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Biden's First Oval Office Address; Trump's Classified Documents Saga; India Three-Train Crash Kills Hundreds; Russian Border Region Under Fire; Ukraine Builds Drones; 2024 Republican Presidential Race; U.S. And Chinese Defense Chiefs Speak Briefly; Iowa Building Collapse; Churchill Downs To Go Dark Amid Horse Deaths. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired June 03, 2023 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and a very warm welcome. I'm Paula Newton.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Passing this budget agreement was critical. The stakes could not have been higher.
NEWTON (voice-over): President Biden speaking to the nation, sharing credit for the budget deal and showcasing his brand as a dealmaker. We'll look at whether it will impact his approval rating.
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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hello, South Carolina.
NEWTON (voice-over): The 2024 race is full steam ahead as a parade of Republican presidential candidates make their way through early voting states. The latest on the war words and what it says about that race.
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NEWTON (voice-over): And we'll have a live report on the deadly train crash in India as the search for survivors continues.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Paula Newton.
NEWTON: We do begin this hour in Washington, where President Biden is expected to sign the debt ceiling bill in the law in the coming hours. That will formally end the political drama that gripped Congress and the nation for weeks. Now just 48 hours ago, there were doubts that the highly contentious
bill would survive in Congress. But it did. Last night the president spoke from the Oval Office for the first time in his presidency to underscore the urgency of the legislation. Listen.
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BIDEN: Passing this budget agreement was critical. The stakes could not have been higher.
If we had failed to reach an agreement on the budget, there were extreme voices threatening to take America for the first time in our 247-year history into default on our national debt. Nothing, nothing would have been more irresponsible. Nothing would have been more catastrophic.
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NEWTON: The White House fought an uphill battle but, as President Biden made clear in that address, failure is not an option. Phil Mattingly has our details.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden, his top officials spent several weeks not really talking much at all about the high stakes, high intensity negotiations they were engaged in with House Republicans, trying to find some way to thread the needle, reach a compromise agreement to avoid potential catastrophe.
The debt ceiling debate, the debt ceiling negotiations and the eventual debt ceiling outcome, certainly when you talk to White House officials, were never exactly a sure thing.
Republicans, however, made clear throughout the process what they were working on, what their priorities were. The president and his team a little bit less so until the bill actually passed.
The bill's on its way to the White House. It's expected to be signed on Saturday. And President Biden made clear in his first Oval Office address, that he would be providing the last word, detailing what was in the negotiation, was in the final compromise agreement, why that compromise agreement was so critical.
And also starting to frame things for a moment ahead, where the threat of crisis, which had been hanging over this White House, Washington, the country, the economy for the better part of the last six months, is no longer really there.
And that an agreement, much like many of his legislative wins over the course of his first two years, underscores that his campaign promises, related to bipartisanship, to compromise, have actually come to fruition.
Take a listen.
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BIDEN: I know bipartisanship is hard and unity is hard but we can never stop trying because, in moments like this one, the one we just faced, where the American economy and the world economy is at risk of collapsing, there is no other way.
No matter how tough our politics gets, we need to see each other not as adversaries but as fellow Americans.
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MATTINGLY: The president, throughout the course of his remarks, detailing, again, the elements of the proposal but also where the White House was not willing to negotiate, the things White House officials negotiated to keep out of the proposal, despite the fact that they were Republican priorities.
Very much tracking with the president's long-held view that willing to compromise on policy, much less so on principles. I think this all underscores to some degree, when you talk to White House officials, the throughline over the course of the last several years, that the president believes he's actually delivered on.
And the same exact throughline that he's certainly going to focus on over the course of the next 15 months in a presidential campaign.
Obviously he has announced his campaign for re-election and, to some degree, this moment of getting the last word was also a moment of framing the debate, framing the politics --
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MATTINGLY (voice-over): -- framing his theory of the case for his re- election, one where bipartisanship and compromise was both important and, to some degree, delivered on.
One where the U.S. economy, as evidenced by the Friday jobs numbers, which came in much higher than expected, once again, showing a durable economy, show that there has been production, that there have been results but also one where there's now a clear path forward without a looming crisis to focus on that message.
And getting it out, something White House officials haven't successfully done over the course of his first 2.5 years -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
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NEWTON: Last hour I spoke with Professor Natasha Lindstaedt at the University of Essex in England and asked why the president chose this occasion to deliver his first address from the Oval Office. Listen.
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NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: I think he was trying to use the Oval Office to underscore how closely they averted an economic disaster.
And the U.S., had they not met that deal, would have plunged into recession which would have been terrible for the country and, of course, terrible for Biden and the Democrats.
So he was trying to use this moment to talk about how important bipartisan cooperation is. I think he went out of his way to highlight the cooperation with Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House.
And to really speak to his brand as a dealmaker and that he's willing to take a pragmatic approach, which often doesn't energize and excite people but I think, this case, it was really important because the alternative would have been catastrophic.
NEWTON: It's interesting, as a presidential candidate he ran on that reputation, that he could bring people together. As you mentioned, he spoke about the speaker, McCarthy, by name, singled him out and said that everyone went by their word.
Here's the question, though, this bipartisan outreach, will it give him any help politically?
Does it have a chance of actually improving his very anemic approval ratings?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, that's a really good question. I think a lot about the approval ratings these days seems to be connected to how the economy is doing and the perceptions of how the economy is doing.
So this particular instance of bipartisan cooperation was absolutely critical to staving off some kind of recession from happening. I think he's going to continue to emphasize this pragmatic approach which, as I mentioned, doesn't energize people, doesn't energize bases, so to speak.
But at the end of the day, I think that most Americans understand that this is the path forward. And though he's got 40 percent approval rating, this is really low. I don't think we have future presidents that's are going to be going above 50 percent.
I think we'll see a lot of presidents hovering around 40 percent because it's so polarized. At the end of the day, the middle of the road is going to triumph.
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NEWTON: Our thanks to Natasha there.
Sources tell CNN U.S. prosecutors subpoenaed Donald Trump for records related to a classified document on Iran. The document was discussed in an audio recording of the former president, though sources also say that Trump's attorneys have been unable to produce the document itself.
The recording, first reported by CNN, is now in the hands of special counsel Jack Smith. CNN senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid has more.
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QUESTION: Mr. President, why did you take classified documents concerning General Milley?
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN exclusively reporting former president Donald Trump served with a subpoena in mid-March, seeking any records related to the same U.S. military document he talks about on tape just six months after leaving the White House.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everything I did was right.
REID: Special counsel Jack Smith, Attorney General Merrick Garland's pick to oversee investigations into Trump, trying to track down any additional classified materials still in Trump's possession.
The former president's attorneys turned over some material, in response to the Justice Department's request but not the document in question, the one Trump was recorded discussing in July 2021, at his Bedminster New Jersey golf club.
On the tape, he acknowledges he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a possible attack on Iran.
TRUMP: There is no crime. You know, there is no crime.
REID: That tape, now in the hands of prosecutors, prompting them to subpoena all documents and materials related to Iran and Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
JIM TRUSTY, TRUMP LAWYER: I am not going to try the case that's being set up by leaks that I don't believe are accurate.
REID: Trump's attorney declining to address where the document is.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Has the document been returned to the National Archives?
TRUSTY: Same answer.
REID: Throughout the investigation, prosecutors have expressed skepticism about --
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REID (voice-over): -- whether they have gotten everything back from Trump over the last year. Trump's attorneys turned over 15 boxes to the National Archives, the FBI recovered more than 100 classified documents from their search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
And Trump's team found additional materials in subsequent searches of other Trump properties.
TRUMP: They become automatically declassified when I took them.
REID: Trump denying any wrongdoing. And when asked if he ever shared classified information with anyone --
TRUMP: Not really. I would have the right to. By the way, they were classified after --
COLLINS: What do you mean not really?
TRUMP: Not that I can think of. Let me just tell you, I have the absolute right to do whatever I want with them.
REID: In contrast, his former vice president striking a different tone after retaining classified materials.
MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Those classified documents should not have been at my personal residence. Mistakes were made.
REID: The Justice Department informing Mike Pence Thursday he will not face criminal charges for his handling of classified materials.
PENCE: And I take full responsibility.
REID (voice-over): After a small number of classified documents were found at his Indiana home.
REID: A special counsel also looking into the possible mishandling of classified documents at two locations connected to President Biden.
But our reporting this week on CNN has really underscored how the legal jeopardy for former president Trump and his special counsel investigation is so much greater, especially after we've learned about this audio recording and the fact that it's unclear if the government even has the document that Trump refers to on that tape -- Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
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NEWTON: Emergency teams in India are looking for survivors after one of the deadliest train crashes in the country's recent history.
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NEWTON (voice-over): Sirens wailing as hopes dim of finding more survivors; at least 288 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured when three trains collided Friday evening.
The Indian army has been deployed to evaluate and treat the injured. Images from the scene show mangled passenger cars piled up, scattered across the tracks. The prime minister says he's on his way to the site of the crash in the eastern state and review the situation for himself.
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NEWTON: Marc Stewart is following this for us.
We appreciate it, especially as you consider how long it's already been since the train crash happened. And the fact that so many family members are still worrying, wondering whether their family members might still be alive.
MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, good morning. There are a number of challenges still at play. Rescue teams have been able to get into the cars. The concern is under the individual carriages.
They are very heavy. There's fear that people are trapped below. That is one reason why many rescuers are concerned that the death toll here could rise.
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STEWART (voice-over): Mangled carriages and body bags line the tracks in India's eastern state, shaken by the country's deadliest rail accident in more than a decade. Two passenger trains and a freight train collided.
In the dead of night, rescuers worked frantically to save as many lives as possible searching through the coaches littered across train tracks, pulling out survivors from compartments that lay torn open in the dark.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When I came out of the train buggy (ph), I saw someone had lost a hand, someone had lost a leg, while someone's face was distorted.
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STEWART (voice-over): Frantic scenes at the hospital where the race to save lives continues with a steady stream of those that live to see another day. And many who in this hour of need lined up to donate blood.
The country's prime minister and president both offered their condolences, compensation for the deceased and the injured is being offered and the exact sequence of events is under investigation.
As daylight exposes the extent of the disaster, it also shines a light on the state of Indian railways. Despite millions invested on much- needed modernization, aging infrastructure and poor maintenance continues to risk the lives of more than 13 million passengers that rely on the Indian railways every single day.
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STEWART: And the rail system has been under a lot of scrutiny lately in India. I discovered this; it's a bit shocking but, if we look at the data, about 16,000 people are killed every year in rail-related accidents in India, not necessarily in a crash like this but people are either hit at a crossing or they jump off a rail car.
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STEWART: It's been an ongoing concern and what happened here is going to prompt further discussion.
NEWTON: It's a stunning number. As you said, people will be looking for accountability to figure out why this happened and hoping it won't happen again. Appreciate it.
The invasion of Ukraine come comes back to haunt Russia at home. Still ahead, new artillery strikes hit the territory as Ukraine tries to wash its hands of any responsibility.
Plus in the Ukrainian push to level the playing field in war, CNN gets an exclusive access to Kyiv's military drone program.
And the U.S. presidential election is still well over a year away but two major Republican contenders are already campaigning and, yes, taking verbal swings at each other from the campaign trail. Stay with us.
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NEWTON: Ukraine says four Kremlin collaborators were killed when their car blew up on Friday. Now it says it happened in the occupied city of Mykhailivka, where Russian appointed officials --
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NEWTON: -- confirmed the explosion but only one person was killed and two others were wounded.
The leader of the Wagner group says Russia's defense ministry tried to sabotage his pullout from Bakhmut. Yevgeny Prigozhin said the ministry laid mines on the exit routes used by Wagner forces on their way out of the city. He didn't provide any evidence to back up that allegation.
While Ukraine says Russia is getting an overdue reality check with more fighting across the border, Russia is reporting a series of new artillery strikes in Belgorod, which Ukraine officially says it has nothing to do with. Salma Abdelaziz joins us live from London.
That's the point in terms of what Ukraine is saying. This whole cross border skirmish is wreaking havoc inside Russia. And yet Ukraine says we don't know anything about this, we don't have anything to do with it.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Since the start of this conflict, this war has been fought on Ukrainian territory and will continue to be that way. But in the last few weeks and months, what we have seen is the war coming to Russia, if you will.
This ramp-up in drone attacks, including that dramatic one a few weeks a ago, now these cross border raids just a couple weeks ago, two Russian national groups but anti-Putin armed by Ukrainian armed forces made this dramatic ground incursion into this region.
One of those groups, the Russian volunteer corps is carrying out the second phase of its operation. It's inside Russian territory, trying to take out Russian assets. But it contends it's sparing civilians.
Russian officials deny that those Russian volunteer corps fighters are actually on the ground inside Russia. But you can see the images of this very intense artillery and mortar fire that continues to hit the border villages that forced thousands of people to flee, hundreds of families to shelter in government-provided buildings.
It's forced officials to try to get control of the situation. And that's forced President Putin to acknowledge and respond. He says this is all an attempt to destabilize Russia. Take a listen.
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today, we will deal with the same issues in relation to ensuring security of Russia; in this case, domestic political security, taking into account the efforts that our ill-wishers are still making and intensifying in order to stir up the situation inside Russia.
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ABDELAZIZ: Throughout this conflict, Ukraine has had to fight on two fronts. Absolutely push on those front lines in the east of the country, push on that battlefield but also try to protect the rest of its territory from Russian attacks.
On a much smaller scale, it seems Ukraine, without acknowledging, officials do not acknowledge or claim responsibility for these raids, it is forcing this strategy, this hybrid form of warfare on Russia itself.
Russia forces now also having to fight on those battlefields, on those front lines while defending territory and reallocating resources and responding to what is a continuing attack along these border regions.
NEWTON: They certainly intensified in a way that Russia didn't see coming. I want to get back to that car explosion. It's difficult to know exactly what went on there.
What more are you learning?
ABDELAZIZ: It's difficult to know and still early information that we're getting on this. But it's part of what we're seeing in the south of Ukraine in some of these regions that are Russian occupied.
The military is carrying out shaping operations. So trying to take out Russian positions, Russian military positions along the sea ahead of this expected counteroffensive. Again, we talk about this counteroffensive.
But it's important to remember that this is not going to be a date, a time, a place for this counteroffensive. It's going to be a continued operation that begins with Ukrainian forces, as they are underway right now, taking out Russian positions.
The shaping operation is taking out Russian positions, softening the enemy, as they prepare to make a major push into those eastern front lines.
NEWTON: We'll leave it there for now. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you.
Now we want to introduce you to what some Ukrainians consider the big equalizer in the war, military drones, which Ukraine is producing at home. CNN's Fred Pleitgen got an exclusive access to Ukraine's effort to make its own unmanned flying machines.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Can this fly into Russia?
VALERIY BOROVYK, CEO, ALLIANCE: Yes.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Valeriy Borovyk's company makes combat drones for Ukrainian front line troops and they allowed us to film test flights at a secret location.
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PLEITGEN (voice-over): And he says, reaching Moscow is not a problem.
BOROVYK: We have a bigger drone for 700 kilometer with warhead 20 kilograms.
PLEITGEN: That could fly almost all the way to Moscow.
BOROVYK: Yes.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): While Ukraine denies direct involvement in the recent Moscow drone attack, Kyiv has drastically expanded its use of drones for everything from surveillance to directly bombing Russian ground troops. Cheap, easy to use and lethal, UAVs, once considered toys, are now vital to Kyiv's war efforts.
PLEITGEN: Ukrainians say for them, drones are the big equalizer in this war. They say the Russians have more tanks, more artillery and more planes. But the Ukrainians have the creativity of their population.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): This is a drone competition organized by Ukraine's government with simulated attacks on ground targets, chasing fixed wing drones and even drone dogfights.
We were granted exclusive access on the condition we don't reveal the location. It's like a startup fare for FPV or first-person view drones. Small UAVs that can drop mortars and grenades flown by pilots wearing VR goggles from a makeshift trench to simulate the battlefield.
DENIS SEGA, DRONE OPERATOR (through translator): Our drones are very easy to use, especially if the pilot has flown similar drones. I think they will intuitively understand how they work.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The stakes are immense. A general involved in drone procurement for Ukraine's military tells me --
BRIGADIER GEN. YURIY SHCHYHOL, HEAD OF UKRAINE STATE SERVICE OF SPECIAL COMMUNICATION (through translator): About 30 companies in Ukraine are already mass producing these drones and our goal is to purchase up to 200,000 by the end of the year.
Their backs up against the wall when Russia's massive army invaded last year, the Ukrainians quickly realized cheap air power could help keep them in the fight.
First using modified consumer drones, now with more sophisticated UAVs developed in Ukraine what the government here calls the Army of Drones Project, spearheaded by the Minister of Digital Transformation.
MYKHAILO FEDOROV, UKRAINIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER & MINISTER OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION (through translator): This is a technological war and it's very important to understand how technology is developing and what we as a state can do to increase the number of drones.
A certain revolution is also taking place regarding production scaling.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): And while the Ukrainians still won't admit direct involvement, the Russians do admit they are concerned they might soon see more armed drones flying toward Moscow -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.
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NEWTON: After weeks of uncertainty and with only days to spare, the U.S. President will soon sign a vital piece of legislation to keep the federal government from running out of money. That story just ahead.
Plus the U.S. Defense Secretary criticizes China at a security summit. We'll tell you how the Chinese military is responding.
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NEWTON: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Paula Newton.
The U.S. debt limit crisis is over, for now. And perhaps no one is more relieved than President Biden.
In his words, "Crisis averted."
The stakes were enormous, yet the threat of failure hung over the country for weeks, as the White House and Republican leaders seemed locked in a stalemate. The hard work finally paid off late Thursday, when the Senate voted to suspend the debt ceiling and avoid catastrophic default.
The end of the debt ceiling crisis helped trigger one of Wall Street's biggest rallies so far this year. The Dow closed up more than 700 points on Friday, its best day since January. The Nasdaq and S&P also posted strong gains. The markets were also energized by the latest jobs report which suggests efforts are finally taking hold.
This is all on the heels of Friday's positive jobs report. The U.S. economy adding 339,000 jobs last month, beating expectations. The most job gains were in professional business services followed by government and health care jobs.
Earlier CNN economic and political commentator Catherine Rampell gave us her take on why U.S. jobs numbers keep beating predictions.
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CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, 13 out of the past 14 months, the numbers have exceeded expectations. And forecasts are often wrong in some direction. It's very unusual for them to be consistently wrong in the same direction.
That is month after month after month, this job market has been underestimated. I think it's a little bit of a puzzle, to be quite honest, particularly, given the fact that we have had very sharp rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, other signs of financial stress.
There was frankly good reason to believe that we would have seen more of a slowdown in the job market by now. It's great that hasn't happened. It's just contrary to historically what we might have expected.
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NEWTON: Now Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis was on the campaign trail Friday. He made stops at several towns in South Carolina. He took a question from the audience about how he met his wife a day after he clashed with a reporter over the lack of audience engagement at his events so far.
For the most part, he stuck with his conservative campaign pitch.
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DESANTIS: I believe that the woke ideology represents a war on truth itself. And so as president, we will wage a war on the woke. We will fight the woke in the schools. We will fight the woke in the corporations. We will fight the woke in the halls of Congress. We will never ever
surrender to the woke mob. We are going to leave woke ideology in the dust bin of history where it belongs.
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NEWTON: So DeSantis is try convince voters he would be much more effective in the White House than Donald Trump. But the former president is pushing back and firing shots of his own. Listen.
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QUESTION: Governor, how come you're not taking questions from voters?
DESANTIS: People are coming up to me, talking to me. What are you talking about?
I'm out here talking with people. Are you blind?
QUESTION: What?
DESANTIS: Are you blind?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He had a very bad day today. He got very angry at the press. You're not allowed to get angry at the press.
DESANTIS: I think it's a project that will begin on day one.
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DESANTIS: And it will require a daily grind for not just one term but I think for two full presidential terms.
TRUMP: Eight years. We need eight years. You don't need eight years, you need six months. We can turn this thing around so quickly.
DESANTIS: Why didn't he do it in his first four years?
TRUMP: You don't change your name in the middle of an election. Changed his name in the middle of the election, you don't do that.
DESANTIS: That's ridiculous. These stupid things. Listen, the way to pronounce my last name, winner.
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NEWTON: There have been varying ways to pronounce his name, even by the governor himself. This weekend, DeSantis will try to make his pitch in Iowa, where several GOP hopefuls are expected to rally. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has that report.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The growing field of Republican presidential candidates heading to Iowa on Saturday for a first major appearance on the same stage.
Most of the candidates with the exception of former president Donald Trump will be making their case to Iowa Republican voters and activists at a gathering called "Roast and Run" Senator Joni Ernst's annual event.
She's a known motorcycle rider and invited presidential candidates to come ride with her or deliver speeches here as the presidential campaign really accelerates and gets underway.
Now this comes after a week of campaigning for former president Donald Trump in the state, Florida governor Ron DeSantis and others. It is the Florida governor, that key rival of the former president, who's coming back to Iowa on Saturday, underscoring how important this first in the nation caucus state is to his efforts here.
The thinking is, if he can slow or stop former president Donald Trump, he can indeed go on to have a strong performance in the presidential nominating contest.
Of course, that is months and seasons away. For now at least, as summer approaches, the field of Republican candidates, which will grow by three next week, with former vice president Mike Pence jumping in, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum entering, it's getting crowded.
Mathematically speaking that likely benefits Donald Trump because it divides the Never Trump lane of the party. So the campaigning in earnest here this weekend -- Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Des Moines.
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NEWTON: CNN will host a town hall this Sunday with Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, live from Des Moines, Iowa. The former South Carolina governor will take questions from chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper. Be sure to tune in Sunday, June 4th at 7:00 pm in Des Moines, Iowa. That's Monday at 8:00 in the morning Hong Kong time.
CNN will also host a town hall Wednesday with Mike Pence, live from Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa. The Republican is expected to announce his candidacy next week. He will take questions from Dana Bash. Be sure to be there as well, June 7th, at 8:00 pm in Des Moines, Iowa, right here on CNN.
China's military is pushing pack against U.S. criticism that it is coercing other countries, saying the U.S. is the one trying to consolidate and provoke confrontation. The response comes after the U.S. Defense Secretary accused China of escalating tensions by repeatedly intercepting U.S. and allied aircraft in international airspace.
A U.S. Navy destroyer sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a routine transit on the same day he spoke. Ivan Watson has more on what Lloyd Austin had to say.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had a number of messages for Beijing at this annual defense conference.
He insists the U.S. does not want a new cold war. And Beijing had turned down an American invitation to a face to face meeting between Austin and his Chinese counterpart here in Singapore at the opening of the conference.
Austin actually went up and shook hands with him. It was all smiles. But one pointed message was that the handshake is simply not enough. Austin says the time to talk is now.
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GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: A cordial handshake over dinner is no substitute for a substantive engagement. The more that we talk, the more we can avoid the misunderstandings and miscalculations that could lead to crisis or conflict.
You know, I am deeply concerned that the PRC has been unwilling to engage more seriously on better mechanisms for crisis management.
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WATSON: But Austin did have some open criticism of China. He accused Chinese warplanes of an alarming number of intercepts of U.S. and allied aircraft in international airspace, citing what he described as "unprofessional flying."
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WATSON: He insisted the U.S. wants to stand up for smaller countries and not allow coercive behavior to rein in international airspace and in waterways. And he cited the progress the U.S. has made with multilateral and bilateral relationships across the region here, between the U.S. and the Philippines, between South Korea and Japan and the U.S.
Some of this has worried Beijing, which has warned about the development of what it describes as clubs or cliques or a new cold war mentality. We'll wait to see how China's defense minister will respond when he gives his own speech to the crowd on Sunday.
And recall he's still under sanctions from the U.S. government since 2018, long before he assumed this current post. That's one of the arguments the Chinese government has used to reject face to face talks with Lloyd Austin at this meeting -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Singapore.
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NEWTON: Still ahead, surveillance video shows what happened in the moments leading up to the partial collapse of an apartment building in Iowa.
And Atlantic hurricane season gets fully underway. We get an update on tropical storm Arlene as it travels through the Gulf of Mexico.
Plus.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, when I step on the court, I just try to think about the fighting spirit that all of us Ukrainians have.
NEWTON (voice-over): A Ukrainian tennis star refusing to shake her opponent's hand after a French Open match. See what happened.
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NEWTON: Three people are still missing in the partial collapse of an apartment building in Iowa.
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NEWTON: Now CNN obtained surveillance video in the moments before the side of the building gave away. CNN's Adrienne Broaddus shows us what happened.
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ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This video shows the moments leading up to the collapse. The actual collapse is captured on camera. But it's only a few short seconds because the power was knocked out, according to the person that owns this surveillance video camera and shared that video with us.
BROADDUS (voice-over): You'll see there are five support braces. One closest to the camera gradually bends in the minutes leading up to the collapse. You can see chunks of bricks falling from under a second floor window.
That's not all. A lower portion of the wall also collapsed.
BROADDUS: We heard from the fire chief and other officials on Friday, who say the next phase will be recovery. But that is a delicate process.
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CHIEF JOHN ALSTON, NEW HAVEN FIRE DEPARTMENT: And we need to be concerned for those that are in the site working as well as anyone else that could be inside. Some of it is, much as we want to, we can't because the building's not letting us. It's just too unsafe to do it without waiting to and still assure us (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP) BROADDUS: Investigators say three people are still missing, including Branden Colvin Sr., the father of the 18-year old who bears his same name. His son was supposed to graduate on Saturday but wasn't sure if he would be able to show up to his high school graduation -- Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, Chicago.
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NEWTON: In New Haven, Connecticut, at least eight construction workers were injured Friday when a building they were working on partially collapsed. Now they were working on a seven-story residential building, when a portion of the second floor gave way while they were pouring concrete.
Two of the victims have critical injuries; 36 people were working at the site when that accident happened.
Arizona officials will no longer grant certifications for new developments in the Phoenix area. For years, the region has been struggling with groundwater drying up, caused by long-term overuse and drought driven by climate change. Take a listen now to Arizona's governor announcing the policy shift.
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GOV. KATIE HOBBS (D-AZ): That's why, as required by law, we will pause approvals of new, assured water supply determinations that rely on pumping groundwater, ensuring that we don't add to any future deficit.
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NEWTON: The decision was prompted by new research showing that, under current conditions, groundwater supplies likely can't meet demand from additional development in the next 100 years.
The shortage would have significant implications for housing developments in the Phoenix metro area, which has seen massive population growth in recent years.
Tropical storm Arlene continues southward through Gulf of Mexico. That's according to the latest advisory. It still has winds at 40 miles per hour but it's expected to weaken into a tropical depression in the hours ahead.
Still parts of south Florida could see heavy rain and even some flooding. Arlene is the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began Thursday and runs until the end of November. Meteorologists predict a near normal season this year, with roughly 12 to 17 named storms.
Still ahead for us, Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, suspending races amid horse deaths. We'll look at how long this could last.
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NEWTON: In a historic move, Churchill Downs announced it will suspend all horse racing operations in the wake of a dozen equine deaths in May.
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NEWTON: Finally for us this hour, an inspiring end to a tragic incident. You may remember the story about a Texas cheerleader who was shot after a friend mistakenly opened the wrong door. It happened back in April. That cheerleader has just graduated from high school.
The 18-year old, Payton Washington, spoke publicly for the first time on ABC's "Good Morning, America" in an interview that aired Friday.
She said, quote, "You can literally do anything if you push, if you persevere."
She plans to attend Baylor University in the fall. We wish her all the best.
I'm Paula Newton. Thank you for your company. For viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. For everyone else, it's "AFRICA AVANT-GARDE."
