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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Banging Sounds Detected in Search for Missing Sub; Hunter Biden Agrees to Plead Guilty to Federal Charges in Deal with DOJ; Initial Date in Documents Trial Set for Mid-August; Violence Surges Between Israelis. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired June 21, 2023 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:20]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Right now on EARLY START, new hope in the search for the missing Titanic sub, banging noises detected by Sonar.
Plus, Hunter Biden strikes a deal with prosecutors on tax charges and a gun charge, but a judge will ultimately get the final say.
And, an urgent call for the U.S. to step in as violence escalates in the West Bank.
Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Christine Romans. Good Wednesday morning to you.
We begin with what could be a major development in the search for the submersible lost at sea during a trip to the Titanic wreckage. Search crews using sonar heard banging sounds at 30-minute intervals, according to an internal U.S. government memo. The U.S. Coast Guard also says that a Canadian plane detected underwater noises.
Resources now have been diverted to try to find the source of those noises, no luck just yet. More on the search this morning from CNN's Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAPTAIN JAMIE FREDERICK, U.S. COAST GUARD: This is a complex search.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A complex search now more complicated by time which they're running out of.
FREDERICK: We know there's about 40 hours of breathable air left.
MARQUEZ: Deep water submersibles and gear converging on St. John's Newfoundland from the U.S. and Canada. It's the closest land to the search zone. If the Titan can be found, they'll need to bring all resources to bear as quickly as possible.
FREDERICK: You're dealing with a surface search and sub surface search and frankly that makes it an incredibly complex operation. MARQUEZ: The five-person submersible started its dive around 9:00
a.m. Newfoundland time on Sunday. Its last contact with its mother ship, the Polar Prince, was an hour and 45 minutes into a dive expected to last just over nine hours.
At 6:35 p.m. Newfoundland time on Sunday, the sub was reported missing when it failed to surface at the scheduled time of 6:10 p.m. The vessel has oxygen for five people for about four days, but oxygen is only one critical element.
TIM TAYLOR, UNDERWATER EXPLORER, TIBURON SUBSEA: If they are alive, it could be almost freezing temperatures, we assume they lost all their power, that's why they cannot communicate. It is dark, cold, and oxygen is their most precious resource. So compete -- consuming that while sleeping.
MARQUEZ: The vessel and search area extremely isolated and deep, roughly 460 miles south of St. John's Newfoundland and 900 miles east of Boston, and possibly more than two miles below the surface where pressure is nearly 6,000 pounds per square inch.
FREDERICK: We will do everything in our power to affect the rescue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ (on camera): So let's show you what's going on the ground here in St. John's. This is the Horizon Arctic, it is the sister ship to the Polar Prince that took the Titan submersible out there and it is now part of the search for it. We believe that the C-17, three C- 17s now here at St. John's airport have gear, including submersibles that we believe they are headed to this ship which will then come out, there is already another Coast Guard ship from the Canadian coast guard that is on its way to the search area.
But, all of this, all of this is to search for a vehicle that they cannot find yet. This is the biggest issue right now. The easy part should be finding that vehicle, finding that submersible because it has a beacon of some sort. They have not been able to hear it so far, the hard part will come if they find it then they will have to retrieve it, and get those people back, hopefully, safely.
Back to you.
ROMANS: Right, if you're just joining us, search crews are right now trying to pinpoint the source of underwater noises, banging sounds we are told, detected by sonar in the search area every 30 minutes. If someone on board trying to send a signal?
CNN's Melissa Bell has more on the subs five passengers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL-HENRI NARGEOLET, FRENCH DIVER (through translator): The 24th of July, 1987 was my first time to the Titanic with two team members. It was an unforgettable moment. We have been waiting a long time. MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That is Paul-Henri
Nargeolet. The 77-year Frenchman has made more than 30 dives to the Titanic, earning him the nickname, Mr. Titanic.
David Gallo is now Nargeolet's close friend, colleague and oceanographer himself.
DAVID GALLO, DEEP SEA EXPLORER: I'm sure that he did everything he could, or would do everything he could to make sure that they had every chance of surviving whatever it was.
BELL: It's difficult to imagine what it must be like inside that tiny craft.
[05:05:05]
What kind of leadership, calm character would he bring to that situation?
GALLO: He thinks outside the box all the time. That is the kind of guy you are on the scene when things like this happen. The wisdom that that guy has is pretty amazing.
It's just now sinking in that this is not something that will be gone tomorrow. It is something that could be forever.
BELL: For Stockton Rush, the chief executive at the firm behind the dive who is also on board, the experience of those involved has always been crucial.
STOCKTON RUSH, CEO & FOUNDER, OCEANGATE: They are five individuals that can go on each dive. Three of those are what are called mission specialist. Those are those that help finance the mission for our active participants. Why we are not a fan of the tourist term because these are crew members.
BELL: One of those crew members is the British billionaire and explore, Hamish Harding. He was part of two record-breaking trips to the south pole and achieved a road record for the fastest circle navigation of the globe by both polls.
Last year, he went to space with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company.
HAMISH HARDING, BRITISH BILLIONAIRE: I always wanted to do this, and the sheer expense of looking at the window is something that I am looking forward to.
BELL: In a post on social media over the weekend, he described feeling proud about being part of the Titans expedition.
Also on board, Shahzada Dawood, who comes from one of Pakistan's richest family and lives in the United Kingdom with his wife and two children. He had taken a son Suleman, reportedly just 19 years old, along with him. The family now asking for prayers for their safety and privacy for the family, as the race to find the men enters a critical phase. Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: We'll keep you posted on developments this morning on that story.
Meantime, Hunter Biden's plea deal has become the latest flash point in the 2024 presidential race. The president son will plead guilty to federal tax charges and he has struck a deal with the DOJ on a gun charge. But sources tell CNN that he probably will not serve any time in prison and that has many Republicans crying foul.
CNN senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden's son, Hunter, reaches an agreement with the Justice Department to resolve a long-running criminal investigation. According to a letter filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors, Hunter will plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and struck a deal to resolve a separate felony gun charge if he complies with his end of the plea agreement.
According to court documents, Biden owed at least $100,000 in federal taxes for 2017, and at least $100,000 for 2018, but did not pay the IRS by the deadline. His lawyers say he eventually paid the tax bill, along with fees and penalties.
As part of this deal, the Justice Department has agreed to recommend a sentence of probation for the tax charges, according to sources. But the final punishment will be up to the judge.
On the gun charge, prosecutors allege he possessed a gun despite his addiction in violation of federal law. Biden's lawyers met with the Justice Department in April and sources tell CNN that negotiations to resolve the case have ramped up in recent weeks. The deal comes after a broad, years-long investigation that also looked at Hunter Biden's foreign deals and possible money laundering.
On Capitol Hill, Republicans have been focused on the president's son and his foreign business dealings but prosecutors haven't charged him on those claims.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy criticized Hunter Biden's deal.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It continues to show the two tier system in America. If you are the president's leading political opponent, the DOJ tries to put you in jail and give you prison time. If you are the president's son, you get a sweetheart deal.
REID: The Hunter Biden investigation has been overseen by Trump appointed U.S. attorney David Weiss. In an interview on Tuesday, Biden's lawyer Chris Clark called the investigation dogged but fair.
CHRIS CLARK, ATTORNEY FOR HUNTER BIDEN: This was a five-year, very diligent investigation pursuit by incredibly professional prosecutors, some of whom have been career prosecutors. One of whom was appointed by president Trump. No one's ever said that they are not competent, good or diligent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
REID (on camera): We are still waiting for a date to be set for Hunter to head to court for his arraignment and to plead guilty. We expect that will happen in the coming weeks, but I want to emphasize that this deal, including the recommendation for provision is still subject to approval by a judge.
Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
[05:10:02]
ROMANS: All right, Paula. Thank you for that.
Donald Trump's trial date in the classified documents case is set now, although it is not set in stone. The Federal Judge Aileen Cannon has proposed getting it underway in mid August in Fort Pierce Florida, but the date could change. Cannon says the case is complex, so both prosecution and defense might want more time.
The former president has pleaded not guilty to 37 federal criminal charges. His codefendant Walt Nauta is set to be arraigned next week.
All right, violence now surging between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. Overnight, Palestinians say that Israeli settlers attacked dozens of villagers, injuring at least 37 in set fire to multiple vehicles as well as farmland and crops.
This comes after four Israelis were killed Tuesday in L.A., following an IDF raid in Jenin earlier this week which left seven Palestinians dead.
CNN's Hadas Gold joins me live from the scene of some of that violence in the West Bank.
And, Hadas, Palestinians have urgently called on the U.S. to intervene. What can the U.S. do, if anything?
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you can see here the burned out carcasses of the evidence, of some of the violence that is being -- the occupied West Bank over the last 48 hours. The smoke is still smoldering, here you can still smell it in the air and when you touch some of the cars they are still hot from the flames.
This is the aftermath of settlers, Israeli settlers coming from nearby villages, towards this village, Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, and they burned cars, at least 37 Palestinians were injured, mostly as a result of stone throwing. This is reminiscent of course of what happened in February in the village of Huwara. Violence did not get to the same level, but you can still see just how many flames really engulfed this car right here. We heard from villagers that some of their homes were damaged as well.
And we are just up the road from where that deadly attack took place, where four Israelis were killed, four others were injured in what became the deadliest attack targeting Israelis since January, it happened at a gas station at a restaurant among the victims were two teenagers, Israeli officials say that to Hamas gunmen came to the gas station in the restaurant shooting into the restaurant and then shooting at the gas station.
We were just there, you could still see bloodstained on the floor and we can see that the restaurant is riddled with bullet holes. One of the gunmen was shot and killed by a civilian on the scene, another stole a car and got away but after a three-hour manhunt he was also shot and killed. Now, Hamas which took credit for the attack is saying it was in direct response as to what happened in Jenin on Monday, which was an 11-hour gun battle between Palestinian militants and the Israeli military, it was supposed to be interest rate. The military saying they went in the early hours to rest what they said to wanted terrorist subject, but it turned in something much broader.
Militants using IEDs, roadside bombs which disabled several Israeli military vehicles, eight Israeli soldiers were injured. They used an apache helicopter to provide cover to extract those Israeli soldiers. We know at least seven Palestinians who were killed and while militants were among those killed, we know at least two teenagers were killed as well, a girl and a boy.
The violence is really ratcheting up here, Christine. There are now calls especially from the right wing and Israeli politics from the settlers in villages here that we have spoken to, the Israelis. They want more Israeli military action. They want a broad Israeli military operation, in spite of the fact of whatever the Americans are saying. I spoke to the mayor of the Israeli settlement here saying I do not care what the Israelis are saying, I want is really action now. But that can pretend and even more and greater violence -- Christine.
ROMANS: Absolutely. All right. Hadas Gold, thank you so much for that.
Just ahead, sonar detects banging sounds underwater in the search for that Titanic sub. What is it and more importantly where?
Plus, a scorching heat wave on the first day of suffer.
And, prepares on I-95 in Philly are ahead to schedules. When drivers could see some relief.
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[05:17:59]
ROMANS: Hopeful new developments this morning the search for the submersible lost at sea during a trip to the Titanic ruins. Search queries using sonar heard banging sounds at 30 minute intervals, according to an internal government memo. The U.S. coast guard also says that Canadian plane detected underwater noises.
CNN's Tom Foreman has more on what it is like inside this small craft.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: OceanGate Expeditions offers you the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be one of the crew members safely diving to the Titanic wreckage site.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That quarter million dollar trip may look like a luxury adventure on the surface, but beneath the waves, ask Aaron Newman who took the Titan to the Titanic in 2021.
AARON NEWMAN, HAS BEEN ON OCEANGATE EXPEDITIONS DIVE TO TITANIC: I wouldn't call it plush. It's very comfortable.
FOREMAN: Fully loaded with five people, the quarters are tight, he says, hot near the surface and nearly freezing in the depths. Propellers to move the vehicle and their controls seem rudimentary, although he and the company insist they are adequate.
NEWMAN: Not super complicated. They have two sets of fans, up and down and left and right.
FOREMAN: But communications, that's another story. The craft checks in with the ship above through a text messaging system every 15 minutes, relying on that system for safety and guidance.
Former Navy submarine officer Van Gurley.
CAPT. J. VAN GURLEY (RET), FORMER NAVY SUBMARINE OFFICER: So, all those things we're used to now with GPS and Wi-Fi and radio links do not work under the ocean. The pressure is just immense.
FOREMAN: OceanGate says titan's carbon fiber and titanium hull has proven itself against that pressure repeatedly. A monitoring system is set to warn the pilot of any problems and even if everything else fails, Newman who is now an investor in OceanGate notes the vessel should drop its external weights and rise automatically.
NEWMAN: It is designed to come back up.
[05:20:01]
FOREMAN: So the fact that there seems to be no clue as to Titan's whereabouts is deeply troubling to those who know the deep ocean best.
GURLEY: The fact that this vehicle has not come back to the surface does not bode well. Either it's an entanglement issue or there's a broader series of failures that have it now on the bottom.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: It's worth noting that Aaron Newman knows to the people on this missing submersible and he praises them as very brave in their exploration of the deep oceans and hopes to see them again very soon.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
ROMANS: Very few people have actually been to the wreckage site of the Titanic and know some of the challenges search crews are facing this hour.
Let's bring in someone who has been there. Dr. Joe MacInnis is a physician and scientists who studies leadership in high-risk environments and has made two dives to the Titanic.
Good morning. Thank you so much for bringing us your expertise.
You heard overnight, we learned, that there were banging sounds detected during the search on Tuesday at 30-minute intervals. Nothing has come from this out, does that give you hope that with a five people on board could be found in time?
DR. JOE MACINNIS, PHYSICIAN, SCIENTIST, LEADERSHIP EXPERT: Well, I think we are all caught up in this world of emotions from sadness to hope to fear, uncertainty, and hope has got a little bit more light in today. I do not know what it means, but there is some possible promise in what we have just heard.
ROMANS: Give us insight on the challenges of going to navigate around that area and for deep sea expeditions in general. You talk about the trinity, fire, whole failure, entanglements. These are the things you really worry about.
MACINNIS: Yeah, these are the things that all folks who go into the deep ocean seriously worry about and prevent and have emergency and standard procedures to minimize those risks.
I would like to say that a friend of mine is on board the sub, Paul- Henri Nargeolet, and extraordinary leader in this situation. He's been all sorts of problematic situations and he has resolved them. I've seen him on deck and in subs and he's the best kind of individual you want in this kind of situation, this red zone situation.
ROMANS: I read in an interview that you did yesterday that you said about him, if they are still alive and on the bottom somewhere, PH will be the calming psychological gyroscope. He will be holding it together.
MACINNIS: I really believe that. He is -- he's the guy that you want next to your side in this kind of situation. And what they will be doing, all of them, is holding on to their assets, their emotional assets, their physical assets.
It's cold. It's dark, so they will be conserving energy, psychological, physical energy. Resting, breathing as little as possible and trying to keep calm. That is the most important thing is to keep the psychological energy, hopefully not released but keeping them under control.
ROMANS: Right. You are aboard a submersible in 1991 that was stuck while making an IMAX film about the Titanic. Walk us through that experience.
MACINNIS: Well, the thing -- the reason that that worked was that we had landed on our last dive during this expedition on the deck of the pilot house and one of the subs skids, the left side skate got caught under a tangled wire and we could not get off the floor.
The pilot, who is very, very savvy guy called in a second sub and got the second sub pilot to look at what the problem was and they had this great conversation together about how to solve the problem and our pilot moved forward and backwards and finally was able to get the sub free of that tangle of wire and to get us back to the surface. But we had, again, a second sub, a safety sub and the form of self rescue which does not exist here.
ROMANS: Yeah. I know they lost contact with the submersible an hour and 45 minutes into its journey under the surface. What is your sense of where it could've been by then? How long does it take to get to the Titanic itself?
MACINNIS: Well, I do not know the sub, but roughly about two hours to get to the bottom. So they must have been fairly close to the sea floor during the dissent.
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So I am -- unclear about exactly where they were, it depends on currents.
ROMANS: Sure.
MACINNIS: -- and other control in dissent, but they were close to the bottom.
ROMANS: All right, Dr. Joe MacInnis, thank you so much for your expertise and we are certainly wishing your friend and all the people aboard that submersible, we are hoping that they can be found. Thank you so much.
MACINNIS: Thanks.
ROMANS: All right, the first day of summer today and hundreds of thousands of people in the South and Southwest are suffering power outages from a scorching heat wave. Nearly 30 million are under heat alerts in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico as record-breaking temperatures smother the region.
Let's go to meteorologist Derek Van Dam.
Derek, when will they see some relief?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it certainly have been oppressive, it has been miserable for so many and, look, the heat is going to continue for some will get a bit of relief for others and it all depends on where this impressive, impressive heat dome continues to set up over the next coming days. And I want to show you this, San Angelo -- one of the places that will
remain hot -- they broke their all-time record high temperature yesterday. It just never been this hot ever recorded in San Angelo's history, 114 degrees.
Some other notable record high temperatures that were smashed yesterday, Laredo, Texas, Midland, Texas -- I mean, you can just see that the list goes on and on.
You've got excessive heat warnings continuing today for much of the Lone Star State with heat indices values that is what it feels like on your exposed skin, excelling in 110, 120-degree temperature range. That is just incredible, really hard to put that into words. There is what the feels like temperature is.
This is interesting, too, because there is some very attributable science that shows that human caused climate change has made this heat wave in Mexico and Texas of five times more likely since humans started to burning fossil fuels. And fittingly, not only is today the first day of summer across the northern hemisphere, but it is also the show your stripes day. This is a day that represents, well this particular graph that shows an average temperature over the past 150 years as basically humans started burning fossil fuels. I want you to see out the baseline temperature here across the world, continuing to get hotter.
So, we show this as a reminder to people that climate change is real. It is happening. It is a problem for our generation now -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Derek, thank you for bringing us that. Thank you.
All right. Quick hits across America now.
A federal judge has overturned an Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth, saying it violated the U.S. Constitution. It's a significant victory for LGBTQ advocates. The Georgia state election board clears Fulton County's 2020 election misconduct of finding no evidence of wrongdoing. Donald Trump had accused election workers of counting fake mail-in ballots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Traffic will be flowing here on I-95, this weekend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Pennsylvania's governor says the damaged part of I-95 in Philadelphia will be open ahead of schedule an overpass collapsed June 11th after a truck crashed and caught fire killing the driver.
All right, coming up, a raid on France's Olympic headquarters.
Plus, Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia, where does it stand? That's next.
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