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New Day Saturday

Massive Heat Expected To Bake Much Of The U.S. This Weekend; House Passes Bill To Codify Same-Sex Marriage; Russian Missile Strikes Hit Odessa Port Barely 24 Hours After Deal With Ukraine To Ease Shipments; DHS Has Launched Criminal Probe Into Missing Text Messages; U.S. Secret Service Scrutinizing Phones Of 10 Agents; Biden Working In Isolation At WH After Contracting COVID-19; Uvalde Parents Demand Removal Of School Officers, District Leaders. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired July 23, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:27]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and welcome to your NEW DAY. I'm Alex Marquardt.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Amara Walker. Secret Service investigators are scrutinizing the phones of 10 agents who exchanged text messages around the date of the insurrection. While we are learning about those messages, and where the investigation into why they weren't saved. Those from here.

MARQUARDT: And the White House says, the President Joe Biden's COVID symptoms have improved but he is taking additional medication to help fight off the virus latest. The latest on his condition and the questions over why we haven't heard directly from the President's doctor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But we're going to start at the top and clean house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Parents at the Uvalde school shooting victims are vowing change, following the release of that report into the massacre and their demands and what we're learning about the state of the district's police chief.

MARQUARDT: And Mother Nature is cranking up the heat, where we could see dozens of heat records when things might start to cool down.

Is Saturday, July 23, thank you so much for waking up with us. Great to be back with you, Amara.

WALKER: Great to be with you, Alex. We got a lot of news to get to. We begin this morning with the fallout from the latest January 6 committee hearing. MARQUARDT: Yes, right on Thursday night, the panel gave a minute-by- minute account of then President Donald Trump's refusal to call off the attack on the Capitol on January 6.

Now, former White House aides who are lifelong Republicans, they outlined how for 187 minutes, then President Trump watched televised coverage of the carnage on Capitol Hill while refusing pleas from everyone around him to call an end to the violence. Now, we saw and heard new disturbing video and audio that showed the danger that was faced by Vice President Mike Pence and his security detail as they tried to get him to safety. A witness testified that Pence's detail was so concerned, they made calls to their loved ones.

WALKER: The committee played outtakes showing Trump struggling with videotaped remarks about the riot the next day. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And to those who broke the law, you will pay, you do not represent our movement. You do not represent our country. And if you broke the law, you can't say that I'm not going to -- I already said, you will pay. But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results. I don't want to say the election is over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: That was just one of several outtakes the committee showed, the hearing ending with a direct message from the panel's Vice Chair Liz Cheney to voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): President who is willing to make the choices Donald Trump made during the violence of January 6 ever be trusted with any position of authority in our great nation again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: When the January 6 committee resumes its hearings in September some key evidence will be missing, text messages from Secret Service agents at the time of the insurrection. CNN's Whitney Wild has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Trump was sitting in the White House for more than three hours, watching TV as the deadly attack on the Capitol unfolded.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you aware of any phone call by the President of the United States to the Secretary of Defense that day?

PAT CIPOLLONE, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Not that I'm aware of, no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you aware of any phone call by the President of the United States to the Attorney General of the United States that day?

CIPOLLONE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you aware of any phone call by the President of the United States, the Secretary of Homeland Security that day?

CIPOLLONE: I'm not aware of that, no.

RAJU: Trump rejecting pleas from members of Congress his aid and his family members to tell the mob of his supporters to go home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Pence came, we're going to drag (bleep) to the streets.

RAJU: Instead, inflaming tensions, including with a tweet attacking Vice President Mike Pence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tweet look to me like the opposite of what we really needed at that moment, which was a de-escalation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was essentially him giving the green light to these people.

RAJU: Trump was on the phone with his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who in turn was pushing senators to slow down the certification of Joe Biden's victory in a last-ditch attempt to stay in power. As Trump went to the residence that night, he did not expressed concerns about the attack, instead --

[06:05:03]

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): He only, "Mike Pence" let me down.

RAJU: But the Committee revealing that Trump's actions endanger Pence's life. Radio communications from the V.P. Secret Service detail showing the chaos with rioters just feet away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hold. Hold, they've entered the building. Hold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harden that door up. If we're moving, we need to move now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Copy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we lose any more time, we may have, we may lose that ability to leave. So, if we're going to leave, we need to do it now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They've gained access to the second floor. And I've got public about five feet from me down here below.

RAJU: And this testimony from a White House security official whose identity was kept anonymous for his own safety.

WHITE HOUSE SECURITY OFFICIAL: The numbers of the VP detail at this time were starting to fear for their own lives, but there were calls to say goodbye to family members, so on and so forth.

RAJU: Even the day after the attack, outtakes of Trump's speech show he refused to say the election was over.

TRUMP: But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results. I don't want to say the election is over. I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election is over. OK.

RAJU: The Committee plans witness interviews behind closed doors in August, and then more public hearings in September. Some members believe they have laid out a criminal case against the former president.

KINZINGER: I think the President certainly has criminal exposure.

RAJU: Now, one of the things that committee will try to figure out during August is what is the story behind those missing texts from January 5, and January 6 of 2021. Now, the Secret Service contends there was some sort of bone migration that led to the loss of some of these texts, but the committee is says they are determined to figure out the true story behind it. Jamie Raskin, a member of that committee, told me that they're going to fill in a whole bunch of leads over August, gaps in the storyline and as well as those texts, and he said, "we're going to figure out this whole mystery with the Secret Service text. Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: All right, our thanks to CNN's Manu Raju for that report.

Now, CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem joins us now to dive in deeper, she is a former Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. Juliette, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning.

MARQUARDT: Now, we have been talking so much about the Secret Service throughout the course of this investigation, the hearings, there was Cassidy Hutchinson, the young White House aide talking about how President Trump had tried to force a Secret Service detail to take him to Capitol Hill. Now, we know that text messages were deleted from Secret Service phones, and that there's metadata showing that on 10 devices, that messages were sent. Now, the Secret Service had been told to hold on to these messages, but then they were erased. This is not a good look for this agency. So what questions do you have in all of this?

KAYYEM: Yeah, that's an understatement. Not a good look. I mean, they've been trying to come up with various stories over the last two weeks about how this was just a natural upgrade. And people didn't -- just deleted all of their texts. That's clearly not true. The Secret Service has a problem and -- which is that a certain number of their agents felt authorized to delete or weren't worried about deleting a lot of text with the -- with the relevant date. So as you said, metadata is going to tell us a lot. It's going to tell us who was texting whom and at what times, it may not tell us the content. And there may be other means to get content. We're not quite sure what the Secret Service said, when it said that, you know, things are scrubbed. But overall, that agency needs new leadership, probably outside leadership to ensure that this review and this investigation is given the seriousness that it needs because all we've been hearing from the Secret Service for the last two weeks has basically fallen apart. I mean, you know, from them saying that Hutchinson was wrong and they're going to come out and tell the truth about what actually happened to, of course, the text that they deleted.

MARQUARDT: We just heard some of that -- the new sound that the committee played there in Manu Raju's piece around the discussion over whether to get -- how to get Vice President Mike Pence out of there. We now know from a White House security official that some of these agents were calling home to loved ones. So how much more did -- what we learned about that episode with Vice President Pence? How much more did we learn on Thursday night about how bad it was?

KAYYEM: Yeah, so Thursday night was interesting, because I think it just confirmed and it was more detailed than a lot of things that we had heard before. I don't know if there was sort of a eureka moment that, you know, Trump's outtakes sort of, you know, prove the point that he was a sore loser but a loser, nonetheless. And then the Secret Service tapes.

[06:10:02]

what I found out in the tapes and the and what you heard orally was just the amount of fear or concern. I don't think we had quite heard that, that the extent to which how

close Vice President Pence was, how worried his security detail was. And in this way, I thought, Thursday's hearing was really effective in bringing back the fear and the violence that was at the core of Trump's strategy to retain the White House.

I know there's a lot of things going on with this investigation and what he was trying to do, but a piece of it was to create and to nurture enough violence so that the certification would be delayed, and all Trump needed was enough confusion to then bring the lawsuits and sort of unleash what he viewed as a legal strategy, even though everyone was telling him it was not. So I thought that was a really important take.

I have a lot of criticisms for the Secret Service right now. But Trump put them in an untenable position. His mob was trying to attack the Vice President of the United States. It's impossible. It's an impossible position for the Secret Service to be in.

MARQUARDT: There was another incredible piece of audio that we heard from General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was -- it was essentially dripping in disbelief over the fact that President Trump made no calls himself to the Department of Defense. Instead, the Pentagon, then Acting Secretary Chris Miller was in touch with the Vice President, it was a Vice President who was saying, you guys have to get up here. The Vice President, we should remind our viewers is not in the chain of command. So was this a moment when everything essentially was thrown out the window because everything was going so badly and was so dangerous?

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. I'm so glad you brought that up, because I think we might forget it just given an all the drama of what we heard. But basically, the military decided to break that the constitutional chain of command because Trump is unresponsive. He's not calling, he's not giving them any orders. So Miller and Milley, go to the Vice President. And as you noted, our constitutional chain of command is directly to the President as it should be in all military affairs.

So when people ask, why wasn't the military engaged? Why wasn't the National Guard engaged, as you well know, Alex, like they don't self- deploy, they need orders. They need a strategy. They don't just go out there because they see something on TV, and that's what they were looking for. It was leadership, which Trump, of course, was unable to give because he was in, you know, for one of the better psychological word, you know, like a crazy state of mind in trying to undermine the election.

MARQUARDT: More extraordinary revelations from the January 6 committee. Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much for joining us this morning. I really appreciate it.

KAYYEM: OK, no problem. I'll see you later.

MARQUARDT: Take care.

WALKER: All right, turning now to the Coronavirus pandemic and the White House is urging Americans who haven't already to go get a COVID- 19 booster shot as cases continue to surge nationwide.

In just the last two weeks, the number of people living in a county with a high COVID community level has nearly doubled to 60%, a lot of red on that map, which means that there's high transmission. Now, cases are highest and rising fastest in the south with the Midwest and Northeast also seeing an uptick in infections. But when you look at the pace of vaccinations, less than a third of the population has received a booster shot.

And we're also following President Biden's condition this morning after testing positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. The White House posted this photo on Friday of Biden working in isolation. The President's physician says he is improving but taking additional medications.

Let's go now to CNN's Jasmine Wright live outside the White House this morning. Good morning to you Jasmine, what's latest on President Biden's condition and what medications is he taking?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Amara, we are waiting for an update from the White House on the President's condition. He will wake up this morning on day two of at least day five, at least five days of his isolation period here at the White House. Now, yesterday we received an update about 11 a.m. from his personal physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor. And he described his condition really providing us some more insights. He said that he was improving, his symptoms were improving but also, he relayed some additional medication that the President had been prescribed to deal with some of his symptoms.

Now first, Dr. Kevin O'Connor said, the President was prescribed Albuterol. Now, the White House said later on that he had used it several times since testing positive. That it's not a regular medication, the Albuterol inhaler that the President uses that he had an asthma as a younger man as a younger child, and that he uses it sometimes now intermittently when he gets viral conditions as he has now.

[06:15:03]

And now also, Dr. Kevin O'Connor said that on Thursday evening, the President had an elevated temperature of 99.4 degrees Fahrenheit and that he was prescribed some Tylenol to deal with the discomfort.

Now also, Dr. Kevin O'Connor said that he still has some of those cases that were first -- symptoms that were first identified on Thursday, including a runny nose and a non-producing kind of loose cough there.

Now overall, the White House is really trying to tell us and the American people that the President is doing very good, he's in very good spirits, and that he is still working at least eight plus hours a day, really trying to use the President's condition. Again, he's twice vaccinated, twice boosted, his last one was in March as a teachable moment for Americans.

WALKER: All right, Jasmine Wright, I appreciate your reporting. Thank you so much.

A meeting to consider firing the police chief criticized for the response or lack thereof to the Uvalde school shooting has been canceled. What we know about why the meeting was called off, and why parents say just getting rid of the chief is not enough.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:19]

WALKER: A special school board meetings set for this morning in Uvalde, Texas to consider whether or not to fire the district's embattled police chief is cancelled. Chief Pete Arredondo will be on unpaid administrative leave until a new date for the meeting is determined.

MARQUARDT: That's right, Arredondo faces intense criticism over his conduct during the Robb Elementary School massacre, which of course killed 19 children and left two teachers dead as well. CNN's Rosa Flores reports, that some of the families firing Arredondo would just be a start. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That door I bet you is unlocked, I bet you it's unlocked.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's moments like these that have the families of the victims of the Uvalde school massacre outraged.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tell them, and we tell them and we tell them.

FLORES: And demanding that disgraced Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo lose his job, after surveillance video when a Texas House report showed he and hundreds of law enforcement officers responded to the scene, with some waiting for 77 minutes to stop the shooter. Arredondo told the Texas Tribune that he didn't instruct officers not to breach the classrooms.

Uziyah Garcia, who went by Uzi was among the 19 students and two teachers massacred.

BRETT CROSS, UNCLE OF UZIYAH GARCIA: Spider Man was his favorite superhero.

FLORES: His uncle Brett Cross, who was raising him like a son carries his ashes on a bracelet.

CROSS: It's a part of him, but it's not as laugh, it's not as smile. It's not as energy.

FLORES: This photo of Uzi was taken in room 111 earlier this year, the same classroom where he and his classmates were slaughtered.

CROSS: You miss -- the love you miss, the interactions, the hugs, the -- everything.

FLORES (on camera): How do you do it every day?

CROSS: I have to, I have kids. I have Uzi's brothers and sisters that are devastated that are terrified to go to school to go out and do things.

Those are our babies. Those are our teachers. And they're no longer here.

FLORES: With the new school year fast approaching, Cross went before the school board and gave them a deadline to fire Arredondo who was placed on administrative leave last month.

CROSS: If he's not fired by noon tomorrow, then I want your resignation. And every single one of you board members because y'all do not give a damn about our children or us.

FLORES: That was Cross on Monday. So the school board missed its deadline. The school board was scheduled to meet Saturday regarding Arredondo's termination. But that is attorneys request, the meeting will be held at a later date. CROSS: It's too little too late. So therefore, we're going to start at the top and clean house.

FLORES: Cross and many in the community are calling for the superintendent, the school board and the entire school police department to be replaced.

CROSS: My kids are terrified to go to school. They're hurt. They're devastated. They post questions that I can't answer.

FLORES: What do they ask you?

CROSS: Why? I mean, they asked me why? Why? Why my other son said because he wasn't there at school that day, said he wished he would have gone, and he could have traded them places. No kid should have to feel that way. He said I'm bigger than him. He can't -- he's broken. It's broken. I cannot take away his heartache. He can't take away his pain.

FLORES: Murals of Uzi and the other victims are going up around town as the community tries to find ways to heal, cope, and remember.

CROSS: The spider man, saying I love you in sign language.

FLORES: Cross got a tattoo in Uzi's honor, with 21 birds in the sky, one for each of the victims.

CROSS: Hug your kids a little extra longer. You'd never know when's the last time you're going to get to see him.

FLORES (on camera): CNN has reached out to Arredondo's attorney and to the school district about this story and has not heard back. The school district has previously said that they were waiting for the Texas House investigative report to make a determination on Arredondo. Rosa Flores, CNN Uvalde, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Just devastating to hear from his family members. Our thanks to Rosa Flores for that report.

And more than 85 million people are under heat alerts today and it's only going to get hotter throughout the weekend. We're tracking the triple digit temperatures all across the country and where we could see dozens of record highs. That's coming up, stay with us.

[06:25:09]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUARDT: More than 85 million Americans from the central part of the United States to the northeast are under heat warnings or advisories as crippling heat grips much of this country over this weekend.

WALKER: Yeah, CNN's Allison Chinchar is in the Weather Center. And Allison, we were just talking about this. I mean it is hot everywhere around the globe. What kind of temperatures are we going to see this weekend?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. Yes, we get it. It's summer. It's supposed to be hot. But you have to keep in mind for some of these areas. It's the prolonged nature. They've been dealing with temperatures well above where they normally would be for the summer for weeks on end. And it's going to continue.

Look at all of these areas that are under some type of heat alert across much of the country.

[06:30:00]

For some of these areas, it's been ongoing, but for others, this is a fairly new trend. Take the northeast for example, this is their -- really, their first big heat wave of the Summer, and temperatures are going to get offly close to that triple-digit number. But when you factor in the humidity, those heat index numbers are going to be well into the triple digits, anywhere from up to 105 to maybe even as high as 08.

Again, yes, in the northeast, we're not talking Florida or Texas or places like that. The temperatures will continue to rise even, so Washington D.C. getting even warmer on Sunday. Same thing for Boston, they may top out at 98 degrees on Sunday. If they do, that will break a nearly 90-year-old record, and it's one of many records across the country.

Thirty five locations have the potential to break record temperatures, not only today, but also tomorrow. Now, areas of the Midwest will likely get at least a little bit of a temporary break after today. We're talking Chicago, Omaha. Again, today is still expected to be hot, but you finally start to see that downward trend beginning tomorrow, and it's up because of this.

Strong to severe thunderstorms is expected to move through the Midwest, and once that cold front sweeps through, Amara and Alex, they'll finally at least get a little bit of relief from temperatures.

WALKER: All right, something to look forward to. Thanks so much Allison, good to see you --

CHINCHAR: Thanks, me too.

MARQUARDT: Just stunning to see all those triple-digit. All right --

WALKER: Yes --

MARQUARDT: Well, after the break, we will be telling you exactly which Republican lawmakers support the bill to codify marriage equality and which ones don't. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:00]

WALKER: Lawmakers are working on a bill to codify same-sex marriage following the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

MARQUARDT: That's right. The house just passed the respect for Marriage Act this week, but it needs at least ten Senate Republicans to move it forward. CNN congressional reporter Daniella Diaz is live on Capitol Hill with a look at which GOP senators are on board and which ones are on the fence. So, Daniella, break it down for us.

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, Alex, this is what we know so far. We know that there will be at least five Republicans who right now have told us that they will likely support this legislation when it goes to a vote in the Senate. Those five Republicans being Rob Portman of Ohio, Susan Collins of Maine, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Now, we also know there will be 8 Republicans who will not support this legislation come out against it. We also know there are 15 Republicans who are so far undecided or have not told us yet where they stand on this bill that's already passed the house. Now important to note, Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer plans to put this bill on the floor for a vote. He's actually already took procedural steps this past week to move it forward.

Now, they're racing against the clock to try to pass this before the Senate goes for a two-week recess. However, this is not -- excuse me, a month-recess happens in less than two weeks, but this is not the only bill they're working on, Alex and Amara. They're also trying to pass a bill that would allow -- that would increase competitiveness with China, increase chips production, and also economic package. So, they have a lot on their list that they're trying to pass.

But of course, remember, they're doing this in the wake of the Supreme Court, of course, ruling against striking down Roe v. Wade. Democrats believe this is a major priority, and it's really interesting, really notable, that they could possibly get at least ten Republicans to advance this legislation in the Senate and codify same-sex marriage.

Of course, it already passed the house as I noted, 47 house Republicans supported the legislation when it passed the house. Also incredibly notable. So the clock is ticking, but Democrats are hopeful that they will be able to do this. Alex, Amara?

WALKER: All right, Daniella Diaz, appreciate your reporting, thank you for that. Joining me now is Errol Louis, CNN political commentator and "New York Magazine" columnist and the host of the "You Decide" podcast. Great to see you smiling so big this morning. Good morning to you, Errol. Yes, I'll get right to it. I mean, what are the chances of a similar same-sex bill passing in the Senate? We saw the list of the "no"s and the five "yes'", so far from the Republicans.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning. I think one of the reasons it's not clear where this is going to end up is that, there are a lot of conservative members of the Senate who nevertheless have thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of same-sex couples who live in their state. You know, this has been going on for a number of years now. And the census reports that there are close to a million, at least, as of 2020. Close to a million same-sex households nationwide, and more than half

of them were actually formally married. And those of us who are married now that it gets very sticky as far as property rights, survivorship rights, access to medical care and to insurance policies and on and on and on. So whether or not a senator personally feels that it's politically in their best interest to support same-sex marriage, they've got -- all of them have a lot of constituents who are going to have very practical needs.

So, I don't think it's going to be a very simple one. And I think that's why so many senators told CNN that they're still undecided, even at this point.

WALKER: And just to clarify for those who are closely following this, this bill that was passed by the house would essentially require states, all states in the federal government to recognize same-sex and inter-racial marriages even if a state, a said state moves to stop issuing marriage licenses. Also this week, Errol, a bipartisan group of lawmakers reached a deal. It's a proposal right now, making it harder to overturn certified presidential elections.

[06:40:00]

Tell us more about what is in this proposal.

LOUIS: Well, you know, it's long overdue by the way, and it's something that I hope we're not being so distracted by the January 6th Committee hearings that we don't focus on how to make sure it never happens again. So this was -- the idea here was to make clear that some of the chaos that we saw on January 6 in 2021, will never happen again, clarifying in law that the vice president has a ministerial role, that he's not there to make any decisions about which state electors are going to be accepted or investigated or rejected.

It's just not their role. You know, it's been ambiguous because it's a 19th century law, it wasn't entirely clear. We never needed clarity up until now and the events of January 6th, but it looks like there's a bipartisan effort and it looks like it's being led mostly by Republicans if you look vote by vote, as far as these informal votes, that they want to make clear that intimidating people who are election officials, sending slates of phony electors would also be outlawed.

And most of all, making clear that when the vote actually happens, following an election, it's really more ceremonial than a chance for somebody to come in and try and ransack the Capitol and overturn the vote.

WALKER: And you know, you make a strong point to say that this is overdue because if you look at a new CNN poll, it shows that most Americans lack confidence that the results of U.S. elections reflect the will of the people. And what was really -- I was take-aback by, Errol, was, that about half of Americans, 48 percent think that it is at least somewhat likely in the next few years that some elected officials will successfully overturn the results of a U.S. election because their party did not win. So, this is freshly on people's minds, they're extremely concerned

about America's democracy. We know that free and fair elections are essential to American democracy. It's just sad to see this sentiment, and also there is a practical effect when it comes to upcoming elections, right?

LOUIS: Sure. Look, we in the media have a role -- we have some of the blame here. We've talked incessantly, we've reported we should, about the threat to democracy, the attack on democracy, the attempt to overthrow the results of the last election. We've talked about that on and on and on and on, and very little time has been spent talking about how do we fix it? How do we make sure it doesn't happen again?

And there are again, some very practical fixes to make sure that we don't have phony electors being submitted, we don't have, you know, chaos in the Capitol, we don't have another insurrection. And so, you know, I think probably, the morale of the electorate, of our viewers, of our audiences, is probably a little bit shaky at this point because we've spent so much time talking about the problem and the danger, and not nearly as much time talking about what can and some cases be pretty simple solutions to get us all on track.

So I, personally, I'm very hopeful that Congress is going to -- going to clarify all of this and make it a little bit harder for somebody to attempt what Donald Trump tried to do in 2021.

WALKER: Well, I guess, we first sadly have to agree on the facts, right, that this was a violent insurrection, and not a tour that somehow went awry. Errol Louis, appreciate you joining us this morning. Thanks so much. Good to see you.

LOUIS: Thank you.

WALKER: And a programming note for you, don't miss a new CNN special report on the conservative movement in Texas tomorrow night. CNN's Ed Lavandera follows the money trail and deep in the pockets of Texas. It all starts tomorrow at 8:00 p.m.

MARQUARDT: That will be -- and that will be fascinating. Now, up next, we go live to Ukraine where Russian missiles have hit the southern port city of Odessa just one day after Ukraine and Russia agreed on a deal to keep those -- that port open. That's next.

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[06:45:00]

MARQUARDT: The White House has announced another round of military aid for Ukraine. This is a new package that totals more than a quarter million dollars, $270 million to be specific, it's going to include almost 600 tactical drones and more of those now well known HIMARS systems, those are the precise longer range rocket systems that have really been helping Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

WALKER: And the assistance couldn't come at a better time as Russian forces continue to hit Ukrainian cities with missile attacks. This morning, the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa was hit by several Russian rockets, and officials say a barrage of missiles hit another city further north where several people were injured and killed.

MARQUARDT: These missile strikes coming just hours after Ukraine and Russia agreed to a deal that would clear the way for the export of vital grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Now, for more on this, let's go to CNN's international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, he is live in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv this morning. Nic, this is stunning, even for Russia just a day after Russia's defense minister, he was the one signing that deal to allow grain to be exported. His own troops now targeting Odessa this morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, U.S. ambassador here is calling it outrageous, saying that Russia continues to weaponize food. A spokesman at the foreign ministry has said, this is President Putin spitting in the face of the U.N. Secretary-General who brokered this deal.

It's less than 20 hours after the signatures actually went on the paper, and according to an adviser of the Ministry of the Interior here, that one of those missiles landed about 150 yards from one of the grain silos which, you know, when you look at the accuracy of some Russian weapons systems is, you know, could give you an indication that those weapon silos, those grain silos might have even been the target.

[06:50:00]

That isn't clear. There were fires. It is being investigated. Two missiles impacted in the center of Odessa there, two were shot down. But this really comes surprisingly, I think for a lot of people. President Zelenskyy last night talked about the possibility of President Putin with provocations, but it comes surprisingly quickly on the back of what seemed to be a moment of diplomatic uplift.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): In Istanbul, the biggest diplomatic breakthrough in Russia's war against Ukraine, a deal to ease Russia's stranglehold on Ukraine, and get its grain, one-fifth of the world's supply, to market.

ANTONIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS: It will bring relief for developing countries on the edge of bankruptcy and the most vulnerable people on the edge of famine.

ROBERTSON: Since the war began, Russia has attacked and blockaded Ukraine's ports, burnt wheat fields, stolen harvests from farmers. Until now, Russia has been holding the world's grain hostage. The new deal aims to end that by creating safe shipping channels using Ukrainian pilots to navigate through sea mines, implementation overseen by Turkey includes inspecting cargoes.

Russia's defense chief and Ukraine's infrastructure minister signed the deal, but not with each other, separately with the U.N. Tensions remain and the deal fragile with no hard ceasefire at ports. An adviser to President Zelenskyy's chief of staff tweeting, in case of provocations, an immediate military response.

DYMTRO KULEBA, FOREIGN MINISTER, UKRAINE: Ukraine does not trust Russia. I don't think anyone has reasons to trust Russia. We invest our trust in the United Nations as the driving force of this agreement.

ROBERTSON: Speaking in Istanbul, Russia's defense chief indicating what they got from the deal, the U.N. lifting restrictions on their food and fertilizer exports, despite their responsibility triggering the current calamity. Ukrainian officials say 20 million tons of grain are stuck in port, and exports could begin in days, likely using ships stuck in port since the war began.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: So agricultural experts here are saying look, the real test of this is, if it can get up and running and all these ships that have been stuck in Ukraine since the war began, they get their grain out, it's getting new ships to come in and pick up more of the grain. And that's going to require insurance by international shipping insurers.

So, that's going to require confidence. And that confidence is going to come because there haven't been breakages in this sort of tenuous ceasefire situation. So provocations as Ukrainians see this attack by Russia today are really going to fly in the face of trying to make a deal successful in the terms that more ships can come in and get more grain. It's not off to a good start, but it doesn't mean it's going to drop at the wayside yet.

MARQUARDT: Yes, the ink on that deal not even dry yet. Nic Robertson in Kyiv, thank you so much. We'll be right back.

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[06:55:00]

WALKER: The Boston Red Sox were on the wrong side of history against the Toronto Blue Jays.

MARQUARDT: Carolyn Manno joins us. Carolyn, no Red Sox team had ever given up as many runs at Fenway Park as they did last night ever, right?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, good morning. And that ball park has been around for a very long time. A few Red Sox fans, I know, guys, had their hands over their eyes. I mean, this is the kind of scoring that you see at your kids' little league game, not necessarily in the big, and the signs were there early. Raimel Tapia at the play with a basis loaded looks like a routine fly descended here, but the ball landing a good 30 feet behind Jarren Duran.

So bounces off the wall and the race is on, Tapia coming all the way around to score, but first inside the park grand slam in a major since 2017, guys. Toronto scored seven runs in the third inning. In the fifth, they scored 11 times, all with two-outs. So, Boston was hoping for a fresh start after losing 14 of the last 20, entering the all- star break instead, it went from bad to worse, 28-5, the final. And Red Sox Manager Alex Cora as stunned as anybody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX CORA, MANAGER, BOSTON RED SOX: It was tough to watch. You know, it was tough to be in the dugout, to be honest with you. And they know it and I know it, you know, it's not lack of preparation, it's not lack of efforts. Because we keep working on our stuff and we keep, you know, going through the process the right way.

You know, it just -- I would love to say that this happens, but it doesn't happen often. We just got to be better, I mean, bottom one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Very different story where Boston's rival Yankees are concerned though. Aaron Judge blasting his 35th and 36th home runs of the season last night in a win over the Orioles. His 8th multi-homerun game of the year. The slugger is on pace for the first 16 homeruns season since Barry Bonds set the record with 73 in 2001, impending free agent. Incredible story.

And Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi arguably the two greatest ever to do it in a WNBA playing each other perhaps for the final time last night. Sue Bird is retiring after this season, both are five-time Olympic gold medalist.