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U.S. Airstrikes Carried Out In Syria In Retaliation For Drone Attack; One U.S. Contractor Killed And Five U.S. Service Members Injured In Drone Attack In Syria; Russia's War On Ukraine; ICC Issued Arrest Warrants For Vladimir Putin And Deputy For Forcibly Deporting Ukrainian Children; Gwyneth Paltrow Could Take Stand Today In Ski Crash Trial; FTC Wants To Make It Easier To Cancel Subscriptions; Biden And Trudeau Sit Down To Talk Immigration, China, Trade. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 24, 2023 - 10:30:00   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Developing this morning. A U.S. contractor is dead and five U.S. troops are wounded after a suspected Iranian-backed drone hit a U.S. housing facility in Northeast Syria. In response, President Biden authorized what the U.S. calls a precision strike on facilities used by the groups affiliated with Iran. You're looking at the aftermath here. CNN's M.J. Lee is at the White House for us this morning.

M.J. I know the president is in Canada, and he made this call for the retaliation while there.

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. You know these were urgent deliberations that were taking place as President Biden was traveling up to Canada last night. So, let me just catch you up on exactly what we know from these developments overnight. We know that A suspected Iranian drone struck a facility in Syria that was housing U.S. personnel and that resulted in the killing of one American contractor and injuring five U.S. service members.

And in response to that we saw President Biden authorize a precision airstrike in Eastern Syria that targeted Iranian affiliated facilities. Now, we saw Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, describing the strike as proportionate and deliberate action. And he said that the strike was aimed at both limiting escalation and also limiting casualties as well.

And this morning what we're hearing from senior White House officials is a warning that the U.S. This will continue to retaliate if the administration sees that as being necessary. This is what NSC Spokesperson John Kirby said this morning on our air.

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JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON: We've got militant groups that are supported by Iran, that are the ones conducting these attacks against our troops and our facilities. We're going to continue to do whatever we can to defend themselves. And if we have to retaliate, like we did yesterday, we'll do that.

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LEE: The president, of course, has a very busy day in Ottawa. He's going to be meeting with the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. And the two leaders are also set to have a press conference as well. So, we'll see if the president, for the first time, really publicly addresses what happened.

And, of course, John. The bigger context is important here, too. There are already significantly heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

[10:35:00]

So, all of this is only expected to exacerbate all of that. And one key piece of information that we don't know yet from the U.S. side is how many casualties resulted from that U.S. airstrikes. So, again, these are developments that we will be keeping on top of this today. And just to try to get a sense of what additional information we might get about these developments. John.

BERMAN: Yes, and again, when the president answers questions, they will be his first comments in public on this matter. Watching them very closely. M.J. Lee, thank you, as always.

Ukrainian officials say deadly new Russian airstrikes targeted civilians overnight. At least two people were killed in the northern region. Three others were killed when a Russian missile hit the Eastern Donetsk region. Also, this morning, we are learning heartbreaking new details about a Russian operation, taking Ukrainian children. Now, just days ago, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and his deputy for forcibly deporting children. CNN's David McKenzie and his team travel close to the front lines to investigate what happened.

David, thanks for being with us. Tell us what you found.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John the criminal court warrant, the Kremlin called that outrageous and acceptable. But we traveled to Kherson, a city frequently under Russian artillery strikes and found an extraordinary story of caregivers trying to save their kids.

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MCKENZIE (voiceover): Approaching the southern frontline in Kherson. In the liberated city, many have fled, it's deceptively quiet. Until the relentless terror. The often indiscriminate, almost daily Russian shelling. We've come to investigate a very deliberate horror of the Russian occupation.

MCKENZIE (on camera): So, the children who stayed here were under five years old, mostly. This orphanage had more than 40 children here. MCKENZIE (voiceover): Olena (ph) was a nurse here for 17 years. Not a single child is left.

I feel emptiness. Emptiness. Everything has just stopped, she says. The children had everything. They were so happy. The children were happy.

Now, it's just silence and small reminders of them. Their names still on each locker. The Kherson children's home is now a crime scene.

They warned us to collect their clothes, says Olena. The Russians and collaborators called in the evening and said to prepare the children for the morning. The busses arrived at 8:00. The heartbreaking scenes captured for Russian propaganda, shared on a Russian MPs telegram channel. The bewildered children taken from their beloved nurses in October, transported to Russian-occupied Crimea or Russia itself, say Ukrainian investigators.

But instead of hiding this alleged war crime Russians advertised it.

Children will be taken to safe conditions in Crimea, he says. I'll definitely go and visit.

Investigators said was part of a premeditated Russian mission to take Ukrainian children, they even targeted hospitals.

MCKENZIE (on camera): There was a lot of pressure by the Russians to take these children, weren't you afraid?

MCKENZIE (voiceover): It was scary. Very, very scary. So much pressure, says Olha Piliarska. Twice a day they demanded we show them lists of the kids to take to Russia. So, Olha and her team came up with an extraordinary deception. The head orphans in the ICU and they forged medical assessments, saying healthy children were severely sick. They even faked an emergency ventilation, she says.

We understood that the Russians and collaborators would not forgive us, she says. We knew there would be serious retribution. We understood this.

But they took the risks and managed to save children. And a critical care nurse took it a step further. Tetiana says, she fell in love with one of the orphan children. She worked desperately to keep the child off the list.

MCKENZIE (on camera): How are you?

MCKENZIE (voiceover): Now, she's adopting Kira (ph).

MCKENZIE (on camera): Hi. Nice to meet you.

MCKENZIE (voiceover): We met them at home. A Ukrainian mom with her treasured Ukrainian child.

TETIANA PAVELKO, KHERSON CHILDREN'S REGIONAL HOSPITAL: Kira (ph).

MCKENZIE (voiceover): Kira (ph) is almost ready to walk.

MCKENZIE (on camera): What does she mean to you?

MCKENZIE (voiceover): She means everything to me, says Tetiana. Oh, I don't even know. To be honest, I can't imagine my life without Kira (ph). This awful war has given her a precious gift.

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[10:40:00]

MCKENZIE (on camera): The nurses and the doctors, John, managed to save a handful of children from those alleged abductions. Well, I mean they're alleged, but you see the video of Russians taking the children very openly there. And the ICC prosecutor says this was an egregious crime. They say, it constitutes a war crime.

Investigations are ongoing, I must say, here in Ukraine. The investigators are working on this case and other cases like that, whether there will ever be any justice in this matter or whether they will find those kids and get them back to Ukraine. At least while this war goes on, I have to say that the chances are very difficult, but they did try their best, and they managed to save at least a few children. John.

BERMAN: What love and what defiance all at once there. And just imagine an operation, a country being proud of an operation to take children. David McKenzie, thank you so much. Stunning report there.

Could actress Gwyneth Paltrow take the stand today? The latest on the trial over a collision on the slopes. That's next.

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[10:45:00]

BERMAN: Actress Gwyneth Paltrow could possibly take the stand today in the trial over a ski collision at a Utah resort back in 2016. 76-year- old Terry Sanderson says, she crashed into him, leaving him with serious injuries. Paltrow is countersuing, claiming he skied into her. CNN's Chloe Melas is here.

Chloe you've been watching this trial. What have we learned so far? I mean, forgive me. I've been waiting to say this, it's a he said, ski said.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Oh.

BERMAN: The whole story is more different (ph) than that.

MELAS: You know, john, this is why I love sitting next to you because, like, you have such good one liners. So, I love it.

So, this has been seven years in the making, this ski collision that took place in Deer Valley, a very upscale place to ski in Park City, Utah. And he says, that she barreled into him, causing him to break four ribs to have a myriad of brain issues and cognitive issues. We heard his daughter testify yesterday, saying that her father's processing speed appeared to have changed and that she would find him being almost reclusive. And that this was a guy that she called a goer and a doer and somebody that was just very much involved in the family.

Now, Gwyneth Paltrow, although we are expecting to potentially hear from her later this afternoon, court has just begun moments ago. She says, he barreled into me. And that due to, like, Utah ski laws if I'm downhill, which I was, and he scooped -- skied into me, it's his fault.

But again, no cameras. We have eyewitnesses from both sides that say totally different things. So, this is going to be up to those jurors to decide who seems more believable. Yesterday, we also heard from a neuropsychologist who treated Terry Sanderson saying that he did have some issues and that these were real things.

But then he was cross examined by Gwyneth Paltrow's lawyer who said, but could it have been caused by something else? And she said, maybe. So again, Gwyneth Paltrow, seven years later, countersuing for just a dollar on the principle that she wants to say -- because it's not about the money for her. It's just $300,000, which just obviously that's a lot of money.

BERMAN: Right.

MELAS: But for her, a multimillionaire, it's not. So, obviously she's doing this on principle. John.

BERMAN: What is the expectation? Will she testify?

MELAS: Yes, she will. And so, she's on the list. I have spoken to Gwyneth Paltrow's team who has confirmed, yes, she's going to testify. We just don't know if they're going to get to her today because they are going to be talking to Terry Sanderson, who's going to speak out for the first time and testify today. So, that's what we're waiting for, to hear from him.

BERMAN: I mean, we really will hear from both people in this case and --

MELAS: And it's televised. So, anybody can sit and watch it today.

BERMAN: And it's just going to come down to who the jury believes more. You have to believe. They're going to listen to both of them and say, OK. You skied into him or he skied into you.

MELAS: Yes.

BERMAN: And that's what's going to be. Chloe Melas, thank you very much.

MELAS: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: A proposed rule could make it easier for you to break free from those subscriptions that you don't want any more, details ahead. Could they do anything from those cassettes, like, Columbia House Cassettes from like the 1980s.

We're following President Biden's visit to Canada. He will meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau soon and reveal details of a new deal on asylum seekers between the two countries.

[10:50:00]

BERMAN: So, new this morning, the federal government could soon make it easier for Americans to cancel those free trials in subscriptions that some companies make it difficult to cut off. CNN Business Reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn is here with me with this. I really think welcome news.

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Very welcome news. So, we -- anybody who's tried to cancel a gym membership or a cell phone bill can tell you about the horror stories they've had to jump through with companies and how difficult they make it for us to for us to cancel those subscriptions.

But the FTC now wants to step in to make it easier for you to cancel subscriptions and fine businesses if they don't comply with some of these regulations. They're -- the FTC is proposing fining businesses up to $50,000 a day if they go through these different hoops and create these different tactics. And we're seeing this right now because there's been a boom in subscriptions. Subscriptions are growing at about 18 percent a year. You can get a subscription for pet food, tea, just about everything.

BERMAN: I mean, what are the measures they're going to take to make it harder for these companies to do it to us?

MEYERSOHN: Well, I think it's going to rely a lot on customers filing complaints to the FTC. But the proposal is going to make it easier once customers file those complaints for the FTC to crack down.

BERMAN: All right. In other companies trying to get you -- news, like, anyone who's tried to call a helpline, the last few months, I have, they barely exist anymore, it seems.

MEYERSOHN: They barely exist anymore and they certainly don't want you to call them on the phone. You especially, John Berman. They don't want to hear you on the phone.

[10:55:00]

So, more companies, Frontier Airlines, Breeze Airlines, they've ended their live call centers. We also see Facebook, Resy, the reservation platform, you won't be able to find those phone numbers. They're just pushing you online. They want you to use chatbots or social media. Maybe one day we'll just have to ask ChatGPT to change our flight reservation.

BERMAN: I'll just open the door and shout out loud and then hope someone is going to be there willing to help me. Nathaniel Meyersohn, great to see you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Again. we are waiting to hear from President Biden on this breakout of hostilities in Syria overnight, much more on that ahead. Thanks for joining me today. I'm John Berman. "At This Hour with Kate Bolduan" starts right after a quick break.

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