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More Than 7 Million In Path Of Massive Storm As It Strikes Florida; Justice Dept. Will Not Prosecute Mark Meadows And Dan Scavino; U.S. Records 233 Mass Shooting So Far This Year; Calls Mount For Gun Reform After String Of Mass Shootings; WH: COVID Shots For Kids Under Five Could Begin June 21; 100 Days Of Putin's Brutal War On Ukraine; Biden & Saudi Crown Prince Expected To Meet Next Month. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired June 04, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: 287 FDNY members have had their lives cut short by World Trade Center-related illnesses.

All right, hello again, everyone, thank you so much for joining me I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, happening right now, pummeling rains in Florida as a massive storm sweeps across the state. Flash flood warnings are now over for Miami and Fort Lauderdale but the storm is still making quite a mess. At this hour, more than seven million people are under tropical storm warnings across Florida and the Bahamas.

Drenching rainfall dropping more than 11 inches in Miami in just a 24- hour period, flooding streets and leaving cars and drivers stranded. CNN's Carlos Suarez is in Fort Lauderdale, and meteorologist Gene Norman is in the weather center tracking the latest. So, Carlos, you first, what's happening or not happening right now?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN REPORTER: So, Fredricka, two new developments since we last joined you in the prior hour. The first is we're finally getting reports of some of the damage here in Broward. We're told that a family of five had to be taken from a home up in Pompano Beach, which is just north of where we are after a tree fell into their house. We're told that the entire family is doing OK.

And we're also getting our first look at these search and rescue teams down in Miami and they've provided us with some video of one of their teams going essentially neighborhood by neighborhood looking for folks that may be stranded in their cars because of all of the flooding brought on by this tropical system.

We're talking about nearly a foot of rain that has hit parts of Miami Dade County in Miami alone, which is really where we saw a lot of the flooding in the downtown area as well as the financial district. Cars there have been towed the entire night after getting stalled overnight because of at least seven to eight inches of rain that just fell in the early morning hours. Again, we're told that number is expected to be well over a foot of rain once what's left of the storm makes its way just past east of the state of Florida.

Here on Fort Lauderdale Beach, parts of Las Olas still remain underwater. There's one police officer on the eastern side of A1A out here, they're trying to keep traffic just south of where we are. A few cars, as you can see are still trying to make it past some of the floodings that we've seen out here.

This portion of A1A did undergo some repairs and some upgrades a few years ago. And as you can see the amount of rain that just fell here has still made it quite difficult for folks to be able to get out on their cars, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. OK, Gene, to you now. So how much longer are the folks going to be feeling all this?

GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Let's see about another five to six hours that we're going to see the steady rain, and then it's going to really begin to taper off. You can see on the radar, we don't see a lot of that bright red that we showed you just within the last hour. That's good news. So we're starting to see the heavier storms push their way into the Atlantic Ocean.

There still will be a few more lingering showers through the rest of the afternoon, but the western half of the state is cleared out pretty nicely, just a few clouds there but again, some strong thunderstorms pushing their way down into the northern sections of the Florida Keys. As we mentioned, those rainfall totals have been staggering 11 inches in Miami, almost nine inches in Naples, and almost eight inches in Fort Lauderdale. And again, those numbers are going to tick up as we move through the afternoon and we get new totals.

But take a look at this map which shows the impact of the rain across the rest of the state. We've been focusing on Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, and Miami but look at Marco Island back over toward Naples and over toward Fort Myers, they picked up anywhere from four to six inches of rain as well. So into the evening, let's move the forecast for you and show you what's going to happen, all that heavy rain pushes off and then we're going to start to see things begin to calm down a little bit.

I remember, this system began as a hurricane in southern Mexico, then moved into the Yucatan Peninsula the week a little bit, the Hurricane Center thought it was going to become a tropical storm. That never really happened. But it's still good. And the forecast for that is that it will move out into the Atlantic. So good news, Fred, once this system does move away from Florida, it's not going to impact any other part of the United States. But boy, it has been a real drencher down in Florida.

WHITFIELD: It has indeed. All right, well, I like the optimistic view. All right, thank you so much, Gene Norman and Carlos Suarez.

All right, now to the latest developments on the January 6 investigation, a new report in The New York Times says that a top aide to former Vice President Mike Pence warned the Secret Service that President Trump could turn on the vice president, and the aide feared for Pence's safety on the eve of the Capitol riot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGGIE HABERMAN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: This is an extraordinary moment to think that there was a chief of staff to a sitting vice president so concerned about the potential threat that is being created by a pressure campaign led and encouraged by the president who picked this vice president. It is -- it is jarring and it just takes a minute to absorb it.

[13:05:00]

HABERMAN: Marc Short had a conversation, according to sources, with Tim Giebels, the lead Secret Service agent, saying exactly what you just said that the president was going to turn on Pence and that you know they might have a security risk. Short as I understand it did not have a sense of what that threat could look like. I don't believe based, on my reporting, that he envisioned, you know, what we saw on January 6 the way we saw it.

But what he did realize is that the former president had supporters who were very reactive to him, who basically acted -- you know, responded to things he would say. And he could see, you know, one person, two people, three people, you know, several people doing something that could be problematic, safety-wise for the vice president just based on this pressure that the former president was exerting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A Secret Service official disputes the report telling CNN that they were never told about concerns for Pence's safety.

Meantime, the Justice Department says it will not indict two former Trump officials found in contempt by the January 6 panel. The House committee calls the decision not to prosecute former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino puzzling. CNN National Security Reporter Zach Cohen joins us now. So, Zach, what more do we know about this decision?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Fredricka. The committee is saying that they don't fully understand how the Department of Justice could have reached a decision not to indict both Dan Scavino and Mark Meadows, especially because they've made clear over the last several months that both men are considered key witnesses in their ongoing investigation.

And that's something that the committee reiterated again last night, responding to the news that Meadows and Scavino would not face criminal charges for contempt of Congress related to their subpoena. They said, you know, both men undoubtedly have information about former President Donald Trump's role in both efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and in the event of January 6.

Now, that is why the committee believes that both Meadows and Scavino should have had the obligation to comply with a congressional subpoena, regardless of their status in the White House. And even regardless of their partial cooperation with the investigation. Now, that is what separates Scavino and Meadows from other witnesses who have defied the committee's subpoenas and been indicted by the Justice Department.

Meadows, we know that he cooperated for a short time, even handing over thousands of text messages that the committee plans to feature heavily in their upcoming public hearings, and as well as in their report, Scavino at least expressed a willingness to discuss the possibility of cooperating before he ultimately defied the subpoena. So -- but that is what really separates Meadows and Scavino from some of the other witnesses we've seen be indicted by the Department of Justice

WHITFIELD: So, Zach, you know, another Trump ally is facing charges for his refusal to cooperate with the January 6 investigation. Why are the circumstances different? What do we know?

COHEN: Yes. Former President Donald Trump's one-time economic adviser Peter Navarro fits in that second category we were talking about, people who essentially ignored the committee's subpoena. And he has since been indicted by the Department of Justice.

This happened yesterday. He was arrested by the FBI at the airport. You know, he becomes the second Trump advisor -- former Trump advisor to be indicted by the Department of Justice related to their defiance of a congressional subpoena in the January 6 investigation.

Now, Navarro could face some pretty significant legal consequences if he is convicted of one or both counts. One is for failing to produce documents demanded by the January 6 committee, and the other is failing to show up for a subpoena testimony before House investigators, both of those carry a maximum penalty of one year and in jail, and also up to $100,000 in fines.

WHITFIELD: Zach Cohen, thank you so much. All right, and this quick programming note, go inside the Watergate scandal like never before with Woodward -- journalists Woodward and Bernstein, the Watergate prosecutors, and the man who turned on Nixon, White House Counsel John Dean. Get a complete picture of how it happened and how it set the stage for future White House scandals. The new CNN Original Series, Watergate: Blueprint For Scandal premieres tomorrow night at 9:00 right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tomorrow, a new CNN original series.

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have no intention of ever walking away from the job that the people elected me to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Experience Watergate like never before. Hear what happened behind closed doors from the people who were there, the journalists.

CARL BERNSTEIN, JOURNALIST: Most people didn't believe the stories we were writing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The investigators, the lawmakers, and the ultimate inside man.

JOHN DEAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Many have tried to deselect the events of Watergate. I lived them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Conspiracy, extortion, blackmail.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The wiretapping, it was explicit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nixon engaged in activities that were criminal to secure his victory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And see how this pivotal moment still echoes 50 years later.

[13:10:04]

LESLEY STAHL, JOURNALIST: When you have a president who thinks he can do anything we are in trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watergate: Blueprint For A Scandal premieres tomorrow at 9 only on CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And still ahead, some desperately needed relief for parents nationwide, production at a leading baby formula maker has restarted. We'll be live. Plus, the White House was lit orange last night for gun violence awareness as the nation has been shaken by back-to-back mass shootings in recent weeks. What if anything can be done to prevent these horrific attacks? We'll discuss it straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Right now, baby formula production is back underway at the Abbott nutrition plant in Sturgis, Michigan after a month-long shutdown. A formula should become available to consumers starting June 20. CNN's Polo Sandoval joining us live now from Sturgis. So, Polo, what are we learning about the resumed operation at the plant today?

[13:15:07]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So far, this has been a highly anticipated day for parents across the country who have been dealing with this shortage but this crisis really for months now, but it's also important to point out there that it might be weeks before we begin to see that impact on store shelves.

Abbott nutrition is saying with the production sort of restarting today, the main focus will be on EleCare, this hypoallergenic amino base formula, but then the goal is to eventually expand to include Similac, which will hopefully you'll -- really more benefits for parents across the country, a more commonly used formula. But look, we've heard from Biden administration officials, from

parents, and everybody really understood that the temporary shutdown of the plant that you see behind me was a significant factor that contributed to that shortlist to begun being felt by parents.

After that recall in February, Abbott Nutrition is releasing a statement this weekend not only confirming that they are restarting that production today, but the goal is to eventually ramp up supply as safely and as quickly as possible, making sure that that product is obviously safe.

Now, in terms of the review that Abbott did the last couple of months, they said they maintained that there was -- that they revealed found that no formula had actually been contaminated. But they also understood that there's certainly room for improvement when it came to enhancing their sterilization process, for example, at the plant, also reviewing some of their procedures that are in place to make sure that that formula is safe.

And that what -- is what Abbott nutrition officials say is the case right now. Their hope again, in the coming weeks some of the products that are being manufactured today will end up on store shelves and this will go a long way in terms of adding to that supply that parents have, in addition to what's still being flown in from other countries today.

WHITFIELD: All right, all desperately needed. All right, Polo Sandoval, thank you so much. All right, coming up. A string of deadly mass shootings has Americans searching for answers next. What experts are saying about the frightening scale of gun violence in the U.S. and what can be done really, to prevent it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:21:28]

WHITFIELD: The mass shooting crisis in the United States as Americans searching for answers after yet another community this week was devastated by a deadly massacre. CNN's Brian Todd has more on what experts are saying can be done.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WENDELL FRANKLIN, CHIEF, TULSA POLICE: This is yet another act of violence upon an American city.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Another news conference.

DR. RYAN PARKER, ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL ASSOCIATE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: We're grieving with you.

TODD: Following another mass shooting in America. Four people gunned down inside a hospital in Tulsa, on the heels of the massacre of children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas, on the heels of the murders of 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo . DR. CHETHAN SATHYA, DIRECTOR, NORTHWELL HEALTH'S CENTER FOR UN VIOLENCE PREVENTION: The fact that these mass shootings are now just happening at such frequency is really, really scary.

TODD: The news conference in Tulsa comes on the same day the alleged Buffalo shooter, Payton Gendron, appeared in court for an arraignment on several, murder and domestic terrorism charges. Since the beginning of the year, there have been more than 230 mass shootings nationwide, according to the gun violence archive. 20 of them just since Uvalde, with 105 people shot and 17 killed. CNN and the Archive define a mass shooting as one that injures or kills four or more people.

As Americans have we've basically given up and accepted mass shootings as normal.

JEFFREY IAN ROSS, PROFESSOR AND CRIMINOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE: That's my fear. I think we've become desensitized. We see on our nightly news of people killed in mass shootings, and we start saying, maybe there's nothing we can do about it.

TODD: Making the problem of mass shootings even harder to solve analysts say is the fact that the shooter's motives are often so varied. In Buffalo, a young man who authorities say was driven by racial hatred. In Uvalde, a troubled young man, overwhelmed with rage. In Tulsa, a man apparently upset with the doctor who performed back surgery on him.

ROSS: I think that the basis of much violence is a grievance or disrespect. We talked about violence interrupters, better conflict resolution, that sort of thing. Skills are being taught. I'm not sure that that's the answer. It can't hurt.

TODD: And it's not just the lives lost. It's the whole country that suffers, experts say, including children who see constant reports of mass killings, and have to go through active shooter drills at school, always with the underlying fear that this could happen to them.

SATHYA: PTSD, future behavioral health issues, substance use issues, you know, not feeling safe in their own homes or their communities and not being able to really excel and reach their full potential. I think that's absolutely a concern. And future generations are going to suffer tremendously if we don't fix this now.

TODD: Regarding how to fight this epidemic, the experts we spoke to say it might be better for the U.S., at least initially not to focus so much on repealing the Second Amendment, given how hard that will be politically, but instead approach it like a public health crisis and strengthen some safety measures like background checks, red flag laws, and safe storage laws. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So in the wake of all this, President Biden made a fervent plea for Congress to act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My fellow Americans, enough. Enough, it's time for each of us to do our part. It's time to act. For the children we've lost, for the children we can save, for the nation we love, let's hear the call and the cry. Let's meet the moment. Let us finally do something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining us now is the author of the book Dying Of Whiteness: How The Politics Of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland, Jonathan Metzl.

[11:25:02]

WHITFIELD: He is also the director of the Department of Medicine Health and Society at Vanderbilt University. It's so good to see you, Jonathan.

JONATHAN METZL, DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE, HEALTH & SOCIETY AT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: So there are intense discussions happening right now across the country about how to prevent this from ever happening again, and why nothing ever seems to get done in terms of an answer to these horrific, repeated, you know, mass shootings. Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post calling for what he deemed an Emmett Till moment.

And here's a portion of what he said, saying. Something graphic is required to awaken the public to the real horror of these repeated tragedies. Why must innocent schoolchildren for the rest of their lives carry the vivid memories of the executions of their teachers and classmates, while federal and state lawmakers and the adult constituents who elected them are spared?

Do you think it's going to take something like that to spark real change? I mean, what's more horrific than you know what happened in Newtown and what happened in Uvalde?

METZL: I wish I could say having studied this for a long time that there was one thing that would wake people up. And certainly, as the shootings become more horrific and more graphic, even if we don't see the absolute details, which I'm kind of torn about that, to be honest, but, you know, what more evidence do you need than elementary school kids getting killed in their own classrooms?

But I think really the -- what we see is a reflection, not a popular attitude. Most people in this country agree that something should be done. For the most part, most people agree on what those things are. You heard in the last segment. Background checks, red flag laws, tracking people who are potentially high risk.

The problem isn't really about political -- about people's attitudes, it's about the gridlock of our political system where there really is no mechanism to make a change, even though I think left to their own devices. Average people can really come to some solutions here that could support gun rights on the one hand, and do much more than we're doing for gun safety on the other.

WHITFIELD: So then why is it average people don't seem to be able to leverage or influence the politicians who are going to ultimately make the decisions either change or keep things the same?

METZL: I think -- and this is no mystery to anybody, you know, who lives in America right now. But even if everyday people I think are able to negotiate you know I see your concern, I see why you want a gun that makes sense to me, why don't you work with me to come up with a solution that works for everybody, but I think our political system, unfortunately, doesn't work that way. People are elected to Congress, and to the Senate, and most importantly, I think, put in the judiciary to hold on to a particular position.

So, many of the judges that were appointed during the Trump era, for example, had very high A-ratings from the NRA. They were actually put in place to hold the line, to block any kind of gun regulation. And we see this, even after the Supreme Court is deciding really a potentially catastrophic case about guns in New York right now.

And that's true up and down the line, people are not putting into our political system to navigate to negotiate, there's no reward for compromise, there's no reward for being a centrist, in a way in our system. And so in a way -- in a way that popular opinion is important as it is, it's in a way almost secondary to the fact that our political system doesn't allow for the kind of -- really the kind of horse-trading that's needed right now that we've seen in other countries that have dealt -- have dealt with this issue.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's a very sad commentary. All right, so mental illness, I mean, inevitably comes up when talking about mass shootings, but you pen to paper in the journal, Social Science and Medicine last year, proposing a five-point agenda for research to study the root causes that goes beyond just the mental state of the shooters. So what more should people be looking at or considering?

METZL: I think the important point here. We hear after these mass shootings, people -- you know, Governor Abbott, and other people saying this is a mental illness problem as if the problem rests in people's brains, and part of what we -- it was a series of papers we did at Vanderbilt.

And basically, first, we looked at the literature on mental illness and mass shooting and we found that actually, mental illness is not a great predictor of who's going to commit a mass shooting and that's because most people with mental illness actually are non-violent. They're not going to attack somebody else, let alone shoot somebody else. So mental illness diagnosis is not a good predictor.

But what we said is that there were a lot of upstream factors that we could be looking at. Many shootings happen with a warning. People who have a history of violence, people have -- many shootings happened on social networks. On the aggregate level, shootings happen more when there's more social instability, things like housing insecurity or poor economic factors.

[13:30:00]

So what we did is we just looked at all the larger social structural factors and we made a series of recommendations that had to do with investigating more in neighbors, information, network safety plans, things like that.

Basically, we thought from our approach that we could probably cut shootings in half in this country if we looked at the upstream factors as opposed to arguing.

I mean, it's important to know the psychology of the shooter, of course. But the point we were trying to make is we have 45,000 gun deaths a year in this country, and every day, gun violence is patterned and predictable.

And if we did more every day to stop everyday gun violence, we think there would be a reduction in mass violence also.

WHITFIELD: I hear you. You're talking about looking into the who and what of influencers, what are the things that help provoke someone's reasoning for wanting to go in and shoot and kill a lot of people.

One of the proposals also being floated is raising the age limit to purchase an assault-style rifle legally from 18 to 21. How much of an impact do you think that is going to make?

Because, when you do look at some of the common denominators of some of the recent shooters, yes, they may be 18 or close to 18.

But then you also look at cases like Las Vegas. He was nowhere near 18. He was a mature man. Or the more recent shooting at a church in California. That, again, was a mature man. So the age limit had nothing do with that.

But what are your thoughts about a potential stab at the issue, which is raising the age limit for the purchase of assault weapons?

METZL: I absolutely think we should raise the age limit. I think a lot of states, like Tennessee, where I live, have been doing the opposite thing, lowering the age to 18 where people can basically buy and carry any weapon without a permit.

I know there's an example and a counterexample for every single -- there's a mass shooting of every variety just because they're happening every day so you can prove or disprove any point really.

But I would say, if you look at the aggregate level, there's a really disproportionate level of shootings happening by people 25 and younger.

That makes sense when you think about it. People 25 and younger, they're just figuring out how to be adults in many ways. It's not like that's a pathology for the most part. But they're more likely to be involved in fights, in car accidents. They're more likely to do a bunch of other things.

And certainly, if you teach college, like I do, you know people nearing 21, they're just figuring out how to be grownups.

So I think the important point here is, if you look at all gun violence, roughly 40 percent of the shootings across the country are done by people in the 25 to 17 age bracket, you know, more or less.

So I think the issue is not just about stopping mass shootings, which is important. It's also there's a lot of gun deaths and shootings and victimhood also by people in that lower age bracket.

So I think that that kind of regulation -- I mean, we do that kind of thing all the time, with renting a car or, you know, actuarial tables and insurance companies, all these kinds of things.

I think, looking at age, we haven't done that enough. And I'm glad that's part of the conversation right now.

WHITFIELD: There may not be one solution but perhaps there are several potential solutions, bottom line, to chip away at what has become a horrible -- another kind of pandemic or endemic.

All right, Jonathan Metzl, thank you so much.

METZL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:38:08]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. A possible breakthrough for the parents of young children more than two years after the coronavirus pandemic began.

The FDA now says that it will review results of clinical trials for vaccine in children under 5 in a matter of weeks. And if approved, the White House said those shots could be administered starting June 21st.

Here to talk about it, emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Dr. Jeremy Faust.

Doctor, good to see you.

A lot of parents have been waiting for this, perhaps even including you, girl dad. Congratulations to you on the birth of your new baby girl and congrats to big sister who's 4-years-old, right?

DR. JEREMY FAUST, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: Yes. That's right.

WHITFIELD: So I know this news might come at perfect timing for you and your family. How optimistic are you?

FAUST: Thanks for having me. And thanks for the kind words.

We're very excited. And excited to get our kids vaccinated. We have a 4-year-old. We keep feeling like we're just almost there and the goal post moves.

And now I feel confident, by June, she'll get her first dose. And our now 4-and-a-half old. We're looking -- we're counting down the days until November when she can get her first dose.

This is a game changer for so many parents. Look, infections are going to happen but you want it to happen when the kid's been vaccinated. That's the highest protection that we know that offers parents peace of mind.

We're through the worst of it. This is the game changer for us and, I suspect, many families in the country and around the world.

WHITFIELD: That's the optimistic view. But what if it's not approved? Is there that potential? And do you brace for that as well?

FAUST: Look, it's always possible. That's why we do these analyses. The FDA has to look at these documents very, very carefully. I don't see anything down the pipeline coming that's unexpected.

[13:40:00]

I think -- I can't say it's for sure, but things are lining up very nicely. At this point, I'm all in for hoping we get the outcome we're expecting.

WHITFIELD: Very good. Love the optimism.

Then there's this mischaracterization out there that COVID-19 isn't that dangerous for children. That it's no worse than a flu.

Are you finding that among families and parents out there who are just still not sold that it's a threat that needs to be taken very seriously?

FAUST: Yes. I wrote about this in my newsletter. Look, it's out there. People will always compare things. Flu is the devil we know. And COVID has been the devil we've been getting to know. So it's kind of irresistible.

There's a talking point that you can -- if you work the statistics just right, you can make it look just so.

In fact, we know that COVID for children, more or less, for most kids, are going to be fine. It truly is, for most kids, is going to be a low-key event. But for enough kids, at population level, it's not close, for the deaths we're seeing.

I think what happens is some of the people who want things to go back to normal sooner are afraid that if they acknowledge that whole truth that we won't do things like keep schools open.

I think if you acknowledge the whole truth and we take mitigation measures like continuing testing, doing masking where it's necessary, then we can do the things those folks want to do. So I think if you acknowledge reality that, at a population level,

COVID is far worse than flu has ever been for kids, that's OK because we can do the things to make the world safe for them in the coming months.

WHITFIELD: The CDC announced it would hold a series of meetings in the coming weeks, talking about the vaccines for kids and about a new potential vaccine from Novavax.

What effect could the introduction of yet a fourth COVID vaccine do at this stage of the pandemic?

FAUST: A little incremental change. It's nice to have options. There are people who have variable responses.

I have seen patients, for example, who for one reason or another, immunocompromised, for example, were non-responders to one form or another and they haven't responded to another one. We're learning about that.

I think there are still some holdouts that said, oh, the mRNA platform is still too new. And Novavax is an older technology. And that might help a few.

I think, in general, the more we have, the better. If for no other reason than let's get the doses out around the world. Because we still haven't vaccinated the world.

And the more vaccine we have, the closer to the emergency phase of this pandemic stage we are.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. Jeremy Faust, thank you very much. And, again, congratulations to you and your family.

FAUST: Thanks, so much.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, 100 days of war and bloodshed in Ukraine, President Zelenskyy is sure of a victory but Putin's brutal assault continues. The latest next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:41]

WHITFIELD: New this hour, Russian artillery has hit a historic monastery in east Ukraine. Fire had engulfed the main temple of the All Saints wooden monastery. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the attack has, quote, "destroyed" the 16th century church.

This attack coming as Ukraine marked its 100th day of war with Russia this week.

CNN's Matthew Chance has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has been 100 days now since Russia launched this attack on Ukraine. I think the fact that it's lasted for so long, that Ukraine has not folded in the face of this Russian assault, has surprised many, not least in Moscow.

But, of course, the price has been high. Ukrainian officials say about 20 percent of the country has fallen under Russian control, an area the size of Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Belgium put together.

The death toll has been catastrophic, too. There are no exact figures but when you combine soldiers and civilians on both sides, it's estimated tens of thousands of people have died.

And some of the worst scenes witnessed in Europe for a generation, innocent civilians targeted in war crimes, something that will keep prosecutors busy potentially for years to come.

Fleeing the violence, many of people have been forced to escape their homes. Ukrainian officials say the fighting has displayed 12 million. Five million have left the country altogether, either to Europe or to Russia, where Ukraine officials say people are being forcibly evacuated.

At the moment, the military focus has shifted to the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine where Russian forces and their proxies are battling for control of Severodonetsk, taking more than 80 percent of the city.

But elsewhere in the east, Ukrainian troops say they're making counterattacks to recapture territory with the help of sophisticated weaponry supplied by the United States and other Western countries.

Ukrainian officials are pleading for even more of that military support to allow them to continue to defend their country for another 100 days and, if necessary, beyond.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[13:50:00]

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you, Matthew.

Straight ahead, a potential in-person meeting between President Biden and Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is in the works. The prospect is receiving some major pushback as the White House looks to patch up the relationship with Saudi Arabia. More on that, next.

But first, this week's "TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANA JAVERI KADRI, CEO & FOUNDER, DIASPORA CO.: We're aiming to really disrupt the spice trade. My name is Sana Javeri Kadri. I am the founder and CEO of Diaspora Co.

Diaspora Co. is a single origin spice company. We're trying to take the existing spice trade, which was stale, unequal, unjust, and make it delicious, rooted in justice and equity.

As a queer Indian woman, who looks like this, being young, I think the biggest challenge is people not taking me seriously.

The only way this will change is if we show up and we take up space.

So often, farmers in South Asia I interact with are stuck in the cycle of debt. On average, we're paying our farm partners six times more than the market price in order for them to survive.

We started with just one spice, turmeric. And we now have over 30 spices. So it's from over 150 farms.

I love cooking. It's my way of showing people love.

Today, we'll be making a spicy chai, a shrimp curry, and hodydoodles (ph).

Probably, the most exciting thing I'm doing right is our recipe editor and I are officially writing a cookbook.

I've always been proud to call us a queer business, a space where everybody feels able to be their full selves, rooted in equity and liberation and freedom and in joy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[13:56:21]

WHITFIELD: A White House official says President Biden is postponing his meeting with Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman. The meeting with the crown prince is now expected to take place in July after a previous report indicated it could happen as soon as this month.

That decision drawing praise from groups, such as the 9/11 Families United, which is urging the president to ensure accountability for the September 11th attacks in any discussions with Saudi officials.

CNN's Alex Marquardt explains why there's so much controversy between the two leaders meeting.

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Fred, President Biden came into office having leveled some of the harshest criticism really ever by a U.S. politician at Saudi Arabia. That was in the wake of the horrific murder of journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia has been a critical American ally for decades. But the relationship has become rocky, to say the least. And now sources are telling CNN that the Biden administration is

working on a trip for him to the Middle East to get that relationship back on track.

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MARQUARDT (voice-over): The relationship with Saudi Arabia is one of the most critical the United States has, but it's now one that has never been more troubled.

Sources tell CNN the White House is working on patching things up, with a likely meeting in the coming weeks that would see President Biden face-to-face with the de facto Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, we're getting way ahead of ourselves here.

MARQUARDT: Today, the president told reporters there are no direct plans to visit Saudi Arabia but admitted there's a possibility he'll visit the region. A trip to Israel is also expected.

BIDEN: What I want to do is see to it that we diminish the likelihood that there's a continuation of this -- some of the senseless wars between Israel and the Arab nations. And that's my focus.

MARQUARDT: These days, Israel is actually moving closer to Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, not warring with them.

The Biden team's efforts are complicated by past statements by Biden against Saudi Arabia.

(CHEERING)

MARQUARDT: Candidate Biden, on the campaign trail, vowing to make Saudi Arabia a pariah.

BIDEN: We were not going to, in fact, sell more weapons to them. We were going to, in fact, make them pay the price and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are.

MARQUARDT: Once in office, the intelligence community accused the crown prince, who is known as MBS, of orchestrating the murder and dismemberment of "Washington Post" journalist. Jamal Khashoggi.

Officials, lawyers, and human rights activists continue to hound about the long list of Saudi human rights abuses.

The White House says Biden still views Saudi Arabia as a pariah. Today, he played that down.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is the kingdom still a pariah in your eyes?

BIDEN: Look, I'm not going to change my view on human rights. But as president of the United States, my job is to bring peace if I can, peace if I can. And that's what I'm going to try to do. MARQUARDT: From the time Biden called Saudi Arabia a pariah, until now, gas prices have risen over 80 percent, driving up inflation.

Since Biden took office, Russia has started a war in Ukraine. Iran's nuclear program is surging.

(SHOUTING)

MARQUARDT: Saudi forces are fighting Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen, currently with a fragile truce. And Saudi Arabia is moving closer to China.

All critical topics that Biden needs to work on with Saudi Arabia and its controversial crown prince, who is likely to rule for decades to come.

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MARQUARDT: The fiance of Jamal Khashoggi tells CNN that the prospect of a meeting between President Biden and MbS is horribly upsetting. She says that, if it happens, "Biden will have lost his moral compass and "greatly heightened my grief."

[13:59:59]

Now this is where the rubber meets the road. President Biden is struggling to balance his ideals and principles with the realities of what the U.S. now needs.