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CNN International: Biden Expected to Announce Reelection Campaign Next Week; Paramilitary Leader in Sudan Announces Three-Day Ceasefire; Kyiv Pushes for NATO Membership During Stoltenberg's Visit; Six-Year-Old and Her Parents Allegedly Shot by Neighbor; Prosecutors Dismissing Charges Against Alec Baldwin. Aired 4:00-4:30a ET
Aired April 21, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president is planning and may go forward with the decision to launch his reelection campaign as soon as Tuesday of next week.
ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: My only question is, am I being charged with something?
CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER (voice-over: Alec Baldwin soon will no longer be accused after New Mexico prosecutors plan to file a motion dismissing involuntary manslaughter charges against the actor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CHILD: Why did she shoot my daddy and me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was running across his yard. He had his arm outstretched, and it was like pow, pow, pow, pow, pow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
FOSTER: It's Friday, April, the 21st 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Washington. Where an open secret will soon become official.
NOBILO: U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to seek a second term. His advisers say the campaign launch is expected to happen as early as next week, likely on Tuesday. And that's when the big fundraising machine will kick into gear.
FOSTER: Biden is already the oldest person to serve as president and would be just weeks away for his 82nd birthday should he win reelection. CNN's Phil Mattingly reports from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: For months, President Biden's top advisers have privately made clear he is going to run for reelection in 2024. What they wouldn't make clear is when exactly he was going to announce it. The president repeatedly saying he intended to run. In Ireland last week, saying that he'd made the decision and announcement would be forthcoming soon. But when it was very much something that people couldn't repeatedly figure out.
A very small group of advisers -- kind of in control of that timeline, of that process of building a reelection campaign -- campaign officials now say, is likely to be announced next week. Next week, marking the four-year anniversary from when President Biden launched his first campaign for presidency to defeat Donald Trump. He was successful in that endeavor, and in the years since he has -- at least based on the view of White House officials, based on the president's political advisors -- built a very real, very substantive agenda, legislative accomplishments. Accomplishments that are now being implemented across the country. And that more than anything else, so they say the president is going to be focusing on in the months ahead.
The model is kind of out in the open. The president has been making very clear those priorities, these accomplishments. And also, a very clear contrast between Republicans that he knows he will certainly be running against. Whether or not that's Donald Trump or somebody else. Advisors don't necessarily want to weigh in, but they feel confident that based on that agenda, and based on those contrasts, they have a winning formula.
But it's a formula that will certainly take developing over time. And they also underscore when you talk to White House officials and the president's political team that this will be a year of building. Building up on their campaign. Whether or not that's the president's travel, how they try and focus things but also building behind the scenes.
The infrastructure of the campaign has largely been put together behind the scenes over the course of the last couple of months. But they will spend 2023 testing digital strategies, testing data strategies, testing voter messages and watching the Republican primary play out. And that last point is a critical one.
Because it was one of the drivers behind the president's decision to wait until next week to launch that campaign. Recognizing that there's no real pressure on the Democratic side from any potential primary opponents. There's a recognition that the president was likely to run again and certainly there was plenty of fighting that they were happy to watch from the sidelines on the Republican side of things.
For now, the president ready to engage. Major donors are expected in Washington at the end of next week to meet with the president's senior team. This is all building towards what people knew it was coming. I just didn't know when. The wind appears to be next week.
Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Keep in mind now, if you didn't already know it, but the election is still more than a year and a half away.
FOSTER: Earlier, Biden biographer Evan Osnos explained how the decision on when to announce the new campaign unfolded.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN OSNOS, BIDEN BIOGRAPHER: Well, they've been working on it quietly behind the scenes for a long time. Some of the people that the president trusts most. This has been a pretty major sideline for them. You know, this doesn't come, obviously, as a shock. He's been saying, signaling in every possible way that he intended to run.
[04:05:00]
And what you saw was him taking his time with it. Partly that's his nature. You know he doesn't rush into decisions. But there was also an element going on here that this adviser said there is no reason for us to race out of the gates here. Because, after all, he was sort of in the office of the presidency. You get a pretty big dividend. Getting as much attention as you want. Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle he's watching the beginning of a pretty tough primary fight for the GOP. He's sort of letting that play out, letting that occupy a bit of the headlines.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, of course, is in legal trouble of a whole range of types. Ron DeSantis is having some political challenges that people wouldn't have anticipated a few weeks ago. So, yes, if you're Joe Biden, you're traveling the world. You're in Washington working on legislative issues. There was no reason to rush this from his perspective.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide in the coming hours whether to take up the case of the abortion drug mifepristone or to uphold a lower court ruling, which place restrictions on the drug and rolled back the Food and Drug Administration's approval, which was granted more than 20 years ago.
FOSTER: Mifepristone is used in a majority of medical abortions in states that still provide access in the U.S. It's approved in more than 90 countries worldwide, but with last year's Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe versus Wade. And now with the abortion drug on the chopping block, the United States seems out of step with the rest of the world on this issue.
Nearly 30 million people are under threat of severe storms, even as the threat diminishes and moves east today, severe thunderstorm watches are still up across parts of Texas and Louisiana, and flash flood warnings are up in parts of Texas. NOBILO: Flooding around Austin prompted a number of water rescues
Thursday night. Flights bound for Austin were halted for a time because of these severe storms too. There were more than 120 storm reports stretching from Texas to Michigan. Most of those reports were of hail and high winds. And one tornado was reported in Tyler, Texas.
FOSTER: We'll give you a close eye on the situation in Sudan, where the paramilitary rapid support forces has announced a 72 hour pause in fighting to coincide with the Eid holiday. Sudan's army chief released a video statement a few hours ago but didn't mention the temporary truce. Two previous ceasefires have collapsed within hours and done little to stop the clashes between rival military factions.
NOBILO: The World Health Organization reports more than 330 people have been killed. Many residents of the capital Khartoum have been stuck in their homes for days without basics like electricity. Medicine and food and water are also running low.
FOSTER: Let's go to Larry Madowo in Nairobi, Kenya. So, one side is calling for a ceasefire, but we haven't heard from the other side yet.
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Max, Bianca. The rapid support forces, this powerful paramilitary group that's involved in this power struggle with the Sudanese military, they say they are committed to a 72-hour ceasefire. That's over the next three days. Which should have started at six a.m. local in Sudan.
But the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces, General Abdel Fattah al- Burhan, did give an aid message to the country where he made no mention of this cease fire. The U.N. called for that three-day ceasefire after a meeting yesterday called by the African Union that was included the secretary general of the Arab League, as well as other countries, including the U.S. and the U.K.
After that same meeting, the African Union said there should be at least a one-week ceasefire to allow people to celebrate the important Muslim holiday of Eid that, Max, the end of the holy month of Ramadan. But so far, the army is not committing to it.
I want to show you a bit of this message from General al-Burhan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. ABDEL FATTAH AL-BURHAN, SUDAN ARMY (through translator): The ruin and destruction and the sound of gunfire have not allowed a space for the joy that our people across our beloved country deserve, and we are deeply saddened by this. However, there remains hope that we are with our great people, and we will overcome this tribulation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADOWO: This is the first time we've seen General al-Burhan on camera. And the fact that he's speaking on camera people would have expected him to be conciliatory, or at least to commit to this ceasefire on religious grounds. Which just does not appear to be happening -- Max. NOBILO: And Larry, we're hearing reports that the Pentagon is
preparing evacuations from Sudan. But what considerations are at play here in terms of the danger of trying to plan something like that?
MADOWO: So, Bianca, this is being described as a contingency planning. The U.S. Department of Defense through the Africa command says it is monitoring the situation in Sudan, and it is deploying what they're calling additional capabilities nearby in Djibouti. Djibouti is a tiny nation that's stable, in other words, volatile neighborhood and the U.S. has its largest permanent military base there, Camp Lemonnier. And this plan a U.S. DOD official telling CNN, would include about hundreds of Marines that are stationed at Camp Lemonnier, as well as aircraft that have the ability to bring in on the ground units that can secure the embassy and if necessary, they can evacuate staff from there.
[04:10:02]
Obviously, the problem here is that the airport itself is still being contested. Some of it has been damaged. There's been a fierce fighting for the past almost a week, actually, since this began and has not been possible to fly in or out of that airport. Except for a tiny window, the Egyptians were able to carry out the evacuations of their soldiers that were in Sudan. So, it remains a really dangerous situation if they were to attempt this, but that's an option that's being considered at this time.
FOSTER: OK Larry, thank you for bringing us the latest from Nairobi.
NOBILO: Ukraine is making a new push to do one of the things that Russia tried to prevent with this invasion to join NATO.
FOSTER: Secretary general paid a visit to Kyiv on Thursday and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who made a new pitch for joining NATO, which could put it on a path to a military conflict with Moscow. The NATO leader didn't offer any timelines to Kyiv, but did say this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: Ukraine's future is in the Euro Atlantic family. Ukraine's future is in NATO.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Moscow responded to Stoltenberg's visit, saying that keeping Ukraine out of NATO remains one of its military goals. Now Ukraine's allies are meeting in Germany to consider next steps in their assistance to Kyiv.
NOBILO: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin just spoke ahead of the meeting of the Ukraine defense contact group. It's happening at the Ramstein Air Base with defense ministers and other officials from more than 50 countries taking part.
And this all comes as we're getting word of a new Russian drone strike on Ukraine's capital. Clare Sebastian is covering this for us this morning. Clare, what is the Zelenskyy hoping will be achieved at this meeting about Ukraine?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, the Ramstein contact group meeting, this is all about coordinating and organizing new weapons supplies, essentially for Ukraine. And I think his top priority right now is air defense.
We know certainly, and this is sort of uncomfortable context to the meeting for the U.S., but we know from those leaked Pentagon documents that the belief is that while Ukraine might have, you know, a slight edge when it comes to ground forces because of the new weapons that has been getting from the NATO allies, the vulnerability is with air defense. We've seen that just now, overnight with those attacks, the drone attacks on the capital for the first time, according to the head of the military administration in Kyiv. The first time in 25 days. But it is the second such overnight barrage of drones this week that continues to be a part of the playbook. They are pushing for more air defense.
And I think the second thing coming off that NATO meeting in Kyiv with the NATO secretary general -- who by the way has just arrived at Ramstein -- is security guarantees ahead of that summit in Vilnius. Take a listen to what Jens Stoltenberg had to say just a few moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STOLTENBERG: President Zelenskyy and I also discussed the preparations for the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius in July. I have invited him to attend the meeting, and I'm glad that he has accepted the invitation and will attend the NATO summit in Vilnius. All the NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a NATO member.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: Well, President Zelenskyy attending the NATO summit in Vilnius, in Lithuania in July will certainly be very unwelcome optics for Moscow. The NATO secretary general, also saying he expects more weapons pledges this week. But he said that some of the focus will be on what he called the more boring stuff, right? So, sustaining the existing weapons platforms they already have, fuel, ammunition, maintenance parts, all of that stuff to keep the things they've already got going on the battlefield.
NOBILO: Clare Sebastian, thank you so much.
FOSTER: Somehow a cargo container packed with gold has gone missing from Canada's busiest airport. Police say it was unloaded from a plane and taken to a holding facility at the Toronto airport on Monday -- Monday where disappeared.
NOBILO: The whole is estimated at more than 15 billion -- million dollars -- getting ahead of myself. Investigators wouldn't say who owned the container, which airline transported it or whether security cameras recorded the heist. FOSTER: They don't really know much, do they?
NOBILO: No, they don't. But it's got all the hallmarks of a blockbuster Netflix documentary series.
FOSTER: Coming to your screen scene soon. Coming up also, big news for actor Alec Baldwin. Why prosecutors dropped charges against him in connection to the fatal shooting on set for his film "Rust".
FOSTER: Plus, a six-year-old from North Carolina now a victim, escalating U.S. gun violence. We've got that story for you.
FOSTER: And later this hour, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell ordered to pay $5 million to a cyber security expert. We'll have reaction from a Trump allied election denier.
[04:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: Sources say the gunman who opened fire in a Kentucky bank earlier this month left two extensive notes.
FOSTER: Law enforcement sources say the notes claimed the shooter wanted to show how easy it is for someone with a serious mental illness to buy an assault style weapon. Here is some of what happened that day in Louisville. We must warn you, it's disturbing to see.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go, go! Stop! Stop right there! Back up, back up, back up, back up, bringing it up here. Stop right there. Jump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Want me to jump?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) from east side, not close at hand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Sources say one note was found in the shooter's home, and one note was found on his body. Five people were killed and at least eight wounded in the shooting.
FOSTER: A man is now in custody after he was accused of shooting a six-year-old and her parents, allegedly after basketball rolled into his yard. Authorities say Robert Singletree was detained in Florida after he turned himself into authorities. He's expected to have a hearing later today about his extradition back to North Carolina.
NOBILO: The girl and her mother had only minor injuries, but the father was hospitalized in serious condition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KINSLEY WHITE, INJURED IN SHOOTING: Why did she shoot my daddy and me? How do shoot a kid's dad?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:20:02]
NOBILO: It's the latest incident in which a U.S. gun owner shoots an innocent person for a mundane mistake. A Kansas City teen was shot when he knocked on the wrong door. A New York woman was shot and killed when she pulled into the wrong driveway. And two teenage Texas cheerleaders were shot when one of them accidentally opened the wrong car door.
Police in Alabama have arrested another suspect in the killing of four people at a sweet 16 birthday party last weekend in the town of Dadeville. Authorities say unnamed 15-year-old -- an unnamed 15-year- old has been formally charged with four counts of reckless murder. Altogether six people, including four teenagers, have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with this deadly shooting.
FOSTER: At least 32 other people were injured in the attack, at least 15 of them teenagers who suffered gunshot wounds. The district attorney says more charges are likely to be filed in that case.
NOBILO: Senate Democrats are railing against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas over possible ethics violations. The trouble started when it was revealed that Justice Thomas failed to disclose luxury travel, gifts and a real estate transaction involving a Republican mega donor. Now Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin plans to hold a hearing on the matter in the coming weeks.
FOSTER: He's already called on Chief Justice John Roberts or another justice of his choosing to offer testimony about the state of ethics in the high court. But despite the outcome of an investigation, it's unlikely Justice Thomas would face any real punishment. A legal expert explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT CUMMINGS, PROFESSOR OF LEGAL ETHICS, UCLA SCHOOL OF LAW: There is a judicial code of conduct. It applies to every other federal judge in the United States, except for the justices on the Supreme Court. Under that code of conduct or had Justice Thomas accepted the gifts that he did from -- from Harlan Crow. It would have been a violation of the code of conduct.
The problem is that that code doesn't apply to the justices, and there's no mechanism to enforce it against them. And this is something that that the justices could voluntarily adopt but have chosen not to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: A legal victory for actor Alec Baldwin. Prosecutors in New Mexico say they're dropping charges against him in connection with the deadly shooting on the set of the movie "Rust."
FOSTER: It's a temporary dismissal pending further investigation, but one that Baldwin welcomes. CNN's Chloe Melas has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: So, my only question is, am I being charged with something?
MELAS (voice-over): Alec Baldwin soon will no longer be accused after New Mexico prosecutors plan to file a motion dismissing involuntary manslaughter charges against the actor. A move they called, quote, temporary pending further investigation.
Baldwin reacted on Instagram, posting a photo of his wife saying, quote, I owe everything I have to this woman and into you, Luke, his attorney.
DEPUTY: My understanding is that you were in the room when that lady was shot with a gun.
BALDWIN: Yes.
MELAS (voice-over): Baldwin admitted to holding the gun that fired a bullet killing Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer on Baldwin's film "Rust." But told the police he did not know he was handed a loaded gun.
Baldwin resumes filming on "Rust" this week with production moved to Montana. This was Baldwin last year.
BALDWIN: Someone is responsible for what happened and I can't say who that is, but I know it's not me.
MELAS (voice-over): The dismissal is a win for Baldwin's legal team, which challenged the motives and politics of one of the original prosecutors.
ANDREA REEB, FORMER NEW MEXICO SPECIAL PROSECUTOR: It doesn't matter if he's a liberal Democrat, and I'm a conservative Republican. My job has always been to prosecute crimes.
MELAS (voice-over): In February, Baldwin's lawyers filed a motion to remove special prosecutor Andrea Reeb, who at the time of the investigation was running for state representative in New Mexico.
In an email later revealed in "The New York Times," Reeb suggested being involved in the case, quote, might help in my campaign. Both Reeb and the district attorney who hired her ultimately recused themselves. Their replacements dropped the charges against Baldwin.
His attorneys saying, they, quote, encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there live ammo that's kept on set?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Never.
MELAS (voice-over): The film's weapons handler, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, is now the sole defendant in the case. Facing 18 months for involuntary manslaughter. Her attorney says she will plead not guilty and that Gutierrez Reed, quote, has been emotional about the tragedy but has committed no crime.
MATTHEW HUTCHINS, HALYNA HUTCHINS' HUSBAND: Are we really supposed to feel bad about you, Mr. Baldwin?
MELAS (voice-over): Halyna Hutchins husband has been a vocal critic of Baldwin, saying he should face charges.
HUTCHINS: The idea that the person holding the gun, causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me.
MELAS (voice-over): But now justice for Halyna Hutchins moves forward without a star defendant.
BALDWIN: And she was great at her job and she died, and she died. And that's -- that hurts me every day.
MELAS: Prosecutors released a lengthier statement Thursday evening, revealing that this move to dismiss the charges is only temporary pending a further investigation. So, CNN has reached out to Alec Baldwin's legal team for further comment.
[04:25:02]
The attorney for Hannah Guterres Reed, the armorer on "Rust" has spoken out, saying in a statement to CNN that they believe that she, too, will have her charges dismissed and be fully exonerated.
Now a preliminary hearing is set for May 3rd and the trial is expected to begin this summer. And we will just have to see what the DA ultimately decides. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Now everything started off A-OK for the inaugural test flight of SpaceX's massive super heavy rocket and Starship spacecraft.
The most powerful rocket ever built successfully took off from a launch pad in south Texas on Thursday. But then --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: About four minutes into the flight several engines fizzled out, the Starship tumbled and exploded. Or as SpaceX creatively called it, a rapid unscheduled disassembly. The company still called it a success because they learned a lot and they're planning another test in a few months.
FOSTER: The most accidents are on launch on tests, so that was successful.
NOBILO: And they were just being able to get such a heavy rocket in space at all is impressive.
FOSTER: Just to explain why we're looking at these two guys. Still ahead. The U.S. House Speaker lays out his plan to cut spending and raise the debt limit. But not every Democrat agrees with the White House decision not to negotiate.
NOBILO: And another voting technology company that's suing Fox News says settlement money won't be enough. It has other demands that Fox may find particularly painful.
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