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Controversial CBP Facebook Posts Examined; Assessing Damage of Second Ridgecrest Quake; Citizenship Question on Census Issue; "The Movies" Preview; More of Cuomo/Biden Interview Replayed; Coverage of Gas Explosion in Plantation, Florida; Another Immigrant Death at a Detention Facility. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired July 06, 2019 - 12:00   ET

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

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- this week called the 10-15 with more than 9,000 members in those groups. Facebook said it removed the content because it violated some of Facebook's policies wanting everyone to have a voice but also all Facebook users to feel safe. Now CBP has said, a spokesperson did say that the alleged posts do not reflect the values of the agency and of course there are many more people employed with CBP than are represented potentially in these groups. That being said, some of these posts were very derogatory, sexually explicit, vulgar, against migrants against lawmakers including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and including also demeaning comments about Asians and African-Americans, Fred.

FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, Natasha Chen, there in El Paso, Texas. Thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WHITFIELD: All right, hello again, everyone and thank you so much for being with me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. It is noon in the East Coast; 9 a.m. on the West Coast where people in southern California are on edge as they wake up, survey the damage after a second powerful earthquake has struck southern California. This one hitting near Ridgecrest last night about 150 miles outside of L.A. with a magnitude of 7.1 magnitude; this jolt, 11 times stronger than the one that hit the same area the day before. Moments ago, emergency officials warning residents that some homes and buildings may have been weakened or damaged by the quake and could be -- everyone could be in danger of experiencing more strikes.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

DAVID WITT, CHIEF OF KERN COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: We know through time that buildings are going to get weaker. A 6.4, a 7.1, you know maybe it's not a 7.1 next time but maybe it's lower and with that there could be more damage just because structures are weakened. And so we just need to be vigilant and the community of Ridgecrest is. They're strong and vigilant people doing a great job and have a lot of perseverance.

(END VIDEO)

WHITFIELD: This major quake knocked out power and water to the area and sparked several fires. So far there have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries. The epicenter of the quake missed the major cities nearby. You see Los Angeles and even Las Vegas. Let's go now to CNN's Sara Sidner in Ridgecrest.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Residents of Ridgecrest thought they'd experienced the worst of the shaking Thursday. It turned out the largest earthquake to hit southern California in 20 years, a 6.4 magnitude quake was just a foreshock.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

SIDNER: (voice over) About 8:20 Friday night the violent jolt from a 7.1 magnitude quake traumatized the town again.

(BEGIN AUDIO)

BRETT TANNER, RIDGECREST RESIDENT: Cars just started dancing. The dogs were freaking out. The cattle behind us were going nuts.

(END AUDIO)

SIDNER: It ruptured gas lines, caused fires.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDIENTIFIED MALE: Everybody okay?

(END VIDEO)

SIDNER: (voice over): Knocked out power. Left some residents scraped and bruised and at the very least scared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many of them are sleeping outside tonight. We are offering any services as noted earlier. We have places for people to shelter here, but many are choosing to just be with their neighbors, both in their sidewalks, in their driveways and some of them are in the streets.

(END VIDEO)

SIDNER: In the nearby city of Bakersfield, the shifting earth sent rocks cascading on to a highway and created cracks along the highway. Across the California border in Las Vegas, the shaking sent a wave of panic in the stands during the NBA Las Vegas Summer League game. And more than 150 miles away in Los Angeles, tens of thousands of L.A. Dodgers fans felt the familiar yet unnerving jostling from the quake, though the game went on. Near the epicenter, seismologists say there is still a chance that the 7.1 is only a foreshock, but the more likely scenario is strong aftershocks that go on for days.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

DR. LUCY JONES, USGS SEISMOLOGIST: It's a very energetic system, sequence. So there's no reason to think that we can't have more large earthquakes.

(END VIDEO)

SIDNER: And the number of aftershocks are very apparent. We felt a few early this morning. So far according to USGS data, there have been since the 6.4 earthquake on July 4th, there have been more than 2,300 aftershocks but to be clear, some of them are small enough that you don't really feel them; they're closer to the epicenter, not big events. Some of them are large enough to make it rattle and roll around here.

The residents here are simply tired of worrying about the fact that there could potentially, about a 5 percent chance or so according to seismologist potentially be a one earthquake that is bigger than the 7.1.

[12:05:00]

Everyone here hoping that is not the case. But one thing to keep in mind we heard from the fire chief a bit ago is that every time there's shaking that is significant enough, it can weaken structures even further. So far we've been driving around this town here in Ridgecrest. Everyone says they have some kind of damage but we haven't seen any major damage except for fires; four of them in the past 12 hours, the fire chief told us.

WHITFIELD: Folks continuing to brace. Sara Sidner, thank you so much.

All right, joining me right now on the phone is Sarah Tanner. She lives in Ridgecrest, California, where that powerful earthquake hit. So Sarah, thanks so much for being with me. How are you feeling today?

SARAH TANNER, RIDGECREST RESIDENT: A little tired. Nerves are rattled.

WHITFIELD: So explain to me what it is you experienced last night.

TANNER: About -- I guess it was about 8:20 or whatever, we first had a -- I guess it was probably a foreshock at that point, and we had kind of gone to go outside then and one of the dogs got out and we went to chase her. Thankfully everyone went outside to do so because we were outside for the 7.1. But it just amazing to see how the cars were rolling -- not rolling but moving on their axels and swaying and the ground looked like it was literally rolling. It was crazy.

WHITFIELD: And then what about your home? How is your home? Can you see any visible fractures or anything like that?

TANNER: We have not noticed -- we've looked, we have not seen any damage whatsoever. Fortunately we've been able to -- we have become kind of - we have acreage and so we've become just the safe haven for family and friends and friend of people -- just people that needed somewhere to go to get out of their houses and somewhere safe to sleep for the night.

WHITFIELD: So many people, you know, their nerves were so rattled that, yes, they are taking up on the offers of going to friends' homes, staying together. Describe to me kind of what the psychology is for so many of your friends and family members who say, "Yes, let's all stick together." I mean, you know is it - is it more comforting to be en masse in one place or are you finding there are some friends and family members who are even fearful about being indoors?

TANNER: Definitely fearful. A lot of us are fearful for being indoors. I think it was probably 1:30 or 2:00 this morning before we came back inside. And, you know, started getting some beds together and some people slept inside and some people went ahead and still slept outside just because they were more comfortable with it. So yes, it's a psychology, we're just all - we're terrified. I think some of us are so tired at this point from not sleeping because it's just been shaking pretty much constantly since Thursday morning. So we're only getting a few hours of sleep, you know, kind of here and there, in between significant jolts.

WHITFIELD: Yes, this will be like day three of anxiety. How long do you think you're going to feel on edge like this?

TANNER: Knowing that we live in Ridgecrest and we have been -- I've lived here my whole life. We've been the earthquake capital of the world before and we never had an earthquake of this magnitude by any means but we've gone through periods of time where we have shakers all the time. So I know that that's probably what's coming and isn't going to end any time soon, but the psychology of it is a lot different knowing that we just had this big one. So it's going to be interesting to see how we recover.

WHITFIELD: Well, Sarah Tanner, we are with you. We are wishing you and everybody there the best.

TANNER: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much.

TANNER: And I know a couple things I've noticed in the media if it can help, any is that I know there's a lot of damage that hasn't been really addressed on the east side of town, is technically San Bernardino County and there was from what I know quite a few homes that were probably red tagged over there from being thrown off their foundations and all kinds of other problems as well.

So I know people that have lost their homes as a result -- not from fire but as a result of the shaking itself.

[12:10:00]

And I know that, you know, we're not getting -- here where we live, we're so secluded, we don't have our own news networks or anything like that so we're really depending on L.A. or national media to kind of tell us what's going on and I think there's a real shortage of information for us so we really appreciate what you're doing.

WHITFIELD: Well Sarah, hopefully that information that you've just conveyed now can actually help get the assistance to places that may be harder to reach and folks didn't otherwise know before you shared that with us. Sarah Tanner, thank you so much for your time and information. We really appreciate it.

All right, still ahead, the earthquakes in California are putting tremendous pressure on emergency services including one hospital forced to shut down amid threats of new aftershocks plus President Trump keeps pushing his plan on the 2020 Census, attempting to add a question about citizenship. Could he use an executive order to finally get his way?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We're continuing to follow breaking news out of southern California. A 7.1 earthquake hit last night and is the second to rock the Ridgecrest area in just two day and last night this chaotic scene at the Ridgecrest Regional Hospital. Patients being wheeled out to the parking lot, some still hooked up to I.V.s, nurses having to tend to patients in complete darkness. The hospital closed after Thursday's quake and we're learning that it could remain closed for at least another week but outside they set up a triage center for emergencies.

[12:15:00]

And that's where we find CNN correspondent Stephanie Elam. So Stephanie tell us more about what people are experiencing there.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, I can tell you that we now know that the hospital has been restored with its power. That's the good news. However, because of that shaking, because of the intensity of that earthquake here and think about it, people have some serious medical concerns inside of the hospital; they wanted them out of here. They went ahead and evacuated those people out to hospitals, most likely west of here towards the Los Angeles area. They have set up some cots that are out here and tents out here in the parking lot. Right now there's nobody in them and they're really not planning on opening up.

They're partially open. If someone came in with an emergency, they would help them as best they could but would want to transfer them to a different hospital here. And you know, keep in mind, when an earthquake hits, you're supposed to drop, cover and hold on, right? That's what you're supposed to do but you can't necessarily do that if you're at the hospital so that's part of the reason they didn't want to take any chances here and they wanted to evacuate. The other issue is after a 7.1 earthquake, any of the aftershocks could be sizable in and of themselves and that could also be more danger.

You've heard about the people who have been staying outside because they were afraid to be inside of their homes because of what could fall, let alone if a wall were to fall or anything like that. These concerns are also part of the reasons why they're keeping people out of these buildings, especially if they're already in medical need. They want to make sure that they keep them safe, as we are still experiencing aftershocks here in the Ridgecrest area. Some of them you can't feel but some of them you do take note of for sure, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And you mentioned, Stephanie, power back on but then, you know, did they also have a chance to really inspect and see what kind of damage that hospital may have endured?

ELAM: That's what all of these precautions are about. Because with each earthquake a building could be compromised a little bit more. Think about if you had like a glass on a table and if you shook it and you shook it again and you shook it again and finally that third one might be the one that knocks that glass off the table. It's the same sort of idea. So because of that, they want to inspect all of these facilities and remember that this earthquake hit, the sun was up but on its way down at the time, so because of that they weren't able to really get a really good idea of what was happening until now when the sun is up. They're really taking a better look, making sure everything is safe, everything is OK before they open it up but right now they're saying it might not be until next week.

WHITFIELD: All right, Stephanie Elam thank you so much in Ridgecrest.

All right, experts are warning that an even more powerful quake could hit southern California in a matter of days. CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera joins us from the weather center. Ivan, 7.1 earthquake, I mean - that's -- that's pretty significant and people felt it hundreds of miles away.

IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Fred, no question about it. A major earthquake, we only get about 15 worldwide throughout the year. By the way, what you said already happened, right? The 6.4 was supposed to be the main quake. It was a very small percentage that we would get a stronger one than that and 34 hours after the 6.4, we get a major quake at 7.1, another shallow one as well.

Let's talk about also 36 north of that, 36 million people that felt ot. Of course as you get further away from the epicenter, the shaking is not as significant so you're looking at 20 million people that felt light shaking in L.A., but close to the epicenter about 30,000 felt severe and that severe category was not felt with the 6.4. Look at all the aftershocks that just continue. We're talking hundreds and hundreds and eventually thousands of aftershocks. Of course we're not all going to feel those. We're not going to feel the 3.0s but they're still going to be there.

This is the big question everyone is asking. This is what Fred was aluding to, the 7.1, could we get something that is higher? Could this be another foreshock? Well, that's a possibility. It's very low, though and I'll show you the percentage here. We're down to three. Yesterday we were at four. This morning, in fact we were at four. So the point is that this probability of getting something higher than a 7.1 will continue to go down. We're down to two tomorrow and the further away we get from that 7.1, the greater the chances that we are done, at least with the major part of the quakes. But we'll continue, as I mentioned with hundreds and eventually

thousands of the aftershocks of this 7.1 major earthquake which we haven't seen in California, of course, in 20 years. Now the smaller earthquakes or aftershocks, right, will continue to provide problems. We could have additional gas line breaks. We could have additional power outages. And look at the forecast here over the next few days. We're looking at temperatures in the upper 90s to low 100s. So on top of that, rescuers, folks that are trying to get their businesses or their homes back in shape, they're going to be doing it with sweltering heat over the next few days. By the way, Chad Myers takes over our coverage beginning the next hour. For now back to you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Ivan, thank you so much.

CABRERA: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, the fight over a census question takes another sharp turn in court. The White House has a new strategy following the U.S. Supreme Court weighing in. That next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:20:00]

WHITFIELD: The U.S. Justice Department lawyers have told a federal judge in Maryland that they are still looking for a way to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The judge allowed an immigrant rights group to move forward with their lawsuit against the Trump Administration and an administration official says right now the census will be printed without the controversial question, but the president says he is considering one option in particular for adding it back in.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to issue an executive order on the census?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're thinking about doing that. It's one of the ways. We have four or five ways we can do it. It's one of the ways that we're thinking about doing it very seriously. We're doing well on the census.

(END VIDEO)

WHITFIELD: Sarah Westwood is traveling with the president as he spends the weekend at his golf resort in New Jersey. So Sarah, you know after the citizenship census question was criticized by the U.S. Supreme Court, what is the president's argument for trying to revive this issue?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Fred, President Trump is arguing it's still necessary to include that question in the census to determine whether a person answering is a citizen or a noncitizen.

[12:25:00]

He's still fighting for this despite that ruling, that setback from the Supreme Court and even though the Commerce Department has said they're starting to print the census without that citizenship question included, sources tell CNN that behind the scenes, President Trump has expressed frustration with the way this case has been handled. Now critics say the inclusion of this question could lead of an undercount of minorities but President Trump, Fred, is arguing that it's necessary for districting and to determine the allocation of taxpayer dollars. Take a listen to what he had to say about this yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: You need it for many reasons. Number one, you need it for Congress. You need it for Congress for districting. You need it for appropriations. Where are the funds going? How many people are there? Are they citizens? Are they not citizens? You need it for many reasons.

(END VIDEO)

WESTWOOD: Now, Justice Department lawyers told a court yesterday that they're still exploring options for moving forward with the citizenship question. The Supreme Court told the administration they needed to find a new rationale for the citizenship question if they wanted to include it but they didn't rule out including it altogether. President Trump said he's considering four or five different options. One of them is that executive order. Of course, he created some confusion earlier this week when he said that he was not ready to give up the battle over the citizenship question after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had said that the commerce department was going ahead and printing those forms. But Fred, it's clear the Trump White House not giving up on this citizen question just yet.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sarah Westwood, thank you so much.

Coming up, former Vice President Joe Biden facing tough questions about his handling of race relations following his latest debate performance. CNN sat down with Biden for an exclusive interview. More on that right after this.

But first, from the first silent film to the current blockbusters of today, the history of American cinema is sometimes beautiful and occasionally controversial but always inspiring. Tomorrow night our brand new CNN original series, "The Movies" will delve into the stories behind the movies that you love.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

RON HOWARD, ACTOR AND DIRECTOR: There is still something about being told a story, a movie is something that's been really hand crafted; it's a mosaic that has been carefully pieced together. It just creates this opportunity to totally lose yourself.

MARTIN SCORSESE, DIRECTOR: These images live in our consciousness. It stays in our mind the way music is recalled in our heads. Those images replay and we live our lives by them.

JULIA ROBERTS, ACTRESS: It brings all the elements of all of our senses together. There's really nothing else like it.

JON FAVREAU, ACTOR: Even though you're doing something incredibly personal and in many ways incredibly selfish because you're doing something you love so much and it gets out there in the world and can change people's trajectories.

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: When you can go somewhere that you can pretty much guarantee you would be able to set your worries aside for that period of time, it's like a drug. It's like a drug.

HOLLY HUNTER, ACTRESS: It's just a direct conduit straight into your soul.

MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR: I grew up wanting to be the movies. It was all about the movies.

BAZ LUHRMANN, WRITER: Since the dawn of man, we like to get around a fireplace and commune in story together so we can feel for a few hours that we're human together.

(END VIDEO)

WHITFIELD: And be sure to tune in to "The Movies" that's premiering tomorrow night 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Breaking news out of Florida, we're hearing reports of an explosion in the town of Plantation. Polo Sandoval joining me now. Polo, looking at these images, it appears to be a portion of a strip mall there in Plantation, Florida.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here's what we know right now Fred. Authorities are saying apparently a gas explosion occurred there in that shopping complex here. This is just west of Fort Lauderdale in Plantation, Florida. This plaza here containing multiple businesses, restaurants, a grocery store. It certainly would be a concern here, especially on a Saturday afternoon here. When it comes to injuries, the Plantation fire department on their unverified Twitter account tweeting that there have been multiple patients reported at this location and as you see here an aerial view, courtesy of our affiliate WPLG shows some extensive damage which is certainly something that will be highly concerning here for authorities.

You're looking at a portion of what is an L.A. Fitness there. I was looking at sort of a street view look at the area here and, as we said, there are multiple locations there, including that gym. At this point authorities are simply asking that people stay away from the region. They have been working the scene now for close to an hour and a half or so, but it really is quite dramatic scenes right now and live scenes that we're seeing coming out of Plantation, Florida where again authorities there in that Florida community reporting an apparent gas explosion at a shopping center; this again in Plantation, Florida, just west of Fort Lauderdale, Fred. We're going to stay in touch with authorities as soon as we hear more about what is actually happening, of course, we're going to bring that information along to you.

WHITFIELD: So Polo, did I hear you correctly, you said working this for an hour and a half? Meaning authorities have been there on the scene for an hour and a half or is it being reported at all that authorities that this explosion happened an hour and a half ago?

SANDOVAL: The initial tweet, Fred, was posted about three hours ago by the Plantation fire department and in their own words a gas explosion that was reported on the 800 block of Southern University Drive and that's when they also said that there would be multiple patients, that there would be extensive closures there, mainly University Drive. So again, that is perhaps one way of telling exactly when this likely happened, but authorities have been there on the ground for quite some time and you can you tell this investigation will be quite extensive because the damage is very extensive itself.

WHITFIELD: Yes, this is very unsettling. Thank you so much. Polo Sandoval, we'll check back with you, allow for more reporting and of course we're pressing authorities in order to get some information as well. Appreciate it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:00]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. We're following breaking news out of Plantation, Florida. OfficialS there is confirming there was some sort of an explosion at a shopping center. We have not been told yet about details but our Polo Sandoval reporting earlier that officials say there are multiple injuries that they are tending to. We have CNN teams on the way. We'll update you as soon as we know more.

All right meantime, Former Vice President Joe Biden hoping to steady the ship following a shaky debate performance. In a new CNN poll, his once commanding lead over the democratic field has all but evaporated after the first debate. President Trump seeming to seize on the situation tweeting today that Biden is a quote, "reclamation project." But in a wide-ranging interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, Biden is defending his record on school desegregation and talks about his feud with Kamal Harris over race. Here's part of CNN's exclusive interview with the former vice president.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

CUOMO: I was talking with you and Jill, you said you were expecting to have a target on your back.

[12:40:00]

But the intensity of some of it, did you see the questions about your past positions from the perspective of race being as relevant as they are?

BIDEN: No. And I don't think they're relevant because they're taken out of context. What I didn't see is people who know me, I mean, they know me well. It's not just like somebody out of the blue and didn't know anything. But it's so easy to go back and go back 30 or 40, 50 years take a context and take it completely out of context. And I mean you know, I get all of this information about other people's past and what they've done and not done. You know, I'm just not going to go there. If we keep doing that, I mean, what we should debate what we do from here. For example, this whole thing about race and bussing, well I think if you take a look, our positions aren't any different as we're finding out.

CUOMO: Senator Harris who said she sees it as a tool, not a must in all circumstances.

BIDEN: Yes, well, look at my record.

CUOMO: I don't think busing is about policy, Mr. Vice President.

BIDEN: No, it's not.

CUOMO: I think it was about principle. When you look back at your record on it, you were not in favor of busing. It was a different time, there were different applications. Why not just own it and say I was against it but now I've changed.

BIDEN: I was in favor of busing that was de jure bussing, that is if a court ruled that there was a law passed there's circumstance that a county, a city, a state did that prevented black folks from being somewhere, then that's wrong; you should bus. I even went so far in the middle of that busing controversy by saying, I'd use helicopters if that was necessary to make the point and really got in a town meeting that got very hot. But what the issue is now is for example and it was then, voluntary bussing, we supported it. We supported it then and by the way, Barak and I as President and Vice President, we provided money for voluntary bussing if cities wanted to do it.

CUOMO: I'm not questioning any of that. I'm saying that when you look back in the '70s, you said, "I think busing doesn't work. It's an asinine concept." You tried to pass bills that weren't for it.

BIDEN: By the way, busing did not work. You had overwhelming response from the African-American community in my state. My state is the eighth largest black population in the country as a percent of population. They did not support it. They did not support it. Look, the question is how do you equalize education in every area? And I put forward the most aggressive plan to do that and I've been pushing it a long time. For example, Title 1 schools, schools of disadvantage, I proposed we go from $15 billion a year to $45 billion year. We should bring people in, and have preschool from 3, 4, 5, years old before kindergarten. We should have, look, every child out there - every child out there is capable but they live in circumstances that make it difficult. From the time they get to school, they've heard 3 or 4 million fewer words spoken; they're at a disadvantage.

CUOMO: I totally accept all of that.

BIDEN: That's number one, but number two, the idea right now is 65 out of 100 jobs in the study I did for the president point out you need something beyond a high school degree.

CUOMO: That's true.

BIDEN: So what are we doing? We're sitting around here as if it's an insolvable problem.

CUOMO: I get it on the policy. I never have viewed the bussing back and forth in that debate as about policy or application of how to affect civil rights. It's about consistency and proving if you'll be better than what we're dealing with now in the White House which is people won't tell the truth about things. If bussing didn't work, then it made sense that you weren't for it back then but why say you were for it? Why not just be straight about it and move on.

BIDEN: Because there's three different pieces. I was for voluntary busing, number one. I was for busing where the court showed that in fact a legislative body took an action preventing black folks from going to a school. That is de jure - I know you know - de jure segregation. The difficult piece is this is 50 years ago, people don't understand the contest.

The third one is do you have an administration through their nonelected officials, Department of Housing, decide every school should be equally balanced across the board? That's a different issue. And the way to deal with that problem is what I did from the time I was a kid. I got out of law school, came back, had a great job, and became a public defender. I fought for putting housing -- low income housing in suburbia. I talked about eliminating the red line. I talked about school districts should be consolidated in ways that made sense so in fact...

[08:45:00]

CUOMO: Why didn't you fight it like this in the debate?

BIDEN: In 30 seconds? Hey, come on.

CUOMO: What happens most in a debate, Mr. Vice President, people blow their time queue. You've the only person I've ever seen on a debate stage say, "I'm out of time."

BIDEN: Well, we never had a place where you have 30 seconds, man. What I didn't want to do is get in that scrum. Do you think the American public looked at that debate take me out of it. I thought, "Boy, I really - I really like the way that's being conducted. They're really showing themselves to do really well." Come on, man.

CUOMO: But they're going to come after you.

BIDEN: Sure they're going to come after me.

CUOMO: Were you prepared for them to come after you? BIDEN: I was prepared for them to come after me but I wasn't prepared

for the person coming at me the way she came at me.

[12:45:00]

She knew Beau, she knows me. I don't - anyway - I - but here's the deal and what I do know and it's the good and bad news. The American people think they know me and they know me. Since that occurred, I had the most sought-after endorsement for the mayor of Atlanta, a black woman, who is a great leader, Mayor Bottoms, endorse me. I've had numerous members of the Black Caucus endorse me.

CUOMO: Are you worried about the polls slipping with African- Americans after the debate?

BIDEN: No, no, these folks just came. I'm making the point to you, I don't see it. People know who I am. I don't believe there's anybody out there that believes that I have anything other than a keen and consistent interest in making sure every child -- these are all our children.

(END VIDEO)

WHITFIELD: Still to come, new shocking evidence painting a startling picture of Customs and Border Patrol, a second Facebook group where CBP officers allegedly post vulgar and explicit posts. What does this do to the credibility of the agency? More right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Another death at the border is bringing further scrutiny of migrant detention facilities. A 52-year-old man from Nicaragua is the 12th person from Central America to die in U.S. Customs and Border Patrol custody since September.

[12:50:00]

Democrats and activists have put the Trump Administration under pressure saying the facilities are overcrowded and unsanitary, but President Donald Trump says the facilities are being run, his word, "beautifully." Meanwhile, Facebook is stepping in and has removed content from secret groups apparently connected to Customs and Border Patrol agents that contain vulgar and sexually explicit picture and video. CNN's law enforcement analyst, Jonathan Wackrow is here to break this all down. Good to see you Jonathan.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: So what is the impact that these social media groups have on CBP operations now?

WACKROW: Well, it just actually shows the power of social media right now. CBP has over 60,000 employees who are dedicated to the mission. There's a small group of people, when you talk about the total numbers, the numbers are de minimis. It's a small group of people that have posted these derogatory statements online in a closed group on Facebook and it has, you know you had a ripple effect across the entire agency. So from an operational standpoint, there really is little impact today. It's more of a reputational impact.

Immigration activists are going to try to seize upon this as a moment to undermine the credibility of CBP at a time when they're already under scrutiny. That puts senior leadership in a very difficult position on how do you address this issue for people who may or may not be actual employees of the agency itself? How do you correct the narrative and make sure the mission of CBP is focused and that we don't have this reputational issue?

WHITFIELD: So then does disciplinary action become very complicated when you're talking about some contract - some employees? I mean how - how does the agency or an oversight zero on responsibility?

WACKROW: Well listen, they've already -- leadership from both the agency and the Department of Homeland Security are taking the appropriate steps to make attribution to see if there are current employees who are making those statements within the group. Then you move into a potential adverse action position where that speech online is not protected. It's not fully protected as free speech when you're a government employee. So there are ramifications for making bias- based and derogatory statements online. This will set a precedent moving forward on how these types of groups are addressed within law enforcement broadly and the CBP.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jonathan Wackrow, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

WACKROW: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We continue to follow this breaking news out of Plantation, Florida; the images are tremendous. Officials there confirming there was some kind of explosion at this shopping center. We have not been told about the extent of any injuries, but a twitter account from one of the authorities down there did say there were multiple injuries. We have CNN teams on the way. We'll update you as soon as we know more. Still to come, she's not even old enough to drive, but she's already taking the tennis world by storm. The improbable Wimbledon winning streak from 15-year-old Coco Gauff right after this.

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WHITFIELD: Checking our top stories, the Royal Family has just released these new images of Prince Harry and Megan Markle's son, Archie following his christening this morning. It was a very intimate service. With reportedly fewer than 25 friends and family in attendance. The royal couple thanked the public for their kindness in welcoming their first born and celebrating this moment; the identity of baby Archie's godparents still unknown. What a gorgeous picture there.

And 15-year-old sensation Coco Gauff is still winning the game and winning hearts. She made a remarkable comeback at Wimbledon and has her eye set on the prize. Here's CNN's Patrick Snell.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She's America's teen-age sensation and Coco Gauff is indeed still living the Wimbledon dream after a truly amazing comeback on Friday booking her spot in the last 16. Throughout this past week we've admired her infectious enthusiasm, her undeniable talent and her class both on and off the court. Now though it's time to admire another quality, her resilience and sheer will to win.

This would be an epic performance from the 15 year old but she struggled early on dropping the first set to her Slovenian opponent, Polona Hercog. Her body language at this point really giving little indication of the sensational fight back that was to come. Suddenly though her challenge sparked into life as she saved not one but two match points, win a set and 5-2 down and Coco who had actually been afforded center court billing no less, rising to the challenge and would level the match by winning a tiebreaker. The reaction at this point from both her and her devoted parents absolutely priceless. Bit, if Hercog was expecting her opponent to fold, forget it. Well done by friends and family who had gathered in Florida at a viewing party, the youngest player to qualify for Wimbledon in the open era certainly did not disappoint. Gauff showing nerves of steel and maturity way beyond her years to win the third 7-5. Joyous celebrations for a 15-year-old who now faces former world number one, Simona Halep, next. A 15-year- old who also it seems simply does not know the meaning of the word, defeat.

COCO GAUFF, TENNIS PLAYER: Even when I was down match point, the people in the crowd were behind me every step of the way and that's something I really appreciated during the match. I don't know, it's just crazy how like, I remember before I played Venus. As you know, when you walk to leave the practice courts, there are people waiting. One little kid asked me for a picture and then after the next day after I played Venus, everybody was screaming my name so it's pretty surreal how life changes in a matter of seconds.

SNELL: It is indeed. Still all to play for then for Coco Gauff at this year's Wimbledon as the story continues. Next up in action on Monday against Simona Halep. Patrick Snell, CNN, Atlanta.

WHITFIELD: Yes, that was quite the match, can't wait to see more. We've got so much more straight ahead in the newsroom and it all starts right now.

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