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The January 6 House Select Committee Holds First Public Hearing; Uvalde Police Aware of Wounded People Trapped Inside; Georgia Man Charged with Murder of U.S. Postal Worker; Disappearance in the Brazilian Amazon; Ukraine Says It Holds One-Third Of Severodonetsk; Ukrainian Official Warns Next Year's Grain Harvest Could Be Cut Nearly In Half Because Of The War; PGA Tour Suspends Golfers Playing In Saudi-Backed Event. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 10, 2022 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

The chairman of the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot says January 6th was the culmination of an attempted coup by Donald Trump and his supporters. The panel held its first prime-time hearing filled with never before seen video and new revelations about the insurrection.

Democratic Chairman Bennie Thompson and Republican Vice Chair Liz Cheney laid the blame squarely on Donald Trump and his baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): President Trump ignored the rulings of our nation's courts. He ignored his own campaign leadership, his White House staff, many Republican state officials. He ignored the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.

President Trump invested millions of dollars of campaign funds, purposely spreading false information, running ads he knew were false, and convincing millions of Americans that the election was corrupt and that he was the true president.

As you will see, this misinformation campaign provoked the violence on January 6th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Cheney played testimony from a top U.S. general, confirming it was then Vice President Mike Pence, not Donald Trump, who called in the National Guard to quell the riot. She also showed video of Trump's closest advisers, including his own daughter, rejecting his voter fraud claims. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I had three discussions with the president that I can recall. One was on November 23rd, one was on December 1st, and one was on December 14th.

And I've been through sort of the give and take of those discussions. And in that context, I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff which I told the president was bullshit.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): How did that affect your perspective about the election when Attorney General Barr made that statement?

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: It affected my perspective. I respect Attorney General Barr. So, I accepted what he was said -- was saying.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The committee heard from Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who was knocked unconscious by rioters. They also played the 12-minute video showing some of the most violent scenes from that day.

UNKNOWN: Get back, get back.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): We just had protests breach the line. We need backup.

UNKNOWN: We're going to get riot warnings. Trying to get compliance. But this is now effectively a riot.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Declaring it a riot.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Be advised Capitol police one rioter trying to breach into the Capitol.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Be advised that Capitol police are going to start moving the resources inside. We'll start with M4 first.

UNKNOWN: Hey! You back up!

UNKNOWN: We're coming in if you're (bleep).

UNKNOWN: You back up!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And more on this groundbreaking hearing from CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Over the course of two hours in a prime-time hearing, the January 6 Select Committee for the first time revealed some new details about the investigation that has been going on for the better half of the past year.

More than one thousand witnesses have been interviewed. Hundreds of thousands of pages of documents have been obtained. We've got a glimpse of some of the things that they found and some of the witness interviews they had, including members of Donald Trump's inner circle, people such as the former president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, her husband, Jared Kushner, as well as his former attorney general, Bill Barr.

Barr and Trump -- Barr and Ivanka Trump both indicating that the issues of fraud that Donald Trump continually claimed after the election simply were not true. In fact, Bill Barr called it B.S. Ivanka Trump said that she believed Bill Barr. Donald Trump was told repeatedly about that, according to the testimony that was shown in these video excerpts by Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

[02:05:03]

RAJU: Now, at the same time, they also detail some new revelations, including that there was some Republicans in the House who were concerned about their role on January 6th and actually asked Donald Trump for pardons of their actions.

Now, she said that one of those was Congressman Scott Perry. He's a conservative from Pennsylvania. Others as well, but they would not detail. The members of the committee did not say who those other members were.

Now, the committee also showed new footage of just how harrowing of experience it was that day on January 6th, all the violence that occurred, the deadly massacre that occurred in the Capitol, and heard testimony from a documentarian who is close to the Proud Boys as well as one officer who is injured in responding to the deadly events of that day.

Now, this is the first of a number of hearings that will take place through the course of this month, including three next week. And ultimately, the goal of this committee, the members say, is to show that Donald Trump was at the center of what they call a conspiracy to overturn the election, mount a coup of sorts, and try to stay in power despite what actually happened on November 2020.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Donald trump responded to the hearing on his social media platform. He called the committee -- quote -- "political hacks who refused to play the many positive witnesses and statements and refused to talk about massive election fraud and irregularities"

All right, joining me now to talk about this from Los Angeles, former defense attorney Sara Azari, and retired FBI supervisory special agent Steve Moore. Thank you both for being here with us.

Sara, I want to start with you in the big picture, as an opening statement, how effective was this?

SARA AZARI, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Kim, good to be with you. You know, it was extremely -- it was a sober and compelling presentation, but really, it was more like a tight organized opening statement by a prosecutor than a hearing by lawmakers.

You know, this was -- it was almost like this is the trial of Donald J. Trump. And the lawmakers went right to the crux of this case, which was there was no election fraud and that Donald Trump knew there was no election fraud. Everybody around was telling him that this was (INAUDIBLE) and yet he engaged in this misinformation.

And then, with intent, and that's key here, for him to be a coconspirator, with intent, he energized to very violent groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, to essentially incite this insurrection on January 6th.

And you have to wonder, Kim, you know, is Attorney General Merrick Garland and DOJ, are they paying attention to this and looking at this with the eye at the Donald Trump could be a coconspirator in a superseding indictment to the pending indictment against the Proud Boys that was just issued not too long ago?

And, you know, that might be wishful thinking but, you know, Donald Trump -- this is not the first time Donald Trump has been a coconspirator in criminal conduct. He was "individual one" at the Michael Cohen indictment, and yet he goes unscathed.

And so, you have to wonder whether this is just about the accountability of Donald Trump for what happened on January 6th, or is it even -- does it extend to the Trumpists, the MAGA people that are out there, because this was a domestic terror attack on our democracy and those people are still out there.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah. I want to get back to some of the points that you raised in a minute, but I just want to go to Steve now for a law enforcement perspective. I mean, those compelling videos of the attack, even if you've seen sort of videos before, I mean, what we saw last night was quite stunning. And Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards testified that she was slipping in people's blood as she battled rioters. I mean, it really laid bare the ferocity of what happened.

STEVE MOORE, RETIRED SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: Yeah, it was pretty devastating, the type of mob action that went in there. And I think people sometimes don't realize what goes on during these riots and who the victims are.

Even if you don't see, you know, these big death tolls or something, if you have people who are wounded, if you lose police officers, there

were deaths in this and it's important to show the magnitude of it.

BRUNHUBER: So, Sara, I mean, you called that the trial of Donald J. Trump. Committee members called what Trump did illegal. So, one of the key questions was whether this committee could provide new allegations or evidence of criminality.

So, when it comes to conspiracy, of course, you know, criminal conspiracy has a much higher standard than maybe how lay people like myself might understand it. So, explain the causal link they'd have to make between Donald Trump and the insurrectionists if they want to pursue those charges.

[02:10:00]

AZARI: Two or more people who agree to engage in criminal conduct, they don't have to know each other, you know. And so, when -- what we saw tonight, and this was just the beginning of these hearings, is this direct sort of causal line bet- Donald Trump and specifically the Proud Boys, right?

We saw this timestamp of the footage of what the Proud Boys were doing in the morning of January 6th, and then what Donald Trump was tweeting, doing and not doing. And I thought that was really brilliant on the part of the committee because it really sorts of ties Donald Trump in with the Proud Boys, and that's how you get to a criminal conspiracy.

But again, Kim, you know, what do we do with that? Right? Let's say that now the committee with 11-month investigation that they've done have established this intent that maybe was missing before, what will the DOJ do with this? Will Donald Trump finally be held accountable? Because he is accountable.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, that's the question. And we are going to hear more in the upcoming committee hearings about those links between Trump and specifically, groups like the Proud Boys. Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: I am not allowed to say what's going to happen today, because everybody is just going to have to watch. So, let's go. But it's going to happen. Something is going to happen.

CROWD: (INAUDIBLE).

BRUNHUBER: So, Steve, what pressure do you think the DOJ will feel to maybe pursue some charges here and adding maybe Trump, as Sara said, as a coconspirator to those indictments of the Proud Boys?

MOORE: There's gonna be some strong political pressure for them to add Donald Trump to the indictment. I do think the DOJ doesn't need any motivation to follow this case where the facts lead them.

And I think, as they go forward with the hearings, this opening statement, as Sara said correctly, these opening statements are going to lead into more of the -- in the weeds-type of information that will possibly make these links stronger between the White House and Proud Boys, things like that. And that's going to be key. And the strength of those links is going to affect potentially the DOJ case.

BRUNHUBER: So, looking ahead, Sara, I mean, there are several more hearings, three hearings next week, for instance. What do you looking for to hear?

AZARI: Well, I think we're going to hear from more witnesses. I think that we're expected to see text messages. I mean, tonight, we saw tweets that we were familiar with. We've seen these tweets before. The footage was more extensive. The footage had timestamps. Obviously, we saw Jarred, we saw Ivanka, Bill Barr.

But I think as these hearings proceed and unfold, we're going to hear from more witnesses, we're gonna see more documentation, and it's really going to be damning. I mean, if this was the opening, imagine what the rest of these hearing is going to be like. And I really just hope that it leads to full accountability because we have to protect our democracy.

BRUNHUBER: Steve, ending with you, do you think we will get accountability in the end or will this just, as some people suggest, this will just be sort of part of the historical record and no more?

MOORE: I think that it's -- as much as the circumstantial evidence is extremely strong right now, I think it's gonna come down to direct links and whether or not they can put a communication between them. If they can give us more than the circumstantial evidence that they presented today, not that it's week, but the DOJ, before you take a former president and prosecute him, you are going to need some very strong links.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely right. We'll be watching as this unfolds. Sara Azari and Steve Moore in Los Angeles, thank you both so much for helping us break this down. I really appreciate it.

AZARI: Thanks, Kim. Good night.

BRUNHUBER: One of the suspected rioters who is trying to become the governor of Michigan was arrested by the FBI on Thursday. Candidate Ryan Kelley is facing misdemeanor charges related to his involvement in the insurrection. The FBI has executed a search warrant at his home. Kelley initially claimed he never went inside the Capitol Building on January 6th and left early.

But he was spotted in the thick of the riot. Footage shows him climbing the scaffolding close to the entrance and waving for the rest of the crowd to follow him. Kelly has since been released on bond.

He's part of a crowded field of Michigan Republicans seeking the gubernatorial nomination.

[02:14:57]

BRUNHUBER: We're getting new report on what officers discussed before confronting the gunman in Uvalde, Texas massacre of young students and teachers.

Plus, chilling new evidence in the disappearance of journalist, an indigenous affairs expert in the Brazilian Amazon. We'll have details ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: New details are emerging about the timeline of the school shooting in the Uvalde, Texas and how law enforcement responded. "The New York Times" is reporting what officials discussed before they finally confronted the gunman.

CNN's Omar Jimenez has details from Uvalde.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Law enforcement was aware there were injured individuals alive inside this classroom before deciding to breach. That is according to a "New York Times' review of investigative documents and videos.

I want to read you some of the high points, again, according to the "Times." One, "People are going to ask why we're taking so long." A law enforcement official on the scene of the shooting could be heard saying, according to a "Times" review of body camera transcripts separately, "We're trying to preserve the rest of the life," part of the transcript reads.

[02:20:00]

JIMENEZ: Now, by our timeline, it is around 11:44 in the morning that day that officers first asked for backup. Then 20 minutes later, as many as 19 officers were in that hallway. Around 12:30, again, few minutes later after that, Chief Arredondo, Peter Arredondo, the school chief here, is heard saying, according to the "Times," "We're ready to breach, but that door is locked."

Separately, one officer is heard saying, "if there's kids in there, we need to go in there," according to the "Times." It wasn't until 20 minutes after that, at 12:50 p.m., that officers used a key from a janitor to breach this room and shoot this suspect.

But again, officers were aware there were injured individuals and a law enforcement official said, according to the times, "People are going to be asking why we are taking so long." And now, multiple overlapping investigations later, that remains the central question.

Omar Jimenez, CNN, Uvalde, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: A man in Georgia has been charged with the murder of a U.S. Postal worker. Federal prosecutors say Larr Grogan shot Asa Wood, Jr. as he was delivering mail in rural Georgia in August of last year. Wood died in his postal vehicle. He had been a mail carrier for more than 20 years. There has been no word of a possible motive.

Brazil's president says more than 200 soldiers are searching for a British journalist and a Brazilian indigenous affairs expert missing since Sunday. Officials say Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were in a remote part of the Amazon known for illegal mining and drug trafficking routes, and they were there to research a book project on conservation efforts in the region but has reportedly received death threats just days before.

Police say a suspect in the disappearance is in custody. They say they found blood traces in his boat along with drugs and ammunition used for illegal hunting.

We have much more on the investigation into the January 6 Capitol riot just ahead. Coming up, leading Republican on the Select Committee lays out the maximum danger posed by Donald Trump on that day and what the White House knew about it. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: For the first time since the January 6 riot at the Capitol, we are learning damning new details about what was going on behind the scenes that day.

After months of exhaustive investigation and hundreds of interviews, the U.S. House Select Committee is laying out its case that the insurrection wasn't simply a peaceful gathering of Trump supporters that got out of hand, rather it was an attempted coup by Donald Trump's most militant supporters planned in advance and orchestrated by Trump as he stubbornly refused to concede the 2020 election.

Here is Select Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney on what was happening inside the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: The White House staff knew that President Trump was willing to entertain and use conspiracy theories to achieve his ends. They knew the president needed to be cut off from all of those who had encouraged him. They knew that President Donald Trump was too dangerous to be left alone. at least until he left office on January 20th.

These are important facts for Congress and the American people to understand fully. When a president fails to take the steps necessary to preserve our union, or worse, causes a constitutional crisis, we are at a moment of maximum danger for our republic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins us from Los Angeles. Ron, great to have you here. So, start big picture here, did the committee accomplished what they stood out to do on day one, do you think?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it was a day possibly unlike any other in American history. I don't know if we have ever seen as comprehensive and damning indictment of an American president as, in effect, the architect and orchestrator of what they call a seven-step plot to undermine American democracy. I was -- one thing that really struck me, particularly in Liz Cheney's almost prosecutorial presentation of the case against Donald Trump, was how often she said that what he and others around him did was not only wrong or violating the constitution, but flat out illegal.

You know, the committee both -- seemed to me both paving a path for and pointing a finger at Merrick Garland by making a very clear case that in their view, the evidence shows that Donald Trump not only violated his oath of office in a broad sense, he violated the law in a very specific sense.

So, I think this is the beginning of, you know, far from the end of a very significant drama that is going to unfold in a few months.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, absolutely. And part of that drama, Ivanka Trump admitting that she and Trump's inner circle knew that the big lie -- was just that a big lie or B.S., to quote former Attorney General Bill Barr.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

BRUNHUBER: Having Trump allies making the case against Trump, how effective was that and will it move the needle at all among Republicans, do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think before the question of what it is for public opinion, it is very significant for what we were just discussing.

[02:30:01]

You know, in terms of establishing the kind of crimes of destruction or, you know, conspiracy to prevent the lawful functioning of the U.S. government, the state of mind of the president is critical.

And what that testimony very clearly showed, was that he had reason to understand that what he -- you know, that he lost the election and he proceeded in this manner leading toward, you know, the culmination being the January 6 attack, nonetheless and I think from a legal point of view, that crossed a significant threshold in terms of providing the foundation for possibly moving against them.

On the question of what this means for public opinion, it's going to be an enormous test of the extent to which red America is living under a bubble constructed by a conservative media. You know, obviously, for most of Donald Trump's supporters, this is not going to matter. They -- you know, they view all of this as a conspiracy against them as he presents it. But that may not be all of his supporters.

And, you know, it would be I think, the indications of what they are -- what they are coming forward with from the first night are such that it would be both shocking and ominous if there is no impact on public opinion, maybe not massive, but hard to imagine there won't be some.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I just wonder whether it will be among Republicans. I mean, as you say, Republican politicians already characterizing this as a distraction, a farce, and so on.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

BRUNHUBER: I checked in with a few Republicans I know, so they are just regular voters, and they didn't watch, they didn't care. It wasn't on Fox News, of course. I suspect it won't go very far to convince many Republicans, but maybe the sort of the few undecided, the middle, some of those folks who went over to Biden, is that where you think this might sort of push people in the next election?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, I don't -- I don't know -- I don't know if he's going to have any. And I don't think this will have any impact on the next election, meaning, the midterm election. I mean, the midterm elections in American politics are really snapshots of conditions in the country at that moment. And Democrats have all sorts of problems. They're centered primarily on inflation, and very high gas prices but what this means about Trump's personal future viability as a presidential candidate, plus, of course, the larger possibility that we're discussing, of, you know, actual legal action against him and those around him based on their you know actions in this -- in this whole episode. That's another question.

I have always felt that January 6 is a threat to his personal long- term politics. Again, not that it undermines vast amounts of his support, but it could be enough for some share at the edge of his vote to say this is what we are going to get if we give him the power of the presidency again. And I don't think he comes out of this completely unscathed on a personal basis. Not likely to affect the midterm, but the question of whether Americans will entrust him with the power of the presidency again after this, just again, hard to imagine that there is no one who would have second thoughts about that, even if it's not, as you say, a massive shift among Republicans.

BRUNHUBER: I want to tap into your experience in the sort of view of history here. If the point of the hearings wasn't necessarily to change minds, then one of the intentions was to sort of create a permanent record of what happened. And we heard Liz Cheney talk about the dishonor that will haunt Republicans who enabled Donald Trump here. And here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY, (R-WY): In our country, we don't swear an oath to an individual or a political party. We take our oath to defend the United States Constitution. And that oath must mean something. Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible, there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, that your dishonor will remain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: But, Ron, do you think that's true? I mean, using your -- putting your political -- historical hat on here I mean, it's hard to see the future. But do you think there will be a time when Republicans will look back in a shame or do you think that the partisanship we're seeing today, the direction of the political trends mean that this will for the foreseeable future always sort of be viewed differently depending on who you support and how you vote?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, I think -- I think it's pretty clear as to tonight that the principal goal of the committee is to lay out a case of Donald Trump broke the law and to encourage the Justice Department to pursue him on those grounds. I think -- I think that was an unequivocal message of the first night, at least to me. Second, I think, you know, it's interesting. In some ways, Liz Cheney understated the case because Republicans are not only trying to look away from Donald Trump or to ignore all of the evidence of his wrongdoing that has steadily come out and is being collected and amplified by this committee. They're also acting upon it.

[02:35:01]

BROWNSTEIN: And as you know -- I mean we are seeing you know I think 19 states pass laws making it more difficult to vote, multiple states pass -- red states pass laws increasing partisan opportunities to interfere with the tabulation of the vote or to harass election workers or to have more aggressive, you know, observation of polling places. It's not only that they are refusing to acknowledge the misdeeds that the committee pretty persuasively put forward tonight, they are moving in the other direction and bending policy in the service of the big lie, so the challenge is even greater I think than she laid out there. It's not just a question of history and how they will look in history, it's a question of what they are doing right now.

And as I said earlier, since midterm elections in the U.S. are historically about current conditions, and inflation and gas prices are dominating Americans' attitudes about the direction of the country, it's entirely possible there will be no consequence for these -- in the 2022 election for these you know assaults on American democracy and the service of the big lie.

So, we are moving into very choppy waters where 2024 could be as contested in the election and not you know in a --in a -- kind of a political race sense but in the sense of half the country not trusting the outcome. As we have seen possibly in American history because the actions that are springing from still sprouting from Trump's big lie and efforts to convince his party that the election was stolen are ongoing and undiminished and if anything accelerates it.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, the implications can't be understated, as you eloquently laid out there. Ron Brownstein, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

BRUNHUBER: Russia's president comes up with a new way to justify his invasion of Ukraine, a historic figure he's comparing himself to? That's next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:41:16] BRUNHUBER: An update on the latest developments in Ukraine. There's no sign of a lead-up in the brutal street-by-street battle for the city of Severodonetsk. Ukraine says it's still holding on to about a third of the city and regional officials are denying Russia's claim that its offensive has succeeded. And in Russia, President Putin is doing some chest pumping over his invasion of Ukraine. On Thursday, he compared himself to Peter The Great, a Russian emperor who defeated Sweden in the 18th Century. Putin said he's only fighting for the land that belongs to Russia, just like Peter did.

Salma Abdelaziz is keeping an eye on all developments in Ukraine and she joins us now from Kyiv. Salma, Putin raising eyebrows with his comments there, forget about his claims that NATO expansion was behind his invasion of Ukraine, he seems to basically admit it's an old- fashioned land grab pure and simple.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely. The intention here, the very imperial intention of President Putin, I think is revealed in those comments, his absolute disregard for modern nations states for the rules of sovereignty for the rules of states. He shows an absolute disregard for that and justifies this absolutely horrific conflict that has displaced millions, killed hundreds, and destroyed towns and villages across Ukraine by simply disregarding Ukraine as a nation.

And you can see that playing out on the ground, Kim, because this land grab, as you described it, this territorial brute force taking of Ukrainian lands is being put into action. President Putin's forces are creating realities on the ground -- facts on the ground by essentially what we saw in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea, ignoring the international community, and through brute force, using those territories.

I just want to pull up the larger map here of the frontline because that will reveal what President Putin's larger goal is here. And that is to create a land bridge that connects Russia down to Crimea, where there are those all-important strategic ports in the Black Sea, those are warm-water ports that would function year-round. That is something that Russia needs crucially for trade, for the economy, for security. Moscow considers those extremely important and, of course, they had been disconnected up until this invasion.

Now, we understand according to Russian officials that those territories are now connected by rail, they've repaired hundreds of miles of rail that connect Russia all the way down to Crimea through the Donbass through those newly formed -- newly taken territories rather, of Kherson and Mariupol. They're reopening the ports in Mariupol and Berdyansk. They're de-mining these ports as well.

We understand they've taken a very important canal. And Kherson, that's now functioning to provide fresh water for Crimea. So they're essentially building the infrastructure using these territories as Russian territories whether or not the international community recognizes it.

Now let's go to that battle. The key battle that President Zelenskyy says will determine the fate of the Donbass although you could argue the facts on the ground show that the fate of the Donbass has already been determined by Severodonetsk. That is being used now as the administrative capital for several years by Ukrainians and now Ukrainian forces are essentially fighting for every single inch.

Kim, this is an artillery war, and Ukrainian officials tell us they are running out of artillery, they're outmanned, they are outgunned for weeks now. A superior Russian artillery force has been able to pound them, to grind them down. And it's really about a competing timeline here. How much faster can Russia claim inch by inch Severodonetsk? How quickly can Western weaponry arrive to support Ukrainian forces? It's hard to imagine how much longer they can hold out without that support, Kim.

[02:45:04]

BRUNHUBER: Really appreciate the update, Salma Abdelaziz in Kyiv. Thanks so much.

A Ukrainian agricultural official is warning that next year's grain harvest could be cut nearly in half because of the war. He said about 25 percent of Ukraine's farmland is now under Russian control. Even though Turkey is trying to facilitate a safe passage of Ukraine's grain exports, no deal has been struck. We get more on that from CNN's Clare Sebastian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just a day after talks between Russia and Turkey seems to lay the groundwork for at least some kind of negotiation, perhaps even just on a temporary solution to the problems of Ukraine's grain exports, more and more obstacles now seem to be getting in the way of that. One is that Russia may already be putting in place deals to sell Ukrainian grain from occupied areas.

On Wednesday, the head of the Russian military administration in occupied parts of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region said the first rail shipment of grain had departed the town of Melitopol for Crimea to be loaded onto ships to Turkey and the Middle East. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no agreements have been signed yet with Turkey or the Middle East, but work was underway. Ukraine, meanwhile, is accusing Russia of stealing grain to sell for its own gain. This is what the country's deputy agrarian minister told CNN's Julia Chatterley.

TARAS VYSOTSKY, UKRAINIAN DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRARIAN AND FOOD: Unfortunately, we have a situation where about half a million ton of grain has been stolen by Russians on the partly occupied territories of Ukraine. We do know this because we have received the information from the people on the elevators that Russians came, just took this grain came with military power. And also we have the video and photo of the fact of cars and rail cars bringing this grind towards the direction of Russia or occupied Crimea.

SEBASTIAN: Elevators are, of course, storage facilities for grain. The minister also said he had seen satellite images of the grain leaving Crimea for other countries. CNN has also uncovered evidence of this. And secondly, Ukraine is stepping up the rhetoric, President Zelenskyy calling for Russia to be expelled from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, accusing Moscow of potentially causing the starvation of at least 400 million people.

And thirdly, there are still fundamental disagreements about how to unravel this situation. Russia which has blockaded Ukraine's ports claims it's ready to open up grain shipments, but first, it says Ukraine needs to demine the coastal waters around its southern ports. Ukraine says the real threat to world food security comes from Russia and is wary of any Russian talk of humanitarian maritime corridors.

And meanwhile, time is not on their side. An estimated 20 million tons of grain are stuck in Ukrainian storage facilities. And the UN warned this Thursday that the situation could tip 47 million more people into acute hunger this year than previously estimated. Clare Sebastian, CNN, London

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right coming up. More than a dozen golfers have been suspended by the PGA Tour for taking part in a controversial Saudi- backed event. We'll look at what this could mean for the future of the sport next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:52:58]

BRUNHUBER: The PGA Tour has suspended all of its members who are participating in this week's controversial LIV Golf Tournament. Some of the sport's biggest names including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson helped kick off the Saudi-backed golf series outside London on Thursday. But all the talk was off the course with the future of the game now up in the air. CNN's Alex Thomas reports.

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ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORT: Today we talk about the action at a LIV golf event that will come, but not yet. The controversy of the course remains too compelling, a simmering war of words boiling over and lifting the lid on the acrimonious split at the top of the professional men's game. LIV's new Invitational series has become the ultimate pay as you play golf. Play in it and pay with a suspension from the PGA Tour.

THOMAS (voiceover): Within minutes of the shotgun start here at the Centurion club just outside London, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan sent out a scathing memo banning the players who had jumped ship whether or not they had resigned their tour membership in advance. A barely concealed fury radiating from almost every line of the two-page nine-paragraph letter with Monahan addressing only the current members, the players who decided not to take Saudi money, almost a mafia movie style, you are dead to me vibe aimed at the breakaway players.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just want to focus on the goal from battle any golfer to play where they want.

SERGIO GARCIA, 2017 MASTERS WINNER: Yes, definitely. And that's one of the reasons why I resigned because I didn't want to get into any legal battles. Yes, it would be nice for everyone to get along but unfortunately, some don't want to and we got to -- we got to live with that.

PHIL MICKELSON, 6-TIME MAJOR WINNER: So anything regarding the PGA Tour matters, and I kind of put that in there. I'm not ready to discuss this publicly at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you have to think you could be banned from the PGA tour?

MICKELSON: I'm very flattered so many people are interested.

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THOMAS: The memo emphasized the importance of the PGA tour's long- established history and prestige, and derided its rival's focus on money. LIV Golf's response was swift and direct. A statement saying today's announcement by the PGA Tour is vindictive, and it deepens the divide between the tour and its members. This certainly is not the last word on this topic. The era of free agency is beginning.

Backed by billions of dollars of Saudi Arabia money, LIV Golf had already offered to find any legal challenge. And that's where this betrayal now appears to be heading. Alex Thomas, CNN.

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BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment as CNN NEWSROOM continues. Please do stay with us.

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