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Mariupol Mayor Reports New Mass Grave Near City; Zelenskyy: U.S. Officials Should Not Come Empty-Handed; France's High-Stakes Presidential Runoff; Anoosheh Ashoori Speaks about Imprisonment in Iran; Kremlin Silences Russian Journalists; Orrin Hatch Dead at 88. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired April 24, 2022 - 02:00 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.
ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares coming to you live from Lviv, Ukraine.
Women and children take shelter from Russian forces under a steel plant, where Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol makes its last stand. We'll bring you the very latest.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And I'm Kim Brunhuber live in Atlanta.
The polls are just opening in France. The country's future is now in the hands of voters. We're live in Paris, closely watching this election.
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SOARES: Welcome to the show, everyone. It is 9:00 am here in Ukraine, Easter Sunday for Orthodox Christians. But it's really hard to feel joyful amid so much needless destruction and death and little hope it will end anytime soon.
Warning sirens have already been going off. On Saturday, a Russian missile slammed into a residential building in the southern port city of Odessa as people were marking, of course, the Easter holiday. Eight people were reportedly killed, including an infant. President Zelenskyy was incredulous after the attack. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Among those killed were a three-month-old baby girl.
What did she do to threaten Russia?
It seems that killing children is just a new national idea of the Russian Federation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, President Zelenskyy announced on Saturday that two top U.S. officials will be arriving today. That's secretary of state Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. It will be the first high-level American delegation to Kyiv since the war began.
Their presence will prove to be a powerful symbol of U.S. support as Russia's war enters its third month. Of course their visit has not yet been confirmed by Washington.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians are fighting back hard. The defense ministry reports three Russian aircraft, five cruise missiles and nine tactical drones were shot down on Saturday. It also claimed two Russian generals had been killed in the Kherson region. CNN has not verified those claims.
Meanwhile, every day, the scope of Russia's onslaught really just becoming clearer. One of the latest examples that we've been seeing is the evidence of what could be a new mass grave outside Mariupol. Our Scott McLean has the details for you.
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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.
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MCLEAN (voice-over): 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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Well, that news conference that Scott just mentioned was, well, full of surprises, including, of course, the location. President Zelenskyy spoke to the press in an underground train station. Armed guards did stand next to passing trains, you can see there.
And the location was chosen, of course, for its safety from the Russian bombardment. But there was another surprise announcement. That was that the U.S. secretaries of state and Defense were expected on Sunday.
Now those visits usually aren't announced ahead of time, of course, for security reasons. And we haven't heard a confirmation of that from the U.S. side. Zelenskyy, though, says that, when they do come, he has requests. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (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 presents or cakes. We are expecting specific things and specific weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, joining us now is Malcolm Davis. He's a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Public Institute and he joins us now from Canberra. Thank you very much, Michael (sic). Great to have you on the show.
Great to see you. Let me get your thoughts, Malcolm, first, on that visit from secretary of state Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin Lloyd -- Lloyd Austin, pardon me.
If they do arrive and if it's confirmed -- because it hasn't been confirmed from the U.S. -- what would the optics be here?
What signal does this send?
MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: I think it's a very important step for the Americans to take. I mean, obviously the ideal move would be for Biden himself to go to Kyiv.
But if we can't do that, then sending Austin and Blinken, secretary of state and Secretary of Defense, would be a really important signal to Ukraine that America has its back and it will stand firm with it.
And in particular, if Blinken and Austin respond positively to requests from Zelenskyy in terms of the specific requirements for additional materiel support, including heavy armor, heavy artillery, that is what the Ukrainians need now most desperately to sustain their advantage.
The Americans and NATO have to step up and provide those sorts of capabilities.
SOARES: Let me ask you about that point then because we heard President Zelenskyy just a few minutes ago say that his guests better not show up empty-handed. We have seen already kind of two military aid packages from the U.S. in the last two weeks.
What sort of weaponry would be critical right now?
Because the Ukrainian military has been making successful gains and pushing out Russian assets.
DAVIS: More to the point, the Russians have been withdrawing rapidly in a disorderly manner and the Ukrainians have been taking advantage of that because the Russians have been fighting pretty ineffectively in terms of how they use their forces.
They're not following traditional Russian combined armed tactics. Instead, what they're doing is independent operations by small units that have been easily attacked by the Ukrainians, particularly now the Ukrainians are armed with American-supplied shoulder-fired weapons and so forth.
So the concern now is that the Russians are unleashing this eastern offensive in the Donbas at the moment. The attacks are still fairly limited. But those could be what's known as shaping operations, probes if you like.
And if the main offensive begins with a coordinated combined arms operation using the advantage in numbers that the Russians may have, then Ukrainian forces close to Kramatorsk in what's known as the salient (ph) could be encircled and captured or destroyed.
So what the Ukrainians do need to counter that threat is heavy armor, tanks and armored fighting vehicles and also heavy artillery that's highly mobile. They also need airpower.
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DAVIS: Now there's only so much that the West can do in that regard. But really the ability for Ukraine to maneuver quickly, to deliver decisive firepower and to hold any Russian capture offensive in place is what is critical now. And the Americans do need to come to the table offering those sorts of capabilities.
SOARES: And while, like you pointed out, Russia hasn't made any kind of significant gains, one of Russia's commanders we have heard in the last week or so said that Putin's goal and Russia's goal is to take full control of southern Ukraine, kind of creating a land corridor to Transnistria.
How do you interpret this new goalpost set by Putin?
How realistic is it here?
DAVIS: Look, at the moment it's completely unrealistic. The Russians don't have the means to do that. Their forces are very brittle after that withdrawal from the first phase of the war. They're demoralized. They're having to rebuild their logistics support and rebuild their fighting capability.
But over time, if they can batter away at the Ukrainian defenses, particularly in the south, then it's possible that they could expand in toward Dnipro and then head toward Mykolaiv and ultimately Odessa.
And I think their goal would be to control the southern coastline in a way that makes Ukraine a landlocked country. And that then sets them up for a future war against Ukraine to once again take Kyiv. So this is really stage 2 of a multistage process, the first stage being that attack on Kyiv, which failed.
The second stage now being the Donbas offensive, the third stage would be to secure the southern coast and stage four would be a resumption of the war to take Kyiv.
And I think that that's where we're headed with this. But the Russians have to achieve their objectives. It's not at all clear that they will.
SOARES: Malcolm Davis, always great to get your insight. Thanks very much, Malcolm.
Now polls are now open in an election that could shape France for many years to come. Next, we go live to Paris as President Macron and Marine Le Pen go head to head in the presidential runoff. You are watching CNN.
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BRUNHUBER: Voting is now underway in the high-stakes presidential runoff in France. Polls opened at the top of the hour for a showdown between incumbent Emmanuel Macron and the far-right challenger, Marine Le Pen.
The two candidates are polar opposites in terms of their visions for the future. But no matter who wins, the election is expected to have a profound effect, both in France and abroad. For more, we're joined now by Jim Bittermann from Paris.
So, Jim, as we speak, people are casting their ballots.
What's the mood there?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: They are indeed, Kim. In fact, the polls here just opened up about 15 minutes ago. That door back there opened up. The very first person in line was a Lithuanian refugee in France with her mother.
The two of them had come to France fleeing Stalin's Soviet Union. And you can imagine what their interests were in this election in terms of what their primary issues are.
We've talked to some of the voters about what they think their issues are. They seem to break down to cost of living, to the environment and also the Ukraine. And that's, of course, what was motivating the couple that were first in line here this morning.
The choices are right there behind me, Emmanuel Macron; Marine Le Pen's photo has been a little bit degraded here. But in fact, that's the other person that people can vote for. And they'll be voting all day long until 8:00 local time tonight and then we'll get the results of what has happened today in 70,000 polling places across this country, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Let's look ahead if we can, past the presidential election that's going on right now to the legislative elections in June for the members of the national assembly.
What are we expecting there?
And how might that influence the power and the agenda of whoever wins the presidency?
BITTERMANN: Well, that's what the French call the third round of these elections; basically, the election of the legislature. Now many times in the past presidents have gotten a legislature which reflects their politics.
This time around, though, it might not be that way. The country is divided, as you mentioned in the beginning, with about a third voting Right, a third voting to the extreme Right and about a third voting on the left side of the political agenda.
They only have two candidates for the presidential election now today. That's the only choice voters have got.
But for the legislators they've got a myriad of choices; in fact, probably as many as a dozen different parties to choose from and who they could vote for.
And that will reflect -- that will give the next president, whoever it turns out to be, the next president a challenge, because you have to have the legislature with you to enact any of your programs.
So it will be -- it could be a tough five years, because the country is so divided. Kim?
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. A fascinating contest. Jim Bittermann, thank you so much.
And we're going to have special coverage of the election in France as voters go to the polls for the second and final round of voting in the presidential election. As we said, tune in today at 8:00 pm Paris time, at 2:00 pm Eastern in North America, for special live coverage of these French elections, right here on CNN.
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 an infamous prison for nearly five years. He was finally released by Iranian authorities last month and he spoke to CNN's Becky Anderson about his harrowing ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANOOSHEH ASHOORI, FORMER EVIN DETAINEE: This is the yard and there will be two trees here.
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A. ASHOORI: 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.
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.
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A. ASHOORI: 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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Now Iran has previously defended its judicial process in Ashoori's case and insists that it respects the human rights of prisoners.
I'm Kim Brunhuber. Thanks so much for joining us. For our international viewers, "CONNECTING AFRICA" is next. If you're watching from here in North America, Isa Soares and I will be back with more news after a short break. Please do stay with us.
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SOARES: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Isa Soares, coming to you live from Lviv in Ukraine.
And a new assessment on the war in Ukraine, just in, in the last few minutes, from the British defense ministry. Now they say numerous Russian assaults in the Donbas have been repelled this week. The intelligence update shows some Russian gains but at, quote," significant cost" because, of course, of strong Ukrainian resistance.
That encouraging battlefield report underscores really the anticipated visit this Easter Sunday of U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The U.S. government has not officially announced that visit. Mr. Zelenskyy made clear he's expecting to be told about more weapons as well as aid.
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 a residential building.
Ukraine's defense ministry says three Russian aircraft, five cruise missiles and nine drones were shot down on Saturday. It also claimed two Russian generals had been killed in the Kherson region. Russia has not commented on the attack and CNN cannot verify those Ukrainian claims.
Well, Zelenskyy faced reporters on Saturday in a two-hour press conference that was held inside an underground metro station. Our Phil Black was there and has this report.
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PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are emerging from an extraordinary wartime presidential press conference that was both theatrical and relatively set from Russian missiles.
President Zelenskyy summoned the Ukrainian and international media deep underground to attend a slickly produced event in one of Kyiv's metro stations.
There, on one of the platforms, even with the odd train flying past, took questions on the state of the war for about two hours. At times, he was emotional, especially notably when discussing missile strikes on the city of Odessa on Saturday, that he says killed a 3-month-old child.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): When the war started, this child was a month old. And the child died. Just realize that, grasp it, bastards.
What can I say?
These are just bloody bastards. I have no other words and I'm sorry -- but bastards.
BLACK: Could you please give us your assessment of Russia's plans but also its capabilities for its operations in the east, in the Donbas?
Will Russia or, perhaps more importantly, can Russia launch a large- scale push to break through your defensive lines?
Or is this looming as a slower, longer, grinding military operation?
And, secondly, do you believe your allies are finally getting the message?
Are they sending you the heavy weapons you need?
Thank you.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): If they, God forbid, occupy something, we'll get it back. It will not be a matter of 10 or 20 years, not a war like we had starting from 2014. We've had this for eight years.
Concerning the armaments, if we have enough of it, we'll return it immediately. We'll take our territories back immediately. We see a change. We see this change regarding our Western partners. I can see the change in the speed of response, especially in the United States.
BLACK: President Zelenskyy said getting the right weapons will be a big part of his agenda when he meets with the U.S. secretaries of State and Defense in Kyiv on Sunday -- Phil Black, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Well, thanks to the Kremlin's tight grip on the media, most Russians are in the dark about really what's happening inside Ukraine. I spoke to a journalist from an independent Russian news outlet, TV Rain. And I asked if any of the actual facts on the ground were actually reaching the people of Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EKATERINA KOTRIKADZE, NEWS DIRECTOR AND ANCHOR, TV RAIN: The people of Russia have -- so far, they have the opportunity to use internet. They still have the opportunity to go on YouTube to watch, for example, YouTube streams, that we are doing here, the journalists who were obliged and forced to leave the country.
There are several, even a lot of journalists, independent journalists, who have these YouTube streams. And people are watching. A main part of the viewers are from Russia.
[02:35:00]
KOTRIKADZE: YouTube is not banned so far.
But Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, these social media networks are actually banned in Russia. But still, people use VPN. And it is really important to understand that a new generation in Russian Federation is more sophisticated than Vladimir Putin and his team technologically. They know how to be one step ahead of the regime.
So that's why they're still getting information. And people are posting. There was a story of a father, who was aggressively supporting Vladimir Putin's so-called special operation in Ukraine until he lost his son on this flagship, Moskva, which sank.
Right now, we are all witnessing the process of, you know, waking up of this person. And he suddenly understood what was going on. And he's posting on social media what his feelings are. And he's talking with other relatives and fathers and mothers of Russian sailors, who also died on this flagship.
And Moscow is not actually saying a word about the victims. So you know, it's going to be more and more of this kind of story, unfortunately. And there's going to be more and more people who will understand what was going on and what is going on. SOARES: Katarina, on that point, I saw the posts from the father. I
think his son was a cook in the Moskva. He was questioning the fact that the Kremlin, Russia was saying that actually they'd been rescued.
But kind of -- the father was asking, well, my son's missing, where exactly is he?
How long can they keep this narrative going?
Give me a sense, for example for today, what is the top story in Russia today?
What is making news bulletins this hour?
KOTRIKADZE: They are liberating the cities and towns of Ukraine. I mean, honestly, this is what they are saying. They are showing people, who are thanking Russian army. They do not show the destroyed cities, the destroyed towns. They are not talking about 3-month-old child that you have just mentioned in Odessa, who was killed.
They do not show this terrible picture of death. They are, you know, hiring representatives of so-called Russian administrations in the occupied territory -- on the occupied territories, who are making these statements.
And they want 100 million people in Russia to trust this fake statements with, "thank you so much for coming and for liberating and setting us free from this Nazi regime."
This is getting more and more fake. This is getting more and more ridiculous. And I'm pretty sure there are people who are at least doubting what they are seeing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: That was Ekaterina Kotrikadze with the independent Russian news outlet, TV Rain.
And coming up, for the first time a member of Congress testifies about an alleged role in the Capitol riot. How this could impact the upcoming midterm election.
Plus, America's opioid crisis is reaching a deadly new record. How a new tool could help keep people alive and why it's such a controversial idea. You are watching CNN.
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BRUNHUBER: Condolences are pouring in over the passing of former U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch. He was the longest serving senator in Utah history. The Republican left the Senate in 2019 after serving 42 years on Capitol Hill.
The chairman of The Hatch Foundation called him a man of wisdom, kindness, character and compassion. And current Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell praised Hatch for playing a key role in what he called major legislative accomplishments. Hatch was 88 years old.
Georgia Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene testified in court for hours Friday. Her appearance was part of a hearing focused on whether she should be barred from re-election because of her alleged role in the January 6th insurrection. CNN's Marshall Cohen explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is all about accountability for January 6th. The groups trying to disqualify congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia say that she can't run for re- election because of a constitutional ban against insurrectionists holding office.
And that issue was front and center at a hearing Friday in downtown Atlanta, an extraordinary marathon session, where congresswoman Greene testified for more than three hours, making her the first member of Congress to testify under oath about January 6th.
But she didn't say all that much. There was a lot of "I don't know" and "I don't remember." She claimed that she didn't recall saying that she hoped that there would not be a peaceful transfer of power to President Biden.
And also the testimony did not establish that she coordinated with any of the rioters. And that is a pretty major hole in the challengers' case. Take a listen to a very interesting part of her testimony right here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW CELLI, ATTORNEY: Prior to January 6th, representative Greene, did anyone ever mention to you the possibility that there might be violence in Washington on January 6th, 2021?
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I don't remember.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: Later Greene was confronted with her own rhetoric. Lawyers from the challenging side tried to connect her militant words to the violence on January 6th. Among other things, they cited a Facebook post that she once liked that called for the assassination of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
She said under oath that she had no idea who liked that post.
It will be an uphill climb for the challengers to succeed. And the judge appeared skeptical of some of their arguments during the hearing. He's expected to issue his recommendations in the next few weeks.
And then the secretary of state in Georgia will make a final decision on whether Greene stays on the ballot. The primary here in Georgia is on May 24th -- Marshall Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: U.S. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy is trying to contain the fallout after the release of audio containing conversations about then president Donald Trump in the aftermath of the Capitol riots.
In the tapes, McCarthy said Trump admitted to some responsibility for January 6th and he was going to recommend the former president resign. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), MINORITY LEADER: He told me he does have some responsibility for what happened.
[02:45:00]
MCCARTHY: And he needs to acknowledge that.
The discussion I had with him is that I think this will pass and that it would be my recommendation he should resign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: "The Wall Street Journal" he's spoken to McCarthy and the relationship, quote, "remained good." McCarthy has also called other key Republicans. He's expected to meet privately with his Republicans next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, McCarthy is set to lead a group of Republican lawmakers to the southern border in Texas on Monday. This comes amid debate over the Biden administration's decision to end a measure known as Title 42.
That's a Trump-era pandemic restriction that allowed migrants to be turned away at the border without a hearing. Title 42 is set to end on May 23rd.
Now the border crisis is a key contributor to the drug trade, especially with the opioid epidemic. And those drugs are often laced with deadly fentanyl. That's prompted bars across America to offer patrons free fentanyl testing strips.
But some say it's only making drug use easier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Some bars and clubs in the U.S. are now offering their patrons something else besides music and drinks, something new, a simple piece of paper that can detect the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
For decades, opioid overdoses have cast a shadow over the United States. In April, the CDC estimated annual overdose deaths reached an all-time high. Close to 107,000 people died of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending in November 2021.
And about two-thirds of those deaths involved fentanyl, a particularly deadly opioid. According to a report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, many of the illicit drugs in circulation in the U.S. are adulterated with fentanyl. It can prove fatal.
In Oakland, California, a harm reduction non-profit called FentCheck is taking matters into their own hands.
ALISON HELLER, COFOUNDER, FENTCHECK: We're going around to bars. And they all have bowls of free fentanyl test strips.
And we are just refilling them, making sure they're fully stocked for the weekend, making sure everybody can, because they're going to make choices, that they're making them with some safety and some informed consent.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Their efforts aren't limited to Oakland. The non-profit is also distributing strips across other cities, like San Francisco, New York and Philadelphia.
The strips aren't just free, they're also easy to use. Drug users mix a tiny amount of the drug, whether it's heroin, cocaine or crushed-up pills, in an ounce of water. Then they dip the strip into a solution for 15 seconds and remove it.
The results appear like a pregnancy test. One line indicates the presence of fentanyl and two lines means no fentanyl.
HELLER: We're done with dead kids. We're done with accidental overdoses. Because even if, you know, we really do like to encourage recreational drug users to engage with harm reduction. And they cannot make it to the next step in their sobriety if they die that night. That's why this is important.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): While distribution of testing strips continues to grow in some major cities, not all states and cities are welcoming the idea. Some opponents have criticized those strips for enabling drug users.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just don't think it's a good policy to make it easier for people addicted to drugs to use drugs.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Still, the White House has made its support clear. Under the Biden administration's new drug control policy, the White House plans to expand access to harm reduction services, like fentanyl testing strips, by 25 percent in the next three years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact is that harm reduction saved lives.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: If you or someone you know needs help with drug use or requesting testing strips, go to overdoselifeline.org/get-help.
Well, parts of the U.S. are getting hit by a strong triple threat storm today. We'll go to the CNN Weather Center for the latest details ahead. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: This is a rally outside the White House on Saturday as part of Earth Day weekend celebrations. Demonstrators called on the Biden administration and Congress to pass climate change legislation that has been stalled in the Senate.
Several organizations, including the Sierra Club and the NAACP demanded climate care jobs and justice.
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RAMON CRUZ, PRESIDENT, SIERRA CLUB: We cannot wait any longer. You know, the people out West affected by wildfires right now cannot wait any longer.
The people from Puerto Rico, where I'm from, cannot wait any longer for another Hurricane Maria to come by. So this is the moment to act on climate. I think the path is very clear right now. The path is very clear to pass climate legislation. So we cannot wait longer. It's time to bring this home now.
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BRUNHUBER: Parts of the U.S., from the Canadian border down to Texas, are bracing for a triple threat storm: snow, heavy rain and strong winds. At the same time, the West is dealing with several massive fires.
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BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber at CNN Center in Atlanta. We'll go back to live coverage of the war in Ukraine in just a moment. Please do stay with us.
