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Benjamin Netanyahu Rejects Ultimatum From War Cabinet Member Benny Gantz; Trump To Address NRA Convention In Dallas; President Biden Campaigns In Atlanta Ahead Of Morehouse College Commencement Sunday; Trump Defense Accused Cohen Of Lying To Jury About Key Phone Call; Golfer Scottie Scheffler Facing 4 Charges, Including Felony Assault, After Friday Morning Arrest In Kentucky; Dr. Gupta Discovers The Results Of An Alzheimer's Risk Test. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired May 18, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:44]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in Washington, and we begin with breaking news in the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting a new ultimatum this time from within his own war cabinet. Cabinet member and former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz is calling on Netanyahu to agree on a war plan by June 8th. That's about three weeks from now. Or he says he'll withdraw from the government.

Also breaking today, the Israeli military saying it's recovered the body of another hostage inside Gaza. Officials saying Ron Benjamin was killed during the October 7th attacks. His body taken into Gaza by Hamas. On Friday, the IDF discovered the bodies of three additional hostages.

All of this unfolding as new humanitarian in aid arrives in Gaza through a floating pier set up by the U.S. Military this week. Officials say the goal here is to bring in 500 tons of aid daily.

Joining us now CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid and CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger. David also the author of the "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West."

Thanks both to you. Thanks to both of you for being here with us.

Barak, let's start first with you because you broke this reporting on this ultimatum from Benny Gantz. We now know Netanyahu has rejected it. What now? Will Gantz actually leave the government and if he does, is that enough to force Netanyahu's hand?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think after what Gantz said today, if by June 8th there's not going to be some significant change in the policy over the war in Gaza, which I suspect is not going to be the case, he won't have any other choice but to leave the government and he wanted to do it for some time now and he didn't find the right way to do it without losing a lot of the votes that he gained over the last six months. So I think the speech today in this ultimatum was a way to prepare public opinion for his departure from the government.

But, and there's a big but here, even if he leaves, Netanyahu still has a 64-member of Knesset majority, meaning he's still the prime minister. But if Gantz leaves and Gantz is the one who's leading in the polls right now. If elections were held today, Gantz will be the prime minister. All of Gantz's supporters, once he leaves, can join the protests in the streets that we see every week. It is still small, but every week it's getting a bit bigger.

DEAN: And you also report that in his statement rejecting Gantz's ultimatum, Netanyahu made clear that he is against a Palestinian state as part of this normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia. And that normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia plays a lot into so much of this.

RAVID: Of course, and especially that I think that right now as we speak White House national security adviser is in Saudi Arabia, Jake Sullivan. He's there to meet the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to speak exactly about this. And he's supposed to be in Israel tomorrow. And so Sullivan will come to Israel which is in a deep political crisis with the war that's not going anywhere and with a prime minister who just poured a gallon of cold water over President Biden's idea for some sort of a mega deal with Saudi Arabia. That's not good news for the White House at all.

DEAN: And David, I want to ask you, going off what Barak just said, the White House saying that the National Security adviser Jake Sullivan will be in Saudi Arabia, Israel. How do you think those talks are going to go?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, they'll probably go as each of the other encounters that Prime Minister Netanyahu has had in recent times with Mr. Sullivan, with the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, with President Biden himself, with the CIA director who has been the envoy trying to work out a hostage deal here, Bill Burns.

In each of those cases, the Americans have emerged with enormous frustration about dealing with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

[16:05:02]

In part because the prime minister has refused to take on their cautions. In part because he very publicly rejected giving them a plan for what to do with the million plus people in Rafah to move them out of harm's way. And in part because President Biden finally a few weeks ago, two weeks ago, made the decision to withhold a very small number of weapons, 2,000-pound bombs so they're not used in the ongoing Rafah operation.

So the relationship with the prime minister couldn't be any worse, and my suspicion is that President Biden is not unhappy to see Benny Gantz make this threat and let this government crumble if that's what's going to happen a little more from within.

DEAN: And I just want to tell everyone what they're looking at right now on their screen. These are live pictures from Tel Aviv of protesters on Saturday night, protesting for a new government. That is what's going on at this very moment.

David, to your point, we also heard from Yoav Gallant, Israel's defense minister, who's a member of the same party as Benjamin Netanyahu, which seems important. And he said he did not support Israeli military rule of Gaza. So here we have what we got today for Benny Ganz, we have this from Gallant. It seems like the domestic politics have been unsettled, but it seems to be reaching a new moment.

SANGER: It does, and you know, we're seven months plus after the awful events of October 7th. It was a horrific terrorist attack but even then, at that moment, the prime minister's government has been shaky and Prime Minister Netanyahu has not wanted to move to the next step because he knows the next step probably involves his removal from the prime ministership.

So he has everything be gained from keeping the status quo going and now you're seeing the fracturing you knew was going to happen. But problem is, and this is, you know, more in other wheelhouses than mine is that the internal politics are grinding so slowly within his cabinet that it's not moving at a rate to allow in the great amount of aid the U.S. is demanding, or the kind of political shifts that would enable a different plan for dealing with Hamas.

DEAN: And Barak, if we zoom out and you look more broadly at these talks, trying to get a ceasefire and hostage deal, so much, all of this is interconnected in one way or the other, and at the heart of a lot of this is what is the plan for what comes after this war is over. What will happen in Gaza, who will govern Gaza. And the U.S. certainly has feelings about that. Benjamin Netanyahu certainly has his own feelings.

What is the way through here?

RAVID: Right now there's no way through. Right now it's tough. Right now it seems that, and you mentioned Gallant's remarks. What Gallant was saying basically that he just -- he gave a public indictment against Netanyahu for the fact that he's unwilling to put on the table or discuss seriously any day-after plan in Gaza. And Gallant said that because Netanyahu refuses and he refuses to do it because he's dependent on the most radical, extremist right-wing politicians in the history of Israel, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Metella Smotrich, and because of that, Israel is going towards a perpetual occupation of Gaza and the need to impose military rule, which will be a disaster for Israel short-term and long-term.

And I think that you cannot disconnect the internal -- the domestic politics and the bigger picture here. And many people in Israel right now see what Netanyahu is doing as the war of survival. But his own political survival and not the survival of the country.

DEAN: And David, you mentioned a little bit when we were talking just a second ago about the U.S. and the relationship with the U.S. But what does this all mean for what President Biden and the administration are asking for? How hard do they push? What levers do they have left to pull? And is that going to be effective?

SANGER: Well, Jessica, the main lever they have to pull is the one that the president has already pulled once and in a small way, which is withholding some of the weaponry, the weaponry that would be used in the U.S. view against civilians. They're not going to pull the defensive weaponry.

[16:10:01]

They're not going to pull all that (INAUDIBLE). The administration pushed Congress recently for another very large long-term package of arms for Israel. But that would come well into the future.

The interesting thing about the timing of this threat that you've now heard to begin to pull the government apart is if it did come on June 8th, that would be just a week before the president is meeting his closest allies, the G7 allies, in Italy. I think that meeting begins on the 13th, runs 13th, 14th, that would be the moment where all of the allies together could try to come together with a common position.

Now, whether that would bend Prime Minister Netanyahu after all the pressure he's been on, I don't know. He's so far has resisted just about every piece of advice he's gotten from every country that is providing both arms and relief to the Palestinians.

DEAN: All right. David Sanger and Barak Ravid, our thanks to both of you.

RAVID: Thank you

DEAN: The race for the White House is in full swing as the two likely nominees speak at dueling campaign events. This hour, any minute, former president Trump will give remarks at the National Rifle Association's convention in Dallas. This as President Biden set to speak in Atlanta as he makes his push to shore up support among black voters. The latest from the trail.

Plus right now, the world's number one golfer, Scottie Scheffler, back out on the course. But more questions than answers remain about his arrest. Up next, what more we're learning from police and Scheffler's attorney.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:16:30]

DEAN: Former president Trump is just moments away from addressing a crowd at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Dallas. It is a must attend event for conservative politician and it's one that Trump has headlined for years now. Texas Governor Greg Abbott and NRA president Charles Cotton also set to speak.

CNN reporter Steve Contorno is joining us now.

Steve, what can we expect to hear tonight from the former president?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, it was only eight years ago, really almost to this day that the National Rifle Association adores Donald Trump for president. And at the time, no one would have questioned that organization's influence in American politics. But that is very much at question today as Donald Trump prepares to address this organization once again.

This is an organization that has been badly damaged by scandals, by financial mismanagement and multiple leadership crisis. And now there are serious questions over whether they can help Donald Trump and to what degree they can boost his presidential bid, helping him win back the White House again. Eight years ago, they helped with $30 million. Do they have that kind of money in this election cycle,

Donald Trump, for his part, he is standing by the embattled organization. He recently held them meeting at Mar-a-Lago with many conservative organizations planning their ground game for 2024. The National Rifle Association was part of those meetings. And Donald Trump is promising to be a second amendment president if elected once again. He said he will undo all the work that Joe Biden has done on gun safety since taking office.

Now this is a contrast that the Biden campaign is very eager to make. They are more than happy to let Trump playing the mantle as a stalwart for the Second Amendment and for the lack of action he took as president after all the mass shooting he saw during his four years. The Trump campaign, though, believes that this is a moment, an opportunity for him to rally his base. These are some of his strongest supporters, which is why he's spending time with them in between all these court appearances -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Steve Contorno for us with the latest from Dallas. Thanks so much for that reporting.

Also this weekend, President Joe Biden making a fresh appeal to black voters into close battleground states. Georgia and Michigan. He's also set to deliver a commencement address tomorrow at Atlanta's Morehouse College. That visit is highlighting some deep divisions, though, that are felt on college campuses across the nation.

CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz is in Atlanta.

And Arlette, the president spoke not too long ago to supporters. What's he saying?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jess. Well, a big part of President Biden's time here in Georgia is to focus on drawing more for support among black voters. Black voters, of course, had been a key portion of Biden's support back in 2020, helped propel him to the White House. But there have been some signs of narrowing in that support as he prepares for his rematch against former president Donald Trump.

Now, the president's advisers say that he has several tasks at hand. One is trying to remind voters the things his administration has done to help black voters including things like lowering the cost of insulin, infrastructure investments, and also canceling student debt. But then there is also the need to try to draw that contrast with Trump. And that is something that we saw him tried to do when he met with supporters here in Atlanta just a short a while ago.

The president warned of what Trump would do if he were reelected, potentially undoing many of the initiatives that Biden had put into place as president. And he also took a bit more of a swipe at Trump as well. Take a listen.

[16:20:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not about me. It's about the alternative as well. You know, he -- I think it's fair to say, I won't use the exact phrase they use about still playing ball. But my opponent is not a good loser but is a loser.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now you often hear President Biden kind of tried to tweak and get under Trump's skin with comments like that, but he is making those comments in a critical battleground state of Georgia. This is a state that Biden won by less than 12,000 against Trump in 2020. But recent polling has shown that Trump currently has a lead here over Biden. There's a poll in "The New York Times" that shows Trump leading Biden by 10 points.

Now part of Biden's success here in the state of Georgia was with black voters, trying to put together a diverse coalition to send him to the White House back in 2020. That is part of the reason you're seeing him do that outreach here in Atlanta today as he meets with voters, tomorrow when he speaks to graduates at Morehouse's commencement, as they're trying to rally more of that support from black voters heading into November.

DEAN: And Arlette, we also know some Morehouse students have said they plan to protest the president's speech tomorrow. I would imagine that they have prepared knowing that was a likely possibility.

SAENZ: Yes, the White House and President Biden are well aware of the frustration from some faculty and staff about the fact that the college had invited him to speak at this commencement ceremonies. So much of that frustration from students and faculty has stemmed from the president's handling of the conflict in Gaza. But the White House has been preparing for the president's commencement address for weeks now.

They actually sent down a senior adviser, Steve Benjamin, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. He traveled here to Morehouse just last Friday and held a roughly more than two-hour meeting with faculty and staff to hear their concerns. I'm told about half of that meeting focused specifically on the issue of Gaza. The White House and the president have also been reaching out to

prominent Morehouse alums to help them with the crafting of that speech. One of those alums is Tony Allen, who is actually the president of another HBCU who told us in an interview that he believes the president will discuss the impact of peaceful protests. But all eyes will be on that commencement address tomorrow, seeing whether there will be any protests on hand, and how exactly President Biden handles it.

DEAN: Absolutely. Arlette Saenz for us live in Atlanta tonight. Thanks so much for that.

And joining us now is Larry Sabato, who's the director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

Larry, thanks for joining us. We just heard Arlette lay out the president's plan for the next couple of days with these appearances. He's seen his numbers soften with black voters, specifically young black men. How serious of a problem is this for the Biden campaign? And what can they do to fix it?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA'S CENTER FOR POLITICS: Well, it's less serious problem than some of the numbers being thrown around. What suggests one recent poll, you mentioned it, I tried not to mention it because it's gotten too much attention. But to have black voters at 23 percent for Trump, that is laughable. And it's not going to end up anything like that. The normal breakdown in a two-way race is maybe 88 percent, 90 percent for the Democrat, 10 percent or 12 percent for the Republican.

I can't give you exact percentages, but that's a lot closer to reality than 23 percent for Trump. So look, the point is that black voters, just like every other category of voters, wants to be wooed. They don't want their votes taken for granted. They don't want to be taken for granted. So the president, as any candidate, would have to do has to do some makeup work under these circumstances. And that's what they're doing. And it's May. It's May.

DEAN: Well, so two things I wanted to ask, follow up with you about that because we're looking at the numbers here that you just referenced from that "New York Times"-Sienna poll. And you've been doing this a long time. You know politics so well. What makes you say that's laughable, these numbers just aren't right?

SABATO: Because the early numbers are a reflection of messages that voters are sending. In this case to President Biden. In other surveys to former president Trump. They're sending messages because everyone knows it doesn't matter what the polls say, what the polls show. Those numbers mean nothing in terms of consequences, the consequence comes after you vote. So they send a message. The message is being received.

Some of the issues were talking about today may indeed be resolved or nearly resolved by the time people vote in October and November. We'll see what happens in the Middle East for example. So this is all very preliminary. You know, it's easy to take polls in the spring of an election year because you're not held accountable for anything. [16:25:02]

The only poll that matters for you is the one you take right before the election. You're either right or wrong. But you're excused for all the other polls you take before then.

DEAN: Yes. And it is -- you're right, we should underscore May. No one -- this isn't happening until November and that is important to remember and to keep in context.

I do want to ask you before I let you go about the debate that's now set for June 27th here on CNN. It's historic for a number of reasons. This is an historic election cycle for a number of reasons. But what is your takeaway from this being set? And what we know about it today?

SABATO: Well, I've seen all the debates, including the JFK-Nixon ones live. (INAUDIBLE) whole magic on TV. So I can say truthfully I never thought there would be a presidential debate June 27th of an election year. They're normally held in the fall, but, you know, in a way it makes sense because more and more voters with each passing year are voting earlier and earlier. Most of us used to vote because we really had to on election day.

We didn't even have the opportunity of mail-in or in-person balloting before then. So many millions, tens of millions of Americans are voting in late September, early October, et cetera. It makes sense to move the debates earlier. I don't know, June 27th is too early. I'll let other people debate that. But this is voter education. I'm delighted that this has been arranged, that in fact the candidates were able to agree on these two debates because I think it's important to have debates whoever is the sponsors of it.

DEAN: All right, Larry Sabato, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

SABATO: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: Still to come, Michael Cohen's cross-examination in Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York resumes on Monday. Up next, we're going to speak to a former Trump attorney about what to expect.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:25]

DEAN: Donald Trump's criminal trial could be wrapping up as soon as next week. The former president leaving court Thursday on a confident note as his defense attorneys cross-examined Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen.

Under questioning, Cohen appeared to contradict himself on the topic of a phone call with his former boss, potentially raising doubts over his testimony altogether.

Former Trump attorney, Tim Parlatore, is joining us now. He's also a CNN legal commentator.

Tim, nice to see you.

I'm curious what you think. Could the outcome on of this trial hinge on Cohen and that phone call or is that kind of blowing it out of proportion?

TIM PARLATORE, CNN LEGAL COMMENTATOR: No, I think it really does come down to that. Yes. When you look at the evidence in this case, they have a lot of corroboration for a lot of the story.

But the problem is that all the things that they have corroboration for are not the actual elements of the crime. it's all the background or the hush money and catch and kill., things like that?

The evidence that they need to actually tie Donald Trump personally to the false business records is Michael Cohen. And him coming into testify about conversations like this one.

To the extent that you have text messages that you can then use to cross-examine him and show that phone calls he claimed were about this were actually about something else, that does undercut really the only connection that they can make between him and the false business record entries.

So I think it can certainly have a big impact. Particularly, don't forget, there are two lawyers on this jury. And so I think that they, the two of them, can have significant sway in cutting through all the noise and getting down to that element.

DEAN: And the prosecutors are likely going to try and firm up Cohen's credibility next week before this all comes to a close.

How do you foresee them going about that?

PARLATORE: You know, a lot of it is going to depend on what -- what they can do as far as the actual facts of that phone call.

You know, they'll try and go to him and say, do you think that you actually talked about this as well? You know, they'll try and make it where it impacts both conversations in that 90 seconds.

I think that they'll probably try to focus on all of the other things that they do have corroboration for and try and shore up some of that thing, that part of it to see if they can make the jury believe, you know, that this phone call really was what he said it was.

DEAN: And given the

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: Yes.

PARLATORE: It's a difficult position for them, no doubt.

DEAN: And given that we could hear closing arguments next week, if you're Trump's attorneys, what is that last message you want the jury walking away with? What do you want to emphasize?

PARLATORE: Really, it is that credibility piece, you know, that they have not been able to corroborate his connection to the business records.

And you know, what I always try to think about on closing arguments is, you have a complex case with a lot of different moving parts. To the extent that you can kind of figure out, kind of separate, you know, what is in dispute from what's not in dispute and, yes, set all this stuff aside and basically focus on the one key element that really the case rises and falls on.

I think that that if they keep laser-focused on that and use this phone call to really focus the jury, I think that that's where they're going to have the most success.

DEAN: And -- and the former president had complained he wasn't getting, he felt, enough support in the courtroom. So this week, we did see several Republican members of Congress showing up and others. But the speaker of the House was there. There are obviously politics involved here.

[14:35:03]

But what do you think their appearance in that courtroom, what kind of impact, if any, do you think it has on the jury?

PARLATORE: You know, I always tell clients that when it comes to a criminal trial, there are only 12 opinions that matter. And yours is not one of them. And so what impact is that going to have on the 12 people in the box?

And I do -- I am concerned that by parading these figures in and out, that that would have a negative impact on the jury.

I know that there was an incident where a couple of members of Congress came in, yes, not during a break and they were somewhat disruptive. And the judge was looking angrily down.

That's the kind of thing that jurors notice. So it's not something that I would be encouraging. But whether the jury actually takes something from that or if they just kind of set it aside, juries are funny things.

DEAN: Yes. They get to decide. That's the bottom line, right?

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: Former Trump attorney, Tim Parlatore, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

PARLATORE: Thank you.

DEAN: Coming up, Scottie Scheffler is out on the course playing in the PGA championship as we speak. This, as we learn new details about his arrest inquiry, including whether any bodycam footage captured in the incident in question.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:41:03]

DEAN: At this hour, pro golfer, Scottie Scheffler, is playing in the PGA tournament in Louisville. This, as we learn significant new details from his stunning arrest on Friday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR CRAIG GREENBERG, (D-LOUISVILLE, KY): The officer did not have a bodycam footage turned on during the incident. We will release footage that we have.

We do not have any -- to my knowledge, we have not yet have discovered any video of the initial contact between Mr. Gillis and Mr. -- Officer Gillis and Mr. Scheffler.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The incident unfolded just before dawn yesterday, outside the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scheffler, one of the world's top golfers, is accused of injuring an officer who tried to stop him from driving through the scene of a fatal traffic accident outside the club.

He was booked in jail, is now facing four charges, including felony assault on a police officer.

CNN correspondent, Gloria Pazmino, is joining us now from Louisville.

Gloria, what more are we hearing from Scheffler and his attorney today?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It is a significant development that there will be no police cam video because, as Scheffler and his attorney's story is a little bit different from what the police have been telling us about this whole incident so far, Jessica.

They have said that Scheffler misunderstood the whole thing, that it was all just a bad miscommunication. And that he was not trying to cause any trouble.

He has been cooperating with the investigation. And as you said, has been performing actually quite well at the PGA championship.

The incident report says that Scheffler did not listen or obey the orders of the police, that he continued to drive forward, pulling that officer, injuring and sending him to the hospital.

And now that we know that there's no police cam video, it's going to be interested to see how this investigation plays out. Because we're not going to have real evidence or real pictures of how that interaction began.

Listen to Scheffler's attorney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE ROMINES, ATTORNEY FOR SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: He was directed by a traffic control officer to go around a stopped bus and to proceed into the grounds at Baja.

Never at any time did he disregard any officer's direction. He followed another traffic control officer's directions as to how to proceed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: So, Jessica, the police incident report, which we have reviewed, it says the exact opposite of what the attorney is saying. It says that he did not listen. He continued to drive forward, therefore, injuring this officer in the process.

One thing that is not clear to us, just yet, we asked the mayor or whether that police officer should have had their camera rolling. If they didn't, why not? And was there any sort of rule broken in that process regarding the department's bodycam policy? We are still waiting to hear back about that.

In the meantime, Scheffler is scheduled to be arranged on Tuesday. The mayor would not say whether or not he believes the charges should be dismissed or downgraded. He simply said that he will let the legal process play out -- Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Gloria -- Gloria Pazmino, for us in Louisville, thanks so much.

And let's talk now with Rachel Nichols, the host of Showtime's "Headliners" with Rachel Nichols."

Rachel, thank you so much for joining us.

You've worked in sports news for a very long time. You've seen a lot. Scottie Scheffler is known to just be this great guy. He has an excellent reputation.

Have you ever seen anything like this?

RACHEL NICHOLS, SHOWTIME HOST, "HEADLINERS WITH RACHEL NICHOLS": I have never seen a post-game or post-round interview where a golfer talked about -- or any athlete talked about stretching to get ready to play that day in a jail cell. I mean, that's insane.

The entire process has been incredibly chaotic and strange and something we've never seen before. And that goes what happened inside the club in the morning.

[14:45:06]

We've had many other golfers, since this all happened, come out and describe their experiences. And they're also sort of once-in-a- lifetime, we've never encountered this before.

You have to remember, this is a tournament dealing with the fact that one of its own buses hit and killed one of its own workers. That is definitely the most tragic and serious thing that happened yesterday.

Then you had the practical issues that came after that, which is that this happened near the club entrance. And so, so much had to be blocked off that it caused a massive traffic jam as both fans and golfers were trying to get into the club.

This all started when it was still dark. It was raining. One of the other golfers, who is now in eighth place, described the fact that traffic was at such a standstill, he was a mile and a half from the club, but he just thought there's no way I'm going to make my tee time.

So he left his car, got out, and walked before he teed off. Which is also something I've never heard, a golfer walk a mile and a half before their tee time at a major.

The jail cell's story is obviously a little bit more dramatic. But there were just so many events going on at the club yesterday morning. We had golfer say that they got conflicting directions on where to go.

So it's not surprising that all of this happened. It's just an incredibly unusual situation.

DEAN: Unusual. And I'm so glad that you brought up what was at the heart of all of this, was that somebody was hit and killed by that bus. That's what started all of this and has gotten somewhat buried in a lot of this.

But, yes, to your point, it's about also to remembering the chaos of the moment. It was dark. It was, what, 5:30 in the morning. And they're all trying to figure this out. So there just seems to be a lot of layers to all of this.

People -- or what else do you think moving forward? Has he been able to compartmentalize and keep playing? What do you think kind of comes next? And how do you see this developing over the next day or two?

PAZMINO: Well, look, what he did in the moment is also pretty incredible and shows why he is the number-one golfer in the world. And by the moment, I mean, when he had to tie off.

The fact that he arrived at the club, and within a half-hour, was on the first tee. And then birdied two of his first three holes. That's just remarkable and something the other golfers were marveling at.

Even for a professional golfer, they said that that's why he's the best player in the world, because he can do something like that. You have to wonder if the events of the past 24 hours, having to

explain to the media what happened, deal with the fact that he is to have an arraignment in just a few days, that he's facing a felony charge, if that's going to end up sort of weighing on him in these last two days.

Because I can't imagine he got a lot of sleep last night. But it is -- it is just incredible that he was able to have the round that he did yesterday. He shot is 66 after getting ready, warming up for that round in a jail cell.

DEAN: I -- is remarkable.

What do you -- how do you think the PGA is handling this?

PAZMINO: Well, I mean, look, there are -- two of the tournament officials actually drove to the police station, facilitated his release and drove him back to the club.

So all of the conversation around this, would this have happened if he was just a normal guy?

He's not a normal guy. He is the number-one golfer in the world. He's a white man. He was facilitated by officials at a very important tournament in this town.

We don't know what would have happened if he looked different, if he was someone else. The PGA did what it had to do to get the best golf in the world back in its tournament.

And I think they're trying to sort through themselves, not everything that just happened with Scottie.

But again, the most important thing here is that one of their own bus drivers killed one of their own workers. And the fallout from that and the tragedy of that is something the club is handling, too, and at the tournament, too.

DEAN: Yes. All right. Rachel Nicholes, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

PAZMINO: Thank you.

DEAN: We continue to follow breaking news. A new internal strife inside Israel's coalition government. The country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting an ultimatum put forth by a key member of Israel's war cabinet. We've got new details for you.

[14:49:06]

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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DEAN: Now to a potential breakthrough in the fight against Alzheimer's. A new blood test could help diagnose the disease years before symptoms even begin to show.

Facing concerns about his own family history of Alzheimer's, CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, visited the lab behind the test to have his own risk assessed.

And it's part of this weeks "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER."

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like a lot of blood. But it's not that much.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It looks like a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

GUPTA (voice-over): You're not going to find many places like this around the country. A place that practices preventative neurology, highly personalized. And most importantly for me, predictive.

(on camera): So Holly here has graciously stuck me with a needle and is now drawing my blood for all sorts of different things. For basic cardiac metabolic sort of risk factors, but also, many of these purple tubes here, as part of a research study to see what some of these biomarkers for Alzheimer's are for me and what they might mean.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Try to concentrate as you look at them now.

That's correct. (INAUDIBLE)

[14:55:00]

GUPTA (voice-over): There is a lengthy cognitive test.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like your body composition, your muscle mass, your body fat, where the body fat is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Starting your body test.

GUPTA: And an exhaustive intake of my medical, personal, and family history.

(on camera): My grandmother, his mom, and my dad both had diabetes.

(voice-over): It's been two weeks after my own testing for Alzheimer's risk. It was time for the results. And I have to admit, I was kind of nervous.

DR. RICHARD ISAACSON: Based on some of the findings that we have, in some ways, you are a walking modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.

GUPTA (on camera): I am a walking modifiable risk factor. Isaacson: Four in every 10 cases of dementia may be preventable if that person does everything right. It's my belief, based on all the assessments we did, you are absolutely in that four out of 10.

GUPTA (voice-over): So that's relief.

My genes at least don't carry an increased risk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Wow. Be sure to watch more of this special as Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on hope for the devastating effects of Alzheimer's disease. It's "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," one whole story, one whole hour, airing tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m.

We'll be right back.

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