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Putin And Kim Jong Un Sign New Strategic Partnership Pact; U.S. Soldier Sentenced To Nearly 4 Years In Penal Colony; Biden Works To Shore Up Support Of Black Voters. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 19, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Paying dividends: Vladimir Putin's trip to North Korea pays off with a new defense pact and added support for his war in Ukraine. We're going to look at what Kim Jong-un got out of the trip for North Korea and the broader impact for both of their adversaries.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Fire and floods, while the East bakes and the West copes with wildfires that are torching hundreds of buildings and forcing thousands of people to flee. In Texas, the problem is water and a tropical storm due to make landfall here in the next 24 hours.

And remembering the incomparable Willie Mays, the iconic baseball player who may have been the greatest to ever play the game.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: We begin this hour with pomp and circumstance in North Korea as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un look to strengthen their alliance. The Russian president just wrapped up a rare visit to Pyongyang, his first trip there in more than two decades. He was met with a lavish ceremony that included a military parade and a ride in an open limo, while thousands of North Koreans lined the streets waving flags and chanting, welcome Putin.

By the end of the visit, the Russian president and his counterpart had signed a strategic partnership agreement pledging to help each other if their countries are attacked. Putin says the pact with North Korea will take relations between the two countries to a quote, new level. CNN Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Matthew Chance is following the story live in Moscow.

And Matthew, we haven't exactly seen the language in the text in a way that's clear. Some of it seems ambiguous.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOGBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, we will have to wait to see what the text says, get a translation of it, really have a look at it. But it looks like this strategic partnership treaty, which was the centerpiece of this very dramatic yet colorful trip by President Putin to Pyongyang, which was highly choreographed. It looks like it could be really significant and it could mark a really new and potentially dangerous phase of cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, between Russia and North Korea.

It's obviously going to have a security dimension. We don't know what that's going to involve, but in the past, U.S. officials have accused Russia of taking millions of rounds, artillery rounds mainly, from North Korean factories and using them on the front lines in Ukraine to help them sustain that very heavy bombardment that's been underway now for some time on the part of the Russian artillery.

It's unclear and it's of concern what North Korea will get in return for continued cooperation in that regard. It needs help on its ballistic missile program, its nuclear program as well. Both those programs have been a thorn in the side of the United States and its allies, particularly in the region, could destabilize the Korean peninsula.

The other big thing, though, is what Vladimir Putin point out - pointed out, which is that this new treaty, it basically is a mutual assistance treaty. So much like NATO's Article 5, if one country is attacked, the other one must go and help. Now, we don't know whether that means attacks on Russia of the kind we've been seeing in Western Russia by Ukrainian forces with drone attacks, et cetera, whether that would be a motive to invoke that clause in the treaty and whether North Korea could somehow become more embroiled than it already is in Russia's war. It's what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine, Boris.

SANCHEZ: So Matthew, what exactly is in it for North Korea when it comes to security and technology? Because that was something that Putin specifically said was part of the deal.

CHANCE: Yes. Well, I mean, North Korea needs so much. I mean, it needs food, it needs energy. But as I mentioned, it's got that ballistic missile program, which is - it's got a space program, which it's had some problems with launching military satellites into space. And it's got a nuclear program as well.

Now, the Kremlin has said that it hasn't even been asked by Pyongyang to provide nuclear technology, for example, and some of the most sensitive military technology. And I think the assessment is by sort of outside observers that Russia would be very reluctant to give North Korea the most sensitive military technologies that it would benefit from.

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But nevertheless, you know, North Korea has a strong bargaining position at this point. You know, Russia really needs that ammunition and Pyongyang is going to drive a harder bargain, as hard a bargain as it can, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Matthew Chance reporting live from Moscow. Thank you so much. Brianna. KEILAR: Let's discuss this now with CNN Military Analyst and retired Air Force colonel, Cedric Leighton. Cedric, you know, North Korea obviously already believed to be supplying Russia with missiles and ammunition. So what else does North Korea have to provide here?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, so that's going to be really interesting, Brianna, because that's right, about 11,000 containers worth of munitions have allegedly reached Ukraine from North Korea. So what else could there be? There could be personnel, in the extreme case. You could actually have North Korean troops potentially help the Russians either in a backfill capacity where they support them from the back and not on the front lines.

But the other part of it could be that they would provide logistical support, that they could provide perhaps equipment from their train service. Those are the kinds of things that they might do if Russian planes break, for example, even though the North Koreans have very limited aircraft, perhaps they would use one or two North Korean aircraft.

All of those things are possible. We don't know, of course, the text of this, but that's the kind of thing that you would expect them to do. But the other thing that they, I think, will do is provide labor support for the Russian labor force. There's a civilian labor shortage in Russia. And now that Russia is on a war footing, on a war economy footing, there will be North Korean workers, even more of them, working in Russian armaments factories and in other areas of the Russian economy that directly support the war effort.

KEILAR: That's really interesting. So if they're entering into this strategic partnership where if you're attacked, I'm going to come to your aid, how do you see that playing out?

LEIGHTON: Well, there's one historical precedent and that would be the Korean War. So the Russians supplied the Koreans, the Soviets at that time supplied the North Koreans with a lot of manpower. They used fighter pilots, Russian fighter pilots, to actually fly North Korean jets during the Korean War. So there would be the possibility of it happening in reverse where the North Koreans come in and do something like that if there was - were to be a shortage of Russian pilots.

I don't think that will happen, but that's an extreme scenario that's possible. The other thing, of course, if something were to happen on the Korean Peninsula, then you could see the Russians aiding in that way once again. And so then it would be the history repeating itself or at least rhyming.

KEILAR: There's a new report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute that the nine nuclear states, which of course includes Russia, North Korea and the U.S., they're continuing to increase their nuclear arsenals right now as these geopolitical tensions are growing. How do you see this moment and the threat here?

LEIGHTON: Well, it's a huge threat because the non-proliferation regime within the whole nuclear concept that has really governed the world since the fall of the Berlin Wall, all of that has in essence stopped. And even before the fall of the Berlin Wall, you had relationships that the U.S. had with the Soviet Union and they made some sense. They resulted in the reduction of arms, you know, all the START talks, for example, the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks were extremely important in doing that. Of course, they didn't eliminate nuclear weapons, obviously, but the proliferation regime, which has had its problems, is now, I would say, completely dead at this point.

KEILAR: And we are watching live pictures here of Putin having arrived there in Hanoi, which is the next stop following North Korea. We'll continue to look at his visit. Obviously, it's very important at this moment in time as we are watching developments in the Ukraine war. Cedric, always great to get your insights. Thank you so much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Brianna.

KEILAR: Boris?

SANCHEZ: We're also learning today that Russia has sentenced an American soldier to nearly four years in a penal colony for theft and threatening murder. U.S. Staff Sergeant Gordon Black was arrested last month on accusations of assaulting and stealing a bit more than a hundred dollars from a woman believed to be his girlfriend. Russian state media reports that Black partially admitted to the theft, but not to the charges of threatening to kill her. CNN National Security Correspondent, Kylie Atwood, is following the latest from the State Department.

So, Kylie, what are U.S. officials saying about this case?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, there were U.S. embassy officials who were present at his sentencing hearing today. That's according to a State Department spokesperson. But we should note that the State Department, the U.S. government, has not deemed Gordon Black, this U.S. soldier, to be wrongfully detained. And what that means is effectively that they are not fighting this sentence at this time. They are not proactively working at this time to make sure that Russia immediately releases him.

We'll watch and see, of course, where that goes. Of course, they continue to very closely look at the case of all Americans who are detained, and then, of course, sentence as Gordon Black has now been to prison time in Russia.

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We should also note that a State Department spokesperson said this when we asked them about the case that as a general practice, we do not share information with the media about private U.S. citizens absent their written consent. We reiterate our strong warnings about the danger posed to U.S. citizens inside the Russian Federation U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately, as stated in our travel advisory for Russia.

Now, speaking today, as you said, in that courtroom, according to Russian state media reports, Gordon Black denied that he had actually threatened death on the woman that he was dating, who he traveled to Russia to see. He did say that he took some money out of her purse, but the next day, he paid her back. We'll watch and see, of course, where this case goes.

But the backdrop being that there are two Americans who are wrongfully detained in Russia, of course, Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich. Last month, when this U.S. soldier was arrested, Paul Whelan spoke with our colleague, Jennifer Hansler. And while he was a bit more optimistic than he has been in the past about U.S. efforts to secure his release, he also said that he was concerned about this case, this arrest of this U.S. soldier potentially complicating those efforts.

SANCHEZ: Kylie Atwood, live for us from the State Department. Thank you so much, Kylie.

Coming up, enormous and devastating, that's how New Mexico's governor is describing two fast-moving wildfires that are forcing thousands of people from their homes. Could rain coming up in the forecast potentially bring some relief?

Plus, bracing for a monumental ruling. What happens if the Supreme Court sides with hundreds of January 6th rioters? We're going to discuss the legal and political implications.

And with the presidential election just months away, former President Trump is touting a rise in popularity among black voters. We're going to speak with the former head of the NAACP about Trump's outreach and how well it's working. Those stories and much more still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: Today is Juneteenth, the newest federal holiday which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. And as the nation remembers African-Americans' past, election watchers are intently looking at what black voters will be doing in the near future. President Biden has worked for weeks to shore up their support, which has been wavering, according to polls.

With us now is Cornell William Brooks. He's the former president of the NAACP, also an attorney, reverend, and professor at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Cornell, thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. At this point, it's not just one poll.

CORNELL WILLIAM BROOKS, FORMER NAACP PRESIDENT: (INAUDIBLE) ...

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's a series of polls that have President Biden performing better among black voters than just about any Republican candidate in decades. It's a concern that the Biden camp is taking seriously. How do you think that Trump is winning over those voters?

BROOKS: Well, I'd first like to note here, doing better than any Republican nominee in decades does not constitute a majority of the black vote. The majority of the black vote is overwhelmingly with President Biden. And I think it's important here to contrast pictures and numbers.

By pictures, we have president - former President Trump appearing in a black church without black people, giving the appearance that black people are, in fact, political props in a photo op. Contrast that with President Biden speaking at Morehouse College, the alma mater of Martin Luther King and Julian Bond. Contrast the numbers, that is to say, Trump moving his support among - in the black community in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan up from the single digits to, yes, the double digits, but low double digits.

The point being here is these polls at this point show some volatility, but do not constitute a testament to the popularity, if you will, of former President Trump among African-Americans.

SANCHEZ: That's absolutely true, though for the Biden team with margins in certain states, battleground states being so thin, if Trump gets close to 20 percent, I mean, that would be catastrophic for Biden's re-election hopes. So how do they turn that trend around?

BROOKS: I think it's incredibly important. You know, having led the NAACP and having led voter turnout efforts, it's important to focus on, yes, securing the support of the black community, but also ensuring that that support translates into votes. So, in other words, President Biden is competing not so much with Trumpism, but the prospect of absenteeism, which is to say he has to make sure that the black vote turns out by making a solid case for the black vote, not just what he has done, but what he will do in a second term.

For example, what will he do with respect to inflation? What will he do with respect to voting rights and for police reform? And all of the issues that animate and inspire the black vote that are not unlike those issues that inspire everybody else in terms of turning out to the polls and casting the ballot. He's got to make a hard case, but what we have seen is that he is showing up, he is investing in terms of media and his appearance in the black community, but ultimately, it's not merely about what he has done, it has to be about what he will do and they've been trying to make that case.

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SANCHEZ: Yes. I do want to get your thoughts on news out of Chicago this week. The city's launching a reparations task force that would explore and propose how to compensate black residents for historically racist and egregious policies. You actually recently conducted a study on reparations. I'm wondering what you found and what your reaction is to this news.

BROOKS: Sure. So on this day, Juneteenth, where we're celebrating the liberation, the emancipation of four million African-Americans following slavery, what we have found in our research is that, in a sense, America does a form of reparations every day for people who have been harmed, either physically harmed, harmed in terms of economic distress, harmed in terms of the health care system, the banking system, and that these reparations, or what we call repertory compensations, in the main are for nonracial harms and benefit white citizens.

Our research shows that the government actually has the expertise, the experience, and the resources to address, long unaddressed, racial harms in this country. What Chicago is endeavoring to do, what states are endeavoring to do, is important, but it's far more important that the federal government assume the responsibility of repairing America's unresponded to, unheeded, unaddressed racial harms and that we can do. We can celebrate the holiday, but also make amends for the past as we embrace the future.

SANCHEZ: And as you might imagine, there's going to be intense resistance to that effort. Just outside of Chicago, Evanston, Illinois is getting sued for offering cash reparations to black residents. How do you anticipate these efforts might survive legal challenges, and what would the implications be nationwide? So here's - let us consider this. This country has always possessed the capacity under the Constitution to address wrongs and attempt to make them right.

So, for example, when Japanese Americans were incarcerated after World War II or during World War II, this country provided reparations, modest reparations, for the deprivation of their liberty. So, in other words, it is not illegal, it is not unconstitutional to make a wrong right by remedying the wrong. Lawyers do this every day to the courts. The country can do this.

For example, we've done this in terms of African-Americans. Actually, it's not African-Americans. We've done it in terms of vets who serve their country. We provided the GI Bill. When pensions in this country are threatened, this country will insure the pensions and save the pension funds. The point being here, there is nothing illegal, nothing unconstitutional about responding to an unconstitutional wrong, a racial wrong and attempting to make it right.

Civil rights lawyers do this every day and this country can do it. And let us note this, Boris, I think this is really important, reparations are actually supported by a majority of young people and an increasing number of Americans. And our research shows that we can respond to reparations because we have the resources. We can respond because the government is actually skilled, if you will, and experienced in terms of addressing harms and we can make this holiday, more than just this holiday in which we celebrate with barbecue and with food and with festivities, the holiday in which we recognize and heal and respond to America's racial harms.

SANCHEZ: Cornell William Brooks. We have to leave the conversation there, appreciate it.

BROOKS: Always good to be with you.

SANCHEZ: Thanks. Brianna?

KEILAR: CNN's special program celebrating Juneteenth airs tonight. The recently established federal holiday marks the day that Union troops notified enslaved people that they were free more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. CNN's Victor Blackwell caught up with singer and activist, John Legend, on why he's making his work on social justice part of his legacy.

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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: John, you could sing, release music and then go home.

JOHN LEGEND, SINGER & SONGWRITER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: And not do the work. What compels you to engage and do the social justice work?

LEGEND: Well, part of it is I've always been inspired by the tradition of particularly black artists over the years realizing that when we have this opportunity, when we have this platform, we want to use it to stand up for what's right, fight for justice, support activists and organizers who are out there doing really important work to secure freedom for all citizens.

I come from a tradition of that, I believe. When I think about my mentors and my heroes like Harry Belafonte and others, they invested in the Civil Rights movement.

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They spent their money. They spent their social capital and they used their platform to try to make the world better. And I always thought that was what an artist was supposed to do. So I feel like this is part of my calling as an artist.

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KEILAR: Watch the CNN Special Event, Juneteenth: Celebrating Freedom and Legacy. That airs at 10 PM tonight right here on CNN. And you can also stream it on CNN Max.

Still ahead, a record-breaking heat wave in the Northeast and Midwest. A tropical storm barreling towards Texas. And deadly wildfires burning in California and New Mexico. We're following this triple threat of dangerous weather events.

Plus, the head of the National Guard is now criticizing putting U.S. troops at the southern border with Mexico, saying it has, quote, no military training value. We'll have more on his candid comments coming up.

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