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Biden Meeting with British Prime Minister Ahead of NATO Summit; Biden to Meet with King Charles III at Windsor Castle; 25 Million Under Flood Alert after Flash Flooding Strikes New York; DeSantis Blames Media for Perceived Campaign Struggles; Kremlin Says Prigozhin Met with Putin after Mutiny. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 10, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR/BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: -- wrapped up more than 50 percent.

[06:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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Thanks for being with us this morning and thanks for joining us. I'm Rahel Solomon. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR/CHIEF WHITE HOUSE BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, everyone, from Washington, D.C. Poppy is off this week. Pamela Brown is here.

Let's get started with "Five Things to Know" for this Monday, July 10, 2023.

Parts of New York recovering from a once-in-a-thousand-year flood event. West Point getting nearly 8 inches of rain in just six hours. At least one person reported dead.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: President Biden is in London meeting with the U.K. prime minister this morning. He will also meet with King Charles before heading to Lithuania for a high-stakes NATO summit.

MATTINGLY: And a manhunt under way in Pennsylvania for a murder suspect who escaped from jail. Officials describe the man as, quote, "extremely dangerous" and a survivalist who can live in the woods.

BROWN: All right. So parents, listen up to this one. Senator Chuck Schumer calling on the FDA to investigate Prime energy drinks. Schumer says he wants the agency to look into how the highly-caffeinated drink is marketed to kids.

MATTINGLY: And a Russian teenager has reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon. 16-years-old, Mirra Andreeva is the youngest player to do so since Coco Gauff in 2019.

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Pamela.

BROWN: Good morning.

MATTINGLY: Good to see you. Good to be with you.

BROWN: Great to be here on the show.

MATTINGLY: And it's happening right now, there's live news happening at this moment. President Biden is kicking off that high-stakes trip to Europe with the first visit to London.

Just moments ago, he arrived at 10 Downing Street for his meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, ahead of tomorrow's big summit with NATO leaders in Lithuania.

BROWN: After this meeting, President Biden will be heading to Windsor Castle to meet face-to-face with King Charles for the first time since his coronation.

We have team coverage. Nic Robertson and Arlette Saenz are outside Downing Street.

So Arlette, let's start with you with this meeting with the U.K. prime minister. What do we expect to come from this?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, President Biden is meeting at this moment in 10 Downing with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The president telling reporters that they have a rock-solid relationship. So much of the relationship between Biden and Sunak has centered around the support that, in unity, they'd shown towards Ukraine amid his war against Russia.

Now, there -- the two leaders are sitting down ahead of that consequential NATO summit. So officials say this will give them an opportunity to discuss the war in Ukraine and also further the support that they can offer.

But it also comes as President Biden recently approved sending controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine, a decision that puts him at odds with many allies, including the United Kingdom.

Now, the concern about these cluster munitions is that they can scatter bomblets over large areas, and they can pose significant threat to civilians. But President Biden, in an interview with our colleague, Fareed Zakaria, explained the reasoning for why he decided to send those munitions at this moment. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a very difficult decision on my part. And, by the way, I discussed this with our allies, discussed this with our friends up on the Hill, and we're in a situation where Ukraine continues to be brutally attacked.

This is a -- this is a war relating to munitions. And they're -- they're running out of that ammunition. And we're low on it.

And so what I finally did, I took the recommendation of the Defense Department to not permanently, but to allow for in this transition period where we have get more 155 weapons, with these shells for Ukrainians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, Sunak over the weekend, speaking to reporters, noted that the United Kingdom is one of over 100 countries that have signed onto a convention that prohibits the production and distribution of cluster munitions.

These countries are also discouraging the use of that type of weaponry on the battlefield. The White House has tried to downplay these comments from Sunak, simply saying that he stated the legal position, and they're arguing this will not present a fracture in the alliance.

But all of these topics are certainly to be discussed as they are heading into that NATO summit tomorrow.

MATTINGLY: Yes, Nic, there's always a lot of discussion about the special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K. There are certainly geopolitical elements of this meeting, of this visit, but from a domestic political perspective, what's at stake here for the prime minister?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think there's a perception that he's getting it right with the United States at the moment, irrespective of the decision over cluster munitions. That is something that's getting discussed.

[06:05:10]

And of course, the prime minister was asked about that as he went into No. 10 with President Biden.

But the relationship is seen as much better than it was with Liz Truss, who was briefly prime minister, Boris Johnson before that. And the sense even here was that this is somewhat chaotic.

Obviously, that -- there was a perception of that in Washington, as well. But I think, you know, when you look at the relationship here, there's also another dynamic that's an uneasy one for the British prime minister. That would be over Northern Ireland.

You know, President Biden is seen in the U.K., particularly among the pro-British unionists of Northern Ireland, as being very pro-Irish and, therefore, not -- and therefore, not taken into account their interests in Northern Ireland. Thinking back to that brief meeting that President Biden had with Rishi Sunak back in Belfast a couple of months ago.

If that comes up as a topic of conversation, I think the prime minister is going to have to say, Well, the dial hasn't really shifted on that core issue of getting compromise from the unionist politicians in Northern Ireland.

So I think that's an issue where the prime minister would like to feel he has better alignment with President Biden, and that would help perception in the U.K. about the relationship, as well.

BROWN: All right. We will be watching it all very closely. Nic Robertson, Arlette Saenz, thank you both.

And then next up for President Biden is Windsor Castle. That's just about 20 miles West of London. He is set to have his first engagement with newly-crowned King Charles III.

CNN's Max Foster is live in Windsor. So Max, President Biden, he was not at King Charles' coronation. We know climate change, of course, is set to be part of the discussion. The two men have a passion for climate change.

What more are you learning about this one-on-one?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting. The monarch's role is really to sustain that special relationship when there are divisions, perhaps, between the politicians. And there are, no doubt, tensions as you've been hearing between the U.K. and the U.S., particularly on Ukraine, how quickly Ukraine should become a member of NATO; how President Biden apparently objected to Britain's nomination for a head of NATO; and of course, the cluster munitions that you were hearing Arlette talking about.

So the idea for this event, really, is to show that the longevity of the relationship between the U.S. and the U.K. is still there. So you'll see some ceremonial. You'll see President Biden come in. He will receive the guard of honor up in the Quadrangle in Windsor Castle. They'll play the national anthem, the U.S. national anthem.

Then they'll go inside. It's interesting what you say about the environment. They're going to have a discussion about climate and the environment. There's going to be ministers there, in fact, for that.

And that's really interesting, because we were never told about the discussions between Queen Elizabeth and other heads of state. It was always completely confidential. So for the first time, we're getting an insight into those moments, and for many, that is a political issue.

BROWN: All right. Max Foster, thanks so much.

MATTINGLY: Also this morning, more than 25 million Americans across the Northeast are under flood alerts after deadly and devastating flash flooding swept through New York.

And just North of New York City, parts of the Hudson Valley saw a once-in-a-millennia levels of rain. This was the scene in Highland Falls, New York, where a woman was reportedly swept away by raging flood waters and drowned while trying to evacuate from her home with her dog.

Rescue teams using a boat to save this man, who was stranded in his house. You can see the piles of trees and debris pushed up against the homes.

Now, the storm dropped nearly 8 inches of rain at the U.S. military academy in West Point. Flooding so bad that people had to swim out of their cars after becoming stuck.

Now the storm system is pushing North and bearing down on New England.

Polo Sandoval is live in Rockland County, New York. And Polo, what's the situation there right now after a devastating night of rain?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Phil, good morning to you. You'll find New York state authorities really scattered throughout the region right now as they respond to this post-devastation mode.

In fact, this is as far as we can take you. We have seen drivers detoured here to just off the Palisades Interstate Parkway all morning. If you've driven it, you know it's a very busy corridor, especially on a Monday morning.

You mentioned just a little while ago one of the hardest-hit areas just North of here where floodwaters proved deadly last night.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at the people's doors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God!

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Historic flooding slamming Southeastern New York on Sunday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's up to my knees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Orange County officials say at least one woman dying after she was swept away by floodwaters in the town of Highlands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have an emergency situation here in Southern Orange County, in particular the Highland Falls area.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): A state of emergency was declared in Ontario and Orange County Sunday by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. In Orange County, Hochul and the Orange County executives said it was due to, quote, "life-threatening flooding and power outages" to more than 12,000 homes.

STEVE NEUHAUS, ORANGE COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Throughout the county, we have flooding situations and emergency calls. If you do not need to be on the road, stay off the road.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): At West Point, intense rain recorded there totaled more than 7 1/2 inches in six hours, according to preliminary data from NOAA.

A CNN analysis of NOAA's historical rainfall frequency data indicates this would be a 1 in a 1,000-year rainfall event.

Also in Orange County, the city of Cornwall issued a no-travel advisory due to numerous flooded roadways, stranded vehicles, water rescues, mudslides, downed trees and debris.

In Rockland County, flooding stranded vehicles. Police say they've been assisting local fire departments and EMS, helping to get stranded motorists to safety.

New York State Police urging people to avoid the Palisades Interstate Parkway due to heavy flooding and washouts.

And it's not just New York state feeling the brunt of it. On Sunday Vermont Governor Phil Scott declared a state of emergency. Friday, heavy rain washed out a portion of Route 4 in Killington.

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SANDOVAL: And back here the Hudson Valley, a slight break in the clouds, which will undoubtedly provide at least some relief for folks here in the region.

But the threat far from over, Phil, with still about 25 million Americans under some sort of flood threat -- flood-related alert or at least a flood-related threat. Still a moderate risk for excessive rain in the Northeast through Tuesday, Phil.

MATTINGLY: All right. Polo Sandoval, live for us in Rockland County. Keep us posted. Thank you.

BROWN: And CNN meteorologist Derek van Dam joins us now.

Derek, how much more rain are we expecting? You just look at those poor folks and all that they're going through.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, another 6 inches is possible, so that could top some of our totals over a foot. And we've seen this excessive water already turning some roadways into literal rivers.

And there's a reason the National Weather Service has a slogan, "Turn around, don't drown," because 6 inches can actually stall a vehicle. Twelve inches of water can float a lot of vehicles, but 24 inches of rushing water can actually sweep away a full SUV.

Just take a look at some of these images coming out of Ontario County, for instance. This is upstate New York. I mean, there is a perfect reason why we talk about "turn around, don't drown." Because that car has been completely stalled out by the water.

Now, West Point, talking about that near 1-in-1,000-year event still needs to be confirmed, but that's nearly 8 inches of rain in less than 24 hours.

There's other locations with equally as impressive rainfall totals. We're focusing in on Northern Vermont and upstate New York. That's where we have our flood warnings in place. There's a radar really lighting up like a Christmas tree this morning.

BROWN: Yes, tell me about it. Derek van Dam, thanks so much.

MATTINGLY: OK.

BROWN: And President Biden telling CNN Ukraine's membership in NATO is not up for discussion until the war with Russia is over. The impact of those comments just ahead.

MATTINGLY: And there's new pushback from Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis. Who he's blaming for the perceived struggles with his early campaign.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Maria, these are narratives. The media does not want me to be the nominee. I think that's very, very clear. Why? Because they know I'll beat Biden. But even more importantly, they know I will actually deliver on all these things.

This is not something that, you know, I ever expected to just snap fingers and, all of a sudden, you know, you win seven months before anyone happens. You've got to earn it. And you've got to work. And it requires a lot of toil and tears and sweat, and we're going to do that.

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MATTINGLY: That's Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis toiling, tearing, sweating, blaming the media as he struggles to put a dent in former President Donald Trump's growing lead.

And despite his best efforts, polls show he still remains a very distant second -- in second place to the former president in the 2024 presidential race.

Let's bring in CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates; CNN political analyst Margaret Talev; and CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes.

We were having way too much fun during the break. I don't want to carry that over into this.

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Should we talk about it now?

MATTINGLY: Absolutely.

Kristen, I want to start with you, because you are on the trail. You're talking to voters. You're covering the campaigns. You're talking to the campaigns behind the scenes, too. This idea that this is a media issue that Ron DeSantis has, what's your read on that?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, I obviously love some political gaslighting, as we see here. I mean, the polls are the polls, and those are actual factual numbers.

And as we've seen, the more he gets out there, he's started to drop in those numbers. Now, if you talk to people close to him, his team, they say it's because they believe he still doesn't have that name recognition, that name recognition that Donald Trump has. He needs to get out there more.

But when you talk to voters who have met him, a lot of them say they're just not sure. And there was a big hoorah for him ahead of time --

MATTINGLY: Hang on one second. I just want to take us to live pictures. We'll get back to the politics.

You see President Biden just finished his meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street. Getting into the Beast, the presidential limousine right now. Should be heading over to meet with King Charles at Windsor Castle. So we're going to keep an eye on this.

You're looking at those live pictures, the president stopping in London today, heading out to Windsor for his first meeting with King Charles since the coronation before he heads off into that major NATO summit. So we're keeping an eye on that.

We're talking about politics, as well, obviously, not just the U.S. President heading into a significant international summit at NATO. Big bilateral visit here with the prime minister, but also a 2024 reelection candidate already at this point in time.

Sorry, Kristen, I interrupted.

HOLMES: No, but I do want to note one thing. It's still very early. We haven't even gotten to the debates yet. And there's still an opportunity for him to have another breakout. He started out really strong.

But people didn't really know him. They were looking for an alternative to Trump, and people are still looking for an alternative to Trump.

And you know, he's blaming the media, right? It's never the candidate's fault when the polling is bad. It's always the media. But it's interesting, because there was reporting out there that he's also looking at a media -- a shift in media strategy where he's going to be doing more interviews with the mainstream media.

But Margaret, what do you see it? What do you think is preventing him from making bigger strides right now?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, I think the blame the media is a tactic that members of both parties used when it serves them. But it works particularly well with Republican audiences, because there's such a disparity.

The latest Gallup numbers are something like 70 percent of Democrats, essentially, trust the mainstream media to get it right or to try to be trustworthy when it comes to news. Fourteen percent of Republicans.

[06:20:00]

DeSantis' problem, though, is that it's Republicans who aren't favoring him. This is not like a swing voter problem. This is not people who are turning to, you know, neutral news coverage.

These are people who are watching conservative news and are preferring Donald Trump over Ron DeSantis.

I think there are a number of theories about this. Trump's theory, which he is expounding on now on the trail is that DeSantis doesn't have a good personality. Like, he's just -- he's not cool. He has no cool factor. He's not good with people.

DeSantis' wife is an important tool for him on that front. And we're seeing her more and more on the trail, including in Iowa, which is a really important state for Ron DeSantis.

But there is this thought among many of his backers that he needs to connect better with people and that the mainstream media is a conduit for that and that he's got to go there.

COATES: It's part of the why, though, for DeSantis, right? He's trying to use part of the playbook to suggest that the media somehow colluded with others to make sure that people were going to suppress his numbers in some ways or that he was not going to get the favorable treatment.

This reminds me of what happened just a week ago when we heard more information about the notion of social media, possibly with the Hunter Biden laptop. And earlier in the year, the congressional hearings about whether or not Twitter and social media were invested in trying to squash a story in a way that was favorable in 2020.

But who was he also pointing to? He's now pointing to Donald Trump as the person who would be in the executive branch at that time. And so he's pulling a page out of that playbook to say the media is the enemy, which we are not. We all agree, not the enemy. He talks about it now, like, hold on. Remember, somebody worked with the enemy at that point, and that is Trump.

So it's a way of flipping on its head in a novel way. I don't know if it's going to work with the man you're talking about, but that's part of a playbook. And you add one more element.

HOLMES: But the problem with the playbook is that Donald Trump doesn't actually believe that playbook. He has always said he hates the media, the media is biased. I don't want anything to do with them. They're lying.

But he uses the media nonstop. His entire 2016 campaign was based on using the media, having earned media. He didn't even pay for ads at that time.

He has worked the media -- we know he wants attention from the media. He pays attention to all of these shows. He watches CNN constantly. That is something that we know.

So that playbook, maybe that's something that he says, but actually doing it is not something he does. DeSantis is actually following through with it, which might not be to his benefit.

TALEV: Yes. Alexis (ph) talked about it as his safe space strategy that DeSantis' media has been entirely what he considers to be safe audiences.

MATTINGLY: Does that matter? I guess this is always my question, given the fact that it's a kind of a diffuse media ecosphere right now. Trump proved that you don't necessarily -- you can use the media in the way that you want to use the media.

Do you speak to just the media in your cocoon. In a Republican primary where you had such a dominant force that Kristen is covering every single day, what do you have to do? Is it a matter of sitting down with CNN and NBC and ABC, or is it something else?

TALEV: That's a really good question, because Ron DeSantis' biggest challenge right now is that the Republican base still likes Donald Trump.

HOLMES: Right.

TALEV: I mean, Ron DeSantis is the No. 2 candidate. It's not like he's at 3 percent.

MATTINGLY: Right. And raising a ton of money.

TALEV: He's by far the No. 2 candidate, but he can't take away from Trump, and that's been his challenge. I think his -- he's going to test all these doors and see what works and see if any of it matters.

But fundamentally, he's waiting for the base to lose faith in Donald Trump. And if they don't, it will be very hard for him.

COATES: He's also a very distant second, though. I mean, he's No. 2 in the way that, like, your kids interpret the 12th place ribbon. It's a very big stretch between the two.

MATTINGLY: They give ribbons for 12th place?

COATES: They do. I know you were a star athlete in college. It's very personal.

MATTINGLY: I'm just asking from a personal perspective.

COATES: Clearly the baseball champion. I get it. OK. The 12th place ribbon 5'3" kid -- no, I was always No. 1.

MATTINGLY: I know.

COATS: But he point is it's a distant second. And yet, the idea of attacking the media, it always seems to be a very winning thing in a world where echo chambers are successful.

We talk about it all the time. The idea that we preach to the choir now and hope that only they will turn out to vote.

But of course, the primary versus the general, a very different ball game. As only we can figure out whether this notion of the weaponization of the federal government, weaponization of the media, whether all those are going to play into the favor of one particular candidate.

Right now, it's not clear whether any of the weaponization comments are actually going to give him an advantage, but so far he's trying them.

BROWN: Right. And we'll see how his strategy changes. So far he hasn't attacked the president on the charges, right? He has actually defended the former president. Will that change? How is he going to use mainstream media amid all these attacks from Trump directly attacking him? So we shall see.

MATTINGLY: There's a debate coming up.

COATES: There is.

MATTINGLY: Maybe an opportunity. Maybe we'll have everybody onstage. All right. Laura Coates, Kristen Holmes, Margaret Talev, thanks guys. Appreciate it.

Well, Russia's top general allegedly seen publicly for the first time since the failed Wagner insurrection. What he's doing and saying right now, coming up next.

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[06:29:05]

MATTINGLY: There's some brand news -- brand-new news just in. We're hearing from the Kremlin that Yevgeny Prigozhin actually met with President Vladimir Putin after his short-lived mutiny at the end of June.

We're told the meeting took place on June 29, five days after that rebellion.

And this news comes as new video purportedly shows top Russian Army General Valery Gerasimov speaking on Sunday. Now, this video is the first time he's been publicly seen since last month's failed Wagner insurrection.

CNN's Ben Wedeman live in Eastern Ukraine with more.

And Ben, I want to start with the news of that meeting between Putin and Prigozhin. Everybody has been trying to figure out where Prigozhin actually is at this point.

How significant is it that he actually met with President Putin after that insurrection?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Phil, the soap opera in Moscow is really getting confusing.

What has happened is that Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters within the last hour that on the 29th of June, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, met with 35 Russian commanders, among them Yevgeny Prigozhin --