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Alleged Buffalo Shooter Indicted; President Biden Continues Middle East Trip; South Carolina Attorney Indicted on Murder Charges; Inflation Surging; Deadly Russian Missile Attack in Ukraine. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired July 14, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Alisyn Camerota. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.

At least 23 people, including three children, are dead after a Russian cruise missile attack in the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia.

CAMEROTA: Officials say many more people are still missing, and more than 50 buildings were damaged.

Ukrainian officials believe the missiles were launched by Russian submarines in the Black Sea. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy called this an act of Russian terror.

CNN's Scott McLean is in Vinnytsia for us.

Scott, give us the latest of this hour.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, just look. This is across the street from the blast side, the streetcar here. You can see all of the windows are blown out.

They're trying to figure out how exactly they're going to move it if it still runs at this stage and how they're going to get it out of here. I will just take you over here. This is called the House of Officers. It's actually a concert venue, a theater. It's obviously from the Soviet era, quite old. This building was completely gutted on the inside.

We can actually walk past along and you can see inside bits of it. They are still, at least they were a few minutes ago, still hosing down parts of it, some of the hotter spots. They are trying to dismantle parts of it.

I want to take you over here for one second. So people have started to lay flowers here, stuffed animals as well. And the reason why is because, earlier in the day, there was a photo that was put out by the foreign minister and other officials showing a stroller and a girl's body next to it. This is the spot where that stroller was. We were here when they took it away as a piece of evidence.

We know that the girl who was killed is just 3 years old. Her name is Liza. Her mother was with her. Her name is Iryna. We understand she was badly injured. She's in the hospital right now fighting for her life to.

I will take you over here quickly. So, across the street from the theater, this is an office building. And you can see there's only maybe four or five windows that have been spared the force, just the sheer kinetic energy of this glass. It completely blew out the front side of this building.

I have actually spoken to some people who were inside at the time. And it's remarkable that they are alive. It's just sort of the angle of the blast that managed to shield them from most of the shrapnel.

I also spoke with a man -- we will become a little bit closer to show you. But I also spoke with a man who was actually in -- outside of the building using the cash machine there, using the ATM machine. And that little hood that you see around it, he sealed it himself inside from the full force of the blast. And, remarkably, the only has a cut on him.

He says that he's lucky to be alive, for obvious reasons. I will show you this here, quickly. This -- if you're wondering, this is a monument to the Ukrainian air force. You can see the firefighters here are working to get rid of all of the debris. This is the part of the building that really took the brunt of one of the missile strikes.

You can see it's obviously been burned. It's obviously shielded, a lot of the rest of the building, from the worst of this. And I can't let you go without showing you two other things quickly. First off, here is where they're dismantling the theater.

This was the epicenter of one of the missile strikes. They're starting to pull down the wall, which is why it's a bit dusty around here. And then, Victor and Alisyn, this is the other crater from the missile strike.

Remember, this is an asphalt parking lot. And so you can imagine just how much force it would take to create that kind of a crater, that size of a crater in a place like this.

Apologies for the noise. They're just trying to clean it up. It's been 10, 11 hours since the actual blast took place. And it's remarkable how quickly they're working to try to get this back in order.

Vinnytsia, keep in mind, is not close to the front lines. People hear, they obviously heard the sirens. Around 10:15, 10:45 is when those missiles actually hit. Some people were sheltering.

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But, surely, given where we are right now, a lot of people, we know, chose to go on with their lives, because they just didn't expect this to happen here. CAMEROTA: Scott, it's just incredible to have you in Vinnytsia for

us, to walk us around and show us just the breadth of the devastation there. It's incredible looking at that scene that anybody survived to be able to tell the story to Scott there.

BLACKWELL: And to wait under that hood of the ATM, and that was enough, it is miraculous that that man survived at all and with just a cut, as Scott reported.

CAMEROTA: Scott McLean, thank you very much for being there for us. We will check back with you.

Back here in the U.S., yet another sign that prices are still soaring. The Producer Price Index jumped from 11.3 percent in June. This is compared to last year. That's higher than economists predicted. Stocks are down after the news.

BLACKWELL: CNN business correspondent Rahel Solomon is with us now.

So, yesterday, we got the Consumer Price Index number, 40-year high there. Significance of this and what this means for the Fed?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: So the significance of this, which actually doesn't tend to get a lot of attention, but these days certainly has taken on a heightened importance, is that this is factory level inflation, what companies, what businesses are experiencing.

So we know what companies are experiencing, we tend to see sort of trickle down in the prices that we pay as consumers. In terms of what this means for the Fed, well, guys, this is the second back-to-back hot inflation report.

You -- about a week ago, half-a-percent to three-quarters-of-a-percent was the expectation heading into the Federal Reserve's meeting in about two, two weeks from now. After we got the really hot jobs report, which signaled that demand for workers is still quite strong, quite robust, supply not as much, and then you get two hot inflation reports that suggest that inflation is broadening, it's widening, it is not abating, it certainly means that the Fed is going to have to do more, rather than less.

And now there are questions of, might we see a full percentage point at that meeting in two weeks? One Fed official yesterday was asked about that very thing. He said everything is in play.

CAMEROTA: What's happening with mortgage rates? They're down, they're up? What is happening?

SOLOMON: They're down, they're up. They're certainly up this year.

So at the beginning of this year, they were at 3 percent. Right now, they're closer to about 5.5 for an average 30-year, but remember, a few weeks ago, they had gone up as high as 6 percent. So mortgage rates are very sensitive to the Fed's benchmark interest rate. The Fed doesn't set mortgage rates, but it certainly influences them,

which is why we have seen our rates increase the way they do as it gets ahead of what the Fed is doing. This spells affordability issues, right? I mean, prices for homes are still on average at least 15 percent higher than they were a year ago. And borrowing costs have continued to go up.

By the way as the Fed continues to raise rates, borrowing costs continue to go up. I asked a few officials today in the housing market what they expect for mortgage rates. The smart minds think maybe they will sort of settle in the fall. They're still going up and likely will this year.

BLACKWELL: Wow.

Rahel Solomon, thank you.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yes.

BLACKWELL: A grand jury has indicted a former prominent attorney in South Carolina on murder charges for the killing of his wife and son.

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were found shot to death at their home last June. Now, investigators say that Alex Murdaugh says that he called 911 after he found their bodies.

CAMEROTA: CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in South Carolina following this story for us.

So, Dianne, how did they link him to their deaths?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

Well, so Alisyn, on June 7 2021, as you said, Alex Murdaugh called 911 saying that he had found the bodies of his wife and son on their property about half-an-hour from here. He said they were on the ground outside there. Today, 13 months later, a grand jury actually in that courthouse right there behind me indicted him in their murders.

They said that they essentially -- they also allege that he is the one who pulled the triggers in these murders. Now, of course, that is plural. There are very few details in these indictments. But what they do say and allege is that Murdaugh shot his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, with a rifle and his 22-year-old son, Paul, with a shotgun.

Now, Alex Murdaugh's attorneys released a statement shortly after the indictments came down, saying -- quote -- "Alex wants his family and friends and everyone to know that he did not have anything to do with the murders of Maggie and Paul. He loved them more than anything in the world. It was very clear from day one that law enforcement and the attorney general prematurely concluded that Alex was responsible for the murder of his wife and son. But we know that Alex did not have any motive whatsoever to murder them. We are immediately filing a motion for a speedy trial." Now, they did indicate that they'd like that trial to take place as soon as 90 days from when they can get that paperwork in motion. Of course, Murdaugh is currently in jail on financial and insurance- related fraud charges, some 70 charges related to crime like that at this point, on a $7 million bond.

There was also the initial arrest of Alex Murdaugh, which is related to that failed suicide-for-hire insurance fraud scheme. And then there are the three deaths in addition to Maggie and Paul where investigations have been opened or reopened that are connected in some way to the Murdaugh family orbit.

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Now, Alex Murdaugh, once a prominent attorney here in the Lowcountry area, was disbarred by the South Carolina state Supreme Court this week as well. I just want to finish by saying something the state law enforcement division chief ended his statement with today when he announced these indictments.

He said, today is one more step in a long process for justice for Maggie and Paul. Again, no details as to exactly what did link them. We do have sources that tell CNN's Randi Kaye that there was blood splatter on clothing. And there also may be a recording that was found on Paul Murdaugh's phone, but, according to these indictments, at this point, they can just simply link Alex Murdaugh to shooting his wife and his son.

CAMEROTA: It's amazing in some ways that it took so many months to get to this point.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Dianne Gallagher, thank you very much for all that reporting.

BLACKWELL: It's day two of President Biden's high-stakes Middle East trip.

And ahead of traveling to Saudi Arabia, the president will not give a clear answer on how he will address Jamal Khashoggi's murder. We're live in Jerusalem next.

CAMEROTA: And we have new information about that 10-year-old rape victim who had to cross state lines to get an abortion and all the people who tried to pretend this horrible story was not real.

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BLACKWELL: On his second day in the Middle East, President Biden reaffirmed America's alliance with Israel and U.S. support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion.

Now, this news conference also today with the Israeli prime minister further showed the contrast on a specific element.

CAMEROTA: President Biden is pushing diplomacy to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons. But Israel's leader says words alone will not work. He says Iran will only respond to military force.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins is in Jerusalem for us.

So, Kaitlan, President Biden also talked about the next leg of his trip to Saudi Arabia. Do we know if he plans to confront the crown prince about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Not based on anything that President Biden himself said, because he was asked about this specifically.

It wouldn't be that much of a surprise if this was something, a position that he would take, given, of course, the strong language that he used on the campaign trail about how he felt about Jamal Khashoggi's murder, saying it was a flat-out murder and saying that he vowed to make Saudi Arabia a pariah because of what happened.

And so that is why there's been so much focus on this trip to Saudi Arabia by President Biden. It's not because past presidents have not had relationships with them. It's because of his comments previously.

And so he has put human rights at the center of his foreign policy. He said so himself. And so he was asked today, of course, whether or not he is directly going to bring this up with the Saudi crown prince when he comes face to face with him just 24 hours from now. The president wouldn't explicitly say, yes, that he would, but he did say why he believes he's going to Saudi Arabia and why this trip is important.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to be meeting with nine other heads of state. It's not just -- this happens to be in Saudi Arabia.

And so there are so many issues at stake. I will bring up -- I always bring up human rights. I always bring up human rights. But my position on Khashoggi has been so clear. If anyone doesn't understand it in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else, then they haven't been around for a while.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Of course, Victor and Alisyn, as you could hear there, that was not an explicit yes from the president.

It was a more of, my position is known on this, seeming to make the argument that he doesn't need to necessarily bring it up. There will be a lot on the agenda, of course. Oil production is one of the number one things they will be discussing, but the White House has been downplaying whether or not President Biden is going to walk away from this trip with any concrete commitments from the Saudis to pump more oil. CAMEROTA: OK, Kaitlan Collins, thank you very much for all of that

reporting.

Let's bring in Bobby Ghosh. He's a foreign affairs columnist for Bloomberg Opinion.

Bobby, great to see you.

So, if President Biden is basically saying that he has a lot of agenda items in Saudi Arabia, including oil, do you expect that he will bring up Jamal Khashoggi?

BOBBY GHOSH, BLOOMBERG OPINION: Oh, if he does, I think it would be in the most perfunctory way possible just to tick a box.

I don't think that there's going to be any deep conversation about it. I think, just as the Saudis know his position, he knows the Saudis' position, and neither side is really going to change on the basis of one face-to-face visit between the president and the crown prince.

So, if it comes up, I think it'll only be in passing. It's not going to be at the top of the agenda. I doubt either side will push very hard on that discussion.

BLACKWELL: Is there something lost by the president not directly confronting MBS or the assessment, or bring up the assessment from the intel community that he was responsible for that murder?

GHOSH: Well, the problem, of course, is that, if you do, then what? What are the consequences of bringing that up? What price are you expecting the Saudis to pay for this?

The president made the mistake of one time already to paint himself into the corner by promising to make a pariah out of Saudi Arabia, the whole country, and then failing to follow through on that promise.

I don't think -- as a career politician, I don't think he's going to make that mistake twice. If he brings it up, if he pushes too hard on it, then there's pressure on him to act on his principles. If he's not able to act -- and we know he's not for all kinds of reasons -- if he's not able to act on his principles, it makes no sense to raise them over and over again.

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CAMEROTA: Bobby, let's talk about the strategy with Iran.

So, President Biden would like to revive the Iran nuclear deal that President Trump had kiboshed. Is that likely to happen? Is that possible?

GHOSH: Well, it's looking less and less likely all the time.

The U.S. has put its offer on the table. The Americans think it's a very good deal. The Europeans agree it's a very good deal. The Iranians aren't interested. They keep adding new demands to the negotiations, which suggests to me that they're not very serious about getting this deal.

It suggests to me that they are much more comfortable in keep building up their uranium stockpiles to keep increasing their leverage with which to frighten the neighbors, to blackmail the rest of the world. There's not a lot of seriousness from the Iranian side.

President Biden, let's remember, came to office making the return of this deal a high priority. He has showed incredible good faith for a very long time with the Iranians. They're not showing any good faith in return. It's very hard to be optimistic that there's going to be a deal, certainly not anytime soon.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about the reception from the Palestinians.

The Palestinians dissatisfied by the U.S. response to the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The U.S. determined that she was likely killed by the IDF, but they could not conclusively say that the bullet came from a specific weapon.

What's the line he has to walk in East Jerusalem?

GHOSH: Well, he knows what the Palestinians are expecting from him. And he can't deliver that either.

He knows that the Palestinians want a full-throated criticism of Israel from the American president. No American president has ever successfully done that. There's no reason to believe Joe Biden will either.

I think the optics are not great that it was only as Biden was about to arrive in Jerusalem that the Biden administration invited Shireen's family to come see the U.S. government in Washington. If that was the only invitation that was available, surely, that's an invitation that could have been done some time ago.

So because the invitation was delivered so late, it feels a little bit like the administration and the presidency is reacting, rather than taking proactive steps. We have to remember Shireen was an American citizen. She was an American citizen who was shot dead in a foreign country, plenty of evidence suggesting -- evidence gathered by lots of credible American news organizations, as well as nonprofit human rights organizations.

A lot of evidence points in the direction of Israel. It's not satisfactory, it's not sufficient for the president at this late stage not to confront that directly.

BLACKWELL: All right, Bobby Ghosh, thanks for the analysis. A few more days of this trip.

Thank you, Bobby.

CAMEROTA: All right, we have some breaking news right now just into CNN. A federal grand jury has just indicted the accused Buffalo supermarket shooter on 27 counts. That includes 14 hate crime charges and 13 firearms charges. BLACKWELL: Now, that 19-year-old suspect is accused of opening fire

at a grocery store, killing 10 black people, injuring three others.

Let's go now to CNN's Athena Jones.

What's the U.S. attorney general saying about this indictment?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Victor and Alisyn.

I just want to let that we are here at the very beginning. The ceremony just began. They are preparing to reopen this Tops supermarket behind me for the first time since that horrific mass shooting two months ago. And that is what's going on behind me.

But, yes, as you mentioned, Payton Gendron accused of killing 10 black people, targeting them, purposely coming to the supermarket because it's in a black neighborhood, having planned this attack for years.

Among those federal charges, 10 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, three counts of hate crimes involving an attempt to kill -- he injured three people and did not kill them -- as well as a hate crime charge count alleging Gendron attempted to kill additional black people in the store.

That is something that one of the Tops employees I spoke with wanted to see. She was concerned that she felt targeted, and yet this suspect was not being charged in her killing.

So, we have here the authorities from the supermarket, the leaders talking about the full renovation that was done, the memorial that was put in inside the supermarket. There's a sort of waterfall and a poem honoring the victims. There's going to be a memorial outside at a later date.

And, of course, tomorrow is when they're going to have a soft reopening of the supermarket that is so important to this community. It is the only supermarket in about a four-mile radius in a place that people said formerly was a food desert.

There are mixed feelings among the folks we talk to, some apprehensive about coming back into the store, whether customers or workers, and others saying, we need this, we need this store to be open in our community, so that we can have access to fresh food, but a very emotional time here, as the families and the associates, the workers and staff here prepare to reopen -- Victor, Alisyn.

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BLACKWELL: Yes, an important center for that community.

Athena Jones with the breaking news.

Thank you, Athena.

CAMEROTA: All right, well, right-wing pundits and politicians tried to claim that the case of a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio was not real. Then the alleged rapist confessed.

Now what do they say?

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