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"March For Our Lives" Rallies Held Across Hundreds Of U.S. Cities; Biden Visits New Mexico Amid Historic Wildfire Season; Americans Facing Highest Inflation In More Than 40 Years; State House Committee Investigating Uvalde To Meet Next Week; Biden Administration Seeks Diplomatic Reset With Saudi Arabia; House Committee Lays Out Case Against Trump In First Public Hearing. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired June 11, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN BIEBER, MUSIC ARTIST: Nostril will not move. So there's full paralysis in this side of my face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Bieber explained that his symptoms have been caused by Ramsay Hunt Syndrome and according to the Mayo Clinic that occurs when a shingles outbreak affects the facial nerve near one of your ears. In addition to a painful rash, Ramsay Hunt Syndrome can caused facial paralysis and hearing loss in the affected ear. Bieber says he's taking a break from performing until he recovers. We wish him the best.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Primetime politics. The Capitol riot committee preparing to present more evidence in its case against the former president.

Also ahead for you tonight, the March for Our Lives Movement calling for immediate action on gun violence with protests all over the country.

And as the summer travel season heats up, the average price of a gallon of gas hits $5 for the first time ever.

I'm Pamela Brown. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Hello, everyone. Great to have you along with us on this Saturday night.

Well, more than 20 million Americans tuned in Thursday night as the House select committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attacks opened its hearings in primetime. The narrative, that former president Donald Trump was at the center of a wide-ranging conspiracy to stay in office. The members used dramatic footage and chilling testimony to make their points. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards recalled slipping on the blood

of her fellow officers during the assault. Documentarian and filmmaker Nick Quested following the Proud Boys said he watched the crowd transform from protesters to rioters to insurrectionists.

But Thursday's hearing was just for starters. CNN senior crime and justice reporter Katelyn Polantz has more.

So, Katelyn, tell us what the committee has in store for the coming week.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Pam. Well, every day in the next couple of weeks we're going to have the committee drilling down into different aspects of what they've found about Donald Trump trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. So Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney was speaking about a sophisticated seven-part plan of Trump's on Thursday and we do believe that the hearings will track those seven aspects that they found.

So Monday, Wednesday, Thursday are going to be the hearings next week. And we understand that they will each have a different focus. So the first -- one of the focus that the committee has already laid out is that there will be extremists who had planned to invade the Capitol that they've learned quite a bit about them. And we understand that that focus on the Proud Boys, on the video of violence, that was already shown a little bit on Thursday night. It will come back in the future hearings.

We also understand that Monday, Trump and his advisers knew he lost the election. That will be the focus of Monday. The disinformation campaign. On Wednesday, that's whenever the committee will turn to look at what was happening inside the administration itself as everything was going down before and on January 6th. On Wednesday, Trump was seeking to have the Justice Department push false election claims.

That's something that will be highlighted Wednesday with some top officials from the Justice Department saying that they were planning to quit when Trump had tried to replace the acting attorney general. On Thursday, that's when we look at the Office of the Vice President Mike Pence. So that's when Trump would have been pressuring Pence not to count certain electoral votes and that the people in Pence's office would have something to say to push back against the White House.

And then, so that's how next will roll out. And then after that, there's different aspects that the committee will be digging into things like alternate electors, things like state legislators, all different parts of this pressure campaign. And finally, they have promised to take us minute by minute giving us a perspective, Pam, into what was happening around Donald Trump and what he was doing as he was aware of Capitol violence as it was unfolding.

BROWN: All right. And we will wait the see what evidence they show to back up some of the claims they have made so far.

Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much. Joining me now is Olivia Troye. She was an adviser to Vice President

Mike Pence.

Welcome to the show, Olivia. So as you watched Thursday night, the first hearing, the primetime hearing, what stood out to you most?

OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER ADVISER TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: I would say, look, I can never get used to the narrative and the information that surfaces when it comes to my former boss, Mike Pence. And I think what was so upsetting to me is just hearing the reality that while his life was in danger and while the lives of many others were in danger including law enforcement, the president of the United States sat and did nothing.

And that there was no action taken to save lives on behalf of, you know, what was happening on behalf of the president. He did nothing. And I still can't get over that, to be honest with you. He's the commander-in-chief and, you know, thank goodness that Vice President Pence stood up and started calling and did everything he could even when his own life was being threatened that day.

[19:05:10]

BROWN: Yes. And let's go to one of the most memorable moments about Mike Pence from Thursday's hearing. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): And aware of the rioters' chants to hang Mike Pence, the president responded with this sentiment, quote, "Maybe our supporters have the right idea." Mike Pence, quote, "deserves it."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Do you think your former boss, Mike Pence, was surprised to learn Trump thought he deserved to be hanged? I mean, it's one thing not to act and it's another to also shared that sentiment that he deserved it.

TROYE: Well, I think that he's been extremely loyal to Trump and he certainly worked very closely with him throughout the entire administration. I don't think that anyone who has worked in Trump administration, in the inner circle and seen what Donald Trump is capable of firsthand would be shocked to learn this, to be honest with you because he is -- we are very familiar with his narcissistic behavior and how dangerous and reckless he can be when he's crossed and when you step out of line and you don't do his bidding.

And so that day, I'm sure, Mike Pence, you know, hearing this now is not surprised to learn that the president was sitting there basically rooting them on because he knew that he was going to uphold his oath to the Constitution and he was not going to do what he was being pressured to do.

BROWN: We also heard from Mike Pence's former chief of staff, Marc Short. Here's what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: And so I think the vice president was proud of his four years of service, and he felt like much had been accomplished in those four years. And I think he was proud to have stood beside the president for all that had been done. But I think he ultimately knew that his fidelity to the Constitution was his first and foremost oath. And that's what he articulated publicly and I think that that's what he felt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: I'm wondering, you know, as you hear Marc talk about how he was proud to have stood by president for those four years and you said that your boss was so -- former boss, I should say, was loyal to Trump, given all that we know why was that as you reflect back on that?

TROYE: Well, you know, I think Mike Pence is, you know, a traditional conservative in many ways and I think he is proud of some of the Republican policies that were put in place during the Trump administration. So I think he is speaking to that aspect of it. I also think that, you know, there were many times when I was grateful that Mike Pence was in the room and navigating very challenging situations where he did push back on the president.

And I think that our country was better off for it, to be honest with you. It could have been a lot worse. And so, I mean, to hear Marc Short say that, it didn't surprise me. You know, this is someone who's been serving in the Republican administration who is looking forward to the future and saying yes, Mike Pence is still proud of the policies they enacted. But when it came down to it, when he was basically told to betray our country, he stood up and did the right thing.

BROWN: And you say that behind closed doors, behind the scenes, you did see Mike Pence push back on Donald Trump. What do you think about the fact that Pence waited until he really came out more forcefully against Trump, and as you well know some argue he should be coming out more forcefully against Donald Trump given what transpired on January 6th and all that we're learning. Why do you think he's not doing more publicly to that effect?

TROYE: Look, I've certainly had my differences with my former boss. I have been one of those people that have called on him to publicly push back on Trump. I have wished that on January 7th, that he would have taken the Republican Party in a completely different direction or at least come forward and have backed Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and other Republicans who stood strong, who have now been threatened and basically pushed out of the party.

But I think, you know, he I think is looking at the future. And right now, you know, he's got a lot of people who think he's a traitor in the Republican base which is basically Trumpism. Trump has still -- he's still the head of the party. And I think Trumpism is where the party is. And so he's walking a fine line of how do I appeal to traditional conservatives and Republicans and try to maintain for possibly a political future in 2024 while balancing this narrative that's happening here with Donald Trump.

And so I don't know, you know, it's frustrating to watch, to be honest with you, because so many other Republicans have done exactly the same thing. And they all know the truth. They know the reality of what really happened.

BROWN: Do you think that their lacking moral courage?

[19:10:02]

TROYE: Possibly. You know, I -- yes, I do, because, you know, I think it's time to do what's right and best for the country. And right now, honesty, being honest about the situation and moving past this moment and pulling away from this extremism that's taken over the Republican Party would be best for all of us.

And, you know, I just keep waiting. I keep waiting for more to take a stand on what's happening here. Those that do take a stand get threatened, their lives get threatened, their families get threatened, and they get pushed out of the party. And we've seen that --

BROWN: OK. Sorry, we're having issues there with Olivia's audio. But thank you so much to Olivia Troye speaking to us here.

And stay with us for special live coverage of the January 6th Committee public hearings. It starts Monday morning at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Well, in more than 400 cities across the U.S. today, thousands of people attended rallies to demand lawmakers confront the explosion of gun violence and mass shootings. The movement's name underscores its urgency, March for Our Lives. The largest gathering was in Washington where significant gun reform has stalled for years in the Senate. And right now negotiators working on a bipartisan package are voicing optimism for a compromise.

The public pressure is growing after the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, and the racist slaughter inside a Buffalo grocery store. The son of the oldest victim in Buffalo spoke to demonstrators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARNELL WHITFIELD, MOTHER WAS VICTIM OF BUFFALO MASS SHOOTING: We are here to stand with those who are bold enough to demand sensible gun legislation that will help to reduce the gun violence in our communities, that will stop the slaughter of our most precious commodity, people, human beings, sisters, brothers, fathers, grandparents, friends, and in my case, my 86-year-old mother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: March for Our Lives came after the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. A student survivor who co-founded the movement spoke today in Washington. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID HOGG, PARKLAND SURVIVOR AND "MARCH FOR OUR LIVES" CO-FOUNDER: Here's the reality. If our government can't do anything to stop 19 kids from being killed and slaughtered in their own school and decapitated, it's time to change who is in government.

As we gather here today the next shooter is already plotting his attack while the federal government pretends it can do nothing to stop it. Since the shooting in Texas, the Senate has done only one thing. They have gone on recess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Also taking part today, former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. A deadly mass shooting in 2011 changed her life forever. Her tweet, quote. "I am still marching for the six people taken the day I was shot in Tucson, for the 19 children lost in Uvalde, for over 45,000 lives killed in a single year because of gun violence. Thousands of us are still marching and we will not stop until gun violence ends."

Well, President Biden is in New Mexico right now getting briefed on the wildfires plaguing that state. CNN's Arlette Saenz is traveling with the president. She joins us live. What is he saying, Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, President Biden has just wrapped up a series of briefings on the historic wildfires that are blazing across the state of New Mexico and he is also talking about the impact of climate change, particularly as climate change exacerbates some natural disasters like wildfires and hurricanes. And speaking just a short while ago, he talked about the lives that could possibly be lost to this and also the sacrifices made by first responders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We got to get smart. And you all understand that better than anybody because you sit here every day when there's a crisis. And you wonder, what little kids dying. What little kid is dying in one of those fires you can't get to? What's happening? I had to do the -- so damn many funerals for firefighters. The Hot Shots, when they got trapped in that canyon. I went out there. And what I saw was not them, I saw their families, their kids, their wives, their husbands, their mothers, their fathers.

And so it's all over. You guys get it because you're the ones sending out people to risk their lives and some of you were the ones out risking your lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: So in addition for calling for more work to be done when it comes to the issue of climate change, the president also pushing for more funding and resources provided to firefighters. Now here in New Mexico they are seeing some of the largest fires ever

recorded in the state's history. There is one fire, the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire that has burned more than 318,000 acres. President Biden said that the federal government will be covering the cost 100 percent of the response to that fire. He also acknowledged the role that the U.S. Forest Service played in this fire as a prescribed fire is what started the Hermits Peak fire.

[19:15:07]

So the president insisting that the federal government will be here all along the way as New Mexico continues to recover. As about 1200 people lost their homes, thousands had to evacuate, fearing for what these fires would mean for their futures -- Pamela.

BROWN: Yes. Very sad for them. Arlette Saenz, thank you so much.

And up next on this Saturday, unchecked inflation as $5 gas becomes the norm in America. I'll ask an economist how much longer the sticker shock will last.

Also ahead for you tonight, the police chief of Uvalde schools finally speaking out. He's saying who was really in charge when children and teachers were murdered in class.

And two new victims of the supply chain squeeze. Tampons and now Siracha sauce.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The average price of gas nationally today hit $5 a gallon for the first time.

[19:20:04]

What's your message to the American people especially as we head into the summer months who are struggling with this?

BIDEN: This is outrageous what the war in Ukraine cost and we're trying very hard to make sure that we can significantly increase the number of barrels of oil that are being pumped out of the reserve we have. Got 240,000 barrels as well coming from other nations. We're going to keep pushing on it. We're going keep pushing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Well, for American consumers it's feeling a lot like 1981 again. And that is not such a good thing on this issue. Record gas prices are behind the steepest inflation increase in more than 40 years. President Biden is also, as you heard, blaming Vladmir Putin's war on Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Putin's price hike is hitting America hard. Gas prices at the pump, energy and food prices account for half of the monthly price increases since May. Inflation outside of energy and food what the economists call core inflation moderated the last two months. Not enough but it moderated. It's come down. And we need it to come down much more quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And that's how painful it is right now at the pump. Gas is averaging $5 per gallon nationwide for the first time. That's $2 more than a year ago.

Let's bring in Dana Peterson, chief -- economist, rather, and Center Leader of Economy, Strategy and Finance at the Conference Board.

So, Dana, do you think gas prices have peaked or do you worry they're going to go even higher?

DANA M. PETERSON, EXECUTIVE VP AND CHIEF ECONOMIST, THE CONFERENCE BOARD: Certainly, clear the peak potentially they can continue to rise. Certainly, there are a number of factors driving up gasoline prices. Of course, there's a war in Ukraine that's causing global energy prices to be higher and that's speeding back to the U.S. But we also have the summer driving season coming along where many people are still going to be demanding gasoline. And certain if there's high demand then that's going to affect the price.

BROWN: So just to do a quick fact check here, just focusing on the facts, the president is saying this is all about Putin's war in Ukraine. How much really is that factored into these high gas prices? Because also, that war is likely to go on for some time. I mean, just, if you could put it into context for us.

PETERSON: Sure. Certainly, the war is affecting gasoline prices because, again, you don't have the supply coming out of Russia and plus you have the shocks to the system. But you also have issues of supply in terms of OPEC is not shipping as much, producing and shipping as much as it used to and a lot of that is because they are trying to keep prices in balance and they're looking at supply and demand.

And certainly, when you look at the U.S. there are a number of factors that are affecting oil production and even refining. Many of the refineries are old and investors don't want to put more money into these old rigs, and certainly when you think about production, many businesses are still facing supply shortages in labor and also equipment. So all of these factors are affecting gasoline prices here in the U.S.

BROWN: So it's a myriad of factors. I want you to help us make sense of what we have heard from President Biden on at least a couple of occasions. He has called out these oil companies saying they have thousands of drilling permits that they are not using. Take listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: They have 9,000 permits to drill now. They could be drilling right now, yesterday, last week, last year. They have 9,000 to drill on shore. That are already approved. So let me be clear. Let me be clear. They are not using them for production now. That's their decision. These are the facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So the president said yesterday that oil companies are not drilling to keep prices high. Is that true? Why are they not using these permits?

PETERSON: Well, a lot of it has to do with financing and you need investors to provide money in order to invest. Certainly, when you go back to 2008, many investors were burned for lack of a better term by the fact that oil prices rose very quickly but then they also came down. They're afraid of that. And then again, there is the fact that there's a big focus on renewable energies, and why would they want to invest tons of money into fossil fuels when the focus is going to be towards renewables over time.

BROWN: All right. Dana Peterson, thank you so much for helping us better understand this important issue that is affecting so many of us here in America and really all over the world. Appreciate it.

Well, this week, we finally heard more from the police chief of the Uvalde, Texas, school district. And coming up tonight, what Chief Peter Arredondo says about that deadly massacre, including did he know he was even in charge while it was happening. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:29:25]

BROWN: New tonight, the federal civil case alleging that Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo raped a woman in Las Vegas 13 years ago is now dismissed. Judge Jennifer Dorsey says that an attorney for the accuser engaged in misconduct so severe that it would be impossible for Ronaldo to have a fair trial. The judge said the woman's lawyer used stolen and privileged documents, and thin (PH) throughout the case.

And now to the horrific mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The statehouse committee investigating the deadly events of that day will meet next week. It won't be public but the committee will hear from witnesses behind closed doors.

CNN's Camila Bernal joins me now from Uvalde.

[19:30:00]

Camila, the Uvalde School Police Chief told "The Texas Tribune" that he left to police radios outside the school. What more do we know about that? CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, it is incredible because a lot of people, Pam, had a lot of questions in terms of the communication whether or not Pete Arredondo knew that there were children that were calling 9-1-1, asking for help, saying they were terrified, saying, there were bodies that they saw their teacher be shot.

And so the question was, did he have these radios, and in this "Texas Tribune" interview, an extensive interview that he did over the phone with them, and with his attorney, he specifically said that no, he didn't have those radios.

I want to go over some of the bullet points that we learned in terms of the radio communication. Arredondo telling "The Texas Tribune" that he left two of the radios outside the school upon arrival. He also said he thought the radios would slow him down.

He said he wanted his hands free in case he needed them to shoot. He said he was aware that the radios didn't work in some of the schools and said, according to his attorney, or the attorney actually said that he believed that those radios would have been turned off anyway.

He also said that, of course, as a result of all of this, he was unaware of these 9-1-1 calls, this, as children begged for help, he was waiting for those keys. And while he waited and then received those keys, he told "The Texas Tribune" that each time that he tried a key, he was just praying.

And I can tell you that people here in Uvalde have been praying all day and really, since this shooting happened, they come here to show their support to pray together.

This is a Memorial that has essentially been the place where people gather to show their support for those families, for those victims, for those survivors, and many of them just want answers.

They want to understand what happened at Robb Elementary and why the police response was the way it was.

So ideally, they're hoping to get a lot of those answers from this Committee hearing at the Texas Legislature that is happening also this coming week. They're having two more meetings that will be closed door meetings. We do not know who they're going to hear from, but we do know that this past week, they heard from top officials at the Texas Department of Public Safety.

It is important to point out that we reached out to Arredondo, to his attorney, they say they're not giving out any more interviews. We've also reached out to DPS and to the school, but of course, we are waiting to hear more details on all of this and hopefully that investigation gets us more answers -- Pam.

BROWN: Definitely, hopefully. Camila Bernal, thank you.

And don't miss a brand new CNN Special Report tomorrow night. Join CNN's Drew Griffin as he tells the story of far-right conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, through interviews with people who knew him, worked for him, and believed him. "Alex Jones: Megaphone for Conspiracy" airs tomorrow night at eight Eastern right here on CNN.

And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Right now, the family of a British national accused of being a mercenary and Ukraine says they are devastated by the death sentence handed down by a pro-Russian court.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Have you decided, sir, whether to go to Saudi Arabia?

BIDEN: No, not yet. This happens to be a larger meeting taking place in Saudi Arabia. That's the reason I'm going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So will he or won't he? We dissect President Biden's mixed answer on traveling to Saudi Arabia and the flip flop he's had on the regime accused of violating human rights.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:16]

BROWN: Well, senior officials tell CNN the U.S. is prepared to reset the relationship with the Saudis. This is a 180-degree turn for President Biden.

When he came into office, he promised to make Saudi Arabia a pariah for the 2018 murder of "Washington Post" journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. But today, Biden has said that he hasn't decided if he's going to go to the Kingdom to repair relations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Have you decided, sir, whether to go to Saudi Arabia?

BIDEN: No, not yet.

REPORTER: What would be holding up the decision at this point? Are there commitments you're waiting for from the Saudis or on the negotiations over key --

BIDEN: No, no. The commitments from the Saudi's don't relate anything having to do with energy. It happens to be a larger media taking place in Saudi Arabia. That's the reason I'm going and it has to do with national security for them, for Israelis.

I have a program -- anyway, it has to do with much larger issues than having to do with the energy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Alex Marquardt lays it all out for us. ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Pam, President Joe Biden vowing to make Saudi Arabia a pariah when he was on the campaign trail really did set the tone of this relationship when President Biden took office and until now it really hasn't gotten any better.

Just a few months after Biden became President, his head of intelligence issued a declassified report saying that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who runs the country day-to-day, Mohammed bin Salman or MBS, as he is known, that he approved of the murder of "Washington Post" journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. The Biden administration said they wanted to recalibrate the relationship at the time.

MBS and Biden don't speak because Biden has insisted on dealing with his direct counterpart who is King Salman, but now the White House wants to reset this relationship and get it back to a much more conventional place.

[19:40:06]

MARQUARDT: For the past few months, senior Biden officials have been traveling to Saudi Arabia working towards this reset. One senior U.S. official told our colleague, Natasha Bertrand, that the relationship needs to move past the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, that it can't be held hostage by his murder, and that's really because the realities of what's going on in the world have said and perhaps nothing more so than Russia's war in Ukraine and the impact that that has had on the global economy.

Gas prices and inflation have, of course skyrocketed. The U.S. needs Saudi help in the oil markets and having Saudi Arabia produce more oil. So much of this is about economic factors and one U.S. official told me that the White House's fear and anxiety is making them throw principle out of the door.

Now this of course, is a major disappointment for so many who wanted a tougher American stance towards Saudi Arabia, particularly on human rights issues. I actually reached out to Jamal Khashoggi's fiancee, as we've been reporting that President Biden will likely visit Saudi Arabia next month and meet with the Crown Prince.

Now, she told me that this decision is horribly upsetting to her, as well as to supporters of freedom and justice all around the world -- Pam.

BROWN: All right, thanks so much, Alex Marquardt.

A pro-Russian court in Donetsk sentenced two British nationals and a Moroccan to death, and the family of one Britain called the trial illegal and says the men should be given the rights of Prisoners of War according to the Geneva Convention.

Meantime, Ukraine's President says about 32,000 Russian troops have been killed in the war, although CNN cannot independently verify those numbers.

CNN's Matthew Chance reports from Kyiv.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, Ukrainian officials are hitting back at President Biden's recent comments that the leader of the now war-torn country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy didn't believe him when he warned earlier this year that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine.

Biden told Democratic donors on Friday that a lot of people thought he was exaggerating about Russia's plans, but "I knew we had data to sustain it," Biden said.

He was going to go into the border and Zelenskyy didn't want to hear it know nor did a lot of people, Biden added before Russia launched the war.

U.S. and the Ukrainian officials repeatedly disagreed about the risks of an invasion, but Ukrainian officials are now pushing back on Biden's comments. A spokesman for President Zelenskyy saying the Ukrainian leader had actually asked for preventative sanctions against Russia before the war, but that the Allies did not want to hear them.

Another senior Ukrainian official said that Biden's words were quote, "Not entirely true." He said that Ukraine was well aware that Russia had been developing what he called various expansion scenarios, but that the scale of the invasion shocked many countries.

Well, that shock continues nearly four months on with fighting now focused in Eastern Ukraine, and with President Zelenskyy again, warning of a global food crisis because of the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports, stopping the country from exporting its agricultural products.

The Black Sea, which Ukraine uses to ship most of its foodstuffs out of the country, has become the most dangerous waterway in the world, Zelenskyy said, urging world leaders to do whatever is needed to break the ability of Russia to block seas and destroy the freedom of navigation. Failure to do so, Zelenskyy added would result in a severe food crisis and famine in many Asian and African countries.

Pam, back to you.

BROWN: Matthew Chance. Thank you.

Well, we know how many people tuned into the primetime hearing on the January 6th insurrection, but do those numbers really tell us anything? And two different FOX channels give their viewers two different takes on that deadly day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For those who say this was a peaceful protest and some of these videos put that to a lie that the notion this was a false flag operations just frankly propaganda.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST, "HANNITY": Wow. They over promised, they under delivered. LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST, THE INGRAHAM ANGLE: Violence, yes; criminality, yes, you bet. But a coup? An insurrection?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:5]

BROWN: Well, it may not have reflected the must-see TV that the January 6 Committee was hoping for, but more than 20 million Americans tuned into the panel's primetime hearing on Thursday.

Detail by detail, the Committee presented its case that then President Trump not only sat by and watched the violent attack on the Capitol, he lit the fuse.

But the biggest question in this divided nation, will the horrifying images and emerging evidence change any minds? Trump's former Attorney General thinks that answer may be clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think the net effect of it will be political, and I think it could hurt the President a little bit on the margin. But I think people have generally picked what team do they run as regards President Trump and this may not really have that much of an effect overall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN senior media reporter, Oliver Darcy joins me now.

Hi, Oliver.

So this is the first of seven scheduled hearings. To your trained eyes, was Thursday's production an effective scene setter?

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes, Pam, obviously there was a lot of important information that was relayed during the hearing. You know, we saw that haunting video play showing the Capitol officers defend the Capitol and ultimately being overrun.

[19:50:08]

DARCY: We saw a lot of new facts illuminated by the committee, but I'm not really sure you know -- I was watching the style of presentation and I'm not really sure that it was the most effective way to present the information.

You know, in 2022, you are competing like it or not, with the likes of Netflix, Americans have TikTok at their fingertips and watching this hearing, I was wondering if there might have been a little better way to make it a little more compelling for a mass audience.

You know, the Committee knows that they need to be compelling. They brought in the former President of ABC News, James Goldston, to produce this as if it were a miniseries or a must-watch documentary.

But watching this, it felt like a followed a fairly standard, you know, Capitol Hill format with 40 minutes of opening statements and I'm not really sure if you were looking for that, you know, must watch miniseries whether this was the best first episode, so to speak.

BROWN: All right, well, we'll have to see what the other so to speak episodes have to offer.

So FOX News broke with the other major networks. They didn't take the network live. In fact, it apparently was so intent on not letting any of its viewers drift over, then it went two and a half hours without a commercial break.

Here is what one Committee member said this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): Isn't it ironic that the FOX News commentators are constantly talking about so-called cancel culture and what they're trying to do is make sure that the American people don't actually see the Committee's work, cancel culture on steroids.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: They tried to cancel you.

LOFGREN: That's right. But we broke through, I think, to multiple millions of Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So what do you think, Oliver? Was this more about FOX not informing its viewers? Misinforming them? And we should note, it was a different story on FOX Business, right?

DARCY: Yes, well, not many people watch FOX Business, so we should be clear about that, about little over 200,000 people ended up watching the hearings on that channel.

But you're right, with some stories, FOX chooses just to ignore it. They just don't even let the viewers see it. I think with this story, they know that it has saturated the American public conversation to the point where they do have to address it in some way.

And so what you saw here is you saw them misinforming their audience. You know, while we were watching those graphic images of Capitol Hill officers being overrun in hand-to-hand combat on January 6th, Tucker Carlson's audience was seeing images of a sterile hearing room, you know, they didn't even show the images being played.

And I think that shows the extent to which FOX is in -- you know, they will do anything they can to hide this evidence from their audience and while of course, we were watching it, Tucker Carlson was saying that there really was no insurrection on that day and doing his best to downplay it and that happened throughout the two and a half hours FOX did not even take a commercial break, allowing viewers maybe to just in between commercials hop over to another channel. They were intent on making sure that their audience was misled on that day.

BROWN: I can't say it's surprising given the take, the stance that Tucker Carlson has had since January 6th.

Oliver Darcy, thank you very much.

And heads up, for tomorrow night's episode of "Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal" which digs into the bombshell revelation of former President Richard Nixon's White House recording system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's around this time that Richard Nixon very quickly caved and honored the outstanding subpoena to supply the tapes that have been requested, some nine conversations.

The reason he had to turn over those tapes is the public outcry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think he should give up the tapes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give up and get out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Definitely, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he should give up the tapes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So the Task Force received the tapes, put them up on a reel to reel recorder and we chose the March 21 cancer on the presidency tape as the first one we were to listen to.

JOHN DEAN, ATTORNEY: I think that there's no doubt about the seriousness of the problem we've got. We have a cancer, close to the Presidency that's growing, it's growing daily. It's compounding, it grows geometrically now.

One: We're being blackmailed. Two: People are going to start perjuring themselves very quickly, that have not had to perjure themselves to protect other people and the like and there's no assurance.

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That it. Won't bust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:59:42]

BROWN: Well, first, it was baby formula. Now, women face a shortage of tampons. It's been blamed on a supply squeeze for essential materials like cotton and plastic.

If you're lucky enough to find them, be prepared to pay a little bit extra. Prices are up nearly 10 percent compared to one year ago. Well, hot chili sauce fans are in trouble, too. The makers of siracha say they expect a major shortage of the popular condiment, it is because of issues like bad chili pepper crops from the spring harvest. New supplies of siracha may not be available until the fall.

Your next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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