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CNN International: U.S. to Resume Aid to Ukraine After Biden Signs Aid Package; Potential U.S. Ban Looms Over Popular App TikTok; Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over Idaho's Abortion Ban; Pro- Palestinian Protests Ongoing at Columbia University; Japan Airlines' New CEO Mitsuko Tottori Focused on Safety. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired April 25, 2024 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. Here are some of today's top stories.
Pro-Palestinian protests are spreading across college campuses in the U.S. At USC in California, protesters clashed with police. Nearly 100 people arrested there. And at UT Austin, following tense resistance, 34 people were arrested.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled or delayed at airports across Europe today after some French air traffic controllers called a one- day strike over working conditions.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today on whether Donald Trump should have absolute presidential immunity, including for his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump maintains the alleged acts were part of his duties as president.
A billion dollars' worth of military hardware being prepared for Ukraine, including long-range missiles, which the Ukrainians have asked for, for a pretty long time. After months of negotiations and delays, President Biden signed off on the $95 billion financial assistance package passed by Congress that includes nearly $61 billion in military aid for Ukraine and $26 billion for Israel and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific as well. President Biden says this was a good day for world peace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's going to make America safer. It's going to make the world safer. And it continues America's leadership in the world, and everyone knows it.
It was a difficult path. It should have been easier, and it should have gotten there sooner. But in the end, we did what America always does. We rose in the moment. We came together, and we got it done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, Ukraine did get some long-range missiles recently from the U.S. The Pentagon revealed on Wednesday that ATACMS were delivered to Ukraine earlier this month after President Biden secretly approved the transfer back in February.
Clare Sebastian joins us now. So, you know, how does this look now in terms of Ukraine's defense?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Much better, much, much better. They've been really struggling for the past six months, Max. I think that's potentially even an understatement.
And I think the content, as we understand it, of this first $1 billion package really reflects what's changed in the past six months, one, that the front line has been profoundly destabilized. That's why you see, obviously, there's going to be artillery ammunition, but things like HIMARS artillery rounds, anti-aircraft missiles, Bradley fighting vehicles. Those are on the list, as you see there.
But also you see those air defense missiles, and that is a reflection of the fact that we've really seen Russia step up these aerial attacks on Ukraine's cities, massive attacks on critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure. And Ukraine has been crying out for more of these air defense missiles as it struggled to thwart those attacks.
And President Zelenskyy is saying that the way that this package was structured really came out of a joint effort to tailor it to their specific needs. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): No matter what anyone says, we are getting the support we need. We need to continue to protect lives from Russian attacks. These days, we have been working with our American friends at all levels to quickly fill this package from the United States with the weapons our soldiers need, from ATACMS and artillery, from anti-tank weapons and missiles for the HIMARS to necessary air defense and equipment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: Obviously, the ATACMS, these long-range missiles, and just to be clear, the U.S. has already supplied shorter-range ATACMS missiles back in the autumn, which Ukraine has been using. But the fact that these longer-range missiles have been supplied crosses a rubicon. The U.S. had objected to it.
We're told that it was when they realized that the North Koreans were supplying Russia with ballistic missiles and when they were able to increase their own readiness in terms of the stocks of these missiles, that's when President Biden authorized this.
One reaction from Russia this morning, the Russian ambassador to Washington on the ATACMS saying it's impossible to justify such an underhand act and claiming without evidence that Russia has already shot down several of these ATACMS.
FOSTER: So when you look at this, you know, all together, does it allow Ukraine to push the front line back or just hold it? SEBASTIAN: That is the big question. I think for the moment, the best
hope they have is to stabilize the front line. That is what military analysts are saying.
[04:35:00]
With this injection of aid, they can stop the Russian advance because there has been, albeit a slow, not a big breakthrough, but a continual advance over the past few months, especially after the capture of Avdiivka, Russia has been able to push beyond that and is still trying to do that.
So the thinking is that Ukraine will stabilize the front line, sort of try to reconstitute a little bit and then look forward to trying to do some kind of offensive operation either towards the end of this year or in 2025.
The other fear is that Russia will try to launch its own offensive. Possibly it is now recalibrating that, given the injection of USAID. But the thinking ahead of this was that they were planning to do something, the Ukrainians were saying, in May or even June.
FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you.
The foreign aid bill also includes a potential ban on TikTok in the U.S. If it goes through, TikTok could be removed from U.S. app stores and hosting services early next year.
But the social media company says it plans to take the case to court. Michael Yoshida has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This bill would ban TikTok from US app stores, also restrict how users can interact with its content, a move that could impact tens of millions of users here in the U.S.
YOSHIDA (voice-over): The clock may soon be running out for TikTok, and it's more than 170 million users in the U.S.
BREE FOWLER, SENIOR CYBERSECURITY WRITER, CNET: A lot of TikTok users, as you would expect, aren't very happy about this. TikTok brings in lots of money for them.
YOSHIDA (voice-over): President Joe Biden signing a bill Wednesday, giving ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, 270 days to sell or spin off the social media platform. Otherwise, it will be banned from U.S. app stores.
SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA): Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel.
YOSHIDA (voice-over): Some experts say this bill does not prioritize the right issues. FOWLER: What the US needs to do if it's worried about data collection is pass comprehensive privacy legislation that would regulate the kind of data that all social media platforms and tech companies can collect on us and keep on us and share on us. Because even if TikTok goes away, there's nothing stopping the Chinese government from buying data and information about Americans from data brokers and other social media platforms.
YOSHIDA (voice-over): TikTok is fighting back, calling the legislation unconstitutional. CEO Shou Chew vowed to take the issue to court.
SHOU CHEW, CEO, TIKTOK: Rest assured, we aren't going anywhere.
YOSHIDA: And this legislation sets a deadline of January 2025 for sale. However, President Biden, he could extend that deadline by about another 90 days if he feels that progress has been made towards getting a sale done.
In Washington, I'm Michael Yoshida reporting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Lawmakers in the state of Arizona voted Wednesday to repeal a 19th century ban on abortion. It became law in 1864, during the American Civil War era, although it was revived earlier this month by state Supreme Court decisions. The Arizona High Court concluded that because there is no longer a federal constitutional right to the procedure, the 1864 ban is enforceable. This would leave in place a state law which restricts abortions to 15 weeks.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court appears deeply divided over hearing arguments over a strict abortion ban in the state of Idaho and whether states can criminalize abortions in medical emergencies. The court's ruling is expected by the end of June in the midst of an election campaign where abortion is certain to be a big issue for American voters.
CNN's Paula Reid has the latest from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Today, the Supreme Court heard another historic case on abortion as protesters on both sides of the issue gathered out front.
The high stakes hearing focused on Idaho's abortion ban and how it applies in medical emergencies. The state allows exceptions when the life of a mother is at risk, but the Biden administration sued the state, arguing that federal law requires the state to allow the procedure if it is needed to stabilize a patient even when the mother's condition is not yet life-threatening.
Joshua Turner argued for the state and faced a barrage of medical hypotheticals from the liberal justices.
ELENA KAGAN, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: All of these cases are rare, but within these rare cases, there's a significant number where the woman is -- her life is not in peril, but she's going to lose her reproductive organs. She's going to lose the ability to have children in the future unless an abortion takes place.
REID (voice-over): Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined her liberal colleagues in pressing Turner on the state's position and how it leaves doctors open to prosecution.
JOSHUA TURNER, IDAHO ATTORNEY: If they were exercising their medical judgment, they could, in good faith, determine that life-saving care was necessary. And that's my point. Is this a subjective standard?
AMY CONEY BARRETT, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: But some doctors couldn't. Some doctors might reach a contrary conclusion, I think, is what Justice Sotomayor is asking you.
[04:40:00]
If they reached the conclusion that the legislature's doctors did, would they be prosecuted under Idaho law?
TURNER: No, no. If they reached the conclusion that Dr. Reynolds, Dr. White, did that these were life-saving --
BARRETT: What if the prosecutor thought differently? What if the prosecutor thought, well, I don't think any good-faith doctor could draw that conclusion I'm going to put on my expert?
TURNER: And that, Your Honor, is the nature of prosecutorial discretion.
REID (voice-over): Justice Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts had tough questions for both sides and could end up being the swing votes that determined the outcome.
Elizabeth Prelogar argued for the government that Idaho is subject to a federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA.
ELIZABETH PRELOGAR, SOLICITOR GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: In Idaho, doctors have to shut their eyes to everything except death, whereas under EMTALA, you're supposed to be thinking about things like, is she about to lose her fertility? Is her uterus going to become incredibly scarred because of the bleeding? Is she about to undergo the possibility of kidney failure?
REID (voice-over): She faced questions from conservatives about how to protect unborn children.
SAMUEL ALITO, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: Have you seen abortion statutes that use the phrase unborn child? Doesn't that tell us something?
PRELOGAR: It tells us that Congress wanted to expand the protection for pregnant women so that they could get the same duties to screen and stabilize when they have a condition that's threatening the health and well-being of the unborn child.
REID: A decision on this case is expected in late June, right in the middle of the presidential election season. Historically, Republicans have used the abortion issue to rally their supporters, but since Roe was overturned, the issue has actually helped Democrats. So a lot riding on this decision from the high court.
Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The race for the White House appears to be a toss-up at this point in the campaign. CNN's latest Poll of Polls average found no clear leader. U.S. President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump each draw about 47 percent support amongst potential voters. That's effectively unchanged from averages earlier this year. Our Poll of Polls includes the six most recent national polls measuring the views of registered or likely voters.
The pivot towards electric vehicles after approving an expensive transition for the Ford Motor Company. It posted first quarter losses of $1.3 billion for its electric vehicles unit known as Model E. The retail division sold 10,000 vehicles in the first quarter, a 20 percent drop from last year. Model E revenue plunged 84 percent to about $100 million.
The Ford Pro unit handles fleet sales to businesses and government buyers. That division was the primary profit driver for Ford in the quarter, posting revenue of $18 billion.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is launching an investigation into what he calls the outrageously high prices of weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy.
In a letter to drugmakers' CEO, Sanders said the game-changing drugs, quote, will not do any good for the millions of patients who can't afford them. A four-week supply of Ozempic costs Americans $969. For Wegovy, it's more than $1,300. Sanders says Yale University researchers have found that the drugs can be profitably made for less than $5 a month.
Highly charged protests erupting in more US college campuses in support of Palestinians. We'll have a closer look at that escalation there next.
Plus, a bumpy landing caught live. What happened when this Lufthansa flight tried to land in L.A.? We'll have the details.
[04:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Texas Austin campus were dispersed on Wednesday by state troopers, some of them on horseback. Authorities say at least 34 people were arrested. The Texas governor said the protesters belong in jail and that students joining what he called hate-filled anti-Semitic protests should be expelled.
Similar scenes have been playing out across the country. Nearly 100 demonstrators were arrested at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on Wednesday, where authorities dismantled an encampment. Protests are also still underway at Columbia University in New York.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has the latest on that one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Mounting pressure for Columbia University President Minouche Shafik as she works to try to negotiate with student organizers on campus. She extended the deadline for negotiations by 48 hours, working to dismantle the encampment that has taken over much of campus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty disheartening to see all this on campus, I will say. I think a lot of people are misguided.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Pro-Palestinian protesters are demanding Columbia cut all financial ties with Israel.
KHYMANI JAMES, STUDENT ORGANIZER, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Our plan is to be here until the university divests, disclosed and provides amnesty for all.
PROKUPECZ: You can see there are at least 50 to 75 tents that remain here. Many of the students who are part of this movement have been sleeping in these tents, have been eating here.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Adding pressure to the situation, House Speaker Mike Johnson visited campus today, meeting with Jewish students and calling on the university president to resign.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA) U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm here today joining my colleagues and calling on President Shafik to resign if she cannot immediately bring order to this chaos. Enjoy your free speech.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): For months, Republican lawmakers have called on numerous university leaders to resign as they held congressional hearings on the handling of anti-Semitism on college campuses. While most protests have been non-violent, some Jewish students at Columbia are expressing concern for their safety.
NAOMI, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT: The anti-Semitic comments and activity is running rampant.
PROKUPECZ: Some people are saying that there's some of the stuff that's coming out is anti-Semitic or it's anti-, against Jews. Is that a fair representation of what's happening here?
NAOMI: I do not think it's a fair representation of the encampment, but that doesn't diminish at all how terrible and unneeded, unwanted, and how much it should not exist, the anti-Semitism anywhere in the entire world. PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Columbia University recently shifted to hybrid classes due to safety concerns, now allowing the option to attend class and take final exams remotely through the end of the semester.
RONY ANYIN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SOPHOMORE: It's making it harder to go to classes and everything. I mean, things are switching to be remote.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Last week when students were arrested at Columbia, some Democrats, like Representative Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez, condemned university officials for involving police.
She said on X: Calling in police enforcement on non-violent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act.
Some Republicans, like Senator Tom Cotton, said there should be more police intervention on campus.
SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): These university presidents need to ask the mayor and the chief of police in New York to send in New York City's finest to arrest anyone who's breaking the law.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Good news for U.S. airline passengers. If a recent flight has been canceled or delayed, a new federal rule says travelers must be refunded in cash, not airline vouchers or travel credits. The Biden administration now also requires airlines to clearly disclose so- called junk fees, like a surprise cost associated with baggage or a flight change. Federal officials say this will save Americans millions of dollars each year.
Japan Airlines' new president has achieved a rare feat for her country. Mitsuko Tottori is the first woman and former flight attendant to climb to the top job.
[04:50:00]
She assumed the role earlier this month amid the fallout from various safety incidents within the aviation industry.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An entire plane swallowed by flames. Smoke and fear filled the cabin. These are the dramatic scenes from Japan that unfolded on screens across the world when a Japan Airlines flight collided with a Coast Guard aircraft on the runway. But mass tragedy was avoided that January night.
Five Coast Guard crew members were killed, but all 379 aboard commercial flight 516 escaped unscathed. American Mitsuko Tottori, Japan Airlines' incoming president, attributes to passenger cooperation and a well-trained crew.
MITSUKO TOTTORI, JAPAN AIRLINES CEO (through translator): We are constantly updating our operations based on the lessons we have learned from past case studies. I think we were able to put these lessons to the test.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): But for Tottori, safety isn't just a priority. It's instinct. Starting as a flight attendant, she rose through the ranks in a country where women hold less than 13 percent of senior and leadership roles, the lowest among G7 nations, according to the World Economic Forum.
She's now the first woman and former flight attendant to become JAL's president. But her rise, she says, shouldn't come as a surprise.
TOTTORI (through translator): I hope that Japan will soon become a place where people are not surprised when a woman becomes a president.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Tottori's remarkable career began in 1985, just four months before the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history. JAL Flight 123 crashed and killed 520 people on board, leaving just four survivors, and Tottori with the haunting reminder that safety is irreplaceable.
TOTTORI (through translator): Safety must be a priority for everyone working at JAL. That important value has been engraved in my heart.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): But her dedication to safety faces another critical test. Boeing, long a JAL partner, now grapples with mounting allegations of neglecting aircraft safety and quality following alarming plane incidents in this month's Senate whistleblower hearing.
MONTGOMERY: Are you concerned at all about the whistleblower complaints regarding the gaps in quality and safety of Boeing airplanes?
TOTTORI (through translator): Well, it seems that the CEO has just changed, so I'm not particularly concerned. I believe they will overcome this, and I will continue to support, communicate with them.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Her faith in Boeing, strong. But the manufacturer must prove that its aircrafts live up to her indispensable value.
Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Still ahead, vindication for Reggie Bush. We'll tell you about the changes in college sports that led him to getting his Heisman trophy back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: A startling sight for morning commute. Two horses running loose in central London. [04:55:00]
The British Army says several cavalry horses which form part of the King's bodyguard escaped during a routine exercise early on Wednesday.
They're all recovered now. Several injured horses receiving treatment. Got to feel sorry for them, the way they were spooked by all of that.
Former college football and NFL star Reggie Bush is getting his Heisman trophy reinstated 14 years after he was forced to give it up. Bush won the Heisman in 2005 when he was the star running back for the University of Southern California. He voluntarily gave it up after an investigation found he received several thousand dollars and a vehicle during his time at USC.
Those benefits weren't allowed at the time. However, the trust behind the Heisman says they decided to reinstate Bush due to the enormous changes in college sports in recent years. Notably, college athletes are now allowed to accept compensation for their name, image and likeness. Bush praised the decision and expressed gratitude to his supporters.
Tom Brady has won seven Super Bowls and will one day be inducted into the Football Hall of Fame, but his days on the gridiron have almost certainly come to an end. He's currently a minority owner of Birmingham City FC and is seeking a stake in the Las Vegas Raiders. The former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback was in Madrid for the Laureus World Sports Awards and he spoke with our Amanda Davis about a possible return to the NFL.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM BRADY, RETIRED NFL QUARTERBACK: I'm going to be 47 in August, so as much as I love to do it and I love to train and I love the sport, I get to be involved in a lot of different ways outside of just kind of being on the field. So I'll have other ways to leave a mark and legacy in that and that's kind of what my future holds.
AMANDA DAVIS, CNN WORLD SPORT: You did suggest you might do it if the call came, though. I mean, would you?
BRADY: Well, I think what I've learned in life is never say never to anything in life. You never know what's around the corner, but, you know, stay prepared and it's very, very, very unlikely. But, you know, I've got a lot of other great things for me to take care of.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: A rough landing or attempted landing for a Lufthansa flight into Los Angeles from Frankfurt on Tuesday. Here's the plane's first attempt at landing with a live reaction from a YouTube streamer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Are we getting that? Go around! Holy moly! Wow! Going around! What a -- that is the roughest landing I think we've ever caught on our broadcast.
Holy moly!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: CNN affiliate KTLA reports the plane hit the runway hard and bounced, causing the pilot to abort the landing. The plane circled LAX and landed safely at its second attempt.
Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" Up next.
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