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Iran: First Round of Talks Constructive; Kremlin: No Special Treatment for Jailed Critic Navalny; Variants Driving Possible Fourth Wave in Japan; Activists and Lawmakers Push Back Against Anti-Trans Policies; Israel's President Asks Netanyahu to Form Government; Trump Seemingly Spotted with Coke Bottle after Boycott Demands. Aired 4:30- 5a ET

Aired April 07, 2021 - 04:30   ET

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

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world, I'm Paula Newton and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

Iran's chief negotiator is describing the first talks about salvaging the international nuclear deal as constructive. Negotiator from several major powers Iran and the EU are meeting this week in Vienna. The talks are the Biden administration's first effort really aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear pact.

But no one is expecting a quick agreement. Iran is demanding the U.S. drop all the sanctions the Trump administration reimposed before Iran will return to its nuclear commitment.

CNN's Frederick Pleitgen is live for us in Vienna. And Fred, I have to ask you, is there a sense of the red line so-called for the Biden administration here because Iran, we know their red line, they want the lifting of all sanctions, that's their deal.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and you're right. The Biden administration also, Paula, has been absolutely clear about where the red lines lie for them, and that is making any sort of unilateral moves they say to entice Iran to come back into full compliance with the Iran nuclear agreement.

In other words, the U.S. is not going to lift any sanctions before the Iranians make some moves themselves. But the Iranians are saying the thing that they don't want is some sort of step by step process of moving back towards full compliance with the Iran nuclear agreement. They say they want everything to happen all at once. And of course as you said, they say that the U.S. needs to lift all the sanctions immediately. In fact, the Iranians are saying that they have been the ones who have been keeping this deal alive at all. Let's listen into what Iran's chief negotiator had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN CHIEF NUCLEAR NEGOTIATOR: We are quite serious. No one can question Iran's goodwill. The JCPOA is alive because of Iran, and yet paid a heavy price for that. Our people have suffered from the sanctions imposed by the United States, and now if they want to revive JCPOA, if they want to come back to the JCPOA they should lift all sanctions at once.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN (on camera): So there you hear Iran's chief negotiator Abbas Araghchi speaking there. He's obviously talking about the maximum pressure campaign that was administered by the Trump administration, some very, very heavy sanctions that did hurt the Iranians a lot.

So the big question now is who is willing to move first and how, Paula. The way that the negotiators here, which is first and foremost the Europeans -- who are still in the nuclear agreement -- want to solve this is by working groups. They on the one hand want to talk to the U.S. about the lifting of sanctions. They want to talk to the Iranians about coming back into full compliance. And then as some point they hope to marry those two positions up and then be able to do everything at once and then move back to the nuclear agreement. Have the U.S. back in and have Iran back in full compliance.

Obviously with some of the things that they would need to do along the way, it's a process that then would have to happen. It still is a long way as you've said and as they've said. But I think the big thing right now, I think that all sides are acknowledging is that they want to salvage the deal and they certainly believe that the best way forward is both for the U.S. and Iran to be inside that agreement -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, and that is what they're trying to do there at the table. Very complicated negotiations ahead. Fred, thank you very much. Live for us from Vienna.

[04:35:00]

Now Russia says Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny won't get any special treatment in prison so any health issues he might have will be addressed according to what they call prison policy. Navalny says he is on a hunger strike, meantime, and was complained of several symptoms including a fever and a bad cough.

But we've just learned this hour that Navalny is not suffering from COVID-19. That's of course good news. His lawyer telling CNN he has tested negative. Still Amnesty International warns his life may be in danger. CNN's Matthew Chance has details.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From inside this grim penal colony where Alexey Navalny is languishing. Reports are emerging of the Russian opposition figure's failing health. The latest from Navalny, unconfirmed by the authorities, that he is coughing hard, running a high temperature and been moved to a sick ward on the prison grounds.

A group of sympathetic doctors has even gathered at the gates demanding access to the jailed Kremlin critic who has complained of a tuberculosis outbreak behind bars.

ANASTASIYA VASILYEVA, DOCTOR AND NAVALNY ALLY: I'm in great trouble about his health, about what could happen tomorrow with his health. And I understand very clearly about some symptoms that he has now that can lead to a very severe condition and even death.

CHANCE (voice-over): But those in power are pushing back on the claims he's at death's door. This closed circuit television footage purports to show Navalny in his prison dorm after complaining of a bad back and lack of sensitivity in his legs. You can see him walking across the room and chatting to a prison guard, suggesting his poor health may have been exaggerated.

There's also this, broadcast on Russian state media, silent video of Navalny fast asleep in bed, recorded by a prison employee during an inspection. The opposition figure has described being woken every hour by guards, tantamount to torture by sleep deprivation, he says.

There's also been an extraordinary access granted to this woman, Maria Butina is her name, once a high-profile prisoner in U.S. jail after being convicted of conspiracy to be a foreign agent. Now a reporter on Russian television and comparing Navalny's prison conditions with her own.

"You should spend time in an American jail," she screams at him off camera. At least here, it's clean, she says. It was, of course, Navalny who was taken suddenly ill on a flight from Siberia last year, suspected nerve agent poisoning. Amid concerns of neurological damage, the opposition leader, who was jailed after recovering and returning to Russia in January, says he is on hunger strike until he gets proper medical care.

But Russian officials are showing no sign of relenting. Navalny's wife says she just got this letter from the penal colony requesting her husband's passport. Without it, the letter says, he can't be treated in hospital. Russia's stubborn bureaucracy now threatening the health of its beleaguered opposition leader.

Matthew Chance, CNN, in Pokrov, Russia.

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NEWTON: Japanese health officials are worried that COVID variants are driving a possible fourth wave of infections in that country. Now it comes as preparations for the Tokyo Olympics are now in full swing. The torch relay you see there passed through Aichi Prefecture, but Osaka's governor says he won't allow the torch bearers to run through his city which is now struggling with a spike in new cases. CNN's Blake Essig is following the story from Tokyo. You know, first to those Olympic games. How is Japan hoping to possibly pull this off given the obstacles of the virus still in place more than a year later? BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, you just now CNN was able

to confirm that the government has canceled the torch replay that was set to take place in Osaka next week and the government has declared a medical emergency in Osaka because of the surge there.

Now, when you talk about this fourth wave that seems to be coming across Japan, it's really twofold. You know, it's the more transmissible variants that the government believes are causing this increase, but also the lifting of the state of emergency about two weeks ago, cherry blossoms blooming, more people outside and since then 39 out of the 47 prefectures across the country have seen an increase in cases.

So when you talk about this most recent potential fourth wave and you think about the fact that the Olympics are set to take police in less than four months, test events have been canceled, Olympic qualifiers postponed and canceled.

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Again, this torch relay event next week canceled. All of these things because of the coronavirus and it's not slowing down. And so, what the Olympic games will look like, if they actually do happen, will be interesting to see in about four months' time.

NEWTON: I'm sure Olympic organizers are nervous and that says nothing of course of the health professionals right now in Japan trying to cope with what could be a devastating fourth wave. Blake, appreciate the update from Tokyo.

Now Arkansas state lawmakers have passed a bill prohibiting doctors from prescribing treatment to transgender youth. The state legislature overrode a veto from the governor. The now the bill will become a law. It's one of many troubling bills around the U.S. seeking to limit the rights of transgender individuals. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more.

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SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has become a new front in the culture war. Republicans across the country are pushing to ban transgender students and often specifically trans girls and women, many of whom were assigned male at birth from competing in school sports.

In South Dakota, Republican Governor Kristi Noem rejected a bill that would have barred transgender athletes from sports. But under pressure from social conservatives, later issued two executive orders that effectively ban trans girls from competing.

GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R-SD): It's clear that each and every one of us as men and women have exceptional gifts and differences. They should be celebrated, but those differences are very real, and the physical differences are very real.

SERFATY (voice-over): Noem ordering all girls who want to play in girls' sports to present a birth certificate showing they were assigned female at birth. This is playing out in Republican-led states across the country, more than 25 now considering anti-trans policies in school sports in K-12 and college, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Three of those states have already signed them into law. High-profile activists are pushing back.

MEGAN RAPINOE, U.S. WOMEN'S SOCCER: As someone who has played sports with someone who is trans I can assure you all is well. Nothing is spontaneously combusting.

SERFATY (voice-over): Soccer star Megan Rapinoe penning this op-ed in "The Washington Post" saying the bills are attempting to solve a problem that doesn't exist. That point has been underscored and debates at the state level.

ELENA PARENT (D), GEORGIA STATE SENATE: How many girls in Georgia have been denied opportunity because of transgender athletes participating in sports?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. So, obviously there's not a lot of statistics on that.

PARENT: So there are none in Georgia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, I don't have any hard data on that.

PARENT: Thank you.

SERFATY (voice-over): As Republicans in difference to socially conservative organization pushing for the ban have been unable to point to any evidence of a problem.

DANIEL HERNANDEZ JR. (D), ARIZONA STATE HOUSE: Will you cite any examples where a young woman was denied a scholarship opportunity or a title here in Arizona, not outside of Arizona, not anecdotally in another state but here specifically in Arizona because they were competing against a trans athlete who outperformed them?

NANCY BARTO (R), ARIZONA STATE HOUSE: I can't at this point, Mr. Chairman.

SERFATY (voice-over): And as the parents of transgender kids make impassioned pleas against the bans.

BRANDON BOULWARE, MISSOURI FATHER OF TRANSGENDER GIRL: I need you to understand that this language if it becomes law will have real effects on real people. It will affect my daughter. It will mean she cannot play on the girls' volleyball team or dance squad or tennis team.

SERFATY (voice-over): Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.

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NEWTON: A popular prince has been stirring up trouble in Jordan and the government is ready for the scandal to be over. What's being done to quiet the chatter, that's coming up.

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NEWTON: Jordan has been the publication of any stories, images or social media posts about the rift in its royal family. Now the conflict is between King Abdullah and his half-brother former Crown Prince Hamza bin al-Hussein. It started over the weekend when Prince Hamza released a video criticizing Jordan's leadership. He has since published a letter pledging allegiance to the king.

Israel's president has asked Benjamin Netanyahu to try and form the next government and break an ongoing deadlock. The Prime Minister will have up to six weeks to build a coalition in the new Parliament, which was sworn in on Tuesday, but he still doesn't have enough support from lawmakers and the president isn't sure he will succeed. CNN's Hadas Gold has more.

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HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a televised speech and in a series of tweets, Rivlin was not shy about his reluctance in doing so. He laid out why had to do so, saying Netanyahu simply had the highest number of endorsements from the Israeli parliament at 52. That's not enough for a 61 seat majority needed, but he said he simply had the numbers there and that he needed to give Netanyahu the mandate.

But he did say in a tweet: The results of the consultations that were open to all lead me to believe no candidate has a realistic chance of forming a government that will have the confidence of the Knesset. In fact, if the law would allow me to do so, I would give the decision back to the Knesset.

Rivlin also noted that it's somewhat problematic to have a candidate who is currently facing a corruption trial. And for that Rivlin said that the Supreme Court has already decided that a prime minister can continue serving despite being indicted. But you could really feel the reluctance in Rivlin's decision.

He tweeted also: This is not an easy decision on a moral and ethical basis, in my mind. As I said at the beginning of my remarks, the state of Israel is not to be taken for granted and I fear for my country.

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NEWTON: Our thanks to Hadas Gold. If Mr. Netanyahu fails to build a coalition the president can give the task to a different candidate or ask parliament to choose one. If the stalemate continues Israel -- yes, think about this -- could see its fifth election since 2019.

Now a dramatic water rescue in stormer weather has left a cargo ship abandoned an adrift. The crew of the Dutch ship was evacuated off the cost of Norway after the main engine lost power. The footage -- you're looking at it right now from the Norwegian Rescue Coordination Center -- shows some crew members jumping

overboard and being rescued by helicopter. The ship is at risk of spilling hundreds of tons of oil from its tanks. A salvage is mobilizing a team to try and secure the ship later Wednesday.

Still to come here on NEWSROOM, while Donald Trump is calling for a Coke boycott some social media users say the former president isn't giving up his Diet Coke just yet. The picture they say proves it all.

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NEWTON: Rapper turned tech entrepreneur, will.i.am is pitching a pricey new pandemic product, a nearly $300 smart mask with all kinds of bells and whistles. Among other things it includes dual three-speed fans, a mechanical air filter, Bluetooth connectivity and seven hours of battery life. The FDA has, in fact, authorized it for emergency use for the general public and health care professionals. The mask drops on Thursday.

Now, some critics thirsting to catch form U.S. President Donald Trump breaking his own Coca-Cola boycott think they found photographic evidence. CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on what internet users may have seen hiding in plain sight.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You may see a picture of a former president, smiling at his desk, but others were smiling at what they saw half-hidden behind the phone, it was circled, pointed at by arrows, labeled in a rectangle. Just a few days earlier former President Trump had called for a boycott of Coca-Cola and other companies that opposed a Georgia voting law.

Don't go back to their products until they relent, said his statement. And now can you find a hidden Diet Coke in this photo?

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Defenders weren't convinced it was the real thing. No one can verify that's actually a Coke bottle, but it sure looked familiar.

Boycott for thee not for me.

Posted someone. Trump's Coke bottle be like Shaquille O'Neal trying to hide behind a tree. The photo was posted by visiting former adviser Steven Miller. And people found lots to chuckle about like the statue of Trump himself behind his Mar-a-Lago desk. But the possible boycott busting Coke got the most attention. After all, this is a guy --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 12 Diet Cokes, right?

MOOS (voice-over): Known for his massive daily intake. Until President Biden moved it, presidents for years have had a button on the oval office desk to summon a butler, but for President Trump that button seemed dedicated --

JIMMY KIMMEL, ABC, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: He had a Diet Coke button on his desk in the oval office. The man urinates aspartame. OK. MOOS (voice-over): Are critics grasping at straws?

A sensible boycott doesn't require the destruction of already purchased goods.

This ain't a tea party. No, it's always been a Diet Coke party for Donald Trump. He's even been caught on tape ordering --

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Give me a coke, please.

MOOS (voice-over): He's always had a habit of pushing his Coke around, critics say he didn't push this one far enough to hide it.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

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NEWTON: And that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for being with us. I'm Paula newton. "EARLY START" is straight ahead.

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