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NEW DAY SUNDAY

The U.S. Is Ramping Up Cyber Attacks On Russia?; Tens Of Thousands Protest In Hong Kong Over Controversial Bill; Crew Members Of Oil Tanker Attack Arrive Safely In Dubai; Presidential Candidates To Face Questions At Poor People's Forum; Two Tornadoes Tear Through Indiana; Phoenix Mayor Apologizes After Video Of Family Held At Gunpoint; Supreme Court To Weigh 24 Cases In The Next Two Weeks; 10th Suspect Arrested In Connection To MLB All-Star Shooting. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired June 16, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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


[06:00:13]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. has targeted Russia's electrical power grid and planted potentially crippling malware and it's reportedly been placed without President Trump's knowledge.

DAVID SANGER, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: What makes this particularly interesting to the chairman of the joint chiefs, the intelligence officials and others are reluctant to give very in-depth briefings to the president on issues related to Russia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president can't be trusted with this kind of information. Therefore, the security services are hesitant to give it to him.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Joe Biden does not have what it takes. Now, I see that Pocahontas is doing better. I would love to run against her, frankly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can expect some attacks on Joe Biden, but you are going to see more attention on Elizabeth Warren.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hong Kong people have been lied to so many times that we have learned that the governments cannot be trusted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning to you. You're up early on a Sunday. But we're glad for it. I'm Christi Paul.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Martin Savidge in for Victor Blackwell. Happy Father's Day to all dads.

PAUL: Happy Father's Day to you.

SAVIDGE: Thank you.

PAUL: Specifically to this guy.

So it is a counter punch and a cyber cold war with Russia. "The New York Times" reporting the U.S. has deployed potentially crippling computer code into Russia's electric power grid.

SAVIDGE: "The Times" calls it a land mine in a foreign power network. They report that the malware can be used for surveillance or attack. But either way, it's sending a message -- quote -- "intended partly as a warning, and partly to be poised to conduct cyber strikes if a major conflict broke out between Washington and Moscow."

PAUL: You might expect the president to be directly involved in signing off on something like this attack. You would think so, right? Well, two administration officials told "The Times" they believed President Trump had not been briefed in any detail about this U.S. computer code. And he is lashing out now on that report.

SAVIDGE: We are covering this story from a number of different angles. We have CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood live at the White House and we have CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance live from Moscow.

Let's start with Matthew first. Good morning. I know it's not morning, but what are we hearing from the Russians on all of this?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Martin, it has actually been quite a muted response so far. It is a Sunday of course and the Kremlin can wake up to this a bit later on but so far they haven't issued a statement. But the response in the Russian press, which is always a way of gauging what the view of the Kremlin will be has been relatively muted.

They've said for instance it's not surprising that your country should be probing each other's cyber defenses in this way. But they've also -- a number of them have been pointing at the hypocrisy of this, saying what would the hysterical reaction be in the United States if a report come out the other way around saying that Russia had implanted this kind of disruptive code into the U.S. infrastructure?

In general, though, it's not going obviously be a good thing for the relationship between the United States and Russia. It's already strained over a whole range of issues.

A couple of days ago Vladimir Putin gave an interview on television saying the relationship between the U.S. and Russia is getting worse and worse. It's already strained over Syria, over Ukraine, over allegations of Russian meddling in U.S. elections. This is yet another issue on that very tetchy relationship between the two former Cold War rivals, Martin.

PAUL: All right. Matthew Chance, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.

The Pentagon and intelligence officials told "The Times" there was -- quote -- "hesitation in briefing the president on the malware operation." So, we want to go to CNN White House Reporter, Sarah Westwood because, Sarah, I think that most people would expect the president to know about something like this.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Christi. Most people would, but "The Times" reports that administration officials were able to conduct this operation without presidential approval because of little notice powers that were slipped into the military authorization bill that Congress passed last year.

Basically, it allowed the military to conduct certain operations, clandestine operations in cyberspace the same way they would conduct routine land or air operations that didn't need express permission from the president to be carried out every time they do that in the field. And so that's what cyber command used in this instance to be able to conduct these incursions into the Russian power grid without seeking presidential approval.

And "The Times" attributed that hesitation to brief President Trump fully on this to appear (ph) that perhaps he would discuss this operation with foreign leaders or that he would be hesitant to do something that could rock that relationship that he seems to value so highly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

[06:05:01]

Now reacting to "The Times" reporting yesterday, President Trump denied the story. He wrote on Twitter, "Do you believe that the failing New York Times just did a story stating that the United States is substantially increasing Cyber Attacks on Russia. This is a virtual act of treason by a once great paper so desperate for a story, any story, even if bad for our country. Also not true."

And then he goes on to attack the media continuously in that tweet but "The New York Times" responded in a statement defending its reporting and writing, "Accusing the press of treason is dangerous. We described in the article to the government before publication. As our story notes, President Trump's own national security official said there were no concerns." And that is, indeed, noted in "The Times" reporting that "The Times" reporters brought this reporting to national security officials who didn't have a problem with it.

"The Times" speculated that perhaps that was because the U.S. wanted these incursions to be known. Now, of course, this all out publicly that the U.S. has burrowed deep into the Russian power grids, Christi and Martin.

SAVIDGE: Yes. There's no question the president is fuming over this one. Sarah Westwood, thank you very much for that.

PAUL: So as you heard this was not a case of the president sitting in the situation room surrounded by his advisers as they coordinated the operation. For more on why that didn't happen in that way, CNN spoke with one of the co-authors of "The New York Times" report last night. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANGER: What makes this particularly interesting, though, as we know from other reporting in other cases that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the intelligence officials and others are reluctant to give very in-depth briefings to the president on issues related to Russia for the uncertainty about how he'll react.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: CNN Political Analyst, Toluse Olorunnipa -- excuse me there -- White House reporter for "The Washington Post", good to have you here with us, Toluse. So have you ever seen a situation like this, a scenario like this, dealing with national security where the president would not be advised?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No, this is an unprecedented set of circumstances where the president's advisers are treating him kind of like a Faberge egg where they do not want to have his ego impacted by the fact that they're moving against Russia. They know that the president can be impetuous at times and sometimes he can take action that can basically upend well-laid plans about national security and we've seen the president spill information to Russian officials in the Oval Office that was classified.

We've seen the president stop plans by about the national -- by his treasury department to levy sanctions at the last minute. So it's very clear that the national security officials who are part of this program are not wanting the president to learn about this and stop it before they can move forward with a very complex set of plans that they have to burrow into the Russian power grid.

So it is unprecedented but it's clear that we've seen in the Mueller report, we've seen in a number of tell-all books that people that are close to the president are worried that he might take actions to upend the plans that they -- that they worked on for months to protect the national security of the U.S.

PAUL: Are intelligence officials required to alert the president of something like this?

OLORUNNIPA: In most cases you would say yes, but in this case it does appear that they do have the authority as some military officials have in the field to take action without coming to the commander-in-chief first. They have some broad authority to act on their own.

That seems like they're using that to the full extent that they have to make sure that they can act without necessarily briefing the president in full, and the president has said that he's going to leave a lot of the decision-making to his generals out in the field. And we think that mostly in terms of military action in the kinetic way but also -- it also applies to cyber warfare, which happens online and in the cyber arena.

So it does appear that the president did give this authority to his officials and they're using it to his full extent.

PAUL: Now, you know, we heard the reaction from Russia there from Matt saying that they -- the Russians are saying this is very hypocritical, that the U.S. would be hysterical had this happened the other way around. Essentially it did happen the other way around, didn't it, with the 2016 election.

OLORUNNIPA: Yes. And "The New York Times" story lays out very clearly that the U.S. officials realized that after the 2016 elections and after the Russians became much more aggressive in intruding into not only the U.S. power grid but also the U.S. electoral system that they needed to do more. And I think that's -- this is what we're seeing from this "New York Times" story, is that this is a reaction to what the Russians have already done.

PAUL: So is there concern, do you think, that Russia could use this as its own reason, it's own reasoning to react and do something similar?

[06:10:08]

Even though we know that, obviously, Russia has already tried to infiltrate the U.S. on cyber level in some case, but could they see this as provocation from the U.S. and react?

OLORUNNIPA: Yes. That is the delicate balance that these various cyber security officials are dealing with. They realized they don't want to escalate things too far and have a situation where you were in another Cold War in the online space with Russia but at the same time they want the Russians to know that we are able to take action if they do not sort of pull back because we have seen the Russians be very aggressive over the past few years, not only interfering with the U.S. election system but also taking steps with Ukraine and with the U.S. power grid to show that they have the opportunity and the ability to infiltrate our system.

So, I think the national security officials wanted to show that they have the ability to punch back if Russia decides to take any action but they didn't want to go to the full extent, to the extent that we're in a Cold War with Russia. And it's clear that they didn't want the president to know about this because the president also does not want to be in a Cold War with Russia either.

PAUL: My goodness. Toluse Olorunnipa, we appreciate you being here. Thank you, sir.

OLORUNNIPA: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Demonstrators are flooding the streets of Hong Kong. They're protesting a controversial extradition bill. What they're demanding be done? We'll take you there live.

PAUL: And the crew of an oil tanker attacked in the Gulf of Oman has arrived safely in Dubai. We're talking about how they're doing and what's next.

SAVIDGE: Also, two tornadoes hit parts of Indiana. We'll take a closer look at the damage they left behind. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:26] SAVIDGE: Right now a massive human wave of demonstrators are flooding the streets of Hong Kong despite the suspension of a controversial bill that would allow for criminals to be extradited to the Chinese mainland.

PAUL: And look at all of the people out there. Organizers have a list of demands, including resignation of the city's embattled leader Carrie Lam.

CNN Senior International Correspondent, Ivan Watson with us from Hong Kong. Is there any indication, Ivan, that these protests are working?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, look at what a difference just four days makes, Christi, because on Wednesday riot police were tear gassing demonstrators in this very park. Firing rubber bullets, clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement. And now this is just a tiny bit of the sea of humanity.

People dressed in black, marching through the streets of this city. They're demanding three basic things right now. They're calling out what they claim is police brutality in the clashes on Wednesday that left at least 80 people wounded.

They're demanding the resignation of the chief executive of the city, Carrie Lam, and they're also calling for the complete withdrawal of this controversial extradition law. Now, on Saturday the local government suspended temporarily the procedure, the passing of that law in what was clearly a concession, a major concession after the most dramatic week in politics that Hong Kong has seen in years.

When the government refused to back down and only after raging battles took place here and violence did the government suddenly blink and back down. Ultimately one of the big problems here is the people we see here do not trust neither the government of Hong Kong, and this is more important, nor the central government in mainland China, which would never tolerate mass shows of dissent like this neither in the media nor out in the streets -- Christi, Martin.

SAVIDGE: CNN's Ivan Watson there giving us the breakdown as to exactly why this protest is taking place.

PAUL: So CNN Correspondent and -- Ivan, thank you so much. CNN Correspondent, Matt Rivers is with the protesters now. What are you seeing there in the midst of everything, Matt?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm seeing a protest that shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, people where we are are trying to join the march. And they're not going anywhere because there's so many people.

Look at what's behind me here. The street that you see at the intersection down the road there, that's the main march route. All the people that are closer to me, they're just waiting to join the march. And they can barely do that because there's so many people in that street that they can't actually join because no one's moving.

And yet, they're not leaving. They're still here. It shows how passionate these people are.

It's very calm but it is very energetic. They are demanding all the things that Ivan just laid out.

And he's right. I live in mainland China normally. I'm just here covering this story. This would never be allowed in mainland China.

And part of the reason in addition to the extradition bill, in addition to calling for Carrie Lam's resignation, part of the reason these people are here -- and let's show them one more time, Natalie -- part of the reason these people are here is because they do not want to be like mainland China. They do not want Hong Kong to be just like any other Chinese city where they can't protest and they don't have democratic style freedoms, and that's why these protesters aren't going home and these protests are going to continue likely for some time to come.

PAUL: Matt, I know that they are peaceful protests. When we talk about the enormity of this crowd, last Sunday I think they said they -- they anticipated or they had estimated about a million people were involved there. Do you believe this is bigger?

RIVERS: Yes. It certainly has the potential to either reach that number or get bigger. I'm not really sure, I'm no expert on crowd size, but the amount of time I've been out on these streets and every single street you go to, it is jam packed with people.

So if it doesn't hit a million, it's going to probably get very close. And that shows how motivated people are.

Just a week ago there were a million people out there. And we thought there might be protest fatigue. It doesn't look like there's any fatigue here.

PAUL: Very good point. Matt Rivers, thank you so much.

SAVIDGE: All 23 -- that is -- crew members from that oil tanker that was attacked in the Gulf of Oman have arrived safely in Dubai. The shipping company Frontline says that everyone's well and have been well looked after.

[06:20:05]

While in Iran, the ship is still in the gulf and will be inspected for damage.

PAUL: Now the cause of the incident is still not known. President Trump is convinced Iran is responsible, as is the U.K. The U.S. also believes Iran fired a missile at a U.S. drone hours before the attack but missed.

SAVIDGE: Coming up, 2020 Democratic candidates will be taking questioning at the Poor People's forum tomorrow. We'll ask Reverend Barber, the man behind the initiative, what he hopes to hear from the candidates. PAUL: And the mayor of Phoenix is promising action after this video of the family being held by police at gunpoint has really sparked outrage amongst so many people. What the mayor is saying about the disturbing police encounter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: I want to ask you a question. Do you know who's living in poverty in this country? You might be surprised. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY JO HUTCHINSON, WHEELING, VIRGINIA RESIDENT: I'm 46 years old. I've lived in poverty here in West Virginia every day of my life.

And I'm working. I am a working poor with a bachelor's degree. I'm doing the best I can with what I have.

ERIC WINSTON, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: I'm a second generation fast food worker. And I've experienced the cycle of poverty firsthand.

STANLEY STURGILL, LYNCH, KENTUCKY RESIDENT: I worked 41 years in the coal mines.

[06:25:02]

I have black lungs.

DAN LUKER, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENT: I'm a Vietnam veteran. My only chance of going to college was joining the army.

PAMELA RUSH, LOWNDES COUNTY, ALABAMA RESIDENT: Hi, my name is Pamela Rush. I'm from Lowndes County, Alabama. And I live in a mobile home with my two kids. And I got raw sewage. I don't have no money.

LONDON BLAKELY, DETROIT, MICHIGAN RESIDENT: In my community we were also (ph) (INAUDIBLE) because none of us can afford our water bills. In the past my family wasn't able to afford electricity in the winter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: That is a video from the Poor People's Campaign Web site. Reverend William Barber is the co-leader of that campaign, trying to challenge the evils of racism, of poverty in this country. The group is holding a 2020 presidential forum tomorrow. It's happening in Washington.

Several candidates involving former Vice President Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders as well, will be attending, and Reverend Barber is with us now.

Reverend, thank you so much. We appreciate you being here.

REV. WILLIAM BARBER, CO-CHAIR, POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN: Thank you so much. PAUL: I understand that of all the people that are attending, you're going to be taking questions -- or they're going to be taking questions directly from you, directly from some of the advocates that are there. What do you anticipate they will be dealing with?

BARBER: Yes, thank you so much. My co-chair Reverend Liz Theoharis and other candidates like Kamala Harris and Senator Warren, 10 presidential candidates, the largest forum (ph) of its type (ph) so far. They'll be taking questions from the 140 people representing the 140 million poor people in this country. 43.5 percent of this country live in poverty and low wealth, 39 million children, 21 million seniors above 65.

We have 26 million black people, 38 million Latino people and 66 million white people. This represents every race, color and creed. And the people who are in poverty are going to be raising questions, talking about the connection between systematic racism, policy racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and militarism, and the distorted moral narrative of religious national. What we call the interlocking injustices that are impacting 43.5 percent of this country.

And they're going to tell us stories, but also talk about the policy that must be implemented, not based on left, not based on right, not based on conservative or liberal or Democratic or Republican, but based on our deepest moral values out of our constitution and our deepest moral values out of our religious tenets that demand that poverty ought to be addressed up front in any nation.

PAUL: What do you think --

BARBER: In 2016 -- go ahead.

PAUL: I'm sorry. I just wanted to say, what do you think they are going to specifically ask of these candidates?

BARBER: Well, we're going to release a moral poverty budget tomorrow as well in the morning. They're going to be talking about living wages. They're going to be talking about how we have to have social safety nets for the poor rather than giving more corporate welfare to the wealthy.

They're going to be talking about why health care is so critical. They're going to be asking candidates questions like, what do you think about the fact that we've seen racist voter suppression like we haven't seen since the days of Jim Crow. And guess what? The persons that mostly benefit from racist voter suppression, when they get into office they pass policies that hurt mostly white people.

All of the states that are racist voter suppression, gerrymandering states are the same states that have the highest child poverty, the highest women in poverty, the lowest wages, the lack of health care and so forth and so on. They are interlocking injustices.

And so we're going to be raising, first, the awareness and then talking about why we've got to get rid of this racist voter suppression. Why we need health care for everybody. Why we have to fully fund public education, and so on and on forth.

PAUL: Reverend, might I ask you, you say that we need to get honest about the politics of rejection. What do you mean by that?

BARBER: Mm-hmm. That we are rejecting too many people. This Poor People's Campaign and our work is a game-changer. It's saying, let's focus on the rejected.

We cannot continue to keep rejecting the poor, rejecting the hurting, and only talking about the middle class and the wealthy. That is only a way for this country to be disempowered. And this is bigger than the next election.

This is about whether America can be America itself. It is about our long-term health as a country. You cannot have 43.5 percent of your people basically ignored. And you have presidential campaigns like we had in 2016 (ph) and not have one hour of any debate was focused on poverty, even though 43.5 percent of your people in poverty and 250,000 people die every year from poverty.

[06:30:04]

PAUL: Now, 2020 hopeful Amy Klobuchar, she's talked about poverty in the country. Let's listen together to what she said here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): Democrats, we must take on child poverty. Today, 50 million children in America are living in poverty. There are children who fall asleep at their desk because they can't get a good night sleep when they don't have a bed or a home.

Virginia democrats, we can do this. We can cut child poverty in half in ten years and end child poverty in a generation. We can do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Reverent, are you hopeful that 2020 is going to be different than 2016?

BARBER: Well, I have to be honest about that. First of all, the numbers are wrong. There are 39 million children in poverty and low wealth. And we can't wait a generation. We can't wait ten years. And there are 62 million people who work every day for low wealth, below the living wage, and at 37 million people without healthcare and 4 million people that get up every morning and they can't buy unleaded water but they can buy unleaded gas. We can't keep talking about generational change in 10 and 20 years. These are problems we must address now.

I'm hopeful that it's mentioned, but we must get more serious about the immediacy of the issue. That's right.

PAUL: Reverent, I just have a couple seconds here, but I want to ask you, as I understand it that you did invite President Trump to attend as well. Did you get a response from him? BARBER: No, we didn't. In fact, our campaign invited the others who were talking about running on that other side of the hour (ph), because we're not interested in this left/right puny, anemic debate. We're interested in the moral center, establishing justice and caring for the least of these.

And we're inviting everybody because it's a time this country -- we must stand up and challenge all of our elected leaders to address systematic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism, Otherwise, our country is in deep trouble.

PAUL: Reverent William Barber, we appreciate you taking the time to be with us. Good luck at the event tomorrow.

BARBER: Thank you. God bless you.

PAUL: Thank you, sir. You too.

SAVIDGE: Still to come, violent weather in the Midwest. Indiana slammed by at least two confirmed tornadoes. We'll have more on this severe weather that's expected today, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:00]

PAUL: I want to show you what was happening in Central Indiana. This is yet one of two tornadoes that hit there yesterday. This was from Ellettsville. That dark funnel there cloud in the distance, you would not want to be at home and see that thing coming at you.

SAVIDGE: No. That's a clear warning sign there. This area was under a tornado watch yesterday. And there are now reports of damaged buildings and downed trees.

CNN's Allison Chinchar joins us with a kind of look ahead.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And, unfortunately, we are expecting much of the same today that we had yesterday. Look at yesterday, over 100 total storm reports. 18 of those were reported tornadoes. They'll have to go out and survey the damage to see exactly whether or not more of those tornadoes will get confirmed.

Right now, you have strong storms moving through cities like Cincinnati, Louisville, also around Springfield, Missouri and even Dallas, Texas. The threat for severe today extends from Texas all the way over towards New Jersey. But the threats remain the same. We're still talking damaging winds, the potential for hail, and, yes, even some possible tornadoes.

There are two waves that are going to move through a city like Louisville or even Cincinnati, the first this morning, then that second one that moves through later on this afternoon and evening. That first wave, however, that's going to impact cities like New York and Boston later on tonight. Further out to the west, other places like Dallas, Oklahoma City, even Little Rock also looking at the potential for some showers and thunderstorms this evening. And, unfortunately, Martin and Christi, the long-term concern becomes flooding, as we do expect about two to four inches of widespread rain over the next several days.

SAVIDGE: We talked a lot about flooding.

PAUL: No doubt. All right, thank you so much, Allison. I appreciate it.

So the Mayor of Phoenix is apologizing. Still trying to clarify exactly what she's saying in that apology, but she's apologizing after the video of officers drawing guns on this family sparked outrage on social media.

SAVIDGE: The video from late night show, as police attempting to arrest a couple after their four-year-old daughter walked out of the dollar store with a doll. In a video, one officer can be hear cursing and threatening to shoot the mother as she is holding her daughter while another child stands by her side. And then there is another officer who is seen kicking and cursing at the father.

CNN's Natasha Chen joins us now.

And, Natasha, the Mayor's apology comes after the family notified that were going to be suing the city for, I believe, around $10 million.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. They have filed a notice of claim, basically. And the Mayor is calling for a community forum at this point on Tuesday because of this. Let's read part of her statement from yesterday.

Mayor Kate Gallego says, I am deeply sorry for what this family went through and I apologize to our community. This is not who we are and I refuse to allow this type of behavior to go unchallenged.

I recognize that to get to the bottom of this issue and implement meaningful change, we are going to have to have some uncomfortable and painful conversations. Now, these conversations must continue until every one of our residents feel safe in our community.

Then the statement comes as we're also hearing more from the police summary of events as well. An affiliate of ours has obtained a detailed police report. The officers in that report do mentioned they used loud and strong language but does not mention some of the profanity and aggression we've seen in this video.

As you can see there, there is one officer who kicks the leg out from under Dravon Ames and we see another officer at one point drawing a gun on the mom coming out of the car. They're slightly different accounts of what happened between the police and this family. But all parties agree the four-year-old seems to have had a doll from the store that was not paid for. That doll was returned and no one was charged with any alleged theft.

PAUL: All right, we'll keep up on this one. Natasha Chen, thank you so much.

SAVIDGE: Well, it is a race to the finish for the U.S. Supreme Court and the consequences could not be higher.

Coming up, CNN Supreme Court Reporter Ariane de Vogue breaks down the decisions that could impact elections for decades to come. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

SAVIDGE: The next two weeks will be a race to the finish for the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court has until the end of the month to rule on two dozen cases, two of which could impact elections for decades to come.

And with the balance at the court now at five conservative and four liberal justices, well, there's a lot more added scrutiny on the court.

CNN Supreme Court Reporter Ariane de Vogue joins me now.

Good morning to you, Ariane.

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Good morning, Martin.

SAVIDGE: All right. Let's talk about first what has to get done and also what would be considered the most consequential issues the courts tackle.

DE VOGUE: Right, we're reaching the end of this term. And as soon as Monday, we could hear whether the Supreme Court is going to take up a case about DACA. That's that Obama era program. It gives protection to young immigrants who were brought here as children. The Trump administration moved to terminate it. That was blocked by the lower courts. And we could hear Monday whether they'll take that up for next term.

But also, we're waiting for opinions. One of the biggest cases of the term, of course, is that census case, whether or not the Trump administration can add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The government says that that's important to better comply with the Voting Rights Act. But challengers here say that that is pretext, that that question is there to intimidate minorities and to hurt their political representation.

And there's another case on partisan gerrymandering. The court will decide how far states can go in drawing those district lines for partisan gain. Some people think that the conservatives will say, look, courts can't step in here, but others say the courts need to step in, because it's going so far.

[06:45:06]

And then there's an important religious liberty case. Not far from here is a 40-foot cross on public land. Some say that that violates the separation between church and state.

So those are the cases, like you said, there's 24. And it all have to be decided by the end of this month.

SAVIDGE: Let me ask you about Chief Justice John Roberts, a lot of focus on him here. Of course, he is the Chief Justice. But beyond that, why is there so much focus now?

DE VOGUE: Well, look, for so many years, it was Justice Anthony Kennedy who played such a central role on this court. He was the swing vote. He decided certain cases, siding with the liberals, for instance, on LGBT rights, abortion cases. Then he retired. He is replaced by Justice Kavanaugh, who's further to the right. That leaves Chief Justice John Roberts playing a central role in this court.

And it's been interesting to see him this term, because in the beginning of the term, after those contentious Kavanaugh hearings, he gave a speech. And he said, look, we are not political. We're the legal branch here. We're different than the other branches of government.

And then in the middle of the term, remember, the President was really striking out against judges. And, again, Roberts stepped in with this very unusual and rare statement. And he said, look, we're not Obama judges. We're not Trump judges. We're neutral decision-makers.

And now, here we are at the end of the term. And, of course, there are these politically-charged cases that are awaiting. And he is going to have to balance his institutional concerns for the reputation of the court against his own judicial philosophy.

And so we're really going to see that playing out in the next few weeks as he grapples, has this central vote, with these big, important, politically-charged cases, Martin.

SAVIDGE: Yes, they all are. And there's no question, people are going to be sort of reading the tea leaves here, not just what is said but how it is said.

Ariane de Vogue, good to see you this morning. Thanks very much for sort of laying it out for us.

DE VOGUE: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Christi?

PAUL: Well, the U.S. is back playing at the Women's World Cup today, hammering -- or after hammering and some say humiliating Thailand. Team USA, they're not apologizing.

SAVIDGE: Former Football great O.J. Simpson is staking his claim to a bit of cyberspace. He's joined Twitter. Now, he says he wants to set the record straight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) O.J. SIMPSON, FORMER AMERICAN FOOTBALL BACK: This should be a lot of fun. I've got a little getting even to do. So, God bless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

PAUL: Well, 51 minutes past the hour right now. And a tenth suspect has been arrested now in connection with the shooting of MLB All-Star David Ortiz. Authorities haven't revealed his identity yet. Apparently, he turned himself in though and is expected to be charged.

SAVIDGE: The previous nine suspects arrested in the shooting are being held on what's called pre-trial detention. They could be held for up to a year. Prosecutors hope that they will be revealing a motive for the shooting next week.

And then there's this. O.J. Simpson has joined Twitter, saying that he wants to set the record straight.

PAUL: Well, at the year after his release from prison, O.J. Simpson launched a new Twitter account Friday, it happened Friday night, actually, with a selfie video.

Now, the Tweet came a couple days after the 25th anniversary of the death of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. And since Friday, he's picked up more than 430,000 followers.

His reason for starting the account, well, listen to this for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMPSON: Hey, Twitter world, this is yours truly. Now, coming soon to Twitter, you'll get to read all my thoughts and opinions on just about everything.

Now, there's a lot of fake O.J. accounts out there. So this one @therealoj32 is the only official one. So it should be a lot of fun. I've got a lot of getting even to do

So, God bless. Take care.

PAUL: Getting even and God bless. Do those two go together?

SAVIDGE: No, they don't. They go together at all.

But, anyway, apparently the Lakers' LeBron and a big trade go together.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

PAUL: Yes. What's going on Coy? WIRE: So this big trade with Anthony Davis from the Pelicans instantly makes the Lakers a championship contender for next season. You're talking about LeBron and Unibrow.

Vegas already has them as the favorites at three to one odds to win the title next season. The Lakers, they had to ship three of their core young players to New Orleans for Davis, most notably Lonzo Ball, also three first round draft picks, including a number four pick in Thursday's draft, this all according to ESPN.

The Pelicans, they already have the number one overall pick, likely to be Zion Williamson.

Team USA returning to the pitch at Women's World Cup after a dominating and controversial 13-0 win over Thailand. Many criticized the U.S. for celebrating goals late in the game, saying it was in poor taste. But they are not apologizing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGAN RAPINOE, USWNT FORWARD: That sort of explosion of joy was very genuine for us. And, honestly, I think we needed it. I think our lead up has been heavy everything off the field, all the pressure that's on us all the time, for us to just be able to go and play and enjoy ourselves and bring or bench into it, like we did.

Obviously, everyone wants to play. There are players on that bench that might not even get to see the field in this tournament. So to bring everyone in and have that feeling on the first day, which was the last match day, was really important for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. The USA plays Chile today at noon eastern.

Gary Woodland has a one-shot lead entering today's final round at the U.S. Open. And you may not know much about Woodland, but here's something that helps you understand what kind of man he is. Check out this sweet moment when he met an incredible young woman at a tournament earlier this year.

[06:55:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY WOODLAND, AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: How are you? Are you Amy?

AMY BOCKERSTETTE, GOLFER WITH DOWN SYNDROME: Yes.

WOODLAND: Give me a hug. I'm Gary. Nice to meet you.

BOCKERSTETTE: Nice to meet you too.

WOODLAND: I heard you're a good golfer.

BOCKERSTETTE: Yes.

WOODLAND: You are?

BOCKERSTETTE: Yes.

WOODLAND: You want to come to the hole with us?

BOCKERSTETTE: Yes.

WOODLAND: Come on, let's go.

Do you want to hit a shot?

BOCKERSTETTE: Yes.

WOODLAND: You do?

BOCKERSTETTE: Yes.

WOODLAND: All right. Let's do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: That is Amy Bockerstette. She's an avid golfer who has Down Syndrome. And Woodland welcomed her onto the course at the Phoenix Open to play the famous 16th hole with him. And I tell you what she did on this hole, she parred it.

PAUL: Yes.

WIRE: But the other golfers, she came out. And it was just a sweet moment and it just shows the character of this guy who we don't know much about.

He started playing basketball in college before going back to the University of Kansas to play golf. And now, potentially winning his first ever major today.

SAVIDGE: That is wonderful.

PAUL: That's an awesome story.

SAVIDGE: That does tell you a lot about the person, no doubt.

PAUL: Happy Father's Day, by the way.

WIRE: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Yes. Good to see you, Coy. Thanks.

PAUL: All right. There are huge protests in Hong Kong going on right now. Take a look at the people that are there. We're going to take you there live in the next hour of New Day. Just stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PAUL: The U.S. has targeted Russia's electrical power grid and planted potentially crippling malware. And it's reportedly been placed without President Trump's knowledge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What makes this particularly interesting to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the intelligence officials and others, are reluctant to give very in-depth briefings to the President on issues related to Russia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The President can't be trusted with this kind of information.