me. i m alex marquardt in today for fredricka whitfield. we begin with a important overseas trip for president biden as crises persist back home and around the world. president biden holding a bilateral meeting today with south korea president, the two leaders highlighting this strength of their partnership and alliance in the face of ongoing and nuclear missile threats from north korea. but it comes as american families struggle to feed their infant children. a crippling shortage has store shelves barren. the white house trying to respond to the white house. this weekend the first shipment of baby formula from europe is scheduled to arrive. and that effort is being spearheaded by the american military. let s start with just some of the consequences of this crippling form shortage. medical university of south carolina is reporting at least four babies were recently hospitalized for complications related to this baby formula shortage. three hadd had intolerance because they
state. whoever does win that race will take on john fetterman in november. he easily won the democratic senate primary last night, though may be the first candidate to do so from a hospital bed. he underwent surgery for defibrillator hours before polls close. this is after he suffered a stroke a few days ago. he seems to be recovering and in good spirits this morning. so many races, so many states, important results for both parties. another race we re following in north carolina, congressman madison cawthorn is on his way out. the trump favorite conceded late last night. cawthorn was once viewed as a rising star in the gop, however his political career tarnished by recent scandals from video, salacious video, claims that put him on the outs within his own party. we re following both parties in these states as only cnn can. let s begin on the ground in two states, let s go to the state where things haven t been called yet on senate side in pennsylvania. democratic side, j
senate nomination is one of the most extensive of this election cycle. it is at the moment of three-wa tossup. and endorsement from former president trump seemed to put doctor oz in the driver seat. each candidate making their closing argument in the race they could be decided by the smallest of margins. on the old boys, president trump called out that we need t have the washington, d.c. to represent our pennsylvania values for it to get the media is smearing my name. there is this information in order to suppress my vote and yield a selection from me. i ve worked very hard to be who i am and to be where i am. it matters who you pick for president and it matters who yo pick for senate seat. this is the most important election. just outside of philadelphia this campaign has been going on for several months and i m sure people are ready to get the primary day underway. no doubt about it. good morning, the republican senate primary race is a type tight three-way race
to the nutrition that they need. these are babies. so the president has moved very quickly on it but we have to move quicker and hold these companies accountable for what they have done. i want to highlight something you just said. so much of this production is done by just a handful of companies. one of the biggest ones is abbott. as we know, there was a whistleblower complaint about the sturgis facility, abbott s sturgis facility that dated back to last year but the fda didn t recall that formula until february which you just mentioned. why did that take so long? i mean this is a major company producing something that is so critical. why did this take so long? we don t know the answers. and th and the appropriations committee, we have the commissioner to talk about this and he didn t have the answer either. and that is why we ve called for a full investigation. this could not happen. i mean, the public relied on the fda. we have to have some checks and
can cause deadly sepsis in infants. two babies died. abbott said it is unlikely that the infants got sick from formula from its plants. there was a whistle-blower complaint filed in october of 2021 about abbott s sturgis facility. according to one member of congress, the fda did not interview that whistle-blower until december, and did not do its first inspection of the plant until the last day of january. in mid-february, abbott then issued its voluntary recall for three brands with multiple formulations and in march the fda finished its preliminary investigation and identified problems with how the plant was run, including not taking proper steps to prevent contamination. abbott says it submitted its plan to fix the facility on april 8th, and said it had already begun updating its employee training and its protocols for cleaning and maintenance. now a judge has signed off on a plan for abbott to reopen, however with fda supervision.