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CNN International: IDF Launches Operation at Gaza's Largest Hospital; U.N. Says Famine Imminent in Northern Gaza; At Least 10 Dead as Violence Explodes in Port-au-Prince; Trump Struggling to Come Up with $464 Million Bond; For Many, Life in Russian-Occupied Crimea Carries Risk. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 19, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Famine in the northern part of Gaza is imminent. This is an entirely man-made disaster. It can be halted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Port-au-Prince feels post-apocalyptic. The country is in chaos, essentially held hostage by gangs eager to expand their reign of terror.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has real estate, and what they want is cash.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he fails to post that bond, come Monday, Letitia James is going to start seizing his assets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and around the world. I'm Max Foster.

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. It is Tuesday, March 19th, 8 a.m. here in London, 10 a.m. in Gaza, where, as the war grinds on, there are new efforts to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal, with the U.S. State Department saying Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week for more talks.

FOSTER: Meanwhile, the Israeli military says it has arrested hundreds of, quote, terror suspects after launching a major operation at al- Shifa Hospital on Monday. An eyewitness tells CNN military vehicles were firing at hospital buildings, and the Palestinian Health Ministry says there were multiple casualties. CNN can't independently verify these claims.

NOBILO: Hamas's military wing says its fighters were engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli forces, while the IDF claims it killed more than a dozen, quote, terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Hamas has tried to reestablish its base in the hospital and use it as a refuge for terrorists on the run. And we will not allow this, and we will attack and continue to attack wherever Hamas tries to reestablish itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: A new report is warning of imminent famine in northern Gaza any time between now and May. Governments, charities and U.N. agencies say 70 percent of the population there is already experiencing catastrophic food insecurity. Regions in southern Gaza are in the emergency phase, with famine likely by mid-July.

FOSTER: The European Union is calling on Israel to allow safe, unimpeded access to all people in need throughout Gaza. The U.N. says the situation in the enclave is worse right now than anywhere in the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: The latest report on food insecurity in Gaza is an appalling indictment of conditions on the ground for civilians. Palestinians in Gaza are enduring horrifying levels of hunger and suffering.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The leaders of Israel and the U.S. have held their first known phone call in at least a month amid tensions over Israel's handling of the war in Gaza.

NOBILO: The White House says Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the hostage and ceasefire talks and the urgent need to get more aid into Gaza.

President Biden also warned that Israel's plans for a major ground operation in Rafah to go after Hamas would be a mistake.

FOSTER: More than a million Palestinians sheltering there. The White House National Security Advisor says a senior Israeli delegation is expected to arrive in Washington this week for further discussions on possible alternatives to an offensive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: A military plan cannot succeed without an integrated humanitarian plan and political plan. And the president has repeatedly made the point that continuing military operations need to be connected to a clear strategic endgame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Joining us now is CNN's Nada Bashir. Nada, let's begin with the serious risk of famine, what the warnings have been and the level of food insecurity at the moment and also how that could be much worsened by any potential ground operation in Rafah.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, we've been hearing the warnings for weeks now that Gaza was heading directly towards a famine. It appears that much northern Gaza is now experiencing what has been classified in this startling report as catastrophic levels of hunger.

We're talking about more than 70 percent of Gaza's population now in this phase five. That is the highest level of hunger they could be facing. And it's not just in northern Gaza where, of course, we have seen that difficulty in getting humanitarian aid to those most in need, but also in southern Gaza as well, where they are now classifying many regions there as being in phase four. That is emergency levels of hunger.

[04:05:00]

We're talking about more than a million people now, more than half of Gaza's population, who have now completely exhausted their food supply. So this is a deeply serious situation. We've been hearing the warnings for weeks, but there doesn't appear to have been a shift just yet in the amount of aid actually getting in, although we have seen other nations doubling down on their efforts.

We've seen the air jobs taking place, although they too come with other risks. And we have seen the maritime corridor being established now from Cyprus to Gaza's coast. But what we are hearing repeatedly now from aid agencies, from the United Nations, is that more needs to be done to remove obstructions from Gaza's land borders.

And what we've been seeing is this bottleneck, this inability to get enough aid trucks across Gaza's borders to help those most in need, and crucially to get food supplies to those most in need. And of course you heard the warning there from Antonio Guterres. I think we have another bite from him speaking yesterday, reiterating that more needs to be done to get that food to those most in need.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUTERRES: Palestinians in Gaza are enduring horrifying levels of hunger and suffering. This is the highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger ever recorded by the integrated food security classification system anywhere, anytime. This is an entirely man-made disaster, and the report makes clear that it can be halted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Of course you heard him there saying that this is an entirely man-made disaster. We did hear from Netanyahu speaking to CNN over the weekend. He accused Hamas of looting aid and said that it is Israel's policy to allow as much humanitarian aid in as possible.

But that is a claim that has been rejected and denied by many aid agencies, including the United Nations itself, which has accused Israel of deliberately and intentionally obstructing humanitarian aid and, crucially, food supplies from getting into the Strip.

FOSTER: Biden and Netanyahu speaking for the first time in a month, pretty extraordinary that there's been that gap during wartime.

BASHIR: Certainly, and we've been hearing Biden and the White House entirely taking a much harsher tone, a sterner perhaps response to what is happening in Gaza, particularly around concerns around Rafah.

And we know, of course, that their call focuses well on the ongoing ceasefire negotiations and, crucially, what is being done to ensure that hostages held captive by Hamas aren't released as part of those ongoing truce negotiations.

But, of course, a huge point of concern that we have been seeing from the White House is the situation in Rafah. We know, of course, that the Israeli government and Netanyahu have said they have approved military operational plans to move into that southern area where, of course, some 1.5 million civilians are now displaced.

But the warnings keep coming, particularly from the United States. They haven't seen any credible plans for the protection of civilians there. And President Biden has implored Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership to do more to ensure that civilians are protected, but also, crucially, to get aid into those most in need.

FOSTER: OK. Nada, thank you so much.

NOBILO: Armed gangs are turning Haiti into a war zone. New video shows bodies lying in the streets of Port-au-Prince. Police say at least 10 people were killed in Haiti's capital on Monday as gang violence spreads into more communities. People are running out of food and basic necessities largely cut off from the outside world. The U.S. is raising red flags about the growing crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VEDANT PATEL, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: It is not hyperbole to say that this is one of the most dire humanitarian situations in the world. Gang violence continues to make the security situation in Haiti untenable, and it is a region that demands our attention and action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: A U.S. State Department charter flight evacuated dozens of Americans from Haiti on Sunday. It landed in Miami after leaving from an airport about 200 kilometers north of Port-au-Prince where the main airport is still shut down. The U.S. says it's open to sending more evacuation flights as well, if needed.

CNN's David Culver was the first major network journalist on the ground in Haiti's capital. He explains how police are working with militias to fight gangs for control.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Port-au- Prince feels post-apocalyptic.

CULVER: This is basically the aftermath of a war zone.

CULVER (voice-over): Driving through the battlegrounds between gangs and police, we dodge massive craters and piles of burning trash. The police controlled these roads leading to Haiti's international airport, for today at least.

It's been shut for weeks. Out front, checkpoints to search for suspected gang members, and an armored truck to keep watch. It sits beaten and battered.

Less than a month ago, we flew in and out on commercial flights here. Now it's desolate. The country is in chaos. Essentially held hostage by gangs eager to expand their reign of terror.

Over the weekend, more businesses looted and cars stolen. Gangs leaving behind a scorched path of ruin.

[04:10:00]

We're headed to one of the last remaining hospital trauma centers that's still functioning in Port-au-Prince.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: February 29th was probably the worst.

CULVER (voice-over): As soon as we meet one of the doctors, a call comes in.

CULVER: Go ahead if you need to get it.

CULVER (voice-over): A gunshot victim heading into surgery. He takes us to him.

CULVER: Most of those cases that are brought here are gunshot victims from the gang violence.

CULVER (voice-over): With the patient's family giving us permission, we go in as staff prepare to operate. We're told the 24-year-old truck driver was caught in the crossfire between police and gangs.

CULVER: The doctor is showing me here images that are very disturbing, but they show an entry wound of a bullet basically around the temple and went right through and caused damage to at least one eye.

CULVER (voice-over): The doctor tells us the man's lost vision in both eyes. Another bullet hit his arm.

CULVER: And so they will have to amputate his arm?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CULVER (voice-over): We peer into the ICU. It's full.

CULVER: Are most of these gunshot victims?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of them are.

CULVER: She's in pain. She feels a pain in her leg.

And so how did it happen? Where were you?

She was going to the market.

CULVER (voice-over): Eighty-six years old. A reminder no one is shielded from the violence that's gripped Haiti's capital in recent weeks.

Police are exhausted. One local commander telling me morale is broken and that the gangs have more money and resources than they do. Low on ammo, their squad cars out of gas.

It is personal for the commander.

CULVER: He was forced out with his family from their own home, and now this is his home, essentially.

CULVER (voice-over): The police, at least in this community, do have backup in the form of local residents.

CULVER: Do you feel like gangs are trying to move in and take this area?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, for sure.

CULVER (voice-over): While many community leaders call for peace, they admit they're tired of feeling threatened. So much so, some have created their own checkpoints and barricades, staffed 24-7, redirecting traffic and determining who comes in. Not everyone gets out.

CULVER: You can see right here at this intersection there's a massive burn pile. This is actually where the community takes justice into their own hands.

About a week ago was the most recent such case. They captured four suspected gang members. They brought them here, killed them with machetes, and set their bodies on fire.

CULVER (voice-over): The gruesome vigilante acts were recorded in part as a warning to the gangs. But even amid utter turmoil, life moves forward, and with it moments to celebrate. Outside a church, these bridesmaids excitedly awaiting their cue to walk down the aisle.

Port-au-Prince is a city now shattered by the relentless blasts of violence that have forced more than 300,000 of its residents out of their homes.

CULVER: Where are you staying here? Where's your home in this facility? Right up there.

CULVER (voice-over): They take refuge in places like this school, classrooms turned dorm rooms, where more than 1,500 people cram in.

CULVER: So she's showing us this is all her stuff that she's been able to bring, and this is where she is set up right now.

CULVER (voice-over): In the classroom next door, we meet this woman, her husband killed by gang members. She and her five-year-old, like many here, have been forced to move every few weeks.

We're sleeping hungry. We're in misery, she tells me. We'd probably be better off dead than living this life.

CULVER: Adding to the complication for those folks is the reality that they are not only facing threats from gangs, but as they describe it to me, they're also being ostracized from the communities in which they are now essentially camping out in. They say those neighbors don't want them there and will likewise attack them because they feel like having these refugees now within their community is drawing the gangs' attention and potentially bringing more violence to their homes.

David Culver, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Donald Trump is facing a cash crunch. His attorneys say he can't find an underwriter for the $464 million bond in the New York civil fraud judgment against him and his adult sons. The state attorney general explains what could happen next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers. And yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day.

If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek, you know, judgment enforcement mechanisms in court and we will ask the judge to seize his assets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, as recently as last month, Donald Trump's attorney promised that her client could cover everything.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does Donald Trump have that kind of money sitting around?

[04:15:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I mean, he does. Of course he has money. You know, he's a billionaire. We know that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This guy is worth a lot of money, billions and billions of dollars.

He happens to have a lot of cash.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: More now from CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump has always bragged about how rich he is, and yet his lawyers say he just cannot come up with the roughly half billion dollars he owes for committing civil fraud, citing insurmountable difficulties. They say Trump has appealed to 30 different insurance underwriters to help him post a bond, essentially paying them to guarantee that his money will be paid as it should be if he loses his appeal. And all of the underwriters have turned him down.

Now, why would they do that? Trump's team says it's more money than some of them will ever agree to underwrite, so that's one problem. But even those who might consider it want cash to back up the deal. And Trump's money is not in cash, not most of it.

Most of it is tied up in real estate, in places like Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Trump Tower and more than a half dozen other properties in New York. He's invested in buildings in Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco. He has golf courses and resorts, money in companies such as True Social and even in his airplane.

For the underwriters, all of that could turn into a massive headache of property management, complicated deals with partners and wildly swinging values. So they just don't want it.

So the question is, what happens at this point? Well, he doesn't go to jail. This is not a criminal case. But unless something changes, legal analysts say next week, the New York attorney general could start seizing some of those properties. Those in New York would likely make the most sense to make sure if Donald Trump loses his appeal again, he will pay the judgment, which is growing by more than $100,000 every day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: CNN's Tom Foreman reporting there.

Trump's lawyers say the value of his properties far exceed the judgment, and they want more time to come up with the money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIK LARSON, BLOOMBERG NEWS LEGAL REPORTER: The writing is on the wall that if he hasn't started preparing to sell some assets by now, that it could be pretty difficult to get this process done by Monday. And clearly, Letitia James is ready to go to court. She's been preparing for this.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: He gets to appeal no matter what. There's been, frankly, a little bit of misreporting that he cannot appeal until he posts the bond. He can appeal. That's a constitutional right that he has. But the difference is, if he manages to somehow come up with the money or get a bond, then Letitia James, who's the plaintiff in this case, cannot try to seize his assets in the meantime while the appeal is pending. But if he fails to post that bond come Monday, yes, he gets to appeal. But Letitia James is going to start seizing his assets.

Now, it's not an immediate process. It's not going to turn Trump Tower into James Tower immediately. But she can start the process to actually take control of and then liquidate, sell off some of those assets.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: A judge in New York will allow two high-profile witnesses to testify at Trump's hush money trial, which could begin next month. The former president is accused of covering up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. Daniels has released a new documentary in which she talks about the payment and the threats of violence against her.

NOBILO: The judge will also allow former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen to testify. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies he had an affair with Daniels.

Coming up, it has been 10 years since Russia illegally annexed Crimea. Ten years of uncertainty and dashed dreams for many Crimeans. And we'll show you what their lives are like next.

FOSTER: Plus, an end to the era of negative interest rates in Japan. But a warning for consumers, prices will be rising.

NOBILO: A new mural here in London is drawing crowds. And now the artist Banksy is taking credit for the artwork. More on that ahead.

[04:20:00]

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NOBILO: It's an outcome that was never in doubt. Russian President Vladimir Putin officially securing another six years in power after the country's stage-managed presidential election.

FOSTER: Putin celebrated his landslide win on Monday during a massive rally in Red Square, marking ten years since Russia's annexation of Crimea. Election officials in Russia report record turnout in the presidential contest, with Putin winning nearly 88 percent of the vote. But the Russian leader faced no credible competition, of course, to his rule.

NOBILO: On Monday, Putin invited the three other candidates on stage during the rally where he congratulated them. His nearest rival had won just 4 percent of the vote.

Following the election, the head of Russia's election commission indirectly accused Russia's exiled opposition of trying to discredit the vote. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELLA PAMFILOVA, CHAIRWOMAN, CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION (through translator): The level of aggressive influence on our voters was unprecedented. This level of intimidation of trying to influence our votes from outside Russia has never happened.

This time, those outside wish if not to seriously affect these elections but to discredit them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Clare Sebastian joins us. The nation, key members of that nation's ruling elite, all rallying behind the new, well, the president, who continues.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and look, it's no coincidence, I think, that the celebrations of the Crimean annexation, what Russia calls reunification, were all folded in. This is the second presidential election that's happened since the annexation in 2014, the second time that they have managed to get the election to coincide with this anniversary.

It's a huge source of national pride in Russia, but this display that we saw, this celebration on Red Square, presents a complete alternate reality to what's actually happening on this peninsula, and it's really important to look at Crimea now because we're seeing it happen again.

There are now four other territories within Ukraine, four other regions that Russia has claimed to illegally annex, and some of the tools of control of the population that we've seen over the past ten years in Crimea are being applied to those new regions as well. So this is why we wanted to really take a look at what's happening inside Crimea.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Ten years ago, the woman in blue dreamed of being a teacher. Life under Russian occupation brought to Lutfiye Zudiyeva a new calling, journalist and human rights activist.

LUTFIYE ZUDIYEVA, JOURNALIST AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST (voice-over): This was the first time I was searched, but I had been preparing for this for many years. I was expecting them.

SEBASTIAN: Are you not afraid? Do you have a family, children?

ZUDIYEVA (through translator): I hope that my work will lead to the end of repression in Crimea.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): This was Zudiyeva's third arrest in four years, this time over several social media posts. Scenes like this are increasingly common, especially in Crimea and Tatar communities.

Forcibly deported by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1944 and only allowed back in the early 1990s. 2014 brought another decade of persecution to anyone opposing Russia's rule. Residents say the full- scale invasion intensified the crackdown.

ZUDIYEVA (through translator): In the current situation, even those who before this were protected from prosecution are at risk.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): On March 5th, ten Crimean Tatar men were arrested in mass pre-dawn raids.

They came through this way. The FSB or riot police officers says the wife of one visibly out of breath. A few hours later, she gave birth to her sixth child.

KRZYSZTOF JANOWSKI, U.N. MONITORING MISSION TO UKRAINE: Well, we have seen a systematic effort essentially to erase the Ukrainian identity, forcing people to take Russian passports, drafting Crimean men for Russian military.

[04:25:00]

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Another key policy, the UN says, is to replace those who leave.

JANOWSKI: They brought in at least 100,000 Russians to Crimea since the annexation. That changes the demographic composition of the peninsula.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): When unmarked Russian soldiers, the little green men, began surrounding Crimea's military bases in March 2014, ethnic Russians were already a majority here. But the referendum, which delivered a 97 percent yes vote to join Russia, was illegal in the eyes of much of the world. And at one polling station, our CNN camera filmed a man dropping two ballots into the box.

Ten years on, Russia's propaganda machine is celebrating. This news report showing off shiny new highways.

EMIL KURBEDINOV, CRIMEAN LAWYER (through translator): If you drive along the roads, walk around the shops, it would probably seem like everything is wonderful. But there is another side, all right? I just came back from the pre-trial detention center, visiting my defendants. This is young people being accused of terrorism.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Some don't even get a trial. The U.N. has documented more than 100 cases of forced disappearance in Crimea since 2014.

KURBEDINOV (through translator): This is how we live. Today you drive along nice roads, arrive home, and then tomorrow you simply disappear.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): As Russia tightens its grip on Crimea's people, Ukraine has stepped up attacks on the peninsula, on land and sea in recent months. In the place this war originally started, military tensions are rising again.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SEBASTIAN (on camera): And I think that's linked to the reason why we've seen the crackdown on Crimea's people intensify. We know that Russia, for example, has also been digging fortifications in some parts of Crimea. Obviously you need stable support by any means from the population just in case, and we don't see any sign of this at the moment, but just in case the war, in terms of the ground war, does actually return and they have to defend it.

NOBILO: Why is reunification, as Putin would call it, legal annexation, as a dispassionate observer would call it, important for Putin's psychology and power?

SEBASTIAN: So this is about several things.

One, that you know, Putin feels that Russia lost a lot of territory in the collapse of the Soviet Union. We hear a lot of this in the speeches that he made around the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the historical mistakes. And I think the second thing is a quest for that sort of elusive superpower status that Russia feels that it lost after the Cold War period.

It's about spheres of influence. It's about consolidating Russian power. He said in his speech on Red Square yesterday that, you know, he's been told about the restoration of a railway linking Rostov with Donetsk, and then Mariupol and Berdyansk.

These -- this is literally a sort of visual reminder of what he's trying to do, to add to the territory of Russia. To make it -- to make what Ukraine sees as a temporary occupation look and feel permanent by bringing in infrastructure, by bringing in Russian institutions, by forcing people to get Russian passports, by holding the recent elections in these territories.

All of that is part of that consolidation of power, which Putin feels gives Russia relevance and status on the global stage.

NOBILO: Clare Sebastian, always great to speak to you. Thank you.

FOSTER: Still ahead, why China's richest man is losing billions with his bottled water company.

NOBILO: And an over-the-counter birth control pill is now available for the first time in the United States. What it costs and where people can find it.

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