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Major Flooding Along Mississippi River As Snowpack Melts; New Study Identifies Countries Likely To See More Heat Waves; Corruption Fuels Lavish Life Of Russian Minister's Family; Defense Asks Roommate In Idaho Murders To Testify In Suspect's Hearing. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 25, 2023 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Right now, there is major flooding happening across the upper Midwest. Near record snowfall is now melting and causing the Mississippi River to slowly crest. You can see here the rising water creeping up against homes and businesses in Wabasha, Minnesota.

That's about 90 miles southwest of Indianapolis. And in Iowa the water level is rising so rapidly in some areas the governor there issuing a disaster proclamation for at least ten counties. Let's take you now live to the CNN Weather Center with meteorologist Chad Myers. Chad, this is flooding because of snow melting, and it is going to be very, very widespread across the floodplain.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. And the water is really spreading out now. I mean, we're not talking about the record flooding we had in Fargo years ago where, I mean, we were up to the second floor, downtown. That's not happening. But this is low land farmland and even into the lower river towns they are now getting flooded.

Flood warnings all the way from Minneapolis almost all the way down now even into St. Louis. So, let's get to it.

This is where we are at this point. We are seeing the rain come down in some spots, and we are seeing some water rise in others. Everywhere you see a purple spot that is where the river is in major flood stage. And it's still rising in some spots and going down in others. The farther you get to the north, it's starting to go down.

Red River of the north actually goes the other direction. It goes into Canada where the water you see here that's now all these big numbers here. Major river stages here across parts of the Mississippi River now back even into 400 miles long of that flash flooding.

And it's river flooding so it's not coming up really quickly, but people just see -- they can stand in their yards and they go, here it comes. And then two days later it's a little bit closer and a little bit closer and a little bit closer. And we are still seeing the snow melt. There was a lot of snow up here.

Now if you were just to the south of this white line, that's what's going to drain back into the Mississippi. If you're north over here, that's going to go into Lake Superior. And then up here, the Red River of the North is going to take that up into Canada, flooding in all those places.

Here is where the radar starts to be -- the river gauge is now beginning to show that the water still going up in places but beginning to come down in others. What the Minnesota governor just talked about is what we don't want now is rain. There's some scattered rain, one inch or so, but so far so good. Don't melt that any faster with the rain and don't make it go up any faster as the water runs off -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we'll make sure to ask the weather gods to slow down on that rainfall and slow down on the snow melt. Chad Myers in the Weather Center, thank you so much -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A new study finds that the planet will see more record heat waves as it warms, and the dangerous temperatures will devastate countries that are least prepared to handle it. We have CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir joining us on this story. Bill, walk us through this. The places that are most at risk and why.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me set the baseline for you first, Brianna. If you remember it's summer of 2021 of in western Canada, Lytton, British Columbia, this very temperate moderately zoned little town saw temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius, 121 degrees Fahrenheit for several days. The whole town burned down as a result of that. That was considered a statistically implausible record event there -- that temperature.

And so, these scientists looked at 60 years of data, they looked at projections and laid out this map here that shows where this could possibly happen again. What places are most vulnerable to being caught by surprise by some devastating heat wave like this that just shatters records?

The reddest spots are -- you see in Central America. That could have a real impact on migration in North America. We've seen that historically. Parts of Germany are bright red. Afghanistan given their vulnerabilities after years of war make them vulnerable. Beijing, China, is in a high risk area. 250 million people living there.

But even in places where there's not anyone living like in Siberia up on the east coast of Canada there, that's a methane bomb. If the heat wave melts the permafrost there that means more misery for everybody in heating up the planet. But this is an interesting look at the most vulnerable spots.

KEILAR: And the safe zones -- I mean is this -- are these grey areas that we're looking at or where are those?

[15:35:00]

WEIR: It just means that in the sort of the green, the vast majority of the planet has sort of a moderate risk of this happening. So, heat waves that wouldn't have happened in a century could happen in less time than that. And so, they are calling for leaders out there to prepare accordingly. You kind of have to prepare for a heat emergency you can't even imagine in some temperate zones. That means cooling centers, that means thinking about maximum work hours. And some of these temperatures we're seeing more and more of the human body can't tolerate them for more than an hour at a time.

So, this has an effect on both the economy, on human health, on agriculture and just on overall preparation. Heat is the number one killer. It's the sort of the invisible one that doesn't make for great pictures and dramatic pictures on TV, but definitely preys on the most vulnerable among us.

KEILAR: It certainly does. Bill, thank you for taking us through that -- Jim.

WEIR: You bet.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Designer clothing, custom trenched jewelry, yachting in the Mediterranean. Doesn't sound like someone facing international sanctions. How the wife of Russia's deputy defense minister is pulling off a life of luxury in Paris.

And Mattel has just launched a line of Barbie Dolls designed to be more inclusive and diverse. How the National down Syndrome Society is responding. That's just ahead.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: As Russia's brutal war leaves much of Ukraine in ruins, the U.S. and the European Union insists the economic sanctions on Moscow are working. But they clearly are not stopping the ex-wife of Russia's deputy defense minister from living the highlife in France and across Europe. CNN's Clarissa Ward has more on how she's getting away with it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Svetlana Maniovich is a woman of expensive tastes. Diamonds and couture, extravagant parties and European vacations. Just last month, she was seen shopping and dancing in the elite French ski resort of Courchevel.

But Maniovich is no ordinary Russians socialite. She is the other half of Russia's deputy minister of defense, Timur Ivanov, one of the most senior architects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

And, according to a shocking investigation, Maniovich continues to gallivant around France more than a year into Russia's bloody war, despite the fact that Ivanov was sanctioned by the E.U. in October.

The explosive report, put out by the Anti-Corruption Foundation, an investigative outfit founded by Russia's jailed opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, is based they say on a leaked archive of more than 8,000 of Maniovich's emails over the last 12 years and has racked up more than six million views on YouTube.

It claims that on March 25, 2022, as dozens of missiles rained down on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Maniovich spent more than $100,000 in a top Paris jewelry store on the Place Vendome.

WARD: How is it possible that she can continue to do this?

MARIA PEVCHIKH, HEAD OF INVESTIGATIONS, ANTI-CORRUPTION FOUNDATION: It's a very simple trick that they played. Point number one, Svetlana has an Israeli passport through her first -- with her first husband. And second of all, six months into the war, they have filed for divorce. They haven't -- they haven't split any assets. Nothing has changed in terms of like, you know, daily life. Whatever they owned, they keep owning together, but technically, they're not legally married anymore.

WARD (voice-over): Equally shocking are the opulent lifestyle and lavish spending that the leaked emails document. According to Russian business publication "RBC," Ivanov's official income was once declared to be around 14.2 million rubles a year, less than $175,000.

Yet, the Navalny group's report calculated that the couple spent more than a quarter of a million dollars in just one summer. CNN has not been able to independently verify those numbers.

WARD: How is he funding this lifestyle?

PEVCHIKH: Well, the answer is corruption. Corruption and specifically kickbacks.

WARD (voice-over): According to the Russian government, Ivanov oversees construction for Russia's Ministry of Defense, including what the Anti-Corruption Foundation describes as lucrative contracts to rebuild the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which fell to Russian forces under punishing bombardment last May.

PEVCHIKH: The Russian army has destroyed, demolished 70 percent of the apartment blocks in town. They had to build new ones, and they did. So that company that built those displaced houses in Mariupol, it is the same company that pays for Timur Ivanov's' personal bills.

WARD (voice-over): Despite claims of such brazen corruption, Putin toured the construction project last month, a request for comment on the investigation from the Russian ministry of defense received no reply.

[15:45:00]

In France, though, the pressure may be mounting. On Sunday afternoon, the Anti-Corruption Foundation organized a small protest outside the Paris apartment it claims Maniovich still rents, demanding to know how she is allowed to spend the profits of Russia's war in the heart of France. A question so far without any satisfactory answer.

WARD: CNN has reached out to the French foreign ministry, who responded, saying: We do not comment on individual situations. France, with its E.U. partners, has ended visa facilitation for Russian citizens and has also adopted targeted individual sanctions against 1,499 Russian officials and their supporters.

We also attempted, of course, to reach out to Svetlana Maniovich, sending her an email. But as of yet, we have not received a reply.

Clarissa Ward, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Clarissa, thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're following at this hour. New court filings by Prince Harry's attorneys claim that his brother, Prince William, was paid a very large sum by Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper group to settle phone hacking claims. Harry himself is suing Murdoch's company alleging its tabloid hacked into his voice mails and deceptively obtained private information.

Also, the FDA has brand new guidelines that say it's OK to bring your dog to a restaurant's outdoor seating area if state and local laws and the restaurant allow it. Dogs still are not allowed indoors or anywhere food is prepared unless of course it's a service dog.

And today Mattel introduced its first ever version of the Barbie Doll representing a person with down syndrome. She's part of the barbie's fashionista line which Mattel says is intended to offer children more diverse representations of beauty and fight the stigma around physical disabilities -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Missouri is now the latest state moving to restrict medically necessary procedures for transgender people. The Republican Attorney General there announced an emergency rule limiting gender affirming care. It is expected to take effect on Thursday, but now advocacy groups are suing to block it creating another standoff on an issue that state Republicans have latched onto in recent month. CNN Bianna Golodryga will be talking to the Missouri Secretary of State next on "THE LEAD." Bianna, it's part of a pattern we're seeing in Republican controlled state legislatures. What is the defense of this policy?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST AND FILL IN ANCHOR: Listen, it is a hot button very divisive issue, transgender and gender affirming care in particular across the nation. But as you mention, Jim, specifically in Republican controlled states including Missouri. And what's interesting is though you have Republicans in control of the legislature there you are seeing some division among the Attorney General in particular who's pushing through this law that would really restrict access for some of the gender affirming care for our viewers.

A sense of what that includes, that includes puberty blockers, hormone therapies and gender surgeries requiring years of evidence to submit that you are actually going through gender dysphoria and 15 hours of consecutive therapy over 18 months before receiving any of that care.

Now, the Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says that's a bit too far because this law would ban it applying it to both children and adults. And the Secretary of State says going after adults is a bit too far. But perhaps legally, morally he may agree with this law, but he says legally he doesn't think it will get very far.

SCIUTTO: Bianna, it'll be good to see that interview. Good to see you on "THE LEAD." Thanks so much.

GOLODRYGA Good to see you.

SCIUTTO: Brianna.

KEILAR: One of the surviving roommates of that multiple stabbing in Idaho is being asked by the suspect's attorneys to testify in an upcoming hearing. We'll tell you why next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: One of the surviving roommates in that mass stabbing that left four Idaho college students dead is resisting a demand by the murder suspect to testify in his upcoming preliminary hearing. Attorneys for Brian Kohberger claim she has key information related to the killer's defense. CNN's Jean Casarez is covering this story for us. How unusual a move is this -- Jean?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is very unusual. To have a witness for the defense, someone the defense is saying we want them to testify at the preliminary hearing. Now remember, this roommate we haven't heard from at all. Because in the probable cause affidavit we heard about the other surviving roommate that she bumped into someone dressed all in black, walked toward her, she froze, he turned around and then he left. But this is the roommate, Bethany Funke, who was on the first floor, who we've never heard anything from and still haven't.

But the magistrate judge who is going to be presiding at the preliminary hearing of Brian Kohberger at the end of June has sent an order requesting that a Nevada judge -- because that's where she lives -- order her, compelled her, to come to Idaho that week of the preliminary hearing to testify for the defense as a defense witness.

Now the judge said that she bases the information on her belief from what she has learned ex parte, so only from Kohberger's defense team that she may be a material witness. And also, the affidavit of the defense private investigator who said that, yes, Bethany Funke spoke with investigators. She was at the house when law enforcement arrived. But he goes on to say, listen to this.

[15:55:00]

Quote: During the course of my investigation it became known to me that Bethany Funke has information material to the charges against Mr. Kohberger. Portions of information Ms. Funke has is exculpatory to the defendant. Ms. Funke's information is unique to her experiences and cannot be provided by another witness. Her side wants to quash this saying, number one, there should be a

hearing. We don't know what the information is. And there is no reason to compel her attendance, wait until trial. She can be a witness for the defense at trial. Bianna, we'll see what happens.

KEILAR: Yes, so many people watching the case. Jean, thank you very much.

SCIUTTO: Listen, it's a horrible case. I've been in touch with the father of Kaylee Goncalves a number of times. It's just getting to go through this. And I could imagine their reaction to this step will be. Well, difficult.

SANCHEZ: It's sad to see. Well, that does it for us. Don't go anywhere just yet, "THE LEAD" starts right after a quick break. Stay with CNN.