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Consumers Allowed to See Online Fees Upfront; Closing Arguments in Synagogue Shooting Trial; Report Says Johnson Misled Lawmakers; Astronauts on Spacewalk. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 15, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Short, medium range missiles, then they will be able to prosecute more - or gain more initiative, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Sam Kiley in Kyiv, Natasha Bertrand in Washington, thank you both very much for your reporting.

Rahel.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: And coming up for us, John, and still ahead this morning, killer whales setting their sights on boats off the European coast. More on what's causing the alarming spike in incidents.

And, right now, NASA astronauts are walking in space. These are live pictures. Walking in space to install a new rollout solar array on the International Space Station. We will explain and have the details just ahead.

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[09:35:05]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

All right, you know the feeling. You're online buying tickets to see your favorite team or band, then you get to the checkout and you get hit in the gut with all of those hidden fees. Well, not anymore, hopefully. Today, President Biden will announce that Live Nation and Ticketmaster will give consumers the ability to see all of those fees up front when purchasing tickets. The move hopes to try to minimize the often frustrating experience of watching additional fees add up late in the process when you're at the checkout. Yes, we all know the feeling.

Let's bring in CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans.

Christine, this feels pretty significant.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it does. And this is a White House that's trying to use the presidential pulpit to remind these companies that Americans don't want to be nickeled and dimed. And we know we're being nickeled and dimed. You've gone to get a ticket, a concert ticket. You say, I can afford - I think I can afford $150. And you get to the end and it's $200, right? That's just something that drives people crazy. So this is voluntarily, Live Nation and Ticketmaster, starting in September, there will be one, clear, upfront price. And the president, this afternoon, is going to sit around with some other companies that are already doing this. So, trying to make sure that you don't have all of these fees baked into things.

And, again, it is voluntary. It is trying to push these companies to do the right thing.

What you're seeing on the screen behind you is what the president has said Congress should pass, the Junk Fee Protection Act. And that would prevent these fees, excessive online fees, and also airline fees for families to sit together, drives families with young children crazy, and also early termination fees for TV or internet or cable or phone services. Those can be exorbitant. So, the president wants Congress to make those illegal. And also surprise resort and destination fees. So you think you're paying x for a resort trip and then all of a sudden, at the end, you find all these other fees embedded. And it's just this feeling about keeping costs down for American families.

SOLOMON: And being honest. Just tell me what it's going to cost.

ROMANS: Or at least letting people know up front what these prices are. It might change their behavior.

SOLOMON: Speaking of spending. Retail sales. I mean --

ROMANS: I know. We were expecting it to dip a little bit, and really it came in up 0.3 percent. So, the American consumer, Rahel, keeps spending.

And the biggest categories, by the way, were for gardening equipment and building materials. So, maybe that's a sign - a sign of the spring. That's certainly what's happening at my house. But you can see that the consumer continues to spend. That is the underlying resilience of the American economy. Now, maybe - maybe that fades in the months ahead but, for the most part -

SOLOMON: We certainly hope it doesn't. I - well, I mean, there - you could argue both things.

ROMANS: Well, the Fed maybe hopes it does.

SOLOMON: Right. Exactly. Yes.

ROMANS: And most people who, you know, real people aren't the Fed.

SOLOMON: Right. Right.

ROMANS: And so real people seem to be doing just fine.

SOLOMON: And we heard Jay Powell talk about this yesterday.

ROMANS: Yes.

SOLOMON: Just this remarkable resilience of the U.S. consumer.

Christine Romans -

ROMANS: And there's that Fed pause. You can see they paused for the first time in - in 15 months. So, a new phase now in the Fed rate hike cycle. I think you can expect some more rate hikes ahead because of that strength we're talking about.

SOLOMON: I think you're right.

Christine Romans, thank you.

John.

BERMAN: Wait, gardening equipment? Really?

ROMANS: I did (ph).

BERMAN: All right, you're welcome, America. Right? That's all I can --

ROMANS: Doing my part.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, closing arguments begin today in the Pittsburgh synagogue murder trial. This was the deadliest anti- Semitic attack in U.S. history. The alleged gunman faces 63 federal charges for shooting and killing 11 worshippers in 2018. If convicted of any of the capital charges, the trial would then move to a separate penalty phase.

CNN's Danny Freeman is live outside the courthouse in Pittsburgh.

Danny, what's the latest?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the latest is basically as we speak right now the jury is inside of the courtroom. The judge has been reading the jury instructions for the past 30 minutes. And then we're expecting closing arguments to begin really any moment now.

And, again, this is all after 11 days of testimony, 60 witnesses called for the prosecution and not a single witness called for the defense. But really, you have to remember, this is just the guilt phase of the trial, and the defense has never contested that Robert Bowers was the one who killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue back in 2018. The defense really has been focused more to if Bowers is convicted the death penalty phase of this case.

But first I just want to catch you up as to where we are so far.

Yesterday we heard from the 60th prosecution witness. That was Andrea Wedner. Andrea Wedner was a survivor of the mass shooting almost five years ago, but her mother, 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, did not. She described in court being terrified and essentially saying that it was indescribable. We thought we were going to die. She then described on the stand how she and her mother hid in a pew as Mr. Bowers was shooting across the synagogue. Mr. Bowers then shot these two folks, both Andrea Wedner and Rose Mallinger. Andrea said, at that point she knew that her mother was going to die, but she stayed with her mother because she said that she did not want her mother to die there in the synagogue along.

Andrea survived by basically playing dead until Bowers was apprehend and until first responders were able to rescue her from the synagogue. Again, just one example of the emotional testimony we've heard for the past three weeks.

[09:40:00]

But it's not over yet. Closing arguments expected to come any moment now and then this case will head to the jury.

John.

BERMAN: Danny Freeman, thank you so much for the update. Keep us posted.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: All right, John, coming up for us, a committee investigating Boris Johnson's party-gate scandal finds that he intentionally misled parliament. The former prime minister already accusing the committee of prejudice. We have more on their findings coming up next.

Plus, we are getting our first pictures of Pope Francis since his recent surgery. We are also learning when he will leave the hospital.

Stay with us.

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SOLOMON: Now to the international stories we are following.

[09:45:01]

At least 78 people are dead after a migrant shipwreck off the coast of Greece. The boat was carrying some 700 people and sank early Wednesday morning. Over 100 migrants have been rescued. Search and rescue operations are ongoing.

Pope Francis expected to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow morning. He's been at a Rome hospital since having abdominal surgery last week. This morning the pontiff visited with patients at a children's cancer ward at the hospital. "Vatican News" reports that this is the third time he has visited with patients there next door to the apartment where he is recovering.

And we have new video this morning of yet another orca attacking a boat in Europe. So, orcas have sunk three boats this year in Europe and have attacked dozens of others. One research group says these types of attacks are up from 52 in 2020 to more than 200 last year. So, some scientists believe that these attacks may have started because an orca was actually traumatized by a boat collision, while others say it could just be younger whales playing.

I mean, John, we are in their territory, but, nonetheless, scary stuff here.

BERMAN: Look, everyone's so concerned about artificial intelligence, AI, maybe we need to focus on OI, like orca intelligence.

SOLOMON: Intelligence.

BERMAN: They're learning. They're getting smarter.

SOLOMON: Be concerned.

BERMAN: They're coming after our boats.

This morning, a damning report released against former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and found that he deliberately misled parliament during its investigation into the Covid-19 party-gate scandal. He abruptly resigned from parliament last week, managing to skirt any consequences of the report before it came out. In a statement, though, Johnson pointed the finger back at the committee, calling the report a politically motivated charade, or charade as they say in the U.K.

CNN's Scott McLean live in London with the latest here.

This is - this fight is heated at this point, Scott.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right. This report is more than 100 pages long. It goes into pain staking detail, John, about what Boris Johnson said and what he knew at the time that he said it, because there have already been reports into lockdown parties, there have already been fines issued by police, but this committee was looking specifically at whether or not Boris Johnson misled parliament for statements like the one that he made in December 2021 when he was asked whether a Christmas party had been held the previous year.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And from what I can tell, the right honorable gentlemen, is that - is that all guidance was followed completely during Number Ten.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So, the committee was actually made up mostly of conservatives. Boris Johnson's own party. It looked at six gatherings, mostly leaving drinks. One of them was Boris Johnson's own birthday party. One of them had some 200 people who were invited to bring their own booze. And ultimately the committee determined that Boris Johnson did deliberately mislead parliament for giving unsustainable interpretations of the rules that he helped to write. For instance, he claimed at the time, and in some cases continues to

claim, that some of these gatherings were essential for work purposes. So, the committee found in its report, I'll read part of it, it said, we came to the view that some of Mr. Johnson's denials and explanations were so disingenuous that they were, by their very nature, deliberate attempts to mislead the committee and the house, while others demonstrated deliberation because of the frequency with which he closed his mind to the truth.

Now, Boris Johnson released his own scathing response, writing in part, for the committee now to say that all such events, thank yous and birthdays were intrinsically illegal is ludicrous, contrary to the intentions of those who made the rules, including me, and contrary to the findings of the Met police. And above all I did not, for one moment, think that they were elicit at the time or when I spoke in the comments.

So, ultimately, this report suggests that Boris Johnson ought to be suspended as an MP for 90 days, which would potentially open him up to a bi-election (ph) in his seat. But as you pointed out, he resigned last week, though he has also hinted at a potential comeback down the road, John.

BERMAN: Still very much in the spotlight.

Scott McLean, thank you very much for summing that up for us.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: All right, John, thank you.

And happening now, NASA astronauts hard at work installing new solar panels on the International Space Station. Maybe perhaps also enjoying the views. All while a colossal asteroid is set to pass earth today. Yes, you heard me correctly. We will explain on the other side of this.

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[09:53:34]

SOLOMON: Right now NASA astronauts are stepping out of the International Space Station for a spacewalk. Their objective is to install a rollout solar array on the starboard truss of the International Space Station. And they are also doing this as an asteroid the size of the Brooklyn Bridge is set to pass by earth today.

CNN's Tom Foreman has the latest for us.

Tom, you know, we always watch in awe as astronauts do their work flawlessly in space, but how risky is it?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's a lot riskier than we think. We get used to this. We think there's nothing of it. We see it in movies. This is still a very risky endeavor. They are tethered to the ship here, but it's always possible they could become untethered. They have a little jet pack that would help them get back to it if it works, if nothing goes wrong there.

If one of these suits ruptured, it never has before, they would pass out in a matter of seconds. Very unlikely to survive if that were the case. And, interestingly enough, in 2013 an astronaut nearly drowned because there was a liquid leak inside his suit. And with no gravity, that water started clustering around his face. He couldn't see, he couldn't breathe, and it was really touch and go to get him back inside. So, this work looks really simple, it's really complicated, not to mention it always looks like slow motion in the movies, but they're traveling at very close to five miles per second. So, good on them. Brave efforts by these astronauts.

[09:55:00]

SOLOMON: Absolutely. But as you lay out there, really risk everywhere you turn for those astronauts.

Speaking of risk, Tom, so we understand that an asteroid the size of the Brooklyn Bridge, is what I have been told, is set to pass by earth today. I mean, should we be concerned?

FOREMAN: Really? I hadn't heard about this.

SOLOMON: Am I breaking this to you?

FOREMAN: No, it's - yes. Yes. About 1,600 feet long. Yes, if something like this ran into earth, there would be a big impact. We would know something about it if that were to happen. This is not going to happen. It's being tracked by the jet propulsion lab. And it is, ah, ballpark, 10 times as far away as the moon. Yesterday one about the size of a house came closer than the moon, but the good part was it was a three-bedroom house, two baths, and nice backyard for barbeques. So, no risk. We're keeping an eye on them.

SOLOMON: Sounds like my type of house. Tom Foreman, thank you.

FOREMAN: Yes. We'll see you all.

BERMAN: It did have new bathrooms and kitchens, though. So, it was updated. (INAUDIBLE).

SOLOMON: As it - as it should. As they should.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, Ukraine saying its counteroffensive is making progress. A CNN exclusive on the technology that is helping fuel the advances.

And the bodies of a woman and a man found at a resort hotel. What officials are now saying about how they died.

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