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CNN International: Joe Biden And Volodymyr Zelenskyy Meet In Paris; Russian President Putin Speaks At St. Petersburg Forum; Deadly Israeli Strike On UNRWA School Draws Condemnation. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired June 07, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The amount of killings that could have taken place that we are going to continue to investigate. So, we know the precedents for this new indictment was another six hours search of his home, a nine-hour cadaver search in Manorville, New York, that's now linking these two new victims to Rex Heuermann. But, we're talking about another 10 years that now investigators are going to go back, look at these missing persons' cases, and say, well, is there a link here as well that can be traced back to Rex Heuermann? So, certainly, there could be more to come from this case.

KATE BOLDUAN, HOST, "CONNECT THE WORLD": Wow, wow, and wow. Thanks, Misty, for walking through it with me. Really appreciate it. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts now.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and this is the CNN Newsroom.

Just ahead, in the last hour, President Biden reassured President Zelenskyy that the United States is always standing with Ukraine. The two leaders are meeting in Paris after the D-Day anniversary events. And there are calls for an independent investigation in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike hit a UN-run school where displaced Palestinians were sheltering. Plus, drugs, a gun and a romantic relationship with his brother's widow, all coming to light in the Hunter Biden trial. We'll have details about who is in the court today.

It's a day of diplomacy and reflection in France with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy taking center stage. It's all part of the D-Day commemoration events that began Thursday. Earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden met with President Zelenskyy in Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You haven't bowed down. You haven't yielded at all. You continue to fight in a way that is -- it's just this remarkable, just remarkable. And we're not going to walk away from you.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Well, we're thankful from all Ukrainians to your military support, financial support, humanitarian line (ph), and of course, it's very important. And our meeting here is very symbolic. It's very important that you stay with us. This bipartisan support with the Congress, it's very important that in this unity, the United States, America -- all American people stay with Ukraine, like it was during World War Two, how United States helped to save human lives, to save Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And before that, President Zelenskyy addressed the French parliament where he made the case for continued support as his country defends itself against Russian aggression. Next stop for Mr. Biden is Pointe du Hoc in Normandy. He'll deliver a speech on democracy and freedom at the spot where U.S. Army Rangers carried out a very dangerous mission on D-Day 80 years ago, scaling the 100-foot cliffs to cease Germany -- German artillery.

We're covering this busy day with Nic Robertson in London. Nic, good to see you. Let's talk briefly about that meeting between President Biden and President Zelenskyy. That seemed to be some -- a moment of reassurance to Ukraine and its people and a renewed or new commitment of military aid as well.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. A firm reassurance by President Biden and sort of a statement of what's on everyone's mind from President Zelenskyy talking about this bipartisan support. And I think that underscores his concerns about what happens if there is a -- if in the elections Donald Trump wins the presidency because of his threats to cut aid to Ukraine, to cut ties with NATO, all of that a concern for the Ukrainian President.

He said he wanted to speak off camera when they got into the meeting properly with President Biden about air defenses. This is something we know that Ukraine is very keen on, undoubtedly want to talk about a sort of a further reach and further use of U.S. military equipment, that at the moment they've been given the green light to strike back at Russian targets that have really targeted them, counter fire is how Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin put it. Undoubtedly, President Zelenskyy is going to want more than that. He also said on that issue, he would be talking to President Biden about some battlefield details that have not been revealed publicly, potentially, about how offensive those strikes have already been back into Russian territory, particularly around Kharkiv.

So, I think that -- those would be -- those would have been the important points for President Zelenskyy in that meeting, but knowing that support is enduring and bipartisan, that's going to be just a growing worry for the Ukrainians.

WHITFIELD: Russia was not invited to the event. Has there been a response from that country?

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ROBERTSON: Yes and no. Always with Russia, it's never quite as obvious as it seems, asymmetric warfare, I suppose you could say. Look, President Macron today said that the French national that had been arrested in Russia that Russia accuses of going out and essentially spying on military information, Macron said, look, this person is not working for the French government, and is -- and we'll give them full support. So, I think that kind of gives you a little bit of a sense that if Russia was taking some action -- a back-up France for not being invited. You could maybe interpret it as that. We know that President Putin's spokesperson has said that France has too readily willing to, and President Macron is very ready and willing to engage French troops directly on the ground in Ukraine and get them involved in the battle.

And I think this is perhaps a back reference to comments that President Macron has made in the past where he has been very keen to commit French military trainers potentially to go inside Ukraine to train Ukrainian forces and therefore have a have a firmer military presence than any other NATO nation at the moment in -- a declared presence, at least, inside of Ukraine.

WHITFIELD: OK. Nic, thank you so much. Stick around. Melissa Bell is also with us this time from Paris after extraordinary coverage yesterday in Normandy there -- on the coast there, Melissa. So, this meeting with Zelenskyy and Biden there in Paris, what else is on schedule for the day they're in Paris?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All we expect beyond what we've heard this morning, which was President Zelenskyy addressing French lawmakers, Fredricka, in what was a very emotional speech, really drawing parallels between Hitler and Putin and urging the French to stand by his side. He got a standing ovation from French lawmakers. But, later on, it'll be with President Macron that he meets bilaterally after his bilateral meeting with President Biden. We expect and we understand that more aid to Ukraine is to be signed, namely in the shape of Mirage jet fighters, which will be the first time that France gives some to Ukraine. But, that will be an important addition to their arsenal and their air defenses, specifically part of what President Zelenskyy has been calling for.

He'll then host the Ukrainian President up for a dinner at the Elysee Palace, and by tomorrow, all eyes will be very much on what happens here in Paris when President Biden returns to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Arc de triomphe. So, really closing what has been a remarkable series of images, commemorative events, strong reminders of shared pasts and common causes today. Of course, President Zelenskyy really ceiling that and that's what we'll continue to see tonight. We'll hear after President Zelenskyy meets with President Macron from them directly, since we expect a press conference for more about precisely what they've agreed.

But again, a strong show of support that's likely to come from the French off the one that we heard for the United States, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And also sharing those common concerns especially about the rise of authoritarianism. All right. Melissa Bell, Nic Robertson, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

All right. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been notably absent from this year's D-Day events in France despite his country's role in defeating Nazi Germany. Mr. Putin was not invited to the D-Day commemoration because of Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine. Mr. Putin is speaking this hour at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, where he is expected to address the extremely tense political landscape.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is following the developments from Berlin. Fred, good to see you. So, what's expected today?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fredricka. Well, first of all, Vladimir Putin just started speaking a couple of minutes ago. He is about an hour late to his speech and then panel at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. And I think there are s several things that the Russians are going to want to talk about, because on the one hand, you have the situation, of course, on the battlefield in Ukraine, where the Russians sort of feel that over the course of, I would say, since about this latter half of last year and into this year, they feel that they've been doing better than they were before.

But, the first thing that Vladimir Putin is going to kick off with is obviously going to be the economy. And I think that's something that's been a huge surprise actually for many people who are observing this, not just in the West, but around the world, is that the Russian economy, despite the fact that it's under gargantuan sanctions from the United States, from allied countries, in general from Western countries, is actually not doing too bad. There has been economic growth. They're projected to have more economic growth, and that's certainly going to be one of the things that the Russian President is going to speak about, about the fact that the Russian economy remains fairly robust in the face of all of these sanctions.

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It's actually quite interesting because the press spokesman for Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, he told me, at the outset of Russia's invasion or the full-on invasion of Ukraine, that it would be impossible to completely isolate a country like Russia, and it certainly appears as though a lot of that is bearing fruit. Now, of course, we do know that the Russians are -- have substantial economic ties with China. President Biden has accused China of essentially aiding the Russian war machine, providing the Russians with things like computer chips that they obviously need for sophisticated weapons.

Nevertheless, one does get the feeling that right now the Russian economy has certainly found its footing. And if you look at places like Moscow, like other places in Russia, you do see a lot of the Western products that were there before slowly being replaced by Chinese products, one of the things that's definitely visible, for instance, in terms of automobiles. But, at the same time, you also have the Russian economy essentially on a war footing now, where substantial amount of the country's budget is now going into defense spending, and the Russians are set to increase that even more. If you look at defense production, things like tanks, rockets and artillery shells, the Russians definitely producing a lot, and that is certainly going to continue. So, those are some of the things that the Russian leader is going to

speak about. But, we've already seen a little bit of the preview, Fredricka, already in terms of what's going on the battlefield, where an angry Vladimir Putin two days ago, when he met with representatives of international media organizations, was essentially accusing the United States of escalating the conflict in Ukraine. He is obviously very angry about the fact that the Biden administration is allowing the Ukrainians to hit Russian territory with Western weapons in a very limited way. The Russians now threatening to send weapons to America's adversaries into the Western adversaries -- West's adversaries to allow them to pressure important assets of the West in other places.

So, definitely you can feel the conflict between Russia and the West escalating. You can see that at this forum, by the way, as well. At the same time, the Russians are trying to project that their economy remains on a strong footing despite all of these sanctions, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So, Fred, there is a lot of symbolism here. Right? I mean, here Putin is present there, St. Petersburg, perhaps portraying a sign of strength and mission, or even resolve, contrast that to the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, who is being celebrated and lauded with praise while in Paris? Is anyone audibly, I guess, taking note of that?

PLEITGEN: Well, I think everybody is taking note of that. And I think it's one of the things that has really been symbolic here in Europe over the past couple of years. It's not the first year that Vladimir Putin wasn't invited to the D-Day commemoration events. I think he hasn't been there since 2014 since Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine down in the Crimea area after the Maidan protests, obviously, in Ukraine. So, this is not necessarily something that's new. But, of course, the whole trajectory of everything has changed a great deal since the full-on invasion of Ukraine. And now, of course, you have this very important commemoration with 80 years since the D-Day landings. That is just an extremely important date.

And so, therefore, everybody obviously is taking note of this. I think that there is a lot of symbolism in a lot of the things that we're hearing from the world leaders say there on the beaches of Normandy, on the cemeteries, where they are saying, look, what we have in Europe right now is a situation where peace in Europe, fundamentally, is challenged and is under threat by this new full-on invasion that's going on by the Russian Federation. At the same time, by the way, that same kind of symbolism also playing out by Vladimir Putin's administration, where he is the one that's saying that he believes that it's the West that is fueling all of this. So, definitely, a lot of that symbolism is underway.

And one of the other things that we also have to keep in mind is, of course, Vladimir Putin hasn't been invited to these commemorations now. There were also no world leaders who showed up on May 9 to the Russian commemoration of their Victory Day parade either. So, you do see on a full scale that the allies that fought against Nazi Germany in the 1940s definitely right now at least to an extent on opposite sides of the equation right now. And I think it is very important to hear. We heard from President Biden there at the beginning of our broadcast say that right now is the time for these Western European countries and the United States to step up once again to ensure that peace in Europe remains, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Fred Pleitgen in Berlin, thanks so much.

All right. The UN Human Rights Office says the strike on a UN-run school in central Gaza suggests Israel is failing to comply with international humanitarian law.

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There are growing calls for an independent investigation into the attack that killed at least 40 people, including children. The UN says there was no warning. CNN analysis found U.S.-made munitions were used to carry out Thursday's strike. Israel says it has identified nine of the roughly 30 alleged Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, it says, were targets but has offered no evidence so far.

Let's bring in now Paula Hancocks, who joins us from Jerusalem. What are you learning about the potential fallout that now comes with this?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we know that the White House is asking Israel for more details about exactly what happened with this strike on the UNRWA school. We heard from John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson, speaking to CNN, saying that Israel does have the right to target Hamas but the way that it does it is significant, speaking to CNN. So, certainly, there has been condemnation. We've heard from the UN Secretary-General through a statement condemning what has happened. We understand from UNRWA itself that some 6,000 Palestinians were sheltering in that area at that time, and we have seen repeatedly UNRWA buildings, UNRWA institutions being targeted, more than -- at least 180, according to UNRWA itself.

So, certainly, there are many questions being asked about this. From the Israeli military point of view, they say that they had identified 20 to 30 militants both from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And as you say, they believe that they have killed nine of them, or at least they have been identified, without giving any evidence at this point. But, what we are also seeing as well overnight and into the early hours of today, there were more strikes. We know that another UN-linked school has been hit, this time up in Al-Shati camp. This is in the northern parts of Gaza, three killed there, dozens injured, according to medics. And we also know that there has been another strike in Khan Younis, just in the south of the Gaza Strip, a building housing the same family, at least eight killed there.

And I want to talk a bit about central Gaza as well. This is an area that we know at least 12 have been killed overnight. And we're hearing from those on the ground that they believe that the intensity and the frequency of Israeli airstrikes just over the past week really takes them back to the beginning of the war. So, it's important to note that the intensification in this particular area is certainly being felt by those on the ground, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then, Paula, we're getting new information about this CIA assessment of Netanyahu's thinking regarding the post-war future of Gaza. What more are you learning about that?

HANCOCKS: Yeah. So, this is a report that was shared with senior U.S. officials. It's a report that CNN has seen from June 3. So, really, the latest intelligence assessment when it comes to Netanyahu's thinking. And they believe in this report that the Israeli Prime Minister feels that he is able to progress without a day-after plan for Gaza, without a post-war plan, believing that he will be able to be -- able to keep his coalition together, to keep the right-wing elements of his coalition together by being vague about what happens on the day after we have heard elements of his coalition saying that they would leave and collapse the coalition if there were to be a ceasefire and if there were to be specifics that they didn't agree with basically. So, this is the assessment of this report.

Interesting that there is this -- the CIA assessment of the leader of one of U.S.'s key allies, and also interesting as well that it has been leaked, that it has been publicized in this way. It really speaks to the worsening relationship when it comes to the leaders of the U.S. and Israel. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Paula Hancocks in Jerusalem, thanks so much.

And one more note on Gaza, U.S. defense official says the temporary pier constructed by the U.S. military to bring aid into Gaza is expected to be reattached to the Gaza shoreline in a few hours. The official says aid distribution will resume the next day if everything goes according to plan. The pier broke apart last week amid heavy seas. It was operational for only about a week before it was damaged.

All right. Still to come, the defense prepares to make their case at Hunter Biden's gun trial. A live report from outside the courthouse coming up. And no amount of shouting could hold the courts at bay.

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A right-wing conspiracy theorist is being forced to sell everything he owns.

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WHITFIELD: In just a few minutes, Hunter Biden's lawyers will begin presenting their case in his gun trial. They are expected to call his daughter and his uncle, the brother of President Joe Biden, in an effort to show Hunter Biden was fighting to beat his drug addiction at the time that he purchased a gun. On Thursday, the prosecution's final witness was the widow of Hunter's brother Beau. Hallie Biden testified that she believed Hunter was using crack cocaine around the time he bought a gun, which is against U.S. federal law.

CNNs Marshall Cohen has been following the trial for us. Marshall, what are you learning about the upcoming defense case?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Fred. With the Prosecutors expected to wind down their case this morning, we have testimony coming up from the defense. They are expecting to bring on Naomi Biden, the son of -- sorry, the daughter of Hunter Biden, and James Biden, his uncle. Of course, James is the brother of President Joe Biden. So, why does the defense think that these might be helpful witnesses? Well, they are there to talk about Hunter's attempts to get clean. The questions in this case are all about whether or not he was a drug user or a drug addict in October 2018 when he bought a handgun here in Delaware. And these defense witnesses, the members of the Biden family, are expected to tell the jury that he was trying to stay clean and that maybe even was a period of time where he was between his drug use.

But, Fred, those are not the only Bidens that we're looking out for today. We are waiting for the First Lady to re-enter this courthouse. She was in France yesterday for the D-Day commemorations, back here in Wilmington today to support her son before returning to France for the state visit this weekend.

Looking ahead to next week, Fred, this thing is probably reaching its conclusion. This is not expected to be a very long defense case. If all things hold, as we expect them to, the jury might start deliberating in this case Tuesday or Wednesday. So, some final answers to the big questions of Hunter's potential guilt, his potential prison, what his future might look like. That's probably coming next week. Fred.

WHITFIELD: And Marshall, is there a feeling with the prosecution that it accomplished what it set out to do with that -- their star witness, Hallie Biden?

COHEN: Hallie Biden, the widow of Beau Biden, who went on to date Hunter Biden after his death from cancer in 2015, she was the star witness for the prosecution because she is the only person in this case who can tell the jury that she was actually with Hunter in October 2018 when he bought the gun.

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And she told the jury that she believed he was using at the time based off of her observations and his behavior, but critically, under cross- examination, she conceded that she never watched him do drugs in her presence. Also, Fred, she described the very bizarre and painful series of events that brought us here today, how she was searching his car on October 23 of 2018, found the gun, panicked, and then drove to a grocery store and threw it out in the trash can. The prosecution showed surveillance footage from that grocery store that showed Hallie Biden throwing out the gun. And they also showed text messages of her and Hunter essentially freaking out, not sure exactly what to do. By the time she returned to that grocery store about half an hour later to try to retrieve the gun, it was gone.

And we all know how that ended up with many members of the Biden family here in court, one of them as the defendant, some of them as the witnesses, some of them here for support, but the entire family has been entangled, Fred, in this very painful and heartbreaking criminal case, all because of those critical decisions back in 2018 with this gun.

WHITFIELD: All right. Marshall Cohen outside the courthouse there in Wilmington, Delaware, thanks so much. All right. Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has agreed to

liquidate his personal assets, including his stake in the InfoWars media company. Jones owes more than a billion dollars to the parents of children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. Courts have repeatedly found him guilty of defamation and emotional distress for his claims that the school shooting was a hoax. Jones is -- has yet to pay anything to the Sandy Hook families.

Our Media Correspondent Hadas Gold is tracking the story for us, Hadas. So, does this finally mean that Alex Jones will have to pay for years of lying about what happened at Sandy Hook?

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, these families who have already suffered so much and suffered even more because of Alex Jones' terrible lies that he was spreading about this massacre that happened to these children, these families have actually not yet seen a single dime. Now, this ruling or this decision to liquidate his assets, this does not mean that tomorrow these families are finally going to see some sort of monetary help in the form of this liquidation of the assets, but it is at least a step in the right direction.

Now, as you noted, Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $1.5 billion to these families. This is a combination of rulings that he had been found for defamation, for emotional distress. Now, Alex Jones until now had been fighting against the liquidation of his assets. He tried to do other things in bankruptcy courts to have them reorganized, his assets reorganized, his company. But, this was a sort of surprise decision that came late yesterday where he did ask the court to help him start liquidating his personal assets.

Now, the families had requested this, instead of to allow this reorganization, they requested that the court liquidate his assets, especially as there had been reporting by both the Associated Press and The New York Times that he was continuing to spend lavishly, and also that he was allegedly possibly trying to transfer some of his money to members of his families to keep it out of the hands of the creditors. But, it seems that the mounting pressure just got to the point that he recognized he needed to liquidate his assets. We saw hints of this last week on his InfoWars conspiracy show. He started to break down in sort of bizarre tears last week, saying that the feds were going to come to shut down his show.

But now, we know that what this likely was pointing to was the fact that he was going to need to liquidate his assets. I should note, though, that even if all of his assets are liquidated, even if all of the company's assets are liquidated, it is unlikely to reach that $1.5 billion that these families are owed.

WHITFIELD: All right. Hadas Gold, thanks so much.

All right. Still to come, a highly symbolic scene, U.S. President Joe Biden returns to Normandy and will soon deliver a speech on the power of democracy.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Making the case for freedom and democracy, about one and a half hours from now, U.S. President Joe Biden will deliver a speech, warning that both are under threat, not just in the United States, but worldwide. The backdrop for it all is Pointe du Hoc, France, a site separating the Omaha and Utah beaches, which was a key German position that U.S. forces captured on D-Day. It's also where former U.S. President Ronald Reagan gave one of his most famous speeches, warning against isolationism in the face of tyranny.

CNN's Kayla Tausche is joining me now live from Pointe du Hoc. Tell me about preparations, what is also going to be expected to be said from the President.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, it's hard to imagine a point in history that has more imagery or more emotion for a leader to lean into than this place right here, the 100- foot cliffs that Army Rangers scaled 80 years ago to overtake the German lookout positions in order to allow the Allied forces that landed here on D-Day to succeed. President Biden is going to lean into the stories of heroism by those World War II Veterans, with a senior administration official telling me that he is going to say that we owe them and that we should take from the example that they set.

And he is particularly going to mention one vet in particular. His name is John Wardell. He descended here at Pointe du Hoc with the army days after D-Day to help secure this position. And he is expected to be in the audience today as well as other officials from France who run museums, monument associations, schools and towns here to remember what happened in this very sacred and hallowed place. But, Biden is going to be making a broader point to about democracy, about how we owe it to the men who braved their lives here 80 years ago to continue defending the freedom of Europe with dictators ready to march through Europe again, and Vladimir Putin fighting yet another war on Europe's frontlines in Ukraine.

That is going to be a very big theme of this speech that President Biden is expected to deliver in just a couple of hours' time with about 150 people here in the audience. Of course, it's sure to draw comparisons with the speech that Ronald Reagan gave 40 years ago, which at the time was intended to shore up support for what young voters at the time saw as an ill-conceived American interventionism overseas during the Cold War and after the war in Vietnam. There are some similar elements to the mood within the country today. And so, there are a lot of parallels to be drawn, and the officials that I spoke to said that they're ready for the comparisons to Reagan, and they expect them, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then, Ukraine is also expected to be a big part of it, and also what's at stake in this year's U.S. presidential election, how might Biden combine these two.

[08:35:00] TAUSCHE: Well, Biden is expected to draw a through line from what happened here in World War II to what is happening in Ukraine today, the dire need for the U.S. to assist the West and continuing to aid Ukraine and its defenses to allow it to win the war, that if Ukraine is not able to win that war, then Russia will be able to overtake basically anywhere in Europe, and warning about that signal and what it sends to the rest of the world, not just Russia, but other potential aggressors elsewhere.

But, he is also going to give an implicit nod to the rise of populism and isolationist principles, not just in the U.S., but really across capitals in Europe, where there are populist forces that are again on the rise. But, of course, it's perhaps no more relevant than in the United States where Biden is up for reelection, just as Reagan was in 1984, and his opponent has suggested that perhaps he would stop providing support to NATO allies or stop providing support to Ukraine to end some of that support that has been critical to what Ukraine has been able to do on the battlefield.

To that end, just today, Biden and Zelenskyy met face-to-face. They talked about a new aid package, $225 million that stems from a support package that the U.S. Congress passed in April. It took six months to get it across the finish line. Biden apologized for the delay. But, of course, it underscores the fact that there is going to be much more aid needed, and Biden needs the political will to get it to Ukraine, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kayla Tausche, thank you so much.

CNN Presidential Historian Tim Naftali is joining me right now live from New York. Great to see you, Tim. So, Biden chose this site to make this speech based on its history and its imagery. How do you believe this will help underscore the case?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN, & SR. RESEARCH DIR., COLUMBIA SCHOOL OF INTL. & PUBLIC AFFAIRS: Well, first of all, the differences between 1984 and 2024 are stark. In 1984, Ronald Reagan talked about how there was a deep understanding in America of the importance of the contribution and the sacrifice of D-Day and that that sacrifice continued as America has committed itself to the ongoing security in Europe. It would have been inconceivable for Ronald Reagan to see the right wing of the U.S. political spectrum as a threat to American engagement with the world. If anything, in 1984, Ronald Reagan worried about how the American left was undermining the American commitment to what he considered to be a moral crusade against the Soviet Union.

It would have been inconceivable for Ronald Reagan in 1984 that people in his own party would be on the verge of nominating someone who is using the rhetoric of the 1930s to talk about the importance of the presidency for using its power to punish those who didn't agree with the President. Ronald Reagan talked about how government needed to be smaller. It needed to get out of our lives. It didn't need to be the source of vindictiveness.

So, the era of Reagan's Pointe du Hoc speech is quite different from the political climate that faces or confronts Joe Biden today, as he makes his speech at the same place, at the same time in a presidential election cycle. So, what's striking is, though, the backdrop is the same, the challenges to American democracy today are quite different from those that Ronald Reagan faced when he made a similar bid for moral leadership in 1984.

WHITFIELD: Perhaps 40 years ago, Reagan's objective was to largely be speaking to a global audience. Today, Biden, he is hoping his audience is not just global, but it's a domestic audience, that he is also trying to reach with his messaging.

NAFTALI: Absolutely. I mean, in 1984, Ronald Reagan was debating an argument that was made that there was some kind of moral equivalence between the United States and the Soviet Union. There was -- that was also a time when many people were concerned that Ronald Reagan understated the threat of nuclear danger. 1983, just the year before, had been a year of great tension in U.S.-Soviet relations. So, the speech in 1984 was one to reassert the moral dimension of America's commitment of the world. The second was to actually send a signal to the Soviets that United States doesn't want war.

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Ronald Reagan made a point in 1984 to talk about the 20 million Soviets who had died in defeating Nazism in World War II. Ronald Reagan also made the point that he didn't want war, that America didn't want war. So, there were multiple audiences and there were multiple objectives in 1984. At this point, much of the threat that I suspect President Biden will be highlighting to democracy is within countries, domestically, not just in the United States, but in those countries where you have the populace who are pushing hard to reduce freedom.

So, the -- again, the threat to democracy today, though Vladimir Putin is a real threat to the security of Europe, and there is some -- of course, some similarity there to Soviet, the Soviet intervention in Hungary and in Czechoslovakia, but its large measure of the great threat to democracy that I suspect will be the cornerstone of his speech is a threat from within, where young people and older people, it's not just an issue of the young, are getting why rhetoric matters, and are forgetting that politics can be very important and there are nonpartisan or bipartisan reasons not to support those who would use power to deprive us of liberty.

WHITFIELD: Fascinating and powerful. Tim Naftali, thank you so much.

NAFTALI: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Meantime, voting is underway and will continue for the next three days for the European Union parliament. It's the world's second largest democratic election after India's, with nearly 400 million people from 27 countries eligible to vote. The election comes as the EU grapples with wars in Ukraine and Gaza, immigration, climate change, insecurity. A coalition of two centrist parties is expected to retain the majority in the EU parliament. But, far-right parties could see gains and eventually impact the political direction of the bloc for the next five years. Here is CNN's Clare Sebastian.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Interpreted): We will act by expelling delinquents, criminals, and foreign Islamists who pose a threat to national security.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From threats of mass expulsions in France to openly Islamophobic campaign material, this from far-right Portuguese party Chega asking which Europe do you want. Emboldened by winning elections at home, Europe's far right is pushing the boundaries, as it eyes big gains in EU parliament elections.

CATHERINE FIESCHI, VISITING FELLOW, EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE: They've tried in different places and in different ways to kind of test the waters and trying to be bolder, if they can, right, to see how closely they can flirt with really inflammatory rhetoric.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): With just weeks to go, Germany's "Alternative fur Deutschland" crossed a line after its lead candidate claimed the Nazi paramilitary group, the SS, were quote, "not all criminals." France's Marine Le Pen kicking the party out of her far right coalition in the EU parliament.

SEBASTIAN: So, it's really a sort of litmus test as to how far right is too far.

FIESCHI: Yes, that's right, because these parties really live or die by their own domestic public opinions.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): For Hungary's voters, culture war is a playing well. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's party has put up billboards showing opposition leaders carrying gender, among other things, on a dinner plate to Brussels. Not clear yet how that will play out for France, where candidate Marion Marechal is promising to quote "preserve our families, our values in the face of wokeism." Or Italy, pregnant men and woke madness. No, thank you, reads this post from far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.

FIESCHI: For them, it's upending of the natural order, right, which is sort of the heart of ultra-conservative ideology.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): And if that doesn't work, there is always the war in Ukraine. Prime Minister Orban's party in Hungary holding a massive peace rally in recent days. Free, neutral, safe, one slogan from Austria's lead far-right candidate, calling for an end to quote "war mongering by Europeans".

Here, though, divisions in Europe's far right are stuck. Italy's Giorgia Meloni, a key supporter of aid for Ukraine. And so, in what could be Europe's most right-wing parliaments ever, alliances, maybe blood.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

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WHITFIELD: And we just got a big clue about the state of the U.S. economy. The May jobs numbers are out. After the break, we'll tell you what it could mean for interest rates and the almighty U.S. consumer.

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[08:45:00]

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WHITFIELD: All right. New U.S. job numbers are released just a few minutes ago, showing the economy gained 272,000 jobs in May, which is much more than analysts had expected. The unemployment rate edged up a tiny bit to four percent.

Matt Egan is joining us right now from New York to break down the numbers for us, Matt.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Fredricka, this jobs market continues to look resilient, just when we thought it was really starting to slow down, it's speeding up again. The latest numbers show that U.S. economy added 272,000 jobs last month. That is well above the consensus estimate of about 180,000. You can see on that chart, hiring did slow down in April significantly, and we were waiting to see if that was the start of a new trend. Apparently, it's not because you can see hiring has bounced back in a big way. This is above the recent pace that we've seen.

And really, there was a lot of evidence of strong demand for workers. Wages continue to go up significantly. They've actually heated up. We saw across the board strength in terms of hiring, a lot of jobs added for healthcare, 68,000 for government. Leisure and hospitality, those are bars and restaurants. So, all of that showing there is a lot of demand for workers. The unemployment rate, though, a one outlier, right? The unemployment rate is actually going up to four percent. Now, that's significant, because we haven't seen four percent unemployment since January of 2022.

And this was almost an historic jobs report, because if the unemployment rate had stayed below four percent, which is what was expected, this would have been the longest streak of sub-four percent unemployment. Since the early 1950s under Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman, that did not happen. But, obviously, four percent is still very, very low, much lower than what we saw during COVID in 2020, and much lower than what would be considered a real slow down or even recession territory.

So, I think when you zoom out, Fredricka, these jobs numbers show there is a lot of demand for workers, and the economy continues to be a lot more resilient than people expected.

WHITFIELD: All right. We like that. We like that sign of optimism. All right. Matt Egan, thank you so much, in New York.

EGAN: Thank you. WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, a balloon battle is heating up between North and South Korea. We'll explain after this.

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[08:50:00]

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WHITFIELD: All right. Something is in the air and it's unusual. It's a balloon battle between North and South Korea. Pyongyang recently sent balloons filled with waste across the border, and now South Korean activists are floating their own versions with cash, K-pop and TV shows attached. Balloons have been crossing the border for years, and some South Koreans are getting tired of it.

Here is CNN's Mike Valerio.

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MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a place that blooms with life, a serene and stunning setting, 60-year-old farmer Kim Young-eun (ph) cares for his giant onions with water flowing from North Korea. It is part of a beautiful, and he says, inseparable bond between North and South, now fraught with tension once again.

There used to be a time when we talked about peace, he says, but it's all changed now. We only hear difficult situations between the Koreas. So, we farmers are very uncomfortable. Kim tells us he has farmed this land in Cheorwon in South Korea for 36 years and he disagrees with this free.

UNIDENITIFED MALE: Free North Korea.

VALERIO (voice-over): Activists from South Korea sending balloons northbound filled with American dollar bills, K-pop and K-dramas, downloaded onto thousands of USBs. There is also 200,000 leaflets and bags tied to the balloons, denouncing the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Park Sang-hak is the founder of the group behind this latest launch, "Fighters for a Free North Korea". He has s been doing this since 2006, and his latest balloon deployment is in direct response to about 1,000 trash-filled balloons sent from North Korea.

PARK SANG-HAK, FOUNDER, FIGHTERS FOR A FREE NORTH KOREA (Interpreted): We send money, medicine, facts, truth and love, but to send filth and trash in return, that's an inhumane and barbaric act.

VALERIO (voice-over): Park defected from North Korea in 2000, and he remembers in the early 90s when a balloon similar to one of these popped above him and he secretly collected a leaflet from South Korea. It told him of a better life. And I says it told him the truth.

SANG-HAK (Interpreted): South Korea is not an American colony or a wasteland of humanity, like I learned in North Korea. North Koreans are filled with anger and hatred and only sing military songs. But, South Korea is a gentle country. VALERIO (voice-over): Kim tells us, while touring his fields, the new aerial tit-for-tat should stop, and if it doesn't, his life and his farm could be upended.

VALERIO: Now, once you get up into the hills, you can actually see into North Korea. We're not talking about the fields in the foreground. We're talking about way in the background, the DMZ, about four kilometers, two and a half miles away from where we're standing. Now, farmer Kim has told us that during moments of heightened tension in the past, the South Korean army has kept him from entering about half of his property because it is so close to the DMZ, in order to keep him and others safe.

VALERIO (voice-over): The question now, how will North Korea respond, especially after a show of force by the United States, a B-1B bomber on Wednesday flying over the Korean Peninsula and for the first time in seven years engaging in land target practice with live munitions?

We asked Kim if he wants to leave. His answer, I want to move to somewhere else but I can't afford it. We're very upset the balloons are making our daily lives inconvenient and our area is seen as a war zone. It's very unfortunate. There is nothing we can do. If I could, we would want to stop them, but it's difficult. So, for Kim, there is no choice, staying in his field surrounded by waters from the north, longing for a time before new heights for tensions in the sky.

Mike Valeria, CNN, Cheorwon, South Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And finally, a toddler had a close encounter and a ride of a lifetime with a giraffe at a drive-thru safari in the U.S. state of Texas. Two-year-old Paisley Toten was feeding the hungry animal from the back of a truck when the giraffe grabbed the little girl by the shirt.

[08:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to feed the giraffe? Feed him. Look, feed him. Come here. Look. Look.

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WHITFIELD: OK. So, that happened, and fortunately the little girl is OK. The giraffe ended up dropping the little girl, kind of realization that perhaps it didn't mean to get that big of a mouthful. Paisley's dad says he didn't think the giraffe intended to do that but it still scared him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON TOTEN, PAISLEY'S FATHER: Paisley was holding the bag like this, and the giraffe went to get the bag, not get her, but ended up getting her shirt too and picking her up. My heart stopped. My stomach dropped. It scared me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Upsy-daisy. Well, Paisley's mom caught it all on video, as you see right there, and said the little girl didn't get injured at all. Afterwards, her parents decided to buy her a stuffed giraffe at the gift shop saying quote, "She deserved it." It seems perfectly appropriate.

All right. Thank you so much for joining me here in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Connect the World with Becky Anderson is up next.

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