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Extreme High Temperatures Continue to Affect Large Parts of American Southwest; Investigators Searching Gilgo Beach Murders Suspect Rex Heuermann's Properties in South Carolina for Possible Trophies of Killings; Trial Date for Former President Trump's Classified Documents Case Set for May of 2024; Russian Blogger Igor Girkin Jailed after Criticizing President Vladimir Putin. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired July 22, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:47]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Saturday morning to you. It is July 22nd. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Amara Walker. And you are in the CNN Newsroom.

It will be another weekend of scorching temperatures across the U.S. More than 80 million people are waking up to some sort of heat alert this morning, with temperatures expected to peak at 125 for some places. In Texas, the record heat streak continues to stretch. The city of El Paso hasn't seen a day under 100 degrees in over a month. In Arizona, there seems to be only one way to beat the heat -- ice skating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Such a relief to not be in the heat all the time. I love it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Transition from hot to cold. It's just really nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And it's not just the U.S. experiencing the extreme heat. Europe is also sweltering. This heat wave in Greece is expected to become the longest ever recorded in the country. Greek authorities have ordered all archeological sites, including the acropolis, to close for the afternoons through Monday.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers joins us now. Chad, I've asked this question two weekends in a row. Any relief in sight? And I'm guessing we'll get the same answer.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You're going to get the same answer that you got last weekend and the week before. No end in sight, no. And these warnings or watches or advisories that are put out aren't put out because the temperatures are going to be summer-type warm. You have to be a threshold above that to get these warnings out there. So above where you should be across the Gulf coast, certainly above with the excessive heat warnings out in the southwest.

We are going to see significant thunderstorms fire up along the Gulf coast today. If you're having a beach day today, watch out for lightning, in the heat of the day. Certainly, that is going to be a likelihood, not a possibility, but a probability. Think of Vegas, all the way to 115 later this afternoon. I know they say dry heat and all that, but it's very hot.

Above temperatures for the next couple of days and really for the next couple of weeks here. Chicago, you finally get back into the act. It's been a beautiful couple of weeks, also even for Buffalo and New York City. Temperatures have been below normal in some spots, but that will change as the heat moves off toward the east and to the northeast. Could see some big storms along the coast today, likely even with the possibility with not only lightning but thunder of course, and hail, and even some gusty winds.

Look at the nice temperatures across the east. Just across the deep south, that's where the weather has been just the worst we've seen. So yes, we are going to see the heat, it is going to spread out a little bit. But places that are hot are absolutely going to stay hot. I don't see temperatures going down below 110 for highs in Phoenix, until we get what's called monsoon. Monsoon is when the humidity comes, when it is no longer a dry heat, in Arizona, New Mexico, Vegas. That's when you get the thunderstorms to pop up in the heat of the day. That's when you get the relief.

But before you get that monsoon, before you get those thunderstorms, those are the hottest days of the year. And that's where we are right now.

BLACKWELL: Come on, monsoon.

WALKER: Seriously. We need some of that.

BLACKWELL: That's what's breaking it.

WALKER: Chad Myers, thank you.

So this persistent heat has been camped out over the southwest for weeks now. And one city that hasn't gotten a break is Phoenix. Right now, in Phoenix, it is 94 degrees, just after 7:00 a.m. local time. Now, Phoenix has had 22 days in a row of temperatures over 110 degrees. And today, much of the same is expected.

BLACKWELL: Typically, the heat would come with some relief thanks to rain, the monsoon that Chad just mentioned. But this year, the city of Phoenix hasn't had any measurable rain since March. This is the sixth longest dry spell on record. David Hondula is the chief heat officer with the city of Phoenix. He joins us now. Just by the existence of your position, we know that Phoenix often is hot, but this is, I imagine, unbearable. What are you doing to try to help people not only feel more comfortable, but just survive this stretch?

DAVID HONDULA, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF HEAT RESPONSE AND MITIGATION, PHOENIX: Thanks so much for having us on, and good morning from Phoenix. You're right, it has been a long, challenging, and severe stretch here. And we know here in Phoenix that the country, heat is a very serious public health hazard that we need to get more serious about as communities in our country.

[10:05:08]

For our team here in the heat office, it's certainly about deploying resources to help people find those cool air-conditioned space, quite literally out on the streets, sharing the information about our cooling centers and our respite centers. But also working with all city departments and other regional partners, really trying to take a whole of government approach. How can all of our institutions work together to ensure that public health is as protected as possible during these really challenging times.

WALKER: And like Victor was saying, yes, it's the desert, it does get to the triple digits in the summer in Phoenix. But it looks like it is the duration, right, 20-some days of this extreme heat. And are you concerned about the power grid getting overwhelmed at some point?

HONDULA: We've been really encouraged to hear from our utility partners that they are very confident that our grid is going to hold up just fine during this event. These are the types of scenarios, the conditions, that they plan for. And we haven't seen any type of unusual disruptions to service thus far, which is of course really good news for the community. We have seen a couple of small-scale outages that always happen during the summer as there are vehicle accidents into the utility infrastructure and so on. But right now, we're very thankful that the grid is holding up and we hear from our utility partners that they've been prepared, they are always preparing for these types of conditions.

BLACKWELL: What are the health impacts that you're seeing, the heat- related sicknesses and deaths related to this latest stretch?

HONDULA: Yes, unfortunately, we are seeing those really serious public health impacts, in fact, individually, I've been around a couple of cases that have required a 911 call for heat over just the past few days. We've seen total 911 calls to the Phoenix Fire Department surge to highs for this calendar year, and the heat-related calls have been higher than we've seen at least in several recent years. There are a lot of different ways that people can find themselves in a challenge related to heat, whether it is a person who loses air conditioning in their home, maybe a person overexerting themselves in the heat, on the workplace, or while recreating.

We also need to acknowledge there are even more challenging situations for institutions to address. There's a very high intersection between substance use and heat-related illness, so we need to be very closely working with communities and experts that can help people with substance use challenges understand how to get through this period safely. WALKER: Clearly, I hate using this cliche, but it seems like this is

the new normal, right? A lot of extreme weather, longer heat spells in the southwest. You're the chief heat officer in Phoenix. How do you tackle this issue long-term? Because Phoenix is a city, it's a major city. There aren't as many trees, for several reasons. What are the long-term solutions to this?

HONDULA: We think it really requires a basket of solutions, a big portfolio, thinking about both indoor and outdoor spaces. Just to give a couple of examples, we know there's very high demand from the community here to increase tree and shade availability in our neighborhoods. And that's why our team has been working so hard to secure more resources, to support tree planting here. We're really going to see an acceleration of tree planting in Phoenix and other cities all across the country. The federal government has really stepping up their commitment to this topic. We're excited to get those resources in the ground.

But we also need to be thinking about indoor spaces, how can we weatherize as many homes as possible, make energy as affordable as possible for the people who need it. As we talked about before, air conditioning is such a critical lifeline, so it's attention to the outdoor space, the built environment, how we're using cool materials and cool technologies, but also how we can keep people safe in their homes, in their workplaces where they spend a lot of their time.

BLACKWELL: This "We're Cool" event, this outreach program -- excuse me -- can you tell me about it? It's a volunteer program where -- do people come to you, or do you go out and find those who likely need you and can't get to the resources?

HONDULA: That's exactly the idea. We're trying to get out into the community, finding folks who might be disconnected from some of the community resources, the social services, we're so proud to have had more than 4,000 engagements thus far, we're not only distributing heat relief supplies like cold water hats, cooling towels, but also sharing information about where community cooling centers are, where respite centers are. The research suggests that word of mouth is a really, really important way to communicate resources to some of the most heat-impacted communities.

And we have professional case managers from our Office of Homeless Solutions embedded on our teams, so when we can facilitate those conversations about critical social services, like housing and shelter, we're able to do that on the spot. We know those are the really big wins in terms of long-term heat resilience here in the community.

[10:10:09]

Very thankful for all of the volunteer support as well. Hundreds and hundreds of volunteer hours helping us with this, what we think is a life-saving investment.

BLACKWELL: It is valuable support from volunteers, I imagine. David Hondula, thank you for your time. Thank you for the work you're doing. And do your best to stay cool. Thank you, sir.

WALKER: Thank you, David.

BLACKWELL: We have new details on the Gilgo Beach murder investigation. "The Chester News and Reporter" says that according to a warrant, investigators are searching the suspect Rex Heuermann's properties in South Carolina for possible trophies of the killings.

WALKER: Heuermann was arrested in New York City last week and charged with the murders of three women whose remains were found in Long Island's Gilgo Beach in 2010. He is also the prime suspect in the killing of a fourth victim. Investigators now believe he may have committed the killing at his home. CNN's Polo Sandoval joining us from New York to discuss the latest developments. Polo?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, guys. Good morning to you.

So there are a couple of reasons why investigators, since last spring, have been working under this theory that the suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann may have committed those killings at his home on Long Island. This according to information from a source close to the investigation. For starters, they have confirmed that Heuermann's wife was not actually at home at or about the time that these murders were committed. And this certainly goes with what the district attorney told me last week, that they were able to confirm, through phone and travel records, that she was actually out of town at the time.

But secondly, and this is just fascinating, they are also using the victims' own cell phone data, mainly the cell phone towers where it pinged. And they were able to essentially retrace the victims' steps, according to investigators. And that cell phone tower data tells them that all or some of the victims were making their way to the suspect's home in Massapequa Park, Long Island.

So when you look back at all of this data, it essentially tells investigators, at this point, that those victims were pretty much lured to their deaths at that home. Again, this is still very much a working theory, very much an ongoing investigation. You see investigators there at the home earlier this week, they are still there eight days into this investigation. The reason why this is taking so long is investigators look through the evidence at the suspect's home. They're looking inch by inch, making sure that they do not miss anything, mainly looking for any sort of trace evidence, DNA evidence as well. Amara and Victor, when you look at that case, it is very clear that DNA evidence has been really one of the most compelling pieces of the case from the prosecution of this.

WALKER: Polo Sandoval, thank you very much.

Now earlier, we spoke to criminologist Scott Bonn, and we talked about if it is common for murderers to lead dual lives where their families are completely unaware of their alleged crimes. Here's his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BONN, CRIMINOLOGIST: They have seemingly normal lives with even a family, a successful business career, respected by the community itself, and yet they've got this alter ego, if you will, that they transform into and become a diabolical, torturous killer. And it's through psychological compartmentalization, which is an ability, almost like flipping a switch, to just transform into almost like another being.

And this is what enables him, and others like him, to not suffer any emotional consequences, anxiety, guilt, cognitive dissonance, when they do so. It's almost like they just become another person. This serial killer, to another named Dennis Rader, who actually gave himself a name, Bind, Torture, Kill, he was similar to this. John Wayne Gacy killed people in his own home. Jeffrey Dahmer killed people in his apartment. So it is not uncommon at all. Serial killers operate in a comfort zone. They like being in control. They're ultimate control freaks, in fact. So they want to be in an environment that they feel the master of that universe. And that includes the home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: And see how new technology led to the alleged Gilgo Beach killer on a new episode of "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" tomorrow night at 8:00 on CNN.

BLACKWELL: Former President Trump is making the case to voters on the campaign trail while his lawyers will be making their case to a judge. Why the judge in the classified documents case will not postpone the trial until after the 2024 election.

Plus, a blogger critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been jailed after calling, quote, "a cowardly bum," calling him that and other things.

[10:15:01]

What we're learning about that and the potential fate of other vocal Putin critics.

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WALKER: A date has been set for the highly anticipated trial of Donald Trump's classified documents case. Yesterday, a judge scheduled a start date in May of 2024, deep into the presidential election campaign. Currently, Trump leads all Republican candidates.

BLACKWELL: If the data holds, he would be facing at least four different trials on the campaign trail. CNN's Marshall Cohen joins us now. So tell us about this decision from the judge and what she said that led to it.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, guys. Well, as you said, we have a new trial date. Right now, the plan, as it stands, in this moment, is for former president Donald Trump to go to trial, in the appreciate documents case in May 2024, next year. The federal judge overseeing this case, Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, set the new schedule.

[10:20:03]

By then, as you can see on the calendar, there are Republican primaries scheduled to happen literal a week before the potential trial beginning. But by then he might already be the Republican nominee. That's what happened in 2016.

But look, let's zoom out for a second. May 2024, that's the new plan. It is not what either side necessarily was looking for. Special Counsel Jack Smith wanted this case to go to trial in December of this year. He wanted a verdict before the Iowa caucuses in January. That's not going to happen. But on the other side, Donald Trump and his lawyers were arguing that this shouldn't even occur before the general election next November. That's not what the judge did here.

But Victor and Amara, that could still happen. There are tons of deadlines and filings and arguments that need to take place between now and May. And if just a few of those deadlines possibly slip, a little bit here, a little bit there, this thing might end up after the 2024 election after all. So the calendar is not set in stone, but this is where things stand as of today.

WALKER: Marshall Cohen, appreciate you breaking that down for us, good to see you.

Let's bring in Nick Akerman, a former assistant special Watergate prosecutor and a former assistant U.S. district for the Southern District of New York. Nick, good to see you. First off, your reaction, because, as you heard there from our Marshall Cohen, Jack Smith was pushing for this documents trial to begin in December before the primaries started up. Trump's defense pushed for it until after the 2024 election. Judge Aileen Cannon landing somewhere in the middle. What are your thoughts?

NICK AKERMAN, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: I think it was probably, Judge Cannon's decision was really based on a speedy trial and what was realistic. The problem with the government's December request was that at oral argument, they basically conceded that the December date was aspirational. And I think what Judge Cannon did was simply look at all of the milestones that the government set up in its initial request and looked at it from a realistic standpoint. And I think realistically, this case will go to trial in May. There is no reason why at that point the motions can't be decided, the documents already have been produced, for the most part. We're only talking about 31 classified documents, so I think the May trial date is pretty firm.

WALKER: Is it realistic that this trial could wrap up before the 2024 presidential election?

AKERMAN: Oh, absolutely. It's essentially a two-week, three-week trial. A lot of time will be taken selecting a jury. That will take longer in this case, as opposed to a typical case. But it is a fairly simple case once you start putting in your proof. It really has to do for the most part with the defendant Nauta, at Trump's direction, moving boxes around that contained classified information so that Trump's lawyers would not produce to the government the classified documents that he had taken.

WALKER: I am taken by your statements that you think this would be a simple trial and that it would only take two to three weeks. Is that quite optimistic considering we're talking about a trove of sensitive documents and classified documents, right? And even the prosecution presenting some of the evidence to the jury, that would also have to go through some procedures in getting the judge to decide whether or not some of these documents would even be permissible.

AKERMAN: Well, first of all, there's only 31 classified documents at issue in the indictment. So the question is, how do those get presented to the jury? They can be done in summary fashion, redacted fashion. That's what the schedule takes into account. That's why you have so much time between now and the May trial date. Those are all realistic milestones that can all be accomplished in that time period. There's no reason, good reason, why this case can't go to trial by May.

WALKER: All right. In the meantime, Nick, Trump could be indicted for the third time this year over efforts to overturn the 2020 election. But we're also learning that prosecutors are working to schedule interviews with at least two more people connected to Trump. How soon do you think an indictment will come down if Trump is, indeed, charged?

AKERMAN: I think we're looking at an indictment within two weeks, maybe within 10 days. The fact that they're still going to be putting people into the grand jury, I'm not sure that really plays into the ultimate indictment on Donald Trump.

[10:25:02]

They may be parsing out this January 6th situation into more than one indictment. For example, they may try to keep the Trump indictment as simple as possible by simply restricting it to what he did with Vice President Pence and the fake electors. That would make the case against Trump much simpler, particularly if they don't have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt tying him into the violence on the Capitol steps on January 6th.

So they may have two trials here, or two indictments, that may bring in other individuals that were involved in the violence. We just don't know. The idea that there are other people going into the grand jury could mean that this is a continuing investigation, and that they're looking at the full scope of what happened. And in particular, what do they have that ties Donald Trump or others to the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, to Donald Trump's emissary Roger Stone, and General Flynn, who were on the Capitol steps on January 5th with Oath Keepers and Proud Boys? And what is the quality of that evidence? Is that going to wind up with being a separate trial against Flynn or Stone? Or is it going to be lumped together with the trial against Donald Trump?

WALKER: Fascinating. Nick Akerman, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Still ahead, Russian President Vladimir Putin is blasting the U.S. and its allies as Ukrainian forces struggle to make gains against Russian defenses. That's next.

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[10:30:53]

BLACKWELL: Taking a look at some top stories for you now. Authorities in central Arizona have arrested a firefighter accused of arson. Officials say the 18-year-old Karson Nutter, a firefighter at the Ash Fork Fire Department, confessed to setting at least seven fires across two counties over the last few weeks. Deputies said that Nutter told them his motive were about the border or chasing a thrill. He faces multiple charges including arson, aggravated damage, and false reporting. His bond is set at $2 million.

WALKER: In an historic move, President Biden has chosen Admiral Lisa Franchetti, to be the Navy's top officer. If confirmed she would be the first woman in the Navy to hold the job and the first woman to serve in the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Franchetti has been vice chief of naval operations since 2022 and is the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea among other key naval positions. She's also commanded two carrier strike groups and is the recipient of multiple service medals.

BLACKWELL: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled about 340,000 Cupkin stainless steel children's cups because they contain more than the federally mandated level of lead. Officials say the eight and 12 ounce cups manufactured in China, sold on Amazon and Cupkin.com, from 2018 to March of this year. No incidents or injuries have been reported, but CPSC said that consumers should immediately take the cups away from children and stop using them.

WALKER: A prominent Russian pro-war blogger and critic of Vladimir Putin has been arrested.

BLACKWELL: Former KGB officer Igor Girkin called Putin a lowlife and a cowardly bum in his post on his Telegram channel. He says he has been a vocal critic of Putin's war effort in Ukraine, but what about the Wagner chief behind the attempted mutiny? Is Putin buying time to deal with Yevgeny Prigozhin?

WALKER: CNN Senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen joining us now. Hi, Fred. How do you expect this to all play out?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Amara. It certainly seems as though Vladimir Putin is at least trying to buy time. Of course, one of the things that we have seen this past week is the Wagner private military company all of a sudden emerge in Belarus and also Yevgeny Prigozhin as well. There were many who were questioning whether or not he actually still had a role in that organization. Now, it appears, that he does.

One of the interesting things that Prigozhin said as he welcomed his fighters to Belarus, is he said that they needed to look for things to do in places like Africa, obviously seeming to indicate that, at least for the time being, they are not going to be going back to the front lines in Ukraine. One of the other things that we also saw them do as well was train Belarusian fighters. At the same time, of course, the fighting in Ukraine really is picking

up the pace. It is really tough. It's very tough going for the Ukrainians. And that caused Vladimir Putin to rip into the U.S. and its allies for supporting Ukraine. Here is what we're learning.

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PLEITGEN: With Ukraine now using U.S.-supplied cluster munitions to try and penetrate the Russian army's entrenched positions on the southern front, Russian leader Vladimir Putin ripping into the U.S. and its allies for aiding Kyiv.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The whole world can see that the supposedly invulnerable equipment that the west boasted about is on fire, and technically it is often even inferior to some Soviet made weapons. Yes, of course, additional western armaments can be supplied and thrown into battle. This of course causes us certain damage and prolongs the conflict.

PLEITGEN: But while Putin tries to project superiority on the battlefield, at home, the Kremlin continues to silence critical voices, even some of those supporting their war. Prominent military blogger Igor Girkin, who goes by Igor Strelkov, arrested today, his wife said, after remarks blasting the lack of progress of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.

"The situation with the special military operation and in the country in general is deplorable to put it mildly," he said. "This is a result of actions of the incumbent power."

[10:35:00]

Girkin is a former colonel in Russia's security service FSB and was a defense minister of the so-called Donetsk People's Republican in eastern Ukraine when the Malaysian jetliner MH-17 was shot down there in 2014. Girkin was found guilty of mass murder in absentia by a Dutch court for involvement in the incident which he had never acknowledged.

While Girkin is considered a war criminal in Ukraine, he deems himself a Russian ultranationalist who feels the war should be prosecuted even more brutally.

Putin's grip on power was only recently challenged by the uprising of the Wagner private military company and its boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. Now, the Russian leader wants to calm things down, CIA Director William Burns believes.

BILL BURNS, CIA DIRECTOR: Putin is trying to buy time as he considers what to do with Wagner and what to do with Prigozhin himself. Putin hates, in my experience, anyway, the image that he's overreacting to things.

PLEITGEN: But that doesn't mean Prigozhin is forgiving, Burns says.

BURNS: If I were Prigozhin, I wouldn't fire my food taster.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

PLEITGEN (on camera): So bad time to fire the food taster, the head of the CIA said. They're also, by the way, calling Vladimir Putin the ultimate apostle of payback. Certainly that doesn't bode well for Yevgeny Prigozhin and possibly for Igor Girkin as well, guys.

BLACKWELL: Fred Pleitgen for us there in Berlin, thank you so much.

Still ahead, Jason Aldean's controversial new song, "Try That In a Small Sown," Sheryl Crowe says it promotes violence. The music video was shot at the site of a lynching by a racist mob. So what does Aldean have to say? And what happens next? We'll discuss.

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[10:40:53]

BLACKWELL: Country singer Jason Aldean is facing criticism over the music video for his latest single "Try That In a Small Town." Country Music Television has pulled the video from rotation because of the controversy. The song was released in May to criticism that the lyrics evoked racism and vigilantism that increased when the video was released a little more than a week ago. Some scenes were shot at a courthouse where a black man named Henry Choate was lynched in 1927.

Now in a statement posted on Twitter, Aldean said in part, "I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song. There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it." Aldean goes on to say, "There isn't a single video clip that isn't real news footage." But CNN's analysis found that some of the footage is from incidents in Canada that happened more than a decade ago.

CNN has reached out to Aldean's record label, BBR Music Group, but has not received a reply.

Joining us to talk about it is Chris Willman, senior music writer and chief music critic at "Variety." His latest article on this is titled "Jason Aldean already had the most contemptible country song of the decade. The video is worse."

Good to have you with us. Let me read a couple of lyrics here. The song starts out, "Sucker punch somebody on the sidewalk, carjack an old lady at a red light, pull the gun on the owner of a liquor store." Then he goes on to say, "Try that in small town, see how far you make it down the road. Around here, we take care of our own. You cross that line it won't take long for your to find out. I recommend you don't." What is the message of this song?

CHRIS WILLMAN, SENIOR MUSIC WRITER AND CHIEF MUSIC CRITIC, VARIETY: Well, it is a very confused message, I think, between the lyrics and the video, and that's where Aldean gets a little bit of plausible deniability in saying, well, I never mentioned race. Obviously, there is nothing explicitly about lynching in the song.

But originally, the song is just kind of -- it is very lazily written. It's kind of a laundry list of things you wouldn't want to happen in a small town, starting with carjackings, sucker punching cops, and then graduating to flag burning, and things like that. And so it is just kind of like a random list of city slicker ills that are imagined that are going to have to be dealt with, with a beating or worse if someone comes to town.

The video compounded it by making it all about demonstrators, which the song itself really isn't, except for the mention of flag burning, which is very retro, 1980s, 90s, concern. But then you have all this footage projected on the courthouse, where, as you say, that person was lynched. What I think would appear to the viewer to be assumed to be Black Lives Matter demonstrations, even if it was shot in Canada and had nothing to do with that.

And so the message that comes through in end with the video, I think, is that we'll deal with demonstrators, even if they are exercising their First Amendment right, the same way we deal with somebody who robs a liquor store or carjacks somebody, as we see in the video. It is all the same to us. It will be met with vigilante justice.

BLACKWELL: Let me talk about this courthouse. This is the Maury County Courthouse, the backdrop of the performance in the video, 1927, Henry Choate, 18 years old, was accused of assaulting a white woman. He was stolen by a white mob and then lynched there. "Try This In a Small Town," this isn't Jason Aldean's small town. He didn't grow up in Columbia, where this is, in Maury County. Is there any explanation of why this site was chosen as the site for this video?

WILLMAN: Yes, I understand from sort of backchannels that the Aldean camp says they had no idea about the lynching history when the site was chosen, that a lot of people in Tennessee chose it as a filming site because it has this beautiful clock tower, it is kind of like the clock tower you see on the Universal lot or something. But whether they knew about it or not, I can believe they didn't actually mean to evoke historical lynching when they chose that site.

[10:45:01]

But there's enough that is problematic and disturbing about the song and the video even without reading that sort of deliberate racism and dog whistles into it. At worst, it has this racial tinge with lines like see how far you make it down the road, which is the language that was used in sundown in the 1950s and 60s, like, you better get out of town before dark if you've of a certain persuasion. And at best, it is about vigilantism and a celebration of xenophobia, which is upsetting to people like me or to country music fans that you're contracting instead of expanding us, making this whole sort of disturbing us versus them mentality.

BLACKWELL: What I noticed in the video watching this, and I watched it a few times, in these small towns that don't appear to be any people of color in these idyllic videos of small towns and farmers coming together, which is interesting, at least, if you are not trying to invoke any of that. And he says he doesn't, and we've read what he says about this video. The song appears to be a hit, though. You report on how many pickups it is getting on country music radio. What can you tell us about the popularity of the song? WILLMAN: Well, as somebody, I've been immersed in the reporting on the

country music for 25 years, and I have never seen anything this divisive in the community since the Dixie Chicks controversy in 2003. But in that case, the Dixie Chicks were pilloried, basically run off of radio. In this case, we're seeing the opposite, of the audience is standing behind him, certainly his audience. I'm sure that radio stations are being beset with requests to stands behind him and increase the air play.

Whether that will happen, I don't know, because I think that even country radio worries about alienating a part of its audience, and certainly there's a large part of the country audience that is alienated by this. The national industry is not excited about something that is divisive at a time when they want to expand the audience. But there are a lot of radio stations that are going to see this as something that has gone viral, that is their ticket to getting more listeners on air plays. So it's really going to be interesting to see how it plays out on the charts after this really immediate boost.

BLACKWELL: All right, Chris Willman, thank you so much for your time.

WALKER: A rising star leads team USA on the quest to become the first team, men's or women's, to win three consecutive World Cup titles. Coming up, we'll show you how this 22-year-old made the most of her tournament debut.

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[10:52:00]

WALKER: For the first time since being hospitalized with a medical complication, actor Jamie Foxx is thanking fans for their support. Now, Foxx has remained out of the public eye for months after being hospitalized in Atlanta in April.

BLACKWELL: Foxx addressed rumors about what happened to him in an Instagram post overnight partially. Although he did not exactly say why he was taken to the hospital, he did explain why he's been so private about it.

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JAMIE FOXX, ACTOR: I know a lot of people are waiting or wanting to hear updates, but to be honest with you, I just didn't want you to see me like that, man. I want you to see me laughing, having a good time, partying, cracking a joke, doing a movie, television show. I didn't want you to see me with tubes running out of me, and trying to figure out if I was going to make it through hell and back. And my road to recovery had some potholes as well, but I'm coming back.

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BLACKWELL: Foxx also thanked his daughter, sisters, and doctors, for keeping him alive.

WALKER: The U.S. women's national team opened the defense of the back- to-back World Cup titles with a hard-fought win over Vietnam.

BLACKWELL: Carolyn Manno joins us now. Carolyn, the stage is set now for the next generation of players to shine.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly right. For the 14 of the 23 women on this roster who are World Cup rookies, it was an incredible moment to take the baton from the women who have multiple World Cup appearances and trophies, and it is really similar to how that torch was passed from Mia Hamm's generation of players to the likes of Megan Rapinoe, today's titan of the sport. It's part of the U.S. team's winning, and they were dominant in the three-nil win. Sophia Smith making her World Cup debut, driving the ball in the back of the net to open the scoring in the 14th minute. She is a superstar. She wasn't even done. Striking again deep in the stoppage time at the end of the first half for her second goal of the game. And at just under 23 years old, she is now the second youngest player in U.S. women's team history to score multiple goals in a World Cup game.

You did have the veteran Megan Rapinoe making a little history of her own, in her final and fourth World Cup, coming in as a substitute in the second half for her 200th appearance for team USA. Incredible. Captain Lindsay Horan added a goal of her own in the 77th minute to officially put this one away. Afterwards, Smith talking about rising to the occasion, knowing that there is a lot of work left to be done.

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SOPHIA SMITH, TWO GOALS IN WORLD CUP DEBUT: I feel good. I think it was a good starting point for our team in this tournament. I also know that we have a lot more than we can give, a lot to do, little things to work on. So I think it is a good place to start, and personally it was good to just get a World Cup game under my belt, kind of see how it felt, know what to expect. But yes, I think it honestly just makes me more excited for the next game.

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[10:55:03]

MANNO: Everyone else is excited, too. And coming up next for the U.S., it's the Netherlands on Wednesday night. Their second Group E game and a rematch of the 2019 World Cup finals, so expect that one to be a little bit more competitive.

Elsewhere, Messi's debut with Inter Miami has been one of the most anticipated in recent memory. Somehow this lived up to the hype, the expectations, all the pressure that was placed on the best to ever play the game. Seven months after winning the men's World Cup, the seven-time FIFA player of the year coming off the bench, delivering a magical moment like only he can, curling in this free kick straight from outside the box in the 94th minute that set the crowd of more than 20,000 into a complete frenzy. And that would turn out to the game winner in the 2-1 win over Mexico's Cruz Azul. I can't stop watching it, guys. I'm just watching it on repeat over and over and over again this morning. It's that good.

BLACKWELL: It's pretty unbelievable.

WALKER: Incredible. Yes.

BLACKWELL: Carolyn Manno, thanks so much.

(LAUGHTER)

WALKER: Thanks for watching, everyone.

BLACKWELL: Much more ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield is up after the break.

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