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CNN International: Extreme Heat Has Claimed Hundreds Of Lives During The Hajj; 100M+ Under Heat Alerts Across Much Of U.S.; U.S. Officials Concerned Israel's Iron Dome Could Be Overwhelmed In War With Hezbollah. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired June 21, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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SARA SIDNER, HOST, "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": After his felony conviction, Donald Trump outracing President Biden, a reclusive billionaire giving him a major boost to the tune of $50 million, while the latest Poll of Polls shows Trump and Biden in a dead heat. Plus, you good out there? A Southwest flight triggering a low altitude warning, flying just --
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and this is the CNN Newsroom.
Straight ahead, extreme heat in Saudi Arabia has led to the deaths of hundreds of Muslim pilgrims performing the Hajj in Mecca. And there are growing concerns that Israel's Iron Dome could be overwhelmed if a full-blown war breaks out against Hezbollah. And less than a week to go before the CNN U.S. presidential debate, we'll check in with both camps and see what strategies they're using to prepare for the television contest.
Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca this year, but hundreds won't be returning home. A dangerous heatwave has gripped Saudi Arabia, bringing sweltering temperatures to the annual event. Pilgrims are contending with 50 degree heat. That's 122 degrees Fahrenheit. For some, it's proved fatal. The toll so far is 460 and expected to rise. Saudi Arabia has deployed army personnel and volunteers to respond to heat emergencies.
India's capital is also sweltering in the summer heat. One part of Delhi saw its highest ever temperature of just under 50 degrees Celsius. Nightfall brings little to no relief to Indians, many of whom do not have access to air conditioning.
And in Brazil, thousands of hectares of wetlands are charred, thanks to a series of unprecedented fires, smoke and ash making living near the Pantanal wetland nearly impossible. Making matters worse, a heatwave is expected in the area.
Julia Vargas Jones has the story.
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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The world's largest freshwater wetland, scorched. Aerial footage captures the true scope of the blaze, what should be green now turned to ash. This month alone, authorities detected 1,729 fire sources in Brazil's massive Pantanal wetlands, and nearly 1.3 million acres have already burned this year. Along with them, some of its precious fauna, like the approximately 10 million crocodiles that called this place home.
Over the crackling of the fire, you can hear the animals trying to escape, this woman says. Last week, children had to be evacuated from a school in Mato Grosso do Sul state when the fire got too close, and residents tried to continue to make a living as if life is normal under a blanket of ash, smoke hovering over the rivers in a glowing orange sky. But, experts warn that the worst may be yet to come, as the region is bracing for an impending heatwave.
Isabelle Bueno, who is part of a conservation group trying to protect the Pantanal. She says too much heat, not enough rain, lots of wind, and extremely low water levels on the main river of the biome have created the perfect storm and only six months after the last fire season. One firefighter telling CNN, the scenes look apocalyptic. They've been battling the fire for 10 days, going into remote hard-to- reach areas day and night. But, the area is vast and resources scarce.
This fire chief of a nonprofit brigade thanks a local farmer for giving his crew a ride to the fire line. Otherwise, he says, it would be a two day's walk. What Pantanal urgently needs, experts say, is airplanes to drop water on the burning patches. We do the impossible with very little and we need help, she says.
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.
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WHITFIELD: All right. Back to the heatwave which is affecting the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Scott McLean is joining us now from Istanbul. Scott, I mean, the numbers, extremely high. What kind of efforts have been made to try to prevent this or render aid?
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fredricka. Yeah. The Saudi government has got the army out in force to try to help people there. They have set up water stations. There are misting systems in place. But, at the end of the day, we are talking about a pilgrimage and an event that is almost entirely outdoors, involves this year about 1.5 million pilgrims. And it is also an obligation in the Islamic faith to go to Hajj, to attend this pilgrimage at least once in your lifetime if you are physically and financially able to. And though the dates change every year, according to the Islamic calendar, this year, it happens to fall in June.
There is not much you can do about it and there is really not much you can do about the sweltering temperatures, really dangerous temperatures that we're talking about, reaching some 49 or 50 degrees Celsius on Monday. That's about 120 or so degrees Fahrenheit. I mean, it's frankly dangerous to be outdoors in those kinds of temperatures. 2,700 people is what the Saudi government says have been treated for heatstroke.
And now that the Hajj ended officially on Wednesday, we're also getting a look at the number of people who actually died during that period. And as you pointed out, the numbers are staggering. 460 is the number that we know thus far. But, there are reports that the true number could be over 1,000. That's because some people are still in the hospital. Some people are unaccounted for. And some people are also not being counted in some of the official data because they are not officially considered to be Hajj pilgrims. And the reason why is because you'll recall that in previous years, they have had enormous issues with the volume of people trying to do their Hajj pilgrimage all in the same year.
And so, to try to get the numbers under control and prevent the kinds of scenes that we saw in 2015, for instance, where you had a stampede that killed more than 2,000 people, Saudi officials have put caps on the number of people who can come from various countries. But, look, those people are given special Hajj visas. But, you can also nowadays go to Saudi Arabia on a business visa or a tourist visa. It's really not that difficult. And so, some people are going that way.
The difficulty, though, Fredricka, is that you may end up with some pretty substandard accommodation, a tent in the desert, whereas the official pilgrims are sleeping in air conditioned tents, or you might end up getting lost or running into health trouble while walking between some of these sites, whereas the official pilgrims will have access to some better transportation options and things like that.
And as I said, look, most countries are just reporting the number of official pilgrims. But, when you look at Tunisia, for instance, they say 35 people were killed. Just five of them were official Hajj pilgrims. The rest were not. So, perhaps that illustrates that the true number may be much, much higher than the official ones at this point. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. Dangerous conditions indeed. All right. Thank you so much, Scott McLean. Extreme heat is also making its mark across much of the U.S. More than
100 million people in the northeast and southwest will be under heat advisories, watches and warnings throughout the weekend. The National Weather Service is saying all of that. Many across the Midwest have already gotten a taste of the unseasonably hot temperatures
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JEWEL MANLEY, OHIO RESIDENT: It feels muggy and hot, crazy, overwhelming, but it is what it is.
SHEILA STRAUB, OHIO RESIDENT: Staying cool is a process this week. I think eating a lot of ice cream, taking lots of showers, and being grateful for air conditioning. We are so blessed to have it. So, stay hydrated and be well out there.
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WHITFIELD: Get advice. And in New England, a several daily high temperature records were set again on Thursday, with cities in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Maine nearing the triple digits, well above the typical monthly average of around 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking the heat for us. Where is it not hot?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. Great question. You're talking about what's happening in Saudi Arabia. Now, to North America. It seems like a very consistent trend as we enter into the first day of summer. So, here is my concern for today. We have what is known as the urban heat island effect in the United States and across the world as well.
But, we're talking about the heat in context with what's happening in the U.S. You look at some of the larger cities that are under these heat alerts. This is for the upcoming weekend, starting tomorrow, and you can see New York, D.C., Philadelphia included in that, that's a large population density, lots of pavement, lots of concrete, very dense urban environments. So, temperatures there can skyrocket very quickly compared to the less rural areas or the more rural areas just to the west. So, something to consider. And this is the reason why we have 100 million Americans across the U.S. under some sort of heat alert because it doesn't just stop across the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest. It also stretches towards the western U.S.
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In fact, this is an interesting statistic. Over 80 percent of the U.S. population, so roughly 260 million people, will feel temperatures above 90 degrees over the next seven days. So, where will it be hottest? Let's start with today. There it is across the Ohio River Valley. This is our heat risk index. You see that shading of purple and red. That's where people are most susceptible to the heat today.
I'm going to advance the graphic, show you what Saturday looks like, (inaudible) that spreads to the East Coast. Those are the major cities that I was talking about just a moment ago. We start to see some relief from the north, but then that heat moves into the south in places like Houston all the way to Atlanta. So, the next seven days, there is some cooler weather across northern New England but triple- digit heat from Philly all the way to D.C., Pittsburgh, up into the middle 90s. And then, we're talking about record-high temperatures, of course, with that type of heat. The mercury in the thermometer climbing to the middle and upper 90s here in Atlanta.
It's all about when you factor in the humidity levels. We know what it's like, Fredricka. We've been there. We live in Atlanta. And we understand just how muggy and uncomfortable it can be. So, just kind of echoing the words from that woman that we interviewed just a moment ago --
WHITFIELD: She gave a great advice.
DAM: -- thankful and grateful for air conditioning.
WHITFIELD: Right. Indeed. And hydrate, hydrate, right?
DAM: Yeah.
WHITFIELD: Really important things. All right. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.
All right. Turning back to the Middle East now. As tensions grow between Israel and Hezbollah based in Lebanon, U.S. officials say they're worried Israel's Iron Dome air defense system could be overwhelmed. Cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah have been on the rise in recent months.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is in South Lebanon, and joins us now. Ben, good to see you. So, is the U.S. right to be concerned about the Iron Dome's effectiveness?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly. Israel should be concerned about the effectiveness of the Iron Dome, Fredricka, because, (inaudible) already is that Hezbollah has posted video showing one of their missiles striking a battery of the Iron Dome. You have to keep in mind the difference between what Hamas has and what Hezbollah has. Hezbollah is much better supplied with precision weaponry. And because of the terrain, for instance, you see, it's very mountainous here, they have in many areas the high ground. They can shoot down into Israeli positions.
And also, because of things like just Google Earth. You can go on Google Earth and find where Israeli positions are. And we've seen in that nine-minute drone video that was published by Hezbollah that they actually identify individual Iron Dome positions. And what we've seen in the past is that they have, according to the Israelis, prior to this war, more than 150,000 rockets and missiles. The assumption is they may have well more than that, many of them far more sophisticated than anything Hamas has. So, the assumption is that in the event of an escalation, they will fire swarms of drones in the direction of an Iron Dome or other air defense systems and be able to knock them out. Will they be able to knock out the entirety of the system? Highly unlikely.
But, what we've seen over the last few months, actually since October, is that Hezbollah has systematically targeted the border surveillance posts of the Israeli army. When the Israelis, when they were knocked out, the Israelis brought in cranes on which they put the same equipment. Hezbollah struck those cranes. So, the Israelis themselves say that Hezbollah is far more sophisticated than they thought, certainly since the beginning of this war. So, yes, there should be real concern among the Israelis, ergo the Americans, that the Iron Dome system isn't quite the insurance policy the Israelis perhaps assume. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much. We'll check back with you throughout the day.
All right. Back in this country, it seems Joe Biden and Donald Trump have been mostly focused on two things lately, raising money and preparing for next week's first presidential debate right here on CNN. The candidates have announced massive fundraising halls during the month of May. President Biden and the Democratic Party brought in $85 million, while Trump raised a staggering $141 million, a figure that includes a $50 million donation from a single donor, a recluse banking billionaire, and those numbers don't include recent fundraising like Biden's star-studded event featuring Hollywood stars last weekend that pulled in $30 million in one night.
To help us sort through all the money and all the preparations for next week's debate, CNN's Steve Contorno tracking the Trump campaign. Steve, great to see you.
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So, let's start with the money. Donald Trump's 34 felony convictions may have been bad for him legally, but it seems to be helping him when it comes down to raising money.
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Fred. That $141 million that Trump raised last month, tens of millions of dollars of that came in at the end of May just after Trump's felony conviction on 34 counts. A surge of grassroots donations and small-dollar donations coming into his campaign in those final moments of the month.
Interesting, though, he also received a huge influx of cash from very wealthy donors into his closely aligned super PAC. MAGA Inc. last month reported a $68 million haul. Now, $65 million of that came from just three donations, all from billionaires. One of those billionaires gave $50 million. Interestingly, that individual, Timothy Mellon, had previously given $25 million to RFK Jr.'s campaign, but now he has given to Trump after this felony conviction. All of this money will be used by the super PAC for a fundraising blitz that it is planning in the months ahead, and they will use that to help shape the narrative coming out of next Thursday's debate.
WHITFIELD: All right. That's an interesting contrast in terms of the money donated to both RFK and to Trump. All right. Let me bring in Kevin Liptak at the White House. So, Kevin,
good to see you as well this morning. As we move toward debate preps, tell us what you're hearing about the President's preparations.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. The President is waking up at Camp David this morning, as he prepares for this week- long stretch of quite intensive debate preparations. The way we understand it, they'll begin rather informally, going through those binders of questions and answers, trying to frame some of the responses, some of the retorts. Ultimately, that will all build up to some mock debates that the President will engage in.
We do understand that the person who is likely to stand in for President Trump is Bob Bauer. He is the President's personal attorney. He filled that role back in 2020. And it was interesting. He just has a book out this week, and he talks about filling in that Trump role, and he said he didn't necessarily assume the voice. He didn't put on a red tie. But, he did try and really hone in on those personal attacks that they think Trump will levy against Biden in that debate. And so, certainly, you can imagine doing that again this time around.
Now, we did just learn, that's in the last few minutes or so, what President Biden will be doing after the debate. He is going to head to Raleigh, North Carolina, for a campaign event. North Carolina is the state that Trump won by the smallest margin compared to Biden in 2020. It's certainly a state that the Biden team very much wants to put in their column this time around. And certainly, their hope is that the President will be propelled into that stop on Friday by a strong debate performance down there in Atlanta on Thursday. But, certainly, he will have a lot of time to prepare.
Now, we did see him heading off to Camp David. Last night, he was asked how the debate prep was going and he gave a thumbs up. So, he is feeling good now. But, the real question is, how he is feeling heading into the debate next Thursday, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Kevin, thank you.
And Steve, back to you. What have you learned about any kind of debate preparations Trump has been going through?
CONTORNO: Well, last night, he attended a fundraiser and unlike President Trump -- excuse me, President Biden, Trump is not bunkering down over the weekend to study. He will be attending multiple campaign events. On Saturday, he is speaking to the Faith and Freedom Coalition. It's a conservative organization that supports anti- abortion policies. He was speaking to them in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. From there, he will be holding a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of those key battlegrounds. So, clearly, a very different approach going into this debate.
And we are told Trump is having more informal policy sessions, including with his advisors, some of his potential VP names. But, for the most part, he is using his rallies as an opportunity to sharpen his attacks. And then, he is going to sort of walk into the debate without having done any mock debate prep sessions as far as we know. WHITFIELD: All right. Steve Contorno, Kevin Liptak, great to see both
of you. Thank you so much.
And of course, you want to tune in to see the CNN presidential debate right here on CNN coming up, June 27, next Thursday, 9 p.m. Eastern Time. And of course, we will replay the debate in its entirety a few different times, and you can watch it on June 28 at 7 a.m. London time. That's 2 in the afternoon in Hong Kong, or 12 hours later at 7 in the evening in London, or hope you're keeping track of all this, 10 p.m. in Abu Dhabi.
All right. Still to come, will today be the day the U.S. Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity? A rundown of some of the big cases about to be decided, when we come back.
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We're learning more about a request to remove the judge from one of Donald Trump's cases. We'll tell you why?
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WHITFIELD: All right. In less than two hours, the U.S. Supreme Court will again command the attention of the political world. The court is due to release more decisions, as it is only days from its summer recess, and there are more than a dozen important cases still unresolved. And we could get rulings on the legality of emergency room abortions, gun control for people accused of domestic violence, regulation of social media, and the two most-watched cases, highly anticipated, Donald Trump's claim of sweeping presidential immunity and the question of whether the January 6 defendants can face obstruction of Congress charges.
To help us preview the impact of these coming decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, we welcome Corey Brettschneider. He is a Political Science Professor at Brown University, who specializes in constitutional law and the presidency. Good to see you, professor.
COREY BRETTSCHNEIDER, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, BROWN UNIVERSITY, & AUTHOR, "THE PRESIDENTS AND THE PEOPLE": Good to see you too. Looking forward to the conversation.
WHITFIELD: Wonderful. Well, perhaps, it's the U.S. Supreme Court's action on presidential immunity, which really is the most highly anticipated. And it's your opinion, the Supreme Court has become, and I'm quoting you, "extremely partisan". So, what are the dangers you see on an issue of presidential immunity, now five months away from the election, six days away from the first televised debate, if the High Court renders a decision that reflects a political bias?
BRETTSCHNEIDER: Well, they could do a couple of things. One would be to just slow roll the decision and to say, for instance, that there is immunity in some cases, issues in particular in which the President is acting in official capacity, and then send it back to the lower court, and slowing it down might mean that we don't see a real decision about this issue until after the election. Now, here is the key. If it's delayed until after the election, a sitting President, almost certainly with this court, does have immunity. And so, that would be a kind of "Get out of Jail Free" card.
The more worrying issue is that this really is, to my mind, a ridiculous argument that a President, after there is a common belief that a President has immunity while in office, but what's ridiculous is that after leaving office, a President would be immune. That would create an incentive and essentially a "Get out of Jail Free" card. And what we're talking about here, of course, in January 6, isn't any kind of crime. It's a crime to subvert democracy itself.
And so, when we're talking about something that serious, it essentially opens the door to more insurrection, more dictatorial behavior, were Trump ever to become President, and nothing less than the future of democracy is at stake when it comes to the question of immunity.
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WHITFIELD: And as it pertains to immunity, the lower court has already said essentially what you said, it would be ridiculous if a President, even after leaving office, will be able to just do anything. So, if the Supreme Court is to throw it back to the lower court, does that mean that that decision stands, or would the lower court have to entertain any new arguments?
BRETTSCHNEIDER: Well, there are a lot of different possibilities. One would be that they ask them for further findings of fact, because even if the court were to say that not just sitting presidents but former presidents have immunity when it comes to official acts, there still is the deep question of whether or not the obstruction of the official proceedings that Donald Trump took place in the attempt to deny the certification of electoral votes, and let's be blunt about it, the attempt to deny for the first time in American history the peaceful transition of power, that doesn't sound like an official act of a President. That doesn't sound like a President who is taking care that the laws be faithfully executed as the Article Two requires of a President.
So, those aren't official acts. And it's possible that even if the court were to give some deference to this argument to suggest there is immunity for official acts, I don't see a lower court saying that. The problem again is that will become too late.
WHITFIELD: And now, ahead of any U.S. Supreme Court action, the federal judge in the Florida -- in Florida, Aileen Cannon, is receiving criticism among judicial ranks, as she allows a hearing on Trump's complaints that Special Counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed. What do you see happening here?
BRETTSCHNEIDER: Well, I think she never should have considered this question. We have a long-standing system of special counsels. Of course, it played a crucial role in the Watergate investigation, and part of my book, "The Presidents and the People", is about the grand jury and the special prosecutor's ability to get information about the crimes of Richard Nixon. That's what really brought us the Watergate affair, what brought that to light. And the idea that you would just suddenly challenge this entire system that's so long-standing is -- and by the way, it is one of the few checks that we do have on a President. I think it's ridiculous.
And by the way, it's interesting that it's the Florida case and we didn't hear these arguments when it came to the President's son. This looks like a partisan argument.
WHITFIELD: And while you say the word "unprecedented", it's sometimes used to describe some of the former President's actions. There may be some historical similarities. You make reference to Richard Nixon, but there are other presidents where you see some similar parallels.
BRETTSCHNEIDER: Yeah. So, I mean, I think the threat that Trump poses to democracy is very real, and we haven't seen anything about January 6. But, America has a complicated and fragile system. The presidency is and really always has been a danger. And we saw that at the founding with John Adams, who signed the Alien and Sedition Acts and used the Sedition Act to go after political opponents to really try to shut down the opposition. We saw in the Buchanan administration, in the lead up to the Civil War, secretly lobbying the Supreme Court to decide Dred Scott, to deny rights to black people almost entirely in the United States. These were threats to democracy.
The difference here is that, in the past, we recovered future presidents put democracy back together. The Alien and Sedition Acts were allowed to expire. Thomas Jefferson said, we're all federalists. We're all Republicans. Meaning, I'm not going to prosecute political opponents. And of course, we had a 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments rejecting the evil idea that black people have no rights under our Constitution. What's going to happen this time? I don't think we can be sure that we'll recover. I hope it will. But, the courts are not going to be the place that saves us. It's really going to come down to this election.
WHITFIELD: It comes down to the American electorate. All right. Professor Corey Brettschneider, good to see you. Thank you so much.
BRETTSCHNEIDER: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right. And in just a few hours, the judge in Donald Trump's classified documents case will hear arguments about the Special Counsel in the case. Trump alleges that Jack Smith, on the right of your screen, was unlawfully appointed Special Counsel because the Senate did not confirm him. The Justice Department denies that the Senate has to confirm a Special Counsel. And this comes a day after an article in The New York Times says two federal judges urged Aileen Cannon to step down from the Trump classified documents case. Cannon is under scrutiny for mishandling the case due to significant delays, her relationship with Trump and conservatives. The case still does not have a start date.
[08:30:00]
Katelyn Polantz is following the story from Washington for us. So, let's get started with Judge Cannon. What do we know about the latest revelations involving her?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yeah. Fred, it's not unusual for a judge to want to have hearings and for defense teams to ask judges to toss cases like they're doing today in court. It is unusual how Judge Cannon has handled this case, even from the beginning, and that was something that we're now learning through this New York Times reporting, it may have been expected or suspected by other judges on the bench down in South Florida. So, Fred, after Judge Cannon was randomly selected to take on the Trump case and oversee it out of her courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, where she sits alone, the only district court judge up there in that courthouse quite remote from the rest of the bench in South Florida.
Two different judges, including the chief judge of the district, called her to suggest that she may want to hand it off, that she was very far away from where most of the national security cases were handled, like in Miami and other jurisdictions, and that the optics might not be great because she had not handled something appropriately that she had, as part of the case, before it was charged when she blocked the Justice Department from accessing for months records that were taken out of Mar-a-Lago and then an appeals court said, she got the law, absolutely wrong, and that should not be the situation that she is allowing for Donald Trump.
So, Judge Cannon, at that time, she didn't step down. She didn't take the advice or the suggestion of one of her colleagues on the bench and the chief judge of the very district she sits in, and she decided to hold on to the case. We're now a year after the indictment, Fred, and she is working through many things. There is a very long road, months, if not years, ahead to go in this case of work that Judge Cannon needs to do. And today, she is holding the first of a three-part hearing today, Monday, Tuesday, where she is looking at many different questions. Today, the question is if she believes the Special Counsel is valid, has the power to charge this case. Other judges across the country shot that down much more quickly.
But today, she wants to have a full day of hearings, including from people who are law professors, have nothing to do with the case at all, a very unusual approach, unheard of, really, in criminal trial cases at this level. Fred.
WHITFIELD: So then, I wonder, Katelyn, is it customary for fellow judges or even a chief judge to recommend or even discourage another judge from taking up a case?
POLANTZ: Well, Fred, it happens. You don't often hear about it. Judges talk. They talk amongst themselves. The thing that this really highlights is that if judges are talking in their district, which they often do, there was a split here, and Judge Cannon was making decisions in a way that was isolated from what the rest of her more experienced, more prominent colleagues in the bigger courthouses, were advising her or suggesting her to do. So, it really is just showing how different she is as a jurist and how isolated she is up in Fort Pierce from the rest of this bench, not even taking advice of the chief judge in her district. But, Fred, a federal appointee for life, she can do what she wants. WHITFIELD: All right. Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much.
All right. The world's three most powerful leaders have one more thing in common. They've all been to Vietnam this year. We'll look at the country's emergence as a regional economic powerhouse, after the break. Also ahead, Ukraine may not have to wait long to receive advanced U.S. air defenses, as Kyiv moves up on the U.S. priority list. A live report from the Pentagon coming up.
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WHITFIELD: All right. Moscow is reporting a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks in occupied Crimea and southern Russia that killed at least one person. Ukraine confirmed that it struck a number of oil refineries and other targets in Russia. Russia claims it destroyed more than 80 Ukrainian drones and six unmanned boats. Meanwhile, Kyiv has moved to the top spot on Washington's priority list for receiving advanced air defenses, according to multiple U.S. sources.
CNN National Correspondent -- Security Correspondent Natasha Bertrand is joining us now from the Pentagon. Natasha, good morning to you. So, Ukraine will now be first in line to get these weapons, skipping over other countries. Why now?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. This is a really significant policy shift by the Biden administration, and they say it's because, without these additional air defense munitions and systems, then Ukraine is not going to be able to defend itself throughout the winter, because Russia is simply going to pummel likely its critical infrastructure, which they have been doing for the last several years of the war.
And so, with air defense munitions running short as is, their kind of very -- their commodity that is not very well supplied by the U.S. or by other countries, they're in short supply at this point, then the U.S. has determined that those interceptors that are coming right off that supply line in the United States, they're going to go directly to Ukraine. And that really is likely to annoy some of the U.S.'s closer -- closest allies which have been waiting for these interceptors for, in some cases, several years, and the U.S. is going to have some pretty tough conversations with these countries about the fact that Ukraine really has to take priority at this point because they're being, of course, pummeled by Russian missiles daily.
And so, what this is going to do is hopefully allow Ukraine to maintain security of its cities as it goes into the late summer months, fall and winter. And ideally, this is going to last them for quite some time because that funding stream that the U.S. has is not going to last forever, right? I mean, the decision to do this was actually made when Congress was stalled on that supplemental funding package for Ukraine. So, it was seen as kind of a way to work around that. But, ultimately, this is going to be helpful for the Ukrainians. It is
something that they have been asking for, for quite some time now. But, it is still a pretty unprecedented move by the U.S. And according to U.S. officials, they're not making it lightly. Fred.
WHITFIELD: And specifically, what kind of weapons are we talking about?
BERTRAND: So, these are interceptors that go in the air defense system, the Patriot systems and the NASAMS that the U.S. has provided for the Ukrainians. And they're not the actual systems themselves. But, they're instead the interceptors that launch and then take out the incoming Russian fire. And that is really key because of course Ukraine has to protect its cities, its civilians, and importantly, its critical infrastructure, its energy grid, its water grid, in anticipation, of course, of a really tough winter where the fighting is likely to continue, because at this point, there is really no end in sight to the war.
WHITFIELD: All right. Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
All right. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is shutting the door on the idea of sending U.S. troops to Ukraine if he is reelected. The Biden administration has also made it clear that U.S. troop deployment is not an option. Trump is -- has yet to spell out his specific policy on Ukraine overall. But, during a recent podcast interview, he was pressed about putting U.S. boots on the ground.
[08:40:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID SACKS, CO-HOST, ALL IN PODCAST: Can you guarantee that no matter what you're not going to put American boots on the ground in Ukraine, is that something you can say definitively?
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wouldn't guarantee it. I wouldn't do it. No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Russian President Vladimir Putin has wrapped up his visit to Vietnam with a parting shot at NATO. He accuses the military alliance of creating a threat for Russia in Asia, and he warned South Korea, it would be a very big mistake to supply weapons to Ukraine.
CNN's Will Ripley has more on Putin's visit to Vietnam.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If not for the flags all over Hanoi, Vietnamese and Russian, you might not notice there is a state visit. These streets are always buzzing. Russian President Vladimir Putin flying directly to Vietnam from North Korea, getting a more subdued welcome here, not like that supersized socialist spectacle in Pyongyang. Vietnam is also a socialist republic with a single party system. That means we always travel with a government minder. But, unlike isolated, impoverished North Korea, Vietnam is emerging as an economic powerhouse of Southeast Asia.
In less than a year, Hanoi has welcomed us President Joe Biden, China's President Xi Jinping, and now Putin, a pariah in the West, but not here.
NGUYEN QUANG HUY, 12TH GRADE STUDENT (Interpreted): I feel excited, because within a short term, all three leaders from the three superpowers visited Vietnam.
RIPLEY: Do you weigh either of them as like more important of a relationship, either Biden or Putin?
TRUONG NGUYEN XUAN TUNG, FOOD DELIVERY DRIVER (Interpreted): This is the diplomatic way of Vietnam. We call it bamboo diplomacy. We don't pick sides. We stay neutral.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Bamboo bends back and forth, he says. As he is talking, we noticed a distinctive Russian limo rolling by.
RIPLEY: Right in the middle of our interview, Putin's motorcade just passed by. And yeah, people are just kind of patiently waiting. They're used to this sort of thing here at Hanoi.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Putin and Vietnam's President To Lam signing agreements on education, science, technology and energy.
LE THE MAU, RETIRED VIETNAMESE COLONEL: I know I've been in contact with Putin.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Retired Vietnamese Colonel Le The Mau was at a private event with Putin just before sitting down with us. He also speaks Russian and wrote two books about Putin.
RIPLEY: You were in the room with Vladimir Putin. Did he strike you as someone who is nervous about how few allies he has these days?
MAU (Interpreted): I felt Mr. Putin was completely comfortable. I felt he was completely unconcerned about the idea that he had no friends.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Vietnam's friendship with Russia goes back decades, to Soviet support during the Vietnam War. Hanoi still buys about 80 percent of its weapons from Moscow. Landmarks built with Russia's help are everywhere, from the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum to the Thang Long Bridge. There is also a brand new bridge built by Japan, tons of new construction, development and foreign investment, and this, the John McCain Memorial, honoring the late U.S. Senator's time as a prisoner of war, symbolizing U.S.-Vietnam reconciliation and friendship.
RIPLEY: Do you worry that Vietnam could alienate the United States, Japan, South Korea by hosting Putin?
MAU (Interpreted): That's not the case at all, because as you know, Vietnam's foreign policy is to be friends with every country regardless of their socio-political stance. Vietnam does not pick aside.
RIPLEY (voice-over): A delicate balancing act in these polarized times. Vietnam, partnering with Moscow, Beijing, and Washington, testing the limits and flexibility of bamboo diplomacy.
Will Ripley, CNN, Hanoi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: South Korean activists sent 20 large balloons filled with anti-North Korea propaganda across the border on Thursday. The action was organized by the group "Fighters for a Free North Korea". The balloons contained leaflets, money, and USB sticks with South Korean television shows and music. The same South Korean group dispatched a batch of balloons two weeks ago, and that prompted Pyongyang to release more than 1,000 balloons carrying trash into South Korea.
Monsoon floods have forced more than 45,000 people in Bangladesh from their homes. Nearly two million people have been adversely impacted in one district alone with high water levels reported in hundreds of villages.
And in southern China, heavy rain and flooding have left at least 55 people dead, according to state media. The country's National Weather Center says the heavy rain is expected to move north and continue throughout the weekend. All right. Still to come, could AI be coming for your job? A new survey shows large businesses is in the U.S. plan on using more artificial intelligence in the next year.
[08:45:00]
Plus, New York becomes the first state to regulate social media companies' algorithms. What it means for your kids, after this break.
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WHITFIELD: All right. Whether you love it or hate it, artificial intelligence is here to stay and creeping into corners of Corporate America. According to a new survey of finance chiefs, more than half of large U.S. businesses plan to use AI in the next year to replace jobs previously done by employees. Tasks like financial reporting and completing invoices will soon be done by artificial intelligence. The companies say the use of AI will cut costs, boost profits, and make their workers more productive.
New York has become the first state in the U.S. to regulate social media companies' algorithms. A legislation signed by the governor on Thursday restricts how digital platforms can use children's data. It also requires platforms to limit late-night notifications that can interfere with sleep. The regulations come amid a nationwide outcry accusing social media companies of hooking users with addictive features.
CNN Technology Reporter Brian Fung is joining me right now with more on this. Good morning to you, Brian. So, the governor says these laws will protect kids. What specifically will they do?
BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Yeah. Good morning. Fredricka. These are two hugely significant pieces of legislation here and it could bring changes to how young New Yorkers use social media. One is the SAFE for Kids Act. That one forces social media companies to display content in chronological order by default for kids under 18. That's big because apps like Instagram and TikTok are engineered to show you things they think you'll like. Now, they're going to have to offer a less tailored, or critics might say a less addictive experience. The law would also impose limits, as you said, on app notifications during nighttime hours when policymakers say kids should be asleep and not on their phones.
Now, the second bill is a kid's privacy bill. This one, the New York Child Data Protection Act, forbids websites from collecting or using the personal data of kids under 18 without consent, and that's significant because federal law currently applies those protections only to kids under 13. So, this basically expands coverage to more young people. And with these laws, New York is now the first state in the country to regulate social media algorithms. Instead, officials say these laws will help protect teens from mental health harms and may even save their lives. And this comes days after the U.S. Surgeon General called for warning labels to be applied to social media.
Now, it's important to point out, though, the scientific literature on all this. It's kind of mixed. Researchers say there are studies showing correlations between negative health outcomes and certain specific social media activities like comparing yourself to others. But, proving a causal link has been much trickier.
[08:50:00]
And of course, we are expecting that these laws will be challenged in court. Critics of the algorithm law, including the tech industry but also some online speech advocates, say it's unconstitutional. They claim it violates the First Amendment rights of young people to access information and to express themselves. And the First Amendment concerns have had a number of state laws trying to regulate social media. So, in this respect, New York may not be that different.
So, in Ohio, for example, this year, a federal judge temporarily blocked a social media law by saying it likely violates the First Amendment rights of first amend -- first, excuse me, internet users. And I've spoken to some legal experts who say some of these cases could easily wind up before the Supreme Court. So, this is potentially a huge legal battle coming up here, not only in New York, but around the country. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: No, indeed. All right. Brian Fung, thank you so much.
All right. Still to come, one small town fire department in Missouri was on the brink of collapse until a Good Samaritan stepped in with a big donation. That story after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right. One small volunteer fire station in Missouri was on the brink of collapse until a 91-year-old big donation saved the firehouse from ruin.
CNN's Whitney Wild has the story from Calhoun, Missouri.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In tiny Calhoun, Missouri, there are fewer than 500 people, a handful of intersections, and for a period of time, there was just one firefighter, Calhoun Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mark Hardin.
MARK HARDIN, CALHOUN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT CHIEF: When I walked in, there was something wrong with all the trucks.
WILD (voice-over): Hardin eventually bought used engines and added around 30 volunteers. But, as the number of calls grew, the department's bank account shrank. By March, it was almost empty.
HARDIN: We were down to our last $169 in the bank account.
WILD (voice-over): That was until 91-year-old Sam Sloan opened up an opportunity.
SAM SLOAN, DONATED $500K TO VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT.: I felt a lot of relief because I had been planning on this for several years.
HARDIN: How are you, Sam?
SLOAN: I am OK.
HARDIN: He called me and he just asked me if I would take him to breakfast. So, I went and picked him up the next day. About four, four and a half hours later, I dropped him back off at home. So then, he called me the next week, and he asked me to go to breakfast again, and the third week he calls again. This time he asked me to come to his house. He handed me the check for half a million dollars.
WILD: What did you think when you saw the zeros?
HARDIN: He is like, will you be able to use that? I like --
SLOAN: I've had a heart valve put in and two stents put in. I could almost feel my heart pumping when I give that money away.
WILD (voice-over): Sloan knows the power of help in hard times. He is a Dustbowl baby whose mother died when he was only four.
SLOAN: I am enough of the labor that I think she was watching and maybe my dad too.
WILD: What do you think they thought?
SLOAN: They thought, well, we got started (inaudible).
WILD (voice-over): Sloan's $500,000 donation is now paying for surely needed new equipment and fire engines, including the SAM. HARDIN: That's the truck you bought.
SLOAN: It looks new. That means I get to drive it.
WILD (voice-over): Hardin is quick to point out Sloan's generosity will stretch well beyond Calhoun.
HARDIN: It can be the difference between life and death. It's not just -- I don't want to say just for the fire department, though. It's for the whole community.
[08:55:00]
SLOAN: It's a good feeling. I got to help somebody.
WILD (voice-over): Around here, he has helped just about everybody.
Whitney Wild, CNN, Calhoun, Missouri.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Wow. He has resuscitated a fire station and an entire community.
All right. Well, perhaps you're missing winter. Well, maybe not. But, let's say you are missing winter sports. Well, the ski season is officially underway in Chile. Eager skiers are enjoying the fresh snow on slopes close to the capital of Santiago. Winter brought heavy snowstorms, can you believe this, to Chile, and boosting ski resorts affected by drought in recent years. The snowpack will also provide irrigation water for crops later on in the year. But, for now, skiers are the ones who are really enjoying this fresh powder. Ski season in Chile runs from late June to early October. Sign me up. That looks fun.
All right. Thank you so much for joining me here in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Connect the World with Becky Anderson is up next.
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