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Iowa Neighborhoods In Ruins After Deadly Storms Spawn Tornadoes; Wrong Dog Shown In Articles About Kristi Noem Controversy; Hunter Biden's Lawyers Push To Delay Tax Evasion Case; Prosecutors: 3 Women Close To Hunter Biden To Testify On Addiction; House Dems Investigate Whether Big Oil Colluded With OPEC. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired May 22, 2024 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:34:05]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: We are tracking severe weather that is threatening millions of people across the country right now from Texas all the way up to Vermont.
That's more than 75 people -- 75 million people who are bracing for possible tornadoes, damaging winds, and intense hail.
And it is part of a deadly storm system that ripped through the Midwest Tuesday. At least 18 tornadoes were reported in Iowa alone. And you see one there?
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes. Governor Kim Reynolds says the city of Greenfield, Iowa, some 60 miles southwest of Des Moines, is completely flattened. The National Weather Service now confirms a preliminary EF- 3 tornado pummeled that area. Several people there have been reported dead.
CNN's Whitney Wild joins us now live from Greenfield.
Whitney, what are you seeing there?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the destruction is so expansive. And just to give you a sense of where I am right now, we're about a mile outside of Greenfield.
This is an extremely controlled situation. We were only actually allowed to go inside to Greenfield -- because of this emergency declaration, we were afforded a police escort to go into Greenfield. Police took us to two locations. That was all we were allowed to do inside Greenfield.
[14:35:12]
And what we saw, Boris and Jessica, was shocking. I was standing on a slab, a concrete slab that had, at one point, been a garage. And then as I looked over the edge, it was a home that had been completely decimated. And it was scenes like that over and over and over throughout the town
of Greenfield. And this is a small town, you guys. This is 2,000 people. The size of the town is less than two square miles. And this EF-3 tornado that ripped through here flattened nearly all of it.
If you look over my shoulder, you can see that -- you can see the destruction from even this far away. That is how massive it is.
And even where I am, there is debris strewn in fields surrounding my location. That's how far this tornado tossed debris. That is metal that is crumpled up like a piece of paper and thrown like confetti. It is really one of the most shocking things that I think I've seen as a reporter.
And to highlight that, is that we still do not know from officials how many people have died, how many people are injured, what the possible dollar amount associated with this damage is.
Law enforcement, as well as Governor Reynolds, were very reluctant to release any specific data points. They kept saying that they didn't want to release misinformation.
But we are now almost 24 hours from this tornado and we still don't have the very basic information.
At this point, officials, again, saying that this is a search-and- rescue mission. Governor Kim Reynolds, as well as the state representative who is from Greenfield described what they saw and they said it was absolutely gut wrenching.
This is a state that knows tornadoes. And even these officials who know it very well were shocked by what they saw.
Moving forward, there are, of course, big questions. But what they say they're doing right now is, with the help of hundreds of first responders, they're trying to rebuild. They're trying to get people back into their homes.
And I'll just leave you with a real quick anecdote. The hospital was hit. We saw where they triaged people. It was the parking lot of a lumber yard surrounded by debris. That is how dire the situation was here.
Back to you.
DEAN: Oh, our hearts go out to them.
All right, Whitney Wild, thank you for walking us through that destruction there.
Coming up, a bizarre twist in a story that made headlines around the world and upset a lot of people. It's showing just how fast misinformation can spread.
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[14:42:22]
DEAN: A story goes viral and it shows just how fast and far misinformation can travel. It begins with the story that made headlines. You remember this. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem shoots and kills her dog.
And then a photo that followed. The "Telegraph," one of Britain's oldest, biggest newspapers, ran a story featuring a photo of the alleged dog, Cricket.
SANCHEZ: Yahoo News syndicated this dog's picture, sending it to even more people.
The problem was, though, that dogs seen around the world was not Cricket, the dog that was actually killed by Noem. In fact, it's not even Noem's dog.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan tracked down the photograph.
Donie, where did this picture come from?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the good news is for that dog. That dog is alive and well. So --
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O'SULLIVAN: -- as far as we know.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
O'SULLIVAN: She hasn't gotten near that dog.
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O'SULLIVAN: But look, I think this is just a perfect example of how quickly online misinformation can just explode, right?
So this picture actually came from Reddit. If anybody's spent any time on Reddit, there is sub-Reddit forums there for basically everything, from crocheting to diving with sharks, to being Irish.
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O'SULLIVAN: And there's some -- so naturally there's -- a lot of Reddit's dedicated to dogs.
SANCHEZ: Right.
O'SULLIVAN: And last year, a user by the name of Luke Warm 273, an anonymous user, posted a photo of their dog on a Reddit called "Puppy." It's just where people share cute photos of their dog.
Somehow after -- and we're not quite exactly sure -- we've been working with a group called News Guard who tracked down a lot of this. We're not entirely sure who first just plucked this image from Reddit and claimed it was the unfortunate dog in question. SANCHEZ: Yes.
O'SULLIVAN: But we tried to track it and quickly started spreading a lot of influencers on Twitter, people who tweet about the news all day. And then it's one thing for, of course, it's to circulate on -- on, on Twitter and X. But now, of course, showing up in the "Telegraph," among one of the biggest newspapers in the world.
DEAN: It is just such a study in how quickly something like that can spread without any sort of verification.
What is the dog's owner saying? And also, too, like, what is the broader takeaway here that this does, this stuff does spread really quickly without being verified?
O'SULLIVAN: Yes. I mean, the dog's owner, who wants to remain anonymous, told News Guard that they just kind of found disgusting --
DEAN: Yes.
O'SULLIVAN: -- that their poor pup is all over the world like this.
But look, I think it also just highlights, especially in an election year, how quickly we all, even journalists, can -- I mean, you see an image, you see the headline, and then you maybe just automatically assume it is what it is. And it's not. Right?
[14:45:05]
So I also think, in the world of artificial intelligence and deep fakes and everything else, we can get tricked pretty easily just by very unsophisticated forms of misinformation.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
O'SULLIVAN: So before you share on social media, you should take a pause.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
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DEAN: -- verify it.
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(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: What's the old adage? The gossip or untruths find their way around the world --
O'SULLIVAN: Right.
SANCHEZ: -- before the truth can tie on its shoes.
DEAN: Yes. SANCHEZ: Yes.
Donie O'Sullivan, appreciate the report. Thanks so much, Donie.
So lawyers for President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, are in a Los Angeles courtroom this hour seeking a delay in his tax evasion case. And that's not the only case that Biden is trying to slow down.
DEAN: Hunter Biden also asking for a delay in a separate gun possession trial. Now, it that's not granted, that trial is set to start in less than two weeks.
CNN reporter, Marshall Cohen, has been following both of these cases.
And, Marshall, you're learning who prosecutors may call to testify in this case?
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, that's right, Jessica. We're less than two weeks away from the first-ever criminal trial of the sitting -- the son of the sitting president.
There'll be making history in Delaware where Hunter Biden is charged with possessing and purchasing a gun while addicted to illegal drugs. It's against federal law for a drug addict or a drug user to buy a gun.
So the prosecutors, special counsel, David Weiss, spelled out in some recent court filings who they're going to put on the stand to demonstrate the Hunter Biden was, indeed, using drugs when he bought this gun in 2018.
And it's going to be a very personal family affair here, guys. They have three of his former romantic partners lined up to testify against him, his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, the widow of his brother, Bo Biden, whom he was also in a relationship with, and Lunden Roberts, who is the mother of one of his children.
According to prosecutors, they say that these three women will be able to describe Hunter's crippling drug addiction at the time when he bought this gun.
Now, he has been very open and public and honest about his mental health struggles. But he says this was basically the worst period of his life. This was his rock bottom.
And the prosecutors say that it was not only rock bottom for him, but it was a crime for him to by this gun while addicted to drugs.
Guys, it's going to be a very difficult month upcoming for the entire Biden family.
SANCHEZ: And, Marshall, you're also learning about what evidence prosecutors might use.
COHEN: You know, anyone who's covered Hunter Biden or has followed this saga, has probably heard something about the Hunter Biden laptop. And prosecutors said in a court filing this week that they are going
to use information from that laptop, including text messages that they have verified to demonstrate the depth of his addiction at the time.
There are some texts where he's hitting up dealers in Delaware and California to get crack cocaine.
And then on the other hand, there are also texts where he's fighting with his family members, some of the women that I just mentioned, about his difficult struggle to get sober.
So they're going to use the laptop. They're going to use the texts. And it paints a very troubling and personal story that he's been very public about, but it's going to be under the national spotlight and a national spectacle in a way that that he has never seen before.
And it all kicks off, guys, in just two weeks.
SANCHEZ: We know you'll be watching it for us closely.
Marshall Cohen, thank you so much.
[14:48:40]
And still ahead, the investigation into whether top U.S. oil companies are working together to jack up prices at the pump. Why lawmakers are looking into possible collusion, when we come back.
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[14:53:40]
SANCHEZ: So CNN has learned that congressional Democrats are investigating whether top U.S. oil companies considered -- conspired, rather, with OPEC to push up gas prices.
They've sent a letter to ExxonMobil, Chevron, Hess, B.P. America, and three other fossil fuel companies, demanding documents, including their communications with OPEC.
DEAN: Earlier this month, federal regulators accused Texas oil icon, Scott Sheffield, of allegedly conspiring with OPEC to raise prices, raising concern over whether this has been common practice among other companies.
CNN's Matt Egan helped break the story and he joins us now with the latest on this.
What do you know, Matt?
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Boris and Jessica, Big Oil is facing new scrutiny from Congress over a topic that we know Americans care deeply about, gas prices.
Now, New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone, he's launched investigation into seven of the biggest players in oil, Exon, Chevron, B.P., Shell, Devin Energy, Occidental and Hess.
And the big question is, he's asking whether or not these oil companies colluded with either each other or with OPEC to jack up the price of oil and gasoline by agreeing to keep supply low.
Let me read you, from this letter, from Pallone to the oil companies.
He wrote, "If U.S. oil companies are colluding with each other and foreign cartels to manipulate global oil markets and harm American consumers, who then pay more at the pump, Congress and the American people deserve to know."
[14:55:09]
Pallone has set a June 5th deadline for these companies to turn over a mountain of documents, including communications with OPEC officials, a list of meetings with OPEC, and nonpublic communications between shareholders about production.
Now, remember, OPEC is led by Saudi Arabia. OPEC-Plus is led by Russia. Some of the members include Iraq, Iran, Kuwait. These are some of the biggest oil countries on the planet.
And they exist, these cartels exist to set production, right? The members, they get into a meeting and they agree to set supply at a certain level to influence prices. That is not allowed in the U.S. Oil companies cannot do that.
And all of these allegations have been set off by those stunning findings from the FTC about Scott Sheffield earlier this month. That's the Texas oil CEO who is accused of colluding with OPEC.
We should note that Sheffield and his company have denied any wrongdoing.
But clearly, Boris and Jessica, Congress wants to get to the bottom of just what happened here.
DEAN: Yes. Matt Egan, all right, thanks so much for that reporting.
Up next, tense moments playing out in a Florida court where Donald Trump's attorneys are trying to get his classified documents case thrown out.
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