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Biden Holds First Rally Of Reelection Campaign; Governor Gives Update On Storm Recovery; 42% Of CEOs Says A.I. Could Destroy Humanity; King Charles' First Official Birthday Parade; Biden Hopes To Meet China's Xi In Next Several Months; Secretary Of State Blinken On High-Stakes Trip To China; Tijuana's Mayor To Live At Army Base; At Least 3 Dead After Tornado Tears Through; "Climate Kids" Want Court to Make Montana Go Green; Turning Pain Into Power, Beauty And Opportunity; Gov Gives Update On Tornado Recovery Efforts. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired June 17, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:10]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hello, thanks for joining me. I'm Alex Marquardt in today for Fredricka Whitfield. Right now, President Joe Biden is speaking in Philadelphia at his first official reelection campaign rally, CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, is there? Priscilla, what has the president been focusing on for this first big reelection speech?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the president has been focusing on his economic message. This is a crowd of unions and you see behind me the different signs and colored t-shirts, all representing separate unions and all of which have endorsed President Biden. And he is now speaking to all of them and has been for the last several minutes.

And he also emphasized a critical endorsement from the AFL-CIO, and that is a union that had endorsed him early and the first time. And that is something that he has touted and heralded while here and just underscoring that he is what he calls the most pro-union president and that has received applause and enthusiasm from the hundreds of people that are behind me.

And that's really sort of been the theme of his message so far that he has been pro-union, that he has added manufacturing jobs, that he has made investments in clean energy, that inflation rates have gone down, and that unemployment rates have gone down. So, he is ticking through his record so far, not only looking back to when he announced his reelection campaign or his initial election campaign in 2020 again at a union hall, but in a here with a familiar crowd, underscoring those same themes and mentioning that he has followed through on them.

So, the crowd behind me has been enthusiastic throughout all of this. Of course, they are endorsing him and it really is, Alex, the intersection of his political and personal identities. This is familiar territory for him. It's a critical swing state, and it's also a place where he will have to garner those votes come 2024 and rely on the unions to mobilize those voters. So, an important moment as he addresses all of these unions here today, but also in a really critical location, a state that will be important to his campaign and to the election in 2024. Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yeah. And taking a jab at his predecessor saying Trump made the world question whether they could rely on the United States, Priscilla Alvarez with the President in Philadelphia.

Thank you very much. Let me bring in Michael Nutter. He is a Democrat and a former mayor of Philadelphia. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us today. As a former mayor of that great city, what do you make of Biden choosing Philadelphia to hold his first major campaign rally for his reelection bid?

MICHAEL NUTTER, (D) FORMER MAYOR OF PHILADELPHIA: Well, Alex, thanks for having me. You know, folks have been choosing Philadelphia for a long, long period of time, the delegates chose Philadelphia to write the Declaration of Independence. They chose us for the Continental Congress to create the Constitution. We've been a centerpiece of the United States for a long, long period of time.

President Biden knows Philadelphia. It really is almost his second home and he is very comfortable here and he's with a crowd that loves him, in a city that has always shown tremendous support for President Biden. So, no big surprise there. But we are excited always to have the president in town.

And he's been here a lot in recent times. He's done a lot for the city as well, and the state.

MARQUARDT: A very supportive crowd of union workers. How significant do you think that those endorsements by the various unions are for his reelection?

NUTTER: They're critical, and as the president himself has said, and I can only echo, he is the most pro-union president in modern times.

And so, union people know and working people know that Joe Biden, President Biden is for them. He is with them. He says what he's going to do and then does it and has done it time and time and time again. You look at the American Rescue Plan to bring us out of the depths of COVID-19, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.

The most, the first gun safety, significant gun safety legislation in decades. The CHIPS Act of building semiconductors right here at home in the United States. The Inflation Reduction Act, I've often said President Biden has more acts than the Shakespearean play. He is doing the work that Americans need to be done while touting the results and the impact of his own economic strategy and a variety of other things that he has done for the American public.

MARQUARDT: Yeah. That has been a major focus of his speech so far. He's still speaking, talking about the economic victories that he's had, also his economic philosophy. But mayor, at the same time, most polls are showing that he gets low approval ratings when it comes to his handling of the economy. So, how does he turn that very important perception around? [14:05:04]

NUTTER: Well, I think he, obviously he is kicking off the campaign today, but he is also doing the job. He is president of the United States of America, when the president talks about creating 13 million jobs in about 28 months as compared to any four year term of any president, those are real jobs for real people and folks know at home that the opportunity for employment is there.

When we talk about employment or unemployment, unemployment is down under 4% for 16 months in a row. We haven't seen that those kind of levels since the, and consistency, since the 1960s.

Obviously, inflation has been a challenge, but that's also been going down over the last 10 months. And so I think this is about the president getting out there, communicating his message, letting people know directly what's been going on and what they're feeling back at home. I think the other thing we know over time, you know, there's one poll that actually matters.

It's the one that people walk into on election day.

MARQUARDT: Do you think of all the various issues that he has to manage as commander in chief, that in this campaign over the next year and a half, that the economy is the message that he really should be leading with when it comes to convincing voters to vote for him?

NUTTER: Well, I think the president is showing what he's going to do and how he's going to campaign. He is already leading with the economic message because at the end of the day, Alex, we know that people care about pocketbook issues. What's going on with my family? Can I buy groceries? When you look at president's action to reduce the cost of medicine, specifically insulin down to a $35 cap, that is going to save people hundreds of dollars in that particular situation.

We talked about unemployment. There are more people working now than we've seen in modern times in the actual workforce. So, I think it does take a while for the public to absorb all of what's been going on and the benefits that attach to those actions.

And so that's why we have campaigns. But there's no better communicator on these issues than President Joe Biden. As I say, it's not bragging if you can back it up, these are facts. They are documented. You can look them up.

MARQUARDT: The president doesn't shy away from talking about his age. He knows that it's a major concern.

He tries to make light of it, but it is a significant concern among those who he is trying to reach. He just turned 80 years old. He'd be 86 at the end of his second term. So, how can he ease voters concerns about his age?

NUTTER: Well, I think he's doing some of that today. Again, he's out on the campaign trio, you know, I mean, he's giving his speech, he's giving his talk. He's having that moment at this time with the union of people, and he'll do that all across the United States of America. I think he just want to watch what he does, how he performs, listen to what he's doing. He's doing the job.

And so, you know, apparently in the 2020s, you know, 80 is like 60. And there's no better example of that than Joe Biden. He's getting the work done and he's using his experience over a long, long period of time, his time in the Senate, his time as vice president, and now as president of the United States of America.

That experience is paying off for the American public.

MARQUARDT: All right. Michael Nutter, thank you very much. The former mayor of the great city of Philadelphia, appreciate your time today.

NUTTER: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: And just ahead, we will take you live to Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott is set to talk about storm recovery. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:12:54]

MARQUARDT: Pretty dark and alarming. Those words came this week from one AI expert, after a startling number of some of the country's top CEOs warned about where the future of artificial intelligence could lead us.

42% of those surveyed at the Yale CEO Summit this week say that AI has the potential to destroy humanity, five to 10 years from now. It comes just weeks after industry leaders, academics, and even some celebrities issued a statement warning of the potential extinction risk posed by AI.

Joining me now is Dr. Gary Marcus. He's an AI expert and emeritus professor of psychology and neuroscience at NYU. He is also the author of the book, Rebooting AI: Building Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust. Professor, thank you so much for joining us on this extremely important but often unsettling topic. So, to that poll that we just saw, what say you, do you think that AI could destroy humanity within the next five to 10 years?

DR. GARY MARCUS, AI EXPERT: I think the chance of that is zero. I think it could undermine the fabric of society, misinformation could undermine democracy. I don't think that would be literally destroying humanity. A lot of people are talking these days about AI may be extinguishing the species. It's really hard to extinguish humans.

I don't think that that's plausible even in the next century, let alone in the next five years. I think that these CEOs, many of them, I was actually on that call, have been listening to a lot of hype that is exaggerating where AI is right now. Current AI is not really that smart, frequently makes lots of mistakes, and it's in no position to extinguish humanity at least right now. On the other hand, I do think we should think about long-term risk. We should have some people on the planet thinking about what happens if the machines do become genuinely smart, what should we do then? And so, I think it's a legitimate thing to think about, but I don't think anybody should panic over it.

What I think we should really be worrying about is whether current AI is going to be used to disrupt the 2024 election.

MARQUARDT: Well, certainly comforting that you don't think humanity will end, that is a worrying prospect of course, that something else could meddle or harm our elections. What do you think needs to be done to better protect ourselves then?

[14:15:10]

MARCUS: I would love to see the government require that any AI- generated content be labeled as AI-generated. I think we want to move towards watermarks, towards digital IDs so we know who is posting what, or at least that they've been verified in some fashion.

And we're going to need to build new, excuse me, new kinds of AI that are able to detect misinformation and label it as potentially misleading. And so, we have technological things we have to do. We have policy things that we have to do. We need to take the problem quite seriously.

MARQUARDT: Do you think that this level of trepidation is healthy at this really early stage of AI's advancement or how fearful do you think that we should be as this emerging technology comes into our everyday life more and more?

MARCUS: Well, I think that we have to realize that there are risks with this new AI, that we need new policies. I've urged that we have a national AI agency in the U.S. and a global agency for AI. I think we also have to realize that there's a balance of risks, that some are short-term, some are long-term, that we probably need to focus most on the short-term risks, in order to make sure that we have a healthy democracy to face the longer term risks.

MARQUARDT: So, what are those risks? What are the biggest ones that you think are posed by artificial intelligence right now?

MARCUS: The biggest one I think is misinformation. The second biggest is probably cyber crime. We're going to see lots of people faking voices, deep fakes and things like that. There're going to be more romance scams and things like that. There's going to be defamation where these systems, which aren't really able to tell the truth, make stuff up, and other people believe it.

And in the long term we have to worry, are we giving too much power to these things? Assigning them the ability to go out on the internet, to write source code, and so forth before we've really learned to control them. You know, in the Apple App store, they have what's called sandboxing to limit what any given application can do. We now have these things called ChatGPT plugins, that I think have too much authority. We probably need to sandbox them to limit what they can do until we understand better how to make them safe.

MARQUARDT: Dr. Gary Marcus, thank you. Thank you again for comforting me that humanity will not end in five to 10 years. But of course there are a lot of concerns and this is, we are at the very early stages of this conversation and this technology. Thank you for joining us.

MARCUS: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

MARQUARDT: A royal celebration, king Charles' first official birthday parade kicked off in London this morning. We will bring you all that pomp and pageantry, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:21:56]

MARQUARDT: Today, president Joe Biden said he hopes to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the next several months to find common ground. His comments come as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed on a high stakes trip to China to ease tensions between the two countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. President: China has some legitimate difficulties unrelated to the United States and I think one of the things that balloon caused was not so much that it got shot down, but I don't think the leadership knew where it was and knew what was in it, and knew what was going on.

It was, I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentionally. And so, I'm hoping that over the next several months, I'll be meeting with Xi again and talking about legitimate differences we have, but also how those areas we can get along.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Blinken's trip to Beijing aims to reset relations after his previous trip there was back in February, was delayed following the appearance of that Chinese spy balloon that crossed the continental United States.

Now, earlier today, over in London, King Charles and the Royal family participated in the annual Trooping the Colour Ceremony, celebrating the King's first official birthday as British Sovereign.

And this time, and this is the first time I should say, a British monarch has appeared on horseback for the ceremony in nearly 40 years. Later, King Charles II and the Royal Family were up on the balcony at Buckingham Palace for the Royal Air Force Flypast. CNN's Anna Stewart has more from Buckingham Palace.

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: One of the perks of being a British monarch is having a second official birthday and one marked with a parade like no other. This was King Charles's first Trooping the Colour. He left Buckingham Palace for the procession on horseback, a sight not seen for nearly 40 years, and wearing the regimental uniform of the Welsh guards, the regiment, whose color or regimental flag was being trooped this year.

Cheers from the crowds who gathered on the mall, also for the royals that followed close behind. Prince William, now the Prince of Wales, also in Welsh Guard uniform as he is the regiment's Colonel now, a position he inherited from his father. He was joined by Princess Anne and the Duke of Edinburgh in their respective regiment uniforms.

And then behind in a carriage, Queen Camilla, the Princess of Wales, with the ultimate crowd pleasing trio of Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte. Unlike the coronation, this military ceremony focuses on the household division of the British Army. The five regiments of the foot guards take turn to troop their colour each year.

With the two household cavalry regiments performing the King's escort. The national anthem played as the king received his final salute marking the end of the ceremony and the return of his majesty to Buckingham Palace. Guns sounded across London before the King and other members of the Royal Family made it out onto Buckingham palace's iconic balcony to watch a flypast.

[14:25:11]

STEWART: 70 aircraft took part to the delight of many, particularly Prince Louis, whose expressions were as expected, and all culminated with a flypast from the red arrows, plumes of red, white, and blue smoke. A British flag emblazoned across the sky to mark King Charles's official birthday.

Anna Stewart, CNN from outside Buckingham Palace in London.

MARQUARDT: Prince Louis always bringing the levity to formal royal occasions. Our thanks to Anna Stewart for that report coming up. The mayor of one of Mexico's biggest cities, just miles from the U.S. border, is moving to an army base following threats from organized crime groups.

We'll have the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:00]

MARQUARDT: Let's go now to Perryton, Texas where a new round of severe weather is bearing down on this small town just days after a powerful tornado ripped through, at least three people were killed, including an 11 year old boy when that tornado struck on Thursday, dozens of people were injured. The tornado, as you can see there, flattened homes and businesses.

The National Weather Service now says it was a powerful EF-3 tornado with peak winds of around 140 miles an hour. And now as the town attempts to pick up the pieces, residents face scorching temperatures, and even the possibility of more severe storms. CNN's Isabel Rosales is there in Perryton, Texas.

Isabel, we are waiting for the governor to give an update on the impact on the community. What can we expect from Governor Abbott?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Alex. We're not only expecting to hear from Governor Greg Abbott, but also from other leadership here in the state, including the Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the police chief, the fire chief, and also the county sheriff.

Now, most recently, the governor has issued a declaration of emergency of a disaster here for the two counties impacted by this tornado, aqua (ph) tree, and cast (ph). What this does is it opens up resources and money to help out in that rebuilding process. Now, the press conference right behind me hasn't started quite yet, but we did hear from the Mayor of Perryton here.

His name is Kerry Symons, who was emotional and just so thankful for the help coming into the community, saying that the financial need here is great. Saying that this hit some of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in his community, that those who have the least lost the most here, and many of those homes that have been flattened, 200 of them, that's the number that they're going by, have again, been flattened.

The need here is so great, and many of those homes are uninsured. Now, I did speak with a survivor who went through this whole ordeal, said that it happened so quickly. There was not even a siren that went off, and here's what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXA LUGO, TORNADO SURVIVOR: He's very funny. He was very funny. We would always joke around and he would always be playing with his friends, playing soccer.

He loves soccer. Yeah. And I just remember like him, like we'd be in class, like sometimes he would come in class and he would just be laughing for no reason and he would make his friends laugh. I mean, it was funny.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Yeah. And Alexa Lugo. There she is, speaking about her schoolmate, 11-year-old Matthew Ramirez, who is the youngest victim of this tornado. Alex.

MARQUARDT: Such a sad, sad story. Our thoughts, of course, with the people of Perryton Texas. Isabelle Rosales, thank you very much. The Mayor of a Mexican border town is in protective custody after receiving gang threats. That's according to Mexico's president, who says the Tijuana mayor has to live on an army base. The mayor herself says she expects the move will be permanent following an attempted attack on May 17th when she says one of her bodyguards was shot at. CNN's Rafael Romo joins us now with the very latest Rafael. This really speaks to the very real danger that mayors like her can face.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's just incredible, Alex, and it's not only the fact that it's a public official being threatened, it's also the fact that we're talking about the mayor of Tijuana, a major border city, and a place frequently visited by Americans because it's located across the border, as you know, from San Diego.

Now, Mayor Montserrat Caballero has said that she was already the victim of an attempted attack. According to the mayor on May 17th, one of her bodyguards was shot at. That's when she made the decision to seek protection from Mexico's military, and now she's announced she will be living at an army base. Why is she being targeted?

You may ask. Well, Caballero says that since taking office last September, her police force has seized 1700 weapons from criminals and arrested 60 murder suspects in addition to 1700 other suspects accused of different crimes. But she told CNN, she doesn't know who's behind the threats. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MONTSERRAT CABALLERO, TIJUANA, MEXICO: We found some banners where they asked me to stop the work I am doing. The banners were not signed by any criminal group, and I also had some phone messages asking me to stop working that weren't signed either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Alex, Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador confirmed a few days ago that the Tijuana mayor is under the protection of the military.

The president said that she's already been under protective custody for more than two weeks due to the threats she has received. Adding that his government is going to wait and see how the situation unfolds before deciding what to do next. That Tijuana mayor is not the only one who has received threats according to President Lopez Obrador.

Imagine this, he also said, that the governor of Baja, California where Tijuana is located, was also threatened as well as a former governor of the same state for the time being. Mayor Caballero says she will continue to sleep at the Army base with her son and her pets, although she continues to carry out her daily duties at City Hall and other places at all times, Alex, escorted by her bodyguards back to you.

[14:35:16]

MARQUARDT: Yeah, certainly that will get a lot more complicated as she is confined to that military base. Rafael Romo, thank you very much for that report. Now ahead, the potential therapeutic effects of magic mushrooms. Some researchers are looking into its effects on conditions like depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUARDT: A landmark climate trial is playing out in Montana, where the plaintiffs all under the age of 22 years old, are fighting to make the state greener. The case centers around the state constitution since it is one of the few that includes an explicit reference to a clean environment. CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir is on the case.

[14:40:20]

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: In big sky country, it's a story fit for a big screen. On one side, 16 young people from ranches, reservations, and boom towns across Montana. Ranging in age from five to 22. On the other side, the Republican led state of Montana, which lost a three-year fight to keep this case out of court, but is still determined to let fossil fuels keep flowing.

Despite the warnings from science that burning them will only melt more glaciers, blackened more skies, and ravage more rivers.

UNKNOWN MALE: Based on the evidence you've seen, does it point to harm for these few plaintiffs?

UNKNOWN MALE: Harm now and accelerating harm in the future.

And the whole plot pivots around the Montana constitution that promises the state shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment for present and future generations.

NATE BELLINGER, SENIOR STAFF ATTORNEY, OUR CHILDREN'S TRUST: They've filed several different motions to try and have the case dismissed, and none of those motions have been successful.

WEIR: While the first week included scientists testifying to the data.

BELLINGER: Dr. Stanford has fishing for bull trout and native cutthroat trout already been impacted by climate change.

JACK STANFORD, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA: Oh, very definitely.

WEIR: The emotion has come from plaintiffs laying out their stories of loss.

SARIEL SANDOVAL, PLAINTIFF, OUR CHILDREN'S TRUST: You know, it's really scary seeing what you care for disappear right in front of your eyes.

BELLINGER: How does it make you feel knowing that the state is not considering the climate impacts in its permitting decisions? UNKNOWN FEMALE: Makes me feel like the state is prioritizing profits over people, because they know that there is visible harm coming to the land and to the people and they're still choosing to make money instead of care from Montanans.

WEIR: While the state's attorneys briefly question a plaintiff's ability to connect her mental health to the climate, they've mainly saved cross-examination for the experts.

STEVEN W. RUNNING, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA: If the judge ordered that we stopped using fossil fuels of Montana, would that get us to the point where these plaintiffs are no longer being harmed? In your opinion?

RIKKI HELD, LEAD PLAINTIFF, OUR CHILDREN'S TRUST: We can't tell in advance, because what has been shown in history over and over and over again is when a significant social movement is needed, it often is started by one or two or three people.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: I know that climate change is global issue, but Montanans needs take responsibility to our heart, and that the judge blow it off and do nothing about it

WEIR: Judge Kathy Seeley doesn't have the power to shut down any extraction or usage of fossil fuels, but a judgment for the young plaintiffs could set a powerful precedent for Our Children's Trust.

BELLINGER: I think we're really at a tipping point right now.

WEIR: The Oregon nonprofit is also helping kids in Hawaii sue their state over tailpipe emissions, and they've revived Juliana v. United States, the federal case that could end up before the Supreme Court.

CLAIRE VLASES, PLAINTIFF, OUR CHILDREN'S TRUST: I just recently graduated high school, but I think it's something everyone knows is that we have three branches of government for a reason. The judicial branch is there to keep a check on the other two branches, and that's what we're doing here.

WEIR: Claire Vlases grew up in beautiful, booming Bozeman, and like the other kids too young to vote. She sees the courts as the only place for someone like her to have a voice.

VLASES: It's hard knowing the power to make changes in the hands of other people.

WEIR: Mm-hmm.

VLASES: Especially my government.

WEIR: Mm-hmm.

VLASES: And I hope that as a young person, we might actually have a chance to make a difference. And for my life and for my kids' life. You know, not all hope may be lost. MARQUARDT: All right. Thanks to Bill Weir for that terrific report. Now, research on psychedelics is making a comeback, including psilocybin, which you may know is the main active component of magic mushrooms.

Magic mushrooms are being studied for their potential therapeutic effects on conditions like depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. And while psilocybin is illegal on the federal level, this year, Oregon became the first state to legalize magic mushrooms for therapeutic use. In other countries where mushrooms are legal, some people are turning to psilocybin wellness retreats.

CNN correspondent David Culver takes us on a mind altering journey to Oregon and Jamaica in the next episode of the Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, take a look.

[14:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Embarking on a psychedelic trip requires a willingness to be vulnerable, to hold nothing back.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: This wasn't easy, I imagine, for any of you to just say, yeah, let me jump in, and you're here for a reason.

CULVER: Documenting it with cameras for a story to be shared with the world. Well, that suggests a near total surrender to the unknown.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: Let go, let go with it and just go with the flow.

CULVER: The experiences you're about to witness, they're intimate. They're exhilarating and exhausting. After taking a dose of psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms, you wait.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: Psilocybin bring you what you need, not what you want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Joining me now is CNN's David Culver. David, this is a fascinating topic and really could transform the way that we look at different kinds of therapy. You went to Psilocybin Wellness Retreat in Jamaica, not just as a journalist, but also as as a participant.

So, first I want to ask, what made you decide to do this on camera? To take magic mushrooms on camera and tell us a little bit about your experience.

CULVER: Yeah, it wasn't my initial intent, Alex, to actually go forward and be a participant in the retreat. But what you realize is this is something that, and therapeutic is a key word in all of this, that is so deeply personal.

It's really intimate for these individuals who are going forward with what they hope in some cases is some sort of search for inner healing and to find that healing. For some, it's to curb addiction. There are a variety of reasons and different paths that bring these individuals to this retreat, but for me, it was about trying to chronicle their stories and in the early preparation, and there's a lot of preparation leading up to these retreats.

It's not just going, for example, on a recreational trip to just take magic mushrooms, but rather from that therapeutic approach, you realize that they weren't really that comfortable with an outsider looking in. So, in further discussions, we decided that I would go forward with it as well and I wanted to, and I spoke to my doctor about it because magic mushrooms are not for everyone.

And I didn't realize really the own path of healing and kind of the own experiences that would come forth for me that were deeply personal as well. So, it's a distinct approach to reporting. I'll give you that, but at the same time, I'm also somebody who likes to immerse myself, you know, appropriately, respectfully in stories, you know, doing so in my years reporting in China and most recently at the border.

And so this felt like a natural extension to that.

MARQUARDT: I was going to say, it's hard to get a more immersive journalistic experience than that, but why do this in Jamaica? To what extent are these retreats, these wellness retreats becoming a growing trend in other countries.

CULVER: So, if you look at it's, you know, the legality of it first, okay?

If you look at where you can grow and where you can consume magic mushrooms, legally, Jamaica's one of those places. Also, it happens in the Netherlands. So, these retreats are well established in those countries and the company that ran the retreat that we went on, they're going to use that extension in Jamaica that's currently underway and that's going to be a model of sorts for what's going to play out in Oregon.

And it's not an if, Alex, I mean this is a when, and in some cases like Oregon, it's right now. So, this is happening in the U.S. and that's why it's so important that we're given an idea as to how it's going to roll out, what regulations and limitations will be in place, and what kind of safe holds are going to be there so that folks can do this in a secure setting.

MARQUARDT: Yeah. Here in Washington, D.C. for example, magic mushrooms have been decriminalized. That's not the same thing as them being legalized.

CULVER: Right.

MARQUARDT: Which is what happened in Oregon, the first state to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use. So, the rollout is slowly underway, what can you tell us about what the program is going to look like in Oregon?

CULVER: Yeah, slowly a keyword in that too, because this was voted by Oregon residents into law in 2020. So, here we are now three years later, and the implementation aspect of it is underway, but there are a lot of regulations. This is not going to a location to simply pick up some mushrooms and go back home and take them.

This is a going to be in a licensed service centers. They're going to be licensed and trained facilitators who are currently getting their certifications to be able to administer the psilocybin, and you're going to have to do it using mushrooms that have been likewise, heavily regulated and at a licensed lab.

So, there's a lot of tests that are going to be underway to make sure these mushrooms are going to carry the same potency and impact, and that folks are going to be taking them in a secured setting. So, that's what's going to be playing out in Oregon and Colorado, another state that's moving quickly ahead with this as well.

Legalization already there, but again, the implementation gonna take some time.

MARQUARDT: Yeah, really, really interesting and potentially revolutionary. David Culver, thank you very much. Really looking forward to seeing this report. Be sure to tune in to an all new episode of The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper.

[14:50:00]

MARQUARDT: One whole story, one whole hour that airs tomorrow at 8:00 PM Eastern and Pacific only here on CNN. This week's CNN Hero lost her two-year-old son in a hit and run accident.

She needed to find a way to channel her trauma into something positive, so she looked around her neighborhood and thought, I can transform this into something beautiful. Meet the incredible Mama Shu.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAMAYIM HARRIS, CNN HERO: After Jakobi got killed. I needed to just basically change grief into glory, pain into power. Folks thought that I was crazy, like that lady crazy talking about she about to buy that block and fix it up because they didn't see, I saw crystal clear what it could look like.

It took about eight years or so to actually clean up the block. We'll start at buying the lots next door, and now we have 45. It was so many things inside of my head that I wanted to actually build for the people. I felt that that is what we deserve. Beauty is healing. You can change your environment. You really can.

Sometimes I just sit and I just smile, but then I say, you know what? I'm not done yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: To get an inside look at the amazing transformation of this block and learn what Mama Shu has planned next, go to cnnheroes.com and while you're there, nominate your own hero. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:13]

MARQUARDT: Texas Governor Greg Abbott is giving an update on recovery efforts underway in Perryton, Texas. After that E F three tornado devastated the town. Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT, (R) TEXAS: As a kid, born in Wichita Falls, all the way through the time now that I've been governor, I've seen more tornadoes than I can count.

I've never seen the level of decimation to a town, as I've seen today. Well, the people in this area have gone through over the past couple of days. There's nothing short of horrific. At the same time, it's encouraging, maybe even inspiring to see the way that the community has come together, worked together, helped each other to begin the process of rebuilding.

They're working around the clock, literally nonstop, to rebuild as swiftly as possible. And one thing that we know, one thing that we've talked about, and that is there is the ability to rebuild homes, rebuild buildings, rebuild city structures. The one thing that cannot be rebuilt is a life.

Unfortunately, this devastating storm took three lives that could not be rebuilt. Our prayers and the support of this entire community will remain with the families of those who did lose a loved one. And as governor, I ask all Texans to join with us in praying for healing and hope for the people devastated by this tragic tornado.

At the same time, I want to thank the local hospital. They treated 160 people in a hospital that has how many beds?

UNKNOWN FEMALE: 25.

ABBOTT: 25 beds. Nonstop heroic efforts by healthcare providers, healing people, and letting them go as quickly as possible so they could address the health needs of others. Probably something that this local hospital has never encountered before in the history of that hospital.

One thing that you see epitomized when you come into a room like this and visit with the local officials and the responders can be summed up in one word, and that is resiliency. There is a remarkable strength and resiliency in this community. I know that they are going to rebuild because they have the spirit and the drive and the determination that is needed for a community like this to rebuild from such an unprecedented amount of decimation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: That was Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaking in the wake of that tornado in Perryton, Texas. Of course, we wish all the residents of Perryton all the very best in their efforts to rebuild that town. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Alex Marquardt in today for Fredricka Whitfield.

Smerconish starts right now.