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CNN's Victor Blackwell Explores His Family's Fight For Freedom; Kim Jong Un Hails New "Alliance" With Russia Amid Putin Visit; U.S., Allies Debate What Commitment To Give On Ukraine Joining NATO. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 19, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the world says so long to the 'Say Hey Kid.' Willie Mays, one of the greatest and most important baseball players in history, passed away last night at the age of 93 -- a legend not just as an athlete but as a human being.

Mays made one of the most famous plays of all time known as 'The Catch,' leading the Giants to the 1954 championship, their last in New York before moving to San Francisco.

Mays was a military veteran, a two-time MVP, 24-time All-Star, 12-time Gold Glove winner, Rookie of the Year, World Series champion -- an absolute giant of the game.

All right. A Texas megachurch pastor has resigned after a woman came forward to accuse him of molesting her when she was just 12 years old. Robert Morris admitted to what he called an inappropriate relationship with a young lady. Mind you, she was 12. This happened in the '80s when he was 20 and already married.

Now the board of elders of Gateway Church says it's appalled to learn the full details and expressed sympathy to the victim. In a statement obtained by CNN affiliate WFAA, they say, "The elders' prior understanding was that Morris's extramarital relationship, which he discussed many times throughout his ministry, was with 'a young lady' and not abuse of a 12-year-old child."

The accuser told WFAA she informed the church of what happened back in 2005. The current elders say they have retained a law firm for an independent review.

And new this morning, a Russian court has sentenced a U.S. soldier to nearly four years in a Russian penal colony. State media reporting Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was found guilty on charges of theft and threatening murder. He was arrested back in May accused of stealing about $112 from a woman believed to be his girlfriend. Sgt. Black's lawyer says he will appeal his sentence.

And this morning, the most expensive House Republican primary of the election cycle remains too early to call. House Freedom Caucus chair and Virginia Congressman Bob Good trying to hold onto his seat. Less than a point separates Good from his challenger, State Sen. John McGuire, who ran with the support of Donald Trump.

Good angered fellow Republicans as one of the chief architects of the effort to push out former House Speaker Mike McCarthy (sic). And he also lost Trump's support after endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Republican presidential primary.

CNN's Daniel Strauss joining us now from Washington. Wow, this could not be closer. Give us a sense of just how close we are here.

DANIEL STRAUSS, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, it's only a few hundred votes, and even in a congressional race, this is a razor-thin margin.

What's really remarkable about this though is that McGuire here had -- that the rivalry is based on not just an incumbent and an insurgent candidate, but that the incumbent himself has managed to anger multiple quarters of the GOP in endorsing Ron DeSantis, in trying to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. And that anger has spurred Donald Trump to endorse his opponent.

Yet, at this point in time, this is really an indication or a test also about Donald Trump's power in his endorsement. It's not enough to give the challenger a strong overwhelming victory in this Republican primary, which says a lot about the rivalry and how close this race really is.

SIDNER: Yeah, truly.

What other results to you stand out this morning from the vote?

STRAUSS: You know, the other thing that I'm paying attention to right now is Eugene Vindman winning his nomination for -- Democratic nomination in Virginia.

And Vindman and his brother, Alexander, have been key architects in defying President Trump and whistleblowing on Trump's involvement in talking to the president of Ukraine and trying to get information about Donald -- about Joe Biden and his family in return.

And what's telling here is that Trump, in his past actions that have led to his impeachment are still on the minds of voters as we go into 2024.

And I -- look, right now, overall, what we're seeing across the country is a very, very close race at the presidential level. And there have been questions about whether voters are paying attention to the Trump administration and Trump's tenure as president. But these votes indicate that it's -- his record is still very much on their mind.

SIDNER: Certainly, Democrats keeping that in the forefront and what happened on January 6 as well.

Daniel Strauss, thank you so much. I appreciate your time -- John.

[07:35:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. With us now, former deputy communications director for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, Bryan Lanza. And CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona. It's great to have you both here. I see your Instagrams and you guys, like, have a roadshow right now traveling the country doing political panels. So it's great for me to get a chance to talk to both of you.

Bryan, I want to talk about this Virginia congressional race here. It's so interesting. Bob Good -- honestly, you couldn't get a more conservative member of Congress. You know, Freedom Caucus chair. He is so Trump -- yet, because he endorsed Ron DeSantis in the primary, Trump world turns on him and won't take him back.

Is that the right way to grow the party?

BRYAN LANZA, FORMER DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TRUMP 2016 CAMPAIGN: Yeah, first of all, good morning, and thank you for having me.

The answer is Bob Good is alienating nearly every faction of the Republican Party. I think that's the challenge here because in politics, personalities matter, and he's managed to sort of rub sharp elbows with personalities that do matter in electoral politics. One was against President Trump.

You have to keep in mind President Trump endorsed this guy two years ago -- or actually, four years ago when he ran. So for him to sort of reverse and endorse Gov. DeSantis, that was disloyal. That was seen as something that was just a thing too far for President Trump.

Then, Good has his problems with McCarthy. So you had two factions of the Republican Party that carry a lot of weight with the Republican Party. You've got McCarthy's money; you've got Donald Trump's support. It was just a bad recipe.

But I will say this. You know, Bob Good ran with trying to fake the voters that he had Donald Trump's endorsement. He had yard signs all over his district with Donald Trump. So I think it just goes to show you where his -- the election is really close, but at the end of the day, the primary voters and even Bob Good knows that Donald Trump is the Republican Party and voters look to see what he's doing.

BERMAN: You know, whatever happens here, Maria, this is likely a Republican seat. So is there anything here for you for the Democratic Party?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think what it underscores, John, is what we've known for some time now, which is that the Republican Party really no longer exists. It's the Donald Trump party.

And what Bob Good did was the biggest cardinal sin in Donald Trump's party and that is to have a mind of his own and -- especially when that mind I think understands that you probably don't want to have, now, a criminal -- a 34-times convicted felon at the top of the ticket.

He probably saw this coming, which is why at the very beginning -- and he wasn't the only one. Let's remember that way back then at the beginning of the -- of the GOP primary, a lot of Republicans were trying to get behind Ron DeSantis. He was the golden boy. He was the one who was going to push Donald Trump aside. Because I think so many Republicans understand that at the end of the day, Donald Trump is going to be the end of the Republican Party, and that's exactly what has happened.

And Bob Good had the gall to have a mind of his own and now he's paying for it.

And so, I think that message, John, that the Donald Trump party is totally focused on being much more like a dictator than a Republican nominee, I think is a message that works for Democrats.

BERMAN: If you had Maria Cardona sticking up for Bob Good on your bingo card -- man, hats off to you.

CARDONA: Yeah.

BERMAN: That's a -- that's a --

CARDONA: There you go, right?

BERMAN: That's a bet with long odds a few years ago.

There is a new book coming out called "Apprentice In Wonderland," where the author Ramin Setoodeh interviewed Donald Trump a number of times -- mostly about "THE APPRENTICE" and Trump's role in the entertainment industry for a long time.

But the author also said that Trump seemed to have a lot of trouble remembering things. For instance, like Joan Rivers, who was a "CELEBRITY APPRENTICE" candidate who passed away in 2014. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAMIN SETOODEH, AUTHOR, "APPRENTICE IN WONDERLAND: HOW DONALD TRUMP AND MARK BURNETT TOOK AMERICA THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS": He confidently told me and declared that Joan Rivers voted for him when he ran for president. And Joan Rivers died in 2014 -- Joan Rivers died in 2014, so she would not have been able to vote for Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And there's just a little bit more of this I want to play. This was an interview that Ramin Setoodeh did with Kaitlan last night just about what the author believed about Donald Trump's memory -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETOODEH: My first sit-down was in May. He wasn't doing a lot of interviews. And then we sat down again towards the end of the summer. And when I sat down I -- you know, there was a very blank expression on his face. So I asked, "Do you remember when we spoke recently?" And he said, "No, I have no memory of that." And he couldn't recall -- he said it was a long time ago.

And then we had to start from scratch. So the interview started from square one where he started telling me the same exact stories that we -- that we -- that I heard in our first interview. So from there, then we did more interviews so that we could cover more ground. But it was a little bit like Ground Hog Day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Bryan, what do you think? I mean, in eight days, we have the -- run it up on our screen right here. We're going to see this debate with the two oldest candidates in campaign history on stage, and it seems to be an issue for both of them.

LANZA: No -- actually, it's not an issue for both of them. First of all, I have my doubts on this book -- this author. You've seen -- you've seen throughout the years a lot of authors have misstated their interviews with President Trump. But you've also seen throughout the years a lot of reporters have interviewed President Trump and none of them have ever stated that they've seen President Trump have any type of cognitive issues.

[07:40:10]

So, certainly, reporters who are critical of the president have been around and had these interviews and have never stated anything like that. So I'm very suspicious about his author. He's probably joining the left and trying to conflate the issues.

You know, Joe Biden's cognitive decline is a real issue. He cannot find his way off a stage. President Trump can. He cannot -- he forgets what decade he's talking about. Sure, candidates misspeak all the time, and we see that, but it's hard to deny that the cognitive decline we're seeing for Joe Biden is -- takes place.

And trying to conflate it and say both parts -- both sides do is very dangerous. I mean, we -- we're -- we need -- we represent power on this earth -- on the world -- and having a president that can't display that, and having a president who looks weak, and having president who looks lost on the domestic and international stage is very, very dangerous for us. And conflating this is dangerous itself.

BERMAN: Maria, very quickly.

CARDONA: I agree it will be dangerous, Bryan, and that's why we can't elect Donald Trump. You had CEOs in a recent meeting saying that he was meandering. He couldn't hold a thought. He was talking gibberish.

You've seen clips of Donald Trump misstating Nancy Pelosi for Nikki Haley. Talking about sharks. Talking about windmills. Also, trailing off.

LANZA: He finds the door.

CARDONA: So, John, to your point, it is an issue for both men, and we are going to see this at the debate. But what I say that the majority of Americans believe is what I've heard in focus groups, which is look, both dudes are old, but I prefer old and steady than old and crazy. And I think that's the big contrast that we're going to see in November.

BERMAN: That debate just eight days away, like nothing we have seen before.

Bryan Lanza, Maria Cardona, thanks to both of you. Appreciate you being here -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, John.

Today we celebrate Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day. The holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S.

Victor Blackwell, host of "FIRST OF ALL" on CNN on Saturdays, traced his family's history back more than 300 years and now he's digging even deeper into that past. He joins us now.

Victor, some of these images that we're seeing just in the teases are incredible. What was this like for you?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: You know, this story about my family's history is the story I'm asked most often about in the grocery store or at the airport, and it fueled this curiosity within my family. And now, we are traveling and meeting new relatives. And now, in this story, you're going to learn how we got our last name.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

V. BLACKWELL (voice-over): It's been one year since my family learned of our astonishing history that brought me to tears.

V. BLACKWELL: (Crying) Man, this is -- oh, man.

V. BLACKWELL (voice-over): I was covering the opening of the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. And through the genealogists in its Center for Family History, I learned that in the late 18th century, an enslaved woman in Northumberland County, Virginia named Sarah. My seven times great grandmother sued her enslaver for her freedom and the freedom of her descendants and won.

Dr. Shelley Murphy is the center's director.

DR. SHELLEY MURPHY, HEAD GENEAOLOGIST, INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM: Your line started out enslaved and became free up until where you're at right now.

Give me a hug. How are you?

V. BLACKWELL: Good to see you. V. BLACKWELL (voice-over): Recently, I invited Dr. Murphy to Baltimore to meet my mother and my cousins, all overwhelmed by the discovery -- all beneficiaries of Sarah's groundbreaking lawsuit.

TONY BLACKWELL, VICTOR BLACKWELL'S COUSIN: To have women step up and speak out about their freedom back then is just -- it was just incredible.

MURPHY: That threat of being killed or sold, unbelievable.

T. BLACKWELL: Yes.

MURPHY: Unbelievable. And that's something that should go generations.

ZELDA MARSHALL, VICTOR BLACKWELL'S COUSIN: That just blew me away that this was in our bloodline, you know. Sometimes you don't think it but, you know, you are -- we are powerful.

VANESSA GIBSON, VICTOR BLACKWELL'S MOTHER: And, you know, it's sad that our parents -- especially our fathers --

MURPHY: Yeah.

GIBSON: -- who were Blackwells are not here.

MARSHALL: Not here to see it.

MURPHY: Right.

GIBSON: And didn't know it. It would have been a story that they would have been so proud --

MARSHALL: Proud.

GIBSON: -- and would have passed it on to us --

T. BLACKWELL: Yeah.

GIBSON: -- had they known.

MURPHY: Yes.

MARSHALL: Had they known.

V. BLACKWELL (voice-over): And last summer, my mother and our cousins drove to the county where Sarah won her freedom to pass that story on.

GIBSON: Well, we took a trip down to Northumberland County --

MARSHALL: Yes.

GIBSON: -- last summer for the Blackwell reunion. We didn't know hardly any of the people there --

MARSHALL: Right, right. GIBSON: -- from that family.

T. BLACKWELL: I'm longing to find out more about the Blackwell side because unfortunately, we didn't know much about our side of the family growing up.

[07:45:00]

V. BLACKWELL (voice-over): That journey begins here in Montgomery, Alabama with Bryan Stevenson. He's the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and its new massive National Monument to Freedom.

BRYAN STEVENSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: It's created by reviewing the 1870 census, and the 1870 census in the United States was the first time that formerly enslaved people had an opportunity to claim a surname that the government would recognize.

V. BLACKWELL (voice-over): More than 122,000 surnames on this wall, front and back, about four stories tall and about half the length of a football field.

STEVENSON: Yes, we want to tell the story about the horrors, and the degradation, and the violence of slavery, but we also want to tell the other story about the resilience of enslaved people. About the courage, the strength, the perseverance.

There you are. Just jump out of me.

V. BLACKWELL: There it is.

STEVENSON: Yes, it is.

V. BLACKWELL: How about that? Wow. To see that name with the, what, 122,000 others --

STEVENSON: Yeah.

V. BLACKWELL: -- it is both humbling but also it gives my family a place.

STEVENSON: Yes, that's right.

Forty percent of the people who were enslaved claimed names that were associated with enslavers -- not to honor the enslaver, but they were just trying to create kinship and community with brothers and sisters and parents. They didn't want to give up on that, so they adopted those names.

V. BLACKWELL: They could have been sold off or traded off.

STEVENSON: Could have been sold off, exactly.

MURPHY: The Blackwell line came into the Virginia colonies in 1636.

V. BLACKWELL: Hmm.

MURPHY: Joseph Blackwell up into Northumberland.

V. BLACKWELL (voice-over): Dr. Murphy and other genealogists traced three Blackwell family lines coming into the colonies, but Murphy was only able to connect my line to the start of the 19th century.

MURPHY: There is a Mishack Blackwell and a Mishack Jr. Blackwell. And the first one was born about 1810.

V. BLACKWELL (voice-over): My great-great-great-great grandfather.

MURPHY: Just because of the area, Virginia, nine times out of 10 he would have been enslaved.

T. BLACKWELL: I never really heard much about the Blackwell family. So to hear this and to get information on this is -- I'm 65 years old. It feels good.

MARSHALL: Yeah.

V. BLACKWELL (voice-over): There are so many more questions to be answered but the more we look and the more we learned, the more we appreciate our ancestors and their will to persevere.

STEVENSON: I think to know that you are the heir of people who found a way to survive, who found a way to overcome all of the hardship is something that should generate pride.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

V. BLACKWELL: Wow. Watching it back now, I'm filled with gratitude for everyone there at the Equal Justice Initiative and Dr. Murphy for helping us find more answers about our family.

And there's something else I want you to see -- that lawsuit that Sarah filed in the 1780s and the decision by the judge. After we learned of it, I made sure we all had copies of it.

SIDNER: Wow.

V. BLACKWELL: And I think we have video. It is hanging in each one of our homes. I have it hanging in my home with a plaque. It's in my mother's home. My cousin Zelda, cousin Tony -- they have it as well. And now there are more people who are asking for copies.

This is a reminder of the fight in our family for freedom. And as I am grateful for those who fought to be free, I am just as grateful for those in my -- of my ancestors who simply survived the suffering of slavery for centuries. So, yeah, this has been a really enriching project.

SIDNER: If not for that fight and the fight of those who just simply survived, we wouldn't have you -- and that would be a huge detriment.

I got chills watching that. What an incredible story. And what I loved, Victor, is that you found your folks in other places that you knew nothing about and brought them together. V. BLACKWELL: Knew nothing about them.

SIDNER: Beautiful. It's a perfect story.

V. BLACKWELL: Sarah.

SIDNER: -- for Juneteenth. I appreciate you -- all right.

And don't forget -- tune into CNN's special event, "JUNETEENTH: CELEBRATING FREEDOM AND LEGACY." You can watch it right here on CNN or stream it on Max tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

All right. Just ahead, as wildfires spread, a state of emergency is declared in New Mexico. A live report showing you the devastation there. That's coming up.

And finally, playing Zelda means you can actually play as Zelda. Gamers are going to love this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:54:04]

SIDNER: This morning, new concern over the deepening ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as Putin is in Pyongyang on his first visit there in more than two decades. Putin got a red-carpet welcome, a big parade, and a ride with Kim Jong Un in an open-top limo as thousands of North Koreans yelled "Welcome, Putin."

The North Korean leader -- he's hailing his new "alliance" with Russia as a watershed moment.

CNN's Mike Valerio in Seoul, South Korea for more. A watershed moment. Is this how the West is also seeing this?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, frankly, I think that the West is still digesting this. Our contacts in D.C. and here in Seoul certainly are, too.

So let's just break down what happened, and sort of take a breath here, on the Korean Peninsula because it is a lot.

[07:55:00]

So we have, Sara, first of all, these indelible images of two authoritarian leaders in an open limousine through the streets of Pyongyang to a crew and a crowd of thousands of people. So that was the pageantry in Pyongyang -- part one of this play that has just ended about an hour and a half- two hours ago.

But then we get down to the nitty gritty -- what has been agreed upon. You know, Sara, we've been talking about for days what would happen if there was the possibility that both Russia and North Korea said they would come to each other's defense if one of them were attacked or came under aggression -- and it seems as though that has come to fruition. Both of these countries signaling that if one of them comes under aggression -- a very vague term, Sara -- that there would be the possibility that either of these countries -- nuclear North Korea or nuclear Russia -- would come to each other's defense.

Let's listen to what Vladimir Putin had to say on that point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The comprehensive partnership agreement signed today provides, among other things, for the provision of mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this agreement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: So I know it's a little wonky -- "the provision of mutual assistance." Why this matters is because -- you know, we're looking at this treaty, Sara. It was signed between Khrushchev and Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, back in 1961 -- July of 1961. It's wording very strong. It said both militaries shall come to the immediate assistance of either country if either of them came under aggression or under attack.

So we're really going to be looking to the Pentagon and Western alliances to respond to this agreement in Pyongyang, which just wrapped up. What does this mean for how we -- for our government's react to this new agreement -- this new alliance? That remains to be seen. The dust here -- it's fair to say, Sara -- is just settling, so there's a lot to work through in the next couple of hours.

SIDNER: It is always fascinating to see North Korea and just how choreographed everything is. And what they did for Vladimir Putin is significant.

All right, Mike Valerio. Thank you so much for your reporting. That was great. Thank you -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, CNN has learned that the U.S. and several key allies are weighing how much to push for Ukraine's membership in NATO ahead of next month's 75th anniversary summit. The U.S. is now facing some criticism for not being willing to go as far as some European countries would like.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is in Washington with the latest on this. Good morning, Natasha.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Yeah, this is being painstakingly debated ahead of next month's really historic NATO summit here in Washington, D.C., with U.S. and German officials, we're told, pushing for language tat provides Ukraine with a "bridge" to NATO membership and not as strong as what Jens Stoltenberg, who is the secretary general of NATO, had said in April, which is that Ukraine's path to NATO membership should be "irreversible," which is language that is supported by the U.K. and some central and eastern European countries.

Now, why does this matter? It really matters because, of course, during this NATO summit, the alliance is going to submit a communique to the world that is going to signal just what Ukraine's place in NATO ultimately is going to be. It's not binding but it is a deeply symbolic document that really lays out the path that Ukraine has to becoming a full member of NATO -- something that they have aspired to really for decades now because of the constant threat posed by Russia.

Now, eastern and central European countries -- of course, they are disappointed at this point because they believe that the U.S. is not willing to go far enough to signal to Vladimir Putin that Ukraine's ultimate place is in NATO. But the U.S., we're told -- they are reluctant to use that word "irreversible" because they say Ukraine has not necessarily finalized all of the commitments that it needs to do to actually become a full NATO member, including some democratic and anticorruption reform.

So one central European diplomat told us that "They are disappointed by the Biden administration's ambiguity and procrastination" when it comes to outlining this concrete pathway for Ukraine.

So, Vladimir Putin, of course, will be watching this very closely next month. But the language here still being very painstakingly debated, John.

BERMAN: So, stand by.

All right, Natasha Bertrand. Thank you very much for that -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. This morning, new federal budget data shows the U.S. deficit will hit $1.9 trillion this year. That is 27 percent higher than the Congressional Budget Office estimated earlier this year.

CNN's Matt Egan is joining us now. Wow -- the economy looking pretty good. The budget deficit looking pretty terrible.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, absolutely. So this was a very sobering report. We knew the budget was a mess. It's even worse than we realized.

The CBO now projecting $1.9 trillion for the federal deficit this fiscal year. This is massive. And it's $400 billion larger than they estimated just a few months ago. A 27 percent increase. Remember, the deficit is the difference between how much the government brings in in revenue and how much it spends.

A few major drivers here.