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Families Push to Address Brain Injuries in the Coast Guard; Iran Warns South Korea Not to Help U.S. in Strait of Hormuz; Witkoff Confident of "Good Resolution" After Ukraine, Russia Talks. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired September 07, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: -- is Brett Bonner, a surfman. He was an elite rescuer driving lifeboats through powerful waves, some 25 feet high. But as he worked in a job he loved, those around him saw him fall apart. They say he had headaches, he had trouble sleeping, and his normally cheery mood slipped. He retired in 2022, but his symptoms only got worse. Then in February of last year, he killed himself, and his family heard it happen on FaceTime.

In 2009, Brett had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but his family thought there might be something more, that the years he spent in the Coast Guard may have left him with a traumatic brain injury, and they suspected he wasn't alone. Their story is part of a New York Times investigation that explored the invisible injuries surfmen experience that can be devastating for those who surf and their families.

With us now is Brett's wife, Jenna, and his daughter, Kayleigh. Thank you both for coming on. First off, I'm just so sorry for your loss, and I really appreciate you joining us to share Brett's story and all that you have learned. Jenna, I want to start with you. If you would, just tell us about when you first realized Brett was struggling and what he was telling you about what it felt like for him.

JENNA BONNER, HUSBAND DIED BY SUICIDE AS A RESULT OF TBI AND PTSD: Well, his struggles started when we were stationed in Golden Gate. They deal with a lot of jumpers off the Golden Gate Bridge and a lot of body recovery. Initially, that's when he got the PTSD diagnosis. He just really struggled with that. He said he joined the Coast Guard to save lives, and so he took it really personally. He just always wondered if he could have gotten there faster or could have done something more to save more of them. He had trouble sleeping. There was just mood issues, so he got the PTSD diagnosis.

So, after that unit, we were stationed at the National Maritime Lifeboat School where he was a surf trainer, an instructor. I guess more of the same, he struggled with headaches. They gave him muscle relaxers to help with tension headaches, but it wasn't until he was in a rollover, so full 360 as he was instructing.

He was not in a seat because he was the head instructor, so he was just tethered in by each hip and standing. There was a rogue wave, and they got knocked down and went under. They actually thought he broke his back because his feet hit the back of his head. He was bent over backwards and then slammed on the boat when they finally came up. That was in January of 2016.

Then he had a seizure in August of 2016. We attributed it to maybe the medicine for the PTSD that they had him on at the time. But then, I kind of -- that was kind of a big -- that was a pivotal moment because after that, it was hard to piece apart what's causing what, but there was a lot of anxiety. He was worried about having another seizure and losing control, but he just lost pieces of who he was -- I would say from that time on. He got very noise sensitive. He didn't like to eat out. It was just his entire personality was changing from that point on.

BROWN: And he described this feeling of zaps in his brain in 2015. And then in 2016, he had a seizure while parked outside a store. Your kids were watching it happen. I'm sure, Kayleigh, you remember all of this so vividly. I want to play a voicemail that Brett left for you just before his seizure. It is hard to hear, but I think it's important to hear to understand how much he was struggling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT BONNER: I need help. I need help, bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just said, I need help.

J. BONNER: I need help bad. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That noise at the end, is that him?

J. BONNER: Yes, that's him. He's lost control of his speech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, that was from a New York Times podcast that you did, Jenna. Bring us into what was going on leading up to that and what sort of evaluations he went through after.

J. BONNER: So, I was in the restroom at Camper's World. We were actually going to pick up a fifth wheel. We'd sold our house. We were anticipating a military transfer. So, I'd gone to the restroom and he was in the store with the kids. And he started feeling these brain zaps and feeling himself lose control of his body. So, he called me, left that voicemail asking for help. Then at the end, you hear him totally lose control of his voice. And that's what was happening.

And so, he took the kids into his truck to wait for me. I came out of -- I didn't get the voicemail right away. I didn't even -- it was probably on silent. And so, I'm looking for them in the store and can't find them.

[11:35:00]

And I go out to look for them in the car and I don't see anyone. The kids were little and he is, at this point, laid out across the middle console and kind of into the backseat. And so, I turned to go back inside to look for them and that's when I get the voicemail. And I'm very confused, no clue what is happening.

BROWN: Yes

J. BONNER: And Kayleigh sees me turn around and to go back to the store. She jumps out of the car and says, come help. And so, he was still actively seizing. I opened the door and I had no clue what was happening. It looked like he had been beat. So, I was just very confused. And then I'm having to hold him from falling out of the car. And they called for help.

We went to the ER. He refused -- so he stopped seizing and woke up right about the time the ambulance got there. And he was still very confused. He could answer some things right, but he couldn't remember our kid's birthdays or other things. And so --

BROWN: And so, Kayleigh --

J. BONNER: He refused the ambulance ride, so we followed. Yes.

BLITZER: OK. Refused the ambulance ride. So, Kayleigh, you see this happen. Sadly, your dad died by suicide. You were on FaceTime. And it's just horrible how it all happened. But it raised a lot of important questions for you. And I want to talk about your senior year high school research project where you wanted to understand more about what your dad went through in the Coast Guard. And then you ended up reaching out to other surf men. Tell us more about what you learned from that project.

KAYLEIGH BONNER, FATHER DIED BY SUICIDE AS A RESULT OF TBI AND PTSD: So, I was able to reach out to over 70 surf men through my survey. It was just so interesting to see the difference because there wasn't a single research on any part of the Coast Guard. It was other branches of the military, but never the Coast Guard. And so, when you look at the other branches, they're talking about major blasts occurring to the head.

And I think the difference in the Coast Guard that I found through my studies was that it's not the major blasts that are making the biggest contribution. It's the small times the head is knocking every time it hits a wave your head is hitting the inside of your skull. It's called the bobblehead effect. And so, every time that's happening, you're getting minor concussions. And so, because it's minor, you're not noticing it, but it's accumulating and it's causing traumatic brain injury. And people aren't even knowing because it's not a huge deal in the moment.

BROWN: So, what were some of the comments you received from the questionnaire that you put out?

K. BONNER: I mean, a lot of people were saying they were really grateful someone was looking at this and that it's really hard to talk about these things because -- I mean, the common surf men stereotype in particular is very tough guy. They're not going to talk about their feelings. And so, especially coming from my everybody, a lot of people knew my dad. So, it was like they saw it like helping and like preventing it for future surf men.

And so, I think that made it unique because a lot of them were trying to like help. But it was very interesting seeing their point of view and how much they were struggling because of it.

BROWN: Yes. Tell us more a little bit about that, Kayleigh, just what you learned about their struggles and how similar they were to your dad's. And when you just realize, wow, there's actually a pattern here.

K. BONNER: A lot of them were very isolating of themselves. I think they were trying to protect others from themselves because I think I saw this in my own dad, how he was slowly becoming someone he couldn't even recognize. And I think a lot of people, that's scary to lose your identity. And so --

J. BONNER: And control.

K. BONNER: And control of yourself because you physically can't control your own body and what you're doing. So --

J. BONNER: Their memory issues were a huge concern.

K. BONNER: Yes.

J. BONNER: But what was interesting from the people -- everyone's responses was they would not have told you they had a head injury at any point in their career, but they had these symptoms. They all resonated with the same symptoms that we were seeing.

BLITZER: And we want to note, we reached out to the Coast Guard about your story and Commandant Admiral Kevin Lunday said in a statement in part, the Coast Guard is taking action to improve how we prevent, recognize and treat brain injuries to provide the best care for our people. In April, I directed the start of a service wide brain health initiative to rapidly improve how we prevent, recognize and treat brain injuries. That includes training crews and supervisors on how to recognize brain injuries and encouraging people to come forward and report symptoms, including indicating potential injuries. We're implementing a single high standard of care across our medical providers, partnering with our military and civilian medical experts to ensure our men and women receive the best care possible.

[11:40:00]

I wonder what is your reaction to the Coast Guard saying it's making these changes now, Jenna?

J. BONNER: They have been phenomenal. We've talked to Admiral Lunday and master chief petty officer and actually the admiral's wife. And they have all been very receptive, very kind and really committed to finding out more. We've had numerous conversations where they want all the latest research, they want to know what to do.

And I -- it's been a great response. It's -- that's really our goal is we want -- it's -- as you can imagine, really difficult to share our story and our loss, but I feel like our goal is prevention and then -- and awareness, those who were already suffering, just even knowing what you're dealing. We didn't really know the extent of the TBI portion of Brett, and that would have been a very helpful to know.

So, I feel like the Coast Guard is taking it seriously, and I think they have actionable changes they can make to prevent this for other families.

BROWN: So, help us better understand, Kayleigh, quickly, if you would, how this change came about and whether you shared your findings with the Coast Guard once you heard that from all of these other surf men.

K. BONNER: So, it originally started in the New York Times paper. That's where I got the most, like, that's where I was able to kind of share my research. And then the Coast Guard found that, and then they got in contact with me. And so, I've been sharing my research, and they've been able to kind of build on top of that and kind of start an initiative to kind of help protect surf men and other people in the Coast Guard, not just surf men, because it's across the whole occupation, people are experiencing these things.

BROWN: Wow. Just incredible what you've been able to do and accomplish to help others. I know you went through such a horrible experience, but you're using that and the research that you've gathered to really prevent others from suffering like your father and your husband did. Jenna, thank you both for coming on, and we just really are grateful for it. We wish you both the very best.

And if you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, there is help. You can call our Texas Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:45:00]

BROWN: Happening now, Iran is warning South Korea not to help the U.S. in the Strait of Hormuz, saying it would face, quote, "serious consequences" if it did. South Korea has been under pressure to join the deployment in the Strait, and a Korean official said Friday it was reviewing its options. Over the weekend, the U.S. struck three Iranian oil tankers. The U.S. said it was in retaliation for earlier Iranian missile attacks.

With us now is CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. So, what does this show you? Does it show you that Iran is concerned that South Korea could join the U.S. in the Strait of Hormuz? What do you think?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, I think that's certainly a possibility, Pamela, because one of the things that the South Koreans have been under, of course, is a lot of pressure from the Trump administration to help them out in the Strait of Hormuz. And the Trump administration has tried to get other allies to help out, and most of them have said no because they see the Iran war as being something, first of all, that they weren't consulted about. Many of them see it as a violation of international law. So, they didn't want to get involved for a variety of political and legal reasons.

But the South Koreans are kind of caught in a bit of a difficult pickle because we have to remember that the exercises that we had with the South Koreans were curtailed by the Trump administration in order not to offend the North Koreans. And the reason -- one of the reasons that was given for doing that was because the South Koreans hadn't helped the U.S. in the Strait of Hormuz against Iran.

So, the South Koreans are looking at this and they're saying, OK, what are our options here? We still want to get oil from Iran if we can get it, or at least from the Persian Gulf region. And we also want to make sure that we keep the U.S. on our side. They have a lot of need for that politically as well as militarily.

BROWN: So, what resources could South Korea provide to actually have an impact in the Strait?

LEIGHTON: Yes, they would have minesweepers that they could use. They also have a Navy that is actually quite competent. And they could deploy them into that region that could help the U.S. with escort services like tank escort services. So, those would be some of the things that the South Koreans could do. And they could also relieve the pressure on the U.S. Navy when it comes to just the deployment pressure that they have.

When you were out there on the Lincoln, you saw how much work actually went into doing this. The South Koreans don't have an aircraft carrier like the Lincoln. But what they do have is the capability to provide ships, destroyers and other ships that could basically relieve some of the burden that the U.S. Navy has right now.

BROWN: I want to pivot to Russia and Ukraine for a moment because it's interesting. White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in Russia. They first went to Russia, then Ukraine over the weekend, and then Russia launched these drone attacks. Ukraine responded with drone attacks. What do you make of that?

LEIGHTON: So, I think we're not going to see a major breakthrough on the diplomatic front in the near-term. At some point, you know, both sides are going to have to reach some kind of an agreement. But that is not happening now because Putin is basically dug in. The things that Putin told Witkoff and Kushner during their visit to Moscow were basically the same things that he said before.

[11:50:00]

And those include, you know, we want to take over Ukraine because, you know, we want to get to the so-called root causes of what's going on in, you know, with Ukraine. Basically, what that is code for is we want to take over Ukraine because Russia does not see Ukraine as a viable, independent and legitimate independent nation. So, if Ukraine is not a legitimate nation, we should take it over, is the Russian point of view. And they haven't moved from that at all. So, if the U.S. envoys, you know, both Mr. Kushner and Mr. Witkoff, look at this and think that they're going to achieve a breakthrough there, I think they're mistaken because there are so many different things that the Russians want to achieve, even if they don't actually physically occupy some of the territory in the Donbas. They don't have about 10 or 15 percent of it. They still want that, even though they haven't militarily conquered that.

BROWN: All right. Always great to have you on, Colonel Leighton. Appreciate it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:55:00]

BROWN: As we approach 25 years since 9/11, a new CNN film is sharing a story you likely haven't heard before. And it takes us inside "Windows of the World," the legendary restaurant atop the World Trade Center that met a devastating end on that fateful morning. Our Wolf Blitzer has an exclusive first look and sat down with the film's directors.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It was one of the most celebrated restaurants in the country and a symbol of New York City's resurgence back in the 1970s. The legendary Windows on the World sat atop the World Trade Center, but its story came to a devastating end on 9/11. 79 employees and 91 guests died that day.

A new CNN film explores the restaurant's untold story just ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then, in the '80s, the city came back. Money is rolling in suddenly. Windows on the World was like a metaphor for what was happening to New York.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You had the very wealthy and you had the very poor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And joining us now are the "Top of the World" directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen. Betsy, let me start with you. What drew you to tell this amazing story?

BETSY WEST, DIRECTOR, "TOP OF THE WORLD": Well, I think you just said it, Wolf. It felt that it was untold, that people really didn't -- after 9/11, didn't understand what had happened there. And also, we never really got a chance to celebrate what this restaurant meant to New York. It was just a great opportunity for us.

BLITZER: It certainly was. Julie, how was the Windows on the World shaped by its international culture and multinational staff?

JULIE COHEN, DIRECTOR, "TOP OF THE WORLD": Yes, well, Windows not only had an international clientele with people coming from all over the world to eat there, but also, as our film shows, the people who worked behind the scenes, people that were working in the kitchen, people who were on the waitstaff, people who were managers, cooks, came from nearly every country in the world. I think six of all continents, except Antarctica, had staff members represented there.

And like so many restaurants in New York, immigrants are what make restaurants run. And this is just a beautiful example of that.

BLITZER: Certainly is. Betsy, what was the most striking thing you learned about the restaurant from speaking to its chefs and employees?

WEST: Yes. I think I had, first of all, I had no idea about the immigrant presence, and I also didn't understand the story of how Windows, back in the mid-'70s, was part of the resurgence of New York. I mean, the city was really down and out, almost went bankrupt. They built the World Trade Towers. And a lot of people didn't like those buildings.

And then the Port Authority had the idea to put a restaurant up there, and they hired the brilliant restaurateur Joe Baum, who just had a vision for how to make a restaurant that was an experience, very theatrical. And he carried that out through Windows and had a tremendous influence, I think, in the restaurant world.

BLITZER: So, Julie when most people think of the World Trade Center, the 9/11 attacks of course immediately come to mind. We all lived through that and how sad it was. How did you separate the restaurant's incredible story from those attacks, while also acknowledging how the two are intertwined?

COHEN: Yes, that's right, Wolf. The two are intertwined, and actually in the end, looking back 25 years later, I don't think those two stories can be separated. But what we tried to bring to the film wasn't just the tragic part of the story, which obviously looms over the Windows on the World story. It was also just what a spectacular place, what restaurant this was.

I mean, when Windows started in the 1970s, the idea that going to a restaurant was a full event wasn't so much a thing. Windows on the World is what is part of what turned chefs into celebrities. It's part of what made you think going out to dinner isn't just what you do before you see a show. Sometimes going out to dinner is the show.

[12:00:00]