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Trump, Harris Focus On Battlegrounds As Race Enters Critical Phase; Trump: Laura Loomer A Free Spirit, Says He Doesn't Control Her; At Debate, Trump Refuses To Say if He Wants Ukraine To Win; Tagovailoa's Football Future Unclear After Another Concussion; NH National Guard Plagued By A Toxic, Sexist Work Environment; FAA Investigating Near Collision On Nashville Runway; CNN's Exclusive Interview With Two Pilots Who Prevented A Collision With A Southwest Plane; New Photos Show Kim Jong-Un Touring N. Korea Nuclear Facility. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 14, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:09]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York and we are just seven weeks away from Election Day. The Harris and Trump campaigns ramping up efforts in key battleground states.

today, Trump meeting with law enforcement officials in Los Vegas where he is once again stoking fears about immigrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you denounce the bomb threats in Springfield, Ohio.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know what happened with the bomb threats. I know that it has been taken over by illegal migrants and that's a terrible thing that happened.

Springfield was this beautiful town and now they're going through hell. It is a sad thing.

Not going to happen with me, I can tell you right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Well, Trump there refusing to denounce bomb threats that have triggered evacuations at schools in Springfield, Ohio this week after he and his campaign spread false claims about Haitian immigrants in that city. He claims those immigrants who by the way, are there legally are taking over the city. It is a line he repeated last night during a Vegas rally where he vowed to use law enforcement for mass deportations.

Harris, meantime, trying to peel away voters from Trump in his own turf. The vice president spent the last week holding rallies and meeting with voters in deep red parts of Pennsylvania and tonight, Harris back in Washington, DC, where she will join President Joe Biden on stage at an event there that is hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus, and that's where we find CNN's Eva McKend.

She is outside the Washington convention center.

Eva, the vice president giving her first interview since the debate in Pennsylvania with a local news station in Pennsylvania. Talk to us more about that strategy.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jess, part of the strategy is courting Republican voters. They are going to these deep red counties where maybe they won't necessarily win outright, but they want (AUDIO GAP) this has been clear for a long while.

Ever since the start of the campaign, one of the first coalitions they rolled out was Republicans for Harris. They believe that there is a desire among some conservatives in this country, a sizable number to turn away from former President Trump, maybe they don't like the way the former president talks about immigration, for instance.

And the vice president is also leaning into her personal biography as a gun owner in a different way. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I am a gun owner and Tim Walz, my running mate is also gun owner. We are not taking anybody's guns away.

I support the Second Amendment and I support reasonable gun safety laws.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Now, as for tonight, the vice president, the president going to be here addressing the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. They, of course, are no strangers to this event. They do this every year. There will be among supporters and friends, the supporters that they will need in the crucial coming weeks ahead.

Of course the vice president was a member of the caucus when she served in the United States Senate -- Jess.

DEAN: All right, Eva McKend for us there in Washington, dc. thank you so much for that update.

And joining us now to discuss this and more CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona and Republican strategist, Katie Frost.

Good to have both of you here with us on a Saturday night. Thanks so much.

Katie, let's start first with you. I want to go back to where we started at the beginning of our show about the former president again stoking these fears about immigrants this time in Springfield, Ohio. He was saying he didn't know about the bomb threats there, but people who do know all about those threats to children, teachers at elementary schools, they were forced to evacuate this week.

Katie, why do you think the president continues to talk about this and stoke -- have this really strong fear-based rhetoric around it when its having an incredibly real impact on the lives of people in that town.

KATIE FROST, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, it is great to be with you again, Jessica, you know, and I will tell you, there is genuine fear in our country around what is happening from this unchecked open border policies of the Biden-Harris administration.

Now you're pointing to a specific instance in Springfield, but I can tell you, I am from Georgia. We had the famous case of Laken Riley. There is a real impact in our country from unchecked immigration at the border. We don't know who is coming in. We don't know where they're going. It is a serious problem.

So you say, why is he stoking these fears? He is addressing the fears the American people have. If you look at what the top concern of people are in this country, it is the economy and it is immigration, which is so closely tied to our safety.

It was interesting, earlier in your program when you were doing the segment on El Salvador, those are the same concerns they have there. It is a universal thing.

What do people want? They want a good life, they want a good job and they want to be safe, so that is what we are seeing here, a global concern, and I believe there are very serious concerns around what will happen to our communities if there is not any kind of check on this issue.

[18:05:11]

DEAN: Yes, and Katie, I hear you and you're right. In all of the data, they do show that immigration is such a real issue for so many voters, but here in this case, he is talking about things that aren't true.

We have checked if his claims about that community were right and when he could be talking about the issues like you're talking about right now, he is in instead choosing to talk about these lies, and I am just like, why do you think that the he thinks that is the best way forward?

FROST: Well, I will tell you what is happening, we are talking about immigration, the number one issue for President Trump. I mean, you can disagree with the approach, but at the end of the day, what are we all doing? We are talking about immigration, an issue that Vice President Harris is incredibly weak on.

This is the person who was put in charge of securing the border. She was the border czar and what has happened? Record numbers of border crossings.

So, you may disagree with the approach, however, we are talking about this issue that is incredibly difficult for Vice President Harris to address.

You know, she called the wall, a medieval vanity project and now she has images of that very segment of the wall, as you had in your own network at K-FILE who did the expose on that. She called the wall a medieval vanity project, but now she has segments of Trump's border wall in her own ads.

So we are talking about the issue that President Trump wants us to talk about.

DEAN: And Maria, how do you think the Harris campaign is dealing with this issue that a lot of Americans are concerned about and do feel like has not been handled in the way they would like?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She is dealing with it in a way that real leaders deal with issues that they want to solve. She and President Biden have actually put together a solution, they did two executive orders. One, to increase border security; one to expand citizenship.

Do you know why they did that, Jessica? Because when it came time to sign a very strict, strong border security bill, that was actually negotiated by the most conservative Republicans in the Senate along with Democrats, Donald Trump said, you know what? I need this issue to weaponize it for the election because there is really nothing else I can talk to the American people about.

I need to lie to them about immigration. I need to make up conspiracy theories. I need to really focus on this and really injects fear into Americans because I have nothing else to offer the American people, and he told his senators to say no to that border security bill. You know what that tells me, Jessica? That Donald Trump, along with the MAGA senators in Congress, who bow down every time he tells them to do something, have no interest in governing, have absolutely no idea how to solve this issue and they should not be taken seriously on immigration.

You know, one of the things that Americans need to realize and Katie needs to look at these stats as well is that today, border crossings, illegal border crossings are lower than when Donald Trump left office.

So that I think is a huge focus where Vice President Harris can actually -- not just close the gap, but flip this issue on immigration on gaining the upper hand.

DEAN: And Katie, we've been reporting also about the far-right supporter, Laura Loomer who has been traveling with the former president and attended the 9/11 events with him, despite being a 9/11 conspiracy theorist. Here is how he responded when asked about it. We can listen to this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I just don't know. Laura is a supporter. I don't know. She is -- she is a strong person. She has got strong opinions and I don't know what she said, but that's not up to me. She is a supporter. (END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: She really does have extreme conspiracy theories, alt-right takes on things. Other Republicans have expressed concerns that she is so close to the former president.

Katie, what do you think about voters? How do they take in this information?

FROST: I don't believe this is going to be an issue that at the end of the day will change a voter's mind. It is a distraction. We shouldn't be talking about this right now, we should be talking about the issues that are impacting voters and real Americans.

but at the end of the day, is someone going to flip their vote based on someone who flew on a plane at one point? No, I don't believe so at all, but what they're going to see and be more concerned about is the issues that we've talked about, and as we are talking about, all of that data, what is it? It is the economy, it is immigration, and those are issues that are very hard for the vice president. So of course, she is going to want to keep the focus on something like this, because she does not have a record she can defend. She does not have a plan to go forward and she is not going to be able to sit down and do interviews like we are doing right now because when she gets off script, it is very uncomfortable, it feels like a deleted scene from a movie.

DEAN: Maria, I want to ask you --

CARDONA: I'm sorry.

DEAN: Go ahead.

CARDONA: It is not the vice president who is talking about Laura Loomer, I am sorry.

[18:10:10]

That is Donald Trump who is making the conversation about Laura because he is the one who is listening to a far-right extremist xenophobe racist and that should be very concerning to voters and I do think that it injects this continued discontent and understanding about who Donald Trump really is, and especially for Independent voters, for suburban women, for all of the voters where Kamala Harris is now going to campaign, smartly so in red districts and in red suburbs and small towns, to underscore the fact that Donald Trump is absolutely unfit to have another four years in the Oval Office because he makes up conspiracy theories, because he makes up lies, and because he listens to loony people like Laura Loomer who is dangerous to the United States and does absolutely nothing to focus on solutions, which is what Americans want.

DEAN: Katie, Maria brought up --

FROST: Well, Maria --

DEAN: Go ahead.

FROST: No, I will say, Maria, I would ask you, you who is Donald Trump? I think the American people are asking who is Vice President Harris? Where does she actually stand? You know, there is an excellent piece that was put out here on this network showing how she said a lot of things in 2019 when she was running to be the Democratic nominee, and that now she is distancing herself from.

She stands on the debate stage and says, I support the Second Amendment. I am a gun owner, but when she was running for president in 2019, she said she had supported mandatory gun buybacks. She like, I said earlier, she has flipped on the wall, she is flipping on fracking. There are a lot of issues here that people don't know where she actually stands.

It appears that her position change based on who she is campaigning to and that's deeply concerning for the American people who don't know what they are voting for.

CARDONA: Katie, do you really want to go there? Do you really want to talk about flip-flopping? Do you really want to have this conversation about who is the biggest flip-flopper in the freaking world?

When you have Donald Trump take the position today, or actually this hour and in 30 minutes, he will take the absolute opposite position. So, I am sorry, you all have zero credibility when it comes to focusing in on Kamala Harris' position today, oh, that it might be a little bit different than what she had four years ago?

No. Kamala Harris is actually having the kinds of conversations because that she needs to have with American people, laying out a plan, talking about an opportunity economy, telling them that she is going to wake up every day, fighting for them to expand the middle class, to help working class families while Donald Trump only wakes up thinking about one thing, how can I help myself? How can I make myself richer? How can I make myself where everyone is talking about me?

DEAN: Katie, I do want to cover one more topic before I let you guys go. I know you worked for Senator Ted Cruz previously. The Trump campaign adviser, Chris LaCivita tweeted out a criticism of the Cruz campaign saying, "What the hell is wrong with the Senate race in Texas?"

There are obviously layers to all of this and personal relationships and whatnot, but what do you make of a Trump campaign adviser publicly criticizing a Republican incumbent's Senate campaign?

FROST: You know, I am not going to speak for him. He is fully free to say whatever he wants to. I know that no one works harder and campaigns harder than Senator Cruz. I know, I was beside him when he was doing the full Grassley in Iowa in 2016 and I think he is going to do very well in Texas. He is doing a great job and no one works harder, believe me, he wore all the staff in to the ground, we were all exhausted.

DEAN: All right, Maria Cardona and Katie Frost, we are out of time, but I want to thank both of you for being here. Thanks so much.

CARDONA: Thanks, Jessica.

FROST: Thank you for having us.

DEAN: Still ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM today, how Ukraine's president says he views Donald Trump's most recent comments about Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a n exclusive sit down with CNN.

Plus how the State Department says Russia is using its state run news media to gather intelligence and influence elections all around the world, and what America is doing about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:19:00]

DEAN: This week at the debate, former President Donald Trump refused to say if he wants Ukraine to win the war with Russia.

CNN's Fareed Zakaria sat down for an exclusive interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this morning in Kyiv and during their conversation, Zelenskyy responded to Trump weighing in on what a second Trump presidency might mean for his country and their fight for freedom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I had gotten to understand it for today because I don't know the details or what he means and what does he mean? So my position that election period and the election messages are election messages. Sometimes they are not very real and that is why I think these messages can have not very -- can make us nervous for all of our people. Of course, of course.

But I had -- I had a phone call with Donald Trump and he said that he is very supportive and we had good conversation. That's why --

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": This is recently? When was it?

[18:20:02]

ZELENSKYY: I had only one during this period, yes, it was I think two months ago.

ZAKARIA: And he said he was very supportive.

ZELENSKYY: He will be very supportive and he is -- he understands how it is difficult to survive during the war, and he will do everything to strengthen Ukraine.

So I don't know. I mean, that is great, that it sounds this way. But that's why I want to share this plan to hear his reaction.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: Let's discuss now with CNN global affairs analyst and former secretary of defense under President Trump, Mark Esper.

Secretary Esper, great to have you here with us. Thanks for being with us on a Saturday.

MARK ESPER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Sure thing, Jessica, good to be with you.

DEAN: We just heard that clip from Fareed Zakaria's interview with the -- with President Zelenskyy. He seems to think that this is just talk from the former president. Do you agree? How do you assess the rhetoric and language that is coming from former President Trump?

ESPER: Well, in any election, particularly a presidential election, there is a lot of rhetoric, but I think Donald Trump has a track record here now, over the past three years or so of campaigning that he does not intend in many ways to support Ukraine beyond what has been provided so far, and he said it, as you noted earlier twice. He was unable to say that he wants Ukraine to win.

So, President Zelenskyy, knowing that the election here in the United States is very close has to be very even-handed and is downplaying those remarks because he knows that in a matter of what -- four months or so, if Donald Trump wins in November, he may be dealing with President Donald Trump's second term on January 20th, 2025 and we need to work with him and try and do his best to convince President Trump that his country needs continued assistance.

So he is playing a smart political game, but I think if you look at the actions of Ukraine, you see them pressing now to get this restrictions lifted by the Biden administration, you see the offensive in Kursk, which is going on several months now -- several weeks now. I think they are moving into position to make sure they can gain as much leverage as possible in the event that they do end up in a negotiation with Russia.

DEAN: And Secretary Esper, do you think talking about this push to be able to use these weapons, these long-range missiles that can go -- or weaponry that can go deeper into Russia, do you think that is something that eventually President Biden and his administration will say yes to?

ESPER: Well, that has been a record now for two-plus years, whether it is M1 tanks or ATACMS or F-16s, it is no, no, no, no, no over a period of months and then its yes, then it takes more months to get the weapon systems delivered. And in this case, it is a tactical restriction on the use of a weapon system.

So look, I think they absolutely must lift the restrictions. They should not have been there in the first place, and the sooner they do so, the better because right now, Ukraine is under duress. Russian forces have gained ground in the Donbas region, they are approaching a crucial logistics and transportation hub in the city, the town of Pokrovsk and if the Ukrainians are allowed to use US weapons and if not US weapons, the British or French weapons, cruise missiles, then that may be able to kind of knock the Russians back a little bit, maybe stalled offensive and give the Ukrainians more time to push back against the Russian infantry.

DEAN: Do you think the Biden administration has been to cautious?

ESPER: Oh, absolutely, both on weapons sales, weapons deliveries, and on the restrictions they are imposing on the Ukrainians.

Look, it is unconscionable that Ukraine is not being allowed to strike back into Russia, at what I say, non-nuclear military targets, when the Russians are pummeling Ukrainian civilian targets all across the country with missiles, with drones, with rockets, killing civilians, conducting war crimes, we should allowed Ukraine to fight to win and not fight to a draw and that has been a chief criticism of an administration, which otherwise has done a good job keeping the allies together and supplying arms and ammunition and other materials to the Ukrainians.

DEAN: And Putin has said, if this is allowed, it would be as if he will be, Russia would be at war with NATO. Do you think that's bluster at this point? How seriously do you think America and also the Western Alliance should be taking these threats from Putin?

ESPER: I do think it is bluster. I mean, you always have to consider the potentialities, but I think it is largely buster, it has been for two-plus years.

He has used that type of language before and he has gone even further by rattling the nuclear saber a little bit by talking about nuclear weapons.

But look, I think we cannot be deterred ad that will remain the criticism to the Biden administration is that they've been too self- deterred in not providing Ukrainians with the weapons they needed when they wanted them, and in this case restricting the use of ATACMS or the British and French cruise missiles against Russia.

And look, Jessica, there still hasn't been much talk yet about the restrictions being placed on F-16s. I am sure there are some being placed, we just don't know what they are at this point in time or at least I haven't heard so.

So I think all of these things need to be looked at and we need to unleash the Ukrainians now in the final months before the US election, so that if it does go badly for Ukraine, in the sense that Donald Trump is elected and Donald Trump follows through on his rhetoric, at least the Ukrainians might be in a better position at the negotiating table against Moscow than they would be otherwise.

[18:25:31]

DEAN: How serious of a threat for Ukraine and its fight against Russia is a second Donald Trump presidency?

ESPER: Look, it is very serious. He said the other night, again, that he would begin trying to reach a negotiation to end the war if he won on November 6th, so before he is actually inaugurated, and he is talking before and his acolytes have about ending Ukrainian -- ending support for the Ukraine fight, and if that happens then my concern is, first of all, he could cut off immediately the pipeline of arms and assistance.

So it is not like the $61 billion package that was passed a few months ago would allow to continue through the pipe stream, he could actually cut that off.

And I think if American aid ends, then I think it is only a matter of time before you start seeing other NATO allies and/or curtail their assistance in one way, shape, or form, and inevitably that would push the Ukrainians to the negotiating table in a very disadvantageous position, which would not be a good signal, first of all, for the democracies of the world standing up against an autocracy of Russia, but it is going to send a very bad message to China, which continues to eye Taiwan and want to take that over at some point as well.

DEAN: And I want to step into politics just quickly before you go. I know you've said you won't be voting for former President Trump. Since then we have seen a number of Republicans, including most recently former Vice President Dick Cheney saying that he will be voting for Vice President Harris.

Does she have your vote? Do you think you can get there with her and support her this time?

ESPER: I am still watching this election unfold like millions of other Americans, I have 60-some days to make my decisions. I thought she did a very good job the other night at the debate and as I said before, I've always been looking for a candidate who moves to the center and she is making moves to the center.

I do think she needs to better explain why she is making those moves, but what has happened, what experience has she undergone, what has she learned to help her move there on any number of issues, and of course, on the foreign policy front, I think she is saying the right things with regard to Ukraine and other international issues that I like.

So look, I am going to take my time and we will see what happens on Election Day.

DEAN: All right, we will watch it unfold together. Secretary Mark Esper, thanks so much.

ESPER: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Still ahead, we are talking with NFL Veteran Donte Stallworth about the NFLs latest concussion controversy involving Miami's star quarterback.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:32:23] DEAN: More voices speaking out across the NFL, encouraging Tua Tagovailoa to walk away from the game. The star quarterback suffering another frightening concussion during Thursday night's game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN A. SMITH: Based on his concussion history, one would sincerely doubt that he should.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tua Tagovailoa's family is going to talk to him about what your life looks like after football.

ANTONIO PIERCE, HEAD COACH, LAS VEGAS RAIDERS: Because I'll just tell him to retire. It's not worth it. It's not worth to play the game. I haven't witnessed anything like I've seen that's happened to him three times.

I just think at some point, you know, he's going to live longer than he's going to play football. Take care of your family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Tua is in the league's concussion protocol, so it's unclear when he could see the field again right now. But this was the third diagnosed concussion of his pro career.

Former NFL wide receiver, Donte Stallworth, is joining us now.

Donte, thanks so much for being here with us. It's so nice to have somebody to kind of talk about this from their personal experience. And I do want to know what went through your mind when you first saw Tua take that hit.

DONTE STALLWORTH, FORMER NFL WIDE RECEIVER: Yes, Jessica, I was horrified when I saw the hit. And there was a visceral reaction that I had and it honestly wasn't from the hit itself, because the hit looked like a really routine hit. It wasn't one of these more violent hits that we've seen Tua take where his head is slammed into the turf, you know, where he immediately gets knocked unconscious. This was a routine tackle.

And, you know, the fact that when I saw him go in like that, you know, it's fourth down, kid's trying to make a play for his team. They're losing by a lot of points and he's out there scrapping and fighting. And to see him take that hit was tough. The reaction that he had afterwards from that hit was definitely where the visceral reaction came in because we've seen Tua take hits like this before. And, you know, it's really tough.

The kid's 26 years old. He's worked his entire life to be to where he is, to be able to, you know, live out his dream - his, you know, since he was a child, to be able to provide for his family generations down the line. And for now to - for that to come under question, whether he can continue or not, it's - I feel really bad for him and his family. It's a tough time for him and his family. DEAN: And if you were to put yourself in his shoes and had dealt with multiple concussions, what would you do? Would you consider retiring, hanging it up?

STALLWORTH: Jessica, I think - you know, so for me it's twofold. I have to be honest and say that when I was playing, you know, I was blessed to play 10 years from 2002 to 2012. And we didn't have the information that the players have today. But I know that when players would, you know, would get concussions, the nomenclature around the league at the time was extremely different than what it is today.

[18:35:05]

Today we are actually calling them what they are. We're calling them concussions.

Back then, we would say that, oh, he got dinged up and then he's back in the game, you know, 20 minutes later. That's not happening today. And, you know, I played with reckless abandon just like a lot of guys did. And you don't think about five-, 10-, 20 years down the line. You're thinking about the next play. You're thinking about the next game. You're not even thinking about the next season, Jessica, because you're such a young kid that you see your eyes through these young kids.

When you were a child, you wanted to play in the NFL. And so now you have that opportunity, you're not thinking about 10-, 20 years down the line. But today, players have that information that we did not have. And I think it's, you know, it's going to be a difficult time for him. I obviously, you know, want the best for all players. I want them to make as much money as possible and leave this game as healthy as possible.

But, you know, Tua's going to have to have that discussion with his family. He just had his second child, I believe. And, you know, he's going to have to have that conversation with his mother who back in 2022 when he suffered those two concussions, those three really vicious hits to the - where his head was slammed to the ground, his mother was calling for him to retire or at least having conversations with him about retiring. And he even admitted that he contemplated it.

So he's going to have to go through that round again and I just hope the best for him. You know, he's a young player and he's going to want to play. If the doctors, you know, somehow clear him, which he easily could be cleared, not anytime soon, but I mean, to resume his career, he's going to want to play. That's the competitor that he is. It's your dream as a child. No one wants to give up their childhood dream, you know, for anything, really. But it's going to be a rough road ahead for Tua and his family and he's going to have to have those difficult discussions.

DEAN: It's so hard, right, because I totally hear what you're saying about this is your dream. This is the thing you've worked so hard to do. And yet you also owe it to yourself, to your family, to make sure, to your point, you're as healthy as you can be when you leave what is a very physically demanding, sometimes violent game. When those kinds of conversations happen with your family members, when they are trying to counsel you, who is he listening to typically? Who are - who would you listen to if you were in this situation? Is it your family? Is it your coaches? Who is he talking to right now about this?

STALLWORTH: Well, I want to start off and say initially with Tua, you know, his family has - they - he's as - he has a tight-knit family. His wife - I believe they have two children together. That's going to play into it. And his mother, you know, as I noted before, had asked him or at least had conversations with him about retiring and he contemplated that.

So I believe that he's going to have these conversations with his family. And I want to say the, you know, the head coach, Mike McDaniel, who actually played under here in Washington, he's a genuine guy. He really loves his players. He really loves his organization. And he told - you know, he's going to have - he's already had conversations with Tua, telling Tua, you know, that he's, quote, "the quarterback of his family."

During the game he said this. So, you know, he's already telling Tua, don't worry about football. We'll handle this side. You just get healthy and be as healthy as you can. It's going to be a tough road ahead. Like I said, you know, the kid has gone through so much adversity, whether, you know, people talking about can he even play in the NFL, will he even make it.

And now, you know, he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but he's had some tough injuries. And this is something that he's going to have to definitely have these conversations with his family and think long and hard about what he wants to do for his future.

DEAN: All right. Donte Stallworth, thanks so much for your perspective on this. We appreciate it.

STALLWORTH: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: When we come back, a detailed new report obtained by CNN outlining allegations of sexual assault and harassment in the New Hampshire National Guard. We're going to have more on that. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:43:24]

DEAN: He described a culture of retaliation against whistleblowers and neglect for victims of sexual assault. In one instance, a lieutenant colonel deployed to the southern border in October of 2022 and sent sexually suggestive messages to women, took photos of women without their knowledge, and shared them. He even ordered women to come to his hotel room and threatened to make their deployments miserable if they complained. CNN's National Security Producer Haley Britzky is joining us now. Haley, I know you've been reporting this out over a long period of time. Walk us through just how rampant this kind of behavior is in the New Hampshire Guard.

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY PRODUCER: Yes. So current and former members of this unit tell me that this has been going on for years. It's relatively normalized in the way that they describe it as far as how leaders brush these things under the rug and also turn a blind eye to this sort of behavior. And, you know, a piece of this I think illustrates that is in this investigation of the lieutenant colonel, which you mentioned, down at the border, they talked to over 50 soldiers as a part of this investigation.

And in this report, they say that many of them talked about how he bragged about beating past investigations, that he'd been investigated, you know, six or maybe even seven times over the years and sort of had this air of invincibility about him. We should mention, of course, that his lawyer has said that he perceived these women under his command as being friendly to him and erred in letting that familiarity go too far.

But I think it just goes to show just how much soldiers in this unit were used to this and how it impacted their trust and leadership in taking this seriously.

DEAN: All right. Haley Britzky, this is just incredible reporting you and your team have done. Thank you so much for this. We appreciate it.

Still ahead, North Korea's leader sharing a rare look inside the country's closely guarded and illegal nuclear program as the country cozies up to Russia. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[18:45:04]

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[18:49:47]

DEAN: The FAA is investigating another close call on an airport runway after an Alaska Airlines flight had to slam on the brakes and abort its takeoff in Nashville. The plane's brakes were hit so hard, the crew reported some of the tires were blown out.

[18:50:01]

It's just the latest incident as federal agencies look at the sharp rise of these close calls. In some cases, hero pilots are the ones who prevented incidents from turning deadly. Pete Muntean has CNN's exclusive interview with two pilots who averted disaster in Austin with only feet to spare.

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BRADEEN: Cleared to land 18 left FedEx 1432 heavy. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN TRANSPORTATION CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The voice that you are hearing is that of FedEx pilot Rob Bradeen approaching Austin-Bergstrom International Airport before dawn on February 4th, 2023. Bradeen, alongside Capt. Hugo Carvajal, thought this was going to be an uneventful landing.

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BRADEEN: It was very routine right up until the very end.

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MUNTEAN (voiceover): This investigate animation shows the disaster that was unfolding in front of the FedEx pilots. A Southwest Airlines flight was cleared for takeoff in front of them, but it sat on the runway for 19 seconds, a delay invisible to even the air traffic controller in the tower with thick fog blanketing the airport.

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AUSTIN TOWER: Southwest 708, confirm on the roll?

SOUTHWEST PILOT: Rolling now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN (voiceover): The two airplanes continued barreling closer together when Bradeen began looking out of the windshield.

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BRADEEN: And I saw a position light in the silhouette of the Southwest airplane right over the glare shield with closure.

MUNTEAN (on camera): You saw the silhouette of the other airplane?

BRADEEN: I saw the silhouette of the other airplane, which is when I called for - called go around, go around, go around.

Southwest, abort. FedEx is on the go.

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MUNTEAN (voiceover): Investigators say Capt. Carvajal nosed up immediately, missing the Southwest flight by 150 to 170 feet. The move not only spared the lives of the FedEx crew but the 131 people on Southwest flight 708.

This is the FedEx team's first interview since their close call.

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MUNTEAN (on camera): How terrifying was that? What was the feeling like? BRADEEN: It was definitely a shocking moment. You don't expect to see an airplane that close.

CAPT. HUGO CARVAJAL, FEDEX EXPRESS, FLIGHT 1432: I knew it was pretty close because I knew Rob's - just the inflection in his voice when he said go around. And then the focus at that point is just getting away from the ground and getting away from the airplane.

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MUNTEAN (on camera): The Austin incident is now known as the closest near-collision during a time when they kept happening at airports coast to coast. The National Transportation Safety Board has now investigated at least a dozen similar incidents since the start of last year.

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JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: Great job.

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MUNTEAN (voiceover): During an NTSB hearing this spring, chair Jennifer Homendy thanked the FedEx pilots for saving lives.

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HOMENDY: This incident could have been catastrophic if not for the heroic actions of the FedEx crew.

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MUNTEAN (voiceover): On Thursday, Carvajal and Bradeen received their union's Superior Airmanship Award for their teamwork and vigilance that prevented what could have been one of the worst air disasters in decades.

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CAPT. JASON AMBROSI, AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION: This could have been a tragedy if there were not two well-trained and qualified pilots on the flight deck that day. We could certainly be telling a very different story right now.

MUNTEAN: Are you heroes?

BRADEEN: I guess it depends on your perspective. To us, we did our job. That's what we're trained to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN (voiceover): Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:57:50]

DEAN: Newly released images out of North Korea offer a rare glimpse inside the country's closely guarded nuclear weapons program. The images are of the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, touring a uranium enrichment facility. CNN's Brian Todd has more.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language).

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): From North Korea's aggressive 40-year-old dictator, an audacious display of nuclear ambition in new pictures just released by the regime, Kim Jong-un is seen walking along rows of what experts say are gas centrifuges and being briefed by scientists. Analysts say it's extraordinary for the secretive, paranoid leader to let the world see inside one of these covert facilities.

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ANKIT PANDA, STANTON SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: It's incredibly rare. I think it speaks to Kim Jong-un's confidence today. He's more capable with his nuclear capabilities than he's been in a long time. And I think he wants the world and the United States to know that.

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TODD (voice over): Nuclear analyst, Ankit Panda, says these centrifuges are used to separate uranium to isolate material to manufacture nuclear bombs, while the North Koreans did not disclose the name or location of this facility, Panda believes it's a place called Kangson, a secret facility just south of the capital that he discovered in 2018. What can U.S. intelligence glean from these new images?

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PANDA: That the types of centrifuges that the North Koreans are using are now more advanced than what we thought they had in the past? That's just going to make them a lot more efficient at sizing up their nuclear weapons stockpile.

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TODD (voice over): But why now? What message does Kim want to send to the U.S. and its allies by releasing these images now?

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PANDA: They don't want outsiders asking questions about whether their weapons work and whether they'll have the ability to continue sizing up and maintaining their stockpiles. They want to remove all doubt that they have these weapons' capabilities.

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TODD (voice over): Indeed, in recent days, Kim pledged to, quote, exponentially expand North Korea's nuclear arsenal.

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PATRICK CRONIN, HUDSON INSTITUTE. Kim Jong-un is trying to build up a nuclear force on par with not Pakistan, but with the United Kingdom or France. He's trying to change the future, and he's trying to telegraph that to us right now.

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TODD (voice over): Panda believes North Korea will soon conduct another test of a nuclear bomb. The regime has done six of those tests, all massive explosions underground, but they haven't conducted one since September of 2017.

[19:00:03]

As for their current stockpile, Panda estimates Kim has between 60 and a hundred nuclear bombs already made, but believes that will increase significantly in the next decade, which a former Trump national security adviser says puts the U.S. in a diplomatic bind.