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Mariupol Mayor Reports New Mass Grave Near City; Zelenskyy: U.S. Officials Should Not Come Empty-Handed; Soldiers and Civilians Still Holed Up in Steel Plant; Anoosheh Ashoori Speaks about Imprisonment in Iran; Kremlin Draws Moldova's Ire; Orrin Hatch Dead at 88; DOJ Appealing to Reinstate Transportation Mask Mandate. Aired 12- 1a ET
Aired April 24, 2022 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us all around the world, I am Michael Holmes.
It is 7 am in Ukraine, where Orthodox Christians are now marking Easter Sunday. And there are high expectations as well over the anticipated arrival of U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in the coming hours.
It would be a powerful symbol of U.S. support for Ukraine as Russia's war now enters its third month. On Saturday, a Russian missile slammed into a residential building in the southern port of Odessa. The mayor says eight people were killed, including an infant a few months old.
The Ukrainian military reports taking out 17 Russian air assets on Saturday. It said an anti-aircraft missile shot down three Russian aircraft, five cruise missiles and nine tactical drones.
Kharkiv in the north has been hotly contested, as Russian forces attempt to push south into Donbas. Ukrainian officials urge residents in the Luhansk region to the south to evacuate if they can, because of the ongoing Russian shelling.
Every day, the scope of Russia's onslaught becomes ever clearer. One of the latest examples, evidence of what could be a new mass grave outside Mariupol. Scott McLean with the details
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Satellite images and aerial footage has long shown the scale of the destruction in Mariupol. It is difficult to know the full human cost of the siege but now there are new potential clues. New satellite pictures of a cemetery east of Mariupol appear to show
freshly dug trenches some 40 meters long. The Mariupol mayor's office says that these are mass graves. CNN cannot independently verify the claim.
What is not unclear is the dire humanitarian situation inside the city.
New video from the Ukrainian military shows women and children taking shelter underneath a steel plant, where Ukrainian troops are making their last stand. Inside, the Russian word for children is spray- painted on the walls.
A Ukrainian soldier says he's bringing gifts, candy and some food. The kids explain how they've passed the time. Many of the women and children are the families of plant workers here. And many have been there for 50 days or more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I want to get out of here and see the sun. We've been here for two months now and I want to see the sun because they switch the lights on and off here. When they rebuild their houses, we can live in peace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We all really want to return home. We want to return home alive. We all want to see our parents and families.
MCLEAN (voice-over): There is little hope those wishes will come true anytime soon. Russian troops have surrounded the complex waiting for Ukrainian soldiers to surrender as food supplies dwindle.
For the rest of Mariupol, a humanitarian corridor opened leading west through Russian held territory to Ukrainian held Zaporizhzhya. Though the Mariupol mayor's office says that Russians tricked people into boarding buses bound for Dokuchaievsk, a town in Russian occupied territory.
CNN could not immediately verify the progress of evacuation efforts in the city. In a press conference in a Kyiv underground station, President Zelenskyy proposed to trade with Russia in exchange for Ukrainian civilians trapped in Mariupol.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): We offer as civilized people. We suggest humanitarian solution to the federation. We offer exchange on the civilians. We offer exchange of the wounded.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Zelenskyy said he's willing to meet with Putin but promise peace talks would be abandoned if Ukrainians in Mariupol are killed -- Scott McLean, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
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HOLMES: For more of what is happening in Ukraine, let's bring in Isa Soares, who is live for us in Lviv -- Isa.
ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Michael.
A more than two-hour news conference from President Zelenskyy came with a surprise announcement, that two American guests are expected in Kyiv in the hours ahead. That is secretary of state Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
That has not been confirmed by Washington, though. Visits like these are not usually publicized until after the fact for obvious security reasons. But it did not stop obviously Mr. Zelenskyy, who also had a request for his guests.
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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 are waiting not just for presidents or cakes, we are expecting specific things and specific weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: I'd like to bring in Peter Zalmayev, a well-known face here on CNN, the director of Eurasia Democracy Initiative and he joins us live from Western Ukraine.
Good morning to you, Peter, hope you're well. Let me start with the announcement by President Zelenskyy, that U.S. secretaries of state and Defense will be visiting Kyiv today. If it does go ahead, because, of course, we have not had a confirmation from Washington thus far, how symbolic will this visit be?
PETER ZALMAYEV, DIRECTOR, EURASIA DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE: Obviously, it has huge symbolic importance, now that not just E.U. but officials from other countries have announced that they're moving their embassies back to Kyiv.
This is a vote of confidence that Kyiv will be able to resist whatever potential designs Russia still has on it. It has demonstrated convincingly that it can muster a defense. There are still shells hitting Kyiv sporadically.
But now that we have seen this sort of willingness by Western officials to visit Kyiv and embassies to move back, I think there is an understanding that Russia's blitzkrieg here has failed.
They are going to try to continue make our lives miserable elsewhere. They are obviously staging an attack on the east of the country but the main symbolism of this visit is that the Ukrainian state has survived.
SOARES: When we hear President Zelenskyy say, I hope they do not come empty-handed with just cakes, what is he expecting here?
We've heard United States in the last few weeks announced $800 billion or so of support, two packages in less than a few weeks.
So what is he expecting?
ZALMAYEV: There is obviously still critical needs for Switchblade drones, for example. Ukraine may do with more Javelins. But I think what we have heard from Zelenskyy is that there is sufficient weaponry by now to be able to withstand the onslaught in the east of Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials have expressed increasing confidence that they will be able to hold down their positions. We have already seen evidence that Ukrainians have been going on counteroffensives in the south and the east.
Mind you, Russians have not thrown all their forces into the battle for Donbas. But from what we are hearing, including from British intelligence, is that Russians are still disorganized. Their discipline is low, they are low on morale. They have not been able to properly regroup themselves.
As I said in previous programs, the date is coming up, May 9th, which is the victory day of the Soviet Union over the Nazi Germany. And the generals are in a huge rush to provide Putin with some sort of victory. So their hurry will also probably hamper their successes in the battlefields.
SOARES: Speaking of victory, one city they were hoping to gain was Mariupol. There is still a holdout there, a large significant number of people, civilians, soldiers inside that Azovstal steel plant.
I want to get thoughts on the situation on the whole of Mariupol, where civilians are not just trapped but are also being tricked, it seems, by Russian forces.
ZALMAYEV: You know, I have some of these brave fighters, are some of my -- I know some of them. I have been able to get in touch with them by phone in the last few days. There does seem to remain at least 1,000 civilians at that plant.
And I am not going to disclose but a significant number of fighters. And the Ukrainians have claimed that they have been able to resupply them. That probably will go down in the history books as another incredible feat. These fighters are the ones that have kept Ukrainians fighting.
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ZALMAYEV: They have enabled Ukrainians to beat Russians back around Kyiv by tying Russian troops up in and around Mariupol. They have done an incredible feat there. They will go down in the history books.
And it will be very difficult for the Russians to dislodge them. It's been six weeks already. And so Mariupol is a preview of things to come. There are the towns of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, which the Russians will try to take. These are going to be more Mariupols, I think, and they should really think twice before attempting them. SOARES: Peter, I would like to keep the conversation going, hope we
can talk in the next few days. It is very interesting, the conversations your having with the Ukrainian fighters inside the Azovstal steel plant. Good to hear that they have been resupplied because the situation is very dire.
Peter Zalmayev, always great to have your insights and thoughts. Thanks, Peter.
ZALMAYEV: Thank you.
SOARES: After Ukrainian officials say Russia rejected a holiday cease-fire, Ukraine's Orthodox Christians are celebrating Easter today under the course of shadow of war. Despite the dangers and being separated by fighting, many of the faithful are coming home to spend a holiday with the family.
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SOARES (voice-over): As fighting rages on in the east of Ukraine, in Lviv, a city that has mostly been spared by Russia's wrath, parishioners gather for protection and reflection, a somber affair for many this year.
"It is less festive this year," this mother of three says. "But we want to keep our traditions and we want our kids to understand that God is with us. He helps us. We will win and, in this big day, the victory will be ours."
Despite calls to stay home, young and old line up with their adorned food baskets for a blessing from above.
Around the corner, kindness shared with strangers.
SOARES: Very good.
SOARES (voice-over): An opportunity, too, for many Ukrainians to support the troops on the front line, with food donations and prayers.
"We are both sad and joyful in this day because we believe in our soldiers," this parishioner tells me. "We are worried for them. We are praying for them. And we are asking God to help all of us."
Others, though, are still too scared to venture to church this Easter.
So we meet Bilika Fortunes (ph), a young family that today is also feeling thankful.
"I think I've never been this happy in my life," tells me this young mother. Annamaria (ph) says she left Ukraine for Poland when the war started, alone, nine months pregnant and carrying a world of worry on her shoulders.
"When we were separated from each other, it put a huge burden psychologically on us. We were constantly reading the news," she says. "And the situation in Ukraine in general, we were very worried." Without her husband or family by her side and while her own country
was being ripped apart by suffering, the 25-year old in her own agony gave birth to a little miracle, Baby Marita (ph).
And this gushing father couldn't be happier to have his girls by his side.
"I have realized that my wife is not just a woman, she is a hero," he says, "and that if I was in her shoes, I wouldn't be able to. I would have broken down."
A family finally reunited and counting their blessings this Easter in the long and dark shadow of war.
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SOARES: Michael, we have seen so many images of long lines of people making their way back to Ukraine to be with their loved ones this Easter, despite of course, that long shadow of war.
People are coming back for various regions -- because they miss their loved ones, because it is such an important holiday but also because they believe they need to be here and that this will be a long fight.
They are defiant and adamant to keep supporting the troops and their own country, so incredible bravery. But also unity right across this country this holiday.
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HOLMES: As it has been from the beginning of this conflict, Isa thanks so much.
Isa Soares, there in Lviv. We will check in with her next hour as well.
Now French voters going to the polls in the coming hours to pick their president. Next, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen go head to head for the second time in five years. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM, we will be right back.
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HOLMES: Decision day has arrived in France. Polls are opening in less than two hours for the presidential runoff between the incumbent, Emmanuel Macron, and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen.
The two candidates are polar opposites, of course, in their visions for the nation's future. Mr. Macron wants a free market-oriented France at the head of a powerful E.U., while Le Pen is pushing for economic protectionism and an overhaul of relationships with allies. Anoosheh Ashoori traveled to Iran to visit his mother in 2017. But
what started as a family trip turned into a nightmare, as he found himself arrested and sent to a notorious Iranian prison for nearly five years. He was finally released last month.
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HOLMES: He spoke to CNN's Becky Anderson about his harrowing ordeal.
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ANOOSHEH ASHOORI, FORMER EVIN DETAINEE: This is the yard and there will be two trees here. That is before I had made that shelter for myself.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Anoosheh Ashoori showed me the yard inside Tehran's notorious Evin prison, where he worked hard to create a semblance of normality.
A. ASHOORI: So I used to sit here, even during winter and when it was even snowing.
ANDERSON (voice-over): It's been just over a month since Anoosheh was released from Evin prison, along with the British Iranian aid worker, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. At his home in South London, he's far from the Iranian prison where he spent nearly five years.
ANDERSON: How does it feel?
A. ASHOORI: Fantastic, unbelievable. Still, I am adjusting to my new environment, I'll wake up sometimes. And our fear that it may still be a dream.
SHERRY IZADI, ASHOORI'S WIFE: It still doesn't feel quite real sometimes. Because you know, it was so unexpected. We didn't have any time to prepare mentally for his return.
ANDERSON: You left here to go and see your mom back in 2017. Take me back.
A. ASHOORI: She was living on her own and she needed my help. And as I was walking down the street, because my mom lives on the top of a hill in north of Tehran, four men jumped out of a car in front of me.
And they asked, "Are you Mr. Ashoori?"
And I said yes. And the others actually told me to go and sit in the middle of the backseat. And we suddenly took off.
ANDERSON: The charge was ...
A. ASHOORI: Spying for Israel.
ANDERSON (voice-over): It was the beginning of what would be a horrifying ordeal for Anoosheh and his family. IZADI: To describe it as a nightmare would be an understatement really, because every second of the day, I'd be asking myself, what's happening to him now?
Is he alive?
Is he being tortured?
Is he being interrogated?
A. ASHOORI: Because I was threatened that my wife and my kids would be harmed. So I said, if I don't exist any longer, then they will be out of harm's way. I did make a few attempts.
You don't need to be physically tortured to go through hell. In fact, psychological torture is more effective than physical torture.
ANDERSON (voice-over): As he languished in prison, the U.K. foreign office advised the family to stay quiet, that diplomacy will be their best chance at freeing Anoosheh.
ELIKA ASHOORI, ANOOSHEH'S DAUGHTER: I knew that wasn't going to be productive. So when we did make that decision and when we were free to really campaign, I was very, very happy.
And that's almost in a way therapeutic because you can channel everything that you're feeling into your campaigning.
IZADI: I should have started immediately after it was taken. And I honestly urge all families to do the same because it's very easy to be forgotten.
A. ASHOORI: Thursdays and Fridays it was closed. So we had to do something--
ANDERSON (voice-over): Anoosheh moved down to the interrogation center and could meet his fellow detainees in what they called the University of Evin, forming poetry societies and creating art.
IZADI: This is just fantastic.
ANDERSON: And how did doing this help you?
A. ASHOORI: You forgot that you were in the prison because you were so engrossed in doing these things. So to finish the day it takes centuries.
But then yes, pause very quickly.
ANDERSON (voice-over): And it took years for the family to realize this Anoosheh's ordeal was linked to a decade's old debt that the U.K. owed Iran worth more than $500 million.
ANDERSON: What did the foreign office tell you about that debt when you first asked them?
Do you remember the day that you raised it with them?
IZADI: The foreign office up until I would say perhaps last year even maybe later denied that there was any link between the two cases between the deaths and the cases of my husband, Anoosheh.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Once the U.K. paid the debt, both Nazanin and Anoosheh were released and on a government plane back home.
In a statement after their release, the U.K. foreign secretary Liz Truss said, in parallel, we have also settled the IMS debt as we said we would.
IZADI: There we go. Yes.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Iran's foreign minister acknowledged the debt had been paid but denied there was any link to the prisoner release.
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A. ASHOORI: When we arrived in Britain and I saw Sherry, the way Nazanin saw her daughter and she burst into tears -- and I'm trying to stop my tears now -- and she hugged her daughter, I just forgot about him. It was, it was something.
And this should happen to all the other people who are there. They should get back to their families. People should not be traded for money.
ANDERSON: Are you angry?
IZADI: I'm enormously angry. Actually, I'm much angrier than he is, I think. I think he's come to terms with it much better than I have. I am annoyed that we've lost this huge chunk of our lives for nothing. Yes, I am angry.
ANDERSON: Boris Johnson has said that he'd like to meet you.
Is that something that you are prepared to do at this point?
A. ASHOORI: This is an incomplete job. If they are back, then I may consider. But we are two people, where you cannot actually call yourself a winner. You have paid 400 million pounds for two people.
What about the rest?
ANDERSON (voice-over): The fate of these prisoners remains uncertain as the geopolitical game between Iran and the West continues. But for now, one family is trying to move on with normal life -- Becky Anderson, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: Iran has previously defended its judicial process in Ashoori's case and insists it respects the human rights of prisoners.
I am Michael Holmes. For our international viewers, "LIVING GOLF" is up next. For everyone else, I will be back with more news in a moment.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
Ukraine's president says he will spend Orthodox Easter with two high- profile guests from the U.S. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announcing on Saturday, U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are due in Kyiv in the coming hours.
The U.S. government has not officially announced the visit. Mr. Zelenskyy will likely make the case for more aid to his country.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, officials say Russian missile strikes in the port city of Odessa killed eight people. The city's mayor says an infant was among the dead in that residential building there.
And Ukraine's defense ministry says it hit 17 air targets on Saturday, including three Russian aircraft, five cruise missiles and nine drones. And it reports a strike on a Russian command post in the southern Kherson region took out two Russian generals. Russia not commenting on that attack.
Moldova's foreign ministry has summoned Russia's ambassador following comments made by a Russian general.
On Friday, Tass quoted the officer as saying that the Russian military is aiming to control southern Ukraine and access Moldova. For more on all of this, I am joined from Kyiv by Jeffrey Gettleman, who is a foreign correspondent for "The New York Times," and a fine one at that.
I wanted to ask you about these commanders' comments, saying the military -- the broader aim, is not just that land corridor from Donbas to Crimea but stretching as far as Moldova, Transnistria. You were there in Moldova recently. You wrote about it in "The New York Times."
What would a move like that mean for Moldovans?
JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Michael, it's nice to talk to you.
This would be like a hugely ambitious gamble by Russia. Right now, they are trying to control a small part of Ukraine's east. And what this general came out and said, out of the blue on Friday, was that they were going to take the entire coastline of Ukraine, all the way to Moldova, which would be hundreds of miles.
They are very far from that. But if they did do that, which is why this became such a big deal and people got very worried, it would put them right next to Moldova, at the doorway to Europe.
And Moldova was a country that used to be part of the Soviet Union. And many people right now are worried that Russia's trying to reconstitute elements of the Soviet Union. So there is a history here of Russian interference in this region and that's why it provoked all these fears.
HOLMES: And you wrote in "The New York Times" a couple days ago, about how vulnerable Moldova is, in that sense but also, how it had big plans before this invasion. Tell us more about that.
GETTLEMAN: OK, sure. I mean, the vulnerability is really interesting. When Moldova was created after the Soviet Union collapsed, it put in its constitution, we will remain neutral, which means they won't join an alliance like NATO. They won't join a Russian military alliance. They really want to be neutral.
Part of that, also, today means they have a very small army. They have a national army of, like, 10,000 people. So they have intentionally tried to stay out of any military conflicts, which makes them very vulnerable.
At the same time, they have been trying to grow economically. Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe. The per capita income is something, like, $6,000, which is -- which is very low, compared to other European countries.
But they did have all these plans. I visited a winery. Moldova actually makes lots of wine and some pretty good wine and this winery had all these plans to expand, to build a resort, to build a spa. Businesses across the country were really gearing up to join the world.
And this crisis in Ukraine, this war, has just ground all their plans to a halt.
HOLMES: Let us go back and touch again on something you raised earlier and speak a little bit more about how Putin's broader desire to reconstitute a greater Russia and an empire plays into this Moldovan strategy. It is not about battlefield strategy. It's a -- it's a bigger thing, isn't it?
GETTLEMAN: It is. It's like this dream. It's this vision. It is this ideology that these countries should be together. And they were together for, you know, 60, 70, 80 years.
Moldova has a very interesting identity. Half the country speaks Russian. The other half speaks Romanian. Those two languages are totally different, totally different orientation. One part of the country is looking West. One part of the country is looking East.
So it's vulnerable. It is in this awkward position and it is very small. And that is why it got sucked into the Soviet Union in the 1920s.
[00:35:00] GETTLEMAN: And then it was more solidified as part of Russia's sphere of influence up until the 1990s and it's never really gotten away.
And one other point we discovered being there, was how dependent it is on Russia. Russia completely controls the energy supplies in Moldova.
And so while Germany and other countries in northern Europe are struggling to get out from under dependency to Russia for its natural gas, Moldova has no hope right now of doing that. And that ties their hands. They can't -- they can't come out too strongly against Russia or they are worried their entire energy supply will be cut off.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes. And again, what would moving into Transnistria or -- which is Moldova, let's face it -- what would that mean in the broader European security picture?
GETTLEMAN: Well, Transnistria is a very complicated little place, which is why I didn't bring it up yet. But since you did, I will just explain. It is this little slice of Moldova that Russia has already taken over.
It is very similar to what Russia's done in Eastern Ukraine, where they took little pieces, declared them Russian loyal -- you know, Russian-speaking territories that are loyal to Russia. And they have done the same in Moldova.
So if Russia were to take this huge chunk of Ukraine, connect to Transnistria and sort of, you know, further occupy parts of Moldova, that would put Russian troops, like, right on the edge of Europe, way more than they are right now.
And Romania and Hungary and all these other countries would then be facing like a wall of Russian military, much closer than they had been. But that's still a long shot right now. But just the fact it was being discussed openly by a high-ranking commander is what triggered all this -- all these fears and concerns.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes. I was actually in Crimea during the Russian invasion there in 2014, when the little red -- little green men came in. Even back then, we talked that Putin would probably want a land corridor from Donbas to Crimea.
In a strategic sense, why is that important to him?
I mean, if he went around to Moldova, I mean, that would make Ukraine landlocked.
GETTLEMAN: Exactly. I mean, Crimea -- nobody's contesting the Russian dominance of Crimea right now. There is lots of troops there. Russia holds it very securely, as you know, from your experience there.
So now, they have been sort of expanding east into Mariupol and that's caused this horrendous suffering. And now they are talking about expanding West along the Black Sea into, you know, Western Ukraine and Moldova. That would give them a dominance on the West Sea that they don't -- on
the -- on the Black Sea that they don't have. The issue, though, is they're struggling. We saw that with this sinking of this big naval ship.
And with what they are facing in the Kyiv area and parts of Eastern Ukraine, they are struggling. They're not able to take these large chunks of territory. So that's why I wasn't clear that this threat -- was this guy just boasting, saber rattling?
Or was this like a directive from the Kremlin and he was revealing what the next move is?
We really don't know.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes. Jeffrey Gettleman, a pleasure to speak with you. Great reporting there. Let's talk again.
GETTLEMAN: Thank you.
HOLMES: All right. Well, evacuations from Ukraine's war-torn areas are becoming increasingly difficult. While some were able to evacuate from the port city of Mykolaiv on Saturday, authorities had hoped to get civilians out of Mariupol in a column.
But city officials say that effort was thwarted by the Russian military again. So far, more than 5 million people have fled the fighting in Ukraine to other countries. The U.N. says more than 7.7 million are internally displaced within the country.
All right. We are going to take a quick break. When we come back on CNN NEWSROOM, mourning the loss of Utah's longest serving U.S. senator, Orrin Hatch. We will look back at his incredible life and legacy, next.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
Former U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah passed away at the age of 88. He was the longest serving senator in U.S. history, leaving the Senate in 2019 after serving 42 years on Capitol Hill.
The chairman of The Hatch Foundation called him, quote, "a man of wisdom, kindness, character and compassion." CNN Ryan Nobles now on Hatch's life and legacy.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you solemnly swear -- RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was one of the longest-serving Republican senators in the chamber's history. Orrin Hatch spent more than four decades crafting a legacy of unwavering conservative ideals.
The grandson of Mormon settlers, Hatch grew up in a poor mill town outside of Pittsburgh. Tragedy struck his life early when his older brother died in World War II.
HATCH: I have a white streak in my hair right here because it just affected me so drastically.
NOBLES (voice-over): In the late 60s Hatch moved to Utah, where he practiced law and raised a family. In 1976 he won a seat in the U.S. Senate, arguing the incumbent three-term senator had served too long.
But that first term turned into a lifelong career and the Senate, he said, into something of a family.
HATCH: We may have been partisan from time to time. We may fight each other very hard. We may get irritated with each other. We may scream and shout. But you know, we look toward the person. We are looking toward somebody who's a member of the family.
NOBLES (voice-over): Over his seven terms in the Senate, Hatch favored corporate tax cuts, limited government, deregulation and military spending. He consistently voted against gay rights, abortion and stricter gun laws.
HATCH: The Second Amendment and the right to keep --
NOBLES (voice-over): But despite his ardent conservativism, Hatch occasionally reached across the aisle, supporting AIDS education, the DREAM Act and stem cell research. In 2000, he made a bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
HATCH: The reason I'm running for president is because I have more experience than all the rest of these candidates for president put together.
NOBLES (voice-over): But he lost to George W. Bush. As the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Hatch ushered in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
HATCH: This is a great day for America because we've been -- we're going to pass a pro-growth, pro-job, pro-America bill.
NOBLES (voice-over): The bill was lauded as the biggest tax code change in three decades and criticized for favoring corporations and the wealthy.
HATCH: I come from the poor people. And I've been here working my whole stinking career --
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HATCH: -- for people who don't have a chance. And I really resent anybody saying I'm just doing this for the rich. Give me a break.
NOBLES (voice-over): Critics also blasted him for helping President Trump dismantle the Bears Ears in the Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah. A devout Mormon, Hatch was a prolific writer of religious music, composing over 300 songs during his lifetime.
HATCH: For over 40 years, I've had the great honor of serving as your senator.
NOBLES (voice-over): Hatch, announced his retirement in 2018 shortly after his hometown newspaper, "The Salt Lake Tribune" called for him to step down.
HATCH: I've always been a fighter. But every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves.
NOBLES (voice-over): Orrin Hatch, a lifelong public servant, who chose a path of faith and tradition.
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HOLMES: U.S. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy is leading a group of Republican lawmakers to the southern border in Texas on Monday. All of this coming amid debate over the Biden administration's decision to end a measure known as Title 42, a Trump-era pandemic restriction, that allowed immigrants to be turned away at the border.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of nine lawmakers making that trip. She, of course, coming off an unprecedented hearing in Atlanta, focused on whether she should be barred from holding office or running for office because of her role in the January 6th riot at the Capitol.
Now congressional investigators say the White House was warned the January 6th insurrection could turn violent. But it went ahead with that rally near the White House, where Trump spoke, which, of course, led to a violent mob storming the U.S. Capitol and trying to stop the certification of election results. CNN's Melanie Zanona reports.
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MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are learning new information about the investigation into January 6th thanks to a new court filing unveiled Friday night. Former chief of staff Mark Meadows has refused to comply with a subpoena to appear before the select committee.
And so the select committee unveiled a trove of damning new details to prove exactly why they want Meadows to come testify.
Among those, an aide to Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, testified Mark Meadows was indeed warned that January 6th had the potential to turn violent and yet he pressed ahead with the rally and the effort to overturn the election on the floors of Congress anyway.
Hutchinson also testified that she overheard the White House counsel's office saying that a scheme to use an alternate slate of electors was not legally sound and yet Trump and his allies were still pursuing that idea anyway.
And finally, she explained just how involved Republican lawmakers were in the effort to subvert the election. In fact, congressman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania was frantically texting Mark Meadows the day after Christmas about this plot to replace DOJ leadership with Jeffrey Clark, someone who was thought to be more sympathetic to Trump's election lies and give him a new deputy.
I want to read for you some of those text messages, which were unveiled for the first time in this court filing.
Scott Perry texted on December 26th, 2020, "Mark, just checking in as time continues to count down, 11 days to 1-6 and 25 days to inauguration. We got to get going."
Then again, on December 26th, Perry texted, "Mark, you should call Jeff. I just got off the phone with him and he explained to me why the principal deputy won't work, especially with the FBI. They will view it as not having the authority to enforce what needs to be done."
Now it is worth pointing out here, Scott Perry was also asked to testify before the select committee but he, too, has refused to cooperate. However, unlike Mark Meadows, the select committee has not yet issued a subpoena to Scott Perry or any other Republican lawmakers, for that matter -- I'm Melanie Zanona. CNN, Washington.
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HOLMES: A man in California was arrested after he allegedly sent threatening online messages to the Merriam-Webster Company over dictionary definitions. Jeremy David Hanson is charged with one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence.
Now according to a federal criminal complaint, he allegedly used the company's website "Contact Us" -- that page -- to send what prosecutors call "threatening and despicable messages related to the LGBTQ community over gender definitions."
Now if found guilty, Hanson could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Hong Kong opening up the city to nonresidents starting next month, ending a two-year COVID travel ban. But there are still plenty of rules for anyone wanting to go. We will have more on that next. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) HOLMES: A White House official tells CNN the Biden administration
will continue its push with lawmakers to secure more COVID-19 funding when Congress returns from recess next week.
Negotiators were able to reach an agreement on a $10 billion package but Congress left Washington for the Easter break without passing the bipartisan bill. The official says congressional inaction is already taking a toll, as uninsured Americans are now forced to foot the bill for items like COVID tests, treatments and vaccines.
Hong Kong will now allow nonresidents to enter the city starting May 1st, ending a two-year ban. Visitors will need to be fully vaccinated and provide a negative test before entering state-managed quarantine for at least seven days.
Hong Kong will continue to suspend incoming flights for five days if three or more passengers test positive for COVID-19 or have insufficient health records.
Here in the United States, the Justice Department is appealing this week's court ruling that struck down the federal government's mask mandate for travelers.
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HOLMES: Some airlines and transit agencies swiftly made masks optional after the ruling. Passengers on those carriers are now able to decide how much risk they want to take when they travel. We asked CNN's Jacqueline Howard what many travelers are wondering.
Does wearing a mask now really protect you?
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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: The short answer here is yes. Wearing a mask can still give you some protection, even if you're the only one masked. But how much protection depends on the mask type.
In one study released by the CDC earlier this year, wearing a cloth mask was associated with 56 percent lower odds of testing positive for COVID-19. Wearing a surgical mask was associated with 66 percent lower odds.
But for the most protection, wearing an N-95 or KN-95 was associated with 83 percent lower odds.
And that's compared with wearing no mask.
Now I spoke with an expert on aerosol particles about this, Chris Cappa. And he tells me that if everyone else is unmasked, those percentages could go down. That's because more particles from the unmasked people could release into the air.
But the bottom line, if your mask is on, that mask can still filter particles offering some protection.
Back to you.
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HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram. Stay with us, our breaking news coverage of the war in Ukraine continues after the break.
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