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New Day Saturday

Growing Pressure On Police Reforms Following OH, NC Shootings; CDC, FDA Lift Pause On J&J Vaccine, Add Safety Warning; 27.5 percent of U.S. Fully Vaccinated, Averaging 2.8 Million Plus Shots Daily; Pandemic Taking Emotional Toll On Healthcare Workers; WH Unveils Plans To Fund Child Care, Education On With Tax Hike; Indonesia Navy Says Missing Submarine Likely Cracked; Jailed Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Ends Hunger Strike. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired April 24, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. I'm Boris Sanchez.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christi Paul. Congress is taking up the issue of police reform in the wake of several high-profile shootings. What can they realistically accomplish?

SANCHEZ: Plus, people across the country can once again get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after the CDC lifted its paws on the shot. Though, now, it'll come with a warning.

PAUL: And President Biden is set to address the joint session of Congress next week. What we expect to hear from him as he reaches his first 100 days in office.

SANCHEZ: And Indonesia now says that missing submarine, full of crew members, sank. Where the efforts to locate it and the crew stand right now?

PAUL: It is Saturday, April 24th. We are so grateful to have you waking up with us. Good morning, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Good morning, Christi. How great is that new opener? I make you so energized.

PAUL: Kudos to all the guys behind the scenes. I know, it definitely wakes us up.

SANCHEZ: Oh, yes. A series of high-profile shootings is increasing pressure on lawmakers this morning to pass police reform.

PAUL: Yes. In North Carolina, three sheriff's deputies resigned yesterday. Seven are on administrative leave after the shooting of Andrew Brown. Now, he was shot - he was shot and killed, Wednesday, as deputies attempted to serve him with an arrest warrant. And new security video shows the moments leading up to the deadly shooting of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio. Police body cam footage from Tuesday shows Bryant holding a knife and lunging at a girl. Police say she attempted to lunge at a second person and officers fired four shots.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers are looking to take the next steps toward passing police reform measures.

SANCHEZ: Yes. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was, among other things, ban chokeholds, no knock warrants and it would overhaul qualified immunity, and that is a major sticking point. It passed the House last month, but it has yet to be taken up in the Senate.

CNN's Daniella Diaz joins us now live from Capitol Hill. Daniella bringing us up to speed where are negotiations right now?

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Boris, Democrats and Republicans are trying to meet in the middle on this issue of police reform legislation. You know, there's renewed momentum on this after Derek Chauvin's guilty verdict this week.

On one hand, you have Senator Tim Scott, who is negotiating on behalf of Republicans on this issue. He opposes Democratic efforts to lower the legal standard to prosecute individual officers.

And then on the other hand, you have Congresswoman Karen Bass who have spearheaded this through the House. She's the former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and she's very passionate about this issue. She's pushing to change the federal law to ensure that police officers can be charged for reckless conduct rather than willful misconduct. This basically means lowering the threshold that a police officer could be charged in court.

Now, I want to emphasize that this is a different issue that they're trying to negotiate than qualified immunity, a topic that's come up again and again this week as they have discussions on this.

Qualified immunity protects officers from civil litigation, and Scott wants police departments to be brought to civil court instead of the police officers. While Karen Bass wants to see this addressed so that police officers could be in civil - taken up to civil court and police and victims of police violence, could see justice in civil court.

But the spotlight is on Scott on this issue. He's actually been tasked to respond to President Joe Biden's address to the joint Congress next week. He's the only Black Republican Senator, and he has a big job where Biden will undoubtedly talk about police reform in his speech.

And, of course, these Democrats and Republicans are racing to cut a deal before May 25th, which is the year anniversary of George Floyd's death. So that is where this issue stands right now in Congress. Christi, Boris?

SANCHEZ: Yes, Daniella, it's going to be a big platform for Scott as well, somebody who may have 2024 aspirations. Daniella Diaz, thank you so much for that.

PAUL: So, let's talk about the headlines with Democratic Representative Adriano Espaillat of New York. We appreciate Congressman, you being with us. Thank you so much.

I want to ask you about what Daniella was talking about regarding Senator Tim Scott. We know that he's backing this idea that would allow civil litigation against police departments as opposed to actual individuals.

I also know that your colleague Representative Val Demings, who is a former Chief of the Atlanta Police Department has said, Police department is "never not held accountable." Do you think that there is some sort of compromise that you can accept here?

[08:05:00]

REP. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D-NY): Well, first and foremost, I think that the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is a pretty comprehensive piece of legislation. It took us a long time to put it together. We discussed it across the board. I think it's a very good piece of legislation.

Senator Scott comes into the picture now, and I think it's a good thing. I think that this shows that there is an interest on the other side of the aisle at the Senate to really discuss this fully. But, again, the details of the George Boyd Justice in Policing Act is very, very important.

For example, willful neglect versus reckless neglect is an important piece of legislation. We know that in the past, officers have gotten off just because this has not been addressed in legislation. So we know that the registry is important. We know that the chokehold is important, and qualified immunity also continues to be an important piece of our legislation.

But will--

PAUL: I apologize. Obviously, the technical Gremlins are in in play this morning. We'll see if we can get Representative Espaillat back with us.

Alrighty, major discovery in the search for that missing submarine in Indonesia next. What crews found and what it could mean is ahead for them.

SANCHEZ: Plus, after treating COVID patients for more than a year, many health care workers are showing signs of burnout. Some are even choosing to leave the profession. Up next, we're going to talk to an ICU nurse who got the help she needed, so she could keep working the job she loves.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PAUL: Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine is rejoining the race to

vaccinate people. The single dose vaccines label will now include a warning about rare, but potentially deadly blood clots, noting that certain women under the age of 50 may have a small risk.

SANCHEZ: Yes, this development comes as a new coronavirus model from the IHME shows the current pace of vaccinations will help save 1000s of lives by August 1st. They are still worried, though, about a slow erosion of vaccine confidence. And they predict that vaccine supply is likely going to outstrip demand for a vaccine by May.

PAUL: CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro is with us from New York live right now. Evan, good to see you this morning. We know officials are working real hard to keep up the momentum of these vaccinations.

The Johnson & Johnson shots coming back online, you would think would help? What are you hearing?

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in theory that would help, because the thing about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, of course, is it's one shot, which has made it easier, in some cases to find some of these folks who are a little bit hesitant to get the vaccine, get them the one shot and they're basically done.

But as you mentioned, the challenge now is this vaccine hesitancy that we're seeing rising, this demand being outpaced by supply. So, officials are saying, look at Johnson & Johnson decision, it's a good decision. The vaccines are safe, and you should get one.

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DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: With these actions, the administration of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine can resume immediately.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): The CDC and FDA have made it official. They've lifted their recommended paws on the use of Johnson & Johnson single dose shot. Saying that benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks of potential rare blood clots. And said, the label will be updated to warn a blood clot risks.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a rare, very rare, but possible occurrence here and it needs to be treated a certain way. When you think about risk versus benefit, that's what really the emergency use authorization is all about. And that's what they really looked at here.

If you look on the left, that's women between the ages of 18 and 49. For every 1 million doses given, we saw roughly 13 cases of this condition of clotting. But at the same time prevented 12 deaths for every 1 million doses, prevented 127 ICU admissions. That's the risk benefit sort of ratio.

For women over the age of 50 it's even it's even greater, the benefits versus the risks. That's ultimately what this decision was about. MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): More than 9 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's Coronavirus Vaccine are ready to be administered in the U.S. Now, the federal agencies have signed off on its resumption, CNN has learned.

Also, out Friday, hopeful new numbers from the University of Washington showing the effect vaccinations are already having on death rates in the U.S.

DR. CHRIS MURRAY, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: The key drivers there are vaccination going up, but also, we're past the peak of seasonality for the coronavirus. That peaked in about February.

And with every passing week, as we get into the summer, we would expect transmission potential to be going down. So those two forces working together, we believe, despite the new variants, will bring down deaths at least until August 1st in the United States.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): The CDC needs to step up outreach around vaccine education after the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine pause, says the CDC Director and more people need to get vaccinated.

WALENSKY: In addition to over 65 percent of Americans over the age of 65 being vaccinated, this is also the week we hit 200 million vaccines in less than 100 days. And the week when all Americans aged 16 and older are eligible.

I encourage all younger people to follow the example of older Americans and to get vaccinated. And regardless of your age, please be an ambassador for your neighbors and loved ones by encouraging and assisting them to get vaccinated themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: So, if you read between the lines here, you can see this kind of subtle shift from talking about the availability of vaccine, to talking about going out and getting vaccine. There's a concern that, I mean, everybody who wanted one has now been able to get one. But what they need is more people to want to get one.

[08:15:00]

So here I am at the Natural History Museum in New York, this is now a vaccine site. And it's a walk-in vaccine site because there's so much vaccine here in New York, you can just walk in as a New Yorker, get your first Moderna shot and lineup for your second one in a few weeks.

And as an incentive, they're offering people if you come and get your shot here today or the next coming days and this places open, you get four free passes to come back to this museum when you're vaccinated and ready to bring people out and the country opens back up a little bit more.

So that incentivizing now. We're moving away from saying, hey, there's vaccine available, please sign up for an appointment. They're now saying there's vaccine everywhere. Please go out and get it. Boris and Christi?

PAUL: Evan McMorris-Santoro, great information. Thank you so much, Evan.

Listen, after fighting the coronavirus for more than a year, it is not surprising is it that a lot of doctors and nurses and healthcare workers are just overwhelmed and they're anxious and showing signs of burnout.

So, listen to this. A recent poll by the Kaiser Foundation found 30 percent are considering leaving the profession. Celia Nieto is an ICU nurse in Las Vegas, and she admits - so strong here to admit and talk about this, that she had a breakdown last fall, after working months and months with COVID patients.

She got the help she needed, and I'm happy to tell you she is with us now. Celia, thank you so, so much for being so transparent and open about this. Because I know that there are people that you're going to be helping through their own stories that they're trying to manage right now. First of all, how are you?

CELIA NIETO, ICU NURSE: Good morning, Christi, I'm doing well. I feel healthy. I'm speaking up, because I want people to know they're not alone in feeling, the way they're feeling, if they're having some of the same symptoms that I had. So I want people to know, they're not alone. There's - and it's important to get help.

PAUL: I want to understand - want to help us all understand, how you got to that point of knowing that you needed some help. In the beginning of the pandemic, you said that if patients were admitted to the ICU there wasn't a whole lot of hope for them to survive. How did that affect you day after day and week after week?

NIETO: This is like nothing I've ever seen before in 18 years of my career, 15 being an ICU. These patients are really sick, mixed with our own fear of getting ill, bringing it home for families.

And we became very vocal as a collective, demanding the protection that we needed to feel safe to do our jobs. And that was a lot of work, demanding the adequate staffing that we needed to feel safe to do our jobs, and that was a lot of work. And then add in, the emotional toll of an already stressful job.

That I had developed tools throughout my career to manage the stress of being an ICU nurse. That's - it's not - that's not new. And then, kind of slowly, but kind of quickly, those tools stopped working for me. And it was very confusing and like nothing I've experienced before.

A lot of sleepless nights. I had trouble sleeping, I had trouble eating. I had racing thoughts were one of the biggest things that was the most uncomfortable that I never experienced, and some uncontrollable crying. And to the point where I had just had enough, I couldn't take it anymore.

Mixed in regular life, that so many of our fellow citizens had to go through - not knowing when my kids were going to go back to school, go to school, that was the regular life. And then it was like a perfect storm of stressors and my coping tools not working anymore.

PAUL: So talk to us about how you were able to determine this is too unhealthy for me and I need to get help, and where did you get that help for people who might need it?

NIETO: So, all those symptoms had been going on. I'd become not functional at home with my kids in school. And at work, I had been experienced - I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to be there. And there was a lot of apathy.

And the big moment was driving to do some errands and I had the thought - I was uncontrollably in one of those crying fits that would just come on and I had the thought that if I got into a really bad car accident, I'd be OK with that. I don't want to die but put me in a coma and just let me not experience this.

And that really scared me. I called my husband. I have a great support system too. And the other trick was I also felt like a failure for feeling that way, because as I described I had coping tools. I have a support system, I have a job, I have so many things to be happy and grateful for and why do I feel this way, and that was confusing to me.

[08:20:00]

PAUL: So, did--

NIETO: Yes.

PAUL: Did the therapy that you got then, Celia, did that - is that what helped you stay in your profession?

NIETO: It has helped me understand what I'm feeling and process a lot of that. And it has brought me through that. I, again - I'm connecting with my patients and love what I'm doing. Because for a while I thought, maybe this is the end of my nursing career. And processing what I'm feeling, understanding that these reactions are normal reactions to what we've gone through.

And this time is important, especially locally for us here in Nevada, our cases are down, our hospitalizations are down, and we as healthcare workers can breathe. And that's when we process these feelings. So that can be confusing too, why am I still feeling this way things are better? But it's in this processing that I've come to kind of understand everything I've been through, and accept it, and be really compassionate with myself for anything I'm feeling. That's helped.

PAUL: We have to give other people grace, we always say that, but we have to give ourselves grace too, because we are human and we have limits to what we can ingest emotionally and absorb. And at some point has talking to somebody and having that outlet from somebody who's not in the business, who doesn't know your family, just this third person in your life, so to speak. What exercises do you think you would recommend to people - other than, obviously, themselves going to get therapy. But what - I'm trying to grasp some hope that maybe you can get somebody who is in the position now that you were in months ago?

NIETO: So, talking about it has helped me immensely and not just in therapy, admitting that I wasn't OK. Let out like the pressure valve that I had been trying to be OK, be OK, be OK. So that helped alone. Making the appointment helped. And I felt like, oh, there's some hope, I'm going to get through this.

And then like I said, just understanding that feeling this way is normal, as a lot of my anxiety came from trying not to feel this way. And so that's, the processing that I've been doing and learning to give myself grace, like you said.

And I've been talking about this with my other coworkers, and I think that's helped me a lot. And I'm vocal about it. People have come to me and told me their experiences. And I have learned that we have to take care of each other. We have to be there for each other and take care of each other. You don't know what someone's going through.

PAUL: Right. And you being brave enough to talk about it, gives somebody else permission to be brave enough to talk about it. And that is a big deal.

NIETO: You're not alone. You're not alone.

PAUL: Celia Nieto, thank you for what you do. First of all, thank you for what you have been through, and for having the courage to talk about all of this, because there are a lot of people out there who are feeling some emotions that they don't understand. And I'm just - I'm grateful for you. Thank you so much.

NIETO: Thank you.

PAUL: So glad that you're OK.

And listen, if you or a loved one feeling overwhelmed, would like to talk to somebody, there is help available. Call the number on your screen there. It's one 1800-273-TALK. You can call anytime day or night.

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[08:25:00]

PAUL: Well, President Biden is expected to unveil his proposal focusing on investments in education and childcare, ahead of his first address to Congress on Wednesday. The sticking point is how to pay for it.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Sources say the president plans to fund this part of his recovery plan by making good on his campaign pledge to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations. CNN's Jasmine Wright is live at the White House for us this morning. Jasmine, White House officials say the plans haven't yet been finalized. But what do we know that they entail so far?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, White House officials are calling it human infrastructure, and it is part two of President Biden's massive infrastructure and jobs proposal.

Now, this part two is going to go to things like free Pre-K, free community college tuition, free - excuse me paid family leave and investing billions of dollars in these training programs, really trying to invest in this new workforce.

Now to pay for it guys, right, they are kind of considering taxing the rich and they're doing - they're thinking about a couple things, right. And that includes really - nearly doubling the capital gains tax for people making more than $1 million, that's taxing investment, earnings the same as income.

Also, the proposal also calls for raising the top marginal tax rate for households making more than $400,000 to 39.6 percent from the existing rate of 37 percent. And now White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki made the case on Friday that the middle class will not have to foot this bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President's bottom line is that people making under $400,000 a year should not, will not have their taxes go up. So if you look at those - these proposed numbers, which are consistent with what he talked about on the campaign trail when he was running for president, what I can say is that will only affect people making more than $1 million a year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: But some problems already lie ahead. Right? We know that Republicans weren't really warm on that first part of this proposal that - more infrastructure part. They didn't really want to support it. So it's hard to see that they're going to come along for this second part.

And also moderate Democrat lawmakers, they're asking how targeted this is going to be, and really how big should the party go on this issue. But still, despite this criticism, President Biden is pushing ahead. He will unroll this at that joint session address this week, really talking about his plan.

[08:30:00]

Also, a bit of a victory lap, talking about how far this nation has come since Biden has been in office on the coronavirus relief - I'm sorry, coronavirus relief really in this massive audience. And after that he will take his sales pitch across the country starting in Georgia on Thursday.

PAUL: All right, Jasmine Wright. We appreciate it so much. Thank you. SANCHEZ: Meantime, Senate Republicans have unveiled their counter to the Democrats' roughly $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs proposal. The two sides very far apart. So, will they be able to come together and negotiate a deal?

Joining us now to discuss is USA Today, Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page. She's also the author of " Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power".

Susan, I got to say, I'm a fan of the book. I've been reading it. It is compelling. You've gotten excellent reviews. So congratulations on that. I want to ask you about the book. But first, let's talk current events.

So, this Republican package, roughly a quarter the size of the Biden plan. It focuses almost exclusively on traditional infrastructure. They're not looking at this broad definition that the White House is looking at. How realistic is a compromise here?

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF USA TODAY: Well, Boris, right, they disagree on how much to spend on what to spend it on and how to pay for it. Not a lot of common ground there.

SANCHEZ: Right.

PAGE: On the on the other hand, there are still bipartisan talks going on. 10 Republican Senators and 10 Democratic Senators met on Thursday to propose perhaps a third plan that might be somewhere between the Republican plan and the White House plan.

This is unfamiliar. It's been a couple years since we've had serious bipartisan talks on things like this big infrastructure bill. It's not impossible that something could pass in a bipartisan way in dealing with some of these infrastructure issues, and that would be remarkable.

You don't want to bet on it. The safe bet is always more partisanship, more gridlock, not impossible in this case.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the safe bet is gridlock. A big moment coming up this week where the president is going to have his first speech before a joint session of Congress. Then after that we're going to hear from Tim Scott, Republican from South Carolina, the rebuttal.

It feels to me like this could potentially be a preview of the 2024 race for the White House. What do you think?

PAGE: Well, I think this is - you're exactly right, this is a big speech. I think the tone will be a little different than the last big presidential speech to a joint session in 2020, which ended with Nancy Pelosi standing up and tearing Trump's speech text in half.

But a big moment for Joe Biden to set a tone, he hasn't done many news conferences or interviews in his first 100 - approaching first 100 days in office. This is going to be an opportunity for Americans to see him to see what he proposes. And I think what we're going to hear is he'll strike a bipartisan tone.

But he has been proposing big, bold, very liberal proposals, including these big spending packages that Jasmine was just talking about. Let's see what kind of reception he gets at this speech.

SANCHEZ: Yes, so let's get to the book. You did more than 150 interviews with a ton of people around Nancy Pelosi, including with the Speaker herself. And there's one specific moment I want to bring up.

You write this, "I felt the full Pelosi treatment just once when she disputed whether an episode I was asking about warranted attention. She never raised her voice. She never made a threat," and then you go on. "But I left the interview with a more personal understanding of how imposing, how unrelenting she could be in discussions more important than this one." And parentheses you right, "To be honest, I went home and poured myself a glass of wine or two."

And I hear you laughing, but I'm curious about public perception, the iron fist and a Gucci glove. And whether that matches the person behind closed doors, especially around members of her own party that don't exactly fall in line?

PAGE: Yes, absolutely. It was a terrifying episode. I did leave by the way - the episode that - matter that we were talking about, I didn't include in the book. But she forced me to defend myself in a way that was really quiet - it was kind of intimidating. And I could imagine some member of - Democratic member of Congress facing her when she wanted to get them to vote for the Affordable Care Act, for instance, and they were reluctant to do so.

She has she has a Gucci gloves. She can be very persuasive. She can understand what motivates her members and what's important to them. But if she needs it, she definitely has an iron.

SANCHEZ: SANCHEZ: All right, Susan Page, thank you so much. The book again, "Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power" it is available right now. Thanks again, Susan.

[08:35:00]

SANCHEZ: Hey, thanks Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

PAUL: So jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny ends his hunger strike just days after he said he looked like "a walking skeleton." We're live from Moscow after the break. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: New developments this morning out of Southeast Asia. Indonesia's Navy now says that missing submarine that disappeared earlier this week, likely cracked, imploding, allowing debris to escape.

[08:40:00]

PAUL: Yes, some of that debris was found this morning. It was floating about two miles from the spot where the sub initially started to dive before it disappeared. Let's bring in CNN's Blake Essig. He's following the developments for us. Blake, what are you learning right now?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, Christi, heartbreaking news out of Indonesia. Several hours ago Navy Chief of Staff addressed the media to report that several pieces of debris from the missing submarine have been found. A total of six pieces of debris were presented, including a bottle of grease, which the crew would use to grease the submarines periscope part of a torpedo launcher, a mattress for praying, part of a metal tube and fuel.

Now, official say these items were found in waters with a depth of nearly 2,800 feet and were confirmed to belong to the submarine by former crew members. Now, based on the findings, the Navy Chief of Staff concluded that the explosion or - excuse me that an explosion didn't occur, instead, it's believed the submarine sustained a heavy crack under immense pressure, which has caused some of those items to float to the surface.

Now no bodies at this point have been found. The 44-year-old sub with 53 people on board went missing Wednesday morning during a torpedo drill in the Bali Strait. This particular sub had a dive capability of roughly 1,600 feet. And the big concern at this time was that the sub descend into a depth of more than 2,300 feet, which is well beyond its survivable limits and could have caused the sub to implode.

Now, while acknowledging the sub had sank, the Navy Chief of Staff said that they will now carry out an evacuation process to recover the submarine and its crew once they find the exact location. He said they'll try to save any crew members who have been able to survive, although at this point, there's virtually no hope of survival.

Indonesia has about 20 ships and four aircraft searching the area about 25 miles North of Bali. Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and India have also sent ships. While the United States is sending several air assets including a P-8 Poseidon, which arrived earlier today. But, again, it seems our worst fears have been realized as debris from the missing sub with 53 souls on board has been recovered. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Sad news to hear. Blake Essig reporting from Tokyo. Thank you.

PAUL: And from Russia this morning, news that jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny is ending his hunger strike. This has been going on for more than three weeks.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Navalny, making that announcement on his Instagram accounts following a warning from his doctors that he was close to death. CNN's Sam Kiley joins us now from Moscow.

Sam, how's this news being received in Russia? SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, by the Russian authorities, it's being ignored, but it has been received, particularly by opposition supporters with some relief, I think. Because, of course, Alexei Navalny was three weeks into a hunger strike that an independent team of doctors had advised him threatened his life.

And that, because that's coming on top of the nerve agent poisoning, he suffered back in August last year, which required him to seek treatment in Germany. He is not fully recovered from that. He doesn't believe he's got problems with feeling in his hands and legs anyway.

And indeed, his hunger strike was all about trying to get independent medical attention outside of the penal colony, where he's languishing after being convicted earlier this year on longstanding embezzlement charges, which, of course, he says, have been trumped up by the Russian state.

But, ultimately, this was a major test really both of his resolve, and indeed of the nerve of the Putin administration that said that he wouldn't be force fed, but that he would, if it came to it not be allowed to die, presenting something of a conundrum there.

On Wednesday, last week, there was a mass demonstration right across Russia in support of Mr. Navalny and with a lot of slogans being shouted against the continued rule of Vladimir Putin. Of course, he is managed to extend the constitution almost indefinitely now to allow him to remain president.

And they do - and the opposition have all eyes on the September elections. But a crucial issue now, Boris is that on Monday, the prosecution system here will begin an application to actually effectively ban Mr. Navalny's whole movement, so designating it as an extremist organization alongside violent Islamist groups, for example. And if that happens, it's going to be very difficult indeed for the opposition to organize in any meaningful way at all. Boris Christi?

PAUL: Sam Kiley, appreciate the report. Thank you so much, Sam.

[08:45:00]

So when we talk about the reset, we're talking about how we want to reprioritize our life after everything we've been through in the last year. We all want to make better decisions and live with fewer regrets. Don't we? It's hard to do in the middle of a pandemic and even thereafter.

So there's one man who says there are three questions to ask ourselves to make sure we can do that. We'll have more on that and the reset in moments. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We're tracking some severe storms across parts of the South right now. CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is in the severe weather center. Allison, we're talking about major hail and even the potential for tornadoes, right?

[08:50:00]

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, some of it starting this morning. But others are going to continue to the through the afternoon hours as more showers and thunderstorms continue to develop.

You've got this main line of storms, very heavy rain pushing across portions of Georgia and Alabama, but also some thunderstorms a little bit further south, the closer you get towards the Gulf Coast region.

This is where we have tornado watches in effect. The western counties, that's going to be valid until 10:00 a.m. Eastern time today, these Eastern counties until about 3:00 o'clock eastern time today. And that could even expand as we go through the rest of the afternoon, because more places are likely going to start to see the potential for severe storms as we go through the afternoon and evening hours.

The main threats very large hail, we're talking bigger than golf ball size, the potential for damaging winds and also a few tornadoes, this is a look at the timeline. Again, you can see all those storms firing up. But, again, the key thing here, Boris and Christi is that these are going to continue to hit the same places. So flooding is going to be a concern as well.

PAUL: Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for the heads up. Hope everybody is safe there.

So have you had a hard time making important decisions during COVID? I mean, the worry, the fear, the pain that come with this pandemic makes us focus on the immediate, right? If we're in physical pain or emotional pain, we're kind of locked into that moment, and we can't see ahead of it. And because of that we make decisions potentially that aren't good for us.

Well, Pastor Andy Stanley is one of many who want us to make better decisions, and fewer regrets. That's actually the title of his new book, where he talks about the five questions, we need to ask ourselves when making a decision.

And one of the questions is, what is the wise thing for me to do? Well, I asked him, how do you know that we're being smart about our choices?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PASTOR ANDY STANLEY, FOUNDER NORTH POINT MINISTRIES: Wise people connect the dots. That is, what I do today is going to impact what happens tomorrow. The decisions I make today either are going to show up in my future.

Wise people understand life is connected, the decisions I make today are going to show up as consequences and results tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So because we want to make wise decisions for our future that leads us to what he calls the legacy question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STANLEY: The legacy question is what story do I want to tell? And the what - the reason this is so important right now, one day COVID is simply going to be a story that we tell, and everybody wants to be the hero in their own story and nobody wants to have to lie about their own stories.

PAUL: In other words, what part do you want to have in the story?

STANLEY: Yes, nobody wants to tell a story of giving into temptation that ultimately undermined a relationship, nobody wants to tell a story of bankruptcy, because they were irresponsible. So nobody wants to tell a bad story. And we get to write the story of our lives. But we write the story of our lives one decision at a time.

So the question is, what story do you want to tell? And everybody has an opportunity to write a better story from this moment forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Yes. There's some hope there, but the most difficult, but important question is one that really requires us to face our selfishness with some humility and courage. It's the relationship question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STANLEY: The relationship question is what does love require of me. In terms of actual intimacy, in terms of actual communication, I have to learn or I must get in the habit of communicating that I really am in this for you. That your best interest is really something I take seriously. That honor, respect, dignity, differing all of those things are expressions of love.

Love, always require something. But when two people or two parties can decide they're going to do what's best for the other person or the other party, there's basically nothing that we can overcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Thank you to Andy Stanley there. And tell me how the Coronavirus has changed you and your approach to life. I'd love to hear from you. You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

SANCHEZ: Smerconish is next. We'll see you again in just an hour.

PAUL: Yes, we will. Before we go, though, in "Today's Food as Fuel," CNN's Jacqueline Howard explains how eating chili peppers - yes, chili peppers, could significantly lower your risk of death from heart disease or cancer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: There is a lot to chili peppers than just their fiery hot flavor. Chili peppers have more Vitamin C than oranges and they're a good source of Vitamin B6. They also contain a compound called capsaicin, which gives chili pepper its spicy kick.

And study suggests that capsaicin can provide weight loss by curbing your appetite and boosting your metabolism. Capsaicin has also been associated with a lower risk of heart disease, and cancer.

But remember you can't get these benefits if you can handle the heat. Acidic ingredients can help neutralize the spice, add to your dish, some lemon or lime juice, chopped tomatoes or a dash of wine. And dairy products are also a great way to cool down chili pepper.

For a creamier dish add yogurt or sour cream and harder cheeses that are graded or shredded can add texture, perfect for a bowl of chili.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: The case for cameras. I'm Michael Smerconish in Philadelphia. Many legacies of what can now be called the murder of George Floyd have already received ample coverage.

A national turning point against Police brutality. Officers, finally willing to cross the blue line to speak out against one of their own.