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CNN International: Beijing calls Visits a "Journey of Friendship, Cooperation with Vladimir Putin; Xi Jinping in Moscow for Talks with Vladimir Putin; Macron's Government Facing no Confidence Votes; Trump Says He'll be Arrested Tuesday, Calls for Protests; Body of Teenager Found near Murdaugh Estate to be Exhausted. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 20, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead, China's President Xi Jinping is in Moscow to meet with Russia's Vladimir Putin, the first such visit since Russia invaded Ukraine. Former U.S. President Donald Trump says he expects to be arrested on Tuesday.

We'll look closer at why he says that in the political implications of it happen. Now and the jittery markets as well despite UBS agreed to take over embattled Swiss Bank Credit Suisse. The markets are very unsettled, the latest on that coming up. Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Moscow for a three-day visit where he set to meet with Vladimir Putin during the next hour.

Upon landing, the Chinese Leader reiterated his willingness to work with the Russian President to "safeguard" the international order. In his first visit to Moscow since Russia, so-called special military operation began. Let's bring in CNN's Matthew Chance; he is in Moscow a huge moment here. What to both sides hope to get from this, do you think?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're right, Max. It is definitely a huge moment not just isn't the first time that Xi Jinping has visited Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. But it's also just a few days remembered since Vladimir Putin was indicted by the international criminal court for war crimes.

And so this is a huge show of support from China to Russia, at a time when the Russia leadership in particular really needs that. And I think one of the things they're going to emphasize is the close relationship between the two countries, a relationship that's been growing in stature over the course of the past several years, but has really intensified over the course of the past 12 months or so.

And the two leaders say they're going to work on ways to deepen that friendship, and that economic relationship, which has been burgeoning, as well. What everybody is watching, though, is whether China is going to take the step of offering military aid to Russia, which is much needed from the Russian point of view, they need ammunition. Like the Ukrainians, they've been running short of supplies on the front line, and in fact, to seek ammunition from other places like Iran, and North Korea, but China could really step up and provide munitions in that way.

But of course, that would be crossing a red line; the Chinese have been very reluctant to do that so far. And there's this concern, they may be considering it. And so all eyes are going to be watching very closely to see what steps if any Xi Jinping takes during the state visit.

FOSTER: In terms of what the Kremlin is saying here, they've got more to gain from this visit, presumably than China or China's the more dominant force, Russia needs China. How are they spinning this to their people?

CHANCE: Well, I mean, look, what the Russians are saying is that that shows we're not isolated on the international stage, that there is a whole group of countries for most China, that are willing to stand side by side with Russia and stand literally next to the Russian President, even though he's been indicted for war crimes at the ICC.

And I think many Russians will look at that, and be relieved by it and grateful for it. But also, crucially, a lot of countries around the world will also see this strong symbolism that Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader has come to Russia despite the sanctions against the country and despite the indictments that the war crimes caught.

And so that's, I think, going to be a very, very potent symbolism. There's another issue as well, which is China is on a diplomatic high at the moment, it's already come out freshly out of sort of forging agreement in a, you know, a deal, a diplomatic agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, in the Middle East.

And it's looking to forge some kind of peace process for Ukraine as well. Last month, they issued a 12-point peace plan, which called for negotiations, but stopped very short of calling on Russia to withdraw from the territories. It's concord and so it's received a lukewarm response but nevertheless, this peace plan, this initiative is something that the Russians and the Chinese are expected to talk about over this three day visits.

FOSTER: OK, Matthew in Moscow, thank you. Ukraine reacting to the Putin, Xi meeting today saying any Chinese peace plan must start with a Russian withdrawal. Ivan Watson is in Kharkiv in Northeastern Ukraine. Are they nervous do you think in Kyiv, about this meeting?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, I don't think that anybody in Kyiv truly thinks that China is neutral as it purports to be when it comes to this war, because all they have to do is look at the fact that Xi Jinping is boasting about some 40 face to face meetings with Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, and Xi has yet to speak directly with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the year since Russia launched this invasion of Ukraine.

In fact, in his letter to the Russian media, Xi Jinping only referred to this bloody war here in Ukraine as a crisis, not even calling it a war, which is also how the Russian government refers to it. That said, I think the Ukrainians would much rather have Beijing purporting to be neutral rather than sending weapons to Ukraine's much larger and more populous enemy.

So the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has put out a statement saying that it's watching this meeting very closely. It has referred to the fact that the Ukrainian Foreign Minister spoke to the Chinese Foreign Minister last week, and that they discussed the need to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Remember that Russia not only invaded Ukraine, the territories that it has captured it has declared to be annexed and now formally part of Russian territory. China, in its proposed peace plan for this conflict has talked about needing to respect territorial integrity. So it'd be very interesting to see how Xi Jinping could potentially try to thread this needle.

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Again, this is something that the Ukrainians will be watching very, very closely.

FOSTER: OK, Ivan in Kharkiv, thank you. Now it's the largest bank shakeups since the 2008. Financial Crisis shares of Credit Suisse have plunged after Switzerland's biggest bank, UBS agreed to buy it at a fire sale price. The $3.2 billion price tag is that 60 percent less than what it was worth when markets closed on Friday all this after the turmoil unleashed by the failure of two American banks earlier this month.

Clare Sebastian following developments from London, you've got these big banks trying to resolve issues, you've got the Central Bankers trying to resolve issues, you've got different banks with different issues.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

FOSTER: But it's all linked and it looks quite scary when you take it all together.

SEBASTIAN: It's all linked Max, because this was an issue of confidence. Silicon Valley Bank sort of set off this chain reaction in the banking system where suddenly everyone's looking for the next shoe to drop the next vulnerability and amidst all that, came those announcements about Credit Suisse last week problems with their financial reporting their biggest shareholder not wanting to put any more money in.

And, you know, I think if the Silicon Valley Banks and the experts that I've spoken to have said, if the Silicon Valley Bank issue hadn't happened, Credit Suisse might not have ended up in this position. So soon, even though of course, they had problems. But look, we've got the central bankers have come in with coordinated action.

The markets have turned around a little bit, they're still volatile, Europe's looking a little bit more positive, but we're still seeing major issues with the banking stocks there, UBS, off its lows, but still lower. I think there's a recognition that this is going to be a complicated, messy acquisition for them.

That's going to be layoffs, it's quite clear. And they've said that they don't expect to turn a profit until 2027. Now, off the back of this, you can see that Europe has turned around a little bit. U.S. futures that are had turned higher, they're looking a little shaky now. So still a volatile situation, Max.

FOSTER: In terms of what's happening now they're presumably looking for other banks that may have debts, which would struggle in a high interest environment. So there could be another shock if the financial analysts find something out there.

SEBASTIAN: So I think there's a lot of scrutiny on the regional banks in the U.S. certainly First Republic, which is one of the ones that have had several capital injections. Over the last week, they were down 30 percent on Friday; they're down another 20 percent pre market.

So people are looking for sort of the weaker links in the system. But we also have the regulator's who've come in the Central Banks, we've got, you know, the Swiss who orchestrated this takeover, saying essentially to the market, we are prepared to do what it takes to stabilize the system.

We are not going to have a bank collapse. They did not want to let Credit Suisse go bankrupt. So I think that is why potentially we're seeing some recovery in the markets also perhaps because this weakens the argument for the Fed to raise rates this week. FOSTER: We'll be watching Clare, thank you so obviously New York where

speculation is growing over a possible indictment of the Former U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump says he expects to be arrested on Tuesday in the Stormy Daniels hush money case, and he's calling on his supporters to protest.

A grand jury is set to hear testimony today from Robert Costello, a Former Attorney for the prosecution star witness and Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. More on that story just ahead on the show in the next few hours, Francis government will face to no confidence votes.

It comes after President Emmanuel Macron has a decision to push through unpopular pension reforms without a vote in parliament. The move has sparked anger amongst opposition groups and Fury from the public with large groups of angry protesters back out on the streets this weekend.

As you can see soon as Melissa Bell joining me from Paris, is there any progress here? Are the protesters in any way going to stand down?

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: No, not at all, Max. On the contrary, what they say is that regardless of what happens in Parliament later today. They will continue to make their anger known on the streets of France indeed, continued to block the country as much as they can because it isn't simply the popular anger that there is over this particular reform. And the polls suggest that it is pretty widespread. And that in fact, if anything over the last few weeks, it has grown rather than diminished, Max. It's also that for the first time, in more than a decade, the French trade unions have been absolutely united in their opposition to this particular reform.

And not just the fact of the reform the fact of raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, Max, but the manner in which it's been put through, Emmanuel Macron, putting it first of all on a very tight legislative agenda and then of course, last Thursday, the French government announcing that it was going to force it through without a parliamentary vote.

That is what's led to the no confidence vote tonight the arithmetic within Parliament looks likely to go in favor of the government. So not in favor of the no confidence vote with what although of course until it happens, we really have no way of knowing that for sure. But even beyond that the trade unions and the protesters already say that they will carry on their protests.

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There will be a massive day of strikes and blockages again on Thursday. It'll be the ninth since the start of the year, Max, that will be for the official action but we expect as we've seen these last few days those spontaneous unplanned protests to erupt later today. It's now been four days in a row that we've seen people in the streets, not just to Paris, but in other French cities as well, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Melissa bell will keep watching, thank you. Still to come, Former U.S. President Donald Trump saying he's going to be arrested this week. We'll look at what might happen if he's actually charged by authorities in New York.

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FOSTER: This is what it looked like 20 years ago in America and its allies began pummeling military targets inside Iraq. Six weeks later, the U.S. President declared an end to major combat but the war would go on for another eight years and U.S. troops remained inside Iraq for a decade after that. Ben Wedeman now looks back at one of the century's defining moments.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It began with shock and awe. 20 years ago, the United States and its allies embarked on a war in Iraq. Within weeks, Saddam Hussein's regime fell.

GEORGE W. BUSH, 43RD U.S. PRESIDENT: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

WEDEMAN (voice over): They prevailed in the brief battle of Iraq, but the war in Iraq that followed was long and hard. The American road paved with good intentions soon led to hell. U.S. never found Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. The original rationale for the war and blunder after blunder poured fuel on a fire of resentment.

Every U.S. operation like this one I covered in the summer of 2003, left behind a trail of bitterness. By midweek U.S. troops had detained nearly 400 men, none from their most wanted list. They also managed, however, to arouse a fair amount of resentment. The Americans are occupiers say this man and they have no manners or

ethics. One of them grabbed a Quran and threw it to the ground. U.S. cobbled together a political order based on sectarian divisions disbanded the Iraqi army and the ones ruling Baath Party, throwing hundreds of thousands out of a job.

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And it was mired in the Abu Ghraib prisons scandal where Iraqis were tortured humiliated and photographed. 11 U.S. soldiers were convicted of crimes. Less than a year after the invasion, large parts of Iraq were in chaos. Saddam Hussein was captured, tried and executed, but the insurgency went on.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian born leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was killed, but the insurgency went on. Two years after the invasion, sectarian tensions between the Shia majority and the once dominant Sunni Arab minority erupted into civil war and the killing intensified.

The violence only subsided after the U.S. surged more troops into Iraq in 2007. In August 2010, the last U.S. combat troops left Iraq, leaving behind a brittle corrupt deeply flawed democratic regime riven by sectarian tensions which provided fertile ground for the rampage of the Islamic State or ISIS spilling over from the war in Syria into Iraq.

ISIS seized control of the Northern City of Mosul, and then captured city after city reaching the outskirts of Baghdad. It took more than three years of bitter combat and Foreign Military Assistance to defeat. That enemy vanquished old discontent resurfaced.

In 2019, Baghdad was gripped by massive protests against corruption, sectarianism, and poor living conditions. But like protest movements across the region, it too was crushed. As the U.S. invasion and occupation fade into history, neighboring Iran plays an ever greater role in the country's affairs.

Old problems corruption, a dysfunctional infrastructure and unemployment remain unresolved. Yet despite it all today, Baghdad is more peaceful than it has been in years. Ben Wedeman, CNN.

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FOSTER: I will be back in just a moment.

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FOSTER: Will Donald Trump be arrested? The Former U.S. President says he expects it to happen on Tuesday and he's urging his supporters to protest and "Take the nation back". But his spokesperson admits Trump hasn't received any notification from the Manhattan DA's office.

The investigation centers on the Former President's alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels here. How speaker Kevin McCarthy is accusing the DA's office of mounting a politically motivated case. And both Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is a potential candidate, haven't commented yet.

There's a lot going on here to help some packets. Kara Scannell joins us live from outside the courthouse in New York. Why does he say he's going to be arrested tomorrow if he doesn't have as far as we're aware that direct Intel?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Well, Max, I mean, there's just been so much speculation on this investigation.

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We've seen a number of high profile witnesses go before the grand jury and last week for two days Michael Cohen Trump's Former Fixer the person at the center of this hush money payment met in - testified before the grand jury two days last week. And that was all the indications that there are really not that many other potential witnesses that could go in.

So everyone has this sense that a charging decision is imminent. That's the sort of the optics of what's going on here. But we do know there's going to be additional grand jury activity today. So it's still a bit of a wait and see game, Max.

FOSTER: In terms of the other candidates, lots of politics going on here. Isn't there? There's some concern that other Senior Republicans haven't express support for Donald Trump haven't said anything. Just explain why the tension within the party is where it's coming from?

SCANNELL: All right, we've seen Kevin McCarthy, you know, come out and say that he thinks that this will be a politically motivated prosecution, but he's also countering what Trump has said about calling for protesting that protest should not take place your people do come out, they should do so peacefully.

I mean, clearly, Trump is the front runner for the Republican candidate for presidency for reelection in 2024. He is, you know, been saying that this investigation is to try to stop him from moving forward in this election to try to interfere with the election post some made some new statements overnight, about the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg's that he is actually trying to interfere with the Presidential contests.

Clearly a lot of people divided opinions on this. And certainly, you know, people in the Republican Party have different ways that they could try to use this to their advantage. So we're seeing some of the politics take shape here now, Max.

FOSTER: If he is arrested, if he's found guilty, would that affect his chances in the Presidential election?

SCANNELL: Well, an arrest would have no impact at all. And also, neither would an indictment or a conviction. There's nothing in the U.S. Constitution that says that someone who is at charge criminal could not run for the highest office. So that alone would not deter him, although that is the question that would go to voters then do the voters care, that the candidate for office is a convicted felon.

But there is no actual legal or constitutional prohibition that would stop him from running for office or even being elected. You know, of course, these are also state charges that we're talking about here, not federal charges. And, you know, the voters can decide on the issues of what they think of the strength of this case, and make decisions when it comes to Election Day, Max.

FOSTER: So the legal outcome of this wouldn't necessarily affect his Presidential campaign. But it does appear that he's using it to show that narrative that the establishment is out to get him, which is something that presumably he could use again in an upcoming Presidential campaign.

SCANNELL: Yes, absolutely. I mean, he is saying that this is, you know, there he is often says in a lot of his fundraising emails, that he's being targeted by all of these investigations, because of the work that he's doing to stand up for certain citizens in the population.

So he always uses it as a campaign, strategy a campaign rallying cry to try to get voters to stand behind him voters who might think that the establishment is out to get him. You know, of course, though, that is something that will ultimately be decided by the full population of U.S. on Election Day.

But it is a strategy that he's been using to try to drum up support for him as he's facing not just this investigation, but also the investigations into whether he interfered in the election, both by the Fulton County grand jury in Georgia, as well as the Justice Department.

And the Justice Department also investigating his handling of classified documents for the trove of documents that have classified markings on them that were found at his home in Mar-a-Lago so this isn't the only investigation he's facing, but he does try to turn this into a political rallying cry, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Kara Scannell back with you as you get updates on this incredible story, thank you. Now, weeks after South Carolina Attorney Alex Murdaugh were found guilty of killing his wife and son. Authorities are re-examining another mysterious death that happened near his home. The body of 19-year-old Stephen Smith, who died in 2015, will be exhumed, according to the family's verified GoFundMe page. CNN's Isabel Rosales, reports.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, according to an incident report back in 2015, his body was found in the middle of a rural road, as you mentioned near the Murdaugh estate with a force of blunt trauma to his head. Now his family is exhuming his body for an independent autopsy immediately. That is, according to a GoFundMe page that has been verified by CNN.

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And while Authorities have not announced any sort of connection between Smith's death and the Murdaugh family back in June of 2021, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division or SLED did announce that it was reopening an investigation into Smith's killing and that was based on information that they gathered while investigating the double homicide of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

And to this day, there's still so many questions surrounding Smith's death. According to a SLED report pathologist indicated and stated in this report that it appeared that Smith was hit by a car. But according to Highway Patrol responding Officer who was there on site, they didn't find any skid marks they didn't find any glass or debris or any injuries that would be consistent with Smith actually being hit by a vehicle.

In fact, both of his shoes were on and slightly loosen. So that wouldn't be something very much consistent with getting hit by a vehicle, and investigators sought no evidence suggesting that he was hit. We do have a statement today from SLED saying, SLED has made progress in the death investigation of Stephen Smith, however this investigation remains active and ongoing.

Now Smith's mother has been fighting since day one since his body was found to get some answers into her son's death. She started a GoFundMe with a goal of performing an independent autopsy to get those answers and an exclamation. She thought that would be around $7,000 she set a goal of $15,000 and today has blown past that goal.

And she put up a post on GoFundMe saying, our family is so very grateful to all of you who came together to help us in our fight for justice for Stephen. We will pursue the exhumation immediately and provide updates along the way. Thank you for the kind words, prayers and donations. You have made this possible and it means the world to us. This is Stephen's year.

FOSTER: Isabel Rosales reporting there. As she mentioned, authorities haven't announced a connection between Smith's death and the Murdaugh family. Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison as he found guilty of murdering his wife and son earlier this month. Thank you for joining me here on CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London. "World Sport" with Amanda Davis is up next.

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