Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Tornadoes In Tennessee Leave At Least 6 Dead; Trump Expected To Testify Again in Civil Fraud Trial On Monday; UPenn President Resigns Amid Backlash Over Antisemitism Testimony; Biden, GOP Contenders On Campaign Trail; Worsening Humanitarian Crisis Takes Toll On Gaza's Children; FDA Approves Two Gene Therapies For Sickle Cell; NTSB Warns Some Pilots Are suffering In Silence. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired December 10, 2023 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reminded us of a black lab named Maverick who froze when he encountered five wooden black cat lawn decorations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maverick.
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS: This was instinctual pointing behavior, pointing out prey, until finally --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, it's okay, dude.
MOOS: -- Maverick's tail unfroze first.
As for the paralyzed chickens, when Briana yelled for her fiance, they suddenly unfroze.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nick! What the --
What we now know and what my fiance was able to spot in a tree above was a hawk.
MOOS: This hawk has killed four of their chickens. They strung fish line above the enclosure to keep the hawk away. By standing motionless, they're trying to be invisible.
Is this what they mean by acting chicken?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did I do something?
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What the --
MOOS: New York.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.
(END VIDEOTAPE) AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: No, it all makes sense.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I don't care what you say, that hawk is in the tree, I am standing still. Those chickens were not moving.
WALKER: Why don't they run away?
BLACKWELL: What I also don't understand is one froze, then the other ones got it?
WALKER: Yeah.
BLACKWELL: Or did they all see the hawk at the same time?
WALKER: At the same time. That's really remarkable.
BLACKWELL: All right. Thanks, Jeanne.
Next hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts now.
(MUSIC)
BLACKWELL: Good morning, and welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Sunday, December 10th. I'm Victor Blackwell.
WALKER: I still have frozen chickens on my mind. That's so remarkable. I can't get it off my mind.
I'm Amara Walker. Thanks for joining us.
Here is what we are watching for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything just, like, exploded. That's what it really felt like. It felt like everything exploded, like a lot of pressure built up and just popped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: At least six people are dead after tornados ripped through Tennessee overnight. We are hearing a significant damage in some towns, and a state of emergency is in effect. We're also tracking the threat for more severe storms today.
BLACKWELL: Former President Trump is expected to testify in the New York civil fraud case against him despite advice from his attorneys. The potential legal implications of that decision.
WALKER: Two University of Pennsylvania leaders have stepped down after the highly criticized testimony about antisemitism on campus. The reaction coming into those resignations.
BLACKWELL: The House is preparing to vote on an impeachment inquiry into President Biden this week. How the White House is responding, just ahead on CNN THIS MORNING. WALKER: Tennessee rescue crews are searching for survivors after tornadoes and strong thunderstorms tore through the state, leaving at least six people dead and dozens injured. This morning, the state's governor, Bill Lee, is telling citizens to follow the guidance from state and local officials as they continue to monitor and assess the storm damage.
Three people, including a child, were killed in Clarksville when tornadoes tore through town. Eyewitness video shows the tornado churning across a Clarksville road, throwing debris and ripping through power lines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Oh, my god.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: This video is from Nashville. You see the tornado moving through, and then the electrical flashes, then the explosion, and then darkness. Officials in Nashville say another three people were killed there by the storm. The mayor declared a state of emergency and says that emergency crews are still working in hard-to-reach areas.
Also, we are tracking threats for more storms today. Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is here now.
So, we're seeing more severe storms right now. What are we looking at for the rest of the day?
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. We still have some tornado watches in effect as this line that dropped those tornadoes yesterday continues to move east. Now, yesterday, some of these warnings were so significant and so severe, the National Weather Service was using wording like "large, dangerous, considerable damage likely," and we're seeing that in images this morning.
Twenty-five preliminary tornadoes reported so far. So, we have to keep an eye out on that number. It keeps increasing, 65 hail reports and 44 wind reports there.
Here's a look at radar. Some wilder showers to the north. We're focusing on the south, where that severe threat continues this morning. Right now, it looks like we have a severe thunderstorm warning to the north there of Tallahassee.
We've had a couple more tornado warnings from Alabama down to the Florida panhandle this morning where a watch continues from Macon down towards Panama City, continues through about 9:00 this morning as this intense line of storms continues to work its way eastward.
As we go through the rest of the day, this is what the threat looks like. You see this yellow here for the Eastern Carolinas, Wilmington down to Charleston, and this other pocket, that's where a few more tornado are likely as we go through the day today.
[08:05:02]
In the green areas, still a risk of damaging winds, 60, 70 miles per hour. So, this front could still pack a punch as it moves eastward. You can see that as we fast forward the time line, the storms billowing from Charlotte down to Tallahassee as we go into the afternoon.
Then it pushes eastward tonight, a punch of cold air behind it changing it to snow from the Appalachian Mountains up through the mid- Atlantic. You can see the snow pumping in upstate New York and Vermont. Heavy rain a threat for New York to Boston along the East Coast.
So, a flood watch is in effect for 55 million people, two to four inches of rain as this thing moves north.
And like I mentioned, we're looking at snow totals up to a foot possible in parents of New York and Vermont. So multiple hazards we're tracking.
WALKER: All right. Elisa Raffa, thank you.
On Monday, Donald Trump says he will take the stand again in the New York civil fraud trial against him. Trump's attorneys told reporters that she tried to dissuade Trump from testifying again while he is under a gag order. But she claims Trump insisted on testifying.
Trump's conduct during the trial has been a flashpoint. He's been fined twice for violating a gag order barring him from speaking about the judge's staff. Trump will take stand as the defense's final witness.
Joining me now to discuss is former federal prosecutor, Shan Wu.
Shan, of course, as we just said, Trump's attorneys do not want him taking the stand. What could go wrong?
SHAN WU, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: A lot could go wrong. He's a bad witness for everybody, actually. He meanders a lot when he's on direct. He meanders a lot on cross. If he gets hostile on cross, that's not a very good look for him.
It is a bench trial, it could be less damaging than before a jury, and it may mean nothing because the judge has already decided the important parts of the case.
I will note, it's rather odd what his attorneys are saying. First of all, usually, you don't get in front of the cameras and say what you advise the client. It's kind of privileged.
Second of all, it seems wrong. I mean, no one is going to find he violated a gag order by testifying. I mean, apples and oranges. The gag order is don't talk about the trial outside of the courtroom, not that you're not allowed to testify. So, it just seems odd.
WALKER: OK. So, the gag order shouldn't impact the testimony in any way. If you're his attorney, though, what would you be telling him in terms of strategy? I mean, what should Trump be trying to accomplish taking the stand?
WU: He should really lean into the hundreds of thousands of dollars that he paid for that expert who testified that there was no fraud in the case. That's what he needs to do, is to lean into that and really use that as almost a guideline for his testimony rather than, you know, going into it's a witch-hunt, all that sort of thing. He needs to try and stick with what his expert talked about regarding the accounting.
WALKER: Yeah. Well, he probably won't. If he starts to ramble or go off on tangent, could that backfire? Could there be legal consequences?
WU: I think the consequences would be limited to the liability in the trial and what kind of penalty he might pay. Unlikely he'd get hit with something like perjury. It's possible, but usually, when defendants are testifying on behalf of themselves, they often are found not to be credible by the fact-finder. Usually perjury does not follow from that. So, in that sense, I don't think there would be other kinds of consequences.
WALKER: You know, during the trial, we've heard from this accounting expert, Eli Bartov, who basically said he found no evidence whatsoever of any accounting fraud. Those are his words. What did you make of that? And does that move the needle in any way, knowing that the judge has already ruled that there was fraud?
WU: I don't think it moved the needle very much. I'm not an accounting expert, but his testimony seemed so vehemently in favor of the anti- fraud notion that it didn't really seem that credible. I mean, to him, you know, accounting is more of an art than a science.
He also seemed quite prickly on the stand. He got very mad at the prosecutor for bringing up his very high fee as well as sort of disagreeing with his points. I don't think it will move the needle that much. But I do think it's very smart of the court to allow that testimony as well as Trump's testimony because it helps make a good factual record. So, if there is a conviction, a finding of liability, then on appeal, it's much better protection that the defendants have a full chance to put forward everything it could.
WALKER: Yeah. I'm sure the full expectation is he will treat the stand as a campaign rally. Shan Wu, great to see you. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: The backlash against three university presidents over their comments to Congress about antisemitism have led to two resignations now.
[08:10:05]
University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill has resigned along with the head of the school's board of trustees. It comes after Magill and the presidents of Harvard and MIT were asked if calling for the general side of Jews would violate their university's code of conduct. CNN's Polo Sandoval reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara and Victor, in back-to-back resignation announcements, the president of the University of Pennsylvania announced that she would be stepping down from her position just moments before the university official who made her announcement also said that he, too, would be resigning.
Liz Magill announced on Saturday she would be stepping down from her position as UPenn president. Per university statement, she will remain tenured faculty at the university's law school and stay on while they find an interim replacement. As we've reported, students, faculty, really the community in general said they lost confidence in Magill after Tuesday's congressional hearing in which she and the presidents of MIT and Harvard failed to explicitly say that calls for genocide of Jews would immediately violate their universities' codes of conduct.
Moments after Magill's announcement, Scott Bok said he, too, would be stepping down as the chair of the university's board of trustees. In a statement, Bok wrote: Former President Liz Magill last week made an unfortunate misstep. He then goes on to write, following that, it became clear that her position was no longer tenable, and she and I concurrently decided it was time for her to exit.
Bok also defending Magill, calling her a good person, a talented leader, and, in his words, not the slightest bit antisemitic. Also interesting in Bok's statement, he offered some potential insight into what may have been Magill's state of mind at the time of that disastrous hearing. As Bok wrote she was not herself at the time she was being questioned by lawmakers, that she was, quote, over-prepared, over-lawyered, and she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that, Bok says, was wrong -- Amara, Victor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Polo, thanks so much.
Still ahead, the House could vote on an impeachment inquiry into President Biden this week. How it's expected to play out and what the White House is saying about it.
WALKER: Plus, as the humanitarian crisis deepens in Gaza, the war between Israel and Hamas is taking a toll on children.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08I:16:47]
BLACKWELL: President Biden back at the White House now after a California trip to drum up support and some donations for his 2024 run.
WALKER: Republican contenders hit the campaign trail, as well, taking over Iowa, as the caucuses there are just weeks away. CNN's Eva McKend breaks down the key takeaways from the slew of forums
and town halls and campaign events.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Amara, these candidates imploring Iowans to get out and caucus for them in just a few short weeks. Governor DeSantis, Ambassador Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy all appearing at the same event in Sioux Center, on the same stage, a faith and family forum, talking mostly about how faith and family informs their policy vision, something that is so important in the state of Iowa, where so many of the caucus-goers are evangelical voters.
And for the most part, they strayed away from attacking one another, but Governor DeSantis, Ambassador Haley did seem to suggest they both would be better general election candidates than former President Donald Trump.
NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I know is you don't defeat Democrat chaos with Republican chaos. And that's what Donald Trump gives us, rightly or wrongly. I had a great working relationship with him, but rightly or wrongly, chaos follows him. You know I'm right. Chaos follows him. And we can't have a country in disarray and a world on fire and survive this chaos.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's important to point out that normally in an Iowa caucus you've got five or six candidates that are running as conservatives and conservative voters are having to look through. That's not the case this year. I think you have Donald Trump, who's obviously moved left, is not really putting in the work to earn people's votes.
MCKEND: Haley took questions from Iowans here in Silver Lake on a number of issues. Many folks seem to be concerned about the future of Social Security. Something else that's notable, both Haley and DeSantis pushing back hard on this notion that they are interested in being Trump's number two, not interested in being the vice presidential candidate, Haley stressing that she's not in this race to play for second place -- Victor, Amara.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Eva, thank you.
After meeting with campaign donors out west, President Biden returned to the White House and is facing a tough week ahead.
WALKER: Yeah, not only was his son, Hunter, indicted last week, the president also faces a lingering threat of a possible impeachment inquiry. House Republicans could launch that effort as soon as Tuesday.
CNN's Camila DeChalus is now with us from Washington.
What is the White House saying about all of this, Camila? CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Amara, White House
officials are calling Republicans' efforts to launch an impeachment inquiry a political stunt. And the president himself has even weighed in on this issue when reporters asked him about Republicans' allegations that he met several times with his son, Hunter Biden's business associates, he called it a bunch of lies.
But White House officials will have to monitor very closely the developments of this inquiry and with the latest additional charges that have been brought and filed against son Hunter Biden, because Biden is facing a lot of scrutiny at this moment in time with the low polling of his job approval performance and with the scrutiny he's getting over him handling the Israel and Hamas conflict -- Amara and Victor.
BLACKWELL: Camila DeChalus for us in Washington, thank you so much.
CNN political commentator Maria Cardona and former Congressman Charlie Dent are with us now.
It's been a minute since I've seen you on a Saturday -- Sunday morning.
Good morning to both of you.
Charlie, let me start with you. So, the vote could come this week to formalize this impeachment inquiry. There is no evidence that Republicans have produced that connect the president to anything that would be illegal or wrongdoing, that was on the part of Hunter Biden. They see this from a political context, of course.
Do you think it pays off politically for House Republicans?
CHARLIE DENT (R-PA), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: No, I really don't think this is going to pay off for House Republicans. Look, they've made a very compelling case that Hunter Biden should be impeached. Of course, the problem is Hunter Biden is not a federal official. And they have not yet made the case that Hunter's nefarious actions somehow financially benefitted Joe Biden.
So I think that's fundamentally their problem. I think they're just doing this to say they can impeach Joe Biden because Trump was impeached. I don't think it's particularly good politics. I don't think it will help them much.
It may not hurt them that much, but I think it's a misguided effort, and I don't think the look is particularly good, given the fact they're still dealing with, you know, Ukraine funding, Israel funding, Taiwan funding, the border, and of course, the government is still not yet funded for the year.
So I think it's not a particularly good look. I think this is a miscalculation on the part of the House GOP.
BLACKWELL: Yeah, the argument is they have to formalize the impeachment inquiry, although they don't have the evidence, to then get the evidence to justify the inquiry. It seems like it's cyclical.
My question to Maria -- to you, is how much should the White House cooperate with this impeachment inquiry?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I don't think that you're going to see them try to stop it in any way because this is something I think that could backfire politically for Republicans. The White House doesn't love it, of course. They have an incredibly challenging arena moving forward into 2024, but if there's anything we have seen, it's that President Biden eats dinner in these situations, right? He is the most underestimated president we've ever had, and he always comes out on top.
That doesn't mean that he should not and the administration should not take these things seriously, all these challenges, and they do. They're not leaving anything to chance. But I think there is a huge danger for Republicans to overstep here. I agree with Charlie. This is not something that will help them politically.
It could also backfire because they're going to be attacking a president who has a son, and throughout all of the situations that they'll be pointing out in terms of when he got in trouble, Hunter Biden got in trouble, it was when he was at the height of the issues that he's had with addiction and drugs. Millions of families can relate to that. So many American families have tragically gone through this exact same thing.
They can easily see a father in President Biden who loves his son, wanted to help his son throughout his difficult times, the empathy that he has towards his son. And so I think that that is not something that Republicans should use politically, and it could backfire.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about 2024 now. A new poll out from the "Wall Street Journal," and let's put up first the hypothetical matchup between Trump and Biden. Of course, Trump the front-runner here. In this poll, Donald Trump is ahead by four points. Now, let's look at Haley v. Biden, 17 points, Nikki Haley is ahead in this hypothetical matchup. You see there's still a high number of people who are undecided.
Your reaction to these numbers? Maria, you first.
CARDONA: Look, clearly, these are not numbers that the White House loves, but it's also a year out. And so luckily, these kinds of polls are not an election. The election is not tomorrow. It's not next week. It's, you know, a little bit less than a year from now.
So, they have time. They have time to make sure that their messaging works, that it's about all of the massive accomplishments that Joe Biden and the Democrats have had under their belts, about also, very importantly, what a huge existential threat Donald Trump will be to America, to our democracy if he is allowed anywhere near the Oval Office.
[08:25:06] And so, I think that there is time here. They're not taking anything for granted. They should take a look at these polls and see what it is that they need to do to shore up what they're doing. They're doing that every single day.
So, I don't think they need to be panicked here. I think people need to remember that polls were wrong, the 2022 election. This same poll was predicting a huge red wave, did not show up.
So I think the administrations and the campaign specifically just needs to keep their head down and do the work.
BLACKWELL: Charlie, let me come to you. Seventeen points ahead for Nikki Haley, for Ambassador Haley. We have seen where she had done better against President Biden in other polls, but this disparity is huge. And still she is far behind former President Trump in Iowa, in New Hampshire, still quite a distance in her home state of South Carolina.
What does this mean? Does it change anything for voters? If you're looking to win, it seems like that would be a good narrative for the ambassador.
DENT: Yeah. Regrettably, I suspect the poll might not change as a narrative already written in this primary. But I don't need a poll to tell me that Nikki Haley, is a better candidate against Joe Biden than Donald Trump. It's just obvious to anyone who can see.
In fact, you know, we keep reading that somewhere over 60 percent, close to two-thirds of Americans, want someone other than Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Most Americans think one of these candidates, Joe Biden is too old, and the other, Donald Trump, is too crazy.
And they want someone else, they want to turn a new page, they want a new generation, fresh leadership. And certainly, Nikki Haley does represent that. She's also been very effective at speaking to voters beyond the Republican base. You know, she's not logically moderate. Her opponent is moderate.
So she presents herself quite well. It should not be a shock to anybody that she is doing this well against Joe Biden. Republican voters should take a cue here and nominate somebody.
My criticism of my own party has been we're not serious about winning anymore. That's why the party sticks with Donald Trump. You need to go in a new direction. It's quite obvious by the evidence that Haley is a more appealing candidate.
BLACKWELL: Charlie, you're in Pennsylvania. President of UPenn resigned, also the chair of the board of trustees resigned, as well.
Congresswoman and the Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik tweeted out, "one down, two to go," after their disastrous testimony. They gave the wrong answers, awful answers, but the policies are still the same at these universities. What was accomplished this week? And do you think that there will be
these resignations coming, considering there's also this bipartisan call from members of Congress?
DENT: Well, hard to say whether or not the other two college presidents will resign. That will be up to their board of trustees. But in the case of the University of Pennsylvania, the answers were so simply appalling. I mean, it's -- to me, I mean, the fact they were asking about the context, how hard is it to denounce and condemn genocide of Jews?
I mean, there is no context required. It wouldn't have been a hard -- had this statement been made by any other ethnic group, LGBTQ Americans, I suspect there would have been an unequivocal condemnation. It didn't happen.
But I can give you some context for Philadelphia. Several blocks from Penn's campus, a falafel shop, the owner was protested against because he was a Jewish Israeli. It kind of sounds to me like Kristallnacht, except they didn't break the windows, thank heavens, but this is what's going on.
And many of these campuses now, I mean, the cultures are very far left. I think these presidents are afraid to put some of that v these radical elements on these their campuses. That's what it looked like to me. There's many people on campus don't feel safe, many Jewish Americans don't feel safe on campus. A lot of people right of center have never felt welcomed on these campuses.
And I think it's an inflection point for these universities to really think about academic freedom and their inability to condemn hate speech, you know, to confuse hate speech and free speech is just almost incomprehensible.
BLACKWELL: All right. Charlie Dent and Maria Cardona, thank you so much.
And make sure to join CNN for two Republican presidential town halls this week. Live from Iowa on Tuesday is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy will be on Wednesday. Both at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.
WALKER: Coming up, the war between Israel and Hamas is taking a toll on children as the humanitarian crisis deepens. A much closer look, next.
And we continue to follow the breaking news out of Tennessee. Six people are dead after severe storms and tornadoes hit the state overnight. Several communities are under a state of emergency. The details right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:33:51]
BLACKWELL: The Biden administration will send 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition to Israel in an emergency sale with the price tag of more than $106 million.
This arms sale comes as U.N. officials in Gaza say the territory is on the verge of collapse.
WALKER: Constant bombardment, insufficient supplies and overcrowding are making an already dire humanitarian situation even worse. The war is especially traumatic for Gaza's children.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 8-year-old Mohamed is doing his daily chores -- fetching water, collecting scraps of paper and plastic to start a fire to help his mother cook their daily meal. But he'd rather be elsewhere.
"You think I like it here," asks Mohamed. Of course we don't. It's terrible. I want to go home where we had food and water.
WEDEMAN: That buzzing comes from Israeli Drones, hovering overhead, they never go away.
"He's been deprived of his childhood," says his mother, Umarde (ph). He can't live hike a normal child. He can't go to school. He misses his friends." More than anything, the children here miss a sense of safety.
Overnight, Israeli warplanes struck the Yaffa mosque in Der el-Bela. No one was there but everyone heard it. In the camp, the best parents can do is keep the kids' minds off the danger.
"I play with him. I joke with him, distract them from their misery," Says Ahmed Khalid (ph). When they hear the bombing, they're terrified. But there is no escape. These children have already seen too much.
"We miss our town. We lived well," says Juaher (ph). Now all we see are dead bodies everywhere. There are no basic services here. The garbage piles up in the street.
Says Mohamed, we go from one place to the other, and they keep bombing us. Yet they still play. As the drones buzz overhead.
Ben Wedeman, CNN -- Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Still ahead, new hope for thousands who suffer from sickle cell disease. The FDA's approved two gene therapies. We'll take a close look.
[08:36:17]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: A major health breakthrough. The FDA has approved two gene therapies in the treatment of sickle
cell disease, the blood disorder that affects mainly black Americans.
WALKER: One of those treatments actually modifies the patient's DNA as a one-time procedure approved for people 12 and older.
CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell spoke to one boy who got the new cell editing therapy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Two years ago, it was hard to imagine 15-year-old Johnny Lubin doing this for very long.
Born with sickle cell disease, an inherited disorder affecting the red blood cells, Johnny has been in and out of the hospital his entire life, dealing with bouts of extreme pain and other serious complications.
JOHNNY LUBIN, PATIENT WITH SICKLE CELL DISEASE: It was kind of hard for me to like do things like have fun and stuff because I'd always have to be worried about if I'd have a pain crisis or not.
It would mostly in my back, like my lower back. And it's always like (INAUDIBLE) feel like really like a pounding a fewer king on my back. So it hurt a lot.
TIRRELL: How long would they last?
LUBIN: Sometimes days.
TIRRELL: Until now, the only hope for a cure for the estimated 100,000 people in the U.S. with the disease has been a bone marrow transplant. But like more than 80 percent of patients with sickle cell, Johnny couldn't find a donor.
FABIENNE DESIR, JOHNNY'S MOM: We were desperate. At that point, we're not ok, and what's going to be next?
TIRRELL: So, Johnny and his family decided to try something that's almost never been done before.
LUBIN: I was worried that I might be, like, given superpowers.
TIRRELL: As part of a clinical trial for a completely new kind of treatment, Johnny is now one of the first people in the world to have his genes edited using CRISPR to treat his disease.
LUBIN: I'm like, wow, that's really cool.
And scary.
LUBIN: Yes. And freaky.
TIRRELL: do you feel like a medical pioneer?
LUBIN: I don't know. I feel like -- I feel like a guinea pig.
TIRRELL: In sickle cell, a genetic mutation causes red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body, to be misshapen, like crescents or sickles. They can get stuck in the blood vessels causing severe pain and decreased oxygen to organs.
CRISPR allows you to make a precise cut in DNA. In this case, cells are removed from the body and edited to turn on production of a different form of the oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin, a type we have when we're babies, explains Johnny's doctor, Monica Batia. Then the edited cells are returned to the patient.
DR. MONICA BATIA: So in essence it's a fetal hemoglobin process.
TIRRELL: And that's good enough?
DR. BATIA: Fetal hemoglobin we know oxygen, a higher oxygen-carrying capacity than adult hemoglobin or sickle hemoglobin. So yes, it is more than good enough.
TIRRELL: And so far, it has been good enough. 29 out of 30 patients, including Johnny, met the trial's goal, being free from having a pain crisis for at least a year after treatment.
How long has it been?
LUBIN: Two years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two years.
TIRRELL: Now, Johnny and his family celebrate his treatment day as his second birthday.
LUBIN: October 4th is when I got the infusion, so basically I got a whole new, like, dozed like thousands dose of, like, cells and stuff.
TIRRELL: And while Johnny didn't turn into a superhero, what he got might be even better.
J.R. LUBIN, FATHER OF JOHNNY: I'm starting to teach him how to drive, so that's another, you know. Yes, it's always (INAUDIBLE) into the regular thing to worry about. Yes, stepping into the regular things of raising a teenager.
TIRRELL: The chance to be a regular kid.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a clown. My baby is a clown.
LUBIN: Yes, I am.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Both of the two approved treatments of will be available to the public early next year. BLACKWELL: She's an icon. She's a champion, she's a trailblazer.
Billie Jean King is all that, so much more as CNN anchor and chief political correspondent Dana Bash found out. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: as we're talking, the newest phenom in women's tennis, Coco Gauff, walks off the court after practice.
BILLIE JEAN KING, FORMER TENNIS PLAYER: Hello. How are you?
COCO GAUFF, TENNIS PLAYER: They like quote you all the time.
KING: You do.
GAUFF: Pressure and privilege all the time.
[08:44:52]
BASH: At this moment, the 19-year-old tennis prodigy had won multiple WTA titles but not yet the U.S. Open.
GAUFF: I've met her a couple of times and my favorite was at the Billie Jean King Cup this year. And you said how much it was an honor to represent your country and we should carry ourselves accordingly.
KING: Yes. That's good. See? This is what you love about the young ones. They remember.
GAUFF: Oh yes. If Billie says something, you have to remember.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Be sure to watch "BEING BILLIE JEAN KING" airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.
WALKER: Coming up ahead, The National Transportation Safety Board is warning that a culture of silence is affecting safety in aviation.
More on that, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:49:50]
BLACKWELL: The head of the NTSB warns that some pilots are suffering in silence by hiding their mental health struggles to stay on the job. Now this comes as former pilot Joseph Emerson has been released from jail for treatment ahead of his trial for allegedly trying to shut off a plane's engines from inside of the cockpit.
WALKER: Industry leaders held a summit to discuss how pilots could disclose issues like depression without being punished.
CNN Aviation correspondent Pete Muntean has more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It is the latest and largest effort to fix the system of secrets in the sky. The first of its kind National Transportation Safety Board Summit, putting the mental health of pilots in the spotlight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mental health in aviation is our great challenge that we're facing..
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would you rather fly with? A pilot who is depressed, a pilot who's depressed on medication.
MUNTEAN: The conversation ignited by the case of Joseph Emerson the off-duty Alaska airlines pilot just indicted for trying to crash a flight from the cockpit jump seat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got I guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit. I think--
MUNTEAN: NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy says pilots are trapped in a stigma created by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA mandates pilots report any mental health issue but they risk losing their ability to fly.
Homendy says some pilots lie to fly. Though they could face five years in prison and a quarter million dollars of fines.
Pilots are suffering in silence. That doesn't make our aviation system safer. In fact, it makes it less safe.
MUNTEAN: United Airlands first officer Troy Merritt SAYS he decided to ground himself a year ago for anxiety and depression. Faced with the possibility of not being able to fly again.
TROY MERRITT, PILOT: Had the barriers that are in place today not been there. I know I would have sought treatment earlier. And would have avoided some of the most painful moments in my life.
MUNTEAN: On the eve of this meeting, the FAA announced the new rule making committee that could suggest ways to quote "break down any remaining barriers that discourage pilots from reporting and seeking care for mental health issues."
FAA administrator Mike Whitaker.
MIKE WHITAKER, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: It's fair to say that the approach the approaches had (INAUDIBLE)). So I think it's time for a refresh
MUNTEAN: The parents of 19-year-old John Howser had no idea their son was depressed until the student pilot crashed and left a letter.
ANN SUH, SON KILLED IN PLANE CRASH: If there's anything you can do for me, get the FAA to change the rules on pilots seeking help with their mental health. I know it would change a lot of things for the better. It would help a lot of people out. Love you, John.
MUNTEAN: The bottom line here, never before has this issue been talked about so openly. Now the ball is in the court of regulators. The NTSB could put forth official recommendations but it is on the FAA to make any changes.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Pete, thank you. And Joseph Emerson has pleaded not guilty to 83 counts of reckless endangerment.
BLACKWELL: America's game delivers an instant classic. The Army-Navy football game came goes down to the final seconds. Which team came away with a win?
[08:53:03]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: The 124th edition of America's game was an all-time classic. The Army-Navy football game going down to the wire.
BLACKWELL: Army's defense held the line.
Coy Wire was there. Hey Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: What's up, Victor and Amara. Welcome to Gilette Stadium, home of the six-time Super Bowl champion, New England Patriots.
This Army-Navy game was historic with this 124 federation being help in New England for the first time ever. It's the birthplace of both U.S. Army and Navy, dating back to 1890.
This rivalry is patriotic, loaded with pageantry, pomp and circumstance, making it one of the greatest rivalries on the planet.
Coming into this one, Victor and Amara -- Army was ranked third best defense in the nation at 14 turnovers and they got tow more in their biggest game of the year.
Max Domenico, Massen a receive for and interception and Caleb Fortner scooping a fumble and rambling it all the way to the end zone for the Army touchdown.
But this defensive slugfest took a goal line stand to took a winner. Navy with one last chance. But Army rise up. Winning the commander-in- chief's trophy 17-11 in the win.
Afterwards Army getting the party started. This is like their super bowl. Army has won six of the last eight. We caught up with their fearless leader head coach Jeff Monken (ph), as he celebrated with the team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF MONKEN, COACH ARMY-NAVY: Man, both sides just battled to the end. Welcome to that Army-Navy Zone, down to the 1-yard-line at the end of the game.
TYSON RILEY, ARMY FOOTBALL COACH: I'll speak to our culture, I'll never give up attitude. We've talked a lot in the recent weeks about how we started off and how that is completely different in how we finish.
This win is a culminating event for all the work we've put in and I'm really proud of this team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Big congrats to Columbus, your new MLS champion will (INAUDIBLE) to come in, the first black head coach to win the MLS Cup in league history. The crew holding off defending champs LAFC 2-1. The crew capturing their third title in franchise history.
Congrats also to the Los Angeles Lakers, winners of the NBA's first ever in season tournament. Le Lebron is tournament MVP with Anthony Davis scoring a season high 41 points, 20 rebounds in L.A.'s 123-109 win over the pacers in Vegas.
[08:59:43]
WIRE: Finally, back up the brinks truck. Foremost (ph) Angels star (INAUDIBLE) Otani headed to the L.A. Dodgers for a reported 10-year, $700 million. That's worth more than six entire NHL franchises before taxes. That's right, making $191,000 every day for the next 10 years.
Victor, Amara, the U.S. population is 330 million people. You could give every American a million dollars and there would still be $340 million left for Otani.
WALKER: That is a lot of money.
BLACKWELL: Is that math math?
WALKER: No. it's just --
BLACKWELL: It didn't math at all.
It didn't math at all. It didn't math.
WALKER: But hey, a million dollars, I'll take it.
BLACKWELL: Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
WALKER: Did he mean to say a dollar.
BLACKWELL: I think he meant a dollar.
WALKER: Ok.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WALKER: "STATE OF THE UNION" is next. Have a great day, everyone.
