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CNN This Morning

Philly Police: Gunman Had AR-Style Rifle, Police Scanner, Bulletproof Vest; Russia: Ukraine Attempted 'Terrorist' Drone Attack Near Moscow; GOP Presidential Hopefuls Hit Campaign Trail Today in NH, Iowa; Storms, Extreme Heat and Fire Threats for July 4th; Israel Launches Biggest Operation in West Bank in 20 Years. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 04, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR/CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, everyone. Happy Fourth of July. Happy 247th birthday, the United States of America. And there is a lot of news on this Fourth of July. Audie Cornish is here with me.

[06:00:41]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Thanks for having me.

MATTINGLY: Thanks for being here. Let's get started. "Five Things to Know" on this holiday Tuesday.

Five people are dead, and two children are injured, including a toddler, after police say a man with a bulletproof vest and an AR-15- style weapon carried out a mass shooting in the streets of Philadelphia. This morning, a suspect is in custody, and police are looking for a motive.

CORNISH: Also new this morning, Russia claims Ukraine attacked Moscow with five drones. The Russian defense ministry says it intercepted them, calling it a terrorist attack. Kyiv has yet to respond.

Also, a new challenge over how Harvard admits students. This time the university's legacy admissions program faces a civil rights complaint. Lawyers complain the program overwhelmingly benefits white applicants. This just days after Supreme Court gutted affirmative action in college admissions.

MATTINGLY: And Republican presidential candidates are marking America's big birthday by reaching out to its voters. Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis and more storming the key early battleground states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

CORNISH: And there are several storms, high heat putting cookouts nationwide at stake. Americans brace for extreme weather, coast to coast.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

MATTINGLY: And we're going to start this morning with breaking news out of Ft. Worth, Texas, where police now say eight people are injured and two are dead after a mass shooting at a Fourth of July celebration. No one is in custody right now.

We're still getting details on that mass shooting, but we are already turning to another mass shooting overnight, this one out of Philadelphia.

Police say at least five people are now dead, two are injured after a heavily-armed gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire on the city streets.

Investigators say the suspect had an AR-15-style rifle, a handgun, a police scanner and multiple magazines of ammo packed in his body armor when police officers arrested him in an alley.

We're going to start this morning with Danny Freeman. He's live outside Philadelphia police headquarters. And Danny, it's horrifying in terms of the details that we know so far. What more are we learning about the suspect?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Phil, to really be honest, we're not learning that much more about the suspect this morning. Police have confirmed to us, of course, there is one primary suspect. He's in his 40s. He was taken into custody last night, and he was wearing body armor and carrying multiple guns, as you just said.

But police still asking the question themselves at this point: Why did he open fire last night?

But Phil, I want to talk about what we do know about this shooting. Basically, this all started around 8:30 last night. Philadelphia Police got a call regarding multiple gunshot victims in the Kingsessing neighborhood. That's in Southwest Philadelphia.

When officers arrived, they found multiple gunshot victims, but then they also heard more gunshots. And Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw described officers basically chasing the sound of gunshots and the ultimate gunman through several blocks of this neighborhood late last evening.

Ultimately, they were able to find the gunman, apprehend him without firing a shot. But I want you to take a listen to what Police Commissioner Outlaw said at -- when that moment came when they apprehended this suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMMISSIONER DANIELLE OUTLAW, PHILADELPHIA POLICE: Our officers were able to apprehend the male in the rear alley of 1600 Frazier Street. And when they did, this male was wearing a bulletproof vest, with multiple magazines in the vest. He also had a scanner and an AR-style rifle and a handgun underneath his body. He was taken into custody without further incident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now, Phil, Commissioner Outlaw also initially said there were six victims: four who died and two of the other injured were children. But then we learned overnight, police discovered a fifth -- excuse me, a seventh victim, a fifth person who was killed. Basically, a man came out of his apartment while police were out canvassing certain areas of that neighborhood and said, someone inside is also dead. And police told us overnight that that was related to this shooting.

And Phil, I just want to say, there actually was a second person taken into custody that the police commissioner said picked up a gun and started returning fire at the gunman, but that's not the, again, primary suspect in this case.

[06:05:04]

And one thing I'll add, as well. I just want to bear in mind, this is a large crime scene, Phil. There were more than 50 shell casings on the ground when police got on scene last night.

Again, we're going to be looking for updates today as this story develops. But that's the latest from here in Philadelphia -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: All right. Keep us posted on those updates. Danny Freeman, thanks so much.

CORNISH: Now, new signs of the Ukrainian counteroffensive unfold this morning near Moscow. That's where Russia claims it intercepted five Ukrainian drones. And while there are no immediate reports of casualties or damage, Russia is offering a fairly powerful description of the encounter, calling it a, quote, "thwarted terrorist attack."

CNN's Ben Wedeman is live in Eastern Ukraine. And first, what have you heard from Kyiv? How is Ukraine responding?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyiv is responding with a certain amount of sarcasm, given that the Russian -- the foreign ministry, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, saying that this was a case of international terrorism.

We just got a statement from an adviser to the Ukrainian president that says, "The Russian foreign ministry should realize that a terrorist attack is when you have been deliberately firing cruise and ballistic areas at residential areas and crowded pizzerias for 16 months."

So certainly, obviously, the Ukrainians aren't going to accept responsibility for this incident in Moscow. But certainly, it is somewhat ironic that Russia, a country that has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February of last year, is complaining about a few drones over Moscow.

Now, according to the information we have, there were five drones in the Moscow -- Moscow metropolitan area. Four of them were brought down by air defenses, one by electronic warfare means.

Now, as a result of these drones, which didn't cause any damage or injury to people, the -- 14 flights at one of the four airports in Moscow were diverted. That, according to the TASS news agency. And of course it's important to keep in mind, this isn't the first

time that drones of unknown origin have been sighted over Moscow. In May, there was an incident where, in fact, one drone, the Kremlin claimed, exploded over the Kremlin itself. The Russians alleged that it was an assassination attempt against Vladimir Putin -- Audie.

CORNISH: The context for this, of course, is the counteroffensive that Ukraine has been running the last couple weeks. So are we looking at retaliation or is there a possibility this is part of that effort?

WEDEMAN: It's hard to say. This -- the Ukrainians have been involved without a source of -- knowing whether they were behind today's incident in Moscow. But they have done a variety of things that are aimed to sort of undermine public confidence in the ability of Moscow to actually run the country.

So, for instance, there have been cross-border incursions into Russia. There have been regular drone attacks on -- across the border in areas in Southern Russia.

And therefore, this is really, more than anything, part of a psychological warfare effort against the Russians that goes back quite some time. So it's hard to say whether this is part of the counteroffensive, but it's definitely an attempt to just shake the confidence of the Russian public in their leadership.

CORNISH: Ben Wedeman, thank you.

MATTINGLY: Now, this morning we're firmly in the shake hands, kiss babies, eat high-calorie local delicacies portion of the Republican primary. Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Tim Scott, other GOP presidential hopefuls, they're all hitting the campaign trail on this Fourth of July.

And that's also where we find our own Omar Jimenez. He's in Merrimac, New Hampshire, where three candidates are set to participate in the same parade. I hope they're not all on the same float.

Omar, where is the kind of Republican field going to be throughout the course of the day?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Phil. I mean, look, if there was ever a doubt that we're in campaign season, you look no further than parades with presidential candidates all at the same parade.

And that's what we're going to see today here in New Hampshire and Merrimac, once it gets going behind me a little bit later today. We will see Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, former Texas Congressman Will Hurd, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and more once this actually gets going, to celebrate the Fourth of July but also campaign. What's more American than that?

Now, others like former President Donald Trump, they're expected to at least have a campaign presence here is what they say. We'll see what that actually means when this happens. And then that other important early contest state in Iowa, we're

expecting to see former Vice President Mike Pence and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson there.

MATTINGLY: You know, Omar, I think one of the questions I have -- and obviously, it's still early. There's still a lot of time left. Everybody is still kind of figuring out what their lane is or what their pathways are at this point.

[06:10:08]

When you're talking to campaign officials, when you're talking to voters on the ground, is the vibe right now that it's kind of Trump versus everybody? Is there any sense, like, perhaps more importantly, that the indictments have actually hindered the significant front- runner at all?

MATTINGLY: Well, a lot of what we've seen from some of the voters and, of course, some of the polling is that it is, at this point, Trump versus the rest of the pack.

Recent CNN polling had had former President Trump at 47 percent. And even the spokesperson for the pro-DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, is admitting that they feel DeSantis is way behind in polling but still winnable.

Take a listen to that spokesman on a factor that he thinks is making a key difference here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE CORTES, DESANTIS PAC SPOKESPERSON: Clearly, Donald Trump is the -- is the runaway frontrunner, particularly since the indictments. That was not the case before the indictments. It is the case afterwards. And it is understandable that a lot of folks want to rally to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And after former President Trump's most recent indictment down in Florida over the alleged mishandling of misclassified documents, I came out here to New Hampshire, and I tried to speak to some of his supporters to see if this actually made any sort of impact on them. It only seemed to embolden them.

And it seems, at least, that trend is what that super PAC spokesman was alluding to.

That said, as you mentioned, it's still very early in this campaign season. And it's why candidates, why some of those that I mentioned are out on the campaign trail in places like here in Merrimac, New Hampshire, some of those early contest states for the upcoming primaries early next year; to try and make some in-roads there.

And then, of course, a very important tent pole for a lot of these candidates is who makes it onto the debate stage come August. MATTINGLY: Hey, Omar, I have a very important final question that you

weren't aware I was going to ask, but I just have to ask, as a former campaign correspondent, how is your shirt wrinkle-free? How are you -- like, that's amazing that you look this well put together at 6 a.m. on the campaign trail. Is there a secret here?

JIMENEZ: Look -- look, you just keyed into a super huge tip where it's -- I have to wake up 30 minutes early to do this, because this is not how it came out of the suitcase. It was wrinkled.

MATTINGLY: OK, good. That makes me feel better. That makes me feel better.

JIMENEZ: That's not how it is.

MATTINGLY: Yes, I do. I do. I appreciate that hustle. Omar Jimenez, live for us in New Hampshire. Thanks, buddy.

CORNISH: OK. We'll be mostly dry across the country this July Fourth. Still, severe storms in some areas could put a damper on your holiday get-togethers. And record temperatures are bringing dangerous heat for both coasts and the South.

We're going to go to meteorologist Britley Ritz. Britley, I'm describing basically hot, sticky and stormy for some people, so tell us who's going to suffer?

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The Plains and across the South, Audie. And this is something we really need to focus on, because it's during a time frame where a lot of us are probably going to be out and about, grilling with friends and family, or even waiting for the fireworks celebrations to start.

So pay attention here to these areas in red across the Plains, the South and right up the East Coast. Areas highlighted in yellow, most vulnerable, that area in orange. Damaging wind and hail, our biggest threats. But areas in green can also pick up that same threats later on into the afternoon hours.

So let's go ahead and take a look at the Northeast. Four p.m., anywhere between 4 and 9 p.m., we're dealing with some of these strongest storms. Again, not a wash-out. Just pay attention to radar before you head out and about.

The Southeast doing the same, 4 p.m. through about 9 p.m., seeing these areas popping up, especially down through Louisiana and Mississippi and along the Gulf Coast.

Where we're really heavily focused on: the Northern Plains, late afternoon and into the evening hours. The Central Plains, as well, back into parts of the Great Lakes.

So you're seeing these areas fire up right ahead of the warm front about 9 to 10 p.m.

And not only that but the heat, some of these temperatures soaring well over 90 degrees. Just make sure we're drinking plenty of water as we're going out and about, too, in between that beverage of choice -- Audie.

CORNISH: Britley Ritz, thanks so much. And everyone, please hydrate with your beverage of choice, because CNN's July Fourth special returns with an all-star lineup, "CNN's the Fourth in America," live tonight at 7 Eastern on CNN.

MATTINGLY: Coming up, we're got new video from the West Bank. It shows empty streets. You can see it there. And smoke-filled skies as Israel's military operation moves into its second day. We'll take you live to Jerusalem.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's still -- He's right on the shoulder on the Southbound lane going Northbound. We're going over 80 miles an hour.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: See the moment officials chased down a semi going the wrong way on a busy highway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:18:29]

MATTINGLY: This morning, there are new details coming to light as the Israeli military operation in the West Bank enters its second day.

Israel says it has detained at least 120 people in Jenin as it attempts to inspect at least ten more targets in the Palestinian refugee camp, which is labeled as a, quote, "hornet's nest" for terrorist activity.

Now at least 10 people were killed, nearly 100 others injured in what's being called Israel's largest offensive in the West Bank in nearly two decades.

CNN's Hadas Gold is live for us in Jerusalem.

And Hadas, the big question now as we're kind of into the second day, is where do things stand? Where does this go from here?

HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are now in the second day, as you noted, of what's being called the largest military operation in the occupied West Bank by the Israeli military since 2002, since the days of the Second Intifada.

And it's -- this is a massive operation. There have now been soldiers working in Jenin, raiding Jenin since 1 a.m. Monday morning.

Now last night, from what we're hearing, was a little bit less eventful than the night before. But the IDF saying that it has reached, quote, "every corner of the refugee camp," saying that they are continuing to target and destroy what they say are weapons, manufacturing sites, explosive storage sites. They also say they've been finding situation operation rooms.

The IDF says that they're essentially wanting to completely dismantle what they call is a safe haven for militants in the Jenin refugee camp.

And what that means is, for the civilians of the Jenin refugee camp, total chaos. The streets are completely -- some 20 kilometers of the streets have been completely torn up as the IDF says that they are trying to identify and dismantle IEDs. Electricity and water has been affected.

[06:20:07]

One resident who was there, who says that she was holed up in her house for hours as Israeli snipers were working around them has called it akin to seeing a natural disaster had hit the refugee camp.

We now know that the death toll stands at 10. The ages range from 16 to 23 years old. All of them are said to be males.

Now the Israeli military is still saying that no noncombatants have been killed. But they do acknowledge that among these some 100 people injured, civilians have been injured, as well. We know that at least 20 of them are in serious condition.

Now the fallout, there's a general strike against -- across the West Bank, so people are not working. Hamas has called on its cells to strike all of Israel wherever they can, but the IDF saying that this operation will continue, potentially, for several more days -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Hadas Gold, keep us updated, live from Jerusalem. Thanks so much.

CORNISH: Now CNN was actually able to get in contact with people who live in Jenin, and a 16-year-old told us this: "The IDF invaded our house in the early morning. They locked us all in one room. We were five women and two children in one room. And in another room, they locked five men: my father, brothers and uncles. They took the house as snipers positioned to attack the camp. Meanwhile, we couldn't use the toilet, get to the kitchen, or do anything but sit in the room and listen to the explosions outside."

MATTINGLY: Now, the teen also told CNN, quote, "I never thought this can happen to us. I was shocked to see the destruction of the camp. Nothing is the same as it was."

I want to now bring in retired U.S. Army Major Mike Lyons and Bloomberg editor and foreign affairs columnist Bobby Ghosh.

Bobby, I want to start with you, because when you look at the dynamics right now, you have the political situation in Israel. You obviously have the long-running tensions, some escalation in the West Bank that has been kind of evolving and progressing other the course of the last several months without question.

But you also have significant weakness in the Palestinian Authority and the leadership.

How does this -- I'm not saying end. I'm saying how does this calm down? This feels like it's just moving towards another major, major blow-up.

BOBBY GHOSH, EDITOR/FOREIGN AFFAIRS COLUMNIST, BLOOMBERG: It does feel like the new reality in the West Bank. We've been, unfortunately, used to seeing these kinds of images from Gaza, but West Bank relative to Gaza was -- was stable.

The Palestinian Authority, as you say, its leadership has been weakening. Its ability to control the street has been -- has been diminishing.

Now those images from Jenin are very familiar to me. Twenty years ago, the last time Israel mounted such a major operation within the West Bank, I was there in that camp, covering that -- the battle of Jenin.

The big difference now is that the Palestinians know that they're completely isolated in the world. Even their fellow Arabs in other states are making separate deals with the Israelis. Not a lot of sympathy there for them.

And Iran is taking advantage of this vacuum and making in-roads into the West Bank through Islamic Jihad, just as they have done in Hamas for many, many years. That's a potential game changer.

And of course, on the Israeli side, you have an extreme radical right- wing government that wants to take more West Bank territory. That only adds up to one thing: more and more and more of these clashes.

I fear that unless one of these things change -- there's a different attitude from the Israeli government. There's better political authority from the Palestinian Authority and something done to push Iranian influence out of the West Bank -- I fear that we're going to see more and more military actions. We're going to see more and more sort of terrorist attacks from Palestinian groups. This is the new reality in the West Bank.

CORNISH: Mike Lyons, I want to ask you about the kind of community that we're looking at here, because it is a refugee camp. But obviously, it's been there for quite some time, so it's built up like any other city or town. What does that mean for the strikes on it?

MAJ. MIKE LYONS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Yes. So I've been training with the Israeli military as a young captain. I can tell you this: Israel doesn't play. They -- they bring everything they can to give every advantage they have from a military perspective to their soldiers.

CORNISH: So even within civilian settings?

LYONS: Yes. I mean, they're going to do as best they can, but from their perspective, protecting their force is their priority. That's just how they roll.

I mean, you look at how they operate. They'll tell you that these were targeted strikes. It's very difficult right now to have this, you know, this military operation and not expect these kind of casualties, not expect the collateral damage that goes from -- from within.

Now, they'll sit there and say that the ends justify the means, that they'll say, because we're going after terrorist attacks. You know, they're not going to United Nations showing pictures. They don't ask permission. They go, and they use the element of surprise -- again, I'm staying in my military lane -- from that perspective to protect their forces.

And we see now armored columns coming. There's going to be 10 to 15,000 more Israeli soldiers soon in that area. So they're not stopping. I think they're going to -- they're going to do as much as they can to decapitate what they believe to be a terrorist organization. That's -- they're funded by the Iranians. I think that's where this is all coming from.

[06:25:11]

And to Bobby's point, this is coming from a government that is -- that wants to expand that influence in that area.

CORNISH: You know, Bobby, one thing that's different is we're in the post-Abraham Accords period, right, after the Trump administration. So there's a normalization of relationships between Israel and several Arab countries. Is this moment a challenge to that, though, for these nations?

GHOSH: It is. It puts those Arab leaders who made these normalization rules with Israel, it puts them in an awkward position with respect to their own civilian populations.

There is still quite a lot of sympathy for the Palestinians among ordinary Arabs across the Arab world. But Arab -- the Arab leadership in most of these countries that have made these -- these sort of diplomatic overtures to Israel, these are not elected governments. These leaders tend to be emirs and self-appointed.

CORNISH: So there's not an opportunity there --

GHOSH: They don't have to respond.

CORNISH: -- to help diplomatically? I mean, can they deescalate the situation?

GHOSH: Yes. I think there will be -- there will be -- behind closed doors, there will be conversations saying, you know, maybe you need to -- you tone this down.

But the Israelis are pushing back and saying, Look, we've got to do this. We've got to do this, because Iran is a significant factor here. They're sort of playing up that aspect. And -- and most of the Arab states have concerns about Iran, too.

So, what Netanyahu is doing is trying to communicate to the Arab state that this is our common enemy. This is not the Palestinians. This is who is behind the Palestinians that we're trying to get at.

MATTINGLY: From a military operational perspective, what you've seen -- I don't want to say cookie cutter or playbook from the Israeli military. But they go in for a couple days, usually. This is obviously at a scale that we haven't seen in two decades, as Hadas was reporting.

And then they come out. They don't stay there for long periods of time. I think in part, that's political and kind of how the international community views things.

Going into a place like this for two, three, four, as Hadas was saying, maybe a little bit longer days, what tangibly can be accomplished? What are their goals here?

Just to have targets, take them out and then move on? Or -- because to Bobby's point, I don't understand how this ends. And I don't mean to keep saying that in a very simplistic, naive manner, but I'm talking specifically the West Bank, Jenin, what the Israeli forces are going to --

LYONS: From a scorched-earth perspective, they want to get every conceivable way that the Hamas and the terrorists wage war out of there against -- against Israel.

They're looking for bomb factories. They're looking for munitions. They're looking for every last bullet. They're not going to leave there until they, you know, scour the earth there to make sure it's all out.

What it does, it buys them time. So now, you know, their attitude is let's reduce their ability to wage war against us.

It's happening more, again, in the North bank side -- the North part of the Western Bank. So -- so they're not -- again, they're not going to stop until the military commander reports back and says, OK, we've been through five square miles, whatever the region is, and says, We have taken every single capability of this organization away from attacking us. And that's what their goal is.

MATTINGLY: All right. Major Mike Lyons, Bobby Ghosh, thanks, guys, very much for your perspective.

CORNISH: Way behind but winnable. Hear from the spokesman from one Republican campaign as the candidates spend the July 4th holiday with voters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)