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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Ukraine: Moscow At A Disadvantage In The South; Meta Takes Aim At Twitter With New "Threads" App; Today: Treasury Sec. Yellen Departs For China. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired July 05, 2023 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:31:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.

Ukraine says that Russia is using all of its forces to try to stop Kyiv's progress around the city of Bakhmut, but Ukraine is advancing on the city's southern plank. A different story though around Zaporizhzhia and Kherson where Ukraine not reporting advances but insisting they still have the upper hand.

CNN's Scott McLean joins us live from London. So, Scott, Ukraine's president now making a bold claim about the safety of that Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. What's he saying?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes -- so the rhetoric here, Rahel, has certainly been ramped up. And obviously, given that we're dealing with a nuclear power plant there is not a whole lot of margin for error here.

So, President Zelenskyy, last night in his nightly address, made a very bold and very specific claim, saying that Ukrainian intelligence has evidence that there are objects on the roofs of several of the -- several of the power units at the power plant that have objects resembling explosive devices on them, essentially suggesting that this could simulate a Ukrainian attack. In other words, a false flag operation.

This is something similar to what the Ukrainian military had said previously that any explosion would do enough damage to look like Ukrainian shelling but wouldn't do enough damage to actually damage the power units themselves.

This is something that Ukraine has been sort of floating for a few days now. In fact, they've recently started doing drills in the event of a terror attack, they say, on these plants -- something -- a possibility that Russia says is frankly a lie, pointing out that their International Atomic Energy Agency employees on site who have the run of the place.

Now, the reactors themselves are housing containment units that are in theory supposed to be able to withstand the force of an accidental plane crash. How they would stand up to the weapons of war is another question that the answer is not so clear, frankly.

The good news is that officials on both sides are giving some reassuring signals. On the Ukrainian side, they say that the situation is stable. The Russian nuclear officials there say that the radiation levels are normal. They called the Ukrainian claims garbage and is calling on people not to fall for what they described as information psychological operations of President Zelenskyy -- Rahel.

SOLOMON: Scott McLean live for us in London. Scott, thank you.

Quick hits around the globe right now.

The Kremlin says that Russia is open to talks about prisoner swaps with the U.S. but they must be held in, quote, "complete silence." The U.S. ambassador just visited Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich who is being held in Moscow on espionage charges.

A prominent Russian journalist and her lawyer were beaten and doused in a green substance. They were headed to a court sentencing for a human rights activist. Earlier this year, she received death threats for her series on the brutal treatment of gay men in the Republic.

And after a two-year review, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog says that it is safe for Japan to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean. Critics say that it threatens the environment and public health.

Well, just ahead for us, Meta taking a shot at Twitter with a new rival app. And it's Chestnut for the win again for the eighth consecutive year. We'll be right back.

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[05:38:34]

SOLOMON: And here is today's fast-forward lookahead.

President Biden meeting with the Swedish prime minister at the White House today. Supporting Ukraine is expected to top their agenda, along with expediting Sweden's effort to join NATO.

Family members who lost loved ones in the 2018 Parkland, Florida school shooting getting a chance to visit the crime scene. Private tours inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are set to begin today.

And today in Scotland, a special celebration for King Charles. Dozens of community groups are expected to join him for the presenting the crown jewels at Edinburgh Castle.

And the battle for digital dominance -- well, that's heating. Meta is set to launch a new app tomorrow called Threads. So it's being described as a tech space conversation app. Hmm, does that sound familiar? Well, this comes as Twitter is facing more criticism for now limiting how many tweets users can read, although they note it's only affecting a small percentage. Let's bring in Sara Fischer. She is CNN's senior media analyst and senior media reporter at Axios. Sara, good morning. Always good to see you.

So details still vague on what Threads will actually look like and how it will function. What are you learning?

SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST, SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER, AXIOS: Yes, it's a great question. I'm learning that it's going to look and feel a lot like Twitter. The point is to elevate public conversation, meaning if something is going viral this app will make it go more viral. You can like it, you can repost it, you can reply to it, et cetera.

[05:40:00]

What's really notable here though is that Meta has focused so much of its time and attention throughout all of its products on things like video and photo sharing, and this is really meant to center around text, which is why it's such a direct competitor to Twitter.

Now, you might be wondering why is Meta getting into this when it has said it's trying to get away from news and politics and the public conversation, and the answer is just that it's a ripe opportunity. Twitter continues to face huge, huge challenges and Meta executives think that this is an opportunity to strike while the iron is hot.

SOLOMON: Yes. Well, Sara, because you and I have talked about this really since Elon Musk took over Twitter -- just the turmoil -- the volatility. I mean, how vulnerable do you think Twitter is, especially now, to this type of competitor?

FISCHER: They're very vulnerable. I think users are starting to become frustrated with the lack of access to products that they've traditionally had for free. Even getting rate limited is something that a lot of users expressed frustration about over the weekend.

But the thing to note here, Rahel, is that when it comes to Twitter competitors there have been many that have launched, whether it's been Bluesky, or Post.news, or Macedon. But what those apps have not had is an inherent user base that they could use to get market share.

What Instagram has is the ability to let users get in on this new product, Threads, by logging in through their existing Instagram accounts. That means that it's going to be able to import a rather large user base -- something that all of these rivals have not yet been able to do. And if you're Twitter, that presents a huge threat.

SOLOMON: So, in a way -- I mean, Facebook Meta is uniquely positioned to take on Twitter in this way because it has that user base.

Sara, you and I have spoken about this before but certainly, within media circles, the frustration -- the discontent with Twitter is well known. But what about its broader user base? I mean, has engagement suffered? I mean, we know its revenue challenges but what about engagement? FISCHER: That's a good question. When it was a publicly traded company, Rahel, I had all this information at my fingertips every quarter. Now that it's private I have to rely on third-party analysts.

But what we understand is that some of the user base has really changed dramatically. They had about 229 million daily active users before Elon Musk took over. I don't think that's fluctuated all that much, although he's tried to purge a bunch of accounts claiming that he wants to get rid of bots, et cetera.

But in terms of engagement, what's funny is that in the beginning the engagement had almost increased because people were, like, tuning in to watch the train crash. Now I think it's starting to level off as users get a little bit more frustrated with all of these changes and features. This needs to be paid for in order to get access to this. You have to be verified.

Now, amongst the hyper-users, which are people like myself -- journalists, politicians -- I don't think engagement has changed all that much. But amongst more casual users there's just now much more options -- many more apps -- that it wouldn't shock me if engagement has fallen off a little bit.

SOLOMON: Well, speaking of new options, Threads apparently expected to launch tomorrow, so a lot more to come here.

Sara Fischer, great to have your insights today. Thank you.

FISCHER: Thank you.

SOLOMON: All right. Well, the leading vote-getter for next week's baseball All-Star Game might not play after a forgettable Fourth of July for the Angels.

Carolyn Manno is here with this morning's Bleacher Report. Good morning.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

This might be a hot topic on Threads if it ends up launching tomorrow because Shohei Ohtani is having another MVP-caliber season and this could be troubling for the Angels. The Japanese sensation leading the major leagues in home runs as a hitter and has the third most strikeouts as a pitcher, but a blister might bring the curtain down for the "Showtime" for a little bit of time.

Ohtani had a rough night on the mound against the Padres, giving up three straight hits in the sixth inning, including back-to-back home runs. It was the first time that's ever happened to the 29-year-old in his MLB career. San Diego went on to win 8-5.

And after the game he told reporters it's likely that he won't pitch in the Midsummer Classic next Tuesday. He was selected to the All-Star Game as both a pitcher and hitter for the third consecutive year. And the right-hander says he's hoping to get better in time to make his next Angels start, which would come in about nine or 10 days. Elsewhere for you this morning, after a two-hour weather delay, Joey Chestnut ate his way to victory once again -- his 16th. Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest win. Chestnut downing 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win the Mustard Belt in the men's division. The severe weather no match for the man whose name has become nearly synonymous with Independence Day.

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JOEY CHESTNUT, 16-TIME MUSTARD BELT WINNER: What a rollercoaster emotionally. They told us it was canceled. We weren't sure we were going to eat today. And I'm just happy. It's the Fourth of July and I got to eat some hot dogs and get a win. I feel great. I got -- I got -- I got leftover room so I'll be having some beers later.

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MANNO: I'm surprised there's room for all of that but you never with Joey Chestnut.

In the women's contest, defending champion Miki Sudo forcing down 39 1/2 hot dogs and buns to collect her ninth Mustard Belt. So a big congratulations to Sudo there.

A special edition of the rivalry match. El Trafico breaking Major League Soccer's attendance record on the Fourth. More than 82,000 spectators filling the Rose Bowl to watch the L.A. Galaxy beat LAFC. And this shattered the league's previous attendance record set last year when just over 75,000 were on hand to watch Charlotte FC face the Galaxy in North Carolina. So a huge crowd.

[05:45:14]

A wrong turn proving costly for an elite runner in Atlanta's Peach Tree Road Race. Look at this.

The leader of the women's 10K, who won last year, was within sight of the finish line but she turned right instead of going straight. And after realizing her mistake she quickly got back on the course but it was too late. She ended up finishing in third place. And when you take another look at it you can see the runner actually followed a police motorcycle that had been pacing the course. So she just made the error.

And instead of a $10,000 prize for first place she ended up settling for three grand for third place. But just devastating at the end of a race like that.

And finally, golfer Amy Olson won't be teeing it up alone at tomorrow's U.S. Open on the women's side. She's set to play at Pebble Beach in California while seven months pregnant. Olson shot six under during a one-day 36-hole qualifying round in May to make the field. And she says this will be the last tournament she plays in before the birth of her child in September. But hats off to Amy for getting it done seven months pregnant out on the course.

So an interesting mix of stories for you today, Rahel --

SOLOMON: Yes.

MANNO: -- from Joey Chestnut to Amy and everything in between.

SOLOMON: I'm still hurting for the sprinter, though. I'm still hurting for that race.

MANNO: I know. I know.

SOLOMON: Ten thousand dollars -- wow.

MANNO: That's a wrong turn gone very wrong.

SOLOMON: Yes, an expensive mistake.

Thank you, Carolyn.

All right. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING the shooter accused of Monday's deadly rampage in Philadelphia about to appear in court.

And next, right now and here, Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen heads to Beijing. What it might mean for U.S.-China relations. We'll discuss after this break.

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[05:50:53]

SOLOMON: Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen is off to Beijing today. She is the second cabinet-level member to travel to China in just the last month as the Biden administration seeks to boost communication between the two countries. Yellen is expected to meet with senior Chinese officials as well as leading U.S. firms during her visit.

Let's bring in Gordon Chang, author of "The Great U.S.-China Tech War." Gordon, good morning. Welcome to the program.

So, according to a senior Treasury official, no significant breakthroughs are expected but the conversations will be constructive and frank. It seems like they're trying to lower expectations before Yellen even gets on the plane.

What are you expecting?

GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, "THE GREAT U.S.-CHINA TECH WAR", "THE COMING COLLAPSE OF CHINA" (via Webex by Cisco): I'm expecting very little. You know, we are Americans so we like to say talking is important, so this is talking about talking. But unfortunately, I think this is encouraging China to be even more arrogant because we're feeding their already inflated sense of self-importance.

We view our actions as responsible. The Chinese view it as sort of like a vassal coming in and acknowledging the subordinate position. So I don't think that this is going to work long term.

SOLOMON: So, then, what is the right approach? If you don't agree with this approach what do you agree with?

CHANG: I think that what we need to do is not send our officials to China and if China wants to mend relations then we actually just have them come to Washington. Because this is very important for Beijing. They view these small things as symbolic and so, therefore, we have to play their game, not play our game.

SOLOMON: Gordon, as you know, certainly a lot of ground to cover between the two nations. But are there any areas that you actually see some optimism -- some progress, even incrementally? Perhaps climate change?

CHANG: Well, perhaps climate change and maybe fentanyl, which is important for the United States, in which China -- I actually think because they're in a weak position because they know what they're doing. They are supporting the fentanyl gangs. They might actually relent a little bit.

Xi Jinping must be worried about Vladimir Putin, so maybe there's some ability to prevent China from actually supporting the Russians as they have in the past.

There are a lot of little things but some of them are actually quite important that might actually be progress, but I think it's going to be hard to achieve them.

SOLOMON: On chips, the tit-for-tat between the two really ramping up even this week with some of the Chinese export restrictions on raw materials.

Where do you see the conversation going there?

CHANG: Well, the Chinese are going to try to bargain to try to get us to rescind our chip restrictions. But the Chinese actions -- this export ban that everybody is talking about is a lot less fearsome than it actually is because although we have to buy those two metals the Chinese need to sell them.

The Chinese tried an export ban in 2010 against Japan and rare earth minerals and it completely collapsed. So the Chinese are not dealing with us from a position of strength.

SOLOMON: And certainly dealing with their own domestic weakness in terms of unemployment being really high for the youth there, the property market.

Gordon Chang, a lot we could talk about but we'll have to leave it here for now. Thank you.

CHANG: Thank you, Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yes.

Well, coming up for us, a federal judge says that the White House must pick its battles with social media companies carefully. Also, a breakdown of the Fourth of July injunction. That's coming up ahead on CNN THIS MORNING.

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[05:58:35]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

Eighty million people across the U.S. could see severe storms today as many head home from their July Fourth holiday. Also, more than 10 million are under heat alerts from California to New Mexico.

Let's go now to meteorologist Britley Ritz. Apparently, another day of this. I got caught in the flash flooding in New Jersey yesterday.

What are you watching today?

BRITLEY RITZ, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we can still deal with that flash flooding concern. On top of that, the threats for wind and hail yet again.

Areas highlighted in red, from the Great Lakes back across the Central Plains, and even parts of the southeast up into the mid-Atlantic coastline, very much similar to what we dealt with yesterday. So go ahead and take a look.

These areas highlighted in yellow, from Chicago to St. Louis, back down into Oklahoma City, up into Wichita, where we are most vulnerable for that wind and hail threat.

The areas in green extend all the way up into Raleigh -- Atlanta included -- Jackson, Mississippi -- all areas that dealt with strong winds over 60 miles per hour and hail at least an inch in diameter.

It comes in waves so take a look at the time here. At 5:00 in the morning rolling through -- central time -- and then it ramps back up about 4:00-5:00 into the afternoon local time -- central time -- as we roll into Illinois and back into parts of Arkansas as well. That's round one.

Round two comes into play at 5:00 in the morning on Thursday -- so through the overnight hours. And that goes through the Central Plains and right on into the southeast as we come into Thursday.

So areas, again, that are highlighted in that red are really warm. It's very warm and moist, so that's fuel for these storms. And we're talking about temperatures a good five degrees above normal, especially across the southwest and the northwest where excessive heat warnings and heat advisories are in effect.

[06:00:00]

So another thing to just remember is to stay hydrated as we're going out and about if you took that extra long holiday. Water is the best bet in between the beverage of choice as temperatures are well up into the 90s -- and if not into the 90s, into the triple digits.

SOLOMON: Oh, boy. Britley, thank you.

RITZ: Yes.

SOLOMON: Pack your water. Pack your portable air fan.

And that is us -- that is it for us. I'm Rahel Solomon. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.