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Macron Projected To Win Second Term As French President; Zelenskyy Says He Will Meet With Blinken And Austin In Kyiv Today; Elizabeth Warren Says Kevin McCarthy A Liar And A Traitor. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired April 24, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:01]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, welcome back, and thanks for joining us for this next hour. I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

We begin with this breaking news: Results in the pivotal presidential election in France are now in. Incumbent Emmanuel Macron now projected to win his second five-year term defeating far-right challenger, Marine Le Pen for the second time. Macron has been influential in talks between Russia and Ukraine as the war continues.

And right now, intense fighting underway across Ukraine on this Orthodox Easter Sunday. Major bombardments in Mariupol. Ukrainian forces surrounded and Ukraine says a humanitarian corridor could not open in the besieged city today because Russia would not guarantee a ceasefire.

And in Odessa, new video emerging of a Russian missile strike on an apartment building, eight people were killed, including a three-month- old baby. And despite the latest round of attacks, President Zelenskyy says he is meeting with top U.S. officials in Kyiv today. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Zelenskyy pulling no punches about what he expects from that visit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Why is it important for leaders to come to us? I will give you a pragmatic answer, because they should not come here with empty hands now. We're waiting not for just presents or cakes. We're expecting specific things and specific weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Let's turn now to CNN international correspondent, Matt Rivers in Kyiv. So, Matt, more heavy shelling taking place in Eastern Ukraine. Potentially, you know, as the backdrop of this meeting, Zelenskyy says what is to happen today, what more are we hearing about what is happening?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, just to run through the general headlines first, Fred, in terms of what we're seeing, with this renewed Russian offensive here in Ukraine, and unfortunately, it is more of the same. We have seen reports of eight people killed in the Donetsk region, several people killed in the Luhansk region, both in the eastern part of the country making up the Donbas region where Russia has really focused its efforts in this new, this latest offensive, but we've also seen shelling continuing in places like Zaporizhzhia, a city more toward the central part of the country where Ukrainian officials say three people working in their gardens. So basically just civilians were killed by Russian shelling.

And then also we heard a lot from Ukrainian officials today about the southern city of Kherson. So, this is a city that fell to Russian forces not long after the war started, and it is a place where Russia is trying to build out from as it attempts to take more territory in the southern part of the country with one Ukrainian official saying that Kherson is on the verge of a quote "humanitarian catastrophe."

So taken all together, it is more of the same Russia's offensive continuing to target civilian areas, which is something that we have seen consistently in the southern city of Mariupol for weeks, which has been besieged by Russian forces for a long time.

Now, as you mentioned off the top once again, an evacuation humanitarian corridor not agreed to, which means the tens of thousands of people that should be evacuated from that place, are not being allowed to do so. This all with the backdrop of Orthodox Easter Sunday, Fred, being celebrated here.

And also this message, excuse me, the supposed meeting between President Zelenskyy and also Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin still not confirmed to have happened here in Kyiv today, despite the fact that Zelenskyy told reporters last night, Saturday night that this meeting was happening, perhaps the White House kind of following standard diplomatic protocol and waiting for these two leaders to leave the country before giving us details about what was said.

WHITFIELD: Right. Security is paramount and I'm sure it changed the plans a lot after President Zelenskyy made this expected meeting public.

All right, Matt Rivers, thank you so much.

All right. Let's get back to other breaking news, this time out of France where French President Emmanuel Macron is now projected to win his second five-year term analysis of early results show him defeating his far-right challenger, Marine Le Pen, who has conceded.

CNN's diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson is with us now. So, she has conceded, but she still says this is a victory. Why?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: She did because she did better than in previous elections. She said they have got millions of votes. She obviously wanted to gin up her supporters, because as she said, we're going into Parliamentary Elections within the next few weeks. So in June, they have Parliamentary Elections in France and she wants

to get her supporters out for that. So, this was sort of her claiming a victory, making a turn towards the next elections. No mention of President Macron in her speech either, so this is really all about her next move, not getting out of politics clearly not getting out of populist right-wing French politics. That's her position.

[15:05:11]

ROBERTSON: It didn't do her enough good, but I think to get to the essence of why she calls it a victory, she is a politician, they are always going to try to define even a loss as a positive thing and she certainly got a lot of applause from her supporters. The reality is, she lost significantly.

WHITFIELD: And as for Macron, what kind of reaction across France and Europe?

ROBERTSON: Yes, French, I think there's a lot of relief among obviously, all his supporters, significantly, there is quite a chunk of the population who didn't show up to vote, and that is going to be a concern for other political figures in France, and we heard from the sort of the third-party runner up, the Socialists, he came out and spoke after Le Pen's concession speech and told his supporters, you know, get out the vote for the Parliamentary Elections coming up.

So I think there's a real sense in the political class in France that, you know, there is a segment of the population that feel disenfranchised. Very warm reception in Europe. I mean, you had the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, saying -- tweeting out, "Dear Emmanuel Macron." It's almost as if the sort of European leadership Twittersphere just lit up as the results came announced.

You've had the Belgian Prime Minister, Finnish Prime Minister, the Dutch Prime Minister and saying heartfelt congratulations, the Czech Prime Minister saying heartfelt congratulations, Xavier Bettel the Luxembourg Prime Minister, happy to be working with you again, the Prime Minister in Ireland, Taoiseach Michael Martin, saying, "You're a principled leader, we need your leadership."

There have been so many European leaders, so this is it. I mean, the reality is, there's a real sense of relief, had Le Pen won, there would have been a great deal of concern about the unity of the European Union and her position, quite a pro-Putin position really disrupting the strength of the European Union at a time when it really needs to be facing off against Russia.

So that relief it is -- and in these tweets, the speed they came, what they're saying, is palpable. People are happy.

WHITFIELD: Macron feeling a lot of love, amore.

Now, how about from the White House? What -- you know, what has been said from the White House? The Biden administration?

ROBERTSON: This is -- I'm going to have to tell you here, Fred, I'm not getting that here yet. I've been up to my ears in the tweets that we've been getting in from the Europeans, but this has got to be good for the White House, right?

The last thing that they would need would be a divided European Union, a fractious European Union. You know, in the past Le Pen had been talking about trying to pull France out of NATO. So, that's clearly not in, you know, not in the White House interest. So, I haven't seen what the White House has said, but I can only imagine they're going to be breathing a sigh of relief and are happy about this, too.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nic Robertson, get back to reading the pile of tweets that seems to be pouring in as a result of Macron's win. Let us know, thanks so much.

ROBERTSON: They are.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, fallout continues over the explosive leaked audio of U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Why one U.S. senator is calling him a quote "liar and traitor."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:12:42]

WHITFIELD: All right. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren lashing out today at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Kevin McCarthy is liar and a traitor. This is outrageous, and that is really the illness that pervades the Republican leadership right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Warren responding to audio recordings of McCarthy telling House Republicans that Trump admitted some responsibility for the insurrection and that McCarthy urged him to resign, but before the release of those tapes, McCarthy denied ever thinking that Trump should step down.

CNN's Eva McKend joining us now from Washington. So Eva, what else did Warren have to say?

EVAN MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Oh, Fred, Senator Warren's beef with Minority Leader McCarthy is that he was saying one thing to the public and something entirely different in private. He is likely not going to be all that concerned about her.

His issue, though, could be with the MAGA faction of the Republican Caucus. Now, I don't know anybody in this town who wants to be Speaker of the House more than Kevin McCarthy. That is going to be dependent on House Republicans taking back the House in 2022.

In the wake of this damning audio, the former President and congressional Republicans seem to be sticking with him for now, but that very well could change. Trump is not a reliable ally to Republicans. We've seen him give endorsements only to yank them away. It doesn't seem as though there will be any immediate political consequences for McCarthy, but the lie was bold and noteworthy.

WHITFIELD: All right, COVID and Ukraine still top of mind throughout Washington. Congress returning from a two-week break. President Biden is expected to ask lawmakers for a little bit more give on those areas.

MCKEND: That's right. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office says she wants to bring Ukraine aid to the floor as soon as possible, but not offering a specific timeline as yet. The funding measure is expected to have wide bipartisan support, but some of the open questions are: Will this bill include more COVID funding or if other unrelated policy differences that happened from time to time up here will derail progress on moving those issues across the finish line -- Fred.

[15:15:01]

WHITFIELD: All right, Eva McKend in Washington, thank you so much for that.

All right, and now returning to that consequential vote today in France where French President Emmanuel Macron is projected to win his second five-year term. Early analysis shows him defeating his far- right challenger Marine Le Pen, who has conceded. CNN correspondents at both campaign headquarters.

Let's begin with CNN's Jim Bittermann at Le Pen's headquarters where she did concede and how did the audience react?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, she did concede and the audience booed, but that was about the extent of her concessions, because as she went on to make a very fiery speech, she did not congratulate Mr. Macron. She didn't say that she was going to be willing to work together with Mr. Macron, for the good of the French people, the kind of things that she said all she stands for. She said that throughout our campaign.

So in fact, it was concession speak, but not much of a concession, and she said that they were going to fight on, their group was going to fight her on, their party was going to fight on for the will of the French people to address subjects like cost of living and how hard it is for the average Frenchman on the street, subjects that she says that Mr. Macron has ignored.

So what they're looking ahead for is a victory in the legislative elections that are coming up in June. If they win any kind of a sizable majority in the Parliament, they along with the left could in fact frustrate Mr. Macron's plans. He hasn't had this situation before because he has been in office five years and he's had a Parliament that's basically on his side.

Even the executive and the legislative branch has been on his side, so he has been able to do quite a few things, not always things that the French people like obviously because of the way they voted today -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jim Bittermann, thank you so much.

Let's turn now to Melissa Bell. She is joining us on the phone from Macron headquarters So, Melissa, has Macron showed up there yet.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): It has been an ecstatic crowd, Fredricka. His motorcade has just come Elysee Palace where he watched the vote, and the party is going on here at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, he is to take to the state stage fairly soon to make his speech.

All those results we've seen over the course of the last few minutes, that is a difference between he and his challenger, the far-right candidate, but widened ever so slightly in his favor.

So again, far from making a triumphant speech is what I think what we expect to hear from him tonight. Fredricka, the French President, much relieved, a victory that have profound implications not just for the people of France, but for Europe itself, the war in Ukraine, for so many issues far beyond France's quarter.

But beyond that relief, I think you're going to hear, we reach out that the French electorate system is not perfect, and the more than 50 percent of voters who in the first round voted for either extreme left or extreme right candidate. And Fredericka, that really speaks to the great divisions that exist here in French society.

Now, here is a President, well-respected, well-liked, well-recognized, very active abroad and who simply is very divisive here in this country. So I think tonight, you're going to hear the beginning of his pitch for what he hopes to do over the next five years, which he has already said, he intends to be very different from the last five years.

He saw himself in those first round results that this is a country that didn't sink and that in any case, the confirmation last night, the political landscape redrawn. 2017, the old left and right were swept aside in favor of the center and the far right. Again, that was confirmed with a second round vote tonight.

He has done better with a greater proportion of votes in the polls had predicted. He's done remarkably well. That's why your supporters are so pleased tonight, but there's an awful lot to fix if he is going to get through the next five years and build a majority that he needs in Parliament next month -- Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: All right, it looks like from these pictures, they are ready for a big party there at Macron headquarters.

All right, Melissa Bell, Jim Bittermann, thank you so much.

All right, still ahead, images of atrocities. We'll talk to a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer about the importance of capturing the brutality of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:39]

WHITFIELD: Some of the toughest parts of covering the horrors of war is showing the graphic images and much of what you're about to see is very graphic, but my next guest argues these images have to be seen.

In recent days, Ukrainian officials say they have identified mass graves outside the besieged city of Mariupol. They say the finding adds to the mounting proof of Russian war crimes against civilians, and that discovery follows the horrors uncovered in Bucha earlier this month, after Russian troops pulled out of that small village on the outskirts of Kyiv.

Photographs showing bodies of civilians lining the streets, many of the victims with their hands tied behind their backs.

Joining me right now is Pulitzer Prize winning photo journalist, David Hume Kennerly. So good to see you. You wrote a "New York Times" op-ed piece simply titled "Photographing Hell."

And while you were looking at the horrific images coming out of Ukraine, particularly in Bucha, you say one of the first things that you thought of was what you saw in Jonestown in 1978, which was a massacre of more than 900 Americans who were members of a San Francisco religious cult after drinking poison, and a photograph that you took that day was put on the cover of "Time" Magazine for the world to see.

So why did you -- I'm going to ask you more of course about the images in Ukraine, but in that particular moment, why did that day come to mind for you?

[15:25:12]

DAVID HUME KENNERLY, PHOTOJOURNALIST: Well, it was one of the worst days of my life having to see that, and that image on the cover of "Time" has stopped people in their tracks, really. It is hard to imagine that happened. It is hard to imagine what's going on right now in Ukraine, and the similarity between I saw what I saw in Jonestown and Bucha, particularly, really drove it home. And I think that's what made everybody kind of look twice and say: Oh, my God, this is not random violence that people are -- Russian soldiers are executing people and leaving their bodies laying around on the street.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it's almost like oh, my gosh, can this really be happening? Is this real? And that's what these images, your images and the images we're seeing out of Ukraine do, it helps people open their eyes, right, sadly.

So your photographs from Vietnam won a Pulitzer Prize, one of your photos is eerily similar to one that we have been seeing when we saw from Bucha taken by a Carol Guzy, which is very graphic, oh my gosh, look at that. It's just hard to look at, I mean, showing someone in a body bag, talk to us about the power of these photographs and the parallels? KENNERLY: Well, it's so bizarre, because I was looking through some of

my Vietnam stuff. Now the, the guy I photographed was a North Vietnamese prisoner of war who was alive, but it really was similar. But the thing about Carol's picture, one -- and by the way, it's one of the best coming out of Ukraine, and that is saying something. There are so many great photographers there.

This one, I immediately started wondering, what was it the guy saw just before he was shot? It almost like in death, there is a resolve that is metaphor for how the Ukrainian people are dealing with all this. I mean, it is really hard to imagine and Carol Guzy, who is a four-time Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, one of the best on the planet, if not the best.

We got some video in from her in Ukraine, and she said: Who would do this? And she is looking around at the devastation: Who would do this? And thank God, there are photographers to show what they are doing, and it is really hard to look at.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I mean, as soon as I saw that image, that Guzy image for the first time, I thought that's a Pulitzer Prize winning image. And it's near -- I mean, it's a duplicate of the same kind of Pulitzer Prize image that you captured.

So in your "New York Times" essay, you say, you know, "I'm getting tired of those endless disclaimers like the one at the top of this essay that say, 'Warning, graphic material,' the best photographs of the war might make us want to look away, it's imperative that we do not."

I mean, I know there is no motivation when you're taking the shot, but now we have the results of that moment that you eye-witnessed, that many photographers like Guzy capture. What are you hoping is the consequence of taking that shot? What are you hoping it will do to people as they see it?

KENNERLY: Well, I'm really sorry that these pictures aren't being shown in context in Russia. I mean, it is Russia who is attacking innocent Ukrainians and the people there don't even really know what's going on.

And one thing about photographs, I mentioned it in the piece, but photographs go over the head of disinformation. They go over the head of people talking about them and they go right into your own heart and soul; however, you need to know what the context is for those pictures and they do make a difference.

We, photographers aren't taking pictures to change the world, but sometimes those images do. And by the way, Carol Guzy, the Lynsey Addario, Paula Bronstein, Carolyn Cole, Erin Trieb, and Heidi Levine, six great women photographers, and on top of a whole bunch of guys over there, the cream of the crop of photography is in Ukraine right now. Thank God for that.

Yes, they are sensational. I admire them. And they are doing the kind of work that is so important. WHITFIELD: You mentioned you wish the people in Russia could see these

images because they are not. I mean, everything is censored, and they certainly -- the government, you know, has said you know that they just really don't want people to know the truth. I mean, they're telling them what they believe, you know, is the truth.

However, some people have become rather inventive and figured out ways in which to see the images of war, to get the information of war. What is that like to be --

[15:30:14]

KENNERLY: I think -- sorry.

WHITFIELD: No, I was going to say, what is that like to be a part -- a tool to help do that. Go ahead.

KENNERLY: Yes. So the -- I'm always getting criticized for interrupting -- the pictures need context, too. You see the people, the bodies on the street. It was funny because I've watched the U.N. Ambassador for Russia sitting in the Assembly Hall there at the U.N. as they showed those pictures, and he is just looking at them very passively and you know that they're telling a different story.

If you do see these pictures in Russia, you're not getting the same message. You can bet no one is saying, in Russia, here are the results of our soldiers executing people on the street women, children, and thousands of people. I mean, this is a sickening thing that we're looking at.

WHITFIELD: You, as photographers are tools, your images are tools, they will consequently become proof of the war crimes as well.

KENNERLY: Right. I don't know how that works legally, and all that, but photographers are there shooting and for the record, this is documenting truthfully. These are people like the wire divers, the newspaper photographers, these are professional people who are not messing around with the content of the photographs. What you're seeing is the truth. The messengers are the best in the business and they are showing you reality.

WHITFIELD: Yes. David Hume Kennerly thanks so much. Sadly, beautiful work, passionate work and very important and instructive. Thank you so much.

KENNERLY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, more reaction to that sudden court ruling allowing travelers to go unmasked on planes, trains and buses. What the White House COVID response coordinator says should have happened first. We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:59] WHITFIELD: Right now to COVID with cases in the U.S. and elsewhere

surging from month to month. Several cities in China under lockdown. Masking rules changing from week to week where were we are -- where are we rather -- in a very confusing place with COVID globally.

The new White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jha appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" today and he says the C.D.C. should have been allowed to complete its 15-day review on masking before a Federal Judge struck down the mandate affecting travelers.

Here is what else he told CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ASHISH JHA, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Case numbers are rising, driven by this BA.2 subvariant of omicron, and we're going to watch this carefully. My expectation is that we're going to see cases go up, we're going to see cases go down. The key things make sure that hospitalizations and deaths are not rising in any substantial way, looking at variants, paying very close attention. Let's see where the next few months go.

I'm concerned and we are going to want to watch those numbers, but at this point, I remain confident that we're going to get through this without disruption.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, let's bring in Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate Dean of Public Health at Brown University. Dr. Megan Ranney.

All right, Dr. Ranney, so, what does he mean? Is Dr. Jha's, you know, plan the best way to proceed?

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, ASSOCIATE DEAN OF PUBLIC HEALTH, BROWN UNIVERSITY: You know, it is absolutely aligned with both the C.D.C. plan and what we are seeing across the country and across the globe, Fred.

Thanks to vaccines, boosters and the original omicron surge, as well as increased availability of treatment, where we are today is so different from where we were in January, much less last fall or last spring.

Right now, case numbers certainly matter, but what matters so much more are hospitalizations and deaths. And, you know, in my own state of Rhode Island, we have seen a surge in case numbers for weeks now. But our hospitalization numbers still remain low, which says to me that we're doing the right thing for now. Let folks mask if they want to, but this is not a moment where we have to go back into mandates, except for of course on public transport, which, you know, we may have lifted anyhow, on May 3rd, had we had the time to view that. It is a different moment than it was a few months ago.

WHITFIELD: Yes, so we've also all become accustomed to the term "long COVID." There still are questions, though, about how it will continue to impact so many of us, so what more can be done to get a better understanding of it?

RANNEY: It's a great question and long COVID is one of the things that folks frequently ask me about when I say that right now is not a moment for mask mandates.

You know, listen, COVID is still not a pleasant disease, even if it doesn't cause hospitalization or death. It is certainly more difficult to deal with than the flu for many, and there is a significant portion of folks who catch COVID who go on to have long-term symptoms.

For many, those symptoms last for a month or two months. They have fatigue or brain fog or difficulty breathing. For some though, it lasts longer than three months, and that's what long COVID is.

The trouble is, because COVID itself is so new, we don't know a lot about long COVID yet. Here at Brown, we are doing some research on it. There has also been a substantial investment by the N.I.H.

Right now, the best evidence shows that if you are vaccinated, particularly if you are vaccinated and boosted, you're not just less likely to catch COVID, but you're less likely to have long COVID overall.

[15:40:25]

RANNEY: And there is some promising data out there suggesting that Paxlovid that over the counter, excuse me, that kind of treatment, the pills that you can take at home might also decrease long COVID symptoms. It's something real, but we're trying to get a handle on how common it is, how best to prevent it, and how to treat it.

WHITFIELD: And of course, now we also are learning that about 40 percent of COVID deaths recorded in January and February were from involving people who were vaccinated. Only about 30 percent of Americans have received a booster. So given the vaccine effectiveness, given the way in which this virus seems to change or modify itself, what should be our approach on our expectations? Boosters every year? Or will that be changing too?

RANNEY: Yes, so that stat that you just quoted, Fred, I actually want to switch it in the other direction. Ninety percent of folks who died during January and February were not vaccinated and boosted, and those who did die who were vaccinated and boosted were old with comorbidities. So that third shot is essential, especially for folks who are high risk for severe COVID.

I do expect that going forward, we are going to be looking at yearly boosters of COVID shots to prevent severe disease, to boost our immunity, and possibly to deal with variants, similar to how we get yearly flu shots.

But the fact remains that that primary series, those first two shots are still so much better than nothing. So better to get a booster than not, but if you've gotten your two shots, it's better than getting none.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Megan Ranney, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

RANNEY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up a dramatic rescue, how a Florida Deputy scale the outside railing of an apartment building to save a one-year-old girl from a fire.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:45]

WHITFIELD: All right, seeing is believing.

Take a look at this heroic rescue taking place in Orlando and guess what? It was all caught on video. The officer in that spotlight is an Orange County Sheriff's Deputy trying to reach a one-year-old girl trapped in a burning apartment building with her family inside. And just before climbing up that ladder, the Deputy actually took off his heavy outer ballistic vest, which his camera is attached to and of course kept rolling and you could see all of it happening.

It's an amazing twist of fate that the camera was able to capture what happened next. Take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

WHITFIELD: So emergency crews were able to bring the mother and grandmother down as well. Amazingly, no one was injured in that overnight fire.

Also in Florida, rather frightening way to start your Sunday morning, an alligator strolling through front yards in the town of Venice just like that. Just going out for a stroll, and after finding a comfortable resting spot, what is believed to be a 10-foot long gator eventually did make its way to a nearby lake without incident.

Everyone needs to take note of that lake. Don't go in.

And he wasn't the only oversized reptile by the way to make a surprise appearance there this week. This one right here was enough to stop traffic in Venice just a few days later.

All right, there is more security in the stands at Yankee Stadium today after an ugly scene that unfolded Saturday. CNN's Coy Wire has this latest example of fans behaving badly.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Fred, an ugly scene unfolding at Yankee Stadium for what should have been a good moment early in the season here for the team and the fans, but fans reportedly heckling guardians outfielder, Steven Kwan after he got hurt running into the wall. His teammate, Myles Straw was livid, scales the wall, saying afterwards that some of the stuff that was said to Kwan just wasn't going to fly with him.

You can see teammates holding him back moments later, Gleyber Torres hits a walk off hitting the Yankees' win, and the fans, they ended up turning it up a notch. They throw all kinds of objects onto the field at Cleveland players, even Yankee stars Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton running out there to tell them to knock it off.

After the game, Straw didn't back down. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYLES STRAW, CLEVELAND GUARDIANS OUTFIELDER: I've never seen anything like this anywhere else. Like I said, they turn -- which is totally fine, you know I have the fun little group up in center which it's every game here, which they're fine. They can you know, flick me off, they can say stuff about my family. I really don't care about that. But when someone is hurt, you don't prey on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Straw went on to call the fan base, "classless," Fred. Several Yankees players afterwards condemning the actions including manager, Aaron Boone saying that they need to carry a bit of respect with them. The two teams facing off again today in the Bronx.

WHITFIELD: Yes, nobody likes fans out of control. Coy Wire, thank you so much.

Still ahead, a preview of CNN's new film that explores how Alexei Navalny, one of Putin's staunchest critics ended up in jail after surviving an alleged murder attempt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Russian opposition leader and fierce Putin critic, Alexei Navalny has now been in jail for more than a year.

CNN's new film, "Navalny" focuses on how he ended up there after surviving a poisoning and tracking down his own would-be assassins.

[15:55:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you come to a room of a comatose patient, you start -- you just tell him some news. Telling him his story, Alexei, don't worry, you were poisoned. There was a murder attempt. Putin tried to kill you with novichok.

And he opened his like blue eyes wide and looked at me and say it very clear (speaking in foreign language.)

TEXT: What the [bleep]? That is so stupid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, poisoned?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe it. It's like, he is back. This is Alexei.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Putin is supposed to be not so stupid to use this novichok.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His wording, his expletive. His intonation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you want to kill someone, just shoot him. Jesus Christ.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Real Alexei.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Impossible to believe it. It's kind of stupid. The whole idea of poisoning with a chemical weapon -- this is why this is so smart, because even reasonable people, they refuse to believe like, what? Come on? Poisoned? Seriously?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And there it was. Joining us now, chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward.

Clarissa, you're part of this, you know, investigation, top to bottom. I mean, talk to us about Russia's security services and Russia denying, of course that they played any role in Navalny's poisoning.

How difficult was it to get this kind of information?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it wasn't as difficult as you might imagine in the sense that Russia's security services tradecraft is actually a lot sloppier than you might have expected and Christo Grozev of Bellingcat who is a brilliant investigator, was able through a combination of tenacity and smarts and exploiting areas of the gray market in Russia to essentially put together a treasure trove of documentation that placed this group of men, the so-called toxins team in the same locations as Alexei Navalny, more than 30 times in trips across the country over the space of several years.

And just to give you an example, Fredricka, of that sloppy tradecraft, one of the would-be assassins actually turned on his cell phone at a hotel just a few blocks away from the hotel where Navalny was staying on the very night that he was poisoned.

That ping was really the sort of smoking gun as it were, the moment where were Christo and others involved in this investigation became very much aware of the fact that this was not some kind of a conspiracy, that actually this had really happened because as you heard in that clip there, the objective when the Kremlin does or authorizes something as audacious as this, is that the reaction of most people will be like, that's absurd. Putin would never do something so obvious as using novichok, which is basically, you know, only made in Russia to poison his leading opposition threat. And yet, what we discovered was, that's exactly what happened, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And what is it about Navalny that apparently poses such a threat to Putin that he would want him dead?

WARD: Well, I think this is a question that a lot of people have been asking themselves, because on paper, President Putin's approval ratings are very high. Alexei Navalny, while he has galvanized a huge amount of support among young people, he hasn't necessarily got anything like the sort of ratings that President Putin would have.

But what Navalny was able to do was tap into the Achilles heel of the Kremlin and its cronies and the vast corruption that underpins this kleptocracy, and by creating this YouTube channel, and this group where he would launch these investigations, and then publish them, he really started to hit the Kremlin, where it hurt by embarrassing them, by humiliating them by making the broader public who have been struggling for years aware of the levels of greed and corruption, and the ways in which that greed and corruption were ultimately robbing the country and robbing them.

I also think there's a sense more broadly speaking, that President Putin does not have a high tolerance for opposition of any kind. You may remember another leading opposition figure, Boris Nemtsov who was shot dead, you know, just a few hundred yards away from the Kremlin.

So Navalny is not the first, but certainly this case, one of the most extraordinary -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and on the anniversary of that killing, right, just a few weeks ago, in fact, people were leaving candles and all of that paying homage to him, and helping people remember about that assassination.

Clarissa Ward, thank you so much for that. We'll be watching this evening, no one wants to miss this Sundance award-winning CNN film, "Navalny." That's tonight at nine right here on CNN.

And thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The CNN NEWSROOM continues with Jim Acosta right now.

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