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Biden Plans To Speak To Xi Soon But "Make No Apologies"; Biden: Nothing Suggests Last 3 Objects Related To China; U.N. Calls For $1B To Aid Relief Efforts In Turkey; 440,000 Plus Protest Pension Reform, Lowest Since Marches Began; Old Banknote Reissued As Cash Shortage Threatens Election; Russian Forces Ramping up Shelling, Missile Strikes; U.S. Ramping UP Ammunition Productions as Stockpiles Dwindle. Professor Recounts Horror as Gunman Opened Fire; NTSB: Working Vigorously to Understand Cause of Derailment; Tesla Recalls 360,000 Vehicles; North Korea Celebrates Late Leader Kim Jong Il's Birthday. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 17, 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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[01:00:23]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I'm John Vause. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom. No regret said he would do it again. President Biden speaks out about the Chinese spy balloon, saying he would shoot it down again. But still he's hoping to speak with the Chinese president soon.
Pathetic. U.S. Intelligence assesses Russia's offensive in Ukraine, more aspirational than realistic and most likely heading for defeat. And Tesla recall 360,000 vehicles now in need of an urgent update. Will self-driving cars ever live up to the pollest fight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: After almost two weeks of unresolved tension between Washington and Beijing over the suspected Chinese spy balloon, Joe Biden is hoping to speak soon with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But Biden says he will not apologize for ordering the U.S. military to shoot it down.
On Thursday, the President spoke publicly about the balloon as well as three other mysterious objects which the U.S. air force also shot down. Those three unidentified objects do not appear to be part of China's spy balloon operations. The President says they're more likely tied to private companies or scientific research institutes.
It's tough to know since the U.S. has not been able to recover any of the debris from the objects because of remote locations and severe weather. Biden is asking his administration to come up with clear guidelines about a deal with unidentified objects moving forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't yet know exactly what these three objects were, but nothing right now suggests they were related to China's spy balloon program or that there were surveillance vehicles from any other country.
I expect to be speaking with President Xi and I hope we have -- we going to get to the bottom of this. But I make no apologies for taking down that balloon. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: We get borne out from CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, for nearly a week, President Biden has said nothing about what was an unprecedented three days. Three U.S. fighters shooting out down three separate unidentified objects. It raised a lot of concern, certainly raised a lot of alarm.
And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had called on President Biden to explain what exactly was happening, what his administration was doing about these objects that seemed to have no explanation, no clear origin, no real sense of what they were supposed to be. That changed on Thursday.
President Biden speaking for the first time on the issue, detailing how those three unidentified objects were very different from the Chinese five balloon that had been shot down prior are likely not some new phenomenon, but something that had been happening over time and just was picked up by U.S. radars that had been expanded in their aperture since that Chinese balloon.
And also that there are a significant number of steps that U.S. officials are now taking to try and address these objects going forward, including this. Here's the President said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Make no mistake, if any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the American people, I will take it down. I'll be sharing with Congress these classified policy parameters when they are completed and they'll remain classified so we don't give our roadmap to our enemies to try to evade our defenses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Now there are the classified parameters in terms of when U.S. fighters would be called to shoot down objects. There are also a series of steps the National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is leading a team on to better understand how to grapple with these issues going forward.
Public, private, state owned. This is clearly something that officials are in the midst of trying to get their heads around at this moment. They are also trying to have a better understanding of what the relationship is with China going forward. This is the most important geopolitical relationship, no question about that. The critical bilateral relationship for President Biden.
He says he is going to speak with President Xi Jinping soon. When exactly that is, advisers say they don't have a date yet. Communications have certainly been stunted, there's certainly been a lot of back and forth. But Biden has attempted to walk a pretty careful line on this, making clear that the U.S. will act if it feels like its sovereignty is impeded.
But trying not to send a tense relationship already into an even worse spot and making clear that the most important thing for U.S. officials at this point is maintaining lines of communication. Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
VAUSE: Iain Boyd is the Director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado. He joins us this hour from Boulder. Thank you, sir, for being with us.
IAIN BOYD, CENTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY INITIATIVES, UNIV. OF COLORADO: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: I want you to listen a little more from the U.S. President on what these unidentified objects may actually have been. Here's Joe Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: The intelligence community's current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:05:13]
VAUSE: Aviation Week is reporting one of the three objects shot down may have belonged to the Northern Illinois Bottle Cap Balloon Brigade. The club's silver-coated, party-style, pico balloon reported last position February 10 at 38,910 feet off the west coast of Alaska. Its flight path manner would be over the central part of Yukon Territory on February 11, the same day an F-22 shot down an unidentified object, a similar description and altitude in the same general area."
It seems likely, but is it a concern that it may have taken this long to find out this unidentified object belonged to, you know, a recreational club?
BOYD: Well, you know, there are some regulations about having to register if you're going to launch a balloon. And there are many organizations across the U.S. and probably Canada too, from, you know, universities and private companies and even high schools, you know, launch balloons.
And, you know, while there's regulations that you're supposed to follow, there's really no policing of those, you know, organizations following the rules. And, you know, that story you just related there about the Illinois Club, I mean, that's a perfect example because most balloons are not controlled. You know, they go where the winds take them.
You know, these small organizations can easily lose track of the balloons. And I think that these three latter objects that got shot down probably all fall into that category.
VAUSE: It would also mean, if true, that the U.S. used a $300,000 sidewinded missile to shoot down what, a $50 balloon, which would, you know, make sense that why it's important to know what these things are when you're dealing with them at the time.
BOYD: Yes, I think that what's going to happen is, you know, some of the wreckage for those three later balloons will be retrieved and (INAUDIBLE) I think is already helping to inform, you know, the government's position and development of new policies going forward. Obviously, you know, we hadn't had the first large Chinese surveillance balloon, those three later objects probably would not have been shot down.
You know, we wouldn't be sitting here talking about it. And so you've got to kind of, you know, playout the whole story and understand, you know, how certain decisions were made at certain times.
VAUSE: As to the issue of the China spy balloon diplomatically, though, that is still yet to be resolved with Beijing. I want you to listen a little more then from the U.S. President. Here he is again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I expect to be speaking with President Xi and I hope we have -- we going to get to the bottom of this, but I make no apologies for taking down that balloon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN reporting those U.S. intelligence assessing possibility the Chinese spy balloons path over the U.S. was accidental. If that turns out to be true, does it sort of undermine at least in part, the righteous indignation we've heard from the U.S. over the last week or so?
BOYD: Well, I mean, I think so in a way. At the very least, that's irresponsible behavior from China to allow what is a very large payload, like what we've been told is the payload underneath the balloon was the size of three buses. And so if they really, you know, had lost control of it, at the very least, they should have informed the U.S. and Canada that an object of that size was going to be entering their airspace.
You know, I think the fact that China has said it's a weather balloon and according to the U.S. reports, it clearly is not. You know, when you put all these things together, it builds up a sense of certainly finding it difficult to understand what China is doing, a certain level of distrust when they may be not telling the truth. And I think that that's the largest part of all of this story that's been going on for the last two weeks is the destabilizing aspect in international relations of this kind of behavior from China.
VAUSE: Iain Boyd, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate your insights and your time. Thank you.
BOYD: Thank you.
VAUSE: One year ago, the Munich Security Conference, one of the world's most influential forums for global diplomacy, warned of serious repercussions if Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. He did anyway. And now Russian forces are bogged down in a conflict they may not be able to win as the west goes all in on providing aid to the Ukrainians.
In the coming hours, the Munich Conference will convene again and take stock of the past year. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and more than a dozen U.S. lawmakers will be there. No Russian officials have been invited.
Russian attacks have stepped up in recent days. Ukrainian officials believe it's part of Moscow's long awaited overdue major offensive, since fighting continues in and around the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. At least five civilians were reported killed there on Thursday by Russian shelling.
[01:10:03]
In an interview with the BBC, Ukraine's President says Kyiv's goal is nothing less than reclaiming all of its territory from Moscow. Here's the President.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): Any territorial compromises, he told me, are only going to weaken our country. So it's not about compromise. We make millions of compromises every day. But the question is with Putin? No, because we don't trust Putin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Also, in the hours ahead, the leader of Ukraine's neighbor Belarus, said to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Tensions are growing on Ukraine's border with Belarus over concerned Belarusian forces may soon join Russia's invasion.
Here's CNN Fred Pleitgen reporting in from Minsk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Vicious fighting in Eastern Ukraine. Kyiv's military so far, repelling most Russian attacks here. As Vladimir Putin's forces struggle, losing both soldiers and armor, Putin's main ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, spoke to international media for one of the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine. An invasion that was started in large parts from his country.
When I asked him why he still supports Putin's war, Lukashenko combative.
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): This is another rhetorical question. Why do you support Ukraine, pumping it with weapons instead of sitting down to negotiate, as I suggest?
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Lukashenko insists Belarus won't send troops to fight alongside Russia unless directly attacked by Ukraine. But says he still firmly stands by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Lukashenko gets angry when I ask him if he's surprised by how weak Russia's army is.
LUKASHENKO (through translation): You must see that this is the number one army in the world fighting against you. Americans and Europeans, practically against NATO using Ukrainians. And the Ukrainians are not dumb.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Many Belarussians opposed to Lukashenko have gone to Ukraine to fight against the Russian army.
We are here to prove that we Belarusians are not our government. We don't want to be associated with that junta that sees the power in Belarus. I mean, the Lukashenko regime, this volunteer says.
Near Bakhmut, they often face off against mercenaries from the Wagner private military company. Wagner boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, recruited tens of thousands of convicts from Russian jails and brought them to the front line.
I asked Lukashenko how he feels about Russia using convicts as expendable fighters.
LUKASHENKO: Russia did indeed use convicts, but now this is forbidden. It is forbidden in Russia. And Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner are not doing this. It is forbidden.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): And what about the Russian Defense Ministry? They are using convicts now, I ask.
LUKASHENKO: The Minister of Defense, that's not true. The Ministry of Defense has enough mobilized resources and enough servicemen to create this special unit, if that's what they're doing. I will find out the answer to this question tomorrow.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Lukashenko is meeting Vladimir Putin on Friday. But what Lukashenko really wants, he says, is to host peace talks with Putin, U.S. President Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and asked me to relay the message.
LUKASHENKO: If Biden has a desire, pass on to him through your channels that we are ready to welcome him in Minsk and have a serious talk with him if he wishes for peace in Ukraine. Even Putin will fly to Minsk and we can meet there, the three of us. Two aggressors and a peace loving president. Why not?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: But of course, the Ukrainians very much believe that Alexander Lukashenko is complicit in Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine. And Lukashenko did make clear at that press conference that he would continue to allow the Russians to use Belarusian territory to strike Ukraine. All eyes now on that meeting between Putin and Lukashenko to see how that could shape Belarus's involvement going forward.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Minsk.
VAUSE: NATO's Secretary General was given a bird's-eye view of the devastation in Turkey after last week's powerful earthquake. Jen Stoltenberg offered his condolences to the Turkish people and met with Turkish president as well as senior government officials. Stoltenberg says this is the deadliest natural disaster on territory of an alliance member since the foundation of NATO in 1949.
And the box focus going forward, he says, will be on reconstruction and supporting the displaced. NATO is setting up temporary housing will bring in tens of thousands of tents in the coming days and weeks.
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The U.N. has launched a three-month campaign to raise a billion dollars for relief efforts in Turkey and a similar appeal for nearly $400 million for Syria. On Thursday, Syrian president, the dictator Bashar al-Assad, made his first televised speech since the disaster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): The size of the catastrophe and the task that falls upon us were much greater than our existing capability. But what our society managed to do with the help of the citizens and state institutions is also much greater than the capability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Amid the hundreds of miles of devastation stretching across Turkey and Syria, somewhere beneath the piles of rubble and debris which were once homes, schools and businesses, there is death and there is heartbreak. Almost 44,000 people confirmed dead 11 days after the region was upended by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
And yet, somehow, in moments few and far between, there are still signs of life. In Hatay province, Turkey, two men rescued from a collapsed hospital Thursday. Cleanup crews using heavy earth moving equipment cleared part of the hospital's roof and spotted a leg amid the rubble.
And once the men were pulled to safety, one of them called a friend, saying he's alive. Listen to the exchange. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): How are you, my life?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Brother, where are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I'm in the hospital. They will send me wherever necessary. There is no problem right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Are you Abdul Khadir's wife's brother?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Exactly, my beautiful brother. How is my mother and everyone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): They are all waiting for you. Everyone is well. They are all waiting for you. I'm coming to you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Did everyone escape, OK, Nasley (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): They are all well. Everything is well and waiting for you. They are all waiting for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Let me hear their voices, if for a moment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I'm driving. I'm coming to you, brother. I'm coming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Thank you to each and every one of you. May God be happy with you a thousand times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: But for so many others, there is just the anguish of not knowing, the cruel uncertainty of wondering if their loved one is alive or dead. Here's CNN's Jomana Karadsheh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Antakya, no more, they say. This once bustling historic city now in ruins. It is here where hope meets despair. On every corner is seen so painful of loss, so hard to comprehend. She's waited days for news of her husband. But the weight never prepares you for this.
Nothing could have prepared the people of Antakya for these grimmest of days. Misery here so palpable in the air.
AYLIN AKYURT, SEARCHING FOR FAMILY MEMBER: You lose track of time, so I don't know which day it is, but at this point, I don't think there's anybody left alive.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Aylin and her family have been searching for her aunt. Other bodies have come out of the building, but not hers.
AKYURT: You go through all stages of, you know, of grief. You're angry, you're desperate, you're sad, you accept, then you get mad again. At this point, we've come to accept that she's passed away. But we just want to put her at her final resting place because with how it's been going, leaving her here is unimaginable.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Around the corner, the rare good news these days. After more than 220 hours under the rubble, a woman and two children were rescued alive.
(on-camera): Several bodies have also been recovered from the building. There are others still trapped inside. They don't know if they're alive or dead.
(voice-over): They pray they find them alive. Mohamed Byram (ph)just buried his daughter and her husband. His 12- and 14-year-old grandchildren are still inside.
God, I beg you, he says, just like they got that woman and two children out alive. We're hoping for the same.
It's been the most agonizing of waits for his and other families here. May the Lord not put anyone through this, this woman says. Mohamed hasn't eaten in 11 days. He says all he can do is hope, pray and wait.
We weren't able to get these big machines for a few days, he says. They had to go through other buildings here first. Maybe if they had, they would have come out alive.
Another call for quiet during our interview, one of many in the past few days. Rescuers hear something. Cheers break out. They believe they've located two people alive. A tense wait, now into the evening, the crushing sound of silence. It's hardest for those who wonder if they mourn or wait. It is here where hope fades as fast as it grows.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Antakya, Turkey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:20:01]
VAUSE: If you would like information to know the best way to help earthquake survivors, please go to CNN.com/impact and there you'll find a list of verified organizations working on rescue and relief efforts.
She's the first woman, second declared candidate, and self-described badass to enter the U.S. Republican presidential race. And now Nikki Haley is hitting the campaign trail. America's former ambassador to the United Nations, Haley visited New Hampshire Thursday, a small state with a big role in choosing president.
Haley once again said the Republican Party keeps losing the popular vote in presidential elections and must evolve. And she called for mandatory mental competency tests again for geriatric politicians. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We got to stop talking on old issues, and we need to start looking forward. We need to start saying, this is what we're going to do. And the way you do that is you put term limits in Congress. You do mental competency test for anyone over the age of 75.
We start focusing on new generational leadership, and the best way to do that is to put a badass woman in the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Republican field expected to get a lot crowded soon. So far, the only other candidate, though, seeking the nomination is Haley's former boss, that would be ex-president Donald Trump.
A short break. When we come back, a shortage of redesigned money in Nigeria is leading to violent protests. ATMs and banks have been vandalized, and there are concerns about the safety of upcoming elections. Details in a moment.
And later this hour, the family of actor Bruce Willis says his health has taken a turn for the worst. We'll tell you about his new diagnosis. You're watching CNN.
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VAUSE: Across France, on Thursday, more than 400,000 people marched in the fifth round of strikes and protests against government plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Notably, this was the lowest turnout of protesters and the least disruptive to the public transportation system since demonstrations started a month ago.
French unions, though, are vowing to bring France to a complete standstill with a much wider strike on March 7.
A week from Nigeria's general elections, concerns are growing that shortages of redesigned money could disrupt the vote.
[01:25:02]
The cash crisis has led to violent protests in recent weeks, with ATMs and banks damaged, burned or vandalized as many struggled to get enough cash to meet daily expenses. On Thursday, Nigeria's president directed the central bank to recirculate one of the old notes in hopes of quelling the growing anger and protest.
CNN's Stephanie Busari has more now reporting in from Lagos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR AFRICA EDITOR (voice-over): Tempers fraying in the streets of Abuja. Nigerians have flocked to banks and ATMs in recent weeks. Desperate to withdraw cash amidst a cash shortage. Nigerian central bank decided last year to circulate newly designed bank notes and a deadline was set after which old notes would no longer be accepted as legal tender. The new notes have been in short supply, however, leading to long queues and chaotic scenes across the country.
(on-camera): Nigeria wants to change its currency ahead of a crucial general election, but it has descended into chaos as long lines form outside cash machines and fights breakout inside the banks as customers demand access to their own money.
(voice-over): Protest turned violent in Benin City and in Ibadan. ATMs vandalized. President Muhammadu Buhari, whose party is seeking re- election next week, on Thursday announced lower denomination 200 naira notes would be put back in use for another 60 days.
MUHAMMADU BUHARI, NIGERIAN PRESIDENT: We further ease the supply pressures, particularly to our citizens. I have given affordable to the CDN that the old 200 naira banknotes be released back into circulation and that it should also be allowed to circulate as legal tender.
BUSARI (voice-over): Shortages have led to untold hardships, particularly for those who work in a largely cash based economy and for citizens who live in rural areas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been here since 07:00 a.m. and it's 04:18 p.m. And I just got to my number just now, yes. And it's been a very stressful process to get the new naira notes as you can see. And that's the daily experience of every Nigerian in the streets. If you walk around most banks don't even display.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not been easy, I must say. It's not been easy because it's not something we are used to before. Now you go to the ATM and just get your money and go. But right now, you have to keep our eyes upon us and under the sun. It's not being easy at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just crazy. And, you know, I've been out here say like an hour now and the line is as you can see how crazy it is.
BUSARI (voice-over): The cash shortage in Africa's largest economy threatens to overshadow the upcoming elections, angering voters as the country's political future hangs in the balance.
Stephanie Busari, CNN, Lagos.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The family of actor Bruce Willis says he's suffering from frontotemporal dementia, or FTD. The family announced the news in a statement Thursday. The mayor claim says his FTD is an umbrella term for brain disorders in the areas associated with personality, behavior and language. Currently there is no cure, no treatment that can slow the progression of the disease.
Last spring, Willis's family said he would take a break from acting because of aphasia that affected his cognitive abilities. And the family's hoping media attention from this latest announcement will lead to more awareness and research into FTD.
When we come back, the Ukrainian military using ammunition so fast it's depleting NATO stockpiles. Now U.S. defense contractors are firing up the furnaces to try and fill the void, that's ahead.
Also, fury in small town America, toxic chemicals from a derailed train and an unsatisfactory response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People were getting sick. We should not have been like back into town until all of this was done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[01:32:08]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everyone, I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
If Russia's latest offensive in Ukraine is in fact underway, senior U.S. officials are not impressed. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Russia continued to introduce large numbers of troops into the theater. Those troops are ill- equipped and ill-trained, and because of that they are incurring a lot of casualties. And we expect that that will continue.
VICTORIA NULAND, UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS: Russia has declared that it is launching a new offensive. Well, if this is it, it's very pathetic, I would say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Last hour, I spoke with CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton, for his take on the modern Russian military. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's very interesting, John, you know, for those of us who've been watching the Russians for some time. A lot of the things that we've learned or thought we knew about them involved large numbers. A new doctrine, new weapons systems, things that really could change the course of warfare itself, not just the tactical action, but strategy of warfare.
And you know, barring any unforeseen developments, it looks as if the Russians are not able to mount the kind of offensive that their doctrine promised we would see, that their weapon systems promised we would see and that their rhetoric promised that we would see. So none of that is coming to pass, and it seems as if we're dealing
with a paper tiger, in essence.
VAUSE: There's also this reporting we have from the "New York Times". As Moscow step up its offensive in eastern Ukraine, weeks of failed attacks on the Ukrainian stronghold have left two Russian brigades in tatters. Raised questions of Russians military tactics and renewed doubt about its ability to maintain sustained large-scale ground assault. As you were saying. The town of Vuhledar is not far from Bakhmut which is a city of no real strategic value, it has symbolic importance but no strategic value. Two brigades though in tatters. In terms of losses, how big is that? And it would seem to be like high cost for little reward here?
LEIGHTON: Yes. So that is the really significant thing, these two brigades in question, the 155th and the 40th marine infantry brigade, the naval infantry brigade of the Russian naval forces of the Pacific Fleet -- those are, you know, fairly large elements.
So we're talking somewhere around 2,000 to 3,500 or so personnel that are just gone. And what you're dealing with here is a systematic neglect of the entire system.
[01:34:49]
LEIGHTON: And it seems that this neglect has been going on for quite some time but it has been papered over by every level of command in the Russian military, until of course, these brigades are put into action and they can't perform the military missions that they've been assigned.
So this is a significant issue because every time these brigades move into combat, they move with less and less people, less and less armament. And they're far less capable than they originally were supposed to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The U.S. now appears to be shifting to a long term approach for providing Ukraine with military supplies and weapons. Officials say it's time to look beyond what Ukraine needs now, such as Abrams tanks which the U.S. has promised to deliver, and to look into what Ukraine will need in the long run to deter any possible future aggressive moves by Moscow.
Meanwhile, the ongoing war is exhausting NATO's ammunition stockpiles.
CNN's Oren Liebermann reports U.S. defense factories are preparing to ramp up production.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: In the steel furnaces of Scranton, Pennsylvania, the weapons of war are in high demand. One ton metal rods, heated and forged into about 11,000 high explosive artillery shells a month. CNN got a rare look inside the Scranton army ammunition plant, one of
only a few in the country that make this crucial round. Here especially-made steel is heated to 2,000 degrees, slowly shaped, step, by scorching step into its final product.
To this point, it's only taken a few hours to heat the steel and then to turn it into what looks like what artillery shells, to press it into that familiar shape.
But it's still days of testing and inspecting, to make sure that this can be turned into a 155 millimeter artillery shell that can be fired in the battlefield.
The process doesn't end here. The empty shells are shipped to another plant for explosives and fuses. 5,000 miles from the frontlines and Mother Russia, the enemy here is Father Time.
Ukraine can burn through the plant's monthly production in half a week. Locked in a grinding war of attrition with Putin army, and Russian mercenaries.
JENS STOLTENBERG, SECRETARY GENERAL, NATO: The current rate of Ukraine's ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production.
LIEBERMANN: One year in the war has turned into a vicious math problem. How to make enough ammo for Ukraine, the United States and allies. The Pentagon is already planning on new ammo plants in Texas and Canada -- part of a race to increase the capacity of the defense -- industrial base.
Doug Bush is the army's head of acquisitions.
DOUG BUSH, HEAD OF ACQUISITION, U.S. ARMY: Right now we are meeting demand. Of course, I would want it to be faster. Everyone does.
But there is a time factor, a year to 18 months is often what you're looking at.
LIEBERMANN: Bush says this is the greatest ramp up in military production possibly going back to the Korean War.
BUSH: Early on, we realized we had to really put our foot all the way to the floor.
LIEBERMANN: The goal within two years is to produce five times more artillery rounds each month, up to 70,000; twice as many javelin anti tank missiles, up to 4,000 a month; 30 percent more rounds for the HIMARs rocket launchers, about 850 a month.
The precision weapon Ukraine has used to target Russian command posts and (INAUDIBLE) posts, and 60 stinger anti-aircraft missiles each month.
The U.S. isn't at war with Russia, but that matters little to weapons manufacturers whose products are part of the fight. SETH JONES, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAM DIRECTOR, CSIS: Our defense
industrial base is still largely geared towards a peace time environment and not towards a wartime, or at least a quasi-wartime environment that we're now in.
LIEBERMANN: To get a sense of just how much the army is investing in this, within the last couple of weeks, the army has announced $1.5 billion in procurement of new 155 millimeter artillery rounds. They're trying to produce this crucial ammunition faster than trying to produce more of it.
Oren Liebermann, CNN -- at the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still ahead, a Michigan State University professor talks about the mass shooting in his classroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To see that I couldn't stop it -- it was the worst thing that I could not -- it's like they became like my family. They were like my kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: New details coming out about the gunman and his plans to further attack. That's next on CNN NEWSROOM.
[01:39:23]
VAUSE: Welcome back.
Police say two handguns found on the Michigan State University shooter were purchased legally, but were not registered. Anthony McRae killed three people on campus Monday before killing himself.
Police say he had a note in his backpack, with a list of other targets, including a church, a fast food restaurant and a warehouse where he once worked. The state attorney general says McRae was previously charged with carrying a concealed weapon, but pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor which allowed him to continue to purchase firearms.
The Chinese consulate in Chicago says two of the five wounded students are from China. Their families have been offered assistance to travel to the United States.
CNN's Miguel Marquez spoke with the professor of the class where McRae first opened fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO DIAZ-MUNOZ, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: To see that I couldn't stop it, it was the worst thing that I could not -- it's like they became like my family. They're like my kids. I have a daughter their age.
So to me, it was like, you know, seeing my daughter or anybody that is being killed and under my watch, on my watch. So that was just horrendous. I don't know how to explain to you the guilt, the horror, the guilt, the pain that I felt and I still feel. It's just right now, it's more like I'm telling you a movie.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why do people need to hear what you experienced on Monday night?
MUNOZ: Because it's very different to hear in the news a statistic -- three more kids died or 12 more died -- than to see what I saw. I think if those senators or lawmakers saw what I saw, not just here in statistics, they would be shamed into action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ariel Anderson (ph) and Alexandria Verner (ph) were killed in that classroom. Brian Fraser (ph) was shot and killed at the Student Union Building not far from there.
The National Transportation Safety Board says investigators are working urgently to find the cause of a cargo train derailment earlier this month which dumped toxic chemicals In East Palestine, Ohio.
Residents are becoming increasingly angry, not just over the disaster but also the response from government officials and the rail company.
Here's CNN's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anxiety and frustration continue to mount in East Palestine, Ohio.
KRISTINA FERGUSON, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO RESIDENT: People were getting sick. We should not have been let back into town until all of this was done.
TODD: Officials are pumping oxygen into local waterways, hoping that will break down chemicals. They've removed contaminated soil from the area near a train derailment that unleashed a torrent of toxic chemicals.
But about two weeks since that accident and despite an assurance from the governor that the town's water is now safe to drink --
[01:44:58]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you feel confident in that?
FERGUSON: Honestly, no. I don't.
TODD: Some residents report symptoms like dizziness, headaches, rashes. They are also complaining about a lack of transparency. Resident Jamie Khoza tells CNN the only reason she knows her house is
not safe to live in was because she demanded that the soil and water be tested and Norfolk Southern Railroad sent a toxicologist.
JAMIE KHOZA, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO RESIDENT: And it's only because I run my mouth that I got this testing done.
TODD: EPA administrator Michael Regan (ph) was on the ground there on Thursday assuring residents they will get all the resources they need for the cleanup and --
MICHAEL REGAN, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: We are absolutely going to hold Norfolk Southern accountable, and I can promise you that.
TODD: But the railroad is being accused by some residents of ducking accountability, after railroad officials bailed on attending a town hall meeting last night, citing quote, "The growing physical threat to our employees." A meeting where residents vented more of their anger.
TRENT CONAWAY, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO RESIDENT: They screwed up our town, they're going to fix it. If they don't, I will be the first one calling all you back to do this all over again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are people getting sick If there's nothing in the air or water?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody that came here expect a hell of a lot more than what we're getting right now.
TODD: Investigators say they haven't found a significant traces of the dangerous chemical that escaped from the train, vinyl chloride, in the local waterways. But health monitors warn --
WENONAH HAUTER, FOOD AND WATER WATCH: Vinyl chloride causes cancer. If the soil is used in gardens, children play in it, it could be very dangerous, and the chemical will leach into groundwater.
TODD: Compounding all the anxiety and uncertainty the community is dealing with are worries about practical living arrangements. East Palestine resident Jamie Khoza told CNN some residents feel they're forced to go back to the town because they don't have the money to move elsewhere.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Tesla is recalling more than 360,000 vehicles because of problems with the self-driving feature. The issue is that the full self driving system in all models of the Tesla. Some of the problems in the words of the safety authority may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections such as driving straight through an intersection while in a Turn Only nine, as well as speeding, running through Stop signs and running yellow traffic lights without due caution. To Washington D.C. now and David Zipper, visiting fellow at the
Harvard Kennedy School who has a focus on mobility, cities and technology.
David, it's good to see you. Thank you for coming in.
DAVID ZIPPER, VISITING FELLOW, HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL: It is my pleasure John. Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Ok. This is part of an ongoing problem with Tesla's full self- driving software. Federal safety official say there is a crash risk in certain circumstances.
And that is the focus of this recall -- like moving into an intersection while the light is yellow, moving through an intersection from a Turn Only lane. There's also entering a Stop sign controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop first.
So how serious is this recall? Or is it sort of another reminder that the full self driving feature has never really lived up to the hype.
ZIPPER: Well, I'd say it's pretty serious because it's affecting over 360,000 Teslas with full self-driving, which is by the way, pretty much all of them in the United States.
And what you are just describing there in terms of those car behaviors like going straight through an intersection when you're in a turn lane. I think anybody who's listening to this is going to know that is extremely dangerous.
So, I would say this is very significant because of the exact problems that you just read from. And I would also note that this is not the only type of problem that NHTSA, the auto regulator in the United States has flagged.
There's also ongoing investigations at the moment into Teslas that have seemingly had a pattern of striking emergency responders at the side of roads and several other investigations as well into fatal crashes involving Teslas.
So I do think that this announcement today is important, but it's important to recognize, as well, that it's part of a pattern where there's other concerns and considerations of Tesla as well.
VAUSE: Elon Musk, who owns Tesla, takes issue with the word "recall". On Thursday he went back and forth on Twitter. You know, the word "recall" for an over the air software update, which is how they plan to fix this. It's anachronistic and just flat wrong."
I can kind of see his point. Teslas won't be driven back to the dealership and taken in for repairs. But is he essentially arguing a distinction without (INAUDIBLE)?
ZIPPER: I think he is. And he well knows that there are no regulations in the United States right now. That really take into account how the cars today are really evolving. They are much more computerized than they were in the decades before when our vehicle regulations really existed.
It makes sense that you've got a widget in your car and it breaks and you bring it in to a dealer and it gets fixed.
[01:49:54]
ZIPPER: But as cars become basically computers on wheels, the way to fix them really does become over the air updates. And we need updated regulations to take that into account.
So I sort of understand what Musk is saying here. He is right that we need to have a new way of discussing these sorts of fixes. But that in no way distracts from the severity of what is identified as the problems today.
VAUSE: Last year while Musk was meeting with a group of Tesla enthusiasts, he acknowledged the importance of getting these self- driving features right. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: The overwhelming focus is solving full self- driving. So, yes, that is essential. That is really the difference between Tesla being worth a lot of money and being worth basically zero.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Is the problem here simply that this feature is not ready for primetime? Or is the problem that marketing is overhyping what it can actually do? And drivers are sort of confusing the possibilities here.
ZIPPER: I think the drivers are definitely confused. And I'm not sure you can really blame them. Let's remember that this is a technology that is called full self driving when everybody, even including a Tesla knows that this is not actually a self driving technology.
It is what's known as a level two system, which is an advanced driver systems system. The driver always has to be paying attention. So in my view, Tesla and Musk have I think strategically muddied the waters a bit to create marketing hype and to get more people to pay $15,000 per person to buy full self-driving even though it is not what it's very name implies.
VAUSE: And there was a study last year, also from a former safety expert at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration looking at this advanced driver assistance feature in Tesla and other vehicles. (INAUDIBLE) when cars using these systems were involved in fatal crashes that with traveling over the speed limit 50 percent of the time. Crashes with serious injuries, they were speeding 42 percent of the time. Crashes that did not involve driver assisted systems, those figures were 29 percent of fatalities, 13 percent for injuries.
The conclusion from the study is that drivers put way too much faith in these auto drive features. To be fair, it's a small sample, to be heavily weighted in Tesla to say the majority of cars out there with the feature. But overall, what do you make of the study?
ZIPPER: No, it is not the only study to reach conclusions like this. The fact of the matter is that the marketing has an effect on peoples perceptions in my view.
People don't understand what these technologies really are capable of very well. And they are listening to how people like Elon Musk are describing the technology. And they're putting their trust in these systems in the way that they really shouldn't be.
So it doesn't surprise me when you have findings like the ones you just shared that show that people who are using these advanced driving assistance systems, like full self driving or autopilot actually end up taking more risks on the road than those who don't.
The risk that's been created by individuals who overestimate what their ADAP (ph) system can do is known is that risk is borne not just by those inside the car but by everyone else on the road who's driving a car, or maybe walking, or biking and never signed up to be a guinea pig, really, for these technologies that are under development.
VAUSE: It's a good point to finish on, David. Thank you very much for being with us.
ZIPPER: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: With that, we'll take a short break. We'll be back in a moment. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
[01:53:18]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Oh what a time to be alive in North Korea. A big day of national celebrations marking the birthday of the late Kim Jong-Il, father of the current leader Kim Jong-Un. Dressed in traditional clothing, they danced in the streets of the capital Thursday night all of them in timing, altogether.
Celebrating the Day of the Shining Star as it's known. Kim Jong-il was president for 17 years before handing the family business over to his son. He died of a heart attack in 2011.
Sometimes it's the littlest ones who steal the show. Like the little four year old boy in Michigan who is at his first ever professional hockey match and the crowd went wild.
Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was George's first hockey game. And the jumbotron ate him up. Red Wing fans plans booing, opposing fans from Vancouver cheering. Every time George came up even if he didn't quite get it -- the opposition, the home team.
George finally cracked a smile and went viral. King George they called him. I see a George bobblehead night.
But it didn't give George a big head.
CHELSEA MILLER, GEORGE'S MOTHER: It's like he didn't know it was about him. And just kept saying like yes, red team is winning.
MOOS: Chelsea Miller described her four-year-old son is shy amid a whirlwind of attention.
MILLER: They're probably at least 100 people that asked to stop to take pictures with him and high fives, and getting autographs even.
MOOS: Mom says they're hoping as sign will get George on camera but they weren't expecting this.
MILLER: Everyone just made it so special for us.
MOOS: University of Michigan hockey wondered if George, do you need a Michigan jersey for the next game?
George's grandma here, and he definitely needs a jersey.
George reminded one poster of Mikey. Remember Mikey?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He likes it. Hey, Mikey.
MOOS: Now, everyone likes George. Even Vancouver fans.
Jeanne Moos, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Good on you, George. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause.
The news continues with Kim Brunhuber in just a moment. Have a great weekend. I'll see you back here next week.
[01:57:38]
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