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Baltimore Prosecutors Drop All Charges Against Adnan Syed; Global Economic Outlook?; More Russian Missile Strikes Hit Ukraine. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 11, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed, right?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

HARRIS: Congress needs to act. We're 29 days away from the midterms. Ask who you're voting for, where they stand on this. And I encourage you to vote accordingly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: And thank you for joining INSIDE POLITICS.

Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

Today, an emergency meeting among world leaders, as Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashes on Ukraine again, a new wave of missile strikes, terrorizing more cities overnight, as Russia keeps targeting and burning down critical civilian infrastructure.

Right now, no place and no city are off limits to Russia's brutality. President Zelenskyy now pleading with G7 leaders for more air defense weapons, as the group holds crisis talks today.

Let's get right out to Southern Ukraine and CNN's Nick Paton Walsh for us there.

Nick, what all does Ukraine need right now, and will it come?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Certainly, Ukraine has been asking for months for advanced air defense systems.

There are, of course, multiple different options that could be offered by Germany, Norway, the United States. And it does appear that something is definitely afoot fast after yesterday's brutality across the country. The White House, after President Vladimir Zelenskyy of Ukraine spoke to Joe Biden, the White House saying that they had agreed to supply advanced air defense system.

The details of that, we simply don't have, but it was a call echoed by Zelenskyy when he had a virtual meeting with the G7 leaders asking for an air shield over Ukraine. That would severely impede Russia's ability to unleash the kind of terror it did over the past 48 hours.

I should point out, though, that, according to Ukrainian officials -- and that's their word for it -- yesterday's 84 missiles, about half were intercepted. And, today, according to Ukrainian officials, 33 were hit as they came in, and 33 targets were in fact impacted by Russia's cruise missiles or drones.

So, they appear to be having some success already with what they refer to as their older defense systems. But the possibility that better, more advanced weaponry could be sent their way will potentially deeply impact one of the remaining cards that Russia has to play in this conflict.

I should point out, Ana, that we are not talking about the Russian military that's doing well on the battlefield and adding to that sort of progress by unleashing cruise missiles or infrastructure.

The infrastructure attacks, which also, it seems, targeted open civilian areas, killing nearly 20 people yesterday, including a children -- a doctor for children, that was essentially a sign of frustration, that Moscow felt it had been losing over the weeks in the past and may well have been looking to correct its domestic audience and show military might, silencing the critics of how badly many in Russia's own elite have been saying the war has been going.

So, Zelenskyy on the front foot today asking that Russia be declared a state sponsor of terrorism, suggesting again a cap on the oil price that would impact the money gets -- Russia gets from selling its hydrocarbons, and also too suggesting something we spent less time talking about yesterday, but it is important, suggesting an international monitoring force between the border between it and its neighbor Belarus.

Belarus is an ally of Russia that yesterday announced it was creating a joint force with Russia, the point of which not clear, but it claimed, falsely, it felt it was about to be invaded by Ukraine. That's another element in this, in its escalation, possibly another sign of Moscow's desperation, but something today that Zelenskyy, on the front foot, was quick to try and prevent from spiraling -- Ana.

CABRERA: And it sure seems like Ukraine only has that much of a stronger will to fight back after this latest round of attacks, and the Western nations as well.

Thank you, Nick Paton Walsh, for your reporting.

Joining us now is retired General Wesley Clark. He's a CNN military analyst, former NATO supreme allied commander, and senior fellow at UCLA's Burkle Center.

General, this sort of reminds me of Russia's strategy earlier in the invasion, sort of bomb everywhere, hit anyone. Why do you think Russia is reverting back to either, I don't know if it's indiscriminate or perhaps targeted bombing of civilian areas and infrastructure?

WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, they haven't done that well on the battlefield recently. So, the battlefield tide is going against them, and they can't fix it.

So this is all speculation about Putin's motives and the intent, but they have ramped up the attacks on infrastructure. I think a lot of the strikes were aimed at energy and heating plants. But, as we found with Russia and strikes, they often go astray, and they do hit civilian targets.

So, they weren't very well planned in a military professional sense. But they have certainly caused havoc. And they're intended perhaps to discourage the West to foreshadow an escalation of the war. Perhaps they're out there covering for preparations for nuclear strikes. We don't know. We're still looking at this very carefully.

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We're getting some indications that there's some movements. We don't know whether that's a bluff or not. And so we have entered what you have to say is a different phase of Russia's response. It's sort of a recognition that they're not going to hold on the ground. They have got to do something else.

CABRERA: The White House is suggesting that sanctions are hurting Russia's ability to buy the components needed to make precision missiles, and that that's why Putin is using more dumb bombs.

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy also said that Iranian-supplied weapons were used in some of the recent attacks. How significant is that?

CLARK: I think it is significant. These Iranian drones are pretty good. They do get sometimes shot down, but they have got long range, long loiter time. They have got a pretty good armament on them.

So, when they hit, they make an impact. And what the Ukrainians are asking for are the Switchblade 600 drones, which is the U.S. equivalent. And, for some reason, we have been promising them for like six months, but they haven't gotten there. If the Ukrainians had that, the Ukrainians say, they would really be able to do a much better job on the ground against the Russian forces.

So I think it is a case here of the administration sort of looking at what can be put in there, not wanting to be too provocative, but wanting to help Ukraine defend itself, as they say. But we're marching into a situation where, if we don't expedite and accelerate the provision of equipment to Ukraine, defensive armaments and things like the Switchblade drones, we're going to end up in a position where Ukraine is expending its resources, doesn't have the support, and a much deeper humanitarian crisis over the winter.

CABRERA: Do you have any concerns about the U.S. and NATO running out of weapons to send? CLARK: I think that, yes, there are concerns, but we have, I know in

the United States, accelerated acquisition for some of these weapons in our stockpile.

And so we're quietly preparing. It looks like European allies are doing the same thing. I know Poland has accelerated its acquisition of weapons and so forth. And, actually, from that perspective, it's not a bad thing, because older munitions -- munitions have a time life.

And the older munitions are shipped out. New stuff is brought in. Some of it's more modern. And so, from that perspective, Russia is causing Western nations to modernize their arsenals in preparation for what might come next.

CABRERA: You wrote an op-ed last week saying the U.S. and NATO need to prepare for the possibility of a tactical Russian nuclear strike in Ukraine.

What do they need to do that they aren't doing already?

CLARK: Well, I think the most important thing is to get the deterrent force up there.

And most of us have said, we don't want to see a U.S. nuclear attack in response. But what you must do is do more than rhetoric, more than breaking relations, more than indicting Putin as a war criminal. You have got to show some battlefield response.

And that would mean, presumably, airpower and missiles. And that means you have got to forward-stage aircraft and begin the planning for these strikes that might be used as a sharp retort if Putin work to resort to battlefield nuclear weapons use.

And, of course, this is what -- there's a lot of concern about this.

CABRERA: Right.

CLARK: People don't want to see us into this escalation.

But this is the way to stop it to show that the nuclear use will not achieve its intended effect.

CABRERA: General Wesley Clark, as always, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate your insight.

With us now is Ilia Krasilshchik. Ilia was a publisher at an independent news outlet when he fled Russia at the start of Putin's invasion. And he now runs a Web site to inform Russians about the truths of Putin's war.

Ilia, thank you for taking the time. I know most of the men you still regularly speak with left Russia to avoid this recent mobilization. But what can you share about how Russians inside Russia are reacting to Putin's latest escalation?

ILIA KRASILSHCHIK, FORMER MEDIA PUBLISHER: I think, for Russia, the mobilization which started in September 21, it's some revolution inside the country.

In some case, some ways, this situation is more important for Russians than what happened on February 24, when the huge war started with Ukraine, because, for the decades before, the government said to Russians that you don't need to do anything, and, actually, you're not a part of the process, and you don't -- you don't need to touch us, and we will not -- we will not make life worse.

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And what happened on the September 21, the government, Putin said that right now, you are -- you're in charge. You're a part of this. You need to go to the war. You need to fight for this war.

And this is a huge change for the Russian society. This is a huge change, because not so many people want to go to the war. Even the supporters of the war, which, unfortunately, are -- is a lot in Russia, they don't want to fight.

The one thing is to be pro -- I don't know, pro-imperial, to believe in some message in Ukraine, and completely another thing when you are invited to be a part of this and to -- and when you can be killed in this.

So the mobilization is radical change for Russia right now, radical change.

CABRERA: So, do you feel like that is backfiring on Putin now, that he's not only unable to get people who want to fight, but he's turning people who might have been in support of the war now against the war?

KRASILSHCHIK: I 100 percent believe in this, yes.

This is, I think, the most dangerous move after the start of the war, what Mr. Putin did in the -- in his long reign as the head of Russian state. So, this is really dangerous, because a lot of people who support us right now are leaving the country or be afraid. And they don't want to be the fighter.

And step by step, people will -- I hope will understand that what's happening right now is absolutely, absolutely horrible. And this is a part of their life. This is not happening somewhere on the Russian borders far away from them. This is happening with them.

And, actually, it's really interesting what will happen in the next year with Putin's regime. And so I am totally sure that what we did is unique for his presidency. Here, for the fall of his presidency, he did awful -- completely opposite thing...

CABRERA: Do you think that...

KRASILSHCHIK: ... not to bother his electorate here. Sorry.

CABRERA: Do you think Putin will stay in power?

KRASILSHCHIK: I think this is only -- you can do -- you need to believe something. In these things, you only need to believe.

I hope, I hope that not. But we saw so many times when Mr. Putin avoided so many problems during his presidency. I think what gives us hope for people who are against this war, and tens of millions of people in Russia still or who left Russia, that this is a fight, not -- that Putin fights not only, of course, his own people, not only with Ukrainians, not only with the West.

He fights with the reality. For the 20 years, he fought the reality inside the country. And he was very successful in this. But it's much harder to fight the reality outside the country. And they are also right now stronger. Ukraine is winning this war.

And what he did right now is hysteria, actually. This mobilization is hysteria, I think. So I'm -- I hope this is -- his strength is not so huge as the year before. I hope so. But I need to believe in something here.

CABRERA: Obviously, we know Putin shuts down people who speak out against the war, particularly those inside Russia. But we have also seen situations in which people outside of Russia have been targeted.

Are you afraid for your own safety?

KRASILSHCHIK: I'm not afraid of my own safety.

But, yes, I have a criminal case against me in Russia, because this is really easy right now to get a criminal case against you. I just wrote on Instagram that I think that the Bucha -- that Russian state is dependent is -- did Bucha, not somebody else. And this is enough to get a criminal case against me.

I'm not sure. They have so many people, so I'm not sure that they will take everybody. They have so many problems right now. Yes, it's dangerous, for sure. But you can't be silent about what's happening right now. I think it's better to be public about it than to think that something can happen with you.

But it's also very important to help people who are still in Russia. And there's a lot of people in dangerous in Russia -- in danger who are trying to fight, who are trying to protest, who are trying to do something, who are trying to save something for what is still left of their lives, from the culture of the society.

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So, I think a lot of people need help. And, actually, we want to help them, and, well, outside of Russia, and we have such possibilities. People who are inside don't have them anymore.

CABRERA: Ilia Krasilshchik, thank you so much for speaking out...

KRASILSHCHIK: Thanks a lot.

CABRERA: ... and for trying to make sure the truth gets to those inside Russia as well. I appreciate you. The worst is yet to come. That is the new forecast for the global

economy. But what does that look like for you and me?

Plus, he was the focus of a viral podcast. Now Baltimore prosecutors are dropping charges against the man who just spent more than 20 years in prison for murder. The latest just ahead.

And imagine floating in the sea for hours fighting off sharks to stay alive. We will have more on the dramatic rescue of three boaters after their vessel sank. We will speak to one of the members who helped in this rescue when we come back.

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CABRERA: It's a dire forecast for the global economy. The worst is yet to come.

The U.N.'s major financial agency is predicting a third of the world is facing a recession. That message comes one day after J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon delivered this warning.

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JAMIE DIMON, CHAIRMAN, J.P. MORGAN CHASE: Currently, right now, the U.S. economy is actually still doing well. But you got -- you can't talk about the economy without talking about the stuff in the future.

And this is serious stuff. These are very, very serious things, which I think are likely to push the U.S. and the world -- I mean, Europe is already in recession, and then they're likely to put us in some kind of recession six, nine months from now.

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CABRERA: CNN business correspondent Rahel Solomon is with us now.

Rahel, let's start with this statement from the IMF, the International Monetary Fund. What are they saying?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's a pretty dark outlook, right?

So, the IMF saying that it expects global growth to slow even further for 2023; 2022 remains steady, but global growth slowed to about 2.7 percent in 2023, also saying that it expects about a third of the globe will experience two quarters of negative GDP next year -- some would call that a recession -- and that many around the world will feel like we're in a recession.

So, for advanced economies like the U.S., that will be some joblessness, that will be lower wage growth, but be a transitioning certainly in the economy, not just here in the U.S., but for our friends around the world too.

CABRERA: Recession often equals job losses. And now we have Bank of America warning the U.S. may start losing 175,000 jobs a month.

Do we know when and where?

SOLOMON: So the bank expects the when will be early next year, right, early 2023. Where, we're not really sure yet. And we will wait to see.

But just to put this in perspective of sort of where we have been, every month since the sort of lows of the pandemic, we have added hundreds of thousands of jobs, as we have, of course, come out of the pandemic. What Bank of America saying is, that's going to change, right, to the tune of about 175,000 jobs per month.

Now, we have started to see -- on a very low level, but we have started to see some job losses in some of the white-collar professions, right, business services, which you think accounting, you think telemarketing, for example. On the last jobs report, that was lower by about 12,000 jobs, finance, legal services and ad services the same.

So, lower in terms of the scale and the amount of joblessness, but it certainly doesn't feel that way if that's your job.

CABRERA: Some good news for consumers now, who've all been crushed under the weight of all the inflation we have been discussing. You have money to spend. Retailers have a lot of inventory.

And so that means some good deals ahead of the holiday season. What are you seeing?

SOLOMON: Absolutely.

So, as you said, retailers have the inventory. And, of course, they know that U.S. consumers are still dealing with the pinch of inflation. So they're trying to get people in their doors a little bit sooner this year. So we are already starting to see the major retailers offer sales this month from Target to Walmart to Amazon.

So, just to give you an idea of some specifics, I mean, if you're looking for a Roomba, you can get that for about $179, compared to about $350. Beats headphones, which I have about two or three, you get a good sale on that. I should have waited for that.

CABRERA: I know, right?

SOLOMON: And you can get an Apple iPad Pro for about 600 bucks.

So we're expecting about a third of online merchandise to be discounted this year. That could be historic, according to some Adobe projections. So...

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: These are like Black Friday sales well ahead of Black Friday.

SOLOMON: Yes. Yes, exactly. CABRERA: So, just the beginning, I hope.

SOLOMON: Well, that's a great point. So if you are looking for electronics, experts say, wait until Black Friday. If you're looking for winter gear, they say wait until later in the season, but a bit of good news today, which we don't often...

CABRERA: We will take it.

SOLOMON: Yes, exactly.

CABRERA: Thank you so much, Rahel.

And now to a major development in another story we have been following. Baltimore prosecutors have now dropped all charges against Adnan Syed in the 1999 death of his former girlfriend. Syed's murder conviction was overturned last month after an investigation found key evidence was never turned over. And that investigation was sparked by the popular podcast "Serial."

So, CNN's Jason Carroll is following this one.

Tell us more about what went down today, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Really just an incredible story, Ana.

Today, prosecutors made it official. They dropped those charges against Syed for the murder of his of his ex-girlfriend. They made it official. They did it after releasing him from prison, as you remember, last month, and also after receiving new DNA test results, which they say excluded Syed.

All of this is really the result of Syed's case gaining national attention on the "Serial" podcast. As you know, he was serving a life sentence for the murder of his then ex-girlfriend back in 1999. But new evidence came to light, much of it in that podcast.

The state's attorney then confirmed the previous prosecutors on the case had failed to tell Syed's defense attorneys about evidence that would have allowed him to defend himself, including that there were two other possible suspects in the case.

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Again, Syed was released from prison last month after serving 23 years behind bars. But the state had a 30-day period to decide whether or not to refile the case. Baltimore City state's attorney said last month her office was awaiting a DNA testing after the conviction was vacated. Those test results again are in and exclude him from the evidence gathered in the case.

His attorney releasing a statement earlier today, saying: "Finally, Adnan Syed is able to live as a free man. The DNA results confirm what we have already known that underlies all of the current proceedings, that Adnan is innocent and lost 23 years of his life serving time for a crime he did not commit."

Adnan, who is 41, has always maintained his innocence. Prosecutors are expected to again weigh in on more of this. They held a press conference that just wrapped up just a short while ago. She said that justice served -- justice should be served, not delayed.

She not only apologized to Adnan and his family, but also to Hae Min Lee. She is the young woman that was murdered all those years ago.

CABRERA: So, Adnan Syed walks free, no more charges against him. Of course, that case now remains open, I suppose, and finding the killer.

CARROLL: Yes.

CABRERA: Thank you so much, Jason Carroll.

The battle for the Senate playing out in key races. In Georgia today, an abortion controversy isn't keeping top Republicans from hitting the stump for Herschel Walker.

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