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First Official Birthday Celebration For King Charles; Royals Watch Flypast Over Buckingham Palace; Youth, Young Adults Are Dying From Suicide And Homicide At Highest Rates In Decades; Dozens Dead, Abducted In Rebel Attack On Uganda School. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired June 17, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:35]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Anna Stewart standing by as we see the King, the Queen, and the Royal Family. They're the working Royals. Anna, just to explain to us what we're seeing here, and I can see in another shot the flypast.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, what you're seeing here actually is a much more extended Royal Family in the balcony that perhaps we were expecting. And this is as the flypast goes past quite a spectacle as you can see and also quite noisy. On that balcony you are seeing the King, you are seeing the Queen, you are seeing the Prince and Princess of Wales, all three children pointing at that flypast. Yes. Louise spotted it and he's pointing as well.

You can also see Princess Royal. You can see the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Prince Edward, and his wife, Sophie. And you'll see, of course, many of the Royal Family in their royal regimental uniforms. That flypast though, 70 aircraft from all over the U.K., joining together and culminating in this magical moment, a flypast over Buckingham Palace.

And it's particularly significant, if you can remember just a few weeks ago for the coronation, the flypast couldn't really happen. It had to be scaled down due to the weather. And I believe now we may be about to get the red arrows. Let's listen in. It's pretty noisy.

We've heard about the Buckingham Palace, not the red arrows yet, more aircraft, I believe.

BLACKWELL: Anna, you're describing the red arrows. Tell our audience what that is.

STEWART: So the red arrows haven't yet flown over. But essentially, these are aircrafts that are used for fantastic ceremonies like this. They have plumes coming out of them quite a display and we believe you'll have red, white, and blue plumes of smoke coming out of the back of them. That's probably likely to be the ending point of this spectacular flypast. But I think the flypast is still going.

You can see everyone the balcony enjoying themselves. I think Princess Charlotte though looking around and maybe they're all waiting for the -- for the final moment. This is always an entertaining moment looking at the Royal Family. Oh, some cheers. Wow, more aircraft flying passed.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And Anna, I mean, I would say its -- its fortunate, right?

STEWAT: That will be 70.

WALKER: That the fact that maybe it is (inaudible) that it is kind of overcast, that you're not staring straight up into the sun, right? So people can actually look up without having to squint too much.

STEWART: They can look up and hopefully I think you saw the Princess of Wales speaking to Prince Louise there, hopefully helping him identify which plane is which. And I'm sure she probably can do a much better job than I can in terms of the flypast but keeping him entertained, perhaps preventing him from making some of the wonderful faces that we do love to see. Those kids are certainly the big crowd- pleasers, I think, of every balcony shot that we ever have for big royal events like this.

And honestly, this moment is what people remember. When you go to Trooping the Colour, when you go to the coronation, when you go to some of these magical events, and this is the moment people come for. It is a magical, beautiful event. And it's a chance for them to actually look out and see thousands and thousands of people gathered to see them. It's a real moment. And particularly Trooping the Colour, it's a moment that unites, you know, the Royal Family and the military, the Armed Forces. It's very much celebrating that bond. But of course, it's also one of those moments that they can celebrate with the British public and this is that moment, inviting people to the gates of Buckingham Palace, and giving them a very noisy, spectacular display.

WALKER: Yes, yes. Very noisy indeed. We'll let you enjoy those moments as well we as we watched these live pictures of this flypast and the Royal Family there on the balcony. Bidisha, if we can bring you back in because you were just talking about the appetite or lack thereof from the British public regarding taxpayer money being spent on yet another major celebration and event with the economic turmoil in the background. Tell us more

BIDISHA MAMATA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have to say, I don't think that debate is particularly fierce this morning. Everyone recognizes that this is King Charles is first Trooping the Colour. But these issues are certainly always around in the background. And it depends where you stand on whether you're pro or anti-monarchy. I don't think anyone is saying that all these people should be abolished. Let's take them off the balconies forever. What they are saying is, what does the Royal Family look like in the 21st century going forward?

[08:05:28]

And in fact, if you look at the balcony shots, if you look at these ceremonials and possessions that we've seen, and really quite close together over -- over the last year or so, you can tell that King Charles is thinking these things himself. That's why his pronouncements, particularly around the coronation time, were all about bringing people in doing good, paying it forward. He's always going to have to acknowledge his privilege to use very 21st-century terminology. But he is trying to say, I am thinking about these things. I do realize the tradition, the history, the heritage that I've come from. I am trying, at least to make the world a better place while still staying in my lane.

But today is still a celebration and the mood and the atmosphere around Buckingham Palace are one of breezy, gentle, celebratory communality. And in fact, I spotted and spoke to lots of lots of American visitors and overseas visitors who absolutely felt like they had lucked out and they were asking the police officers, sorry, what's happening, And so they had a wonderful day.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Certainly, if you were there, and you don't know that it's the day the Trooping of the Colour and you find out that the Royals will be on the balcony.

WALKER: Yes, that's kind of cool.

BLACKWELL: It is an amazing gift for tourists.

WALKER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Emily, let me come to you because something that Anna said kind of stood out to me. She said that the -- the Royal Family that we're seeing on the balcony is more extended than we would have expected. And I think we're seeing the -- the red arrow the colors there, the red, white, and blue from the aircraft that Anna described. What would the expectation have been because when I imagine who might have been on the balcony, this is exactly who I would have expected.

EMILY NASH, ROYAL EDITOR, HELLO MAGAZINE: You know, I think that's right. I think that, you know, over the years, the Royal Family have -- have somewhat experimented with the lineup. And a couple of years back, we have just an absolutely minimal lineup of the now king, and his son, the Prince of Wales, Princess of Wales, and their children with the late Queen, of course, and I think it was felt that they looked a bit solitary. And this is really what we've expected from the King all along. He's always talked about having a slimmed-down monarchy.

These are the key players in terms of working members of his family. These are the people who carry out the engagements day to day and who are paid from the public purse to carry out those duties. So this is really about reflecting the people who were in service, if you like.

Obviously, the Royal Family is much more extended than the people appearing today on the balcony. But I think there's a very clear distinction between people who are relatives and members of the family and those who are actually officially working on behalf of the monarch. And so this is about what I was expecting.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Anna, the Royals have now gone back inside the palace after spending some time there for those 70 aircraft. The concept of an official birthday and an actual birthday, how far does that extend? Is this the -- the end of the birthday celebration or is there some charade inside where they're all singing Happy Birthday over a cake?

WALKER: He wants to know if there's going to be a cake and would there -- are they going to be singing happy birthday.

BLACKWELL: And -- and you know the man's birthday is in November. I mean, how far does the celebration go?

WALKER: Will there be cake?

STEWART: That was a really good question. I'd love to go into Buckingham Palace right now and tell you whether there was a cake with many candles on it. I suspect in terms of the actual family, they celebrate birthdays on the actual birthday. So for King Charles, that is back in November or will be in a few month's time, of course. But I think for this one, this is about celebrating it with the rest of the public and making sure that it is marked and it is a moment to also celebrate the Armed Forces. And that's part of the tradition of doing it. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that we can't really rely on any British Monarch's birthday falling in a month that is nice in terms of weather.

You can't really trust the British summer, frankly. But you certainly have a better chance of being a bit sunnier than it sometimes is. But that balcony shot was beautiful. It did include a few additional members of the Royal Family like the Duke of Kent, I would say so that's why I was surprised by it being slightly bigger than maybe just the cool ones that stood in the middle of the balcony. I think the children performed admirably. I'm not sure there are too many silly faces to be perfectly honest on that balcony. What a flypast. I hope you did see the RAF red arrows fly passed the acrobatics team.

What a finish to really a fabulous day. It all went off without a hitch I would say which is something considering you're looking at hundreds and hundreds of soldiers, hundreds of horses in very hot weather.

[08:10:11]

WALKER: That flypast was beautiful, spectacular, and yes and we don't know of anyone, you know having fainted because we saw that happening during the rehearsals last weekend.

BLACKWELL: The rehearsals.

WALKER: But hey, it's pretty darn good weather and we didn't really see the sun peeking out but no rain. I'm sure the Brits will take that.

BLACKWELL: A win is a win.

WALKER: It's a win. It's a win is a win.

BLACKWELL: A win is a win.

WALKER: Yes. Anna Stewart, Emily Nash, and Bidisha Mamata, thank you all very much. CNN this morning continues right now.

Just after 8:00 a.m. in the East, 5:00 a.m. in the west, welcome back to CNN this morning. I'm Amara Walker.

BLACKWELL: And I'm Victor Blackwell. Thanks for spending some time with us this morning. We just had a -- a beautiful sight here from London.

WALKER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: You saw it live on CNN, the Royal Family greeted thousands of people there from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the celebration known as Trooping the Colour. We'll have more on that throughout the morning.

WALKER: Plus there are new details this morning about the tornado that ripped through the Texas panhandle and cleanup efforts are underway. Millions of people across the south still facing the threat of more severe storms and extreme heat.

BLACKWELL: Prosecutors and defense attorneys are working to iron out the rules for sharing classified documents after the arraignment of former President Trump. We'll talk about the next steps in that case.

WALKER: Plus forget retirement. These baby boomers are taking TikTok by storm and some big brands are taking notice. I love that story.

BLACKWELL: Severe storms are expected this weekend in some of the same places already devastated by tornadoes over the past few days. Millions in Southern Texas, they are bracing for a triple-digit heat and cleanup efforts they've begun after tornadoes slammed Texas, Florida, and Mississippi. At least five people have been killed and buildings have been leveled in its path.

The tornado that hit the Town of Perryton in Texas Thursday is being treat -- as being rated I should say as an EF-3. That's according to the National Weather Service. Look at that.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has issued a disaster declaration for communities impacted by the storms. CNN Isabel Rosales is live from Perryton, Texas this morning. We can see the devastation there behind you. What are you seeing and what are the people that you're talking with, the survivors telling you about what they just went through?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Amara, Victor, good morning to you. The fire chief tells me that as many as 200 homes were destroyed. I am standing right here at what used to be the bustling heart of Perryton, the downtown area. But I want to give you a bird's eye view right now so you can get a clearer picture of the devastation left behind as the sun rises.

This tornado really going across the downtown, industrial area, and residential areas of the city. And you mentioned that the National Weather Service upgraded this tornado to an EF-3 last night. Based on preliminary data, they're saying that this thing was on the ground for 11 minutes with peak winds of over 140 miles per hour and going across the length of six miles.

Now I spoke with Alexa Lugo, an 11-year-old little girl who rode out the storm in her mobile home in this neighborhood. She remembers the window shattering praying to God for the safety of her family. She made it out and her family made it out OK. But at a nearby mobile home, 11-year-old Matthew Ramirez did not. He was her classmate. He is now the tornado's youngest victim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXA LUGO, TORNADO SURVIVOR: He's very funny. He -- he was very funny. We would always joke around and he would always be playing with his friends, playing soccer. He loves soccer. Yes. And I just remember like him, like we'd be in class, like sometimes he would come in class, and you would just be laughing for no reason, and he would make his friends laugh. I mean it was funny.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Yes, drone first. Right. OK. And this is a small town of 8,500 people so it's been just incredible to see all the helping hands, volunteers, neighbors coming out, helping to clean up. But one thing that will not be easy is this sweltering heat once the sun rises. You guys mentioned triple-digit heat is what they're encountering this week. Right now, temps are running 10 to 15 degrees above normal here in the State of Texas making this no easy task, guys.

WALKER: I mean, that drone picture really just shows how widespread the damage is. And, of course, you know with these kinds of storms, it's always random, right? Like you'll go through neighborhoods where they're completely leveled --

BLACKWELL: And there's a house standing untouched.

WALKER: And that one -- right.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

[08:15:04]

WALKER: It's inexplicable. Wow. Isabel Rosales, thank you for your reporting. Meteorologist Bradley Meteorologist Britley Ritz Joining us now from the CNN Weather Center and the threat is not over.

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, absolutely not. Amara and Victor. We are still dealing with the threat of severe weather late tonight and throughout the overnight hours and some of the same areas that dealt with it just last night and yesterday afternoon. And just as you guys mentioned, the heat not helping the situation. We need to be prepared for heat exhaustion and heatstroke symptoms. Make sure we're staying hydrated in the cleanup process.

Right now radar showing some storm activity across parts of the Central Plains, everything sub severe at the moment, and we had storms rolling through the southeast that are now pushing closer to the Big Bend up to Florida down into parts of let's say, Tampa back into St. Pete. Clearwater area probably seeing some lightning but the bulk of it really develops throughout the afternoon and evening hours today and tomorrow across the Central Plains then back down into the Florida Panhandle even down into the peninsula. Then stretching again into these parts of the Mississippi Valley for tomorrow.

Areas highlighted in orange most vulnerable for tornadoes, long-lived tornadoes, and strong winds at that again, hail two inches in diameter as well as winds over 60 miles per hour. Timing it out for you this morning. Still holding on to the storms but that dies out then we redevelop with the heat of the day, parts of Kansas down into Texas all the way through Oklahoma by 8, 9, 10 o'clock this evening. That rolls into the southeast early into the afternoon tomorrow and down into Florida throughout the evening hours.

So we really need to pay attention to that. Then of course the heat helping to enhance some of these storms. That is fuel. We have excessive heat warnings in effect from New Orleans to Brownsville. Houston, San Antonio included, these areas we're talking about when the humidity is factored in with the actual temperature. It makes it feel much hotter. Heat index values of around 110. Amara and Victor.

BLACKWELL: Britley Ritz, watching it all for us. Thank you, Britley. Donald Trump's attorneys are working to get security clearances to be able to view classified documents as they try to build his defense for the former President, what the judge is saying about the next steps in the case.

WALKER: And tragedy in Uganda, dozens killed and students abducted after rebels attack a school in the middle of the night. The details are ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:21:24]

BLACKWELL: We're going to have the latest in a criminal case against Donald Trump from mishandling highly classified documents. Sources tell CNN that Trump's attorneys are in touch with the Justice Department about getting security clearances.

WALKER: Special Counsel Jack Smith is asking the judge overseeing the case to issue a protective order to prevent the former President and his attorneys from sharing any of the information from evidence they might receive. CNN's Paula Reid has more.

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor and Amara. Here, the Special Counsel's Office is asking a judge to sign off on a list of rules that have been agreed upon between the prosecutors and Defense attorneys for how to protect sensitive evidence in this case. Now, of course, there's also the issue of classified information. I'll get to that in a second. But in this proposed order for the judge, they've agreed that for example, the Defendants former President Trump and his aide, Walt Nauta, should not be able to look at any of the sensitive evidence without their attorneys present. They're not allowed to have copies of it. If they take notes, those notes cannot leave the room. They have to be with the attorney. They have to be stored securely. They're also promising that this will not be shared with the public.

I mean, prosecutors have to share all of their evidence with Defense attorneys as part of the discovery process. And clearly, there are concerns about some of this getting out. Now prosecutors said in their memo to the Judge, they said they were concerned that if some of this evidence is shared or used improperly, that it could impact "other investigations, witnesses or people who have not been charged". Now we know the special counsel is also conducting an investigation into January 6, though no charges have been brought in that case yet. We know from our reporting that a lot of the same witnesses who've spoken to investigators in the Mar-a-Lago documents case have also talked to investigators in the January 6th investigation.

Now when it comes to classified information, a slightly different matter. The Defense attorneys will need active clearances in order to review that classified information. Of course, the former President is alleged to have taken over 30 documents after leaving the Whitehouse. And earlier this week, the Judge overseeing this case told the defense lawyers to get that process started so they can get their clearances. It's a process that'll take several weeks. And Trump's current two Defense attorneys Todd Blanche, and Chris Kise has said they are in touch with the Justice Department. So clearly they're well on their way to getting their clearances.

But again, that's a process that takes several weeks. And we know they're still looking for another addition to the defense team. Amara, Victor.

WALKER: All right. Paula Reid, thank you very much for that. Let's bring in former Manhattan prosecutor Jeremy Saland now to the conversation. Jeremy, I appreciate you joining us. Good morning.

So tell us about this process of -- for these attorneys obtaining a security clearance. How difficult is that? And I mean, is there a chance that, you know, one of the attorneys could be denied a security clearance?

JEREMY SALAND, FMR. MANHATTAN PROSECUTOR: Well, in terms of the process, it's -- consider it like a big application, where he went to school, any debt, any tax issues. Have you ever been arrested, where you went to school, and then there'll be names given so that investigators can go and follow up and find out information about these attorneys. But on top of that, then once these investigators speak to these other witnesses, they're going to find other people to speak to beyond that which is provided by the attorneys. So it's a long arduous process, not necessarily to fill out all the information, although it is a big, big job. But it's the follow-up in the work that the government has to do to make sure that these people can be cleared.

WALKER: Are you getting a sense from the Judge who We'll be presiding over this case at least for now Judge Aileen Cannon, and there is no sign or indication that she will recuse herself as critics are calling for. But are you getting the sense that she's trying to move this case quickly along?

[08:25:15]

SALAND: Well, this is certainly the right step. And there's no way to look at this and say, isn't the right step. This is something that needs to be done. I have a former colleague of mine who said, it's kind of like telling these -- these attorneys, you have to wear a tie. You need the clearance. It has to happen. It has to move forward. So I think this is the right sign to show that she's taking it seriously.

Now, if the Judge wanted to delay the case, there's certainly many means by which you can do so. But let's look at this in good faith for now and say this is the correct step for the right type of case with highly confidential or top secret potential documents that don't want to be revealed to the public, or, as you noted, just before in the segment that are going to be released to the public by way of either Mr. Trump on the other co-defendant.

WALKER: I mean, this is obviously a very high-stakes trial that will take place because first of all, it's the first of its kind that we're dealing with top-secret documents. I mean, Trump is accused of, you know, taking 31 documents illegally, some which have top-secret designations. I mean, there's got to be some concern, at least from the U.S. intelligence community about how these documents might be handled, right, because some of them may be or will be shown to the jury. And, of course, I'm sure there will be some redactions. But they're going to have to strike a balance with, you know, redacting too much and at least showing, you know, just how sensitive these documents were and the information that were in there.

SALAND: What -- well, a couple of balances, if you want to call it that have already been struck already. And what I mean by that is that the intelligence community, the Department of Justice has said, maybe not everything comes in. And some things may be too sensitive, that we don't want to put these in, before a jury. So we're going to pick and choose out of all these documents, which ones to present. And yes, certain things can be redacted. But you still need to provide the -- the facts that are the basis of the elements of the crime.

You can't just say, you know, this is confidential or this is top secret or this impacts the defense of the United States, and then not show it. So there's -- there's a rule or the Silent Witness rule. But -- but what basically is going to happen in a coded type fashion, that information on those documents may not and very well won't be redacted. But it's not going to be necessarily displayed to the public. So that normal, you may be putting out a big screen and people can see, and it may say instead of, you know, a particular country, it may use a letter to -- to correspond with that country or a person. So that this all can be protected and presented in a way that the jury understands, the Defense understands, and obviously the judges well,

WALKER: Right. In a way that does not damage national security in any way.

SALAND: Right. WALKER: I am curious to hear from you, Jeremy about the Special Counsel Jack Smith's approach. Glenn Thrush with the New York Times wrote quite an interesting analysis about his approach and described it as, you know, an aggressive, fast-track approach coupled with the conspicuously respectful posture toward the Defendant. And part of that strategy -- strategy, obviously, to avoid secondary fights or distractions.

To that end, though, you know, we saw Jack Smith, not you know, pursuing a strict bond deal, not asking for a no-contact order, or no limits on travel, or there was no cash bail, which is routine, you know, for cases like this. Do you think Jack Smith's approach is the right one?

SALAMD: Absolutely. He is trying to really make this trial between the four corners of that indictment and the four corners of that courtroom. Why, for example, as you mentioned before, we're going to say, or when I say we, the government going to say the former President shouldn't be able to travel as the former President of the United States, and as someone who's campaigning for office. That's going to create a sideshow that is just simply unnecessary.

Why take those steps are going to put obstacles in your own way to reach a conclusion? So certainly, he has to be respectful. We can disagree or agree on what that actually means. But he also needs to just move this forward, get that discovery ready, and fight the fights that are willing and necessary to fight and let those other battles go by.

WALKER: Quickly. We got to go. Just one -- a one-word answer from you, if you don't mind. Walt Nauta, who's charged with conspiring with Trump to hide these classified documents. Do you believe that prosecutors are going to try to get him to, you know, cooperate against Trump?

SALAND: Possibly.

WALKER: Jeremy Saland, thank you.

SALAND: That's not the answer that you wanted. I'm sure they'd like to but possibly.

WALKER: Possibly, good enough.

BLACKWELL But it was one word.

WALKER: Appreciate it. It was one word and he stuck with that.

BLACKWELL: It was one word. All right.

WALKER: You're the best Jeremy. Thanks.

SALAND: What else could you say?

BLACKWELL: Still ahead. An alarming trend among America's young people suicide and homicide rates are now the highest they've been in decades. The president of the American Psychiatric Association joins us to discuss what's being done to save lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:33:53]

BLACKWELL: A new report says that young people in this country are dying from suicide and homicide at the highest rates in decades. The CDC report paints a really disturbing picture of the Mental Health Crisis among youth and young adults.

WALKER: Suicide and homicide were the second and third leading causes of death for children and young adults ages 10 to 24. CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell has more on the findings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, the CDC report is alarming on a number of levels. If you look at suicide rates among people ages 10 to 24, they've really been increasing back to 2007, up 62 percent in that time, and the rate now at about 11 out of 100,000 is the highest since 1968.

There are also alarming trends in the homicide rate, which is now similar 11 out of 100,000, that jumped about 30 percent or more in the first year of the pandemic. That's a trend we've been seeing even more broadly than just in kids and young adults, but it is one that we see here as well in the data and it's something that's very concerning to public health experts.

[08:35:00]

Now to put that those numbers into real numbers, that's about 7,000 deaths per year from each suicide and homicide in the United States in this age group. So it's just incredibly concerning that homicide rate is the highest since 1997.

Now, if you dig into the data and look at it by age group, some really scary trends emerge there as well, particularly in the youngest kids, they looked at here, between ages 10 and 14, the suicide rate tripled between 2007 and 2018.

So this is something that public health experts are paying extremely close attention to. Just this week, the American Medical Association called children's mental health a quote, crisis situation and voted to adopt a new policy to advocate further mental health.

You know, that really includes ensuring that kids get access to care. There have been studies that show that nearly half of young adults don't receive mental health services that they need. There's also a shortfall in the workforce to provide mental health care to kids. So that's something that the AMA is really focused on as well.

You know, not just the AMA, the surgeon general actually put out a report in 2021 focused on youth mental health. So this is something that the public health community as a whole is looking at very closely. And these numbers are a reminder about how important it is. Victor. Amara.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Meg, thanks so much. Let's get some insight into these findings. And joining us now is Dr. Petros Levounis. He's a psychiatrist and president of the American Psychiatric Association.

Doctor, thank you for being with us. I know that the first question I'm going to ask does not have a very simple 45-second answer. But I'd like as much as you can give me. Why is this happening?

DR. PETROS LEVOUNIS, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION: Well, two major things. One is that we do see the rates of depression, anxiety, substance use disorders going up with a pandemic, people are stressed, people feel lonely, people are in particular crisis. So that's one major reason.

And the other one is more of a hopeful one. And that is that people appreciate mental illness much more in 2023, than ever before. So what we do see is more people coming out, talking about problems, talking about mental health, talking about substance use disorders, seeking help, and that is the good news.

BLACKWELL: Yes. We've got two different studies we're going to talk about this morning. I want to stick first to the homicide and suicide numbers from the CDC, and then we'll get to depression. But on the homicide and suicide numbers, and you cited the connection to the pandemic, when a lot of people felt the depression, they felt distant, they felt hopeless. How long does one expect? Or should we expect the residue of those years to stick around in these debts?

LEVOUNIS: That's an excellent question, we don't really know. But I can say is that in the earlier parts of the pandemic, we identify some kind of honeymoon period where there was a sense of togetherness that we're all in it to, together that we're fighting this pandemic, people were helping each other. So it masks some of the more severe consequences in the mental health of people.

As we are moving out of the pandemic, now we'll see an unmasking of these problems. And so we may end up struggling with depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, other psychiatric disorders for quite some time.

BLACKWELL: Let's turn to the new report also on depression that shows that 18.4 percent of U.S. adults have reported ever being diagnosed with depression in our lifetimes. It varies by state 12.7 percent in Hawaii, 27.5 percent in West Virginia, why the disparities regionally and by state?

LEVOUNIS: Yes. This discrepancy that you're describing gets even more extreme when we're looking at counties, so some counties are even more severely impacted than others. In psychiatry, we start to appreciate more and more, that your zip code may be more important than your genetic code when it comes to your mental health.

So socioeconomic factors where people grow up, levels of poverty, levels of education play a tremendous part in people's well-being and more specifically depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders.

BLACKWELL: We also saw what, I guess, we would expect the disparity in the numbers as it relates to men versus women. 24 percent of women overall, compared to 13.3 percent of men, reporting the prevalence of depression.

How much of this has to do with access to mental health have in those counties, at those county health departments?

[08:40:03]

And are we seeing an increase anywhere that would try to catch up with these numbers to try to bring them down?

LEVOUNIS: Yes. Suddenly there's an access to care problem or have a workforce shortage across the country in some areas even worse than others. Telepsychiatry, telehealth is an important tool that we can use to access care, especially in remote areas. And also having some care delivered by primary care physicians, by gynecologist, by pediatricians. You don't necessarily have to go to a psychiatrist to take care of your depression or anxiety. Start with someone that you whom you trust, somebody close to you even a loved one, open the conversation.

And then if the psychiatrist needs to come in, we have ways of collaborating with our primary care physicians. And we can do that as well.

I just want to make a comment about the men versus women. The gender issue that you just brought up. I think that we men have a particularly difficult time accepting any kind of problem that we'll have in our lives. And that may very well account for that discrepancy.

BLACKWELL: Yes, as I said expected because we often see those numbers especially as it relates to reporting any health challenges. Dr. Petros Levounis, thank you so much for being with us. And listen, if you can't get to one of the health professionals that the doctor just spoke about, and you need some help or you know someone who needs help contact the suicide and crisis lifeline. The numbers simple 988. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:46:06]

WALKER: Some of the other headlines for you this morning a horrific scene in Western Uganda one of the deadliest attacks the country has seen. Police says extremist rebels linked to ISIS attacked a residential High School killing at least 41 people and abducting six students before setting the school's dormitories on fire.

Officials say many of the victims were killed with machetes and the death toll could rise because there could still be more victims inside that burned building. The military is conducting a manhunt for the suspects in the Democratic Republic of Congo. BLACKWELL: Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers has died at the age of 92 from pancreatic cancer. He risked his freedom to share classified documents with the New York Times and Washington Post during the Nixon administration.

And the records painted a devastating picture of the war in Vietnam and showed that officials knew the conflict was unwinnable. The government sued the newspapers but in a landmark ruling the Supreme Court found in favor of the media.

WALKER: Frightening moments at Boston's Logan International Airport when the wing of the United Flight clipped the tale of a Delta plane. The FAA says it happened Friday evening when the United plane was taxing and then tapped the Delta plane in the rear. One passenger onboard the Delta flights that have felt like an earthquake. Then notice the emergency vehicles outside the plane. Officials say fortunately nobody was injured in the incident.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, the rise of the grandfluencer, older TikTokers are now seeing a surge of followers and companies and noticing.

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[08:51:55]

BLACKWELL: So most people probably associate TikTok and all the TikTokers with young people, teenagers but now senior creators are seeing a huge surge in follower.

WALKER: Yes, these grandfluencers as some are calling them are racking up really big views and some companies are noticing. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more.

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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Six strangers pick to live in a house and have their lives taped for social media. This isn't exactly the real world house. These six strangers are well into retirement age, but their Tiktok, their retirement house is anything but these seniors were doing a bit of acting or pumping out curated content, rivaling influencers more than half their age, while amassing more than 5 million followers.

They're called Grandfluencers and are pulling in huge brand deals. The creator economy is worth $250 billion and could double to 480 billion by 2027. The retirement house promoting Sara V. or friends from Palm Springs known as the Old Gays on TikTok and have 11 million followers partnered with Hyundai.

And Chobani (ph) took notice of 74-year-old Lynn Davis's cooking videos and her 15.7 million followers.

LYNN DAVIS, FAMOUS TIKTOKER: That's good.

YURKEVICH: 62year-old Helen Polise is approaching 1 million followers on TikTok.

HELEN POLISE, INFLUENCER, THE MUTHERSHIP: It's daunting to think about that many people because it's like populations of cities. Here we go.

YURKEVICH: Polise found TikTok over the pandemic, a distraction and a way to have fun.

YURKEVICH (on camera): Was there a point that this turned into more of a business?

POLISE: Some people would ask me Oh, how did you do that transition? How did you figure that out? So I said I'll make a tutorial for you. And that was the turning point in the social media for me.

YURKEVICH (voiceover): Instead of brand deals, she's teaching her followers how to TikTok through paid tutorials. It started with mostly older people, but now it's younger people.

POLISE: Really good at technology probably a better than a lot of young people. So I want to highlight that it's -- it's OK to get older. I feel more authentic, not afraid to be myself.

YURKEVICH: Yeah.

POLISE: And I think that's really helpful on social media especially.

YURKEVICH (voiceover): And for older influencers, success comes in the form of connection to millions of people often a quarter of their age.

DEBRA RAPOPORT, INFLUENCER: It also opens up a lot of community. I have more friends than I can count. And I have more friends who are like 25 and 30 than 75, 80 year olds.

YURKEVICH: At 78, Debra Rapoport has found a new audience for her sustainable wearable art on Instagram. She's able to promote her upcoming shows workshops and sell what she's made.

RAPOPORT: And I've modeled this naked.

YURKEVICH: To her nearly 60s,000 Instagram followers.

YURKEVICH (on camera): Why do you think they're attracted to?

RAPOPORT: I think young people are craving authenticity and that's what I try to encourage.

[08:55:04]

YURKEVICH: Is being older actually an asset on social media?

RAPOPORT: Totally. Totally. Not only on social media but in life itself. I'm not afraid at 78 to put myself out there and say, This is who I am. This is what I do. I've been doing it a very long time. I don't intend to stop.

YURKEVICH (voiceover): For many grandfluencers, this is fun and doesn't feel like work. Even while we filmed with Polise, she was capturing her very next TikTok. Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: It takes time and energy but time to come up with content and create it so it's awesome. I love the story. But they have the time as well. So good for them.

BLACKWELL: I loved it.

WALKER: They're using it to do some, you know, to promote items.

BLACKWELL: Stay active.

WALKER: Yes, for sure.

BLACKWELL: All right. Be sure to tune in Monday night for CNN concert event with some of the biggest names in music. Watch Juneteenth, A Global Celebration for Freedom live coverage starts Monday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN. We will be back here in just about an hour.

WALKER: Smerconish up next. We'll see you back here at 10:00 Eastern.

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