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Panel Recommends Four Criminal Charges Against Donald Trump; Argentina Team Returning Home After Winning World Cup; Supreme Court Temporarily Freezes Order To End Title 42; Jury Finds Harvey Weinstein Guilty On Three Of Seven Charges. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired December 20, 2022 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm John Vause.
Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. Donald Trump's surging legal problems with a congressional investigation now recommending he faced criminal charges, alleging he planned and plotted to overturn the 2020 election results.
He is still a rapist, Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape once again, this time by a court in Los Angeles.
And Argentina's World Cup heroes expected to arrive in Buenos Aires this hour in a homecoming almost 40 years in the making.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: We begin with an unprecedented move from the House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection in Washington recommending criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
The panel says there's evidence of at least four crimes, obstruction of official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and aiding or assisting an insurrection. The Justice Department now has to decide if it will file charges.
In their final hearing, committee members decided to focus on Trump's direct involvement in a scheme to overturn the 2020 election, paving the way for the violence at the U.S. Capitol 2021.
Trump's campaign calls the committee's work a partisan witch hunt. More details now from CNN political Correspondent Sara Murray.
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SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The House Select Committee investigating January 6 convening publicly one last time.
REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): He lost 2020 election and knew it. In the end, he summoned the mob to Washington and knowingly, they were armed and angry, pointed them to the Capitol and told them to fight like hell.
MURRAY: And laying out its case that former President Donald Trump was ultimately responsible for the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): No man who would behave that way in that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. He is unfit for any office.
MURRAY: The committee referring four crimes to the Justice Department that they say the former president committed while trying to stay in the White House.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): We believe that the evidence described by my colleagues today and assemble throughout our hearings warrants a criminal referral of former President Donald J. Trump.
MURRAY: Including assessing or aiding an instruction, conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to make false statements. It believes there is sufficient evidence for two others, conspiracy to injure or impede an officer and seditious conspiracy.
The panel also referring attorney and Trump ally John Eastman to DOJ, but saying DOJ will have to determine who else should face prosecution.
RASKIN: Now, our understanding of the role of many individuals may be incomplete, even today, because they refused to answer our questions. We trust that the Department of Justice would be able to form a far more complete picture.
MURRAY: Republican lawmakers who snubs committee subpoenas referred to the House Ethics Committee.
After 17 months of investigating and roughly a thousand witness interviews, the committee determined that Trump knew the fraud allegations he was pushing were false, but continue to amplify them anyway.
REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): The committee has evidence that ex-President Trump planned to declare victory and unlawfully to call for the vote counting to stop, and that he told numerous allies about his intent in the weeks before the election.
MURRAY: Even some of Trump's closest allies like Hope Hicks worry the bogus fraud claims were damaging his legacy, Trump persisted.
HOPE HICKS, FORMER TRUMP AIDE: He said something along the long lines of, you know, nobody will care about my legacy if I lose. So, that won't matter. The only thing that matters is winning.
MURRAY: Trump worked on a scheme to transmit false Electoral College ballots and replace Department of Justice leadership with one that would do his bidding, even pressuring his own vice president. REP. PETE AGUILAR (D-CA): President Trump spearheaded an unprecedented campaign to coerce him to do it anyway, ultimately culminating in a dangerous threat to Mr. Pence's life on January 6th.
MURRAY: The committee also highlighting Trump's $250 million fundraising hall between the election and January 6th raised primarily off claims of election fraud that did not exist. Questioning whether any of the money was used to pay lawyers who may have tried to obstruct the congressional investigation and evidence from one unnamed witness who was urged to stay loyal to Trump.
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LOFGREN: The witness believed this was an effort to affect her testimony and we are concerned that these efforts may have been a strategy to prevent the committee from finding the truth.
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MURRAY (on camera): Now, Donald Trump's campaign is already pushing back on what the committee had to say in their public meeting on Monday. They called the committee's events show trials by Never Trump partisans, even though the committee is made up of both Republicans and Democrats.
We also got a response from an attorney for John Eastman, who said in his statement, a criminal referral from a congressional committee is not binding on the Department of Justice and carries no more legal weight than a referral from any American citizen.
Sara Murray, CNN on Capitol Hill.
VAUSE: To Los Angeles now, Ron Brownstein, CNN Senior Political Analyst, and the senior editor for The Atlantic.
Ron, thanks for being with us. So, we got on the one hand, we got this recommendation for president to be charged with criminal charges. It's historic, it's unprecedented.
On the other hand, it's a recommendation, it's not binding. So, there's the immediate question, does this increase the likelihood Trump will be charged? And then beyond that, what are the political implications here?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I don't know if they're recommending it increases the odds that Trump will be -- will be charged. The quantity and quality of the evidence that they Marshal in support of their recommendation, I think, is pretty powerful, however, and really, I think draws a line of, you know, points a finger at the Justice Department.
You know, if you read through this executive summary of the report, it makes a very powerful case about Trump's personal culpability at every step of the road toward the violence on January 6th, and all of the ancillary efforts to overturn the election. So, in that sense, I think it does increase pressure on them. But the
referral itself probably does not.
VAUSE: Trump's Vice President Mike Pence, who Trump supporters wanted to hang on January 6th, he was asked about possible charges against the former president by Fox News, here he is.
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MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I hope the Justice Department understands the magnitude of the very idea of indicting a former president of the United States, I think that would be terribly divisive in the country.
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VAUSE: Other Republicans, Trump defenders, Trump himself have warned that criminal charges could deepen divisions, could lead to violent protests. Could an argument be made that the threat of riots and violence by Trump and his supporters is a good reason for bringing charges in the first place?
BROWNSTEIN: Exactly. Right. I mean, look, I mean, I think, you know, the students of authoritarianism through history and around the world, say very clearly, that a coup without consequences is practice. And that is really the situation the U.S. I think now finds itself in, to have all that occurred go forth and there'll be no consequences in the end, because Trump and his supporters are able to intimidate the justice system into believing that it would be too much of a tension in society or too much rending of society could be enormously destructive to the -- you know, the future of American -- disability of American democracy.
If there are grounds to charge him and certainly the committee made a very powerful case that there are, it's really hard to see how the Justice Department can avoid the conclusion that it needs to go forward.
VAUSE: It's been a very tough year for the former president. And when it comes to January 6 and who should be facing charges, the Republican leader in the Senate Mitch McConnell simply said, the entire nation knows who is responsible for that day. Beyond that, I don't have any immediate observations.
It seems to me the other side of the GOP is no longer willing to mount an all-out defense of the former president. Another sign that, you know, Trump's influence is at least at the wane. Where do you see it?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I think -- I think the answer is, yes, that was not the full throated defense today that there might have been before a midterm election in which Trump committed the seemingly unpardonable sin, the final of the straw that broke the camel's back in the GOP was pushing forward candidates who lost not everything else that has happened over the last few years from extorting Ukraine to stockpiling classified documents. But Mitch McConnell still has not gone as far as Liz Cheney did in her simple declarative sentence today, the Trump based on his behavior is unfit to hold office, like many Republicans, McConnell, and I think most elected Republicans will criticize aspects of Trump's behavior, but not go that far with that kind of bright line.
And I think McConnell has clearly left the door open to support Trump if he is the GOP nominee in 2024.
Now, will he be? I think this further reduces the odds, I think this will cause more Republican elites and perhaps even some Republican voters to conclude that he has too much baggage to win a general election again in 2024, which may be correct.
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But the fact that is that the party still has not made a clear statement that they believe his conduct has disqualified him. And as long as that is missing, there remains the possibility that they could in fact lock arms behind him again should GOP voters choose Him as their nominee in 2024?
VAUSE: Why were there more names on that list of referrals to the Department of Justice? Rudy Giuliani comes to mind for example.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, look, I think that, you know, that there was a very clear decision here to zoom in very tightly, not only in terms of who was singled out for a criminal referral, but even in their treatment of kind of the broader acquiescence and collaboration with this multifaceted effort to overturn the election that ran through the states, that ran through Congress, there was very little discussion of the other Republican members of Congress who are urging, you know, extreme action on Trump, including the declaration of martial law.
And in the discussion of the fake electors in the States, the committee kind of bent over backwards to give them the benefit of the doubt by suggesting that many of them were misled by Trump himself.
This seemed the document John designed for one purpose, to make the case against Trump and his immediate inner circle, to kind of lay out before the Justice Department why they believe legal criminal action is necessary, but the cost of zooming in to that effect may have been to obscure the picture of just how broadly within the party the rot that we saw after 2020 spread.
VAUSE: Ron, thanks for being with us. Ron Brownstein there in Los Angeles. We appreciate it.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me, John.
VAUSE: Tuesday will be a national holiday across Argentina, part of a huge celebration as the nation waits for their new World Cup champion team to touch down in Buenos Aires. Live images there from Buenos Aires we are seeing right now, a little bit past 2:00 in the morning. Thousands of fans waiting at that airport for the start of a homecoming like no other. The last time they had homecoming like this was back in 1986.
Now, hours earlier, supporters have gathered outside the team's training center in the capital of Buenos Aires. That's where the players will stay before formal celebrations begin, it is going to be quite the celebration.
And of course, the star there will be the captain and national hero Lionel Messi who played an extraordinary game against France for that win. First 80 minutes belong to him. Now, we're seeing this parade, this welcoming home will belong to him as well, it seems the case.
Again, we're waiting for the plane to touchdown, it's expected maybe about 10 minutes from now if it's on time, but as soon as it does arrive there in Buenos Aires at the airport, we will bring it to you straight away. Of course, thousands now waiting for their team's arrival at the early hours of the morning there in Buenos Aires.
In Paris, the French team also received a hero's welcome after a stellar performance in the final.
Players watch from a balcony as a crowd of thousands gathered to cheer them on. Fans were waving flags, setting on fireworks and chanting the names of their favorite players. They say despite coming up short against Argentina, the effort was worthy of a celebration.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Even if they lost, we must be with them. We'll be with them until the end. And I think they need this, our support. It's magical. Look at the people they've come, it's sweet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I was a bit sad in the beginning because they wanted us to win because winning always feels good. We lost but we played a good match.
Yesterday, I was sad. Today, no more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It was extraordinary. We came back from Qatar just after the quarterfinals. We had a great time there. They were such good memories. We will remember this forever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: But striker Mbappe probably got the biggest cheers, the most reception of all the -- all of them. He led the entire tournament with eight goals, including three in the final alone. The rivals with Messi.
We'll take a short break. When we come back here, why some U.S. border officials now preparing for a surge in migrants even though the Supreme Court has temporarily allowed a Trump era immigration policy to stay in place.
Also, former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of sex crimes by Los Angeles jury. We're following reaction to the verdict just ahead.
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VAUSE: Back live now to Argentina to Buenos Aires with thousands of fans are waiting at the airport expecting the plane carrying the New World Cup champions home, bringing the World Cup with them.
Hours -- they've been there for hours now actually. In fact, this is expected to be one of the biggest homecomings that a World Cup team has ever seen. It's been about 40 years in the making.
The last time Argentina won the World Cup was back in 1986 -- 85. So, now we have the situation where we're waiting for the team to touch down. It's a special Aer Lingus flight with the team (INAUDIBLE) on the side, that could actually be it right now. That would be on time if it is, in fact, it was expected to touchdown around 20 minutes past 2:00 am local time which will be about now.
And on board that flight, of course, is the national hero, team captain Lionel Messi who had an extraordinary match to win that game against France. Played like what many have described as a true champion, led his team all the way. The veteran player is now -- looks like he's about to touch down at any moment now.
Of course, this return, this welcome, well, it's much for him as it is for the entire team, given the role that he has played in securing the World Cup.
They've been celebrating in Argentina since that win over the weekend. It's been quite a few days there with blue and white flags and festivities on the streets of Buenos Aires as well as other cities across Argentina.
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And in fact, across Latin America there have been celebrations as well for this moment in history with Argentina winning that World Cup, defeating France in a historic game, one of the best games the World Cup has ever seen, one of the best finals. Some people have described that much to be and of course, the French team welcomed players as well as second placers.
But a Trump era immigration policy known as Title 42 will stay in place for now, ruling by Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has blocked a lower court decision to end the policy which had allowed border officials to turn away tens of thousands of migrants to slow the spread of COVID.
More than a dozen Republican led states have fought the Biden administration to keep Title 42 in place. But for border cities like El Paso, Texas, they're still preparing and expect the policy will ultimately be lifted.
Our report now from CNN's Ed Lavandera. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): El Paso's mayor says he's bracing for as many as four to 6,000 migrants to be released into the city per day if Title 42 is lifted on Wednesday.
OSCAR LEESER, MAYOR OF EL PASO, TEXAS: And I really believe that today our asylum seekers are not safe, as we have hundreds and hundreds on the streets. And that's not the way we want to treat people.
LAVANDERA: City officials have started moving hundreds of migrants who were camping out around downtown area bus stations into hotels or newly open shelter space.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to make sure that everyone's safe. And we know that the influx on Wednesday will be incredible, it will be huge.
LAVANDERA: In the last week we're told more than thousand migrants have found refuge inside the Family Center shelter in downtown El Paso.
LEESER: This is Sarah she came from Ecuador with her husband they've been traveling for 30 days.
LAVANDERA: She says the journey was brutal. Sarah Romero (PH), like almost every migrant we've spoken with says they were kidnapped and held for days in Mexico until they paid their way out. But they arrive at an uncertain time.
You're worried that you're going to be deported?
She said they're looking for anything they would like to either request asylum or humanitarian visa just something that would let them be able to work and earn some sort of living.
Romero is one of the thousands who entered El Paso in the days leading up to the expected end of the public health policy known as Title 42, which allowed U.S. border officials to expel migrants nearly 2.5 million times since 2020.
So, here on the edge of the Rio Grande in Juarez, Mexico, not everyone is trying to cross over, the people you see kind of standing behind me. They don't want to cross just yet. They're waiting for Title 42 to be lifted, because they're worried if they cross now, they will be deported.
Some are sleeping under the cover of this carwash and many are in barren shelters like this one.
Kelly Perez and her husband have waited here two months.
Where are you waiting to cross?
We've heard so many other Venezuelans who have been deported. And they don't want that to happen. So, they're waiting for Title 42 to get lifted to see how things play out. RICARDO SAMANIEGO, JUDGE, EL PASO COUNTY: They called the asylum of the -- of the Southwest.
LAVANDERA: But El Paso officials know that spirit of compassion will be put to the test this week. County Judge Ricardo Samaniego says this area has never experienced a moment like this.
SAMANIEGO: There's nothing that we're doing right now that sustainable, everything is addressing and reacting to a situation.
LAVANDERA: Even though the U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily halted the lifting of Title 42 on Wednesday, officials here in El Paso say they will continue moving ahead as if Title 42 will be lifted on Wednesday.
They say right now they're focused on opening mass shelters at warehouses and even unused school buildings.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, El Paso, Texas.
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VAUSE: Another jury has found disgraced former movie producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of three sexual assault charges including rape. This time it was in Los Angeles, he was acquitted on another charge and the jury couldn't reach a verdict on three others. There were four accusers in all, including a filmmaker who's married to the California governor.
CNN's Natasha Chen has our report.
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NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The jury found Weinstein guilty of the three counts that were related to the first Jane Doe accuser. And this case involved four women accusing him of rape and sexual assault charges for a total of seven counts to which he pleaded not guilty.
But again, the jury only found him guilty on those three counts related to the same accuser.
For the second accuser and the fourth accuser. The jury could not come to a decision and those were declared a mistrial. For the third accuser, the jury found him not guilty on that sexual assault charge.
Now, the fourth accuser over the course of the trial was identified as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a filmmaker and the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom. The attorney for Jennifer Siebel Newsom released a statement saying in part while we would have preferred that those jurors had found him guilty on all counts, we understand that it was a complex trial made more difficult by the defense team's argument that a woman who was assaulted must forego her chosen career or be accused of consent after the fact.
[00:25:24] That attorney also said that you never know how politics may play into things regarding her client's marriage to the California governor.
The attorney for Harvey Weinstein also released a statement specifically referring to this first accuser where he was found guilty on those three counts. The attorney said Harvey is obviously disappointed however, hopefully because with this particular accuser, there's good grounds to appeal based on time and location of alleged events. He's grateful the jury took their time to deliberate on the other counts, and he is prepared to continue fighting for his innocence.
Now, this Los Angeles jury deliberated for 41 hours that is far longer than the jury deliberated in New York in his New York trial, where he was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He is appealing that case.
And so, what happens in this case becomes very interesting. Now with these three guilty counts, he could be facing up to 24 years in prison on this trial, and the jury is supposed to reconvene tomorrow to hear more arguments about the sentencing and guidelines, back to you.
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VAUSE: We'll take a short break now. But when we come back, we'll head back live to Argentina where we understand the plane carrying the Argentina national team, the New World Cup champions has just landed. We'll have the very latest from Argentina from Buenos Aires in just a moment. You're watching CNN.
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ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC, SWEDISH FOOTBALL LEGEND: I hope we can repeat the -- what we achieved the last season by winning the championship and -- and that I'm back on the field and playing week in, week out. So hopefully, I can feel that adrenaline and feel that atmosphere.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. Live pictures from Buenos Aires in Argentina, where the national team -- the flight carrying the national team was waiting to touch down there. And waiting for the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of fans to give them the homecoming after their sensational 4-2 win over France at the World Cup on Sunday.
A stunning match, which many credited team captain Lionel Messi being the main player -- the main player who carried the team to success. And, of course, they're now waiting for that plane to taxi in and for the team to deplane as they save the celebration to begin.
And of course, all of this comes through Argentina with -- where the history now marking just the second time they've won the World Cup, back in 1986 was the first. So the second homecoming for the World Cup champion team. This one clearly, of course, with great celebrations there across Argentina and across Latin America, as well.
There's where that apparently, the celebrations have already begun on that flight. From the World Cup, from Qatar, with team members rewriting their famous "Muchachos" anthem, complete with new lyrics and drums and celebrations on the plane, as well.
So there is the plane, carrying the team with the national symbol of the -- of the Argentinian World Cup side emblazoned on the side. And it is now taxiing in there at Buenos Aires Airport.
It's been quite a long flight from Qatar, so you can imagine what's been happening on board that plane through those hours in the air. So it will be quite the sight when they actually do manage to get off the plane and meet with the fans who have been waiting for many, many hours now.
The celebrations in Argentina began the moment they won the World Cup against the defending world champions, France, therefore to win on penalties, giving them great case for celebration.
And now, they're just waiting for the team to actually arrive home, which they have done so. And all that's left now is to get off the plane. And then, of course, the official celebrations will begin in earnest.
It is in the wee early hours of the morning there in Argentina. It is just after 2:30 a.m. And these fans have been waiting for quite some time for this moment. Some of them have been waiting almost 40 years, in fact, for this moment to arrive. Others, not so long, but still the atmosphere and the celebrations will be incredible, once we actually get into that point.
And joining us now on the latest, Stefano Pozzebon now with more on this.
Stefano, set the scene for us. What's the mood like? What are people expecting, what are we all expecting in the hours ahead?
STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST (via phone): I think, John, what we're expecting is just another explosion of collective joy and celebration for the historic triumph for this team.
Argentina is a country that breathes football like no other around the world, perhaps. And, really now, celebrating the first time they won the FIFA World Cup has been a moment of celebration that has not stopped, frankly, here in Buenos Aires since the moment where Argentina did manage to get that final penalty through the net.
We've seen people celebrating until very late on Sunday or early on Monday. And, even now, on the streets of Buenos Aires, there are still people outside celebrating.
The image of Lionel Messi and his teammates are painted on the -- on the sides of this charter plane from the Argentina flagged carrier, Aerolineas. Argentina had just landed in Buenos Aires.
Also, those images are on most of the screens and commercial screens and projections around the city of Buenos Aires.
It's really a team that managed to capture the spirit of this nation, to embody the -- the whole spirit of the -- of the country, of 45 million Argentinians who, in the middle of a big economic crisis, with polarization, political polarization I'm referring to -- found a reason to be proud of being Argentina, proud. A reason to be together, all together.
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The entire people are proud of being Argentina, I think -- John.
VAUSE: Yes, obviously, this comes at a good time, or a bad time, rather, for Argentina. It's a wonderful moment at a very difficult time. I'm sure always welcomed.
But just talk about this frenzy. How much is it about Lionel Messi and the role he played? How much of this is to do with the national team?
POZZEBON (via phone): Yes, I think Messi, more than any other player, has managed to embody the spirit. Messi is a player who left the country when he was a teenager to migrate, essentially, to Europe in search of better economic opportunity, perhaps, because a European club made him an offer when he was just 14 that no local club in Argentina could match.
But yet, he never abandoned the home, never abandoned Argentina and kept his loyalty otherwise (ph) for the Albiceleste, the Argentina national team.
And after years of a fractured relationship with the Argentina national team, where it seemed that Messi would often play so beautifully in Europe with trophy after trophy but always misfiring when he -- when he would put on the Argentina national shirt.
Well, this year he did not misfire. He really led the team as a captain, as the leader of this group of players to conquer confidently since 1986. So more than any other player, he is the embodiment of his -- of his feelings.
And the Argentinians know it. It was a big front page of one of the national dwarf (ph) ships here in Buenos Aires on Monday. Simply titled in the front page was, "It's Yours and Ours," and picture of Messi with the World Cup, saying he -- just as yours as to every other Argentinian. He is the symbol of these Argentinians -- John.
VAUSE: And what does history to now hold? Will he retire, as he said he will continue to play on?
POZZEBON (via phone): Messi is 35 at the moment. He was born in 1987. He had previously said that this was going to be his last World Cup, saying that it's unlikely that, at 39, he would be playing in the World Cup in the -- in the United States. That is in North America. That is taking place in 2026.
But in terms of his immediate football future, he still has a contract with Paris Saint-Germain in France to honor and definitely until the end of the season. He will be playing on the fields of Europe as a world champion, for sure.
VAUSE: Stay with us for a moment. I'd like to update our viewers, who may be just tuning into us right now.
What we are looking at is the flight carrying the -- carrying the Argentine national football team as they return home as World Cup champions. The plane arrived at Buenos Aires Airport just a short time ago.
Of course, on board is Lionel Messi, the hero of the moment, the captain of the team, the 35-year-old who led the team to victory over France, 4-2, on penalties on Sunday for what many have described as the greatest final ever in a World Cup tournament.
And of course, there are now hundreds of thousands, or at least tens of thousands, of people who are now waiting for this team to arrive there. They have been waiting for quite some time. Not just at the airport. But also at the team champion headquarters there, as well, where they're expected to spend some time before official celebrations begin.
In the meantime, stay with us here on CNN. You're watching continuing coverage of the World Cup champion arriving home. We'll have a lot more on that when we come back. You're watching CNN. Back in a moment.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN.
And we are live in Buenos Aires, where Argentina's world champion team has arrived home from Qatar. Their flight touched down just minutes earlier.
And waiting for them at the airport, there are tens of thousands of fans in the early hours of this morning. It's just after -- going onto 3 a.m. in the morning. They've been there for hours earlier.
And, of course, they're there to greet the national side, and in particular, the national hero, Lionel Messi, for the sensational win just two days ago over France, a 4-2 win on penalties.
And, of course, we're waiting for the team. Taxiing in, waiting for the team to get off the plane and to greet the fans. And that will be when the celebrations truly begin for this welcome home for a team and their champion win over France, the defending champions of the World Cup in Qatar just two days ago.
Continue to watch the situation for you in Buenos Aires. As soon as we see any sign of the team, including Lionel Messi, we'll bring it to you live.
Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Belarus on Monday to meet with the Belarusian president, Lukashenko, who would normally travel to Moscow for such meetings.
All of this sparking fears Belarus could join the fight enabling Ukraine. Putin says Russia's military is conducting exercises in Belarus and is training Belarussian air force pilots to fly jets capable of carrying, quote, "a special warhead."
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Mr. Putin's visit came hours after Russian forces launched drone strikes, many aimed at Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. Critical infrastructure was hit, but Ukraine's president says most of the drones were shot down.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (through translator): Today's morning in several regions and cities of our country, was unfortunately spoiled by the characteristic sound of the Iranian Shahed drones. But, most of them, luckily, did not reach their intended targets. And that made our morning a little better today. Thirty Shahed drones were shot down, a good result.
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VAUSE: For more details, here's Nick Paton Walsh.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): Russia's president makes a rare trip to his smaller neighbor, Belarus, and the timing has everyone wondering why.
Putin, tucking into local specially-baked bread, has always been bigger on the world stage, demanding his towering Belarusian counterpart come and see him.
But was he here? Does he want something?
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have certain areas of military cooperation. And it's not just supplying each other, which in my view, is incredibly important. It's also working together and cooperating.
WALSH (voice-over): As usual, it's hard to decipher what the Kremlin head is actually up to.
But its forces have been dropping hints for weeks. Endless public exercises along the border between Russian and Belarusian troops. Not the top tier but, at the least, designed to leave Ukraine worried.
Kyiv's top brass have gone one further and sounded the alarm of a full-scale invasion from Belarus in the weeks ahead. And late last week, accusing Russian planes of flying from Belarus's
skis as they dropped the missiles behind this raid, which killed a young boy and three others.
"Careful," warns a rescuer here, as his helmet camera footage shows another child pulled from the rubble.
That relentless Russian targeting of Ukraine's infrastructure persisting early Monday. These rare images claiming to show damage to one facility which, as dawn breaks, is swamped in firefighter foam.
Ukraine's president saying Monday, Russia had received 250 new Iranian attack drones. Likely, the Shahed loaded (Ph) with munitions. But he was sure to find more emotional reasons why Ukraine needs arms.
"Ukrainian children, in their letters to St. Nicholas are asking for air defense weapons for victory, and for them, for all Ukrainians," he said. "They understand everything our children. Let us act."
Yet, the constant saber-rattling to Kyiv's north on the border means even less chance of goodwill for now.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Back live now to Argentina, where we are expecting the World Cup champions to get off the plane, which arrived just a short time ago to be greeted by hundreds of thousands of their supporters and fans who are home company -- homecoming, rather, I say, are likely to get out any time soon.
And we'll take a very short break. More on that in just a moment.
You're watching CNN. There's the plane. Back to you in a moment now. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:52:58]
VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. It is now 2:52 a.m. in the morning, in Buenos Aires, and the flight, the charter flight carrying Argentina's World Cup national champions has just touched down. It has arrived. It has now taxied to the red carpet. The stairs are in place.
Any moment now, we're expecting the members of that World Cup champion team to deplane, as they like to say, in the air industry, and to get off that flight. And they -- then they'll be greeted by hundreds of thousands of fans who have been gathering at Buenos Aires main airport for hours now, just to give them a homecoming they will not forget any time soon.
It's just the start of celebrations. And journalist Stefano Pozzebon is on the line with us for more. So, Stefano, what can we expect in the next few hours? POZZEBON (via phone): Well, what we can expect in the next few hours
is that Argentina is going to take a small deep breath, as the players will spend a few hours in the headquarters of the National Football Federations, which is just a few kilometers away from the airport where the plane has just landed.
And then, on Tuesday, during the day, there will be a massive parade here in Buenos Aires, where I am. Tuesday has been declared a bank holiday. A national holiday here in Argentina.
Lionel Messi and his team are going to travel from the airport, from the headquarters of the -- of the football federation. They really are right next to the other, and about 50 minutes away from Buenos Aires, downtown Buenos Aires on -- by car.
And, on an open bus, they will carry the trophy. And just receive a heroes' welcome to the city, to the capital of Argentina.
Yesterday, on -- on Sunday, there were hundreds of thousands of people taking onto the streets and celebrating the triumph. You could probably expect, John, that on Tuesday, there would be just as much the same scene with -- with tens of thousands of fans in celebration as the trophy is put on display, on the street -- John.
[00:55:11]
VAUSE: Stefano, just to bring news up. There seems to be a small problem with where the plane has parked in relation to the red carpet right now, which seems to be the one hassle they're trying to work out.
Was that portrait of Lionel Messi on the tail of the plane, that we saw earlier?
POZZEBON (via phone): Yes, there are -- on the plane, they have painted the photograph of the images of most players. And of course, the biggest photograph is for Lionel Messi.
But now, I can see, from the live pictures, that the technicians are literally approaching the door, so any second, we could see the door opening right now. And I think the first --
VAUSE: There we go.
POZZEBON (via phone): -- emerging --
VAUSE: Yes, you can expect Lionel Messi to be the first one out. But you have some --
POZZEBON (via phone): There you go.
VAUSE: Let's just listen for a moment.
(MUSIC)
VAUSE: OK, we have music. We've had a few officials, it looks like. And maybe the pilots getting off the plane. And, now we're just waiting for the team, right?
POZZEBON (via phone): They are the happiest pilots in the history of that nation.
VAUSE: They're not very good at parking at this point. They've done a bit of a dodgy job on that. But I guess everything else had been fine. Looks like there's some live music there, as well, which is always a nice touch.
POZZEBON (via phone): Yes, yes, it's the -- it's the song that has been sung by -- by the supporters as the -- as the Argentinian teams had victory after victory, in Qatar. It's dedicated to the football team coach, Lionel Scaloni. And yesterday, today, it's sung all over the country.
VAUSE: Here you go.
POZZEBON (via phone): And here we go. Here's Lionel Messi, carrying the trophy.
(MUSIC)
VAUSE: We've been watching Lionel Messi with the World Cup trophy, as he got off that flight from Qatar, and the rest of the team, obviously. There he is now on the stage.
The 35-year-old legendary champion, who led his team to victory. Not just in the final but in the entire tournament. Very much the national hero, the national champion, of the moment.
He's now on that bus, that topless bus, which they'll be riding today and tomorrow as the celebrations begin.
So, from here, they head to the team headquarters, where they'll get a few hours' rest and wait for daylight, I guess. And then celebrations begin.
It should be noted, Argentina has an entire national holiday for this day. It's been declared because of the team's arrival home and because, obviously, they won the World Cup.
There's a moment of national celebration. So, Stefano, what are the scenes expected like later today?
POZZEBON (via phone): We imagine, literally, a sea of people. I was watching drone footage from -- from Sunday as the main avenue that cuts through the city of Buenos Aires, and runs next to the obelisk that is the symbol of the city, were literally packed from start to bottom by hundreds of thousands of fans. And the -- the images of the drone are quite stunning.
And you can expect that those scenes would just be repeated on Tuesday. Because these busses (ph) that you're seeing on live television, the live -- international airport of Buenos Aires, is actually going to drive through the avenue.
