Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Severe Weather Threatens Millions This Memorial Day Weekend; Trump To Speak Tonight At Libertarian National Convention; Biden Delivers Commencement Speech To West Point Class Of 2024; Uvalde Marks 2 Years Since 21 Killed At Robb Elementary; Americans Arrested In Turks And Caicos On Ammo Charges; Tucker Carlson's Show Airs Regularly On Russian State TV; Trump Removes Video Referencing Unified Reich From Truth Social. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired May 25, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:01:21]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in Washington, and we start with breaking news.

Severe weather threatens more than 70 million people this Memorial Day weekend. Intense tornadoes, baseball-sized hail, and hurricane-force winds, all threatening parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

Take a look at this storm chaser video in Oklahoma City. You see blue sky overhead, but they are also driving straight into that gray sky as well. It's very ominous looking.

CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa joining us now.

And Elisa, it looks like those tornadoes are starting to spin up and it typically happens a lot of times when the sun starts to go down.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the sun is what we need to fuel the atmosphere, to create these intense and strong thunderstorms. And it's been doing that all day. The atmosphere has been cooking all day. That's why the storms are blowing up now. And the danger is the sun is going to set soon here shortly, and that poses an even greater risk. You can't see these tornadoes in the dead of night.

You've got to tornado watches in effect throughout a lot of Kansas, Oklahoma, and then going into Texas. The watch that we are watching very closely is this one. That includes Wichita, Oklahoma City, and then goes into Wichita Falls there at the top of Texas. That is being labeled a particularly dangerous situation. Not just because we're expecting tornadoes, but the tornadoes that we are expecting can be strong, they can be violent, they can be long lived.

So we tag it with that elevated heightened risk. And this goes until 11:00 this evening. Could see there have been multiple tornado warnings just to the south and east there. Wichita Falls, where storm chasers have spotted a tornado there and the warnings do continue. We do have another couple of warnings getting closer to Oklahoma City, as well as the supercells ignite and they start to rotate. The risk here again goes from Wichita Falls up to Wichita, Kansas, and

then into Springfield, Missouri, because we've got these discreet, strong and violent tornadoes possible now. But then this will evolve into a threat for damaging wind gusts up to 84 miles per hour and hail up to the size of grapefruits are possible as well.

Here's that highest tornado risk again, EF2 or greater possible. Then we'll have the wind threat stretch into Missouri as we go into the overnight hours. This is the risk for the strong violent tornadoes. You see all those discreet dots, those are the super cells that can really spin and be quite violent. Then you see how they organized into a line? That's the damaging wind threat that pushes through southwest Missouri overnight and then continues into the Ohio Valley as we go through tomorrow.

So the threat continues through Sunday, millions of people need to watch out for their Memorial Day weekend holiday -- Jessica.

DEAN: I know, hoping everyone stays safe out there.

Elisa Raffa, thanks so much for that.

Next hour former president Donald Trump is scheduled to take the stage at the Libertarian National Convention and it's an unusual stop for the presumptive Republican nominee but a clear sign the campaign is worried about third-party candidates like RFK Jr. and also looking to hopefully sway some of these voters. In recent weeks, Trump has stepped up his attacks against the anti-vax candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: RFK, Junior, I call him Junior. By the way, he's radical left. Don't think about it, don't waste your vote. We need a conservative person with common sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Steve Contorno is joining us now. He is where the former president is set to speak.

And Steve, "Politico" is reporting essentially a brawl broke out at the convention last night in protest to Trump's speech tonight. Is the former president prepared to be in front of what could be a somewhat unfriendly crowd?

[19:05:07]

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, he better be because there's already been fireworks in this audience already tonight between Trump supporters and some of these convention attendees who don't understand why their party invited Donald Trump to speak here in the first place.

They've been trading jeers and chants back and forth with each other. Some of the candidates for the presidential nomination for the Libertarian Party have been addressing Trump, criticizing him. One of them said he's a, quote, "great source of humor for libertarians," and said, we have a lot to teach Donald Trump. We don't know if he has the capacity to learn.

Now Donald Trump is here, though, hoping to change some hearts and minds, knowing that this is going to be a tight election, and there's not a lot of room for air. Listen to why he said he is here this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But we have to join with them because they get their 3 percent every year no matter who's running. And we have to get that 3 percent because we can't take a chance on Joe Biden winning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: I just spoke with a Trump adviser here tonight. He's sort of explained what Trumps pitch will be to these libertarian voters. It'll be focused on getting government out of our lives, ending foreign wars, and teaming up together to beat Joe Biden. That's his pitch. We'll see if they'll listen -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Steve Contorno for us, thanks so much for that reporting.

Meantime, President Joe Biden spending the morning at America's esteemed West Point Military Academy. He delivered the commencement address at West Point for this year's graduating class of cadets, calling them, quote, "leaders of character."

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is here with us now, and Priscilla, the president offered concrete examples of why these West Point cadets are so valued here at home and in the world.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And those examples were directly tied to the ongoing conflicts that we are seeing around the world, for example, the war in Ukraine and ongoing conflict that the president reflected on, including the strength of the NATO alliance. And he also talked about the situation in the Middle East, not only the ongoing U.S. efforts to get aid into Gaza and the important role that the military plays, but also reflecting on the moment in the situation where he was surrounded by military leaders when there was that Iranian missile attack against Israel.

So clearly underscoring how important these cadets are and will be in the future, and saying so himself. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our women and men in uniform are hard at work, strengthening our alliances, because no country has allies like ours, investing in deterrents, so anyone who thinks they can threaten us thinks again. Defending our values by standing up to tyrants, and safeguarding the peace of protecting freedom and openness. Thanks to the U.S. Armed Forces, we're doing only America can do. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now that mention of freedom, the importance of alliances really kind of a key theme, too, of the president's campaign. He did not mention former president Donald Trump by name, and he didn't make a direct election year appeal during this commencement address. But it is those types of values that the president has previously said are at risk if his Republican rival does take a second term.

So all of these themes tying together in this commencement address, but the important part of all of this, the president really underscored, is congratulating the cadets and also calling them the next generation of leaders in both civilian and military life.

DEAN: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, always good to see you. Thanks so much for that.

And joining us now, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein.

Ron, great to have you as always. The Biden campaign is casting the former president as, quote, "anti freedom." This is ahead of his speech tonight at the Libertarian National Convention, which Steve Contorno just described to us. There's already been some kerfuffle leading up to his speech. How do you think this is going to play out tonight?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, for libertarian -- you know, for true pure libertarian voters, neither party is a great fit. Obviously, Democrats believe in too much government, activism and regulation on the environment, for example, for their taste. And Republicans are too big on policing personal behavior and social values on issues like abortion or LGBTQ rights.

You know, in 2016 the libertarian vote did matter. I mean, Gary Johnson got four and a half million votes and it probably hurt Hillary Clinton in providing kind of an escape valve for young voters in particular, who didn't like her and didn't like Trump. In 2020, the libertarian vote was only about a third of that, maybe a little more than a third of that, than they got in 2016 and I think most studies agree that that decline probably went more to Biden than to Trump.

I think it's going to be difficult -- I mean, as I said, for a pure libertarian voter neither one of these candidates is really a good fit. But this time, I suspect there may be some room for Trump in those ranks given how active is Biden has been on a variety of front and expanding government's role.

[19:10:05]

DEAN: It is interesting if you kind of take the last week and what we saw. We saw Trump in the Bronx making his pitch to voters of color. We saw the Biden campaign reaching out to Nikki Haley's voters after she said that she's going to support Donald Trump.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. DEAN: We're seeing the campaigns go on offense, try to reach beyond

their bases of support. How do you think they're both doing when it comes to that?

BROWNSTEIN: That's a really good observation. I mean, really what we're looking at in polling this year is a pretty striking both racial and generational inversion, where Biden is holding his support relative to 2020 better among white voters than he is among non-white voters. Most of Trump's improvement in the polls from 2022 now is among non-white voters, the kind of voters he was courting in the Bronx, whereas Biden, I think in many ways, if he can't entirely get back to where he was in 2020, among those non-white voters, he's going to need to improve somewhere to offset that.

And the most logical place for him to go are with those college- educated suburban Nikki Haley type voters even if they weren't literally Nikki Haley voters in the primary. So, you know, the focus of each campaign in this week gives you kind of an unusual split- screen of what may be the two most movable pieces of the electorate, white-collar, college educated, socially liberal voters toward the Democrats and blue-collar, non-white voters discontented about the economy toward the Republicans.

We'll see how either of them can hold up all the way to November, but that clearly are the pieces -- those clearly seem to be the pieces that are most in play at this point in the election year.

DEAN: And you know what I thought was really interesting, and I'm curious what your take is on this, we had some reporting from that Nikki Haley -- the call with the Haley supporters from the Biden campaign and this is anecdotal because it was one person saying their opinion, but that voter was saying we told them we know democracy is on the ballot. You keep telling us that. We know. We want to talk about other policies. We want to talk about other issues.

And it seems like the Biden campaign, that is a huge issue for them. It does poll, you know, very highly when people are asked about it.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

DEAN: But what do you make of that?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look. You know, we're talking literally about Nikki Haley voters. On economic issues they're closer to Trump than they are to Biden. And if Biden is going to win, those generally previously Republican voting, center-right independent, college-educated suburbanites, the kind of people who helped him win Georgia, for example, in 2020 or made him the first Democrat since Harry Truman in 1948 to win Maricopa County, which is centered on Phoenix.

If he is going to win them, it is going to be primarily on rights and values and democracy. I mean, I think those voters tend to see Trump as better on the economy. I don't think Biden can reverse that. They may be sympathetic to some of his environmental goals, but they like the libertarians not big regulation people. Ultimately, his pathway to those kind of voters is primarily on these non-economic issues. And it's probably more with women than with men in those groups.

I know that the Biden campaign feels very confident that they can run even been better than they did in 2020 among college educated women. After all, Dobbs didn't happen until after the 2020 election, but they are worried that economic concerns might depress their numbers among college educated men.

DEAN: That is a kind of an interesting schism there. And we're also looking ahead to the debate that's coming up in roughly a month or so, and we had some new reporting from our colleagues here about how the two candidates are preparing, or in some cases not really preparing. We know that Biden is planning for these extensive sessions. He's sequestered at Camp David, kind of the more formal preparation that we're used to. Trump advisers say formal --

BROWNSTEIN: If Trump will show up, right?

DEAN: Is he going to show up? Is he going to practice at all?

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

DEAN: I mean, you know, it is interesting and a commentary on both of these men and kind of their approach to all this.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. You can watch the Biden speeches and the Trump -- you know, the Trump rallies are just kind of this, you know, long freeform kind of loosely attached grievances.

DEAN: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: You know, I think in the Biden campaign, you see I think a clear imperative emerging for them. Consistently in polling now, the retrospective view on Trump's presidency, his approval rating in retrospect, is higher than it ever was at any point in his presidency. And as I've said to you before, I think that's because voters are judging his performance now more by comparison the issues on which they are most discontented with Biden.

So the thought that things -- life was more affordable under Trump now overshadows other elements of Trump's presidency that voters didn't like at the time. And you can see the Biden campaign is very clearly working to try to remind voters of everything else they didn't like about Trump as president.

[19:15:04]

The chaos, obviously January 6th, appointing the Supreme Court justices, on abortion, you know, the very fine people in Charlottesville, separating kids from their parents at the border. The Robert De Niro ad that ran that the Biden campaign unveiled this week very much aimed at that. And I would suspect that if there's an overall strategic goal for Biden heading -- for the weeks heading into the debate, it is to try to remind people of why Trump lost in the first place in 2020 because right now they are judging Trump primarily it appears by the issues on which they are most discontented with Biden, and that's inflation, and to some extent, immigration and crime.

DEAN: Very, very interesting.

Ron Brownstein, great to see you. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: Still ahead, it has now been two years since the Uvalde Texas school shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers. How the families of the victims are still trying to hold people accountable for that massacre.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:46]

DEAN: This week, residents of Uvalde, Texas, marked two years since the Robb Elementary school shooting that killed 19 elementary school students and two teachers.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is speaking with survivors who were inside the classroom about what their lives are like now and how the community is still rebuilding hope two years later.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The community has been gathering here in the town square with family members and victims, raising orange flags to end gun violence and to remember the 21 who died two years ago. And we've been speaking to the families and the victims who are still seeking justice and accountability for the failures that day.

ARNULFO REYES, SHOOTING SURVIVOR: This is a piece of my back, the muscles that are right here, you know which ones they are.

PROKUPECZ: I've never seen it because you used to cover it.

REYES: Yes.

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

REYES: And sometimes I still cover it, right. But I got to get used to it and people got to see it.

PROKUPECZ: Got it.

REYES: Face it, and say, hey, you know, he got shot in the arm and hopefully they see it that they'll change their minds about guns, right?

You just put in there together like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. PROKUPECZ: Arnulfo Reyes is the teacher who survived two years ago. He

was shot in his arm and his back, and then was just simply tortured for 77 minutes by the gunman. Police were outside as he was inside fighting for his life. Somehow, a miracle, he survived.

REYES: After speaking with parents and stuff, they're like, they saved you.

PROKUPECZ: The kids?

REYES: Yes. They saved you. They became angels instantly. And they saved you.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): AJ was in the classroom next to Reyes's. The gunman shot him in the leg.

Walking for you, has it been better a little? Walking or is it still -- I know you have the injury.

AJ MARTINEZ, INJURED IN ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING: Yes, it's been better.

PROKUPECZ: It's been better.

MARTINEZ: Well, I don't feel it.

PROKUPECZ: Tell me what life has been like for the past two years since this happened.

MARTINEZ: It's been sad, I've been mad, and it's been happy.

PROKUPECZ: And as the two years have passed and you've reflected on different things, what do you want people to know?

MARTINEZ: Please don't elect any town school or people who are not going to step up to the plate.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): 11-year-old AJ is still trying to make sense of the failures that day. Nearly 400 law enforcement officers responded, and yet they failed to immediately take action and enter the classrooms with the victims.

Do you miss being in the classroom?

REYES: I do. I do miss it. You know, that was my identity, my life, you know.

PROKUPECZ: Do you ever want to go back?

REYES: Oh, no. I don't. No.

PROKUPECZ: How come?

REYES: I don't want to have that responsibility again.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Many of the victims have had trouble returning to school. A newly elected school board member with ties to the families is bringing new hope to this town.

JACLYN GONZALES, UVALDE SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER: We need to rebuild trust and transparency and get them in school. I had a family member reach out to me and she said, if you get on that board, I'm taking my daughter back to that school. It's a lot. I mean, I feel like it's a big weight on my shoulders, but I take it very serious.

PROKUPECZ: Reyes now spends all of his time at a store he runs with his mom.

One of the gifts that you bring is sort of telling us, you know, what happened that day. And if it wasn't for people like you, I don't know that we would ever get --

REYES: Yes. Some part of the story that was -- that happened inside, yes. They probably would have told -- not told anybody anything. But we survived and I think that's the reason that I keep going. I keep going and I keep on talking because it's for them. It's for the kids and for all 21 of, you know, that day.

[19:25:02]

MARTINEZ: I just want the world to be more -- no more like school shootings and that thing.

PROKUPECZ: Every time I see you, you're always smiling. And I think, you know, in these situations, people always want to find hope. They always want to see that there's something positive. What do you think that is for you?

MARTINEZ: Just be happy. Be happy in every single life you have in this life.

PROKUPECZ: As the families continue to seek accountability and answers, new lawsuits have been filed against the police officers who responded to the horrific incident two years ago, but also families are now suing Meta, the parent company of Instagram, and the gun manufacturer, Daniel Defense, and also Activision, the publisher of "Call of Duty," alleging that the gunman was playing, was participating in the game "Call of Duty" in the days and weeks leading up to the shooting.

Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:30:42]

DEAN: In the US, it is okay to carry ammunition in checked baggage, but other countries have much stricter rules. Several Americans have learned this the hard way after traveling to the tropical paradise, Turks and Caicos with ammunition in their suitcases.

CNN's Rafael Romo begins with Pennsylvanian, Bryan Hagerich, just returning home after a much longer stay in Turks and Caicos than he anticipated -- Rafael.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, the ordeal seems to be over, but there are several other Americans facing the same charge whose fates are still undecided.

Bryan Hagerich is now describing his involuntary stay of more than three months in Turks and Caicos as the hardest time of his life. The American from Pennsylvania returned Friday night after spending more than one hundred days in the British overseas territory where he was charged with possession of ammunition.

This is a moment he reunited with his children.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

ROMO: Hagerich was facing a 12-year sentence after pleading guilty to a charge of possession of ammunition. He was able to return home after getting a suspended 52-week sentence and a $6,700.00 fine, according to his representatives.

He expressed great relief and gratitude after landing last night in Pittsburgh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYAN HAGERICH, BACK IN US AFTER BEING DETAINED IN TURKS AND CAICOS: It's just amazing how just in a matter of 12 hours, my life has just -- it has been a complete 180, looking at 12 years to now, my biggest concern is coaching my kid's baseball games tomorrow and that is such a relief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Jessica, Hagerich is not the only American arrested under similar circumstances. Four others have been released on bail while they await their court dates in Turks and Caicos, but one of them was allowed to return to the US for medical reasons.

Among those still the territory is Ryan Watson. He and his wife, Valerie were stopped by airport security just before their return flight home. Valerie's charges were dropped and she was able to return to the US last month after being detained for 11 days, but her husband is still in Turks and Caicos.

Earlier today, Valerie Watson told CNN that her family is hoping the same legal strategy used by Hagerich may help her husband regain her his freedom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIE WATSON, HUSBAND, RYAN BEING HELD IN TURKS AND CAICOS: I am just hopeful that it can be resolved in a different way and that 12 years is not what they're going to sentence. It is going to be really hard, the kids growing up without their dad. That's not ever something we've ever even imagined, not something I want for them.

Again, God has a plan for us and we are just prayerful that he continues to guide us through it all and sustain us through it all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Turks and Caicos officials say US citizens are not being targeted. The territory's premier told CNN that out of the 195 people sentenced for firearm-related offenses over the past six years, only seven were US citizens and no American has received the full 12-year sentence to date.

Jessica, back to you.

DEAN: Rafael Romo, thanks so much.

And still ahead, a Kremlin obsession with Tucker Carlson, why the disgraced Fox News star is getting a lot of airtime on Russia's state television.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:44]

DEAN: Russian President Vladimir Putin is hell-bent on rooting out western influences in Russia, but one well-known US tv personality is getting a lot of airtime on Russia state television, that would be conservative pundit, Tucker Carlson.

As Matthew Chance reports, that may have something to do with his political views.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCKER CARLSON, CONSERVATIVE PUNDIT: Russia --

Russia --

Russia --

Russia --

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On Russian state TV, Tucker Carlson's face is hard to escape. That loud American journalist, they call him, whose conservative Republican views clearly strike a chord with the Kremlin.

CARLSON: Russia --

Twenty four --

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

CHANCE (voice over): For months now, Carlson's online show has been airing on local Russian media, a sure sign that Kremlin, which has silenced critical voices, sees propaganda value in what it has to say.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)

CHANCE (voice over): Most recently, a segment on the dangers of US biological weapons development with an American science and technology writer was aired in full.

Carlson tells CNN he was unaware the clips were being shown.

But for months now, the Kremlin has been casting Tucker Carlson, who lost his job on Fox News last year, as a truth-speaking American media star.

[19:40:07]

Even granted him a rare, very long interview with Vladimir Putin, screened at cinemas across the country to dutiful Russians.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

WATSON (voice over): "I watched this movie out of big respect to our president," said this theater goer.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)

WATSON (voice over): "I've seen it twice," says another. "It's great to hear the opinion of our great leader," she adds.

Tucker Carlson isn't the only outspoken American celebrated by Moscow. He's also praised on Kremlin TV.

As is Republican Senator Mike Lee, both staunchly opposed to US military aid to Ukraine, a position of course shared by the Kremlin.

If the war in Ukraine drags on, there are concerns.

Kremlin propaganda, anti-Ukraine, pro-Russia, is increasingly finding its way into the US political debate.

Even being uttered, one Republican congressman told CNN recently, on the House floor.

And Moscow's interest lies in bolstering those who it feels share, at least in part, its skeptical, sometimes distorted worldview.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Matthew, thank you, and here now to discuss this, is professor of history at New York University and the author of "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present," Ruth Ben-Ghiat.

Ruth, thanks so much for being here with us on this Saturday evening. First, I just want your take on the Russian obsession with Tucker Carlson and also what he has been doing as well to kind of feed that.

RUTH BEN-GHIAT, HISTORY AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY AND AUTHOR, "STRONGMEN": So, Tucker Carlson has been the poster boy and the mouthpiece of Viktor Orban, any autocrat he can cultivate, and of course now that he is not with Fox anymore, he is looking for a new niche, and so he has been, as you know, traveling around, interviewing Orban and interviewing Putin who actually humiliated him on television.

So he could be seen as what Russians call the useful fool. The foreigner, or native person who props the autocrat up and then is used by him because autocrats follow a use and discard policy with people even those who help them.

DEAN: And we saw in Matthew's piece there Russian state TV holding up some members of the Republican Party on Capitol Hill and it comes after we heard from Republicans who chair the Intelligence Committee and others who said that it is as if Russian propaganda has infected parts of their party. Do you think that's true?

BEN-GHIAT: I do. Because the sad truth is that the Republican Party has been -- has become an autocratic party. Unfortunately, it has exited from democracy, and this is why were in this very weird and surreal situation. We are a bipartisan nation and one party is not supportive of democratic ideals and norms anymore, that's why they still support the January 6 violent insurrection.

They have been influenced greatly by the kremlin, and there are people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who a lot of what she says, people like to mock her or even call her stupid, but a lot of what she says lines up with Kremlin talking points, especially on foreign policy things.

DEAN: Now this week, we saw the former president Donald Trump post on his Truth Social that Russia will release jailed "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich as soon as he is reelected, saying Putin will "do that for me, but not for anyone else." And when he was asked how that was possible in an interview with Fox News, he said it is because "Putin respects me."

Do you think that's true? Do you think any of this is true?

BEN-GHIAT: So Trump is no friend to journalists. He has been calling journalists enemies of the people for a long time and he also treats people like pawns, just like Putin et cetera.

This is about Trump's line. You're going to hear this more as the election approaches that the world is safer with Trump in office, and it is not because he is a friend of democracy, it is because he is a friend and ally of autocrats.

And so, here, he is boasting about his relationship with Putin. Now, I see this with a grain of salt because we know that important Kremlin television propaganda shows routinely mock Trump as a weak sycophant and they don't respect him.

[19:45:07]

He is mocked in the open. So it remains to be seen, if anything would actually happen to this journalist or any other person, American who is unfortunate to be captured.

DEAN: I am also curious about your thoughts as we head into the back half of this election year and people start to click in, especially after the summer is over to the presidential election and other elections that will be happening for different offices, just the shades of all of this that you write about in your book and how that might start to come out in campaigning, in social media, in other Russia or Chinese influence or meddling in the election, things like that.

BEN-GHIAT: Yes, we are in a fight for our democracy that we, on a level, we've never had to be in before and we have multiple enemies. And unfortunately, the more we don't stand up for democracy, including helping democracies under siege such as Ukraine, the more the whole world becomes very dangerous because autocrats watch what other autocrats do.

And so as Xi Jinping is now doing military exercises in Taiwan and he sees what is happening in Ukraine, he also knows that half the political life of the country is not into democracy anymore, as we discussed before, and is actually there is a wing of the Republican Party that is pro-Putin as is Trump.

This is valuable information. So, we are a kind of a crisis point and inflection point and this is the most important election of our lives.

DEAN: And also this week, Trump shared this post talking about creating a "unified Reich."

The Trump campaign eventually took it down after about 18 hours after it was up. Then they blamed it on a staffer. Biden immediately seized on that and accused Trump of using Hitler's language.

But again, as someone like you who studies this sort of language, studies how it is used and has been used through history, what do you think about seeing that pop up?

BEN-GHIAT: I think that the phrase "unified Reich," it is of uncertain origin, but Trump's supporters on the far right, the people he wants to keep interested in him they look at the word Reich and they know what he is talking about, and that video which I've analyzed in an op- ed for CNN, really kind of gives the message that Trump will become a world historical figure.

It is set -- it is made as though it is a 1930s documentary, like newspapers. He will become famous history because he was able to enact mass repression. It talks about as though 15 million people had been deported from the United States. It shows somebody wearing a hoodie being arrested.

Though it is a kind of a dystopian vision of a police state, and that's what the Trump campaign thinks will make Trump as famous as the dictators he admires. DEAN: All right, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And breaking news, a tornado was spotted in Northern Texas as millions of people find themselves under a rarely used type of tornado watch known as a particularly dangerous situation.

We also know large pieces of hail are coming down in Oklahoma, you see out there. Who needs to be on alert and for how long? We will talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:53:30]

DEAN: We are getting new video of a tornado spotted on the ground in Northern Texas. We are told this is by Wichita Falls, more than 70 million people this Memorial Day weekend are under severe weather watches and CNN meteorologist, Elisa Raffa is joining us now.

And, Elisa, that's very scary stuff and a lot of people could potentially be a risk here.

RAFFA: Yes, I mean, a lot of the videos that we are getting already of some of the tornadoes and hail are just remarkable.

What I look -- you know when I was in school, the textbooks had pictures that look like that. What you're looking at is the super cell itself, that leading edge of the storm. It is rotating and when it rotates, that's where it could drop the tornado.

This is a classic look at a supercell thunderstorm with a tornado. And you can see the flashes of lightning in there as well. It doesn't get more textbook than this.

We also have some images of hail and you can hear it pelting cars and windows and roofs and sidings. I've seen some pictures of hail and some of the reports have come in up to baseball size. They are warning for up to grapefruit size.

Actually there are some pictures of it where you can see just how large it is, up to the size of baseballs, I would say; just incredible the amount of hail out of these storms as well -- Jessica.

DEAN: And walk us through exactly who is at risk. I see on the map behind you, it stretches, so wide.

RAFFA: Yes, there are a lot of people stretching from Nebraska, all the way down into Central Texas.

[19:55:10]

These are all of the severe watches that we have. The yellow is a severe thunderstorm. All the red are the tornado watches where storms are firing up.

This one in particular from Wichita down towards Oklahoma City, that's a particularly dangerous situation where violent, strong, long-lived tornadoes are possible.

Here where the warnings have been a spawning up. Again, you can see where that storm had tracked right to the south there of Wichita Falls, and then this area and particular, right in-between Wichita and Oklahoma City, we are very concerned watching for those violent tornadoes that will be possible as we go through the next couple of hours.

So again, here is the risk. It is a large area. Make sure those emergency alerts are turned on loud -- Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, very good advice. Good advice to heed.

Elisa Raffa, thank you so much.

And thank you for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. I am going to see you again tomorrow night, starting at 5:00 Eastern. "Vegas: The Story of Sin City From Sand to Strip" is up next.

Have a great night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:00:00]