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CNN International: GOP House Speaker Proposes Deep Cuts, Vote Next Week; Smartmatic Wants $2.78 Billion, Apology and Full Retraction from Fox; Lindell Ordered to Pay $5 Million to Cyber Expert; New Video Suggests Brazilian Police Inaction, Retreating on January 8: Uganda's Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill Close to Being Ratified by President; Biden and Petro Find Common Ground on Climate Change. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired April 21, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with the top stories this hour.
CNN has learned that plans are underway for President Joe Biden to formally announced his bid for a second term next week. Sources say a small circle of top Biden allies are now preparing behind the scenes.
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 would place restrictions on the drug. Much more ahead on these stories in about half an hour on "EARLY START."
NOBILO: The new trading day gets underway in the U.S. in just over five hours time. And here is where futures stand right now. They're not looking optimistic. Meantime European markets are up and running already, and it's a bit of a mixed picture slightly pessimistic, too. And here's a look at how markets across Asia faired today again, not promising.
FOSTER: Investors, though, are getting more bullish generally as a number of signs point to a weakening economy. All three U.S. markets finishing in negative territory after higher-than-expected weekly jobless claims. Tesla shares slid almost 10 percent on Thursday. When the trading day was done. The Dow lost a third of a percent. The Nasdaq was down more than three quarters of a percent. And the SNP lost more than half a percent.
Now the race is on to keep the U.S. government from defaulting on its debt.
NOBILO: And the Republican House Speaker is proposing a $1.5 trillion increase in the debt limit in exchange for deep cuts in domestic spending. CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju has the details for you. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kevin McCarthy is reaching a critical moment after months of internal negotiations to put together a debt ceiling plan that can win the support of 218 votes in the U.S. House. That means you can't lose more than four Republican votes at the moment. More than four Republicans are raising concerns. They are still reviewing the details. But McCarthy and his team believe that they can ultimately get there. Even as they have added a slew of conservative priorities and spending cuts in order to win over Republicans. As part of his $1.5 trillion increase of the $31.4 trillion national borrowing limit.
McCarthy is proposing a slew of cuts across the board on several programs. Including and ending President Biden Student Loan Forgiveness Program, pulling back funding for the IRS that was enacted as part of the Democrats inflation Reduction Act. Also, to impose new work requirements on Medicaid and other social safety net programs. All part of an effort, Republicans argue, will help save money.
But Democrats say that this is a recipe for economic disaster. They are pushing back on this issue. And the White House at the moment, holding firm. Saying that there will be no talks whatsoever with Speaker McCarthy and demanding he simply raise the debt ceiling without any conditions attached.
But in talking to members in both parties, both parties are concerned with their leadership's approach to this issue.
REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I'm still --
RAJU: Still struggling with this?
BURCHETT: Yes, I'm still struggling with the fact that we -- we're $32 trillion in debt.
RAJU: Where are you leaning now?
BURCHETT: If it was right now, I'd a no.
REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Yes, I think the speaker of the House and the president, United States should always talk. Right? And so should the leader of the Senate. They should always be talking. So, I think -- I think Joe Biden should be talking to Kevin McCarthy, even if those conversations right now prove nothing productive. But I do think they should be talking.
RAJU: And what is your fear if there are -- these talks don't happen.
MOSKOWITZ: Well, my fear is that this gets pushed all the way to the last moment. And then if we're at the last moment and things fall apart, we go off -- we go off the cliff for the first time and default. Which would be absolutely catastrophic.
RAJU: But despite the pressure among some Democrats like that, Congressman Moskowitz right there, the Democratic leaders are still holding firm. Including Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, who told me this afternoon that even if House Republicans passed their bill next week, they will not change their posture going forward. And that any bill, he said, that must be ultimately enacted must be clean. Meaning no conditions whatsoever. So, we are headed into a critical moment here. A few weeks potentially a couple of months until the country could face its first ever U.S. debt default. And still the two sides in a high stakes game of chicken with the with the U.S. economy and the potential of the world economy hanging in the balance.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Just days after Fox News reached a hefty settlement -- to put it lightly -- with have been for airing lies about the last U.S. presidential election. A second voting technology company is seeking much more painful penalties.
FOSTER: Smartmatic has launched a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox. And a lawyer for Smartmatic says it will also demand an apology and the full retraction from the right wing network. That's after Fox allowed baseless claims like this to hit air.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:35:00]
SIDNEY POWELL, MEMBER OF PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LEGAL TEAM: The Dominion machines run the Smartmatic software or parts of the key code of it, and that is what allows them to manipulate the votes in any way the operators choose to manipulate them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Fox denies wrongdoing and is fighting the lawsuit. The two sides will meet face to face next week for a hearing in New York.
FOSTER: A Trump -- Trump ally Mike Lindell is vowing to fight a decision by an arbitration panel that could cost him $5 million.
NOBILO: It's just the latest -- I need to cough.
FOSTER: It's just the latest blow to the credibility of the My Pillow CEO who's been pushing conspiracies since the 2020 presidential elections. CNN's Sara Murray has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE LINDELL, MY PILLOW CEO: There's a $5 million prize for anybody that can -- that can prove the election data that I have from the 2020 election is false.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One cyber expert did and now, Lindell must pay up. An arbitration panel awarded Robert Zeidman, a Trump voter and software expert, a $5 million victory Wednesday after he sued Lindell. CNN obtained documents and depositions in this case. And according to the arbitration panel, Mr. Zeidman performed under the contract. He proved the data Lindell LLC provided unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data.
CARY JOSHI, ATTORNEY FOR ROBERT ZEIDMAN: With everything that was happening in the Dominion case in Delaware, we were sort of sitting on the edge of our seats. I wasn't surprised, but I was relieved.
MURRAY (voice-over): Lindell is a Trump ally and leading purveyor of 2020 election conspiracies who was seen at the White House in the waning days of Trump's presidency. Lindell later convened a 2021 cyber symposium.
LINDELL: This was an attack on the whole technology was attacked.
MURRAY (voice-over): Where he aired his unproven conspiracies and invited experts to debunk his data.
LINDELL: I wanted it to be the most watched event ever in history because we need everyone in this country to see what I have seen.
MURRAY (voice-over): It didn't take long for Zeidman to determine Lindell's data was dud.
ROBERT ZEIDMAN, CYBER EXPERT: When I got there, I found the data was just so obviously bogus. It surprised me.
LINDELL: Biggest cover up in history.
MURRAY (voice-over): Zeidman says he brought his claim against the My Pillow CEO because he worries about the impact of Lindell's falsehoods.
ZEIDMAN: I just thought it could do a lot of damage to our country. If we want to investigate fraud, and I think we should, we have to be able to be truthful about it, and Lindell is not being truthful.
MURRAY (voice-over): The arbitration panel concluded the data provided to experts was not related to the 2020 election. Lindell and his deposition clearly never expected to pay up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, you didn't have any concerns that someone might win the proof Mike wrong challenge?
LINDELL: No, because they would have to show it wasn't from 2020, and it was, you know?
MURRAY (voice-over): And in a brief interview, he vowed to CNN this will end up in court.
So, will Zeidman ever see his five million bucks? His attorneys are hopeful. Zeidman, not so much.
ZEIDMAN: I don't think so. I think he's going to delay this as much as possible. MURRAY: So, obviously this judgment is another blow to election
denialism, especially in the wake of that settlement between Fox News and Dominion. I also asked Robert Zeidman what he would do if he does, in fact, ever see this $5 million payout? He says he's going to give at least some of it to nonprofits.
Sara Murray, CNN Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Still ahead, fighting the climate crisis. The U.S. president's half a billion-dollar pledge to help save the Amazon Rainforest.
FOSTER: Plus, new video of Brazil's political riots in January suggest that police did little to stop the protesters. They may have let them into the government buildings as well, a report just ahead.
[04:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: Paris protesters burst into the offices of stock exchange operator Euronext, demonstrating against a rise in the retirement age. They briefly occupied the lobby, singing as you can hear, firing flares and chanting that big companies should pay the cost of pension reform, not workers.
FOSTER: Last weekend, President Emmanuel Macron signed the bill into law raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. Workers must now wait more than two years to get their state pensions -- two more years.
Now we are learning new details about the political protests in Brazil that left the capital in shambles back in January.
NOBILO: Newly released footage appeared to show security forces letting rioters into the presidential palace to ransack the building. CNN's Isa Soares has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the darkest of days in Brazilian democratic history. Supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro taking the capital, Brasilia, by storm, breaking into the presidential palace and other government buildings.
Now, new CCTV footage exclusively obtained by CNN affiliate CNN Brazil of what transpired inside the presidential palace appears to bolster the claims of people who have accused the police of failing to act.
Chief among them, current President Lula da Silva.
LULA DA SILVA, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): There were a lot of people colluding, it's important to say there were a lot of conniving people from the military police, and there were a lot of conniving people from the armed forces. SOARES (voice-over): The hours of CCTV footage showed police forces seemingly retreating as protesters marched on the palace and leaving their post as rioters entered the building. Once inside, the ransacking begins. Priceless antiquities, tables, phones, almost nothing is left untouched.
At the time, former policeman Cassio Thyone told me some of the criticism was unwarranted.
CASSIO THYONE, FORMER POLICE OFFICER AND PUBLIC SECURITY RESEARCHER (through translator): Some policemen ended up not acting, because they didn't think there was a risk of invasion. I don't think it was incompetence.
SOARES (voice-over): The Institutional security office or GSI, which handles security for the presidential palaces, has also defended its officers.
Saying: they evacuated some areas, concentrated demonstrators on the second floor, and waited for reinforcements to arrest them.
Despite those assertions, the bureau acknowledging its offices are being investigated and those proven to have collaborated with rioters will be held responsible.
But heads have started rolling. General Goncalves Dias, Lula's government minister in charge of security has resigned. CCTV footage shows him walking with some of the rioters just feet away from the presidential office. He says he was trying to lead them away so they could be arrested. But critics say his demeanor was complacent and complicit.
[04:45:00]
Back in Brazil after three months in self-imposed exile in the United States, Bolsonaro is enjoying some respite, the video leak seen as a momentary win as he continues to dodge blame for the January riots.
Yet doubt remains. The new footage raising more questions than the answers it provides.
Isa Soares, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Uganda is getting closer than ever to adopting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that's amongst the harshest in the world. Ugandan ruling party says the president congratulated lawmakers on Thursday over the bill's passage, but then sent it back to Parliament for amendments. It's expected to be finalized next week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENIS HAMSON OBUA, CHIEF WHIP, UGANDA'S RULING PARTY: The president in principle, congratulated the members of parliament on two fronts. One for their strong stand on the anti homosexuality bill. And two, for rejecting pressure from the imperialist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: The draconian legislation has triggered worldwide outrage with some of the loudest coming from the European Union, which voted on Thursday to condemn the bill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALIN BJORK, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER, SWEDEN: The proposed Ugandan bill imposing death penalty for consensual same sex relations is simply horrific. Death for being who we are. Death for loving another person that the majority doesn't think you should have the right to love.
KARSTEN LUCKE, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER, GERMANY: And this law doesn't take one step, doesn't take 10 steps, but countless steps back into what feels really like Middle Ages. The proposed criminalization of human -- of homosexual people tramples human rights in such a way that it's really unbearable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Colombia's president is urging the U.S. to build a new progressive alliance in the Americas focused on democracy and the environment.
FOSTER: Stefano Pozzebon reports on his visit to Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Climate change was at the center of the agenda as the Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, visited his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday. Petro came to the United States asking Biden to do more to protect the planet and to finance the energy transition to cleaner technologies as a way to expand cooperation between North and South America.
GUSTAVO PETRO, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We could call the new alliance for progress, based on what? On the potential for clean energy in Latin America. On unifying the power grid from North and South America. On the land reform in Colombia. Like the proposal from President Kennedy back then, an alliance for progress.
POZZEBON: In particular, Petro said that Biden was personally interested in offering debt relief for to those developing nations who take on actions on climate change. As countries in the global south like Colombia say that they are exceptionally exposed to the costs of a warming planet.
He also applauded a U.S. commitment to donate $500 million to an international fund to defend the Amazon Rainforest, which was also announced on Thursday.
But whereas the two leaders found common ground on climate policy, disagreements remain on international politics, as Petro said that he has not intend to take a side on the conflict in Ukraine. And then Petro, iterated calls for the United States to lift sanctions on the authoritarian government in Venezuela.
For CNN. This is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Up next, a raucous affair on the court in Brooklyn. Two ejections and a down to the wire finish. The latest from the NBA playoffs after the break.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: It was an action-packed night in the NBA playoffs. Let's start in Brooklyn, where things got pretty ugly, pretty early. The Sixers Joel MB pulled down Nick Claxton, then kicks him right between the legs. Claxton was ejected later in the game, along with Philadelphia's James Harden. The Sixers ended up winning to take three nothing series lead.
In Phoenix, Devin Booker got started early and never looked back. He scored 45 points as the Suns topped the Clippers. Phoenix leads two games to one.
And in San Francisco, Steph Curry led the scoring with 36 points to give the Golden State Warriors the win over the Sacramento Kings. Sacramento leads the series, two games to one.
NOBILO: Things get pretty ugly, pretty early -- should be the tagline for the (INAUDIBLE).
The U.S. and Mexico are teaming up to make a joint bid to host the 2027 Women's World Cup. Mexico has never hosted the women's tournament while the U.S. hosted the Women's World Cup twice in 1999 and 2003. The U.S., Mexico and Canada won hosting duties for the men's World Cup in 2026. Canada, says it didn't join this bid because it recently hosted the women's tournament in 2015, but wish both countries well.
The 2023 Women's World Cup is set to kick off in Australia and my native New Zealand on July the 20th.
FOSTER: That'll be great.
NOBILO: It'll be great.
FOSTER: Although they've got to think about the hours of playing matches because it might be a bit tricky for the U.K. for example.
NOBILO: I think they'll have all that covered.
FOSTER: The Hillsides of California are awash with wildflowers. Thanks to epic rainfall this past winter, the super bloom is drawing tourists from far and wide. But officials are asking people to take only photos and leave the flowers alone. NOBILO: The extraordinary blooms can even be seen from space. Your
favorite place. Satellite images showed bright orange and yellow across canyons and hilltops that have been brown and barren for years. This year's super bloom will likely last until early next month.
FOSTER: Viewers will realize we told the story the other day, but we liked it so much and wanted to tell it again.
NOBILO: Well, it's good. It's aesthetically pleasing.
FOSTER: British Vogue is hoping its main issue will further the conversation about diversity and inclusion. The magazine is featuring 19 disabled talents from the world of fashion sport, the arts and activism.
[04:55:00]
NOBILO: That includes five cover stars like activist Sinead Burke, actor Selma Blair, and sign language performer Justina Miles. Vogue also worked with the UK's Royal National Institute of Blind People to produce a braille version of the issue.
FOSTER: I'm assuming the editor had some minor disabilities and he was always very keen to get these figures on the page because once he sort of started talking about his issues as it were, his disabilities helped him a lot.
NOBILO: I think it's probably one of the most positive things that the fashion industry, you know, touted as the ideal of beauty and aspirational ascetics can do. And so, I think it's great to see it.
FOSTER: And the photographers did a great job.
Calling all Kyle's. If your name is Kyle, the city of Kyle, in Texas, wants your help. It's inviting everyone with the first name Kyle to join them as they attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest same name gathering. They'll go for the record as -- at this year's Kyle fair at Lake Kyle Park on May the 21st.
NOBILO: To qualify, participants must spell their first name k-y-l-e. No variations, middle or surnames will be allowed. It's very strict. The city says it will be their fourth attempt to break the record that's currently held by city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which brought together more than 2,300 Ivans in 2017.
FOSTER: They're pretty determined. There is a la Bianca in Umbria in Italy. You could start the campaign now.
NOBILO: I could. Something interesting about names as well is that -- they do have a shaping influence on our personalities, like a psychologist think. So, whether or not your name is rare or common or whether or not you like it and how society perceives you based on that name.
FOSTER: I don't agree with that.
NOBILO: You don't. But Max means the greatest.
FOSTER: Well, I do agree with that. I certainly agree with that. Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Max Foster.
NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. Have a wonderful weekend. "EARLY START" is up next right here on CNN.
