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Tornado Outbreak Batters South and Midwest U.S.; Trump Expected to Surrender Tuesday and Face Arraignment; Trump Loyalists, GOP Lawmakers Attack Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg for Trump Indictment; Pope Francis to Participate in Palm Sunday Mass. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired April 01, 2023 - 03:00 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 (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, a super cell storm system has spun up several tornadoes, leaving a swath of death and destruction across the Mississippi Valley in the Midsouth.
Donald Trump, making travel plans to face more than 30 criminal charges in New York next week, the latest on his historic indictment.
And:
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The immediate go to was that my life is over. Everything that I've worked blood, sweat and tears for has just gone down the drain, just like that.
HOLMES: A transgender American runner, vowing to fight for her Olympic dream after World Athletics ruled trans women can no longer be in international competition.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: And we begin with a deadly tornado outbreak that is still underway. Parts of the United States, from Kentucky to Louisiana, are under tornado watches and warnings at this hour. Under the gun right now, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. Tornadoes have been reported from Arkansas to Wisconsin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES (voice-over): This is what it looked at, like after the storms blew through Iowa. And forecasters predict the severe weather will continue marching east in the coming hours. At least three deaths and dozens of injuries being blamed on tornadoes that hit Arkansas on Friday.
Two of those deaths came in the city of Wynne, where the mayor says the storm damage cut the town in half.
And have a look at this. It's a massive tornado bearing down on Little Rock. A third death reported there. One man talked about what he experienced.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Everything happened, like five seconds, it's like it came home. It was a lot of -- you hear a lot of commotion and stuff, then it was just over. I go outside and it's crazy. People got blood all over their face.
I'm just thankful that I'm alive and for the most part I'm not -- I don't feel nothing, just I'm thankful. It's a humbling experience. It's awful.
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HOLMES: In Illinois, one person was killed, dozens of others injured when Friday night during the storms more than 200 people were inside the Apollo Theater in Belvidere for a heavy metal concert at the time. And in the past five minutes, we're learning of two deaths in Indiana.
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HOLMES: Donald Trump is expected to travel to New York on Monday and voluntarily surrender the next day to the Manhattan district attorney. It will be a first in U.S. history for a former president.
Security is tight in and around the courthouse ahead of Tuesday's arraignment. That's when we expect the lengthy indictment will be unsealed. This will not be like a routine court appearance. As you might imagine, the fact that the former president is also a current candidate.
Also of course, he has his own Secret Service detail. All makes this much more complicated. Here's how one of Trump's lawyers described it to CNN's Kaitlan Collins.
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TIMOTHY PARLATORE, DONALD TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: You have a client, who is also a presidential candidate. And so it's not like a normal situation, where you tell the client, "Hey, don't say anything, don't talk about anything," because the case is the single most important thing in their life.
He is running for president. So he's already got the campaign apparatus and everything else.
I mean, I know Judge Merchan. I've tried a case, in front of him, before. He can be tough. I don't think that it's necessarily going to be something that's going to change his ability, to evaluate the facts and the law in this case.
So you really do have that kind of balancing act when you have a client, who is also a candidate for office.
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HOLMES: And for a preview of what we can expect next week, here's CNN's Jessica Schneider.
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QUESTION: What are the charges against President Donald Trump?
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An historic court date set for former President Donald Trump on Tuesday in Manhattan, where district attorney Alvin Bragg has brought an indictment against him.
Trump is planning to leave his Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday for New York and then on Tuesday, authorities will take his mug shots and fingerprints before escorting him to his arraignment. The indictments still under seal, styled the people of the state of New York against Donald J. Trump.
CNN learning the grand jury voted to charge him with more than 30 counts related to business. Fraud after hearing from an unidentified witness for about 30 minutes Thursday.
MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP PERSONAL ATTORNEY AND FIXER: I am a convicted felon. I am a disbarred lawyer. But I also brought the documents. There's plenty of testimony corroborating testimony to go around.
SCHNEIDER: Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen met with prosecutors and testified to the grand jury and multiple occasions in this year's long investigation.
Cohen was convicted on federal charges and sentenced to three years in prison in part for his role paying off porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet in the lead up to the 2016 election about her alleged affair with Donald Trump.
It's a fight against his rejection of truth and his manufacturing of stories that really motivated her to try to cooperate in any way certainly to get the truth out.
Trump denies the affair and any wrongdoing.
QUESTION: Mr. President, do about them under the $30,000 payment to Stormy Daniels?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: No, no.
SCHNEIDER: Cohen, though, admits to writing the $130,000 check and claims he was reimbursed by the Trump Organization. That reimbursement and the way Trump accounted for it appears to be at the heart of the case against Trump.
COHEN: For Donald, since we're talking about convicted felons, see you on Tuesday, pal.
SCHNEIDER: Sources tell CNN the grand jury also heard testimony about a catch and kill scheme to bury a story about another alleged Trump affair with former Playboy playmate of the year Karen McDougal.
Trump's longtime friend and then chairman of the "National Enquirer's" parent company, David Pecker, is believed to have orchestrated that $150,000 payment.
Pecker testified before the grand jury Monday. Trump also denies any affair with McDougal. Trump's lawyers are now vowing to fight, saying they will move to get all charges dismissed before any trial.
JOE TACOPINA, TRUMP DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There's no crime. I don't know if it's going to make the trial because we have substantial legal challenges that we have to front before we get to that point.
SCHNEIDER: CNN has been digging into who this last witness was on Thursday before the grand jury voted to indict Trump. A lot more could become clear as this case progresses.
And we'll see just how strong this case might be after the indictment is unsealed, likely Tuesday at the arraignment. In the meantime, former attorney general Bill Barr is the latest now speaking out, joining Republicans in saying that this case is just a political hit job and a weak case.
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SCHNEIDER: Notably, though, no one has seen the exact charges or the evidence here -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
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HOLMES: Joining me now, David Sanger is a CNN political and national security analyst. He's also the White House and national security correspondent at "The New York Times."
Always good to see you, sir.
I think -- I think we've become perhaps used to drama and controversy when it comes to Donald Trump. But here we are with the former president and current candidate criminally charged -- or about to be.
If we step back, just give us a sense of how extraordinary this moment is, not just in American politics but American history.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, we're in a place we've never been in before. There has never been a president indicted during or after their presidency. As my colleague, Nick Kristof (ph), wrote, the closest we came when Ulysses S. Grant was riding too fast in a horse and buggy in Washington, D.C., and was pulled over by a policeman and taken down to the station.
But we're in a completely different spot here.
I think the question is, are we in the spot over the right issue?
You know, Republicans have spent the day castigating the indictment as political and all that, which you would expect. But there are a lot of Democrats who are concerned about it as well.
Because this indictment is not over the core question of whether or not the -- somebody attempted -- or the president, president Trump attempted to undermine the core of American democracy.
HOLMES: Yes, exactly. There -- that -- those cases are yet to come. But a lot of people thinking this wasn't the one to begin with, if you like. I'm just -- I'm thinking the optics. The thing about Donald Trump is he's always been in control, running things; many would say getting away with things for literally decades.
He's not in control of this situation. He's going to be fingerprinted. A mug shot is going to be taken.
How do you think that might impact him, as an observer of his ego and personality?
SANGER: You know he's been -- according to the reporting -- many of my colleagues -- more concerned about what the arrest looks like than what the content of the indictment is. And of course, we don't know the content of the indictment.
This will all play out on Tuesday, probably Tuesday afternoon. But the early indications are that the court system and New York City do not want to play into the political theater of all of this.
He may not get a mug shot. If he gets fingerprinted, it maybe electronic, you know, one of those things where you put your fingers down the way you do it an airport now and you're going through the -- to reach a country.
So there may be very few of the trappings (ph). I doubt -- I very much doubt that they would put him in handcuffs.
HOLMES: Yes.
SANGER: Particularly for charge like this. So it may, on the one hand, ease that issue but it may also deprive him of some of the imagery that I think he is -- he may be thinking will rouse his base.
HOLMES: Yes, I guess you wonder whether it's going to be humbling or something that energizes him. He is, of course, a candidate in the next presidential election.
What do you think this does to the Republican presidential race in the short to medium term?
I mean, this might rally his core base but you know, charges related to a porn star payoff aren't likely to appeal to moderate Republicans or independents.
SANGER: That's right. But remember the race for the nomination is a very different thing than the race for actually getting elected president. For the nomination, you're trying to rally the biggest part of the base of the Republican Party that you can.
And that is clearly his but it may also serve to hurt him, as you point out, in a general election. It also is flushing out the other members of the Republican Party, most of whom have come out to declare that this is an outrage.
You heard Ron DeSantis say it, although he never mentioned Mr. Trump's name. You heard Mike Pence, the former vice president, say this is outrageous.
Why you have seen many Republicans come to the president's defense here, one of the reasons that others would have preferred that the first indictment be over a core issue to the election, whether or not there was an effort to try to manipulate votes after the election was held, it lies in the Georgia case that were where the president was caught on tape, saying, you know, find me several thousand votes. More than 10,000 votes.
The thinking is that it would be harder for many of the non-Trump Republicans to come to his defense on an issue relating to the manipulation of the election.
HOLMES: David Sanger, really appreciate it. Thanks for making the time.
SANGER: Thank you.
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HOLMES: Pope Francis is expected to leave the hospital today. He's been there since Wednesday, receiving treatment for bronchitis just before the holiest week of the year for many Christians. CNN's Vatican correspondent, Delia Gallagher, is standing by live in Rome.
Good to see you, Delia. He might have been in hospital but he hasn't been lying around. Has he he's been pretty busy, really?
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: No absolutely, Michael.
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GALLAGHER: I mean, if you consider 86 years old in hospital for bronchitis, receiving antibiotics intravenously, you'd expect him to be lying in his hospital bed. Instead, the Vatican told us on Thursday evening, he was having pizza
with some of the medical staff here for dinner. On Friday visited the children's oncology and neurosurgery unit, bringing them Easter eggs and rosaries and even managed to baptize a little baby boy, Miguel Angel, who was sleeping soundly before the pope sprinkled some water on him. But I'm sure he'll appreciate the gesture when he's older.
Anyway, the Vatican tells us he, Pope Francis will be discharged today. We don't know at what time but good news that the pope has managed to get back on his feet so quickly. Michael.
HOLMES: Yes, that baby is going to have a story to tell, that's for sure. The hospital stay, though, it's sort of through Easter week events into doubt for a while.
What can we expect the pope to be doing?
GALLAGHER: Well, look, really important that the Vatican has confirmed that the pope will be present in St. Peter's Square tomorrow on Sunday for Palm Sunday. That's the start of a very busy Easter week, leading up to Easter next Sunday.
There are numerous events for the pope to attend and so we'll be able to see him tomorrow and hear from him and then kind of monitor his health throughout the week. I mean, one thing this episode has done is thrown back into the spotlight Pope Francis' health.
We already knew that he had a mobility issue with his knee. It's caused a lot of pain and a lot of problems in the last few years. So now with the respiratory issue, it will be important to be able to see him. I'm sure his doctors would like him to pull back a bit on his schedule.
He has got a trip to Hungary scheduled at the end of April, so we'll have to see how he progresses in this coming week. Michael.
All right, Delia, good to see you, Delia Gallagher there in Rome for us.
Now a juror in Gwyneth Paltrow's ski collision case speaks out. Just ahead why the Hollywood star was awarded a symbolic dollar in her countersuit against the skier she said plowed into her.
Also Ukrainian children evacuated from a front line town just as the U.N. gives an update on the human toll of war.
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HOLMES: U.S. President Joe Biden is speaking publicly about the arrest of an American journalist in Russia. The president on Friday demanded the release of Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained on suspicion of espionage.
His employer, "The Wall Street Journal," denies the allegation and wants the U.S. to respond by expelling Russian diplomats and journalists.
Here's what Mr. Biden said about the matter.
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QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) right now, as they're detaining the --
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Who?
QUESTION: -- Russia as they're detaining "The Wall Street Journal" reporter.
BIDEN: Let him go.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) Russian diplomats or journalists?
BIDEN: That's not the plan right now.
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HOLMES: The Kremlin says there is no reason to expel Russian journalists from the U.S. and that, in Russia, accredited foreign journalists don't face restrictions.
A U.S. Security official disagrees.
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ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET.), COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: This is not the time for Americans to be in Russia. If you're in Russia now, whether it's on business or leisure, whatever kind of travel, you need to leave now. This is not a good place for you to be, in Russia.
Even if you are a working journalist, Russia is a hostile environment for American citizens right now. And it's time to go if you're there.
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HOLMES: Now the brother of Paul Whelan, another jailed American in Russia, says his family is worried about Paul's wellbeing because they didn't receive their usual call from him on Thursday.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our parents are able to speak to him on an almost daily basis. He is allowed a 15 minute phone call once a day.
And so he speaks to our parents just to stay up to date on what's going on at home and share what's going on with him and if he has any problems. He was unable to call yesterday. That's unexpected. He was supposed to be able to speak to the U.S. embassy consular staff yesterday. And that didn't happen, either.
So we're a little bit concerned that there may be something else going on.
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HOLMES: Paul Whelan's brother also says the arrests of his sibling and of Gershkovich is part of Russia's attempt to get concessions from the U.S. But he spoke against the idea that the U.S. should retaliate by expelling a Russian diplomat.
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HOLMES: Ukrainian children living near the line of fire now being moved away from the fighting. Ukrainian police releasing a video on Friday, saying it shows the evacuation of children from the town of Sybersk (ph). It's about 10 kilometers or six miles from the front lines and it has been ravaged by Russian attacks.
But according to the top U.N. human rights official, thousands of other Ukrainians never had a chance to get away from Russian fire. He spoke at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Using the rigorous methodology of my office, our staff has verified more than 8,400 civilian deaths and over 14,000 civilians wounded since 20 February of last year. These figures are just the tip of the iceberg.
Most of the casualties resulted from the Russian forces' use of wide impact explosive weaponry in residential neighborhoods.
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HOLMES: Meanwhile Ukraine has marked a somber anniversary in the town of Bucha, which has come to evoke Moscow's brutality during the war. CNN's Barbie Nadeau joins me from Rome.
Barbie, yes, Bucha synonymous with war crimes allegations but President Zelenskyy wants it remembered as a symbol of justice. Tell us more about the anniversary and what else the president said.
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, it was a very somber anniversary.
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NADEAU: We saw images of President Zelenskyy walking down a very famous street that was riddled with the carcasses of military, Russian military hardware when Ukraine took back the town.
You know, they read the names of people that were identified inside mass graves. And he says that all these crimes, these atrocities, some 247 a day during that 30 day occupation, will go not go unpunished. So this will be for Ukraine a symbol of justice just as much as the atrocities, Michael.
HOLMES: I wanted to ask you, too, about something else. The International Monetary Fund approving billions in loans to Ukraine, desperately needed for what is a war battered economy.
NADEAU: That's right, $15.6 billion in a four year loan plan that was approved on Friday; $2.7 billion of that is going to be available right away. Now that's going to become very important as Ukraine tries to rebuild this infrastructure and some of these towns that they've been able to take back.
You know, Russia has focused so much of its military attention on infrastructure. So this money to help build that -- those depleted areas back is going to be crucial, Michael, so this is very important for Ukraine and for the future post war.
HOLMES: Yes, absolutely. Barbie Nadeau in Rome. Appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Now Taiwan's president has kicked off her trip to Central America, where she's trying to shore up support from allies. Tsai Ing-wen was greeted with military honors when she arrived in Guatemala on Friday. She was expected to meet with the country's president, whose government has declared that Taiwan is the one true China.
It comes days after nearby Honduras cut ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing. On Thursday, President Tsai also made a brief stop in New York City and, in the coming days, she's expected to return to the U.S., where she could meet with the House Speaker in California.
Still to come here on the program, the woman at the center of Donald Trump's indictment speaks out. Why she's portraying the historic announcement as bittersweet. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: Donald Trump is expected to voluntarily surrender to the Manhattan district attorney on Tuesday for arraignment on multiple criminal charges related to his business operations.
Security is tight in and around the courthouse. Media cameras inside the building are expected to show the former president when he is escorted to the courtroom on Tuesday afternoon.
Sources say Trump is facing more than 30 counts related to false business records at the Trump Organization. Prosecutors are investigating whether it was a scheme to cover up hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.
Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels or of knowing about the $130,000 that was paid her. His lawyers are vowing a vigorous defense on Tuesday when they will try to convince the judge to dismiss the case.
For her part, Daniels is celebrating the indictment of Donald Trump as monumental but she says, hours after it was announced, she began receiving threats against her well being. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
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STORMY DANIELS, ADULT FILM STAR: I don't know, like I still feel kind of numb. It's starting to sink in now but not in a good way.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Stormy Daniels in her first interview since Donald Trump's indictment tells "The Times U.K." this is a vindication.
DANIELS: I -- you know, I get these mullets where I get emotional. I'm like I wish I had never done. This is so stupid but I still do the same thing because it was the right to do.
LAH: It's a legal decision that's been years in the making, since Daniel's first burst into the public spotlight.
She's known as the adult movie actress tied to the former president but she was born Stephanie Clifford, she writes in her biography about a childhood in baton rouge, Louisiana, neglected left alone without food by her single mother.
She also describes a childhood assault by a man who lived next door to a friend. I was nine. I was a child and then I wasn't. Her path out of poverty was first stripping, then pornography.
She became Stormy Daniels as an adult actress, then a director. In 2006, Daniels was in Lake Tahoe, California, promoting her adult film company at a celebrity golf tournament where she met Donald Trump and says she had consensual sex with him. Trump has consistently denied the affair.
Fast forward to October 2016, Donald Trump is a Republican nominee for president. Court filings in the federal prosecution of then Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen show Trump Org executives authorized payments days before the 2016 election to cover Cohen's $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. The goal to silence her from going public about the alleged affair.
But Daniels has already tried to tell her story. In 2011, Daniels agreed to talk to tabloid magazine "In Touch" for $15,000. The story was not printed in 2011 but in 2018, Daniels did go public with the story that was now a spectacle. Trump former reality TV star was the president of the United States.
DANIELS: My attorney and I are committed to making sure that everyone finds out the truth and the facts of what happened.
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LAH (voice-over): They put her in the center of the media, political and pop culture storm.
DANIELS: Hello, Donald.
LAH: Today, Daniels continues her adult movie career, remains private about her daughter. And while there's an occasional dig at Trump and her social media accounts, Daniels has avoided directly talking about this case. But now that this historic indictment unfolds, Daniels tells "Times U.K." that her safety is more in jeopardy than ever before.
DANIELS: The first time it was like gold digger, slut, whore, you know, liar, whatever. And this time it's like, I'm going to murder you.
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HOLMES: Kyung Lah reporting there for us.
Coming up, a dire new warning in the climate crisis. You've heard of sea levels rising but a new study reveals the dangers below the surface when the ocean currents are disrupted. We'll hear from the coordinator of that study when we come back.
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HOLMES: A juror is telling why she voted in favor of actress Gwyneth Paltrow in a $300,000 lawsuit. Paltrow was sued by retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, who alleged she ran into him on a ski slope.
But Paltrow said he skied into her. Juror Samantha Emery (ph) told CNN why she joined the panel in unanimously awarding the Oscar winner $1 in a countersuit.
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SAMANTHA EMERY, SANDERSON V. PALTROW TRIAL JUROR: I think her testimony really made sense. And I felt that she was telling the truth. However, there was a lot of evidence provided.
I mean, this is eight days of evidence. So I think hearing her expert witness, Dr. Scher (ph) really brought it home for me, at least to hear him validate that her version of the story was actually the most likely.
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HOLMES: Emery (ph) also said she questioned Sanderson's credibility when the jury saw photos of them traveling abroad while claiming he suffered serious brain injuries. The juror said she was not swayed by Paltrow's status as a celebrity and tried to treat the parties equally.
The City of Minneapolis has agreed to a major overhaul of its police department nearly three years after the killing of George Floyd. The deal with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights calls for the city and police to make changes to their organizational structure and address race based policing.
Among other provisions, the state agency says the deal will require officers to deescalate. Officers will be prohibited from using force to punish or retaliate. It also prohibits the use of certain pretext stops and it limits when officers can use force.
The agreement grew out of the protests and scrutiny of law enforcement after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a white police officer in 2020.
Officials in southwestern Minnesota are trying to reassure residents their community is safe after a train carrying highly flammable ethanol derailed. Four train cars transporting the chemical ruptured and caught fire, while others were at risk of releasing the substance.
The Environmental Protection Agency says there has not been a severe impact to the community thus far. Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar visited the site Friday and said the air and soil are safe.
The train operator also says it did not find any impact to the drinking water or air in the area. Federal authorities are investigating the cause of the derailment.
Now melting ice in the Antarctic is not just raising sea levels but slowing down the deep ocean currents, which are vital for the health of the seas, marine life and the atmosphere as well.
A new study published this week in the journal, "Nature," found that deep water circulation from the Antarctic is on track to slow down by more than 40 percent by 2050 due to human caused climate change.
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HOLMES: Professor Matthew England is the deputy director of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science and coordinator of that study, joins me now from Sydney, Australia.
And thanks for doing so. Now we are -- firstly and briefly for us lay people, tell us what a slowing of the circulation of deep ocean water in the Antarctic actually means.
PROFESSOR MATTHEW ENGLAND, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE IN ANTARCTIC SCIENCE: Michael, so right around Antarctica we have very salty, cold water that's super dense. It sinks to the very bottom of the ocean.
And if we freshen that with ice melt, we make it less dense and it's going to reduce its -- the overturning rate, the rate of flow down the Antarctic continental slope down to the (INAUDIBLE) ocean.
We've already got evidence it's slowing and our projections are that it will be about half its intensity only about three decades from now.
HOLMES: And these sort of overturning circulations, they usually change -- correct me if I'm wrong -- over the course of 1,000 years or so and this time we're talking decades.
What would a worst case scenario look like?
ENGLAND: Yes, worst case is that it collapses altogether. And the reason I say worst case is that there's knock-on effects to marine life and to further ice melt.
But if you look back in the -- in the geological past, in paleo climate, we do know that the overturning circulations can slow down or stop altogether. And so we can see evidence in the -- in the paleo era record that it's possible to stop these overturning circulations.
Typically, it takes a lot longer because those past climate changes are more gradual.
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ENGLAND: We're hitting the world's atmosphere with big concentration changes in greenhouse gases. And that's driving unprecedented rates of change in our polar climate.
HOLMES: How much of our food chain, you know, our existence really depends on the circulation of deep ocean water and how that circulation distributes nutrients?
How critical is it to life?
ENGLAND: You know, look, it's really important. I mean, it's not the only way surface nutrients are cycled up in the upper ocean. But it's a very significant source. And the best way to describe it is that we know we have marine life. When it dies, it just falls to the bottom of the ocean.
And unlike on the land, we have vegetation that dies and regenerates new growth as a cycle of life on the land surface, that is, there's quite easily sustained. In the oceans we need this upwelling to bring that nutrient rich water back to the surface, that feeds phytoplankton, which is at the base of the food chain.
So we don't want to lose that source of nutrients. There are other ways that nutrients get recycled. But it's a big factor to take away, that very deep ocean nutrient rich water. Taking it out of the food cycle is not a good thing.
I should say there are some studies that tried to quantify this exactly and it's, you know, the effect gets bigger as we go through the decades. So, you know, 100 years from now, they estimate 20 percent loss of that primary productivity, which is a big hit to marine life.
HOLMES: Professor Matthew England, appreciate you making the time.
ENGLAND: Thanks, Michael.
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HOLMES: A transgender athlete vows to pursue her dreams, despite a regulation change by a track and field's governing body. We will have an exclusive interview with the runner when we come back.
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HOLMES: Former Olympian Oscar Pistorius has been denied parole. The sprinter, known as the Blade Runner because of his prosthetic legs, rose to fame in the early 2000s. Pistorius was convicted of killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, back in 2013 by firing four shots through a bathroom door.
Pistorius claimed he thought he was shooting at an intruder. He was eventually sentenced to more than 13 years behind bars. Pistorius was denied parole on Friday because he has yet to serve a minimum sentence.
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HOLMES: Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM and spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @HolmesCNN. Do stick around. Laila Harrak picks up our coverage right after this quick break.
