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State Department Urges Americans To Leave Ukraine; Memorial Service For Daughter Of Putin Ally Killed In Car Bombing; Ex-Twitter Executive Blows Whistle On Major Security Problems; Biden To Make Student Loan Relief Announcement Tomorrow; Webb Telescope Captures Stunning Images Of Jupiter. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 23, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:41]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: The State Department is urging Americans in Ukraine to get out, and to get out fast, saying that it has intelligence that Russia is about to ramp up attacks on civilians and government facilities.

The warning comes ahead of Ukraine's Independence Day tomorrow and after Russia blamed Ukraine for the death of a Putin ally's daughter.

CNN's David McKenzie is in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

David, what do we know about the specific intel behind the warning?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've been pretty vague, I have to say, Bianna, but it certainly is, you can feel it, a heightened sense of alert here in Kyiv and across the country here in Ukraine.

We actually put the question to President Zelenskyy on what sort of information, what sort of intelligence is leading them to say that they expect possible Russian strikes right here in the capital where I'm standing on key civilian infrastructure, possible decision-making centers as they put it.

They've asked citizens of this country to make sure to pay attention to the sirens that happen several times a day, to get under -- into shelter. They've banned events, even with the very significant events this week of the anniversary of their independence.

This all points to specific intelligence. All Zelenskyy would say is that they have generalized intelligence from partner countries suggesting there's a threat.

As you said, the State Department calling on Americans to leave as soon as possible, to get out now because they say there's this specific threat.

Here is what Zelenskyy said when we asked what the response would be should Russia attack more broadly. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): What will Ukraine do if they hit Kyiv? The same as now.

Because for me, as for the president and I'm sure for every Ukrainian, Kyiv, Donbass, it is all the same, all of our Ukrainians live here, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, the same for all of these cities.

If they hit us, they will have a response, a powerful response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Normally, you would have a large amount of people on the streets for the public holiday tomorrow, but I think it will be largely empty because the fears excessing of possible strikes on the city -- Bianna?

[13:35:02]

GOLODRYGA: The country marks the 31st year of independence tomorrow as well as six months since Russia's invasion.

David McKenzie, in Kyiv, thank you so much.

In Moscow, today hundreds of people attended a memorial service for Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Vladimir Putin ally.

She was killed Friday in a car bomb on the outskirts of the city. The Kremlin says it was carried out by an Ukrainian agent, something Ukraine vehemently denies.

We get more details from CNN's Fred Pleitgen live in Moscow.

Fred, I know you were at today's memorial service. What did you see?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Bianna. I think one of the more remarkable things was that the denials we heard from the Ukrainians seemed to fall on deaf ears to all of the folks attending the memorial service today.

There was obviously a lot of mourning, a lot of grief, but also a lot of anger and a lot of calls to hit Ukraine harder than Russia is doing right now.

There are a lot of people calling for an all-out war against Ukraine as a response to the killing of Darya Dugina.

You mentioned, of course, one of the people who was one of the staunchest hardliners in this case is Darya Dugina's father, Alexander Dugin, who is known as an important ideologue here, someone close to the thinking of Vladimir Putin.

He went on stage today and, you know, obviously there was a lot of grief but there was also clearly a call to escalate Russia's military operation in Ukraine further. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDER DUGIN, PUTIN ALLY WHOSE DAUGHTER WAS KILLED IN CAR BOMBING (through translation): The price that we have to pay can be justified by only one thing, the highest achievement, victory.

She lived in the name of victory and she died in the name of victory, our Russian victory, our truth, our orthodoxy, our country and our empire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So he's speaking clearly of a Russian empire. And you know, he's had those expansionist thoughts and things that he has been saying for a very long time.

There are some people who believe that those have been influential for Vladimir Putin as well. Other people at that event saying the same things.

And, you know, these are obviously, a lot of the folks, they're hard liners. But at the same event, there was also a condolence read by Vladimir Putin and one by Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, as well.

So clearly, Alexander Dugin someone who is very influential in the Russian spheres of the government but, of course, first and foremost the Kremlin-controlled media as well -- Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Yes, he is.

Fred Pleitgen, in Moscow, thank you.

He used to be Twitter's head of security. Now he is a whistleblower, calling out the company for major security problems that pose a threat to user information and national security. CNN's exclusive reporting straight ahead.

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[13:42:34]

GOLODRYGA: A former Twitter executive is now sounding the alarm on what he says are reckless and negligent security policies. He says the problems pose a threat to national security and democracy.

The revelations are from a whistleblower in a disclosure obtained exclusively by CNN and "The Washington Post."

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan joins us.

Incredible reporting here. Some serious allegations, Donie. How do their security issues pose a threat to national security? DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It doesn't seem obvious at first.

You say, what does Twitter have to do with national security or anything else?

But two years ago, you might remember, in the height of the 2020 election campaign, there was that massive hack of Twitter, which saw the accounts of Biden, who was then running for president, being taken over, Obama, Elon Musk's account, Kim Kardashian.

At the time, it was actually teenagers. Teenagers tied to a cryptocurrency scam. But the point being is that if teenagers can get into systems this way, imagine what a national state actor might be able to do.

We see, and we see every day how much elected officials, including the White House, including presidents all around the world and prime ministers use these platforms to make official statements.

In fact, that's something the former administration said, "Tweets are statements."

But to give you a better taste of what this whistleblower was alleging, I want you to have a listen to him and his lawyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEITER "MUDGE" ZATKO, TWITTER WHISTLEBLOWER: Your whole perception of the world is made from what you are seeing, reading and consuming online.

And if you don't have an understanding of what is real, what is not, what data to trust, what not to, whether your information that you are producing could be misused or be accessed by a foreign agent to identify patterns that may or may not even be there. Yes, I think this is pretty scary.

JOHN TYE, FOUNDER, WHISTLEBLOWER AID: We think it is important that the law enforcement agencies investigate these allegations and do their job. They are charged with protecting investors and users so that no social media platform, whether it is this or others, can be abused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: So, Donie, there's some questions as to his intent, right? Because he had been fired. But no one is questioning the veracity of his skills set. He is a well-known computer expert in the industry.

[13:45:03]

O'SULLIVAN: That's the thing, right. You know, his name is Peiter Zatko but he's better known in the world of cyber as "Mudge."

I spent a lot of this weekend trying to dig up some dirt on Mudge. But any cybersecurity expert we spoke to, including people who advise folks up on Capitol Hill, everybody said, if this guy is saying there's a problem, there is a problem.

Now, you can debate about whether he is exaggerating or whether he has the full scope of understanding on everything in Twitter. And that is certainly what Twitter is saying.

Twitter is saying, even though we hired this guy as our chief security, as our head of security, that he didn't have the purview that he might be suggesting he had, and he certainly is mischaracterizing.

But you know, we put a lot of that to many experts. You know, very much his reputation is making people sit up and pay attention here.

GOLODRYGA: We know Elon Musk would like to hear from him as well in his ongoing lawsuit in pulling out of buying the company.

O'SULLIVAN: Absolutely.

GOLODRYGA: Donie O'Sullivan, thank you so much for the bombshell reporting exclusive. Thank you.

If you are one of the many Americans bogged down by student loan debt, the White House is now leaning toward cancelling a nice chunk of that, but there a catch.

And pictures so good even the scientists were surprised. Imagine that. New images from NASA's Webb Space Telescope straight ahead.

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[13:50:53]

GOLODRYGA: Tomorrow, President Biden is expected to make a long- awaited announcement on student loan debt. CNN has learned that White House officials are leaning toward canceling up to $10,000 of federal student loan debt for people making less than $125,000 a year.

CNN White House correspondent, M.J. Lee, is in Delaware, traveling with the president.

So, M.J., this was popular with many within the party, but we're also learning there's a bit of pushback. What are we expecting to hear tomorrow?

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we do finally expect to get this announcement from President Biden tomorrow on the issue of student loan debt forgiveness.

Let me just walk you through quickly what we do know so far ahead of tomorrow.

For one, we are learning that the White House is leaning towards, as you mentioned, forgiving up to $10,000 in debt for people making under $125,000 a year. So this would be forgiveness based on an income threshold. And second, we are also learning that White House officials in recent

days have discussed the possibility of additional forgiveness on top of that.

And one of the ideas, we are learning that White House officials have discussed, is adding -- giving that additional forgiveness to Pell Grant recipients.

So obviously, the devil's in the details. And it would really depend on what that dollar amount ends up being and if White House officials decide to go with this, but it could potentially be a big deal.

And it just gives you a little bit of a window into how White House officials have been thinking about isolating people who might really benefit from that additional financial help.

The third thing I would point out, too, is that the White House is leaning towards extending that current pause that is in place for student loan payments. Obviously, that is going to expire on August 31st, so that deadline is around the corner.

Now, Bianna, important to emphasize, I'm using language like, White House officials are discussing, they're leaning towards. That is all to say, we don't know for sure that these final decisions have been made.

We do know that an announcement, again, is expected to come tomorrow, but we will have to see exactly what those decisions are. But there are plenty of things up in the air.

And you're obviously very right that a lot of people are going to be celebrating whatever announcement comes. And plenty of people will be critical and will say we need a lot more than this.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and there are others, like economists, who worry that this may be inflationary as well.

M.J. Lee, we will see you tomorrow. Thank you.

Well, a severe drought reveals a stunning discovery. Dinosaur tracks from 113 million years ago. The drought caused a river in Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas to dry up, revealing the footprints.

A park spokesperson says they probably belong to a dinosaur that stood about 15 feet tall and weighed almost seven tons. The tracks are among the latest secrets revealed as bodies of water around the globe have dried up.

And NASA releasing stunning new pictures of Jupiter from the Webb Space Telescope that launched back in December.

Now in these new composite pictures, you can see incredible rainbow auroras and the swirl of giant storms on the planet's surface.

Scientists also point out the faint rings in far-off galaxies photobombing in the background around the planet. CNN space correspondent, Kristin Fisher, is with us.

And, Kristin, these pictures don't disappoint. NASA scientists are saying they're even better than what they had hoped for. They're stunning.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they knew they would be good. They just did not know they would be this good.

Now, as you're looking at these new images of Jupiter, the two that NASA has just released, I'm sure you're thinking, that doesn't look like the Jupiter I'm used to seeing with reds and oranges and browns.

The reason is because Webb is not an optical telescope. It's an infrared telescope. Infrared light is invisible to the human eye. And so the Webb Telescope has to use three filters to kind of translate that infrared light into light that you and I can see, Bianna.

And so what you're seeing there, to kind of translate it for you, the blue at the top up there, actually, in the other image -- if we can just pop up that one -- the still of Jupiter.

There you go.

That red at the top, those are the auroras. Those are Jupiter's northern lights. The yellow and turquoise, those are atmospheric hazes. The dark blue are the clouds. And, of course, that big white circle is the famous normally great red spot but white on these images.

[13:55:10]

And then in this other image that's just so spectacular, you can actually see Jupiter's rings. Saturn isn't the only planet with rings, Bianna.

And what scientists say is just so remarkable about these photos, and you can see it there, just the details that Webb is able to capture of just how detailed those clouds are.

And that really allows scientists to get a better idea of the temperature and the composition and the chemistry and how they all interplay on that planet.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, they are so crisp and beautiful.

Kristin Fisher, thank you so much.

And that does it for me. I'll be back here tomorrow.

Until then, don't go anywhere. The news continues right after the break.

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