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Zelenskyy Delivers Speech At Arab League Summit In Saudi Arabia; Biden And World Leaders Unveil New Sanctions On Russia; Sources: U.S. To Allow Allies To Send F-16s To Ukraine; New Body Cam Footage Shows NM Police Arriving To Scene Of Shooting. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 19, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

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Thank you for being with us all week. We hope you have a healthy, happy weekend. We'll see you on Monday.

CNN News Central starts now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We have chilling new video of the shooting in New Mexico that left three people dead and several more injured. A detailed look at the body camera and ring camera video just released showing how yet another mass shooting went down in America. This one involving a teenage gunman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: An unsolved mystery. What happened to four children after a plane crash in the Amazon? Officials had announced their miraculous survival, but did this miracle really take place?

SIDNER: Developing overnight. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy announcing he will be at the G7 summit in person to meet with world leaders there. This, as those leaders have announced new sanctions on Russia, as the war in Ukraine drags on.

We're live there on the ground in Ukraine and in Japan at the G7 . It's all ahead right here on CNN News Central.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivering a speech at the Arab League Summit this morning calling for support amid Russia's war. Zelenskyy has a big diplomatic weekend ahead of him. He started his day in Kyiv before traveling to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. We're told he's set to meet with the Crown Prince at some point.

He then heads to Japan to participate in the G7 Summit where global leaders just announced a new round of sanctions against Russia. Support from the group of seven is critical, and this morning Biden and the other leaders vowed to help Ukraine for as long as it takes.

CNN International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson joins us now from Eastern Ukraine. Nic, what do you know about Zelenskyy's plans and what he's going to talk to them about?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, we know as far as the Arab League is concerned, he's really interrupting, if you will, or disrupting Putin's message to the -- to Arab countries, which has got some traction and Putin's message has been, its Russia is the victim. Russia is facing aggression from NATO.

But what Zelenskyy has told them today, those gathered Arab leaders is, look, it's our country. A third of it has been taken by Russia at this time. It's our children that Russia is taking and stealing to their country at this time. So really, he's just trying to interrupt the Putin's narrative and explain to potential friends and partners. And in Saudi Arabia, he's sees that as a potential ally here, a supporter, a country that's providing huge amount of humanitarian support and potentially further support in the future.

When he gets to the G7, it's a different message. He will be sitting down there with the leaders that he knows are the ones that control the military fate of his army because they have the weapons that he wants. He wants more ammunition. He wants those fighter jets.

And we heard from the European Council President today, European Council President Charles Michel in Japan today saying that the F-16s, the fighter jets Zelenskyy wants, will be getting discussion that we've heard just this week. The British and the Dutch Prime Ministers at a meeting of European leaders in Iceland have said they will form an initiative to help get those F-16s to the Ukrainians and help train their fighter pilots too.

Zelenskyy's officials feel that he needs to be there in the room face- to-face with the G7 leaders to put his best persuasive case forward for this better, stronger support.

SIDNER: It sounds like he is going to get some of that support that he has asked for. Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

Let's go now to CNN's Phil Mattingly, who is with the president in Hiroshima. Phil, the big focus of this first day of the summit has been Ukraine. What are the sanctions target exactly?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think this is a critical component of things, Sara, and you know this well. The sanctions regime that has been put in place, driven by the G7 leaders and their finance operations over the course of the last year and a half have been critical to cutting off Russia's ability to maintain its war effort, and yet they have still consistently found gaps or ways around many of those sanctions.

And that's a critical piece of the sanctions that will be announced later today that is trying to tackle the evasion. The ways around the Russia has had to maintain its defense industrial capacity, or at least maintain some semblance of that capacity. What you were going to see is a new effort to basically block all exports for tools, machinery, technology that feeds into that defense industrial capacity in the U.S., in particular, will be blocking 70 entities, putting them on the Commerce Department blacklist. [09:05:14]

Another 300 entities will be slapped with sanctions. So continuing to expand into some degree evolve on a sanctions effort that has been underway since the first day of the invasion. Obviously, the Defense capabilities, the lethal assistance are a central part of these discussions as they try and map out how things will move forward here.

Obviously, the G7 support has been a cornerstone of the Western democracies that have really stood behind in a very steadfast manner. Ukraine throughout the course of this conflict that -- and when we talk to U.S. officials, they make clear that has to be maintained, that has to continue. And the sanctions piece is a critical element along with that lethal assistance and economic aid.

Now, keep in mind, Sara, President Biden throughout the course of this day, also focused on what's going on back home. The debt limit debate is still very much underway. Negotiations behind the closed doors from the president's top negotiators and House Republicans for several hours yesterday. The president this morning here was briefed by his negotiating team before starting his day.

He also left the dinner of the leaders, a working dinner of leaders here at the summit early in order to be briefed once again by his negotiators. So a balancing act here, a lot of juggling going on, but two very consequential issues at a very consequential moment for both, Sara.

SIDNER: Sir Phil Mattingly, I know it is late there. You've been working long hours. I appreciate your reporting. John?

BERMAN: So as we just heard there from Nic Robertson and Phil, sources tell CNN, the U.S. is prepared to approve the transfer of F-16 fighter jets from allied countries to Ukraine. So what kind of a difference could that make?

With us now is CNN Military Analyst and former Commanding General of the U.S. Army, Europe and Seventh Army, Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, great to have you here.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to be with you, John.

BERMAN: This is the F-16.

HERTLING: Yes.

BERMAN: What kind of a difference would this make in Ukraine?

HERTLING: It's a beautiful airplane. It is a dual-purpose aircraft for both ground attack and air combat, air patrols. The critical piece of this is the Air Force has just determined that they can train, already trained Ukrainian pilots in a shorter period of time, three to four months. Untrained pilots will take longer. That does not account for the supply, the maintenance. So whereas, all of this talk today is a commitment to send these aircraft with President Zelenskyy once, it's going to take a long time. We will not out predict. We will not see these in any upcoming offensive in the next two or three months.

BERMAN: All right, you used the O word there, offensive. There's been this wait for this Ukrainian Spring offensive for some time. We rarely have you here to draw on the big wall here. You know, what would some of the complicating factors be for the Ukrainians in launching this effect?

HERTLING: Well, the first complicating factor is getting the troops there. These brigades, battalions have been training all over Europe at Grafenwohr (ph), Drawsko Pomorskie in Poland and other places. So there's an integration process to get them from those European countries to the frontline. That takes a long time and a lot of effort. Coordination through commanders, ensuring the training is good.

Once that happens, though, and I think that's about to happen in my view, you're talking about -- and we use this map all the time. I just point out that this is a 400 -- about 400-kilometer front. So that's a couple of 100 miles. It's easy to draw on a map. It's easy to draw big circles and arrows. It's a whole lot tougher to conduct an offensive.

So when you are seeing an offensive taking place, you're going to see not only what's going on in Bakhmut and the cities surrounding them being attacked, but I believe you're going to see the Ukrainians going into the south where the critical point, Russia has been supplying Ukraine through this supply line that goes across two provinces, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as well as up from Crimea.

If the Ukrainians can cut those logistics lines, they have a better chance, but that's going to be tough.

BERMAN: Which is one quick note here. There was that rail that train that derailed. Actually, I think we have pictures of that, that this is the picture of the train that derailed. This was happening just the other day. That was right down here. You just drew the supply lines from here and through here. So is it possible that that train derailment is part of that disruption that you were just talking about?

HERTLING: Oh yes, sure. That attacks on air bases, attacks on ships, all of the attacks that you've seen behind the lines, you heard the phrase shaping operations before. That's what the Ukrainians are hitting headquarters supply dumps, things that might affect Russia's defensive capabilities.

BERMAN: And one other thing that you were mentioning to me beforehand, this is the Dnipro River. This is a --

HERTLING: Yes.

BERMAN: -- big river.

HERTLING: Yes.

BERMAN: What are the complicating factors that it provides?

HERTLING: Yes, the Dnipro is about the width of the Hudson right outside this building. It's tough. There are not a whole lot of bridges across there. Ukraine has to force their forces across that river. A river crossing operation is difficult. And then what happens is they go into defensive positions that the Russians have been preparing for about five months now.

[09:10:06]

I've trained a lot of soldiers, John, and anytime you have an attack against complex obstacle belt, it's difficult. And add to that, this is the first time Ukraine has gone on a major offensive across the front. Offensive operations are much more difficult than defensive operations. They've switched sides on this. Russia is now defending, Ukraine is attacking, it's going to be a different ballgame.

BERMAN: What's the old calculation? Three to one.

HERTLING: Three to one.

BERMAN: You have three to one advance. You know, a number of troops for offense versus defense.

General, like I said, it's a treat to have you here to explain all this. Great to see you.

HERTLING: It's a pleasure, John. Thanks.

BERMAN: Sara?

SIDNER: Police in Farmington, New Mexico have released body camera and doorbell video of the moments a gunman opened fire on a quiet neighborhood Monday morning. Three people were killed, and six others were injured when an 18-year-old gunman started firing randomly at homes and cars as he drove by. In one video, you can see several cars speed away, and here a hail of gunfire while the shooter is screaming off camera.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUN SHOTS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come kill me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Police say the gunman was walking through the neighborhood with an AR-15 style rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest. He fired more than 140 rounds before police confronted and killed him. Again, we want to warn you, you were about to see and hear a volley of gunfire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back inside, people.

(INAUDIBLE)

(GUN SHOTS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Subject is down. Subject is down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller joins us now. What the hell?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Yes. This is, I mean, Sara, we've talked about this. I mean, we know we now see this every week. But this is a view we don't often get. This is active shooter training. It's immediate action, rapid deployment. There's no taking cover. There's no surrounding the building and using the bullhorn and say, come out.

I've been through this training in the NYPD as have thousands of officers. But there's this moment when it's really happening when a police officer has to reach inside and say, do I have what it takes to do this? And that means, you know, and they told us in the training, don't worry about being afraid. You're going to be afraid.

Courage is about controlling the fear so that you can move forward and be front site focused, as they say, which is, where is the threat? Can you eliminate the threat either by stopping the threat or in this case, engaging with the threat in a shootout, and stay focused enough to do that, to stop the killing and stop the dying?

SIDNER: When it comes to this particular incident, I noticed we heard the shooter say, "come and kill me". Is this suicide by cop?

MILLER: This is suicide by cop, but a different version. That's such an interesting question because we know the phenomenon of suicide by cop, which is somebody's, you know, charging with a knife or waving the gun and it's, can I goad you into killing me?

SIDNER: Yes.

MILLER: This is a young man, and I mean, we can go back, we can go back a couple weeks before that to Allen, Texas. We can go back to Louisville, we can go back to Nashville, and it's sad that we can rattle those off, and we're only talking about the last few weeks. But the modus operandi here is there is a 100 percent certainty that if I start and shoot 141 rounds from my backyard, ditch the AR-15 and we'll walk around with two Glock pistols with extended magazines randomly shooting at people on the street.

A 100 percent certainty. I'm going to draw every police officer in the area within minutes. And there is a 100 percent certainty if I continue that and draw them in that they're going to engage. And when it's not happening fast enough, you can hear him yelling, kill me, kill me now. SIDNER: So disturbing. But like you said, we have seen this so many times, more mass shootings, and these are just the mass shootings than numbers of days in the year so far this year.

John Miller, always good to talk to you. Thank you. John?

BERMAN: All right, thanks Sara.

This morning, New York City is bracing for the arrival of 15 new buses bringing migrants.

[09:15:04]

A short time ago, one bus arrived carrying dozens of migrants from Texas. They were then sent to the city's newly opened asylum-seeker arrival center, which is at a hotel. The city says the number of arrivals has climbed recently to an average of 600 per day. And it's not just in New York, the Texas governor has added Denver to the list of Democratic led cities where he is sending migrants.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is now at a migrant welcome center here in New York City. Polo, what are you seeing this morning?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So John, we know that that drop in apprehensions, of migrant apprehensions on the southern border has not resulted in any relief for New York City officials that are still struggling to receive this record number of asylum seekers in New York City. That number you just mentioned is a key metric. It was at anywhere from 200 to 300, just a week -- a few weeks ago.

But now my city source is telling me that that goes up to 600. In fact, on Monday, they received as many as 900 in just one day. Hence, the need to open this asylum-seeker arrival center, which is the hotel that you see here over my shoulder, it's serving in two separate ways. One, it will be one of the main first stops for these asylum seekers who arrive by bus in New York City, where they will be in touch with not only city officials, but also some of the nonprofits that have really been at the front lines of helping.

But also will serve as shelter for some of those families with children. We know that it has a capacity of about 175 rooms. They hope that this will be scaled up to about 850 very soon. That really what this does, it just speaks to those ongoing efforts on behalf of New York City officials to try to find some space for these asylum seekers as they are still trying to plead with other council members to look in their districts for any potential facilities that might possibly house them.

In fact, by the end of June, there is an expectation that houses of worship in New York City will open up their doors, those that are willing to, for at least 19 asylum seekers per house of worship. So what this does, it really just speaks to the sense of urgency that is still happening at the local level, regardless of what's happening thousands of miles away on the southern border. John?

BERMAN: All right. Polo Sandoval outside the Roosevelt Hotel, which is now an asylum-seeker welcome center. Appreciate you being there, Polo. Thank you. Sara?

SIDNER: Ahead, Disney cancels its plans for a billion-dollar complex that could have brought thousands of jobs to the state of Florida. How the move ups the ante of Disney's feud with Governor Ron DeSantis days before he's expected to announce his presidential run?

Plus, new concerns about the health of Senator Dianne Feinstein after her office confirms her shingles diagnosis was worse than they first said it was.

And new signs this morning that the Fulton County District Attorney could be making a decision on whether to charge former President Trump in early August.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:22:09]

SIDNER: Here's what's on our radar for you this morning, the Georgia prosecutor leading an investigation into former President Trump and his allies is now signaling a new timetable for potential charges. In a letter obtained by CNN, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced remote workdays for most of her staff during the first three weeks of August.

She asked judges to refrain from in-person hearings for parts of that month. The move suggests Willis expects the grand jury to unseal indictments during that time period.

The groom whose wife was killed by a car as they were leaving their South Carolina wedding last month has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Aric and Samantha Hutchinson and two others were riding in a golf cart when a speeding drunk driver slammed into them. Samantha was killed, Aric and the others were injured. Now the widower is suing the alleged drunk driver and several local establishments where the driver had allegedly been bar hopping.

In an interview with ABC, Aric had this message for that driver.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIC HUTCHINSON, WIFE KILLED BY DRUNK DRIVER: She stole an amazing human being should not have been taken.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Police say the drunk driver had a blood alcohol content more than three times the legal limit.

The FDA could be one step closer to approving Pfizer's vaccine to protect infants from RSV from birth through six month of age. And an independent committee of vaccine advisers voted Thursday in favor of recommending the vaccine's approval. The vaccine would be given to the mother in the second or third trimester to provide passive immunization to the infant.

Now the recommendation goes to the FDA. If approved, it will become the first available to protect babies against RSV. John?

BERMAN: So this morning, we are getting a much clearer picture of how Florida Governor Ron DeSantis plans to position himself as a presidential candidate. The official announcement coming next week. But he laid out these plans in a conference call with big donors and we're going to have much more on that in a second.

But there is also this new development that plays into all of this. His feud with Disney, the huge entertainment company in Major Florida employer, announced that it is canceling plans -- they did this yesterday afternoon -- to build a new $1 billion office campus in the greater Orlando area. Disney decided changing business conditions has the reason for not moving forward.

CNN's Natasha Chen has much more on all of this. Natasha, this is what, like 2,000 jobs?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, 2,000 jobs. It was supposed to be a regional hub for parks and resorts, so some of the imagineers that design all the stuff you see in the theme parks as well as some corporate jobs, consumer products, support functions like finance technology, marketing communications, this was going to be at a complex in Lake Nona that Disney purchased. It's just east of Walt Disney World and Central Florida.

[09:25:04]

And the move was going to take over the course of several years, and the company was giving people some flexibility about this. I'm now hearing that some people who did not want to move to Florida actually left the company and found other jobs to avoid that move. And now it's not happening at all.

About 200 people already did make that move. And so yesterday in a memo, the chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products said they'll work with those individuals, including the possibility of moving them back here to Burbank in the Southern California area.

Now, as far as reaction goes, Governor Ron DeSantis did release a statement through his spokesperson. And I want to read that to you. This was acquired by our colleague Steve Contorno. He did say that it was unsurprising that Disney would cancel the project given the company's financial straits, falling market cap and declining stock price, unsurprising they would restructure their business operations and cancel unsuccessful ventures.

So when we did hear from other local leaders as well, Orange County Mayor Demings and the Florida Democratic Party Chair all saying that this is really because of the DeSantis-Disney feud, that they feel that they've lost these Florida jobs.

In the meantime, the Trump War Room official campaign account on Twitter also put up this tweet yesterday, quoting this story saying, Ron DeSanctimonious gets caught in the mouse trap, the culture of losing continues. So this really played into the politics of the moment. And, of course, a lot of business decisions went into this as far as what made sense for the company, but you can't help but see this in the greater context as well of whether they will thrive as a business as they are having this feud with the governor of the state. John?

BERMAN: All right, Natasha Chen for us, thank you very much.

As we said, this is part of a much bigger moment for Ron DeSantis in the new developments are. Last night, he laid out his vision of a presidential campaign to major donors.

With us now from Florida, CNN's Steve Contorno. And Steve, I've been on conference calls with campaign strategists that sounded like what Ron DeSantis did last night where he laid out his case for how he's going to win, and he sort of made it all about electability.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: That's right, John. And we know that DeSantis has been meeting with donors for several weeks now leading up to this expected launch. And one of the reasons he has been meeting with them is to shore up their support because a lot of them are concerned with some of his recent moves and some of his recent stumbles.

There are Republican donors who object to the fact that the state signed this six-week abortion ban. They're concerned about his waffling on whether he would support Ukraine and whether this Russia is in the right in this war. And so, he has taken a more direct role in assuring these donors that he has a strategy to beat Trump and that strategy is to say, look, I am much more electable, especially in the states that are going to matter in the presidential contest against Joe Biden.

Listen to what he told those donors according to the New York Times. He said, "You have basically three people at this point that are credible in this whole thing. Biden, Trump and me, two have a chance to get elected president -- Biden and me, based on all the data in the swing states".

So not only is he clearly saying, look, it's between me, Trump, and Biden, in a way that just totally dismisses the other Republican candidates in the field. But he's saying Trump can't get elected, and that's not necessarily surprising to hear that from a candidate who's trying to curry support.

But DeSantis has really avoided going directly at Trump throughout most of this run up to his campaign. And yet here he is in very stark terms saying, look, this guy can't get elected again, I'm your best bet if you want to get a Republican in the White House in 2024.

BERMAN: Yes, I mean, it is very blunt language, even more interesting, as I said, coming from the candidate himself, not a strategist there. So Steve, where does this whole Disney thing fit into it with Disney making this announcement just days before Ron DeSantis is going to make it official that he's running for president?

CONTORNO: Well, it's just another sign that this back and forth between Disney and DeSantis isn't going away. It's been such a huge part of his narrative. And on his terms, he wants to talk about Disney. He has -- he made it a whole chapter in his book. He frequently discusses it on the cam, on the trail when he's in political events in Iowa and New Hampshire and all these other states.

But Disney continues to punch back in a way that put -- that he puts this in a negative light for DeSantis, just as they did when they out maneuvered him earlier this spring and now suggesting that they are going to cut 2,000 jobs, high paying jobs from the states, really is giving through his opponents an opportunity to ding him as anti- business as he prepares to enter this primary. John?

BERMAN: It'd be very interesting to see if DeSantis thinks it's a strength. His opponents think it's a liability. We'll see if they can both be right. Hard to see how to do that.

Steve Contorno, great to see you. Thank you for your reporting. Sara?