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New Day Saturday

Virginia Governor Apologizes For "Racist And Offensive" Costume; Russia To Produce New Medium-Range Nuclear Missile; Trump Attacks Nancy Pelosi In New Interview; Super Bowl LIII Kicks Off in Atlanta Sunday; Department of Homeland Security Charged 40, Rescued 4 So Far This Week on Sex Trafficking Issues; Supreme Court Blocks Louisiana Abortion Law from Taking Effect Monday; Hawaiian Airlines Returns to LAX 3 Times Before Being Canceled; Officers Work Tirelessly to Find a Missing 3-Year-Old Boy in North Carolina. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired February 02, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Virginia's Democratic Governor Ralph Northam is facing growing criticism and calls to step down after this racist photo emerged Friday from his 1984 medical school yearbook page.

RALPH NORTHAM, GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA: That photo and the racist and offensive attitudes it represents does not reflect that person I am today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know if he was the one in blackface or we don't know that he was the one wearing the KKK garb.

NORTHAM: I accept responsibility for my past actions and I am ready to do the hard work of regaining your trust.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is planning on continuing his term and not resigning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You go after Donald Trump for his racism and his bigotry, there's no way you cannot call for Ralph Northam to resign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He does necessarily deserve is to remain in a position of trust and authority, which is what the governor's office is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is "NEW DAY WEEKEND" with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY WEEKEND: Good morning. Thank you so much for being with us. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam facing more pressure this morning and it's coming from all sides at this point. Pressure to resign after that racist yearbook photo from his 1984 medical school yearbook page surfaced that shows men in blackface and a Ku Klux Klan robe. VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY WEEKEND: Now, the Democrat's Governor apology -- or Democratic Governor, rather, apology for the picture did little to calm this controversy. Now the calls to step down are coming from key allies. We're talking state leaders, 2020 presidential hopefuls. Here's CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Virginia's Democratic Governor Ralph Northam is growing criticism and calls to step down after this racist photo emerged Friday from his 1984 medical school yearbook page. It shows a person in blackface and another dressed in a Klansman robe and hood. Publicly confronted with the photo, Northam confirmed that he, in fact, was one of the people in the picture, but declined to say which. He apologized and vowed to show Virginians he had changed and he would do so for the remainder of the term.

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NORTHAM: That photo and the racist and offensive attitudes it represents does not reflect that person I am today or the way that I have conducted myself as a soldier, a doctor and a public servant. I am deeply sorry. I cannot change the decisions I made, nor can I undo the harm my behavior caused then and today.

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MALVEAUX: The photo is from 1984 when Northam was 25-years-old at the time from the Eastern Virginia Medical School. Under the photo lists his alma mater, Virginia Military Institute, his interests, pediatrics and a quote saying, "There are more old drunks than old doctors in this world, so I think I'll have another beer." Northam's yearbook from his time at the Virginia Military Institute in 1981 revealed that he had two nicknames, "Goose" and "Coonman."

The reaction from many political corners has been fast and furious. The photo was first reported by "Big League Politics," a conservative news outlet, followed by the Virginia GOP caucus calling for his resignation. Well, since then, some of Northam's most powerful allies are also calling for him to step down. The NAACP tweeting, "Blackface in any manner is always racist and never OK. No matter the party affiliation, we cannot stand for that behavior."

The president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, who had been vocal in her support of Virginia Democrats earlier in the week during the abortion controversy, now saying that he's got to go. Along with Planned Parenthood and the mayor of Richmond, Virginia. Several Democratic presidential primary candidates as well. This from Senator Kamala Harris saying, "Leaders are called to a higher standard and the stain of racism should have no place in the halls of government."

This from the "Richmond Times-Dispatch" editorial, quote, "He is by all accounts a decent and considerate man. And yet, his poor judgment has undermined his standing in ways we believe will permanently impair his ability to act as an effective governor."

Holding off, however, Virginia's two power senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, calling for Northam to reflect on how to move forward, giving him more time. The big question, of course, will Northam heed these calls? If this chorus grows louder over the next 24 hours, will he survive? Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.

BLACKWELL: Now, in addition to all those voices that you just heard from there, the network analysts here at CNN and the commentators have been weighing in on this issue as well since the story broke. Watch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have your governor turn up with a picture in the yearbook with the get-up or in blackface? It's unacceptable.

[06:05:03] And then, Don, what we're not talking about here, it's one thing to say, OK, it happened in this yearbook, in the medical yearbook. But guess what? He did it a couple of years prior to saying he was called "Coonman." You know, when did the light shine on him on the road to Damascus. That's what I want to know. But nonetheless, this ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like, hey, man (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, if you want to go -- if you want to go to church, let's go to church.

ERROL LOUIS, POLITICAL ANCHOR, SPECTRUM NEWS: If he's not in a black church on Sunday begging for forgiveness ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on.

LOUIS: He may, at that point, have thrown in the towel. The reality is, I can't see how this administration continues. I mean, this is not like being a judge where you're sort of removed, you've got guards, the public doesn't have real access to you. You cannot govern a state like Virginia from hiding.

TARA SETMAYER, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, FORMER REPRESENTATIVE DANA ROHRABACHER: It is utterly unacceptable. There is no explanation, in my opinion, for someone 1984, 20-plus years after the Civil Rights Act, still thinking it's OK to dress up -- not only dress up like this, take a photograph like that and then submit it to a yearbook as a representative of who you want to be remembered as. That tells me a whole lot about your upbringing, your values, what you think is acceptable.

LOUIS: 1984 is the year I graduated from college. So he's older than me. I look at this and I say, there's just no way. There's just no way you can govern a state with that kind of raw bigotry and ugliness that's in your past if you don't have a really, really good explanation, which, up till now, we have not heard.

BAKARI SELLERS, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA HOUSE MEMBER: This is somebody who was a medical professional and when we talk about systems of oppression in this country and how it trickles down, you have to look at the fact that a medical profession who was treating people of color every single day, you have to understand and think about the biases they have when they are ignorant enough to think that wearing blackface or a KKK garb is appropriate in an adult age where they are learning how to treat you.

And so those biases, they seep all the way down and so when you have issues of disparities in health care, this is a perfect example of why those biases exist.

TIFFANY CROSS, COFOUNDER AND MANAGING EDITOR, THE BEAT DC: This is nothing new and I think there's this false narrative where people think that this kind of systems of white supremacy only exist on the right. And I think for those of us who have been on the left side of things and who have been working in progressive movements and who've worked with and in the Democratic party, this is something that permeates all across areas of politics and society.

NINE TURNER, FORMER OHIO STATE SENATOR: I'm going to try to keep this as PG as I can, but I'm about to jump out of my skin. Let me tell you something, this same governor, just last year -- we don't even have to go back to 1984. Just 2018 and Democrats didn't say a mumbling word when there was a labor union there, LIUNA, that told this governor that if you don't take Justin Fairfax's picture off your literature that we're paying for, we're not going to support you.

Go check the record on that. That just happened in 2018. So it should be of no surprise that this governor has done this.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: A lot of people find that video lacking. They want to see what he does next. They want to see if there's some sort of press conference. They want to see -- want to see if there's any sort of full discussion of this because there's so many questions, right? I mean, if you think about him being 25-years-old, really, I think, displaying perhaps a pretty deep level of racism, perhaps a deep hatred of black people.

TURNER: This governor needs to apologize to black folks first. All that okeydoke he was just talking is BS. He needs to straight up apologize to black folks who were dehumanized, ridiculed. This country was built on the backs, the blood, the sweat and the tears of black folks and going to talk -- no. Apologize to black people first.

APRIL RYAN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN URBAN RADIO NETWORKS: This Virginia governor knew it was wrong when he was a teen, when he did the "Coonman," he knew it was wrong when he was 25 when he did the blackface or the Klan outfit and he know it -- he knows it's wrong now, especially as Virginia is grappling with issues of race following Charlottesville.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not courageous when you get caught.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST, CNN TONIGHT: This is a whole nother level -- another level of ugliness ...

SETMAYER: Yes.

LEMON: ... and bigotry and hatred. Should he resign?

SETMAYER: Absolutely. I mean, there is absolutely no way, in this day and age, in the climate that we're in, with the president that we have, with what happened in Charlottesville in the -- in the state -- the very state that Northam is governor of that you can possibly remain in office and have any credibility.

TURNER: This governor has to go, he needs to go really quickly and the left, as my sister just said, they need to get a clue because racism is in the DNA of this country and we are sick and tired of it.

SETMAYER: If you go after Donald Trump for his racism and his bigotry, there's no way you cannot call for Ralph Northam to resign. They called for Al Franken for the #MeToo movement stuff.

LEMON: Yes.

SETMAYER: How could they possibly stand by and let Northam get away this?

HENDERSON: I think what people want from Northam ...

SETMAYER: It's real.

HENDERSON: ... in this moment is to rise to the moment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is real.

LEMON: Yes.

SETMAYER: Right.

HENDERSON: To not hide behind a statement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And step down.

SETMAYER: Right.

HENDERSON: ... to hide behind a video where he's like, "I'm sorry, I'm a good person now. Sorry for the pain that I caused."

[06:10:03] Is it stepping down or is it coming on Don's show and taking questions from all of us. We know that these folks are watching CNN, they're looking at Twitter, they are noticing what the conversation is around this governor at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now, Julian Castro was the first 2020 candidate to call for Northam's resignation. He spoke to Don Lemon last night.

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JULIAN CASTRO: I believe no matter whether somebody's a Republican or a Democrat, that kind of behavior was racist and inexcusable and if we're going to ensure that these types of things don't continue to happen in our country, then we need to hold people accountable for their actions.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PAUL: Other 2020 hopefuls have called on the resignation as well. Senator Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, even several who haven't yet officially jumped into the race. You see them there. Northam's predecessor in Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, said, yes, he needs to step down.

BLACKWELL: Breaking news now, Vladimir Putin says Russia will start constructing a new medium-range supersonic nuclear missile. Now, Russia announced it's suspending the INF Missile Treaty this morning after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the U.S. is planning to withdraw from it as well.

PAUL: The treaty was signed with the USSR during the Cold War with the intention of preventing an arms race, but the U.S. says Russia has been violating that agreement since 2014. CNN's Oren Liebermann live from Moscow. Oren, any surprise that so quickly President Putin came out and said we're going to start construction of this missile?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the Russians were very much expecting this move from the United States, a suspension or a withdrawal from the INF Treaty, and the Russians had their response lined up one day after President Vladimir Putin meets with his defense minister and his foreign minister and he says -- in what he calls for a tit for tat response to the United States, Russia will also be suspending it's participation in the INF Treaty, in this nonproliferation treaty that has held up since the 1980s.

Russia fired back and said in fact, it's the U.S. that has been violating the treaty since before the year 2000. In response, Putin said Russia will not and should not be drawn into an arms race, but as you pointed out, in that same statement, Russia also said that it will be further developing what's called its "caliber missile."

The missile in its current format is a sea-based, medium-range, hyper supersonic missile. That would have been in compliance with the INF Treaty, but the further development of it, what Putin says will be to make it a ground-based missile, is a clear violation of that treaty and perhaps a sign of Russia's intentions, when it comes to the U.S. call for Russia to have 180 days to come into verifiable compliance with the INF Treaty. Russia's seeing no reason to abide by the terms of a treaty if others aren't going to abide by the terms of the treaty.

As for what happens next, well, the intentions there are clear. Russia will develop its own capabilities, now no longer even appearing to be in line with INF Treaty. Russia has also said in the past it would be open to a multilateral nonproliferation treaty, but Putin making it very clear it will not be Russia initiating those conversations if another country wants to move forward with some sort of nonproliferation treaty.

So Russia essentially saying, look, if the U.S. isn't going to listen to this treaty, we're not going to either and let's move forward here. It is interesting to note, Christi and Victor, Putin also added in one line in this meeting with his foreign minister and defense minister. He said, look, if there's another country, not naming the U.S., but if there's another country developing a space force, let's look at how to respond.

PAUL: All right. Oren Liebermann, thank you so much for the update. Appreciate it. And coming up, the Supreme Court has blocked a Louisiana abortion law, at least for the time being. We're going to ask our legal analyst what this law could mean for women seeking abortions if it does go through.

BLACKWELL: Plus, President Trump hints at a new border wall strategy while slamming Speaker Pelosi. We'll break down the new interview.

PAUL: And listen, are you counting down with us? Thirty-six hours from kickoff now. CNN's Andy Scholes following up all the headlines in the lead up, Andy, and you got a great seat.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I certainly do, Christi. And the big game almost here. One more day of practice for the Patriots and the Rams. And coming up, we'll hear how the players deal with those pre- game jitters.

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BLACKWELL: President Trump is hinting at a possible border wall announcement next week. He told reporters Friday to expect to hear something during the State of the Union Address.

PAUL: In the meantime, the president did speak to "CBS News" and in that interview, he called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, quote, "Very bad for our country." Let's bring in CNN White House Reporter Sarah Westwood. What else did the president say about speaker Pelosi, Sarah? And good morning.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, good morning, Christi, and what we heard from President Trump yesterday was more bitterness over his border wall stalemate with Speaker Pelosi, President Trump accusing the Speaker of playing political games throughout the process of budget talks, claiming that deep down, Pelosi secretly knows that a wall is necessary, but that she simply opposes it for political reasons.

Trump also describing Pelosi as rigid, during their talks over the course of the shutdown. Now, the two leaders, they haven't actually met face-to-face since that January 9th meeting in the situation room, during which President Trump stood out -- stood up, walked out when those negotiations weren't going his way. Well, President Trump is clearly still focused on Pelosi's refusal to give an inch when it comes to his border wall fight. Here's what he told "CBS" yesterday.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think that she was very rigid, which I would expect, but I think she's very bad for our country. She knows that you need a barrier. She knows that we need border security. She wanted to win a political point. I happen to think it's very bad politics because basically, she wants open borders.

[06:20:01] She doesn't mind human trafficking or she wouldn't do this because, you know the traffic is ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She offered you over $1 billion for border security.

TRUMP: Excuse me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She offered over $1 billion for border security. She doesn't want the wall.

TRUMP: She's cost the country hundreds of billions of dollars because what's happening is when you have porous border and when you have drugs pouring in and when you have people dying all over the country because of people like Nancy Pelosi who don't want to give proper border security for political reasons, she's doing a terrible disservice to our country.

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WESTWOOD: Now, Pelosi's spokesman responded yesterday by slamming Trump for forcing the shutdown in the first place, saying in a statement, "President Trump's recklessness didn't make us safer. It undermined our security with 35 days of border patrol agents, DEA agents, FBI agents and homeland security personnel missing paychecks. Democrats have put forward strong, smart and effective border security solutions in the bipartisan conference committee, while the President still refuses to take a second shutdown off the table."

Then he goes on to say, "The President's wild and predictable representations about Democrat's commitment to border security do nothing to make our country safer."

Now, Trump has called that conference committee a waste of time, lowering expectations for any kind of breakthrough coming out of those talks. Democrats did put their opening offer on the table on Wednesday. While it included billions of dollars for border security provisions, there was not one penny in there for the President's border wall, not even for the repairs of existing fencing, basically nothing that the President could spin as a victory.

So with just two weeks left in this negotiating period until government funding runs out again, Trump has reprised his threats to declare a national emergency if he doesn't get funding for his border call, Victor and Christi.

PAUL: All righty. Sarah Westwood, appreciate it so much. Thank you. So the big is almost here.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Andy Scholes has a look ahead next.

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[06:25:00]

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PAUL: Hey. Saturday's been waiting for you. So have we. We're glad to have you here. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good Saturday to you. Super Bowl 53 just one day away now. The Patriots and the Rams have their face-off in Atlanta. Andy Scholes has more from just outside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Beautiful shot this morning. Big game coming up, Andy.

SCHOLES: Yes. Good morning, Victor and Christi. You know, tomorrow is going to be Tom Brady's ninth Super Bowl and the previous eight were all decided by one score. So we should expect another great game. You know, the Patriots do remain slight favorites over the Rams. The two teams are going to have one final walkthrough today, then it's time to sleep, but how do you sleep before the biggest game of your life?

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PATRICK CHUNG, PATRIOTS SAFETY: You lay down and you might play the game in your head a little bit. You know what -- you know what -- and you close your eyes like, you know, I just got -- I just got a pick, I just got this. You know, just playing the game, but ...

JARED GOFF, RAMS QUARTERBACK: Go over the game plan, make sure I got all my notes down. If I need to watch anything, I'll watch something. If not, just enjoy it and go to bed.

ROB GRONKOWSKI, PATRIOTS TIGHT END: Just got to treat it, prepare like it's any other game. Don't, you know, blow your steam the day before, blow your steam the morning of. You just got to chill out, just be on your normal routine and you'll be good to go.

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SCHOLES: Now, this could be the final time Gronk goes to sleep before a big game. Rumors are that he's going to retire after the Super Bowl. Now, Gronk wouldn't confirm or deny when asked that question this week. And I sat down with Chris Simms and Adam Lefkoe from "Bleacher Report." They're convinced Gronk is going to retire and because of that he's going to have a huge game.

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ADAM LEFKOE, SIMMS AND LEFKOE PODCAST: It's been talked about all year ...

CHRIS SIMMS, SIMMS AND LEFKOE PODCAST: It's Gronk's last game.

LEFKOE: OK.

SCHOLES: What?

SIMMS: I mean, he didn't even dispel the rumor last night. They asked him and he was like, oh, I don't know ... SCHOLES: This happens every Super Bowl.

LEFKOE: No, but now he looks said.

SIMMS: Well, but no. If they were going to (ph) ask you that question, you would go, no, I'm definitely not retiring, like Brady said, 0 percent chance.

LEFKOE: So here's my thing. One, he's retiring. Two, they're going to want to feature them all (ph). Three, I think he's got a great match- up. And if you want to go crazy -- if you want to go crazy, 30-1 for MVP, throw $10, $20, make, $300, $600. I'm just saying. So if that hits, you're welcome. If it doesn't, my twitter is @CSimmsQB.

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SCHOLES: We'll have more fun prop (ph) bets from Simms and Lefkoe later today on CNN in our show, "KICKOFF IN ATLANTA." Dave Briggs, Coy Wire, Hines and myself going to get you ready for the big game. That's today, 2:30 Eastern, right here on CNN.

Now, one of the coolest parts of Super Bowl week is always the NFL Experience. It's like a giant playground for fans and one of the coolest exhibits I found this year was a quarterback simulator. You put this headset on and it's like you're right there on the field playing the game. And I spoke with Ted Sundquist, the former GM of the Denver Broncos, and asked him how he came up with Sports VTS.

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TED SUNDQUIST, FOUNDER, CEO OF SPORTS VTS: My background in the military helped me as I was the general manager of the Denver Broncos with trying to solve a problem that we had, which was getting enough repetition for players, especially quarterbacks. Well, how do they do it in the Air Force? They do it in simulators. And so with that thought, we've put together best-in-class technologies to put the quarterback in a virtual scenario that makes him feel like he's right on the field and getting realistic repetitions.

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SCHOLES: Yes. And UCLA has already purchased that to help train their quarterbacks. And guys, I can tell you what, I can totally see the future quarterbacks using that simulator all the time because I'll tell you what, when you put that head set on, you are right there in the field. It was so realistic.

[06:30:00]

BLACKWELL: I'm going to have to head over. That looks like fun actually.

SCHOLES: Yes, it was a lot of fun, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Andy Scholes, thanks so much.

SCHOLES: All right.

CHRISTI PAUL, CO-HOST, NEW DAY SATURDAY: I don't know, you might have seen online some of these warnings that are out there about ramped up human trafficking during the Super Bowl. So far, federal law enforcement officials have arrested 40 people on sex trafficking charges in Atlanta just this week.

But according to the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution", Homeland Security officials said four victims were rescued in that operation, which is the good news. And advocacy groups are warning big games like the Super Bowl do offer opportunities for sex traffickers and the large pool of clients who are willing to pay them.

Advocates being very proactive here, there are signs on convenience stores, bars of soap in hotel bathrooms with the phone numbers of rescue hotlines. There are some scholars who study the issue there, who point out while human trafficking is a problem, the link to sporting events that's not so cut and dry.

Cnn law enforcement analyst James Gagliano; retired FBI supervisory special agent, with us as well is Mary Frances Bowley; president and founder of Wellspring Living which fights childhood sexual abuse and exploitations. So Mary Frances, I wanted to ask you first and foremost, what makes the atmosphere of something like the Super Bowl something that is a magnet for traffickers, if it is at all?

MARY FRANCES BOWLEY, PRESIDENT & FOUNDER, WELLSPRING LIVING: Right, well, anytime you have a lot of people coming into the town, they're from out of town, and sometimes when you're from out of town, you don't do the things you normally would do in your hometown.

And trafficking is a business. And so it is put out to people in many different venues to -- do you need a girl, do you want something? And so people who have disposable income and they think maybe they wouldn't get caught might participate in something that they don't realize has so much harm to those girls, women, boys, men, who might be caught up in trafficking.

PAUL: James, I see you're shaking your head and nodding your head rather. I mean, there are these reports that there are thousands of victims who are brought in, they are brought into events like this. What in your experience tells you whether those numbers are true or false?

JAMES GAGLIANO, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Christi, important to understand that this is not just something that takes place around large events like --

PAUL: Right --

GAGLIANO: The Super Bowl. It's awesome that we have this platform to talk about it. But this is a scourge, not a national scourge, an international scourge that we have to deal with 365 days of the year. Important to understand that human trafficking, it is either for sex purposes or for labor purposes. In the entire world, 40.3 million people are trafficked, and 75

percent of them are women, 25 percent of them are children, sometimes as young as 12 or 13 years old.

PAUL: So is there a fear that the Super Bowl and events like that do escalate sex trafficking? And if so, is it that they're bringing kids in, or is there the possibility that kids could be kidnapped from that area for that purpose?

GAGLIANO: There's two ways to look at this. Sometimes sex traffickers do bring young girls into town where there's going to be a lot of people, other times they avoid the area because of the heightened law enforcement presence. Important to understand, the FBI looks at this from a civil rights perspective as well as a violent crimes against children perspective.

It really is a national scourge, we've all in a post-9/11 world, we've got to be hyper-focused on our surroundings, and making sure if we see something out of place, say something to law enforcement.

PAUL: So Mary Frances, take me into a scenario, I mean, we want to be educated here. Help us know what to do if -- what would we see that would send up the red alert, and if we see it, what action do we take?

BOWLEY: Sure. So if you see a situation where you see a child with someone that's definitely older, and maybe some inappropriate activity happening in the way that person is being treated, you want to say something. If you -- I heard a girl say, you know, we'd be with our trafficker and there would be five girls with this one man. Why didn't somebody say something?

And so, exactly what James was saying. We need to be aware of what's going on and be proactive. We need to say something and that would be, call police. You don't need to intervene, but you need to say something.

PAUL: I would think authorities are obviously on alert.

BOWLEY: Right.

PAUL: More so, right now than they would be otherwise?

GAGLIANO: Absolutely. There's a lot of campaigns I know in Atlanta. I got off the plane and I heard a public service announcement at the airport.

PAUL: You did --

GAGLIANO: You can see them on video screens, on Delta flights, I know, everyone is trying to push this out. Remember, it's involuntary servitude by force, fraud or coercion. And to your point, everybody has got to be on a hyper alert and make sure that they talk to authorities if they see anything out of place.

PAUL: I want to be, you know, brutally honest here, though, at the end of the day, what is so stunning is that a lot of these girls, they're in high school, they come from families who care about them. How do they get into it and why are they so fearful to get out?

[06:35:00] BOWLEY: So you have to understand if you're a teenage girl, sometimes you're just insecure. It doesn't matter what your surroundings are. I will say that the majority of the young girls and women that we see are people who are in vulnerable situations, maybe they've experienced childhood sexual abuse which does happen across all socio-economic areas.

But the reality is that because someone is insecure, someone is in a vulnerable situation and someone who appears to care about them speaks to them, gives them gifts or pretends to be their boyfriend, it is a grooming, and sometimes, it takes a few days, sometimes, it takes an hour, sometimes it takes years that someone is pursuing a person for their profit.

And the reason they don't leave is because even though they're --

PAUL: They're threatened, aren't they?

BOWLEY: Yes, they're threatened, but you think of domestic violence as same kind of syndrome that's happened, trauma bonds happen, and so they don't want to be there but they think that he loves them. So this is --

PAUL: Yes --

BOWLEY: Back and forth, back and forth, then it comes to a point, you know, hopefully through stings, and maybe through a realization this guy is never going to let me go that they run away.

PAUL: Yes, dependency could be --

BOWLEY: Right --

PAUL: Strong --

BOWLEY: Exactly --

PAUL: No doubt about it. Mary Frances, James, thank you both so much for having this conversation, it is so important.

GAGLIANO: Thanks for having us --

BOWLEY: Thank you for having us --

PAUL: Absolutely, thank you. Victor.

BLACKWELL: The Supreme Court has put a Louisiana abortion law on hold at least for now. If this law is allowed to take effect, it would change things for women seeking abortions. We'll ask our legal analysts to explain why? That's next.

Plus, a flight to Paradise ended with at least frustration for passengers on board a plane, this was to Hawaii. Coming up, why their plane was forced to turn around three times before the whole thing was canceled. [06:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, the Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a Louisiana abortion law from taking effect. Justice Samuel Alito said the justices just need more time to review the case. The law was set to take effect Monday, but it's been put on hold until February 7th at this point.

Louisiana's Unsafe Abortion Protection Act is what's called, it seeks to put some strict regulations on abortion clinics. Cnn's legal analyst Joey Jackson with us now. Joey, always so glad to have you here. So what are the elements of this law that are in question for these justices.

JOEY JACKSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning. So backing up, what happens is that for the short term, this particular ruling by Judge Alito just says we're going to stay the decision, right? That means that we're not going to implement the decision until Thursday.

And that decision they're talking about is an abortion law in Louisiana that's set to go into effect that was passed in 2014 that limits the privileges of women, or I should say it requires doctors to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of an actual place that the abortion is being performed.

So what happens is that, you had a local justice, a district court justice at the time, and that district court justice says, hey, that's unconstitutional because you're burdening a woman's right to have an actual abortion, that is her right. And ultimately what happen was -- is that, that was appealed to the Fifth Circuit which is very conservative I should say.

Ten out of the 15 justices are Republican, and what they did was they struck down and they said, no, the law can go into effect. And now, you have the Supreme Court deciding. And the ultimate question into your point is whether or not the law in Louisiana as it's currently written unduly impedes, interferes and burdens a woman's right to choose.

So that's the outstanding question. And what they're saying is that it's a law that's very similar in Texas that the Supreme Court struck down. But you know, there's a tendency of the Fifth Circuit, again, very conservative to find a way to distinguish their ruling which they did from the Supreme Court ruling.

And so, we'll wait and see on Thursday which is when the stay is ultimately lifted to see what the Supreme Court does on the merits. So very important, Christi. There was no meritorious ruling at this point. The Supreme Court just said, let's put the brakes on it, we're going to evaluate all the papers and we'll have a firm decision for you on Thursday as to whether or not this rule unduly impairs a woman's right to choose.

PAUL: And with the new justices in place, what do you anticipate may happen with this? And what could be the repercussions, say, even for President Trump going into 2020? JACKSON: You know, that's an outstanding question. And so, let's

address that. So what happened was -- is that there was this Texas law which was very similar in 2016, and the Texas law did quite what this law in Louisiana does, and that says that doctors need to have admitting privileges within a certain radius of actual facilities.

So the Supreme Court said, can't do it, they struck it down, they said it unduly impedes a woman's right to choose. Now, here's the problem with that, Christi. At the time that the Supreme Court did that, Justice Scalia died -- remember, he died in February of 2016.

The three justices who actually voted in the minority, in that case, right, happen to be Alito who issued this order, Republican, happened to be Chief Justice Roberts, a Republican, and happened also to be Chief Clarence Thomas, a Republican.

So the heart of your question, there are two new justices, Gorsuch, a Republican, in addition to Kavanaugh who replaced follow-me Kennedy, that was the swing vote in this Texas case that voted with the majority. So the concern is that there will be a flip, that the three justices who voted to ultimately say that, you know what? This Texas law is actually good.

That those three justices now, if you join Gorsuch with them and Kavanaugh, that, you know what? This law would indeed go into effect, and Louisiana law that actually says that it unduly impairs the right for a woman to choose might in fact be the law of the land.

[06:45:00] So there are significant repercussions to that. And again, in terms of the question in 2020, you know, as everyone talks about the consequences of elections, as Trump continues to stack even local courts with conservative justices, there will be significant rulings that could impair a woman's right to choose.

PAUL: All right, Joey Jackson, thank you so much for your expertise as always, sir.

JACKSON: Thank you, Christi.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, imagine being on a flight that had to return to the airport three times after departure, before eventually being cancelled. That happened to passengers on a flight out of Los Angeles. They were headed to beautiful Hawaii, Los Angeles is beautiful, too. Hear their reactions coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00] BLACKWELL: A 3-year-old boy in North Carolina was missing for nearly three days in rain and freezing temperatures.

PAUL: Cnn's Brynn Gingras introduces us to the officers who went beyond the call of duty to find him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Deep in this swath of pine trees amongst the thorns and briars, a lost little boy was found.

SHANE GRIER, CHOCOWINITY EMS: It took some force to get him out of it. I actually had to pull him out of the vegetation.

GINGRAS: Against all odds, 3-year-old Casey Hathaway was rescued, 55 hours after he went missing from his great grandmother's North Carolina home. It was a tip that led Grier to this very spot at the edge of the woods.

GRIER: And that's when we heard him say mama.

GINGRAS (on camera): Clear as day?

GRIER: Clear as day.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Grier is one of hundreds of local and federal emergency responders who tirelessly searched for Casey through rain and freezing temperatures.

CHIP HUGHES, SHERIFF, CRAVEN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: Casey is a small child, he's cold, he's hungry.

GINGRAS: The massive operation was under the command of the Craven County sheriff Chip Hughes.

HUGHES: We started looking at the percentages of what is the chance a 3-year-old child in the elements with the wildlife that's in the area, bears, coyotes is going to survive this. The odds were not in our favor.

GINGRAS: It's a search that captivated the nation and brought a community together.

HUGHES: People were -- when they showed up, you could see the look of determination. You know, Casey is -- he belongs to all of us now.

GINGRAS: All the while, Hughes promised Casey's family, he'd bring their boy home.

HUGHES: That was a tall promise I made to this lady, and we were committed to stay to the end.

GINGRAS (on camera): And you kept that in your mind, it sounds like?

HUGHES: Exactly. And when the rescue pulled up, the doors opened and I saw this, you know, 25-pound child, 3-year-old there with his eyes open, big brown eyes, it was tear-jerking, this was when we made good on our promise. I would have stayed out there an entire year just to make that happen.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Casey's body temperature was low, but he only had scratches. He told his parents he befriended a bear. His family emotionally thanked law enforcement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're very thankful that you took the time out to come search for Casey and prayed for him. GINGRAS: As for Grier, he'll never forget that gratitude. He now

keeps this picture in his office, a gift from Casey's family of Grier and the little boy he saved.

GRIER: I think everybody at some point in time was expecting a real bad ending from this and for the ending to be so good, I mean, you know, a little boy is home because of the efforts that everybody did here.

GINGRAS: A reminder of what he humbly calls a miracle. Brynn Gingras, Cnn, Craven County, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: No doubt, a big thanks to those officers. So a flight from Los Angeles to Maui ended with a lot of frustration for these passengers, why their plane was forced to turn around three times before they finally said we're cancelling.

[06:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Third time, not the charm for passengers on board a flight from Los Angeles to Maui.

BLACKWELL: No --

PAUL: Hawaiian Airlines Flight 33 left, went back to Los Angeles International Airport three times yesterday before they said we're just going to cancel it altogether.

BLACKWELL: Here's why? This is what passengers on that flight saw when they looked out the window, fuel coming out of the plane, that's a problem.

PAUL: Yes --

BLACKWELL: And they never --

PAUL: You could turn around for that --

BLACKWELL: They never made it to Maui. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was really anxious just because I was really nervous, it was making a lot of weird sounds and they hopped in, they weren't really giving us a lot of information, and one lady got kicked off because she was upset. She was like throwing a fit and they kicked her off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The airlines says the delays were caused by separate and unrelated faults with different systems.

PAUL: And for that I say, thank you pilots -- BLACKWELL: Yes --

PAUL: For not attempting to keep --

BLACKWELL: Put us back on the ground, please.

PAUL: Sure --

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

PAUL: So we have to look ahead to Tuesday's State of the Union. Jeanne Moos, she's been playing fill in the blanks with the public, here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Since the State of the Union is missing, we figured why not let regular people play the part of --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president of the United States.

MOOS: You know, when the president goes up to the podium and says.

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The State of our Union is strong.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The State of our Union is strong.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The State of our Union is strong.

MOOS: Presidents almost always say strong, though, occasionally, they dial it back.

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That the State of our Union is sound.

GERALD FORD, FORMER LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The State of the Union is not good.

MOOS: But by the next year --

FORD: The State of our Union is better, but still not good enough.

MOOS: So what state are we in today? Depends who you ask.

(on camera): Fill in this blank. The State of the Union is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A joke.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On shaky ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chaotic and entertaining.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chaotic and dismal.

MOOS: The State of the Union is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unstable, right?

MOOS: In his first State of the Union, President Trump declared --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The State of our Union is strong.

MOOS: The State of the Union is?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Weak.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tenuous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grave danger.

MOOS: Online, some used GIFs to portray the State of the Union as a train wreck or a dumpster fire or a floating dumpster fire. But others were less in the dumps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything is fine as far as I'm concerned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're hanging in there.

MOOS: Even presidents have taken a glass half-full approach.

REAGAN: The State of our Union is strong, but our economy is troubled.

MOOS (voice-over): Back before social media, Ronald Reagan didn't have to put up with comments like screwed with a glimmer of hope.

(on camera): The State of the Union is --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's messed up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A crock.

MOOS: Crab?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crock --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crock.

(LAUGHTER)

MOOS: Crock. Someone even used space to describe our state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston, we have a problem.

MOOS: Apollo 13 made it back in one piece, so will the union, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got multiple continent warning, Houston --

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, Cnn --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a wicked shimmy up here.

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[07:00:00]