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Quest Means Business

Boeing CEO Faces Grilling from US Senate Panel; NVIDIA Tops Microsoft as World's Most Valuable Company; US: Over $5 Billion in Losses in 2023 to "Pig Butchering" Schemes; Vladimir Putin Arrives in North Korea Ahead of Meeting with Kim Jong-un; Biden Gives Legal Protections to Undocumented Spouses; Millions Under Heat Alerts in U.S. as Wildfires Rage; Boom Celebrates Completion of Overture Factory. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired June 18, 2024 - 16:00:00   ET

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

[16:00:12]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Suitably dressed, that's Ralph Lauren ringing the closing bell, all the company, and

I think it must for the Olympics, and now this. There they are ringing the closing bell on Wall Street. Hit the gavel. It was okay, that gavel, not

brilliant, but we are 56 up on the Dow and the news and stories that we are following for you today.

Boeing's culture is far from perfect says, the chief executive. As Dave Calhoun faces a grilling in the US Senate.

Kim Jong-un greets Vladimir Putin on the tarmac in Pyongyang as the Russian leader's state visit gets underway.

And NVIDIA, now the world's most valuable company, edging past, Microsoft, Apple, and even Aramco.

We are live in New York. It is Tuesday. It is June the 18th. I'm Richard Quest, and I mean business.

Good evening.

Boeing's outgoing chief executive has been under fire for hours from US lawmakers who say that he has failed to redress the beleaguered company's

safety culture.

Dave Calhoun was summoned to testify before a Senate Subcommittee. It presented new whistleblower claims that Boeing tried to hide faulty parts

from the regulator, the FAA, and may have installed them on its planes. The people who have loved ones in two Boeing 737 Max crashes attended the

hearings.

Calhoun began his testimony by turning around and speaking directly to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE CALHOUN, CEO, BOEING: I would like to apologize on behalf of all of our Boeing associates spread throughout the world, past and present for

your losses. They're gut-wrenching.

And I apologize for the grief that we have caused and I want you to know we are totally committed in their memory to work focused on safety for as long

as we're employed by Boeing.

So again, I am sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, one attendee responded to that apology by saying "You should be in jail." Pete Muntean is in Washington.

Pete, the problem for Boeing, as we heard again and again, from Blumenthal and other senators, he does that apology and says how committed they were

after Max, but of course, Alaska happened two years later, which sort of puts into ashes his apology and his future promises.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: There have been so many moments here, Richard, too, which is so key, and that latest admission from Boeing

CEO, Dave Calhoun, that apology really acknowledging the failures of Boeing to the Max 8 families was really something.

The other really big thing here, the bombshell here, is the whistleblower allegation that makes about a dozen whistleblowers who have talked to this

committee. The latest whistleblower is Sam Mohawk. He is a quality assurance inspector at the Boeing Renton, Washington plant. That is where

the 737 Max is built. That's the plant where the door plug bolts were not put in place leading up to that door plug blowout back on January 5th.

And I want you to listen to this exchange between Dave Calhoun and Senator Richard Blumenthal because he said that this worker was essentially

encouraged to speak up, but told to shut up. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALHOUN: I'm going to start by assuring you that I listened to the whistleblowers that appeared at your hearing.

Something went wrong.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): How many of your employees had been fired for retaliating against whistleblowers?

CALHOUN: Senator, I don't have that number on the tip of my tongue, but I know it happens. I know it happens.

BLUMENTHAL: Have any -- have there any been firings?

CALHOUN: I am happy to follow up and get you that number.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: The incredible thing here, Richard, is that this was really a blasting from both sides and the gloves were off. Democrats and Republicans

really relentless on Boeing CEO, Dave Calhoun, telling him that there really needs to be an overhaul, a safety overhaul at Boeing, and that was

all broad to light by the Max 9 door plug blowout, but really pretty much everything is on the table here, including the Max 8 incidents of 2018 and

2019.

QUEST: But Pete, on the gravamen of the issue that Boeing's culture was to profit-oriented, to next quarterly results oriented.

[16:05:07]

Now, Senator Hawley did put that to him in a fairly blunt fashion, but that really is what most people say is the real problem here, that go back to

the McDonnell-Douglas purchase and Boeing's philosophy and priority became the balance sheet, not safety.

Did he refer to this in any way?

MUNTEAN: Well, also the other thing here is that Boeing siphoned off a lot of its responsibility to other contractors like Spirit AeroSystems and the

big thing here is that the FAA is now ratcheting up its oversight of Boeing, but also ratcheting up the oversight of those suppliers and Boeing

says, it will ratchet up its own oversight of those suppliers.

The big thing here is that there is not much faith in a turnaround. And we heard from the mother of Samya Stumo who was killed in that 2019 crash of

the Ethiopian Airline's flight that led to these sort of major Max 8 overhauls and she says, it is really like turning a ship around. It is

probably not going to happen that Boeing continues to put forward the rubric for change and continues to fall flat on it.

QUEST: Pete Muntean in Washington.

Pete, I am grateful to you.

Dave Soucie is with me, former FAA safety inspector, and as CNN safety analyst. Dave is with me now.

Listen to this exchange with Senator Hawley, David. We know that Calhoun has sort of said he will be gone by the end of the year, but Hawley was far

more blunt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I think the truth is Mr. Calhoun, you're not focused on safety, you're not focused on quality. You're not focused on

transparency. All of this is in the record, but I think actually you're focused on exactly what you were hired to do, which is that you're cutting

corners, you are eliminating safety procedures.

You are sticking it to your employees. You are cutting back jobs because you're trying to squeeze every piece of profit you can out of this company.

You're strip-mining it. You're strip-mining Boeing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Is that fair, David Soucie?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: I do not think that's fair. I think he is coming from a different place. I understand what he is saying, but those

are not truths, those are assumptions and presumptions about what he is trying to accomplish.

I've met the man. I've talked to the man. I know what he is up to and I know what he is trying to do.

Is he more interested in profit? Possibly. Who knows? But he is on the outs and he has done a lot to move that company forward in the right direction.

Although, the fact that he didn't know if anybody that has been intimidating the employees has been fired or not, that really rings with

me. That is something that is unacceptable.

QUEST: Well, just to clarify though, he said, I know it has happened. So he admits that he knows it has happened. What he was unable to do is tell us

how many in the same way as he was unable -- I mean, he hadn't seen the material that Boeing's counsel had sent the committee, which he then had to

admit was gibberish and rubbish.

SOUCIE: Yes, it is just admitting the fact that he doesn't have the insight to know what is happening on the floor, and he is very good at taking this

with message across his management team and everybody else that it is there, but nonetheless, it is still, if you look at that vision statement

for Boeing, it still does not say safety in it.

It talks about quality and leadership and how they are going to lead this and lead that. And that's all, you know, upper level management talk. It

doesn't get down to where the person turning the bolts understands that when I turn this bolt, that's what makes that airplane safe.

They have to have a direct line of sight to safety and I don't believe they do.

QUEST: He is on his way out, but the other dirty little secret that really everyone in the industry knows is that the aviation industry needs Boeing.

You can't just go down to a single manufacturer, which is Airbus, particularly at the narrow body. You can't just have 320s, you need 73s'

competitive edge as well.

Can he turn it around or do they just bumble along?

SOUCIE: Well, and there is much more at risk even than just manufacturing commercial airplanes. If they are convicted of fraud, if that company is

marked with fraud, they won't even be able to provide any kind of defense materials to the US government as well.

So we are talking a shutdown of Boeing at a much grander scale than just commercial if this goes towards the fraud, if they're prosecuted for fraud,

and they did not live up to their deferred prosecution agreement, which was that this would all be fixed by now. They haven't done that.

So they're at risk at much higher level than this, Richard, and I don't think I am answering your question there, but it is a bigger picture than

just can we commercially create aircraft anymore.

QUEST: Right. I think you did. You did because what you emphasized is the significance in a sense of Boeing's survival.

A new team will come in. They're looking for the new CEO. We have a new president at Boeing.

[16:10:10]

They've got them. The problem -- David, it is always exasperating, isn't it? Because how do you beat up somebody who is beating themselves? And

that's what Calhoun did today.

SOUCIE: Yes.

QUEST: He did a really good job of beating himself up until he was pushed by Hawley when he sort of says, I'm proud of what we are doing. But why

should we believe them that they will turn this around?

SOUCIE: Yes, he is setting himself up to be the fall guy and that's a smart move for Boeing, honestly. I think it is a sacrificial lamb. He is setting

himself up to say, this is all my fault.

And well, we can't really forget about it. We talked about this the other day, is sure Boeing comes up with a safety plan. What is the FAA doing

right now? This is like a bait and switch. Everybody's talking about Boeing. Where is the FAA in all this? Where is their safety plan?

QUEST: Well, the FAA administrator did admit, didn't he, in his testimony, a couple of weeks, that they had been -- I shouldn't say asleep at the

switch, although that's probably a good phrase.

SOUCIE: Yes, it is. It really is. I think that's where it is at.

QUEST: David --

SOUCIE: It has to be changed at that level.

QUEST: Good to see you in Colorado. I'm grateful to you, sir. Thank you.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight, NVIDIA shares soared higher even after the split. This time it closed the day as the world's most valuable public

company and that includes Apple, Microsoft, and Saudi Aramco, in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: NVIDIA shares were up more than three percent and that was enough to make it the world's most valuable public company. The cap stands at $3.3

trillion, just ahead of Microsoft and Apple.

The chip maker has become a poster child of Wall Street's AI rally. The share price nearly tripled so far this year, far outpacing other tech

giants. And if you stay with that graph for a second, you'll see, of course, the share price there at $135.00. That is a post ten to one split.

So if you had gone on a pre-split basis and the split was only at the beginning of this month, it was at $120.00, I believe, one twenty and

change.

Clare Duffy is with me now.

The fascinating part, Clare, is that on the post-split basis, that share prices in this month alone is up 11 percent. Is it justifiable? I suppose

it is justifiable because that's what people will pay. But you know what I mean.

[16:15:03]

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Well, Richard, I do think it is a sign that the stock split was the right move. It made the share price much more

accessible to retail investors, and I think we are seeing that retail investors continue to be very interested in this company.

It is interesting since this AI boom, NVIDIA has really become more of a household name because it really is powering this revolution in technology.

You saw CEO, Jensen Huang really get the superstar rockstar treatment when he was in Taiwan last month and I think that is just a sign of how much

more recognizable this company now is and as a result, how much more you might see retail investors really being interested in this company and

buying the stock.

Again, stock is up 11 percent since that stock split happened just about a week ago. And so I think it is justified too, because look, this company

still has very little competition when it comes to these semiconductors that are powering AI technology.

We've seen all of the big tech companies they are investing billions of dollars in AI infrastructure, and so as much as this company's growth has

been insane over the last couple of months, there is still so much more runway for this company to go.

QUEST: Let's look at that, because how does a company have it to itself on the biggest issue in the tech world at the moment? And one assumes that it

is all their to lose, somebody will come in and take part of that market share even as the rising tide lifts all boats.

DUFFY: Right. I think that is -- it is going to be both end, and NVIDIA still has so much open runway to grow here, but you are going to see,

you're already seeing companies like Amazon and Meta try to develop their own silicon, their own chips to use, to create some competition for NVIDIA

so that they don't have to be so reliant on this one company.

There are also some other hurdles. Export restrictions to China have taken a hit to that key market, and we are also going to see NVIDIA start to lap

the year ago when it really started to see sales take off. And so its sales growth isn't going to look as big, which is really just a cosmetic thing,

but it may end up affecting the share price.

But I think what is clear is that this is still really the beginning of this AI revolution. We are still only in the early stages. And the most

important thing at this point is for these big tech companies to be building out data centers that can process the data that's necessary to

build out these AI software tools.

And all of that really is going to rely on NVIDIA at this point.

QUEST: Why don't I get the feeling that you and I are going to talk about NVIDIA a great deal in the next few years? Good to see you. Thank you.

DUFFY: Yes.

QUEST: One cyber scam on the rise in the United States, it has an unflattering title, "pig butchering" because it involves gaining a victim's

trust over time, fattening them up, if you will, before taking everything they have.

In one extreme and tragic case, a grandfather took his own life after losing his life savings.

CNN's Ivan Watson has his story and the others who fallen victim to this scam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT, DENNIS' SON: As soon as I found out that it was a suicide, I was 100 percent sure that it was the scam. And it just -- it crushed him, like took

the life out of him.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It has only been a couple of months since Matt and Adrianne suddenly lost their

father.

MATT: I mean, our father was the grand optimist. He was always -- and they extinguished that for him.

WATSON (voice over): I meet them at Adrianne's home in Northern Virginia, where their father's ashes have yet to be buried. Dennis Jones was an avid

photographer, guitarist and loving grandfather.

But last summer, Dennis started withdrawing from the family, instead talking daily to a woman he met on Facebook.

WATSON: The profile's name here is Jessie Chu. Do you think this person exists?

ADRIANNE, DENNIS' DAUGHTER: No.

WATSON (voice over): Over time, Jessie convinced Dennis to invest in cryptocurrency. He pumped more and more money in until it suddenly

disappeared.

Text messages show Dennis was desperate and yet his children say he still trusted his friend named Jessie.

ADRIANNE: I do believe he loved the person that was -- that he believed was behind that profile.

WATSON (voice over): Carina, who works in biotech in Northern California, is also the victim of an online cryptocurrency scam.

WATSON: Were you in love?

CARINA, SCAM VICTIM: I was, yes. I really felt like I trusted this person.

WATSON (voice over): She says she first met her scammer on the dating app, Bumble.

WATSON: How much money did you lose?

CARINA: In the end, I ultimately lost $150,000.00. I mean, I went into a depression. I was depressed. I am ashamed, embarrassed that I had done all

this without sharing it with anybody.

[16:20:01]

ERIN WEST, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SANTA CLARA COUNTY: I've been a prosecutor for over 25 years. I spent nine years in sexual assault. And

I've never seen the absolute decimation of people that I've seen as a result of pig butchering.

WATSON (voice over): Erin West is a deputy district attorney in Northern California, specializing in online crypto scams she calls "pig butchering."

WEST: We've got over $5 billion in losses.

WATSON (on camera): In 2023?

WEST: In 2023, and that's up 38 percent from last year. And when crime is growing at 38 percent, that's something you better keep your eyes on.

WATSON (voice over): Using fake social media profiles, scammers spend months gaining the confidence of their victims before convincing them to

invest in cryptocurrency through fake websites.

Those platforms claim huge profits until the money suddenly disappears into the pockets of criminal gangs, mostly based out of Southeast Asia.

A 2023 CNN investigation revealed many scammers are actually themselves victims of human trafficking, like this Indian man named Rakesh, imprisoned

in this armed compound in Myanmar. He was forced to work, pretending to be a Russian woman targeting Americans online.

RAKESH, SCAM VICTIM/SCAMMER: Like they're providing for us. I got a Russian girl with using a Russian girl fake profile. I need to scam the people.

WATSON (voice over): Investigators warn of a mass transfer of wealth, stealing billions of dollars from ordinary Americans. And this year, they

predict it will only get worse.

JEFF ROSEN, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SANTA CLARA COUNTY: Many of these perpetrators are beyond my reach. And in order to establish deterrence, we

need to prosecute some individuals who are running these operations in Southeast Asia.

WATSON (voice over): US law enforcement say they have yet to arrest a single scammer though the US Secret Service has had better luck in

recouping some of the lost money.

SHAWN BRADSTREET, US SECRET SERVICE SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, SAN FRANCISCO: We've been able to claw back millions. But it's still a small percentage

compared to how much is going overseas.

WATSON (on camera): Which is billions.

BRADSTREET: Which is billions.

WATSON (voice over): The scammers flood social media sites to ensnare victims. Tech companies like Meta, Match Group and Coinbase say they're

trying to spread awareness about the threat.

But Deputy District Attorney Erin West says that's not enough.

WEST: An enemy has declared war on the rest of the world without really telling any of us that we are at war. And we are not fighting back.

WATSON (voice over): Carina says she spent hours every day exchanging romantic texts with the person she thought she loved.

CARINA: It's heartbreaking for me to see the state that I was in.

WATSON (voice over): By the time she realized she had been defrauded, Carina says she took out high-interest loans, borrowed money from loved

ones and had to move back in with her mother.

WATSON: What is the timeline like for repaying your debts?

CARINA: Probably 10 years.

WATSON (voice over): After Dennis Jones took his own life, his adult children were left piecing together what happened by looking through his

Facebook messages.

MATT: He's saying these are basically evil people. I did not know that such people existed. And he ends it with, "The ultimate pain here is that I've

betrayed my family's trust."

This is unbearable.

WATSON (voice over): In early March, Matt, Adrianne and their sister, Laura, planned to have a meeting to help out their father.

The plan was for him to move in with Adrianne here in Virginia.

ADRIANNE: Unfortunately, the day that we were supposed to have the meeting is the day that we found out he died. You know, he died embarrassed,

ashamed, you know, financially devastated and heartbroken. And if sharing our story helps somebody else or another family, then it's worth it.

WATSON (voice over): Ivan Watson, CNN, Leesburg, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: All right, there is one man who can certainly help us understand what we can do to either prevent or handle this. Well, he should be able

to, he is the former deputy director of the FBI.

Andrew, if you don't know the way forward on this thing, then we are in some deep trouble indeed, but look what do you do? In essence, you're

trying to protect people from themselves and no amount of warnings flashing up do you know who you're sending this money to? Have you been scammed by

this -- ever seems to help.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, Richard, that's why some of these scams are so effective because through social engineering,

they carefully pick out their targets and then they appeal to the most universal common denominator and that is love and attraction and they use

those ties to establish trust.

[16:25:07]

Some of these crypto investment scams also work off the proposition of at some point, once that trust has been built the so-called boyfriend or

girlfriend will tell the victim, well I've made so much money and I make -- you know, I've made all this money with these incredible returns on this

particular website or on this particular application and they will just send a link to it.

So, it is not even a typical fraudster trying to compel you to invest in their business. This is supposedly a friend, a lover or romantic interest

pointing you in a direction that is essentially off the cliff.

QUEST: Right. So what can -- I mean, you know, yes, you know better than anybody. You can try and follow the trail back, but you'll hit a brick wall

either through corporate nominees or just jurisdictions that won't cooperate to actually find out where it is coming from.

So what needs to happen?

MCCABE: Well, fundamentally, as frustrating as it seems, it has got to -- you know, the key here is a massive public education effort through stories

like this and also efforts from folks like the FBI's Cyber Division who have been putting out warning after warning, advising about these scams.

In particular, have one right here. This one came out back in March of 2023. You have other entities like CISA, the DHS cyber entity is doing the

same things. The private sector needs to get involved in this process as well.

Recently, we had the most recent warning from the FBI coming out advising people not to invest in cryptocurrency enterprises that haven't listed --

officially listed with FINCEN as financial service entities.

Beware of those companies and those applications that aren't listed, that aren't complying with money-laundering standards and your customer laws, so

you've got to be smart because there is a lot of scammers out there.

QUEST: But Andrew, you summed it up at the beginning when you add love with greed, or even hope for financial reward, that is a noxious and toxic

mixture that will defy any -- most forms of attack.

MCCABE: You're absolutely right, Richard. This is a very tough problem to solve. It requires people to be better informed, to be more skeptical, to

be less trusting. Those are all hard things to generate or convince people to pursue. But unfortunately, right now, we have a very sophisticated

adversary that is very far away.

Once you realize your money is gone, it is gone. It is very, very tough to claw back some of those funds, unlike some of the other Bitcoin frauds and

things where we have had some luck re-establishing some of that, some of those fraudulently transferred funds.

Here, once you it is gone, it is literally gone.

QUEST: I was just -- we were doing a bit of a research before and I was thinking about the Nigeria 419 frauds where will you send me money type of

frauds and they were -- they look almost simplistic in comparison to this very targeted nuance. As you say, it goes on for many months before -- they

don't even ask you to send it to them. They just send you the website link.

MCCABE: That's right. That's right.

These are people who are expert at social engineering. Once they have a target on the line, they know how to do open source research on that target

to uncover things that that target is interested in.

You talked about this one victim, the elderly man who is interested in photography and guitars. There is no doubt that those sorts of things are

known about him if you look at his social media and things like that.

Then the fraudster uses those things to build even more trust and lure that person and to create this mystique that they found someone who is just like

them, and those are very powerful forces to try to protect yourself from.

QUEST: Well, Andrew, we know you're interested in guitars. You have a nice guitar sitting behind you in which I am sure has got a story for another

day.

MCCABE: It does. It does. Nothing to do with cyber fraud or cryptocurrency, I will assure you.

QUEST: Thank you, sir. Check is in the mail, as they say. Thank you.

President Biden has announced a new executive action. Who will be affected in the 2024 election -- in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:33:28]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. We have a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS together.

When Vladimir Putin arrived in North Korea and the bromance with Pyongyang to create closer ties. And Boom Supersonic hits a milestone on its mission

to commercialize high-speed air travel. The chief exec of Boom will be with us, and we always look forward to that. But only after the news headlines

because this is CNN and on this network the news always comes first.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. is still reviewing a shipment of bombs to Israel over concerns they might be used in densely

populated area. The secretary made the remarks to the joint news conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Mr. Blinken added that the

U.S. will make sure Israel has what it needs to defend itself.

Justin Timberlake has been charged with one count of driving whilst intoxicated, and has been released from prison custody or police custody, I

should say. He was cited for running a stop sign and failure to keep in his lane according to his attorney. Timberlake was arrested overnight in Sag

Harbor which is in the state of New York in the Hamptons -- Long Island, I should say. His next court date is on July 26th.

Thailand is witnessing a monumental moment. It is set to become the first nation in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. The kingdom's

Senate overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill earlier today. Thailand's king still has to endorse the bill, which is considered a

formality.

[16:35:15]

President Vladimir Putin has arrived in North Korea for a visit that's being watched closely. He was greeted directly by North Korean leader Kim

Yong-un and Russian state media says the two leaders spoke for several minutes.

CNN's Will Ripley reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russian president Vladimir Putin stepping foot on North Korean soil for the first

time in 24 years. A late-night landing in Pyongyang for Putin's presidential plane North Korean leader Kim Jong-un rolling out the red

carpet for Putin. Pyongyang's Kim Il-sung Square decked out for a massive celebration in Putin's honor. The global outcast getting a grandiose

welcome in signature North Korean style says, Chad O'Carroll of NK News.

CHAD O'CARROLL, NK NEWS: Flags everywhere. Red carpets everywhere. Military bands everywhere. Portraits of Putin adorning all the streets. I think for

a leader with dictatorial tendencies, it's probably a dream come true.

RIPLEY: Kim invited Putin to Pyongyang after their landmark meeting in Russia last year. Satellite images of the North Korean capital show

preparations for a military parade. The U.S. and South Korea warned Kim may be seeking sophisticated Russian military technology and economic support

in exchange for weapons and ammunition, helping Putin wage war in Ukraine.

O'Carroll says Kim's wish list for Putin could include advanced Russian fighter jets, ballistic missile, and spy satellite expertise, sending North

Korean workers to Russia, generating critical revenue. The two are expected to sign a new strategic partnership replacing previous agreements from 1961

and nearly a quarter century ago when Putin last traveled to Pyongyang a few months into his presidency.

Analysts say North Korea may have been an afterthought to the Russian leadership back then. O'Carroll says times have changed.

What do you think Kim Jong-un is getting right now?

O'CARROLL: He's getting legitimacy. He's on the world stage. You know, this couldn't be better for Kim Jong-un.

RIPLEY (voice-over): All without having to give up a single nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: President Biden announced an executive action allowing certain undocumented immigrants to apply for permanent residency. The president was

speaking about it a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Keeping couples together who are married, where one spouse is a U.S. citizens, the other is undocumented.

They've been living in the United States for at least 10 years. These couples have been raising families, sending their kids to church and

school, paying taxes, contributing to our country for every -- for 10 years or more. As a matter of fact, the average time they've spent here is 23

years. People were affected today. But living in the United States all this time with fear and uncertainty.

We can fix that and that's what I'm going to do today. Fix it.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: About half a million families will be affected by this. The significance of course besides whether it's the right thing or it is the

right thing to do is an election year. And the president is counting on Latino support in some key swing states.

Senior White House correspondent Kayla Tausche is with me now.

You and I were talking yesterday. It is interesting, isn't it, how all these things suddenly roll out in the months before an election? Regardless

of the merits, this is obviously strong on its merits, but it is interesting the political timing.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is indeed interesting the political timing, Richard, and that's one question that

neither the White House nor the campaign has been willing to discuss in great detail. That is the question of why now, why would this being an

issue for so many years, so many decades that now is the time that the Biden administration decided to roll out this executive action?

Well, it does come just two weeks after the president did play some restrictions on asylum at the border coming under fire from some

immigration advocacy groups that had been pushing for him to do just what he did today. So this is seen as an action that is trying to neutralize the

issue of immigration, introduce policies that are seen as an attempt to appease both sides, not only in the lead up to the election, but also in

the leadup to next week's primetime debate that CNN is hosting in Atlanta where immigration is expected to be one of the policies that figures

prominently -- Richard.

QUEST: Yes. I'm grateful to you and I'm sure that you and I will talk many more about different policies both sides between now and probably next

week.

[16:40:02]

And don't forget, as Kayla was saying, CNN is hosting the first presidential debate with President Biden and the former president Donald

Trump. The details so you can make a note appointment viewing as we used to say, 27th of June, 9:00 p.m. in New York, 2:00 a.m. in London, 3:00 in

Central -- but don't worry, of course, we will repeat it during the course of the following 24 hours.

As we continue tonight millions of Americans under heat alerts as wildfires rage. We're in California live for the latest in a just a moment in QUEST

MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Look at that. Temperatures well above 90 degrees over the next few days. That's 19 Fahrenheit and the 40s as the high 30s Celsius, 260 million

people are now in dangerous heat as the heat is helping fuel wildfires in several western states. In New Mexico, two fast-growing fires are merging

on a tribal reservation. Look at the ferocity of those fires. 5,000 people have been told to evacuate their homes. And in California, firefighters are

facing strong winds, low humidity, as they battle multiple fires. The Post Fire in Los Angeles County is 24 percent contained.

Natasha Chen is north of L.A. near the site of that wildfire.

How bad is it?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Richard, this is the command center and right now the fire has grown to more than 15,000 acres.

The crews here are optimistic that maybe better conditions could help them out in the coming hours and days. But they're also -- they're expecting

more heat to come next weekend, which could just make things worse. Right now there are high wind gusts expected through 6:00 p.m. local time.

So they're still battling some difficult conditions, Richard, especially as some of the areas along the southern part of the fire are very rugged and

steep terrain.

QUEST: Do we know how these fires started? Is it the hot weather and tinder that's just, you know, loose spark and discarded cigarette or whatever?

Because there are so many of these fires now but there must be multiple reasons why they got going?

CHEN: Definitely the investigation is still going for looking into how this one started.

[16:45:04]

We don't know the causes of many of these fires in the beginning. But you're right, there are definitely very dry conditions in southeast New

Mexico where you mentioned those two fires converging on the town of Ruidoso. We are talking about the part of the U.S. that has the most

extreme drought conditions labeled excessive drought. And that is the only place in the U.S. that is that dry right now.

There was a thermal intelligence indicator that showed CNN how this started early Monday morning from just a little spark and then as daybreak came, as

that heat came on, just fuel the fire. Here's one resident who really had to make an escape very quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ENID CHEE, EVACUEE: Unfortunately we got evacuated. It hasn't affected our house, but we still can't go home. The ones that got affected by the fire,

you know, it's going to take a lot until they get everything back. But, you know, as long as lives are saved and, you know, homes are always

replaceable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And that fire overnight also grew several thousand acres. So these move extremely quickly and some of those residents in New Mexico told us

that they really did not have a lot of time to prepare, Richard.

QUEST: And it is only June. We've still got July and August to go. Thank you, Natasha, in California. Grateful.

As you and I continue tonight, flying across the Atlantic, the continents, wherever it may be, but at supersonic speeds. One step closer. The CEO Boom

Supersonic joins me next and he's always welcome on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Supersonic travel gets ever closer to reality. Boom, the supersonic company, is celebrating the construction of its overture super factory in

North Carolina. The production floor, once ready, the company says it will be able to build 33 aircraft per year. They've already flown a

demonstration model of this. Now of course they have to build something approaching the real thing.

The overture will fly it twice the speed of today's airliners. Boom says it's already 130 orders and pre-orders. Interestingly, you know, major

airlines, United, American, JAL, all have bought or have put down orders for this plane. And Blake Scholl is the CEO of Boom and is with me now.

[16:45:02]

Right now, sir, this is -- before we get to Boom, let's just talk about Boeing because when -- the story obviously today is Boeing's mea culpa on

Capitol Hill. But you are about to go into aircraft manufacture. When you look at what's happened with Boeing, highly successful, highly profitable,

highly leader in the field and innovator, what lessons do you take from this?

BLAKE SCHOLL, CEO, BOOM SUPERSONIC: Well, safety is job number one. Safety culture is the most important thing and actually achieving safety. And what

we've seen at Boeing is just really sad. They had a great safety culture and they lost it. And once you lose it, it's really hard to get back.

Ferociously difficult. And, you know, frankly, that's one of the reasons at Boom, why we built a human piloted airplane as our very first demonstrator,

because we wanted to build the foundation of our safety culture.

And it continues to be our top focus and, you know, the world is just not well-served by the Boeing Airbus duopoly. That's the other point. I think

it's time for there to be a new major aircraft manufacturer.

QUEST: So where are you on your engines?

SCHOLL: They're coming along great. So we actually are having our first combustor tests on the engines this week and we're going to have our first

engine up and running on a test cell and about 18 months, and of course that's the symphony engine. It's our own design. It's the first supersonic

engine designed for efficient sustainable supersonic fleet -- supersonic flight. And that's what's going to be powering the overture airliner.

QUEST: I notice it's going to run on SAF. Good luck buying that.

SCHOLL: Well, the future flight needs to be not just faster, more affordable, but it does need to be sustainable. And today, yes, we do not

have enough SAF, and, you know, Boom is one of the many companies that is looking to make investments in SAF and help us scale that because high

density liquid fuels is really the only way we can decarbonize long-haul aviation. And so SAF, you know, between now and 2050, that is the solution.

QUEST: So when do -- what's your target date for maiden flight?

SCHOLL: Well, we had our maiden flight on the XB-1 prototype actually March of this year. First time --

QUEST: Will take long.

SCHOLL: -- in the air since Concord. And when are we ready for passengers? We're looking for our maiden flight and on the order of about four years

from now in 2028.

QUEST: 2028. Now you've got 130 orders and one imagines or at least as you get closer, though, there will be more orders and pre-orders, and what --

give me a feel for the level of interest from airlines. We know United, American, and JAL are with you already, but we saw that, look, any of us

are students of history. We've seen this before with -- we've seen it with Concord, we've seen it with other planes. We saw it with Airbus and the

380. The interest is there, but it can often dissipate.

SCHOLL: In my mind, I think it all actually goes back to passengers. And, you know, I don't know a single passenger that wouldn't love to crisscross

oceans and half time it takes today. And the key is delivering that in a way that is affordable to enough passengers, which of course that was the

big challenge with Concords. It's a technological marvel, but it was so expensive to operate people couldn't afford to fly on it.

And so what we've set out to do with overture is to build an airplane that's profitable at a business class fare. You know, ultimately, we wanted

to get it to everybody and economy, but we're starting out all business class. And if we deliver that, I don't think there's a single international

airline in the world that's not going to want to have this because guess what? All their passengers want to have it.

QUEST: Nobody wants you to succeed more than me, as you and I have talked before. And maybe it's the cynicism or not the skepticism as the journalist

in me, I just see so many production difficulties as you actually make a full scale real-life model of -- I mean, a version of overture and then

start going into certification. Is 2030 -- sorry, 2028, 2029, is that realistic?

SCHOLL: You know, there is no question what we've set out to do is really, really hard and lots of critics are going to have lots of questions. You

know, I look back in the rear-view mirror and I look at the, quote-unquote, "possible things" that we've already done. You know, we built and flew the

first several supersonic airplanes since Concord and the TU-1 44. We've gotten, as you said, you know, multiple airlines to put down non-refundable

deposits.

We just built a factory. Do we have a lot left to do to get overture in the skies? We absolutely do. But I think the world needs this. I think the

world needs a new aircraft manufacturer, passengers deserve it, and we're doing this as fast as we can, but we're absolutely not skipping any steps.

QUEST: You still got my seat reserved I hope.

SCHOLL: Absolutely. You and I are sitting right next to each other, Richard.

QUEST: Come on. Well, that's the message across.

[16:55:00]

Thank you, sir. We'll follow every step of the way. We will follow in great detail. I'm grateful for your time tonight. Thank you.

We will take a "Profitable Moment" after the break. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment," we have two aviation stories tonight that we were pleased and proud to bring it. First of all, Boeing and the

mea culpa being done by Dave Calhoun on Capitol Hill. The culture is not perfect. We didn't get it right. And Boeing was responsible for the deaths

in the 7378 MAX crashes.

And now tonight also we brought you Boom and the new factory, the commitment to safety that you heard just a moment ago from Blake about not

missing out any steps as they move towards supersonic travel. 2028, 2029 is the date that they are looking at. But these are two sides of the same

coin, if you like, the ying and yang, because Boeing was the innovator. Boeing gave us the 747. Boeing gave us the 707, the first carbon plane with

the 787 Dreamliner.

So Boeing has been the leader, the innovator, and it is to Boeing that those like Boom need to look at for the lessons of how things can go wrong.

And they go wrong for a variety of reasons. Hubris, complacency, profitability or whatever it might be. But they can go wrong. And by the

way, Airbus has gone wrong in the past, too, when it was trying to build the 380. Airbus has had its problems with the old 300.

So when Blake talked to me about Boom and we certainly look forward to that in the future, we do so here with a sense of we hope you make it but

remember, the precedence that come before. And that's the significance in aviation. It is fine to talk about safety as Calhoun did on Capitol Hill

today but you've got to put it into practice. And that has to be done on a daily basis and you really only know that you've succeeded, putting it

bluntly, when you don't fail.

And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. I won't

be with you tomorrow. Dental surgery. Back with you on Thursday.

END