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World Health Organization: COVID No Longer A Global Health Emergency; Mayorkas Back At Border Ahead Of Expected Migrant Surge; Wagner Threatens To Pull Out Of Bakhmut Without More Kremlin Support; Supreme Court Halts Execution Of Oklahoma Inmate Richard Glossip. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired May 05, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:47]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The COVID global health emergency is over. That's the word from the World Health Organization. A historic moment since they declared an emergency more than three years ago. It also comes as the U.S. is set to end its own public health emergency.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Bracing for a surge. Right now, Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas is at the southern U.S. border as worries grow about a sharp rise of migrant crossings just days before a COVID era policy ends. We're live at the border.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: A major threat to Putin's war in Ukraine. The head of Wagner, the mercenary group deployed in the war against Ukraine by the 10s of thousands says he could pull out his forces from a key battle as Russia braces for a potential counteroffensive by Ukraine. We are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: It is a historic moment in the global fight against coronavirus. The World Health Organization today announcing that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency. It was more than three years ago now that coronavirus was declared a public health emergency of international concern. Here is that moment on January 30th 2020.

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DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: I'm declaring a public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of novel coronavirus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: About six weeks after that, the statement made by the WHO at the time, they would go on to call the COVID outbreak a pandemic. Now the director of the World Health Organization says the pandemic has been on a downward trend for more than a year. And that helped us get to this moment today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GHEBREYESUS: It's therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency.

However, that does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's bring in CNN's Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen for some perspective.

Elizabeth, obviously coronavirus as a pandemic, a global health emergency is over, but the director general there expressing concern that it is still a threat.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Boris. Let's take a minute to sort of mark this moment. As you said, this all started, the public health emergency was declared January 30th 2020 and now here we are, May 5th 2023 marking that it is over and let's look at the damage that this virus did. If we look just the deaths, not at all the other horrible stuff, it's more than about 7 million people across the world died, more than a million Americans died.

So this, I mean, the havoc that this virus caused is quite incredible and that's why the WHO is saying, look, we still need to track it. We still need to see if there are mutations and we need to be on the lookout for other new viruses. We saw what this virus was able to do. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much for that reporting.

Jessica, now over to you.

DEAN: All right. The end of the pandemic also means the end of Title 42 here in the U.S. and that's the health law imposed during the COVID outbreak that allowed officials to quickly turn away migrants at the border. Now, that policy expires next Thursday and border officials are bracing for a massive surge of asylum seekers.

Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas is at the border for a second day now and he spoke just a few moments ago, announcing a plan to open processing centers in South America.

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ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Reaching the people where they are. It is not only our security obligation, it is our humanitarian responsibility to cut the smugglers out and that is indeed what we are doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:01]

DEAN: CNN's Rosa Flores is in El Paso.

And Rosa, Mayorkas warned about smugglers trying to seize on this moment. What are you seeing there in El Paso, right there on the border?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Smugglers are definitely seizing on that moment. In essence, smugglers are using misinformation and guiding lots of migrants to cross into the border illegally.

Let me show you around. This is actually the front of where the shelter is at this church. Right now, women and children were just allowed into the church. That's why when you look around me, what you see mostly are adults without children, adult men, adult women and you can see it's getting hot here in El Paso already, so a lot of them are using what they can find around them, American, excuse me, Red Cross blankets to protect themselves from the sun.

The - according to the city of El Paso, about 2,300 migrants are living on the streets of El Paso right now, about 1,800 here in the location that I am right now. According to city officials, they are expecting to open shelters in the coming week. They're expected to prepare to use other city resources. And a lot of those moneys are FEMA dollars.

Now, that is going to impact the scene out here for the following reason, FEMA dollars can only be used, according to the city of El Paso, to help immigrants who have done the right thing, turn themselves into authorities and been processed by U.S. immigration authorities.

A lot of the individuals that you see here, though, decided to enter the country illegally. It's what you were talking about exactly, Jessica, that misinformation used by smugglers that then lures immigrants into entering the country illegally.

Now, why? Why is that? There are 10s of thousands of migrants. So what you see here is also replicated in northern Mexican cities, 10s of thousands of migrants waiting for the lifting of Title 42. Some of those individuals have grown very impatient. And so they do believe the lies from smugglers, Jessica, and have decided to enter the country. A lot of the people you see here enter the country illegally and so the city of El Paso says they will likely not be able to help them, Jessica?

DEAN: Rosa, thank you so much in El Paso.

Let's go to New York City now and CNN's Gloria Pazmino.

Gloria, you have new reporting about how New York is handling this influx of migrants. What have you learned?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And what my colleague, Rosa, is seeing on the streets of El Paso is what New York City is preparing for because over the last year, we have seen 10s of thousands of migrants arriving here in New York City after being buzzed from the southern border. Now, we have just gotten our hands on an internal memo by the Adams administration outlining all of the possibilities the administration is looking at in order to respond and prepare ahead of the expiration of Title 42 next week.

Now, I've been speaking to sources inside the Adams administration who tell me that this is an all hands on deck moment. They are looking at every possible option. Some of the ideas that are being considered include putting tents in places like Central Park, Orchard Beach, Coney Island Beach, the parking lot of Citi Field where the Mets play.

So it really shows you how much of a crisis the city is anticipating. Now, none of these plans are finalized. However, the city tells me they are already running out of room. Last night, they had to resort to sheltering people inside an old NYPD training gym, because the shelters are at capacity and they are running out of room.

DEAN: All right. Painting quite a picture for us. Gloria, thanks so much. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Some really good economic news. The U.S. jobs market shrugged off recession fears today with just a blockbuster April jobs report. Analysts had been expecting 180,000 new jobs, employers came in much hotter, 253,000 as you could see. Dow is loving it.

There is the ongoing question, though, of how the Fed responds to all this and how much it tries to rein economic growth. And CNN's Matt Egan, he's been following this.

Matt, I know we always like to do to take the good with the bad, but let's just take the good for a moment. That's a very vibrant job market. That's good news for Americans looking for work.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: It is, Jim. I mean, if there is a recession coming, it's not here yet and it is definitely not showing up in the jobs market, which looks strong. I mean, I would argue it looks shockingly strong given the banking crisis and the Fed's war on inflation.

Hiring unexpectedly accelerated to 253,000 in April. Now, there were downward revisions to both February and March.

[15:10:00]

So if you look at the trend, the medium-term trend, hiring has slowed, but not alarmingly so. It's actually kind of exactly what the Fed wants, right? They want a gradual slowdown, not a collapse in hiring. And if you look at the unemployment rate, down to 3.4 percent, that is tied for the lowest since 1969. That spike on the left side of the chart there, that was back in 2020 when unemployment went to almost 15 percent. We are miles away from that.

And looking at the sector breakdown, hiring was really solid, really across the board. Professional business services, healthcare, leisure and hospitality, all of them adding 10s of thousands of jobs last month alone. Jim, you put it together, there's nothing about this jobs report that speaks to an imminent or ongoing recession.

SCIUTTO: So listen, the Fed raised interest rates earlier this week, a quarter point. They did seem to signal they're not wedded to another interest rate hike at the next time around. Inflation numbers have been coming down today, then we have to factor in the strong job market. I mean, when you speak to economists, how do they add all this up as they already look forward to the next Fed decision?

EGAN: Well, Jim, it's a confusing picture. There's a lot of moving pieces. The Fed did open the door to a pause in interest rate hikes. And the thinking among economists and investors right now is that today's jobs report, while it was strong, it does not remove the possibility for the Fed to pause at the June meeting.

But what's interesting is that in the last 24 hours or so, investors had started to anticipate the Fed could actually start cutting interest rates as soon as July. This jobs report has forced investors to take those bets away.

But listen, markets are ending what was a very nervous and turbulent week on a decidedly positive note here, Jim. The Dow up 600 points, basically a session highs and even regional banking stocks, some of the ones that were just plunging yesterday. They are skyrocketing today.

SCIUTTO: Matt Egan, it's good to see it go in the right direction. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Coming up, a shock withdrawal. Putin's hired forces telling him they are leaving part of eastern Ukraine. We're going to take you to the front lines.

Plus, the Supreme Court has just halted the execution of Richard Glossip. We have a live report on that.

And we're now fewer than 24 hours away from Britain's first coronation in more than 70 years. A royal expert is going to tell us what she'll be watching for as a new king and queen are crowned.

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[15:16:40]

SCIUTTO: This just in to CNN, fighting escalating in the Russian annex region of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Russian authorities there have begun evacuations. Now, Kyiv notes that Russia has ordered evacuations like this in the past to forcibly deport Ukrainians. Meanwhile, a different type of exodus playing out possibly soon in eastern Ukraine, in the months long Russian siege of the city of Bakhmut being led by the Wagner Group, that's a private company comprising 10s of thousands of Russian mercenaries. But now Wagner's leader says they're going to pack up and leave in nine days if they don't get more support, specifically ammunition from the Kremlin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, WAGNER GROUP CHIEF (through interpreter): I am officially informing the defense minister, chief of the general staff and the supreme commander in chief that my guys will not be taking useless, unjustified losses in Bakhmut without ammunition. So on May 10th 2023, we are pulling out of Bakhmut. We have only two or so kilometers left to capture out of 45.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: CNN's Nic Robertson, he's in eastern Ukraine.

Nic, lots to go over. I do want to begin with what we're learning just now about these evacuations around Zaporizhzhia. That's, of course, been in the news, a great deal because there's a nuclear power plant there that's been right in the midst of the fighting. How are Ukrainian officials reading these evacuations in that area?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. We were down in that area earlier on today, not where the evacuations are happening but in that general area. This is an area where the Russians seem to think that Ukraine could launch a counteroffensive. And what the Russian-backed administration is saying in that Russian-held part of Ukraine, that part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast that they control. They're saying there's an increase in shelling and therefore we need to evacuate some of the civilian population.

Now, they did evacuate some about a week or so ago, but Ukrainian officials said, look, they're just evacuating a few high-up people in the sort of local Russian-backed administrations. But what this looks like, Jim, this looks like what happened in Kherson when the Ukrainians were about to go on their offensive there and take back that territory.

The Russians started loading people on buses and shipping some of them out of the country. We saw it in Mariupol as well when they took control there last summer and there they shipped many children, thousands of children, thousands of Ukrainians are off to Russia, didn't give them an opportunity to go back to Ukraine.

So could this be the Russians interpreting what they're seeing in that area as the beginning of the Ukrainian counteroffensive? It wouldn't be surprising to me having been around that area if they were.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And, of course, the last thing Russians would want in the midst of that is one of the leaders of their major forces to say he's going to pull them back. We'll see if he follows through. Nic Robertson in Eastern Ukraine, keep yourself and your team safe. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Today we talked a lot about the HIMARS rocket system that the U.S. provided to Ukraine. But another key piece of firepower for Kyiv has been the fleet of tanks supplied by European allies and more are on the way.

[15:20:00]

CNN's Fred Pleitgen was in Germany for a firsthand look at the training Ukrainians are getting to operate this fleet.

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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As Ukraine seems on the cusp of its massive counteroffensive against Russian forces, arms donated by the U.S. and its allies keep pouring in. The bulk of Western main battle tanks bound for Ukraine are this model, the Leopard 1. More than 100 donated by Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Old but still dangerous, Ukrainians training on the tanks tell me.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language).

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PLEITGEN (voice over): If we hit a Russian tank with this, it's done. The commander says. This tank can fire well from afar, speed and maneuvering are also great.

We caught up with Danish and German troops training Ukrainian crews, everything from driving to battlefield maintenance.

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PLEITGEN (on camera): The Ukrainians only have about six weeks to not only learn to operate this tank, but also to effectively use it as a weapon. And when we asked them whether or not that's enough, they said they simply have no other choice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Foreign language).

PLEITGEN (voice over): "I have no doubt that we will win," this gunner says. "We almost won this war already, to be honest."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN (voice over): But the Ukrainians do have a tough offensive ahead of them and a lot of territory to regain. Still, the Russians appear mired in turmoil. Yevgeny Prigozhin of the Wagner private military company now saying his mercenaries will pull out of Bakhmut because they're not getting the ammo they need from the Russian Defense Ministry.

In a video, Prigozhin showed what he says are the bodies of dead mercenaries and blames the Defense Ministry for their deaths.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRIGOZHIN (through interpreter): I am officially informing the defense minister, chief of the general staff and the Supreme Commander-in-chief that my guys will not be taking useless, unjustified losses in Bakhmut without ammunition. So on May 10th 2023, we are pulling out of Bakhmut. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN (voice over): Moscow also lashing out after the alleged drone attack on the Kremlin on Wednesday. Russia's deputy defense minister saying the U.S. and Russia are close to an armed conflict and the Kremlin saying it holds the U.S. and NATO responsible for the incident, which the U.S. calls ridiculous.

Germany's defense minister, though, telling me Moscow's threats won't deter the Western alliance.

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BORIS PISTORIUS, GERMAN DEFENSE MINISTER: I'm not very concerned about that and from my point of view, it doesn't have any impact on our support for Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN (voice over): And many more of these tanks will soon be shipped to Ukraine, the Germans say, hoping they will help Kyiv turn the tide once its forces are ready to counterattack.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Central Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Still to come, the moment a dad sucker punched an umpire at his son's baseball game. Wait until you hear why he was so upset.

And just in to CNN, the Supreme Court has halted the execution of Richard Glossip. What happens next right after this.

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[15:27:39]

SCIUTTO: There are new developments in the case of Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip. The Supreme Court has put a hold on Glossip's execution. He was convicted of capital murder for ordering the killing of his boss. He has maintained his innocence throughout.

CNN's Brynn Gingras, she's been following the story. And Brynn, I wonder what led to this day?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot that led to this day. But I got to tell you, Jim, he was getting his final visitations from his wife, from Republican lawmakers that were in support of him for several years. That was happening when this stay came down from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Richard Glossip doesn't even know right now that his execution has been halted momentarily. So listen, what's happening here is the U.S. Supreme Court said in an 8-0 decision that it wants to take a look at those two filings that Glossip's attorneys, with the support of the Oklahoma Attorney General, a Republican, said that there is enough evidence to prove that he at least deserves a new trial.

So those two filings went before the Supreme Court and they said they want to stop this execution until they can take a look at those filings. And that's what's happening here.

Now, this goes back - we've been covering this for quite a while and this goes back ways where his attorneys were essentially saying there's a lot of new evidence in this case that casts a ton of doubt about whether or not he should receive the death penalty for what he was convicted of.

And the criminal court of appeals in Oklahoma denied those and that's why his attorneys went to the Supreme Court. I want to give you a reaction from his attorney, who in a statement said, "There is nothing more harrowing than the thought of executing a man who the state now admits has never received a fair trial. Thankfully, for the time being, Mr. Glossip is out of peril. Our hope is that court will reverse the decision of the OCCA," the Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals, "and vacate Mr. Glossip's conviction once and for all."

I just want to tell you, Jim, also, I spoke to Rich yesterday and we were talking about how he was planning his burials. He was making a list of his final witnesses. This was all going on because his execution was set for next week. But now there is good news for him, a stay in this in case.

SCIUTTO: But good news, but you're saying he doesn't know that news? He still thinks he's going to be executed today (ph)?

GINGRAS: Doesn't even know that news.

[15:30:01]

Doesn't even know that news yet because his wife is visiting with him. They don't have access to phones while that's happening.