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Disgruntled Employee Went on Killing Spree; Morale is Low for Russian Troops and Mercenaries; Outrage in Iran Not Dying Down; Ebola Virus Killed Dozens in Uganda; Newly Recruited Russian Troops Will be Tested in Ukraine; U.S. Intel Can't Guess What's in Kim Kong-un's Mind; DOJ Demands Team Trump to Turn Over All Documents; President Biden to Pardon Minor Drug Offenders; Cubans Losing Their Patience for Slow Power Restoration; Caribbean Islands Bracing for Tropical Depression 13. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 07, 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)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead on CNN Newsroom, Thailand mourns the victims of its brutal nursery massacre. Some as young as three years old. We'll have the latest on the lives lost, as well as what learning about the attacker in a live report.

Anti-government protests escalate in Iran despite violent crackdowns. How the U.S. is getting involved in new sanctions.

Plus, Russian morale sinks as Ukraine reclaims more territory each day. The internal pressure facing President Putin as his losses mount,

UNKNOWN: Live from CNN center. This is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: It's 2 p.m. in Thailand where the country is in a state of disbelief and mourning. Flags are flying at half-staff in honor of the 36 people killed in a nursery school massacre in the northeast. Two dozen of the victims were children. Witnesses say a man with a knife and several guns shot his way into the daycare center and started slashing the children. Victims ranged in age from three to 69.

One teacher says she heard what sounded like firecrackers, when she turned around, two of her coworkers fell to the ground. Another says the massacre could have been much worse, but a number of children stayed home because of heavy rains.

CNNs Blake Essig is following developments live this hour from Tokyo. Blake, what more can you tell us about this horrific tragedy?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, an investigation is still underway to really try to figure out why this peaceful, quiet area in northeastern Thailand not known really for any violence is now believed to be the scene of Thailand's deadliest massacre ever carried out by a single person.

According to officials with Thailand's criminal Investigation Bureau, we know that the attacker was a 34-year-old man armed with multiple guns and a knife who entered a nursery while these kids were inside sleeping. Authorities have identified the suspect as a former police officer who was dismissed from duty and charged with a drug-related offense last year involving crystal meth and yaba. Yaba, which means crazy medicine entice a combination of meth and caffeine.

Now the police chief also said that the attacker appeared in court on that drug charge just a few hours before the massacre took place with a verdict expected today, he could have been sentenced to a max of three years in jail or a fine of up to about $1,600 U.S. dollars.

Regarding the attacker's connection to the nursery, police say that the attacker's two-year-old stepson was enrolled in the childcare center that was attacked. Officials say that the 34-year-old went there looking for the child who wasn't there at the time. And it was then that the attack started.

Out of the 24 kids inside the nursery police say that 23 of them, as you mentioned, one of them as young as three years old were killed. And for those who were at the nursery yesterday, the police chief says that most of the victims killed were stabbed.

Take a listen to one of the nursery school teachers describe this attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): He spent quite a long time in the center. I saw him using the knife smacking on the dead bodies of the kids again and again. He also used the knife to smack on a pregnant woman teacher who was due to give birth in one month. She died inside that room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ESSIG: Now following the attack police say the suspect fled the nursery trying to kill anyone he came into contact with using guns, knife, even the car he was driving to strike bystanders in the process. In the end, Kim, at least 36 people dead, 24 children. And as you mentioned, at the top, could have been a lot worse had it not been a stormy heavy rain that fell yesterday.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, just, really tragic. Blake Essig in Tokyo, thanks so much,

U.S. President Joe Biden is sending a stark warning about Russia's nuclear saber-rattling following recent military routes from parts of Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin recently suggested that using nuclear weapons isn't off the table. About a few hours ago, Biden warned Putin of the consequences saying

there's no such thing as the ability to easily use a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.

[03:05:04]

A senior U.S. government official tells CNN the president's comments caught other officials off-guard, saying there was no obvious sign of an escalating threat.

Meanwhile, Ukraine says the death toll from Thursday's missile strike on Zaporizhzhia has reached at least seven people. Officials say five others are still missing following the Russian attack. While on the front lines Ukraine says it's liberated about 120 settlements over the past two weeks, and that includes Ukrainian gains both in the south and the northeast.

Salma Abdelaziz is keeping an eye on developments in Ukraine, and she joins us now from London. Salma, what's the latest?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Let's start with the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Kim, because this has been a very important, very concerning flashpoint in this conflict since the beginning, but things seem to have escalated in recent days.

Now this power plant, very close to the front lines, has been under Russian control since the beginning of the conflict really, but it's still run by Ukrainian technicians. And President Putin took this extraordinary step this week of federalizing the power plant, essentially illegally annexing a nuclear power plant that is, of course, recognized as Ukrainian.

And what that does is it sort of set off a competition over who is actually running a power plant right on the front lines in Ukraine. President Zelenskyy brought this up to European leaders. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): If the Zaporizhzhia plant does not work, we face certain difficulties in Ukraine. We get a situation where we do not have a surplus of electricity, which we can, in particular exports E.U. countries. It is also a disadvantage for the E.U. nations who lose a reliable source of energy supply.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: All the reactors at that power plant have been shut down since -- since September. But IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency officials on the site say that there are plans potentially to restart one of those reactors. And of course, as you mentioned, there has been repeated shelling and repeated attacks in and around the area of the nuclear power plant, raising that specter, raising that possibility of a potential nuclear disaster. So, what the IAEA chief is doing, he was in Kyiv just a couple of days

ago was trying to negotiate, trying to find a solution, trying to create what the IAEA is hoping will be a security zone around that power plant to avoid any potential disasters.

As I mentioned, he was in Kyiv earlier this week. He's expected to travel to Moscow any day now and there's hopes that there might be a breakthrough there, but as you can see there, a very concerning chapter in this conflict. A nuclear power plant right on the front lines. Competitions over who's running it. The possibility that one of the reactors may be up soon and no clear way out for the IAEA. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks so much. Salma Abdelaziz in London.

So as military losses for Russia mount in Ukraine, questions are growing about what President Putin might do if he's backed into a corner. What would his game plan be for his political future and is admitting defeat in Ukraine even an option for him?

So, to talk about that, we're joined by Sergey Radchenko, a distinguished professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and he's speaking to us from London.

Thanks so much for being here with us.

So, the -- in Russia, the current backlash to mobilization, we're seeing so many protests, people fleeing and everything like that. Is it having any effect to undermine Putin's support in Russia.

SERGEY RADCHENKO, PROFESSOR, JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: I think it is having an effect. There is a general sense awareness among the public about this war. There was a sense for many months that a war was happening, but it did not have a direct effect on the lives of ordinary people.

But now of course, so many are being called up to the front lines. We have seen protests. We have seen, you know, people actually been taken out to fields with nothing to do, criticizing the government. And we have seen very interesting noises or heard interesting noises in the elite, with potential that that may potential a signal that there's -- there's disagreement about where this war is going.

But Putin himself has so far been really off limits. He has not been directly criticized within the elite or really, you know, it's not really possible to criticize him publicly in Russia yet.

BRUNHUBER: So, I suppose the Western fantasy is that Putin is somehow, you know, pushed aside and replaced because of all this. Is that, you know, just as I framed it, a fantasy.

RADCHENKO: Well, we have been talking about this. Yes. When the -- when the war began, there was a lot of talk that perhaps there would be unrest in Russia and Putin would be overthrown. Russia has a history of coups historically. They are very difficult to carry out. There was one attempt in 1964 that was successful. Khrushchev was overthrown, and this was couple years in the aftermath of the disastrous Cuban missile crisis.

[03:10:00]

So, you know, there's a parallel there, but in general it's very difficult to overthrow the top leader, so to speak. And of course, the military and the security services have to be somehow brought into the plot. So, I think for the time being, the possibility of this happening, it's fairly remote. We cannot base our policy on this, on this expectation. But it's fair to say that things are very uncertain for Putin at -- as -- at this moment.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. But entertaining that that fantasy or taking it down, down the road maybe. Who would be the most likely to force him out and, and how would that happen.

RADCHENKO: So, you know, as in the annals of criminal -- criminology, we have the situation where we have, you know, dogs, proverbial dogs fighting under the carpet. We don't know who actually is winning until one dog emerges on top.

So, we have the security services, we have the military. We have people like Ramzan Kadyrov in Chechnya, who's supposedly criticizing the military at the moment. He has criticized the military. We have an outside actor like Yevgeny Prigozhin and his notorious Wagner group.

So, all these people are, you know, positioning themselves. They're positioning themselves around Putin, and it's not clear. It's clear that something is going on. It's not exactly clear what is going on, and it's very difficult to say how the struggle, if it is taking place at the moment will play out in the days and weeks ahead.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. All of that completely a noble as is, I guess the answer to this question. But would a potential successor actually really be any different.

RADCHENKO: Well, this is an interesting question. You know, my personal view is that the elites are deeply cynical in Russia, i.e., they're not really firmly invested in Putin's ideological agenda. And if an opportunity comes up and Putin is somehow removed from power, an opportunity comes up to change course.

I think there's a good possibility that even if we have people who take power, who position themselves today, as you know, very anti- western element. It could be that once they actually take power into their hands, they will change core simply because they don't really firmly believe in what is happening. They don't believe in that a message that they're trying to project.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, I mean, quickly before we go though, we have to, you know, say the more realistic outcome is perhaps that that Putin, you know, lasts and he dies in office. I mean, I imagine he wouldn't want to leave, you know, voluntarily than face the prospect remote as it might be of being tried or jailed after he gave up power. Is that right?

RADCHENKO: Absolutely. Absolutely. And the -- and the key historical parallel here is Stalin who died in office in 1953 after (Inaudible) bloody purges, repressions, you know, decimating the party leadership. And it was still tolerated. It was still tolerated by his closest comrade. And that just points to the fears that exist up there in the Russian elites, that prevent leaders from being kind of dispensed with.

BRUNHUBER: There you have it. All right, well I really appreciate your analysis, Sergey Radchenko, thanks again.

RADCHENKO: Thank you for having me.

BRUNHUBER: Well, it's not just Russian regular troops who are racking up losses in Ukraine. The same now applies to the so-called Wagner Group, a private mercenary force that's been deployed from the get-go.

But as Melissa Bell finds out, the war is now taking a toll on Wagner's ranks and morale. And we just want to warn you, some of the images you're about to see are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The chaos of Ukraine's front lines through the eyes of a Wagner mercenary.

UNKNOWN: Legs, guts, arms. Boys, it's all messed up.

BELL: A video shared exclusively with CNN by a member of Vladimir Putin's so-called private army. One of those you've seen enough.

UNKNOWN: I'm sorry, bro. I'm sorry.

BELL: A far cry from the slick propaganda used by Wagner to entice recruits to the depleted Russian front. Long kept in the shadows by Moscow, the elite paramilitary group, or the musicians as they call themselves now lionized for their role in Russia's springtime victories, like the surrender of Azovstal or the fall of Mariupol.

The mercenaries experience initially making all the difference to Moscow, according to this former Wagner commander.

MARAT GABIDULLIN, FORMER WAGNER MERCENARY (through translator): Without their active assistance, the Russian armed forces would not have been able to move forward at all.

BELL: The Kremlin didn't respond to our request for comment, but a months' long CNN investigation has found what the war has cost Moscow's elite fighting force. It's men. It's confidence, and it's allure.

Marat Gabidullin says Wagner fighters are paid $5,000 a month to do the work regular Russian soldiers can't or won't.

GABIDULLIN: There is not enough motivation, only money. Russian peace or the American dollars.

[03:15:00] BELL: Through their Telegram channels and through intercepts Ukrainian intelligence keeps a watchful eye.

"Moral within Wagner is low, says Andre Yusof. (Ph) It wasn't designed to participate in a full-scale war."

GABIDULLIN (through translator): They are dissatisfied with the overall organization of the fighting, the inability to make competent decisions, to organize battles. And of course, this means losses.

BELL: This video shared with CNN by Ukraine's defense ministry shows a mercenary desperately asking why there is no body armor for them.

UNKNOWN (through translator): There are no more flag jackets, no more helmets either.

BELL: Of the estimated 5,000 Wagner mercenaries sent to Ukraine, 1,500 have been killed according to intelligence sources in Kyiv. In Russia, that's meant recruitment drives from front pages to billboards, the W orchestra is waiting for you, says this one, with a number to call and no experience needed.

A recruiter telling CNN through WhatsApp that barring thuggery, terrorism and sexual impropriety, all criminal convictions are negotiable.

A man who appears to be the founder of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin personally offering clemency to prisoners for six months of military service. The elusive oligarch no longer denying ties to the group that the war in Ukraine has both exposed and transformed.

YURIY BELOUSOV, UKRAINE'S WAR CRIMES PROSECUTOR: It really shows that these guys are in trouble, so they really don't have people. They are -- they're ready to send anyone. There's no criteria for professionals anymore.

BELL: And that could mean more possible war crimes, especially on the retreat. This video shared with CNN by a Wagner soldier appears to show mercenaries lining up the bodies of dead Ukrainian soldiers. In a chilling conversation, they debate whether to booby trap them or shoot those who come to retrieve them before realizing that they're out of ammunition.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Human rights groups are blasting the Iranian government for its violent crackdown on peaceful protesters, and now the U.S. is imposing new sanction.

Plus, the United States announced enhanced screenings for travelers from Uganda as the African country's Ebola outbreak worsens. We'll get the latest straight ahead. Please stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BRUNHUBER: High School students have been marching through a town

near Iran's capital denouncing the Iranian government. Now, these images from the activist site Iran Wire show that after weeks of demonstrations the anger has yet to die down.

On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed new sanctions against the Islamic Republic for its violent crackdown on protestors and for shutting down key parts of the internet.

[03:20:03]

Meanwhile, human rights groups have issued scathing new reports on the government's hard-line tactics.

CNN's Nada Bashir is following all of this live from London. Nada, let's start with the latest on the protests.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, Kim, we are still seeing those protests taking place up and down the country now entering their third week. We are still, of course, seeing that violent crackdown by the Iranian security forces. And we're also learning more details around a police crackdown on the southeastern city of Zahedan, which took place We saw that violent crackdown on those demonstrators just in the last

week.

Now, according to a report by Amnesty International, at least 82 people were killed during those protest as a result of that violent crackdown. Hundreds of others injured, but they have warned that that figure is likely to be far higher considering the evidence that they're seeing, the video circulating on social media.

And of course, these protests that we're seeing up and down the country were sparked, of course, by the death of Mahsa Amini in detention. She was in custody taken by the morality police, a notorious morality police. And of course, that has sparked those protests up and down the country.

But according to a local campaign at this specific incident, still protest taking place in response to the alleged rape of a young girl from the Baloch community in the city, a minority community, raped by a police officer. In response to that we saw protestors, according to this local campaigner setting fire to a local police station.

Now, according to Amnesty, the response by the security forces saw live fire ammunition, metal pellets being shot at protestors, tear gas being used to disperse the crowds. But we are seeing that escalation of violence by the securities forces.

And of course, there are also rising concerns around the reported death of another teenager that we've been seeing. Nika Shahkarami. The U.N. human rights officials have called for an independent and impartial investigation into her death. And we've heard from her family speaking to BBC Persian, they said that they weren't able to actually even identify her body for 10 days.

We've heard from the Iranian state media denouncing these allegations. They've denounced foreign officials response to this. They say that this wasn't at the hands of the Iranian security officials, but the hands of other armed men.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting. All right, so now, let's turn to the western response and the ratcheting up of sanctions. So, take us through what they are and whether they'll have any effect, do you think.

BASHIR: Well, we've seen both the European Union and the U.S. now imposing those tighter sanctions on the Iranian regime. We heard earlier in the week from President Joe Biden taking a firm stance in response to this violent crackdown. He was firm in his support for these peaceful process and firm in the U.S. response as well.

Now, of course, we're learning from the U.S. treasury that those sanctions will be laid on Iranian officials, specifically focusing on seven key officials including the Iranian interior minister who of course oversees the Iranian security forces, but also, the minister of communication because we have seen that internet blackout taking place in Iran.

A number of web sites and social media sites no longer accessible to citizens in Iran who have been trying to share video, share information around what has been taking place on the ground.

The European Union for its part has also expanded sanctions on officials it believes to have perpetrated violence against peaceful protestors, as well as those who've overseen, and have connections with the morality police, which has of course, been charged with violence against women for a number of years now. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right. I appreciate you keeping an eye on this important story for us. Nada Bashir, thank you so much.

Uganda's Ebola outbreak is causing global concern with the U.S. announcing enhanced screenings for inbound airline passengers traveling from the country. Forty-four cases have been confirmed in Uganda, including 10 healthcare workers.

CNN's Larry Madowo reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even the dead at a risk. Every departure, a potential new case as Ebola continues to spread through Uganda.

KYOBE HENRY BBOSA, INCIDENT MANAGER, UGANDAN HEALTH MINISTRY: The epidemic appears to have started around the beginning of September when people started dying in the small village in the sub-county of Madudu.

MADOWO: The outbreak on the declared much later on September 20th after a diagnosis in the Central Uganda District of Mubende. Two weeks later, it spread significantly. Yet experts fear there may be dozens of underreported cases.

BBOSA: This is a rapid evolving picture. Very complex.

MADOWO: Uganda is no stranger to Ebola. The last outbreak hit the country in 2019 and only ended a year later as the world was waking up to COVID-19. Experience with the disease partly why the government has been downplaying it.

YOWERI MUSEVENI, PRESIDENT OF UGANDA: I want to reassure Ugandans and all residents that the government has got capacity to control this outbreak as we have done it before.

[03:24:59]

MADOWO: Uganda has decided against closing public spaces, but it says the same infrastructure and practices used to curb the spread of COVID-19 will be used to keep Ebola in check.

BBOSA: We think that using what we've done before, we should be able to appropriately respond to this current outbreak.

MADOWO: And while the variant responsible for this particular outbreak, the Sudan virus does not currently have a vaccine, trials could start in four to six weeks.

SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN, CHIEF SCIENTIST, WHO: There are about six candidates, vaccine candidates available for the Sudan, Ebola virus, which are mostly in very early stages of development, but three of them have some human data, some immunogenicity and safety data, and so they can actually proceed to be used in the field.

MADOWO: The idea is to vaccinate health workers and contacts of known positive cases to slow down the spread, a so-called ring vaccination. Similar to what was done in the DRC in 2019.

Among the vaccine candidates to be trialed is a jab developed by Oxford University using the same technology employed in the COVID-19 vaccine, it developed with AstraZeneca. Fresh hope against a deadly disease that has ravaged African nations for decades.

Larry Madowo, CNN, Accra. Ghana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right, just ahead here on CNN Newsroom, the White House admits it doesn't really know why North Korea's leader is suddenly test firing one ballistic missile after another, possibly preparing for another nuclear test. We get the latest from Seoul just ahead.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: President Biden announces he will pardon thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession. What could mean for the future decriminalization of the drive? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

The U.S. and South Korea announced they begun two days of joint naval exercises off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. Joint drills between the U.S. South Korea and Japan have been ongoing since last week.

Biden administration officials privately admit to CNN that they lack hard intelligence to know why North Korea has suddenly stepped up its provocations with a flurry of ballistic missile test. They say North Korea's inner workings are shrouded in secrecy, making it extremely difficult to predict what leader Kim Jong-un will do next. But it is widely believed that North Korea is on the verge of carrying out its seventh underground nuclear test.

[03:30:01]

CNN's Paula Hancocks is following all of these developments for us from Seoul, South Korea. So, Paula, attention seemed to be rising. Take us through what's behind this and the response from the U.S. and its allies.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, it is interesting that senior administration officials familiar with the matter do tell CNN that there is a lack of hard intelligence when it comes to North Korea. Now it is something, that I don't think will surprise many given the fact that it is such a closed off country. But it is also illuminating that it's even for the U.S. intelligence agencies very difficult to try and guess what Kim Jong-un the North Korean leader is going to do next.

For example, they do know that or they believe that he is ready for a seventh underground nuclear test. That's an idea, that is shared here in Seoul as well among the intelligence agencies. But what they believe now is the political will is yet to be there. And they simply don't know when Kim Jong-un may decide to do it.

So, certainly it does make it difficult to try and figure out exactly why North Korea is carrying out quite so many missile tests at the moment. They carried out six launches in just 12 days. For North Korea's point of view, they have said through the foreign ministry and state-run media that they are carrying out these launches because there have been joint drills between the U.S. and South Korea, blaming the United States for raising the tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Now, what has happened at this point? We know is that there is this two-day naval drill, as you mentioned. This is between the U.S. and South Korea, the USS Ronald Reagan back in the waters off the east coast of South Korea part -- being part of this naval drill.

And just yesterday, on Thursday, there was a trilateral drill involving the Japanese Navy as well. And all three have been very clear that this is in response to what they are seeing from North Korea, to show that they are militarily capable of responding to any threat that North Korea could provide.

But of course, these naval drills are what Pyongyang had said was the reason for their missile launches at the beginning. So, experts are expecting this tit-for-tat to continue. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right. Paula Hancocks in Seoul, thank you very much.

And a short time ago I spoke with international relations expert Daniel Pinkston in Seoul for his take on what's happening there. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL PINKSTON, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, TROY UNIVERSITY: There's been a long development plan and at the party congress in January of last year, Kim announced that wish list, but they've been working on these capabilities for decades. It's something they want to acquire and have in their toolkit to push their political agenda.

And now we're starting to see some pushback and international security cooperation between the U.S. and South Korea and Japan. And that's something that North Korea would like to prevent. They would like to prevent any intervention in the Korean Peninsula in case of any kind of contingency, but these types of missile exercises, and yesterday they had an air ground attack exercise. This cannot compel or coerce the South Koreans, the Americans, the Japanese from ceasing this international security cooperation.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, I mean, it's the same sort of ironic consequences of Putin in, you know, not wanting NATO solidarity and his invasion of Ukraine, you know, resulting in exactly that.

So, in terms of the western response, I mean, we've been seeing this pattern for 30 years. You know, North Korean saber-rattling followed by a show of force from the U.S. and its -- and its allies. I mean, it doesn't seem to do much here.

PINKSTON: Right. So, in my view, the mutual deterrence is robust. It's in no one's interest to engage in a conflict. The different parties in the region will try to push their political objectives and try to achieve goals. So, for North Korea, that's getting out of the sanctions, regime lifting U.N. sanctions and multilateral sanctions against the regime for their nuclear program and their missile program.

They'd also like to see the termination of U.S. military deployments and security treaties in the region. And of course, they would like to be recognized as a peer nuclear weapon state and all the benefits that they believe are accrued from that status. So those are type of goals ultimately are resulting in some kind of Korean confederation or unification of Korea on North Korean terms.

So, they've had this wish list that's been very consistent for a very long time. They believe that these types of weapon systems and this power, this military capability can help achieve those goals.

[03:35:00]

But now we're seeing the balance and the blow back against their development programs, and I think that will probably continue. Fortunately, it's stable, but we could always have an accident.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Let me just jump in. I mean, President Biden has offered to negotiate without preconditions any time, any place, as he said. Why hasn't North Korea accepted? Why is there just been basically silence?

PINKSTON: Well, I think because there's no convergence of interest or anything on the table that would lead to a mutually acceptable agreement. So, the things that the U.S. would like to achieve, some kind of arms control agreement in eventual denuclearization of North Korea, that's off the table for North Korea.

Any type of, you know, status from a summit meeting or the symbolism of that was already achieved under the previous administration. So, there's really nothing to talk about other than some kind of, you know, establishment of hotlines and communication channels to avoid a kind of accident. Unfortunately, yes, we had --

BRUNHUBER: You've -- let me jump in. You've written about sort of why denuclearization is just nada -- is a no go for North Korea. Explain why that is us.

PINKSTON: Well, we could do a whole seminar, a whole semester on that topic. But to make it very brief, you know, the history of the North Koreans, North Korean regime, the Kim family regime, the Korean Workers Party, it's part of their world view.

They believe that the only pathway to security is through material capabilities force. That's how you rise to the top of the political system in North Korea. So, exchanging, military capabilities, including nuclear weapons and their delivery systems contradicts everything they think about for the instruments to achieve their security and to surviving the international system.

They look at the system as being menacing. Everyone is out to get North Korea. You might call it paranoid. Some people would call it paranoid, but that's what they believe. And to exchange that for any kind of security guarantees, some kind of collective security system contradicts everything that they believe in. So, unless there's some change in the thinking of the regime, then it's just not going to happen.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, or unless they get more pressure from their allies, you know, China and Russia, which doesn't seem likely right now given what we've seen recently in the U.N. We'll have to leave it there. I really appreciate your insights, Daniel Pink -- Pinkston in Seoul. I really appreciate it.

PINKSTON: Thanks for having me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: On Thursday, President Biden announced he would pardon thousands of people convicted federally of marijuana possession. It fulfills a campaign promise just weeks before voters head to the polls in the midterm elections.

CNN's Phil Mattingly reports.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For President Biden the day was technically to some degree about campaigning an event in Poughkeepsie, New York to highlight his legislative successes with several Democratic members of Congress up for reelection, a little more than 30 days. A couple fundraisers in New Jersey.

Here in New York, the most important moment of the President's Day was the stroke of a pen that pardoned thousands of individuals that have federal charges for simple possession of marijuana. It was a seismic moment for what it stood for just as much as for what it meant for the policy or those thousands of individuals.

The White House has long to some degree, pushed away efforts by advocates to get them to move in this direction. This signals not only are they moving in the direction, but there is potentially much more to come. The president also urging governors to do the same for state charges in ordering an expedited review by his administration of the scheduling of marijuana.

Now, a schedule one drug that is the equivalent of heroin or LSD, something the president made clear is not believe is remotely equivalent to marijuana. Should the government come back with recommendations that change the scheduling that would change the legal status of marijuana altogether and be yet another step towards the decriminalization of the substance on the federal level.

We've seen it with states over the course of the last several years, more than 20, and all that have legalized it. You've seen it in the advocacy efforts from Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. Some saying this is a great political issue for the president. As I said, about 30 days till the midterms, timing usually not random at this point in time.

With the politics, the policy more than anything else, an extraordinarily important statement on an issue that many people have said was simply not treated the right way for decades.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, New York.

BRUNHUBER: In the U.S. trial of five members of the extremist group the Oath Keepers, a judge ruled jury won't see a, quote, "death list" of Georgia election officials allegedly written by one of the defendants because it's too prejudicial. Prosecutors say the death list had the names of two officials who were the subjects of a conspiracy theory about voter fraud.

[03:40:02]

The accused face charges relating to the January 6th capitol attack. On Thursday, a former Oath Keeper who isn't charged testified he believed that the founder of the group was in contact with the Secret Service agent before the 2020 presidential election and was advised about which weapons were allowed near a campaign rally.

In the legal battle over classified documents between the Justice Department and Donald Trump, Justice Department officials are now demanding to Trump's attorneys that he return all documents marked as classified that he may still have. In recent court filings, officials pointed to empty envelopes with classified banners that were seized in the search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago beach property in August.

CNN Jessica Schneider has more now on the judge presiding over this high-profile legal battle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AILEEN CANNON, JUDGE, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA: My sincere thanks to the president for the honor of this nomination --

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Judge Cannon owes her nomination to the federal bench to Donald Trump, and now she's front and center in the former president's legal fight siding with Trump's team to grant a special master to review the document seized from Mar-a-Lago and decide what should be kept off limits from federal investigators. A decision which is now being appealed and has been criticized.

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: It's really a very pro-plaintiff pro-Trump ruling in all respects.

SCHNEIDER: Not only by political pundits, but also three judges on the 11th circuit court of appeals. Two of them Trump appointees who described Cannon's initial ruling pausing DOJ's review of documents marked classified untenable. The 11th Circuit ultimately allowed the DOJ to continue its probe into the handling of classified material while the special master reviewed thousands of other documents.

Judge Cannon also ruled last week that Trump did not have to officially declare in court whether FBI agents planted items at Mar-a- Lago, something Trump and his allies have repeatedly said in public. The Special master had requested Trump prove his claims, but Cannon stepped in and stopped it.

Judge Cannon has not responded to CNN's request for comment on her decisions, but when asked in 2020 during her confirmation if she had any discussions about loyalty to President Trump, she unequivocally wrote no.

Do you think she has any bias toward Trump?

JASON MENDRO, JUDGE AILEEN CANNON'S FORMER COLLEAGUE: I don't think she has any bias at all.

SCHNEIDER: Jason Mendro worked with Cannon while both practiced at Gibson Dunn a decade ago.

MENDRO: We never talked about politics or judicial philosophy because it wasn't relevant to what we were doing. I still don't know anything about her politics today.

SCHNEIDER: So, she wasn't overtly political.

MENDRO: No.

SCHNEIDER: Aileen Cannon was working as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Fort Pierce, Florida when Senator Marco Rubio's office first reached out about a possible nomination to the federal bench in June, 2019. Senator Rubio gave CNN this statement today.

Judge Cannon is a great judge who I am very proud to have enthusiastically supported. The attacks against her are just the latest example of hypocrisy from leftists and their media enablers who believe the only time it is acceptable to attack a judge is if that judge rules against what they want.

Rubio isn't the only Florida Republican Cannon is linked to. She met with counsel for Republican Senator Rick Scott just before she was nominated.

CANNON: My sincere thanks go to my home state senators.

SCHNEIDER: And records show she donated $100 to Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in 2018. She's been a judge for less than two years. But she told senators her judicial philosophy would be to follow the text and the history of the Constitution, and she shared her personal story to stress her respect for the rule of law, talking about how her mother fled communist Cuba.

CANNON: About the age of seven, I had to flee the repressive Castro in search of freedom and security. Thank you for teaching me about the blessing in this country and for the -- and the importance of securing the rule of law for generation to come.

SCHNEIDER: Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Cities across Cuba are facing power outages more than a week after Hurricane Ian slammed into the island. The country's famous tobacco growing region is also facing a long road to recovery. That's coming up.

Plus, another powerful storm brewing in the Atlantic. Tropical Depression 13 sets at sites on Central America. We'll get the latest forecast straight ahead. Stay with us.

[03:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Hurricane Ian is now blamed for at least 131 deaths in the U.S. with Florida bearing the brunt of it. Some residents say their community is so devastated, they just don't recognize it. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEATHER COX, COMMUNITY DAMAGED IN STORM: To see my hometown in this devastation, it just breaks my heart. My hometown is no longer exist at pretty much.

NICHOLE WELLS, COMMUNITY DAMAGED IN STORM: Sure. It doesn't feel like home anymore.

COX: The memories. That's all we have. The memories and the pictures, the beach. But we'll get through this. We're strong. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Now those women are strangers. They told CNN, they just met each other at this makeshift memorial for storm victims. Meanwhile, many survivors are still in the dark or relying on generators across Florida. More than 170,000 customers are without power.

Now it'll be a long road to recovery for Cuba's vital tobacco growing region after Hurricane Ian laid waste to much of the western part of the island.

CNNs Patrick Oppmann reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The further west you go from Havana, the worse the damage gets. Hurricane Ian plowed into rural Pinar del Rio Province as a category three storm. Days later, people carry the rain-soaked mattresses to dry in the sun. Pieces of someone's roof still hangs from a tree. Some residents have that faraway look, unable to believe their eyes.

This is what tobacco grower Heroshi Robina's (Ph) farm looked like the last time we visited him. After Ian Heroshi Robina's (Ph) farm is unrecognizable. "Here we've lost everything," he says. "All the infrastructure to produce tobacco has been destroyed. There's no house to drive the tobacco or the warehouse, nothing. There's nothing left."

Hurricanes are part of life in Cuba, but residents here say Ian developed so quickly they did not have time to prepare. Rosa just telling me this grandfather, Alejandro, one of the most famous tobacco growers in Cuban history, built this tobacco curing house in 1944. It survived every hurricane. Up until now.

Ian knocked out Cuba's already weakened electrical grid. The first time a storm has taken down power for the entire island. Frustrated by the blackouts, protests have broken out. Ilyana (Ph) tells me she's gone for six days without power and wants solutions, not explanations from officials.

After days and days without power the situation this neighborhood is now boiled over. People have come out to the street to protest, yelling, Libertad, freedom. Counter protesters have now come in and they're yelling, Viva Fidel, long live, Fidel Castro.

Cuba's president called the protests illegitimate and said that officials were working around the clock to restore power. Getting the lights back on in hard-hit Pinar del Rio could take weeks or months officials say. This is the region where much of the tobacco that has rolled into Cuba's fame cigars is grown.

Heroshi (Ph) says usually he would be planning now for the upcoming harvest. Plans wrecked by Ian. "I don't think there's going to be a harvest," he says, it's unfortunate, but it's going to take months to clean this up and months to rebuild."

[03:50:02]

As a fifth-generation tobacco grower, Heroshi (Ph) says he has no choice but to start from scratch. But many here who have been knocked down by the storm may never get back up.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And we're tracking another powerful storm churning in the Atlantic. Tropical Depression 13 formed in the Caribbean and is now located west southwest of Curacao. It's expected to strengthen into a category one hurricane before making landfall in Nicaragua Sunday morning.

CNN meteorologist Britley Ritz joins us now with the latest development.

So, Britley, take us through where it's going to hit and how bad you're expecting it to get.

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Currently sitting close to Venezuela, I want to show you Venezuela at Caracas. This is the Guaire River along the Francisco Highway there, and it's coming up close to the bank. And a lot of these rivers will continue to rise and spill over the bank as the water continues to fall.

So, it's coming in near the Guajira Peninsula right now, infecting them at the moment with winds 55 kilometers per hour. It's going to go over the peninsula, right into the Caribbean and into the warm waters. Which is why we have tropical storm warnings now for the Peninsula and hurricane watches for the islands.

So, the Santa Catalina Islands next in line for the system. And as it rolls over that water, that's fuel. I mean, these water temperatures are in the low 30s, so that will allow for strengthening to a category one storm. We're talking about winds of over 120 kilometers per hour Saturday

night, coming in on Nicaragua, late Sunday, and rolling inland toward Honduras. And weakening due to the friction of the land. But regardless of its weakening, it's still causing a lot of issues.

We're talking landslides, some of the mountainous areas. So, this is going to cause life-threatening conditions from Guatemala to Honduras. Some of these areas picking up almost 250 millimeters of rain, widespread, roughly about a 100 to 200 millimeters.

I want to show you this. The American model versus the European model. The eye just offshore Saturday evening coming in, but there's a lot of agreement here with both models. But also notice this, the onshore flow.

So, we're not only dealing with heavy rain, but we're also dealing with the threat of storm surge. Thirty to 90 centimeters of water coming in on the Santa Catalina Islands. So, this is very concerning here. We got to keep our eyes out for the amount of rainfall that we're getting and the life-threatening storm surge.

BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll keep tracking that throughout the weekend. Britley Ritz, thanks so much.

Easter Island's fabled statues have suffered what's called irreparable damage after a fire swept through the area. The flames were sparked by a nearby volcano and burned through dozens of acres of the island damaging its famous Moai statues.

Hundreds of the stone monoliths were created by a Polynesian tribe more than 500 years ago. Chilean officials are on the ground assessing the damage. It's unclear how many statues were damaged.

Well, we're about one hour away from learning who will receive this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Coming up, we'll tell you who the experts think it might be.

Please stay with us.

[03:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: The winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in Oslo, Norway a little over an hour from now. On Thursday, the Nobel Prize for literature was awarded to French author Annie Ernaux. The Swedish Academy in Stockholm at her autobiographies deserved the prestigious prize because of their, quote, "courage and clinical acuity."

The Nobel Committee is notoriously secretive about its selection process and has a strong track record of choosing relative unknowns, but experts have zeroed in on these people. Have a look here. As strong possibilities for this year's peace prize. The award also comes amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, of course. Many have championed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to

receive it, though some experts think that is unlikely. The winner will be announced at 5 a.m. Eastern time. That's 5 p.m. in Hong Kong, 10 a.m. in London.

And galactic history was made Thursday as SpaceX's latest mission for the U.S. Space Agency NASA reached its destination manned by a diverse four-member crew. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: And here we've come through. First one through the hatch, it's going to be Nicole Mann, Commander of Dragon, and now the first Native American woman to live and stay aboard the International Space Station.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Also on board, a Japanese astronaut and Russian cosmonaut. The SpaceX crew Dragon Capsule docked safely with the -- with the International Space Station on Thursday, part of a five-month science mission. And the docking followed a successful launch from Florida on Wednesday. The crews expected to conduct space walks and perform more than 200 science experiments.

Well, Nintendo's beloved video game franchise Super Mario Brothers is once again heading to the big screen. Actor Chris Pratt provides the voice for the Italian plumber in the computer animated movie. The last time the iconic video game series was translated into a feature length studio film was almost 30 years ago if you remember. The new movie is at a premier next April.

All right, that wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Max Foster picks up with more news after a short break.

Please do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)