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Ten Days to Go Until First Presidential Debate on CNN; Trump to Meet With House GOP Leaders Amid Bitter Primary Battles; Nine People Injured in Shooting at Michigan Splash Pad. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 17, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Of your larger message.

[07:00:01]

I mean, you don't -- I wouldn't expect that Joe Biden will make a central, you know, strategy of the debate to hammer him on the sexual assault case. But will he mention it as he's painting a picture of Trump as somebody who is not fit to go back to the Oval Office? I think it's very possible. I would imagine he will be prepared for Trump to be incredibly personal --

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: From Hunter Biden and the like.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes, exactly. And so I think I imagine that he'll be armed to do that, but in service of the message, which I think is what was one thing that Biden is very good at staying focused on the bigger picture.

RAJU: All right, we shall see. And thanks to our panel. Thank you for joining us. I'm Manu Raju.

CNN News Central starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Let the preparation begin. The first presidential debate of 2024, which will be hosted right here on CNN, a little more than a week away, and President Biden and Donald Trump ramping up their attacks on each other already.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A sweeping pardon for more than 175,000 marijuana convictions. Who is affected by this historic move.

And then 15,000 acres burned so far and more to come. Wildfires raging with weather conditions poised to make things even worse.

Kate is out today, I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and this is CNN News Center.

SIDNER: They're attacking each other with just ten days to go until the first presidential debate right here on CNN and President Biden and Donald Trump zeroing in on November. Today, Donald Trump expected to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Congressman Richard Hudson, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, at Mar-a-Lago. And the Biden campaign escalating its attacks against Donald Trump with a new $50 million T.V. ad push rolling out in battleground states, taking on the former president's character and felony conviction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump for who he is. He's been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has been working.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Showing that contrast there. CNN's Arlette Saenz and Alayna Treene joining us now. Arlette, to you first, please. give us some sense of what this big ad buy and what the campaign is doing now as we lead up to this first presidential early debate this year.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, this new ad is significant as it marks the first time the biting campaign is using former President Donald Trump's legal woes in television advertisements. It comes as Biden is really looking to sharpen his attacks against Trump heading into that first debate just ten days away.

Now in this ad, they're trying to frame this election as a choice between a convicted criminal who is looking out for himself with former president or with President Biden, who in his work for the American people. This ad will run as part of a $50 million ad push in key battleground states, hoping to reach voters heading into this debate and the November election.

And it all comes just from after months of the Biden campaign really refraining from commenting on Trump's legal saga in any way, but really that changed in the days after Trump's conviction, and they've leaned into that conviction to further argue that he is unfit for office.

Now, this new ad push comes just a few days after President Biden teamed up with former President Obama and some Hollywood stars for a major fundraiser out in Los Angeles that brought in $30 million for the campaign. That's a Democratic record when it comes to fundraisers. And at that event, Biden, Obama and others really tried to issue stark warnings about what a second Trump presidency could hold.

Biden really zeroed in on the impact it could have on the Supreme Court, saying that Trump likely would have the opportunity to possibly appoint two Supreme Court justices, further changing the balance of the court going forward. And the president also criticized what he has seen as a Supreme Court that is currently out of step.

Take a listen to a bit of what President Biden had to say that the Biden campaign released in a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: The Supreme Court has never been as out of kilter as it is today. I mean, never. I taught constitutional law for nine years. This guy knows more about it than most. Look, the fact of the matter is that this has never been a court that's been this far out of step.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: So Biden really trying to further draw these contrasts with Trump is Especially as that first debate is just 10 days away. President Biden is expected to head to Camp David towards the end of the week, where he is expected to huddle with his advisers in preparation for this debate, marking the first time that the two men will face off in person at podiums since their debates back in 2020.

[07:05:14]

So the Biden campaign really trying to use this time leading up to this debate to drive these contrast arguments, including releasing that very stark ad, leaning into the fact that Trump was convicted in that criminal hush money trial.

SIDNER: Yes. And, Arlette, it's proper to note that President Biden himself has really shied away from talking about the criminal cases against Donald Trump. And now we're seeing the campaign really take this on, an interesting twist.

First, let me go to Alayna Treene now. Give us some sense of what this meeting is all about between Donald Trump and the House speaker as well as the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, Mike Johnson and Richard Hudson, two very big Republican leaders in the House, they want this meeting because they want help with the months ahead that are going to be very difficult for, I think, many Republicans who face several bitter primary battles. Now what I find really interesting about this is, of course, it comes just days after Donald Trump made his return to D.C., met with House and Senate Republicans, promised to try and help get them re-elected or help the candidates that they are hoping to put in office elected.

And this is kind of him making good on that promise by having this meeting with these two leaders. But what's also interesting is that Donald Trump, who kind of used to be a kingmaker in many of these races, has surprisingly, in some ways, stayed out of these very bitter primaries.

Now, in the past, Donald Trump has issued several endorsements. Of course, he's still continuing to endorse in a series of key races. However, the way that he is operating this cycle is very different from the past. And remember, in 2022, Donald Trump endorsed a series of candidates that went on to ultimately lose on election day during the midterms. And so this is something that has weighed heavily, I know, on Donald Trump's mind personally, but also on his teams. They've been very careful in who they want to endorse, and not endorsing too much.

Now, Donald Trump has said publicly and privately that that is because he is so preoccupied with his own election fight. However, a big part of it as well is them being worried that he's going to put his support behind people who may not ultimately win. So, what I'm told this meeting will be about today is really strategizing what Donald Trump can do to help the House Republican Conference, to help try and secure a majority in the fall, and definitely a bigger majority than they have now, because the other whole part of this meeting is Donald Trump wants allies in the House if he were to win in November. He wants to stack the House of Congress with a series of allies that if he's elected, he can hit the ground running and knows that he will have people to support him in that fight.

SIDNER: All right, Alayna Treene, and also thank you to Arlette Saenz for that reporting. And a reminder, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate the highly anticipated first meeting of President Biden and former President Trump in a CNN presidential debate that is live Thursday, June 27th at 9:00 P.M. Eastern. John?

BERMAN: All right. We have new reporting this morning at a terrifying shooting. Kids shot playing at a splash pad.

Israel announces a tactical pause in parts of Gaza and then rushes to clarify what that means and does not mean. Plus a huge shake up announced just a short time ago in the Israeli government.

And then breaking this morning, one of the most sweeping pardons ever for convictions connected to marijuana. More than 100,000 people will have their records swept clean.

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[07:10:00]

BERMAN: This morning, police are searching for a motive in a shooting at a splash pad near Detroit. The sheriff says ice cream cones and flip flops were scattered in the blood and bullet casings are among the blood and bullet casings. Nine people are injured, including young children.

With us now is CNN's Rafael Romo with the very latest. Rafael, what are you learning this morning?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, good morning. Officials say the suspect may have been facing some mental health challenges without providing any specifics. Local officials say the shooting appears very random because there was no connection to the victims.

It all happened Saturday afternoon at a splash pad in the city of Rochester Hills, Michigan, located less than 30 miles north of Detroit. As families were enjoying a pleasant afternoon, as you described, the suspect got out of his car walked up to the splash pad and opened fire when he was about 20 feet away.

The suspect, identified as 42-year-old Michael Nash, hit a total of nine people. According to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, the suspect reloaded multiple times and fired a Glock nine-millimeter handgun as many as 28 times. He was later found dead at his home. Officials say there was no previous police contact or criminal record.

The nine people shot by the suspect ranged in age from 4 years old to 78. An 8-year-old boy and his 39-year-old mother are in critical condition. Seven others are in stable condition, including that boy's 4-year-old brother. Nash, the suspect, was later found dead at the home he shared with his mother of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officials also found the rifle on the kitchen table. Sheriff Bouchard said, we may never know if Nash intended to use that weapon to attack people.

[07:15:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF MICHAEL BOUCHARD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN: I believe that because we had quick containment on him, that if he had planned to do anything else, and it wouldn't surprise me because having that on the kitchen table is not an everyday activity, that there was probably something else, a second chapter potentially.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: This new tragedy has hit Michigan especially hard. The community is still reeling from two other mass shootings last year in February. A gunman killed three Michigan State University students and left five others critically injured. And in 2021, a teenager killed four students at a high school in Oxford, just 15 miles north of Rochester Hills. John, a lot of sad people this morning.

BERMAN: It's got to be very difficult for that community. Rafael Romo, thanks so much for being with us.

Strong winds fuel a fast moving fire near Los Angeles. There are evacuations underway.

And then one of the most decorated swimming stars ever headed to her fourth Olympic Games.

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SIDNER: This morning, a wildfire north of Los Angeles has consumed nearly 15,000 acres so far and has forced 1,200 people to evacuate.

[07:20:02]

The post fire began Saturday afternoon in Gorman, California, and quickly spread due to high winds and dry conditions. As of Sunday, Cal fire is saying the blaze was only 2 percent contained.

CNN's Camila Bernal is live from Gorman, California. Oh, my goodness. That wind is insane and that is really bad for firefighters and the fire itself. Let us know what's going on there right now.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Sara, this really is the biggest problem for firefighters right now. You know, the National Weather Service forecasted wind gusts of 60 to 70 miles per hour overnight. It is hard to stand here because the wind gusts are so strong. You know, we needed goggles. You feel the wind just hitting you. And that is also what is moving all of these embers here behind me and really all over this fire. We've only seen it grow, you know, now to nearly 15,000 acres, and we haven't seen containment numbers increasing. We're still at 2 percent.

So, you see some of the crews here. They are working right now to try to make those fire lines, to try to keep this fire from growing, but it has been extremely difficult over, you know, the last 24 hours we have been out here and we've seen the crews on the ground and in the air. You know, we've seen many, many water drops yesterday. They were trying to do those water drops to avoid the fire spreading even further. There are already about 1,200 people under evacuation orders and many others under evacuation warnings. So, authorities really telling people to have their stuff packed and ready to go in case it happens at a moment's notice.

But, again, really, the biggest problem that they're having is this. You can see it. It is impossible to avoid, and so they're hoping that it dies down further in the day, but the problem is that we are expecting that red flag warning throughout the day today, higher temperatures later on as well. So, that's also not going to make things easier for these firefighters that are working around the clock, Sara.

SIDNER: Have they given you any sense of containment? I mean, this is -- when I see that fire or that wind blowing like that, having covered these alongside you for many years, this could be a catastrophe. Where are they and trying to contain this?

BERNAL: It's hard to hear you, Sara, right now, but I think you said, where are they in terms of trying to contain it? As I mentioned, it was just 2 percent containment. And so what we were told by firefighters yesterday is that it was going to take some time. They knew that overnight things were going to become a lot more difficult for them.

And so, you know, when I talked to a firefighter yesterday, they told me, ask me tomorrow how things are going to be, because they were so concerned about the conditions overnight and the conditions in terms of the terrain. There's a lot of dry terrain. And so because it rained so much earlier in the year, and then you have the heat coming in, things are dry, and it is going to be easier for things to catch on fire and for these flames to spread. But, again, it's just really hard to hear, to stand, because these wind gusts are just so, so strong, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, your picture says everything about the conditions that I know it's hard to fly in these conditions as well making it a big problem. Thank you to you and your crew out there. Maybe get to safety at this point. Never know what's going to happen. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Camila Bernal there live in Lubeck, California. John?

BERMAN: All right, those winds just ferocious. We'll get back to Camila shortly because what's going on there is extraordinary. In the meantime, tens of thousands of people are preparing for a new wave of sweltering temperatures for class forecast to climb into the high 90s and beyond. Let's get right to CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar. We're talking about a lot of people are going to be affected by this heat.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. This isn't just one region. I mean, when you look at the U S., you're talking over 80 percent of the U.S. population that will be looking at temperatures of 90 degrees or even higher. Keep in mind, some of those are looking at triple-digit temperatures. So, this is really going to impact a lot of people.

Now, for most people, it's maybe 5, 10 degrees above average, but you have some areas where you're talking 15 to 20 degrees above average. And at that point, you start looking at record-breaking temperatures. And we're talking about nearly 200 high temperature records that could be set at some point this week.

The bulk of them are located in the northeast and spreading into the Midwest. But you'll see some of those dots down there into the southeast as well as over towards the Rocky Mountains. So, again, this isn't just going to be one particular area.

Keep in mind though too, some of these locations may break daily records two and even three days in a row. So, this is going to be a prolonged heat wave for some, especially in the northeast and Midwest. And that's where you have a lot of those heat alerts focused. So, the heat advisories, excessive heat watches and warnings, you'll see the bulk of them right through here in the northeast and along the Great Lakes region.

[07:25:00]

Talking about these temperatures, many people in the northeast don't really start to see that spike until about Tuesday or Wednesday. So, today will be the last day of about as close to average as you're going to get. And then by Wednesday and Thursday, we really start to see those things spike. Thursday and Friday for many of these areas, including Boston, New York and Philadelphia, you're talking those temperatures 15 to 20 degrees above average, another story we're keeping an eye on because it's that time of year, the tropics. This particular system right here has a 70 percent chance of becoming a tropical system in the next seven days.

But regardless of whether it gets a name or not, it's going to begin to spread its way into the Gulf of Mexico. And when it does, it's going to take all of this moisture and surge it up along the Gulf Coast. So, areas of Mississippi, Alabama, portions of Louisiana and especially Texas are looking at a tremendous amount of rain over the next several days. Look at the red and pink color here. You're talking widespread totals of six to ten inches. Some areas could end up picking more than a foot of rain over the next several days.

BERMAN: All right, a lot to be concerned about over the next several days. Allison Chinchar, thanks very much for that. Sara? SIDNER: All right. This could potentially be a sign of an economy doing very well and annual shipments of recreational vehicles are projected to rebound this year in newly released data. R.V.s are typically large dollar items ranging from $12,000 for a small pop up tow behind trailer to $250,000 for a more luxurious motor home. Shipments have traditionally correlated with recessions, and over the past two years, sales had plummeted. Experts say the moderate increase is based on the expectation that interest rates will start to come down and inflation will cool. It's welcome news for R.V. travel business owners who say they have definitely seen the demand down compared to two years past.

Now, the governor of Maryland set to issue historic pardons, his plans to forgive more than 100,000 marijuana convictions.

And how Donald Trump's campaign is making a push to pick up support among black voters, the striking differences from just four years ago. We'll have both those stories and more coming up.

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[07:30:00]