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Liz Truss to Succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister; Zelensky Accuse Russia of Deteriorating Situation at Plant; IDF: Al Jazeera Journalist Like Killed by Israeli Fire; Russia Buying Rockets and Artillery from North Korea. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 06, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Christina Macfarlane. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

A federal judge has granted Donald Trump's request for a special master to handle the documents found at the former U.S. president's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. The Justice Department and Trump's legal team have until Friday to nominate candidates.

And a record setting heat wave is stretching California's power grid to breaking point and fueling deadly fires across the state. Two people have been killed in Southern California's Fairview fire. Much more on both of those stories coming up on "EARLY START" in about 30 minutes time.

But for now, let's go back to our Max Foster with the latest on the U.K. Prime Minister. As, Max, we await Liz Truss' trip north to meet the Queen.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, so the plane is on the runway on the outskirts of London. Boris Johnson is already on his way en route of to Scotland. So, the process is that Boris Johnson will go to the Balmoral Castle, meet the Queen, effectively tender his resignation and then Liz Truss will go in afterwards and be appointed Prime Minister.

Boris Johnson is no longer Prime Minister and have to make his own way back. So, we don't know how he's getting back but he won't be able to use any of the government vehicles anymore. So, we'll wait to see what happens there.

He is in the meantime, really encouraging the entire Conservative Party to really get behind Liz Truss. Because obviously, after these election campaigns there is divisiveness that shows itself and Conservative Party really needs to be brought together if it's going to deal with the upcoming economic crisis. His comments coming just a short time ago from Downing Street where he got up early for the last time in that house and gave a few words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LIZ TRUSS, BRITISH CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADER: I will deliver on the energy crisis dealing with people's energy bills and also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: So that was Liz Truss speaking. That was yesterday when she won the leadership contest. So, we heard from Boris Johnson this morning. A new poll actually just released has found that six out of ten people in Britain say the country's new Prime Minister should call a general election before the end of the year. The survey was the before Truss was named the new Conservative Party leader. So, it's not personal but it does speak to the idea that she doesn't have a mandate from the British people to have that position only the tens of thousands of people who voted in the Conservative Party election. One of them was Craig Hoy, a member of the Scottish Parliament and chairman of the Scottish Conservatives as well. Thank you for joining us.

CRAIG HOY, SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Thank you for having me.

FOSTER: First of all, if we just speak to these pictures of Liz Truss heading off to Balmoral.

[04:35:00]

This is the first time the Queen has appointed a new Prime Minister in this way, it's always been done in London, it has been before. Just describe what Liz Truss will see when she arrives in Balmoral.

HOY: Well, one thing I should say it's normally done, you know, half a mile up the road from Downing Street, but now they had to go to Scotland where I'm from. And compare and contrast the serenity that I think you'll see at Balmoral where the Queen is presently, to the chaos of the media that she'll return to in Downing Street. So, I think this is the calm before the storm as it were for the new Prime Minister. But I think she will have that ceremony with the Queen where she will formally --

FOSTER: It's called the kissing of hands.

HOY: The kissing of the hands and we don't formally kiss hands. But she will therefore become Prime Minister and she will return to Downing Street this afternoon where she will obviously speak on the steps of Downing Street and then start to prepare her new government.

FOSTER: Just before we returned to the speech, in the early part of her career, she was a Liberal Democrat, wasn't she, campaigning to get rid of the monarchy and effectively get the Queen fired. So, she's moved on from that.

HOY: I think she has moved on and we've all done things in our youth that we want to move on from. And I think she is firmly a monarchist. She is definitely a Conservative and she's setting an optimistic vision to take our country forward, to take Scotland and the rest of the U.K. forward. And that's something myself and my colleagues look to support her in doing.

FOSTER: A vision which has had precious little detail up to this point. Her argument being until she's appointed Prime Minister, she shouldn't outline the detail. But this is the first chance we're really going to get a sense of how she's going to interpret those big ideas that she articulated during the campaign.

HOY: Absolutely, she will set her -- I think on the steps of Downing Street, her vision and her values. Then I think on Thursday this week we can expect to see a package of measures, a bold and ambitious package of measures to deal with the biggest challenge I think she will have in her premiership which is the global cost of living crisis. And I think and hope that she will come forward with a bold package that addresses those very real concerns of the Scottish people and British people.

FOSTER: Just describe what she's like. Because she's a complete unknown to a lot of people, which might actually play to her advantage when people are looking for a fresh start as well.

HOY: Well, I think obviously the qualities I've seen in Ms. Truss as she's been foreign secretary, she has been engaged in trade negotiations around the world on our behalf, for example, the removal of U.S. Scotch whiskey tariffs, a trade deal with Japan. So, she's shown that she's able to have those big negotiations and I think now is her opportunity to bring our party together so that we can look forward to tackling the big issues. But also setting out a new and fresh case for the union here. Because obviously, the SNP are seeking to divide Scotland and the United Kingdom --

FOSTER: The Scottish National Party.

HOY: Yes, the Scottish National Party. And I think we want to see proactive and positive engagement with the Scottish government on the cost of living crisis. But I also hope that she would to stand firm on the future of Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom.

FOSTER: So, it's the Conservative and Unionist Party -- that's the full name for it and your party very much stands for keeping the union together, keeping Scotland attached to England.

HOY: Yes.

FOSTER: During the campaign, Liz Truss talked about Nicola Sturgeon, who's the leader of that campaign, really the figurehead of that campaign, and saying the best attitude towards her would be to ignore her. So, she's firmly committed to the unionist cause. But how easy is it going to be to hold the nationalists down.

HOY: Well, if you look at the SNP's record in running Scotland as a devolved government, their feeling on schools, hospitals, roads, railways, productivity and the economy. So, we want to focus on those issues but Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are determined to keep pushing the separatist agenda to divide Scotland and divide the United Kingdom. But I think we'll set out a positive vision for Scotland and the United Kingdom. And one of the first things we're going to show how through the pandemic, for example, through the vaccine program, it proved that we're stronger better together.

FOSTER: OK, thank you very much. And she may say something about that in her speech.

HOY: I would fully expect her to address the question of the union.

FOSTER: OK, thank you so much. We wait to see what she says, but later on after she's Matt the Queen and she's back here in London and gives her first big speech in Downing Street. Much more coverage of the U.K. Prime Ministerial hand over ahead. Right now, I'm going to hand it back to you Chrissy in the studio. Hi, Chrissy.

MACFARLANE: Thanks very much, Max. Of course, we're following some other big stories this hour. Ukraine being one of them. And Ukraine's president is blaming Russia for a fire caused by shelling near the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia. The plant's last working reactor was disconnected from the power grid as a safety measure. This comes after the visit from the International Atomic Energy Agency which inspected the facility at constant risk from attack.

Well, CNN's Melissa Bell is joining us now from Kyiv with more. And Melissa, we know the IAEA are actually due to release a report soon into their findings from that visit. What more though are we learning about this disconnected reactor?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It isn't so much the disconnected reactor, Christina, that had happened already last week when the IAEA inspectors arrived there were two functioning reactors, number five had to be disconnected because of the shelling and dangerous to it.

[04:40:03]

That's happened again. But most worrying of all is the energy supply situation around the plant. That too has been affected by the shelling in recent days. And specifically, Christina, there were four external power supplies to this plant before the war, one of them had been functioning until Monday -- until Saturday, sorry -- it was the one last reserve line that connected the Zaporizhzhia power plant to a thermal power plant that had been allowing electricity energy to leave the plant and head towards Ukraine's electricity grid and electricity to arrive at the grid to allow for cooling systems to function properly. That on Monday was severed as well as a result of shelling that caused a fire. We're hearing from the IAEA inspectors that it was switched off on purpose to order to protect it. The fact is that it still has not been re-established. So that the electricity, the cooling systems within the plant are simply powered by that last remaining reactor and that of course is an extreme concern.

We've been hearing from President Zelenskyy last night in his evening address who laid the blame for this squarely at the feet of Russian forces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Shelling the territory of Zaporizhzhia means that the terrorist state does not care what the IAEA says, what the international community decides. Russia is interested only in the fact that the situation would remain the worst and as long as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: Now we should have more from the U.N. watchdog itself, Christina, not only the report that's due to be published as a result of the visit of Rafael Grossi and his team, but also more from Rafael Grossi himself when he speaks to the U.N. Security Council tonight -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: All right, we'll keep an eye out for that. Melissa Bell in Kyiv, thanks very much.

All right, still to come, the U.S. Defense Secretary claims Russia hasn't made any headway on strategic goals in Ukraine so far. What it could mean for Moscow's military future later this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. The Israeli military admits a Al Jazeera journalist may have been killed by Israeli fire. The Israeli Defense Forces say there's a high possibility Shireen Abu Akleh was accidentally shot while covering a military operation in May. That the soldiers were not aware they were firing at journalists. CNN's Hadas Gold joins me from Tel Aviv with more. And Hadas, we know it took the IDF four months to release this report. Just talk us through the findings here and the chances of any further action.

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the IDF said that they undertook a very lengthy investigation. And while they said that they still could not unequivocally determine who fired the fatal shot that killed the Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, partly because the bullet that killed her was so damaged that the forensic examination was inconclusive. They had come to the same conclusion essentially that CNN, as well as several other media organizations, as well as the United States had all come to. That it was most likely an Israeli soldier who fired the fatal shot that killed Shireen Abu Akleh while she was covering that Israeli military operation in the West Bank town of Jenin in May.

Now according to the Israeli military, they believe it was a soldier who was sitting in an armored military vehicle with limited sight range south of where Shireen Abu Akleh was standing and when he shot at her he thought that he was shooting at Palestinian militants and did not identify her and her colleagues as journalists. This despite the fact that they were wearing that protective gear including those protective vest that say "press" on both the front and back.

Now when we asked the IDF about our own investigation that showed there was no militants in Shireen Abu Akleh's direct vicinity, the IDF told me that they determined that there were militants maybe not one meter beside her, they said, but in the area north of here.

Now in IDF official telling reporters that the soldier is regretful and adds that this was not supposed to happen and should not happen. He did not do this on purpose. But in terms of any actual consequences, there will actually be no criminal prosecution. This is according to the Israeli military advocate general who said they will not be pursuing criminal prosecution because they determined that the soldier did not deliberately fire at any sort of civilian or somebody that they identified as a journalist and thought that they were firing at Palestinian militants.

But this has been met with quite a bit of anger both from Shireen Abu Akleh's family, as well as her network Al Jazeera in the Palestinian Authority. I want to read you part of Shireen Abu Akleh's family's reaction.

They said in this statement that Israel is refusing to take responsibility for murdering Shireen. That they're not surprised with this outcome because they believe that the Israeli war criminals cannot investigate their own crime and that they remain deeply hurt, frustrated and disappointed. They are also continuing to call on the United States to carry out their own investigation that will lead to accountability they say, because Shireen was also an American citizen -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: All right, Hadas live for us there in Jerusalem. Thanks very much for now Hadas.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from London. We'll have a major upset alert to tell you about from the U.S. Open. Details of that are just ahead.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. There are signs Russia may be feeling the impact of its war on Ukraine. A U.S. official tells CNN that Moscow is purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea with more purchases possible in the future. Meantime U.K.'s Defense Secretary says Russia hasn't achieved any of its strategic objectives so far in its invasion of Ukraine. Shortages in soldiers and equipment mean a new deployment of Russian forces will have to be delayed -- according to Ukrainian defense intelligence. CNN has not been able to independently verify that claim.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is joining me here live on set. And Clare, none of this makes for good reading for Russia. Just talk us through what you know of the purchasing of these rockets and artillery from North Korea and the significance of that.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, very significant. This comes from a U.S. official, according to CNN's Kylie Atwood, that they believe that Russia is in the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea likely to be deployed on the field in Ukraine and that more purchases are likely in the future.

Significant because, of course, this is another reputational blow to the Russian military which has taken a number of blows throughout this conflict. The U.S. officials saying the purchases indicate that Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in this war.

Now just for context, before the war, Russia was actually the world's second biggest arms exporter, second only to the U.S. It was a major player in the global weapons industry. Now they suggest that the sanctions -- and by the way, there were major sanctions in place on Russia's defense industry even before this invasion. After Crimea they were tightened after the invasion. It suggests they're working. It suggests that Russia is not only not able to produce enough of its own weapons to resupply the battlefield in Ukraine but that it's having to turn to countries like North Korea, pariah nations, the few allies it has left to support it.

And as you know by the way, that it has already purchased Iranian drones. The U.S. suspects that they have now as of the end of August, taking possession of those drones. So, it underscores that sanctions are working and it underscores that the length of this war, much longer than expected, is playing heavily on Russia's military.

MACFARLANE: And for that reason, they would want none of this, of course, to be public knowledge. Clare, thank you.

All right, well, to tennis now and a stunning upset at the U.S. Open. American Frances Tiafoe has beaten 22 grand slam champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of play. The 24-year-old Tiafoe is the youngest man to get this far in the tournament since Andy Roddick reached the 2006 finals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCES TIAFOE, DEFEATED RAFAEL NADAL: Probably the world stopped. I couldn't hear anything for a minute. It was like, oh my God, like he was shaking his hand. I don't know what I said to him. Like I was just like, it was such a blur.

RAFAEL NADAL, 33-TIME GRAND SLAM CHAMPION: Congrats to him. As I said before, no excuses at all. I'm completely happy to recognize that he was much better than me today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:55:00]

MACFARLANE: Tiafoe has an amazing back story. When he was a kid his father worked as a day laborer at a tennis center outside of Atlanta, the family moved into a vacant storage room there and that's where he learned to play. Incredible.

Well in our "Top Shots" today we go to the bottom of the Atlantic. As new video of the Titanic shows never before seen details of the sunken ship. This stunning 8k quality video was captured by OceanGate Expeditions. It provides the clearest pictures yet we have of the ship wreck. Any new details about the ships 200 pound anchor chain are now visible. And the name of the anchor maker is actually etched on the side of it. Also discovered one of the boilers from inside the ship that fell onto the ocean floor. The new footage gives insights on how the ship is eroding 110 years since it sank in 1912. Also, in our "Top Shots," an incredible story out of Brazil where a

man survived 11 days at sea, floating inside a freezer. The man's ship sunk after he was out fishing -- on a fishing trip off Brazil's northern coast. Speaking with CNN affiliate Record TV, he says he doesn't know how to swim and jumped into the freezer after noticing it didn't sink. He survived a potential shark attack and at one point even had to scoop out water by hand to keep the freezer from sinking. Goodness, me.

And now for the first time since stepping back from her royal role, the Duchess of Sussex delivered a speech in Britain saying it was good to be back in the U.K. Meghan gave a keynote address at the One Young World Summit in Manchester where she was accompanied by her husband, Prince Harry. It's been more than two years since the pair stepped back from the royal duties. And according to British newspapers there are no plans for Prince Harry to see his brother during the trip as the relationship between the two remains strained. Shame about that.

All right, that does it for this edition here of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London. Stay tuned for "EARLY START" coming up with Polo Sandoval next.

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