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CNN International: Extreme Heat Wave Scorching Much of the U.S.; Weather Fueling Western Wildfires; Tensions Ramp Up Ahead of First Presidential Debate; Vladimir Putin Making Landmark Trip to Pyongyang. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 18, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are in the path of extreme heat. Making sure that you stay hydrated, pets are hydrated, air conditioning works.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heat is, of course, the deadliest of all extreme weather events across the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to be tested, especially tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am just so grateful that we didn't lose anything else. The wind was horrendous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is our moral responsibility as a society to take care of our kids. When it comes to social media, we are not doing well. We are failing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.

FOSTER: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It's Tuesday, June the 18th.

We begin in the U.S., where a long-lasting heat wave is bringing miserable weather to some 270 million Americans. The Midwest and the Northeast could see record-breaking temperatures for several days. Some areas are expected to top 15 to 20 degrees above normal.

Heat alerts are in place for 19 states, from the Great Lakes to New England. Temperatures will reach dangerous levels in cities including New York, Chicago and Boston. Cooling centers will open in some states.

People from Pennsylvania to Canada say they're doing what they can to stay cool and make the best of the situation.

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EMILY KOHNKE, BETHEL PARK, PENNSYLVANIA RESIDENT: Parking in the shade and exercising indoors in air conditioning. And all the curtains in my house are closed.

CHRISTOPHER TOBIAS, BETHEL PARK, PENNSYLVANIA RESIDENT: Today we're at the community center walking, whereas we normally would walk outside in a park or at a lake or something like that. So we just made minor changes. Just making sure that you stay hydrated, pets are hydrated, air conditioning works, and, you know, you just kind of ride it out.

OBI NNADI, TORONTO RESIDENT: I think the heat wave has definitely affected my outdoor activities because it forces me to be outside more. You know, like, usually you want to be inside the house because in Toronto it's cold. But when the heat wave is here, you want to be outside, you want to be enjoying. Like everybody's outside right now, everyone's enjoying it.

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FOSTER: Fair enough, isn't it? It's expected to hit 91 degrees though today in Toronto. Officials are advising Canadians to take precautions against heat stroke.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has more on the brutal heat wave sweeping the U.S.

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ZACH ISCOL, COMMISSIONER, NYC EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: We are in the path of extreme heat, bringing along potential health risks in the forthcoming days.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Summer officially arrives in the northern hemisphere this week. And with it, a heat wave not seen in decades. From the Midwest and Great Lakes to the Northeast, more than 260 million Americans, or roughly 82 percent of the U.S. population, could see temperatures above 90 degrees. Nearly 200 daily high temperature records could be tied or broken in major cities, including Boston, D.C., Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York City. And little relief is expected even at night, with low temperatures not dropping below the middle 70s.

ISCOL: Extreme heat is the most dangerous weather phenomenon we have in New York City. We lose over 350 New Yorkers a year on average to heat.

MYERS (voice-over): Caribou, Maine, which prides itself as the most northeastern city in the U.S., could hit their hottest temperature ever Wednesday, with a forecast of 99. That's three degrees higher than their all-time hottest high temperature on record. Boston is forecast to be nearly 100 degrees on Thursday, which would be their earliest 100 degree day in 99 years.

And it's not just the high temperatures causing concern, but how long they're expected to stick around. Pittsburgh, which hasn't seen a single day go over 95 degrees in more than a decade, is forecast to see six consecutive days above 95 degrees. And Philadelphia is expected to see five straight days at or above 95.

If it seems like these scorching heat waves are happening more and more each year, it's not your imagination.

DR. ASHWIN VASAN, COMMISSIONER, NYC DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE: While very hot days are, of course, normal, the number and the duration of these hot days we are seeing each and every year is not. The risk to our planet presents risks to our health. And heat is, of course, the deadliest of all extreme weather events here in New York City and across the United States.

MYERS (voice-over): Chad Myers, CNN, Atlanta.

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[04:05:00]

FOSTER: Thousands have been ordered to evacuate from the village of Ruidoso in New Mexico due to a fast-moving wildfire. The South Fork fire broke out on Monday and has burned at least 3,000 acres. It's being fueled by gusty winds, high temperatures and low humidity.

A fire warning is in place for Lincoln County, where the village is located. Smoke from the fire is visible from space. And air quality alerts have been issued for some areas.

Wildfires also raging across California. A fast-moving fire near Sacramento known as the Arrow fire has burned more than 5,000 acres, or 2,000 hectares, since Monday. It's prompted evacuations and there's no containment so far.

Another fire in northern California called the Sites fire is also burning out of control. Similar scenes in Los Angeles County, where crews are battling the so-called Post fire. It's burned more than 15,000 acres, or 6,000 hectares, and is about 20 percent contained after breaking out on Saturday.

Some residents described the horror they felt as the fire raged through their properties.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm still in shock that it actually devastated the property as much as it did. But I am just so grateful that we didn't lose anything else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wind was horrendous, and the fire spread and split at rates not normally seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: CNN's Camila Bernal has more on the Post Fire.

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CAMILA BERNAL, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Firefighters are describing this fire as creeping underground, moving slowly. And they say that at any moment, things can change. And that's why they're so concerned about the wind. And they expect these winds to remain high through Tuesday. So firefighters are saying that they have been able to keep the fire lines, but that it is still very challenging work because of the high speeds of the wind gusts in this area. You're seeing some of the crews here on the ground attempting to put out any hot spots so that you don't get those new fires because of the wind in this area.

You're also seeing some of the crews in the sky using these helicopters to do water drops. So it is a joint effort between the different crews in this area to try to gain some containment. Here is what officials are saying about this fire.

FLEMMING BERTELSEN, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: It means we're going to be tested, especially tonight. Ridgetop winds are going to be calling for 50-mile-an-hour winds on ridgetops. And during the day, valley winds 25-plus. So we're augured in, and we're making a stand.

BERNAL: And climate change also greatly impacting the way these fires are spreading. You know, firefighters telling me that because of the rain that we got here in California over the last couple of days, you have a lot of vegetation, and in particular, you have a lot of grass. And that is what firefighters call fuel to this fire in particular.

They say that it spreads quickly, and so you add in the wind, the low humidity, the high temperatures, and that's what makes this fire just so dangerous and so tough for these firefighters that are working around the clock.

Camila Bernal, CNN, LeBeck, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: We're now just nine days away from the first presidential debate in the 2024 U.S. election season. And tensions are already ramping up ahead of that showdown between President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump. On Monday, the Biden campaign debuted a new ad that will air in battleground states, blasting Trump as a felon who only cares about himself.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump for who he is. He's been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud. This election is between a convicted criminal who's only out for himself and a president who's fighting for your family.

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FOSTER: Trump's campaign was quick to respond, calling the hush money trial election interference and pointing to polls showing the former president's strength in swing states. Trump still maintains a close connection to his former advisor and longtime ally, Steve Bannon, who answered his call during a live podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEVE BANNON, FORMER TRUMP ADVISER: Hey, Carrie, hang on for one second. I got a call from someone I got to take. Just hang on.

OK. Hey, Mr. President, I'm live on TV. Can I call you back? I'll call you back, sir. Thank you.

Carrie, go ahead. Continue on. Your favorite person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, at a conservative gathering over the weekend, Bannon vowed that Trump's political opponents would face blowback if Trump wins a second term as president.

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BANNON: November 5th is Judgment Day. January 20th, 2025 is Accountability Day. You're going to get every single receipt. And to the fullest extension of the law, you are going to be investigated, prosecuted and incarcerated.

[04:10:02]

Ladies and gentlemen, it's very simple. Victory or death.

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FOSTER: Well, Trump is also finding support from House Speaker Mike Johnson, also chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Richard Hudson, who met with the former president at Mar-a- Lago on Monday. CNN's Alayna Treene has more from Washington.

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ALAYNA TREEN, CNN REPORTER: Former President Donald Trump on Monday met with House Speaker Mike Johnson as well as Richard Hudson, the chairman of the House GOP's campaign arm. And I'm told that they walked Donald Trump through some of the critical House races that they think he could be helpful in come November.

Now, remember, Donald Trump last week traveled to Washington, D.C., where he met with House and Senate Republicans, and he promised them that he would do more, more tele-town halls, more messages of support to try and get these people not only reelected, but to also try to expand their majorities, both in the House and the Senate.

And that's really important, not just to lawmakers in Congress, but also to Donald Trump, because if he were to reclaim the White House in November, he's going to need a lot of Republicans to pass his legislative priorities. And so that was the key focus. They said that they wanted to talk about a unified message, about how they can all be on the same page in the next stretch looking forward to Election Day.

Now, I also think it's important to note that Donald Trump has been far more hands-off this election cycle than he has been in the past, and that's because in 2022 he endorsed several candidates that went on to win their primaries, only to lose on the day that it counted, which was Election Day in the midterms.

And so according to my conversations with Donald Trump's campaign, they tell me that they don't want to get involved in races where they don't think the candidate can actually win. And so they're going to be mapping out where Donald Trump can be lending his support and which races it will really matter.

Alayna Treene, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Earlier I spoke with Richard Johnson, lecturer in U.S. politics at Queen Mary University of London. I asked him if Steve Bannon's message would be effective.

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RICHARD JOHNSON, LECTURER IN U.S. POLITICS, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Steve Bannon is not someone that the Trump campaign is putting out to talk to swing voters or people who voted Joe Biden at the last election. Bannon is trying to talk to those people who have stuck with Trump from 2016 to 2020 to now. And in a sense, Bannon's message is one of trying to raise the stakes of the election to mobilize the kind of core MAGA base of Trump voters.

FOSTER: And with this latest ad from the Biden campaign, we've got a sense of his strategy as well going ahead, which is very focused on Donald Trump's criminal record. Who's that going to appeal to? Because there's been lots of polling to suggest that none of these trials have affected his base.

But I guess we're talking about people that may be swinging in either direction right now.

JOHNSON: When I look at this ad, I see a classic example of what we call in political science negative partisanship. So what we have in this election is we have two candidates who both have high unfavorable ratings. Joe Biden's unfavorable rating, historically speaking, would not be the kind of rating that would see you get reelected, except that Donald Trump also has extremely high unfavorable ratings.

And I think what this ad is trying to do, in effect, is for the Biden campaign to say to voters, OK, you may not love Joe Biden, but you really don't like Donald Trump. This is not an election where both are equally bad. One might be bad, but one is even worse.

And negative partisanship is when you vote to stop another candidate from winning. And, in effect, that's the message they're saying. If you want to stop Donald Trump from being reelected, you're going to have to hold your nose and vote for Joe Biden.

Don't stay at home. Don't vote for a third-party candidate. Come out and vote for Joe Biden.

And they realize that those voters, ultimately, I think, will decide the election. (END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER (on camera): Be sure to watch the CNN host the U.S. presidential debate next week. It is on Thursday, June the 27th, 9 p.m. Eastern in the U.S. That's 9 a.m. Friday in Hong Kong, 2 a.m. here in London.

Now, Vladimir Putin is set to arrive in North Korea for a landmark visit. We'll show you how Pyongyang is preparing for the Russian president. Look at the flags.

Plus, a member of President Biden's Secret Service team was forced to take action when they became the victim of an armed robbery.

And the Boston Celtics are celebrating another milestone. Details on their record-setting 18th NBA championship. Find out who's going home with the MVP.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: For the second time in less than two weeks, South Korea's military has fired warning shots after soldiers from North Korea crossed into the demilitarized zone. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff says it doesn't think the breach was intentional. About 20 to 30 soldiers crossed the military demarcation line early on Tuesday. They retreated back into North Korea after the warning shots.

Meanwhile, North Korea is rolling out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin. The streets of Pyongyang are lined with Russian flags and banners of the Russian president. He's expected to arrive in the next few hours for his first visit in many years. But the trip is raising concern with the U.S. and its Western allies about North Korea's military support for Russia's war in Ukraine.

Live to CNN's Ivan Watson. Following developments for us from Hong Kong. And the U.S. very clear that they don't object to the visit. Russia can do what they like. So can North Korea. But they are very concerned about what it means for Ukraine.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Right now, Vladimir Putin, according to Russian state media, is conducting a stopover in Yakutsk. That's a Russian city in Siberia.

And after some time there, he's expected to then fly on to Pyongyang, where we believe he should arrive sometime Tuesday evening, Tuesday night for this visit.

[04:20:03]

The Kremlin has made it clear. A Kremlin aide has said that the Russian and North Korean sides are expected to sign a new strategic partnership agreement. They have had drafts, versions of this in past decades. But in an open letter that Putin wrote and that has been published in the North Korean state media, we see signs of two governments, two leaders who are drawing closer together. And it does seem to revolve around Vladimir Putin and his now more than two-year-old war in Ukraine, though he uses a very different term for it if you look at the letter.

Quote: We highly appreciate the DPRK's unwavering support for Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.

Again, more than two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. He goes on to write that Pyongyang was and remains our staunch, like-minded ally and supporter, ready to resolutely resist the desire of the collective West to prevent the formation of a multipolar world order based on justice.

What we're hearing here is the rhetoric of Moscow very much echoing the kind of ideology and rhetoric that North Korea has espoused and proclaimed for decades, for generations, of kind of the U.S. being this sinister force that's trying to dominate the world order. And now North Korea and the Pyongyang regime sounds very much ideologically aligned with Vladimir Putin's government.

So what does that mean going forward? The U.S. has accused North Korea of supplying Russia with conventional weapons, things like artillery rounds and rockets that the White House is accusing Russia of using to kill Ukrainians on the battlefield.

We do know that Vladimir Putin's military was not prepared initially for a war of attrition in Ukraine and has been looking for munitions from allies like North Korea. Pyongyang and Moscow deny these accusations of weapons transfers, but something's clearly going on between these two countries. And one of the big questions that the State Department has raised is what could North Korea be getting in return? After all, it is one of the world's most isolated countries -- Max.

FOSTER: Yes. Clare, in terms of how Russia's looking at this, I mean, it's an opportunity, isn't it, to increase its sphere of influence as much as, you know, getting these weapons deals done?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, I think the optics do matter, of course, coming off that huge week that we saw last week for Ukraine's Western alliance with the reconstruction conference in Berlin, the G7, and the peace summit in Switzerland. This is a chance for Russia to show that it's not isolated as a result of the war in Ukraine. President Putin, by the way, just also had a phone call with Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, which is one of the holdouts from that communique at the Ukrainian peace summit.

So they're very much going for these sort of on-the-fence, non-aligned countries trying to build up their own alliances. And the optics of President Putin's face lining the streets, these posters lining the streets of Pyongyang will help with that.

But I think concretely it's about, for the West and the concerns that we see from the U.S., it's about the potential quid pro quo here. Take a listen to national security spokesman John Kirby on this issue.

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JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON: What we are concerned about, Trevor, is the deepening relationship between these two countries. Not just because of the impacts it's going to have on the Ukrainian people, because we know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets. But because there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean peninsula.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So it's what North Korea could get in return. And in fact, I think it's fair to say we have already seen some of that quid pro quo. Russia vetoed the extension of a mandate of a panel of experts at the U.N. who monitor violations of North Korea's U.N. sanctions. That mandate has now expired. Those sanctions violations are not being monitored. So North Korea now has this sort of powerful ally, a permanent member on the U.N. Security Council that makes future sanctions very unlikely. And then it raises further questions about what else Moscow could be doing in return for these weapons deliveries to support potentially North Korea's nuclear program.

FOSTER: It makes Russia look stronger, this sort of event, doesn't it? Particularly when we're getting all the pictures out of North Korea. Does it make the West look weaker?

SEBASTIAN: So I think, I mean, look, Russia is clearly going wherever it can to seek these alliances. I think it's not necessarily true that seeking a kind of an alliance from the most isolated country in the world, this pariah state of North Korea, makes them look stronger. But certainly that is the message they're hoping to project home.

[04:25:00]

You know, state media, all the sort of powerful sort of spokespeople sort of for President Putin that you see, the news anchors, they're all putting out videos that show these images of his face lining the streets. So this is very much about the optics, as I said, to be able to project at home that he is, rather than being weakened by the war in Ukraine, is actually growing in influence.

And if you look at the battlefield, that stands up as well. There's no reason at this point, given that Russia has very much the initiative on the ground in Ukraine, for them to stop with the fighting and stop seeking new defense partnerships.

FOSTER: Clare Sebastian, thank you so much. Also Ivan in Hong Kong.

Now, a flotilla of Russian naval ships has left Cuba, wrapping up a six-day visit. They include a frigate, considered one of the most modern ships in the Russian fleet, and a nuclear-powered submarine. Havana says none of the ships carried nuclear weapons.

Cuba's president toured the vessels on Saturday. It's not uncommon for Russian ships to dock in Cuba, but this flotilla was the largest to visit in years. It's unclear where they're heading next.

Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved his war cabinet. A look at who will help him now on making the big decisions about Israel's war with Hamas from now. A live report from Jerusalem is next for you.

Plus, an urgent call to action from the U.S. Surgeon General, who's warning about the threat social media poses to children's mental health.

[04:30:00]