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Defense Officials Say The U.S. Navy Stopped Iran From Seizing Two Oil Tankers In The Gulf Of Oman; Lab Tests Show Substance Found At White House Was Cocaine; House GOP Split Over Possible Biden Impeachment. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 05, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: We begin this hour with a dangerous showdown between the U.S. and Iran in international waters. Defense officials say the U.S. Navy stopped Iran from seizing two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. It's a crucial waterway. Iran apparently at one point fired at one of those tankers.

Our Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon. Oren, this is a -- this was a hot exchange as the military might call it with live fire. Tell us what we know about what happened here.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It is. And that's what makes this more of a -- more of a warning and more concerning to the Defense Department as it watches what happened here. And this plays out in two separate incidents within a very short time span in the Gulf of Oman. As you point out, a critical waterway in the Middle East.

One with the Strait of Hormuz lets out into as you're heading into the Arabian Sea where a large portion of the world's oil goes through. So, that gives you an idea of the significance of this waterway.

At about 1:00 a.m. local time in the Gulf of Oman, the U.S. Navy says an Iranian navy ship approached a commercial oil tanker. And according to the U.S. Navy, approached in a way that led the Navy to believe it was attempting to seize this oil tanker, an action that Iran has done in the past. And that is perhaps why the U.S. Navy intervened here.

A U.S. Navy-guided missile destroyer approached these two ships. And it was during that time as the U.S. Navy destroyer approached that the Iranian vessel changed course and headed away from the incident. But that wasn't the end of this.

Only three hours later, according to the Navy, this plays out. The video you're seeing now. That is another Iranian Navy vessel approaching a separate oil tanker once again in international waters off the Gulf of Oman.

This time, the Iranian Navy vessel draws closer, and according to the Navy opens fire with small arms fire hitting the tanker there in several points. Nobody was injured on the tanker according to the U.S. Navy, but those bullets struck close to the living quarters on board that tanker. Another one of the reasons the U.S. was very concerned about this.

The same destroyer, the USS McFaul responded to this one as well. This time, there was a distress call coming from that oil tanker. And that's why the USS McFaul headed towards the scene as quickly as it could at full speed.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

LIEBERMANN: And as it approached once again, the Iranian vessel changes course and heads away from the scene.

SCIUTTO: Listen, a crucial choke point, of course for oil going through the Strait here. I wonder was there a direct conflict between the U.S. and Iranian warships here?

LIEBERMANN: Not a direct conflict. The U.S. Navy did not open fire in this case. According to the Navy, it was only the Iranian Navy that opened fire, pointing that fire at the oil tanker. That, of course, in and of itself, enough to concern the U.S. and why it saw the need to get involved.

Also, worth pointing out that the oil tanker put out that distress call. And the U.S. Navy specifically has boosted its presence in the region for this very reason. Having seen in the past multiple attempts by Iran to either harass or seize commercial shipping vessels.

According to the U.S. Navy, since 2021, Iranian Navy vessels and the IRGC have tried this about 20 times to either cease, harass, or in other way interact -- interfere with commercial shipping vessels. And I just got the notification that we have stills of the bullet holes --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

LIEBERMANN: -- onboard this oil tanker, the Richmond Voyager, and this will give you an idea of the damage to the -- to the vessel there. That is very near the living quarters here. Again, a reason -- another reason I should say why the U.S. Navy is concerned about this.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

LIEBERMANN: Worth going back to late April, early May, and within just days of each other, there were two separate seizures of commercial shipping -- commercial vessels by Iranian ships. And that's when the U.S. military bolstered its presence in the region with ships and with aircraft, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And we should of course note on civilian vessels such as that, it's not going to be armored in any way so wouldn't be hardened against that kind of gunfire. But before we let you go --

LIEBERMANN: Of course.

SCIUTTO: -- does the U.S. know whether this is an attempt to seize or harass or both? I mean that -- does the U.S. have an assessment as to what Iran is trying to accomplish here?

LIEBERMANN: The U.S. sees these both as attempted seizures. And although there was no distress signal in the first incident, there was in the second one. And according to the U.S. Navy, the Iranian Navy vessel there had held the Richmond Voyager, the oil tanker you see there, and ordered it to stop. So, the U.S. Navy sees this as an attempted seizure, one in which it was -- it interceded to prevent.

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SCIUTTO: No question. And, of course, the danger always escalation particularly if you would have U.S. and Iranian forces confronting each other directly. Oren Liebermann, at the Pentagon, certainly you stay on top of it. Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: From the danger of escalation in one part of the world to another. A volatile nuclear standoff is playing out again in Europe. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns that Russia may have planted explosives at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Today, UN monitors say they've seen no signs of bombs or mines at the facility. But ever since Vladimir Putin's forces took control of the plant early in the invasion, Europe has been on edge about a potential nuclear catastrophe. And Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells CNN in an exclusive interview, the Russians are ready to strike. Listen.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I have really from intelligence. I had documents. I don't -- I can't tell you what kind of documents but it's something connecting with Russia.

I said that they are technically ready to do something. It's very important that they mind some local minings. Yes --

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: At Zaporizhzhia?

ZELENSKYY: At Zaporizhzhia, in this station. They technically are ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's go to Eastern Ukraine now with CNN's Ben Wedeman. And, Ben, this is alarming because you have Russia, Ukraine, and the UN all saying different things.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. What we're hearing now, Boris, from for instance, President Zelenskyy is last night he said that the Russians had placed what appeared to be explosive devices on the roofs of some of the power units at that nuclear power plant. Now previously, the head of Ukrainian intelligence had said that some of the cooling ponds to the reactors had been mined, and also that explosive-laden trucks had been deployed outside four of the plant's six reactors.

Now, the Russians have said it's not true. That in fact, it's the Ukrainians who are planning some sort of skullduggery. But now, the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said they have no -- have seen no proof of anything at the plant have said that they have requested additional access to those areas that the Ukrainians have mentioned as possibly the site of mines or explosives.

So, the situation very unclear. Each side is exchanging accusations. The Ukrainians have for a long time warned of an impending disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. But certainly, the number of claims that something is about to happen there. That the Russians are planning something are really coming fast and furious.

Now, the Ukrainians are conducting drills. They have conducted drills in the area of Zaporizhzhia that they control, as well as several other provinces in the event something happens, Boris.

SANCHEZ: And, Ben, to put this in a broader context. It's unfolding as the Ukrainians are early in their counter-offensive and progress has been slow. Though they are saying there they are seeing gains in Bakhmut. Tell us more about that.

WEDEMAN: You know this is gains in one village on the outskirts of Bakhmut. Now, we've been in touch with the troops who are involved in that particular operation. And they do seem to be gaining ground there but not dramatically. It is at best incremental. Now that's from the South.

From the North, apparently, they're running into more trouble -- more resistance from the Russians. So, what they're trying to do is avoid street battles inside Bakhmut. I spent a lot of time there.

It would be really difficult sort of house-to-house, street-to-street fighting. They're trying to encircle the city to encourage perhaps the Russians to leave and avoid the same sort of bloody street battles that Bakhmut saw for the 10 months when the Russians tried and eventually succeeded in May to take over that city, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Ben Wedeman, live for us in Eastern Ukraine. Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Officials investigating the Monday night mass shooting in Philadelphia have found disturbing details in the suspect's social media posts, some of them posted just hours before he allegedly opened fire. The district attorney says that 40-year-old Kimbrady Carriker set out to randomly kill strangers shooting people in passing cars and also pedestrians who are just walking down the street. Carriker appeared in court today, will be held without bond, and is charged with five counts of murder and attempted murder as well as other charges.

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A 15-year-old boy was among the dead. Two-year-old twin boys are among the wounded. CNN's Danny Freeman is joining us live with the latest details in this investigation. Danny, what are these Facebook posts reveal?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, remember that one of the big mysteries so far is what led Kimbrady Carriker to go on this shooting spree back on Monday evening. And what we know now is that a law enforcement source is confirming to CNN that police investigators are holding in and looking at the suspect's Facebook account and social media history to try and see if there are any clues about a potential motive in there.

So, as we've just been doing some reporting, we've been looking through this social media. There are a lot of posts, I can tell you about guns, God, freedom, safety, and the Second Amendment as well. We'll pull up a few of them if that's all right.

The first one that I want to show you is from the actual morning of the shooting back on July 3. It appears to be a picture of a man in tactical gear holding a rifle. But then, there were other more political messages that were also shared as well.

There was one from June, which is of an image of President Biden talking about the Queen of England at this particular moment. And the language here says this is your president. We said the Second Amendment defends our rights. Now, it's God Save the Queen while he attempts to take our arms.

And then another thing and just -- it illustrates the variety of posts that we've been seeing in these social media accounts as there was criticism about the community patrols and more elder statesmen in the presumably local southwest Philadelphia community that Mr. Carriker lives. So, again, we know now that police are investigating and combing through a lot of these social media accounts, and a lot of these posts to see if there's any clue about the motive.

But you know, Brianna, you began this segment by announcing that -- or rather emphasizing that the District Attorney, Larry Krasner, said as far as they know right now, this was essentially a random attack and someone who just woke up and said, I want to start killing people. That was you know, in his -- in his words. And killing and shooting at innocent people just on the street.

There was a woman with two twins in the backseat of her car. And police allege that this gunman opened fire at this car shooting one of the young twin boys who were in the backseat. The others getting injuries from glass fragments.

Earlier today, the suspect was in court. It was a short preliminary arraignment. But they read the charges that included murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and other firearms- related charges.

At this point, Mr. Carriker's federal prosecutor -- or rather, excuse me, federal defense attorney -- rather I'll say appointed defense attorney right in this local level, they're not commenting on this case at this point. They're not commenting one way or another. But his next court appearance is scheduled right now for July 24. And we'll bring you more updates as we have it, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, you mentioned that family with the twins, also a 10-year- old boy in the car, and charges pertaining to endangering him, although he wasn't injured. And then the mother was injured from that glass as well.

We found out it was a police officer who hopped into that Jeep with them and got them to the hospital to get the help they so dearly needed. Really amazing story coming out of what is such a senseless tragedy there in Philadelphia. Danny, thank you for the very latest for us there. We appreciate it. Boris.

SANCHEZ: A looming strike that could have a major impact on the U.S. economy. Details on the feud between UPS and the Teamsters and their ongoing negotiations.

Plus, Republican presidential candidates walked in parades and spoke to voters on America's birthday. But one was notably missing. Where was the front-runner? More on Donald Trump's campaign strategy.

And later, scientists in Australia say they have confirmed the first known case of CTE in a female athlete. We're going to break down the implications when we come back on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: So, new developments on the powdery substance that was found at the White House -- actually, in the West Wing on Sunday. Lab tests have confirmed it is in fact, cocaine. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us at the White House. Jeremy, any more details about this that something that caused quite the event at the White House on Sunday evening?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Brianna. I mean, yesterday we reported that that initial field tests showed that this was likely cocaine. And now, we can report that a lab test has confirmed that this white powdery substance that was found inside the west wing has indeed tested positive for cocaine.

Now, we're told some more details as well about where exactly this powdery substance was found inside a small baggie. And it was found right at the ground floor entrance to the West Wing. Now, one important piece of context on this is that this is typically where tour groups which can come in sometimes during the weekend would pass through in order to get a tour of the West Wing. And also near where there are cubbies where people are asked to leave their cell phones. So, that is an important piece of information.

Of course, staffers as well with proper badges can also pass through this area. We don't know yet who brought this baggie of cocaine apparently, into the White House. A Secret Service investigation is still ongoing.

But what we do know, Brianna, is that the president, he was nowhere near this. He was at Camp David over the weekend and only returned to the White House yesterday. So, we'll be pressing the White House press secretary during the briefing in just a few minutes time for more details on this. But in the meantime, we now know that this tested positive for cocaine according to a lab test., was found inside the west wing, and the investigation is still ongoing, Brianna.

KEILAR: Are they operating under the assumption that this is related to someone who went on a tour of the West Wing?

DIAMOND: Look, we don't know yet where this investigation is pointing. But just when you look at some of the location details of this, the fact that it was found near one of these places where visitors are asked to leave their cell phones could be some indication. But we just don't know at this point who's responsible for this.

KEILAR: Yes. Of note, it is a place where the people going on tours are emptying their pockets in a way, bringing their phones out to put in little cubbies because they can't take them on the tours. All right, we'll be looking to see more details from you. Jeremy Diamond, live for us at the White House. Boris.

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SANCHEZ: Meantime, on Capitol Hill, a House divided. Republican moderates are butting heads with House conservatives over whether to launch impeachment proceedings against President Biden. Caught in the middle, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he might face an effort to oust him as speaker.

Let's discuss with Ron Brownstein, a Senior CNN Political Analyst and senior editor for The Atlantic. Ron, thanks so much for being with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Boris.

SANCHEZ: First, lay it out for us, why would Republicans pursue impeaching President Biden if the Senate is controlled by Democrats? Is this just about messaging?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look. I mean, there's a --there's a threshold question before that. Why would they -- what would be the grounds on which to pursue impeachment?

You know, Nancy Pelosi faced calls to impeach Donald Trump, literally from the time Democrats took over the House. They impeach Donald Trump when he tried to extort the government of Ukraine to manufacture dirt on Biden. And later when he tried to instigate insurrection.

They didn't impeach him because they didn't like his policies, which, you know, largely -- this is largely based on the idea that Biden is failing at the southern border. You can believe that. You can message that.

Do you -- do you impeach a president over that? And then, of course, this claim that they have -- the administration has impeded the investigation into Hunter Biden. They're a long way from having evidence to justify any action on that.

So, I think this is just more to me, of what we have -- I -- we have really seen over the last 25 years, which is that in each party, but especially in the Republican Party, there's enormous pressure. Any tool that can be used against the other side has to be used against the other side. And we've seen all sorts of barriers broken, whether it was you know, Mitch McConnell holding open a Supreme Court seat for an entire year. But impeaching a president with -- you know, it's hard to even put your finger on what the allegations would be, would obviously be an enormous escalation for that.

SANCHEZ: And it's not just President Biden that some House Republicans have their sights on. There's actually a number of administration officials, including the vice president, the attorney general, at least three cabinet secretaries, and the FBI director. These are the faces of all the individuals that some House Republicans are targeting. Is it likely they will have the numbers to impeach any of these officials?

BROWNSTEIN: It's a really good question. You know, so far in the McCarthy strategy, by and large, in this first year, the Republican majority has been to make his concessions primarily to the right and assume that the Republicans are in more swing districts, the 18 in districts that Biden carried another group that are -- that are in districts that Trump carried narrowly, he is assuming that they will go along in the end. This may be a bridge too far for them.

But I would not rule out that if the Republicans in more swing districts force the party to climb down from the idea of impeaching Biden on spurious grounds, they may feel pressure within the party to support the impeachment of someone else, which has obviously been enormously rare as well. And again, goes back to the question, is impeachment a tool for a policy disagreement? Is that the era of American politics that we are -- that we are moving into?

It may be. But again, you should not minimize what an enormous break that -- would have been an enormous from the past and the enormous escalation of the level of conflict between the parties that is now being organized.

SANCHEZ: Sure. And, Ron, you alluded to the difficulties that McCarthy is having any sort of wrangling all the different factions within his party. What are the chances the Freedom Caucus moves forward with an effort to vacate him as speaker?

BROWNSTEIN: And even their point of view, they have more leverage with the threat than in actually carrying it through. It's not clear they have an alternative that they could you know, put into office that they -- that they could you know engineer a speaker that they would enjoy better. So, in many ways you know McCarthy is kind of -- is kind of protected by the -- by the sheer division in the Republican caucus.

I don't -- I don't know if they have a better alternative than him, but they certainly like having him being on edge. And as I said, by and large, his strategy has been to make concessions to the right as soon the members for swing districts will go along mostly. That's worth not entirely sometimes they push back. But I suspect that will be his posture going forward as well.

SANCHEZ: Ron, I want to get your thoughts on the 2024 campaign. It does not appear that Donald Trump to this point is campaigning at the pace that he did in 2016 -- BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- and 2020. He still maintains a head and shoulders lead above everybody else. What do you make of this more laid-back strategy?

BROWNSTEIN: I think it's pretty common for front runners who have the kind of lead that Trump does. Trump's lead in the national polling is about as big as we have seen any front-runner in either party have six months before the vote. And, Boris, I think the era -- you know, we are in a different era in terms of the primaries.

[14:25:03]

It used to be that you could borrow -- the idea that you could borrow into Iowa or New Hampshire and build a local constituency if you did relentless campaigning, even if you were still pretty unknown nationally. Dick Gephardt literally moved to Iowa in the 1988 Democratic caucuses.

That's less true now. You know, in many ways, we have a national contest that plays out in these -- in these early states that you know, the voters there are consuming the same national media. They're responding to the same national dynamics that interplay between the candidates, debates, and so forth.

So, it is probably less essential than it used to be to be out there. Although those voters do guard their first-in-the-nation status very aggressively and it means a lot to them. You show respect for it.

Having said all that, I will point out that in every contested Republican race since 1980, the front-runner lost in either Iowa or New Hampshire. Lately, it's been an Iowa the last three times the front-runner was defeated there.

Each time the front-runner came back to ultimately win the nomination. But I think voters in these early states don't want to end the process too quickly. They know that if they vote for the front-runner, it tends to kind of preempt the race to almost a coronation.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

BROWNSTEIN: And there is some resistance to that. So, Trump may have more to worry about in Iowa than in New Hampshire.

SANCHEZ: Ron Brownstein, always appreciate the insight. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, Ron always has some good stories from political history. Important. Well, prosecutors say a man with weapons went to Barack Obama's DC neighborhood after Donald Trump posted what he claimed was the former president's address. We're going to have details just ahead.

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