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Floridians Hit by Inflation; Zelenskyy Vows Revenge after Apartment Attack; Russia Intensifies Attacks; Elizabeth Whelan is Interviewed about Biden's Call; Protesters Storm Sri Lankan Leaders' Homes. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 11, 2022 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Telling me that his prediction is about 450 a gallon in the next couple of weeks, and that's certainly some relief for people at the pump who are feeling really stretched.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, a little bit lower than it is even now.

SOLOMON: Exactly.

BERMAN: All right. We'll watch it carefully.

Rahel Solomon, thank you so much.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Falling gas prices do not mean that Americans are financially doing better, however. Tampa, Florida, is one of the communities hardest hit by inflation. Residents are raiding their savings to keep up with the higher cost of living. Some planning to relocate to improve their standard of living.

CNN's Gabe Cohen spoke to some Tampa Bay residents.

Gabe, what did you learn?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Brianna, we've heard it from so many Americans in Tampa and beyond that the weight of inflation keeps growing month after month. For folks whose salaries aren't keeping up, many are now burning through savings. And in places like Florida, more people are getting priced out of their homes as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice over): Karen Martin is a 911 operator near Tampa, Florida. The voice on the line when her neighbors need help. She's also a single mom, raising two boys and making less than $20 an hour.

KAREN MARTIN, TAMPA, FLORIDA, SINGLE MOM: It was enough, but it's not anymore. I'm not making ends meet. I'm not making it. I'm spending my savings. I get paid tomorrow and already my whole paycheck is spoken for. COHEN: It's a perfect storm, rising gas prices for her 60-mile round

trip commute, the cost to feed her kids as she applies for food stamps, and her rent, up from $1,200 a month to $1,500, which forced her to get a roommate.

MARTIN: I started out a year ago with a good amount of savings because I was going to buy a home. You know, I had like $9,000 saved up and it just was -- it's something I've never been able to accomplish before. And then I just couldn't afford to buy a house. And that money I had saved, it's gone because I can't afford my bills.

COHEN: Floridians face some of the nation's worst inflation, with prices in the Tampa area up 11.3 percent in a year, way above the national average, largely driven by the red hot housing market. Home prices are up 36 percent and rent 25 percent.

MARISOL HORNER, TAMPA, FLORIDA, REAL ESTATE AGENT: It's been absolutely mind blowing.

COHEN: Marisol Horner is a real estate agent, seeing rising interest rates price out more and more families.

HORNER: Buyers are a little bit scared in regards to what is the market doing right now.

COHEN: It's cut her commissions in half.

COHEN (on camera): Does that mean you're making half as much money?

HORNER: Correct. Yes.

COHEN (voice over): As she sends more than $500 a month on gas while raise a 15-month-old son.

HORNER: So, it definitely means less trips, you know, less money for my baby, less money for, you know, day care and things like that.

COHEN: Consumer sentiment is plunging nationwide, hitting a record low last month with 47 percent of Americans blaming inflation for eroding their living standards and 79 percent expecting bad times in the year ahead for business conditions.

ALAN SAYLER, OWNER, SAYLER'S SUNCOAST WATER: We're treading water on this, Gabe.

COHEN: Alan Sayler owns a company that helps Tampa businesses treat their water. His operating costs are up more than 30 percent between increased wages and the price of fuel and insurance, one of the worst storms he's weathered in the 45 years he's owned the business.

SAYLER: "08 a little bit, you know, but the '70s, this is what it's feeling more - more like to me.

COHEN: And he's worried a recession could just pile on.

SAYLER: Just got to watch our costs, watch our payroll, make sure we're not overloaded with employees.

I'm ready to hire two people on right now, but I am kind of a little sort of wanting to see what's going to happen in the next month or two.

COHEN: For so many, the wait and see just builds anxiety.

COHEN (on camera): It's the uncertainty that scares you?

MARTIN: Absolutely. It keeps me from sleeping at night. Car rides are hard by myself because it's all I can think about. I don't know what we're going to do in November. I don't know what we're going to do when my lease is up. We'll probably have to move to a different area. My child will have to go to a different school. And if we go somewhere else, I don't know how long we can afford to stay there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: And, Brianna, we met Karen on her birthday. She had no plans. She said going to dinner is now a luxury that they just can't afford.

And you have to imagine that there are a lot of workers with these vital jobs across the U.S. who are just like Karen, a 911 operator, loves her job, but she may leave it just to afford that little bit of luxury again.

KEILAR: Look, that's the reality when there is just no wiggle room. And that is the reality for so many Americans right now.

COHEN: Yes.

KEILAR: Gabe, thank you for that report.

Russian forces launching a rocket attack on an apartment building in eastern Ukraine. The death toll rising. And survivors may be trapped under the rubble.

BERMAN: And we are learning significant new details from a Department of Justice court filing overnight, including the fact that the FBI has been interviewing a former attorney for Donald Trump. More on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:53]

KEILAR: This morning, authorities in Ukraine recovering 18 bodies from the wreckage of an apartment building struck by a Russian rocket. Now rescuers are racing to try and save two more people who are still trapped beneath the rubble.

CNN's Scott McLean is live for us in Kyiv, Ukraine, with the very latest on this.

Scott, what can you tell us? SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna, look,

Ukrainian officials in the Donetsk region say that the shelling simply has not stopped lately. It has been particularly heavy in the northern part of the Donetsk region. But there have also been shelling reported in Chasivyar (ph). This is the same town where you mentioned those rescue workers are trying to free people from under this pile of rubble after a pair of missile strikes absolutely obliterated an entire section of this five story apartment building.

The latest count there is that 18 people have been confirmed killed, eight survivors have been pulled out of the rubble. That's two more than the previous update that we got from emergency services, though it is not clear whether those two are the same two that rescuers were actually able to communicate with, able to actually talk to while they were trapped under the rubble and while they were working to free them.

[06:40:03]

The situation looks much different in the southern part of the country. This is where Ukrainian officials have been urging people living under Russian occupation to try to evacuate any way they can, although they also recognize that sometimes the Russians ae not making that easy. That is because the Ukrainians are stepping up their efforts to retake territory there. They have had some success, they say, in targeting Russian supply lines with long range strikes. They have also said that they've taken a village near Kherson. Kherson is a city that has been occupied by the Russians since the early days of war.

And in a new interview with the British newspaper "The Times," the British - or, sorry, the Ukrainian defense minister says that it was President Zelenskyy who gave the order for troops to try to retake coastal areas of Ukraine. And he says that, look, the fighting force is a million strong. The issue is not manpower, it's not even pledges from western countries to send weapons, the issue is how quickly those weapons are reaching the front lines, saying that for every day that they wait around for howitzers, for instance, they could have 100 men be killed in action, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Scott McLean, live for us in Kyiv, thank you.

Berman.

BERMAN: All right, joining me now, Reena Ninan, founder of Good Trouble Productions.

Reena, as we're looking at where the conflict has largely been fought over the last month or so, it's in the eastern part of the country. I want to zoom in there to get a sense of what Scott was just talking about. You can see, the Russians now control the Luhansk region and they are shelling into Donetsk right here.

How are the Ukrainians going to keep the Russians out if the Russians want to go in? REENA NINAN, FOUNDER, GOOD TROUBLE PRODUCTIONS: You know, one of the

most things that we've seen in the past few days has been the U.S. weaponry that's come in. HIMARS, which is essentially these multiple rocket launchers that are able to take out at double the distance that they were capable of doing before on the back of these mobile units that are able to move around. They've seen incredible precision and accuracy with this that's been able to help repel, is what military officials tell me, repel the Russians further back and get them to retreat. They say they're on a -- what they call an operational pause. Zelenskyy came out saying that's not fully true, they're just getting ready to relock, reload and get ready to push forward.

BERMAN: Yes. So, the Ukrainians are depending on these modern weapons to get there in time to hold the Russians back.

Meanwhile, Scott was talking about the idea of possible counteroffensives by the Ukrainians. You can see this area in yellow here, or areas the Ukrainians have taken back from Russian control. How psychologically important is it for Ukraine to push the Russians away?

NINAN: Hugely. Hugely important right now. You know, while these weapon systems have had people -- they've said -- the defense forces have said in Ukraine, we need more of these. They've got about eight of these HIMARS systems in place. They're going to get 12 in total. They've been hugely effective. In fact, if you're China or you're India watching and you get much of your weaponry from Russia, I would be a little bit concerned as to how powerful they've been at being precise and getting past there.

But, you're right, the psychological warfare, one Ukrainian official told me that, you know, we understand there's this willingness in the international community that we rely on, but there's also this spirit within Ukraine. Is there enough fight to continue on? And that's going to be one of the things that Zelenskyy use to determine how far they continue on with this war, which, right now, they've got to push those Russians back, and that is the main focus.

BERMAN: And then, of course, there's the question of how long will support for Ukraine hold off to the extent that it has.

NINAN: Yes.

BERMAN: And there has been enormous support. But the economic consequences for the world are pretty serious here, particularly as they're looking at oil prices and gas prices around the world.

NINAN: Absolutely right. And, you know, on that point, in about ten days they're shutting down for routine maintenance, annual maintenance, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is the largest pipeline from Russia into Germany. And the Germans are really concerned. In France, officials are saying they're worried that it won't get turned back on, that the spigot will be closed forever. The Russians are saying no, no, no, we're not going to do that.

But you can see winter is coming and the Germans have already said, if those spigot gets turned off, they have enough supply for about one to two months. And that's incredibly frightening. That's going to have impact throughout all of Europe.

BERMAN: That's not the whole winter.

NINAN: That's right.

BERMAN: All right, Reena Ninan, thank you very much.

NINAN: Yes.

BERMAN: So, hours after the sister of an American detained in Russia said she was furious, she got a phone call from President Biden. Elizabeth Whelan joins us live.

KEILAR: Plus, the pilot who made this miraculous emergency landing after stalling multiple times. He's going to join us, tell us how he did it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:48:31]

KEILAR: Amid at mounting pressure on the White House to bring homes Americans wrongfully detained abroad, President Biden surprised Paul Whelan's family with a phone call. The former Marine has been held in Russia since 2018. A Russian court convicted Whelan in 2020 on charges of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison. U.S. officials say Paul Whelan is wrongfully detained.

And joining us now to talk about that phone call is Paul's sister, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, what can you tell us about this call that you received from the president?

ELIZABETH WHELAN, BROTHER PAUL WHELAN IMPRISONED IN RUSSIA: Well, last week was one of great highs and lows. And getting a call from the president was definitely one of the high points. I was literally walking down a really busy, noisy street in New York City, and I got a phone call. I was on my way to lunch, and I thought perhaps my friend was calling me.

So, luckily, I answered the phone. And when I realized who it was, I had to get myself to someplace that I could actually hear what was being said with all the jackhammers and ambulances and such going on.

So, I just walked into a restaurant that was opening up and sat down, like I knew what I was doing. Luckily everyone left me alone and I was able to complete the call.

But the president was really reassuring that so much effort was being made on Paul's behalf and it really meant the world to my family. We were able to tell Paul and he was - he was so pleased.

KEILAR: I mean last week -- it is a turn around. Last week you were furious.

[06:50:02]

You -- it seems pretty clear you are no longer furious.

WHELAN: Yes. Well, actually -- and I really want to clear this up. People thought I was, you know, mad at the Griner family, mad at the president. But what I'm angry at is the process. You know, we don't begrudge the Griner family any of the attention they received because it's been actually good for wrongful detention families as a whole to try to help let people know what's going on. And I also wasn't actually mad at the president because I knew already that there must be some activity going on.

But it does make you worried when you see something like this going on, you wonder if there's something you don't know about. And I'm really concerned that families aren't receiving the degree of information that they need to keep them comfortable with what's happening in the process. That includes the bad news, as well as the good news. So, we get this false idea that we have to -- you know, that the only way we will know what's going on is if we go to the president. And it does create this sort of tension.

KEILAR: You mentioned activity going on. Obviously, there is hopefully always a process going on behind the scenes. But Russia, through the media, has hinted its willingness to make a trade for Viktor Bout, who is an infamous arms dealer who is willing to injure or kill Americans or know that that was something that could happen with the arms that he was dealing in.

As a tradeoff to get your brother and Brittney Griner home, is that something that you would be comfortable with, that you want to happen?

WHELAN: Well, I think every family truly feels that whatever tools the government wants to use to get their loved one home, they're fine with it. But I think really that we have to remember that what's being said in the media, by the Russian media in particular, is not necessarily reflecting what might be going on behind the scenes.

I think we're at the point where, you know, we've got two separate problems. One is we've got all these Americans held overseas. There are over 55 being held in 18 different countries, and we need to get them home using whatever tools are possible. But then what we have to do, and this is -- has not been done through any administration, is we need to actually punish and deter the countries that are doing this from doing this kind of action again. And that will stop us from being in this position of having to do these difficult deals.

KEILAR: Do you -- there is actually a visit coming up by former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson reportedly traveling to Russia. Are you hopeful for the possibility of that when it comes to your brother?

WHELAN: You know, anything that brings Paul home we're happy to see. Any activity that will get him out. He's been held in Russia for three and a half years now. And it's -- it's just heartbreaking. We want him to be able to come home. He's lost his home, his job, you

know, his relationships, his friendships. All of those are, you know, for three and a half years he's been in a prison camp now. We just want him back by any means possible.

KEILAR: Elizabeth, we do appreciate your time this morning and we are thinking of you as you go through this process. Thank you.

WHELAN: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: A food crisis leading protesters to storm a president's home. Some of the pictures from that here. We'll talk about what happened, next.

BERMAN: And Steve Bannon doing a 180, first defying a January 6th committee subpoena, and now offering to testify.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:44]

BERMAN: This morning, Sri Lanka facing an uncertain future. Both its president and prime minister resigning after thousands of people stormed those leaders' homes to protest the nation's crippling economic crisis. Demonstrators went rifling through the residences - they went through the residences. They went swimming in the pool. They set fires. Remarkable images from Sri Lanka as there was this popular uprising on the streets.

CNN's Will Ripley with the very latest.

Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I want to set the scene for you on Saturday, John, because, think about this, 100,000 people, about twice the population of my hometown, storming the president's house in Colombo, Sri Lanka. These people are angry because the country is in the midst of its worst financial crisis in 70 years, since World War II. They don't have food. They don't have medicine. They can't get fuel. They can't get money out of the ATM. The country is essentially grounded to a halt.

And the president, President Rajapaksa, and his poor financial management analysts say, is partially to blame, along with Covid and some other incidents that have happened starting back in 2019 when there was a bombing in Easter and then there was a cargo ship that caught fire and polluted their beaches.

Sri Lanka has been struggling, but the president is blamed by members of the public. And so they went into his house and they're still there. They're occupying the president's house, swimming in the pool, yes, working out in the gym. But it's not like they're there because they want to have a good time. They're there because they are angry. They want the president to step down.

And, finally, after this happened, the president has agreed to step down theoretically on Wednesday. We'll have to wait and see if that happens.

The prime minister, whose own official residence was also set on fire over the weekend, he has also said he'll step down, but he's going to wait until a new all party government is formed. And that's what people say they want.

But, of course, the question is, can this new government fix these huge problems in Sri Lanka and make life better for these protesters so that they decide to stop doing what they're doing or will the anger continue, will the uprising continue, will the violence continue? Because there have been many people injured in these protests. And, of course, you see the property damage and destruction as well, John.

BERMAN: Look, extraordinary images coming out of Sri Lanka that have serious implications for that nation of 22 million people.

RIPLEY: Yes.

BERMAN: Will Ripley, thank you so much for your reporting.

[07:00:00]

NEW DAY continues right now.