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Oligarch Linked to Colorado Steel Mill; Ketanji Brown Jackson Expected to be Confirmed This Week; Police Arrest Suspect in Connection with Shooting; Tornado Watches for Parts of Southeastern U.S.; Kansas Claims Title in Historic Comeback Over UNC. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired April 05, 2022 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... in London. Yes, the parent company has a large footprint in Russia.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, your position is that these are completely s separate entities?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not saying they are completely separate ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
In the coming hours, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to address the U.N. Security Council as horrifying images from Bucha are drawing international outrage. We want to warn you, the pictures you're about to see are graphic. Bodies can be seen lying in the streets. A number of them with their hands tied. The head of the Human Rights Watch warns these images can be kind of, quote, replicated on a very large-scale. The global response to the brutality in Bucha has been swift with some nations expelling Russian diplomats, plus others are vowing further sanctions. Ukraine's Foreign Minister made a plea for strong action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DMYTRO KULEBA, Ukrainian Foreign Minister: Half measures are not enough anymore. I demand from our partners on behalf of the victims of Bucha and the people of Ukraine to take the most severe sanctions against Russia this week. This is not the request of Ukraine's Foreign Minister, this is the plea of the victims of rape, torture, and killings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Ukraine's president says more than 300 people were killed in Bucha but expects that number will rise as the entire city is checked. And he warned civilian casualties may be even higher in other liberated cities. [04:35:00]
The video shows the U.S. seizing a massive 255-foot superyacht owned by a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin. The FBI boarded the $19 million yacht off the coast of Mallorca in Spain. The luxury ship belongs to billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, one of Putin's allies sanctioned by the U.S. But there is one Russian oligarch Washington has not gone after. His name is Roman Abramovich. And his role in a U.S. steel mill's parent company is raising new questions and new concerns about jobs in Colorado. CNN's Drew Griffin reports.
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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It is an impressive sight, American steel being forged by 1,200 proud U.S. workers in a steel mill that's operated in Pueblo, Colorado for nearly 150 years.
Evraz Steel could not be a better symbol of American industrial resurgence except for one now gut-wrenching problem, it's Russian.
CHUCK PERKO, PRESIDENT, STEELWORKERS LOCAL 3267: We have that stigma of being a Russian owned company.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Two-thirds of all shares of this mill's parent company are owned by Kremlin-connected Russians. And its biggest shareholder is the oligarch, Roman Abramovich, who is closely allied with Vladimir Putin and has been sanctioned by the U.K., E.U. and Canada.
The British claimed the Abramovich is or has been involved in destabilizing Ukraine, via Evraz PLC, including potentially supplying steel to the Russian military which may have been used in the production of tanks. The company denies it.
But when Russia invaded Ukraine, U.S. Steel workers here in Pueblo woke up to a distasteful possibility that somehow, they are supporting Vladimir Putin in this.
DANIEL DURAN, STEELWORKERS LOCAL 3267: Hearing all this stuff, it's heartbreaking. And you know, it's fear. I have my own kids and it makes it tough to sit there and see all the stuff going on.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Steel workers Daniel Duran, Rique Lucero and Chuck Perko are afraid of what might happen if Abramovich is sanctioned by the U.S.
RIQUE LUCERO, STEELWORKERS LOCAL 3267: It's just, the uncertainty, it's scary. It's real scary.
GRIFFIN: Uncertainly for your jobs.
LUCERO: For the jobs, yes
CHUCK PERKO, PRESIDENT STEELWORKERS LOCAL 3267: I disdain what's going on over there but my company is not Abramovich's company in my eyes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to go through this door here.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): David Ferryman is senior vice president of Evraz North America.
GRIFFIN: Do you consider this a Russian owned company?
DAVID FERRYMAN, SVP, EVRAZ NORTH AMERICA: I don't. We're headquartered, independent operation in Chicago. We have our own CEO. We have our own board of directors. We're based in London. Yes, the parent company has a large footprint in Russia.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): That footprint includes a massive Russian business. Evraz 2021 report shows revenue of $14 billion and that 16 percent of the parent company's revenue is derived from the North American plants. Abramovich himself made $522 million from Evraz dividends last year.
Ferryman insists the revenues generated in Evraz Steel Mills across North America are reinvested in the company in North America.
GRIFFIN: So, your position is that these are completely separate entities?
FERRYMAN: I'm not saying they're completely separate. Those earnings stay here in North America and they are invested into these facilities.
GRIFFIN: Technically, that may make sense to you. But when we watch what's happening, there is a lot of people wondering how a Russian oligarch can invest in a U.S. steel mill and be making some money here while also playing footsie with Vladimir Putin?
FERRYMAN: I can't speak for that. What I can tell you is that we are about as American a company as it gets here in Pueblo. We have been here longer than Colorado's been a state. And we're really critical to our nation's infrastructure.
CASEY MICHEL, AUTHOR, "AMERICAN KLEPTOCRACY": The thing to remember is this is all connected.
GRIFFIN: Oligarch expert and author Casey Michel says there is no doubt Abramovich's money helps Putin. The EU said Abramovich is providing a substantial source of revenue to the government of the Russian Federation.
MICHEL: There is no such thing as an independent or apolitical oligarch. These parasitic figures that extracted wealth in Russia are now extracting wealth in the United States of America, all on behalf of a dictatorship in the Kremlin.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Exactly, says Ukrainians for Colorado president, Marina Dubrova.
MARINA DUBROVA, PRESIDENT, UKRAINIANS FOR COLORADO: It doesn't matter how many, what's the stakes he owns in that company. Any stakes, half percent, even one tenth of a percent, that portion has to be sold.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Union president, Chuck Perko agrees Abramovich should sell. To him, it's personal.
PERKO: I am the grandson of war refugees.
[04:40:00]
The Russians came into my grandparents' farm in 1945 and told them you have one hour to leave. It hurts a little bit, but there is enough of a disconnect for me that I can go to work and know that we are not funding that war effort. We're completely separate.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Despite U.K., EU, and Canadian sanctions against him so far, the United States has not touched Roman Abramovich.
DUBROVA: The United States is still ignoring the fact that civilians are being killed. Look at Mariupol, I mean how much more evidence does United States has to have to make a decision?
GRIFFIN: As for why the Biden administration has not yet sanctioned Abramovich, sources telling CNN's Phil Mattingly at the White House that Treasury is looking at sanctions. But also trying to spare Evraz's U.S. plan so it doesn't damage anybody in the U.S. economy particularly, those U.S. steel worker jobs.
Drew Griffin, CNN, Chicago.
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FOSTER: If you would like to help Ukraine who may be in need of shelter, food and water, please go to our website. CNN.com/impact. You'll find several ways you can help there.
Now still to come, it's history in the making. As Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson gets one step closer to becoming a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. The latest on the vote to get her there when we return.
Plus, the Kansas Jayhawks are wearing the college basketball crown now. Details on the record-setting path to victory still ahead.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes! Yes! Let's go. We did it! We did it! We did it! Let's go!
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FOSTER: The U.S. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has secured the bipartisan support she needs to become the first black woman confirmed as a Supreme Court justice. Three Senate Republicans have pledged their votes for her confirmation expected later this week.
[04:45:00] CNN's Lauren Fox reports.
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LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: A major boost Monday night for Biden's nominee to the Supreme Court Ketanji Brown Jackson with two additional Republicans coming out saying they will ultimately support Judge Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court. Those two Republicans Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Senator Mitt Romney of Utah. Who announced Monday that they will vote to advance this nomination. Both given the fact that they support Judge Jackson's qualifications and in Murkowski's case, the fact that she no longer wants to see the Supreme Court fights become so partisan and bitter.
They joined one other Republican Senator Susan Collins from the state of Maine who already announced last week she would ultimately vote for Judge Jackson's nomination. The Senate will now move forward with several other procedural steps on the Senate floor. And on Friday we expect a final vote on her nomination.
For CNN on Capitol Hill, Lauren Fox.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Sacramento police have arrested a suspect they believe is connected to a mass shooting responsible for the deaths of six people on Sunday morning. Police have identified the 26-year-old man as a related suspect. He was taken into custody on charges of assault and illegal firearm possession. Authorities have also released the identities of the six people killed, three men and three women ranging in age from 21 to 57 years old. Sacramento's police chief says getting justice for the families is at the top of their list.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF KATHY LESTER, SACRAMENTO POLICE DEPARTMENT: It is really important to me that we do this right and get justice for those families.
We now know that at least three buildings were hit and three cars were also hit by gunfire and we've recovered well over 100 casings from the scene. So, we know that there were a lot of shots fired that night and hence the complexity of the investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Local residents gathered on Monday night to remember the victims of the shooting. A man claiming to be one of the victim's relatives called on the community to act before anyone else gets hurt.
Parts of Arkansas, Louisiana and now Mississippi are on the lookout for tornadoes. An ongoing storm system can produce twisters and golf ball size hail and that's not to mention rain. Four people have been rescued after their cars were swept away by flash flooding on Monday outside Dallas, Texas. Meteorologist Gene Norman is live from the CNN Weather Center. Hi, Gene.
GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Max. It's been a noisy night across North Texas and now it's going to be a messy morning for folks outside of Louisiana and Mississippi -- as we mentioned -- and southern Arkansas. Look at all of these storms roaring through. They're going to bring the threat, four tornadoes and many confirmed yet in Texas but there could be after the survey the damage from what happened in the overnight.
Right now, what we're seeing are storms that are producing strong winds. Whenever I see this curve in the radar, that lets me know these storms are packing a punch and there are numerous severe thunderstorm warnings right now in sections of northern Louisiana and the lightning is turning night to day. Look at all of these strikes here. Over 400 strikes within the past 15 minutes.
We talked about the rain. We showed you the rescues. No wonder, because we had anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of rainfall in a very short period of time across North Texas. In that will continue as these storms march across the south.
We'll put the forecast into motion so you can see when they're going to arrive in different cities. In Atlanta, probably around 2:00 this afternoon and then they will push further to the east along the coast from anywhere from Raleigh back down towards Jacksonville later on this evening. And even up the East Coast, New York and D.C., you're going to get the heavy rain but not Tennessee the severe weather.
And we are not done yet. Another line of storms will arrive as we head into Wednesday. So, it's really going to be a rough situation. On a scale from 1 to 5, the storm prediction center rates the risk. So, we have a level 3 risk in this orange shaded area that you see across a good part of southern Alabama and southern Georgia. That's for today. And there is a potential for tornadoes. We could see strong tornadoes of EF-2 -- which is winds of 111 miles an hour or higher.
And then on Wednesday the threat continues. In fact, Atlanta, Birmingham, this could be an area to watch for Wednesday. And even if you don't get hit by tornadoes or hail or the high winds, it's going to be hard to escape the rain. We could see anywhere from 2 to 4 inches in most of southern sections of Alabama and back towards Georgia. And in fact, flash flood watches are in effect for southern sections of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, as well as around New Orleans.
So, Max, it is going to be a mess for the next couple of days. This makes the third week in a row that we've been tracking spring storms, a pattern that a lot of folks in the south would just as soon like to see it go.
[04:50:03]
FOSTER: They're keeping you busy Gene. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. Meteorologist Gene Norman there.
Time for a short break now. When we come back, College basketball has a new champion. The record-breaking comeback and the exciting finish. Just ahead.
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FOSTER: They say Hawks fans were celebrating into the early morning across the state of Kansas. The men's basketball team defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels to claim their fourth college championship. CNN's Andy Scholes is in New Orleans.
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ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Well, the Final Four are coming to an end with yet another amazing emotional game, just full of the run and for the fourth time in their history, the Kansas Jayhawk's are national champions. But it certainly wasn't easy, North Carolina catching fire in their first half. Brady Manek making three threes. The Tar Heels went on a 16-0 run, led by 15 at halftime.
[04:55:00]
But Kansas came storming back in the second half thanks to a 31 to 10 run. Then, they were down 1 with under 90 seconds left. And the Jayhawk's big man, David McCormack coming up huge with back-to-back buckets to give Kansas a three-point lead.
Tar Heels had one last chance but they're three no good. Kansas celebrates an amazing comeback winning 72 to 69. It was the largest comeback in championship game history.
BILL SELF, KANSAS JAYHAWKS COACH: It is great for us. We played a terrific team. They played their butts off in the first half. We had no answer and then somehow the switch flipped to the second half and our guys were unbelievable.
SCHOLES: How happy are you, with that kind of a comeback?
SELF: You know, it would be unbelievable to win at all, but to win in that way, that'll be one that not too many people forget very soon.
SCHOLES: This is the first championship for Kansas since 2008. The second for head coach Bill Self. And he told me, he has coached a lot of talented teams over the years. But what set this group of players apart is how much they love and wanted to win for each other.
In New Orleans, Andy Scholes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. Our coverage continues on "EARLY START" with Christine Romans and Laura Jarrett and also Brianna Keilar. You're watching CNN.
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