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Inside The Chaotic 36 Hours Of Russia's Uprising; 50-Million- Plus People Under Heat Alerts; Titan Recovery Missions Continue On Sea Floor. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 25, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In 2021, Belarus Air Traffic Control called in a bomb threat and the man was arrested.

Before entering politics, Lukashenko ran a collective farm. He has often had himself filmed as president digging up carrots or potatoes to show how he never forgot his roots.

But the Belarusian strong man has always had an eye on the future, balancing relations with his powerful neighbors, while apparently grooming his young son, sometimes dressed in military uniform, and often present for meetings with world leaders to take over.

Now, his intervention to broker a truce in Russia and decision to host Wagner boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin may spell a new chapter for the autocratic leader.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

[15:00:48]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta alongside my colleague Wolf Blitzer in London.

Thank you so much for joining us for this special CNN coverage.

An uneasy calm in Russia right now after an extraordinary 36 hours that saw an armed insurrection led by the head of the mercenary, Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. His whereabouts are unknown right now after the Kremlin said he struck a deal to stand down.

The agreement allows Prigozhin to be exiled to nearby Belarus and have all criminal charges in Russia against him dropped. Prigozhin's news service tells CNN that he will answer questions when he has proper communication.

And in a dramatic announcement late yesterday, the combative head of the Wagner Group said, his troops would turn around after coming within just 125 miles from Moscow.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, WAGNER GROUP (through translator): Therefore, realizing all the responsibility for the fact that Russian blood will be shed from one of the sides, we turn our columns around and leave in the opposite direction to the field camps according to the plan.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It was the most serious challenge to Russian president, Vladimir Putin's rule since he came into power 23 years ago.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

WHITFIELD: Wagner's soldiers were cheered by supporters as they prepared to leave the Russian military city of Rostov-on-Don.

President Biden has not commented publicly on the situation in Russia, but US secretary of State, Antony Blinken told CNN's "State of the Union" earlier today that he does not think this is fully resolved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, US SECRETARY OF STATE: It's too soon to tell exactly where this is going to go, and I suspect that this is a moving picture. And we haven't seen the last act yet.

But we can say this. First of all, what we've seen is extraordinary, and I think you see cracks emerge that weren't there before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Russian president, Vladimir Putin has only been seen in public once since the crisis began on Friday.

Wolf, certainly more questions than answers which only deepens this ongoing mystery?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Yes, it is a great mystery right now. We'll see what unfolds in the coming hours and days.

Right now, I want to go to CNN senior international correspondent, Sam Kiley.

Sam, what is the narrative that is coming out of Russia today? I know you're following this closely.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is very interesting indeed, Wolf.

I mean, a disaster averted by this extraordinary intervention, if that's indeed what it was from Lukashenko to get these columns of armored vehicles turned around before as Prigozhin said that blood would be shed.

Now, I think that really what is emerging on the streets in Russia is a very carefully controlled media reaction with people doing vox pops on the streets; very, very careful about what they say. This is an authoritarian regime that does not brook any criticism, and yet it is dealing with something very fundamental, which is the leader of a mercenary organization launching an insurrection, a rebellion on the premise or among the premises was that in the campaign in Ukraine, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia or the special military operation as the Kremlin calls it was conducted under false premises.

He is now kind of taking the position of the international community, that is undermining the whole military effort in that country, and that is going to be very critical for Vladimir Putin over the next few days and indeed, much, much longer.

His standing with his own military has been undermined. We don't know where Shoigu, the Defense minister is. We don't haven't really heard from Gerasimov, the head of the armed forces, two figures who Prigozhin when he was in Rostov-on-Don demanded to meet in a very aggressive way and has been very, very brutally critical of them from the frontlines in Bakhmut in so many of those video statements that he made.

So at the moment, I think the Kremlin is rattled. It is trying to figure out what to do next and breathing in enormous sigh of relief that this has not metastasized, at least not yet -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Keywords, "at least not yet." Sam Kiley, thank you very much.

[15:05:08]

We're also learning more right now about what US Intelligence officials knew leading up to this weekend's dramatic crisis and possible fallout with the Wagner Group.

CNN senior national security correspondent, Alex Marquardt is following all of these developments. He is joining us from Washington; and CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson is right here in London as well.

Alex, let me start with you.

How much of a surprise was this for the Biden administration?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was a surprise to many across the administration, Wolf, whether that's the White House or in the military or over in Congress. This was surprising on a number of different levels -- the speed with which it happened, when it happened, and the sheer audacity of Prigozhin trying to challenge the Russian military and perhaps, political leadership.

But we're also told, Wolf, that it was less of a surprise to the intelligence community; that this was something that they knew was in the works, they knew was a significant possibility. They were tracking this and in fact, we are expecting something like this to unfold.

Intelligence analysts, we are told from multiple sources, saw a buildup of troops, of equipment, of weaponry. They saw that moving.

Now remember, Wolf, Wagner had just pulled out of the battle for Bakhmut, which they've been waging for months. And so, intelligence analysts here in the US were seeing that movement towards Russia, and it got to the point where intelligence officials just a couple of days ago, I'm told, in the middle of the week, they briefed the Gang of Eight in Congress, those are the most senior leaders of both chambers of Congress.

They also, among them, are also the heads of the intelligence committees. So this was something that the intelligence community did believe was imminent.

And then when it was launched, Wolf, there was an expectation that there would be a lot more resistance that those Wagner forces faced on their march towards Moscow, that they would run into the professional Russian military, that there would be forces from the FSB, the internal security services, that there would be border guards who would come out and meet them and try to fight with them.

I'm told from a US official earlier today that there was an assessment that there would be a lot more violence and a lot more bloodshed, that this was going to be a bloody battle. Of course, Wolf, that did not happen.

So there was real surprise that there was not more resistance. There was real surprise that this deal was brokered, allegedly by the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. And so this really has come to quite a stunning end, Wolf.

So now the intelligence community, the national security officials here in Washington, really trying to figure out why is it that Prigozhin stopped this march, when it really appeared that he had the upper hand? Why was this deal struck? And what if anything, did Prigozhin get out of it -- Wolf.

BLITZER: The answer to those questions are really critical.

Nic, what signs are you seeing tonight, that potentially could point to the future of Prigozhin and his Wagner forces.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The fact that we're not hearing from him indicates that he appears to have his freedom, appears be on the way to Belarus, that those are the indications.

I think it's very hard to read too much into any of the situation at the moment, because there is so much of the deal that we don't know about.

I think, you know, when we try to analyze how Prigozhin was able to do this come Rostov-on-Don, take control of that large military base, send so many military vehicles relatively unchallenged to Moscow, this clearly seems to indicate and certainly some of the people that have been talked to on the streets in Russia, in Rostov-on-Don and Moscow, there is a sympathy for Prigozhin, and his complaint that Russia's Ministry of Defense mistreats its conscripts, doesn't give them proper training, doesn't give them proper equipment, doesn't support them in the field, throws them into the battle.

Despite the fact that we know that Prigozhin also has a track record of horrendously high losses, according to Ukrainian military of throwing fighters into the fight, but Prigozhin somehow because he is charismatic and goes out to the frontline. When did a Russian soldier ever see Valery Gerasimov, their Defense chief or Sergei Shoigu, the Defense minister, actually go out on the frontline?

We've seen Prigozhin virtually live with his frontline troops, popping up every other day or so on camera in the middle of Bakhmut on the frontlines.

He has got a lot of emotional support and he has got a lot of support because there is this general feeling in Russia among people that number one, the leadership doesn't care a jot for them, nobody thinks that Putin actually cares for them, that they will be used as cannon fodder on the frontline, and Prigozhin is challenging that.

Plus, he is an ultra-nationalist on the top of it and is a tough man and Russians like tough men and that's what they look for in the leadership and that's a problem Putin has today.

[15:10:05]

So I think really, what we've witnessed and the question to be raised is how could Prigozhin do so much so easily? That appears to be what Putin is afraid of and that was potentially that leverage, the leverage that Prigozhin was able to use to be able to essentially walk out of this, apparently, on his terms. Again, we just don't know the deal yet.

BLITZER: Yes, good point.

Alex, we are told, President Biden's direct message to various Western leaders was to let this all play out, that the US had no intention of getting directly involved. Is that caution warranted?

MARQUARDT: Yes, the message from the administration, Wolf, and from other NATO countries, was really this is an internal Russian issue. This is a domestic dispute, we don't want any part of this.

Every US official I spoke with, every diplomat I spoke with made the point that we are not at all involved. Everyone saw this immediately for what it was, which is the biggest challenge to Putin's leadership since he came into office and none of these countries wanted to give Putin any kind of way to say, oh, this is an effort that is backed by the United States are backed by NATO.

The administration really wants to make clear that this was something that Wagner and Prigozhin were doing absolutely themselves. Now, of course, this is something that the United States and NATO would like to see, this challenge to Putin, this fracturing among the Russian military, but they didn't want to give any kind of indication that they had any kind of role here.

And then over in Ukraine, there is certainly a sense that there is an opening here for the Ukrainian military, if the Russian military has indeed been weakened, to try to really push forward during this counteroffensive to take advantage of a weaker Russian military, to take advantage of certainly, weaker morale.

But you can also imagine, Wolf, that there was almost certainly a message to Kyiv as well from Washington and from other -- from European capitals to not make it look like Ukraine was involved in this either, to not try any of those sabotage acts or cross border attacks at this moment, really let this play out.

So this was certainly something that everybody in the pro-Ukraine camp, NATO and the US really wanted to make it look like this was internal Russian squabbling, and just let it play out. Let's sit on the sidelines and watch closely -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, which is significant indeed.

Nic, one local Russian official said 19 homes were damaged during clashes with the Wagner forces. How much of this is really sinking in for Russians today?

ROBERTSON: I think the sense that it could have been much worse was really prevalent yesterday, the collective sigh of relief, and I think we've seen some of the video where you've seen some of the big trucks, Prigozhin's big military trucks driving down the road, one of them at least seem to be burnt out.

There was an incident caught on camera where a helicopter flew by very close to a fuel store on the way, on the route from Rostov-on-Don that these trucks were taking towards Moscow, and then the fuel store there burst into flames. So that's gone up at huge cost to the Russian state.

So there was damage, and I think, certainly for the Russians, they would have been very afraid, particularly in Rostov-on-Don, and particularly those in Moscow as well were afraid at these potential clash points could have become very bloody.

In the early hours of today, we heard that the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, his special forces, were pulling out of Rostov-on-Don, and of course, Kadyrov is a huge pillar, a strong and powerful pillar behind Putin, and he was one of the first to come out yesterday and back Putin. He had sent his special forces into Rostov-on-Don.

Look at that heavy fighting equipment that Prigozhin pulled out. Imagine if the elite Chechen forces had gone up against Prigozhin's battle-hardened fighters. The overspill and the potential for civilian casualties would have been huge.

And I think people are very aware of how big this could get, yet, you do here in Moscow today, comments from people who felt that perhaps this was all a bit of theater and all a bit stage managed.

To me, that makes me realize that they're very much out of touch with the reality because it is often again, that cynicism of Russian leadership and cynicism of what they see on TV because people know that they're being lied to by their leadership.

So they don't necessarily trust what they see on the TV, and therefore feel when these events are happening, they may not be quite so real, but then suddenly they are, and of course, people, you know, that's a concern for some people, that they play it down that way.

BLITZER: Nic Robertson reporting for us, thank you; Alex Marquardt, thanks to you as well.

Still to come, over 50 million across the south, they are under heat alerts right now, temperatures expected to top 100 degrees. We're going to tell you what states are getting hit the worst. We have new information, that's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:19:16]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back.

More than 50 million people are under an extreme heat threat, an area stretching from Arizona to Mississippi; and in parts of Texas, it will feel as hot as 120 degrees and the state's power authority says a Grid Weather Watch will start today and run through Friday.

CNN's Rafael Romo joining me now with more of this.

So, this is life-threatening heat.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right, a very difficult situation for folks out there, Fred, and much of Texas is currently under an excessive heat warning or heat advisory from the National Weather Service with temperatures expected to top 100 degrees in many areas.

That heat wave has already claimed the lives of at least two people, a father and his two step sons were hiking in extreme heat at Big Bend National Park in southwestern Texas Saturday when the youngest step son age 14, fell ill along the trail and lost consciousness according to the National Park Service.

[15:20:10]

The 31-year-old father rushed back to their vehicle to go get help, but was found dead two hours later after apparently crashing over an embankment. It was a tragic reminder of how dangerous the extreme temperatures can be.

Over 50 million people are under heat alerts across the south including much of Texas, as well as parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Cities around Texas are taking measures to protect residents. That's the case of Corpus Christi, which has made six public libraries available to residents as cooling centers. Over the weekend, the heat index in Corpus Christi was expected to reach 116 degrees Sunday according to the National Weather Service.

In Austin, Fred, authorities are extending hours until 8:00 PM for multiple facilities, including libraries so that they can be used as cooling centers as well.

People without transportation can ride city buses for free to one of those cooling centers and the city's Community Health Paramedic Program has been handing out water to the homeless.

Texas Power Authority, ERCOT says a weather watch went into effect Sunday and will run through next Friday, June 30th, so a very complicated situation for the people there.

WHITFIELD: It is, but thank goodness for all of those cooling stations and people need to take advantage of them where they can.

ROMO: That's right.

WHITFIELD: Rafael Romo, good to see you. Thank you.

All right, Coming up, Belarusian officials say the location of Wagner's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin is unclear after the Kremlin announced that it reached a deal to end his insurrection and have him travel to Belarus.

We'll take a look at how the uprising all played out, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:15]

BLITZER: Back now to our developing story on the situation in Russia.

An uneasy calm hangs over Moscow today after a stunning 36 hours that saw an armed insurrection led by the head of the mercenary, Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. His whereabouts aren't known right now after the Kremlin said he actually struck a deal to stand down.

The agreement allows Prigozhin to be exiled to nearby Belarus and have all criminal charges against him dropped.

CNN's Ivan Watson explains how Prigozhin's insurrection started and what it says about Putin's grip on power.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A weekend of chaos and drama in Russia.

(PEOPLE cheering.)

WATSON (voice over): Mercenaries declared a mutiny and then called it off in under 24 hours.

(YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN speaking in foreign language.)

WATSON (voice over): Yevgeny Prigozhin issued a call for rebellion, the Head of the Wagner Mercenary Group accusing top Russian military commanders of gross mismanagement of the war in Ukraine.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS].

WATSON (voice over): Then Prigozhin released video of an alleged Russian airstrike on a Wagner camp in Ukraine, demanding revenge. Russia's Defense Ministry denied the attack, and soon Russia's top prosecutor announced criminal charges against Prigozhin.

Then, in the early hours of Saturday, Prigozhin followed through on his threats, sending his fighters across the border from Ukraine back into Russia.

Footage surfaced at dawn showing Wagner fighters surrounding the military headquarters in the southern Russian city of Rostov. Some locals stood nearby, watching.

(YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN speaking in foreign language.)

WATSON (voice over): At around 7:30 AM, Prigozhin was then shown dressing down senior Russian military leaders and issuing demands.

PRIGOZHIN (through translator): Again, we came here, we want to receive the chief of general staff and Shoigu. Until they show up, until they show up, we are located here, blockading the city of Rostov and we'll go to Moscow.

WATSON (voice over): Video showed columns of Wagner troops heading north towards the capital, along the way claiming control of military installations in the Voronezh region.

Footage later showed at least one Russian helicopter narrowly avoiding a missile.

(VLADIMIR PUTIN speaking in foreign language.)

WATSON (voice over): At 10:00 AM Moscow time, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a televised address to the nation, calling the rebellion a stab in the back.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): All those who deliberately chose the path of treachery, who prepared an armed mutiny who chose the path of blackmail and terrorist methods will face inevitable punishment and will answer both to the law and to our people.

WATSON (voice over): The Kremlin announced counterterrorism measures, tightening security in Moscow, but by Saturday night, suddenly, a Kremlin reversal.

Putin's spokesman announced a deal.

(YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN speaking in foreign language.)

WATSON (voice over): Prigozhin released an audio message saying his troops would turn around and go back to field camps to avoid shedding Russian blood.

(PEOPLE chanting "Wagner.")

WATSON (voice over): Supporters chanted "Wagner" as fighters drove out of Rostov, giving Prigozhin handshakes as he left in this SUV.

The Kremlin says it has dropped charges and Prigozhin will go to Belarus, while promising his fighters contracts with the Russian military.

For now, a crisis apparently averted, but this very public betrayal and the mercenary's short, but unimpeded march on Moscow reveals deep weakness at the heart of the Putin regime.

Ivan Watson, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:30:13]

BLITZER: Thank you, Ivan.

Now let's discuss all of this and more, the stunning events in Russia with Tim Naftali. He's a CNN presidential historian, the former director of the Nixon Presidential Library.

Tim, thanks very much for joining us.

Putin has served as you well know, as either president or prime minister of Russia for some 23 years. Has he ever faced a moment as precarious as this?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: No, Wolf, he has not, and we have to keep in mind that he has personal experience of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In particular, he also has personal experience of the collapse of the East German regime, and dictatorships rest on the perception of invincibility and also on fear of the consequences of opposition.

Putin's reversal regarding Prigozhin is very interesting, because it, I think, as Ivan has just reported, I think it reflects a weakness in Putin's conduct of the war and generally of the state, because Putin knows that what you don't do is show weakness.

And the fact that he did not follow through on his threat to punish Wagner and Prigozhin I think, is a reflection of his inability to do so. It is not the product of some newfound humanity, because look at what he is doing in Ukraine every single day, and how he is forcing Russian conscripts to fight in a World War One trench battle, and of course, he is lobbing missiles into Ukrainian cities.

So it's not like he's suddenly found humanity. What we see is weakness.

BLITZER: As you know, the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, he emphasized on CNN this morning that Prigozhin actually questioned the entire premise of Putin's war in Ukraine. So how does that reverberate among Russian society?

NAFTALI: Let's wait and see.

This is one of those tipping points or potential tipping points in Russian history, and therefore in world history. Let's see how the Russian people respond to the fact that the dictator has feet of clay. Let's also see how the Russian military responds. I am certain that

our government and NATO allies and of course Ukraine, are looking to see morale in the Russian troops in Ukraine.

To what extent were they happy about the way in which Moscow handled the Wagner mutiny? To what extent are they beginning to question the very fact that they are putting their lives on the line every single day? We just don't know that yet. But that's something to watch for in the days and weeks ahead.

BLITZER: CNN, Tim has learned that on President Biden's call on Saturday with other Western leaders, the message was to keep the temperature low as all of this was playing out in Russia. How do you assess the Biden administration's handling of this?

NAFTALI: I think, its handling so far, at least, its public handling has been superb.

What was very important from the start was not to give either Prigozhin or Putin any reason to use the United States in their struggle.

We did not want Putin to get the benefit of an argument that we somehow were behind Prigozhin's mutiny, and we did not want to give Prigozhin the opportunity to make some weird argument that the United States was somehow influencing Putin's mishandling of the war.

Staying silent, at least in the part of the president was absolutely the right thing to do. What the US government did publicly was Biden was silent, watchful waiting, while Blinken was out making clear that we were talking and consulting with our allies, which is absolutely the thing to do.

What we all saw in 1989 was the value of silence from a president, in that case, President Bush, when events are turning in your direction, in the home of an adversary.

BLITZER: Good point. Tim Naftali, the CNN presidential history, thanks very, very much.

And this just coming into CNN right now: Officials say that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with President Biden today and the two discussed the situation unfolding inside Russia.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is joining us now from the White House. Arlette, what can you tell us about this call?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, President Biden did speak with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy today as the president is spending the weekend in Camp David.

The two leaders discussed the US support for Ukraine as well as the recent uprising that was seen in Russia over the past 48 hours. I want to read you a little bit of the White House readout of this call, which said: "President Biden spoke today with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine to discuss support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian aggression."

[15:35:17]

The readout says: "They discussed Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive, and President Biden reaffirmed unwavering US support including through continued security, economic and humanitarian aid. The leaders also discussed recent events in Russia."

Now, this phone call between Biden and Zelenskyy follows a call Biden had yesterday with top allies including the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, where they not only talked about support for Ukraine, but also those developments in Russia.

Now officials have been very careful with their statements regarding this uprising, this insurrection in Russia because they don't want to give any credence or any belief that they were involved in any way.

But we have started to hear the first reactions from the administration as today, secretary of State, Antony Blinken said that they are starting to see some cracks emerge in Putin's hold on power. So of course, officials here will be trying to determine the impact of these developments not just in Russia, but also on the war in Ukraine.

BLITZER: Arlette Saenz of the White House, excellent reporting, thank you very much.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:23]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

First on CNN, the company behind recovery efforts of that deadly sub disaster say they have identified objects of interest from the debris field.

The OceanGate Titan submersible suffered a catastrophic implosion killing all five people on board.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is in St. John's, Newfoundland following the investigation.

Gloria, the Coast Guard -- the US Coast Guard will hold a news conference at any moment. What can we expect?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, and we're waiting to hear that information. It's going to be key because we have learned today that the mission to find more pieces of the Titan is ongoing.

There is a remote operating vehicle that is out 400 miles at sea from here. It's called the Odysseus 6000, and we've learned today that the Odysseus has been diving at the bottom of the ocean. It has been on four separate missions so far. And here is what they've been able to recover up until this point --

the nose of the vessel, the pressurized hull, the front and the back of it. And also these two other debris fields that the remote operating vehicle has been scanning.

Another interesting thing that we have learned, Fred is that the company that is operating Odysseus 6000 has been using its heavy lifting capabilities. So we want to know whether or not they have been able to recover any additional debris and hopefully the Coast Guard will be able to provide more information on that.

This debris that's being recovered is going to be critical to the investigation, which the Canadian Transportation Board has said that they are conducting. They have also recovered a voice recorder and that was inside the Polar Prince. That was the ship that was operating as the mothership to the Titan when it went missing an hour and 45 minutes into that expedition to the bottom of the ocean to see the wreck of the Titanic.

So we could be getting some critical new information in the next few minutes -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, we look forward to that.

Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much.

And of course, when that press conference gets underway, we'll go straight to it. So for now, let me talk to attorney, Ted Spaulding.

Ted, good to see you again.

We might be interrupted by that press conference if it gets underway, and we want to take that signal.

So investigators say, they are not trying to assign blame to what happened. But in your view, is there a civil or criminal case that is building against OceanGate?

TED SPAULDING, PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER, SPAULDING INJURY LAW: Yes. I mean, I think there certainly as a civil case, and I would be shocked if one or more families do not pursue and it is called a wrongful death case. So it's a personal injury case. So, I would not be surprised if that gets filed.

Criminal-wise, certainly from some of the narratives that I hear out there, there are some components that if it keeps going that way, there might be a criminal investigation --

WHITFIELD: Meaning, if an OceanGate or people within that operation knew that this was a greater risk than usual was being posed by carrying on with this mission?

SPAULDING: That is correct. Yes. This all comes down and so does the civil side, quite frankly, it comes down to how much knowledge they have in advance. How much risk did they take and they knew they were taking in the design of this submersible. The more they knew, and we've heard about this in the past couple of

days with the CEO who was on the submersible, when he was coming up with this idea in creating this submersible, all of the things he was doing and how innovative this was, and all of these different things. And the question becomes, how much of this did he know in advance?

WHITFIELD: So let's zero in a little bit more on the risk because everyone on the surface knew that there's a great risk with wanting to be part of this venture and quite frankly, that is also part of the lure, you know, for people who are explorers, who want to be part of these incredible ventures.

And correspondent and tech journalist for "CBS Sunday Morning," David Pogue actually rode on the Titan submersible. He joined us on our air earlier in the week, about a year ago, he shared with us some of the waiver.

He was on the vessel about a year ago, and he shared with us a portion of the waiver that he signed at the time, which he said states this: "This operation will be conducted inside an experimental submersible vessel that has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body and may be constructed of materials that have not been widely used in human occupied submersible. Travel in and around the vessel could result in physical injury, disability, emotional trauma, or death."

"The support vessel could expose me to property damage, injury, disability or death. Assisting in the operation of the sub could lead to property injury, disability or death."

[15:24:30]

So if the language here is similar to that of the waiver that these latest passengers may have signed, does this insulate, protect OceanGate at all?

SPAULDING: It potentially does. In the personal injury realm, we are very used to waivers, okay. They come up all the time.

So this is not abnormal to have a waiver like this.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SPAULDING: Obviously, we're talking a unique situation, so it is a little bit different than what most injury attorneys have to deal with. But this will be hotly litigated if a case is filed, because obviously OceanGate is going to say, look, it's right here in plain English, they're waiving any of this.

It's not that simple, okay. Now, we don't know what jurisdiction we're talking about here. That's going to be another --

WHITFIELD: Yes, that's another problem.

SPAULDING: Another whole animal.

WHITFIELD: There is a Russian state involved with this venture, this company, the Bahamas, because of the way the LLC held its money. And then of course, we're talking about the ocean. You know, where this happened?

SPAULDING: Correct. So, there's multiple jurisdictions that are potentially in play here. So depending on the jurisdiction, what we're dealing with is things like gross negligence. That is a way that a waiver like this can be found to be void, okay.

If OceanGate acted with gross negligence in whatever the claim is, obviously, we know they're heading down the path of negligent design, okay.

We're not sure about operation. I haven't heard anything yet about the actual operation that day.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SPAULDING: But the design itself is, I think, where a lot of people are going to hang their hat.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Gross negligence. So if the operators knew that it was even more risky than they had revealed or promised.

SPAULDING: Correct.

WHITFIELD: Ted, we're going to leave it there for now. So great to see you. Thank you for your expertise. Ted Spalding, appreciate it.

SPAULDING: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So the uprising in Russia ended almost as quickly as it began. The Kremlin said it reached a deal with the Wagner chief, but Prigozhin has not confirmed the deal himself and hasn't even been seen since late last night.

So much more straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:00]

WHITFIELD: Three San Antonio police officers were charged with murder Friday, less than 24 hours after they fatally shot a woman during a police call.

The police chief said Sergeant Alfred Flores, Officer Eleazar Alejandro, and Officer Nathaniel Villalobos are suspended without pay as the investigation continues.

CNN correspondent, Mike Valerio joins us live with more details on this.

Mike, walk us through what happened.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Fredricka, I think we need to start with a woman who is at the center of this case, Melissa Perez. She is a mother and it was very apparent very early in this incident

that she was having a mental health crisis. So fire officials show up to her apartment complex because she is cutting the wires in her apartment's fire system and firefighters say, you know, hey, what is going on? And she tells them that she is cutting those wires because she believes that the FBI is listening to her.

So it is apparent that she needs some help. Officers come to the scene and they decide that they're going to charge her with defacing property because she is potentially putting the lives of others at risk.

But she runs into her apartment, she locks the doors. Officers tried to confront her and get her to come out. She grabs a hammer though, she is very frightened, but what you're going to see in the next couple of seconds, Fredricka are portions of the body camera video.

She has the hammer, you'll hear an unsettling exchange of words between the woman and an officer and then two volleys of gunfire when the woman who has the hammer is near her window.

Just watch what happens over the next 20 seconds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE.)

POLICE OFFICER: You're going to get shot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shoot me.

POLICE OFFICER: Go. Hey watch out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey. Hey, watch out.

(GUNFIRE.)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, hey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey.

(GUNFIRE.)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up.

(GUNFIRE.)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: Just incredibly tragic right there to hear her say "shoot me."

Well, as a defense, one of the officers told investigators that he thought from his point of view that Miss Perez could have thrown the hammer in his direction, but as a rebuttal, one of the detectives from the San Antonio Police Department writing in the affidavit for the arrest of the officers writes this: "The defendants were not in clear danger of death or serious bodily injury at the time the defendants used deadly force. Your affiant does not believe a reasonable officer in light of the same facts and circumstances would have felt compelled to use deadly force."

These officers are now all out on bond and they have a preliminary hearing a month from now -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Very sad. Mike Valerio, thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:58:56]

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta alongside my colleague, Wolf Blitzer in London. Thanks so much for joining us for this special CNN coverage.

We're following developments out of Russia after an extraordinary 36 hours that saw an armed insurrection led by the head of the mercenary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. We will have more on that in just a bit.

But first, moments from now, in Boston, the US Coast Guard is holding a press briefing on the investigation on the Titan submersible implosion. We'll take that live as it happens.

Meantime, CNN's Gloria Pazmino is live for us in St. John's, Newfoundland. So Gloria what is expected from this presser?

PAZMINO: Well, look, Fred, ever since the Titan went missing a week ago now, it was on a Sunday that it went on an expedition to explore the wreck of the Titanic. We have heard updates from the US Coast Guard over the last several days and we are expecting to learn more today about what if anything else has been found of the Titan.

As we know, it was on that expedition, there was a catastrophic implosion, all the five members of that expedition were killed.

[16:00:13]