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IAEA Team Heads to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant; Trump's Legal Team Insist for a Special Master; More Waterless Days for Jackson, Mississippi; No Answer Yet from Deleted Secret Service Messages; President Biden Campaigns Using Dirty Political Jabs at GOP; California Braces for Hot Weekend. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 01, 2022 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States, and all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. And I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency are headed to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant despite significant risks to their safety as shelling is reported at the facility.

Team Trump responds to the Justice Department's Mar-a-Lago filing, doubling down on its demand for an independent review into documents found in his Florida mansion.

And the U.S. and South Korea hold first live fire exercises since the combined military drills began. Why North Korea is calling it a rehearsal for an invasion.

UNKNOWN: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for being with us.

And we are following new developments this hour out of Ukraine, where we are learning a reactor at the embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has now been shut down. And the protection system activated because of shelling.

Now this comes as U.N. inspectors are on route to the site, as fears grow that the shelling could trigger a nuclear accident. Earlier, we saw the team from the International Atomic Energy Agency head out from the city of Zaporizhzhia, and before they left the head of the agency spoke about the significant risks involved in their mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFAEL GROSSI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: We are moving, we are aware of the current situation. There has been in increased military activity including this morning, until very recently a few minutes ago, I have been briefed by the Ukrainian regional military commander here about that and the inherent risks. But weighing the pros and cons and having come so far, we are not stopping, we are moving now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Melissa Bell is following developments. She joins us now live from Kyiv. So, Melissa, this was already a dangerous mission for the Atomic Energy Agency inspectors. Now of course, we're hearing, just then, more shelling at the nuclear plant as they head there for an effort to avert a catastrophe. What is the latest that you are hearing on this?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Even as Rafael Grossi spoke to those journalists, setting off just about 8 a.m. here locally. He spoke of the fact that he had been told by that military regional administration that there had been more shelling, he spoke of the minimum standard being set for the mission to go ahead.

And spoke, as you heard him moments ago its importance, but we're getting more details now about exactly what's going on and we're getting those from an official statement of the energy utility here in Ukraine. That has announced that as a result of what they say is Russian shelling.

Just before 5 a.m. this morning the fifth reactor at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had to be switch off. And its emergency protection system is activated, Rosemary. Now what that means is that the sixth -- the sixth reactor plant which had already been down to two reactors that were functioning is now down to a single one.

Now, as far as we know, the inspector has continued to make their way towards the plant. Whether they will get there given the shelling and what's going on is for the time being, and just a two-hour drive between the city of Zaporizhzhia where they've been staying overnight, and the plant itself which is just to the south along the Dnipro River.

They are still, as far as we know, on their way there but it is perhaps even more dangerous than we'd imagined it would be given the shelling this morning. There is going to be a question of access whether or not they can get to these Russian controlled territories. Just on the south side the left bank of the Dnipro River. And then, whether they're going to be able to get as planned inside the plant.

And what we heard from Rafael Grossi this morning was that the first mission was to ensure the security and safety of the plant and then to see whether a permanent mission can be established. But it's true that at this stage, and given that shelling this morning, and the situation around the plant which is extremely tense. It's unclear whether that's going to be able to go ahead, Rosemary.

[03:04:58]

CHURCH: Yes. We will of course continue to follow this. Melissa Bell, joining us live from Kyiv. Many thanks. Well, back here in the United States, Donald Trump's lawyers are

responding to allegations that he kept classified material at his Mar- a-Lago estate with a big so what. The former president's legal team is preparing for a hearing in Florida today, demanding that special master review everything the FBI seized from his home.

They claim it's no surprise agents found sensitive material and it was never cause for alarm. But the Justice Department see things very differently. Accusing the former president of hiding, and moving documents to obstruct its investigation.

CNN Sara Murray has our report.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The Trump team is doubling down on their request for a special master to review the materials that were seized from that August search in Mar-a-Lago. That's from a court filing from the Trump team on Wednesday night.

They say the notion that presidential records contained sensitive material should not have been cause for alarm. And they said the National Archives should have continued to negotiate in good faith with the former president to get those documents back.

And of course, we know the negotiations went on for months. And the former president still had not returned all of those. Not the Trump team did not rebut fact by fact. And many of the damning items the Justice Department laid out in a court filing in their narrative of events earlier this week. They did take issue with the June 3rd meeting. The Trump team says has been significantly mischaracterized.

This is when investigators showed up at Mar-a-Lago to collect documents after they had issued a subpoena. And a Trump lawyer signed the document saying, essentially, we have handed over everything with classified markings pursuant to the subpoena.

Of course, we later learned from the Justice Department that was not the case. There were many documents with classified marking left behind at Mar-a-Lago. The Trump team also with some pretty pointed words for how the Justice Department conducted themselves saying, left unchecked, the DOJ will impune, leak, and publicize selected aspects of their investigation with no recourse for movant, that's Trump, but to somehow trust the self-restraint of currently unchecked investigators.

Of course, the move the FBI have made so far been signed off on by a judge, but we are going to hear more about this fight in a hearing in Florida on Thursday.

Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: Trump's legal team is also challenging the legitimacy of an intelligence community review of the documents retrieved from Mar-a- Lago. Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe explains why that's not likely to be a winning argument.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: They are conflating of the review of the search materials, which apparently has already been conducted with the intelligence community's damage reassessment review. So, the DOJ was very clear about the fact that any delay would -- could cause significant harm in slowing down the intelligence community's ability to figure out how much damage has been done to sources and methods as a result of this improper storage.

But that is just very emblematic of the way that they're trying to attack this thing like with the death of 1000 cuts. They really go after the government's filter team. Right? That process that was laid out in the search warrant affidavit in which they say all the material taken from the 45 office would be reviewed with attorney-client privilege. They've apparently done that. They came up with some materials and they're now looking at the court for guidance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: So, let's talk more about this with Jessica Levinson, she is a professor at Loyola Law School and host of the podcast, Passing Judgment. Good to have you with us.

JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR OF LAW, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: Good to be here.

CHURCH: So, Donald Trump's lawyers have now responded to the DOJ's explosive court filing that alleges White House classified documents were hidden, and move to obstruct the investigation into how those materials were handled. Trump's legal team says that they want more transparency, and oversight of the DOJ, and are doubling down on their call for a special master to review those documents. What do you make of their response?

LEVINSON: Well, it was a very muddled response, it was a bit chaotic but I think in the end it didn't really address either the factual assertions in the DOJ filing. Of course, the background to the filing was filled with those allegations that you just mentioned. That Trump and or his attorney really obstructed the investigation by willfully hiding these documents.

And then the DOJ finding pivoted to, and here is the law as to why Trump is not entitled to a special master. And that's why I saw he really didn't respond. And the reasons are really pretty damning and difficult for Trump to respond, he seems to have given up on some of the arguments. He is focusing on this idea of a little bit of executive privilege.

[03:09:51]

But as the Department of Justice laid out, there is binding Supreme Court precedent that indicates that this type of scenario where it's part of the executive branch looking at these documents for very specific purposes. And the assertion which is kind of clumsily asserted here is executive privilege, it makes no sense to have a special master. CHURCH: And Trump and his team were very angry about this photo being

included in that filing of highly classified documents. We bring that picture up again. Those documents found at his Mar-a-Lago office. The shocking image tells the story of course.

So, given this DOJ filing, and the response from Trump's lawyers, what are you expecting today when the judge makes a ruling on whether the former president gets a special master, he is requesting to review White House documents found at Mar-a-Lago?

LEVINSON: Well, one thing I want to point out about the picture is we wouldn't have seen any of this if Trump hadn't asked for a special master. So basically, every step around the way we know more. And what we've learned every step along the way is worse for Trump because of what he has said. He called the search warrant itself into question.

We saw the search warrant it has three really specific crimes listed, which of course it does. But obstruction of justice, the Espionage Act, these are serious crimes. Then he keeps going, and we have the affidavit. The affidavit gives us even more details about the potential wrongdoing here.

And now of course, we have the picture that you just showed which gives heart palpitations to people who have ever worked in government. And if you think about what's contained in those documents and who is potentially threatened in those documents and if they fall into the wrong hands that's why we want these documents back. They are the people's documents. Not the president's documents.

Having said all that, what's going to happen tomorrow? Here we have a new judge, she was appointed by the former president. Confirmed, I think after he lost the election. She doesn't have a very long track record for us to be able to go on and predict what's going to happen. Legally speaking, I do not think he has a very strong case.

CHURCH: So, has a crime being committed here?

LEVINSON: So, I will say, I think if this is Jon Smith not Donald Trump. We're talking about indictments. We're not special masters. The DOJ lays out in great detail all the ways in which they tried to get these documents back, again not the president's documents, the people's documents.

How he said no, how his counsel and/or him -- and/or Trump himself said we have nothing else that's responsive, the FBI doesn't believe him. They go in and get documents. They are in fact responsive, they're classified, they're highly sensitive. All of this indicates that an indictment could be coming. Could, but it won't be until probably after the midterms.

CHURCH: Jessica Levinson, always great to get your analysis. Many thanks for joining us.

LEVINSON: Thank you.

CHURCH: A key member of the January 6th select committee says the mystery of the missing Secret Service text messages is still not solved. Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren says the committee received thousands of documents from the Secret Service. And she is concerned after reviewing the materials.

Here's what she told CNN's Pamela Brown on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): We've got other records from the service. That seemed to contradict some of what the service had been telling us. It's not clear that the messages that were erased can be recovered from the service itself. Although that may be possible from the Department of Homeland Security.

You know, the fact that they were erased after they were told to preserve it is disturbing. It -- every -- every time I look at that I've got more questions and it doesn't look good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Sarah Palin is not heading to the U.S. Congress, at least not yet. The former Republican nominee for vice president has lost her bid to fill Alaska's vacant House seat. Trump-backed Palin was defeated by Democrat Mary Peltola who will become Alaska's first indigenous member of Congress.

Palin blamed the loss on her state's new system of ranked choice voting which was used for the first time in the special election. She said in a statement that people of Alaska do not want the distractive Democrat agenda to rule our land and our lives but that's what resulted from someone's experiment. With this new crazy convoluted confusing ranked choice voting system. It's effectively disenfranchised 60 percent of Alaska voters.

Well, Alaska's only House seat has been empty since March after the state's Republican congressman died. Palin will get another shot at the House during the November midterm elections when she and Peltola will once again be on the ballot. Palin is vowing to, quote, "reload" instead of retreat.

[03:15:08]

Well, U.S. President Joe Biden will head to Philadelphia tonight's to light a fire under Democrats heading into the midterm elections. But House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is expected to give a speech in the state just before Mr. Biden's address.

McCarthy is expected to slam Democrats on crime, inflation, and other issues as Mr. Biden ramps up his rhetoric on Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters.

CNN's M.J. Lee has our report.

M.J. LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The White House is making clear that president Biden's primetime speech in Pennsylvania on Thursday night is not just going to be about the theme of democracy but also about the battle for the soul of the country. Which of course was a main pillar of the president's presidential campaign back in 2020.

So, it is clear that the White House sees a political opening here not just to cast the midterms as a choice between Democrats and Republicans, but against Trump Republicans and the MAGA GOP extremists and anti-Democratic actors.

We've got a forceful preview of this earlier this week when the president spoke in Pennsylvania when he uses the issue of law enforcement to cast the GOP as simply unacceptable. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Let me say this to my MAGA Republican friends in Congress. Don't tell me you support law enforcement if you won't condemn what happened on the sixth.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Don't tell me. You're either on the side of a mob or the side of the police. You can't be pro-law enforcement and pro-insurrection. You can't be a part of law and order and call the people who attacked the police on January 6th, patriots. You can't do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Now ahead of that speech on Thursday night I did ask White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, whether the president believes that some of these factors, these threats to democracy that he saw a couple of years ago, and that prompted him to run to for president in 2020, whether he believes those forces are still at large or whether he believes there has been progress made since he has come into office. And Jean-Pierre told me it's not stopping, it is continuing.

So that does give you a little bit of an idea of the tone that we probably will see from President Biden. I will also note that this will mark the second of three trips planned to the state of Pennsylvania in just about a week or so, so you really get a sense of how much this political calendar is ramping up.

M.J. Lee, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: And still to come, waiting in line for clean drinking water. It will be the new normal for some Mississippi residents until a local water facility is back online. But the wait could be longer than expected. We're back with that in just a moment.

[03:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, U.S. President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration for Jackson, Mississippi. A move that triggers the provision of federal assistance. The city is thirsting for water after a treatment plant was damaged in recent flooding. The governor says a new pump has been installed at the facility which

moves clean water to tanks around the city but it needs new paths to correct mechanical and technical issues. Residents understandably are frustrated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: It's horrible. And I would like it to be fixed. Please fix our water.

UNKNOWN: It's been rough.

UNKNOWN: Nobody paid attention until it happened.

UNKNOWN: I mean, Jackson has to do something about this. What about the kids? What about the community? What about the people? I mean, somebody should do something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meanwhile, people lined up in cars on Wednesday to get bottled water. Jackson's mayor says he hopes clean water can be restored by the weekend. But the governor warns more interruptions are on the way.

And California is preparing for a strain on its power grid. Temperatures are expected to rise throughout the Labor Day holiday weekend. The state's grid operator says some residents may be asked to reduce their power usage as the heat intensifies, and possibly drop breaks records.

And our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam joins us now with more on this. So, Derek, what sort of temperatures are we talking about here?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We're talking anywhere from 10 to 20, even 25 degrees above average. PG&E, the state of California's largest energy supplier, electricity supplier asking and urging its residents to not charge their electrical vehicles between peak energy demands from 4 to 9 p.m.

Kind of very interesting considering that just a few days ago the state of California has banned the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by the year 2035. That's another story. But let's talk about the heat that's coming.

Look at this, we have had records broken. Anaheim, California yesterday reaching a high of 106. Beating its record set back in 2020. We have over 40 million Americans under heat alerts. And that much of that encompasses the state of California. About 20 of the most populated cities over the western U.S. under this excessive heat alerts. Including the Los Angeles area, and just outside of San Francisco.

So, some of the areas they anticipate the cooler weather near the coast, we may not exactly experience the relief that you would expect to get as you head towards the ocean. One hundred sixty potential high temperature records broken over the next week or so.

[03:24:57]

Over the western U.S. incredible amounts of heat as a long-standing extreme heat dome starts to build over this region. It's not going anywhere any time soon and we know that this type of heat can be extremely dangerous. Not only that, but also fatal.

Temperatures here are reaching the triple digits easily. But Death Valley we use that as a marker quite often because that is where the world's hottest temperature is located. And the hottest temperature ever recorded in the month of September was 125. We are flirting with that as we edge into the weekend and the early parts of next week. Extended outlook from the climate prediction center shows well above average temperatures for that region continuing well into mid- September. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Unbelievable, isn't it?

VAN DAM: Yes.

CHURCH: Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam, many thanks as always.

VAN DAM: You're welcome.

CHURCH: Well, Serena Williams's swansong will last at least one more night. The 40-year-old tennis great advance to the third round of the U.S. Open with a stunning onset of the world's number two player. Williams who has won 23 Grand Slam titles in her career says no one expected her to win, but the raucous crowd was clearly in her corner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERENA WILLIAMS, 23-GRAND SLAM CHAMPION: I'm super competitive. Honestly, I'm just looking at it as a bonus. I don't have anything to prove. I don't have anything to win. I have absolutely nothing to lose. And honestly, I never get to play like this since '98, really. Literally, I've had an x on my back since '99. So, it's kind of fun. And I really enjoy just coming out and enjoying it. And it's been a long time since I've been able to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Williams said earlier this month that she doesn't like the word retire but she plans to evolve away from tennis. But after Monday's first round win, she seemed to change her tune, saying, you never know.

Still to come here on CNN, the IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine is pushing forward despite what the agency's chief calls significant risks. More on that just ahead.

[03:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, more now on our top story. There is an ongoing shelling near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant this hour, even as U.N. inspectors are headed to that facility.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says the team is pushing forward despite the significant risks involved. Shortly after those comments, we learned that one of the reactors at the plant has been shut down and an emergency protection system is activated because of the shelling.

So how do you focus on learning when you are in the middle of a war? Students, and teachers, across Ukraine must adjust to that reality as the school year gets underway for many today. When kids head back to school, this will be the new normal. Bomb shelters built inside schools to protect against Russian attacks.

There were signs the war is already taking the toll on children's mental health, and their ability to learn. And one educational worker says there is a risk of a lost generation of Ukrainian children if they can't go to school.

Our next guest saw some of those challengers firsthand as he took these pictures in Ukraine. Ashley Gilbertson is a photojournalist who documented the impact of the war on children for UNICEF.

Ashley joins me now from New York. Thank you so much for being with us.

ASHLEY GILBERTSON, PHOTOJOURNALIST: Hi. No problem at all. Thank you.

CHURCH: So, Ashley, the latest United Nations assessment is hard to read, 1,000 children killed or injured since the war began in Ukraine. Thousands more traumatized. And you just returned from an assignment with UNICEF focusing on the state of children there. What did you find?

GILBERTSON: Well first of all, that numbers is the verified number so the real number is going to be a lot higher than that. But I found that the, well, as you expect but the war is awful for children except this one this one is particularly bad because the use of explosive weapons.

So, cruise missile or artillery, you know, these projectiles, they are hitting the children very severely in civilian areas. They are getting lodged in playgrounds, in schools. So, it's not just the explosions and building but its aftermath as well.

Children beyond the fighting exposed to these deeply distressing events. So, I meet eight, nine, ten-year-olds who are telling me stories that you wouldn't want to hear from your closest adult friend. Just deep, deep trauma.

CHURCH: And we've been continuing to look at some of the images that you took in Ukraine. I do want to highlight a couple of photographs and get the stories behind them. The first is Masha posing in front of what was her classroom in Kharkiv. What more are you able to tell us about her?

GILBERTSON: Masha was, I think more grown-up than most of my friends that are war correspondents. I mean, she was 12 years old, and she's standing in front of the school and she told me they bombed it about a month ago, it was an airstrike. And I don't know why.

And I remember photographing her, and I've got to hold myself together when I'm making these pictures especially in front of the kids. That you hear that like I don't know why they bombed it. Just the innocence. She said I thought that COVID was bad that this is the worse time in my life.

[03:35:03]

And so, I ask what she wanted to do. She wants to be a psychologist because she wants to hear people's problems that have come up through the war and outside of the war and try to help them. She told me that she started keeping a journal of her thoughts. She started meditating and doing yoga to try to deal with the stress. Like the strength of Masha, I was so moved by.

She told me she was in a bomb shelter when the bombing started, like when the war started. Her friend had an asthma attack. And so, she started calming her friend down with breathing exercises under Russian shelling saying, it'll be all right. You won't die. Everything is going to be OK. A 12-year-old girl.

And these are the positions that we as adults are putting these kids in. You know, they are the ultimate, the most vulnerable victims in this conflict.

CHURCH: Yes. And clearly, her story and all these children's stories have touched you very deeply. What about Diana, she's on rollerblades here in a suburb of Kharkiv. Her school was also destroyed. What more did you learn about her and her life?

GILBERTSON: Right. Diana was a 9-year-old that we found in Saltivka. Saltivka is a neighborhood in Kharkiv that was, like, actually the largest residential neighborhood in all of Ukraine.

And it was hit very, very hard by the Russians throughout the beginning of the war. So, the Russians pulled back a little bit, but it's still being hit by missiles and by artillery. So, apparently, when Diana returned after evacuating for a little while, her mom told me that she started crying and said, I don't want to be here. All the buildings are destroyed.

But Diana said, she turned to her mom and said, it's OK. Like I've gotten used to it. She's living in a huge apartment complex building, after building, after building, there's not one window that is still intact. Russian shells still come in every night, every day.

And in fact, I mean, she told me about her birthday having it in a bomb shelter and she didn't want cake. She didn't want anything. All she wanted to do was go to the park with her mom, but she can't go to the park or the playground or her old school because it's all filled with unexplored ordinance.

So, she roller blades outside her apartment. And that night I went home, or I went back to the hotel and there was a huge explosion and the hotel, I mean, the city shook and it was the same night that a cruise missile aisle hit that, hit the dormitory of the, well, in Kharkiv killing 14 people. She was OK thankfully, but living in an environment like that, I've never seen anything like it.

CHURCH: It is just such a horror and it's so important that you share these stories that we understand what is going on in the lives of these young children living through this war. And when this war does eventually come to an end, the suffering, of course won't be over for the children of Ukraine. What will they need to help heal their scars if that's even possible?

GILBERTSON: Well, I'm not sure about healing scars ever, right? But you learn how to carry what they've experienced. And I think that in order to do that, they're going to need a lot of psychosocial help. I mean, all of these buildings, we can rebuild, but the scars that they're going to carry will need, you know, real attention from experts.

But, I mean, I think most importantly, we need a ceasefire. We need this war to stop. I mean, the most important thing for all of these children in Ukraine is that we find a way to peace, that we can find diplomacy rather than artillery and cruise missiles.

UNICEF in this case has been doing incredible work in Ukraine, direct work in conflict zones on the frontline working to fix schools, help children and it's -- I was deeply moved by the work they were doing. So, supporting them is a start now.

CHURCH: Ashley Gilbertson, thank you so much for sharing your incredible images and the stories behind them. We appreciate it.

GILBERTSON: Thank you.

CHURCH: And still to come, a new report outlines evidence of alleged human rights violations in western China. And the Chinese government is not happy about the release. A live report coming up, next.

[03:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: China is lashing out over a long-awaited report from the U.N. that accuses the Chinese government of committing serious human rights violations in Xinjiang province which could amount to crimes against humanity.

The assessment comes four years after U.N. experts first called attention to what they said were credible reports of more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities being held in detention centers for reeducation and indoctrination.

The report was released at the very end of Michelle Bachelet's term as U.N. human rights commissioner. China calls the findings a fast planned by the U.S. and western countries.

And CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is covering this and she joins us now live from Hong Kong. Good to see you, Kristie. So, you have that long- awaited --

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

[03:44:58]

CHURCH: -- U.N. Xinjiang report, which was released against China's wishes. What are the key lines in it?

STOUT: Yes, Rosemary, this report is 45 pages long. It was released just minutes before the end of the tenure of the outgoing U.N. human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet. And this is a damning document. You know, in it, it says serious human rights violations were committed in Xinjiang. It also adds that crimes against humanity may have also been committed in the region as well.

And it also quite methodically goes through a number of the key allegations that have been leveled against China for its treatment of Uyghurs, as well as other Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang, including torture, including sexual violence and rape, including forced medical treatment.

And it adds critically that these allegations are credible. Now inside this report, there are the voices of people who were inside these detention facilities in Xinjiang who either worked there or were detained there since 2016. Many of them said that they were forced to undergo medical treatments, that they were regularly administered pills and injections.

I want to share one testimony with you. It's from the report. One individual says this. Quote, "we received one tablet a day. It looked like aspirin. We were lined up and someone with gloves systematically checked our mouths to make sure we swallowed it." Unquote.

Others spoke of various forms of sexual violence in the camps including rape, including sexual humiliation, including forced exams. One such exam took place in a group setting that prompted one woman to share this, quote, "it made old women ashamed and young girls cry."

The accounts in this report, it's utterly distressing and disturbing to read. China has blasted the release of this report. They said that it is based on lies and disinformation.

We also have a statement from China's mission to the U.N. in Geneva. They say this, quote, "all ethnic groups including the Uyghurs are equal members of the Chinese nation. Xinjiang has taken actions to fight terrorism and extremism in accordance with the law effectively curbing the frequent occurrences of terrorist activities." unquote.

China has called the camps in Xinjiang vocational learning and training centers. But for years now, the U.N. has cited experts saying that they are not that, that they are in fact, these extra judicial detention centers. It also included in this report are a number of recommendations, including an appeal to China to start a prompt process to free, to release those who have been arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Yes, so distressing, as you say. Kristie Lu Stout joining us live from Hong Kong. Many thanks.

STOUT: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, thousands of troops are coming together on the Korean Peninsula as the U.S. and South Korea stage their largest combined military drills in years. An up-close look just ahead.

[03:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, the U.S. and South Korea are holding their biggest combined military exercises in years. Both are calling them defensive, but North Korea says the drills are invasion rehearsals.

CNNs' Paula Hancocks joins us now from Seoul. Good to see you, Paula. So, these joint military drills always put North Korea on edge, and more so this year than ever, because they're the largest in a very long time, but they'll also use live fire, won't they? What is the latest on this?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, there was 11 days of joint drills between the U.S. and the South Korean militaries. Now that hadn't happened for some time, this Ulchi Freedom Shield, it was called and it was believed to be the first time that this had happened in at least four years.

What we went to see on Wednesday was something that was corresponding with that. Not part of that but it was the first time that this joint combined unit, U.S. and South Koreans side by side had actually had this large-scale live fire drill since the unit had actually been created back in 2015.

So, it used to be, the fact that we were quite often invited to see these joint drills to show to the world, and of course, to potential enemies what the U.S. and South Korean militaries could do that had been on pause. But now it appears to be back to normal.

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HANCOCKS: These kind of combined live fire drills have not been seen for some time here on the Korean Peninsula. The scenario a joint U.S.- South Korean counter attack to an invasion by an unnamed enemy around 30 kilometers, 18 miles south of the demilitarized zone and North Korea it's not hard to imagine who that enemy might be.

BRANDON ANDERSON, DEPUTY COMMANDER, U.S. ARMY 2ND INFANTRY DIVISION: Although the greater, the threat, the greater are the alliance and the greater the training and the purpose of training, the focus of training. And I think that threat is we're all here for a reason. UNKNOWN: All clear and ready to conduct counter attack.

UNKNOWN: Show goes in, goes up, and this is the safety handle.

HANCOCKS: Now both militaries are at pains to point out that these are defensive in nature, but it's simply not the way that North Korea sees them. They believe that these are dress rehearsal for an invasion. We've had Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un's sister calling them anti-North war exercises.

Now we haven't seen this for some time, partly because of COVID-19, there were many simulated exercises during that time, but not these large live fire drills. And also back in 2018, then U.S. President Don and Trump put these kinds of drills on hold, saying that he wanted to give diplomacy a chance. Calling them war games.

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Saying that they simply didn't have a place while he was talking to then, to the north Korean leader Kim Jong-un. With new leadership in both the U.S. and South Korea came a decision to expand these exercises in the face of missile launches, and a feared seventh nuclear test from North Korea.

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HANCOCKS (on camera): Eighteen missile launches so far this year. And of course, we are waiting to see if there will be that seventh nuclear test. U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies saying they believe that all the preparations have been done and they have been done for months. What remains now is the political will from Kim Jong-un. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right, Paula Hancocks joining us live from Seoul, many thanks for that report.

And thank you for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. CNN Newsroom continues with Christina Macfarlane, next.

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