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Biden, Harris Speak to WNBA Star Brittney Griner's Wife; Monmouth Poll: 88 Percent Say U.S. is "On the Wrong Track"; Uvalde Mayor Fears Cover-Up in Mass Shooting Investigation; Great Salt Lake "In Trouble" as Water Level Hits Record Low. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired July 06, 2022 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[13:33:59]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: We just learned in the last hour President Biden and Vice President Harris spoke with the wife of Brittney Griner. The WNBA star has been detained in Russia four months now.
Earlier this week, Griner, we leawrned, sent a hand-written letter to the president asking the president to do more to get her out.
CNN's Phil Mattingly joins us from the White House.
Phil, what are you learning? What did the president say on this call?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Ana, the wife of Brittney Griner has been asking for weeks to speak to the president about her wife who is being held in Russia, unlawfully detained, as the U.S. said.
She spoke with national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and Secretary of State Blinken.
But it wasn't until today she spoke to President Biden and Vice President Harris in a call that U.S. officials said was to reassure Cherelle Griner that the U.S. is working hard to get Brittney Griner released as well as Paul Whalen, another American held in Russia at this point in time.
The genesis of this phone call seems to be the private letter she wrote to President Biden. President Biden read that letter yesterday morning.
[13:35:04]
In that, she said she is terrified she may be here forever. Made it clear, she didn't want the president to forget about her or other Americans held hostages overseas.
The president drafted a response to that letter. It was read to Cherelle Grinter on the phone.
The president also made clear to Brittney Griner's wife that he and the administration will be in regular touch going forward. Obviously, a process that's very ongoing, very closely held in terms of what it entails.
But the president and vice president making clear to Cherelle Gringer they are very much working on this issue of Brittney Griner's detention in Russia -- Ana?
CABRERA: Phil Mattingly, at the White House, thank you.
Let's fast forward now because, in a couple hours, President Biden will speak on the economy and the sticker shock that's hammering all of us. He will announce new protections for workers and their pensions.
His remarks come as members of his own party and key reporters are getting more frustrated. They are questioning if the White House can muster the urgency to deal with huge challenges from the economy to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
And the lack of confidence is widespread. A Monmouth poll just found 88 percent of Americans think the U.S. is on the wrong track. That's an all-time low.
And the respondents' top concern? Inflation. So does reality back up this weak view?
CNN business correspondent, Rahel Solomon, is here to break it down.
Bring us the facts, Rahel. Where do we stand with inflation?
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: For a lot of Americans, their reality is shaped by the high inflation. Let's look at CPI. Consumer inflation.
You have to go to the early '80s to see the type of levels we're seein in the last CPI report. It came in about 8.6 percent.
Of course, we know, under the hood of that number, it was really high energy prices, really high food prices. The cost of new and used cars, pretty much everything broad based has gone up. The cost of shelter has gone up, which has economists concerned.
If you are an American at home, it's hard to perhaps understand how to feel great about the economy right now, even though there are some silver linings when you get hit so hard with inflation.
And personally, Ana, I talked to economists and traders and analysts every day about this. Sometimes I find myself shocked when I go to the grocery store and look at prices and say, wow, this costs this now? So it's understandable.
Let's talk about gas prices. We've actually seen a different trend lately. Because how about this? Gas prices today on average $4.78, lowish than a week ago. That's interesting.
Lower than a month ago. Of course, much higher than a year ago. So some release for consumers. Certainly not anything to necessarily celebrate.
One thing I can say is folks who watch this space very closely expect this number to keep decreasing, at least in the short term. So that is perhaps good news.
Gas prices, Ana, according to that Monmouth poll, was the second top priority. Inflation right at the top and gas prices right under.
CABRERA: Is that high for the inflated gas prices, I should say, that are
SOLOMON: Exactly.
CABRERA: -- a big part of all of it.
I am wondering unemployment, though. You mentioned a silver lining. That is one area that's been relatively strong through all of this.
SOLOMON: Yes, exactly. So when you look at the labor market. This has been really interesting, the labor market is really strong, red hot, in fact. Demand for workers has remained a long stronger that most would expect.
Look at the unemployment rate since January 2020. Of course, we know what happened here. This was the pandemic. The shutdowns we saw all around the country.
After that, however, as we started to reopen and as demand rebounded, we saw unemployment drift low. Right now, we're about 3.6 percent. And 3.5 is a 50-year low. We're seeing really strong demand for workers.
By the way, the next jobs report is Friday. That will be really interesting.
Another silver lining I think is important to talk about is research shows that, by and large, not everyone, but most Americans still have more in their checking and savings accounts that before the pandemic. Bank of America research recently backed that up.
So the hope is that with the labor market remaining as strong as it has been, and with consumers still having quite a bit in their checking accounts, that we can sort of weather the storm of inflation. But we're not seeing signs of it peaking yet. That's the concern.
CABRERA: Thank you so much, Rahel. We'll keep on those numbers come Friday.
Turmoil at 10 Downing Street, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is digging in as a growing number of government officials say, we're out.
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BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I am happy to tell you that I am getting on with the job that I was elected to do. And that is what I am going to do.
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CABRERA: In less than 24 hours, the past day, 36 ministers and aides have quit following a series of scandals. The latest, Johnson's handling of a sexual misconduct allegation against a former minister.
[13:40:05]
And that comes weeks after the prime minister survived a no-confidence vote from the so-called party-gate scandal.
Now based on the rules, he can't face another vote for a year. But there's some talk that government officials could try to make some changes to the rules to get rid of Johnson. We will closely continue to watch that.
It has been six weeks since 19 children and two teachers were murdered at a school in Uvalde, Texas. But there's a lot we still don't know about that tragic day. Now the mayor says he is worried about a possible coverup.
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CABRERA: The mayor of Uvalde, Texas, is making a shocking allegation. He says fears of a coverup are on his mind by the Department of Public Safety there in Texas.
That's the lead agency conducting the investigation into the school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
CNN crime and justice correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz, interviewed the mayor and is joining us now.
Shimon, why does he think a coverup is happening?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT; Well, one of the things he's concerned about with the Texas Department of Public Safety, the DPS, is that since they are running this information, this investigation, they're controlling the information.
And the concern is that they're trying to discern, from his point, paint themselves sort of in a light where they almost did nothing wrong and instead blaming everything on the local authorities and specifically the school police chief.
Take a listen to him describing some of his concerns.
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MAYOR DON MCLAUGHLIN (R-UVALDE, TX): I think it's a coverup on --
PROKUPECZ: They're covering up?
MCLAUGHLIN: They're covering up --
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PROKUPECZ: For who?
MCLAUGHLIN: For maybe his agencies. Or maybe the story he told that, you know, it's hard, you know -- as I say, it's always hard when you tell lies, you have to keep telling lies.
Your story can't change on something this horrific four times in three days. That's what he's done.
Let's be candid, when I got to that scene, there were 30 or 40 UPS officers already on the scene. The various videos, you see outside, you see UPS officers running around with flag jackets on, ballistic helmets on, and different things. That is video has been shown from the outside.
Yet, when we want to talk about no presence of DPS there in the hallway?
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PROKUPECZ: So that's the thing.
He says he wants to know what the state troopers or Texas officials were doing in the hallway, were doing outside the school exactly what their role is.
Ultimately, he wants to also know, why didn't any other officers try and help and assist here and break through the door going to the classroom?
He feels it's unfair that everything is blamed sort of on one agency. He feels the blame needs to be shared.
That's why he thinks this information needs to come out soon, so the families can learn the response here.
CABRERA: As you point out, that agency falls under the governor. So how does he plan to get to the bottom of it?
PROKUPECZ: Well, he said he's going to write a letter to the governor asking the governor to come to Uvalde and talk to the families. It's unclear if the governor will do that.
He thinks he will continue to put pressure on the governor, on the state officials to give this information. Also, his concern with the local D.A. He wants her to be able to release information.
CABRERA: Shimon Prokupecz, thank you for that interview and sharing it with us.
Russia's war on Ukraine is making its way to space. How cosmonauts on the International Space Station are celebrating the Russian capture of a key region in Ukraine.
And this picture was taken, not on Mars, but here on earth, of what is supposed to be a lake. What's making it dry up?
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CABRERA: The International Space Station has long been a neutral place despite Russia's war in Ukraine until now.
Take a look at these photos. Those are cosmonauts posing with the flags of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Ukraine.
And these were posted on July 3rd. That's the same day separatist leaders in lieu, whose countries have been actively supporting Ukraine.
Keep in mind, these three Russians are living with three Americans and one Italian whose countries have been actively supporting Ukraine.
NASA and other members of the crew have not commented on those photos.
Now to an other-worldly scene that is anything but. This is the Great Salt Lake in Utah or, as you can see, what's left of it. The water level has just dropped to a new low, and it's expected to dry up even more.
Joining us now is Meteorologist Jennifer Gray.
Jennifer, those images are shocking. What's causing that?
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They're really haunting. So we've seen just a mega drought going on in the west. And this is just a jaw dropping example of that.
Great Salt Lake will most likely continue to fall over the next couple of months because they typically reach their lowest level of the year in the fall. And so it is most likely going to go even lower.
Lake Mead, Lake Powell also at their lowest that we've ever seen. These are pictures of Lake Mead. We're now seeing World War II ships being revealed because it's so low. We've never seen this before.
This mega drought over the last couple of decades all fueled by climate change is really making the water crisis in the west dire.
We have more than three-fourths of the west right now in drought conditions. And it looks like the drought is going to persist over much of the west through July.
[13:55:01]
This is the July outlook. And so Great Salt Lake right there. That's going to be in that area where it's persisting as well as Lake Mead, Lake Powell.
Now, Lake Mead should start to fill up just a little bit over the next couple of months because it does get some help from the monsoon rains in the southwest.
But we are hot across the board, not just the west but in the midsection of the country as well. Excessive heat today all across the midsection of the country and the south where the heat index feels like 112 in Memphis. Shreveport at 106.
We have had three heat waves so far this season. Most of those impacting the west and the south. And so it is just sticking around as far as we're concerned.
Morning low temperatures have been close to 80 degrees. And, Ana, that's dangerous as well because your body can't recover. That's typically when we see our body recover is during the overnight hours. And we're not able to do that.
CABRERA: And you add in the humidity, and it just feels that much worse.
Thank you, Jennifer Gray. I appreciate it.
That does it for us today. See you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. Until then find me on Twitter, @Ana Cabrera.
Much more with Alisyn Camerota after this.
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