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Manhunt Underway For 7 Inmates Who Escaped From Louisiana Jail; New Dramatic Bodycam Footage Shows Moments A Group Of Residents Tried To Stop An ICE Arrest In MA; At Least 14 Killed In KY, 7 In MO After Tornado Outbreak. Trump Says He Will Speak with Putin by Phone on Monday; Trump to Walmart: "Eat The Tariffs," Don't Pass Them on to Customers; Gaza Humanitarian Aid Official Explains Plan to Get Help to Civilians. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired May 17, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:13]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOS: All right, your favorite stars take you to their favorite places in the CNN original series, My Happy Place. This week, Billy Porter finds freedom in Mykonos, Greece. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY PORTER, ACTOR & SINGER: I'm no stranger to speaking my mind. Now, I have no issue with our first location. However, it is time to dial up the magic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, we are ready.

PORTER: I've never experienced a photo shoot in Mykonos before. The light is fabulous. The color is fabulous. And I just show up. I've been taking pictures a long time, honey. I know how to show up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, two, three. Beautiful. I love it. Gorgeous. One more. Excellent. One more. Three. Excellent. Look at the flowers. Great. I love it. Would you like to see the photos?

PORTER: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're an amazing model.

PORTER: Thank you. It's great. I love them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Always the fashionisto. Be sure to tune in to a new episode of My Happy Place with Billy Porter, airing Sunday, 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. A manhunt is underway in Louisiana for seven inmates who are still on the run after escaping from a New Orleans jail early Friday morning.

A total of 10 inmates, some murder suspects, broke out of the jail, breaching a wall behind a toilet. Three were caught Friday. Stunning surveillance videos from the jail showing, you see them there, running out of the facility and across the highway. Investigators believe the inmates may have had help from inside the sheriff's office.

CNN's Rafael Romo is joining me right now with more on all of this. What is the latest?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's incredible. How do you explain something like that, right? You said it already. Three have been caught, seven are still at large. And some Louisiana officials are not mincing words, Fred, about what happened. Especially after Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson acknowledged that she believed the inmates received assistance in their escape from individuals inside the department.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams calls the escape of the 10 inmates a, quote, complete failure of the most basic responsibilities entrusted to a sheriff or jail administrator. Overnight, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office announced three of those inmates who escaped Friday morning have been recaptured, including 21-year-old Robert Moody, 24-year-old Dkenan Dennis and Kendell Myles, who is 20 years old.

The sheriff's office said Moody was caught thanks to a tip and are still asking the public to provide information to help them capture the rest of them. As you can imagine, people in New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana are both concerned and outraged about the massive jailbreak, something that became evident last night during a press conference that became confrontational.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So no one was watching live video all night at the jail?

MAJOR SILAS PHIPPS, JR., ORLEANS PARISH SHERIFF'S OFFICE: I won't say no one was watching live video, but -- but there are over 900 cameras.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did nobody see them leaving the jail?

PHIPPS: There are -- there are over 900 cameras in this facility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know. Just, how did no one see a massive jailbreak?

But it's your job -- it's your job to monitor every single person in this facility every day.

Do you want to say you're sorry to the people of New Orleans for having this happen?

PHIPPS: We are underfunded, understaffed, underpaid. So we do our best to hire staff and retain them, but like everyone else, we're short. (END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO: Quite an admission there, as we just heard, Fred. And as we have previously reported, several of the inmates are accused killers. Authorities say they made it out of the jail around 1:00 a.m. on Friday morning after breaking open a door and then breaching a wall behind the toilet. They appear to have left graffiti messages above the hole they crawled through. The message said, quote, we innocent and the words, too easy, LOL.

Another video released by officials shows the inmates running across Interstate 10 into a neighborhood where authorities say they found clothing. Officials say all the inmates should be considered armed and dangerous and New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said her officers have leads on the escapees still at large and 200 agents and officers are currently looking for them.

But again, so many questions here and especially a lot of people who are outraged because it took seven hours, almost eight hours for officials to let the public know when they were in danger because -- in danger because these people are, again, considered armed and dangerous.

[13:04:59]

WHITFIELD: Yes, pretty incredible. I can't help but also think how reminiscent with the whole toilet removal and that being an escape, it makes me think of a drug cartel.

ROMO: Right.

WHITFIELD: Right, Guzman, that was one of the methods in which he escaped.

ROMO: It's brazen.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll keep us posted when you learn more. Thank you so much.

ROMO: Of course.

WHITFIELD: All right. Fallout now in Worcester, Massachusetts. Following the chaotic ICE arrest of a woman last week, Worcester police are now releasing dramatic police body cam video of the incident.

What you see here, neighbors and a family member trying to stop ICE agents from arresting the woman. Worcester official -- officials, rather, say after considering the chaos that erupted, they're now exploring how their employees, including police, should interact with federal immigration agents.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is following all of this. Gloria, help put all of this into context for us.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, and that's important because what we're seeing here is essentially a municipality that is struggling with what to do when federal law enforcement agents show up in its town to enforce immigration law. And that's exactly what we were seeing here. You had ICE enforcement show up to Worcester, Massachusetts to arrest a woman.

And it was during that attempt that chaos erupted, as you can see in the video. Now, the city has released the video in part to try and get some clarity about exactly what happened here. Now, let me explain what you're looking at here.

There was a woman in a house in Worcester, Massachusetts, taking care of an infant and a 16-year-old. ICE showed up. She called the 16-year- old's mother to come and help. As it turns out, ICE was there to arrest the mother of the 16-year-old.

When they moved in to arrest her, the 16-year-old tried to block the ICE officers from being able to take her. It turns out that that was the teenager's mother who they were trying to arrest.

Now, it gets really chaotic here, where she is holding an infant. You can see it there. And she is standing in front of a police vehicle in an attempt to block it. And this is where things really begin to fall apart, right, because they are blocking this police video. They're holding an infant in their arms, putting that child in danger.

And now you have immigration officers who are trying to make an arrest and local police who are trying to keep things under control. There's a lot of people surrounding the officers. People are chanting, do not take the mother, again, that -- the woman that ICE is there to arrest. And so this is a really chaotic situation. And that's why local police responded.

Now, the 16-year-old was eventually arrested and charged. You can see there that she's holding the infant, along with another woman who was also charged with assault and battery on a police officer, among other charges.

Now, we are told that the woman who was going to be arrested by ICE, according to DHS, she had been previously arrested by local police for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery on a pregnant victim. That's who they were there to arrest.

Now, as I said, the city of Worcester tried to release this video in order to bring clarity to what happened here. And here's what the city manager had to say in part, quote, I want to reassure our community that the municipality will never target individuals based on their immigration status and reaffirm that the city of Worcester and Worcester Police Department does not assist ICE with civil detainments, according to Massachusetts state law, but they may not interfere with it.

So the city manager there acknowledging that there's only so much they can do in a situation like this where it becomes so chaotic, where you have both the public and law enforcement officers potentially in danger, the local police had to step in. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much for that.

All right, the U.S. Supreme Court has blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with deportations under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a sweeping wartime authority. Friday's ruling from the nation's top court applies to a group of Venezuelan immigrants in northern Texas.

The justices sent the case back to an appeals court to decide other underlying questions, including whether the president's move is legal. President Trump lashed out at the ruling on social media, writing, quote, the Supreme Court won't allow us to get criminals out of our country, end quote.

All right, joining me right now with more on all this, the impact of this ruling, Jeffrey Jacobovitz. He's an adjunct law professor at the Washington College of Law at American University. He's also a trial attorney. Great to see you, Jeffrey. So --

JEFFREY JACOBOVITZ, ADJUNCT LAW PROFESSOR, WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW AT AMERICAN UNIV.: Good to see you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, help us understand the significance of this ruling. Did the court rule --

JACOBOVITZ: Sure.

WHITFIELD: -- you know, at all on the legality of using the Alien Enemies Act, or instead deferred it to a lower court?

JACOBOVITZ: No, what they did really is, is defer it to a -- a lower court. And they didn't say you cannot do it, but they said that these deportees are entitled to due process. And you can't just pick them up and take them out of the country.

[13:10:12]

You need to have hearings pursuant to the Fifth Amendment. And this hasn't been happening. And so the court decision is once again against the Trump administration on an immigration matter.

WHITFIELD: So now this will mean due process to anyone moving forward, but how about retroactively for those who have been deported or are about to be processed and be deported? If they have not been given due process, will that now have to be extended according to this ruling?

JACOBOVITZ: Well, that's a very good question, Fred, because the issue will be, will the Trump administration follow this ruling? And they have not followed some of the rulings. They have followed others. And, for example, Judge Boasberg asked them to bring the planes back or stop the planes, and the Trump administration did not do that.

You have people already who -- who have been taken out of the country and are in El Salvador. The court is saying you cannot do that. The court is saying you need to have hearings first to legitimize it. And, obviously, I think lower courts will rule that these people have to be brought back once their lawyers file for hearings. The question is, will they do it? Will the Trump administration do it?

WHITFIELD: OK. And you just underscored already that today the Trump administration has defied at least one order or two. So then what happens if this continues to be a pattern of defying a court order, no matter what level of court it is?

JACOBOVITZ: Well, Judge Boasberg already started looking at contempt proceedings against DOJ officials or others, and the D.C. Circuit put a hold to it. But now we have a Supreme Court decision which is clear- cut that there has to be due process. We have Judge Ennis who has asked the administration to bring somebody back. They haven't done it.

And so the only way you can really rectify it is to hold people in contempt, but it doesn't mean that ultimately it will happen because if you hold somebody in contempt, Trump can pardon them.

WHITFIELD: But he wouldn't or couldn't pardon them until the end of the year. So in the duration or in the midst of it all right now, what would contempt actually look like for any of these parties who would be disrespectful of an order?

JACOBOVITZ: Sure, there can be civil contempt or criminal contempt. Generally, criminal contempt, you have to refer over to the Department of Justice, and Attorney General Bondi hasn't shown any inclination to hold people in contempt. So if it's civil contempt, you can fine people. And it could be, you know, a big fine. It could be a smaller fine.

But that is one way to do it, and a contempt proceeding could impact on, for example, a DOJ's attorney -- DOJ attorney's ability to practice before the bar in D.C.

WHITFIELD: Have the muscles of the judicial system ever been stretched like this before from what you can recall?

JACOBOVITZ: Well, there have been stretches, but this is pretty blatant and direct. And even statements by the administration about, well, they -- they will likely follow most of the decisions or something along those lines is somewhat surprising.

And we're in new territory here, and -- and whether they will follow it is -- is really a $64,000 question.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jeffrey Jacobovitz, always great to see you. Thanks so much.

JACOBOVITZ: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, man, it's a tornado, man. We're in a tornado. Oh --. Oh --.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Incredible, violent, and deadly storms ripping through several central states overnight. Entire communities leveled by tornadoes right now. Rescuers are searching the rubble for survivors as the death toll is expected to climb and the threat for severe weather still not over.

[13:14:04]

And a CNN exclusive, quote, FEMA is not ready, end quote. An internal FEMA review revealing the agency is not ready for hurricane season, which is now just two weeks away.

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WHITFIELD: A violent and deadly tornado outbreak has killed at least 21 people across the central U.S. and left a massive trail of devastation in its path. The storm's leveled homes, uprooted trees, brought down power lines across a dozen states from Michigan to Alabama.

And video from hard-hit Laurel County, Kentucky, shows residents and first responders searching through piles of debris and mangled vehicles. They're looking for victims. Governor Andy Beshear says at least 14 people died in the southeastern part of the state, and he expects the number to climb.

Here's how one resident described the storm's impact.

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LEO REDNOUR, TORNADO VICTIM: I went in the house, and I looked out the side window, and when it got -- when I started out the side window, it looked like all that stuff was coming from up. And so you couldn't see -- I couldn't see the tail or nothing, but it just lifted, like it was lifting everything up. So I got in the hallway and put my hands over everybody, and it started blowing windows out. And you're talking about praying. I prayed harder than anything I could ever do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:20:05]

WHITFIELD: That came after a devastating tornado hit Missouri Friday afternoon, killing at least five. Two other storm-related deaths were reported in another part of the state. I want to bring in now CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones, who is on the ground right now in hard-hit St. Louis, Missouri. Julia, what are you hearing from people there?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're hearing just how scary it was to go through that. Imagine that, Fred. Winds of up to 100 miles an hour, and this is the result, right? Entire roofs just swept out homes. We talked about downed trees. We're seeing downed tree after downed tree, uprooted large trunks of trees. Over here, a downed power line. We already saw some crews from the utility company coming to survey this area to take a look and see what they can do. It's still pretty dangerous. I'm not going to go into this area over here. Siding from homes, parts of utilities, roofing from homes. This building right here, we did speak to a neighbor earlier saying she was here to help clean up other neighbors' homes who were even more destroyed than hers. That was a whole other story on that building there that got completely swept off all of this debris still on the streets. We're seeing crews coming out here with big machines to start to clear it out.

We're also still seeing first responders. You can probably hear the sirens still around here surveying this area, looking for people that might still be missing. And we heard from both the mayor and from the governor at this hour. Take a listen to what they said.

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MAYOR CARA SPENCER, ST. LOUIS: We are obviously still grieving. The governor and I just got done surveying some of the hardest hit areas here. The devastation is truly tremendous.

GOV. MIKE KEHOE, MISSOURI: We're putting all hands on deck to make sure that we can assist the city and local authorities as much as possible. I would echo the mayor's response or comments that our first responders, both in fire and police, have been incredible heroes in this moment.

And this is when you really see the goodness of Missouri when you see these men and women step up and help their friends and neighbors restore some essential services.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And Fred, that is what we're seeing here in this residential neighborhood of St. Louis. People just picking up brooms and rakes and trying to clean up to help their friends and neighbors and their local businesses to try and get back on their feet, open their doors.

There is a curfew that will be in place tonight from 9:00 p.m. until 6 o'clock local. And as we mentioned earlier, this storm is winding down, but another one picking up just a few states out of here in the coming days.

WHITFIELD: All right, so very volatile situation. Thank you so much, Julia Vargas Jones in St. Louis.

All right, hurricane preparations at FEMA have slowed to a crawl, and the Disaster Relief Agency, I'm quoting now, is not ready, end quote, for the start of the season. That according to an internal agency review obtained by CNN.

This comes after the agency's previous acting administrator was fired last week after telling Congress that he did not believe the agency should be eliminated, which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem vowed to do. CNN's Gabe Cohen has details now. So, Gabe, what is going on at FEMA? GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, FEMA has been in turmoil for months now with constant attacks from the Trump administration, which has vowed to eliminate the agency and shift far more responsibility for disaster response and recovery onto the states.

As sources tell me, roughly 30 percent of FEMA's full-time staff are gone at this point to layoffs and DOGE buyouts, including a lot of senior leaders. And morale at the agency has plummeted. And now we've obtained this document, which is really the clearest internal assessment that we have seen that acknowledges and really lays out what all of this means for hurricane season.

The document says, as FEMA transforms to a smaller footprint, the intent for this hurricane season is well understood. Thus, FEMA is not ready. And what that's talking about is this general uncertainty about what FEMA's mission is going to be in the coming months, what storms they'll actually respond to, and what resources and personnel that they will have at their disposal.

And at the same time, according to this document, hurricane preparations have been derailed in recent months. Many trainings have been paused, and there has been very little coordination happening between FEMA and its state and federal partners.

And so, what does that mean for what Americans could face in the months ahead? Well, one FEMA official told me, what Americans will see is a federal government that is either absent completely or, if present, sputtering to deliver response and recovery resources.

[13:25:02]

Another said to me, I can't think of a more adverse way to be heading into hurricane season. We're all on the edge. And we're not seeing hope. We're going in with no confidence that when decisions have to be made in limited time, that impacts saving lives, that those decisions will have support.

Now, to be clear, FEMA's new acting administrator disagrees with those statements. Here's what he told a conservative radio station just a few days ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE RICHARDSON, ACTING FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: We will be ready. We will meet the President's intent. And we will make sure that the American people are safe. OK. We may do it a little differently. We will be criticized for it, but we will do it very, very effectively. And I will ensure that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: But the Trump administration has acknowledged in recent days that it still does not have a finalized plan for how natural disasters will be handled this year. And, Fred, they need to work quickly because the start of hurricane season is just about two weeks away.

WHITFIELD: All right, June 1, Gabe Cohen. Thank you so much.

All right. And this breaking news into CNN, President Trump announcing that he is going to talk by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. What he's planning to talk about, next.

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[13:30:40]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: We're following breaking news on the efforts to end Russia's war on Ukraine.

Just a short time ago, President Trump announced that he is planning to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on Monday.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is at the White House for us. Julia, what more do we know about this phone call?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Donald Trump announced that he plans to speak directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. That call is expected to take place at 10:00 a.m. And then following that, Trump says that he will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as various NATO members.

I want to pull up part of his post because he outlined the goals of this discussion. Trump said, quote, "Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire agreement will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end."

Now, this comes after representatives from Ukraine and Russia held face to face talks for the first time in three years on Friday. Those talks took place in Turkey and there was a lot of confusion going into them. There was speculation about who would attend. At one point, there was speculation that Zelenskyy, Putin and maybe even Trump would have a seat at that table. But the talks ended up taking place at a lower level.

Zelenskyy sent his defense minister to lead a team. And he criticized Russia for not sending any real decision makers. Thats how he described the delegation that Russia sent.

Now, Trump has said that he believes that there can't be any real progress toward a peace deal until he speaks with Putin. That call, now scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Monday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (OFF-MIC): OK. Of course.

WHITFIELD: Meantime, this also comes, Julia, as the president's sweeping agenda is hanging in the balance, now that hardliners in his own party in the GOP have voted to block his so-called "big, beautiful bill." So what's the response from the White House?

BENBROOK: Right. His agenda faces a lot of challenges following that vote on Friday, where a group of GOP lawmakers, hardliners on that Budget Committee voted to block it, and House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team have now spent the weekend trying to convince those no votes to become yes votes before they bring it to a vote again.

Now, Trump's message on this has remained that they need to pass that "big, beautiful bill." In fact, he said, we don't need grandstanders in the Republican Party. Stop talking and get it done.

Negotiations are still ongoing, but the GOP hardliners have called for stricter overhauls on Medicaid and deeper cuts to a clean energy tax program. It's important to note here, though, that any changes to those bills could cause more problems, especially with the GOP's more moderate members. Johnson leads with such a slim majority that any change could cause a lot of problems.

Now, this committee is expected to meet again at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday in hopes of making some progress before the work week begins. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Julia Benbrook at the White House, thank you so much.

All right, straight ahead, President Trump now taking on Walmart. Remember, Walmart saying it may have to jack up some prices because of the tariffs. Will now the two sides at odds over who should pay for the rising costs caused by those tariffs.

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[13:38:50]

WHITFIELD: Happening right now. President Trump, a short time ago telling Walmart that the company should -- I'm quoting now, "eat the cost," end quote, of higher tariffs. The comments come after the retail giant said this week that it would raise prices because of Trump's tariffs being too high.

Walmart has more than 4,600 stores in the U.S. It's also the biggest private employer in the country, with 1.6 million workers. Several countries that supply Walmart include China. And they're facing tariffs between 10 and 30 percent right now.

Augusta Saraiva is a reporter for Bloomberg News, and she has been writing about this. Great to see you, Augusta. So President Trump is warning Walmart not to pass the tariffs on to the consumer, after Walmart has announced that it would have to do that. Is it possible for Walmart to back down on what it thinks is the reality for them?

AUGUSTA SARAIVA, REPORTER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Thank you for having me. Well, it's a tough choice not only for Walmart but for a lot of businesses out there, right? Because what Walmart has been saying is that they will try to keep prices as low as possible for as long as possible. But the thing is that they have a tough choice to make, right?

[13:40:01]

As they start seeing higher tariffs, they have to choose between keeping that demand at a time when consumer sentiment is going down, at a time when people are starting to feel jittery about the economy and protecting their margins. So we could -- we could see them back down at some point but that might not be the case as the tariffs start to make their way across the economy.

WHITFIELD: So what does this potentially mean, you know, for the millions of Americans who do shop at Walmart and other retailers who import a lot of their products from China and other countries that are indeed facing higher tariffs?

SARAIVA: Yeah, that essentially means that after years of high inflation, at the same time, the consumers are also seeing high borrowing costs, right, those credit card rates, they could see even higher prices. So for consumers, it's a matter of making choices, right? So if prices start to go up at a fast rate, they might start to pull back on some other things, like vacations for example, right? And we are starting to see people feel -- feel a little less inclined to buy non-essentials at this point.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. And among the consumers, who are likely to be hardest hit?

SARAIVA: In this case, of course, its low-income consumers, right? They're the ones that have been bearing the brunt of inflation for a long time. But at the same time, we know that tariffs, there's lots of research on that. We know that tariffs tend to hit low-income consumers harder, right? Because they impact everyone just the same. So if you make less, that's a -- that's a bigger chunk of your income that's going toward those extra costs.

So for low-income consumers who have been seeing higher prices for a while, the labor market is still strong where wage gains are not growing at the same rate that we did see in the past few years. This could be another challenge for them.

WHITFIELD: And as for Walmart, I mean, what does this tell you that Walmart is making this kind of pronouncement, you know, ahead of time, I mean, or giving a warning to consumers, what is its objective?

SARAIVA: Yeah, first of all, they don't want to shock the consumer, right? So by doing that, they don't want to see people going out there like we saw at the start of the pandemic and buying lots of toilet paper, when prices do go up, right? So they're trying to warn the consumer that this is coming so that people can prepare ahead of time.

But at the same time, you could infer that they're trying to send a message to the White House, right? We know that big-box retailers like Walmart, Target, Home Depot, they have met with President Trump in the past month. So that's also a way for them to -- to tell the president, look, we're thinking of raising prices, but there is a way for us not to do so.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll leave it there for now. Augusta Saraiva, great to see you. Thanks so much.

SARAIVA: Thanks for having me. WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, Israel launching more airstrikes in Gaza as aid organizations are warning Palestinian civilians who are bearing the brunt of this expanded assault. And the United Nations says the situation is, quote, "beyond inhumane."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:52]

WHITFIELD: All right. This weekend, join CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta for his investigation into what may sound like science fiction to many, xenotransplantation, the practice of using animal organs for human transplant. Advocates say it could revolutionize an organ donation system that has more than 100,000 people on the wait list. Here's a preview of Dr. Gupta's documentary, "Animal Pharm."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREN ANDREWS, TIM ANDREW'S WIFE: It's a dance to get the pig kidney there and get him in the operating room.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Get a coordinator.

ANDREWS: So a nurse came and said, "OK, good to go."

I'm like, wait, wait, wait, we haven't said goodbye. You can't say goodbye. Oh yes, I can.

(LAUGHTER)

So I actually made them wait and he said, we've got to go. I'm saying goodbye to my husband before he leaves for surgery, and he may not come back.

It's a little chilly in here. OK, Tim?

TIM ANDREWS, PATIENT: I like cold.

GUPTA (voice-over): The operation lasted a little over two hours. Around the same as a traditional transplant. And take a look over here. This is the pig kidney. It looks, feels and functions very much like a human kidney.

And here is when surgeons connect the pig kidney to Tim's artery and vein. After that, the moment of truth.

Surgeons released the clamps so blood can flow into the kidneys. And the organ turns pink. And now this, urine successfully flowing through the kidney.

DR. LEONARDO RIELA, MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION, MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: Wow. Look at that.

We were very surprised. We were hoping they would start making urine within a day or two. But seeing the urine being produced right away was not at least what I expected to be happening that close.

Everything went well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow. Is that not incredible? Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports "Animal Pharm," airs tomorrow night, 8:00 Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

[13:49:57]

All right, now take a look at this live video from London, Kentucky, where a deadly tornado downed power lines, flattened homes, leaving a devastation all throughout. The violent storm system responsible for the aftermath. And it's now headed east.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Israel has launched a major new military offensive in Gaza, as the United Nations calls the situation for Palestinians, quote, "beyond inhumane."

[13:55:00]

More than 15 people have been killed and nearly 500 injured in the strikes, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. CNN's Jeremy Diamond spoke to a humanitarian organization official on the plans to get aid to Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Given the extraordinary circumstances on the ground right now, you've asked the Israeli government to allow aid in temporarily through existing mechanisms. Have they agreed to that? And how soon will that aid get in if so?

JAKE WOOD, EXEC. DIR. GAZA HUMANITARIAN FOUNDATION: That's right. We think that the situation on the ground is clearly urgent. And we can't afford to wait. We are committed to being operational with our plan by the end of the month, ideally in advance of that. But you know, no time like the present to move aid in under existing mechanisms.

The Israelis have agreed to that operational condition. We don't yet have final details as conversations are ongoing about what precisely that means and when. But we do expect to have some positive updates on that in the coming days.

DIAMOND: Once you are up and running, how many distribution sites will you have in Gaza immediately and how much of Gaza's population do you expect those distribution sites to be able to feed?

WOOD: Yeah. Well, we are going to immediately open up by the end of the month for secure distribution sites. We have plans to ramp up to 8 to 10. That will include locations in Northern Gaza. The initial plan, as we have today, is going to provide 300 million meals over the first 90 days. DIAMOND: Top humanitarian aid officials have been very critical of this plan. They say that it will enable the forced displacement of Palestinians, that it will bring additional risks to the lives of Palestinians living in Gaza. Tom Fletcher, the United Nations Emergency Relief coordinator, called this a, quote, "cynical sideshow" and a, quote, "fig leaf for further violence and displacement." What's your response to those comments and criticisms?

A lot of what NGOs and the UN heard early was -- was full of misinformation. There were a lot of rumors about the IDF providing the direct security here. There were rumors about you know, biometric PII being shared back with the Israeli government. You know, I cannot blame the humanitarian community for crying foul amid that misinformation. I would not have participated in a plan that did those same things.

However, that is not the plan. I want to stress this plan is not perfect, but this plan will be feeding people by the end of the month in a scenario where no one has allowed aid to be in over the course of the last 10 weeks.

DIAMOND: So will this aid mechanism be able to function without those major UN agencies? Will you have the stocks of aid? Will you have the trucks, the infrastructure to be able to get enough aid and then distribute it inside of Gaza?

WOOD: I think right now, it's hard to say. You know, ultimately, the community is going to face a choice. This is going to be the mechanism by which aid can be distributed in Gaza. Are you willing to participate? The answer is going to be, you know, pretty critical to whether or not this ramps up to sufficiently feed 2.2 million people in a very desperate situation.

DIAMOND: The whole reason that this mechanism is being set up is because Israel won't let aid into Gaza in any other way. Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid and then profiting off of the aid that it resells to the Palestinian people. Humanitarian aid organizations have rejected those claims, saying that they've seen no significant diversion of aid inside of Gaza. Have you seen any convincing evidence that Hamas is indeed stealing aid in significant quantities?

WOOD: I think my -- my view on this, this discussion is that it doesn't really matter. Israel controls access to Gaza. And if -- if it is their belief that there is a large percentage of aid that is being interdicted by Hamas and other non-state actors, then we have no choice but to create a mechanism which operates in that construct and in that framing. I'm here to solve a problem and feed people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And this breaking news out of the central portion of the U.S., after a violent outbreak of tornadoes, killed at least 21 people and devastated communities. Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana all reported large tornadoes starting Friday. At least 14 people killed in Kentucky and seven killed in Missouri. But the severe storms leveled homes and uprooted trees and also brought down power lines from Michigan to Alabama. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear asked for prayers over the families affected in his state.

Officials in Missouri, asking residents to stay inside so that emergency -- emergency officials rather can continue in their cleanup and assessment efforts. A curfew will be imposed in St. Louis tonight, beginning at 9:00 p.m. local time.