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Biden Meets With Nordic Leaders in Finland as He Closes Out High-Stakes Europe Trip After Crucial NATO Summit; Federal Prosecutors Interview Michigan Secretary of State; American Chris Eubanks Reflects on Wimbledon Ride. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 13, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Joe Biden will be spending the final day of his high-stakes overseas trip in Finland.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leaders have ended a two-day summit with promises of unwavering support for Ukraine, but still no hard timeline for membership of the alliance.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Our commitment to Ukraine will not weaken. We'll stand for liberty and freedom today, tomorrow, and for as long as it takes.

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): People trusted the FBI more when Jay Edgar Hoover was running the place than when you are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FBI Director Christopher Ray pulling no punches in critiquing former President Donald Trump's sloppy retention of classified documents.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, DIRECTOR, FBI: There are specific rules about where to store classified information in a SKIF. In my experience, ballrooms, bathrooms and bedrooms are not SCIFs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a bizarre hearing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tens of millions of Americans face dangerous triple-digit temperatures this weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People don't understand that the heat is very dangerous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cleanup underway after multiple tornadoes touched down in the Chicago area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tornado come right out of the sky, was over our car. I moved my car over, and it just rolled right over us. And this just started destroying everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The deadline has passed and still no deal between SAG-AFTRA and the studios.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not being paid a fair share of the pie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unions are demanding better payments for streaming platforms and limits on the use of A.I.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm worried about spending the next 10 or 20 years of my career without a fair contract.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A group of people who found themselves trying to a man's life with the entire world watching.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please welcome this year's recipient of the Pat Tillman Award for Service, the training staff of the Buffalo Bills.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Damar, first and foremost, thank you for staying alive, brother.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning, everyone, great to be here with you. My buddy Phil made it almost four mornings.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. We got two hours left, and they're two awesome hours. So, I'm very excited about that, including keeping our focus on one of the big events of the entire week. Right now, President Biden closing out that high-stakes trip to Europe with a show of force in Russia's backyard. He's meeting right now with Nordic leaders in Finland, the NATO alliance's newest member. Helsinki only about 120 miles or so from the Russian border.

BROWN: Mr. Biden's final stop in Finland comes after a critical NATO summit in Lithuania. The allies rallied behind Ukraine, and Sweden is now on the cusp of joining the alliance right behind Finland. It's a huge strategic blow to Vladimir Putin.

Here's what Biden said to the Finnish president just a short time ago.

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BIDEN: We're stronger together. I really mean that. You're an incredible asset to NATO and to the world.

I've been doing this a long time. I don't think NATO has ever been stronger.

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BROWN: And brand new. This morning, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin just sat down for an exclusive interview with our own Wolf Blitzer following the NATO summit.

And CNN anchor and Host of The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer graces us all with his presence now with this exclusive interview. So, tell us, Wolf, what did the defense secretary tell you after the conclusion of this historic NATO summit? WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: He was very, very upbeat about the prospects, eventually, Pamela, of Ukraine joining NATO, said he has no doubt that that eventually will happen once the war ends. I want to play a clip, a little excerpt from the extensive exclusive interview I had with the U.S. defense secretary. Listen to this.

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BLITZER: From a military standpoint, Mr. Secretary, how close is Ukraine to meeting NATO standards?

LLOYD AUSTIN, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, there are a number of things that will have to be done, as you know. A big part of their inventory is legacy equipment. And so in terms of training and equipping, there's work to be done, but we're doing that work as we're helping them as they fight this war. And so things have been done up to this point. There's more that will need to be done to ensure that they have a full complement of capability.

BLITZER: So, you have no doubt that after the war, Ukraine will become a member of NATO?

AUSTIN: I have no doubt that that will happen. And we heard all of the countries in the room say as much, and I think that was reassuring to President Zelenskyy. But there are other things that have to happen as well, you know, judicial reform, you know, things that make sure that the democracy is in good shape. And so those things will take place over time.

BLITZER: How much time do you think it will take after the war -- let's assume the war ends, God willing it will end someday -- how much time will it take for NATO to join -- for NATO to welcome Ukraine as a full member?

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AUSTIN: I won't speculate on that, Wolf. I would just say that all of the countries that I've witnessed are interested in moving as quickly as possible.

BLITZER: So, you think all 31 members of NATO right now want Ukraine in?

AUSTIN: I think it will be 32 by that time, but --

BLITZER: This week.

AUSTIN: Right. But I do believe that everyone wants Ukraine to be on board.

BLITZER: As I said, Sweden is now set to join NATO. From your analysis, and you got good analysts, how is Putin reacting to this expansion of NATO?

AUSTIN: Well, I'm sure Putin is very concerned. This is probably something that he didn't expect to happen, although President Biden warned him of this at the very beginning. But he's brought NATO closer to his doorstep. And so if you were him, you'd certainly be concerned about what you're seeing. But countries like Sweden and Finland bring a lot to the alliance, and we're happy to have them on board.

And I was just in Sweden a couple of weeks ago. I got a chance to spend time with the Minister of Defense and visit some of their troops, look at their capabilities. They will bring value to the alliance right away. And it's a strong democracy, Wolf, and that's really the most important point.

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BLITZER: The defense secretary was very, very upbeat about the unity of the NATO alliance right now, saying that all of the countries of this NATO alliance, they are working together to help make sure that Ukraine remains free and that Ukraine wins this war against the Russians, that the Russians invaded Ukraine and Ukraine eventually wins. He was very upbeat about what the NATO allies are also doing as far as spending for defense purposes to relieve some of the pressure on the U.S.

It was all very, very significant, Pamela, and it's only just the beginning because they're very confident that, at least for now, the defense secretary believes things are moving in the right direction.

MATTINGLY: Wolf, if I did want to ask you, what did Secretary Austin tell you about that controversial decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine? He defended it very strongly, saying that the Ukrainians really need these cluster bombs right now and they will be able to deal with them in a safe and secure way.

He knows and he said he personally has been involved in deploying cluster munitions over the years. He knows a lot about these cluster bombs, but he says that the training that will go in will try to make sure that the Ukrainians only use these cluster bombs in under- populated, non-populated areas, because they're very, very dangerous.

More than 100 countries, including several NATO allies, have banned the use of these cluster munitions because of the threat to civilians. Some of these munitions, they don't necessarily detonate right away, but people can find them down the road and can cause all sorts of problems, death and injury, and people have seen that. So, they're very worried about it. But he's very confident that the Ukrainian military right now in this counteroffensive against the Russians, they need these weapons. They need them badly.

The Russians have been using cluster bombs against the Ukrainians. The Russians invaded Ukraine. He says the Ukrainians only need these weapons to defend themselves. They're not invading any other country as the Russians are doing, he said. So, he was very upbeat about the president's decision to approve the authorization, the deployment of these cluster bombs to Ukraine.

BROWN: Wolf, if I want to ask you about what we're seeing right now with President Biden in Helsinki. He's been meeting with officials there, including the Finnish president. And it draws a stark contrast to when former President Trump visited Helsinki and met with Putin. How could we forget that?

BLITZER: Yes, I was there at the time in Helsinki, and it was very, very powerful at that time when he had a little news conference in Helsinki, then-President Trump. And he made it clear that he believed what Putin was saying and Putin was denying interference in the U.S. presidential elections. Why would he do that? He seemed so sincere and he was basically rejecting the analysis, the conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community.

All my years of reporting, I don't remember a time when a U.S. president, especially overseas, would reject what the U.S. intelligence community was saying and support what a Russian leader was saying. It was pretty extraordinary moment and in stark contrast to what we're seeing with President Biden now in Helsinki for this meeting.

MATTINGLY: All right. Wolf Blitzer live for us in Vilnius after interviewing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, thank you, my friend.

BROWN: Thank you, Wolf.

MATTINGLY: And there will be a lot more of Wolf's exclusive interview with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, that's, of course, at 06:00 P.M. Eastern.

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You definitely need to tune in for that.

BROWN: Now to some CNN exclusive reporting. CNN has learned the special counsel team investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election interviewed Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson earlier this year, and she spoke to our Kaitlan Collins last night.

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SECRETARY OF STATE JOCELYN BENSON (D-MI): We responded early to a subpoena and then responded to a request for an interview. We've been very upfront and transparent about all that we endured throughout the 2020 election cycle and have spoken with anyone voluntarily who reaches out to us to ensure accountability for what occurred.

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BROWN: And this comes just weeks after we learned the special counsel's team has also spoken with officials in two other battleground states, Georgia and Arizona, as part of the same investigation.

And joining us now to discuss, CNN Legal Analyst and former Federal Prosecutor Elliot Williams and Olivia Troye, former Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Adviser to Vice President Mike Pence.

So, I guess the first question is, what does this mean, right? I mean, this is the third state official we know of that the special counsel has interviewed as part of the investigation. What does it tell you in terms of what the special counsel is looking at and what it means for the overall investigation?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's the third state official, and I believe the fourth state at this point because they have spoken to people in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and now Michigan. So, what I'm seeing is a pretty broad national conspiracy touching on any aspects of election meddling or election interference.

Now, they could be building one massive case, the mother of all election conspiracy cases that could be charged in any one jurisdiction, bringing in evidence from all the others, or, frankly, a far more narrow one, and they're simply going to all these different jurisdictions to gather more evidence in further support of the one smaller case they're building. But it's pretty vast.

And as we got word a couple of weeks ago that I think it had cost $9 million or something like that, that's what it takes to build conspiracies of this size. But it's rare to find this type of investigation happening in so many different places all at once.

MATTINGLY: And yet, Olivia, I think the interesting thing is all of this was public, right? These officials were talking about it in the wake of the election. And I think, to some degree, all of this now turning into a special counsel investigation, becoming part of it, seems like an obvious endgame based on what we knew at the time. Why do you think it took this long for all of this to start to come together, at least in the public sphere?

OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY, COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER TO VICE PRESIDENT PENCE: Well, to be honest, I think it goes to show the thoroughness of the investigation and what they're doing here. Now, I think they're getting close, hopefully, to wrapping it up. I think it needs to continue to move forward. I think they are now talking to people who are really there at the frontlines of it in 2020, being bullied, being intimidated by these individuals.

I think the other important thing to note is that it's Republicans and Democrats, right? It is conservatives, liberals. It was a broad swipe at intimidation to overturn an election. Regardless of what political party you belong to, these are the people that are telling the truth, and they're just speaking factually about what they faced.

WILLIAMS: And, Phil, we've talked about this ad absurdum, to use a Latin term. You like that? Yes. I don't love making predictions on these things, of course.

MATTINGLY: That's really annoying.

WILLIAMS: I know it's pretty annoying to you. Love me. Love my lack of British (ph). One does not interview the secretary of state of one of the largest states in the United States without proceeding further, right? It would be very odd for any prosecutor to go at that level of government and talk to somebody and not be thinking about bringing pretty serious charges down the road.

MATTINGLY: You almost got there, got so close to a prediction. I feel like by the end of -- WILLIAMS: It's a process. It's a process.

MATTINGLY: Elliot, Olivia, thanks, guys. We really appreciate it.

BROWN: Well, Chris Eubanks out at Wimbledon, but the American tennis phenome story seems to only just be beginning. Guess what? He's going to join us live, cannot wait to talk to him, up next.

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BROWN: Chris Eubanks' thrilling and improbable Wimbledon adventure has come to an end. But this may be just the beginning of his story on tennis' biggest stages. The 27-year-old American losing yesterday in the quarter finals for world number three, Danil Medvedev, Eubanks four points from victory in the fourth set tiebreaker, but Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open winner, he regrouped and he finished strong in the fifth set.

MATTINGLY: Not too long ago, Chris Eubanks had his doubts about his own professional tennis career. He's taken a job as a commentator. You can see him there for the Tennis Channel. For years, he played in tennis's minor leagues. Now, his world ranking after Wimbledon will land somewhere in the 30s.

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CHRIS EUBANKS, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: I definitely believe a lot more in my ability to contend with some of the best players in the world. It's tough to really know until you've played some of the best players in the world.

I've seen how my game can stack up against them, how I can disrupt them, how I can frustrate them.

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MATTINGLY: And Chris Eubanks joins us right now, and I am absurdly excited about this. Chris, thanks so much for the time.

I was thinking yesterday, as I was actually screaming in our office, watching the fourth set tiebreak, do you have any idea how much your life has changed based on the last couple of weeks?

EUBANKS: For starters, thanks for having me. This is a really, really cool opportunity for me to sit here and talk to you guys. And to answer your question, I don't think I really understand it just yet. I've tried to do a good job over the past three weeks of just kind of blocking out a lot of the outside noise and just focus on each match individually and each opponent.

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And, naturally, I see my phone has been going off. I had it on do not disturb for probably the past two and a half weeks. So, I tried to just kind of focus in on everything and allow all of my energy to be here in Wimbledon. But I think things are going to be a little bit different when I get back stateside. And, honestly, I'm pretty excited about it.

BROWN: It's really fascinating when you talk about the confidence that you've gained. Now, you're saying, look, I know I can go toe to toe with the best players in the world, and this is after years of toying away with a low ranking. Tell us about how you were able to kind of shift your frame of mind and gain this confidence to get to where you are now.

EUBANKS: I think one of the biggest things and the biggest changes that I made was just kind of devoting myself to a lot of the smaller details that sometimes can get overlooked, whether that's getting extra treatment on the body, even if you don't feel like there's anything wrong, making sure you're getting enough sleep, making sure you're eating a little bit better while on the road. And all of those things can add up to 1 or 2 percentage points better.

But in the long run, doing it day after day, I think, can have big changes and big benefits. And I think that's one the major thing that I kind of changed. I said, you know what, let's go to the physio a little bit more. Let's get a little bit of extra stretching. I never had a problem of working hard on court or in the gym, but after that, once I left the gym or I left the court, I just kind of went on about my day, sat on the couch, watched a lot of tennis.

I used to use film study as my excuse to not do anything else. But now, I'm being a little bit more diligent about those other details and I think it's paying off.

BROWN: I love that. We can all learn from that, right?

MATTINGLY: So, I don't think it's paying off. Dude, it's paying off.

Can I ask you, one of the best parts about this was watching -- tennis is a very kind of isolating -- you are yourself. There is no team. Obviously you, have coaches and friends and family, but watching other players on the tour react and respond and be so happy to watch what was happening. And what we pulled up was something some of the other players on the tour said when your name came up just a little bit ago. Listen.

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REPORTER: Chris Eubanks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, Lord, don't even get me started on that giraffe. Jesus. We love Chris. We love Daddy Long Legs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Eubanks' nickname is really Toothpick because he's so skinny.

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MATTINGLY: Coco Gauff, who's been a tremendous supporter of yours throughout the last couple of weeks, Frances Tiafoe, another very highly ranked U.S. guy, but it seems like everybody really likes you. How do you feel about those nicknames?

EUBANKS: So, I have to give credit where credit is due. Coco is the one who started the Giraffe nickname. So, when you hear that and it's starting to take hold, that was started by Coco Gauff. Frances Tiafloe did start off the name Toothpick. I used to fight them on it, but at this point, I view them as terms of endearment. I'm really close with everyone that you just mentioned and a lot of the American players, a lot of the players on tour.

I think I just have a good rapport with a lot of the men and women on tour. And I think seeing them be happy for my success is probably some of the most gratifying, I think, feelings that I experienced over the past few weeks, because they understand what it's like and they know the hard work and sacrifice that it takes to be able to have results like this. And, honestly, we see each other probably more than we see our own families.

So, a little bit like a second family. And when you see those people that you're competing against and competing with be happy for your success, I think it really, really means a lot.

BROWN: I understand that dynamic. How about you this week, Phil? Three more time with you than my own family.

But, look, you may have lost this match against Medvedev, but, overall, this run has really been a victory for you. I mean, you've got this huge standing ovation when you walked off the court. What was that like and what's next for you?

EUBANKS: That was pretty surreal. That was pretty surreal. To walk off the court and just to hear court one at Wimbledon just cheering for me, it's special. It's something that you dream of as a kid growing up, watching Wimbledon on T.V., saying, man, I hope to be there one day. It's a bit emotional just being able to rewatch it again. It's really special. It's something that I'll never forget.

And I can't wait to just try to use this momentum that I have now and this confidence, as you spoke about earlier, into the U.S. Summer Swing leading up into the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open is a tournament that I grew up going to with my family. It's a tournament that I've always wanted to do well at. And I'm looking forward to experiencing what that New York atmosphere is going to be like come September.

MATTINGLY: Hey, Chris, real quick, before -- I know you got to go. How many text messages did you have when you took your phone or you turned your phone back on?

EUBANKS: So, right after the match, directly after I looked at it, I had about 170.

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I waited about 15, 20 minutes. I had to do a little bit. I wanted to still do my treatment, my cool down and all the things that I said that I was going to do even after a loss. So, after about 20 minutes, I think I was somewhere upwards of about 240 messages Instagram (INAUDIBLE). My entire social media feed was filled with my face. And I was like, this is a bit weird. But like I say, it's a great job to have (ph).

BROWN: New normal.

MATTINGLY: Exactly. When you're in New York for the U.S. Open, come on set. We're going to be hanging out. And give me your phone number. I'll start texting you 270 times too. Chris Eubanks, thanks so much, my friend. We appreciate it.

BROWN: We're rooting for you, Chris.

EUBANKS: Thank you. I appreciate it. Take care.

MATTINGLY: All right. Well, new overnight, major Hollywood studios and streamers have failed to reach a deal with the union representing actors. What's next for them? What's next for your favorite shows?

BROWN: And severe turbulence rocked a flight as it approached a Florida airport.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was literally like Matrix, watched her go up in the air and just land straight down.

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MATTINGLY: Well, new this morning, still no deal in the contract talks between the SAG-AFTRA Actors Union and the Hollywood studios.