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Louisiana Set To Classify Abortion Drugs As Controlled Substances; Celtics Route Pacers 126-110 To Take 2-0 Series Lead; NYT: Tom Cotton "Strong Contender" For Trump VP Pick; Biden And Trump Both See Crucial Opportunity In June Debate; Biden, Trump Prepare For Presidential Debate; Hunter Biden's Attorneys Plan To Spar Over Definition Of "Addict"; One Killed, Dozens Injured After Severe Turbulence; Retailers Are Doing Their Own Sophisticated Detective Work To Fight In-Store Theft. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 24, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Louisiana is on the verge of becoming the first state to classify abortion drugs as controlled dangerous substances. The bill passed by the Louisiana State Legislature. We classify drugs like Mifepristone as schedule for drugs. So, that puts them in the same category of controlled substances like Xanax, Valium, and Ambien.

Now, the amendment has added to a bill that would make it a crime to give abortion medication to a person without their consent. And the bill now goes to the Republican Governor, Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign it into law. Abortion is already banned in Louisiana with no exceptions for rape or incest.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is joining me now with more. Dianne, so, what does this mean that for the women who are already in possession of Mifepristone?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Amber, that is one exception to this bill. If in fact, Governor Jeff Landry does sign it into law as we expect him to, a pregnant woman in possession of either Mifepristone or misoprostol for her own consumption is not a -- it's not applicable to her. She is an exception to this bill.

But, look, Louisiana is poised to make themselves the first state in the nation to classify those as controlled dangerous substances, scheduled for, and again, we do expect the Governor to sign this into law even though abortion is already banned in the state with no exceptions for rape or incest.

Possession of these drugs, which again, are commonly used to induce abortion would potentially be a felony punishable with up to five years in prison and hefty fines of up to $5,000. If you were charged with intent to distribute these drugs, those penalties triple.

Now, the legislation, again, does not apply to pregnant women and proponents of the legislation, say that, this is simply protecting expectant mothers. The bill sponsor said that he was inspired to Bruce present this legislation because his sister was given misoprostol against her will without her consent.

They note that doctors are still allowed to prescribe these drugs, but medical professionals, more than 200 of them in the state of Louisiana, have been sounding alarms about concerns that this is going to add more hurdles. It's going to add confusion and stigma, and may potentially delay care for people who need these drugs.

They also note that neither of these pills are addictive, that show signs for abuse, nor do they have highly adverse side effects.

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And both of these drugs have other uses aside from being commonly used to induce abortion. They are used for miscarriage management, inducing labor, as well as stopping hemorrhaging, even treating stomach ulcers.

And, look, abortion rights activists say, they worry that other states are going to follow suit after Louisiana, especially as the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case that is challenging the FDA approval of Mifepristone.

President Joe Biden weighing in on Thursday, calling it a quote scary time for women across America, issued a statement pinning the blame for this on his political rival, former President Donald Trump, because he appointed three of the conservative justices, who of course, issued that landmark Dobbs decision in 2021, overturning Roe vs. Wade, President Biden saying, quote, if Donald Trump regains power, he will try to make what is happening in states like Louisiana, or reality nationwide. Amara?

WALKER: Dianne Gallagher. Thank you very much. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, a major development overnight, the Boston Celtics have taken a 2-0 lead over the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Jaylen Brown, clearly unbothered by his all-NBA snub master career playoff pie with 40 points on route to a 126/110 victory.

With us now, CNN anchor and chief national correspondent John King. John, I assume that's why you were booked to come on this morning. The implications of the Celtics victory overnight.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Too old baby. We got rid of that game to playoff, of course, we've had this playoff run, John, so that's a good thing. Still got to go, onto Indianapolis, as a former Patriot coach might say. But, this is a great thing, right, they're looking good.

My son, at the beginning of the season, predicted Celtics Timberwolves, my 12 -- now 12-year-old predicted Timberwolves were down, one out of Dallas right now, but we'll see if he's right. BERMAN: And look, as you always say at the magic wall, we have to wait until all the votes are counted. In this case, that means all the games that are actually played, but you'd rather be the Celtics, as you often say, you'd rather be the Celtics in the Indiana Pacers right now, as the early votes come in.

KING: Yes, you would. Yes, you would.

BERMAN: All right.

KING: That's all we need to talk about, John. That's it.

BERMAN: OK. Yeah. OK. Thanks so much for joining us. Have a great weekend. The New York Times had an interesting article this morning on Tom Cotton. Michael Bender of The Times wrote the Tom Cotton, the Arkansas Republican Senator is emerging as a top possible pick to be a running mate to Donald Trump.

That caught my attention because of all the names that are being thrown out there, it seems like he's doing the least amount of public jockeying. Kate asked him about this when he's on the other day, listen.

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you think it's important for anyone who wants to be VP to have to show up to this trial? I mean, do you think anyone -- do you think someone can get the job without it?

TOM COTTON, UNITED STATES SENATOR: OK, that turned in my law license 20 years ago, and I haven't seen inside of a courtroom since then. And I don't have any plans to do so in the future.

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BERMAN: You know, sweetie, he didn't go to court for Donald Trump. He didn't show up to that sort of weird cattle call, beefsteaks cattle call in Florida, either. And I'm just wondering if maybe playing hard to get might be a better strategy.

KING: Well, I think this is evidence of the people around Donald Trump as much as the evidence of Donald Trump and what he's looking for. Remember, back in 2016, a lot of people, Donald Trump is reflexive. He is visceral, he's instinctive. He won't take -- he won't study all the data.

When he picked Mike Pence in 2016, that was to stop a revolt at the convention. They said, you pick a good solid Christian conservative from the middle of America. And you'll stop Ted Cruz's plans to disrupt and try to steal the nomination, take the nomination at the convention.

So, this would be a more traditional pick. Now, it's an interesting pick, right, Tom Cotton military service, that would help, good on television, that would help, a discipline campaigner, that would help, would it help Donald Trump in the suburbs on the abortion issue? He just turned Diane Gallagher. He's giving evidence of how Biden hopes to make this a big issue in the suburbs. So, you have to swing the balances of what is Trump looking for. But, if you're looking for a solid conservative with a disciplined campaigner with some things on his resume that Donald Trump doesn't have, Cotton makes sense.

BERMAN: Yeah, I mean, one of the most disciplined politicians that is out there today, you know, Trump also continues to say that he may not make the pick until the convention itself as in, in the convention.

I think the last time that happened was with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, right. He sent out the text during the convention. It's hard to do in this day and age to keep it under wraps that long.

It is hard to do, but you can keep it under wraps if you actually haven't made a final decision. So, that's the question. When do they get Trump to make the final decision. We do know this, especially, if you're going to make a more traditional pick, like a Tom Cotton.

Trump's a showman. Trump likes suspense. Trump likes the drama of television. So, can he do it? Does he have the discipline to hold it that long if he's actually made a decision? It would be interesting, it would add excitement. I'm skeptical.

BERMAN: Yeah, yeah, again, it is hard to keep to zero, the best way to keep it a secret is to not make the decision, as you say. Another statistic caught my eye.

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And this was in the New York Times, but there's something Harry he has been talking about.

Harriet has been talking about for some time, John, traditionally and all the campaigns, you know, that we've covered when you're talking about likely voters, it tends to favor Republicans, but there may be a switch going on right now.

The New York Times had this graphic right here, I think, we can put it up on the screen, so people can see. Well, I can just describe it to you, so you know. Basically, there you go. Among people who did not vote in 2020, Donald Trump has a huge lead, among 14 percent in the New York Times' Sienna polls.

Among 2020 voters, Biden actually leads. I'm wondering what that might mean for both sides going forward, if it is the likely voters, the people with a higher propensity to vote, who may be more apt to support Joe Biden?

KING: When the country is so polarized, when we're looking at such a narrow slice of the electorate that might swing back and forth, turning people out becomes optimal, right. And so, Donald Trump got more votes in 2020. They didn't 2016 even though he lost in 2020.

So, let's be careful here, right, he can -- we know he can turn out voters. I do think it is a key point in the sense that the way I look at the election now and the election still in November, not now is, if I can tell you from my travels, John, the American people of all stripes want change.

They want change. They're frustrated after COVID, with inflation, even talking just yesterday, to Trump voters in 16, Biden voters and 2020 who are doing this, like, what do I do right here. So, part of the challenge here is to motivate people to turn out. For the President, the Democratic coalition is a lot more complicated.

So, if you lose a tiny percentage of Black voters who stay home, a tiny percentage of Latino voters who either switch to Trump or stay home, young voters who are mad about Israel, Hamas, for example, the Democratic coalition is more complicated.

He needs to try to recreate the 2020 electorate. Trump is trying to get people who may have not shown up before, but are disenchanted, want something new to come out. That's the big competition, who can motivate, especially again, it's a pretty narrow slice that's willing to go either way. We'll see.

BERMAN: John King, great to see you have a wonderful holiday weekend. Thanks so much.

KING: Let's go to Indianapolis.

BERMAN: Let's do it, gate. Like an invite. Thank you guys.

WALKER: OK, so the definition of an addict may very well, define the future of Hunter Biden's upcoming gun trial in Delaware. The prosecution says, they plan to show evidence that Biden was using illegal drugs when he bought the gun in 2018, a federal crime.

But, in a late night filing, Biden's attorneys raised an issue with whether or not Hunter himself believed he was a drug user or addict when this all happened. And there's an important hearing today about his case. CNN's Katelyn Polantz has more on this. She's joining us. Katelyn, what's going on here? Bring us up to speed.

KATELYN POLANTZ: OK, this is the final hearing for the judge to set the terms of the trial. There's a couple of different things that are happening. But, the main thing is that Hunter Biden's lawyers in court in Wilmington, Delaware are saying to a federal judge, you know, the law isn't set here.

The judge needs to figure this out. The law that they're talking about is the law that Hunter Biden is charged with violating that prosecutors say that when he signed a form to buy a gun in October of 2018. He was filling out background forms, and said, he was not an addict or a user of a controlled substance.

But, Hunter Biden's legal team is now saying, you know, the terms user and addict, it wasn't fully understandable what that meant. At that time, he might not have known he was in attic then, they say someone like Mr. Biden, who had just completed an 11-day rehabilitation program at that time, and lived with a sober companion after that could surely believe he was not a present tense user or addict. Even on the eve of trial, we still do not know the constitutionally adequate elements of the charges in this case. So, that is what we are going to be hearing arguing from Hunter Biden's defense lawyer.

The trial is on June 3, so not long from now, prosecutors say, this is not something that they need to be disputing right now, because Hunter Biden, even in his own memoir, was saying he was an addict for four years, up until 2019. So, he knew he was an addict. That's something that doesn't need to be defined further.

There are other things that issue at this hearing, too, that are going to be pretty interesting, things that Hunter Biden's defense team wants to cut out. They don't want the jury to hear about his other set of criminal federal charges out in California related to tax issues that he led a lavish or extravagant lifestyle or that he had a child support dispute with a woman in Arkansas.

So, all of that is going to be before the federal judge in Delaware today, and we'll see how this all shakes out, and exactly how juicy this trial might be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will be interesting, but what the -- it's very interesting what his attorneys are raising in this filing.

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And I'll be very interested to see how the judge handles it, and sets the terms here. Thanks for laying out, Katelyn. Amara?

WALKER: The surge in shoplifting sometimes turns violent as criminals rush out of stores. Now, retailers are rolling out new weapons to shut the feeds down.

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POLANTZ: New this morning, the Israel Defense Forces said that they have now recovered the bodies of three more hostages from Gaza. Two of those recovered were attending the Nova Music Festival when they were killed. And the other is a man who was on his way to pick up his four- year-old granddaughter.

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They were all killed on October 7 (inaudible) and their bodies taken Gaza where they have been since. The IDF says, there are still 121 hostages being held in Gaza from that terrorist attack by Hamas

A landslide in a remote region of Papua New Guinea is believed to have killed more than 100 people. Official save the landslide covered approximately an area equivalent to three football fields, and varied homes in six rural villages.

Rescue efforts were delayed because of how hard to reach these villages were, and also, the lack of infrastructure along the way. And a heads up from the New England Aquarium telling the public to be aware of increased shark activity near the Massachusetts Coast, after marine mammals were showing up bitten by Great Whites.

Look at those attacks. Well, scientists haven't seen a Great White yet they -- they quote, no, they're there. And that is not ominous at all. Officials encourage anyone to report shark sightings using the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy Sharktivity App. Fascinating. Amara?

WALKER: We are learning new details about the injury sustained by some of the passengers on that terrifying, Singapore Airlines flight that experienced severe turbulence. The hospital where patients are being treated in Bangkok says more than 20 people are suffering from spinal injuries.

Joining me now is, Dr. Todd Albert, a spine surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Dr. thank you so much for your time this morning. We also understand the six passengers have skull and brain injuries. A total of 20 are in the intensive care unit. I mean, what is your reaction hearing about these types of very serious injuries? I mean, what kind of violent thrusting or shaking causes these types of injuries?

TODD ALBERT, SURGEON-IN-CHIEF EMERITUS AT HOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY: Well, thank you for having me. Amara. You need a significant -- significant force and different kinds of force. Like, when I hear skull injuries and head injuries, I'm thinking those patients didn't have their seatbelt on, and probably got the plane dropped.

And their head went right very hard against the ceiling in some form or another that would give them the skull injury or went forward with a giant, a very violent jerking motion. In terms of spinal injuries, there's lots of ways those can happen. That can happen with a belt on, if there's such a thing called a seatbelt injury.

That's a typical spinal injury, where the body flexes very hard forward against a braking motion, or a collision. But also, if they're rotating or violently shaking back and forth, you could get a spinal injury, there's a difference between a bony spinal injury and an injury that would cause a neurologic injury, or an injury to the spinal cord.

So, there's different types of injuries, some as benign as a muscle strain that's significant, and/or, a little fracture that needs to heal with a brace over time, or others that injured the neural elements, or what's inside the spinal canal, that can be increasingly serious.

WALKER: So, then, what kinds of injuries to the spine would require spinal operations because the hospital in Bangkok is saying that 17 patients had to undergo spinal surgery.

ALBERT: Yeah, so, those are either what's called a fracture dislocation, meaning the spine literally disconnects, and has to be reconnected. And, those can be associated with significant paralysis or partial paralysis that will then require rehabilitation afterwards.

It could also have injured their neck because if you think about violent shaking and stopping and going forward and backwards, they can get a dislocation there, or a fracture of the bone that requires stabilization, because it's -- remember, it's a lot of points, bones loaded on top of one another, and connected with discs and joints, and those joints can get injured.

WALKER: It's just terrifying to hear about these kinds of injuries, as many of us fly, right, and a lot of us do end up taking off our seat belts, especially, when you're 10 hours into an overseas flight, and you're, you know, at cruising altitude at 37,000-feet. Let me ask you about this 73-year-old British man who passed away, he died on that flight, which is just so tragic.

He was flying with his wife as we hear on this once in a life -- for this once in a lifetime dream vacation with her, his name was Jeff Kitchen. Apparently, he had an existing heart condition, but what -- what do you make of that? The fact that a passenger died on a flight when there was severe turbulence.

ALBERT: Well, it's tragic, as you said, and it's terribly sad. But, what I imagine is, what I imagine is that he became so scared or had --you've heard of the fight or flight response when something is happening like this and you're saying to yourself I may die or what's going to happen here.

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You get so scared, you have so much adrenaline and if you have a heart that doesn't have extra compensation, so to speak, or the ability to tolerate it, it might be the equivalent of making Mr. Kitchen go on a 200-yard sprint, which he may be can't do or his heart couldn't tolerate with the amount of adrenaline going through his system.

That's what I would envision could have happened. I can't say it is what happened. But, that's -- that's -- when I heard that, that's what I thought.

WALKER: But the cause of death has not been confirmed, but we do appreciate your expertise. Dr. Todd Albert, thank you. Kate?

POLANTZ: So you've probably seen the videos, teams of thieves blitzing through retail stores, smashing glass, grabbing items by the bag full and running out all within seconds. Well, now retailers are trying new tactics to try and crack down on the brazen wave of retail theft that we've been seeing across the country, but it is coming with a cost. CNN's Kyung Lah is explaining how customers are paying the price.

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KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Pre-dawn raid, dozens of heavily armed deputies and investigators from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department surround a house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Force on the doorway.

LAH (voice-over): 12 people arrested and organized crime networks has law enforcement. Suspected of links to narcotics stealing and illegal gambling. At another location, Santa Clara County deputies recovered the fuel for this alleged criminal network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tons of packaged goods, some parts of the house looked like it was a store.

LAH (voice-over): Stolen from local businesses, but it is nothing like the shoplifting you've seen in the past. Brazen thieves recorded racing out with carts full of merchandise, even attacking store workers in the process.

SEAN BROWNE, SENIOR MANAGER, ASSET PROTECTION, HOME DEPOT: This is not somebody who forgot to scan something at self-checkout or somebody who stole food. This is a large criminal organization with multiple factors.

LAH: Sean Browne is not a cop. He works for Home Depot, investigating organized retail crime. His job, a growing field in store chains as criminal organizations branch out from guns and drugs to stolen goods.

A CNN review of court records and interviews of more than two dozen retail chains and law enforcement officials, show that the private sector is not just helping the police, but often delivering the initial evidence that leads to search warrants.

BROWNE: A lot of times local and state resources don't have the capacity to investigate these crimes at that scale.

LAH: An in, comes, you.

BROWNE: We tried a full service the investigations.

LAH: Home Depot gave us a glimpse of a model, replicated by multiple major retailers across the U.S. This is their high-tech command center, with electronic eyes on their stores throughout the country.

Retailers have already moved beyond searching for the thieves you see in viral videos to their bosses. They are the real targets known as the fences.

BROWNE: These ringleaders operate as the fence of this merchandise, where they're converting it to cash, drugs and other illicit items.

LAH: It sounds like you're talking about the mob.

BROWNE: It often is conflated with what would be considered mob activities, bad actors will target specific merchandise, usually directed by the ringleader, almost like a shopping list.

LAH: Store chains have the financial muscle to deploy high-tech tracking, like license plate readers, and in-store monitors, capturing the crime as it happens. We use a lot of different investigative tactics and technologies to ensure that we can build the absolute best case for law enforcement and prosecutors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bad guys have the upper hand with respect to this issue. LAH: The sheer scale of organized store theft is so overwhelming, members of Congress met with prosecutors, and store chains, looking for federal help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The organization and sophistication of these groups has grown exponentially in recent years. I think organized retail crime is one of the biggest issues that is facing our local economy. This entire aisle on this side is almost completely locked up.

BROWNE: Yeah, not the way we would like to envision our rough electrical aisle for our customers, our pro contractors, but this is what your typical Home Depot looks like.

LAH: Retail says, Browne has already locked down, their merchandise impacting the consumer from inconvenience to higher prices. How would they get past this?

BROWNE: We've had certain crews that have caught locks and cables, and broken into some of the fixtures that we've built inside of our stores.

LAH: What you see here is because the explosion of online shopping has made it easier than ever to move stolen merchandise, sold to a consumer hunting for a deal.

BROWNE: 20 years ago, I needed a storefront in order to sell laundry detergent. Now, I can do it from my phone.

LAH (voice-over): California has now put hundreds of millions of dollars towards combating this problem, enabling law enforcement here in Santa Clara County to break up a major crime ring, recovering $150,000 in stolen merchandise authority --