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CNN International: Biden and Zelenskyy to Meet at NATO Summit in Hours Ahead; Catastrophic Flooding; North Korea Fires Apparent Intercontinental Ballistic Missile; Vermont Braces for More Rain After Severe Flooding; Georgia Jury That Could Possible Indict Trump Sworn In; Trump Asks Court to Delay Trial Date in Documents Case; Leslie Van Houten to Spend Three Years on Parole for Her Role in La Bianca Killings; Police Find Items Possibly Linked to Escape Inmate; Former Russian Commander Killed in Southern Russia. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired July 12, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo. And I'm not alone. He's back.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Issue an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO when allies agree and conditions are met.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: America continue to provide the Ukrainian military what they needed to fight, and when and repel that unprovoked Russian invasion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make no mistake, the devastation and flooding are experiencing across Vermont is historic and catastrophic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not just water sitting in the road, is a rapidly growing river.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Senator from Alabama is wrong, wrong, wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: White supremacy is simply unacceptable in the military and in our whole country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
FOSTER: It's Wednesday, July 12th, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 11:00 a.m. in Vilnius, Lithuania. Where the second and final day of high stakes talks with the NATO summit are now underway. And all eyes are on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will meet with key NATO leaders today including U.S. President Joe Biden. NOBILO: A short time ago, the Ukrainian leader arrived at the summit
where the alliance will be holding the integral meeting of the NATO/Ukraine council. Zelenskyy has expressed his frustration by the lack of a career path for NATO membership but we'll be seeing more pledges of aid.
FOSTER: We're learning Mr. Biden and G7 leaders are set to announce new efforts to boost Ukraine's military capabilities in the hours ahead. CNN's Melissa Bell is in the Lithuanian capital and joins us now with the latest. So, there's a disagreement, isn't there, on how quickly Ukraine should be allowed in and they'll have to try to resolve that to some extent today.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And that's right. Disagreement, frustration, on the part of Ukrainians, Max and Bianca, on the lack of a clear timetable. And of course, that will not change. The communique has even now been agreed by NATO ahead of state and difficult it was to reach an agreement even on that. Essentially, it's been offered Kyiv a pathway, a faster pathway, a one-step rather than two-step process towards NATO accession and no timetable. That was difficult enough to get to what is.
What you are going to see today and it's kicked off already, is President Zelenskyy meeting with a number of key NATO allies and partners. Even now he's meeting with Olaf Scholz, the German leader. He's also then going to be meeting later of course with that bilateral meeting with President Biden. He's already had a number of commitments made from key NATO allies including France and Germany who pledged extra military aid. The French in the shape of long-term weapons that had so far been reluctant to give Ukraine. The Germans say, more than 600-billion-euro package of extra military aid, more Leopard tanks, but also that much-needed artillery. This is what president Zelenskyy had to say as he arrived for his first meeting for the day with NATO leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: On our agenda we have I think for today three priority and questions. The first one is weapons packages, new weapons packages for supporting our army on the battlefield, and that is one. The second I think the invitation to NATO. And we want to be on the same page with everyone. I understand we will have this invitation when security measures will allow. Yes, so I want to discuss with our partners all these things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: At the heart of the meeting later on with President Biden are likely to be those controversial pledges of cluster munitions. We heard from the Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov here yesterday, that they could prove a game-changer in trying to get those counteroffensives through the substantial layers of Russian defenses.
[04:05:00]
But it is also another pledge from the G7 that we're going to be hearing from later beyond the question of military capabilities, extra military capabilities, they're going to be looking at what's being dubbed in the NATO light package. Which is aimed really at the much longer-term integration of Ukraine into the Western world. Beyond those military capabilities they're going to be making fresh pledges about how they can help the country. For instance in the integration process politically and in expanding its industrial base. So very concrete measures they'll be heading home with nonetheless -- Max and Bianca.
FOSTER: Melissa Bell, with the update, thank you.
NOBILO: I do wonder for Vladimir Putin, a man so obsessed with legacy and greatness, what does cross his mind when he sees Zelenskyy received nothing short of a rockstar's welcome in the public square with people waving Ukrainian flags being so excited to see him. Elevated to a status he would never have had the invasion not occurred.
FOSTER: And what Put used to have.
NOBILO: North Korea has fired what's thought to be another intercontinental ballistic missile.
FOSTER: Japan says it flew more than 70 minutes before landing in nearby waters. This comes U.S., Japan and South Korea meet and discussed security issues at the NATO summit.
NOBILO: CNN's Marc Stewart is tracking this live from Tokyo. Marc let's talk about the timing of this. Because it does follow a threat from North Korea of retaliation after the alleged was U.S. incursion of their territory via by a spy plane. So, is all of this deliberate?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, none of this is a coincidence. I mean, let's just set the stage by recognizing that broadly speaking, North Korea likes attention. It thrives to be in the global spotlight. We have a NATO meeting -- as Melissa Bell was reporting -- Zelenskyy, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine are all dominating the headlines. A launch like this is a way for North Korea to stay relevant. Earlier just a few days ago it made threats after a U.S. plane entered what it said was its airspace.
Now, what has happened after this launch, it is causing conversation at this NATO meeting in Lithuania. From the sidelines, I have heard from Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemning this. And then we also heard from Japan's chief cabinet secretary based in Tokyo who talked about what Japan will do next what its potential action will be, let's take a listen to that.
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HIROKAZU MATSUNO, JAPANESE CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY (through translator): For such a ballistic missile launches violet relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and are a serious security issue for our citizens. We have launched a strong protest against North Korea through our embassy in Beijing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: So he has made an overture to Beijing. Let's quickly talk about what happened in the last 24 hours here. This missile launch, as you mentioned, in the air for 74 minutes. That's seen as significant, that timing shows that perhaps this missile program is making some progress. And then finally, this is the type of missile that has the potential to cross the Pacific Ocean. In this case today, it was launched at an angle at a direction where it would ensure more of a short range flight. But certainly the potential is there, and again, it's drawing conversation here in Asia, and then where you are in Europe as part of this NATO summit -- Max and Bianca.
NOBILO: Marc Stewart live in Tokyo, thank you.
The U.S. state of Vermont is desperate to dry out after catastrophic floods but is bracing for more rain this week. Officials say thousands of homes and businesses have flooded and emergency crews performed more than 100 rescues. In some areas the waters have started to recede and the cleanup is now underway.
FOSTER: But the governor says it wouldn't take much rain to flood all over again. This is drone footage at the deluge in Montpelier. CNN's Miguel Marquez is on the ground in the state capital.
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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So many communities across Vermont are still dealing with the immediate effects of flooding. But here in the capital, we're at State and Main, they're sort of the main cross, which will give you a sense of just what they're dealing with in the after effects of this just massive flood.
The amount of mud just everywhere and debris. And the sirens -- I'm going to let you listen for a second. Multiple alarms going off and have been going off for 24 hours.
And the water, the water came up to here, we're about a block, block and a half from the river. The water came up from here -- this is a children's clothing store. There's a bookstore next door. Everything in these businesses destroyed from this level on, all the way back. It will be weeks, if not months to recover. Back to you.
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FOSTER: While the blistering heat in the Southern U.S. isn't going away anytime soon. Heat alerts cover more than 75 million people and more than a dozen states from coast to coast. Our Meteorologist Chad Myers has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, more scorching heat across the Southwestern part of the United States, even running into parts of Texas. And by Sunday into Monday really running up the California coast.
[04:10:03]
When you see heat advisories and excessive heat warnings in places that are already supposed to be hot, because it is summer, that means that those temperatures are hotter than they should be by five, ten, or 15 degrees. So you just don't get an excessive heat warning or heat advisory because it's a summer. No, it's got to be warmer than the summer heat. And that's what we are seeing the above normal temperatures running into parts of the Southwest into Texas, and even for that matter down into south Florida which has been desperately hot and very humid.
Here's what we are looking at right, now other way through Sunday, at 60 locations across the southwestern part of the country could see record highs. Temperatures again in the one teens. I know no one lives there for the most part but Death Valley 122. And I've heard reports maybe next week could run at 130 which would be very close to tying or breaking an old record high. Look at Phoenix, 118. And not even cooling down that much even at night.
Down here, a little bit closer down into Texas, these temperatures don't look as hot, but when you realize the amount of humidity that's in this air, it is going to feel hot. That is not a dry heat across the South and Southeast.
A couple showers and thunderstorms rolling through on Wednesday afternoon. This is the area we're looking for, across many parts of Missouri, but storms have been lingering in the overnight hours across parts of Nebraska and Kansas and they are still rolling all the way into Missouri for later on tomorrow and into -- and for the most part Wednesday and also even into Thursday.
There's more rainfall coming into the Northeast. This is more rain in places that just cannot take any more. It is not going to soak in whatsoever, so any indication of these 2-to-4-inch rainfall totals is really bad news, especially in these hilly areas. Vermont, you have the Green and White Mountains in New Hampshire and also into Maine. You have those hilly areas that the water just runs off down into the valley, and that's where all this excessive flooding has occurred over the past few -- it seems like 3 to 4 days there from Vermont, New Hampshire, parts of Pennsylvania and New York. And more rainfall to come.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: FBI Director Christopher Wray is headed for the hotseat. Sources tell CNN Wray is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee today in a general oversight hearing. And be sure to run into a firestorm of questions from Republicans.
FOSTER: Committee Chairman, Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan is one of Wray's fiercest critics. Some of the Republicans' concerns including the FBI's investigation into 2016 Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia, whether the FBI has targeted Catholics and whether the Justice Department is targeting conservative parents regarding school concerns. We're following three major developments in the investigations against
Donald Trump. First the U.S. Department of Justice has removed his immunity over the E. Jean Carroll case. Meaning the former president will now face a second defamation trial.
NOBILO: A grand jury in Atlanta has been sworn in to investigate Mr. Trump's role in the 2020 Georgia election probe with charges possibly coming in the next few months.
And the former president is also gearing up for a battle over his handling of classified documents. Special counsel January six investigation. Trump's defense team suggested it would be impossible to impanel fare juries during the presidential campaign, suggesting that they could be looking at substantial delays.
FOSTER: Our Paula Reid is following the January 6th and the classified documents investigations, but first to our Nick Valencia in Atlanta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the two grand juries seated in Fulton County on Tuesday, will be given the historic path of deciding whether or not to bring state charges against former President Donald Trump, as well as some of the biggest names in his orbit. A grand jury that will eventually hear the Trump investigation will hear evidence gathered by the special purpose grand jury, which worked for many months in gathering evidence for District Attorney Fani Willis.
Willis was giving charging recommendations after that special purpose grand jury subpoena about 75 witnesses, which include White House aides, Trump advisers, as well as Georgia officials. Willis will now take those charging recommendations to one of these two grand juries in hopes of pursuing a potential criminal indictment against the president, as well as others who are under investigation.
What's really interesting about these two grand juries is not only will they meet her twice a week for the next two months, but they will be hearing ordinary criminal cases from the Atlanta area, from Fulton County. Eventually though, Fani Willis will take that evidence gathered during the special purpose grand jury and presented to the grand jury who will be forced to decide whether or not to pursue a criminal indictment.
As far as timeline of when an indictment is expected, we anticipate to hear one way or another as early as August.
Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: size Let's take a look at both of the special counsel's investigation. Let's start with January 6th. Two prosecutors who work on the January 6th investigations, spotted at a federal courthouse Tuesday, and raised a lot of questions about whether an indictment could be filed soon.
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But CNN has learned that the special counsel prosecutors, they're still reaching out to witnesses. They're still gathering evidence.
Now we know that this is in its final stage. We are confident of the key players. They had been asking repeatedly about some of the same events, some of the same items that have been under scrutiny. So it does appear that they are close to a charging decision. But what is not clear at this point is whether they would charge everything at once or if they might do this in phases. Which would explain how they could be near end but still reaching out to new witnesses. That is just not clear.
But what is clear, is on the other side of the investigation, the Mar- a-Lago probe, is that the Trump team really wants to try to push this back until after the 2024 election, until there's any sort of trial. Right? They do not want to go to trial before the presidential election. And they're going to do that and trying to push this back.
Now they have every right to litigate some big questions here. And they laid out late Monday in a briefing, exactly some legislations that they're going to pose. They're going to as whether the special counsel even has the authority to file these charges. They're going to ask whether these documents were really classified. They're also raising concerns about whether they could find an impartial jury before the election.
Now I don't know if they'll win on the merits of many of those questions, but taking the time to litigate those will have the effect of delaying this and delaying this again. Now they also say that, look, they have a lot of discovery to go through. The learned about filing late Monday, they've already received nine months of surveillance footage, in addition to hundreds of thousands of documents.
So as special counsel Jack Smith would like the, quote, speedy trial, as suggested trying to do this in December, just a few months away, and that would be quite quick considering the complexity of this case. But the longer you delay it, the closer you get to the election. And once again, it's an unprecedented question of whether you can be put on a criminal trial right while you're in the thick of a presidential campaign.
Now we will start to get some sense of the person who will be at the center of this all who will be refereeing these questions, Judge Eileen Cannon. She is going to hold her first hearing in this case next Tuesday. The Trump side was successful in getting this delayed just a few days. It's supposed to be the side of it will be next Tuesday. And that'll be the first time will get to see Cannon in action in this case. We'll get a sense of the extent to which she's going to allow them to make delays, either by a few days or as they would like here, a year and a half.
Paula Reid, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: More than half a century after taking part in grizzly Manson family murders, one of the convicted killers is walking freely again. Details on the release of Leslie Van Houten.
FOSTER: Plus, authorities in Pennsylvania believe someone is helping an escaped convict to evade police. We'll have the latest on the manhunt to bring him to justice.
NOBILO: And this jaw-dropping sandwiches is being called the real cheeseburger. Some couldn't believe it. But we're told that it's a joke. Find out where its being sold so you can get your hands on that --
FOSTER: It's just cheese.
NOBILO: -- and start munching.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: After 53 years behind bars, a convicted killer and former member of the Manson family is now a free woman.
Leslie Van Houten was released on parole from a California prison. She was convicted in the 1969 killings of Leonard and Rosemary La Bianca. Van Houten's attorney told CNN her client is just relaxing, at a traditional living facility where she'll remain for a year. She talked about why the parole board saw fit to let Van Houten go, despite her admission that she stabbed Rosemary La Bianca 16 times.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY TETREAULT, ATTORNEY FOR LESLIE VAN HOUTEN: She spent decades trying to figure out the Causative factors, and she finally was able to explain it to the board and the court of appeals satisfaction. And part of that is accepting full responsibility. And she accepts responsibility for both murders and actually everything that happened when she was a member of the Manson cult. She wakes up every day feeling remorse and guilt. And it's genuine. And the board found that to be true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: The now 73-year-old Van Houten was 19 when she and other followers of Charles Manson murdered the La Biancas, one day after killing actress Sharon Tate and her friends. And while Van Houten has expressed remorse for her role in those killings, relatives of the victims are outraged.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY DEMARIA, NEPHEW OF MANSON FAMILY VICTIM JAY SEBRING: She is a cold-blooded killer in one of the most notorious murders rampages in the United States history. So with her release now, any other violent criminal or killer whose crimes fall beneath the bar of Leslie Van Houten's very extreme, very crimes that also our historical impact, that opens the door for them. And it is our fear that the floodgates in the California penal system will be unhinged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Police in Pennsylvania believe escaped inmate Michael Burham hasn't gone far from the prison that he fled, after finding items they say are likely connected to him.
NOBILO: Based on new evidence, they also think it could be receiving help while on the run. CNN's Brian Todd has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LT. COL. GEORGE BIVENS, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: We are still finding some items that we do believe are connected to him. Those lead me to believe that there is still a likelihood that he is here.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities now say Michael Burham escaped by climbing onto exercise equipment on the jail's rooftop gym last Thursday. Then using these bedsheets tied together to repel down from the roof to this portico. He then allegedly jumped down and fled on foot.
The sheriff disputing suggestions that he got a big head start.
SHERIFF BRIAN ZEYBEL, WARREN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA: Literally, I would say that Burham saw red and blue lights within two minutes of leaving that jail. It's -- they were that close.
TODD (voice-over): Burham, age 34, is considered armed and dangerous and wanted in cases involving murder, kidnapping, carjacking and arson. Authorities describe him as a self-taught survivalist with military experience.
BIVENS: We have had a number of sightings reported. None of those has panned out.
[04:25:00]
TODD (voice-over): He was last seen wearing an orange and white striped jumpsuit, denim jacket, and crocs. More than 200 law enforcement officers are now involved in the manhunt.
ZEYBEL: I have a strong belief that he is receiving help.
TODD (voice-over): Authorities say they found small stockpiles or campsites they believe are associated with him in surrounding wooded areas.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: That suggest that he escapes the prison, that he goes on the run, and that he knows where he's going to these designated locations in the woods where food and supplies or rations are waiting for him. TODD (voice-over): How might he be caught?
MILLER: They're going to try to close off that circle if there is help, and then make him do something like, I've got to steal a car. I've got to break into a house and get some food or a weapon or keys to a car. They've got to force him -- they're got to force him out of the woods.
TODD (voice-over): It's Burham's second time on the run. In May, he eluded authorities for two weeks. Officials say he kidnapped an elderly couple at gunpoint, made them drive him to North Charleston, South Carolina and then drove off with their car. Authorities telling residents to avoid engaging if they see him and lock up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every night, you got to make sure the windows are locked, make sure both doors, front and back doors are locked.
TODD: State officials have increased the reward for information leading to the capture of Michael Burham, to $19,500. But at the same time, Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police is warning anyone giving help to Braham or contemplating it, saying quote, we will prosecute you for that.
Brian Todd, CNN, Warren, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: A former Russian submarine commander shot to death whilst jogging on Monday may have been targeted by an assailant checking him on a popular running app. That's according to Russian media.
NOBILO: CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us now live to discuss this. Clare, like many of the dramatic Russian killings on their soil, this has all the hallmarks of some crime drama. And now there's been an arrest.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so what we're hearing from the Russian Investigative Committee is that on Tuesday evening they managed to arrest him. We can show you video -- we have obviously cannot verify this -- this was actually video from the Strava app. This is the arrest video reportedly. It was posted by the Russian Investigative Committee on their website. It's pretty, traumatic. It shows some people coming out of someone's house. Eventually you see the alleged suspect himself. Now we obviously cannot independently verify the video.
But the Russian Investigative Committee, and they named this man -- the alleged suspect as Serhiy Denysenko. He was born in 1959, apparently, they didn't say where, but the plot thickens. Right? We still don't know, really, why this guy was targeted. I think that's the key question. The Russian media are now saying that he might have been tracked by his Strava app. That the public profile -- we found the profile under his name. And again, can't verify if it was definitely him, but it shows that he regularly ran through this park. So that is a possibility. But why he was targeted at the time of his death he seems to have been
a local bureaucrat, perhaps involved in military recruitment, head of the department of mobilization for the city Krasnodar. But the question is around when he was a submarine commander. We understand from his family he was at one point based in Sevastopol in Crimea where the Black Sea Fleet is. Was he involved in a special military operation? His family telling Russian media outlets, no, he wasn't. He filed for dismissal from the military before December 2021, and was eventually released in August 2022.
So we don't know exactly. But meanwhile, the interesting part of this, is just how much detail the Ukrainian defense intelligence originally went into about this. They were the ones who originally sort of draw attention to this. They name the type of pistol used. They said that, you know, he was running at 6:00 a.m., the park says there are no witnesses. They are the ones who's given the most detail so far, haven't claimed responsibility. They've been accused of being behind this military blogger and things like that. As of now, we don't really know why this man was targeted or anymore about the evidence of the suspect.
NOBILO: So curious, the Ukrainian retribution and the statement by Russia or something personal that we just don't know. Thank you so much, Clare.
FOSTER: Still, ahead a U.S. Senate Republican is reversing his comments on white nationalist after we previously refusing to denounce them.
NOBILO: Plus, deadly flooding and mudslides in Japan and India. All of this, experts warn, are being made more intense due to climate change. Details on the way.
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