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Russia Makes Unfounded Claims Ukraine May Use Dirty Bomb; Basketball Star Brittney Griner Appealing Prison Sentence; Order for Lindsey Graham's Testimony Temporarily Blocked; Protesters in China Turn to Bathroom Graffiti to Vent Anger; Math and Reading Scores in the U.S. Plunge Amid Pandemic. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 25, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. has suggested is actually Russia which might use a dirty bomb and warned of consequences if it does.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We're concerned when we hear this type of patently false disinformation emanating from the Kremlin. We know the Kremlin's track record when it comes to these types of claims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The legal team U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who is currently jailed in Russia, have asked to postpone her appeal hearing until 1 p.m. Moscow time. That's about 90 minutes from now. A court is expected to hear Griner's challenge against her 9-year prison sentence. She was arrested at Moscow airport in February and accused of having cannabis oil in her luggage. U.S. President Joe Biden is amongst U.S. officials who have said Griner and U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan are being unjustly detained by Russia. The State Department says there are active discussions to secure their release.

Let's get more this from CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Ukraine, Clare is here as well following the Griner case. Fred, in terms of what's happening on the ground, just explain what it means when we're talking about false flag operations and you know, pre-moves in terms of what might happen next, it's very confusing, this dirty bomb story.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly is very confusing, and you can really see, Max, that the Ukrainians are trying to get ahead of the game on this as far as all of the messaging is concerned. Now obviously they say that all of the allegations that Russia is making are false. That the Ukrainians are allegedly are working on some sort of dirty bomb.

And you know, just to explain to our viewers what that would mean essentially a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material that could release a lot of radioactivity in a large area if it was, indeed, exploded. Now the Russians claim that the Ukrainians are working on something

like this. That they have information indicating that. The Ukrainians say it's absolutely untrue. It is totally right to point out that there's no evidence whatsoever that was given by the Russians. And what the Ukrainians have now done is they specifically invited the International Atomic Energy Agency to the sites that the Russians mentioned in a recent briefing by their military to inspect those sites and see that there is no illicit activity going on.

I did hear from the International Atomic Energy Agency saying that they visited one of those sites about a month ago and didn't find anything suspicious there. We do have to note that the IAEA is actually very active here in Ukraine. They're obviously right now trying to come to terms with a situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is held by the Russians but has had some serious incidents happening over the past couple of months. So, the IAEA certainly has a presence here and certainly has the capacity to check it out those sites that the Ukrainians are talking about.

At the same time the Ukrainians are saying they believe that the Russians might use this as a pretexts to escalate the entire war here and it might be the Russians themselves who are plotting something like this.

The energy provider for Ukraine, they put out a fact sheet earlier today claiming that the Russians have been undertaking some illicit construction work at the Zaporizhzhia power plant especially at the spent fuel section of that, which they believe could be sort of the area where a strike like that could emanate.

So, right now, you're absolutely right, so is a very fluid situation. It's a very difficult situation. Both sides sort of accusing one another but certainly the U.S., its allies, most Western nations are saying they don't believe what the Russians are saying about the Ukrainians actually working on all this. And the Ukrainians certainly saying they want to be as transparent as possible -- Max.

FOSTER: Complex stuff. Thank you.

Clare, just explain why the legal team in the Brittney Griner case want this delay.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We don't know, Max. It's only a two-hour delay it was set to start at 11 a.m. Moscow time. They've asked for it to be postponed until 1 p.m. but they have not said why. We know that Brittney Griner, who we have seen appear in court several times throughout her trial, wouldn't have been there anyway. She was going to appear via video link. We know, according to her lawyers, that she was severely stressed ahead of this that despite the fact they said she's a very strong person. That it was starting to take a toll on her. Because this is sort of the end of the road as far as the Russian legal system is concerned.

There are three potential outcomes today. They could leave the sentence as it is and she would then sort of go off and serve it. They could overrule it or they could reduce it. Clearly, she was desperately hoping for at least some kind of at least reduction because after this the only hope to get her home before the end of that was some kind of prisoner swap. We know while the U.S. has said certainly, and the administration officials last week said that discussions on this were pretty persistent. There is still according to the U.S. they had no serious counter offer from the Russians on a prisoner swap. And so, that work is still ongoing. Still no real progress there.

FOSTER: What do we know about who's involved in that prisoner swap? Are we getting any information whatsoever?

[04:35:00]

SEBASTIAN: Nothing new. I mean, we knew over the summer, certainly the U.S. side let it be known there was sort of a leak that they had offered Viktor Bout, that convicted arms dealer, who's been serving a long sentence in the U.S., in exchange for both Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. The Russians had countered and asked for a convicted murderer as well as Viktor Bout. They didn't want to do a sort of two for one deal. They asked for someone else as well. We don't think that was acceptable to the U.S. side. And they are also saying that they haven't had a serious counter offer from Russia. But apparently, they are still talking.

FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you very much, also, Fred, in Ukraine.

Now Republican Senator Lindsey Graham won't be forced to testify in Georgia just yet. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas put a temporary freeze on a lower court order that would have required Graham to testify about efforts to overturn George's 2020 presidential election results. The freeze is likely an administrative maneuver meant to give the Supreme Court justices more time to examine the dispute. Atlanta's district attorney wants to question Graham about calls he made to election officials in Georgia after the vote. CNN senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid explains exactly what Graham is accused of and how long this freeze could last.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: This decision by Justice Clarence Thomas is a temporary win for Senator Graham who so far has been unable to convince lower courts to block the subpoena from an Atlanta area grand jury.

Now investigators in this grand jury, they want to talk to Graham about calls that he made following the 2020 election where he allegedly discussed issues like absentee ballot procedures in the state and voter fraud. Now the Senator has argued that these calls, these were all part of his duty as a Senator, that they are constitutionally protected legislative activity. But lower court judges have not agreed with that and they have ruled that he should be able to potentially be questioned about certain aspects of these conversations.

Now this temporary stay will be in place until the Supreme Court finally rules on this matter. Now the justice has given the investigators in Georgia until Thursday to respond and it is expected then the larger questions in this case will go to the full Supreme Court for a final answer on the questions raised in this case.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Jury selection resumes today in the Trump Organization tax fraud trial in New York. The former president's businesses are charged in what prosecutors call a 15-year scheme to defraud tax authorities. Former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg has agreed to testify after pleading guilty for not paying taxes on nearly $2 million in off the books income. As CNN asked journalist Maggie Haberman what Trump might be thinking about the trial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGGIE HABERMAN, NEW YORK TIMES WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anything involving Trump's business is painful for him if it involves a courtroom or a prosecutor of any kind. This tarnishes the company further at a time when the company is not expanding, at best it is in stasis. And Allen Weisselberg is going to be a star witness for the prosecution. There are few people who have been around Donald Trump and with such knowledge of how that business works as Allen Weisselberg. So even if this doesn't personally touch on Trump criminally, this is not going to be a series of good news days for him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The former president is not a defendant in the case and isn't expected to be implicated in any way of any wrongdoing.

Now just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, public protests are almost unheard of in China. But now activists are turning to a more private way of expressing themselves.

[04:40:00]

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FOSTER: U.S. financial markets hoping to extend their winning streak when trading gets underway on Wall Street in just a few hours. The Dow gained more than 400 points on Monday, finishing up 1 1/3 percent. The Nasdaq added almost 1 percent The S&P 500 also finished higher. U.S. futures market shows us how stocks are likely to open today. The Nasdaq up but the other two main indices are down at the moment at least.

Markets in Hong Kong struggled to recover from their worse day since the 2008 financial crisis. Both the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite finished flat today. Worries over the reshuffling of China's Communist Party leadership since the Hang Seng plunging nearly 6 1/2 percent on Monday. The yuan tumbled to an all-time low on the international market. In China speaking out publicly against the government and its strict

zeros-COVID policies in particular, is rare. So, the protesters are turning to a more private venue to vent their anger as CNN's Selina Wang reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Graffiti with angry messages scribbled all over bathroom stalls might be a common sight in much of the world but not in China.

The Chinese character scrawled in this Beijing bathroom reads, anti- dictatorship, anti-COVID tests. Messages like this are spreading in bathrooms in several Chinese cities. It's because public restrooms are one of the only places in tightly surveilled China without security cameras.

This graffiti says, remove dictator and national traitor Xi Jinping.

Some of them are even written in English.

No to COVID test, yes to food, no to lockdown, yes to freedom, no to great leader, yes to vote. Don't be a slave, be a citizen.

Their messages copy the slogans written on two banners hung on a busy overpass in Beijing. A rare protest in the capital just days before the start of the Communist Party Congress. The banners cleaned up and quickly censored from Chinese social media.

But it did not stop people from replicating the act around the world. The same slogans are hung on London's Westminster Bridge and draped over the Chinese Embassy in London.

But inside China, public displays of dissent toward Xi are extremely rare. It can lead to long prison sentences or even worse. We spoke to one man who graffitied in a bathroom. We are shielding his identity because of fears of retribution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I had to wear a mask. And when I was writing, I was worried someone might catch me. We can only write slogans in places like bathrooms to express our political views. It's so pathetic we've been suppressed to this degree.

WANG (voice-over): In another Chinese city, a person wrote the same slogans with a picture of Winnie-the-Pooh in a crown, canceled. China has censored any images of the cartoon character being compared to Xi.

The author texted CNN: I hope people who see my slogan can start changing their minds, realizing that they have been brainwashed.

We have no way of independently verifying all of the graffiti.

[04:45:00]

And it's unclear how widely held these views are in the police state. But frustrations in China over the country's zero-COVID measures are growing. Harsh lockdowns over a handful of COVID cases, constant COVID testing, masked quarantine facilities, and anti-Xi slogans are rapidly spreading from China to campuses in America and around the world.

And in Paris, an outdoor play to parody Xi Jinping's rule, Xi dressed up in the emperor's clothes, then being dragged down by COVID enforcers.

CHIANG SEETA, CHINES STUDENT IN PARIS (through translator): If we don't do anything it means that we are willing to be ruled by the CCP. When I saw the graffiti in that bathroom, I started crying. It shows that some of the Chinese people want democracy and freedom of speech and are willing to pay a price for it.

WANG (voice-over): Yet Xi's power is ironclad. The public's anger reduced to scribbles in bathroom stalls. And even those will be quickly painted over.

Selina Wang, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The White House is declining to comment on Xi Jinping's unprecedented third term as president. But it's still working towards a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden in the Chinese leader at next month's G-20 summit in Indonesia. Some channels of communications between Washington and Beijing shut down earlier this year after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

The U.S. Justice Department is cracking down on alleged Chinese spies. Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced charges against six people. Four are accused of working under the cover of a fake think tank to recruit Americans to work as assets for the Chinese government. Prosecutors say they tried to bribe their targets with lavish gifts, including all expenses paid trips to China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The indictment alleges that between 2008 and 2018 the defendants used the cover of a purported Chinese academic institute to target, co-opt and direct individuals in the United States to further the PRC's intelligence mission. Those directives included attempts to procure technology and equipment from the United States and to have it shipped to China. They also included attempts to stop protected First Amendment activities -- protests here in the United States, which would have been embarrassing to the Chinese government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Two others are accused of trying to undermine the U.S. government's case against the Chinese telecommunications company. A person familiar with the investigation tells CNN that company is Huawei.

In this just in to CNN, if you can't send WhatsApp messages right now, you're not alone. Widespread outages of the messaging app which is owned by Meta have been reported today, according to the monitoring website Downdetector. What's causing the disruption remains unclear. CNN will continue to track this story and bring you the latest updates as it develops.

Now American schools see a big drop in test scores. Ahead, why math and reading skills are declining at an alarming rate.

[04:50:00]

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FOSTER: The Chicago Bears are back snapping their three-game losing streak with a Monday night mauling of the New England Patriots. Justin Fields led the way with his passing and running scoring the game's first touchdown from 3 yards out. The Patriots answered with this 30- yard strike from to Jakobi Meyers who crawled into the end zone for 6 points. But the Bears picked off three Patriot passes over the course of the game. Final score Bears 33, Patriots 14.

An alarming report has shown just how badly the pandemic has impacted education in America. According to a national assessment math scores amongst fourth and eighth graders saw their biggest decline since the U.S. started keeping track 32 years ago. Reading skills have also dropped significantly prompting the U.S. Education Secretary to call for change. CNN's Gabe Cohen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An alarming snapshot of learning loss from the pandemic. New test results from the nation's report card show in most states fourth and eighth graders are falling behind in reading and math.

The math scores are historic, the worst decline ever recorded, with roughly 25 percent of fourth graders and 38 percent of eighth graders performing below the basic level. The lowest of the three achievement levels for the test.

Students who were already struggling in school showed the most dramatic drop off. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona calling the results appalling and unacceptable.

MICHELLE BURKE, EIGHTH GRADE TEACHER AND MOTHER: They were isolated for a year and a half to two years. That's a huge, huge problem.

COHEN (voice-over): Michelle Burke is an eighth grade teacher on Long Island and has a daughter in eighth grade.

BURKE: My daughter is struggling in math exponentially. A lot of the things that we're seeing emotionally, behaviorally are putting a huge strain on what you're seeing in the classroom. A huge strain.

COHEN (voice-over): The findings come more than a month after similar results showing math and reading scores for nine-year-old fell by a level not seen in decades. The federal government is pumping billions in relief funds into districts, requiring them to spend at least 20 percent on learning loss. Schools nationwide have been trying to hire more staff, but with teacher burnout and fewer new teachers, many schools face a teacher shortage, especially in rural areas and those with more low-income families and students of color.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good afternoon. IDs, please.

COHEN: At Casa Grande Union High School in Arizona, some classes have more than 70 students. And in other rooms, para-educators are teaching lessons prepared by a certified teacher.

STACY BRADY, BIOLOGY TEACHER, CASA GRANDE UNION HIGH SCHOOL: I think of myself. I struggled with math. And if I was sitting in that classroom, I needed help, I had questions, I need somebody to break it down a different way. If there's nobody who has the content knowledge to do that, I'm going to shut down. And I'm thinking many of our students might be shutting down as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: CNN's Gabe Cohen reporting for us there.

[04:55:00]

Family, friends and fans are remembering actor and comedian Leslie Jordan. He died in a car crash in Hollywood early on Monday at the age of 67. Jordan was small in stature but became a giant on social media in the last couple of years bringing laughs to millions of followers at the height of the COVID pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESLIE JORDON, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: Hello, fella hunka downer.

Just having to make up things to do, pass the time. I came up with a good one today though. I painted my toenails.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Jordan was probably best named for playing Beverly Leslie in the sitcom "Will and Grace." In his autobiography called "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet" Jordan described what it was like growing up gay in the southern U.S. He also talked about his childhood in his Instagram post.

JORDAN: I have come up with a better exercise today than yesterday. Yesterday we used the backs scratcher to a great effect. Today we're going to make the backs stretcher a baton. Because when I was little, my daddy took me to my very first football game. He said, this is the offense, this is the defense.

And I said, but when did the majorettes come out? My dad said, oh, son. As if he was in deep pain. He loved me. He just didn't know what to make of me. But he would come home from work and I'd be in the front yard. He'd be with all of his army buddies. He was a career army man. Daddy. Daddy. Watch me, twirl. Daddy. What? My dad said, oh, son. son. Don't you throw that baton in the house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Jordan also recorded the gospel hour during the pandemic seen with different artists. Actor Leslie Jordan, dead at the age of 67.

I'm Max Foster in London. For our viewers in North America, "EARLY START" with Christine is next. For everyone else, I'll be back at the top of the hour.

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