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President Biden Departs For European Trip, NATO Summit; U.S. Marine Taken Into Custody For Questioning Over Missing 14-Year-Old Girl; Crimea Bridge Briefly Closed After Cruise Missile Shot Down; Ukrainian Fights Get Prosthesis In Mexico; Ron DeSantis Puts Family At Forefront Of His Campaign; Trump Campaigns In Iowa Amid New Details in Election Probe; Biden Defends Age, Touts Political Experience; Congress Returns To Capitol Hill This Week; Social Media Impact On Kids Mental Health; Pres. Biden Lands In The U.K. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired July 09, 2023 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:01:02]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with President Biden, who will soon arrive in London for the start of a high stakes trip to Europe. During the five- day visit, Biden will meet with leaders in the U.K. and Finland, and in between those two stops attend a critical NATO summit, a meeting that will be keenly focused on Russia's war in Ukraine. A conflict right on NATO's borders.

The summit comes just days after President Biden approved giving controversial cluster munitions to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia, munitions that nearly all NATO members have banned.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is in London ahead of the president's arrival.

So, Arlette, what's first on the president's agenda once he arrives?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, President Biden will arrive here in London in just a few hours as he's set to hold a host of meetings here tomorrow during a brief 24-hour trip to the United Kingdom. The president tomorrow will meet with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street, and then the president will travel to Windsor Castle for an engagement with King Charles, the first time the two men will be meeting since the king was -- had his coronation back in May.

The two men are expected to discuss issues relating to clean energy and climate change, which has really been a very personal issue for King Charles. After his visit here to London, the president travels to Lithuania for the NATO summit, which is really the centerpiece of the president's trip to Europe this week. After that two-day summit, he will be heading to Finland to meet with the country's president as well as Nordic leaders.

But at the NATO summit, the key focus for the president and allied leaders will be Russia's war in Ukraine as the NATO alliance is trying to shore up the assistance that they can offer to Ukraine as this war continues. And also up for debate is the possible road map for Ukraine to join NATO at some point. There has been some differences between the allied leaders about what exactly NATO should be joining, whether they should set the exact timetable for that.

And President Biden in an interview with CNN said that now is not the time for Ukraine to join NATO as the war continues and there are still certain commitments that Ukraine would need to meet in order to join the alliance. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think it's ready for membership in NATO. But here's the deal. I spent, as you know, a great deal of time trying to hold NATO together because I believe Putin has had an overwhelming objective from the time he launched 185,000 troops into Ukraine, and that was to break NATO. He was confident, in my view and many in the intelligence community, he was confident he could break NATO.

So holding NATO together is really critical. I don't think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now at this moment in the middle of a war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, in addition to discussing a possible future path for Ukraine to join NATO, the leaders are also expected to focus on Sweden's bid to join the NATO alliance, which is currently being blocked by Turkish President Erdogan. Erdogan has concerns about Sweden harboring what he considers to be terrorist groups in his country.

The president has said that he is hopeful and optimistic that Sweden ultimately will join the alliance. It's unclear whether that could be approved during the summit. But President Biden did speak with Erdogan today and the National Security adviser Jake Sullivan says the two are likely to meet at that NATO summit in Lithuania.

WHITFIELD: All right. Keep us posted on all of that. Arlette Saenz, thanks so much in London.

All right, controversy over Biden's approval to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine is also extending to Capitol Hill. Today one top Republican told Jake Tapper on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" that he agrees with the president's decision.

[16:05:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): Russia is dropping with impunity cluster bombs in Ukraine, in the country of Ukraine right now. All the Ukrainians and Zelenskyy are asking for is to give them the same weapons the Russians have to use in their own country against Russians who are in their own country. They do not want these to be used in Russia, they want these as self-defense to use against Russians in their own country of Ukraine.

I don't see anything wrong with that because quite honestly, Jake, as you look at the counteroffensive it's been slowed tremendously because this administration has been so slow to get the weapons in. These weapons would be a game changer. They are highly effective, and particularly hitting flanks of troops inside of Ukraine. They would be a game changer in the counteroffensive and I'm really pleased the administration has finally agreed to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But not everyone is on board. Congresswoman Barbara Lee said that giving these bombs to Ukrainians could risk the U.S. losing moral leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BARBARA LEE (D-CA): No, cluster bombs should never be used. That's crossing a line. Once you've seen what takes place, we know what takes place in terms of cluster bombs being very dangerous to civilians. They don't always immediately explode. Children can step on them. That's a line we should not cross. I think the president has been doing a good job managing this war, this Putin aggressive war against Ukraine, but I think that this should not happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And it's worth noting U.S. forces began phasing out cluster munitions in 2016 because of the danger posed to civilians.

All right, new today, the U.S. Military says it killed an ISIS leader in a drone attack in eastern Syria on Friday. The announcement was made by U.S. Central Command earlier today. U.S. officials said the drones used in the attack were the same as the ones that were harassed by Russian fighter jets earlier the same day.

And we also learned today that the U.S. killed 10 members of the Al- Shabaab group in Somalia in a drone strike. U.S.-Africa Command said the strikes were conducted at the request of the federal government of Somalia. The U.S. has launched a number of strikes against the group this year including one that killed 30 fighters in January.

And this just in to CNN. A U.S. Marine has been taken into custody for questioning after a 14-year-old girl who was reported missing last month was found at Camp Pendleton.

CNN's Camila Bernal joining us right now.

Camila, what more are you learning about this?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. So this Marine was taken into custody for questioning, and this was after this 14- year-old girl was actually found at the barracks at Camp Pendleton. That happened on June 28th, according to a statement from the Marine Corps.

And I want to read part of that statement that they released. And here's what they're saying. "This command takes this matter and all allegations very seriously. The incident is under investigation and we will continue to cooperation with NCIS and appropriate authorities."

Now the NCIS is the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and we reached out to them as well but they declined to comment out of respect for the investigative process. Now we also reached out to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and they say the girl was reported missing on June 13th. She was reported missing by her grandmother who told authorities that her granddaughter had run away on June 9th.

She said this was not the first time that she ran away but that usually she would return home quickly. And so her name was put into multiple missing person's databases. And she was found by military police on June 28th. Once she was found she was interviewed by authorities. We're told they offered services to her and she was reunited with her grandmother. But again this is all being handled by NCIS so we are waiting for the findings of that investigation, and there's of course a lot of questions as to what exactly happened here -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Lots of questions. All right, Camila Bernal, thank you so much.

BERNAL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, Ukrainian soldiers badly wounded in combat now recovering after receiving prosthetic limbs in Mexico. They share their stories, their journeys to recovery, and what comes next after fighting for freedom, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:13:41]

WHITFIELD: All right. Turning now to the latest on the war in Ukraine. Russian officials say their air defenses shut down a cruise missile near a key bridge linking Russian controlled Crimea with the mainland. The incident closed the bridge for a time before it was reopened. This is the same bridge that was attacked last October causing a partial collapse.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in eastern Ukraine for us.

So, Ben, what is the latest right now?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest really has been actually a relatively quiet day in Ukraine here on the eastern front where we were today. It was rainy and overcast and not much fighting going on. So the real news is this incident that happened over the Kerch Bridge that you referred to.

This is a bridge that links Russian occupied Crimea with Russia proper. And this bridge is 11 miles long, it's the biggest bridge in Europe, and it was built under the supervision of President Vladimir Putin after 2014, after the Russians took over Crimea as a real prestige project. It cost billions of dollars. And back on the 8th of October 2022, an incident happened there, a big explosion on the bridge.

[16:15:00]

Now, the Ukrainians at the time did not acknowledge any responsibility, although they expressed much happiness that it happened. But today what we saw was that the Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar listed 12 major accomplishments by Ukraine during the 500 days since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, and she included on that list an attack on the bridge.

And of course this bridge is of huge strategic importance, as well as symbolic importance to the Russians. So this little incident today that didn't result in any casualties or damage, traffic was only brief stopped both ways, but it really underscores just how critical that bridge is to the Russian control over the Crimea Peninsula -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And then, Ben, these Ukrainian POWs, they are receiving some well-deserved attention this weekend. What happened?

WEDEMAN: This is a very interesting incident. These are five commanders of the Azov Brigade which was in the seaport town of Mariupol. It was under siege for 80 days. Specifically a huge steel plant there. Eventually the Ukrainians had to surrender. The Russians took hundreds, perhaps thousands of prisoners and then they were exchanged but five of those commanders had to stay in Turkey as part of that agreement.

But President Zelenskyy, who was in Turkey on Friday, flew back with these five commanders and this was seen as sort of a great victory for the Ukrainians to bring them back. And these commanders announced that as soon as they're back in Ukraine they want to go back to the front -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ben Wedeman, in eastern Ukraine, thanks so much.

So as the war rages on in Ukraine, a nonprofit in Mexico is providing funding to help Ukrainian soldiers to get back on their feet.

CNN's Rafael Romo spoke with several of those soldiers about their recovery and their ultimate hope to return to the frontline?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's correct. They want to return and when you see how badly injured they are, it is just incredible. And they're being helped by the Ukrainian Diaspora of Mexico. It's an organization that was formed at the beginning of the way, and they're doing something very beautiful. They're trying to help people affected by the war, including these two soldiers who were badly injured.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO (voice-over): They take a moment to reflect. Now recovering in Mexico, these fellow Ukrainians have more than their country of origin in common. Their lives will never be the same. They each lost a leg in combat trying to keep Ukraine a free nation.

Pavel says he spent two months in the hospital after suffering seven different injuries during combat. He told us he was a businessman in a city in western Ukraine but when the Russians invaded, he says he knew he had to fight for freedom.

PAVEL, UKRAINIAN FIGHTER (through text translation): I have three children. I went to defend my country for the future of my children. I want my children to live in a beautiful, prosperous country, and not under the Russian occupiers.

ROMO: Danilo, a career soldier, also got a prosthesis in Mexico after losing his right leg in battle with the Russians. He says he will never forget the atrocities he witnessed in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.

DANILO, UKRAINIAN FIGHTER (through text translation): It is difficult for soldiers to see civilians dying, when grandmothers and grandfathers and children are dying. It is difficult.

ROMO: Both Pavel and Danilo have asked us to hide their identities. They still have family in the combat zone in Ukraine and the last thing they want they say is for Russians to target their loved ones if they learn they're related to someone who fought to drive them out of their country.

The nonprofit Ukrainian Diaspora in Mexico is providing funding to help these and other soldiers to literally get back on their feet.

ILONA DLUZHYNSKA, PRESIDENT, DIASPORA UCRANIANA EN MEXICO, A.C. (through translator): Right now we have five cases. Three are successful, and two more we're working on. Our goal this year is to be able to provide 21 prosthesis. We provide these prosthesis that are made here in the country. We bring these injured fighters to Mexico and in Mexico we give them physical, emotional and psychological rehabilitation.

ROMO: As for Pavel and Danilo, one thing remains clear, they want to go back to the front line.

PAVEL, UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (through text translation): But I think that everything should be fine with my leg. I feel fine already. I feel better and better every day. And I think that when I return I will spend a little time with my family and then go back to the war.

[16:20:06]

DANILO, UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (through text translation): It's tough, but the Ukrainian people resist. And I think that in the near future there will be victory over the Russian occupation.

ROMO: As they continue to recover in Mexico, they say they look forward to the day they will be able to return to their motherland to finish the job of expelling the Russians out of their beloved Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO: And Pavel, one of the soldiers we spoke with, told us that this is personal for him. Decades ago Russian communists came to Ukraine and took his great grandfather away. The family, Fredricka, has yet to know what happened to him. So this is very, very deep for him.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it is indeed. But, I mean, also their journey, symbolizing their determination in yet another form.

ROMO: That's right. And the hope, too.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Rafael Romo, thanks so much.

ROMO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, Casey DeSantis, taking on a high- profile role in her husband's 2024 race for the White House and hitting the road solo at a campaign event for him in Iowa. How her message may be resonating with voters after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:25:36]

WHITFIELD: All right. There was a new face on the campaign trail in Iowa. For the first time Casey DeSantis, wife of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, held a solo event and now she's taking a bigger role in her husband's 2024 bid for the White House, launching a new PAC to support his political aspirations.

CNN's Kristen Holmes has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY DESANTIS, FIRST LADY OF FLORIDA: Thank you for the honor to be here.

(CHEERING)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A regular fixture on the campaign trail.

C. DESANTIS: As long as I have breath in my body I will go out and I will fight for Ron DeSantis.

HOLMES: Florida's First Lady Casey DeSantis has built her own brand as a mom focused on parents' rights. Now she's taking her act solo, headlining her own event in Iowa this week to campaign for her husband.

C. DESANTIS: He led with principle, courage, and conviction.

HOLMES: And launched Mamas for DeSantis, a national initiative to mobilize women to back her husband's White House bid. Releasing this video, amplifying his core message and combative rhetoric.

C. DESANTIS: There's nothing we won't do to protect our children. We will not allow you to exploit their innocence to advance your agenda. We are no longer silent. We are united.

And God bless my --

HOLMES: Once a local news anchor in Jacksonville, Florida.

C. DESANTIS: Hello, everyone, and welcome to First Coast Living. I'm Casey DeSantis.

HOLMES: She is no stranger to the spotlight using her skill set in public speaking ease to campaign alongside her husband, helping propel him to the U.S. House of Representatives and then to the Florida governor's mansion.

C. DESANTIS: He's teaching Madison to talk.

RON DESANTIS (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Make America Great Again. I'm bringing out the first lady of Florida.

HOLMES: Casey has always been a pillar of DeSantis' political campaigns, as has been their marriage.

R. DESANTIS: The two most important women in my life, my mother was from Youngstown. And my wife is from Troy. And so our family reflects your family.

C. DESANTIS: And he's a good dad. He's fighting for our children just as much as he's fighting for your families.

HOLMES: It's a dynamic some Republican voters have noticed.

SHELLIE FLOCKHART, DESANTIS CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: Parts that I think that DeSantis is really strong in is his family unit, his wife Casey. He's very respectful of her and he just loves her.

KIT HART, REPUBLICAN VOTER: His marriage with Casey and his relationship with his children are obviously of utmost importance.

HOLMES: For Casey DeSantis, her solo appearance in Iowa capped a week on the campaign trail that started with a pair of Fourth of July parades in New Hampshire, where she and her husband were joined by their three young children.

R. DESANTIS: All things considered, they're well behaved like you always get your fingers crossed on things like this.

HOLMES: A sign of things to come as DeSantis puts his family front and center in his run for the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining us now to discuss the latest on the campaign train, CNN senior political analyst and "USA Today" columnist Kirsten Powers.

Kirsten, so great to see you. It's been too long.

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: OK. So let's talk about this new face on the campaign trail. People are getting to know Casey DeSantis. You know, they are hearing her message. It seems to be resonating with Republican voters. I mean, is this some important arsenal, you know, for Ron DeSantis?

POWERS: Well, Ron DeSantis thinks so and certainly people around Ron DeSantis think that she's sort of his secret weapon because he has sort of a little difficulty connecting with voters. He can come off as a little wooden, and she is very charismatic and very comfortable in front of the crowd. She's a former, you know, TV personality. And so she's used to being out there and connecting with people.

And so, you know, I think voters really like her and so I think it tells us that the DeSantis campaign is concerned about the fact that this does show up in polls, that people don't find him easy to connect to. That she's a way to connect with voters and we heard in the previous piece from a couple of voters saying that for voters where family values are very important, it could be something that could give him a little edge over Donald Trump, who does not have his wife on the campaign trail with him and does not have his daughter on the campaign trail. By all reports they don't plan to be there.

WHITFIELD: Women voters always important, but it seems as though, particularly looking at the campaigns that, you know, Mamas for DeSantis, I mean, that just goes directly there by way of Casey trying to appeal to women and through those sound bites, it seems like it's working for some.

[16:30:09]

POWERS: Yeah, I mean, she's clearly going after women, but she's also she's very, I mean, she's willing to be bombastic, right? She's willing to really be like her husband in terms of the messaging and saying the things that conservative voters want to hear. And you can see that she's targeting, I mean, Mamas obviously targeting women, but also talking about children and protecting their innocence and the kinds of things that would appeal, you know, to mothers.

And so, you know, she says she's going after mothers and grandmothers and trying to mobilize them. So, look, Donald Trump's still way ahead of Ron DeSantis, though. You know, we have a long way to go, and so I think that the campaign is trying to utilize her to try to close that gap.

WHITFIELD: All right. In fact, look at this polling, you know, demonstrating that former President Donald Trump is way ahead, I mean, for the Republican nomination. He was also back on the campaign trail this past week, and he talked about one reason that he may be up so much in the current polling. Listen to his thoughts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: That's why my polls go up. I'm the only person ever got indicted who became more popular. Never forget our enemies want to stop us because we are the only ones that can stop them. We can stop them. They want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Why does it seem that that is the message that continues to work for him?

POWERS: Because that really has always been his message.

And so that's why it really helped the indictment actually helps him in terms of his core voters is because he, his message towards them has always been they hate me because they hate you and, and I'm going to protect you from all of these elites who not only don't understand you, but actually despise you. And so the more that things happen to him where they feel that that is coming true, that they really believe that he's being persecuted because he stands for them, the more it works to his advantage.

Now, there's obviously downsides to being indicted, not just the obvious ones in terms of potentially, you know, being found guilty and being held accountable. But also I think politically there are downsides. And in a general election, if he ends up getting the nomination, it's probably something that's going to turn off at a minimum, independent voters and probably some Republican suburban voters.

So, you know, so I think he's, he's trying to make the most of it by keeping his coalition, you know, together and riled up.

WHITFIELD: Mm-hmm. All right. And now, messaging coming from the sitting president who, you know, by the way, is embarking on his Europe trip this week. He is, you know, continuing to be asked about his age, as he makes a bid for his second term. And this is what he told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in this interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think we're on the cusp of being able to make significant positive changes in the world. Really, honest to God, do. You see what we've done in Europe.

Europe's more united than it's ever been since World War II, end of World War II. You see what we've been able to do in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. We've united that part of the world, including the 50, basically 50 island nations that are participating. They're going to be here, by the way, shortly.

I think we're putting the world together in a way that is going to make things significantly, how can I say it, more secure for people. We're uniting democracies, have the possibility of uniting democracies in a way that hadn't happened ever. And so, I think that whether it's the Far East, whether it's NATO, whether it's Europe, whether it's what's going on in Africa, I think we have enormous opportunities, and I think I just want to finish the job.

You know, I think we can do that in the next six years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, his reply there is, you know, with age comes experience and significant changes on a global stage. Will that resonate enough for voters who are thinking about the number?

POWERS: Yeah, look, I mean, we have to acknowledge that voters are concerned about it.

It shows up in polls. It's not just Republican voters or independent voters. Democratic voters talk about it, but ultimately this will come down to a contest between two people. So, it depends a lot on who that other person is. And so, I think that what's good, what he was talking about, and I think is important is he talked, he talked in this interview as well about the wisdom that comes with age.

There's often, you know, when we talk about age, we only talk about the downsides of age without talking about the upsides of age. And so, there are upsides of it. And I think another thing in, you know, that I have noticed in the reporting about his age is that it focuses, tends to focus on what's wrong with it, not what's right with it.

[16:35:04]

POWERS: And they don't really talk about any specifics where he's not able to do the job, right? So, that's what really matters. It's like there is an age factor but does it impede his ability to do the job? And that's what he was laying out in that answer was like, let's just look at what I've produced and make a judgment about that.

And I've produced some pretty good things.

WHITFIELD: All right, Kirsten Powers. We'll leave it there from now. Great to see you.

POWERS: All right. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Enjoy the weekend (ph). We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

Congress returns to Capitol Hill from its holiday recess this week. The U. S. Senate will be back in session tomorrow, the U. S. House resuming its work on Tuesday. CNN has learned that lawmakers have been working through the recess to reach a compromise on spending. For more, let's bring in CNN's Alayna Treene.

So, Elena, what do we know about the talks about spending negotiations?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, these talks are a huge priority for Congress when they return this week. And really, it's all about trying to avoid a potential government shutdown. Right now, the House and the Senate are careening toward a spending standoff that will likely consume Congress this fall.

[16:40:15]

TREENE: And so, when they return, they really need to figure out how they can find some sort of agreement to move ball forward on these talks. Now, as of now, far-right members in the House and House Republicans are pushing for spending cuts that most of Congress is not comfortable with.

And so, like we've seen before, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has a leadership test ahead of him. We need to see if he can keep his slim Republican majority behind him as these negotiations continue. Now, we did also hear from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer today in New York who talked about the upcoming spending fight.

Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D) MAJORITY LEADER: In the Senate, Democrats and Republicans are working together on the Appropriations Committee to fund the government. They've come to agreement on a whole bunch of the different subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee, and hopefully we can have a bipartisan agreement that avoids a shutdown.

There are some on the hard right who say they want a shutdown, but we hope cooler and saner heads will prevail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, Fred, Congress has until September 30th to pass a budget deal, but they only have three weeks when they return that they are in session, before they break again for all of August. And so it's really crunch time to try and figure out how they're going to negotiate this. Fred.

WHITFIELD: Mm-hmm. And there are other things on the agenda as well, right? I mean, we're hearing about Republicans potential impeachment efforts, House investigations. And even the potential impact all this might have on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

TREENE: Right. Well, impeachment and potential impeachment proceedings against top Biden officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and even President Biden, are all being discussed within the House Republican Conference and with regards to Merrick Garland.

Before they broke for July recess, a lot of Republicans were threatening to impeach Garland over allegations from IRS whistleblowers that the Justice Department improperly interfered in the criminal probe of Hunter Biden and Kevin McCarthy himself, who is normally, you know, taken a reasonable approach when it comes to potential impeachment proceedings has said that he would be open to impeaching Garland if these allegations prove true.

And so, the big picture here, Fred is really that we are heading into the period where all of the oxygen in Washington is going to be focused on the 2024 election cycle. And these House investigations are really aimed at, you know, pushing Democrats and messaging against Democrats as we head into that cycle.

WHITFIELD: All right, Alayna Treene, thanks so much. Good to see you from Washington. All right, still to come, school districts and families are suing tech companies over the impact of social media on the mental health of kids.

Next, a preview of one mother's story about how it affected her family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:47:32]

WHITFIELD: The U. S. Surgeon General recently warned social media carries what he calls a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well being of children and adolescents. Several school districts and hundreds of families are now suing tech giants, alleging they're contributing to a mental health crisis among youth.

CNN's Audie Cornish spoke to one mother, Tammy Rodriguez, about her daughter Selena for a report on the lawsuits and it's coming up on CNN's The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper. Here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN HOST, THE ASSIGNMENT WITH AUDIE CORNISH PODCAST: What Tammy didn't know at the time was that Selena had figured out how to block her mother from seeing her online life.

TAMMY RODRIGUEZ, SELENA'S MOTHER: She had saved her fingerprint and I didn't know she had saved it in my phone. So, like if I'd fall asleep or whatever, she would use her fingerprint to get in and change the setting. Once the pandemic had started, she was posting more, she became more recluse, she was focused on how many likes she has.

How many followers she has? How many followers she's losing? Who's messaging her?

CORNISH: During the pandemic, when Selena's school and social life moved online, she was regularly messaging with people on these apps. Some she knew, some she did not.

RODRIGUEZ: There were adults that would reach out, which I was not aware of until, not too long ago. Men. They knew she was a minor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow (ph). Joining us right now, Audie Cornish, host of the Assignment with Audie Cornish podcast. Audie, great to see you. So, I mean, what kinds of content are children seeing on these apps that could negatively affect their mental health?

CORNISH: Well, thanks to algorithmic recommendations, whatever you want, right? Online and on these apps, it serves up to you, right?

And a lot of it. And that can mean that if you, end up getting into topics that are could harm you or others, you're going to be served more of it. And a lot of these parents are talking about eating disorders. They're talking about depression. They're talking about TikTok challenges that have gone wrong.

They're talking about kids making purchases online, including drugs, for instance. So, there are a lot of different harms that are coming under this umbrella of concern. And I don't think it's an accident that it's happening post-pandemic, when parents all of a sudden had to really bring social media and tablets, etcetera, into their lives in a very central way to enable their kids schooling.

And now they're finding that they're having a hard time kind of keeping up with it, so to speak.

[16:50:13]

WHITFIELD: So then, I mean, what are some examples of how these teens, you know, are being pushed these dangerous materials that so negatively, you know, affect their mental health?

CORNISH: Well, again, I don't think it's an accident that a lot of these lawsuits do touch on the idea of eating disorders in particular because it's a harm that can be sort of demonstrated in court, so to speak.

We had several times we talked to people who found that their child would say, look up healthy eating or recipes or exercise and over time, the content would also include things that were about not eating at all, or that were about hiding your disordered eating. And we talked to young people who really struggled with kind of detaching themselves from this content online.

And to be clear, Instagram, Facebook, etcetera, several of these social media companies in recent years in response to this concern have made extra effort to, for instance, make it harder to find certain hashtags to say that there's a certain age threshold to be on the app, but they don't do much policing to make that possible.

They don't really do any kind of age verification. Obviously, anonymity is a key part of the internet and its business infrastructure, and so mostly parents are asking for more tools and that social media companies are saying look, we've done what we can, our hands are tied.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. I mean, these kids then, I mean, as we're seeing are so susceptible to so much, I mean, what specifically are we hearing about how children's brains, you know, are reacting, you know, to the digital feedback that they receive on social media?

I mean, we got a little taste from Selena--

CORNISH: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: There about, you know, the behavior, what may have influenced her, but then scientifically something's happening with their brains, right?

CORNISH: Right. You know, I don't want to just come on here and talk about it like it's a moral panic. There's active neurological research going on trying to understand if what we're witnessing is kind of an adaptation to their online environment, whether or not we're talking about actual addiction.

And some of the questions that remain are, are we seeing that kids are just more susceptible to the social comparison that these apps are built on? Are they simply so young that at a certain point they can't quite understand? They kind of put too much emphasis on the response and feedback of their peers.

And the internet and these apps kind of like compound that. So, as adults we can say, ah, I don't care so much if I had a like here or there. But a kid being cyberbullied or made fun of and seeing the likes rack up, that can really send them into a tailspin.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, it becomes everything. Alright, Audie Cornish, really fascinating, good work on that.

It's very complicated and I think, you know, nobody quite understands the beginning, middle and end of it because it's just all morphed into such a big thing. But we'll all be watching tonight. Thank you so much. Tune in for an all new episode of The Whole Truth. I mean, The Whole Story.

Sorry about that. We're going to get the whole truth, though, aren't we? With the whole story with Anderson Cooper. One story, one whole hour. It airs tonight, 8 p. m. Eastern, right here on CNN. All right, the July 3rd mass shooting in Philadelphia has drawn national attention, but for one anti violence advocate, it hit close to home.

2022 CNN Hero Tyrique Glasgow has been working for a decade to make his South Philly neighborhood safer, building bridges with the police and providing critical support to hundreds of residents. Well, now the loss of more loved ones has made him even more determined to keep pushing for positive change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYRIQUE GLASGOW, 2022 CNN HERO: The reality of, you know, just hearing gunshots is normal in our community. The family members and friends that have lost this countless. I knew two of the victims, my cousin, he always looked out for me growing up. And 'Little Juan' is what our organization is about. He wasn't a young man out here selling drugs, carrying guns.

He was one of the young men who wanted to do right. And to have, you know, him taken away senselessly, I was hurt. We need to provide a table of resources instead of having this table of grief. Today, we started our summer camp and working with the kids, having a safe place for our children. What's your favorite color?

That's what we try to do every day. Our Community Engagement Center helps us, you know, really provide those essential quality of life resources. They're small acts that really change a community's trajectory. I believe that that's how we grow as a community. Lifting each other up, it allows me to keep going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: He is amazing, and you can find out more about why, and how Tyrique's work is making such an impact. And nominate your own CNN hero at cnnheroes. com. Nominations close July 31st.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:59:41]

WHITFIELD: All right, this happening just moments ago. We want to share these pictures with you. President Joe Biden landing at the Standstead Airport near London. This is Biden's first stop of his high stakes European trip this week five days, he'll be meeting first with the UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and King Charles. King Charles first meeting after his coronation.

And then on Tuesday, the president will head to Lithuania to attend the NATO summit.

Thanks so much for joining me today and this whole weekend. I'm Fredricka Whitfield and the CNN Newsroom continues with Jim Acosta right now.