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Debt Ceiling Deal Before Congress; Cross Border Strikes Increasing; Chinese Jet Close to U.S. Plane; Chris Christie Expected to Launch Campaign; DeSantis Slams Trump; Tree of Life Trial Resumes Today. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 31, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:43]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A critical day for the U.S. economy and maybe for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's career. What could be the decisive vote on the controversial deal to raise the debt ceiling. It's just hours away.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis taking on Donald Trump directly for really the first time since becoming a presidential candidate, hitting the campaign trail in Iowa and now vowing to fight back against the former president.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Also happening today, an historic meeting on UFOs. NASA set to unveil what a nine month long investigation uncovered.

This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: So, this really is the day that could make or break the deal to avoid a catastrophic U.S. default. It's also the day that could make or break the speakership of Kevin McCarthy. The House will vote on the bill to suspend the debt ceiling in just a few hours, with a whole lot going on underneath the surface.

So, the rules committee did narrowly vote in favor of advancing the bill to the House floor, but there was severe pushback from some conservatives. The bill now needs a simple majority to pass or 218 if everyone is present today. As it stands right now, Republicans control 222 seats in the House, the Democrats, 213.

Republican leadership had promised the White House about 150 of its members to vote yes, which means Democrats would have to make up the rest.

But the real number to watch might be 111. That is half the Republican membership. If the bill does not get a majority of Republican votes, some Republicans have suggested they would move to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. So, technically, the bill could pass but still get McCarthy in a heap of hot water.

The timeframe to get the bill signed into law is now extremely tight. Really just five days. The Treasury Department says the U.S. will not be able to pay its bills come Monday. Overnight, the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would save about $1.5 trillion over a decade.

Let's get right to Capitol Hill and find out where things stand at 9:02 a.m. Lauren Fox is there.

How do things look right now, Lauren?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are a couple of hours away from the vote this evening. But there's a couple things to keep an eye on. The first one is a vote that will come to the House floor later this evening in which they are going to be voting on the rule. And the reason that that matters is because typically Republicans in the majority would be the ones to get that across the finish line. But there are some questions about whether or not, given some of the hardline conservatives who are concerned about this bill, whether they can pass that rule on their own. I asked Tom Emmer (ph), the Republican whip, earlier today. He said he was confident that they could. But if they can't, Democrats may have to jump in.

Then you're going to get to that final vote. Both sides of leadership feeling very confident that they are going to get the support that they need. Democrats are just huddling now with White House officials, getting any final questions answered as the White House is trying to rally support on their side for this legislation. Everyone very optimistic that this bill is going to pass out of the House.

But the next question is, what happens in the U.S. Senate. And while many Republicans are very confident that the votes will be there on their side to help Democrats get it across the finish line in the Senate, the key question remains, how long is it going to take. You have to have some kind of time agreement in order to speed this process up and make that June 5th deadline. How quickly it's going to all come together in the Senate is what we're going to be keeping our eyes on next.

So, House vote tonight, then all eyes turn over to the other side of Capitol Hill where the Senate is going to have to make their mark.

BERMAN: A bunch of moments to keep our eyes on.

Lauren Fox, keep us posted. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And there are many aspects to this bill, John.

One aspect that we haven't had a chance to talk as much about is the impact that the deal has on federal student loans. If passed as is the agreement would end the pause put in place by President Biden on student loan repayments and it would end it at about August 30th. That's if it's passed as is. That means people would need to start - start back up paying -- with those payments after that.

[09:05:04]

And they would also start being charged interest on those loans once again. You'll likely remember the moratorium on repayments, it started back

in March of 2020 during the pandemic and it has been extended since by the Biden administration. Now, the House speaker touted this change, this aspect of the deal, as a Republican victory on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): The pause has gotten within 60 days of this being signed.

SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: OK. OK, so -

MCCARTHY: So that is another victory because that brings in $5 billion each month to the American public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: There is that. But in what appears to be a compromise from McCarthy with the White House, the president's waiver program remains in place and untouched as part of the deal that he struck with McCarthy. This is the program that cancels up to $20,000 in federal student loans for about what comes out to about 43 million Americans. These are Americans who make less than $125,000. About 26 million people have applied for that relief so far.

But this is all now in legal limbo, this aspect, because the fate of the waiver program is before the Supreme Court, separate from the debt negotiation. And the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the matter in the coming weeks.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: Kate, a lot of people watching that space very closely.

Now to the border. Now to the war, rather, in Ukraine. Cross border strikes along the Russian/Ukraine border are increasing. Russian state media reported multiple drones were shot down this morning over the Bryansk region. And in the Belgorod region, four people were injured in a, quote, massive strike. That according to the governor there.

Now, in the south, two Russian oil refineries were also allegedly targeted by drones. And new security footage shows a fire that broke out at one of those refineries after the alleged attack. Meantime, in Ukraine, five people were killed, more than a dozen injured from shelling in Russian-controlled Luhansk.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Kyiv for us now.

So, Fred, what more do we know about these strikes in Russia?

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

Well, it certainly seems to indicate that the Russians are under pressure now, not only in the territories that they occupy on Ukrainian soil, but also on their own borders and in their own territory as well. And that Belgorod region really is one that has been under pressure for quite some time. You'll recall that last week there was a cross border raid by some anti-Putin Russian forces where they went across the border in that area, held some territory actually for a while, and then went back. And now you have this cross-border shelling that took place where the Russians are saying that several people were injured there. That happened in a small village called Shebekeno (ph), which is actually right by the border with Russia. It's a very small place. I was actually in that region in February of last year when the invasion began. The area in itself id civilian very small but it is very close actually to the town of Belgorod, which is one of Russia's main military centers in that region. So certainly this is something that will be very concerning, not just because obviously people were apparently injured in all of that, but also because it is quite close to some pretty important military hardware that the Russians have.

And then, as you pointed out, in other areas along that very vast long border between Russia and Ukraine, the Russians coming under pressure. You had those drone strikes. Interesting also that drone attack that the Russians were talking about in the Bryansk region, that's sort of a little bit further to the north.

One of the other things that both the Ukrainians and the Russians are now saying happened there is that apparently afterwards there was an artillery strike by the Russians on a traffic circle in Ukrainians territory, but it's very close to the border and the Ukrainians believe that the Russians are doing that to stop any sort of Ukrainian advance into their territory that could give an indication as to just how nervous Russian forces are in that area and the Russian government is, of course, as well.

One of the things, of course, that we saw yesterday was that big drone attack in the Moscow region that the Russians blame on the Ukrainians, but the Ukrainians haven't said that they were behind it. Nevertheless, the vibe that seems to be coming off is that the Russians do feel that their homeland is now under attack.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: Fred Pleitgen, live for us in Kyiv. Fred, thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: A sharp rebuke this morning from China about a U.S. spy plane flying over the South China Sea, calling the U.S. reconnaissance - calling U.S. reconnaissance missions a, quote/unquote, serious danger to China's national sovereignty and security.

This is after, though, the U.S. military says a Chinese jet conducted a, quote/unquote, unnecessarily aggressive maneuver. That moment was caught on camera. We can show you. We've highlighted the Chinese jet right there flying past this U.S. spy plane. You can see the U.S. plane also, as you watch the video, and it - and it advances a little bit, you will see that the U.S. plane shakes a little bit and the U.S. officials say that was turbulence caused by this close call.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand, she has much more. She's tracking all of this for us from the Pentagon.

Natasha, what else are you hearing from U.S. officials about all of this now?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Kate, well, U.S. officials are strongly condemning what they have described as a really risky and unnecessarily aggressive move by the Chinese to intercept this American spy plane, an RC-135 rivet (ph) joint reconnaissance aircraft, which the U.S. says was just conducting a mission in international airspace when the Chinese fighter jet actually cut directly in front of the nose of that aircraft.

[09:10:19]

And we should note that the aircraft is manned. It does have a pilot in the cockpit. And it caused a lot of turbulence from the wake of that Chinese fighter jet that intercepted it.

And so the U.S. is saying that this was very dangerous. And obviously this comes at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and China. And this is the second time at least in just a couple months that China has done something like this according to Indo-Pacific Command.

And you can see there the video of this incident which the Department of Defense released just yesterday. But in December, the Chinese did a similarly very risky and aggressive move according to the U.S. military, kind of cutting in front of a U.S. reconnaissance plane just roughly 20 feet in front of it, obviously creating the risk of a collision between the two aircraft.

So, the U.S. today saying that the reason why they want to keep the lines of communication open between the Chinese and the Americans is to avoid a potentially catastrophic incident here.

And Indo-Pacific Command did released a statement on this yesterday, saying that, the United States will continue to fly, sail and operate safely and responsibly wherever international law allows. And the U.S. Indo-Pacific Joint Force will continue to fly in international air space with due regard for the safety of all vessels and aircraft under international law.

Now, obviously, the Chinese are offering a very different version of events here, saying that the U.S. was actually interfering in a training course that the Chinese were conducting over their -- in their air space. Something that the U.S. obviously does not recognize. The Chinese say that they control much of the territory in the South China Sea and the U.S. says that it's international waters.

Now, as I mentioned, this comes at a period of very heightened tensions between the U.S. and China. Actually, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tried to set up a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Singapore while they are both there for a security forum and the Chinese actually rejected that request. One of several meeting requests that they have outright rejected over the last several months of course following House -- former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan that the Chinese very much condemned, as well as the Chinese spy balloon incident, of course, earlier this year. All of this, of course, the U.S. believes has led the Chinese-U.S. relationship to deteriorate fairly rapidly, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Natasha, thank you so much for that reporting.

And, John, the Pentagon clearly taking this seriously in releasing this video to the public.

BERMAN: Very seriously. You know, and Kate, this is the type of U.S. reconnaissance craft that was involved in that incident. And I can show people roughly where it took place. This is the South China Sea, which China likes to claim as its own territory, but very much international waters.

With us now to discuss this is CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

General, this is the video of this incident. Just very briefly explain to us what the U.S. mission is, what these reconnaissance crafts are doing in that region, and what do you see as the longer, bigger impact of this confrontation?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, the RC-135 rivet joint, John, is a reconnaissance aircraft. A lot of people are calling it a spy plane. Some might say that because it has the ability to collect electronic intelligence. As Natasha said, it not only has a pilot, but it has about 20 crew members in the back who are EW warfare experts and military intelligence analysts. They are flying over international air space. They are collecting data, which they do everywhere in the world to make sure that we remain safe.

China claims, as you said earlier, this is a - their inter - this is China's national territory. It is not. It is international waters. And for the last several decades we've been sending ships and aircraft into the international space to make sure that they realize that this belongs to the international community.

So, this rivet joint airplane, something (INAUDIBLE) Natasha mentioned there was the same kind of interference in December, this is the same kind of aircraft the British were flying over the Black Sea last September when the Russians tried to intercept it as well.

There's a difference between interception, flying alongside, making sure an aircraft stays on path, letting them know that you know they are there, and there's another thing when there's this kind of unprofessional behavior. Flying in front of an aircraft, causing disruptions in the air space, potentially making the aircraft crash. So those are the kind of things that there's a difference between a professional air force, which China is certainly, and unprofessional pilots or those who have been told to do something like this. And I think Secretary Austin's visit to the Indo-China - or Indo-Pacific region is certainly one of the reasons why they did this.

BERMAN: General, I want to shift to Ukraine if I can for a moment here because Fred was talking about an incident that took place right here, which is right at the border between Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

[09:15:04]

And it's this extraordinary explosion right on this road that we can see there.

Now, Ukrainians say that that explosion took place right at this three sisters monument, which actually is supposed to commemorate - it's from the 1970s, the bond between Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. But Ukraine says importantly the Russians blew it up because it's on a road that goes up from Ukraine into Russia and Ukraine says Russia is concerned that Ukraine may use that road to invade. I mean what does that tell you about everything that's going on at the border right now?

HERTLING: Both sides are preparing, John. You know, Ukraine is preparing for an offensive operation. That's why, as we talked last week, they're sending different shaping actions, which include not only drones that will strike military targets, but the desire to show Russia that some of their areas are undefended. If I'm a commander and I know suddenly my enemy force is coming into my area and I don't have troops there, I'm going to move troops there or try and disrupt their movement. That's what this artillery strike is, to try and disrupt some of the movement potentially into this area.

It's the same thing in terms of shaping. Ukraine is looking to get ready for an offensive operation. Russia is, quite frankly, a little bit nervous about where they're going to do, what they're going to try and execute, and the kind of plans they have. So, this is all part of the early chess game in what will eventually be an offensive operation, which I believe will be conducted soon.

BERMAN: Yes, the explosions that we're seeing, preparation, perhaps some nerves involved there too.

Mark Hertling, Lieutenant General, thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

Kate.

HERTLING: My pleasure, John. Thanks.

BOLDUAN: Great to hear from Hertling on that one. That was great.

Let's turn now to some politics. The Republican field for 2024 is about to get a bit more crowded. Another former Trump ally throwing their hat in the ring, or preparing to - hat in the ring now to challenge him. We're talking about former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

And CNN's Omar Jimenez, he's following this. He joins us now.

Omar, what are you hearing about Chris Christie's plans?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate. So multiple sources have told me that he plans to make this announcement on Tuesday in a town hall format in New Hampshire.

Now, this has obviously been a decision that he's been mulling for a long time now at this point based on our reporting. And from what we understand, again, town hall format at Saint Anselm College.

And this comes after his allies recently formed a super PAC to help support any presidential bid. And that sort of gave an indication that this frame - or that this was actually going to happen, that that groundwork started to be laid.

And over recent weeks folks in his camp have told me that he had been talking to stakeholders and people that matter to him most to try and make this final step, and it does appear he's gotten to this decision.

And up to this point he has been shy about saying that Donald Trump failed the country and he feels that he's the best candidate out of the many that have announced at this point to take on Donald Trump directly and then after it appealed to enough independents to take on President Joe Biden.

But, of course, as I mentioned, the GOP field has gotten pretty crowded already from, of course, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. I mean the list goes on and on and on. So, there is going to be a lot of work ahead for the former New Jersey governor to, of course, break through the pack. But folks in his camp do believe that if he's able to get on that debate stage with President Trump, that will be a very big moment for him to try and make some inroads there and try to, of course, widen that appeal to and in a different result then, of course, how things ended in 2016.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And we've definitely seen from Chris Christie in the past and in very recently he's not shy in taking on Donald Trump directly. And that we will definitely be seeing once he makes this announcement for sure.

It's good to see your, Omar. Thank you.

So, also we have someone else who has already thrown his - already thrown his hat in the ring, Ron DeSantis to tell you about. Campaigning in Iowa again today, and for really the first time since become a presidential candidate, he is taking on Donald Trump directly, saying that he's ready to fight back against the former president and now rival.

CNN's Jessica Dean, she's in Iowa. She joins us now.

Jessica, this is a shift - this is a shift for Ron DeSantis. A noteworthy one. What is he saying?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is, Kate. Before he got into this race, former President Trump was directly attacking him for weeks and weeks leading up to him jumping into the race. And now that he is in, we are hearing directly from him. What has been interesting to track is that he was in Iowa for the first time as an official presidential candidate. Last night it was his launch event just outside of Des Moines here in Iowa. And inside that room, with the supporters in a church with evangelical voter, he did not mention President Trump by name. He really stuck to his accomplishments as Florida governor. He talked about his vision, what he would do if he was elected president.

[09:20:02]

Once he got with us, with the press, and we were asking him questions about it, that's when we really heard him taking on the former president directly and going right at him. And that has kind of been a theme that we're seeing emerge, that when he's with voters and talking to them, that he can do it kind of more indirectly. When he's talking to the press, he tends to go after the former president more directly. And it's allowing him to kind of thread that needle. It's a delicate balance. Because, remember, a lot of these voters may have previously voted for President Trump here in Iowa and he's trying to convince them that he is the person to take the Republican Party moving forward.

And we actually caught up with a couple of voters after the event. Here's what they thought.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA STUBER, IOWA REPUBLICAN VOTER: Well, I voted for Trump on the last one and I thought he did a lot of things, but it was constant criticism. And I just feel like maybe another person in there can work across the lines. I'm very impressed with this DeSantis. I am. What - like, his character. It's his character. That's what it is.

SHAYLA SHOJAAT, IOWA REPUBLICAN VOTER: I do think he would be a great contender for Trump. I think he's more appealing, honestly, for me and my age group and my generation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And last night we also started to see kind of the contours of the back and forth between Trump and DeSantis emerging with DeSantis really saying directly that he believes the former president has moved left on a lot of issues and that DeSantis is really holding the line and is where he has been and will continue to be.

And, Kate, we're going to see him traveling all across the state of Iowa today. It is a state he himself has said is very central to his campaign and will be incredibly important in the months to come, in the run-up to this primary election.

He's then going to go to New Hampshire, South Carolina, to other additional early states. But underscoring the importance of Iowa, on Saturday, he will be right back here. He's going to have an event with Senator Joni Ernst.

Kate. BOLDUAN: It's great to start hearing from voters again and great to see you back in - in Iowa, Jessica. Thank you so much.

DEAN: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: Rahel.

SOLOMON: Well, Kate, witnesses are back on the stand today in the death penalty trial of the man accused of the deadliest attack on Jews in the U.S. Ahead, what we are learning about the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

And another U.S. state is legalizing recreational marijuana. We'll tell you where that's happening, coming up next.

And former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia. What we know about her condition, still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:39]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

Jury selection begins this morning for the former school resource officer accused of failing to act when a gunman killed 17 people at a Parkland, Florida, high school in 2018. Scot Peterson, charged with seven counts of felony child neglect, after four students were shot to death, three others were injured on the school's third floor. Now, Peterson was armed but stayed outside the building and did not confront the gunman. The former Broward County sheriff's deputy has pleaded not guilty and has said that he didn't know where the shots were coming from.

Recreational marijuana use will soon be legal in Minnesota for people age 21 and up. Governor Tim Walz signed the law yesterday and it allows adults to possess up to 2 ounces in public, 2 pounds at home, starting August 1st. It also expunges non-violent cannabis convictions in the state. Minnesota now the 23rd state to legalize recreational marijuana.

And Al Pacino is having a baby. The 83-year-old actor and his 29-year- old girlfriend, Noor Alfallah, are expecting. Pacino's rep confirmed the news to multiple new outlets, including "People," "The Hollywood Reporter" and "E!." Now, this would be Pacino's fourth child. He already has twins that are 22. He also has a 33-year-old daughter.

John.

BERMAN: All right, testimony resumes this morning in the federal death penalty trial of the man accused of killing 11 people inside a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. Jurors heard harrowing audio of a 911 call made by one victim minutes before she was killed. Eighty-four- year-old Bernice Simon told the dispatcher, quote, Tree of Life, we're being attacked, I'm scared to death. Her husband was also killed. On the stand, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers recounted hearing the gunshots and told the court, I expected to die.

CNN's Danny Freeman is outside the court in Pittsburgh for us this morning.

Danny, what are you expecting to see today?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we're expecting this trial to continue with more witnesses taking the stand and potentially hearing more of those calls that were so visceral and so emotional that we heard yesterday. And I'll talk more about that in a second.

But I want to go back for a moment and just remind folks what yesterday was all about because yesterday really set the stage for what's going to be a weeks' long trial here in Pittsburgh.

Prosecutors, they came right out of the gate to establish primarily one thing, not just that Robert Bowers was the one who opened fire and killed 11 Jewish worshippers back in 2018 in that synagogue, but also that he did so specifically because they were Jewish and he did so in a horrifically violent way.

And I should say, John, we actually learned a lot more details about just how violent and just how intentional these shootings were back then in that October morning. The prosecutor said that Robert Bowers went through the synagogue basically room by room, in their words, methodically hunting Jewish worshippers. And I'll remind you, at the end of that shooting, SWAT team members came in. They got into a shoot-out with Robert Bowers and eventually Bowers surrendered.

And one SWAT officer asked Robert Bowers, why did you do this? And Robert Bowers replied, according to prosecutors, because all Jews need to do. Jews are killing our kids.

And I should say, we also heard from the defense yesterday as well. They made their opening statements. And the defense, frankly, is not disputing any of the facts. They are not saying that Robert Bowers did not kill these people. The defense attorney calling his actions incomprehensible and inexcusable.

[09:30:04]