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British Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Meets With Zelenskyy In Kyiv; Global Outrage After Russian Missile Hits Crowded Train Station; Russian Radio Intercepts Reveal Talk Of Killing Civilians; Ukrainians Face Putin's Propaganda When Talking To Family In Russia; Civilians Help Defend Small Ukrainian Town From Russian Troops; White House Says Its "Possible" Biden Could Get COVID Amid Outbreak In D.C.; SpaceX Capsule Carrying Tourists Arrives At ISS. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired April 09, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:39]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. And today the president of Ukraine is accusing Russia of yet another war crime. Vowing accountability for those behind a Russian missile strike that killed 52 people at a train station.

This is a new video. And we want to warn you, it is incredibly graphic.

Just frightening images there. Men, women, and children lying on the ground besides their luggage, their personal belongings. They were so close to reaching safety and then denied that safety by Putin's forces. That strike landed near the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine where analysts believe Russia is gearing up for a major offensive. But a European official says about one quarter of Russian forces used in the invasion are effectively inoperable after heavy losses across the country.

Russia is feeling the pressure to have something to show for their self-imposed victory deadline of May 9th, according to two European officials. And it only increases the concern that Russia could resort to more atrocities. More atrocities than what we have already seen so far.

And now let's go to Kyiv and CNN's Nima Elbagir who is there for us.

Nima, thank you so much. Great to see you. What more are we learning about this meeting between the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Zelenskyy. The prime minister traveled into Ukraine today, to the capital, for this meeting.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And he comes after Ursula von der Leyen, a key European Union official, also arrived. There is a sense to try to push back against Putin's continuing exercising of impunity. The horror at the train station, the other horrors that are being uncovered seemingly almost every day, Jim. While the world has been calling for war crimes investigations and not able to stop what is happening here on the ground. So instead they're coming here to show support.

In the case of Britain's Prime Minister Johnson, what that looked like was an increase in the ceiling of the loan guarantee that they're going to give Ukraine at the World Bank. So it now stands at up to almost $1.5 billion. An expansion of the defensive aid that's coming in, that has been used to such devastating effect by Ukrainian forces here in Kyiv and in the surrounding areas. Pushing back Russian forces.

But as you said, all eyes are on the east. All eyes are on the northeastern city of Kharkiv. Close to that where the train attack happened. And there is a real fear that the Russians are pivoting to using their own territory to soften the ground, so to speak, ahead of that feared ground incursion. What we have seen, what our investigative team has seen on the ground is that following the trajectory of much of the ordinates that's on Kharkiv and its the surroundings, it takes you back into Russia.

And it gives Russian forces a comfort zone to be able to hammer away at civilians to produce more and more pictures like the ones we've been seeing over the last days and weeks ahead of a push into the east of this country. And the military aid that the U.S. and today Prime Minister Johnson came with, that's not going to help the Ukrainians against that. And that is the real worry moving forward here -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Nima Elbagir, a lot of developments there in Kyiv. Thank you very much for that report. We appreciate it.

And CNN's Ben Wedeman joins me now from the Donetsk region in Ukraine.

Ben, we are seeing horror stories of Ukrainian residents who say soldiers from the Russian army forcibly evacuated them to Russia and on the way passed through what are being called filtration camps. Help our viewers understand what is going on here. Some of these are reportedly near your region.

What do we know about these filtration camps and are they as horrible as that name suggests, as that term suggests?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The term, Jim, sort of tells you a lot right there, that they are looking for anybody who has served in the military, who has played a role in public life, who has been in the police, who has served in the local administration.

[15:05:13]

These are centers where anybody who is in any way affiliated with the Ukrainian state as it exists today is being taken away to fate unknown. And, therefore, I think that, obviously, the precise details of what's going on in those camps is not at all clear. But it certainly is, many believe, was part of the playbook the Russians came in. Of course, their ambitions have been much larger than their ability to achieve them.

But it is believed that if they had been able to take Kyiv, for instance, there would have been mass arrests, mass detentions of anybody involved in any major way or even minor way with the Ukrainian government -- Jim.

ACOSTA: And, Ben, help us, if you can, with some of this dramatic video that we were looking at earlier at the top of this hour. This horrific attack on the train station there in eastern Ukraine. 52 people killed. Some 99 injured, at this point. President Zelenskyy is vowing to seek accountability for what occurred there. We're showing some of the images to our viewers now, Ben.

Is this what it appears to be an attack on a Ukrainian train station for the purpose of instilling fear in the Ukrainian civilian population as they're trying to escape using the train and railway system of that country? Escape areas where there is bombardment going on? Is that essentially what is going on, do you think?

WEDEMAN: Yes, of course the Russians have flatly denied they have anything to do with it and in typical Russian force have turned around and said it was the Ukrainians who did it. That this Tochka rocket that was used is only used by the Ukrainian military, although it's been documented that the Russian military still uses them as well as the forces in these so-called breakaway peoples' republics of eastern Ukraine.

Now what we know, at this point, about this strike is that all the injured from the strike, according to a local hospital official we just spoke to have been evacuated from the city. They've been moved to the city of Dnipro and the capital Kyiv, and that when the strike took place, there were 4,000 people, according to local officials, waiting to be evacuated because at the moment, there's a major evacuation effort underfoot because, of course, it is anticipated that perhaps in the coming days there will be a major Russian offensive in this area.

They were dealing with as many as 8,000 people evacuating them from the Kramatorsk railway station in recent days. Now, however, that station is no longer functioning. They're trying to filter the evacuees to other railway stations but Ukrainian officials are trying to keep that secret in fear of another Russian missile strike -- Jim.

ACOSTA: It just seems every day the Russians are finding new ways to make the lives of the Ukrainians a living hell. Even as they're trying to escape this violence.

Ben Wedeman, thank you very much.

The horrific images out of Ukraine are just part of a growing body of evidence that points toward apparent war crimes by the Russian military. Intercepted communications released this week by Ukraine's security service and analyzed by CNN appear to show Russian soldiers in Ukraine talking very candidly about shooting civilians, destroying villages and raping people.

Matthew Chance has the details for us. And we want to warn you, what you're about to see and hear is very disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a war where every Russian atrocity can be recorded. As the Kremlin is finding out, every illegal order potentially intercepted and exposed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): A car drove by, but I'm not sure if it was a car or a military vehicle. But there were two people coming out of the grove dressed as civilians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Kill them all, for (EXPLETIVE DELETED) sake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Got it. But all the village here is civilian.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): What's wrong with you? If there are civilians, slay them all.

CHANCE: Intentionally targeting civilians. Something Russia categorically denies is a war crime. Kremlin blames Ukrainian forces for the devastation and the bloodshed.

[15:10:03]

But hours of audio recordings said to be of Russian soldiers communicating with their commanders and released by the Ukrainian Security Services seem to tell a very different story. One of civilian areas laid to waste by Russian forces on purpose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Shell everywhere. Shell the settlements directly, got it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Got it. That's what I'm doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Throw some to the west, dammit, several shells, to those closer to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Kulinovka, Riabushki. I think they are working from there, aren't they?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Yes. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Roger that. I will pass on the coordinates now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Shell them. Shell them a lot to raze these two villages to the ground.

CHANCE: And killing civilians isn't the only excess of which Russian forces are accused. Multiple reports have emerged of rape of young women, even children by rampaging troops. One intercept records a Russian soldier in a tank regiment telling a horrified woman on the other end of the line what he knew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Basically, three tankers here, raped a girl.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through text translation): Who?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Three tankers. She was 16 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through text translation): Our tankers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through text translation): (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

CHANCE: But these are not the crimes of victors. Time and again Russian armor has been ravaged by Ukrainian forces and the reports of severely disrupted supply lines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Do they feed you well?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Yes, OK. We feed ourselves alright. We butchered a dog and ate it. It was OK.

CHANCE: And plunging morale among inexperienced soldiers, some as young as 18. Disturbed by the violence and desperate for peace so they can go home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): We are so fed up sitting here, and I just hope we are not going to get hit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through text translation): But are going to be a veteran after this special military operation in Ukraine. Putin has signed a decree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): What veteran? They promised us we would all get medals, and money with each medal. But I want to go home. I don't need those medals.

CHANCE: Instead of medals, there are now growing calls for those suspected of war crimes to be tried. It may never happen but forensic teams are in Ukraine piecing together evidence just in case. Already there are thousands to whom justice must be done.

Matthew Chance, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Astounding report. Just unreal.

Let's bring in retired Brigadier General Peter Zwack, a former U.S. senior defense attache to Russia.

General, these intercepted communications are just outright disturbing. What thoughts come to mind as you listen to this audience and, I guess, read the subtitles, the captions. I mean, it's -- the brutality, the barbarism. It's astounding. Mind boggling.

BRIG. GEN. PETER ZWACK (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Yes, Jim, your question invokes these thoughts, these visceral thoughts as I watch this extraordinary reporting. One -- and we'll talk about the atrocities. But the absolute chaotic, ill-discipline on the Russian side that is now at the absolute lowest ground level. We have a term in the military conflict communication security is gone.

They're just on their push-to-talk radios and if they have them, and saying out in the air what is going on, where their officers and junior officers are probably talking to. It's a mess. And it just shows how broken they are. The fact that they want to go home makes perfect sense. They've been deployed into a buzz saw. And they never imagined the Ukrainians would give them the fight they are. And they're in the middle of civilians.

And the blood lust is up, you can see that. And the war crimes. No matter what level. So, yes, this is war. This is mano-a-mano, tooth and nail fighting for survival all around and you see it now in the viciousness at the low level, which is absolutely indefensible. It's out there. And history will judge.

[15:15:02]

ACOSTA: And just over a month in, the Russian soldiers are talking on their walkie-talkies about eating dogs. I mean that to me says these Russian forces are totally ill prepared in many circumstances for what they're up against. And now the situation is getting desperate for them, too. You can hear them in the audio saying I want to go home. I don't want my medals. I want to go home.

ZWACK: Yes. And I think that this is manifest among a good percentage of the Russian forces in Ukraine including Donbas and, oh, by the way the word is getting out to the Russians that are preparing the next push. Whether they have come out of near Kyiv and going around, which means they're talking to Russians all over, or preparing and massing their already damaged forces and bringing in new troops.

A number of them are pretty raw that are hearing all this. They want -- it's normal that they want to go home when you're hearing what they put into. The Ukrainians are going to fight and they're going to fight hard. And we've seen they'll fight to the death. Most of the Russian rank and file don't want to do that, apparently, but they will fight for survival and fight for each other, which makes this thing even more vicious because it's the civilians tragically caught in the middle (INAUDIBLE), and I have a feeling this is going to play out in pretty, pretty awful ways in Donbas in the next few weeks.

ACOSTA: And Ukraine is bracing for a major Russian offensive in Donbas. Can -- do you think that the Ukrainians can fight them back in the east, clobber them in the east as they did in the Kyiv region? Do we think that that is too optimistic a scenario to potentially see something like that happening again? Or might the Russians -- and they have those separatist forces there, of course, might they be more successful there?

ZWACK: I think, first of all, the Ukrainians have the motivation and the will. However, the Russians are learning, too. And their forces have been badly bloodied and they're being recommitted on top of those that are already there. So they're a little bit -- they know the battle field a little bit better now. They are -- you know, you almost have, you know, World War I, World War II, type entrenchments back and forth.

So the forces are more fixed. The ground is more open. But -- and I think that you will see coming through you've been reporting about Belgorod and Kharkiv, new forces coming in. What is interesting, a number of those forces apparently being drawn from the training base and others. Meaning they're not, if you will, the best for the main line forces but they have massed and the Russians, for better or worse, have learned a lot.

But so have you the Ukrainians. And yes, I think that as Mark Kimmitt mentioned earlier, 9 May is Victory Day. That is a victory parade in Red Square. Into it, it's a big deal. And Putin and the regime needs something to show for it. So yes, I think we're going to see a major push. Artillery, rockets, missiles. The Ukrainians have learned.

They've got drones and all kinds of things. They'll hold your own. But this is going to be, I think a much harder -- well, we can see the key fight was hard. But this is going to be more bludgeoning face to face. And then you have the pincers that want to come in from Kharkiv and up from (INAUDIBLE).

ACOSTA: I can't imagine it getting worse than what we've seen so far. But I suspect that that's exactly what we're going to see in the coming weeks.

All right, General Peter Zwack, thank you very much as always. We appreciate it. Thanks for the straight talk as always.

Coming up, the pain of Putin's propaganda. Ukrainians staring down death and destruction also contend with relatives in Russia. As we've talked about in previous programs, don't believe anything that is happening as it's being reported out of Ukraine. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:31]

ACOSTA: As Ukrainians live among abandoned Russian tanks and towns reduced to rubble, their own family members in Russia refuse to believe what's happening. Vladimir Putin's propaganda funneled through Russia's state TV is turning out to be far more powerful than the videos and images that Ukrainians are sending to their relatives. One woman from Kharkiv said she sent videos to her family only to be met with disbelief. They did not want to believe what she was telling them.

And Anastasia Belomytseva -- I hope I have that correctly -- joins me now from western Ukraine.

Anastasia, thank you so much. Tell us about what you've been going through. Trying to talk to your family members in Russia about what is happening in Ukraine. What did they tell you? When you told them about what was happening in Ukraine, what was their response?

ANASTASIA BELOMYTSEVA, KHARKIV, UKRAINE RESIDENT: Actually, I have no like strong connection with my relatives in Russia since 2014 because they just don't believe that something terrible is happening in Ukraine. And actually now they are worried about me, about myself, about my family, that our native city won't have these attacks by Russian soldiers. They just don't worry. They don't understand this at all.

And even my colleagues from my previous work, whom I've been contacted and shared the videos and the messages, just trying to explain what is happening now here that it is terrible.

[15:25:13]

That we were forced to leave our home, to leave our native town of Kharkiv, and around to the western part of Ukraine together with my family because I was woke up on the 24th of February with the sound of bombs (INAUDIBLE). So it is just hard to explain but it is totally unexplainable for the Russian people.

ACOSTA: And you said it's easier to explain the invasion to your 7- year-old daughter than some of the people that you've been speaking with. What do you mean by this?

BELOMYTSEVA: So, for my daughter, I have actually two daughters. One is 7 years old and the other is only 1 year old. And for my daughter who is 7 years old, and it is really hard for her to understand what is happening. So she was really terrified from the first days and that is why we actually were forced to leave Kharkiv. But it is easier for her to understand what is happening comparing to the Russian colleagues and my Russian relatives.

ACOSTA: And what is it like in Kharkiv right now?

BELOMYTSEVA: Because she --

ACOSTA: I'm sorry, what were you saying?

BELOMYTSEVA: Could you please repeat?

ACOSTA: Say that one more time, Anastasia?

BELOMYTSEVA: Could you please repeat your last question?

ACOSTA: Well, I was just wondering what can you tell us about what is happening where you are and what you've been going through?

BELOMYTSEVA: Yes, sure. So it was awful actually. So we woke up on the 24th of February, with this terrifying sound of bombing. And we actually picked up something, at least something and on the second day of war, we just of course forced to leave our city because we had the rocket falling down, just I don't know many hundred meters from my home.

And now I'm living in the western part of Ukraine. I had the -- actually I can tell that I'm a bit lucky maybe because I had a big support from my company where I'm working. And actually, I'm continuing to work now. And I have my relatives, my family with me.

But in Kharkiv, it's a terrible situation because my city was bombed more than 50 times during the day. So it is just hard to imagine, like, every half an hour, let's say Kharkiv -- the city of one million citizens in the center of Europe was bombed.

ACOSTA: And the people that you're in contact with in Russia, they don't want to believe that any of this is going on? And when you try to explain it to them, they just -- they don't believe it because they're watching Russian media all the time, Russian state media?

BELOMYTSEVA: Yes. Yes. Exactly. So I have like two parts. The one part, they are just not believing, yes, because they are only watching the TV. The other part are trying to understand what is happening (INAUDIBLE). So afraid to tell that they actually understand what is happening. And that is Russian military and Russian soldiers attacking and invading into Ukraine. But they're afraid even to agree with me on the Instagram messaging with the statement. And it is easier for them --

ACOSTA: They are afraid to agree with you on Instagram because of fear of what could happen to them back home.

BELOMYTSEVA: Yes.

ACOSTA: My goodness. My goodness. Well, Anastasia Belomytseva, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it. Please stay safe. And get back in touch with us if you ever get through to those people that you know in Russia, with the truth. Let us know. Thank you so much.

BELOMYTSEVA: Thank you.

ACOSTA: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:00]

ACOSTA: And get back in touch with us if you ever get through to the people in Russia -- if you get through to them with the truth, let us know.

Thank you so much.

BELOMYTSEVA: Thank you. Thank you.

ACOSTA: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: As Russian troops advance on the east and south, Ukrainian civilians continue to show heroism and courage in the face of so much brutality.

That includes a group of grandmothers in one small town who were not afraid to stand up to the Russians.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sign into town reads, "Russian soldier, you will die here." The Russians didn't listen.

[15:35:02]

This is the story of how this small city of Voznesensk fought off the Russian invasion in early March.

EVGEN VELICHKO, MAYOR OF VOZNESENSK, UKRAINE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAVANDERA: Evgen Velichko is the mayor of the city of 30,000 people. He took us to the bridge, at least, where the bridge used to be, where Ukrainian soldiers, volunteer fighters and a fearlessly creative cast of civilians stared down the Russians.

(on camera): How close did the Russians get to taking over the city?

VELICHKO: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAVANDERA: You can see over here on the other side of the bridge in the distance there, just on the other side of the bridge, a row of tires, and that is as close as the Russian tanks came.

(voice-over): The mayor says the Ukrainians blew it up so that the Russians couldn't cross into the heart of the city. That sparked a two-day confrontation.

But thousands of residents were trapped on the other side of the bridge, the only section of the city Russian forces invaded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAVANDERA: This man, named Evan (ph,) lives in a house along the main road into town. Several homes and cars around him were scorched in the firefight. He hid inside with his elderly mother, as the Russian tanks swarmed his neighborhood.

LAVANDERA (on camera): He describes how terrifying it was. Several homes blown up around him, constant barrage of gunfire. But he tells us he actually didn't see it, he had to hide inside his home, but just the sound of it was terrifying.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Various cameras captured the images of the Russian military vehicles with the letter "Z" emblazoned on the side.

The mayor says three columns of Russian soldiers moved into the city. One military official says the Russians invaded with at least 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers and as many as 500 soldiers. LAVANDERA (on camera): So, this is Ghost. He's asked that we not use his full name. And he is the head of a reconnaissance unit here in this town that was instrumental in fighting back the Russians.

And this was the spot. This was the spot where you fought the Russians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAVANDERA: He says he thinks that's a blood stain there. Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAVANDERA: The remnants of a Russian meal?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Wednesday. we're advancing towards the breach. Thanks to the Ukrainian military forces, the Air Assault Brigade, the territorial defense and our recon squad, we fought them off.

Here we showered them with artillery, and we destroyed them.

LAVANDERA (VO): The Ukrainians blew up multiple bridges in the city to keep the Russians from moving into this town that sits at a strategic crossroads in southern Ukraine and kept Vladimir Putin's army from invading deeper into the country.

LAVANDERA (on camera): In this spot, just on the edge of the city, multiple Russian tanks were taken out here. We're actually standing in the ashes of one of those tanks. And there were at least two Russian soldiers that were killed in this very spot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): We are strong. Our city is strong. Our spirit is strong. When the enemy came, everyone rose up, from kids to the elderly.

LAVANDERA (VO): Hiding residents called in the locations of Russian soldiers. Others ran ammunition and supplies wherever it was needed.

LAVANDERA (on camera): The Russians had more firepower had more weapons than you guys had.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): They were powerful. They had tanks, they had APCs, a lot of wheeled vehicles, but we stronger, smarter and more tactical.

LAVANDERA: Are you worried that they're going to come back for revenge after you guys embarrass them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): No. It's them who should be afraid. They should know, if they come here, they will remain here as cargo 200. We already have refrigerators for their bodies, and we can bring more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): But the Russian soldiers weren't ready to face the grandmothers of Stepova (ph) Street.

In a small village on the edge of Voznesensk, 88-year-old Vira walked out armed with her canes and fired off an epic tirade of verbal artillery.

VIRA PARASENYK RAKOVE, UKRAINE RESIDENT (through translation): I come out from the kitchen, and I tell him -- sorry for the language -- fuck your mother. Has your Putin gone made firing at kids? Fuck, is he mad? He is a bitch? He must die.

LAVANDERA: They say they were chased out of their homes and robbed. But the women relish telling this story with laughter.

(LAUGHTER)

LAVANDERA: I asked if they're worried the Russians will return to seek revenge. They tell me they're not going anywhere.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Voznesensk, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:40:02]

ACOSTA: Don't mess with Ukrainian grandmothers.

Coming up, last time there was a Supreme Court celebration at the White House, it became a COVID super-spreader event. How the White House this time around tried to avoid a repeat at the ceremony for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Just in, another new case of COVID in the Biden administration. We've just learned Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has tested positive. This comes after dozens of other people in the Biden administration have tested positive.

[15:45:07]

Arlette Saenz joining us now.

President Joe Biden tested negative but, if he tested positive, he would be able to carry-on his job.

But what's going on? Is this outbreak changing the protocols there? Are the masks going back on? What can you tell us?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Jim, what we've seen is a change in how the White House is talking about the possibility of President Biden potentially contracting COVID-19, at some point.

Yesterday, they were openly saying it's very possible the president could have a positive test for COVID at some point in the future.

Now this comes as the administration's COVID protocols have come into focus following that recent string of positive tests among a few cabinet officials as well as lawmakers, and other officials with ties to the White House.

Most recently, as you noted, the Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today he tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing minor -- mild symptoMs.

Vice President Kamala Harris was a close contact of Jamaal Simmons, her communications director, who tested positive.

But so far, the White House has said that each of these people who have contracted COVID were not a close contact of President Biden, even though he has attended some events with people who eventually tested positive.

If you take a look at the photo of an event the president was at a little bit earlier in the week, he was standing next to two people who tested positive for COVID, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The White House is pointing to the CDC guidelines, saying that close contacts are essentially people who spend a cumulative 15 minutes in close proximity to one another.

But for the time being, there haven't been major changes to the COVID protocols here at the White House.

They do say they take additional steps to try to keep the president protected. That includes testing for those who will be close to the president as well as social distancing when possible.

The president himself tested negative for COVID-19 yesterday -- Jim?

ACOSTA: All right. I remember a different COVID super-spreader event for a Supreme Court justice. It seems it's a problem any time you get a lot of people together at the White House in close company with one another. Glad they're taking more precautions.

Arlette Saenz, thank you very much.

Coming up, a first of its kind a mission. A SpaceX rocket carrying paying customers arrives at the International Space Station. What is next on this out-of-this-world agenda.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:19]

ACOSTA: The International Space Station is now officially a tourist destination.

CNN's Rachel Crane has all of the details of this historic moment -- Rachel?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN INNOVATION & SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Jim, the AZ-1 crew successfully docked at the International Space Station this morning around 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

Now, this was a first-of-its-kind mission because all crew members on board were private astronauts.

They were greeted by the crew on board the International Space Station, dubbed Exposition 67, which included a few NASA astronauts, a European astronaut, and three Russian cosmonauts.

Now, Larry Connor, who is the pilot of AX-1, had words about this historic launch. Take a listen.

LARRY CONNOR, ENTREPRENEUR & NON-PROFIT ACTIVIST INVESTOR & AX-1 PILOT: We understand there's a responsibility, and the responsibility is for this first civilian crew to get it right. And that's what we're fully committed to with the support with everybody here at the ISS and on the ground.

So it will be a busy week of research for us. I'm sure it's going to fly by.

CRANE: Jim, they will be pretty busy while they're on station. They're going to be doing over 100 hours of scientific research, running 25 different experiments.

One even includes a hologram teleportation, which is kind of a fancy way of saying a two-way video dialogue. Also doing research into aging and brain health, cardiac health.

So they are very busy on station, as well as, of course, taking in beautiful views.

They will be on station for about eight days before splashing down next week.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: All right. Thanks very much.

In the meantime, Anthony Bourdain played a special role in millions of people's lives around the world.

Now as CNN prepares to bring you the new film "Roadrunner, a film about Anthony Bourdain, some of Tony's closest friends and family share their favorite memories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD LEE, CHEF & AUTHOR & HOST, "THE MIND OF A CHEF": The very first time I met Tony, he was doing a speaking tour. He came through Louisville. The venue he was at asked a couple of chefs to do some food for, like, an after-event.

We were all very excited. Everyone made this really fancy ornate food to try to impress him. He wasn't eating any of the other food. And you could just tell he wasn't into.

I had some fresh oysters and I made a brown butter and I cooked it down with a lot of bourbon, a little bit of lemon juice. Real simple.

And he comes back into the hallway and, you know, said thank you. He was very gracious to all of us. But he doesn't each any of the food. You could tell he was just trying to avoid the crowd a little bit.

And he takes one of the oysters of mine that is now cold and he slips it down. And he looks over at us and he had this intense look on his face.

[15:55:04]

And sometimes when Tony liked something, you couldn't tell if he was happy or angry.

And he looked over his shoulder and said, who the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) made this oyster? And of course, my heart just stopped a minute. And I thought, oh, no, I just fed him an oyster that he hates.

I finally kind of like fessed up to it. And he looked at me and he goes, can I have another? And I was like -- I was able to exhale.

He was just a very gracious man. And I remember we had a nice conversation that night. And ever since then, he's just been very kind to me in my career.

And I'll never forget what he's meant to the world of food, gastronomy and to culture all around the world.

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ACOSTA: "Roadrunner," a film about Anthony Bourdain, premieres tomorrow night at 9:00, right here on CNN.

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