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Trump Faces 37 Criminal Counts In Detailed Indictment; Trump 37-Count Indictment Includes Charges Of Obstruction Of Justice And False Statements; Indictment: Trump Was Personally Involved In Packing Boxes That Held Classified Documents; Missing Children In The Amazon Found Alive After 40 Days; At Least 9 Shot At A San Francisco Party Overnight; U.S. Air Quality Improves As Canada Wildfires Lessen. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired June 10, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:35]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, and good morning. Welcome to CNN this morning. It is Saturday, June 10th. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thank you for spending part of your morning with us. There is a lot going on. So let's get right to it. Here's what we're watching for you this morning. Former President Trump launched a series of attacks on the special counsel after the unsealing of the indictment in the classified documents investigation. The reaction coming in from the indictment and what we expect to hear from the former President today.

WALKER: We're following a remarkable survival story out of Colombia. Four children are found alive after spending 40 days alone in the Amazon jungle. We're going to take you inside the effort to find them.

BLACKWELL: Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalie Holloway faced a Federal Judge in Alabama. The reaction coming in from Holloway's family and why van der Sloot could ultimately decide what happens next.

WALKER: The skies over much of the East Coast have cleared up after smoke from wildfires in Canada blanketed the region this week. Why scientists say we could likely see more of these devastating wildfires in the future.

BLACKWELL: We begin with Donald Trump rally -- railing against an unprecedented indictment against him in the handling of classified documents. Now, after the indictment was unsealed, Trump lashed out at Special Counsel Jack Smith, calling him a Trump hater and a deranged lunatic. Now, this is the first time a former President has been charged with crimes in Federal Court. Trump faces a total of 37 counts, including 31 counts of willful attention of National Defense information.

WALKER: The indictment contains new details about Trump's handling of top-secret documents. It includes photos of boxes containing classified documents at various locations at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort and residence including a bathroom, a ballroom, a shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room. Special Counsel Jack Smith encouraged people to read the entire indictment to understand the scope of the charges. He says no one is above the law.

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JACK SMITH, SPECIAL COUNSEL, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: Our laws that protect National Defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States and they must be enforced. Violations of those laws put our country at risk. Adherence to the rule of law is a bedrock principle of the Department of Justice. And our nation's commitment to the rule of law sets an example for the world. We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: So Trump is due in Court for an arraignment in Miami at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday. He will hear the charges against him and is expected to enter a not-guilty plea.

BLACKWELL: Now among the charges, Trump is facing obstruction of justice. CNN Correspondent Kara Scannell has a breakdown of the allegations in the indictment.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Federal prosecutors laid out their criminal case against former President Donald Trump. The indictment now unsealed and charges Trump with 37 felony counts. Those include retaining documents containing U.S. National Defense information, concealing possession of classified documents from investigators, conspiracy to obstruct the investigation, and false statements. Trump aide Walt Nauta was also charged with conspiracy.

In the 44-page indictment, prosecutors describe how the documents were sloppily stored, left in areas easily accessible to the public, and even placed in a bathroom. The indictment alleges Trump worked with Nauta after learning about a Justice Department's subpoena for records to remove dozens of boxes before his attorneys could review them. Among the records Trump retained were ones including nuclear secrets according to the indictment. Trump has said he will plead not guilty to the charges when he is brought to this courthouse on Tuesday to be arraigned.

In a surprise move Friday, Trump shook up his legal team, replacing two of his attorneys who had steered him through this investigation with a former Federal Prosecutor in New York named Todd Blanche. Trump also retained Blanche to represent him in the New York State case involving the hush money payments. Trump has pleaded not guilty to those charges. Kara Scannell, CNN, Miami.

WALKER: Joining me now is Michael Zeldin, a former Federal Prosecutor, and Robert Mueller's, former Special Assistant at the DOJ. Michael, good morning to you. Thank you so much for joining us. I read through the indictment. I'm sure you did as well. I mean, the

details are stunning, you know, the -- the alleged lies that were encouraged and made, the way that these highly sensitive government secrets were stored at a resort and a residence. I'm just curious, as a foreign prosecutor and as an American citizen, what went through your mind as you read these details?

[06:05:20]

MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, they were stunning, honestly. Jack Smith asked us to read the entire higher indictment. But I think if you read paragraph three, which details the nature of the documents, and as Kara said, they did include nuclear weapons, military attack plans, responses by our allies to attacks.

And then paragraphs 34 and 35, which I think are the most damning which talk about how Trump purposefully shared documents which he knew were classified, which he shouldn't have been sharing with others. And then 58 to 62, which is the scheme by which he sought to deny the DOJ these documents. If you just read those couple of paragraphs and you understand the seriousness of these charges and why Jack Smith felt the need to indict.

WALKER: Yes. I'm -- I'm glad you mentioned paragraph three. We have that in a full screen. And I just want to read that out loud because it's right off the top of this indictment. And it says in paragraph three, the classified documents Trump stored in his boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries, the United States nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to a military attack and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack. I mean, we can't overstate the national security complication -- implications to this.

ZELDIN: Absolutely. And you wonder, how did he get these out of the Whitehouse? In the first instance, what level of neglect was there in the Whitehouse that would allow a former President or a President to become former President to take out nuclear secrets and under the classification requirements, the President can't even declassify them by himself.

You need the atomic energy people, the Atomic Energy Commission people, to participate in that declassification. It's just really stunning, Amara. I think there's such a total systemic breakdown when you look at this case, in addition to the, you know, criminal activities, the alleged criminal activities of the former President.

WALKER: Let's talk about some of the evidence that led to this indictment. Obviously, Evan Corcoran, his voice memo notes were obviously critical. But also the audio that was obtained. And the indictment lays out on two occasions at Trump's club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump allegedly showed off some of these classified documents to people who didn't have security clearance.

And those documents, one was a plan of attack against Iran and that is where there is audio. And CNN first reported on this last week, where you hear Trump saying and acknowledging that the documents that were in his possession were indeed not declassified cutting against his claims publicly that all the documents he took were automatically declassified by him. But how significant do you think that audio recording was in getting to this indictment?

ZELDIN: Well, I think that's paragraph 34, and then paragraph 35 is the sharing of a classified map with members of the Trump pact. Those two paragraphs, I think, are the most damning in the entire indictment because they show knowledge on his part of possession of classified documents and purposeful sharing of that with people who are unauthorized to receive it.

I think that audio tape was very important in charge -- in charging that particular count and I think will be very important for the jury to understand just how cavalier the President was in respect of handling of and disseminating classified information.

WALKER: And tell our viewers, talk to -- talk to us about the obstruction of justice charge and how Evan Corcoran, a Trump attorney, how his voice memos played such a critical role.

ZELDIN: Right. And that's 58 to 62 in the indictment. And what it says is that DOJ said, we want these documents back. And Corcoran, the lawyer for Trump, said, well, I have to do a search, Mr. President. He said fine. Let's do your search on June 1st or June 2nd. And before the search, before Corcoran got there to do the search, Trump and Nauto are alleged to have removed documents from the storage facility that Corcoran was going to search, didn't tell Corcoran that they removed boxes of documents, had him do this partial search, and then certify that a -- that a complete search was done. So they removed boxes of documents, didn't tell the lawyer, had the lawyer do an incomplete search, have them believe it was a full search, certify it, and then that was the concealment scheme.

[06:10:09]

WALKER: So I've heard a lot of concerns being aired about Judge Eileen Cannon who has been assigned to oversee Trump's criminal case. She was indeed appointed by Trump. And you may remember this Judge's name because she was the one that ruled in favor of Trump's request to point a special master to review those documents that were seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago. Do you have concerns about her overseeing this case?

ZELDIN: I have concerns about it not because she is a Trump appointee. Trump-appointed judges can do just as good a job as Biden or Obama- appointed Judges. My concern with her is one, there's an appearance because of the failure she had in the previous case.

But two, this is a complicated case because of national security overlays to all of these documents and she's a very inexperienced judge. She was on the Court for just a couple of years. I would much prefer to have seen this case assigned to a much more experienced judge. And you might see the DOJ move for her to be recused or for her to recuse herself because the serious nature of this and her previous problems in the earlier Mar-a-Lago case. WALKER: And just quickly, big picture here, how serious is this

indictment? I mean, could Trump face jail time, prison time?

ZELDIN: Well, for sure. If he were convicted of any of these charges, prison is the natural byproduct of a conviction. Now, in the case of a former President, if Biden remains President or somebody else other than Trump is President, they may choose to move like Gerald Ford did and pardon him or somehow prevent him from having to go to jail. But if he's convicted, jail is the logical outcome of such a conviction.

WALKER: Michael Zeldin, appreciate your analysis. Thank you very much.

BLACKWELL: President Biden has so far refused to comment on the special counsel's indictment of Donald Trump. Hear from the other 2024 candidates about the indictment. Also, four children have survived more than a month alone in the Amazon. How rescuers located them and what we're hearing from their families this morning.

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[06:16:27]

BLACKWELL: President Biden has not weighed in on the new indictment of Donald Trump and it's not likely that he will. Biden and his aides have refused to comment on the issue. They're trying to maintain independence from the Special Counsel's investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents.

WALKER: CNN's Jasmine Wright is now at the Whitehouse. Jasmine, so this approach or strategy is similar to how Biden handled things after Trump's first indictment, right? Tell us what's behind that strategy.

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITEHOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, we saw it in full motion yesterday. It was business as usual for President Biden when we saw him in North Carolina, a chip focused on jobs and military families. And he stuck close to that strategy, which in essence is to say nothing. And now there are two reasons, among many, but two major reasons behind that.

First, the President wants to really project an air of calm and normalcy as his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, is really engulfed around chaos. And then secondly, and President Biden and his aides have discussed this at length, really, is talking about the fact that they don't want to add any fuel to President -- former President Trump's claims that he is a victim of a political witch hunt by Biden's Justice Department. So, therefore, the folks in this building behind me understand that President Biden is walking really a tricky balance here.

And they saw that yesterday when that trip in North Carolina focused on President Biden's official agenda. He was repeatedly asked about his reaction to former President Trump's indictment over and over again by reporters, including by CNN. Take a listen to his answer here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Biden, have you spoken to Attorney General Merrick Garland yet?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have not spoken to him at all. I'm not going to speak to him and no comment on what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: So I expect that we will hear that no comment from President Biden over the last -- over the next few days until he finally weighs in, as well as from the Whitehouse who is firmly in the no comment section as well, really as they try to project President Biden as a President who follows a rule of law and who is not going to intervene or interject and really try to let this process play out without his hands on it. Now, we will see President Biden again today when he hosts a Pride celebration at the South Lawn, where again, he could possibly be questioned by it. But I have to tell you guys, I don't expect him at this moment to answer. Victor. Amara.

WALKER: Yes. Jasmine Wright, appreciate it. Thank you. And speaking of business as usual, Donald Trump as he's blasting Special Counsel Jack Smith in the wake of his federal indictment, the former President is keeping his schedule as planned. He will hold campaign rallies in Georgia and North Carolina today.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Alayna Treene is with us now. So he's keeping the schedule despite the indictment. What should we expect from the former President today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, good morning. I am here just outside where the former President is at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. And he will be leaving soon to travel to Georgia and North Carolina for these pair of campaign stops. And really, it's the first time we're going to hear from him publicly and in live remarks since the indictment not only was released and announced on Thursday. But the charges were unsealed yesterday afternoon.

Now, I am told that by someone I spoke with last night who's been working with Donald Trump and is there at Bedminster with him that they spent yesterday working on his speech. And he said that the former President remains "defiant". But I will say that's the image that they want to portray. I do know that really, I've been speaking with a lot of advisors and aides with him in the last 48 hours.

And yesterday, after the charges were unsealed, they -- they were feeling a bit of a mood shift within the golf club. And those surrounding him had told me that while Thursday night they felt like they were focused on the political implications of this, they thought that if they could see a potential political boost for his reelection campaign.

[06:20:11]

By Friday afternoon, after those charges were unsealed, they were starting to have more concerns about the legal implications of this and how this could play out legally. And so I'm very interested to see what the former President will say today and we'll keep you posted on those details, Victor and Amara.

WALKER: And Alayna, I mean, we heard a lot of reaction from Republican lawmakers before the indictment was unsealed. Have we heard the same amount and same strong reaction after the unsealing and the details of the indictment coming out?

TREENE: We haven't and it's a very noticeable shift, I should say, after those charges were unsealed. I know that for the past couple of days now, Donald Trump and his team had been bracing for news of this indictment. And because of that, they were reaching out to their allies on Capitol Hill, circulating talking points, and encouraging them to come out and defend him if an indictment was announced. And we did see them do that Thursday evening.

People like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and some of his other Republican allies on Capitol Hill issuing statements of support. But that did change once those charges were unsealed. Well, many of those people who had defended him on Thursday were not coming out to defend him again once they set out those charges as some, however, did. We did see Congressman Andy Biggs. He is a very fierce defender of Donald Trump and a very conservative member of the House.

He's part of the House Freedom Caucus. And he wrote in a Tweet, he wrote, "We have now reached a war phase, eye for an eye." And so I think this just demonstrates to you that regardless of these charges, Donald Trump's fiercest defenders will -- are still coming to his aid. And we're seeing all of that support from his base remain there. I think the question we're looking for is will that support remained among others in some of the more moderate Republicans in Congress.

BLACKWELL: Alayna Treene, thank you so much. Here to discuss all this with me is CNN Political Commentator Errol Lewis. Errol, good morning to you. What do you expect from the former President today in Georgia and North Carolina?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor. I think what we're going to see is more of the same, where Donald Trump will make reckless and probably false statements about what he intended, what he did, proclaiming his innocence, which she, of course, is entitled to do. But also contradicting some of what is already laid out in the indictment, you know. And these are sworn statements that are in this indictment. This is very serious stuff that he's facing.

But throughout this entire ordeal, Donald Trump has pretty consistently just pretty much just said whatever came to or popped into his head, saying that he could declassify documents by thinking about them, that he did so. It's baffling in some ways that he continues to sort of spin this alternative universe. All but his most loyal followers, I think, realize that he's in a lot of legal trouble.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I mean, the details of this indictment undermine the I think, therefore I declassify defense from the former President. Errol, I find myself reconsidering a pretty pedestrian observation considering what happened after the search in August of Mar-a-Lago and the New York indictment and this is in the political context only. But this -- this is bad for Donald Trump politically or is it not?

LEWIS: I think in the short term, they will try to spin it to their advantage. The fundraising emails have already gone out. Donald Trump saying that I'm a victim. The Department of Justice is being weaponized against me. They're trying to stop me because I'm a potent political candidate, you know. Please click the button at the bottom of this email and send me $24.

So he's -- he's already doing that. So in the short term, sure. Of course. In the long term, though, let's remember, Victor, this is somebody who got voted out office after one term. This is somebody who polls have consistently showed has come nowhere near 50 percent approval with the general public. The Republican base is another story.

So Yes, will it help him get the Republican nomination? Yes, it will. The amount of fame and activity, his ability to rally his base, that's all going to work to his advantage with the fast-approaching primaries. But then what happens after that? What's the path that leads him back to the White House? I don't see it. It's just not there.

BLACKWELL: But you'll remember during the Senate race and the runoff in Georgia between Herschel Walker and Reverend Warnock, we heard some Republicans say they didn't care whether Herschel Walker paid for an abortion. They wanted control of the Senate, right? And we heard that from several people. Now, paying for an abortion is not illegal and there are 37 counts here. But does this now or eventually reach that threshold where Republicans will say, okay, Yes, we see that, but we can't have another the four years of Biden.

[06:25:03]

LEWIS: Right. Well, I mean, look, that -- that -- its -- it's pretty blunt the way you describe it, Victor. But that is the system operating the way it's intended to, meaning there's supposed to be a course correction when either party goes in too far of a direction that's away from the mainstream. And they -- it's self-correcting by the process of losing elections. So, you know, the Republican Party in Georgia has to really take -- take a close look at what they did, why they did it, and if they want to continue to lose then they can keep doing the same thing or they could do a course correction. I think the -- the ultimate argument against Donald Trump, and only a couple of his rivals, I think, have already started to go in this direction is that he cannot win, that you cannot win with him, that he has lost elections. That when he came in 2017 when he was sworn in, Victor, let's remember, Republicans had control of both houses of Congress and the Whitehouse. And they lost all three of those things within four years. And there's no sign of them getting that back with Donald Trump as the leader of the party.

So if people absorb that message and people make that argument, then you might see something change. But other than that, you know, there are some people who are willing to go over the cliff with Donald Trump one more time.

BLACKWELL: Well, they did win control of the House in 2022. And here is House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, his reaction to the indictment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): That this judgment is wrong by this DOJ. That they treated President Trump differently than they treat others, and it didn't have to be this way. This is going to disrupt this nation because it goes to the core of equal justice for all, which is not being seen today, and we are not going to stand for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes. I wonder, this could have been recorded before the unsealing of the indictment if you pay attention to what McCarthy said as we got the first reporting after Trump said he was indicted. What do you hear there from Speaker McCarthy?

LEWIS: Yes, you know, in fact, I was going to ask you if it was before or after the indictment. There's this autoimmune reaction within the Republican Party where anything bad said about Donald Trump immediately produces a reaction. If the -- the Courts have said something negative, then there must be a problem with the Judge or with the courts or with the law itself, or with the Congress or with the media. Everybody's fault except for Donald Trump and that's what you just heard Kevin McCarthy, you know, sort of flexing that muscle.

Now, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, I think you might have been there, too, Victor. Kevin McCarthy was on the floor at the convention center in Cleveland in 2016 chanting lock her up over Hillary Clinton over the emails and the servers and all of those allegations. So if they want consistency here, Republicans, I think, are going to have to look long and hard internally and decide whether or not they want to get away from weaponizing the idea of -- of Courts being used to support one man or to support a party, or to be shouted from the floor of a convention and utterly politicized. If we can get back to normal and break this fever, I think we'll all be a lot better off.

WALKER: So let's talk about timing. The New York case, related to hush money that's expected to go to trial in March of next year, will be well into the primary season. The Special Prosecutor says that he wants and will be pursuing a speedy trial here. We know that the President and his legal team, they like delays. But does this election now become less about revenge and more about freedom for Donald Trump, that he's got to win, essentially, if the -- the government can prove this case?

LEWIS: You know, it's interesting there are a lot of different variations within that question. I mean, there are questions being asked of Republican candidates, for example, about whether or not they would part into Donald Trump if he should be convicted. And at least one candidate has said that he would do it on his first day if he gets elected. So, yes, I guess this will become part of what gets talked about on the campaign trail. It's really unfortunate because we're supposed to be looking at the law and the facts in these individual cases. It's certainly not supposed to be determined at the ballot box.

Now, will it inevitably come up on the campaign trail? Well, it has to for the reasons you just described. I mean, the New York case is supposed to be happening right when the early primaries are going off, with or without delays, it'll at least be talked about when those primaries are coming up.

The indictment unsealed yesterday, that will probably fall later in the season. But, you know, even with delays, it will probably be talked about. There will be advances, there will be motions made, and decisions rulings from the Court. So it's going to be part of this campaign whether we like it or not and it's one more unfortunate part of this whole saga.

BLACKWELL: Errol Lewis, thanks so much.

WALKER: Well, they have been a saying for 40 days, and now, after weeks of searching for children have been found alive in the Amazon jungle, a really incredible story of survival. We will have that next.

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[06:30:00]

WALKER: They have been missing for 40 days, and now after weeks of searching, four children have been found alive in the Amazon jungle. A really incredible story of survival. We will have that next.

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WALKER: Now to the extraordinary rescue of four young children missing in the Colombian Amazon rain forest for 40 days.

BLACKWELL: Wow --

WALKER: Hours ago, they arrived in Colombia's capital city aboard a military ambulance that airlifted them from the jungle. Colombian President Gustavo Petro says the children appeared weak when they were rescued and received medical treatment before they boarded that plane.

BLACKWELL: It really is a remarkable --

WALKER: Yes --

BLACKWELL: Story. So these are four siblings, they were found yesterday, the small plane they were on -- they were traveling on crashed in the jungle more than a month ago. The mother and two adult passengers including the pilot were killed in that crash.

[06:35:00]

Stefano Pozzebon is live in Bogota. Amazing story. Do we have an update first on the health of these children?

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes, Victor. This is a story that really, I think, takes your breath away. We don't have an updating -- an update on their health. We know, however, that the four kids have been taken to Bogota Central Military Hospital. They arrived here in the capital at about midnight early on Saturday morning as Amara was saying.

They have already been seen by a team of doctors in the air ambulance that flew them from San Jose Del Guaviare to the capital city here in Colombia, Bogota, it's about 180 miles flight. And they are currently receiving treatment. We don't know, however, Victor, if they have already been able to see their father who was with indigenous scouts in the middle of the jungle trying to locate them for these frantic five and a half weeks that really have taken this whole nation and kept it without a breath for four -- for five weeks. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POZZEBON (voice-over): Rescue mission successful against all odds. Four children found alive after spending 40 days in the thick of the Amazon jungle, bringing their relatives to tears.

NARCIZO MUCUTUY, MISSING CHILDREN IN AMAZON'S GRANDFATHER (through translator): Let them come here to their grandparents, to their aunt and their uncle, their grandmother.

POZZEBON: Colombian President Gustavo Petro sharing the good news with reporters.

GUSTAVO PETRO, PRESIDENT, COLOMBIA (through translator): The indigenous and the military together found the kids after 40 days. They were alone. A historical statement of survival today. These are the children of peace and the children of Colombia.

POZZEBON: The rescue on Friday night caps an all-round effort by hundreds of soldiers and indigenous scouts to locate the little ones who had gone missing since the small plane they were traveling on with their mother crashed in the forest on the 1st of May. The bodies of their mother and two other adults were soon recovered, but hope never faded to find them alive.

The Colombian military finding footprints and scattered relics to keep the search going day after day, until finally, a photo emerged from the depth of the forest, we have them, they're coming home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POZZEBON: It's just amazing if you think about how young these kids are. The youngest of them past his -- her first birthday in the thick of the jungle. She's just 1-year-old. Victor, Amara?

WALKER: It's just incredible. I mean, first up, they survived this plane crash, and then to have survived for 40 days, what did they eat? What did they drink? My goodness. So many questions. Stefano Pozzebon, thank you so much. Back after this.

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[06:40:00]

WALKER: At least nine people were shot at a San Francisco party overnight. Police said it was part of a quote, "targeted and isolated incident". Five of those struck by gunfire were hospitalized. All are expected to recover. No arrests have been reported.

BLACKWELL: That wildfire smoke that blanketed some major U.S. cities this week has started to lift. Now, the reprieve is partly due to cooling temperatures across Canada that had lessened fire activity and intensity.

WALKER: But experts warn that Canada's wildfire season is off to an unprecedented start. This video shows a massive fire in British Colombia, it is one of 78 active wildfires in that province alone. CNN's Paula Newton has more from Canada.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Canadian officials say that there are fewer fires burning now than there were earlier this week, having said that, you have to keep in mind there are fires burning right across this country from the west to the east. It is on track already to be the second worst fire season ever in this country, and it will likely be surpassed, given the fact that this is still early in that wildfire season.

Now, having said all of this, what is going to help the most is some cooler, wetter weather moving through some critical regions like Quebec hopefully in the next few days. This will continue to be a problem though, and I want you to see why? Have a look at this map. This is a Canada, in fact, North America, it includes Alaska, the Boreal zone.

It includes millions of hectares of Boreal forest. Those places have been susceptible to more wildfires given climate change. It's not a clear pattern, it is incredibly complex. But the fact remains that there have been more wildfires and they emit carbon of their own that also adds to the climate crisis.

Given what you see there, officials in the United States and Canada are trying to see if they come up with some kind of joint fire management system that includes better ways to try and manage wildfires in the future and also obviously, trying to pull resources, trying to really not just prevent the fires, but when they see hotspots, get on top of it right away. Having said that, officials say to prepare for what unfortunately will be a very severe wildfire season in the months to come. Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Experts say this is just the beginning of an unusual intense wildfire season that could burn thousands of acres across North America and cause serious health risk for millions. Here with me for now is -- with more is NASA Wildfire expert Liz Hoy.

[06:45:00]

Thank you for being with me. So this is -- this was remarkable. Wildfires in Canada have already burned 15 times the normal acreage burned by this time of the year. Why is this happening? ELIZABETH HOY, NASA CLIMATE & WILDFIRE EXPERT: Yes, that's a great

question, and thanks so much for having me. You know, what we're really seeing is that we're getting these hotter, drier spells of weather as you've seen up in Canada. And with that hotter and drier air temperatures, we're seeing vegetation drying out, and it's just more available to burn. So, we see these burns happening more frequently because the weather conditions are just setting it up for those burns to happen.

BLACKWELL: And then the fires lead to more fires, this cycle. Explain that.

HOY: Yes, so what we see is that as the climate is changing, as we're -- as we're warming, you know, nine of the last ten years have been the warmest years on record. We're setting the stage with these hotter and drier temperatures, which can lead to more fire. So these fires are happening, they release carbon into the atmosphere, which then causes more warming of the atmosphere, which then can lead to hotter and drier temperatures resulting and there's more fires. So it's this positive feedback cycle where leading to more fire.

BLACKWELL: All right, well, you brought all the good news today, Liz, that we're going to see more of this and it's just going to be more fire burning. But I wonder though, are we going to see in New York, New Jersey, along the East Coast, Baltimore and D.C., more of this really thick smoke dragging south? Is that what we're going to see for the rest of the Summer as these fires continue to burn in Canada?

HOY: Yes, that's a good question. And so, we would expect that we are trending towards the possibility of having more of these smoke events. You know, this has happened from time to time over the years, but you need the right conditions to actually blow the smoke down into New York and even where I am down in Maryland.

And you don't always get those exact conditions, but you are seeing a trend towards more fire in Boreal regions. So people in Boreal forest like in Alaska and in Canada are experiencing fire more frequently, but it doesn't mean it's always going to blow to where we live further down on the East Coast.

BLACKWELL: So we're not going to slow climate change over the next couple of months, but is there anything that can be done now to make this season less severe?

HOY: I think that as a community, as a society, we are just always working towards better understanding what's happening in here. NASA continues to do this. We do a lot of modeling of fire events and smoke and aerosols. We have a bunch of over 20 satellites up in the sky looking down on earth, trying to better understand the condition and what's happening.

And so, you know, policymakers can take all of that information and turn it into new ways to move forward together, and I think it's just on an individual level learning and sharing what we know with others in our community. You know, I'm a scientist, but I'm also a parent. And I do volunteer activities and such as sharing what I know so that we can all make choices about how we want to, you know, conduct our days every day.

BLACKWELL: Yes, these are long-term solutions that will impact, I guess, fire seasons in decades to come. But it sounds like we're in for one this season that is going to be rough not only in Canada, maybe in the U.S. as well. Liz Hoy, thank you so much for your time.

WALKER: Forty seven years of waiting may finally be over for the Denver Nuggets. The team is now one win away from claiming their first NBA championship. Highlights of last night's game four victory, next.

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[06:50:00]

WALKER: The Denver Nuggets are now just one win away from the team's first NBA Championship after beating the Heat in last night's game four of the final.

BLACKWELL: Andy Scholes is with us now. All right --

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes --

BLACKWELL: So it ain't over, you know, very close.

SCHOLES: It's not over, but it -- statistically it almost is, guys. Because history says things are looking very good for the Denver Nuggets. Now, teams that take a 3-1 lead in the NBA finals, they go on to win 97 percent of the time. So, the only team to ever come back from a 3-1 deficit is LeBron and the Cavs back in 2016.

And Denver fans, they were actually holding their breath in the first quarter last night for a moment, because Nikola Jokic rolled his ankle right here on this play, and anyone back in the locker room, that's always nervous, he would though come back and end up scoring 23 points, grab 12 rebounds.

And where game three was dominated by Jokic and Jamal Murray, game four, a team effort for the Nuggets, Aaron Gordon had his best game in the series, scored 27 points, Denver had a 13-point lead heading into that fourth quarter, the Heat able to cut that lead down to 5, but that would be as close as they would get in this one.

Denver wins 108-95, and are now a win away in their first ever NBA title.

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NIKOLA JOKIC, CENTER, DENVER NUGGETS: Still one win, you know, we need to win one more. We didn't -- I like that we didn't relax. We didn't get comfortable. We are still desperate. We still want it.

MICHAEL MALONE, HEAD COACH, DENVER NUGGETS: It's a good win. We've done our job, but we're not celebrating like we've done anything yet. We know we're going to have to go home and turn off the TV, the radio, don't read the papers, don't listen to everybody telling you how great you are, because we haven't done a damn thing yet. We have to win another game to be world champions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, so the Nuggets can now win the title on their home floor as the series shifts back to Denver for game five Monday night. All right, but the fans in south Florida, they don't get any kind of break, because tonight, the Panthers are going to take the ice for game four, the Stanley Cup final against the Golden Knights.

Florida Championship dreams were looking really grim in game three before they tied it near the end of regulation and then won it in overtime.

[06:55:00]

It was an emotional night for all of the fans there, they got to watch their team get their first ever Stanley Cup final win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL MAURICE, HEAD COACH, FLORIDA PANTHERS: You need to be able to give something back to your fans, and last night, I said, well, let's give back to the fans, right? The first Stanley Cup final win and first in this building. Everybody had a great time. That's what sports is all about in a lot of ways.

WILLIAM KARLSSON, CENTER, VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS: I never expected it to go super easy, and it should not be. To win is a grind. And you know, sometimes you lose. But all that matters is the next game, and focus on that.

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SCHOLES: Yes, so the Panthers are going to look to even the series at two games apiece. Tonight, put draws at 8:00 Eastern on our sister channel "TNT". And guys, I can't even imagine what it's like being a fan in Florida right now --

WALKER: Yes, a lot going on --

SCHOLES: You can watch the Heat in the most --

WALKER: It's possible --

SCHOLES: You know, and all you're rushing that day and then, next time, you've got to watch the Panthers. What a roller coaster.

BLACKWELL: Oh, well, Andy Scholes, thanks so much. So historic, unprecedented moment, the Justice Department lays out the criminal case against Donald Trump over his handling of classified documents. We'll talk about the political, the national security and the legal consequences coming up.

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