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Flights Cancelled Across U.S. At Beginning Of July 4th Holiday Weekend; Pilots For Delta Airlines Demonstrate Due To Overwork; Secret Service Rumors Support Testimony Of Cassidy Hutchinson Before House January 6th Committee On Former President Trump's Behavior During January 6th Riots; Prices Continue To Rise For Consumer Goods Across U.S. Economy; Americans Increasing Use Of Credit Cards To Deal With Inflation; Supreme Court Ruling Restricts Environmental Protection Agency's Ability To Regulate Industry; Influx Of Fentanyl Into U.S. Causes Spike In Overdose Deaths; Parents And Relatives Of Those Slain In Uvalde, Texas, Elementary School Shooting Still Demanding Answers; WNBA Star Brittney Griner Remains In Custody In Russia For Traveling With Cannabis Oil. Aired 10-11a ET.
Aired July 02, 2022 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now surrounded by $1 million homes, this the property that is getting returned to the Bruce family now estimated to be worth of tens of millions of dollars as it truly is ocean front property.
CHIEF DUANE "YELLOW FEATHER" SHEPPARD, HISTORIAN AND SPOKESMAN FOR THE CHARLES AND WILLA BRUCE FAMILY: Initially it cost the Bruce family their entire fortune.
They originally asked for $125,000 for the two pieces of property, and they didn't get that. They only got $14,250, the loss of the generational wealth that would have been accumulated over the course of 98 years now.
KAVON WARD, FOUNDER, JUSTICE FOR BRUCE'S BEACH: I feel some sense of peace. I feel joy.
ELAM: Kavon Ward started the push to return Bruce's Beach to its rightful owners in 2020.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No justice, no peace.
ELAM: After the murder of George Floyd.
WARD: I know it was the catalyst for me, for me to illuminate what happened to the Bruces, and for me to move forward and take action to see how I could legally and legislatively get the land back for them.
ELAM: It's a template Ward and the family hope others will use to also get their land back.
Stephanie Elam, CNN, Manhattan Beach, California.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Buenos Dias. Good morning. It is Saturday, July 2nd. I'm Boris Sanchez.
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kristin Fisher, and you're in the CNN Newsroom.
Right now, hundreds of flights have been cancelled or delayed across the U.S. threatening to spoil the July 4th holiday for many people.
Airlines are being put to the test and really pushed to the brink as the number of people traveling by plane climbs to near pre-pandemic levels. But staffing issues, cancellations, and summer storms have caused headaches for airlines and travelers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got to get home. We got a flight. If it is going to be cancelled, they need to let us know now so we can know what to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's saying that my flight was last seen near New York. It's not really saying.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not really telling me what's going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Nearly 1,500 flights in the United States have been delayed so far. Cancellations, as you can see, over 450. AAA is predicting that 3.5 million people are going to fly this weekend, an additional 42 million are expected to hit the road and drive to their holiday destination.
The silver lining for those drivers, and this is the absolute thinnest a silver lining could be, gas prices have dropped eight cents over the past week. That's still $1.70 more than it was a year ago.
FISHER: CNN's Nadia Romero joins us live now from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. And Nadia we have been talking with all morning, and every time we come to you, everybody seems very happy, the lines are moving.
I don't even see a huge line behind you right now. So is it as bad as we all thought it would be heading into this weekend?
NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kristin and Boris, I think it was pretty bad if you arrived at about 6:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m. this morning, but just like during the week and outside of a holiday weekend, if you come to the airport late morning, early evening, this is what you're going to get. This is what you get when you arrive after the morning rush.
And just look, it's wide open here at the standard main checkpoint entry. This isn't pre-check. This isn't CLEAR. This is the regular boarding area. And you can make your way through.
We have seen some cancellations, though, as Boris told us at the very beginning of the show. We saw those cancellations yesterday, 580 flights cancelled yesterday. The biggest impact out of La Guardia, New York City's airport, and then that just has a domino effect today, more than 450 flights cancelled.
So about 1,000 or so flights cancelled so far this holiday weekend yesterday and today with nearly 1,500 delayed.
And we spoke with one traveler who said that he made sure to pack up his family of five to get here to the airport plenty early to make their flight. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH PLANCHER, TRAVELING FOR THE JULY 4TH HOLIDAY: It's been really smooth so far. No traffic on the roads and it seems organized here. We just left a half-an-hour earlier than we normally do, so we're here about two-and-a-half hours early instead of two hours early, and we're planning on getting in our flight on time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMERO: So here we have what we're expecting as far as air travel, 3.5 million people expected to travel, seven percent of all travelers will be flying to get to their destination.
So the majority of Americans will be traveling by road. And it's going to be 14 percent more expensive. That's how much the average price is up compared to just last year.
So here, at the busiest airport in the country, not so busy right now. Boris, Kristin?
FISHER: That is some great news as we head into the holiday weekend. Nadia, thank you so much.
So during this busy travel week, more than 1,000 Delta pilots hit the picket line on Thursday.
SANCHEZ: Yes, pilots at seven major airports across the country staged demonstrations as they call for better pay and other accommodations in this ongoing contract negotiation with the airline.
[10:05:01]
So last hour, I spoke with the chair of the Delta Airline Pilots Association Master Executive Council Captain Jason Ambrosi to talk about the challenges that he and his colleagues are facing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. JASON AMBROSI, CHAIR, DELTA AIR LINE PILOT ASSOCIATION MASTER EXECUTIVE COUNCIL: Quite frankly, it's irresponsible scheduling, overscheduling. We're scheduling more flights than we have people to fly them, quite honestly.
The pilots are used to flying overtime in the summertime to help because there's always an increase in flying. It's been over year now where we have been pressed to the limit of flying as much as they possibly can.
More time away from their family. Out there trying to get our passengers to their destinations, and it's just can't be sustained at this level. The pilots are getting fatigued, quite honestly.
They are making the tough safety call at times to say, I'm putting my hand in the air. I'm tired. No pilot wants to do that. No pilot wants to strand their passenger or fellow crew members when they want to get where they're going. But it's a safety issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISHER: So in addition to those problems with pilots that we were just hearing about, just the increased demand heading into this holiday weekend, we have also got issues with the weather which could add to this weekend's travel trouble.
So let's bring in CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis. And Karen, we have been seeing you talk about the rain, thunderstorms, a tropical storm even in the forecast. What else are you going to hit us with?
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I think that may be all we can accommodate right now, because we really do have our hands full.
A good majority of the United States seeing some form of precipitation, maybe a brief shower, maybe some thunderstorms, maybe some rainfall. It's going to be fairly persistent, that right across the central U.S.
But not to be out done, the threat of severe thunderstorms into the northeast. And guess what, we have our first weather related delay, and that is in Orlando. This does not depict the cancellations or any of the other things other than weather.
And for Orlando, this is a time management delay, meaning not all the airplanes can land at one time so they bring them in and it has to be managed. And so a couple may be circling in the air.
All right, this is what we're looking at as we go into the rest of today. And along the Interstate 95 corridor in Boston and New York and Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., I think this is where we're looking at most significant delays, mainly due to those thunderstorms and volume. Those are the two major things.
All right, yes, we do have tropical storm. This is Colin. Still supporting 40 mile an hour winds. Doesn't look that great, but it's impact is going to be felt along coastal Carolinas, South Carolina, North Carolina, as it moves off to the northeast.
It's moving about eight miles an hour, so not fast, but you'll see some gusty winds, maybe some brief but heavy rainfall. Scattered showers and thunderstorms, not all day events but certainly
could interrupt maybe some of your plans. If you're on the roads, let me tell you, it will interrupt your plans.
This happened to me about 12 hours ago, a fairly short trip became quite long due to the heavy downpours, car accidents. Those roads are going to be very treacherous to travel on in those heavy downpours with reduced visibility.
I mentioned the northeast, a threat of severe weather there, also into the north central U.S. And temperature-wise, hot to the south, not a whole lot better to the north, but 70s and 80s down there. Back to you guys.
SANCHEZ: Karen Maginnis, glad you made it through that storm and into the CNN Weather Center. Appreciate you.
And if you want to avoid the travel headaches and potentially bad weather, why not spend it with good company at home.
Tune in to CNN on July 4th as we celebrate the Fourth in America with music from artists like Journey, Willie Nelson, and Mr. 305, Mr. Worldwide himself, Pitbull. Plus, what's a Fourth of July celebration without fireworks. Catch it all on Monday right here at 7:00 p.m. eastern only on CNN.
FISHER: Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson has stood by all of that blockbuster testimony to the January 6th committee despite an unnamed source denying a secondhand story that she shared about former President Trump's agree outburst on the day of the Capitol riot.
SANCHEZ: And list to this. CNN has learned that Secret Service agents have been circulating various stories about the incident in question for more than a year, almost since it happened.
Other Secret Service sources say they were told that an angry confrontation between Trump and agents did occur and that Hutchinson's secondhand account lines up with those stories.
CNN's Katelyn Polantz joins us now. Katelyn, walk us through all the details. And what else have you learned?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: So Boris and Kristin, I want to walk through how this all played out, but first, what we are learning, what this new reporting is is that the bottom line is Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony from Tuesday is holding up.
[10:10:03]
So how this played out, she testified on Tuesday that a White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato told her that Donald Trump was very angry on January 6th, so much so that he really wanted to go to the Capitol with rioters even though knowing they were armed and they could potentially be violent.
And he was so angry in the presidential SUV he grabbed at the steering wheel and then lunged at an agent in that scene. So that is what she heard those days, that's what she was testifying to.
After her testimony, what happened in the SUV was disputed. A Secret Service official denied that Trump lunged or that Tony Ornato told Hutchinson this. Of course, they didn't deny that Trump actually wanted to go to the Capitol, but they were denying the physicality of that scene in this effort to discredit her.
But now we're learning in the months after January 6th that the story that she told was circulating among Secret Service agents, that Trump was angry, he wanted to go to the Capitol, he was berating the agents protecting him, and that at one point he did lunge over the seat. So that is according to two Secret Service sources.
They were speaking to Noah Gray at CNN. And so we do have this information that that story was out there after January 6th and it is in line with what Cassidy Hutchinson testified to under oath this past week. Boris and Kristin?
SANCHEZ: Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much for that reporting.
So right now, President Biden is spending the holiday weekend at Camp David, and he has got his hands full. The White House is grappling with surging inflation, low poll numbers, high gas prices, and of course the fallout of a history Supreme Court term.
SANCHEZ: President Biden discussed the court's decision to overturn abortion rights with nine Democratic governors who have moved to safeguard the right to choose in their respective states on Friday, that meeting took place on Friday.
And CNN's Keven Liptak joins us now from the White House. So Kevin, how is the president proposing to address this on a national level?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: He's really focusing on a few areas. One is protecting the right of women to cross state lines to obtain abortions. Another is expanding access to medication abortion.
And so in that meeting yesterday, the president reiterating his steps in those areas and also reiterating his support for eliminating the filibuster, that 60 vote threshold in the Senate, to codify Roe versus Wade into law.
But the president was frank with his listeners. He said that he didn't have the votes in the Senate to do that now. Instead, he really emphasized the importance of electing Democrats in November. Listen to a little of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The choice is clear. We either elect federal senators and representatives who will codify Roe, or Republicans who will elect the House and Senate will try to ban abortions nationwide. Nationwide. This is going to go one way or the other after November. This is not over. It's not over.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LIPTAK: Bottom line, there are a lot of Democrats who want President Biden to go a lot further than he's willing to go to protect the right of abortion. And you saw that play out in the meeting yesterday.
The New York governor suggested to him that he allow abortions be performed on federal property in states where it's banned. And she suggested military installations and veterans' hospitals.
The White House has ruled that out and said it could be a dangerous precedent for doctors. After that meeting yesterday, the White House affirmed they still do not support that.
Other steps like expanding the Supreme Court they have also ruled out. So President Biden, a number of steps he's willing to take but also a number of steps he is not willing to take at this point.
FISHER: Yes, and certainly this will be one of the biggest issues heading into the midterms. Kevin Liptak live from the north lawn for us, thanks, Kevin.
LIPTAK: Sure.
FISHER: And still to come this morning, inflation, rising costs, it's forcing lot of people to turn to plastic. The warning about rising credit card debt from those experiencing it firsthand.
Plus, environmentalists are sounding the alarm after the Supreme Court rolls back some of the powers of the EPA. Their warning as the fight against climate change continues.
SANCHEZ: And teen overdose deaths are on the rise. The DEA says that fentanyl is to blame. Up ahead, one family is sharing their story of loss, hoping it will help save lives.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:18:39]
FISHER: Staying home and throwing a cookout this holiday weekend may not be your cheapest option to celebrate, believe it or not. A new American Farm Bureau Federation survey finds that July 4th barbeques will cost 17 percent more than last year.
SANCHEZ: And experts say the higher prices come from a mix of constant supply chain issues, inflation, and believe it or not, the war in Ukraine. CNN's Christine Romans walks us through the numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That annual ritual celebrating American independence, from the gas in the car to the fireworks in the sky, everything cost more this year. And the barbecue is no exception.
The American Farm Bureau estimates this year's barbeque feast on average will cost you $10 more this year, up 17 percent from a year ago, $69 to feed 10 people. This covers 12 barbeque items the Farm Bureau tracks.
The price of the barbecue fell from 2020 to 2021 and has now roared back. Beef and rib prices up sharply, beef 36 percent more expensive than last year, chicken breasts up 33 percent, and potato salad up big too.
Maybe load up on the chips and the strawberries here. These prices are a bit lower. Overall inflation is running the hottest in 40 years because of supply chain glitches, huge demand as people gather again, and the war in Ukraine hurting gas and food supplies.
In New York, I'm Christine Romans.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
[10:20:02]
SANCHEZ: Christine, thank you so much.
As Americans grapple with the highest inflation in 40 years, more people are relying on credit and credit cards to keep up with high prices.
FISHER: According to a recent report from the Federal Reserve, revolving credit increased by 19.6 percent compared to last year. Now, some people are facing major credit card debt. CNN's Evan McMorris Santoro has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On your worst day, how much debt were you in?
LAVELL NEAL, CUSTOMER: We were at about $120,000 in depth with credit cards.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: And you finished paying it off when?
NEAL: Officially it was in March of 2022.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: In some ways, Lavell Neal is living a common American summer. The darkest days of the pandemic had a financial silver lining. Government relief checks and staying home made it easier to walk the long road to financial freedom.
NEAL: We were able to take the money, the extra money that we were getting and just pour it into paying off our debt.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: But the stimulus checks are gone and life is more or less back normal. And now inflation not seen in 40 years is gnawing away at the foundations of a life without credit card debt.
NEAL: We put a little extra aside just in case, especially for gas. So what we do is the moneys that we were putting toward our debt, since we're newly out of debt, the money that we were putting aside for that, we take portions of that for the inflation prices. MCMORRIS-SANTORO: But more and more Americans aren't so lucky.
Inflation has risen faster than wages for many people, and Fed efforts to tamp down on it are in part aimed at slowing rage growth. Lavell got out of debt in part due to the pandemic, and in part due to a debt management plan he worked out with GreenPath Financial Wellness, a national nonprofit credit counseling firm based in the Detroit area.
Omari Hall has spent five years at GreenPath, helping people here achieve financial independence. This is a scary one for lot of people, he says.
OMARI HALL, GREENPATH CREDIT COUNSELING: I can certainly understand how someone might feel that, at the moment when they felt like there were relief coming with these supplemental checks that the government issued versus the sudden tight squeeze of inflation, I can understand how that would make you feel pretty helpless.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: The numbers show more families are reaching for the plastic these days. Fed data released earlier this month showed revolving credit, a measure of debt that mostly includes credit cards, reaching record highs in April.
Now that's not necessarily bad, experts say. But Kristen Holt, president and CEO of GreenPath, works with people who are often overwhelmed by credit card, and she is seeing signs that's coming again.
KRISTEN HOLT, CEO, GREENPATH CREDIT COUNSELING: People who called us in 2021 on average had about $10,000 in credit card debt. So people on average calling us this month, it's at $14,000.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That's significant. That's a lot of money.
HOLT: Yes, so it's 40 percent higher than it was last year. That to me is like, holy cow.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Kristen says in this financial environment, credit card debt is a compounding problem. Today, families who struggled before the pandemic may be struggling again. But Kristen worries the credit crunch could expand into families who thought they had control of their debt.
HOLT: These are not costs that are super easy to cut. You don't just putting less gas in your car will only get you so far.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FISHER: Up next, the Supreme Court dealt a major blow to environmental measures to curb climate change. The details of the decision and why experts will say it will lead to serious environmental consequences, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:28:15]
FISHER: Sources tell CNN that the Environmental Protection Agency will move forward with steps to cut emissions from power plants despite that crippling ruling from the Supreme Court.
The agency still has some options to regulate emissions, but on Thursday the court ruled that the EPA does not have the authority to put limits on emissions or force power plants to move away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy.
It's a ruling that environmental experts say is disastrous, not just for the U.S. but for the entire planet. Joining me now, Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State.
Michael, thank you so much for joining us this holiday weekend. He's also the author of "The New Climate War."
So Michael, I'd like to start by asking you about -- President Biden, he called this ruling devastating. What did you think of it?
MICHAEL MANN, DIRECTOR, EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE CENTER, PENN STATE: Yes, it's good to be with you. This decision, what it does is essentially handicap our chief executive when it comes to enforcing the laws of the land.
The chief executive is empowered, for example, to have the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, do what they are empowered to do, which is protect our environment.
And so what the Supreme Court has done here is quite a remarkable ace of judicial activism. And what's ironic is, of course, conservatives have in the past often accused Democratic presidents of engaging in, or Democratic justices as engaging in judicial activism.
[10:30:00]
But here the Supreme Court has overruled a previous Supreme Court finding. Back in 2007, the Supreme Court found the EPA does have the right to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act. And what's changed here? It isn't the law.
It's the makeup of the Supreme Court, a court that has continued to revoke fundamental rights, the right to privacy, the right to safety from gun violence, from assault weapons, and the most fundamental right of all, our right to a livable planet.
FISHER: So Michael, some conservatives were hoping that the Supreme Court would go even further and strip the agencies sort of broader authority to curve greenhouse gas emissions. That did not happen, but I'm curious what you think some of the other tools are that the EPA has left.
MANN: Yes, and so they've signaled that it may well be their attempt to essentially handicap, again, the chief executive from regulating environmental protection in a whole host of other areas where, again, the chief executive, the president has authority vested to him or her under our Constitution.
What can we do here? There is still room, again, for the president, for President Biden to enforce the laws of the land and use the EPA in various ways to regulate carbon emissions even as the Supreme Court tries to dismantle its ability to do that.
So in the long term, obviously, there's a more fundamental problem which is a Supreme Court, an activist Supreme Court that wants to take away the executive authority to do that.
And the only way we're going to change that, of course, is two ways. First of all, legislatively, we need climate legislation. We need legislation passed by this Congress, whether it's through reconciliation or any other means that will allow the president to meet his obligations to the rest of the world.
We are obligated under the Paris agreement and the updated Glasgow agreements last year, we are obligated to reduce our carbon emissions by 50 percent within the next decade.
And we're going to need legislation that allows the president to do that, and we're going to need a Congress that reflects our interests rather than the interests of polluters, which means turning out in this midterm election and voting for candidates who will support action.
FISHER: Michael, so as we all know, this ruling only directly impacts emissions regulations here in the United States. But this could really leave its mark on the entire world because it's hard the get other countries to stick to their commitments when you're perhaps perceived, the U.S. is perhaps perceived as taking a step back, right?
MANN: That's exactly right. Look, we are the world's greatest cumulative emitter of carbon pollution. We have put more carbon pollution into the atmosphere than any other nation.
And so if we not willing to show leadership on the international stage and to meet our commitments to the world to lower our carbon emissions by 50 percent within the next decade, which is going to require legislation that incentivizes this shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, subsidies for renewable energy, pricing carbon, preventing the additional construction of fossil fuel infrastructure.
If we fail to do that, then we're sending a signal to other countries like China and India who are going to say, look, you had two centuries of access to cheap, dirty energy, and you grew your economy with that.
We have the same right if you're not willing to do your part in addressing this crisis. So as goes the United States, goes the global effort to rein in the climate crisis.
FISHER: Michael Mann, thank you so much for your time this holiday weekend. We appreciate it.
MANN: Thank you.
FISHER: You bet.
FISHER: The Drug Enforcement Administration is sounding the alarm on a deadly trend, a spike in overdoses. Officials say that one dangerous drug is behind it all, fentanyl. According to the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, on average, every five minutes someone dies from an overdose, and many of those deaths are related to fentanyl.
CNN's Isabel Rosales has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Across all 50 states, fentanyl is running ramp ant.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's happening to him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are passing out.
ROSALES: A frantic 911 call of south Florida after police say five West Point cadets on spring break overdosed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We took some coke and we are not getting good responses now.
[10:35:00]
ROSALES: Authorities say the drugs were laced with fentanyl. It's part of nationwide spike in fentanyl related mass overdoses, so concerning the Drug Enforcement Administration is warning other law enforcement agencies to be at the ready. Rashida Weathers runs a DEA lab in Maryland.
RASHIDA WEATHERS, DEA LAB DIRECTOR: Here we have three kilos of fentanyl. This is enough fentanyl to kill a million-and-a-half people.
ROSALES: Her team tests drugs seized in DEA busts.
WEATHERS: We're seeing cocaine laced with fentanyl, methamphetamines, marijuana, heroin.
ROSALES: One of the biggest threats she sees today is counterfeit pills. At DEA labs authorities say two out of every five pills found to contain fentanyl have a deadly amount in them. The drug is easy to find and cheaply made.
JAROD FORGET, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, DEA WASHINGTON DIVISION: So I have 20 years with DEA. I can't tell the difference if it's a legitimate pill or a counterfeit pill.
ROSALES: Jarod Forget leads the DEA's Washington division.
FORGET: What's troubling about it is a lot of people that dying are, frankly, being duped into taking fentanyl when they didn't really know what they were taking.
ROSALES: They dumps are getting younger and younger, often using apps like Snapchat to buy the deadly dupes.
FORGET: Certainly, as a father it's greatly concerning.
ROSALES: This one they call lucky charms.
Do you think the drug dealers are purposely going after kids?
WEATHERS: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that pills like these, even the counterfeit pills that we're seeing, are very intentionally marketed to a younger audience.
ROSALES: Take a look. It only takes this tiny amount for fentanyl to kill five people. Last year more Americans died from fentanyl than from car crashes and gun violence combined according to the CDC.
SHELBY COOPER, LOST BROTHER TO FENTANYL OVERDOSE: This is my favorite photo of him. You can see his smile. He's so proud.
ROSALES: Memories are all Shelby Cooper has of her youngest brother.
COOPER: Yes. This one I love because he's just being goofy.
ROSALES: Ryan was 22 years old when he died from an overdose last year.
COOPER: I did hug him through the body bag, and that was the last time I hugged him.
ROSALES: His family ultimately piecing it together. Ryan ordered pills online. He never knew they were laced with fentanyl.
COOPER: We should be worried. We should be doing everything in our power to fight this and find ways to keep this fentanyl from coming in.
ROSALES: LAW ENFORCEMENT IS locking up dealer and busting drug smuggling at the border.
FORGET: We can't do it alone. It's not just a law enforcement problem.
ROSALES: The battle is relentless. The DEA is seeing a new threat emerge known as ISO. The agency says it's as dangerous and deadly as fentanyl but hasn't yet boomed.
FORGET: The next drug of the future will happen. Drug trafficking is always evolving.
ROSALES: That's why Shelby became a prevention specialist, and so she works to save the next Ryan.
You're left here grieving over this addiction, over fentanyl. What do people need to understand?
COOPER: That this can really affect anyone. There is no discrimination. ROSALES: I'm Isabel Rosales reporting.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
SANCHEZ: Isabel, thank you.
Up next, grieving families demanding answers in Uvalde, Texas all while the embattled school district police chief Pete Arredondo misses yet another city council meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My nieces and nephews have to see that at Walmart or ETB, or go to school and know that they still have their jobs because we have to follow the rules. So suck it up. These kids were obliterated. My sister was obliterated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:43:01]
FISHER: We're following. At least five people are dead and 44 others injured after a string of earthquakes hit southern Iran today. According to Iranian state media, the earthquakes also destroyed houses and caused power outages in nearby villages. Emergency response teams have been deployed to the affected areas.
SANCHEZ: The U.S. is stepping up efforts to fight the monkeypox outbreak. The Department of Health and Health Services ordering an additional 2.5 million doses of the vaccine that's used to combat the virus.
Right now, they are in limited supply, but the administration said it would expand access to the shots in areas with the highest levels of transmission. The latest CDC numbers show 460 probable or confirmed cases of monkey pox in 30 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico.
And we're learning that one of the men charged in that horrifying human smuggling incident in Texas where 53 migrants died was already under investigation by the Homeland Security Department.
That is according to a criminal complaint filed on Wednesday. Officials say he was communicating with this man who driving the truck and now says that he was unaware that the air-conditioning had stop worked.
Officials are calling this the deadliest human smuggling incident in U.S. history, and if charged, both men could face the death penalty.
SANCHEZ: An update to a senseless act of violence in New York where a man suspected of shooting a mom who was pushing her three month old in a stroller this week has formally been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Twenty-two-year-old Isaac Argro allegedly came up behind Azsia Johnson while she was walking on the upper eastside and shot her at point- blank range. The incident is believed to have been a targeted attack.
FISHER: And it's now been more than a month since the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Texas, and family members of the victims say that they are still being kept in the dark about the botched police response.
[10:45:06]
CNN's Rosa Flores reports on their push for answers.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
VELMA LUIS DURAN, SISTER OF IRMA GARCIA, TEACHER KILLED IN SHOOTING: These kids were obliterated. My sister was obliterated. It was a closed casket. I couldn't hug her. I couldn't touch her. I couldn't say my last goodbyes.
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Raw emotions turned to heated exchanges at the Uvalde city council meeting Thursday, after Mayor Don McLaughlin told the room filled with family members of the 19 children and two adults killed at Robb Elementary that there was no new information, he could share on the investigation into the failed police response.
DURAN: Why is it that children are calling 9-1-1 and you can't tell where these calls are coming from, that y'all didn't get it? My sister had no -- there's nothing saving her.
There was a lot of children that could've been saved. You keep protecting Pete Arredondo. The school board failed because the minute this happened, they should have fired him.
MAYOR DON MCLAUGHLIN, UVALDE, TEXAS: Ma'am, let me tell you something. I feel your pain. We all do.
DURAN: No, you don't, sir. No, you don't.
FLORES: The mayor said, he, too, is frustrated, with a lack of transparency in the investigation, and read this letter from the Uvalde district attorney, "Any release of records to that incident at this time would interfere with said ongoing investigation."
MCLAUGHLIN: Which means, if we release it, she can take us, each and every one of us, to the grand jury and indict each and every one of us. Boy, I've had one heated argument with a district attorney, and basically got told I can go fly a kite.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, she doesn't have a heart.
MCLAUGHLIN: No, she doesn't.
FLORES: CNN has reached out to the Uvalde D.A. about the story but so far hasn't heard back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over and over -- FLORES: Visibly absent from the meeting, recently elected city council member Pete Arredondo. The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety has identified Arredondo, who is also the school district police chief, as the incident commander and laid the blame on him for the failed police response to the deadly attack.
The school district placed Arredondo on administrative leave. Arredondo told "The Texas Tribune" he didn't consider himself the incident commander.
Thursday was the second council meeting Arredondo missed. According to the city charter, if he misses one more, he could be removed.
MCLAUGHLIN: If he misses a third, I don't think there's anybody up here that will tell you we won't take the action that we need to take.
FLORES: But that's no consolation for the families who want Arredondo ousted.
ANGEL GARZA, AMERIE JO'S FATHER: We want you all to look at this, not as a mayor --
MCLAUGHLIN: I'm not -- I'm trying.
GARZA: -- not as a city council member. Look at it as a dad, as a parent. Don't do what you can do as a mayor. Go beyond that. I know there is a limit on what you can do. Go beyond that. What if it was your kid? You are -- you can't say nothing.
MCLAUGHLIN: I can't, you're right.
GARZA: Nobody can.
MCLAUGHLIN: You're right, I can't.
GARZA: You understand that. So do your part for us. If you can't say something, do something.
FLORES: If Arredondo misses the next city council meeting, which is scheduled for July 12th, he could be voted out by a majority of his city council peers. I reached out to Arredondo's attorney and have not heard back.
Rosa Flores, CNN, San Antonio.
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[10:52:51]
FISHER: WNBA star Brittney Griner appeared in a Moscow court yesterday for her first trial hearing after being accused of smuggling drugs into the country.
SANCHEZ: Let's bring in CNN's Carolyn Manno. She has more in this morning's Bleacher Report. Good morning, Carol.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you both. Griner has been sitting in a Russian jail since February. She is charged with carrying cannabis into a Russian airport which could yield a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Officials with the U.S. embassy in Moscow attended the proceedings and at least one was able to speak with Griner directly. The State Department says the Olympian is being unlawfully detained.
Russian officials have extended her detention for six months pending the outcome of the trial. The second hearing is set to take place on Thursday, but she is certainly on the minds of her WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury, who play in Chicago later today.
Just moments ago, Coco Gauff has been knocked out of Wimbledon. The 18-yearpold falling in three sets to fellow American Amanda Anisimova. Venus Williams made a surprise return to Wimbledon yesterday.
The seven-time champ got a late wildcard entry into the mixed doubles event. She and Jamie Murray won their opening round match. Venus had gone to London to support her sister Serena in her comeback, but she could not resist the urge to try and play again.
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VENUS WILLIAMS, TENNIS PLAYER: I saw the grass and I got excited. I was at the French Open, and it's a beautiful event. But my heart didn't beat the same way, not that I could play. But I had no plans.
So that's why I was asking last minute. And he just had a baby, too, so I know that there's a lot going on. But definitely, I couldn't have guessed that I would be here right now.
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MANNO: No plans, casual, right. Venus and Murray will play their second round match tomorrow.
And a pair of stars are receiving the nation's highest civilian honor. Simone Biles and Megan Rapinoe are two of the 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Biles has been an advocate for victims of sexual abuse and mental health issues while Rapinoe has advocated for gender equity and LGBTQ rights. Rapinoe says she's humbled by the honor.
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[10:55:00]
MEGAN RAPINOE, SOCCER PLAYER: It's literally the point of life to be able to walk in your truth and be who you are. And I'm just incredibly honored. Thank you so the president and to the entire White House for bestowing this crazy honor on me. I just can't even, I can't even believe it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MANNO: Boris and Kristin, both of those women have shed light in some of sports very dark places. They are certainly deserving of this honor, and everybody continuing to pay attention to what is happening to Brittney Griner and just wishing her all the best as she continues to endure a very difficult situation in Russia.
SANCHEZ: We know you're going to keep track of that story for us. Carolyn Manno, thank you so much.
FISHER: And thank you all for watching. We will see you back here tomorrow morning. Boris, we made it, five hours.
SANCHEZ: Five hours. We made it.
FISHER: It's been a pleasure to be with you. It flew by, right.
SANCHEZ: Yes. I hope Michael Smerconish is enjoying that beach that he's at, and again, hopefully wearing sunscreen.
Don't go anywhere, because there's still much more ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom. Ryan Nobles, our good friend Ryan, is in for Fredricka Whitfield, and it all starts after a short break. Thanks for watching.
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