Return to Transcripts main page
Connect the World
Biden To Withdraw All U.S. Forces From Afghanistan By September 11th; CNN Gets A Glimpse At Life Inside A Taliban Stronghold; Madoff Has Been Suffering Kidney Failure and Other Ailments; Investment Fraudster Bernie Madoff Dies in Prison; CNN Tours Front Lines With Ukraine's President; Biden Proposes Summit With Putin To Discuss Ukraine. Aired 10- 10:30a ET
Aired April 14, 2021 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi. This is "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNNI HOST: Hello and welcome. This hour the 13th day of testimony is set to begin in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police
officer charged with the death of George Floyd. The prosecution has rested and the defense has started making its case. We will take you live to the
courtroom when that starts.
First up, though this is the longest war in America's history now has an end date. In just a few hours U.S. President Joe Biden is set to announce
all American troops will be out of Afghanistan by September the 11th. That, of course, is the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks on American soil
that triggered the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
Well, over the decades that followed, the U.S. spent trillions of dollars on the war effort. Thousands of lives have been lost. And the withdrawal
set to happen in conjunction with NATO, America's top diplomat talking about it today in Brussels.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: And now, it is time to bring our forces home. President Biden will speak to this in a few hours in the
United States. And I'm here to work closely with our allies with the Secretary General on the principle that we've established from the start,
in together, adapt together and out together.
We will work very closely together in the weeks and months ahead on a safe, deliberate and coordinated withdrawal of our forces from Afghanistan. But
even as we do that, our commitment to Afghanistan to its future will remain. And we'll talk about that today as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, the Taliban want all foreign forces out of Afghanistan by May the first, the date originally agreed to by the Trump Administration,
they warned problems will be "Compounded" if that doesn't happen.
Well, CNN recently got to look inside a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan to see what life is like now? Nick Paton Walsh shares our exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Now America is leaving Afghanistan after nearly two decades of blood and treasure lost. What world
does the U.S. leave behind ordinary Afghan? Taliban stronghold Musa Qala is where many American and British soldiers died. Now, it's a snapshot of how
the Taliban will run Afghanistan?
We asked six men living there too, on camera anonymously in safety, what it's like, in short, and bleak for women, a few smart phones, but for all
Taliban justice and Taliban taxes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are consequences if you don't pay, they beat you or imprison you.
WALSH (voice over): A broadly medieval society then, considering all the billions spent, except just recently with the odd smart phone allowed.
That's how we got pictures of the streets. Taliban roam the market U.S. Marines once patrol 10 years ago.
The Americans were based here on location you can see on these satellite images not far from the empty shop where the Taliban have their temporary
courts, which they call the room, dispensing swift, brutal justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Punishments depend on what the other side wants. If the plaintiff forgives a murder, the court might not give a death sentence. But
if the relatives demanded they may, for example, around four years back, three thieves were hanged to death from the electricity pole, on the road
out of town for people to see. They had been arrested a few times for robbery, but did not stop.
WALSH (voice over): This footage from a drive around town heads out to the refugee camps by the river from where U.S. marines used to get shot at and
it's clear a few women are allowed on the streets. They still don't go to school. Nobody even dares ask about that we're told. But most men we asked
said women had a good, this is what they meant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are not allowed to do business outside their house. When they go out, they need to dress according to Sharia law. So for them,
it's more important to take care of their homes than working outside.
WALSH (voice over): Women can also get a rough justice in this backward world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One woman pleaded guilty for adultery and she has been imprisoned for the last five years now. No one knows what will happen to
her in the end.
[10:05:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The man caught with her was killed by his in laws for bringing shame to his marriage.
WALSH (voice over): Fighting is rare here now, and the Americans must just watch from jets or drones above. In fact, we were told the Taliban only
allowed some smart phones in Musa Qala because peace talks meant that U.S. airstrikes there had slowed down.
The Americans have been using smart phones to track Taliban fighters. Taliban rule in the streets means they set taxes from OPM harvests or shops
we were told or asked for bread or clothes for their fighters when in need. But some said feud between Taliban groups mean people can pay more than
once.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many people have been taken to the Taliban room locked up for a night or two or have been beaten up. There are different group of
Taliban, it would be better to have a single authorized official getting tax. But every group tries to take tax for their own pocket. That's one
problem for people now.
WALSH (voice over): Life then goes on, much as it did before the Taliban were removed from power after 9/11 with just a lot of Americans and Afghans
lost in the battle in between.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, our International Security Editor, Nick Peck Walsh connecting us from Kabul today. He's been in and out of Afghanistan for the
past 15 years. Nick, what will the next six months look like then ahead of this withdrawal, and what prospect for a lasting peace?
WALSH: It depends who you are? If you have a Taliban well, you've just said in the last few hours that the U.S. has got 16 days to get out of the
country. Now they've made sort of saber rattling noises like that before, but they're essentially asking them in a couple of tweets today, to adhere
to the original Doha agreement signed by then President Donald Trump's Secretary of State, frankly, that is unrealistic.
It's never going to happen that fast. And also the Taliban have made similar noises in the past and still continued negotiating despite their
conditions on always being met. If you were the United States you hope that Saturday week, we'll see in Istanbul a peace summit, which will bring the
Taliban many other nations, the Afghan government and U.S. diplomats together to begin the process of forming a transitional government in which
the Taliban will begin to get their hands on the levers of power.
If you're the Afghan government, you have a different idea, and you hope elections will be first. And then there'll be a transitional government
after that, although President Ghani has said here that he won't stand in any future elections, taking himself out of the equation there.
So a lot of different viewpoints but all that is sort of the mechanics. The basic reality on the ground here is that Taliban who've heard now, for the
second time, the U.S. President saying we're leaving this one with significant more experience of the country and more ideological streak,
frankly, running through him President Joe Biden than Donald Trump ever had.
Joe Biden always thought this was a long - as a long investment. This was a bad idea Afghanistan. He's wanted to leave now he's going to be doing it.
The question is whether or not the Taliban do things in that gap, which force him to change his mind or whether he's simply going to withdraw
forces regardless.
He said there are no conditions that could change that deadline. The question is whether the fighting season of warmer months ahead mean the
Taliban continue their territorially advance whether U.S. airstrikes slow them down as they have in the past.
And what that means for areas like this the million strong capital of Kabul, where people are frankly, I think, nervous about what the Taliban
advances into government and certainly the city would bring Becky.
ANDERSON: Nick Paton Walsh on the story for you, Nick, thank you. Bernie Madoff in prison, he was the mastermind of the biggest investment fraud in
U.S. history. This news just coming in that he had been suffering terminal kidney failure according to a federal court filing Madoff he was well known
Wall Street Investor was serving 150 years for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme ever seen.
Last year, an application for compassionate release was denied when Bernie Madoff was 82 years old. Let's bring in Julia Chatterley from New York and
CNN Business Correspondent Clare Sebastian. Let's start with you. Julia. What more do we know at this point? Are there any further details?
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNNI ANCHOR: No further details as you mentioned, quite rightly, we believe that he was suffering from kidney failure,
compassionate leave, that was asked for by him was denied.
Remember, he made thousands of people suffer as a result of this giant Ponzi scheme that you mentioned it crossed hundreds of nations 37,000
individuals were involved in certain cases life savings will lost as a result of a scheme that he ran for several decades, so perhaps no surprise
that when that decision was made to try and give him compassionately from prison.
[10:10:00]
CHATTERLEY: The answer here was no. To your point to 82 years old, he'd served 12 years of that 150 years life sentence. And I think, for all of us
that work, and have worked in the financial sector, and as business journalists, I don't think you can underscore the importance of what he
represented in terms of a monster fraud in the financial sector.
But that had repercussions years after in terms of regulation, what on earth happened here to allow this man to execute a fraud that went on for
several decades, risking the monies of individuals. But also that incorporated people like Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon, and caught up
regulators, individuals that saw this man as a giant, I think on Wall Street?
A sorry end for an incredible tale, I think for the financial sector and beyond and a tragic story for his family to both his sons subsequently died
as well.
ANDERSON: No, absolutely. I mean, this was a man who was never coming out of prison. I mean, he was serving 150 years for this. And Clare, you know
an enormous investigation and prosecution a very successful one at the time it has to be so.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it all started Becky quite unusually for this kind of crime with his own confession. This all played
out against the backdrop of the global financial crisis, which, despite the fact that, as Julie pointed out, this has been going on for decades and
survived other financial crises.
This was eventually his undoing. The money started coming out of his accounts with various hedge funds, and he couldn't hold it together
anymore. He confessed to his sons. They sort of told the authorities about this, and it all came out from there.
He was eventually sent to prison in 2009, federal prison in North Carolina. And I think, Julia, sorry Becky, the legacy here is also one of the loss of
trust of Bernie Madoff don't forget, before this was he was a Former Chairman of the NASDAQ.
He was someone that people really trusted. And that was how he managed to engineer this scheme an extraordinary deception that involves, you know,
him operating this sort of separate corporate life on the 17th floor of his of his Manhattan Office. He had an old IBM computer that housed the data
from all of this?
All of this came out later, during investigations. There were even staffers that worked solely on this scheme. So an extraordinary deception and again,
a legacy of increased regulation this led to a loss of trust in the U.S. regulators as well the SEC had to then come out and say, look, we're going
to step up enforcement. We're going to change how we deal with insider tips and things like that.
ANDERSON: Yes, he was found guilty in the end of defrauding investors in the amount of over $50 billion. CNN's, Chief Business Correspondent,
Christine Romans looks back Madoff's legendary career on Wall Street and his dramatic fall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): His name synonymous with fraud. In 2009, Bernie Madoff pleaded guilty to what is
likely the largest financial scam in history. The one time Wizard of Wall Street ran a $65 billion scheme.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Wall Street fraud who masterminded the largest Ponzi scheme in history is going to spend the rest of his life behind bars,
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Wall Street's biggest swindler ever now behind bars.
ROMANS (voice over): A classic Ponzi scheme Madoff used new investors' money to pay back the old ones. It was fronted through Bernard Madoff
Investment Securities, the Wall Street firm he founded in 1960, and ran until his arrest in December 2008.
Madoff's victims ranged from celebrities like Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Former Talk Show Host Larry King, and the owner of the Mets. They were
international banks, companies, charities, and thousands of individual investors.
Born Bernard Lawrence Madoff, he grew up in Queens, New York and graduated from Hofstra University on Long Island. He started his small trading firm
when he was 22 years old with $5,000 he saved from summer jobs, and alone from his father in law. And by the late 1980s, Madoff was one of the
highest paid people on Wall Street, living in a penthouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side, buying yachts, cars, vacation homes, and country club
memberships.
By the 90s he made a name for himself delivering consistent better than average returns for his exclusive clients. Concerns about Madoff's business
practices surfaced as early as 1999 when Financial Analyst Harry Markopolos, complained to the Securities and Exchange Commission, but his
warnings went nowhere.
HARRY MARKOPOLOS, MADOFF WHISTLEBLOWER: I gift wrapped and delivered the largest Ponzi scheme in history to them, and somehow they couldn't be
bothered to conduct a thorough and proper investigation.
ROMANS (voice over): Madoff's lies began to unravel in 2008 when the financial crisis triggered investors to make withdrawals from his fund.
[10:15:00]
Madoff was unable to find new investors to pay off the old ones. On December 10th 2008, he told his sons who worked in his firm as traders,
that the investment fund was one big lie.
RUTH MADOFF, WIFE OF BERNIE MADOFF: I don't know.
ROMANS (voice over): In an interview with 60 minutes his wife Ruth described the moment he confessed.
R. MADOFF: I was kind of paralyzed. Bernie got up and said I'm going back to the office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was he emotional in any way?
R. MADOFF: I don't remember that he must have been.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Apologetic in any way?
R. MADOFF: Probably yes.
ROMANS (voice over): Madoff's son Mark hanged himself on the second anniversary of his father's arrest. His other son, Andrew died of cancer
four years later. For his crimes Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in federal prison. Even from behind bars, he insisted he did no harm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That people lose profits that they fought they made? Yes, you know, but did they lose capital? I'm sure I'm confident that was
this thing as well finished very few people, if any, will lose their principal.
ROMANS (voice over): A quarter of the stolen money has not been returned to investors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's bring in Julia Chatterley from New York. And just closing out that report on what has actually been recovered. And I know the Madoff
Victims Fund established by the Department of Justice. And Julia to recover funds to repay victims has actually distributed in a significant amount of
money, which again, is in - if there were a silver lining on the back of this, of this entire case is that of course.
CHATTERLEY: It is. And actually, that's quite incredible. As a result of the work that was done in this investigation, and I think shaking down
investors that did benefit because remember, money was being taken from some investors and money was being given to others, shaking those people
down, they've managed to recover 75 cents in every dollar that was lost, which is a huge achievement for the investigators.
Of course, they lost money for a significant period of time. So there is a downside to that too. But I think it was an incredible story. JP Morgan as
well, they were receiving the deposits, and then the money was being taken out. So they also were forced to pay around $2.6 billion of as a result of
not doing the due diligence on their part too.
I know Clare in discord this as well this was such a monster fraud and went on for so long. Began in the 1970s that it fundamentally changed finance, I
think going forward and the way that banks operate into investors operate.
And when we talk about regulation today, it's a very different story from how that was managed and achieved over a period of time.
ANDERSON: Yes. And Clare finally, I just wonder how the death of a man who was once the Chairman of the NASDAQ will be received on Wall Street by the
finance industry and indeed around the world?
SEBASTIAN: Well, you know, I think we can refer back Becky to the words of Bernie Madoff himself. He told a courtroom in 2009 that he was responsible
for, "A legacy of shame". And I think, you know, sadly, that continues to be the case.
We look at the application that he made last year for early release, it was said that at the time, around 500 of his victims, wrote to the court about
this. The vast majority of them opposed to his early release. And they said that the letter showed how deeply Madoff's crimes continue to affect his
victims, many of whom, as one put it in a letter to a court or serving a kind of life sentence of their own.
So you can see that the suffering that he continues to leave in his wake, despite the fact that a lot of the money has already been recovered.
ANDERSON: Yes, absolutely. Julia and Clare, your reporting is so important at this point. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. We are reporting
the death of Bernie Madoff at the age of 82. We'll be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:20:00]
ANDERSON: Blushes of military buildup on its border with Ukraine. On the agenda in Brussels today is the U.S. Secretary of State met NATO Secretary
General Jens Stoltenberg.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLINKEN: We will also discuss the concerns shared across the alliance and among allies about Russia's actions in and near Ukraine, particularly the
significant massing of forces, the largest since 2014. And we'll talk about the future of our alliance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Blinken's remarks come after President Biden called Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, saying that he wanted a face to face meeting in
a third country with the Russian President. Well, the White House says Mr. Biden reiterated and I quote here unwavering commitment to Ukraine's
sovereignty.
Reason he did that is Russia has been massing more than 50,000 troops along the Ukrainian border in recent weeks. Well, CNN has been on that border
with an exclusive look at the frontlines in Eastern Ukraine. CNN's Matthew Chance joined the Ukrainian President on a tour of the Donbas region a
quick look now I just part of that report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): I mean, we've entered this warren of trenches that have been dug along the
front line, I can tell you, I mean it's like being thrown back to the early 20th century in the Great War because I've not seen anything like this in
modern warfare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, the Kremlin now saying, we'll consider President Biden's proposal for a meeting. International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson
joining us now with more on the power play, we didn't expect anything less.
This was never going to be an easy relationship. But the - it is very clear which side in this issue Joe Biden stands? What do we understand to be
going on one on the border of Ukraine and two can we expect this meeting anytime soon if indeed, it happens at all?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think all these things are hard to answer specifically at the moment Becky because they're
mostly in the hands of the Kremlin.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said right now the Kremlin is considering President Biden's proposal of a summit that they're looking at it that
they're analyzing it that they'll pursue it through diplomatic channels, which was what was agreed in the phone conversation between the two
presidents and low and behold today that the U.S. Ambassador to Moscow has been invited in to meet one of the Kremlin's senior foreign policy
advisors.
For discussions we don't know what's taken place, were they discussing what it would take to get to or what could be on the agenda at a summit or was
it was it merely to, for a conversation about something completely different?
What we do know from the Senior National Security Council figure in Russia and this has been reported through the Russian state media - is that while
the Kremlin is following this potential path of diplomacy in the Black Sea, meanwhile, they - this official says that Russian forces have been forced
to step up their activity in the Black Sea.
Because what they see NATO and in particularly the United States doing that increased military activity is what they say has been happening in the
Black Sea. And Russia is in essence forced to respond and this throws into focus.
What we heard from the Russian Foreign Minister just a couple of days ago, Sergei Lavrov saying what we're doing on the border of Ukraine inside
Russian territory is Russian business. We're inside Russian sovereign territory, questioning what the United States and NATO is doing in the
Black Sea?
[10:25:00]
Thousands of miles in the case of the United States away from home. So that's where the narrative is. There's a door here towards diplomacy it
perhaps opening. We don't see any light from the other side yet Becky.
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson reporting. Thank you, Nic. Not used three small but hugely significant words for Americans' COVID vaccine program. Those words
come from the CDC, which is calling on U.S. states to hold off on doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine until further notice. Now this is over concerns
of rare blood clot cases linked to the vaccine.
South Africa is slamming the brakes on temporarily to as is the EU as we understand it after Johnson & Johnson itself halted deliveries. Though
France has just said it will go ahead and administer the 200,000 doses it received at the start of the week. Jim Bittermann is in Paris with a closer
look for you, Jim.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Becky, a lot of confusion around this whole issue, frankly, on the European level, the
European Medicines Agency just said that, in fact, they think the benefits of the use of the vaccine outweigh the risks.
Right now, they are not ready to say that it should be suspended just yet. But other countries, like you say, are suspending it, including Denmark,
which says it's not only going to suspend the use of Johnson & Johnson till they get more clarification, but also stop entirely use of AstraZeneca.
Now here in France, they've already received 200,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And the government spokesman said today that in fact,
they're going to go ahead and start administering it, all of this debate about whether or not to use the this particular vaccine or others.
It's just, I think, the level of vaccine hesitancy and uncertainty here among the population that there already was a very high level of vaccine
hesitancy in France, and this certainly isn't going to help that Becky.
ANDERSON: Thank you, Jim. It's day 13 of testimony in the trial of Derek Chauvin in the death of course of George Floyd, we'll take you inside that
courtroom after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:30:00]
ANDERSON: Let's get you to the trial of Derek Chauvin.
END
