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CNN International: Republicans Struggling for Votes on Debt Limit Bill; Trial Begins in E. Jean Carroll's Lawsuit Against Trump; Mastermind of Kabul Airport Attack Killed; Reports of Violence in Sudan Mar Fragile U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire; Navalny Back in Court for Hearing on Extremism; Southern Ukraine Tense Waiting for Counteroffensive. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired April 26, 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: I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is deep uncertainty on Capitol Hill.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you have to change the bill to get 218 votes?
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA) U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: I'll let you know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not expect that there will be a vote as planned.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: E. Jean Carroll walking into the Manhattan federal courthouse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Carroll now 79 is suing Trump for battery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She believes that in this department store back in the nineties that he, in fact raped her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mastermind of the deadly 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul airport has been killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. officials are reaching out to the families of the 13 U.S. service people who were killed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
FOSTER: It is Wednesday, April the 26, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Washington, where a crucial vote to raise the national debt limit could come as soon as today. But as it stands right now, Republican leaders aren't sure if they have enough support in their own party to get the plan through the House.
NOBILO: The bill would cut trillions in government spending over the next 10 years. The U.S. President Joe Biden is already threatening a veto. CNN's chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As Speaker McCarthy was huddled behind closed doors for most of the day on Tuesday as he was trying to lock down enough votes to get his debt limit package through the House. He has very little margin for error. 222 Republican votes in the House, meaning that he could only afford to lose no more than four Republican votes. Because we do expect all Democrats to vote against his plan as they are demanding increase to the national debt limit without any conditions whatsoever. That is a position that is rejected steadfastly by this Speaker himself.
The Speaker wants a range of cuts. What he is proposing cuts across the federal government. New Republican priorities put to push forward, including stopping Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, adding new work requirements to the Medicaid program. But he's encountering a problem. Some members in his conference want changes to the bill, and the Republican leadership is not willing to entertain those changes yet.
REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I'm a hard no. I just can't get past $32 trillion in debt.
REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): Do the math, do the numbers and come out with something stronger. Because if this is something that the president is just going to end up vetoing, and it's a messaging bill, then we ought to have the best message. Most responsible, fiscal responsible message moving forward.
RAJU: Senator McCarthy would not say whether or not there would be a vote on Wednesday. That had been the expectation headed into this week. They had hoped the Republican leaders did that they could get enough votes to get this through the House on Wednesday evening. It is unclear if they can get to that point yet, but that is still what they're driving towards. They are concerned that if they change the bill, whether it's to take away some the rescission of economic tax breaks -- that has actually prompted a lot of concerns from some Iowa members. If they take that away, or if they change the Medicaid work requirements, and conservatives wanted to make its stricter on the how Medicaid beneficiaries would get benefits under this program through this legislation.
If McCarthy changes any of these provisions. He is concerned that it would open up the bill to a whole wide range of other changes, creating an unwieldy process and ultimately sinking the plan altogether. Which is why they are trying to pressure their members to fall in line now, even though this bill is dead on arrival at a Democratic led Senate. They still hope they can get this through the House to strengthen their negotiating position with the White House. Force the White House to the table. Cut a deal to raise the debt limit. Even as default looms as soon as June.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well failure to get the debt limit bill through the House would be a major embarrassment for Republicans. And one lawmaker says the votes are still not there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: Speaker McCarthy can lose four. Right now, how many holdouts are there yourself included?
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): Twice that. So, I do not expect that there will be a vote as planned tomorrow on the McCarthy debt limit increase. I think there are still a few details we have to work out on work requirements, on some of the green new deal tax credits, that we would like to see repealed and there's some disagreement in our conference about that.
[04:05:04]
And if we're able to get that done, I don't think it'll be tomorrow. I think that there's still some time for the cement to dry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: In the hours ahead, the woman suing former President Donald Trump for battery and defamation in a civil trial is expected to take the stand in New York. A source says E. Jean Carroll is set to testify about her allegations that Trump raped her in a luxury department store dressing room in the 1990s, then defamed her years later when she went public with those allegations. Her testimony will come one day after fiery opening statements from both sides. Carroll's attorney told jurors the testimony will show Trump's pattern of alleged violent behavior.
While the former president's attorney denied the allegations and accused Carroll of scheming with others to hurt Trump politically. CNN's Paula Reid has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): E. Jean Carroll walking into the Manhattan federal courthouse to chants from supporters. For the first day of her battery and defamation case against former President Donald Trump, it took just a few hours to impanel a jury, to hear the civil case and opening arguments began this afternoon.
The trial comes after Carroll sued Trump, accusing him of raping her in a department store in the '90s. E. JEAN CARROLL, SUING DONALD TRUMP: That was just a dumb thing to go into a dressing room with a man that I hardly know, and have him shut the door and then be unable to stop him. Sexual violence is in every country in every strata of society.
REID (voice-over): Carroll first went public with her allegations against Trump in 2019, then President Trump fired back at Carroll denying the allegations and saying the two never even met.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have no idea who this woman is. This is a woman who is also accused other men of things as you know. It is a totally false accusation.
REID (voice-over): Despite this photo from the 1980s, showing Carroll and Trump chatting, which Trump acknowledges.
TRUMP: There's some picture where we're shaking hands it looks like at some kind of event.
REID (voice-over): Carroll's lawyers say they plan to call witnesses to back up her story, and the judge has ruled two other women who alleged Trump forced himself on them, can also take the stand.
Carroll's team could also play a clip from the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape that surfaced during the 2016 presidential election.
TRUMP: You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
REID (voice-over): The Trump camp has previously dismissed his comments on that tape as nothing more than, quote, locker room talk.
Trump is not expected to appear for this trial unless called to testify. But his spokesman released a statement Tuesday, saying: This latest fake case has no merit or facts and is just another part of the witch hunt targeted to interfere and tamper with a presidential election.
REID: After a jury was impaneled, it heard opening statements from both sides of this case. Lawyers for Carroll argued that this is part of a pattern of aggressive behavior towards women. But Trump's lawyers argued this is all part of a, quote, scheme to hurt him politically, and they said, if anyone wants to do that, that's something you do at the ballot box, not in a court of law.
Paula Reid, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The former Trump White House lawyer is weighing in on the case, telling CNN's Erin Burnett it appears Carroll may have a strong case against the former president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TY COBB, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: I certainly think based on the evidence that the judges has agreed to let in that her cases is quite strong. She's got the two outcry witnesses. Outcry witnesses being people she talked to recently, you know, almost immediately after the event. Which that that that buttresses our credibility substantially.
On the other hand, keep in mind, you know, this is -- this is a long, long time ago, Almost 30 years. And those kinds of cases are difficult to prove.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, the trial is expected to last up to two weeks.
NOBILO: U.S. President Joe Biden has purchased television ad space in key battleground states after announcing his bid for reelection. The president broke the news Tuesday in the video posted online. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): The question we're facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer? I know what I want the nation to be, and I think you do too. This is not a time to be complacent.
BIDEN: That's why I'm running for reelection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Now the Biden team is looking to keep battleground states like Arizona, Georgia and Michigan and others the president one back in the 2020 election. But they're not revealing how much money they're pumping into the ad push.
[04:10:00]
NOBILO: As expected, the U.S. Supreme Court chief justice says he will not testify before Congress about the court's ethics despite the questionable behavior of at least two conservative justices. John Roberts told the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he respectfully declines the invitation. In his letter, Roberts mentioned the separation of powers within the U.S. government and the importance of preserving judicial independence.
FOSTER: One of the justices under scrutiny is Neil Gorsuch. It's recently come to light that he sold nearly $2 million property to a prominent law firm executive six years ago but did not reveal the buyer's name in his financial disclosure report. Lawyers from that same firm have appeared in numerous cases before the Supreme Court, and that's raising questions about lax reporting requirements for justices.
NOBILO: And Justice Clarence Thomas is also coming under fire amid revelations that a company with ties to his longtime friend had business before the Supreme Court in the mid-20000s. That friend who's a Republican mega donor, also paid for lavish vacations for Thomas and his wife, which Thomas did not report. He said the trips were personal hospitality and did not need to be disclosed. But Thomas noted that the rules had changed and said he would follow the guidance in the future.
FOSTER: The White House, says the terrorist leader behind the deadly 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul airport, has been killed by the Taliban. The attack came in the final chaotic days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. 13 U.S. service members and nearly 200 Afghans were killed.
NOBILO: Let's bring in CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson. Ivan, since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan back in August 2021, the Taliban have been trying to crack down on ISIS-K and it looks like that campaign is succeeding. What do we know?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, we don't know a tremendous amount about this individual incident. It's all coming from the National Security Council in the Biden administration. We've reached out to the Taliban for comment about this. Haven't heard anything back yet.
And we've heard from the father of one of the 13 U.S. service people who were killed in that suicide bombing in August of 2021, which also killed more than 170 Afghans in those chaotic days when crowds of desperate Afghans were trying to escape the Taliban regime, the victorious Taliban, and get on board planes out of Kabul International Airport.
So, the father of one of the slain Americans has confirmed to CNN that he was contacted by an official from the U.S. Marines, who confirmed that the purported mastermind of the suicide bombing had in fact been killed by the Taliban. And the other families -- surviving family members, were also being told this as well.
This highlights just a very difficult and frankly dark chapter for U.S. foreign policy and for the Biden administration. Which is under fire from the chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee.
Michael McCaul from Texas, a Republican, who put out this statement saying, quote, anytime a terrorist has taken off the board is a good day. But this doesn't diminish the Biden administrations culpability for the failures that led to the attack at Abbey Gate at the airport and will in no way deter the committee's investigation.
Since the defeat and the collapse of the Western backed Afghan government, Afghanistan always a poor country has been plunged further into penury and on the brink of famine. As well as the fact that the Taliban has inherited some of the security challenges that the Western backed Afghan government had. Notably it is now battling ISIS-K.
The U.S. senior military commander, he confirmed that since the U.S. withdrawal, the U.S. military has fewer assets to understand the potential threats that ISIS-K and al-Qaeda could pose in Afghanistan and around the world. Back to you guys. NOBILO: Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. Thank you.
FOSTER: Now to Sudan, where are U.S. citizen was killed during the unrest. Sudanese American physician Dr. Bushra Sulieman was reportedly stabbed in front of his house in the capital on Tuesday. It's not clear who attacked him. He was a professor at the University of Khartoum medical school.
NOBILO: Meanwhile, the U.N. three day cease fire is holding in some parts of the country despite reports of gunfire and clashes around Khartoum. Both of the warring sides accuse each other of violating the agreement.
CNN's senior Africa editor Stephanie Busari tracking this for us live from Lagos. Stephanie, the ceasefire, you know, giving some respite. It's good news for foreigners who managed to get to the airfield. But there's a sense of doom about what happens after.
[04:15:00]
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: Well, yes, the ceasefire in parts of the country has enabled these evacuations to happen, and Saudi Arabia has managed to get out about 114 of its citizens and also help to get out about 2,000 other nationalities, about 60 nationalities.
And but you know, this is happening against the backdrop of so many things this U.S. citizen killed outside his home and what people are telling me is a descent into criminality and just criminals taking advantage of the chaos to put even more even more havoc on the Sudanese. And this man was on his way to a dialysis appointment we're told where -- when he was stabbed by unknown people.
And then there was also a prison break. Where a Sudanese man Ahmed Harou, who was -- is wanted by the ICC, managed to break out of prison. He's vowed to put himself back once the fighting stops. And the whereabouts of former President Omar al-Bashir. He said to be in the military hospital, and there were reports that he had also broken out prison. But officers confirming that he is still in custody.
Now, there's a looming humanitarian crisis in Sudan, and that's what really people want to remind the world about. They need urgent medical support. They need help to avoid a looming disaster in a region where that was already very fragile with insecurity and also conflict in parts -- Max.
FOSTER: Stephanie thank you. What looks -- some of the aid groups we're talking about is why aren't they bringing more aid in on the on the flights that are going in to bring people back out? They're not really thinking enough about the humanitarian aid.
NOBILO: It doesn't sound at the moment as though the evacuation missions of different countries and aid groups has been particularly well coordinated. And of course, there are just deep concerns on the ground like we were hearing yesterday from the WHO about Sudanese fighters now being in control of a health laboratory in Khartoum, which they now have isolated polio, cholera and measles. So that's a really big concern, obviously, of biological risk.
Flood warnings are posted at this hour along the upper Mississippi River as melting snow pushes the water over the riverbanks. At least 20 river gauges are indicating major floods -- flood stage in parts of the upper Midwest, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri. And it's expected that that number will increase to at least 30 by next week. This is what it looked like Monday in Wabasha, Minnesota, but forecasters say that colder than expected temperatures will keep the snow from melting even faster, helping to moderate the flooding at least somewhat.
FOSTER: And California already is preparing for major flooding as a bumper crop of snow in the Sierra begins to melt. Rangers are closing Yosemite National Park beginning Friday and into next week, fearful that floods could endanger public safety. California's governor toured the Central Valley west of the Sierra on Tuesday to talk about flood control. As a major agricultural region, that could be hard hit as the snow melt in the mountains comes rushing down.
NOBILO: Still ahead, jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny makes another appearance in court amid growing concerns for his health. The latest details in a live report.
FOSTER: Plus, Ukrainian operatives celebrate what appears to be a successful drone strike in the region where it's believed Ukraine soon will mount a major counter offensive.
NOBILO: And later, as more candidates emerged for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, tough issues like abortion are back in the spotlight. How that key issue could shape the race for the White House.
[04:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: Jailed Russian opposition figure, Alexey Navalny appeared in court via video link a short time ago for yet another criminal hearing. And it comes amid new concerns about his health in prison.
FOSTER: And Clare joins us. You were watching the video. We'll talk about how he looked in a moment. But first of all, just explain the what the appearance is about.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this is not an actual court hearing in a criminal case. This is a technical hearing because the investigative committee, which is bringing extremism charges against him, has filed to limit the amount of time that he and his team have to review what we understand from his daughter and his team to be hundreds of pages of documents in this case. They are essentially trying to limit that time. He is fighting against that. So that is what this hearing is about today.
As we know, just for background, he is already in prison on 11.5 years, 2.5 of which for, you know, breaking probation terms in an old case and another nine years for fraud and contempt of court. So, if he's convicted again, that was just ramp up the existing prison term.
There are mounting concerns for his health. That appearance in court, very closely scrutinized because we heard from his spokesperson earlier in April that he had lost eight kilograms in two weeks in solitary confinement. He is saying today that he finished 15 days in solitary confinement and was put straight back in. Have a listen to what his daughter Daria Navalnaya, told Jim Sciutto about his health just on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARIA NAVALNAYA, DAUGHTER OF ALEXEY NAVALNY: The situation has gotten so ridiculous that he buys the food, which is, you know, oats. It's nothing. It's nothing luxurious and he bites the oats. The oats are brought to him, shown to him and then are just destroyed. So, he can't eat and it's you know, something so basic it's stripped away from a human being. It's outrageous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: So, his daughter and his team are saying that some of the basic rules that would apply for prisoners like being able to earn money in prison, buy food with it, eat that food and not applying to him.
[04:25:00]
Also, the rule about spending at least one day out of solitary confinement before going back in, also apparently not applying to him, according to his team. All of this, of course, smacks of, you know an attempt to ramp up pressure on him personally, but also create an even starker deterrent against dissent in Russia, as we've seen from recent sentences of other critics.
FOSTER: Clare thank you.
NOBILO: Along the front lines in southern Ukraine, a tense and uncertain waiting game is unfolding around Zaporizhia. Where Ukrainian forces say Russian troops are on the move and civilians are being evacuated from Russian held areas ahead of an expected counter offensive by Ukraine. But exactly when and where that might happen is still anybody's guess.
CNN's Scott McLean is monitoring developments and joins us now. And Scott, we've been gearing up and there's been more and more talk about this expected renewed offensive. What do we know?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so, Bianca Max, look, the Ukrainians say that things have been relatively quiet along virtually the entire front line as of late, at least from the Russian side of things. With the exception of Bakhmut, that heavily contested town in the Donbas region.
This may actually help the Ukrainians as they appear to be preparing for a large-scale counter offensive to try to retake some of that territory. And it's happening in two places primarily, in the Zaporizhia region, as you mentioned, and then further south and Kherson where the Ukrainians say that they were already seeing impressive results -- in their words -- as they've tried to -- as they say that they've taken out artillery pieces, tanks, air defense systems in the -- on the eastern side of the Dnipro River, which in that part of the country is essentially the front line. The dividing line between the Russians and the Ukrainians.
They also say that the Russians have started to evacuate civilians from Russian held territory there. Something that we also saw ahead of a Ukrainian counter offensive last year, which ended up with the Ukrainians retaking the city of Kherson.
Now yesterday the Ukrainian defense intelligence or at least a unit of Ukrainian defense intelligence released a video which appears to show a Ukrainian drone strike on what the Ukrainians said was a Russian surveillance complex in the Kherson region. Now CNN has geo located the video you're seeing there to the Russian held side of the river and hydroelectric power plant there specifically. Whether or not Ukrainian troops have actually crossed that dividing line, the Dnipro River, is still very much an open question.
On Sunday, the Ukrainian military would not confirm or deny claims circulating -- unofficial claims circulating on Russian social media channels that they had done that. Saying that right now the operation requires information silence until it is safer for the Ukrainian military to see more. You're also seeing in the Zaporizhia region, the Russians saying that the Ukrainians are building up troops east of Zaporizhia. And the Ukrainian, saying that the Russians are starting to again evacuate civilians on the Russian held side of the Dnipro River there around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
So, all of this taken collectively seems to point to some kind of a Ukrainian counter offensive that is on the horizon. What that will actually look like in the days and weeks ahead, that's still an open question though.
NOBILO: Scott McLean for us. Thank you.
FOSTER: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley says she's unapologetic about her anti-abortion views as the issue emerges as a central theme amongst 2024 presidential hopefuls.
Plus, new developments in the story of a Montana lawmaker not allowed to speak in the state legislature. We'll hear from her when we return.
[04:30:00]
