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FBI Still Hasn't Identified Pipe Bomb Suspect A Year After Capitol Attack; Ukraine Says Troops Holding On To Severodonetsk; U.S. President Joe Biden Faces Criticism At Americas Summit; Senior U.S., China Defense Leaders to Meet; IAEA Warns Of "Fatal Blow" To Nuclear Deal As Iran Removes Its Cameras; PGA Suspends Players In LIV Golf Event. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired June 10, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Legal sense. Well, earlier we asked the former U.S. attorney about the strength of the committee's case against Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: I think it did. Maybe it was designed to sort of put pressure on the DOJ. I have to say as a lawyer as thinking about a prosecutor evaluating, there was a lot of Trump spring it on, a lot of Trump instigating, a lot of Proud Boys thing. We were invited by Trump.

The real sort of punch line that you're looking for is an agreement that would be that Trump would have joined the conspiracy agreed with them. And then he took some act in concert with them.

Nevertheless, even without that agreement, just the mere fact of aiding and abetting. If you're asking about lawyerly terms, the impairment of the 1/6 hearing itself, that's a crime. That's a serious one.

But generally, they I thought they tried to draw the tie and the link between the riffraff on the ground and Trump, and might have done it in a way that at least in this first hearing doesn't quite stitch it up in the way that Department of Justice prosecutor might be looking for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: He went on to say the hearing shows how close the U.S. came to losing the hallmark of democracy the peaceful transition of power.

Meanwhile, the FBI is still investigating a mysterious incident that happened the night before the Capitol riots. Official said unknown suspect planted several pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington DC. CNN's Brian Todd has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While there's a significant amount of information out there on this person's movements and appearance on the night in question.

STEVEN D'ANTUONO, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE, FBI WASHINGTON FIELD OFFICE: The facemask, a gray hooded sweatshirt, and black and light gray Nike Air Max Speed turf shoes with a yellow logo.

TODD: Authorities still don't know who this person is or why they left pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican Party headquarters the night before the Capitol insurrection.

What we do know is the suspect walked a nomadic path according to surveillance footage from the FBI, which authorities say suggests they're not from the DC area. We know a dog walker walked right past the suspect. And we have information that according to the Atlantic, the FBI has interviewed more than 900 people in this case and has even done analysis on the way the suspect walks.

What we don't have is a name, a gender or any indication that this person is anywhere close to being caught even though authorities have been investigating for 17 months now.

TERRANCE GAINER, FORMER U.S. CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF: This is a mystery and frankly, we could use the public help in solving it. They need to drop a dime as we used to say and let someone know what they think.

TODD: Former Capitol Police Chief Terrence Gainer says he doesn't think the trail has gone cold. Gainer and other law enforcement veterans believe the FBI is still meticulously combing through the devices themselves. Which officials say were made with galvanized pipe and homemade black powder and attached to egg timers. And they're analyzing other clues.

PETER LICATA, FORMER FBI LEAD BOMB TECH: They're looking for bomber signature. They're looking for any what we call trace evidence, which is latent prints DNA, hairs fibers, things that may tie together to match the device to a specific individual.

TODD: The FBI has said the two bombs were placed near DNC and RNC headquarters between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., just a few blocks from the Capitol on January 5, but weren't discovered until around one o'clock pm on the sixth, just as rioters were breaching the Capitol.

What we've learned in recent months is how close one bomb came to potentially harming incoming vice president Kamala Harris. Sources told CNN, Harris's motorcade drove within a few yards of one of the bombs on the morning of the sixth, and that she was inside the DNC office with one of the bombs just outside for almost two hours before the device was found.

D'ANTUONO: These pipe bombs were viable devices that could have been detonated, resulting in serious injury or death.

TODD: Despite what we know of the case, despite a reward of $100,000 for information on the suspect. Why hasn't the person been caught?

LICATA: I think the person was very careful. Sometimes it takes a few days. And sometimes in this case, it takes years in order to find the individual that perpetrated this type of act.

TODD (on camera): The analysts we spoke to say there's also the possibility that the person may never be caught, and that whoever the suspect is remains very dangerous. We reached out to the FBI to see if they could provide any updates on the case. There were no updates that the bureau could make public. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

FOSTER: Ukraine is pushing back against Russia's claim that it controls a key city in the East. Next, a grueling battle for Severodonetsk, which Ukraine says is far from settled.

Then why Iran is turning off surveillance cameras in its nuclear facilities, and what that means for whatever's left of the nuclear deal.

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[04:38:07]

FOSTER: Let's get you a quick update on the latest developments out of Ukraine then. There's no sign of a lead up in the brutal street by street battle for the city of Severodonetsk. Ukraine says it's still holding on to about a third of the city the regional officials are denying Russia's claims that its offensive has succeeded.

British intelligence says the city of Mariupol could face a cholera outbreak. The city was ravaged by Russian bombardment before Ukrainian defenders were defeated.

The intelligence report also says Russia is struggling to provide the most basic of services in occupied territories including drinking water phone and the internet. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us now from the village of Myla, a suburb of Kyiv. Salma.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely. Let's start with the latest Max because you really are seeing a tale of two Ukraine's right now as you mentioned, I'm in the suburb of Myla. This is an area of course now where Ukrainians are trying to recuperate, trying to recover what has been damaged and lost.

But again, let's start with Severodonetsk because right now, President Zelenskyy says the fate of the Donbas and in many ways the fate of Ukraine itself wise in that city that is one of the last Ukrainian strongholds in the region of Luhansk. That is, of course, part of the Donbas, part of the larger goal of President Putin taking control of that region, trying to form a land bridge that connects Russia mainland Russia down to Crimea.

So occupying that territory is a key goal for Moscow and it appears that they are on the verge of accomplishing that mission. Ukrainian forces are outmanned, outgunned.

This is an artillery war, Max, and Ukrainians tell us they are running out of that all important artillery. They have been pounded for weeks now by a superior force. Of course the Russian military that is stronger, that is more powerful that has more weaponry that has ground the city of Severodonetsk, essentially into dust most of it decimated they're fighting over this wasteland but again, it's an important and strategic place.

[04:40:00]

It's really right now a competing timeline over whether or not Western weapons, Western help can come in time to stop this inch by inch gain from Russian forces, it's hard to imagine how the tide can change, otherwise, they're particularly waiting on long range weaponry that's been prompted by -- promised by the U.S. and the UK that could take days, if not weeks before it's actually on the ground. We'll wait to see what happens there.

But it's simply if the fate of Donbas has been determined there, that fate does not look good for the Ukrainian side.

Now back to where I am. The suburb of Myla, Max, I'm just going to walk you through here. Because this is a suburb that was attacked of course by Russian forces, struck by Russian artillery. I'm outside a residential building that locals tell us was hit with artillery rounds, with tank rounds.

This was a suburb again occupied by Russian forces where civilians were killed their bodies left strewn in the streets. We saw drone footage of this earlier. Now, this is the moment when the people of Kyiv, these volunteers want to come in, they want to recuperate, they want to take back the ruins, if you will of the suburbs.

You can see they're starting to clear this building here. They're cleaning it out. Their hope is to try to accomplish some of these recovery efforts. This building in particular lost its roof, accomplish some of these recovery efforts through the summer before winter and the rains begin.

You're looking at a city of Kyiv now, that is trying to find and regain what was lost during these Russian forces at the same time, of course, you have these territories in the east where Russian troops inch by inch are taking more, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Salma in Kyiv. Thank you. Now the Biden administration is facing heavy criticism from some Latin American leaders over its refusal to invite some countries to the Summit of the Americas.

Now President Biden told the summit, the future of the Western Hemisphere should be a democratic one for some leaders, so they wanted the meeting to include representatives of autocratic nations such as Venezuela and Cuba. And with Mr. Biden watching the prime minister of Belize called the exclusions incomprehensible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN BRICENO, BELIZE PRIME MINISTER: This summit belongs to all of the Americas. It is therefore inexcusable, that our countries of the Americas are not here, and the power of the summit diminished by their absence. It is incomprehensible that we ought to isolate countries of the Americas, which have provided strong leadership and contributed to the hemisphere on the critical issues of our times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Now the U.S. president said the summit was off to a strong start despite what he called disagreements over participation. He also met with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who emphasized the need for reliable elections in his country. Mr. Bolsonaro has questioned the integrity of Brazil's electoral system in the run up to a general election in October.

Now in the coming hours, the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart will be meeting in Singapore. This comes as tensions are growing over what Washington sees as China's increasingly aggressive actions in the region. For more on this I'm joined by CNN's Oren Lieberman, a very sensitive trip, Oren.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It is very much so especially because this will be the first meeting between defense secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Minister Wei Fenghe. It is scheduled to start in just under an hour here. So especially on this first day of the Shangri-la Dialogue conference taking place here behind me, it is one of the key events.

Senior defense officials have made clear that one of the things they're looking to move forward here to try to make some progress on our what they call guardrails between the U.S. and China, as well as crisis communications mechanisms, not only at the highest levels of the military here between the U.S. and China, but also at lower levels. So for example, operational theater level commanders between the U.S. and China.

The real question, is it possible to make progress here or does this become the U.S. and China essentially talking past each other. The U.S. has made it clear that one of the issues it sees is Chinese -- China's growing assertiveness, growing aggressiveness across the region using for example, the recent interception over the past couple of weeks of Chinese aircraft not only of Australian surveillance aircraft in the region, but also Canadian surveillance aircraft.

Senior defense officials have said they see this as China acting in an extraordinarily unsafe way, even a dangerous way. China pushing back essentially ignoring that criticism saying it was handled safely and professionally.

One of the issues here is that China sees the problem not just in terms of the action, but the simple U.S. presence in the region they see as one of the origins of the problems, the tensions in the region. And that makes it very difficult to make progress here. So we'll see what comes out of this meeting. Hanging over all of this as it has over so much over the course of the past three months will of course be Ukraine and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy scheduled to speak here tomorrow afternoon.

Max, he knows how to make headlines here and that will be one of the key issues so that we look at as we -- as we move forward through this conference.

[04:45:04]

FOSTER: OK, Oren, thank you for joining us from Singapore.

With the flip of some switches, Iran is defying world power still hoping to keep tabs on its nuclear program. This week Iran began deactivating security cameras installed in its nuclear facilities under the 2015 agreement. And the UN's nuclear watchdog warns the move could deal a fatal blow to any hopes of salvaging that deal.

Let's bring in CNN's Frederik Pleitgen who's like Moscow and an expert on this topic, it doesn't bode well for the deal, frankly.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it certainly doesn't. Then it was quite interesting to hear the head of the IAEA Rafael Grossi saying he believes that this could deal a fatal blow.

However, it doesn't appear as though the international community and the IAEA are there yet. He has said that those 27 cameras that the Iranians allegedly said they want to shut off, that hasn't happened yet, or at least they haven't shut most of them off yet.

And the Iranians for their part are saying that so far they shut off two cameras that monitor parts of their nuclear program. But they say that the two cameras that they have shut off are cameras that they had had operating on top of the things that they already have to do are obliged to do that under some of the nuclear treaty, specifically, the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

And so the Iranians are saying that their nuclear program by and large is still being monitored. 80 percent of the monitoring is still in place. However, nevertheless, this is, of course, still a huge issue, because right now also the efforts to revive the Iran nuclear agreement are in really, really difficult waters at this point, that two party stop talking sometime in March without even getting close to reaching some sort of way to revive the nuclear agreement.

The U.S. says that all of this is very troubling. Secretary of State Blinken has said he does still believe there's room for diplomacy, the U.S. still wants to return to the deal, because of course, the U.S. is the party that actually left to the agreement and put those massive sanctions on Iran.

However, what we're seeing from the Iranians I've been looking quite closely this morning, Max, at some of the things in Iranian media is that especially the president Ebrahim Raisi, he claims that the IAEA criticizing the Iranians is something whether your IAEA is trying to use force against Iran. The Iranians are saying that simply is not going to happen.

They are saying that they are still in compliance with the Iran nuclear agreement, but they also say that they can take away some of those provisions or some of the things that they are complying with if the international community does not react to some Iran's demands.

The Iranians, of course, are saying they want complete sanctions relief, not just of the sanctions that were put back in place by the Trump administration, but also some of the ones that were put in place on top of the ones that had been there some 1,500 additional sanctions than the ones that the Trump administration put in place that anyway, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Fred, thank you for joining us from Moscow. Now, from thunderstorms to floods to heatwave several states across the U.S. are bracing for severe weather, what to expect as we head into the weekend after the break.

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[04:51:52]

FOSTER: Several U.S. states are bracing for possible severe weather, millions in the west so under heat alerts this weekend while thunderstorms are threatening to bring fires, tornadoes, and even flooding. CNN's Derek Van Dam has more.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLGIST: That's right, Max. We are monitoring the potential for severe weather once again today, this time across the lower Mississippi River Valley as well as the central Gulf Coast states.

Basically anywhere we've highlighted the shading of red that is where we have an ongoing severe weather threat. In fact, this is a line of thunderstorms that has originated across central portions of Oklahoma and continues to advance south and east.

You can see it impacting places like Little Rock to New Orleans later this afternoon before exiting into the Gulf of Mexico with the potential exists for strong damaging winds as well as large hail and we cannot rule out the potential of a tornado or two as well.

The Storm Prediction Center in fact has highlighted our greatest risks that's a level three out of five where you see that shading of orange. This is an enhanced risk of severe storms, Shreveport to Jackson, and just outside of Little Rock with a slight risk highlighted with that shading of yellow all the way to the Gulf Coast states. So New Orleans to Pensacola, those two particular locations could see this line of thunderstorms move through by this afternoon and evening.

Some of these storms could produce locally heavy rainfall as well. Two to four inches locally for some of these locations. That's why the National Weather Service has a flash flood watch in place for much of Oklahoma and to Central Arkansas.

So Turn Around, Don't Drown. That's the National Weather Service slogan if you come across a flooded roadway.

The other big story of course is the heat over the Southwest. 37 million Americans under excessive heat watches and warnings as well as advisories. This includes Las Vegas and Phoenix. We have get this the potential to tie or shatter over 110 record high temperatures from the southwest extending eastward across Texas through the course of the weekend easily breaking triple digit heat from San Antonio into Albuquerque. Max back to you.

FOSTER: Thank you to, Derek. Now the Professional Golfers Association tour has suspended all of his members who are participating in this week's controversial LIV Golf Tournament.

Now those affected includes some of the sport's biggest names. Amongst them Phil Mickelson, and Dustin Johnson. They helped kick off the Saudi-backed golf series outside London on Thursday. Mickelson made it clear he's not backing down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL MICKELSON, SIX-TIME MAJOR WINNER: I am going to play all of the LIV events. So to answer your question, I'm all the participant all the events. I don't look that far in advance. I know that there's -- I'm going to play the eighth this year. I'm going to play the 10 next year I can tell you that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: LIV golf responded to the PGA Tour's decision to suspend players saying today's announcements by the PGA Tour is vindictive, and it deepens the divide between the tour and its members.

The head coach of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury says the team will get a briefing soon from the U.S. State Department on their star player Brittney Griner. The two times Olympic gold medalist was arrested in February at a Moscow airport. Russian authorities claimed they found cannabis oil in her luggage.

[04:55:08]

Griner's coach says the U.S. needs to do more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANESSA NYGAARD, PHOENIX MERCURY HEAD COACH: I've made my view clear that this is a situation where we are not valuing getting this person home and we need to and everybody needs to step up, and we need more people to screen that this is not right. And that we know we can -- we know our government can bring this person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The charges against Griner could lead to a 10-year prison sentence. Russian authorities have said Griner will remain in pretrial detention until at least June the 18th. Now fast food controversy in Australia, the country is dealing with a lettuce shortage. So KFC decided to use a lettuce and cabbage blend in their sandwiches there. Australia is now divided.

One disgusted customer tweeted that it feels like a sign of the apocalypse, and other wrote as a cabbage fan, I'm not mad about this. KFC is assuring the customers they're working to get things back to normal.

Scarcity may leave lovers of Sriracha, a little hot under the collar as well. One of the largest manufacturers, Huy Fong Incorporated says they're anticipating a major shortage due to an unexpected crop failure of one of the spring chili harvests.

The company is not accepting any new orders before September and says any orders already made will be fulfilled in the fall. The news has led to hoarding of the beloved condiment, along with an online backlash against the hoarders.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster in London. Our coverage continues on Early Start with Christine Romans and Laura Jarrett. You're watching CNN.

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