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New Day Sunday

Buffalo Mass Shooting Was Livestreamed On Twitch; Crypto Markets Tank, Spooking Investors And Drawing Attention From The Fed; 90 Million Under The Threat Of Severe Weather Today. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired May 15, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:30]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Welcome to your NEW DAY this Sunday, May 15th. I'm Boris Sanchez.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christi Paul. Thank you so much for spending some time with us this morning.

We want to give you some updates on that tragic shooting that we've been following in Buffalo, New York. Ten people were killed when a gunman opened fire. This was at a supermarket in a largely Black neighborhood in Buffalo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRADY LEWIS, WITNESS: I have seen the guy go in, army style, bent over, just shooting at people. And I heard him shooting at people. Then I saw three people laying down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Officials say that Payton Gendron, a White 18-year-old man was wearing body armor and military-style clothing when he pulled up yesterday at the Tops Friendly Market and began shooting. He picked that spot specifically for its demographics, according to officials. They say he drove for more than 200 miles away to carry out the attack in an area that had a significant Black population.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMMISSIONER JOSEPH GRAMAGLIA, BUFFALO POLICE: He was very heavily armed. He had tactical gear. He had a tactical helmet on. He had a camera that he was live streaming what he was doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The suspect was immediately arraigned on first-degree murder charges and more charges are expected to follow. Federal agencies are now investigating the shooting as a potential hate crime and a case of racially motivated domestic terrorism.

PAUL: Now, authorities say 11 of the 13 people shot by this White suspect were Black. They're reviewing a 180-page manifesto, reportedly written by the shooter, where he describes his perceptions about the dwindling size of the White population.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is with us from Buffalo right now. Polo, what else have you learned about this shooting thus far?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly some disturbing details and investigators are basically pouring over in that manifesto that you just mentioned. As for the neighbor itself, Christi and Boris, the air is certainly heavy with sorrow as this community will be wake up as they continue to mourn the loss of many of their community members.

The yellow tape that you see still surrounding the grocery store this morning it will likely be up for some time just given the broad nature of this investigation, very deep nature of this investigation as authorities were very quickly announced that they will be handling this, at least at the federal level, as racially motivated violence -- violent extremism. In fact, just a few hours after that heavily armed and armor-wearing suspect allegedly pulled up to this grocery store, the federal authorities were very quick to say that he was fueled by hate as he got out of this vehicle and then very methodically began to shoot people in this parking lot before he went inside.

At the end 13 people were shot, 10 of them killed. Eleven of the victims were Black. So that's certainly something that just paints a clear picture of what happened here, and also speaks to the apparent motivation that investigators are working with right now.

In terms of where he came from, talking about a three-hour drive southeast of here close to the Pennsylvania border. I want you to hear directly from Erie County Sheriff John Garcia as he tries to just describe how this investigation is being handled up to this point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF JOHN GARCIA, ERIE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: This was pure evil. It was straight-up, racially-motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community, outside of the City of Good Neighbors, as the mayor said, coming into our community and trying to inflict that evil upon us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: That suspect already charged with first-degree murder yesterday afternoon. But as you mentioned awhile ago those charges will likely begin to add up with more charges expected not to mention that federal component of this investigation. But there are -- there is so much evidence. Moreover, there's the 180-page manifesto that investigators are looking into that they believe may have been written by that suspect and had been posted online just days before the shooting itself. And also, witness statements. Then, of course, what he could potentially tell investigators as well, as we today will seek to learn more about the people, the families affected, including a security guard that tried to actually shoot the suspect. In fact, actually managed to land -- managed to land a round. But because the suspect was wearing that body armor, that round was ineffective and that is when the suspect, the police say, turned his attention on that security guard and then shot and killed him.

[06:05:02]

In terms of what we also expect will be more about what state authorities will be doing. I had an opportunity to speak briefly with Attorney General Letitia James yesterday who says among many different things that they will be reviewing will be social media platforms, including some of these live streaming platforms, including the one that was used to live stream a portion of that attack. Of course, that company has spoken out, Boris, saying that they are devastated and they took down that live stream only minutes after the violence began.

PAUL: Polo Sandoval, we appreciate all of the details. Thank you so much.

We want to go to CNN White House reporter, Jasmine Wright. Jasmine, always good to see you. I know, President Biden has been briefed on this shooting, obviously. What is the response from the White House?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, President Biden is mourning the victims of this tragic shooting but he's also calling for action, after he was briefed on Saturday. In a statement released late last night, he said that more needs to be learned about the motivations of this shooting making way really for a thorough investigation.

And he also said, Christi and Boris, one thing is clear -- and I want to read you this part. He said, "A racially motivated hate crime is abhorrent to the very fabric of this nation. Any act of domestic terrorism, including an act perpetrated in the name of a repugnant white nationalist ideology is antithecal to everything we stand for in America."

Now, the president added that we must do everything in our power to end the hate fueled domestic terrorism. And in the statement released last night, he also thanked first responders and other law official -- law enforcement officials. Now we will see the president today leaving his home here in Wilmington, heading to Washington, D.C. where he is expected to attend the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial, where he and the first lady will lay a wreath and also give remarks. Now, I think we can expect the president to tap into that role of consoler in chief, really returning to that as this nation mourns this tragic event. Christi, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jasmine Wright traveling with the president in Wilmington, Delaware, thank you so much.

Let's get straight to some expert analysis now with CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. Juliette, always great to have you. Always unfortunate that it's often under these circumstances.

CNN has independently obtained this shooter's alleged writings much of it lifted directly from the darkest corners of the internet. The shooter describing himself as a White supremacist, as an anti-Semite, exposing that fringe-conspiracy theory that White people are being systematically replaced in this country. It's very similar to other far-right terrorists that we have seen before that this strikes me as a copycat-type attack. Is that a fair assessment?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It is. And I think the manifesto exposes -- I think the limitations of the way we tend to think about these kinds of attacks as sort of lone wolf. What can we learn about him? What motivated him?

I think what we see is that there is an entire apparatus of, you know, connected tissue, connecting these cases, connecting this hate, and supporting essentially the efforts that we saw the hunt, that we saw on Saturday. The manifesto, itself, is -- is not rambling. We shouldn't think of these people as crazy. It's actually just absorbing the -- the -- the -- the language of hate that we hear in the public space, that we hear in the media space. And in particular, as you note, the White replacement theory of -- of -- of racism and -- and it matters because a White replacement theory is base on a belief that the pie is limited, the American pie is limited. And that the existence of the other -- in this case, African-Americans but we have seen it with Hispanic Americans in the rampage in Texas -- the existence of them threatens my ability, as the White man, to be able to exist in America. And therefore, it justifies violence.

In other words, it is a -- it is not just racism. It is a violent racism because you have to rid yourself of these people. And this is the -- the -- the -- the motivation that is leading to what we call, you know, violent extremism.

This isn't just mere extremism. It is violent extremism because it's justified in their theory of I have to protect my piece of the pie.

SANCHEZ: And that kind of thinking is echoed often, even by some of the most popular hosts on -- on cable news --

KAYYEM: Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- and other similar terrorists. People that we know shot up a mosque in New Zealand, a church in South Carolina. The shooter in his own writing seems to acknowledge that he was radicalized online. Just an 18-year-old kid.

Walk us through that process of radicalization. Are some people more susceptible to this sort of thing than others?

[06:10:01]

KAYYEM: Certainly -- one is some people are more susceptible to it because it confirms maybe beliefs that they've had, or the beliefs that they've raised in. And then the way the algorithms work on social media, the way that we get information is that what -- if we like something more of that information will come to us over time so that you're just inundated with only that lane of how to view things. So that is essentially what is happening.

Now, why -- there is lots of people we see doing this, though. So why -- why did he become the one who took out a gun? But that's the -- that's the sort of brilliance -- I hate to say it of what's happening in terms of White supremacy, in terms of hatred in this country.

You can hear political leaders, media leaders, right, they are -- they are espousing the same thing but they are doing it in a way that is relatively generic. And so, they have plausible deniability. They didn't know this guy. They didn't tell him to do it.

But what they are doing is giving him a network of support. They're giving him, as I -- as I wrote yesterday, the herd. He is not a lone wolf. He has his herd.

And then why particularly him we will find out over time but that's basically how the radicalization works. They find comfort in the numbers and they're supported by leaders. I mean, they don't view themselves as aberrations or crazy. They are -- they are watching leaders mimic this language.

SANCHEZ: You're so right. It's often coded. It's the idea that somehow demographic change is going to displace certain people and harm certain people.

KAYYEM: Right.

SANCHEZ: I'm wondering how you think law enforcement can monitor and track some of the sites, the 4chan, 8chan, where this stuff festers on the internet while also respecting the First Amendment and freedom of speech?

KAYYEM: Yes. And it's a -- it's a hard balance. I mean, certainly some of the -- some of the platforms have either don't exist anymore or -- or they're getting more careful and I think what -- so I think this is important there -- there is a law enforcement part which we are seeing through the hate crimes and federal hate crime statutes that is only individual-based.

Then, there is going to be the means part, right? The access to the guns, the debate that we have after all of these shootings. You know, even if he had this gun lawfully, should he have had this kind of gun lawfully?

Remember, he is engaged in a firefight. This has nothing to do with whether other people should be armed to kill him. And he just survived the firefight because he has body armor. And then the third part is the part that is the hardest which is the -- the -- the community that supports this kind of hate.

We can bring it down. Our laws are not good at targeting social media accounts. There is a huge debate about whether the platform should be responsible for content. It hasn't changed yet, and so what it is also going to take is -- is naming and shaming. I mean, it is -- it is essentially calling it racist violence that is supported by some of the top political media leaders in this country.

We should not be shy about it anymore. We don't -- we use coded language like racist sentiment or, you know, supporting extremism. No, they're -- they're actually supporting racist violence. I mean, that is essentially what it is. And I think we have been fearful of calling it out.

Maybe we're -- you know, we were too coy or we're too polite. We really shouldn't be at this stage. It's clearly -- they know -- they know the consequences of their language. We should -- we should not be fearful -- the vast majority of Americans who condemn this of calling it that.

SANCHEZ: Juliette Kayyem, always appreciate your perspective and analysis. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: A quick programming note for our viewers. CNN's Dana Bash is going to speak with New York Governor Kathy Hochul later this morning on "STATE OF THE UNION." You can watch that interview right here on CNN at just 9:00 a.m.

PAUL: We continue to follow the latest developments out of Buffalo all morning, of course.

Also follow this breaking news. Finland's leaders saying moments ago, they applied for NATO membership. A move Vladimir Putin previously warned would be a mistake. We have more on that just ahead. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:18:13]

SANCHEZ: We are continuing to follow the tragic news out of western New York. Ten people are dead, three others wounded, in Buffalo after a White-male suspect drove to a predominantly Black area, and opened fire at a grocery store. The 18-year-old has been charged with first- degree murder and additional charges are expected to come. He has, thus far, pleaded not guilty.

PAUL: Now, we are also learning the suspect streamed part of the attack on social media platform Twitch. A spokesperson for the company says it was removed within minutes, and the user has been indefinitely suspended. Now, the FBI is investigating the shooting as both a hate crime and a case of racially-motivated violent extremism. Witnesses described this just horrific scene. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEWIS: I heard him shooting at people. Then I saw three people laying down. And I didn't have a phone on me so I was just screaming for somebody to call the police and -- and then he came out. He put the gun to his head, to his chin. Then he dropped it and he took off his bulletproof vest. And then, he got on his hands and knees and put his hands behind his back and then they arrested him. It's a shame because there was a lot of people in there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter's best friend was in there in the bathroom hiding when it all happened. She says she heard gunshots and she ran into the bathroom. She is scared for her life.

MARK MANNA, TOPS SUPERMARKET UNION REPRESENTATIVE: I spoke to one of the workers on my way here. And she said that, you know, her family members are calling her and her co-workers. And it was just like something out of -- out of a war movie. Just nonstop shooting, people running, screaming. The person was in tactical gear. A lot of guns, a lot of some kind of armor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[06:20:01]

PAUL: Think about the horror. You're in a grocery store and then this happens. Police say the alleged shooter was not from the area, had actually traveled hours just to carry out this shooting.

So want to tell you what is happening with Finland's foreign minister because they just announced the country has decided to apply for NATO membership. This move is happening as the foreign ministers are actually meeting in Berlin. Russia blasted the decision calling it a -- quote -- "radical change in foreign policy that will force Moscow to retaliate."

SANCHEZ: The big question is what happens next? Finland says it hopes to apply for membership without delay. The next steps include a vote by the Finnish parliament, which has to approve that decision. And then, all 30 current members of NATO must approve the new applicants.

PAUL: Want to get some perspective from Jim Townsend now. He's former deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy. Jim, so grateful to have you with us. What was your initial reaction to Finland's announcement?

JIM TOWNSEND, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR EUROPEAN AND NATO POLICY: Well, great joy, quite frankly. I have worked with Finland since 1990 and Sweden as well. And this is a historic journey that they have taken. And I didn't think I would see their membership in NATO in my lifetime. And so, seeing it now, I am very glad that they are joining. It's good for NATO and it is good for Finland, given what is happening in their neighborhood.

PAUL: So that was my next question. Given what is happening in Ukraine, because of attacks from Russia, does that give more credence to this application?

TOWNSEND: Well, it certainly does. I think the alliance was always going to be ready for -- for Sweden and Finland to join. But given the situation now, this is an important signal to Putin that what he has done -- this gamble has gone wrong. And instead of putting NATO back on its heels, he has added two new members and Finland is an important member. It shares a long wet boundary line with Russia. So this is something that obviously Putin is upset about but it's obviously something that Putin is not going to be able to do much about.

PAUL: Secretary Townsend, the thing is Turkey might be able to do something about it. We know that Turkey opposes both Finland and Sweden from joining NATO.

Do you see any potential movement? Because I do know that -- Finland's foreign minister had said he called his counterpart in Turkey to -- quote -- "take the tensions down." Do you see a space here for any potential movement from Turkey to embrace this?

TOWNSEND: Yes, I do. The -- the parties are talking right now. And of course, at the foreign ministers' meeting over dinner last night and again, I think, probably today as well, conversations are happening among the allies and with Turkey to work on these issues Turkey has. And this is something we have seen from Turkey in the past. This is not unusual, that if Turkey senses something that it could get from a deal, they're going to -- they're going to go for that -- using that kind of leverage.

Sweden and Finland both have Kurdish populations. Both of those countries are not seen as strong about the PKK terrorist group from -- from there in northern Iraq as much as Turkey would like them to be. Turkey wants them to have a harder line.

So I think if there is going to be any kind of compromise made I think both those countries are going to have to talk about their view about PKK and terrorism and their own Kurdish populations. So there is some talking that is going to have to happen, but I think something will come out of it, and Turkey will eventually agree for both these nations to come into NATO.

PAUL: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov gave an interesting statement saying, Russia's reaction would depend -- quote -- "on how far and how close to our borders the military infrastructure will move." And now today saying -- Putin saying, this could force us to retaliate. What is your expectation of what Russia will do if this continues?

TOWNSEND: Well, I have a couple things. One is we have already seen that the Russians cut off the electricity that -- that Finland buys from the Russian net. But that's only 10 percent of the Finnish requirement. So the Finns have been able to deal with that and the Finns have said they weren't surprised.

So it is that kind of retaliation that we are going to see from Russia. It won't be military. There is going to be perhaps a lot of harsh rhetoric. I think we are going to hear that. We might see some cyberattack of some type. We're going to see a lot of misinformation coming out of Moscow, trying to scare the Finns and Swedes about what Russia may do.

We've seen that before. The Finns and Swedes are ready for that. They don't scare easily. Those two nations and their peoples have dealt with Russia in the past.

[06:25:00]

The Russians have talked about Kaliningrad and moving nuclear weapons to Kaliningrad which we've always expected were there in Kaliningrad, you know, which juts out into the -- into the Baltic Sea. So we are not going to see a military-style move by -- by the Russians. We're going to just hear a lot of heated rhetoric and perhaps misinformation campaigns, maybe a cyber event.

PAUL: All right. Former deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy, Jim Townsend, we appreciate so much your perspective, sir. Thank you for being here.

TOWNSEND: Thanks to be here. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Pure evil. That's how one official describes the scene at that Buffalo supermarket where a shooting left 10 people dead. Now, police are calling it a hate crime. The very latest on this investigation when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:02]

PAUL: Thank you so much for being with us this morning. You know, the live streaming platform Twitch has confirmed the suspect in that mass shooting in New York used its services to webcast the attack to viewers online.

SANCHEZ: Yes. We're also learning that investigators are reviewing a purported 180 Page manifesto screed that was written by the shooter. Let's bring in CNN Chief Media Correspondent and the anchor of "RELIABLE SOURCES" Brian Stelter.

Brian, good morning. We've learned that Twitch actually pulled that stream in fewer than two minutes after it went live. What more can you tell us about what was broadcast and what the company did?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Right. In the beginning of the video, it's shot from the point of view of this suspect as he's driving into the parking lot. He can be seen in the rearview mirror wearing a helmet and saying, "just got to go for it" before he pulls into the front of the store.

Now, we have not been able to review the entire video, including the actual shooting, but Twitch says it was taken down within two minutes of the beginning of the violence. My follow-up questions have not been answered about whether that means that this was still actively ongoing or whether all of the gunfire was over at that point. Of course, with a weapon like this, you can do incredible and horrible damage in just two minutes.

But it is notable that Twitch says it took action really quickly, because these companies are under immense -- tremendous pressure to be more responsive. And in the past, some of these live streams of other attacks have actually seen online quite a bit longer. So, the Amazon- own streaming service here, popular among gamers, is saying it did take action very quickly.

Here's part of the statement from the company saying the user has been indefinitely suspended, of course, and we're taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content. And that's really important because again, in other cases, we have seen these videos go viral. Thankfully, in this case, so far, I have not seen this video or the

manifesto being spread as widely in online circles. Still, we're going to hear in the coming days calls from politicians for more accountability. Governor Kathy Hochul saying that overnight that she wants these social networking companies to do more. Watch.

PAUL: So, I want to ask you real quickly about that 180 page manifesto. Is it really possible, do you think, Brian, that that's not going to spread online somewhere? And do we know -- not that you need to mention it, but do investigators know obviously? I mean, they do. But do we know where it was online? My assumption is, it was somewhere -- it was placed somewhere online with people who are like-minded, and that's why perhaps the manifesto was able to be online prior to this and not be reported.

STELTER: Right. Right. A lot of this activity happens on message boards, on -- you know, I would describe them as fringe message boards, but they have a significant number of users. And you kind of have to be a member of the club, a member of that group in order for it -- any of it to make sense for you to even be involved in that -- of those chats.

What I think we have in this case, as we've seen sadly way too often, is the case of online radicalization where someone has their mind poisoned by lies on these message boards and then decides to take violent action as a result. It is a form of white supremacy terrorism. And unfortunately, there's been a wake-up call about it now for several years because of what happened in Christchurch in El Paso and elsewhere.

You know, these kinds of manifestos, they don't spread on Facebook, really, normally. They don't spread on Twitter. But they do show up in the darker corners of the internet. And that's the public policy problem for politicians, how you handle those very dark, ugly corners of the internet.

PAUL: Yes, very good point. Brian Stelter, thank you so much for all your work on this. I appreciate it.

STELTER: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Brian.

PAUL: Be sure to catch more Brian today. Of course, he's just getting started today. "RELIABLE SOURCES' at 11:00 a.m. is where you'll find him right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, cryptocurrency has been touted as the future of finance. But last week has some investors second guessing that notion. The ups and downs of an untested market and analysis coming up after a quick break. Stay with us.

[06:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: I know you have heard it. Decentralized and digital cryptocurrency has been described as the future of money. It's made some investors extraordinarily rich though others have lost millions.

SANCHEZ: Including in the last week when several cryptocurrencies collapsed, even those believed to be among the most stable. That raised alarm among some of the nation's top financial regulators.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voiceover): It's touted as nearly impossible to counterfeit, fast to transfer, keeping users anonymous, and not beholden to any central bank. The appeal of cryptocurrency has led to skyrocketing value. Its market cap peaking at $3 trillion before recently dropping to $1.2 trillion.

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: Well, it's a future of currency. It's an unstoppable financial vehicle that's going to take over the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get that, but what is it man?

SANCHEZ: Made possible by blockchain technology, the most popular cryptocurrencies are virtually mined. Sophisticated software crunching complex, computational math problems with the first to find a solution winning a block of digital coins which users can then sell.

Boosted by an unprecedented level of easy money in low-interest rates and stimulus spending, cryptocurrencies soared the last couple of years.

[06:40:20]

FRANCIS SUAREZ, MAYOR OF MIAMI: And it's already changed the way our system works.

SANCHEZ: Investors, entrepreneurs, and even governments bought in. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez pushing to make the city the U.S. crypto capital. And El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as an official currency.

NAYIB BUKELE, PRESIDENT, EL SALVADOR: In El Salvador, we are trying to rescue this idea and it started to sign up our country for the future.

SANCHEZ: But the mining process consumes tons of energy which presents serious environmental concerns. The anonymity also invites crime. Crypto has been used for everything from buying illicit drugs to paying off hackers and ransomware attacks. Critics also charged that crypto scams are rampant.

The mania has led to instability. Prices spiking and crashing, and in the last month alone, close to a trillion dollars' worth of value has been lost.

SANCHEZ (on camera): Given the extreme volatility in cryptocurrency markets, a newer kind of coin has become increasingly popular. Stable coins like Tether are backed by hard assets, things like bonds. They allow users of Tether to exchange one coin for one U.S. dollar at any given time.

Similarly, algorithmic stable coins, like TerraUSD are not backed by hard assets, but a nebulous term called financial engineering that ties it to the U.S. dollar. That financial engineering has recently spooked investors. And over the last few days, both of these coins have faltered.

SANCHEZ (voiceover): Tether, the world's largest stable coin, broke its peg from the U.S. dollar before rebounding. And TerraUSD fell into a death spiral dropping to just 16 cents as of Saturday. Terra's sister coin Luna also lost more than 90 percent of its value in just 24 hours.

ETHAN WU, FINANCIAL TIMES: They're built on these quite complicated mechanisms that rely on people trusting the system. And as soon as trust evaporates, the entire thing can collapse.

SANCHEZ: The drop triggering a panic with a recent report indicating that regulators at the Federal Reserve are concerned little oversight could doom confidence in the entire digital economy.

WU: I think right now is the kind of pivotal testimony for crypto to either prove the doubters wrong that there is something new, different, and valuable here, or I think the entire industry will start to look like a very bizarre sideshow that people should ignore.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (on camera): Let's dig deeper now with Marcus Sotiriou. He is a crypto analyst at Global Block. Marcus, thanks for sharing part of your Sunday morning with us. It wasn't just crypto this last week, the U.S. stock market also seeing intense volatility in recent days. How do crypto markets impact the broader picture on Wall Street? Could they have an impact on the economy more broadly?

MARCUS SOTIRIOU, CRYPTO ANALYST: I think in the future, a crypto would definitely have a sizable impact on the economy. But at the moment, we're starting to see the global markets actually have a big impact on crypto. So, as we've seen throughout the past six months, the Fed have started to tighten. And this is effective crypto markets as they start correlating with risk on assets like stocks. And that's why we start to see crypto come down a little self-brush over the last six months as we start to see that correlation take place.

And that's mainly just due to these macro headwinds. And as cryptos become more institutionalized, we've now seen crypto start to really sort of follow risk on assets whilst these macro headwinds are in place.

SANCHEZ: The argument from regulators, including at the Fed, perhaps not surprisingly, is that more oversight would help to stabilize crypto markets. How soon do you think we're going to see an attempt to impose more strict regulations on cryptocurrencies and trading?

SOTIRIOU: Well, I think after the widely known UST stable coin collapse last week, I think regulation to not just do with stable coins, but also around the whole crypto space is fairly imminent. We saw Janet Yellen, the U.S. Secretary of Treasury, say the day after UST's collapse, that stable coins at this moment in time cannot thoroughly impact the global financial system, but they have the potential to grow to a size in which they can actually impact the financial system.

So, we've seen this recognition here from the top lawmakers here that you know, crypto can actually impact the financial system. I think this recognition and the UST stable coin collapse proves that yes, the regulators will come and force but I don't think that it will necessarily be a negative impact on crypto. I also think it' certainly necessary that, you know, the big money and the institution from Wall Street to come in with size. I think we actually need this regulation. And I don't see it as a bad thing -- bad thing at all.

[06:45:41]

SANCHEZ: Yes, it sounds like you're still bullish on crypto long term. So, what's your advice to someone who perhaps is curious about it, doesn't exactly know how it works, but knows that you can get rich off of crypto and maybe you want to invest some money in it? SOTIRIOU: Sure. So, yes, I'm definitely still bullish for the long

term of crypto. I think that over this next decade, we're going to start seeing to, you know, have a have a an exponential increase in user adoption. We're starting to -- well, we've seen already that crypto has grown at double the pace of what the internet did.

So, that's just goes to show despite the extreme volatility, that's the actual growth of the networks behind these crypto-assets are growing tremendously. And I think that you can -- you can easily be scared by this extreme volatility, but if you look behind the volatility in terms of the actual user growth, we're actually growing at an exponential rate.

And I think of way in which you can counter this extreme volatility, and a way of dealing with it is just invest small amounts, but frequently over a set period of time. So, then you can actually lower your average entry price. And I think that in these market conditions, whilst everyone's fearful, you might think, oh, that's a bit scary. I'm not sure if I want to invest in something that goes down that much.

Well, in actuality, we seen the long-term trend of crypto rise over the past 14 years and I think there's no reason to believe that this will suddenly just stop rising over the long term. I think that these are dips -- these huge dips in the markets are great opportunities to be a -- to be adding into your long-term investment.

SANCHEZ: Markets Sotiriou, we will keep watching the markets. We hope you'll come back to help us make sense of them. Thanks so much.

SOTIRIOU: Cheers. Thank you very much for having me.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

PAUL: Still ahead, tornadoes, large hail, and damaging winds. Millions of you are under that umbrella today for weather. We'll have your forecast coming up.

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PAUL: Well, today, 90 million of you are under the threat of severe weather. We're talking about everything from thunderstorms to hail, possible tornadoes. And of course, I'm not here to tell you much about that but somebody else is, right, Boris?

SANCHEZ: That's right, Christi. Let's get to CNN's Allison Chinchar. She's live at the CNN Weather Center for us. Alison, what can we expect today? It seems like a bit of everything all over the map.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is and it's a very widespread storm too. I mean, you look at all this red shaded area here. Those are all the locations that have the potential to have strong or even severe thunderstorms at some point today. So, you're talking a lot of states.

So, let's kind of break it down. The main concern, anywhere you see this green color right here has the potential for those strongest severe thunderstorms. But the target point is really going to be kind of closer towards the mid-Mississippi River Valley and areas of the Southern Plains. Damaging winds and large hail, we're talking golf ball size or even larger, those are going to be the primary threats. But we can't rule out the potential for a few tornadoes as well, especially across areas of Arkansas and Missouri.

You already have some of these showers and thunderstorms ongoing, but we really see the potential for those stronger thunderstorms ramp up by the afternoon and continue into the evening hours. So, especially if you live, say, in Western Kentucky, Western Tennessee, areas of Northern Mississippi, please make sure you have a way to get those emergency alerts before you go to bed tonight.

Now, tomorrow the system progresses off to the east. And that means all of these areas from Maine back down to Georgia have the potential for severe storms tomorrow. The threats remain the same. We're still talking damaging winds, hail, and even some tornadoes. But the focal point for tomorrow really kind of centers over areas of the Northeast and the Mid Atlantic.

So, Washington D.C., New York, stretching up towards Syracuse. These are all going to be the areas that we're really focused on for the date Monday. Same thing as you're starting off your Monday commute. You may have a couple of those isolated showers and thunderstorms ahead of time, but Boris and Christi, for tomorrow the main concern is really going to be the afternoon commute for a lot of folks along the east coast.

PAUL: Good to know. Allison Chinchar. Thank you for the heads up.

CHINCHAR: Thanks.

PAUL: And I want to let you know about something going on tonight. An all new episode of "NOMAD WITH CARLTON MCCOY" premieres tonight. Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLTON MCCOY, CNN HOST: Cheers, guys. Cheers, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cheers.

MCCOY: Cheers, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Carlton, come on. You got to cook this cold plate. And that's -- we don't have baking powder and baking soda.

MCCOY: Then we'll whip the egg whites and the yolks. That'll add some -- see, I got something out of culinary school.

It brings me a ton of joy to cook for my family. Most of the recipes in a Black home are not written down.

Do you use scrape like this, Vicky? You get a lot of like corn milk out of it. It looks like a starch.

You've got to watch and learn and use your senses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, how many more eggs you need?

[06:55:18]

MCCOY: Topaz McCoy annoying me for 39 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MCCOY: These are the recipes that my grandmother taught me that I'm now passing down to my nieces.

Let's go. Let's go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's time to eat.

MCCOY: The magazines and -- it's a great magazine.

This is the continuation of our culture inheritance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Be sure to catch "NOMAD WITH CARLTON MCCOY" tonight at 10:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

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