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Extreme Weather; U.S.-Russia Proposed Prisoner Swap; Russia's War on Ukraine; Pelosi to Tour Asia, Mum on Taiwan; European Economy; Insurrection Investigation; Guns in America; Monkeypox Outbreak; Will Smith Apologizes. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired July 30, 2022 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Rooftop rescues, lives lost and hundreds of people still missing; Eastern Kentucky braces for even more rain after already devastating flooding.
Plus Ukraine is under more Russian attacks.
And some U.S. cities are sounding the alarm on monkeypox as they wait for more vaccines and testing.
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ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM, with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: President Joe Biden has issued a major disaster declaration for the state of Kentucky, as catastrophic flooding has killed at least 16 people, including six children. And the death toll is expected to rise. Flash floods wiped out entire neighborhoods; scores of people are missing.
Kentucky governor Andy Beshear says it's hard to get a fix on the number since cell services are out in many areas. Bridges were demolished and some homes were completely carried away by water.
For many who have been affected, the damage is devastating.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what we're going to do. We don't have no place to live now or anything.
PAUL FRANCIS, FLOODING VICTIM: The water got to about up to there. We had about this much more room before we got flooded. And I've never seen it that high. We came out of the house and it was so swift that even a jetski was hard for him to handle. And he took us out one at a time.
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BRUNHUBER: The federal disaster declaration will free up more aid to help recovery and cleanup efforts in the state. CNN's Evan McMorris- Santoro reports the sheer scope of the disaster will make rebuilding difficult.
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GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): This is going to be a real challenge with such a large area hit to get good unaccounted for numbers.
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Homes destroyed, roads washed out. Rescuers working around the clock as the governor of Kentucky warns the death toll from another round of catastrophic flooding could more than double in the coming days.
The latest heartbreaking discovery, the bodies of four children recovered from the floodwaters.
Rushing waters trip homes off their foundation and push cars into piles. Judy Butler and her husband made it out of their house just in time.
JUDY BUTLER, FLOODING VICTIM: We got out. We pulled out here to the road and about 10 minutes later we lucked out and it went from the back of the fence to the carport.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): The fast rising floodwaters forcing many people to evacuate and causing hundreds of water rescues across the state.
BEVERLY DAUGHERTY, FLOODING VICTIM: I'm going to lose everything I have, for sure. But it's better than losing my life.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): Beverly Dougherty spent hours in chest high water trying to keep her dog afloat.
DAUGHERTY: Finally I just was hanging on to a fern rope and I thought I've got to do it, I got to swim but it was super swift. I've never swum in water like that.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): The Kentucky National Guard is also assisting in rescue efforts, lifting people from their homes, as some buildings were left almost entirely submerged. Officials say the storm caught many people by surprise.
SHERIFF JOE ENGLE, PERRY COUNTY, KENTUCKY: There was no warning. People sleep in mobile homes near this water. That water had never been up to before in 50 years. You know, they've lived there and never worried about it, so you never really thought about it and caught in their sleep and just washed away. It's tragedy.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): And with power and cell phone service out in many of the hardest hit areas, help is hard to come by. ENGLE: There's a big swath of the county that's totally isolated. The state highways are just totally -- they're gone.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): One mayor says it's hard to even know where to begin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were so overwhelmed. We don't really know what to ask for.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): And the worst is far from over. Governor Beshear urging residents to have a safety plan in place.
BESHEAR: Looks like it's going to rain a lot Monday, maybe Tuesday.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice-over): Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, Hazard, Kentucky.
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BRUNHUBER: Earlier, I spoke with Kayla Fugate, whose home was destroyed by the floods. When she went to her parents' home, water was encroaching on their home as well. I asked what would have happened if she hadn't arrived in time to wake them up.
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KAYLA FUGATE, FLOODING VICTIM: After about an hour, I got in my car and I made my way to my dad's. It took me about 45 minutes to make a 15-mile trip because it was so bad. The rain was horrible.
When I got to their house, they were asleep. I woke them up and we immediately went to the back porch and the river was rising incredibly fast. It was close to their house already.
And they had an elderly wheelchair-bound lady with them. So we got them dressed, grabbed what they could and got them out. I'm very blessed tonight that my sister and my niece and both of my parents are safe, because others are not so lucky.
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BRUNHUBER: We'll have more of my interview with Kayla Fugate ahead in the next hour.
And if you'd like to safely and securely help people affected by the floods, go to cnn.com/impact. You can find several ways you can help there.
And it's not just the U.S. seeing deadly massive floods. According to officials in Pakistan, more than 380 people have been killed, more than 110 deaths have been reported and more storms are expected. In Iran, at least 53 people have been killed and more than a dozen are
missing; 21 provinces have been affected and rain is forecast to continue.
Moscow's counter offer for a prisoner swap is getting a frosty reception in the Biden administration. The White House has already offered to release arms dealer Viktor Bout for Brittany Griner and Paul Whelan. But the Kremlin wants another person who serving a sentence for murder. CNN's Natasha Bertrand has the details.
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NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sources tell me and my colleague, Frederik Pleitgen, that after the U.S. proposed swapping Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for two Americans in prison in Russia --
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BERTRAND: -- Russian officials responded by requesting the release of a former FSB colonel convicted of murder in Germany last December.
The Russians communicated the request during an informal back channel used by the FSB, Russia's domestic security service. But the request was problematic for several reasons.
Among them, the man remains in German custody. And because of that and the request was not made to the U.S. formally, the U.S. government did not view it as a legitimate counter to the U.S.' offer.
Still, the U.S. did make quiet inquiries to the Germans about whether they would be willing to include him in the trade, according to a senior German government official. A U.S. official characterized it as a status check on the man, convicted of murdering a former Chechen fighter in Berlin in 2019.
Now the conversations between the U.S. and Germany were never elevated to the top levels of the German government and including him in a potential trade has not seriously been considered.
Now the U.S. believed it was not a serious proposal but just a bid by the Russians to stall and buy time until Brittany Griner's trial is over -- Natasha Bertrand, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Now to the latest in Ukraine, which is blaming Russia for holding up the implementation of their grain export deal. Ukraine says it's ready to start shipments from its Black Sea ports but say Russia has yet to sign off on the location of safety routes for grain ships.
On the battlefield, Russia's artillery keeps pounding the Donetsk region but the Russian ground offensive didn't get any traction Friday. Ukraine and Russia are also blaming each other for an attack on a prison holding POWs. Russia says 40 were killed in the facility. But both sides are denying
responsibility and pointing the finger at each other. Jason Carroll joins us live from Kyiv.
What more are we learning there?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You said it best when you talked about each side blaming the other. Basically what we're seeing are dueling narratives in terms of what actually happened there at the prison.
Let's start with the Ukrainian president, who weighed in on what happened during the attack. He basically called it a war crime by Russians, saying, quote, "a deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war," Kim.
He went on to say there should be a clear recognition of Russia as a terrorist state as the result of what happened.
Again, this was a bombing at the prison; at least 40 Ukrainian POWs were killed, many more than that were badly, badly injured. Ukrainian intelligence says Russian mercenaries were responsible for the attack.
Now the Russians paint a very different picture of what happened. They were saying the Ukrainians were responsible for the attack and also saying that the attack was carried out by the Ukrainians, using weapons provided by the Americans.
CNN, for its part, cannot verify the allegations on either side of this. Ukraine, though, for their part, has asked the Red Cross and the United Nations to come in and conduct an independent investigation in terms of what happened.
The Red Cross coming out today, saying they would be offering their assistance but also saying this to the international community, saying POWs are protected under international humanitarian law.
So dueling narratives going out here on both sides of this, still trying to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.
BRUNHUBER: Plenty of confusion there. Turning to the wider battle across the country, bring us up to speed on the latest developments.
CARROLL: When you look at the broader conflict in Kharkiv, for example, saw some bombing there in Kharkiv overnight through Saturday morning. Apparently some sort of education building was bombed. No immediate report of any casualties there.
But this is a region in the east where you've seen incremental sort of advances on both sides but really sort of like a wall. The Ukrainians seem to be able to hold the Russians there.
But a lot of attention still in the south, in the area of Kherson. You remember that Ukrainians had bombed at that bridge that Russians had been using to bring heavy artillery in and out. This is an area where the Ukrainians feel they can make up lost ground
in that particular area. I think that's why you're seeing the Russians paying so much attention to Mykolaiv, a lot of strikes there.
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CARROLL: But the south is an area where the Ukrainians feel they can make up some ground.
BRUNHUBER: Jason Carroll, appreciate it.
The U.S. House Speaker is leaving the possibility of a visit to Taiwan open. How Nancy Pelosi's possible visit is putting a strain on U.S.- China relations.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. officials are bracing for how China might react if the U.S. House Speaker ends up visiting Taiwan.
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BRUNHUBER: Nancy Pelosi was set to leave for Asia Friday, with planned stops in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Pelosi hasn't said whether or not she'll also drop by the self-governing island of Taiwan.
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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: The president earlier, well, earlier in his term, talked about a strong emphasis on the Asia Pacific. He has visited there as vice president, has visited there, the Secretary of Commerce and others.
And we want the Congress of the United States to be part of that initiative. I'm very excited, should we go to the countries that we -- you'll be hearing about along the way.
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BRUNHUBER: Blake Essig is following from Tokyo.
Hand wringing in Washington. We still don't know whether Nancy Pelosi is actually going.
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the reality is we still do not know whether U.S. lawmakers, led by Nancy Pelosi, will visit the self- governed island of Taiwan. But what we do know is that the prospect of her visit has absolutely infuriated China.
If it does happen, it will be the highest level U.S. visit to the island. Newt Gingrich was the last to visit the island in 1997. For now, it's just a rumored trip, one that does put the White House on alert.
White House officials have said they're in no position to pressure Pelosi and only she will decide whether or not she goes to Taiwan.
That was the backdrop for a more than two-hour phone call between President Biden and Xi Jinping. During that call, Xi said that China firmly opposes Taiwan independence and warned the U.S., saying that those that play with fire will perish by it.
The president acknowledged that the One China policy acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China. That hasn't changed and that the U.S. strongly opposes any unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Beijing have said that they will fight to the very end and have not ruled out using force. As a sign of intimidation, Beijing has stepped up military pressure on Taiwan, including sending a record number of warplanes near the island, just shy of Taiwan's sovereign airspace.
Although the tensions between the U.S. and China are making headlines around the world, it is worth noting that, in Taiwan, it's just another news story.
It's important to remember that Taiwan has been dealing with the constant threat from China for more than 70 years. And the lack of troops amassing and intensifying rhetoric is because that hasn't changed. There's just not a lot of concern on the island of Taiwan.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. All right, we'll keep following this story. Blake Essig live in Tokyo. Appreciate it.
Pope Francis just landed back home after a trip to Canada. He sought to make amends for the Catholic Church's past abuse. He met with indigenous leaders and apologized for historic abuse in church-run institutions.
For the first time he called the sexual abuse of minors in the Canada's Catholic Church evil.
There's mixed news from the Eurozone. The continent saw stronger than expected GDP growth but inflation hit a record high. Anna Stewart has details.
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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are ending the week on our high or are we?
Finally, a glimmer of good news and on a Friday and I'm afraid I'm going to pour cold water all over it.
Much better than expected economic growth figures for Italy, France and Spain. They all grew far more than expected in the second quarter. However, a lot of that comes down to the reopening of the services sector post omicron surge, plus finally, a decent summer of tourism, which is perhaps masking underlying weakness. Germany posted nil growth, no surprise there given energy prices and the fact it is an economy powered by energy intensive factories, which have also been hit by supply chain issues.
The E.U. Economic Commissioner summed up the GDP news well, tweeting, "Good news. Euro area economy outperforms expectations in Q2. Uncertainty remains high for the coming quarters though. Need to maintain unity and be ready to respond to an evolving situation as necessary."
And the coming quarters are a concern.
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STEWART: Yesterday, the latest Business and Consumer Confidence surveys were published. Confidence in terms of industry, services, consumer retail, construction, it's all pointing down. In Spain, which had posted better than expected growth today, we are just saw the biggest drop in confidence overall.
Inflation rates higher once again coming in at 8.9 percent in July and the economists I've spoken to today say they still expect Europe to head into recession this year -- Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
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BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber. For those of you here in North America, CNN NEWSROOM continues. For the rest of the world, "AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS" is next.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States and Canada, I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is CNN NEWSROOM.
We are learning exclusive new details about text messages by Secret Service agents that may have been deleted about the time of the U.S. Capitol riot. Multiple sources tell CNN that the inspector general of DHS was aware of the missing texts more than a year before he informed the committee.
If the texts can be recovered, they could shed light on crucial events, especially recent witness testimony that president Trump apparently fought with Secret Service agents when they blocked him from joining his supporters at the Capitol.
And it doesn't stop there. CNN has also learned that texts leading up to January 6 are also missing from Trump's acting Homeland Security chief, Chad Wolf, and his top deputy, Ken Cuccinelli. Missing text messages are just one element of a wide-ranging investigation that now appears to be gaining traction within the U.S. Justice Department. Ryan Nobles reports.
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RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Department of Justice is inching closer and closer to former president Trump. New CNN reporting reveals that prosecutors are girding for a big fight about executive privilege.
To force witnesses to testify about the role Trump may have played in the events leading up to January 6.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: When courts have considered these separation of powers issues in the context of criminal cases, they haven't really looked favorably toward the White House and presidency. The biggest and most obvious one is the United States versus Nixon.
NOBLES (voice-over): Trump himself is not considered to be a target yet. But the list of Trump officials who have already cooperated with the select committee and are now cooperating with the DOJ is growing, as the select committee hand over transcripts of their interviews to federal investigators.
REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D), CHAIR, U.S. HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON JANUARY 6 ATTACK: They have indicated they want to have access to a certain number of transcripts. And we've negotiated back and forth. And the committee sees a way to make that available to them.
NOBLES (voice-over): The committee has also stepped up their outreach and engagement with cabinet officials. Former acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney met with the committee Thursday and said investigators are very interested in the players' pushing false claims of election fraud and their access to the White House.
MICK MULVANEY, FORMER TRUMP CHIEF OF STAFF: That sort of inner circle of people that have been described by others as the crazies, how did they get the access that they did when they did?
NOBLES (voice-over): Among the others they've spoken to, former DHS Secretary Chad Wolf. "The Washington Post" reporting that text messages from both Wolf and his deputy Ken Cuccinelli were lost from their government-issued electronic devices.
In a tweet thread in response to the story, Wolf said he handed over his phone intact when he resigned after January 6. Meanwhile, the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, whom Cassidy Hutchinson said was among the Republican leaders who pleaded for Trump to call his supporters off, claimed today he doesn't remember calling her.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), MINORITY LEADER: If I talked to her, I don't remember it. If it was coming up here I don't think I wanted a lot of people coming up to the Capitol. But I don't remember the conversation.
NOBLES: And we're learning more about the timeline of when the inspector general from the Department of Homeland Security first learned that those text messages from the Secret Service may have been deleted in or around January 5th and 6th.
And it was a long time before he alerted anyone in Congress of that fact. In fact, we're told that Joseph Cuffari, who is the current DHS IG, knew as early as May of 2021 that the text messages may have been deleted.
It took him more than a year to inform Congress of that problem. That's part of the reason January 6 members are so skeptical about this timeline and want answers to many of these questions -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.
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BRUNHUBER: A bill that would ban assault-style weapons in the U.S. has been adopted in the lower house of Congress.
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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: On this vote, the yeas are 270. The nays are 213. The bill is passed.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): So with that announcement, lawmakers in the House passed the ban on Friday. But it's expected to falter in the Senate, where it has little chance of overcoming a Republican filibuster.
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BRUNHUBER: House Democrats pushed the measure after a spike in mass shootings involving this type of gun. The U.S. banned assault style weapons in 1994 but the measure expired 10 years later. President Joe Biden is advising senators to support the new bill.
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BRUNHUBER: Turning now to the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre, the embattled principal of Robb Elementary School has been allowed to return to work after a brief suspension.
Mandy Gutierrez was placed on administrative leave with pay. Many have criticized her lax security before that mass shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead. Her attorney says she understands that some grieving parents may be angry.
He added, quote, "Vindication is not what she sought. She sought merely to be allowed to continue her efforts to assist in the healing process for the families and the community she loves."
The one man whose daughter was killed in the massacre said, "Again it's another slap to our faces and to our babies' faces. Being the person in charge, she should have made sure the school was safe and she failed at her job, bottom line."
Just ahead, the global outbreak of monkeypox claims its first fatality in Europe as the need for vaccines is more desperate in the U.S. More details after the break.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Live pictures of protesters gathering outside Baghdad's parliament building. They're loyal to the powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and are angry over the nomination of a new prime minister.
More than 70 lawmakers withdrew from the governing body last month, worsening the country's political stalemate. Iraqi leaders have been unable to form a new government since elections last October.
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BRUNHUBER: There are growing concerns about the monkeypox outbreak, which the World Health Organization declared last week a global health emergency of international concern.
Spain is reporting what's thought to be its first death in Europe from the virus. Earlier Friday, the first person to die from monkeypox outside of Africa was reported in Brazil, a 41-year-old male cancer patient.
And the Philippines announced its first case on Friday. Officials say monkeypox can spread from person-to-person mostly through prolonged physical contact, sex and respiratory droplets. The CDC says there are more than 5,000 probable or confirmed monkeypox cases in the U.S. San Francisco's mayor appealed for vaccines now.
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MAYOR LONDON BREED (D-CA), SAN FRANCISCO: San Francisco has one of the highest case rates already of monkeypox of any other major city in the country. We don't want to be ignored by the federal government in our need. So many leaders of the LGBT community have also, weeks ago, asked for additional help and support and assistance.
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BRUNHUBER: For more on this, let's bring in Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a member of the California Monkeypox Scientific Advisory Committee.
Thanks so much for joining us here.
Short of 300 cases where are you in San Francisco, why is that such a worry?
Why is the city declaring a public health emergency now?
DR. PETER CHIN-HONG, CALIFORNIA MONKEYPOX SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Well, there is a symbolic reason, Kim, and a pragmatic reason. The symbolic reason is I think the city really wants to make a statement and raise awareness.
But there's a really pragmatic reason, which is that there isn't enough money devoted to monkeypox. All of this money is wrapped up in COVID dollars. So declaring a state of emergency allows that flexibility to use that money.
BRUNHUBER: They want to pivot some of that COVID money to fight this. Part of the problem is the lack of testing. I want to know how bad can this get.
And is there a possibility that we can get rid of monkeypox?
Or do you think it's here to stay now?
CHIN-HONG: Well, time is ticking and now is the moment where we may lose this moment before it spills over to the general population, infects animals in North America and then it may become endemic, which is something nobody really wants.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. So there is, aside from the lack of testing, there's also frustration growing about the access to the vaccine. I mean, we reported on folks who took five hours filling out forms, standing in line to get the shot.
Why is it taking so long?
You thought, after COVID, shouldn't we have better muscle memory to react?
CHIN-HONG: There's a bit of a slowness, even in things like reserving the second dose before prioritizing first doses for as many people as possible.
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CHIN-HONG: The U.K., New York did it; San Francisco followed quickly. And at the end of the day, there were 800,000 doses awaiting FDA inspection of the facility in Denmark. And that was a little frustrating, because it was there. It was like dangling a golden apple in front of you and you can't really get it.
BRUNHUBER: Hmm. So San Francisco is going to prioritize vaccines for men and trans people who have sex with men, which is the population right now that looks most likely to be infected.
People are saying we need to do more to draw attention to this link to male on male sex to warn these vulnerable populations. Other people say anyone can get infected and we're stigmatizing them.
Where do you fall in that debate?
CHIN-HONG: I think, Kim, we have to be laser focused on where the disease is right now, which is in gay and bisexual men and trans men as well. I think that the messaging for the general population is one not of alarm but awareness.
And you're right. Stigma is something that we are constantly worried about. We have seen it during HIV. Just yesterday, somebody came to ask me about treatment for monkeypox with T-pox, because she hugged a gay man. And I think that message is really worrisome and a harbinger of what could be coming in the future.
BRUNHUBER: It's such a tough balancing act there. Before we came on, we played a clip from San Francisco's mayor, who joined with others who are criticizing and calling out the federal response.
What more should they be doing here?
CHIN-HONG: I think there's two things that I hope we will resolve. First of all, I'm really proud to be a resident of San Francisco. We were the first to do shelter in place. I think this was a prescient move. So the two things are hopefully a domino effect to other jurisdictions and hopefully percolating to the national level.
And that will result in resources. But more than that, coordination; again, we saw in COVID-19, we were different muscles beating at different times, instead of one coordinated muscle. Even something as elementary as reporting cases is not done consistently from state to state right now.
BRUNHUBER: And if you have any advice there for folks that are listening, what's your message?
CHIN-HONG: I think we haven't been using enough testing. When CNN did an investigation a couple days ago, they found that, even though we have five commercial labs set up and running, able to do tens of thousands of tests a week, there were very, very few tests done; less than a hundred, actually, in some of the major labs.
So I think not to panic and to think about the hierarchy at risk. At the end of the day, monkeypox is really trying to find an animal. It's very, very difficult to get as a human. So skin-to-skin is major; maybe sexual contact, as well, though not exclusive.
But going to the thrift store, going to the gym, going to the yoga studio is not going to be very high risk at all.
BRUNHUBER: Really appreciate getting your expertise on this developing issue. Peter Chin-Hong, thanks so much for joining us.
CHIN-HONG: Thanks so much, Kim.
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BRUNHUBER: Three months after the slap seen around the world, Will Smith is finally speaking out. We'll have the latest on what the actor had to say when we come back. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Changing gears now, it's been three months since actor Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on the live Academy Awards.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Was all anyone talked about at the time, except for Will Smith. But now he's got something to say. He's posted a five-minute video on Instagram, in which he publicly said he's sorry and explained why he didn't apologize for the slap in his Best Actor speech later that night.
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WILL SMITH, ACTOR: It's all fuzzy. I've reached out to Chris. And the message that came back is that he's not ready to talk.
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BRUNHUBER: Smith apologized to fellow actors and Oscar nominees for going after Rock after the comic joked about Smith's wife.
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BRUNHUBER: Have you checked your ticket yet?
We're still waiting to hear whether anyone has picked these exact numbers and won Friday's Mega Millions drawing here in the U.S. The top prize is a whopping $1.28 billion.
If you take the prize in a single payment, the jackpot is almost $750 million before taxes. This is the second largest payout in the game's 20-year history. The largest was around $1.5 billion, a Powerball prize shared by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee in 2016.
All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with more news. Please do stay with us.
