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Trump Arriving in New York for Arraignment; President Biden issued Disaster Declaration in Arkansas, Governor Sanders examines the Situation On The Ground; Washington demands release for Detained NYT Reporter in Russia; Pro-War blogger Killed in a St. Petersburg Cafe; Peterri Orpo wins Finland's Parliamentary polls ahead of the country's NATO alliance. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired April 03, 2023 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak, ahead on "CNN Newsroom."

An unprecedented week for the former president, Donald Trump heads to New York to face criminal charges.

Plus a top pro-war military blogger killed in Moscow. We'll have a live report.

And later, two women arrested in Iran for not wearing a hijab, their attack going viral and sparking condemnation.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Laila Harrak.

HARRAK: We begin here in the United States. In the coming hours, former U.S. president, Donald Trump, will head to New York for a moment we've never seen before.

Sources tell CNN he is expected to appear in court Tuesday afternoon. His legal team says Trump will voluntarily surrender but plans to file substantial legal challenges.

Meanwhile, Trump has been lashing out at the judge who will preside over his hearings claiming that, quote, "He hates me." The former president has also attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for the indictment. Well, after his arraignment, Mr. Trump plans to deliver remarks Tuesday night.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Donald Trump is still awaiting to see exactly what he's charged with in Manhattan for the first criminal charges ever levied against a former president or President of the United States.

But his legal defense team is already out there laying the groundwork on how they're going to fight the case. So, one of his attorneys, Joe Tacopina, spent many minutes on television over the weekend, talking about all of the options that they might have once the team is able to actually see this indictment brought by the Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg against Donald Trump.

And he says that one of the options will be to challenge the law to ask a judge to throw out the case potentially. Also another option is to challenge on the timing of what is being charged here. We know that there are some of this case is based around the campaign of 2016 for Donald Trump, hush money payments that were made to Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet before the 2016 election and also some financial entries related to the Trump organization, related to that hush money payments.

There's a possibility that because that's 2016 Donald Trump's lawyers could step up and say that's way too long ago, can't bring that in court now it's 2023, it's past the statute of limitations.

But here's what Joe Tacopina said specifically to Dana Bash on "State of the Union" on Sunday.

JOE TACOPINA, DONALD TRUMP'S DEFENSE LAWYER: We will take the indictment. We will dissect it. The team will look at every potential issue that we will be able to challenge and we will challenge. And of course, I very much anticipated motion to dismiss coming because there's no law that fits this.

DANA BASH, STATE OF THE UNION ANCHOR: Are you going to ask for a different judge?

TACOPINA: We are going to take the indictment, evaluate all our legal options and pursue everyone most vigorously. This is a case of political persecution.

I have no reason to believe this judge is biased. I have not been before him on this matter. So I -- we have to let this process play out.

POLANTZ: Dana asks Donald Trump's lawyer about the judge in this case. That judge is one that Donald Trump has already been out there on Truth Social attacking, saying that he hates him. This is the judge that Trump is going to have to appear before on Tuesday, and much is in the hands of the judge going forward in this case, including whether the case could be tossed, could be moved, many of the other things that Trump's lawyers could be requesting help on in this case as it leads up to a jury trial.

But right now, the first decision the judge may need to make is whether or not the indictment should be unsealed early. Oppress Coalition, including CNN, has asked for the charges to be made public before Donald Trump gets to court on Tuesday.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Joining me now is Michael Genovese. He is a political analyst and President of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University. He has also authored numerous books, including "The Modern Presidency, Six debates that define the institution."

Sir, so good to have you with us. We -- we're getting ready for a very monumental week. The ex-president will be arraigned at the Manhattan criminal courthouse on Tuesday. What will you be looking for?

[03:05:00]

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: You know what? A lot of people are speculating that you're going to see the perp walk in. You're gonna see him in handcuffs. I think there's going to be much less of that than some people anticipate.

I think it's going to be very businesslike. I think he'll go in the side door. There won't be a lot of cameras and it'll be done very subtly, and with what I think, you know, dignity even. And so, I think that's as it should be not just for a former president, but for anyone.

And so I think the real events will take place after the arraignment. I think when he goes to give his speech in Mar-a-Lago that night, that's when the fireworks may start.

HARRAK: Would you expect to happen?

GENOVESE: Well I think in this -- in the speech itself, what I expect to happen is that if the past is prelude, Donald Trump is kind of a one trick pony. He knows how to do one thing very well that's go on the attack.

And so, I think what he'll do is he'll start screaming about witch hunts and hoaxes. He'll try to rev up his base, which is a very good political strategy. It's not a good legal strategy, and he's now converting from the political to the legal.

And in that sense, you know, I think he's going to have a really hard time making that conversation -- convergent. He is to his base the pied piper. And they will forgive him anything, but when you get into a legal venue, they worry about evidence and they worry about facts.

And so, Donald Trump is going to be in a more hostile environment, in that regard. He will wear his indictment as a badge of honor. But I think, for most of us, we are now beginning to see more clearly that the emperor has no clothes. His base is still blind to that, but most Americans are beginning to see that

HARRAK: Now, current or former president being charged with a crime is unprecedented, but a case against a presidential candidate is not.

GENOVESE: That's right. In the most literal and narrow sense, this is the first time we've ever indicted a former president, but we've had a lot of scoundrels in politics and a lot of rogues. Politics always had its seamy side.

You'll -- you may recall you're too young to recall actually that Richard Nixon was named an unindicted co-conspirator because at that time they believed in many still do that you cannot indict a sitting president. But now that he's out of office, you could indict.

And we've also had roads like and characters like Eugene Debs, who ran as a socialist candidate for President several times in 1920. He ran from prison in Alabama. And so you know, the constitution is very ecumenical and very, very limited in terms of its requirements to be present. You're a natural born citizen, 35 years of age and having lived in the United States for 14 years, beyond that, any rogue any scoundrel, anyone can run for president.

Now, we've had a history of calling corrupt politicians to account and that's a really good sign that no one, not even the president, should be above the law. No one, not even a former president, should be unaccountable.

HARRAK: Now, Mr. Trump is defiant. He denies any sexual encounter, any wrongdoing. He says he has not done anything illegal. Now, depending on which side of the political aisle politicians are, the reactions have been very divided.

GENOVESE: We don't know what the indictment contains. Once we know that then we can make some really reasoned judgments. What happens if there is a 30, whatever count indictment, which is very clear, very specific, which gives some of the rationales?

That might be persuasive. If it's just bullet points and accusations, then it might be much less useful. But I think what we've seen is that the American political system is divided, divisive, polarized. We fight with each other. Each side believes that it has God on its side, and each side believes that it is fighting a holy crusade. And in that sense, they both say, that virtually anything goes. The first thing to go, though, and to go out the window is the truth.

HARRAK: Now, Mr. Trump says Bragg's prosecution is politically motivated, prominent republicans also very quick to target Alvin Bragg. What do you make of that argument?

GENOVESE: It's understandable because of the hot political times we live in. It's understandable because Donald Trump is the kind of character who brings out the best and the worst in people. But you have to recall that this was a grand jury, it wasn't the district attorney alone who brought these charges.

A jury, a grand jury of New Yorkers, voted that they believe there is grounds for some kind of investigations, then an indictment. Then, the D.A. takes over. And so, you know -- you, you open yourself up in any political prosecution, whether it's merited or not to all kinds of accusations, and the D.A., Mr. Bragg, will be personally turn -- torn apart in the media by Republicans and Conservatives.

He has to have tough skin. He has to be fixed in. It's gonna happen. He has to rely on the strength of his case. If this case holds up, he has vindicated. If it doesn't hold up, the criticisms might be valid.

[03:10:06]

HARAAK: Now, Mr. Trump will be the center of attention, the focal point in national news here in the United States this week. How do you expect this to be received across the nation?

GENOVESE: You know, it's such an odd thing that there is -- and I hate to put it this way -- but an entertainment value. That is to say that people are going to be fascinated by the process, by the charges, by the arguments, pro and con, guilty-innocent. And so, it has a bit of a circus that was here that might occur, but I think it also has an incredibly important educative function that it might serve.

We might highlight the importance of the rule of law, importance of accountability, even for a president or former president, that no human being, no politician, no powerful individual is above the law. And if that message comes across that's a great message to send to America and to the world.

HARRAK: Michael Genovese, thank you so much

GENOVESE: Thank you, Leila.

HARRAK: Well, meanwhile, officials claim to have new evidence suggesting potential obstruction by Donald Trump in their probe of his handling of classified documents. That's according to "The Washington Post." Investigators say the information indicates Mr. Trump personally reviewed some of the documents in his Mar-a-Lago home after receiving a subpoena last night -- last May, rather from the just justice department will additional evidence obtained by investigators suggests that Mr. Trump told others to mislead officials trying to recover White House documents before the subpoena.

At least 32 people have died from the severe weather and tornadoes that ripped across the U.S. Midwest and South this weekend, but more bad weather is on the way.

Some of the very same states across the Midwest will likely see a new round of storms starting Tuesday. Damaging winds, large hail and even more tornadoes are possible for more than 45 million people under alerts.

Now, Sunday, the rain and hail was so bad in Texas. At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and another airport had to temporarily ground all flights.

Meantime, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a major disaster declaration for Arkansas at FEMA's arrival. It will free up more federal resources to help in immediate relief efforts.

CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has more on the damage the state is facing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Governor Sanders arrived on the scene of the badly damaged Wynne, Arkansas, where we find ourselves today. She was flanked by federal representatives from FEMA, but also from the National Weather Service.

One of the representatives from the NWS actually telling her, I listened in on this conversation, saying at a bare minimum, they believe that this is an EF-3 tornado. So, they're having meteorologists come out and assess the damage here and an EF three tornado is winds of 136 to 165 mph. That is the bare minimum of what this place experienced.

But when we talk about the role that meteorologists have in forecasting this, I was able to ask Governor Sanders about if she felt like the warning lead times there was adequate for warning the residents of Arkansas. Have a listen to what she said.

So it sounds just from your press briefing that ah, you did -- you believe that the meteorologist gave adequate warning time for this particular tornado. Do you feel like that saved lives, and can you elaborate on that?

GOV. SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS (R-AR): Absolutely, there's no doubt that the warnings that came from meteorologists certainly saved lives. You know, one of the things that I found pretty unbelievable as the folks on the ground in Little Rock certainly as the storms were moving through there, they were literally watching their own neighborhoods as they were reporting and warning people knowing that their families were right in harm's way.

They stayed on TV. They continued to warn people. They continue to give people notice and did that as best they could throughout the day on Friday. And we're thankful for their willingness to keep staying on the air even though, when it was really difficult for them personally as well.

VAN DAM: You can hear in the distance, the sound of chainsaws, the all too familiar sound within natural disasters like this. We have the opportunity to tour some of the worst devastation within Wynne, Arkansas. You can see just a drop in the bucket of really what's at play here.

And coming from the meteorologists who covers natural disasters regularly, this is some of the worst devastation that I have bear witness to, still a very active and fluid scene. You can hear the sounds of sirens and chainsaws behind me as the recovery process is ongoing.

[03:15:03]

It is going to take weeks if not months to completely rebuild this area. It's hard to believe that there is a threat of severe weather looming in the distance later this week on Tuesday, to be particular.

CNN Meteorologist, Derek van Dam, in Wynne, Arkansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Washington is taking his demand for the release of an American journalist arrested in Russia directly to Moscow. Evan Gershkovich is the first American journalists to be detained by Moscow on espionage charges since the cold war. He faces up to 20-years in prison

As CNN White House correspondent, Arlette Saenz, tells us, Gershkovich was not the only American detainee brought up during the call.

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ARLETTE SEANZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Russian counterpart, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday to urge Russia to immediately release "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich. This marked a very rare phone call between the two men. They have only spoken three times since Russia invaded Ukraine, and each of those calls has focused on trying to release detained Americans.

Now, the state department released a readout of this most recent call, where they say, quote, "Secretary Blinken conveyed the United States' grave concern over Russia's unacceptable detention of a U.S. citizen journalist. The Secretary called for his immediate release. Secretary Blinken further urged the Kremlin to immediately release wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan."

Paul Whelan has -- is in the process of serving a 16-year sentence after facing espionage charges in Russia, Gershkovich is also facing espionage charges, something that the White House and his employer, the "Wall Street Journal," say simply just is not accurate.

Now, on the Russian side, they said that this phone call between Blinken and Lavrov was requested on behalf of the United States, and they said that Lavrov told Blinken that ultimately that "Wall Street Journal" reporters' fate would be determined in Russian court.

Now, this all comes at a point of very high tension between the U.S. and Russia, especially with that war in Ukraine continuing on. And one thing that officials will be working towards in the coming days is trying to get consular access to Gershkovich so they could see what exactly his state is, so officials can assess that, and they can also relate that to their family. But the White House at this moment is trying to stress that this remains a top priority for the President.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: An unidentified American citizen has also now been detained for allegedly committing indecent acts against a 15-year old Russian girl, according to state media. The incident took place in St. Petersburg. Russian investigative authorities say they have opened a criminal case. CNN has reached out to the U.S. state department for comment.

Still to come and explosion rips through a cafe in St. Petersburg, killing a Russian military blogger, the latest on the investigation in a live report ahead.

Plus, Finland is getting ready for a new government just days before it joins NATO. What the change in leadership could mean for the country? That's next.

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[03:20:00]

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HARRAK: Authorities in Russia have launched a murder investigation after a prominent pro-war military blogger was killed in a blast at a cafe in St. Petersburg.

Vladen Tatarsky died in that explosion, which happened during an event hosted by a pro-war group on Sunday. More than 30 others were injured. State media reports that investigators have been questioning everyone who was inside the cafe at the time.

Let's take you now live to London where CNN's Claire Sebastian is standing by monitoring developments for you. Claire, let's start with that deadly bomb attack in St Petersburg. Has anyone claimed responsibility?

CLAIRE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No one has claimed responsibility, Laila, but I can tell you that Russian state news agency RIA Novosti is now reporting that the interior ministry has placed a 26-year old St Petersburg resident named Daria Trepova on their wanted list. It says that she is wanted under an article of the criminal code, it does not say which one, but we now have that name and, of course, her date of birth, which puts her in 26-years old. She has been named in state media reports as a potential suspect in this murder.

RIA Novosti has spoken to eyewitnesses at the scene who say they saw her hand or a woman, not necessarily this woman, but they saw a woman hand a figurine of Vladen Tatarsky, who was at an event where he was speaking and that the explosion happened shortly after that, so these are the details that are emerging from that event.

In terms of political reaction, not much as of yet. We've had only really from the Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said that Russian journalists, she said, are constantly experiencing threats of replies -- reprisals from the Kyiv regime and its inspire us which are increasingly being implemented, so pointing the finger there at Ukraine.

Interestingly, Yevgeny Prigozhin of Wagner, he has now come out and pretty much admitted that this cafe was affiliated with Wagner and has said that he actually disagrees with that, that he thinks this was probably a group of radicals and not affiliated with the government of Ukraine. So, a lot of speculation at the moment flying around, but we can see that given the scale of the destruction investigation still ongoing.

HARRAK: Investigation still ongoing. Claire, talk to us about the man who was targeted with this assassination, Maxim Fomin.

SEBASTIAN: Yeah, Maxim Fomin, known by his blog name of Vladen Tatarski, which comes from a sort of post-modern Russian novel by Pelevin, called "Generation P," inspired by that.

He was part of a cohort of Russian military bloggers, who really -- you can see him there in one of his videos -- offered a less censored, more raw view of what was happening on the Russian side of the front line, then certainly we get from the Russian Ministry of Defense and other official sources.

He was actually born in Ukraine, fought from 2014 on the side of Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass, and then switched over to becoming a blogger set up his channel in 2019, and a massive really big following more than half-a-million people.

[03:25:03]

He moved an ultranationalist circles, interestingly, has been photographed with Daria Dugena (ph), who was assassinated in a car bomb in August, the daughter of an ultranationalist ally of President Putin, so an interesting character has in the past though, in critical of how the special military operation has been conducted.

HARRAK: Claire Sebastian, reporting. Thank you so much, Claire.

And the head of the Russian mercenary group, Wagner says a Russian flag has been raised in memory of the military blogger on the battlefield in Bakhmut. All those comments from Yevgeny Prigozhin coming in a brief video he claims was recorded in the eastern Ukrainian city.

CNN can't immediately confirm the location where Prigozhin recorded the message holding a flag that was in distinct in the darkness.

Just days before Finland is set to become NATO's newest member, the government in Helsinki is heading for change. Results in the country's parliamentary elections indicate Prime Minister Sanna Marin's Center- Left Party will lose and she will be out of office. She conceded defeat to the opposition right-wing National Coalition Party.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

Its leader, Petteri Orpo, ran on a pro-business platform and has vowed to cut spending, but his party will have to join with others to form a government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETTERI ORPO, NATIONAL COALITION PARTY LEADER: This was great victory for Kokomos (ph). I think that Finnish people want change. They want change. And now, I will start negotiations, open negotiations with all parties. I want to build trust and cooperation between parties and build up the strong minority government.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRAK: Well, whoever becomes Prime Minister will shepherd Finland into NATO. All 30 NATO countries have approved Finland's application.

Last hour, I spoke with Steven Erlanger, Chief Diplomatic Correspondent for "The New York Times" and I asked him about Sanna Marin's loss and what led to her downfall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN ERLANGER, CHIEF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: She was always more popular than her party and has been going on in nearby Sweden also where the last election saw swing to the right, that happened in Finland too.

The Fins are kind of famously tight-fisted and her -- the biggest criticism of her that matter domestically had nothing to do with Ukraine or NATO on which she was considered to have done a good job or even COVID, but the size of the government debt now in regular European terms, Finnish debt is only about 70 percent of GDP, it's not bad at all.

But for the Fins, it seemed much too much. So, they have gone for a center-rights party, very narrowly, it should be said, that promises to rein in public spending and that is really the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: Steven Erlanger there, "The New York Times" Chief Diplomatic Correspondent.

Still ahead, women in Iran continue to face consequences for not wearing hijab. Well next, why many of them are now blaming the government?

[03:30:00]

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HARRAK: Welcome back to all of our viewers from around the world. I'm Laila Harrak, and you're watching "CNN Newsroom". In Iran, many women are condemning a yogurt attack on two women for

allegedly not wearing the hijab. This viral CCTV video shows the moment when a man enters a shop, confronts them and proceeds to dump a tub of yogurt on their heads. The two women were arrested for failing to wear the hijab in public, according to Mizan News Agency.

For more on this incident, let's go to CNN's Nadir Bashir who joins me live now from London. Nadir, what has the reaction been to these unveiled women being attacked in this way?

NADIR BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, Laila, this is yet another attack on women's rights in Iran as we have seen over the last few months since the outbreak of protests in September, and this has drawn outcry, both outside of Iran but also crucially within Iran.

There has been anger in response to this viral video. We've seen many now speaking to media, taking to social media, Twitter and online, to express their anger at this viral video showing that man confronting two women who were uncovered their hair uncovered in a store in Iran before throwing a tub of yogurt on their heads.

Now, at this stage, according to authorities, as you laid out that the two women have been arrested. Of course, wearing the hijab in Iran is mandatory by law. But according to authorities, the male suspect in question has also now been detained for reportedly disturbing public order, while the shopkeeper who can be seen in that now viral CCTV video confronting the male suspect and pulling him outside of the store before appearing off camera. He has also been issued with a warning, according to state media.

And we have heard from the regime following the spread of this video. We heard from the President Ebrahim Raisi, who spoke on Saturday during a conference in Tehran, he addressed the mandatory hijab law. He said that regardless of one's beliefs when it comes to the wearing of the hijab, the hijab is mandatory by law that this is a legal matter. And therefore, all women in Iran must and are obliged to follow that law.

But, of course, we have seen women over the last few months removing their hijabs bravely defying that law in a show of solidarity with the movement calling for women's rights and, of course, the protest movement, which is now calling for regime change.

HARRAK: Nadir Bashir, reporting. Thank you so much.

Bowing to the demand of Israel's far-right security minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's government has agreed to create a national guard. The controversial move comes days after Security Minister, Itamar Ben- Gvir, demanded action on the proposal in exchange for agreeing to a pause in the government's judicial reform plans.

Mr. Netanyahu's cabinet did not say who would run the new police force. That will be determined by a committee in the next 90 days. The guard would be charged with dealing with emergency situations with the current proposal has already set off protests in several cities.

[03:35:03]

Critics fear it would target Israeli Arabs. And if Ben-Gvir controls it, it could become an extremist private militia. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak calls it a lunatics -- lunatic step, given Ben- Gvir's history of inciting racism and supporting terrorism.

Israel's judicial reform was put on hold amid raging protests by critics who fear it would undermine the country's democracy. But the pause hasn't called the worry of many protesters.

Israeli Television Channel 12 estimated this demonstration, Saturday, swelled to some 150,000 people. Among the protesters, Israeli veterans revered group in Israeli society.

CNN's Hadas Gold spoke with one of their leaders about why he and his fellow former soldiers took to the streets. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yiftach Golov may look like one of the hundreds of thousands of Israeli protesters. But a special forces veteran from the Second Intifada injured on the front lines, he now helps lead a group of Israeli veterans.

Brothers and Sisters in Arms, who've become a backbone of the protest movement against the Israeli government's planned judicial overhaul.

YIFTACH GOLOV, BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN ARMS: We are again in the front line defending Israel but not from external forces when within, from here from Tel Aviv to defend our own democracy. We're fighting for justice and liberty, just like the American story. That's the values that are being represented, symbolized back when we look on our flag.

GOLD (voice-over): Golov says he had never been particularly political, but he translated his experience from the battlefield to a new arena.

(on-camera): Do you feel that your experience and organizing and running missions has helped you organize and run this mission?

GOLOV: One hundred percent, yes. First of all, the motivation, the very deep feel that you are part of something bigger than yourself, that you allow to sacrifice anything that is needed.

GOLD (voice-over): Israel's protest movement is made up of many disparate groups, but the pressure from Israel's much vaunted veterans has been seen as a key to moving the needle, thousands of whom have threatened not to heed the call to serve if the reform passes.

(on-camera): Even though last week the Israeli government and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that they were going to pause legislation, these protestors, essentially, they don't believe that this pause is only on pause. What will satisfy you? When will you stop marching?

GOLOV: Only we -- we as the Brother and Sisters in Arms, we will start doing the activation only when we will know 100 percent that we can -- that we can assure that the Israel state would stay a functional democratic country, end of story. Whatever needs to be done for that.

GOLD: Would you be willing to take up arms, real arms for this fight?

GOLOV: So, I don't really want to imagine the situation that I need to hold to carry any arm, nothing, I don't believe that we go to this situation.

GOLD (on-camera): We should expect these protesters to continue coming out on a regular basis. They planned to pressure up for as long as possible.

Hadas Gold, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRAK: Just ahead. A Chinese shopping app is accused of monitoring users' activities and reading private messages. CNN investigates evidence of malware on the popular app.

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[03:40:00]

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HARRAK: The U.S. has pushed back against oil production cuts being made by Saudi Arabia and other OPEC plus countries. A spokesperson for the National Security Council called the move quote, "Unadvisable," due to uncertainty in the markets.

Riyadh and other oil producing nations say they'll start reducing output by more than a million barrels a day from May to the end of the year. Well, it follows further cuts OPEC plus announced in October a move that rankled the White House.

One of China's most popular shopping apps under fire as cybersecurity experts identified the presence of malware that exploited vulnerabilities on users' phones.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In China, Pinduoduo is an e-commerce heavyweight. It broke the dominance of Alibaba and JD, thanks to its bargain bin prices, a social shopping model that encourages people to buy with friends, and a focus on lower income rural users. The app has more than 750 million monthly users in China, and the app is now under fire over malware.

(on-camera): Malware is short for malicious software, and CNN has spoken to an array of cybersecurity experts who say that they have identified malware inversions of Pinduoduo.

MIKKO HYPPONEN, CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER, WITHSECURE: This is highly unusual and it is pretty damning for Pinduoduo.

SHARAT SINHA, PRESIDENT, APAC CHECKPOINT: We found that it uses techniques to get extended functionality.

UNKNOWN: I've never seen anything like that before.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Cyber experts say the malware allows Pinduoduo to bypass user's cellphone security, monitor activities on other apps, check notifications, read private messages and change settings. And once installed, it is difficult to delete. The app can also obtain user data like this photo of a beloved pet taken from a user's album.

HYPPONEN: Well, we have to underline the fact that this isn't the problem for users in the west. People are using these third-party apps stores inside mainland China, and that's where the problem was, and that's where users should be worried about this.

LU STOUT (voice-over): In March, Google suspended Pinduoduo from its Play Store after finding malware versions of the app. In a statement, Google said, we have suspended the Play version of the app for security concerns while we continue our investigation.

Pinduoduo said it rejects the speculation and accusations that Pinduoduo app is malicious, just from a generic and non-conclusive response from Google.

HYPPONEN: Our team has reversed, engineered the code and we can confirm that it tries to escalate rights and tries to gain access to things normal apps wouldn't be able to do on android phones.

LU STOUT (voice-over): CNN also spoke to a Pinduoduo employee who says the company in 2020 set up a team of about 100 engineers and product managers to dig for vulnerabilities in Android phones and develop ways to exploit them and make a profit.

Speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, the sources the team was disbanded on March the 7th, with many told they would be transferred to its sister app, Temu, but a core group of 20 people remain. Pinduoduo's parent company, PDD Holdings, did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

[03:45:03]

The allegations come as PDD pushes beyond China, with Temu, which sells cut-rate Chinese products to mainly U.S. customers. Launched in September, it quickly became the most downloaded app in the U.S.

SHAWN CHANG, FOUNDER AND CEO, HARDENEDVAULT: Until the Pinduoduo can release something like the, you know, like the full disclosure of the how do this incident happened? Yeah, probably before that. We shouldn't trust any applications from people.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Temu is still available to download on Google Play, but the suspension of its sister app Pinduoduo and the evidence of malware are all casting a cloud on the NASDAQ-listed company, at a time of heightened tension and security concerns over tech that's made in China.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

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HARRAK: Japan's foreign minister met with his Chinese counterparts and other officials in Beijing on Sunday to discuss pressing issues at home and around the world.

Japan says it urged China to release a Japanese national who was detained last month. According to Beijing, the parties also discussed Ukraine, North Korea and Taiwan. The self-ruled island Beijing claims as its territory, China said it doesn't want Japan meddling and issues regarding Taiwan, saying the island is at the core of its interests. Meantime, Taiwan's President is in the middle of a 10-day trip across

North and Central America. This past week, she spent three days in Guatemala and is now visiting neighboring Belize.

She's trying to deepen connections with allies as a number of -- a growing number, rather, of countries are abandoning Taipei for Beijing.

CNN's Rafael Romo reports.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen traveled to Belize, Sunday, after wrapping up a three day visit to neighboring Guatemala. Earlier Sunday, President Tsai and host, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, toured the hospital at Chimaltenango, a city about an hour west of the Guatemalan capital.

The medical center was built, thanks to a $22 million donation from Taiwan. Once again, President Tsai praised the Guatemalan government for its support to her country, saying that Taiwan will continue to cooperate and provide assistance to its democratic partners around the world.

President Giammattei reiterated his country's support for Taiwan. I reaffirmed before you the unconditional commitment that Guatemala is an essential part of its foreign policy will continue to support the recognition of Taiwan's sovereignty, he said.

President Giammattei went even further out of public events, Saturday, when he reiterated that Taiwan is, in his words, an independent nation and the only intrude China with which Guatemala shares democratic values, mutual respect and fraternal ties.

Tsai's visit to Central America happened only a week after Honduras, another Central American country, broke diplomatic relations with Taiwan after 80 years, just before forging a new alliance with China. Now, Taiwan has only 13 diplomatic partners, mainly small countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

On Friday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said that the One China Policy should be accepted worldwide, adding that she hopes Guatemala makes the right decision to stop supporting Taiwan in the near future.

On Monday, Taiwanese President Tsai is expected to sign several agreements with the government of Belize before meeting with Prime Minister Johnny Briseno.

She's traveling to California later in the week before returning home, and already visited New York last week, as part of her 10-day trip to the region.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRAK: One shining moment for Louisiana State University.

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The March Madness highlights, when "CNN Newsroom" continues.

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HARRAK: It may seem like distant history when ISIS was driven out of Iraq's second largest city six years ago, but the effort to rebuild Mosul and reconstruct the treasures that ISIS destroyed there is a long painstaking process.

CNN's Michael Holmes has the story.

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A rampage by Islamic State militants who filmed themselves in 2015 smashing ancient artifacts in the Mosul Museum in Iraq. Statues, thousands of years old, toppled and pulverized, all part of a campaign by the terror group, to demolish any cultural history that conflicted with their barbaric and extreme ideology.

Like the piles of rubble they left behind, ISIS' rule in Mosul was stronghold for the terror group for three years, would crumble. Iraqi forces with the help of the U.S. led coalition reclaimed the city in 2017. The rest of its self proclaimed caliphate would fall over the next two years.

The fragmented artifacts in the Mosul Museum have been under repair by a team of Iraqi and French restoration experts for the past four years. They say it is a painstaking process to try to repair the shattered antiquities, a jigsaw puzzle pieces that might never quite fit together again.

One restorer says, this is the most gratifying part, assembling and gluing the pieces, although some are two crashed to use, others are missing altogether.

The museum is just one of many ongoing rebuilding projects in Mosul. In March, church bells rang out again in another part of the city, part of the UNESCO effort to rebuild churches and mosques destroyed by decades of fighting in Iraq.

Since 2018 UNESCO has raised more than $105 million for reconstruction efforts in Mosul.

[03:54:57]

AUDREY AZOULAY, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, UNESCO: Mosul is the place where UNESCO, as the largest commitment today in the world, because the city deserve it, because the people of Mosul deserve it, because we know what they've been through, and the tragedies, the intimate tragedies they've been through over the last decades.

HOLMES (voice-over): Another project is taking a more modern approach to maintaining the city's heritage. The Eye on Mosul Foundation is recording videos of witness' testimonies of what life was like under ISIS rule, which will then be archived in the public library.

A common theme of the project is to rebuild as well as remember. But the director of the Mosul Museum says, it is impossible to recreate what happened here without any scratches or imperfections, but those, too, are now part of Mosul's history.

Michael Holmes, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: We'll soon know the names of the first astronauts to circle the moon in more than half a century. NASA will announce the crew on Monday. It will include three Americans and one Canadian. Their mission, called ARTEMIS II, is scheduled to orbit the moon next year. It will pave the way for ARTEMIS III, which will take astronauts back to the moon's surface as early as 2025. The price tag for NASA's return to the moon is an estimated $100 billion

In the NCAA Women's basketball tournament, the Louisiana State University Tigers are national champs for the first time in school history. They dominated Iowa, winning 102 to 85. Jasmine Carson came off the bench and led LSU with 22 points, including this buzzer beater at the end of the first half. Well, LSU set a record for points scored in a women's championship game. Iowa's Caitlin Clarke led all scores with 30 points in a losing effort, including eight three-pointers.

Alright thanks so much for joining me on "CNN Newsroom", I'm Laila Harrak. "Newsroom" with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo is up next, and I'll see you next time.

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