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Ukraine Pushes for More Military Aid After Russian Strikes; Israel Reports Several Rockets Fired From Gaza; Five former Memphis Police Officers Charged with Murder; Russian Media Mock Weapons Shipments to Ukraine; Canada Says It will Send Four Leopard 2 Tanks to Ukraine; U.S. and Israel Conduct Their Largest Joint Military Drills; Detained over a Documentary; Families of Crash Victims Speak on Boeing Fraud Case; Whistleblowers: House Committee Failed to Hold Social Media Accountable for Role in the Attack; Freestyle Skier Eileen Gu's Life, On and Off the Slopes. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 27, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for your company. Coming up here on CNN Newsroom.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ukrainians say that the Russians are pouring a massive amount of personnel and weapons into this area because they seem to want to take Bakhmut at nearly any cost.
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HOLMES: CNN's Fred Pleitgen on the fierce battle over a strategic city in Ukraine's east. One day after a deadly Israeli raid in the West Bank overnight rocket attacks from Gaza and swift retaliation from the Israelis.
And in the U.S., the police brutality case in Memphis that has a nation on edge. Five police officers were fired and now charged with murder and kidnapping after the death of a man they were trying to arrest.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: Ukraine making the case for more western weapons following the latest barrage of Russian missile strikes. Kyiv says dozens of drones and missiles were fired on targets across Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least eleven people and leaving eleven others wounded. Ukraine says most of the missiles were shot down, but dozens of buildings and power facilities still took heavy damage from the strikes. The Russian attacks came just hours after Western allies agreed to send their advanced tanks to Ukraine.
In response, the Kremlin now accuses the west of direct involvement in the war. But the Ukrainian president says Kyiv needs even more firepower.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This evil, this Russian aggression can and should be stopped only with adequate weapons. The terrorist state will not understand anything else. Weapons on the battlefield, weapons that protect our skies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Ukraine says Russia is also stepping up its ground defensive in the east intense fighting being reported in more parts of the Donetsk region. The most vicious battles are around the city of Bakhmut, where Russian troops have been trying to break through for months now. CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports on a grueling fight.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ukraine's tanks taking aim at the invading Russians. Kyiv's forces rallying to try to halt the massive assault on Bakhmut. The city where there are still some 6000 civilians has become a cauldron of fire.
PLEITGEN: From this vantage point you can both see and hear just how fierce the fighting is. You can hear impacts from heavy weapons, not just every minute, but literally every second. The Ukrainians say that the Russians are pouring a massive amount of personnel and weapons into this area because they seem to want to take Bakhmut at nearly any cost.
(Voice-over): There are plenty of regular Russian troops fighting around Bakhmut now, but the Ukrainians say it's still the Wagner private military company that's leading the charge. With waves of fighters trying to storm Ukrainian positions both north and south of the city, as well as specialized forces like these snipers claiming to have killed a Ukrainian soldier.
All I could see was a curtained window, the sniper says. The person who was paired with me saw a thermal outline. And I just determined where to shoot.
Wagner's boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin often touts his militia's successes, but the cost is immense. This is a Wagner cemetery in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia. Row after row of fresh graves, a disposable force used to take just a few kilometers of land.
Wagner acknowledges recruiting prisoners straight out of jail and throwing them on the battlefield with minimal training and only slim chances of survival. That same indifference shown in Russian strikes that kill and maim Ukrainian civilians every day.
These folks are cleaning up after a Russian missile landed in their neighborhood near Bakhmut.
We were getting heating from the heating plant which was hit, Yuri (ph) tells me. Yesterday at 03:00 it was destroyed. So, now we have no electricity, no heating. We have nothing.
And a few miles away, one person was killed in another densely populated area. Some of the long-distance drones and missiles that Russia uses to attack Ukraine come down right near civilian areas. This, here, is only a few yards away from a kindergarten. However, others are used to directly target critical infrastructure.
More than 50 missiles fired aired just on Thursday, and while many of them were intercepted by Ukrainian air defenses, some were not brought down, adding to the daily toll of destruction.
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The missile terror more motivation for Ukraine soldiers around Bakhmut to stand their ground and bring Vladimir Putin's invasion to a standstill. Fred Pleitgen, CNN near Bakhmut, Ukraine.
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HOLMES: Well, for the big picture of the battlefield situation in Ukraine, I'm joined now by Mick Ryan, a retired Major General of the Australian Army, speaking with me from Brisbane. Mick, always good to see you. Let's start with this. The significance of the logistical hurdles when it comes to those Western tanks heading to the battlefield, the training and supply, maintenance and so on. And how does that logistics timetable jibe with the expected timing of a Russian spring offensive?
MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN, (RET.) AUTRAILIAN ARMY: Well, tanks are very difficult to operate, but we should also remember that tanks aren't new to the Ukrainian army. They've been operating nearly 1000 of them throughout this war. They understand logistics, they understand fuel, they understand repair and maintenance. There will be some evolutions on what they're doing at the moment, but they're not starting from zero in this whole undertaking to absorb new Western tanks.
HOLMES: I know you've written about this on your sub-stack and also on Twitter, but talk about how you've seen the Russians adapt in terms of strategy and where you think that strategy stands right now in terms of their aims?
RYAN: Yeah, there's a view out there among some that the Russian military's flag and office, stupid blob. It's not, it's an organization that has learned. It has adapted throughout this war, both in how it fights, where it fights, the use of artillery, the use of private military companies, and it's going to continue doing that. And under General Gerasimov, the recently announced unified commander. We should expect that the Russian army and Wagner will undertake offensives, particularly in their Donbas, to secure those annexed territories.
HOLMES: And we're coming up on the one-year anniversary of a war that the Russians thought would take a couple of weeks to win. I was in Ukraine when it started. Why do you think Russian war planners, and the Russian leadership, for that matter, got it so wrong?
RYAN: Well, they had a 10-day war plan, apparently, and there were many Russian soldiers who carried parade uniforms for the victory parade through Kyiv in their backpacks. There's a range of reasons why they got it so wrong. Partly, they had poor intelligence about the willingness of the Ukrainian government to resist them. They made bad assumptions about the West's will to support Ukraine. And frankly, they really underestimated Ukrainian national cohesion to resist the Russian invasion. All of those combined spelled a catastrophe for the Russians.
HOLMES: Yeah, as one analyst said, and I'm paraphrasing, and I think you quoted him too, losing more slowly or losing effectively is not what Putin wants. How then do you see Russia's aims evolving in year two of this war, especially given the introduction of so much more advanced west than material?
RYAN: Yeah, I think it was American analyst Michael Kofman who used those exact words. Putin is willing now, it appears, to wait out the west. He thinks he can outweigh them. I'm not sure that's a good assumption. You know, the west was in Afghanistan for 20 years, but he'll be using a combination of diplomacy, of new military offensives, of economic pressure on Ukraine, as well as a whole range of other means to try and respect the initiative in this war over the coming months.
HOLMES: I wanted to ask you this, too, before we go, can you see a scenario where Putin admits, perhaps not defeat, but a reality that he's not going to achieve those original aims of a defeated Ukraine back in the bosom of mother Russia? What would it take for him to realize that's not going to happen?
RYAN: Well, we'll take significant battlefield defeats of the Russian army in the field and the Wagnerites, and that's why Western support and armored vehicles and tanks and artillery and other support is so important. The Russians now will only leave if they're beaten on the battlefield. That's what it will take for Putin to leave Ukraine.
HOLMES: All right, Major General Mick Ryan, follow him on Twitter if you don't, always appreciate your time. Thanks, Mick.
RYAN: Thanks, Michael.
HOLMES: Well, Israel has unleashed new airstrikes on Gaza, saying it targeted a rocket making site belonging to Hamas. That's after Gaza militants fired several missiles at Israel. And that was in response to a lethal raid by Israeli forces on Jenin refugee camp. That turned into the deadliest day for Palestinians in the West Bank in more than a year.
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Israeli border police releasing this helmet video from the raid, an IDF spokesperson told CNN the military was responding to intelligence about what they described as an imminent attack and moved in to apprehend what they described as a terror squad. CNN's Hadas Gold has been tracking all of this from Jerusalem.
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HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: At least nine Palestinians were killed during an unusual daytime Israeli military raid in Jenin in the West Bank. The Israelis say they were targeting Islamic Jihad militants there, who they say were preparing for what they called an imminent attack.
But at least one civilian, a woman in her 60s, was killed during the firefights between the militants and the Israeli military. The deadliest single day for Palestinians in the West Bank in over a year, and what's already been an incredibly violent and deadly period for both Palestinians and Israelis.
In response, militants in Gaza fired rockets into Israel. No reported injuries yet. And the Palestinian Authority leadership announced in a dramatic move that they are ceasing security cooperation with Israel.
NABIL ABU RUDEINE, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (through translator): In light of the continuous hostilities on the sons of our people and the complete disregard to the signed agreements, including the security agreement, we consider the security coordination with the government of occupying Israel as nonexistent, starting now.
GOLD: It's not the first time the security coordination has been cut. In 2020, the Palestine Authority cut off the coordination in response to Israeli plans to annex part of the West Bank as part of former President Donald Trump's peace plan. But coordination resumed six months later when annexation came off the table. It's not clear how long this cutoff will last, but the U.S. State Department is warning it's not the right step at this moment. A tense time in this region as U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken prepares for a visit here in the coming days. Hadas Gold, CNN, Jerusalem.
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HOLMES: The U.S. Military says it has killed a senior ISIS member and 10 members of the terror group in an operation in Somalia. The Biden administration says Bilal al-Sudani helped fund a network of ISIS affiliates around the world, including in Afghanistan. He was hit with sanctions in 2012 for training terrorists.
Officials say the operation provided valuable information for the intelligence community. No civilians or U.S. troops were killed.
Haiti's capital is in turmoil after a day of violent protests, but this time some police are among the protesters. The thematic video coming up.
Also murder charges against five former Memphis police officers three weeks after a violent police encounter led to the death of Tyre Nichols. Now, authorities are set to release the police video of what happened.
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HOLMES: Haiti's capital, reeling from violent protests against a string of recent killings of police. Protesters, including some police officers, attacked the country's main airport and the prime minister's residence in Port-au-Prince on Thursday. At least 10 police officers have been killed by armed gangs over the past week.
Reuters reporting the Prime Minister was flying back from Argentina and was actually stuck at the airport for a while before getting back to his home.
The city of Memphis, Tennessee, is expected to release graphic video on Friday showing the violent encounter between police and 29-year-old Tyre Nichols on January 7. Nichols died of his injuries three days later. Well, now all five fired officers have been charged with second degree murder as well as other serious offenses. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is in Memphis with the latest. Some images in his report might be disturbing.
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DAVID B. RAUSCH, DIRECTOR, TENNESSEE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: We continue to pursue every lead. Justice demands it. And our agency exists so that guilt shall not escape, nor innocence suffer.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The law enforcement official in charge of the Tyre Nichols investigation saying he was sickened by what he saw police officers do to the 29- year-old.
STEVE MULROY, SHELBY COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We all want the same thing. We want justice for Tyre Nichols.
PROKUPECZ: Shelby County District Attorney charged Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Emmitt Martin, Justin Smith, and Tadarrius Bean, with second degree murder, aggravated assault and kidnapping, among several other charges. The lawyers for two of the former officers who were all fired last week say they still don't have the details about what happened.
WILLIAM MASSEY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR EMMITT MARTIN: We do not have discovery, and we're not seeing the video. So, we're kind of in the blind right now, and this process is just starting.
POLICE: We got one make. Black running.
POLICE: Set up perimeter.
PROKUPECZ: Memphis police say Nichols was pulled over on January 7 for reckless driving.
DISPATCHER: (Inaudible) car pulled over at the (inaudible) have one running on foot.
POLICE: Run that tag and see what's the address.
PROKUPECZ: Police say a confrontation occurred and after using pepper spray, Nichols fled the scene on foot.
MULROY: There was another altercation at a nearby location at which the serious injuries were experienced by Mr. Nichols. After some period of time of waiting around afterwards, he was taken away by an ambulance.
PROKUPECZ: Nichols died of his injuries three days later.
CHIEF CERELYN DAVIS, MEMPHIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: This incident was heinous, reckless and inhumane.
PROKUPECZ: The five officers involved in the beating were fired after an internal investigation found they violated multiple department policies, including the use of excessive force and failing to render aid. Two EMTs with the Memphis Fire Department were also put on leave, and additional officers are under investigation.
RODNEY WELLS, TYRE NICHOLS' STEPFATHER: No father, mother should have to witness what I saw today.
PROKUPECZ: The Nichols family has viewed video of the incident, which has been described as brutal, and heinous and prosecutors plan to release it publicly Friday night with the hopes of easing tensions.
RAUSCH: We are here to pursue truth and justice, realizing that we should not be here. Simply put, this shouldn't have happened. I've been policing for more than 30 years. I've devoted my life to this profession, and I'm grieved frankly, I'm shocked.
PROKUPECZ: And we're now waiting for the next steps in this case, obviously, would be the arraignment. The officers spent most of the day after being charged in jail waiting to get bond. We're told two of those officers did bond out. They are now out with bond, and three other officers still remain in jail. They're expected to make bond. And then, the next steps will be the arraignment for these officers. They have to be arraigned on the indictment, and that could come next week. And then finally next week, really the emotional part of this. The funeral is expected next week. Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Memphis, Tennessee.
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HOLMES: Here to talk more about the case is retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Steve Moore in Los Angeles. Good to see you, Steve. What do you think? Will the charges help lower the temperature? What are your concerns about Friday?
STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I hope they will. And I hope that the police coming out so transparently and so strongly about the heinous nature of this event, will restore at least some feeling that justice will be done. Because a lot of these protests center around the fact that people don't believe justice is going to be done. I think that Memphis is doing the best they can to say, listen, we're going to take care of it.
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HOLMES: How do you think to that point, I mean, how do you think authorities have handled all of this? The suspensions and charging ahead of the release of the videos? Explain the strategy behind that, because there clearly is one.
MOORE: Yeah, I think what happened here is once they saw the body cam videos and probably they had a prosecutor looking at those videos also, they felt that there was prima facial evidence right there to charge these officers. And at that point they cut with those officers. They said this is not a judgment matter. If they used slightly too much or slightly too little for, whatever. They decided that this wasn't a judgment call, this was a straight-out crime. And so, at that point, they made a break with the officers. And I think I haven't seen this very much. I am hoping it makes a difference in the public reaction because I am certain that these videos are going to be very disturbing.
HOLMES: Certainly, sounds that way. They couldn't have prepared the public more for how bad they're going to be. Almost regularly in the U.S., you see videos of police reacting inappropriately, overreacting, even killing people without making every effort not to do that. How damaging are these cases to police reputationally? Because they are the exception, not the rule?
MOORE: Thanks for saying that. Yeah, they are. But it's hard to separate out in a community who feels victimized already. It's hard to break out a bad group and respect all the others because when the car comes up, the black and white looks like all the other cars and you don't know whether you're getting a good cop or a bad. And the vast majority are the good cops and it is making it so hard on them when these rogue policemen are allowed to continue here.
And I think there's going to have to be a lot of answers as to how these officers could have behaved this way, because I am certain you're not going to find that this is the first incident that they've been involved with.
HOLMES: You know, it's interesting because in countries around the world, you know, once somebody's charged, you can't release evidence connected to the case because it can prejudice a jury. What do you think about releasing the video? Transparency is always good and we always call for it, of course, but given the charges are already laid, do you think it should be released ahead of the trial, given the risks on the streets?
MOORE: What you're going to have to balance is the defendant's rights in this and that's why you wouldn't want to release it. But at the same time, there is an overarching unusual situation where you have a community that might literally riot if this isn't brought out. So, I believe it serves the public's best interest to release this. And there can be a remedy for these officers in a trial being moved, but there can't be a remedy for the city of Memphis if it's burned down. So, I think there's an acute public interest in releasing this.
HOLMES: I think the most experienced of the five officers was hired in 2017, so this wasn't an experienced group. Does that concern you? And do you think there's enough training done about not necessarily deescalating, but managing anger? Because these are adrenaline type situations, and I know people have spoken about how there can be a herd mentality when you're in a situation like this?
MOORE: If the senior officer on scene has only five years, you've got a bunch of very rookie type individuals on scene. That is a serious problem. There needs to be a handing down of skill sets, of wisdom, of ability to control yourself in situations where your emotions get into it. So, yeah, that's going to be a big problem.
I also think we should look into -- and I think there will be looking into what type of unit these officers were involved with. And was that really a reckless driving stop? This whole thing doesn't smell right to me.
HOLMES: Yeah, the so-called Scorpion unit. Yeah, that's true, I wish we had more time to talk about that. It's an important aspect. Steve Moore, we're going to leave it there. I appreciate it, there in Los Angeles for us.
MOORE: Thank you.
HOLMES: Now, in the coming hours, California authorities will release recordings related to the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
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Materials to be released include a 911 audio, police body camera footage, and home surveillance video. A coalition of news organizations, including CNN, went to court to secure the releasing -- release of the recordings.
Paul Pelosi was attacked at the couple's home in October by a man with a hammer. The suspect has pleaded not guilty to multiple state and federal charges.
And the suspect in Monday's mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, California, has reportedly admitted to the crimes. NBC Bay Area reports exclusively that Chunli Zhao said he regrets the attacks and wasn't in his right mind. CNN has not been able to independently confirm this reporting. That interview, though, apparently took place inside the jail Thursday and was conducted in Mandarin. Seven people were killed, one other wounded in the shootings at two mushroom farms.
Still to come on the program, Putin's puppets Russian state media lashing out against armed shipments to Ukraine. How the propaganda is playing with the Russian people. That's when we come back.
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HOLMES: You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Michael Holmes. Now, the father of the Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic is responding to criticism for posing with supporters of Vladimir Putin outside an arena at the Australian Open.
Video shows him standing next to a man holding a Russian flag with Putin's face on it and wearing a T-shirt with the symbol Z, symbolizing support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The older Djokovic says his family, "has lived through the horror of war and we wish only for peace. I had no intention of being caught up in this." He also says he will be watching his son's upcoming match from home so there's no disruption.
Russia's propaganda machine meanwhile moving into high gear as the war in Ukraine nears its first anniversary. Vladimir Putin's shameless supporters in state media making a mockery of western weapons. But not everyone is buying the borscht. CNN's Nic Robertson reports.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Toothless cats, battered Abrams, he says. The Russian state media anchor points to a huge graphic alleging flaws in the NATO tanks. His purposeful propaganda playing down, risk the Russian troops in Ukraine does seem to be working.
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"Sending tanks is going to be bad for the Americans and the Germans," she says.
"We are going to win regardless," Sergei tells us. "It is just enlarging the conflict. If we pull out, the West will put more pressure on us."
But not everyone buys the state TV hype. Putin has killed off independent media but not independence of mind.
This young film student tells our team a friend was drafted and deployed but has now disappeared. "I'm for peace," she says. "It is very sad. People are dying. I'm on the verge of tears here."
"I do not know if it is true or not or what is going on in this war," this lady tells us. "But I do know that people who have been killed. Some of them are friends."
All emotions the Kremlin likes to prey on.
Around the capital, air defense systems have been lofted atop government buildings, the less than subtle message, "Russia is under threat".
It's leverage Putin needs to drum up more recruits for the increasingly unpopular meat grinder that is Ukraine's front line trenches. In more prime time Putin propaganda, Yevgeny Popov (ph) pops a pun for
the audience. Tells them the German Leopard 2 tanks will burn very nicely.
Another Putin acolyte, the insanely popular Vladimir Solovyov (ph) asked the audience after all of this, isn't Berlin a lawful target?"
Such is the stitch-up in Russian media. Putin is able to spin almost any message he wants. His TV puppets served fast and fear in equal measure. But even that is not going down so well with some.
"Everyone is listening to Solovyov's opinion," this lady says. "But it would be good if the experts started expressing their real opinions instead of obeying orders from Putin."
What is real is anyone's guess. And for some, that means tuning out.
This lady tells us she does not know about the tanks when we asked her opinion.
"I think that this is a political war, and not a war for the people," this lady tells the team. "What are we supposed to do," she says. "Our 0opinions mean didley squat."
Increasingly isolated from outside views and under threat of harsh retribution if they dissent, Russians are stuck in a rut in a war they don't want, with a leader they can't remove and the threat of potential recruitment around the corner.
They are doing what Russians have historically done in the face of adversity -- focusing on their own survival.
Nic Robertson, CNN -- London.
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HOLMES: Canada is among the western nations sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The Canadian defense minister made the announcement on Thursday, saying Canada is working closely with allies on training, ammunition and spare parts.
Paula Newton with the story from the Canadian capital.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Canada will now be joining its allies in what it calls a coalition sending battle tanks to Ukraine. Now, Canada said it had been awaiting German approval. Of course, that has now happened.
And what is starting to come together here is what Canada is calling a coalition of allies that will be sending lethal aid, it must be said, to Ukraine. Something that so many allies, including Canada were reluctant to do at the beginning of this conflict.
I want you to listen now though to Canada's defense minister defending why only four were going at this moment. Now, Canada says it may send more perhaps up to a dozen in the coming months.
But that they were trying to get coordination on ammunition, spare parts and training. And that is why right now it will only be four from Canada. Take a listen.
ANITA ANAND, CANADIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: So this goes to my point about the necessity of Canada being a part of the collective, a common platform of tanks that will be so important.
And then finally, I will say that on training, Canada has a very strong and well-deserved reputation in the area of expertise and training, having trained over 35,000 Ukrainian armed forces members.
NEWTON: Now, complicating the issue of Canada's contribution are its NATO contributions. The fact that it has NATO commitments and the principal one in Latvia.
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NEWTON: What you are seeing now are these NATO allies really starting to come to terms with what will have to be not just a robust deployment of battle ready ammunition, tanks, missile systems to Ukraine, but a more robust posture in Europe in order to bolster its own NATO defenses, especially in countries that are close to Russia.
Paula Newton, CNN -- Ottawa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The biggest ever joint U.S. Israeli military drills were held this week. Politically though, the White House has expressed concerns about the far-right ultra nationalist coalition government led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
In this exclusive report, CNN's Hadas Gold found out what is motivating both countries now to quickly assemble such massive military exercises.
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HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: CNN granted exclusive access to the danger zone on the super carrier USS George H.W. Bush to see part of the largest-ever American and Israeli joint military exercise covering all aspects of warfare, from the air, on land, to the sea, online and even in space.
The timing is no accident, meant to send a clear signal to Iran and other adversaries in the region that despite the attention on Ukraine and U.S. concerns over the new right-wing Israeli government, the Americans remain deeply-aligned and committed to a military partnership with Israel.
For the Americans and the Israelis, these types of exercises are a show of force, a show of partnership, and a way for the both of them to show the world that they can walk and chew gum at the same time. GEN. MICHAEL KURILLA, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Only through a
firm commitment to this partnership are we able to plan and organize such an incredibly complex, high-end operation with so many elements across such a large geographic area against all aspects of war fighting some of which are seen, some of which are not.
GOLD: For the Israelis, the exercise is crucial. They have long opposed a return to the Iranian nuclear deal and have argued that a credible military threat needs to be on the table to deter Iran from fully developing a nuclear weapon.
LT. GEN. HEZI HALEVI, ISRAELI DEFENSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Israel and the U.S. share the same values. The IDF and the U.S. CentCom see eye to eye the threats on this area.
GOLD: More than 6,400 American personnel joined 1,100 Israelis as a part of these exercises that utilized more than 142 aircraft, including these F-18s.
And while the Israelis and Americans regularly carry out joint exercises, this one shifted the focus more on the offensive rather than just a defensive capabilities.
It also came together in just two months, incredibly quickly, especially for something of this scale compared to the typical year or so of planning. While officials shy away from drawing a direct connection between the speed and recent events in Iran and the breakdown last year of negotiations over the nuclear deal, it is hard to ignore the context.
COL. JOE BUCCINO, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND SPOKESPERSON: I think it is fairly clear that we can very quickly move assets in the region to respond to crises and we can do so alongside our partners and we can fight and conduct offensive operations in every domain alongside our partners.
GOLD: The military option which President Biden called the last resort to deal with Iran, seems to be on loud display.
Hadas Gold, CNN -- aboard the USS George H.W. Bush.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Still to come on the program, detained over a documentary. India cracks down on students trying to stream a film about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
[01:38:30]
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HOLMES: India has banned a BBC documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And now it is taking action against students who planned to go ahead with the screening of the film.
CNN's Anna Coren tells us how the government is cracking down on what it describes as propaganda.
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ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Police in India have detained at least a dozen university students over attempts to screen a banned BBC documentary critical of the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The two-part documentary, "India: The Modi Question", looks at Modi's alleged role into the deadly 2002 Gujarat riots that claimed more than a thousand lives mostly Muslim when he was a state chief minister.
Last week, the government blocked the documentary from airing in India after enforced emergency powers under the country's new Information and Technology Act that allows it to suppress any information that appears online. Both YouTube and Twitter have complied with the order.
The government has called the documentary a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The BBC responded, stating the documentary was quote, "rigorously researched according to the highest editorial standards".
Students at two prominent universities in New Delhi this week tried to screen the documentary but were faced with power cuts and an Internet shut down according to student leaders. Police then detained 13 students saying they needed to ensure peace in the area.
SANAM HUSSEIN STUDENT (through translator): Stopping the screening of a film and then attacking the students in such a manner, this is a complete violation of all kinds of, you know, democratic fundamental rights of every citizen of this country.
COREN: Critics of the ban have expressed dismay in what they view as censorship by the Indian government.
The Committee to Protect Journalists also weighed in saying this was an attack on the free press that fragrantly contradicts the country's stated commitment to democratic ideals.
The BBC documentary explores an unpublished British government report that reveals the violence in Gujarat back in 2002 had all of the hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing, claiming there was widespread and systemic rape of Muslim women.
Modi has denied accusations that he failed to stop the violence, and in 2012 a supreme court appointed a special investigations team found there was no evidence to suggest Modi was to blame.
Anna Coren, CNN -- Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Plane maker Boeing pleaded not guilty in a U.S. federal court Thursday to charges of conspiring to defraud the United States over the safety of its 737 Max jets. For families of the victims of two deadly crashes involving the airliner, the arraignment is the beginning of their efforts to find justice for their loved ones. They are objecting to a U.S. Justice Department agreement which would
resolve the investigation into the design of the jets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAOISE (ph) CONNOLLY RYAN, LOST HUSBAND 2019 ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES CRASH: Nobody should have to go through this. We are here today to make a statement. No third crash and whatever that takes.
ZIPPORAH KURIA, LOST FATHER IN ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES CRASH: It has been three years. But for everybody standing here, for all of these people, we are still stood at March 10th. We are still stuck on that day.
CLARISS MOORE, LOST DAUGHTER IN ETHIOPIA AIRLINES CRASH: We live in a pain and distress, unstable ground. And yet the murderers walking free, going home to their loved ones.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The crash of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines flights 302 killed 346 people from all around the world. Both planes were 737 Max jets from Boeing. And so far, no one from the plane manufacturer has been held responsible.
One man who lost his brother tells CNN's Larry Madowo, that is unacceptable.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Family members I've spoken to wants Boeing and its executives held criminally responsible for what they see as causing the death of 346 people in the Indonesia crash in 2018 and Ethiopia crash in 2019.
[01:44:57]
MADOWO: I spoke to one family member who lost his brother in Ethiopian Airlines crash, the flight 302.
TOM KALBAU, BROTHER OF ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES VICTIM: We were put in a position whereby there was no other choice but death. But also (INAUDIBLE) and continued after the Lion Air crash they continued to conceal the safety issues and the defects for profits.
MADOWO: You lost your brother in Ethiopian Airlines flight 302. You are also a lawyer in Kenya, so you know the law. Who do you hold responsible for his death?
KALBAU: I hold responsible the Boeing corporation and in particular, the senior executives who made the decisions for that.
MADOWO: To be clear, you want the senior executives who are in charge of Boeing at the time to go to jail.
KALBAU: Certainly. And that would be a very important milestone not only for accountability, for the deaths they recklessly caused. But for the good of our safety.
MADOWO: These family members feel that the settlement that the Trump Justice Department arrived at with Boeing shields the company and that should be thrown out. They also especially take issue with what they feel as the Boeing narrative after the Lion Air crash in Indonesia, the Ethiopian Airlines crash that appeared to blame it on pilot error.
These were third world pilots who did not have to operate this aircraft. These family remember say Boeing deliberately manufactured a defective aircraft and should pay for that. People should go to jail, they tell me.
Larry Madowo, CNN -- Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Twitter's CEO Elon Musk was at the U.S. Capitol Thursday meeting with the two most powerful men in the House of Representatives. Sources tell CNN Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries was meeting with House Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy when Musk arrived for a separate meeting with the speaker.
And all three spoke briefly about Twitter. After the meeting, Musk posted on Twitter that he quote, "just met with Speaker McCarthy and Representative Jeffries to discuss ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties.
Now that meeting comes as House Republicans plan to hold a hearing next month into possible censorship by big tech companies. Twitter and other social media platforms also faced renewed scrutiny over their role in the January 6th attack on the capital.
But two whistleblowers say the committee investigating the attack missed a big opportunity.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan with our exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANIKA COLLIER NAVAROLI, TWITTER WHISTLEBLOSER: I do fear for the future and what it may hold.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You think there could be another January 6th in this country?
NAVROLI: Yes.
O'SULLIVAN: Anika Collier Navaroli is a former Twitter employee turned whistleblower who testified before the January 6th Committee initially anonymously.
NAVAROLI: A lot of the locked and loaded (INAUDIBLE) tweets were in response to Donald Trump.
O'SULLIVAN: Now she is speaking exclusively to CNN in her first television interview. NAVAROLI: I think that it is really important for these findings from
the committee about the roles that social media played in January 6th, come to light.
O'SULLIVAN: Navaroli says she can't talk specifics about her time at Twitter publicly but she shared eye-opening details and depositions with the January 6 Committee.
One example, as Trump supporters gathered in Washington D.C. on the eve of the capitol attack, Navaroli and her colleagues warned management at Twitter there might be somebody getting chopped tomorrow, according to transcripts of her deposition.
NAVAROLI: The Twitter leadership refused to take action.
O'SULLIVAN: Attorney elect Susanna (INAUDIBLE) spoke to CNN on behalf of a second Twitter whistleblower who is remaining anonymous.
NAVAROLI: It wasn't actually until the doors of the Capitol were being breached that Twitter leadership started taking action. And at that point, it was too little too late. The real world harm and violence has happened.
O'SULLIVAN: How did you feel as an American just seeing this happen?
NAVAROLI: Terrified. It was horrifying to experience political violence happen within our country at such a grand scale.
O'SULLIVAN: Jacob Glick was a lawyer for the January 6th Committee who deposed Navaroli.
JACOB GLICK, LAWYER FOR JANUARY 6TH COMMITTEE: She described employees, including herself, coming forward to warn their supervisors. And Anika is telling that were denied over and over and over and over. And who knows what could have been avoided if they had listened to her and her colleagues sooner.
O'SULLIVAN: But Navaroli is not happy with the January 6th Committee final report.
NAVAROLI: Social media companies are mentioned hundreds of times within the final report. However their role or their responsibility within that day and the events of that day and the violence that occurred has not been fully laid out.
[01:49:58]
O'SULLIVAN: The committee had a so-called purple team dedicated to looking into social media and extremism. CNN obtained a copy of an unpublished draft document the team prepared. Much of it with focus on social media's role in the run up to January 6 did not make it into the final report.
This is what did not make it into the final cut.
Social media companies failed to anticipate post-election violence. Social media platforms had a delayed response to the rise of far-right extremism.
Twitter was paralyzed by a fear of political reprisals. Key decisions that Twitter were bungled by incompetence and poor judgment.
NAVAROLI: I risked a lot to come forward and to speak to the committee and to share the truth about these momentous occasions in history. And I think it is really a missed opportunity that the committee did not include that information forefront and center within their report.
O'SULLIVAN: Anika and others say the January six committee missed a real opportunity here.
You worked on the committee, do you agree with that?
GLICK: The report did its job exceedingly well which was to show the American public the dangers posed by President Trump's multi-layered attack on our democracy.
O'SULLIVAN: As for the draft document, Jacob Glick says it includes errors and should not have been released.
Do you think social media companies fully appreciate the role that they played in January 6?
GLICK: I don't think so. That lack of awareness of responsibility is stark.
NAVAROLI: By seeing this information, we will be able to understand better what happened on January 6th in order to ensure that it does not continue to repeat itself.
O'SULLIVAN: Donie O'Sullivan, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Olympic gold medal skier, a fashion model and now college student. How in the world does she find the time for it all? Eileen Gu takes us into her action-packed life, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: This video might make you a little dizzy. Brazilian high liner, Rafael Brevea (ph) has broken the record for the longest crossing of an urban area in any of the Americas. On a slack line suspended 114 meters above the streets of Sao Paulo, Brevea walked for 25 minutes between two skyscrapers. The 35-year-old's nail-biting trip stretched 510 meters from first step to last. This isn't his first record. Two years ago, he walked between two hot air balloons.
Now, freestyle skier Eileen Gu took the world by storm at last winter's Olympic Games. The California-born teenager who competes for China won three medals in Beijing.
But that is not her only day job. The 19-year-old shares her remarkable and hectic life journey with Coy Wire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EILEEN GU, FREESTYLE SKIER: After 11.5 a half months out of the competition scene, it was so much fun to get back on the snow. Take two wins in Calgary this past week.
Being away from snow just made me realize how much I miss it, how much I love it, how truly passionate about it I am. And I'm so lucky to get to do what I do for a living.
[01:54:58]
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Some say balance is one of the keys to a great life. You're a stellar student attending Stanford, a pro athlete and a model. What is the secret?
GU: I'm really just very passionate about what I do. I'm so lucky that I get to ski, go to school, do fashion. There is such different, I guess life paths but at the same time they're all really related to one another.
For example, in school, I'm learning in psychology, what I'm learning about how to learn and how to apply your work ethic to different kinds of difficult tasks. I really applied that my skiing.
But then in skiing, I feel like I'm very creative and I'm very expressive and I really bring that to the fashion industry.
And then for fashion, I feel like I'm really putting myself out there. I'm learning about resilience. And I'm learning about confidence. And I think part of that is (INAUDIBLE).
So it all goes in a circle. I guess it's really connected. And at the end of the day, I don't get tired of what I do because I'm just jumping from one thing to the next and it's always new, it's always refreshing.
So I guess that is the secret.
WIRE: You have an unrelenting work ethic. What does one of your more demanding days look like schedule-wise?
GU: In Calgary, just recently I woke up 8:00 a.m., 7:30 in the morning. Got up, put on my ski stuff on, went to the hills, competed in qualifiers for the World Cup. Qualified first, drove back, sat down, wrote two essays. did a (INAUDIBLE) and Berkeley philosophy reading. Did some physics and put all my ski stuff on, went back to the hill, competed in the World Cup finals that evening at 6:00 p.m. Won that.
Came back, proof-read my essay. This is the way that write -- I like to do my writing, finish, let it marinate for a little bit, and then come back, reread it and then turn it in. So I came, back, reread my essay, turned it in, called it a night 10:00 p.m. Hit the hay.
WIRE: I'm sweating, I'm stressed, I'm tired just thinking about it. Outstanding. And don't tell me, you are doing a little Descartes, I think therefore I am.
GU: There you go, there you go. (INAUDIBLE) So we know each other.
WIRE: We took the same class I'm sure.
Now, excellence can't be achieved though without sacrifice. What are some of the things you have sacrificed to make your dreams a reality?
GU: I guess that's a hard question because I'm very optimistic and I like to think that everything I do, I actively choose to do it. And it enriches my life every day.
But I guess the hardest part really is just not being in the same time zone. Traveling so constantly. Not being with my friends when I'm away. Missing my cats and my grandma.
But I think that those are all things that when I'm away, I miss them so that when I'm back, I really just make it that much more effort to be present and to be caught up with them and to be as active of a friend and family member as I can be.
WIRE: Yes. Living in the meow is very important.
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
CNN NEWSROOM continues after the break with Kim Brunhuber.
[01:57:57]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
