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OceanGate Under Intense Scrutiny After Implosion; Pakistan: At Least 300 Nationals On Board Capsized Vessel; CNN Investigation Casts Doubt On Greece's Official Account; Supreme Court Sides With Biden Immigration Policy; Global Hack Blamed On Russian Cybercriminals Affects Insurance Giant, California Pension Fund; Section of I-95 Damaged In Tanker Fire Reopens. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 23, 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]

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GUILLERMO SOHNLEIN, CO-FOUNDER, OCEANGATE: I had absolutely full confidence in Stockton in the design of the sub and his ability to engineer it and, most importantly, to take it through a rigorous test program. I had absolutely no qualms with it.

I would encourage us to hold off on speculation until we have more data to go on.

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: CNN's Gabe Cohen joins me now.

In fact, it is not speculation because safety concerns were raised repeatedly in recent years. And normal safety measures in terms of testing it appears were not followed.

You've been following this very closely. What have you found?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, Jim, at this point, the prospects of a formal investigation are really unclear. It is the Wild West out there when you do these dives out there in international waters. There is little to no regulation.

But OceanGate is under the microscope. And we know that some submersible experts have been raising red flags for years about this vessel, the way it was built, the way it was tested and eventually the way it made these dives. All of them warning that this could end in catastrophe.

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COHEN (voice-over): Former OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and his ill- fated "Titan" submersible facing intense scrutiny. Rush, who perished in the "Titan," had a reputation as a visionary, but also as a self- proclaimed rule breaker.

STOCKTON RUSH, FORMER OCEANGATE CEO: I think it was General MacArthur who said, you're remembered for the rules you break. And I've broken some rules to make this. I think I've broken them with logic and good engineering behind me.

COHEN: The co-founder of OceanGate, Guillermo Sohnlein, says he had complete faith in Rush and would have gone on the Titanic expedition himself if he'd had the chance.

GUILLERMO SOHNLEIN, CO-FOUNDER, OCEANGATE: There's always a risk of catastrophic implosion. It's something that we know about. It's something that we plan for, plan against. And it's just a known risk.

COHEN: D.J. Virnig, who's a subcontractor for OceanGate, says Rush's experimental design passed testing for the pressures that would be found at Titanic's depth.

DOUG D.J. VIRNIG, SUBCONTRACTOR: Then the question is, well, if you do that repeatedly, then what happens?

So, these are the sorts of questions that if you have a long research and development program, you start answering. But if you really are pushing the envelope, there's no time to -- you're answering those questions in real-time.

COHEN: Will Kohnen, who chairs the submarine committee of the Marine Technology Society, says he wrote to Rush, concerned OceanGate wasn't following the same safety standards as other vessels.

In his 2018 letter, first obtained by "The New York Times," Kohnen warned Rush about what he called the company's "experimental approach" that could have serious consequences.

CNN has previously reported that two former OceanGate employees, who were not engineers, separately raised safety concerns years ago about the hull of the "Titan" sub. The hull was made of carbon fiber composite, the type of material used in spacecraft.

Filmmaker James Cameron, who's made more than 30 dives to the wreckage of the Titanic himself, says the danger of using carbon fiber composite is known within the engineering community.

JAMES CAMERON, DIRECTOR: We always understood that this was the wrong material for submersible hulls because, with each pressure cycle, you can have progressive damage. It's quite insidious.

And that, I think, lulled them into a sense of confidence and led to this tragedy.

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COHEN: I interviewed Stockton Rush several times as a reporter in Seattle and I did press him about safety. He told me he thought of the submersibles as armored vehicles.

Before another expedition, he said to me, everyone is getting back safe. We can take risks with equipment but not with people. But Jim, of course, now we know there were people in the industry who

believed he was taking big risks with people, even if he didn't believe it.

SCIUTTO: Did he ever show any doubts when you pressed him on the safety issues?

COHEN: Every time we spoke to them, they were so firm that they had tested these. They were working with the best partners. They had invested money where it really counted in that pressure vessel where the five passengers would sit.

And they were confident to an extreme degree about how safe this vessel was.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. Well, a lot of hard questions still to be answered going forward.

Gabe Cohen, thanks so much.

Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Now to a CNN investigation into the deadly migrant boat tragedy off the coast of Greece. The official death toll from Greek authorities stands at 82.

But Pakistan says at least 350 of its nationals were on board the boat that capsized last week. The interior minister said today that only 12 Pakistanis survived.

And now a CNN investigation is raising serious questions about the Greek Coast Guard's account of this tragedy.

We have CNN's Jomana Karadsheh who is on the case and joining us with that.

Jomana, tell us what you found.

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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Brianna, the Mediterranean, as you know, is the deadliest migrant and refugee route in the world.

We find ourselves year after year reporting on these catastrophic shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. And it appears that last week's tragedy was one of the deadliest ever.

You mentioned 82 people confirmed dead. But more than 500 remain unaccounted for, presumed dead right now in the bottom of one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean Sea.

And based on our investigation, this appears to have been more than just an avoidable tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KARADSHEH (voice-over): About 750 refugees and migrants were packed into this fishing vessel bound for Italy before it capsized off the coast of Greece. Only 104 survived, and with them, the harrowing accounts of what they had been through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I can still hear the voice of the women calling out for help. You would swim and move bodies out of the way.

KARADSHEH: The survivor spoke to us from Greece. He asked for his identity to be concealed for security reasons.

And another account obtained by CNN not only contradicts the official version of events but point to fault on the part of Greek Coast Guard.

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KARADSHEH: And, Brianna, our investigation is based on the firsthand accounts of survivors, families of survivors, and victims and activists, as well as open source and marine traffic data. And it all casts serious doubt on the official Greek version of events.

What we do know, based on this investigation, this was an overcrowded boat that was in distress. Horrific conditions on board. More than 750 people were believed to be on this boat that was lost at sea.

They had run out of food and water. And according to some reports, at least six people died on board.

And it was in distress. And Greek authorities were notified of the situation, of the boat, and they were monitoring it. They were in touch with it for more than 12 hours. And they didn't act.

But it's not only -- these allegations are not only that they didn't act. There are also more serious allegations that it was a botched attempt by Greek authorities to tow the boat that caused it to capsize.

And this is a tactic the Greek Coast Guard has been accused of in the past, trying to push refugees and migrant boats away from their shores.

We have reached out to the Greek Coast Guard. They have declined a request for an interview. They referred us to the previous statement in which they deny the boat was in distress.

They say it was continuing on its course toward Italy. That it declined any assistance. That it refused assistance.

And they blame what happened, they say, on some sort of movement on board, panic on board. They say they were nowhere near it when it capsized and they had not attempted to tow the boat.

But according to U.N. -- a top U.N. official we spoke to, and other legal experts, they say that, here, the issue is not whether this boat was in distress or not. There was a real legal obligation here by the Coast Guard to intervene

in what appeared to be a boat that was on this smuggling and trafficking route, overcrowded, unseaworthy, and that they had an obligation to intervene.

And had they done so, they say, hundreds of lives could have been saved -- Brianna?

KEILAR: The death toll here, astronomical. And we can't even really get an accurate number but it is very large.

Jomana Karadsheh, thank you for bringing us that investigation.

Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The fallout widening. And that major global hack affecting millions of Americans. An insurance giant now says hackers accessed their customers' information, including their Social Security numbers. We have details on that.

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Plus, it's probably a good idea to check out your freezer. There's a big frozen fruit recall that we'll tell you about when we come back on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: New today, the U.S. Supreme Court rejecting a challenge from two Republican-led states to a Biden administration immigration enforcement policy, 8-1.

The court overwhelmingly ruling in favor of federal guidelines that prioritize who gets deported based on their public safety risk.

Let's break it down with CNN Supreme Court reporter, Ariane De Vogue.

Ariane, Texas and Louisiana filed this challenge. They argued that the policy conflicted with immigration law. But 8-1, that's an overwhelming ruling.

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Right. This is a major win for Biden.

And what these two state's attorney generals had said is, look, these priorities, they violate federal law. So they should be able to go away.

But the court dismissed the challenge on this ground. It said the states didn't have the legal right or the authority to even bring this case in the first place.

They said, look, the Biden -- the government here has discretion when it comes to enforcement. These states can't step in. They can't bring this kind of challenge. And as you said, it was then dismissed on standing. And it was 8-1. And only Justice Samuel Alito dissented here.

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And Brett Kavanaugh was writing for the majority. And he said five administrations have always brought these priorities forward. And the reason for that is because there just isn't enough money to take care of the millions of people who are here.

So it's always happened in the past. And they said that, here, the states couldn't bring the challenge.

And just a reminder of what these priorities were. The Biden administration said they wanted to prioritize people who are a threat to national security, public safety, border security.

This was the latest salvo in this fight between the Biden administration and Republican-led states, and today the Biden administration won.

SANCHEZ: An important decision, one of many that we're anticipating still to come from the Supreme Court.

Ariane De Vogue, we know you'll be here to break them down for us in a couple of weeks.

DE VOGUE: Next week.

SANCHEZ: Next week.

Ariane De Vogue, thanks so much.

Jim?

SCIUTTO: The damage from a global hack, apparently, the work of Russian cybercriminals, is widening in this country.

U.S. insurance provider Genworth now says that 2.5 million of its policy holders and customers had their data accessed in the hack. California's pension fund says more than 760,000 of its members also affected.

Those two join a growing list of U.S. companies as well as state and federal agents hacked by Russian cybercriminals. The list goes on.

CNN's cybersecurity reporter, Sean Lyngaas, joins us now.

Sean, this is a frequent activity. Often Russian cybercriminals. Many of us have been victims. I've been a victim of several of these.

Do we know how far and wide this went?

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Jim, we're still getting a sense weeks after the initial hack took place of just how widespread this is. I mean, when you exploit a software like they did, they went after a

file transfer software that a lot of people haven't heard of, a lot of people use, called MOVEit.

They have thousands of customers around the world, a lot of state governments in the U.S. and a lot of federal government customers.

When you get that access, it is a pandora's box of potential fraud and abuse there. So we're still learning. And I think by the end of next week, we might be in the double digits in terms millions of Americans affected.

We have the DMVs of Louisiana and Oregon affected. As you said, we have California's public pension fund and one of the biggest insurance providers in Genworth. So it is very much an evolving situation.

And they went from potential concerns about disruption, which didn't materialize. These hackers are just about extorting, they're not about disrupting, to financial fraud and that sort of thing.

So companies are issuing credit monitoring, which you're familiar with. It's almost an automatic thing these days. People are sort of immune or inured to what is going on.

And the hackers are negotiating behind the scenes. They're demanding -- I heard from one source who is involved in the negotiations -- over $100 million from an institution, a company the in the U.S., which was a nonstarter. An audacious amount.

However, I happen to get some demands. Officials are pretty mum on the amounts paid and how many companies have paid, but some have paid, U.S. cybersecurity officials confirmed to me the other day.

SCIUTTO: So I guess the point is sometimes they take the data, use, sell that data, and sometimes they issue a ransom and some of these companies pay.

Sean Lyngaas, thanks so much.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Ahead, a welcome development in Philadelphia, especially for commuters on the city's busy highways.

And then, what went wrong on the submersible "Titan?" The investigation is ramping up and we will look at what experts will be examining and what this could mean for future ocean exploration.

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This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:53:35] SCIUTTO: This hour, in Philadelphia, countless motorists and truck drivers breathing easier and driving a bit faster. A damaged section of Interstate 95 reopened at noon after a really remarkable scramble to repair it.

Crews had been working around-the-clock since a fiery tanker truck crash caused that section of the highway to collapse. That part of I- 95 carries about 160,000 vehicles through Philadelphia every day.

CNN's Danny Freeman joins us now with the latest.

Danny, man, this had an enormous effect. But, boy, did they work quickly.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, pretty stunning when you think about it. We were here 12 days ago when that initial collapse happened on the northbound side. I don't think anyone thought we would see traffic running less than two weeks later.

By early this morning, we saw the governor drive over this stretch behind me. We saw two fire trucks drive over. And of course, in Philadelphia fashion, we saw all five Philadelphia sport team mascots drive over as well.

But I just want to remind folks how we got here. Like you said, a tanker truck carrying 8,500 gallons of gasoline crashed and exploded two weeks ago on Sunday morning. That's what caused the northbound lane to collapse.

And initially, the governor said it could take months before we see traffic on this road behind me.

But then the state found out the solution, that they could use what's called foam glass aggregate to basically pile this recycled bottled material up in this space behind me and then pave over it.

[13:54:59]

And that was how they were able to create six temporary lanes to get traffic moving here on I-95 behind me, a proud moment for the state.

Take a listen to what Governor Shapiro said again just a few hours ago.

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GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): This was a moment of civic pride for Philly and Pennsylvania. We all came together, and we proved that we could do big things again in Pennsylvania. We all came together and we showed that when times get hard, Pennsylvanians show up for one another.

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FREEMAN: Now, remember, this is still a temporary fix. We don't have a timeline for when the entire highway will be rebuilt. But for the moment, PennDOT says it is safe to drive, just take it a little slow for now -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: I like the way they drove the fire trucks over early to give some confidence there. Phillie Phanatic making an appearance as well.

Danny Freeman, thanks so much.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: The future of submersibles now in question after five people died in the "Titan" tragedy. What does it mean for the future of underwater tourism? We're going to discuss after a quick break.

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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