Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Protestors Demonstrate In Tel Aviv As Israeli Parliament Moves To Pass Controversial Legislation Limiting Power Of Israeli Supreme Court; Superseding Indictment Lays Out Three New Charges Against Former President Trump In Classified Documents Case; Mar-A-Lago Property Manager Carlos De Oliveira Charged In Superseding Indictment; Many Parts Of U.S. Continue To Experience Extreme Heat; Former Vice President And Current Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Pence Holding Campaign Event In Iowa; Republican Presidential Candidate Will Hurd Claims Former President Trump Running For President To Stay Out Of Jail; Mistake In License Plate Check Leads Police To Pull Over And Draw Guns On Family Driving To Basketball Game; North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un Welcomes Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu During Nation's Victory Day Celebration; Taylor Swift Fans In Seattle Reportedly Cause Seismic Event While Dancing During Her Concert. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired July 29, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is one of the big protest marches that happened in Tel Aviv. They are not here in the center of Tel Aviv demonstrating.

And one of the interest things about this is there's tens of thousands of people here, but similar events are also happening across the country. So people still are going en masse onto the streets. And the anger certainly remains. It was quite interesting, I spoke to one protester, Fredricka. He said, look, after this past week, after the Knesset okayed that law for the judicial reform, many people thought that perhaps protesters wouldn't come out anymore, but they are here on the street and they certainly are here in large numbers.

And what we feel here from the folks that we've been speaking to, there's a lot of anger toward the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, also the way that Netanyahu has conducted himself since the Knesset waved that law through. And one of the things that's really, really aggravating people here Fredricka is actually the interview that Benjamin Netanyahu gave to our own Wolf Blitzer where seemingly Netanyahu would not commit whether or not he would abide by a Supreme Court verdict if Israel's Supreme Court shoots down the law that the Knesset okayed on Monday.

So as you can see, a lot of people still coming out here, a lot of people still extremely angry. We know that the Supreme Court is going to hear the petitions against that law come September. But the folks that we're speaking to say they believe that they need to keep the pressure up. Out here on the street, they need to show that they're still willing to come out, they need to show their anger, they need to show that they're coming out in force to make sure that the government understands that a lot of people here in this country are against this judicial overhaul that the government has planned, Fredricka.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Fred Pleitgen, we'll leave it there, thank you so much, in Tel Aviv.

Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with the mounting legal troubles for former President Donald Trump. The special counsel is charging Trump with three new counts in the classified documents investigation. Those charges include one additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional counts of obstruction. Prosecutors say Trump, along with two employees, aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, allegedly tried to pressure another employee into destroying security camera footage. CNN's Zachary Cohen joining us now with more on this. Zach, explain what is in this superseding indictment and the new allegations against Trump.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Fred, two of these new charges stem from allegations that Trump and these two Mar-a-Lago employees not only tried to destroy the surveillance video at Mar-a- Lago, but that it was Trump himself who allegedly requested that the video be deleted. And look, prosecutors point to a specific conversation in this indictment between his new codefendant, Carlos De Oliveira, and another Mar-a-Lago employee, where they're discussing this effort to delete the video. And De Oliveira clearly says, according to prosecutors, the boss wanted the server deleted. So obviously, it seems that De Oliveira is referring to Trump in this conversation. And prosecutors, this indictment is full with several pieces of evidence that point to a similar theme.

Now, the third charge, the third new charge is centered around a document, another document that Trump allegedly mishandled after he left the presidency, and this is a document that we have heard about before in an audio recording where Trump was in Bedminster in 2021 and he was giving an interview for Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff's book. Listen to how he described had document that was not included in the indictment at the time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Wait a minute, let's see here. I just found -- isn't that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know, except it is highly confidential, secret.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: I was just saying because we were talking about it. And he said, he wanted to attack Iran. These are the papers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said you did.

TRUMP: This was done by the military and given to me. I think we can probably, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. We'll have to see. Yes, we'll have to try to figure out a --

TRUMP: Declassify it. See, as president, I could have declassified it. Now I can't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: CNN previously reported that the document Trump was referring to in that audio was an Iran military attack plan, but Trump has subsequently denied that there was any document in that room at the time. He said that he was holding up things like newspaper clippings. But now we know based on the information in this indictment and our own reporting that he was, in fact, referring to this Iran military plan and it was a classified document that prosecutors say he now faces another criminal charge over.

WHITFIELD: And Zachary, additionally now, multiple sources are telling CNN that law enforcement officials believe an indictment in the special counsel's January 6th investigation could come down at any time, perhaps next week. What more do you know?

COHEN: Fred, law enforcement officials have been waiting for official record from the Justice Department, from the special counsel's office on a potential indictment announcement related to this investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the events around January 6th.

[14:05:11]

Now, there has not been an official word of any sort of timing or timeline for an indictment announcement, but law enforcement officials are preparing accordingly and do believe, according to our sources, that an indictment could come any time within the next week. So law enforcement officials clearly expecting and planning accordingly for this to happen sometime in the near term.

WHITFIELD: Zachary Cohen, thanks so much in D.C.

We're learning more about the third defendant in this superseding indictment, Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira. CNN's Randi Kaye is joining us now. Randi, you've been looking into De Oliveira, and what have you found?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we found that he really was not on the radar of anyone that CNN spoke with, and that includes eight current and former Trump allies and aides who frequented Mar-a- Lago. As you know, the indictment calls him a property manager, but the picture that we're getting from folks that CNN has spoken with is really this low-level maintenance worker who did odd jobs around Mar- a-Lago. He didn't interact with club members, he wasn't part of Trump's inner circle, he wasn't privy to these high-level conversations until the special counsel investigation.

Fred, we've also learned that he was at Mar-a-Lago working there for about 20 years. He started as a valet, then he worked his way up doing various maintenance jobs before becoming the property manager. But certainly, Fred, it does look as though he was really pulled into this scheme, this alleged scheme to clean up the dirty work and get rid of all of this security camera footage before the grand jury and the prosecution and the special counsel could get their hands on it, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So any chance of talking to De Oliveira?

KAYE: Well, we went to look for him at his apartment, which is just about 20 minutes north of Mar-a-Lago. It's in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. We knocked on the door. He did not answer. Nobody came to the door, in fact.

But we did get ahold of his landlord by phone. We spoke to him. Apparently, they are good friends, according to the landlord. They've known each other for about 30 years. And he described De Oliveira as a good guy and a good friend. He doesn't believe that he did anything wrong. He said he just isn't someone who would break the law. He also told me that he knows -- that if De Oliveira knows anything, he should come clean. I also spoke with his neighbor on camera, who lives just across the way from him. He said that he's a really good guy, a great neighbor. He loves to golf, he helps everybody out in the neighborhood. And then I asked him what he thinks of this indictment regarding his neighbor, and here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAYMOND BRION, CARLOS DE OLIVEIRA'S NEIGHBOR: I think that it's -- anybody that gets involved with Donald Trump, he's a train wreck. And anybody that gets involved with Donald Trump ends up somewhere in a bad place. I don't think that guy had any knowledge of what he was doing, none. And he's caught in the net. Now he's got to work himself out of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And now, Randi, what is De Oliveira's attorney, perhaps, saying about the charges?

KAYE: Well, we would like to talk to his attorney, Fred, John Irving. He's a D.C.-based attorney. CNN has reached out to him. He has not responded, not offered a statement or a comment. We do know, we have been able to confirm that Irving's law firm was paid nearly $200,000 in 2022 by Trump's super PAC Save America. We also know that De Oliveira needs a Florida-based attorney in order to have his first court appearance on Monday morning in Miami. We're not aware that he has secured a Florida-based attorney yet. And if he doesn't, we'll have to see wait and see whether or not that first court appearance gets delayed, Fred.

WHITFIELD: That sounds very familiar. We just saw that happen earlier this year. All right, Randi Kaye, thank you so much.

Let me bring in now CNN legal analyst Carrie Cordero to talk more about all of these developments. Carrie, I mean, Trump was already facing 37 felony counts in this classified documents investigation. Now we're at 40. So how significant are these latest three charges, in your view? CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the superseding indictment

certainly adds more facts to the case that are now more publicly known, and it adds the additional obstruction charges in particular, which I think bolsters the case even more, because, Fred, if we really think about this case, in my judgment, this case would have never been brought had there not been the obstructive conduct, notwithstanding the highly sensitive nature of all of the documents that were involved. It was the obstruction of the investigation that I think really forced the Justice Department and the special counsel's hand in having to bring this case.

And so the additional obstruction charges just demonstrate in really clear detail, according to the superseding indictment, the length that the former president went to pressure and to communicate with those around him to try to prevent the Justice Department from conducting its investigation.

[14:10:10]

WHITFIELD: And exemplifying the allegations of obstruction, everything from the refusing to hand over the documents willingly to now eyewitness accounts of the former president giving instruction to get rid of evidence.

CORDERO: Right. And I think what the superseding indictment also demonstrates is just in the intervening time, the grand jury was convened over 15 months ago. And so with the additional facts that are in this new superseding indictment, we really start to get a better sense of all of the various witnesses who have testified before the grand jury, that there are just a number of individuals who are referred to as employees of Mar-a-Lago who obviously had personal knowledge of the extent of the alleged obstructive conduct, and who have, apparently, one can read the superseding indictment to say this, have testified before the grand jury under oath regarding the information that they served.

WHITFIELD: So does that mean that some of them may be facing potential perjury charges, or is that how prosecutors might leverage the testimony to perhaps even get certain people who may be very loyal to Trump to flip?

CORDERO: Well, I think there's the individuals who are just referred to as employees in the superseding indictment, and they clearly are cooperating. They appear to have testified under oath. They are not charged in the case themselves.

Then you have the individuals like De Oliveira and Nauta who have been actually charged. And at this point, I tend to think that the opportunity for them to plead and to cooperate with the Justice Department and the special counsel probably has passed, because at this point it does seem like the special counsel has enough information. They've gone ahead with charging. It seems like they probably have given those individuals time to cooperate in the past. And it's sort of unclear whether at this point the special counsel would need their testimony or whether they just now are part of the criminal prosecution itself. WHITFIELD: And ahead of the new charges being announced, the special

counsel did meet with Trump's attorneys. What do you suppose that conversation was all about?

CORDERO: Well, so according to our reporting, it appears that that was about the January 6th investigation, and so the former president had been served with yet another target letter indicating that the Justice Department believed, the special counsel believes that it could go forward with a prosecution. And so that meeting is an opportunity for defense attorneys to present their case, to make an argument to the Justice Department and the special counsel's lawyers where he should not be charged in that particular case.

What's interesting to me about it, Fred, is if the January 6th prosecutions go forward, I would imagine that there are a lot of other people who would have to be charged as well, because I believe that it would be charged as a conspiracy to try to overturn the election, a conspiracy to defraud the United States of its election outcome. And so what's interesting is -- I'm curious, I guess I would say, Fred, as to whether or not there are other individuals who have received target letters or who have had similar meetings with the Justice Department to try to prevent it from going forward with an eventual charge.

WHITFIELD: Then because of what you just said, if there is a release of indictments in the coming weeks, would it be everyone, all of those involved at once?

CORDERO: It's very hard to say. So, again, as we've seen -- which is a very different investigation. I just can't emphasize enough how different the classified documents case is from the January 6th case, because that one really just involved so many different moving parts in terms of pressure that was placed on election officials, state legislatures, the involvement of the former president's lawyers. So there just are a lot -- there's so much more involved in the complexity of that January 6th investigation. I don't know that we would see all of the charges all at once, but I would expect that there would -- at least in the first indictment, if one is issued by a grand jury, that it would include more than just the former president.

WHITFIELD: All right, Carrie Cordero, thank you so much. Good to see you.

Straight ahead, millions of Americans are under heat alerts from coast to coast with temperatures soaring past 100 degrees in so many areas.

[14:15:01]

We'll have more on how long this intense heat wave is expected to last.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The dog days of summer are dug in pretty deep here. More than 100 million people are now under heat alerts across 20 states. The National Weather Service issuing a heat advisory for parts of the northeast throughout this evening. Cooling centers and public pools in the region are offering discounted rates and extended hours to help residents stay safe and cool.

CNN national correspondent Athena Jones is live from Washington Square Park in New York City. Athena, how are New Yorkers beating the heat?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. Well, just like me, a lot of them have been going in and out of this fountain right there you can see off to the left. We're in Washington Square Park. It's a place that's common for people to come and kind of relieve themselves from the hot, hot sun. There's a lot of shade here. There's green grass. There's obviously the fountain.

[14:20:01]

You can feel the water sort of blown by the wind. It's very, very refreshing. But as you mentioned, extreme heat is extremely dangerous. Extreme heat kills more people than any other weather-related event. And folks here, whether they're visitors or longtime New Yorkers, are certainly feeling the heat. Take a listen to a tourist we spoke with visiting from Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH FORBES, VISITING FROM ATLANTA: You've got to be like a lizard. You've got to stay in the shade. You've got to move slowly, keep the heart rate low. Otherwise you're just going to sweat bullets, too much.

JONES: And what else are you doing? Are you going in and out looking for air-conditioning and water?

FORBES: Air-conditioning, getting a cup of ice on the neck, the forehead. The whole nine yards. You've got to play it safe.

JONES: Does this concern you at all?

FORBES: It does. In the next 20 years, this is -- we're past the point of no return, right, we have been. So it's just kind of one of those things where it's the new normal, and c'est la vie, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And we've talked to vendors who are out here every day who have described these temperatures the last few days as hellish. I can tell you right now the real temperature is 91, but the feels-like is 98, and it's only supposed to get hotter now.

I will say this, the National Weather Service has said that we could also see thunderstorms in this region that could relieve some of these high temperatures, and that's also something we're hearing from Con Ed, the electricity company. They're warning folks not to overuse your energy, to try to conserve as much as possible. The thunderstorms that could come this afternoon could also cause the kind of heavy winds that could bring down power lines. We're very, very, hope that -- somewhat by the change in weather, but that we don't have any power outages in this region.

(INAUDIBLE)

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Athena, it's not just the northeast that's extremely hot. We're also dealing with it here in the southwest. And at least it's a dryer heat. Because the dew points aren't so high, our temperatures are allowed to rise. Much warmer in Phoenix, 10 degrees above normal yet again today. Typically, we should be around 106, we're forecast high of 115 degrees. And we've had 29 consecutive days where our temperatures have been 110 plus degrees, and we're adding to that again today. And much of the United States, either right at normal or above.

Thankfully we've had that cold front come down. Chicago, you're back down to 80 degrees. But St. Louis just to the south, 98, 103 in Dallas, 95 in Atlanta, same for D.C. D.C., you've got rain cool there on the way, but unfortunately the threat for severe weather because it's so hot and humid.

Speaking of the humidity, when we factor in dew points, up 70 plus. It feels much hotter. You get what's called the heat index. Nashville, it feels like 105. It feels like 103 degrees in D.C. today. Records being broken all across the country. Over 80 possible heat records expected, not just high temperatures, but record warm lows as well, where we're talking about temperatures in the 90s through the overnight hours in places like Phoenix. Excessive heat warnings, Phoenix, you're included. We've got St. Louis included, and just south of D.C. we also have heat advisories in effect from Los Angeles all across the Midwest, back into the lower Mississippi Valley, up into the mid- Atlantic and right up into New York City.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. Thank you so much, Britley Ritz and Athena Jones.

Coming up, former President Trump mostly steering clear of talking about his legal troubles on the campaign trail. But some of his rivals not so much. The message some candidates are pushing to try and stand out in the crowded field straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:52]

WHITFIELD: Former President Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail in the next few hours when he holds a rally in Pennsylvania. And this hour his former vice president, Mike Pence, is holding a campaign event in Iowa. CNN's Kyung Lah is at that event in the town of Nevada. So Kyung, almost all of the GOP candidates were in Iowa last night for a dinner. We didn't hear much of a change of tone from a lot in the field last night. So what are you looking for today?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're expecting to see the former vice president show up just shortly, in the next couple of minutes or so, Fredricka. And really what we're going to be looking for is to hear if he, indeed, does take a different tone when it comes to his former running mate, Donald Trump.

But as far as what Pence is going to be doing today, I just want to walk you around. We're actually in a fire station. And the people you see seated over here, these are first responders of the Nevada Fire Department. This is an all-volunteer fire department with the exception of the paid police chief. And on the docket today they're going to be talking about public safety issues, issues dealing with the local community. And that's what they're going to be focusing their questions on.

And it's something that the former vice president would like to talk about. He wants to talk about these issues that affect the Iowa caucus members and try to turn away from Donald Trump, especially criticism directly of Donald Trump. And I want to explain why. First of all, I want to play some audio of Will Hurd who took on Trump directly at the dinner last night. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL HURD, (R) FORMER TEXAS CONGRESSMAN: Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison. And if we elect --

(BOOS)

HURD: I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. Listen, I know the truth, the truth is hard. But if we elect Donald Trump, we are willingly giving Joe Biden four more years in the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:30:00]

LAH: And inside the room it was incredibly loud, forks were banging on plates, people were booing. Hurd was essentially booed off the stage. So therein lies the conundrum, Fred, because you want to have -- at least if you're Mike Pence, you want to peel off those voters. You want to support of the Trump base, but you somehow have to woo them and yet criticize his former running mate. It's a very difficult line to thread.

WHITFIELD: We're going to see how he tackles the environment where you are at the fire station today when he arrives. Kyung Lah, thank you so much.

In Georgia, extra security is being put in place in anticipation of a decision on whether another indictment is possible involving the former president, Donald Trump, and his allies. A state-level investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results has been ongoing since early 2021, and some of the biggest players in the Trump orbit are involved.

In a new episode of "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" airing on Sunday night, CNN's Sara Murray takes us inside the events that led to the sprawling investigation in Fulton County, Georgia, to uncover exactly what happened in the peach state after the election. In December of 2020, Trump allies in Georgia appeared at a series of state legislative hearings. They pushed the narrative the election was stolen, with misleading and outright false claims. But perhaps the most egregious allegations came in the form of a video. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once everyone is gone, the coast is clear --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The story she told was just chilling in terms of look at what they're doing. Video doesn't lie.

RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP'S FORMER PERSONAL LAWYER: And when you look at what you saw on the video, which to me was a smoking gun --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The problem was is that the video had been selectively edited.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: What do you make when you saw what he was showing, his video of what happened at State Farm Arena?

GABRIEL STERLING, (R) GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE: They found a magical suitcase full of ballots. But I wouldn't go that's a ballot carrier. Those are sealed ballot carriers, which is a normal thing you have in elections. But they sliced that thing down to this one little narrow thing. They intentionally misled the state Senate in order to keep pushing this narrative and try to get the election thrown out.

MURRAY: So he lied?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I mean, they never backed off from it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Sara Murray joining me right now from Washington. Sara, so Rudy Giuliani, he was told that he is a target in this investigation. Is that because -- largely because of the presentations on that video that we just saw?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is certainly one of the things that prosecutors have been looking at when it comes to Rudy Giuliani, who, again, months and months ago was told he's a target as part of this investigation, just one of many of the former president's advisers who are being scrutinized as part of this, as well as the former president himself.

And this is a sprawling investigation. It's looking not only at those comments Rudy Giuliani made before state lawmakers, but it's also looking at all of those people who served as pro-Trump fake electors in the state of Georgia. We know from our reporting that Rudy Giuliani played a high level in sort of organizing that effort across the seven states it took place in. So there's a lot that the Fulton County district attorney has looked into, and we delve into a lot of the nitty-gritty in that in this documentary, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so indictments could be imminent. Do we have any idea the parameters of the charges?

MURRAY: We know that she's looking at potential conspiracy and racketeering charges, and that could get you any number of defendants. The special purpose grand jury that spent months investigating this and heard from over 75 witnesses recommended more than a dozen people should be indicted. We don't know if that's a number that she's going to go with, if it could be higher or lower. But again, it's looking at those false comments before state lawmakers, it's looking at, of course, Donald Trump's infamous phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. But we're also looking at, in her case as well as this documentary, some other episodes that people at home may know less about, like the people who showed up to harass and intimidate election workers in a voting breach in a rural Georgia county.

WHITFIELD: And I'm asking to look into the crystal ball, but is there any guess as to when these charging decisions could come?

MURRAY: She was signaled, Fani Willis, to her security partners and to her local government partners in Fulton County that her enhanced security measures are essentially going to go into place on Monday and last through late August. So we're sort of looking at that as the indictment window, starting Monday, going to later in that month where she is going to make an announcement about whether anyone is going to face charges in this case. There's always things that could go wrong, things could always slip. But I think we're looking at some time in the next couple of weeks, Fred.

[14:35:04]

WHITFIELD: And of course, Trump's legal team might look for ways to try to undermine these potential indictments in Georgia. Is there any feeling among the prosecutorial body that there's some vulnerabilities?

MURRAY: Look, I think that they know that if they are going to actually bring this case before a grand jury, if they're going to seek indictments of the former president and his allies, that they should feel like their case is as bulletproof as possible. But we've already seen a number of legal moves on behalf of Donald Trump in the state, including efforts by his attorneys there to have Fani Willis disqualified from the case, an effort to throw out essentially all of the evidence that the special grand jury collected, again, interviews of more than 75 witnesses, documents and that kind of thing. And there's a hearing on those issues coming up on August 10th, so right in the middle of her indictment window. So we'll see at that point if the Trump attorneys can throw an early wrench in her plans.

WHITFIELD: Sara Murray, thank you so much for that. And of course, we'll be watching tomorrow. Be sure to tune in, everybody. An all new episode of "The Whole Story with Anderson Coooper" that airs tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.

Still to come, police in Texas now apologizing after mistakenly pulling over a family headed to a basketball game. Newly released bodycam video shows officers had their guns drawn. How this could have happened, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:35]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Police say an incident review is underway after police in Frisco, Texas, drew guns on a couple heading to a basketball tournament with their sixth-grade son and nephew inside the car. A Frisco officer ran the car's plates as being from Arizona instead of Arkansas, leading police to believe it was stolen and prompting a high-risk stop. Police apologized this week, saying in a statement, we made a mistake. CNN's Camila Bernal joins me now from Los Angeles. Camila, what more are you learning?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred, so this is, of course, a horrible case for everyone involved. What the officer in this case is saying is that she saw a black dodge charger as they were coming out of the hotel. She ran that license plate. The problem here is that they were Arkansas license plates. So instead of putting "AR" for Arkansas, she types in "AZ" for Arizona. So once she gets that information back, it shows the car as possibly being stolen. And that's what then leads to this high-risk traffic stop.

And as you see in the video, there's at least one officer with the gun drawn. They are telling the people inside of the car to keep their hands out, to get out of the car. There are multiple police officers that then come to help the initial officer that put in the call. And then they begin to ask this mother, who is actually behind the wheel -- it was a mother, her husband, her sixth-grade son, and their nephew in the car. But it's the mother who was initially interrogated, asked about what she was doing, where they were going. She tells them, look, we're here for a basketball tournament. We're just trying to go with the children. She's very confused about what's going on, says that everything essentially is OK, that she has or believes she has a registration in order, everything in order. She doesn't believe she's done anything wrong.

And then the officers here tell her to be careful, especially because she does tell the officers that she has a license to carry and that there is a gun in the car. And so the officers begin to tell them, look, if you move, we will shoot, because there is that gun in the car. She later explains the anxiety that not only she is going through, but her son and her nephew. She says that her nephew is essentially saying we're going to die here in this car. So there's a lot of commotion, there's a lot of anxiety, there's a lot of fear.

And what happens here is that, all of a sudden, the officers realize that this was all a mistake. So they begin to apologize, to tell this family that they are humans, too, that this was a mistake. They're owning up to this mistake. The chief of police releasing a statement and saying that, yes, they will do everything they can to review everything. It's under review and change possibly their policies. But this family says that they really do need to bring this incident to light because of what they went through. Of course, they say they didn't suffer any physical harm, but emotionally they are very traumatized, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so Camila, what prompted the police officer to run the plates in the first place? What was the suspicion? BERNAL: Yes, that's the thing. She says that there's a lot of stolen

cars, especially when it comes to black dodge chargers, and that's why she ran that plate. I want you to listen to part of what happened here in this incident and what the mother is saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all pulled a gun on my son for no reason.

DEMETRIA HEARD, MOTHER: I can't make sense of it. And why my son was treated that way, why he was not treated as a child, which he is, it's not OK. And I thank God that we were not physically injured, but we have suffered a lot of mental and emotional trauma from this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And so this family, of course, says it could have ended badly, and they're thankful that it didn't, But nonetheless, are very traumatized, Fred.

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

BERNAL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Still to many come, the Biden administration announcing a new weapons package for Taiwan. The price tag, more than $300 million. What this all means for U.S.-China relations straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:49:13]

WHITFIELD: North Korea has been hosting visiting dignitaries from China and Russia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War. U.S. officials are monitoring these events in Pyongyang closely, not just for the weapons on display, but it's also being seen as a not so subtle message to the United States and its allies. CNN's Brian Todd has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Pyongyang's Kim Il-sung Square, a signature flamboyant display of military might. Onn his arrival, Kim Jong-un embraces and salutes eager bouncing children. The supreme leader takes his spot on the podium alongside his honored guest, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Shoigu came to celebrate with Kim what the North Koreans call Victory Day, the 70th anniversary of the armistice ending the Korean War.

[14:50:05]

The defense minister presented Kim with an autographed letter from Vladimir Putin, the exact contents not publicly known. In the parade, North Korea's massive Hwasong-17 and Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missiles, which the Kim regime says can strike the United States, a sight prompting uniformed children to jump for joy and a thumb's up from the dictator.

PATRICK CRONIN, HUDSON INSTITUTE: This is the new no-limits friendship. It's not just Russia and China but between Russia and North Korea.

TODD: Late last year, U.S. officials said Russia was trying to purchase rockets from Kim's regime and then accused North Korea of supplying other weapons, as NSC spokesperson John Kirby explained to Wolf Blitzer.

JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: We do believe North Korea is covertly supplying Russia with a significant number of artillery shells. We think they're going to covertly funnel these through third-party nations to try to hide the fact that it's actually going to Russia for use in Ukraine.

TODD: It's not clear whether any North Korean armaments have actually been used in the Ukraine war, but analysts say Shoigu could be trying to cut a deal with Kim for more weapons.

CRONIN: He's trying to get maybe new systems, maybe drones, maybe who knows what other shells, maybe even tactical nuclear weapons, although I think Russia has got enough tactical nuclear weapons. But whatever he's trying to get, he is now working that supply chain for the Russian Ministry of Defense.

TODD: The events in Pyongyang had the throwback look of old Cold War battle lines, with the Chinese delegation also showing up to celebrate Victory Day and presenting Kim with their own personal letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping. Analysts say all of this collectively sends a clear signal from Putin and Xi to the west.

CRONIN: The message to New York and the message to the United Nations and the United States and your allies, we're not helping you with sanctions against our friend, North Korea.

TODD: It comes as tensions on the Korean peninsula are again at a boil. In recent days Kim's regime test-fired two ballistic missiles, and the U.S. sent a nuclear armed ballistic submarine and a nuclear- powered attack submarine to dock at South Korean ports.

This also comes as the mystery continues surrounding U.S. soldier Travis King, who bolted across the North Korean border recently. King likely remains in North Korean custody. The U.S. and its allies have reached out to North Korea to discuss King's case but have so far gotten only radio silence in return.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: And coming up, if the ground is shaking, don't always worry. It could be just Taylor Swift and thousands of her superfans. Details on how her Seattle concert is making seismic history.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:57:22]

WHITFIELD: Let's take a look at some other headlines today. Police say five people have been shot in a south Seattle parking lot after they say at least two suspects opened fire at a community outreach event around 9:00 last night. Police say dozens of rounds were fired.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ADRIAN DIAZ, SEATTLE POLICE: This is really disturbing when you have victims that are literally just trying to do an outreach effort, trying to help people out and get people on the right path, and this is what they end up getting hit with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Four victims were taken to the hospital, two of them in critical condition. No word on the suspects.

In Ohio, a moment that must be seen to be believed. This happened in the city of Huron, which is between Toledo and Cleveland. The suspected would-be robber is caught on camera dropping down from the ceiling of a bank drive-thru and literally managing to fall right into a recycling bin. Police were called to the scene long before he made his attempted getaway, so they were ready to nab him. The man had a backpack of tools and is now charged with breaking and entering and safe cracking.

And today superstar swimmer Katie Ledecky surpassed Michael Phelps's swimming record. She now holds the most individual world titles by winning her 16th gold medal in Japan. The 26-year-old became the first-ever swimmer to win six consecutive world championships in the same event. Tuesday she dominated the 1,500 meter freestyle for her fifth world title in that event. She says she's pleased with how the week went. Our congrats to her.

And what happens when 70,000 Swifties all dance to Taylor Swift's live performance of "Shake It Off"? A so-called "Swift-quake."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So when fans danced in unison to the popular song at last weekend's concert in downtown Seattle, the ground shook so hard that a nearby seismometer, when monitors earthquake activity, registered it at the equivalent of a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. Seismologists say a combination of the music from the concert sound system and all 70,000 swift fans danced in sync, produced the ground vibrations.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "SMERCONISH" starts right now.