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New Day Saturday

Memorial Day Weekend Tests Relaxed Restrictions In U.S.; Senate Republicans Block January 6 Commission; Biden Pushing $6 Trillion To Help Middle Class, Fix Infrastructure; Shortage Of Homes For Sale Sparks Bidding Wars; New Exhibit Looks Back At The Pulse Nightclub Shooting; Orlando Preparing To Mark Five Years Since Nightclub Shooting; U.S. Officials Say SolarWinds Hackers Targeted 350 Organizations. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired May 29, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:34]

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, happy weekend to you. Welcome to your NEW DAY. I'm Christi Paul.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Boris Sanchez. Hey, vaccinations are up, COVID cases are down. That means millions of Americans are on the move this Memorial Day weekend. What that says about the state of coronavirus and the U.S. economy.

PAUL: Also, blocked despite bipartisan support a bill creating a January 6th commission that would investigate the deadly attempted insurrection fails in the Senate. And now Democrats, they're plotting their next move.

SANCHEZ: Plus, market madness. A red-hot housing market is forcing homebuyers to put up big bucks and get creative with their offers.

PAUL: Also, remembering Pulse. Remember that the next exhibit -- or this new exhibit that honors the victims and showcases how the community rallied in the wake of that massacre nearly five years now after that horrific death.

All righty. So, it's Saturday, May 29th, close to June. I mean, I feel like (INAUDIBLE). All right.

SANCHEZ: Glad to you as always, Christi.

PAUL: You as well. Let's talk about the unofficial start to summer. Because people are on the move. It is the first holiday weekend where fully vaccinated people can take advantage of a CDC guidelines to say, listen, it is safe to celebrate at beaches, at barbecues without fear of getting yourself or somebody else sick.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we're in a great place right now, especially compared to last year that summer surge that followed Memorial Day with a lot of folks ignoring social distancing and not wearing masks. Fortunately, the pace of vaccinations is expected to prevent a repeat of that this year. More than 133 million people in the United States now fully vaccinated, another 166 million plus have at least one dose of the vaccine.

President Biden saying that the light at the end of the tunnel is not a fluke and that we're closer than ever to post-pandemic life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Americans of every party, every race, creed, have come together, rolled up their sleeves literally and done their part. I'm looking at what that means. We're not just saving lives. We're getting our lives back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: CNN's Polo Sandoval is at LaGuardia Airport in New York. So, talk to us about what it looks like there, Polo. And notice when we're talking about the fact that there is guidance, you can go without a mask, you cannot do so in the airport.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly. We're going to get to that in just a second too, Christi, and Boris, you know, the hope right now is that those people who are leaving their bubbles after so much time and stretching their travel legs again for the first time in over a year, are those who are fully vaccinated, but regardless, it is fairly quiet here in LaGuardia, but across the country, it is very likely that those people that are going to be heading to the airport can expect crowds that resemble more of a pre-pandemic era.

Just consider the last Sunday alone the TSA reported about 1.9 million people use some of those security checkpoints. It's very possible those numbers will go even higher this weekend as that post- vaccination confidence builds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice over): Americans are back on the move. Vast just over 40 percent of the country is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's great to be out and about.

SANDOVAL: That traveler in Atlanta has plenty of company this Memorial Day weekend. AAA estimates more than 37 million others are hitting the road for the holiday, that's a 60 percent increase from what we saw during a pandemic ravaged 2020.

Robert Sinclair from AAA expects what we're seeing this weekend is a promising sign of what's to come this summer.

ROBERT SINCLAIR, AAA: A lot of pent-up demand. People locked up at home for more than a year. We're seeing that people really want to get out and travel the so-called revenge travel, where people were able to save a lot of money because they weren't traveling to work last year. And so they're going to places, they're staying longer and doing more things and spending more money.

SANDOVAL: More of that money, maybe going to airfare with Sinclair estimating tickets increased about 19 percent in April, compared to last year.

And if you're driving to your destination, it may not have been that much cheaper. The average cost of gas is hovering in about $3 a gallon. That's a seven-year high. On Friday, the White House said that's not unusual given increased demand. But whatever the price to fly or drive, Americans seem to be happy to pay it, if it means getting back to normal.

[07:05:13]

MARSHA CROSSON, TRAVELER: I did not travel for the last year. And so, I'm very grateful to be traveling this year.

SHAVAR REYNOLDS, TRAVELER: It's good to just kind of get some normalcy back. You know what I mean? People get to traveling. I know people was going crazy been inside.

SANDOVAL: It may be a return to a pre-pandemic norm for many Americans, but it will also be a big test with more than half of the nation still unvaccinated. Health officials will be looking to see if we'll avoid a post-holiday COVID-19 surge now that mask and social distancing restrictions have been erased.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And a quick but very important reminder that, Christi, just mentioned a little while ago, if you are going to be using some of the nation's airplanes, for example, or at least traveling by air, federal law still requires that you continue to wear a mask, Boris and Christi, so the concern is that it could possibly lead to the conflict, especially for those who have not traveled for the last 14 months and not used to wearing these.

PAUL: Very good point. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

SANCHEZ: Let's get some expertise and perspective with Dr. Chris T. Pernell. She's a public health physician and fellow at the American College of Preventative Medicine. Dr. Pernell, always a pleasure to have you. Thanks for joining us.

Around this time last year --

CHRIS PERNELL, PUBLIC HEALTH PHYSICIAN: Good morning.

SANCHEZ: -- around this time last year, we were cringing looking at big crowds gathering for Memorial Day. This year, not so much. They're not being careless. It's safe now, thanks to vaccines. So, I'm curious, how you feel about where things stand and the moment that we're in right now.

PERNELL: Sure. I can acknowledge that it's definitely safer than it was a year ago, but I don't want people to lose sight of what the numbers are actually showing us. True vaccines work, but it's still overwhelming majority of our Republic is unvaccinated. So, I do just want to advise some caution and vigilance. I'm happy for those who are fully vaccinated to regain some of the normalcy in their lives, to be able to have pleasure.

It's good for our mental health, but in the same token, I don't want us to lose sight for those among us who are not vaccinated. Like for instance here in North New Jersey, only about 50 percent of adults have had one shot, whereas about 70 percent of those in the entire state have had at least one shot. So, that's the -- that's the differentiation that I want people not to lose sight out as we make progress.

SANCHEZ: Then, Dr. Pernell, equity is still an issue when it comes to who can take part in the progress that we're seeing. CNN did an analysis of federal data on vaccination rates in counties that are lagging. And we found that residents in those counties tended to be poor, less educated, they had less access to computers and the internet. And on top of that, there's a CDC study that says the disparity is even more vulnerable counties is actually growing. So, what is it about this piece of the pandemic puzzle that we're not getting right and how do we fix it?

PERNELL: Because we have to lead with equity, we cannot just respond with equity. And what I mean by that is issues such as systemic racism have caused a severe and deep divide in our communities, whether that's in access to care, whether that's in the quality of care that is received, or whether that's in access to the life conditions.

So, we see those barriers being very sturdy at a time like this when we want to vaccinate the most vulnerable among us. I say we cannot give up. I say that we have to actually push the pedal to the metal and do what we need to do to push deeper into those hard-hit communities.

SANCHEZ: Yes. On the new CDC guidance for camps, a lot of kids headed to camp soon, it loosens mask rules for vaccinated kids, but it has some caveats that can be a bit confusing, given this quote, particularly in areas of substantial to high transmission camps may consider requiring mask use indoors by all people present including vaccinated campers, staff, and other people such as visitors. Do you agree with this policy? Isn't it a bit confusing and maybe a bit too conservative?

PERNELL: I do think it's confusing, but I do think it's the right guidance. Look, when we're indoors, especially if you're indoors in an area that is poorly ventilated, if you're indoors, in the area that you don't know who is vaccinated, especially among kids when all of them won't be eligible for vaccination, or even among adults who may have less than strong native immune systems, it's a wise choice.

I do think we are not quite fully over the hump into the hurdle. I do think we will get there. As time continues to progress, we'll be able to have more relaxed and ease restrictions indoors and outdoors. So, I just asked for patients of the public and I asked for those in public health to communicate clearly and to communicate consistently.

[07:10:08]

SANCHEZ: Yes, so important Dr. Chris Pernell, thank you so much for the time.

PERNELL: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. So, President Biden unveiled his $6 trillion budget proposal. It's ambitious, it's big, it's costly, and he will likely not be making very many Republican friends with this plan.

PAUL: So, let me ask you this. You're trying to buy a house and maybe you can't find one or maybe you're stuck in bidding wars over homes for sale. We have details on, you know, what the fact that you are not alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We put the house on the market on a Friday afternoon at 3:00 o'clock and by Sunday evening, we had 12 offers over asking price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: President Biden is going big, $6 trillion big on his budget proposal. Of course, the bigger the price tag, the bigger the hurdles with Republicans already pushing back

[07:15:08]

PAUL: Jasmine Wright is live in Wilmington, Delaware for us this morning with the president spending his holiday weekend. Lay out for us, Jasmine, if you would please what specifically he's proposing here.

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning from a rainy Wilmington.

Look, there is no doubt that President Biden has laid out an ambitious proposal, one that if passed, how it is proposed, would reshape the American economy, something that President Biden and White House officials talk about frequently. But as we know, with politics, budget proposals are just that proposals, not necessarily something that would get passed in the way that is right now.

But really, it serves as a blueprint for the administration's priorities. And something that White House officials want to become a recurring theme, at least with the economy, is President Biden trying to lift Americans out of poverty and solidify the middle class and they feel that this budget proposal does that by making large scale investments in education, public health, research, climate change, child care, all to serve those larger priorities.

Now, yesterday in the Air Force One gaggle, White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre when he defended the plan and laid out for the White House's thinking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: The budget does exactly told the country that he would do grow the economy, create jobs, advances jobs plan, and his family's plan, and do so responsibly by requiring the wealthiest Americans and big corporations to pay their fair share.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: But that, of course, would come with a cost and that cost is not cheap.

So, one thing that it will do is that spending would climb over $8 trillion over the next 10 years by 2031. Deficits would also grow higher than $1.3 trillion over the next decade. And like most of everything else, President Biden has proposed since he's been in office, Republicans are starting to push back on that price hike specifically on that deficits.

Now, I would be remiss if I did not point out that over the past four years during former President Trump's tenure, Republicans were nearly silent about the rising deficit number. And now the President Biden is here, listen, we hear it again. But, of course, in theory, President Biden needs Republican votes to make anything that he does bipartisan with those slim majorities.

So, of course, this as we talked about constantly, is just a negotiating bid something for the White House to start off with. Christi, Boris?

SANCHEZ: Jasmine Wright from Delaware, hope you've got an umbrella handy, my friend.

PAUL: She handles it out pretty darn well, I will say.

All righty. Let's talk about another turn here. Republicans blocking that bill that would have created a 9/11-style bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly insurrection on the Capitol on January 6th.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Ten Republican votes were needed, only six ended up voting for it. Eleven senators didn't even show up for the vote. CNN's Daniella Diaz joins us now live from Capitol Hill.

Daniella, what happened?

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, Christi, there will be no commission to investigate the Capitol Six attack after all. What happened was that there were not enough votes to break the filibuster, the 60-vote threshold to advance the legislation through the Senate.

In the end, the vote was 54 to 35, with only six Republican senators voting in favor of this. And I need to mention that nine Republican senators and even participate in the vote as well as two democratic senators. You know, the six senators that supported this included Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Ben Sasse of Nebraska. I really want to emphasize how this vote is the vote that failed, underscores the deep, deep divide between Democrats and Republicans on what happened on January 6. They see this event very differently. And it really shows the hold that former President Donald Trump has on the Republican Party.

It's no surprise but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was incredibly upset after the vote. He said he was disappointed with Republicans and angry that they did not agree with Democrats on investigating this attack. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): This vote has made it official. Donald Trump's big lie has now fully enveloped the Republican Party. Shame on the Republican Party for trying to sweep the horrors of that day under the rug because they're afraid of Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAZ: And in the end, even Brian Sicknick's mother and longtime girlfriend couldn't lobby enough Republicans to support this legislation. Of course, Brian Sicknick was the police -- one of the police officers who died as a result of the Capitol attack on January 6. His mother visited the Capitol on Thursday to meet with Republicans in person and convinced them to support this legislation.

[07:20:09]

Now, looking forward, it's looking like how Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are going to move forward with a Select Committee. This is something that they were talking about in case this panel failed. This Select Committee, of course, could be passed by the majority -- democratic majority-led House. But, you know, Republicans will still continue to be very critical of this considering that they might not have a say on how this plays out. Boris, Christi?

PAUL: Daniella Diaz, we appreciate you breaking it down for us. Thank you so much.

Let's bring in CNN political commentators, Maria Cardona and Scott Jennings. Good morning to both of you. It's good to see you.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Christi.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

PAUL: Thank you. I hope you all are well.

CARDONA: Hey, Boris.

PAUL: And Boris, yes. Boris is right here, too.

OK. I wanted to ask you, when we're talking about what this means that this was -- that this was blocked. This was an attempt not only to find out what happened, but to make sure that it didn't happen again in the future. And here is what former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson had to say about it yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEH JOHNSON, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Whether it's Trumpism boiled over in the future or some other motivated faction who may want to storm the Capitol. That's not a matter of ideology, that's not a matter of politics, Republicans or Democrats. That's a matter of the sheer security of our very democracy. And so, as I said, I see no legitimate reason in the public interest, why anyone would oppose an effort to try to improve this system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Scott, have you heard a legitimate reason or argument as to why this would be knocked down, whether it be from a Republican or otherwise?

JENNINGS: Well, the Republicans think they do have a defensible political position here for one reason, and that is there already investigations going on. The Department of Justice has arrested, as you know, several hundred people who stormed the Capitol that day. We have congressional committees that are already operating.

And so, from the Republican or conservative point of view, they tend not to vote for more government when they think that the government that they have is already working. And I think a lot of Republicans believe that the wheels of justice in our government is actually working more swiftly than people might have thought and working quite well. And that this might be overkill, that this might be superfluous to what's already occurring and could potentially even get in the way. So, that's one reason. I think it's a defensible political argument.

My personal view is, it wouldn't bother me one bit if we had a commission today or if we tabled it and waited for another few months until DOJ finishes what they're doing and see if we could need one in the future, but that's the Republican argument today.

PAUL: OK. That's a Republican argument. But, Maria, there is an expectation that Speaker Pelosi is going to have some sort of investigative committee that is maybe not confirmed, but that is certainly developed. Prognosticate for us what that would look like.

CARDONA: Right. I think that she is going to focus on putting together a committee to investigate exactly what happened into Secretary Jeh Johnson's point to make sure that it never happens again.

Look, this was an attack on our democracy. This was an attempt on the lives of our members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats. This should not be a partisan issue. Scott talks about the talking points of a, quote, defensible position for Republicans, but I'm sorry, they are lame. The investigations that are going on now in the Capitol are not going to delve deeply into the reasons why this happened into who knew what and when into what kind of organization was going on for these protests and what happened to make them riots and to make them turn into an insurrection. And the issue is that Republicans do not want to know the truth. They want to sweep the truth under the rug, because they know that they are so connected with Donald Trump, who we saw with our own eyes, was the one who inspired and called people to go to the Capitol to keep the electors from -- to keep the members of Congress from certifying the election.

They do not want this to be front and center for them as we go into the midterms. But guess what, the fact that they -- that they knock this down, to me, is a not a smart political strategy, because it's going to be a huge reason why this is going to be front and center. Why don't they want to protect our democracy? Why don't they want to protect the constitution and to make sure that this doesn't happen again?

PAUL: OK. I want to move over to the President's infrastructure plan. And really, his budget for 2022 when you -- we're talking about $6 trillion. I want to show you some of the headlines that came out yesterday after this was announced. USA Today saying, "President Biden's budget proposal projects debt rising past World War Two levels. Money is cheap. Let's spend it, the White House's $6 trillion budget message."

[07:25:06]

And then this one, "Biden's budget blowout predicts years of Obama level tepid growth of political going on to say some analysts suggested that the administration is essentially admitting its proposed surge in federal spending won't actually boost the economy much at all."

Maria, is this fair criticism? I mean, what is the reality Middle America is going to feel some of this?

CARDONA: The reality is that we are at an inflection point in history, Christi, and that the kinds of investments that the administration is focused on in this budget plan, and then the plans that he has already put forward, are focusing on boosting not just the middle class, but workers, investments in the country, infrastructure that supposedly Republicans were interested in.

And look, the fact of the matter is, is that Republicans on the Hill might not support any of this, hopefully, they will support some of it. But the American people overwhelmingly support these kinds of investments, because they know, and they've already felt the kind of positive boost that they are getting from it in their pocketbooks.

We have already seen a growth on average a month of 500,000 new jobs. Deaths from the pandemic are down 85 percent. The economy is opening up, money is cheap. In fact, economists are saying that this is a unique moment in time to borrow money cheaply and to invest it in America's future to boost economic growth, not just for the rich, and corporations and CEOs, but for the middle class and workers, the people who are left behind from the past recoveries. We need to make sure that that doesn't happen again. So, let's do this. Let's make the transformations that we need in this economy to get this country to where it deserves to go for everybody.

PAUL: Scott, do you see any areas, despite some of the pushback we've already seen from Republicans where there may be elements of this that that could have more bipartisan support and they could embrace some of it?

JENNINGS: I mean, typically, Republicans wouldn't embrace a president -- a Democrat president budget and vice versa. And, of course, presidential budgets are aspirational. And I think Joe Biden's aspirations here are obviously debt deficits and runaway inflation.

I mean, yes, money is cheap, and just turn on the printers and print some more. I mean, if you've been to the grocery store lately, if you filled up your car with gas, you know that inflation is real, because of all the money that we've printed over the last year. And now Joe Biden wants to print more, it's also going to mean higher taxes on people. So, I think -- I think bipartisanship on this, Christi, is unlikely because we're on our way to an epic clash between liberals and conservatives over how much debt deficit should we have, how much inflation can we tolerate, and how -- you know, how much can we raise taxes? I think this is going to be a huge argument that plays out, not just in the '22 midterm, but certainly in the race for the White House in '24. This is a real ideological argument.

PAUL: Sure. What do you say to the people who argue that Republicans weren't too concerned about debt when President Trump was in office?

JENNINGS: Yes. I'd say it's never the wrong weekend to find religion and get in the front pew on Sunday morning. Nobody's hands are clean on debt and deficits in Washington. But it's time for the Republican Party to find religion on this issue. It's our traditional core issue. We need to find it and we need to stick to it.

And to be honest, you're right, Donald Trump, and others led this party down a different path for the last four years and, sort of, bought into some of these progressive ideologies on debt deficits and spending and, you know, free money. And so, I'd like to see the Republicans get back to their core on this.

PAUL: Maria Cardona -- go ahead.

CARDONA: The religion that Democrats and Republicans should be following is the religion of boosting this country where everybody has a level playing field, that everybody has a chance to succeed, not just the rich and CEOs, which has been the history of this country for way too long.

PAUL: We appreciate both of you so much, and it is good to see both of you again. Thank you so much for being here. Happy Saturday. Have a great holiday weekend.

CARDONA: You too.

PAUL: Thanks.

JENNINGS: Thank you both. PAUL: You too.

SANCHEZ: A belated good morning to Maria and Scott for me. Appreciate seeing you.

Up next on NEW DAY, the hot housing market. Why so many buyers across the country are left feeling frustrated and defeated.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:33:32]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): A shortage of homes for sale is sparking multiple offers and bidding wars between home buyers.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): It is more difficult than ever to buy a home right now. And it's more tempting than ever to sell one. So, if you think you know what's happen in the market out there, take a listen to CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARA WARD, SOLD HER HOME DURING PANDEMIC: We put the house on the market on a Friday afternoon, at 3:00, and by Sunday evening, we had 12 offers over asking price.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lara Ward's story is not unique. In a housing market so hot, buyers are gifting a trip to the Caribbean, promising to name their firstborn child after the seller, or offering $100,000 in cash over the asking price just to secure a home.

WARD: It didn't even end there on Sunday evening. The people who already bid in were bidding higher. So, offers were climbing.

YURKEVICH: The pandemic fueled demand in the housing market as did low interest rates. Now, with low inventory, U.S. home prices are at a record high, up more than 19 percent in the last year.

Ward listed her home in New Milford, Connecticut for $300,000.

WARD: If we had put it on the market a year before, it probably would have gone on the market for 270 and we, we were looking at being happy with 250.

YURKEVICH: She accepted a $350,000 all-cash offer just days after she listed her home, $50,000 above asking.

[07:35:05]

CONNIE STRAIT, REALTOR, WILLIAM RAVEIS REAL ESTATE: Welcome to your new home.

YURKEVICH: Connie Strait has been a realtor in Danbury, Connecticut for 45 years. She says homes are closing in record time. STRAIT: We're selling them in six hours.

YURKEVICH: This townhouse in the area sold in one day to this buyer from New York, who are often pricing locals out of their own market. A lakefront piece of land was listed for $1 million.

STRAIT: We sold it and within 20 minutes later that gentleman went down to his attorney, you know, on the same street, and sold it for an additional 250,000.

I -- and it was just -- I mean, I've never seen anything like this, nor has anybody else in this area.

JON CORBISCELLO, REALTOR, KELLER WILLIAMS CITY VIEW: We're marking this as to be turned into a duplex.

YURKEVICH: For a buyer, the market can be discouraging. Jon Corbiscello has shown his client Breana Van Rye half a dozen homes in her $500,000 price range in Bergen County, New Jersey. They've made several offers but are outbid every time by cash buyers.

CORBISCELLO: The asking price is really the start at where the bid is, you know, if you're not prepared to pay 25 percent over asking price, you're not prepared to buy that home.

YURKEVICH: Open houses are like survival of the fittest. One pitted Breana against 40 other buyers.

BREANA VAN RYE, LOOKING TO BUY A HOME: I was like, is this normal like, like this is crazy, you know, It looked like the new -- you know, iPhone was on sale or something, it just was a crazy chaotic experience.

YURKEVICH: She's adjusted her expectations and requirements but not her budget. So, the search continues.

YURKEVICH (on camera): When you find that perfect home, how do you think you'll feel after all that you've been through this past year or so?

VAN RYE: We'll be excited. We'll definitely throw a party.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, Bergen County, New Jersey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And thanks to Vanessa for that report.

Look, it's been five years since a gunman opened fire killing 49 people at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Now a new exhibit looks to honor the victims of that deadly attack. Coming up, we speak with one of the organizers of a special tribute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:50]

PAUL: I don't know if you realize it's been five years since the Pulse nightclub shooting. Well, today, there's a new exhibit opening in Orlando, it honors the victims and highlights the response following that attack.

Let me remind you here on June 12th, 2016, 49 people were killed, 53 more were wounded when a gunman went into a nightclub shooting. In the aftermath, Orlando saw this outpouring of grief and support, not just from this country but around the world.

So, let's talk about this new exhibit with Pam Schwartz, she's the executive director of the Orange County Regional History Center.

Pam, it is so good to have you with us. Thank you. Talk to us about what we would see when we go to, to this, this exhibit and how is it that you were able to make this come about?

PAM SCHWARTZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE ORANGE COUNTY REGIONAL HISTORY CENTER: Well, each year since the shooting actually happened, the History Center has done annual remembrance. And each one of these remembrances has been a little bit different in topic, in theme, and the items that we show.

So, this year at the five-year, the exhibits called community. And it's all about the community that existed before the shooting happened at the Pulse nightclub, and also the communities that sort of formed and morphed after the shooting, both geographically, demographically, sort of throughout, again, the United States and the world.

So, you could expect to see the story of Pulse, the nightclub the people who went there before the shooting happened. Some interpretation of the event itself. And then, a majority of the exhibition features on, like you said, the love and the support after and what's changed in five years.

PAUL: I mean, it's a delicate balance to honor these 49 people with an event that was -- it was really so horrific. How do you do that?

SCHWARTZ: We try to be very sensitive and thoughtful to where our community is at in its healing process. And every year, that point in the process has been a little bit different. And so, we just try to learn as much about those individuals as we can. We try to honor them. We always make sure to include their photograph, we want people to see these individuals, and to try to learn about their legacy -- the legacy they're leaving and what they did before that they were killed.

And so, it's very important to us we do small things like keeping friends or couple groups together when we -- when we have pictures of them. And we like to show people the tributes that were left.

PAUL: Did you collaborate with any family and friends of the victims for any of these exhibits?

SCHWARTZ: Every single exhibition. We are constantly working with our stakeholder groups depending -- whether their families or survivors, first responders, the entire collection was built with and from and for the community. We went to the memorial sites and collected items for 30-some days across the memorial landscapes. And we work with them.

We have feature oral histories with friends and families of the victims where they in their own voice can express their thoughts and feelings and stories about their loved ones.

So, we work very much hand in hand in not only collecting the items that are on display, but also in choosing the words we use, the vocabulary. Where are they at? Trying to make sure we're reflective of the community's experience.

[07:45:06]

SCHWARTZ: And also making sure that what we're showing isn't maybe too much on any given year.

PAUL: I think it's interesting for people to recognize that it wasn't only something that affected our country. Talk to us about the global response and how you're highlighting that.

SCHWARTZ: Oh, absolutely. The global response was immense. And I think some of the people living in Orlando at the time maybe didn't even realize that because we were so just trying to deal with what was happening here.

But we found incredible photos of vigils held across the world -- just everywhere, Berlin and a beautiful photograph we feature, actually, has the Eiffel Tower lit up in rainbow with an American flag shortly after the event.

And so, some items came to us. They were items left from people because people are traveling to Orlando all of the time. You know, we're the home of Disney.

PAUL: Yes.

SCHWARTZ: And so, people would come and leave memorials that they had brought from their home countries. And also, we've found out about different vigils that happened across the globe, and so, we reach out to those communities and request items that sort of help us to preserve those moments too.

PAUL: Pam Schwartz, it's not an easy effort, you've done it beautifully. Thank you so much.

SCHWARTZ: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: A cyberattack targeting dozens of countries apparently more massive than was originally thought.

We'll take you live to Moscow with details on why the timing here matters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:51:06]

PAUL: So, just weeks ahead of President Biden's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, we are learning about the latest cyber- attack on the U.S. government.

SANCHEZ: Yes, officials are now saying the sophisticated e-mail phishing campaign targeted more than 7,000 accounts across some 350 organizations. That's more than twice what Microsoft Corporation initially reported on Thursday.

Let's get to CNN's Matthew Chance. He is live in Moscow with more on this. Matthew, of course, the Russian government, as always, denies any involvement.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It does. And, and of course, this is be no exception to that. We asked about this case as Microsoft reported it yesterday. As soon as we got word of it, we spoke to the Kremlin about it. And they said, look, you know, we got so many questions, we want to know how Microsoft arrived to this decision -- this finding. We want to see how, you know, Russia was linked to it. I mean the -- yes, the subtext being look, this has got nothing to do with us.

Peskov -- Dmitry Peskov, who's the spokesperson for the Kremlin said, look, you know, I don't think it's going to affect the outcome of all the -- all the, the staging of the -- of the big summit that's being planned, with President Biden and President Putin in Geneva in a couple of weeks from now, what become the 16th of June.

But clearly, the timing of this is important, not least because of that -- of that summit that's been much anticipated. And out which is already a list as long as your arm, frankly of fraud issues.

The two presidents need to talk about whether it's historical hacking allegations, whether it's the recent situation, the crisis in Belarus, one of Russia's closest allies. You know, going to forcing (INAUDIBLE) airline, the (INAUDIBLE) that you can arrest a passengers onboard. Whether it's the -- you know, the build-up of military forces near Ukraine, the imprisonments of dissidents inside of Russia.

All of these issues already on the agenda that is adds to the list of tense topics that they need to discuss.

The other reason why it's important timing-wise, is that this hacking latest episode comes just a couple of weeks really, just this last month that Joe Biden, U.S. president, imposed really tough sanctions on Russia for doing exactly the same thing.

The SolarWinds hack which Microsoft says was carried out by the same people that carried out this hack. The White House imposed diplomatic sanctions expelling 10 Russian diplomats. It imposed economic sanctions on individuals and on -- you know, the purchasing of Russian government debt, which is a very serious measure that they imposed. But none of it seems to have taken had any effect at all on the Russian-backed hackers that are carrying out these cyber-attacks. Back to you.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Matthew. Despite those steps from the Biden administration, clearly, Russian hackers not deterred. We'll see if something else comes of this in the way of United States trying to prevent it from happening in the future.

Thank you so much Matthew Chance from Moscow.

Coming up at the top of the hour, there is no mistaking the fact that many Americans are on the move this summer.

PAUL: Yes, beaches, packed airports, people are on the move again. How the decline in COVID cases and the improving economy are fueling what we expect to see here?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:35]

ANOUNCER: "FOOD AS FUEL" is brought to you by noom. Noom is based in psychology for lasting health and weight loss results.

SANCHEZ: Now that quarantine is over, many like myself are realizing that all that pandemic baking and ordering Uber eats may have added some inches to our waists.

PAUL: OK, added Uber eats in there. You're not baking much, I take it?

SANCHEZ: No, no.

PAUL: Listen, there's another pandemic past time though that might actually help us, Boris, gardening. Because apparently, that's a way to work around some of these things.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard looks at ways to build your own kitchen garden at home.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER (on camera): Whether you live in a big house or a small apartment, you can grow, at least some of your own food. And not only will the food be fresh and nutritious, but studies show gardening has mental health benefits too.

If you've got a windowsill or just a sunny corner, you can grow herbs year-round. Lettuce is easy to grow in containers, and soon you'll be eating your own home-grown salads.

Tomato plants do well in pots. And a strawberry pot can add curb appeal to a stoop or patio and provides antioxidant-loaded berries.

One important tip if you're only gardening in containers, make sure you use potting soil and not regular garden soil. The potting soil allows air and water to circulate better. And if you are lucky enough to have outdoor space, a raised garden bed allows you to pack a small space full of delicious and nutritious fruits and veggies. Now, dig in.