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New Day Sunday
Jeffrey Epstein Found Dead In Jail; At Least Five Walmart Stores Receive Threats This Week; Democratic Candidates Lay Out Plans To Reduce Gun Violence; Studio Pulls Movie About Americans Being Hunted For Sport By "Elites"; ICE Raids Leave Hundreds Without Income In Mississippi; Fifteen-Year-Old-Man Stops Norway Mosque Attack; Five Nuclear Scientists Dead After Blast At Military Site In Russia; More Than 560 People Arrested In Moscow Protests; Images Show North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un At Friday's Missile Test; Busier-Than-Normal 2019 Hurricane Season Expected; 30-Plus Killed, One Million Evacuated As Eastern China Floods; Glenn Stearns Says, I Want To Prove The American Dream Isn't Dead. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired August 11, 2019 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: High profile businessman and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein found dead of an apparent suicide in his Manhattan jail cell. Attorney General William Barr is reportedly livid and in a statement said Epstein's death raises serious questions. He also says he's working with the inspector general who is opening a separate investigation.
SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's such a shame, the justice system should have worked and those survivors should have had a chance at justice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: United States of hate, it's been one week since 31 people were killed in mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People say to me, did Donald Trump cause those folks to be killed? Well, no, of course he didn't pull the trigger, but he certainly been tweeting out the ammunition.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A climate of fear among on the nation's nearly 60 million Latinos.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's real now. People know that they're in danger just because of the color of their skin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning to you. We hope that Sunday treated you well so far. Though it's early, 6:00 a.m., I'm Christi Paul.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: It seems even earlier. PAUL: Now we wrangled this guy back.
SAVIDGE: Good morning to you. I'm Martin Savidge in for Victor Blackwell.
PAUL: Listen, we want to begin this morning with the demands now for answers following the apparent suicide of millionaire financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
SAVIDGE: Guards found Epstein unresponsive yesterday morning in a high security prison in New York. That's where he's been held since his arrest on charges he trafficked underage girls for sex.
PAUL: Now, the Justice Department is launching an investigation this morning. And Attorney General Barr says Epstein's death raises -- quote -- "serious questions." Polo Sandoval with us now.
So, Epstein had previously been on suicide watch. We know that much. Sources say he was not at the time of his death. Is there any answer this morning as to why that is?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not quite, at least not at this point here, Christi and Martin. That high security prison that you see behind me is right there. At this point when you take a closer look at the Bureau of Prisons guidelines it's important to really take note there because it states that any inmate that exhibits a significant potential for suicide must be placed in a suicide prevention room. So that certainly begs the question here, did prison authorities here feel that he was no longer a threat to himself or was there a potential violation of those policies?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL (voice-over): The millionaire financier turned convicted pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, had been held in Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center since his arrest in early July. He pleaded not guilty to federal charges after prosecutors accused him of sex trafficking dozens of underage girls some as young as 14. His request to await trial in his Upper East Side mansion was denied and he was ordered to stay at the federal facility.
Prison officials say Epstein was found dead in his cell early Saturday morning, shocking news for Epstein's accusers who have continued to speak out in the more than a month since his arrest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did Jeffrey Epstein rape you?
JENNIFER ARAOZ, JEFFREY EPSTEIN ACCUSER: Yes, no, he raped me.
SANDOVAL: Jennifer Araoz who told NBC in July that Epstein had raped her when she was a minor at his New York mansion tells CNN she was angry at news of his death.
"I am angry Jeffrey Epstein won't have to face his survivors of his abuse in court. We have to live with the scars of his actions for the rest of our lives, while he will never face the consequences of the crimes he committed."
An attorney for Epstein called for an investigation into Epstein's death and released a personal statement to CNN blaming politicians, prosecutors, judges, the press, plaintiffs, lawyers and jail workers for Epstein's death.
"All these actors appear to bear some responsibility for his calamity. All seem to have a share of Mr. Epstein's blood on their hands. All should be ashamed of their behavior."
Epstein's death comes less than 24 hours after thousands of pages of revealing documents were unsealed in a case from an Epstein accuser against one of his former associates. The 2015 defamation suit was filed by Virginia Giuffre who says she was underage when Epstein kept her as a sex slave for years, flying her around the world to have sex with powerful men, among the men she claims she was trafficked to have sexed with was Prince Andrew in 2001, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson denies her claims.
In response, the spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said, "This relates to proceeding in the United States to which the Duke of York is not a party. Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue."
After getting news of Epstein's death Giuffre's attorney tells CNN, "The reckoning of accountability begun by the voices of brave and truthful victims should not end with Jeffrey Epstein's cowardly and shameful suicide. We are hopeful that the government will continue to investigate and will focus on those who participated and facilitated Epstein's horrifying sex trafficking scheme that damaged so many."
[06:05:07]
This wasn't Epstein's first experience behind bars. He struck a controversial deal with Florida prosecutors to avoid federal charges in 2007 and the following year he pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges spending just 13 months in custody. He got work release privileges allowing him to go to his office 12 hours a day, six days a week.
Epstein's legal team argued the plea deal was the reason Epstein shouldn't be prosecuted in New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: There are two investigations into Epstein's death, one of them, of course; the FBI. The second one being the Department of Justice inspector general, Martin and Christi. So, clearly at this point, the list of questions continues to grow this morning.
SAVIDGE: Yes, those questions are only getting more and more. All right. Polo Sandoval, thanks very much for that.
PAUL: Now the 2020 Democratic candidates, presidential hopefuls, of course, saying that an investigation is absolutely necessary following this death. SAVIDGE: New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says his death raises significant concerns, while former Vice President Joe Biden says there must have been something missed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When prisons say, when they know someone is a suicide risk, they should be monitored very closely.
The man is gone. The Trump administration has not handled this well from the very beginning and -- but it's past. I have empathy for his family and all the victims.
GILLIBRAND: MCC is known to be one of the most high security prisons. It's where you put terrorists before a terror trial. And so for this to happen raises very significant concerns in my mind. So, I do think there needs to be a full investigation about how it happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: All right. Let's bring in retired FBI supervisory special agent and CNN Law Enforcement Analyst, James Gagliano.
Good morning to you, James. Thanks for joining us.
JAMES GAGLIANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, Martin. Good to be with you.
SAVIDGE: So, let me get your reaction. Are you as shocked as everyone else seems to be of the fact that Epstein was apparently able to commit suicide while inside of a federal lockup?
GAGLIANO: Yes. I'll tell you what, Martin, it's been just about 24 hours since Jeffrey Epstein was found unresponsive on his cell floor. And you can continue to color me shocked and stunned across 25 years in the FBI, I spent countless hours at the Metropolitan Correctional Center either dropping prisoners off, interviewing them, participating in proffers.
This is absolutely -- it defies credulity that an inmate as high profile as Jeffrey Epstein, who was put in what we call the special housing unit, meaning separated from the general population, and had just recently attempted to take his own life, the fact that this could have happened, it again boggles the mind, absolutely blows me away that this could possibly happen inside the Federal Bureau of Prisons' place like the MCC, Martin.
PAUL: OK. So, James, let me ask you this, how long is there a typical length of time where if somebody is on -- is under scrutiny for being suicidal that they would be taken off that extra protections list, I suppose, without that extra monitoring? Is there a time frame, or is there something that changes in them that would alert people that are monitoring him to say you know what, he's OK now?
GAGLIANO: Sure. So, Christi, they look at three things. And again, remember, this is the Federal Bureau of Prisons. So they have standard processes of protocols that go across all of their facilities.
Now, understand the MCC is not a prison where somebody goes to serve out a sentence. It's where you're held in pretrial confinement. So if somebody has expressed the fact they want to commit suicide, if there are warning signs that the Bureau of Prisons is able to detect a guard or prison official notice or if someone has tried to do it in the past, any of those three things triggers the fact that somebody would be put on suicide watch.
The fact that he was off of suicide watch, somebody had to make an assessment and say he was no longer a threat to himself. Obviously that's not what happened here.
SAVIDGE: So what is the next course of action? I mean, is there going -- we know there are going to be investigations. But what are the possible recriminations against anybody who works inside that facility?
GAGLIANO: Sure. And it's -- it's always unfair if we look at something without having all the facts. As you pointed out the top, Martin, inspector general and the FBI will run concurrent investigations into this.
Now, the MCC has been around since 1975. It houses about 800 prisoners. The fact that a high profile prisoner, someone separated from the prison population, put in the special housing unit and had recently tried to commit suicide, the fact that he was able to take his life in a cell that's typically eight or nine feet tall, meaning you couldn't hang yourself from the ceiling and the sheets that they provide for you in there are paper thin and can't support your weight, it just again defies credulity.
[06:10:05]
I'm hoping that the FBI and inspector general running concurrent investigations will find out what happened. And I think there will be a major overhaul of the system after this. People may get fired in the course but I think that there will be an overhaul of the system.
PAUL: I want to ask you about Attorney General Bill Barr. At one point he recused himself from the probe of the non-prosecution agreement with -- that Epstein reached with former labor secretary Alex Acosta when Acosta, of course, was U.S. attorney. He did not recuse himself from these new sex trafficking charges but Barr worked for a law firm that Epstein once was hired -- that he hired and their families have connections that apparently go back decades.
Should Attorney General Bill Barr recuse himself from this? Do you see a conflict?
GAGLIANO: You know, I do. I have to caveat it like this. He certainly knows whether or not he should be weighing in on this.
And the reason why a jurist or a prosecutor would recuse themselves is they don't want to give the impression of impropriety, meaning a conflict of interest. I think it would be right thing to do. He has got career officials at the deputy levels and at the senior level positions of the Department of Justice, somebody else could oversee this. Again, just so that the appearance of impropriety is not questioned or contested.
PAUL: All right. James Gagliano, we always appreciate your insight. Thank you for being with us.
SAVIDGE: Thanks, James.
GAGLIANO: Thanks, guys.
PAUL: Absolutely.
Also this morning, law enforcement agencies say, you know what, some Walmart stores are seeing a spike in threats after the two deadly mass shootings we've seen. We'll tell you what we know.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: People say to me, did Donald Trump cause those folks to be killed? Well, no, of course he didn't pull the trigger. But he certainly been tweeting out the ammunition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Senator Kamala Harris takes on President Trump and gun control. Are her competitors matching her tone when it comes to getting something done on reducing gun violence?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:15:47]
SAVIDGE: At least five Walmart stores across the country have received threats in the past week. Richard Clayton was arrested for allegedly warning people on Facebook to stay away from a Walmart near Orlando because he was about to get out of probation and he was going to get his AR-15 back.
A 13-year-old boy in South Texas facing terrorism charges after his social media post caused a local Walmart to be evacuated. And Kansas City police are looking into various threats posted on Reddit and other online sites.
PAUL: Now a spokesperson for Walmart says the company takes all threats seriously and is focused on security at all of its stores. It was just last week, remember, 22 people were killed at a Walmart in El Paso.
And we're less than six months away from the Iowa caucuses. Democratic candidates for president are focusing attention on finding supporters, of course, in big ways.
SAVIDGE: Yes, they are. In addition to the usual stops, say the state fair, they spoke at a gun safety forum in Des Moines. CNN Political Reporter, Arlette Saenz was there. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Sixteen of the 24 Democratic presidential candidates came to this gun sense forum here in Des Moines, Iowa, to try to lay out their vision for how to combat the issue of gun violence in this country.
Senator Elizabeth Warren laid out a new policy proposal that aims to reduce the number of gun deaths in this country by 80 percent.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was also on stage, talking about the impact of the movement from gun violence survivors and those families who have lost loved ones to gun violence. Take a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: What I'm going to do as -- if I am your president, if you choose me to be your president, is take what you have turned from a cause into a movement.
Things have changed. They have changed fundamentally because we're not only any longer talking about the major things that have to be done relating to dealing with gun violence in America. We have to start to educate the American public. That's what you're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now over the course of the past week you also heard them criticize President Trump, saying that his message has divided the countries. Take a listen to what Senator Kamala Harris had to say at the gun sense forum.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: People say to me did Donald Trump cause those folks to be killed? Well, no, of course, he didn't pull the trigger but he has certainly been tweeting out the ammunition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now while there was a lot of talk about policy, there were also some very emotional moments. The most emotional probably coming from California business man Andrew Yang, who was asked a question from a woman, whose young child was killed by a stray bullet. Take a listen to Andrew Yang's reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW YANG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a six and three-year- old boy. Imagining -- I was imagining it was one of them that got shot and the other saw it. That scene that you described -- I'm sorry. It's very, very affecting.
You're right that when there's a gun in the household, you're more likely to have a child get shot or the owner get shot than to kill let say an intruder into the house. Those are just numbers. Those are just the fact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: That being one of the more emotional moments of this forum but you're hearing more and more on the campaign trail. These Democratic candidates talking about this issue of gun control in the wake of those mass shootings last week.
Arlette Saenz, CNN, Des Moines, Iowa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: While the Democratic candidates appear to agree that they need to work against Republicans in Congress to get anything done on gun control. There are questions about how Democrats in Congress are handling the debate. Are they doing enough to show their constituents that they can get something done?
Daniel Strauss, politician reporter for "Politico" with us now. Daniel, so good to have you with us. We heard what Kamala Harris said just a moment ago. She said something else as well that I want to play for you about using executive actions to pass meaningful gun reform and what she would do. Let's listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I mean, most recently even what we witnessed in El Paso, and people are asking me, you know, well, what's going on? I mean, listen, what's going on is that coupled with the fact that we have not had reasonable gun safety laws and I'm prepared to put it in place.
[06:20:02]
I am prepared when elected to give the United States Congress 100 days to pull their act together on this and put a bill on my desk for signature and if they do not, I will take executive action. I will put in place a comprehensive background check requirement. I will require the ATF to take the licenses of dealers who violate the law. And I will put in place by executive action a ban on the importation on assault weapons into our countries because we need action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Now, Daniel, we have a president right now who has used it, who has threatened to use executive action on many different levels, many different topics. Does this bode well for her?
DANIEL STRAUSS, POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes. I mean, look, this is something that the president and Democrats are roughly in agreement on for once. And that's some kind of action, possibly background checks, possibly red flag laws on gun control.
It's unusual, though, for a Democratic presidential candidate in this cycle to talk about executive action so forcefully. But this is also an acknowledgment that the Senate will probably remain in Republican control and that if Democrat is elected president they won't have an easy time moving legislation through Congress, especially something like a comprehensive background check bill that the NRA is opposed to.
PAUL: Jay Inslee highlights something that a lot of candidates are considering, too, which is eliminating the filibuster. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot allow a rule in the United States Senate that if we have 59 votes for gun safety legislation allows Mitch McConnell to say, my bosses at the NRA aren't really down with that, so I'm not going to do it.
We have to eliminate the filibuster in our democracy so that we can make -- so that we can make positive change in this country. And so far almost all of the senators, except Senator Warren, want to retain this filibuster. I just disagree with them on this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: OK. So he got a little bit of support there when he said it, but there are four candidates now who say that they would eliminate the filibuster, 12 who say they're open to considering that. It's former Vice President Biden who says -- quote -- "ending the filibuster is a very dangerous move."
Explain to us the risks of all of this.
STRAUSS: I mean, the argument here is that Republicans can use that to their advantage. If you're a Democrat and you eliminate the filibuster, maybe you have the luxury of moving legislation that you want and that your party supports quickly, but the opposite could also happen as well. It could be easier for Republicans to move legislation that Democrats really don't like through Congress and into law.
PAUL: So there are a lot of people sitting here thinking what does -- what do the Democrats do then to try to breakthrough a filibuster and get something done on gun control?
STRAUSS: I mean, look, right now there aren't that many options. The only hope that Democrats have right now is that enough pressure from what seems like an endless number of mass shootings at this point will encourage Republicans or at least enough Republicans to finally come to the table and move toward some kind of bill.
Look, we're starting to see that right now. There is -- I haven't seen a discussion like this over doing something as -- taking as seriously as what's going on right now. That Republicans are really interested in pushing red flag laws. That's something new. And that's what we haven't seen in the aftermath of previous shootings. But it's still -- we're still a long way off from seeing new gun legislation come -- move into law.
PAUL: Right. But definitely seeing some movement that we haven't seen before. Very good to point out. Daniel Strauss, so good to have you here. Thank you, sir.
STRAUSS: Thanks.
SAVIDGE: Well, a week after those two deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, Universal Pictures has now scrapped the release of a controversial movie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Haunting human beings for sport.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are not human beings.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: That is a satirical R-rated thriller called "The Hunt." And it was set for release next month. It is about 12 strangers who wake up in a clearing to find that they're in a bloody fight to death with so called elites hunting them for sport.
Universal hasn't specifically said why the movie was axed saying only this -- quote -- "We understand that now is not the right time to release the film."
PAUL: Just ahead, there is outrage and anger spilling into the streets of New York this weekend regarding those massive deportation raids at food factories. We're talking about what the Trump administration is asking ICE field officers to do this week.
SAVIDGE: Plus a blast in a military test site in Russia killed five nuclear scientists and caused radiation levels to spike.
[06:25:01]
Now local authorities are trying to reassure the public that the area is safe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: White House is instructing officials to conduct more workplace immigration raids in coming weeks. ICE field agents across the country are being told to identify at least two locations as potential targets for workplace enforcement operations.
PAUL: Now, the directive comes after 680 people were detained at seven meat processing plants in Mississippi. But like many small towns in America these factories, they're the economic epicenter for these communities with so many now unemployed, the entire region is feeling the effects. CNN Nick Valencia has this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 680 undocumented immigrants detained on the outskirts of Jackson, Mississippi, all workers from food processing plants in what the U.S. attorney here called the largest single state operation in ICE history.
MIKE HURST, U.S. ATTORNEY: Now while we are a nation of immigrant, more than that, we are, first and foremost, a nation of laws.
VALENCIA: An ICE spokesman told CNN the raids were part of a broader federal criminal investigation into these companies.
And probable cause affidavits obtained by CNN showed the U.S. Department of Justice looking for things like identity fraud and whether owners of the raided plants followed protocol to ensure they were not hiring undocumented labor.
[06:30:01]
(CRYING)
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: My dad didn't do nothing. He's not a criminal.
VALENCIA: Caught in the middle, hundreds of children separated from their parents. Some of the adults were taken first to a National Guard hangar, others sent to ICE facilities in neighboring states.
The administration tells CNN that all children have been either reunited with their parents or family members. One family that we spoke to here says a three-year-old who is currently with family members has not been able to get in touch with her mother. They believe that she's currently being held at an ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana.
It's unclear just how many of the immigrants were parents. Local estimate up to half, but ICE could not corroborate. An ICE official did say that almost half of those detained were released, most with pending court dates.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governments, please put your heart. Let my parents be free and everybody else, please. Don't leave the child with cryingness and everything.
VALENCIA: Towns like Morton, Mississippi, the side of one of the raids, are now ghost towns. Residents tell CNN local Latino-owned businesses are closing early while others are afraid to go outside all together. Some residents saying it feels like a funeral.
What's it feel like knowing somebody that you love, your aunt, was detained, was caught in these raids?
SHEYLA CANTUMAZA, SAYS AUNT DETAINED IN ICE RAIDS: I don't want to say it's hate, but it's really -- yes, there's not a way to understand it. I feel like you have to experience it to know.
VALENCIA: The anxiety so pervasive that more than a quarter of Latino students in a local district didn't show up for school on Thursday, the day after the raids. And on Friday, the entire school district went on lockdown after it received what it described as suspicious phone calls causing more fear in a community that's already shaken. And that fear may soon become a reality if the White House gets its way. According to a senior immigration official, the Trump administration has directed more of this workplace-type enforcement this year asking local ICE field officers to identify potential targets in their regions.
Nick Valencia, CNN, Jackson, Mississippi.
PAUL: I want to show you what was happening this weekend in New York, as there was public outrage over these immigration raids. Police there say they arrested 100 people at a protest outside a building that supplies officer space for ICE agents.
SAVIDGE: Dozens of people blocked an intersection stopping traffic in both directions. Those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct.
Radiation levels jumped after an explosion at a military testing site in Northern Russia that official insist there are dangerous substances got into the air. We'll go live to Moscow just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:35:00]
PAUL: Well, a 75-year-old man in Norway is being called a hero after police say he held down a gunman who opened fire at an Oslo mosque. A Norwegian man in his 20s broke through the mosque's locked glass yesterday, started shooting and that's when the worshipper was able to grab him in a choke hold and hold him down until police arrived. Two people were hurt in that shooting.
SAVIDGE: Multiple weapons were found inside the mosque, and police later found a woman's body in the suspect's home. Officials say the woman was related to the shooter.
PAUL: So listen to this. Five nuclear scientists were killed in an explosion at a military testing site in Northern Russia this week.
SAVIDGE: But there're been some mixed messages from authorities if any radiation or other dangerous substances were released in that blast.
For more on that, our Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen joins us now from Moscow. Good morning, Fred. It's always disturbing to hear about the potential for radiation and an accident coming from that part of the world.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly, Martin. And one of the things that we're seeing is that right now, the messaging coming out of the Russian state is really reminiscent, more of a Soviet Union than of anything else.
It was quite interesting because they announced on Thursday that there had been an explosion at this testing range on a vessel, apparently an explosion when they were testing some sort of cruise missile engine. But then things really went out of control as far as the messaging is concerned.
At first, the authorities saying there was no radiation released, then the local authorities saying that there was a brief spike in radiation, which then went away. That statement, however, then was deleted. And then the Russian Defense Ministry once again said that there was no spike in radiation that took place. And now, we have this information coming from Russian state news agencies that apparently five workers for Russian state-run nuclear energy company, Rosatom, were actually killed in that incident.
Now, I want to read for you a statement from this company because I think it's quite interesting to hear. They say, quote, the tragedy occurred during works related to the engineering and technical support of isotopic sources in a liquid propulsion system.
Now, of course, it's unclear why radioactive isotopic sources would be needed for liquid rocket or jet engine or cruise missile engine to fuel. The Russians again not really forthcoming with information as to what exactly took place, what kind of testing took place.
However, one of the things, Martin, that has a lot of folks internationally asking questions is the fact that Vladimir Putin came out in fairly early 2018 and announced that the Russians would be developing nuclear powered cruise missiles, not only nuclear-tipped but also nuclear-propelled. He said that they could fly unlimited amount of time and evade American missile defense systems. Again, totally unclear whether or not that was something that they were testing at that point.
Of course, one of the reasons why many people are asking questions is the fact that, right now, the information coming out of Russian authorities really very much unclear, Martin.
SAVIDGE: Well, it certainly makes sense when you explain it that way. Does it appear the situation is under control now?
PLEITGEN: Well, the Russians are saying that it's under control. One of the things that we've been hearing though apparently that larger area, which is (INAUDIBLE) Arkhangelsk region, right in the Russian Arctic, it's a place that actually has a lot of Russian military shipyards, Russian military testing facilities out there.
Apparently, the sea space there has been banned or closed off for an indefinite period of time. Some people are saying up to a month. So that certainly could indicate that there might be some sort of larger or more complicated cleanup going on there.
But, really, unclear exactly what occurred, what sort of testing was going on there and what sort of materials may have been released that now would need to be cleaned up, Martin.
PAUL: All right.
[06:40:00]
Fred Pleitgen, we appreciate the report. Thank you, sir. SAVIDGE: Thank you, Fred.
Tens of thousands of people hit the streets of Moscow Saturday to demand free and fair local elections. Take a look at this.
A monitoring group says more than 560 people were arrested out of some 50,000 people rallying in the Russian capital. It is the fifth straight weekend for the protests.
PAUL: Demonstrators are demanding independent candidates in Moscow elections. All of them are also fed up with corruption and the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is now 20 years into that job.
And North Korea says its leader, Kim Jong-un, was at Friday's short- range missile tests. And we'll show you some of these images that were just released yesterday showing the leader watching a launch from a distance.
SAVIDGE: This comes just days after President Trump said he received a beautiful letter from Kim Jong-un and that he's looking forward to another meeting with him. The president also said that he's not concerned about North Korea's small-range missile tests.
PAUL: Well, some new statistics about the 2019 hurricane season apparently may turn out to be a busier year than initially expected. We'll tell you what's going on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:45:00]
SAVIDGE: As a person who has covered a hurricane or two or 20, we know that August is usually Peak season for the hurricane season. And experts say, yes, this year a busier than normal year in the Atlantic is still to come.
PAUL: Yes. NOAA official forecast calls for between 10 to 17 named storms now, five to nine of those expected to escalate to hurricanes.
Why the change? CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar, help us understand what's happening here.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, right. So I do want to emphasize that it's not like these numbers grew exponentially from their original forecast. In some categories, they really went up in magnitude only by about one number. So it's not huge. But we all know all it sometimes takes is one land-falling storm to have an impact.
So, yes, right now, 10 to 17 storms is what they are forecasting. Their previous forecast back in May was only about 9 to 15. So you're just seeing that slight uptick. Here is the reason why, El Nino.
Now, during a normal pattern, your jet stream rides basically along the northern tier of the United States. But in an El Nino pattern, that shifts further to the south. This is important because it increases wind shear across portions of the Caribbean and the Atlantic. What this means is any storms that could, say, come off the coast of Africa or try to develop in this region can no longer do it. They cannot intensify in those types of conditions.
So, typically, when we have an El Nino year, this means fewer tropical system in the Atlantic. Good news. Everybody likes to hear this. The problem is El Nino has finally ended. So now that that is no longer here, now we can actually expect more, because this is typically where we see development in the month of August. And, notice, it's very similar to where El Nino would have actually helped had El Nino stuck around. But now that El Nino has finally ended, we no longer have that assist in helping to hinder storm development.
So far this year, we've only had two named storms, Andrea and Barry. The next name on the list would be Chantal. So what is in store for the rest of the season?
Here is the thing. We've only had two storms but you have to keep in mind that the season really is just starting to get going. In fact, peak of the season technically is not until September 10th, really, the month of, say, about August 15th to September 15th really becomes the peak month, Martin and Christi.
So, again, I do want to emphasize to folks that we may have only had two storms as of now but that may have been El Nino helping. And now that we're really starting to enter really the peak season, this is when most folks need to be on guard.
SAVIDGE: Only two storms so far. You're not going to hear any complaints from me.
PAUL: No, until we get them out there.
SAVIDGE: Thanks, Allison. I appreciate it.
PAUL: At least 32 people are dead, more than a dozen are missing, as a typhoon hits Eastern China. Officials are blaming most of the deaths on a landslide that caused a lake barrier to burst and people were just washed away in it. So many images are coming in.
Take a look at these. The rushing water, the damage that officials say is going to cost billions.
SAVIDGE: China state media says that more than 5 million people are affected by this flooding and more than 1 million were forced to evacuate their homes.
PAUL: Listen, he has one of the most inspiring self-made success stories. Billionaire Glenn Stearns though just gave up a life of luxury to see. Can he do it all again from scratch? Don't miss my interview with the Undercover Billionaire.
SAVIDGE: And the new CNN original series, The Movies, will continue tonight with the 1960s. Hear from the actors, directors and people who brought you your favorite -- who brought you your favorite scenes to life. The Movies, it airs tonight at 9:00 only here on CNN.
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(06:50:00)
PAUL: Listen, if you ever felt hopeless about where you are in life and where you're going, one, I get to, and, two, there's a man who can give you not just hope but insight into how he pulled himself up from a struggling working class family with all the cards stacked against him really to a billionaire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLENN STEARNS, STAR OF UNDERCOVER BILLIONAIRE: That's right. I mean, you know, my dad was a printer. My mom was a grocery-checker and cleaned homes. You know, we went to salvation army and bought our things. You know, they struggled with alcohol. I failed fourth grade. I was dyslexic. And, shoot, I had a child at 14, right, in eighth grade.
So I didn't have probably the normal upbringing. I definitely didn't have a silver spoon. You know, if anything, it was, you know, a wooden spoon that was quite beaten over my butt a few times, but that's about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Well, now, he's starring in Undercover Billionaire to show you how it can be done.
And I talked to Glenn, Glenn Stearns there, asked him how he started shifting his mind from I can't to I will.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEARNS: There was a couple times where these people just said I believe in you, Glenn, and it planted a seed. And I didn't realize it but later I ended up calling those type of people mentors, the first to go to college in my family.
And as I did, I began to find people that were looked at in the community as, you know, pillars or people that everyone looked up to. And I said, I want to go to lunch with you. I want to sit down with you and talk. And you would be amazed at how many people that are a little older would love to sit down with a young person and tell them about their lives and whatnot to do, what to do.
I want to build something that people believed in.
And as that Started to happen, I realized, wow, people are putting their careers in a company that I built. And then you have the sense of pride and also sense of responsibility. And as that grows, then, for me, I then began to have loftier goals, which were I want to do something that is going to help others.
Everything you do should be with integrity. It's surrounding yourself then with the balcony people, people that lift you up, not the basement people, right, the people pulling you down.
And then build a team around you of good people. I mean, friends or colleagues that are positive people because when you're -- I think when you're going through your life, you know, you begin to reflect off of your friend.
[06:55:05]
And if they're not very good friends, right, you're going to end up being in a negative place.
A lot of people are saying in this country, you can't -- the American dream is dead. You can't do, you know, what you used to be able to do. And that was the exact reason for the show, really, was I wanted to prove to myself that the American dream was alive and well. I wanted people, my friends, my family to see that if they want to try to risk something, that there are great ways to do that in this country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: So I asked him, what is the take away here? What does he hope we can all really get out of this show?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEARNS: You know, I hope that people will take a chance in life. You know, I'm 55. I had a bout of cancer. And it kind of was an eye opener for me. Luckily it's gone, but, you know, I had this kind of coin toss of a will I make it or not?
And that taught me, you know, I don't want my friends, my family to see me go out without swinging for the fences, without trying things that, you know, are scary. When I think back again in my life when I had a child at 14, I thought it was the worst thing in the world. It becomes the best thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: And that is Undercover Billionaire on Discovery and it is quite a story.
SAVIDGE: Yes.
PAUL: It's really impressive. Wait until you see what happens because there are people who win at the end of this.
SAVIDGE: Yes. You have life-changing ability when you have that money, and especially if you do good with it. Great, great to hear.
PAUL: Absolutely. Thank you so much for starting your morning with us.
SAVIDGE: We've got much more ahead in the next hour of New Day, which starts right after the break.
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[07:00:00]
