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Nine-Year-Old Texas School Shooting Victim Released From Hospital; Miami-Dade Issues No-Swim Advisory at Beaches Amid Flooding; Ukraine Marks 100 Days Since Russia Launched Invasion; January 6 Committee To Hold Public Hearing Thursday; Biden's Meeting With Saudi Crown Prince Pushed Back To July. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired June 04, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

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[19:30:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington.

The top stories tonight, a former Wisconsin judge is killed and we're learning the suspect had a list of other targets, including two sitting governors and Senator Mitch McConnell.

Plus, 11 days after a gunman entered a Uvalde, Texas elementary school, a young student wounded in the attack finally goes home.

Also ahead, the gun violence epidemic in America, a look back at the week that was.

And gas prices nearing $10 a gallon at one station in California. When could drivers see any relief? You're in the CNN Newsroom.

Amid the heartbreak in Uvalde, Texas, we have a small but very welcome bit of good news. University Health in San Antonio just tweeted that a nine-year-old girl injured in the Texas school shooting has been discharged from the hospital. This news comes as funerals are being held this weekend for three more victims, all fourth graders.

CNN's Nick Valencia joins us from Uvalde. And, Nick, first, what can you tell us about this nine-year-old who was just discharged from the hospital?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good evening, Pamela. We know earlier this week, we got an update from University Hospital there in San Antonio about this nine-year-old little girl who they had updated their condition to good. And just a few days later now, in this bright spot, as you mentioned, amidst this tragedy that she's been released from the hospital.

We do know though at least two victims from last week's massacre, including the grandmother of the shooter who was shot in the face before the attack is still in the hospital recovering. The grief here is still very much so front and center in Uvalde as two more fourth graders from that shooting last week are laid to rest, including Makenna Elrod. And it was earlier I spoke to their family who still very much still grieving and they didn't want the talk on camera but they did say that she loved gymnastics, she loved playing softball. Her classmate also, Rojelio Torres, he will also be laid to rest today, family calling him a bright spot in their lives.

Look, there's still a lot of unclear answers here, even when it comes to what happens next at Robb Elementary School. A school board meeting was held the first time since the shooting, and in it, not really many answers were given about what happens next. The superintendent did reiterate that student will not return to Robb Elementary but what was striking was the information that wasn't provided. There was no mention of Chief Arredondo's future, that disgraced school district police chief. And the fact is that a lot of the parents that were in attendance were really disgust by that. Take a listen to one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a fourth grader that was in the room next door that is terrified. My niece died. I have a six-year-old that just told me, I don't want to go to school. Why? To be shot? I have one going into junior high. I have a third grader.

We want answers to where the security is going to take place. This is all a joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Parents here want answers but they are not getting it, police yet to offer full explanations for their inactions that day. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you.

Well, the debate tonight, should schools hold shooter drills? Students barricading doors, hiding under desks, trying to be as quiet as possible. Supporters say the drills save lives but other people say they only create tension and fear for those involved while providing a false sense of security and delaying action on gun regulation.

Former Music Teacher Allie Carter joins me now along with Jaclyn Schildkraut, an associate professor of criminal justice at the State University of New York in Oswego.

[19:05:05]

She's also co-author of the upcoming book, Lockdown Drills, Connecting Research and Best Practices for School Administrators, Teachers and Parents. Ladies, welcome to both of you.

So, you are coming at this issue from two different perspectives, two different viewpoints, and we want to hear both of them. And I'm going to start with you, Allie, and this piece that you wrote for The Washington Post. It's titled, at school, we prepare to be shot. This is how it feels.

You say, quote, a room full of 12-year-olds stop their singing and stare at me, the grown up eyes pleading for a comforting response. I have none. I don't know if we're safe. So, we do what we're trained to do. Shove the couch to block one door, move large table to cover the other, all lights out, music off, dreadful silence. Tearfully, a student asks, can I text my mom and let her know I'm okay? I know we aren't allowed to have phones in school, but, yes, I'm your teacher, and even I'm texting my mom right now.

Allie, that is so powerful. In your article, you say, the drills don't help at all. Why do you feel that way?

ALLIE CARTER, EDUCATION ORGANIZER: First, thank you so much for having me tonight and for making space for this conversation. I see it as a little bit of a band aid on a much larger issue. It shifts burden off of the shoulders of lawmakers who are choosing not to act on the larger issue at hand and instead places that weight directly on the students and educators who didn't consent to being part of these drills and making a space that should be nurturing and warm and welcoming and a truly safe space in a community center into a place where children are traumatized. BROWN: So, Jaclyn, what is your reaction to that? You've run 300

drills, I believe, over the past four years. Why are these drills important?

JACLYN SCHILDKRAUT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT OSWEGO: Yes. I think Allie raises a number of good points, but I think we also have to be mindful that even with all of the legislation in place, if it were to be passed, there's still a chance that these events can happen. And I think what we really focused on is kind of shifting the conversation from lockdown to -- or, sorry, from active shooter drill to lockdown drill instead of focusing on the rarest and most severe type threat that a school could face. Lockdowns can be used for any emergency that might happen in the school.

BROWN: So, basically, reframing the name of it and not just focusing on the shooter aspect of it.

I want to ask you about this, Allie. So, one study looked at student social media post after active shooter drills. They found sharp increases in stress and anxiety, depression and even physiological health problems. Does that match what you've seen in classrooms when you've gone through these drills?

CARTER: Absolutely. So, I was a music teacher at the middle school level. We started our school year in the same breath almost going over fire drills and severe weather drills. And then we had to teach our students about the choices that they would need to make during a situation where they would need to defend themselves from an active shooter.

So, if it were safe, how to escape and practicing running in a zigzag pattern so that their body is harder the aim at or in the classroom finding something heavy that they can throw at somebody with a gun at the classroom door to try to disorient them. It is immensely traumatizing. And somehow we're supposed to pick right back up in our lesson.

Like I said in my piece in The Post, as soon as we finish that, we picked up our music and try to start singing from the Lion King again. And that is not even to speak of the trauma that students bring to the school building that they experienced outside of our classrooms, those who have experienced gun violence, those who have fled violence and looked to our classroom as a haven are instead being re-traumatized in that space.

BROWN: So, Jaclyn, I want to hear more about what you say to what we just heard from Allie and what she described went beyond the idea of a lockdown, right, running in zigzag so a bullet doesn't hit you. So, what is your reaction to that, because you said earlier that you want focus on sort of the reframing of it?

SCHILDKRAUT: Yes. One thing that Allie said several times that I think is really important is this idea of creating trauma. And one of the challenges in this space is that we lack really even any national guidance on what lockdown drills or active shooter drills should look like. There's no real guidance out there, so those decision are often falling to the state. And even then, within state, you'll see differences between schools and districts.

There's a lot of great resources out there from the National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of School Resource Officers and Safe and Sound Schools that talk about how we can do these drills in a trauma-informed way, where they are exercising that can prepare students without scaring them.

[19:10:11]

That means that we are not using any sensationalized techniques. We are always making sure to practice those drills.

And, really, keep in mind what the goal of a drill is. Just like a fire drill, which Allie mentioned as well, the goal of even a lockdown drill is to build muscle memory so that should you ever find yourself in that emergency, if your thinking is compromised due to stress, your body will take over the way it's trained to do.

So, when we do a lockdown drill, we're practicing a specific set of steps. We want to get that door locked because we do know that door locks are the number one life-saving device in an active shooter situation. We get those lights off to add a layer of concealment. And we do move away from the corridor doors to get out of sight and maintain that silent so that nobody knows where individuals in the room are.

Certainly, we want to communicate the goals of the drill, and what we found in our work is that the training component is really critical to increasing that buy-in and decreasing that sort of anxiety and tension.

BROWN: What do you think about that, Allie?

CARTER: I hear it and I do understand it and I've seen it in practice as well. But I also think we should be considering the fact that we're normalizing students preparing for a weapon that's built to kill stepping up to their classroom. That is a compounding trauma that continues to build upon itself and especially considering the significant underfunding of mental held resources that we have in our country right now. We're not supporting our students in way to help them really navigate the complexity of those emotions.

BROWN: I'm curious, Jaclyn, to you, about research backing up with these drills actually helping save lives in the event of an active shooter and then also your views on like how young this should start, because I'm a mom, I have two young kids. I don't want to introduce this idea to them when they are kindergarten or first grade, like I want to keep their innocence for little while longer, if I can. And, unfortunately, the parents in Uvalde couldn't do that. The parents of Sandy Hook couldn't do that, but it's just such a tough issue. What do you think?

SCHILDKRAUT: No, it absolutely is. And, listen, I really wish that we lived in a world where we didn't need these. Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in. So, the perspective that I approach this from is since we have to do it, let's make sure we're doing it in most trauma- informed and empowering way.

I will say that the students that I work with here in Syracuse City School District are exposed to a tremendous amount of community-based violence and community-based gun violence, and so we're really cognizant of talking to them about how, what we're teaching them within the four walls of the school can be used beyond that.

I think one of the points that was raised earlier about the study with the tweet, the challenge is that nobody goes out and tweets after we have really great drill. We had a school that had 100 percent perfect checks on every single room and the principal and I celebrated that success but nobody went and tweeted how great it was. And so we really only hear about the worst case of drills, not when they are being done correctly and when they're being done empowering.

And so if we look at all of the school shootings that have ever happened, I'm going to say prior to Uvalde just because we haven't got enough information on that one specifically, there's been three times where somebody has been killed behind a locked door and then none of those cases was it because the door lock failed.

And I think even in those instances, there tends to be a focus on the rooms where people were killed without recognizing or kind of acknowledging all of the other rooms in the school. Same with Uvalde, where students did practice and did execute their plan and they went home, certainly not unscarred with the psychological trauma but they did go home that day.

BROWN: Yes. Well, this is such an interesting conversation. After Uvalde, I saw a lot of parents talking about this issue. And as a parent myself, I wanted to hear your thoughts and it was really illuminating. So, thank you for coming on to have this very civil discussion even though you have different points of view, it's always appreciated. Thank you.

CARTER: Thank you so much.

SCHILDKRAUT: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: Up next, Miami-Dade County telling beachgoers to stay out of the water after a sewage plant over flows from heavy flooding.

And then the panel investigating the Capitol riot gets ready to reveal new details about the Trump presidency. CNN speaks with January 6th Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson.

And the gas station in California where gas costs nearly $10 a gallon. Our energy expert tells us when the pain at the pump might subside.

[19:15:02]

You're in the CNN Newsroom.

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BROWN: Tropical rain and winds hammer parts of South Florida today impacting the area's famous beaches. Miami-Dade County issued a no swim advisory after 11 inches of rain in 24 hours overflowed a waste water treatment facility. Beaches will reopen after two days of clear testing.

Meanwhile, officials confirm almost 100 vehicles were stranded in road flooding. Some drivers got into their car roofs to get out of that waste deep water, as you in this incredible video. Look at this.

And check out this flooded Miami-Dade County neighborhood. The mayor said people there are safe but added this is a warning ahead of a busy hurricane season.

Well, Russian artillery as hit a historic monastery in Eastern Ukraine.

[19:20:00]

President Zelenskyy says the attack destroyed the 16th century church. And a short time ago, he said 113 churches have been destroyed or damaged by Russian shelling over the course of this war.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian military official said Russia is throwing all of its reserved at the eastern industrial city of Severodonetsk. Street battles have apparently divided the city in half. And Ukraine's defense minister said an optimistic forecast sees the war over by the end of the year. That prediction coming as Ukraine this week marked 100 days of war.

CNN's Matthew Chance has more.

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

But, of course, has been high. Ukrainian officials say about 20 percent of the country has fallen under Russian control, an area the size of Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium put together. The death toll has been catastrophic too. There were no exact figures. But when you combine civilians and soldiers on both sides, it's estimated tens of thousands of people have died.

And some of have them have scenes witnessed in Europe for a generation. Innocent civilians seem to have been targeted in alleged war crimes, something that's going to keep prosecutors busy potentially for years to come.

Fleeing the violence, millions of people have been forced to escape their homes. Ukrainian officials say the fighting has displaced 12 million. 5 million have left the country all together either to Europe or to Russia to where Ukrainian officials say people are being forcibly evacuated.

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

But elsewhere in the east, Ukrainian troops say they are making counterattacks to recapture territory with the help of sophisticated weaponry being 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.

BROWN: You're in the CNN Newsroom. America is in the middle of a deadly problem. This year, the nation averages more than one mass shooting a day.

And we're just days away from the first primetime hearings of the January 6 insurrection. CNN goes one-on-one with Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson for a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: What's at stake with these hearings?

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (R-MS): Our democracy is at stake. We have to defend our democracy. We have to defend our government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[19:25:00]

BROWN: As sure as the sun will rise in the morning, you can be just as sure likely just minutes from now, this country will see another shooting. For the record, the United States is in the middle of a gun violence epidemic. In just the past few weeks, we have seen mass shootings at places we should feel the safest outside our home, a grocery store, an elementary school and just days ago inside a medical building. It feels like only in America you can you get shot while trying to see a doctor or inside a school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: In front of Robb Elementary School, we stood before 21 crosses for 19 third and fourth graders and two teachers. In each cross a name, and nearby, a photo of each victim that Jill and I reached out to touch.

I couldn't help but think there are too many other schools, too many other every day places that have become killing fields, battlefields here in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And think about this, according to the Gun Violence Archive, we have seen 236 mass shootings in 2022. Today is the 155th day of 2022. So, that means this year, we are averaging more than one mass shooting a day.

And in the 11 days since the tragic attack on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, there have been 23 different mass shootings. These are not just shootings but mass shootings, incidents where at least four people have been shot, not including the shooter.

And the toll of gun violence as a whole even beyond just mass shootings has been devastating. The Gun Violence Archive points out there have been more than 18,000 shooting deaths this year, and that includes 8,000-plus homicides.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We spent hours with hundreds of family members who are broken, whose lives will never be the same. They had one message for all of us. Do something. Just do something. For God's sake, do something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Every one of these shootings has victims. Each one has a name. Each one has a family. Each one has friends. This is just a small sample of the shootings over the past several days.

This afternoon, Lexington, Kentucky, my hometown, two people attending a funeral were shot outside a church. One has life-threatening injuries. Police say the suspect fled the scene. Friday night, Chesterfield, Virginia, six people are shot, one fatally.

[19:30:02]

Police say more than 50 shots were fired.

Friday morning, Central Wisconsin, a former County Judge is found shot to death. Authorities say the suspect had other targets in mind, including the governors of Wisconsin and Michigan and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

And then Wednesday afternoon Tulsa, Oklahoma, two doctors, a receptionist, and a patient were killed all gunned down inside a medical building. People like doctors Preston Phillips and Stephanie Husen, they were shot by a man who police say was in pain while recovering from back surgery and wanted to take out his pain on Dr. Phillips', his surgeon and shot anyone who got in his way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. CLIFF ROBERTSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, SAINT FRANCIS HEALTH SYSTEM: Dr. Phillips was the consummate gentleman. He was -- he is a man that we should all strive to emulate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Police say the shooter had bought the AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle that very same day.

And Tuesday, New Orleans three people were shot one is killed. Police say a fight broke out in a parking lot after a high school graduation ceremony and someone just started shooting.

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BROWN: Monday night, downtown Charleston, South Carolina, 10 people were injured including a 17-year-old. Police say there was a party in a vacant lot and one officer responding to a noise complaint was among those injured in the gunfire.

And then last Saturday, Florence County, South Carolina, an eight- year-old little boy on vacation riding in a car with his mother and father when police say a man started shooting randomly at passing vehicles.

Quarius Dunham was shot and later died at the hospital. His father was also shot, he is expected to survive.

This is an epidemic that is getting out of control and it has been out of control.

For the record, every time we thought we'd finished the script, we learn of another shooting, talking about what I just read to you and it just keeps getting longer and longer.

We can all agree, in this highly polarized country right now, it has to stop. This should not and cannot be an accepted way of life in America. We owe it to our children, the children in this country who look up to adults to protect them.

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[19:36:52]

BROWN: Well, this Thursday, the House Committee investigating the January 6 attack will hold its first public hearing on its findings. The seven Democrats and two Republicans hope to grab the public's attention by televising the hearing in primetime.

Lawmakers are expected to unveil new evidence and witness testimony about the deadly insurrection and what led up to it, and the committee is expected to hold about a half dozen hearings this month and issue a report on its findings in September.

Over the Committee's Chairman, Congressman Bennie Thompson, the pursuit of truth and protection of democracy is a lifelong theme. CNN's Gloria Borger has his story, in his own words.

BORGER: Pamela, Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, Chairman of the January 6th Committee has a very personal view of the meaning of a free and fair election. In fact, making sure every vote counts has been his life's work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BORGER (voice over): The way Bennie Thompson saw it from the House gallery on January 6, his congressional lapel pin was a badge of honor.

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Security had told us, you need to take your pin off because they break in and see you with that pin on, they could kill you. I said, there are many people I know who fought and died in this country for me to have the right to represent and for them to have the right to vote, I'm not going to let any insurrectionist, rioter, crazy person come here and take this pin.

BORGER (voice over): He's been wearing a pin for 13 terms, the only Democrat and only Black member of Mississippi's congressional delegation, representing one of the poorest districts in the country.

Now cast into the national spotlight as Chairman of the January 6 Committee, taking on a challenge unlike any other in American history.

BORGER (on camera): What's at stake with these hearings?

THOMPSON: Well, our democracy is -- our democracy is at stake. We have to defend our democracy. We have to defend our government.

BORGER (voice over): For Thompson now 74, this job is about a personal history come full circle.

As a product of the Jim Crow South, the right to vote and be counted in a free and fair election has been his life's work.

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): It's an extraordinary arc in a political career. He had a struggle for representation at the local level, at the county level, at the Federal level.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): It wasn't possible in his state for a person of color to be elected.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he was growing up, voting was such an important and treasured thing. So many Mississippians lost their lives over the right to vote. That sticks with you for a while. BORGER (voice over): Or a lifetime. In Washington, D.C., Thompson

hasn't been one of those well-known faces parked in front of a camera, but in his hometown of Bolton, population 521, everyone knows Bennie and the way to his office.

DERRICK JOHNSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NAACP: People walk in, they sit down they go get something. They drink up the refrigerator water for softdrink and they leave. It is like the community office and that's the person he is.

THOMPSON: This was the Police Station, City Hall, everything.

[19:40:08]

BORGER (voice over): He lives in the same brick ranch house in the same affordable housing community that he fought to build as mayor in the 70s.

THOMPSON: The person who sold us this land got his life threatened because he sold it to the Black community.

BORGER (voice over): And he is back every weekend driving around his 300-mile long district, which includes the capital city, Jackson, and the rural Mississippi Delta. He likes to travel with his fishing pole and guns in the truck.

THOMPSON: I will call friends and say, look, I'll be in the area, let's go hunting.

JOHNSON: Duck, deer, quail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People like that about him. He's just a regular person --

BORGER (voice over): Who grew up in the Segregated South.

THOMPSON: I went to Bolton colored school. We had no indoor plumbing. Obviously, no cafeteria, no library.

BORGER (voice over): Until he got to the private, desegregated, Tougaloo College in 1964. The place where Black Power found its voice and Thompson found him.

THOMPSON: Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokely Carmichael, sitting in this very building, Mississippi, at that point did not allow Black and White people to assemble in public buildings.

And for me, having never gone to school until I got to Tougaloo with a White student.

BORGER (on camera): Never?

THOMPSON: Never. It was like, whew.

BORGER (voice over): It was a revelation of sorts. He was determined not to be one of those people who got an education and left. He was going to get it and use it at home.

He started by registering voters.

THOMPSON: I told my mother how excited I was to go to Sunflower County, Mississippi, and help poor African-Americans to register and vote and my mama said, we don't vote here in Bolton.

BORGER (on camera): Did you register your mother?

THOMPSON: Oh, absolutely.

BORGER (voice over): For years, the Courts became his battleground as his local election wins were consistently challenged. And when he became Bolton's first Black Mayor in 1973, winning by just 18 votes, he was sued once again, by a White challenger.

THOMPSON: We proved that there were people eligible to vote that election officials denied, and under the Voting Rights Act, they couldn't do that.

People somehow say I cheated. That it just couldn't be a lawful election.

BORGER (on camera): Rigged election. I've heard that before.

THOMPSON: Fast forward, some of the same comments that I heard back then resonated on January 6th.

BORGER (voice over): Now, he is leading the investigation into what happened that day.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to walk down to the Capitol.

BORGER (on camera): So do you believe that Donald Trump provoked and led the insurrection and then was applauding it as it occurred?

THOMPSON: I believe Donald Trump was the puppet master. He allowed with his rhetoric, people to be bamboozled into believing that the election was stolen.

BORGER (voice over): And for Thompson, that's personal.

THOMPSON: My daddy died when I was 10th grade, but he never had a chance to vote, and for his son to be elected, I think is a sense of how far we've come.

The bragging rights as Americans is you can support the candidate of your choice, and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you don't tear the place up if you lose.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BORGER (on camera): And Pamela when Thompson strikes the gavel Thursday, that's only the beginning of the story he wants the American people to hear. BROWN: Gloria Borger, thank you so much for that. And still ahead on

this Saturday, why President Biden is pushing back a trip to Saudi Arabia.

Plus, be grateful you're not pumping gas at this station in California, at least I hope you're not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's see. $9.00.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over $9.00 a gallon?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over $9.00 a gallon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my goodness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Now, gas prices are not that bad across the country, but they do keep going up. When might we see some relief?

I'll ask an expert on energy economics, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:49]

BROWN: Well, the White House says President Biden's trip to Saudi Arabia originally planned for this month will be pushed to July. Officials say they want to do more planning and scheduling for a Middle East trip, but the President faced major backlash when it was reported he was planning to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the visit. President Biden has a complicated relationship with the Crown Prince.

During his presidential campaign, Mr. Biden called out Saudi Arabia for its role in the murder of "Washington Post" columnist, Jamal Khashoggi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), THEN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Well, speaking of Saudi Arabia, OPEC, the oil producing alliance, which includes the Saudi Kingdom announced this week it will increase oil production by 648,000 barrels a day in July and August. That is as rising oil prices worldwide translate into record high gas prices here in the United States.

Today, AAA says gas is averaging $4.82 a gallon nationwide compared to just $3.05 one year ago.

And if you think that's bad, check this out. Gas at one station in Northern California is nearing $10.00 a gallon.

Joining me now is Clay Seigle, the Vice President at the U.S. Association for Energy Economics. Good evening to you.

So usually, once we hit Memorial Day, gas prices start to go down, if I'm not mistaken, do you think that we will see any relief with gas prices anytime soon?

[19:50:23]

CLAY SEIGLE, VICE PRESIDENT, U.S. ASSOCIATION FOR ENERGY ECONOMICS: Good evening, it is good to be with you today.

I think that the outlook is probably for prices to move even higher throughout the summer. You've got to remember that summer is the highest season for gasoline demand and I hate to be the bearer of bad news and spoil people's weekends, but there really is no major relief in sight for the prices at the pump. If anything, they are liable to move higher.

One of the most important things that I'm keeping an eye on is how the nation's refineries are going to do during this summer season, because we just have less refining capacity in the United States and around the world to work with compared to before the pandemic.

We've had about three refineries closed down here on the Gulf Coast over the last year or two. They've closed in other regions of the country, too. California, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Wyoming and we've also lost some refineries in other parts of the world; in Asia Pacific and in Europe.

And so that means that just as demand is coming back for these refined products, gasoline manufacturing capacity at home and abroad is lower and that is contributing to the high-price environment.

BROWN: And I want to go into the why in just a second, but I mean, how high do you expect gas prices to go? We know in California, that one station, nearly $10.00. Again, that's not the average, but what do you think?

SEIGLE: That's probably among the highest points in the United States, because that's, as you said, about double the nationwide average of about $4.82.

But I think it's very likely that we will see the nationwide average price climb into the fives, and unfortunately, maybe even start with the six sometime this summer.

Another really important thing to keep your eye on with regard to the price path for gasoline is whether those refineries get hit by hurricanes this summer.

We had an important milestone just last week down here in the Gulf Coast and the rest of the country with the start of hurricane season. Most people don't know this, but it'll last for a full half year through the end of November. But the peak season for tropical storm formation is during the summer months, and the Gulf Coast region is the home to almost half of the United States refining capacity.

If we were to have a direct hit, if we were to have a long lasting disruption of refining capacity in the Gulf of Mexico area, prices will move higher still, I'm afraid.

BROWN: Okay. Well, that is -- I mean, this is all pretty scary if you look to the future. We're not seeing much relief when it comes to this. I want to get to a little bit more about the why. I think the why here is important in helping understand the bigger issue here.

As you know, the Biden administration has blamed these high prices on Putin. But we also know prices were going up even before the war in Ukraine. So help us better understand why we're seeing these record high prices and why you expect them to go up even higher.

SEIGLE: Sure. This is a story about demand for oil and oil products coming back with a vengeance since the pandemic and supply has not and so, if you start with the situation before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we already had a really tight oil market going into it.

So we have very low spare production capacity by OPEC and friends. We have very low oil inventories, both crude oil and refined products that are held by companies and also strategic reserves that are held by government, all of those had been going down.

So those are those are kind of the cushions that the oil market usually has to absorb price volatility, price spikes, when for example, there is a supply disruption.

Both of those cushions, spare capacity, and inventories are really thin right now and that is why we're seeing increased volatility, especially to the upside.

BROWN: Well, Clay, thank you for helping us better understand this important issue that affects so many of us day in and day out. We appreciate it.

SEIGLE: Thank you.

BROWN: Well, 50 years ago, the break in at the Watergate began a chain reaction that started with a cover up and unraveled Richard Nixon's presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX BUTTERFIELD, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, NIXON ADMINISTRATION: I heard about the breakout on the radio coming to work, and when I got in, I saw one of the secretaries and I said, you know, it's clear to me that we did it. I don't have any doubt of it. And she said, oh, of course.

BOB WOODWARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, "THE WASHINGTON POST": And when the Judge said, "Where have you worked?" And McCord said -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: CIA. Oh, my goodness, okay. We're in a whole new

territory, the CIA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: McCord retired from the CIA, and was hired by the Committee to reelect the President as a security officer.

The others had been hired by Hunt and Liddy, who had done work leading the Plumbers Operation in '71.

[19:55:09]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The White House understands immediately that this could lead back to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The new CNN Original Series "Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal" premieres tomorrow night at nine Eastern on CNN.

Well, you were in the CNN NEWSROOM, and still ahead tonight, I'm going to speak to the photographer behind these images documenting America's gun culture. Why he says judging the people in these photos is a mistake despite the stunning amount of firearms on display.

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