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Ukraine Denies Involvement in Moscow Attack; Peter Zwack is Interviewed about Russia's War on Ukraine; Shooting on Florida Beach; Iowa Building Collapse; Trial of Synagogue Massacre Shooter Begins; House Rules Committee Meets on Debt Bill. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 30, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:39]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Moscow on alert. Ukraine says that they are not responsible for an overnight drone attack in Russia. This as Kyiv is rocked by a third wave of Russian strikes in just 24 hours.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: At least nine people injured, including a one-year-old child, after a mass shooting at a popular Florida beach. A suspect is still on the run.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Also, terrifying moments on a Carnival cruise ship rocked by a storm near Charleston, South Carolina. A look inside the ship during the frightening voyage.

These major developing stories and many more right here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: This morning, Ukraine says it is not them, denying it was directly involved in a series of drone attacks on Moscow. A plume of smoke could be seen rising over the city today. Despite Ukraine's denial, Russia is pointing the finger directly at Kyiv, and saying two people were hurt and several buildings damaged in the attack.

Want to show you another video. This is actually what one person caught the moment that a drone flew over their apartment building in Moscow.

Now, all of that happened just hours after a new barrage of -- a new Russian barrage targeted Kyiv overnight. It is the 17th drone attack on Kyiv's capital this month. One woman was killed, and more than a dozen others injured in this latest wave.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Kyiv. He's outside some buildings that were damaged - where they were damaged overnight.

Fred, you spoke to the city's mayor. What is he saying today?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kate.

Well, Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of the city, he was absolutely irate about this drone attack. He called it terrorism on the part of the Russians. But he also said that actually the Ukrainian air defense was pretty successful and it was successful thanks to a lot of the weapons that Ukrainians are getting from the U.S. and its allies.

Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR VITALI KLITSCHKO, KYIV, UKRAINE: Kyiv (INAUDIBLE) our defense, modern air defense from our partners, we have much worse situation in our hometown, more destroyed buildings and more - it would be more civilians killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So, one of the reasons, Kate, why Vitali Klitschko said that, I want to show you that this building here that I'm standing in front of, this is one of the ones that sustained a lot of building because it took a hit from one of those Shahed drones that's supplied by the Iranians but the Russians are using. You can actually even see that a lot of the cleanup is already going on.

If we pan up, you can see that that drone crashed right into the top floors of this building. Now, one person was killed there. However, even that drone that crashed into this building was intercepted. It was intercepted by Ukrainian air defenses and they say that it was the fragments of that drone, obviously including the warhead, that crashed into that building.

But I can tell you, it was certainly a very difficult night here for the folks in the capital city. We heard those - those drones hovering overhead for a substantial part of the night, several hours as Ukrainian air defenses were trying to take them out.

At the same time, you do feel that resilience here in the Ukrainian capital as now only hours later the cleanup is going on and people are trying to go about their daily lives.

This, of course, comes as Ukraine seems to be on the cusp of that counteroffensive and Ukraine's president now saying the timing of that offensive has now been decided.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, not telling exactly when, but that it has been decided. And just to be clear, that's cleanup. That's people throwing like debris off the rooftop behind you, Fred?

PLEITGEN: Yes, that's exactly what's going on.

BOLDUAN: OK.

PLEITGEN: There was substantial damage to the top floor apartments there and now they're sort of clearing the debris, throwing it down, to then be able to clean it up as fast as possible. They are pretty quick at doing that now. Unfortunately, they have a lot of practice after a lot of the strikes that have happened here over the past year.

BOLDUAN: That's a great - that's a great point. Unfortunately, they've become very good at that cleanup very quickly.

Thank you, Fred Pleitgen, on the scene for us.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is retired Brigadier General Peter Zwack. He is the global fellow at the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute and served as the U.S. senior defense attacks to the Russian Federation.

General, look, I want to start with the drone attacks on Moscow up here, which here's the Ukrainian border. About 300 miles depending on what direction you go from inside Ukraine. I want to show people the sites inside Russia or in Russian-controlled territory that have been hit over the last several weeks.

[09:05:06]

You can see most of the areas have to do with the Russian occupation directly of Ukraine, either supply areas or Russian-held territory inside Ukraine. Moscow stands alone as a much different target. Now, the Ukrainians deny direct involvement, but what do the drone attacks in Moscow do for the Ukrainians even if they didn't do it?

BRIG. GEN. PETER ZWACK, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Good morning, John, and to your viewers.

Yes, it is highly significant. What we have going on here is that the Russians are being fed a narrative about the justness of this military - this special military operation, and they're going to prevail, yet they are - they just have the Kremlin, however it happened, hit last month. They've just had Moscow in the suburbs hit now. And the drones are coming from somewhere. It's an extreme range for, if you will, the Ukrainian organic drones, Tuchka (ph) or the - the Blacktars (ph) from Turkey, if they were fired (ph) from the border, but the bottom line is that they can't hide the war from, if you will, call the cities now, in what I would call mainstream Russia. The billpayers for most of the war in Ukraine have been most - troops (ph) from the provinces, but now they're having to deal with it. And the - and the military bloggers are out there. Prigozhin has already lambasted the military again just - just a few hours ago for their ineffectiveness in defending the motherland and all. So this is very deconcerning (ph) for - for Putin and the Kremlin in - in trying to keep, if you will, a stable narrative. I - it's a big deal. Much bigger than the actual sum of the strikes.

BERMAN: Yes, and, again, and this is some video of what the strike looked like inside Moscow. That type of image is seen in Kyiv almost every time, several times a day. And this is some of the video on the attacks on Kyiv, which have been relentless, frankly, over the last several days, day and night.

Why are the Russians striking now with such ferocity in the Ukrainian capital?

ZWACK: I think for several -- first of all, I was there with a delegation of the - of Renewed Democracy Initiative, an NGO, focused on countering authoritarianism, worldwide and domestically. Now here I think it's a bunch of reasons. One, there's fury, there's anger that - that's been going on now for months, but especially after the Kremlin strike. There's a side of the Russians, John, that I believe they want the - they want the Ukrainians to submit. It's a word that's almost medieval, submit. And they aren't. And the more the Ukrainians fight back and the more the Ukrainians create problems in the area, the harder it gets. And they haven't figured it out.

I also think increasingly the Russians are now trying to - they're really nervous about the - the -- all the talk about a counter offensive and the preparations, the shaping operations that everybody -- and so that's going on. So, they're lashing out in a way. And - and the thing that's critical is that these are not hitting effectively military targets. They're primarily hitting targets where there are a lot of civilians. And they're killing.

And if the Russians think that's going to make the Ukrainians submit from our view, in my group that I was with, we were there for the first big night of the missile strikes in Kyiv on the 16th of May when the patriots and other things were knocking down top notch Kingal (ph) Russian cruise missiles.

So, it's on. Ukrainians are - are - are implaqueable (ph). The Russians are increasingly frustrated and they're increasingly worried and I think it goes all the way back to the Kremlin.

BERMAN: General Peter Zwack, thank you so much for helping us this morning. We'll talk to you again soon.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: There's also new video that we want to show you that was released this morning. It's really - it's the moment gunfire erupts on a busy Boardwalk near Hollywood Beach, Florida. The - the audio doesn't - the video doesn't have audio, but you can very clearly see when gunfire erupts and then people start running for their lives. There's another vantage point of this shooting as well. This video, we're going to show you, it shows another area near the beach. People also there running, forced to run for safety I mean just look at the mass of humanity. They must - it's a terrifying moment for all of them. Nine people ended up being shot, including a one-year-old baby.

CNN's Carlos Suarez is in Hollywood, Florida. He's got more on this.

Carlos, first of all, how -- what are you hearing about the nine people who were shot, how they're doing, and also what police say led to this?

[09:10:03]

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, good morning. So, we know that all nine people, including that one-year-old baby, that were shot, they are recovering in a hospital and we're told that they should be OK. Hollywood Police, they have detained one person and they are looking for at least one other person in connection with this shooting. We're being told that all of this was the result of two groups that got into an argument when somebody pulled out a gun and opened fire.

Now, this boardwalk here is lined by restaurants, bars, as well as some hotels. It is where thousands of folks have gathered to celebrate the Memorial Day holiday yesterday. And it is where this shooting took place.

There were some cameras in the area that captured the crowd of people running to safety after they heard these gunshots. We saw some videos that were posted on social media showing that some of the injured were treated right here on the beach.

Now, Hollywood Police say that they had a number of police officers in the area in anticipation of all of the crowds. And so they were able to get a lot of the injured to a hospital in relatively short order. They were able to do this in a relatively quick amount of time.

Now, one witness spoke to CBS "This Morning" and described what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID VAN DYCK, WITNESSED SHOOTING: I seen a crowd of people running through here. And then we heard like three more shots down the street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I saw a young man who was on the ground bleeding, and they were applying pressure to try to prevent the bleeding. I also saw a lady that was very upset. I think she had a wound to her leg.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: Again, one person has been detained in this shooting. Police are looking for at least one other person in connection to what happened out here in this boardwalk. (ph). Again, that one-year-old baby that was shot, we're told, is in stable condition, should be doing just fine at the hospital, as well as the eight others that were shot out here.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and - and everyone in the - all of those - everyone in that crowd not doing fine after what they had to live through yesterday.

Carlos, thank you so much.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: Well, new video this morning shows the rescue of a woman more than 24 hours after an apartment building partially collapsed. This happened in Davenport, Iowa. The woman's daughter says that she called her from the fourth floor in a part of the building that was apparently unaffected. At least nine people have been rescued since part of the building gave way on Sunday. Now, there are still people unaccounted for, but authorities say that

the building will be demolished soon.

CNN's Adrienne Broaddus joins us now.

So, Adrienne, there are still concerns this morning that there may still be people inside. How can authorities be so sure that everyone is out?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Rahel, it's complicated. If you remember yesterday, the fire chief told us they were uses K-9 dogs during the search. And the fire chief also said during that search those K-9 dogs found no signs of life.

However, we now know that this ninth person, who you just mentioned, the woman, was rescued after officials had moved from their rescue to the recovery phase. So that is why police are stepping in.

You may remember yesterday, during our reporting, I shared with our viewers, if you are missing a loved one in the downtown Davenport area, possibly someone who lived in that building, call 911, and police are trying to determine whether or not people are inside.

But the building must come down because it is not safe. Authorities say there's an imminent danger that that structure that's still standing could collapse. And that is their biggest concern, determining how they will bring this building down safely.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yes, Adrienne, as you lay out there, it is a complicated process. Just here's hoping that everyone is safely out of the building.

Adrienne Broaddus, thank you.

John.

BERMAN: The obstacle in the way of the debt ceiling deal that could derail things before the votes even get started.

It was the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. Opening statements set to begin in the rare federal death penalty trial.

And the 17-year-old shot in the head after ringing the doorbell at the wrong house makes his first public appearance. We have new details about his recovery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:27]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

And new this morning, an 11-year-old who was shot by police in Mississippi after calling 911 for help is speaking out for the first time. Aderrien Murry's mom says she asked him to call police when the father of another one of her children showed up at her home irate at 4:00 a.m. on May 20th. Well, when Aderrien stepped outside, an officer shot him in the chest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADERRIEN MURRY, 11-YEAR-OLD SHOT BY COP: I came out doing this. And then - and then when (INAUDIBLE) shot me I did this to my chest. And then I ran to - to my mom. Mom and then saw I was bleeding - bleeding from my mouth. And then I just remember singing a song.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what song were you singing?

MURRY (singing): No weapon formed against me shall prosper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Aderrien says he used to want to be a police officer when he grew up. Now he wants to be a doctor because they saved his life.

We also have an update now on the 17-year-old who was shot in the head after ringing the wrong doorbell last month. Ralph Yarl was able to walk yesterday in the annual Memorial Day event to support the Brain Injury Association of Kansas City. His mother says that she walks two to three miles with him every other day as he continues to recover.

Meanwhile, the homeowner charged with assault for the shooting, Andrew Lester, he will be back in court on Thursday.

And Florida Governor Ron DeSantis setting out today on a four day 12 city tour of key primary states.

[09:20:04]

The Republican presidential candidate will host what his campaign is calling an official kickoff event in Clive, Iowa, tonight. Then he heads to New Hampshire on Thursday and South Carolina on Friday.

John.

BERMAN: Thanks, Rahel.

This morning, opening statements set to begin in the federal trial of the man accused of killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The 2018 mass shooting is the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

CNN's Danny Freeman is in Pittsburgh this morning.

Danny, what are we expecting to see?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, listen, after five weeks of jury selection and almost five years since that deadly attack, opening statements are set to begin really any moment now here in the federal courthouse behind me in this Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial. Actually, court was just brought into session a few minutes ago. So, again, we're waiting for those opening statements very, very soon.

And we're talking about defendant Robert Bowers here. He's 50 years old. And he faces 63 charges, 22 of which are eligible for the death penalty.

And, John, the death penalty really is central to the heart of this case right here. But I'll get to that in a second. I want to remind viewer what brought us to this point almost five years ago.

October 27, 2018, Bowers was accused of walking up to the Tree of Life Synagogue right here in Pittsburgh and started opening fire. He also went inside and then started opening fire on a number of worshippers who were actively praying in there at the time. There were actually three congregations inside that synagogue at the time. And Mr. Bowers is accused of saying anti-Semitic and hateful things towards Jewish people while he was going on that shooting spree. In the end, 11 people were killed, 11 worshipers were killed, I should say, and six others were injured.

Now, he was taken into custody, Mr. Bowers that is, during the course of this attack. So, while Bowers has pleaded not guilty int his case, really guilt is not at the center of this trial. In fact, the defense team here for Bowers, they actually said that we would offer a guilty plea with life in prison in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table.

But, like I said, the death penalty is at the heart of this. Prosecutors, they have not wavered, nor has the court. They are allowing this death penalty proceedings to go forward. I should say, the death penalty initially sought in the Trump administration. This will only be the second death penalty case in the Biden administration. But, again, the Department of Justice still pursuing that at this case.

Now, this is supposed to be a pretty long trial, John. This could last well into July, potentially to the end of July. But I have to say, already today we've seen some of the passions this community has in terms of being here. There was actually a bus that just dropped off with the police motorcade a number of family members and loved ones of victims, those who were shot and injured at this Pittsburgh synagogue shooting all those years ago. They plan to be in the courtroom as long as they can. We've seen some of those family members o victims already line up to get inside of the court. So, I think you can tell that while this will be a long trial, there's going to be a lot of passion in this community surrounding it over the weeks and months to come.

John.

BERMAN: A very difficult but important day for the people there.

Danny, thank you very much for being with us this morning. Keep us posted. And opening statements set to begin any minute.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, sink or swim. Today is a real test for the debt limit deal reached over the weekend. For any bill to make it to the floor for a vote, it needs to go through the Rules Committee. The committee that sets the terms of debate around any bill. This afternoon, the debt deal heads to House Rule, which has a Republican majority, and is also stacked with very conservative members, some of which do not like this compromise agreement. There are two names to watch in all this, at least right now, Republican Congressman Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Chip Roy of Texas. Both have publicly attacked, dismissed and lambasted the deal. But is it enough to stop it in its tracks?

CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill to start us off on this.

Lauren, what are you hearing from lawmakers today?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this rules committee meeting is going to be really critical for getting this over the finish line and to the House of Representatives. Right now both leadership in the Democratic Party and Republican Party working very hard to get their members in line for that potential Wednesday vote on the House floor.

And one thing to keep in mind is that if this can get through the House Rules Committee, Republicans and their leadership are feeling very confident that they are on a path right now to lock up upwards of 150 Republican votes once they get to the House floor. So, this Rules Committee is a critical moment. But if they can get this bill to the floor, the expectation is the coalition of moderates in both the Republican and Democratic Party could be enough to push this over the threshold.

Of course, once you pass it out of the House, that's really just half of the equation. Then it goes over to the U.S. Senate. And any one member can really drag the process out, pushing you right up to the cusp of that deadline on June 5th.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right, Lauren. All right, let's see what happens honestly hour by hour on this. I know you're tracking how lawmakers are feeling from minute to minute. Thank you so much.

[09:25:00]

All right, so let's go to the White House now from Capitol Hill. Arlette Saenz is standing by with more on this.

Arlette, we know that -- what are you hearing from the White House in terms of are they making anymore progress in winning over progressive Democrats who have also been voicing displeasure and distaste about this compromise bill?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, President Biden says he feels very good about the prospects of this agreement becoming law, but he also acknowledged that he doesn't know whether he can get progressive Democrats on board. This comes as there has been palpable frustration from progressives in the Democratic Party over the toughening of work requirements for some food stamp recipients. That is something that they are not happy made it into the bill. But the president, yesterday, did sound quite upbeat about the prospects of this legislation.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know I never say I'm confident what the Congress is going to do. But I feel very good about it.

There is no reason why it shouldn't get done by the 5th. I'm confident that we'll get a vote in both houses and we'll see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, behind the scenes, senior White House officials have been workings the phones, calling dozens of House Democrats and also putting out phone calls to Senate Democrats as well. The president has also been engaging in some phone calls with members of Congress at this moment. And one of the arguments that the White House has been making to Democrats as they are selling this bill is that they need to think about what didn't make it into the bill, talking about the fact that they were able to hold off any further tightening of work requirements for other social safety net programs. Also the fact that they preserved things like the Inflation Reduction Act.

Now, we will see whether President Biden will have any further comment when he returns to the White House in just a short while. The president is starting his day up in Wilmington, Delaware, attending a memorial mass for his late son Beau Biden, who passed away eight years ago today.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Arlette, thank you.

We're showing some video right here from moments ago of President Biden.

All right, we're going to - we'll wat to see what we hear from the president when he returns to the White House.

Arlette is there for us.

Thank you so much, Arlette.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: And, Kate, the road to passage by June 5th is complicated with several possible road blocks. As we mentioned, first the bill has to get past the House Rules Committee, where it needs approval before even getting to the House floor. Now, if you remember, to become speaker, Kevin McCarthy had to place several conservative members on this committee to secure his speakership. Well, there are 13 lawmakers on the Rules Committee, nine Republicans, four Democrats. By tradition, the opposition party, in this case the Democrats, never vote for the rules. So, Republicans would need seven votes. The problem is, as we mentioned earlier, Chip Roy and Ralph Norman are

already a no. So, all eyes are on Thomas Massie. He is seen as the swing vote and hasn't expressed publicly his opinion about the deal. Without his vote, the deal dies unless, unless, a Democrat joins the remaining Republicans to vote to advance the bill to the full house.

Assuming it clears that hurdle, it would go to the House tomorrow. It would then need a simple majority, that means 218 votes if all members are present. The GOP has a 222-213 majority in the House. So, it's possible to get it passed along party lines, but unlikely.

It then goes to the Senate, where in theory they could quickly hold a vote if they agree to unanimous consent, which means that they can skip the debate. But, and this is a big but, it only takes one lawmaker to hold it up. And both senators, Mike Lee and Lindsey Graham have said that they have objections to the bill and could put up road blocks further delaying the process. Potentially pass a default deadline of Monday, June 5th.

Tick tock, tick tock, Kate.

KKB: Absolutely.

Coming up for us, battered at sea for hours. Terrifying moments aboard a Carnival cruise ship. The video really.

We're going to hear from one passenger about what she and her family went through in all of this.

And there's also a new twist we want to tell you about involving the suspect in the disappearance of Natalie Holloway. The new request now coming in from his attorneys.

We'll be back.

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