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CNN International: Hostage Talks to Resume Amid Gaza Crisis; Doctor: Conditions in Gaza are Apocalyptic, Horrific; Ukraine Reports Widespread Attacks on Energy System; Trump Faces Deadline to Pay Bond in New York. Aired 4:00-4:30a ET
Aired March 22, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Negotiators continue to work. The gaps are narrowing and we're continuing to push for an agreement in Doha.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's almost like you wish they would have just died initially in an airstrike or a bomb rather than them having to suffer.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And we have a lot of cash and we have a great company, but they want to take it away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no indication yet that Donald Trump has come up with half a billion dollars to satisfy the judgment in the New York Attorney General's civil fraud case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they come in shooting all around, trying to scare us to flee, we won't just let them kill us. They have to die. He tells me.
There are no front lines in this war. The boundaries are blurred and they're constantly shifting.
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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 around the world. I'm Max Foster.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianca Nobilo.
It's Friday, March 22nd, 8 a.m. here in London at 4 a.m. at the United Nations, where in a few hours, the Security Council is expected to vote on a U.S. resolution on Gaza.
FOSTER: The Biden administration says the resolution will call for a, quote, immediate and sustained ceasefire in connection with the release of all remaining hostages.
NOBILO: Meanwhile, the Israeli military says it has detained more than 600 people in a days-long operation at al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza. More on that in a moment.
Israel says this video shows airstrikes on what it calls Hamas terrorist infrastructure near that hospital.
FOSTER: Diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting are underway across the Middle East today. Negotiators are expected in Doha for another round of high-level talks in hopes of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of hostages held by Hamas.
NOBILO: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet with Israel's prime minister and war cabinet in the coming hours. America's top diplomat gave this assessment of where things stand now.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Negotiators continue to work. The gaps are narrowing, and we're continuing to push for an agreement in Doha. There's still difficult work to get there, but I continue to believe it's possible.
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FOSTER: CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is here with us now in London. We've heard that before, haven't we?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I mean, it seems like after weeks, months now of these talks really stalling, we are seeing a lot of movement right now, especially over this past week where you saw the chief of the Israeli Mossad, David Barnea, traveling to Doha earlier this week. He was there for one day and left after that, which was an indication that there are differences that remain.
But we are hearing a lot more of this cautious optimism coming from U.S. officials, as you heard there from the secretary of state saying that these gaps are narrowing. They believe that they are getting closer to a deal. But at the same time, you're hearing from the Qataris, who are, of course, mediating these talks, that they're not at the point where they can say that an agreement is imminent.
But at the same time, the feeling is here we are seeing these movements. You've got Barnea back in Doha today. He's going to be meeting with the CIA head, Bill Burns, who's going to be there, as well as the head of Egyptian intelligence and the Qatari prime minister.
So you've got these high level talks resuming, a real indication that things are moving right now. We don't really know what the differences are that remain, but some indications are that the sticking point, the main sticking point right now has been Hamas's demand as part of the proposal that it has put forward for a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Israeli military from Gaza. Which, of course, is a non-starter for Israel that said it's determined to dismantle Hamas. What we know is, you know, and how this has really worked in previous
talks, is you have proposal, counterproposal. And we are at the point right now where Israel's counterproposal will be presented to Hamas, where you would be seeing the possibility of an agreement that would be implemented over different phases. A six week ceasefire that would see the release of Israeli hostages.
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According to the last Hamas proposal that we saw, the first phase would be the release of female hostages, including IDF soldiers. According to sources, we're talking about 40 hostages, including the elderly, the wounded and the ill.
So we'll have to wait and see because it's the phases that come after that where it becomes trickier. So all eyes on Doha right now today and to see where we go.
But what we're hearing from U.S. officials, cautious optimism. But of course, a lot is at stake here, especially for the families of the hostages who just want their loved ones back home after this, you know, six month ordeal and the people of Gaza who are just continuing to go through the unimaginable right now.
FOSTER: OK, Jomana, thank you.
Well, leaders of the European Union meeting in Brussels have stopped short of calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Instead, they're urging an immediate humanitarian pause. Several members, including Spain and Ireland, went into the summit demanding a ceasefire.
NOBILO: The bloc is working to get relief supplies into Gaza through a maritime corridor from Cyprus, while urging Israel to allow safe and unhindered access through land routes as well. EU leader Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel are also calling on Israel to not launch a ground invasion of Rafah in the south.
Doctors and aid groups continue to highlight the alarming conditions that they see across Gaza, even in the hospitals, sometimes especially. Earlier, CNN spoke with Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an emergency medicine physician, with the group MedGlobal.
FOSTER: He's back in the U.S. now after volunteering at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. He described what he says are apocalyptic and horrific conditions.
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DR. THAER AHMAD, BORAD MEMBER, MEDGLOBAL: They have to treat patients on the floor because there are no hospital carts. Some days there are no pain medicine, other days there's no antibiotics. They are watching patients suffer and die a slow and painful death.
And it's almost like -- and this is something that a nurse had told me, it's almost like you wish they would have just died initially in an airstrike or a bomb, rather than them having to suffer on the floor without any of their dignity and no one around them.
I mean, I remember walking in the pediatric department of Nasser Hospital and going to a room where a child had been killed because a tank shell burst through her window, struck her in the head and instantly killed her. And I remember turning around and seeing 11 children playing ring around the rosy in the department.
The world needs to realize that Palestinians are human beings, too. They need to understand that they have feelings. They want their kids to grow up. They don't want their kids to die in airstrikes. And that's something, that's the first step. The second that we realize that the 32,000 people and the 13,000 children have faces and have stories and have dreams, that's the step we can get closer to a ceasefire. That's the step that we can get closer to aid coming in from the border and reaching the hungry and starving people.
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NOBILO: In northern Gaza, the situation at al-Shifa Hospital is particularly tense as an ongoing Israeli military operation there stretched into its fourth day with hundreds arrested and killed since Monday. And as CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports, thousands of civilians are trapped on the premises.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A crowded stairwell at al-Shifa Hospital. Dozens of women and children await Israeli military instructions. For four days, thousands of civilians have been trapped here as the Israeli military raids the hospital, targeting Palestinian militants allegedly operating inside the medical complex.
Soldiers are everywhere, the voice on the loudspeaker warns. If you leave the premises, the soldiers will shoot you. We have warned you. We have come here in order to get the Israeli hostages. Then we will let you go.
Soon, word of evacuations begins to spread.
Now they are forcing out the women, the voice behind the camera says. We don't know where they're going to take us.
The Israeli military says they have killed more than 140 militants in and around the hospital and detained these five men described as senior terror operatives. Among more than 600 suspects, the Israeli military says they've detained. Eyewitnesses say medical personnel and other civilians have also been rounded up.
Outside the hospital, the fighting continues. As seen through the lens of Hamas militants, who have been targeting Israeli tanks and troops around the hospital complex. Israeli airstrikes reducing parts of the surrounding al-Ramal neighborhood to rubble, sending thousands fleeing south. It's a journey marked by the sights and smells of death.
We walked over the martyrs who are dead in the street. People are reduced to body parts, this woman cries. Where is the humanity? The newly displaced arrive on foot in central Gaza, carrying only
backpacks and plastic bags, children clutching dolls and stuffed animals.
Others, like this mother and her triplets, arrive with nothing at all.
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Tanks and artillery were firing at the buildings around al-Shifa and forcing people to leave the building, she says. They make them leave with nothing on them, nothing. No pillow, no blanket, not even water.
Nuzha isn't just fleeing the fighting. But the starvation that has left her eight-month-old babies thin and frail.
You can see them, she says. Each of them is not even two kilos. Eight months old and not even two kilos. Anyone who sees them would think they are only two months old. And they are eight months. It's a catastrophe. No water, no food, and siege and gunfire.
But her journey is not over yet. She is heading further south in search of food and shelter, no longer taken for granted in Gaza.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
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NOBILO: And in Yemen, the U.S. Central Command says coalition forces destroyed one unmanned surface vessel and two anti-ship ballistic missiles launched by Houthis near the Red Sea.
According to CENTCOM, the weapons pose an imminent threat to coalition and merchant vessels in the region. There were no reports of injuries or damage to any U.S. or coalition ships.
Ukraine is reporting power outages across the country after a new barrage of Russian strikes Friday morning.
FOSTER: Ukraine's energy minister calls it the largest attack on the power system in recent times. Officials say the second largest city, Kharkiv, is virtually without power and is having trouble with its water supply. That's because at least some water pumping stations have lost electricity.
Ukraine also says one of the power lines at the Zaporizhia nuclear plant is now offline, but Russian officials who control the facility say a separate transmission wire is still working.
Sebastian Shukla is keeping an eye on those developments for us and he joins us now from Berlin. Seb, what more can you tell us about these attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure?
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, good morning, guys. I think it's for Ukrainians and for Ukraine at large, strikes and attacks like this have become the norm and people have become used to taking shelter and covering themselves for safety because of these Russian airstrikes. But what is different is that over the last short period of time we
haven't really seen attacks like this happening across Ukraine with the widespread nature as we have seen this morning. And don't forget, yesterday was the first time in 44 days that the Ukrainian capital was targeted, which the Ukrainian intelligence services said was a specific attack on one of the Ukrainian intelligence ministries.
What we're seeing, though, is a renewed effort from the Russian armed forces to try to target Ukraine's critical infrastructure targets, which was one of the key aims which was happening at the end of 2022 going into 2023, to try and knock out and really squeeze the Ukrainian people at a time when the weather becomes its most brutal.
President Zelenskyy has tweeted this morning just about his anger at the situation. I think it's one of his more vociferous comments pleading with the American people and the international community at large to try and get him this aid which his country so desperately needs.
He said this morning: Russian missiles do not have delays, as do our aid packages to our country. The Shahed has no indecision like some politicians. It is important to understand the cost of delays and postponed decisions.
Some quite serious words with a very strong messaging there, guys.
FOSTER: How do you read that? I mean, how badly does Ukraine need it? I mean, how do you read his emotion, really, in that?
SHUKLA: Yes, I mean, I think that if we analyze what has been happening on the ground, Max, in the east, and the way that Ukraine has had to pivot away from being able to attack and push Russia back on the ground, it has had to take its attacks more to the Russian mainland, which we've seen through a variety of drone attacks which have been targeting Russian military bases, oil refineries and the like. So the need for Ukraine to get hold of this weaponry really seems to be coming into sharper focus.
And the fact that Russia launched these attacks and the way that they have been able to cause such widespread damage really suggests that the ammunition depletion, particularly in air defenses, is really starting to run low.
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And with that, obviously, comes this message of morale and where the Ukrainians really feel that they can push the Russians back.
And we saw Jake Sullivan, who was in Kyiv the evening before the attack that took place two nights ago. He was there with a message to say, look, we think that we can get this aid deal through Congress. We're doing everything that we possibly can, but we're not going to make any promises of when it will finally be released by Congress.
That messaging and that meeting now appears to be more of an optics thing more than anything else, because he's looking to try to portray the message that even though things are still stuck and that things are difficult on the ground in Ukraine, trust us, you still have the support of the U.S. and the EU -- guys.
FOSTER: Seb Shukla in Berlin. Thank you so much for that.
NOBILO: NATO is warning Ukraine against pessimism at this stage of its war with Russia.
FOSTER: A military delegation from the alliance visited Kyiv for the first time since the war began on Thursday and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The delegation's leader praised Ukraine for successfully merging old Soviet weapons with modern NATO equipment, but he also urged Ukraine not to get overly pessimistic after a recent military setback saying pessimists don't win wars.
Ukraine has been trying to join NATO, but the alliance says that's possible only after the conflict ends.
NOBILO: Donald Trump needs half a billion dollars, and he needs it fast. The properties that could be seized if he can't come up with that cash.
FOSTER: Plus, a landmark lawsuit against Apple, why the U.S. Justice Department says the tech giant has too much power in the marketplace.
NOBILO: And the leader of one of the gangs terrorizing the Haitian capital has been gunned down. A civil unrest and a humanitarian crisis reach an alarming level there. We'll have the very latest. Stay with us.
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FOSTER: The New York Attorney General has made the first move toward possibly seizing the assets of Donald Trump. State lawyers have taken the procedural step of filing paperwork in the county home to a lavish Trump estate and golf course. But their worth is only a small fraction of what Trump actually owes the state of New York.
NOBILO: Overhauling his net worth and real estate, so it's possible that authorities could go after other prized properties.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're fighting it out with them. We have a lot of cash and we have a great company, but they want to take it away, or at least take the cash element away.
Billions of dollars in value, billions of dollars in properties, but they'd like to take the cash away so I can't use it on the campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The former president's legal team has so far rejected suggestions from the Attorney General's office on how Trump can pay the bond. Here's CNN's Kara Scannell.
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KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's no indication yet that Donald Trump has come up with half a billion dollars to satisfy the judgment in the New York Attorney General's civil fraud case.
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He still has a few days to come up with the money unless the New York appeals court steps in and says that he can post a smaller amount or not post any money until the appeals process is entirely over.
But meanwhile, the New York Attorney General's office is beginning to take steps to set up so they could potentially seize some properties. Earlier this month, they filed paperwork in Westchester County, that's just north of New York City, indicating that they could begin to move on Trump's property there.
He owns a big estate known as Seven Springs as well as a golf course in a town of Briarcliff, New York. You know, this judgment was also entered in New York where a lot of Trump's big trophy properties are including Trump Tower, his triplex apartment at the top of that skyscraper and an office building 40 Wall Street.
Now, the Attorney General's office could also look to move and seize some airplanes, some Trump's bank accounts, put liens on some of these properties as well.
Whatever steps do begin to play out, one thing is clear, it's not going to be a quick and easy process and Trump is expected to fight it all the way.
Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.
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FOSTER: A pro-Trump lawyer wanted in Michigan on election tampering charges has turned herself in after being labeled a fugitive and spending a night in jail.
NOBILO: Stephanie Lambert was arrested in Washington for failing to show up for recent hearings in her criminal indictment. She'd been taking part in a separate case, a hearing for her client who's accused of defamation by Dominion voting systems for making false claims about the 2020 election.
FOSTER: Lambert herself is accused of leaking internal Dominion emails but her arrest is related to accusations that she tampered with voting machines in Michigan after the 2020 election.
NOBILO: U.S. lawmakers have unveiled a $1.2 trillion package to keep the government funded through the end of the fiscal year. The House and Senate are now facing a major time crunch as a number of critical operations will run out of money at the end of the day today. The Defense Department tops the list with more than $824 billion in funding.
FOSTER: The measure also includes $90 billion for the Department of Homeland Security and Border Control and Enforcement. The State Department would get $58 billion, more than $3 billion less than the previous fiscal year.
The U.S. Justice Department and more than a dozen states are suing Apple in a massive antitrust lawsuit. The tech giant is accused of illegally controlling the smartphone markets after years of allegations that it's hurt competition with high fees and by restricting third-party access.
FOSTER: The legal battle could change how millions of Americans interact with their iPhones and even pay their bills. CNN's Brian Fung has more.
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BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: This is a hugely significant lawsuit. Justice Department officials are comparing it to the breakup of Standard Oil and the old telephone monopoly of AT&T. Now the government isn't directly calling for a breakup of Apple, but they aren't ruling it out either.
If DOJ gets its way, it could change how millions of Americans interact with Apple products. That could include everything from how iPhones handle Android messages to the apps you may see on Apple's App Store. It could affect whether you can do tap-to-pay mobile payments using digital wallets designed by other companies.
Everything about Apple's walled garden ecosystem is on the table here, and even Apple says the suit, quote, threatens who we are.
Meanwhile, this is another example of the Biden administration challenging the tech industry as part of a wider economic agenda. That agenda has promised to restore competition to the marketplace and lower prices for consumers.
But recent court rulings have also found that Apple isn't a monopolist, which could be a big hurdle for the government.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Apple is also facing its first-ever antitrust penalty overseas to the tune of $2 billion. The European Union announced the fine this week.
NOBILO: Overseas? Using a bit of my accent there.
Saying Apple required rival music streaming services such as Spotify to pay a 30 percent fee on purchases made through the Apple App Store, and that Apple prevented Spotify from telling iPhone users there are cheaper ways to subscribe.
FOSTER: While Apple's own music service didn't charge any such fees, Apple says the European Commission failed to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm.
NOBILO: In Mississippi, the last two members of the so-called Goon Squad, a group of white former police officers convicted of torturing two Black men, were sentenced on Thursday. Brett McAlpin, the highest- ranking officer at the scene, was sentenced to more than 27 years. And Joshua Hartfield received a 10-year prison term.
In January 2023, the former officers raided a home without a warrant after a neighbor reported that Black men were staying at a white woman's home. They beat and tased the victims while they were handcuffed and shot one man in the mouth. All six defendants pleaded guilty and received sentences between 10 and 40 years.
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Turning to Idaho, where police say they are investigating two homicides that could be linked to a maximum-security inmate and his suspected accomplice, who led authorities on a nearly 36-hour manhunt that resulted in their capture. On Thursday, Idaho police say they found the inmates' shackles at one of the homicide scenes. And the men, who officials say have white supremacists ties, had possession of the car belonging to one of the victims.
The county coroner is expected to provide details on the victims' identities and causes of death.
NOBILO: An Alabama woman who faked her own kidnapping will not serve jail time. 26-year-old Carlee Russell pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and was sentenced Thursday to one year's probation and community service. She'll also have to pay a fine. Last July, Russell disappeared after calling emergency services to report a child on a highway.
After a 49-hour police search, she returned home, saying she'd been abducted and held hostage but had escaped. Russell later admitted it was all a hoax. In court Thursday, she apologized to the community and to authorities and personnel involved in that search for her.
FOSTER: The U.N. says the situation in Haiti's capital is extremely alarming and millions there need food and security from gang violence. We'll have a report from our correspondent on the ground in Port-au- Prince.
NOBILO: Plus, Mexico is warning Texas not to send migrants back across the border.
What it's telling a U.S. court about a controversial new law that's under appeal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. If you're just joining us, here are some of today's top stories.
Talks resume today in Qatar as Israel, Hamas and others try to find a way to a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of hostages held by Hamas. In the coming hours, the United Nations is set to vote on a U.S. resolution calling for an immediate and sustained ceasefire.
FOSTER: Ukraine is reporting power outages across the country after a new barrage of Russian strikes targeting the country's energy infrastructure Friday morning. It comes a day after Russia launched a missile attack on Kyiv. A Ukrainian defense source says Moscow was targeting Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Agency during Thursday's attack.
NOBILO: And presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is racing the clock trying to find hundreds of millions of dollars. The New York Attorney General has reportedly taken the first steps to seize Mr. Trump's property in the event that he doesn't come up with the funds for his $464 million bond case.
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