Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

New Video Appears to show Wagner Chief Prigozhin Greeting his Fighters in Belarus; UK Intelligence Chief: Putin Forced to cut Deal with Wagner Leader "To save his Skin"; U.S. Military: Soldier "Willfully" Crossed into North Korea; DeSantis Downplays Concerns about State of Campaign; Israeli President to Address Joint Meeting of Congress. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 19, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: All right, just in a few moments ago new video which appears to show Yevgeny Prigozhin, that is the man who led the revolt in Russia. We have not seen Prigozhin at all since he sent his militia troops toward Moscow several weeks ago. The video appears to show Prigozhin greeting fighters in Belarus.

The video was posted in a pro Wagner telegram channel, that's the militia group that Prigozhin led. It was then shared by Prigozhin's account again whether he's the one who sent it from the account is unknown and it's unclear if the exact date of the video has been verified.

It comes as Britain's intelligence chief told CNN that he believes Prigozhin is now likely "Floating about alive and at Liberty" and that Russian President Vladimir Putin had to cut "A humiliating deal with Prigozhin to save his skin, Putin skin". CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us with the very latest. Nick, let's start again with that video, which if real would be the first time we've seen Prigozhin in some time.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it would be and I should stress you know, we haven't been able to assess whether or not that genuinely is Prigozhin recently, and whether he is indeed in Belarus. But that's where the case would be sticking with the terms belatedly fair to say, of the deal that President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko brokered to get his column of tanks to turn round on their way to Moscow back on the weekend of that failed arms rebellion.

But interestingly, the emergence of this video indeed the first time we've seen some more palpable sighting of Prigozhin, since that failed. Rebellion emerged as a matter of hours after here in Prague; we heard the first comments really from Western intelligence on the record about that failed rebellion.

The Head of MI6 Richard Moore, saying as you said that he believed Prigozhin was still "Floating about". And also is referring to how Vladimir Putin that weekend who had had to cut a deal to save his own skin. And during this rare speech, we heard here a sense I think, too, that even the sort of loftier parts of Western intelligence with the information at their disposal.

They were still baffled bemused by the flip flopping of loyalties and public displays we saw in the Kremlin and those around it during that weekend. Here's one of the more interesting quotes we heard today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD MOORE, CHIEF, BRITISH SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE: If you look at Putin's behaviors on that day, Prigozhin started off I think as a traitor at breakfast, he had been pardoned by supper. And then a few days later he was invited for tea.

[09:35:00]

So there are some things and even the chief of MI6 finds it a little bit difficult to try and interpret in terms of who's in and who's out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: So the thing I think you can take away from that is that interestingly, often what occurs inside the Kremlin is private, unknowable. The assessments by British intelligence, and I'm sure that's something that shared with their American counterparts is that what we saw in public was likely what was happening behind closed doors as well.

And that remarkable weekend was a staggering sign of Putin's weakness. And it's one that Richard Moore here used in Prague to say to disaffected Russians, if you want to help end this war in Ukraine come and spy for the United Kingdom. And we'll try and do that together. So remarkable insight we heard today, John.

BERMAN: And definitely would be new video and new comments about Prigozhin's whereabouts. First time we've heard anything even speculative in the last few weeks. Nick Paton Walsh, great to see you, thank you very much. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: It is extraordinary John, and Nick's reporting there. All right, the Pentagon is working to secure the return of U.S. Army Private Travis came after U.S. Defense Secretary said that the U.S. soldier willfully crossed into North Korea during a private tour of the DMZ on Tuesday.

This morning, we're learning more about assault charges that the private faced in South Korea. According to court documents, U.S. Army Private King assaulted someone at a club in Seoul in October. U.S. officials say he spent about 60 days in a South Korean detention facility and was sentenced to pay a fine.

At some point after his release, private King was sent to be flown back to the United States and separated from the army. He went to the airport but he never got on the flight and went on that tour instead. His reason for crossing at this hour is unknown. But a U.S. official says there's no indication he was trying to defect.

We're joined now by former U.S. Ambassador to the UN and Former New Mexico Governor, Bill Richardson. Thank you so much for being here. You Bill, have consistently negotiated the release of international hostages, including negotiations with North Korea, where you successfully brought an American out. Can you give us some sense of how this actually works? How these negotiations happened?

BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER ENERGY SECRETARY: Well, what's happening now makes good sense. I think U.S. policy is correct. Try to fix this problem military to military in the demilitarized zone, get the UN members involved, try to find a way to bring Travis back. Yes, he's -- yes, he must take disciplinary action. But he's an American, he's a serviceman.

The good news so far, in my contacts with the North Korea's in the past, is the North Koreans have said nothing publicly yet. That's good. Because it means they're probably interrogating, they're probably deciding what kind of response it's going to be, hopefully they will see that he's a troubled young man that ran across the border, and they can deport them and send them back.

That would be the best response. Now other good news is in the last six years, the North Koreans have not detained any Americans, they did with Otto Warmbier, who I was involved in my team, Mickey Bergman and bringing him back, unfortunately perished. So you got to deal with the North Koreans very carefully, no bombast.

And so far we've done that. Military to military right now is the best contact; get the facts get the North Koreans not provoked. There's enormous tension in the peninsula right now. So hopefully, the fact that they haven't said anything publicly charged them with anything is good news.

SIDNER: That is really interesting to hear the fact that you're from your experience, not hearing anything from them is actually a good thing. I do want to ask you about what we're hearing from the Pentagon that they of course, are trying to secure the release of that army private. Have you been contacted to try and help in the negotiations at this point?

RICHARDSON: No, no and I think what's best right now was military to military. They have the facts. They talked to the North Koreans, our military very scantly but that's the best way. We have contacted my operation which deals with hostages, the North Korean mission in New York that is the UN contact that we have expressing concern. But I think its best right now that these technical military discussions take place and try to bring him back without any fanfare, without any bombast.

[09:40:00]

So at this stage, we're not involved. Now, at a later stage, possibly, but I think the Pentagon is handling this correctly, quietly, try to find a way that he has returned. And then, because he's an American, we got to bring them back. He's obviously troubled, got in trouble in South Korea.

But you know, this is a situation with the North Koreans, they're very sensitive. They're very, very conscious of not losing face, and they want to find ways to deal with this. Hopefully, they won't react negatively, and, you know, they're very bombastic, but so far, they haven't. So I'm encouraged.

SIDNER: All right, I do want to ask you, I remember when you helped Laura Ling, come out of North Korea. But her story is very different. This is someone who the Pentagon itself is saying, did this on purpose. This was no accident. And he has this history also in South Korea, of criminal activity alleged in court documents.

So let me ask you, how much more difficult is it going to be for someone who the U.S. is saying did this on purpose?

RICHARDSON: Well, it's not going to be easy, because as you said, with Laura Ling and others that I've involved with, the North Koreans apprehended them when they were in North Korea. In this case, in an unauthorized way, Travis Kim went into North Korea. So he's the one that made the mistake, not the North Koreans.

So the positive side is with the North Koreans unlike the Russians, the Russians, most all the time want a prisoner exchange. OK, we'll give you your person, Brittney Griner for somebody that we want, like Viktor Bout. In this case, there is no potential trade like that, because we have a travel ban in the United States President Trump put a travel ban of humanitarian aid and American citizens traveling to North Korea.

So it's different in that sense. What worries me though, is there's enormous tension in the peninsula with South Korea and Japan. And, you know, we have our military doing joint exercises. The North Koreans have been their rhetoric has been pretty strong against us against the whole region. So hopefully this is treated as a humanitarian issue and not a geopolitical issue.

SIDNER: Bill Richardson, I cannot help but ask you this. If you can tell us what is your first phone call? Just the first person you call if you are negotiating with North Korea.

RICHARDSON: Well, it would be Ambassador Park -- in New York. He's the ambassadorial rank UN Representative. That would be my first call. We've contacted him but you know he's waiting for guidance from his government. So, but I think right now I stay out, let the military, our military in Seoul, the U.S. forces in Korea, withheld from the South Koreans right there at the border, see if they can fix this and get Travis King back.

SIDNER: All right. Bill Richardson, it's always a pleasure to talk to you very interesting conversation. I appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up, he's a distant second in the polls right now, but he is still the biggest threat to Donald Trump in the Republican primaries so far. What Ron DeSantis says about Trump's new legal troubles, and what it means for his own campaign, which is seem to be struggling at the moment. He sat down with CNN's Jake Tapper, that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

BERMAN: All right, quite a moment for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with donor starting to get nervous about the relatively static nature of his campaign. He finally agreed to his first mainstream interview with CNN exclusive with our Jake Tapper. But the very day he does it, Donald Trump, who was leading in every poll, drops the news about the special counsel target letter. This is part of Jake's discussion with Governor DeSantis about the state of his campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN REPORTER: This issue gets into the state of the race because some of your supporters are disappointed that your campaign has yet to catch fire the way they would want in terms of polling. One Republican pollster one who is sympathetic to you, I was asking her about your campaign and she said she thought the issue was you bumped up at the beginning because voters, Republican voters saw you as a more electable, conservative like Trump like Trump without the baggage.

But then they say as you go further and further to the right on some of these divisive social issues that could alienate moderate suburban moms, et cetera, Republican voters see you as less and less electable. What do you say to that analysis?

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Why do they assure I mean the proof is in the pudding? I mean, I took a state that had been a one point state, and we won it by 20 percentage points, 1.5 million votes. Our bread and butter were people like suburban moms. We're leading a big movement for parents rights to have the parents be involved in education, school choice, get the indoctrination out of schools.

Of course there's bread and butter issues that matter too, inflation, more economic opportunity. Florida's economy is ranked number one of all 50 states, we've worked hard to make that happen. Crime, you see crime and all these different communities that is now even going into suburbs in some areas.

So I think that there's a lot of things, I don't think that's the reason. I think the reason is I was getting a lot of media attention at the time coming off the victory. I had to do my job as governor with my legislative session and we had a great legislative session. We did a lot of great things actually things that are appeal to huge majorities of the population.

[09:50:00]

So I think that that analysis is wrong. But I had to do that. And so I was basically taking fire, really nonstop since then, because a lot of people view me as a threat. I think the left views me as a threat because they think I'll beat Biden and actually deliver on all this stuff. And then, of course, people that have their allegiances within the allegiances in the public inside, you know, have gone after me. But the reality is this is a state by state process. I'm not running a campaign to try to juice you know, whatever we are in the national polls. I mean, whatever we did in the CNN compared, whatever, it's fine, I'm definitely doing better than everybody.

TAPPER: State by state, obviously.

GOV. DESANTIS: It's state by state.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Right now, he is trailing in the state by state polls, as well, still very interesting to hear him in a lengthy discussion with Jake. The first time as I said, we've heard him in any forum like that. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And Jake's going to join us a little later in the show to talk more about just that. Also, this is ahead for us. The Israeli President and the American Congress, Isaac Herzog about to address a joint meeting of Congress, why some Democrats are refusing to attend. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:55:00]

BOLDUAN: The House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the Israeli President Isaac Herzog are meeting this hour. That's ahead of Herzog's address to Congress, which is happening this morning.

And despite long standing strong bipartisan ties, we've seen American lawmakers and Israel, this visit and this address by the Israeli President to a joint meeting of Congress is exposing some tensions within the Democratic Party, at least around that support.

CNN's Lauren Fox is on the Hill where all of this is happening today. Lauren, this speech significant and important to visit he met with President Biden yesterday, but it does not come without controversy. What are you hearing there?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly right. There are a number of progressives who have said that they are not going to attend the speech today, just a handful of them, but still making that statement that they are concerned about Israel's treatment and record on human rights.

Now, this also comes as Democrats struggled over the last several days to be united as a party on this issue. You saw over the weekend, the leader of the progressive group in the house Pramila Jayapal who said that Israel was a racist state. She then walked those comments back.

But there was a vote last night on the House floor, Republicans trying to reveal those tensions between democrats by pushing forward with a resolution vote, just restating the support of Israel. Now, we should note that Jayapal voted for that resolution and all but nine Democrats voted for it. So their efforts to try to divide the Democratic Party on the issue didn't really work. But it just shows you that Herzog speech today is not happening in a vacuum. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: That's exactly right, Lauren Fox, great to see you. We are going to be bringing you those remarks from the Israeli President live when they happen a little later in the show. Sara?

SIDNER: This morning we're learning new details about that target letter federal prosecutors sent for Donald Trump and his attorneys. Could he be indicted for a third time, we'll discuss coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]