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Suspected Shooter Named In Fordyce Grocery Store Shooting; CNN Debate Stage Set With Trump And Biden Going Head-To-Head; 100 Million In U.S. Under Heat Alerts As First Summer Weekend Arrives; Steve Bannon Asks The Supreme Court To Keep Him Out Of Prison; Judge Cannon Scrutinizing Trump Arguments Against Special Counsel; U.S. Assures Israel It would Back Them In Event Of A Full-Blown War With Hezbollah; Low-Flying Southwest Flight Sparks FAA Investigation; Judge Denies Alec Baldwin's Motion To Dismiss Involuntary Manslaughter Charges. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired June 22, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:30]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Saturday, June 22. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Amara Walker, thank you so much for joining us. Here's what we're watching for you this morning. There are new details about the suspect to open fire at a grocery store in Arkansas. Police are saying about how this unfolded and the conditions of the victims.

BLACKWELL: And in just five days President Biden and former President Trump will meet face to face for the CNN presidential debate. What both candidates are doing to prepare for their first face off of this election cycle.

WALKER: And lawyers for Donald Trump were back in court yesterday as they tried to get special counsel Jack Smith's case against Trump and the classified documents case dismissed their arguments and the judge's response.

BLACKWELL: Alec Baldwin was in court yesterday trying to get a judge to dismiss the manslaughter charges against him in connection with the shooting on the rust movie set. What the judge had to say about that request.

WALKER: We begin this morning with new details on that deadly grocery store shooting in Arkansas. Police say 44-year old Travis Eugene Posey is the man who opened fire at the grocery store just outside of Little Rock killing three people and injuring 11 others.

BLACKWELL: He's now in custody and facing capital murder charges. One witness told CNN when she first heard the shots, she thought something had fallen off the shelves when she realized they were gunshots. She says that she and her child ran and hid in a freezer. Others who were there just trying to make sense of what happened. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JNEIRA HOLTON, SHOOTING WITNESS: I felt like the active shooter did think about no kids. He didn't think about the people that was around and the genuine people who lost their lives just because they was going through something I felt like if he was going to somebody to talk to somebody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN Rafael Romo is following the story for us. He's joining us now live. So what else do we know about how all this happened?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Amara, good morning. We know it happened at a very popular supermarket where people were getting ready to buy their groceries some were getting ready to get their lunch. All of a sudden the suspects showed up and started opening fire apparently shooting people indiscriminately.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here at Mad Butcher in Fordyce. And there's a shooting going on.

ROMO (voice-over): It was just before noon when the shots rang out.

The shooting happened at the Mad Butcher a supermarket in Fordyce, Arkansas, a town of some 3,700 people located about an hour south of Little Rock. The first 911 calls came in at 11:38 in the morning.

MIKE HAGAR, SECRETARY OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND DIRECTOR OF ARKANSAS STATE POLICE: Law enforcement responded immediately and exchanged gunfire with a lone suspect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that lady OK?

ROMO (voice-over): According to officials, three people were killed and 10 others wounded.

RODERICK ROGERS, FORDYCE CITY COUNCIL: Man it was just good people just at the wrong place at the wrong time. And they didn't deserve it. But I've learned something in life man bad things happen to good people.

ROMO (voice-over): Two police officers were injured in the shootout with the assailant.

HAGAR: Suspect was also shot and taken into custody.

ROMO (voice-over): Hagar said both the officers and the suspect are expected to survive. The injuries to the civilians range from non-life threatening to extremely critical. Witnesses like twin sisters Amaya and Ashia Doherty described a terrifying scene at the supermarket.

ASHIA DOHERTY, SHOOTING WITNESS: Was a man shooting. They're shooting everywhere. And my mom was in a store. I was worried. I thought they kill her when she came out and I'm glad she's alive.

AMIYA DOHERTY, SHOOTING WITNESS: And I just pray and I was really scary. Like, I will never think that will happen in Fordyce like that. That's real scary. And I pray for the man too, you know, because something had to trigger him to do that.

ROMO (voice-over): Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders reacted to the shooting in a post on X saying I'm thankful to law enforcement and first responders for their quick and heroic action to save lives. My prayers are with the victims and all those impacted by this horrific incident.

HAGAR: On behalf of the State Police law enforcement community all public and first responders, it's tragic. Our hearts are broken. Our prayers law and Governor Sanders in the entire state of Arkansas will be with his community those affected victims.

ROMO (voice-over): Hagar said Arkansas State Police are now in charge of the investigation. The country has seen a spate of shootings over the past few weeks as the weather has gotten warmer with 21 mass shootings recorded by the Gun Violence Archive since last Friday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[06:05:10]

ROMO: And at least 234 mass shootings have taken place in the United States so far in 2024. This is according to the Gun Violence Archive which like CNN defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot excluding the shooter. Now back to you.

BLACKWELL: Rafael Romo. Thank you. We're just days away now from the first presidential debate of 2024 hosted by CNN and President Biden, former President Trump are approaching preparation quite differently.

Now former President Trump he's on the campaign trail this weekend and stopping in DC and Philadelphia today.

WALKER: In recent weeks, he has participated in roughly a dozen policy discussions sharpening his messaging on the economy, the border and crime, but none of the sessions have included mock debates or role playing.

Meanwhile, President Biden is dealing with close advisers at Camp David this weekend. He is focused on holding Trump accountable. Both sides are playing expectations -- expectation games for this crucial debate. It is an unusually early in this campaign, giving the candidates a chance to jolt a White House race that has been largely stable for months now.

CNN's Camila DeChalus is joining us now from Washington. Hi, good morning, Camila. So what is the goal this weekend for the Biden campaign?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Biden really wants to fine tune and craft his messaging on issues that spanned from foreign affairs to the economy, because that is what's going to be talked about at the debate.

Now Amara, as you mentioned, Biden is going to be gathering with his close aides and advisors at Camp David this weekend. And next week in preparation for this debate, because there's so much at stake here. He knows that going toe to toe with Trump that one of his ultimate goals is to present Trump as being unfit for office and to hold him accountable for the policies that he's enacted while he was in office when he got elected and back in 2016.

Now Amara, one of the things that we are really told is that Biden really wants to focus on the rhetoric here and really making it clear that Trump is unfit and that to really just put it across that he is best to be the next President of the United States. Amara, Victor, back to you.

BLACKWELL: All right, Camila, Thank you. Former President Trump's advisors say he's focused more on policy than rhetoric, as we heard. That's for Thursday's debate.

WALKER: CNN's Alayna Treene reports on how Trump's debate prep is going.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Victor and Amara, Donald Trump and his team are really trying to adjust expectations as they look ahead to next Thursday. Now, as we know, for months now, Donald Trump and many of his advisers have tried to paint Biden as this weak and feeble candidate who isn't fit for office that he's mentally and physically unfit and have even argued that he may not be able to stand on stage for 90 minutes.

However, that has set a very low bar for Joe Biden. And it's something that behind the scenes has become somewhat of a concern and take a listen to what Donald Trump told the all in podcast yesterday.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: He beat Paul Ryan pretty badly. And I assume he's going to be somebody that will be a worthy debater. Yes, I would say, I think I don't want to underestimate him.

TREENE: So as you can see there, Victor and Amara, he's clearly trying to raise the expectations for Joe Biden. And again, this really comes as there have been conversations about what next week could look like. I know that Donald Trump's team recognizes the amount of preparation that Joe Biden's team is doing and that has kind of reframed how they're thinking about what it could look like this contrast between both Trump and Biden on stage.

Now as for the preparation, Donald Trump's team has consistently tried to downplay that the former president needs any preparation at all. They argue that his rallies and his media interviews have served as his debate prep.

However, he is doing preparations behind the scenes. So they're dubbing these prep sessions as policy discussions. I'm told he's participated in more than a dozen of these with vice presidential contenders senators, even some people from his former administration like Kellyanne Conway, Rick Grinnell, and Stephen Miller, and many of the discussions into these meetings has really focused on sharpening his rhetoric on some of the key issues they think he's vulnerable on.

So earlier this month, he did one of those sessions with JD Vance, a top contender to be his running mate. They met at Mar-a-Lago and talked about inflation and the economy. We know that last week as well. He met with Senator Marco Rubio, another potential VP contender, as well as Senator Eric Schmidt. And they talked about American democracy as well as his handling of the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

I'm also told that there has been discussions about how to frame his guilty verdict has been conviction in the Manhattan courtroom last month where he was found guilty of falsifying 34 counts of business records.

[06:10:07]

And so all of that has been playing out behind the scenes and really, again, Donald Trump's team is trying to manage expectations in the coming days and really try to see how they can get Donald Trump does stay on message and talk about some of the issues they think are most important to voters. come this fall. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Alayna Treene, thank you very much. And make sure to tune in to see the CNN presidential debate right here on CNN that comes up on June 27 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

BLACKWELL: Right now more than 100 million people across the U.S. are under heat alerts. Dangerous heatwave is breaking records in the Midwest all the way up to Maine. High temperature in Washington DC expected to reach 100 for the first time in eight years. Cities keep an extended heat emergency and place into the next week.

WALKER: And in New York, the National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for the first time this year and a heat health emergency has been extended until midnight tomorrow in Philadelphia. CNN Allison Chinchar is here with us with more. It is brutally hot out there.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is and look I get it. It's summer and a lot of people say OK, but how is this abnormal? The key thing you have to understand is that we don't issue alerts like this when people are just hot when they're just having their average temperature, say in the 90s. This comes when those temperatures are 10, 15, even 20 degrees above normal and people just aren't used to it.

Here you can see a wide swath of them existing across the Midwest, the Mid Atlantic and even into the Northeast. But that's not it. We also have some out to the West to Arizona, Nevada, Utah, California. Also looking at some of those heat alerts as well. When we talk about the scope, look at the trend too, looking at the

heat alerts over the last month. Notice how many millions more Americans have really been under them in just the last week, and much higher than say where we were the summer average of just last year.

So again, just to kind of show you this is really onset a little bit earlier than we normally see even in some of these places. Also too, keep in mind, even if you aren't under a heat alert per se there's still a tremendous amount of people dealing with 90 degree temperatures over 80 percent of that U.S. population that temperature at or above 90 degrees for today.

Some of them even beyond that getting to record breaking still looking at least 40 more potential record highs this weekend, the bulk of them focused across the Northeast and the Mid Atlantic. The only chance we're really going to start to see a cooldown across some areas is once this front finally makes its way through, it's going to start in the Midwest today gradually over the Great Lakes and into the Northeast tomorrow finally starting to see some relief.

The concern though is the heavy rain it's also going to bring take a look at all of this rainfall that has come down across portions of the Midwest. Look at these areas of six, eight even some spots of 10 plus inches of rain in just the last 48 hours across southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa. You can see here where we have a lot of those flood watches and flood warnings those are still going to be in effect for today.

The concern going forward is going to be this area right here. This is where we have the flash flood threat, especially this portion of Wisconsin including the city of Madison. This is where we're talking about an exceptional amount of rainfall coming through and the potential there for the flooding.

Also do note too, this area of the Northeast as that system edges closer this will also give us a chance for some flooding here too. The one good bit of news Victor and Amara is that finally will start to bring the temperatures back down just a little bit for some of these areas.

BLACKWELL: That is some good news and we will take it. Allison Chinchar thanks so much.

Still to come. The judge in Donald Trump's classified documents case appeared skeptical of his lawyers' arguments that the special counsel's appointment did not meet constitutional requirements. What she asked them?

WALKER: Plus, how Steve Bannon is hoping to avoid going to prison while he appeals is contempt of Congress conviction.

BLACKWELL: And despite the war of words between Benjamin Netanyahu and the U.S., the Biden ministration says they have Israel's back if a war with Hezbollah breaks out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:18:37]

WALKER: In your headlines this morning the man who attacked the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a hammer has been found guilty in his State Trial. A California jury convicted David de Papp of first degree burglary and four other charges yesterday.

Last year he was found guilty of federal charges including attempted murder. De Papp attacked Pelosi -- Paul Pelosi at home in October of 2022. Sentencing will be set for a later date but he is facing up to life in prison.

BLACKWELL: Two NASA astronauts have to once again postpone Welcome Home celebrations because of more delays with the Boeing Starliner. Spacecraft is docked at the International Space Station so engineers can safely work on issues with the propulsion system. The latest delay has stretched the mission by more than 20 days and put away over budget. NASA says the Starliner will not be back until July at the earliest.

WALKER: Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon is asking the Supreme Court to pause his sentence while he appeals his conviction. Bannon filed a longshot emergency motion on Friday hours after a lower court denied his appeal Thursday night. A federal judge ruled he must surrender by the first of July. Steve Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with the investigation into the January 6 insurrection.

[06:20:00]

The legal scrutiny continues for former President Donald Trump's classified documents case in Florida. In court Friday, Judge Aileen Cannon push Trump's lawyer to defend his claim that special counsel Jack Smith is part of a shadow government.

BLACKWELL: She's grilling prosecutors too. CNN's Evan Perez has more on that legal back and forth in Florida. Evan.

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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Amara, lawyers for Donald Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith squared off for more than four hours before Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday. Trump lawyers are arguing for the charges against the former presidents to be dismissed saying that Jack Smith was not legally appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Now during the hearing, the judge pushed for the special counsel and prosecutors to explain whether there are any specific actions that were taken by the special counsel that Attorney General Merrick Garland personally approved prosecutors declined to get into any specifics.

But she also the judge also pushed back on Trump lawyers who called Jack Smith, a shadow government. She said that accusation seemed ominous, and she seemed skeptical of some of their arguments. Now, this is an unusual hearing, because she also allowed outside third parties to argue before the court for a couple of hours. And this is the first of three hearings that we have here in Fort Pierce on Monday.

The lawyers are going to square off over and request by the special counsel for a gag order against the former president. And on Tuesday, they're also here to argue for some of the evidence that was taken during that extraordinary search of Mar-a-Lago back in 2022 for some of that to be tossed.

Now, the judge did not rule from the bench on Friday, and we'll see what she does with the hearings next week. Victor, Amara.

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BLACKWELL: Evan Perez for us there in Fort Pierce, Florida. Thanks so much. Joining us now trial attorney Kelly Hyman. Kelly, hello to you. Let's start here with the acceptance of arguments from these disinterested parties. Briefs are one thing, right, submitting it on paper, but spending hours in the courtroom listening to these arguments. What is it let's say the generous argument for allowing these disinterested parties to speak.

KELLY HYMAN, TRIAL ATTORNEY: This is a unique matter? Well, it's important to remember the fact that as you stated, third parties are allowed to speak in front of the judge on this matter, and they're not involved in any way. And this is a lot of cases very unheard of.

So here they are not a party to the lawsuit, but getting in front of the judge and arguing the cases and the merit of the cases. And usually in these types of cases, they are given to a magistrate judge, a magistrate judge is not a judge who's appointed by life, but as a judge overhears these pretrial matters in regards to this case, but Judge Cannon decided to hear this case herself and spent hours rather than rule on the paper in this matter.

BLACKWELL: So as we heard from Evan, on Monday, they'll get into the question of a gag order for former President Trump specifically on law enforcement and how his discussion of the search of Mar-a-Lago could affect or endanger law enforcement, what do you think the chances are here for that?

HYMAN: Well, ultimately, it will be up to the judge to make a determination on the facts and the evidence, but most likely, the way the case is going, I do not see the judge enforcing a gag order. So it's important to remember why they want a gag order. Trump has made allegations of fact that they were there to shoot and kill him.

But it's important to remember that that has been debunked the fact that that was not the case in this matter, but ultimately, the judge will make a determination but most likely, the gag order will not happen.

BLACKWELL: What is the impact of -- actually two questions here. If the judge sides with those who believe that Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed as special prosecutor, what does that mean for this case moving forward? And then the second question here, what does that mean for the January 6 case in which he is also the special prosecutor in the DC courts?

HYMAN: Potentially dead in the water. So these are serious allegations. They're making the allegations that the special counsel did not have the authority to bring it so what does that mean? That means the grand jury was not valid. The grand jury based on evidence that was presented to them believe that Trump should be charged with crimes those were 37 counts in this case.

[06:25:00]

So basically invalidating that and potentially invalidating the other grand jury if he did not have the authority to act as special counsel. But it's also important to remember that there are case law, United States versus Nixon that support the fact that there should be a special counsel. There was also the Robert Mueller investigation, in fact that he was a special counsel, and there was case law on that to support the fact that he should be appointed and did in fact, have the authority.

So if the judge rules against him, I definitely see appeals on this. But no matter what I could see this issue definitely going up to the Supreme Court.

BLACKWELL: There was also a similar argument from Hunter Biden's attorneys and David Weiss and the special prosecutor in his case that we watched a couple of weeks ago. Let me move to one other element here. Steve Bannon has asked the Supreme Court to delay his -- having to go to prison. July 1, is the data supposed to show.

Is there any reason to expect there to be anything different here than we saw for Peter Navarro, in which the Supreme Court did not delay it, that he's going to get the same treatment that Navarro got?

HYMAN: You would think that he would get the same treatment based on the law. But you never know. Ultimately, that will be up to the Supreme Court based on the facts and evidence presented to them, but I see it unlikely and see him reporting to jail on July 1.

BLACKWELL: All right, Nevada, a judge there has dismissed charges against several fake electors, Trump fake electors. The judge said that the case was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. The Nevada AG says that the judge has it wrong here. Who's right explain what the issue is here.

HYMAN: So according to the defense, this case is dead in the waters. And what does that mean? That means that they brought it in the wrong venue. So when you bring a case, you can decide where it's going to be brought, the allegations are that it was brought in the wrong county in the case. And also defense argues that because of statute of limitations, that means a statute of limitations is how long you have to order to bring a case.

According to the defense, the statute of limitations is blown. In other words, there's no way to bring this case and it's not going to happen.

However, on the other side, they say that the judge got it all wrong, that they will appeal the judge's decision and that will go to the appellate court and based on the facts and evidence. Appellate court will make a determination on whether in fact, the case was in the right venue in the right county or not.

BLACKWELL: Kelly Hyman helping us understand all of it. Thanks so much.

WALKER: The U.S. is worried that a war between Israel and Hezbollah could overwhelm the Iron Dom. What the White House is saying to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, next.

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[06:30:00]

WALKER: Now, to the latest in the Israel-Hamas war. U.S. officials told Israel that if a full-out war starts with Hezbollah, the Biden White House is fully prepared to back its ally. Now, that promise comes as relations are strained between the Biden administration and Israel's Prime Minister after he publicly accused the U.S. of withholding weapons.

Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on the spat, telling "Punchbowl News" that there is barely a trickle of weapons making its way from the U.S. to Israel. Now, here's a reaction from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We generally do not know what he's talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL, WHITE HOUSE: It was vexing and disappointing to us, as much as it was incorrect.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WALKER: I want to bring in Daniel Levy now, the President of the U.S. Middle East Project. He's also a former Israeli peace negotiator and talks to the Palestinians. Thank you for your time, Daniel. First off, what do you make of this very public rift and Netanyahu making these accusations that U.S. officials pushed back on quite forcefully and the timing of it all?

DANIEL LEVY, PRESIDENT, U.S. MIDDLE EAST PROJECT: Well, indeed, why this matters is, of course, the key players of the parties over there, Israel's decades of occupation, denying Palestinian rights, preventing refugee return. Palestinians have the right to resist that. They don't have the right, the militant groups to use violence in the

way we saw October 7th, violate international law. Israel has the right to self-defense. It doesn't have the right to violate international law itself, devastate, destroy Gaza, mass killing of civilians, why the U..S. role matters is that none of this would be possible without the continued flow of American weapons to Israel.

It simply couldn't continue these daily mass civilian-casualty- killing-events. And the possibility now that this might expect -- expand to the Lebanon front. So, what matters here is that again, we saw this week, testing -- U.S. and Israel testing each other and the American President blinked first, the administration blinked first, and Netanyahu has the commitment or weapons that he most wants.

WALKER: Yes, there also appears to be these divisions between the Israeli military and the Israeli government over Netanyahu's stated goal of destroying Hamas in this war. Here's what the country's top military official, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL HAGARI, SPOKESPERSON, IDF (through translator): Hamas is an idea, those who think we can make Hamas disappear are wrong. I'm not talking about the alternatives. This is a decision of the political echelon and the IDF will implement.

[06:35:00]

But the issue of -- the issue of eliminating Hamas is still either throw dust in the eyes of the public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: We heard the IDF push back on this, or clarifying Hagari's remarks, saying that he was specifically speaking to the ideology of Hamas and not the military stated goal of destroying. Is that how you see it?

LEVY: No, and I think that's not how most Israelis see it. Of course, the IDF has carried out these actions and the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice are reviewing what is being done because of the likely violations of international law.

But it seems that the IDF is very concerned that Prime Minister Netanyahu with his back pushed up against the wall because of domestic politics is sending them on a mission that cannot succeed. There is a degree of exhaustion in the IDF, I don't think they want the expansion of this war to the Hezbollah front, many of the senior command offices, or why that they might be replaced by people closer to Netanyahu and the more extremist factions.

And therefore, you are now seeing very unusually a quite public spat, both sides are dialing it down a little, but it's not lost on the Israeli public that there is a spat between the military and the political leadership because this war is not going well. This isn't going to get the hostages back. It's had a tremendous reputational damage to Israel and the army is being clear. This isn't a mission that is achievable Mr. Prime minister.

WALKER: The IDF may not want to expand this war, you know, to include Hezbollah, but you know, does it look like you're at a dangerous tipping point, especially when you have these conversations happening between Biden, and you know, officials, and Israeli officials this week in Washington where the U.S. had to reassure them that look, you know, the U.S. will fully back Israel if there were an all-out war with Hezbollah.

LEVY: Very important, Amara. So, what we've seen is that unless there is a ceasefire in Gaza, something most of the Israeli military want, of course, vital to the Palestinians going through these horrors. But something the Israeli Prime Minister does not want unless there's a ceasefire there, the escalation is likely to continue elsewhere.

There won't be a ceasefire on that Israel-Hezbollah front. And so, you could look at this and say, if Hezbollah sense weakness in the U.S.- Israel relationship, then it might be encouraged to move. And therefore, important for the U.S. to make clear the weapons will flow.

But the other way of looking at that is that if Israel knows the weapons will continue, and the U.S. has its back for a second front war, that will encourage Netanyahu down that path. The crucial variable to plug in here is that most analysts, I think correctly assess Iran and Hezbollah don't want an escalation, but the Israeli Prime Minister is the wildcard here, and telling him you have the weapons is a very problematic move by the Biden administration if it doesn't want more war.

And that war would, I imagine, work against the American national security interests, it also might not play well at home domestically, apparently, you have an election there in November.

WALKER: U.S. officials are also concerned, you know, that in the event of a full-blown war with Hezbollah, Israel's iron dome provided by the U.S. obviously, could be overwhelmed. And we know that Hezbollah, you know, has been stockpiling for years, all kinds of weapons and ammunition.

The concern by Israel are these precision-guided ammunitions that they believe Hezbollah has been stockpiling. What would a wider war mean for the region in terms of how devastating this could be.

LEVY: Precisely implied in your question is how devastating this will be for the country of Lebanon, for Israelis. In the past, Israel has carried out not quite the level of horrors in Gaza, but wholesale destruction of Lebanese civilian infrastructure and targets, Israel would not be spared that.

Israelis are not looking at this with relish, Iran might become directly involved. And in fact, the Israeli military is warning of this, I think as a way of trying to suggest this is not a good place to go, and I hope we see an administration lean in, in the U.S. and prevent this in ways they have conspicuously failed to prevent what has gone on in Gaza in the last nine months.

WALKER: Daniel Levy, appreciate the conversation. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: People in a town in Oklahoma looked up and they saw --

LEVY: Thank you --

BLACKWELL: A plane coming way too close to the ground. A Southwest flight descended to just 525 feet. We've got details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: For the second time in just a couple of months, the FAA is investigating a Southwest Airlines plane flying dangerously low, and there's a doorbell cam video of this incident. The flight ended up a little more than 500 feet above Yukon, Oklahoma.

WALKER: Just 500 feet. CNN's Pete Muntean has more on this latest incident that triggered an alert and investigation.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Amara, air traffic controllers really saved the day here, even still very alarming, especially since this is the second incident in as many months involving a Southwest Airlines flight getting too low.

[06:45:00]

This case happened after midnight on Wednesday morning, and this is the doorbell camera video into CNN. It shows Southwest flight 4069 on approach to land at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. This is about 9 miles away from the airport in the town of UConn. The plane was lined up to land on the runway that point southeast, and the data from flight radar 24 says the flight got down to 525 feet above ground level.

Let's put it into context, only four lengths of the 737 itself or the height of the Washington monument, half the height of the Empire State building. The point is, it's very low for that distance from the airport. And the FAA says a minimum safe altitude warning alert or MSAW alert sat at the control tower, prompting the air traffic controller to issue Southwest 4069, a low altitude alert. Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Southwest 4069 low altitude alert, you good out there?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: The pilots then climbed back up and maneuvered for a safe landing. Nobody was hurt in this. The FAA says it's investigating, and Southwest says it's also doing its own internal investigation. Here's what the airline says in a statement. "Southwest is following its robust safety management system and is in contact with the FAA to understand and address any irregularities with the aircraft's approach to the airport.

Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees." The question here is how this could happen. Did the pilots improperly configure their instruments like in the crash of the Korean air flight in Guam in 1997, where they simply fatigued after a long day.

Remember, this flight was coming in after midnight, and pilots I talked to say, they'd been especially worked hard lately, big questions here for investigators. The good news is the layers of safety worked, and that low altitude alerting system in use by Air Traffic Control stopped the accident chain that was barreling towards disaster. Victor, Amara.

BLACKWELL: That is a remarkably understated reaction.

WALKER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Aircraft Control says, bro, you good? Five hundred feet, that's all --

WALKER: Perhaps, they've gotten used to saying this --

BLACKWELL: Maybe --

WALKER: Sadly, and very scary to think about that. Pete Muntean, thank you for that report. Next week, actor Alec Baldwin will try again to get involuntary manslaughter charges against him dismissed. A separate motion to dismiss the charges was denied on Friday.

BLACKWELL: Of course, the charges came after the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film, "Rust". Here is CNN's Josh Campbell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): In a new court filing in the U.S. state of New Mexico, prosecutors laid out various items of evidence they plan to use in the upcoming trial of actor Alec Baldwin. And it's clear, and looking at this evidence that their strategy isn't just focusing on the actual moment that a gun Baldwin was holding went off, killing the film's cinematographer.

But on the actor, Alec Baldwin's alleged behavior in the days and weeks leading up to that shooting, some of the evidence that they cite includes video evidence showing Baldwin allegedly using a gun as a pointer. They say he was engaged in quote, "horseplay", pointing the muzzle of a gun at another actor.

They said one point while setting up for a scene, he fired a blank round at a crew member, and during a safety briefing on firearm safety, he allegedly was distracted, Face-Timing and texting with family members. Now, all this tracks with what Santa Fe's District Attorney first told CNN when charges were first brought against actor Alec Baldwin, take a listen here to the DA describing what she claimed was a culture of unsafe practices on that movie set. MARY CARMACK-ALTWIES, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: There

was such a lack of safety standards on that set. That there were live rounds on set, they were mixing with regular dummy rounds. Nobody was checking those --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Baldwin being charged as an actor who is holding the gun, or as a producer on the set who was negligent about the safety standards. Can you help describe that?

CARMACK-ALTWIES: He's being charged as both. He was the actor that pulled the trigger. So, certainly, he's charged as an actor. But also as a producer, he also had a duty to make sure that the set was safe.

CAMPBELL: And here's the New Mexico case all prosecutors are using to justify their prosecution. And they say that criminal negligence exists where the defendant acts with willful disregard of the rights or safety of others and in a manner which endangers any person or property.

Now, attorney for Alec Baldwin declined to comment on this new filing. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. He claims that he never pulled the trigger on that weapon. Interestingly, his own team has submitted a new filing asking for this case to be dismissed.

They claim that prosecutors have selectively released pieces of evidence. Well, we'll have to wait and see what a judge decides on, that motion as of right now, Baldwin's trial is set to begin in July. Josh Campbell, CNN, Los Angeles.

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WALKER: Josh Campbell, thank you. Coming up, a man missing in the Santa Cruz mountains for ten days has been found alive. The details of his harrowing ordeal is next.

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[06:50:00]

WALKER: The next episode of "VIOLENT EARTH" with Liev Schreiber explores our planet's sleeping giants volcanoes and how they bring massive destruction. Here's a preview.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fissure near Darryl(ph) was number 17.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fissure 17 was the first one to really dumb the volumes of lava, very explosive in nature.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was hard for me to believe that anyone in their right mind would want to be there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're all right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you hear the explosions and you're out on the lawn, what's the strategy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look up and watch them, keep your eye on them.

[06:55:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was the strategy, and it worked pretty well for him until it didn't. Friday, we interviewed him, and on Sunday morning, we had got word that somebody had been hit by a lava bomb, and as soon as I heard that, I was a million percent sure that's Darryl(ph).

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BLACKWELL: Watch "VIOLENT EARTH" with Liev Schreiber, a new episode airs tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

WALKER: All right, to a really remarkable story now. A hiker is back home with his family after spending 10 days in the California wilderness. Lukas McClish says he didn't tell anyone where he was going before setting off for a hike in the mountains of Santa Cruz. Well, he got lost, and he says he survived on berries and creek water.

BLACKWELL: So, Thursday, CNN affiliate "KSBW" reported that someone heard him yelling for help, drones and a K-9 tracked him down, and search team found Lukas muddy and shirtless.

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LUKAS MCCLISH, RESCUED HIKER: Each day, I'll go up a canyon, down a canyon, to the next waterfall, and sit down near the waterfall and drink water out of my boot. I want a burrito in a Taco bowl, that's what I thought about everyday when I -- after the first five days, when I started to like -- kind of realized that I might be in over my head.

I felt comfortable the whole time I was out there, I wasn't worried about -- I had a mountain lion that was following me, and it was cool. He kept his distance. He was -- I think it was just somebody watching over me.

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WALKER: Somebody was watching over him for sure. All right, still ahead, President Biden and Donald Trump are set to face off in the CNN debate in just five days. A look at how both candidates are preparing for this high-stakes moment.

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