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CNN INTERNATIONAL: O.J. Simpson Dead At 76 After Cancer Battle; Biden Hosts Historic Trilateral Summit; Biden Admin Finalizes Rule To Close "Gun Show Loophole"; Speaker Johnson Faces Revolt Over Surveillance Law; Russian Airstrikes Destroy Kyiv's Largest Power Plant. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired April 11, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:41]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: It's 8:00 p.m. in London, 10:00 p.m. in Kyiv, 12:00 noon in Brentwood, California, 3:00 p.m. here in Washington. I'm Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM. And let's get right to the news.

We are following breaking news today.

O.J. Simpson has died at the age of 76 after a battle with cancer. He was one of the most defining figures of 20th century American popular culture, someone who transcended sports, culture, race, of course, a huge part of O.J. Simpson's legacy, his fall from grace, a dramatic one after making a fortune on the football field and on movie screens. His life changed forever when he was charged with killing his ex-wife and her friend, leading to what was arguably the highest profile criminal trial in us history.

CNN's Stephanie Elam has more on his life.

And, Stephanie, also just right at the most fractious points in the relations among the racism this country, too.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And it's truly interesting that O.J. Simpson was the one to bring a lot of this conversation back to the forefront of America's thought process at the time since he did not believe that he was really a man of any race at that point. But still when you look at his story overall, it is the rise of a superstar and a most dramatic fall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM (voice-over): O.J. Simpson soared to fame as number 32 for the Buffalo Bills.

O.J. SIMPSON, FORMER NFL SUPERSTAR: I'm sorry --

ELAM: And plummeted to infamy as inmate number 1027820 in the Nevada Department of Corrections.

In between, Simpson lead a life filled with more surreal drama than all of his various film and TV projects combined. Mass media experts say Simpson's sensational, televised, low speed chase, arrest, and murder trial --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doesn't fit, you must acquit.

ELAM: -- stand as the first reality show, and perhaps the greatest three bring television phenomenon ever.

At one point, the world heard O.J. Simpsons ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson say, I don't want to stay on the line. He's going to beat the shit out of me.

ELAM: Then later, Simpson was charged with the horrific murders by knife of Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ron and Nicole were butchered.

ELAM: The trial made lawyers and even witnesses household names.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Orenthal James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder.

ELAM: When the jury freed Simpson, celebration erupted in parts of Los Angeles but Simpson would never recapture his idol status. Simpson first brought into the national spotlight as the Heisman trophy winning running back at the University of Southern California.

Then 11 spectacular years with the NFL vaulted him to the pro Football Hall of Fame. Simpson cashed in on the popularity, becoming a pitch man for Hertz and an actor, becoming well-known for "The Naked Gun" movies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: O.J. Simpson, as you've never seen them before.

ELAM: Simpson played a lawman on screen and ran into trouble with the courts off-screen. He lost the multi-million-dollar wrongful death suit brought by the families of his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, then moved to Florida. In 2000, Simpson was accused of assault and a road rage incident in Miami. He was found not guilty.

In 2005, he was found guilty and fined for stealing satellite television. Then in 2007 in Las Vegas, police arrested him on several felony charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery. In that case, Simpson and armed accomplices raided a hotel room in what he called an attempt to just get back some of his stolen belongings.

SIMPSON: And I didn't know I was doing anything illegal. I thought I was confronting friends in retrieving my property.

ELAM: The Nevada jury never bought his story and instead sent him to prison. He was released on parole nine years later in the dead of night with no fanfare and no bright future, just the distinction of arguably the greatest rise and fall in pop culture history.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ELAM (on camera): And it's very important to take in the context of what Los Angeles was dealing with in the '90s when all of this happened. In 1991, Rodney King was beaten.

[15:05:01]

And that was the first time that a camera caught it on video. The camcorder, a man filmed it of those four police officers beating that Black man, sent it to a local station and the whole country got to see it.

When that case went to trial, and all four of those officers were acquitted, that led to the L.A. race riots in 1992, which was -- saw the parts of the city burning for a few days there. And then two years later, you have the murder of Kim Brown and also of Ron Goldman, and that case then leading to him being acquitted.

You saw a lot of people who felt like there was never justice for Black people here in the judicial system. So they were cheering because while they may not have been invested in and someone who they didn't feel like was very invested in the Black community, O.J. Simpson, they wanted to see that the system could sometimes work for a Black person.

So you really do have to take into context, Jim, what Los Angeles was dealing with at the time.

SCIUTTO: Los Angeles and the country, arguably. Stephanie, do stay with us.

I also want to bring in former investigative reporter David Goldstein. He was in the courtroom for the entire Simpson trial.

David, good to have you joining us well.

I want to ask you a very basic question -- when that not guilty verdict was delivered, you were there watching it happening. Did it surprise you? Did it come out of the blue?

DAVID GOLDSTEIN, FORMER L.A. INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, CBS2 & KCAL9: Oh, sure. It's surprised everybody. First of all, the speed the verdict was returned, surprised everybody after a long trial, a very intricate trial where it took them a week or two to present DNA evidence because that was so new to people at the time. So it was a long involved trial, and then to come back with a verdict so soon, that was a big surprise. And the verdict was a big surprise for a lot of people in Los Angeles and around the world.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

Jean, you covered O.J. later in life, which by the way a fair portion of it was in courtrooms, again, different charges and then nine years in prison. So despite that not guilty verdict in the courtroom for these murders, he -- well, he had a very difficult relationship with the law going forward. JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He sure did. And I remember when he

was first charged in Nevada because I'm actually licensed in Nevada, so I know the legal community at the time, and I was the correspondent that covered the trial. But I remember everyone's said, oh, now, now we're going to get justice because in Nevada, it is law and order here and you be careful because were going to get you. And that's exactly what happened.

I mean, this was a serious case. It was kidnapping. It was armed robbery. He wanted to get his personal trophies and pictures back, and he and his cohorts, his golfing buddies decided they were going to go to the hotel room where the -- now owner of them where he was, two of his cronies actually had guns. I don't even know if O.J. knew that they were going to carry the guns.

Well, one of the guns was pointed at the owner of that property, and so the charges theoretically correct to be charged and probably a correct conviction because it was kidnapping. There was under the law, armed robbery. But no one was hurt in all of that and I think people were surprised that the charges went to the degree they went and the conviction because it was a life felony.

But he was there at the courtroom every day for the trial. He had made bail and so he's walking around, talking to everybody very humble, very nice, not the person that is displayed as the potential murder suspect of his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, completely different.

SCIUTTO: And there were questions at the time whether that previous acquittal impacted the results of that case or how it was prosecuted.

CASAREZ: Yes, absolutely.

SCIUTTO: Stephanie, you mentioned the racial aspect of the time following the L.A. riots, the Rodney King beating. It was something that then President Bill Clinton was very aware of at the time because as this not guilty verdict came in, he spoke about it quite openly. I want to play some of that moment

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: In recent weeks, every one of us has been made aware of a simple truth White Americans and Black Americans often see the same world and drastically different ways, ways that go beyond and beneath the Simpson trial and its aftermath, which brought these perceptions so starkly into the open. The rift we see before us that is tearing at the heart of America exist in spite of the remarkable progress Black Americans have made in the last generation, since Martin Luther King swept America up in his dream, and President Johnson spoke so powerfully for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy in demanding that Congress guarantee full voting rights to Blacks.

[15:10:01]

The rift between Blacks and Whites exist still in a very special way on America, in spite of the fact that we have become much more racially and ethnically diverse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: He was speaking just 30 years after the passage of civil rights legislation. And here we are 30 years after that moment, Stephanie, as you know well, you've covered these stories closely -- the killing of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter protests and many of those issues, sadly still remain.

ELAM: Yeah, I think we have this fantasy that history marches towards the future --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

ELAM: -- in a timeline that is linear, right? Then we just keep improving, improving, but that's not how it goes. You make a few steps forward, a few steps back, maybe six paces forward and you drop back a few, and that's definitely the case of what we seen.

But what I will say is that the O.J. Simpson trial was a pivotal moment for the country in many ways, we saw plenty of changes. We saw a network startup that just talked about court cases. We saw that the LAPD realized that they needed to do something with how they were a policing, a very large part of their community. So they've made changes.

You do see changes that came about. You saw a lot of people who just became super famous because of this case as well. It's hard to overstate just how massive this was.

I mean, think about it now we have all these channels, all these things that we can stream this was a different time, but even then, everybody was watching the same thing at the same time, engrossed in this from the slow speed chase down to that last final moment when were waiting to find out whether he had a guilty verdict or not. It gripped the nation and I probably argue a good part of the world.

SCIUTTO: And, listen, we have two families, right, of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman who feel even all these years later never got justice. We saw the reactions we played them earlier in the courtroom when not guilty plea was read.

David Goldstein, cameras in the courtroom were so, so much a part of this case --

ELAM: All right. Thanks.

SCIUTTO: -- as, the, country, how the country digested this case was a 13th juror to some degree on this case, everybody was talking about it. Was that good or bad, right? I mean, it was it was it good for the course of justice in this trial?

GOLDSTEIN: I think it was a little bit of both. I think you didn't see a normal trial. People watch that and thought, oh, this is the way the justice system work. It didn't work that way in 99.9 percent of the trials. When I used to

cover the trials at the courthouse there, I covered the Rodney King trials. Both Rodney King trials, the O.J. Simpson trial was a spectacle and his attorneys knew that and his attorneys played to the cameras. Johnnie Cochran was a master of playing to the cameras and playing to the reporters. Well, before the O.J. Simpson trial, he was known throughout this town, so they he played to those cameras. Was that good for criminal justice? I don't think so because it showed people something that they thought happened every day and really didn't.

And I'll tell you it was bad, it became bad for the industry because cameras aren't allowed in the courts anymore in Los Angeles, mainly because of what happened in the O.J. Simpson case.

SCIUTTO: It's a great point.

Jean, you, of course, covered O.J. after he was acquitted in this trial, but later convicted, after he served nine years in prison. Just briefly describe his life following that acquittal.

CASAREZ: Well, you know, I was there when he was released from prison from Lovelock in northern Nevada and it was through the dead of night that he was released. So nobody really saw him, but the next day, we were in Las Vegas, obviously covering the release and had heard that he was already on the golf course.

So he began to lead a quiet life. There. There were some tweets that he would put on about current events and what was happening. People were still I think mesmerized in the sense with the mystery of it all because there's still is so much mystery.

But back to what you were talking about, the cameras in the courtroom, you know, I was a legal correspondent for Court TV for many, many years.

And I think the positive because this -- the O.J. Simpson trial made Court TV, it put it on the map and it put cameras in the courtroom on the map positively and negatively because positively, you got to see the demeanor of the witness yourself. You didn't have to hear about it. You could judge yourself what you thought about the trial.

The negativity was the judge was heavily criticized in the O.J. Simpson trial. They panned for the camera and that may judges then not want to have cameras in their courtroom.

And just as was said, that the California allows cameras in the courtroom, but judges still in California are reluctant to do it. And there have been major trials that have had cameras in the courtroom in Los Angeles, but not like it used to be. So there's two edges to the sword there, but its important for the people to see what's happening.

[15:15:01]

And that can only be done with a camera in the courtroom.

SCIUTTO: Jean Casarez, David Goldstein, thanks so much. Our thanks to Stephanie Elam as well.

We will have more on the O.J. Simpson trial later in the program.

Still to come this hour, leaders from Philippines and Japan meet with President Biden here. The focus, countering China.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Today at the White House, a crucial trilateral summit focused on countering China. The president hosting Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., as well as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. It's first ever summit between leaders of those three nations focused on investments in infrastructure, deepening economic ties, but also crucially strengthening maritime security at a moment when the us is increasingly concerned about Chinese military aggression in the region, as are the Philippines and Japan.

CNN's Kayla Tausche is at the White House with more.

Kayla, we saw the moment yesterday with the Japanese leader, the prime minister, very much discussing threats from China, but also North Korea. Now the Philippines in there because the Philippines itself has faced territorial aggression from China.

How are the three of them coming together today?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, certainly the backdrop of this is the us throwing its economic military and commercial and diplomatic have to really behind these two Pacific island nations that are growing their concerns about the assertiveness of Beijing in the region. And as you mentioned, they have both challenged Chinese claims to territories in their backyard. For the Philippines, it's the Second Thomas Shoal Reef in the South China Sea. For Japan, it's the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

And the U.S. is essentially trying to send a message to China that it stands with these allies, and that it is prepared to do everything that it can to help defend them in the region.

[15:20:05]

We are seeing today, the U.S. is providing $100 million in foreign military financing to the Philippines and announcing that it will help build a rail corridor between four strategic, naval and air bases in the Philippines. And just this morning, we heard Japan's prime minister following that state dinner last night, tell a joint session of us Congress that the U.S. needs to uphold its own values overseas

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FUMIO KISHIDA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER: As we meet here today, I detect an undercurrent of self-doubt among some Americans about what your role in the world should be. Without U.S. support, how long before hopes of Ukraine would collapse under the onslaught from Moscow?

(APPLAUSE)

Without the presence of the United States, how long before the Indo- Pacific would face even harsher realities?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: Yesterday, Biden and Kishida said that the measures that the countries are announcing, our defensive measures, they're aimed at deterrence, but even so, Jim, I want to show you this quote from China's foreign ministry, which responded to some of those comments from yesterday, saying the U.S. and Japan have misrepresented the facts, violated Chinas territorial sovereignty and breached international law and basic norms and international relations. They pose the real threat to regional peace and stability, saying that China has made its own overtures in response -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: The history of the South China Sea might contradict that Chinese statement.

Kayla Tausche, thanks so much from the White House.

Well, days before the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, the Biden administration is moving to close the so-called gun show loophole that allows some gun purchases to go through without a background check.

Today's announcement, a result of the bipartisan Safer Communities Act passed back in 2022, clarifies and expands what it means to be, quote, engaged in the business of selling firearms, with the goal of including sales online, and at gun shows.

CNN's Zach Cohen joins me now to break it down. And, Zach, this has been a goal for years, right, to close that gun show loophole. I thought you needed legislation to do so.

So can you explain what the administration is doing here, what it can do legally and how it makes a difference?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, absolutely, Jim. Look, Vice President Kamala Harris was speaking to reporters and rolling out this announcement today and she said that she thinks that this rule change will spare countless families the heartbreak that, you know, as you mentioned, hundreds and thousands of family members of shooting victims have suffered over the last 10, 20 years in this country.

And, look, what they're doing as you mentioned, too, is that they're expanding this definition of who is engaged in the buying or selling of firearms. And previously, that definition did not include people that were selling guns at gun shows and people that were selling guns online. And now, this rule change does require and does put those two venues under the definition of engaged in the business of selling firearms in a way that forces those sellers to get a federal license in order to sell guns in those venues going forward.

And what a license does is it requires the sellers to conduct a background check to potential buyers. The Biden ministration is making the case that this is going to impact somewhere between 20,000 people who are currently selling guns in those venues without a license. And they do think that this will have a significant impact.

The Justice Department also touting this announcement, Attorney General Merrick Garland, making the case and emphasizing that look, now, no matter if you're selling a gun online or you're selling it at a gun show, you have to have a license and you have to do a background check.

But, Jim, look, again, this has been an issue that has plagued the United States almost uniquely for decades. This is not a one fix problem. At least history has proven that out. So we're going to see what ultimately impact is. But this rule change will go into effect in 30 days and time will tell what the ultimate impact will be.

SCIUTTO: And polls do show we should note large support, large majority is in the public, American public support for background checks for gun sales.

Zach Cohen, thanks so much.

On Capitol Hill today, Speaker Mike Johnson, yet again, stuck between a rock and a hard place navigating his own conference. So divided in dysfunctional that one Republican says, it's like they're not even in the majority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GARRET GRAVES (R-LA): The reality is, is that -- is that leading under these conditions is incredibly difficult. And I think that's what a lot of people are realizing. We don't truly have a majority at this point. You have a loosely aligned coalition government right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Between aid to Ukraine, a looming deadline to re-up foreign surveillance authorization for U.S. intelligence gathering, there's a lot to do, not clear if any of it will get done.

[15:25:02]

Melanie Zanona with me for an update.

Melanie, first on Ukraine aid, where does it stand? Is there any path to getting this through or where -- are we -- where we've been for weeks now?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, Speaker Mike Johnson continues to say that he is planning to address those potentially in the next week or so, but he has not yet revealed what his actual plans are for a Ukraine aid proposal and hanging over at all, is this threat to his speakership. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hard-line conservative, has warned him not to move ahead with any additional Ukraine aid, or she might pull the trigger on forcing a floor vote on his removal. Now, Johnson is taking some steps behind the scenes to make sure that

he has people like Donald Trump in his corner. He's going to head down to Mar-a-Lago tomorrow to do a press conference with the former president. But I'm told that allies close to Johnson have been encouraging him to keep Trump in the loop on everything he's planning to do on Ukraine aid. And notably, one thing that Johnson has floated is structuring the aid as a loan, which is an idea that Donald Trump has supported.

So the idea here is that Johnson's probably going to try to load up this package to make it more attractive to get Republican support and to try to keep his hard-line conservatives happy or at least not angry enough to try to oust him, but it's a really difficult balancing act because they need it to actually pass. So that means support of Democrats, not only here in the House but also in the Senate as well. And now you have Israel aid, which is becoming increasingly harder in the Democratic Party. So they also have not decided whether to tie those two issues together.

So a lot of major decisions, with a lot of implications, not for just Ukraine, but also for Mike Johnsons speakership in the weeks ahead.

SCIUTTO: No question. Meanwhile, while Ukraine is just getting pummeled by Russian airstrikes.

Melanie Zanona, thanks so much.

Still to come, to that point, the plea for more air defense from Ukraine's president after Russia destroyed Kyiv's largest power plant. We're going to take a look, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:15]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

Today, a Russian missile attack destroyed the largest power-generating plant in Ukraine's Kyiv region. Ukrainian prime minister -- Ukrainian President, rather, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country has an urgent need for more air defenses. In the wake of this attack. Over the last years, Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, aiming to spread the pain of this war among Ukraine's population.

Joining me now from Ukraine is retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. He is the former director for European Affairs at the National Security Council.

Alexander, thanks so much for joining us from Ukraine.

LT. COL. ALEXANDER VINDMAN (RET.), FORMER DIRECTOR FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Thanks for having me on, Jim.

SCIUTTO: You've been covering this war closely for years now. You're in Ukraine. You've been meeting with leaders, with military commanders there.

What have you learned about the state of Ukraine's defense and war effort? Is it flagging?

VINDMAN: It's quite precarious, frankly. I think it's now increasingly clear that this country is shifting to a defensive footing. Ideally, that defensive footing lasts really through the rest this year. As Ukrainians build some strength up for maybe summer offensives next year, they cannot afford to waste it or squander their strength over this year. It's a tough thing to do, not to strike back out.

But Ukraine doesn't have the resources. For the past six months, they haven't really been getting fulsome support from the West. And really those scores of air defense systems to defend the skies.

I woke up yesterday morning at about 4:00 in the morning to sirens and just explosions as that thermal power plant was being destroyed. It's going on across the country. The city of Kharkiv is being pounded.

The Russians of our founding, finding some successes on the tactical battlefield. They're using these glide bombs, massive glide bombs. The U.S. employees typically 250, 500-pound bombs. They're using 1,500 kilogram bombs, significantly heavier. They're basically blockbusters to destroy swathes of territory on the battlefield.

This is leading from successes, knocking out strong points where an area is completely devastated and leveled. They're able to move forward and move in.

And there's no easy solution to this, especially if there's no air defenses. Once those air defenses come back in, you could start to see the Ukrainians tried to push back Russia's airpower to neutralize this. But there's an urgent need for all sorts of aid in here. The situation is getting precarious. The Russians are likely to make some headway, some gains.

We want to avoid the worst-case scenario of some operational or strategic breakthrough that really puts this country in precarious situation.

SCIUTTO: Yesterday, General Chris Cavoli, the supreme allied commander of NATO, he testified before the House Armed Service Committee and said quite explicitly without U.S. aid, Ukraine may very well lose the war. Have a listen and I want to get your thoughts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. CHRIS CAVOLI, SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER EUROPE: If we do not continue to support Ukraine, Ukraine will run out of artillery shells and will run out of air defense interceptors in fairly short order.

Mr. Chairman based on my experience and 37-plus years in the military if one side can shoot and the other side can't shoot back, the side that can't shoot back loses. So the stakes are very high.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: We've heard this warning for some time. I wonder based on what you're seeing there, is there a breaking point for Ukraine without U.S. aid and when is it? How soon? How much longer can they hold out even in a defensive posture without U.S. aid?

VINDMAN: Yeah. I know Chris Cavoli, at least I met him and you could see that the emotion or you could hear their emotion in his voice. There is a keen sense of urgency.

Certainly, you could see the Russians pickup tactical steam and seize what's called an initiative, means that the Russians get to call the shots for the time being, they choose where to fight and on what terms and frankly, Ukrainians is the best I could do is build up fortifications and multiple layers of fortifications give up ground in a very, very strategic manner and really avoid the worst-case scenarios of operational or strategic breakthroughs that really tipped the scales in Russia's favor and Ukraine -- correction, in Russia's favor.

So that's really where we are. It is absolutely urgent that the U.S. passes aid. The Europeans have stepped up in a big way, have plugged holes, providing a significant additional support. But nothing can substitute the arsenal of democracy.

The problem is that there is a bigger strategic -- there's a bigger strategic systemic threat that we're facing.

[15:35:08]

The Chinese are starting to come off the sidelines. Their Chinese and you could hear this in multiple reports, but I'm hearing it from the Ukrainians on the ground, they're seeing a lot more Ukraine -- Chinese equipment on the Ukrainian battlefields. The Chinese (INAUDIBLE) are smelling blood. They think that the Russians are -- seizing initiative could win and they want to be on the winning side.

Before they were sitting on the fence trying to avoid taking -- taking a lot of pain for supporting Russia. But now they're willing to bear it because they see that Russia is gaining -- gaining the upper hand --

SCIUTTO: To be clear --

VINDMAN: -- and there's systemic challenge.

SCIUTTO: -- are you seeing lethal Chinese assistance to Russia -- the Russian military there? Because that had been something the U.S. has been trying to head off since the start of this invasion.

VINDMAN: Not in a conventional sense, not in the conventional sense of artillery and ammunition, but certainly in the form of drones and drones are now a key lethal component in this war, in ever greater numbers, those are showing up. Some people might niggle whether that's through just purely commercial channels. It's -- China is an authoritarian regime. They have excellent

situational awareness and our -- at least to playing in enabling role in letting those systems pass through to Russian control. That's why you see Janet Yellen, you see National Security Council and other leaders are really, really urged the Chinese to back off.

I'm afraid that rhetoric is not going to be enough. Without U.S. support being rushed there, without passing this U.S. aid bill, without a demonstrated resolve, the Chinese had really have nothing to fear. They've seen support metered into Ukraine when they see a paralysis within the U.S. government, there needs to be action.

So the call is for the Republican Party, for Speaker Johnson to stop trying to play games, to stop trying to find ways to delay a and passes this bill because this is going to be defining.

SCIUTTO: I get --

VINDMAN: This year is going to be very challenging. It's going to be defining.

SCIUTTO: I wonder, the Ukrainians you speak with still have faith in the U.S.? We have the Japanese prime minister here, Fumio Kishida. He just spoke to Congress.

I want to play what he said because this speaks to a broader concern I hear from U.S. allies around the world. It's an open question as to whether you can trust U.S. support.

Have a listen and I want to get your thoughts to this as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KISHIDA: I detect an undercurrent of self-doubt among some Americans about what your role in the world should be.

This self-doubt is arising at the time when our world it is at history's turning point.

Freedom and democracy are currently under threat around the globe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Do Ukrainians you speak with during your visit there now, doubt Americans' resolve?

VINDMAN: The answer -- the simple answer is yes. I think that doubt is a seeped in across the globe on whether the U.S. is going to stick by its declarations of as long as it takes. Those have proven to be somewhat hollow and I think the question is if we don't pass the $60 billion, can the U.S. be trusted? Can the U.S. be trusted to be an ally? Can the U.S. be trusted as a partner? Is the U.S. capable of maintaining the resolve to win the nations wars?

And I think those are serious issues. I think the Ukrainians on the ground here still have quite a bit of faith in U.S., but that doubt is it started creeping. And I also fear that the domestic politics in this country where the president is going to be under increasing pressure especially absolutely U.S. support. You could see a turn in the leadership, frankly with regards to the U.S. and the U.S. becoming a scapegoat.

I think were still quite a ways from that, but I could see the warning signs. The bottom line is this can easily be resolved, these can be fixed. The U.S. can still support Ukraine, U.S., the Ukrainians can still achieve victory in this war. It's starting to become increasingly complex with the obstructionism from the Republican Party in the House.

SCIUTTO: Major consequences.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, we do appreciate you joining us and please do stay safe over there.

VINDMAN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still to come this hour, the CNN exclusive, a ride along on a United States air force mission high above the East China Sea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:43:03]

SCIUTTO: Today's historic summit between the United States, the Philippines, and Japan is getting underway in the next hour. It comes as the U.S. says it is concerned by China's aggressive actions in the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Both Japan and the Philippines have separate territorial disputes with China.

CNN's Oren Liebermann gained exclusive access to a long-range U.S. Air Force mission, which includes B-52s. Those bombers flying over the East China Sea.

It's an important mission, comes with a unique set of challenges.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Under the shroud of pre-dawn darkness, flight MYLAR11 roars out of Louisiana's Barksdale Air Force Base. It's the start of one of the longest military missions in the world, non-stop 33 hour flight by this B52 strategic bomber group to the other side of the world, flying near Russia, China, North Korea and back.

As you can see, it's dark outside. The cockpit has red light once again for the night vision here.

CNN is the first news crew ever allowed on one of these extensive B52 missions.

CREW: Not only are we one of the most visible and flexible legs of the nuclear triad, we can have a B-52 where you need, when you need it, within 48 hours. LIEBERMANN: These flights are intentionally high-profile. Two years

into the war in Ukraine, as Russia challenges the U.S. and NATO, the Kremlin is meant to know about our bomber flight. So is China with Beijing pressuring Taiwan, Chinese coast guard vessels harassing ships of the Philippines, a U.S. ally.

MAJ. GEN. JASON ARMAGOST, COMMANDER, EIGHT AIR FORCE: Both the national leadership of Russia and the national leadership of China, what do they react to? We see that they publicly comment about our bomber task force missions, particularly when it involves others in very joint and public ways.

PILOT: Tanker 1, contact. Bomber 1, contact.

LIEBERMANN: Five hours into the flight, we hit our first of four aerial refueling off Alaska coast, taking on as much gas as we can.

[15:45:02]

PILOT: Keep track of your own fuel state. I'd like for you guys to be with us all the way to the Yankee Zulu Papa.

LIEBERMANN: After an hour of formation flying during this refuel, we arc out over the Pacific and towards Japan.

LT. REBECCA "VULCAN" MOORE, ELECTRONIC WARFARE OFFICER: It's important that we communicate to our partners that we mean what we say when we say that we're committed to our alliances. That's an example of what the B-52 does. We show up when we're asked.

LIEBERMANN: This 63-year-old Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, decades older than its crew, shows its age, but it remains the Air Force's primary bomber, taking part in every U.S. war since Vietnam, with planned upgrades to its antiquated systems, it'll see nearly a century of service.

This year, the U.S. began producing its next-generation B-21 bomber. China is close by behind, promising there H-20s strategic stealth bomber will be unveiled soon.

PILOT: Twenty seconds to the turn. Zero five zero.

LIEBERMANN: Onboard MYLAR11, we passed by Russia's east coast, closer meeting up with U.S. and allied fighter jets.

Our flight is unarmed. The mission is not to attack but to prevent attack, to deter. But this is a bomber, of course.

If we were carrying nuclear weapons, the Air Force would monitor the flight from the joint nuclear operation center back in Louisiana, seen here on news camera for the first time. It's a 24/7 operation tracking all ballistic missile silos and airborne nuclear weapons.

On the ground, crews trained to turn the aircraft into an offensive platform. Munitions teams or muns as they're known on base assemble weapons. Outside, loading teams married bombs to bomber.

The B-52 can carry up to 70,000 pounds of bombs.

PILOT: You ready to fly?

PILOT: Ready to fly.

PILOT: Alright, your jet.

LIEBERMANN: It is a marathon of marathons, to put the B-52 and its crew virtually anywhere in the world.

At this point we passed the halfway point of the flight. We've been here more than 16 hours. It's the middle of the day here in Japan where were overflowing at the moment en route to the mission area where we'll meet up with fighters from several other countries here and carry out an exercise.

Here on the edge of the East China Sea, fighter jets from Japan and South Korea take up formation, four wings.

Hours earlier during our flight, North Korea test-fired a mid-range ballistic missile, a reminder of the threats in the Pacific.

You want to be seen by both allies and adversaries.

COL. MICHAEL MAGINNESS, COMMANDER, 2ND BOMB WING: We want to be seen by allies and adversaries.

LIEBERMANN: It is still a head turner. It is taken around the world.

MAGINNESS: It is.

LIEBERMANN: But it's China that the U.S. is watching most closely. In October, a Chinese fighter jet intercepted a B-52 flying over the South Chinas Sea at night, coming within 10 feet of the bomber.

By number of ships, China has the world's largest navy, and soon have the world's largest air force according to the commander of U.S. Indo- Pacific Command.

Beijing is rapidly modernizing its military, including its strategic forces. And they're not part of any non-proliferation treaty, obscuring their nuclear assets.

After 19 hours of flying and 14 more to go, a warning light signals trouble with one of the plane's main engines. The crew runs through the checklists.

CREW: Throttles, number five.

CREW: Confirmed, five.

CREW: Confirmed. LIEBERMANN: They make the decision to shut down the engine. There is no panic, just a management of risks. Nearing the 30-hour mark of the flight, we see our second sunrise over Washington state's Mr. Rainier.

And although the crew is tired, they all know there's still a critical task ahead and that is getting the B-52 back on the ground. And that is one of those difficult parts of the mission.

On final approach, the B-52, which has been in the air nearly 15 hours longer than the longest commercial flight in the world, has one final surprise.

CREW: One gear not down?

CREW: Affirm. Right main gear is not down.

CREW: Go head, and emergency extend it.

LIEBERMANN: Flight MYLAR11 touches down at three in the afternoon after 33 hours in the air, a mission that showed the abilities and the age of a jet that remains critical to the Air Force.

CREW: Despite how many years the B-52 has been running, she is a tough girl.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIEBERMANN (on camera): Officers we spoke within Air Force Global Strike Command say countries like Japan are requesting more B-52 flights. They want to see the bomber in their skies. It is not just a measure of assurance between the U.S. and its allies. It's also a message to adversaries like China, who are very much aware of those B52 missions, especially the long range ones.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held a meeting on Wednesday in which they said there would be increased defense security cooperation, more integration on things like command and control between the militaries and making sure these militaries can continue to move together. Biden said it is the most significant upgrade to the alliance since it began.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, in the Pentagon.

SCIUTTO: An important flight and an important time.

Still to come, we're going to have some more on the passing of O.J. Simpson.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:32]

SCIUTTO: Before the murder trial that captivated this nation, O.J. Simpson was, of course, a football star even before it was a movie star. He played at the University of Southern California in late 1960s, propelling the Trojans to a national championship. He won the Heisman trophy.

After graduation, Simpson played in the NFL for 11 seasons, mostly -- mostly with the Buffalo Bills. That's where he earned his nickname, The Juice.

Joining me now for more on him as an athlete, CNN sports analyst and "USA Today's" sports columnist, Christine Brennan.

Christine, good to have you.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Thanks, Jim. Great to be with you.

SCIUTTO: Christine, you've called him an American icon who transcended sports and you've described how he was this combination of truly gifted athlete performer, but also movie star, TV ad campaign or Monday night football commentator long before that became, I don't want to say the norm, but it certainly became a profile that's so many stars and basketball, tennis, and so on seek today.

BRENNAN: Absolutely, Jim. You know, we're so used to now having these athletes who are crossing over into our culture.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

BRENNAN: You and I talked about that, and sometimes it's bad news. Its terrible things. They do other times, of course, it's as pitch people, as just commercials. I mean, even as recently as the March Madness and Caitlin Clark. You know, you've watched the game and then and every commercials, Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese, or whomever.

And so, you know, so going back to LeBron, Tom Brady, Serena Williams, that athletes that are so much more than just athletes.

Well, I think it started -- I mean, we could have a conversation of what it exactly started. Certainly the explosion of television has to be a part of it. But I think O.J., if he wasn't the first, he was certainly the one who did it the best. And by that of being, of course, that the Hertz commercial go, O.J., go, running through the airport.

Every kid -- I'm growing up at that time, watching sports, loving sports, and O.J. was so much more than sports and truth really made himself a name that was a household name, not just for sports, but, of course, for our culture, and in every other aspect of his life.

SCIUTTO: "The Naked Gun" movies, "Towering inferno". He was everywhere. Have you in your time covering sports through the years witnessed a fall on this scale? From all that, to charges for murder, or later prison time, for armed robbery and kidnapping, does anything compare?

[15:55:03]

BRENNAN: No. No, it doesn't. I mean, we've seen athletes stabbed their toes and worse, you know, and do terrible things and being car accidents or have other things that happened for sure. But nothing of this magnitude, of course, when we're praising him or talking about him, I know you and I agree on this, as an iconic sports star from another era, of course, we have to remember Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, and the fact that there were two dead bodies in the story.

And so, by no means are we glorifying him? We are talking about what O.J. Simpson used to be, but no, no way, the fall from grace was so extraordinary and well-deserved and all self-induced.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, no question.

BRENNAN: And -- yeah. I don't -- I certainly hope we don't see another one like this either, of course.

SCIUTTO: No, I hope not, too. By the way, though he did go to prison for other crimes later, those two families right there, they in their view, they never got justice for the loss of their son and daughter.

Christine Brennan, always good to have you on.

BRENNAN: Jim, thank you.

SCIUTTO: Thanks so much to you for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.