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Adam Kinzinger is Interviewed about Biden; Severe Turbulence Hits Air Europa Flight; Jamie Foxx Opens Up About Health Scare. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 02, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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


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[09:33:44]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, since the debate Thursday night, we had been looking for signs from elected Democrats that maybe they might split from President Biden, maybe elected Democrats might be open to the idea of him leaving the presidential race. Until this morning, we really hadn't seen any cracks at all. Until this morning.

This was Congressman Mike Quigley, who spoke with Kasie Hunt on CNN a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): But I think he has to be honest with himself. This decision he's going to have to make. And he clearly has to understand I think what you're getting to hear is that his decision not only impacts who's going to serve in the White House the next four years, but who's going to serve in the Senate, who's going to serve in the House, and it will have implications for decades to come. But we have to be honest with ourselves that it wasn't just a horrible night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That was Democratic Congressmen Mike Quigley from the state of Illinois.

With us now is CNN senior political commentator, Adam Kinzinger, former congressman from the state of Illinois.

You speak Illinois.

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's right.

BERMAN: So, what did you hear from your former colleague Mike Quigley right there?

KINZINGER: Well, I mean, I heard what, frankly, Democrats - and this is what I've been saying too, what Democrats need to do is, you know, from the Biden campaign perspective, you know, don't pretend like it was just a bad debate night.

[09:35:08] Again, there's a - there's a big issue here and there's real importance in addressing that to the American people, saying, you saw what you saw, here's the deal though, compared to this habitual liar, this terrible whiny victim over here, Donald Trump, you know, this is no comparison.

But to, you know, I think the campaign had put out a statement once. It was just a bunch of bedwetters and angry podcasters. And I think that's not a great thing. So, I think what Mike's saying there is not necessary, you know, Joe Biden needs to get out, but what he's saying is, you've got to address this head-on because this is in the American people's soul right now. They see it and they need to see why Donald Trump is far, far worse than - than anything else.

BERMAN: How do you like being called a bedwetter by - by Democrats?

KINZINGER: I think it's pretty bad. I mean, look, I - you know, and, from my perspective, I - I haven't said, you know, that there needs to be any kind of change. I've just said, look, I'm not a Democrats. To the Democrats, just make sure you put your strongest foot forward. And obviously right now it's Joe Biden. So, you need to find out where that weaknesses is and what happened on the debate. You know, what is it that people are seeing and how do you - how do you counter that? Because Joe Biden has got to beat Donald Trump.

I mean Donald Trump has been - and the Supreme Court yesterday basically said that Donald Trump can do whatever he wants to stay in power now or - or when he's in office. So, this is why this race is so essential.

BERMAN: Just -

KINZINGER: But I don't like being called that. I don't think a lot of people do. And it's got to be a coalition of people for Biden here.

BERMAN: You say that you haven't yet said that the Democrats should change their ticket. And you say right now President Biden is still the best choice. Is that what you just said there? Do you believe that to be the case? Do you believe that given the option right now President Biden is the best case to lead the Democratic ticket?

KINZINGER: Well, because I don't - looking at the fact that I don't understand, you know, how is this going to be with - I'm not a Democrat. How will this - how will the politics in the party be if they make a decision to replace, you know, before the convention, you know, all this kind of stuff that's - that's unknown. I look at it and I say, look, Joe Biden had a bad night. He is - he has every right to stay in as the nominee because he won that nomination. So, it's a decision all the Democrats have to make.

From my perspective, whoever runs, and right now it's Joe Biden and probably will be Joe Biden in November, whoever runs has got to beat Donald Trump and will be far better than Donald Trump. And this is my only advice to the campaign. And I'll tell him this one on one too, which is, continue to prosecute the case for why Donald Trump would be awful for this country and why Joe Biden would be better. BERMAN: And now talk to me about the Supreme Court. What do you think

of the Supreme Court ruling and what do you think of, frankly, the nine justices who made it?

KINZINGER: Look, I - you know, up until basically yesterday I would tell you that I thought the Supreme Court was pretty much, you know, yes, there'd be a few folks on there, we see, you know, Justice Thomas, et cetera, that are pretty focused on the politics of it. But generally, you know, people cross party lines.

This - this, yesterday, I don't understand. This - this surprised many people. What it's basically said is that if you're president of the United States, you can do anything. And even if ultimately it is determined that it doesn't fall under immunity, you have - immunity is - is -- presumed immunity, which means that somehow however to prosecute that president, you have to go through a whole court system to say it's not real immunity because its presumed at the beginning. I think they - they made a terrible mistake. They have potentially allowed whoever comes to office at some point that is bad, they've allowed them to take advantage of a system that our founding fathers never intended.

So, it's very disappointing. Very concerning.

BERMAN: Can I - let me just ask you, because Donald Trump, on his social media over the last few days, posted or reposted something that's said that Liz Cheney should be tried for treason in a televised military tribunal.

KINZINGER: Yes.

BERMAN: Does the Supreme Court ruling - how does that impact how you view that?

KINZINGER: Well, it's gotten darker. I mean, look, you know, every time Donald Trump posts something everybody's just like LOL, he's not serious. Like, first off, do we really want a president who nobody takes seriously, but like - in this you should.

I mean, here's the reality of it. He made an accusation at the debate, and here's kind of a little of my - of my being upset about how the debate went is, the one that should be fact-checking Donald Trump was Joe Biden, and he didn't. And one of the things that was said was that the January 6th Committee destroyed all the evidence. It is garbage.

[09:40:01]

It is on the internet. You can Google it and get all the evidence.

On top of that, Donald Trump has a defense team. He can scourge that evidence up. But what he's doing is creating a dark enemy, and he's done that in Liz Cheney and the January 6th Committee, to try to bring his base together.

Let me be very clear about something, if you have an accusation that we deleted something, show us what we deleted. But you can't. You just make this crazy accusation. And this is that dark moment we live in.

And, yes, so, this made it worse. It made it a little worse, but, you know, we're going to - we're going to make sure he doesn't win in November.

BERMAN: Adam Kinzinger, thanks for being here this morning. Appreciate it.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, a flight forced to make an emergency landing after hitting turbulence so severe that one passenger flew up into the overhead compartment. Like, flew up into the ceiling of the cabin. Dozens of people - dozens of other injuries were reported. And we're also now hearing from the passengers themselves about it - about what it was all like.

And doctors say a teenager was minutes from dying after a terrible accident, and how they now say that teen saved himself.

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[09:45:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Terrifying moments on air - in the Air Europa flight. Passengers thought they were going to die after terrible turbulence. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was flying from Spain to Uruguay yesterday when it was hit by that severe turbulence. People on the plane were thrown into the air. You see what the plane looks like there. They were thrown into the ceiling panels. One man, you can see him there, had to be pulled out of overhead luggage. That bin there. Somehow getting up in there because of the turbulence.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean joining us now.

Wow, those images are insane. And then you have people thinking that they were going to die. We have heard about this turbulence before. What are you learning about this particular case?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The scene is so incredible, Sara. You know, the interior panels broken off. A seat folded like a book, which just shows how severe this turbulence was. Those are pretty strong.

One passenger, as you mentioned, lodged in that overhead bin, launched up inside the luggage compartment according to one onboard.

Air Europa says 30 passengers received what they call minor injuries. According to reports, Brazilian public health officials say passengers got head, neck, and chest injuries.

Want you to listen now to one of the passengers who was on board this flight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAXIMILIANO, AIR EUROPA FLIGHT PASSENGER (through translator): From one moment to the next, the plane destabilized and went into a dive. The people who didn't have seat belts went up in the air and hit the ceiling, and they got hurt. Those who had seat belts on, not so much. Then we landed here as an emergency. They helped us on the runway. We were on the plane for three or four hours without being able to move.

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MUNTEAN: We'll get to the part about seat belts in a second. But the question for investigators now will be how this happened since airlines are getting better at forecasting turbulence all the time.

It's an invisible phenomenon to pilots. Onboard radar can detect some of the major causes, like thunderstorms. Though important to note here, our CNN whether team says there were no thunderstorms in the area at the time. There's also mountain wave turbulence, which creates shearing columns of wind. There's wake turbulence, which is created by another airplane, just like the wake on a boat. Then there is clear air turbulence. That's the turbulence associated with none of those tale tales. The bumpy patches at high altitudes that are more frequent in the wintertime. Remember, Brazil is in the southern hemisphere and its wintertime right now.

So, the big takeaway here for passengers, keep your seat belt buckled as much as you can. I know that's hard on a flight like this, 12 hours long. So, when you're up and walking around, going to the bathroom, stretching your legs, treat it like a bit of a risk. We're going into a huge period for international travel right now. But remember, the National Transportation Safety Board says turbulence is the number one cause of injuries on commercial flights.

The good news is, the data says that U.S. airlines have become pretty good at avoiding it, and the passengers are following the rules, Sara.

SIDNER: Wow. Yes, the seat belt. You heard that gentleman say, like the people that were in their seat belts weren't hurt so much as those who were, of course, out of their seat belt. So, it's a good reminder to all of us.

Pete Muntean, thank you so much.

John.

BERMAN: All right, gone for 20 days. That is how Jamie Foxx describes the illness that led to his mysterious hospitalization last year.

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[09:52:40]

SIDNER: Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx is speaking out about that medical emergency he suffered from last year. You'll remember the illness left him hospitalized for weeks in Atlanta where he was shooting a movie.

CNN's Lisa France -- Lisa Respers France has all the details.

Lisa.

LISA FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Hi, Sara. I love how you say my name.

Yes, we still don't know exactly -

SIDNER: It's got to be the whole thing.

FRANCE: The whole thing. Right.

We still don't know exactly what happened to Jamie Foxx, but he is sharing a few more details in a recent video that was posted on social media. He explains that on April 11th, back in 2023, when he was in Atlanta shooting the Netflix film, he said he felt a really bad headache. He asked a friend for an Advil. And then the next thing he knew it was 20 days later. He said he's not sure exactly, you know, what happened because he does not remember it, but he said that he was told after the fact that his sister and his daughter took him to another doctor who gave him a cortisone shot and that another doctor then told him that, as he said, something's going on up there. And he pointed to his head. But he said that he was not going to say on camera exactly what it was.

We do know Jamie Foxx is extremely private. He was off of the radar for weeks and weeks, and people didn't know what was going on. And his crew really kept things private for him because they respected the fact that he just is a person who wants to be seen his best. He came back months later and he said on social media that he did not want people to see him ill like that. He wanted people to see him laughing and joking and doing his work like he usually does.

SIDNER: But he did bring it up. It's quite interesting when you hear the word headache, you think maybe aneurysm, you think maybe stroke. Maybe we will never know. We will all wait and see.

Lisa Francis, also so good to see you. It's good to see your face.

FRANCE: So good to see you. Thank you.

SIDNER: Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, a 14-year-old with quite a story to tell. First, she accidentally shot himself in the leg when he picked up a gun at a friend's house, but then he also saved his own life. Speaking from the hospital, Shane Butler was tearful in recounting what all happened. He managed to survive that gunshot thanks to the first aid lessons that he received from his football team. His coach had brought in an ER doctor to teach the team first aid last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANE BUTLER, SURVIVED ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING: If I didn't know what to do, I could have died. But I saved myself. DR. ABDULLAH HASAN PRATT, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN, UNIVERSITY OF

CHICAGO MEDICAL CENTER: This isn't just a save of a life. This is a save of a potential leader.

[09:55:01]

He's on his way toward an amazing high school like Kenwood. He's an amazing young athlete.

SONJA ESTERLING, SHANE'S MOTHER: Because of what this doctor did for me and my kid, he's here. He's here. And that means a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Oh, my goodness.

So, Shane Butler said that after he shot himself he grabbed some clothing and turned it into a makeshift tourniquet that helped him sustain and stop the bleeding until police and paramedics arrived. And he learned that from that doctor, Dr. Abdullah Hasan Pratt, who led that first aid training last year. And Dr. Pratt said that the bullet actually hit a main artery in Butler's leg. And if he hadn't used his training, he would have, could have, died in minutes. A beautiful story.

SIDNER: This is one of the things where you don't get in trouble with your parent because of what shooting yourself in the leg and handling a gun -

BERMAN: Yes.

SIDNER: But, you know, you saved yourself as well. Wow.

BERMAN: You could see it in his face. He was just - he was grateful to be alive right there.

SIDNER: Totally.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

BERMAN: All right, thank you all for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Erica Hill this morning. Special guest star Erica Hill, up next.

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