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Frontier Airlines Flight Aborts Takeoff After Striking Person On Denver International Airport Runway; Luxury Cruise Ship Hit With Hantavirus Outbreak Nears Canary Islands; Hacker Group Commits Cyberattack On Popular Education Platform; U.S. Waiting For Iranian Response To Proposal To End Military Conflict; U.K. Sends Warship To Persian Gulf To Assist With Escorting Ships Through Strait Of Hormuz; Virginia Supreme Court Strikes Down Recently Voter-Approved Congressional Redistricting Map; Tennessee To Redistrict After Supreme Court Ruling On Voting Right Act; In Previously Aired Interview The Late Ted Turner Discusses His Founding Of CNN, Views On Nuclear Weapons, And Philanthropic Activities. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired May 09, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:33]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A Frontier Airlines flight has to abort takeoff after striking a person on a Denver runway. More than 200 passengers and crew forced to evacuate the plane.

Plus, the luxury cruise ship plagued with a deadly hantavirus outbreak at sea is nearing shore. The global complications of getting passengers home.

And finally, remembering TV titan Ted Turner, how the CNN founder's words and global visions he expressed to me in an interview 16 years ago resonate today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone, and thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with breaking news, a horrifying and deadly tragedy at Denver International Airport. A Frontier Airlines jet struck and killed a person who was on the runway during takeoff late last night. Officials say the person jumped the airport's fence and was hit while crossing the runway just two minutes later. The incident triggered a brief engine fire, and within moments, smoke was pouring into the cabin, forcing pilots to abort takeoff and evacuate the plane. Here's how one passenger described the panic, confusion, and fear on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE CERVANTES, PASSENGER: We were already taking off, and we were going pretty fast. And I felt like the plane started to tilt up when out of nowhere, it just we felt like a thud and heard like an explosion. And I was right on the wing. So I looked to my right and I just see like the right wing just on fire and like exploding. And it sounds like horrible, you know? And right away they shut the aircraft off.

Well, when that happened, like, the aircraft lands back down and they kind of like swivel side to side, and then they stop, shut it off right away. And then the cabin starts to fill up with smoke. And that's when they started evacuating everybody. And they started sending us down the slide. I thought I was going to, like, burn to death. You know, when I just saw the fire and the smoke, I just thought I was going to burn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Leigh Waldman is joining us right now with more on all this. Leigh, what more are you learning about the person who was killed?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, at this point, their identity has not been released. But the Denver International Airport says they do not believe that this person was an employee of the airport.

But this was a terrifying scene for the 231 people who were on board that plane. Let's go ahead and pull up that video. You can see people sliding off an emergency slide trying to leave that plane after that takeoff was aborted by those pilots there. You can see we're blurring out the engine, and you see that emergency slide activated to get people off of that plane as quickly and as safely as they can.

We're also hearing just a few moments ago from the Denver International Airport that the runway where this happened, that accident scene has been cleared, and that runway has officially reopened.

Now, passengers describing this as gruesome to CNN, saying it was like a bomb like explosion that happened. But we want to play the air traffic control audio from moments after this incident happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy 4345, we're stopping on the runway. We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From 4345, I see that. Southwest, 4345 I'm going to be rolling the trucks now. Can you, you know, the souls on board and, fuel remaining?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, 4345 we have 231 souls on board. We have 21,320 pounds of fuel on board. There was an individual walking across the runway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. We are rolling the trucks down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got smoke in the aircraft. We're going to evacuate on the runway. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: We know that 12 people were hurt in this incident. Five of them were taken to local area hospitals. This plane was taking off from the Denver airport, going to Los Angeles. Some people choosing to drive to their final destination rather than waiting for another plane. As of this morning, most of those passengers have taken off and made it to their final destinations.

The Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, is weighing in on all of this, posting online, saying "Late last night a trespasser breached the airport security at the Denver International Airport, deliberately scaled a perimeter fence and ran out onto the runway.

[14:05:00]

The trespasser on the runway was struck by Frontier Airlines Flight 4345 during takeoff at high speed. The pilot stopped takeoff procedures immediately. No one should ever trespass on an airport."

They've examined the fence line that's still intact here, that's still intact here, but the NTSB is working alongside the FAA to conduct a thorough investigation, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, also bizarre and frightening. All right, Leigh Waldman, thanks so much.

All right, a cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak is nearing the Canary Islands. The ship is expected to anchor at a distance from the islands dock tomorrow morning where the 87 passengers and some crew members will begin disembarking. Staffers from the Centers for Disease Control are set to meet the 17 American passengers there. After risk assessments are conducted on each passenger, they'll board a charter flight to Nebraska, where they will be monitored at a national quarantine unit.

Health officials are racing to contain the hantavirus outbreak after six confirmed cases and two probable cases of the strain that can transfer from person to person. So far, three people have died and multiple others have been evacuated from the ship for medical treatment. Those on board say staffers are working to figure out how the outbreak happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. STEPHEN KORNFELD, ABOARD HANTAVIRUS-HIT CRUISE SHIP: We were appropriately distanced, but they were wearing masks. And we all went through an interview process about contacts and our health and how we're feeling. Our temperature was taken, our medications were reviewed. And that's kind of helping them piece together what happened and to help them predict what might happen in the future based on exposures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Melissa Bell is on the Canary Islands. So, Melissa, what more are you learning about all the circumstances that are likely to unfold as soon as that ship gets closer?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we expect is that it will arrive overnight, sort of between 5:00 to 7:00 a.m. local time. And then, Fredricka, it gets underway, this very complex, delicate organization of this very complicated logistical mission to get from the ship that will be moored, anchored just off of the coast there, to get all of those people off the ship, onto their planes, and heading back home to what will be a long period of isolation.

We understand that the World Health Organization is recommending that they be kept in isolation for a long time. Different countries have different protocols, but we understand that the United States, for instance, will be taking back their citizens on a special plane to Nebraska. The United Kingdom, we now understand, is putting in place a system where they'll receive the British citizens involved, the passengers, taking them to a hospital near Liverpool. Similarly, in Spain, they'll be taken to a military hospital in Madrid.

And we've just been hearing from Dr. Tedros, the head of the World Health Organization who is on his way here. He's in Spain already. He'll be joined by Spain's interior minister and Spain's health minister here on the island of Tenerife. He's going to oversee this operation.

And what he's done, Fredricka, is sent a very unusual and heartfelt direct message to the people of Tenerife, really thanking them for allowing this ship to dock, explaining that not only did Tenerife have the medical facilities, the infrastructure, the personnel that was needed to carry this out, but also the humanity to allow what he describes as something that needed to be done, not simply for medical reasons, not simply to protect people, not simply to prevent the further spread of this outbreak, but actually just in a gesture of solidarity. These were, after all, he explained, people not only who had been through this ordeal over the course of the last few weeks, the people on the ship had also been grieving and through very difficult circumstances, the fear for their own lives, so that this was an act of humanity, of solidarity as well, that was going to take place here tomorrow.

But all eyes very much, Fredricka, on what happens here tomorrow, just off the coast of Tenerife, as this cruise from hell finally comes to an end.

WHITFIELD: Wow, complicated indeed. All right, Melissa Bell, keep us posted. Thank you so much.

All right, still to come, the U.S. is still waiting for Iran's response to a proposal aimed at ending the months long war, where negotiations stand right now as both sides continue exchanging fire despite a fragile ceasefire.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And to the people that hacked Canvas, if you all could un-hack it for like five minutes, two at best. Two minutes is all I need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A little sense of humor there, but it's pretty serious business. Final exams thrown into chaos after a massive cyberattack takes down the online platform called Canvas. It's used by thousands of schools around the world. We'll look at what information could be exposed by this hack.

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[14:14:30]

WHITFIELD: K through 12 schools and universities worldwide are grappling with the aftermath of a massive cyberattack that targeted a popular education platform. More than 8,000 institutions use the online class management system known as Canvas. But on Thursday, a hacking group shut down the site, threatening to leak the personal data and messages of millions of active users if ransom is not paid. The hack came at a time when many college students were either prepping or taking final exams.

[14:15:04]

CNN's Natasha Chen has details.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's been a nightmare for students, professors, and other staff after losing access to Canvas. It's a cloud-based education platform with 30 million active users around the world at about 8,000 institutions. A hacking group called ShinyHunters apparently wrote a ransom note that appeared on the home page of many schools' Canvas sites, saying they, quote, "breached Instructure again." Instructure is the parent company of Canvas.

The hackers warned the company, quote, "Pay or leak," saying it had accessed data from millions of users, including students, teachers, and staff. This comes during a crucial time for many as students are in the thick of final exams and projects, including this student who had a message for hackers to see if she could just get her notes.

And to the people that hacked canvas, if you all could hack it for like five minutes, two at best. Two minutes is all I need. I just need to go in there and take a picture of my final review questions that are going to be for my final that I take in four days, to be exact. So I just need to, you know, just give me one minute. Just give me 30 seconds at best to just go in there, take a picture, and then I'll get out of you all's hair.

CHEN: The parent company Instructure said Thursday night that Canvas was available again for most users. This is the second data breach in one month claimed by ShinyHunters. On May 1st, Instructure said it had experienced a cybersecurity incident, but the breach was contained. In Thursday's note, the hacking group gave a May 12th deadline to, quote, "negotiate settlement." Little is publicly known about the group, but federal authorities have linked ShinyHunters to several other high profile data thefts, including the hacking of Ticketmaster in 2024. Back to you.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Natasha Chen, thank you so much, Natasha.

All right, CNN contributor and technology journalist Jacob Ward is joining me right now with more perspective on all of this. Jacob, good to see you. So this group ShinyHunters, people may not have known him before, but now they do. Now it's a household name even. I mean, they've claimed responsibility for this hack, but what do we know about this group and how they operate and what they're after?

JACOB WARD, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, they're named for, you know, it's a cute name. It's based on the Pokemon series, but it's not a very cute group, right? We know that they have hit many, many companies in the past and even bigger institutions, right? They've done AT&T, they've done Ticketmaster. They've also done the European Commission, got in there and stole many, many gigabytes of data from that organization.

So they're quite destructive. And what they really are, though, and I think it's important for everybody to realize this, is they're just in the money making business, right? What they want to do is get the most money possible for the least possible work. So in this case, going in and hitting a single company, they managed to get thousands of institutions all at once. And so this is truly just an efficiency play just like any other business.

WHITFIELD: So it's like ransom. They want Canvas, the group that operates Canvas, to cough up some money perhaps. Or is there another motivation? Because they're also taking very sensitive information that could really harm a lot of people, if not now, then later.

WARD: You know, what's terrible about that sort of type of hacking is it's truly just about destruction, chaos, and money. It's not truly about anything else typically.

And so they are absolutely trying to terrorize these students at a particularly terrible time, right? During finals. I mean, Penn was already in finals, several of these victims already in finals. So they're really just choosing their moment to try and sow, you know, create the absolutely greatest leverage they can for them.

But what we've seen in the past is that when they have hit past folks and those folks actually paid them any money, they just hit them again. They treat us all like a cash register. And so the idea here, you know, that you would somehow try to negotiate with them or that there's some sort of reasonable conversation to be had, all the cyber experts I talked to say, that's not a good idea. You just try to close off the point of access that they seem to have found here. You know, they've got a bunch of this data, which is not just, you know, it's not financial information, supposedly, which is good news, but it is, you know, private messages between students and teachers, that kind of thing. So if they decided to try and go through all of that and maybe find

something valuable, OK. But in this particular case, it looks as if they were just trying to extort money as quickly as they could. And as long as nobody coughs up, they're going to think this cash register isn't worth anything.

WHITFIELD: All right, so say, hypothetically, the company that does own Canvas, it's called Instructure, I mean, if they were to pay a ransom, what kind of guarantees would, Instructure, the company that owns Canvas or the students have that their data and personal messages would be safe and not compromised?

WARD: There is -- there is certainly no guarantee that paying these folks off would in any way safeguard this data.

[14:20:01]

If anything, the guarantee based on the past of even this particular group is that they would hit them again. If you show them that you can get money out of them, then this hacker group is going to hit again.

The bummer, of course, right for everybody is we don't know what might be of value inside all of those private messages. The good news, perhaps, is that hackers are, for the most part, fairly lazy. Again, they want the risk-to-reward ratio to be very positive. And so for them, combing through endless, endless messages is probably not a good way of making money. They look for a target, they see if they'll cough up money, and if they don't, they tend to move on.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, Jacob Ward, great to see you. Thanks so much.

WARD: Appreciate it.

WHITFIELD: All right, still to come, as President Trump waits for Iran's response to the latest peace proposal, we'll look at where the negotiations stand right now.

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[14:25:11]

WHITFIELD: All right, new today the U.K. says it is deploying a warship to the Middle East ahead of a potential mission to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. CNNs Oren Liebermann has the latest on where talks stand between the U.S. and Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Right now, the U.S. is waiting on a response from Iran to the latest U.S. proposal to put in place a more permanent ceasefire and end the war. President Donald Trump said that response had been expected on Friday. But at this point, as far as we know, the U.S. has not received Iran's response to the latest proposal. And that goes to show that, at least from where we see right now, Iran

isn't feeling pressure to move quickly, to respond quickly, or to go along with these negotiations to get a more permanent ceasefire in place. Iran feels they're at least in a position of strength moving into these negotiations, even after the attacks we've seen from the U.S. and from Israel on their top leadership, as well as their military infrastructure.

And that's because this all comes down to the Strait of Hormuz. According to a CIA assessment, which multiple sources describe to CNN, Iran is able to withstand the economic pressure of the U.S.-imposed blockade on the Strait of Hormuz likely for at least another four months. And that means that the pressure the U.S. is trying to put there, the economic pressure that has been claimed by the Trump administration, isn't forcing Iran's economy to its knees, and the regime isn't feeling that much pressure, at least not in the short term according to that CIA assessment.

Meanwhile, we have seen continued fire between the U.S. and Iran around the Strait of Hormuz. But crucially, it has not completely derailed the ceasefire or sent the region back to an all-out war. The U.S. military disabled two Iranian tankers on Friday that it says were trying to run the U.S. imposed blockade. Meanwhile, on Thursday, U.S. Central Command said they struck Iranian military facilities after U.S. warships came under fire transiting the Strait of Hormuz. What's crucial here is that from where we sit now and from Iran's negotiating position, they see the strait as a strategic asset. Listen to this.

MOHAMMAD MOKBER, ADVISER TO THE SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN: On the issue of the Strait of Hormuz, for years, we neglected this advantage. In reality, it is a capability on the level of an atomic bomb. When you hold a position from which a single decision can affect the entire global economy, that is an extremely great capability. What we have gained through this war, we will by no means give up.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oren Liebermann, thank you so much.

All right, let's continue this conversation. Now with us is Joel Rubin. He is a former deputy assistant secretary of state and author of "The Briefing Book" on Substack. He's also author of a brand new book, "Saving Democratic Foreign Policy." Congratulations, Joel, on that.

JOEL RUBIN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, so I'm wondering, you know, what you think of Iran not responding yet to this latest offer.

RUBIN: Yes. Look, Iran clearly believes they can outlast us. They see an American president who is neither patient nor strategic in how he wants to secure a diplomatic win. And so, what is the rush for them at this stage? It doesn't mean they're not suffering. It doesn't mean that our blockade of their oil isn't having an effect. But it really, in reality, also demonstrates that they think that the United States is getting hurt by this as well. And so I just don't think the Iranians feel any urgency to give a clear answer and end this war entirely.

WHITFIELD: I'd also love your point of view on this royal Navy warship that is heading to the area of the Strait of Hormuz in an international effort to guard shipping in the strait. I mean, how do you assess this when the U.K. and many other European nations were saying, no, this is not our conflict, so we don't want to be involved? Is this different now that it's involving inactivity, or lack thereof in the Strait of Hormuz in terms of shipping?

RUBIN: Yes. Fred, look, there are a couple ways to look at this. First, of course, it's good that the U.K. is getting involved to help with shipping. Quite frankly, the whole strait was an international waterway not encumbered by Iran and other actors, and they were not blocking oil flow for decades. So countries who are affected, like the U.K., they do need to get involved.

But it does point to a broader failure by the Trump team, which is that military action not embedded within a smart political and diplomatic strategy is destined to fail. And so we did not galvanize our allies. We have not brought in all of the power available to the United States through those alliances that we built up for decades to bear in this conflict. And so a piecemeal ship coming here, there from the U.K., great. It's past due. But it really requires the United States to get engaged, and we do need to get engaged with our allies in a strategic manner that brings them into the discussion.

[14:30:03]

That will help us diplomatically end the war and motivate the Iranians to come to terms with us at the table.

WHITFIELD: And now let's talk about the leadership in Iran. U.S. intelligence, saying that Iran's supreme leader is still shaping the country's strategy. But then the world hasn't necessarily seen him since he was reportedly injured in that U.S. strike earlier in the war. Is there any kind of, you know, power struggle going on right now? Do you see this as, you know, a window into what could be a power struggle? Or is this just the secretive method in which it is operating?

RUBIN: I mean, all indications are that the IRGC is truly calling the shots. Now, there is a supreme leader that is the face of the regime internally, the ultimate decider. But the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the one that is in charge of Iranian policy.

Look, if we're going to have a diplomatic arrangement, it's going to have to be blessed by the supreme leader, but it's going to have to be approved by the IRGC. And then, of course, there are the interlocutors, the foreign ministry. So there are a lot of cleavages within Iran. But I don't think anything is going to get done unless the IRGC itself says that it supports that deal.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it there for now. Again, congrats on the new book. RUBIN: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Joel Rubin, thank you so much.

All right, still to come, the redistricting fight is intensifying ahead of the midterm elections, and a Republican led push could reshape the political landscape for years to come. We'll speak with a Tennessee lawmaker on the front lines of that fight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:15]

WHITFIELD: The Virginia Supreme Court this week struck down a recently voter-approved congressional map. Democrats had proposed a new map with the hopes of flipping four Republican held House seats. Tennessee, meanwhile, becomes the ninth state to enact a new congressional map ahead of midterm elections. There, Democratic lawmakers have protested the vote that divided up the only majority black congressional district in the state. And now the NAACP filed an emergency petition to block the new plan signed into law by Republican Governor Bill Lee. The organization says Tennessee's new congressional map violates the state constitution.

Tennessee is the first state to adopt a new redistricting plan since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled just last week to roll back the Voting Rights Act, which prohibited racial discrimination in voting.

Joining me right now for more perspective is Tennessee Democratic Representative Justin Jones. Representative Jones, great to see you. I mean, few have forgotten how in 2023, you and fellow State Representative Justin Pearson were expelled by a Republican supermajority after speaking out on the House floor during a gun control protest. You were both reinstated and sworn back in just days later. But now this new battle over representation and voting rights in your state, I mean, what can you and your constituents do about this redistricting effort after a new congressional map was already enacted?

JUSTIN JONES, (D) TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY: I mean, what happened on Thursday was I walked into the Tennessee capital in 2026. And when I walked out at the end of session, it was pre-1965. And what we saw was the largest attack on black electoral power since the civil rights movement, and the crown jewel, which was the Voting Rights Act. What we saw was an almost entirely white Republican caucus strip away and dismantle black political representation because the Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana v Clay that we cannot protect, you know, racial minorities in voting.

So they've created all majority white voting districts now in the state of Tennessee, diluting minority vote, and doing so with surgical precision. They've crafted Memphis, one county, one city into three congressional districts that go up to 300 miles away as a way to dilute that vote. They already did this to Nashville. And so we're seeing them take us backwards in history to a time, to a time we don't want to go to. WHITFIELD: How does this potentially impact your district? What do you

see potentially?

JONES: So right now, this special session was just about the federal district. And so we know that they're not going to stop there. So when we come back in January they're going to come after our state house districts next. This was just because Donald Trump called our governor and said, I want you to break up this last remaining Democratic, last remaining black majority district. Donald Trump called Governor Lee, and within five days we were here, had less than 24 hours to see the new map and had to vote the next day.

I mean, this was done with such unusual precedent, but it's not going to stop here. You know, Tennessee was the first. But we know Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, they are coming against black representation and black voting power in the south. And it reminds us of days past. And you know, what we saw here was racialized. It was very clear what this was about. It was about silencing the voice of black voters. And they did it as the Voting Rights Act was dismantled by Supreme Court, and they did it at the direction of President Donald Trump, calling them from the White House and saying, do this now. And they jumped when he said jump, called us back to special session.

WHITFIELD: So now what will be your worries about this redistricting map, the kinds of attention that some communities would be getting or no longer would be getting as a result of this redraw, whether it's in Tennessee or any other states that are looking at the map right now?

[14:40:03]

JONES: I mean, I can tell you from being in Nashville, the one city where I represent has been split up already into three congressional districts prior to this. And so they did that to Nashville. Now they've done it to Memphis. And what it means is that we have members of Congress who don't live here, who live hours away. People like Andy Ogles, who are some of the most vitriolic members who never even have town halls, who don't meet with their constituents, who are not responsive to our needs.

So we have people who don't have political representation. That's what's coming to Memphis. You know, what we're seeing now is we're having this new Jim Crow system in which black and brown communities are without voice in our political process. And that was intentional. And I think it's going to be, you know, something that's a canary in the coal mine for the rest of the of the nation, that if they come for one of us, they're coming for all of us.

And so my message to America is that the south is the front line of democracy, that we -- that they're dismantling multiracial democracy here in the south and states like Tennessee and Louisiana. But they're not going to stop here. And so we need folks to pay attention to the south, to invest in building infrastructure in the south, and help us to fight back here. We're not going to take this down, lying down.

When this bill passed, I walked out of the house floor in the capital rotunda and burned a confederate flag, because I want to be clear that this terror, this type of system they're enacting are the same systems my grandparents told me about who grew up here in Tennessee, told me about a system where people like me couldn't even be in political office. That's the time they're bringing us back to.

And so I'm not sounding the alarm to be alarmist, but I'm sounding it because we've seen this before in our history. Study Reconstruction, study what happened between the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1960s. No black political representation after Reconstruction. We've been here before, and I want to tell America to pay attention to what's happening, because we need your help in the south. Don't give up on the south, but help us to have solidarity here and help us to fight back and let this inflame our rebellion and to really see that the nation needs to pay attention, shine a light, come to the south, come to Montgomery, come to Nashville, come to Louisiana and stand with us and help us fight back against this extremist power grab, this racist power grab against our vision of multiracial democracy.

WHITFIELD: And you see that potentially there is time before midterm elections for a course, correct, or, as you mentioned, for a way in which this, as you describing this power grab from not happening, or at least some sort of interruption?

JONES: I mean, I know there's litigation right now trying to get an injunction, but we know that the Supreme Court is who created this mess to begin with, with the Louisiana v Clay decision. And so we need to have a litigation, a legal strategy, but we also need to have a movement strategy of how do we, how do we combat this by having the largest voter mobilization and registration that we've seen in the south. How do we let them know. Tennessee ranks at the bottom of voter turnout. How do we defy their expectations by turning out even more voters and let them say that you wanted to cheat us out of our power. We're going to surprise you and turn out at the ballot box in numbers you've never seen before.

I think that's what we have to do, is that we need people to see that, you know, Tennessee is not a red state, but it is an oppressed state, a state that has been systemically designed to take away minority votes. This is the same state where one in five black voters cannot vote because of felony disenfranchisement, the same state that you can use a gun permit to vote, but you can't use a student I.D. card to vote. This has all been designed for decades in the making.

And so we need people to say that this is not the time for hopelessness or surrender, but it's the time to get organized and to push back in the courts, to push back in the streets, and to push back here at the capital and let them know that we're not -- we may not be a swing state in Tennessee, but we are a state that will swing back, and we're not going to let you hit us and kick us down and bring us backwards to Bull Connors and George Wallaces and David Dukes. We refuse to go backwards without a fight.

WHITFIELD: All right, Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones, glad to have you. Thank you so much.

JONES: Thank you. WHITFIELD: In a moment, not enough can be said about the now late CNN

founder Ted Turner. For people who worked with him directly, or at least, like me, got a chance to meet and talk with him, all are in agreement to say that he was unique, innovative, and a maverick, and all of that really just scratched the surface.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:48:28]

WHITFIELD: All right, this breaking news. Bobby Cox, the baseball hall of fame manager who led the Atlanta Braves through their greatest era, has died at the age of 84. The Braves announced his death a short time ago. Cox managed Atlanta in two stints, first from 1978 to 1981, and then again from 1990 through 2010. During that run, he led the braves to 14 straight division titles, five National League pennants, and a World Series championship in 1995.

For much of that time, the team was owned by then CNN founder Ted Turner, who passed away on Wednesday. Before his managerial career, Cox played third base for the New York Yankees for two seasons in the late 1960s. In a statement, the Braves said in part, "Bobby was a favorite among all in the baseball community, especially those who played for him. His wealth of knowledge on player development and the intricacies of managing the game were rewarded with the sports ultimate prize in 2014, enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame." Bobby Cox was 84 years old.

And this was a sad but reflective week for so many of us here at CNN. With the passing of CNN founder Ted Turner, we, along with you, also got a chance to remember and continue to marvel at so much that he achieved in his 87 years.

[14:50:8]

In addition to starting CNN in 1980, Ted Turner was a philanthropist, environmentalist, owner of the Atlanta Braves, and 1977 America's Cup champion.

In 2010, on the 30th anniversary of CNN, it was such a privilege for me to interview him and lead him on that tour right there of our newest Atlanta studio at the time, and run into an enthusiastic tour group.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Where are you guys from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Memphis.

TED TURNER, CNN FOUNDER: All right. I hope you have a good time.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic.

TURNER: That's great.

WHITFIELD: So they get a chance to look in the studio to see.

TURNER: It was my idea to do this tour.

WHITFIELD: It was?

TURNER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Well, it's fantastic. It's the most popular thing here.

TURNER: I know.

WHITFIELD: It is consistent.

TURNER: I know. Makes a lot of money too.

WHITFIELD: It does.

So what did you what did you hope that people would learn when they do the tours?

TURNER: Learn how the news operation work a little bit.

WHITFIELD: Why did you think it was important for people to see for themselves?

TURNER: Well, the escalator was there. I was trying to figure out some kind of way to utilize it when we bought the building.

WHITFIELD: Do you ever feel a little nostalgic when?

TURNER: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Yes. What do you start thinking and feeling?

TURNER: Well, you know, we built it right here, so it's still my baby. Your children are your children whether they grow up and move away or not.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: So in our interview, we talked about his television baby celebrating 30 years. We covered a variety of things, including his billion-dollar donation to the United Nations, other passions, including the American bison, and something else extremely relevant today, nuclear weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TED TURNER, CNN FOUNDER: Well, nuclear weapons worry me more than nuclear power does. I think we need to get rid of nuclear weapons as quickly as we possibly can before we have a mistake or an accident that occurs with them. And if we have a nuclear weapons accident, it could be a the end of humanity. So that's really serious. I mean, if Vladimir Putin pushes his button or if our President Obama pushes his button, it's the end of life on earth, and within practically an hour. That's how that's how fast it's going to be over. WHITFIELD: So no one should have nuclear weapons, in your view?

TURNER: Absolutely. That's the only way, the only way it will work.

WHITFIELD: Now, there are some --

TURNER: Everybody has got to get rid of them. We have to play by the same set of rules. I mean, isn't it hypocrisy for us to sit here with thousands of nuclear weapons and tell the Iranians they can't have three when it's OK with us for the Israelis to have 100? You know, it's OK for Israel to have them, but it's not OK for Iran or North Korea to have them. But they're sovereign states, too. I don't want them to have them either. But I don't want us to have them. I think we've got to all play by the same set of rules. You know, either we all have them or none of us have them.

WHITFIELD: And when some countries say it's not nuclear weapons we're trying to take care of here, it's nuclear energy --

TURNER: Right.

WHITFIELD: Is that one in the same? Is that code language to you.

TURNER: No, not necessarily. It's very possible for us to have nuclear power without having nuclear weapons. You know, and I think that that's, that's where we ought to be. Everybody has access to nuclear power, and nobody has access to nuclear weapons because we've agreed to do it.

WHITFIELD: How involved politically do you get? I know you've met with lawmakers, particularly as it pertains to energy bill, but are you ever compelled to pick up the phone and call President Obama or past presidents to --

TURNER: No, I don't do that. I've only met him twice.

WHITFIELD: Why wouldn't you? I mean, why wouldn't you, though? You're one of the most powerful men in the world.

TURNER: Well, I am.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And influential.

TURNER: I'm -- he knows how I feel about nuclear weapons because I've told him. And I know how he feels about them, too. So, and we're in agreement. So there's not any problem there. I work on areas where people still need convincing. I don't go out and try and waste my time with people who are already convinced.

WHITFIELD: So when you think of some of your best investments, CNN being one of them. The billion dollars going to the U.N. being another.

TURNER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: What might be another one? TURNER: Well, we make a lot of -- I do a lot of philanthropy, and I

try and think that all of it is a good investment. I look at it as an investment, not just giving money away. I'm trying to make an investment in the future of humanity so that we'll have a future.

[14:55:03]

I care about my grandchildren and your grandchildren and everybody else's children. And I want them to have a happy life that's just as good as our lives were. And I think that's our responsibility as parents and elders is to is to take care of, take care of everything.

WHITFIELD: Another investment, your Ted's Montana Grill. You know, a lot of folks are nervous when they open up a restaurant.

TURNER: It's a tough business.

WHITFIELD: Because it's a very tough business. But yours are thriving. They're growing. And it is also, in part supported by your herd of --

TURNER: Bison.

WHITFIELD: Your herd of bison. Did you realize that that would be a hit, too?

TURNER: I thought it would be.

WHITFIELD: Why did you think it would be?

TURNER: Well, because I've been raising bison for 30 years and they are so much healthier for you than beef with half the fat and cholesterol. And it tastes great, too. So tastes great and less filling.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: But you had to convince the public, didn't you? Because most people have probably have not had bison.

WHITFIELD: That's true. Most people hadn't, and most people still haven't. But more people are eating it now than ever before. And they wouldn't do it if they weren't happy with it. So we've got them. All we had to do was get people to try it. And we knew they'd like it. Just like I knew with CNN, if they tried it, they'd like it.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: And do you still like it?

TURNER: What, CNN?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

TURNER: Yes, of course I like it.

WHITFIELD: Do you watch every day? You watch regularly? TURNER: I watch it, sure. I watch the competition a little bit, but

most of my news viewing is to CNN. I watch your show from time to time.

WHITFIELD: I'm glad you're tuning in.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)