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Trump Warns It Would Be "Very Dangerous" To Jail Him; Federal Indictment In Jan. 6 Probe Could Drop Any Time; Dozens Of U.S. Lawmakers Want Legal Action Against Texas Governor Abbott; DOJ Planning Legal Action Against Texas Over Floating Border Barrier. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired July 22, 2023 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:00:53]
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN this morning. It is Saturday July 22. The second best day of the week. I'm Amara Walker.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I love Saturday. Saturdays it feels like everybody has like gotten through the week --
WALKER: It's true.
BLACKWELL: -- and here we are --
WALKER: Yes.
BLACKWELL: -- finally an exhale.
I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. Thank you for being with us. Amara is back after a whirlwind tour. It's like you and Beyonce all over the -- all over Europe.
WALKER: Did you just compare me to Beyonce?
BLACKWELL: Once.
WALKER: Can we say --
BLACKWELL: The one time this will happen.
WALKER: Yes, happy to be back.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WALKER: It was trips to the Alps in Italy and then to Greece where it was really hot. So, and got back to Heartland as well. So, didn't get a reprieve from me.
BLACKWELL: Good to have you back.
WALKER: Good to be back. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Here's what we're watching for you this morning, former President Trump is set to stand trial in the classified documents case right in the middle of the 2024 presidential race. The reason the judge back Trump's lawyers request to start the trial after the election.
WALKER: It is the summer scorcher that just won't let up, dozens more heat records could fall today as cities continue to bake in triple digit heat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA, USA, bla-bla-bla, it's USA.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That pretty much sums it up. Yes, exactly, exactly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: America, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: He's excited.
WALKER: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Team USA fans are celebrating after the women's national soccer team scored an easy victory over Vietnam. They're chasing the Third World Cup title in a row. Carolyn Manno standby with highlights.
WALKER: And Vice President Kamala Harris takes direct aim at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over new state standards for teaching Black History. Her fiery message to Republicans in the state.
BLACKWELL: Plus, the Barbie girl meets the real world as one of summer's biggest blockbuster hits theaters. We're going to take a look at the business of Barbie. That's coming up.
WALKER: Well, that date has been set for the highly anticipated trial of Donald Trump's classified documents case. Yesterday, a judge scheduled to start date in May of 2024. Deep into the presidential election campaign, Trump currently leads all Republican candidates.
BLACKWELL: If the date holds, he would be facing at least four different trials on the campaign trail. The former president is also set to appear in court for cases related to fraud and defamation and hush money payments. All of them are scheduled to start before the documents trial. Here's CNN Paula Reid.
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: A good morning, Amara and Victor.
On Tuesday in federal court, it was clear that the central conflict in this case is about timing. Prosecutors say they want to move this along quickly, they suggested December as a time when they would like to take this before a jury. And they insisted that it doesn't matter if former President Trump is running for the White House again, they said he should be treated like any other busy, important person. But his defense attorneys took issue with that, they said this is an unusual case. And it would be, quote, "unfair" to take this before a jury before the 2024 election.
They insisted it was too early to even set a trial date. So here, Judge Aileen Cannon split the difference, putting on the calendar a May 2024 trial date. But in addition to that date, she also laid out a schedule, all the things, all the deadlines, all the hearings that have to happen between now and when this goes before a jury. And the Trump team said that they feel confident that they can get this push back until after the election.
When you look at that schedule, it's clear how they could make that happen. Just a delay here, a hearing postponed for a couple of weeks of filing where they asked for an extension. Those weeks and weeks will add up pushing this closer to the election. And when you get too close to the election itself, it is expected that the Justice Department would be less likely to want to bring this to trial. Historically, the Justice Department has tried not to take any action that could interfere with the outcome of an election.
And if Trump's lawyers wanted to fight it, it would certainly be a constitutional question of first impression ripe for the Supreme Court. Amara, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Paula Reid, thanks so much.
Joining me now is Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Director of the FBI and CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst.
[08:05:04]
Andy, good to see you this morning. I want to start with what we're hearing from former President Trump about what he says is the danger that's presented if he is sentenced to prison, listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's a very dangerous thing to even talk about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
TRUMP: Because we do have a tremendously passionate group of voters. Much more passion than they had in 2020, and much more passion than they had in 2016. I think it would be very dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: He's got some passionate supporters, and it would be dangerous to even discuss. What's your reaction to what you heard there?
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Victor, with Donald Trump, you always have to look past the kind of boldface language and into what he's actually signaling here. And this certainly seems, from the outset, like this is maybe Trump's first efforts to try to lay the kind of groundwork for suggestions of violence that might relate -- that might result if he is in fact prosecuted, convicted, and subjected to some sort of Senates. You know, it's -- this is a man who has used his power over his crowd of supporters to encourage and instruct, essentially command many of them to come to the Capitol on January 6 and storm our nation's capital.
So, these are not empty or idle threats. I think he's being very careful in the way he chooses his words, but there's no question what he is implying here. And that is, if you come after me, violence could be the result of that.
BLACKWELL: Right. And even -- I think you make a good point here is that whether or not that's a deliberate signal to his supporters, he's not wrong. I mean, we saw January 6, we saw the effort of someone going to a Cincinnati office after the search at Mar-a-Lago and there was a standoff there. So then how does law enforcement navigate this moment, considering the history with some of his most passionate supporters?
MCCABE: Your absolute absolutely right, he's not wrong. And we know that from the testimony of numerous January 6 defendants who have stood up in court and said I came because he told us to come, right? So it works. He has that sort of power over these people.
What law enforcement has to do is stay the course. Right? You have to continue doing your job, they have to continue following their oath despite these threats, despite this, essentially, extortion by the former president of the United States against the current government. I can't even believe we're saying that on national television, but here we are. I mean, that's exactly what's happening.
I do think that some of the out -- the effect of the successful prosecutions of so many people who came to January 6 to participate in the riot, I think that's had a deterrent effect, you don't see the same sort of mass following at his numerous arraignments. We'll see what happens in the next case to come down the pike. But that's what the government has to do. They need to keep holding people accountable, keep imposing significant sentences against people who follow his direction. And eventually that word gets out, I'm confident that many people will be discouraged. Not all of them --
BLACKWELL: Yes.
MCCABE: -- so the threat will always be there. But we have to keep doing our jobs.
BLACKWELL: On this January 6 target letter from Jack Smith, the special counsel, and I know this might lean a bit from law enforcement into legal but rod with me here, he is the only person who has received a target letter, there's no evidence that any of these potential coconspirators has received a letter. It's not unprecedented, but would it be rare to charge only one person with conspiracy? MCCABE: It would, and I think it would be a real mistake in this situation, right? So at least two of the accounts that are cited in the target letter are conspiracy charges that requires an agreement between two or more people.
I think the key here, Victor, is that what we're not really looking at is the impact of the target letter. DOJ doesn't have to send a target letter to anyone. It's possible to send it to some people in a case but not others. It's also possible that other people's target letters have simply not arrived yet. We know that there's a significant amount of work that they are still scheduled to do when you have more people scheduled to go into the grand jury in the next few weeks.
So I think I think we need to keep watch on this. And I would expect that additional letters will arrive. There's no question other people will be indicted in this case.
BLACKWELL: Yes, and if not, it would fit so neatly into his narrative that the administration is targeting him to charge one person with conspiracy, which by definition requires more than one. It would fit into what he's been selling his supporters for so long.
Andrew McCabe, thanks so much.
[08:10:00]
WALKER: So, temperatures are soaring once again across the U.S., 80 million people are under some kind of heat alert right now. In the southwest, high temperatures will reach triple digits topping 115 degrees in some spots.
And it's not just the heat that's causing weather woes, we're getting new video of flash flooding that surprised drivers last night in Boston. Torrential rain dropped a couple of inches in just two hours. That turned some roads into rivers trapping drivers on the commute home. CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers joining us now.
A lot to talk about, I guess let's start with the heat. More records broken today?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More probably a couple of dozen. Sure across mainly in the southwest, but also into Texas, and also South Florida. So, kind of spreading it around a little bit. Not in the northeast, not in the Midwest, temperatures there are absolutely beautiful for this time of year.
But you don't get these heat alerts just because it's going to be summertime heat, you have to be higher than some threshold, whether it's seven degrees above normal, or in the case out here, 10 to 15 degrees above normal. Just don't post these things for nothing. Hundred and 13 is going to be the feels like temperature in Baton Rouge today. Back out toward Death Valley, 125. It's been hotter than that the past couple of days, but that's still very hot. Vegas 114.
Salt Lake City, 105. And I was in an airplane in Salt Lake City at 105 a couple years back, and they said sorry, some of you are going to get have to get off of this plane, it's too heavy to take off. That was probably a pressure and temperature thing. So but if you're flying through Salt Lake City, you might want to keep that in mind, there could be some problems up there today.
Above average temperatures move off to the east this week and into next weekend. And yes, we will warm up the rest of the country who has been really enjoying this. I know everybody's just saying, wait a minute, it's only hot in the south and it truly is. That's where some of the showers are. But look at these 84 Minneapolis for today has 84 in Chicago, that doesn't sound too bad.
Lots of sunshine and warms back up in New York City as well, back up into the 90s by next week.
Guys, back to you.
WALKER: All right, some people miserable, some people just enjoying a breezy summer afternoon. Chad Myers, thank you.
In sports this morning, the U.S. Women's National Team kicking off their quest for a historic World Cup three peat with a huge win over Vietnam.
BLACKWELL: Carolyn Manno joins us now from New York.
Carolyn. I thought a win was a win. Right? If you get the W that's enough, but there people were critical of the, you know, the rest of the team didn't win big enough.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I think you're right, a win is a win. This was a solid effort and the team looks really cohesive. I know a lot of people expected a debutante like Vietnam to come out and they expect to the U.S. Women's National Team to put up a dozen goals. There's a little bit of room for improvement here, but it was a win, like you said and that's what matters.
You know, that wasn't in question. We knew as back to back World Cup champs, they were going to come in and beat Vietnam but a lot of people may be thinking that they notched a couple of goals, they left a few goals out there. It's OK, those goals will come in is a very, very long tournament. But if you look back at the game, what matters is that they possess the ball for the majority of the time. And that's really what I think is the positive takeaway here.
I mean, the Americans just did an incredible job for the majority of this three nil win. And it really didn't take Sophia Smith very long to make an impact in her World Cup debut, she drove the ball into the back of the net to open the scoring in the 14th minute. She is an absolute superstar on the world stage. She struck again deep in stoppage time at the end of the first half for her second goal of the game. And it was only two nil at that point your point, Victor, but she's just shy of 23.
She became the second youngest player in U.S. women's team history to score multiple goals in a World Cup game. And then you had Megan Rapinoe, who started her final world cup before retirement on the bench. Came in as a sub in the 61st minute for her 200 cap for team USA, becoming the 14th floor to reach that milestone for her nation. And Captain Lindsey Horan adding the security goal here in the 77th minute to officially put the game away. But afterwards, Smith spoke about rising to this occasion knowing that there's a lot of soccer left.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOPHIA SMITH, 2 GOALS IN WORLD CUP DEBUT: I feel good. I think it was a good starting point for our team in this tournament. I also know that we have a lot, you know, more that we can give a lot more to do, little things to work on. So, I think it's a good place to start. And personally, it was good to just get a World Cup game under my belt kind of see how it felt know what to expect. But yes, I think it honestly just makes me more excited for the next game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANNO: That's the right attitude and incredible night for her. Up next the United States is in Netherland on Wednesday night, their second groupie game. That's a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final. So it gets more challenging from here, partly because United States has been so good. Everybody else has risen up to their level and it's going to be a challenge but it's going to be fun.
By the way guys, coming up later in this hour, Messi making his debut for inter Miami. I know you guys have seen this. If you haven't at home, the global soccer star delivering in a huge way. So we'll bring you that in just a couple minutes.
WALKER: Talk about a lot of excitement surrounding Messi as well. Carolyn Manno, thank you. We'll check back with you a little later.
[08:15:03]
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a fiery rebuke of Florida Republicans after the state rolls out a new guideline for teaching Black history. Her message and why they're likely to see more of these types of appearances from her as a presidential campaign ramps up.
BLACKWELL: Plus, Democratic lawmakers press the Biden administration to investigate claims of abuse of migrants at the southern border. New CNN reporting on what those migrants say they've endured, that's coming up.
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WALKER: Florida's Board of Education has sparked outrage after announcing a new set of controversial guidelines for how Black history should be taught in public schools. One part of the new standards requires instruction on how slaves may have gotten a quote, "personal benefit" from being taught certain skills while enslaved.
BLACKWELL: Vice President Kamala Harris made a last minute trip to Jacksonville last night. She called out that specific part of the curriculum in a very fiery speech. [08:20:04]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is unnecessary to debate whether enslaved people benefited from slavery. Are you kidding me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: CNN's Jasmine Wright joins us now from the White House. I understand that this was a last minute decision from the White House, what else did we hear from the Vice President?
JASMINE WRIGHT, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Victor, it was a last minute decision added to her schedule on Thursday, a White House official told me. But she and those remarks absolutely slammed Republicans for their participation in this new standards for that. And if the Florida Board of Education, really saying that they were pushing propaganda. And she said that so called leaders, not naming Ron DeSantis by name, but of course, in his home state were willfully misleading children about the negative impacts of slavery and other historical events.
Of course, book bans and the right to learn something that the White House has been focusing on an increasing pace really trying to speak out against it, which is exactly what Vice President was doing, trying to galvanize base Democratic voters ahead of the 2024 election when she said that Republicans were replacing history with lies. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: These extremists so called leaders should model what we know to be the correct and right approach if we really are invested in the well-being of our children. Instead, they dare to push propaganda to our children. This is the United States of America, we're not supposed to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WRIGHT: Now, Victor, that performance that we just saw from the Vice President is the exact reason why Biden officials put her in that place, really thinking that she's a person that can galvanize base Democratic voters on this issue among other cultural war issues that we know that the White House is increasingly wading into ahead of that 2024 campaign. Victor and Amara.
WALKER: Jasmine, are we hearing anything from Ron DeSantis?
WRIGHT: Yes, well, this is something that Ron DeSantis likes to do. He likes to tussle with national Democrats over these cultural word issues that in a lot of times, he starts those conversations. And so that's what we saw yesterday. Before we heard from Vice President Harris, he called her a liar and a tweet, basically saying that she was misleading the country about what exactly is in these new standards in the state of Florida.
And then afterwards, when talking to reporters, he expanded more on exactly how he thought that slaves would perhaps get a positive benefit out of slavery. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESNATIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think what they're doing is I think that they're probably going to show some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WRIGHT: Now, one thing here is interesting, because not only, of course, the Vice President's remarks later on in the -- on Friday, we saw her say that people who are leaders are really pushing around -- who wants to be considered leaders are pushing around propaganda. But it's also this increasing intensity on the Biden administration and the campaign's part of really engaging Ron DeSantis and taking him really to task and condemning these more cultural war aspects like this right to education and right to learn that we saw on Friday in March, a real shift from the White House not only just focusing on former President Trump and the threat that he believes -- that they believe he poses to democracy, but also now taking on Ron DeSantis on issues just like this, hoping once again to galvanize those voters before 2024. Victor, Amara.
WALKER: All right, Jasmine Wright, appreciate it. Thank you very much. So President Biden is gearing up to take on Donald Trump in the 2024 race, as we just heard, but he's also squaring off against Ron DeSantis.
Joining us now is Laura Barron Lopez. She is a CNN political analyst and White House Correspondent for the PBS NewsHour.
Good morning to you, Laura. Thank you again for joining us.
I know Jasmine just touched on this but, you know, talk to me more about the White House strategy to take on Ron DeSantis deploying VP Kamala Harris to criticize him, though, not mentioning his name. But of course, his policies, the latest being this new set of standards for how black history should be taught in Florida public schools. What role will Harris play in 2024?
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The campaign has been pretty clear about this, Amara, which is that Vice President Harris is going to really be the leading voice on key cultural social justice issues. We're talking about abortion access. We've seen her be one of the key campaigners on this and has actually been the one that has gathered people and held White House events since the fall of Roe v. Wade.
We also saw that right after, remember the Tennessee three, two of those lawmakers were expelled from their seats all around gun rights and trying to get more access on gun safety. Vice President Harris immediately flew to Tennessee, she met with leaders there. So we're seeing her deployed pretty rapidly when these issues come up and when the White House and the campaign sees that this could be something that they need to respond you and opportunities where they think that they could rally young voters and also voters of color.
[08:25:20]
WALKER: And in staying on Ron DeSantis for a moment, Laura, you know, because he is the leading alternative to Trump for Republicans, according to polls, he recently sat down with our Jake Tapper and he brushed aside, you know, concerns about the state of his presidential campaign. Of course, you know, he's burning through cash pretty quickly as well. Why is he struggling to gain momentum? Is it because he seems to be so narrowly focused, in many instances on you know, these culture wars and wokeness, and what have you?
BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, he's running to the right of former President Donald Trump. And we've seen that he's really been running a very anti-LGBTQ, anti-transgender campaign, and one heavily focused, as you've noted, on issues around book bands, you know, and has also championed, saying that his state is going to reject the Study of African American AP history. And so, that has been what his campaign has been focused on, it has not been focused on the economy or bigger issues that could maybe very well help him in a general election. It's a very much a primary campaign right now.
And yet, despite all that, despite running to the right of former President Trump, he doesn't appear to be making any dent in him. Right now on average polls show that Trump has about -- is about 50 percent in the polls to DeSantis is roughly 19 percent. And when you talk to folks in these early voting states, it doesn't seem as though he's making any headway.
And when he -- on one hand attempts to take minor jabs at the former president, he also then tends to backpedal on them and defend the former president.
WALKER: And speaking of Trump, you know, let's talk about are there any political implications for Trump now, you know that his federal documents case trial date has been set for May of 2024. That's going to be after the vast majority of primaries are over and two months before the Republican National Convention. And as you know, Laura, has defense team wanted the trial to begin after the 2024 presidential election? What's the impact of this decision?
BARRON-LOPEZ: His campaign team has been saying that this is a victory for them that that ultimately that this is something -- this is a date that they're happy with. That seems to be a bit of spin, Amara, because of the fact that as you said, they did want this to happen after the election cycle. But notably appears as though it may not be impacting that much of the primary race, although it'll come about a little less than two months before the Republican nominating convention.
Where this could potentially have the most impact is in the general election. Because we've seen that when these indictments are handed down and when Trump goes into courtrooms or is arraigned that it doesn't hurt him among the Republican base, that instead they rally around him. And I expect that with the potential for a third indictment on the way that we could very well see a boost for him in the polls again. But the general electorate is very different again in the primary electorate, and there's no indication right now in polling that those moderate Republicans who have gone a little left in recent years or the independents are going to want to vote for a president that is facing multiple criminal charges.
WALKER: Laura Barron-Lopez appreciate your time. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Abuse of power is what dozens of U.S. lawmakers say Texas Governor Greg Abbott is doing with his U.S. Mexico border policies. Now they want the White House to investigate. The latest on the situation at the border coming up.
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[08:32:59]
BLACKWELL: More than 80 Democratic lawmakers are urging President Joe Biden to investigate Texas Governor Greg Abbott's actions on the southern U.S. border. In a letter they say that Abbott is putting asylum seekers at serious risk of injury and death and interfering with federal immigration enforcement after reports of mistreatment of migrants.
WALKER: Meantime, the Justice Department is warning Texas that it intends to file legal action against the placement of floating barriers in the Rio Grande River. CNN's Rosa Flores has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The U.S. DOJ has sent the state of Texas a letter giving them notice if the state of Texas does not remove the border barriers on the Rio Grande that they could take legal action.
Let me show you what we're talking about here. Because what the U.S. DOJ is referencing are the buoys that you're taking a look at the appear to be about the middle of the river. These are four feet in diameter, they've got nets going down their anchor to the bottom of that waterway.
And according to the U.S. State Department, the state of Texas does not consult with the federal government, and they did not obtain permits from the federal government before deploying these border barriers.
And now a top diplomat in Mexico has complained to Washington saying that this violates two treaties between the two countries. And Mexico was concerned that these buoys are on Mexican property. And again, the U.S. DOJ giving the state of Texas notice of possible legal action and giving them a deadline saying in the letter quote, if we do not receive a response by 2:00 p.m., Eastern on July 24, 2023, indicating your commitment to expeditiously remove the floating barrier and related structures, the United States intends to file legal action.
Now again, that statement specifically says the floating border barrier and related structures. It's unclear if that includes some of this concertina wire that you see behind me but the owner of the property where I'm standing.
[08:35:00]
Magali Urbina tells me that she has asked the state of Texas to remove the concertina wire. And Marie how frustrated are you with the state of Texas that they have not removed it?
MAGALI URBINA, TEXAS LANDOWNER: Extremely, extremely frustrated across. At this point, we feel that they are trespassing. They're trespassing on all of our property and they continue to trespass on the property, yet they will still utilize it to bring the migrants out on the south end of our property. So they're just walking them past the concertina wire, bringing them up to the highway calling Border Patrol, and they're still processing them.
FLORES: Now, you've been here when migrants have come up, we've talked about this, you've shared stories. In the U.S. DOJ letter, it specifically says that the U.S. government is concerned about the humanitarian risks. Tell me a little more about that. Because you -- you've shared that people have died on your property.
URBINA: They have, they have. It is true. When the migrants reached this point, now we have to look at these bullies. It's unfortunate that now we're going to have to see, or I'm going to have to see it because I'm out here every day. See them struggling, they may drown, then they have to get to the concertina wire. They may get cut up or caught up, and then they have to come up over the fence in these temperatures that are triple digits is hot. And yes, I have seen people die from heatstroke on the property.
FLORES: Now the U.S. DOJ is saying to the state of Texas if you don't remove these buoys, we're going to take legal action as a property owner, would you take legal action in the State of Texas?
URBINA: Absolutely. Absolutely.
FLORES: So that they could remove the concertina wire?
URBINA: We want the wire off. It is a huge liability and like we've talked about it's horrible on the migrants coming to seek asylum. It's really not up to us. There's laws that are put in place, but if you're on my property, I've said it before. I don't want to see people hurt or die on our property.
FLORES: Magali, thank you so much.
Now you heard it from the property owner. She says that she would like the state of Texas to remove the concertina wire. And now the U.S. DOJ has given Texas a deadline of Monday saying that if the state of Texas does not remove the floating border barriers and related structures that they plan to take legal action. And I should also add that we've reached out to the Texas governor's office and we have not heard back. Rosa Flores CNN, Eagle Pass, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: All right. Still ahead. Barbie mania is in full swing. The Mattel creation gets new live following the release of the live action film how it is awakening attention both good and bad for the popular doll.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:41:57]
BLACKWELL: Take a look at headlines for you this morning. Authorities in central Arizona have arrested a firefighter accused of arson. Yes, officials say 18-year-old Karson Nutter a firefighter at the Ash Fork Fire Department confessed to sending at least seven fires across two counties over the last few weeks.
The Deputy said another told them his motives ranged from boredom to chasing the thrill. Well now he faces multiple charges including arson, aggravated damage and false reporting. His bond is set at $2 million.
WALKER: In a historic move, President Biden has chosen Admiral Lisa Franchetti to be the Navy's top officer. If confirmed she would be the first woman in the Navy to hold the job and the first woman to serve in the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Franchetti has been the vice president -- vice chief of naval operations since 2022, and was the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea among other key naval positions. She has also commanded to carrier strike groups and be the recipient of multiple service medals.
Her official name Barbara Millicent Roberts may not ring a bell but say her nickname Barbie. I don't know that was her official name.
BLACKWELL: Yes, here saying Barbie's government name although it's you know, everybody didn't know that.
WALKER: Well, I guess (INAUDIBLE). Well, you'll get a whole different response when you hear Barbie, right.
BLACKWELLL: Yes.
WALKER: Created by Mattel in 1959. She's getting new life in the live action movie making its debut this weekend.
BLACKWELL: Is distributed by CNN's parent company Warner Brothers Discovery. So the film allows Barbie to question her own reality something consumers have been doing for her for decades. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Barbie mania. Barbie curious fans striding into theaters on opening day in what could be one of the biggest box office weekend's since the pandemic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a love story.
YURKEVICH: Barbie can be a polarizing figure.
TANYA LEE STONE, AUTHOR: I think the most interesting thing about Barbie is that she is a conduit for interesting conversation and controversy.
YURKEVICH: Author Tanya Lee Stone says some see Barbie as a feminist icon while others see her as sending the wrong message to women.
STONE: There were just as many people sending me stories about how Barbie made them feel less than or inferior or gave them body image issues as there were people who felt that she was empowering to them.
YURKEVICH: Even some of the movie stars didn't see Barbie as influential at first.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was not a Barbie girl.
YURKEVICH: But the new movie puts Barbie in the real world.
UNIDETIFIED FEMALE: You have to go to the real world.
YURKEVICH: With real problems and identity crisis.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Barbie in the real world. That's impossible.
YURKEVICH: And President Barbie is the first female president.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Turn to the Barbie next to you how much you love her.
YURKEVICH: President Barbie has been around since 1992. But she wasn't always embraced. Here she is on SNL in 2016. The first time a woman claimed a party nomination for president.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first Barbie commander in chief.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, neat.
[08:45:03]
YURKEVICH: Now seven years later, Barbie is back in the political arena and being celebrated. Here's Lil Gretch. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's look like Barbie driving in front of the State Capitol in a Made in Michigan pink convertible.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Barbie.
YURKEVICH: She signing legislation, talking battery manufacturing and infrastructure. Barbie's been an icon tweeted Whitmer and a reminder that it's so important to support one another and create systems that allow more people to achieve their own dreams. No matter who they are, what they look like or what they wear. Let's keep fighting for that dream world.
YURKEVICH (on camera): We have seen a lot of Barbie core pink outside of this AMC movie theater in New York City, people going in wearing bright pink, fuchsia pink, light pink to see this movie. Showtime's here playing every half hour to an hour so a lot of options.
And I spoke to two young girls who had just come out of seeing the movie. They said that they were surprised by how much the movie was about women's empowerment, but that only deepened their love of Barbie and deepened Barbie's experience. Victor. Amara.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: That looks like a lot of fun. I'm also looking forward to seeing Ryan Gosling as Ken.
BLACKWELL: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much.
WALKER: Why you don't agree.
BLACKWELL: I mean, yes, you know, Ryan Gosling.
WALKER: Still ahead, Lionel Messi waste no time stealing the show.
We'll show you how the soccer superstar sent fans into a frenzy in a dream debut.
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[08:50:53]
WALKER: For the first time since being hospitalized with a medical complication actor Jamie Foxx is thanking his fans for their support. Foxx has remained out of the public eye for months after being hospitalized in Atlanta in April.
BLACKWELL: Foxx kind of addressed rumors about what happened to him in an Instagram post overnight although he did not say why he was taken to the hospital the 55-year-old explained why he's been so private about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE FOXX, ACTOR: I know a lot of people were waiting you know wanting to hear updates but to be honest with you, I just didn't want you to see me like that, man. You know, I want you to see me laughing having a good time partying, cracking a joke, doing a movie, television show. I didn't want you to see me with a with tubes running out of me and trying to figure out if I was going to make it through.
Eldon back and my road to recovery had some potholes as well. But I'm coming back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Foxx also thanked his daughter and his sisters and doctors for keeping him alive.
WALKER: So good to see him in video and in some moments as there he did get quite emotional.
BLACKWELL: He appears to be doing well.
WALKER: He does. He does.
BLACKWELL: Maybe he'll say more in the future. All right, so toss aside Bend It Like Beckham soccer fans in South Florida are looping like Leo as --
WALKER: Is that thing?
WALKER: Nowadays. Messi mania reaches fever pitch.
WALKER: Looping like Leo. Carolyn Manno taken from there.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm coming to you guys to get my sports news. I didn't know that was a thing. I mean, it certainly meets the hype. It was incredible. This debut was just so anticipated that I don't even know if you could describe the fever around it. And it just lived up to all of that.
I mean to happen like this, seven ones after winning the Men's World Cup and to have the seven time people Player of the Year come off the bench in his new role and just deliver this moment that everybody has come to expect from arguably the greatest of all time.
This is ridiculous. I mean, curling in this freaking strike and outside the box in the 94th minute. Serena Williams was there. Kim Kardashian was there. LeBron James was there. They all couldn't believe their eyes. I mean, this crowd went wild and that would turn out to be the game winner the two one win over Mexico's Cruz Azul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIONEL MESSI, INTER MIAMI FORWARD: It was a very good game for us. We were looking for a match like this one and to give a win to these fans. I want to thank all these people. They're making me feel very welcomed here. So I'm very happy to give this victory back to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANNO: Just a wonderful moment. And we wrap up in England, which is where American Brian Harman taking an impressive five stroke lead into the weekend at the British Open. He took control early with four straight birdies ended the day with a 665 time, this 36 soul record at where Liverpool held by Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy. So great day for the American will be an exciting weekend of golf. But I think everybody's still buzzing over what Messi has done in such a short time. It's wild.
WALKER: So exciting. Carolyn Manno, thank you.
In the ocean right now, overfishing and climate change are squeezing reef shark and coral populations. But the Mote Marine Laboratory is trying to restore the endangered sea life. It's today's Impact Your World.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coral reefs are actually the center of marine biodiversity and a big part of that is sharks doing their job in the ecosystem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reef sharks are probably keeping some of their prey species in check. Corals need these nutrients that sharks are bringing in from other habitats. We just released a study so the five main reef shark species they have declined somewhere between 60 and 73 percent each.
And what we find is that because of people fishing them too hard. I think we can get people to reduce fishing overall. But what we need is the coral reefs to still be there because these sharks need habitat.
[08:55:05]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sharks are important for corals and corals are important for sharks.
Around the globe, unfortunately, we're seeing coral reefs degrade. Here in Florida we've lost somewhere on the order of 90 to 95 percent of our living coral.
We're the Florida Keys at the Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research and Restoration. It's the largest land base coral nursery in the United States at the moment. Those corals are grown out in a farm setting and then moved into an offshore nursery.
And then ultimately, all of those corals are out planted directly onto the reef. Mote has to date our planet just over 210,000 fragments of coral under Florida's coral reef. I'm confident that we have the capabilities of assisting in the recovery of those corals so that they are there to support our shark populations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: To learn more, visit cnn.com/impact or text FINS to 707070 to donate.
BLACKWELL: All right, we're going to take a break. We'll see you back here in an hour.
WALKER: Smerconish is up next.
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