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Soon, President Biden Leaves for G7 Summit in Italy; Trump- Backed Candidates Sweep Critical GOP Primaries; Source Says, Hamas Has Neither Accepted nor Rejected Ceasefire Deal. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 12, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Jailhouse rocker Elvis Presley reported to the army after he was drafted in 1958. The king was a soldier until the spring of 1960 and he earned his discharge from the Army Reserve in 1964. And then there was this.

The man in black, also a man in uniform, Johnny Cash wrote, I walked the line while stationed with the Air Force in Germany.

After Jimi Hendrix was caught stealing cars in the early 1960s, a judge gave him two choices, prison or the military. What would you do? He enlisted in the Army.

All right, thanks to our panel for being with us. Thanks to you for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt.

Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Very shortly, President Biden departs on a crucial overseas trip. Before boarding Air Force One, it is possible he speaks for the first time on Hunter Biden's federal gun conviction. We are standing by.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A good night for Donald Trump. The Republican candidates he endorsed took home victories in multiple state primaries, and one special election in Ohio puts House Republicans on track to expand their slim majority.

And Russian war games, Russian warships on their way to Cuba. Some of Russia's most powerful vessels set to run military drills just miles from the U.S. Coast. What could go wrong?

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sara Sidner is out today. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: A pivotal moment for a president, a painful moment for a father. We are standing by in Delaware to see President Biden depart for a very important G7 meeting in Europe. Now, the reason he's in Delaware at all, the criminal conviction of his son, Hunter, on federal gun charges. Hours after the verdict, the president traveled to Delaware, embracing Hunter on the tarmac. The president released a statement saying, quote, I am the president, but I am also a dad. This morning, we are waiting to see if he addresses the conviction out loud before leaving for Europe.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez standing by in Delaware with the latest. Priscilla, what are you hearing so far this morning?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, over the last several hours, the president and his family have been huddled together behind closed doors at their residence here in Wilmington, Delaware, for a last minute trip. The president deciding to come after the verdict was reached just yesterday, and as you said, embracing his son, Hunter, on the tarmac.

Of course, this is a family that has often come together over the course of this trial as some of their, as some of their most intimate personal struggles were put on display. This is what the spiritual adviser and family friend of the -- or family friend had this to say about how this unfolded within the family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. DR. CHRISTOPHER BULLOCK, BIDEN FAMILY SPIRITUAL ADVISER: And he has said that let justice play out and whatever the decision was of the jury, he would respect and accept the decision. But when I saw him come home tonight and embraced his son, I saw the power of love.

Our president and our first lady, they love Hunter and we love him and we will continue to walk alongside him with the ministry present.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, the president's statement was framed through the lens of a father, not a president, but he did have this to say in closing, quote, I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal. Now, of course, the president has previously affirmed that he would not pardon his son. John, Wilmington is also the headquarter -- where the campaign headquarters is, and their sources tell CNN it is business as usual.

BERMAN: And the president going to Italy for these important G7 meetings, what are the priorities there, Priscilla?

ALVAREZ: Well, just like it was in France, the shadow of former President Donald Trump will be looming large over this next foreign trip by the president as he attends the G7 summit in Italy. And world leaders will continue to stress, as will President Biden, the preservation of democracy.

And now Ukraine will be front and center again. The president will be having a news conference with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, where, again, last week, the president apologized for the delays and getting additional aid to Ukraine given the stalls in Congress.

[07:05:00] That was a rare moment for a president to apologize to another world leader. More of that over the course of this trip where the two again will reaffirm their support and also perhaps announcements on additional aid to Ukraine.

Of course, the world leaders will also be discussing a range of other issues, given the situation in the Middle East, climate change, and artificial intelligence. In fact, Pope Francis will be attending the summit to talk about A.I.

So, all of this converging at this three-day trip for the president in Italy, again, bookending a month of foreign travel. John?

BERMAN: Priscilla Alvarez for us in Wilmington, Delaware, this morning, Priscilla, great to see you. Thank you. Kate?

BOLDUAN: This morning, we are seeing the power of Donald Trump's endorsement after it was put to the test in big Republican primaries last night. We're going to show you this. Six, all endorsed -- these six candidates all endorsed by the former president, all victorious.

CNN's Mark Preston is tracking all of this for us. So, Mark, what happened last night?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good night for Donald Trump is what happened, Kate. We saw you know from the south all the way out to the west up to the northeast. The candidates Donald Trump backed, well, they won.

Let's take a quick look right here and go through some of them, some interesting races we've seen that were resolved last night. down in South Carolina, Nancy Mace. Now, this is somebody, a congresswoman, who was initially against Donald Trump after January 6th. She has done an about face. She was able to push back against outside money from Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker, to win her primary.

If you also look William Timmons as well from South Carolina, he was a moderate, well, I should have said, a conservative, but yet not conservative enough for the Freedom Caucus, they went out after him. Williams Timmons does pull out a win. He was also Trump endorsed.

If you go out to Nevada, we saw Sam Brown. Now, this is a Purple Heart winner, got a last-minute endorsement from Donald Trump. He easily won out in Nevada. That's going to be a race that we are going to be watching for control of the United States Senate.

And then if you go up to North Dakota, there were two or three up there in North Dakota where Donald Trump did very well. And, of course, this is very interesting, up in Maine, a NASCAR, former NASCAR driver, endorsed by Donald Trump, won the nomination to take on Jared Golden up in Maine. So, six for six last night, Donald Trump, as he heads into his convention, Kate.

BOLDUAN: A huge victory also for just for Republicans writ large, especially in the House in Ohio, because they held a special election to replace retired Congressman Bill Johnson. PRESTON: Yes, you know, so what's interesting about this is that, you know, we're going to spend a lot of time talking about this race because this is a congressional district that really borders the Pennsylvania/Ohio Border right there, incredibly conservative. Republicans should have a lock on it.

They didn't do as well last night though necessarily They did win the race, but they didn't win by as many points. We should note though special election, so there's probably about a fifth of the voters showed up yesterday. We will see. Certainly, it's a different electorate going into November, Kate, but Democrats will certainly be looking at this for some signs of hope.

BOLDUAN: We have -- I mean, how many, how many cycles and how many years have we've tried to figure out if what special elections say about the bigger general elections? We'll wait and stand by to stand by on this one once again.

Wait, North Dakota, maybe one of the most fascinating things that happened last night, voters passing a measure. I'm going to say it's the first of its kind, maybe, I can't think of another, another place that it's happened, age limits on congressional candidates.

PRESTON: Yes, you know, to talk about a state's rights issue right here. Let's take a look at this. The North Dakota voters decided last night that they are going to have age limits now for members of Congress if you are over the age of 80 before the end of your term. I mean, it's just really interesting given the fact that we have two presidential candidates right now. We have President Biden, former President Donald Trump, you know, who are either at their age or will reach their age as president of the United States. But if you are trying to run for Congress in North Dakota, there is going to be an age limit.

Pretty interesting law that was passed, but, again, it shows you that the state's rights, the issues, you know, is certainly moving back to the states.

BOLDUAN: Yes. It's good to see you, Mark. Thank you.

PRESTON: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us Hamas responding to the proposed hostage and ceasefire deal. Israel says that response equals a rejection of the deal that was just approved by the U.N. Security Council.

And eight foreign nationals are arrested in three major U.S. cities with suspected ties to ISIS.

And the kids who survived the Sandy Hook massacre as first graders, they're about to graduate high school. How they're feeling and what they're doing to honor the 20 classmates who will not be walking the stage with them.

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[07:10:00]

BERMAN: All right. Any minute, we are expecting to hear from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken amid confusion over the status of ceasefire and hostage talks in the Middle East. A diplomatic source tells CNN that Hamas has neither accepted nor rejected the most recent proposal. An Israeli official, though, described the Hamas response as a rejection.

Now, this comes as a new U.N. report found both Hamas and Israel have committed war crimes since October 7th.

CNN's Oren Lieberman is live in Tel Aviv with the latest this morning.

[07:15:01]

Oren, what are you hearing?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Secretary of State Antony Blinken wasn't expecting to make any major breakthroughs as he tried to push towards a ceasefire deal and hostage release, and that's exactly where he stands right now and where this effort stands.

After 12 days after President Joe Biden put forward a U.S.-backed proposal for a ceasefire, Hamas finally responded. And yet a source familiar with the talk says it was neither an acceptance of the ceasefire proposal or a rejection of it. Hamas offered some amendments, according to a source familiar with the discussions here. Israel has, however, categorized that as Hamas' rejection of the deal that Biden put forward.

The question, where is this? Well, this has gotten caught up so many times in the details, and we're back at that spot right now, waiting to see if the details can be worked out to push this forward.

Meanwhile, at the same time, the U.N. has released its most in depth investigation to this point of the beginning of the war from October 7th to the end of the last year, so, roughly, the first two and a half months. And in it, the U.N. says, both Israel and Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas have committed war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law. Amongst those, the U.N. says both Israel and militant groups committed acts of sexual violence, torture and the intentional targeting of civilians.

To put forward this report and put it together, Israel did not cooperate, but the U.N. spoke with victims, witnesses, media reports, as well as open source investigations and information that they were able to verify as they looked at the first couple of months of the war. The part about Hamas and Palestinian militant groups, perhaps no surprise, that focuses on October 7th. And in it, they say Hamas and those groups intentionally targeted civilians, committed acts of murder and torture, outrages upon personal dignity, as well as taking hostages, including children.

Israel, which is accused of a systemic and widespread targeting of civilians, rejected the report, calling it anti-Israel discrimination at the U.N. and saying it viewed October 7th through a Palestinian lens. John?

BERMAN: Oren, very quickly, there's been a constant battle on Israel's northern front with Hezbollah and Lebanon with a flare up overnight. What's the latest there?

LIEBERMANN: One that we've seen escalate over the course of the past couple weeks, and very possibly escalating again. Israel carried out a strike that killed Hezbollah Commander Abu Talib, as well as several other Hezbollah fighters. That's one of the more senior commanders they have killed since back in January.

In response, Hezbollah 160 rockets towards northern Israel, a number of which have been intercepted. The U.S. has tried to find some sort of diplomatic off ramp here, but it is when you see what's happening right now, that it's very obvious that there has been no success on that front. The risk, of course, a miscalculation and even further escalation, perhaps another front in the war.

BERMAN: Oren Liebermann in Tel Aviv this morning, Oren, nice to see you. Thank you.

So, one of the most important days of the year in economic news, crucial inflation data due out shortly just before a key decision is to be announced.

And then a commuter bus hijacked in broad daylight, the rush hour police chase through the street.

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[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: Today, a rare double dose of economic news. Next hour, we're going to get a -- look inflation and where it stands, when the closely watched CPI report is released. And then this afternoon, just a few hours later, the Federal Reserve is set to announce its latest policy decision in trying to control inflation.

CNN's Matt Egan is here with a look at that. So, what is expected first and foremost with CPI this morning?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, it's crunch time for the U.S. economy. We've got the Fed decision, the inflation report back to back, just hours apart. This would be like having Game seven of the Stanley Cup finals and the NBA finals on the same day, except here --

BOLDUAN: Exactly the same.

EGAN: Exactly like that. Except these issues, these events actually really impact everyone because it gets at the cost of living, the major frustration with this economy.

And so the big question for the inflation report is whether or not we're going to see any sort does next at all and whether or not we do is going to have a big say in what the Fed does next. Now, the Fed -- there's almost no chance that the Fed lowers interest rates today. The big question is, what does it say about rates going forward? Previously, they were penciling in three interest rate cuts this year. That seems very unlikely, just looking at the calendar. So are they going to go to one cut, which would mean maybe no interest rate cuts before the election, or, two, that would be good news for the White House and borrowers who are dealing with really high cost of living and interest rates right now.

And also, what does Jerome Powell say at the 2:30 presser today? How tough does he sound about inflation? How concerned is he? Is he preaching patients? Here's a look at the estimates for today's inflation report. 3.4 percent, that's the annual rate, that would signal no progress at all, well ahead of the pre-COVID rate. But the silver lining could be the month over month figure, 0.1 percent. That would be a good number. It would be driven by lower gas prices. And this would actually be the lowest month over month inflation figure we've seen since last fall.

And I think when you look at the trend for inflation, it's clear that we're in a better place than two years ago. This inflation figure was about 9 percent two years ago, miles away from that. But it's also clear, Kate, that the progress has stalled and it needs to resume before interest rates go lower.

BOLDUAN: Yes, way better than two years ago. But how people are feeling about it and how their personal economy feels, these are not always in line, as we know.

You're also taking a closer look at the pay gap between the C-suite and all the workers below and how people are feeling about it today.

EGAN: Yes, Kate. People are feeling very, very frustrated about how much more money CEOs make than the average worker. Now, there's this new poll out from Bentley University in Gallup shared exclusively with CNN, and it finds that 83 percent of Americans say it's important for businesses to avoid a major pay gap between CEOs and employees. That includes 56 percent who say this is extremely important.

And what's striking here is this really cuts across gender, generation, even when you look at it by party, 96 percent of Democrats say this is important, but also 83 percent of independents, two-thirds of Republicans. So this is a clear bipartisan issue across the political spectrum.

And yet when you ask Americans, how are companies doing on this issue? They say the companies are failing.

[07:25:01]

Look at this. Just 13 percent say companies are doing a good job of avoiding a pay gap, excellent or good. 21 percent say fair. And a clear majority, 66 percent say companies are doing a poor job here. And I think the numbers kind of back that up, right? (INAUDIBLE) had a study that showed that it would take 196 years for the average employee to make what the typical CEO makes, 196 years. We saw that last year, the average worker got about a $4,300 pay bump, the average CEO, $1.5 million more. And even some former CEOs are alarmed. I talked to Medtronic former CEO Bill George. He told me that he's troubled because CEO pay has gotten completely out of hand.

Tomorrow, Kate, Tesla shareholders are going to vote on whether or not to approve Elon Musk's $40 billion pay package, yes, $40 billion, not million.

BOLDUAN: Wow.

EGAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: We'll see what happens there. But, first and foremost, let's see what happens at 8:30 with CPI gives a really important read. And then we've got the big decision coming out --

EGAN: It's a huge day for the economy.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Matt. Thank you so much.

Still ahead for us any moment, we're waiting for President Biden to be departing for the G7 meetings in Europe. This is just a day after his son was handed a guilty verdict.

And while Hunter Biden awaits sentencing, a look at how the Supreme Court may play a role in helping him with an appeal of that conviction.

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