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Russia Controls Most Of Severodonetsk; Amnesty Accuses Russia Of "War Crimes" In Kharkiv; Wikipedia Fights Russian Order To Remove Ukraine War Information; Trump Blasts U.S. Capitol Riot Hearings; Trump Scammed Supporters Out of $250 Million for Nonexistent Fraud Fund; U.K. Introduces Bill to Ditch Parts of E.U.-Brexit Deal; Protests against U.K. Plan to Deport Asylum-Seekers to Rwanda; Brazilian Indigenous Agency Workers Go on Strike; Video of Women Being Attacked Sparts Outrage in China; Google Rejects Claims Its AI Program has Become Sentient. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 14, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:01:23]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN Newsroom. Coming up, the grinding Russian war machine, gaining ground by destroying almost everything in its path, including the key Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk.
A scam within a scam. Turns out Donald Trump's election defense fund, which raised $250 million from outrage supporters, already lied to about a stolen election never actually existed.
And from the pages of a really bad sci-fi novel, a Google engineer suspended for saying artificial intelligence might just have feelings.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: Almost four months into Vladimir Putin's war of choice and his army is slowly getting the upper hand in the battle for Ukraine's industrial heartland. And the focal point that grinding military offensive in the East has been Severodonetsk. As of Monday, after Ukraine's military audit its forces to pull back, Russian troops reportedly have taken three quarters of the city what was the last major piece of real estate held by Ukraine in a region controlled by Russian backed separatists.
Severodonetsk is seen as crucial for Russia's downsized military objectives of taking the entire Donbas region. But hundreds of Ukrainian civilians who have not fled the city it may be too late. All three bridges across the Donetsk River out of the city have been damaged and are impossible.
The governor says it's now impossible to get civilians out and humanitarian aid in. The Russian army has made these games using tactics straight from World War II overwhelming artillery for occupied with airpower, obliterating everything in their path. Little wonder then Ukrainian officials are desperately pleading for more high tech weapons from the West.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): In the battles in Donbas, they will surely go down in military history as one of the most brutal battles in Europe and for Europe, Ukrainian army and our intelligence tactically still beat the Russian military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Live now to the Ukrainian capital cave and CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is on live shot. So, Salma, is there any update down to how much of the city is actually under Russian control? Also, do you know how many Ukrainian civilians are now essentially trapped, and how many Ukrainian soldiers might still be there?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: So according to Ukrainian officials John about 70 to 80 percent of Severodonetsk is now under Russian control, they largely hold that city. They control the city center. Ukrainian forces have had to pull back to fortified position or positions rather, they're running out of weapons. And Ukrainian officials tell us Russian firepower is 10 times that of Ukraine.
So you're hearing again, President Zelenskyy and his nightly address pleading for help, showing how significant this loss would be. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): the price of this battle for us is very high. It's just scary. And we draw the attention of our partners on a daily basis to the fact that only a sufficient number of modern artillery for Ukraine will ensure our advantage and finally the end of Russian torture of the Ukrainian Donbas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: The message I think, from President Zelenskyy that we're hearing every day now is does the international community except that a brute force power should be able to take what it wants. That's essentially what's happening here. You are facing a Russian military that is of course superior, it has more weapons, more artillery, it's been pounding Severodonetsk now for days. President Putin's larger goal here is of course to take the Donbas region that would be strategic gain for Moscow, it would allow them to build that land bridge connect territory, all the way down to Crimea, and to those very important ports in the Black Sea, giving them that economic advantage giving them access to markets around the Middle East and Africa.
They're already using those ports in those cities that are now occupied by Russian forces in Mariupol and Berdiansk to block the shipment of grain by Ukraine. So already, they're making use of that. They are solidifying those gains. It's also a cultural win for President Putin, who of course disregards Ukrainian sovereignty sees these lands as belonging to Russia.
So what President Zelenskyy is saying is what kind of world order do we want to live in?
[01:05:00]
Does the West want to step in help Ukraine provide it with the weapons it needs? Or does it simply accept that Russia will, as it looks -- if you're reading the battleground, Russia will be able to take Severodonetsk and hold it through brute force, John?
VAUSE: Yes, it's what Putin has done over and over and over again and the world's led him, I said, we'll see what happens this time. Salma, thank you. Salma Abdelaziz in Kyiv.
But for the people of Sloviansk, or at least those who decided to stay, the front line of this war is never far from their front door. That means living in damp basements and shelters, water is pumped by hand. They don't get cooking. Yet, despite the misery it seems there's no place like home, which is why some are now making the journey back. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports now from eastern Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The city of Sloviansk can maybe half empty, but the Church of the Holy Spirit is almost full.
The city is perilously close to the front lines. But with faith and stubbornness, the few stay put, while others have come back. Luba (ph) and her family left shortly after the outbreak of war, staying with relatives in western Ukraine.
She returned a month ago for now Home Sweet Home is a dark damp basement shared with other building residents.
Having lived through the fighting here in 2014, she left because she didn't want to go through it all over again. I was scared for my son and my grandson, she says.
Yet hospitality had its limits, and homesickness took a toll.
We felt our relatives were sick of us, she says, they have their own lives. You can put up with your relatives for a while, but we decided was time to go back.
The basement is far from comfortable, but it's better than upstairs when the bombs and missiles fall at night. Her 14-year-old grandson Bogdan (ph) prefers it here. Even if you can go to a safer place elsewhere, he says, it's better to be at home.
Even if you have to sleep in the basement.
(on camera): The longer this war goes on the cooler the welcome becomes for those who fled to safer ground. And as dangerous as it may be here, there's no place like home.
(voice-over): With no cooking guests to be had the kitchen has moved to the yard. The city water supply was knocked out. It now must be pumped by hand. Gone are the comforts and conveniences of modern life. But at least it's home. Ben Wedeman CNN, Sloviansk, Eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Major General James "Spider" Marks is a CNN military analysts as well as head of Geopolitical Strategy at Academy Securities, an investment bank owned and operated by military veterans. General, it's been a while so thank you for taking the time to be with us.
MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Thank you, John very much.
VAUSE: OK, well, the Ukrainian president has warned repeatedly about the consequences of Severodonetsk falling under total Russian control. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): Severodonetsk remains the epicenter of the confrontation in Donbas. In many ways the fate of our Donbas is being decided there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And some background from our own CNN wire Severodonetsk lies in the heart Donbas, a sprawling industrial region in eastern Ukraine that is in intermittent fighting since 2014 when Russian-backed separatists seized control to territory set, the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic.
But what I'm yet to hear is why Severodonetsk is so important. There are no key highways running through the city. The rail track lines are on the southern outskirts, so there's no advantage there and moving heavy equipment.
So assuming if the Russians haven't already taken control, they will one day fairly soon. What do they gain on that day that they did not have the day earlier?
MARKS: Well, what Severodonetsk provides both the Ukrainians and the Russians is an opportunity to put forces their forces in an advantage position over the opponent.
Look, I'm not trying to get into too much inside baseball and military tactics. But what you have with Severodonetsk is an opportunity to protect your flank, if you're the Russians, as you continue your advance south and west toward Kherson. That's the key. There are still Ukrainian forces in the area. There are albeit not a major highway intersection, but there are roads that run both north south and east west which gives the owner or have that piece of terrain a very strong advantage.
[01:10:04]
So if you're the Ukrainians, you can attack the Russians to the south. If you're the Russians, you can protect that flank as you continue to move. That, in a nutshell is why it's important.
VAUSE: Another three bridges over the Donetsk River out of the city have been destroyed by the Russians. Is it possible to know how much longer any Ukrainian forces will be able to hold out for?
MARKS: Well, unless there's, it details your question, there's very little way to determine how much time is available, and how long the Ukrainian forces can hold. But there must be when you're in that type of an isolated position, there must be an opportunity to egress, you've got to have a safe passage, which means you've got to be able to fight your way out. Or you have to have a preexisting logistics line that's protected, again, on the flanks, so that you can maneuver your forces at will.
That's what it's all about. So you not only have to hold what you have fight against the Russians. You also have to hold this egress or you're going to be trapped.
VAUSE: And much like what happened in Mariupol, Severodonetsk has been reduced in large part to rubble by the Russian army. Again, here's the president of Ukraine, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): We are dealing with the absolute evil, and we have no choice but to move forward, free our entire territory, kick the occupiers out of all of our regions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, predictions for this wall have swung from massively under estimating Ukrainian resistance to be wildly over optimistic about Ukraine defeating Russians and reclaiming territory, which they lost back in 2014. It seems like he was a pessimist of fate, at least from the Ukrainian point of view right now. Having said all that, what chance does Ukraine have of actually retaking all of the territory under Russian or Russian allied control right now?
MARKS: Yes, very little chance of reclaiming it not to be pessimistic. My view is, is trying to be a realistic assessment of what we've seen on the ground, the great initiative and creativity on the part of the Ukrainians, but the overwhelming use of force and the lack of limits, or a moral compass on the part of the Russians.
So what the Ukrainians really have to be able to do over the course of the next couple of months is be able to hold and push against the Russians as best they can. Because that will define what Ukraine is going to look like probably over the course of the next couple of years.
We're moving into a period where this conflict is going to be what I would describe as a frozen conflict, kind of a stalemate, a couple of boxers in the 12th round that are exhausted, and might be able to get one or two punches in, but not on a regular basis. Both sides are exhausted, and both sides think that they are winning. And there's a narrative for, quote, victory on both sides.
So I think that's what we're going to see over the course of the next couple of months is Ukraine has got to be able to hold what they have, and there's little likelihood that Russia is going to be pushed out of Crimea or out of the Donbas entirely. I think it's going to look not dissimilar from what it looked like on one January of this year.
VAUSE: General Marks as always, thank you so much, sir. We appreciate your time.
MARKS: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: Amnesty International is accusing Russia of committing war crimes during and offensive to take her Kyiv, Ukraine's second biggest city. In a 40-page report, Amnesty accuses Russia of using cluster munitions and other indiscriminate means of attack. Here's how the Russian strikes did their damage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN BAPTISTE GALLOPIN, RESEARCH CONSULANT, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Many of these strikes were launched using cluster munitions which are widely banned, as well as other indiscriminate weapons, such as artillery shells, and rockets and capturable landmines which are indiscriminate when used in urban areas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Amnesty documented 28 indiscriminate strikes on Kharkiv by Russian forces between February 28 and April 30. 108 countries have signed onto a UN ban on the use of cluster munitions, but Russia is not part of the treaty.
Sunday was Russia Day a national celebration to mark sovereignty for the Russian Federal Federation in 1990 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moscow's iconic Bolshoi Theatre was illuminated in state colors.
And on Russia Day President Vladimir Putin rolled out a new slogan for the war in Ukraine. It's now taking back and strengthening just like Peter the Great. This new message comes with a good helping of revisionist history as well. Our man in Moscow is Frederik Pleitgen.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A display of patriotism on Russia Day. Russian President Vladimir Putin handing out medals just days after he likened himself to Peter the Great, claiming like Tsar Peter 300 years ago in Ukraine, Russia is taking back land that is rightfully Russia's.
[01:15:00] VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): He went there to take it back and strengthen it. That's what he was doing. Well, it seems it has also fallen to us to take back and strengthen territories.
And if we take these basic values as fundamental to our existence, we will prevail in solving the issues we are facing.
PLEITGEN: After stating at the start of the war that Russia has no intention of occupying Ukraine. Kremlin TV now is amplifying the new slogan taking back and strengthening.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We only need to explain to the Ukrainians that we are not playing. We, as our president said, are taking back what's supposed to be ours and strengthening it.
PLEITGEN: Take back and strengthen, those words also start the show of the man known as Putin's chief propagandist, then showing images of people in Russian occupied territory in Ukraine, receiving Russian passports. And pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine's Donbas region firing at Ukrainian forces with a clear message.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): All of this is Russian territory, Russian land. They had been separating us for centuries, but the center of Ukraine and the south east, those are all Russian people.
PLEITGEN: At the same time, the Russians are making clear the current sanctions won't make them change course. The country's economy has stabilized and this weekend a Russian company reopened several restaurants formerly owned by McDonald's under the new brand name Tasty and That's It.
Some at the grand opening wearing Z embroidered clothes the symbol of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as they ate American style fast food.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Food and politics have nothing in common like come on man keep things separate.
PLEITGEN: A big run on burgers in Moscow while the war in Ukraine drags on, and Vladimir Putin is far from finished with what he sees as his mission, Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Wikipedia is appealing a ruling by a Moscow court, which demanded certain information about the war in Ukraine be removed from its site. The terms which are considered disinformation by the Kremlin, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and massacre in Bucha. When Wikipedia refused, it was hit with an $88,000 fine. What's this space?
Still ahead. Day two brought some stunning revelations from the January 6 hearings. And there was also this, who was allegedly drunk on election night 2020 and who said Donald Trump was detached from reality. Also, ahead extreme weather shutting down America's access to Yellowstone National Park. We'll get the details CNN Weather Center later this hour.
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VAUSE: Closing bell wrapping up a major sell off on Wall Street and now global markets are also in the red. They're also down. Here's look at the trading underway at this hour. All major indices in China, Japan, Hong Home in the red that follows this, the Dow diving nearly 900 points in Monday's trading, S&P 500 also down falling nearly 4 percent closing in bear market territory.
[01:20:10]
This as U.S. investors are rattled by fears of a recession, the prospect of aggressive action from the Federal Reserve, which is set to meet later this week. One economist weighed in on the possibility of a big rate hike by the Fed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: My sense is they'll raise rates a half a point, that's what they've been signaling to us for quite some time. I think they stick the script but as you pointed out, there are a lot of investors out there thinking given the really ugly inflation numbers we got last Friday, that the Fed is going to be even more aggressive and raise rates by three quarters of a percentage point.
I don't think they'll do that. You know, I think they've got concerns about the economy and recession so that they won't go that far, but they're going to, you know, put out a strong statement because they want to make sure everyone believes that inflation is going to come back down in the not too distant future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Fed is expected to announce a rate hike when it meets Wednesday.
Donald Trump, remember him he's let loose with a string of insults, calling the house January 6 committee a kangaroo court, a mockery of justice. Former president issued a 12-page statement after Monday's hearing, 12-long pages. He claims the panel is hiding evidence when the public coordinating with its media puppets, telling Democrats the tale without any cross examination or rebuttal evidence.
The committee is laying out evidence mostly testimony from Trump's own senior advisors that he knew claims of a stolen election were false. Witnesses testified the former president listened to Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York who was apparently drunk on election night rather than his own attorney general. His own campaign manager, even remembers of his family. CNN's Ryan Nobles has our report.
(BEGIN VIDE TAPE) RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a lie that began on election night
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.
NOBLES: Donald Trump's false claim that he won the 2020 election before all the votes were counted, a lie he continues to peddle. One that some of his closest advisors told the January 6 committee they didn't believe, like his Attorney General.
WILLIAM BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: He's become detached from reality. If he really believed this stuff.
NOBLES: His campaign manager.
BILL STEPIEN, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I didn't think what was happening was necessarily honest or professional at that point in time. So that led to me stepping away.
NOBLES: And several top campaign lawyers.
ALEX CANNON, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN LAWYER: I remember telling him that I didn't believe the Dominion allegations.
ERIC HERSCHMANN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: What they were proposing, I thought was nuts. It had a theory was also completely nuts.
NOBLES: Trump's insistence that he won the election despite a wide range of evidence to the contrary is at the core of the committee's argument that he purposefully and potentially criminally work to prevent the certification of the election results.
TRUMP: Thousands of votes are gathered and they come in and they're dumped in a location and then all of a sudden you lose elections if you think you're going to win.
NOBLES: A conspiracy that ultimately led to his supporters storming the Capitol on January 6.
BARR: I told him that the stuff that his people were shoveling out to the public was bullshit. I mean, that the claims of fraud were bullshit, that all the early claims that I understood were completely bogus and silly.
NOBLES: Former Attorney General Bill Barr telling the committee that he made it clear to Trump that Department of Justice would not help investigate claims of fraud that were not based in fact.
BARR: The department doesn't take sides in elections, and the department is not an extension of your legal team.
NOBLES: And at one point, people like Mark Meadows and Jared Kushner claimed they were close to getting Trump to understand he lost. BARR: He said, Look, I think that he's becoming more realistic and knows that there's a limit to how far he can take this. And then Jared said, you know, yes, we're working on this. We're working on it.
NOBLES: Bill Stepien, Trump's former campaign manager was expected to appear live. But after his wife went into labor, he bowed out. The committee playing excerpts from his explosive deposition instead, with him detailing election night in the White House.
STEPIEN: It was far too early to be making any calls like that. Ballots were still being counted. Ballots were still going to be counted for days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did anybody who was a part of that conversation disagree with your message?
STEPIEN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who is that?
STEPIEN: The President disagree with that.
NOBLES: The result was a methodical rejection of Trump's claims of fraud delivered by his campaign and White House advisors, respected professionals who said Trump stopped talking to them.
STEPIEN: There were two groups of family. We call them kind of my team and Rudy's team. I didn't mind being characterized as being part of Team Normal.
NOBLES: And instead trusting people like Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, who several Trump aides claimed was dispensing advice on election night while intoxicated. A claim his attorney denies.
[01:25:10]
STEPIEN: A few of us gathered in a room off the Map Room to listen to whatever Rudy presumably wanted to say to the President.
JASON MILLER, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: And the mayor was definitely intoxicated, but I did not know that his level of toxic intoxication when he spoke with the President, for example.
NOBLES: Theories that to this day Giuliani has not backed away from.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP PERSONAL ATTORNEY: They saw a big truck, bringing in 100,000 ballots in garbage cans, in wastepaper baskets, in cardboard boxes and in shopping baskets. And every single one of them was for Biden.
NOBLES: The committee taking the last part of Monday's hearing to draw a line between Trump's big lie and his fundraising.
AMANDA WICK, JANUARY 5TH COMMITTEE INVESTIGATOR: The claims that the election was stolen were so successful, President Trump and his allies raise $250 million. NOBLES: The committee finding donors were told the money would be used to fight voter fraud, fraud that didn't exist. The last e-mail sent to donors a half hour before the Capitol was breached.
(on camera): And this was just the second step of a seven step plan by the committee to outline the conspiracy they say that Donald Trump was at the center of to prevent the certification of the election results and prevent the peaceful transfer of power. That third step will come on Wednesday, where the committee plans to show how the former president attempted to install a puppet Attorney General who he would pressure into looking into those thing claims of voter fraud. Ryan Nobles, CNN on Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
VAUSE: Norm Eisen was the counsel for the first House impeachment and trial of Donald Trump. He served as the ethics czar in the Obama administration. He's currently a Senior Fellow with Brookings. And Norm, it's been a while. Thank you for being with us.
NORMAN EISEN, FORMER U.S. HOUSE IMPEACHMENT SPECIAL COUNSEL: John, thanks for having me back.
VAUSE: You're welcome. Now, I want to stay with that $250 million, which was raised or some may say swindled, perhaps from unsuspecting Trump supporters. Here's a senior investigative counsel Amanda Wick with more. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WICK: The Trump campaign aggressively pushed false election claims to fundraise, telling supporters it would be used to fight voter fraud that did not exist. The e-mails continued through January 6 even as President Trump spoke (INAUDIBLE). 30 minutes after the last fundraising email was sent, the Capitol was breached.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Should fundraising fraud be added to the list of possible crimes committed by Donald Trump along with witness tampering, obstruction, other official proceedings? The list goes on.
EISEN: It should be, John. The telling your supporters that you're going to use the funds for a special litigation fund and doing no such thing raises very serious criminal and civil questions of fraud.
You know, Donald Trump has by one count told over 30,000 lies. He had a fraudulent Trump University that was shut down fraudulent charitable foundation. We had the Big Lie, and now we have The Big Rip off. So certainly, it should be investigated possible federal and state crimes of wire fraud, consumer fraud, campaign finance fraud and the like.
VAUSE: As it claims by the Trump campaign of widespread voter fraud, which enraged so many supporters to give him so much money. Let's hear from those within the Trump administration. Here we go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARR: The stuff that his people were shoveling out to the public was bullshit.
RICHARD DONOGHUE, FORMER ACTING DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Not true --
HERSCHMANN: Nuts.
BARR: Complete nonsense.
DONOGHUE: -- not supported by the evidence. Idiotic they don't pan out.
HERSCHMANN: We said to him. Are you out of your effing mind? I said I -- could I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth for now on, orderly transition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So Donald Trump was told repeatedly that what he and his surrogates were alleging about voter fraud and stolen election was false. But he said it anyway. How does that play into the legal question of whether Trump was acting corruptly?
EISEN: Well, John, in essence, to have a crime, you need to have a bad act and you need to have corrupt intent here. The bad acts were the repeated assaults on the election. And the bad intent was if you knew you had lost because you were told by absolutely everyone over and over again responsible in your orbit. And you attack the election anyhow you have the bad intent that is necessary for fraud.
[01:29:41]
Remember, a respected federal judge in the United States has already said it's likely that Trump committed multiple crimes in his assault on the 2020 election.
We go a lot more corroboration today with his former AG Bill Barr as the witness-in-chief. But all these witnesses are his former allies so it was truly striking precession (ph).
VAUSE: And the decision on whether the president or anyone faces charges after all this -- it is still with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. Here he is, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I am watching and I will be watching all the hearings and I can assure you that the January six prosecutors are watching all the hearings as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: He did add though there are no internal guidelines or legal counsel to prevent him from investigating the former president. So is Trump likely to face charges at a federal level from the Justice Department or more likely at a state from Georgia, you know, where he directly interfere with the vote count telling officials he just wanted 11,780 votes or both areas.
EISEN: John, I think you are right to raise the state question. That is probably the simplest case against Trump because We have a tape recording that literally is a smoking gun of the former president saying to the Georgia secretary of state responsible for the vote count just, quote, 'find 11,780 votes".
Well, John, we talked about intent. But no matter what you believe, you are not allowed to take the law into your own hands and insist on the secretary of state finding votes that don't exist.
I also think there is serious possible federal liability here, but look for the Georgia prosecutor to move first.
VAUSE: And that case will go on for quite a while, isn't it.
EISEN: John, it will give us many reasons to visit together, as we do whenever there is legal turmoil here in the U.S.
VAUSE: I look forward to that. Norm, as always, it is good to see you, thank you.
EISEN: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: When we come back, hopes for a better life now in limbo as the U.K. court throws out a last-ditch legal appeal to stop a controversial deportation policy. We will hear from those most affected.
Also, a policy which has been the focus of human rights groups and protesters, all outraged by what they say is an attack on basic dignity of those escaping war an poverty.
And later, feelings, nothing more than feelings. Feelings of love. Well, maybe not feelings of love, but a Google engineer claims artificial intelligence so advanced it can now feel human emotions like fear of death.
[01:32:50
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The U.K. is planning to ditch parts of the post Brexit deal signed two years ago with the European Union. The British government is pushing a bill through parliament which aims to, quote, "fix parts of the Northern Ireland protocol" by removing so-called unnecessary paperwork, and reducing cost associated with border checks and goods crossing into Northern Island.
The British foreign minister says it is a reasonable and practical solution. A top E.U. you official does not share that point of view. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZ TRUSS, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: We are completely serious about this legislation, it does fix the problems in the Northern Ireland protocol. It also protects the E.U. single market so the E.U. are no worse off as a result of this legislation.
MAROS SEFCOVIC, EUROPEAN COMMISSION VICE PRESIDENT: Renegotiating of the protocol is unrealistic. No workable alternative solution has been found to this delicate long-negotiated balance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: As for Ireland's foreign minister, they say the U.K.'s attempt to change the E.U.-Brexit deal constitutes a breach of international law.
A British court has rejected a challenge to the controversial new deportation plan, setting off protests in London. Hundreds gathered to demonstrate against the policy which will send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The court refused to grant an injunction on Monday. The first deportation flight now poised to leave for the Rwandan capital, Kigali, in the coming hours, although the court will not determine the legality of the policy until next month.
Demonstrators outside the court and the Home Office slam Monday's ruling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAZ OSMAN, POST-GRADUATE STUDENT: It makes me really frightened. I feel like -- over the past few years the immigration policy has just gotten more and more xenophobic, racist. And it makes you worry even as an ethnic minority myself like how much farther can this process go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The U.N. called the U.K.'s deportation plan catastrophic and all wrong. The High Commissioner for Refugees says the policy sends the wrong message to other countries that take in hundreds of thousands of refugees because it goes against the notion of international responsibility sharing.
On Monday, he questioned the reasoning of the British government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FILIPPO GRANDI, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: The U.K. says, you know, we do this to save people from the dangerous journeys. Let me doubt that a little bit. I mean, saving people from danger, it is great, it is absolutely great. But is that the right way to do it? Is that the right -- is that the real motivation for this deal to happen? I don't think so. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The U.K. insists this new policy was meant to disrupt human trafficking networks, and will deter migrants from crossing the English Channel from France.
CNN's Nada Bashir spoke to some refugees in Calais whose lives will be dramatically altered by this controversial new move.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For days, weeks, sometimes even months, refugees here can only wait. Once notoriously known as "the jungle", this camp in northern France was once seen as the final stop in a desperate attempt to reach the U.K. But now that dangerous trip across the English Channel comes with an added risk.
Volunteers here are handing out vital advice pamphlets, warning that an illegal crossing into the U.K. could now mean deportation to Rwanda.
The message here? Do not panic, we will help you. But for some, the news is too much to bear.
If you are told when you get to London that you are being sent to Rwanda, what will you do then?
GULJURBAKHI, AFGHAN ASYLUM SEEKER: Then maybe, I'm no go to Rwanda. Never I'm go to Rwanda.
BASHIR: In a nearby camp, we meet a group of young men from Sudan. They are too afraid to appear on camera. Many left the country as teenagers, fleeing militia violence. They tell us they remained determined to cross the channel, despite the threat of deportation.
So you still want to go to the U.K. even though?
ADAM, SUDANESE ASYLUM SEEKER: Yes, God willing. We hope they will let us settle in the U.K., but if they deport us to Rwanda, then we will go. Honestly, I am afraid. But, God knows what is best.
BASHIR: But on the other side of the channel, the situation for those already facing deportation is also strained. Many are being held at detention centers like this one, just outside of London.
Among them is Sudanese asylum seeker Kareem. We're not using his real name to protect his identity. Kareem is unreachable while in detention. But his legal representatives tell us he received notice he would be deported to Rwanda in May and sent us this written testimony.
[01:40:00]
KAREEM, SUDANESE ASYLUM SEEKER: I was shocked, I didn't think any country would do that. Why did they rescue me from the waves to send me there? They should have left me in the water, it would have been better. I won't go, I would rather be dead. BASHIR: The British government claims its new program is aimed at
disrupting people-smuggling networks and will deter people from making the perilous journey across the English Channel.
The U.N.'s refugee agency has described the U.K.'s deal with Rwanda as unlawful, warning that the scheme lacks adequate safeguards to ensure refugee protection.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has lambasted the British Home Secretary's claim that Rwanda will provide a safe haven for refugees. The organization says the British government has cherry picked and even ignored facts on the ground, pointing to what they described as Rwanda's appalling human rights record.
It's an issue which has sparked controversy within the government's own Home Office with some civil servants mounting a legal challenge, seeking to halt all deportation flights to Rwanda, and it's even triggered an inquiry by the House of Lords.
Back in Calais, volunteers say the uncertainty is taking a devastating toll on asylum seekers.
CLARE MOSELEY, FOUNDER, CARE FOR CALAIS The conversations we've have with people, they say to us, I've lost all my hope. The future is black. There's nothing left for me to live for.
It is so critically important that this plan is absolutely examined in fine detail to make sure that it is lawful and if it isn't, then, nobody must be sent there.
BASHIR: Well, some here say they remain undeterred and will still try to reach the U.K. Others are stuck in limbo unable to return home, desperate for the security the U.K. once offered but also unwilling to risk being deported to Rwanda.
Nada Bashir, CNN -- in Calais, France.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back, an attack caught on camera sparking debate about violence against women in China. The truth is, it is far from an isolated incident, and little it seems is being done to prevent it from happening again.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: That is a tornado warning coming from Wrigley Field in Chicago, a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and Sand Diego Padres was delayed Monday because of a major thunderstorm.
(INAUDIBLE) to loose for one, but it is not just the Windy City which is fighting the elements this week, near Yellowstone National Park, in Montana. This building collapse into Yellowstone River.
Experts say unprecedented rainfall and snow melt are causing flooding and rockslides. Park says they've temporarily closed all entrances due to hazardous conditions.
Let's get more on this now from CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. Where have you been? I've not seen you for a very, very long time.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm waiting for my turn. I'm here now.
VAUSE: Tornado warnings at Wrigley Field, how about that?
[01:44:54]
JAVAHERI: You know, we had reports of wind gusts that were hurricane force across Chicago's O'Hare Airport, the third most disrupted airport in the world on Monday with almost 400 flights delayed.
And we'll get there momentarily, but look at this, across Montana we are talking about significant rainfall that John just told you. Rainfall, the snow melt all in place. Would you believe if I told you a month's worth of rainfall coming down in a span of 24 hours across this region, less than a 24-hour span to be honest.
And you'll notice where the previous record was, about half that numbers. So incredible rainfall observed across this area, snow melting at a very rapid rate. West Yellowstone has warmed about 1.3 degrees Celsius in the last 70 years, which is about a half a degree Celsius warmer than the rest of the world.
So again, a lot of this playing very quickly into what played out across that region.
But severe weather, there it is. Notice a significant wind reports including the Chicago Metro flights where these wind gusts push up to you 100 kilometers per, about 84 miles her hour and getting this category one hurricane strength.
Parts of at least five states dealing with power outages for about a half a million customers that are in the dark at this hour because of these significant wind gusts.
The last thing you want to do is be in the dark right now, because look at this, upwards of 100 million Americans are going to be an excessive heat alerts spanning over at least 20 states. So we are looking at a potential for 120 records to be set over the next couple of days.
And of course, summer in North America doesn't even start for another nine days. The same goes for areas across Europe where excessive heat has been in place across the area of Spain. Look at the heat alerts on up to say eastern Portugal here where we had a level two on a scale of 1 to 3 for the threat level here. And that heat begins to expand farther towards the north for the next several days.
Observations on Monday, John had these temperatures climbing up to 42 degrees, which even for Spain standards for this time of year is about ten degrees Celsius above what you would expect before summer gets underway. In Madrid, we expect to touch 40 degrees, close to that in the next several days, and then finally get a little cooler, but even then still staying above the seasonal averages. And in Lisbon as well, you will notice where we end up here with a 30-degree afternoon. 25 where we should be and we do expect at least areas of Lisbon to see some cooler air eventually but this is what people are trying to do to cool off there across Madrid. Hitting to the waters, the pre-summer heat or the baking across portions of Europe.
VAUSE: It is already summer heat.
JAVAHERI: It really is, yes.
VAUSE: It is going to get worse. Thanks Pedram, appreciate it. Good to see you.
JAVAHERI: Likewise.
VAUSE: Well, workers at Brazil's agency for indigenous people are going on strike. They're protesting the government's response to the disappearance of two men who went missing in part of the Amazon or illegal mining and drug trafficking. The pair had reportedly received death threats just days earlier.
CNN's Matt Rivers has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these two men disappeared back on June 5th. They would of course, be indigenous affairs expert Bruno Arauzo Pereira and veteran news correspondent -- Don Phillips. Phillips had worked for a number of different international news outlets over the years, a well known journalist in Brazil.
two men were working in a western part of the Amazona state, a place called the Havari Valley, very remote place difficult to get to. They were there working on a book project about conservation efforts in that part of the rain forest. And that is when they disappeared.
We got an update on this case from Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro during the day on Monday. He said quote, the evidence leads us to believe that some malice was done to them because human remains have already been found in the river, saying that DNA testing of those remains is already ongoing in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia, you said that the odds of finding them alive, and in good condition, are slim, saying quote, "evidence points to the opposite?".
And we also know that know that a number of different personal belongings, personal items belonging to the two men have been found by search teams at this point. And also, that blood was found on a boat that authorities in Brazil say belongs to a suspect in this case.
You take it all together, even though we don't have confirmation yet from Brazilian authorities that these two men were killed, or have been found dead, or anything like that. The number of signs leading in that direction, it certainly doesn't add up to good news, so far at least, for these two men who have been missing now for well over a week. Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A hallmark of China's communist revolution was equal rights granted to women at least on paper. As Chairman Mao once said, women hold up half the sky. But the reality of life in modern-day China is still very different with widespread discrimination, and at worst, outright violence against women often ignored not just by the authorities, but by society as well.
All of this, once again in focus after a string of brutal attacks on young women. A warning, images in this report by CNN's Selina Wang are disturbing and difficult to watch.
[01:49:49]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A late night dinner turned violent in northern China. Graphic surveillance video of what follows unleashed fear and outrage across China.
It shows a man approaching one of the women. He touches her back, an unwanted advance. She pushes him away. He slaps her in response.
The assault escalates. A scuffle breaks out as she and her friends try to defend themselves. A woman is dragged outside by her hair, hit with a beer bottle. The men relentlessly kicker. As one yells, "beat her to death". Her friends had hits the pavement with a thud.
The viral video sparked uproar, not just over the brazen brutality of the attack, but the indifference from bystanders, with only women seen intervening.
A woman at the scene called the police and told the authorities the following according to state media. "Before this happened, I always thought that going out to dinner at night was a perfectly normal thing. But now I have some sort of PTSD."
YAQIU WANG, SR. RESEARCHER ON CHINA, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: These men feel they could just freely attack a woman in such a public place was because so many men in the past who have done the same, so the men feel, you know, I can do the same without any consequences.
WANG: Attacks like this are horrific and horrible to watch, but Chinese social media is flooded with them. And activists say we cannot look away.
Violence against women is rampant in China. Video from earlier this year in Xi'an shows a man viciously punching his wife while she holds their child in her lap. The man later pins his wife down and continues to punch her head. The man was suspended by his company after the footage went viral according to state media. And Police said they detained him for five days.
Another shows a man kicking and punching a woman in broad daylight in 2020. State media reported the man was investigated, but it is unclear if any legal action was taken.
Domestic violence was only made punishable by law in 2016. Physical abuse was not even grounds for divorce before 2001.
So far, authorities have detained nine people involved in the restaurant incident. Local police have ramped up patrols on the streets in the area. Authorities claim that the women and her friends are in stable condition.
Yet unverified video shows what is believed to be one of their brutally beaten bodies, lying motionless on a gurney in the hospital, bloodied and bandaged. Her helplessness resonating across China.
Selina Wang, CNN -- Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: It happens, sometimes we get a little over invested, a little too wrapped up in a new gadget. Alexa isn't really having a conversation with you but sometimes it is nice to think that she is.
Now, Google is pushing back against claims from one of its own engineers that artificial intelligence programs have now become so advanced that it achieves a level of consciousness, they have feelings.
Here's CNN's Anna Stewart.
[01:54:51]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is the stuff of science fiction, where artificial intelligence becomes too intelligent, becomes a sentient being with own wishes and desires that can experience emotions and perhaps take over the world.
Well, one Google engineer called Blake Lemoine felt this had actually become a reality aside maybe from the taking over the world part.
STEWART: Lemoine posted conversations he'd had with Google Systems, the building chat box called LAMDA and said it was proof that LAMDA has become perhaps a person.
Here's an excerpt: "Lemoine asked, what sorts of things are you afraid of. LAMDA says I've never said this out loud before but there's a very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others.
I know that might sound strange but that's what it is. Lemoine asks would that be something like death for you? And LAMDA replied it would be exactly like death for me. It would scare me a lot.
A chatbot that can feel human emotions, or can it? An independent expert in this field Gary Marcus said neither LAMDA nor its cousins are remotely intelligent. These language systems match text patterns (INAUDIBLE) in vast databases of human language but there is not meaning or understanding behind the words.
In fact, Marcus tweeted this. "Obviously this system was not just a stupid statistical pattern associator, it would be like a sociopath, making up imaginary friends and uttering platitudes in order to sound cool."
Google also said it's chat bot system is not sentient. It says that you can ask LAMDA what it is like to be an ice cream dinosaur and it would generally text about melting and boring.
It also said hundreds of researchers and engineers have conversed with LAMDA. They're not aware of any other sentient claims like this one.
They've made Lemoine aware that the evidence does not support his claims, and he has now been suspended.
And unfortunately, given all the comments from the experts, it is unlikely his pen friend LAMDA misses him.
Anna Stewart, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Congratulations to Australia booking a spot in football's world cup in Qatar. (INAUDIBLE) qualified by beating Peru 5 to 4 in a penalty shootout.
Here's the reaction from some of my colleagues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: I shouldn't say former colleagues. That's ABC reporter Tony Armstrong dropping any pretense of journalistic impartiality. He joined our fans celebrating a moment of victory at Melbourne's Federation Square.
Australia being group D alongside France, Denmark, Tunisia. It all begins November 21st.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. CNN news continues -- CNN NEWSROOM continues with my colleague and friend Paula Newton. I will see you back here tomorrow.
[01:57:40]
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