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Intense Heat Wave Hitting the U.S. and Parts of Europe; The January 6 Committee Focuses on Trump's Pressure on State Officials; Setback on Talks on Gun Laws in the Senate; Prime Minister Boris Johnson and NATO Warns of Long Ukraine War; Fears of Recession Mounting in the U.S. Markets; Juneteenth Commemorated All Across the United States. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 19, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: This weekend raking in close to $59 million in its second week. And Pixar's Lightyear creating a smaller than expected buzz since opening Friday. Disney is reporting about $51 million in North American ticket sales, less than the industry predicted for the animated adventure. And the next hour of "CNN Newsroom" starts right now.

I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. Happy Father's Day and Happy Juneteenth. Here are the top stories that we are tracking today. The early summer swelter in parts of the country, triple digit temperatures across the Midwest with more heat on the way.

Plus, as gun violence grows in cities nationwide, talks in the Senate to curb it hit a snag. Will Congress do anything to slow the epidemic?

And American military aid to Ukraine now on display for everyone including Vladimir Putin to see. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

Well, extreme heat roasting most of the United States this weekend, and get ready because next week you're going to see the heat really crank up. Right now, more than 15 million Americans are under heat alerts stretching from the Dakotas to the Gulf Coast. A heat dome as weather experts calls it, is blanketing much of the country.

We are talking triple digit high temperatures in some places and all of this, of course, coming on the heels of a record-breaking heat wave just last week. And it is not just hot, it is dangerous. Heat in fact is the number one cause of weather-related deaths in the United States. And with that I want to go to meteorologist Gene Norman in the CNN Weather Center. Alright, what do folks need to know, Gene, so that they can prepare and can stay safe?

GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Pamela, what they really need to do is take these heat alerts seriously. Don't just think, oh, it's just hot. Remember, the combination of temperature and humidity is what can really add problems for people with respiratory illnesses or pretty much anybody else. And that's the reason why the weather service has issued these heat advisories that you see in orange. And then up around North Dakota and Minnesota, an excessive heat warning because the combination of the temperature and humidity there is already boosting temperatures over 104 when you factor in that temperature and humidity combination, the heat index. It feels like it's 108 in Aberdeen, feels like it's 100 right now in Minneapolis, 101 in Bismarck. Bismarck could be closing in on some records for today.

Further down along the Gulf Coast, that's the kind of regular heat and humidity that you might be used to. Houston feeling like 102. Notice a little bit of rain moving into Lake Charles. That's why they've cooled off a bit. But otherwise, a lot of the gulf coast is sweltering. Now that heat dome responsible for the high temperatures is going to expand. So, if you're not hot now, you will be as the week progresses.

Watch the dome spread and move from north to south to east to west. Going to be hard for any part of the country to escape this kind of heat. In fact, over 100 records could be set between now and Sunday and all of the black dots that you see here.

In fact, some places could set multiple day records. 100 degrees for tomorrow in Minneapolis, 101 Chicago, 100 degrees in Memphis by Wednesday and Atlanta. And believe it or not, Pamela, we haven't seen 100 in Atlanta since 2019, August of 2019, but it's coming this week.

BROWN: It's coming. Everyone prepare. Alright, Gene Norman, thank you so much.

And the U.S. isn't the only country experiencing a heat wave right now. Temperatures are sky high across Europe, too. So, let's check in with a couple of other reporters overseas to see how they're handling the heat.

NADA BASHI, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER: I'm Nada Bashir in Paris where a sweltering heat wave is beginning to subside after temperatures reached record breaking figures in parts of France over the weekend. On Saturday, regions in the west of the country saw temperatures of more than 40 degrees celsius. That's 104 degrees Fahrenheit according to the National Meteorological Service.

On Friday, France's health minister said more than 10 million text messages were sent out throughout the country with information and advice as temperatures soared. But despite the heat, Paris remained a bustling hub for both locals and tourists over the weekend. Many flocking to the capital's parks and for a walk down the Seine.

However, as the heat subsides, there are forecast for a rainy night and even thunderstorms ahead.

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Al Goodman in Madrid. In a surprise, it's northern Spain not the south that has been hit hardest by the extremely high temperatures and their fallout in recent days. Temperatures have been over 100 degrees in various northern towns including at the San Sebastian Airport which marked 110 degrees on Saturday, the nation's highest. Spain's national weather service said forest fires have burned tens of thousands of acres mainly in the north, one of the biggest in the mountains near the border with Portugal. Flames got close to the high- speed train tracks and officials halted service.

[17:05:00]

Other fires are burning in northeastern Spain closer to Barcelona.

With temperatures far above normal in most of Spain, some Spaniards say it's a tough choice to turn on the air conditioner because energy prices are also sky high. But some relief is in sight. Cooler breezes have started to in from the Atlantic Ocean.

BROWN: On Capitol Hill, the January 6 committee holds two hearings this week. First up on Tuesday, shifting the focus to then President Trump pressuring state elections officials to illegally overturn his loss. Georgia's election officials, Brad Raffensperger and Gabe Sterling, are expected to testify as well as Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers.

All three are Republicans who supported Trump but refused to illegally overturn Joe Biden's victory in their pivotal states. And on CNN this morning, one member of the committee says it will peel back the curtain on the plot to submit fake slates of electors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): We will show evidence of the president's involvement in this scheme. We will also, again, show evidence about what his own lawyers came to think about this scheme. And we'll show courageous state officials who stood up and said they wouldn't go along with this plan, to either call legislatures back into session or decertify the results for Joe Biden.

The system held because a lot of state and local elections officials upheld their oath to the constitution, a lot of them Republicans as well as Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Let's bring in CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig. Hie, Elie. So how important will Tuesday's hearing be in reinforcing the committee's case against Trump?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Pam, we've seen that this was really a multifront effort by Donald Trump to steal the election. We've seen that he tried to pressure the vice president. We will see how he tried to weaponize the Justice Department. We know he filed dozens of ridiculous lawsuits.

But I think what we're going to see on Tuesday is really the most audacious of all those efforts to try to get state officials to simply hand him their electoral votes.

Now, the constitution tells us that state legislatures do have the right to decide how they'll award their electoral votes, but the problem is they decided that many, many years ago whoever wins the popular vote in the state gets all the electoral votes. And Donald Trump quite aggressively thinks he can just pick up the phone, call state officials and get them to flip that and hand him the electoral votes.

And to the credit of those state level officials, many of them Republicans, they said, no, that would violate the Constitution. It would violate our oaths. It would violate the law. And so, ultimately, Pam, this scheme really backfired and self-destructed in remarkable fashion.

BROWN: Yes. I mean, a lot of the pressure campaign happened even after the state certified the election results there. I want to share this new poll with you. The ABC/Ipsos Poll just out today showing 58 percent of Americans surveyed say Trump should face criminal charges for his role in the attack on the capitol. Do you think there's enough evidence to support that, that we've seen so far?

HONIG: Okay, first of all, it's a good thing that public opinion does not dictate prosecutorial decision making. DOJ and prosecutors are supposed to be separate from politics and from whatever the public thinks, but I do think that poll is really interesting because I think it reflects the fact that the committee has made a really powerful evidentiary showing so far.

The committee, I think, has given us new facts and re-established things we already knew that Donald Trump tried to steal this election. And most importantly they've shown us inside Donald Trump's mind what prosecutors called intent.

I think they've made a really powerful argument that he knew he had lost the election, that he knew there was no evidence of widespread election fraud, that he knew that his legal schemes were completely unconstitutional and invalid. So, I think the committee has shown us a really strong foundation that prosecutors ought to be working off of.

BROWN: But on his state of mind and intent, and you bring up an important point because that is central to what the committee is trying to do here, and one of the potential charges that lawyers have put out there is, you know, did Donald Trump try to defraud the United States?

But I'm just wondering because as part of the committee putting out there all of these advisers telling Donald Trump, no, you lost the election, you know, so forth and so on, we also have seen evidence of other advisers to Donald Trump like Rudy Giuliani, like John Eastman, telling the president there were ways to overturn the election results that, you know, he didn't actually lose, as crazy and delusional as that advice may have been. So, how would that factor in to a potential criminal case?

HONIG: This is such an important point, Pam, because I think you've hit on exactly what Donald Trump's defense will be. Look, I'm entitled to believe who I want to believe. But the comeback from prosecutors here is going to be something called willful blindness. So, as a prosecutor you can prove intent two ways. The person actually knew the truth or the person was what we call willfully blind. Judges describe it as like an ostrich burying his head in the sand.

[17:09:58]

And I think the argument here would be Donald Trump knew the truth. He understood what the real truth was, but he chose to shut out those people, the people who Bill Stepien called team normal, and only listened to the people who are telling him what he wanted to hear.

So, there is a sort of out route here for prosecutors to get around the difficult question of how do you ever prove what someone knew. Well, it's enough to say, okay, but he shut out certain inputs and he only heard what he wanted to hear.

BROWN: Right. It's like how do you prove whether he believed it or not. And you heard Bill Barr, his former attorney general say if he believed it, he was detached from reality. If he believed it. I want to get to what we're expecting coming up on Tuesday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. He is due to testify Tuesday and we are sure to hear Trump's call, that famous call four days before the capitol riot, pressuring Raffensperger to alter the results of the election. Here is some of that call.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (via telephone): So, look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Just one more than we have. I mean, every time I hear that call, I still just cannot believe it. How significant is that call in the committee's goal of showing Trump was actively involved in the effort to overturn the legitimate election results?

HONIG: Well, Pam, that line that we just heard has, of course, become the most infamous line from the whole call. But I will tell you, I listened to the whole thing the other day, it's 62 minutes long. I don't know why I subject myself to this stuff, but I do. It's remarkable when you hear it because this is -- Donald Trump is unrelenting in the pressure he's putting on Raffensperger.

He throws out these ridiculous fraud theories that Raffensperger firmly but politely says, Mr. President, your information is wrong. And at one point, Donald Trump even seems to threaten brad Raffensperger with potential criminal liability. He says to him, I'm telling you there's fraud and if you don't act on it, you may be committing a crime.

So, it will be really fascinating when we hear Brad Raffensperger testify to give his perspective on that call. But I think that call itself is crucial evidence that the committee and potentially prosecutors will be looking at. BROWN: Yes, I totally agree. We're definitely going to be hearing

more of that and, wow, I can't believe you went back and listened to all of it. It's why you are such a great attorney and why you're so great and why we love having you on the show.

Right. Well, let's switch gears now, looking ahead the Supreme Court, more opinions expected Tuesday and Thursday, 18 cases remain. But the spotlight, of course, is on Roe v. Wade. What do we expect to see this week?

HONIG: Yes, Pam, so 18 cases left on the docket. They've been releasing four to six opinions on each of the decisions days so we should have about half of those decisions by the end of this week. There are two big ones. By far the biggest one is the Dobbs case which, as you say, we've seen the draft opinion.

If that holds, it will reverse Roe versus Wade which will fundamentally change the right to abortion in this country. The other one to keep an eye on is a New York State law imposing firearms restrictions. It's a Second Amendment case. It looks like the conservative justices are going to have their way and expand Second Amendment protections and make it harder for states to regulate firearms. So those are the two big ones that we're watching.

BROWN: Alright, Elie Honig, thanks so much. And Happy Father's Day to you.

HONIG: Thank you, Pam.

BROWN: Hope you're having a fund day and your family.

HONIG: Thank. The grill is heating up.

BROWN: Alright. Well, you are in the "CNN Newsroom" on this Sunday. Stuck on gun safety, negotiators on the Hill still working through the fine print of a plan to try and stop mass shootings.

Also, ahead for you tonight, show of force. The Ukrainian army demonstrating how U.S.-supplied weapons are being used to hit Russian artillery positions.

And just when you wanted to cool off from the sizzling hot temperatures, a lack of lifeguards is keeping a lot of pools shut this summer. We'll be right back.

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BROWN: This weekend, another rash of shootings across the country. At least 32 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend. Overnight in New York City, one dead and multiple shot in Queens. In Las Vegas, a Saturday night shooting left at least one dead and several shot.

With the toll mounting, the clock is ticking in Washington. Democrats and Republicans are scrambling to reach a deal on gun safety legislation. So, will the talks fizzle out like they have so many times before? I want to go straight to CNN's Daniella Diaz on Capitol Hill for the state of play. Daniella?

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Pamela, there continues to be two major sticking points in these discussions with this bipartisan group that first came out with a framework over a week ago on gun safety legislation, but now they're trying to finalize those details.

One of the sticking points being the so-called boyfriend loophole. There is currently a disagreement between Democrats and Republicans over people who are prohibited from owning or purchasing guns because of a domestic violence conviction.

Currently, the ban does not apply to dating partners. It only applies to spouses, couples who share a child or those who live together. So, they're trying to figure out what defines a dating partner, what defines a boyfriend. That is something that Democrats and Republicans are still negotiating in these discussions.

The second sticking point, of course, being red flag laws and funding to incentivize states to implement them. Now, some Republicans such as Senator John Cornyn, who is the key Republican negotiator in these talks, he would also like for there to be an approach for this funding to apply, to, quote, crisis intervention programs to help with mental health.

So, because his home state of Texas currently does not have red flag laws in the state of Texas. So that is one other sticking point that they're currently trying to figure out. But really the bigger picture here is they have a self-imposed deadline of trying to put a bill on the floor this week and they're still trying to get Republicans to sign on.

For example, Senator Mike Lee of Utah, a conservative, he said on Sunday morning that he would like to see the text before he decides which way, he stands on this legislation.

[17:20:04]

Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): I personally refuse to indicate whether I or how I will vote on a bill until after I have seen the text because there are a lot of things that can go wrong in legislation. I kept asking to see text and it became apparent they didn't have a bill. In fact, they don't have a deal at all. What they had was agreement on a series of very broad promises.

Now I know there's some bill text that's probably been written, but on the most contentious, controversial, potentially impactful provisions there is no language.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DIAZ: So, Pamela, time is of the essence here. These negotiators are

really trying to race against the clock to figure out this text so that he can put a vote to the floor this week because they're planning to go next weekend for summer recess and that is the goal, they're trying to nail down in the hopes that they -- after working over the weekend when they come back on Tuesday they could have some text, but these sticking points remain.

But sources tell us over the weekend that these negotiations are heading in a positive direction so we'll see what happens when they come back to Washington, D.C. Pamela?

BROWN: We will see. Daniella Diaz, thank you. And later this hour, I'm going to tell you more about the boyfriend loophole that's holding things up in the Senate as Daniella was just talking about there.

Well, on the surface, most mass shooters seem to act alone with their own motivations for the carnage they create, but are there common threads that tie these shooters together? I want to bring in James Densley. He is the co-author of the Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic. He is also a criminal justice professor at Metro State University.

So, James, you've done so much research on this. You have talked to mass shooters. You have talked to people who would have been -- would be mass shooters, right? When we look at them, we often see a similar pattern in who they are and their backgrounds. So, what has been your takeaway after all of this research you've done?

JAMES DENSLEY, SCHOOL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, METRO STATE UNIVERSITY: Yes, thanks. I would say we often are searching for a profile but it's really more of a pathway to a mass shooting. The one thing I will say is that mass shooters tend to be boys and men, 98 percent are male. But in terms of what gets them to the point of perpetrating a mass shooting, this pathway is early childhood trauma.

It's an identifiable crisis point in that person's life. It's usually a grievance than anger that's festering and it's a point where they no longer care if they live or die because a mass shooting is intended to be a final act and it's intended to be a final act witnessed by all.

Usually, mass shooters are getting kind of radicalized because they are studying other mass shooters and they're following the patterns of the previous shootings. And then, of course, it's about access to firearms. You can't have a mass shooting without a gun and it's that access which is kind of the final piece of that pathway.

BROWN: What about mass shooters' family and friends? What did you learn by speaking to them?

DENSLEY: Well, this was the most sort of fascinating part of the research in many ways. We built a database of mass shooters going back to 1966. This was anyone that killed four or more people in a public space. But we also interviewed the mass shooters themselves, their family members, people that knew them, also survivors, first responders and others. And what we heard is usually that the warning signs were there, but perhaps people weren't putting the pieces of the puzzle together to recognize them for what they were. And in some cases, this was also because the resources weren't there.

So, we even had a parent tell us once, you know, what would you have me do? Call 911 on my own child? And with hindsight, of course, the answer to the question would have been yes. But I think what they were getting at, at that point, is the absence of resources and the need for other forms of intervention that can get them off that pathway to violence.

BROWN: You rate in time you say nearly 80 percent of school mass shooters communicate intent to do harm ahead of time which is, again, why it's so important for family and friends to speak up. In that same piece you wrote, a crisis overwhelms a person's usual coping mechanisms -- a person in crisis is like a balloon ready to pop. All we must do is let out a bit of the air out. In terms of crisis intervention, what does letting a bit of the air out look like?

DENSLEY: Yes, a crisis overwhelms somebody's usual coping mechanisms and it's usually noticeable. So, whether it's increased agitation or losing touch with reality or paranoia, there's lots of warning signs that are often there that many people spot it but they just don't know what to do with that information.

And so, letting a little bit of air out can be something as simple as a simple act of kindness, though in some cases in averted shootings where just somebody reaching out and checking in was enough to get them off of the pathway.

[17:25:01]

In other situations, you need a more serious intervention and that might include something like a law enforcement intervention, a school intervention, some sort of community-based intervention. But the key thing really is ensuring that people are seen because mass shooters feel like the world is not seeing them and that's part of the reason why they're so angry, so frustrated, and wanting to lash out violently against the world.

BROWN: And, again, you have learned this by talking to mass shooters directly. I'm wondering in talking to them, have they expressed regret? That essentially did they convey, look, this was just the heat of the moment, I was in crisis and I just felt like this was the -- my only way out? And, also, you've condemned using language like monster or pure evil after a mass shooting saying it does more harm than good. I want you to expand on that as well.

DENSLEY: Yes. So, this is one of those tricky things because I don't want this to come across as the way of trying to absolve them of responsibility or not hold of them accountable because they absolutely should be.

But the piece here that's important is when we label mass shooters as mad men, as monsters and as pure evil, it prevents us from actually recognizing these are the people right there in front of us. Mass shooters before they perpetrate a mass shooting, they are sons, they are brothers, they are colleagues, they are our classmates.

And a failure to recognize that means that these people fall through the cracks. So that's really important. Now, in interviewing these individuals, I should say that some of the people we spoke to, you know, have had the benefit of time. They've been in prison a long time and reflecting back.

And they almost talk about that person then as somebody completely different. And to some degree that's true because at the time of the mass shooting, the crisis that overwhelmed them and they couldn't see any other solution to that problem, then to lash out violently. But now they look back and they realize what they've done was not the solution to their problems, but, again, this doesn't absolve them of that responsibility. The most important thing is we use this information to stop the next one.

BROWN: I want to talk about solutions stopping the next one. As you well know on Capitol Hill there is a bipartisan group of senators that are working on gun control legislation. Republican Senator John Cornyn says there are two outstanding issues left for them to figure out. Here is what Democratic Senator Chris Murphy had to say in response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): I was, frankly, you know, somewhat pleased to hear that Senator Cornyn today thought we only had two outstanding issues. We probably have a lot more than two, but all of them can be settled because I think Senator Cornyn thinks what I believe, which is that the American public is not going to accept nothing as an answer.

We cannot go back home over the course of July 4th and tell people that, once again, we let politics get in the way of getting something done. So, I think we're going to be able to wrap this up and get these final issues settled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And as you well know in the wake of the Uvalde shooting, all kinds of potential solutions have been thrown out there, right. We need to boost school security, right? We need to arm teachers. That is what a lot of Republicans have put out, you know. And then obviously the gun control legislation that is being looked at right now. What do you think needs to be done to create real substantive change?

DENSLEY: Yes. There's a lot the federal government can do on these issues. And I think the really important piece is to recognize if you want a big impact quickly, it is around sensible gun safety measures. And I think some of the things in this proposal do check those boxes. I think the evidence would suggest we should go a little bit further, maybe universal background checks instead of just enhanced background checks for those under the age of 21.

But, there's a lot of positive things in there and again, it goes back to the idea that mass shooters are often telegraphing their violent intent in advance. So, anything we can do to build the systems and the structures which are going to get people off the pathway to violence is absolutely essential.

So, greater mental health resources within our schools, better coordination between law enforcement and the community and schools again. All this type of stuff will also really make an impact. So, it's good to see that there is this sort of comprehensive package. I wish it would go further, but for the first time in 30 years, we might actually get some movement on gun safety, and that's a win in my book.

And I think we should sort of celebrate that and ensure that this really does happen. It has to happen because we cannot do nothing. We have to move forward on this to prevent the next shooting from ever occurring.

BROWN: Professor James Densley, what a fascinating conversation. Everything you said back up by research, data, and talking directly to those who have been involved. Thank you so much.

DENSLEY: Thank you. Thank you.

BROWN: The Ukrainian military is putting American might on display as they show off U.S. military equipment. We have the very latest from Ukraine up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

BROWN: It has been nearly four months since Russia began its unprovoked assault on Ukraine, and there is no end in sight. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson just wrapped his second visit to Kyiv since the war began, and he wrote in "The Sunday Times" that, Western allies must steel ourselves for a long war as Putin resorts to a campaign of attrition trying to grind down Ukraine by sheer brutality.

For its part, Ukraine's military continues to battle for every square inch of its country and press for continued help from the west. Sharing photos like these of Ukrainian troops using U.S. military equipment. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has more.

[17:34:59]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Russian forces persist in trying to degrade Ukrainian infrastructure. That's what Ukrainian officials said after an oil depot in Dnipro was struck by multiple Russian missiles killing one person and wounding several others. And it comes as the battle for the city of Severodonetsk continues to drag out. That city has been under constant attack for about two months now.

It's predominantly under Russian control. Ukrainian forces are on the back foot, but Ukrainian military sources say they were able to foil a recent attempt by Russian forces to advance that some Russian troops had to retreat and regroup. But again, Ukrainian forces there are outmanned and outgunned. Severodonetsk is important because it's one of the last Ukrainian

strongholds in the Luhansk region, part of the wider Donbas region and one of President Putin's major goals is to take control of the wider Donbas.

Ukrainian officials also reporting heavy shelling in Kharkiv to the north of the country. There one Ukrainian official saying that Russian forces are trying to open a new frontline. There's also been shelling towards the south in the Mykolaiv area where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had recently visited with troops.

But all along the frontline Ukrainian forces pleading for more weaponry, pleading for more help. The Ukrainian military put out hand out images showing Ukrainian forces firing an American-made howitzer. These are long-range artillery weapons. They have up to 15 miles range and they are very important in trying to hit at those Russian artillery positions in what is an artillery war.

We've also heard separate comments from Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the U.K. and the NATO secretary-general each saying that this war could drag out for many more years but that western support must not wane. Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Kyiv.

BROWN: And you are in the CNN Newsroom. Still ahead on this Sunday, the gun reform issue that lawmakers have struggled with for decades. It's called the boyfriend loophole. And coming up, I'm going to explain what it is for the record, up next.

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BROWN: With gun violence raging in America, a bipartisan group of senators has one week left to finalize a deal on gun safety legislation before the recess. And the key hurdle is an issue that's cause a stalemate in Washington for nearly 30 years. The so-called boyfriend loopholes.

Now, currently, domestic abusers are prohibited from having guns, but only those convicted of domestic assault against a partner they have been married to, lived with, or had a child with. In other words, if the abuser was merely a significant other, a romantic partner, an ex- boyfriend, they can still own a gun.

Now, closing this boyfriend loophole would make it illegal for all domestic abusers to own a gun. For a record, past polling indicates most Americans do support this. A 2017 "New York Times" survey found more than eight out of ten Americans support barring gun sales to people convicted of violent misdemeanors including domestic assault.

But the National Rifle Association opposes it and Republicans in Congress have blocked this provision at every turn including earlier this year, keeping it out of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Now, the NRA cheered the outcome. Data shows closing this loophole though could save the lives of countless women. When a woman's abuser has access to a gun, she is five times more

likely to be murdered. This is according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. The level of murders committed by dating partners versus spouses is almost the same according to a past Justice Department analysis.

And when you look at mass shootings, the domestic violence link is chilling. A Boston University study went all the way back to 1966 and found that nearly half of mass shooters had a known history of violence against women. In 2020, Bloomberg News analyzed more than 700 mass shootings and found about 60 percent were either domestic violence attacks or committed by men with domestic violence histories.

Back to today, a bipartisan group of senators agreed on a preliminary framework for the first new gun safety legislation in years which included closing the boyfriend loophole. But Republicans didn't make it a week before talking about bailing on this once again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): The so-called boyfriend loophole continues to be a challenge, but as you may recall, that is what delayed the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization for a number of years. So, it's a hard issue.

UNKNOWN: Do you think you may have to drop that out?

CORNYN: I think that's one option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: GOP negotiators say one hang-up is creating a clear definition for what qualifies as a domestic partner and they're going further. They are now pushing for this package to include an appeal process so that people convicted of domestic violence can appeal to get their gun rights reinstated. So, we'll see when negotiators can work out this time around.

You are in the CNN Newsroom. And coming up, Juneteenth celebrations are happening all across America. And in just a few hours, CNN will broadcast the first-ever worldwide special "Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom."

But first, here is CNN's Alison Kosik with a look at the markets Before the Bell.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Pam. Recession and inflation fears are back on Wall Street. The Federal Reserve last week announced its largest rate hike since 1994, raising borrowing costs for millions of Americans to help cool red-hot inflation.

[17:45:04]

But an initial stock rally faded as investors grew concerned the aggressive move will send the economy into recession. The DOW plunged below 30,000 for its worst week since March of 2020. The question this week, will the selling continue? It's a short trading week with U.S. markets closed Monday for Juneteenth, but investors will keep an eye on how Americans feel about high prices with a final reading of June's consumer sentiment coming out on Friday.

We're already seeing signs the housing market may be cooling off with mortgage demand falling as rates near 6 percent. That's the largest weekly jump since 1987. But prices at the pump remain near record highs. The Biden administration plans to meet with oil execs this week to discuss those high gas prices. At the New York Stock Exchange, I'm Alison Kosik.

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[17:50:00]

BROWN: Well, across the U.S. celebrations are commemorating Juneteenth. One hundred and fifty-seven years ago today, slaves in Galveston, Texas learned they were free, more than two years after the emancipation proclamation was signed. And last year, President Biden signed a bill officially recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. CNN's Nadia Romero is in Atlanta. So, Nadia, how are folks there celebrating today?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, you know, Atlanta is considered the cradle of the civil rights movement. So much happened here. This is always been a really big celebration. This is the tenth Juneteenth Atlanta. If you take a look behind me, you can see just how many people are out. This is a family friendly event.

People are coming out in droves. Organizers tell me they expect some 100,000 people to participate here in Atlanta throughout this entire weekend. And just vendors on top of vendors on top of vendors to celebrate when the last enslaved African-Americans learned they were free, some two and a half years after the emancipation proclamation. That's a big moment.

But we talked to people who say that's not it. Just having Juneteenth as a federal holiday, having all the fun and the food and the live music, that's part of it. But what's really important is how people will work to push the black community forward because we know that black culture is American culture.

And there were two things I heard the most throughout this weekend, Pamela. It's voting and supporting black businesses. Take a listen.

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CASSANDRA KIRK, CHIEF JUDGE, MAGISTRATE COURT OF FULTON COUNTY: I am a sitting judge. And so, what's important for me is that everyone that's out here celebrating, remember that they must vote. That it's not enough just to come and do the party, do the dance, to buy the items. It is more important. It is equally as important to make sure that we vote.

MESHA MAINOR, (D) GEORGIA STATE HOUSE: Last year we did the Juneteenth festival like this. It was much smaller. I think now since it's a state holiday, there's more advocacy for black-owned businesses. So, this entire weekend there were people supporting black businesses they'd normally would not support black businesses. And I hope that that continues beyond just Juneteenth because maybe those people they have never supported a black business --

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ROMERO: And maybe they will continue to support those black businesses. What we're hearing is that Juneteenth isn't just one day, but supporting black businesses should be 365 days, every day of the year. I spoke with a grand marshal of the parade that snaked through downtown and ended up here at Centennial Park. And she said, you know what, I saw more people out this year than last year, bigger and better. And she saw more diversity. So, she believes that now that Juneteenth is a federal holiday, it's a state holiday, Pamela, that more people of different races and backgrounds are coming out to honor the day as well. Pamela?

BROWN: Alright. Nadia Romero, thank you so much.

And join some of the biggest stars as they lift their voices for Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom. That's tonight at 8:00 right after a special Juneteenth hosted by Don Lemon at 7:00, only on CNN.

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[17:55:00]

BROWN: On this Father's Day, the team and I want to take a moment to pay tribute to the important men in our lives. Firs, I want to take the time to honor my own dad. He tells me all the time he's my biggest fan. He watches the show every night and if he can't watch it live, he records it like tonight because he's going out to dinner in celebration of Father's Day. And he always gives me his honest opinion each time. Love you daddy-o.

And these are the dads of our entire show team. The dads who helped us grow into the women and men we are today. These are the dads who took us to baseball games, who drove us to school or to practice. The dads who manned the backyard barbecue and took us for ice cream.

We know our dads are always in our corner through good times and bad. For all the fathers of this amazing team, you raised a dedicated, hardworking compassionate person. Also today, we remember the fathers who are gone. They are always in our hearts. Happy Father's Day to all the fathers here on Team Pamela Brown, and Happy Father's Day to all of you watching. The next hour of CNN Newsroom starts right now.

New reporting. How Russia is planning new tactics to meddle in the midterms and undermine American democracy. Meantime, the January 6 committee making its case that Donald Trump should face criminal charges for trying to throw the election.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): I think what we're presenting before the American people certainly would rise to a level of criminal involvement by a president and definitely failure of the oath.

[17:59:59]

Unprecedented heat swelters nearly a third of the U.S. population. A scorching summer comes early in western Europe.