Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
NATO Formally Invites Finland and Sweden to Join; U.S. to Boost Troops and Equipment in NATO's East; Putin Denies Russia Responsible for Missile Strike on Mall; 20 Found Guilty, Main Attacker Gets Life in Prison; Israel Lawmakers Set to Vote to Dissolve Knesset; Hong Kong Prepares to Mark 25 Years Since its Transfer to China. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 30, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:31]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone, I'm John Vause, you're watching CNN Newsroom. Vladimir Putin, at his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, NATO welcome soon to be members Finland and Sweden amid an historic surge of military force in Eastern Europe.
A judicial milestone in France with convictions of 20 men for their roles in the 2015 Paris Terror Attack. And oops they've done it again, another Israeli coalition government has collapsed, which means another election, the fifth in four years.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: For a former KGB mastermind who was said to be playing three dimensional chess while the rest of the world was playing Hungry, Hungry Hippo, Vladimir Putin has not exactly had a lot of success lately with his long stated goals like keeping NATO in check. See if he backfiring right now before our very eyes.
The Alliance is well on its way to getting to new members with formal invitations given to Sweden and Finland on Wednesday. NATO was also agreed to its most significant strengthening since the Cold War, a direct response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
And on top of all of this, the U.S. President Joe Biden has announced a major infusion of American forces and military equipment to bolster NATO's defenses, including a new permanent army headquarters in Poland, along with 1000s of additional troops, fighter jets, ships, air defense systems across Europe. NATO's updated Strategic Concept document calls Russia the most significant and direct threat to peace and reaffirms the alliance support for Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: President Putin has not succeeded in closing NATO's door. He is getting the opposite of what he wants. He wants less NATO. President Putin is getting more NATO by Finland, Sweden joining our alliances. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The additions of Sweden and Finland will more than double NATO's land border with Russia. Vladimir Putin says he's not bothered after all by that expansion, but added he will still respond to any threats from those territories.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We don't have problems with Sweden and Finland like we do with Ukraine. We don't have territorial differences. There is nothing that can bother us about Sweden and Finland joining NATO. If Finland and Sweden wish to, they can join, that's up to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN's Scott McLean live this hour for us in Kyiv, Ukraine. But we begin with our White House correspondent, Kevin Liptak, who is reporting live in Madrid on the NATO Summit. And Kevin, it seems Vladimir Putin has failed to achieve almost every strategic goal he hoped to achieve by invading Ukraine, depending on how you count them up. He's about over four right now?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, his aims have really backfired, at least when it comes to NATO. And leaders here are leaving the summit today really with a renewed sense of purpose for this defense alliance after years sort of wavering on how they wanted to approach Russia, whether they should view it as a as a partner, or potential partner, or whether it was more of an adversary that the debate has really been cleared up. There is no more debate about how NATO wants to approach Russia. They said in their strategic concept, that it is now the most significant threat facing the allies of NATO.
And so they are leaving here with NATO larger. It's more muscular. It's more focused. The addition of those two countries, Finland and Sweden, that could happen in an unprecedentedly quick timeline. The Secretary General said yesterday, these new force posture adjustments along the eastern flank, really historic levels not seen since the Cold War, and that a permanent U.S. Army headquarters in Poland is so significant that had been something that President Putin and Russia had for so long resisted. So President Biden really wanting to make clear the United States' commitment to NATO.
I think the question for all of these leaders as they department Madrid today is whether any of this. The new sanctions that they announced in Germany, the new military aid to Ukraine, the newly reinvigorated NATO is going to do anything to change the tide on the ground in Ukraine because Russia is still making small gains in the East momentum really does seem to favor Russia at this point and the war. And yesterday, the top U.S. spy Avril Haines, he is the Director of National Intelligence really painted quite a grim picture of the intelligence assessments on the ground there. She said that the consensus was that this war would last for a long time, and that President Putin is willing to wait it out because he does believe that the West will eventually lose interest. [01:05:19]
Now, yesterday, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, did address NATO members. He also addressed the G7 earlier in the week. He said that this war should not drag on. And he made a real call for more modern artillery to try and regain the initiative in this conflict. But whether leaders agree to that or not remains to be seen. And so while the buzzword of the NATO summit this week was unity.
Privately, there are some differences of opinion between these leaders about what the next phase of this war should look like. There are some like the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who were really pushing for a more decisive battlefield victory for Ukraine. But there are others who are a little more cautious, who want to see this conflict wrapped up sooner rather than later, and are really pushing for a more robust attempt at negotiations with Russia. And so whether or not that comes to pass really remains to be seen. But certainly NATO itself, really finding itself in a more renewed sense of purpose, as this summit concludes, John.
VAUSE: Kevin, thank you for that. Let's get the very latest out there, for the situation in Ukraine and with what's happening in the East official without Russian offensive, Scott McLean, live in Kyiv. So apart from what's happening, you know, on the battlefront, we also have this claim by Vladimir Putin that he didn't do it, that, you know, it wasn't not a Russian missile, which hit that shopping mall in central Ukraine. So what's the reaction been to that statement from Vladimir Putin?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, so right now on the site in Kremenchuk of that mall, they are doing two things. They are picking through the rubble, looking for bodies. They are also looking for any evidence of a war crime and proof that the Kremlin isn't telling the truth and proof that the Kremlin actually meant to target civilian infrastructure.
Of course, Russia claims that it was actually, it had actually hit a weapons, a cache of Western weapons in a warehouse nearby that mall and the explosion from that had set them all on fire. Ukrainian say that simply is not true. My colleague was there on site yesterday, and she went with the chief prosecutor who's there to gather evidence to that site of this opposing weapons cache, which the Ukrainian say, is actually a factory to produce parts for road repair machines on entirely civilian pieces of infrastructure there. And they say that if there were a large number of weapons stored on that site, there will be all kinds of bullet holes, and there would be all kinds of damage from things emanating inside and pushing out and they simply do not see anything like that.
The Russians also claim that this mall was non-functioning at the time. Well, it's not very hard to find people who are inside of that mall and who managed to survive. That really intense blast. The president says that there were 1000 people inside the mall when those sirens actually went off.
I just want to mention a couple of other things. And that's -- yesterday, Ukraine managed to get back 144 soldiers from the Russians in a prisoner exchange, they traded 144 for 144 Russian soldiers from the Donetsk People's Republic, that breakaway region in the eastern part of Ukraine. The President says that they range in age from 19 to 65 years old, and what most all of them have in common is they are badly wounded. We're talking about wounds, we're talking -- or burns, excuse me, we're talking about broken bones, in some cases, amputated legs as well. So the question here is, will there be more soldiers exchanged in the future, not just ones who are badly wounded.
And what's also significant about this, John, is that 95 of those soldiers were from the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol, where soldiers held out for three months before finally surrendering about a month ago, 2500 of them, 1000 of those the Russian say were transferred to Russia for investigative purposes. And what's even more remarkable is that some of the soldiers, 43 were from the Azov Regiment. And this is surprising because, of course, Russia has tried to paint this Azov Regiment which has its roots as an extremist, far- right militia, but is now part of the regular Ukrainian military. The Russians have tried to paint them as evidence that Ukraine needs to be denazified.
So in one ways, this sort of goes against their propaganda aim. And the other sense is maybe not surprising because President Zelenskyy points out that look, these prisoners are very public prisoners in the world is undoubtedly watching what happens to them in the weeks and months to come, John.
VAUSE: Makes you wonder what's happening to the other prisoners as well. Scott McLean, thanks very much for that. Scott McLean, live for us in Kyiv. Also Kevin Liptak live for us in Madrid. Thank you both.
[01:10:05]
In the Paris courtroom, little fanfare French justice reach and historic moment Wednesday, with a life sentence given to the only surviving Jihadist who was directly involved in the 2015 terror attacks, which left 130 people dead. Well, the sentencing will not bring back the dead, nor will it heal those who suffered in the months and years since it delivers a powerful message about the rule of law and the importance of justice for all. This case, justice for the many survivors who were allowed to testify in detail, and at length. CNN's Melissa Bell has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Guilty, those were the verdicts handed down in the biggest trial in modern French history. 19 out of 20, defendants were found guilty on all charges of planning, aiding, and carrying out the 2015 Terror Attacks. Of those, only 14 were in the dark. Most notably, Salah Abdeslam, one of the only known survivors amongst those directly involved in the attacks, Abdeslam was found guilty on all five counts, including murders in an organized gang in relation with a terrorist organization.
During the trial, the Belgian born French national told the court he was a proud soldier of the Islamic State, but later apologized to the victims.
It was November 13, 2015, when France was shaken to its core, a night of terror that began at the Stade de France. Then saw coordinated attacks across recent bars, restaurants, and the Bataclan concert hall. As people enjoyed a Friday evening on the town, in all 130 people were killed. Now, their families and those who survived are seeing some respite after nearly 10 months of agonizing testimony.
ARTHUR DENOUVEAUX, BATACLAN ATTACK SURVIVOR: It's a relief. It's mostly a relief, both because it means that justice, you know, has made what has had to do, but also because it means that this trial is behind me and I can go on with my life. So, you know, it's been a long, 10 months, but I think we can be proud of what we've achieved. So I'm just happy it's coming to an end.
BELL: About 450 people took the stand one after another, many tearfully reliving the horrific events of that November night. Family members of those who were killed, recounted their struggle of living without their loved ones. Abdeslam's sentenced to life in prison without parole, the most severe punishment in the French justice system. That sentence only handed down four times since first established in 1994. Beyond the guilty verdict, the end of the trial marks a time for healing for the victims, their families, and friend nation. Melissa Bell, CNN Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We're waiting for a vote in Israel's Knesset which will set the stage for a fifth general election in less than four years. Lawmakers are expected to dissolve parliament which would end Naftali Bennett's time as prime minister. He says he will not run for re-election and will be replaced by the Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid.
Another election opens the door for former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try and reclaim that job he had for off and on for 15 years.
Gil Hoffman is a former Chief Political Correspondent for The Jerusalem Post. He joins us now live from Jerusalem. Gil, welcome back. So here we go again. You know, even blind pretty saw, this one coming, the vast differences within that coalition, you know, combined with a razor thin majority of one, kind of mean that every member could hold the government hostage making it pretty impossible to govern. So it's pricey, and not so much the coalition collapsed, but rather it held together for a year?
GIL HOFFMAN, FORMER CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, JERUSALEM POST: That's true. It was really incredible that people with such great differences could stay together for so long. It would be the equivalent if in the United States, you had co-presidents Ted Cruz and AOC trying to run the White House together. And so the downfall of this government is not an indictment of diversity. It isn't definitely an indictment of having such a narrow government with only a one seat majority that would not last, even if they agree on everything.
VAUSE: Yeah, and the Jerusalem Post is reporting that polls over the last week showing the four Jewish opposition parties, Likud, the Religious Zionist Party, Shas and United Torah Judaism, winning between 59 and 60 seats where elections held today, knocking on the door of being able to form a 61 seat coalition. Oh, here we go again. You know, if the past four elections you touched on this, have proven anything, it's the fact that Israel cannot be governed by a coalition which doesn't have a decent majority. So anything happened, which is likely to bring about a different result this time, once, you know, Israel is ready to go to the polls?
HOFFMAN: Yes, yesterday, Naftali Bennett quit. He announced he wasn't running again. And the reason why Naftali Bennett was made Prime Minister for the past year was that he was the head of the camp of -- what are right now swing voters, it used to be that in Israel you had a right wing camp and a left wing camp and so the swing voters were in the center of the political map, like in America and like in countries around the world.
[01:15:09]
Well, nowadays, the elections aren't about the Palestinian issue at all. They're about one overuse, Shakespearean cliche to Bibi, or not to Bibi, about whether Netanyahu should stay in power. And by saying he was not part of either camp, Naftali Bennett made himself and his party very valuable. So if he's not running again, and Yair Lapid, who was his number two, saying she would prefer a right wing coalition, that is something that could work to Netanyahu's advantage.
VAUSE: To Bibi or not Bibi I've not heard that for a very long time. One of the factors which united this coalition, as you say, was keeping former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of office. Here he is, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I intend to form a strong national study government, I think the atmosphere changed. I can feel it. I can hear from the people. You walk and talk to mothers, fathers, young couples with children, the older people, some of whom did not vote for me. And they say we now I want the real change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And that was a week ago, I mean, what are the chances that Netanyahu who is still on trial for corruption could actually make a comeback as prime minister, would the right wing party have been willing, you said, to sit in the coalition with him?
HOFFMAN: Yes, 50/50, I would say. Look, he's 72years old, he's young man. His father died at the age of 102. He's not going anywhere. And it's going to be a challenge for the parties that don't want Netanyahu to come back to get their act together.
One thing that's going to have an impact on this as in a couple of weeks, we have a visit by the President of the United States. No one can hide that American presidents have interfered with every election Israel over the last 30 years and in some cases, vice versa Israeli leaders interfering in American elections. And if Biden does and says the right things here, when he comes to Israel, he could help Lapid out. If he takes the wrong steps, then it could be Biden, ironically, bringing Netanyahu back to power after he said, when he was with Netanyahu the last time that he doesn't agree with anything he says.
VAUSE: You're a wealth of knowledge. Benjamin Netanyahu's father was 102. That's amazing. I had no idea. I want you to listen to the outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who will not seek reelection. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAFTALI BENNETT, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The government headed by myself, managed to complete in a year's time what many governments didn't manage to complete in a full term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It's a very valid the government lasted about a year as well. Is there much to show for his year in office?
HOFFMAN: Sure, they passed a budget. They appear to have stopped the Iran deal and its tracks. So the Iran deal was moving full speed ahead. And then there was a summit held in a hotel in southern Israel with four Arab foreign ministers, the foreign minister of Israel and the U.S. Secretary of State, it appears that the five persuaded him to stop moving that Iran deal forward. That that's a very consensus issue in Israel. And yesterday, Lapid succeeded in bringing back Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream to Israel and stopping that boycott from happening, which is something we all appreciate.
VAUSE: And that's probably the thing we will remember, and appreciate the most, Gil, as always, thank you so much. We appreciate your time. Good to have you with us.
Up next, China's Xi Jinping said to visit Hong Kong for the 25th Anniversary of its handover to China. Why some journalists won't be able to cover the official ceremony because China doesn't like them.
Also floods swarming Bangladesh leading million stranded, the worst floods in more than a century. We're live with the latest in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:21:00]
VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. Friday, we'll mark 25 years since Hong Kong's handover from Britain back to China. Chinese President Xi Jinping said to attend the official events but number of local and international journalists including CNN will not be there. That's because they've been prevented from covering the ceremonies during Xi's visit. The Hong Kong Journalists Association says at least 10 applications were rejected for security reasons.
President Xi will be in Hong Kong for a handover ceremony and the inauguration of the incoming Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee. This will be his first trip outside Mainland China since the pandemic began. CNN covering this with correspondents around the region, Ivan Watson is live for us this hour in Hong Kong, Beijing Bureau Chief Steven Jiang standing by in Beijing. But first to you, Ivan, so along with this ban on CNN. There's AFP, there's South China Morning Post, they will be banned as well. Are there any independent news outlets which have been allowed to actually attend to these events that Xi Jinping will be at?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I confess, I don't really know who will be able to attend, we did get an announcement from the government that the flag raising ceremony on July 1 on the morning, that there will not be a public viewing place for ordinary citizens, residents of Hong Kong to be able to see that event. And I think that kind of goes to show that the anniversary of this handover, from British to Chinese rule is something that's very much attended and celebrated by the authorities here.
The city has been decorated with Chinese flags, with signs declaring the slogan for this anniversary which is stability, prosperity, and opportunity. But it's not necessarily something that ordinary people can really participate in these government events, particularly with the additional zero COVID measures that have been put in place where even officials who will attend these events have to go into quarantine in hotels, some 48 hours ahead of time or even longer.
The last time that Xi Jinping was here was in 2017, the 20th Anniversary and the city has changed quite a bit since then, John, between both the political crackdown that has taken place here in the last two years, where virtually all of the elected opposition lawmakers who were in the legislature here in 2017, they're either in jail or who have fled that independent news outlets have been shut down after being targeted by the authorities. Labor Union, Student Unions have been shut down in the last two years, as well.
But also because of the COVID measures and China's zero COVID policy, which has made Hong Kong one of the most isolated places in the world, where not only is there not free travel across the internal boundary between Hong Kong and Mainland China. But also Hong Kong has been largely shut off from the rest of the world by some of the most strict quarantines that are still in place anywhere else in the world. All of that has really hurt Hong Kong's economy and its reputation as an international trade crossroads, a place that people used to be able to rely on for kind of business and reliability and safety. There's been an exodus of people leaving Hong Kong over the course of the last year where its net population is shrinking.
The authorities insist that COVID will come to an end, and that there's a bright, prosperous future for this former British colony. But there are also a lot of questions about how the next 25 years under Chinese rule, what Hong Kong will really look like. John?
VAUSE: Good questions, absolutely. Ivan, thank you. Let's go to Beijing now. Steven Jiang is standing by there. So Steven, is this a bit of a victory lap for Xi Jinping? First, they brought the, you know, Hong Kong to heal. They've crushed the democracy movement. There's no dissent it most of the pro-democracy lawmakers are locked up. There'll be no protests when Xi Jinping turns up or likely to be no protests, all the freedoms are being taken away that were promised back 25 years ago, so now it's time to take a victory lap.
[01:25:11]
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, John. I remember this is Xi Jinping's first trip outside of Mainland China in almost 900 days since the start of the pandemic, the choice of Hong Kong, obviously not surprising, very symbolic for all the reasons you and Ivan were just talking about. But other things, you know, many people in Hong Kong and indeed around the world are mourning the loss of liberties and freedoms in the eyes of Beijing. These are long overdue positive developments. That's why a lot of people are describing this moment as Hong Kong's second return to China, in that -- from that perspective, when the British handed Hong Kong sovereignty to Beijing in 1987, China regain sovereignty, but not a power to govern thanks to all the "Pesky oppositions" and the so-called hostile and subversive forces, so in the territory, but now with all of them wiped out.
Hong Kong is finally back to the path of stability and prosperity. So that's their narrative. And this is only, of course made possible thanks to Xi Jinping's Iron Fist. So this, this is why when Xi Jinping crosses the border into Hong Kong, even though he's crossing a border, but he's very much going to fail on polling Hong Kong, where the city's politics, economy, ideology, not to mention COVID and security rules very much in lockstep with Beijing. And that's something in their mind, very much worth outside operations we'll be seeing in the next 40 hours. And for Xi Jinping, of course, he also needs this as he heads into the fall to, you know, all of a sudden to assume a precedent breaking third term, as China's top leader.
His reign, the reputation that legitimacy is always very much based on this ideology that he needs to reassert the Communist Party's absolute control in every corner of the country, in every aspects of society to achieve this so-called national rejuvenation, and that now very much includes Hong Kong. So that's why this is very much a victory lap for him. But also, of course, this made more important as China is facing a lot of headwinds, domestically, economically geopolitically politically, as we have seen time and again, in history. Leaders, autocratic leaders especially often turn to nationalism when they were facing growing domestic challenges with China -- which China certainly is. John.
VAUSE: One man's crackdown on freedom and liberty is another man's celebration of stability and control. Thank you, Steven Jiang there in Beijing. Also, Ivan Watson live for us in Hong Kong. Thank you both. We appreciate it.
Well, a disgraced political dynasty is making a comeback in the Philippines. In the past our President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. was sworn in Manila. He was elected a landslide last month. He's the son of a former dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who ran the country with an iron fist for 21 years. His father was forced to flee the Philippines after his regime was toppled in a popular uprising in 1986. But Marcos Jr, who is known by the nickname Bong says he should be judged by his actions not his family's past.
Desperate need for aid in Bangladesh after what's been called the worst floods in living memory. Well, in 7 million people need shelter and emergency relief. Torrential rain causes rivers to overflow, leaving hundreds of 1000s of homes underwater. In the worst hit areas, entire neighborhoods have been submerged.
Vedika Sud joins us live from New Delhi with the very latest on the situation there. This is something which happens a lot with the rainy season. But this seems to be quite extraordinary this time around?
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER Absolutely, John. And that's what aid agencies have been telling CNN, some of the relief workers that we have spoken to say this is the worst they've seen in their lifetime.
Let me just give you a figure in terms of casualties. Unfortunately, the figure, the combined figure the combined death toll for Bangladesh and the northeastern states of India that are joined Bangladesh stand at 219 as we speak. A quick update from Bangladesh, first, the situation remains very grim. We have a lot of the water bodies, the rivers, they're overflowing due to the torrential rains about 700 rivers there, John, in Bangladesh, and they have been deeply impacted by the torrential rains, due to which they overflowing and adding to the floods in the region.
If you have a look at people inside their homes, they're so desperate. And so in need of aid and relief at this point in time. They're waiting to be evacuated. But the biggest challenge that relief workers are facing at this point in time that agencies are facing right now is the fact that most of these areas still remain cut off. They have been completely virtually isolated from the rest of Bangladesh, especially two districts that we know of. One of them is Sylhet and the other is Sunamganj district.
Now according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies, Red Cross, Crescent Societies about 84% of Sylhet and about 94% of Sunamganj remain inundated, which means almost the entire areas that we are talking about. There are (INAUDIBLE) that have not been impacted by the flood.
[01:29:51]
Telecommunication is a problem, and therefore it is getting difficult to reach these people. And water -- drinking water is another challenge that these people are facing at this point in time.
Meanwhile, in the northeastern states of India, especially the state of Assam, the death toll stands at over 151 since April due to flooding. What we do know is that a lot of these embankments of rivers are being breached more than they have been in the past.
And the concern that the environmentalist have in what we've determined through the last few weeks is that there is the direct connect between climate change and what we are seeing in Bangladesh and northeastern states of India, John. VAUSE: Vedika, thank you for that very grim update. Emergency needs, obviously a critical need for emergency out there right now. Thank you.
Well still to come here, Russia's Baltic neighbors have plenty of historic reasons to be very concerned about Moscow and military aggression. Coming up, how the war in Ukraine has led many Lithuanian's to now sign up to defend their country in case Russia attacks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
After declaring Russia to be the most significant threat to peace and civility in Europe, NATO has ramped up its force (INAUDIBLE) and announced the biggest offensive overhaul since the Cold War.
The U.S. alone will send thousands of additional troops plus fighter jets, ships, other military equipment to parts (ph) the countries. And the alliance has formally invited Sweden and Finland to join, directly undercutting Vladimir Putin's goal of keeping NATO expansion in check.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: The decision to invite Finland and Sweden to become members demonstrate that NATO's door is open. It demonstrates that President Putin did not succeed in closing NATO's door. NATO's door remains open.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: David Sanger is a CNN political and national security analyst. He's also a White House and national security correspondent for the "New York Times", and author of "The Perfect Weapon". Good to have you here, David. Thank you.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be back with you John.
VAUSE: Ok. So there was that rather odd statement we just heard from Vladimir Putin saying Sweden and Finland they can go ahead and join NATO, it is fine. But then he added almost in the same breath this warning, the consequences of deploying troops and equipment.
In the case of military contingents and military infrastructure being deployed, we will have to respond symmetrically and raise the same threats to those territories from where threats have arisen for us."
You know, is this kind of the "Honey Badger" version of Vladimir Putin. "Honey Badger Don't Care", he'll just keep doing what he is doing.
[01:35:00] SANGER: It is a bit of that but you know, this is a line of reasoning that we have heard from Putin before. And basically what he said is, if you want to expand NATO, go ahead and expand NATO.
Of course in this case, he's got to ignore the fact that his own strategy of breaking up NATO has backfired on him. It is now getting expanded from 30 countries to 32.
But in the next breath, he says but if you put your weapons there, or you put your troops there, then expect that we will respond symmetrically. And this is his excuse for doing something he has been doing to some degree anyway which is moving some of his missiles, some of his nuclear capable missiles and troops closer to the borders of NATO nations.
And so he's basically making the argument here well, you forced me to do this. The fact of the matter is, right now, he can't really afford to go do that because he is pretty bogged down -- in Ukraine, in the east and the south.
VAUSE: Well, there will be it seems, military equivalent placed very close to his border, part of this new NATO. President Biden announced a huge increased in military support for a number of NATO countries. There will be ships to Spain, 35 fighter jets to the U.K., and air defenses to Germany, that list goes on.
Here's more now from President Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And together, our allies, We're going to make sure that NATO is ready to meet threats on all directions across every domain -- land, air, and the sea.
And the moment when Putin has shattered peace in Europe, and attacked the very, very tenets of rule-based order, the United States and our allies, we're going to step up. We're stepping up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And also part of the stepping up plan for a permanent U.S. base in Poland as well as a combat brigade being based in Romania.
How important is that word "permanent", and how will those troops make a change to military balance in the Black Sea region.
SANGER: So the permanent thing is something that the Poles have had for a long. And they're only getting it now, now that the invasion of Ukraine is what -- four months old.
But I think what's more important in today's announcement, or the two most important things in today's announcement was first, the increase in the size of the rapid reaction force has been about 40,000. It's supposed to move up to about 300,000. And that is at the moment when NATO is making the case this is not just a trigger force that would lead the Russians to just test NATO, but rather that there is actually going to be a significant opposition to the Russians right on the border.
Now the big question is are the rest of the NATO nations ready to go pay the price on that?
The second is that they are actually beginning to do some things in the cyber realm because they recognize that if Russia goes after NATO, it is probably not going to be in those three domains the president talked about, but in cyber.
And boy, that has taken a long time, John. They have promised cyber defenses, better cyber offensive strategy for years, and they have never done it.
VAUSE: So this increase in, you know, the defense systems, the troops being sent to Europe, in many ways this is the same (ph) thing the military leaders in the U.S. have wanted for a long time.
SANGER: It is. And, in many ways, it is something that we should have been thinking about how to pay for it for a long time. The NATO, the other NATO nations remember, all committed to spend up to 2 percent of GDP on their defense budgets starting in 2024. that is not very long from now at this point.
But the fact of the matter is if you are going to sustain the force at the level of which the president is now talking about, 2 percent isn't going to do it. And everyone knows it, they just did not want to discuss it.
VAUSE: Yes, 2 percent is more of a floor rather than a ceiling these days. And it's going to be a long time before they get there.
SANGER: That's right.
VAUSE: David, as always, thanks for being with us.
SANGER: Great to be with you.
VAUSE: In Lithuania, many can actually see Russia from their house for real. And they're starting uneasy (ph) this former Soviet republic, especially after Vladimir Putin sent his tanks and troops into Ukraine, which means more and more civilians in Lithuania are signing up to help defend their country for the potential of any Russian aggression.
Here's CNN's Nina dos Santos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Having a neighbor like Russia keeps Vitus Gadinskus (ph) up at night, armed with his machine gun and a Maltese terrier -- he's literally the first line of defense if the Kremlin's troops at the end of his street take one step onto NATO soil.
That is where Russia starts.
VITUS GADINSKUS, LITHUANIAN CITIZEN: Yes, Russia.
DOS SANTOS: At the end of your street?
GADINSKUS: Yes.
[01:39:54]
DOS SANTOS: Vitus says you can see the soldiers after dark with his night vision goggles. He points to a shooting range over the hill. You often hear the shots, he says, from there.
Soviet occupation is a deeply personal memory in this part of Europe. Vitus says his own father was among the quarter of a million Lithuanian's to be sent to Gulags where many perished.
So when Russia annexed Crimea, Vitus joined Lithuania's historic volunteer militia, the Rifleman Union run by regional commander also desperate to avoid a return to Russian rule.
EGIDIJIUS PAPECKYS, COMMANDER, RIFLEMEN'S 4TH REGIONAL COMMAND: Everybody has the same story. Somebody was shot by a Soviet for example by a Soviet regime or was sent to Siberia. Just because we were Lithuanians.
DOS SANTOS: The riflemen's membership has increased tenfold since the war in Ukraine began. Young adults keen to get trained up.
Every Lithuanian knows that Russia is a threat says this new recruit in his 30s. And in this part of the southern Baltics that threat feels very real.
I'm standing on what is currently one of the world's hottest borders right inside NATO territory. It is a tract of land called the Sulwaki (ph) corridor between Lithuania and Poland which also lies to the west here between Kaliningrad -- the heavily fortified, nuclearized Baltic outpost of Russia.
And over there, the Kremlin's ally, Belarus about 60 miles in that direction. The fear is, that if Ukraine were to fall, Russia's army could roll right through here.
GABRIELIUS SULWAKI, LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We always said that we need additional allied troops within Lithuanian territory, in case Mr. Putin or his friends will try something.
DOS SANTOS: Lithuania's move to block the transit of some goods to Kaliningrad has raised the stakes just as NATO leaders meet. And Russia has already retaliated with ongoing cyberattacks.
MARGIRIS ABUKEVICIUS, LITHUANIAN VICE MINISTER OF DEFENSE: We have started witnessing an increase in more intensity in cyber attacks (ph) against our state institutions, against some critical operators, especially transport.
DOS SANTOS: Realizing it may get just one shot at protecting the Baltics, the alliance will now more than double the 3,000 troops stationed here today. When they arrive, the riflemen will be ready.
PAPECKYS: We are ready to fight with NATO, together with NATO, shoulder to shoulder.
DOS SANTOS: Vitus and his fellow volunteers have faith in NATO's protection, but living so close to Russia, they also have to be ready for anything.
Nina dos Santos, CNN -- in Marijampole, Lithuania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Next up here on CNN NEWSROOM, saving sharks, a terrifying job, someone has to do it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:45:02]
VAUSE: This week, "Call to Earth" is looking at how to sustain nature's highways, the ancient pathways animals use to travel.
Today we turn to the Meso-American reef corridor, the largest barrier reef in the western hemisphere which marine animals like sharks use as a natural GPS.
These sharks, they maybe terrifying but they also need protection as they migrate around the (INAUDIBLE).
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RACHEL GRAHAM, FOUNDER, MARALLIANCE: Sharks really do have a bad rap, I have to say. And this is one of the things that we absolutely love to dispel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rachel Graham loves sharks. She spent her life defending these ferocious predators.
GRAHAM: What we are seeing is a highly threatened set of species, that takes so long to mature that they don't usually have many young. And they are so critical to the health of our oceans primarily because they help regulate a range of other species that they feed on. So they keep the populations in check.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Researchers estimate that while sharks kill ten or fewer humans a year worldwide, humans are killing 100 million sharks in the same time primarily for consumption in shark fin soup, a dish popular in China and Southeast Asia.
GRAHAM: The primary threat to sharks is unquestionably, overfishing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the light house atoll, 50 miles east of the coast of Belize, Graham is conducting a shark population census. Rather than acting in opposition with the local fishing community, she likes to bring them on board. GRAHAM: They are the ones who are on the sea, every single day. They
have PhDs of the sea. And they are also the ones who are going to decide the long term fate of sharks.
So if you do not engage, you will not be on the same page.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Graham is working with fisher to tag sharks as a method of gauging population levels in the Meso-American reef, an important corridor for migrating animals.
GRAHAM: The reef itself almost creates a barrier which creates a highway of animals to guide and navigate by.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But when they are traveling, species are at their most vulnerable.
GRAHAM: Because they are predictable in their migratory nature and they get intercepted as they move from site one to site two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Together they learned that more sharks in the ocean means there's more varieties of all fish available which benefits the daily catch. And also brings opportunities for eco tourism to the region.
IVAN TORRES, FISHER ASSOCIATE: To all my fellow fishermen, I want to give you this message. Conserve sharks. Because in the future, sharks can provide us with an income. Not being dead, or by fishing them but being alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The adaptations made by fishing communities have paid off. Along with a breakthrough piece of legislation.
GRAHAM: The first nation that has entirely banned nets in its marine waters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Belize outlawed gill nets (ph) a fishing gear that kills many large marine animals.
GRAHAM: What we're seeing now is nothing less than miraculous. We are seeing a comeback of sharks like we've seen the 300 percent increase in sharks.
My vision for this reef is that every time I roll over backwards from a boat, in order to dive or snorkel, I am going to at least see one shark.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow, this does not sound like everyone's idea of a good time. Graham promises it will be worth it.
GRAHAM: If we reverse the decline in sharks, I can tell you that means we will be reversing the decline in a range of other species that tend to be associated with sharks, and their critical habitats. So it is a win-win strategy for everybody across the board.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Let us know what you're doing to answer the call, with hashtag Call to Earth.
We'll be right back.
[01:49:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Donald Trump's former White House counsel Pat Cipollone has been subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He is considered a key witness who repeatedly refused Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Cipollone sat for a close-door interview with the committee back in April, but since then, he's refused to talk.
Police have arrested two more people connected to the deaths of 53 migrants in southern Texas, including the suspected driver of the semi truck where the bodies were found. He's facing charges related to human smuggling, resulting in death. The justice department says the driver was seen on surveillance footage crossing a border checkpoint on Monday.
San Antonio's police chief tells CNN responding to the scene and finding dozens of bodies was beyond tragic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM MCMANUS, SAN ANTONIO POLIC CHIEF: The floor of the trailer, it was completely covered in bodies. Completely covered embodies.
There were at least ten plus bodies outside the trailer because when we arrived, when EMS arrived, we were trying to find people who are still alive, so we had to move bodies out of the trailer on to the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The chief says the alleged driver of the truck was spotted trying to flee the area.
U.S. homeland security who is now in charge of the investigation.
Disgraced singer R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was convicted last year of multiple charges including federal racketeering, sexual exploitation of a child, violating sexual trafficking laws, and a whole lot more.
Kelly's attorney says they're ready to fight for appeal. The singer has consistently said he is not guilty of any other charges. Seven of R. Kelly's accusers addressed the court before sentencing. One quoted as saying now, it's your turn to have your freedom taken away.
CNN legal analyst and civil rights attorney Areva Martin is with us live now from Los Angeles. Areva, thank you for taking the time to be with us.
I want you to listen a little more from the prosecutor, not just from what R. Kelly did, but how he got away with it. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BREON PEACE, ATTORNEY FOR EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: With the aid of his fame, his money, and most importantly his inner circle, R. Kelly preyed upon children and young women for his own sexual gratification for decades. He used coercive control, exemplified by a pattern of isolation, rules, dependence, threats, intimidation tactics, physical abuse, and at least once, the presence of a gun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Your biggest belief here is that he got away with it for this long and it seems if it wasn't for that six-part documentary series "Surviving R. Kelly" which run on Lifetime back in 2019, he may have never been charged.
AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely John. Everyone that has followed R. Kelly's career knows the allegations of sexual molestation and even sex trafficking as it relates to not just women but children has been a big part of the legacies that he has left.
These allegations date back some 20 years, we know he was actually tried in the early 2000s for having sex with an underage girl. There was actually a 27-minute video that made its way around the Internet. And because that young girl refused to testify or her parents didn't allow her to testify, he was acquitted of those charges.
And a lot of people thought that would be a turning point for him. That that would really, you know, send him a strong message that he needed to really clean up his act. But by all of the allegations that we have heard over the last ten or 15 years or so, it does not seem like that trial had any impact on him. He continued to engage in kind of reprehensible conduct for which he has now been not only prosecuted, but found guilty of and now is facing a 30-year prison sentence.
VAUSE: Jovante Cunningham was just 14 years old when she was sexually abused by Kelly. That was 30 years ago. She spoke to reporters outside the court. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOVANTE CUNNINGHAM, R. KELLY ACCUSER: I started this journey 30 years ago, I was 14 years old when I encountered Robert Sylvester Kelly. There wasn't a day in my life up until this moment that I actually believe that the judicial system would come through for black and brown girls. 30 years did he do this, and 30 years is what he got.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:54:58]
VAUSE: I can't help but wonder, if it would have taken 30 years for this moment to come if R. Kelly had preyed on young white women and girls? MARTIN: Yes, John. That's an unfortunate part of point of our criminal
justice system is that there are two criminal justice systems. And if you are African-American, if you are Latinx, if you're Asian, if you're a minority, you have a different experience in our criminal justice system than white women in particular.
And that has been one of the concerns. That has been one of the outcries from black and brown women is that they are often dismissed from the criminal justice system. Their allegations of sexual assault and sexual abuse are not believed.
So I think we heard that victim there expressing, she had a lot of doubt that there would be a conviction and that there would be the kind of sentence that she believed would demonstrate justice in this case. So she was both doubtful but yet relieved when the judge did give R. Kelly 30 years for, again, these really serious felonies that he was convicted of.
VAUSE: And lawyers for Kelly believe this 30 year sentence is just too harsh and they plan to appeal. Here's his defense attorney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER BONJEAN, R. KELLY ATTORNEY: We were prepared for what's the judge might impose. So it did not come as a great big surprise. We were prepared for it. And we are now prepared to fight this appeal. For us, it's just the beginning of the fight, frankly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It is the kind of thing you would expect the defense lawyer to say, but are there any reasonable grounds here?
MARTIN: I don't think so John. This is important to know. This new lawyer, this lawyer that you just played. She's a new lawyer to this team. R. Kelly got rid of many lawyers that have been representing him in this case.
This is the same lawyer that helped get Bill Cosby's conviction overturned on appeal. She also has been representing Bill Cosby on some civil lawsuits. So maybe R. Kelly thought if he could get the lawyer that got Bill Cosby out, that he would have a chance too.
But interesting to note though, this isn't over for R. Kelly. He faces felony child pornography and obstruction of justice charges in August in a Chicago federal court.
So even if something were to happen miraculously, where he was able to get, you know. this conviction overturned, and get this sentencing some way reduced, he still faces very serious charges in a federal court in Chicago.
The reality is R. Kelly is likely to spend the rest of his natural life behind bars.
VAUSE: Areva thank you. It's a good night to finish on. Areva Martin there, we appreciate that, in Los Angeles.
I'm John Vause. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Another hour of CNN NEWSROOM after the break with my colleague and friend Lynda Kinkade.
Thanks for watching. See you right back here tomorrow.
[01:57:39]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
