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CNN International: U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville Walks Back Comments on White Nationalists; Tuberville Blocks Hundreds of Military Nominations; Dangerous Heat and Deadly Flooding in Asia; California Homeless Population Rises Despite $17 Billion Spent. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired July 12, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster. These are the top stories this hour.
President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are expected to meet in the coming hours during the final day at the NATO summit in Lithuania. Mr. Zelenskyy says his aim is to get more aid to Ukraine and discuss his country's path to membership.
And North Korea has fired what is thought to be another intercontinental ballistic missile, Japan says it flew more than 17 minutes before landing in nearby waters. Is a sign of Pyongyang's advancing nuclear capabilities.
NOBILO: The U.S. Senate Republican Tommy Tuberville of Alabama finally condemned white nationalists after previously refusing to denounce them as racists.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): My opinion of a white nationalist, if somebody wants to call them white nationalist, to me it is an American. It is an American.
TUBERVILLE: I'm totally against racism. And if Democrats want to say that white nationalists are races, I'm totally against it too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bu that's not a Democratic definition. The definition of white nationalist --
TUBERVILLE: Well, better definition. My definition is racism --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is the definition.
TUBERVILLE: -- racism is bad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe that white nationalists are racist?
TUBERVILLE: Yes, if that is what a racist is, yes, thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: The Senator claimed on Monday that equating white nationalists with racism was an opinion. The comment sparked backlash on Capitol Hill with both parties' leadership slamming Tuberville. The Republican Senator is also under mounting pressure from lawmakers and the Pentagon to stop blocking hundreds of senior military nominations. Oren Liebermann explains why Tuberville's decision has had drastic consequences.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Senator Tommy Tuberville, the Republican from Alabama, has given no indication that his one-man blockade on more than 200 senior military nominations in the U.S. Department of Defense is going to end anytime soon.
[04:35:00]
He told not only CNN but others as well over the course of the past several days that this hold will remain in place and he sees no impact from it on national security or on U.S. military readiness.
And this is key now because on Tuesday, General Charles Q. Brown who is the U.S. nominee for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a top U.S. military officer, had his confirmation hearing and he was asked repeatedly about the effects this hold has on the military. He made it clear it has a very important and significant effect across the military, not only on stopping promotions and essentially stagnating that process of moving officers up into position, but it also creates uncertainty for families of military officers. Who had to make tough decisions for example leaving jobs, moving kids out of school districts. So it has a tremendous impact on the military and the families that make military life possible.
Brown also says that at a critical time when it comes to recruiting and retention, it has an effect on long term retention as well. Here is Brown in the hearing.
GEN. C.Q. BROWN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN NOMINEE: We have our more junior officers will now look up and say, if that's the challenge that we have to deal with in the future, I'll balance between my family and serving in a senior position and we will lose talent because we have those challenges.
LIEBERMANN: Normally these nominations are essentially done by the hundreds or in large numbers in a process known as unanimous consent. And that's what Tuberville has stopped. He insists that the Majority Leader Chuck Schumer can bring these to the Senate floor for vote one at a time. But Schumer does not want to do that that. First, that process would take hundreds of hours playing out over weeks if not months. And second, Democrats don't want to normalize this behavior from Tuberville and make it normal to block senior military nominations. And so, this hold continues. And it's an open question of how long this will keep going. Meanwhile the Department of Defense and the Pentagon admissions of
back-channel conversations not only with Tuberville's office but with the Senate Armed Services Committee where Tuberville sits, is also trying to mount a public awareness campaign. Putting out the human effects on military officers and their families to try to essentially create more pressure on Tuberville to see if that shifts his position on the hold.
In the end, one defense official tells CNN the Senate realizes this is a problem not only a problem for the Senators but the Republicans in particular to try to move along and find some sort of progress or some pressure on Tuberville that will try to get him to change his position.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, at the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: And we're going to put a better sense really of the health of the U.S. economy when a key inflation report the June Consumer Price Index is released in just a few hours time. Economists expect a 3.1 percent increase in consumer prices for the year ending in June. That would be a cooldown from a 4 percent annual increase in May. And tomorrow we'll have data from June's Producer Price Index report. These inflation readings are expected to give more insight into the Federal Reserve's plan when it dose to interest rates.
Ahead of that, we're keeping an eye on the U.S. stock futures with just hours to go until a new trading day begins. They are all in positive territory. On Tuesday, the Dow jumped more than 300 points ahead of the key inflation data. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 also closing the day in positive territory.
NOBILO: U.S. regulators are ordering Bank of America to pay more than a quarter billion dollars in fees and customer payouts for allegedly hurting customers with fake accounts and illegal junk fees. Federal authorities say that Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double dipped on fees and illegally opened new accounts without customer consent.
Google is the latest tech giant to be sued over artificial intelligence. A lawsuit filed Tuesday claims Google violated copyright laws amongst other things in order to train and develop its AI products. The complaint alleges that Google, quote, has been secretly stealing everything ever created and shared on the internet to train its AI models and tools.
Much of Asia is dealing with extreme summer weather. In northern India officials say heavy rains, flash flooding and landslides in recent days have left more than 40 people dead.
FOSTER: And in southwest Japan, at least eight have been killed amid record-breaking rainfall and flooding since the start of the month.
NOBILO: And in China they're grappling with excessive heat with major cities facing what could be one of their hottest summers on record. NOBILO: CNN's Anna Coren is live for us in Hong Kong. Really
extraordinary conditions.
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and people are saying this is a direct link to climate change. That's what the scientists and the experts are saying.
Let's start in Japan where we're seeing unusually heavy rain in the country's southernmost main island Kyushu and it's caused extensive flooding and landslides. Homes -- that you can see -- have been washed away, hospitals flooded, electricity cut off.
[04:40:00]
This is being described by the Japan Meteorological Agency as the heaviest rain ever on the island, eight people are dead, four missing. Those are the latest numbers from authorities.
Kyushu is prone to deadly landslides because of the mountainous terrain. And we understand rescue and recovery operations are now under way. More rains and storms are forecast for the island and for southwestern Japan.
If we now turn our attention to China, you know, it is experiencing very dangerous heat. Temperatures are in the mid-30s, they are expected to climb even higher. Possibly reaching 40 degrees in parts of southern China later this week. The China Energy Investment Corporation, the world's largest coal fired power generation company, said that the volume of power generated on Monday reached a historic high with energy loads continuing to rise in southern and eastern China. Just
And I want to show you some footage of zookeepers trying to keep their animals cool in northern China by giving them blocks of ice to hug and lick.
And then there is, you know, floods in India. We have seeing heavy rainfall that's caused flash floods and landslides -- particularly in Himachal Pradesh. The death toll there stands at 31. More than 2,000 have been evacuated. The government said relief efforts are under way -- Max and Bianca.
FOSTER: OK. Anna, the Hong Kong, thank you.
NOBILO: California has shelled out tens of billions of dollars to reduce homelessness but why it doesn't appear to be working? That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: California is coughing up billions of dollars to fight homelessness, but over the past few years the state's unhoused population actually grew.
NOBILO: In fact, California is adding more homeless people every year, more than any other state. CNN's Nick Watt has the story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[04:45:00]
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): $17.5 billion, that's what California spent fighting homelessness over the past four years. At the same time, the homeless population of the state grew by around a third.
JASON ELLIOTT, SENIOR ADVISER ON HOMELESSNESS TO GOV. NEWSOM: The problem would be so much worse absent these interventions, and that's not what people want to hear. I get it. We get it.
WATT (voice-over): Here's some reductive back of the envelope math. With 17.5 billion in theory, the state could have just paid the rent for every unhoused person in all four years.
ELLIOTT: It is reductive. And can I say why with respect, perhaps that would work for me, because I don't have significant behavioral health challenges.
WATT (voice-over): My reductive math did leave maybe 3 billion for mental health and other services. But even if the state did just offer to pay the rent, there just aren't enough affordable houses to go around.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where are we supposed to go? I mean, this is what poverty looks like.
WATT (voice-over): Dr. Margot Kushel was just commissioned to find out who is homeless in California and why, in the hope her data might fine tune the state's response. Her survey has busted some myths. Myth number one, most homeless people don't want a home. Not true. Participants overwhelmingly wanted permanent housing. Take Daniel and his disabled son who live on L.A. skid road.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You would take it if they offered you housing?
DANIEL, HOMELESS MAN: Yes, I would. Yes, we would, together. Yes. I'm his father and we need it.
WATT (voice-over): Myth number two, many homeless people here aren't from California. Therefore the state owes them nothing.
DR. MARGOT KUSHEL, DIRECTOR, UCSF CENTER FOR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS: Nine out of 10 people lost their stable housing here. These are Californians. We have to create the housing for all Californians.
WATT (voice-over): There is a state plan to build 2.5 million more homes by 2030. A million among them must be affordable. But when it comes to housing, zoning is ultimately down to local government.
ELLIOTT: We've got communities in this state that are refusing to build low-income housing because they say it's all just rapists and child molesters. So that's the dynamic that we're facing. WATT (voice-over): Past two or three years, the state they say, has built 13,500 affordable housing units. Baby steps. Christina Smith just moved into one after five years on the street.
CHRISTINA SMITH, FORMERLY UNHOUSED: I thought it was fake. I'm sorry. Until they gave me the keys, and then I was like, this is real. You don't believe it after a while.
WATT (voice-over): Now to the why. Why do so many Californians become homeless?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even when we did have a job and we tried to look for housing out here, it was like impossible.
WATT (voice-over): Rent is too high because housing supply is too low. And many who fall into homelessness say it's really not by much.
KUSHEL: One of the surprising things was how optimistic people were that relatively small amounts of money would have prevented their homelessness. For a lot of them, that $300 to $500 a month would do the trick.
WATT (voice-over): But bigger picture, longer term.
ELLIOTT: At the end of the day, if we want to truly solve homelessness in America, we need to build more housing that starts with us.
WATT: This is, they say, a problem decades in the making. At fault, well, politicians of every stripe. And they say it will not be a quick fix. But at least the governor here is now focusing on this issue, spending money, thinking differently. They're overhauling the entire mental health provisions in this state. But California says that they also need more federal money. At the end of the day, advocates and the unhoused people say stop just throwing so much money at this, actually think a bit more about how to spend that money effectively.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Members of the Screen Actors Guild could join members of the Writers Guild of America on the picket lines as soon as tonight if they are unable to reach an agreement with movie studios. SAG after agreed to mediation with the alliance of motion picture and television producers, that hit won't extended today's deadline.
FOSTER: And the contract between the two expired July 1 and comes at a time when studios are pinching pennies whilst performers are fighting for better and more fair compensation. If a strike goes through, it would be the first actors' strike in more than 40 years in Hollywood.
Still to come, PGA tour officials defend their plans to merge with Saudi backed LIV Golf, a deal some lawmakers call a betrayal.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON PRICE, PGA TOUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: We faced a real threat that LIV Golf which is 100 percent financed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would become the leader of professional golf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: PGA officials defending their controversial deal with the Saudi backed LIV Golf. They told U.S. Senators on Tuesday that they had no choice but to merge with the venture in order for the tour to survive. Democratic lawmakers slammed the deal as a betrayal of American values.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Today is about sports. It is also about hypocrisy. How vast sums of money can induce individuals and institutions to betray their own values and supporters. Or perhaps reveal a lack of values from the beginning. It's about other sports and institutions that could fall prey if their leaders let it be all about the money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: In Major League Baseball, it was a towering home run, a come from behind win and the end of an all-star game losing streak. Colorado Rockies catcher Elias Diaz swinging as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning rocketed the ball over the left field fence on Tuesday night. It gave the National League a 3-2 victory over the American League making it the NL's first all-star game victory since 2012.
FOSTER: It's unbelievable. Stories in the spotlight this hour, Barbie, she's back.
NOBILO: She's back. But has she left? We talk about it a lot.
FOSTER: We do. And we've got the house -- the house, the building sort of littered with Barbie's stuff as well.
NOBILO: Yes.
FOSTER: And you know, you're now living it.
NOBILO: I'm going to do your promo shot.
FOSTER: OK.
NOBILO: Of Barbie.
[04:55:00]
FOSTER: Barbie is getting an official green light from officials in the Philippines. NOBILO: There had been concern that the new film which showed the so-
called nine dash line making -- marking China's territorial claims in the South China Sea. But the country's movie and television review board found the scene in question does not depict that border. And instead shows a map portraying the make-believe journey of Barbie from Barbieland to the real world. Warner Bros. has produced a movie and CNN are both part of Warner Bros. Discovery.
FOSTER: I haven't seen you talk about geopolitics with such imagery before.
NOBILO: Oh, thank you so much. I like it when we bring the geopolitics to Barbie. It makes it so easy to report.
FOSTER: Also from Warner Bros., the first trailer for the new Wonka movie was released on Tuesday. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WONKA: You are the funny little man who has been following me.
OOMPA LOOMPA: I will have you know that I am a perfectly respectable size for an Oompa Loompa.
WONKA: And number one now?
OOMPA LOOMPA: Allow me to refresh your memory.
WONKA: Oh, I don't think I want to hear that.
OOMPA LOOMPA: Too late. I've got to dance now. Once it starts you can't stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: It still confused the movie as a prequel showing a young Wonka setting out on a quest to shake up the chocolate industry and break up a confectionery cabob.
NOBILO: Timothee Chalamet steps into the shoes previously filled by Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp. The movie director says it will include singing and dancing while answering questions you never knew that you had.
FOSTER: He's a great choice, isn't he? "Wonka" hits theaters in North America in December.
Is there such a thing as too much cheese? We are asking today. It's a big question. Burger King customers in Thailand are finding out after the fast-food chain launched a new item that that's causing a stir. For a few dollars those brave enough to try the real cheeseburger will find two buns sandwiching 20 slices of cheese.
NOBILO: Confused, you're not alone. Burger King had to confirm its existence in an online post, saying this is no joke, this is for real. And I think we've done our job filling you in on all the most important stories that affected us.
FOSTER: It is literally just cheese.
NOBILO: Yes.
FOSTER: Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" with Rahel Solomon is up next.
[05:00:00]
