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3 Dead, Dozens Injured as Tornado Hits Small Texas Town; Energy Department Among Federal Agencies Hit in Global Cyberattack; Trump Lawyers Ordered to Obtain Security Clearances. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired June 16, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR/CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: To hear that, when I was in the car with her. Rod Stewart says after his tour ends this summer, he wants to focus his attention on making jazz music. He tells Sky News after singing his songs "Hot Legs" and "Maggie May" for 50 years, it's time for a change.

[06:00:16]

Stewart has already released the "Great American Songbook," which sold 27 million copies. He did a swing album with Jules Holland. He says he still expects to sing those old songs, the old hits, maybe on occasion. What a career.

All right. Thanks for joining me. I'm Christine Romans. Have a great weekend, everybody. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, everyone. Good morning. We are so glad you're here with us on CNN THIS MORNING. I'm so happy to be joined by my friend, Erica Hill. Good morning.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Nice to be back with you.

HARLOW: Nice to have you. But we do start with sad news as we get to "Five Things to Know" for this Friday, June the 16th.

A deadly tornado ripping across the Texas Panhandle. Surrounding cities, along with the state's governor now rushing in aid to the devastated town of Perryton.

HILL: Attorneys working on former President Trump's classified documents case need to reach out to the Justice Department by today to get security clearance. That's the first order from the judge who is overseeing this case. It also underscores the sensitive nature of the documents that the former president is accused of withholding.

HARLOW: Multiple U.S. federal agencies hit in a global cyberattack run, it's alleged, by Russian criminals, according to a top cybersecurity agency. The agency warning the government isn't the only target. Hundreds of American companies could be at risk.

HILL: Secretary of State Antony Blinken set to take off for China later today in a trip aimed at warming up the frosty relationship between the two countries. It also marks the most senior visit to China by an American official in five years.

HARLOW: New questions this morning about whether that big merger between the PGA Tour and Liv Golf will actually survive. "The Wall Street Journal" reporting the Justice Department is looking into that partnership over antitrust concerns.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

The sun is about to come up in Perryton, and we're going to see the devastation from these deadly tornadoes.

HILL: Extensive devastation there.

HARLOW: And deaths. Exactly. That is where we begin this morning, with the devastating tornado ripping through Perryton, Texas, overnight.

People there had little time to prepare before the tornado touched down and barreled through the small town of just over 8,000 people. Look at that. Here is what we know at this hour.

Three people are dead, possibly 100 more injured, with those injuries ranging from minor to severe. The storm destroying about 200 homes, nearly leveling some buildings.

This is just one of several tornado reports that happened across the country. Look at this dash cam video from Toledo, Ohio. You can see strong winds sending debris everywhere as drivers waited for the storm to pass.

Right now, nearly 400,000 customers in Texas and Florida, in Oklahoma and Alabama are without power this morning. And hail, lots of it, some as large as 2 inches in diameter, also raining down from this severe weather.

Lucy Kafanov joins us live this morning in Perryton, Texas, Derek van Dam standing by at the CNN weather center.

Lucy, let me begin with you. I mean, it is still dark there, but you can see already behind you the devastation.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and this is, unfortunately, just a small slice of the devastation, the utterly devastating destruction that was caused by this tornado.

People did not have time to get away. There's actually a local shelter in the library just about a block and a half down the road. Folks did not even have time to get there. So many homes destroyed, hundreds of people homeless.

At least three dead as people here try to piece their lives back together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAFANOV (voice-over): A deadly tornado touching down in the Texas Panhandle, leaving a brutal path of destruction in Perryton. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tornado is just 100 yards or so right there.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Large hail pelted down as the tornado moved through the area. And soon after, a possible second smaller tornado was seen, as well. One storm chaser says there was very little warning ahead of this tornado as the funnel cloud formed very quickly.

BRIAN EMFINGER, STORM CHASER: Whenever I was flying around, it looked like people were just having to self-rescue themselves. People are sort of climbing out of rubble. You know, there was a fire nearby.

KAFANOV (voice-over): As many as 200 homes were destroyed, according to the town's fire chief, and some of those homes were completely leveled, as seen in this aerial video shot in the tornado's aftermath.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This whole area is just gone now.

KAFANOV (voice-over): One nearby resident drove through Perryton in the tornado's wake, and documented the damages.

[06:05:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's tanks, oil field tanks. That right there is a -- that is a trailer and an oil field trailer.

KAFANOV (voice-over): Texas Governor Greg Abbott deploying the state's emergency response resources. The surrounding cities and counties also rushed to the area to provide aid.

In neighboring Hansford County, the county judge says they are preparing to assist for a possible mass casualty and/or recovery event.

The Red Cross is mobilizing teams to offer support on the ground. The interim county hospital CEO says it's operating off generators, which can only last for a little over 72 hours. She says the hospital has treated somewhere between 75 and 100 people with injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via phone): Anything from minor lacerations to major traumas: head injuries, collapsed lungs. Broken legs, major lacerations. A little bit of everything.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAFANOV (on camera): And you can see the aftermath of this destruction. People here are going to be picking up the pieces of their life.

I actually spoke to one local resident who rode out the storm in her truck. She said, you know, it was hailing. There was rain. There was no time to get away. She said it just formed in the sky and dropped down on us. No sirens, no time to escape. A tragic morning here in Perryton.

HARLOW: Yes. Absolutely, with no warning, it sounds like. Lucy, thank you. HILL: Well, a local high school has opened its doors to a few hundred

people impacted by that storm, offering many who lost everything a place to shower and to sleep as this community bands together.

HARLOW: Joining us now is Cole Underwood, the athletic director and the head football coach of Perryton High School.

Coach, good morning to you. I'm so, so sorry. What can you tell us about at least the status of your team right now and your fellow instructors?

COLE UNDERWOOD, ATHLETIC DIRECTOR/FOOTBALL COACH, PERRYTON HIGH SCHOOL: Good morning. Everybody that I've talked to and been able to make contact with and they're working to make contact with other people, as well, are safe.

Our cell -- one of our cell towers here got destroyed, so we haven't gotten a hold of everybody. But we're working diligently to try to make that happen. So --

HILL: You know, this is your hometown, as well. You graduated from high school there. Now you're one of the coaches.

We just heard from our colleague, Lucy Kafanov, who said she spoke with a woman who said there was no time to get away. There was no siren; there just wasn't enough warning. We know how crucial these seconds are with a tornado. Did you have any warning?

UNDERWOOD: You know, it's crazy. I live on the Southwest side of town, and this tornado hit on the Northeast side of town. So the two miles that separated my house from where this tornado touched down, my mom called me. And she was like, sirens are going off. And I was like, no, they're not. I can't hear anything.

I was at my house, and I was watching the hail. But I had no idea two miles down the road the destruction that was taking place until I got out after it had passed.

It was -- it was crazy how fast it formed. One of our coaches is a big weather guy. He texted us and said, Here we go. And by the time that text had come through, it had already blown over and he was already telling us on our side of town we were safe.

So it really was just as sudden as anything could be. And to -- to a lot of people's credit, they found a way to get to safety. So very thankful for that.

HARLOW: The lives are the most important thing, but still, just looking at this footage we just showed, aerial drone footage of people walking over what were their houses, some homes in flames, smoke billowing out.

Can you talk about just how much has been lost in terms of people's property and their homes and everything?

UNDERWOOD: I think the loss is unthinkable. I don't -- I don't think you can put it, really, into words. That -- a lot of that area that was hit were trailers and houses that were older.

And so I think that the one place that it landed in town, which is just about as unfortunate of an area as could have been hit. It's never a good thing when a tornado drops down and hits anywhere. But as far as Perryton's location, and the layout of the town, some of those were the older homes and some trailer houses and there was just nothing that they could do.

The loss is devastating. We were up here at the high school and have food, shelter, anything that people need, and we want them to know that.

HILL: And how are people -- just give us a sense, too, again, how are people holding up, the folks who are there at the high school who came there for shelter? How are they doing this morning?

UNDERWOOD: I think that there's a sense of fear just of the unknown. I don't think anybody really has any idea what's going to happen next. The shock is still setting in, the sadness, the anger, every emotion that people can be going through, they're going through.

[06:10:11]

We moved pretty quickly to try to make this a safe haven for people to get to here in town, and hopefully, it can continue to be that until we get it all figured out. So --

HILL: Absolutely. If there's one thing that we do see in these moments of tragedy, it is the way communities pull together and take care of one another.

Cole Underwood, I really appreciate you joining us. Thank you.

UNDERWOOD: Thank you.

HARLOW: Such a tight-knit community.

Let's get to Derek van Dam. He's our meteorologist in the weather center. Good morning to you. It's so scary when you hear that there's no warning and no sirens for some people, it just hits like that. What are the threats today?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Well, the storms are still ongoing this morning, Poppy and Erica, on this very highly unusual weather pattern that has set up.

Millions of Americans under the threat of damaging winds, isolated tornadoes and lightning from the Gulf Coast through portions of the Southern plains. Once again, can't forget about the East Coast, as well.

But when we talk about what's happening now, the more immediate threat, these line of thunderstorms that are still associated with the severe weather that moved through the Perryton, Texas, region late last night. You can see these storms, that yellow box, that is, of course, the

severe weather watch boxes that are in place. But I want to highlight this line of storms moving into Jackson, Mississippi. There's actually a tornado-warned storm that is valid this morning and through the next 15 minutes or so. And we're going to monitor that very closely.

Looks like the tornado vortex should stay South of the town of Jackson. So that's good news.

But this storm system across Eastern Texas still producing winds over 60 miles per hour. The other major weather headline that we're following is the extensive rainfall that is taking place in the Florida Panhandle.

Pensacola and surrounding areas have received -- get this -- over a foot of rain in a very short period of time. Flash flood emergencies, they are ongoing, high water rescues taking place across this region. Another big story as we continue to watch these storms march West to East across the Deep South.

Back to you.

HARLOW: Derek van Dam, thank you very, very much.

HILL: Pope Francis, back in the Vatican after nine days in the hospital following abdominal surgery. You see him there smiling. He waved at a crowd of well-wishers as he was leaving the hospital.

His doctors say the 86-year-old is, quote, "better than before." Vatican officials say the pope is recovering well and that he no longer feels pain and discomfort.

HARLOW: That is great to hear. Better than before. The best you can ask for.

Meantime, first here on CNN, the federal government investigating a global cyberattack that impacted several federal agencies, including the Department of Energy. They're each being blamed on hackers known for extorting ransom from their victims.

Our Sean Lyngaas joins us now live. Good morning, Sean. How extensive is this damage?

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, I mean, this is the kind of thing where what they call pray and spray, where you get into a software vulnerability and because it's so widely used by companies and government agencies around the world, the hackers have access to -- they're overwhelmed, frankly, with the amount of organizations they've breached.

So as you said, this is a Russian ransomware gang known for trying to shake -- shake organizations down for millions of dollars. They're really quite audacious in how much money they ask for. Not often that they get what they ask for in terms of millions of dollars.

But in this case, we reported first yesterday that multiple federal agencies in the U.S. were breached in this attack. And U.S. officials are saying that they haven't seen any signs of ransom demanded of U.S. agencies.

It's more of an opportunistic hacking campaign, but we do know that they're going after organizations in the U.S. financial sector. As you said, the Department of Energy was the first agency to come forward, having been breached.

So it's really an evolving situation. And if you remember Solar Winds --

HARLOW: Yes.

LYNGAAS: -- that campaign a couple years ago, that was different. That was Russian espionage. That was the foreign intelligence agency in Russia.

This is, you know, also folks based in Russia but really financially driven and not something that they're collecting intel from U.S. agencies. It's more of an embarrassing situation for federal agencies that they're trying to clean up, Poppy.

HARLOW: But expecting to get paid by government agencies, private companies that they've been hit? Because we have seen private companies pay.

LYNGAAS: Right, yes. Some companies do pay, because they don't want the publicity. They don't want the hassle of cleaning up the mess. They want to move on quietly. And it's sometimes in their interests to do so, even though the FBI discourages them to do so, because it just feels more hacking campaigns.

And in the case of the government agencies in the U.S., the hackers kind of cheekily put on their extortion website that don't worry. We deleted the government data. We're not going to sell that or anything.

[06:15:08]

So it's kind of a cheeky nod to the fact that they're -- they're saying that they're in the systems but don't come after us, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. Sean, thanks for the great reporting.

HILL: With us here CNN national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. She, of course, is a former assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security and a Harvard professor.

So Juliette, when we look at where we are, cheekily. We deleted government data, as Sean just mentioned. What is your level of concern this morning and what are the questions that you have for these agencies?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: The government is trying to downplay it. It's a bit embarrassing. So I'm going to start with embarrassing. Because just a couple weeks ago there was an announcement or a notice to the private sector by the government, by the cyber security experts in government to be careful of this app. It's called MoveIt Transfer. It's an app that you essentially are just transferring video from one site to another, downloading it. It's a way that people sort of play around and edit video.

So this is what we call supply chain attacks. So you come in through an app, and then the licensees all get impacted.

And so it's embarrassing, because we knew it was a problem, and then it ends up being on our network. The extent to which, you know, it's vital -- it's a national security concern, no one seems that worried yet, but stay tuned.

I mean, one of the things is you never know the extent of the infiltration until there's a thorough review. But no one seems to be as worried as they are -- as they were with Solar Winds, which was 18,000 clients were impacted.

HARLOW: Yes.

KAYYEM: And that was fit more, you know, for espionage and national security reasons.

HARLOW: Right. That's a big distinction not for espionage but for money.

KAYYEM: Yes.

HARLOW: But the fact that the vulnerability still exists, isn't that the main concern?

KAYYEM: Yes, it is. And that we knew that it existed and that it existed on our own platforms. That is the concern.

This is one of the challenges about cyber security is that, of course, the more that you need to be accessible, the more that the supply chain is open. And that's why these supply chain attacks end up being the most successful, because you're just coming through an entity and then everyone is downloading.

This is exactly like Solar Winds. Solar Winds was clearly more sophisticated and so that's just a vulnerability that has to be timed up. It's why, when you're in government, you're not allowed to download certain things. TikTok being the most recent example.

HILL: For people who just heard that, they're going to say, Wait a minute. TikTok is going to expose me to this vulnerability. That's not what's happening at home.

KAYYEM: No, it is just a similar. That the government would have prohibitions on certain websites or apps that -- that could be vulnerable.

HILL: It's not just the government. There were U.S. universities impacted. When you look at this, you talk about we know that the vulnerabilities are there. Is the issue here, I don't want to say it's simple, but in some ways it is. We or the government simply can't keep up, and how does that change?

KAYYEM: Yes, I think -- I think anything that's accessible or open is going to be vulnerable. You just have to accept that.

So then the question is can we stop it? Can we have layered defenses? Can we be notified or know when there's been a breach so that you can close it up relatively quickly?

And then what happens on the other side, once the breach occurs, what's happening to the data. Can you find out? Can you -- can you protect people's privacy?

I was looking on a website of potential victims or at least -- like Georgia, the University of Georgia had it. And they are just, you know, basically doing a thorough review to make sure things like the students' health information and other things like that are not exposed.

HILL: Switching gears here.

KAYYEM: Yes.

HILL: Because Jack Teixeira --

KAYYEM: Yes.

HILL: -- who is the Air National Guardsman who has been accused of putting all of these private classified documents online, has been formally indicted. You ran --

KAYYEM: Yes.

HILL: -- the Massachusetts Air National Guard, I remember reading a piece, that you can't fathom how this happened. The fact that he's been formally indicted. Your reaction?

KAYYEM: It's worse than we thought, and I always thought it was worse than we thought. It never made sense to me that a guy who are some weird, honestly, you know, sort of looking at right-wing websites, you know, Nazi paraphernalia, is then -- happens to just be downloading and stealing classified information that he's just trying to impress people.

So stay tuned on that. The government admits in the affidavit that it was -- that it's worse than any publicly-disclosed information, including, as they suggest in it, troop movements of Ukrainians and Russians.

HARLOW: Which was in real time, by the way.

KAYYEM: Real time. Right? It's, like, not old stuff. It was, like, exactly real time. And that also, it -- it tells us that allies have been very upset about this, suggesting that it's not just our enemies who now know what we're doing.

It's our allies who are saying we're sharing information with you and this jerk, you know, over in Massachusetts is just putting it on websites.

This goes to two questions. One is there was no -- the military is trying to justify why he had access to that information. It still makes no sense to me. There's no reason that someone had to have had -- like him had to have had access to that much information.

But the second is just, you know, he was reprimanded two, if not three times. By the time someone is not listening to you about access to classified information, you need to shut it down, and they just kept giving him access over six, seven, eight months.

[06:20:06]

HILL: Yes. Important questions. Important questions that need to be answered. Juliette, always appreciate it. Thank you.

The judge overseeing Donald Trump's classified documents case issuing her first order, with a tight deadline here. What lawyers in the case need to do now and what it means for the time line here.

HARLOW: Plus, the mayor of Miami making his first presidential campaign speech. How he pitched himself to voters. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: There's new reporting this morning in the federal case against Donald Trump. The former president's attorneys contacted the Justice Department about obtaining the necessary security clearances for his classified documents trial. That's according to a source familiar with the outreach.

The judge overseeing the case issued her first order, setting a deadline of today for that reach-out from attorneys, saying they all need to reach out to the DOJ about those clearances.

CNN's Jessica Schneider joins us live from Washington now this morning. So that process, getting the ball rolling here, how long could it take for that clearance?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The judge here, Judge Aileen Cannon, they want this process to move very quickly here. So Judge Cannon's order, the first order of business, instructing all attorneys to get in touch with DOJ to begin the security clearance process.

Because our Kaitlan Collins reported they have already been in touch with DOJ because this case is comprised of highly sensitive, classified materials, that these attorneys will need to get a security clearance to work with these materials.

[06:25:10]

This order is significant, because it really does show that Judge Cannon, who has been criticized for siding with Trump in a previous related case and whose ability to effectively manage this case has actually been questioned, it does show how she's already getting into motion to manage her docket, within days of Trump's arraignment. She really is relatively new to the bench, was nominated by Trump in

2019. But she will be the one running this massive and complicated case. And she really is taking charge right off the bat by trying to get these security clearances in motion, Erica, which these two attorneys have already been in touch with DOJ about.

HILL; Yes. Which is important. We also know the former president looking to hire another lawyer. Is there a sense that that will happen in time to meet today's deadline of reaching out to the DOJ?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. So two of Trump's attorneys, they've already met the deadline. So they've been in touch with DOJ. They now need to alert Judge Cannon by Tuesday that they've done that.

But it is clear that her order definitely puts this additional pressure on the former president to get his legal team fully aligned here.

Trump does have Chris Kise, the former solicitor general in Florida. He's on his team. Also Todd Blanche. They were both in court when the arraignment happened earlier this week.

But we do know that he's still looking for another attorney. His team has been in touch with Florida law firms, as our team has reported.

But you know, historically, Erica, attorneys have been hesitant to work for the former president. He does have this history of not necessarily listening to legal advice, not always paying the bills. So we'll see who else he's able to get on his team.

But we have reported that he's actively looking, especially for likely a third member to add to his legal team in Florida -- Erica.

HILL: And we know you will keep us posted. Jessica, good to see you this morning. Thank you.

HARLOW: All right. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez making his first pitch to voters as a 2024 presidential candidate. The Republican spoke to a crowd at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California last night. This is just a few hours after officially announcing his bid for the White House.

And he didn't directly address his top two opponents, former President Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. But he did pitch himself as a different kind of candidate who can unite the Republican Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is time for a next generation leader who has the vision to lead and the character to connect with everyone by looking at them in the eyes and listening to them, not shouting at them and lecturing them.

It's time for a leader who can connect with segments of our country that Republicans have historically lost, like young voters and urban voters and segments we can make gains with, like Hispanics and suburban women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Mayor Suarez is jumping into a pretty crowded GOP field already. In an interview he gave this week to the Associated Press, he did distinguish himself from many of his opponents, though, on the key issue of abortion, including distinguishing himself from Ron DeSantis.

Suarez suggested that he'd support a 15-week abortion ban, rather than six weeks.

We'll ask him about that and a lot more ahead when he joins us in the 8 a.m. hour, right here on CNN THIS MORNING.

Just ahead here --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're going to the launch site right now. It's extremely dangerous, and we have to watch out that the Russians don't see us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN's Fred Pleitgen and team there with exclusive access to an elite Ukrainian drone strike team, there with that team as they carried out an attack on a Russian position. We are live this morning in Southern Ukraine.

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