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Workers Struggle to Keep Up with Burials of Mariupol Dead; Ukrainian POW Killed in Mariupol Despite Russian Promises of Mercy; COVID Long-Haulers Struggle to Get Care for Their Symptoms; Putin's Former Friend and Business Partner Speaks to CNN; Six-Year-Old Girl Sends Backpack Care Packages to Ukrainian Kids; April Ryan Makes History as White House Correspondent. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired May 01, 2022 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:00]
PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: -- holds. More than 100 people have already gotten out with more expected.
Plus the new struggle for COVID long haulers. Finding specialists who can understand and treat their ever-changing conditions. Brand-new reporting tonight from our Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
And President Biden pays tribute to a man he calls one of the great giants of U.S. history.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
For these Ukrainian civilians who have been hunkered down for days in a bombed-out steel plant in Mariupol, the city has been under siege by Russia's relentless bombardment since the earliest days of Putin's war, and now tonight we know that some 100 civilians including young children who were living in just squalid conditions, they have finally made it to safety.
The civilians are now in a village at the Donetsk region after arriving there on buses with Ukrainian number plates in a convoy with Russian forces and vehicles with U.N. logos. No such relief, however, for all the people that are left behind still suffering. The attacks on Mariupol have been relentless and for the people tasked with burying the dead, there has been pause.
CNN's Sara Sidner joins me now from Kyiv. And Sara, as of Friday, the United Nations was listing the official death toll less than 3,000 people but it sounds like that is far short of the real toll, the reality.
SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I think it is. And if anything tells you how short it is when you look at the video that we have obtained. CNN got video of just outside of Mariupol and it shows rows and rows and rows of grave sites. Freshly dug grave sites and the people there say they do not expect to stop burying people. Many of them unidentified.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SIDNER (voice-over): No tears. No remembrances. No final good-byes. Just dust to dust. The burial is over.
DANYA, STARY KRIM CEMETERY WORKER (through translator): We bury 50 people a day. Today we have done two lots of 18 bodies and another 10. 46 in total.
SIDNER: Grave diggers like Danya can barely keep up the pace at the Stary Krim Cemetery in the outskirts of Mariupol. Once marked with only a number, a sign the bodies have yet to be identified by family.
DANYA (through translator): People come and find their loved ones and bring crosses and a board.
SIDNER: CNN is not present in the Russian occupied Donbas but footage we obtained and satellite images show dozens of fresh graves. Local authorities say about 600 in total. And this is not an isolated case. Images show graves have been dug en masse at two other burial grounds. This is one of them, Manhush.
They have been bringing bodies every day for a month, Anna says. They just keep bringing more and more. Bit by bit.
Here, too, footage shows rows of freshly dug graves and indications bodies have been buried before being identified.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Each body is given its own grave and a coffin, and a board with a number.
SIDNER: A separatist soldier who did not want to be identified says --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): After they are processed the city funeral service works with the prosecutor's office to organize their burial.
SIDNER: CNN could not independently verified the claims but local authorities say the majority of those buried here and in Stary Krim were killed during Russia's assault on Mariupol. Moscow has now seized control of most of the strategic port city but some Ukrainian forces continue to hold ground at the Azovstal steel plant. So far the Kremlin hasn't reported an official death toll but Ukrainian officials say it's in the thousands.
VADYM BOICHENKO, MARIUPOL, UKRAINE MAYOR (through translator): By our optimistic estimation more than 20,000 people, women, kids, elderly died on the streets of our city.
SIDNER: The mayor of Mariupol says because the death toll is bound to rise at Manhush, the work continues. About 100 freshly dug graves ready for the dead. As war rages, Ukrainians aren't just being murdered by strangers but also buried by them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: A really stark reminder about what is still happening there in Mariupol, even with the news of those 100-plus people who have finally been able to leave that labyrinth underneath that steel plant, worried about oxygen, worried about food and water. They are safe for all intents and purposes now and they are out of a very terrible situation.
But we should also mention that, you know, as all this is going on there was an unexpected visit, an unannounced visit from the now highest-ranking U.S. politician to show up here in Kyiv. Nancy Pelosi was here with a delegation.
[19:05:01]
She met with President Zelenskyy and she was very clear in trying to make sure that he and the rest of the world knew just how much, how strong the bond is now between the United States and Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We believe that we are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom that we are on a frontier of freedom and that your fight is a fight for everyone. And so our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: And Zelenskyy was clear that he was very happy to see this powerful support from one of the highest-ranking people who have come here from the United States and of course he has been asking for more and more equipment so that he can finally in his words win this -- Pam.
BROWN: All right. Sara Sidner, live for us in Kyiv. Thank you so much, Sara.
And an unknown number of Ukrainian soldiers have made a last stand at that steel plant in Mariupol, defying Russian forces who have made these promises that they would offer humane treatment to any captives.
Well, CNN's Matt Rivers found evidence to the contrary in the story of one Ukrainian fighter apparently captured and then killed by the Russians. A warning, this story contains disturbing images and content.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russian propaganda with a clear message to the last remaining defenders of Mariupol.
The video says we guarantee that we will save your lives and we will follow international laws to guarantee humane treatment. Such will be the case says the voiceover with this man, a captured Ukrainian soldier Dan Zvonyk. The 25-year-old member of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Force was captured at the Azovstal steel complex. The last remaining pocket of resistance in the city. CNN has geolocated the building behind them to an area just northwest of the plant.
A Russian soldier detailing how they'll be treated. As you are captured, he says, we will treat you with honor and with understanding.
These videos were published on April 20th. Five days later Dan Zvonyk was dead. This picture of his face hauntingly lifeless was sent to his mother by officials in Russian held Donetsk, she told us. We redialed the numbers and we're hung up on once we identified as journalists. To confirm who he was they also sent a picture of his chest with the tattoo on the body clearly matching the one seen on Zvonyk when he was still alive in Russian propaganda videos.
(On-camera): When you first saw that message, what went through your mind?
ANNA ZVONYK, MOTHER OF KILLED UKRAINIAN POW (through translator): Nothing. I just screamed. There was nothing. No thoughts.
RIVERS (voice-over): We met his mother near where she is staying in Kyiv. She fled Mariupol herself just two weeks ago alongside the rest of her family. Her sister-in-law also reeling from the photo of her nephew.
LUDMILA ZAGURSKA, AUNT OF KILLED UKRAINIAN POW (through translator): I still have that photograph in front of my eyes. It's constantly in front of my eyes.
RIVERS: The morgue in Donetsk confirmed to CNN Zvonyk was dead and that his body was picked up on Sunday. CNN can't confirm how he died but we know he died after being taken into custody either by Russian or Russian-backed separatist forces.
(On-camera): Do you think that the Russians killed your son?
ZVONYK (through translator): Yes, I'm sure.
RIVERS (voice-over): Russia's Ministry of Defense did not return a request for comment about how Zvonyk died. For weeks CNN has heard directly from soldiers inside the steel plant complex who told us they will not surrender to the Russians for fear of being executed. Within their ranks, Zvonyk's death only hardened that sentiment.
(On-camera): Does what happened to him only reinforce the notion that the soldiers that are there are not going to surrender to the Russians?
GEORGE KUPARASHVILI, DEPUTY COMMANDER, AZOV REGIMENT: Matt, don't you think it confirms the fear and expectations, what Russians did today? This is a war crime.
RIVERS (voice-over): We asked Zvonyk's mother Anna if she is angry with the Russians. Her answer, honest and gutting.
ZVONYK (through translator): For now I only feel enormous pain. Pain and emptiness. That's it.
RIVERS: Matt Rivers, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: Russian occupied Kherson in south Ukraine is also in the line of fire by the Russians. Today a CNN team witnessed a convoy of at least 120 cars carrying families fleeing the violence. Those families were seen crammed in, many with elderly passengers and pets.
And now to a heads up on the big CNN interview tomorrow. Charge D'Affaires Kristina Kvien. Kvien gives her first interview since U.S. diplomats returned to Ukraine.
[19:10:04]
That is tomorrow morning at 9:00 Eastern on CNN NEWSROOM so you won't want to miss that.
Well, parts of Texas and New Mexico are under a tornado watch until late this evening. Near hurricane force winds and softball sized hail are expected. Meteorologist Gene Norman joins me now live from the CNN Weather Center.
Gene, how bad are these storms we're talking about?
GENE NORMAN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Pamela, we're getting news reports of hail like this. Tennis ball, baseball, even larger as we work our way into the evening and there have been reports of tornados on the ground. There is one just north of Fort Stockton. That storm is recycled and it could be a new tornado in that area. Also some of these storms have produced lightning that have set off grass fires in west Texas because it's been so dry out there.
So what they're looking for in west Texas tonight, several tornados, some of them could be intense, along with that large hail and winds as we said approaching hurricane force. The areas in red, that's the tornado watch that goes until about 10:00 tonight out across west Texas. The yellow box areas are severe thunderstorm watches where there could be large hail and wind as well. In fact take a look here near the Raleigh area. We've had some reports of strong storms that have produced hail. And that will continue for a little while longer.
So let's take you into the forecast, walk you through throughout the evening. Notice these storms here out in west Texas, those are the big ones, they're going to intensify and really impact the middle of the country over the next couple of days. In fact we've got back-to-back severe storm threats in orange indicated sections of Kansas, out into Oklahoma and Missouri. That's for tomorrow. Big storms there and then they'll push further to the east on Tuesday.
Where it is not storming in New Mexico unfortunately are the areas that could need the rain the most, near the big fires, especially the Calf Canyon Fire which has now grown to over 100,000 acres. And the containment has dropped. Yesterday when we came to you it was 32 percent now it's down 30 percent and their fire danger will continue for tomorrow. So no good news there but big storms out in west Texas we'll be following them all night.
BROWN: All right. Gene Norman, thank you so much. Heads up for next hour, we are joined by NFL Players Union medical
director Tom Myer who just got back from a three-week mission to Ukraine. He's going to share his story with us. But before that, what the medical world has now learned about the impact of long COVID. Brand new reporting from our Dr. Sanjay Gupta coming up next.
Also tonight, celebrated reporter April Ryan gets a major shoutout at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and she joins us live.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAYLE KING, CBS HOST: Twenty-five years, Miss April. As a White House correspondent. You go, April Ryan.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:17:05]
BROWN: As the number of long COVID cases continues to grow in the U.S. long haulers as we've come to know them are having trouble finding caregivers who understand their symptoms.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has new reporting on efforts to help them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nitza Rochez felt her best when she was moving. In March 2020, the New Yorker got COVID. Just 43 years old, Nitza was young and healthy and wasn't too worried until one night in April.
NITZA ROCHEZ, LONG COVID PATIENT: I woke up in the middle of the night because of like drumming or pounding sound. It was literally the sound of my heart and I went to the emergency room.
GUPTA: What unfolded next is the story of long COVID. The story that has now been repeated millions of times in the United States. In odyssey of doctor's visits, almost all of them resulting in normal test results despite her feeling otherwise.
ROCHEZ: I just had a lot of odd and bizarre symptoms for the next month that got progressively worse and then escalated to tremors.
GUPTA (on-camera): You believe we're dealing with a new sort of disease here?
DR. ZIJIAN CHEN, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, MOUNT SINAI CENTER FOR POST-COVID CARE: I think so.
GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Zijian Chen is medical doctor for Mount Sinai Center for Post-COVID Care. The first such center established in the country. (On-camera): Are you able to predict who is most likely to develop
long COVID?
CHEN: Those patients admitted to the hospital with the most severe symptoms during their initial illness the risk of them having long lasting symptoms is higher but that doesn't mean that, you know, if you have a small fever or mild symptoms at home that you're immune to it.
GUPTA (voice-over): COVID's lingering impacts are vast. From the brain to our hearts. A study of patients from the VA who had COVID early on the pandemic were 60 percent more likely to have developed any cardiac issues including heart disease and cardiac arrest a full year out.
(On-camera): But the idea that even if I didn't get that sick so I could have lost lasting symptoms, I don't want to overstate this but how frightening is that?
CHEN: It's very frightening. I mean, it's like stepping up to a gambling table at Vegas and risking losing everything.
GUPTA (voice-over): And that's what makes it all the more puzzling. It's not clear who develops long COVID, who recovers or why it happens in the first place. Best estimates, around 30 percent of people who had COVID still have symptoms at least three months after infection.
CHEN: I think the thing that surprised us the most is really just the breadth of disease. Like why so many different symptoms?
GUPTA: So far there are just theories. An overly active immune system still trying to fight the virus despite not being infected anymore or perhaps bits of the virus still hidden in our bodies.
[19:20:02]
Or simply the wreckage from the virus that can cause things like blood clots, choking off blood supply to everything from our nose to the toes.
ROCHEZ: I had all of these bizarre symptoms, including trembling legs and arms. Cannot move my legs. I started walking with a cane.
GUPTA: She saw multiple neurologist and cardiologists. Dozens of visits with everyone trying to address a specific organ of her body. None of it really made a difference until she got to Mount Sinai, a place she says finally focused on her as a whole patient.
ROCHEZ: Instead of being dismissed my doctor actually could finish sentences for me on how the symptoms were affecting me.
GUPTA: Even here though there are no easy answers and long COVID does remain a mystery. For Nitza, she did find some relief with steroids and over a year's worth of physical therapy. She still has brain fog at times and her movement is still limited but she's back to work and on her feet.
ROCHEZ: I can exercise compared to a year ago. I would say I'm running a marathon right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Pam, there are still so much we don't know about long COVID. The reality is that we are probably dealing with a brand-new disease and textbooks will be written about this. It may have similarities to chronic fatigue. It may have similarities to Lyme disease. They don't know yet. And as you heard, we're not entirely sure what's even causing it and there's been a lot of theories out there.
The NIH is dedicating a lot of resources now to investigating what causes it and also potential treatments. And one bright spot, Pam, I should tell you as well, is several studies have now shown the people who are vaccinated or are even vaccinated after their develop symptoms do develop some protection against developing long COVID. Shortening the duration of their symptoms in the long run so that is at least one bright spot -- Pam.
BROWN: Yes. For sure. Some silver lining there. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you
Well, Russia's Vladimir Putin plans to attend November's G20 Summit making it very likely he'll cross paths with President Biden. How should the U.S. and allies handle it? A man who has taken on Putin's Russia and won joins me with his unique perspective up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:26:48]
BROWN: The sheer brutality of Putin's war in Ukraine is shocking even to those accustomed to dealing with atrocities. Last week Pentagon spokesman Johon Kirby got emotional while answering a question about the Russian leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: It's difficult to look at the -- sorry. It is difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that. So I can't talk to his psychology but I think we can all speak to his depravity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: My next guest may be able to shine some light on Putin's psychology as well as his depravity. Franz Sedelmayer is a former close friend and business partner of the Russian president. He is known as the only person to have sued and collected money from Putin's Russia.
Hi. Thank you. Welcome to the show. Thank you for making time to talk to us. So you know Putin very well. You used to be close with him. You used to be friends with him. What do we not know about him?
FRANZ SEDELMAYER, FORMER BUSINESSMAN IN RUSSIA: Well, I think we all have the same problem. We tend to overthink who Vladimir Putin is and why he is doing what he is doing. Vladimir Putin is a person that has divided the world and he did so to meet his own needs. The needs is to stay in power and to stay in power he started a corrupt government system that funds all those who will help him. Whenever he goes to war, he does so not for any strategic reasons. He goes to war so he could remain in power and keep control.
BROWN: We've seen Putin being compared to other murderous dictators from history. Even Adolf Hitler. What do you make of those comparisons?
SEDELMAYER: What he is doing is sounding which is so unimaginable, I call it the Pearl Harbor effect for Europe and for the United States, in the free world. But he's doing that so he can stay in power. This is only motivation. He has absolutely no empathy for anyone. He doesn't care how many people get killed of his own or of the poor people in Ukraine.
BROWN: How do you know -- just walk us through a little bit more about the insights you have on Putin where you can say so confidently that this is just all about power, that's all he cares about. I mean, clearly, one can watch what's playing out and come to that conclusion. But what do you know from your personal interactions that indicate that to you?
SEDELMAYER: Vladimir Putin always was very interested in keeping a control over certain situations. You must understand he started out in the KGB back then as a recruiter but also someone to keep a watchful eye on the opposition. Then against the communist regime obviously. When he was working as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg his sole mission was to keep his boss Anatoly Sobchak, the first democratically elected mayor, out of trouble with the judiciary and with law enforcement because of the corruption that was going on in the city, and he had two things that qualified him for bigger things, and that was the absolute loyalty to whoever he worked for, and the fact that he did not accept bribes for himself in their capacity.
[19:30:00]
That's what landed his first shot with the Yeltsin's.
He went off to remove obstacle for the Yeltsin family when he stopped the investigation brought by the Prosecutor-General Skuratov against the Yeltsin family for corruption. With the Mabetex scandal, there was a company that won contracts to renovate the Kremlin, and they paid back some $60 million to the Yeltsin's.
So he compromised that gentleman, and then was promoted to become the first Prime Minister from St. Petersburg. And then, of course, was replaced as the President and won the popular elections in the year 2000.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: So I want to ask you, you know, he is expected to attend the G20 in November, and there is a very good chance that President Biden and President Putin will cross paths. What do you think the U.S. should do? How should it handle that? SEDELMAYER: I think, if he really attends, which I doubt that he
will, because Mr. Putin does not want to be confronted with anything that might look -- might make him look bad on screen in front of his own people or the world, I think that they should best ignore him.
BROWN: All right, Franz Sedelmayer, thank you. Really interesting to hear your perspective on this given the fact that you used to be business partners with him.
All right, thanks so much.
SEDELMAYER: Thank you, Pamela, for having me.
BROWN: Well, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM, a lot of jokes at the President's expense at the White House Correspondents Dinner, he even roasted himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm really excited to be here tonight with the only group of Americans with a lower approval rating than I have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:36:53]
BROWN: The war in Ukraine is half a world away and people in the U.S. who want to help are getting creative in their efforts to do their part.
This week, I spoke to a six-year-old girl and her mom who work together to fill backpacks with art and comfort supplies for Ukrainian children in harm's way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: So were you watching TV? Did you see other kids and worry about them?
GRIFFIN CHIEN: Other kids are living their houses with nothing in the hand, with nothing to do.
BROWN: And so what did you want to do for them?
CHIEN: Give them sunflower packages.
BROWN: So this is the sunflower bag. And you drew this right?
CHIEN: Yes.
BROWN: So Megan, tell me about this. So Griffin expressed to you she wanted to do something for these kids. MEGAN DONOVAN-CHIEN, MAKING CARE BACKPACKS FOR UKRAINIAN CHILDREN WITH
HER DAUGHTER: She did. She wanted to give her all her toys, and then wanted to send firewood so that people would stay warm, and then wanted to send wood to help rebuild.
So we agreed upon the sunflower bags that is a bit filled with art supplies and comfort supplies.
BROWN: And so how did it all come together? Because it's one thing to have an idea. But as a mom, you want to -- you're hearing your child wants to do something for all of these kids who are suffering? How do you get from there to actually getting these sunflower bags over to these kids in Poland?
DONOVAN-CHIEN: Well, when she said she wanted the woods to rebuild, I felt like I needed to move right away. Figure out a way.
BROWN: She is not going to stop --
DONOVAN-CHIEN: She's quite tenacious. So I want to make certain that we were able to fulfill her mission.
The first thing we did was we spoke about immediate use funds, how important that is. And we did that with a fund we set up in my dad's honor called the 72 Funds, and then then the next step was to send the sunflower bags, and it was tricky, because you can't just -- NGOs right now, they need funds, so you can't just send supplies.
And it turns out ironically, right before the war started, a Ukrainian artist on Etsy had sent us some educational art supplies for our son, and I contacted her and she got right back to me and thought art would be a great idea, art supplies, and it turns out her sister and her niece who is nine years old, had fled to Poland.
And so I said how many children are there in that area? And it was 54, and so we had the ages of seven months to 13 years old. So we, Griffin and I, we chose different items for each of the age groups that were appropriate.
BROWN: What was that like when you worked so hard on this project, to help these kids, the bags finally arrive in Poland after all of this is hard work and you see the videos of the kids opening up the bags. What did that make you feel?
[19:40:07]
CHIEN: I feel like -- I feel happy.
BROWN: You felt happy.
CHIEN: Yes.
BROWN: Megan, what was that like for you.
DONOVAN-CHIEN: I felt very proud of Griffin. But also, it is pretty amazing when you have something in your living room, and then you see it in a child's hands and to see how happy they are. That was -- it was -- it went to show you how the whole mission of this was one child reaching out to another child, and that's what Griffin did.'
And so that's quite special to have that, and it shows that every dollar counts, every idea counts, no matter how old you are.
Just see a child so innocent in clapping just to have that, some chalk and crayons and art supplies, and to see that joy is -- it is just something that all kids should have. And so to know that he probably had that three weeks prior and then to have that taken away and to see that joy.
And also the fact that art supplies can be used therapeutically, like it helps to get your mind off of, I hope, what is surrounding them at the moment and also to have ownership of a backpack, which is waterproof and it is protecting their items, their art supplies. They're -- just they're their own items I think that was --
BROWN: Nothing can take that away.
DONOVAN-CHIEN: No.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And each bag is a little bunny, you saw the little boy pull that out in that video. It symbolizes both the Easter Holiday and Griffin's grandfather who had passed away not long ago, and Griffin says her sunflower design on the bag symbolizes Ukraine. So good job to Griffin inspiring us all there.
Well, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Up next, President Biden takes on the role of comedian in chief at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I'm not really here to roast the G.O.P. That's not my style. Besides, there is nothing I can say about the G.O.P. that Kevin McCarthy hasn't already put on tape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:46:40]
BROWN: The President was part of last night's return to pre-pandemic Washington. The Capitol Press Corps mingled with top government officials and celebrities at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. More than 2,000 people were there including veteran journalist, April Ryan. She was honored as the longest serving Black female White House correspondent in history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAYLE KING, CBS NEWS HOST: For seven decades, the Black women who cover the White House like April Ryan, who is down in the center, 25 years, Miss April, as a White House correspondent. You go, April Ryan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: We're proud to have April as a CNN political analyst and a guest with us tonight.
April, I know it has just been a whirlwind for you, but I'm so happy. I was at the dinner last night. We were standing up giving you the standing ovation that you deserve. Tell us what that was like.
APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I was in shock, because actually, I didn't expect it. You know, the room was so packed. And my fiance told me to move to the other seat because I kept getting hit in the head by all the servers who were coming through, and I sat right there on the aisle seat.
And then Gayle was discussing the new award that was being given posthumously to Alice Dunnigan and Ethel Payne, the first Black women to ever cover the White House, and then she mentioned me being the longest serving Black female journalist to cover the White House, 25 years.
I still get chills over it to be recognized by your colleagues, but for the whole room to stand. Gayle King last night told me at the celebration, the real celebration that we had with Mary J. Blige. She said, "April, the whole room stood." I mean, from my vantage point, I saw a lot of people, but she said, "April, the whole room stood."
BROWN: Yes.
RYAN: The whole room of people who are of all walks of life -- politicians, celebrities, and just people who -- news organizations that were in that room, and it was something in another world saw.
If you want to say something, it's called giving someone their flowers while they could smell them. I can smell them.
BROWN: Oh, that's beautiful. Well, I was so proud. We cover the White House together and it is so well-deserved.
RYAN: Yes, we have.
BROWN: And very happy for you. And I'm curious what your take was about last night. You know, it was the first time in three years that the event has been held due to the pandemic. It was the first time in six years as President Biden noted that a sitting President he attended, neither of which were lost on him. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: This is the first time a President attended this dinner in six years.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
BIDEN: It's understandable. We had a horrible plague followed by two years of COVID.
[LAUGHTER]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So what did you think of President Biden's performance?
[19:50:09]
RYAN: He was very strong. His jokes landed very well, if you will, "A plague followed by COVID" for those six years.
I believe the President, you know, he wanted to make sure that he, in his address, in his roasting, he wanted to make sure that the press knew that we were important, and in the midst of a pandemic, he said he had to come. And he even abbreviated his appearance by coming after the dinner portion, but he wanted to be there; particularly at a time when there are journalists who are losing their lives all around the country and the world.
But particularly when it comes to Ukraine, Russia's war on Ukraine, and Pam, he was the first one to stand after the Memoriam for those reporters who were killed in the war.
And he started a slow clap, and he went into this applause, and others stood as well. He was the first one and that's the big piece. That was my takeaway last night, a big takeaway for me.
BROWN: He also, I noted, he laughed at all the jokes about him. I mean he was laughing.
RYAN: Yes, he did.
BROWN: Like really heartily. I mean, he was on the receiving end of several jokes. And here's one of them from the host, Trevor Noah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TREVOR NOAH, "THE DAILY SHOW" HOST: Ever since you've come into office, things are really looking up. You know, gas is up, rent is up, food is up.
[LAUGHTER]
NOAH: Everything.
You know, last month, he caused a huge international incident, saying that Vladimir Putin should be removed from power. It was very, very upsetting to Russia, yes, until someone explained to them that none of the stuff Biden wants actually gets done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And you know, April, "The New York Times" has an article today reported that Biden's polling team has data showing inflation as one of the biggest issues hurting the President with voters. I've got to imagine that, you know, as he laughed with them, the jokes hit extra hard when there is this big grain of truth at the core.
So what did you think about his ability to laugh them off?
RYAN: I was struck by how he was able to laugh it off, how he was able to take it and because one, the jokes had a lot of truth in them. All his poll numbers -- all his numbers are up, yes, inflation, et cetera et cetera et cetera and those are pocket issues. That's when politics is personal.
And the President has to lift those numbers, but he had to go there, and his presence had to resonate with the American public in particular. He had to seem like he was someone who could give a joke and take a joke, even in the midst of the worst times, and these are some of the worst times as we are hearing from financial experts, that there could be a recession.
So the President's numbers are going down because again, inflation is going up. The supply chain still has a kink in it, but the President has to do something about it, and it's like that old saying, and maybe the Janet Jackson song, "What Have You Done For Me Lately?" That's what the American public is looking for in the midterms.
BROWN: All right, April Ryan, congratulations again on your achievement and thanks so much for joining us tonight.
RYAN: Thank you, Pam. Take care. Be well.
BROWN: Well, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM, and still ahead, new video of Ukrainian civilians finally escaping the hell that Russia has created in Mariupol.
Plus, a Ukrainian diva's defiant curtain call after replacing a Russian soprano at New York's Metropolitan Opera.
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BROWN: A powerful moment at New York's Metropolitan Opera last night.
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BROWN: When the Ukrainian soprano took her curtain call draped in the Ukrainian flag as you see right here. Liudmyla Monastyrska performed last night as a replacement after the Opera House dropped the show's original star for associating with Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
This weekend, Stanley Tucci is back, I know a lot of you have been waiting for this. He is taking us around Italy with new episodes, new food, and new discoveries. His first stop this season, Venice.
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STANLEY TUCCI, CNN HOST, "SEARCHING FOR ITALY": So cuttlefish risotto is a three-stage process. One of them, very messy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just very gently, because you don't want to break the sack. Look, see.
TUCCI: Where is the sack?
TUCCI (voice over): If you try it at home, be prepared to repaint afterwards.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't [bleep]. Just push.
TUCCI (on camera): I broke it. Anyway, if there were people who knew what they were doing here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, exactly.
TUCCI: It would work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Squeeze it now.
TUCCI (voice over): As well as the cuttles, we bought fish heads, tails, and other bits to make a stock that we'll use in the rice.
TUCCI (on camera): Aren't those pieces too big though?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But they would break. I am going to break down the fiber.
TUCCI: Okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Become super, super tender.
TUCCI: Okay. Like some wine?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's good. Now we can put a little bit of the persada pomodoro (ph), not too much, but remember, it is all about the black ink.
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