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Van Der Sloot To Be Extradited To U.S. On Extortion, Fraud Charges; UK Sends "Storm Shadow" Cruise Missiles To Ukraine; Study: Skin Patch For Toddlers With Peanut Allergies Shows Promise. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired May 11, 2023 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Title 42 officially expires tonight. This is the pandemic-era rule that allowed border officials to almost immediately expel migrants trying to enter the country. The Biden administration has been preparing for a surge at the border. As of this moment, our last recording earlier this morning, some 26,000 migrants at the border are in patrol custody. Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also new this morning, a man in prison for murder in Peru is being temporarily extradited to the United States now. Joran van der Sloot. He was one of the last people to see Natalee Holloway alive before her disappearance in Aruba so many years ago. He is now facing extortion charges after claiming that he could lead the Holloway family to their daughter's remains.

CNN's Jean Casarez is here. She's got details on this. Jean, talk to me about how the United States and Peru came to this agreement. What does this mean?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is an extradition treaty. It was signed in 2001. So, there is an obligation for them to send him here.

But he's in the middle of his murder sentence in Peru, but they are still doing that. When I was in Peru covering Joran van der Sloot, they said from the onslaught that they were going to send him to the United States once these extortion charges had been filed and they knew about them. You know, it was 2005.

And to take us back there, Natalee Holloway. She was just about to graduate from high school, she had her whole life in front of her and they took a senior trip to Aruba. And she met Joran van der Sloot.

It was at Carlos and Charlie's one night. Her friends saw her dancing with him. She was never seen again after that. And her parents realized she wasn't on the plane coming home.

They found out Joran van der Sloot was one of the last people to see her. He was questioned, he was arrested but he was always released. In 2010, they were still searching for answers and they put out a $250,000 reward.

Joran van der Sloot heard about that and he contacted a member of the family and said, look, I can tell you everything. I will tell you how she died, where she died, where her remains are. I just want the money.

They worked with the FBI -- the family worked with them. He was actually given $25,000. An associate with a family flew to Aruba, drove with him in a car and he showed them a house and the foundation, and he said she's in that foundation that she got killed because she hit her head when we have gotten an argument. My father buried her and there she is.

The associate went back. Months later, he e-mailed saying it was all a lie. I'd -- it wasn't the truth at all. By that time, Joran had gone to Peru, and it's believed he was gambling away that $25,000 that he had. He met in the casino, Stephany Flores, the daughter of a very prominent businessman in Peru. And within hours, she was dead.

He is now serving time for her murder and will be extradited. But remember, this may be an ex -- this may be an extortion case and wire fraud case but the family wants out -- answers.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

CASAREZ: And this is their moment in time. They believe -- (INAUDIBLE)

BOLDUAN: It's some -- minute of justice maybe but it's still not the answers that they have been waiting for so many years for him. Jean, thank you for following this.

CASAREZ: You're welcome.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The EPA is proposing its most aggressive rules on power plants today under the new guidance, coal, and natural gas-powered plants will have to eliminate nearly all of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2042. CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir is joining us now. Bill, give us a sense of what these rules say and how this will all go down.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: I sure will, Sara. This is actually the second time Democrats have tried to do this. Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan was shut down by the Supreme Court. They say they overextended their authority by telling power plants what kind of fuel to burn. Now, they're going to try to regulate what comes out of those power plants. A limit of -- actually, cutting it by 90 percent in the next couple of decades.

Here's what the administrator Michael Reagan promised today. said he'll cut 600 million giga tons -- metric tons rather, of planet- cooking pollution. For comparison, humanity puts about 50 million tons a year into the sky. It's equal to about half the cars on the road for a year. Just the near-term pollution for people who live next to coal power plants. When you eliminate the carbon dioxide you cut back on the stuff that causes asthma and premature deaths. He says it'll cut back on 1300 deaths just in 2030 alone. And as for prices, the administration is saying this will only make your power bills go up by two percent by 2030, maybe less than one percent by 2040. Sara.

[11:35:03]

SIDNER: You know, I guess the big question is, is this possible to do this within the next 19 years, and the legal challenges that I'm sure are coming?

WEIR: Absolutely. The near-term hurdles are big oil and gas, and they're going to fight this tooth and nail probably back to the courts. And then you've got Joe Manchin, the coal state senator from West Virginia, who's really angry about these standards is threatening to hold back on confirming some of Joe Biden's EPA appointees as well. They take public comments now, we won't know if this is actually going to be a rule until next year.

SIDNER: Yes, so many people in West Virginia rely on coal for their employment. So, this is a big fight. Bill Weir, thank you so much. I appreciate it. John.

BERMAN: So, a key indication this morning that inflation pressures are easing. The Producer Price Index, which isn't what consumers -- what you and I pay, but it's what people who make stuff pay. It rose slower than expected. It eased a little bit. It increased by 2.3 percent year over year. Economists had been expecting a 2.4 percent increase.

CNN business and economy reporter Matt Egan is here. So, explain why this should maybe make us a little happy.

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS & ECONOMY REPORTER: John, this is more proof that this inflation crisis is getting better. It's not gone but it's moving in the right direction. So, look at this. 2.3 percent producer price increase year over year.

This is wholesale inflation. It's pricing pressure that's in the pipeline. Before, it gets to us as consumers. Context? 2.3 percent now. It peaked at nearly 12 percent last year.

BERMAN: Oh, wow.

EGAN: We are miles away from that 10 straight months of cooling inflation. Actually, this is the lowest since January 2021, the month that President Biden was sworn into office. If you look at that, you can see the trend is clearly going in the right direction.

Month over month, we saw a 0.2 percent increase. That has bounced around, but that number has also come down as well. That's a good sign. I think if you put that number with yesterday's inflation report, it does show things are moving in the right direction.

But there are risks out there in this economy, including the debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, she issued another warning overnight. She said, "in my assessment, and that of economists across the board, a default on U.S. obligations would produce an economic and financial catastrophe." John, she is basically pleading with Congress to defuse this ticking time bomb before it wrecks the economy.

BERMAN: You know, Donald Trump last night who could very well be the Republican nominee. He basically said he's in favor of a default if Republicans don't get what they want. But you've got some data that shows what a default could mean for everyday Americans.

EGAN: Yes, John. It looks like it would be just an epic disaster. Moody's Analytics put out this new analysis. And they say that roughly half a million jobs would disappear from Texas and Florida each, California would lose more than 800,000 jobs.

That is if there's this prolonged breach of the debt ceiling. That's the nightmare scenario. Hopefully, doesn't happen. But if it does, look at this. You see 400,000 jobs would go away from New York, hundreds of thousands from Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

And don't forget, this is all coming at a time when layoffs are starting to increase, albeit from historic lows, but new numbers out today 264,000 initial jobless claims. That is up from the recent lows. Some context though, this is the highest level since October of 2021.

If it keeps rising, I think that's going to start to really concern economists. A 300,000 would be a signal that the economy is actually starting to lose jobs. 350,000 jobs for these initial claims, that would be a signal of a potential recession. We're not there yet but we got to keep an eye on in this.

BERMAN: No. Watch this number very closely over the next several weeks.

EGAN: Absolutely.

BERMAN: Matt Egan, thank you.

EGAN: Be great.

BERMAN: Thanks so much. Sara.

SIDNER: Coming up, about CNN exclusive. A critical piece of weaponry now headed to Ukraine ahead of a highly anticipated counteroffensive against Russia. Details on what Ukrainian forces are getting and where that weaponry is coming from. Next.

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[11:43:26]

SIDNER: The United Kingdom confirms that it supplied Ukraine with multiple Storm Shadow cruise missiles. A British official says the equipment gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against the Russian onslaught, especially against Moscow's deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure. The news comes as Ukraine's military says its troops have conducted effective counterattacks in the Bakhmut area which is being hammered. According to Kyiv, Russian troops have already been pushed back as much as two kilometers in some areas. That's about a mile.

CNN's Jim Sciutto is joining us now. He was the first to report this news about these new missiles. Can you give us some sense of why it's so significant that they are getting these in their hands now?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It's all about range, Sara. This triples the range -- the maximum range of the weapons Ukraine had today the U.S. supplied weapons including the HIMARS system, about 49 miles maximum range. This one has tripled that, the Storm Shadow.

It's an air-launched highly advanced cruise missile satellite targeted and it's the kind of weapon that Ukrainian forces have been asking for for some time, but notably the U.S., in particular, has been reluctant to give them concern that weapons like this have the ability to at least to strike within Russian territory. And the U.S. extremely concerned about escalating this beyond Ukraine.

Now, I should note that as the UK provides these missiles, there is an agreement with the Ukrainian government that they will only be used, targeted, fired without -- within Ukrainian sovereign territories. In other words, they could target Ukrainian territory that Russian forces have invaded and occupied, but they can't, for instance, fire these missiles to the other side of the border, into Russian territory.

[11:45:18]

SIDNER: We have all been waiting to see what happens during Ukraine's spring counteroffensive. What will these missiles mean to them? Because you said three times the area that they can traverse.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It is -- it's all about targeting key Russian forces behind enemy lines in effect, in a way and with a range that they haven't been able to do. And that when this counteroffensive comes, you know, I like to describe this as you know the worst kept secret of national security, nobody seems to know it's coming. They see the preparations and talk about it, someone openly except for the timing of it.

But when it comes, you can expect Ukrainian forces to prepare the battlefield by attacking Russian units, armored divisions, supply lines where the -- where the troops are being stationed in advance, and they can now do this, not just with greater distance but greater accuracy. So, look for this missile system, among others, that they have, to be central in a Ukrainian counteroffensive plan, which by all -- by all designs -- and Ukrainian officials, by the way, are speaking about this publicly, will be a significant one. This is going to be a key moment into the war. And this weapon system is going to be a key weapon system in the war so far.

I mean, along the lines of the difference that we saw, for instance, those Javelin anti-tank missiles made in the early stages of the war. It's a -- it's a big change and quite a -- quite a decision here by the UK -- Ukrainian government -- sorry, the UK Government, I should say to do this.

SIDNER: Yes, we've both been on the ground there and watching this war as it unfolds.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SIDNER: Jim Sciutto, thank you so much for breaking the story, but also for doing double duty on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We'll see you at one o'clock.

SCIUTTO: I'm -- I will come to any CNN NEWS CENTRAL address.

SIDNER: We appreciate it. Thank you, Jim. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Return to sender. We're all full here, Jim. Just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding.

Still ahead. It could be a game-changer for families who have kids with peanut allergy -- allergies, a skin patch showing promising results. Plus, a big welcome to the neighborhood. Sesame Street introduces its newest Muppet in honor of AAPI Heritage Month. We'll be right back.

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[11:51:50]

SIDNER: Sesame Street has welcomed its first Filipino Muppet. TJ was introduced to help celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. He is the second Asian American character to join Sesame Street in recent years. In his first segment, TJ spent time with actor Kal Penn talking about the word of the day, confidence.

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KAL PENN, ACTOR: TJ How do you show your confidence?

TJ, MUPPET: Well, I'm learning Tagalog. It's the language my Filipino family speaks. And I have confidence because I can always ask my Lola for help when I don't know a word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Sesame Workshop's director said she is proud to help bring some Filipino representation to the neighborhood. And if you're wondering how I show my confidence, I don't use scripts.

BERMAN: Wow.

SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: All right. I don't know what to do. New hope this morning for the estimated 1.8 million children in the United States that deal with peanut allergies, which of course can be so dangerous. This help comes in the form of a patch -- a peanut patch if you will. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen joins us now. Elizabeth, how does this patch work? ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: John, this is really quite interesting. This is a patch that goes on every day. The parents put it on then take it off, then put on a new one.

And you can see what it looks like you put it sort of between the child's shoulder blades on their back. And this patch contains 1/1000 of a peanut essentially -- 1/1000. Just a teeny tiny amount. This is for children who have severe peanut allergies.

And so, what they did in this study is they did this patch every day for a year and they found that 67 percent of these patients were able to safely ingest like around one to three peanuts Now, you might think one to three peanuts, who cares that's not very helpful. Here's why it's helpful.

These children, if they were to become like by mistake exposed to a peanut like mistakenly eat one, they could die. So, this is sort of giving them a little bit of a margin of error if you will. Now this is not available on the market. There's an oral version of this and there are benefits and downsides to both of these. One thing about the patch is that it might be easier to give to children and then to be quick -- bringing them into the doctor all the time to get the oral medication. John.

BERMAN: Any side effects here, Elizabeth?

COHEN: There were. So, there were 244 Toddlers, children ages one through three in this study and four of them had anaphylactic reactions, which of course can be very dangerous. Now, it was mild to moderate. They could give them epinephrine and the children were fine. But it certainly is something that has to be taken seriously because they're -- some of these children are so allergic to peanuts that even 1/1000 of a peanut could give them a reaction.

BERMAN: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much for that. Look, peanut allergies are like no joke -- I mean, are no joke. So, she talks about the size of 1/1000 of a peanut, but it makes sense because it can be fatal.

BOLDUAN: It gives --

SIDNER: It's dangerous.

BOLDUAN: Parents with kids with these how seriously allergies, just a little bit of cushion room, like think of a toddler going on a playdate and there could be something on the ground that nobody knew about or nobody was intending. I mean, it has happened in my family and it's --

[11:55:02]

BERMAN: No, we all know -- we all know people with the peanut allergies and the children with them. And it -- and I sometimes they're so apologetic --

BOLDUAN: Of course. BERMAN: -- like I'm so sorry to say this, but blah blah, blah. So, this could give them the cushion that they need.

BOLDUAN: Yes, that's pretty amazing.

SIDNER: It's really serious. And -- plus, on planes. You see it all the time.

BOLDUAN: They extend as well, so we have that (INAUDIBLE)

SIDNER: They say look, we have a peanut allergy. Nobody's getting any peanuts, not that we missed them.

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

SIDNER: Just to be fair.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much for joining us, everybody. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS," up next.

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