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Queen Elizabeth's Body Will be Taken to Westminster Hall; British People Pay Their Respect to the Queen; Russian Forces Retreats; Ukrainians Picks Up Russian Forces Leftover Artilleries; Not a Good Day for Wall Street's Closing Bell. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 14, 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)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Becky Anderson in London, where crowds are already lining up to pay their final respects to Queen Elizabeth. They'll see the royal family prepares to escort her coffin to Buckingham Palace behind me to the Palace of Westminster.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rosemary Church in Atlanta, where we are tracking the fallout from a disappointing day on Wall Street, as trading in European markets gets underway.

ANDERSON: Well, it's 8 a.m. in the morning and we are just hours away from the next step in Queen Elizabeth II's final journey. The late monarch's coffin rests inside Buckingham Palace but later today, it will travel to Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster where she will lie in state until her funeral on Monday.

Well, her arrival in London late on Tuesday, greeted with cheers and applause by the large crowds gathered to pay tribute and witness this moment in history. King Charles III is now back in London after spending most of Tuesday in Northern Ireland, where a prayer service was held for his mother.

This was the first visit since becoming the new monarch. The king, along with other members of the royal family will follow the queen's coffin later today as a procession takes it from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.

Well, CNN correspondents are following all of the developments for you. Scott McLean is in London where people are already lining up to see the queen lying in state starting later today. Let's start, though with Nina dos Santos joining me outside of Buckingham Palace.

And I'd like to bring that map of the possession back up for you. Just to give us a little bit more detail about what will be happening today.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, things will kick off from about 2.20 p.m. when the queen's coffin will be loaded onto a gun carriage and then it'll be escorted in this procession from outside of Buckingham Palace where it spent the night at (Inaudible) where chaplains watching over it all the way towards Westminster Hall which will pass right behind us.

That, as you can see there was obviously the line that people have been waiting in to try and greet the queen's coffin at Westminster Hall. They will be able to start paying their respects from 5 p.m. this evening, but for 38 minutes, between 2.22 p.m. here at Buckingham Palace and 3 p.m. in the afternoon, London time, we will see that procession very high-profile one, Becky.

Obviously, all eyes will be upon the most immediate members of the family. King Charles III, himself following the procession his mother's coffin walking with his two sons by his side. The two princes reunited. This will be a big moment.

Prince William, the new prince of Wales and his brother, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, also Princess Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II to accompany her coffin coming down from Edinburgh where it landed in an air force base just northwest of London and made a 15- mile journey to Buckingham Palace yesterday.

She will also be walking alongside her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence. And also, her son, Peter Phillips.

So, there will lots of members of the royal family. Remember that the queen is survived by four children, eight grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. And a lot of these figures will be seen. One figure, a lot of the world's media will be probably be very heavily focus on will of course be the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle who, is I had to say, had quite a fractious relationship with the royal family recently.

She is likely to be in a motorcade inside one of the royal vehicles with Sophie the countess in Wessex, and in another vehicle further ahead we'll see the queen consort, Camila, and the new princess of Wales, affectionately known by many of our viewers as Kate Middleton.

ANDERSON: Nina, thank you. Nina dos Santos with me here outside Buckingham Palace. Scott McLean is down by the Thames. He has a view of the Houses of Parliament behind you there.

[03:05:05]

And there are people already queuing as I understand it, with some hours to go before the coffin reaches that building behind you, and they are given an opportunity to actually pay their last respects.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's remarkable to think, Becky, that the people who are in line right now, and we're still about nine hours to go before the public will be allowed in to file past the coffin.

They'll be able to do that for maybe 30 seconds or a minute, but most of the people that you talk to here, it is not about the 30-second opportunity to see a flag draped coffin. It is about being here and showing your appreciation for this monarch, this woman that so, so many people respect and appreciate and really wanted to -- wanted -- want to pay their respects to.

So, this obviously is the Houses of Parliament Westminster Hall is there. That is where the body will lie in state. And eventually, the lineup will snake past the Houses of Parliament down toward the Lambeth Bridge, across the Lambeth Bridge. And then to where at the moment it's starting, and then heading this way.

So, right now, by my count, it is roughly about a quarter of a mile long. So about 400 meters long or so. The first couple hundred people actually spent the night here. And then many other people have come since this morning.

I just want to introduce you to two folks really quickly. This is Steven and his son, Luke. And I just wonder guys, why was it so important for you guys to be here.

UNKNOWN: Well, I think we're in -- we're in this fourth night at the moment where we started off by getting, you know, a slightly youth prime minister and we're going to end it by, you know, burying the monarch. And in between, you know, the -- all these days it feels like this sort of waves and waves history crashing over your head.

I've I felt like that, especially when I saw the ascension -- sorry -- accession ceremony on TV. It's like they're using all these weird medieval words and it's like, you know, history is sort of, you know, stretched its hand out and sort of --

MCLEAN: Yes.

UNKNOWN: -- slapping you around -- around the face.

MCLEAN: Definitely. Historic. Thank you so much, guys.

I appreciate it. I want to talk to, if we have time here, I just want to quickly talk to a couple more people as we snake along the line. Remember 33,000 people, managed to file past the coffin in Scotland. The body will be on display for four and a half days. So, they're expecting a whole heck of a lot more.

These three women here, well, one young girl, two women here, three generations have decided to, come pay their respects to the queen. And I just wonder why it was so important for all three of you to be here.

UNKNOWN: My father came and watched the coronation when he was the same age as Rosie. And he was on the front page of the newspaper and the morning edition. But then when Edmond Hillary conquered --

(CROSSTALK)

UNKNOWN: Edward.

UNKNOWN: -- Everest, he was then moved off on later editions to later pages. So, he had come to see the, you know, the coronation. MCLEAN: Slept overnight.

UNKNOWN: Yes. And slept overnight with his mother, you know, wrapped up in blankets umbrella and all that. I've served in the forces. I was in the army for 17 years. She was my commander-in-chief and I thought, yes, it was, yes, it's the one thing I really want to do to come and pay my last respects.

And Rosie is very interested in the queen has been, you know, been defense of castle has followed -- followed. Yes. And everything she's done we've been to the room, Robin's (Ph) a home show. So, you know, it was just, it was something that we wanted to do.

MCLEAN: Important to do.

UNKNOWN: And actually, we thought coming and doing, lying in state at this time, what, what was the right thing to do? We'll watch the funeral on TV at home.

MCLEAN: Fair enough. And thank you for your service and thank you so much for talking to us.

So, Becky, there's just sort of a slice of the hundreds, maybe thousands of people in line already. This lineup expected to get a heck of a lot bigger.

ANDERSON: Yes, absolutely. Scott McLean down on the River of Thames. And Nina with me here. And let me just bring up a map to show you exactly how long that line is expected to get.

It will stretch from where Scott is now all the way along the River Thames there past some of the iconic moments in London. London Bridge, Tower Bridge, and could go as far as Southwark Park. That's an awful long way. Hundreds of thousands of people expected.

I'll have a lot more from London in just a few minutes. First, let's get you to Rosemary Church at CNN center in Atlanta. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Thank you so much, Becky. We'll talk to you soon.

[03:09:56]

Well, Russia is on the run in eastern Ukraine but still launching attacks in the south. A Ukrainian official says at least two people are dead in Mykolaiv near the Black Sea after it came under heavy shelling today.

Now this comes after senior aide to Ukraine's president said a counteroffensive against Russia is slowing, but not stopping. He says troops are fighting to retake control of the city of Lyman in the Donetsk region. The Ukrainians say there are still pockets of fighting in the east. Russians are looting as they pull further back.

And Ukrainian forces are seizing abandoned Russian weapons, vehicles, and ammo. Russia still holds huge chunks of Ukrainian territory. And the collapse of Kremlin forces in the east does not mean they're gone for good. But the Pentagon says a number of Russian forces are crossing back into Russia.

Well, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now says some 8,000 square kilometers, that's roughly 3,000 square miles have been recaptured this month. And he says about half of that territory is still being stabilized as his troops look for sabotage groups and collaborators.

One of those liberated cities is Izium. A former Russian logistics hub.

CNN's Sam Kiley was the first international correspondent to go to Izium after its liberation by Ukrainian forces. And he earlier filed this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's been a stunning advance, Ukraine's route of Russian invaders has recaptured 6,000 square kilometers, Ukraine's president says, this land was held by Russia just a few days ago. Now it's providing a rich harvest to Ukraine's army of abandoned Russian equipment.

The Russian Z symbol painted over. The guns ready to kill Russians. The recapture of Izium a strategic prize accelerated by precision strikes from new artillery donated by western allies.

This gets clearly hit with a very large piece of artillery or an air strike, and you can see how important it was strategically. Clearly, a former school as a kind of children's painting on the wall, but it's also got these large holes which would've been dug to store tanks or armor personnel carriers, even artillery pieces.

There's one, two, three, four, five. We were shown into a command center in the bunkers of an old factory. So down here we've seen there's a medical facility. Call it something like that inside this bunker. There's barracks.

UNKNOWN: Russian soldiers --

KILEY: They're sleeping here.

UNKNOWN: Yes.

KILEY: The top brass here slept in beds made of old doors. And then of course the command center here. As I walk along here, it's absolutely extraordinary. They were the different labels for the different roles of the senior Russian offices on these school desks that have been arranged in this bunker in an old, well, it looks like a brick factory now.

They were safe down here underground. But they didn't feel safe enough to stay in Izium. And what's critical ultimately for the Ukrainian armed forces is making sure that the senior officers of the Russian army stay on the run. If they do that, the Russian armed forces will collapse completely in Ukraine and potentially threaten the longevity of one Vladimir Putin. This couple celebrated liberation. They told me that some of their

neighbors were less delighted and had blamed Ukrainian forces for shelling their homes, but he insisted the incoming shells never hit the checkpoints or Russian artillery based right outside his house.

And so, blame the Russians for false flag attacks on civilian. He said the Russians behaved like pigs. They stole everything from all the empty houses before they ran away. The Russian guns were busy here, their wooden ammunition boxes now stockpiled for winter fuel.

And to the Ukrainian victors here, the spoils have been rich. The capture of Izium and the route of Russia here has broken a key link in Putin's logistics chain in the battle for the east.

Now you have the remarkable scene of a tank coming to collect an abandoned Russian power. I asked him if it had been a hard fight, not really, he said. The latest Ukrainian successes may not be the beginning of the end of this war, but not even the Kremlin can deny that this chapter has been a very sorry tale for Russia.

Sam Kiley, CNN, in Izium.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And CNN's Clare Sebastian and is tracking events in Ukraine from London. She joined me now live. Good to see you again, Clare.

So, what more are you learning about Ukraine's stunning advances, its continuing counteroffensive, and of course, efforts to take back the city of Lyman.

[03:15:04]

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Rosemary, we're getting a sense, we know, and certainly it's visible in Sam Kiely's reporting just how much of a challenge this is for Russia. But we're getting a sense now of just how much of a challenge this is for Ukraine as well.

The scale of this operation that they are now in the middle of - President Zelenskyy in his address on Tuesday said that they have now liberated 8,000 square kilometers of territory. But in about half of that, about 4,000 square kilometers, they are still undertaking what he calls stabilization measures.

So, sort of rooting out any remaining Russian troops or arresting collaborators. Things like that. So, the work continues in a lot of those areas. Meanwhile, as you were noting, there was shelling overnight in Mykolaiv which is near the other front, near the Kherson region, the southern front. So that is something that they are grappling with.

And meanwhile, we know that the offensive continues up in the northeast, in the Luhansk region. The head of the -- the Ukrainian, head of the regional military administration there says that Lyman is an area where they are now fighting. The Russians are still there. The Russians he says are also trying to establish another defensive line just to the Northeast of that.

That would suggest that they've given up a fair amount of territory in the Luhansk region but the fighting does go on. He says that if they can take Lyman, that will sort of open up the opportunity to retake the whole Luhansk region.

But just on the distances here, we've talked about this since the beginning of the war. Ukraine is a vast area. The distance between Lyman and say, Kherson in the south is about 600 kilometers driving between them will take 10 hours. So, you get the sense of how desperate these fronts are and the challenge of fighting in all these areas.

The military advisor to president Zelenskyy told Becky Anderson, Rosemary, on Tuesday that not only are they going to continue fighting on that southern front and in the northeast, but they may open up another third front. He didn't say where that would be.

CHURCH: All right. Clare Sebastian joining us live from London. Many thanks.

And time for short break now. When we come back, inflation is still on the rise here in the United States and Wall Street is not reacting well. We will check the world's other financial markets when we come back. Do stay with us.

[03:20:00]

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CHURCH: The closing bell couldn't come soon enough for most investors on Wall Street, a disappointing inflation report pushed U.S. financial markets to their worst day since June of 2020. The Dow lost more than 1,200 points. That's close to 4 percent. The NASDAQ fell 5 percent, and the S&P 500 lost 4 percent also.

So, let's bring in CNN's Eleni Giokos who is following world financial markets for us from Dubai. Good to see you again, Eleni.

But, wow, what a dismal day on Wall Street. How are markets elsewhere --

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

CHURCH: -- looking and what are the futures revealing about what might lie ahead?

GIOKOS: Let me tell you, you know, seeing those numbers on the screen, it was a brutal selloff. And here's the thing. I think market participants had expected that inflation had peaked in the U.S. and then inflation number comes through and everyone is solely disappointed.

The futures, however, are showing to a more tempered start. We're looking at numbers moving to the upside, which is encouraging but we've got a few hours to go before the U.S. markets actually start. But let's take a look at Europe. We have also seen to the negative, we're seeing red basically across the board.

Here's an encouraging number however out of the U.K. where inflation for the month of August came in at 9.9 percent. It is better than anticipated, which means that the Bank of England probably will not change its stance on what it's doing with interest rates, which we know is on a tightening cycle

FTSE is down, it's eight-tenths of a percent. We've got the CAC down six-tenths of a percent. So right across the board. In Asia, we saw enormous pain coming through on the back of the fact that we are seeing sticky inflation in the U.S., that it is more broad base, that it is more pervasive. And what that's going to mean for the Federal Reserve's rate tightening cycle that it's probably going to become a lot more aggressive that gas prices are lower.

But unfortunately, feeding through into food, into medicine, and rentals. That negative sentiment going through into the Asian markets as well. We see the Nikkei down three, almost 3 percent. You've got the Shanghai composite down almost 1 percent. And we even saw the Japanese yen down to levels we haven't seen since 1998.

So again, this is the narrative about what a U.S. recession might look like. Is this going to be a soft or hard landing and how that's going to work out in the next couple of weeks. The Federal Reserve of course meets in terms of its rate decision next week. It seems that the prognosis right now is another hike of 75 basis points. Some are even saying that to really have an impact on inflation, they would have to consider 100 basis points.

And again, this of course is being reflected in how the markets have been performing. Are we going to see more losses, more profit taken out of the market in the next few weeks? These are now the issues about the rerating of risk, Rosemary, and how that's going to play in terms of the tightening cycle that is going to hurt its growth. It's going to hurt the economy and whether it's going to work as effectively as initially hoped.

CHURCH: Yes. Well, we'll all be watching what the Fed decides to do in the end.

GIOKOS: Yes.

CHURCH: Eleni Giokos, many thanks for wrapping that up for us. I appreciate it.

[03:25:00]

And still to come, we will have more on the queen's final journey and how the U.K. is honoring its longest reigning Monarch.

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ANDERSON: Welcome back to our viewers around the world. I'm Becky Anderson outside Buckingham palace, where the time is just before half past eight in the morning.

And we are continuing to bring you details of Queen Elizabeth's last journey as the U.K mourns the death of the monarch.

In the coming hours, the queen's coffin will be taken from here, Buckingham Palace, on a gun carriage in a military procession to Westminster Hall.

[03:30:00]

The Palace of Westminster. There, the U.K.'s longest reigning monarch will lie in state until her funeral on Monday. And people have lined up overnight to be first in the queue to pay their respect to the queen.

Large crowds are expected to show up over the next few days, all hoping to bid the queen a final farewell and be part of what is this historic moment in British history.

Well, Canada is honoring the late Queen Elizabeth II. In the coming days on Thursday, the Canadian Parliament will pay tribute, then on Monday, September the 19th, that will be a National Day of Mourning. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a commemorative ceremony to honor her majesty's life and service.

Mr. Trudeau says the queen's service to Canadians, quote, "will forever remain an important part of the country's history."

Well, I'd like to bring in Ralph Goodale. He's the Canadian high commissioner to the U.K.

And it's good to have you with us.

So, you are one of 14 high commissioners representing countries of the realm, where King Charles III is now head of state who met with the newly installed monarch at the weekend. Just describe what happened and what was discussed?

RALPH GOODALE, CANADIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER TO THE U.K.: Well, it was, it was a very somber occasion, as you can imagine, a lot of grief and mourning in the room for her, her majesty, her late majesty. And all of the high commissioners from those 14 countries where the monarch is there, monarch two, wanted to extend condolences and very warm wishes from the people of all of those countries.

There was -- there was also a feeling of some anticipation, a new -- a new monarch was in place, not just British monarch but our monarch two. And what would that be like? What would his priorities be? Where would he travel first? Those sorts of issues.

There was a sense of history in the room. This has never happened in the last 70 years. And this is the critical transformation of power or transfer of power in countries that have a constitutional monarchy. And that role of head of state separates from the more political head of government. That's a very critical distinction.

ANDERSON: Let's talk about the priorities that you believe, and perhaps share with his what King Charles III believe should be his priorities for Canada. GOODALE: Well, to start with, I think Canada will be anxious to have him continue the tradition that his mother had of traveling to Canada frequently. She was there 22 times more than any other country in the world. She often would say this is my -- this is my home away from home. And when I go to Canada, it feels like I'm coming home.

And it -- Prince Charles, as he then was, has been in Canada 19 times. So, not quite as many as his mother but pretty close. So, it will be important for him to be hands on, to be present, to travel, meet people, relate to people. That's really important in a country like Canada with all of our multicultural diversity, with our vast geography, the second largest land mass on the face of the earth.

So, getting from St. John's Newfoundland to Vancouver, British Columbia is always a challenge and of course, all across Canada the issues in relation to indigenous people are exceedingly important. Reconciliation and healing after the awful experience of residential schools and so forth. It will, it -- that is a set of issues in which the crown has a very important role to play.

ANDERSON: You are from Saskatchewan yourself. The queen did express her condolences to the horrible attacks that happened there near the indigenous areas, the matter of indigenous peoples and the monarchy is extremely complicated. And just explain the feelings about the monarchy and how you believe that relationship will develop going forward.

GOODALE: It is -- it is exceedingly complex and delicate and exceedingly important for Canadians to find and to follow successfully the path of reconciliation to build bonds rather than barriers.

[03:35:06]

The queen was working very hard on those -- on those issues. From the point of view of indigenous people, in one sense the monarchy conjures up the old bad memories of colonialism. On the other hand, indigenous people believe very sincerely that their treaty relationship is with the crown, not with any government. With the crown. And therefore, there are -- there are instantly mixed feelings.

But the crown can play a very positive constructive role in finding the path forward. King Charles is already well-acquainted with indigenous leaders in Canada. He has not a newcomer to these issues. He has visited. He has met, he has listened and understood. Most recently in the spring when he was visiting Canada and very successfully so.

He also has a very big asset in the governor general of Canada. Her Excellency Mary Simon, a very distinguished indigenous leader herself. And this is -- this is a remarkable set of circumstances where the queen's vice regal representative in Canada is an indigenous woman.

ANDERSON: That's fascinating. She will be here.

GOODALE: She will be.

ANDERSON: Well, it seems for the funeral. Who else will attend?

GOODALE: The, according to protocol, and nobody does protocol quite as well as the British. But according to protocol, the three official mourners are the governor general, the prime minister and the high commissioner. There will be others in the Canadian delegation and that is being worked on right now.

It's tremendously difficult because quite literally, thousands would want to come and only a handful can. There will be very strong representation in the Cortez and otherwise from the Canadian armed forces from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The queen was an honorary colonel of several Canadian --

ANDERSON: That's right.

GOODALE: -- regiments. She was the honorary commissioner of the RCMP. So, they -- they'll all be here to pay tribute to a wonderful life.

ANDERSON: It was on her first visit just before she became queen in 1951. And this was a visit on behalf of her father that she said, I want to just -- she said, I am sure that nowhere under the sun could one find a land more full of hope, of happiness and a fine loyal, generous hearted people.

GOODALE: Well --

ANDERSON: The words of Queen Elizabeth II.

GOODALE: We are -- we are very grateful for those sentiments and she once, when traveling somewhere else in the world, a world leader asked her, where are you going next, Your Majesty? And she said, I'm going home to Canada.

ANDERSON: Lovely. Ralph Goodale, thank you very much, indeed.

GOODALE: Thank you.

ANDERSON: For joining us.

Well, CNN's Nada Bashir is outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Nada, that is where in the Westminster Hall behind you, the queen's coffin will lie in state, and the opportunity for people around this country and visitors to this country at far, pass and pay their last respects. That is a whole where a history built a thousand years ago by, in the reign of William the Conqueror back in something like 1097. What are you seeing and hearing where you are?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Becky, this is certainly a historic day and it will be taking place on a historic building. That ceremonial procession is set to start in just a few hours. We will see the queen's coffin being carried in that procession from Buckingham Palace through the streets of central Westminster passing through Whitehall, the central government here in Britain, passing Downing Street before it reaches the Palace of Westminster behind me, where of course the queen's coffin will be placed to lie in state in Westminster Hall. And during that procession, of course, hundreds of thousands of people

are expected to take part in queuing and gathering around Westminster in central London for a chance to not only pay their respects to the queen as she lies in state for four full days, but also to catch a glimpse of their next monarch, their new monarch King Charles III.

He will be taking part in that procession alongside his two sons, William, the Prince of Wales and Harry, the Duke of Sussex who will be walking on foot behind the coffin. That image of course will be very reminiscent of Princess Diana's funeral of course.

But this is a historic day. Other members of the Royal family will also be taking part in that procession. They will be received by the archbishop of Canterbury who will lead a service for the royal family.

[03:40:01]

But it's after their departure that people who have been queuing for hours, some overnight, will be able to enter Westminster Hall to pay their respects to the queen. Becky?

ANDERSON: Nada Bashir there in central London. Thank you.

Now I'll have a lot more from London in just a few minutes. First, let's get you two Rosemary Church who is at CNN center in Atlanta with some of the other news headlines of the day. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Thank you so much, Becky. We'll see you back at the top of the hour.

And still to come, a former Twitter executive turn whistleblower heads to Capitol Hill with damning allegations of lies, spies and security lapses at the social media giant. We'll take a look at that.

[03:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. A former Twitter executive turned whistleblower testified before a U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday. Peiter Zatko who was the company's top security officer made allegations of lie, security, lapses, and foreign spies on the social media company's payroll. He also alleged that a Twitter employee could take over the accounts of every senator in the room and that the company doesn't fully understand all of the user data it collects, why they got it and where it's stored.

Twitter has said Zatko's allegations are inconsistent and inaccurate.

Joining me now from San Francisco, Josh Constine is a principal investor and head of Content of the venture capital fund SignalFire.

Thank you so much for being with us.

JOSH CONSTINE, VENTURE PARTNER, SIGNALFIRE: Thank you so much for having me. CHURCH: So, Twitter whistleblower, Peiter "Mudge" Zatko testified

before the Senate judiciary committee on Tuesday laying out his allegations of security failures at the company. The former head of security revealing its weak defenses against hackers and disturbing foreign influencers.

He said the company was a decade behind industry security standards had safety, lapses, and misled the public. So, what are the legal and national security ramifications of his testament?

CONSTINE: The fact is that Twitter's security system is a clown show right now. They are woefully behind the times, they have completely uninstrumented their technology. So, they don't actually know who is looking at it. And that means that engineers have unrestricted access to look at user accounts and private user data.

That can include e-mail addresses and phone numbers, but also I.P. addresses which can give location. And they aren't even aware that there are foreign national agents working within Twitter on Twitter's payroll from both China and India. Twitter's laptops aren't properly secured.

And what this means is that especially for any political dissidents out there or anybody trying to maintain their anonymity while operating on Twitter, they could be at risk of discovery by these kinds of foreign governments that might look to arrest or harass them.

And the fact that Twitter, security systems are this bad raises the question, what about other major social networks, communication mediums, and even government agencies that we all rely on?

CHURCH: Yes. I mean, that is the question, isn't it? Twitter responded by saying this. Mr. Zatko's allegations are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies. So, what do you say to that?

CONSTINE: Well, they should probably refute those specific claims rather than making these broad statements that large tech companies often do to try to deflect blame. The fact is that they have -- are the ones that are behind and they -- what they're really hoping to do is sweep this all under the rug in hopes that Elon Musk's acquisition offer will go through.

You know, he is offered to pay $44 billion to buy the company. Now he's trying to slink away from the deal, especially given that Twitter is currently valued at just $31 billion. And so, they're hoping that they can ram this deal through even despite these new security allegations.

The problem is that, Elon -- Elon Musk never asked about those. He asked about bots, but that was not the core of the testimony today in front of the Senate judiciary committee. And so, he may still need to come up with other reasons why he should be allowed out of this deal.

CHURCH: Yes. I mean, let's look at that deal, because Twitter shareholders approved Elon Musk's $44 billion deal Tuesday to buy the site, setting up a huge legal battle in October. But a judge recently ruled that Musk can use Zatko's allegations to help him back out of that Twitter deal. So, what do you think the outcome will likely be.

CONSTINE: You know, Twitter has been -- have -- has been under allegations of poor security for a long time now. You know, Peiter Zatko is actually, he was hired because of a massive breach where Barack Obama, Kanye West, Joe Biden, their accounts were actually seized and used to share spam of solicitations to send these hackers Bitcoin.

So, the reason that Peiter was actually hired in the first place was because of these security problems. They were no mystery to Elon Musk. So, he's really going to have to convince the judge that Twitter woefully was neglectful of these issues. And that's part of what today's testimony hinged on.

The idea that Twitter executives actually knew about these problems and ignored them because they thought they would be too costly to fix.

[03:49:59]

And in the case of them selling advertisements to China, even though China might be able to use the clicks on those ads to find the location of dissidents and enemies, the state, they still -- the Twitter still sold them those ads, despite knowing that they could be used for that. Because they wanted to maximize profits.

So, again, this just goes back to the problem that these major communication mediums are privately owned and therefore are always going to, you know, cut corners when it comes to security that could really put not only users, but national security in jeopardy.

CHURCH: All right. We'll watch to see what Twitter does next. Josh Constine, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.

CONSTINE: My pleasure.

CHURCH: Well, just ahead, the United States could experience a freight rail strike on Friday with far-reaching financial consequences. We will look at the possible impact. That's next.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. On Friday, the United States could see as many as 115,000 rail freight workers walk off the job. The Association of American Railroads estimates a strike could cost the us economy $2 billion a day. Railroad and union officials have been unable to reach a deal. Representatives from both sides are going to Washington to try and come up with a solution.

Meanwhile, retailers warn a strike could cause a systemwide shutdown causing prices on many goods to soar even higher. And thank you so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church.

I'll be back with more news and more live coverage from our Becky Anderson at Buckingham Palace in just a few moments. Do stay with us.

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