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Trump Resumes Campaigning After Being Indicted in the Investigation into Classified Documents; After Indictment was Unsealed, Trump Soon Attacked Special Counsel Jack Smith; Detailed Indictment Against Trump Lists 37 Criminal Counts; Indictment: Trump Kept Sensitive Information in Ballroom, Bathroom, and Bedroom; Trump Prepares to Appear in Miami Court, Security is Increased. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired June 10, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. It's Saturday, June 10th. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Amara walker. You're live in the "CNN Newsroom".

We begin with Donald Trump heading back out on the campaign trail today just hours after being indicted by the special counsel in the classified documents probe. His visits to Georgia and North Carolina today come after he lashed out at Jack Smith, the independent prosecutor overseeing the investigation calling him a Trump hater and a deranged lunatic.

BLACKWELL: The safe money here today is on Former President Trump addressing the historic indictment when he gets in front of supporters. Now, Trump is the first former president to be charged with crimes in federal court. He faces a total of 37 counts, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information. Trump is due in court in Miami at 3:00 p.m., Tuesday, to hear the charges against him.

Now, the indictment contains new details about Trump's handling of top-secret documents. It includes these photos of boxes containing classified documents in several locations at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. We're talking a ballroom, a bathroom, an office space, his bedroom, a storage room.

WALKER: Yes, the indictment accuses Trump of mishandling classified national security documents and of trying to obstruct justice.

BLACKWELL: For more on the indictment let's bring in now CNN Correspondent Kara Scannell. Kara, what more are we learning?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, those photographs really stick out at you to see just this type of evidence that the prosecutors have laid out in this indictment, which spans more than 40 pages. So, of those documents, I mean, part of this is the unlawful retention of those documents. You see those photographs of those boxes of materials that are held in public spaces, the ballroom, in a bathroom. Ones that the indictment alleges were easily accessible.

They said that more hundred -- more than 150 social events, including weddings, were held at Mar-a-Lago during this time period of really showing that the lack of security around these documents, some of them including ones that involve nuclear secrets.

Now, of the obstruction part, that involves charges involving one of Trump's aide, Walt Nauta, he was also charged in this indictment. And they describe here this timeline of where Trump is subpoenaed by the Department of Justice for these documents in May of 2022. And his lawyer tells him that they are going to need to search these records. At that point, according to the indictment, Trump says to him, isn't it better if there are no documents found?

Then, over the next two weeks Trump, according to the indictment, is working with Nauta to remove these documents. Nauta removes more than 64 documents over the next two weeks, bringing them to Trump's residence. And then when Trump's attorney went to look through these documents, he recovered 38 of them that he felt were responsive to the DOJ's subpoena. And according to the lawyers' notes when he was discussing this with Trump, Trump had said to him, if there's anything bad, pluck it out.

Now, Trump is expected to appear here on Tuesday for his arraignment. He's shaken up his legal team, bringing in a new attorney to represent him in this case, and Trump has said he will plead not guilty to these charges. Victor, Amara.

BLACKWELL: Kara Scannell for us there reporting.

Let's go now to Randi Kaye live in Miami outside the federal courthouse. Security, obviously, being ramped up ahead of Tuesday's indictment. What do we know about the security posture there and the logistics so far?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are ready, Victor, at least that's what we're hearing. Security really will begin from the very moment that Donald Trump leaves whichever of his properties he plans to stay at here in Florida on Monday evening. And from what I understand from my law enforcement contacts is they will likely set up some type of exclusive route for his motorcade to make its way here to federal court in Miami. They will keep that route exclusive to him and away from the other cars, perhaps reserve a lane.

Also here at the court, they will be setting up some type of perimeters, our understanding, keeping the media at bay, but also as well as his supporters and protesters here against the former president. This is going to be really, Victor, a coordinated effort between secret service who will keeping -- who will be keeping a close eye on Donald Trump, but also Miami police who will be in charge of detours and any road closures. There's also the U.S. Marshals and the FBI involved as well. They did do a threat assessment here at the courthouse, they didn't find any threats to be concerned about. There are also, from what I understand, scouring social media, making sure there isn't any actionable intelligence they need to worry about. And one thing they're really looking out for is any type of call to action. They certainly don't want anything like another January 6th taking place here.

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So, all eyes will be on the crowds. I've spoken with a lot of supporters for Donald Trump. They plan to have huge crowds here on Tuesday, and then they plan to caravan back to Mar-a-Lago, I'm told. But as far as the president getting in and out of the courtroom for his arraignment, I understand that they will very likely bring him in a door which does not expose him to the crowds that will be here. Perhaps a side door or a back door and then work his way through a tunnel underneath this courthouse to that courtroom for his arraignment. Victor.

BLACKWELL: Randi Kaye for us there outside of the courthouse in Miami. Thank you so much.

Let's bring in now Jennifer Rodgers, former federal prosecutor, adjunct professor at NYU Law School, and lecturer in law at Columbia Law School. Thank you for being with us. First question here, as we talked about Donald Trump is going to appear on Tuesday, that is typically when this indictment would have been unsealed. We got it yesterday. Do you expect that that was pressure, political pressure for the indictment to be unsealed several days before?

JENNIFER RODGERS, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I wouldn't call it political pressure, Victor. But what happened is they gave Donald Trump the chance to just keep quiet and have the document unseal and everything come out on Tuesday. He immediately started talking about the case. And so, then there's no reason to keep it sealed anymore. And prosecutors moved for it to be unsealed so that the public could see, sooner rather than later, how serious these charges are and how strong the evidence is.

BLACKWELL: Special prosecutor here says that he's going to seek a speedy trial. We know that the trial for the New York hush money case that's scheduled for next March. Do you expect that this will happen before, after that scheduled, at least, trial?

RODGERS: Yes, this is a real problem here, the calendar. I don't think it will happen before. It takes six to nine months or so to prepare for any trial. This trial is a relatively complicated one, it involves classified information. So, I don't think it will happen before.

And then they have to, after that case is over in New York, give the team a little bit of time to get prepared for the next one. So, I think we're talking about May or June of next year at the soonest. And then, of course, in late summer we bump up against DOJ's unwritten rule policy that they won't do anything overt in the two to three months before an election. So, we really have a short window here, essentially May and June of next year, maybe into July a little bit in order to get this done. So, that's, I think, what prosecutors are aiming for.

BLACKWELL: So, let's pull that thread a little bit. Is it possible that this could be pushed, considering the DOJ rule, after the election?

RODGERS: It certainly is. It will depend a lot on the trial judge and whether he or she, if it is Aileen Cannon, as has been discussed. Her name is apparently on the summons. It will depend on whether she is willing to do it before or after. So, that's actually one of my concerns if Judge Cannon is, in fact, the trial judge here, will she, you know, listen to DOJ and its wish to have this trial before the election, or will she, kind of, slow-walk the motions. Give President Trump the adjournments that he wants and push the whole thing until after the election which, of course, I think would be his preference.

BLACKWELL: Yes. So, let's talk about Judge Aileen Cannon. She is, at this point, overseeing this. She, of course, was the judge who granted the motion for a special master to determine which documents could be included in the search or which Donald Trump could get back. That was later overturned.

Every legal analyst we've had on this morning, and a couple of political as well, have just criticized this choice that she would be in the draw. That this is now something that she's involved with. What do you think about her role here?

RODGERS: I'm quite concerned about it, to be honest, Victor. I mean, I don't know whether she was selected because it was deemed related to the matter she handled before or whether she just came out of the draw. Apparently, there aren't very many judges in the West Palm Beach area so it could be just random. But she demonstrated some significant bias towards President Trump when she first of all took jurisdiction over the special master matter in the first place and then ruled for him at every juncture. And then even overruled some of the rulings that her hand-picked special master had done.

So, she was completely overturned on all grounds by the 11th Circuit and, frankly, embarrassing rebuke to her. But whether she's learned her lesson or not, whether she can, kind of, do this case without bias. If it ends up with her, I'm not sure. I suspect DOJ will consider trying to have her removed, but that's a real uphill battle that doesn't happen very often and almost certainly not without her demonstrating bias in this actual case before the chief judge would consider taking her off of it. So, I think it's very troubling.

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BLACKWELL: And that would have to be initiated by one of the sides, one of the teams asking for her to be removed. Every person we've spoken with today has used the qualifier that she's currently or for now overseeing this trial. Someone would have to ask for her to be removed for the chief judge to do it?

RODGERS: I think that's right. I think what people are, kind of, questioning is whether she is on this just for arraignment purposes or whether she actually has been assigned for trial. It's possible that she's just on it for Tuesday's purposes and that it will either be wheeled out or given to someone else going forward, so that's a possibility. But if she is the judge who's going to keep it throughout, then yes, one side would have to move to have her taken off, and that doesn't happen very often.

BLACKWELL: What are the options now for Walt Nauta? This is the alleged, charged co-conspirator of the former president, was his body man, was taking the orders to move the boxes and so forth. What options does he have now?

RODGERS: I think he still has the option to cooperate. You know, sometimes if someone, the government wants to cooperate, doesn't do so and then gets charged, the government's kind of written them off, right? They've been charged and now they're going to have to go to trial or plead guilty. But I think here his testimony would be important enough because he had conversations with the former president that government doesn't know about now and doesn't have any other way to get.

So, I think if he wants to, he can still cooperate. And if he does, of course, he will testify in exchange for what hopefully will be a more lenient sentence when he is sentenced. The problem is, he's hitched his wagon to the former president so far and he may be hoping that if Trump can get reelected, he, of course, would just have this case dismissed or maybe that another Republican president would pardon him. So, I think Walt Nauta is kind of stuck between the which one of these options is better for me? But I do think there will be a pitch by DOJ to get him on board as a cooperator even though he's already been charged.

BLACKWELL: All right. Jennifer Rodgers, thank you.

WALKER: President Biden has, so far, refused to comment on the special counsel's indictment of Donald Trump. Hear from the other 2024 Republican candidates about the indictment.

And they have been missing for 40 days. And after weeks of searching, four children, one as young as a year old, have been found alive in the Amazon jungle. Next, their incredible story of survival.

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BLACKWELL: Former President Donald Trump is keeping his schedule as planned in the wake of his federal indictment. Any moment now, the GOP frontrunner will depart his New Jersey home for campaign rallies in Georgia and North Carolina.

CNN's Alayna Treene spoke with a senior Trump adviser to learn more about what to expect from his events today.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Good morning. I am here very nearby to where the former president is right now at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey where he'll be leaving soon for a pair of campaign stops in North Carolina and Georgia. It will be the first time that we have heard from Donald Trump ever since his indictment was unsealed Friday afternoon.

Now, I spoke with one of his senior advisers yesterday. They told me they spent Friday working on his speeches, as well as that Donald Trump remains defiant right now. But that is the image that his team is trying to portray. And I do think that you should expect to see some of that bravado on the campaign trail this afternoon. But behind the scenes, I've been talking with a lot of people close with Donald Trump and those who are there at his golf club with him and they tell me that unlike Thursday night, when they had first learned of the federal charges, they were really focused on the political implications of this.

They were emboldened by the show of support that they were getting from Republicans on Capitol Hill and other conservatives on the air waves. And they thought that this could offer him a political boost for his reelection campaign in the immediate term. But Friday afternoon, the mood had changed here in New Jersey. Some of his aides had grown more concerned, really focusing on what are the legal implications of this? And even though they think he still could benefit from this politically, they are worried about how this will play legally down the road.

Now, I should add that even though we have heard from a lot of Republicans, people in leadership, like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, showing support for Donald Trump. After the charges were unsealed Friday afternoon, a lot of these members were more noticeably quiet. The same goes for some of his presidential rivals. We heard from Governor Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, they put out statements of support, not really for Donald Trump, but railing against the Justice Department.

And so, I think we're going to continue to see how this plays out, both for Donald Trump and his campaign, but also how the Republican Party itself is reacting to this. Victor, Amara, back to you.

WALKER: Alayna Treene, thank you.

Here with me now is CNN National Security and Political Analyst David Sanger. And White House Reporter for the Associated Press, Seung Min Kim. Welcome to you both and good morning.

David, let's start with you. In this federal indictment, Trump's accused of lying and scheming to hold on to these classified documents, showing them off to people with no security clearance, documents with information about our nuclear capabilities and vulnerabilities. I mean, how do you square the evidence and what's laid out in the indictment with the political attacks that we're hearing from some Republicans?

DAVID SANGER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, you know, it's interesting, and as the report we just heard suggests, Amara, the reason that people are going a little more quiet is that the indictment was highly specific. It was illustrated with these damning photographs, you've shown them many times, of the stacks of boxes, and a bathroom, on the stage of the ballroom. So, obviously, places where people had access to them.

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And then the specificity of what some of these were. And we've reported at "The Times" that a number of these documents dealt with, as we have suspected all along, with contingent war plans for dealing with Iran. Not for the U.S. to attack Iran, but how the U.S. would respond if Iran was in a battle with Israel. If it conducted a terrorist act. If it seemed to be racing for a nuclear weapon.

So, you can understand the sensitivity of it. It's exactly the kinds of documents that the government gets very sensitive about when all of us in the media have access not to the documents but to the underlying information and publish it. So, you can imagine why there's so much concern among Republicans about the details of this. Had it been anybody but Donald Trump they would have been deeply concerned. Remember what they said when Hillary Clinton had what appeared to be far less sensitive documents on her computer.

WALKER: Yes. Obviously, false equivalencies and comparisons when they make these comparisons to Biden and his possession of classified documents, and of course Hillary Clinton's e-mails.

Seung Min, you know, we're seeing mixed reaction, right, from some of Trump's 2024 presidential rivals. So, former Governor Asa -- of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, has called on Trump to drop out of the race, while Former Vice President Mike Pence says, it's too soon for Trump to consider that. What do you make of this tight rope that these and other prominent Republicans are trying to walk right now?

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Well, in terms of the politics, the tight rope that they're trying to walk is the fact that so many of the Republican Party voters really, really support Donald Trump. And they cannot afford, if they do want to somehow defeat Trump and become the nominee, they can't afford to alienate the huge chunk of the Republican Party base that continues to be enthralled by Donald Trump, who will defend him through and through, through these charges.

So, that's why you hear, you know, as we mentioned earlier, candidates like Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis really go after, for example, the, "Weaponization of federal -- weaponization of the federal government" and really criticizing the Justice Department. Because they feel that without, you know, maybe overtly, you know, defending Donald Trump, that's this anti, sort of, anti-DOJ sentiment they feel they can grab on.

I do think it's interesting that it's really the two former federal prosecutors in the field, that's Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie, who have been pretty vocal just about Trump in the beginning but also about these charges. As you mentioned, the former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has said, he should drop out of the race. You know, Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, after reading the indictments, just underscored how serious these charges are. And kept saying over and over, is this the kind of commander in chief you want, really, being so careless and reckless with the nation's most sensitive secrets? I thought that was a very interesting dynamic.

WALKER: Yes, yes. For sure. And you know, with the gravity of the charges, I mean, are, you know, pretty evident when you read through the 40-some page document. And I must say it is quite an easy read, more than seeing legalese in most legal documents.

David, look, we -- this might be concerning, right, to the U.S. intel community that we don't know if there are more documents in Trump's possession. What do we know -- what we do know is he took steps to hide them from investigators, allegedly. Do you believe there's still an ongoing national security threat?

SANGER: Well, first of all, I'm not sure how much of an ongoing threat it is. Obviously, the documents that you saw in the photographs there are now back in possession of the U.S. government because of the search of Mar-a-Lago back in last summer.

The question is, are there other documents out there? The only one who would know that would be the National Archives, which reported the documents they expected to see were missing. We don't know what else may be there. Some of these documents, fortunately, at this point, are a few years old. Most new administrations, when they come in, do, you know, new response plans and so forth.

But the documents that they referred to, that talk about vulnerabilities of the U.S., those could well still be existing vulnerabilities that are out there. The other thing to add to this is we may not be done with indictments yet. There are two other active investigations under way, one has to do with the federal investigation into what president Trump did on January 6th and its surrounding time. And the second one is the Georgia investigation into whether or not he -- Georgia officials to try to come up with vote as the phone call with the Georgia officials seem to suggest.

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So, you could end up, by the end of the summer with two more indictments, which would bring you to a total of four, we're at two right now. I'm not saying that will happen, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility.

WALKER: Yes, right in the middle of primary season as well, in March.

SANGER: That's right.

WALKER: There is a trial scheduled, right, for the hush money payments that Trump was indicted for this -- for alleged business fraud.

Seung Min, so, on that note, I mean, Trump is already fundraising off of this, right? And there's reason to believe that he's going to get a boost from his loyal supporters which, obviously, great for primaries. But looking ahead to the general, do you think Republicans will see him as unelectable given his -- the legal problems that David just laid out? KIM: I mean, a lot of Republicans feel that that is the reason why President Trump cannot be the general election nominee because you have -- I mean, you -- no one is changing their minds in this -- about Donald Trump in this country. And as particularly as a contrast to President Biden, they just feel like President Trump comes as (ph) so many political liabilities and that he cannot be put back in the Oval Office should he be the Republican nominee.

Now, that it is not the calculus that other, you know -- that's, sort of -- that Donald Trump is looking at right now. Right now, he is looking at trying to galvanize his voters. He will certainly -- almost certainly do that in the short term. But I do wonder what the impact is going to be after voters and the public, and particularly Republican officials, especially those who have been quiet so far, really absorb the severity of these accusations.

Obviously, Donald Trump, like everyone else, has a presumption of innocence. But if you look through the indictment, as we all have, these are pretty serious charges against a former president of the United States who wants to occupy that office again. And I'm really interested in seeing, especially the Republican candidates and the Republican officials who were so eager to defend him starting Thursday night, after they've had the chance to, kind of, think about the facts and absorb the details of the indictment, if they changed their tune at all. If they -- if not overtly criticizing him. If they toned down their vocal defense of Donald Trump in the immediate aftermath.

You know, having covered Republicans on Capitol Hill, their interactions with Trump for the last several years, I'm a little skeptical of that happening. But it will have to wait and see. Certainly, there's going to be a lot to come on this for the next several days.

WALKER: Absolutely. Appreciate both of you, Seung Min Kim and David Sanger, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Still ahead, an incredible story. Four children who had been missing in the Colombian Amazon Rainforest for weeks after a plane crash have been found alive. That's next.

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WALKER: This is my favorite story of the day.

BLACKWELL: It's a good one.

WALKER: Really good. It's really extraordinary. The rescue of four young children, as young as one-year-old -- 1 years old, this one kid who was found. They were missing in the Colombian Amazon Rainforest for 40 days. Hours ago, they arrived in Colombia's capital city aboard a military ambulance that air lifted them from the jungle. The father and the grandparents of the trip -- children traveled overnight to Bogota and are now together with them in the central military hospital. Colombian President Gustavo Petro says, the children appeared weak when they were rescued and received medical treatment before they boarded that plane.

BLACKWELL: The four are siblings. They were found yesterday after a small plane they were traveling on crashed in the jungle. Their mother, two other adult passengers, including the pilot, they were killed in the crash.

Stefano Pozzebon is live in Bogota. Tell us more about these children and what we know, if anything at this point, because it's very early on, how they survived and what they did for 40 days there.

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor. It's indeed very early on. Just behind my back, as you can see, is the entrance of the military hospital where the four children have been taken overnight, and where we're waiting for the president of Colombia to arrive in the next few hours to meet them in person.

In terms of like how they survived, well that is, first of all, an amazing achievement. And then is the big question of the day. We know that the Colombian military has air dropped hundreds of survival kits into the jungle in the last few weeks, trying to make contacts with the children. And of course, we're talking about indigenous children who have been living in the forest or in the Amazon region since they were born.

But this has been really a story that has taken -- that has captured this country's imagination. Yesterday marked exactly 40 days since that plane crashed. And, well, with the most positive news, the entire nation rejoiced. Take a listen.

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POZZEBON (voiceover): A rescue mission successful against all odds. Four children found alive after spending 40 days in the thick of the Amazon jungle, bringing their relatives to tears.

NARCIZO MUCUTY, CHILDREN'S GRANDFATHER (through translator): Let them come here to their grandparents, to their aunt and their uncle, their grandmother.

POZZEBON (voiceover): Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, sharing the good news with reporters.

GUSTAVO PETRO, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The indigenous and the military together found the kids after 40 days. They were alone. A historical statement of survival today. These are the children of peace and the children of Colombia.

POZZEBON (voiceover): The rescue on Friday night caps an all-around effort by hundreds of soldiers and indigenous scouts to locate the little ones who had gone missing since the small plane they were traveling on with their mother crashed in the forest on the 1st of May. The bodies of their mother and two other adults were soon recovered. But hope never faded to find them alive. [10:35:00]

The Colombian military finding footprints and scattered relics to keep the search going day after day. Until finally a photo emerged from the depth of the forest. We have them. They're coming home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON (on camera): So, Victor, Amara, we expect to know more about these four children and their amazing achievements in the next few hours. As I said, the president is expected here anytime soon. And we'll be back with you as soon as we hear more. Victor, Amara.

WALKER: Yes, everyone is watching this so carefully. Stefano Pozzebon, thank you so much.

All right. Joining us now from Los Angeles to discuss all this is Canadian -- he's a survival expert and filmmaker, Les Stroud. He's also the author of "Survive!: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere - Alive". So, Les, we spoke with you a couple of weeks ago and I was struck by your optimism because you said they could potentially survive. We're talking about a 13-year-old, a nine-year- old, a four-year-old, and a one-year-old. How do you think they survived for 40 days in the Amazon jungle?

LES "SURVIVORMAN" STROUD, SURVIVAL EXPERT, FILMMAKER: Yes, absolutely. It's going to come down to the nature of their indigenous upbringing in that environment. If you think about it, you know how to survive where you were raised. I know how to survive where I was raised. They know how to survive where they were raised.

So, I think some of the details that will emerge over time in the future will be, for me, the biggest question will be what did they find to eat? So, we think of things like, well did they pick off trees? You know, that we think, in terms of a cliche that way with the jungle and hanging bananas or something like that. But that probably won't be the case. It will more likely be that because they've grown up in the jungle, they're very familiar with eating grubs and bugs. Sounds gross to us, I know, but I've been in several of these places where that's just the normal way.

So, the -- this miracle hinges upon the fact that it's been in their inherent indigenous upbringing to know what to do when simply walking around the jungle, never mind trying to survive in it.

BLACKWELL: You mentioned food, my first thought was where were they getting fresh water for 40 days in that environment? Obviously, they found it somewhere because they survived. But predators, what would have been the threat around them that might have wanted to just natural instinct have hurt, especially such a small child that was -- when they disappeared, 11 months old.

STROUD: Well, at first, I better -- let me jump back on your water comment though. The reality is that, it is the jungle and there is an ample amount of water around in the jungle. It's not like walking around in Arizona. You -- sure, you might have to walk a ways but every jungle I've ever been in, you don't have to go that far before there are plenty of fresh water puddles to drink from. So, in I like to address that water concern right away that way. Don't think, in terms of the cliche, of being lost in the wilderness, there's no water. It's the jungle. There's usually lots of water. And they also, again, due to upbringing will know where to find it.

On the predator side of the question, jaguars and pumas. So, the wildcats that are there. I've been chased out of the jungle myself by a jaguar. This is a very big cat, upwards of 200, 250 pounds. And it will stalk humans. I've known situations where many indigenous people have had to come in quickly from their hunting trip or fishing trip, get back into the village where they're safe because of jaguar. So, that would -- those would be the biggest predators.

I wouldn't go too heavily on the poisonous side of things. Once again, like finding food and water, their own upbringing would have led them to know how to sleep in a place that has biting, stinging, you know, even to the point of lethal insects. So, primarily, the short answer, would have been dealing with the jaguar. Why weren't they attacked? Because once again, their upbringing would have taught them how to evade and remain hidden and get -- and hide from something like a jaguar.

WALKER: Yes, I'm just envisioning a 13-year-old and a nine-year-old taking care of the little four-year-old and the now who is one-year- old. It's just incredible. And like you said, Les, it is a miracle. Les Stroud, we'll leave it there. Thank you. Back after this.

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WALKER: Ukraine says, the death toll from a catastrophic dam collapse has grown to at least five people with 13 still missing. The breach of the Nova Kakhovka dam caused massive flooding that inundated entire villages and forced more than 2,600 people, including 160 children to be evacuated. Now, humanitarian workers are concerned about potential outbreaks of water borne illness. And officials say the damage caused by the flooding could affect the economy for years to come.

BLACKWELL: Ukraine's military operations have been picking up along the front lines. Russian President Vladimir Putin says, Ukraine's counteroffensive has begun in eastern Ukraine and is failing. But Ukraine says, it will not officially announce the operation, but local Ukrainian commander says, his forces are only testing Russian defenses for now.

CNN's Sam Kiley joins me now from Kyiv. What do we know about this operation? And is this the counteroffensive despite what we're hearing from this official in Ukraine?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes and no, I think is the answer to that. I'm sorry to be vague but the fighting in the east, I think, should be seen as part of the natural ebb and flow of the very, very heavy, bloody campaigning that has been going on there, as we all know, for more than a year. Lately, the Ukrainians have managed to regain the initiative, with a very significant punch southeast of the city -- of the city of Bakhmut, down a drainage canal, which offers a degree of cover.

[10:45:00]

It also gives them some tactical advantage there. That is an area that they lost earlier this year, so they're regaining territory there in a significant pressure, I think very significantly, too. Also saying that they're taking advantage of the changeover in troops and personnel, which has gone on since the Wagner mercenary group withdrew and other units were switched in. And those switches have also happened further to the south.

So, picking up on Russian vulnerabilities and punching and taking advantage over the -- of that. Now, that is exactly what's going on, in a sense, seeking those vulnerabilities with this reconnaissance by force, which is how they're being described. These attacks on the front line east of the city -- Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia, all the way through to the Russian-held city of Donetsk.

So, long -- a very long front there. There've been artillery attacks, company size attacks by the Ukrainians. Probing, trying to feel for weaknesses in the Russian front line. And we know that is a front line that is very, very heavily defended. Many lines of defense, artillery, anti-tank mines, anti-tank traps. And of course, the Ukrainians have suffered some casualties there, they admit it. The levels and numbers, we will never know.

But clearly some American-supplied equipment has been knocked out, including allegedly Bradley Fighting Vehicles and the MRAP anti-mine armored vehicles. All sophisticated vehicles. All anticipated that these vehicles will get hit as the Ukrainians try to prosecute what, I think, we should accurately call as beginnings or shaping's operations for this counteroffensive.

BLACKWELL: Sam Kiley for us there. Thank you, Sam.

Still ahead, early results showed that Netflix's new plan to crack down on password sharing is paying off for the company. We'll take a look.

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[10:50:00]

WALKER: The attempt by Netflix to boost subscribers by cracking down on password sharing appears to be paying off. A new report found the streaming giant gained more new subscribers to the platform in the days after the strict policy was implemented than it did in the early days of COVID.

BLACKWELL: CNN Business Reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn is joining us now. So, people were pretty upset when Netflix announced the crackdown. But apparently, they're just creating new accounts. How big of a boost did the company see? NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: That's exactly right, Victor. So, we don't love Netflix's password sharing crackdown, but it is paying off for the company. The company says that about 100 million households around the world share their passwords. And so, the company -- this was hurting Netflix, so they cracked down, and almost immediately they saw a jump in subscribers in May after the change went into effect. There's about 100 percent increase in the number of households that signed up, and this was the biggest jump since early in COVID when we were all stuck at home watching Netflix.

WALKER: And, of course, we were stuck at home watching Netflix during COVID, which by the way seems to be being blamed for this downturn in engagement sales, which is not surprising at all because I'm surprised and grateful that my husband and I made it through COVID, at least our marriage stayed intact.

BLACKWELL: Yes, I didn't -- my relationship ended.

WALKER: There you go.

BLACKWELL: So, let's not talk about that.

Signet Jewelers, largest jeweler in the country says engagement ring sales are down. Why?

MEYERSOHN: Yes. So, Signet Jewelers own some of the biggest brands like Jared, and Zales, and Kay. But the company's engagement ring sales took a hit. So, they say that it takes about three years once couples start dating before they propose, before there's an engagement ring, and you think back three years ago, three -- about three and a half years ago, nobody was dating. Everybody was stuck inside. And so, that's leading to a drop now for Signet. It's really hurting the company. About half of their sales are through engagement rings. So, this is just another way that the economy and COVID is impacting even love and dating.

WALKER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Or maybe people are just smart and getting engaged without spending --

WALKER: No, they're not.

BLACKWELL: -- $10,000 on a --

WALKER: No, they're not.

BLACKWELL: OK. Maybe not.

WALKER: COVID really did a number --

MEYERSOHN: There you go.

WALKER: -- on relationships, right? I mean, look at you --

BLACKWELL: Yes. WALKER: -- I mean, listen, it was tough.

BLACKWELL: I -- hey --

WALKER: It was tough.

BLACKWELL: You know. All right.

WALKER: Thank you, Nathaniel Meyersohn. And thank you for watching. I'm glad my husband isn't watching.

BLACKWELL: And I don't have a husband.

WALKER: Sorry.

BLACKWELL: There's Much more here in the next hour of "CNN Newsroom". Fredricka Whitfield is up next. But before we go, an entrepreneur in Detroit is using technology to fight for environmental justice, here is todays "Innovate".

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DARREN RILEY, FOUNDER AND CEO, JUSTAIR: Environmental Justice, I think, is a really important aspect of society going forward and you're starting to see momentum. My name is Darren Riley, the founder and CEO of JustAir. JustAir admission is simple. I want to make sure that everyone has equal access to clean air. And how we do that, we not only deploy monitors, but we maintain monitors and we build insights around the air quality that is happening in communities.

A lot of things that we've noticed in communities, especially communities of color, is communities that really are on a border line of zoning that may have heavy industrial traffic and freight going through their community.

[10:55:00]

Today, we're approaching five states and 10 cities. City officials have access to our advent (ph) dashboard where they can pull reports, see trends, information, but most of all, it's all about turning insights into real change. A lot of the influencers have really pushed me, propelled me. It was just the injustices that I've seen around communities of color and communities that I've come from.

I live in southwest Detroit, which caused me to develop asthma five years ago. So, JustAir was founded in a combination of my personal experience and also my professional experience going to Carnegie Mellon. What keeps me going in entrepreneurship, as entrepreneur of color, is really that we should be the one solving the problems that we face. I'm committed to the mission that no matter where you're born, you have equal access to clean air. That's all that JustAir is about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: "Innovate" is brought to you by Juniper Networks. Demand more from your network, Juniper Networks.

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