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Nurse & Her Child Abducted From Campus In Haiti; Senior Russian Official: Moscow May Be Forced To Use Nuclear Weapon If Ukraine's Counteroffensive Succeeds; Madonna On Hospitalization: "Lucky To Be Alive." Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired July 31, 2023 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Dramatic video out of China this morning as first responders rescue people from floodwaters that are chest-high in some places. Look at that video. A typhoon is expected to drop as much as 40 inches of rain. It has killed at least four people already. More than 31,000 people have been evacuated near Beijing, and another half million in the province, where the storm made landfall.

Thousands in Niger railing against their French colonists by supporting Russia. Protesters who support the military crew in Niger came out in mass and the country's capital on Sunday waving Russian flags and shouting, long-lived Putin. The Kremlin has actually called for the release of Nigeri's democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum. In recent years, Russia has attempted to capitalize on an anti-colonial sentiment in the country to bolster its influence on the American -- African continent.

And at least a dozen people were killed and more than 120 injured when a fireworks warehouse exploded in Thailand. Police are planning to charge the owner of that warehouse. More than a hundred homes were damaged. The cause is under investigation but the initial report suggests there was a welding error. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, there is growing concern this morning for an American woman and her child who have been kidnapped in Haiti. Alix Dorsainvil is a nurse for a Christian aid organization. Her husband, the organization's founder, said his wife and child were abducted near the Capitol. CNN's Paula Newton recently returned from Haiti. Paula, what's the latest on this?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest is that the U.S. says it is working with local authorities -- Haitian authorities to try and figure out exactly what happened and if they can obviously try and negotiate the release of both Alix and her child. What's so complicated here, though, John, is the fact that of was this targeted, was this not targeted, who even kidnapped her.

A lot of the kidnappings that have been happening in Haiti of late have to do with gang violence. And then, of course, the kidnappings go along with ransom demands. Again, the family is actually asking people to not speculate on what exactly is going on in terms of negotiations, although U.S. authorities say they are very closely connected to this case and doing all they can.

What's interesting here, John, is that they were actually taken from the Ministry itself just outside of Port-au-Prince. And this is a place that would have had some kind of security. But the charity itself posted in a statement saying that they were taken directly again from that ministry, which would have had a church and also I believe a school and some health facilities.

I want you to listen now to Alix Dorsainvil in her own words about what she's doing on the ground there in Haiti. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALIX DORSAINVIL, AMERICAN VOLUNTEER MISSING IN HAITI: Sandro invited me to come to the school to do some nursing for some of the kids. He said that was a big need that they had. At first, I didn't think that there was going to be much of a need there. But when I got there, there were so many cases.

Haitians are such resilient people. They're full of joy and life and love. And I'm so blessed to be able to know so many amazing Haitians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:35:02]

NEWTON: You know, right now both the charity itself, El Roi and the family and so many people who know this young woman from New Hampshire -- from her local town in New Hampshire are asking for prayers. And she will need them, given the fact that it is so difficult right now to ascertain exactly who took her. Why?

And again, we're not talking sometimes about a very organized gang. Sometimes it can just be a group of a few individuals, which can be quite menacing as you can imagine, and terrifying, especially when there are no high-level negotiations taking place. Now, as I said, U.S. officials tell us they are aware and doing the best that they can to work with local authorities on the ground, John.

BERMAN: But, Paula, the gang situation, especially in Port-au-Prince where they hold enormous authority wield, you know, really out of proportion power on the streets. What's the U.S. even doing about that?

NEWTON: Well, the U.S. has certainly heard calls from the UN to have a multinational force there on the ground. That has not come together despite months of trying. They wanted Canada to lead. Canada has declined saying that they were looking for a Haitian-led solution.

So, what now? Kenya indicated on the weekend that they would be willing to send in about a thousand troops in order to train police there. But this is not going to help the situation in the medium term.

We have had some type of a truce with these gangs. John, we've also had quite a brutal vigilante uprising, which seemed to keep a lid on the violence for quite some time.

But having said that, remember the United States already on Thursday, on the same day that this nurse and her child were abducted, asked for all Americans to leave Haiti and also evacuated its non-essential personnel. That gives you an indication, John, that they assumed this is going to get all a lot worse before anything gets better.

BERMAN: Yes, and for people who've suffered so much already. Paula Newton, thank you so much for this report. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, up next. An alarming message from inside the Kremlin. A senior official is suggesting Russia could be forced to use a nuclear weapon if Ukraine's counteroffensive been successful. Plus, a powerful message from Madonna. What she's saying to her children after a recent health scare? That's ahead.

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[11:41:36]

SIDNER: Donald Trump's newest co-defendant just made his first court appearance to hear the charges against him. Carlos De Oliveira is the property manager at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. He's facing four counts, including conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements to the FBI.

De Oliveira is accused of trying to delete security footage the Justice Department subpoenaed as part of its classified documents investigation. De Oliveira was released on $100,000 bond. He will be arraigned on August 10. John?

BERMAN: So, this morning, a senior Russian official says Russia may be forced to use a nuclear weapon if Ukraine's counteroffensive operation is successful. His comments after -- come after a drone hit a Russian shopping center in Moscow overnight. We've got some video of that attack. You can see an explosion really on the streets of Moscow. There are no words if anyone was injured in that attack.

Just yesterday, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the war is gradually returning to Russia's territory. Although we should say they did not claim direct responsibility for that drone attack in Moscow.

I'm joined now by former CIA director and CENTCOM commander, General David Petraeus. General, I'll get back to the nuclear threat in just a moment. But first, you know, these drone attacks that are taking place on Russian soil. The Ukrainians don't claim responsibility for all of them. But what's the strategic game, if any, that Ukrainians get from this?

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: John, I think that the objective here is to again, bring the war to the Russian people, particularly those in Moscow. These are presumably Ukrainian-produced drones. They are targeting, according to individuals with whom I spoke, in fact, seven weeks ago, in Kyiv, legitimate military targets. Although they don't always end up hitting those, of course, because the air defense can deflect them.

But I think these are similar to those Russian ethnic forces that were operating from Ukraine into Russia, the Legion, and so forth. What they're trying to do is again, to acquaint the Russian people with the fact that a war is going on. That it can have an impact on them.

Ideally, that it's not going well for the Russians on the battlefield, in Ukraine. And also to distract them to a degree to require them to use assets to protect their own soil, their own ministries of defense, and so forth that can't be used, therefore, on the battlefield in Ukraine.

BERMAN: General, what's your assessment of how the counteroffensive is going in general? At the end of last week, the Ukrainians were claiming success on the southern front. Staromaiorsk is a town -- a small city that they retook, which Russian of custody or Russian hands for more than a year. What more do you think the Ukrainians need to be doing along this front?

PETRAEUS: I think they need to be doing what they actually are now doing, having adapted their plan. Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy. And it was quickly clear that these miles-long minefields, anti-personnel, anti-tank minefields, tank ditches, Dragon's Teeth, trench lines full of Russian soldiers all overwatch, by foreign observers and drones with artillery on call, that these are going to be very, very difficult to breach given the shortcomings of the Ukrainians having certain assets that we would have deployed in this kind of situation.

[11:45:08]

In particular, massive airpower. We were to just carpet bombed the whole area of these minefields and tried to blow up as much as we possibly could, and then very substantial, heavily armed, essentially, bulldozers, D-Nine bulldozers that just plow their way through this, supported again, by close air support, attack helicopters and the rest. They don't have that, so they've adapted I think impressively.

Now, their achievements have been pretty modest. They have certainly cleared -- liberated over a hundred square miles. That's not much, although it is more in the first seven weeks of this offensive than the Russians achieved in the previous seven months of their Fall and Winter offensive.

But what they're doing now I think, is described well by the Chief of Defence Staff of the U.K., who is described this as starve, stretch, and strike. So, they starve you a trip, the Russian headquarters, their artillery units, their reserve force, that are waiting to be deployed. Their ammo and fuel storage locations, and the lines of communication from Crimea to Russia and Crimea to Ukraine. You do this all across the front, across a 600-mile front. By the way, that's 150 miles more than the distance from Kuwait to Baghdad for that invasion.

And you stretch those forces. You keep Russians deployed everywhere. And then once you've set the conditions by this attrition, once you've picked your way through the minefields with sappers, engineers, and so forth, and you have an opportunity, you then press forward with these tanks and infantry fighting vehicles provided by the West.

But again, they're not going to be able to really bring to bear the combined arms operations capabilities that they now do have until they can get a breakthrough and force the Russians to start to move to respond to them when they can break out into the open. And it's very hard to say when that might be. Indeed, I think one of the critical elements in what will determine the success of this offensive, which will be a fall as well as some are offensive for Ukraine, they have to achieve significant progress and they know it. I think the key is going to be whether Russian forces can hold up.

They've been in the line for over a year. They're not rotating forces the way the Ukrainians are. They're not that well looked after.

And will they crack? might they crumble, might it be more than just local? That I think is going to be a very important factor in whether the Ukrainian offensive achieves the success that many of us are hoping that they will achieve.

BERMAN: Oh, you're watching very closely. General David Petraeus, always great to have you on and to have you lend your expertise. Thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Now, to another step in a miraculous comeback. Damar Hamlin hit the practice field donning pad for the first time since his cardiac arrest on the field. More the video just into CNN. And that's next.

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[11:52:34]

SIDNER: Madonna says she's realized she's lucky to be alive after being so ill with a bacterial infection that she was in the ICU. The Grammy winner was released from the hospital last month, and now she's reflecting on what kept her going in that hospital and what's helping her heal even to this day. CNN Entertainment Reporter Chloe Melas is joining me now. Chloe, what are you hearing from the pop star herself?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: She took to Instagram, Sara, with this really emotional tribute to her family and saying that if it wasn't for them, that she wouldn't be alive and that she has this new perspective on what it means to really live. I want to read you a little bit about what she said.

She said. Love from family and friends is the best medicine. One month out of the hospital and I can reflect. As a mother you can really get caught up in the needs of your children and the seemingly endless giving. But when the chips were down, my children really showed up for me. I saw a side to them I had never seen before. And it made all of the difference.

And as we know she, has rescheduled her North American tour. She is going to be going international for that leg of the tour in October. But all of her fans are just so happy to know that she's alive. She's recovering. She was even spotted on the Upper East Side of Manhattan the other day walking around. So, people are also getting little glimpses of her too.

SIDNER: Maybe you'll go to lunch later and you'll tell me all about it. All right. Chloe, I want to turn to this next disturbing trend that is taking place at concerts.

We saw another star getting hit by something from a fan. This time it looked like it was water or with some sort of liquid. Cardi B though, wasn't having it. What happened?

MELAS: Cardi B performing in Las Vegas over the weekend. And it was caught on video where somebody's standing right there in the front. They threw what looks like a drink at her. And this liquid went up on the stage, splashed on her and then she fought back essentially. She threw her microphone down at the fan.

And so, a lot of people are saying OK, she has every right to respond but that was a bit aggressive. Other people saying hey, she was good to throw the microphone. She should have done that.

This is coming amid growing concern and trend that might have started on TikTok of concertgoers throwing things. We saw Harry Styles get hit in the face recently. Bebe Rexha have to go to the hospital when someone threw a cell phone at her face. She had to get stitches.

So, you know it could change the way that we see live music forever, Sara, if this trend does not stop. You might just have your cell phone confiscated before you even enter a venue going forward.

[11:55:08]

SIDNER: Chloe the lesson here? Don't mess with the Bronx. She's from the Bronx. She doesn't play. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. Damar Hamlin practiced in full pads today for the first time since he collapsed during a Monday night football game back in January. You will remember that Hamlin went into cardiac arrest after making a tackle. He had to be revived on the field. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

The Bills are set to kick off their season on September 11 in a matchup against the New York Jets, which means they have a really good chance of winning. Maybe even by a lot. Sara?

SIDNER: Really?

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE)

SIDNER: I mean --

BERMAN: It's just the news -- it's just the news, Sara.

SIDNER: It's a prediction that is an educated guess, to be fair.

BERMAN: Yes. And that's how it was -- it was just the news.

SIDNER: Yes. All right. Thank you so much for joining us. Happy to say Damar Hamlin back on the field.

BERMAN: Yes.

SIDNER: This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.

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