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Families Of Female IDF Soldiers Release Video Of Hamas Abduction; One Dead, 100+ Injured After Severe Turbulence Hits Airliner; Biden Admin. To Sell Off One Million Barrels Of Gasoline. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired May 22, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: He's the author of a very important brand- new book entitled, "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion and America's Struggle to Defend the West." It's getting excellent, excellent reviews right now. Congratulations on the new book, David. Thanks very much for joining us. Let me get your reaction first to these very disturbing images of these young Israeli female soldiers who were being tortured by Hamas in Gaza.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Wolf, I've looked at the pictures and they're both heartbreaking and terrifying. The young women who were spotters for the military -- for the Israeli military clearly caught unawares on October 7 as this attack happened. They're bloodied.

Several of them are wearing their underwear. They clearly are terrified. And you know, you can't look at this and not have your heartbreak.

It's fascinating that they are -- these pictures are released now. The family has said that they were keeping them private for obvious reasons, privacy reasons. But now in releasing them and thus forcing the Israeli government to release them, they're trying to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu at a moment when Mr. Netanyahu was under pressure in many different ways. Benny Gantz, whose major political opponent, but a member of the war cabinet has said that he will, by early June, leave the government if there is not some move toward a ceasefire and a plan for how they would govern Gaza. And of course, you've seen the ICC move to at least a proposal to put out an arrest warrant.

BLITZER: Yes. It's really heartbreaking to see those pictures. David, thank you very, very much. David Sanger with some excellent analysis.

And once again, be sure to check out his brand-new book entitled "New Cold Wars." There you see it. China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West. It's really a must-read very important new book.

And stay with us. We'll have much more news just ahead. We'll be right back.

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[11:36:53]

BLITZER: All hell broke loose. That's a direct quote from a passenger on a Singapore Airlines flight that had extreme turbulence over the Indian Ocean. One man on board died. More than 100 other people on that plane were injured, some very seriously.

You can see here just how badly the cabin was damaged, debris everywhere, and blood on the carpet. Now, the United States is sending a team to help authorities in Singapore find out what caused the violent changes in altitude. The plane was diverted to Bangkok. The passenger told my colleague Erin Burnett that the drop was so sudden that no one had time to repair including the flight crew.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW DAVIES, SINGAPORE AIRLINES PASSENGER: I didn't see any member of the cabin crew that wasn't injured. They all -- every single cabin crew person I saw had an injury of some sort. And my heart goes out to them actually because they were doing their job.

And they're quite vulnerable as well because they're on the airplane. They weren't seated. They obviously didn't have the seatbelt on because they were doing -- going about their duties. So, that, they were extremely vulnerable. And as I say, not one of them was uninjured that I could see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN's Ivan Watson is in Bangkok with more details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Injuries and death after several minutes of terror more than 30,000 feet in the sky. A Singapore Airlines Flight hit with severe turbulence throwing passengers and crew throughout the cabin 10 hours into the flight. The incident was so rough, lighting in the air ventilation tubing fell out of the ceiling.

Food trays for breakfast littered across the floor. Emergency workers raced to Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Tuesday afternoon after the flight turned deadly. Traffic control on the tarmac quick to redirect ambulances and set up makeshift medical tents for injured passengers. Flight SQ321 departed from London and was en route to Singapore but severe turbulence forced pilots to make an emergency landing in Thailand. A 73-year-old British man Geoff Kitchen died on board the flight. At least seven others were in critical condition with dozens more injured.

KITTIPONG KITTIKACHORN, GENERAL MANAGER, SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT (through a translator): The plane landed at the airport and the medical team was sent to the scene. Many injuries occurred so the airport had to issue an emergency plan. All our teams went to help. WATSON (voiceover): The airline has launched an investigation into the incident with the British Embassy also deploying officials to support those in the hospital. The passengers left with the question of how this all went so wrong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: I want to bring in CNN's Safety Analyst David Soucie right now. He was an FAA investigator. He wrote a very important book on the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

David, thanks for joining us. How rare is the severe turbulence like this that we just saw and heard about? What are you hearing about these passengers? And how did the crew experience all of this aboard that Singapore jet?

[11:40:13]

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, first of all, Wolf, it is not very rare at all -- I mean, not very common at all to see this happen. It's extremely rare, particularly, to have a death in flight. The last one I'm aware of was back in 1994. So, it's been many, many years since we've had a fatality caused directly from turbulence like this.

The severity of this, you can see the passengers are injured. That can come from a lot of different things, mostly, like he mentioned before that the flight crew was not fastened in. They were not expecting it.

I don't think this was clear air turbulence. I believe it was related to some activity in the area from the weather. So, it is somewhat predictable.

But even at that, to be able to know -- there hadn't been any flights reported before that with any kind of turbulence. So, a lot of these injuries are not just from the flight attendants. But because of the flight attendants being thrown around the cabin can cause injuries as they land on the other passengers, and that sort of thing. So, it's a very dangerous situation and it could have been even worse than it was, I believe.

BLITZER: Yes. The flight attendants are always the most vulnerable because they're walking around. They're not in their seats with seatbelts attached.

SOUCIE: Yes.

BLITZER: So, they're very, very vulnerable.

SOUCIE: Yes.

BLITZER: And as you correctly point out, early reports are now suggesting weather was a likely factor. So, what options do pilots have in these cases?

SOUCIE: Well, the first option if it's -- if it's immediate, is to just slow the airplane down quite a bit. Because then even though you still get the same movements at a slower speed, they're less dramatic. So, that's the first mitigating thing that they can do.

The second thing they can do is try to avoid it. So, they read it ahead of time. They hear what the other pilots are saying it who have flown through that area. But in this case, there were no reports of that going on. So, they were trying to do that, but to avoid it.

Now, the most concerning part of this is if their work in the case of the clear air turbulence. And we're working on, the FAA is working on, and NASA is working on some things to try to detect clear air turbulence. But currently, there's not a real effective way to be conclusive about whether you're flying into this clear air turbulence or not.

BLITZER: The National Transportation Safety Board, David, is involved, as we all know now in this investigation of what happened on that Boeing jet. What will they be looking for, do you suspect?

SOUCIE: Well, what they'll do is be -- they'll be part of the team. They won't be directing the investigation, but they are part of the team because there were Americans onboard the aircraft and it was an American-manufactured airplane. So, they will be involved, and they will produce a report that the first thing that they'll be looking at is, was it preventable. And if it wasn't preventable, then they're going to be making recommendations and supporting actions that would make it preventable. So, that takes us into what NASA is working on with this infrasonic testing from the ground --or reporting from the ground, which will tell us more about what's going on with the movement of the air.

BLITZER: This was a Boeing 777 jumbo jet, right? And they have very strong good records, as far as I know.

SOUCIE: Yes. It's a very, very reliable aircraft. It's been out there for many, many years. And it still continues to produce wonderful results.

It's reliable. I don't see that there's anything that happened here. In fact, if you think about it, to be able to go through those clear air turbulences and this dramatic weather turbulence without damage to the aircraft is really a testament to the strength and stability of that airplane.

BLITZER: The bottom line is when you're on a plane and you're in your seat, have that seatbelt fastened even if it's very smooth. It's a good idea, right?

SOUCIE: That's right. I was on a flight recently, I had to remind the person next to me to put his seatbelt on. And he kind of ignored me and said, yes, you're just acting like a dad here telling me to put my seatbelt on. But then eventually put it back on when I expressed to him that it's not only for your safety. These seatbelts protect the people around you because if you don't have yours on and you get into that turbulence, you become a projectile and you can cause injury to others. So, it's very important to have your seatbelt on not only for you but for everyone in that cabin. BLITZER: Yes. Very important to have those seat belts. I was on an Amtrak, a seller the other day, no seat belts, and I felt you know, very uncomfortable. They should have seat belts on trains, too. That's just my opinion. I don't know if anyone else agrees but we'll check that out.

SOUCIE: I agree.

BLITZER: All right. David Soucie, as usual, thanks very much for your expertise.

SOUCIE: Thank you, Wolf, for having me.

BLITZER: Meanwhile, officials in Israel are paying very close attention to what's happening not too far away in Iran, where enormous crowds have packed the capital city to pay their final respects to Ebrahim Raisi. Iran's Supreme Leader led prayers for the late president and other Iranian officials killed Sunday in a helicopter crash. The ceremonies are expected to conclude tomorrow night in the city of Mashhad where Raisi will be buried.

Ahead of the holiday weekend here in the United States, President Biden is releasing one million more barrels of gas. But will it be enough to bring down prices at the pump? More on that just ahead.

[11:45:13]

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BLITZER: An American tourist has pleaded guilty to bringing ammunition into the British territory of Turks and Caicos. He's now facing up to 12 years in prison. Ryan Watson was detained alongside his wife Valerie at the airport when officials found ammunition in his bag. Valerie was later released and not charged. Earlier, they both spoke to CNN about Ryan's potential prison sentence, as well as the role the couple believes the U.S. government could play in helping them.

[11:50:12]

VALERIE WATSON, HUSBAND DETAINED IN TURKS & CAICOS: So hopeful that it can be resolved in a different way, and that 12 years is not what they're going to sentence. It's going to be really hard. The kids growing up without their dad, that's not ever something we've ever even imagined.

RYAN WATSON, DETAINED IN TURKS & CAICOS: I hope it has an impact. And I hope that it in -- I hope that it motivates other delegations to continue to get involved. I hope that it motivates our State Department to take stronger action, possibly even our president to pick up the phone and make a phone call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Five Americans have been charged for violating the strict gun laws within the British territory overseas. This prompted a visit from a bipartisan group of lawmakers attempting to help the detainees. But so far, the State Department has been silent.

Over the next couple of weeks, the Biden administration, meanwhile, says it will sell off one million barrels of gas from a never-before- used emergency stockpile. They're hoping the move will keep gas prices in check heading into the Fourth of July weekend. CNN Reporter Matt Egan is joining us right now. Matt, first, where is this gas coming from? And will this really do anything to lower the gas prices?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Wolf, this is not likely to be a game changer. But maybe we don't need a game changer because gas prices, they've actually been pretty calm lately. Now, this gasoline is coming from an emergency stockpile here in the northeast. It's called the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve. It was formed in 2014 after superstorm Sandy caused all kinds of disruptions to the energy market.

Unlike the much larger strategic petroleum reserve, this is a relatively small reserve. It's never been used before. And it's actually quite expensive to maintain. That's why Congress passed legislation earlier this year requiring the Biden administration to shut this reserve down.

So, this move was announced yesterday by the Energy Department. It's not really an emergency response from U.S. officials. It's really just doing what they were required to do.

Now, experts tell me that this is not likely to move the needle on gas prices. Because although a million gallons -- I'm sorry, a million barrels of gasoline sounds like a lot, it's really not. It's not even enough to account for three hours of national supply. So, Wolf, this is really just a blip in the grand scheme of things.

BLITZER: So, where do gas prices stand ahead of this weekend's Memorial Day holiday weekend?

EGAN: Well, Wolf, the national average is at $3.61 a gallon. That's actually down about seven cents from the recent peak, although it is a little bit higher than a year ago. But I think that really where gas prices are, it's a lot better than feared.

Just a few months ago, there were all these concerns about $4 gas because you've got OPEC holding back supply. Ukraine has been hitting oil refineries in Russia. And of course, the situation in the Middle East has been extremely volatile. So, the fact that gas prices have been pretty calm and down from the high has been good news.

If we can put it into historical perspective. $3.61 heading into the Memorial Day weekend. This is higher, of course, than where gas prices were in the years before and right after COVID. But this is also significantly lower than where prices were two years ago.

You see, in 2022, the national average heading into this holiday weekend was at $4.59. Of course, that was a year of historically high gas prices. Thankfully, there's been a lot of improvements since then.

In any case, Wolf, a lot of Americans are expected to hit the roads this holiday weekend. AAA is forecasting 38.4 million people will be on the road. That is up four percent from a year ago, and that would mark the most since AAA started tracking this back in 2000.

BLITZER: All right, thanks very much, Matt Egan, for helping us better appreciate what's going on as he always does. And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining me here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. I'll be back later tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. Eastern in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS" with Dana Bash starts right after a short break. But first, in today's "CHASING LIFE," Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us how spring cleaning can be good for your brain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of CNN's "CHASING LIFE" podcast. It's a necessary part of everyday life that most of us dread, spring cleaning. But I want you to know this. Cleaning up has a lot of benefits not just for our living spaces, but also for our brains.

[11:55:01]

Studies have found that just perceiving our homes as cluttered can actually directly trigger stress reactions. And then that maintaining our space or reorganizing that crowded closet can lead to reduced stress, can lead to better focus higher, self-esteem. You see. The thing is our brains are stimulated by clutter and distracted by mess.

Reducing that stimuli can make for a more relaxing environment. So, here's a few tips to get you started. First, plan ahead, and very importantly, set a timer. Create a schedule of where and when you're going to clean to stay on track and use the timer to see how much you can get done.

Second of all, start small to avoid feeling overwhelmed. For example, just focus on a shelf or a drawer. And finally, donate gently used clothes, toys, and items to organizations in your area. Helping someone in need, that can also be a great motivator.

And you can hear more about how to optimize your health and chase life wherever you get your podcast.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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