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Speaker Johnson To Talk To Rep. Greene As She Threatens To Oust Him; NASA Crews Prepare To Chase Eclipse From 50,000 Feet In The Sky; Sean Combs' Son, Christian, Accused In New Lawsuit; "Hostages: The Road Home" Airs Sunday At 8PM ET/PT; People Turning To Astrology For Answers Ahead Of Solar Eclipse. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 05, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:30:17]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The fate of Ukraine could be on the line today as two of MAGA world's most high-profile names, who are at odds over the issue, are expected to speak.

Last month, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took the first step to remove Mike Johnson as House speaker after he cut a deal with Democrats to a avert a government shutdown.

This week, she warned him she may move one step closer to ousting him if Johnson uses Democratic votes to pass billions in aid for Ukraine's war against Russia.

CNN's Melanie Zanona is here with the latest on this.

Mel, this is going to be some kind of conversation.

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Yes, indeed. And the goal for this speaker here is to really take down the temperature because the two some have not spoken since Marjorie Taylor Greene initially filed that motion to vacate the speaker's chair before the recess, and she has been publicly bashing him over this two-week break.

So the best scenario here for Johnson is that he is able to convince her to back off of her threat to follow through with that motion to vacate.

And I do know one argument that at least other Republicans have made to her privately is that if she follows through with this step, there was a risk that this can hand the speakers gavel to Democrats, just given the razor-thin majority in the House.

But it's unclear if Johnson can say anything on this phone call to convince her to back down. And that is because she is warning that he cannot move ahead with Ukraine aid.

And at this point, he's given every indication that he does plan and to move ahead with some sort of Ukraine package. Even though he's not detailed what that is exactly going to look like, he is vowing to press ahead with that in the weeks ahead.

So he has some very big decisions to make. Really, he's just trying to find a way to fund Ukraine without losing his speakership.

KEILAR: What did she call him publicly?

ZANONA: Bashing him as just a liar, and saying he's a, quote, "damned fool." You know, normal stuff --

(CROSSTALK)

ZANONA: -- in the House of Representatives.

KEILAR: Normal stuff in the House of Representatives, indeed.

Melanie Zanona, appreciate it.

Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Millions of Americans are expected to travel to get the best possible view of Monday's solar eclipse for just a few minutes.

But for a couple of NASA flight crews, the travel and the view is going to be especially spectacular. They get to follow the path of totality, or total darkness, aboard some specialized jets. They're going to be chasing the eclipse from 50,000 feet in the sky.

Joining us now is one of those lucky crew members. Tony Casey is the NASA sensor equipment operator, chosen for the rare total eclipse mission.

Sir, thanks so much for sharing your afternoon with us.

Tell us more about this mission and where you're going to be during the eclipse.

TONY CASEY, NASA WB-57 SENSOR EQUIPMENT OPERATOR: Thank you very much. Appreciate you all having me on.

Yes. We're very happy to be a part of this team. We've got two jets and a pilot and SEO for each one. And to be part of this is really great.

We're going to be traveling down to Mazatlan, Mexico, picking up totality there. And should get about seven minutes as the gold, maybe a little less than that.

SANCHEZ: So what is NASA going to be looking for during this mission?

CASEY: So NASA is operating the jets in order to accomplish science. So science was kind of determined ahead of time what we're going to do. So we partnered with research institutes and other organizations.

So University of Hawaii built up a couple of unique payloads. They are going to be making their second test flight today, and then their first mission flight on Monday. Spectrometry - spectrometer-type instruments that are going to be studying the corona that way.

And then I'm operating one -- that science is being sponsored by Southwest Research Institute. We're going to be collecting data for them simply studying the corona, trying to understand -- this corona is like 100 times hotter than the surface.

The surface gets blocked out, so you can really see it there in these eclipse moments. And every second of data is so valuable to them. So we're happy to be able to go up, try to get the instrument settings just the way they want them and get them everything we can get them.

SANCHEZ: Is there anything different about flying during an eclipse? Because I know the temperatures a little bit lower and obviously it's going to be darker, but is there anything that you do differently in this kind of scenario?

CASEY: Well, the temperature is always cold at 50,000 feet. So the temperature is not a big thing. But the thing that I've been warned about, and the flight crews that flew in 2017 for that eclipse, is you've got to sit, your cockpit up as if you're going to be flying at night.

Because very suddenly you're going to go from flying in a datetime to twilight to it's dark in the middle of that shadow. So all your instrumentation has got to be set up to have backlighting and enough lighting and then a dimming phase.

My screen, I'm going to be monitoring the system. So that's the big adjustment that has to be made. We'll also be splitting the solar screens on our standard flight visors. So we'll be able to look at the sun before the totality.

SANCHEZ: What do you think that view is going to be like at 50,000 feet?

CASEY: Stellar. I mean, absolutely phenomenal. I'm so excited. I'm so happy I can't believe I'm part of this.

[14:35:03]

But it's been described as you're in the middle darkness for that amount of time. It just runs and overtakes you and then it's twilight all around.

One of the -- one of the pilots is actually going to be taking a camera and I think livestreaming just a shot around once he's in totality, I think, to NASA TV, NASA YouTube during the event. So maybe one of the first views you get from 50,000 feet will be from him, Justin Jones.

SANCHEZ: Oh, I'm going to look for -- I'm going to look for that and look forward to it as well.

The big question that's on the minds of millions of Americans that are traveling toward the path of totality is about the weather. And I know that the potential for inclement weather has already affected your plans. Tell us about that.

CASEY: That's correct, yes. We're expecting some pretty rough weather here at Ellington on Monday, at least enough to put our take-off at risk. And this mission is so important and such a rare opportunity, we just really couldn't have that.

So we decided on Sunday to regulate and relocate the jets to El Paso. We'll fly over there, stay the night and do our mission operating out of El Paso. And hopefully, the weather will cooperate. We can come back home on Monday.

SANCHEZ: Yes. You mentioned just how critical and rare this opportunity is. It's going to be a while before we see another eclipse like this. How important is it to get this mission right? Do you feel any kind of pressure?

CASEY: I always feel pressure with these big missions. I've gotten the chance to do the first SLS rocket launch. Improve One came back from the ISS and even Osiris recognition.

So they're all -- they're all high pressure and they all kind of weigh on you. They'll interrupt your sleep the night before. You'll have nightmares about showing up late or something like that.

This one, I'm not so much worried about finding the sun. I just want to make sure I've got all the settings dialed in and I've got the sensors optimized for getting executable information.

SANCHEZ: Tony Casey, it's a fascinating mission and we really appreciate you sharing your journey with us. I'm looking forward to seeing some snapshots of that view.

CASEY: We look forward to being able to provide it to you and for just getting science some data. They can continue to study the sun or atmosphere down here and how it affects our world down here.

So we're proud to be able to bring that back down to the earth into the guys who can really do some good work with it.

SANCHEZ: Yes, interesting stuff.

Tony, thank you again.

CASEY: Thank you, sir.

SANCHEZ: So if you're not going to be 50,000 feet in this sky, you should be with CNN. Join us for "ECLIPSE ACROSS AMERICA." Our special live coverage starts Monday, April 8th, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. And you could also stream it on Max.

Stay with NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in just a few minutes.

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[14:42:16] KEILAR: New today, Christian Combs, son of rapper, Sean Diddy Combs, is accused of sexually assaulting a woman on his father's yacht. The claims were detailed in a new lawsuit that was filed in Los Angeles. Both men are named in the suit, but only Christian Combs is accused of assault.

Let's go now to CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister, who has been following this story.

Elizabeth, tell us what you're learning.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna. Yes. So this is the first suit that is against Christian Combs. He is the 26-year-old son of Sean Diddy Combs. He is a rapper and he is a model.

Now, the accuser, who goes by the name of Grace O'Marcaigh, she was a crew member and a bartender on a luxury yacht. And per this suit, this all went down in December of 2022 when Diddy and his family were aboard this yacht.

Now, she claims that she was sexually assaulted by Christian Combs. There we see them on the red carpet with his father, Diddy, at the VMAs last year.

And this is from the lawsuit. I want to read you an allegation.

It says, quote, "Defendant Sean Combs turned what was sold as a wholesome family excursion into a hedonistic environment. According to plaintiff, it resulted in an unexpected increase in workload for her and her colleagues, as well as unwanted exposure to unlawful drug use, sex work and general chaos."

Now, more of the allegations, as we get into some of the details from this complaint, Brianna, Grace alleges that Christian Combs had tequila that she says he brought on the yacht and she believes that it could have been laced with drugs.

She said that he forced her to take many shots of tequila. And after, she doesn't have any exact clear memory of what happened. But that's when she says that she was physically assaulted.

Now, in this complaint, there are photos that are alleged to be of her arm with bruises. And also there is an audio recording that is referenced in this suit. Now, we have not obtained or listened to this audio recording at CNN.

But per the complaint, there is a transcript from this audio that says that she was asking Christian Combs if he was drugging her and she was asking him to stop touching her inappropriately.

Now I have heard back from an attorney for Christian Combs. And here is what he tells us.

He says, quote, "We have not seen this woman's claim, but I'm sure we can expect the same kind of manufactured lies we've come to expect from Tyrone Blackburn and his clients."

Now, Tyrone Blackburn is the attorney who is representing this accuser. He's also representing two other accusers.

So as you see from that statement, attorneys for Christian Combs and Diddy, they're not responding to the specific allegations, but they are instead aiming to discredit the attorney for the accuser.

[14:45:09]

KEILAR: Very interesting.

Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you. We know you'll continue to follow the story.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: Six months after the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, 134 Israelis remain captive inside Gaza. About half of the original hostages have made it home. Among them, Yardan Roman-Gat.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga spoke with her for a one-hour special airing this weekend on CNN.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YARDAN ROMAN-GAT, RELEASED ISRAELI HOSTAGE: Eventually, I got to a house, like civil house most of the time I was there.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR & SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice- over): No other hostages were held with her.

(on camera): And with someone with you, a terrorist with you every day?

ROMAN-GAT: Every second and all the time.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Recounting her experience is not easy.

It's a very difficult feeling to explain and --

GOLODRYGA (on camera): (INAUDIBLE) OK. let's stop for a little while. I'm sorry.

ROMAN-GAT: What is the meaning of being a hostage who cannot pick out -- there is no certainty. You have to be alert all of the time. It's very deep aspects of humanity that are taken away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: It is a powerful hour. Bianna's report airs this Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on "THE WHOLE STORY" with Anderson Cooper.

Stay with CNN. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:09]

SANCHEZ: Throughout eons, cultures have turned to the stars and astrology for some answers. And as the solar eclipse approaches, the study of how stars and planets influencing people's lives is now part of the conversation once again.

KEILAR: That's right. It's very relevant, which is why I pitched this next guess that we're having on. This heightened interest includes people posting videos on social media. They've been buying tarot cards, birth charts, doing readings. But why?

Let's talk about it with astrologer, Jessica Lanyadoo. She's the host of "Ghost of a Podcast."

Jessica, thank you so much for being with us. We've been looking forward to this segment.

And we should note that this eclipse is happening in Aries, March 21st through April 20 -- April 19th, you Aries folks out there. What is this going to mean for those who are Aries, like by the way, our floor director, Pablo, whose birthday is on the eve of the eclipse?

JESSICA LANYADOO, ASTROLOGIST & HOST, "GHOST OF A PODCAST": Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me.

And the solar eclipse is huge news in astrology. It's a time where things really come to the surface and demand to be dealt with.

And in particular, big Aries-like emotions. So a lot of people, but especially Aries, are feeling a great sense of urgency with this eclipse.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I'm wondering, you mentioned that eclipses, their effects can last about six months. This is in some of the research we did about statements you made before.

What are some of those effects? And are certain star signs more affected by eclipses than others?

LANYADOO: So with astrology, what we understand is that the effects of an eclipse always last about six months. So what that means is that whatever it is that is coming up for a person or situation during the eclipse on April 8th will take about six months to have its effects fully felt. So it's a really big deal.

And in terms of the zodiac signs that are going to be most affected, honestly, all 12 of the zodiac signs are going to be deeply affected by this solar eclipse.

But particularly, because this is a very Aries time, we have a lot of planets in Aries and we are coincidentally going through a mercury retrograde in Aries at the same time.

The cardinal signs are going to be most affected. And the cardinal signs in astrology are Aries, libra, Capricorn and Cancer.

KEILAR: So interesting.

And we noticed that you had been -- you've been talking to people about the importance of being present during an eclipse, which really stood out to us because we also spoke with a psychologist, who said, just the nature of something like an eclipse -- we're always worried about the past, we're worried about the future.

But when you are looking at an eclipse, you're really drawn to the present. Tell us a little bit about what you've been telling people.

LANYADOO: Yes, absolutely. So whenever we go through moon transits, and eclipses are moon transits, the primary lesson is to become more emotionally self-aware and to evolve emotionally.

And the only way to do that is by being present for one's emotions. The thrust of my work around the eclipse, this eclipse season, but every season, is to help people to identify tools for staying present with emotions and coping with whatever comes up.

And the nature of this particular eclipse is bringing up emotions that are like frustration, anger, ambition, passion and urgency, as I mentioned.

[14:55:02]

And these are emotions that a lot of people have a hard time sitting with and staying with. Most people will suppress them or act out in a reactionary way around them.

And so this is a time for cultivating greater emotional skills. So that we basically have healthier, better lives.

SANCHEZ: Jessica, Brianna really wants me to ask the following question --

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: -- that she just scribbled on this paper.

A note, ask this. You say eclipses -- wait what does this mean?

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Number three.

SANCHEZ: Oh. What does this mean for any babies born in the zone of totality during the eclipse? If you're born on an eclipse, is --

LANYADOO: Oh, that's a great question.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

LANYADOO: It is a powerful sign being born on an eclipse or for the person who's giving birth. You know, giving birth on any eclipse, it indicates that this is a really big emotional experience.

So for the person giving birth on an eclipse, it can be pretty intense. It can be a very emotional and very -- especially an athletic experience.

But for a baby born during an eclipse, we have a person who will grow into a strong -- having a strong nature.

You want to keep in mind, in astrology, the sun represents your identity and your vitality and your sense of self. And the moon is their feelings and your wants and your needs.

And during a solar eclipse, the sun and moon are meeting up in a way that both strength -- strengthens both of those things, but also changes them. It makes a person a bit unusual, but in a really good way.

So I hope that --

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Unusual in a good way.

KEILAR: Just like us.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

LANYADOO: I love it. It's so good.

KEILAR: Look, people who have a due date are going to go into labor on Monday, they need to know this.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: Jessica, that was fantastic. Thank you so much for being with us.

LANYADOO: Thank you so much for having me. And thanks for asking that question.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: I wanted to ask about lottery numbers and if the Miami Dolphins are ever going to win a Super Bowl, but alas.

KEILAR: I'm out here for all my sisters due on Monday.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Join CNN for "ECLIPSE ACROSS AMERICA." Our special live coverage with us is going to start Monday, April 8th, 1:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Or you can stream it on MAX. And ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, we're watching Baltimore where President Biden is visiting the site of that bridge collapse. He's going to be speaking here shortly and we're going to bring that to you.

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