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Russia And Ukraine Accusing Each Other Of Bringing The World To Brink Of Nuclear Disaster; At Least 20 Dead After Terrorist Attack In Upscale Hotel In Somalia; Ten Million People Under Flood Watches In Arizona, New Mexico, And Texas; Judge Sets Up Possible Release Of Redacted Affidavit Justifying Mar-a-Lago Search; Finnish Prime Minister Moves To Quell Criticism Over Dance Party Video; Teens Migrating Away From Facebook. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired August 20, 2022 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:26]
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of bringing the world to the brink of a nuclear disaster.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It's unacceptable that Russia puts all of us on the verge of a nuclear catastrophe of a global scale.
ANTONIO GUTERRES, UN SECRETARY-GENERAL: If we demilitarize as we propose the plant, the problem will be solved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The West Coast bakes under sizzling hot conditions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going for periods of a long time without rainfall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're experiencing unprecedented challenges across the entire region as it relates to drought; in California, the worst drought in 1,200 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will drive this lake down to Elevation 1,000. That is 100 feet above Deadpool and you're at the bottom of the martini glass.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors now have less than one week to submit proposed redactions to the Judge so he can decide what might be released publicly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think Judge Reinhart is going to protect the identity of confidential informants.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even as his legal problems are mounting, his hold on the Republican Party is tightening.
MATTINGLY: I'm Phil Mattingly in Washington. Pamela Brown has the day off and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We want to begin this hour in Ukraine as it wrestles with the terrifying fear of a nuclear disaster. It is now almost six months to the day since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion.
New video from Ukraine's Ministry of Defense right here says: "This is a successful strike destroying a rare Russian radar complex in southeastern Ukraine." Ukraine is about to get more us help in its fight against Russia. The Pentagon is saying, it will now send another $775 million in aid that will include ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, howitzers, and other ammunition for different types of missiles, antitank, and mine-clearing equipment; plus, dozens of drones and other different vehicles.
Now a lot of the fighting right now is centered in Zaporizhzhia, right around the Zaporizhzhia Region Nuclear Plant. Ukraine says Russia is launching attacks from there because Ukraine wouldn't risk firing back and hitting a nuclear reactor, but Russia claims Ukraine is targeting the site and while it is impossible for us to verify either sides version of what's happening, satellite images we've analyzed suggests no sign of attacks.
Meanwhile, there is word that Russia has agreed to allow international nuclear inspectors into the plant. That's according to French President Emmanuel Macron's office.
It says: "After a phone call with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, he now supports letting inspectors in." Let's see if that actually happens.
CNN's Sam Kiley is in Zaporizhzhia with the latest.
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Phil, there is no doubt that certainly from the point of view of the French President, extracting a concession from Vladimir Putin, an agreement no less that would be necessary or desirable to have the International Atomic Energy Authority visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is a success, but it's actually a repeat of existing Russian position.
The real problem is that the power station is effectively on the front line. The international community want to see it demilitarized. It is going to be very difficult to get inspectors in there, very dangerous for them.
The Russians are we know because we've witnessed the results with our own eyes firing rockets out of that location. The Russians are claiming that the Ukrainians are firing back, that claim is undermined by our own analysis of satellite imagery, which would indicate there hasn't been any significant shelling of that location for just over a month, and indeed, recent eyewitnesses that I've spoken to personally who have escaped from the town next to the nuclear power station who say that it is the Russians themselves, who are orchestrating low- level mortar attacks and similar false flag operations to try to make the Ukrainians look bad.
Now, that is only their claim. Again, we have not been able to get in there because of course, international journalists are very, very rarely admitted to any of the Russian occupied areas.
But nonetheless, this is just yet another indication of how tense this could all be, and how dangerous because at the best, situation could be a low-level leak, if there was a military strike; the worst case scenario, according to nuclear experts is a total meltdown -- Phil.
MATTINGLY: That is the ultimate worst case scenario.
Joining me now retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, a CNN military analyst and Steve Nesbit, former President of the American Nuclear Society.
Good evening to you both. Thank you for joining me.
Colonel, I want to start with you, particularly from the military aspect here because as it appears based on our reporting on the ground and what we've seen that Russia is using this strategically, using its placement around this nuclear site strategically using its placement around this nuclear site, strategically.
From a military perspective, does that make sense? Is that clearly what they're trying to do here as they continue the fight against Ukraine?
[18:05:18]
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Absolutely, Phil. And the reason it makes sense from the Russian perspective is that they see this as basically a staging area for themselves, and it is a staging area that gives them a degree of, if you will, safe haven or immunity from the Ukrainian forces.
The Ukrainians are not going to attack their own nuclear plant. They are too worried about the fallout -- the potential radioactive fallout, the potential for other issues to crop up if they hit the nuclear power plant or any aspect of that plant.
So, they know that -- the Russians know that if the Ukrainians want to contain them, they can do that, but it is going to be really hard for them to do that and to keep them from actually going in. And, you know, taking out some Ukrainian positions in which the Russians are trying to do with artillery that is in place right in those areas.
MATTINGLY: Yes, it puts the Ukrainians in a very difficult position militarily.
Steve, I want to ask you, look, we've dealt with this. We've reported on this power plant before in the past, and there are a lot of concerns near the very start of the war, but there were also some overstatements about what was possible and what wasn't possible, given how these plants are actually structured.
Now, I would like you, if you could, to walk through what the actual risks are and maybe what some of the misnomers are about what could happen in a situation like this?
STEVE NESBIT, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN NUCLEAR SOCIETY: Sure, thanks, Phil. So, a couple of things. The Zaporizhzhia plant is a very modern, robust nuclear power plant. People think about the Chernobyl plant, which was the site of a nuclear accident back in the 1980s. Zaporizhzhia is a very different plant. It's got a robust containment structure.
So, the key to safety for these plants is to ensure that there is adequate cooling water to the core, there is a number of systems that provide that -- normal systems and backup systems. There is normal power systems and emergency diesel generators and other systems.
So, the plant is hardened and robust, and it is very unlikely that anything is going to happen short of advertent military action to attack the plant.
While the plant has been designed to withstand things like hurricanes, tornadoes, et cetera, obviously, it wasn't designed to withstand artillery strikes, et cetera.
So that worst case scenario you talk about would be damage to enough plant equipment, so not only the primary systems, but the backup systems go out, and ultimately, there could be damage to the core.
The good news is that these plants have a large, robust containment systems, unlike Chernobyl, which should confine any radioactivity that's released most of the radioactivity to the immediate area.
MATTINGLY: One of the questions, Steve that I've long had over the course of this is the Ukrainian staff, the personnel that operate the plant are continuing to and have maintained their efforts over the course of the last six months.
The concern for their safety and if that poses actually a bigger risk to some degree that you don't have the experts on the ground or that they are at risk, given everything that's going on right now.
NESBIT: I agree with that perspective, Phil. We've said the Ukrainian staff, they're heroes. I mean, they are operating under extreme adverse conditions of harassment, lack of material, et cetera, but it is going to wear them down and Director General Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency has pointed this out in his seven pillars in his desire to lead a mission to the plant and see the material condition of the plant and the workers, and I think it's very important that that happen in the near future.
MATTINGLY: Colonel Leighton, last one to you, Russian President Putin has suggested that Ukraine is planning to attack the plant, but the satellite images CNN has shown something entirely different.
What would you need to see in these images for the Russian allegation to be true? What is missing in these images that makes us question that allegation?
LEIGHTON: Yeah, what's missing is basically the impact points that would logically come from Ukrainian artillery emplacements. There is no such thing in the satellite imagery that CNN has reviewed and others have reviewed independently.
And what that means is that there is no physical way for the Ukrainians to have actually attacked this plant given what we see in the imagery. There are no impact points. There was no indication that there's any targeting by the Ukrainians of this plant. There are no movements by the Ukrainian forces to do something like that.
So, it's pretty clear that they haven't done that and they're not going to do that barring any really wild scenario that I don't see really unfolding here.
But the way this is working is that the Russians are using their propaganda efforts to discredit the Ukrainians, but based on the evidence that we see, the ubiquitous eye in the sky as we would call it, that is not a not a possibility at all.
[18:10:12]
MATTINGLY: Yes, past is precedent. Often, when the Russians accused the Ukrainians of doing something, it's in fact, them who is just doing it.
There is not a lot of ground to stand on, on that one.
LEIGHTON: Exactly.
MATTINGLY: Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much; Steve Nesbit, thanks so much for your time, sir. I appreciate it.
Now, at least 20 people are dead after gunmen attacked an upscale hotel and took hostages in the capital of Somalia. The al-Qaeda linked terrorist group al-Shabaab tonight claiming responsibility for that carnage, which is still raging within 24 hours later.
CNN's Larry Madowo is covering the story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is being described as the longest ever hotel siege in the history of the al-Shabaab.
Gunmen from that terrorist group were able to essentially breach the security defenses of Hyatt Hotel by detonating large explosions outside the gate and they made their way into the four-story hotel and opened fire at guests and staff.
The death toll is likely to rise because at least one hospital where the wounded have been sent has received some in critical condition and some bodies, so when the situation is over, the death toll could be much higher.
Some people have been rescued by security forces from the hotel, but there are people that remain unaccounted for. Family members and loved ones gathered outside the hotel waiting for word.
We understand that an elite counterterrorism force was in the hotel engaging with these fighters from the al-Shabaab and there has there's been condemnation from the US Embassy in Mogadishu, from the UN Secretary-General's spokesperson.
The al-Shabaab have been fighting the Somali government for longer than a decade. They are trying to overthrow the government so that they can establish a really strict form of Islamic Sharia law there.
The US considers them enough of a threat that back in May, President Biden ordered a redeployment of US troops in Somalia. This reverses a previous President Trump decision at the end of 2022 to withdraw US troops there.
The US forces have, in recent weeks, carried out several airstrikes against the al-Shabaab about a week ago, the most recent killed at least 13 al-Shabaab fighters.
The US-Africa Command estimates that the terrorist group has between five and ten thousand fighters in the country, and one US officials described al-Shabaab as al-Qaeda's largest global affiliate.
Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: And coming up next, millions in Southern California facing strict rules on outdoor water use as authorities plan repairs on a critical pipeline.
Also ahead, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is told he will have to face a grand jury investigating election interference in Georgia.
And Finland's Prime Minister in a fight for her right to party after a leaked video causes a firestorm over leaders letting their hair down.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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[18:17:05]
MATTINGLY: Nearly 10 million people across the Southwest are under flood watches today. Some regions could see up to seven inches of rain raising significant concerns of flash flooding.
I want to bring in meteorologist, Gene Norman, and Gene, it is a huge number that we're looking at right now. Who is most at risk right now?
GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Phil, mostly that we are talking about, people in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and portions of West Texas, even in Arizona.
You see all the storms that are firing up here, but you also see all the green, which are all the Flood Watches and a couple of specks of red, these are areas where there are Flash Flood Warnings, meaning that right now, there is rain coming down so hard that it could cause flooding and is causing flooding in a couple of isolated spots. Now tomorrow, this area will shift to the east because of potential tropical cyclone number four. That's a mouthful. It's in the Gulf of Mexico, it is probably going to make landfall in a couple hours, but it's not going to intensify to get a name.
Nevertheless, it is going to bring a lot of rain, and in fact, tropical storm warnings remain in effect from Brownsville down along the northeast Mexican Coast as this system comes inland.
But more importantly, the moisture from this system will surge northward over the next couple of days, collide with a cold front and it is going to rain like crazy from West Texas all the way to Oklahoma, sections of Arkansas and Louisiana.
Watch our computer model show you this parade of storms that will march across the area over the next couple of days and we are talking about anywhere from, let's say, four to six inches of rain indicated by that red shading and a couple of isolated purple spots that could be up to 10 inches.
So, it is going to be a real soaker and unfortunately, Phil, because it's been so dry in Texas, when that rain falls, it won't be absorbed by the ground, it's going to run off and that's going to raise the risk of flooding.
Boy, these folks in Texas can't get a break. Triple digit heat, a drought, and now a flood.
MATTINGLY: And I'll tell you what, our hearts go out to them. Hang in there with the rain, the weather, so much -- but Gene Norman, great report as always. Thanks so much, my friend.
All right, in Southern California, there is real concern about the water. More than four million people in Los Angeles County are being asked to stop watering outdoors while officials fix a leaky water pipeline. It could take up to 15 days next month, all in the midst of prolonged drought conditions.
Now, the critical 36-mile pipeline imports water from the Colorado River which supplies millions of residents and huge sections of farmland across that region.
Now, CNN's Mike Valerio joins me now live just -- from just outside LA and Mike, this is a huge issue, generally, this makes it much more acute. What's going on right now with this repair?
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Phil well, that repair is scheduled to happen between September 6th and September 20th.
It's this critical water system, Phil, and one of the reasons that we wanted to choose this backdrop, this live shot position right here is to just zoom in and show you this is only part of the expanse in greater LA that's going be affected by the shutdown.
So, in our immediate foreground, we have Culver City, California just about 40,000 people and as we Zoom in a little farther to the right of those Century City skyscrapers, we have Beverly Hills just north of 30,000 people, only two, Phil, of the dozens of communities that are going to be without Colorado River water for the middle part of September.
[18:20:21]
VALERIO: And Phil, as we look at this green, lush landscape, this is all brought to us by aqueduct water for the better part of the last century and as we have more and more of these disruptions, more and more people are tearing out their green grass lawns, and instead replacing them with desert native plants that use far less water.
You're going to hear from a homeowner who is doing exactly that, followed by a soundbite of perhaps a vision of the future. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOREEN JANSEN, HOUSEOWNER WHO RIPPED OUT LAWN: Although I didn't want to say goodbye to my beautiful lawn, it's like a park, I realized that the grass wasn't going to make it and so I decided to change the landscape and put in some arid plants.
BILL MCCONNELL, WATER EFFICIENCY MANAGER, WATER DISTRICT OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: What we want is in the future people to be walking down the street taking their dog or kids for a walk and when you do see your yard that's turf, that's not the normal, that's out of -- that's the abnormal, so we want something a little different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIO: So, we can all sympathize with Doreen Jansen, right, in nearby Thousand Oaks, California who is getting her lawn torn out right now.
But Phil, our CNN reporting over the past few days has shown that more and more localities across Southern California are incentivizing just this, paying people between two bucks and $6.00 per square foot to rip out their lawns, help out the Colorado River water supply because these desert plants use far less water, about nine inches a year, as opposed to 50 inches a year than a normal, you know, the American Dream green grass lawn would use.
One note before we go, our colleague, Paul Vercammen was outside of Palm Springs the other day. He interviewed, Phil, somebody who is now on cnn.com who is expecting a check for $24,000.00 for ripping out his lawn and putting in these native plants like in our immediate foreground.
So, the incentive is there for people to really start protecting this very scarce water supply -- Phil.
MATTINGLY: Yeah, an absolute necessity for change. Small and extraordinarily large out there.
Mike Valerio great reporting, as always. Thanks, my friend. And in Spain, firefighters are battling multiple massive wildfires. The largest has a 74-mile-long fire perimeter. This video you're looking at right now is from the eastern part of the country, not far from the tourist favorite City of Valencia.
Thousands of people have already been evacuated and new fires, they are still popping up. So far, at least 11 people have been hurt in the fires, there are no fatalities, however.
This year, no European Union country has been hit harder by wildfires than Spain. Already, more than 700,000 acres have been scorched.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, and we could soon learn what's in the FBI affidavit used to justify that search at Mar-a-Lago. Former Nixon White House Counsel, John Dean, joins me next to discuss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:27:45]
MATTINGLY: It is 27 minutes past the hour and you're looking just a few blocks away from where I'm sitting, the US Capitol Building in a beautiful night in Washington, DC. It's the best building in the country, I spent a lot of time there in my reporting years.
We want to start right now, move over to a person who have lived just about two miles away from that building for the four years prior to the current administration, the investigations into former President Donald Trump.
The coming week could bring us much closer to knowing at least some of what's in the affidavit behind that FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.
The Judge overseeing the case is giving the Justice Department until Thursday to explain what it believes needs to stay redacted after the FBI retrieved 11 sets of classified documents from Trump's Florida home.
Meanwhile, CNN is learning Biden administration officials are increasingly concerned about what exactly the former President took to his Florida home. They worry that the sources and methods from the US Intelligence Community could be put at risk.
Meanwhile, with former Vice President Mike Pence suggesting this week that he would consider testifying before the January 6 Select Committee, Vice Chair, Liz Cheney is giving an update on that possibility in a new interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): So, we've been in discussions with his counsel and I didn't see his specific comments this week, but it sounds like they were pretty similar to what his counsel has been saying.
And I think you know, look, he played a critical role on January 6th. If he had succumbed to the pressure that Donald Trump was putting on him, we would have had a much worse constitutional crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: With me now, CNN contributor and former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean, the star witness in the Watergate hearings.
And John, let me start with some news that CNN broke this week. Eighteen former top Trump administration officials rejecting the former President's claim that he had a standing order to declassify the documents he took from the Oval Office to the White House residence, that includes two of his Chiefs of Staff.
One of them, Mick Mulvaney spoke to our Alisyn Camerota last night. Take a listen.
[18:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICK MULVANEY, FORMER ACTING TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I saw the list that -- of the things that were removed from Mar-a-Lago and the one thing that caught my attention along with I think, the attention of most people was that one or that one list and said there were various items that were marked TS SCI. Alisyn, that's the serious stuff, that's top secret and compartmentalized information. That's not supposed to be there.
Now, with that being said, it's really hard to sort of understand how it gets there in the first place. These things are not sort of accidentally moved anywhere. These documents are marked. They are clearly known to folks to be TS SCI and they're supposed to be folks sort of tracking where they are.
So the fact that that document are - they could be - it says various documents - were the areas - is a question to me, it concerns me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Now, John, Mulvaney did go on to question whether that's enough to justify the search warrant and I think that raises one of the questions that you've heard. Does the public need to see what's in that affidavit or should the Justice Department's desire to protect its investigation come first?
JOHN DEAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think it's a unique situation and I think the judge senses that. The outrage that has been apparent since the word of the search. So I think the judge is trying to find some ground that he can give the people some understanding of what's going on.
That is not going to be the classified information. They're not going to get any of this highly classified information nor are they going to get really exactly what the investigation is doing or any of the witnesses who are on the line in this investigation. They're not going to reveal those. But what I think they can reveal is the back and forth between the
Justice Department and the National Archives as well in trying to retrieve the documents from Trump. And the explanations, maybe allusions to the explanations Trump has given, if any, as to why he had those.
I don't think there appear to be any. We haven't heard any. But we certainly know that this has been going on for months before they actually exercised the search warrant. And I don't think that the Attorney General would have given the authority to go ahead and go to court and get a search warrant had this not been a potentially dire situation and that's what can happen with highly classified information.
So I think that we're going to see a redacted document, but it's going to give us some insights, not that Trump won't abuse those and played the grievance role, because anything is blacked out.
MATTINGLY: Yes. I mean, it's something that the former president's team has started to allude to already, kind of running what may come out, even though they don't know. Trump is among those calling for the release of that affidavit. But here's what his legal team is saying about the possibility of a redacted version coming out.
I'm quoting Christina Bobb, one of his lawyers: "I think at best," she says, "we get almost nothing. At worst, we have - we get a very heavily redacted version that the Department of Justice is comfortable leaking very select pieces of information that make it look like they have something more than they actually have." John, would a redacted version effectively watered down the understanding of why the search was justified in the Justice Department's view.
DEAN: The redaction is going to be for a very justifiable reason, a reason that has been persuaded to the judge who is inclined to release information. So he's going to have to make a decision that, no, I can't release that. That's a proper redaction. That's national security information. That's highly classified information. That's a witness. Whatever the reason is, it's going to be pretty clear. But it's still going to be a messy looking document.
I wish there were a better way to do redactions than they do them in black. I've often thought maybe do them in white that look a little - I've seen the National Archives actually does many of them in white instead of the black heavy redactions you get out of the Justice Department. So we'll see.
But as I say, Trump is a master at playing the grievance game and he and his lawyers and spokespeople will be out saying, oh, this is all just a cover up of what they're really doing, when there will be very good reasons that a federal judge who has no vested interest in this thing, he wants to do what the law tells him to do and that's what he's going to do.
MATTINGLY: Yes. As a recipient of many FOIA requests that comes back to me just completely blacked out, I would concur. I'll take white would work too from - when we get those from agencies. John, one of the questions that I've had and I think you'd have a
unique insight into this, given the fact that you were a White House Counsel. CNN reported this week, the White House officials have 'deep concern' about the Mar-A-Lago documents, yet they've also made clear President Biden has not been briefed on the criminal probe. This has been the position they've long maintained. They don't want any allusions to the idea that President Biden is involved in any way. The politics out weighing everything else here.
But if the breach is so potentially serious, at what point does the national security exposure outweigh the concern about appearance of politics the President needs to know what's actually in these documents?
[18:35:00]
DEAN: Well, this can go a long way before he needs to know. Obviously, if there is ever going to be an indictment, he needs to probably be informed after they have a sealed indictment somewhere, but nothing to do with the judgment. Because there could be violence as a result of an indictment.
Something like that in the interest of national security, I would think he would need to be briefed. But it will happen much lower levels first where they'll work out all of the ways they can deal with it or what have you. So I think the White House is smart. This is the post Watergate way the game is supposed to be played, you keep the White House out of the Justice Department, you have an attorney general you trust and he does his job and you don't tell him what to do and only when he needs to tell you something for a broader reason do you get any information and I think that's the way they're playing the game.
MATTINGLY: Yes, without any question, they haven't moved away or shifted it in any way even with all the news in the last couple of weeks. I want to close by playing something else, Liz Cheney. She was asked about in that ABC interview we played a little bit of earlier, the possibility of asking Donald Trump to testify, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): I don't want to make any announcements about that this morning.
JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: But it's possible you'd ask him before wrapping up to testify?
Cheney: Yes. I mean, I don't - again, I don't want to get in front of committee deliberations about that. I do think it's very important. His interactions with our committee will be under oath.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: John, at this point, is it even worth it for the Select Committee to try and get Trump to appear. I've - I was kind of - I've been stumbling over that possibility and whether there's any rationale for it, given the success they feel like they've had with the witnesses they've had up to this point given Trump's very capable ability to push things in a different direction when questioned.
DEAN: Well, they're obviously not going to bring him into the hearing room. I don't think that's going to be the case, which would be a total circus. They would do it in some way where they would have a televised interview with him under oath. Now, he is very good at - of playing the grievous game and play - complaining and making it into a witch hunt and what have you and he would probably try to do that.
But if he's - if it's done under a video conference situation kind of deposition, he loses that control. So I think there could - I think they should offer the invitation. I'm kind of thinking out loud here how you'd handle this and see whether he responds. And if he does put him on conference and under oath and see what you get. He can't then say he wasn't given an opportunity.
Now, they may or may not use it. They could use the information any - he offered in their report, but as far as the live hearing, they can select what they need and what is relevant to their inquiry. But if he goes off on a tangent, they don't have to sit and play that.
MATTINGLY: Yes, the political mechanics along with the public optics not to be ignored in this entire process here. John Dean, appreciate your expertise as always, my friend. Thanks so much.
DEAN: Thank you, Phil.
MATTINGLY: A federal judge will not delay a ruling ordering Sen. Lindsey Graham to appear before Georgia grand jury. Now, Graham has been fighting a subpoena from the DA in Atlanta investigating Republican efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election results. She argued Friday that Graham's testimony is 'crucial' to investigators and the judge has agreed.
Now, coming up next, the Prime Minister of Finland is being criticized for a night out with friends. Details on the leaked video of her dancing, which seems totally fine at a party which sparked a storm of criticism and what she's doing to quiet that controversy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:43:00]
MATTINGLY: Finland's Prime Minister is pushing back against criticism sparked by a leaked video showing her dancing and gasp clearly enjoying herself at a private house party. A political opponent demanded she take a drug test to prove she never endangered her ability to run the country, had a crisis come up. CNN's Melissa Bell has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: A private video leaked to the public from a night of singing and dancing is causing quite a headache for Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna Marin. Video of the 36-year-old leader of the country's governing Social Democratic Party shows her and friends as she describes partying in a boisterous way inside a private home. But that's where the fun stops.
The video caused a political backlash with some opponents calling the behavior unbecoming of a world leader and some MPs, including members of her own coalition demanding that she take a drug test which she did on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANNA MARIN, FINLAND'S PRIME MINISTER (through interpreter): I consider these accusations to be very serious and though I consider the demand for a drug test unjust for my own legal protection and to clear up any doubts, I have taken a drug test, the results of which will come in about a week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: Marin says she's appalled that the videos were leaked as they were filmed in a private setting. She says alcohol was consumed at the party, but that she was not aware of any drug usage. And at no time, did the night out affect her work or her ability to perform her official duties.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIN: I didn't have any work meetings planned for that weekend. They are confirmed usually beforehand and I didn't have any meetings, for example, Saturday or Sunday. I had work meetings on Monday, but I, of course, handled - but we didn't have any government meetings during that weekend. I had time off and spent it with my friends and did nothing illegal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[18:45:06]
BELL: As one of the world's youngest serving prime minister, Marin supporters say she's being targeted because of her age and gender. Her private life was previously under the spotlight last year when a photo surfaced of her in a nightclub after the Finnish Foreign Minister tested positive for COVID-19. Melissa Bell CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. And if you want to reach the younger generations, where do you actually need to go, Twitter, AOL Instant Messenger, MySpace, Harry Enten joins me to explain what those latter two actually are to the youths coming up next.
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[18:50:10]
MATTINGLY: Facebook could soon lose its top spot - atop social media pyramid at least with teenagers. Senior Data Reporter for CNN, Harry Enten, joins us now to run the numbers. Harry, what exactly are you seeing here?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: This is fascinating, so the Pew Research Center essentially did a poll this year, then compared it to a poll that they did in the middle of last decade and said, okay, do you ever use these apps among teenagers. Look at the drop in Facebook, 71 percent of teenagers said that they used Facebook back from 2014 to 2015 poll. That has dropped by more than half to just 32 percent now.
Now, Twitter, which is something that I use, I know you use also has seen a decline. Truth is I never understood what Tumblr was anyway, but to me the big takeaway here is Facebook with its huge decline, my goodness gracious, it was so cool when I was in high school, apparently not anymore.
MATTINGLY: Yes. I think the reason why is because it was so cool when you were in high school, which would mean I don't think it would actually still be cool today, no offense. What are the popular platforms these days? And to be clear, I'm not talking about for you I'm talking about for teenagers.
ENTEN: Yes, not for me. To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure what some of these were. I do know what YouTube is and that's the number one at 95 percent I spent a lot of time on there. TikTok, get this, 67 percent of teenagers say that they use TikTok. That was created after the poll was done in 2014 and 2015. Instagram, which of course is owned by Facebook jumped 10 points from 52 to 62. And Snapchat, which I once almost tried to use to get in touch with someone who was kind of a girlfriend jumped from 41 percent to 59 percent, but I feel like I've just fallen completely behind here, Phil. That's what - I feel so old.
MATTINGLY: Yes. I'm going to leave the kind of a girlfriend thing alone for the moment. I guess the question I have is, is Facebook just not addictive enough? Is it not cool enough? Is it just a lot of old people talking about high school reunions? Why have they dropped?
ENTEN: Yes. I think part of it maybe it's not addictive enough, right? So they also asked, are you on this platform multiple times a day and YouTube not surprisingly 60 percent. You can always look at a new video. TikTok with all of its fresh videos that are coming up, 48 percent; Snapchat, again, 44 percent; Instagram 37 percent if you want to see some of those photos your friends put up; Facebook at just 10 percent.
And I think the fact is, yes, Facebook has some videos and some pictures on it but also has a lot of text that has kind of out of date. I just don't think there are a lot of reasons for kids to continuously be on Facebook and that's - I will say - part of the reason I got off Facebook was I was sick and tired of reading the crazy rants from some of my friends from years gone by it was just boring to me.
MATTINGLY: I mean, you're not wrong on that one. Harry, I know you're the numbers guy, so I want to pivot and talk about some other numbers here. I was looking at the ALE standings. This is what we call a prebuttal. There's going to be graphics on the screen right now that are going to try and undercut me, because I know where this is going. We have not been on television together I think since the GA or sorry, since the California Governor recall.
We spent a lot of nights, late nights together in elections. I love you like a brother. I hate you for your baseball fandom and the fact that I had to be on television with you as the Yankees are going through an absolutely brutal slide. But I just want to be clear 13 and a half games back in August is bad if you're the Boston Red Sox, right? Like you don't want to be 13 and a half games back in the ALEs, do you?
ENTEN: I mean, for me, I judge a season's success based upon whether or not the Yankees win the World Series. And right now what we see is that since the all star break, the Yankees have the second worst record in the American League. They lost earlier today to the Toronto Blue Jays. They're just nine in 20 since the all star break. They had the best record in the American League before the all star break at 64 in 28.
And to me, my real question is, Phil, do you need to take the field because I know that you are in fact a baseball player back in the day. I believe we actually have a nice little photo of you in your baseball gear - there it is right there.
MATTINGLY: Oh, wow. Wow. This is ...
ENTEN: So, yeah.
MATTINGLY: ... that's ...
ENTEN: This - we're making TV history here. I think they may need you, so if you need to, suit up and take the field for them.
MATTINGLY: Harry, does the size of my neck in that photo - does that intimidate - like do you think that would be helpful on the field in the Bronx like maybe that would help the Yankees just generally?
ENTEN: It could certainly distract some people and that, I think, is most important. But I just want to note one little last slide here, which is you may be upset, but I think most people are actually with me on this, because we ran a poll a few years ago at 538 (ph).
And what we found was that most people in fact said their least favorite team was the New York Yankees. In fact, just 10 percent said their most favorite team was the New York Yankees. They were the only team with a negative net favorability rating. It's beautiful, beautiful times for America because the Yankees are losing.
[18:55:06]
MATTINGLY: What's most important is that 10 percent of the people were right. And also Harry, I got a lot of faith that the Sox are three and a half back of the Orioles right now for fourth in the ALEs, there's five teams. So I have faith that the Sox can figure it out. Harry Enten, this felt like a trap from the moment I saw you in the rundown, given how the Yankees are doing, but I appreciate you as always, my good buddy.
ENTEN: Love you, buddy.
MATTINGLY: All right. Be sure to check out Harry podcast, Margins of Error. Seriously, check it out. It's fantastic. You can find it on your favorite podcast app or at cnn.com/audio. We'll be right back.