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Soon: Belarus To Receive Tactical Nukes From Russia; Ukraine Claims Slight Gains In Counteroffensive; Prosecutor: "Rust" Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed "Likely Hungover" When Handling Gun On Set; Texas Heatwave Sparks Worries About Power Grid; Bud Light Loses Its Best-Seller Status to Mexico's Modelo Especial. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 14, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Andrew McCabe, Elliot Williams, appreciate you both.

Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: "It's a miracle." Those are the words from the father of the children who survived in the Colombian jungle for 40 days after living through a plane crash that killed their mother. See what else he's saying about their recovery as he spoke to CNN.

After more than two decades, Bud Light losing its mantle as America's top selling beer. What is behind this drop? Who took Bud Light's spot? We'll have that ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:35:12]

KEILAR: Ukraine is reporting that its military has come up against fierce fighting in its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia. But Ukraine says it has clawed back some of its territory in the Zaporizhzhia region.

In the meantime, a key Putin ally, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, says his country is about to receive tactical nuclear weapons from Russia.

CNN's Sam Kiley joins us from Kiev.

Tactical nuke, Sam. This is a huge development.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Huge development with a huge impact with the president of Belarus claiming or saying that they have the capacity greater than the nuclear weapons that were used in anger in the Second World War to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nothing quite concentrates the mind like that kind of a prospect.

He has said that the weapons would only be used in the event that his country was invaded. But the interesting thing here -- and it's not clear whether or not the Russians, who will retain control over those nuclear weapons -- in other words, whether or not his boasts are Russian weapons in Russian hands controlled by Russians, who will decide if they ever get used, how they would be used.

But it is very clearly intended -- and he makes no bones about it -- to rattle the Europeans into stepping away from the very fulsome support that they've been giving to Ukraine in the prosecution of this war, and lately, of course, in the early stages of this counteroffensive.

So it's not unanticipated. It's not a surprise. They have flagged that they would be doing this -- Russia and Belarus -- but it does look like the movement of the weapons is now imminent.

KEILAR: What about the counteroffensive? Can you tell us where things stand right now with it?

KILEY: Yes. So the really important aspect of this is the increasing temper of operations from the Ukrainians on what we're calling the Zaporizhzhia front or the southern front that runs east-west from Ukrainian held Zaporizhzhia to Donetsk, which has been controlled by the Russians since 2014-2015.

They were doing probing attacks. The scale of the attacks is now increasing somewhat. There are significant casualties on both sides. Some NATO-supplied American-type equipment, Bradleys, MRAPs, the armored vehicles, have been destroyed. This was anticipated by the Ukrainians.

I've spoken to senior Ukrainian officers, who privately concede that counteroffensive that they have planned, and that we're seeing in the early stages of, are going -- is going to result in some significant losses for the Ukrainians.

I think it's very important, therefore, that United States has recently just announced another tranche of military aid, including replacement Bradley fighting vehicles because they have had some Bradleys destroyed.

And that's important in a military sense, but also in terms of morale. The fighters here know that they are getting this important support even as they prosecute this war.

KEILAR: Yes. At a critical point in this war.

Sam Kiley, live for us from Kyiv, thank you for the report.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: We have an update on a story that is both death defying and heartwarming. It's about the four kids that survived a plane crash in the dense Colombian jungle and then survived 40 days until rescuers could find them.

Today, the kids are, fortunately, hospitalized and recovering.

Their father is also talking to CNN saying their story is nothing short of a miracle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANUEL RANOQUE, FATHER OF FOUR CHILDREN WHO SURVIVED 40 DAYS IN AMAZON FOLLOWING PLANE CRASH (through translation): The moment we found the kids, we started to see thunder and lightning bolts. We left at the right moment. Ten minutes later and the helicopter could not have taken us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Here are a few drawings from the grateful kids.

And there is a sad wrinkle to the story. In the bottom left, they have drawn a dog named Wilson. That's a search-and-rescue dog that located the kids and is now, sadly, missing himself. Colombia's army has dispatched about 70 commandos to search for him.

Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Let's hope they find Wilson.

[13:39:23]

A new claim by prosecutors in the "Rust" movie set shooting case. What witnesses told investigators about the film's armorer and what she was doing the night before the shooting. We have that next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: New allegations in the investigation into the deadly shooting on the set of the film "Rust."

In a new court filing, prosecutors say armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, was, quote, "likely hungover" when he loaded a prop gun on the film set where Alec Baldwin shot and killed cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins.

Prosecutors say that witnesses are set to testify that Gutierrez Reed was drinking heavily and smoking marijuana during filming.

Let's bring in CNN entertainment reporter, Chloe Melas, who joins us with more.

Chloe, how is the defense responding?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Well, Boris, the prosecution is laying out the cards that they plan to present in this criminal trial that is looming sometime this fall.

And they are saying, right, that Hannah Gutierrez Reed was allegedly hungover, that she had been smoking marijuana. And that impaired her judgment when she loaded the prop gun that fired a live round of ammunition, a live bullet, that ultimately killed the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins.

[13:45:58]

Now, Hannah Gutierrez Reed's attorney telling CNN this morning that the case is so weak that they have now chosen to resort to character assassination claims about Hannah.

So they are, obviously, coming out swinging. They've always maintained her innocence. And they have said that she did not hand the gun to Alec Baldwin. It was the assistant director, Dave Halls.

Now I want to talk about Alec Baldwin now. Alec Baldwin, in April, we saw the involuntary manslaughter charges temporarily dismissed. We knew that this was temporary and that New Mexico prosecutors and the special prosecutors assigned to this were going to do further investigation.

What are they investigating? We know more. They are investigating the Colt revolver, the Colt .45, and they're trying to see if it was modified and if those modifications did mean that the gun accidentally went off.

Now the FBI report, when they did the ballistics test, they adamantly maintained in their report, that we obtained at the time, that the gun could not have gone off without Alec Baldwin pulling the trigger.

Alec Baldwin maintained in an interview to CNN and to other outlets that he has never pulled the trigger.

So they are saying that they have the gun and broken seer (ph), that they have sent that to the state's independent expert for further investigation, and that, if it's found that, you know, the gun did not malfunction, charges could still be brought back against Alec Baldwin.

Yet we knew that and, hopefully, we will have information before the next hearing on August 8th.

And I've reached out to Alec Baldwin and his team for further comment and they're not commenting right now.

SANCHEZ: We know you'll stay on top of the story.

Chloe Melas, thank you so much.

Brianna?

KEILAR: There are new worries today about a heatwave in Texas and the impact it could have on the state's power grid.

You probably remember last year, six power plants in Texas went off- line during a heatwave and Texans were asked to conserve energy. This week, energy usage is expected to break a record.

We have CNN Meteorologist Jennifer Gray joining us from the CNN Weather Center on this story.

How hot is it going to get there? What are you tracking?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. The huge concern is actually later in the week, through the beginning part of next week. And we could see records for energy use multiple days in a row. It is a huge concern across Texas.

Right now, temperatures are in the mid-80s to low 90s across Corpus Christi. When you factor in the humidity, the heat index, temperatures feel like triple digits. Temperatures are going to warm more for the next couple hours.

We have excessive heat warnings, excessive heat watches in effect, heat advisories for a large chunk of the state. And this is going to stay for several days.

We have high temperatures today reaching mid and upper 90s. Again, when you factor in the heat index, it's going to feel like the triple digits.

Highs tomorrow are even warmer. Look at Laredo, reaching 110 tomorrow. Temperatures will be 106 in Del Rio. And 100 degrees in Austin.

And then here are your high temperatures for the next couple days. They stay very warm. Dallas close to the century mark. Houston, triple digits. San Antonio, triple digitals.

With so much of Texas feeling the extreme heat, that's what's putting strain on the power grid.

Temperatures get warmer progressively through the weekend. Triple digits by the time we're Sunday through Tuesday in Dallas. And we're also going to see the same for Houston with temperatures staying in the triple digits for at least six days or more. It is a serious situation.

Another serious situation is the severe weather threat that we're dealing with today, across especially the south. We could see wind gusts in excess of 80 miles per hour. Very large hail, larger than three inches in diameter, as well as isolated tornados.

We have several rounds of severe weather that's going to be going on throughout the afternoon and evening hours, even into the overnight -- Brianna?

KEILAR: We've got to look out for our loved ones, too. I'm keeping an eye on San Antonio for my grandmother-in-law and mother-in-law. We have to make sure that the elderly are taken care of when we're looking at heat at that level.

Jennifer, thank you.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: Bud Light losing its top spot. The brand dealing with backlash over its partnership with a transgender influencer. What's the number-one beer in America now? Hint, it's not American.

[13:49:13]

We'll be right back.

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SANCHEZ: Bud Light tumbling from top-seller status in the United States as America's new best-selling beer comes from Mexico, Modelo Especial.

Now part of it may be changing tastes. In recent years, drinkers have shown a growing preference for Mexican beers and spirits, like tequila.

But of course, the classic Anheuser-Busch brand has been embroiled in a culture war crash. This drop comes after transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, partnered with Bud Light and posted about it on Instagram. That led to a right-wing backlash.

Let's bring in CNN's Nathaniel Meyerson, who joins us with more.

Nathaniel, what does the Bud Light data tell us?

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN CONSUMER REPORTER: Right, Boris. So America's top-selling brand is not American anymore. Modelo has overtaken Bud Light.

It controls about 8.4 percent of the beer market for the month ending on June 3rd compared to Bud Light, which slipped to 7.3 percent of the market.

Now, Bud Light has held this title since 2001. But we do see more beer drinkers switching to imported beers, like Modelo and Corona.

[13:55:03]

And clearly, the post with Dylan Mulvaney and the anti-LGBT backlash has taken a toll on Bud Light sales. They've dropped about 24 percent for the month ending in June, compared to 12.2 percent increase for Modelo.

So this just shows the backlash and how quickly it can spread on social media.

SANCHEZ: And, Nathaniel, Bud Light isn't the only brand dealing with this anti-transgender, anti-LGBTQ backlash, right?

MEYERSOHN: Yes, so a lot of other brands are caught up in the political culture wars over gender identity and sexual orientation.

Disney and its opposition with Florida to the so-called "Don't Say Gay Law," Target, which was forced to remove some Pride merchandise from its shelves because of threats. And then Nike also partnered with Dylan Mulvaney and they're facing backlash as well.

SANCHEZ: Interesting developments there, especially when it comes to Bud Light.

Nathaniel Meyersohn, thank you for that.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Here, in just minutes, a critical decision that will impact the U.S. economy. It will impact your bottom line. The Federal Reserve is going to announce what it plans to do with interest rates. We're going to bring that to you live, next, on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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