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Biden And Trump To Face Off In CNN Debate On June 27; More Than 100 Million People Under Heat Alerts This Weekend; Supreme Court Upholds Federal Gun Ban For Abusers; Multiple Americans Now Held In Russia Custody; Wildfires, Rising Insurance Costs Challenge West Coast Wineries. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired June 22, 2024 - 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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[07:01:26]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Saturday, June 22nd, just five days away from debate day here at CNN. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Here's what we're watching for you. New details about the suspect who started shooting at a grocery store in Arkansas. What police are saying about how it happened and the victims' conditions.

WALKER: In just five days, President Biden and former President Donald 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.

BLACKWELL: We can see hundreds of record highs this week as summer heat tightens its grip on parts of the country. Allison Chinchar is standing by with the forecast.

WALKER: All right, as I also for the third time this morning, we are just days away from the first presidential debate of 2024 hosted by CNN. And Biden and Trump are taking different approaches to preparing for this face off. Trump is on the campaign trail this weekend, making stops in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia today.

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

BLACKWELL: President Biden is meeting with close advisors at Camp David this weekend. He's focusing on holding Trump accountable. Both sides are playing an expectations game for this crucial debate. Now, it is unusually early in the campaign, giving the candidates a chance to jolt a White House race that has been largely stable for months. CNN's Camila DeChalus is joining us now from Washington. So, let's talk Team Biden. What's their goal for this weekend? CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden really wants to use this weekend to craft and fine tune his messaging on a wide array of issues that he's expected to talk about during the debate when he goes head-to-head with Trump. He's fine tuning his messaging when it comes to the economy and what his take in his policy stance is on a lot of foreign policy issues.

Now, campaign advisors tell us that during this weekend when he's at Camp David and even next week, he's going to be gathered around close aides and close advisors that will really be helping him prepare for this debate. We are told that his former chief of staff, Ron Klain, is leading these debate preparations. And these preparations entail everything from informal conversations he's having while discussing a lot of topics to just even a formal 90-minute mock debate, where he's going, where he's trying to just really tune that messaging of how he wants to respond to certain questions.

And we're told that his ultimate goal here is to strategize more ways to show how Trump is unfit for office and strategize ways to really hold Trump accountable for the policies he has enacted in the past. And, Victor, we know that is no small task, that this debate, there's a lot of stake, at stake for Biden and Trump during this debate, because this is a way for them to really gravitate and tell voters where they stand on issues and make it clear why Biden or Trump is best to serve as the next president. So, there's a lot at stake here and Biden is taking these preparations very seriously. Victor, Amara, back to you.

WALKER: Camila DeChalus, thank you very much. Now former President Trump's advisers say he is focused more on policy than rhetoric headed into Thursday's debate.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Alayna Treene reports on how Team Trump is preparing for the debate.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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 advisors have tried to paint Biden as this weak and feeble candidate who isn't fit for office, that he's mentally and Biden as this weak and feeble candidate who isn't fit for office, that he's mentally and physically unfit, and he's 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, 45TH 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 Amra 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 in 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 J.D. 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 V.P. contender, as well as Senator Eric Schmid. And they talked about American democracy, as well as his handling of the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

[07:07:00]

I'm also told that there has been discussions about how to frame his guilty verdict, his conviction in the Manhattan courtroom last month, where he was found guilty of falsifying 34 counts of business records. 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 to stay on message and talk about some of the issues they think are most important to voters come this fall. Back to you.

WALKER: Thank you for that. Let's bring in Shelby Talcott, a reporter with Semaphore. Good morning to you, Shelby. Thanks so much for being here. So, this presidential debate, I mean, it's going to be one of the most consequential ones in decades. Our Van Jones has been saying that this debate is Biden's to lose. Do you see it that way?

SHELBY TALCOTT, SEMAPHORE REPORTER: Well, I think there's an argument to be made that it's either candidate to lose, but certainly this is the first opportunity that the president has to really show voters that it is him against Donald Trump.

And that's been something that any time I've talked to Joe Biden's campaign over the past several months and even last year, they've tried to highlight that eventually voters will realize that this is an election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump and that voters will come back to Joe Biden.

So far, based on the polls, that has not happened. So this really is an opportunity for him to show voters that front and center for the first time in several years. WALKER: I mean, this race has been stable for months now, right? When

it comes to the polls, there has been no clear leader, which is obviously troubling for Biden as an incumbent, but also with a criminal conviction for Trump, the polls haven't changed much, if at all. What kind of strategy could Biden then employ for this debate? That could be effective.

TALCOTT: We've seen how Joe Biden over the past few weeks in his campaign have begun to really ramp up their rhetoric when it comes to that conviction and Donald Trump's legal issues. And that's really a shift from what we saw last year. When I talked to campaign aides and people close to the White House, there was a split, but a lot of them argued at the time that they didn't really need to go hard at Donald Trump's legal issues because se voters already knew who Donald Trump is.

And they wanted to focus on the issues at hand, the economy, abortion, things that voters care about. That seems in the past few weeks to still be a focus, but now we're seeing how they are going after Donald Trump's legal issues and his recent conviction more often. And so, I do expect on the debate stage next week that we're going to see some comments from Joe Biden to that effect.

WALKER: Let's talk about the campaign cash dynamics, because it really is remarkable to see what's been happening over the past couple of months. When you look back just two months ago, President Biden had a huge financial advantage and then if you look for the last two months in a row it is Trump and his campaign and the Republicans, the RNC, out-raising Biden. You can see these numbers here in the month of May, $141 million for Trump and the RNC, $85 million for Biden and the Democrats. I mean, that's a staggering reversal of fortunes, quite literally, for Biden.

TALCOTT: Absolutely, and to be clear, they're both still raising a lot of money. Joe Biden's numbers are impressive, just as Donald Trump's is. But the shift really has come, I think, in part because of these legal issues and particularly because of the conviction last month. We saw how in 24 hours after Donald Trump were struggling with. I remember Ron DeSantis, shortly before he dropped out, said in an interview that the legal issues sort of solidified the support that Donald Trump has.

[07:11:07]

And I think that is still the case in the general election. When voters see, Republican voters see, that Donald Trump is going through these legal issues and that he has been convicted, they have opened up their wallets as a result.

WALKER: You know, with this huge cash lead earlier on, we saw the Biden campaign setting up camp in battleground states spending tens of millions of dollars on TV ads. And they point, Biden's campaign points to this political infrastructure that they have been able to change the trajectory of the race. So how much of an advantage has this early cash advantage been for Biden? TALCOTT: Well, I think as we see in the polls assuming the polls are

correct and of course things change very quickly or could change very quickly over the over the next few months. But it hasn't really impacted the race in the way that I think traditionally we would assume it would. And so, it will be interesting to see now that Donald Trump is sort of caught up whether or not the money factor remains as much of a non-issue as it has been this presidential race.

WALKER: Shelby Talcott, we'll leave it there. Thank you so much. And make sure to tune in to see the CNN presidential debate right here on CNN, coming up on June 27th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, we're following new details on the deadly grocery store shooting in Arkansas. Police say 44-year-old Travis Eugene Posey is the man who opened fire at a grocery store just outside of Little Rock, killing three people and injuring 11 others.

BLACKWELL: The shooter is now in custody. He's facing capital murder charges. One witness told CNN that when she first heard the shots, she thought something had fallen off the shelves. When she realized they were gunshots, she and her child, they ran and hid in a freezer. CNN's Rafael Romo is here following the story for us. He joins us live. What else do we know about how this happened?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor, Amara, another horrific shooting in the United States. It was just before noon when the shots rang out. The shooting happened at the Mad Butcher supermarket in Fordyce, Arkansas, a town of some 3,700 people located about an hour south of Little Rock. The first 9-1-1 calls came in at 11:38 in the morning.

According to officials, law enforcement responded immediately and exchanged gunfire with the lone suspect identified as 44-year-old, Travis Eugene Posey. Arkansas Public Safety Secretary Mike Hagar said that the suspect was shot and taken into custody. Overnight, authorities said that three people were killed and then others wounded, including two police officers who were injured in the shootout with the assailant.

Hagar also said that both the officers and the suspect are expected to survive, the injuries, to the civilians range from non-life threatening to extremely critical. Local officials said the entire community is shocked about what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very devastating day for us. Never in a million years would we think something like this would happen. There's a lot of families involved that's affected, so let's continue to pray for them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On behalf of the state police, the law enforcement community, all public and first responders, it's tragic. Our hearts are broken. Our prayers, along with Governor Sanders, the entire state of Arkansas will be with this community and with those affected victims. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders reacted to the shooting in a post on saying, "I am thankful to law enforcement and first responders for their quick and heroic actions to save lives. My prayers are with the victims and all those impacted by this horrific incident." According to authorities, Posey, the suspect, will be charged with three counts of capital murder with additional charges pending.

And to put it in perspective, Victor and Amara, at least 234 mass shootings have taken place in the United States in 2024. This is according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, which like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter. Very horrific again.

BLACKWELL: All right, Rafael, thank you.

WALKER: Thank you. Good to see you.

[07:15:09]

BLACKWELL: Still to come, 100 million people across the Midwest and Northeast are dealing with record breaking heat this weekend, where we could see hundreds of record highs.

WALKER: Plus, detained American Paul Whelan marked another grim milestone this week, more than 2000 days in Russian custody. What he's urging the Biden administration to do next?

BLACKWELL: Plus, Justin Timberlake is back on tour after being arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated in Sag Harbor, New York this week. We'll tell you what he shared with his fans.

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[07:20:22]

BLACKWELL: A dangerous heat wave is breaking records from Illinois to New Jersey and more than 100 million people are under heat alerts. High temperature in Washington, D.C. expected to reach triple digits for the first time in eight years. The city is closely watching extended heat emergency in place into next week.

WALKER: 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's Allison Chinchar is here with us now. All you have to do is look at her wardrobe choice. The earring.

BLACKWELL: Sunshine, sunshine.

WALKER: The red. I wonder what's going on out there.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I've got to give you a hint. Yes. Look, the thing that people, I think, are having a hard time with this particular heat wave is everybody keeps saying, but it's summer. It's supposed to be. And we get that. But we don't issue heat alerts when your temperature is where it should be. We issue them when they're 10, 15, 20 degrees above average. And that's what we've got. You take a look at all of the areas. Look at this. It stretches from the Midwest, the Ohio Valley, the Mid-Atlantic, into the Northeast.

All of these folks dealing with temperatures well above where they even should be for the summertime. And it's not just here. You've also got some that are out into some Western states as well. So a lot of different areas dealing with that extreme heat. And taking it into comparison of when we would usually have it, look at how much we've seen the number of people under those heat alerts really take off in just the last week.

For some perspective, this black line here, this is the summer average. So comparing it to last year to where we are now, we are way above. We're really getting that early onset in a lot of these states. Even if you aren't under an alert though, you're still likely feeling the heat. You've got about 80 percent of the U.S. population having those temperatures at or above 90 degrees and

for some folks it's even beyond that. It's into record-breaking territory. You're looking at 40 possible records still potentially that could be broken this weekend, today and or tomorrow. Some of them could end up breaking them both days in a row. Looking at the temperatures, Philadelphia looking at 95 for the high today, dropping down on Monday. D.C. likely to hit that triple digit mark today.

Richmond also getting awfully close but notice one thing a lot of them have in common. Monday, we finally start to see those temperatures dropping back down. That's thanks to this right here. This system here that's going to bring heavy rain to the Midwest, eventually into the Great Lakes once we get into Sunday.

That's going to shift in towards the Northeast once we get into Monday and allowing those temperatures to come back down. The downfall in the short term, it's dumping a tremendous amount of rain across the Midwest. We're talking 6 to 10 inches of rain. So, there is the potential for some additional flooding in this region as we go through the rest of the day today.

WALKER: All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you.

BLACKWELL: The number of dead in the world's largest religious gathering, at least one of them is climbing. Close to 500 people have died during this year's Hajj at the pilgrimage to Mecca. Now it's not clear how many have died because of the extreme heat.

WALKER: CNN's Scott McLean has more from Istanbul. Scott, there's a concern that this number could increase.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you have to remember, guys, that last week at one point, the mercury topped more than 120-degree Fahrenheit. And this Hajj pilgrimage is almost entirely outdoors, and it is physical. You have to walk several kilometers a day often. One pilgrim that we've been speaking to said that in the about two miles or so between one of the sites and his hotel, he saw dozens of people who had passed out, some who had even died, and there was no help in sight.

But remember, this is also the religious obligation of Muslims to do, if they're able, at least once in their lives. Some people save their entire lives to go to this and so there wasn't much, not even this extreme weather, that would have kept them away.

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MCLEAN: The stoning of the devil, one of the key rituals of the Hajj pilgrimage. It's a symbolic rejection of evil, but with temperatures unusually high, even for this time of year, the temptation here is a much simpler one.

Water only goes so far when it's 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Azza Hamid- Ibrahim found out the hard way. Like many, she gave up on the way there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We thought we were about to die. We didn't even have the strength to reach the steels due to the extreme heat.

MCLEAN: The soaring temperatures making this year's pilgrimage exceptionally deadly. Videos shared on social media showed bodies on the sides of roads, their faces covered. In some cases, they looked simply abandoned.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most of the people, they died on the roadside, and some were fainted due to the heat and heat stroke. So, they should make such arrangements that during the summer season, when the Hajj season is in the summer, they should arrange a bit of transportation for the whole.

MCLEAN: Saudi Arabia says it did make some arrangements to deal with the heat, deploying 1,600 soldiers along with 5,000 volunteers, installing dozens of air-conditioned tents and overhead water sprinklers to cool down crowds. But many are traveling on tourist visas, rather than Hajj-specific ones, and don't get access to these amenities. They add to the nearly 2 million pilgrims expected officially. The sheer scale and the heat, a deadly combination.

[07:25:52]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people died. The ambulances were overwhelmed. You would talk to someone and suddenly they would die. It was a very hard day.

MCLEAN: Hajj may be officially over, but with Saudi Arabia yet to release any numbers, be that injured or dead, the number of victims may still yet sharply rise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So, one example, Victor, in Amara, Egypt has officially reported just 28 of its citizens died in this Hajj, but Reuters is reporting from an Egyptian medical source that there are 600 more. The vast majority of those are these unofficial Hajj pilgrims who came on a tourist or other kind of unofficial visa.

We also spoke to one pilgrim from the U.K. who said that it seems to him that the Saudis are so worried about a repeat of the 2015 trampling or stampede incident that killed more than 2,000 people that they keep people moving along which makes it very difficult to find a place to stop and take a break in these temperatures, guys.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we may never get the official precise number of those who died because of the heat, unfortunately. Scott MCLEAN thanks so much.

Still to come, the Supreme Court upheld a law barring domestic abusers from owning guns in a major Second Amendment ruling. The takeaways from the ruling, we have that for you.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: And we're on the verge of perhaps seeing one of the greatest playoff comebacks ever. After being down 0- 3 in the Stanley Cup final, the Edmonton Oilers have now forced a winner-take-all Game 7 Monday night in Florida.

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[07:31:56]

WALKER: 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 DePape the first-degree burglary and four other charges yesterday. Last year, he was found guilty of federal charges, including attempted murder. DePape attacked Paul Pelosi at home in October 2022. Sentencing will be set up for a later date, but he is facing up to life in prison.

NASA has once again delayed the Boeing Starliner's return to Earth, meaning, two astronauts will have to remain onboard the International Space Station. That the spacecraft is remaining docked at the International Space Station so engineers can safely work on issues with their propulsion system.

The latest delay has stretched the mission by more than 20 days, putting it way over budget. NASA says a Starliner won't be back until July at the earliest.

Pop star Justin Timberlake made his first public appearance following his arrest Tuesday and Sag Harbor, New York for allegedly driving while intoxicated. Most of us last saw him like this in a mug shot following his arrest. But the singer took the stage last night in Chicago and resumed his world tour.

He addressed the arrest by saying, "It's been a tough week, but you're here and I'm here, and nothing can change this moment right now."

BLACKWELL: In an 8-1 ruling, the Supreme Court upheld a federal law banning domestic abusers from owning guns. Friday's ruling shows most in the court's conservative majority believe that there are limitations to the Second Amendment. CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid has more.

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: A massive Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment, 8-1, the justice is finding that the Second Amendment, like many other rights does have limits.

That he or Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the majority opinion, said they "had no trouble coming to this conclusion." And he really focused a lot on tradition and the history of the United States, saying, "Our tradition of firearm regulation allows the government to disarm individuals who present a credible threat to the physical safety of others."

And a good portion of his opinion is spent analyzing the historical context of firearm regulation. And that is significant because two years ago, the Supreme Court really expanded the definition of the Second Amendment and left the door open for a lot of additional challenges like this.

And here, the chief justice, he acknowledged that, that has caused some confusion among the lower courts about exactly what they meant.

He writes, "some courts have misunderstood the methodology of our recent Second Amendment cases." Now he says, "The reach of the Second Amendment is not limited only to those arms that were in existence at the founding." And then, it goes on to say that, of course, that any regulations or restrictions on gun ownership, you don't necessarily need to find a twin regulation from the beginning. or the founding of this country, but it has to be something that is relevant and similar.

[07:35:06]

This is significant, because during oral arguments in this case, at least one justice noted that domestic violence, which is what is at the core of this case, has not been treated the same way it is now throughout the history of the United States.

Now, there was, of course, one dissent here, Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for his dissent, "Yet in the interest of ensuring that government can regulate one subset of society, today's decision puts at risk the Second Amendment rights of many more. I respectfully dissent."

Now, looking forward, it is expected that the Supreme Court will see other challenges related to the Second Amendment, because many justices, even though they all joined in the majority, wrote their own concurrences. Putting their own spin on exactly what it is that, that majority opinion means.

And that, of course, will open the door for other challenges. Looking to really clarify exactly how far the second amendment extends, they can look through this opinion, try to find the concurrence that matches their argument and try to bring their case back before the High Court.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington. BLACKWELL: Paula, thank you very much. Coming up, an American detained in Russia for more than five years has a message for President Biden. That CNN exclusive after the short break.

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[07:41:00]

BLACKWELL: CNN exclusive now, detained American Paul Whelan is demanding action from the White House. He marked another grim milestone in Russian custody 2,000 days for espionage charges that he vehemently denies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WHELAN, DETAINEE IN RUSSIA: The U.S. needs to go out and do something, you know, fill up Guantanamo Bay with Russian officials, arrest Russian spies, do something that makes the Kremlin sit up and take notice and say, OK, yes, right, now it's time that we're going to get Evan and Paul back, and then we want back what you've got ours, and we'll call it a day."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: And Whelan is not the only Americans staring down a prison sentence in Russia. CNN's Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She smiles nervously from inside a cage in a Russian courtroom. This is 33-year-old Ksenia Karelina a Russian American dual citizen and amateur ballerina from Los Angeles. One of Vladimir Putin is growing slate of high-profile Americans in custody.

Karelina's trial in the city of Yekaterinburg, began Thursday. She is accused of treason by fundraising for Ukraine's military.

SARAH MENDELSON, FORMER UNITED STATES HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL AT THE UNITED NATION: Well, let's put trial in quotation marks because it is nothing but a sham.

TODD (voice over): Karelina's employer says all she did was allegedly donate $51.80 to a Ukrainian charity in the U.S. How would Russian intelligence know if she donated less than $52 to a charity?

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: This person has not only Russian citizenship but also has friends and family back in Russia. They are able to monitor, you know, e-mail activity, telephone activity, all the different powers that any state has to basically conduct espionage on their own citizens or whoever they like.

TODD (voice over): Karelina's employer, a spa in Beverly Hills said Karelina had been "wrongly accused," and that she was in Russia to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, her parents and younger sister.

Her boyfriend said this to CNN in February. CHRIS VAN HEERDEN, BOYFRIEND OF KSENIA KARELINA: She is so proud to be Russian. And she doesn't watch the news. She doesn't intervene with anything about the war.

TODD (voice over): Karelina faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Her trial, which will be held behind closed doors will be presided over by the same judge who will soon handle the trial of another American, Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, according to Russian state media.

MENDELSON: The records for this judge is he puts people away unjustly.

TODD (voice over): Gershkovich is accused by the Kremlin of espionage. He and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who has been held in Russia for more than five years on espionage charges have been declared as wrongfully detained by the state department, which has again warned Americans not to travel to Russia for any reason.

MATTHEW MILLER, SPOKESMAN, UNITED STATES STATE DEPARTMENT: You're running tremendous risk by traveling to Russia of being detained, being imprisoned, being convicted.

TODD (voice over): A U.S. Army soldier, Sergeant Gordon Black has just been sentenced to nearly four years in a penal colony in Russia for theft and threatening to murder a woman.

Russian media says he did not admit to the threat charges but partially admitted to theft.

Why does Putin seem intent on accumulating American prisoners?

MENDELSON: If he has a whole cohort of Americans that are being held, that's going to put a lot of pressure -- continued pressure on the American government to come up with some kind of deal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): The problem with the U.S. trying to bargain with Putin for the release of Ksenia Karelina, Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, or Gordon Black, is that the U.S. doesn't really have any high-level Russian spies in its custody, and has had to approach other countries around the world to see if they can help package someone in a trade.

One Russian who Vladimir Putin really wants back, Vadim Krasikov, a former colonel in Russia's intelligence services, serving a life sentence in Germany for murdering a former Chechen fighter there.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

BLACKWELL: Brian, thank you so much.

[07:44:43]

The Edmonton Oilers they are chasing down hockey history, but now just one went away from pulling off the biggest comeback in hockey in more than 80 years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: The Edmonton Oilers are on the verge of one of the greatest comebacks in sport's history after going down 0-3 in the Stanley Cup Final, they have forced a winner take all Game Seven against the Florida Panthers.

BLACKWELL: Andy Scholes is with this now. This would not only be rare for hockey.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOLES: Yes, in sports.

BLACKWELL: Maybe rare in sports.

SCHOLES: Guys, you know, we thought we were going to get a boring Stanley Cup Final, it was 3-0. Panthers running away with it. But look at this, we're going to get at Game 7.

So, 29 times, a team is headed fallen behind 3-0 in the Stanley Cup final. Only twice before as a team even been able to force a Game 7, and only one team ever has actually completed that comeback. It was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs. So, the Oilers on the verge of some very rare history here.

[07:50:01]

And the crowd is just incredible and Edmonton for Game 6 last night both in the arena and outside were thousands of -- were out there watching on the big screen, and they got a chance to erupt seven minutes into this game.

Warren Foegele scores off a nice pass from Leon Draisaitl, give them the lead. Big moment they'll come into the second period of this game. Alexander Barkov thinks he's scored here for Florida to cut the lead to one. But Edmonton challenges, saying it was offside, and the goal was overturned.

And look how close this was. Sam Reinhart skate just millimeters over that blue line. Panthers' coach Paul Maurice was just livid that it got overturned and Florida never recovers in this game. or those who go on to win 5-1. And they are now a win away from completing the comeback and winning candidate's first cup since 1993. Game 7 going to be Monday night in Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZACH HYMAN, WINGER, EDMONTON OILERS: It's just another -- we got another elimination game. Right? Where backs are against the wall, obviously, the crowd was unbelievable in getting it started. And -- but we were comfortable playing in these games. I think we've proven we can play in them and we've played in a bunch of them.

CONNOR MCDAVID, CAPTAIN, EDMONTON OILERS: Honestly, we're just having fun. We really believe -- we believe in each other. We believe in this group. We're just excited to keep our season going. That's what it's been about, just one game at a time, one day at a time, and yes, we are looking for the next off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. Game 7 going to a be a fun one on Monday. Things starting to look up for the Fever, and their superstar rookie Caitlin Clark after starting the season one and eight. In the end, now won four games in a row for the first time in nine years. The Fever beaten the Dream 91-79 in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 17,000 fans at State Farm Arena to actually move this game from the Dream's small arena to the home of the Atlanta Hawks due to the high demand for tickets. Clark had 16 points and seven assists in the win.

Finally, happy belated birthday to Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim, both born on June 21st. Scottie turning 28 On Friday, Tom turning 22 As it turns out there, that a nice little tradition going together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM KIM, LEADS TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP: We had some pizza early on the week. I had a lot of pizza. So, you know, I kind of told myself, no, I wouldn't do that in a tournament. But you know, it's my birthday. And it's kind of a tradition to me, Scottie and we go -- we have the same -- we have the same birthday. So, you know, we had an early birthday celebration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, and a lot of pizza guys seems to be working. He's in first place at Travelers Tournament.

BLACKWELL: More pizza.

SCHOLES: Scheffler is in second. So, I guess maybe the secret, more pizza.

BLACKWELL: More pay week (PH).

(CROSSTALK)

WALKER: He is only 28. Oh my goodness.

BLACKWELL: Wow.

WALKER: Look at their ages combined. I'm actually close to their age when they are combined.

BLACKWELL: Tell your personal business.

SCHOLES: Ooh, man.

WALKER: I am. II think it's just as shocking how young they are.

All right. Andy, good to see you. Thank you. Still to come. These vineyards are in Michigan, not California. We'll find out why West Coast winemakers are moving there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:57:08]

BLACKWELL: So, when you think about the impacts of climate change, maybe you don't think about wine.

WALKER: But it was top of mind for a husband-and-wife winemaking team who left the west coast for greener pastures or vines.

CNN's Whitney Wild has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAXX EICHBERG, OWNER, STRANGER WINE COMPANY: We have a whole block up front of Pinot.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Maxx Eichberg's roots in winemaking lie in Oregon.

WILD: What do you hear from people, you know, that you knew in Oregon when you were training? Do they -- I mean, do they laugh?

EICHBERG: Yes, they laugh.

WILD: Do they -- they do?

EICHBERG: Yes. Oh, yes.

WILD (voice over): These rows of vines aren't growing on the West Coast. This is Michigan.

Eichberg and his wife, Sidney Finan, own and operate Stranger Wine Company, a 15-acre vineyard near the southern tip of Lake Michigan. They say high land costs coupled with an unpredictable climate pushed them to trade the west coast for the Midwest.

EICHBERG: Climate change had a major impact when we were looking out here being like, wait a second, we could be here for much longer, and our investment will pay off a lot quicker.

WILD (voice over): Climate change has left winemaking powerhouses like Oregon and California more vulnerable and, in turn, more expensive.

In 2020, wildfires destroyed vineyards up and down the Pacific Coast. Since 2015, insurance premiums in California have increased by billions due to climate change.

DAVE BOS, OWNER, BOS WINE: So, we're going to get in here and we're going to pull.

WILD (voice over): Winemaker David Bos grew up in Michigan learned winemaking in California and plan to keep vineyards in both states. Wildfires in 2017 and 2020 proved California's unpredictability.

BOS: I always thought, oh, I can always rely on California to help me if Michigan has a cold winter. And it's been reverse of that with two different vintages of fires that I couldn't make wine.

ANDREW BACKLIN, HEAD WINEMAKER, MODALES, FENNVILLE, MICHIGAN: This is native fermented as well.

WILD (voice over): Andrew Backlin is the head winemaker at Modales, in Fennville, Michigan. Backlin grew up in Northern California, where drought has plagued winemakers. He points out the abundance of water here is nearly unrivalled.

BACKLIN: It's crazy when water is being rationed too to make a fermented alcohol beverage, at least, in my mind. So, for me coming to a place that you know we can use responsible water, it's here.

WILD (voice over): Back in Stranger Wine Company, Michigan's climate presents its own unique challenges. Nearly their entire crop was lost this winter when a subzero cold front settled in.

EICHBERG: It's just something that we go through here. Hopefully, climate change will allow us to have a little bit more moderation throughout the year. So, this doesn't happen as often. But yes, it was -- it was really painful.

SIDNEY FINAN, OWNER, STRANGER WINE COMPANY And milkweeds coming up.

EICHBERG: Yes.

FINAN: Monarchs will be here soon.

WILD: Eichberg and Finan say they are hopeful and confident Michigan wine will inspire a new perspective on wine beyond the West Coast.

FINAN: When people told us that there was no way we were going to be able to come to Michigan and do it, we were that much more steadfast that we were going to come to Michigan and do it.

EICHBERG: Yes.

WILD (voice over): Whitney Wild, CNN, Berrien County, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Good for that family.

All right. "FIRST OF ALL" with Victor Blackwell is up next.

[08:00:02]

Tell them, Victor, what do you have.

BLACKWELL: A lot going on. Of course, CNN's presidential debate is coming up in five days. There is a focus on what America's largest minority group wants to hear.