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U.S. Officials Continue to Push for Paul Whelan's Release; Allies Meet to Help Ukraine Survive Winter and Rebuild; Israel: Shooting of Palestinian Girl was "Unintentional"; TSA Testing Facial Recognition Program at Some Airports; BTS' Jin Begins Mandatory Military Service in South Korea. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired December 13, 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: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested and will appear in court in the Bahamas. The U.S. government requested the arrest. Bankman- Fried will face extradition back to the U.S. as well

And more than 15 million Americans are under winter weather alerts. Blizzard conditions are expected in the Midwest and Central Plains, whilst the U.S. south faces severe tornado threats.

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Basketball star Brittney Griner is experiencing a taste of normalcy after spending ten months in detention in Russia. Her agent said that she played basketball over the weekend and is, quote, upbeat, thankful and hopeful. But it's unclear whether she'll return to the WNBA in the spring.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration officials held a virtual call with Paul Whelan's sister to discuss the next steps to bring him home. Whelan is a Marine veteran and he's still detained in Russia serving a 16 year sentence on espionage charges. However, as CNN's Kylie Atwood reports, U.S. officials are making a strong push for his release.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: And the national security advisor also said that there is going to be a meeting, an engagement between U.S. and Russian officials in the coming days. Listen to what he said.

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: With respect to the question whether we've had engagement with the Russian Federation on the Whelan Case, we will have an engagement with them this week. I won't say more about it because we are trying to keep that in sensitive channels. But that's the timetable. And we have had regular engagement of course along the way.

ATWOOD: We don't know if U.S. officials are going to put a firm offer on the table in that meeting later this week with Russian officials or if they're going to start floating ideas to get Paul Whelan out. But we did hear from the special envoy for hostage affairs, Roger Carson, whose said that the United States still has cards to play. We're just watching to see which cards they put forward and which cards the Russians agree to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Russia appears to be facing more setbacks in its war on Ukraine. A senior U.S. military official says Russian supplies of new ammunition are, quote, rapidly dwindling and their forces have resorted to using 40-year-old artillery. The official says that's why Russia is reaching out to Iran and North Korea to try to get more weapons.

NOBILO: And the Russian president might be trying to avoid questions about this long, grinding war. The Kremlin says that Vladimir Putin won't be holding his usual yearend news conference. In previous years he's also addressed lawmakers and held a marathon question and answer session but the Kremlin did not reveal any date for those events.

A Ukrainian aid conference is underway right now in Paris. Dozens of allies and institutions are discussing how to help Ukraine survive this winter and how to repair its badly damaged infrastructure.

FOSTER: The Ukrainian Prime Minister arrived for the meetings earlier today and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is attending via a video link. CNN's Jim Bittermann is covering this live from the French capital for us. What do you expect to come out of this, Jim?

[04:35:00]

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Max, I think it's basically what President Macron said he wanted to do, was to get Ukraine through this winter. Basically, address very short-term needs that the country has in needs in terms of food supplies, in terms of electricity, health, heat and transportation. And the conference is meant to address that. So, up to 50 countries, nearly 50 countries are here explaining how much they're goings to give. It's expected to be tens of millions of dollars, maybe more than that.

And then this afternoon there's going to be a meeting with the Ukraine officials and French businesses to talk about what exactly they can do, the private companies can do to help out immediately. So, it's really on very short-term aid addressing the very cold winter that's already started here -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Jim, thank you. We'll be back with you as you get the results of that.

NOBILO: Palestinians are mourning a 16-year-old girl who was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers during a raid in the West Bank town of Jenin on Sunday.

FOSTER: Her funeral was held on Monday. The Israeli military acknowledges the shooting but says it was unintentional. Claiming their fire was directed at armed gunman and the girl was on a roof nearby. The girl's family believes her death was no accident.

CNN's Hadas Gold joins us now from Jerusalem. We might be hearing from the Israeli Defense forces, Hadas, that they say this was unintentional. But I understand that the family has told you and CNN that she was shot four times, twice in the head. This is truly heartbreaking. Are we hearing anything more from the authorities to explain this.

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is an absolutely tragic situation. What we understand happened is on Sunday night the Israeli military carried out a raid in Janine in the occupied West Bank to arrest suspects. This is something that's been happening on a very regular basis, almost nightly. Especially in towns like Janine and Nablus in the occupied West Bank

This has been a very violent and deadly year. The Israeli military says that they're going after militants.

Now what happened is this 16-year-old, her name is Jana Zakarneh, and her family said that when the raid started, they began to hear heavy shooting all around them. And Jana actually went up to the roof of their building to go see what was happening. And then after the raid was over, about 20 minutes later, her family went looking for her. They didn't hear from her. And that's when they found her on the roof. As you noted, she was shot four times.

Now the Israeli military says that during the raid they engaged in exchange of fire. They say with militants. And they say some of those militants were on rooftops. Now I'm going to read you part of what the IDF statement was after they said after their initial inquiries.

They said that the girl was killed by unintentional fire aimed at armed gunmen on a roof and the area from which the force was fired upon. The IDF also said that it regret any harm to uninvolved civilians.

But as you noted, her family is rejecting that assertion. They say there were no militants around them and they say that it was no mistake because they said a mistake is one bullet. You don't make a mistake with four bullets.

What we're hearing so far from Israeli officials is suppressions of sorrow and condolences from the Israeli Defense Minister and the Israeli Prime Minister. He also though, the Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, emphasized that he still has trust in the soldiers of the IDF and said that they do their utmost to prevent harm to bystanders.

But I also want to put this in the frame of the context, the political context of what we're talking about. I've talked about how this has been a very violent year for both Palestinians and Israelis. When you're looking at the numbers, especially across the occupied West Bank and Israel, we're seeing some of the highest number of deaths that this region has seen since honestly the early 2000s. It's a level of violence that for many people bringing back memories of the second Intifada. And soon there will be a new government in Israel and this will likely

be one of the most right-wing governments in Israeli history. And there's very much concern, especially for the people who we put in charge of things like the Israeli police. And what will this mean for this already very volatile situation on the ground.

And I can tell you conversations that I've been having with diplomats here. There's a lot of concern especially for this next few months to see how this unfolds. And to hopefully there will not be any more tragedies like what we saw on Sunday night -- Bianca, Max.

NOBILO: Hadas Gold in Jerusalem. Thank you.

Still ahead, a debate over security and privacy at U.S. air ports. Details on the new facial recognition program being tested on domestic travelers. That's coming up next.

FOSTER: And a possible season ending injury just minutes into the Monday night football match-up between the New England Patriots and the Arizona Cardinals.

[04:40:00]

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NOBILO: Those are supporters of the about Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. They've gathered outside the federal police headquarters in the capital Monday after police carried out an arrest warrant for an outspoken Bolsonaro supporter. But police say clashes broke out when some demonstrators tried to rush the headquarters. Several buses were also set on fire.

FOSTER: All of this comes as electoral authorities certify the results of October's elections on Monday naming Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as the country's next president. Bolsonaro though has yet to formally concede defeat and his supporters have been staging protests over the election results.

Upheaval is rocking Peru. Protesters blocked the runway of the airport on Monday. The demonstrations started last week after lawmakers ousted former President Pedro Castilla. He was arrested and replaced by then Vice President Dina Boluarte.

On Monday, Castilla claimed he's still in charge with a handwritten note posted to his Twitter account. Claiming he'd been kidnapped, humiliated and mistreated. He also called his former Vice President a usurper. Meanwhile, Boluarte has proposed moving up general elections by two years to April 2023.

NOBILO: El paso, Texas, dealt with a major surge in migrant crossings over the weekend. The senior border patrol official says more than 2,400 migrants entered the U.S. each day via the border city.

Hundreds of migrants have been staying across the border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Authorities are concerned that they'll try to enter the U.S. when a Trump era border policy ends in late December. And there's a good chance U.S. travelers will have their faces scanned

be at domestic airports this holiday season. That's because the Transportation Security Administration or TSA is using facial recognition technology to match passengers faces with their IDs.

FOSTER: However, the program is still in the testing phase but it's already getting push back as CNN's Pete Muntean reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the new technology facing travelers as they fly for the holidays.

[04:45:00]

The Transportation Security Administration is now scanning your face at select airport checkpoints, all part of a growing test with passengers as the subjects.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a great idea. Absolutely tech for us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're already using it for our phones consistently. I mean, just about everybody is doing it.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): The TSA started this small pilot program at the peak of the pandemic. But now the agency's trial is expanding to more than a dozen different airports. The latest editions are among the nation's busiest, Denver, Las Vegas, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Atlanta. TSA administrator, David Pekoske says, the goal is evaluating the efficiency of this technology before committing to a nationwide rollout.

DAVID PEKOSKE, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: We're assessing how the technology works and we're assessing its accuracy. We're assessing its impact on passengers.

MUNTEAN: Here's how this works. Walk up to the machine, put your I.D. in the reader, and that photo is matched with what the camera sees live.

PEKOSKE: The response has been universally very positive, more effective, speedier, more convenient for passengers are things that I hear.

ALBERT FOX CAHN, SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY OVERSIGHT PROJECT: Quite frankly, it's not doing anything to help the public.

The urgent need for greater transparency.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Albert Fox Cahn of the nonprofit Security Technology Oversight Project says this could be the largest federal use of facial data ever.

FOX CAHN: This technology is going to screw it up and people are going to end up being detained by TSA. They're going to be faced with even more surveillance and more invasions of their privacy just because an algorithm gets it wrong.

PEKOSKE: The algorithm actually is so far proven in our assessment to get it right more than the human gets it right.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): The TSA insists it is committed to passenger privacy immediately destroying most images and securing data from cyberattacks. Signs and security lines show you when you're about to be a part of this test. You can even opt out and have an agent confirm your I.D. manually.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I prefer a person right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There has to be some kind of parameter in terms of privacy.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I don't think TSA has made the case that this is the system that is the best use of resources to protect the American public.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): More than 20 state and local governments have implemented some sort of restriction on using facial recognition technology. The TSA says that will not impact its pilot program as it looks toward an in-your-face approach to safety.

PEKOSKE: What I hope in the long run is that we're able to embed more and more advanced technology in our screening process.

MUNTEAN: The TSA is also experimenting with taking this a step further, comparing the live image of you at a checkpoint with a photo of you already in a government database, like a passport photo or visa. That test is taking place right now, but only on a limited scale at the Detroit and Atlanta airports. The idea is never having to even show your I.D. at an airport. Critics point out the biometrics is part of a powerful multibillion-dollar tech lobby. And this technology is only now starting to take off.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Still to come, from an army of fans to actual military service, the first member of BTS enters South Korean mandatory service with fans coming to wish him well. We'll have the very latest.

[04:50:00]

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FOSTER: K-pop superstars BTS are now one member short. Jin is the first of the all-male group to take on South Korea's mandatory military service.

NOBILO: The news comes months after BTS announced they were taking a break to produce solo projects and other opportunities. CNN's Paula Hancocks spoke with fans who showed up to wish their idol a farewell. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max and Bianca, he is exchanging five-star hotels around the world for military barracks just sight of the DMZ, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. This Tuesday afternoon, Jin became officially the first member of the pop sensation BTS to start his mandatory military service.

At about quarter to two this Tuesday afternoon, we did see six black vehicles heading into the military barracks and there was significant security. It is believed that Jin was part of the convoy. Now, they had asked -- BTS and also the management group -- that fans don't turn up to say goodbye. BTS does have particularly loyal fans called the "Army."

There were a few that turned up though. One in particular, Mandy Lee from Hong Kong who'd flown in for the occasion.

MANDY LEE, BTS FAN: We are here to -- I want to see Jin go into the military and want him and wish him all the best and stay safe and healthy and we await him the night -- the 18 months.

HANCOCKS: Jin will be spending the next five weeks here for basic training. And it is something that is expected of all able-bodied men up until the age of 28. They're supposed to spend between 18 and 21 months carrying out this mandatory military service.

Now Jin was allowed to wait until he was 30. He was able to defer it because there was a law passed a couple of years ago saying that anybody who excelled at popular culture or art could defer it. And BTS certainly ticks that particular box.

There was also a debate as to whether or not they should they should be exempted altogether from military service. It is the case for some professional athletes who have won a medal at the Olympics, for example, or the gold at the Asian games, also for some classical artists, but K-pop artists are not involved in that at this point. There were also others who were starting their military training.

We actually met his namesake, a 20-year-old called Jin, who said he was nervous to be starting, but also excited to be starting with Jin himself.

KIM SEOK-JIN, SOUTH KOREAN MILITARY CONSCRIPT (through translator): Yes, I'm a fan and if I get to share the dorm with him, it would be really special.

HANCOCKS: We did speak to someone who had spent his military service at this military barracks behind me. He said it was particularly brutal during the winter months. It could get as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius, and he said this is the place that taught him to hate snow. So, it's certainly not the easiest boot camp for Jin to be starting at. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:55:02]

FOSTER: That was a different kind of boot camp, isn't it? We'll see Paula back there in 18 months.

Now Taylor Swift releasing additional tickets to her Eras Tour after last month's ticketing debacle. Some of her fans who had signed up for the Ticket Master verified fan presale were locked out when sales started.

NOBILO: Ticket Master apologized to fans saying high demand along with elevated numbers brought unprecedented traffic to the site and essentially broke it. Some of the fans who got locked out have now received a notification that they will receive their individual invites to submit their purchase requests before December 20 sales.

FOSTER: Did you keep up with that? That's complicated.

NOBILO: I did. But I mean, you'll be all over it. Because obviously you're standing by for some tickets right now. That's why your phone is going off?

FOSTER: Moving on. Entrance to New York's Central Park is getting a new name for the first time since the 1800s. It will be renamed "The Gate of the Exonerated" to honor a group of black and Latino teens formally known as the "Central Park Five." The.

NOBILO: They were wrongfully convicted of beating and raping a white female jogger decades ago before being exonerated in 2002. And that new gate will be unveiled next week.

FOSTER: The NFL season may be over for the Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray. He went down with a non-contact injury less than 2 minutes into Monday night's game against the New England Patriots. Murray is expected to undergo a MRI today.

NOBILO: Running back Kevin Harris scored his first career touchdown to give New England its first points of the game. Matt Jones and the Patriots warded off in the second half. Final score, New England, 27, Arizona 13.

FOSTER: Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.

NOBILO: I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" is up next right here on CNN.

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