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Russia Steps Up Use of Iranian-Made 'Kamikaze Drones'; Panel Argues Trump Remains a Danger to Democracy; Short-Range Ballistic Missile Fired from Pyongyang; High School Mass Murderer Spared the Death Penalty; Rare Banners of Protest Appear & Disappear in Beijing. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired October 14, 2022 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. John Vause. Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, illegally annexed by Russia two weeks ago, now Kremlin-backed officials in Ukraine's Kherson region urging residents to evacuate ahead of a Ukrainian advance.
[00:01:07]
Subpoena surprise. Former one-term president Donald Trump ordered to appear before the congressional committee investigating the insurrection on Capitol Hill. Chances he'll comply? Likely (ph) to none.
And a mass murderer avoids death, instead and sentenced to life in prison to taking 17 lives when he opened fire at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: Two weeks ago to the day, in a patriotic ceremony, Vladimir Putin illegally annexed four regions in Ukraine, including Kherson, declaring that they would be Russian forever.
But now, in what could be a sign that Putin's hold on this illegally- annexed territory is starting to weaken, the Kremlin-backed governor in Kherson urging residents to evacuate ahead of advancing Ukrainian forces.
Of the four regions annexed by Putin, Kherson is seen as the one with the most strategic value and was the first major city occupied by Russian forces.
But in recent weeks, a sweeping Ukrainian counter-offensive has been gaining ground, reportedly liberating 2,400 square kilometers.
And to the West, Ukraine says an 11-year-old boy, pulled from a collapsed building in the city of Mykolaiv, has died. Being trapped for six hours in the rubble, which was hit by a Russian missile strike on Thursday.
The boy, named Artem, was alive when rescuers reached him. He died later in hospital from a cardiac arrest. In Brussels, Spain now the latest NATO member which has committed to
supplying air-defense systems to Ukraine. At a meeting of the alliance's defense minister, the U.S. made it clear Kyiv can count on more NATO support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: NATO continues to make clear that we will not be dragged into Russia's war of choice. But we will stand by Ukraine as it fights to defend itself. And we will continue to strengthen NATO's collective defense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Right now, though, Ukraine is facing an immediate threat from kamikaze drones. Made in Iran, they're cheap, accurate and deadly. NATO has committed to sending Ukraine countermeasures, including electronic jammers.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports now on the heavy toll these drones have already taken.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Early Thursday morning, an attack on a town West of the Ukrainian Capitol. Russia continues its bombardment of Ukraine's key infrastructure.
Across the country, scenes like this one in central Ukraine are a common sight. Wreckages of power plants. The tactic is familiar. The weapon, until recently, was not.
A kamikaze drone, seen here after an attack on the other side of the country in Kharkiv. Cheap, self-detonating and unmanned, they are a new weapon in Russia's war on Ukraine.
The markings say "Geranium 2," (ph) but this is no Russian-made weapon.
Its name is Shahed, designed and manufactured in Iran. Known as a loitering munition, it can circle a target, and the lightweight airframe can travel long distances.
The U.S. government says a Russian delegation traveled to Iran in June to inspect the drones, seen here in satellite imagery obtained exclusively by CNN.
In recent weeks, Russia has massively stepped up its use of the drones, evidence posted on Ukrainian social media on a near daily basis.
SERHIY BRATCHUK, SPOKESPERSON, ODESSA REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION (through translator): The enemy is trying to save up on cruise missiles of various caliber types. These Shaheds are, firstly, much cheaper. They can be used much more frequently, and they work in pairs. PLEITGEN (voice-over): Ukraine, too, uses kamikaze drones like the
much smaller U.S.-manufactured Switchblade, though there is no evidence to suggest Ukraine has used the weapon against anything but military targets.
[00:05:07]
Ukraine's air defense has been fairly successful in downing Russia's drones. But the fact that they are so cheap has the Ukrainians worried. And it plays a big part in the push this week for more Western help with air defense.
Ukraine's President Zelenskyy says Russia has ordered 2,400 kamikaze drones from Iran. Officials here fear that, as Russia increasingly targets population centers, kamikaze drones are a growing part of the arsenal.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Jill Dougherty is a CNN contributor and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Before that, she spent many years reporting for CNN from the White House and the State Department, as well as bureau chief in Moscow and Hong Kong.
And as always, it's good to see you, Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hey, John.
VAUSE: OK. So right now, Moscow's most effective weapon in this war appears to be made in Iran, these kamikaze drones. So what does it say about the state of the Russian military, possibly the impact of Western sanctions, and also diplomatically? What does it say about where Russia stands right now internationally?
DOUGHERTY: I think it's a pathetic picture. And I use that word advisedly. Really pathetic.
I mean, right now, Russia, which supposedly had an incredibly wonderful military, is now reduced to getting weapons from Iran and North Korea.
And these kamikaze drones, the only use for them is to kill civilians. This is not really a military weapon, like against other armies, et cetera. It can be.
But essentially, what they're doing right now is trying to decimate civilians and destroy civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
And I think one of the problems is, they have not a lot left in their quiver, so to speak. They have -- their army is doing a pathetic job in the East on the ground. So Russia is forced to go to the air.
And right now, you have France, the U.K., the United States, Canada and other countries providing what Russia is really worried about. And that is air defense weapons, a variety of them.
So Russia is resorting to the -- to these weapons, you know, to the drones. But I think it's really a sign that they're in trouble.
VAUSE: Putin did travel to Kazakhstan for a regional summit, and on the sidelines, he met with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And Putin came up with what seems to be sort of a surprising offer: to make Turkey a hub for Russian gas supplies. Here's Putin. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We might consider the perspective of building yet another gas pipeline system and creating a gas hub in Turkey for sales to other countries, first of all, of course, European countries. Only, of course, if they are interested.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: I think this is the second time in a week he's brought this up. He mentioned it at an energy conference earlier in the week. Is he testing the waters here to see if any E.U. countries might at least consider breaking ranks, maybe tempted by some cheap Russian natural gas?
DOUGHERTY: Yes, I think you're on to something, John. I do think that that is probably the strategy.
And, you know, don't forget that you have members of NATO who will have to vote on accepting Sweden and Finland into NATO. And Turkey is one of the countries, you know, that's a little iffy on this at that point.
So there may be some move, some strategy or attempted strategy by President Putin, to -- to you know, bring them aboard and kind of sweet-talk them into doing things that Russia -- will help Russia. And that would be one of them: refusing to allow those two countries into NATO.
VAUSE: Yes. And also, interesting that Erdogan is there, and this obviously would be a huge benefit for Turkey.
We also had today the E.U. foreign policy chief speaking in very blunt terms about what the response would be from NATO and the United States, should there be a nuclear weapon used by the Russians in Ukraine. Here he is. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEP BORRELL, E.U. FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: Any nuclear talk against Ukraine will create an answer. Not a nuclear answer, but such a powerful answer from the military side that Russian army would be annihilated. And Putin should not be bluffing.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: How will those words be heard by the Kremlin?
DOUGHERTY: Well, the Kremlin has heard those before. I mean, maybe not as directly. I think that he's really being quite overt in this. But that's certainly part of the -- what we understand to be the possible reaction by the United States, NATO, et cetera, to any use of nuclear weapons.
And especially those tactical weapons that we've spoken about many times, in the field in Ukraine.
[00:10:03]
The West, and especially NATO, doesn't want to react and make the situation even worse by beginning an actual nuclear war. But they could really carry out extreme destruction of the Russian forces in the field with conventional weapons.
And Putin, I am sure, because we've heard that, you know, there have been -- there have been signals, and not only signals but direct warnings to Russia and to Putin, that this is what could happen if you do that.
So I'm sure it's no surprise to him. Is it going to stop him? Well, you know, that -- that's the question. But it is a very serious threat.
VAUSE: Yes. We're at a very delicate point here with all of this. It's -- some have likened it to the Russian -- to the Cuban missile crisis back in the day. So I guess we're sort of in a similar place right now.
Jill, as always, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.
DOUGHERTY: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: The congressional committee investigating the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol has decided unanimously to subpoena former President Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ms. Cheney?
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ms. Cheney, aye.
Ms. Lofgren?
REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): Aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ms. Lofgren, aye.
Mr. Schiff?
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Schiff, aye.
Mr. Aguilar?
REP. PETE AGUILAR (D-CA): Aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Aguilar, aye.
Mrs. Murphy?
REP. STEPHANIE MURPHY (D-FL): Aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Murphy, aye.
Mr. Raskin?
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Raskin, aye.
Mrs. Luria?
REP. ELAINE LURIA (D-VA): Aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Luria, aye.
Mr. Kinzinger?
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): Kinzinger, aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Kinzinger, aye.
Mister Chairman?
REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, aye.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Trump is not expected to comply with the subpoena, which could lead to criminal charges and a lengthy court battle.
The panel says Trump must explain his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his role in the deadly attack at the Capitol.
Republicans have promised they will shut down the committee if they win the House in next month's midterm elections. Chairman Bennie Thompson says the stakes are high for the future of American democracy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMPSON: He must be accountable. He is required to answer for his actions. He's required to answer to those police officers who put their lives and bodies on the line to defend our democracy.
He's required to answer to those millions of Americans whose votes he want to throw out as part of his scheme to remain in power.
So it is our obligation to seek Donald Trump's testimony.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Trump subpoena wasn't the only headline from this, the ninth public hearing conducted by the January 6th Committee. They also presenting a trove of evidence about the former president's plan to claim election fraud before the first vote was even cast.
CNN's Manu Raju has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The January 6th Committee tonight revealing new evidence showing Trump planned all along to try and stay in office.
CHENEY: President Trump had a premeditated plan to declare that the election was fraudulent and stolen before election day, before he knew the election results.
ROGER STONE, TRUMP ALLEY The key thing to do is to claim victory.
STEVE BANNON, FORMER ADVISOR TO DONALD TRUMP: If Biden wins, Trump is going to do some crazy (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
RAJU (voice-over): Even drafting a prepared election-day statement days before votes were cast, declaring that Trump had won.
But while Trump privately admitted to some that he'd lost, he continued to fight, becoming enraged when the Supreme Court threw out a Republican effort to overturn the election, telling his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, that something else needed to be done to stay in power.
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON, FORMER AIDE TO TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF MARK MEADOWS: "I don't want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out. We need to figure it out."
RAJU: Trump began pushing the bogus notion that voting machines switched votes from Trump to Biden, even something his own advisers said had no basis in truth.
BILL BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I went into this and would, you know, tell him how crazy some of these allegations were. There was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were.
RAJU (voice-over): And the committee showing deposition from witnesses, describing Trump's inaction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody was watching TV.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's my understanding he was watching television.
RAJU (voice-over): All while playing new video of lawmakers, running for shelter from violent rioters, who were trying to keep Congress from certifying the 2020 election for Joe Biden.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Apparently, everybody on the floor is putting on their gas masks.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): I'm going to call up the "F"-ing secretary of DOD.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I have something to say, Mr. Secretary.
I'm going to call the mayor of Washington, D.C., right now.
Just breaking windows. They're doing all -- all kinds -- it's really -- they said somebody was shot. It's just -- it's just horrendous. And all at the instigation of the president of the United States.
SCHUMER: Yes, why don't you get the president to tell them to leave the Capitol, Mr. Attorney General, in your law enforcement responsibility?
RAJU (voice-over): New messages revealed by the committee, showing how the U.S. Secret Service was well aware of the violent rhetoric in the days leading up to January 6th.
SCHIFF: In this email, an agent received a report noting "a lot of violent rhetoric on Parler directed at government people and entities," including Secret Service protectees. One of these protectees was Vice President Pence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every single (EXPLETIVE DELETED) in there is a traitor. Every single one.
SCHIFF: "They're moving to the Capitol after the POTUS speech."
RAJU: Now, I asked the chairman of the committee, Bennie Thompson, about what the committee would do if Donald Trump decided to fight this. Will they go to court?
He would not go that far, and he said, Ask Donald Trump, when I asked them about some of these next steps.
Now, he did indicate that they would not go forward with the separate subpoena for former Vice President Mike Pence.
Now, Donald Trump himself has responded. He posted on his social media page, attacking the select committee. Not saying whether or not he would actually testify, but calling it the, quote, "unselect committee" and asking them why didn't they ask him to testify months ago?
Now, the committee revealing also in this hearing that there could have been potential obstruction, trying to deny witnesses from cooperating and testifying before the committee. They said that will be continued to be investigated in the months ahead and ultimately will be detailed in their final report.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: To Los Angeles now and Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic."
Good to see you, Ron. It's been a while.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, John.
VAUSE: So more than 30 former Trump officials, or those close to Trump appearing before the committee have taken the Fifth. Like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you speak to President Trump on his private cell phone on either January 5th or January 6th?
STONE: Once again, on advice of counsel, I will assert my Fifth Amendment right to respectfully decline to answer your question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you, General Flynn, talk to President Trump at any point on January 6, 2021?
GEN. MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER SECURITY ADVISOR TO DONALD TRUMP: The Fifth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did President Trump authorize you to discuss publicly your January 4th, 2021, conversation with him?
JOHN EASTMAN, FORMER TRUMP ADVISOR: Fifth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Clark, when did you first talk directly with President Trump?
JEFFREY CLARK, FORMER ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Fifth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: They've exercised their legal right not to answer questions on the grounds they may incriminate themselves.
When this many people close to the president of the United States cannot freely talk about what they did in the White House because if they do, they may go to jail, is there any other realistic option here, apart from issuing a subpoena for Trump to find what was happening? But it also says a lot about the White House.
BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, the question of whether they go to jail will soon move beyond the committee to the Justice Department and potentially to juries. Their investigation continues.
The -- the subpoena for Trump feels in some ways like the inevitable end point of this investigation. And today was more kind of a summary of closing arguments from the committee, some new information but mostly a very powerful summation of the astonishing level of detail they have accumulated over these last several months, John.
And I think it's really important to kind of underscore again the fundamental shift in the frame that the committee brought to our understanding of January 6th.
I think in the initial, you know, kind of shocked aftermath, the question was did Trump recklessly and volatilely, at that moment, inspire a mob to go up to the Capitol?
And what the -- what the committee has done is re-frame our understanding of that day, to see it instead as the culmination, the final stage of a multi-month, multi-pronged effort to overturn the election. Not a moment of pique or anger or willfulness, but in fact, the conclusion of a very large and very ominous design.
VAUSE: Yes, and with that in mind, of sort of premeditation, if you like, Trump advisor Steve Bannon, he outlined the events on voting day, and he spoke with us. I want you to listen to this. And note the day that he's speaking. It's October 31. Election day was the following Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BANNON: The Democrats -- more of our people vote early that count. Theirs vote in mail. So they're going to have a natural disadvantage, and Trump's going to take advantage of that. That's our strategy. So when you wake up Wednesday morning, it's going to be a firestorm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Go back a month earlier. In a report by "The New York Times," the headline was, "What if early results show the president in the lead, because most Republicans voted in person, yet in the days afterwards, as mail ballots that tilt heavily Democratic are tallied, states flip to Biden. Would the president sow distrust in the election by arguing that mail ballots that shift states away from him are rigged?"
It's exactly what happened. You and I talked about the red mirage at the time, leading up to the election.
[00:20:02]
BROWNSTEIN: We did.
VAUSE: Looking back, is there any other explanation other than Trump had no intention of carrying out a peaceful transfer of power?
BROWNSTEIN: I think that is the overwhelming, the only conclusion you can reach. You know, it was not a question of looking at what happened on election day. It was that he was prepared to do this no matter what happened on election day, and to fit whatever facts, you know, unfolded into a pre-determined narrative. And to me, the shocking thing then and the shocking thing now was how
much of the Republican Party was willing to go along with then and, even more so, is willing to go along with this now.
I mean, two-thirds of the Republican state attorneys general filed a lawsuit to overturn the results of election. You know, what was it, 160 House Republicans voted to overturn the results of the election/
And now I feel a little, John, as though we're watching one of these spy movies, where the good guy is chasing the evil mastermind all the way through the movie, and by the time they catch them, they've already let loose the virus or the biological weapon in the water of the city.
You know, framing Trump's guilt at this point and his complicity in what happened, we're really beyond them because his claims have metastasized through the party. And there are now dozens, hundreds of election deniers running for office, many of whom are seeking control over the very elections that they are claiming falsely were rigged.
VAUSE: It's incredible to think what will happen come 2024. But there are a lot of crucial moments --
BROWNSTEIN: Even 2022.
VAUSE: Well, actually, yes. We've got midterms coming up.
What impact, though, I guess, just to finish up here, what impact will all of these hearings, all this evidence -- this is the ninth public hearing for the committee. As you say, put everything together brilliantly, made a very good case of what happened on that day. Does it have any impact on the results come next month?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think it clearly has changed, I think. It contributed to the change in the basic structure, the frame of the election.
Earlier this year, many people dissipating a sweeping red wave in the House and the Senate. Voters were focused primarily on the Biden administration performance on issues like inflation and immigration and crime.
Those issues are still there. Those vulnerabilities are still there for Biden NS Democrats. But they're no longer the only issues on the horizon. There is a big portion of the country focused on questions like gun violence, abortion, and the threat to American democracy.
And I think the January 6th Committee has really brought that into relief for a big part of the center-left electorate in America.
What it hasn't done is really shake Trump's hold on the Trump Republican party as we saw all summer, with his candidates winning primaries in state after state.
Nor has it interrupted the movement of so many in the GOP toward embracing these electoral false words, literally hundreds of candidates on the ballot who are embracing Trump's lies about the 2020 election.
And I think as striking as that has been how few other Republican leaders, and Liz Cheney has drawn that clear line in the sand and said look, I am not going to vote for someone who is an election denier, who is threatening the sanctity of our future elections, even if I agree with them on other issues.
Doug Ducey, the governor of Arizona; Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire, they are endorsing candidates who basically say that they themselves presided over rigged elections two years ago.
And so the threat has gone way beyond Trump. I think they put a lot of pressure on the Justice Department to look seriously at inditing him. But the challenge to American democracy can no longer be solved simply by establishing culpability and accountability on that one individual, Donald Trump.
VAUSE: Yes, Ron. We used to talk about when the fever would break for the Republican Party. It looks like it never has and never will.
Good to have you with us, though. Thank you.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE Well, another day, another missile test by the North Koreans. This one, though, drawing very sharp response from the South Koreans. And now both sides accusing each other of provocations.
Also, a jury rejects the death penalty for the killer of 17 students and teachers at a Florida high school. Hear the stunned reaction from the victims' families.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRED GUTTENBERG, JAIME GUTTENBERG'S FATHER: This jury failed our families today. He should have received a death sentence today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:26:51]
VAUSE: Another missile test by North Korea. The latest going to Seoul was a short-range ballistic missile, launched from an area around Pyongyang early Friday, local time.
By CNN's count, this is North Korea's 27th missile test so far this year. There's also artillery fire near the border.
CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It has been yet another busy night on the Korean Peninsula. The joint chiefs of staff here in South Korea confirming that North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile in the early hours of Friday morning. And that was shortly after North Korean aircraft flew close to the no-fly zone near the border.
Now, this no-fly zone is a zone that's been agreed by North and South Korea, and it was part of the 2018 military agreement between the two sides.
Now, the South Korean military saying that they did activate an emergency sortie in response.
Now, we have heard from North Korea through state-run media, saying they took strong military response in reaction to something that South Korea had done, that there was an artillery fire, a ten-hour artillery fire drill close to the border.
Now, we've heard from the South Korean side, they do say they had artillery fire drill, and that was about ten kilometers away from the mdl in the DMZ, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
So this is really showing that we are in the midst of a solid tit-for- tat action by both sides. Response, reaction and strong military responses, according to North Korea.
And of course, it comes just a day after we did see Kim Jong-un showing up on North Korean state-run television, according to KCNA had overseen the launch of two long-range strategic cruise missiles, which themselves, don't break any rules when it comes to U.N. Security Council resolutions, but it was also quoted as saying that it was another clear warning to the enemies, saying that North Korea is fully prepared for war, and they were showing off their nuclear combat forces.
Now both sides are blaming the other for increasing the tens ions on the Korean Peninsula at this point, but certainly with this latest launch that we have seen from North Korea, that makes 27 missile launches, cruise and ballistic, this year alone, according to CNN's tally. That is Kim Jong-un, breaking his own record.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Pusan, South Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, almost as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. A rare and brazen display of defiance in Beijing in and comes just a time. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:32:01]
VAUSE: Welcome back. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
A jury in Florida has recommended life in prison for the shooter who killed 17 people at a high school four years ago. Many parents of those who were killed were hoping for the death penalty. Fourteen students and three teachers were killed in 2018 at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas high school in the town of Parkland. Some parents say if any case deserved the death penalty, this with it. But the jury disagreed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TONY MONTALTO, GINA Montalto's FATHER: Today's ruling was yet another gut punch for so many of us who devastatingly lost our loved ones.
GUTTENBERG: This decision today only makes it more likely that the next mass shooting will be attempted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If not now the death penalty, then when? When?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Since April, prosecutors have laid out gruesome and cold- blooded details of the massacre. Yet three of the 12 jurors said no to the death penalty. The former sentence of life in prison will be instead, they say life in prison handed out on November 1st.
CNN's Carlos Suarez has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eligibility for the death penalty --
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) Defeated and disappointed, family members who lost their loved ones in the deadliest high school shooting in the U.S. listened in agony as the judge read the jury's recommendation to spare the life of convicted killer Nikolas Cruz 17 times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury unanimously find that the aggravating factors that were proven without a reasonable doubt outweigh the mitigating circumstances established. No.
SUAREZ (voice-over): On all 17 counts of first degree murder, three jurors showed Cruz mercy, according to CNN affiliate WFLR. Something Cruz's own attorneys said he did not show his victims the day of the massacre.
DR. ILAN ALHADEFF, ALYSSA ALHADEFF'S FATHER: I'm disgusted with our legal system. I'm disgusted with those jurors.
SUAREZ (voice-over): His daughter, 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, was shot several times at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day in 2018.
ALHADEFF: You set a precedent today. You set a precedent for the next mass killing, and nothing happens to you. You'll get life in jail. I'm sorry; that is not OK. As a country, we need to stand up and say that's not OK.
SUAREZ (voice-over): The jury returned a verdict of life without the possibility of parole after deliberating for one day, ending a lengthy penalty trial that began in April.
To have recommended death, the jury would have had to unanimously agree that the aggravating factors, the reasons for a death sentence, outweighed mitigating circumstances, including doctors' testimony that Cruz was mentally ill, was enough to spare his life. They did not.
GUTTENBERG: This jury failed our families today. But I will tell you, the monster is going to go to prison. And in prison, I hope and pray he receives the kind of mercy from prisoners that he showed to my daughter and the 16 others.
[00:35:06]
He's going to go to prison, and he will die in prison. And I will be waiting to read that news on that. He should have received the death sentence today.
SUAREZ: Late Thursday, one of the jurors that voted against the death penalty wrote a letter to the judge, denying an allegation that she says she heard from another juror, who said that she had made up her mind before the trial got started.
Nikolas Cruz will be back in court to be sentenced on November 1, and the family members of the victims, they're going to be able to address the court that day.
Carlos Suarez, CNN, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: There's no way to know for certain how many people have died in weeks of violent anti-government protests in Iran, but Amnesty International says at least 23 of the victims are children, aged 11 to 17. And those were just during the last 10 days of September, when the government unleashed a brutal crackdown on demonstrators.
Iran's president, speaking at a summit in Kazakhstan, accused the U.S. of instigating the worst unrest his country has seen in years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EBRAHIM RAISI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The Iranian nation has invalidated the American military option, and by their own admission, dealt a humiliating defeat to the policy of sanctions and maximum pressure.
Now, following the failure of American militarization and sanctions, Washington and its allies have resorted to the failed policy of destabilization.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Since the protests first began, Amnesty believes at least 144 men, women, and children have been killed. CNN is not able to verify that figure, and many believe the actually death toll is much higher. Just days before the start of China's big communist conference, a very
provocative protest in the capital. The Chinese government trying very hard to pretend this surprising display of dissent never actually happened. CNN's Selina Wang has details.
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SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An extraordinary sight in China's capital. Two big banners attacking China's supreme leader and his policies hung on a busy overpass in Beijing.
One of them reads, "Go on strike. Remove dictator and national traitor Xi Jinping."
A voice repeats the message on loudspeaker. Plumes of smoke billow from the bridge. The cause, unclear.
Demonstrations are rare in China, especially ones directly criticizing Xi, and especially criticizing ahead of the crowning of his unprecedented third term in office.
The other banner reads, "Say no to COVID test, yes to food. No to lockdown, yes to freedom. No to lies, yes to dignity. No to great leader, yes to vote. Don't be a slave. Be a citizen."
Punishment for the people involved in the demonstration could be very severe, including prison time or even worse.
The brazen display of defiance already scrubbed from China's Internet. A few hours after the incident, hashtags of its location and even the word "Beijing" banned from Chinese social media.
China's draconian zero-COVID policies have pushed many over the edge. Fights with COVID enforcers, screams for freedom from locked apartments, protests for food and supplies. Resistance of snap lockdowns.
Entire cities are still being locked down over a handful of COVID cases.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WANG: This woman yelling out in frustration that she's been in isolation for six months already.
But the images of anger erased from China's Internet. Just like the anti-Xi Jinping banners, folded, taken away by police, the bridge sanitized and cleaned up like nothing ever happened. The party clearing a smooth road ahead for its supreme leader.
CNN, Selina Wang, Hong Kong.
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VAUSE: A weekslong strike at one French oil refinery is now over. CNN affiliate BFM-TV reports workers lifted their blockade Thursday after discussions with energy giant Esso-ExxonMobil.
Four of the seven gas sites in mainland France are still affected by strike action. France's ministry of energy transition says close to 200 gas depots have also been impacted.
All four oil refineries are run by Total Energies.
Don't take nature for granted. That's the warning from the Worldwide Fund for Nature, as a new report details major losses in animal populations. So what's causing that trend? What can be done to stop it? Is it too late? What can we do? That's after the break.
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VAUSE: Heavy rains have now caused devastating flooding in Cameroon's North on the border with Chad and Nigeria.
Some victims were rescued from their villages by canoe. Others have taken shelter in makeshift camps.
The U.N. says more than 37,000 people have been affected since September 20. At least two people have died.
Nine thousand homes are either damaged or destroyed. More rain expected in the region in the coming days.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature is calling for immediate action as animal populations around the world are dying off at a shocking rate.
The group's Planet Report for this year says animal populations, on, average have plummeted by 69 percent between 1970 and 2018. The WWF says the evidence is unequivocal. We are living through the dual crisis of biodiversity loss and climate change, driven by the unsustainable use of resources. It's urging action now, before it's too late.
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MARCO LAMBERTINI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, WWF INTERNATIONAL: We've got to abandon this delusional idea that we can continue to take nature granted, we can continue to develop ourselves wastefully, destructively, without taking into account the consequences of environmental demolition. There are consequences. And if you don't take, if you don't change course, and we can carbon neutral, on the one hand, for climate, and nature positive, in terms of diversity, we will pay even more consequences. And the price will be even higher in the years to come.
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VAUSE: This report says one million plants and animals face extinction now, right now. And Latin America and the Caribbean showed the greatest regional decline, with the Amazon rain forest nearing the point of being nonfunctional.
Well, I'm John Vause. I'll be back at the top of the hour more CNN NEWSROOM. But tin the meantime, WORLD SPORT will be up after a very short break.
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