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CNN This Morning

American Musician Detained In Russia On Drug Charges; Trump Attacks DOJ, Special Counsel Jack Smith In Wake Of Indictment; Four Children Recovering After Weeks In Amazon; Trump Slams Indictment In Return To Campaign Trail; Top Trainees Violated Medication Rules Meant To Protect Racehorses; Asiana Airlines Hero Speaks To CNN; Technology For Justice. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired June 11, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:12]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Glad you're up. Glad you're with us. Good morning, and welcome to CNN THIS MORNING.

It is Sunday, June 11th. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: It's almost 8:00. I almost lost track of time. I was having much fun with you, Victor.

I'm Amara Walker. Thank you so much for spending part of your morning with us.

A lot we are watching this morning, including Russia saying it has detained an American citizen on drug charges. What we know about him, and the charges he is facing.

BLACKWELL: Former President Trump is back on the campaign trail, and taking a direct aim at the Justice Department and the special counsel. What he is saying about Jack Smith and the indictment, and his plan, even if he is convicted.

WALKER: New details this morning on the for indigenous children rescued after spending 40 days in the Amazon rainforest, including what they ate to stay alive. Also, what we are hearing from doctors on their recovery.

BLACKWELL: And we are hearing from one of the passengers who was on that as we honor airlines flight, you remember this video? You see him there. When that man opened the emergency exit door midflight, what he was thinking during those moments?

First, though, developing out of Russia, a U.S. citizen has been detained on what a Moscow court is calling accusations of engaging in the narcotics business.

WALKER: Travis Leake is a musician who has been living in Russia since 2010, according to "The Associated Press".

Now, CNN reached out to Leake's family, and his mother confirmed that her son, indeed, has been detained. CNN's Jennifer Hansler is following the story for us.

Jennifer, what more are we learning about these charges against Leake?

JENNIFER HANSLER, STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, good morning, Amara and Victor.

At this point, we really only know what that court in Moscow is alleging. They are accusing Travis Leake of being involved in drug dealing, of being, quote, engaging and narcotics business, through attracting young people, as they phrased it in their document. And we know they plan to hold him in detention until at least August. Now, he reportedly told the police he did not know what was being accused of, and he did not understand why he was being detained.

This, of course, comes at a period of extremely high tension between the United States and Russia. They have detained a number of American citizens, two of those Americans, Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, have been classified as wrongfully detained by the U.S. State Department.

And the State Department did not name Travis Leake in any of the reports to us, but they said they were aware of reports of an American who has been arrested in Moscow. And they said that as they do with every single case of an American who is detained abroad, they are working to provide consular access as soon as possible, and that they would work to provide all consular assistance that is appropriate in this case. We are continuing to look for more information about Travis Leake's condition here.

BLACKWELL: Jennifer, back in 2014, almost a decade ago now, the late Anthony Bourdain, he spoke with Leake for an episode of "PARTS UNKNOWN" in Moscow and St. Petersburg. And even then, Leake was outspoken about his frustrations with what he called censorship in Russia. What do we learn from that interview?

HANSLER: Yeah, it's super interesting, Victor, because he did in fact speak to the late Anthony Bourdain and he told him about this incident that had happened between his band and then MTV show that was filming there, and the Russian government. Take a listen to what he told him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVIS LEAKE, MUSICIAN: This was a documentary series about people standing up, risking their lives in some cases, standing up against government power, corruption. And yet, a foreign government was able to editorially control what American viewers see on their TV screens. That, to me, is a scandal of big proportion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANSLER: And so, a producer who worked on that episode told CNN that even back then almost ten years ago, Travis Leake was very passionate about the need for freedom of speech and the state of oppression there in Russia -- Victor, Amara.

WALKER: All right, Jennifer Hansler, thank you very much.

You know, Donald Trump is hitting the campaign trail, and heading back in response to a federal indictment against him. In his first public comments, Trump rallied, railed against the indictment during campaign rallies in Georgia and North Carolina. He's calling it a political hit job.

BLACKWELL: Trump faces 37 counts stemming from the classified documents investigation. He is doing court in Miami Tuesday to hear the charges against him. Trump tells "Politico" he does not anticipate taking the plea deal, and he vows to stay in the race even if he is convicted.

He took aim, of course, as we said, against special counsel Jack Smith, once again calling him deranged, and dismissed the indictment as a joke. Smith is encouraging Americans to read the indictment to understand the seriousness of the charges.

All right. Let's get some insight now and bring in former U.S. attorney Michael Moore.

[08:05:01]

He is a partner at Moore Hall here in Atlanta.

Good to see you again.

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Good to be with you.

BLACKWELL: So, let's start with what of the former president said yesterday. This was at a Republican convention here in Georgia. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDNET: In this whole fake indictment, they don't even ones mention the Presidential Records Act, which is really the ruling act, which this case falls under 100 percent, because they want to use something called the Espionage Act, doesn't that sound terrible? Oh, espionage, I got a box. The espionage -- the Espionage Act of 1917, I think it was put because of World War I access.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. So the Espionage Act, in this case, it's not suggesting that the former president was a spy for some other foreign state, clarifying the context here.

MOORE: Yeah, I do think it's a bit confusing just because of the name. I mean, we think about espionage like somebody leaking secrets to Russia, let's say for instance. This really just talking about the documents. We call it the Espionage Act because they are defense documents that have been in his position. He hasn't returned them. It this is affecting national security. And it's likely, under the circumstances, might lead to somebody

sharing it with a foreign government. It has no -- there is no charge, no allegation that he's been involved in spying or sharing that information.

BLACKWELL: The president did yesterday what for anyone who's being detained for the last several years, would expect he would do, and that would be rail against the special prosecutor, the DOJ. His attorneys have suggested to not do that. What's the impact on the potential or the impending eventual trial?

MOORE: Yeah, he has never found a balance between what he needs to say in the press room versus what he needs to think about in the courtroom. He's never done that. And so, he usually, his mouth is his own worst enemy. That's likely here. And he was given a good advice when they said don't go out and rail against him.

A good prosecutor would probably list everything, saying think about how it may contradict, the testimony, if he decides to testify in trial, and make contradictory arguments, that can flip back at clips and things like that of the statements.

So the best thing he can do now is to concentrate if he's going to continue to campaign, concentrate on his campaign and the feelings he has about, and the policies, and sort of leave these remarks and the smears against the system and against the prosecutor, and certainly against the specific allegations, leave those to his lawyers to talk about in a more professional way.

BLACKWELL: No cameras on the hallways, no still cameras in the courtroom, which is different than what we saw in April for the New York case. Will what happens on Tuesday be materially different than what we saw?

MOORE: You know, in federal court, it's different than state courts. So there are different rules. But by and large, it will be about the same thing. He will go in, he will turn himself in. There will be a processing, he needs to surrender.

He will have a chance to be told what the charges are by a federal judge, a judge will say here's what I expect. This is what we are doing about pre trial release. This is the schedule that's coming forward, at that point, he will be sent to the hallway to protect his own security team and that type of thing.

It's not going to be a lot different than back in May, it wouldn't surprise me, though, if he doesn't make immediate statement after the fact. I expect the calls in his home state, you would like to see a number of supporters gathered in New York. It would surprise me somewhere in if he tried to make a public statement.

BLACKWELL: Yeah. So, every, I guess, legal analyst we've had on the show over the last couple of days has ranged from concerned to calling it a terrible choice that Judge Aileen Cannon was picked in the draw to oversee this case. Many of them expected there will be a motion to have the chief judge removed her from this case. Do you expect that? What's your assessment for potentially moving

forward considering her pick of a special master now being overturned? And is there a strong case to have her removed from this trial moving forward?

MOORE: Yeah, I don't think really there's a strong case for, just because they haven't liked her in the past, just because she might have been reversed and appellate court, that doesn't mean she can't sit on the case. I mean, the appellate court is there basically to decide if judges need to be reversed or not, and it's common, practically, to have a judge who has some familiarity with the facts, and the ins and out of the case. Not a companion case, but a follow along case, so there's nothing particularly unusual about that.

I don't know if it would be a good move, frankly for them to try to have her removed. I think Trump is probably thinking this is great, we're glad to have somebody who may be at least on her face, a friendly judge. And cases oftentimes are about the judge, and the draw of the judge, and because that judge is going to decide scheduling, the judge would be deciding whether or not this case moves forward before the election, making decisions about whether the theories that the prosecution may put forward.

[08:10:06]

So the judge is important, but the fact that she has ruled in a way that the government had to take her up on appeal is not on its face grounds for her to have to get off the case.

BLACKWELL: All right, Michael Moore, thank you.

MOORE: Glad to be with you all.

WALKER: So, as you'd imagine, security will be tight in South Florida Tuesday, as former President Trump heads to the federal courthouse for his arraignment. It is a coordinated effort between local officials, the FBI, and the U.S. Marshals.

CNN's senior crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz breaks down the biggest security concerns ahead of the hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Amara, security preparations continuing here in Miami, in anticipation of the former president's appearance here, where he will be arraigned on that indictment. He is going to be processed like any other defendant would. He will be photographed, fingerprinted, and then advised of his charges once he appears before the federal judge here in Miami.

A lot of preparations that are underway. We don't know much about that just yet. We expect on Monday we will start to see some of that. Right now, there is some limited amount of law enforcement officials around the courthouse. But certainly, come Monday and Tuesday, for certain, things are going

to change. The big concern is will people come to try and cause some kind of disruption? And that is certainly something that law enforcement is looking for there, FBI and other intelligence officials, looking at social media, and other sources and methods, trying to determine if anyone's going to come here and start any trouble.

The key here, obviously, for the Secret Service is to get the president in here safely. The plan right now is to bring him underground so that they don't have to walk him into the courtroom, that they would drive him in through one of the driveways here underground, and get him into the courthouse, and process him, get him up to the courtroom, get him arraigned, and get him out. And it's expected that he will leave and perhaps head back to New Jersey where he spends the summer.

A lot of questions still remain surrounding the security precautions and what exactly is going to happen. But law enforcement is searching in extra resources and more law enforcement officials, and by Tuesday, we should certainly see a very different look outside the courthouse -- Victor, Amara.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Shimon Prokupecz, thank you.

And make sure to catch "STATE OF THE UNION" for more on Trump's federal indictment. That will start at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: We've got some new details about the best story of the week, and those four kids rescued from the Amazon. What officials say about their recovery and how they survived that long in the wilderness.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:55]

WALKER: This is really such an incredible story, isn't it? I mean, new details this morning about four children found alive in the Amazon jungle and how they survive for more than a month after their plane crashed. What are you doing over here?

BLACKWELL: Are we?

WALKER: Yes, we are on the air.

BLACKWELL: Oh my gosh.

WALKER: I thought you are just ignoring me.

BLACKWELL: Because the screen is frozen here. According to Columbian military officials, the children ages 13, nine, four, and one year old, that was embarrassing, they were malnourished by the time they were found.

WALKER: I thought the story was so unbelievable to you that you are focusing in meditating on the details of this.

BLACKWELL: They stayed alive by eating cassava flour.

Let's go now to CNN's Stefano Pozzebon, live this morning in Colombia.

What are officials saying about how they did this?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: Yes, Victor and Amara, yeah, it's an amazing story. Actually, sorry, I'm getting my thoughts together.

What we're hearing is that the children were able to survive by, as you said, eating cassava flour or farina, as it's called in the Amazon rainforest. They had provisions when they took off on their flight on May 1st, the flight, as we know, crash in the middle of the jungle. Unfortunately the mother of the four children and two other adults perished in that crash.

What is most important right now that we're hearing from officials is that the children are in safe condition, they're in stable conditions. They're out of critical danger. It was hard to see yesterday at the hospital when the director of the Colombian children's welfare institute said that when she visited them, the two youngest children who are for, she is a one year old baby, they were very playful, they want to play, and they wanted to get out of their hospital wards.

We know they will stay, however, under observation for the next 2 to 3 weeks. They're also receiving medical support and psychological support. We can only imagine how affected they are from these experiences, Amara, Victor.

WALKER: Incredible, hard to believe they survived that plane crash and then they were surviving 40 days in that jungle, really amazing and resilient.

Stefano Pozzebon, thank you very much.

Well, this morning, Ukraine says it shot down several Iranian made drones launched by Russia and an overnight attack. Russian media outlet suggests that Ukraine is pushing to recapture lens in the east occupied by Russian forces.

BLACKWELL: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy also hinted at a counteroffensive yesterday, but told reporters he's not ready to share any more details at this time. He did say, however, that military forces had advanced nearly a mile in some parts of Bkhmut.

CNN's Sam Kiley is in Kyiv with more on this.

So, Sam, we should separate what's happening in Bakhmut with this counteroffensive because of the fight in Bakhmut has been going on for months.

[08:20:00] SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, absolutely, Victor, dead on there. And it may develop into part of the counteroffensive, particularly with this recent push in which the Ukrainians are claiming to capture about a mile of territory. A few days prior to that, they claimed of have captured about two miles. Cumulatively, they have been able to punch through significant salient into the southeast and areas south of the city of Bakhmut, that they could potentially explode as part of the wider counteroffensive.

But as you rightly note there, Victor, this has been what both sides have described as, I quote, the meat grinder, because of the level of intensity of the fighting there. It's also been a great deal of infighting between, particularly the Wagner mercenary group and the 72nd brigade there with very dramatic developments between -- and squabbling between officers on the Russian side. So, I think, again, the Ukrainians would like to exploit.

And they are, I think, we are seeing the early stages of a counteroffensive and have been seeing it for sometime in the shaping operations, particularly around Zaporizhzhia, with a very significant increase in the number of Ukrainian probing attacks on those heavily fortified frontlines in the direction of the Crimean peninsula, which will be a major prize and then a ground offensive by the Ukrainians if they do eventually launch something that we would all recognize it was a massive push, the sort that I covered twice last year with those very big pushes when they liberated the territory around Kharkiv and then later on recapture the city of Kherson -- Victor, Amara.

WALKER: Sam Kiley, appreciate your reporting. Thank you.

All right. Still ahead, as we get closer to the 2024 election, a former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia says it's a chance to write a new script. We'll speak with him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:25:51]

BLACKWELL: The North Carolina Republican Party has voted to formally censor Senator Thom Tillis of the party's annual convention in Greensboro. At least one delegates that their decision was based on Tillis' support for last year's same-sex marriage law and bipartisan immigration reform. The vote came on the same day former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the convention.

A former North Carolina Republican governor, Pat McCrory, condemned yesterday's vote. It's only the latest example of a Republican lawmaker being censured by the state level Republican organization in recent years.

WALKER: Former President Donald Trump is responding to his second indictment in just three months. The fiery attack on President Biden's Justice Department, last night at a campaign rally in Georgia. He called the 37 count indictment a political hit job and election interference, among many other things. Then Trump personally attacked the special counsel on his case, calling him deranged.

Former Georgia lieutenant governor and CNN political analyst, Geoff Duncan, is here. So glad you could be here with us in studio.

So, first off, I mean, I'm sure you saw parts of the rally and the comments from Trump, it doesn't really surprise anyone. My question to you is the Republican reaction, those on the ground, they're the crowd. Are you disappointed in them? The way they remain so devoted to Trump despite these very serious allegations? It's a federal indictment, the first time we saw a former president being federally indicted.

GEOFF DUNCAN, CNN POLITICL ANALYST: Yeah, I think it's important to define the venue he was at yesterday, this is a state convention, 1,600 roughly. These are folks who show every other Saturday morning at the Golden Corral and talk about Republican politics, but they really live in a bubble. I don't believe those folks represent the average Republican.

And to hear them cheer and give a standing ovation because they want to double down on crazy, was not very encouraging. But I think the average Republican, the average conservative in Georgia and across the country doesn't see the election was rigged, doesn't agree with Donald Trump saying Brian Kemp beat David Perdue by 52 points at another rigged election. That just doesn't make sense to the average Republican.

WALKER: So, when you -- you talk about the average Republican. I mean, you live here in Georgia, which has turned into a purple state, when you're on the ground and you're talking to people or even your Republican, colleagues what are they telling you about what they want for 2024?

DUNCAN: Well, my Democrat friends don't want Joe Biden, statistically, we can prove that. And Republicans as a whole don't want Donald Trump. But, unfortunately, it looks like we're headed down this -- by rematch.

I think we can both do better, right? I think we can both pick candidates that actually represent the population or the parties that were trying to get across the finish line here.

But, you know, look, I think these indictments carry lot more weight than what people first recognize of the Republican Party. I think as we watch these things continue to unfold, 77 year old man trying to deal with multiple state and federal indictments is going to be a lot to then campaign across 50 states and convince millions of people to vote for you, I think it's going to catch up to him.

And my encouragement is that these candidates that are starting to show up, if they put their best foot forward and focus on solving people's problems, I think they've a chance to win the right in the middle, that's the winning recipe to beat Joe Biden.

WALKER: So, your message is the party, the Republican Party needs to move on from Trump? DUNCAN: Yeah, I mean, look, 950 days ago was the 2020 election. We

only have a little over 500 days until the 2024 election. But yet, Republicans, formerly Donald Trump, they're still talking about this faux sense that the election was rigged. It wasn't right, we've had 950 days to prove in one way, shape, or form, that it was rigged, and it wasn't.

It's a distraction, and it's not solving the problems of hardworking Americans like the economy, like the border, like all the international chaos that we see. I think we need real leaders and I think this country has one leader away from being back on track.

[08:29:43]

WALKER: Are there any real leaders that you see or at least stand a chance to beating Trump in this very large Republican field of contenders?

DUNCAN: Yes, you know, I'm one of those Republicans that is encouraged to see these folks come out from behind the shadows of Donald Trump. Watching a Nikki Haley who's got an incredible foreign resume. Ron DeSantis who's put on an incredible display on how to be a conservative leader in a state like Florida. Tom -- there's so many other candidates that are --

WALKER: But they're not calling out Donald Trump though.

DUNCAN: I would encourage them to start doing that. Chris Christie has certainly taken up that mantra that he's going to hold him accountable. I do think there's an important part of this.

You have to have the balance of calling out Donald Trump, calling on his balls and strikes. But then I think you also have to lay a plan out looking forward. How are going to, as Republicans, solve these issues? I think this is the best chance we've had in a long time with the numbers, the polls for Joe Biden, it's the best chance Republicans have to absolutely come in and run the tables if we put our best foot forward and Donald Trump is not our best foot forward.

WALKER: How do you see this playing out? I mean -- because there is a -- I mean Trump right now, I know you say there is still time to, you know, write a new chapter, he's still the front-runner.

So how do you see things playing out if you are optimistic that the party can turn a corner? Do you feel or do you believe that all of his legal troubles will come to a head at a certain point and then what?

DUNCAN: Yes. My baseball career, my dad used to tell, I need to have to be dumb enough to believe that I could make it to the next level, right. Some days, you just got to check it. And as a Republican that want to move forward from Donald Trump I'm just being dumb enough to believe that the weight and intensity of these investigations and indictments is going to continue to weigh on him.

The average American looks up and says, you know what, if I did what Donald Trump did with those classified documents, I would be going to jail. We shouldn't give him a hall pass just because he has on his resume or his LinkedIn account that he's the former president of the United States. He broke the law and it is being proven.

And I think the weight of that and continued now we've got the Fulton County case that's going to come most likely somewhere in the August range and a second federal DOJ investigation around January 6.

You add all of that together, could you imagine being 77 years old and getting up and having to tackle that every day before lunch and then go try to tackle, try to convince tens of millions of Americans to vote for you.

I think it is an impossible recipe. And so I'm believing that we're going to, you know, we're going to rise up as Republicans and put Donald Trump in the rearview mirror.

WALKER: I know you're optimistic, we've got to go. I've got to ask you this question though. If we do see a Trump versus Biden redo, who will you vote for?

DUNCAN: Well, Donald Trump is not going to beat Joe Biden and certainly Joe Biden has done nothing to earn my vote as a staunch conservative. I remind folks everywhere I go that wants to push back about my heartburn for Donald Trump.

I've been a Republican much longer than Donald Trump. I've got a 12- year-old son who has been a Republican longer than Donald Trump.

WALKER: I'm happy to hear that you have a son who's studying political science and he's getting a real life lesson from sheer watching you and talking to you as well.

Thank you so much, Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan. Appreciate you joining us.

DUNCAN: Thank you.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Still ahead, a CNN investigation has found that in the world of horse racing some of the best trainers who rake in millions have violated rules designed to keep animals safe. That is next.

[08:32:52]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: It is one of the biggest days in horse racing, the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown. But the horse racing industry has been under intense scrutiny.

BLACKWELL: A horse died on the track at Belmont last week, another had to be put down on the track where Preakness is held in Baltimore and multiple horses died at Churchill Downs.

CNN's chief investigative correspondent Pamela Brown takes a look into the rules that are meant to keep these horses safe and who has broken them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: One of the biggest days in racing hours before the Preakness Stakes --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- the far turn they go.

BROWN: -- tragedy strikes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Losing the rider, having a meltdown.

BROWN: A horse injured, the jockey thrown, the horse euthanized right on the track.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is been a very emotional day.

BROWN: It was supposed to be a comeback for that horse's trainer, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. Later that day he won his first Triple Crown since a disqualification at the 2021 Kentucky Derby, just one of the horse deaths at America's top race track this season.

At Churchill Downs, home of the derby, 12 horses died in about a month leading the facility to suspend racing operations.

DR. WILL FARMER, EQUINE MEDICAL DIRECTOR, CHURCHILL DOWNS: One horse fatality is important to me. There is no excuse for that.

BROWN: Dr. Will Farmer, the equine medical director at Churchill Downs sat down with CNN.

What do you make of this recent cluster of deaths?

DR. FARMER: It's been a really, really big challenge concerning to all of us not only here at Churchill Downs but as an industry that we want -- we want an answer.

BROWN: Part of the investigation includes whether the horses had pre- existing injuries. Which happens in more than 85 percent of horses with fatal injuries according to researchers.

They'll also look at what, if any, medication trainers gave their horses, something as simple as an anti-inflammatory can mask the pain of a minor injury so there are strict rules about what is allowed on race day.

DR. FARMER: We want to make sure they're not going out with a potential injury that could become significant.

BROWN: even the most successful trainers have broken those rules. A CNN analysis shows that ten top earning horse trainers in the U.S. have violations for excessive medications found in their horses, more than 140 total infractions.

While some have few violations, others have more than a dozen over decades of racing. The penalties they faced -- warnings or small fines or brief suspensions.

LISA LAZARUS, CEO, HORSERACING INTEGRITY AND SAFETY AUTHORITY: When you look at violations, a vast majority are medication control violations. And that's really important, but it is very different from the doping or cheating.

BROWN: Bob Baffert has had about two dozen medication violations including a horse that placed first in the Kentucky Derby in 2021. Churchill Downs suspended Baffert but he was able to race elsewhere and won nearly $10 million in prize money last year.

[08:40:00]

BROWN: Baffert denies any wrongdoing at Churchill Downs and disputes some of the violations. He and other trainers blame a patch work of changing state regulations and testing that doesn't account for differences between horses.

Some of these trainers, Bob Baffert himself, argued that such a small amount could be detected, that lab testing is so sensitive.

DR. FARMER: It is a very small amount but it's very potent and that is the most important thing is to identify with the medication is its potency.

GRAHAM MOTION, HORSE TRAINER, FAIR HILL TRAINING: We as an industry, as a sport are under tremendous pressure to improve how we handle things.

BROWN: Horseman Graham Motion has won and placed in Triple Crown races and says it is time for a change.

MOTION: I think certainly the scrutiny is warranted. It is inexcusable to have seven or eight horses die the week of the Kentucky Derby. It's a tragedy but we need to be better regulated.

BROWN: Congress created an oversight group and new nationwide rules just went into effect to standardize medication for race horses.

LAZARUS: This is a seismic change for the industry. This is really the most dramatic (ph) thing that has happened in horseracing.

MOTION: Punishments are going to be much more severe than they were --

BROWN: Do you think they were too lax before?

MOTION: Yes, I do.

BROWN: I mean some people only got fined a couple of hundred dollars.

MOTION: Yes, I think it is absurd.

BROWN: About 1,000 horses die at race tracks every year in the U.S., according to Patrick Battuello (ph), an activist who compiled information from state records. His group wants to see horse racing banned altogether. PATRICK BATTUELLO, FOUNDER, HORSERACING WRONGS: We see horse racing as

no different from dog racing which is all but dead in America.

MOTION: Look around us, these horses are probably better taken care of than some human beings. You look after their every need.

BROWN: Graham Motion who has two medication violations himself says it is a delicate balance to care for horses.

MOTION: Horses are a very complicated animal.

BROWN: You ever had to make a decision to euthanize a horse because of an injury, probably?

MOTION: Absolutely, yes.

BROWN: What is that like?

MOTION: Devastating.

BROWN: As the investigation continues at Churchill Downs, the race track is trying to find other methods to prevent injuries including state-of-the-art technology.

How do you explain the tension between wanting them to go out there and win and also wanting to take the best care of them possible?

MOTION: It is an extraordinary thing to see a horse go out and give their all in a competition. So it is our responsibility to take care of them.

The most important thing is the welfare of the horse. It's not winning at all costs.

BROWN: Even with the new national standards and rules it's unclear whether that would have prevented any of the recent horse deaths. We're still waiting for some of the necropsy reports from Churchill Downs as well as those from the deaths on the tracks on Preakness and Belmont.

Pamela Brown, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Still ahead, a man who was sitting next to the passenger who opened the emergency exit door during an Asiana Airlines flight tells CNN that he feels like he's been given a second chance at life.

[08:42:52]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: So you've probably seen the video, the passengers on that plane white-knuckling the armrests because some guy opened the exit door right before the plane landed. WALKER: Yes. Now the man who sat right next to the person who opened

the door is speaking to CNN and he says he feels like he has a second chance on life.

Here is CNN's Paula Hancocks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It turned into the flight from hell. An Asiana passenger, allegedly opened the emergency exit door a couple of minutes before the airplane was about to land in South Korea.

The man sitting next to him, seen here in red trousers, tells CNN he thought he was going to die.

LEE YOON-JUN, ASIANA AIRLINE PASSENGER (through translator): In disaster movies, everyone always seems to die when a door opens in the air. I wondered what I have done wrong in my life. It was just a fleeting moment but I had so many thoughts.

HANCOCKS: Lee Yoon-jun says he didn't see the man opening the door and initially assumed it was a technical malfunction.

LEE: The wind was stinging my legs and hitting my face so hard, I couldn't even breathe properly.

HANCOCKS: What was the man next to you doing?

LEE: He didn't say anything. We were both trembling with fear. He seemed tense. When I look down I notice his feet swaying in the wind.

HANCOCKS: Police arrested the man in his 30s at Daegu Airport after the plane landed safely. He told them he felt suffocated and wanted to get off the plane quickly, adding he'd been under a lot of stress after losing his job, according to police.

LEE: From the moment he boarded the plane, he was pale and gave off a bad vibe. He appeared somewhat dark, constantly fidgeting, looking around at people and acting strangely.

HANCOCKS: Asiana says it has stopped selling certain emergency exit seats for safety reasons. An investigation is underway to find out how the door was able to be opened 700 feet from the ground.

As soon as the wheels touched down, Lee said the passenger appeared to try and jump from the fast moving plane.

LEE: I heard the sound of someone next to me, undoing his seatbelt. I realized, he was leaning towards the exit. The flight attendant then shouted, asking for help. So I just grabbed him.

HANCOCKS: Lee was helped by other passengers and flight attendants and is amused that he's being hailed as a hero.

LEE: I am actually enjoying it. I suddenly became a temporary celebrity.

HANCOCKS: Lee feels he's been given a second chance at life. And he's determined to enjoy it.

Paula Hancocks, CNN -- Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Paula, thank you for that.

An entrepreneur in Detroit is using technology to fight for environmental justice. Here is today's "Innovate".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DARREN RILEY, FOUNDER/CEO, JUST AIR: (INAUDIBLE) -- it is a really important aspect of society going forward and you're starting to see momentum.

My name is Darren Riley. I'm the founder and CEO of Just Air. Just Air's mission is simple. We want to make sure that everyone has equal access to clean air. How we do that, we (INAUDIBLE) monitor where we maintain monitors and we build insights around the air quality that is happening in communities.

[08:49:57]

RILEY: A lot of things that we've noticed in communities especially communities of color, to me they are really on the borderline of zoning that may have heavy industrial traffic and freight going through their community.

Today, we're approaching five states and ten cities. City officials have access to our (INAUDIBLE) dashboard where they could pull reports and see trends and information but most of all, it is all about turning insight into real change.

A lot of the influences that really pushed me, propelled was just the injustices that I've seen around communities of color and communities I come from.

I lived in southwest Detroit which caused me to develop asthma five years ago. So Just Air was founded as a combination of my personal experience and also my professional experience going to Carnegie Mellon.

What keeps me going in entrepreneurship as a (INAUDIBLE) of color, is really that we should be the ones solving the problems that we face.

I'm committed to the mission that no matter where you're born, you have equal access to clean air. That is all that Just Air is about.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:50:52]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: More than 60 million Americans from Colorado to the Carolinas are under the threat for severe storms today.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking it from the CNN Weather Center. So what should we expect from these storms?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Very much the same thing that we saw yesterday. This is the same system that brought over a hundred total severe thunderstorm reports yesterday. The vast majority of these being damaging winds. But we did even have some very large hail reports some of which are the size of tennis balls.

Similar threats today. It is just shifting a little bit farther east into new states that we didn't have yesterday. But we do still have the potential over Oklahoma and Texas which also had it yesterday.

We're now just adding some more southeastern states into the mix that have the potential for some strong to severe thunderstorms.

Already this morning you have got some thunderstorms making their way into Cincinnati and also several around the Atlanta area. This is the first wave. Then you're going to start to see a secondary wave come back this afternoon and into the evening hours.

That is where the bulk is going to be for the chance for strong to severe thunderstorms. Places like Dallas, Little Rock, Jackson, Mississippi, Shreveport, Nashville, Huntsville, Atlanta -- all of these cities have the potential for those severe thunderstorms. The main threats again will still be damaging winds and the potential for some large hail. But we cannot rule out an isolated tornado especially around the Tennessee Valley region.

There is that first wave. Here is the secondary wave that comes in right behind it. So there is not really going to be much in the way of a break in between those two rounds especially for cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Knoxville, even Cincinnati -- a lot of these areas it's going to be back to back.

So if you've got some travel up and down say Interstate 75 today it is likely going to be pretty close to a washout for much of the day today as these storms continue to progress off to the east.

But also some heavy rain. Maybe not as high of a chance for the strong to severe thunderstorms but of the potential for some isolated flooding for states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, as well as Michigan.

But the best chance for that flooding is going to be to the southeast where you have those multiple rounds coming in. Areas like Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, and then the secondary area out to the west that include cities like Denver, also looking at the potential for some flooding as we go through the rest of the day today.

WALKER: Allison Chinchar, thank you very much.

All right. Finally, good news for two shelter dogs with a very special bond. CNN's Jeanne Moos reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They were two strays found roaming the streets of Minneapolis together. Named Brenda and Linda after they arrived at Minneapolis Animal Care and Control.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're best buds. You know? They are very bonded.

MOOS: how bonded are they? So bonded that when Linda and Hank started sniffing each other, Brenda jumped between them, seemingly to break them up. But the real test came when they were put next to each other in separate kennels and this happened.

Mission impawsible (ph) the shelter called it. Sure, Tom Cruise is able to scale walls. He usually has gizmos to help. Brenda leaped the 5-foot wall on her own to join Linda.

Are most of your dogs able to scale a wall like that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

MOOS: Workers first realized something had happened when they were shocked to see two Pitbull mixes in one kennel. So they checked out the security cam footage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then I saw the magic that was the scaling of the wall.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was incredible.

MOOS: So they put the two buddies together in one larger kennel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most nights we walk through and they're just like in a little ball together.

MOOS: The shelter decided they should be adopted as a package, together. That is exactly what happened. Brenda dragged her new owner to the car where Linda was waiting to head for their new home. As one commenter noted, dogs that stray together stay together. Ain't no kennel wall high enough to keep these two apart.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: I guess that's real love.

BLACKWELL: Yes, you know, I was watching that story and at the end I was thinking it is going to be sad when one of them gets adopted and the other can't go.

[08:59:56]

WALKER: Why do you have to go there? BLACKWELL: No. But it is a happy ending. You see that at the end

Brenda and Linda get to live their lives out together.

WALKER: You know what? No one has ever scaled a wall for me and I've never scaled a wall for anyone. So maybe --

BLACKWELL: I don't know.

WALKER: -- I haven't found -- no, I have.

BLACKWELL: I mean, have I had anybody scale a wall? I had somebody like knock on a door real hard. That's enough.

WALKER: Break down a door.

BLACKWELL: No, they haven't broken down the door.

WALKER: Almost break down a door.

BLACKWELL: They didn't break down the door but a hard knock is enough.

The executive producer says "say good-bye".

WALKER: Got to go. Enough.

"STATE OF THE UNION" is next. Have a great day everyone.

BLACKWELL: Bye.