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Biden to Shield Undocumented Spouses and Children from Deportation; Mounting Evidence against Boeing; Putin Arrives in North Korea Today; Randolph Rice is Interviewed about the Arrest in the Morin Case; California Fire Burns over 15,000 Acres. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 18, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JONATHAN HAIDT, AUTHOR, "THE ANXIOUS GENERATION": Far more independence free play and responsibility though the real world.

So, my advice for parents is, team up with other parents. Team up with the parents of your kids' friends and say, hey, let's do this together because if you do it together, then your kid is not the only one, and you're giving your kid a fun childhood. You're getting a group of kids together who will hang out in person and have adventures and do fund stuff the way their parents and grandparents did.

So, that's what we need to do is link up and work together.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. That's really practical advice. Thank you so much for that. I'm from gen X. We were like feral. Like, our parents didn't know where we were playing outside all day until the street lights came on. So, maybe we should go back to that in a sense. Maybe not the feral part.

HAIDT: Yes.

SIDNER: Jonathan Haidt, thank you so much for this great book and for explaining it all to us.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, President Biden will unveil a sweeping executive action that would provide new legal protection to half a million undocumented immigrants.

Just hours before the Boeing CEO will face lawmakers on Capitol Hill, a new Boeing whistleblowers is coming forward claiming the company put questionable parts in planes and hid that from regulators.

And then a pair of fast-moving fires tearing through New Mexico. They are converging right now on one village, forcing residents to evacuate.

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman, with Sara Sidner. And this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: We are standing by this morning for a major immigration announcement from President Biden. Shortly he is expected to unveil sweeping new executive action that will immediately protect hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from being deported. This is policy that will impact about a half a million spouses of current U.S. citizens, and roughly 50,000 children.

And it comes at a critical moment, as you all know, in the 2024 race. Next week Biden faces Donald Trump in an historic presidential debate here on CNN with immigration, of course, a huge issue for voters in several key battleground states, and around the country really.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is live outside the White House.

What is this plan? Can you give us some more details on how this would work?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, this is a sweeping plan that could have real election year impacts as President Biden is trying to tackle one of the thorniest political issues facing this country now for decades. This program - or this plan that the administration will be announcing would be the largest expansion in immigration policies since President Obama's plan to offer protections for the so-called dreamers.

Now, what President Biden's plan would do, it was - it would tap into a program known as Parole in Place, to allow undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens to seek legal residence in the country without fear of deportation. Potentially setting them on a path to citizenship.

The current system requires that these individuals leave the country to seek this type of residency. They would be away from their families for quite some time. And also it's unclear whether they would be apprehended when they returned. So, this policy would change a lot of that.

It would apply to undocumented individuals who have been living in the country for at least ten years and married to a U.S. citizen since yesterday. This would allow them to work legally in the country and it's estimated it could impact about 550,000 people once these applications process gets underway. It's expected that this would get started in the summer.

Now, the Biden campaign this morning is trying to use this as a way to draw a contrast with former President Donald Trump's immigration policy. The campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said a short while ago, quote, "families belong together. It's that simple. It's why President Biden's actions today are so important, and it's also a powerful stark reminder of Donald Trump's unforgivable legacy of ripping crying children away from their parents when he put in place his family separation policy."

Now, this plan that Biden is set to unveil today comes just a few weeks after he had announced that major crackdown at the U.S. southern border, shutting off the ability of migrants crossing the country illegally to seek asylum. That's the move that angered a lot of progressives and immigration advocates. So, part of what Biden's trying to do here is ease some of their concerns within his base as he's heading into this November election.

SIDNER: Arlette Saenz, thank you so much for that. I appreciate your time this morning.

John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking this morning, a current Boeing employee is accusing the airplane manufacturer of cutting corners. This latest whistleblower came forward hours - just hours before the Boeing CEO, Dave Calhoun, will be grilled on Capitol Hill over growing safety concerns.

[09:05:00]

Just moments ago, Senator Richard Blumenthal told Sara that today would be a, quote, "reckoning" for Boeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): There's mounting evidence that Boeing should be prosecuted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, let's get right to CNN's Pete Muntean, who's got the latest on all of this.

Pete, what are you hearing?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: John, I lost my earpiece here, so I'm just going to keep going. But I want to just tell you, this is the first time that Boeing executives are testifying on Capitol Hill since the January 5th door plug blowout. It seemed that Boeing would be able to course correct here after months of crisis control. But now it seems like Boeing leaders are walking straight into a buzz saw on Capitol Hill.

Outgoing Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is the one who will be in the Senate committee hotseat today. And he, along with Boeing's chief engineer, will insist that Boeing does not retaliate against whistleblowers to the Senate committee.

The latest development is that the chair of this committee, Richard Blumenthal, will bring up the claims of a dozen Boeing whistleblowers, including a new one, Sam Mohawk, is a quality insurance inspector for Boeing in Renton, Washington, the same plant that built the plane in the door plug incident. The NTSB there found that bolts that critically held that door plug on were not installed.

Senator Blumenthal says that Mohawk says that Boeing is losing track of the parts that don't conform to its standards. Speaking to CNN NEWS CENTRAL just about an hour ago, Blumenthal called Mohawk's accusations extraordinarily serious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): This kind of violation of trust is part of a pattern. A broken safety culture at Boeing.

The company seems to have continued to put profits and production speed ahead of safety and reliability. And his account of the retaliation against him is particularly chilling. The pressure that was exerted on him to stay silent, they have a program called speak up. Well, he was told to shut up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: A pretty strong soundbite there.

"We're committed to making sure that every employee feels empowered to speak up if there's a problem." That is the statement from Boeing out after all of these whistleblower allegations. This is the new statement as of last night. Boeing also says, "we have strict policies in place to prohibit retaliation against employees who come forward." We will see if that lands in the Senate committee today, if you'll pardon the pun,

Boeing also says this ahead of time. They say that there is a big cultural shift taking place and they have heard it loud and clear, the concerns, since the January 5th door plug blowout. Here's the quote, "our culture is far from perfect, but we are taking action and making progress. We understand the gravity and we are committed to moving forward."

Also in the hearing room today, the families of the victims of the Max 8 crashes of 2018 and 2019, 346 people killed. They will be acknowledged by Boeing's CEO in his opening remarks, John.

BERMAN: This will be something to see today.

Pete Muntean, no audio, no problem. Great to see you this morning. Thank you for that report.

Sara.

SIDNER: I understand it's also a birthday - his birthday over the weekend as well. So, he has some things to celebrate, but he doesn't have audio. Good times.

All right, this morning, the White House is closely watching as Russian President Vladimir Putin, he's expected to arrive in North Korea shortly for the first time in more than two decades. He will be sitting down with Kim Jong-un for the second time in less than a year. Just nine months ago they met in Russia. Their deepening ties sparking, of course, concern on the potential impact on Ukraine and, frankly, elsewhere.

White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby specifically pointing to North Korea ballistic missiles being used to hit Ukrainian targets. The Kremlin says Putin has a, quote, "very eventful agenda" over the next two days. Ahead of his arrival, Russian flags and banners with Putin's face plastered on them line the streets of Pyongyang.

CNN's Mike Valerio joins us now from Seoul, South Korea.

What can you tell us about this meeting? As you have put it earlier, it is a bromance, but there is a lot at stake here.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is. You know, so we're waiting to see, Sara, what is going to be the result. If this is just going to be a high five with the bromance, or if there's going be a concrete deliverable that changes the security situation, the security posture for millions of people, not to mention 30,000 American troops here on the Korean peninsula.

So, we know that they're going to sign something, Sara, tomorrow. It's going to be something to codify, to put pen to paper, to put in writing their strategic partnership and elevate that partnership, their words, that they reached in September of last year when Kim Jong-un went in his evergreen very bulletproof sort of James Bond 1960s styles Soviet train to eastern Russia and had that meeting.

[09:10:13]

But, you know, they're getting closer, Sara, because not - you know, they're not inherently friends. They want so many things from one another in this moment in time. So, North Korea wants help with their missile program, their satellite-launching program. They've both had lots of failures in recent weeks. They need food, energy assistance. They want the quote/unquote prestige of Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, standing in Kim il-sung Square, in the heart of Pyongyang, with a, you know, from their point of view, very strong leader like Vladimir Putin.

What does Putin want? He wants more ammo to help him prosecute his war against Ukraine. But, Sara, you know, very interestingly, as we're all waiting for Putin to land in this part of the world, you know, more and more people are turning to his comments last week, where he thanked South Korea for not, I repeat, not giving lethal weapons to Ukraine to help Ukrainians on the battlefield.

So, because of that, Sara, there are a lot of experts in this corner of the world who are thinking, you know what, maybe Moscow is not going to go all the way to help out Pyongyang with military, nuclear, ballistic technology because they don't want to rock the boat with the South Koreans. They don't want the South Koreans to send more military assistance to Ukraine. So, we will be watching closely tomorrow, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, certainly not just the U.S. and its allies. China watching all of this very closely as well.

Mike Valerio, thank you so much for all your reporting. Appreciate you.

All right, coming up, an undocumented migrant has been arrested, accused of killing a Maryland mother of five. That story is ahead.

Also, extreme heat blanketing a large part of the United States. Around 270 million people will see temperatures above 90 degrees today. And tens of thousands of acres scorch as dangerous wildfires are

burning now in several states.

All those stories ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:44]

BERMAN: This morning, an undocumented migrant from El Salvador is under arrest and faces charges for the murder of an American mother of five. Rachel Morin was killed in August of last year while she was hiking near her Maryland home. The suspect, Victor Antonio Martinez- Hernandez, was arrested Friday at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Investigators say he is also wanted for perhaps multiple other crimes in the United States and in El Salvador.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is here with the very latest on this.

Miguel, what are you learning?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the way that they caught him is amazing. DNA now knows no boundaries, international or otherwise. DNA from a home invasion crime scene in Los Angeles and his home country of El Salvador helped authority zero in on 23-year-old victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez. The FBI using genetic genealogy. Basically identifying family members of the suspect. They traveled to El Salvador to help identify Martinez-Hernandez. The DNA from the Los Angeles scene led them to family members in El Salvador, and that led them to identify the suspect.

Now, Rachel Morin, she was 37-years-old, mom to five kids, was raped and killed last August while hiking near her Maryland home in Harford County. That's just north of Baltimore. Her mother, Patricia, attended the press conference announcing the capture of her daughter's killer. She was giving up hope that he would ever be found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICIA MORIN, RACHEL MORIN'S MOTHER: Just because I am so grateful that they have brought us to this place because it's some - some of the points during this I didn't think that we were ever going to have an end, that it was going to be a cold case.

So, I would like to applaud them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Just extraordinary to see her there.

Now, officials say Martinez-Hernandez crossed into the U.S. illegally in February 2023. He's a suspected of a murder in El Salvador from January 2023, and multiple crimes in the U.S. Authorities say he came to the U.S. to try to escape that El Salvador murder. Martinez- Hernandez was arrested at a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. By their own account, officers found the suspect casually sitting at the bar and placed him under arrest. Initially the suspect lied about his true identity and denied knowledge of the crimes he was wanted for. Martinez-Hernandez has waived his right to an extradition hearing now and is expected to be moved from Maryland in the next couple of weeks - or to Maryland in the next couple of weeks where he will face rape - first degree rape and murder charges.

BERMAN: All right, Miguel Marquez, thank you very much for explaining what happened here.

With us now, Randolph Rice, an attorney for the family of Rachel Morin.

Councilor, thank you so much for being with us.

I'm sure you've had a chance to speak with the family. How do they feel about this arrest this morning?

RANDOLPH RICE, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY OF RACHEL MORIN: Well, they're incredibly relieved. Certainly this has been an agonizing ten months since Rachel's murder.

There's a sense of happiness, but certainly they understand that this is not over. The prosecution now begins once this suspect is returned to Maryland in the next week or so. And then we have to go through the process of him being prosecuted in Harford County. We don't know what he - the decisions he's going to make moving forward.

BERMAN: What complications, if any, do you foresee in that prosecution?

RICE: Well, the reason why, one, we're continuing to keep this story alive is we want other witnesses to come forward and provide additional evidence and information that can put a timeline together as to where he was between Los Angeles and Maryland and then Maryland and Tulsa.

[09:20:01]

But, you know, if he tries to - or he decides to go with a jury trial, that could be a lot longer, more drawn out, versus a plea, which would be a lot quicker. That really is the decision he has to make at the very beginning of the case.

BERMAN: I know justice is a hard concept to grasp in something like this for a family that's lost so much, but what would the family see as a just outcome?

RICE: Well, I think certainly the sheriff said it best, if he spends the rest of his life behind bars, he certainly has to answer to the crimes here. He's got to answer to the crimes in California. And then he theoretically could answer to crimes in El Salvador.

But that leads us back to the problem of, we are just - this is just incredible that an individual from another country came and killed an American. This was completely preventable.

BERMAN: And when you say it's completely preventable than, where do you place that blame?

RICE: Well, America is hemorrhaging at the southern border. And the officials in Washington keep arguing over which kind of tourniquet to use. They just can't seem to figure out how to fix this problem. And had they gotten ahead of this and fixed this problem before, Rachel would be alive today. And so many other Americans. This is not a Republican or a Democrat problem. This is an American problem.

We've got fentanyl coming across the border. We've got individuals coming across the border killing Americans, and everybody's standing around, like I said, trying to figure out what kind of tourniquet to put on this hemorrhage.

And the irony of this whole thing is, is that the president of El Salvador has locked up all the gang members. This suspect has been identified as a gang member. The irony is, is that in his country he would have been locked up, yet he comes here - here and he kills Rachel Morin.

So, they've got to figure out what's going on at the southern border. Washington has got to figure out how to fix this problem.

BERMAN: And do you feel like that will have an impact over this criminal case? Is that a cloud hanging over the case that will have specific ramifications?

RICE: No, I think this is something that a future family would hopefully not have to go through because I've seen how this has just destroyed Rachel's mother and sister and brothers and family. It is heart-wrenching to watch them go through ten months of not knowing who killed their daughter, and knowing that it was preventable had they stopped this individual at the border.

BERMAN: Randolph Rice, thank you very much for being with us. Our thoughts are with the family this morning.

RICE: Thank you. And thank law enforcement, they did a great job in this case.

BERMAN: All right, we are getting some breaking news. We are just learning that Justin Timberlake is in custody out in Long Island, Sag Harbor, in New York. Police have not released details of the charges, but we are expecting a statement shortly. So, stand by for that.

New evacuation order in place for life-threatening wildfires that are growing in different parts of the United States. In New Mexico, two wildfires are converging on one village. A very dangerous situation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:38]

SIDNER: All right, we've got some breaking news for you this morning. Justin Timberlake in police custody in Sag Harbor, New York. It's Long Island, obviously. A police spokesperson tells CNN that Timberlake remains in custody and was arrested for DWI. We will bring you more details as soon as they become possible. We are just learning that he is going to be going to court and have an appearance there at nine this morning.

All right, moving to the west. A scorching heatwave is bringing temperatures to the northeast and west not seen this time of year in decades. Heat alerts have been issued in 19 states across the country. And over half of the U.S. population will experience temperatures above 90 degrees in the coming days.

These high temperatures are also causing problems, of course, on the west coast where fires are burning out of control. Fire crews battling over 17 active wildfires right now. In New Mexico, two wildfires started to converge on a tribal reservation, forcing 5,000 people there to evacuate.

CNN is covering all of this across the country with Natasha Chen, who is in California, near the fires, and meteorologist Allison Chinchar, who is in our weather center for us.

Natasha, we're going to begin with you.

We saw this fire cropping up yesterday. The winds whipping like crazy. What is the latest there where you are?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, in southern California, the good news is weather conditions will be improving to help firefighters try to navigate the Post Fire in unincorporated L.A. County. They've gotten the northern part secured. The southern perimeter, however, may take them about a week to fully secure because that is some steep, rugged terrain that they have to work through.

So that - there's some good news here in California. But as you mentioned, New Mexico, that situation is really dire. You've got two wildfires converging on that tribal reservation that you were talking about as officials describe the fires converging like a pair of tongs. We've seen, through live camera time lapses, just how incredible and fast that explosive fire reached more than 3,000 acres yesterday, more than 5,000 people had to evacuate. And we've got utilities in that area de-energizing lines in part of that town.

And I have to mention that southeast New Mexico has the highest designation of drought level in the U.S. right now.

[09:30:02]