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Debt Ceiling Tops Agenda As Congress Returns This Week; Clashes Escalate In Sudan; Inmates Moved Due To "Infectious Illnesses"; China May Be One Step Closer To Attacking Taiwan; Boeing Says New Problems Discovered In 737 Max Jets; NBA Playoffs Tip Off; Oklahoma Gymnastics Reigns Supreme. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired April 16, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:01]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Sunday, April 16th. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Amarillo walker. Thank you so much for spending a part of your Sunday with us.

Here is what we are watching for you.

Congress returns from recess this week with a laundry list of to do items. Among them, coming up with a plan to fund the government, to look at other major priorities for both parties in the coming days.

BLACKWELL: At least 56 people are dead in Sudan. There were explosions throughout the night clashes between the military and armed group they're escalating now. What we know about how this started and the response from the U.S. and other countries.

WALKER: Hundreds of Atlanta area inmates are being moved as a jail deals with an outbreak of infectious illnesses. The measures being taken to address the problems, plus how one man's family says those conditions contributed to his death.

BLACKWELL: Boston marathon's tomorrow, with this year's race marking 10 years since the deadly bombing. We're joined by a survivor who's turned that trauma into a cause to help others.

We're starting in Washington. The debt ceiling deadline just one of the major issues facing Congress when members return this week. President Biden, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, they are locked in a standoff over raising the debt limit, and Biden's message to McCarthy is: show me your budget, McCarthy is holding a conference call with House Republicans today ahead of a speech tomorrow at the New York Stock Exchange.

CNN reporter Alayna Treene has more on the week ahead for McCarthy and Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, Victor and Amara. The first big priority for Congress is the debt ceiling. Current estimates put the deadline for when the treasury department will exhaust the extraordinary measures that uses to pay the government's bills at some point early this summer. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have yet to hold substantial negotiations on this something that has become a key point of anxiety for many members on Capitol Hill.

House Republican leaders I'm told have begun informally putting together a debt limit package that they intend to socialize with their rank and file members next week. McCarthy is also slated to deliver a speech on this at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

Another key priority on the Hill will be around receiving classified briefings. The Pentagon is scheduled to give an all senators briefing on Wednesday as they continue to investigate the massive leak of classified defense documents.

The Gang of Eight, which includes the top four congressional leaders, as well as the chairman and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees started receiving some of the classified documents found at the homes and offices of former President Donald Trump, President Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence in recent weeks. They're eager to review these documents more closely in a classified setting on the Hill.

Another key focus for Congress is on the recent abortion ruling in Texas. There's little that Congress can do following the court's decision to suspend the use of medication, abortion drugs, but Democrats in particular are eager to weigh in on this in person and see what legislation including messaging bills they can put forward to force Republicans on the record.

And lastly, House investigations are continuing to heat up. We're seeing more Republican chairman begin to issue subpoenas as they enter into the fourth month of being in the majority. On Monday, the house judiciary committee will hold a field hearing in New York city as they continue to escalate their investigation into Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Alayna Treene, thank you so much for the reporting.

Let's get now. Some insight from Nicholas Wu, congressional reporter for "Politico".

Nicholas, good morning to you.

I want to read just a line here from the letter that the chair of Republican Study Committee sent out to his colleagues at the Republicans in the House: Passage of a strong debt limit bill before the end of the April legislative session, must be the chamber's top priority. We must work night and day to get it passed to show the American people that we can be trusted. Are the Republicans any closer to coalescing around a list of

substantial cuts that they need to see in order to vote for debt limit increase?

NICHOLAS WU, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Well, as my colleagues have reported, the devil is really in the details there for what exactly Republicans want to get together as they figure out everything they want to try to extract in exchange for raising the debt limit.

But the problem for Republicans is that you have a number of members who helped them make the majority who are from districts that are more blue, were won by President Biden in 2022 -- is in 2020 rather and are not necessarily the kinds of places that look favorably upon big spending cuts or potential cuts to the Pentagon as some Republicans have proposed, or even stricter work requirements for things like food stamps and other thing that conservatives have floated.

So, but -- you know, the Republicans are trying to move very quickly on this, but the same time getting something together that all of them can call us or not is going to be very hard.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, this is legislation that must pass. I think everyone agrees that defaulting on the debt would be catastrophic. When that happens is hard to nail down, some say as early as June, Moody's said maybe about August, most people agreed during the summer.

[08:05:00]

As this drags on, how much does that I guess, undermine, or maybe make the ability of McCarthy to hold on to leadership difficult? How much is this -- the fate of this fight tied to his ability to lead?

WU: His stewardship of the debt limit fight is going to be a very large test of his leadership. Remember that during the fight to make him speaker in the first place, and the rules were changed so that any one member of Congress can initiate a process that could result in him being removed as the speaker. And so this is looming over him this whole time as he tries to negotiate these competing demands of the hard line conservatives who want these big spending cuts, you know, the moderates who don't know so they want those kinds of cuts, and the institutionalist in the Republican Party to who do want a definite raise.

BLACKWELL: Let's turn to the Senate now and now, public calls for Senator Dianne Feinstein to resign. We heard from Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and Dean Phillips. She is recovering from shingles for two months now, 89 years old, no timeline on when she could return. While she's out, the president's judicial nominees, they are held up.

She's now asked to be temporarily replaced on Senate judiciary that needs a Republican support.

Are there more calls for her potentially to resign? And is this replacement going anywhere. If you need Republican support, they know they're getting someone else on that committee would mean that they would get some of those Biden nominees through.

WU: At least inside the building. Most of the calls for her to go stopped after the end of last week, especially after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi came out and said that she opposed it. So it looks like for now, publicly anyway, it's only limited to those two congressmen you mentioned Dean Phillips and Ro Khanna.

At the same time now, you know, the Democrats I talked to last week were very, very concerned whether she would even return to the Senate at all because of this illness, in part because her office had been relatively mum on her condition and one of her top aides recently departed her office. And so, the question for Democrats now is going to be how exactly they move on with so many questions about the senator's future in the chamber, even though you know she still has some time left in her term.

So to your question about how exactly we she would be replaced on the Judiciary Committee, that's also going to be a tall order for the Senate, since that's something that's going to take Republican support in order to do and Republicans are signaling they might try to come up that process somehow, if he did just as a protest vote.

BLACKWELL: All right. Last one here, former President Trump, his campaign in the joint fundraising committee, $18.8 million in donations jointly, they reported. According to his campaign, these are the interesting numbers here, for the entire first quarter, January 1st to the end of March. Trump received about 542,000 donations average of $34. In the two weeks since the indictment, the filing of those charges 312,000 or so donations average $49.

Now there are other investigations, potentially other shoes to drop. But what do these numbers mean to Republicans who are noncommittal on pro or anti-Trump for the nomination in 2024? Is this enough yet to say, well, maybe he's stronger than we think, and we should get back on the bandwagon?

WU: I think it goes to show that regardless of his legal troubles, the president -- the former president's standing within the Republican Party has really not been diminished. I mean, you know, it shows how he's pulling out most of his old playbook, playing the victim card using this, you know, get this aggressive campaign against his political enemies.

And it also shows how much of the, you know, small dollar fundraising force this could be. I mean, my phone has been deluge with emails from the Trump campaign, you know, railing against the investigations and asking for contributions. And so for now, anyway, and this has been a fairly potent line of attack for the former president, and it's not really something that his rivals have stepped up to attack him on either.

BLACKWELL: Nicholas Wu with "Politico", thanks so much.

For the latest from the political landscape, be sure to tune in to "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH" this morning. Joining them today are Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and New York

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, that's coming up next hour, right here on CNN.

WALKER: The African Union's Peace and Security Council says it will hold an emergency meeting later today to address the ongoing violence in Sudan as the country's army and paramilitary groups fight for control.

[08:10:02]

The push for diplomacy comes as the death toll in the conflict rises to 56 people dead, hundreds more injured. The majority of fighting is happening in the capital of Khartoum. But eyewitnesses tell CNN there have been escalating clashes further east in Sudan's main ports city along the Red Sea.

CNN's Larry Madowo has been following this story for us.

Larry, I know it's been a very fluid situation. What's the latest?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amara, the latest is that we're still hearing reports of fighting in parts of Sudan, even parts of Khartoum and the situation does not appear to be deescalating, even though every single international voice that's talked about this has asked the two parties to go back to the negotiating table to protect Sudanese civilians and to give peace a chance.

The African Union's Peace and Security Council is currently meeting. It's an emergency station. It's an emergency session to try and figure out a way out of this crisis. The regional body, the intergovernmental authority on development, has also convened. The emergency summit that will happen soon, and so far, all the leaders around the region here trying to talk to General Burhan, who leads the country, and his number two, General Hemitte, to abandon this violent streak that they have at least of the country this past two days and go back to the negotiating table.

Right now, the two countries that are immediate neighbors of Sudan, Egypt to the North and South Sudan to the south are both offering to immediate yesterday. The president of Kenya, William Ruto, also offered immediate.

Why is all this happening? Here is the background.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MADOWO (voice-over): Sudan's hopes for democracy once again shattered by the sounds of gunfire in Khartoum. Civilians have been told to take cover, while two of the country's main military factions, the army and a powerful paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, fight for supremacy.

Fighter jets launched by the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al- Burhan, fly low over the Sudanese capital with fighting reported in key sites like the presidential palace and Khartoum International Airport.

This video shows the chaos inside the terminal, with some people fearing for their lives as battles flared outside.

And the gunshots in some parts of cartoons so loud, they could be heard during a live television broadcast. Clashes also erupting in other parts of the country, with RSF fighters in the northern city of Meroe claiming to control a military airbase there. It's unclear which side started the fighting.

General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemitte, heads the RSF, which analysts say is 100,000 strong and grew out of the country's bloody conflict in Darfur. Hemitte says the army instigated the battle, calling al-Burhan a criminal.

The army accused the RSF of traitorous plotting and says there will be no dialogue until the group is dissolved. Tensions between the two factions have been festering since negotiations restarted to return to Sudan's civilian rule.

Part of the deal requires the RSF to merge with the army, but there were strong disagreements over how long that should take and who would ultimately have more power.

Both al-Burhan and Hemitte have worked together in the past when their interests aligned. The army and the RSF taking part in the coup four years ago to overthrow a longtime Sudanese leader, Omar al Bashir. And both were involved in another coup two years later, when the military seized control over transitional power sharing government, which is meant to lead to civilian rule.

The country's former prime minister, now appealing for both sides to stop the fighting.

ABDALLA HAMDOK, FORMER SUDANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The exchange of fire must stop immediately, and the voice of reason must rule. Everyone will lose and there is no victory when it is atop the bodies of our people.

MADOWO: There have been widespread calls for calm by the United Nations, the African Union and the United States. But it's the infighting once again in Sudan that is threatening its chances of a democratic future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MADOWO (on camera): The U.S. is a key diplomatic player in that transition back to civilian rule in Sudan and new statement from the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the only way forward is to return to negotiations that support the Sudanese people's democratic aspirations. We continue to remain in close touch with our embassy in cartoon and we have full accountability of our personnel. We also have been communicating with American citizens who may be in the region about safety measures and other precautions.

But there is still no chance that these two men will come back to the negotiating table, guys.

WALKER: All right. Well, thanks for staying on top of this, Larry Madowo.

Still ahead, New Mexico police shot and killed a man after they went to the wrong house while responding to a domestic violence call. The bodycam video showing how all of this unfolded.

BLACKWELL: Plus, hundreds of inmates in Atlanta are being moved to separate jails after an outbreak of bedbugs and infectious illnesses.

[08:15:01]

What's being done to address the problem, that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Police in New Mexico have released body camera footage showing officers shooting a dead man after responding to a -- shooting a man dead, I should say, after responding to the wrong address.

BLACKWELL: The police chief is calling it a mistake and unbelievably tragic.

Here's CNN's Camila Bernal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amara and Victor, this new video shows just how quickly everything happens. This incident started on April 6th at around 11:30 p.m. when three of the Farmington police officers respond to a domestic violence call. Once they get to the wrong house, they knock on the door. No one appears to be answering the door. At some point, they begin to back away from the house.

And moments later, you see Robert Dotson opening the door, and he does have a handgun. Now in one of these videos released by police, you can hear one of these officers saying that he heard a gun that was racked.

[08:20:04]

So that appears to be the explanation from that police officer.

Now the police chief, also saying that you do have to slow down the video to see exactly what happens. He says this was all a mistake. But here is how he describes that moment when Dotson opens the door.

CHIEF STEVE HEBBE, FARMINGTON, NEW MEXICO POLICE: When you show the slowdown version, you see him opening the door with his left hand, in his right hand is the gun. And as he pushes the door open, and then he comes together and both hands appeared to grip the weapon and pointed at one of the officers.

BERNAL: And Dotson's wife also opens fire at police officers. It is also very disturbing to hear the 911 call because it is their teenage daughter, who is talking to dispatch and saying that she doesn't know what's going on with her dad, and she doesn't know if her mom is also injured. She is at times crying, just really scared of what's going on at her own home.

Again, police saying this was all a mistake. This is now an investigation in the hands of the New Mexico state police and we'll have to wait to see what they say. But as of now, Farmington police just saying this was a mistake -- Amara, Victor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Camilla Bernal, thank you for the report.

In Georgia, more than 600 inmates will be transferred out of the Fulton County jail as the facility deals with an outbreak of bedbugs, vermin and overcrowding.

WALKER: According to the lawyer of one inmate's family, these are the conditions he was living in at that facility before he died there. They believe, unsanitary conditions and complications from insect bites contributed to his death. And they're calling for a criminal investigation.

CNN's Isabel Rosales has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we did over the past week hear a little bit more from the family of LaShawn Thompson and from their family attorney, Michael Harper, who says that Thompson was in jail in custody for just three months before his death, held there in custody on misdemeanor assault charges.

They are blaming -- the family's blaming unsanitary conditions at the jail and also complications from insect bites for Thompson's death.

Now, they are demanding three things at large, and those things are for a criminal investigation to be place and done into Thompson's death, also for the current jail, Fulton County jail, Atlanta is in Fulton County, for that jail to be closed and for a new one to be built in its place.

Hear what the family had to say.

MICHAEL HARPER, ATTORNEY FOR THE FAMILY OF LASHAWN THOMPSON: It's an inexcusable death. It is an outrage, and we call them all the citizens of Fulton County to demand better and to demand a new jail.

BRAD MCCRAE, THOMPSON'S BROTHER: It was heartbreaking because nobody should be seen like that. Nobody should see that. But the first thing that entered my mind was Emmett Till, I thought about Emmett Till. Comparing those photos, it was heartbreaking.

ROSALES: We did reach out to the Fulton County sheriff's office and received a statement from them where they mentioned that they cannot speak because of the law about Thompson's health or what decisions he made regarding his right to accept or refuse medical care. But they did acknowledge the, quote, dilapidated and rapidly eroding

conditions at the jail, saying in part in the statement: Without making any explicit statements about Mr. Thompson's health, it is fair to say that this is one of many cases that illustrate the desperate need for expanded and better mental health services.

That is precisely why Sheriff Patrick Labat continues to call for building a new Fulton County jail and criminal justice complex.

Now it is also important to note that we did review documents from the Fulton County medical examiner's office that listed Thompson's cause and manner of death as undetermined.

Isabel Rosales, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: All right. Still ahead, we will take a deeper look at the rising tensions between China and Taiwan.

The friction, prompting people in Taiwan to prepare for the worst case scenario. Will Ripley joining me now -- next from Taipei to discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:28:00]

WALKER: Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an increase in combat training while visiting military forces. The announcement follows China's third day of drills and a show of force around Taiwan's coast. And for the first time, those exercises included the Chinese navy simulating strikes by aircraft carrier based warplanes.

In response, Taiwan's foreign minister told CNN China is ready to launch a war against Taiwan.

CNN's Will Ripley joining us now, who knows the region very well.

You've been stationed in the Asia Pacific for about a decade now. And if you look at all the recent developments will in the Pacific in the South China Sea, the military war drills led by the us and the separately by China, of course, the announcement before parliament recently by Xi Jinping that he is preparing the country for war. And the U.S. Air Force general several months ago predicting war with China by 2025.

From all your reporting in the region, and also as you've been there in Taipei, do you sense it's really not a matter of if, but when?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, the series of events that are leading us up to this moment are really troubling, Amara. I don't say that war is inevitable. War can always be deterred if the United States and Taiwan and Western democracies convinced China that it was far too costly, far too risky to wage war on Taiwan. But, frankly, those leaked intel documents reported by "The Washington

Post" is signaling the Taiwan might be more vulnerable than it projects are not a positive sign for Xi Jinping, who is emboldened, frankly, because he has more power than any Chinese leaders since Mao and he has the most powerful military that China arguably has ever commanded in modern history, the biggest military build up to the world has seen in 100 years, Amara.

[08:29:40]

WALKER: And I know you've done a lot of reports for the past few years on China's provocations in the South China Sea and the subsequent growing opposition over China's aggressiveness in Hong Kong. I know you were stationed there as well and Taiwan.

But there seems to be more urgency now over China's ambitions to reunite self-ruled Taiwan with the mainland.

So let's talk about the timing. And why now? I mean, do you think Trump's presidency with his isolationist policies, this new world order that China is trying to lead and, of course, the war in Ukraine. Is that all factoring into this?

RIPLEY: Well, certainly there are two ideologies that are gearing up really for this -- for this clash, this global clash if you will.

You have the authoritarian ideology of China and Russia. And then you have democracies led by the United States. And Xi Jinping, along with his ally Vladimir Putin, believe that now is the time for the world order to change. And part of changing that world order from China's view is to is to revive this -- this -- this -- this great Chinese revival, which would include, according to every communist leader for the last 70 plus years retaking this island of Taiwan because at the end of China's civil war, the losing side came here and after a period of decades they formed this young and vibrant democracy, which is now closely allied with the United States.

That's a big problem for China, for their communist rulers, for their legitimacy because they believe that in order to -- for China to truly fulfill its potential, they need to retake control of Taiwan, which is strategically located in the middle of the first island chain and just a very short distance from Japan and of course, the United States beyond that.

So Taiwan is crucial in the communist party's plan and no leader has ever had more determination to do this than Xi Jinping. And he's made it very clear he wants to do it while he's in power.

So whether it were to happen now, five years from now, 10 years from now, Xi Jinping has basically told us what he wants to do. He just hasn't indicated exactly when he wants to do it.

WALKER: And if we can show some video of this you did a really remarkable report. You got an exclusive look inside one of the U.S. Navy's nuclear powered submarines, the USS Mississippi and America's readiness for a potential invasion. Just curious what stood out to you in that report and just being on that submarine?

RIPLEY: Well, there are Americans right now, you know, operating for months at a time, you know, deep underneath the ocean. And these nuclear submarines, the United States naval fleet, they are perhaps the biggest deterrent right now that would prevent China from making a move on Taiwan because no other country has the underwater power of the United States.

These submarines are virtually impossible to detect. Some of them carry nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, others carry missiles that could take out ships, targets on land and essentially can strike without being able to be detected.

And so this would be a huge problem for China Even though they have the world's largest naval fleet. They don't come anywhere close to the U.S. when it comes to submarines and when it comes to the kind of technology that the U.S. has under the ocean.

And this, particularly with the new office partnership that will put U.S. submarines in regular rotation in Australia, you know, bringing them into this part of the world with more frequency is certainly a major problem for Xi Jinping and his plans to take Taiwan because he knows that if the United States were to intervene and to start using its submarine fleet, along with its aircraft carrier strike groups, it could devastate a huge part of China's naval fleet.

Unfortunately for the United States, U.S. involvement would also likely mean according to war games simulations, huge casualties on the U.S. side as well. You're talking about the potential for aircraft carriers to be sunk, and it would be the kind of catastrophic war in which there really would be no winners, despite whatever the outcome would be, which is why I would say again, it's crucial for the United States to work together with other democracies.

And a lot of a lot of diplomats, a lot of experts have told me this to send a signal to China that taking Taiwan would be far more dangerous and costly than Xi Jinping should be willing to risk.

But there are many people and we're not convinced that that message is being relayed strongly enough, at least not right now.

WALKER: Yes. Will Ripley really appreciate this in depth look at the tensions there. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Still ahead, another problem for the Boeing 737 max. The company acknowledges a manufacturing issue but there is no need to be worried about your safety.

[08:34:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Here's a look at some of the other stories we're following.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Mexican navy crews are looking for three missing American sailors. They were last heard from on April 4th near Mazatlan, Mexico. Now they were headed to San Diego on a 44-foot boat. They were supposed to make a stop in Cabo San Lucas on April 6th, but they never made it.

The family members said that the three have decades of experience sailing between them. But the commander in charge of the search said that they started this voyage in rough weather.

WALKER: This morning a forest fire is under control in central Maine after being sparked by yet another train derailment. Three engines and six railcars went off the tracks near the small village of Rockwood. The cars that derailed were carrying lumber and electrical wiring. Officials say there was never a threat to public safety.

And there are more headaches for Boeing. The company says it found an issue with parts made by one of its suppliers for its 737 Max airplane.

BLACKWELL: The news has unnerved some investors. Shares are down more than 5 percent but the company says its planes are still safe to fly.

Our Pete Muntean has the latest on the story. Pete give us some details.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Amara -- this is another bad look for Boeing as it struggles to deal with quality control and to rebuild the reputation of the 737 Max. Those failures at Boeing and with the systems inside each plane led to those two crashes abroad in 2018 and 2019, 350 people killed.

[08:39:51]

MUNTEAN: This new issue is different though. Boeing is coming clean about a defect in the manufacturing of the jet itself. The issue, Boeing says, is with a fitting in the rear part of the fuselage of some Maxes. It's manufactured by a third party.

Boeing has not said exactly how many Maxes are defective, though there are about a thousand flying worldwide and more than 300 in the U.S. In a statement, Boeing says this is not an immediate safety of flight issue and the in service fleet can continue operating safely.

The Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, which came down hard on Boeing after investigations into those two crashes, says it has validated what Boeing says is true and is monitoring next steps.

The contractor responsible for building these parts is a company called Spirit AeroSystems. It said on Friday it was still working on an inspection and repair for affected airplanes.

But for now, this is not impacting travelers simply airlines waiting on new airplanes, and they are waiting for a fix.

Victor, Amara.

BLACKWELL: Pete, thank you very much. Finding purpose from trauma. Coming up, hear the incredible story of

one Boston Marathon bombing survivor and how he is now offering a network of support to victims of terrorism and hate crimes around the world.

[08:41:07]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Tomorrow is the Boston Marathon, and this year marks 10 years since two bombs went off near the finish line, killing three people, injuring hundreds more.

Yesterday the city of Boston came together to remember the victims and honor the survivors and to celebrate the resiliency and strength demonstrated in response to the tragedy.

BLACKWELL: 10 years ago, Dave Fortier was nearing the finish line when the first bomb went off. He walked away with shrapnel wounds in his right foot and hearing loss.

He joins us now. Dave, thank you for being with us. I am -- I'm reluctant to ask people to take us back to the day, which sometimes is the worst day of their -- of their lives.

But how does that day inform your life? How do you -- what's the context in which you see that day 10 years ago?

DAVE FORTIER, SURVIVOR OF BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING: Actually the -- it's changed for me dramatically. It's a 1e80 from where I was. I worked in wireless telecommunications. And I'm doing something very different today.

But I was there on a beautiful day. It was a great day to go out for a run. And at the very end when everything happened I don't remember several seconds of it. I don't actually remember being hit by the shrapnel. I just remember the sound and the heat and being pushed sideways.

I didn't even know that I had finished the marathon. You know, I don't remember crossing the finish line.

WALKER: Your resiliency is remarkable and the way that you've channeled the trauma and the pain to help others is more than notable as well. I do want to ask you though about tomorrow. And I mean I'm so impressed to hear that this is going to be your 11th Boston Marathon.

Is there -- what goes through your mind? Because you -- that means you've run a marathon almost every year since that bombing occurred. What is it like for you to run the marathon year after year?

FORTIER: It's -- it really is incredible. I was I was going to be one and done when finishing that day. I was running for a dear friend that was dealing with cancer at the time.

And after everything that happened after the bombing several of us were in rehab and some people were still in hospitals.

And many of us were visited by veterans of an organization called the Simplifying America's Fund. And these veterans came to Boston on their own to visit with us in a peer to peer way. That allowed us to connect with others that have been through something similar.

And coming from a process background seeing that happen and seeing the relationships that formed after those visits -- during those visits was really amazing, and it led to us forming a foundation several years later in 2018 that works with survivors here in this country, survivors in other countries, people that have been impacted in terrorist extremists and mass casualty events globally.

And it's that peer to peer relationship and that healing process that can be such a difference for many people. And that's what we do now.

BLACKWELL: This is the One World Strong Foundation you're speaking about and tell us more about those relationships. Are these just, you know, here's a number to call for someone who has lived through what you're living through now? What do you do?

FORTIER: Well there is -- there are ways to reach us. There's contact @OneWorldStrong.org. That's one way to reach us. Our phone numbers are easy to find. But we also reach out after events happen, just as an example and the relationships that we have here in Boston with first responders that helped all of us that day.

I'll give you the example of Pittsburgh a few years ago. There was a synagogue shooting and I'm sure you're all familiar with it. I'm sure you've covered it.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

FORTIER: And we reached out to Billy Evans here in Boston, former police commissioner and we worked with Billy to connect us with his counterpart in Pittsburgh. We don't just show up somewhere. We work with the community to be a part of that community after something happens.

And it's those relationships that form both with first responders, with families that have lost loved ones, with survivors in an event.

[08:49:52]

FORTIER: It really does build from the community, and I think that's the big thing about Boston is Boston had that community. The city really came together, to work together and 10 years later, if you saw some of the events from yesterday, everybody is still very much together.

WALKER: It's beautiful how you bring so many people around the world together. And really, is these human connections that really help -- seem to help the healing process.

Dave Fortier, thank you for what you do. And thanks for joining us.

BLACKWELL: Good luck tomorrow.

WALKER: Oh yes.

FORTIER: Thank you very much.

WALKER: Good luck.

FORTIER: Thank you. Take care guys.

WALKER: Take care, yourself.

For more information on how you can help survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing, Give Back, go to CNN.com/Impact.

Back with us.

[08:50:30]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: On tonight's episode of "EVA LONGORIA: SEARCHING FOR MEXICO", Eva is in Nuevo Leon in northeast Mexico experiencing the food of her childhood.

We say experiencing food, she's eating right?

WALKER: It's an experience.

BLACKWELL: Ok.

WALKER: It's a life experience.

BLACKWELL: Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS/ACTIVIST: Arturo is preparing his famous charro beans.

It smells so good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not traditional frijoles charros because my dad has a little secret.

LONGORIA: He has a secret.

I grew up with this. They're from Texas, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LONGORIA: Oh my God. I grew up with this. I grew up with ranch style frijoles. Every day of my life I think I ate these.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to spend maybe three hours boiling different colors (ph), and this one is all ready.

LONGORIA: So you just use that, but you add other stuff, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We're going to put chorizo, bacon, onion, chili moron, bell pepper and some spicy jalapeno.

In Monterrey, we make carne asada because, well, always --

LONGORIA: Always.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- if there is a birthday for someone.

LONGORIA: Carne asada.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carne asada. There is a funeral for somebody, there is carne asada.

Football soccer championship, carne asada.

LONGORIA: And Eva is here so carne asada.

That's -- it's an event.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Watch the new "EVA LONGORIA: SEARCHING FOR MEXICO" tonight at 9:00 on CNN.

WALKER: If someone is treating you to food isn't that an experience?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

The NBA playoffs are officially happening right now. The Warriors trying to win back to back to back titles in their fifth and nine years.

WALKER: Yes. Coy Wire joining us now.

Coy, things did not get off to a great start for those defending champions.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I was experiencing some beverages watching these games yesterday.

(CROSSTALK)

WIRE: The Golden State they're the defending champs. Look this season, they lost 30 of their 41 away games and here they were in this battle of northern California against Sacramento just an hour and 40 minute drive against the Kings, and they still couldn't get right in the playoffs.

The Kings fans, they came out in droves to the arena there in Sacramento, getting their first playoff appearances 16 years that was the longest postseason drought in NBA history.

Their star De'Aaron Fox outdueling Steph Curry, and this one is three right there put Sacramento ahead with about three minutes to go. 29 of his 38 points came in the second half.

Curry still finished with 30 points. Here's that step back three there to give Golden State within two. The Warriors though took 50 3-point shots. They only made 16.

And Andrew Wiggins there missed that wide open one with seconds to go. It would have tied it. Fox's college teammate Malik Monk became the second player ever to drop 30 plus points in a playoff debut. He had 32 of them. Kings win 126 - 123.

Now Cleveland they hadn't made the playoffs without Lebron there in a quarter century, but Donovan Mitchell and the Cavs they are back. A game high of 38, an all out hustle and defense for Mitchell diving on the floor to make plays like this in the final minutes, kept his team in it.

They had the lead with about two minutes to go. But New York's Jalen Brunson was cooking in Cleveland in the second half, scoring 21 of his 27 points. Brunson and the Knicks hold off the late charge by the Cavs stealing an away game win in game 1, 101-97.

The Celtics and 76ers, they each cruise to wins in their playoff openers, and we have four more games today, starting with Lebron and the Lakers, followed by a triple header on our sister network, TNT.

Now it was a perfect 10 ending at the national gymnastics championships. Florida's Trinity Thomas flawless. Look at this sticking a 1.5 Yurchenko on the final vault of her career. It's her 28th perfect 10, tying the all time career record. She's one of the greatest college gymnasts of all time.

We also witnessed one of the greatest teams of all time. Oklahoma and sophomore star Danae Fletcher (ph) less than two years after a wrist surgery saved her career, she stomped it out there on the floor to secure a second straight national title for the Sooners.

They've now won six of their last nine national championships, and it's more than just about what we see at these moments. It's like Danae Fletcher, like her mother, you know, they grew up in Philly, she was having to work multiple jobs to help get her daughter the training that she needed. You know, 7-9 years old driving her two hours every day to practice then would go back and work. Then would go pick her daughter up. That's love, you know.

[08:59:53]

WIRE: So it's a -- it's a congratulations to the whole family and stories like that. That makes it --

BLACKWELL: It all pays off. It all pays off.

WIRE: Yes. Big moment.

BLACKWELL: All right. Coy, thank you.

WIRE: You got it. WALKER: Good to see you, Coy.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: All right.

Thanks so much for joining us this morning.

WALKER: We'll be back here next weekend.

"STATE OF THE UNION" starts right now.