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CNN This Morning
Banging Sounds Detected in Search for Missing Sub; Hunter Biden Agrees to Plead Guilty to Federal Tax Charges in Deal. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired June 21, 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: "The Idol" is No. 3, despite just a 33 percent rating from critics and 58 percent from viewers.
[06:00:08]
All right. Thanks for joining me this morning. I'm Christine Romans. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. We are so glad you are with us on this Wednesday. I'm here again with my friend, Victor Blackwell.
Good morning.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
HARLOW: Good night?
BLACKWELL: Good to be here for day three.
HARLOW: A good night in New York City?
BLACKWELL: Yes. I went to Melvin's yesterday and had some good salmon. It was delicious.
HARLOW: The best --
BLACKWELL: Yes.
HARLOW: -- in Harlem, right?
Well, we're so glad you're with us. Let's get started with "Five Things to Know" for this Wednesday, June 21.
New overnight, CNN has learned that crews searching for the Titan submersible detected banging sounds underwater yesterday. Also, a Canadian aircraft reported a white rectangular object in the water at one point. This huge search continues, though time is running out for the five people on board. The U.S. Coast Guard warns there's only about 24 hours of oxygen left.
BLACKWELL: Hunter Biden strikes a deal with federal prosecutors, and Republicans are furious. They're claiming a double standard is at play and avowing to continue investigating the Bidens.
HARLOW: And a federal judge sets a date for Donald Trump's criminal trial in the classified documents case. New polling from CNN also shows a softening of support for the former president among the Republican voters, but he is still, by far, the clear frontrunner.
BLACKWELL: For the first time, U.S. medical experts are recommending all adults under 65 be screened for anxiety disorders. This comes just after recommendation to screen children 8 and above.
HARLOW: And millions of Americans face scorching temperatures again this morning as hundreds of thousands wake up with no power. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
Here is where we begin. Such a big development overnight.
BLACKWELL: Yes. This banging now that's been heard. What does that mean? Where is it coming from?
HARLOW: That's exactly right. And consistent time periods may be indicating hope -- something hopeful.
A major development overnight in this search for the sub that went missing while diving on the Titanic shipwreck. The U.S. Coast Guard says a Canadian surveillance plane has also detected underwater noises in the area. They heard banging sounds at 30-minute intervals yesterday. That's according to an internal government memo.
Time is quickly running out to save the five people who are on board. It's estimated they would only have about one day left of breathable air at this point, if that sub is still intact.
We have learned that the pilot of the Titan submersible was Stockton Rush. He is the CEO and the founder of the company OceanGate. They, of course, operate that submersible.
There are also new questions this morning about the safety and the regulation of it. Two former OceanGate employees separately voiced concerns about the safety of this vessel, the Titan, years ago.
So let's begin there with CNN international correspondent Paula Newton, who has the latest. Good morning, Paula.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Poppy.
You know, this hopeful news is also quite chilling. Right? I mean, think about it. You're more than two miles beneath the surface, perhaps, and desperately trying to get someone's attention.
They picked up this banging from sonar boonie (ph) -- buoys that were put on the surface of the ocean. That was that Canadian aircraft.
And all of this coming, as you point out, with about 24 hours of oxygen left.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON (voice-over): A sound of hope in the search and rescue of the missing submersible with five people on board. According to an internal U.S. government memo, sonar picked up banging sounds underneath the water Tuesday at 30-minute intervals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Regular 30-minute intervals is -- is a man-made thing. It's not a natural occurrence. It doesn't happen like that in nature. It is a good sign of hope.
NEWTON (voice-over): The memo was not clear as to when the banging was heard on Tuesday or how long it lasted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can triangulate the noise. Again, it's only happening every 30 minutes. They only have a data update every 30 minutes. So if it was happening every minute, it would be a lot easier and a lot faster.
NEWTON (voice-over): However, time continues to be a critical factor as the vessel's oxygen supply dwindles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will do everything in our power to -- to affect a rescue.
NEWTON (voice-over): So far, the U.S. Coast Guard says it has searched an area about the size of Connecticut.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Getting salvage equipment on scene is a top priority.
NEWTON (voice-over): The U.S. Navy is sending a Flyaway Deep-Ocean Salvage System, similar to the one pictured here, for retrieving heavy underwater items like the small submersible.
On board, OceanGate CEO and founder Stockton Rush; British adventurer and business Hamish Harding; one of Pakistan's richest men, British businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year- old son, Sulaiman Dawood. And the vessel's pilot, French submariner and ex-Navy officer, Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
[06:05:03]
DAVID GALLO, RMS TITANIC INC. SENIOR ADVISOR FOR STRATEGIC INITIATIVES: If I was in a bind with anybody, it would be Paul-Henri Nargeolet. He would do everything he can, and without panic, to work his way out of this situation.
NEWTON (voice-over): As the ongoing search and rescue continues, we're learning of concerns in 2018 regarding the planned expedition of the submersible to that Titanic wreckage site.
In a letter obtained by "The New York Times" and addressed to the OceanGate CEO, Stockton Rush, the Manned Underwater Vehicles Committee of the Marine Technology Society raised these concerns: "Our apprehension is that the current experimental approach adopted by OceanGate could result in the negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic) that would have serious consequences for everyone in the industry."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: You know, we have, at CNN, continually reached out to OceanGate for comment about that, Poppy. We have not heard anything.
I want to go back to something that was in the report, though, right? You've got Stockton Rush, the CEO, and the French mariner, Paul-Henri Nargeolet. These are two of the best experts you can have down there. If the banging did come from the submersible, that's likely why. They knew that they would be putting those sonars buoys in the water, likely assumed they would be.
Now, the hard part, Poppy, right, is finding that submersible and then trying to lift it to the surface if, indeed, it is still on the sea bed -- Poppy.
HARLOW: There is hope this morning. Paula, thank you very much for the reporting.
BLACKWELL: Let's bring in now David Gallo. He is a senior adviser for the strategic initiatives for RMS Titanic Incorporated, which owns the exclusive salvage rights to the Titanic wreck site.
David, good to have you back. So these 30-minute intervals of the banging, is there training that suggests that, if you are in this situation, to do that, so that they know, anyone searching, that it's not occurring naturally?
GALLO: It's -- I don't know about any formal training, but it's something that you think people will do. You see it in movies, in World War II movies, when the sub is stuck on the bottom.
But it is something, it's not natural. That would be very unusual for it to be natural. But it's something P-H Nargeolet would certainly do. And one of the wonders I have is that, do they make any signal back, acoustically, noise back to signal to the sub that we hear their signal?
BLACKWELL: Will there be something in this sub, based on what we know, that could pick that up?
GALLO: Well, you would hear it through -- I'd be surprised if you don't hear it through the sub. Ocean -- sound carries very easily in the ocean. And the right frequency and all that stuff, you would hear it in the sub, for sure.
HARLOW: You're personal friends with -- with Paul-Henri Nargeolet. And I just wonder if you could speak to him and what he brings to this, you know, now family of five down there, fighting for their life? What he would bring to them inside.
GALLO: Yes, apart from being my friend, he is a part of that five. And my heart goes out to that -- all the loved ones of those people.
Paul-Henri, P-H as we call him, one of the nicest people that walk the face of the Earth. He's calm. He's thoughtful, whether he's on the deck of a rolling ship in the middle of a storm or in a Parisian cafe. So -- and smart, smarter beyond smart. If I was going to the Titanic, he'd be the first person I call. He's the person that we worked with to make the Air France 447 search successful. He's the person that -- he's also an employee of RMS Titanic Inc. that helped create the first detailed map of the Titanic in 2010.
BLACKWELL: Now again, I said that you're with RMS Titanic. You have the exclusive rights of this wreck site, so you know the region. There are, as we're told, seven mechanisms on this submersible that would bring it to the surface, voluntarily and involuntarily. Even if people are incapacitated, there are ways to bring it to -- to the surface.
What, in that region, would stop these seven from -- from bringing it up? If it hasn't already? It's a huge area.
GALLO: That's a good question, Victor, and that's something I'm trying to grapple with, that if the sub didn't make it all the way to the bottom -- in an hour and 45 minutes, I'm not sure they could -- it means they probably weren't caught by anything like a jagged edge or a cable. So it would have been mid-water.
And if something went wrong in mid-water, why didn't they drop a ballast, so to speak, of batteries, the weights, and then bob up to the surface?
So it's a tough one, and that's why the surface search from air is important, and the underwater search is important.
[06:10:02]
HARLOW: Can we talk about the ongoing search right now? Because the Coast Guard has put a grid out showring the search area. They heard this sound, which helps give them data points, trying to sort of triangulate this.
How hopeful are you this morning, with 24 hours or so left of oxygen, that they've got enough time now, with a little more data about where this could be?
GALLO: Yes. Poppy, when I first heard about the banging, I said, Oh no, here we go again.
In Malaysian Air, we heard banging --
HARLOW: Yes.
GALLO: -- quite often and it always turned out to be something different.
You know, if they are trying to triangulate -- and I'm sure they are -- to find the -- where that noise is coming from, the next hope would be -- and they probably will -- start moving ships and tools in that direction, whether it's identified or not. Because the time is short. It takes a day or so just to get there from St. John, so you're pretty much -- HARLOW: Yes.
GALLO: -- have to work with the ships you've got.
HARLOW: Can I just ask, if they do find it -- let's hope they do in the next 24 hours -- and we asked this to the head of the Coast Guard leading the search yesterday, what's the plan to bring it up to the surface if it's not already on the surface? If it actually is already two miles down, how do you get it up?
GALLO: Well, that's the -- well, there are companies that do that, that can retrieve things. I know the Navy is sending one group out there that specializes in that. I know other groups, private companies that are very good at that.
But, you know, time is of the essence. If it's found in the air, and you can bring it up, they're going to have to work quickly. You need the best and brightest minds on that. It's an engineering issue. So they've got to identify really quickly what the problem is and get it out of there.
BLACKWELL: The Navy resource you're referencing, a spokesperson says they're sending away the Flyaway Deep Open Salvage System to help in a potential rescue mission.
Of course, the first thing, though, they've got to find it --
HARLOW: Yes.
BLACKWELL: -- before they make any effort to bring it up, obviously.
David Gallo, thank you very much. We will lean on your expertise a little later in the show.
HARLOW: Thanks Victor, Poppy.
BLACKWELL: Republicans are railing on the Hunter Biden plea deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): It just seems to me that, if you are the leading opponent of the president, you're going to get jail time. But if you're the son of the president, you don't get any jail time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: So is this really the sweetheart slap on the wrist that some Republicans are calling it? We'll break it down.
HARLOW: Also, a federal judge puts Donald Trump's classified document trial on a fast track. A date has been set. It's this summer. But will it stay that way?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) [06:16:10]
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): This does not happen if Hunter's last name is anything other than Biden. If he's Hunter Smith, he's doing hard time. It is only because Daddy is president, that he gets this sweetheart deal with no jail time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: We're going to fact check that. That is Senator Ted Cruz, one of many Republicans criticizing Hunter Biden's plea deal with the Justice Department.
The president's son will plead guilty to federal tax charges. He has made a deal on a felony gun charge. It's expected that he will avoid prison time.
Our Paula Reid joins us. Paula, good morning.
It's not just Ted Cruz. It's so many Republican leaders in both chambers really upset with this. They think it's not fair, even though the lead prosecutor, David Weiss, was appointed by Trump and kept in place by Biden.
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's not terribly surprising that they are criticizing this deal. Republican lawmakers have put a lot of time and energy into investigating Hunter Biden's personal and legal problems and making an effort to try to connect them to his father.
But here, as you noted, this was a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney. They looked into Hunter Biden for about five years, looking at everything from possible foreign lobbying violations to money laundering. And in the end, the only charges that were brought as a result of this deal are two relatively minor tax charges, and one charge is being diverted, related to the purchase of a firearm.
So in no way does this particular case from the Justice Department affirm the many accusations that the GOP has made about President Biden, or his son.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REID (voice-over): The DOJ's years-long investigation into Hunter Biden nearing a potential end. According to a letter filed by federal prosecutors, Hunter will plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and strike a deal to resolve a separate felony gun charge.
According to court documents, Hunter Biden owed at least $100,000 in federal taxes for 2017 and at least another $100,000 in 2018 but did not pay the IRS by the deadlines.
His lawyer says he eventually paid the bill, along with fees and penalties.
On the tax charges, according to CNN sources, the Justice Department has agreed to recommend a sentence of probation, as part of the deal.
On the gun charge, prosecutors allege a 2018 incident in which Hunter Biden possessed a gun, despite his drug addiction, in violation of federal law.
Biden has admitted to struggling with drug and alcohol addiction as early as 18 years of age. The deal allows him to enter a diversion program. Hunter has been in and out of rehab numerous times before.
House Republicans, seizing on the news.
MCCARTHY: My first reaction is, it continues to show the two-tier system in America. If you are the president's leading political opponent, the DOJ tries to literally put you in jail and give you prison time. If you are the president's son, you get a sweetheart deal.
REID (voice-over): Republican presidential hopeful and former vice president Mike Pence also weighed in.
MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While I welcome these charges and the guilty plea, I have a sense that this will do very little to allay the concerns of millions of Americans that we just simply don't give equal treatment under the law.
REID (voice-over): In an interview Tuesday, Biden's lawyer, Chris Clark, called the investigation dogged but fair.
CHRIS CLARK, ATTORNEY FOR HUNTER BIDEN: This was a five-year, very diligent investigation pursued by incredibly professional prosecutors, some of whom have been career prosecutors. One of whom, at least, was appointed by President Trump. And no one has ever said they're not competent, good or diligent.
REID (voice-over): The Hunter Biden investigation has been overseen by Trump-appointed U.S. attorney David Weiss.
[06:20:02]
In a letter, Weiss made it clear that he has ultimate authority over the criminal investigation.
Asked about the DOJ deal on Tuesday, the president expressed support for his son.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you spoken to your son today, Mr. President?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very proud of my son.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
REID (on camera): And we're still waiting for a date to be set for Hunter to go into court for his arraignment and to plead guilty.
I want to emphasize that everything about this deal is still subject to approval by a judge.
Poppy, you and I were talking during the commercial break about this deal and whether this is something that would happen to anyone else.
HARLOW: Right.
REID: But yes, based upon previous cases, while no one is exactly like Hunter Biden, for someone who failed to pay their taxes on time for the first time, and for someone who failed to disclose their addiction on a form when purchasing a firearm, especially in the wake of last year's Supreme Court decision expanding Second Amendment rights --
HARLOW: Right.
REID: -- as well as another similar case working its way through the appeals court, this seems like a pretty average resolution. Diversion, which is what he's getting for the gun charge, that is a common alternative to incarceration, especially when drugs or alcohol are involved.
HARLOW: Paula, thank you so much. Standby.
BLACKWELL: All right. Let's bring in now CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, also a former assistant attorney for the Southern District of New York and former federal New Jersey state prosecutor.
Do you agree with that? Nothing sweet about this deal?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I do. I mean, if you bring it down this way, on the two tax charges, nothing at all unusual about this. He failed to pay his taxes for two years. He later repaid them. You can't get yourself out of a charge by paying. But giving someone a misdemeanor plea on those is completely within the norm.
The gun crime is unusual in that virtually nobody gets charged with that particular crime to begin with, which is possessing a firearm while an addict.
I was a prosecutor for 14 years. I charged dozens and dozens of federal firearms cases here in New York. I never even heard of that law. It is a lot, but it's way down the list.
So the very fact that Hunter Biden got charged with this on its own is unusual. On the other hand, it is unusual for someone to get charged with a federal firearms crime and to get pretrial diversion.
But again, it's rare to see someone charged with this to begin with. So you can look at that one either way.
HARLOW: One thing that I thought was interesting is that Hunter Biden's lawyer said, essentially -- and I'm paraphrasing here -- we consider this pretty much done. Right? Assuming the judge signs off.
The actual Justice Department, you know, memo or whatever you -- whatever you call it, you lawyers, says that this is, quote, "ongoing." And Jim Jordan is an example of a Republican in Congress who wants to know what ongoing actually means. What you think it means?
REID: Well, I'm right there with Representative Jim Jordan. We do need to do some more reporting to understand exactly what that means, because U.S. Attorney David Weiss, he put in his statement about this case, that the investigation is ongoing.
Now, to many of us, that read like boilerplate language. Of course, look, this entire deal is subject to approval by a judge, and then that file stays open, right, while he's on probation, while he completes his requirements for diversion. And if anything goes wrong, right, the case could -- could potentially go on. There could be additional investigative steps.
So it seemed like boilerplate, because it would be highly unusual. If they are still looking at some sort of substantive matter, to potentially bring charges, to resolve a case with a plea deal and then bring those additional charges. Because you want to make sure that you have all your chips on the table when you're trying to negotiate a deal and pressure someone. Right? So that they're up against all the potential charges.
So at this point, based on talking to sources and experts, it appears that that's boiler plate. But look, we're interested, just as Representative Jim Jordan is, in getting more answers and clarification from the U.S. attorney.
HONIG: And Paula -- if I can add to what Paula said, DOJ prosecutors are trained from day one. You call everything ongoing until the case is signed, sealed, delivered. That is just the habit of DOJ. It's something they do to protect themselves.
When we see the paperwork on this deal between the parties, I assure you, it will say this is -- this is based on everything that we as DOJ know, as of this moment, and there are no future charges forthcoming. You wouldn't enter a deal otherwise.
BLACKWELL: Well, one investigation we know that is ongoing without any ambiguity is the House GOP investigation into all of this. They want more, of course, documents from DOJ.
Are they likely, more likely at the DOJ, to hand over documents now that this deal has been reached?
HONIG: So the fact that the case is going to be over soon, I think, makes it slightly less sensitive for purposes of turning over information to the public and Congress.
But still, count on DOJ to hold the line here. And the U.S. attorney in this case, David Weiss, has already written a letter to Jim Jordan saying, I'm not giving you anything, because it's not the rule that once a case is pled out, well, come on in and we'll open up our files for the public. That would endanger DOJ's investigative methods. It would endanger the witnesses. It would endanger the reputation and the fairness of the person being investigated.
So DOJ has long held the line there. We do not let people into our investigative files. And I think if Congress pushes here, I think DOJ is going to hold the line and, if necessary, take it to court.
[06:25:00]
HARLOW: Thank you, Elie.
Thank you, Paula. Great reporting.
Next hour, we're going to be joined with Congresswoman Nancy Mace; her thoughts on this Biden plea deal. That's ahead.
BLACKWELL: We have more on the significance of the banging sounds detected in the search for the Titan submersible. There are a lot of people wondering what the passengers might be going through right now. I mean, I know you probably had this conversation. If I were in that -- that submersible, 13,000 feet down, what would I be doing?
We'll get expert insight from a retired astronaut who has trained underwater. That's next.
HARLOW: Also, another Supreme Court justice coming under scrutiny in a report for going on a luxury vacation paid for by a Republican donor. Justice Samuel Alito responding in an op-ed before the reporting even came out, defending himself. We'll get into all of it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Well, there is a new urgency, and potentially hope, in the race to find the missing Titan submersible and the five people on board.
According to the Coast Guard, underwater noises have been detected, but further searches have not turned up anything so far. Now, this comes after an internal government memo said that banging noises were heard at 30-minute intervals on Tuesday.
And as search crews continue their work, we're getting a better understanding.
