Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

State of Emergency in New Mexico as Wildfires Rage; Axios Reports, White House Cancels Meeting With Israel After Netanyahu Video; Video Appears to Show Justin Timberlake's Car Before Arrest. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 19, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

BRYAN LANZA, FORMER DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TRUMP 2016 CAMPAIGN: So, if that is the Biden's response is like, let's double down on MAGA and show how dangerous it is. J.D. actually has a history of appealing and winning the independent vote when it matters and the suburban vote. And if he can extend that to other states that are nearby, which is Michigan and Pennsylvania, that's a devastating message.

MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER COMMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, DNC: Taking that national is a big, big deal. We've already seen a lot of resistance to that message.

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, we're out of time, but we will continue the debate. I'm sure it was a walk into the green room.

All right, thanks for our panel. Thank you for joining us. I'm Manu Raju. CNN News Central starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Uncontrolled and dangerous weather across the country. In the west, wildfires turned deadly and very destructive buildings going up in flames as thousands of people flee for their lives. At the same time, a brutal heat wave is hitting tens of millions of Americans as the Atlantic season's first potential tropical storm is brewing in the gulf.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just 342 votes, that is the razor thin margin in a bruising Republican congressional primary. Will one of the most conservative members in the country be punished for not endorsing Donald Trump?

Brand new surveillance video of the time surrounding Justin Timberlake's DWI arrest with new details emerging about how officers say he was behaving.

Kate is out. I'm John Berman with Sarah Sidner. And this is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: This morning, tens of millions of Americans on alert as dangerous heat, deadly fires and the first possible named storm of the 2024 hurricane season, all bearing down on the United States. But we begin with the deadly fires. A state of emergency has now been declared in New Mexico as two fast-moving wildfires scorch hundreds of homes and businesses.

This morning, we're learning one person has now died as crews battle the raging South Fork fire, that this hour is still 0 percent contained, but some weather relief is now on the way.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa joins us now with the latest from the Weather Center. These fires are incredibly dangerous and we're seeing these pictures that are just unbelievable.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The videos have been, you know, your kind of speech was looking at them, the breadth and the scope of the smoke and the fires. We've got two main fires in parts of southern New Mexico, neither of which are really all that contained. You can see when we put it on top of the drought monitor, we have extreme and exceptional drought condition. So, that's not helping you dry fuel.

The good news is some rain could as we go through the next day or two because of that tropical system that will make landfall near Mexico and Texas. You can see the rain is not much. It's scattered. But at least that humidity will increase a little bit, so the air is not quite as dry. That could help with some of the firefighting.

On top of this, we're tracking a heat wave that is unprecedented for some parts of the country. 82 percent of the lower 48 will have temperatures above 90 degrees, 260 million people. We're talking about records falling both daytime highs and overnight lows, more than 150 of them as we go through the next couple of days.

Look at the high temperatures for today. We're talking about 95 degrees in Caribou. If they hit 96 degrees, that would be their hottest temperature ever recorded period on record, 90 stretch back towards Columbus, Cincinnati, I mean, again, sweltering up in places that typically don't get this hot. You've got watches, warnings and advisory stretching for a lot of New England. The warnings that are issued for parts of Maine are the first of its kind, again, unprecedented.

The overnight temperatures don't even fall too much. We're looking at overnight temperatures in the middle and upper 70s, and that has that climate change fingerprint, these overnight temperatures four to five times more likely because of our climate changing. Sara?

SIDNER: Can you talk to me about this potential tropical storm that is brewing, I think, near Texas?

RAFFA: Yes, it is a near Texas. We're already finding some of this rain start to hit along the coast. Some showers from Corpus Christi down towards Brownsville. The center of the storm, though, looks like it goes over Mexico. So, this is your classic example of you don't need to be in the cone to get the impacts, the tropical storm warning stretch for the coast of Texas there.

And so do flood alerts because we're looking at some heavy rain. This is a lot of tropical moisture. The atmosphere is warm. The oceans are incredibly warm. That's going to take a lot of that moisture inland and bring some heavy rain, some flooding rain for parts of Mexico and Texas as we go through the next 24 to 48 hours. We're looking at some pretty incredible rainfall totals, two to four inches, pretty widespread pockets of four to six inches possible from Corpus Christi up the coast, so something that we'll need to watch over the next couple of days there.

[07:05:10]

Sara?

SIDNER: Elisa Raffa, thank you so much for that. John?

BERMAN: All right. I have visual proof, Sara, of this tropical storm bearing down on Texas right now. Let's get right to seeing as Rosa Flores, who's in Corpus Christi. And, Rosa, I've been spying on you getting your shot ready. I think you're standing in a parking meter a short time ago, but it looks pretty flooded.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You are absolutely right. We found the one street in this area that does have some ponding. I want to show you around because Corpus Christi Bay is just here to my left. You can see some of the waves crashing on the beach. We are live here in an area this street that leads to the beach that does have some flooding, some ponding.

I can actually measure exactly how much water we have here. It's about eight inches. Earlier this morning, it was more like five. So, we can see that there is some of that surge coming in. And according to the National Weather Service, this area is supposed to get between one and three feet of surge.

But if you keep on looking this street, you can see leads up to the interstate, and it's partially flooded. I've talked to officials here, both city officials and county officials, and they say that they take every weather event very seriously, that they are not expecting to issue evacuations. They're expecting between six to eight inches of rain. They say that they get very concerned once it's about 15 inches of rain, but they're not expecting that right now.

But they do say that out of an abundance of caution, they have pre- positioned assets, high water vehicles, rescue boats, just in case. And, look, city officials and county officials know exactly where the low lying areas are in Corpus Christi. And so they've also pre- positioned barricades to make sure that they barricade streets if there is some flooding.

But, again, they're keeping an eye on the situation. John, from talking to these officials, they don't seem too concerned. And, again, we are hundreds of miles away from the center of that storm that's going to hit Mexico, but they always, always prepare for the worst. And that's what we're seeing here, just a lot of preparation by city officials, just in case, just to make sure that residents are okay. Back to you.

BERMAN: Rosa Flores. We're in Corpus Christi with a ruler, stand by there. Let us know if the water continues to rise. Thank you very much, Rosa.Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Breaking overnight, Axios reporting the White House has canceled a meeting with Israeli officials after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video criticizing the United States for withholding weapons shipments.

And new details about Justin Timberlake's DWI arrest. See the traffic camera video from moments before police stopped him.

And on this Juneteenth, CNN's own Victor Blackwell retraces his roots to a Virginia enslaved woman who sued for her freedom and won. What that revelation has meant for his family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: How about that? Wow. To see that name with the, what, 122,000 others, it is both humbling but also gives my family place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

SIDNER: Breaking overnight, the White House canceled a high level meeting with Israel about Iran after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the U.S. was withholding military aid in a new video. That is reporting from Axios and CNN contributor Barak Ravid.

With us now, CNN White House Correspondent Arlette Saenz from Delaware and CNN correspondent Paula Hancocks in Jerusalem. Arlette, what are you hearing from the White House this morning after that reporting?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, this seems to represent another tension point between the U.S. and Israel, this being in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent claim that it was inconceivable the U.S. would be withholding aid from Ukraine, comments that yesterday the White House said they had no idea what he was talking about.

Now, as you noted, Axios Reporter and CNN Contributor Barak Ravid said that one high level meeting between the U.S. and Israel has been canceled. It's worth noting, he also said, that there is still another meeting between Jake Sullivan and his counterpart in Israel that is expected to happen a bit later tomorrow. But in this reporting, he also noted that Amos Hochstein, a key adviser to President Biden, who has been traveling in Israel and Lebanon, told Netanyahu directly that his comments were inaccurate and out of line.

Now, it's unclear what exactly Netanyahu was referring to. In May, it was revealed that the U.S. was putting a pause on a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel out of concern about their operations in Rafah. Just yesterday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that that is still under review, while also noting he would not comment on his diplomatic conversations with Netanyahu, who had said that Blinken had offered him assurances that they were trying to free up some of these bottlenecks. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: We, as you know, are continuing to review one shipment that President Biden has talked about with regard to 2,000-pound bombs because of our concerns about their use in a densely populated area like Rafah.

[07:15:06]

That remains other under review. But everything else is moving as it normally would move.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We generally do not know what he's talking about. We just don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, we are still waiting to hear from the White House this morning confirmation that this meeting has been canceled, but it does come at a time when the U.S. has, throughout this eight-month war -- nine-month war in Gaza continued to provide arms sales and transfers to Israel. So, we will see exactly what the White House has to say going forward, but it's clear that this is something that the White House may be a bit frustrated about as they're hearing these comments from Netanyahu.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Arlette. Let's go now to Paula. What are you seeing as far as reaction there after Prime Minister Netanyahu made these comments?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, we're not finding anybody to speak on the record to this. No one appears to want to put their name to this video. But what we are seeing really is the Netanyahu supporters standing by him and those critics of Netanyahu effectively saying, don't bite the hand that feeds you, so very much along the very polarized party lines here.

Now, as Arlette mentioned, Amos Hochstein was just in the region trying to calm the situation down between Israel and Hezbollah.

Now, Tuesday night, there was a nine-minute video that was released by Hezbollah purported to have been filmed on a drone. And it shows the city of Haifa. It shows many residential areas. It shows military facilities, iron dome batteries, missile storage sites, radar sites, for example, the sorts of things Israel does not want published and certainly doesn't want its enemies to know. And they have said that this is just the first episode, suggesting there is more of this drone footage potentially to come. So, that really spooked some in Israel. But what we also heard from the IDF on Tuesday night was that they have approved and validated operational plans for an operation in Lebanon.

Now, I must caution. This does not mean that an operation is imminent, but it does show that Israel wants everybody to know that they are ready should that eventuality be necessary. Sara? SIDNER: And certainly the world watching, fear of a regional war is a real one, especially after seeing that and hearing the reaction from Israel. Paula Hancocks from Jerusalem, thank you so much, as well as Arlette Saenz from the White House. I appreciate you both.

All right, new video this morning of what appears to be Justin Timberlake driving just moments before his arrest. That's coming up.

Also, Russian president gets the red carpet treatment in Pyongyang, North Korea. What has happened in these meetings with these two dictators?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: This morning, Justin Timberlake is out of jail after a DWI arrest on New York's Long Island, and we're getting new details about his interaction with police. New surveillance video shows a car that matches the description of his just minutes before he was stopped.

CNN's Brynn Gingras out in Sag Harbor for us this morning. What are you hearing, Brynn?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. Nothing yet from Justin Timberlake, that's for sure. No comment from him, his reps and not even from his attorney, who he appeared in court just this time yesterday morning with that local attorney. What we do know, though, is what we're learning from the court documents that were released after that court date and it details a lot of what police say happened during that DWI stop.

What they say is that Justin Timberlake was at a hotel just on the street from where we are here in Sag Harbor, leaving there at about 12:30 in the morning. Police say that he blew through a stop sign and then he was seen about swerving through lanes for about six blocks or so before they eventually pulled him over. And according to the police officer who wore body camera footage, they said during that stop, they noticed that Justin Timberlake was slurring his speech, was talking a little bit slow when he was reaching for his vehicle registration. And then they did a field sobriety test where they said he had unsteady footing and he failed that field sobriety test.

And according to that court paperwork and police, once they actually brought him into custody for this charge of one count of DWI, they said that he refused a breathalyzer test three times. And so, of course, he spent the night in jail and he was arraigned yesterday morning and released on his own recognizance.

Now, he does have another court date, and that is going to be set for about a month from now, July 26. That will be a virtual appearance, so he won't have to appear in person here in Sag Harbor again.

One thing else that police say he said when they pulled him over, he said, quote, I had one martini and I followed my friend's home. So, that is the most that we have gotten out of Justin Timberlake at this point. Important to note, he is on tour right now, John. I mean, a world tour. He is supposed to be in Chicago for some concerts this weekend, coming back to New York for Madison Square Garden next week. And then on that court date, he's actually in Poland with a concert date. John?

BERMAN: Oh, wow. Well, interesting to see how this develops as we hear more about that moment from when he's arrested. Brynn Gingras out in Sag Harbor, great to have you there, thank you very much.

So, not just close, but really, really close. Just a few hundred votes separate the candidates. One of the most conservative members of Congress poised maybe to lose his seat unless he could overcome what might be his gravest political sin, apparently, not endorsing Donald Trump for president.

[07:25:04]

And one of the greatest athletes ever to walk the face of the Earth, in fact, in center field, he could cover nearly the entire Earth. Remembering Willie Mays, a true legend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning, the world says so long to the Say Hey Kid. Willie Mays, one of the greatest and most important baseball players in history, passed away last night at the age of 93, a legend, not just as an athlete, but as a human beings.