Return to Transcripts main page
First Move with Julia Chatterley
UK Billionaire Explorer, Pakistani Businessman & Son among those on missing Titanic Tourist Submersible; Desperate Search Continues for Titanic Tour Sub; Blinken Shifts Focus to Ukraine in UK Visit; Deadly Mass Shooting Mark Holiday Weekend; Coast Guard Racing to Find Titanic Tour Sub. Aired 9- 9:27a ET
Aired June 20, 2023 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN HOST, FIRST MOVE: A warm welcome to "First Move", great to be with you on this summit Solstice Eve. It's also World Refugee
Day the yearly event intended to help raise awareness of both the plight and also the promise of those displaced around the globe.
The U.N. says more than 35 million refugees crossed international borders last year alone due to war, famine and climate change. This is the day to
mark their journey of each of them and every single one of them. Later on in the program, we'll discuss how refugees can enhance and strengthen the
global workplace with Hamdi Ulukaya.
He's the CEO of Chobani, and also the Founder of the TENT partnership for refugees, aiming to provide work and training support to the displaced, as
well as Amazon's VP of people experience and technology for global operations Ofori Agboka. Amazon just won the 41 firms who have pledged to
train and hire some 20 sorry 250,000 refugees across Europe over the next three years.
Many of them Ukrainians of course, fleeing the war, and from refugees might to Titanic tall plight, a massive search and rescue operation now underway
in the Atlantic for a missing submersible. The five people inside have less than a week of oxygen left. We have complete coverage of those dramatic
rescue efforts just ahead.
And in the meantime, Wall Street gearing up for a holiday shortened trading week a bit of consolidation. I think you can see that in the United States
pre market after strong earnings last week led by tech stocks. Europe under some pressure to amid disappointment over government action or let's call
it perhaps non action in China truly no bazookas from Beijing.
China cutting two key lending rates for the first time in almost a year, but the cuts not as deep as many had hoped, suggesting perhaps that China
does not yet believe more substantial stimulus is needed. The SHANGHAI COMPOSITE and the HANG SENG finishing the session lower this Tuesday.
The NIKKEI eking out minor gains, I think we'll call that unchanged. It is a busy show coming up as always, but we do begin some 12,000 feet below the
surface of the Atlantic. And just a short time ago, we got this update from the U.S. Coast Guard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAR ADMIRAL JOHN MAUGER, COMMANDER OF FIRST COAST GUARD DISTRICT: It's we're expanding our capabilities on site. And so while a lot of the search
today has been primarily focused on the surface of the water, and our aircraft flew patterns in combination with Canadian aircraft and New York
Air National Guard, aircraft flew patterns that roughly about the size of the state of Connecticut.
But today we now have underwater search capability on seeing and so we're going to be using that to see if we can locate the submergible in the
water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: And Jason Carroll filed this report on exactly what we know and don't know.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAUGER: We're doing everything that we can do to locate the submersible and rescue those onboard.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Search and rescue teams from the United States and Canada are working around the clock at the North
Atlantic to locate a lost submersible with five people on board. Search planes have been scanning the ocean surface sonar buoys deployed to try to
detect any sound from the missing vessel.
MAUGER: The location of the search is approximately 900 miles east of Cape Cod in a water depth of roughly 13,000 feet.
CARROLL (voice over): According to the Coast Guard the submersible lost communication with its mother ship, the polar Prince, less than two hours
into its descent Sunday morning, as it ventured towards the wreckage of the Titanic. The company that operates the submersible on voyages to the
Titanic, ocean gate expeditions releasing this statement.
Our entire focus is on the well-being of the crew and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely. On board
businessman Hamish Harding who is no stranger to adventure.
HAMISH HARDING, BRITISH BILLIONAIRE: I've always wanted to do this.
CARROLL (voice over): Recently, he was a passenger on Blue Origins June 2022 spaceflight. On Saturday, he posted on his Facebook page, I am proud
to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the
Titanic also onboard Pakistani businessmen Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood.
[09:05:00]
Their family issuing a statement saying, we are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request
everyone to pray for their safety. According to OceanGate Expeditions website, the 21 foot 23,000 pounds submersible made of carbon fiber and
titanium has up to 96 hours, four days of oxygen for five people. Larry Daley, a Titanic expert has been inside the 21 foot vessel,
LARRY DALEY, TITANIC EXPERT: I was on the Sub for 12 hours we have our own breathing system on board. And if that's maintained properly, like changing
your filter on your Co2 scrubber, you can stay down there for quite a few hours.
CARROLL (voice over): In an interview with CBS last year, OceanGate Expeditions CEO touting the submersible safety.
STOCKTON RUSH, OCEANGATE EXPEDITIONS CEO: Everything else can fail. Your thrusters can go, your lights can go. You're still going to be safe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: And Paula Newton joins us now on this. Paula, what would we know about the scope of the search? We're not just talking about a vessel
that could be what 13,000 feet below the surface, but it's also the breadth of space that they need to cover now to do to current?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, look, there's a lot going on here, right in the U.S. Coast Guard, Julia, told us right up front, this is
a challenging and remote search right now that they're undertaking. Good news, the weather seems OK, that's according to our experts in the CNN
weather center.
I want to point out two specific things that will go on though in the next few hours. One is that the U.S. Coast Guard says that finally, they will
get some deep sea exploration in terms of rescue. Some of those assets are now going to the area. Julia, what's been going on so far is that they have
been able to search mainly from the air.
And they've been putting these sonar detectors on the surface of the water, what will happen today is that they will have some capacity to do some deep
sea searching, especially when, as you heard, Jason say that they lost contact about an hour and 45 minutes into this journey.
The problem with that is that at that point, that means that they would have been almost at the deepest depths of where they had to go in terms of
the Titanic wreck. And that could be as much as 2, 2.5 miles beneath the surface. Having said that, I you know, I've heard people say that if
they're floating around, why they've been found out.
I mean, Julia, I've been in these waters this is an incredibly difficult search. Even if you are searching on the surface of the water, you know,
it's about the size of a largest family van it's very difficult to find that in these waters. That is also why the U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian
officials are calling on commercial vessels.
Many of them with very varying degrees of capacity on board to also try and help out in this search. And right now, they know there is limited time
here. If they are in the deep sea, yet there's limited time in order to get to these people and actually rescue them, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, looking for help wherever they can. We've also had a statement from action aviation, which the business is owned by the U.A.E.
based business when Hamish Harding that we know is one of those individuals that is on this submersible. And they say that they're grateful.
They and the Harding family are very grateful for all the kind messages of concern and support from our friends and colleagues this according to a
press statement from the company. Do we have any sense, Paula, of what may have gone wrong here? I think that's certainly what friends, family and all
of us that are watching this, perhaps asking at this moment.
NEWTON: I mean I hate to put too fine a point on this, Julia. But this is not government sponsored space exploration, deep sea exploration. This is a
private company that endeavors to do this. They have done it successfully a quite a few times. But many people have explained to me, Julia, that when
you're talking about this kind of deep sea exploration, this is uncharted territory.
Not many people dive to these depths and that, you know, everything needs to go properly. Of course, they had emergency systems in place. But when
you think of the fact that there hasn't even been like a GPS locator or anything that you can really pinpoint the location of this submersible,
that is the problem.
And at this point, we really have no indication. I think the best case scenario here is that they did surface and that because they lack all
communication, it's just a search that must continue. And that can continue even beyond that 96 hour window because they could still be they still may
have surface somewhere.
But have absolutely no way of communicating with anyone. The best news so far for everyone here is the fact that the weather seems to be holding up
because it can turn quite brutal quite quickly in the North Atlantic.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, we'll keep our fingers crossed for your best case scenario. Paula, great to have you with us thank you, Paula Newton there.
[09:10:00]
To Ukraine now and a new wave of drone attacks on Kyiv, the military saying air defenses intercepted around two dozen drones sent by the Russians in
the capital region to overnight. Meanwhile, a commander in the west of the country sees the City of Lviv not far from the Polish border, was also
under attack overnight.
Fred Pleitgen joins us now from Kyiv. Fred, what more can you tell, us about the drones the type that are being used? How easily intercepted are
they?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are they Julia, well, these are showerheads drones as the Ukrainian say drones that are
manufactured in Iran, but were then given to the Russians that are now used by the Russians for sort of drone attacks in waves, especially here on the
Ukrainian Capital.
It's actually quite an interesting question that you asked, how easily are they to intercept because one of these drones is pretty easy to intercept,
they fly very slowly, they don't fly very high. And they can't really evade fire that's coming from the ground either. But the problem is that the
Russians use these drones and attack in waves.
It's a swarm tactic, if you will, where several of these drones come at once trying to overwhelm the air defenses here in the key of region or
wherever else, these drones are used. Now, if we look at the numbers from tonight, coming from the Ukrainians, they say that they detected 35 of
those drones over Ukrainian airspace first and foremost, once again, here in the capital region of Kyiv.
They say they were able to take 32 of those drones down. So that looks pretty efficient. It's unclear what sort of damage was caused by the three
that weren't taken down. We don't have any information on that whether or not anybody was harmed by those drones. But you can see it is quite
difficult for the Ukrainians.
Those types of drones are often taken down by gunfire by machine gunfire coming from the ground. That's how they try to take them out, because the
drones are quite cheap. And so wasting an expensive missile on something like that is certainly something that again, could be a problem in the long
run for Ukrainian air defenses.
But it definitely is one of those things where we see once again, a sleepless night for the residents here in Kyiv, where the air raid sirens
were on for several hours, but of course this also part of the wider war that's unfolding. You were mentioning what was going on there with those
attacks on Lviv in the west of the country.
But also, for instance, on the City of Zaporizhzhia in the south east of the country as well. There were several missiles that were used to attack
that city. That right now, Julia is of course a town that is very close to the currently most active frontline here in Ukraine, the southeast of the
country, where the Ukrainians are trying to make those gains on the battlefield.
They say that they are advancing in certain areas, but certainly it is very, very difficult. We see the Russians not only firing back on the
actual battlefield, but of course trying to hit Ukrainian cities and Ukrainian infrastructure as well, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Fred Pleitgen there. Thank you so much for that. And the war in Ukraine is firmly in focus for U.S. Secretary of State to Antony Blinken,
fresh from his trip to Beijing, the top U.S. diplomat now in London for talks with his counterparts from both the United Kingdom and Ukraine.
In the last hour, he held a press conference with U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly discussing the importance of international support to help
Ukraine recover. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: As I'm virtually everything, we are in full alignment, ensuring Ukraine's future as a secure, sovereign
independent nation demands not only providing food security, but also for its economy, its democracy, and its full integration into Europe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Nic Robertson joins us now. Nic, an important conference set to be held this week on reconstruction efforts, how they go about that how
they finance it, I think, critically important too, also a focus on support for displaced Ukrainians across Europe as well.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, this is very much about how to spread the cost of rebuilding Ukraine. And I don't think
anyone is expecting the money to come out of business leaders, pockets and -- investments at the end of this week after the conference.
But it's about engaging with business leaders, engaging with civil society as well, to partner with governments follow the lead of governments, when
it comes for the reconstruction effort. Millions, billions of dollars are being spent on the military effort on the humanitarian effort and indeed
paying the bills for the Ukrainian government.
And I think one of the things that we heard at that press conference was quite interesting, because it was a mention of how much money has been
spent on the Ukraine's Military, and how incredibly quickly it has reformed itself into a really efficient fighting force.
Now, nobody mentioned the words. Nobody mentioned corruption explicitly, but it was said what we need to see across government departments in
Ukraine is embracing the changes that will be necessary to take these big investments that these 50 or so different countries and their business
partners are proposing may come to Ukraine in the future, because businesses won't invest.
[09:15:00]
If they don't think there's going to be return on their money if they think it's going to be squandered and James Cleverly British Foreign Secretary
talked about huge amounts of money. And also they're not going to want to invest if there is going to be a likelihood of the continuation of war.
But I think that was sort of one of the big takeaways there that this is the effort to get the international business community involved in
reconstruction, but also as part of the dynamic of helping reform Ukraine's economy, which did have corruption. And that will be one of the key -- of
it.
Also joining the European Union, which is what it stated it wants to do, and it's on a path to do but this conference this week, will be very big
and getting that huge ball rolling.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's an elephant in the room, but it has to be discussed accountability and transparency, particularly when we're talking about the
scale of investment. That's required. Nic, good to have you with us, thank you, Nic Robertson there.
OK, straight ahead, easing the climate crisis one block at a time the company out to convert American cities to greener energy forms. Plus, it's
World Refugee Day. We'll discuss efforts to provide jobs and training for those most in need. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move", a holiday weekend in the United States turned deadly as a string of mass shootings and violence swept
across the nation. At least 15 people were killed and dozens more injured in as many as 21 shootings in multiple cities. According to gun violence
archives, there have been more than 300 shootings so far this year. Adrienne Broaddus has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the one that hurts the most. I had stitches in my head so I already have a hole.
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Michelle Peterson was among the 22 injured in a parking lot party in Illinois Saturday night,
about 21 miles west of Chicago. At least one person was killed. Bullets Grace Peterson shoulder and forehead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- and they just kept going across me but I couldn't get any lower. You know what I mean? I just heard it and I felt that at
least 30 rounds went through my car alone.
BROADDUS (voice over): The DuPage County Sheriff's Office says deputies were on site to monitor the event.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just the Juneteenth party. I'm not exactly sure who threw it.
BROADDUS (voice over): But around 12:25 am they got called to respond to a nearby fight and immediately returned when they heard gunfire.
[09:20:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- you know -- got going off and everybody ran and it was chaos.
BROADDUS (voice over): Investigators say multiple suspects fired multiple rounds into the parking lot crowd.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just are hard to shoot come from behind. So we dropped down. We dropped down, they stopped they just kept going.
BROADDUS (voice over): In downtown St. Louis, a 17 year old male was killed and at least nine others hurt. It happened at a party held in an office
building.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's every parent's worst nightmare tenfold.
BROADDUS (voice over): Officers say multiple weapons were found at the scene including an AR style rifle. And they're still trying to figure out
how the group got access to the building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was planned in advance. We're still investigating who had access to it.
BROADDUS (voice over): In Central Washington State 2 people are dead and several others hurt after a mass shooting at the campgrounds near the Gorge
Amphitheater in Quincy, about 150 miles east of Seattle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are just trying to come out here to have fun.
BROADDUS (voice over): It happened, around 8:25 pm local time during an electronic dance music festival. The Grant County Sheriff's Office says the
shooter shot four people in the campground then continued firing into the crowd. According to CNN affiliate -- when officers caught up to the suspect
they fired their weapons, injuring the alleged shooter who survived.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know what the motives were what the intentions were of the shooter.
BROADDUS (voice over): And on Friday night in Carson, California, eight people were injured during a shooting at a home about 17 miles south of Los
Angeles and happened in a Cul De Sac where it's believed around 20 to 30 people were gathered. Deputies say the victims range in age from 16 to 24.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did get some indication there might have been a fight before the shooting. But that's all being investigated.
BROADDUS (voice over): Adrienne Broaddus, CNN in Willowbrook, Illinois.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: OK, and a reminder one of our top stories today we continue to follow the news off the coast of Newfoundland right now ships and planes
are searching for five people onboard a small submersible, which set out to see the wreck of the liner Titanic at the bottom of the North Atlantic.
Time of course, this as we were discussing earlier, is of the essence. The subs oxygen supply could run out in around three days. A short time ago, my
colleague Poppy Harlow on CNN this morning spoke to the U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger. He's overseeing the search for the submersible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAUGER: Our thoughts as we continue on with this search are with the crew members and their families right now. If there's any chance, we're going to
work as hard as we can to make sure that we can locate that submersible. And so we've been working through the night with a broad group of partners
to bring all capabilities to bear looking on both surface and now expanding to a subsurface search in the area.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: So you searched overnight, an area the size of Connecticut, are you saying you're expanding that to an even wider --
MAUGER: -- Poppy, thanks, we're expanding our capabilities on site. And so while a lot of the search to date has been primarily focused on the surface
of the water, and our aircraft flew patterns, in combination with Canadian aircraft and New York Air National Guard, aircraft flew patterns that
roughly about the size of the state of Connecticut.
But today, we now have underwater search capability on scene. And so we're going to be using that to see if we can locate the submersible in the
water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: So I think one of the big questions we're also asking at this moment is what it's actually like aboard the vessel. Just watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inside, the sub has about as much room as a minivan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is not your grandfather's submersible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We only have one button. That's it. It should be like an elevator. You know, it shouldn't take a lot of skill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can use these off the shelf components.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got these from -- , we run the whole thing with this game controller.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: That was from a CBS News report last year. I want to bring in Gabe Cohen now who can also share his experience. Gabe, you've also been
inside one of these not I believe below the surface, but at least you've sat in one. What's your sense and thoughts at this moment from what you
have seen and done?
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so Julia, I did several stories on OceanGate during my time reporting in Seattle. And in 2018, I did a story
about Titan about that submersible that's now missing at sea. I went to OceanGate headquarters, which is in Everett, Washington and I interviewed
the crew including CEO Stockton Rush.
And we actually got a chance to sit inside that vessel and I was struck by how simple a lot of the technology seemed. It is this tiny vessel, it's
quite cramped.
[09:25:00]
As you can see there it is small, it can only fit about five people on board, which is how many we understand are now missing as part of this
expedition. And it's operated as you saw in that CBS report by a gaming controller what essentially looks like a PlayStation controller.
And yet the company OceanGate was very confident when I talked to them that it could safely make this remarkable journey that could dive 13,000 feet
down in the ocean, and it could handle 150 million pounds of pressure at the ocean floor. The company's CEO Stockton Rush, he told me that the
pressure vessel with its carbon fiber structure, what you're seeing there on your screen, that Titan could handle all of those elements.
That they had not cut any corners, when it came to costs, or when it came to safety though a lot of that may look rudimentary. They said that really
the pieces were in place to keep the crew safe. And look in all of my interviews. Every one of those OceanGate crew members talked about safety
and talked about how confident they were in the technology.
They said they worked with NASA and Boeing to design Titan. And that said we have learned that Titan has had some communication issues in the past,
we know the vessel lost communication with support crew. Last year, it was missing for more than two hours during one of its expeditions unable to get
messages from the surface, which they rely on.
When they're in the water to figure out where they're going. There is no GPS onboard the vessel. So a lot of questions here, Julia, as to what went
wrong. But as you've seen, from that video, it is quite a cramped space that those passengers would be experiencing.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, my first thought actually washing that is water and food. I mean food for a few days. But water, Gabe very quickly, bottled water on
board -- few hours.
COHEN: Well we don't know exactly what was brought on the expedition from what we've seen.
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
COHEN: There was not much food or water being prepared from previous videos where the team at OceanGate gave tours they never spoke about any large
food supply or water supply. We don't have some of that information. We don't have a lot of those answers, because we haven't been able to get a
lot of information from ocean gate as the search and rescue unfolds.
But we really don't know what resources are there on board for the passengers who are lost right now.
CHATTERLEY: -- gave us lots of wisdom. Thank you for your context there. And I'm going to hand you over now to my colleagues on CNN domestic, some
breaking news regarding the President's son.
(CNN US SIMULCAST)
END