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Australia Launches Massive Crackdown on Organized Crime; U.S. Recovers Millions in Cryptocurrency Paid to Hackers; CNN Obtains Audio of Giuliani Pressuring Ukrainian Leadership to Investigate Biden in Exchange for White House Meeting; Migration a Key Focus of Harris' Trip to Guatemala & Mexico; FDA Approves Controversial Alzheimer's Drug; Hospital Bed Shortage for Severe COVID Patients in Okinawa; Uganda Reimposes Restrictions Amid New Wave in Cases; Prime Minister Visits Scene of Deadliest Attack in Years; El Salvador Looks to Adopt Bitcoin as Legal Tender; Amazon Founder to Become First Billionaire Space Traveler. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 08, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:27]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. This is another hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Coming up: Sting of the century. Dozens of law enforcement agencies around the world, luring hundreds of violent criminals into an encrypted app, and busted them overnight.
Also ahead, a CNN exclusive. We have audio of a 2019 phone call between Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and officials in Ukraine, and exposing his blatant attempt to meddle in the election for the benefit of Donald Trump.
Also ahead, an expert committee advised the FDA last year there was no evidence that show a potential new Alzheimer's drug was effective. On Monday, it was approved anyway by the FDA.
(MUSIC)
VAUSE: Australian federal police say hundreds have been arrested in what they described as the world's most sophisticated sting operation against organized crime. Operation Ironside involved law enforcement agencies from dozens of countries, including the FBI. The key, it seems, was to decrypting messages between alleged criminal gangs from Italy, Asia, and Albania. Revealing plans for drug trafficking, gun distribution, and plots to kill.
Here's Australia's federal police commissioner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: The AFP Operation Ironside has allowed the AFP to inflict maximum damage to serious organized crime, with devastating consequences to those who seek to do harm to Australians, and Australia's interest. And today, Australia is safer country because of these unprecedented AFP-led operations.
(END VIDEO CLPI)
VAUSE: Reporter Gabriella Power with Sky News Australia is live this hour in Sydney.
So, Gabriella, what precisely do we know about how this communication was intercepted? What was the sting part of this operation?
GABRIELLA POWER, SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA POWER: Yeah, John, as you say, this is a significant police operation in Australia's history. Criminals and underworld figures were using this encrypted app ANOM to communicate with one another. They plotted murders. They were trafficking billions of dollars worth of drugs, as well as engaging in other, large-scale, criminal activity.
Now, little did they know that this app ANOM was actually designed by police, and it was designed to catch them. And during this three-year police operation, the Australian federal police was cooperating with the FBI, and read 25 million messages it real-time. And they discover 21 murder plots, and they also confiscated more than 100 weapons. And so, as a result, more than 200 people have been arrested, and 100 have been charged.
VAUSE: This would seem to be the start of the arrests, but what we're learning is that the sting operation, it stretched from Australia, to the U.S., to the FBI, to New Zealand, Germany, to all around the world it seems. Often countries with very specific and strict specific surveillance laws, you know, law enforcement can and cannot do when it comes to communication.
So, how does that play into this operation, which was closely monitoring what these guys -- these gangs, rather, were actually saying to each other?
POWER: Well, the Australian federal police and FBI have been working with Interpol, and Australian authorities say that they were arresting those who are Australian residents who have been involved in, using this app overseas. So, just to show what they have learned from this operation, as they've been rating 25 million messages in real time. They've also seized 3,000 kilograms of drugs, $45 million in cash, confiscated weapons, and 1,650 people have these devices, these encrypted apps.
So, these arrests these days of police operation, this is one of the most significant in Australia's history. As you say, this is a global operation has arrests now in 18 countries, and Australian authorities do intend to extradite and charge those who were overseas -- John.
VAUSE: Gabriella Power in Sydney with the latest, thank, you we appreciate it.
Well, another major victory for U.S. law enforcement. Authorities have recovered millions in cryptocurrency paid as ransom to the hackers who shut down a key pipeline last month. The first ransom seizure made by the Justice Department, so recently, creating a digital distortion task force.
And for more details, CNN's Evan Perez has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department said that investigators turn the tables on hackers that crippled fuel supplies to much of the U.S. East Coast last month.
[01:05:07]
The FBI and U.S. prosecutors recovered about $2.3 million in cryptocurrency that they say was paid in ransom to hackers behind the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline. Government officials have linked to hack to a group known as DarkSide, which shares its malware tools with criminal hackers, who then share the profits behind their attacks.
Deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, said this was a case of following the money, urged companies to work with the FBI, and to toughen their defenses against hackers.
LISA MONACO, U.S. DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: No organization is immune. Soon, today, I want to emphasize to leaders of corporations, and communities alike, the threat of severe ransomware attacks posed a clear and present danger to your organization, to your company, to your customers, to your shareholders, and to your long term success. So, pay attention now, invest resources now. Failure to do so could be the difference between being secure now or a victim later.
PEREZ: Colonial Pipeline CEO told "The Wall Street Journal" last month that the company complied with ransom demand of more than $4 million because the company didn't know the extent of the intrusion by hackers, and didn't know how long it would take to restore their operations. But behind the scenes, the company took early steps to notify the FBI, and followed instructions that helped investigators track the payment to a cryptocurrency wallet used by the hackers, believed to be based in Russia.
Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Bever before heard audio of a 2019 phone call, now obtained by CNN, is shedding light on how far the man once known as America's mayor was willing to go for former U.S. president, Donald Trump. Longtime adviser, and personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, can be heard relentlessly pushing the Ukrainian government to investigate baseless conspiracies about then candidate, Joe Biden, and his son.
Allegations that Trump pressured Ukrainian leadership to investigate his political rival, in exchange for better relations and military aid, became essential part of Donald Trump's first impeachment.
CNN's Matthew Chance has our exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: What exactly do you mean?
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP PERSONAL LAWYER: Meaning meddling in the election.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was the call that set events in motion.
KURT VOLKER, U.S. DIPLOMAT: OK. So we should have on the line here, America's Mayor, Mayor Giuliani and we have Andriy Yermak.
CHANCE: Thrusting a reluctant Ukraine into America's divided politics. We already know through transcripts and testimony, Giuliani pressured them to announce investigations important to then President Trump. But this is the first time we've heard his actual voice.
GIULIANI: I want very much to see that our two countries are able to work together.
CHANCE: Giuliani cajoled the Ukrainian presidential advisor on the other end of the line, first promoting debunked conspiracy theories that Ukraine, not Russia was involved in U.S. election meddling in 2016 and tried to hurt the Trump campaign.
GIULIANI: Way back, in last November, I got information from a reliable investigator, international investigator, that there was a certain amount of activity in Ukraine during the 2016 election. That was - that involved Ukrainian officials and Ukrainian -- mostly officials being asked by our embassy and possibly by other American officials. Basically, I believe that the statement was to produce dirt on then-candidate Trump and Paul Manafort.
CHANCE: By the time of the call in July 2019, Joe Biden had already emerged as the Democratic Party's front runner to challenge President Trump and digging up dirt on Biden like the unfounded allegations of corrupt dealings in Ukraine when he was Vice President had become a priority for Trump and his longtime adviser.
Throughout the roughly 40-minute call, Giuliani repeatedly pressed the Ukrainian leadership to publicly announce investigate into this too, something that would have undoubtedly benefited Trump's reelection campaign and damage candidate Biden.
Listen to how Giuliani sets out what's required.
GIULIANI: And all we need, all we need from the president is to say: I'm going to put an honest prosecutor in charge, he's going to investigate and dig up the evidence, that presently exists and is there any other evidence about involvement of the 2016 election and then the Biden thing has to be run out.
[01:10:10] I don't know if it's true or not. I mean, I see him bragging about it on television. And to me as a lawyer, to me as a lawyer, it sounds like a bribe. Somebody is Ukraine's got to take that seriously.
CHANCE: In Ukrainian presidential office, they took it very seriously. Then as now the country was fighting a desperate war against Russian-backed rebels in its east and heavily dependent on U.S. weapons and military aid to hold its ground, including millions of dollars that had been frozen by the Trump administration while Giuliani pursued this political investigation.
Mindful of the need for a strong relationship with Washington, the Ukrainian presidential advisor on the call tried to assure Giuliani investigations he wanted would be looked at.
ANDRIY YERMAK: And we'll be ready this day immediately communicated to coordinate, to work and investigate everything, which you listed.
CHANCE: But privately, Ukrainian officials say they were alarmed at being sucked into American politics, especially when Giuliani repeatedly suggested compliance would open the door to closer U.S.- Ukrainian ties even a presidential meeting undermining the former U.S. president's assertions that he never sought political favors from Ukraine to secure U.S. support, so called quid pro quo.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo.
CHANCE: Now we can hear Giuliani set out his offer.
GIULIANI: So if he could make some statements at the right time. That he supports a fair, honest law enforcement system. And that these investigations go, wherever they have to go. Going to be run by honest people. That would clear the air really well.
And I think it would make it possible for me to come and make it possible, I think, for me to talk to the president and see what I can do about making sure that whatever misunderstandings are put aside. And maybe even, I kind of think that this could be a good thing for having a much better relationship where we really understand each other.
IGOR NOVIKOV, FORMER ADVISER TO UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKY: To my factual knowledge, they approached numerous --
CHANCE: One former Ukrainian official who was listening in on the call understood all too well. He spoke to CNN last month of his outrage as he heard Giuliani tried to force a deal that in his words threatened Ukraine's national security.
NOVIKOV: Let me remind you, we're a country fighting an active war with Russia for many years. So anything to do with swapping, you know, favors within our bilateral relationship in exchange for trying to get us involved into U.S. domestic politics is just wrong on many levels morally, ethically and probably even legally. CHANCE: By call's end, the Ukrainian's side seem to understand exactly what President Zelensky of Ukraine was expected to do, to keep Washington on the side. And on the call, at least, they agreed.
YERMAK: I'm sure that Zelensky will say that, yeah.
VOLKER: Yeah, good. Second to that --
GIULIANI: Well, that would, believe me, Andriy, that would be good for all of us.
CHANCE: Giuliani has denied any wrongdoing in Ukraine and says he was just trying to help his personal client, Trump.
It was, of course, this and other aggressive attempts to coax Ukraine, vigorously denied by then-administration officials that led to former President Trump's first impeachment in which he was eventually acquitted by the U.S. Senate. It's hard to know if actually hearing Giuliani relentlessly pressing Ukraine like this --
GIULIANI: If he could say something like that, on his own, in conversation, it would go a long way. I would go a long way with the president to solve the problems.
CHANCE: -- would have in any way influenced the outcome of impeachment vote.
Matthew Chance, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Around the same time, the Ukrainian president was denied a presidential meeting, possibly because he refused to announce the investigation into then candidate, Biden.
On Monday, he was invited to the White House with President Biden for meeting next month. Not exactly what Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly wanted, he was hoping to meet before Biden summit, with Russian president, Vladimir Putin, later this month. While that won't happen, the U.S. president has vowed found support for Ukraine sovereignty, and territorial integrity, as it deals with ongoing Russian aggression.
[01:15:03]
It seems Benjamin Netanyahu's hopes of remaining prime minister of Israel have been kept alive for a few more days after the speaker of the Knesset, Yariv Levin, formally announced that the centrist leader Yair Lapid formed a coalition government, but he did not set a date for a coalition -- confidence vote, I should say, in the Knesset. By law, it must happen by next Monday.
The coalition between Lapid the right-wing leader, Naftali Bennett, includes eight parties from across the political spectrum, there's a razor slim majority, just one in parliament. And now, Netanyahu has a few more days to convince at least one elected member of the coalition to defect.
We have more now from CNN's Oren Liebermann.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dueling protest, trying to change the balance of protest power in Israel. One, pressuring members of the Knesset to scuttle, and a coalition set to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Another, urging him to support the government in unity. Monday evening, the speaker of the Knesset, a Netanyahu ally, announced a new coalition refused to set a date for its swearing in.
YOHANAN PLESNER, ISRAEL DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE: This is something that is in contradiction to Israeli tradition that once a government is ready to be sworn in, it was done as soon as possible, and I hope that we will return to those democratic traditions.
LIEBERMANN: On Sunday, Naftali Bennett, a man set to be Israel's next leader, called for an orderly transition of power, asking Netanyahu not to leave scorched-earth behind him.
NAFTALI BENNETT, ISRAELI YAMINA PARTY LEADER (through translator): This is not a catastrophe, this is not a disaster. It is a change of government, an ordinary and usual event in any democratic country. The system in the state of is not a monarchy, no one has a monopoly on power.
LIEBERMANN: But Netanyahu is not going quietly, promising to topple this government quickly in language that echoes former President Donald Trump.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We're witnessing the biggest election fraud in the history of the country, and that is why people feel cheated, and rightly so.
LIEBERMANN: The head of the country's internal security agency warned of the weekend of incitement that could lead to violence.
Just one day later, a member of Netanyahu's Likud Party, comparing the mission of Bennett and his partners to suicide bombers.
MAY GOLAN, ISRAELI KNESSET MEMBER (through translator): There is a world of difference, but they're like terrorists who no longer believe in anything, who go out on their suicide mission and even if they know it's a death sentence, it doesn't matter to them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIEBERMANN (on camera): Given the charge political environment, police have died permission for the provocative flag march to go through the Muslim quarter of the old city of Jerusalem this week, nevertheless. Some right-wing members of Knesset, including the woman who made those comments comparing the leaders of the prospective new government to terrorists have vowed to do it anyway, this Thursday. In Petah Tikva, Oren Liebermann, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A short time ago, Dov Waxman, a professor and chair in Israeli studies at the UCLA told me about potential impact from Netanyahu's claims over election fraud.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOV WAXMAN, PROFESSOR & CHAIR IN ISRAEL STUDIES, UCLA: This kind of rhetoric is something that can encourage some people to take actions into their own hands, and carry out violent attacks, even against some of these lawmakers, or even against the Knesset itself, against the Israeli parliament itself.
So, there is a real risk of this, and I think we've learned, already, in the United States that when a politician, and particularly a national leader engages in this kind of rhetoric, and really winds up, and excites, and angers their followers, that some of these friendships, perhaps, can take matters into their own hands. That these can lead to very serious threats.
So, I think we shouldn't be complacent, and I think the next week for this government is sworn in is very a dangerous week for Israel.
VAUSE: With that in mind, in just the past 24 hours, an opinion piece in the newspaper "Haaretz" warned Netanyahu is leading an incitement that could end in murder again. That's a reference to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the 1995.
The online edition of "Yedioth Ahronot", a major Israeli paper, is also warning Netanyahu is dragging the whole country into the fire.
And here's part of an opinion piece which was in "The Washington Post". The violence we saw between Jew and Arab in May could pale next to what we between Jew and Jew. The grenade that killed a Peace Now protester 1983, and the bullets fired at Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 could return for a joint concert, at the end of, which the stage itself bursts into flames.
How does this not end in some kind of violent confrontation?
WAXMAN: Well, part of it may depend on Netanyahu realizing that his words are, really, leading to these kinds of threats, death threats, that are being made against these violent lawmakers in this coalition. And, maybe, perhaps, he will decide to tone down the rhetoric.
A lot of it is going to depend upon what Netanyahu decides to keep up with this, if he decides to rile his supporters up even further than I fear, there are real risks.
[01:20:05]
One thing at least is that, this time, unlike before Rabin's assassination in 1995, this time the security services are really taking these threats very seriously. They're issuing protective security details to these lawmakers, and I think there was an awareness at least about the dangers of this kind of rhetoric.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Still to come, a battle for every vote as the counting continues and Peru's too close to call presidential election, there is now a new fight over election fraud, that's next.
Also ahead, Kamala Harris on her first foreign trip as U.S. vice president, with a clear message for migrants heading north, hoping to reach the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Do not come. Do not come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Well, at this hour, Peru's presidential election remains too close to call. A little over 96 percent of the votes are being counted. The leftist candidate, Pedro Castillo, is holding on a narrow lead, less than 1 percent over right wing opponent Keiko Fujimori. Castillo's party is also rejecting opponent's claims of systemic fraud during the election.
And in Mexico, voters have been dealt a blow to President Lopez Obrador in midterm elections. Preliminary results show his party losing 50 parliamentary seats, and losing its outright majority in the lower house, now relying on coalition parties to hold on to power.
The ruling coalition also fell short of a supermajority, and president passing for major, reforms and changes in the Constitution. Final results are expected next week.
And President Obrador will sit down with the U.S. President Kamala Harris in the coming hours in Mexico, the second stop on her first international trip. She visited Guatemala on Monday and there issued a blunt and clear message to migrants, looking to make a dangerous journey to the United States border: Do not come.
Migration and the reasons for it are a key focus of Harris's today trip to the region.
Eric Farnsworth is vice president of the Council of the Americas, and American's Society, who's also a senior adviser to the White House special envoy for the Americas during the Clinton administration.
Eric, thank you for being with us.
ERIC FARNSWORTH, VICE PRESIDENT, AMERICAS SOCIETY AND COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS: Thanks for having me. VAUSE: OK. The U.S. vice president, clearly, has two very distinct
messages, saying not just at Guatemala and Mexico, but we're seeing much of the region. This is when it comes to illegal immigration.
First, stay home, because there is some good news on the way. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The power of hope. The ability, that each of our government status, and the help is on the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: She went on talk about help in the form of investment, job creation, governments are there to listen, to respond to people's needs, but then, she also had the bad news. Here she is again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I want it to be clear, to folks in this region who are thinking about making the dangerous track to the United States, Mexico border: do not come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:25:09]
VAUSE: And, again, she went on to talk about the enforcement at the border by border officials, and border patrol officials to sort that out.
So, does either statement carry any credibility right now within the region?
FARNSWORTH: Well, I think they both carry a certain credibility, but it remains to be seen how they'll be implemented, for sure. I think she's also talking to a lot of different audiences, that they don't come messages are directed towards migrants in Central America, but also, it is intended for a U.S.-based audience that may be concerned and the United States may not have its borders completely under control in if you look at reassurance that the administration is sensitive to those.
But also in terms of the positive news that help is on the way, indeed, I think the United States and the Biden administration in particularly is looking for specific ways to help build economies particularly in Central America that will help create jobs that will encourage people to stay home on their own country. So, it's not just bifurcated message, but it's also intended for a couple of different audiences.
VAUSE: Well, the vice president's next stop will be Mexico City. "The Mexico News Daily" has an opinion piece in a form of a letter to Vice President Harris, part of it reads this. You have arrived in Mexico in the aftermath of the largest and possibly most critical midterm elections in Mexico's history. Although the votes are still being counted by the Independent National Electoral Institute, whatever the outcome, dark clouds are stalking a country, already at a crossroads, post-electoral conflict is looming.
Given that assessment after the weekend vote, we saw the ruling party lose a simple majority, and the governing coalition fall sort of a super majority in the lower house, it would seem President Obrador's political challenges are set to significantly increase.
Where does that leave the vice president who wants more help from Mexico to deal with flow of immigration?
FARNSWORTH: Well, yeah, absolutely, and that's a pretty dramatic message that you've read, but clearly the timing of this visit is complicated, right after the elections of Sunday.
Look, the president of Mexico has a very ambitious plan to transform, as he calls it, Mexico, both socially, and politically, and economically, and he's now got three years to do it. He has less of a congressional majority, and the number of folks are breathing a sigh of relief because they believe that might limit his ability to make fundamental changes, to change the institutionality of Mexico, but the reality remains, that there are some controversial issues that remain on the table.
The president has taken steps to try to reform the judiciary, and talk about the central bank, traditionally very independent institutions in Mexico. This has caused some worry among some observers.
So, one would assume that the vice president behind closed doors will be talking to President Lopez Obrador about some of these issues and encouraging a very open and transparent path for Mexico.
VAUSE: The official death toll from COVID-19 is significantly upwards in Mexico. The election was seen partially as somewhat a referendum on the government's response, which has been fairly widely criticized.
It was a similar situation in Peru. The official COVID death toll recently more than doubled, now the highest mortality rate in world, also had a presidential election over the weekend, too close to call.
Here is the far left candidate who has pulled ahead slightly in the official count. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEDRO CASTILLO, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OF PERU: We mobilized. We participated openly, without fear, without hatred, without worries. I believe, in Peru, there are no more undecided people, no more inclinations, and above all, there is Peru. Long live Peru. Long live democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It would seem he's right in one sense, that this is a country where there's no undecideds anymore. This is a very deeply divided country.
FARNSWORTH: It's terribly divided. It's almost divided 50/50, straight down the middle, and it's not just in terms of support of a one candidate or the other, but it's also geographically divided. It's divided on class. It's divided on race. Peru has always had these sorts of social cleavages, but this election has really brought them to the fore.
Neither candidate is the perfect candidate, one is from the far left, one is from the scion of a failed previous president who is now in jail for human rights abuses. So, neither candidate is probably the first choice of a lot of people, and they're just trying to pick a better bad choice, and their estimation. But the reality is, whoever is declared a winner in Peru is going to have a real challenge in front of him, or her, a Congress where they don't control, the direction that's very divided, a population as we've just talked about, that's clearly not supportive, at least 50 percent. And some very big problems that Peru has to address coming out of COVID, an economy that has to recover and some real challenges in terms of social development. So, this is a country that will probably go through a continued rough patch for a bit of time.
VAUSE: Eric Farnsworth, we cover a lot of territory in a very short amount of time, thank you for being with us. We appreciate it.
[01:29:35]
FARNSWORTH: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Well, the first drug approved in 20 years to treat Alzheimer's is also coming up with a lot of skepticism that it may not deliver exactly what's promised. More details when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Well, for the first time in 20 years, U.S. regulators have approved a new drug to treat Alzheimer's, a brain disease which affects at least 30 million people worldwide.
The makers of aducanumab say it's not a cure, but rather could slow the progression of Alzheimer's in patients with mild cognitive impairment. Last year, the FDA was advised by an expert committee there was not enough evidence to support claims made about the effectiveness of the drug.
With us now is Dr. Lon Schneider, director of the California Alzheimer's Disease Center in the University of Southern California. He also helped conduct one of the trials for aducanumab and he's with us now.
So Doctor, thank you for taking the time.
I would like you to listen to more about how this drug is meant to work, and what it is said to do for Alzheimer's patients. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. RICHARD ISAACSON, ALZHEIMER'S PREVENTION CLINIC, WEILL CORNELL: The drug is an infusion, it's not a pill. The drug has to be infused into the vein, they go in once a month and take the treatment. And the goal of the drug is to slow down disease progression.
Does it to help with memory function? Maybe. But does it cure the diseases? No. The goal of this drug is to slow progression towards dementia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So as best as you know, has there been any significant development between now and last year when that advisory panel was almost in total agreement that there was not enough evidence to show the drug was effective?
DR. LON SCHNEIDER, DIRECTOR, CALIFORNIA ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE CENTER- USC: No. There's been no significant development. At best, patients who have been treated with the medication had continued to be treated with the medication but not in a randomized or controlled way.
The opinions of the -- and analysis of the advisory committee and of the FDA's own statistician stand the evidence -- there is no basis for changing.
VAUSE: And yet, it received approval anyway. What is interesting is how this seems to be not changing the paradigm when it comes to approval.
Here's part of reporting from Bloomberg on Monday. They, the FDA, essentially, left it up to doctors and insurance companies to decide who qualifies for this drug. They quote Steve Miller, chief clinical officer with the insurer Cigna who said the FDA has shifted the responsibility of defining finding the patient to the payer community.
Do you agree with that assessment? And if so, what does it actually mean? What's the implications here?
[01:35:01]
DR. SCHNEIDER: Yes. I very much agree with that. The nature of the approval, which is written in the label in the indication is simply for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. And the basis of the approval was not the observation of clinical improvement or a delay of progression because that is not clear at all.
The basis of the approval was the fact that this drug, this antibody, substantially decreases amyloid plaques in the brain. So what the FDA judged is by decreasing amyloid plaques there will be a probability or a possibility that there would be clinical improvement.
So they left this very vague and Steve Miller is quite correct.
VAUSE: Here's a little more on the potential side effects and the risks of taking this new drug. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ISAACSON: The biggest risk of this drug is, problems with swelling in the brain or even some small brain bleeding in the brain. One reassuring aspect is that when used carefully, and when used with surveillance MRIs, brain scams to make sure that the side effects aren't happening, most people that do develop the side effects actually end up being ok.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And with that in mind, here's part of the statement from the director of drug evaluation at the FDA saying the FDA ultimately decided to use accelerated approval and concluded that the benefits of Aduhelm, which is the generic name, for patients with Alzheimer's disease outweigh the risks of the therapy."
On the surface at least, that doesn't seem to add up because the risks seem to be quite high. And the effectiveness seems to be questionable at best.
DR. SCHNEIDER: Well, exactly. This is a stretch. What was expected was that this drug would be either approved or disapproved based on FDA's assessments of whether there was substantial effectiveness. The advisory committee and so many other people judged that there is no substantial evidence of effectiveness.
So the FDA then turned around and said well, it is the bio markers that suggest that there could be effectiveness. So yes, the risk- benefit is not there anymore. If there's not effectiveness, it is hard to say that a medication is safe.
And here a substantial proportion of people developed edema, much of it is asymptomatic and reversed but sometimes it doesn't and participants are worse.
VAUSE: The cost of the drug -- it's not cheap, it's about $4,000 and some per injection, once a month, pretty much ongoing. It's over $50,000 a year to receive this treatment.
In terms of drugs in the U.S., how does that sit. Is that expensive? I mean many around the world would be gasping at that cost right now.
DR. SCHNEIDER: I would too. And that is what Biogen says is the retail price for the medication for people who could afford that. And it doesn't include the physicians visits, the MRIs and the amyloid head scan that's needed, and which is part of the development.
In the U.S. thought, it's not to the FDA to judge cost effectiveness. Instead in this case, Medicare -- the Medicare operators, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services negotiate with the manufacturer, and the private insurance companies get together and negotiate.
So we don't know what the price is going to be. And we don't know in particular what the price is going to be for any particular patient in an insurance plan. What his or her copay might be. It's all up in the air now.
VAUSE: What it is -- it does seem where it ends up being will be simply probably expensive for something with questionable effectiveness.
Doctor, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.
DR. SCHNEIDER: My pleasure.
VAUSE: As the days count down to the Tokyo Olympics, the hospital beds in Japan are filling and Okinawa in particular, one of almost a dozen prefectures, now under a state of emergency. Hospital beds are running short because of a surge of severely-ill COVID patients.
Just days earlier, a former member of the Japanese Olympic -- a Japanese Olympic medalist and a member of the Olympic committee said the upcoming games have lost their meaning.
CNN's Blake Essig is live in Tokyo. Yes, the games have lost their meaning, some may agree with that, but I guess more importantly what's the situation with hospital beds, not just in Okinawa, but across the country?
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BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. John, the games seem to be moving forward no matter what the COVID situation here is in Japan. The Olympic games are set to begin in 45 days, and Japan is still struggling with a fourth wave of infection.
And while the COVID-19 case count across the country has been going down slowly for weeks, the number of patients in critical condition remains high specifically in Okinawa. Just yesterday, Okinawa officials reported that ICU hospital bed capacity was at 135 percent. Japan's southern island only has 65 ICU beds meaning nearly two dozen people are being treated without the necessary lifesaving medical equipment.
Now, to help with the medical system, which is already stretched thin, Okinawa officials say that they have secured 100 doctors and nurses from the mainland. Those medical workers will be arriving immediately.
On the vaccine front still only about 3.5 percent of Japan's population has been fully vaccinated and roughly 10 percent have received one dose. Japanese athletes competing in the Olympics, started being vaccinated last week.
Now although vaccines are not a requirement to compete in the Olympics, Japan Olympic officials say that 95 percent of its athletes will be vaccinated. But as far as the general public is concerned, only medical workers and people over the age of 65 are currently eligible to be vaccinated.
Despite the painfully slow rollout, to this point Japan is now doubling down on its efforts later this month to reduce the burden on local governments and increase speed in vaccinations. They're going to start being offered at select workplaces and universities.
The private sector is also getting involved. Big companies like Toyota, SoftBank and Rakuten which is of Japan's Amazon are working with local governments and in some case offering venues to help achieve mass vaccinations in a short time.
But John, for now again -- Tokyo, Okinawa and eight other prefectures remain under a state of emergency order until June 20th. So what ends up happening and how these Olympic games move forward, you know, is really up in the air at this point.
VAUSE: Six weeks to go. Blake, thank you. Blake Essig there live in Tokyo.
We head now to Uganda where COVID-19 restrictions are being reimposed to try and slow a new wave of infections. At the same time, the country faces a critical shortage of vaccines.
CNN's Larry Madowo has more now from Kampala.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The fear in Uganda is that if the rate of infections goes unchecked, it will overwhelm the bed capacity available and the oxygen supply in the country.
That is why President Yoweri Museveni said he had to put in place urgent public health measures to prevent the spread. In a single week, there were 131 percent increase in new cases according to the World Health Organization.
And President Museveni saying the most affected age groups at 30 to 39 and 20 to 29. So it's affecting much younger people and there's a new variant that is the Delta variant first discovered in India, the variant first discovered in South Africa and the concern is that there has been a laxity in obeying social distancing measuring, wearing masks, and this leading to this uptake in the cases of COVID in the country.
This is what the President Museveni says.
YOWERI MUSEVENI, UGANDAN PRESIDENT: The answer is prevention. In this wave, the test (ph) of severe and critically-ill COVID-19 patients and death is higher than what we experienced in the first wave of the pandemic.
In the previous wave, it took us three to four months to get to the current state of critical and severe patients. We're in the second wave. It has taken us less than two weeks.
MADOWO (voice over): Closing all public schools, immediately, restricting most public gatherings, and banning travel within regions in the country. These are all temporary measures.
The big problem for Uganda is vaccine shortages. It's just one of the 14 African countries where cases are rising. Uganda got only just under one million shots of AstraZeneca from COVAX, that is the global vaccine alliance. But it needs so much more because these are almost used up.
So President Yoweri Museveni says he's expecting 300,000 shots of Sinovac, that is a Chinese vaccine. But he's also going to be buying from Johnson & Johnson, from the Russians, from the Indians, because like many of the African countries, he needs as many shots in the arms of people so that he can safeguard the population and reopen the country.
(on camera): In the absence of that, there will have to be maybe a third lockdown, or a fourth lockdown, because the African Union target is to vaccinate the entire adult population of Africa only until the end of next year.
That is still a long way off compared to the rest of the world, especially in the west where vaccines are available for children, where most adults are already vaccinated and where life is beginning to come back to normal.
Larry Madowo, CNN -- Kampala.
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VAUSE: Burkina Faso's prime minister has visited the scene of one of the deadliest military attacks in years. Gunmen killed more than 130 people in a village near the Nigerian border late Friday into Saturday.
The prime minister spoke with residents. He met with the wounded in hospital and says it will take a united effort to stop terrorist from recruiting young people.
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CHRISTOPHE JOSEPH MARIE DABIRE, BURKINA FASO PRIME MINISTER, (through translator): Security is the government's responsibility. It's the responsibility of security and defense forces. But it is also the responsibility of the entire population.
People need to commit to work with us, by extremist groups, it must stop. Our youth needs to stay in the country to work towards economic and social development. So that we can share the fruits of this development.
It is not like these young people are allowed to leave, they are recruited by the terrorist groups and return to villages to bring terror and sadness to their own families.
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VAUSE: There has been no claim of responsibility but militants with links to al-Qaeda and ISIS have stepped up attacks in recent years.
When we come back, El Salvador's president embracing bitcoin like no other country. Find out how after the break.
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VAUSE: El Salvador's president wants to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. The proposal still needs to be approved by Congress but if it does happen, it will be a major moment in monetary history with possible ramifications to the global financial system.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann has details.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said that his country may soon become the first country to adopt bitcoin as a legal currency.
El Salvador currently uses the U.S. dollar as its currency, and by accepting bitcoin as legal tender it appears to be the first country to do so. It would be a revolutionary move not only for the Central American nation but also for the digital currency that has been facing some pushback from other countries recently.
At a bitcoin conference in Miami over the weekend, Nayib Bukele appeared in a video where he made the announcement. If El Salvador is going to accept bitcoin, it still would need to be approved by the Salvadoran congress but as Bukele New Ideas Party controls congress in El Salvador passage of the measure seems all but certain.
This is just the latest move from El Salvador's 39-year-old disruptive president who has already upended politics. He's earned the reputation of something of a strongman. Someone who does not respond well to criticism or challenges to his authority. But he's also someone who seems to have an idea how to gain headlines and generate international attention.
He's continuing to make his pitch on Twitter where he said that El Salvador had great weather, world-class surfing, beachfront properties for sale, inviting essentially bitcoin entrepreneurs to his country.
He continues to say that it's one of the few countries in the world with no property tax and there will be no capital gains for bitcoin as well that immediate permanent residency will be granted to crypto entrepreneurs.
It's still an open question how Salvadorans might use bitcoin, but 70 percent of the country is not tied to any form of the banking system. Salvadorans received billions from abroad from relatives who live in the United States.
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OPPMANN: So bitcoin certainly could facilitate that, cut down on some of the fees perhaps that they pay. But again, this is a country that is very poor, that has had a gang problem over the years.
So it is not clear if it is going to become a destination for bitcoin entrepreneurs with lots of people online now who were part of the bitcoin community looking at moving, they say, to El Salvador, and certainly this is opening the door for other countries to also adopt bitcoin as their currency.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN -- Havana.
VAUSE: Former U.S. President Barack Obama says he's worried about the state of American democracy blaming Republicans who he says have been cowed into accepting positions that once would've been unthinkable. Notably, like believing the big lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
He spoke exclusively with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Are we still just teetering on the brink? Or are we in crisis?
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think we have to worry. When one of our major political parties is willing to embrace a way of thinking about our democracy that would be unrecognizable and unacceptable even five years ago or a decade ago.
When you look at some of the laws that are being passed at the state legislative level, where legislators are basically saying, we are going to take away the certification and election processes from civil servants -- you know, secretaries of state, people who are just counting ballots -- and we are going to put it in the hands of partisan legislatures who may or may not decide that a state's electoral vote should go to one person or another.
And when that is all done against the backdrop of large numbers of Republicans having been convinced wrongly that there was something fishy about the last election, we've got a problem.
And you know, this is part of the reason why I think, the conversation around voting rights at a national level is important.
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VAUSE: Anderson Cooper and Barack Obama talked about fatherhood, leadership and legacy. The full interview coming up at the top of the hour, that's 2:00 p.m. in Hong Kong; 7:00 a.m. in London; 10:00 a.m. in Abu Dhabi.
Still to come here though, the billionaire race to space. Jeff Bezos says he's heading setting into space next month with his brother. And there's an extra seat that could be yours if you have the money.
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VAUSE: He's already the richest man on earth and now Jeff Bezos is set to be the first billionaire in space. The founder of Amazon announced Monday he'll be the first human passenger on board his own ship the New Shepard. Take that, Elon Musk and Richard Branson. The brothers Bezos will make the trip together which means there is a spare seat for passenger number 3 and it's up for grabs. And online option has bids right now north of $3 million.
And CNN's Rachel Crane has details.
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RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jeff Bezos has long said he has dreamed of going into space since he was 5 years old which is one of the reasons he founded his aerospace company Blue Origin more than 20 years ago.
The company has been working on a space tourism vehicle, the New Shepard, which is named after Alan Shepard, the first American to fly in space back in 1961.
They have been working on this vehicle for more than 6 years. Now, this flight is a sub orbital flight meaning the Bezos brothers won't reach escape velocity or orbit the earth like SpaceX as Crew Dragon launches we have recently seen.
But rather these New Shepard flights go just above the boundary of space. The flight take off vertically from Blue Origin's facility in west Texas in a fully autonomous spacecraft, meaning there will be no pilots on board. Passengers will be blasted up to three times the speed of sound before the booster detaches and lands at a nearby concrete landing pad.
While the passengers go on to reach an apogee of just over 60 miles above the earth, earning them their astronaut wings. Now after experiencing a few incredible minutes of weightlessness, the dome- shaped spacecraft will bring passengers back to earth in a parachute landing.
And the whole journey only lasts about 11 minutes and the company has had 15 consecutive space launches however none of them have been manned so Bezos putting his bum in that space craft before any other humans have, I mean it is the ultimate sign of confidence in his team and the system that they have built.
The launch is scheduled for July 20th which happens to be the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing as well as just two weeks after Jeff Bezos steps down from his post as Amazon CEO.
Now, currently Blue Origin has no tickets sales that are open to the public, nor have they released information regarding pricing. But they've done something really interesting here. They've launched an online auction. So that means that a mystery passenger will be on board with both Mark Bezos and Jeff Bezos on this historic first spaceflight. The proceeds of that auction will be going towards Blue Origin's foundation Club for the future.
Back to you. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you.
And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. Anderson Cooper sitting down for a one-on-one interview with the former president Barack Obama talking about fatherhood, leadership, as well legacy. That's right up after a very short break, only here on CNN.
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