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Once-In-a-Half-Century Extreme Weather Occurs in California; A Series of 911 Calls on the Louisville Bank Shooting was Released by Police; Joe Biden Remembers His Roots at His Ireland Visit; Recent Indiana Recycling Plant Fire had Safety Issue History; Strikes and Protests on French Pension Reform Continue; Japan Warning Triggered by North Korean Missile Launch; Videos of Apparent Beheadings in Ukraine Investigated; New Car Emission Standards in the U.S. Proposed to be Swept. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired April 13, 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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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Coming up this hour on "CNN Newsroom." Historic rainfall in South Florida leads to serious flooding, power outages, and the closing of the Fort Lauderdale International Airport. We'll tell you when the extreme weather will move out of the area.
Plus, a late night ruling by a federal appeals court on the suspension of the abortion-inducing drug. We'll have details.
And, President Biden celebrates his family roots during his three-day visit to Ireland. Just ahead we'll go live to Dublin for a preview of today's events.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: And we begin with what some call a once-in-a-half-century extreme weather event happening right now in Florida. Up to 20 inches of rain has fallen in parts of south Florida the past few hours with more in the forecast. Well, that led to a flash water emergency, the highest possible level of flood warning.
So, what you're seeing here is the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport, which is partially underwater. Right now, we know the airport will be closed at least until noon today. The train service between Miami and Fort Lauderdale has been put on hold. The sea at Fort Lauderdale plans to issue a local state of emergency or airboats and high water vehicles are set to join rescue efforts.
So, for the latest, we go to meteorologist Britley Ritz here in Atlanta, who's keeping an eye on all this. Britley, take us through what you're seeing and what's still in store. BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Kim, flood warnings are still
in effect until 8 o'clock Eastern Time for Broward County, where areas have picked up almost 20 inches, if not more. Now, mind you, those are estimated so they can still change.
Preliminary totals, Dania Beach picking up almost 14 inches over the past 24 hours. And you'll see the pinks nearly 20 inches, 22.5 reported again estimated at the airport. If that's the case, we wind up with 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 5,000-year event. And some of these locations like Fort Lauderdale picking up more than their average over a seven-month period.
So, here we are, with the rain chances finally tapering back. We still have a few showers. And once that sun comes up, I'm sure we'll see a few more fire up. So, we have additional rainfall expected. But the bulk of that moisture now associated with the low coming into the gulf. So, you'll see that right from the panhandle back into parts of Louisiana.
This continues on through the rest of your Thursday and into Friday, very scattered by the time we roll into late Friday. Regardless, we still have more rain. And here it is through Friday, picking up an additional inch to possibly two inches of rain on the east coast of Florida. Again, the bulk of it will be concentrated over toward the Gulf Coast up toward Mobile with an additional two to four inches of rain. Flooding likely a possibility there, too.
On top of it, the threat for severe weather with the spin of that area of low pressure, we wind up with isolated tornadoes from the Gulf, right back down into Florida. On the opposite end of things, on the ridge, we get back into the plains right on up into the northeast. We have record-highs and we broke some of them yesterday, 65 possible records this week from the Midwest back on into the Northeast.
Look at the numbers here. Temperatures well above where they should be tend almost 15 degrees above where their normal isn't in some cases 20, 85 degrees in Philadelphia on Friday, 70, that's when the front starts to move through, as we roll into the weekend. Kim?
BRUNHUBER: Alright, appreciate it. Britley Ritz, thanks so much.
So, I want to bring in Douglas Thron. He's the owner of a commercial cleaning service in Fort Lauderdale. So, first of all, thanks so much for being here with us. Just, you know, how are how's your situation right now?
DOUGLAS THRON, OWNER, FLORIDA DRONE CLEANING: The rains have finally tapered down a bit, just -- yeah, for the past eight hours, I've never seen rain like this, and I came from northern California, where it used to rain a lot in the 90s. And it was just unbelievable. It was just coming down like crazy for basically about eight hours straight, it seemed like.
BRUNHUBER: And I know a lot of people don't have any power and so on. How are you coping? Do you have -- do you have power there? THRON: Yeah, I have power right now. I've just got back to my place.
It's about three in the morning right now, and I got back to my place, only about an hour ago.
[03:05:02]
It was about five hours I was trapped away from my house basically because of the flood waters were just too deep to drive through.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. I mean, you've been sort of out and about, and a lot of those roads are flooded out, as you said. So describe what you were seeing and how bad it was?
THRON: Yeah. It was pretty unbelievable. I've never seen it where there's so many cars and there was just dozens and dozens of cars just scattered throughout the whole downtown of Fort Lauderdale, and really appearing like people just weren't expecting in the water to get that deep that quick.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. We're just --
THRON: And you could see --
BRUNHUBER: -- we're showing some of the video that -- that you took as well. I mean, it's pretty incredible seeing all those cars being washed away. I mean, even though they were getting warnings, a lot of people seem to disregard those warnings and we're driving into the water.
THRON: Yeah. I was a little surprised by some people. I think some people were trying to charge through it. But yeah, it's never wise because you never know how deep the water is, and it can very quickly get dangerous, and you could drown very easily. So, yeah, I was out and about, walking around just seeing if there were any people that needed help and dire need. And thankfully, I didn't run across anybody that did need help as far as life-threatening or anything.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. I'm just wondering how people are coping with all this. It seems folks weren't really prepared for this, even some of the -- you know, the City Hall, and so on, was underwater. Is that affecting, you know, their ability to help people?
THRON: It's -- I saw a lot of emergency -- like the firefighters were out, the police were out in full force. So, I didn't witness anybody that was in any dire need of whatever sort of help, but I did see, you know, sirens and on the cars going by. So, I'm sure whatever help people needed they got up to them. I haven't heard of anyone being hurt or injured so far. I hope that stays that word too.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, absolutely. Well, listen, I'm glad to see that you are okay. As you say, the rain is kind of tapering off, but it's still far from other -- over. So, stay safe, appreciate you talking to us. Douglas Thron, thanks again.
THRON: Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. BRUNHUBER: All right. Right now, a severe tropical cyclone is
barreling toward Western Australia. And when it makes landfall in the coming hours, Ilsa is expected to be one of the most powerful storms to hit the region in more than a decade. The storm is currently headed toward the coast with the strength of a Category Four hurricane. Australia's Bureau of Meteorology warns it could reach Category Five strength before landfall.
Authorities are piling up the sandbags and residents are being urged to get to safer ground. Emergency services have been checking in on remote aboriginal communities, mines and tourist sites to warn them of the potential chaos ahead.
An appeals court issued a ruling a short time ago on the fate of a key abortion medication drug in the U.S. It decided to partially grant the Justice Department's request to freeze a judge's ruling that invalidated the FDA approval of mifepristone, but it left in place parts of the order that halted changes to make the abortion pill more easily accessible. Well, that effectively will make the drug harder to obtain as the legal process plays out. And the case could ultimately end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Louisville, Kentucky is mourning the lives lost in Monday's bank shooting. Hundreds gathered Wednesday evening for a vigil to honor and remember the victims. Five people were killed by a bank employee who opened fire on his coworkers. Police have now released 911 calls detailing the panic and fear during the shooting, including one from the gunman's mother.
Adrienne Broaddus reports on what we're learning, and we just want to warn you, you may find some of the video disturbing.
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UNKNOWN: We have an active shooter in our building.
UNKNOWN: Do you have a description of a person?
UNKNOWN: Get here now, we need somebody now!
UNKNOWN: Okay, well-covered.
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, the desperate calls from employees who were trapped inside the Old National Bank during Monday's mass shooting in Louisville, that left five people dead
UNKNOWN: I'm in the closet with one person. Yeah, I hear, I hear, I hear gunshots.
UNKNOWN: Has anybody been shot?
UNKNOWN: Yes.
UNKNOWN: How many people?
UNKNOWN: I don't know, probably eight or nine.
BROADDUS (voice-over): One woman can be heard describing the scene as she watched it unfold remotely from another location.
UNKNOWN: How do you know an active shooter on this site? You watched it on --
UNKNOWN: I just watched it on a Teams meeting.
UNKNOWN: On a Teams meeting?
UNKNOWN: You know, we were having a board meeting.
UNKNOWN: Did you see the suspect?
UNKNOWN: Oh yes.
[03:10:04]
BROADDUS (voice-over): Minutes after the first calls came in, the shooter's mother called 911.
UNKNOWN: Yes, ma'am. My son might be (inaudible). He said he has a gun and he's heading toward the Old National at the Main Street here in Louisville.
UNKNOWN: Main Street. Old National.
UNKNOWN: Yeah, (inaudible) this is his mother. I'm so sorry. I'm getting details second hand. I'm going through it now. Oh, my Lord.
UNKNOWN: Okay and what exactly is going on with him? Why -- what is he saying he's doing?
MOTHER: I don't know. I'm getting this information from his roommate. He apparently left a note. He's never hurt anyone. He's a really good kid. Please don't punish him. His roommate called me. His roommate was concerned. He's not violent. He's never done anything. He's --
UNKNOWN: Okay and you don't believe he owns guns?
MOTHER: I know he doesn't own any guns.
BROADDUS (voice-over): In another call, you can hear a woman inside the bank describing the shooter.
UNKNOWN: He's probably six-feet tall. He's a young male.
UNKNOWN: How did you know the person?
UNKNOWN: He works with us.
BROADDUS (voice-over): The release of the calls comes one day after police released body camera footage from the first two officers who responded to the scene.
UNKNOWN: Back up, back up, back up. Back up. I think I got him down. I think he's down.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Investigators say 25-year old Connor Sturgeon was employed by the bank at the time of the shooting. A former classmate telling CNN, he was a varsity athlete in High School and played Basketball and ran track, saying, quote "I never, in a million years, would expect him to be capable of such a monstrous act."
Sturgeon attended the University of Alabama and in a 2018 college essay posted to the website "Course Hero," he wrote, quote, "My self- esteem has long been a problem for me. As a late bloomer in Middle and High School, I struggled to a certain extent to fit in, and this has given me a somewhat negative self image that persists today. Making friends has never been especially easy, so I have more experience than most in operating alone."
His family says he struggled with depression, but they had no idea he was planning an attack. In a statement to CNN affiliate, WDRB, the family says, quote, "No words can express our sorrow, anguish and horror at the unthinkable harm our son, Connor, inflicted on innocent people, their families and the entire Louisville community."
(on-camera): Terrifying moments from so many callers. We now know that 25-year-old shooter bought that rifle legally from a local gun shop here in town. Meanwhile, officer Wilt is still listed in critical condition, and doctors say the next four to five days are crucial for him.
Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, Louisville, Kentucky.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And Kentucky's governor lost a close friend in the bank shooting. He's now advocating for gun control measures known as Red Flag laws. Those allow courts to temporarily seize firearms from anyone believed to be a danger to themselves or others. Here's what he told CNN in an exclusive interview.
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GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): I believe we can respect and honor people's second amendment rights to protect themselves and their family. But at the same time, at least take a step so that we can intervene when we know somebody's about to go out and murder a whole bunch of people.
You know, Red Flag law involves the court system. It ensures that everybody's rights are protected that evidence is heard. It has every check on it that we could ask for. But at least, it lets us stop that next individual at least when we know before they murder people. And listen, I know people will say that wouldn't stop the situation. It probably wouldn't have. Maybe it will the next one, I don't want another family go through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: A Democratic lawmaker kicked out of the Tennessee state government for demanding stricter gun laws after a deadly school shooting has been reinstated. The Shelby County Board of Commissioners voted on Wednesday to send Justin Pearson back to the Tennessee House of Representatives.
The Republican supermajority expelled Pearson and two other Democrats, accusing them of intentionally causing disorder and dishonor after they held a loud protest in the chamber. The motion to reappoint Pearson passed unanimously after the board suspended a rule that would have required a waiting period between Pearson's nomination and confirmation.
It was political and more personal parts of the U.S. president's trip to his ancestral homeland is now underway. Have a look.
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You can see Joe Biden arrived in the Republic of Ireland and was greeted by cheering crowds in County Louth, where his Great Grandfather was born. In the coming day, he'll meet with Irish leaders and speak to parliament. While in Belfast, president and the British prime minister called for Northern Ireland's main political parties to restore the power sharing agreement and end the stalemate.
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CNN's Kevin Liptak is live in Dublin covering this. So Kevin, a big contrast in tone to yesterday. So, walk us through the day and what we're expecting later.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, today is really all about meeting with the leaders of Ireland. The president, the t-shock (ph), talking about shared values. But really, this is sort of sandwiched between two days really meant to explore the president's Irish roots, his ancestry, really kind of the reason that he has come to the island of Ireland in the first place, and really, that does for so much of his political identity. This identity is the ancestor of working class Irish immigrants who came to America looking for a better life.
And you did see that on full display yesterday in County Louth, the president greeted by thousands of people lining the streets in that cold drizzle to catch a glimpse of the American president. He was so enthusiastic about seeing them. He questioned why his ancestors ever left Ireland in the first place because it was so beautiful. Of course, they left because of the famine, and that president did acknowledge that later in the day.
He was able to climb the Tower of Carlingford Castle lookout, over to Newry, and that is the port that has great-great-great grandfather there, Owen Finnegan, left Ireland in 1849 to come to the United States.
And so, so much of this trip to Ireland is really about looking at -- looking to the past, looking to president Biden's ancestors, but today really is about the present, the present-day Ireland which is a major economy in the E.U., one of the top economies in Europe. It's a progressive country has passed referendums allowing same-sex marriage and abortion.
And so, President Biden will really want to talk about those values when he sits down with the leaders today. But then tomorrow, it is again back to looking past, looking to his roots in another part of the country in County Mayo. He will speak in front of a cathedral that actually has bricks that one of his ancestors sold in order to fund his family's passage to the United States. So certainly, President Biden really relishing in his Irish roots as he continues this trip in Ireland. Kim?
Alright, thanks so much. Kevin Liptak in Dublin.
Still to come. New details on a laundry list of issues at an Indiana recycling plant where a massive toxic fire could burn for days. We'll have more details coming up, please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The toxic recycling plant fire in the State of Indiana has forced thousands of people from their homes with no idea when they'll be able to return. Now, they have lots of questions for officials, including who's being held responsible.
CNN's Omar Jimenez reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE MCCRAKEN, RICHMOND, INDIANA RESIDENT: Well, I've always said that place is gonna go up in flames one day, and it sure did.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This massive fire at a large recycling plant, putting out toxic smoke could burn for days. Officials say 14 acres of plastics stored on the property. But with this site especially, it wasn't a matter of if, but when, with city officials aware the operations were a fire hazard.
UNKNOWN: Issue was a unsafe building and unsafe grounds.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): And putting the blame squarely on an owner of the recycling plan.
MAYOR DAVE SNOW (D), RICHMOND, INDIANA: That business owner is fully responsible for all of this. We have the unsafe building order and a recorded court documents, and everything that's ensued here, the fire, the damages, the risk that our first responders have taken and the risky citizens are under are the responsibility of that negligent business owner.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): And evacuation orders in place for a half mile radius. Around 2000 residents ordered to evacuate, including one who lives at the heart of it. BRENDA JARELL, RICHMOND, INDIANA RESIDENT: Well, I could see from the debris that some of it was on fire and hit the trees, the tree line, and the trees immediately ignited.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): When she got the evacuation order, she didn't hesitate to leave her home.
JARELL: And when they said evacuate, I didn't have shoes on. I had socks on and I left my purse, my shoes, I left a lot of things, personal things you know at the house and just got in the car and drove away.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): For health officials, their key concern now is hazards from the smoke.
CHRISTINE STINSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WAYNE COUNTY HEALTH DEPT.: These are very fine particles and if they're breathe in can cause all kinds of respiratory problems, burning of the eyes, tightening of the chest, it could aggravate asthma, cause bronchitis and all kinds of things.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The EPA monitoring particulate matter looking for toxic chemicals. Residents are being told to stay indoors, but the uncertainty is causing concerns and frustrations.
MCCRACKEN: It's hard to say what's going into the city there right now.
WAZIR MOHAMMED, RICHMOND, INDIANA RESIDENT: We would like to know that it is safe to be able to breathe the air and to drink the water. So, we want to hear from the officials.
JIMENEZ (on-camera): Now, we've reached out to the previously mentioned owner of the burning property behind us, but we haven't heard back.
Now, the EPA teams have been on the ground here, testing the air quality. Now, so far, as far as the area around the ground, they have not seen levels of toxins, but they believe those toxins are going into the air. And so, again, while the air quality around the ground is okay now, they believe that is something that could change at some point and it is why they say they are testing continuously.
Omar Jimenez, CNN, Richmond, Indiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Former U.S. president Donald Trump is back in Manhattan to face another legal battle. He's expected to be deposed today in the civil lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Trump and three of his adult children are accused of providing false financial statement to lenders and others. Meanwhile, Trump has filed a $500 million lawsuit against his former attorney, Michael Cohen. He accuses his former fixer of spreading false information and breaching his contract. [03:25:06]
Now in response, Michael Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, issued this statement, quote, "Mr. Trump is once again using and abusing the judicial system as a form of harassment and intimidation against Michael Cohen. Mr. Cohen will not be deterred and is confident that the suit will fail based on the facts and the law."
By the hundreds of thousands they'll take to the streets again. French citizens furious over President Emmanuel Macron's plan to raise the age for pensions by two years.
We'll go to Paris to find out about the momentous decision on those reforms just a day away. Please stay with us.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I am Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."
Hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to fill the streets of France again in the coming hours, a day before President Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms face a high court ruling. There, as many as 600,000 people are set to walk off their jobs and march in the 12th day of demonstrations similar to this one a week ago. Many schools and businesses plan to close because of Thursday's strikes and protests. Millions in France are furious over the pension reforms, which seek to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 and with the way Macron maneuvered them around parliament.
CNN's Sakya Vandoome is in Paris for us this hour. So, more protesters, more trash in the streets, maybe more violence as well, take us through what we're expecting and the political price Macron's paying for all of this.
SAKYA VANDOOME, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, exactly, Kim. You said hundreds of thousands of people expected to take to the streets again today. We expect to see kind of similar turnout to what we saw last week. But not just protests, as you said, we will see strikes, as well, and the garbage collectors have just said that they will begin striking in Paris today and they have lined-up bins in front of the Constitutional Council, which is France's equivalent of the Supreme Court.
Now, they've done this to block the entrance to the Council. And the reason this is significant is because tomorrow the Constitutional Council will be voting on the law. Now, they will either green light it or they may deem that parts of it or indeed the whole of it is unconstitutional. Now, if they do green light it, the law should go into effect in September, but we'll just have to wait and see what they decide. Now, meanwhile, 11,000 police officers are set to be deployed across
France. And according to police intelligence, we think that that radical minority, that violent minority, will be once again taking part in the protests. So, I think we can expect scuffles again today.
Now, a lot of people are asking what happens after the Constitutional Council's ruling? Will this mean the end of protests? But a lot of the trade unions have said, even though they'll respect the council's decision, whatever it is, they will continue to protest. We probably won't see the same scale as protests, they will probably be a bit smaller, but they will be happening, nonetheless.
Now, even if they do die down eventually, we must talk about Macron and how weakened he has been by, you know, this pension reform. He is still in the first year of his second term. He's got four years left, and he has ambitious reform plans. But a lot of people are saying, how is he going to push those through when he doesn't have a parliamentary majority and he no longer has popular opinion on his side. Kim?
BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll be watching this story throughout the day. Sakya Vandoome in Paris. Thanks so much.
North Korea has fired off yet another ballistic missile, and this one set off an evacuation warning for the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Have a look.
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BRUNHUBER: The siren there. That warning was later lifted with the Japanese government said it wasn't a false alarm and that was meant to inform people about possible dangers like falling objects from the missile. By a CNN's count, this is the 12th day this year that North Korea has fired one or more missiles.
All right. Up next, horrific video claims to show Russian fighters beheading Ukrainian soldiers. We'll have a reaction from Kyiv and the United Nations, coming up. Please stay with us.
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[03:35:00]
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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine's Security Service is open to war crimes investigation into video posted online that appears to show Russian fighters beheading Ukrainian soldiers. The videos demonstrate a horrifying new level of depravity. The year-long war already marked by immeasurable human suffering.
Now, because they're so graphic CNN has made the editorial decision not to air those videos, but we're about to show several still images from them which are obviously disturbing in their own right.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a war not short of images of brutality and horror, two videos purporting to show acts of unimaginable barbarism. Too gruesome to air in this series of still frames, a man wearing military fatigues is seen using a knife to cut off the head of another man in army uniform. The victim is seen wearing a yellow armband typically worn by Ukrainian soldiers. From the voices on the recording, it seems the victim was still alive as the beheading began.
The perpetrators' identities also hidden, but he's seen wearing a white tie on his leg, a means of identification often worn by Russian fighters. Ukrainian authorities say they're working to uncover where and when the incident might have taken place, as well as trying to establish the victim's identity and that of the other men in the video.
This is something that no one in the world can ignore, says President Zelenskyy, how easily these beasts kill. This video of the execution of a Ukrainian PoW, the world must see it.
(03:40:01)
Asked about the video during a daily call with journalists, the Kremlin spokesman acknowledged the footage was terrible, but added a caveat. First of all, said Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in the world of fakes that we inhabit, we need to check the veracity of this footage. At about the same time, another video also emerged on social media, this one believed to have been filmed in the last few days purporting to show the mutilated bodies of two Ukrainian soldiers lying next to the destroyed military vehicle.
Voices speaking in Russian claimed the soldiers had had their heads cut off. Images on the video appeared to show the soldiers hands and also been cut off. Pro-Russian social media posters said the video was shot nearby Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, scene of the war's fiercest fighting. But CNN is unable to confirm the location.
The United Nations said it was appalled by the videos. But 14 months into Russia's full scale invasion, reiterated these were not isolated incidents.
MATILDA BOGNER, U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING MISSION IN UKRAINE: We found that there have been significant and violations on both sides, summary executions, torture and so on. And we call on both parties to the conflict to hold the perpetrators to account.
WEDEMAN (on camera): One Ukrainian intelligence official says he knows the motivation for the release of these videos -- to frighten and intimidate. That at a time when Ukraine readies its forces to launch a major offensive aimed at driving Russia out of the country.
Wedeman, CNN, Eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And Ukraine's president says he will never forget or forgive Russia for what he called war crimes.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked the country's prime minister about the videos. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you believe that Putin himself is responsible?
DENYS SHMYHAL, UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. He is responsible for crime of aggression. So, he made this order to go into a head on the Ukrainian territory and made all of these crimes, war crimes, which a Russian army made in Ukraine and is making right now on Ukrainian territory.
BLITZER: So, you consider this war, war crimes.
SHMYHAL: Absolutely. It's crimes against humanity and from my sight, I estimate this like genocide of Ukrainian people because they kill not just prisoners of war, not just Ukrainian military service, but they kill civilians. Many children, more than health (ph) thousand children are killed by Russians in different ways.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: All right, let's go live to London and CNN's Claire Sebastian. So, first, Clare, take us through some of the reaction to the horrific beheading.
CLAIRE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, KIM. And so, despite the fact that those videos are - and we haven't shown them -- but you can tell from the stills, pretty hard to verify. One is blurry, the other has very few sort of location features, which would make it possible to geolocate it. We are hearing multiple calls for accountability, full investigations including from outside Ukraine.
A spokesman for the E.U. saying, this should be fully investigated. But if it is proven to be Russia committing these crimes, this is yet another brutal reminder, she said about the inhumane nature of Russian aggression inside Ukraine, stepping up calls to ostracize Russia. Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister, saying this shows Russia is worse than ISIS, saying they should be kicked out of Ukraine and the United Nations, something that they have been calling for us. Russia assumes the presidency of the Security Council.
Ben Wedeman pointed this out, but interesting to note again that several Ukrainian officials have pointed out that it's not just about the crimes shown in these videos. It's the videos themselves that Russia may be looking to extract propaganda value from the one official with President Zelenskyy's office called as a sigh of -- a psychological operation designed to stoke fear and intimidate, although she did say that that was not going to work. As for the Kremlin, that reaction, saying that, you know, the veracity of the videos needs to be checked.
That very much tallies from what we continue to see from Russia when it comes to -- so, for example, the atrocities in Bucha, the Kremlin continuing to claim that the images and videos coming out of Bucha are also fake. So, that is something to watch as the investigations into this continue.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, just horrifying. And then, Clare, Russia's new laws that make it easier to draft soldiers. So, what exactly are they doing and what could that mean?
SEBASTIAN: Yeah, this is a law that's now passed both Houses of Parliament, still needs to be signed by Vladimir Putin. But this essentially makes it easier for Russia to call up new soldiers by adding an electronic element. They used to have to hand the draft notices in person. Now, they can still do that. But there's also an option to do it electronically by uploading the notice to a person's account on a government portal.
[03:45:03]
This removes friction, obviously. The Kremlin saying that it has nothing to do with a second wave of mobilization, which, of course, there's been a lot of speculation about. But it would make it easier if that were to happen. And there are other measures that they brought in that would also make it much harder, Kim, for Russians to avoid the draft if they should be called up.
BRUNHUBER: I appreciate this. Claire Sebastian in London. Thanks so much.
Well, the White House is moving into high gear with its plan to put more electric cars on American streets. But is that too much, too soon for U.S. consumers? We'll talk about that, next. Stay with us.
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[03:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: The White House is proposing new car pollution standards to jumpstart the move to electric vehicles. Another proposal, up to two thirds of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. would be electric by 2032, the end result, cutting car pollution that contributes to climate change in half.
The EPA says transportation accounts for almost a third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. but right now, only about 4% of Americans own an electric vehicle. And a recent poll suggested U.S. consumers are still skeptical about them as the U.S. lines behind Europe and China in terms of making the switch.
For more, we're joined by Simon Mui, the director of the Clean Vehicles and Fuels Group at the National Resources Defense Council. And he is in Berkeley, Calif. Thanks so much for being here with us. So, this targets two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. would be zero emission or plug in hybrid within a decade. What effect would that have? SIMON MUI, NATIONAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: Thanks, Kim. Yes, this
is a major, major step by the Biden administration to really cut our climate pollution as he said it would more than half the pollution coming from passenger vehicles by 2032.
And the board (ph) would set the U.S. on a course to really tackle the biggest source of climate pollution, which is transportation as well as yield tremendous amount of public health benefits. And by our look at the proposal, it is going to reduce over eight gigatons of emissions.
And to put that into the context for your viewers, it's -- that's equivalent to 85 coal-fired plants operating for the next 30 years, the pollution being eliminated from -- at that level. So, it is one of probably the biggest action today that the U.S. has taken on climate emission.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, that would -- that would be hugely significant, but there seemed to be significant barriers in terms of public adoption. I mean this week, a Gallup poll found 4 percent of Americans currently own an E.V. and only 12 percent are seriously considering buying one and maybe, most importantly, 41 percent say they never would. So, a huge barrier there. The Biden administration will have to do a lot more than just the incredibly complex tax incentives they offer now.
MUI: Well, the Biden administration signed into law last year, the Inflation Reduction Act, that does provide historic amounts of investments that the U.S. will be making to build electric vehicles, as well as the batteries domestically. And so, those will yield up huge number of new models offerings for consumers. U.S., in a way, is now catching up to Europe, as well as China in the race towards electric vehicles.
The technology is becoming more and more popular, thanks to the rapidly declining costs of batteries, the increase affordability of having to pay only a dollar a gallon equivalent when you run on electricity, as well as the smooth operation of the vehicle and great amount of acceleration just as people get their, quote, "butts" in the seats of electric vehicles. The popularity is really rising.
BRUNHUBER: The -- one of the other significant challenges here could be legal, and you know, we could see legal challenges and this conservative Supreme Court hasn't exactly been supportive of the EPA's authority. So, still a long and bumpy road ahead.
MUI: Well, yes, EPA has done similar standards in the past and this is -- falls in the long -- over 50-year history of EPA setting emission pollution limits to cars and trucks. So, this isn't something new or extraordinary. It is something of continued progress and ratcheting down on pollution. In fact, the auto industry has committed in many jurisdictions to hitting 100 percent electrification targets, with some in the industry, saying that technology is inevitable, going the way of our mobile phones -- same way we moved away from landlines.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, one of -- California, your state where you are one of those states that wants to phase them out completely. And because of the California market being so huge, it may end up setting the national standards, anyway.
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Listen, we will have to leave it there but really appreciate getting your perspective on this. Simon Mui, thanks so much for joining us.
MUI: Thanks, Kim, always a pleasure.
BRUNHUBER: All right. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Thanks so much for watching. "CNN Newsroom" continues now with Bianca Nobilo after a quick break.
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