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U.S. State Department Releases Human Rights Report, Lists Israel Among Countries with Significant Issues; Independent Review Finds Israel Unsubstantiated in Accusations Against UNRWA; Mass Grave Uncovered in Gaza, Bodies Mishandled by Israeli Forces; UK Passes Controversial Bill to Send Asylum Seekers to Rwanda; Trump's Hush Money Trial Begins, Prosecutors Allege Criminal Conspiracy; U.S. Gives Ukrainians Hope; Documents Suggest U.S. Outsourced Animation Work to North Korea. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired April 23, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm John Vause, ahead here on CNN Newsroom.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Do we have a double standard? The answer is no.
VAUSE (voiceover): More than 30,000 dead Palestinians, all of Gaza reduced to a wasteland, ongoing allegations of war crimes from the United Nations, and the Biden administration finds Israel has not breached international law.
UNKNOWN: I was assaulted in the middle of campus. This is an actual crisis and an imminent threat.
VAUSE (voiceover): As student protests against Israel's war in Gaza sweep across college campuses, the White House is now in the middle of campus. In the U.S., so too reports of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What's going on right here should never be happening. It's a very, very sad day in America.
VAUSE (voiceover): New legal problems for Donald Trump for continued violations of a gag order. The judge considering contempt charges when court resumes Tuesday.
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VASUE: The U.S. has listed Israel among countries with significant human rights issues, citing cases of systemic torture and inhumane treatment of Palestinian detainees, as well as the forced disappearance of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza. The 103-page assessment was part of the State Department's annual report on human rights around the world released Monday by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The report also covers cases of killings, abductions, sexual violence by Hamas and other groups during the October 7 attack on Israel. Blinken points out the report does not represent the U.S. government's conclusions, but relies on a wide variety of sources, including government officials, abuse victims, international organizations and the media. And he says the U.S. applies the same standard for all.
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BLINKEN: Do we have a double standard? The answer is no. As this report makes clear, in general, as we're looking at human rights and the condition of human rights around the world, we apply the same standard to everyone. And that doesn't change whether the country in question is an adversary or not. A competitor, a friend, or an ally. And that's hugely important.
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VAUSE: And an independent review of UNRWA, the U.N. relief and works agency in Gaza, has found that Israel has not provided evidence to support accusations of widespread infiltration of the aid organization by workers with ties to militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The review was commissioned by the U.N. and led by a former French minister after Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA workers took part in the October 7 Hamas attack. The allegations were not directly addressed in the final report. Among the other findings, though, the agency needs to do more to strengthen neutrality, citing persistent issues, including staff expressing political views and facilities being misused for Palestinian political or military purposes.
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CATHERINE COLONA, FORMER FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER: UNRWA has in place a very significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the humanitarian principle of neutrality. Actually, it probably has a more developed system than other U.N. organizations or agencies. Which is a necessity considering the very difficult environment, complex and difficult situation which they are--
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VAUSE: Israel has dismissed the report. A statement from the Foreign Ministry reads in part, Hamas has infiltrated UNRWA so deeply that it is no longer possible to determine where UNRWA ends and where Hamas begins. It goes on, this is not what a genuine and thorough review looks like. Meantime, in Gaza, it seems even the dead are denied the chance to rest in peace, with yet another mass grave with hundreds of bodies uncovered at a hospital, this time in Khan Younis. On a warning now, CNN's Nada Bashir report has graphic images.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): For the last 10 days, this mother has returned to Gaza's Nasser Hospital, searching desperately for the body of her 24-year-old daughter, Kothar. She had been buried at this makeshift gravesite in January. Now her body is missing.
UNKNOWN (through translator): The Israelis turned the hospital upside down, she says. They dug up all the dead bodies and moved them around.
BASHIR (voiceover): These are the shrouded corpses of those retrieved from a newly discovered mass grave in Khan Younis. Nearly 300 bodies have so far been recovered, according to Gaza's civil defense. But the search is still ongoing.
UNKNOWN (through translator): This is a crime against humanity, Dr. Almagaya says.
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How could the Israeli occupation forces dig up these graves and mishandle the bodies of our martyrs? In some cases, they even opened and removed the bodies from their bags, even though their names had been marked on them.
BASHIR (voiceover): Many of the bodies recovered here were buried by relatives or medics on the hospital's grounds in January, as a temporary measure. Israel's relentless bombardment of the southern city making it too difficult to carry out a traditional burial. Following the IDF's withdrawal from Khan Younis, families returned in the hope of finally laying their loved ones to rest, only to find that their bodies had been exhumed by the Israeli military, according to civil defense officials, and discarded in this nearby mass grave.
UNKNOWN (through translator): I still haven't found my son Khalil's body, this father says. We had buried him over there, but we can't find him anymore. We just want to give him a dignified burial.
BASHIR (voiceover): According to Gaza's civil defense chief, some bodies have been discovered with their hands tied together, an indication, he says, that these may be the victims of alleged field executions. Though CNN is unable to verify such claims and cannot confirm the truth, the official says that the IDF has not identified the causes of death among the bodies being unearthed. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment, without response. But this would not be the first time graves have been disturbed by the Israeli military, the IDF previously acknowledging that its forces have exhumed graves in Gaza in order to carry out DNA tests to identify potential hostages.
This man points to the palm tree beside which his brother, Alaa, had been buried. Two weeks on, and his body has still not been found. Under international humanitarian law, graves must, in times of war, be respected, properly maintained and marked so they may always be found. But in Gaza, the Palestinian people have been robbed of their dignity, even in death. Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: The British Parliament has passed a controversial bill which will allow the government to turn away asylum seekers and send them to Rwanda. It's been two years since the idea was pitched as a way to deter illegal and dangerous boats carrying migrants to the UK. The bill was ruled unlawful by Britain's Supreme Court last year, citing safety concerns for the migrants and Rwanda's poor human rights record. But British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is determined to make the plan work.
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RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The first flight will leave in 10 to 12 weeks. And the success of this deterrent doesn't rest on one flight alone. It rests on the relentless, continual process. The process of successfully and permanently removing people to Rwanda with a regular rhythm of multiple flights every month over the summer and beyond until the boats are stopped.
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VAUSE: The UK is set to vote later this year and illegal migration will be among the major issues at the polls. Critics say the bill has cost the British government too much. Opponents in the Labour Party have vowed to scrap the policy should they take office. Opening statements in the first witness testimony Monday in the UK. Donald Trump's hush money payments to a porn star trial gave the jury a glimpse of the high-stakes world of alleged cover-ups, porn star pay- offs and a practice known as catch and kill. During opening remarks, Trump's defence lawyer said there's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It's called democracy. Prosecutors, though, pushed back, saying what Trump had done was in fact a criminal conspiracy. More now from CNN's Paula Reid.
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TRUMP: What's going on right here should never be happening. It's a very, very sad day. It's a very sad day in America.
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS (voiceover):Former President Donald Trump's criminal trial kicked off with jurors hearing competing accounts of why a hush money payment was made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just weeks before the 2016 election. Matthew Colangelo laid out the prosecutor's theory of the case, which he said is about election fraud, pure and simple. He says it all started with a 2015 meeting at Trump Tower between Trump, his former attorney, Michael Cohen, and the former publisher of the National Enquirer, David Pecker.
The government alleges Pecker agreed to use the Enquirer to help Trump's campaign by buying and suppressing negative stories about him and by amplifying stories that were favourable to him. Prosecutors allege the salacious Access Hollywood tape unearthed just before the 2016 election was significant because it turned the rest of the presidential campaign entirely upside down.
TRUMP: When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. UNKNOWN: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the (BLEEP).
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REID (voiceover): They allege that once the tape became public, Trump's campaign went into damage control mode. Worried about what an allegation of an affair with an adult film star might do, Trump and Cohen arranged a $130,000 payment to keep Stormy Daniels quiet just two weeks before the election.
TRUMP: It's a case as to bookkeeping, which is a very minor thing in terms of the law. And this is what they try to take me off the trail for. That check's being paid to a lawyer. He is a lawyer, or was a lawyer.
REID (voiceover): In the defense's opening statement, attorney Todd Blanch argued his client is innocent, saying President Trump did not commit any crimes, and called the 34 counts of falsifying business records against him, just pieces of paper. Blanch directly responded to the allegations of election fraud, saying there's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It's called democracy. The defense then attacked likely witnesses Daniels and Cohen. Blanch called Daniels' allegation of an affair sinister and an attempt to embarrass President Trump. He then shifted to Trump's former lawyer, Cohen, who he says is, quote, obsessed with Trump and that Cohen's financial livelihood depends on Trump's destruction. David Pecker was the first witness to be called. Shortly before he took the stand, prosecutors referred to him as a co-conspirator for helping Trump try to cover up his alleged affair. Paula Reid, CNN, New York.
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VAUSE: To Los Angeles now, and joining us this hour is attorney and legal affairs commentator Areva Martin. Thank you for being with us. It's good to see you.
AREVA MARTIN, ATTORNEY & LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Hey, John.
VAUSE: So among the key witnesses we've heard will be Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen. He wrote the checks to Stormy Daniels. Here's the defendant talking about his former bag man just after the opening statements were made. Listen to this.
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TRUMP: When are they going to look at all the lies they've done in the last trail. He got caught lying in the last trial. So he got caught lying. Pure lying.
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VAUSE: Here's the question. Donald Trump is under a gag order not to attack a number of people, including witnesses like Michael Cohen and others. Now, the prosecutors have asked for a hearing with the judge in the coming hours to consider contempt charges, and the judge is willing to hear those arguments. What's the likely action that the judge will take, given the fact that Trump has violated this gag order repeatedly?
MARTIN: Yeah, John. Unfortunately, Donald Trump is not being treated like any other criminal defendant would be treated, because any other criminal defendant that was under a gag order and instructed not to intimidate witnesses, jurors, and definitely not the judge or attempts to intimidate the judge and his family members would be not only held in contempt, but would be put in jail for 30 days. That's not likely to happen to Donald Trump. If the judge does find that Donald Trump violated this gag order, the likely punishment for him is going to be some kind of monetary fine. We've seen monetary fines lodged against Donald Trump in some of the other trials that he's participated in. But he does not seem to respond the way, again, other criminal defendants would, because he knows that he enjoys privileges that, in so many ways, make him, different from every other criminal defendant that we've seen in this country.
VAUSE Yeah. Okay. So after day one, the defendant had a lot to say about almost everything. Here he is on the charges he's facing.
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TRUMP: That jury was picked so fast. 95% Democrats. The areas are mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a just a purely Democrat area. It's a very unfair situation that I can tell you.
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VAUSE: That was about the jury, actually, not the charges. But in that soundbite, how did he know they're Democrats? Because the jury, when they were being questioned, when they were being screened, if you like, before being seated, no one was asked what legal affiliation they were, or what party they were part of, if they were, in fact, part of a political party. So that assumption is just blatantly wrong.
MARTIN: John, he doesn't know that. And it doesn't matter that he doesn't know it, because Donald Trump doesn't deal in facts. He deals in lies. He tells whatever lie is necessary to support the narrative that he's spinning at any given time. And when he's summoned in court, when the judicial system is working in the way that again, it would work as it relates to every other defendant, he attacks the judicial system, when he's in court, and he wins an order that's in his favor than he raises the system. So we really have to dismiss pretty much every statement that Donald Trump makes, because we know that the only statements he makes are self serving statements that are designed to support whatever theory he is spinning at any given moment. And we know that those theories changes so frequently it's almost impossible to keep up with them.
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VAUSE: Well, here's another Donald Trump theory on the charges that he's facing and just how small, trivial they really are. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If a lawyer puts in a bill or an invoice and you pay the bill and in the book, it's a little line. That's a very small little line. I don't know if you can even write more than two words. It's not like you can tell a life story. They marked it down to a legal expense. This is what I got indicted on.
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VAUSE: No, he got indicted over the fact that it wasn't a legal expense. It was hush money, right?
MARTIN: Absolutely, John. And he failed to tell the important part of this story, which is that he and Michael Cohen and David Pecker, the then president of the National Enquirer, had a meeting. And the meeting was designed to hatch this plan whereby David Pecker would kill those stories that were negative towards Donald Trump, i.e. any story that Stormy Daniels would tell about her affair with him and then would only support those stories that were favorable and run stories that were hit pieces against his opponents. So with Donald Trump, again, he only focuses on that part of a story that benefits him. He's not telling the complete story. The complete story here is that he engaged in criminal conduct. And Michael Cohen is going to testify that these payments were not for any legal services that Michael Cohen provided.
VAUSE: Thank you for being with us. There was some good insights and some good legal checks on what's going on on day one on Donald Trump's trial. Thanks so much.
MARTIN: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: Well, we'll take a short break. When we come back, tensions escalate across universities in the United States. Pro-Palestinian protests show no signs of slowing down. How some campuses are reacting like that. That's up next. Also, a delegation of U.S. lawmakers heading to Kiev with billions of dollars in aid now on the line. Russia continues to invade major Ukrainian cities. Including TV towers like that one.
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VAUSE: Dozens of protesters in Israel gathered outside the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's on the first night of Passover, Monday. They boycotted the participation in the traditional Passover meal this year, instead demanding the government make a deal for the release of remaining hostages held in Gaza. More than 130 Israelis still remain in Hamas custody. Some of them, about 30, are believed to be dead. Meantime, pro-Palestinian protests are sweeping across universities in the United States amid the Passover holiday. This was the scene at New York University just a short time ago. Police say they moved in after protesters refused to disperse. Numerous students and faculty members were arrested. Protests have spread to other college campuses as well. Columbia University, the epicenter of the protests, says all classes at its main campus will be hybrid until the semester ends in an attempt to defuse the tension. CNN's Isabel Rosales reports, some Jewish students are terrified.
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UNKOWN: I was assaulted in the middle of campus. This is an actual crisis and an imminent threat.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Tensions boiling over at Columbia.
UNKWNOWN: Israel is a (BLEEP) deal. (BLEEP) Israel.
ROSALES (voiceover): And other top universities like MIT, NYU and Yale, where at least 45 protesters camping on college grounds were arrested early this morning by the Yale University Police Department. Yale University releasing a statement saying the university would not tolerate behaviour that interfered with university operations or threatened, harassed or intimidated others. The arrests on college campuses coming as verbal confrontations---
UNKNOWN: Go back to Poland? Who says that?
UNKOWN: Go back to Poland and get the hell out of here.
ROSALES (voiceover): Between pro-Palestinian protesters and Jewish students---
UNKNOWN: So they can knock into me?
ROSALES: Have escalated into physical ones.
UNKNOWN: Don't touch me. Don't touch me.
UNKNOWN: My friend on Saturday night was full-blown assaulted. He was shoved around.
UNKNOWN: My friend. Had a flag stolen out of his hands and rocks thrown at his face.
ROSALES (voiceover): Columbia Monday resorting to canceling in-person classes and calling for a reset to de-escalate the rancor. A rabbi linked to the university urging Jewish students to stay home, saying the events have made it clear that Columbia University's public safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students' safety. The hostilities at Columbia growing for months alongside peaceful protesters camping in this this tent city, the encampment and the fear, drawing criticism from business leaders like New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who says he will no longer be donating to his alma mater, though he financially supports the Jewish Hillel on campus.
ROBERT KRAFT, CEO, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: I just can't believe in New York City at Columbia University, Jewish students are afraid to go to classes.
ROSALES (voiceover): The rebuke coming amid calls for action from congressional leaders who toured the Columbia campus today.
DANIEL GOLDMAN, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: That is unacceptable for a university. That is unacceptable for an academic institution and all universities have an obligation to maintain the safety and security of their students from all backgrounds.
UNKNOWN: We would like you to leave.
UNKNOWN (screaming): We would like to leave.
ROSALES (voiceover): The NYPD saying they're prepared to enter Columbia's campus if they're called in and pointing to the heavy police presence just outside Columbia's gates.
UNKNOWN: Any kind of violence is not going to be tolerated. And that includes. Harassment.
ROSALES: Let me give you a sense of the movements that we've seen from these demonstrators here on the campus of Yale Monday morning. That is when we saw tensions really rising between police officers and demonstrators when they were asked to disperse those that didn't. Well, we saw them arrested and charged just under 50 of them. That area, a university plaza just in that direction, now has been blocked off by police cruisers and yellow tape.
Then a couple of hours after that, we saw them occupying a public road just a couple of blocks that away when officers told them to leave, they did, and now they are gathered here in front of the university's library. At times we hear them chanting, singing, displaying the Palestinian flag as well. Meanwhile, New Haven's mayor putting out a statement saying that their First Amendment right to protest, that is important, but it is also important that it is done in a, quote, safe and orderly manner.
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VAUSE: Arno Rosenfeld is an award-winning investigative reporter at The Forward, formerly known as the Jewish Daily Forward. He joins us this hour from Washington. Arno, thank you for being with us.
ARNO ROSENFELD, ENTERPRISE REPORTER, THE FORWARD: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Okay, so the U.S. president spoke again Monday about anti- Semitism and, in particular, these protests on college campuses. Here he is.
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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESDIENT: I condemn the anti-Semitic protests. That's why I've set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians.
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VAUSE: There is a line which divides anti-Semitism and hate. There is a line which divides anti-Semitism and hate speech from legitimate protests and criticism of Israel, and in this instance, protests over Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza. In the past month or so, has that line shifted in a way that what was once considered legitimate criticism is now considered to be anti-Semitic?
ROSENFELD: You know, it's not just over the last month or so. It's really going back to October 7th with the terrorist attack in Israel. What we're seeing is that what was an intellectual debate for many years prior to this. You know, the last five or 10 years. There's been a lot of debate about where to draw that line. It's been had out by academics and some campus protests. But since October 7th, the feelings are so raw on both sides that what was once sort of the purview of conferences and op-eds and that sort of thing is now breaking out into the open. And people have much more intense feelings about where that line should be drawn. So it's not a new thing, and it's not that the line itself has moved so dramatically, but I think everyone's feelings about it are so much intensified now.
VAUSE: And it seems one person's anti-Semitism is another person's peaceful expression of First Amendment rights. Listen to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Here she is.
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REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): It is especially important that we remember the power of young people shaping this country today of all days, as we once again witness the leadership of those peaceful student-led protests on campus, just like Columbia, Yale, Berkeley, and many others.
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VAUSE: And here's part of a statement posted on X by the American Civil Liberties Union. This escalation in the protests must be seen through the lens of the heavy-handed pressure from Congress to clamp down on student protests that criticizes Israel. Again, is that a fair assessment that essentially the violence that there has been is the direct result of university officials calling in the police to clear away the demonstrations?
ROSENFELD: You know, there have been very, very few incidents of physical violence on college campuses. There's been some off of campus, adjacent to campus, and a few isolated incidents on campus. But the bringing in of police at Columbia, at Yale, at Pomona earlier, Brandeis University back in the fall, is really exceptional and unprecedented in the history of these protests over Israel on college campuses that we've been seeing for many years. So that's, I think, what's different about this moment. And certainly, I think it's fair to say that the police response is an unprecedented sort of violent reaction by the state and by university leaders to these protests. VAUSE: We also heard from New York State Governor, on Monday, addressing these ongoing student protests. She made a very interesting point. Here she is.
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KATHY HOCHUL, NEW YORK GOVERNER: I've never seen a level of protest that is so person-to-person. It is so visceral. And I'm not calling on everyone. People need to find their humanity. Have the conversations. Talk to each other. Understand different points of view, because that's what college students should be doing.
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VAUSE: This goes to your point earlier about how visceral and how raw these protests are on both sides. And there was. There was a time when universities were this bastion of free speech, opposing ideas. And that has been changing in recent years. Does that help explain what the governor is talking about? Are there other factors here which are making these protests so heated?
ROSENFELD: You know, it's funny that we hear from these outsiders making these points, because I think on some level they're making good points. But a lot of the problem on campuses is that they have become locations for outside actors to score political points. And when you talk to students, I spent today interviewing Jewish students at Columbia University, students who were involved in the protests, who were opposed to the protests, and who were just trying to go about their life. And what all of them agreed on, regardless of their position on Israel or Gaza or the protests, was that these outside actors are not helping matters. And you know, we've seen the head of the Anti-Defamation League compare anti-Zionist Jewish protesters to white supremacists. We've seen protesters use dehumanising language against pro-Israel Jewish students. But it's all getting amplified and magnified by the national media spotlight, by politicians like the governor, by, you know, media outlets, by advocacy groups. And so I think on some level, there have always been these debates on campus, but they didn't always end up under the microscope. So I think that's a big part of what's going on.
VAUSE: Arno, thank you so much for your reporting. Also, for your insights here. It's very valuable. So appreciate your time. Thank you.
ROSENFELD: Thanks.
VAUSE: Still ahead here on CNN Newsroom, Moscow Marjorie, Russia's new favorite member of Congress, for her failed crusade to stop U.S. military assistance for Ukraine.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
[00:30:55] Well, no let up in Russia's offensive on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure. In Kyiv, a TV tower was brought down by Russian missile strike. Ukrainian official say no one was hurt. Workers at the tower were taking shelter at the time of the strike.
Our team (ph) has seen a significant increase in Russian strikes since the start of the year, which is why Ukraine has made air defense a top priority, with the promise of more U.S. military assistance.
A delegation of U.S. lawmakers visited Kyiv Monday as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on a massive foreign aid package this week, which includes $61 billion for Ukraine.
The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) members paid their respects to fallen soldiers, laying flowers at a memorial. They also met with Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was praising the U.S. for its support.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Gour priorities, they are key. Protection of the sky, modern artillery, long-range capability, and ensuring that American support packages arrive as soon as possible. And today's results is that all the dots have been dotted, and the agreements on the ATACMs for Ukraine. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Congress. Thank you, America.
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VAUSE: The word from Russia is that the aid package from the United States will not change anything on the battlefield.
But as CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports, Ukrainians see the renewed U.S. support as reason for hope.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russian troops advancing in a heavy firefight in Eastern Ukraine.
This video from Russian military TV claiming to show Ukrainian soldiers having to surrender. Ukraine's howitzers often unable to support their frontline units, severely lacking 155-millimeter artillery shells.
But now they hope that will change.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll defend ourselves and counterattack.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Kremlin-controlled media seething after the House passed the Ukraine aid bill, while praising Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for trying to derail it.
OLGA SKABEEVA, RUSSIAN TV ANCHOR (through translator): Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who "New York Post" already dressed in a ushanka hat with a star, officially putting her in the ranks of Kremlin agents, called Speaker Johnson a Democrat elected by Ukraine. Greene also said that Johnson betrayed not only Republicans, but the
whole of the USA.
Nonetheless, the U.S. military aid will be bigger this year compared to the past years. And of course, there is nothing good in that.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Russia's foreign minister going even further, threatening nuclear confrontation.
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): westerners are teetering dangerously on the brink of a direct military clash between nuclear powers, fraught with catastrophic consequences. Particularly that it's the troika of Western nuclear states that are among key sponsors of the criminal Kyiv regime.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Ukraine is in desperate need of lots of artillery and ammo (ph), Kyiv says, badly outgunned by Vladimir Putin's forces.
But also air defense missiles, with Russia drastically escalating its missile and drone campaign against Ukraine's cities, and power plants.
Ukraine's president saying he's grateful for the aid, but the weapons need to come fast.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): The time between political decisions and inflicting real defeats on the enemy at the front, between the approval of the aid package and providing the strength to our guys, this should be reduced to a minimum.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): And the Ukrainians hope U.S. aid will arrive quickly and change the tune on the battlefield, allowing Kyiv's forces to stop further Russian advances.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.
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VAUSE: India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, is facing allegations of making Islamophobic remarks at a campaign rally.
Modi was addressing supporters in the Western state of resistance Sunday. India is voting right now, a weeks-long election process for the world's biggest democracy, which Modi's ruling party is widely expected to win.
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During the speech, Modi appeared to refer to the Muslim community as infiltrators.
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NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): When the congress was in power, they said Muslims have the first right over the nation's wealth. This means they will collect people's wealth and distribute it to whom? To those who have more children, to the infiltrators.
Do you think your hard-earned money should be given to infiltrators? Would you accept this? This is what the congress manifesto is saying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Opposition members are labeling, those comments as hate speech and have long accused Modi and his party of using divisive rhetoric to boost their brand of Hindu nationalism.
Prominent Muslims are also speaking out. Among them, journalist ana Ayyub, who wrote on X, quote, "This is not a dog whistle. This is a targeted direct, brazen hate speech against a community."
We'll take a short break. When we come back, no laughing matter. How American film studios may have outsourced their animation to the hermit kingdom without even knowing it.
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VAUSE: Earth Day here in the United States was also payday for renewable energy, with President Joe Biden announcing $7 billion in grants for solar power.
Biden talked up his climate and green energy accomplishments, which he's made during his first term, and he railed against climate change deniers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Despite overwhelming devastation in red and blue states, there's still those who deny climate is in crisis. They want to take us backwards, sideline our workers like China and others, in the race for clean energy.
I'm determined, absolutely determined, we move forward. We move forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Environmental Protection Agency says the grants will help nearly one million low-income homes gain access to solar power, saving them more than $350 million every year.
U.S. researchers have discovered a trove of documents inside a computer server housed in North Korea. Evidence in those files suggests U.S. studios unknowingly outsourced animation work for popular cartoons to those in enemy territory.
Alex Marquardt has the story.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Invincible" is a popular animated show streaming on Amazon Prime, with a third season on the way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your power's got to be do any day now, son.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): It's based on a comic book about a superhero team.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't ready before.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): While its main character is all American, some animation in the new season may come from one of America's biggest foes, North Korea.
Martyn Williams is a North Korea analyst at the Stimson Center.
MARTYN WILLIAMS, NORTH KOREA ANALYST: I'll show you what we found.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): He shows us what was inside a recently discovered North Korean Internet server.
WILLIAMS: There's a bunch of working files in here files.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Files, including sketches and video from North Korea, which resemble the animation from two shows produced and streamed by American companies: Amazon's "Invincible" and another coming soon called "Iyanu: Child of Wonder," set to stream on MAX, which along with CNN, is owned by Warner Brothers Discovery.
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There's no evidence that the studios knew that any proprietary work was on a North Korean server.
WILLIAMS: At some stage in this production process, these files appear to be being worked on by the North Koreans.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): There's a clip of "Iyanu," which hasn't been released yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, me, spare your life.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Williams says a lot of American production work is outsourced, particularly to China, where it could then be subcontracted to North Koreans without the American companies' awareness.
WILLIAMS: It's very common. Numerous Chinese companies have been sanctioned by the U.S. for working with North Korea, not just in animation, but in other areas, as well.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): A draft of one animation has Chinese instructions translated into Korean. There's also this production sheet in English for "Invincible."
MARQUARDT: Is there any evidence that the American studios knew about this? WILLIAMS: We didn't find any evidence that they had any direct
knowledge of any of this. We found some names of some animations. We found the names of some U.S. companies, but nothing that concretely tied that back to the U.S. companies.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Using North Korean labor would be a violation of U.S. sanctions. MAX and the producer of "Iyanu," Lion Forge Entertainment, declined to comment.
Unique Studios, which co-created the graphic novel series, did not respond.
Sky Bound Entertainment, which produces "Invincible," told CNN it never approved outsourcing and would investigate.
WILLIAMS: This is just something that's very difficult to -- to kind of figure out who you are working with, because once stuff starts getting outsourced, once stuff starts moving through the system, actually finding out who the person is at the other side of the keyboard is very, very difficult.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): The U.S. government does give American companies --
MARQUARDT: -- advice and guidance on what to look out for, how to do their due diligence to make sure they know who they're working with.
But that can be a lot of extra work, which is difficult, especially for small companies, the kind that may need to outsource animation and programming work. And it is high stakes for these companies, because the Treasury Department can file lawsuits if the sanctions are violated.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Thanks for watching. I'll be back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. In the meantime, WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. See you back here in almost 18 minutes or so.
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