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Congress Approves $40 Billion in Aid to Ukraine; Kharkiv Subway Has Become Home to Many City Residents; Biden to Visit South Korea, Japan on First Asia Trip; Source: 15 People Joined Shooting Suspect's Discord Private Chat; Russian Soldier Confronted by Widow at War Crimes Trial; Oklahoma Passes Bill Banning Abortions after 'Fertilization'; U.S. Carrier Group Works to Deter China and North Korea; North Korea Scrambling to Contain Massive COVID Outbreak; Select Committee Investigating Capitol Tour Given by GOP Rep. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired May 20, 2022 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, I'm John Vause, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world.
[00:00:26]
Ahead this hour, the U.S. dramatically escalates financial support for Ukraine, with Congress approving $40 billion of military and humanitarian assistance.
North Korea prepares for nuclear and/or missile test, as Joe Biden begins his first official trip to Asia as U.S. president.
Was it just a friendly tour of Congress by a Republican representative for his constituents, or was it reconnaissance the day before the January 6th insurrection? Inquiring minds would like to know.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: The biggest and, by no means, not the last aid package for Ukraine has been overwhelmingly approved by the U.S. Congress, a rare, notable achievement, given the deep, political divisions between Democrats and Republican lawmakers.
On Thursday, the $40 billion aid package for both military and humanitarian assistance passed the Senate, but not without opposition. Eleven Republicans voted against the bill, in defiance of Senate Minority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Anybody concerned about the cost of supporting a Ukrainian victory should consider the much larger cost, should Ukraine lose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: President Biden is now heading to South Korea and is expected to sign the bill into law once he arrives. But wait, there's more.
Just as the Senate approved that $40 billion, the Biden administration announced another security package worth $100 million. And the flood of money to Ukraine comes at a critical moment. Ukraine's top military commander claims his troops have broken the Russian sieges at Kharkiv and Mykolaiv and says the Ukrainian forces are now pressing on towards Kherson.
Elsewhere, Russian shelling and airstrikes reportedly killed at least a dozen people on Thursday in the strategic city of Severodonetsk. And Ukraine's military says a Russian advance on the neighboring city of Sloviansk has been pushed back, with the Russians suffering heavy losses.
Russia claims more than 1,700 Ukrainian troops have now surrendered at the Azovstal Steel factory in Mariupol. CNN, though, cannot verify that claim. And for now, an unknown number of Ukrainian soldiers, including senior commanders, apparently are holding out at the steelworks.
When Kharkiv came under heavy shelling during the early days of the war, many headed to the relative safety of the city's subway. And there, many have stayed.
But in recent days, Ukrainian fighters have forced the Russians to pull back, bringing increased security and an order from the city mayor: It s time to leave the underground and restart rail services.
Here's CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The noises may be further away from Kharkiv and its distant fields of villages. But part of the city still stays hidden underground in a subway's near-apocalyptic dark warrens.
They came down to shelter just for the night, but that was two months ago. Homes now destroyed, but the fear of the bombs remaining. Most have nowhere to go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: I'm cold. Cold for two days.
WALSH (voice-over): Officials have asked people to leave soon and stopped people sleeping, at least in the trains, which they have to get moving again.
Ludmila keeps her place tidy and welcoming but is alone here. Her flat, bombed twice.
LUDMILA, KHARKIV RESIDENT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: I am alone, but I like it like that. They are throwing us out. Against our will. The war isn't over, but they ask us to leave. How? Tell me how. I have a room nearby. Am I supposed to be there in the bombing? No one is listening to us.
WALSH (voice-over): In the damp, cold coffin, with food in one bucket, urine in another. This is a desperation Russia's war on Ukraine wanted to inflict.
Luba is sat between her family and people whose names she doesn't even know.
LUBA, KHARKIV RESIDENT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: Everyday was scary. Every day. I don't know that guy.
WALSH (voice-over): Even if Ukraine wins, this is still where it hurts: in the loss of presumptions about the most ordinary parts of life. Viktor, his mother says, sheltering in a game of two pirate ships attacking each other.
[00:05:06]
OKSANA, VIKTOR'S MOTHER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: We stayed in the apartment until the end. We slept in the corridor, hid in the toilet. It was destroyed when we were here.
WALSH (voice-over): We see some deciding to leave already, yet still, the framework of permanence sets in. And the outside's sunnier days turn noisy at night.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kharkiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: David Sanger is a CNN political and national security analyst, as well as White House and national security correspondent for "The New York Times" and author of "The Perfect Weapon." He is with us this hour from Washington.
David, welcome back.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be with you.
VAUSE: OK. So let's start with the money. The 40 billion approved by Congress is now heading to the president's desk for signature. It's $7 billion more than the administration asked for.
And for some perspective here, Russia increased its military expenditure by 2.9 percent in 2021 to almost $66 billion. Adding up all the financial and military aid from the U.S. to Ukraine, the grand total is, at least for now, $53 billion.
Now, I understand the logic. Supporting Ukraine now is a lot more cost-effective than fighting Russia later on. Is there no limit on what the U.S. is willing to spend? SANGER: Well, I'm sure there's a limit, but I don't think we're
anywhere near it yet.
You know, the comparison you showed is really fascinating, because if you think that Russia, for all that we learned about its military modernization, for how much hits refreshed its tired old equipment, is spending only 66, $67 billion dollars a year, well, that's not 10 percent of what the Pentagon spends each year on military operations. And it is -- barely touches what China is spending.
So I think the first lesson out of this is that the Russians may well be outspent, much as they were in the run-up to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
But the second and more important one is to remember, of the $40 billion for Ukraine, not all of that is for military equipment or even training. A good deal of it, in fact, is for just running the operations of the government.
Right now, Ukraine has a $5 billion a month hole. The U.S. is hoping to fill 1.5 billion of that each month and hope that Europe, Japan, others will fill in the rest.
VAUSE: Senator Rand Paul, a Republican, he held up the bill insisting on some kind of oversight be included to ensure accountability in terms of how and where the $40 billion is spent. That earned him a bipartisan smackdown. Here's the leader of the Senate, Democrat Chuck Schumer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): It is repugnant that one member of the other side, the junior senator from Kentucky, chose to make a show and obstruct Ukraine funding, knowing full well he couldn't actually stop its passage. For Senator Paul to delay Ukraine funding for purely political motives is to only strengthen Putin's hand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: In itself, though, the request for some kind of accountability hardly seems to be unreasonable. You know, Washington doesn't exactly have a great track record when it comes to spending.
SANGER: Well, that's right. Just yesterday, I was reading one of the latest reports of the special inspector for Afghanistan and found lots of waste in the way that we had trained the Afghan forces.
And in a country like Ukraine that's known for corruption, I don't think there's any problem in demanding accountability. But you wouldn't want to use that to hold up the aid at the very moment that it could do its most. And that is this moment.
Because right now, the Russians appear still unable to solve many of the problems that have kept him from taking over the entire country.
Now, their ambitions have limited themselves down to the East and South, the Donbas. But they're still making some of the same mistakes. And the Ukrainians need that help pretty fast.
VAUSE: This is -- this is true. The speed and timing is important in all this.
We also had this formal application now to join NATO from both Sweden and Finland. It turns out when you put the paperwork in, you get a visit to the White House, and you get to meet the president. And Joe Biden was talking up the benefits of these two Nordic NATO members. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Finland and Sweden make NATO stronger, not just because of the capacity through their strong, strong democracies. And a strong, united NATO is a foundation of America's security. By joining NATO, allies make a sacred commitment to one another. An attack on one is an attack against all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So what specifically do these two countries bring to NATO in terms of defense and increased capability, if you like?
[00:10:06]
SANGER: Well, first, I was out in the Rose Garden this morning to watch this event, and it was pretty remarkable. I mean, Sweden is a country that has been neutral for 200 years.
In Finland, you have a country that made a deal with the Soviet Union, first at the end of the war in 1940, or the Winter War. And then again in 1948. And it has stayed on the side. The only thing that changed those politics was Vladimir Putin.
VAUSE: David, that's a good point for us to finish on. Thank you for being with us.
SANGER: Thank you. Great to be with you.
VAUSE: Shortly after meeting with the leaders of Finland and Sweden, Joe Biden left for South Korea and his first trip to Asia as president, with the stated goal to, quote, "affirm the importance of our Indo-Pacific alliances."
CNN's Kevin Liptak and Paula Hancocks both live this hour from Seoul. We'll begin with Paula, and the threat from the North, and the possibility that Pyongyang may conduct a nuclear and/or missile test in the coming days. So what's the latest intelligence there?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we've been hearing from both the U.S. and the South Korean sides that they believe an intercontinental ballistic missile may be imminent, may be in preparation. This is the kind of missile that potentially could hit mainland United States if flown at a normal trajectory. So it is one that Washington is always concerned about. Now, we heard from the national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, that
they had -- they decided on contingencies. They had spoken to their allies in the region, also to China, as to what exactly they would do if there was some kind of a missile test or a nuclear test, which Washington also believes could be imminent, according to intelligence sources.
And what they would do, they say, according to Jake Sullivan, that there is a plan in place, that they would carry out some kind of response to show their resolve from the South Korean and the U.S. side. We don't know what that would be at this point.
But I must stress, it would be truly remarkable if North Korea did decide to carry out a nuclear test or some kind of missile tests if a U.S. president was actually in the country or in Japan, where he's heading to next.
As far as I can remember, that simply has not happened up until this point. Quite often, North Korea has carried out some kind of test just before or just after any kind of presidential trip. But for to happen whilst U.S. President Joe Biden was here would be quite surprising.
But we have seen what has already been quite surprising, the performance from North Korea this year. January is in the record books for the sheer number of missile launches. We have had 15 missile launches so far this year. We have had an ICBM already. That was the first time in about five years.
So North Korea is clearly pushing ahead with its weapons and missile testing. Kim Jong-un has given his wish list of exactly what he wants to achieve over the next five years. He gave that at the beginning of last year. And they are methodically and systematically working their way through that list. And certainly, ICBMs is very high up on that list.
There have been a number of other tests in the past couple of months that are believed to have been failures, but that still doesn't matter to North Korea. They will still learn an awful lot from a failure.
So certainly, there is a concern that anything that North Korea does could overshadow this trip -- John.
VAUSE: OK, Paula. Let's go to Kevin now. And North Korea, it's always a security issue but not necessarily the focus of this trip by the U.S. president.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not necessarily. This is really a trip that's meant to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to these two allies in this region and to demonstrate that President Biden is still very much focused on Asia, even as his attention has been so consumed by this war in Ukraine and Russia's invasion in Ukraine.
And you know, he probably would have liked to visit Asia a little bit earlier in his presidency. His predecessors both visited Asia much earlier in their own presidencies. Of course, he's been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic and by the war in Ukraine, by these other foreign hotspots that's really sort of hampered his ability to fully make this pivot that he's talked about, that President Obama talked about, that President Trump also sort of talked about; to Asia, to really counter China's influence in the region.
And that's something that he's talked about as the defining challenge for the century. And this is really his first chance on the world stage to show the United States' commitment to this region.
Of course, as he's been focused on Ukraine, these other foreign hotspots, particularly on this continent, have flared up, whether it's North Korea potentially testing an underground nuclear bomb or an intercontinental ballistic missile. Those are both things they potentially could do. U.S. officials are warning about that.
And to China. Of course, that's the overarching sort of country in the backdrop for this visit, is China and the United States' ability to wield its influence in the region, even as China is sort of ratcheting up its military aggression, its economic aggression towards countries in the region.
[00:15:20]
President Biden really wants to show that the United States can play on the field, as well. And so when you see him arrive here in South Korea and a couple of hours, his first call would be at a symptom plant.
him arrive here in South Korea and a couple of him arrive here in South Korea and a couple of hours, his first call would be at a Samsung plant. And they're making semiconductors, you know, those microchips that are in short supply in the United States and have caused some shortages of cars. They've caused some manufacturing lines to shut down, because there aren't enough chips coming from China.
And what the president will emphasize is that the United States needs to look to its other allies in the region to help manufacture those chips. This Samsung plant is one of those places that's doing that.
He'll also talk about domestic production of semiconductor chips. That's something that he's called on Congress to help him with, with a piece of legislation that's pending.
So that will really set the tone for this first visit to Asia for the president. But as Paula was talking about, this threat of North Korean provocations really looming over all of it. The president certainly on high alert as he gets into the bilateral talks tomorrow with South Korea's new president. That/s something that's certainly at the very forefront of their agenda when they sit down tomorrow -- John.
VAUSE: Kevin, thank you. Kevin Liptak there and Paula Hancocks, as well. Thank you.
Well coming up, the January 6th Select Committee now is zeroing in on a tour of the U.S. Capitol building by a Republican member of Congress just a day before the deadly insurrection. We'll have his response in a moment.
Also, as the only suspect in the Buffalo mass shooting appears in court, investigators reveal the staggering number of people who may have known of his plans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:20:59]
VAUSE: The suspect in Saturday's mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, reportedly gave a heads up about his plans to at least 15 people. A source says they're part of a private chat on the communications app Discord.
The suspect began that chat before the shooting spree, which left ten people dead and wounded three others. Brian Todd has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New details about who the suspected Buffalo gunman revealed his plans to beforehand. Fifteen people accepted his online invitation to view the diary he kept, which spelled out his plans and preparations in detail.
That's according to a person with knowledge of the probe by Discord, an online chat service.
The invitation header read, quote, "Happening: This is Not a Drill," "The Washington Post" reported.
It was sent 30 minutes before the attack and linked to an alleged livestream of his attack on Twitch, as well as to six months' worth of racist notes and details about surveying the store, drawing a map, and taking note of how many black customers where there.
It is not clear if authorities are seeking to contact each of those users.
JONATHAN LACEY, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: The FBI will be investigating the identities of these individuals, trying to identify them, and to either speak to them or investigate them further.
TODD (voice-over): Evidence collection at the side of the shooting is now complete, the FBI said on Thursday. But the probe continues.
STEPHEN BELONGIA, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, BUFFALO: There are interviews to be done. There are -- there are information and data to be gathered from social media and other Internet companies. There are analyses that needs to be done on the evidence that was collected.
TODD (voice-over): The suspect appearing in court on Thursday under heavy security, handcuffed in an orange jumpsuit. In addition to a first-degree murder charge Saturday, to which he has pleaded not guilty, he has now been indicted by a grand jury.
As he is taken out of the courtroom, an onlooker calls him a coward. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe you're a coward!
TODD: The suspect claimed, in a diatribe posted online, that he got one of the guns, a Savage rifle, from his father for Christmas in 2020. A Savage box can be seen in this family photo posted on Facebook.
A Savage rifle was not used in the Tops shooting, but one was found in the suspect's car.
The hateful rant said the gunman planned to use the Savage rifle, along with a shotgun, to kill more black people in the neighborhood, as he drove away from the Tops supermarket.
JEFFREY PEACE, ADMINISTRATOR, STATE TABERNACLE CHURCH: Taking him home --
TODD (voice-over): Jeffrey Peace is an administrator at the State Tabernacle Church. He was a fellow deacon there with deceased shooting victim Haywood Patterson for several years. I asked Peace about how the man who was so loved and trusted in the church community would have responded to his killer.
TODD: The gunman was clearly full of hatred. Do you think that Deacon Patterson might forgive this man if he were able to?
PEACE: The Bible tells us to forgive. You know, it tells us to forgive. I can't speak -- he's gone. He's gone. But if surviving, yes, I would say yes. I would have to say yes.
And we're going to have to forgive the gunman, because we're here. To tell you, get that out of there, he's going to live there forever, and you don't want that.
TODD: When we asked an FBI official what the evidence here at the scene told them about the shooter's movements, he declined to comment. But he did talk about the high-powered capability of the shooter's AR- 15 assault rifle. He said its rounds could penetrate walls, could penetrate store shelves, and could ricochet off just about anything. He said there is significant damage inside the store.
Brian Todd, CNN, Buffalo.
VAUSE: Two major developments to report about the investigation into the January 6th U.S. Capitol insurrection.
First, the former attorney general, Bill Barr, has tentatively agreed to testify under oath to the House select committee, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations.
Barr talked informally to the committee late last year. A two-hour- long meeting, or thereabouts, focusing on his interactions with former president, Donald Trump, before and after the election.
This comes as the committee wants answers about a Capitol tour by a Republican congressman one day before the insurrection. [06:25:00]
The committee has asked Barry Loudermilk of Georgia about the tour and who was part of it. Loudermilk fired back, saying, "A constituent family with young children meeting with a member of Congress in the House Office Building is not a suspicious group or a 'reconnaissance tour'. The family never entered the Capitol building. The Select Committee is once again pushing a verifiably false narrative that Republicans conducted 'reconnaissance tours' on January 5th."
Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, cries for justice in a Kyiv courtroom, as a Ukrainian widow confronts the Russian soldier who killed her husband in cold blood. That story, in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: The war crimes trial of Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin is set to resume in Kyiv Friday, a day after he was confronted by the widow of the unarmed man he shot in cold blood.
[00:30:04]
CNN's Melissa Bell has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the start, Russia's invasion of Ukraine stalled. Like here on February 28. These pictures, shared exclusively with CNN by Ukrainian forces, show a column of Russia's Fourth Tank Division after it hit a land mine and its soldiers had fled.
One of those soldiers on Thursday facing both justice and grief.
KATERINA SHELIPOVA, SLAIN CIVILIAN'S WIDOW (through translator): Why did you come here? Did you come to defend us? From whom? Did you defend me from my husband you killed?
VADIM SHISHIMARIN, ON TRIAL FOR WAR CRIMES (through translator): Our command gave us an order to move into the column. I didn't know what would follow.
BELL (voice-over): Vadim Shishimarin is accused of killing Katerina Shelipova's husband, Oleksandr, an unarmed civilian in the village of Chupakhivka.
CNN has geolocated this video where Shishimarin's unit hit the mind, as being just two miles from Chupakhivka.
The Ukrainian armed forces say that the Russian soldiers then fled and killed local civilians.
In court, the prosecutor said that Shishimarin and four other soldiers had fled the scene in a stolen car, and that Shishimarin was given an order.
SHISHIMARIN (through translator): It was very stressful. I was under great stress. He shouted at me.
BELL (voice-over): A version of events corroborated by another Russian soldier who was traveling in the car that day.
IVAN MALTISOV, RUSSIAN SOLDIER AND WITNESS (through translator): The warrant officer ordered Vadim to shoot, with the justification that the man could be reporting on us. Vadim refused to do it, and the man ordered him to do it.
BELL (voice-over): A glimpse into the chaos and fear of the early days of the war on the Russian side, as well.
SHELIPOVA (through translator): Can you please tell me, what did you feel when you killed my husband?
SHISHIMARIN (through translator): Shame.
SHELIPOVA (through translator): Do you repent?
SHISHIMARIN (through translator): Yes. I acknowledge my fault. I understand that you will not be able to forgive me. But I am sorry.
BELL (voice-over): Shelipova said she wanted Shishimarin imprisoned for life. The only alternative, she said: an exchange for the Azovstal prisoners of war now in Russian hands.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Australia's prime minister fighting to hold onto his job in Saturday's general election. But one factor, far away from the country itself, could tip the balance in the voting booth. More on that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:36:55]
VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone.
Dozens of cases of monkeypox have been detected worldwide. Infections have now been recorded in Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada. Symptoms include fever, rashes and swollen lymph nodes.
In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control is monitoring six people for possible infections. It's believed they sat near an infected traveler on a flight from Nigeria to the U.K. in early May. And while U.S. health experts are urging calm, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has also stressing vigilance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: This is a virus that is rare in humans. But when it does come up, it's a serious one that we should investigate. At this time, we do want people to worry. Again, these numbers are still small. We want them to be where the symptoms and, if they have any concerns, to reach out to their doctor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The CDC says the six people being monitored are healthy, show no symptoms, and are considered to be at low risk.
Pennsylvania officials have been counting ballots all day, but the state's Republican primary race remains too close to call. Here's a look at where things stand right now.
Trump-endorsed TV personality, Mehmet Oz, hanging onto a slim lead over former hedge fund executive David McCormick. He expects counting will take another day or two but told a local radio show the margin will be so small he's expecting an automatic recount to be triggered.
Australians head to the polls this Saturday to elect a new government. The cost of living and climate change high on the list of voter concerns. But thousands of kilometers away is another big issue hanging over this election. CNN's Anna Coren explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the eve of the federal election, many Australians are complaining they don't have much of a choice.
TARYN IRELAND, VOTER: It's kind of hard in a two-party system where, like, neither government is doing anything. And it's a bit like, who do we vote for?
COREN (voice-over): OREN: Anthony Albanese, the leader of the center- left Labor Party, has been accused of making himself a small target, as he attempts to dislodge Scott Morrison and the conservative Liberal-National Coalition, which has been in power for almost a decade.
The man nicknamed Albo has leaned into many of the policies of a prime minister who has his integrity constantly called into question. But as the public worries about hits to their lifestyle and their livelihoods --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely, cost of living, climate change and housing.
COREN (voice-over): The perceived threat of China hangs over the vote.
JOHN LEE, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTRY ADVISER: This is the first election in my adult lifetime that China and foreign policy has been a major issue. China is a concern, because China has announced itself as a concern.
COREN (voice-over): With their relationship at a historic low, both parties in Canberra have looked to score political points by beating up on Beijing. SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Why would you take China's
side?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, CANDIDATE FOR AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: That is it is an outrageous slur from the prime minister.
COREN (voice-over): The announcement of the security pact between China and the Solomon Islands has shaken Australia, which fears a Chinese military base less than 2,000 kilometers off its coast.
Sharing that concern, the White House deployed a top Asia envoy to try to kill the deal, without much success.
So how much of what China does can be controlled by Australia? And does it matter who gets elected on Saturday?
[00:40:15]
LEE: The opposition Labor Party has tried to ensure that there's very little difference between themselves and the government on China. And in fact, you have a situation now where both sides are making the claim that they will be tougher on China.
BELL (voice-over): Dr. John Lee is a former adviser to Julia Bishop, who served as Australia's foreign minister between 2013 and 2018.
LEE: Structurally, China is in the region. It wants a base there. It will be difficult to stop the Chinese from getting a base in the Solomons.
BELL (voice-over): Nevertheless, one of the first tasks of Australia's post-election leader will be to take his place in the meeting of the Quad in Tokyo next week, when either Morrison or Albanese will join U.S. President Joe Biden; India's Narendra Modi, and Japan's Fumio Kishida, all in lockstep over the perceived threat posed by China.
Anna Coren, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: I'm John Vause at the CNN Center. Coming up next for our viewers in North America, Oklahoma just passed one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation. Details after the break. And for CNN International, WORLD SPORT starts in just a moment.
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[00:45:22]
VAUSE: Welcome back. One of the strictest abortion bills in the country has just been passed by state lawmakers in Oklahoma. It effectively bans abortion after fertilization. CNN's Camila Bernal explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This bill prohibits abortions at any stage of the pregnancy, and we do expect the governor to sign it, but the way that the bill describes a pregnancy is key.
So, I want to read the exact wording of that bill, which says that a pregnancy is "the female reproductive condition that, A, begins with fertilization; B, occurs when the woman is carrying the developing human offspring; and C, is calculated from the first day of the woman's last menstrual period."
Now, not only does this essentially ban all abortions in the state of Oklahoma, but it also allows any private citizen to sue an abortion provider who knowingly performs or induces an abortion.
Now, we know the governor previously has supported all of these similar bans passed in the state of Oklahoma. He said that his state protects life. He's also said they're going to focus on helping the mothers and says that churches and nonprofits should focus on adoptions.
And so, we expect this to essentially be the reality in Oklahoma in the coming days.
On the other hand, you have Planned Parenthood, who is saying this is a dark day. They say, Look, this is not just another ban, but this is a first. They say it's a reversal of history.
And they say they're going to continue fighting, just as they fought for previous efforts and legislation that has been passed in Oklahoma in hopes of banning abortion.
The other thing is that they're planning for the future. They say that they expect the abortions that were planned for this week to go on as scheduled, but they are already making plans to cancel those abortions that were scheduled for next week.
Bottom line is that this is likely going to become an issue that is defined by state lines.
Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: U.S. President Joe Biden set to arrive in South Korea in the coming hours. His trip comes as China and North Korea increasingly flex their military muscles in the region.
We will now take you to a U.S. aircraft carrier deployed in that part of the world to show you how Washington is trying to draw the line for Beijing and Pyongyang. Here's Blake Essig.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you ask United States 7 Fleet Commander Karl Thomas, this is what deterrence looks and sounds like. ADMIRAL KARL THOMAS, COMMANDER, U.S. 7TH FLEET: Deterrence to date has
worked. And I'm hopeful that it continues to work, but my job is to be prepared in case it doesn't.
ESSIG (voice-over): For the past several months, the U.S. Navy carrier Strike Group 3, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln and armed with the U.S. Navy's most advanced fighter wing has conducted joint drills with allies like Japan and patrolled the waters of the Indo-Pacific.
THOMAS: Being out here operating is a very physical, a very agile, dynamic force. There's no better way to provide the deterrence that we need in this part of the region.
ESSIG: This aircraft carrier brings massive firepower to the region. Its purpose: to project power, increased security and serve as a deterrent to countries like China, North Korea, and Russia.
But in a part of the world seemingly more unstable by the day, the effectiveness of a carrier strike group like this as a deterrence to adversaries has been called into question.
KEN JIMBO, PROFESSOR, KEIO UNIVERSITY: We need to have more robust, like-minded states coalition, because China's rise is now the global phenomena.
ESSIG (voice-over): A reality that isn't lost on Quad member states. A coalition made up to the United States, Japan, Australia, and India, whose leaders are set to meet in Tokyo early next week.
With South Korea watching from the sidelines, member states are likely to discuss a unified response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine; the recent flurry of weapons tests conducted by North Korea; and, of course, China.
RAHM EMANUEL, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN: One of the things that China doesn't have is friends and allies. They have subjects. We have friends and allies who want to stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States.
ESSIG: While the Quad isn't a NATO-like mutual defense commitment, continuing to upgrade security cooperation between Quad member states and other likeminded nations in this region is extremely important to maintaining maritime security.
[00:50:04]
ESSIG (voice-over): But according to Cleo Paskal, an Indo-Pacific strategic specialist, the key to combatting China's rise isn't necessarily through military strength.
CLEO PASKAL, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: By the time you get to the military part, you're almost too late. You don't want to cut off China militarily. You want to block its influence politically and economically first.
ESSIG (voice-over): However, as China and Russia work to strengthen their own military alliance in the region, Rear Admiral J.T. Anderson says the U.S.'s presence, along with the strength of its allies, has proven to be an effective deterrent.
Nevertheless, if that deterrent fails --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our job is to fight and win, period.
ESSIG (voice-over): An outcome no one wants, but one the U.S. military and its allies must prepare for.
Blake Essig, CNN, onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Philippine Sea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: State media in North Korea reporting so-called fever cases have surpassed 2 million since late April. North Korean cargo planes have recently been spotted making a return trip to China. But their cargo is unknown.
Beijing has promised to help Pyongyang as it deals with a widespread COVID outbreak. More now from CNN's Will Ripley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mood was triumphant, crowds massive. Most people not wearing masks. At last month's military parade in Pyongyang, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un promised to protect his people from hostile forces, like the U.S.
Protection from the virus that would soon ravage his unvaccinated population? Nonexistent.
Weeks later, a devastating fever, believed to be undiagnosed COVID-19, infecting and killing some of Pyongyang's most privileged citizens.
CHAD O'CARROLL, MANAGING DIRECTOR, NK NEWS: The military parade was a super-spreader event, and we know that they flew in citizens from across North Korea.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Some of those citizens from the Chinese border region, a place I visited five years ago. North Koreans are living a literal stone's throw away from the raging Omicron outbreak in China.
Beijing pledged to help Pyongyang battle the outbreak. The hermit kingdom's hermetically-sealed border apparently breached by the highly contagious variant. Two years of pandemic isolation. Two years of sacrifice, gone in one parade.
O'CARROLL: That's the perfect petri dish for this virus to spread. So I think that -- that parade will go down in history as a very bad idea for North Korea.
RIPLEY (voice-over): A colossal miscalculation, and experts say the likely cause of North Korea's explosive outbreak. An unprecedented nationwide lockdown. Skyrocketing infections and deaths. A dilapidated healthcare system on
the verge of collapse, lacking even the most basic medicines and medical equipment. Millions of malnourished North Koreans at higher risk of severe infection.
O'CARROLL: I think it's going to test his leadership, certainly. And it's going to create some urgency for very creative storytelling in the North Korean propaganda apparatus.
RIPLEY (voice-over): North Korean propaganda, crucial to keeping the Kim family in power. Even during times of crisis, like the deadly famine of the late 1990s, when citizens literally ate tree bark to survive. The Kims rule over a police state that relies on heavy surveillance, restricted movement, and brutal political prison camps.
LINA YOON, SENIOR KOREA RESEARCHER, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: They strengthen social controls, because they had the fear that, you know, if there is an outbreak, if there is a crisis, that was what happened in the 1990s, that, you know, the police, the secret police, the military, they all went hungry.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Now, they're getting sick. State media says around 2 million fever cases in one week. A crisis of Kim's own creation, potentially devastating hardship for the North Korean people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Our thanks to Will Ripley for that report.
Well, there's usually nothing suspicious about a congressman giving a guided tour of the Capitol to his constituents, but when that tour takes place a day before insurgents loyal to then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, that seems to raise a few questions, which the January 6th Select Committee wants answers.
CNN's Ryan Nobles has details now, reporting in from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The January 6th Select Committee once again has in its sights a Republican member of Congress, looking for more information that they believe is a key part of their investigation.
This time, it's Congressman Barry Loudermilk of Georgia. They want to know more about a tour that Loudermilk gave on January 5th, the day before the insurrection at the Capitol.
And this tracks back to an accusation that was made by Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill in the days after January 6th, where she alleged that she saw members of Congress, Republican members of Congress, giving tours of the Capitol. And she described those tours as reconnaissance tours.
[00:55:04] Now, Sherrill has never provided any evidence to back up that claim, and Republicans have been very critical of her calling them out. And Loudermilk, for the first time, is being identified as someone who potentially may have been giving one of those tours.
Now, Loudermilk pushed back on this accusation today. In a statement, he said, "A constituent family with young children meeting with a member -- their member of Congress in the House Office Buildings is not a suspicious group or a, quote, 'reconnaissance tour."' The family never entered the Capitol building. The select committee is once again pushing a verifiably false narrative that Republicans conducted reconnaissance tours on January 5th."
And Republicans are now asking for the Capitol police to release the video in question here. It's something that Republicans asked several weeks ago, as well. Capitol police say they do not have the authorization to do so, but it's clear this video is in the possession of the January 6th Select Committee.
The question is, do they make it a part of their public hearings? And then, will they also provide more evidence to suggest that there may have been something questionable about this tour, and it's not as innocent as Loudermilk claims it to be?
There's still many unanswered questions as it relates to this development, but it has become another important part of the committee's investigation.
Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A short break now. I'll see you on the other side in just a moment. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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