Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Donald Trump Investigated by Justice Department for Classified Documents Taken from White House; Van Der Sloot Extradition Process Underway; Florida's New Law Is Affecting Pride Month; Cyberattack Forces Idaho Hospital To Send Ambulances Elsewhere. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired June 03, 2023 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:00:01]
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The bear left her mess behind but the guy cleaning up with a mop takes the cake, not to mention the six cupcakes. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Very cute but Victor, you got to be careful about taking things that are not yours.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I know. So listen, I have been outside a cupcake bakeries and -- that are closed and just look through. For a half second you're thinking, they're right there. They're right there?
SOLOMON: You -- you would never take anything but --
BLACKWELL: Oh, absolutely not. And absolutely not. But --
SOLOMON: But it is Twitter to understand a little bit more.
BLACKWELL: Oh, well. All right. So get ready to watch the battle for the most iconic trophy in sports. Join NHL on TNT for the best of seven series filled with thrilling action, where the two best teams in the NHL will battle it out to be named Stanley Cup champions, experience the spectacle of the Stanley Cup Final tonight at 8:00 only on TNT. The next hour of CNN this morning starts right now.
All right, glad you're up and with us. Good morning. Welcome to CNN this morning. It is Saturday, June 3rd. I'm Victor Blackwell.
SOLOMON: And I'm Rahel Solomon in for Amara Walker today and tomorrow. Thanks for spending part of your morning with us.
BLACKWELL: Here's what we're watching for you this morning. Lawyers for former President Trump say they have no idea where a classified document on Iran is after the former President was heard talking about it on tape, how that could play into the special counsel probe into his handling of classified documents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No one got everything they wanted. But the American people got what they needed. We averted an economic crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: President Biden there taking a bit of a victory lap from the Oval Office after the Senate passes that bipartisan debt deal to avoid an economic meltdown. Coming up, the -- the next steps that could come as soon as today and why Monday is a critical day in this process.
BLACKWELL: And there's a search for survivors right now in India after a horrific train crash that is killed close to 300 people, what we're learning about what led up to the accident and what's slowing down the recovery efforts,
SOLOMON: Plus a cyberattack cripples in Idaho hospital, forcing it to divert ambulance patients for days, how hospitals are kind of work to combat this growing problem coming up.
BLACKWELL: We begin though with the latest on the classified documents investigation by the Justice Department. As CNN first reported, former President Donald Trump was heard on a recording acknowledging that he held on to a classified Pentagon document. It was about a potential attack on Iran.
SOLOMON: The Justice Department issued a subpoena. But Trump's lawyers have not found the document in question. CNN Senior Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid has the latest on the search for classified papers that were mishandled.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, why did you take classified documents concerning General Milley?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: CNN exclusively reporting former President Donald Trump served with a subpoena in mid- March, seeking any records related to the same U.S. military document he talks about on tape just six months after leaving the Whitehouse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everything I did was right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Special Counsel Jack Smith, Attorney General Merrick Garland picked to oversee investigations into Trump, trying to track down any additional classified materials still in Trump's possession. The former President's attorneys turned over some material in response to the Justice Department's request, but not the document in question. The one Trump was recorded discussing in July 2021 at his Bedminster, New Jersey Golf Club.
On the tape, he acknowledges he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a possible attack on Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There is no crime. You know, there is no crime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: That tape, now in the hands of prosecutors, prompting them to subpoena all documents and materials related to Iran and Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM TRUSTY, LAWYER FOR DONALD TRUMP: But I am not going to try the case that's being set up by leaks that I don't believe are accurate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Trump's attorney declining to address where the document is.
NIKKI HALEY, CNN ANCHOR: Has the document been returned to the National Archives?
TRUSTY: Same answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Throughout the investigation, prosecutors have expressed skepticism about whether they've gotten everything back from Trump over the last year. Trump's attorneys turned over 15 boxes to the National Archives. The FBI recovered more than a hundred classified documents from their search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and Trump's team found additional materials in subsequent searches of other Trump properties.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They become automatically declassified when I took them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Trump denying any wrongdoing and when asked if he ever shared classified information with anyone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Not really. I would have the right to and by the way they were declassified after --
HALEY: What do you mean not really?
TRUMP: Not -- not that I can think of. Let me just tell you, I have the absolute right to do whatever I want with them. (END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: In contrast, his former Vice President striking a different tone after retaining classified materials
[08:05:05]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Those classified documents should not have been at my personal residence. Mistakes were made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REED: The Justice Department informing Mike Pence Thursday that he will not face criminal charges for his handling of classified materials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PENCE: And I take full responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REED: After a small number of classified documents were found at his Indiana home. A special counsel also looking into the possible mishandling of classified documents at two locations connected to President Biden. But it's clear from CNN reporting over the past week that former President Trump is facing a much more significant legal threat, especially after we have learned that investigators have a recording of Trump. And it's unclear if the government has the classified document that he claims to have in that tape. Rahel, Victor?
BLACKWELL: Paula, thank you. Let's get some insight now from former U.S. Attorney Michael Moore. And he's a partner with Moore-Hall in Atlanta. Good to see you again. Michael.
MICHAEL MOORE, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: It's good to be with you.
BLACKWELL: So let's -- and before we talk about what this document could mean, let's question if the document actually exists. And it could have been a lie and Trump has done it before. It could be a bluff.
MOORE: Right. Right.
BLACKWELL: If you're trying to build a potential case against the former President, how valuable is this, if you can't find the actual document?
MOORE: Well, it -- it is good to be with you. It never hurts if you're a prosecutor to have something on tape, especially have a Defendant on tape. And so you may use this to question whether or not he actually believed he had the authority to declassify. It -- it rebuts some of the assertions he's made about the other documents in his possession. That is that they've all suddenly magically become declassified. If he's saying, look, this is -- I -- I have one.
The problem is, you really can't believe him. I mean, you can't take him at his word, whether he had it or not, and they have not found the document. This could have been a bluff. And I'm not saying it was.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
MOORE: I mean, this could have been sort of a rooster sticking his chest out saying I've got a document, you know, because he wants to impress those at the meeting, which would not be unlike him. So at this point is just good to have it as information that might rebut a claim he makes about whether or not he declassified all of the documents at the time. It certainly would pose a question he would have to answer if they get to a trial.
BLACKWELL: So the document itself has value but even without it, hearing him talk about I have a classified document suggests that he knows that he undermines his other explanations publicly about declassification.
MOORE: It's contrary to the things that he's asserted before, and that is that he, you know, magically sort of waved his Trump wand over the documents and they became declassified.
BLACKWELL: OK. Speaking of waiving that Trump wand, let's listen to part of his explanation of why he believes, the former President, that he has purview over these documents. This is from the CNN Town Hall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY: Why did you take those documents with you when you left the Whitehouse?
TRUMP: I had every right to under the Presidential Records Act. You have the Presidential Records Act. I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified.
HALEY: Yes. But do you still have any classified documents in your possession?
TRUMP: Are you ready?
HALEY: Do you?
TRUMP: No, no, I don't have anything. I have no classified documents. And by the way, they become automatically declassified when I took them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Now you were telling me as we were hearing from Paula Reid, that some of that is not totally crazy.
MOORE: It's really not crazy. And there's no Supreme Court case on this. But this case, if they move forward will come down to this issue of whether or not a President can declassify documents.
Now, I'm talking about a sitting President, not a former President. But ultimately, the entire authority to declassify rests with the Commander-in-Chief and those who classify, you know, the agencies who classify documents are doing so at his or her bidding, really, and doing -- doing his or her function. So there's an actually an executive order that President Obama signed that sort of lays out the President, the Vice President have these authorities. There are no longer going to be perpetual classifications, that they're automatic time limits and things for documents to become declassified and there's a way to declassify. And in an original classifier, which in this case, could be the President has the authority to declassify documents.
So we're -- we're -- we are in uncharted waters. I know it sounds a little crazy to think that somebody could just declassify but if you think about it, we're talking about information. Imagine a President meeting in the Oval Office with somebody who was not ready and or had a need-to-know basis about information. But he wanted to ask those questions and say, look, what do I -- what do I -- what you know about this. He can immediately declassify that information to -- to dig into the information. So we're just now shifting that to documents.
And so can a President declassify that? I don't think it's the sort of the magic it just happens because I'm so and so. But I do think that a President -- and I think the Court will ultimately come down and say, a President could declassify. George Bush did it about a memorandum in 2000 -- I think it was 2001 and it was a 2004 declassification. He just declassified something to move forward.
BLACKWELL: But you think the Court will come down on the side of in the moment I declassified it when I ordered them to put in the box and taken to my home?
MOORE: Well, I think that this sort of a broader constitutional question, and again we're kind of back to that place where the norms and what our expectations because of the Trump Administration are very different and so I think the Court will be looking at it on a broader base about what this means going forward, what it means for our national security, what it means for the administrative process and the executive powers that we have.
[08:10:17]
So from a Presidential powers perspective, I think the Court might look at and say we're not going to limit the powers of a President. Regardless of the fact that we've been dealing -- we're dealing with somewhat of a unique character in the former President Trump.
BLACKWELL: Yeah. All right. Let's talk about former Vice President Mike Pence and the DOJ determining that that investigation will end without charges. And it comes at an important timing because we're expecting that next week, he will announce his candidacy for President and by AG Garland's threshold, his criteria, if you're running for President and there's this investigation, we could expect a -- a special counsel to be named. Do you think it was the right call? MOORE: I think it probably was the right call. By all indications, when the documents were found and I think it -- there can be in adverted packaging on things when people leave office and such. When those documents were found and those were reported and it looks like he cooperated with the investigation. I don't see anything there that where he's obstructed.
I do think in the Trump case, that's probably the biggest threat to him is this idea of obstruction. And you find that more people get caught by the cover-up than they do by the actual offense because they -- they may have some legal ways around it. There's no really legal way to say I didn't tell the truth and I lied on a forum. I submitted false information to a Court or whatever. But that's going to be a bit bigger problem.
Trump doesn't have those issues. I mean, Mike Pence did not have those issues. And I think hopefully you're going to see the same thing with the Biden document investigation that's going on at that case ultimately ended with no charges as well.
BLACKWELL: Yes. These documents from Pence to Biden were discovered and then offered up to --
MOORE: Immediately.
BLACKWELL: -- the National Archives. All right. Michael Moore, thank you.
MOORE: Glad to be with you.
BLACKWELL: Rahel.
SOLOMON: I'm sorry. Victor, Thank you. President Joe Biden expected to sign the debt limit bill today, marking the end of a high-stakes political drama. The U.S. face the risk of defaulting on its debt for the first time in history. The Congress approved the measure this week after months of uncertainty.
Last night, the -- for the first time President Biden addressed the nation from the Oval Office describing the disaster that has been averted. CNN White House Reporter Jasmine Wright joins us now.
So Jasmine, we know that the Treasury has said that Monday was essentially the date it expected to run out of money. So presumably the President wants to get this done very quickly. What's the timeline here? When do we expect the President to sign this legislation?
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITEHOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, today is when President Biden said that he would sign the bill. We know as of last night, it was making its way to the Whitehouse and to his desk. But before that moment, we saw him take this major victory lap in the Oval Office really breaking down how his own negotiators compromised with Republicans to avert a catastrophe basically.
Now that was a 180-strategy swift -- switch from the President yesterday. For the last few weeks and days, we haven't really seen him being very loquacious really about how these negotiations have gone. He's been wary about talking about the negotiations, when it comes to those intense background conversations not to jeopardize Republican support. And even after the bill was agreed upon on Sunday, he was weary about claiming it as a victory with a capital V because of the fact that he didn't want to jeopardize Republican support which was needed to pass the bill in a bipartisan manner.
Of course, now the bill is passed and it's making his way to his desk. We expect him to sign it today. Now yesterday in that Oval Office address the first time that he's made one as president, he really talks about a couple of things. First of all, he talks about not only what's in the bill, but what is not in the bill, how his Democratic negotiators kept key Democratic priorities out of the bill, not on the chopping block, something that Republicans wanted to see. But he also talked about just how important it was for this to happen in a bipartisan manner, really laying the ground for a new type of framework. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I know bipartisanship is hard and unity is hard. But we can never stop trying because the moments like this one, the ones we just faced where the American economy and the world economy is at risk of collapsing, there's no other way. No matter how tough our politics gets, when you see each other's not as adversaries but as fellow Americans and treat each other with dignity and respect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WRIGHT: Now here at the Whitehouse now that the potential for economic calamity is no longer hanging over their shoulder, that last line from the President going forward with respect and being able to do things in a bipartisan manner is going to be important going forward as we enter the 2024 campaign season for the President. We know that the Whitehouse views the President as somebody who's able to make deals in these high-stakes negotiations. But last night, what we saw is the President getting the last word after a long, long time of debate and negotiations.
SOLOMON: And a lot of -- and a lot of jitteriness for sure. Jasmine Wright on Wall Street and Main Street but Wall Street certainly seems to like it. Jasmine Wright, thank you. Good to see you.
And coming up for us, we are following a developing story out of India. nearly 300 people are dead following a train crash. The country's Prime Minister arrived at the site just ashore time ago. Coming up what we know about the recovery efforts underway just ahead.
[08:15:07]
BLACKWELL: Attorneys have begun working to get Joran Van Der Sloot, the prime suspect in the Natalie Holloway disappearance back to the U.S. While he may not be staying in the country for long despite his impending trial on extortion charges here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SOLOMON: Welcome back in India now the search continues for survivors
of a deadly train crash. Authorities say the death toll is nearing 300 with more than a thousand injured.
BLACKWELL: The crash is one of the worst in recent Indian history. A video from the scene shows mangled train cars here and passengers' belongings scattered on the ground. CNN International Correspondent Marc Stewart is with us now. So Marc, let's have an update on the search and rescue operation.
MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Victor. Good morning, Rahel. Look, the video really tells the story best. The size and this scope of this disaster is just tremendous. Among the challenges though right now is finding people who may be trapped under these individual train cars and there is real worry among rescuers that the death toll in this disaster could certainly rise.
[08:20:18]
Desperate people struggle to free themselves inside the wreckage of an upturned carriage. Passengers push themselves away from the bodies of those who were killed instantly when two passenger trains and a freight train collided in India's east on Friday.
In the dead of night, rescuers worked frantically to save as many lives as possible searching through the roof coaches littered across train tracks, pulling out survivors from twisted train compartments that lay torn open in the dark.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I came out of the train buggy, I saw someone had lost a hand and someone had lost their leg, while someone's face was distorted.
STEWART: Frantic scenes at the hospital where the race to save lives continues with a steady stream of those that live to see another day. And many who in this hour of need lined up to donate blood. The country's Prime Minister and President both offered their condolences, compensation for the deceased and the injured is being offered, and the exact sequence of events is now under investigation.
As daylight exposes, the extent of the disaster, it also shines a light on the state of Indian railways. Despite millions invested on much-needed modernization, aging infrastructure, and poor maintenance continues to risk the lives of more than 13 million passengers that rely on the Indian railways every single day.
There have been safety concerns long before this accident. In fact, we were looking at some data. In 2021 16,000 people died that year in train-related accidents, not necessarily in crashes like this one but from people walking on the tracks or falling out of train cars. So Victor and Rahel, as the Prime Minister makes his way to the scene and -- and talks to people he's less likely to face questions about this broader issue not only from just reporters but from people who live in India and who depend on trains to get from point A to point B.
SOLOMON: All right and of course the families of all of those victims. Marc Stewart, thank you. Keep us posted, please.
Well, this morning, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that a war over Taiwan would be quote, devastating and would affect the global economy in ways we cannot imagine.
BLACKWELL: Austin made the remarks during the security conference in Singapore and the leaders from dozens of countries were there, including from China. In response, Beijing called the comments on Taiwan completely wrong. And they accused the U.S. of trying to provoke confrontation.
Turning now to Russia's war on Ukraine. This morning, Ukrainian military officials say Russia continues to suffer significant losses. This is in the fighting around Bakhmut in Eastern Ukraine.
SOLOMON: Yes. And this comes as Wagner mercenaries claim they have all been completely withdrawn from the city amid increased fighting near Russia's border. The Kremlin has reported a series of new artillery strikes in the Belgorod region, which Ukraine officially says and has nothing to do with.
Let's go now to CNNs Fred Pleitgen in life worse in Kyiv, Ukraine, Fred. So tell us more about these cross-border fights and who we think is responsible, who we know is responsible, at least at this point on the Russian side.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. Well, that certainly is very much increasing the cross-border attacks, according to the Russians. In fact, just yesterday, there were more than a dozen villages that the Russians say came under fire from the Ukrainian side. Now the Russians are flatly blaming the Ukrainians for this. If you look at some of the Russian updates from those areas, they will always say it was Ukrainian forces behind this.
The Ukrainians are saying that is not true. They are saying that it's anti-Putin Russian fighters who here inside of Ukraine fight on the side of the Ukrainians. However, when they attack Russian territory, they do that independently.
One of the other things, however, that we are also seeing in that border area as well, is a lot of cross-border drone attacks. They happened in several areas on the other side of the border, on the Russian side of the border, and that also is part of the fact that you do have a very large Ukrainian homegrown drone program that is helping them to project power beyond Ukraine's borders. Here's what we found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: Can this fly into Russia?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
PLEITGEN: Balyeri Boroviks (ph) company makes combat drones for Ukrainian frontline troops. And they allowed us to film test flights at a secret location and he says reaching Moscow is not a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have bigger drone in the floor, 700 kilometers with warhead -- head 20 kilograms.
PLEITGEN: And that could Flybe almost -- almost all the way to Moscow?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:25:03]
PLEITGEN: While Ukraine denies direct involvement in the recent Moscow drone attack, Kyiv have has drastically expanded its use of drones for everything from surveillance to directly bombing Russian ground troops. Cheap, easy to use, and lethal, UAVs, once considered toys are now vital to Kyiv's war efforts.
Ukrainians say for them, drones are the big equalizer in this war. They say the Russians have more tanks, more artillery, and more planes. But the Ukrainians have the creativity of their population.
This is a drone competition organized by Ukraine's government with simulated attacks on ground targets, chasing fixed-wing drones, and even drone dogfights. We were granted exclusive access on the condition we don't reveal the location. It's like a startup fare for FPV or first-person view drones, small UAVs that can drop mortars and grenades, flown by pilots wearing VR goggles from a makeshift trench to simulate the battlefield.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YUIY SCHCHYLOL, BRIGADIER GENERAL, UKRAINE STATE SERVICE OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION: Our drones are very easy to use, especially if the pilot has flown similar drones. I think they will intuitively understand how they work.
PLEITGEN: The stakes are amend, the general involved in drone procurement for Ukraine's military tells me.
SCHCHYLOL: About 30 companies in Ukraine are already mass-producing these drones and our goal is to purchase up to 200,000 by the end of the year.
PLEITGEN: Their backs up against the wall when Russia's massive army invaded last year, the Ukrainians quickly realized cheap air power could help keep them in the fight.
First using modified consumer drones now with more sophisticated UAVs developed in Ukraine. What the government here calls the army of drones project spearheaded by the Minister of Digital Transformation.
MYKHAILO FEDOROV, UKRAIN MINISTER OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: This is a technological war and it's very important to understand how technology is developing and what we as a state can do to increase the number of drones. A certain revolution is also taking place regarding production scaling.
PLEITGEN: And while the Ukrainians still won't admit direct involvement, The Russians do admit they are concerned they might soon see more armed drones flying towards Moscow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: And that's certainly one of the things that we have been seeing is more of those armed drones at least flying towards Russian territory in the southwest of Russia. It's led to one adviser to the Ukrainian presidency to say that the gates of war have opened for the Russian population, guys.
SOLOMON: It certainly seems like a new chapter in this war. Fred Pleitgen, thank you. Live for us in Kyiv.
Well, still ahead, a new Florida law restricting drag shows is affecting how Pride Month is being celebrated in the state of Florida, causing some events to be canceled. We'll have that story coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:31:54]
SOLOMON: The prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalie Holloway will soon be extradited to the US. This morning, Joran Van der Sloot was transferred from a maximum security prison in southern Peru to the capital of Lima in preparation for his extradition. He's currently serving on a sentence for killing a Peruvian woman.
BLACKWELL: CNN's Isabel Rosales is joining us now. So Peru has agreed to allow him to be transferred but only for a short time. How was just going to play out?
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, so Joren Van der Sloot is in Lima right now to prison. At some point he's going to be transferred over to a prison in the U.S. but the timing is not exactly known at this moment.
Now this approval of this temporary transfer has been signed off at the highest level of the Peruvian government from the Supreme Court of Peru signed off on it and also the President of Peru. This request originally made by the U.S. Embassy.
Now the Dutch national husband serving out a 28-year prison sentence for the murder of a Peruvian student. Once the legal proceedings are done here in the U.S., he will have to return to Peru to finish out that sentence.
Now Van der Sloot has been the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teen Natalie Holloway. Holloway was last seen alive with Van der Sloot and two other men 18 years ago in Aruba. Those three men were numerous times arrested but then release via -- due to a lack of evidence. Holloway's body has not been found. An Alabama judge in 2012 legally declared her death.
Now these charges that Van der Sloot is facing here in the U.S. have to do with extortion and wire fraud. And that is because the family put out a reward of $250,000 originally for information that would lead to the finding of Holloway, and he said hey, I know where her body is that, a representative of family actually went to Aruba. He pointed to a home the foundation said that's where her body is to $25,000 initially from the family, then call them up and said hey, I lied, that's not where her body is.
So that turned out to be false information. To this day again they have not found her body. Nobody has been charged in her murder.
BLACKWELL: Isabel Rosales, thank you.
ROSALES: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: All right, June is Pride Month but this year, there are some communities that are having some difficulty coming together to celebrate the LGBTQ community. In Florida, some pride events and parades are being scaled back some even canceled. And this is out of fear over consequences from a new law that targets some say drag shows and performances.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL (voiceover): Pride across Florida will be noticeably less colorful this year. Festival organizers are making significant changes or canceling altogether some LGBTQ plus celebrations. They fear potential consequences from Governor Ron DeSantis's new law that many believe targets public drag performances, a mainstay of pride events.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome, welcome to St. Cloud's first Pride event.
It's very disheartening. Kristina Bozanich, its coordinator of Pride in St. Cloud canceled the Orlando area event that was planned to include drag performers.
[08:35:00]
According to the new laws signed by DeSantis just weeks ago, local governments are banned from issuing public permits for events that includes some adult live performances, venues risk steep fines and losing licensing if a child is present, knowingly admitting a child would be a first degree misdemeanor.
KRISTINA BOZANICH, COORDINATOR, PRIDE IN ST. CLOUD: Once the bill was signed, I said, we can restructure the event, we'll make sure it's only 18 and up for that portion. They went and talked with all the performers and came back to me and said, we're really sorry, but we just don't feel safe.
BLACKWELL: Organizers in Port St. Lucie canceled its annual Pride Parade. They reached an agreement with the city to host a slimmed down festival. Drag performers were welcome. But anyone under 21 was not.
STEPHANIE PEYMAN, STUDENT: I was in the closet for so many years and I still face hatred and oppression. And I came up with my own PrideFest.
BLACKWELL: Kissimmee Pride is on but drag indoors only. STPEHANIE BECHARA, COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC MANAGER, CITY OF KISSIMMEE: For example, Drag Bingo will be taking place inside of our civic center. And it will be an event where we will be requiring IDs and we're also asking folks to go ahead and pre-register online to participate.
BLACKWELL: John Panesar is Orlando restaurant Hamburger Mary's, host drag shows most nights. He's filed a federal lawsuit against the state. He claims he's losing business because of the new law. DeSantis's office has not responded to a CNN request for comment on the lawsuit.
JOHN PAONESSA, OWNER, HAMBURGER MARY'S: We have a street party with a stage with performers out front during Pride, we usually get three or 4,000 people in the street watching. That's something we can't do.
BLACKWELL: At the start of a month, that's in part a celebration of visibility. Some feel that the Sunshine State is shoving them back into darkness.
PAONESSA: Now, with the governor stepping in and the legislation that's going through, it's -- we're moving back in time. And it's unfortunate for us and everybody else in the state because what they're doing, it's heartbreaking.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: So the annual gay days in Central Florida usually welcomes 150,000 or more people from around the world to celebrate Pride. They're happening now. And there was a Drag Bingo event hosted last night that welcomed all ages. We just reached out to the CEO of Gay Days who says there were children as young as seven months old there and the program the night went on with no problems.
SOLOMON: All right, Victor, thank you. And still ahead in Idaho hospital still unable to accept patients by ambulance four days after a cyber-attack forced it to send patients elsewhere. Coming up, we're going to talk to a cybersecurity expert, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:41:52]
SOLOMON: Welcome back. In Idaho, hospitals still unable to accept patients nearly a week after a cyberattack on Monday, hackers targeted the 88-bed Idaho Falls Community Hospital. Ambulances are being diverted from the hospital and doctors and nurses they are now using pen and paper rather than computers for patient charts.
It's just the latest example of a hacking incident complicating healthcare in the U.S. throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, ransomware and other cyberattacks pose a threat to hospitals and patients.
Joining me now is John Riggi. He is the National Advisor for Cybersecurity and Risk at the American Hospital Association. That's an organization that represents more than 5,000 hospitals across the US. John, welcome. Good morning.
JOHN RIGGI, NATIONAL ADVISOR FOR CYBERSECURITY AND RISK, AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: Good morning. Thank you.
SOLOMON: So, how concerned are -- of course welcome to the program. How concerned should we be about cybersecurity concerns like this? I mean, how widespread is the issue?
RIGGI: Unfortunately, it is a very, very significant issue that's impacting hospitals in every state in the country, literally from Washington State to Puerto Rico, from California, up to Massachusetts and Washington, New Jersey, and in the types of hospitals being attacked, range from 25 bed, rural hospitals, all the way up to these multi state multi 1,000-bed systems. So it is a pretty significant issue. And it is our top cyber threat concern right now.
SOLOMON: So it's interesting to hear you say the variety of hospitals that have been under attack because I wonder in terms of how hospitals can protect themselves. I wonder, is it a question about the expense of cybersecurity protection. But if you're listing big hospitals and small hospitals, I would imagine all sorts of budgetary concerns within the range.
RIGGI: Exactly, finances are definitely part of the issue, especially post pandemic. We were under hospitals were under very, very significant financial strain workforce shortage that contributed but hospitals know they must do what they can to protect their systems, but most importantly, to protect patients.
An ultimately, any hospital from small to large, multi-state systems, the moment they connect to the internet, they're all exposed, but they're not all equally vulnerable. And that's where we try to understand where those gaps are and help them correct those vulnerabilities.
SOLOMON: John, when we see these type of hacking incidents, what is it that they are actually after? Is it the patient data? Or is it just the data because that gets them to the ransom that they're after?
RIGGI: Well, these foreign based bad guys, as I always say, and I used to say when I was in the FBI, are really they claim that this is a financial crime, that they're financially motivated that they want the data, they actually in ransomware attacks, encrypt the data, so they deny availability of the data and shut down hospital networks.
The reason why they're attacking hospitals so frequently is because they understand there is an urgency by the hospitals to restore systems as soon as possible to care for patients and save lives.
[08:45:02]
So bottom line, these are financially motivated crimes. And they're extorting hospitals, because of the risk to patient safety, which not only really is a risk to the patients inside the hospital, but these attacks represent a risk to the entire community served by these hospitals.
It's the community who is also placed at risk that depends upon the availability of the hospital, that emergency department, especially in cases of stroke, heart attack, and trauma.
SOLOMON: Well, and then as you point out, it's not just the specific hospital, but then there was also a spillover effect, other hospitals in that region perhaps become overwhelmed, because then they see sort of an uptick in how many people need to come to their hospitals.
John, before I let you go, what needs to be done here? I mean, this is obviously an issue of grave concern, what needs to be done here? Is it that hospitals need to clearly beef up their resources in terms of their budget for cyberattacks? Or do we need to see some a step up in terms of regulation here?
RIGGI: Well, I think there's a number of factors which could contribute to the reduction of risk. First of all, it starts with the technology that we use, the vast majority of technology, we use third party technology.
So as in President Biden's recently released cyber strategy, it's really a part of that responsibility is on the big tech to ensure that the technology that we use is secure by design as soon as we implement it into our systems.
Two, we absolutely need to do what we can to increase our defenses. And every CEO I speak to these days now ranks cyber risk is one of their top enterprise risk issues. And ultimately, though, this is not purely a defensive issue, just as in the global fight against terrorism, we need the government to continue on its efforts of offensive cyber operations against these foreign based ransomware groups which are targeting us healthcare.
So it's a combination of more secure, more secure tech, increased defenses, and continuing for the government to work with the government to increase risk and consequences against these foreign bad guys that are attacking us hospitals, and placing us communities at risk.
SOLOMON: John Riggi, thank you for the time today. Victor, what's interesting is that he says, you know, he talks to CEOs from hospitals and they say cybersecurity is one of their top concerns. Even when you talk to executives and you look at polling outside of hospitals. They list cybersecurity as their top concern too. But it obviously with hospitals has an additional level of gravity because of patients that are at risk.
BLACKWELL: And of course, the government relies on the private sector to pay for those to protect all of these infrastructures and they just simply don't have the resources especially some of those small community hospitals. Excellent interview.
Next, we're going to go to Mars live. Well, not really. Kind of live, we'll explain.
SOLOMON: Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:52:24]
BLACKWELL: The European Space Agency is celebrating its 20th anniversary of the launch of the Mars Express orbiter.
SOLOMON: And part of that included hosting a historic and live picture show from Mars. CNN's Sam Foreman has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The European Space Agency builders as the first ever live transmission of images from Mars. Well, live is a relative term here. These were taken about every 48, 58 seconds, still photos then they were transmitted back and over 187 million miles that took 16, 17 minutes per picture.
So not live like we would know it and it was taken from an orbiter going around the planet, it wasn't something on the surface.
So in some ways underwhelming but in other ways really interesting because this was to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Mars Express orbiter which has been up there going around the planet, helping us understand what surface conditions are like, what the geology is like, it's helped do research into the ideas of water and ice on Mars and the general geology of Mars.
And when you put that together with all the other exploration of Mars that has been done by other probes and satellite, some from NASA things that have landed on the surface, and looked around, it's deepening our knowledge, deepening our knowledge of this planet, the next one out from the sun beyond us, beyond that big asteroid belt, and then Jupiter.
So it's deepening our knowledge of this planet, and paving the way for what we need to know if we actually want to send people on that roughly nine-month voyage, depending on the position of the planets, and have them walk on this very surface that we've only been able to see in pictures. And now at least in a way, live pictures.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Tom Foreman, thank you. And thank you for joining us. We'll see you back here in just about an hour.
SOLOMON: Smerconish meantime is up next. But first, here's today's staying well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SHEEHAN FISHER, PSYCHIATRY PROFESSOR, NORTHWESTERN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Many times our identities heavily defined by our job status and position which leads to a lot of distress when you're having a layoff. So it's important to make time to grieve the loss of a job and also even the aspirations you had at the previous place of employment as opposed to make specific time degree so that doesn't consume your whole day to focus on other parts of your life that are value based and important.
There isn't a specific amount of time degree that would vary depending on the person. It's important to keep in mind that you did have a clear structure for your day when you were working. Make sure you create a structure and find ways to find meaning in different parts of your day, including making sure you wake up on time and go to sleep on time, having a set mealtime.
[08:55:10]
Mindfulness can be really essential to helping a person manager lay off. Mindfulness is about being present, of course is understandable a person might become consumed by the thoughts about the layoff and what they went through engaging with loved ones and friends allows you out of your mind while having a meal and eating mindfully or enjoying cooking and engaging and other activities that are stimulating and engaging.
Sometimes it's helpful to seek support from a professional such as a therapist or a coach, and also make sound decisions regarding your career that are not influenced by fear or your past experience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
