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Prosecutors Subpoena Steve Bannon; Reviewing the FDA's Action on Baby Formula Recall; FDA Announces Formula Shipments; Jose Andres is Interviewed about the Food Shortage; Queen Misses Thanksgiving Service. Aired 9:30-10a
Aired June 03, 2022 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:33:08]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, a New York state criminal investigation is moving forward. This into former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. All tied to his previous efforts to fund-raise for a private border wall. Sources tell CNN, prosecutors were moving closer to filing charges against Bannon and several of his close allies have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury.
CNN correspondent Kara Scannell has been following. This is interesting because he had faced federal charges for (INAUDIBLE). The president pardoned him. This is a state prosecution.
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, that's right.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
SCANNELL: And that's really important to think of it that way because federal prosecutors did charge Bannon for this. And this is part of his effort to raise money online from donors. He raised millions of dollars. The money was supposed to go toward the construction of this wall along the southern U.S. border.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
SCANNELL: And according to federal prosecutors, him and his three co- defendants then diverted a lot of that money to cover their personal expenses.
SCIUTTO: How much?
SCANNELL: I mean they're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars at least that the federal prosecutors had charged. Now, the - several -- Bannon was pardoned, but his three co-defendants weren't. But after Bannon was pardoned, the Manhattan district attorney's office opened this investigation. A number of these donors are in New York. And so they were looking to see if they could bring a state case against Bannon because a presidential pardon only covers federal crimes.
So this investigation has been working along, but they basically have deferred to federal prosecutors because they still had those three other individuals to prosecute. Now, two of them pled guilty, one is on trial right now.
SCIUTTO: Interesting.
SCANNELL: And that's why we're starting to see this activity pick up in the state probe because they have now sent out these subpoenas according to sources. I mean one source told us that these subpoenas went to people in Bannon's immediate circle.
SCIUTTO: Do we think they're testifying against him?
SCANNELL: Yes. I mean that's the idea.
SCIUTTO: Yes. OK.
SCANNELL: In New York state, if you testify, you get transactional immunity.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Understood.
SCANNELL: That means that they're giving information, answering questions. I mean this -- these could be compelled. So, it's not necessarily clear what they will say, but, you know, remember, some of these men, they didn't get pardoned.
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SCIUTTO: Yes.
SCANNELL: Instead, they're going to prison.
SCIUTTO: So, they got a big incentive to cooperate.
SCANNELL: They sure do.
SCIUTTO: Kara Scannell, thanks so much.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a government watchdog is now launching a review of how the FDA handled the baby formula recall that led to a nationwide shortage. And it comes as new data show about three-quarters of formula products were out of stock last week.
Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has been following all of this.
There are some shipments coming. But the point is, and I think Jake pointed this out really well this week with Brian Deese is like, they knew about this problem in November, and then there were months and months and months before real action, even more months until the president knew about it, and, you know, actually took the only action he can take through the DPA. So, you know, we didn't need to be here, but here we are.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That's a good way to put it, Poppy. And, looking backwards, there are so many questions. Those numbers were going down, down, down starting in November. There's only two companies that make formula in a big major way in the United States. When one of them is having trouble, and when there are supply chain issues, why wasn't more done?
But looking forward, let's take a look at the formula that has recently come in and is about to come in under Operation Fly Formula because this is where we are, we have to import formula from other countries.
So, Nestle sent 38,000 cans, this is all powdered formula, last weekend to a major retailer. They're not saying who it is. We saw it on Walmart's website. But none of us -- several of us tried. We were not able to actually get any off that website.
And next week Nestle is sending 250,000 cans to major retailers yet to be named.
Now, Bubs Australia, they're sending 1.25 million cans over the coming weeks and months starting next week with shipments to Pennsylvania and California.
Kendamil, which is a U.K. brand, they're going to be sending 2 million cans starting in the coming weeks and months starting with the June 9th delivery to Target.
So, hopefully, really truly fingers crossed, that parents will start to see a difference, but they're probably not now.
Poppy.
HARLOW: Can't come soon enough.
Elizabeth Cohen, thank you for your reporting on this throughout.
Jim.
COHEN: Thanks.
SCIUTTO: Still ahead, we will speak with chef Jose Andres inside Ukraine about the struggle to reach hard hit areas there, but also about the global impacts of this war on food supplies around the world.
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SCIUTTO: This morning, the head of the African Union is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, pleading about the looming food shortage caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian president says more than 20 million tons of grain are stuck in Ukrainian ports, on the Black Sea especially. Much of that grain would normally be exported to African countries. They desperately need it. Food crisis looming.
Joining me now, the man whose organization is working to feed not just the hungry in Ukraine but all over the world, Jose Andres, chef and founder of World Central Kitchen.
Chef, good to have you on this morning.
JOSE ANDRES, CHEF AND FOUNDER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: Thank you for having me.
SCIUTTO: First, you're in Kyiv today, the capital. You're back in Ukraine. One of the stories recently of this war is the many refugees, millions of them, who are returning to Ukraine having fled in the early weeks of the invasion.
I'm curious, is there enough food to feed all those people in Ukraine right now?
ANDRES: This is a great question. I want to make something very clear. President Zelenskyy, the entire Ukrainian government, they're doing a very good job. Ukraine has no problem with food. Other thing is that because they are at war are logistical challenges because it's not only the 7 million refugees, it's also 7 or more million Ukrainians that they are away from their homes, inside Ukraine. And this creates a lot of logistical problems with supermarkets closed, bridges that have gone away, difficulty to reaching certain areas.
But remember one thing, Ukraine feeds every year more than 400 million people around the globe.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
ANDRES: Ukraine will have food to feed its people. The big question is, if we don't have Ukraine to win this war and to make sure that ports like Odessa are open again, what we're going to have is a big food shortage around the world. Ukrainians, one way or another, they are feeding themselves.
SCIUTTO: Are you already seeing this? I'm curious, Secretary Blinken has blamed the invasion for making 40 million people around the world food insecure. And just in case folks at home don't realize this, but Ukraine and Russia together, they're responsible for 24 percent of the world's wheat exports, 57 percent sunflower seed oil, 14 percent of corn.
In your work around the globe, are you already seeing people going hungry?
ANDRES: Well, let me tell you, we saw it in 2021 when, at the same time, we got huge hurricanes, (INAUDIBLE) five back to back that they very much destroyed entire crops in places like Honduras, Guatemala.
[09:45:09]
At the same time, we saw plague happen in Africa. At the same time we saw drought happening. We don't have to be (INAUDIBLE) today. This is (INAUDIBLE) that these building (ph) itself is (INAUDIBLE). And if we don't think about food in the same way we think about people, the economy, fuel, we are going to be up for a big problem the year 2023. So the reality is that, yes, I think the number that Secretary Blinken is saying, 4 million, is (INAUDIBLE). I think we're going to see bigger and bigger number, especially if all the grain that I've seen around Ukraine in the silos, that's a half (ph) away (INAUDIBLE) reaching, far away places, around (ph) Africa and other parts of the world, that they are dependent of the grain that Ukraine produces.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
ANDRES: This is not only a war for freedom and democracy of the Ukrainian people, this is also fight to make sure that many around the globe we will be -- will be able to eat in the coming months.
SCIUTTO: As you know, the big -- one of the big problems here is they just can't get that grain, as you say, out of the country. Russia continues to blockade Ukraine's ports, particularly on the Black Sea.
Can this crisis ease without opening those ports?
ANDRES: Listen, I came up the Danube River on a boat. We were bringing food. We were using the Danube River to bring food. And (INAUDIBLE) out (INAUDIBLE) bring it out of Ukraine in a safe way. The Danube River will take you all the way to the town of Ismail (ph), where is where I arrived. And there you can be seen that, yes, it's movement, but that river is not having the capacity enough to have multiple ships, multiple grain ships coming up and down the river to more -- more than is - we're coming (ph) about 20 million, but the number is much bigger. We're coming (INAUDIBLE). It's wheat. It's corn. It's soy. Between all of that, it's 35 million pounds of different cereals and grains.
If we -- if the Ukrainian government did not (INAUDIBLE) heed the democracies of the world, don't help President Zelenskyy to open not only Odessa, but other ports so they can start handling and picking up that grain and start shipping away, this is going to generate problems for Ukraine because the income is necessary.
But the bigger problems are going to be for those countries highly dependent on the grain that it produces.
SCIUTTO: Including -
ANDRES: So I don't think we can do it alone, through the border, with tracks (ph). We know that the system is created to ship the grain by boat. It's very, very, very important that the ports are open again or Ukraine is going to have a very hard time pulling away so much grain by boat.
SCIUTTO: Yes, a crisis for the world, really.
Chef Jose Andres, we know you're doing so much great work on the ground there and elsewhere. Thank you so much for joining us and thank you for the work you're doing.
ANDRES: Thank you very much.
HARLOW: He's so remarkable. That was great to hear from him, Jim. Still ahead, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle making an appearance at
today's platinum jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth. Details on why the queen wasn't right there.
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[09:53:09]
SCIUTTO: Queen Elizabeth is sitting out day two of her platinum jubilee celebration after Buckingham Palace says she experienced, quote, some discomfort during yesterday's parade. She is a youthful 96 years old. The palace says she's been having mobility issues for months now.
HARLOW: But the show did go on today at St. Paul's Cathedral, where members of the royal family attended a special service of thanksgiving, and that includes Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the duchess of Sussex.
Let's talk about it all with royal historian Kate Williams.
Good to see you.
KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: Good to see you.
HARLOW: We hope she's doing all right. He she looks great. As Jim said, a youthful 96.
But what's the significant of today?
WILLIAMS: Incredible significance. A platinum jubilee. The queen's been on the throne now for 70 years, the longest reigning British monarch, nearly the longest reigning world monarch of a sovereign state. And really a moment to thank for the -- give thanks for the reign and also for how Britain and the world has changed, but really also for the family to be united. It was great to see the Sussexes there getting a huge cheer from the crowds.
SCIUTTO: Kate, we've seen some health issues recently. Thankfully, she's pushed through them, including Covid. But at times we've seen, for instance, at the opening of parliament, when again the palace cited mobility issues, that her son, Prince Charles, has taken over the official duties.
And I wonder if you see something deliberate in that, right? A passing of the baton piece by piece to the son who will eventually assume the throne.
WILLIAMS: Yes, I agree. I mean the queen is 96. She's nearly 100. She is suffering some mobility issues. It seems amazing that ten years ago we almost thought she was jumping out of a helicopter at the London Olympics.
But there is something very deliberate about this idea because the queen knows how popular she is, how loved she is.
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She wishes the monarchy to continue in the same level of esteem and wants people really to get used to seeing Charles in these roles that he will eventually assume, the state opening of parliament, attending these thanksgiving services. It's very important to her that he's -- he has a seamless movement into the monarchy.
HARLOW: Kate Williams, thank you, as always, for being with us on everything royal.
SCIUTTO: Thank you.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
HARLOW: We appreciate it.
WILLIAMS: Thank you
HARLOW: Up next, President Biden makes an impassioned plea for serious gun law changes. Some states are not waiting for Congress. Details on new measures that will soon be law right here in New York state.
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SCIUTTO: A very good Friday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.
HARLOW: And I'm Poppy Harlow.
President Biden, in a prime time
