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Venezuelan President's Alleged Moneyman Extradited to U.S.; David Amess Remembered; Most COVID-19 Cases in Africa Go Undetected; Israel Softens Stance on Iran Nuclear Deal; U.S. Missionary Group Kidnapped in Haiti; The Trial of Adolf Eichmann; "Downton Abbey's" Highclere Castle Welcomes Back Visitors. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired October 17, 2021 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hi, welcome to all of our viewers around the world. Thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow live in Atlanta. You are watching CNN.
Coming up on the show, to the Venezuelan government, he's a businessman but to the U.S. he is a wanted man. The fallout to his extradition to the United States.
Plus, police investigate a possible extremist motivation in the stabbing of death of a member of Parliament as unease grows among British lawmakers.
And to go where no mission has gone before, the U.S. taking the space race to the next level by exploring the beginnings of the solar system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: Good to have you along this hour.
We start with a new standoff between the U.S. and Venezuela. An alleged moneyman for the embattled strongman Nicolas Maduro has been handed over to American officials and Caracas is furious. The suspect you see here is Alex Saab.
The Colombian born businessman is accused of running a Maduro corruption network. He was under house arrest in Cape Verde but, as of Saturday, he was on a plane and arrived in the U.S. The Maduro government appears to be retaliating. For that and the latest, journalist Stefano Pozzebon is here with a report.
What can you tell us? STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's good to speak with you, Robyn. The latest out of Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, is that Maduro security forces, the intelligence service SEBIN, have, late on Saturday night picked up 5 U.S. citizens and a U.S. permanent resident that were served a house arrest in Caracas. They were first arrested in 2017 and they have been held by the Maduro
government over the last few years. They were serving house arrest. They have been picked up from their residences by the security forces just hours after the extradition of Alex Saab was complete.
Some of them were able to speak with their families, who are in the United States. The six of them are former executives of the CITGO petroleum corporation. Most of the families hail from Houston or in Texas.
The six detainees told their families they were very worried because they knew that their fate would depend on what happens to Alex Saab, who is a key person in Caracas and a key ally of Maduro. So very complicated situation -- Robyn
CURNOW: Let's talk about him. His face looks quite ominous but he is clearly key as you see and clearly important.
Why is he so important, particularly to the Americans?
POZZEBON: Yes, Alex Saab is a Colombian businessman. He was born in Colombia. He was doing business for the Maduro government. He faces charges both in Colombia and in the United States for fraud and money laundering.
The prosecutors both here in Colombia and in the United States and Florida, in particular, accuse Saab of profiting from public contracts out of the Venezuelan government.
Maduro considers him a very key player in moving money in and out of Caracas, which is currently under U.S. sanctions. Saab was actually detained in 2020 on his way to Iran, another country that is under U.S. sanctions, that is a very close ally of Maduro.
That's why this government refers to Saab as a diplomat. But for U.S. prosecutors, he is a crony capitalist (ph), a tycoon and a key facilitator of the Maduro finance scheme.
CURNOW: So obviously they are perhaps looking at him potentially collaborating with them?
It is going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. Stefano Pozzebon, good to have you on the show.
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POZZEBON: Precisely Robyn, one thing that the majority will be looking very ...
CURNOW: Go ahead.
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POZZEBON: One thing that Maduro will be looking very, very closely at is that if Saab will collaborate with U.S. prosecutors. Maduro himself faces charges of narcoterrorism and drug trafficking in the Southern District of New York.
And having one of these key allies now speaking one-on-one with U.S. prosecutors will cause some concern in Caracas. And that's why we see the escalation in the retaliation straightaway -- Robyn.
CURNOW: Thanks so much, Stefano Pozzebon, really appreciate it.
I want to take you now to the U.K., where a government source tells CNN the name of the suspect in the fatal stabbing of MP David Amess is Ali Harbi Ali. He is described as a 25 year old British national of Somali heritage.
Police are investigating the case as a terror incident. The fatal attack is the second in 5 years against a member of Parliament. It has heightened security concerns for all lawmakers. It's an issue on the minds of the people of Southend, who were represented in Parliament by Amess. Take a listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am shocked, absolutely shocked. I think it's awful and it's so sad. I didn't actually know David personally. But I have got personal reasons to sort of (INAUDIBLE) because he helped my son when he was trying to get into the police, ironically.
And when my son didn't know what to do and how to go forward, he went to David. And David helped him get into the police. You used to see him about in Southend. He was always smiling, always said hello, always had time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very concerning. Obviously they have to give them more protection because there's so much more out there that people are picking them out to help hurt them. And it's terrible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shock, shock, just disbelief for a gentleman like this, Sir David has been a personal friend to me for 18 years now, since I've been in this area as a pharmacist. And he's always been here not only for myself but for the whole constituency. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Prime minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Keir Starmer were among the dignitaries paying their respects on Saturday, visiting the church where Amess was murdered.
The prime minister later tweeted that he laid a wreath for the lawmaker, calling him a much loved colleague and friend. Now despite being in Parliament for nearly 40 years, he was relatively unknown to the larger public.
But in his constituency, as you heard, he was very popular. Now we are learning why. Here's CNN's Salma Abdelaziz.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): David Amess doing what he loved the most, serving his community. DAVID AMESS, BRITISH CONSERVATIVE MP: These people have proved that
music is magic and that dreams can come true.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): He helped organize this event in 2019, where 200 people with learning disabilities performed at the famous Royal Albert Hall. It was a dream he accomplished with his friend of 25 years, David Stanley.
DAVID STANLEY, FOUNDER AND CEO, MUSIC MAN PROJECT: I think Sir David Amess was probably the proudest he had ever been and he was in his element at that moment, telling the audience that, we have done it, we have achieved our goal.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Stanley teaches music to people with disabilities. And as news of the brutal stabbing broke, he was with his students.
STANLEY: Some of them were becoming aware of what had happened. And as we always do we, used music to somehow come to terms with what was happening on that Friday.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The 69-year old passionately represented Southend and Essex for nearly 4 decades. First elected to Parliament in 1983, he was one of Britain's longest serving MPs. Amess was a Conservative but seen as a moderate voice at a time of divisive politics.
AMESS: I would ask my right our noble friend if you would find time for debate on World Animal Day.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The father of five was also a dedicated animal welfare advocate and a huge dog lover. He was also fiercely dedicated to the needs of his constituents. His friend, Father Jeffrey Woolnough, told us.
JEFFREY WOOLNOUGH, EASTWOOD PARISH PRIEST: He was just so easy to like. If you wanted something done, you just had to ask Sir David Amess. And you can bet your bottom dollar that would happen, you really could.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Now Woolnough is consoling a heartbroken community.
WOOLNOUGH: We are carrying this together, there is not an individual loss unless you're the family but, the community, we must grieve together.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Grieve and come to terms with the life of a public servant extinguished too soon -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Leigh- on-Sea.
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CURNOW: The British government is slamming the Iranian regime for extending the prison sentence of British Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. She was first detained in Iran in April 2016, accused of trying to overthrow the regime and sentenced to five years.
A second case extended her sentence by another year and then, on Saturday, her appeal in that case was turned down by an Iranian judge. The U.K. foreign secretary, Liz Truss, blasted the decision and demanded she be freed and returned to her home in the U.K.
And then in Afghanistan, Shia Muslims have been digging graves and holding funerals after another bombing at one of their mosques. At least 32 people were killed on Friday in a suicide attack, claimed by ISIS-K. Paula Newton has more -- and a warning, parts of her report are graphic.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Row after row of dusty graves, a crowd gathers in Kandahar to burn the dead.
Relatives weep as their loved ones are lowered into the ground. It was just a day earlier the victims were at the city's largest Shia mosque for Friday prayers, a solemn moment that was abruptly silenced, when a group of suicide bombers set off their deadly explosions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My own brother died in that attack. My brother had 2 little children. He had a home to live in. He had everything. The pain of the loss cannot be described in words. It's a matter of the heart.
NEWTON (voice-over): Members of the Taliban visited some of the wounded in hospital, the group reaffirming its pledge to bring peace and stability in the embattled country. Officials in Kandahar say special security officers will guard Shia mosques and those responsible for the attack will be punished.
The terror group ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the Kandahar attack, as well as a similar assault on a Shia mosque in Kunduz the week before. Members of the country's Shia minority have long been persecuted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The entire world should condemn this. The Islamic world should condemn this. It should be condemned from every corner of this proud nation.
NEWTON (voice-over): But it's these continued assaults on civilians, even on the Taliban itself, that are spreading doubt that the new leaders of Afghanistan can actually bring peace and whether Taliban protection is enough to prevent more mass graves like this -- Paula Newton, CNN.
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CURNOW: COVID cases and deaths are surging in Russia. On Saturday, the government reported more than 1,000 COVID deaths for the first time ever. New cases also hit a record for the third day in a row. Authorities are blaming the surge on low vaccination rates. Just 31
percent of the country is fully vaccinated. And a recent survey found many are hesitant to take the Russian-made Sputnik vaccine.
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ANNA NAZAROVA, EMERGENCY DOCTOR (through translator): There must be more adequate campaign to get more people vaccinated, more advocacy.
ILYA DEMIDOV, EMERGENCY DOCTOR (through translator): It's no big secret. There are a lot of fake vaccinations. People buy certificates. They don't trust it, so they don't get vaccinated, so there is no protection.
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CURNOW: Hundreds of people took to the streets in Switzerland on Saturday to protest the government's COVID rules and health pass requirements.
As of last month, Swiss residents must show a COVID status certificate to enter bars, restaurants and fitness centers. Now the pass provides proof of vaccination, a negative test result or recent recovery from the virus.
Although challenging, Switzerland's COVID rules is set for next month.
And Argentina is now vaccinating children as young as 3. The Chinese made Sinopharm vaccine is being administered to millions of children in Buenos Aires province. The use of Sinopharm has sparked debate across Argentina but it has been approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization.
The government says it's opening up vaccinations to younger children in an effort to keep schools open.
And the World Health Organization says it's flying blind when it comes to fighting COVID in Africa.
The reason?
The group now estimates that doctors now only catch one in 7 cases on the continent. If that's accurate, it will mean Africa has seen about 59 million cases so far; only about 8 million have been officially recorded.
The organization says most cases go undetected because most patients don't have symptoms and never get tested. The WHO is now launching an effort to step up testing in eight African countries.
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CURNOW: Joining me from Dubai is Dr. Ngozi Erondu, a senior scholar at Georgetown University and an associate fellow at Chatham House.
Doctor, it's wonderful to have you on the show. Please break down these WHO statistics that we're hearing about testing on the continent.
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DR. NGOZI ERONDU, ASSOCIATE FELLOW, CHATHAM HOUSE: Sure. Thank you for having me. When we were looking at one in 7 cases being detected, what that tells us, it's from the people we are capturing, some who are traveling, going in and out of airports or land crossings, those who have surgeries or operations at hospitals and people who have symptoms, that actually, come to the facility, those are the people being captured and tested.
We know this is problematic. We know, up to 70 percent of cases, actually, are asymptomatic, meaning, no symptoms of COVID, so they won't go to the health facility. We also know the Africa strategy is centered on PCR, which is an accurate test to show if the virus is in someone or they don't have the virus.
We are all probably familiar with PCR, a swab in your nose and it's sent to a lab. That requires quite a bit of infrastructure. Many of us who had traveled, have had to pay high prices to get a PCR test. So that makes it inaccessible to most Africans.
So most people are not getting tested. If you're not one of these three areas, you're not getting tested as well. So that is why we're missing so many cases on the continent.
CURNOW: You're making a great point, because Africa has such a young continent. A lot of these cases are asymptomatic. And while people may not be getting sick as such, they are spreading the virus.
That is the key, isn't it?
So what is interesting, also, is attempting to capture them, at the very least know if they're sick or not, some of the same plans are being used that scientists used around Ebola for example, this ring fencing around communities.
Explain to us, why is that effective?
ERONDU: It's very exciting, actually. This strategy, the WHO has recently introduced, is really, focused on rapid diagnostic tests, of highly accurate ones that are approved by the WHO. That allows for a symptomatic case, to test around 100 yards on that case, to see if the people around them are infected with COVID.
That means, if you're asymptomatic, you can, still, know your results. You can still know what to do and how not to impact and infect other people. As I said, this is not just really effective with Ebola but also with polio and smallpox.
There are several diseases that they're not going to react or show the same level of symptoms So it's a very effective strategy. And I'm excited that it's being introduced into Africa.
CURNOW: It is one weapon, in the arsenal against this virus. The vaccine is, clearly, the main one, the big hitter. How does that play into this real focus, now, on these specific
countries that are being targeted for testing?
What's the issue with the vaccinations, as well?
ERONDU: The plan is for the testing strategy, for the vaccinations and an increase in rapid diagnostic testing. The WHO will start with about up to 10 countries, though I'm sure they would like to scale up, as quickly as possible, once they work out the operational kinks.
But you are right. Really, to get control of COVID and to protect more lives, we need vaccines in Africa. Africa really did try to be on the offensive when it came to vaccines. So the WHO, Gavi and public and private partnerships all around the world, just a few months after the pandemic started, this accelerator for COVID tools was created.
And, in April of 2020, the COVAX facility was created. If you know of COVAX, you know it was this mechanism to prearrange vaccines and negotiate prices in advance. So everyone, whether in a high income country or low income country, would have access to affordable vaccines.
Unfortunately, COVAX has failed and many rich countries undermined it, COVAX, by negotiating higher prices with vaccine manufacturers. As you heard, this vaccine inequity is the result of that. Many countries in the West have much more vaccine than they need.
If you look at low and middle income countries around the world, only 3 percent have at least one vaccination; whereas across the high income countries, it is 60 percent of the population who has at least one vaccine shot. So it's a huge disparity and it's sad. We shouldn't be in this situation.
CURNOW: No, we shouldn't. And it is a real issue and, hopefully, the increased awareness creates some sort of momentum.
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CURNOW: Just, finally, the question of vaccine skepticism, it's all over the world. But also, it's in Africa. In South Africa, for example where I am from, there is availability of vaccines, to many people and it's not being taken.
How do you bridge that gap between suspicion and then the availability, even when it is there?
ERONDU: I think, many African countries are doing, exactly, what we have been doing in different Western countries: increasing messaging, demonstrating the effectiveness of the vaccine, really encouraging, I think, starting with the most vulnerable, so the elderly, people who are compromised but can take the vaccine, starting with that.
And saying, protect your loved ones, really, make sure that they are vaccinated and make sure they're OK. They are much more likely to get vaccinated. One of the things that I love about being African and I love about Africa is this collective responsibility, this duty to family and taking care of each other.
So I think, more and more countries, will promote that message of protect yourself but protect your loved ones by getting vaccinated when you can.
CURNOW: Dr. Ngozi Erondu, really thank you for joining us. Thank you for all the work you're doing. Let's hope the WHO's plan, really, is successful. Great to have you on the, show, Doctor.
ERONDU: Thank you, Robyn.
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CURNOW: And the Iran nuclear deal, may, no longer, be a nonstarter for Israel. The new prime minister and his cabinet signal that Israel may be on board with reviving the agreement. We have that story, next.
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CURNOW: Welcome back.
Israel's is softening its opposition to restarting the Iran nuclear deal. Tehran, revving up its nuclear capability, after Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement. President Biden wants the deal back and he may be getting support from Israel's new leadership. Hadas Gold reports -- Hadas.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: Before Iran completes the second stage of nuclear --
HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu credits himself with convincing former president Donald Trump to pull out of the Iranian nuclear deal.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Frankly, perhaps most importantly, getting out of the terrible Iran nuclear deal.
GOLD (voice-over): But now the new Israeli leadership is changing the tone as the Biden administration hopes to return to a deal, even if the Americans believe it may be a long slog. Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett warning, in the three years since the U.S. pulled out, Iran is closer than ever to a nuclear bomb.
NAFTALI BENNETT, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Unfortunately in the past three years, the Iranians have made a huge jump forward in the Iranian enrichment abilities. The Iranian nuclear program is at its most advanced stage ever.
GOLD (voice-over): Iran now enriching uranium up to 60 percent. The stockpile of enriched uranium going up month by month. What is being seen as a tacit public criticism of what sources and the prime minister's office say out loud.
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GOLD (voice-over): It was a mistake for Netanyahu to press Trump to get out of the deal without a well thought-out plan for how Israel follows up. Bennett's tone, a significant departure from what he sounded like in 2015.
BENNETT: The deal as we see it is worse than the worst case scenario that we had anticipated.
GOLD (voice-over): Compared to this week.
BENNETT (through translator): The world is sitting and waiting for a decision from Tehran whether to return or not to return to the discussion table in Vienna.
GOLD (voice-over): Israel's defense minister Benny Gantz even more explicit, telling "Foreign Policy" magazine, Israel would be willing to accept a return to a U.S. negotiated deal, although they would want to see a U.S. plan b in case talks fail and will always reserve the right for military action, a message repeated by foreign minister Yair Lapid in Washington this week.
YAIR LAPID, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Other options are going to be on the table if diplomacy fails.
GOLD (voice-over): Get past the saber rattling, though, and the shift in tone from Israel's government on the Iranian nuclear deal seems clear. They feel Trump and Netanyahu got it wrong -- Hadas Gold, CNN, Jerusalem.
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CURNOW: We are seeing new pictures of Saturday's docking of the Chinese spacecraft at the nation's space station, three Chinese astronauts, will, remain on the unfinished orbiter for the next 6 months. They will set up equipment and test technology, needed to complete construction and have the station operational, by the end of the year.
And the U.S. space agency, NASA, has a different pioneering mission. It has launched a spacecraft named Lucy toward Jupiter's orbit to collect data on how the solar system was formed billions of years ago. As CNN's Kristin Fisher explains, Lucy's name pays homage to a human ancestor and a famous Beatles song.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 3, 2, one, lift off. Atlas 5, takes flight.
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lucy is finally in the sky. The NASA spacecraft is on a 12-year mission, covering 6.4 billion kilometers, to fly past eight ancient asteroids. Lucy is the first mission to investigate the Trojan asteroid swarms,
which are asteroid clusters along Jupiter's orbital path. Armed with cameras, a thermometer and an infrared imaging spectrometer, Lucy will collect the first high-resolution images of these asteroids.
The spacecraft gets her name from the Lucy fossil, an ancient human ancestor, whose remains transformed the study of hominid evolution. NASA hopes its Lucy transforms the understanding of the evolution of the solar system. Both the fossil and the spacecraft's name are nods to The Beatles' hit, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
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RINGO STARR, FORMER BEATLE: Lucy is going back in the sky with diamonds, joining all the love there (ph). Anyway if you meet anyone up there, Lucy, give them peace and love from me.
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FISHER (voice-over): And Lucy does indeed carry a diamond as part of a beam splitter assembly. About 3.5 years from now, after making a few fly-bys of Earth for a gravity slingshot boost, Lucy is expected to reach her first objective, an asteroid named Donaldjohanson, in the asteroid belt between Earth and Jupiter.
She'll then travel to the Trojan asteroids, all named after the heroes of Homer's "Iliad."
KEITH NOLL, ASTRONOMER, NASA'S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER: The power of what Lucy is able to do by having so many targets, we can construct all these comparisons between all the different varieties and the diversity that we see in the Trojans, the unexpected diversity, the different colors, the different collisional histories.
It's really a repository of fossils, as we like to say, of things that happened at the earliest stages of solar system evolution.
FISHER (voice-over): The spacecraft, a little more than 14 meters from tip to tip, is powered by two giant solar arrays, that will expand outward like Chinese folding fans. They'll carry Lucy farther away from the sun than any other solar-powered spacecraft.
Lucy will never return to Earth but she won't be the last to visit the asteroids; NASA plans to send more. China and Russia are teaming up on an asteroid mission in 2024 and the UAE in 2028 -- Kristen Fisher, CNN.
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CURNOW: You are watching CNN. The news continues after the break.
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CURNOW: We do have breaking news out of Haiti after 17 American missionaries have been kidnapped north of Port-au-Prince. The situation is ongoing. I want to go straight to Matt Rivers. He joins us from Costa Rica and has reported from extensively from aid in the past few months.
Matt, hi. I know details are thin.
What can you tell us?
What do you know so far?
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Robyn, we are just speaking to a source of ours in the Haitian security forces there. And he was able to confirm this information, that as many as 17 American missionaries have been kidnapped by gang members in Haiti on Saturday.
This happened, we are told are 14 adults and 3 minors among the people kidnapped at this point. A source we spoke to did caution us, Robyn, as you say, it's the very early stages of this investigation. It's at the point that the thought of the number of people could even change.
But the latest information we have up to the moment, as of right now, 17 American missionaries are kidnapped at this point. They were traveling by vehicle on Saturday from one part of Haiti to another. They had actually visited an orphanage in one part of Haiti and they were traveling by vehicle.
So it was along the route in the Port-au-Prince area, where they were kidnapped by gang members.
We did reach out to the Haitian justice ministry and to national police forces there; neither group has gotten back to us so far. The U.S. State Department, we also reached a spokesperson late on Saturday evening, rather Sunday morning in the East Coast of the U.S..
They are not confirming these reports either yet, Robyn. They are saying they're aware of the reports but have nothing additional to offer. So this is basically very much an ongoing situation at this point.
What I can tell you, though, is that we were doing stories about kidnapping months ago. We were there after the Haitian president was assassinated back on July 7th. This has been an issue that has plagued Haiti for a long time.
But this year specifically, a significant spike in kidnappings. I have a couple of statistics I can read to you.
Since January, at least 628 kidnappings have taken place, 29 of whom, before this latest kidnapping, 29 of whom were foreigners. That's according to data from a nonprofit group that tracks this stuff in Port-au-Prince. The gangs that do this, they are looking for ransom money, which they
are often paid, sometimes to the tunes of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Depending on which analyst you speak to, 50 percent of Port- au-Prince is in the hands and the control of gangs.
So it is an extremely dangerous time for people right now in Port-au- Prince. And this latest kidnapping is just further proof of a horrendous situation in that country's capital.
CURNOW: Yes, as the security situation continues to deteriorate, Matt Rivers there. Thank you very much for bringing us those details. That's 17 American missionaries have been reported kidnapped by gang members in Haiti.
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CURNOW: We will continue to monitor that story. As Matt said, the numbers of missionaries who have been kidnapped might change. At the moment, we are getting 14 adults and 3 minors. We will continue to monitor that story on CNN and check back in with Matt as soon as he has any other new details.
Meanwhile, also ahead on CNN.
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MURRAY HONIG, SON OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS: Your grandma is here, she's the fourth from the right.
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So the vast majority of people in this picture did not make it.
M. HONIG: Did not survive.
CURNOW (voice-over): A special report from CNN's Elie Honig, a descendant of Holocaust victims and survivors 60 years after the trial of Adolf Eichmann, the man responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews.
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CURNOW: Sixty years ago, Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann, known as the architect of the Holocaust, was on trial in Israel, charged with organizing an unthinkable genocide under Hitler during World War II.
Millions around the world watched the trial on TV, as survivors and witnesses described the unspeakable horrors he orchestrated. Elie Honig is a senior legal analyst for CNN and former U.S. federal prosecutor. His grandparents lived through that dark, dark period of history. He sat down with some key participants in the trial to talk about their quest for justice and the threat anti-Semitism and hatred still pose today.
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E. HONIG (voice-over): Sixty years ago, the world saw evil. In 1961, millions of people across the globe watched as Adolf Eichmann, the notorious Nazi official known as the architect of the Holocaust, stood trial in Jerusalem for crimes against humanity.
M. HONIG: But I do remember it happening and I remember more the aspect of like -- I think I -- it struck me as more, "they got this guy." And I remember, from that point on, it certainly -- people began to understand what this was about.
E. HONIG (voice-over): Eleven months earlier, as wary Mossad agents had captured Eichmann in Argentina, where he'd been living as a fugitive for a decade, they brought Eichmann to Jerusalem to face justice for his role in the systematic execution of more than 6 million Jews during World War II.
M. HONIG: Your grandma is here. She's the fourth from the right.
E. HONIG: Right. So the vast majority of the people in this picture did not make it.
M. HONIG: Did not survive.
E. HONIG (voice-over): My father, the son of two Holocaust survivors, remembers the trial as a turning point.
M. HONIG: You have to understand, now everyone knows the Holocaust with a capital H. When we grew up, this was not a thing. The Holocaust was not a thing. It was a private tragedy. It was a -- it was a tragedy of the Jewish people.
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M. HONIG: So a lot of it wasn't spoken about until Eichmann.
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GABRIEL BACH, EICHMANN PROSECUTOR: You, together with others, during the period 1939 to 1945, caused the killing of millions of Jews in his capacity as the person responsible for the execution of the Nazi plan for the physical extermination of the Jews, known as the "final solution of the Jewish problem."
E. HONIG (voice-over): Gabriel Bach, now 94 years old, was one of the prosecutors who tried Eichmann in Israel's newly formed court system.
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BACH: The courtroom, we had a special room, where all the prosecutors sat together and the defense counsel sat together. And then they had -- in order to protect the accused, they had a special glass booth where he was kept.
This was really a very, very special moment, that, here in a Jewish state, a Jewish trial, we are the representatives of the Jewish people. And we can show that the men who murdered millions of people from our society, that this was very, very justifiable and very just that we should do that and not leave it to the court of another country.
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E. HONIG (voice-over): It was one of the first televised trials the world had ever seen. And it was a pivotal moment in the world's reckoning with the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis.
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MICHAEL GOLDMANN-GILEAD, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR (through translator): I was about 16 when the Nazis took over. In July 1942, my parents and my sister were taken onto a train. We did not know where at the time but later found out it was the Belzec extermination camp.
My sister was 10 years old. The last time I saw them was on my birthday. It was on July 25, 1942, and I saw them for 15 minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
E. HONIG (voice-over): Like my grandmother, Michael Goldmann-Gilead, now 96 years old, lost most of his family to the Holocaust. He survived the horrors of multiple concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and he survived the infamous death march.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLDMANN-GILEAD (through translator): It was January 18th, 1945. We were taken out in rows of 1,000 each. And there were SS officers with dogs. And we were made to march. It was heavy snow and it seemed implausible but we marched 60 kilometers that night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
E. HONIG (voice-over): Thousands of people died during that brutal death march. Little did Goldmann-Gilead know he would go on to play a pivotal role as an investigator in the trial of Adolf Eichmann.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLDMANN-GILEAD (through translator): I was in my investigation room. And when he entered the room, I saw a poor, frightened person, shaking. And in comparison to Eichmann in his SS uniform, this ubermensch, I couldn't believe it. It was the same person standing in front of me, responsible for the
death of my parents. But when he opened his mouth -- I cannot forget this -- when he opened his mouth, I saw the doors of the crematorium open.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
E. HONIG (voice-over): Goldmann-Gilead and the investigative team, many of them Holocaust survivors themselves, interrogated Eichmann over the course of several months.
They went through thousands upon thousands of documents, piecing together the horrific events and building a volume of evidence that they hoped could prove Eichmann's role beyond a shadow of a doubt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLDMANN-GILEAD (through translator): One of the documents was from Poland, documenting a single transport to Auschwitz in November 1943. And it has a list of numbers of those who arrived, those who were sent to the camps, those sent to the crematoriums.
I realized my number is part of that list, 161135. So I look at them and I said, "You need not look elsewhere, the proof is here because I was part of that transport. The number is still on my arm."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
E. HONIG (voice-over): The Eichmann trial served dual purposes. First, to bring the Nazis' chief architect of the Holocaust to justice; second, to highlight in detail what had happened to the Jewish people from firsthand eyewitness testimony of survivors, people who turned the statistical 6 million figure into personal stories of horror that the world would be unable to forget.
BACH: There was a witness called Martin Foldi. He was one of the witnesses -- he was one of the persons who was sent to Auschwitz with his family and his wife and his little daughter and his son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MARTIN FOLDI, EICHMANN TRIAL WITNESS (through translator): Then they told us, men to the right, together with boys after the age of 4.
[00:45:00]
FOLDI (through translator): And women and the children to the left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BACH: Somehow everyone knew that people who were caught by the SS people, they were sent either to the left or to the right in Auschwitz. To the right meant they could stay alive because they wanted their work or something. To the left meant to their death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FOLDI (through translator): And we saw that the women were already going and we were still standing until they all almost disappeared. My girl wore a red overcoat. And I still saw that red spot.
And that red spot was the sign that my wife was also there. But the red spot was waning, of course, and was smaller and smaller. I went to the right and I never saw them again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BACH: Now I had a daughter exactly 2.5 years old. I had bought her, two weeks before that, a red coat. When he spoke about that, the little girl, 2.5 years old, with the red coat and the little red dot getting smaller and smaller, this is how his whole family disappeared from his life.
I, standing there as a prosecutor, suddenly couldn't utter a sound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BACH: Eichmann had practically unlimited power to declare who was to be killed among the Jews, chronologically and by segment of population, what countries geographically and throughout.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
E. HONIG (voice-over): After months of the prosecution presenting its case, Eichmann finally took the stand in his own defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADOLF EICHMANN, HOLOCAUST ARCHITECT: (Speaking German).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BACH: I wanted it to be clear to everyone in the world that this was -- this man was given a just trial, that he was given the possibility to have a defense counsel, who would be covered by the government.
He asked for a German and, therefore, the government agreed to that. And I certainly agreed with that. And that whole trial, in every way, in every field, should be handled in a just manner.
E. HONIG (voice-over): Under cross examination, despite being confronted with documents that showed his direct involvement, Eichmann repeatedly claimed he was just following orders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EICHMANN (through translator): I did not give these orders, whether the people should be taken to their death or not. This was the administrative routine. This is how it was arranged. And my task in this was just a tiny particle in this.
I am not beating about the bush. I was in Hungary also, one of those receiving orders and not giving orders. GOLDMANN-GILEAD (through translator): He lied through and through. He
was acting. He was acting all the time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: September 1939, the accused committed acts of expelling, uprooting and exterminating the population in coordination with massive --
E. HONIG (voice-over): Finally in December 1961, the trial was over and the verdict was in. The court found Eichmann guilty and sentenced him to death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BACH: Here was a man who was appointed to be in charge of causing the carrying out of the murder of millions of people. So if any person deserves it, it was him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLDMANN-GILEAD (through translator): That was the sentence for one person.
But what about the other Eichmanns, who fled Germany and died at good old ages and were never brought to trial?
You can give a sentence for one person but you cannot avenge. There is no vengeance for what was done to the Jewish people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
E. HONIG (voice-over): After Eichmann had exhausted all of his legal appeals, he was hanged just a few minutes past midnight on June 1st, 1962. Michael Goldman-Gilead witnessed the execution and was part of a very small group chosen to spread Eichmann's cremated ashes at sea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLDMANN-GILEAD (through translator): I remember seeing the ashes, how little the ashes were. I thought, wow.
How can this be so few ashes for a whole human being?
And this brought me back to an incident in Birkenau, when about 30 of us were taken from our barracks to another building. That building had a chimney. It was a crematorium. And next to it was a mountain.
When I got closer, I realized that mountain was a mountain of ashes, a mountain of human beings. I remember it was cold and it was icy.
[00:50:00]
GOLDMANN-GILEAD (through translator): And we were ordered to take wheelbarrows and shovels and take the ashes and spread them on the road so that the soldiers who were patrolling would not slip on the ice. After we spread Eichmann's ashes, we stood quietly at the edge of the
boat. I thought to myself about my parents, my family and those who did not have the privilege to see one of the greatest murderers brought to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
E. HONIG (voice-over): Sixty years later, with the number of living witnesses to the Nazi campaign of terror shrinking by the day, the risk of Holocaust distortion and denial is a threat that makes the lessons of the Eichmann trial more relevant today than ever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROTESTERS: Jews will not replace us.
E. HONIG (voice-over): The fight against hate based on race, religion, ethnicity, sex is a battle that is still being fought. White supremacy and racial hatred remain serious threats and they're on the rise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLDMANN-GILEAD (through translator): With the death of Eichmann, the murderous ideology of nationalist socialism was not scattered. It's still existing here and there, in the form of hatred, hatred that is dangerous.
And we must be on guard so that catastrophes do not repeat themselves. Hatred can cause catastrophes and bring an end to this world, to this planet. And we must educate the new generations not to hate and to avoid such hatred; otherwise, our struggle against evil will be in vain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
E. HONIG (voice-over): As the grandson of two Holocaust survivors, I am part of one of those new generations. Sixty years ago, Gabriel Bach and Michael Goldmann-Gilead stood up and fought for justice, for their own families, for mine and for millions of others -- I'm Elie Honig for CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CURNOW: The TV series, "Downton Abbey," is a worldwide smash and its setting is almost as famous as its cast of characters. Downton Castle, is actually named Highclere Castle. And as Richard Quest found out, running the palace has its rewards -- and its challenges.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST (voice-over): How else are you going to arrive at Highclere Castle?
Come on.
QUEST (voice-over): Highclere Castle has stood for more than 300 years. Yet the world knows this magnificent place better as "Downton Abbey," home to Lord and Lady Grantham.
It's exactly the same as it is on the telly?
(LAUGHTER)
FIONA AITKEN, LADY CARNARVON, OWNER OF HIGHCLERE CASTLE (voice-over): Yes.
QUEST (voice-over): The real Granthams, if you will, are actually the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon.
AITKEN (voice-over): So that's my husband in the queen's arms here because she is his godmother.
QUEST (voice-over): Yes.
Highclere has been the family seat since the 17th century, through two world wars and now COVID. In the early pandemic, we spoke to Lady Carnarvon from Highclere, when she was one of our voices of the crisis.
AITKEN (voice-over): Like many other businesses, these are incredibly tough times. And we all have fallen over a cliff.
QUEST (voice-over): What did you promise me?
AITKEN (voice-over): I promised you afternoon tea.
QUEST (voice-over): And as good as your word -- ooh.
Tea at "Downton."
[00:55:00]
QUEST (voice-over): I must remember not to call the butler Carson. To be honest, he is used to it.
(VIDEO CLIP, "DOWNTON ABBEY")
QUEST: When we spoke last year, you were in the process of working out ways to get the thing moving again.
How bad did it get?
AITKEN: I think it got -- well, it got to zero income, which for any business is definitely really bad, because obviously the bills continue to come and the costs continue to be there. So like other businesses, working out what we could do, the art of the possible.
QUEST: Did you ever get worried?
GEORGE HERBERT, LORD CARNARVON, OWNER OF HIGHCLERE CASTLE: It was very, very difficult. People were on furlough and coming and going away again.
AITKEN: I think we were all frightened for our health, for those we love, frightened for our business, frightened for what we had built up and frightened for the future.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST (voice-over): Keeping Highclere in good shape is a constant struggle.
AITKEN (voice-over): It's an extraordinary building. And I don't know that we would have the craftsmen today to make it.
QUEST (voice-over): The eighth Earl of Carnarvon inherited the castle from his father 20 years ago.
Did you think, good Lord, I mean, it's very beautiful but -- look at this.
AITKEN (voice-over): We did used to wake up in the middle of the night and I would go and get a cup of tea, thinking, what do we do?
QUEST (voice-over): The landed gentry in England are used to this tug of war between keeping the heritage and managing to pay the bills.
(VIDEO CLIP, "DOWNTON ABBEY")
QUEST (voice-over): Lady Mary would be proud of the way the real countess views the business.
AITKEN: There is no secret pot of gold. What we do here every month, and firstly pays the salaries because that is going to pay the mortgages.
HERBERT: Yes, because it's beautiful and romantic to look at but it's only there because someone is continually paying --
(CROSSTALK)
AITKEN: Working and bringing some money in. I've always remembered that sales is vanity, profits insanity (ph). And I don't want to be a busy fool.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST (voice-over): The Carnarvons run their home like a business. And that means working all hours to make the castle and its grounds profitable to keep the heritage. AITKEN: The farm and estate are about 4,000-5,000 acres. And within
that, we have got about 2,000 acres growing crops for us all to eat. We farm everything in hand. I am a farmer's wife.
QUEST: Right.
AITKEN: And I have gone (INAUDIBLE) harvest. I've even driven it.
QUEST: Really?
AITKEN: Very badly.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST (voice-over): As the pandemic bit hard, the Carnarvons were able to draw on the huge popularity of "Downton." With no revenues coming in but all ingenuity, they created events, such as online cocktail parties. And they sold Highclere-branded products. And underlying it all, this is the real "Downton."
AITKEN (voice-over): So it's lavender all the way around.
QUEST (voice-over): Oh, I love that.
AITKEN (voice-over): Now we collect it and put it in our chit (ph) because we're nothing if we're not practical.
QUEST (voice-over): Look at all the bees.
AITKEN (voice-over): It's amazing, isn't it?
QUEST (voice-over): Look at all the bees.
AITKEN (voice-over): Making your honey.
QUEST (voice-over): Forgive me, I'm a huge "Downton" fan and I can't resist looking everywhere.
AITKEN: I think you're going to recognize this room.
(LAUGHTER)
QUEST: Lord Grantham's desk.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(VIDEO CLIP, "DOWNTON ABBEY")
QUEST (voice-over): Do you find it a bit surreal that your home is a fictitious place?
AITKEN (voice-over): It is surreal. How wonderful. Magnificent, isn't it?
This is Lord and Lady Grantham's bedroom. Brian used to leap out of the cupboard there, in which there are actually dressing gowns. QUEST (voice-over): This is the staircase.
Has the morning post arrived?
Highclere is coming back to life. The doors are open and the earl and countess are once again welcoming visitors. There's always a classic finger sandwich or a delicious scone on hand. Mrs. Patmore would definitely approve.
(VIDEO CLIP, "DOWNTON ABBEY")
QUEST: I want to know what did you learn about yourselves during the pandemic?
HERBERT: Being calmer than I thought I probably could have done about it.
QUEST: That surprised you?
HERBERT: Yes. Surprised my wife too, probably.
AITKEN: Well, I was looking for that still small voice of calm. It's just step by step. And you can do it. You can do it. We can all do it.
QUEST (voice-over): Highclere is not "Downton" but "Downton" has helped Highclere survive.
AITKEN: It has put it on a different course.
HERBERT: It's a glorious window on the world that. It allows Highclere to be an icon of heritage and actually help other heritage properties in this area in Great Britain, which has so much to show for foreign tourists.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
AITKEN (voice-over): I always think it's the most extraordinary home and I feel very privileged to be walking where people have walked for 1,200 years.
QUEST (voice-over): Does it still have the capacity to move you?
AITKEN (voice-over): Oh, God, yes. And it's still the most extraordinary feeling of a world apart of a special arcadia (ph).
QUEST (voice-over): Even after all these years?
AITKEN (voice-over): Every time.
QUEST (voice-over): To walk through these rooms, to hear the history, to meet the Carnarvons, It's like, well, "Downton" -- Richard Quest, CNN, Highclere Castle or "Downton Abbey" or Highclere Castle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Thank you for that, Richard. I'm Robyn Curnow, "CONNECTING AFRICA" is next.
