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One Dead, 20 Injured In Juneteenth Celebration Shooting; Blinken Begins High-Stakes Talks In Beijing; Millions At Risk For Severe Weather Today; Growing Support For African-American Reparations; Supreme Court Could Soon Rule On Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Program; COVID Party Video Emerges After Johnson Resigns From Parliament; Older Influencers Taking TikTok By Storm. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired June 18, 2023 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:00:29]
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Hello and thank you for joining me on this Father's Day. I'm Alex Marquardt, in today for Fredricka Whitfield.
We begin with what has been a violent holiday weekend across the United States as gun violence rattles communities from Washington state to Georgia.
In the Chicago suburb of Willowbrook, one person is dead and at least 20 others injured after gunfire erupted overnight during what witnesses described as a Juneteenth celebration.
CNN's Camila Bernal has been following this story. Camila, what are you learning about the investigation?
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey Alex.
So as you mentioned, one person dead, and of the 20 that were injured, authorities say that some were taken to the hospital by first responders, others simply walked into the hospital, but they did say that 12 ambulances or at least 12 were on the scene last night.
Now, what they're saying is that this took place at around 12:30 in the morning. This was in Willowbrook, which is about 21 miles west of Chicago.
And officials gave essentially a range of the conditions of the victims. They say some had very minor injuries and at least two were in critical condition last we heard. Of course, we're waiting for more details, but they have been limited from police.
They say, as of now, they do not have a motive, and we also don't necessarily have the ages of the victims. We do know from witnesses that this was a Juneteenth celebration, that this happened in a parking lot.
But again, police not giving very many details, so we have to rely on what these witnesses are saying. Here's one of those witnesses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIGE LOTTIE, WITNESS: We were all just out and next thing you know, shots just started going off and everybody ran, and yes, it was chaos.
MARKESHIA AVERY, WITNESS: I've never been in anything like this, honestly. I just have a headache from the whole commotion. All I can do is check on my friends and wonder and see if everything was ok.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERNAL: So of course, people just concerned and traumatized, frankly. Unfortunately, according to the Gun Violence Archive, this is now one of 310 mass shootings in the U.S. It joins a growing list of essentially celebrations that end in gunfire, Alex.
MARQUARDT: Yes. Gun violence destroying yet again a joyous celebration or what was meant to be.
Camila Bernal, thank you for that report.
BERNAL: Thank you.
MARQUARDT: By no means was that an isolated incident this weekend. In Missouri, police say ten teenagers were shot in downtown St. Louis overnight, ranging in age from 15 to 19. A 17-year-old died from his injuries and another teen is critically injured after being trampled while running from the scene.
Police say they recovered several weapons including an AR-15 style rifle. Right now they have a 17-year-old suspect in custody.
And then in central Washington, two people are dead and several others injured following a mass shooting at a campground near an amphitheater last night. The Grant County sheriff's office says that the suspect shot randomly into the crowd and then walked away from the scene before they eventually took him into custody.
Authorities have not given any details on the suspect, the victims, or the motive. The amphitheater was hosting a two-day music festival at the time. Organizers have canceled today's performances.
And then back east in Georgia, officials are investigating a shooting that happened outside a nightclub near Atlanta overnight. Our affiliate, WSB reports that five people were shot, but their conditions have not been released.
Authorities are not saying what led up to the shooting or if any arrests have been made.
As Camila mentioned, these incidents adding to the more than 300 mass shootings in the United States this year. That's almost two per day on average.
Turning now to China and a high-stakes visit by the top diplomat. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meeting with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang for more than five hours today.
The Biden administration says the trip is meant to thaw tensions amid a series of setbacks between the two -- the world's two largest economies.
China's foreign minister said that relations between China and the U.S. are at the lowest they've been in decades, but he did accept an invitation to visit Washington soon for direct talks.
CNN national security correspondent Kylie Atwood has more on this very important meeting.
[14:04:56]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapping up his first day of a two-day visit here in Beijing, his first trip to Beijing as secretary of state. The first Biden cabinet official to visit the country.
The meeting today lasted for more than five hours, followed by a working dinner. When we talked to U.S. officials, the primary goal of this trip is to establish regular communications between the U.S. And China, particularly military-to-military channels.
Just in recent weeks, there were two incidents between the U.S. and China in the South China Sea in international air space and in international waters due to aggressive Chinese military maneuvers.
So of course, that is one of the issues that lays the backdrop of the tension between the two countries right now. Blinken also said that he is going to raise U.S. concerns on a number of fronts with China, globally of course, when it comes to war in Ukraine; locally, in the region here when it comes to Taiwan. And bilaterally, the issues between the U.S. and China. Those three Americans who are wrongfully detained in the country. The issue of the opioid crisis back in the United States because fentanyl, the inputs for fentanyl largely come from China.
So that is something that the secretary is saying that he is going to raise with his counterparts. Now, the U.S. is also hoping that there are issues where the two countries can potentially work together. We have heard this from the Biden administration before on climate, on macro economic global stability.
And for China's part, they had a rather aggressive tone leading into this meeting, with the foreign minister telling Secretary Blinken that he expects there to be respect while he's here. He does not want the United States interfering in internal affairs in China.
So we'll have to see if that aggressive tone translates into how these meetings occur over the course of the next day or so here in Beijing.
And one more thing that U.S. officials are looking ahead to is the potential for further meetings between U.S. officials and Chinese officials. They want that to become more regular over the course of the next few months. Of course, in addition to the possibility of President Biden and President Xi sitting down on the sidelines of some meetings between world leaders in the coming months.
Kylie Atwood, CNN -- Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Kylie there in the Chinese capital.
So how does China view these meetings? For that perspective, let's bring in CNN's Ivan Watson in Hong Kong.
Ivan, going into this, as Kylie just mentioned, the Chinese really set the tone. Blinken was told that in a phone call before the trip that the U.S. should stop meddling in Chinese internal affairs. That of course, a reference to Taiwan. But why was Beijing eager to have Blinken visit?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's very opaque decision making and thoughts in Beijing and in the Chinese government. It could -- a contributing factor, Alex, could be the fact that the Chinese economy is not bursting back into form after the COVID pandemic and the zero-COVID policies there.
And the U.S. is still China's biggest trading partner. There has also been a lot of inroads that the U.S. has made with countries here in Asia. Everything from Japan and the Philippines to India -- the Indian Prime minister will be visiting Washington this coming week for a state visit. Perhaps that has China considering that it needs to talk to the U.S.
What I see in the initial statement coming out of the Chinese ministry after today's more than seven hours of face-to-face talks is it is not hostile, it is not laced with the kind of criticism that we've seen coming from Chinese government statements in the past.
There is an acknowledgement that the U.S./China relationship is at the lowest point that it's been basically since bilateral ties were established. But then the statement goes on to talk about need for an improvement in relations, for the two countries to be able to handle, quote, "unexpected and sporadic events in a calm, professional and rational manner".
That is basically alluding to what the Biden administration has been pushing for. That it wants to reestablish lines of communication so that an incident in the South China Sea, for example, involving U.S. and Chinese war planes or warships, that it could not perhaps spiral out of control. So there was a lot of positive, rather, messaging coming out of Beijing late tonight.
And then, a couple of these developments. Such as, the Chinese counterpart here, the foreign minister Qin Gang, agreeing to Antony Blinken's invitation to come visit Washington, agreeing to expanding people-to-people contacts, expanding passenger flights between the two country. These are kind of low-hanging fruit, you could argue, but there are
the signs that as the State Department officials have put it, that the talks, were, in fact, substantive and constructive on this first day of discussions.
[14:10:00]
MARQUARDT: Yes. One thing that appears to not have been mentioned is whether the top defense officials will be speaking to each other anytime soon.
Ivan Watson in Hong Kong, thank you very much for that report.
Now for more on this important trip by Blinken to Beijing, let's bring in "Washington Post" columnist Josh Rogin. He's also the author of the "Chaos under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the 21st Century".
Josh, great to have you back.
The Biden administration, the White House has been saying -- the Biden administration, the State Department -- they have been saying this trip is all about getting tensions between the U.S. and China to thaw as much as they can. But you just heard there that the Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang saying today that the relations between Washington and Beijing are at their lowest point since the establishment of formal diplomatic ties in 1979.
Do you agree with that assessment? And what are the risks that come with that?
JOSH ROGIN, COLUMNIST, "WASHINGTON POST": Right, Alex. I think it's clear that foreign minister Qin Gang is absolutely correct, this is the worst that U.S./China relations have been in since 1979. But he doesn't answer the question as to why it is. And I think that's what the Biden administration is grappling with.
And that's because the Chinese government has changed its approach to the bilateral relationship. And now they're changing their propaganda, changing their policy, and changing their actions. And they want the United States to go along with it.
And we can point to any number of those policies -- Taiwan, related to Hong Kong, the Uighurs, the Tibetans, how they view their position in the region and the world, and what rules of the world order that they choose to follow and not follow.
So I think the Biden administration quite rightly recognizes that, and what you've heard from all of these officials in the days leading up to this visit is that they have low expectations. That it's good to meet and to be sure it's good to meet, but they don't expect any real substantive progress, at least not coming out of this first meeting.
MARQUARDT: Yes. They said to not expect a long list of deliverables. The State Department said that they would talk about Taiwan, they would talk about --
ROGIN: Or even a short list.
MARQUARDT: -- ort that. But they are covering a whole range of subjects, including, you know, the Chinese support for Russia in the war in Ukraine, the fentanyl crisis.
So if there are not going to be a lot of deliverables coming out of this trip, what is a successful trip for Blinken here?
ROGIN: Right. Well, I think if Blinken gets to meet with Xi Jinping, that will pave the way for a meeting between Xi and Biden at the APEC summer this November in San Francisco.
And that's the goal. That's what President Biden personally wants. He thinks that if he can get back into the room with his good friend Xi, that they can solve a lot of this stuff.
I don't know whether that's true, but at least that's what President Biden thinks. This would also unlock a lot of coming meeting, including invited trips by Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen, John Kerry wants to go. There's a whole line of U.S. officials waiting to go to Beijing.
And if the Blinken trip goes well or at least doesn't have any real calamities in it, then you'll see a steady stream. And again this is kind of a low bar for good relations, which is that we go there.
It doesn't really address any of the structural problems. It doesn't really address the fact that China is getting more aggressive in Taiwan. It doesn't really address that their genocide is ongoing, that their unfair trade practices persist.
But at least it stops it from getting worse, and that's not nothing. And I think that's a meager but somewhat achievable definition of success in this instance.
MARQUARDT: You know, we should note that Blinken was supposed to go back in February, but then the spy balloon incident happened so the U.S. side canceled the trip. That was fairly embarrassing for Beijing.
Of course Josh, you know better than anybody that Taiwan really is the most contentious issue here. We heard China urge the U.S. to truly deliver on its commitment to not support Taiwanese independence. The U.S. does not officially support Taiwanese independence, but it certainly does support Taiwan in many ways, including with military aid.
So how do you think the Biden administration is going to walk this line of supporting Taiwan, while China is also demanding that the U.S., quote, "mind its own business"?
ROGIN: I think the Biden administration is going to walk that line very carefully, Alex. And they're trying to do that. The problem is that as the United States tries to maintain its position, which is to support Taiwan's autonomy, but not Taiwan's independence, it's Beijing that's changing the status quo, amassing armies on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, intimidating the Taiwanese people, interfering in their policies, surrounding their island with ships on occasion and playing games with their economy whenever they get out of line.
So you know, if Beijing really wants to keep the status quo, then it needs to start by keeping the status quo on its end. And for the Biden administration, they don't want this to get out of hand. But they're not going to abandon Taiwan, so really the ball is in Beijing's court here.
[14:14:54]
MARQUARDT: We did hear earlier today here on CNN from the former defense secretary, Mark Esper, he was on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION". And he had this to say about the Chinese relationship with the U.S. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ESPER, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We see their actions since last fall have really picked up, whether it's confronting our aircraft in the skies above the South China Sea, our ships in the Taiwan Strait, you know, police stations in the United States, balloons over the United States -- all these things show an increased Chinese activity as they try and gain dominance over the United States, certainly in the Indo-Pacific and globally for sure.
So look, it's important that we realize, this is the greatest strategic threat we're going to face in this century and we shouldn't be surprised by Chinese actions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: As for their calling China the greatest strategic threat, other national security officials call China the pacing threat or pacing adversary. Do you think, Josh, that the U.S. is keeping pace with China?
ROGIN: Right. No matter how you use the terminology, the sheer fact is that China's power is rising militarily, economically, diplomatically, in every way that we can measure especially in their own region.
So no, the United States is not keeping pace. Relatively, we're becoming less powerful vis-a-vis China. Now that is only a problem if we don't figure out a way to responsibly manage the relationship.
And that is what the Biden administration is trying to do. But it takes two to tango. And until Beijing represents that it wants to manage the responsibility, manage the relationship responsibly, by not doing every aggressive thing that Mark Esper does mention and telling us to just go pound sand, then the problems are going to continue.
If China wants the U.S. out of the region and the U.S. doesn't want to go out of the region, well, that's a real big fundamental problem in the U.S./China relationship.
So I think the Biden administration is ready to compromise, but it's not clear that we see that similar readiness on Beijing's side. And to be sure there's a debate inside Xi's leadership as to what to do with the United States, but right now the hardliners are winning, and that's a problem for them to solve, not us.
MARQUARDT: Right. All right. Josh Rogin, thank you very much. Always appreciate your perspective.
And I want to note that it is your first Father's Day, so I want to wish you a very happy Father's Day.
ROGIN: Thank you so much.
MARQUARDT: All right. Still to come, 40 million people are under severe weather threat in the southeast, while many cities are still cleaning up from storms that have left thousands without power. We'll bring you the latest forecast.
[14:17:11]
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MARQUARDT: 40 million people from Arkansas to Florida are at risk for severe weather today. And more than 32 million people are under heat alerts across the southern plains.
Britley Ritz now joins us from the CNN Weather Center.
Britley, these are some scorching temperatures. What are we expecting from these different severe weather patterns today.
BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. The temperatures are influencing the severe weather threat, that's energy for them to strengthen. And we're already dealing with severe storms along the Florida Panhandle.
I had a friend of mine who was down in Panama City send me a photo of a shelf cloud, which was rather impressive. And with that, you typically get strong winds. And there it is, the severe thunderstorm warning associated with that cell likely to expire as the storm moves offshore.
But several strong storms behind it back in southern Alabama. We'll watch these very closely.
On top of that, the threat for flooding, because these storms are dropping quite a bit of rain in an hour's time, one to two inches.
We're expecting 2 to 4 more inches on top of it, hence the flood watch that's in effect for parts of the Florida Panhandle and back into Alabama.
Sunday's risk and Monday's risk -- yes, this is not just today, it goes into Monday as well. It lessens a bit, but still some of the same areas, like Pensacola back into Jackson up in Savannah, holding on to that threat tomorrow. Wind, hail, and even tornadoes a possibility.
Let's go ahead and take a time out for it. FutureCast showing you the storms reamplifying this evening in places that have already dealt with severe weather late last night and early this morning. So the Mississippi River Valley, the southern Mississippi River
Valley, really dealing with that around 9:00, 10:00 Eastern time. That rolls into the southeast. See how it starts to bow out. That's more of a wind threat. That's why we say less of a tornado threat, but holding on to still strong winds, which you know can do just as much damage. And that goes into Monday morning and throughout the afternoon hours.
And again, the heat. One of the big influences with this as well as the jet stream and the lift from the boundary itself, but the heat helping to influence it.
Excessive heat warnings in place from Brownsville to Houston into New Orleans. We're talking about heat index values, Alex, nearing 120 degrees.
MARQUARDT: That's just astonishing. Really, really hard to imagine. Britley Ritz, thank you very much.
Still to come, there is a growing wave of multiracial support for black American reparations.
Next, you'll hear from a Japanese American woman who received reparations after being forced into an internment camp as a child during World War II.
[14:23:36]
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MARQUARDT: Support for reparations for black Americans seems to be increasing, especially from other multiracial groups, among them Jewish and Japanese organizations.
CNN's Stephanie Elam spoke with Japanese Americans who faced exclusion and internment on the basis of race eight decades ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much. Thanks for your comments.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Their pain is real.
JONATHAN BURGESS, TESTIFIED BEFORE California TAKS FORCE: Those are the harms that happened to my ancestors that we don't talk about.
ELAM: Their vision, clear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's ensure we craft legislation that historically preserves our land, our history.
ELAM: Black Californians being heard in front of the state's Reparations Task Force. Their passion, understood by Amy Iwasaki-Mass.
AMY IWASAKI-MASS, INCARCERATED IN AN INTERNMENT CAMP AS A CHILD: The government we trusted, the country that we loved.
The nation to which we had pledged loyalty had betrayed us, had turned against us.
ELAM: She too bared her soul to a government body considering reparations.
IWASAKI-MASS: It was a pretty scary time.
ELAM: Mass was a Los Angeles first grader when she and her family and more than 100,000 other Japanese Americans were rounded up by the federal government and sent to internment camp -- the United States' response during World War II after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.
IWASAKI-MASS: They didn't have their guns out protecting us from the outside, they had the guns pointing at us.
ELAM: By the time her family left the Wyoming camp three years later --
IWASAKI-MASS: I knew that the United States didn't love us.
ELAM: Her family returned to Los Angeles, but the experience took its toll.
IWASAKI-MASS: Our scars are deep and permanent.
ELAM: More than four decades later, Japanese Americans were grant $20,000 and a formal apology.
IWASAKI-MASS: If we didn't get reparations, if we felt we were still being put down by the government, I think that for me it would be hard to fight.
[14:29:59]
ELAM: Mass is part of a growing wave of multiracial support for Black American reparations.
Many Jewish and Japanese organizations among them.
DON TAMAKI, MEMBER, REPARATIONS TASK FORCE: I think there's a growing realization that in 1865, slavery ended, but that the bias simply morphed into other forms, that not only put a target on the backs of African-Americans, but also other people of color.
ELAM: Don Tamaki is one of nine members on California's Reparations Task Force, the first of its kind in any state. His parents, natives of the San Francisco Bay area, were also in an internment camp.
He even has a copy of the check his mother received from the federal government.
TAMAKI: There is no equivalence between four years in a concentration camp and 400 years of systemic exclusion and discrimination, but I think Japanese Americans as a group do understand what it's like to be excluded on the peace of race, and I think there is a sense that African-Americans open the door and everybody else walked through it. ELAM: The task force is suggesting more than 100 proposals for
California to address issues that have historically set the Black community back, including health harms, mass incarceration and overpolicing, and housing discrimination.
TIMOTHY ALAN SIMON, SAN FRANCISCO RESIDENT: So, to me, it's tragic that we're seeing this declining population.
ELAM: Native San Franciscan Timothy Alan Simon says he has seen black neighbors move out of his Bayview community. In fact, citywide in 1970, 13 percent of the population identified as Black. Now that number stands at less than 6 percent.
SIMON: San Francisco has lost the brilliance to a large extent, the cultural value, the economic contribution and innovation, all that's come out of the African-American community.
ELAM: Simon says educating the public about that loss is key and allies like Amy Iwasaki Mass are helping to shine light on that pain by exposing their own.
Is it important for black Americans to get support from other Americans?
AMY IWASAKI MASS, INCARCERATED IN AN INTERMENT CAMP AS A CHILD: Absolutely. Because when we were having trouble, Black people were being good to us. It's not the race, it's just like, as a human being --
ELAM: Stephanie Elam, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Stephanie Elam for that very important report.
And we have this special programming note, "Let's Lift Every Voice," for a special holiday, a CNN concert event, with some of the biggest names in music, that returns. Watch "Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom". Live coverage starts tomorrow night at 7:00, right here on CNN.
And still to come, millions of borrowers anxiously waiting. The Supreme Court expected to rule on the fate of President Biden's student loan forgiveness program. We'll discuss it with a personal finance expert. That's next.
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[14:36:53]
MARQUARDT: The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue rulings on several big cases in the next few days, and in the weeks ahead, as this year's term comes to an end. Among the most anticipated is a decision on President Biden's student loan forgiveness program. Now, millions of borrowers are anxiously awaiting to find out whether
they will receive up to $20,000 in debt relief under the program. But if the justices side with the Biden administration, around 14 million people would emerge student debt free from the plan. If, however, it is overturned, those student loans will not be repaid.
Michelle Singletary writes the nationally syndicated personal finance column, "The Color of Money" for "The New York Post". She's also the author of the book, "What to Do with Your Money When Crisis Hits: A Survival Guide."
Michelle, thank you so much for joining us today.
In this case, if the Supreme Court rules against student loan forgiveness, what is your advice to all of those people out there who are counting on your loans going away and would then have to find a way instead to pay them off?
MICHELLE SINGLETARY, NATIONALLY SYNDICATED PERSONAL FINANCE ADVISER: Yeah, we'll they'll have about three months to begin making their payments. The interest will start accruing in September, and the first payment wouldn't be do until October. And so what I have been telling people, if you haven't been making any payments and you got used to that pause, to start practicing paying those payments now. So put that money in a savings account and see how it impacts your budget.
And if you find that that is just too hard, that you can't manage that, you must contact your loan servicer to find out what your options are to get a more affordable payment going forward.
MARQUARDT: To move some of that money out of the pool you normally count on and see how it goes for you.
But, Michelle, if the court decides to keep the program in place and millions of Americans do have their student loans forgiven, how do you think they should use that financial relief?
SINGLETARY: Well, we know what happened in the last almost, you know, three or four years, that people use it to pay other debts, high- interest credit card debt, they use it to pay down their, you know, car loans. They use it to build an emergency fund. And so, there's lots of things that people can do.
The number one thing is if you've got high interest debt, to put that money towards that debt, because we already know that the Federal Reserve has already signaled that there may be more rate increases in the future, which means if you have variable interest rate debt, it's going to be more expensive.
So first, attack debt, at the same time, try to build some emergency funds and then, you know, put it towards your retirement, if you got kids, put it towards their college fund. If you get this breathing room, this ability to breath, use it productively, don't just go out and buy stuff, which most people won't do, anyway.
MARQUARDT: Of course, that is terrific advice. But, regardless of what the court decides on this program, do you think that future generations of college students or should they factor in possible student loan forgiveness when they factor in how to pay for college?
[14:40:06]
SINGLETARY: I think this is a one-time deal. If it skates through and it's really, you know, I'm not sure where it's going to end, I think this is a wake-up call for all of those parents and students who are about to start in the fall. The kids start in the fall, the parents are going to be, you know, helping them to select colleges that you don't take on more debt than you can afford.
Look at how much you're borrowing, and don't hand over that decision to an 18-year-old, parents. Think about the impact it will have for them for decades, for that debt to go to their chosen school or their brand name school. I like to tell people all the time, I went to the university of Maryland college, wonderful state school, and I ended up at "The Washington Post," great newspaper and one of my dear friends went to Harvard, and he got to "The Post" the same time I got to "The Post".
MARQUARDT: You are so full of great advice. It is, of course, going to be a very pivotal few days, if this ruling comes down and we will certainly come back to you for your thoughts when it does.
Michelle Singletary, thank you so much for your time.
SINGLETARY: Thank you so much and happy Father's Day to everyone, including my boo, my husband. Happy Father's Day.
MARQUARDT: Happy Father's Day to him. Take care.
Now, the man who risked his freedom to leak the Pentagon papers has died. Daniel Ellsberg revealed the classified documents about the U.S. war in Vietnam to both "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post". That was during the Nixon administration.
And last year, he spoke to CNN about why he did it. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL ELLSBERG, PENTAGON PAPERS LEAKER: When I copied the Pentagon papers and put them out, it was because I foresaw a war getting larger in Vietnam, not ending in 1969, when I was copying them, or '71. In fact, a year after I copied them in '71 and released them, I copied them in '69, when I released them to press in '71, I was on trial facing 115 years in prison. A year after that was the heaviest bombing in human history. More than another million tons of bombs came down.
My hope was not that I would end the war that was much too grandiose, but I hoped I would contribute to ending it before the next million tons bombs. We dropped 2 million tons in all of World War ii. Half of World War II was my ambition to avert that. I failed. There was more than another million tons. Altogether, we dropped almost four World War IIs, almost 8 million tons on Indochina and a lot of that was after I copied the Pentagon papers. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: Fascinating interview there. Earlier this year, Ellsberg said that he had pancreatic cancer and would not be receiving intensive treatment. Ellsberg was 92 years old.
Coming up, newly released video shows aides of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson drinking and dancing during a 2020 Christmas party while the rest of the country was still under strict COVID lockdown restrictions. London police say that they are investigating. We'll show you that video, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:47:51]
MARQUARDT: New video that was obtained exclusively by the British tabloid, "The Mirror," shows aides of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson drinking, dancing, and laughing in close proximity during a 2020 Christmas party at conservative party headquarters. The video was shot while the country was under strict COVID lockdown restrictions. This is the first time a video of a series of lockdown parties called partygate has emerged.
This coming just days after Johnson resigned as a member of the British parliament after an investigation found that he deliberately misled parliament over gatherings that took place during the lockdown.
CNN's Scott McLean is live from London.
So, Scott, tell us about this new video.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, as you mentioned, Alex, this was shot December 2020 at conservative party headquarters in London. This was at time when no two households were allowed to mix together indoors.
Now, there were exceptions, written into the rules for work, but this is very clearly not work. This is very clearly a social event. And as you mentioned, this party has been reported on previously by CNN, but this is the first time that we've seen video from inside of it. And I just want to play you some of it. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you filming this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Er, it's for party --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as we don't stream that we're like, bending the rules.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP) MCLEAN: Now, the London Metropolitan Police has handed out fines for lockdown parties before, including to Boris Johnson, including to current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as well. When it comes to this video, they told CNN that they are aware of the footage and considering it.
Now, the Conservative Party at the time when this news first emerged said that some of the people involved in this video have been disciplined for attending this party. A conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove was asked about this on Sky News this morning. He said it was completely out of order and terrible.
Now, this was organized by the people running the campaign for London conservative party mayoral candidate Sean Bailey. He apologized at the time and actually resigned from a committee that he was sharing at London city hall. What is odd here, Alex, that Sean Bailey was actually just this past week given a peerage, which means that he has a lifetime appointment to the House of Lords.
[14:50:10]
This is the British equivalent of the Senate.
The person who made that appointment is Boris Johnson, the former prime minister. It also comes just days to have deliberately misled parliament when it comes to his participation in totally separate lockdown parties, a half a dozen of them were investigated. Some of them were leaving drinks, one of them involved 200 people invited to bring their own booze.
The report found Johnson gave unsustainable interpretations of the very rules he helped to right. For example, he insisted and continues to insist in some cases that some of those parties were essential for work purposes. Now, it's actually tomorrow when the British parliament will vote on whether to approve this report's findings and the punishment it entails, which would have been 90 days suspended from parliament as an MP.
I say would have been because Boris Johnson has already resigned as a back bench MP. He called the whole process a witch hunt -- Alex.
MARQUARDT: Central for work purposes, and we all remember how dark and scary the mood was at the end of 2020. But apparently, not at British conservative headquarters.
Scott McLean in London, thanks very much.
MCLEAN: You bet.
MARQUARDT: Coming up, how baby boomers are ditching retirement and turning to TikTok to have some fun and to make some money.
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[14:55:52]
MARQUARDT: Forget retirement, some baby boomers are amassing huge social media followings and making really a new career out of it.
CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich talked to some of the grand influencers now taking social media by storm.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Six strangers picked to live in a house and have their lives taped for social media.
This isn't exactly the "Real World" house. These six strangers are well into retirement age. But their TikTok, the Retirement House, is anything but.
These seniors who are doing a bit of acting are pumping out curated content, rivaling influencers more than half their age while amassing more than five million followers.
They're called granfluencers and they're pulling in huge brand deals. The creator economy is worth $250 billion and could double to $480 billion by 2027.
The Retirement House promoting CeraVe. Four friends from Palm Springs known as The Old Gays on TikTok and have 11 million followers, partnered with Hyundai. And Chobani took notice of 74-year-old Lynn Davis' cooking videos and her 15.7 million followers.
Sixty-two-year-old Helen Polise is approaching one million followers on TikTok.
HELEN POLISE, INFLUENCER, THE MUTHERSHIP: It's daunting to think about that many people because it's like populations of cities.
Here we go.
YURKEVICH: Polise found TikTok over the pandemic -- a distraction and a way to have fun.
Was there a point that this turned into more of a business?
POLISE: Some people would ask me -- oh, how did you do that transition? How did you figure that out? So I said I'll make a tutorial for you. And that was the turning point in the social media for me.
YURKEVICH: Instead of brand deals, she's teaching her followers how to TikTok through paid tutorials. It started with mostly older people but now it's younger people, too.
POLISE: I'm really good at technology. Probably, I'm better than a lot of young people. So I want to highlight that it's OK to get older. I feel more authentic. I'm not afraid to be myself.
YURKEVICH: Yeah.
POLISE: And I think that's really helpful -- on social media, especially.
YURKEVICH: As for older influencers, success comes in the form of connection to millions of people, often a quarter of their age.
DEBRA RAPOPORT, ARTIST AND INFLUENCER: It also opens up a lot of community. I have more friends than I can count and I have more friends who are, like, 25 and 30 than 75, 80-year-olds.
YURKEVICH: At 78, Debra Rapoport has found a new audience for her sustainable wearable art on Instagram. She's able to promote her upcoming shows, workshops, and sell what she's made --
RAPOPORT: And I've modeled this naked.
YURKEVICH: -- to her nearly 60,000 Instagram followers.
Why do you think they're attracted to you?
RAPOPORT: I think young people are craving authenticity and that's what I try to encourage.
YURKEVICH: Is being older actually an asset on social media?
RAPOPORT: Totally, totally -- not only on social media but in life itself. I'm not afraid at 78 to put myself out there and say this is who I am and this is what I do. I've been doing it a very long time. I don't intend to stop.
YURKEVICH: For many granfluencers, this is fun and doesn't feel like work. Even while we filmed with Polise she was capturing her very next TikTok.
Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT: That's amazing. Our thanks to Vanessa Yurkevich for that story.
Today, families all around the world are celebrating Father's Day, including the royals who released this photo yesterday of William, the prince of Wales, and his children, George, Charlotte and Louis, all smiling together on the Windsor estate
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MARQUARDT: Hello and thank you for joining me. I'm Alex Marquardt, in today for Fredricka Whitfield.
We begin with a high stakes meeting in Beijing. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meeting with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang for more than five hours today. Blinken is now the first secretary of state to travel to China in five years.
