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"March For Our Lives" Mobilizes Around The World; Rallygoers, Shooting Survivors Protest Gun Violence Nationwide; White House: Inflation "Uncomfortably High" As Prices Skyrocket; U.S. Seeks Full "Reset" With Saudi Arabia Despite Khashoggi Murder; Triple Digit Temperature Expected In The West, South; Gas Station Glitch Gives "Special Price" Per Gallon. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired June 11, 2022 - 12:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:00:45]

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST (on camera): Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining me. I'm Amara Walker, in today for Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin today with mass demonstrations nationwide calling for tighter gun laws. More than 300 March for Our Lives rallies are scheduled today. Some locations like the one in D.C. are underway right now.

Rally goers renewing their cries for lawmakers to address the gun violence epidemic after a series of horrific mass shootings. And CNN is covering events across the country. And I want to begin with Brian Todd at the Capitol.

Hi, Brian, things are just kicking off where you are.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): That's right, Amara. The crowds still gathering here at the foot of the Washington Monument. Several 100 strong here at the riser. And with the White House just in the background.

We've already talked to several people in the crowd here about kind of the general mood as we come out of the horrible shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo. And really, it's a mood of being pretty much fed up with the gun violence that has taken place in the country, especially lately, you know.

Four years after Parkland, a lot of them feel like just not enough is getting done.

One of them is here with me. RuQuan Brown. Hi, RuQuan.

RUQUAN BROWN, CO- FOUNDER, MARCH FOR OUR LIVES, CO- FOUNDER, MARCH FOR OUR LIVES: Hey.

TODD: RuQuan is one of the co-leaders of the March for Our Lives movement. He is about to get up here and speak in a few minutes. And he is a survivor of gun violence in D.C., we should add.

RuQuan, what is the message that you want to deliver here in the few minutes.

BROWN: Its three simple words: use more love. And I want all of us, our politicians and our people to begin to use love. And I want us to eat love and drink love and sleep love, because that's going to sip through in our everyday lives, and in our law, and in our politics.

TODD: I get a sense a lot of people here are very frustrated, you know, for the obvious reasons.

The House has passed stricter gun control measures, it's so, so, as to whether it's going to get through in the Senate. If it does not get through Congress yet again, what do you think should be done?

BROWN: Again, its three simple words to me is use more love. This is a democracy, the people have the power, and we have to act like that. And our people are despite the laws not behaving, not treating each other the ways that we should.

And then, it should be an American concept to love. And so, it's easy for me, its three words, use more love, because our politicians are our people. They're the same people that are coming from their homes each day, and we fill our hearts with love, we'll act different in Congress. If we fill our hearts with love, we'll act different in our schools and in our workplaces as well.

TODD: All right. Well, good luck with the speech. I know you're getting ready, you got to get up there. And good luck. Thanks for talking to us, RuQuan.

All right, we do have to also tell you guys that President Biden less than an hour ago, issued a tweet kind of along the lines of what all these rallies are trying to get out here today.

President Biden's tweet reads, Congress needs to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, enact safe storage laws and red flag laws, repeal gun manufacturers' immunity from liability. And they finished it by saying, we can't fail the American people again.

So, again, it's just a huge sense of frustration. And just kind of a lot of people out here plotting kind of a strategy as to what to do next if yet another gun control measure doesn't get through Congress.

So, that's going to be a lot of what we're going to be talking about here this afternoon. Amara.

WALKER: All right. Thanks so much for that, Brian Todd. CNN's Polo Sandoval, joining us now live from New York. And Polo, what are you seeing there?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You know, that same sense of frustration that Brian just mentioned too, Amara.

You, it's almost quite palpable here among some of the participants in the New York City demonstration, where you are seeing right now, a large crowd gathering in Brooklyn. The plan from here is to hold a small event, and then marched over the Brooklyn Bridge into Lower Manhattan, where we're expected to hear from several speakers.

Here is the thing though, Amara. This is not just about this call to action according to organizers, but also it's a day of remembrance as well in the victims of recent shootings, including this demonstration here, each one of these faces last four weeks ago today, they're propped up against 10 grocery carts. Again, it's symbol of the loss in Buffalo a month ago.

And you see each one of those people who was killed at that grocery store. And so, we're getting on the ground is not just urging federal -- lawmakers at the national level to basically not only just introduced the legislation that was passed in the House, but eventually approved in the Senate, despite the not so promising potential there, but also, really for states to continue that track of implementing different kinds of gun reform.

[12:05:01]

SANDOVAL: New York decide a few days ago, and what you're hearing from this crowd here, it would like to see similar actions be taken at the national level, Amara.

WALKER: All right, all right let's head now to CNN Nadia Romero who is at a rally in Parkland, Florida and that is the location where that mass shooting at the school in 2018 spurred the creation of March for Our Lives, this rally that's happening around the country. What's the message you've been hearing this morning, Nadia?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Now, this is where it all began. On Valentine's Day back in 2018, when 17 students and staff members were killed, 17 others injured. About two miles from here, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

It was the day after the shooting right here, there was a vigil held. And then, a month later, the first March for Our Lives. And here we are, again, the March just wrapped up here and Parkland. But the message was really clear, vote them out, vote them out. A message to lawmakers who do not support gun reform legislation.

Making it clear that these students, many student activists, he was a 16-year-old who put this event together after Uvalde, after Buffalo, one is the March for Our Lives, again, and those students say that they will be voting soon.

Many of the Parkland survivors are in college now in their voting age, and they're continuing their activism.

I spoke with one woman, Debbi Hixon, who is a widow, her husband, Chris was the athletic director at Parkland, and he died while charging the gunman trying to protect his students.

And she says this is what her husband would be feeling and thinking right now. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBBI HIXON, HUSBAND CHRIS HIXON KILLED IN PARKLAND, FLORIDA MASS SHOOTING: He took the roughest students and took him under his arm, sometimes we took them into our house, to just show them some love and to show them that they could do better.

So, I think he would say we need to do better, we deserve better. And so, here is an opportunity to ask the American people to take action to demand that we get better.

We need responsible firearm ownership. We're not asking necessarily for huge changes in laws. We're asking that some of the laws we have be truly enacted.

And you know, in the state of Florida right after the shooting here, there were a lot of things that were able to be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: And she's sending a strong message to those who are left behind after Buffalo, after Uvalde. She said it took her a long time to find her voice, Amara. But she's told all of those survivors and their loved ones, find your voice, be unapologetic, and fight for change. Amara.

WALKER: Absolutely and those young people did find their voice for sure, as we're seeing these protests continuing today.

CNN's Whitney Wild. Also joining us now from D.C., Whitney, tell us what to expect this afternoon.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, we'll see a long list of speakers, all of whom have either a loved one who was killed in gun -- by gun violence or were themselves victims of gun violence.

And this is a message that is drawing out many, many people here to downtown Washington, in the shadow of the Washington Monument just on the doorstep, not too far from the White House here.

But let me give you just a shot of the crowd here that's just streamed in here within the last few minutes waiting for these speakers to take the stage. And when you look at the list of speakers, it really makes clear that gun violence touches many different parts of the American experience. It is something that affects schools, it is something that affects supermarkets, it affects people in their neighborhoods -- some neighborhoods where gun violence is a regular occurrence.

And so, it's really -- it really illustrates the diversity of the movement here. The diversity of the people on the board here at March for Lives. The diversity of the people experiences who are coming up here today to demand the same thing, which is action on gun reform.

And you know, it's important to note this is about to pick up. Here, it's starting right now. So, I'm going to wrap it up. Not just here, though, this is an international event. There are events in Paris and London as well.

Again, the main message here is how many more people have to die before action takes place? Back to you.

WALKER: How many more people have to die before action takes place? Strong message Whitney Wild. Thank you. And thank you all to our reporters across the country covering this march for our lives rally.

Americans are also anxious about inflation as gas prices soar to an all-time high.

WALKER (voice-over): The national average surging to $5 a gallon today. That's a $0.60 increase in the last month. Just one everyday commodity we're paying more for, as Americans grapple with skyrocketing prices on just about everything.

The consumer price index jumping 8.6 percent In May compared to the same time last year. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is in Los Angeles where President Biden is attending the final day of the Summit of Americas.

And look, we know that Priscilla that the White House is saying and acknowledging that this inflation rate is "uncomfortably high". But what do they plan to do about bringing prices down?

[12:10:07]

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER (on camera): Well, President Joe Biden, here in Los Angeles at a port just yesterday said that it is a top economic priority to lower inflation.

And it's -- during this -- what you just mentioned, the latest consumer price index that showed that record gas prices drove inflation to 8.6 percent. Food prices rose 11.9 percent. And that is the reality that the White House and President Biden is contending with.

And during those remarks yesterday at the port, he placed blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine, saying that that war is having ripple effects here at home.

Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make no mistake about it. I understand, inflation is a real challenge to American families. Today's inflation report confirm what America has already know. Putin's price hike is hitting America hard.

Gas price is at the pump, energy and food prices account for a half of the monthly price increases since May.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, Biden has cited Putin's price hike before. He also acknowledged as you heard there, the challenge that this poses to American families. And in those remarks, he also called on Congress to pass a bill to cut shipping costs in hopes of lowering the price of goods.

He also called out oil and gas companies, telling them not to take advantage of excessive profit. But all of this, Amara, as the U.S. grapples with inflation, as Americans do, and the White House acknowledging that, that is the case here at home by calling inflation uncomfortably high. Amara.

WALKER: A very difficult situation for so many people. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you.

Rising inflation has been excruciating for many Americans. I don't have to tell you that, right? But that also includes our oldest and most vulnerable neighbors. CNN's Gave Cohen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOYCE SILLA, SENIOR IN WASHINGTON: The prices -- oh, my God. The price --

GABE COHEN: CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 72-year-old Joyce Silla has seen inflation eat through her fixed income. $1,700 a month of Social Security.

COHEN (on camera): What does that done to your savings?

SILLA: Is gone, is depleted? No save. That's it. If I can make it from one month to the other month, that's good.

COHEN (voice-over): She was the assistant director of housekeeping at a large D.C. hotel before retiring 10 years ago. Now, a widow, she is relying on food banks for the first time and watching her power bills pile up.

SILLLA: It's not a good feeling. I know I worked, and didn't take (INAUDIBLE)

COHEN: While inflation is hitting most Americans, many retired seniors face an added squeeze. For 10 million of them, Social Security on average, just over $1,600 a month is at least 90 percent of their income, and inflation is far outpacing this year's cost of living increase on those benefits. Though it was the biggest raise in 39 years.

It's not just food and gas prices. Health care costs are rising and many retirement accounts have taken a hit.

DAVID CERTNER, LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL AND LEGISLATIVE POLICY DIRECTOR, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED PERSONS: That is just a burden that's very difficult to bear for some of these people. And that's when they have to make tough choices.

CYNTHIA TILFORD, SENIOR IN HOUSTON: We've gone through our retirement savings more quickly than we had anticipated.

COHEN: 70-year-old Cynthia Tilford returned part time to a clerical job at a university in Houston to stop draining her accounts.

TILFORD: The thought of retirement right now is really scary.

COHEN: Lower income seniors are facing more food insecurity. Meals on Wheels has struggled to keep up with high demand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not good.

COHEN: 73-year-old Bill (INAUDIBLE), a retired phone technician is skipping three meals a week to save on food.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wouldn't last the whole month if I didn't.

COHEN: He says Social Security pays him $1,400 a month and his rent in Sacramento just rose to 1,240.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could be on the street if it goes up too much higher.

COHEN (on camera): You're worried you could end up homeless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It keeps me awake sometimes.

COHEN (voice-over): Seniors are becoming homeless at a faster rate than any other age group, and skyrocketing rent costs could make it worse.

MARTHA HILL GRAY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CULPEPPER GARDEN: It's a bit of a crisis.

COHEN: At Culpepper Garden, a nonprofit affordable senior living community in Virginia, the waitlist is growing.

GRAY: It's doubled, almost tripled within the past eight months, I'd say.

COHEN (on camera): Have you ever seen this many seniors applying for affordable housing?

GRAY: We have not. We have not.

COHEN (voice-over): Hundreds of these communities nationwide are seeing the same surging demand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we think it's because of the inflation surges and rent surges.

COHEN: Seniors can expect a near record Social Security increase next year to combat this inflation. And for now, they can go to benefitscheckup.org to see what help is out there.

RAMSEY ALWIN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL COUNCIL ON AGING: We find that your average older adults often living $7,000 worth of assistance on the table.

COHEN: Assistance programs have kept Joyce Silla afloat this year. She fears one more price hike could break the back.

SILLA: So, it's kind of hard what to do what we have to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[12:15:01]

COHEN (on camera): Now, data show more retirees are heading back to work right now. Though experts say that's largely driven by this hot jobs market.

But the National Council on Aging tells me they are seeing more seniors out looking for work to get through what we all hope is just a temporary strain with this inflation.

Gabe Cohen, CNN, Washington.

WALKER: All right. Still ahead, the Uvalde school police chief is defending his actions during last month's massacre. And says he didn't keep officers from storming the building. What he told the Texas Tribune, next.

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WALKER: The Uvalde school police chief under fire over the slow response to last month's deadly mass shooting is finally speaking out. Chief Pete Arredondo spoke by phone and through written responses submitted by his attorney to the Texas Tribune.

Arredondo said he didn't consider himself the person in charge on the scene, and that he had no radio communications during the massacre when he ran into the school.

[12:20:08]

WALKER: That mass shooting at Robb Elementary left 19 children and two teachers dead. CNN's Camila Bernal is in Uvalde with more on the Chiefs comments. And even what he's saying is also creating controversy. What did he say? Walk us through it.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORESPONDENT: Well, look, not only did he say that he did not consider himself the incident commander. He said he assumed someone else had taken on that role. He also said that he assumed that he was a frontline responder, just like the other officers that were there.

He also told the tribune that he did not issue any orders that day, although the tribune is also reporting that he did tell officers to go to other classrooms and start breaking windows in order to evacuate the children and the teachers.

I want to read a direct quote from the Tribune interview where he said that "Not a single responding officer ever hesitated, even for a moment, to put themselves at risk to save the children."

This was an extensive interview with the Texas Tribune where we learned a lot of new details. And I want to read some of the bullet points of the new details that we learned from this interview among them in terms of the response.

We know that the gunman's bullets pierced the classroom door, injured the officers and hit the adjacent walls. They also focused on evacuating other children and teachers. They struggled to pinpoint the gunman's location. The safety precautions actually created more challenges, according to Arredondo. Things like the lock door, and the lights that were actually off at the time.

He says he never again, considered himself the incident commander here.

We also learn new details in terms of the radio and what he did and didn't have. He told The Tribune that he had two radios, but left them outside of the school upon his arrival.

He said he thought the radios would slow him down. He wanted his hands free, in case he needed to shoot. He said he was aware that some of the radios didn't work in some of the school buildings.

His attorney also said that the officers would have turned off the radios anyway. And so, as a result, Arredondo, was unaware of these 911 calls that were being made, children that were calling and begging to be saved. This, as they tried to open the door lock by lock. He told the Texas Tribune that as he was trying to use all these keys, he was praying for them to actually open a door.

He said, "Each time I tried a key, I was just praying." We reached out to Arredondo, and to his attorney. They told CNN that he is not conducting any more interviews, and in the meantime, people here are grieving, still coming to this memorial and trying to understand exactly what happened. Amara.

WALKER: So much material there. Camila Bernal, thank you so much.

Let's speak now with Anthony Barksdale. He is a CNN law enforcement analyst and the former acting police commissioner for Baltimore.

All right. So much to talk about, Anthony. I just want to start with those comments that Arredondo made to the Texas Tribune that he never considered himself the scene's incident commander. Saying, look, I wasn't in charge, and that he assumed another officer official had taken control of the larger response that he took on the role as a front line responder. And makes me wonder, well, did he do his job as a frontline responder, then?

What do you make of these comments? Does it make any sense to you?

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (on camera): It makes no sense to me. His excuses are sickening. It makes no sense. So, if he assumed that someone else was incident commander, and he wants to say that he went inside with the teams and he stacked up, then, why didn't he give the green light to do other things to get into that room and eliminate the active shooter? So, if he wants to, you know, well, somebody else should have done that. I assumed, but then you say your insight, well, either way, you did not do your job.

WALKER: So, according to, you know, our analysis and all the reporting that we've been seeing from Texas Tribune, The New York Times, he was there, in the hallway, outside the door for over an hour. And you heard him say, or at least we read what he said to the Texas Tribune, that he didn't take his radio, because he thought it would get in the way of his response, you know, and clearly, he wasn't aware of the 911 calls that were being made from inside the classroom several times by at least one child.

He said he was waiting, you know, for the keys to get into the classroom, which obviously have reinforced doors. I want to talk about that in a minute, but more on his defense of his response, I mean, what do you make of these explanations that, you know, he was, I mean, he was outside the classroom, in the hallway for a lengthy period of time.

[12:24:58]

BARKSDALE: He needs to own it. Own that he caused some of those victims their lives. Own it. Stop this dancing, because there is enough individuals -- law enforcement individuals who know that we've learned from Columbine, that we go, we don't stop, we keep going until the threat is eliminated.

And to say, oh, he's praying for a key to work. If that's your school, if that's your responsibility, you need to have the planning the preparation for if an active shooter occurs.

So, you're praying for key from a janitor? That's not a prepared police executive. He is incompetent.

(CROSSTALK)

WALKER: So, then, what should have happened? Anthony, what should have happened?

BARKSDALE: You keep going. You keep going. If you can't get in one way, you go another. Port the windows. If you need to move to try to do a dynamic entry, then you gassed the room, you throw flash bangs into the room, which will create sound and noise to throw off the active shooter and try to get a shot in.

You get aggressive. If they had tow trucks or anything there, knock down the wall. Can you get in -- and above from the ceiling, can you get a shot above the ceiling in the room?

You see? We're just sitting here talking this, but I'm thinking of ways to get in and get this guy. He was there in that hallway. And he has to think, go, go, go. How do we get him? How do we save these kids? How do we save these teachers? That's what you do.

WALKER: And I'm thinking about what the parents must be feeling, knowing these details, looking at you, you know, being so angry, and frustrated over this this response.

Let me ask you about these reinforced doors, Anthony, because it's sad that we live in a day and age where school classrooms have to have steel reinforcement around the frame of the door. And it looks like it worked against -- clearly it did right?

That these safety measures worked against the students and teachers who were trapped inside.

Do things need to change in that sense? Like how do you get around that?

BARKSDALE: Why not establish ways to have access? If there is a lockdown? That the chief think that, that -- that the school system think of that, if they have to lock down, how do we ensure that law enforcement can get in without a breaching tool? Without needing to use explosives without needing to pour a window.

So, they got a lot to look at here. But the excuses of why they didn't keep pushing to get in there and get him, that has to stop. I just want somebody just to own it. So, these parents, these families get some understanding of why their kids died that day. And the teachers their families too.

WALKER: Do you think lives could have been saved?

BARKSDALE: Absolutely. Absolutely, I believe that. And I really want -- I want to hear more details on did they hear shots fired while they were in the hallway?

I really, I want to hear more on that. Because there's no excuse then. And this trying to reach the suspect, trying to establish communication. No, I'm sorry. There is no talking at that point.

I don't want to talk to you. I got to get to those kids. I got to get to those teachers. I'm going to eliminate you. You've got to go. I've got to get them treatment. And there is just no. There is -- there is no justification for this.

WALKER: I just keep thinking about that young child who was calling 911 more than one time. It's heartbreaking. More than heartbreaking. I don't even know what to say about it.

But Anthony Barksdale, I appreciate you joining me. Thank you.

BARKSDALE: Thank you for having me.

WALKER: Coming up, senior government officials tell CNN the U.S. is prepared to move forward with a reset in relations with Saudi Arabia, effectively moving on from the murder of Jamal Khashoggi to repair ties with the key ally.

WALKER (voice-over): We're going to discuss with the former State Department and Middle East negotiator when we come back.

And you are looking at live pictures from Washington just one of the locations today where 1000s will march in support of gun safety laws. And more than 300 cities nationwide, March for Our Lives participants are demanding action on gun reform laws.

Speakers taking to the stage and what is the second rally, these young organizers have held since 2018. The first March for Our Lives follow the deadly shooting rampage at a Parkland, Florida High School.

We will bring you more from these rallies when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: The U.S. Marine Corps has identified the five Marines tragically killed on Wednesday when their aircraft crashed during a training mission in California. They are Corporal Nathan Carlson, Captain Nicholas Losapio, Corporal Seth Rasmuson, Captain John Sax, and Lance Corporal Evan Strickland.

Their commanding officer released this statement. It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of five Marines from the Purple Fox family. This is an extremely difficult time for us and it's hard to express the impact that this loss has had on our squadron and its families. Our primary mission now is taking care of the family members of our fallen Marines.

[12:35:05]

Well, a controversial new golf tour teed off this week taking shots at the status quo and geopolitics. The Saudi Arabia-backed LIV golf series billed as a rival to the PGA Tour, has poached some of America's best known players. The latest 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau. And at the same time, the White House is seeking what some senior U.S. officials are calling a full reset with the Kingdom after the 2018 murder of "Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Here to discuss is CNN global affairs analyst and senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Aaron David Miller. Aaron, always good to see you. You know, as you know very well, President Biden vowed during the 2020 campaign to make Saudi Arabia a pariah over Khashoggi's murder. I mean, what are your thoughts? I mean, is it a good luck for the U.S. to now want to reset relations with the country? Clearly, we know the goal is to bring down gas prices and further isolate Russia. But is this a good choice?

AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think the President, Amara, is agonizing over this decision. Political reporter didn't win, pushed when the mean, was pushed by several times he responded angrily. What does the President stand for, presidency stand for? But nonetheless, I think it's fair to say even though there's no official confirmation of the dates for a trip, probably sometime in July, the President is going to Saudi.

You know, John McCain argued that our values, our interests, and our interests, our values, he was very compelling. Largely, though, certainly the four or five administrations I worked for ethics, morality, human rights, promotion, democracy, never really figured as a high or certainly not the highest priority in American foreign policy.

So I think the President, and I think it's disappointing. The President is trying to make this trip as profitable as he possibly can, given the excruciatingly painful position that he's in right now, having basically called Saudi Arabia a pariah nation, and said its leadership had very little socially redeeming value. And by the way, that statement was confirmed both by former White House Press Spokeswoman Jen Psaki and also by Karine Jean-Pierre.

So the President presumably stands by his words. The real question, basically, now that he's agreed to go is what is he going to get in return? I think he is going to be disappointed by the results.

WALKER: Yes. So yes, that was going to be my next question. I mean, you have Biden potentially going there to meet MBS and convincing him or hoping to convince him to ramp up oil production. But I mean, the Saudis have been hesitant to do so, right?

MILLER: They have because largely, they're now an oil competitor with the the United States. And they're also obliged by an agreement with OPEC plus, which includes Russia. They don't want to anger Putin. Clearly, they're hedging both with respect to oil prices, and with respect to their support for Ukraine. Obviously, they're not going to join sanctions against Russia, or do anything with Russia's ally, China.

I think that the President isn't going to give very little satisfaction with reduction of gas prices. Saudis are not prepared, will not increase production, to the extent that it's going to make much of a difference anytime soon. The other things he hopes to gain, I think, is some improvement in the Israeli-Saudi relationship. I don't think, frankly, any of this is sufficient grounds to counter what is clearly a backtrack and backsliding on his position.

If you read the Saudi Human Rights report, it literally reads like a chapter out of Edgar Allan Poe. The Saudis are an important partner, Amara, of the United States, they're not an ally. Their interests coincide with ours at times --

WALKER: The valleys don't, right?

MILLER: -- do not coincide.

WALKER: Right. And you did write about this in a CNN.com opinion piece. And you said, quote, if the Saudis are serious about reconciliation, they should be willing to accommodate U.S. concerns, and it's by no means certain that they are. What concerns are you talking about?

MILLER: Well, there human rights concerns. And I think if the President going, I shouldn't say if, he needs to raise not only the issue of Jamal Khashoggi with the putative Saudi King, Mohammed bin Salman, he needs to talk about this publicly, in Saudi Arabia. We've got three dual Saudi American nationals, which were arrested and now detained and unable to leave the country. He needs to raise that. And he did so make it unmistakably clear that if Saudi Arabia wants a relationship with the United States, it has to be based on mutually reinforcing interests and real reciprocity. And frankly watching the U.S.-Saudi relationship during the previous administration, it was essentially a one way street. Mohammed bin Salman believes he basically has achieved an enormous result, is getting Joe Biden to come to Riyadh or Jeddah wherever they're going to meet, and figuratively speaking, sort of bend the knee.

[12:40:28]

But I think in the end, MBS knows that in 2024, Joe Biden may not be here. And right now he calculates, he'd much rather see Donald Trump as president and Joe Biden to some degree to MBS represents a kind of a speed bump. So I think it's a fraught, it's a very fraught visit.

WALKER: Yes. And it makes you wonder, you know, what the calculus is here, especially if there are no guarantees that there will be a ramping up of oil production on the Saudi side. And of course, it's also angering fellow Democrats. You know that President Biden would make this stunning reversal and that's what it is. Aaron David Miller, I appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much.

MILLER: Amara, thank you.

WALKER: And a quick programming note, a brand new CNN special report join Drew Griffin as he talks with people who know Alex Jones Megaphone for Conspiracy begins tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

All right, coming up, over 16 million people are under heat alerts as a dangerous heat wave continues in the southwest. We're going to have the latest forecast next.

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[12:46:10]

WALKER: Summer is still 10 days away. But scorching temperatures are already here. For much of the U.S., more than 60 million people face a dangerous heat wave today, as of mercury hits triple digits in cities from California to Louisiana, many across the country we will see temperatures about 10 to 20 degrees higher than normal for this time of year. Let's get to meteorologist Allison Chinchar with more. Hi, Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. It's very hot. And again, yes, some of these places like the desert in southwest, you think of it as being hot. But even for them, these temperatures are extreme. Take for example, Death Valley topping out at 123 yesterday breaking a daily record and beating that old record by three degrees.

But Phoenix, Las Vegas, Austin, even San Antonio, Texas, also breaking daily record highs yesterday, all in the triple digits, so it's no surprise that you have heat advisories, excessive heat watches and warnings that stretched from California all the way to Louisiana. But you're going to start to see those watches and warnings spread east because that's where the heat is going to move over the couple of days.

So the good news for California is you're going to start to see the temperatures coming back down. Northern California, including Sacramento today is really the last of the extremely hot days. But for Bakersfield, Palm Springs, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, it's going to take another two or three days before you really start to see those temperatures coming back down.

Another key thing is the overnight low temperatures are extremely warm. You have some of these areas where the low isn't going to get any cooler than 80 degrees. And that's a problem. If your body can't cool down below that, it doesn't allow you to safely protect your body later in the day when the temperatures get even warmer. And in many cases, you're talking triple digits. For a place like Houston, Amara, they could be breaking five days in a row of record temperatures.

WALKER: Ouch. All right, so summer is here. I don't care what the calendar says. Allison Chinchar, thank you.

[12:48:05]

Still ahead, the average price of gas in California is over $6 a gallon, according to AAA. But a gas station glitch in Rancho Cordova sold its customers gas for a crazy low price, really low. That story is ahead.

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WALKER: With a nation's average for a gallon of gas at $5, it seemed like a gift from the gas gods. One lucky driver in Rancho Cordova, California couldn't believe his eyes. I wouldn't either when he saw 69 cents per gallon. It's like there's a number missing in the front. This was at his local Shell station. KOVR Steve Large has the details.

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STEVE LARGE, KDVR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (voice-over): Sixty-nine cents a gallon, a gas station glitch giving Darryl Surita, a sweet deal.

DARRYL SURITA, LUCKY DRIVER: We plan today. Shout out the homie right here.

LARGE (voice-over): He posted the incredible error to his Instagram page.

SURITA: Yes, I looked at the numbers and I seen it was 69 cents a gallon, so you know what I did? I hit that button and it started pumping and the dollar sign just stayed low.

LARGE (voice-over): Word got out fast, families, friends, all getting phone calls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was crazy. It turned into like a circus within a matter of minutes. SURITA: I started looking around and everybody had a smile, like everybody had a big smile and they kind of were like not looking at you in your eyes.

LARGE (voice-over): Somehow the decimal point in the advertised price was mistakenly moved $6.99 a gallon for premium became 69 cents a gallon.

SURITA: I've never seen gas this price in my lifetime. Could you imagine that? Like this is history right here.

LARGE (voice-over): The mistake took management at the station three hours to fix, they would not comment.

(on camera): What was your final total for a full tank?

SURITA: $14.

LARGE (voice-over): In a summer of soaring gas prices, people are still trying to make sense of this gas station was selling it for just cents.

(on camera): So what are you going to do with the money you save?

SURITA: Buy more gas tomorrow once it ran out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Yes, save up for more gas.

Well, a Texas rabbi is doing everything she can to help solve an invisible problem affecting countless children. Meet Amy Weiss, a CNN hero making it her mission to make sure every kid has a basic piece of clothing we all need, the manly many families can't afford.

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[12:55:06]

RABBI AMY WEISS, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNDIES FOR EVERYONE: Underwear is just an overlooked item and it's super expensive. So the parents who are struggling financially tend to think, you can't see the underwear, so it'll be OK. There is a crisis for this very essential need that really makes a big difference in their social and academic world.

Kids who need underwear, don't want used underwear, right? That's gross, isn't it?

We only give away new underwear. Kids, they want what all of us wants, security and dignity. We want to increase these kids self-esteem and confidence. That's really what it is all about. Helping fill that gap when no one else is doing it and to keep them in school. When they've got underwear, it's just easier to be a kid.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WALKER: Well, more than a million pairs of underwear suddenly showed up on Amy's doorstep, thanks to a rallying cry from a famous friend. Read the full story at CNNHeroes.com and nominate someone you think should be a CNN hero. We have much more just ahead in the newsroom after a quick break.

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