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RFK Jr. Testifies before Congress; DOJ Assessing Migrant Treatment; New Details on U.S. Soldier who Ran into North Korea. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 20, 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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[09:33:51]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

A federal grand jury has convened this morning in D.C. and could deliver an indictment as soon as today against former President Donald Trump. The case focuses on his role in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The jury is expected to hear from more witnesses. It is also possible that the former president could take the stand, although that is highly unlikely. Today is the last day that his lawyers could present their own witnesses or evidence in his defense.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And happening right now, a House hearing on concerns over social media. But it's become so much more than that because Republicans are delving into what they see as the government's role in silencing conservative speech online. And their star witness is the long-shot Democratic presidential candidate and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. This is a live look at the hearing that's getting underway right now. He just, this week, was rebuked by his own family for pushing a conspiracy that Covid-19 was ethnically targeted to spare Jews and Chinese people.

CNN's Lauren Fox is watching this one for us. She's joining us now.

Lauren, what is happening here?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are just beginning their opening arguments, Kate.

[09:35:02]

But this is a broader debate in Congress about the freedom of speech according to Republicans. They say this is not a hearing about the substance of what RFK has said in the past, but this is a hearing about whether or not the government should be censoring speech.

Meanwhile, you heard from Democrats this week urging them to try and get a way forward for this hearing not to happen, or at least for RFK not to testify before this weaponization committee, arguing that he was really disqualified given the fact that he said those comments over the weekend. Also given the fact that he's repeatedly come up with false lies about the pandemic, as well as vaccines.

Meanwhile, you had the House speaker defending this hearing happening today saying again that he does not believe that people should be censored.

So, what's happening inside the hearing room is both the ranking member and the chairman of the subcommittee have already given their opening remarks. You can expect that Jim Jordan fiercely defending the hearing that's happening today. Meanwhile, Stacey Plaskett, the ranking member, admonishing Republicans for bring in AF - RFK. He is now testifying, giving his opening remarks. But expect more fireworks over the next couple of hours as this hearing progresses.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And looks like fireworks might even be starting and it looks like we may be needing some fact checking afterwards. But we'll come back to you. You're going to be checking in on this as there are real issues to be discussed. But when you have the star witness being RFK Jr., it raises even more questions about what they're actually going to get to.

Thank you so much, Lauren.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: All right, Kate, thank you.

And this morning the Justice Department says that it is assessing the treatment of migrants along the U.S./Mexico border amid, quote, troubling reports. Specifically claims that Texas troopers have been ordered to deny drinking water to migrants despite blistering heat and even push them back into the waters of the Rio Grande towards Mexico. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security says that if the claims are true, the treatment is, quote, cruel and inhumane.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez broke this story and joins us now from the White House.

So, Priscilla, this could be the first step toward an investigation. What more are you learning?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Rahel, it's a significant development because it is the first public acknowledgement by the Justice Department that they are now assessing the situation on the Texas/Mexico border, which has been of increasing concern to this administration.

Now, I have been told by sources that there were discussions for months about what actions, if any, could be taken. Those discussions happening between the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department as they watched what was unfolding in Texas with Texas Governor Greg Abbott sending migrants to Democratic-led cities without coordination, then setting out buoys along the Rio Grande, which poses a potential drowning risk to migrants. And now amid these reports about mistreatment of migrants. And so this is a, again, significant development coming from the

Justice Department amid those reports that Texas troopers were told not to give water to migrants in the blistering heat and also to push them back to Mexico.

Now, Texas Governor Abbott has denied that there was any order or direction to that effect. But the White House press secretary weighing in just yesterday calling this just atrocious.

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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is what we see over and over and over again from this Texas governor, from Governor Abbott. And it is - it is -- all we're asking for - all we -- as a country, and what we should hold near and dear, is the basic human decency. Basic human decency. And we are just not seeing this from this governor.

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ALVAREZ: Now, we should make clear, this is not an investigation by the Justice Department. This is an assessment. It could be the first step into an investigation. And, again, this is an operation that Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched in 2021 as an affront to President Biden. It is now forcing the administration's hand to take an even closer look given the circumstances.

SOLOMON: Priscilla Alvarez, live for us at the White House. Thank you, Priscilla.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, hours before the first match in the Women's World Cup, a gunman opened fire in New Zealand and two people are now dead. We have the very latest on the investigation now into that.

Plus, a tornado just rips through parts of North Carolina, and now more than a dozen people are injured and a trail of destruction has been left behind. We'll take you there when we get back.

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[09:43:44]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

The U.S. State Department says that it believes the Army private who bolted across the border into North Korea is still in their custody but it has no details on his exact whereabouts or wellbeing.

The drama began Monday when Private Travis King was supposed to take a flight back to the U.S. Instead, he left the airport after claiming that his passport was missing. The next day he went on a tour of the demilitarized zone. And, take a look, he's seen here in this video actually, this photo. It's him there in the black shirt and the black hat. Well, at some point he suddenly ran across the demarcation line into

North Korea.

CNN's Kylie Atwood joins us from the State Department.

Kylie, where do things stand now?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, what we're learning is that when he got to the airport he was brought there by military handlers because he was said to be sent back to the United States because he was going to be leaving the U.S. military after he faced assault charges in South Korea. He was brought by those handlers. They left him at the airport, presumably to get on his flight. He even texted them according to two U.S. officials when he got to the gate.

But according to officials in the airport, he then told them that he had lost his passport. So they escorted him out of the departure area. And that's where things went awry. That's where the plan of him to fly back to Texas and then leave the U.S. military went off the rails.

[09:45:02]

We don't know how he got from the airport to the area, the DMZ, between South Korea and North Korea, but that's where he headed. He signed up for a tour of the joint security area. And while he was on that tour, according to eyewitnesses who were on the tour and U.S. officials familiar with this dramatic incident, he just bolted across the border. He was running so fast, according to one eyewitness, that the soldiers who were there weren't able to catch him.

And when he crossed the border, he headed into a building on the North Korean side. According to a U.S. official, he went up to the front door. It was locked. He went around to the back, and that's where he was picked up by North Korean vans.

Now, the U.S. is still trying to piece together exactly all the information. Of course, what they can do to potentially get him home.

Here's what the State Department spokesperson, Matt Miller, told us yesterday at the department.

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MATTHEW MILLER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: The White House, the Pentagon, we here at the State Department and the U.N. are all continuing to work together on this matter, to ascertain information about the well-being and whereabouts of Private King. We are still gathering facts. And I want to be very clear that the administration has and will continue to actively work to ensure his safety and return him home to his family.

In terms of contacts with foreign governments, yesterday the Pentagon reached out to counterparts in the Korean People's Army. My understanding is that those communications have not yet been answered.

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ATWOOD: And, of course, there's still a lot of mysterious details here. Chief among them is what was motivating Travis King to actually run into North Korea and what it could potentially take for the United States to secure his release.

SOLOMON: Right. Why? Why would he do something like this?

Kylie Atwood, live for us at the State Department.

Kylie, thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: I think there's so many -- so many questions surrounding that one.

On our radar this hour, a rare deadly shooting in New Zealand. And it happened just hours before the Women's World Cup was set to kick off. A gunman opened fire at a construction site in the center of Aukland early this morning and two people were killed. The shooter was later killed as well. People believe that the incident was related to that man's work there. They determined there is no broader ongoing security risk and that the World Cup opening ceremonies and first match, they went on as planned.

An EF-3 tornado ripped through North Carolina yesterday. At least 16 people were wounded from it. And it left a long trail of destruction behind. According to the National Weather Service, the tornado was on the ground for 16 and a half miles. Winds peaked at 150 miles per hour. And you can see what it did. I think we might be looking at the wrong video here, obviously, but what it did do was it left a ton of destruction in its path, even flattening a Pfizer plant in Nash County, which is east of Raleigh. No one was injured, though, at the plant but they're now trying to determine how this will impact production there. The tornado also shut down a major interstate.

Someone is waking up super rich today. A single ticket sold in downtown Los Angeles has won one of the largest Powerball jackpots in history. A little over a billion dollars. We'll show you the lucky numbers because I don't really know if it matters anymore at this point. The lump sum take home after taxes is $558 million. The longer payout over time, $1.08 billion.

And our friend Christine Romans, Rahel, always says you take the lump sum.

SOLOMON: Take the lump sum, hire a financial adviser, hire an accountant, hire a lawyer and tell no one.

BOLDUAN: You've got a lot of money to hire a whole bunch of people. So, go, get started.

SOLOMON: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: Yes. SOLOMON: All right, Kate, thank you.

Well, coming up, police disclose new details in the case of the Alabama woman who disappeared for two days, then suddenly returned home. What police say online searchers on her phone are revealing.

And today all eyes on Washington. Right now a federal grand jury is convening to weigh whether Donald Trump will face another potential criminal indictment. Could a decision come down today and what might the grand jury learn from a Trump confidant?

We'll be right back.

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[09:53:04]

BOLDUAN: A strange twist in the already strange mystery surrounding the woman in Alabama who disappeared and then turned up two days later saying she'd been abducted. Police are now talking publicly about what Carlee Russell was searching for online before she vanished, looking up the movie "Taken" on her phone and also looking up one-way bus tickets to Nashville.

CNN's Ryan Young is following this and he has the very latest for us.

Ryan, where do things stand right now with this investigation?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ao many questions about this one. In fact, police say they are still investigating. And the reason why they came forward with all this information is, they said a lot of people in the community were worried. And you could understand why they were concerned when you think about the reports of a man with orange hair and a balding spot may have kidnapped this woman. Of course police say all that's not true.

Also looking up the one-way bus ticket. And then they went into detail of just about watching the surveillance video while she was at work and watching Carlee take some items away from that job and then also stopping at Target for snacks.

All this coming up in this news conference that really laid out this picture of just so many more questions.

In fact, take a listen to the chief talk about what else they would like to do in the next few days.

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CHIEF NICK DERZIS, HOOVER, Alabama POLICE DEPT.: We've asked to interview Carlee a second time but have not been granted that request. As you can see, there are many questions left to be answered, but only Carlee can provide those answers.

What we can say is we've been unable to verify most of Carlee's initial statement made to investigators. And we have no reason to believe that there is a threat to the public safety.

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YOUNG: Yes, people really mobilized for this one. You think about the search on the internet. People were trying to help. You think about all the people who hit the streets to try to find her. And then all the police resources that were used in this.

But then you go into that internet search history, and I thought that was so detailed by this police department. We'll put that up on a full screen, some of those things that she was searching for when it comes to how old does someone have to be for an Amber Alert, or the one-way bus ticket, or that movie "Taken."

[09:55:06]

Just the idea that some of these were in the search history. The internet was going crazy about the theories behind this and now we know that police still want to talk to her but there are so many still unanswered questions. Maybe the biggest one is why. You're happy that she returned home safely but we also know there was no toddler, there was no emergency on the side of the road.

I also thought it was very interesting how they talked about during that 911 call, when she first called, Kate, then she moved her car more than 600 yards. So, obviously, she wasn't tracking a toddler according to detectives when she made that initial call. So many questions about this one. Maybe we get these answered. Maybe we don't. I'm sure police want to do that second interview at some point soon.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Ryan Young, thank you.

Rahel.

SOLOMON: All right, Kate, coming up for us, a federal grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election is meeting right now. Could Trump be facing a third indictment.

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