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CNN International: Protesters in Kenya Call for President Ruto's Resignation; Beryl Roars Towards Jamaica as Category 5 Hurricane; Supreme Court Says Trump Has Immunity for All His Official Acts; Hungary's Orban Makes First Wartime Visit to Ukraine; Israel Orders New Evacuations in Parts of Southern Gaza; 30 Injured as Air Europa Flight Hits Strong Turbulence; New Trump Tower in Saudi Arabia; at Least 87 Killed in Stampede in India's Uttar Pradesh; Ukraine Olympic Team Ready for the Games. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired July 02, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi, everyone. Welcome to our viewers all around the world. I am Omar Jimenez and this is "CNN Newsroom." Just ahead, anger in the streets of Nairobi again. Police and protesters are facing off at this hour. We are live in the Kenyan capital with the very latest. And tracking an incredibly powerful storm as Hurricane Beryl moves across the Caribbean. We are going to tell you where the storm is headed next. Plus, a Trump Tower in Saudi Arabia. The Trump Organization and Saudi officials sign on the dotted line. What we know about the new development and the deal.

We are going to start today with activists in Kenya taking to the streets nationwide and demanding President William Ruto's resignation. Now earlier, police fired tear gas at protestors in Nairobi who are calling for accountability and an end to government corruption, and it follows a week of deadly clashes with police sparked by a controversial tax bill. Now since last month, at least 39 people have died according to Kenya's National Commission on Human Rights in the demonstrations triggered by those proposed tax hikes.

Now, President Ruto ultimately, threw the bill out, but obviously, there is still more anger in the streets. Larry Madowo joins me live now in Nairobi. Larry, tell us what you are seeing and why are we seeing people on the streets so forcefully this time around?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Omar, this is the third straight week of these protests in Nairobi. It began as protest against this controversial finance bill. President Ruto was supposed to withdraw that. What we are about to see is police trying to break up these protesters with tear gas. They've had this running battles the whole day, police threw a tear gas at them and they respond by throwing stones, throwing back the tear gas canisters whenever they can. They've managed to bring in parts of the country (ph) into a complete standstill because of these back-and-forth between the protesters and the police.

They now have moved their mission from just being about the finance bill which is withdrawn to anti-government protests. They say Ruto must go. They do not want President William Ruto in charge. So what you are seeing here, behind the cops we are a little safe here except from the tear gas, but what you are seeing is these protesters constantly on the streets, getting their voices heard, throwing rocks directly at the police that are trying to break them up. We have to move back just for our own safety as we watch that scene unfold, Omar.

I think what we have seen in some parts of the city today is definitely a more violent streak of these protesters and some of the gen z protesters who have been active for three weeks tell us these are not their own people. These are agitators who are taking advantage of the situation to lure, to vandalize, and they are the ones who are engaging the police throughout this time. And one of the things that has happened is when we are here with the police, taking this live, they tend to be a bit more careful in how they respond to these protesters, even when they are throwing rocks at them, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And Larry, I just want to get you on this point because, look, as for people who have been following your reporting for weeks, the finance bill came out. It was withdrawn by the president. Obviously, that was the focus of the protest initially. Has the focus of these new demonstrations shifted?

MADOWO: There is definitely a shift away from that. These young people tell us they don't trust President William Ruto and they feel that he is not listening to them and to his government, and he has said more recently that he is willing to engage with them in whatever platforms they prefer, including if you must go on an X space, he is happy to go on one of these X spaces and listen to them. What do you see here? (Inaudible) over that side is more police reinforcements coming in, trying to break up these protesters, who are not really getting broken up just by a bunch of cops coming with tear gas. They are used to it. Sometimes, they even dare them to do so.

But the big picture here is there is young people who are still angry at President Ruto's government, who want him to handle corruption in his government, who are upset about the extravagant lifestyles or some of his ministers, senior government officials, and who want a radical change in how the country is run, and they don't feel that just withdrawing the finance bill achieved that, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And obviously, a big part of this has been the response that we've seen from police. I mean, your reporting has illuminated some of it, but people have been killed in these demonstrations. Do you get the sense that there is anger from people in the streets over how the police have handled their demonstrations?

MADOWO: That is precisely right. Part of the anger here is about how many people have been killed in these protests. There are 39 people across the nation, according to the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights. And in fact, a short while ago, on this street, activists brought some coffins, some caskets and left them there to represent the people, the number of the dead.

[08:05:00]

We have done some reporting here on CNN, analyzing one of the deadliest moments in the parliament demonstrations on Tuesday and we found that police did -- they shoot directly at protesters who are unarmed and that's part of the anger here, that the police keep applying excessive force violating their own rules about the use of force and we have some of that on camera here at CNN. So, that's part of the angle for these people who feel and keep asking Kenyan government, why are you killing us? That's been a common refrain.

And this, what you are seeing by the way, the use of tear gas here, the high court in Kenya said they should not use tear gas. They should not use water cannon. They should not do any of this on peaceful protesters. Obviously, in this case, the protesters are throwing stones, so some of it is justified. But a lot of the use of brute force that the police has been using, ideally, they are breaking the law because the high court said they should not do that, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Well, Larry, continue your reporting. Please stay safe. We'll check in with you a little bit later. Appreciate everything you've been doing, stay safe.

All right. It's being called the strongest storm ever to form in the Atlantic at this time of year, Beryl is barreling through the Caribbean as a Category 5 hurricane. It is deadly and Jamaica is bracing for impact on Wednesday. Now, the U.S. National Hurricane Center calls Beryl "potentially catastrophic." The storm has rapidly intensified to, especially in the last 24 hours, leaving at least one person dead in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, along with a trail of destruction.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann is watching all of this for us. Now Patrick, obviously, to see how strong it has gotten at this early stage of hurricane season is concerning. Tell us about the damage that we've already seen it cause in the region so far.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It flattened certain parts of the Windward Islands and airports are going to be reopening there today. We are starting to get more and more images out. And you see people who've lost the roofs that are without power. They are going to be without water for some time, so -- in (ph) much more sparsely occupied islands. Now, it is going towards Jamaica, which is a much larger island in terms of development and population.

So unfortunately, it will do as a stronger hurricane, Category 5, more damage when it gets to Jamaica and so that is very, very concerning for that island where authorities have already instituted disaster response, emergency response protocols to allow them to start getting ahead of the storm as much as they can. But certainly, by the end of today, getting into tomorrow, they will start feeling the effects of the storm.

So, government there is telling people that now there are sort of in the final day where they can make preparations because -- I've been in Category 5 hurricanes and you simply cannot go outside and you need to find shelters that are away from the water and much more solid than typically you would, because when the National Hurricane Center, when forecasters talk about a Category 5 storm, the use or catastrophic and that really sums it up, that even if you are inside sort of a normal home or normal dwelling, that might not be enough. You'll lose your roof.

There could be mudslides. Of course, Jamaica is a mountainous island, so that can lead to flash flooding, and that can lead to mudslides, and when you deal with a storm of this power, you know, 160 miles an hour, if you remember, driving a car going 80 miles an hour and put your hand out the window, you know that feels like, double it. When you are in a Category 5 hurricane, you cannot go outside. You'll get knocked down by the wind.

So, certainly people who are in the storm's path need to make preparations, need to take it very, very seriously and expect to be without power, without water for some time because the effects of the storm will be devastating.

JIMENEZ: And as you mentioned, Category 5 hurricane, we are talking winds of 100 -- upward of 160 miles an hour. Obviously, an incredibly serious situation and hopefully the preparations do some good here. Patrick Oppmann, really appreciate the reporting.

I want to bring in CNN's Elisa Raffa, who is standing by for us at the CNN Weather Center. So obviously, this storm has -- this hurricane has intensified pretty quickly. Where is it going next? Do we expect it to stay this strong, at a Category 5?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: So it is holding steady at a Category 5 right now, but we are expecting some weakening as we go through the day today, but it will still head towards Jamaica as a major hurricane. Right now, it is still holding steady with 165 mile per hour winds. This eye on satellite has been so clear, so symmetrical, and that is the sign of a monster Category 5 hurricane. Gusts have been over 200 miles per hour and it is booking (ph) west and northwest at 22 miles per hour.

We have been watching it rapidly intensify multiple times because these ocean temperatures are in the middle and upper 80s. That is way above average. It is acting more like the peak of hurricane season, like late August or early September, which is why we are dealing with the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record.

[08:10:00]

It will run into some dust, a little bit of wind shear as it gets towards Jamaica through the day today, which is why some of that intensity might get shaved off just a little bit. But we are still looking at me be a Category 3 or Category 4 as it heads towards Jamaica. There are hurricane warnings in effect there. They are expecting those hurricane-force conditions to start as we go into Wednesday. Storm surge kick it up to four feet to six feet in some spots.

Hurricane watch in effect for the Cayman Islands and this continues its track towards Mexico as we go towards the end of the week. Here are some of these rain totals, we could be looking at upwards of six inches of rain in parts of Jamaica, maybe even up to a foot in some of those highest elevations. Patrick was mentioning it is a mountainous island, that could cause some problems with flooding and landslides.

And then here is a look at the tropical storm force winds. Of course, we have eyes on Jamaica, but we get scrapes or tropical storm force winds for parts of southern Dominican Republic and Haiti as well. Cayman Islands would be next up on that list of concerns. What happens after this? Well, we have this area of high pressure that's sitting over the southern U.S., bringing us some extreme heat. It depends on how weak or strong this high pressure is, depending on what that high does, we are looking at this storm continuing its track across the Caribbean Sea. That's why it is not making a turn towards Florida because this high is there, but depending on how weak or strong that is, will determine (inaudible) just farther north are farther south, that can mean the difference between a Mexico hurricane or maybe something a little bit closer to Texas. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Elisa Raffa, thank you for tracking that path. Good to see that perspective. All right, meanwhile, the U.S. political world is still buzzing about Monday's dramatic and really significant decision by the U.S. supreme court. The court's ruling that former President Donald Trump has at least some immunity from prosecution appears to throw a wrench in nearly every legal case against him. President Joe Biden was quick to criticize the ruling that he says turns the president into a king.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America, each of us is equal before the law, no one is above the law, not even the president of United States. Today's supreme court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed for all practical purposes. Today's decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits what a president can do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, Trump's legal team says the ruling raises questions about his felony conviction in New York, and they've filed to overturn that verdict saying some of the evidence used in the trial should have been excluded under the supreme court ruling. We get more from CNN's Paula Reid.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Presidents have to be given total immunity. They have to be allowed to do their job.

PAULA REID CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The supreme court partially siding with former president Donald Trump in his ongoing January 6 case, ruling that former presidents are entitled to some immunity from prosecution for official actions but not for private conduct. In the 6-3 opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the majority at least with respect to the president's exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute. The president enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts and not everything the president does is official. The president is not above the law.

The high court though, leaving it up to lower courts to determine which actions are official and therefore immune. Roberts writing other allegations such as those involving Trump's interactions with the vice president, state officials, and certain private parties and his comments to the general public present more difficult questions, meaning District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump's January 6 case, will need to decide whether Trump's pressure campaign to get Vice President Pence --

TRUMP: If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election.

REID (voice-over): Georgia state officials --

TRUMP: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state --

REID (voice-over): -- and others to overturn the 2020 election results were official acts. Trump celebrating the decision on social media, posting "Big win for our constitution and democracy." Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissenting from the majority opinion writing, the relationship between the president and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law, something she and other liberal justices warned about during oral arguments in April.

JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR: I am trying to understand what the disincentive is from turning the Oval Office into the seat of criminal activity in this country.

[08:15:00]

REID (voice-over): The decision likely to hamstring Special Counsel Jack Smith's election subversion case.

JACK SMITH, SPECIAL COUNSEL FOR U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: Charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States.

REID (voice-over): Robert's making clear in his majority opinion that Trump's discussions with Justice Department officials and his official conversations with the then vice president are immune. And in another blow for Smith, Robert says Trump's official acts cannot be considered even as evidence at trial, a trial in this case though, now highly unlikely before the November election.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID (on camera): Sources tell CNN that Trump's legal team intends to use this opinion to attack other cases Trump is facing, including the Mar-a-Lago classified documents prosecution and his recent conviction in New York. They will likely use this opinion to argue that portions of Hope Hicks' testimony, as well as tweets that were introduced as evidence should be tossed out. Now, it is unclear if that will be enough to upend that conviction, but it will clearly keep Trump's lawyers busy over the next few months.

Paula Reid, CNN, the supreme court.

JIMENEZ: All right. Still to come, thousands of Palestinians are forced to flee yet again, this after Israel issues new evacuation orders in an area it had left months ago. A live report ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is in Ukraine today. It is his first visit since Russia invaded in February 2022. Now, the prime minister met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Now, Mr. Orban proposed Ukraine implement a ceasefire to "speed up peace talks with Russia." Now, Orban is known for his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has repeatedly tried to block EU initiatives offering further military and financial support to Ukraine during the war.

Now, meanwhile, Israel's military has issued new evacuation orders for parts of southern Gaza, forcing Palestinians many displaced several times already to flee yet again. Now, one of the enclave's last standing hospitals in Khan Younis has transferred its patients fearing bloodshed. Now, the IDF previously withdrew its forces from there in April after months of fierce fighting. Meanwhile, as the war in Gaza nears ten months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his forces are nearing the end of this stage of eliminating Hamas in the territory.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is tracking developments from London and joins us. So Jomana, look, Israel has ordered fresh evacuations in southern Gaza. But as we just mentioned, these are folks in some cases that have had to evacuate many times over. What more can you tell us?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Omar, it feels like we are watching this on repeat month after month, time after time, these evacuation orders, people having to move from one area to the other, keeping in mind that people who are in Khan Younis right now were forced to evacuate back to Khan Younis recently when the Israeli military moved into Rafah and told them to move out of there.

[08:20:00]

So it has been an absolutely devastating situation and these are people, as you mentioned, who have already been displaced multiple times over the past nine months of this war. And we are talking about people who, in most cases, don't have cars to leave these areas, Omar. They are on foot, carrying their children, walking for distances, trying to find a safe place. And as we have been hearing from people for months that there is no place safe for them to go to in Gaza.

Now, if you look at what has been happening at Khan Younis, as you mentioned, this is an area that the Israeli military withdrew from back in April after it completed its ground operations there. It is an area that is supposed to have cleared. But what we have seen in recent days, in recent weeks is that you have seen attacks, you've seen fighting in the area, strikes taking place. And then in the last 24 hours, the Israeli military announced that there was a barrage of rockets that targeted communities near Gaza and that there were no casualties in that rocket attack.

But what they did later on was they issued these evacuation orders for eastern Khan Younis, asking people to move from that area to what they described as the humanitarian zone. Of course, that is a term that humanitarian aid groups and residents would really dispute considering the conditions in this so-called humanitarian zone. And you can imagine, Omar, the kind of fear and panic this caused because when you have these evacuation orders, it usually signals to people that they might be seeing a ground operation coming soon. So it created this panic and fear.

People had to escape the area and are continuing to move out of the area. And what falls within that evacuation zone of eastern Khan Younis is the European Hospital of Gaza. This is one of the last standing, last functioning hospitals have Gaza that had to evacuate staff, patients. They moved medical equipment. We are also talking about babies they say who are on incubators, patients in the ICU. They also say they had to move to another overwhelmed smaller hospital in Gaza.

After this happened, after we saw hours of the reports and the news coming out of the hospital that they are moving, that they are evacuating, the Israeli military in a post on X formerly Twitter says that the European Hospital didn't need to be he evacuated, that it is not included in the order, that patients don't need to leave the hospital. But of course, after what patients and hospitals and medical staff have gone through over the past few months, seeing what happened at other hospitals, no one was going to sit there and take their chances and risk staying there, as you heard from one of the officials of the hospital saying that people were fearing bloodshed.

A U.N. spokesperson who is in Gaza right now is telling us that they are seeing massive movement of people from these areas under evacuation orders. They expect about 250,000 people, Omar, to be moving out of these areas. And the question is, of course, where do they go?

JIMENEZ: Where and just the sheer number, you are talking hundreds of thousands of people, as you mentioned, who may not know exactly where to go and may not have confidence that where they go next is where there'll be able to say. Jomana Karadsheh, thank you for the reporting as always.

All right, dozens of Palestinians released from Israeli prison on Monday are describing the horror they faced while in custody. They say they were abused and subjected to near daily torture with very little to eat. CNN's Nada Bashir has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A long hoped for reunion after months in detention, removed from Israel's devastating military onslaught on Gaza, forced instead they say to face unspeakable horrors in Israeli detention.

We were being tortured in ways I cannot describe, Faraj (ph) says. Only god knows what we have been through. I swear to you, it was the kind of torture nobody can speak of.

Overwhelmed, it is almost too painful for him to recount.

They play with your emotions he says. They would show us photos of our relative's bodies, pictures of our families and children, and say, look at your children. We killed them. They would show us pictures of our wives, our sisters, and tell us that they had taken them and done this and that to them.

[08:25:00]

For Faraj's (ph) daughter, her father's safe return is all that she has been praying for. I am very happy, she says. Never in my life have I been without him, not once in seven years.

Inside, the relatives of those released on Monday frantically call loved ones to share the news. They told him they had killed us all. He still can't believe we are all alive, this woman says.

On Monday, Israel's Prison Service said that it was not aware of these claims, adding that all prisoners are detained according to the law and that all basic rights required are fully applied by professionally trained prison guards.

The Israeli security officials have previously told CNN that they have been made aware of torture tactics being used against Palestinians within Israel's prison system and are investigating.

Some 50 Palestinian detainees were released by Israeli authorities on Monday. Why they were originally detained we may never know. CNN's inquiries to Israeli authorities went unanswered. Among them, the director of Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, released more than seven months after Israeli forces first raided the hospital and detained him.

We were beaten and tortured almost every day. My little finger was broken and I was repeatedly struck across the head causing me to bleed several times, Dr. Abu Salmiya says. The torture taking place in Israeli's prisons is near daily. The decision to release Palestinian detainees has sparked fierce backlash among some Israeli officials. Top ministers were reportedly out of the loop and everyone from the opposition leader to the far-right security minister called it dysfunction and national security malpractice.

But the Israel Security Agency or Shin Bet says it was forced to really some detainees due to a shortage in prison space. Whatever the reason, Monday's reunions were a moment of relief for many families in Gaza.

Mahmood Ali Baida (ph) says he was detained for more than eight months. Look at my legs, he says. They wouldn't give us anything to treat our rashes. Many has spoken of the little food and water they received while in detention. Others say they were denied medication, including insulin for diabetes.

For a month and a half, I was blindfolded, handcuffed and forced to kneel, Wa-al Mansur (ph) says, highlighting the deep scars left on his wrists. A permanent reminder oh that he and so many others have been forced to endure.

Nada Bashir, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Now, CNN asked the Israeli Security Agency Shin Bet about those allegations, but did not receive a reply.

Now, we are also following news out of India. This just in, a stampede there has claimed at least 27 lives. Local police say the victims were taking part in a prayer meeting in Uttar Pradesh. The district's police superintendent says 23 of the victims were women, three were children, and one man. We are going to bring you any updates as soon as we get them. We are also following other headlines.

Still to come, I'll be talking to one of the leading political analysts in the U.S. about the supreme court, presidential immunity and how all of this could impact like the upcoming election in the U.S. Plus from Manhattan to Jeddah, plans have been revealed for a new Trump Tower in Saudi Arabia, coming up. Could there be a conflict of interests if Donald Trump returns to the White House, we'll explore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:20]

JIMENEZ: Welcome back. Let's get back to one of our top stories, the continued fallout from Monday's U.S. supreme court decision on presidential immunity. Now, on the legal front, the ruling could have a significant impact on all of Donald Trump's trials, even ones already completed, at least Trump's lawyers hope so because they say his New York felony conviction should be tossed aside because some of the evidence in that trial was protected by Trump's immunity. Now, he is due to be sentenced in New York next week.

Let's get some analysis on how this huge supreme court decision could impact the presidential race. Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, joins us now. Larry, good to see you. I just want to start off with your reaction to the decision that came down from the supreme court and the ramifications you believe this may have on any future presidents or current ones for that matter.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: I personally was shocked that they gave so much immunity to presidents of both parties. There are going to be Democrats in the White House after Biden. Biden says he won't use it, you never know what is going to happen in the future. But clearly, it affects Donald Trump the most and some of those justices, the six conservative Republicans who were on the supreme court must have had Donald Trump's problems, troubles in mind when they reached this decision.

Some people have called it a 'get out of jail free' card for Trump. It looks that way on the surface, but we'll see in practice. Smart lawyers can find ways around almost anything. So it is a shock to the system, meaning the governmental system we have had since the founding of the American Republic. And I think many people, not just Democrats, are agreeing with Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent, which was extraordinarily strong and pointed, and we'll see whether some of the circumstances she suggested actually come to be.

JIMENEZ: And of course, she was suggesting that if the president were to order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival, then would that be considered an official act, which of course is a scenario that would be incredibly frightening to think about. Larry, obviously, lot of fallout from this decision, especially politically. We saw President Biden yesterday, in reaction to this, forcefully coming out and really I guess joining the dissenting voices, to stay within that metaphor. How important was it for President Biden to come out in the way he did, in the setting that he did, and push so forcefully against this decision, especially days after what I think many would describe as not the best performance at the debate?

SABATO: It was essential for Biden to do this on substantive grounds, but he also pivoted or tried to pivot from the debate over the debate, which has consumed the Democratic Party day after day to something that matters really for all time. This is going to affect not just every president, but the balance of the separation of powers, which has been the genius or one of the geniuses of the American system. So, I think he did the right thing. He came across well, but he has so much to do, Omar, to repair the damage from that debate.

JIMENEZ: And look, on the campaign trail, obviously, the election hasn't gone anywhere in the midst of all of this and one of the things that has only seemed to embolden the former President Donald Trump, if not at the very least, not weaken him is -- are his legal troubles with those that are some of his strongest supporters.

[08:35:00]

And I'm curious what this decision does potentially, not just to his political prospects, but also in regards to if his other cases are actually thrown out or invalidated or pushed past the election, whatever it may be, on these grounds? What does this do politically for him in the eyes of the American electorate?

SABATO: Well, the American electorate will have to interpret what the supreme court did and probably they'll be interpreted according to their partisan label. But it certainly helps Donald Trump. It helps him in the succeeding trials. But let's not forget, he is going to be sentenced on July 11, I believe. It is coming up in just a few days. And while his lawyers are trying to use this new supreme court decision to cancel or delay that sentencing, probably until after the election, I'll be surprised if they succeed.

And I'm still very interested to see what the judge in that case his decides. It is totally up to the judge what sentence he gives to Donald Trump. That's an important marker too. Potentially, Biden and the Democrats could really pivot from the debate to something more substantive.

JIMENEZ: As you mentioned, you're right on it though, your calendar is right. July 11 is the sentencing, just ahead of the Republican National Convention as well, and the fate of Donald Trump does lie in the judge's hands, at least assuming that the attempts by the lawyers do not go through successfully. Larry Sabato, Director of the Center for Politics at University of Virginia, appreciate you being here. Thanks for the time.

SABATO: Thanks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Of course. All right, it has happened again, a flight turns terrifying as strong turbulence sends passengers flying, even throwing one man into the overhead compartment. Details just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: Dozens of passengers are recovering from injuries after a pretty scary incident onboard an Air Europa flight. A Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying from Madrid to Uruguay hit strong turbulence over the Atlantic on Monday, throwing some passengers literally to the ceiling. This terrifying video shows a passenger's feet dangling from inside of one of the overhead bins. You can see his feet there. The plane eventually did make an emergency landing in Brazil where a passenger described the scary moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAXIMILIANO, PASSENGER (through translator): From one moment to the next, the plane destabilized and went into a dive. The people who didn't have seat belts went up in the air and hit the ceiling and they got hurt. Those who had seat belts on, not so much.

[08:40:00]

Then we landed here as an emergency. They helped us on the runway. We were on the plane for three or four hours without being able to move.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, the news of another incident taking place onboard a Boeing flight comes amid a string of bad publicity for the plane manufacturer, but we should also mention there is no evidence this incident had anything to do with a safety malfunction. But nonetheless, there is a lot to talk about here. So, joining me now is CNN Aviation and Transportation Analyst, Mary Schiavo. Mary is also, I should mention, an attorney who represents families of airline crash victims and she has pending litigation against Boeing related to the 737 Max 8 crashes.

Thanks for being here, Mary. I want to try and put things in perspective here because this is a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, it is not a small plane.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION AND TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Right.

JIMENEZ: Can you give us a sense of how severe the conditions would need to be to produce the turbulence of this magnitude for an aircraft that size? SCHIAVO: Well, actually, the weather services have rankings for turbulence. There are four different levels and this would be probably the second to the top, severe or extreme, or the top is extreme. And at those two levels, you can expect injuries to passengers and damage to the aircraft. Now, at the most extreme level, the aircraft can become literally uncontrollable. You could lose the plane.

So I suspect this was not quite at the very top, but near the top because of the injuries and the obvious damage to the plane at least we've seen from the picture. So pretty severe turbulence.

JIMENEZ: And again, no indication at this point that Boeing is at fault with anything. But we heard just from one passenger there who said it felt like from one moment to the next, the plane destabilized and went into a dive. Do you see that as someone just trying to find the words for severe turbulence or is that particular description something that is a little bit more alarming from an investigative standpoint if you're looking at this?

SCHIAVO: Well, I think the investigators will be (inaudible) and the eyewitness and ear witness. and passenger accounts are very important because, remember, there was another incident just a few weeks ago on LATAM Airlines, it was also a Dreamliner and it had a severe drop too and that started people asking, is there something unique about how this plane responds to turbulence events?

Now, remember at this altitude, most likely it was convective activity from thunderstorms in the area -- well, you have to stay at least 20 miles away from them because of lightning and winds -- or jet streams. And when you hit convergence of jet streams, it is like falling in off a cliff. It is a trough. So it can be a pretty severe event. But given that there have been a number of these -- now, also there were 777 -- Boeing 777 events and other aircraft as well.

So it is not limited to Boeing, but that's something the investigators should be looking at. Is there something about the autopilot that cause it not to respond right? And they will also ask did the pilots respond right? Or is this just another case of clear air turbulence which you cannot predict, that they weren't warned about and it -- at those flight levels, its, it is a pretty big -- can be a pretty big drop. It is a wind shear event at very high altitude.

JIMENEZ: And look, this is just purely from anecdotal evidence, just talking to people, it feels like people say, oh, turbulence is getting worse. Oh, I feel like there's turbulence more than there ever was. And I'm curious, when you hear something like that, how does that strike you? But also, I mean, how much of just a part of flying is this, maybe not to this severe degree, but just how much are pilots and planes tested to withstand conditions maybe similar to these?

SCHIAVO: Well, turbulence is very much related to weather. So when weather conditions get worse or you have a bad storm summer, as we are having this summer, lots of tropical storm and hurricane activity, you can expect more turbulence. They are definitely related one with the other, so yes, if you're having worse whether, then you're going to have worse turbulence. Long-term, there have been studies -- there's a study out of the United Kingdom that showed that -- their study showed that there's a 55 percent increase since 1979 until now, but there's also better reporting and more requirements to report, et cetera, so it remains to be seen long-term, what those statistics will bear out.

But definitely, it is related to bad weather and we have got some pretty bad weather going on this year. There are many other factors, of course, as you mentioned, but that is one that can't be discounted and there's just more data and evidence needed for that. But most importantly is because we know it is out there. Well also need to look at better ways to forecast clear air turbulence, better ways to handle it when you encounter it.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. Mary Schiavo, appreciate the perspective, scary situation obviously, but sounds like it could have been much worse.

[08:45:00]

SCHIAVO: That's right.

JIMENEZ: All right. It's been more than 40 years since Trump Tower opened in New York and now, another one is set to spring up, this time in Saudi Arabia. Now, plans for the tower to be built in Jeddah were unveiled yesterday, just days after plans for a $500 million luxury hotel complex in Oman. Now, as the Trump Organization further embeds itself in the Middle East, there are concerns being raised about a possible conflict of interest if Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Let's get more on this from CNN Business Reporter Matt Egan in New York. So Matt, what more do we know about this deal between the Trump Organization and the Saudis?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, Omar, this is a bet on the Trump brand and it is a bet on Saudi Arabia. This would be the Trump Organization's first major development in Saudi Arabia. Some of the details though are still a mystery. We don't know the price tag on it. We don't have a timeframe for exactly when it is going to roll out. We don't really know how many floors this Trump Tower would be. But we do know it is planned for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. And the Trump Organization is partnering with DarGlobal, which is the London-listed subsidiary of a luxury Saudi developer.

Now, Eric Trump put out a statement praising this deal saying "We are thrilled to expand our footprint in the Middle East and bring the Trump's standard of luxury to the region." And as you mentioned, this comes just days after another Trump Organization deal in the Middle East, this is a plan with Trump International Hotel in Oman. This is a massive project valued at $500 million for a five-star hotel, a nightclub, a golf club. This one is set to open at the end of 2028 and they would be licensing the Trump name, the Trump Organization wouldn't own the property. That's how they typically do deals like this.

But Omar, as you mentioned, all of this coming just months before voters here in the United States head to the polls to decide on whether or not to return Donald Trump to the White House. JIMENEZ: And of course, that's the question that I think many are

asking with the announcement of this deal is, wondering about a conflict of interests, especially with this being announced just months before a presidential election.

EGAN: Yeah, absolutely. I think there's going to be plenty of concerns raised on that front. Remember, President Trump -- former President Trump, he had a pretty cozy relationship with the Saudis when he was in the White House. He visited the kingdom and he was celebrated when he was there. He worked many deals with the Saudis and he certainly had a better relationship, warmer relations than President Biden does currently with the Saudis.

And also, former President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has an investment firm and that investment firm reportedly secured a $2 billion investment from the Saudi Royal Fund. That investment is under scrutiny from some Democrats in Congress and if he is returned to the White House, former President Trump would, of course, be dealing with the Saudis and other countries in the Middle East regularly. So, this is why we have already heard some concerns from some ethics watchdogs.

I talked to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and they told me that the Trump Organization's "continued pursuit of foreign business projects raises perilous national security, corruption and constitutional concerns." Now, the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. We should note that the Trump Organization is not currently run day-to-day by former President Donald Trump. It is run by his sons, Eric and Don Jr. But the Trump Organization is owned by a private trust and the ultimate beneficiary of that trust is former President Donald Trump.

Listen, I think at the end of the day, Omar, all this is another reminder of how if former President Trump does get returned to the White House, there's going to be these sort of messy and awkward deals where his business has properties in others countries, overseas, in the Middle East and elsewhere, and he is going be simultaneously dealing with those countries and it could quit create some potential, at least appearances of conflicts of interests, if not actual conflicts. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Yeah. Even if he is not running the day-to-day operations and the actual business itself, it is hard to get around the Trump name. I mean, it is right there. And if you're meeting with someone, it is -- I don't know if anyone will parse out some of the details. But, CNN Business Reporter Matt Egan, really appreciate the reporting, as always. Thanks for being here.

EGAN: Thanks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. We are also following more news, including out of Ukraine, racing for more than just medals, the pressure, heartache, and fighting spirit of the Ukrainian Olympic team. We'll show you more, coming up.

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JIMENEZ: We have a sad update to a story we brought you earlier, a stampede in northern India has now claimed at least 87 lives. That's up significantly from the number of lives lost that we brought you initially. Now, local police say the victims were taking part in a prayer meeting in Uttar Pradesh. They cautioned, as we have seen already, that the death toll could rise even further. We are going to bring you any updates as soon as we get them.

Meanwhile, less than a month away from the Paris Olympics, athletes across the globe are making their final preparations. And for the Ukrainian team, making it to the games will feel like an achievement alone. With the eyes of their war-torn nation on them, they're competing for more than just medals. CNN's Amanda Davies has this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR (voice-over): The start of Olympics month, as you'd expect, a competition scene of athletes with their eyes on the prize. But this is Ukraine and national championships started with a moment of silence for lives lost. As a two-time gold medal winner, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe knows how hard the road to Olympic glory can be and he is fulfilling a promise to the Ukrainian athletes traveling to visit them at home. We were invited to join him for the journey.

DAVIES: What is the message you want to send through this trip?

SEBASTIAN COE, PRESIDENT, WORLD ATHLETICS: That we stand behind them.

DAVIES (voice-over): World Athletics are the only Olympic Sports Federation to have banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes from elite competitions since the style part of the full-scale invasion.

COE: Hello, Mr. President.

DAVIES (voice-over): First stop, a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to reiterate their commitment.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Thank you for coming and thank you for supporting our sportsmen and Ukrainians.

DAVIES (voice-over): There had been talk of a boycott of the games by Ukraine after the International Olympic Committee refused to take a tougher stance on athletes from Russia and Belarus, leaving the door open for individuals to qualify as neutrals providing they fulfill certain criteria.

COE: I did use the opportunity to make him absolutely understand that if he does make it to Paris, then he has an open invitation to watch the number one Olympic sport.

DAVIES (voice-over): This gymnasium here in Kyiv was hit by a missile in March, incredibly, nobody was killed. And it is one of 518 sporting facilities that have been damaged or destroyed over the last few years, 15 of which have been Olympic facilities. It is -- many of the country's top athletes have been forced to train abroad, sporting refugees traveling from training camp to training camp, event to event in their quest to keep their Olympic dreams on track.

No member of this team has been spared the impact of the war. 400- meter hurdler Viktoriya Tkachuk with so much more on her mind than the finish line, with her brother Evan fighting for his country on the frontline of the war against Russia.

VIKTORIYA TKACHUK, TWO-TIME OLYMPIAN, 400M HURDLES, UKRAINE: I was sitting in the train already and I saw him through the window and I realized that I really don't know if I will see him again, and that would hurt.

[08:55:00]

I'm sorry.

DAVIES: I know.

DAVIES (voice-over): The most vivid of reminders of the state of play, just a stone's throw from the Lviv Athletic Stadium. A burial ground for soldiers killed in the conflict, among them several of the at least 479 athletes who've died, a number that gives a very different meaning to the phrase 'fighting for your country' that's so often used in the sporting contexts, and faces and lives lost that provide all the motivation any Ukrainian athlete will need in Paris.

Amanda Davies, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Incredible reporting and perspective, Amanda. Thank you.

And thanks for joining me here on "CNN Newsroom." I'm Omar Jimenez. "Connect The World" with Becky Anderson is up next.

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