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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Supreme Court Guts Affirmation Action in College Admissions; Biden Slams Supreme Court's Affirmative Action Ruling; Today Expected to be Busiest Travel Day of Holiday Weekend; 667 Arrested in 3rd Night of Violent Protest in France; Documents Suggest Missing Russian General was "Secret" VIP Member of Wagner Group. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired June 30, 2023 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:13]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Right now on EARLY START, the Supreme Court handing down a historic ruling, gutting affirmative action.

Overnight, more than 600 people have been arrested in France as the country protesting the police shooting of a teenager.

And today is expected to be the busiest travel day for the Fourth of July weekend. Folks, what you need to know before you head out.

(MUSIC)

ROMANS: Welcome to our viewers in the United States, and around the world. I'm Christine Romans. Good morning.

This morning, reaction pouring in after the Supreme Court ruled to gut affirmative action, a move that will transform college admissions across the country. The justices ruled 6-3 that colleges and universities can no longer considered race as a part of their admissions process. The court's conservative supermajority all voting to reverse decades of precedent.

Republicans praising that decision. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the rule would move to fair admissions.

But Democrats are slamming the ruling. Vice President Kamala Harris calling it a step backward that will make the nation's colleges less diverse.

CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Supreme Court stirring up protests with its decision gutting affirmative action, saying colleges and universities can no longer rely on race in the admissions process. But respective students are still allowed to talk about how their race has shaped their experiences in their applications. The 6-3 opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts will now

prohibit students from checking a box indicating their race, specifically saying that practice at Harvard and the University of North Carolina cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause.

The majority not explicitly saying they are overruling more than four decades of precedent that allowed affirmative action, but the three liberal justices writing: Today, this court stands and the way and rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.

ANGIE GABEAU, PRESIDENT, HARVARD BLACK STUDENTS ASSOCIATION: I'm really mostly worried about, you know, the youth, and the students younger than us in high school, in middle school, in elementary school who might not get that the same opportunity that I did.

SCHNEIDER: The two cases were brought by the group Students for Fair Admissions, led by activist Edward Blum, who has fought for nearly a decade to eradicate affirmative action.

EDWARD BLUM, PRESIDENT, STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS: Classifying students by race and ethnicity, treating them differently because of their race and ethnicity is it's unfair.

SCHNEIDER: At the forefront of the Harvard fight, Asian students who argued they were disadvantaged because Harvard prioritized other minorities, and used a personal rating score that did not rank them favorably.

The issue is deeply personal to Justice Sonia Sotomayor as a first person of color on the Supreme Court. She issued a fiery dissent, accusing the majority of employing and unjustified exercise of power that will only serve to highlight the court's own impotence in the face of an America whose cries for equality resound.

Justice Sotomayor has been outspoken in the past, saying that using other methods to ensure diversity won't work.

JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR, SUPREME COURT: It's not that I don't believe it works. I don't think that statistics show it works.

SCHNEIDER: In fact, when California banned affirmative action in 1996, UC Berkeley said Black and Hispanic representation on their campus dropped by 50 percent.

But Justice Clarence Thomas, one of two Black justices on the high court, spoke in personal terms, too, saying he believes the Constitution is color blind.

While I am painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race and all who suffered discrimination, I hold out enduring hope that this country will live up to its principles that all men are created equal, are equal citizens, and must be treated equally before the law.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the court, pushed back in a separate dissent, bashing the majority opinion as exuding a let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, and said, deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (on camera): The Supreme Court, however, saying that U.S. military service academies can continue to take race into consideration as a factor in admissions, essentially exempting those military schools from this ruling. Now, this was spelled out in a footnote in the majority opinion, but Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson calling this out in a dissent, saying that the court is essentially prioritizing diversity in the bunker versus the boardroom.

Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

ROMANS: All right. Our thanks to Jessica.

Here is President Biden after the decision came down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The dissent states that today's decision, quote, rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress, end of quote. I agree with that statement from the dissents -- from the dissent. The court has effectively ended affirmative action in college admissions. And I strongly, strongly disagree with the court's decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:05:02]

ROMANS: CNN's Jasmine Wright is live in Washington, D.C. for us.

Jasmine, good morning.

We're learning now how the White House has been preparing for this ruling. What -- what can you tell us?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Christine. Well, even as just late as last year, we heard President Biden publicly expressing optimism at the fact that hoping the Supreme Court would roll it in this way, behind the scenes, we know that White House officials have begun meeting for weeks before this decision, really trying to plan contingencies.

Now, those meetings included meetings with civil rights organizations, legal organizations, universities, as well as meeting within the Department of Education, really trying to chart the path forward, if the Supreme Court would rule this way.

Now, that was happening privately, but publicly, we saw President Biden just there, really slamming this rule, and he did not mince his words, he did not hold his tongue when expressing his disappointment for this decision. Now, President Biden, one of the things that he pointed out was he

really argued that this is just the latest example from this court, of really obliterating decades of precedents.

Now, take a listen to him here yesterday, when talking to our own Arlette Saenz about how he feels about this current iteration of the Supreme Court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Is this a rogue court?

BIDEN: This is not a normal court.

It's done more to unravel basic rights, and basic decisions, than any other court in recent history. Maybe it's just the optimist in me. I think that some of the court are beginning to realize their legitimacy is being questioned in ways that hadn't been questioned in the past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: Now, also, in that MSNBC interview, we heard President Biden really pouring cold water on something the liberal Democrats favor which is expanding the court. He said that it would do a lot of damage politically that he could not take back.

But ultimately, President Biden's bottom line yesterday, and all the time that he address which were quite a few here, Christine, is that he said that this ruling does it mean that racial discrimination exists. And it doesn't end racial discrimination, but what it does end is the impetus on the part of universities to really try to make sure that their classes are diverse, which for him and this administration is a big, big problem -- Christine.

ROMANS: Yeah. OK. So does the Biden administration plan to do anything, Jasmine, about this ruling?

WRIGHT: Yeah, well, we heard some of that outcome of the months-long planning yesterday when President Biden said he had directed his Department of Education to start compiling a list of best practices for universities, trying to get them to commit to having a diverse class, making sure that those classes remain diverse, despite the fact that this decision came down. And for the president, he said that that concluded not just race, but obviously in the decision, but included things like the financial -- financial location, zip code, other standards like that the president wanted to see.

But, of course, officials are still finalizing plans to put out, really trying to assure the country, and assure Black Americans after this decision, and Americans of all colors.

ROMANS: Yeah. All right. Jasmine Wright, another busy day expected today, by the, way, in Washington. Thank you so much.

Let's bring in Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida. Dave, so nice to see you this morning. So, you heard Jessica Schneider

report that the exemption for the military academies, and the universities will still be allowed to take into a fact the essays, and the interviews of students, and how they say race has affected their life.

So is this a true gutting of affirmative action? How do you -- how do you take this?

DAVE ARONBERG, STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Good morning, Christine. This to me is typical of chief justice, John Roberts. It will only take the court so far. Remember, he voted against the overturning of Roe versus Wade. He wants people to buy into the court, he wants to lessen the impact of these major decisions.

In the decision, they even say we're not overturning precedent. Oh, yeah, they are. But he also included a major loophole. And you referred to it. I wrote it down here. It says that you're allowed to consider the applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life via, through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. Well, that is a loophole you can drive a truck through.

And that's why I think a lot of the outrage out there, I don't think the reality matches that because I think that schools will continue to have policies that promote diversity, it's just done in a different way, where I think it could have a big impact is in red states like Florida, where you have governments who are anti-diversity, equity, inclusion, and they may use this opinion to really rollback diversity efforts.

ROMANS: So, it seems likely that universities are going to interpret this in different ways. I mean, some of them have been bracing for this for years.

Do you expect legal challenges, as administrations really worked their admissions policies?

ARONBERG: I think that because of this ruling, you are going to see more legal challenges than ever. Because the ruling is pretty vague, Christine, I read it, and it's pretty vague on how race can be used.

[05:10:03]

Now, it does not eliminate the use of race entirely. It says that it could still be used, but it's going to be done on a case by case basis, based on the person's own past -- his essays, his interviews, and he or she, when they apply, will talk about how race mattered to them, and how they had to overcome certain things.

This is a recipe for massive litigation. And so, this just opens up, a can of worms into the future, where the lawyers will get rich.

ROMANS: We're still waiting for the ruling on the fate of President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. We'll get that later this morning. The court earlier seemed skeptical. What does your gut say about this?

ARONBERG: Well, about the ruling in itself? I don't think that we're going to see huge changes. Now if you're wearing about the student loan plan, I think that this is all justice -- Chief Justice John Roberts' court. He wants people to believe in the Supreme Court as an institution, as apolitical.

But it's hard when you're overturning decades of precedent, like they did in the Dobbs case, which is why he voted with the minority in that decision.

So I think that a lot of the debate, and the hand-wringing right now, maybe overplayed because I have read the opinion. And it still allows diversity and race to be used. It just has to be used in a more individualized way.

ROMANS: Interesting.

All right. David Aronberg, thank you so much. Nice to see you. Have a good weekend, a good holiday.

ARONBERG: Thanks.

ROMANS: All right. Police arresting a man in Washington, D.C. Thursday, who had numerous firearms and explosives. They arrested him in former President Obama's neighborhood. U.S. officials were concerned because Taylor Taranto, made threats against a public figure on an Internet livestream.

Oh, by the way, he also has an open warrant for arrest related to the Capitol insurrection. He's been charged with being a fugitive from justice.

Secret Service spotted Taranto him within blocks of the Obama's home, they chased and got him before he could reach the Obama residents.

All right. Today is expected to be the busiest travel day for the 4th of July holiday weekend. The Transportation and Security Administration said it expects to screen more than 2.8 million passengers, this after several days of severe weather upended flights across the country. Tracking service, FlightAware, shows 8,000 flights have been cancelled since Saturday. Many frustrated travelers were stuck waiting in long lines for help, or they were stranded, sprawled out cots, on the floor.

This morning, more than 200 flights are already canceled, and checking the delays? More than 400 are delayed.

Let's go to meteorologist, Jennifer Gray, live in the weather center.

Jennifer, what do people need to be aware of before they head out?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, they need to know, they'll see some more storms as they go throughout the next day or two. In fact, we had an active day yesterday, just added to the flight delays and cancellations. We have one tornado report, you see the almost 300 wind reports, 42 hail reports. That will definitely slow things down in the skies.

We have severe storm threat once again, anywhere from say Texas Panhandle, all the way up to portions of the plains, Midwest, and down to the southeast. So, a lot of scattered activity. Still seeing the impressive heat across the south, and we're also seeing poor air quality, because of that wild fire smoke.

So, really a lot going on. Here's the main threat, damaging winds, large hail, a possibility for an isolated tornado. That includes some pretty big cities. We're talking about St. Louis, Nashville, Kansas City, all included in this. And it is pretty far reaching.

So the storms are going to ride along that ridge of high pressure that's actually keeping the south very hot. And so the northern side, you see really strong storms that right along that boundary. So, we're going to continue to see storms fire up all the way through the overnight hours, into tomorrow morning. And you can see, it's not getting the rain, people get the poor air quality.

We're talking about Chicago, Detroit, even into the mid-Atlantic, and Northeast. D.C. and New York suffering from the wildfire smoke today. We're looking about three miles visibility in New York City, down the two and a half miles across portions of West Virginia, Chicago, at five miles.

So, it is going to dissipate, but it's taken a while. You can see these colors, these yellows, and then the blues, so the blue indicates better conditions. But still a little bit of smoke in the atmosphere. So, it's not going to completely go away today, or tomorrow, but we will see some improvement.

And that's where we're going to see the excessive heat. It is building to the east. As well as to another area, Christine, in the west.

ROMANS: All right. Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

GRAY: Thanks.

ROMANS: Still ahead here on EARLY START, what new documents are revealing about Russian generals possible secret ties to the Wagner mercenary group.

Plus, why protesters climbed the walls of a Swedish embassy in Baghdad.

And hear reaction after the resource officer who stayed outside during the Parkland school shooting was found not guilty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOT PETERSON, EX-RESOURCE OFFICER: The only person to blame was that monster. It wasn't any law enforcement, nobody in the scene form PSO, Coral Springs, everybody did the best they could.

[05:15:03]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who -- who allowed that killer to get into the school? Was that not your responsibility also?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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ROMANS: Fiery protests rocking France for a third night.

More than 660 people have been arrested overnight after violent clashes with police after a video surfaced of a teenager killed during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.

Earlier, about 6,000 people marched to demand justice for the 17-year- old. French President Emmanuel Macron called his death inexcusable.

CNN's Nic Robertson is live for us this morning, just north of Paris.

Nic, the French president left early for meetings in Brussels to handle this unfolding crisis.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, and it's calling this sort of outrage of violence on the street unjustifiable. He has a crisis meeting with his cabinet in less than two hours from now.

[05:20:02]

There have been 249 police and joint arms injured overnight, 667 people is the latest figure we have for the number of people arrested.

But the violence was spread through the country. It has spread to Lille and Roubia (ph) in the north, and in the west of Bordeaux, on the coast further south, to Marseille on the Mediterranean coast, to Leon in the center of the country, and around Paris, is sort of ringed by fire.

One of the targets for attack, this suburb here, which this bust a station, 12 buses here torched, 14 other buses torched nearby. The ballpark cost for one of these buses, about $300,000. There was a tram burnt here as well, ballpark cost, $1 million.

Just in this area alone, last night, about $11.7 million worth of damage done. Just the buses and trams, never mind the schools, never mind the government buildings. The minister of transport was here, and they asked him, what is it going to take to stop this violence? This is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLEMENT BEAUNE, FRENCH TRANSPORT MINISTER (through translator): It's in the interest of those who are expressing their anger today to protect our public service. And then we live in a society of law. The justice system needs to be able to carry out its work. No one is above the law, but everyone has their rights protected by the law. We also need to leave the justice system in tranquility. It is what we

owe to the young man who was killed. Calm, tranquility, and justice, carried out in good conditions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So enforcing that justice, 40,000 police in Gendarme's put on the streets last night. It looks like the protests are only said to grow right now Christine.

ROMANS: And so, the officer, Nic, involved in the shooting has been detained. What -- what do we know about the investigation?

ROBERTSON: Yeah, the prosecutor is going to charge hand with a voluntary homicide. Initially, it hadn't been taken to that level that he was being questioned in the case. But the lawyers representing the Nael, the young 17-year-old boy who was killed, they say they wanted to see murder charges brought.

But the lawyer representing the police officer is saying he believes, the officer believes, that he was right in pulling the trigger. The lawyers for Nael say not so. The police officer's lawyer says he thinks the situation, some of the cleanup crew coming out just now, he thinks this situation, and his position has been put in a political situation.

He feels the government is cracking down on him, in essence to try and quell some of the violence that's going on.

ROMANS: Yeah, and then a mother of Nael says she doesn't blame all police. She blames that one police officer. We'll watch as that investigation continues.

Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

All right. Documents shared exclusively with CNN suggest Russian General Sergey Surovikin, who has not been seen for days, was a secret VIP member of the Wagner military group. The Kremlin also pushing back on a recent report that Surovikin knew in advance about last weekend's rebellion.

Meantime, the fighting in Ukraine has not stopped since the mutiny on Russian soil.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us live from London.

And, Salma, the whereabouts of both the general and the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, are murky at best. What do we know?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the two men, one known as General Armageddon, the other known as Putin's chef, both known there a whereabouts unknown.

Let me zoom in on Surovikin. In recent days, there has been no sightings of him. Some Russian bloggers believe he potentially was detained, arrested for either his involvement, or advance knowledge of the armed insurrection, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin over the weekend.

As you mentioned, CNN has seen exclusively documents that indicate that he was a VIP member of Wagner. He had worked closely with Prigozhin in Ukraine. But this reveals their ties may have been even deeper.

And again, whereabouts unknown not seen since Saturday, the last footage was seen on Friday where he was pleaded with his friend and ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, to stand down from the armed insurrection. A few days, also "The New York Times" citing U.S. officials saying that he did now, again, that Yevgeny Prigozhin was planning this March on Moscow.

Why is this so important? Why is everyone trying to find out where Sergey Surovikin is? Well, because it indicates potentially that President Putin is facing a much deeper challenge here within his military. And that the schism, this fracture within the Russian army is much wider. That Prigozhin may have potentially seen that he had allies in Surovikin and others, and that this fracture could have been supported among men that President Putin once trusted.

The question, of course, now is how much command and control does President Putin have over his army?

[05:25:03]

Does he still hold that monopoly of power? Who can he trust in his inner circle?

Some in Russia's inner circle saying that he is basically carrying out a purge of his army right now. President Putin, of course, trying to reassert control. He's taking on more public engagements than are usual. He has been seen in public trying to think Russian citizens, but those question marks, about his weakness, of a man who has ruled by strength and power, remain.

ROMANS: All right. Salma, thank you so much for that.

All right. Former Vice President Mike Pence showing his support for Ukraine. Yesterday, the 2024 presidential hopeful made an unannounced visit to Kyiv to meet with President Zelenskyy. This highlights the political and ideological differences between himself and former running mate, President Donald Trump.

The former vice president also visited several Ukrainian cities, touring destruction caused by relentless shelling. He met with locals, even laying flowers at memorial for fallen Ukrainians.

CNN's Erin Burnett spoke with the former vice president during the visit. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: The war here in Ukraine is not our war, but freedom is our fight. I know there is debate, both in my party, and around the country, about American involvement here. But I really believe that the majority of the American people understand that we are the leader of the free world. And standing for freedom in supporting those who are fighting for their freedom is always the American cause.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: We are expecting more protests in Iraq today after demonstrators there storm Sweden's embassy yesterday.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

ROMANS: People climbed over barricades, some made their way onto the roof. It comes after a protester after Moscow's tweeted burned a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh live in London this morning.

What are we expecting today, Jomana?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, Friday is a traditional day of protest in the Arab and the Muslim world. We'll have to see if there's going to be any demonstrations in other Arab countries, but we do expect a large demonstration in Baghdad, outside the Swedish embassy, as well as other Iraqi cities.

As you mentioned there, we saw this small, brief demonstration that took place on Thursday, as protesters, supporters of the Shia cleric, Muqtada Sadr, who called on his supporters to head to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, pour into the compound after scaling the walls there. We understand it appeared to be not a violent protest, the Swedish foreign ministry saying their staff are safe.

But you can see, the anger there. The Shia cleric, Muqtada Sadr, calling on the Iraqi government, demanding that they expel the Swedish ambassador. You mentioned, this all started yesterday when Swedish authorities gave permission to the single protester, and Iraqi refugee with anti-Islam views to burn a copy of Islam's holy book outside the main mosque in Stockholm on one of the holiest days in the Islamic calendar, the first day of Eid al-Adha.

And this sparks so much anger and outrage across the Arab and Muslim world. We've seen statement after statement over the 48 hours, coming from different governments, some have summoned the Swedish ambassadors in their capitals to protest. What they see is this highly offensive and sacrilegious act.

But, Christine, this is not just about the act itself, who did it, and why, that's pretty much irrelevant for many of these governments. They are condemning Sweden. They are furious with Sweden once again, allowing this to go ahead. And the timing of it, now Swedish officials have said all along, they don't condone this, they are against this, they find it highly offensive, but this is Swedish democracy, and freedom of expression, freedom of speech is protected by the country's constitution.

But Arab and Muslim countries are saying, enough is enough. They say this is not freedom of speech, freedom of expression. This is hate speech and Islamophobia, Christine.

ROMANS: Okay. Jomana Karadsheh, thank you so much for that this morning.

Still ahead here on EARLY START, a Florida jury reaches a verdict for a school resource officer who waited outside the school during the Parkland massacre.

And rapper Travis Scott reacts after grand jury reached a decision on criminal charges over his deadly Astroworld concert.

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