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CNN This Morning

7M Plus Under Tornado Watches From Texas To Illinois; Pro- Palestinian Encampment At Columbia Goes Into Second Week; Biden Ridicules Trump, His Own Age At White House Correspondents' Dinner; American-Israeli Hostage Appears In Hamas Video For First Time; Protesters Call On Israel Government To Bring Hostages Home; Gag Order Hearing Thursday On Trump's 14 Alleged Violations; Tennessee Governor Signs Law Allowing Armed Teachers In Class; North Korean Labor Used In Hollywood; Pilots Pops the Question In-Flight; Copy Your Organs For Practice Surgery; New Way For Surgeons To Practice On Models; Severe Storms In Oklahoma Claimed One Life; 7M+ People From Texas To Illinois Under Tornado Watches; Pilot Proposes To Flight Attendant Girlfriend. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired April 28, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:07]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Good morning and welcome back to CNN This Morning Sunday, April 28. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: And I'm Amara Walker. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

We begin in Oklahoma where one storm-related death has been reported so far following severe weather and large destructive tornadoes touching down in the state overnight. Officials in the area have already reported widespread damage and injuries in several counties and more than 45,000 customers are waking up to no power.

BLACKWELL: This severe storm threat is far from over more than 50 million people from Texas to Wisconsin are under severe storm warnings. And the Storm Prediction Center raised Sunday severe storm threat for the southern plains to a level three out of five. The threat includes possible damaging winds, strong tornadoes and very large hail.

CNNs Lucy Kafanov joins us now from Elkhorn, that's a neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska, where the people there are still recovering from the major tornadoes that hit Friday. I understand from your last hit that people are just trying to rummage through to salvage anything they can especially those important papers.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Victor, because when a tornado like this hits, when it destroys homes, flattens cars, snaps old growth trees and half as if they were twigs, the rebuilding part is going to take months and it's going to take such a long time.

I want to give you a sense of where I'm standing. This is the garage of a home that was not completely flattened by this twister that touchdown on Friday. But you can see it ripped the roof straight off. Almost nothing in here. Not just because the tornado, the family was here yesterday trying to load and salvage what they could, load it in the truck, take it out of here, but it just shows you the strength of these twisters.

And this is the worst case scenario for so many Americans right now who are under these weather threats. Over there as the sun is slowly, slowly starting to come up, you see a car that's destroyed. That was another problem. A lot of the people that were hiding in the basements, when they emerged, there was no vehicle to take them to safety.

Again, they had to rely on the community to come here to get help to take them to shelters, to take them to a community shelter that was opened up here to place them with family with friends, other places where they can live while the reconstruction efforts will begin. They haven't yet right now.

It's about salvaging what people can. It's about trying to get a sense of the full scale of this disaster. I will say that the Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen, he spoke yesterday along with several agencies. He said it is absolutely a miracle that there was no casualties.

At this point, just two people lightly injured. No one was killed, homes destroyed, things destroyed. But families still very much grateful to be together. One of the lifesaving parts of, you know, surviving this tornado is having a strong basement. That's where most people hid.

We did talk to one family yesterday whose foam (ph) was coming -- home was completely flattened. They got out, nothing remained. Guys?

WALKER: Yes. It's just remarkable to see you standing there and what was once a garage. Lucy Kafanov, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Let's go now to CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar. We're still in this.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Right? This is not over Friday, we saw the tornadoes more storm Saturday, potentially more today.

CHINCHAR: And there's active storms ongoing as we speak. So, yes, it's all part of the same system. It's very slow moving. And so that's the thing. You're not really seeing a lot of forward progress, which is why some of the same areas are getting hit day after day after day.

You can really see that scope of it here on the map, again, showing you all of the severe storm reports over the last 48 hours. Look at this, 118 total tornado reports in just the last 48 hours, 85 damaging wind reports and nearly 150 hail reports. Some of those the size of baseballs. Again, huge.

You can also see the large swath. This is a lot of states that have been affected by this. This is where the ongoing line is. You can see essentially from Chicago all the way back well down through Dallas, extending basically to the Mexican-Texas border.

So again, you've got a lot of lightning here, a lot of very heavy rainfall. So if you've got some travel plans in some of these cities, keep in mind, especially airlines, you may have some delays this morning. You also still have where you see these red boxes here.

Still some counties remain under a tornado watch for at least about the next 45 minutes to an hour. More of those are likely going to pop up though as we go through the rest of the day because especially this afternoon, once that sun comes out, you get the heating of the day, that will really help ramp up a lot of the storms.

So by this afternoon, you're talking Wisconsin down to the Gulf Coast, strong tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail especially the tornado is being the focus down here run that Ark-La-Tex area could be EF 2 size or even larger.

BLACKWELL: Allison Chinchar, thank you.

[07:05:01]

Pro-Palestinian protests continue to grip college campuses across the country. The University of Southern California is now closed off to anyone who's not student or staff.

WALKER: The LAPD was called in last night to lock down the campus. Earlier this week, USC announced the cancelation of its main commencement due to safety concerns. And students at Columbia University are about to go into their second week of protests.

CNNs Polo Sandoval is outside the encampment there.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara and Victor, good morning to you. As we get ready to start yet another week of these demonstrations in the heart of Columbia University, which is where this massive wave of protests originally started, there is a sense that those conversations, those negotiations that were ongoing between members of the encampment and Columbia School officials that they haven't stalled, they at least slowed.

That's according to one of two student negotiators that have been engaged in these conversations with the administration for well over a week now. Mahmoud Khalil telling CNN on Friday that though there was some sign of progress late last week in terms of trying to find some common ground, they say at least, he said that at this point, they have not been able to successfully reach an agreement that would lead to clearing out the student encampment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD KHALIL, STUDENT NEGOTIATOR: We are at at the stage where kind of an impasse. The university is not acknowledging the movement and the extent of the movement. And what they're willing to offer is mostly just the statements, processes and committees.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANDOVAL: And yesterday, one of the representatives of the student encampment said that it is likely that they will not have an update regarding those negotiations, at least until tomorrow. So that very much leaves things still open ended here on the campus.

We also heard from Khalil who said that they have not been offered any guarantees from the administration that they will not once again turn to the NYPD for helping clearing out the campus here. So that certainly still something that remains open.

As for other parts of the country, earlier this weekend, approximately 100 people were detained on the Northeastern University campus. The vice president of communications there saying that this was part of clearing out the campus for those who don't have any association with the university.

According to officials, those who could produce identification were released but will likely face disciplinary action. Those that could -- rather those who refuse to identify themselves were arrested. Amara, Victor?

BLACKWELL: Polo, thank you.

A counter protest is scheduled on the campus of UCLA today. CNN National Correspondent Camila Bernal is in Los Angeles with more for us.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here at UCLA things have remained peaceful for the most part, although students have taken over a large portion of the university. You see the encampment here behind me. Many of them say they're staying here for as long as it takes the demands, very similar to what you're hearing in other universities all over the country.

Its divestment and disclosure of a lot of the university investments. And they say that while they're here at the encampment, they're holding meetings. They're learning about the Middle East and about the politics of it. You're seeing people from different backgrounds, from different religions who say they're joining this movement.

I want you to listen to what some of the students told me earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As long as this attack is going on, UCLA is making profit, not a lot of profit off of this genocide. We deserve to know that. It is our money that we are giving to. It's also other demands are about ending the silence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to say that our institutions need to be supporting us, and that we refuse to be complicit in about violence against Palestinians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And here at UCLA, officials are saying that they're not going to call police officers unless they feel that some of these students are in danger. So right now, what you're seeing is security guards either walking around or riding in their bicycles to make sure that everything goes smoothly and that students here are safe.

There are some students that have expressed being uncomfortable having to walk through this area and the university said they have people helping students who want to cross through this area. But again, so far, it's been peaceful. There are protesters expected to come on Sunday.

And so we will have to wait and see what happens when you have these protesters and then counter protesters. But as of now things do remain peaceful.

Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

WALKER: All right, Camila, thank you.

President Joe Biden join members of the Washington press corps and celebrities for last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner. And Biden took the chance to make fun of his own age and the legal troubles facing his opponent Donald Trump.

BLACKWELL: The Annual Gala was hosted by a Saturday Night Live cast member Colin Jost, who also poke fun at former President Trump, Biden and of course the media. CNN White House Reporter Camila DeChalus is live for us at The White House. So what else did the president have to say?

[07:10:03]

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. President Biden spent a lot of time making jokes about his -- about former President Donald Trump. But he also spent time making fun of himself particularly focusing on his age. And that is something that he's has a combat while he's run for office, even having voters, some of his Democratic allies privately expressed concerns of whether he's fit for office because of questions surrounding his mental capacity in his age.

So take a quick listen to what he had to say yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm a grown man running against the six-year-old. Well, I feel great. I really feel great. I'm campaigning all over the country, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina. I've always done well in the original 13 colonies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DECHALUS: Now Amara, Victor, I was inside of the room, and a lot of his jokes were really well received. And even though this event is attended by several journalists, a lot of people from across the country tune into this event. And President Biden is taking advantage of this opportunity to show voters that he can make fun of himself while also talking about issues that he cares about, and spending some time talking about his former president and poking some jabs about how he's unfit for office.

Amara, Victor, back to you.

BLACKWELL: Camila DeChalus, thanks so much.

So efforts to get a ceasefire and hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas appear to have hit another roadblock. Coming up, why Israel has rejected the latest deal.

WALKER: Also, Trump's hush money trial resumed this week in New York. What to expect as the prosecution continues to build its case. Plus, despite protests, Tennessee is moving forward with the plan to arm teachers in its schools.

Coming up, what implementation could look like?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:16:35]

WALKER: Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Saudi Arabia on Monday and Tuesday to discuss ways to re-energize talks for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Now the State Department says Blinken will also emphasize, quote, "how it is Hamas that is standing between the Palestinian people and a ceasefire."

BLACKWELL: In Israel, protesters are ramping up calls for the government to bring home the hostages. Look at this. This was the scene in Tel Aviv Saturday night where a massive crowd rallied in democracy square. In some areas, the protests turn rowdy with scuffles between police and demonstrators and Israeli official says Israel has not accepted the latest proposal on the deal to free the hostages. That includes an end to the war and withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas published a video of two hostages on Saturday including American-Israeli Keith Siegel. This is the first video released of Siegel since he was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.

WALKER: In the video, Siegel pleads for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate a hostage release deal with Hamas. He appears to be speaking under duress and CNN cannot verify where or when the video was taken.

Elliott Gotkine joining us now from London to talk more about this. Elliot, what are you hearing from the families of these two hostages?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Amara, clearly, a little bit of relief on behalf of the families to see their loved ones alive for the first time. But also no doubt a lot of pain to see them speaking in the state that they are in and also apparently speaking under duress after being held in captivity for more than 200 days. And being unable, they said in the video, to celebrate the Jewish festival of Passover, the festival of liberation, ironically, which is something that is still ongoing and it's due to end in Israel at least on Monday.

And the families of those two hostages who appeared in the videos spoke after seeing those videos over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ILLAN SIEGEL, DAUGHTER OF KEITH SIEGEL HELD HOSTAGE IN GAZA (through translator): Seeing my father today only emphasize to all of us how much we need to reach a deal as soon as possible and bring everyone home. I demand that the leaders of this country watch this video and see their father crying out for help.

DANI MIRAN, FATHER OF OMRI MIRAN HELD HOSTAGE IN GAZA: I'm convinced that all the people of Israel and the nations of the world want to see the end of the bloodshed and the end of the suffering of our people. Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and the cabinet, please make any deal, make any deal but every deal is executable. I'm asking you to get a decision now, now, now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOTKINE: And the father of Omri Miran just speaking just there was speaking at a rally of thousands, if not tens of thousands of people gathering again in central Tel Aviv, something that's been happening on a weekly basis. And if anything, the crowds are growing as they seek to put pressure on the Israeli government to do a deal that would see that loved ones come home after being held hostage for more than 200 days.

Victor, Amara?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Elliott, these pictures -- and we could put them up -- of these protests are massive as you say that this is not the first. They've been going on for months now. How is the Israeli government responding to these calls from the families that say make job one bringing our loved ones home?

GOTKINE: So these protests are eerily reminiscent. You'll recall of course before the Hamas terrorist attacks of October the 7th. There were weekly protests, tens of thousands of people protesting against the government's plans to weaken the powers of the Supreme Court. So it's looking increasingly like that.

[07:20:09]

So they're trying to put more pressure on the government. The government for its part would say, well, no, this is our top priority, along with its other main war aim, which is to destroy Hamas militarily and prevent it from ever being able to visit a massacre of the saw that it did on October the 7th, again.

And yet at the same time, many would say, well, those two goals are mutually exclusive. You cannot get them both at the same time. One comes at the cost of the other. And certainly, the position Israel is taking now is that, look, Hamas -- and this is a position of the U.S. as well -- that Hamas is insisting on Israel, withdrawing all of its forces in ending the war completely.

Israel saying no, the foreign minister is saying that if there isn't a deal, then that would not -- that would mean that they wouldn't pause or postpone a planned ground operation on Rafah.

Victor, Amara?

BLACKWELL: Elliott Gotkine, thank you so much.

Files found on a North Korean computer suggest the country may be skirting international sanctions. Coming up, how North Korean labor may have been used to animate some of Hollywood's biggest shows.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:32]

BLACKWELL: At last night's White House Correspondents Dinner, President Biden poked at the legal woes facing Donald Trump. He tried to draw a contrast between what the past couple of months and his campaign have looked like compared to Trump's.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I had a great stretch since the State of the Union. For Donald, he's had few tough days lately. You might call it stormy weather. What the hell?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Host Colin Jost also took his own dig at the former president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN JOST, HOST, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' DINNER: But before I begin tonight, can we just acknowledge how refreshing it is to see a President of the United States in an event that doesn't begin with a bailiff saying all rise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Trump will be back in court this week for a second week of testimony in the hush money trial. There's also a hearing Thursday about a possible gag order on Trump after an alleged 14 violations. But this isn't the only case that Trump is facing. Three other cases are in the wings awaiting trial.

So, how could these criminal cases impact the presidency? CNN Political Analyst and Historian Julian Zelizer joining me now. Good morning to you, Julian. You know, there's also --

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.

WALKER: -- the immunity claims, right, that are before the Supreme Court. And I want to start there, Julian, because, as you know, Trump is trying to argue for absolute immunity from a criminal prosecution. We heard this past week that the Supreme Court justices, namely the conservative justices, do seem skeptical of this absolute immunity argument.

They do seem, though, do signal that they want to give them some level of immunity. What kind of implications could this ruling have on the presidency?

ZELIZER: Well, it could be a serious expansion of presidential power. Since the era of Richard Nixon in the early 70s, we've talked about the imperial presidency, a presidency that just keeps getting stronger, stronger than Congress and even the courts. And I think, if the court even legitimates part of this claim that the President has such grandiose power, I think it will be a milestone not for Donald Trump, but in the evolution and strengthening of the presidency and in some people's minds in dangerous ways.

WALKER: When it comes to the hush money trial, I mean, it seems like this will likely be the only trial that takes place for Trump, before the 2024 presidential election. I mean, do you see the outcome of this case being consequential in any way when it comes to Trump's viability as a candidate?

ZELIZER: In terms of his political viability at this point, it doesn't seem, so what we've seen from polls is this is not the kind of case that would really subvert his support among Republicans, even if convicted. That said, you don't know what this looks like until it plays out. That is the nature of something that's unprecedented.

We can speculate. But should the words conviction be next to his name as a result of this case, it might change some voters' minds. And remember, this election is about just changing some people's minds, not changing huge portions of the electorate. I wouldn't discount that quite yet.

WALKER: And regarding the pro-Palestinian protest, the wave of protests that we have been seeing sweep across this country on college campuses over the past week or so, you just wrote a piece that dropped this morning on cnn.com and it's entitled, "1968 protests should serve as a warning to today's Democrats."

First off, Julian, remind us of what happened in 1968, and how the Vietnam War impacted the presidential election. And what similarities and differences do you see from then to today?

ZELIZER: Oh, in 1968, Democrats held their convention in Chicago as they will this summer. And there were anti-war protests, both outside the convention and inside the convention. And ultimately, the television images of those protests really hurt the Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey.

It looked like the Democrats were out of control. It looked the chaos and division. And Republican candidate Richard Nixon capitalized on that and he ran as a candidate of law and order and he argued that Republicans would speak for the silent majority, as he would call them, who didn't agree with the protests.

[07:30:15]

So, I think this is a risk for President Biden. It is something when they reach Chicago, that is certainly a threat. Their differences, look, the antiwar, protests against Vietnam had been going on for a long time. It involved a war where there were American boots on the ground, and finally, there was a draft. So, many American, young people, felt it in a more visceral way than today.

But that said, I do think it is proper to think of what kinds of political problems this might entail for the Democratic Party going into November.

WALKER: Yes, they surely do, you know, present some challenges for the Biden reelection campaign. Julian Zelizer, good to have you. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: A little more than a year after a deadly school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee's governor has now signed a bill that allows teachers to carry guns in the classroom and parents would not necessarily be told about.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:35:47]

BLACKWELL: Teachers in Tennessee can now walk the halls of the schools with a gun, that's thanks to a new bill just signed by Republican Governor Bill Lee on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BILL LEE (R-TN): I think we need to be really clear about what this law does. You're right, districts have the option to choose. What's important to me is that we give districts tools and the option to use a tool that will keep their children safe in their school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The law went into effect immediately. School staff who choose to carry will have to meet a list of requirements, but parents will not be told who is carrying a gun or where it is stored.

With me now is CNN contributor, firearms expert, and founder of The Reload, Stephen Gutowski. Stephen, good to see you. Let me start by reading here what Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted about that legislation on the way leading up to the signing, arming teachers is not the solution. We know what actually works, universal background checks, red flag laws, safe storage, and an assault weapon ban. Shame on extremists in the Tennessee legislature for failing to protect our children.

OK. So, if they're not going in that direction, what informs the decision for arming the teachers instead of hiring more law enforcement to patrol these schools?

STEPHEN GUTOWSKI, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think there's two reasons that advocates go this path. One is that it actually is, kind of, quite difficult to get enough school resource officers to fill every school on a consistent basis, especially in more rural areas.

And the second is that advocates of armed teachers believe that having several people armed in the school will increase the reaction time in case there is some sort of shooting. So, those tend to be the main selling points of this.

BLACKWELL: So, in order to get the permission to carry in school, these teachers and staff have to get an enhanced carry permit, get written authorization, complete 80 hours total of training, 40 basic and then 40 about caring specifically in school -- 40 hours of that, complete a background check, undergo a psychological exam. How does their training compare to that of law enforcement?

GUTOWSKI: Well, it's certainly not as much time as a law enforcement officer would spend in the academy necessarily, but it's also much more, you know, specific to the task at hand. Law enforcement is going to learn all sorts of other things beyond carrying a gun in the school, whereas teachers in these programs, that's what their laser focused on, just that one objective. And you know, their training is much higher than what most states are required for concealed carry permit that you could use in most public areas.

BLACKWELL: So, you, I understand, trained alongside teachers in Colorado. Did you discuss with them why they were taking this training or why they wanted to carry? What did you learn from that experience?

GUTOWSKI: Yes. So, I did a story on this a couple of years ago on a similar program in Colorado. And most of the teachers there, you know, it was -- their arguments centered around how much they care for their children and how concerned they are that if something were to happen, they wouldn't be able to defend them. And that's why they want to go through this program, often at cost to themselves. And, you know, obviously, at a large time cost as well to finish the training that's required in order to do this.

And then also often to advocate for these policies in their schools, because a lot of these programs are based locally. So, you have to get approval from your local school district, your local law enforcement before you can even do something like this. So, a lot of the teachers that I spoke with, their schools didn't even allow this. They were just trying to get training, trying to be advocates for it.

BLACKWELL: Is there any evidence that schools that allow teachers to carry are safer? Is there an example of a potential school shooting where a teacher took out the threat before law enforcement was able to get there?

GUTOWSKI: I don't know of one where armed response stopped a mass shooting at a school or something of that nature. There have been, of course, school resource officers that have done that. There was a case in Illinois a couple of years ago where a school resource officer did use force to stop an attempted school shooter.

[07:40:00] So, you know, it's not something that has happened very often. I don't think you have seen this sort of event occur at a school that has a program like this from what I'm aware of. And you know, that's another part of what advocates will say, is that it's a deterrent as well.

BLACKWELL: Why not notify the parents though? What -- what's the argument for not telling the teacher, the parents, this teacher has a gun, even if you don't tell them where it is.

GUTOWSKI: Yes, generally, the argument there is that they are trying to keep an element of confidentiality to an element of surprise so that if somebody does attack the school, they don't know who's armed or not. That tends to be the reason that they implement a policy like that.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I mean, I -- that also makes sense. If someone is going for a weapon in the building, you know, which math teacher has the weapon in the middle of the day. It's really a nuanced and kind of complicated conversation. Stephen Gutowski, thanks for helping us understand it.

GUTOWSKI: Thank you.

WALKER: American companies are banned from doing business with North Korea, but could animators in the reclusive country have worked on popular cartoon shows without Hollywood studio's knowing? We have the latest on a shocking discovery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:45:45]

BLACKWELL: New images and videos shared with CNN suggest that North Korean illustrators and graphic designers may have helped produce work for Hollywood animation studios without those companies knowing.

WALKER: Yes, the revelation comes from a trove of documents recently discovered by U.S. researchers inside a computer server that's housed in North Korea. Here's CNN's Alex Marquardt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): "Invincible" is a popular animated show streaming on Amazon Prime, with a third season on the way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your power's got to be due any day now, son.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): It's based on a comic book about a superhero teen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't ready before.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): While its main character is all American, some animation in the new season may come from one of America's biggest foes, North Korea. Martin Williams is a North Korea analyst at the Stimson Center.

MARTYN WILLIAMS, STIMSON CENTER SENIOR FELLOW: I'll show you what we found.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): He shows us what was inside a recently discovered North Korean internet server.

WILLIAMS: There's a bunch of working files in here.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Files including sketches and video from North Korea which resemble the animation from two shows produced and streamed by American companies, Amazon's "Invincible", and another coming soon called "Iyanu, Child of Wonder", set to stream on Max, which along with CNN is owned by Warner Brothers Discovery. here's no evidence that the studios knew that any proprietary work was on a North Korean server.

WILLIAMS: At some stage in this production process, these files appear to be being worked on by the North Koreans.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): There's a clip of "Iyanu" which hasn't been released yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, me spare your life.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Williams says a lot of American production work is outsourced, particularly to China, where it could then be subcontracted to North Koreans without the American company's awareness.

WILLIAMS: It's very common. Numerous Chinese companies have been sanctioned by the U.S. for working with North Korea. Not just in animation, but in other areas as well.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): A draft of one animation has Chinese instructions translated into Korean. There's also this production sheet in English for "Invincible".

MARQUARDT: Is there any evidence that the American studios knew about this?

WILLIAMS: We didn't find any evidence that they had any direct knowledge of any of this. We found the names of some animations. We found the names of some U.S. companies, but nothing that concretely tied that back to the U.S. companies.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Using North Korean labor would be a violation of U.S. sanctions. Max and the producer of "Iyanu", Lion Forge Entertainment, declined to comment. Unique Studios, which co-created the graphic novel series, did not respond. Skybound Entertainment, which produces "Invincible" told CNN it never approved outsourcing and would investigate.

WILLIAMS: It's just something that's very difficult to kind of figure out who you are working with because once stuff starts getting outsourced, once stuff starts moving through the system, actually finding out who the person is at the other side of the keyboard is very, very difficult.

MARQUARDT: The U.S. government does give American companies advice and guidance on what to look out for, how to do their due diligence to make sure they know who they're working with. But that can be a lot of extra work, which is difficult, especially for small companies, the kind that may need to outsource animation and programming work. And it is high stakes for these companies because the Treasury Department can file lawsuits if the sanctions are violated.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Alex, thank you.

And still to come, a pilot proposed to his girlfriend the only way he knew how, on a plane. We have more on the high-flying scene straight out of a rom com.

BLACKWELL: And in this morning, "Start Small, Think Big". We look at a new way for surgeons to practice on models that look and feel like they're real patients.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SMRITI ZANEVELD, FOUNDER, LAZARUS 3D: When I learned that surgeons operate and learn on bell peppers and learn to suture on bananas, the first reaction in my mind was that there's got to be a better way. So, we built that. Lazarus 3D is providing a tool for your surgeon to practice and rehearse that upcoming procedure on a copy of you. So, we take your CT or MRI, and from there we're able to create a digital replica.

Here is a kidney of a patient, here is a tumor, and from that digital design, we 3D print the physical copy that are very soft and realistic. It creates these patient specific models.

[07:50:00]

Here is the healthy kidney tissue that's surrounding the tumor. And all of those things need to feel realistic. The tools responding to the liver and how they are responding to the stomach, it's going to be different. Because these synthetic tissues are behaving like the real patient's organs.

DR. JUAN GUERRA, MEDSTAR GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Let's keep cutting here.

DR. ZANEVELD: Dr. Guerra had a complex liver transplant coming up, and we were able to render the physical model to rehearse that approach for that patient ahead of that real surgery.

DR. GUERRA: And I think that the biggest benefit of this 3D model is that we have a -- most accurate understanding of the donor's anatomy. By doing that, we can do a safer surgery.

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[07:55:15]

WALKER: The CNN original series, "How It Really Happened", returns tonight. This all-new two-part episode focuses on the sinking of the Titanic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the biggest controversies regarding the night of the disaster is there was a ship that was on the horizon that was seen from Titanic. They tried calling through wireless, they tried singling it with Morris lamp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are the Titanic sinking. Have your boats ready.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But that ship just didn't react. And Captain Smith, at one point, said, what's wrong with them? Why aren't they coming to help?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's become known as the mystery ship that never came to her rescue --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: CNN's original series, "How It Really Happened with Jesse L. Martin" returns to CNN with a special two-hour premiere on the Titanic tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

BLACKWELL: And of course, we are tracking the severe storms that are firing up across parts of the country. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is in the Weather Center. What are you watching?

CHINCHAR: Yes, the continuation of the same storms we've been seeing. Again, this is the look at the last 48 hours. All of the storm reports that have come in. You're talking 118 total tornado reports in that time span, 85 damaging wind reports, and roughly 150 hail reports. Some of those as large as baseballs.

But again, this system is not done yet. We're still continuing to see that main line, it's essentially stretching from Chicago all the way back down to the Texaco -- Texas-Mexico border. You've got some very strong storms in eastern Dallas right now. Starting to spread into portions of Arkansas, Northwestern Illinois. This line is going to continue to spread east as it does. It's going to take the threat for severe storms with it.

Now, once that sun comes out, really starts to heat things up, you're really going to see more of those strong to severe thunderstorms begin to fire up. The main target today basically stretches from Southern Wisconsin all the way down to the Gulf Coast. Places like Houston, Dallas, Shreveport, even up through Kansas City in those western Chicago suburbs. Strong tornadoes, damaging winds and the potential for some large hail golf ball size or even larger as we go through the day today. Here you can see this afternoon. Again, starting to see more of those discreet cells out ahead of the system beginning to fire back up. By tonight, still looking at that main line continuing to make its way east. This does also mean, again, overnight tonight some more of those evening and overnight storms. So, make sure you have a way to get some of those emergency alerts, whether that's on your phone, a weather radio, something like that, because we've had the last few nights of having those evening and overnight severe thunderstorms. Tonight is going to be the same thing yet again tonight.

Also, flooding threat. This is a very slow-moving system, which means it has a lot of time to dump a tremendous amount of rain. So, a lot of these areas also have the potential for some of that flooding, not just this afternoon, but also through the evening as well.

WALKER: All right. Allison Chinchar, thank you very much.

A tearful pilot sent his flight attendant girlfriend running up the aisle after he proposed to her in front of a plane full of passengers. Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is your captain speaking to the woman he loves. Prepare for turbulence, the emotional kind.

KONRAD HANC, LOT POLISH AIRLINES PILOT (through translator): On today's flight, there is a very special --

MOOS (voice-over): LOT Polish Airlines pilot, Konrad Hanc, was referring to his flight attendant girlfriend, Paula. A year and a half ago --

HANC (through translator): I met the most wonderful person that completely changed my life.

MOOS (voice-over): --met her on a flight to Krakow, Poland. So, on a similar flight to Krakow, the pilot with eyes brimming, let fly the question.

HANC (through translator): You are my greatest dream come true. This is why I have to ask you a favor, honey. Will you marry me?

MOOS (voice-over): It had all the trappings of a rom-com.

HENRY GOLDING, ACTOR, "CRAZY RICH ASIANS": Will you marry me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes, yes. She will marry you.

MOOS (voice-over): And yes, the flight attendant will marry the pilot.

PAULA (through translator): Of course I will. I don't know if this is the right hand for this.

MOOS (voice-over): In the golden age of flying, flight attendants once parted the waters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I should have been a pilot.

HANC (through translator): She said yes.

MOOS (voice-over): LOT Polish airlines posted the video on Facebook. Commenters posted romantic GIFs. Love is in the air, although the plane was actually on the ground the entire proposal, but these two were walking on clouds with or without the airplane.

FRANK SINATRA, SINGER: Come fly with me. Let's fly, let's fly away.

MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: OK, I did get a little teary eyed there. I didn't expect --

BLACKWELL: Of course you did.

WALKER: -- because I know -- no, I didn't -- I was like, this is so not romantic in my opinion. And to do it in front of --

BLACKWELL: Oh, you don't think?

WALKER: -- to do it in front of a bunch of people, I mean, would you want that?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)