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G7 Summit; Biden To Meet With Russia's Vladimir Putin; Delta Flight Diverted; DOJ Watchdog To Investigate Trump-Era Leak Investigations; Vaccination Rates Lag In Some States As More Cities Reopen; Diver Says He Was Nearly Swallowed By A Humpback Whale; Hidden Gems Of The Florida Panhandle. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired June 12, 2021 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:40]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Delta diverted. An Atlanta-bound flight is forced to make an emergency landing after an unruly passenger says he is quote "going to take the plane down".

Plus, investigating the investigators. New details about former U.S. attorney general Bill Barr's role in the Trump administration's dragnet of his political enemies.

And whale of a tale. A Cape Cod lobster diver has the story of a lifetime after he says he ended up in the mouth of a humpback whale.

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. Happening right now, the second day of the G7 summit is under way in England.

President Joe Biden just wrapped up a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. And at any moment now the G7 session on health will begin as the world tries to bounce back after the devastating coronavirus pandemic. The leaders also have meetings today on China and its global reach.

And then, coming up this coming week on Wednesday, all eyes will be on Biden's face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their first meeting since Biden took office.

And now we're learning that Biden is planning to hold a solo press conference after their discussion.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Nic Robertson are following all the developments.

Let's go first to Kaitlan. So Kaitlan, certainly a whole lot of ground to cover for these leaders during the G7 summit. But what are the big priorities today? KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There is

certainly a lot of ground for them to cover. They've got these three days of meetings. And today is when you're really starting to see them get into the substance of it.

So just yesterday we talked about how it's this first return to face- to-face diplomacy since the pandemic. Of course, a lot of leaders sighing relief because it's President Biden here instead of President Trump, and obviously he is much more diplomatic and welcoming in these conversations about their greater efforts than you saw former President Trump be.

But even today we saw some divisions come out among these leaders, particularly on China, where we are told that at some points during these meetings today on the second day of the G7 summit. The conversations were so sensitive that all Internet to the room was shut off.

And during those conversations you saw a lot of deep divisions between the different leaders over how they think China should be handled. A lot of that had to do with essentially pitting the United States, the U.K. and Canada against some of the other European officials, including the German leader and the Italian leader as well, basically not disagreeing, according to officials who briefed reporters later on, that there was a threat from China, but disagreeing over how to handle that threat and what the appropriate action has been.

And this has been a theme ever since Biden took office, saying that there needs to be greater -- a great response, a greater unified response to a rising China in order to deal with their aggressive action. And we're told, Fred, during that meeting today that he actually said China needed to be called out more for their anti- democratic efforts and what they do with workers -- forced labor essentially in Xinjiang.

And so that has really been a major aspect of the conversations today, showing that, yes, there is a lot of diplomatic speak happening, more handshakes, more hugs than you saw when Trump was in office. But still, they're not seeing eye to eye on all of these issues.

WHITFIELD: And then Nic, President Biden also holding a bilateral meeting today with French President Emmanuel Macron. So what did they discuss?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, one of the interesting things about Macron here is he's been really sort of close to President Biden. There were photographs that we've seen him with his sort of arm around President Biden and interestingly where he came down in that round-the-table discussion on China, actually not siding with Germany and Italy, but coming down more on the side of the United States and President Biden on China.

But really on that one-on-one, the bilateral between President Macron and President Biden was very clearly a warm recognition and a warming to this change from President Trump. Macron saying that it was a lot to do, but it was very good to have President Biden and the United States back in what he called "the club".

[11:04:56[

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: We have to deal with this pandemic and the COVID-19. We have to face a lot of changes, a lot of crisis, climate change, and for all these issues what we need is cooperation. And I think it's great to have the U.S. President part of the club and very willing to cooperate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So it does seem that President Emmanuel Macron of France has very easily made the switch away from the warm embrace that he tried to give President Trump several years ago and is really ready to embrace a president whose values he's much more closely aligned with.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nic Robertson, Kaitlan Collins, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

So Russian President Vladimir Putin, he's already setting his tone ahead of his meeting with Biden and saying publicly what he thinks of the sitting president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have a bilateral relationship that has deteriorated to its lowest point in recent years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You once described President Trump as a bright person, talented. How would you describe President Biden?

PUTIN: even now, I believe that former U.S. president Mr. Trump is an extraordinary individual, talented individual. Otherwise, he would not have become U.S. President. He's a colorful individual. You may like him or not. But he didn't come from U.S. establishment. He had not been part of big-time politics before. And some like it, some don't like it, but that is a fact.

President Biden, of course, is radically different from Trump because President Biden is a career man. He has spent virtually his entire adulthood in politics. Just think of the number of years he spent in the senate, a different kind of person.

It is my great hope that, yes, there are some advantages, some disadvantages, but there will not be any impulse-based movements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. The White House is setting its tone today as well, saying there will be no joint news conference with Putin following the meetings like there was when Putin met with former President Trump in Helsinki. With us now is CNN military analyst General Wesley Clark. He's a retired U.S. Army general and the former commander in chief of the European Command and the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. So good to see you.

So earlier this week President Biden says he will tell Putin what he wants him to know. What do you think that means?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think he's going to tell Putin to keep his hands off our allies and stay out of U.S. politics. I think he's going to tell him to stop the cyber hacks.

I think he's going to go beyond that and tell him then how to do his own politics inside Russia. He's going to say you can't imprison dissidents and people who are simply trying to be political opponents like Navalny.

I think it could be a very contentious session and the question is then, what is the end result of it? If it's just to see how Putin responds, it's pretty clear Putin is not going to take it lying down. He's going to challenge it and deny things. He's going to well, say show me evidence. So it could be a tough session.

WHITFIELD: And you know, it's interesting, because as a prelude to the meeting, it seems both of them are trying to, you know, say aloud, you know, how they might have the upper hand or what they want to take place.

Is this kind of just a pre-meeting little chess move? Do you think it is at all advantageous for either side to do this?

CLARK: Well, there's big strategic issues here, Fredricka. For the Russians, of course, they're in a continuing low-intensity, what you would call a hybrid warfare against democracy. They're threatening their neighbors. They've got, you know, information -- disinformation out.

They put 100,000 troops around the border of Ukraine. Most of those troops are still there and the equipment is still there. They could launch a military operation at any time.

They're in Syria. They're in Libya. They're doing a lot of things in the world that we don't like. And Putin wants to regain the Soviet space. So for him, this is all part of the campaign.

He would like to discredit President Biden. He would like to show that Russia is an equal of the United States and he would like to even one- up China, because after all, President Biden is seeing him before he's seeing Xi Jinping in China. So Putin's a gamesman on this thing.

For President Biden it's a different strategy. What he wants to do is bring the allies together on China. He would like to ice down the U.S.-Russian relationship, I think.

And that's going to be very hard to do because President Putin is a disrupter. He's a scavenger. [11:09:44]

CLARK: Wherever there's a loose end, he's opportunistic and he's going to take it, whether it's in Syria or Libya, or Estonia or any other place in Europe. He's looking to disrupt and make trouble and enlarge Russian's role on the world stage.

This is going to be a very -- it's a very key opportunity for the president to get the upper hand here.

WHITFIELD: Lots of eyes on Putin and what role he might play on the global stage. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had this to say about Putin and that upcoming meeting. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I certainly think that President Putin has done things that are unconscionable and I'm fairly certain that he authorized the poisonings in Salisbury that led to the death of an innocent -- wholly member of the British public, the attempted poisoning of the Skripals.

You've seen what's happening to his leading opponent, Alexei Navalny, who is in prison on trumped-up charges and facing -- and is effectively being tortured.

And so I think that what Joe Biden will be doing when he goes to see Putin will be giving some pretty tough messages.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So how reassuring do you think it might be that Biden's approach will be very different with Putin than what we saw with former President Trump, where Trump dismissed aides and even note- takers in the meetings with Putin and that's not likely to happen with Biden?

CLARK: No, it's not going to happen. You know, the president is not going to accommodate Mr. Putin. But he is -- there are some risks in this because Putin is going to try to compare himself, elevate himself, using President Biden.

And if it goes wrong, if there's a real clash that comes out publicly, then some of our friends in Europe might be concerned because countries like Germany, they're engaged with Russia much more deeply economically than we are. So they don't want a crisis with Russia.

On the other hand, the NATO meeting, as well as this G7 meeting is also about bringing our allies on board to take a tougher stand to Russia.

I think President Biden has a key opportunity here. He could do what President Reagan did at Reykjavik in 1984. He can do something entirely unexpected. He could bring Russia in from the cold if Russia pledges to really reform itself and its behavior. Will he do that? Will he take that risk? We don't know. But if he goes in on just the confrontational side, gets a couple of marginal agreements, the White House is going to do everything they can to make the optics and the spin positive as they must.

WHITFIELD: All right. General Wesley Clark, thank you so much. Also it seems like a goal here is for the U.S. to send a message of strengthening relations with these allies here at the G7 overall.

Thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

All right. Still ahead, these terrifying moments onboard a Delta flight as a passenger said he was, quote, "going to take the plane down". How the flight crew and other travelers were able to wrestle him down.

Plus, a whale of a tale. A lobster diver says he narrowly survived after a humpback whale tried to swallow him off the coast of Cape Cod.

[11:14:14]

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WHITFIELD: A Delta flight is forced to land after an unruly passenger threatened to take down the plane mid-flight. Look at this incredible video shot by one of the passengers onboard. Police say several travelers jumped in to wrestle the man down after he assaulted two flight attendants.

CNN's Polo Sandoval joining me now with more on this. Some pretty frightening moments from the skies, Polo.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, it's hard to believe that it was business was usual aboard Delta flight 1730 up until about two hours before it had to make -- before it was set to arrive in Atlanta Hartsfield and that's when, according to authorities, there was a passenger onboard that claimed, quote, "he was going to take down the plane". That's according to police.

That's when he then made his way toward the front of the aircraft, according to several witnesses and authorities, and attacked two female flight attendants. And that's when passengers sprang into action to try to gain control of the situation. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All three of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop. Stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help, help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I beg you. I beg you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Not long after this video was taken, that flight did make an emergency landing in Oklahoma City where we're told Oklahoma City authorities then boarded the aircraft to remove this individual. Charges are potentially going to be filed here.

We are learning a little bit more about who this individual is, trying to confirm some of those details and, of course, we're going to get those to you as soon as possible.

But first some of what the airline is saying about what took place last night before the flight was obviously allowed continued on to its final destination safely here.

Delta expressing quote, "thanks to the crew and passengers of Delta Flight 1730 who assisted in detaining an unruly passenger as the flight diverted to Oklahoma City. The aircraft landed without incident and the passenger was removed by law enforcement."

Fred, we have reached out to the FBI for additional information about this particular case, but overall, it has been less than smooth travel aboard many U.S. flights here. The FAA actually tracks unruly passenger incidents and reports that so far about 2,900 incidents have been reported, about 2,200 are reportedly passengers that have refused to comply with that ongoing federal mask mandate.

But we should be clear, we don't know exactly the circumstances about this particular case, but it's just the very latest aboard a Delta flight as airlines are trying to sort of pick up the pieces and try to get back to business as usual because of the pandemic. Now it faces this kind of situation that played out just last night.

[11:20:02]

WHITFIELD: Yes. What a mix of emotions for so many. I mean there's been all this built-up anxiety and then some relief and, you know, that feeling of exhilaration to be able to get on a flight again. And then only something like this would happen to build up the anxiety once again.

Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

I'm going to talk to somebody who was on that flight, Benjamin Curlee. He was flying from LAX to Atlanta.

Benjamin, so glad you could be with us. So as you reflect now, what was this whole experience like for you?

BENJAMIN CURLEE, DELTA FLIGHT 1730 PASSENGER: I mean honestly, walking away from it, it's kind of surreal. I also haven't had a chance to really catch up on sleep. I was hoping to sleep on that flight and that didn't happen.

So no, it feels very surreal. It's certainly an event that is a once- in-a-lifetime event, it's something you really always kind of in the back of your head, like I wonder if this will happen. Well, today it actually did. And I am very thankful that it did not end badly.

WHITFIELD: So I understand you were near the rear of the plane, right. So did you see the commotion? Perhaps you didn't hear it with the kind of clarity that this video is giving us? But what was happening? How were you kind of -- you know, your attention was wrestled about here. What was going on?

CURLEE: So actually as far back as I was and the seat that I was in, I did not see or hear anything. My first interaction was when the intercom came on and apparently the perpetrator was on the intercom and was telling passengers to return to their seats because oxygen masks were going to be required of them.

And that created quite a stir amongst everyone around us. It became very tense. People behind me were saying that's really bad. I mean that only happens when a plane goes down.

WHITFIELD: Oh my good ness. And so what was going through your mind? What did you think was happening?

CURLEE: I had absolutely no idea. I feared the worst.

WHITFIELD: How were you preparing yourself then?

CURLEE: Yes. I prayed that God would protect my family in case I was gone. And yes, I don't know. I just waited to see what needed to be done. I looked for an opportunity.

WHITFIELD: So before this flight even took off, you know, now you've seen the story, you know, I don't know if you've gotten a good glimpse of this, you know, passenger who is now facing these charges.

Was there anything unusual prior to takeoff, anything to make you feel uncertain or worried at all about the flight you were about to be on?

CURLEE: Yes, I did not see him as I boarded the plane. But my conversation with other passengers once we landed in Oklahoma, they were -- they definitely picked up on some weird behavior.

One of them told me that he was dressed quite oddly, he had a helmet on, and elbow and knee pads. And the passenger he was sitting right next to, he was asking extremely personal questions of. And he said he even wrote a note and talked to the flight attendants, blaming -- or accusing that passenger of being a hijacker. And it was very weird.

WHITFIELD: Weird indeed. And was this the first time you've been on a flight in a very long time? Or, you know, what has been your mindset about flying particularly in the midst of this pandemic?

CURLEE: Yes. No, I've been on several flights this year actually. Work is picking up for me. So up until this incident, it was business as usual, basically.

Had you heard anything about a flight prior, just one day prior to this one that was leaving Los Angeles that had to be diverted to Detroit because of allegedly an unruly passenger? Had you heard -- (CROSSTALK)

CURLEE: No. No, I had been working basically nonstop the previous two days. And so, no, I had no idea that that had happened.

WHITFIELD: All right. So now what's your approach now to flying? I mean there have been, sadly, a number of incidents to really rattle passengers over the past few months. How are you about flying now and what is your approach?

CURLEE: Yes, that sort of thing is always -- there's always a risk. I mean humans are dangerous creatures. When you're around other people there's always an unknown because there's just something -- you know, people are driven by a lot of different things.

And so no, it's changed nothing for me. I have no fear of continuing to fly. If anything, yes, it really brings light to the need for a lot more awareness on the mental health crisis that a lot of people are having, especially aggravated by the pandemic.

[11:24:54]

WHITFIELD: Yes. Well, you're taking a really philosophical approach there. Benjamin Curlee, so glad you could be with us and kind of paint the picture of what you experienced. We're glad you and everyone else onboard that flight are ok, Flight 1730. Appreciate it. Best to you.

CURLEE: All right. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right.

Still ahead, President Trump targets his political enemies with secret subpoenas. Now the Justice Department is investigating as we learn new information on the data that was requested.

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[11:29:49]

WHITFIELD: All right. The Justice Department's inspector general has launched an investigation into whether the Trump administration abused its power to go after Donald Trump's perceived enemies. This coming as we are learning new details about former U.S. attorney general William Barr's role in the Trump administration's targeting of Democratic members of Congress.

Sources tell CNN, Barr pushed investigators to finish probes that included secret subpoenas on House Democrats, their staff and family members. The White House is now responding to the reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: First of all, an IG investigation looks into how this happened, how it could possibly happen. And let me be absolutely clear, the behavior of these actions the president finds them absolutely appalling. He ran for president in part because of the abuse of power by the last president and by last attorney general.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN crime and justice reporter Katelyn Polantz joining me right now. So Katelyn, you know, what more can you tell us about this case and the investigation?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well Fred, we yet again have series of new questions about the handling of politically charged investigations at the hands of Bill Barr when he was the attorney general under President Trump.

Now, what we have learned this week and what "The New York Times" previously had reported was that Barr brought in a prosecutor especially from New Jersey at the time that he was saying I really want to finish these leak investigations and I really want to prioritize them within the department.

And so that special prosecutor coming in is something a little bit unusual in this particular circumstance. Now, we believe that the inspector general after they announced a review of the issuance of subpoenas and court orders for sweeping up data, that they're going to be looking at this but they're also going to be looking at the collection of data of news media as well as members of Congress, other people on the Hill, which has become part of these leak investigations.

Now, to step back a second, this really is bigger than Barr. It isn't confined to just his time as attorney general. I mean we have been hearing for the entirety of the Trump presidency that the president was wanting to investigate political opponents -- his political opponents, and specifically interested in leak investigations.

So here is Trump in 2017 and 2020.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've actually called the Justice Department to look into the leaks. Those are criminal leaks.

I think it was leaks from the intelligence committee, house version, and I think that they leaked it. I think probably Schiff leaked it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: Now, Trump here is mentioning Schiff. That's Adam Schiff, the then-ranking member of the House Intel Committee, and Schiff was affected by a subpoena that the Justice Department sent to Apple in February 2018 that sought metadata on 73 phone numbers, 36 email addresses, and that dated back to the inception of those accounts under Apple.

I mean that could be years of metadata. And it did sweep in members of Congress, Schiff as well as Eric Swalwell, another Democrat. And there was also a gag order placed on that that was renewed three times so Apple couldn't disclose to its customers, the members of Congress and other people on the Hill that this data was being taken by the Justice Department and looked at.

And that disclosure only came in this past month in May, and then we learned about it this week. I should also mention Microsoft also received a subpoena about a congressional staffer.

So with all of that, all that we're learning, I can only refer back to what a prosecutor said under seal in a hearing about CNN -- the data from CNN. We don't know what we don't know. And there's a lot of questions still here.

Barr is saying he doesn't recall these subpoenas that swept up the Congress data and Jeff Sessions, his predecessor, who was in charge in 2018, was not involved in that, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Lots of questions still. Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much.

Let's ask some of them to the Asha Rangappa. She is a CNN legal and national security analyst and a former FBI special agent. Asha, so good to see you.

So I mean the information is remarkable. 73 phone numbers, 36 email addresses from Apple, at least one subpoena to Microsoft. I mean, how stunned are you about how widespread this was and that the Justice Department was seeking records of sitting lawmakers, staff, family members, and news media?

ASHA RANGAPPA, CNN LEGAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, Fredricka. This -- it is stunning. Now, let's be clear. Look, leaks concerning classified information, national security information are dangerous. It is something that the Department of Justice might look into.

But what's unusual here, as you mentioned, is that this involved sitting members of Congress. It involved news media, and those raise really significant first amendment concerns and there's a high bar to, you know, pursuing such investigations. You would actually have to have, you know, really concrete information that suggests that specific people may be engaging in these leaks. You can't go on a fishing expedition for these things.

[11:34:53]

RANGGAPA: I'll just note, Fredricka, that my question here would be, were there -- you know, was this across the board for everybody on the intelligence committee, for example? And I just mention that because at the time that many of these investigations started, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee was Devin Nunez who at the time had been referred to the House Ethics Committee for leaks.

So in other words, you know, if they were looking at all the members on this committee and they knew that it was coming back to, you know, all these members, that would be one thing. If they were targeting a specific party, I think that would be incredibly problematic and raise questions about political bias and motivation.

WHITFIELD: I mean so far it is sounding like that kind of cherry picking, is it not?

RANGAPPA: It sounds like that to me and I think this is why we need some answers from, you know, former attorney general Bill Barr, from former attorney general Jeff Sessions.

I know that they're going to be doing an inspector general investigation. That's internal. I think they will look into whether these were properly predicated, did they follow all the rules.

But there's a public question here, Fredricka. The public space in the impartiality of the Department of Justice has been significantly eroded. And public hearings get to that aspect of it and may cover things like, you know, whether there was outside pressure, for example that the IG may not necessarily look into.

WHITFIELD: So you think there should be another investigation on Capitol Hill that would invite all those allegedly involved or under suspicion to publicly testify?

RANGAPPA: Absolutely. And I would --

WHITFIELD: And it would not be a redundancy or undermining of the IG?

RANGAPPA: No. I think that there are aspects that Congress can pursue that the IG may not. The IG may be more limited in terms of their internal policies and procedures.

And just to put a fine point on it, Fredricka, I would assume that there would be bipartisan support for this. I mean we've heard for four years about concerns about spying on members, you know, on political candidates, on politically-motivated investigations, so I would say especially using intrusive techniques, getting into private communications.

WHITFIELD: Right.

RANGAPPA: So I would imagine that both Republicans and Democrats would be supportive of understanding what was motivating these.

WHITFIELD: Well, that was kind of -- that was the thinking on a January 6th commission, that there would be bipartisan support given that so many, everybody on the Hill that day, was subjected to the same terror, but it didn't turn out that way.

Do you believe we're in a particularly different climate right now that even an open investigation on something like this, I mean, the president had talked about the witch hunts. I mean this really is tantamount to a witch hunt.

But would there indeed, given this climate, the kind of bipartisan support to try and have, you know, a public airing of this investigation? RANGAPPA: I think that's the litmus test. Because like I said, there

should be bipartisan support, right. This is something that everyone should -- ought to have interest in because if the Department of Justice isn't able -- is able to pursue investigations against the president's political enemies, I mean theoretically anyone could be a target. So they should be interested in getting to the bottom of it.

I think the question is, if they are afraid that that is going to lead back to the former president that there may be questions regarding, you know, were you being pressured by the former president to target specific people, I think that that is similar to January 6th -- but is there going to be some kind of communication trail that goes back to the White House or the inner circle or people affiliated with the president.

I think that's when you start to see people back pedal. That's been my observation because I think on principle this is something that everyone ought to be interested in getting to the bottom of.

WHITFIELD: Right. you would know. Asha Rangappa, that's why we called upon you. Thank you so much. Always good to see you.

RANGAPPA: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead, as cities across America return to pre-pandemic life, for the most part, the race to get Americans vaccinated slows to a crawl. Can we still reach the president's July 4th vaccine goal?

And later, despite growing calls for the games, the Olympic games to be postponed, Olympics officials say Tokyo will go on as planned. I'll speak live with gold medal winning speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno. That's at 1:30 Eastern time, only on CNN.

[11:39:25]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. More signs today that the U.S. is bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic. The TSA says they screened more than two million air travelers on Friday. That's the highest total since March of last year. And it inches the U.S. closer to pre-pandemic levels of air travel.

But the fight is far from over. While most states are seeing declining or steady cases, just under 43 percent of the country is fully vaccinated.

CNN's Polo Sandoval has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice over): Restrictions continue being lifted across the United States as more cities and states start fully reopening. On Friday, Chicago's mayor announced the Windy City has dropped pandemic air regulations, no more mask mandates or social distancing requirements, even offering some free tickets to its famed Lollapalooza music festival to vaccinated fans.

MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D), CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: And now it's time for you to get up, get out of the house this summer and fully and safely enjoy the events of the best city on the planet, our beloved city of Chicago.

SANDOVAL: This week other major cities like Seattle and Denver crossed the Biden administration's goal of having 70 percent of the adult population vaccinated with at least one dose by the Fourth of July.

New York State on the cusp of reaching that goal. It's a threshold the state's Governor Andrew Cuomo has said will trigger the end to all of the state's COVID-19 restrictions. New Yorkers can also plan on the return of the famed Macy's fireworks for Independence Day, according to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

[11:45:01]

SANDOVAL: But vaccination rates in certain states remain relatively low including in states like Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Wyoming. While, adults and children over 12 continue receiving vaccines across the United States and nearly 62 percent of that population has at least one dose so far and experts are split on how urgently children under the age of 12 should receive their vaccine.

DR. RICHINA BICETTE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: They are still at risk of hospitalization and they are still at risk of having adverse side effects. Kids have been isolated for a large proportion of time but as school starts back in the fall and they're in classrooms, they're in these activities and school sports, it's going to get colder, so people are going to start moving inside. Their risk is going to increase if they're not vaccinated.

SANDOVAL: Another concern among experts, the mental health of adolescents during the pandemic. Emergency room visits for suicide attempts rose an alarming 51 percent among teenage girls during the pandemic. That's according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Friday.

But there remain signs of optimism in the global fight against the pandemic. The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the use of two batches of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that were produced at a troubled Baltimore lab concluding they're safe to use.

Polo Sandoval, CNN -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A lobster diver says he was swallowed by a humpback whale off the coast of Cape Cod. His incredible story next.

[11:46:24]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right. Destructive wild fires are burning throughout the southwest right now. A lasting drought is making it easy for fires to start and spread there.

Tyler Mauldin joins us now at the CNN Weather Center. So good to see you, Tyler.

So what's going on and what could this mean for the rest of the summer?

TYLER MAULDIN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So we've got the drought on going and then in addition we also have the heat really building. And the two are just working together to lead to a very bad situation over here across the southwest.

And you can see here with the weather map it will be hot across much of the central U.S. and also the West Coast. Some of us will be seeing temperatures get up into the low to mid 90s, well above average for us this time of the year, but the really hot stuff is bottled up where that drought is ongoing, down here across the southwest.

This is where we have heat alerts in effect for roughly 35 million Americans in this part of the country. Notice this, the excessive heat warning in the pink, this means temps could get up to 120 degrees and it could feel even warmer on your exposed skin, too.

115 degrees is what it could feel like in portions of west Texas. Phoenix -- all right, so it's June. We expect it to be hot. But not this hot.

WHITFIELD: This is stifling.

MAULDIN: Yes. Come Monday in Phoenix, it could get up to about 120 degrees for them.

WHITFIELD: Oh my God.

MAULDIN: And also Denver, Colorado will be dealing with it as well. Once we get to Tuesday, Wednesday, they could be hitting the century mark as well, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. Stay inside but at the same time, that's distressing a whole lot of systems to make sure that air conditioner keeps working.

Tyler, thank you so much. Tyler, you have to stick around for this one because this story is out of the "you are not going to believe" this category.

A lobster diver says he narrowly survived after a humpback whale nearly swallowed him off the coast of Cape Cod and lucky for him humpbacks don't have teeth and he lived to tell the tale.

Tiffany Chan from CNN affiliate WBZ has this exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TIFFANY CHAN, WBZ REPORTER: Michael Packard was limping out of Cape Cod hospital in scrubs.

MICHAEL PACKARD, LOBSTER DIVER: And I thought to myself, ok. This is it. This is -- I finally -- I'm going to die.

CHAN: Packard was diving for lobsters off Provincetown Friday morning when he said he was caught in the mouth of a humpback whale.

PACKARD: I was diving today. I jumped over and I got down to about 45 feet of water and all of a sudden I just felt this huge bump and everything went dark.

Then I realized oh my god, I'm in a whale's mouth. I'm in a whale's mouth. And he's trying to swallow me.

CHAN: It was a terrifying 30 seconds, he tells us. Trapped in the whale's mouth. Packard said his mind was racing, scrambling, not only to escape but wondering if he would see his family again.

PACKARD: Then all of a sudden he went up to the surface and just erupted and started shaking his head. And I just got thrown in the air and landed in the water. And I was free.

CHAN: He says the whale emerged from the water and spit him out, leaving him bruised up. His wife tells us this was too close for comfort, but she's relieved he survived.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Considering what he has been through, is doing exceptionally well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How thankful are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so thankful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, what a story. And I'm glad to see he's got a smile on his face. All right.

Tiffany Chan from affiliate WBZ, thank you so much.

We'll be right back.

[11:54:31]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. How about this?

Escape the Florida beach crowds by heading inland on the Florida Panhandle. And there you'll find water falls, caverns and hidden springs just off the beaten path.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So right now we're at Falling Water State Park which is really exciting. I've never been here before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to see the falling waters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The falling waters.

You can go swimming and camping and picnicking. Just kind of enjoying an entire outdoors experience.

[11:59:55]

DOROTHY ODOM, LOCAL HISTORIAN: There's another state park here in the area, Florida Cavern State Park. They have a half mile tour through the caverns. While you're there, you can appreciate 68-degree temperature constant.