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CNN International: Biden to Sign Foreign Aid Package Into Law; U.N. Calls for Independent Investigation Into Mass Graves Found in Two Gaza Hospitals Raided by Israel; Biden to Sign Bill Requiring Chinese Owner to Sell TikTok; U.S. Secretary of State Blinken in China for Talks With Officials; U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Emergency Abortion Care Arguments; Columbia University Extends Talks With Protesters for 48 Hours; U.S. Justice Department Reached $139 Million Settlement With Victims Over FBI Failures; New Video Undermines Pentagon Narrative of Kabul Blast; Sahara Desert Dust Turns the Sky Into Orange Over Athens; Unusual Mid-April Snowfall Brings Southern Finland to a Standstill. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired April 24, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:20]
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Everyone, welcome to our viewers all around the world. I am Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom." Just ahead, U.S. President Joe Biden will find a bill that provides billions of dollars in foreign aid today. We will have the view from the White House, Ukraine, and Israel. Then the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in one of the most critical abortion cases since Roe v. Wade was overturned two years ago. Plus the CNN Exclusive report, a new video challenges the Pentagon's official account of a horrific ISIS-K attack in Kabul in 2021. This while U.S. troops were withdrawing from Afghanistan.
In the coming hours, U.S. President Joe Biden will sign a foreign aid package into law, sending billions of dollars of badly needed help to Ukraine. The Senate passed the four bills which was packaged into one on Tuesday night with wide bipartisan support. The bill included $61 billion for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel, and more than $8 billion for countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Mr. Biden says he will sign it as soon as it hits his desk. The Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer described it as a message to the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D-NY) UNITED STATES SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER: We tell our allies, we stand with you. We tell our adversaries, don't mess with us. We tell the world the United States will do everything to safeguard democracy and our way of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: CNN's Arlette Saenz has new reporting now from the White House on what went on behind the scenes, leading up to this moment. Hi, Arlette. ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Amara. Well, President Biden is vowing to act quickly, saying that he will sign this legislation in the coming hours with the ultimate goal of putting these new weapons and equipment into Ukrainian soldiers' hands this week. The passage of this bill really marks a major milestone for President Biden, who publicly and privately pushed for this aid package to get across the finish line over the course of the past six months.
Now, this package includes $95 billion total, but that's nearly $61 billion going to Ukraine's effort in their war against Russia, as well as another $26 billion for Israel in humanitarian assistance, as well now, the president has long pushed for additional Western support for Ukraine, but a lot of those quests had been -- a lot of that had been up in the air as Congress had flounder to pass any type of Ukraine legislation over the past few months.
Now, Biden is hoping to dispatch a quick round of aid very soon. He spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday to detail what this next aid package could look like. Sources say that the administration has been preparing to send about $1 billion in aid and equipment. That could possibly include long range ATACMS for the very first time, as well as defense and artillery ammunition and also other fighter vehicles as well. But really, the passage of this package, really advances the administration's work that has been going on behind the scenes to try to get this across the finish line.
The Biden Administration really drilled in on trying to win over House Speaker Mike Johnson in this process. Johnson really was a relative unknown to this White House at the beginning, when the president first proposed this joint aid for Israel and Ukraine. And one thing that the administration knew that he was grappling with was the right flank of his party, which has pushed for him not to pass aid for Ukraine or potentially risk his speakership. Now, the president gave some directives to his team I am told, one thing that he really wanted them to make clear was what the national security implications would be if additional aid wasn't passed.
He wanted them to provide very detailed intelligence briefings, looking at Ukraine's battlefield dynamic as well as what could happen down the road if they didn't get that necessary equipment. The president also told his team to really try to lay off on targeted attacks of Johnson as this process played out, instead trying to use the moment to really just push House Republicans at large to pass this aid bill.
Now, the conversations to get this aid across the finish line really picked up steam over the course of the past six weeks, I am told Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti really served as that main conduit, speaking with Johnson regularly over the course of the past four weeks. You also had the director of legislative affairs constantly in contact with the staff of both parties up on Capitol Hill, trying to hammer out what this aid package could look like.
[08:05:00] SAENZ: Ultimately, there was that turning point when Iran attacked Israel when it was clear that the House wanted to try to act and the White House worked them to try to ensure that this included aid for Ukraine at that time. So really, this caps off a moment for President Biden, where he has staked so much of his presidency, so much of his foreign policy agenda over the last two years on having that unequivocal support for Ukraine even as things were up in the air, lots of twists and turns up on Capitol Hill, he has finally secured that win for Ukraine and is expected to sign that legislation a bit later today.
WALKER: Yeah. Obviously, a huge win as you say for President Biden and the Democrats despite those many, many months of delays. Arlette Saenz, good to see you at the White House. Thank you very much.
As soon as President Biden signs the aid package into law, urgently needed supplies of ammunition are expected to be sent to Ukraine within days. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is praising the Senate vote, saying "It reinforces America's role as a beacon of democracy." But while the Senate was passing the bill, Russia was shelling Ukraine in the early hours of Wednesday.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live from Odessa, Ukraine, which was also targeted in that wave of Russian strikes. Hi there, Fred. So, tell us more about what is happening there on the ground as this foreign aid package which had been stalling for months and Ukraine was running out of ammunition and weapons?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ammunition and weapons and also of course, air defense missiles as well, the air defense ammunition which is so very key, especially in the place that I am right here. You are absolutely right, Amara. Overnight, the Russians trying to hit places in eastern Ukraine, for instance, Kharkiv, but also down here in the south, in Odessa, which they have been hitting with ballistic missiles and also drone attacks as well.
In fact, one of the things that we have seen overnight here in the city of Odessa was another missile attack that apparently injured several people and then also drones being launched towards this area as well. So, this is definitely one of the places that the Ukrainian say they need to be able to do a better job of protecting. And of course, they hope that more air defense missiles will be key to that and that those will come very soon.
Now, it is quite interesting because in the early morning hours here, because that is when the Senate voted to OK that big aid package for foreign countries, of course, also with that Ukraine aid (ph) as well. The president of the country Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he came out and he thanked Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader. He also thanked Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, but then also said that he hoped that the president would sign this order as quickly as possible, and that was sort of the second message that Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent to the U.S. saying it is great that at this package has come through. Now, speed is of the essence to get some of these weapons, to get the ammunition to the battlefield as fast as possible. The three things that he was talking about, one of them were longer distance capabilities. Arlette was talking just now about those ATACMS, longer range missiles that the Ukrainians hope that they will get there soon. But then also, artillery ammunition and of course also, what is needed down here that Ukrainian say are those air defense weapons as well, which they hope that they will be able to keep cities like this one safer than they have been so far, Amara.
WALKER: I mean, Fred, a boost to morale is obviously important when it comes to the psyche and for the soldiers who were on the frontlines. But when it comes to regaining momentum, how do you assess that because of this delay of aid from the U.S. for many, many months? Has that delayed disadvantaged Ukrainian forces on the ground in recent months?
PLEITGEN: It certainly has. I mean, there is absolutely no question that the Ukrainians have been saying over the past couple of months that these delays were going on. And I think I first reported about the delays in September of last year, so that is when the Ukrainians were already telling us on the battlefields in the east and the southeast of the country that they were running very low on ammunition, that they definitely needed or desperately needed more ammo to come from the United States. But that package was already stuck in Congress at that point in time.
Obviously, all of that has gotten worse for the Ukrainians and there have been instances they have said where they have seen Russian forces advance, they could normally have stopped them but they weren't able to because they simply did not have artillery ammunition to do so. The other big thing has been air defense missiles as well. The Russians now much more effective at using their air force.
So by enlarge, I would say that right now, the conflict here, the war here is still very much in a stalemate, a very violent stalemate, a brutal stalemate, one that killed a lot of people on both sides. The Russians though are making gains. The initiative is on their side and the Ukrainians are hoping with this aid package and of course, also aid packages from other partners that they have, like for instance, the United Kingdom today, other European partners, that they will be able to hold the Russians up.
If they will be able to counter attack, they've hinted that maybe in the future they will be able to do that, but it certainly doesn't look like that is something that could happen immediately or in the near- term future.
[08:10:00]
WALKER: Frederik Pleitgen, appreciate you breaking that down for us from Odessa, Ukraine. Thanks so much. Fred.
As Israeli leaders thank the U.S. for approving $26 billion of aid there, we are getting more details about a grim discovery at a Gaza hospital. Civil Defense officials in Gaza say at least 334 bodies were found at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. The United Nations is calling for an independent and transparent investigation.
Israel says the claim that the IDF buried bodies is baseless and unfounded. It says its troops, while searching for Israeli hostages, examined some bodies and returned them to where they had been found. CNN's Nic Robertson joining us now live from Jerusalem. Let's start with this mass grave and the 344 bodies that were found. What more are we learning?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, this is being -- this is work that's been carried out by civilians inside of Gaza. The government officials there overseeing it or trying to analyze, dig up the bodies, give them a proper burial, and analyze and find out how they died and why the bodies have been moved around from the graves that they originally put in inside the hospital. This is what they're finding in Khan Younis replicates what they found in one of the major hospitals in Gaza city after that had been under siege for several weeks by the IDF.
And what the U.N. is calling for is an independent investigation, an effective one, one that has international people involved in that investigation on the ground. And they say the reason for that is that in this current climate, without having an international presence, therefore, you can't really know the results that you're going to get. In essence, they're saying we can't trust what the IDF is saying, and what the IDF is saying is that in this effort to search and find the bodies of hostages who are missing, who they think may have been buried in the hospital grounds because they believe that Hamas operated in and around the hospitals, they say that they put the bodies back in the same place that they find them, that they do this work with dignity, when they dig them up and do the DNA checking.
But that is not one washing with the international community and the U.N. is pointing out very clearly that in a time of war, hospitals have a special designated status and that it is an international war crime if civilians who are not part of the combat are killed in such circumstances in such locations. So this is a very strong language that's coming from the U.N. It is not clear that Israel will a cede to what the U.N. wants the relationship between the U.N. and Israeli government right now is bitter, divided and acrimonious to say the least. But this is what the international community is pushing for on the basis of what's being dug up in these hospitals.
WALKER: And in the meantime, Nic, we are talking about this foreign aid bill that President Biden is expected to sign. It includes $26 billion for military aid to Israel, but also to humanitarian efforts in Gaza. Can you break down where the money is going and of course, the reaction there to the bill getting through?
ROBERTSON: Well, one of the places we know the money is not going to in terms of humanitarian aid, it is not going to the U.N. body that oversees the distribution of aid and schools and education facilities and other civil facilities inside of Gaza, UNRWA. They are not receiving any of this money because the Israeli government doesn't trust them. The United States has pulled its funding from them at the moment. But the bulk of the money is expected to go on defense, on the types of weapons that Israel needs to intercept rockets that are fired by Hamas. The type of weapons that they're using to drop bombs into Gaza right now, the type of weapons the soldiers are using in their hands on their own offensive actions inside of Gaza. What we are hearing from government officials here, number one is a thank you and they're pointing out that it is a -- they are thanking for the bipartisan work, pointing out that they've got support from both Democrats and Republicans.
The thanks is coming from both government and opposition figures. But I think one of the big takeaways from the way it is being framed at the moment by government officials is that the United States and Israel have shared values.
[08:15:00]
ROBERTSON: And I think that is because Israel is facing such international push back over what's happening in Gaza and the way they're fighting the war there. More than 34,000 Palestinians killed there. And the other thing that is common in the language government officials here are using when thanking the United States is to say that this will deter enemies. And of course, they've seen Iran for the first time strike Israel and the assessment has been that's because the perception is Iran thinks that alliance between Israel and the United States is not as strong as it was. So this, they hope will be a strong message to Iran and to the other enemies in the region.
WALKER: Nic Robertson, appreciate your reporting, as always, live for us there in Jerusalem. Thanks so much.
And later this hour, a powerful CNN Exclusive, many of you will remember these scenes, chaos in the wake of a deadly ISIS bombing at Kabul Airport in 2021. It came as U.S. troops were leaving Afghanistan and thousands of civilians were trying to get out of the country, desperate and chaotic scenes. And now, new video and witness accounts call into question the Pentagon's story of how 170 Afghans died that day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Investigations, plural, the conclusions they've made that say anybody who talks about gunfire or people being shot -- or being shot are just the product of (ph) traumatic brain injury, mis-remembering. How do you feel about that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a pathetic excuse to say that every marine, every soldier, every navy corpsman on the deck has a traumatic brain injury and cannot remember gunfire is lunacy. It is outright disrespectful, and especially for it to come from somebody who wasn't there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: That exclusive reporting from CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, it is coming up in about 20 minutes from now, here on "CNN Newsroom." Up next, the U.S. tells TikTok's Chinese owner, sell the app or we will ban it. How Beijing is responding to the threat and what this bill could mean? And should states or the federal government have the final say on reproductive rights? We will have an update on a battle brewing in the Supreme Court over whether states can override laws made in Washington.
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WALKER: Later today, when President Joe Biden signs a series of bills passed by Congress, most attention will be focused on the extra aid for Ukraine and the Middle East. But for many Americans, the bill with the greatest short-term impact could be the one that threatens to ban TikTok. It gives TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance nine months to sell the video-sharing app or it will be banned from app stores in the U.S.
Now, U.S. officials are concerned that TikTok could be used to spread propaganda or facilitate Chinese hacking. And as you might imagine, the potential TikTok ban is a big deal in China,
[08:20:00]
WALKER: Beijing has repeatedly denied that TikTok poses any security threat to the U.S. and Chinese trade rules allow Beijing to block a sale of the company and its valuable technology, i.e., its algorithms. All of this comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in China for talks with senior officials and he wants China to reign in its help to Russia's arms industry. But, the TikTok ban is also sure to come up. Let's get the latest now from Beijing, that is where CNN's Marc Stewart is right now.
Hey there, Marc. Tell us more about -- we know the Chinese government has opposed this forced potential for sale by ByteDance to divest itself of TikTok. What has the Chinese government's reaction been?
MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is interesting, Amara. Today, I went to China's ministry of foreign affairs to try to get some more insight as to what it may be thinking now and in the future, now that the United States Congress has finalized this legislation. But that's not what I found today. In fact, I asked one specific question in particular, asking what is the government's view now? Should ByteDance continue, or should it pursue a legal strategy to remain in the United States or should it be leaving the United States, the American market altogether?
Let me show you the response. We will put it on the screen from the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, simply saying on the TikTok matter, we have stated our position clearly and I have nothing to add today. As you mentioned, Beijing has expressed reservations about a sale in the past. It has also said that it has played by the rules, it has followed the regulations, and that any kind of sale is really in the violation of fair competition and international trade.
And as you mentioned, Amara, all of this is happening as Secretary of State Antony Blinken has now arrived here in China for a diplomatic mission. I think we are all curious to see if TikTok comes up on that discussion list.
WALKER: Yeah, I'd imagine so and I'd imagine as some tense discussions there. CNN's Marc Stewart, appreciate you, your reporting there from Beijing, thanks so much.
Coming up, a monumental abortion case goes before the U.S. Supreme Court, at issue whether hospitals are required to provide abortions in medical emergencies even in states that ban the procedure. And days of pro-Palestinian protests have sparked chaos at Columbia University in New York. What school officials are now saying, in a live report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:25:40]
WALKER: The Supreme Court is about 90 minutes away from hearing arguments in a high-stakes abortion case that could have a nationwide impact. Now, it is considering whether Idaho's near total abortion ban can be enforced in medical emergencies. Now, the Department of Justice will argue that federal law requires hospitals to protect patients who need emergency care. The arguments come nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the United States.
CNN's Senior Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic joining me now from Washington. Hi there, Joan. So, tell us again what this -- what we are going to be hearing in terms of the arguments on both sides.
JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure, Amara, good to see you. And we are right back here, essentially where it started two years ago when the Supreme Court reversed nearly a half-century of constitutional abortion rights and many states, including Idaho, immediately put bans in effect. And Idaho's law says that women cannot get an abortion in that state unless they -- unless death is imminent. And what's at issue is this federal law that would allow women to get emergency care in federally funded hospital emergency rooms if they had serious medical health conditions that were arising from pregnancies that fell short of being, as I said, close to death, but could involve organ failure or serious infections, rupture of membranes.
So that's kind of the gap that we are talking about here. That kind of medical emergency that the federal government said its law must prevail, at least in hospital emergency rooms. Idaho will argue -- Joshua Turner, a state constitutional litigator, will be up first, right at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, arguing that federal law should not pre-empt the state ban, that states still control what happens in its own emergency rooms and should have priority here.
Countering that will be Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar saying this law will cover rare but profound situations where you do have a health emergency, a serious health emergency that should be covered under this 1986 law that guarantees emergency medical treatment. This law, Amara, as I said, traces to the 1980s and it was originally designed and is still is designed to avoid so-called patient dumping.
But Merrick Garland, Attorney General, shortly after the ruling two years ago that reversed Roe v. Wade said, this federal protection will still exist for emergency room. So that's the crux of the issue. The federal power to pre-empt state bans, which I should add, Idaho and about 14 to 15 other states have bans that are pretty serious that would go -- have exceptions only for the true life of the mother, Amara.
WALKER: Yeah. You know, Joan, I have to ask you this because, obviously, you know so well how the Supreme Court operates and the fact that we are hearing so much about abortion cases heading back to the Supreme Court, regarding Mifepristone --
BISKUPIC: Yeah, right.
WALKER: -- and its availability. And of course, you know that this personhood law that we saw an Alabama with implications to IVF patients.
BISKUPIC: Right.
WALKER: Do you think the Supreme Court anticipated this much legal fallout after overturning Roe v. Wade?
BISKUPIC: Well, it is interesting nuance (ph), because baked into its decision was that judges would no longer be in this kind of policy business. It would go back to state legislatures. The court would be removed from it. But you're absolutely right that that kind of rhetoric that the majority opinion and Justice Brett Kavanaugh voiced into separate statement saying that this is now out in the state. It is no longer our business. That certainly hasn't happened.
The Mifepristone case that you mentioned involves government regulation of abortion medication. But this one, Amara, is even more central to the tension between what states can do and what kind of federal protection will still remain. And I think your question goes to the reality that we are going to keep seeing a succession of these kinds of laws come up to the Supreme Court because states are bound and determined to do this.
[08:30:00]
WALKER: Yeah, it seems like it is just the beginning of it all. Joan Biskupic, appreciate you there outside. Thank you so much. Good to see you.
BISKUPIC: Sure.
WALKER: Let's talk more about this with Bonyen Lee-Gilmore. She is the Vice President of Communications for the National Institute for Reproductive Health. She is joining me now live in Kansas City, Missouri. Bonyen, good to see you. Just outline to our viewers around the world what is at stake here?
BONYEN LEE-GILMORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH: Yeah, good morning. Thank you for having me. This case has nationwide implications far beyond Idaho, as you just heard. And it really centers on the question about the right to emergency abortion care and is part of a broader strategy to ban abortion altogether.
Idaho's abortion ban with exceptions, very narrow exceptions, is just another proof point, right, that medical exceptions are really designed to act as window dressing for abortion bans. They don't work and were seeing that right now. Whenever you allow pregnancy into -- whenever you will have government into pregnancy, you are opening up doctors and patients to potential civil and criminal punishments because their decisions will be judged by a political system, not by doctors. And so, the so-called exceptions will be interpreted by politicians.
WALKER: Yeah, I think -- I felt like the one thing that the doctors seemed to agree on, who provide care to women on both sides of the aisle, whether they agree with abortion bans or not, they will tell you that when there is a near total ban, when they have to make this decision to take care of the mother if her life might be at risk, the fetus might be at risk, these decisions made delay care for the mother, these concerns of facing jail time really.
Tell me more about what you're hearing from people like health care providers?
LEE-GILMORE: Well, Amara, I live in Missouri where there is a similar total ban without even exceptions here in this state. I think one thing that we don't talk about enough is the fact that the alliance defending freedom is using fetal personhood, which is the idea that fetuses are people under this state's constitution, to justify denying pregnant people the care they need. Personhood is about, again, when the government can stake a claim in a pregnant person's decision- making or pregnancy, and fetal personhood is the through line to common anti-abortion policy tactics like viability limits.
And while personhood is meant to assign rights to an embryo, we saw that play out in Alabama with IVF, it can impact pregnant people throughout the entirety of pregnancy. So, personhood and viability limits are the key central policies that have been baked into abortion policies and state criminal codes since 1973. When we talk about restoring Roe, we are talking about restoring these very laws that are being used against pregnant people who are now seeking abortion care.
WALKER: Just again regarding the implications and impacts from the Supreme Court decision, by the way, we do expect a ruling towards the end of the Supreme Court's term this summer. But we're talking about 14 states in the U.S. that have some sort of abortion ban like Idaho. Let's say, the Supreme Court were to side with Idaho saying that, you know, the state's abortion bans actually override this federal law that protects women from seeking emergency abortions in hospitals, what is your biggest fear then?
LEE-GILMORE: I think the biggest fear is already playing out, people will be denied the care that they need. They will be left to their own navigating this landscape. Many people will have to travel out of state to get the care. And in an emergency situation, you don't have the time to do that. By the way, even in states with abortion clinics, where it is legal, there are very few of them. And they're being overwhelmed by the system because so many people are traveling to them.
So, I think there isn't the scenario that we haven't already seen yet. We already know what's going to happen because we are seeing it happen now. Hospitals and doctors are unwilling to take the legal risks because the other side of that legal risk could mean jail time.
WALKER: Yeah.
LEE-GILMORE: And so, we are already seeing patients being asked to wait in the parking lot until they're near sepsis or they're crashing, before they can come in and get the care that they need. And this should be absolutely alarming to anybody, no matter what you believe.
[08:35:00]
WALKER: Absolutely. Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, really appreciate the conversation. Thank you.
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is triggering protests at colleges and universities across the U.S. At New York's Columbia University, pro- Palestinian protests are entering their eighth day. Earlier, the school had set a midnight deadline for students to dismantle their tents set up on campus, but that has been pushed back by 48 hours. School officials say they had constructive dialog with the students and are making important progress.
CNN's Omar Jimenez joining us now, live from outside Columbia University campus in New York. Tell us more about, I guess, what's happening there on campus. Have university officials and protesting students made progress on their negotiations?
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Amara. So, the two sides have made progress. That's part of why that deadline was extended by 48 hours as opposed to the midnight one that the Columbia University's president set yesterday. We are still seeing some in protest here. You can see over my shoulder here, this is just outside Columbia University's gates and sort of highlights the two types of protests that we've been seeing.
There have been a number of them happening, again, just outside where people have come in and it could be students, it could not be students, but they protest outside the gates here and then you have the encampments on campus themselves. That is what is now entering an eighth day here now. We were on campus yesterday speaking to some of those folks and they say their main purpose there they say is they want to force the university to divest from corporations they say support Israeli apartheid and genocide.
Now, while that encampment has been entering into its eighth day, you mentioned that the university president said a midnight deadline to clear those encampments. Part of the specific progress that they've made up to this point, according to the university officials, is that the students apparently agreed to dismantle or remove a significant number of tents. They are ensuring those not affiliated with Columbia University will leave and that they will take steps to make the encampment welcome to all.
That said, student protesters released a statement claiming the school threatened to send in the National Guard and that the students won't be able to move forward in negotiations until they get insurances either that the National Guard or the New York Police Department won't be sent in to deal with students. And that, of course, is significant because, last week, in the early few days of this encampment, the New York Police Department was sent in to clear out students, a move that was criticized by many students and professors as well.
So of course, that's a dynamic to keep an eye on if these negotiations don't get to an agreement by this new deadline, 48 hours from now.
WALKER: And Omar, I mean, we are seeing similar sentiments and protests scenes on other U.S. college campuses. What's the latest there?
JIMENEZ: Yeah. So, we are seeing similar forms of protests in campuses across the country, in particular places like MIT and Emerson have also seen similar encampment type protests. At New York University, we saw over 100 people arrested for their protesting there. California State Polytechnic also is moving classes through Wednesday to remote classes for just safety purposes.
You can go on and on at this point, various forms of protests have taken place at campuses across the country. At Yale, over 40 people were arrested as well. A lot of it has seemed to stem from when Columbia first started these protests last week, the encampment style protests last Wednesday, as their president testified on Capitol Hill about anti-Semitism on campus.
From there, it seems that this wave of protests and solidarity with some of the Columbia students has spread to other campuses. And we have not seen any concrete signs of that slowing down. But what we have seen is a growing of a dynamic between schools trying to figure out how to balance free speech with what they have described as trying to restore order in some of these campuses.
So clearly, this is an issue that is not going away. Now, we have a timetable here at Columbia, a deadline, so to speak, where previously the Columbia University president said if that agreement wasn't reached by the midnight deadline, previously, they would find alternative ways to clear the campus, which makes you wonder what those alternative ways are, Amara. So clearly, a situation to keep an eye on, as we continue to see protests even on this eighth day.
WALKER: Yeah. What would those alternative ways be and how much force would be used, if any. Omar Jimenez, great to have you. Thank you so much. Live for us in New York.
Well, today is a much quieter day at the courthouse in lower Manhattan. The Donald Trump hush money trial takes a break every Wednesday, so the judge can tend to other business.
[08:40:00] WALKER: Today, that other business could include a ruling on whether Trump has violated the gag order in the case. The judge's decision could come at any time. The trial itself will resume on Thursday with more testimony from former National Enquirer publisher, David Pecker.
The U.S. government will pay close to $140 million to victims of Larry Nassar, the disgraced former USA gymnastics team doctor. The settlement follows allegations from more than 150 women and girls who say the FBI failed to investigate their claims of abuse by Nassar. Nassar was convicted in 2018 of sexually abusing young athletes under the guise of performing medical treatment and sentenced to up to 175 years in prison. The Justice Department acknowledged its failures in a scathing report that found senior officials did not respond properly to those allegations.
Still to come, this new video raises fresh questions over the horrific 2021 attack at Kabul Airport amid the chaos of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan. We'll have that CNN Exclusive reporting just after the break.
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WALKER: Turning now to an exclusive CNN report on Afghanistan as the Taliban's rapid takeover of the country in 2021 was in its final days, and U.S. forces were scrambling to get out. A suicide attack ripped through crowds of Afghans seeking evacuation at Kabul's airport. 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members died. The Pentagon has insisted that everyone was killed by the blast, but new video and eyewitness evidence obtained by CNN raise questions about that account.
CNN's Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh has this investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you guys in the right set (ph) of mind? Let's go.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This video, not fully seen in public before, reveals brutal facts long denied by the U.S. Military. On August 26, 2021, a moment of acute savagery at the end of America's longest war. Two Pentagon investigations insisted all 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. Military who died here were killed by an ISIS bomber, and nobody hit by gunfire.
GEN. KENNETH F. MCKENZIE,COMMANDER, U.S. CENTCOM: No definitive proof that anyone was ever hit or killed by gunfire.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): But this new video, which begins outside the airport's Abbey Gate entrance, reveals much more shooting after the blast than the Pentagon said. Combined with new accounts to CNN of marines opening fire and gunshot injuries and Afghan civilians, it challenge is the rigor and reliability of the two Pentagon investigations that declared no Afghan civilians were shot dead in the chaotic aftermath. [08:45:00]
PATON WALSH (voice-over): The bomb detonates. The footage then stops and picks up three seconds later.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're breaking through.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): Many marines here were young, some on their first deployment. The gunfire starts. They run for cover. This long burst is about 17 shots, bringing us a total of 20. We are telling shots fired in episodes of five based on two forensic analyses on screen. You cannot see who is still firing here, and we never see marines or anyone firing in this video.
Short controlled bursts in isolation. We see (ph) a gas canister has exploded in the blast. It is gas choking this marine. And in a moment, the total episodes of gunfire you've heard will start being more than the three that Pentagon has said happened. The gunfire continues. We leap forward 27 seconds, as Afghans arms raised run into the airport.
One burst, now another. They wonder if the Taliban, the TB (ph), is shooting. Two marines told us they saw the Taliban just after the blast, looking as shocked as they were. Multiple marines we spoke to, who were there, said they felt they were under fire. But the Pentagon has insisted for two years, no militant gunmen opened fire here. They've said the only shots fired here where two bursts by U.S. Marines and one from U.K. troops. Once in a big burst from a nearby tower, all bursts near simultaneous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you good?
PATON WALSH (voice-over): So according to their investigations, we must be hearing marines or the British firing here. Jump forwards nearly two minutes, during which there are three bursts and they are heading outside to help. That's at least 43 shots in 11 episodes of shooting, just short of four minutes of sporadic fire, most of which the Pentagon has said for two years did not happen.
This is how terrifying it was for Afghans outside, minutes after the blast. So, who was shooting? For the first time, a marine eyewitness has come forward and told CNN the first big burst of gunfire at the start of the GoPro video you just saw came from where U.S. Marines were standing near the blast site. We are using a different voice to hide his identity as he fears reprisals for describing the gunfire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was multiple. There's no doubt about that. It wasn't onsies and twosies. It was a mass volume of gunfire.
PATON WALSH: Down towards the Abbey Gate sniper tower, from roughly an area not too far away from where the blast had gone off. That's where you heard the shooting emanate from?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would have been around that area, yes.
PATON WALSH: And there were U.S. Marines, right? This was likely emanating from marines on the ground? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
PATON WALSH: You think they fired into the crowd?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I couldn't tell you for certain.
PATON WALSH: But they wouldn't have fired into the air, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, they would not have fired into the air.
PATON WALSH: Because you had a specific, no warning shots order, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't a direct order, but it was a common understanding, no warning shots. These are kids. They're young and have only been taught with they've been taught. Some of these kids have been with a unit for quite literally two, three months prior to deployment.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): We spoke to over ten other marines anonymously about gunfire, some felt they were shot at, a couple of even said they saw a gun man. But two other stand out who we were unable to reach ourselves both injured, both admitting some memories were fuzzy, but one clear he heard orders to fire, the other that he opened fire himself.
ROMEL FINLEY, BLAST SURVIVOR: I see my platoon sergeant walked past us saying, get back on that wall and shoot back at those mother fuckers. So I'm like a word a gunfight to (ph).
[08:50:00]
CHRISTIAN SANCHEZ, BLAST SURVIVOR: Like all I hear is ringing and flashes going on. And then, I start hearing (inaudible). And then I started realizing that's (inaudible) shooting at me. I just started shooting (ph) like we did.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): Sort of (ph) Afghans themselves, 170 of whom died, the Pentagon has insisted all injuries and deaths were from the bomb and its ball bearings. But two years ago, CNN heard significant evidence from 19 eyewitnesses that Afghans were shot and from Afghan medical staff, counting dozens of dead from bullets. Key was Sayed Ahmadi, Head Doctor at the Kabul Hospital treating most of wounded. Back then, he was afraid to speak openly and his account was dismissed by the Pentagon.
But now, we met him safe with asylum in Finland. He says, he and his staff had the expertise to diagnose over 50 dead from gunfire that night.
SAYED AHMADI, FORMER KABUL HOSPITAL DOCTOR: 170 people were killed totally. But the register, what we had, maybe 145.
PATON WALSH: And by your estimation, about half --
AHMADI: More than half, I think, were killed by gunshot. PATON WALSH: So, when you hear the American investigation say that you're just wrong. You don't know what you're talking about.
AHMADI: I wonder -- I hope one day, they asked me or they call me what you saw. Like you come here and ask me, you came to Kabul and asked me about the situation. They never asked me.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): Even though we described the video and our findings in great detail to the Pentagon, they said they would need to examine any new unseen video before they could assess it. They said that the first investigation had thoroughly looked at allegations of outgoing fire from U.S. and coalition forces following the blast. They said their review released earlier this month focused not on gun fire, but the bomber and events leading up to the blast, but found no new evidence of a complex attack and uncovered no new assertions of outgoing fire, having no materialistic impact on the original investigation.
Investigators have also not interviewed any Afghans for their reports, the Pentagon said, leaving the question of how hungry for the truth are they?
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: Tesla is looking to ease investors' concerns with plans for a new cheaper car model, which well go into production next year. The announcement comes as the electric carmaker is taking a beating on the balance sheet. First quarter earnings were down 48 percent, well short of Wall Street forecasts. Total revenue dropped 9 percent and the company's profit margin has declined by two percentage points.
Tesla has a history of not meeting timelines on vehicle launches, still word of a new model has helped it stock in after-hours trading. At last check, it was up 13 percent at nearly $164 a share.
And before we go, some incredible scenes from Greece where dust from the Sahara Desert turned the sky over Athens orange. The huge cloud of dust swept across the Mediterranean Sea, prompting officials in Greece and Cyprus to issue health warnings. The concentrations of dust are expected to gradually decrease beginning today.
[08:55:00]
WALKER: And a very different landscape in Finland where a spring snowstorm brought public transit to a standstill. More than 20 centimeters or nearly eight inches of snow fell in some areas. It left trams stranded and delayed bus and metro services across Helsinki. Some flights were canceled and others delayed at the Helsinki Airport. While snow in Finland is common in winter, officials say the late- April snowfall is unusual.
And that is our time. Thank you so much for being with me here on "CNN Newsroom." I am Amara Walker. "Connect The World" with Becky Anderson is up next with live coverage of the abortion hearing at the U.S. Supreme Court.
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