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Fighting In Ukraine Does Not Stop For Orthodox Easter Sunday; Update On Ukrainian Husband And Wife Musicians Separated By War; Russian Missile Test Fuels U.S. Worries Of An Isolated Putin; J.D. Vance's Transformation Into A Trump-Endorsed Candidate; White House Begins Push To Pass COVID Relief Bill; White House Desperately Needs New Glassware; Bitcoin Mining Takes Over In Washington State Apple County. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired April 24, 2022 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:19]
PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. Tonight on CNN NEWSROOM, a violent Orthodox Easter Sunday in Ukraine as Putin's war grinds into its third month. Also ahead Senator Elizabeth Warren predicts doom for Democrats if they don't get up and deliver for voters in the midterms.
Meantime Emmanuel Macron projected to keep his job as French president but there's a warning shot from the far right. And break out the solo cups. The White House is running low on crystal glassware.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Sunday marked Orthodox Easter in Ukraine but the holy day brought no relief from the relentless fighting. Officials say Russian missile strikes hit a residential building in Odessa killing eight people including a mother and her infant. This video shows the view from inside the building during the attack.
The mayor of Odessa said that the Russians are monsters who should burn in hell. Ukraine's deputy prime minister says people desperate to get out of Mariupol will have to continue to suffer and wait as Russia refused to guarantee a cease-fire Sunday for a humanitarian escape corridor. The International Red Cross says Mariupol is in urgent need of humanitarian aid but the misery is not limited to those cities.
The mayor of Melopol says his people can't get much needed aid, putting them in a very dangerous situation, and that Vladimir Putin wants to kill all of the Ukrainian nation. And as Orthodox Christians marked Easter Sunday it should have been a day of reflection and peace but in the midst of war there was little reprieve.
CNN's Erica Hill is in Warsaw, Poland, where scores have fled in search of safety since Russia's invasion.
So tell us, Erica, what are you seeing there?
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So we attended services this morning at an Orthodox cathedral here in Warsaw where some local priests tell me that they have seen an influx of Ukrainians at that church. It is of course a church for everyone. There are Poles -- Polish people, Ukrainians, Russians, Belarussians, Georgians, we're told, who have come there.
The focus this morning being together on the holiest day on their calendar but of course the war in Ukraine is never far from top of mind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILL (voice-over): On this Orthodox Easter morning, faith in many forms.
IRYNA, REFUGEE FROM BUCHA, UKRAINE: This day is very, you know, hopeful and we hope that this situation will be over soon. So we are hoping. Hoping for the best for our future and we are praying for this.
HILL: Warsaw's Orthodox Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene regularly welcomes Christians from across Europe. In the past few weeks, it's become a haven for those fleeing the war in Ukraine. Iryna tells me she misses her husband, a surgeon who stayed behind in Kyiv to treat the wounded. She hopes they'll be together again.
One of the local priests said the number of Ukrainians at this church has increased dramatically. About 80 percent he says are refugees. Ukrainian flags and colors on display. Baskets of food waiting to be blessed, proudly draped in yellow and blue.
Darya, a Ukrainian student here, says Easter should be celebrated together. A symbol of unity. Viktor, a political refugee from Belarus, agrees. It shows that all people are brothers, he tells me. All.
Easter traditions offer both comfort and a sobering reminder of how much life has changed.
IRYNA: I can say this without tears from my eyes because it is just, I couldn't imagine, you know, that it would be happened. It is just awful.
HILL: Iryna and her sons recently arrived in Warsaw from Lviv. Her husband and parents are still in Ukraine. 12-year-old Yurii says he's glad to be in Poland and it's safer here.
YURII, 12-YEAR-OLD UKRAINIAN REFUGEE: It's dangerous and we have to leave because every time a bomb can fall on our house.
HILL: Despite that fear, he's confident he'll go home one day. Faith in the future of Ukraine as strong as the faith that brings them here today.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Pamela, what we also heard from all of those refugees was gratitude.
[19:05:01]
They're so grateful for the generosity that they have found since arriving here in Poland but the reality is they want to go back, they want to go home. An older woman who I met from Bucha described seeing the bodies when she was finally able to leave, when she was finally evacuated on a bus. She said I believe I'll still go home but finished by saying when, when. It's a question of course, Pamela, no one can yet answer.
BROWN: No, no. And it was interesting. I was speaking to Senator Roy Blunt earlier in the show who was just over where you are, and he also said -- noted that a lot of people were going back in to Ukraine so while some feel it's too unsafe, you know, where they live, others are going back into the country. It was such an interesting dynamic.
Erica Hill, in Warsaw, thank you so much.
Well, a few weeks ago we introduced you to Taras and Olena Topolia. They are popular Ukrainian musicians separated by war. Olena left Ukraine after the invasion began while her husband Taras stayed behind to fight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TARAS TOPOLIA, MUSICIAN FIGHTING FOR UKRAINE: When our wives are safety place with our children we can fight bravely. So thank you, sweetie, for doing this and I want to say thank you for a lot of Ukrainian wives which now are taking response and tries to do all the best for the kids while Ukrainian soldiers are fighting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: We wanted to check in and see how they're doing now. Olena is in New York and Taras is in Kharkiv.
Great to see you both. I'm so glad you're doing well. Taras, you have been right there in the thick of it in Ukraine, in the fight there. We know Ukrainians marked Orthodox Easter this weekend. The fighting has raged on with no break for the holy day. How's it been for you, Taras, you're your fellow soldiers since we last spoke?
T. TOPOLIA: Hello, everybody. Thank you for calling me. It's very important for me. You know, now it's Easter Day in Ukraine. And just now like few seconds ago the Russians have bombed the Kharkiv, the city where I am situated. And it was also 40 minutes ago the same. So, you know, they have no god in their hearts. They are telling about like the holidays of light, like they try to tell about something about Christ. But it's not true.
They continue to bomb our cities during these holidays, during these Easter days and it is not stopping them. So what's happening now? And also, you know, when we were talking like maybe two weeks ago I was in Kyiv but now I'm in Kharkiv in the east of Ukraine and we, with our battle, are supporting Ukrainian armed forces to resist Russians fire. So what we are doing now and it is night in Kharkiv.
BROWN: Yes.
T. TOPOLIA: If I will replace my phone a little bit closer to the street you can hear like how it sounds now. So Russians continues to bomb Kharkiv.
BROWN: Olena, what is that like for you to hear your husband talk about the fact that there are Russian bombs going on not far from where he is right now? Must be terrifying.
OLENA "ALYOSHA" TOPOLIA, UKRAINIAN SINGER-SONGWRITER: Hello, everybody. We was talk with Taras the day. I know about this where he said to you and of course I'm just waiting for a good day that he called to me and say you can come back home with kids. And of course, all our family every day we are waiting for this call. And we're waiting to finish this.
I don't know how to name this. What is the name of this situation? Because it is not war. It's terrorism. It is not war. It is terrorism. Because we just protect it. We protect it. And we have no evil in our hearts.
[19:10:07]
And it's terrorism. And all world help us but it's too little. We see. We see it's too -- it's too big plans, Putin plans for Ukraine, about Ukraine. He want to take Ukraine. But it's so hard to understand. We have so little country with so little and so big Russia. Just like a big man and little baby. And big man just pushing little baby in all world looking to this. And how -- I don't know. Just we must to take this big man and go back.
BROWN: Yes.
O. TOPOLIA: I don't know what to do. I think close Google, embargo. What we can do we need to do. We pray about it. Please.
BROWN: Yes.
O. TOPOLIA: If it's possible.
BROWN: I know that the world is praying for Ukrainians and it's just horrific. All around the world to see what is happening there.
Taras, Zelenskyy, President Zelenskyy said that there is a visit from American officials, high-ranking American officials today in Kyiv. Is that meaningful for you doing the actual fighting, for the people on the ground, to have U.S. officials, the U.S. secretary of State and Defense secretary to be there on the ground? And do you hope that President Biden would visit, too?
T. TOPOLIA: You know, it is so important for us that American government and the American people are supporting us. It's very important. You should know it. You should hear it. Because our small but brave country can't fight, of course, without support of American people, of American -- and you know, I want to say a little story about the support of American people. You know, our son was born in America. He is a citizen. He is American citizen.
And it's like so pleasing for us. Just a little story. So I wrote to George Roskas (PH), it is American citizen in Facebook. What it's mainly connection in social media. I wrote him and like wrote him and say that, you know, man, my wife now here, now there in America and she needs support. And she wants to sing. And this man, the George Roskas (PH), he is like an owner of architect musician academy and he said, of course, man, of course I will help her and I will help your kids.
And now, you know, she has an opportunity to sing what is -- what she doing best to sing in this academy and our kids have an opportunity to teach the best guitar and drums and not to stop to develop their skills and to continue to do this. So, you know, the big support, it consists from small steps. From small steps of everybody and I want to thank -- I want to say thank you for every American man and woman who support Ukrainians.
It's so important for us that the small steps give us power to resist and to fight for the same values for us, for Ukrainians like for American people. So it is -- it is very pleasing story for us. I just wanted to tell you about this. Like people help people.
BROWN: It's a beautiful story. And Taras, every time you've been on the show you've been so grateful. You've expressed so much thanks and gratitude to Americans for their help.
And Olena, thank you. Same to you. It's great to have you both on. Taras, be safe and we look forward to having you back on the show soon. Thank you both.
[19:15:01]
T. TOPOLIA: Thank you. Thank you.
O. TOPOLIA: And thank you so much. Thank you.
BROWN: Well, Vladimir Putin putting menacing spin on Russia's recent test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile. He boasted that it could deliver multiple nuclear warheads as far as the United States and that it should give thought to anyone trying to threaten Russia.
CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd joins me now.
So, Phil, Putin has made thinly veiled threats before about his willingness to use nuclear weapons. What do you make of this? A sign that he's moving closer to that or just dangerous bluster?
PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I would go more in the latter category, dangerous bluster. I think the real question is not what he threatens but what you do if you're in the situation room at the White House. Let's step back to a few weeks ago or months ago when you're in the White House saying, how much support do we provide to humanitarian corridors for people out of Ukraine? Do you say hey, we're Americans and we support from World War II on? We support humanitarian values in Europe and we want to provide an
avenue for people to exit that might include an air corridor? Or do you say we're so afraid of a third-rate military power? And we've seen in Ukraine that Russia's a third-rate military power. Are we so afraid of them that we will not project American values in Ukraine?
I think Putin sees a vulnerability in America after Afghanistan and Iraq. An America that does not want to intervene overseas, and maybe he's trying to take advantage of that. From the American side you've got to look at that and say we've got to project American values. Despite the threats, we've got to intercede somewhere here.
BROWN: The current head of the CIA said last week that as Putin's grip on Russia tightened so too has his appetite for risk. Do you agree with that assessment? Is the war on Ukraine making Putin reckless and will things get even worse if the war continues and the world detaches from Moscow even more?
MUDD: I will never disagree with Ambassador Burns. I know him personally. He's one of the more impressive CIA directors I've seen in 35 years, affiliated with that agency but let me give you a perspective, a complimentary perspective that's very simple. When I saw leadership decisions, here's one thing, Pamela, you want to think about leadership decisions.
How much do alternative views penetrate? That is, if you are going into a place like Ukraine and you're President Putin, how many advisers do you have who say here's a different perspective? Here's a risk you didn't think of. There's a couple of things happening here. Number one, Putin has sidelined advisers, potential advisers who might give him a different perspective.
The media in Russia cannot offer a different perspective so even if he turns on their version of CNN he sees propaganda. My point is, he can't see different perspectives from his advisers, he can't see different perspective from the media, that means he's getting reinforcement of his one view. We went in, we were right to go in and we are winning.
I think we look too often at Putin and say he's a crazy guy who did something that isn't going to succeed. I disagree. He went in, he thought it was proper, and his advisers, Pamela, are saying that was the right thing to do.
BROWN: All right, Phil Mudd, thank you so much.
MUDD: Thanks.
BROWN: Also tonight Ukraine's President Zelenskyy congratulating the president of France on his re-election today calling him a true friend of Ukraine. Emmanuel Macron is projected to have won another five-year terms beating Marine Le Pen. Macron promised supporters he will govern for all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PRES. EMMANUEL MACRON, FRANCE (through translator): And I know that for a number of my compatriots who chose the far-right today, the anger and the discord which brought them to vote for her project also merits a response. It will also be my responsibility and the responsibility of those who surround me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Le Pen conceded victory but told her supporters the game is not over, pointing to legislative elections next month.
And coming up next, extreme measures. China now fencing people in to try and contain the COVID outbreak in Shanghai.
If you can't beat them join them. Tracking J.D. Vance's transformation into a Trump-endorsed Senate candidate.
And how do you put on a glitzy state dinner or toast your important guests without crystal glassware? Can you imagine? CNN's Kate Bennett has new reporting from the White House tonight that you will not want to miss.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:23:39]
BROWN: In Ohio " Hillbilly Elegy" author and Republican J.D. Vance is trying to win a Senate seat and he now has the coveted endorsement many Republicans crave. From former President Donald Trump. Vance calls it an honor which is quite the change in tone from a few years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, " HILLBILLY ELEGY" AUTHOR: I'm a never Trump guy. I never liked him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: In fact, back in 2016 Vance wrote a Facebook message to his friend from their Yale Law School days. Josh McClaren, now a Democratic state representative in Georgia, shared the message last week saying, "I think most people are not very ideological and Trump, while I find him loathsome, touches a legitimate nerve."
Vance went on to say this, "But I'm not surprised by Trump's rise and I think the entire party has only itself to blame. We are, whether we like it or not, the party of lower income, lower education white people, and I have been saying for a long time that we need to offer those people something, and hell, maybe even expand our appeal to working class black people in the process or a demagogue would. We are now at that point. Trump is the fruit of the party's collective neglect."
But Trump was ready to forgive and forget when he was standing on stage with Vance last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: You know what? He's a guy that said some bad (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about me. He did.
[19:25:02]
He did. But you know what? Every one of the others did also. In fact, if I went by that standard I don't think I would have ever endorsed anybody in the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: "For the Record," instead of making the changes he says are necessary to fix his party and broaden its reach as he said on that message, Vance has been promoting Trumpian America first politics on the trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: I think it's ridiculous that we're focused on this border in Ukraine. I don't -- I got to be honest with you, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: He has started using fiery Republican stump lines on the trail, attacking government and corporate elites, going after the media and backing the big lie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: I think the election was stolen from Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Now to be clear we don't know if Vance is on the Trump train because he changed his fundamental beliefs or because he knows this is what he needs to do to win. Well, the cycle many Republicans running for office are betting the best way to win a primary is to align themselves with Trump and those who earn Trump's endorsement see it as a way to get votes from his supporters base.
Those who don't bow down like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger have been completely ostracized by the party as we have seen so how does that old saying goes? If you can't beat them, join them.
Doug Heye is with me now. He's a Republican strategist and former RNC communications director.
Hi, Doug. Great to see you.
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good to be with you. Thank you.
BROWN: This is just such an interesting case study to me, right. This transformation by J.D. Vance over the years from calling Trump loathsome, according to that message and saying he was a never Trumper, to now totally on the Trump train. You know? Saying he was honored by his endorsement. It just shows you the power that Trump still has on his party.
HEYE: Absolutely.
BROWN: And how people will debase themselves just to get his endorsement.
HEYE: Yes. And you know, you raised this in the introduction. Is this a sincere belief or are they doing what they need to do politically? And let me tell you, having worked for 2 1/2 years in House Republican leadership they are doing what they need to do politically. Everything you see a Republican politician doing these days is about currying favor one way with Trump or his base or at least staying out of his line of sight.
They don't want to be attacked by Trump. They want Trump's favoritism. It's why you've seen so many Republicans turn the party into kind of a Janet Jackson "What Have You Done for Me Lately?" so that they can get Donald Trump's, if not endorsement, support from his base.
BROWN: Yet there is another very, very, very pro-Trump candidate that is not getting love. An op-ed today in the "Akron Beacon Journal" points out, quote, "Trump's endorsement of Vance had to be particularly painful for Josh Mandel as perhaps no other Republican worked harder to earn Trump's nod. The once traditional conservative Republican has mimicked Trump in most every way in social media in an effort to be the Trumpiest of the bunch."
So that didn't really work out for him. Did it? I mean, how low do they have to go for an endorsement?
HEYE: Look, it is a race to the bottom sometimes. But ultimately, you know, we've compared Donald Trump to Caesar. And sometime that's an insult or on your perspective, it's a compliment but Donald Trump is watching the two gladiators joust and he's going to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to whomever he wants to. And what Republicans need to remember is that thumb can change. Donald Trump doesn't give points. He only takes them away one at a time. Ask Mo Brooks.
BROWN: That's absolutely right. I want to talk about Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority leader, who could be speaker of the House if the GOP does well in this year's midterms which is predicted. He is now dealing with the fallout from this audio obtained first by "The New York Times." Let's listen to one clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I've had it with this guy. What he did is unacceptable. Nobody can defend that and nobody should defend it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So "The Times" argue that these revelations and others like them, quote, "illustrate the immense gulf between what Republican leaders say privately about Mr. Trump and their public deference to a man whose hold on the party has gone virtually unchallenged for half a decade."
I had Senator Roy Blunt, the Republican, on earlier. I asked him, did he see a change for what he was hearing privately from Republicans and then seen publicly what they're saying. Now he claimed he didn't really but he didn't want to talk about Kevin McCarthy. He did not answer my question about Kevin McCarthy. That's just something that Republicans don't want to talk about. Most of all Kevin McCarthy himself.
HEYE: No, absolutely. And look this highlights what we were talking about what is said in private and what is said in public can be very different things. And ultimately these revelations were a really big deal that amounted to nothing. Now what we need to see is both Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns have said we've got more recordings.
And so we know in the lead-up to their book, are there going to be a lot more shocking revelations and what will the effect be? Will these be Kevin McCarthy revelations? Will they be Mike Pence revelations? Obviously Donald Trump. That's what we have to know. We know they have bombshells but the Republicans have built themselves in a Trump proof bomb shelter.
BROWN: Right.
HEYE: And, you know, that's the real challenge right now.
[19:30:00]
BROWN: Yes, it is so interesting because bombshells like this and this is a huge one, they don't do the same kind of damage as they did before Trump, right?
This is what William Shakespeare taught us: Much ado. We spent a week of ado about nothing. It didn't change any Republican votes and Republican members very clearly said, this doesn't bother me. I still support Kevin and depending on what the future revelations will be, and this is why we're all going to watch like, Donald Trump has been, you know, a multiyear soap opera, obviously a negative one, especially in light of January 6th, what more do they have to come and it certainly is going to drive a lot of book sales and a lot of conversation.
But what it does within the Republican conference, we just don't know and ultimately, we may not know until after the elections and what Trump decides, thumbs up or thumbs down.
BROWN: All right, Doug, great to have you on.
HEYE: Thank you.
BROWN: Love having a fellow torial (ph) on the set.
HEYE: Absolutely. BROWN: All right, well, Congress is struggling to pass more funding to
fight COVID. What happens if they don't agree?
Meanwhile, in China, stunning images from Shanghai, fences put up as the COVID lockdown continues, how the city's 25 million plus people are reacting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:35:33]
BROWN: People in Shanghai are now under lock and key. Can you imagine? China is doubling down on its zero COVID strategy with steel fences and blockades on public roads. It is also partitioning buildings to prevent people with positive COVID cases from leaving, and that is attempting an outcry -- prompting rather an outcry from residents who say they feel like domestic animals.
Officials say the lockdown in Shanghai will remain in effect until the spread of COVID is eliminated.
And tomorrow, Congress returns from holiday recess giving the Biden administration another shot at passing its $10 billion package for COVID relief. Before the recess, Congress failed to pass the bill because of a disagreement over the Title 42 immigration policy.
CNN senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns joins me now. So Joe, how does the administration plan on getting this bill passed?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, we know they are trying to sound the alarm, and the fact of the matter is the Biden administration essentially wants to pick up where they left out before the recess.
Of course, this is something that could be very difficult, simply because while they want the funding to be passed as soon as possible, the administration is also aware that there are a number of Republicans and even a few Democrats up on Capitol Hill who would really like to see reinstatement of the Trump Title 42 immigration policy put in effect when Trump was in office that essentially allows the use of public health law in order to expel asylum seekers at the border.
Now, Biden has said he wants it to go away, and it expires next month, however, there is a push to reinstate it. So what the administration is doing now is they are sending up the warning flag if you will, talking about the consequences if the COVID-19 funding doesn't get passed.
We have a graphic, here are some of those consequences they say could happen including a possible lack of adequate resources to purchase enough booster shots for all Americans where booster shots are authorized, the possibility that monoclonal antibody treatments could run out as soon as next month.
Also insufficient testing capacity supply going forward, and some impacts to testing of course, in the future. So those are some of the consequences and the White House would very much like to see this $10 billion package go through.
BROWN: All right, Joe Johns live for us from the White House on a Sunday. Thanks, Joe.
And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, call it Glass-gate. Well, there's a lot of intrigue surrounding this story. The White House is facing a crystal crisis that stretches back several administrations and CNN's Kate Bennett, she has been looking into this. She is going to explain what or who might need to blame, up next.
And tonight, the unbelievable true story of a man who took on Putin and lived to expose the truth. The Sundance award-winning CNN film "Navalny" airs at nine right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:43:19]
BROWN: Now, to our chalice intrigue story. Got that?
The White House needs something desperately -- glassware.
As the Biden transitions the White House to a post-COVID social schedule, the lack of crystal is becoming a pressing issue, and even those fancy sterling silver sets are getting scarce, disappearing as souvenirs.
Kate Bennett joins me now. You have been digging into this. Kate, I wish we could, you know, have a toast right now, but apparently that's not possible.
KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we could, but we will be doing with rented glasses. And I think that's the issue.
When you go to a dinner at the White House, a State Dinner or a VIP dinner, the fact that there is no crystal service enough for a State Dinner, that it is rented. It's from a caterer.
As one person I spoke to said, it is like going to the Met Gala and wearing a Rent the Runway gown.
BROWN: What's wrong with that?
BENNETT: You want when you go to the White House, you want to have the highest level of settings, and there hasn't been a crystal service gifted to the White House since Patricia Nixon, so it is needed.
Listen, glasses break, they chip like the China. The silver, they don't use that much for dinners because people do have a tendency to take them as souvenir, which is interesting.
BROWN: Fascinating.
BENNETT: But yes, the glassware situation is pretty interesting. It is something that the White House needs, and these legacy gifts from an administration, whether it be the China or fixing something, restoration are all handled by the White House Historical Association. So no cost to taxpayers, no cost to the First Family, but certainly essential in keeping that legacy and the continuity of the White House.
BROWN: So I mean, how low is the supply really?
BENNETT: Well, it's not enough to cover a State Dinner and you think about a State Dinner, it typically happens in the State Dining Room, which seats about 120 or the East Room which seats a little bit more or those tented dinners the Obamas had, those big 300 seaters.
So you know the Historical Association says they're looking for about 120 or so settings of crystal. So not an immense amount, but certainly enough that when you go, you feel special, you're not having a glass that you could get at a hotel or something.
[19:45:22]
BENNETT: Clutch your pearls --
BROWN: For me, I've been like, "Oh, yes, this is really nice," even if it was a rental.
BENNETT: You know, a lot of people don't -- yes, you and I wouldn't know the difference, no offense. I wouldn't either.
BROWN: I definitely wouldn't know.
BENNETT: Yes, but this is something that that Jackie Kennedy established in 1963, to have this collection of White House decorative arts, China, things that have been left from the previous administrations, the collection gets restored by Historical Associations, something like China is pretty important.
And Melania Trump was given an opportunity actually to gift the crystal, she was approached about it and did not do it during her time in the White House. It would have been a nice thing because Slovenia has amazing glassware, but it would have been a great tie in.
But a lot of these legacy moments happened in the second term, and since the Trump's did not have a second term, they don't have any signature Trump China, and they did not get to this glassware situation, so it remains sketchy. I don't want to make a pun. I am trying so hard not to. This story is full of puns.
BROWN: And it's so nice to actually laugh, you know, because at the end of the day, it is not --
BENNETT: And it is history. This is part of our legacy as Americans in the White House. So --
BROWN: Exactly. What a great story, Kate Bennett. You can check out her story on cnn.com. Great write up, getting a lot of attention today. Thanks so much, Kate. Well, in about an hour from now, the all-private SpaceX mission to the
International Space Station will begin the long journey home. We're going to bring it to you live. Stay with us.
In one central Washington County, a quarter of all the electricity they generate now goes towards mining Bitcoin. Up next, we're going to try to explain the process that even local leaders are trying to wrap their heads around.
We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JERRILEA CRAWFORD, EAST WENATCHEE, WASHINGTON: We understand the process of growing fruit and you see it, it progress. You don't see the Bitcoin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:51:39]
BROWN: Of all the mysteries in the universe, one of the hardest to explain maybe Bitcoin, right? This digital currency is generated by computers solving complex math problems. That sounds like a simple explanation, but it's a pretty complicated process involving mining and blockchains and lots and lots of computer servers using lots and lots of electricity.
CNN's Nick Watt takes a look at the very tangible impacts of extracting something completely virtual.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Cool, damp, bucolic, this place is perfect for apples and perfect for Bitcoin mining, plenty of land for mining farms, servers don't need as much AC to cool them, all that water means cheap green hydroelectricity and --
MALACHI SALCIDO, CEO, SALCIDO ENTERPRISES: Electricity is about 65 percent of our total costs.
WATT (voice over): Eight thousands servers right here, all these about 15 grand each.
WATT (on camera): You're pouring a lot of money into this.
SALCIDO: That's correct.
WATT (voice over): A quarter of all the electricity generated here in Douglas County now powers Bitcoin mining, many locals still trying to wrap their heads around it.
CRAWFORD: We understand the process of growing fruit and you see it, it progress. You don't see the Bitcoin. WATT (voice over): Here is how Bitcoin mining works, hundreds of
Bitcoin transaction, Biff pays Candy, Morag pays Hamish, Suraj pays Zuma are bundled into a block computers like these all over the world race to solve a complex math problem.
The winner gets to upload that block to the blockchain, a vast ledger, now more than 700,000 blocks long. A new block is uploaded every 10 minutes.
Mine a block and you earn 6.25 Bitcoin worth at the moment more than $250,000.00. This one farm earns about 200 grand every week.
SALCIDO: And this location is one of seven locations that we built and operate in.
WATT (voice over): China was the global Bitcoin mining capital, but last year the Communist Party cracked down.
DANIEL ROBERTS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, DECRYPT: And a lot of it migrated to the U.S. and it happened really quickly. As of right now the estimates are that 35 percent of the world's Bitcoin mining is now in the U.S.
WATT (voice over): It creates some jobs not many, and the industry is now trying to be green. This farm, an old apple juice factory is they say 99.5 percent hydro powered, but still --
ROBERTS: They take up huge amounts of electricity.
WATT (voice over): Globally, mining uses more electricity than some entire countries, small ones like Norway.
Is there any way of achieving this without using quite so much power?
SALCIDO: No.
WATT (voice over): A price worth paying, he says for an unhackable currency in this Digital Age and perhaps a future for places like East Wenatchee, Washington.
CRAWFORD: It gives us diversity. We are not now just an Ag based community.
WATT (on camera): You sound like you're pretty much on board.
CRAWFORD: I'm enthusiastically optimistic, let's say.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT (on camera): Pamela, the utility on this side of the river in Chelan County, they're kind of Bitcoin ambivalent at this point. They say if more miners come, no more miners come, that's fine, but the utility on the other side of the river in Douglas County where 25 percent of the electricity they're generating is right there and going to Bitcoin, they say no more miners, not now not yet.
[19:55:08] WATT: They say our first priority is going to be making sure that
there is enough power for regular folks -- Pamela.
BROWN: All right, thanks so much, Nick.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, no pause to the war for Orthodox Eastern Ukraine. We are live in Kyiv where America's top diplomat and Defense official are said to have met with President Zelenskyy, what we know after the break.
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