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3 Dead, Dozens Injured as Tornado Hits Small Texas Town; Flash Flood Warning in Effect in Pensacola, Florida; Judge Sets Deadline for Today for Attorneys to Reach Out to Justice Department for Security Clearances; Ukraine Officials: "Massive, Combined Air Attack" in Kyiv. Aired 9-9:30 am ET

Aired June 16, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:19]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: A tornado slams a small town in the Texas Panhandle, killing at least three people and leaving utter devastating in its wake. CNN is on scene with a first look at the damage.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The federal judge at the center of Donald Trump's classified documents case issues her first order. Some see a sign maybe that she is looking for a speedy trial. This even as the Trump team searches for additional attorneys.

SOLOMON: Plus, Pope Francis leaves the hospital this morning after his surgery, his message today. We are following these major stories and more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

At least three people are dead, dozens more injured after a tornado ripped through the small town of Perryton, Texas, leveling homes and businesses there. This drone footage shows just some of the devastation left behind. The tornado shocking even some storm chasers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huge tornado on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tornadoes just went through town.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tornadoes just went through town.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, we have major damage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: The catastrophic winds left behind piles of metal. One resident saying that she even saw dumpsters flying. Medical staff from hospitals near Perryton treated nearly 100 patients.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has deployed state emergency resources to, "meet urgent life safety needs." The storm system was among the more than 260 storm reports made in the last 24 hours from across multiple states. CNN's Lucy Kafanov joins us now from Perryton, Texas.

Lucy, good morning. What are people there telling you?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, folks in Perryton are waking up and scrambling, struggling to come to grips with the scale of the destruction. I mean, you can see the extent of the damage down this alleyway behind me. And this is just a small slice of the town. The town taking a direct hit. But more than the extent of the damage, what people are really struggling to come to grips with is how quickly all of this unfolded.

Now, keep in mind, this part of the country is no stranger to tornadoes. There are several tornado shelters right here, including a local library. But I spoke to residents who said there was simply no time to get to safety. It unfolded so quickly, some thought they wouldn't survive. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE JAMES, PERRYTON, TEXAS TORNADO SURVIVOR: There was a time where I thought that I was going to die and I was going to leave a lot of things undone. I know there's people here who died today serving our community. Some of the best people I've ever met in my life are here in this town.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: So much grief. And this is a close-knit community where people know one another, where people help one another. And those are the skills that folks are going to be relying on right now. People are finally returning to Main Street. There it is right there. You can see some of the trucks, some of the people, folks are dragging some of the metal rooftops that had collapsed. A lot of the structures are standing, but the glass was blown out. And so there is going to be a lot of cleanup and rebuilding work ahead in the days to come.

SOLOMON: Certainly a long road ahead. Lucy Kafanov, live of course there in Perryton, Texas. Lucy, thank you. now, I want to now bring in CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam. Because Derek, we know that the threat of severe storm is not over yet. I mean, where does the focus turn now?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Now, we start to focus on the same kind of unusual weather pattern that's setting up across the Deep South. But we've got a flash flood warning ongoing for Pensacola as well as Mobile, Alabama. Take a look at the 12-hour rainfall totals coming out of this area, specifically the West Pensacola region. They've had unconfirmed reports of up to 16 inches of rainfall. Much of that falling within a three-hour period.

CNN meteorologist did an analysis that is similar to a rainfall occurrence of a one in 1000-year events. So a very small likelihood of that type of weather pattern unfolding across anywhere throughout the Pensacola area. You can see the flood watches in effect. There's a flood warnings. Mobile to Pensacola. This has a considerable tag on it impacting a quarter million people. There were, in fact, evacuations that took place in the Forest Creek Apartments in the Escambia County region. This is in West Pensacola. So that occurred overnight. That coming from one of our affiliates, WALA. You could see the training storms.

[09:05:07]

What that means basically is that these storms moved over the same location for several hours at a time. There is now more precipitation forming to the north and west. So this is concerning as a meteorologist to see more rain forming in the wake of what already occurred. So with these rainfall totals in such a short period of time, there were swift water rescues that took place, emergency personnel were on the ground. And now with more precipitation, that it's only going to exacerbate the problem. I'm talking about that 1 in 1000 probability of occurrence.

This is in any given year. And I want to highlight this because our analysis shows this, that there is literally a 0.1% chance of this occurring in Pensacola. So a very rare event, to say the least. With more rain in the forecast today, right through the weekend, you can see how our forecast radar lights up. Rahel?

SOLOMON: A lot more to watch here, Derek. Thank you. Please keep us posted.

VAN DAM: Right. John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, we are learning two of Donald Trump's lawyers have reached out to the Justice Department to get security clearance. This is a requirement for them to get access to the evidence in his federal indictment and was also the subject of the first order by the judge overseeing the case, Aileen Cannon. She told Trump's legal team they had to request the clearance by today and report back to her by next Tuesday. CNN's Jessica Schneider is with us now on this. Talk to us about the pace here and what this means.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John, both DOJ and the judge here, Aileen Cannon, they want this process to move along as quickly as possible. So, really, Judge Cannon's first order of business was instructing all the attorneys to get in touch with DOJ to begin the security clearance process.

Now, our Kaitlan Collins is reporting that Trump's lawyers Todd Blanche and Chris Kise, they have already been in touch with DOJ because, of course, this case is comprised of highly sensitive classified materials. And because of that, these attorneys will need to get security clearance in order to work with all of that material.

In another turn here, John, this order is also significant because it shows that Judge Cannon, who has been criticized for siding with Trump in a previous related case and whose ability to effectively manage this case, has been questioned. It does show that she is already getting into motion to manage her docket within days of Trump's arraignment.

You know, Judge Cannon is relatively new to the bench. She was nominated by Donald Trump in 2019, but she will be the one running this massive and complicated case, and she is taking charge right off the bat by trying to get the security clearance process in motion.

In addition, here Judge Cannon's order, it definitely does put this additional pressure on the former president to get his legal team fully aligned. Trump does have Chris Kise, that's Florida's former Solicitor general. He's on his team. Also, Todd Blanche, they were in court with him during the arraignment this week. But we know that Trump is still looking for at least one other attorney, and his team has been in touch with Florida law firms.

But as you're aware, John, you know, attorneys have been hesitant to work with the former president. He really does have this history of not necessarily listening to legal advice and, of course, not always paying his bills. So they have to report to the judge by Tuesday as to whether they've coordinated with the DOJ, which at this point, John, we know that at least two of his lawyers have. We'll see if they can get others on board in the coming days. John?

BERMAN: Anything else on timing that Judge Cannon betrayed in this order? And what can DOJ do? What can prosecutors do at this point if they want to keep things going in a fast manner?

SCHNEIDER: Well, we know that DOJ wants to get the security clearance process moving as well. It's not just the judge in this case. So presumably all parties are going to work as quickly as they can to get in touch with DOJ, to get the clearance process moving along here. Judge Cannon has set the deadline for today for the lawyers to get in touch with DOJ for Tuesday to report to her about the progress.

So presumably, John, she's going to be monitoring things. Maybe if not at a daily level, maybe weekly or, you know, getting status reports. She wants to keep this moving as well because it is such a high- profile case with such massive implications and it's also just a massive case for her to deal with. John?

BERMAN: Jessica Schneider, thank you so much for this reporting.

With us now is National Security Attorney Mark Zaid. Mark, that actually doesn't do you service, this is your space. You know as much about these types of cases, broadly speaking, pretty much as any attorney in America. So how quickly can these attorneys get the clearances they need in this case and what does this first order from Judge Cannon tell you about her?

MARK ZAID, NATIONAL SECURITY ATTORNEY: So I think the order made a lot of sense. Good for her for taking charge and moving forward. I would already have imagined or expected that Trump's at least minuscule legal team at the moment, was already in contact with the Justice Department to start coordinating this. But it was a good first appearance by the judge to take this step.

[09:10:03]

The counsel are going to have to complete what we call an SF 86, just Standard Form 86. That's the National Security Questionnaire for all of us to obtain security clearances. And it is a very lengthy form. 130 or so pages, depending on which version you're looking at. It will depend on what's in these lawyers background. And it doesn't have to be something that's negative like an arrest. It could be that one of them is married to a foreign national, or there are relatives overseas, or as I understand it, one of them, at least one used to represent, or still does, some foreign government officials.

All of those are issues that the U.S. government will take into account when adjudicating their trustworthiness, or more precisely, the risk to national security if they were given access to classified information, how long it will take? Up to the executive branch.

I once had a federal judge order the government to clear me in 10 days, and I just laughed, because that generally just can't happen.

BERMAN: Mark, we learned the former president has scheduled a rally for a couple of weeks from now in South Carolina. What are the potential problems that could arise from these public political events? How could it impact the legal case?

ZAID: Well, there is a huge conflict between the legal case and the public relations political case. And I don't think that conflict is going away. The lawyers would be telling Donald Trump what has been discussed so many times, please stop talking. Every time he talks, he digs a further hole for himself from a legal standpoint. Problem is, politically, every time he speaks, it looks like it's favorable. His poll numbers go up, fundraising increases, it energizes the base. This case, as has been discussed so often, is going to be dragged out as long as possible. It is in Trump's best interest to take it past the election in 2024, because if he wins, this case goes away. Not the state cases, if they still exist, but this case does.

So he might as well push it out as far as possible. So I think you're going to hear him say a lot of things at the rallies. And most of us as lawyers and you as journalists, are all going to go like, you got to be kidding me. But this is what we have right now.

BERMAN: Mark, as I said, you know, no two cases are exactly alike, but you have worked in this space, broadly speaking, more than most attorneys in this country. So most people who have done similar things to what Donald Trump is accused of doing, what charges have they faced? In other words, is he being treated differently? And ultimately, what's the possible sentence for the types of crimes that you've seen?

ZAID: Sure. He has been treated differently, but it's been favorably to him. If this had been my client, my normal mid-level senior manager inside a federal agency, what we'd say a GS-14 or 15, maybe even a senior executive service representative. They would have been indicted a long time ago.

And they would not have been asked nicely to return the classified information the way Donald Trump was over a period of many, many months. So things would have been different, for sure. These cases are rare when it really comes down to it, but they do happen. There are other mishandling cases, or leak cases, but even with

mishandling, we've got 37 counts against him. If you looked at everything, you're talking over 300 years. That's not realistic obviously. Most of these cases, which rarely go to trial because the person pleads out. Because there's really nothing to say at the trial itself as to whether they did it or not factually. But they have recently been like three to nine years for prison time as a result.

So President Trump is facing real jail time. I'm sure any one day for him is going to be unacceptable, but that's what he's facing. Mark Zaid, great to have you on this morning. You can handle the truth despite what the book behind you says this morning. Great to have you on. Rahel?

SOLOMON: All right, John, thank you. And, John, just a couple of hours, Attorney General Merrick Garland and other top Justice Department officials expected to announce the findings of a two-year long investigation into the practices of the Minneapolis Police Department.

The long-awaited probe, of course, followed the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. I want to bring in now CNN's Adrienne Broaddus. She is live for us in Minneapolis with the details.

Adrienne, do we have any sense of what this federal investigation found?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rahel, it's likely this federal investigation will mirror or reflect some of what we saw in this state's investigation.

[09:15:07]

You may remember Minnesota's Department of Human Rights investigated the Minneapolis Police Department, and it found practices of racial discrimination. We're talking about traffic stops and use of excessive force, especially when dealing with people of color.

Now, I'm not saying that's exactly what this report will reveal, but based on those findings, folks here in the community say they will not be surprised if that is the case.

Now, in terms of the Department of Justice, not only did it look at training within the Minneapolis Police Department and some of the practices within MPD. DOJ members also spoke with community leaders. They wanted to hear about their experiences with officers with the Minneapolis Police Department. And that included teens. We're talking about youth. I spoke with Jerome Richardson. He founded a local group here called Minnesota Teen Activists. And it's really not local because if you look on social media, they have at least 50,000 followers, not only here in Minnesota or Minneapolis, but across the state. And he shared some of his experiences too.

So the big question that folks here in the community say they want answered is how will the Minneapolis Police Department be reformed? Rahel.

SOLOMON: That's a great point, Adrienne, in terms of looking ahead in the future. Adrienne, we'll check in with you, as we expect to hear from AG Garland at about 11:00 a.m. Adrienne, thank you. John?

BERMAN: New overnight, a combined air attack on Kyiv as Zelenskyy says, there is a way Ukraine can win this war. We're waiting to hear from the Supreme Court today on several high stakes cases, the opinions that will have sweeping impacts across the United States.

And first on CNN, a global cyberattack hits major U.S. government agencies, and we know who was behind it.

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[09:21:12]

BERMAN: This morning, Ukraine says it shot down 12 missiles and two drones in what was Russia's largest attack on the capital city of Kyiv in weeks. No casualties have been reported. Notably, this attack came just as African heads of state arrived in the Kyiv region to participate in the African leader's peace mission. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he sees a path forward for Ukraine to win this war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I cannot give you all the details. There are both defensive and offensive actions. Things look not bad. I would say it's generally positive, but it's difficult. Our heroic people, our troops, who are now at the front of the front line are facing very tough resistance. And you understand why, because for Russia to lose this campaign to Ukraine, I would say, actually means losing the war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: CNN's Sam Kiley is live in Kyiv. You hear President Zelenskyy saying the counteroffensive is going, as he put it, not bad. He is clearly continuing to fight a military war, but also a public relations war and a diplomatic battle at the same time, Sam.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and that diplomatic battle has gone his way thanks to this overnight attack, while seven heads of government and heads of state and ministers from African nations, have been here in Kyiv, their next stop is going to be Moscow, visit to the Kremlin. They are traveling with what they are saying is a peace plan that they hope both sides might be willing to endorse. It does ultimately require the withdrawal, though, of Russian forces entirely from Ukrainian territory, which is the position of the Western allies backing President Zelenskyy and President Zelenskyy, the rest of Ukraine, frankly, as well.

So by firing Kinzhal missiles, for example, six of them, these hypersonic most potent missiles in the Russian armory, whilst people like Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African president here is a sort of bizarre move by Russia diplomatically, plays into the hands of President Zelenskyy. Because Mr. Ramaphosa's head of military, for example, was a recent visitor to the Kremlin and they've had joint military exercise is recently with none other than the Russian Navy.

So in that context, this is if you'll skews the pun backfiring on the Kremlin. But at the same time, I think President Zelenskyy is also preparing the international community and his own people when he describes, I think very honestly that this is a grinding difficult campaign. It's going to be bloody. The anticipation here is that if Ukrainian -- even if the Ukrainians are successful, they are still going to take very significant losses. And their greatest hope, John, is to try to have a sufficiently frightening advance that the Russian military themselves collapsed because political support for this war among the fighting men and women of Russia is dwindling. That is their hope, John.

BERMAN: To wear them out. That is one of the goals of the Ukrainians, to be sure. Sam Kiley, great to have you there. Thank you very much. Rahel?

SOLOMON: John, this morning, we are keeping a close eye on the Supreme Court as we may see opinions on several high stakes cases in the next hour.

Now, we never know in advance which cases the court will rule on or how many, but some of the outstanding cases will have a major impact on affirmative action, student debt forgiveness, and LGBTQ rights. CNN's Ariane de Vogue joins us now to walk through some of these cases.

Ariane, I think we should start with the three cases impacting college students. A lot of people could be impacted by these decisions, affirmative action and student loans, what are we expecting?

[09:25:08]

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Right, all eyes are on this. Conservative majority just to see how fast and how far it's going to go. In the two affirmative action cases, the court will answer the questions of whether colleges and universities can continue to take race into consideration as factor in admissions plans. The plans are Harvard's plan and the University of North Carolina. And the schools basically say, look, we want to be able to increase diversity on campus. The campuses are a pipeline to society and that's why we want to be able to do this.

But the challengers here say, look, this violates equal protection. They say it amounts to racial discrimination. Important to watch here is once again, this court is being asked to overturn decades old precedent here in a case that could really change the face of college campuses.

There's another case where the court's taking aim at President Biden's student loan forgiveness program. That initiative was put forward to give relief to millions of borrowers in the wake of COVID. And here Republican states came back and said, look, Biden has no authority to do this, to basically erase, they said, billions of dollars of student debt.

Important here because at oral arguments, this conservative majority seemed very, very skeptical of Biden's authority here. And that would be, of course, a real blow to President Biden.

SOLOMON: And Ariane, also a lot people watching another case that involves religious liberty and also gay rights and a question about whether an opinion here could really open the door for many more cases like it?

DE VOGUE: Right, well, this case has to do with a graphic designer. She wants to start a business to celebrate weddings, but she does not want to create her websites for same sex weddings. It's a very closely watched case because supporters of LGBTQ rights say, look, she is looking to give businesses a license to discriminate to get exceptions to these public accommodation laws. And they said that this could impact other areas, not just religious objections. What about race and what about disability? Here, the website designer really sees this case through a web of speech. She says that the government can't force her to create a custom product that delivers a message that goes against her religious beliefs. So that's why she wants them to rule in her favor in this big case.

Now, we have seen some surprises already in some opinions, but the court usually leads the most controversial cases to the last. And that could come in the next couple of weeks.

SOLOMON: And as you point out, could have really major implications for lots of people. Ariane de Vogue, live for us at the Supreme Court. Thank you. John?

BERMAN: The Justice Department will investigate the planned partnership between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund which owns LIV Golf. That's according to the Wall Street Journal.

The reported probe into the surprise deal comes after senators raised concerns about antitrust violations. They say the controversial partnership would enable Saudi Arabia to, "sportswash its egregious human rights record, among other concerns."

CNN projects that Tennessee State Democrat Justin Pearson will win the special election primary for his seat representing the Memphis area district. Pearson and state representative Justin Jones were both expelled earlier this year after participating in a floor protest on gun reform. The general election is August 3.

And in historic confirmation, Nusrat Choudhury is now the first Muslim woman and the first Bangladeshi American sworn in as a federal judge. Choudhury will join the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Rahel?

SOLOMON: Well, coming up for us, new details about the deaths of two Americans staying at a luxury resort in Mexico, what authorities are now saying about a possible cause of death.

Plus, a CNN exclusive, the FBI warning after multiple U.S. federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, were hit in a global cyberattack. Why, the agency believes that hundreds of American companies could also be at risk? We'll be right back.

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