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New Mexico Fires Converge on Tribal Preservation Forces Evacuations; Undocumented Migrant Arrested in Murder of Maryland Mom; Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) Interviewed on Potential Criminal Prosecution of Boeing; Russian President Vladimir Putin to Meet with North Korea Leader Kim Jong-un; Russia and North Korea May Sign New Economy and Military Partnership during Meeting of Two Country's Leaders. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 18, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Blumenthal, you talked about Boeing escaping criminal prosecution. Do you think going forward, from what you're hearing from this whistleblower in particular, and from other whistleblowers, that this kind of a behavior is still happening there that is putting the public in peril, that they should be criminally prosecuted at some point?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Key question. There's mounting evidence that Boeing should be prosecuted. And I'm going to withhold judgment until we finish this hearing and the investigation. The Justice Department is now doing its own inquiry. But I do think there's near overwhelming evidence that prosecution is important to sending a message, a deterrent message, and also insisting on accountability.

Remember that the company paid comparatively very little in terms of criminal penalty in connection with that deferred prosecution. And the families of people who perished in those two plane crashes, 346 people lost their lives, still feel that justice has not been served, and that feeling is pretty understandable. So I think that there is mounting evidence, perhaps overwhelming evidence now, that prosecution should be pursued.

SIDNER: Wow, that is a big statement from Senator Richard Blumenthal there, that prosecution maybe should be pursued. You have this hearing coming up today. We will all be watching to see what happens. All of us are part of the flying public, and the public really wants to make sure that their lives are not in danger because of mishaps and mistakes by Boeing. Senator Richard Blumenthal, thank you so much for coming on this morning and talking us through all of that. I appreciate your time.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

SIDNER: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, happening now, Russian President Vladimir Putin about to meet face-to-face with Kim Jong-un in North Korea. The alarming promise the two nuclear powers just made.

And then words to live by courtesy of Dr. Anthony Fauci -- don't let the bastards wear you down. His revealing new memoir.

Plus, a rare and extremely dangerous heat warning in effect for millions of Americans.

Kate is out. I'm 18-time champion Boston Celtics fan John Berman, along with Sara Sidner. And this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Very shortly, Russian leader Vladimir Putin is expected to arrive in North Korea for the first time in more than two decades. This rare visit is sparking concern as ties between Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong-un gun appear to be deepening amid the war in Ukraine. The White House has said it is watching to see how the trip effects security conditions in Ukraine. The Kremlin says Putin has a, quote, very eventful agenda over the next two days. Already this morning, the streets of Pyongyang have Russian flags and banners with Putin's face.

CNN's Mike Valerio is live in Seoul, South Korea, this morning. Mike, a lot of reasons for the U.S. and the White House to be watching these meetings very closely.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. I think that could be the understatement of the evening here in Seoul. So, you know, John, we're really waiting to see beyond the bromance, what is the deliverable, what is the ultimate result from this meeting? What's going to happen tomorrow? And among the worst possibilities, and we stress this would be one of the worst possibilities, is both sides say they want to reach a new strategic agreement to replace treaties and agreements that have been signed and have gone out of effect or are no longer in effect for years now.

But this is one that was signed, John, July 6th, 1961, between Khrushchev and Kim Il-sung, installed by Stalin, the founder, the first leader of North Korea. And it's a mutual defense treaty. So it says essentially something happens to Korea, Moscow would come to the assist and aid of Pyongyang. That is one of the biggest concerns, if this bromance leads to a mutual defense.

But there are more and more minds, John, in North Korea, experts, who are saying there's evidence that may militate against something like that happening. Both countries, though, want a lot from each other. So the laundry list, if we start with North Korea at the top of their list, John, they want more help with their satellite and missile programs. Both experiencing a lot of setbacks in recent days, weeks, and months. They also need food, energy help. They want the, quote- unquote, prestige, of standing with the, quote-unquote, strong leader, from their point of view, like Vladimir Putin.

What Putin wants, he needs more ammunition to help prosecute his war against Ukraine. But very interestingly, John, we heard extremely publicly from Vladimir Putin last week thanking South Korea for not sending lethal weapons to help Ukraine.

[08:05:07] So there are experts who we've spoken with over the past 24 hours show have said, you know what, because everybody in the government in Seoul here has refrained from helping Ukraine with lethal munitions, Vladimir Putin may step back from a treaty like this. He may step back from mutual defense with North Korea.

So the environment that we're talking to you from right now, John, very tense over the morning hours. We had 20 to 30 North Korean troops crossover the median demarcation line. It is the middle of the DMZ between North and South Korea. So South Korea fires warning shots. This is the second time in two weeks that this has happened. There's new construction that North Korea is building very close to its outposts along the DMZ, probably to harden its defenses.

But John, it's going to be very interesting to see if this is just bromance and all the pageantry therein, or if there is a new deliverable tomorrow that really raises eyebrows here and Seoul and in Washington D.C., John.

BERMAN: Yes, as we said, a whole lot to watch here. Mike Valerio in Seoul, great to have you there. Thanks so much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

Joining us now to continue the conversation is Julie Ioffe, founding partner and Washington correspondent for "Puck". Thank you so much for being here this morning. This is the first time, as you as you heard mentioned, that Putin has visited North Korea in almost a quarter of a century, 24 years. That in and of itself tells a story. What do you think is so necessary as to why Putin has shown up in-person to meet with Kim Jong-un?

JULIE IOFFE, FOUNDING PARTNER AND WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "PUCK": Well, you're very right to point that out. The first 20 years Vladimir Putin spent trying to court the west, and proving to the world and especially to Europe that Russia was a European power, a western power, and wanted to be integrated with the west, to sit at their table, to be part of the G8, et cetera.

After the invasion of 2014, after Russia's invasion, again, in 2022, that all changed. And now you see Russia shoring up its kind of old- school vintage Cold War era alliances. A couple of weeks ago Vladimir Putin hosted the St. Petersburg economic forum. He shared the stage with the president of Zimbabwe, the president of Bolivia. Again, all old school Cold War allies. After North Korea, he is heading to Vietnam, again, another Soviet era ally.

It's a way to show the west that just because he's been booted from their club doesn't mean he has no allies in the world. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022, he has been saying that the majority of the world's population, which lives in the global south, is actually on his side, not Americas and NATO's.

SIDNER: How concerned should the United States and its allies be as this meeting is taking place? Obviously, these two men are looking for something from one another, especially as the war in Ukraine continues and the need for things like ammunition by Russia continues to be an issue.

IOFFE: Well, North Korea has been a major supplier for Russia of ammunition as it stocks have run low because this has been a very artillery having war in Ukraine. And Russia has been, as far as we know, supplying energy and food to the starved nation of North Korea.

The question, as your correspondent said, is whether they go further, but so far is I think it's about returning the favor. Last year, Kim Jong-un visited Russia, he visited just the far east because he doesn't fly. So we took his Stalin era armored train to the far east. Putin received him there. And now this is kind of returning the favor. But we'll see how far the visit goes.

SIDNER: When you look at what's happening here, one of the things I think that they are certainly trying to signal and to change is the, all of the -- the word is escaping me -- sanctions against both of them by the west, mostly, and its allies. What do you think they can do to try and evade those? I mean, in some ways, Russia has been able to do so because it has oil to sell countries.

IOFFE: Well, and Russia, recall, used to be part of the international regime that was enforcing the sanctions on North Korea. It did so kind of unevenly, but again, in its quest to prove that it was part of the first world club of nations, it cooperated on things like reining in North Korea, like reining in Iran.

[08:10:03]

Now that it has been booted from the club for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two and some years ago, it is now said, screw it. I'm now on the other team. So we've seen a partnership blossom with Iran where Iran is also providing kamikaze drones and artillery to Russia. We're not quite sure yet what Russia is providing to the Iranians. And they're doing the same in North Korea.

And again, to my earlier point about how Russia is showing it's part of a different world now, part of a different set of alliance, Putin's article in the main North Korean newspaper that ran just now ahead of his visit emphasizes how they're now part of this, for lack of a better term, axis of resistance against what they say is the colonialist powers of the west, and that North Korea has been fighting American aggression, American colonialism for its entire existence, and now Russia was part of that fight two. So part of this is also very political and demonstrating that Russia is not alone, that it has many other allies, and it doesn't need the west.

SIDNER: Julia Ioffe, sorry for jacking up your name and the beginning of this, but thank you so much for your great analysis.

(LAUGHTER)

SIDNER: We will certainly -- I hope you will come back after I did that to you. I appreciate your time, Julia. All right, John?

IOFFE: Absolutely.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: And Julia is wearing green, on brand today.

All right, this morning, a quarter of a billion Americans are at risk of heat, extreme heat, as wildfires also spread rapidly in different parts of the U.S.

We are standing by for a major announcement for the president as he is set to introduce new legal protections for half-a-million immigrants.

And new developments in the murder investigation of a mother of five. A suspect is now in custody as investigators searched for other possible victims.

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[08:16:38]

BERMAN: All right, we have new time-lapse video of wildfires raging at this moment in New Mexico. Look at that. Look at the smoke and fire just blazing over that house. The swimming pool, not so bucolic right now. They're going to need it.

What is happening there is two fires are beginning to converge in New Mexico and the searing heat over much of the country is fueling these fires.

The Eastern United States has not had these kinds of temperatures in decades at this time of year. Heat alerts have been issued in 19 states for more than 80 million people. More than half the US population will experience temperatures higher than 80 degrees.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is in Burlington, Vermont. Vermont, Polo, where they're not supposed to have this kind of weather even in the lovely Burlington Harbor.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

If it is temperatures in the high 90s in Vermont here in Burlington, you know, the situation is quite critical, especially for those sensitive groups and that's why, John, officials here in Burlington are considering this or describing it as an extreme heat event.

It is actually quite nice yesterday, quite nice this morning, but all of that, according to meteorologists, is going to change here very soon, essentially the highs will get higher, the overnight lows will get higher and that speaks to the unusual nature of this weather event.

Basically, the daytime heat, people won't have a chance to actually break that because it is going to continue to be sweltering into the night, and that is where many of the cities in the northeast, where people are not accustomed to those temperatures will be opening up cooling centers. For example, here in Burlington, officials telling me that they're

going to have about six open. That's everywhere from City Hall, the library, and several other locations as well during the day allowing those people on a walk-in basis to go in and just keep cool, use the restroom, and just try to stay out of their homes because there is about a third of the population of the state that does not regularly have an air conditioning at home because they typically don't need it, and that's why officials are issuing these recommendations, especially for those who live with young people and especially the elderly, to take this seriously and stay cool.

They are rolling out also a series of recommendations. Of course, one of them exercise early. We've seen it this morning, John, people on their bikes out, walking their dogs right now while they still can. I am sure, a lot of people are there are going to be in the air conditioning later.

Also, drinking plenty of water, especially before you start getting thirsty, not forgetting your pets, not forgetting your children in the vehicle that certainly is also worth recommending.

And then finally, checking on the elderly. This is a potentially deadly weather event according to experts for those older people, so it is really important to continue to check in with them throughout the day.

And that just today, John. From now until Friday, that's when these cooling centers are going to remain open.

BERMAN: Days and days of this up there. Say hi to my mother-in-law.

Polo Sandoval in Burlington, Vermont. Nice to see you. Thank you very much.

SANDOVAL: You got it.

BERMAN: So "I want him to die in the Maryland prison system." The new demand from a county sheriff after an undocumented immigrant was arrested for the murder of a mother five.

And the McDonald's is pulling the plug on its artificial intelligence drive-thru experiment. Customers can now return to be angry at human employees for getting their order wrong rather than AI, just as the founders intended.

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[08:24:09]

BERMAN: All right, word this morning that Hunter Biden requested a new federal gun trial, but then immediately withdrew the request without giving a reason. He was convicted of three felonies. No word from Biden or his lawyers about this filing and then unfiling. He still faces a separate federal tax trial scheduled to begin in September.

An historic first, Thailand will be the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. The country's senate overwhelmingly passed this. And now, the bill is waiting for the King's endorsement there.

So the US has paused safety inspections of avocados and mangoes from a top producing area in Mexico after a security incident involving staff from the Department of Agriculture. This means, those foods will not be allowed into the United States. I think avocados are a fruit.

Produce already in transit is not affected. It does not impact avocados and mangoes from other regions. So in theory, you could still get your guacamole and no answer yet, Sara, on whether people who like peas in their guacamole will be impacted -- Sara.

SIDNER: I can answer that, it is a no for me.

Thank you so much, John.

[08:25:18]

All right, a Maryland sheriff says America's failed immigration policies are directly responsible for the unbelievably horrific murder of a mother of five in his county in August of last year.

Rachel Morin was killed while she was hiking a trail in Harford County near her home.

For months, police searched for her killer. Then Friday, police in Oklahoma arrested this man, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez at a bar in Tulsa. He had crossed into the US illegally just months before Morin was killed and investigators say, he is a suspect, not only in her death, he is also wanted for murder in his own home country of El Salvador and an attack that injured a nine-year-old girl and her mother in Los Angeles.

Joining me now is Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler.

Thank you so much, sir, for making yourself available to us this morning.

I do want to start with this one.

SHERIFF JEFFREY GAHLER, HARFORD COUNTY, MARYLAND: Good morning.

SIDNER: When this was announced that you all had had finally been able to track down a suspect in this God-awful murder. The mother of Rachel Morin showed up, which is unusual. We don't always see that when there is an announcement of an arrest.

What was that moment like when she showed up, turned around and clapped for you and your investigators?

GAHLER: Heartbreaking. You know, and a little bit of relief.

You know, I don't have good adjectives associated with this, but satisfaction, I know our investigators work this case so diligently an hard and working with our partners, but also with the Morin family and Patty (ph) there as well doing canvases together. They were very active, followed the case, giving updates.

We met with them the night before and told them that we had finally had a name and we had obtained an arrest warrant for our suspect, and it could be days and weeks before we had located him and arrested him.

Due to the wonders of technology, we were able to find him within five hours and with the assistance of Tulsa and our federal partners, put him in handcuffs within five hours, telling the family there was an arrest warrant.

So, you know, an emotional time for them and your heart goes out. The mother -- the story is so heartbreaking and that is why it has captured the nation and even worldwide attention.

SIDNER: I mean, five children are without their young mother. I do want to ask you about the arrest itself and how it all came to fruition because it is quite intricate what your investigators had to go through to try and find him using DNA.

Can you talk me through that a little bit?

GAHLER: I am no expert on the DNA and the FBI, the Baltimore field office, FBI special agent in charge came to the press conference. He had explained how all the genealogy works.

But again, the DNA that was recovered by our personnel, you know, doing a thorough investigation of Rachel's homicide -- horrific homicide. That DNA led us to the Los Angeles case where we obtained the video and had an idea of who we were dealing with, an image, the back of the person, a video of him walking away.

But the DNA evidence allowed through the FBI to bring it down to a smaller group and eventually right to the name of the suspect in this case.

Then the DNA linked directly to both Rachel's case and the Los Angeles case. Well, to Rachel's case, which will relate to the Los Angeles case. I don't know if that testing has been done.

So science and technology, as I said, the technology side is what led us to him so quickly, things through to the internet IP addresses, device use, was able to take -- point us in the right direction and allow the FBI and Tulsa Police to go in there and arrest him in such an expedited manner.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you, there is, of course, a political side to this, and it has to do with people coming over the border illegally.

He was also wanted for murder in El Salvador. Who do you blame politically for him being able to cross over into the United States and potentially as a suspect in now several crimes in the United States and a wanted criminal suspect in El Salvador, his home country.

GAHLER: Sure. Well, you know, unfortunately, just as I am responsible for the things that happen in Harford County related to public safety, the blame starts at the top and the blame starts with the Biden administration.

You know, he is sitting in that chair and under his presidency, the border has been much less secure, but it sits on both parties, and that's what I said in my press conference.

[08:30:00]