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Cyberattack Hits U.S. Agencies; Jury Deliberates in Antisemitic Mass Shooting; Legitimacy of Biden Audiotapes Questioned; Pope Leaves Hospital. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 16, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:33:54]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Now to a CNN exclusive.

A top U.S. official says that several U.S. government agencies have been hit in a cyberattack conducted by Russian hackers. It's unclear how many organizations have been affected in total, but some of the known victims are the Department of Energy, John Hopkins University and their hospital system, and Georgia's statewide university system.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand joins us now from Washington.

Natasha, what more are you learn about this cyberattack?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rahel, well, this is really a sprawling global cyberattack that has impacted hundreds of companies and governments across the U.S., as well as state and local entities, as well as major U.S. universities, including John Hopkins University and Georgia's state-wide university system, as well as several federal agencies. And according to the Department of Energy, they are among those that was hit in this hack. They released a statement last night saying, quote, upon learning that records from two Department of Energy entities were compromised in the global cyberattack, DOE took immediate steps to prevent further exposure to the vulnerability and notified the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency.

[09:35:02]

Now, that agency is the one that has really taken the lead on investigating just how this happened. But according to U.S. officials, what happened here is that a very popular widely used file transfer software called Move It was actually found to be - found to have a flaw by these hackers. And these hackers exploited that vulnerability that then allowed them to kind of get into all of these different entities. And according to the company that owns the software, that company has actually found a second vulnerability that they are actually working to fix right now.

But the fact that this vulnerability was found has really allowed not only these Russian hackers, but also potentially other criminal cyber actors to potentially exploit it and get in to even more victims. Now, in terms of who was responsible, we are told that it is a Russian

hacking group called Clop (ph), a ransomware organization, that has taken responsibility for many of these attacks. It is not clear whether they are responsible for all of them. But they have actually been asking victims for ransom payments on their website. Interestingly, they did tell federal agencies on their website that they are not interested in payment of that data, and that data has been erased. But this really just shows how when you have a vulnerability in such a widely used software it really can have really devastating and sprawling global consequences, Rahel.

SOLOMON: Absolutely. Really concerning.

Natasha Bertrand, live for us in Washington. Thank you, Natasha.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A federal jury is now deciding the fate of the man charged in the 2018 shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. That shooting left 11 people dead, making it the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. If found guilty, the jury will then determine if the accused shooter should be put to death.

CNN's Danny Freeman has been covering this case, joins us now from Pittsburgh.

We heard the closing arguments, Danny, and now the jury is deliberating.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. And we just learned that the jury has returned to court for the day. They started deliberating again at 8:40 this morning.

But, like you said, yesterday was all about those closing arguments. And we heard powerful, intense closing statements from the prosecution, and then also a much shorter and more muted closing arguments from the defense. I'll go through kind of what the prosecution said first. They started by arguing that October 27, 2018, was a pretty normal day here in Pittsburgh, especially for those members of the Tree of Life Synagogue and the other congregations who were there. It was a little rainy, it was overcast, but otherwise normal until, and I'm going to quote here, Robert Bowers turned a sacred house of worship into a hunting ground. The prosecution further said that Bowers killed Jewish people there just because they were Jewish.

Throughout the prosecution's closing arguments, they reiterated and showed some of the more graphic and horrific images of what occurred that day. And I've got to say, we actually had a view of the family members and some of the survivors of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting and they were stoic. They were stone-faced and they were just paying close, attentive attention to the prosecution as they were delivering these remarks.

Now, then we broke for lunch, and the defense brought their case. It was much shorter. It was only about 25 minutes. The defense said, there's no dispute that Robert Bowers was the one who killed those 11 worshippers that morning, but the defense tried to poke hole in his motive, saying that he didn't kill these people because they were Jewish, but rather because one of the three congregations there that morning supported a refugee resettlement group. And this was actually all about immigrants, not actually about Jewish people. That was the defense's argument.

The prosecution then got a rebuttal, said that was absurd, but that was what the crux of that ending of the day yesterday was.

Now, I just want to read a quick statement we got from the New Light Congregation, one of the three congregations that was present that day. They lost three members. They wrote in a statement saying, there can be no forgiveness here. Forgiveness requires two components, that it is offered by the person who commits the wrong and that it is accepted by the person who was wronged. The shooter has not asked, and the dead cannot accept.

Now, John, today we're hoping to see if there will be a verdict or not. The ones to pay attention to are 22 of the 63. Those carry capital offenses. Those are capital offence charges, I should say. And if he's convicted of those 22 charges, then we'll be talking about a death penalty phase afterwards.

John.

BERMAN: Still so hard to see those pictures.

Danny Freeman, keep us posted. The jurors behind closed doors deliberations at this moment.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: Well, John, coming up for us, there are new questions today about GOP accusations that there are audio tapes implicating the Bidens in a bribery scheme. Well, now, the same Republican leaders who have been pushing the theory admit they don't know if the tapes even exist.

And Bill Gates is in China for what the Chinese president called his first meeting so far with, quote, an American friend. Details on what the two discussed.

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[09:44:13]

BERMAN: This morning, some Republicans are admitting they do not know if there is any truth to the allegation that 17 audiotapes exist that may implicate Joe and Hunter Biden in a bribery scheme. On the Senate floor this week, Senator Chuck Grassley brought up these supposed tapes which were allegedly recorded when Biden was vice president, but now he seems to be backtracking, saying he has not heard them and does not know if they are real.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): The foreign national who allegedly bribed Joe and Hunter Biden allegedly has audio recordings of his conversation with them. Seventeen such recordings.

I just know they exist because of what the report says. Now, maybe they don't exist, but how will I know until the FBI tells us, are they showing us their work?

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[09:45:07]

BERMAN: So, senators learned about the alleged tapes from an FBI form known as an FD-1023. The document reportedly summarizes multiple conversations between an FBI informant and a foreign national alleging that a Ukrainian energy company executive offered both Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million bribes. A lot there.

CNN's Zachary Cohen is with us now.

Thank goodness you're here to sort of parse what this all means.

First, what exactly are these tape, and explain the backtrack that does appear to be happening among some Republicans.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, this was really a bold claim from a senior Senate Republican in Chuck Grassley who says that, you know, there's over a dozen audiotapes of this unnamed foreign national talking about -- with the Bidens, President Joe Biden, when he was vice president, and son, Hunter, about these alleged bribery scheme.

Now, we -- reporters have been pressing Republicans to prove these allegations, to show any evidence that they are even remotely true. And so far Republicans have failed to not only back them up, but have really shied away from Grassley's claim about the audiotapes.

Take a listen to what House Oversight Chairman James Comer and Senator Ron Johnson, who's launched his own investigation previously into the Biden's foreign dealings, see what they said when asked about Grassley's claims.

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REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): We don't know if they're legit or not, but we know that the foreign national claims he has them.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): I'm not aware that we have verified that those recordings exist.

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COHEN: So, Republicans have lobbed a variety of allegations out there about the Bidens, about Hunter Biden, who is under investigation in his own right, but the Republicans have not made any sort of direct connection between those allegations and the current president. These - these audiotapes are just the latest in a series of unverified allegations from Republicans on The Hill who are trying to make something stick.

BERMAN: Does the FBI have anything to say about any of this?

COHEN: Yes, John, the FBI - a senior FBI official was up on Capitol Hill recently and was asked about the existence of these audiotapes. Now, because we know that these - that this forms - FBI form and these allegations were passed along to a U.S. attorney, the FBI official would not comment on an ongoing investigative matter. But still, you know, there is this line between legitimate investigations and then these political attacks from Republicans. And that line can be blurry at times.

BERMAN: All right. Zach Cohen, thank you so much for explaining exactly what is and maybe what is not going on here. Appreciate it.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: And, John, coming up for us, a historic case playing out in Montana as more than a dozen young plaintiffs take the stand and say they're being impacted by climate change. Why they also say the state is breaking its own constitution.

Also new images this morning of Pope Francis praying after his release from the hospital. Coming up, details on how he will handle public events starting this Sunday.

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[09:51:59]

SOLOMON: The State Department says that the two Americans found dead at a Mexican resort have been identified as 28-year-old Abby Lutz, and her boyfriend, 41-year-old John Heathco. Her family tells CNN that at one point on the trip the couple had been sick for a few days but they thought they had food poisoning. An autopsy determined the cause of death was poisoning by a, quote, substance to be determined. A U.S. law enforcement source tells CNN that there is no indication of foul play.

In Canada now, at least 15 people are dead after a bus carrying senior citizens collided with a semitruck. The crash happened in a remote part of Canada's Manitoba province. Ten others were hospitalized, including the drivers of both the truck and the bus. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling the news, quote, incredibly tragic and sent his deepest condolences to those affected.

And in China, Microsoft founder Bill Gates met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Gates is in Beijing this week for his first trip to the Chinese capital since 2019. During this morning's meeting, Xi called on Gates to help promote U.S./China relations. He also said that Gates is the first, quote, American friend he has seen this year.

John. BERMAN: Rahel, this morning, Pope Francis is out of the hospital and back at the Vatican. He was discharged after undergoing abdominal surgery last Wednesday. The pope was surrounded by securities and well-wishers as he left the hospital in Rome, and even joked with the journalists covering his release, telling them, quote, I'm still alive.

CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau joins us live in Rome.

What's the Vatican saying about how he's doing, Barbie?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Well, you know, this was a momentous occasion. Any 86-year-old who's undergone this kind of surgery with this, you know, string of health issues he's had over the last several years, you're going to be extremely happy that he's out alive.

The Vatican has said that he's going to be resting, but they did say he'll be giving his Sunday Angelis (ph). This is a very important event here and people from all over, tourists in Rome, come to St. Peter's Square and he looks out of his window and says a prayer and blesses them. And they've confirmed, unless something changes, that he'll be doing that this Sunday. So, a lot of people will be looking at that.

He's not, however, going to keep his full schedule next week. They've canceled his weekly Wednesday audience. That's kind of a grueling three-hour affair. Also mainly for tourism visitors. He won't be doing that. But he's going to be meeting leaders of Cuba and Brazil in private audiences next week.

So, they want him to reset. They want him to get, you know, to get well, to recover. He's got two big, big trips in August, first to the World Youth Day in Portugal first part of August. Then he's going to Mongolia the end of August. So they want him to recover, continue his journey of recovery.

After he left the hospital, he went to the basilica of St. Mary Major. That's a very important basilica here. He always goes there before his trips abroad and after his trips abroad. Undoubtedly he was there to pray to the Virgin Mary, as he always does there, taking her for his recovery and the fact that he got out of the hospital.

John.

BERMAN: These trip, though, in August, Portugal and then Mongolia, which is very far away and one might think arduous, those are still on the calendar, still happening?

[09:55:09]

NADEAU: Yes, those are still on the calendar. And time and time again this pope has proven him to have the stamina and the energy of someone much younger than him. You know, he's also, you know, much of a symbol to so many people, his suffering in public and the fact that, you know, he is in pain so often and he continues to work. And, you know, that's inspiration to a lot of people.

John.

BERMAN: Barbie Latza Nadeau, great to see you. Thank you so much. Keep us posted.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: John, still ahead for us, a National Weather Service team will survey the damage left behind by a tornado that touched down in Texas killing at least three people. We are live in Perryton as survivors pick up the pieces.

And just minutes from now, the Supreme Court expected to release its latest round of decisions, some likely with major implications. We'll have it all for you ahead.

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