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CNN This Morning
Birthday Wish Comes True For Toddler With Mail Truck Obsession; Trump Still Republican Frontrunner Despite Legal Woes; FAA Investigates Allegiant Flight's Midair Near-Collision; Former Intel Officer: Non-Human UFO Remains Recovered. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired July 29, 2023 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: -- a simulated mail truck for Colby.
BERGMAN: Look at that.
MOOS: The kind of kid can ride on.
MIKE, MAILMAN, CONNECTICUT POST OFFICE: It's just what you needed.
MOOS: Colby even got a certificate.
MIKE: An honorary letter carrier.
MOOS: That he now keeps in his mail truck. His birthday included a mail truck cake, and a postal service counter, along with a postal uniform just his size.
BERGMAN: Here, I'll - this is like one of the first pictures that Kobe ever drew. It's of a mail truck.
MOOS: That's a mail truck?
BERMAN: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Can't you tell? An abstract artiste like Colby wouldn't dream of just mailing it in. Jeanne Moos CNN New York.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Mailman Mike.
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Did I get you to say ahh.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WALKER: Can you do that again?
BLACKWELL: I mean, why?
WALKER: I've never heard you do that.
BLACKWELL: I'm warm.
WALKER: You are warm, especially when it's 95 degrees outside and the next hour of CNN this morning starts now.
WALKER: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN this morning. It is Saturday, July 29. I'm Amber Walker.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to have you. Thank you for spending part of your Saturday with us. I used to love mail as a kid too, actually.
WALKER: The trucks or running out and getting the mail?
BLACKWELL: The mail because something was for everyone else and then I had something -- it was usually current resident mail, but it was for me --
WALKER: To open?
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WALKER: Just the little things.
BLACKWELL: Now I go to the mailbox like gosh.
WALKER: Why do I have all this junk in there?
BLACKWELL: Bills.
WALKER: Yes. Oh, that too.
BLACKWELL: All right. Here's what we're working on for you this morning. Former President Trump mostly steers clear of talking about his legal troubles during the GOP dinner in Iowa, some of his rivals, not so much.
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WILL HURD (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we elect Donald Trump, we are willingly giving Joe Biden four more years in the White House and America can't handle that.
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BLACKWELL: The message the candidates are pushing to try to stand up in this crowded field and what voters are saying about the new charges Trump is facing.
WALKER: Millions across the country are waking up to another day of dangerously high temperatures but we are finally seeing signs of relief. Our Britley Ritz will let you know where things will start to cool off.
BLACKWELL: A close call and this guy's off the coast of Florida. An Allegiant Airlines flight is forced to take evasive action to avoid hitting another plane. We'll hear from one passage about what that moment was like.
WALKER: Plus, lawmakers on Capitol Hill seek to answer the question, are we alone in the universe? According to three retired military veterans, no. They're fascinating and jaw-dropping encounters just ahead.
There is little evidence former President Trump's mounting legal troubles are slowing down his campaign. Last night, he spoke at a major fundraiser in Iowa just one day after being hit with three new charges in declassified documents case.
BLACKWELL: Thirteen Republican Presidential candidates appeared at the Lincoln dinner fundraiser. None of the top-tier hopefuls mentioned that new Federal charge. They instead offered their vision for America's future.
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ASA HUNTCHINSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Iowa has an opportunity to say we as a party, we need a new direction for America and for the GOP,
MIKE PENCE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must resist the politics of personality. And the siren song of populism unmoored to conservative values because different times calls for different leadership,
TIM SCOTT (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must win this battle against the culture of grievous and as President of the United States, I will make sure that the truth of my life continues to disprove the lies of the radical left.
RON DESANTIS (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We either win this election and make good on all the promises that we're making, or the Democrats are going to throw this country into a hole that's going to take us a generation to come out of.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: And while the former President did not address the charges he's facing he did attack his opponents. CNNs Kyung Lah reports.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amira and Victor, all of the major GOP candidates running for President spoke here in Iowa in Des Moines at the Lincoln Dinner. It is one of the first big cattle calls of the entire presidential season. And it's also the first time that we saw Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, sharing the same event, their very first Iowa event together.
Of course, all of this -- hanging over all of this the new charges against Donald Trump. It is something that the former president did not address. As he stepped onto stage. He did see a huge standing ovation, the biggest of the evening. He did go after Ron DeSantis. But DeSantis did not directly go after Donald Trump sticking to largely his culture wars platform, someone who did, candidate Will Hurd. [08:05:12]
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HURD: Donald Trump is not running for President to make America great again. Donald Trump is not running for President to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and 2020. Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. Listen, I know the truth. The truth is hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: And we spent some time talking to the people who were here in this room asking if these new charges bear any impact on their opinion of who they would support, at this point, everyone we spoke to said they see this as piling on and largely parroted what Trump has been saying on the campaign trail. Amara, Victor,
BLACKWELL: Kyung, thank you very much. Let's bring it down. CNN National Security Reporter, Zachary Cohen. Zachary, good morning to you. Explain what's in the superseding indictment and -- and the new allegations against the former President.
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: All right. Good morning, Victor and Amara. Look, this indictment lays out several new charges against former President Donald Trump and includes allegations that he and employees at his Mar-a-Lago resort tried to delete his surveillance video that was being sought by the Grand Jury investigating his handling of classified documents.
Now, this indictment also includes a new charge related to Trump's willful -- alleged willful retention of National Defense Information. This is the 32nd count of willful retention of National Defense Information that Trump now faces. And the new one relates to a document that we have reported previously, Trump was heard referring to in an audio recording at a 2021 meeting at his Bedminster office where he's effectively showing off this document to people who don't have a classification level to see it.
Now, we know that document not only exists but that prosecutors feel comfortable enough to bring a criminal charge about it.
WALKER: There are new charges, Zach but there's also a new defendant, right? A third defendant? What do we know about him from these documents?
COHEN: Yes, Trump's new co-defendant is named Carlos De Oliveira. And he is described as a property manager at Mar-a-Lago or somebody who effectively does odd jobs around the property, around the resort. And look, it paints a very detailed picture about how De Oliveira was involved in this alleged effort to delete surveillance video.
There's one conversation that's outlined in the indictment where De Oliveira is talking to another employee and says, "The boss wants the surveillance video deleted" an apparent reference to Trump. So an interesting new addition new co-defendant for Donald Trump that appears to potentially connect him directly to this effort to obstruct the investigation.
BLACKWELL: Now, there are also several sources that tell us that an indictment in the January 6th investigation could come down at any time next week. What can you tell us about that?
COHEN: Yes, Victor. I'm being told by my sources here in D.C. that law enforcement officials are still preparing under the belief that an indictment in the January 6th investigation is also overseen by Special Counsel Jack Smith could come anytime within the next week. We also know that done in Georgia, security preparations are also being made for a potential announcement of indictments there by the state prosecutor Fani Willis so multiple moving pieces here. We're watching it all happen in real-time but we're keeping a close eye on both the grand jury here in D.C. and Fani Willis down in Atlanta.
WALKER All right. Zachary Cohen, thank you for your reporting. President Biden is refining his message to voters touting his accomplishments on the economic front.
BLACKWELL: Around positive economic news has been a bit of a shot in the arm for the President's reelection campaign. CNN White House reporter Jasmine Wright is live from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The President, Jasmine, is leaning heavily into this term everyone's using now, Bidenomics, and the benefits you're seen for the American people of the economy. Talk to us about it.
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor. Yesterday's speech by President Biden was all about him selling his economic agenda to the American voters, part of a larger effort by the White House to get Americans to associate positive developments in the economy with President Biden's leadership. Something that the White House continues to call Bidenomics.
Now they have a couple of recent good data points to fall back on, as you mentioned, including higher than expected economic growth for the second quarter, rising consumer sentiment, the lowest inflation rate in the last two years, and also that recently averted potential strike from UPS workers that could have had catastrophic outcomes for the economy. So these are all things that President Biden yesterday at Maine talked about in really amped-up language, trying to convince the American voter. Now Maine is an important state for the President because they do not adhere to the winner take all policy when it comes to Electoral Votes. Meaning that this is somewhere where we could see the President go time and time again as we get closer to 2024.
[08:10:09]
So the President talked about the economy. He talked about a newly signed Executive Order prioritizing manufacturing. But we also heard him take a swipe at Republicans after this renewed impeachment inquiry talk against him has been happening on Capitol Hill. Take a listen.
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JOE BIDEN, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: Earlier this week, the Washington Post suggested Republicans may have to find something else to criticize me for now that inflation is coming down. Maybe they will decide to impeach me because it's coming down. I don't know. I love that one. Oh, anyway, that's another story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WRIGHT: Now, Victor, Amara, that was a pretty bullish language that we heard from President Biden on the economy. But there are some warning signs ahead. First of all, we know that student repayment starts for student borrowers in October, the first time that's happening since the pandemic, meaning that those borrowers are going to take money that they're using currently in the economy out to pay those student loans. And secondly, a recent surge of gas prices, something that this administration says that they are watching very, very closely.
But one -- send one representative from the House yesterday at the Whitehouse, I think he described the moment that this Whitehouse is in very succinctly was Sydney Hoyer (ph) yesterday. He said that this is not victory lap time. Instead, this is educational lap time as the Whitehouse is trying to convince Americans that they are doing positive things for them heading into that 2024 season, Victor, Amara.
BLACKWELL: Yes, more than a year out from the general election. Jasmine Wright., thank you.
Well, it will be another day of stifling heat for more than 100 million Americans from California to Massachusetts. More than 80 high- temperature records could be broken across the weekend. Scorching temperatures in the Northeast will persist today. They'll cool off a bit tomorrow. No relief for the Southwest though Phoenix. Listen to this, expected to see temperatures above 110 degrees for the 30th day in a row.
WALKER: The heat has been so bad there that the famous saguaro cactus or cacti the state is known for are essentially suffocating. And in Chicago, 10 German Shepherds died after becoming overheated while being transported to a training facility. Police say that the air conditioning in the cargo area of the truck was out. CNN's Miguel Marquez shows us how people across the country are adapting or at least trying to, to this record heat streak.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Amara, Victor, I want to give you a sense of what's happening here in New York. The fountain is going. People are staying cool. But the weather has been so hot for so long in so many places. It is getting concerning.
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MARQUEZ: Deadly Heat more than 30 states under alert, temperatures record-breaking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my god, this is hell on earth.
MARQUEZ: And nowhere worse than Phoenix, Arizona.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is unreal, day, night, never seen anything like it.
MARQUEZ: A city accustomed to heat now overwhelmed by it. A new record, 15 days so far this year, over 115 degrees. The morgue in Maricopa County adding 10 refrigerated containers prepping for a possible spike of heat-related deaths. Already the morgue is over its normal capacity
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it started to tilt, bad sign.
MARQUEZ: Arizona's Ultra Hardy saguaro cacti, some essentially suffocating from the heat, wildlife suffering too, a great horned owl cooling off at a Phoenix sanctuary. At the Minneapolis Zoo, ostriches taking a shower, a polar bear in search of ice.
The Midwest baking, Indianapolis construction workers taking extra precautions. Conditions being pushed to the extreme.
DAN LIVINGSTON, SAFETY SUPERINTENDENT, REITH-RILEY CONSTRUCTION: This isn't for the unseasoned worker, don't -- don't try to attempt to come out and start working in this heat until you've been fully acclimated.
MARQUEZ: Along the eastern seaboard, the heat index that mix of temperatures and humidity hitting upwards of 110 degrees in some areas.
TESSA BORBRIDGE, NEW YORK RESIDENT: I'm sweating within -- like I mean, I probably am sweating within seven seconds of stepping outside. I'm not -- I'm not joking. And then also like you know, as soon as I'm on the subway platform, it's -- it's -- it gets really ugly, really messy.
MARQUEZ: Public cooling stations set up throughout the country. Power companies urging customers to conserve energy, power grids everywhere under pressure.
ZACHARY ISCOL, NYC EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMISSIONER: We recommend setting your air conditioner units to 78 degrees for the lowest of the cool settings, remembering that it's all about maintaining your comfort while also ensuring energy consumption for the entire city.
MARQUEZ: While summer and heat go together. Copernicus climate change service calculates July will be the world's hottest month on record ever.
[08:15:04]
ANTONIO GUTERRES, UN Secretary General: The era of global warming has ended. The era of global boiling has arrived.
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MARQUEZ: The good news is the temperatures here in the U.S. are going to come down in the days ahead in New York and across the country. The bad news, climatologists say for the foreseeable future in the years ahead, we are all going to have to live with more extreme weather. Victor, Amara. WALKER: Not a good sign. Thank you so much Mark -- Miguel. We're joined now by CNN Meteorologist Britley Ritz. Britley, the heat isn't the only concern today, right much of the country could also see severe storms.
BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Exactly, Amara: And the heat and humidity helping to fuel some of these storms alongside that boundary from the Midwest and of Plains back across the Ohio Valley and right on up into New England today where we have the threat of severe weather. That front stalled now but will eventually slide south and bring in that threat where we're highlighted in yellow from Richmond, Virginia right on up into New York, parts of Boston, and even back into parts of Colorado where we're highlighted in yellow. Winds going to be one of our bigger concerns, hail and isolated tornadoes can't be ruled out either.
Tornado threat. More concentrated up toward Philadelphia into New York, even Long Island. Boston may tap into some of that as well. So just be weather aware as we get into the afternoon. Let's take a look at the timeframe on this.
This morning, the severe storm has finally wound down a bit, maybe a few stronger storms up toward here on Ontario and back into Lake Erie. But that front eventually pushes over towards New England and we're watching the threat of stronger storms around anywhere five to about eight o'clock into the evening when they really start to ramp up and then through the overnight hours as well.
Again, that heat helping to fuel some of those severe storms. We are under excessive heat warnings where we're highlighting in Fuchsia, Washington D.C., St. Louis, back into Phoenix, Arizona where temperatures are climbing well above normal, much of the country well above normal for that matter. We are at 115 today in Phoenix, 100 degrees in Oklahoma City, and D.C. at 95 degrees. So you factor in dew points at 70 plus and it feels much hotter. We just need to make sure we're taking care of ourselves before we head outdoors. Victor, Amara.
BLACKWELL: All right, Britley. Thank you so much. Coming up some questions, about Senator Mitch McConnell's health and future after he froze for a little more than 20 seconds during a news conference this week. How concerned should Americans be regarding his health? We'll discuss.
WALKER: Plus a close call in the sky. Two planes come within seconds of colliding Here's from one woman on one of those planes who was on only her second flight ever. Plus forget Mega Millions, how about mega billion? Another drawing goes without a winner bringing the jackpot to one of the largest in history.
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[08:21:52]
BLACKWELL: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office tells CNN that he plans to serve the rest of this Congress as the GOP leader. A left out of this statement was what he plans to do after that. Now the questions have been raised this week after he appeared to freeze for more than 20 seconds during a news conference. He then left the podium, returned a few minutes later to say he was fine, but it refused to answer any questions about his health.
And it's not just McConnell, whose age and health issues have become a fair game for questions. Joining me now to discuss is Dr. Jayne Morgan, Executive Director of Health and Community Education at Piedmont Healthcare. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.
JAYNE MORGAN, CARDIOLOGIST, PIEDMONT HEALTHCARE: Hi. Thank you, Victor, good morning.
BLACKWELL: Good morning to you. Let's start here with McConnell and potential reasons for this. He suffered several falls. We knew about one earlier this year in which he suffered a concussion. There was one before that and then one after. Could there be some correlation between those foals and what we watched this week?
MORGAN: You know, always there can be correlations. And when you look at people as well, over the age of 60, we have to think about different things like comorbidities, or different medical conditions. In this case, it was actually quite stark to watch him, There was actually a freezing of about 20 to 22, 23 seconds. And sometimes we see that in a type of seizure called absence, seizures, or petit mal seizures.
So in these types of seizures, you literally stop in your tracks. You stop talking, you stop walking, whatever you're doing, you absolutely cease doing it until the seizure passes. And then you continue with your normal activities. And you really don't have a recall of what happened during that period of time, including people who were talking to you. And it appears that it could be a type of absent seizure. It certainly could be a TIA, transient ischemic attack or a mini-stroke or any type of electrolyte imbalance. But it actually is quite stark.
What's interesting in the absence seizures, is you don't often need medical intervention, if that absence seizure is already known. And you do return to full function, including cognition.
BLACKWELL: So he won't answer any more questions. He only said that he's fine. What would you need to know to agree with him? That he's fine?
MORGAN: Well, obviously I have -- I don't have access to his medical records.
BLACKWELL: True.
MORGAN: We absolutely would know -- would need to know what are his medical records. It seems that they've been pretty absolute and that he did not receive medical care. And that leads me to think that whatever happened, they knew about it, and perhaps it has happened before, and it's the first time we've seen it on camera, which is why if he has a history of having absent seizures, then they may not have sought medical care. But this was the first time we had actually seen it on camera. BLACKWELL: Let me read this statement from his office. "Leader McConnell appreciates the continued support of his colleagues and plans to serve his full term in the job. They overwhelmingly elected him to do."
Let me ask you about Bronny James. 18-year-old, LeBron James' son was released from the hospital on Thursday, suffered cardiac arrest during practice on Monday. 18 years old, how common is that for someone this age?
[08:25:08]
MORGAN: You know, unfortunately when we look at the data of Division One -- NCAA division one athletes, the Black athletes who played basketball have a 1 in 2,000 risk of cardiac arrest. The white athletes, males who are playing basketball, Division One basketball have a 1 in 5,000 risk. So it's two things that are interesting. It's specific to basketball and there's an increased risk in the Black players, in the male players specifically.
And so we need to start taking a closer look at that. Are they not getting the same type of physical exam screening through the course of their athletics as they're growing up or are there other things at play that are being missed? And we need to understand what those are.
BLACKWELL: It's interesting that it's specific to basketball and Black athletes.
MORGA: That's right.
BLACKWELL: So -- so now that we see this, he's at home resting, how soon would he be able to return to practice, workouts, the game at the level of which he plays it typically.
MORGAN: And so I'm assuming that he is home, probably with a monitor, and he was released fairly quickly. So that is actually really good news, came out of the ICU quickly, and then was discharged quickly at home resting. But probably being monitored with a heart monitor.
And so the rest of that work up will continue as an outpatient and it will really determine the trajectory of -- of what is recommended for him going forward. And we always look at this in compilation. The player actually has a lot of say so in what is going to happen to his future. So we have a -- a group decision making.
And so the player's voice is important as well in that decision-making even when all medical information is available. So we'll see what that team that will include the opinion of Bronny James, what they reach.
BLACKWELL: All right, Dr. Jayne Morgan. Thank you so much.
MORGAN: Oh, thank you.
WALKER: All right, still ahead. The tallest, fastest longest Giga coaster in North America is still at a standstill after a major crack was discovered last month. Now officials say the attractions problems don't stop there.
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[08:31:15]
WALKER: A look at your other headlines this morning. Police say five people have been shot in a South Seattle parking lot after they say at least two suspects opened fire at a community outreach event around 9 o'clock last night. Police say dozens of rounds were fired.
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CHIEF ANDRIAN DIAZ, SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is really disturbing when you have victims that are literally just trying to do an outreach effort trying to you know help people out and get people on the right path. And this is what they end up getting hit with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Four victims have been taken to the hospital, two of them in critical condition. No word on suspects.
BLACKWELL: More problems at a North Carolina amusement park ride weeks after the Fury 325 roller coaster was shut down when a visitor spotted a crack on a steel support. They've now found another one. State officials say the latest problem was discovered during an investigation into the structures integrity. Park officials say the ride at Carowinds will stay closed until full repairs and inspections are completed. No timeline has been released.
The FAA now is investigating an Allegiant Airlines near collision midair when the plane was forced to take evasive action to avoid colliding with another plane.
WALKER: A flight attendant was injured during the incident on Sunday. It is the latest in a series of issues with airlines in recent months. CNN's Gabe Cohen takes a closer look at what happened.
Well, Victor, Amara, the FAA is now investigating this close coal off the coast of Florida. And here's what we know at this point. So when Allegiant Airlines flight takes off from Fort Lauderdale, Sunday, at 23,000 feet according to an FAA statement, an air traffic controller in Miami instructs the pilot to turn eastbound over the ocean, which causes the plane to cross in front of a northbound Gulfstream jet.
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now fortunately, both pilots received automated alerts and each of them quickly took evasive actions. The planes at that point, were roughly two and a half miles apart. But at airborne highway speeds, they were potentially just seconds not minutes from crossing paths. And the Allegiant pilots maneuver was dramatic enough that at least one flight attendant on board was injured, and the plane had to return to Fort Lauderdale. Here's how one passenger described that terrifying moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JERRICA THACKER, PASSENGER ON ALLEGIANT FLIGHT: Well, at that time, we thought it was turbulence, which was still scary at the time because I had never been through that. But when he came on the intercom and let us know that we were actually trying to miss the other airplane it was like intensified all that fear that happen. And it was like a roller coaster the way that we had to go up and down to miss the plane and then level back out to the heart where we're supposed to be at.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: Now this comes as the FAA continues to face intense scrutiny for a surge in close calls and runway incursions this year, amid claims that the agency is understaffed and using outdated systems. Now in response, the FAA held a safety summit earlier this year and launched new guidelines for air traffic controllers and stood up a regular training series to keep their controllers sharp and prevent mistakes. Victor, Amara?
BLACKWELL: Gabe, thank you so much.
Let's turn to Georgia now where a decision whether to indict former President Donald Trump and his allies is imminent. A state level investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results has been ongoing since early 2021. Some of the biggest players in the Trump orbit are involved. CNN's Sara Murray examines the story in this week's episode of the whole story with Anderson Cooper.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once everyone is gone, coast is clear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The story she told was just chilling in terms of look at what they're doing. You -- video doesn't lie.
[08:35:03]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when you look at what you saw on the video which to me was a smoking gun.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The problem was is that the video had been selectively edited.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: What did you make when you saw what he was showing his video of what happened at State Farm Arena?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They found their magical suitcase full of ballots. But I'm looking at I'm like, that's a ballot carrier. Those are sealed belly carriers, which is a normal thing you'd have elections. But they slice that thing down to this one little narrow thing. They intentionally misled the State Senate in order to keep pushing this narrative and try to get the election thrown out.
MURRAY: So he lied?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I mean, they never backed off from it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Be sure to tune in an all new episode of the whole story with Anderson Cooper one whole story, one whole hour airs tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.
WALKER: Still to come, close encounters of the congressional kind. Three retired military veterans testify about the things the U.S. government has seen in a stunning hearing about unidentified aerial phenomena as in like aliens and UFOs. One of those vets who testified will join us next.
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[08:40:34]
WALKER: It was once a subject best kept to movies, hit T.V. shows and sci-fi novels, UFOs, aliens and their other worldly technology. And maybe for that reason many people miss the gravity of what happened this week and a House hearing. Three retired military veterans testified that the U.S. government has seen all three of those things. Many were stunned when a former member of the Pentagon's UAP Task Force alleged that the U.S. government has UFOs in its possession. Retired Major David Grusch also said the government has the remains of non-human UFO pilots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): If you believe we have crashed craft stated earlier, do we have the bodies of the pilots who piloted this craft?
DAVID GRUSCH, FORMER AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: As I've stated publicly already in my news nation interview, biologics came with some of these recoveries, yes.
MACE: Were they, I guess, human or non-human biologics?
GRUSCH: Non-human. And that was the assessment of people with direct knowledge on the program I talked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: We should note that he did say in his testimony, he did not have firsthand experience with any non-human material, but offered to provide information of the people who did. Joining me now is one of the people who testify this week, Ryan Graves, a former Navy fighter pilot and defense contractor. He is now the executive director of Americans for Safe Aerospace. Ryan, I really appreciate your time this morning. I just want to get your take on what Grusch had to testify about non-human remains of UFO pilots. Do you believe or have you seen any evidence that the U.S. government may have these unidentified flying objects or biologics in its possession?
RYAN GRAVES, FORMER NAVY FIGHTER PILOT: Well, my experience was with flying off the eastern seaboard. And so I don't have any information relating to the biologics. The information I have whoever was that we were experiencing objects in our working areas that we just didn't know where they were from. And we did not understand how they're operating with their performance characteristics that they were.
WALKER: Yes, so let's talk about then your testimony because it was fascinating to listen to you to talking about this encounter in 2014 off the coast of Virginia. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAVES: During a training mission in mourning area, Whiskey 72, 10 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, two F-18 Super Hornets were split by UAP. The object described as a dark gray or a black cube inside of a clear sphere came within 50 feet of the lead aircraft and was estimated to be 5 to 15 feet in diameter. The mission commander terminated the flight immediately and returned base. Our squadron submitted a safety report, but there was no official acknowledgement of the incident and no further mechanism to report the sightings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: So and you also said in your testimony that this was not your or your colleagues only sightings that it became so common, so frequent that they became part of your regular pre-flight safety briefings. What else have you or your colleagues seen?
GRAVES: Yes, that's absolutely right. It became such a safety issue that we ensured as pilots that since there was no other way to mitigate this risk that we would take it upon ourselves to talk about it as part of the administrative flight brief to say, hey, if we do detect objects that are in our areas, we're not going to mess around with them, we're not going to fly by them, we're simply going to try to go find another space that we can work where they don't have these objects in them. That's essentially where it got to for us.
And this continued, unfortunately for a number of years. I eventually left the area in 2015 aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt on deployment. And I went to become a flight instructor. Years later, one of my students actually reached back out to me to say he was still seeing these objects. They were still experiencing spiriting them. They were still a safety risk. At this point, they had no way to mitigate it, and it was just part of their daily briefs.
WALKER: Could they simply be drones, I don't know from a foreign government?
GRAVES: Well, that's the baseline assumption that we have to work with. We cannot be having unidentified objects that might be spying on our platforms, on our communications, on our tactics operating in the same areas as us. And that says nothing about the actual safety risk of hitting one of these objects. But with that being said the way they are performing is not something we would expect our adversaries to be able to do such as staying completely stationary and category four winds, and then accelerating up to Mach 1.1, 1.2, or all the way to Mach 2.0.
[08:45:17] And we're typically seeing these in the shape of spheres, which are not aerodynamic shapes. So I don't know how those are moving like that. And I'm not sure -- I don't believe there's anything in our arsenal that does move like that.
WALKER: So you created your organization, Americans for Aerospace, because as you said, you wanted to create a safe haven for people to come forward to report these kinds of sightings. You talked about the lack of transparency by the government. You talked about this fear of witnesses coming forward. Why this fear?
GRAVES: Yes, it's a great question. Within the military itself, it -- there's just a fear of coming forward. No one wants to step out of line, there's of course, a fear of accidentally saying something classified or speaking to a program that may or may exist, and no one wants to get in trouble by revealing national security secrets. So there's understandably hesitation to speak about this publicly.
However, one thing that is clear is that the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office or AARO within the Department of Defense has stated that this is a serious aviation safety risks to its military aviators. What we are not seeing is any recognition that this is a risk to commercial aviators. And that's what I've been pushing on right now. To your point at safeaerospace.org, we've been receiving a number of sightings from commercial pilots from former military pilots, and they want to report these.
They want Congress and AARO to hear about these cases. So they have the data to be able to understand this better, but there are no public resources for these pilots, for these military folks to come forward and share this information with the proper resources. So safeaerospace.org, we've taken that upon ourselves and have started receiving witness testimony directly.
WALKER: Yes, it's fascinating that you've gotten so many witnesses coming forward many of them as you said commercial and military pilots, curious to know what they're seeing and obviously just unfortunate that there really is no streamlined reporting mechanism straight to the government. Ryan Graves appreciate you joining us this morning. Thank you so much.
BLACKWELL: Up next, proof that it is never too late. A 93-year-old takes on Yosemite for the experience of a lifetime, details ahead.
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[08:51:53]
BLACKWELL: From the folk dressing up in pink to go to see the "Barbie" movie and then the Taylor Swift Fans go into the concerts, Americans are prioritizing experiences and entertainment over buying actual things.
WALKER: I did wear pink to go see Barbie. I did.
BLACKWELL: Of course you did. WALKER: I didn't want to but I did. While spending on electronics, home improvement and other goods has fallen one area is surging, entertainment. CNN's Matt Egan has more.
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Victor, Amara, call it the Barbenheimer, "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" had been such runaway successes of the box office that their impact appears to already be showing up in economic statistics. Bank of America found that its card holder spent 13 percent more on an entertainment in the week ended July 22nd than they did the year before. And while consumers cut spending on home improvement, furniture, lodging and online electronics, they are splurging on entertainment.
Bank of America said that this spike is likely driven by the highly anticipated releases of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer." That is helping what had been a lackluster summer movie season. And "Barbie" alone raked in $155 million of the domestic box office during its debut weekend. That film is distributed by Warner Brothers, which like CNN is owned by Warner Brothers Discovery. "Oppenheimer," the Christopher Nolan film brought in another $80.5 million.
Combined, this debut was the fourth highest grossing industry weekend of all time in North America. Just the latest example of how despite high inflation, Americans are still spending and that is driving what is turning out to be a surprisingly resilient U.S. economy. That people aren't spending lavishly on goods right now but they are spending on experiences, restaurants, trips, movies, and of course, concerts. Just look at all the sold out Taylor Swift concerts around the country. Her tour could potentially gross over $1 billion.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell was even asked at this week's meeting about how "Barbie" and Taylor Swift are impacting the broader economy. T Swift fans traveling to concerts, gave public transit systems across the country a boost. And the Fed said that May was Philly's strongest month for hotel revenue in years, all thanks to Taylor Swift fans flooding the city. Victor, Amara?
WALKER: You're one of those, Victor?
BLACKWELL: I'm not a Swifty. But I am going to Beyonce's concert when she comes here.
WALKER: Yes. I wanted to go but you got the weekend off so I'm not angry or bitter, no, not at all. Anyway, what were you going to say?
BLACKWELL: That was it. You've been talking to me about "Barbie" now.
WALKER: If you look interested, that's crazy (ph).
BLACKWELL: Geez. OK.
All right, nobody won the Mega Million jackpot last night. The winning numbers 5, 10, 28, 52, 63 the mega ball 18. Are you back with us? No? Five players won at least $1 million in last night's drawing. The jackpot for Tuesday's drawing grows to an estimated $1.5 billion. How about now? [08:55:08]
WALKER: It was, OK, it was a great experience. You know, I told you I did not want to get the movie theater because I just don't like the commentary. I don't like the lip smacking. But I'll tell you, it was a great experience. I enjoyed --
BLACKWELL: Yes. You did love the movie?
WALKER: I loved the movie. The movie was surprised -- pleasantly surprised. We loved it. And I actually enjoyed that movie going experience. It was actually lovely and memorable.
BLACKWELL: All right, I will watch it. I'm going to look forward to it.
A grandfather has become the oldest known person to summit half dome at Yosemite National Park.
WALKER: Everett Kalin is 93 years old and he just recently decided to add this to his bucket list. Kalin's son and granddaughter say they made the climb with him. They broke up the 13-hour track over a few days. He trained by climbing the stairs of a 17-floor senior living center. Amazing.
BLACKWELL: Excellent. Join us again in an hour.
WALKER: Smerconish is up next. We'll see you back here at 10:00.
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