him from doing subsequent searches of Trump properties.

That's pretty astonishing, accusing another lawyer of possibly trying to obstruct an ongoing federal investigation. What was your reaction to that?

HONIG: You definitely broke some news there. There's obviously some drama going on inside the team. Look, they had an obligation. They were in negotiations with DOJ to continue searching, to avoid another search warrant from happening.

[18:25:07]

So, if there is a lawyer saying no, we shouldn't, I mean, it's not necessarily obstruction, but what you're doing there is you're pushing DOJ's hand, you're tempting DOJ to either come in with a charge maybe to do another search warrant, so there clearly was a strategic clash here among the lawyers.

It's not clear, by the way, whether this Boris Epshteyn who is a lawyer was functioning as a consultant adviser for Donald Trump or an actual lawyer, but you do see, sometimes you see drama breakout on multi-lawyer teams, and it seems like that's one of the reasons Mr. Parlatore resigned off this case.

REID: I can tell you from covering the former president for seven years now, there is a lot of legal drama amongst his attorneys and in terms of Boris' role, we did see him at the defense table in New York during the arraignment in that initial appearance.

We have reached out to Boris and to the former president's team and again, they have said that Tim's comments were categorically false.

Elie Honig, thank you.

HONIG: Thanks, Paula.

REID: And up next, the fight over abortion rights continues as more states move to restrict access after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. We'll discuss, next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:24]

REID: The status of abortion access across the U.S. remains in limbo. This week, three states move to severely restrict abortion.

Yesterday, Nebraska approved Paula Reid a bill banning the procedure after 12 weeks. In North Carolina, Republican lawmakers voted to override the democratic governor's veto. And in South Carolina, a total abortion ban was blocked earlier this year.

That this week, the legislature is on pace to restrict abortion after just six weeks. Health care providers and abortion activists have continued to file legal challenges.

Mini Timmaraju, the President of NARAL, a pro choice advocacy organization joins us now.

Mini, how are activists coping with so many legal battles all across the country?

MINI TIMMARAJU, PRESIDENT, NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA: It has been shock and awe. We are currently at 19 states with some sort of abortion ban, and 22 states plus the District of Columbia with some sort of abortion access protection.

So right now state to state we're slightly ahead. But as you said, the hits are coming fast and furious. Activists are deeply engaged. And the good news for this is that the majority of Americans are on our side. The majority of Americans over 70 percent oppose these types of bands and that includes almost half of Republicans and a very large number of independents.

So we're in good shape coming into the midterms for next year. But it's a lot of work and a lot of slogging state by state right now.

REID: Let's talk about the fight over medication abortion. This week, a conservative panel of judges at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals challenged the Biden administration's defense of the pill, Mifepristone's FDA approval. Are you worried that those judges will keep the lower court's ruling in place, restricting access to this drug?

TIMMARAJU: It's definitely a concern. The fifth circuit as a historically conservative court, if you listened to the arguments and the hearing. There were some pretty inflammatory questions and comments by the justices in that in the Fifth Circuit. We have deep concerns.

The good news there, however, is this will go to the Supreme Court. We expect it to go to the Supreme Court in the next term that buys us some time. The other really important news is that the medical associations and Big Pharma have weighed in, and they've been unequivocally clear about where they stand in protecting FDA authority.

So what folks need to understand is, this case is more than just about medication, abortion, it's about the ability for the FDA to do its job protecting the American people. And we're optimistic that that is a bridge too far for most folks.

REID: And all of this is happening about a year a little more than a year out from the 2024 election. Your group does a lot to galvanize voters, what impact do you think that these restrictive measures that are being implemented in different states will have going into the election?

TIMMARAJU: As horrific as these cases are, the stories are coming, as you've been covering, incredibly frequently, right? Every week, there's a new story about an abortion ban and the impact it's having in real life.

Every week where there's a headline about someone who's almost died of sepsis or who's had to give birth to a child that has immediately passed away because of some fetal anomaly. I think what we're seeing in the American people, and the polling indicates, more and more support for bodily autonomy, more support for Americans for reproductive freedom measures.

So as we're going into 2024, and frankly, even in 2023, we've got the Virginia legislature, we've got the Kentucky governor, he's a pro choice governor in a tough state. We're seeing our numbers of our membership, our activists, our engagement skyrocket and that's really, really important.

Again, the majority of Americans are with us, eight out of 10 Americans support reproductive freedom. And that means politicians out of their business and out of their bodies

REID: And in the past, you've talked to lawmakers on Capitol Hill about reforms that would protect reproductive rights. What are those reforms look like that you'd like to see,

TIMMARAJU: The Women's Health Protection Act is the legislation that would codify Roe v Wade and protect access to abortion in the wake of Dobbs. It has 49 co-sponsors in the Senate. It's passed the House when we've had a Democratic majority, it will be a critical issue in the midterms. Support for the Women's Health Protection Act is incredibly popular. We need it to get back to some normalcy in this country.

REID: Mini, thank you so much.

And still ahead, in the right place at the right time, how Hawaii's governor helped rescue a driver whose car flipped into a lava pit.

[18:35:03]

The governor is here to tell the story next live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:39:12]

REID: All right. Here's the scenario. You're driving along through a lava field on Hawaii's Big Island. When all of a sudden you're involved in a crash that sends your car flying you land upside down your trapped inside. When you're hoping for rescuers, would you put the state's governor on your wish list? Well, maybe you should.

Hawaii governor, Josh Green, joins us with more.

Governor, aloha. This scenario I just described actually happened on Thursday. You were on your way to a dedication ceremony when you saw an accident unfold. What happened next?

GOV. JOSH GREEN (D-HI): Well, thank you. Aloha.

What happened was enormous crash occurred, just about a minute before we were there.

[18:40:00]

We were headed to an energy dedication, a big project and a car flown off the road and landed basically upside down facing the other way on the lava field. And this gentleman was suspended upside down in his seat, thank God, he had a seatbelt on because he would have definitely died otherwise.

And a good Samaritan had just jumped into the lava field. And I followed with a group of about five or six other people. And we were able to extract him from the car, and he did live. So we're just grateful and this was kind of what we call the aloha spirit. We try to help people whenever there's a problem.

REID: What helps is, of course, before you became governor, you are an emergency room doctor. So did that training, just kick in, take over?

GREEN: Yes. I came to Hawaii with the National Health Service Corps and interestingly, though I'm governor now and we live on Oahu, this is the area where I served. This is the area where my emergency department is and was. So a lot of the people probably in this picture were my patients over the years, not this guy. And this was an unusual circumstance, but thank goodness he was okay.

It really was an insane accident. There's lot of gasoline there in the field. So I give credit to the other guys who dove right in there. And our medics were just wonderful - we have a terrific team of paramedics and first responders here in Hawaii. They've just come through COVID. They were heroes for us and this was another example.

REID: And from those pictures, we can see this is no longer an active lava field, correct?

GREEN: Correct, right. So I think you guys recall, we had a volcanic eruption last year, Mauna Loa, which was quite something to behold. This is the other side of the island. So this lava field is like two or three decades old, so it's rough and cindery lava. And it's pretty - it's pretty tough.

I mean, that's actually a picture from an accident happened in 2019. So there was another accident right in front of us where a guy lost part of his scalp in a car accident, but we were the car behind him.

So this has happened a couple of times, but - look, we're all, like I said, here to help people and there's just a lot of stuff that happens in Hawaii, volcanic eruptions and car accidents, and tsunamis and all sorts of stuff. But come here because it's beautiful.

REID: It is definitely beautiful. It is remarkable, though, that you've been able to help people so many times in these kinds of circumstances. We've learned that the Hawaii Medical Association has already named you physician of the year twice. Do you think this will make it a third time?

GREEN: I hope not. They're overly generous already. So this was - there's my - one of my security detailed pulling large boulders out from under the car. I mean, everyone really deserves credit for that more than me.

It's a small state so we jumped to, but we're honored to help people. And be careful when you're out here driving because there's beautiful things to look at and then the car flies by sometimes. But really we welcome people to Hawaii and this is just one of those unusual stories.

REID: Hawaii's governor and good Samaritan, Josh Green, thank you so much for joining us.

GREEN: Thank you.

REID: Still ahead, concerns are growing about Sen. Dianne Feinstein's health after her office confirmed previously undisclosed details about her condition. That's next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:47:58]

REID: New revelations about Senator Dianne Feinstein's health are raising concerns about whether the 89-year-old can finish her term on Capitol Hill. Her office this week confirmed that she developed encephalitis following a recent bout of shingles.

CNN's Sanjay Gupta joins us now to break down the condition.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, encephalitis basically means inflammation of the brain. Itis means inflammation, encephala, the brain. A lot of people have heard of meningitis, that is inflammation of the outer layers of the brain. But encephalitis oftentimes is inflammation of parts of the brain or really all these different areas of the brain.

It can be a serious diagnosis, as you might imagine, it can also be difficult to discern sometimes. I mean, you start with fever, and headache. That can be lots of different things, people may have sensitivity to light, develop a stiff neck, mental confusion.

There was probably a high degree of suspicion with the senator given that she had had shingles. And that probably led to a variety of tests, including imaging tests like an MRI scan to see if there's any evidence of inflammation, an EEG to see if there's a change in electrical activity of the brain. And even a lumbar puncture, where you do put a needle into the spine to take some fluid and examine that cerebral spinal fluid to see if there's any indication of encephalitis.

Again, it can be a challenging diagnosis and some of the short-term symptoms like fever and headache may go away. But some of the other symptoms such as confusion or memory problems, they may persist. That's rare. It's rarely associated with shingles.

Another thing rarely associated with shingles is Ramsay Hunt, which is something the senator also seems to have had.

People have heard of shingles. This is caused by a virus that typically causes chickenpox as a child and then the virus never really goes away. It stays dormant in the body and gets reactivated sometime as an adult, it can affect all these different nerves in the body, including this nerve here, the facial nerve.

[18:50:03]

When that nerve is affected, people can develop weakness or even paralysis of the face. They may develop those rashes or lesions all over the face, it can be very painful. They can be in the ear, in the eye, in the mouth.

If someone has given antivirals and steroids, they can recover more quickly, but it still can take a while to recover from Ramsay Hunt as well.

Now, it's similar to Bell's Palsy, except that with Ramsay Hunt, it's typically something that's more severe and lasts longer, which is why the shingles vaccine is recommended. Get to age 50, the shingles vaccine is recommended. You get two doses of that, one dose and then another, two to six months later.

You take it between the ages of 50 and 69. It's a 97 percent sort of effectiveness. After the age of 70, it's still very effective. So even if you've not taken it in the first two decades, you should still get it because you'd still get 91 percent effectiveness.

REID: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

Sources in Peru tell CNN that the prime suspect in the disappearance of American, Natalee Holloway, could be handed over to U.S. authorities by mid-June. Joran van der Sloot was one of the last people to see Holloway alive before she vanished in Aruba nearly two decades ago.

Van der Sloot is currently serving time in Peru for murdering another young woman in a separate incident. Earlier this month, Peru's President agreed to extradite van der Sloot to the U.S. so he can face charges of extortion against the Holloway family.

And the sports world is remembering NFL Hall of Famer and civil rights icon, Jim Brown. His wife, Monique, wrote on Instagram that her husband died peacefully in his home in Los Angeles Thursday.

The legendary running back played nine seasons for the Cleveland Browns, leading them to an NFL title in 1964, before retiring to focus on acting. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Jim Brown was "one of the most dominant players to ever step on any athletic field," calling him a cultural icon who helped promote change. Jim was 87 years old.

And WNBA star Brittney Griner was back on the basketball court for her first regular season games since being jailed in Russia. Griner wasn't able to take home the win, but she finished with an impressive 18 points and four blocked shots.

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BRITTNEY GRINER, PHOENIX MERCURY: It was nice to be back on court, real game and everything. The love from the fans when it came out was amazing. The players - I definitely feel it. I definitely felt it. I mean, I felt that when I was over there still.

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REID: Since her release five months ago, Griner said she will never go overseas to play again.

And tomorrow, a brand new episode of the 2010s. It's a candid look back, not only on Barack Obama's presidency, but also the seismic political shifts that took place in both the Republican and Democratic parties while Obama occupied the Oval Office. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: In August of 2010, Leon Panetta, the CIA director, went to Obama at the White House and said, "We think we have a pretty good lead on the courier who is servicing Bin Laden." The CIA followed this courier back to this compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

MARK BOWDEN, AUTHOR, THE FINISH: THE KILLING OF OSAMA BIN LADEN: They tried all kinds of ways of figuring out if it was really him. In the end, they estimated they only had about a 50-50 chance of him being bin Laden.

BERGEN: So Obama, he didn't have perfect information. Some people were against it. Vice President Biden said, let's not do this. The Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, also advised against it. And if there was some huge screw up on the ground, Obama could have a one- time presidency.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Finally, Obama authorizes a mission with Navy SEALs to go into the compound. He goes to a room that's adjacent to the situation room to sit and watch on the screen as a drone is covering what was about to happen.

BERGEN: They shoot and kill a bodyguard. And then they go up to the third floor where bin Laden is. He doesn't put up a fight. The lead SEAL shoots at bin Laden's head and is he's killed.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda.

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REID: CNN's Original Series: The 2010s continues with Obama: Legacy on the Line airing tomorrow at 9pm on CNN.

And still ahead, he's halfway around the world but President Biden is facing headwinds here at home as debt ceiling negotiations stall.

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We'll take you live to Japan and the G7 Summit, next. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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