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Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan; Alito Suspects He Knows Draft Roe Leaker; U.S. Budget Battle; Texas Hit by Hail, Hurricane Force Winds; Americans Flee Sudan. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired April 29, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and around the world. I'm Anna Coren, live from Hong Kong.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, rescuers are rushing to save two children believed to be trapped in the rubble left by a Russian missile strike in Ukraine.
Sporadic fighting threatens the latest cease-fire in Sudan, as those unable to flee face food and water shortages.
And never before seen photos show the intensity and the drama inside the Situation Room during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
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COREN: We begin with a race against time after Russian missile strikes in Ukraine. Rescuers are scrambling to reach two children believed to be trapped under a building partly obliterated by a Russian missile.
It happened in the city of Uman where a boy and girl are believed to be somewhere in the lower floors of this high rise. Officials say at least 17 other victims have been rescued.
Friday's strike left at least 23 people dead, including at least four children. Two more people died in a separate attack in the city of Dnipro. One survivor in Oman took a video just moments after the strike. We have to warn you, it is graphic.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My God. I never thought this would happen. A rocket hit our building. I am covered in blood. I don't know. My windows were blown out.
This is the kids' room but we're all alive. We're just all covered in blood.
God, we don't have windows, anything. I was so afraid. (END VIDEO CLIP)
President Zelenskyy later held a minute of silence for the victims, next to visiting leaders of Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The Ukrainian president later made the case for more weapons.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We can stop terror and save people only with weapons, air defense, modern aircraft, without which, there is no fully effective air defense.
Artillery, armored vehicles, all that is necessary to provide security to our cities, villages, both in the rear and front lines.
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COREN: For more, Salma Abdelaziz joins us from London.
Let's start with the search for those children trapped in the rubble.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A harrowing attack in the city of Oman. This is in central Ukraine, about 125 miles from the capital, Kyiv. Of course, those search and rescue operations are still underway as of this morning.
We know so far 23 people were killed in that building. 18 others wounded. Again, this is just a devastating barrage of missiles coming from Russia that damaged some 10 buildings in Uman, other civilian infrastructure. Ukraine yet again accusing Russia of intentionally targeting families and innocents.
We do have a team on the ground in Uman, led by our Nic Robertson. They were speaking to emergency responders, who said they were trying to get to the lower levels of that building late into the hours last night, to reach a young boy and a young girl believed trapped inside.
It's important to note that, among those 23 confirmed dead in this attack, at least four of them were children. Again, this was an attack that happened in the early hours. You can expect families, children were sleeping in that building.
The United States, its ambassador to Ukraine, was quick to respond to this attack. I want to read you a tweet that she wrote, Bridget Brink, America's ambassador to Ukraine.
"More lives tragically lost, as Russia's missiles hit another apartment building. Russia still hasn't learned that its brutality only reinforces Ukrainian resolve and deepens our commitment to support in the fight."
That was the tweet. This comes, of course -- I'm going to take you a little bit out of Uman to bring you an update as well from Sevastopol.
We have images to show you of a fuel tanker that's on fire in Crimea, in that port city. That fire has spread across 1,000 square kilometers. And Russian-backed officials on the ground saying that it may have been the result of a drone attack. Again, we've used covert -- we've seen, rather, covert drones used in this conflict.
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ABDELAZIZ: Ukraine has time and time again denied using those drones in those Russian-occupied regions. But we could be potentially looking at a covert attack. No update on casualties yet.
COREN: Those attacks in Uman, Salma, targeting families, as you say, women, children, whilst they were sleeping in their homes, takes it to another level of brutality. Salma, many thanks.
The latest cease-fire in Sudan is once again marred by reports of fighting. Both the army and the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, accuse each other of violations. Well, this as the RSF says it now controls 90 percent of Khartoum state. Fighting has also increased in El Geneina, in Sudan's West Darfur region, with reports of deadly ethnic clashes.
Let's bring in CNN's senior Africa editor, Stephanie Busari, who joins us live from Lagos.
Stephanie, explain to us the conditions on the ground in Khartoum and the latest on the cease-fire.
Is it holding up?
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR AFRICA EDITOR: Good morning, Anna. Another day, another broken cease-fire. The cease-fire is not holding up, according to eyewitnesses, where fighting has been heard in parts of the capital, particularly around the presidential palace.
And the situation across the country is deteriorating; extreme food and water shortages and now looting. Hospitals are targeted. And reports that the RSF have occupied a water station, a vital water station, which has led to even more shortages of water.
And people are just stranded. People are stranded. The humanitarian crisis is looming large, with no sign of aid being able to get into the country. And more than 50,000 people have fled to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations, countries such as Egypt, Chad.
Saudi Arabia has also been very involved in helping to evacuate some 2,000-plus foreign nationals. We spoke to one woman, who made a harrowing journey to get out of Sudan. Take a listen to what she had to say.
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ROZAN AHMED, BRITISH SUDANESE AUTHOR AND ACTIVIST: I saw elderly people, who were just having to wait in the boiling hot heat for the process. There were so many people there. They couldn't lie down. They couldn't sit down. It just broke my heart that there wasn't any humanitarian assistance there, either. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BUSARI: Yes, that humanitarian assistance is what people are urgently asking for. Aid agencies have had to evacuate their workers. And the situation is just so perilous for them to continue to work in. And just, you know, the people of Sudan are suffering. And there's no respite in sight -- Anna.
COREN: Stephanie, we certainly appreciate the update and we know you will keep across any developments that happen. Thank you.
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COREN: Let's take a closer look now at the humanitarian situation in Sudan. Mohamed El Amin is an operations manager for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He joins me now from Khartoum.
Mohamed, great to have you with us. Tell us about the challenging conditions that you are working under and the shortage of supplies that you're facing.
MOHAMED EL AMIN, OPS MANAGER, IFRC, KHARTOUM: Thank you very much for having me live on the BBC (sic). The situation seems started almost completed two weeks. The situation is really -- it's a real catastrophe.
And the situation is really getting worse every day, as people are running out of supplies. They are running out of cash because they don't have access to banking system or any electronic systems. So the situation is getting bad.
Most of people are just leaving Khartoum to Port Sudan for (INAUDIBLE). Hospitals reported by minister of health are completely out of service. In addition, they're running out of medical supplies, running out of oxygen and medical supplies.
The conflict that inspired the cease-fire, which was announced, it has continued through some areas in Khartoum.
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AMIN: People are trying to stay either in-house or trying to go out of Khartoum. Shortage of fuel is being reported. The prices of fuel almost 10 times. And this is actually reflected in the shortage of major transport and prices of tickets doubled or almost 10 times.
So people, they cannot afford to flee Khartoum. In addition, they don't have access to any funds, as the banking system and mobile system, also bank, is out of service.
COREN: Mohamed, can I ask you the death toll currently stands at more than 500. The number of people injured, more than 4,000. But the World Health Organization believes that the real toll is, in fact, a lot higher. Tell us about the suffering that you and your staff have witnessed. AMIN: Yes, absolutely. According to the ministry of health, it's about
(INAUDIBLE) about 600. According to (INAUDIBLE) total number of IDDs exceeded 75,000. So the situation is really getting bad.
(INAUDIBLE) they have mobilized 900 volunteers throughout the country, out of which they have 245 volunteers supporting team hospitals in Khartoum in health care activities. That's including first aid, including (INAUDIBLE) psychological support and evacuation.
COREN: Mohamed, considering all the fighting and the violence, you must be very concerned about the safety of your staff.
AMIN: Yes, actually, this is one of the issues which we are taking care of, the well-being of the staff. The federation has already evacuated the international staff and also taking care of the national staff here, who are in close contact with our regional office in Nairobi (ph).
And we are getting tremendous support from them. But up to now, the situation for the staff is OK. Some of them said they need to be relocated to Port Sudan. Most likely our Port Sudan branch (INAUDIBLE) will be like a crisis management center there instead of Khartoum where (INAUDIBLE) key staff from the head of (INAUDIBLE) will be relocated there and also the same for the (INAUDIBLE).
COREN: OK.
Mohamed, can I ask you, finally, do you hold out any hope for a political resolution between the leaders of the warring factions?
Or do you fear that Sudan will plunge into full-blown civil war?
AMIN: We are hoping that, you know, things will get better and (INAUDIBLE) to calm the situation so that we can have safer passage for us as (INAUDIBLE) headquarters and movement to achieve our goal and deliver humanitarian services to the (INAUDIBLE) people.
COREN: Mohamed El Amin from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Khartoum, we wish you and your staff well. Stay safe. And thank you for the work that you are doing.
AMIN: Thank you.
COREN: Still ahead, dangerous maneuvers in the skies over Syria. The U.S. says Russian pilots are trying to virtually dogfight American jets. Coming up, why they say the risk of miscalculation is growing.
Also ahead, a U.S. Supreme Court justice has his suspicions about who might have been behind the leak of the high court's draft abortion opinion last year. That's next.
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COREN: The U.S. says Russian pilots are trying to dogfight American jets in the skies over Syria. U.S. Central Command says it's part of a recent pattern of aggressive behavior.
Officials say the Russian pilots may be trying to provoke an international incident without firing on the U.S. aircraft.
In military aviation, the term "dogfighting" means engaging in aerial combat, often at relatively close ranges. U.S. officials say they have reached out to their Russian counterparts over the recent encounters and the Russians responded but did not acknowledge the incidents.
The U.S. Army has grounded all aviators except those involved in critical missions in the wake of two recent helicopter crashes that killed 12 soldiers. The Army says the aviators will be grounded until they complete new safety training.
The safety stand-down comes after two deadly midair collisions, one on Thursday in Alaska, the other in Kentucky last month. The Army says there is no indication of any pattern between the two.
U.S. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito is speaking out about the leak of the draft abortion opinion last year, saying he has a pretty good idea of who was behind it. CNN's Jessica Schneider has the details.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Justice Alito speaking out to "The Wall Street Journal" and pointing fingers when it comes to that leak of the draft opinion last spring, overturning Roe v. Wade, saying he has a, quote, "pretty good idea" about who did it but acknowledging he just didn't have enough proof.
And justice Alito here implying that he believes that the leaker was likely someone who did not want Roe v. Wade overturned --
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SCHLESINGER: -- as it ultimately was when the court issued its 5-4 decision last June. Justice Alito interestingly also seems to be throwing cold water on this theory that's been floated, that a conservative justice or someone linked to the conservative side leaked that draft last May to lock in the votes to overturn Roe.
Justice Alito is telling "The Wall Street Journal" about that theory.
"That's infuriating to me. Look, this made us targets of assassination.
"Would I do that to myself?
"Would the five of us have done that to ourselves?
"It's quite implausible." This was a very extensive interview from Alito conducted just a few
weeks ago, mid-April. Justice Alito also talks about how the leak itself created this atmosphere of suspicion and distrust among the justices.
And he talked about how each justice now has 24/7 security protection because of the threats they faced. Justice Alito saying he's basically being driven around now in what he calls a tank for security.
He also lamented about the attacks on the court's legitimacy, saying, "This type of concerted attack on the court and on individual justices is new during my lifetime. We are being hammered daily and I think quite unfairly in a lot of instances. And nobody, practically nobody, is defending us."
Justice Alito in that sense talking about the barrage of criticism, how it's not just undermining the court but also confidence in government as a whole.
This really is the first time he's spoken out so extensively, particularly about the leak. It comes as the court is just a few weeks away from issuing more consequential decisions on issues like affirmative action and gay rights -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
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COREN: First Republic Bank could be in trouble. Its stock plummeted about 75 percent this week. It was down more than 40 percent Friday and follows a disappointing first quarter earnings report on Monday, which in turn fanned Wall Street's fears of a banking crisis.
The White House has snuffed out any hopes of government intervention. An administration source telling CNN it has no plans to rescue First Republic. This all comes just a month after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the shutdown of New York-based Signature Bank.
Well, U.S. regulators are revealing the results of their investigation into failure of those banks. The Federal Reserve says poor management is part of the reason why Signature Bank collapsed. And it was also affected by Silicon Valley Bank's failure just days before.
The report pointed to management shortcomings and to some of its own. Rahel Solomon has the story.
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RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The report thorough, more than 100 pages, its findings damning, a textbook case of bank mismanagement, it reads. The Federal Reserve releasing its highly appeared self- assessment, a post mortem, if you will, on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10.
The Fed's vice chair of supervision writing a letter that accompanied the report. Bank senior leadership failed to manage basic interest rate and
liquidity risk. Its board of directors failed to oversee senior leadership accountable and Federal Reserve supervisors failed to take forceful enough action. In other words, this was a failure at every levels.
But we already knew that the Fed was aware of some of SVB's problems. According to recent testimony, more than a year before the bank fell, Fed supervisors began raising red flags.
So why couldn't they prevent SVB's demise?
Well, the report says that supervisors delayed action to gather more evidence, even as weaknesses were clear and growing. And this meant that supervisors did not force SVB to fix its problems, even as those problems worsened.
The report also acknowledging that it's time for the Fed to reconsider how it evaluates some banks, saying, quote, "We need to evaluate how to ensure that supervision intensifies at the right pace as a firm grows in size or complexity."
So what now?
Well, Derek Tang, the CEO and co-founder of Monetary Policy Analytics, he tells me, "I think they'll be a little bit more holistic as to looking at broadening the scope of what they look at, from financial metrics, such as cash levels and the composition of their deposits to more qualitative metrics about the character of the bank."
As for the larger banking system, the report said SVB was an outlier and, quote, "Our banking system is sound and resilient" -- Rahel Solomon, CNN, New York.
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COREN: U.S. Republican House lawmakers vote to raise the debt limit. But the fight is not over. It's moving to the Democratic-controlled Senate. We'll have a report from Washington after the break.
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COREN: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Anna Coren. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Some U.S. lawmakers are calling for dialogue between the White House and Capitol Hill to resolve the impasse over raising the debt limit and avoiding economic disaster this summer.
This after House Republicans voted to raise the debt ceiling for a year in return for spending cuts that would gut President Biden's domestic agenda. CNN's Manu Raju has the story from Washington.
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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: House Republicans earlier in the week passed a bill to raise the national debt limit by the narrowest of margins. And after four Republicans voted against it, they approved it with 217 votes in the House, barely getting it through.
But that has not necessarily changed the dynamics here on Capitol Hill, because Democrats in the Senate, the Democratic leader in the Senate, the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, as well as the President of the United States.
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RAJU: All are saying they will not negotiate any sort of debt ceiling increase with House Republicans, saying simply they should raise the debt limit without any conditions, without any spending cuts because of the fact that the full faith and credit of the United States economy is on the line here.
And raise the debt limit without any conditions, they say. But that is a position that is strenuously opposed by the Republican leaders and the Republicans in the Senate, including Senate Republican Mitt Romney, who is known to have cut deals in the past but says, this time, it's the White House that should be cutting a deal with the House GOP.
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SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): The House has acted; Republicans, we, in the Senate, stand with the House. We have our point of view. Time for the President to step in and say, what's his point of view and do a deal, work together.
RAJU: Do you think that it's time for the White House to sit down with McCarthy, try to get a deal on the debt limit, actually have a meeting with Biden and McCarthy on this?
SEN. MARTIN HEINRICH (D-NM): I think that, you know, we're at a place where the President has put out his budget. We now have a counteroffer. We have to raise the debt limit. And I think the dialogue should be constructive among all of us.
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RAJU: That last comment from Martin Heinrich, a Democrat from New Mexico, one of a number of Democrats, who say there should be some sort of dialogue.
Jared Golden of Maine told me earlier in the day that the president should sit down with the Speaker of the House. They should try to find a compromise, given the House Republicans put out a plan, they passed a bill. They may not like it but they should still try to find some sort of resolution. Whether that happens, Kevin McCarthy told me earlier in the day he has not yet heard from the White House on this issue. When he will, it remains to be seen. And the possibility of a first debt default could occur potentially as early as July, according to some estimates.
We don't know the exact timeframe yet but that is not a whole lot of time, because Congress will have to cut a deal, if they are to get one; try to go through both chambers of Congress. All of that will take a significant amount of time and effort.
And right now no talks are happening ahead of what could be the first ever debt default and a potential economic disaster coming in just a matter of weeks -- Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
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COREN: Well, Florida GOP lawmakers are changing state laws and clearing the path for governor Ron DeSantis to run for president without having to resign as governor.
That provision passed Friday with a sweeping election bill that made it through the statehouse and Senate where Republicans hold super majorities. And there is more. CNN's Steve Contorno reports on the efforts and what it all means.
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STEVE CONTORNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Florida Republicans are paving the way for governor DeSantis to run for president one bill at a time. Under one measure that is moving through the state legislature, records related to governor DeSantis' travel would be exempt from the state's robust public records law.
That bill also makes it more difficult to see who is visiting the governor at the governor mansion. Another provision changes the state reporting requirements for political committees.
Right now those political committees have to report their fund-raising activity once a month. This bill changes it to once a quarter. It's in one of these committees that DeSantis has stashed $85 million for his future political ambitions.
And on Friday, lawmakers in Florida changed the state's resign to run law, which currently requires a sitting officer to resign their seat if they decide to run for another office.
But under this bill, a governor would not have to resign if he decides to run for president or vice president, making it easier for DeSantis to make that decision about whether to run because he won't have to worry about giving up his current job.
At the same time, DeSantis is taking his own steps to make it more difficult for the public to get access to his administration. He has claimed in multiple court cases that he has executive privilege and using this to block the release of records and to keep certain people from testifying in court. Now this provision is typically something that you hear presidents
use. But not before in Florida has a governor said that they have executive privilege. Now Democrats say this is all an effort to help DeSantis as he gears up to run for president.
I talked to one state senator, Senator Pizzo, who is a Democrat and he told me, quote, "His path and aspirations are just so blatant and this is all retroactive cleanup for anything he might have done in the past. This is the governor saying the public doesn't have the right to know." -- Steve Contorno, CNN, in St. Petersburg.
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COREN: Well, Texas has once again been the target for severe storms. There were dozens of severe weather reports Friday, many reporting golf ball-sized hail and hurricane-force wind gusts.
The severe weather threat continues into Saturday across the Southeast, with Florida in the crosshairs. Most of the severe weather has died down for the night.
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COREN: The Storm Prediction Center says multiple rounds of potentially heavy rainfall are expected from early Saturday into the evening hours for parts of the Southeast.
The spring snowmelt is causing the Mississippi River to rise even more, flooding many communities along its banks, like Davenport, Iowa, where residents are bracing for the river's expected crest on Monday.
But as you can see, the water levels are already very high. Local businesses are trying to get ahead of the water but it's already had a severe financial and emotional impact on them.
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CLAUDIA ANDERSON, MANAGER, THE PHOENIX: We're looking at, with lost revenue, lost wages, cleanup, we're looking at, what, $50,000? You know, $75,000, losing, you know, in money and having to retrain people if somebody left. I mean it's just -- it's a catastrophe.
COREN (voice-over): This isn't the first time Davenport has seen historic flooding; far from it. In fact, the last time was just in 2019.
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COREN: Stay with CNN. We'll be back in just a moment.
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COREN: Let's return now to the conflict in Sudan, as thousands flee the country by crossing the Red Sea into Saudi Arabia. That's where our Larry Madowo is, in Jeddah.
Larry, tell us where you are exactly and what you've been witnessing.
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are aboard the (INAUDIBLE) of the (INAUDIBLE). This is Saudi Royal Naval Forces warship and we're just about to take off for Port Sudan to accompany the Saudi military on an evacuation mission that they've been running this past couple of weeks.
So what you see over here is some of the other ships, warships, destroyers, frigates that the Saudi military has employed to rescue people out of Port Sudan, bring them out here to Jeddah and then eventually to the other countries that they want to go to.
And we understand from the minister of defense here in Saudi Arabia that the entire fleet of the Saudi Royal Naval Forces is being employed in this exercise.
This is the (INAUDIBLE) Alderia (ph), it's one of the smaller ones. It's called a corvette. It's a small warship that we're going to be using on this journey, which is going to take between 10 and 12 hours, we understand.
We'll probably be arriving in Port Sudan across the Red Sea sometime after nightfall. Then they will be having hundreds of people come on the ship and bring them back here to Saudi Arabia.
The crew that are working the ship have done this trip several times. They feel confident about it. They see it as an important tool to get people who are fleeing from the war in Sudan back to safety.
Some of them are Sudanese nationals. Some of them dual Sudanese nationals with other countries, like the U.S. and U.K. or Germany and France. Some of them are from other countries -- China, Pakistan, India.
These are just some of the countries that have used the Port Sudan base to ferry their citizens out of Sudan to go somewhere else. We're in the port of Jeddah here and I want to show you a little bit of this.
So you see exactly the setting here for this mission, which you --
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MADOWO: -- as much resources to this rescue mission of Port Sudan. Part of it is because Saudi Arabia is a key diplomatic player in Sudan. It's part of what is called the Quad, with the U.S., the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates.
In fact, some of the cease-fires that have been failed quickly but have been attempted in Sudan were negotiated with Saudi Arabia and the United States. So this is something of -- some the things that the king of Saudi Arabia says he's committed to try to get as many people out as possible.
So far, they say about 3,000 people have been evacuated out of Port Sudan to here from 80 different countries. Only about 100 of them were Saudi nationals but the rest of them were from most countries you can think of in the world.
COREN: Obviously, the Saudis getting people out; 3,000 have already been taken out to Jeddah.
What about supplies going in?
We know there's a shortage of food and water.
Is a humanitarian operation underway as well?
MADOWO: That is a critical part of this rescue mission. This specific ship is not bringing in any major supplies for people that badly need it in Sudan. They are carrying just enough for the refugees that they're going to be bringing back out.
This is the 15th day of that conflict. People are running out of basic necessities, food and water and medicines. And that's why so many people are trying to flee. Even before this conflict began two weeks ago, Sudan was already facing a major humanitarian controversy.
About 10 million people needed some form of humanitarian assistance. This has exacerbated it, especially when you consider there are reports of people robbing people's homes, coming in and taking whatever food they can.
They're going to stores and hospitals and pilfering supplies, making this situation even worse. But worst of all, in a war zone, where you can't go out and buy supplies, it's become especially dire.
COREN: As you said, the scale of suffering has been going on for a very long time. Obviously, this conflict highlights the suffering right now. Larry Madowo, we thank you for joining us from the port of Jeddah. We will check in with you again next hour.
Well, inside a momentous day, newly released photos reveal never before seen moments at the White House during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
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COREN: That story and more when we return.
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COREN: Monday will mark the 12th anniversary of the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden. We're now getting a new perspective on that historic day, as newly released photos capture the never before seen moments inside the White House Situation Room. CNN's Brian Todd has our story.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A never before seen image depicting the intensity and drama during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Then President Obama and Vice President Biden in the White House Situation Room, tension visible on their faces, pressing Defense Secretary Bob Gates, one of several newly published --
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TODD (voice-over): -- pictures from inside the White House on that momentous day, May 1, 2011.
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: They all knew, look, if this thing goes wrong, Al Qaeda fights back. Special operations people that are captured or killed. Bin Laden isn't there. The Pakistani military gets involved -- a lot of things that could go wrong.
TODD (voice-over): These pictures just obtained by "The Washington Post" from the Obama Presidential Library from a Freedom of Information Act request.
Previously, this was the image the public knew best from that day. Obama along with Biden, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top aides watching the bin Laden raid in real time, Clinton's hand over her mouth.
CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen believes this was around the time the Navy SEALs' helicopter clipped a wall and was damaged in hard landing.
Bergen interviewed President Obama and all the key players in the room for the CNN documentary, "We Got Him."
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's here where we observed for example, that one of the helicopters got damaged in the landing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what were you thinking?
OBAMA: I was thinking that this is not an ideal start.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER US SECRETARY OF STATE: And that your heart was in your throat the whole time we were in there. I've never spent any more stressful 30-plus minutes in my life.
TODD (voice-over): The newly released pictures show Obama watching intently, asking questions. When word came that the raid was successful, Obama is photographed shaking hands with Gates. Other photos depict the President making calls to give the news to former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and calls to other world leaders.
Other images show the President and his team working on the speech he would give to the nation late that night as they could hear a crowd gathering outside the White House.
In one of the newly released photos, Biden and then Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen show White House photographer Pete Souza, the rosary beads they'd had wrapped around their fingers during the bin Laden raid.
TODD: What sense do they give you of just the relief afterwards?
BERGEN: I'll tell you what a lot of people said. They said that they only really realized what a big deal this was when they left the White House. Suddenly, they hear these cheers and that's when people said, you know, some people said, I started crying.
TODD: On those phone calls President Obama made to tell other world leaders about the bin Laden raid, according to Obama's memoir, when he told them Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari about it, Zardari's reply was, "Whatever the fallout, it is very good news."
That despite the public backlash from the Pakistani government at the time, expressing serious displeasure with the raid -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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COREN: A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is coming together in an effort to fix a mental health crisis they say is fueled by social media. They've unveiled a bill that would keep young kids off popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Ivan Rodriguez has this report.
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IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A bipartisan group of senators unveiling legislation this week that would establish 13 as the national minimum age for social media use and create strict standards for verifying a user's age.
SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ (D-HI): Making young people feel the very ways that we, as parents and as a society, don't want them to feel is built into the business model.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): The proposed bill also requires parental consent for users age 13 to 17 and bans tech platforms from using teens' personal information to target them with content or advertising.
SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Social media companies have a duty to help keep kids safe and parents informed or face serious consequences.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): Lawmakers say the legislation is in line with guidance from the U.S. surgeon general.
DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: The skewed and often distorted environment of social media often does a disservice to many of those children.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): Senator Richard Blumenthal is working on a separate bill to address the problem and says he has concerns about this version. Tech accountability advocates agree the bill is focused on the wrong issue.
NICOLE GILL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACCOUNTABLE TECH: This bill doesn't actually put any responsibility onto the tech companies. Instead, it's putting more responsibility onto parents and young people to kind of self-police.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): Nicole Gill, with the non-profit Accountable Tech, argues laws should incentivize tech companies to redesign their platforms to protect mental health and privacy.
GILL: We have an opportunity right now to rethink that the way that these platforms work for young people. We should take it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Thanks to Ivan Rodriguez for that report.
Well, ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot, could actually have a better bedside manner than your real-life doctor. That's according to a new study that looked at responses to about 200 medical questions put to a public online forum.
It included queries about medical diagnoses and the need for medical attention. It turns out people preferred responses from ChatGPT.
[03:55:00]
COREN: The study says the AI bot beat doctors when it came to quality and empathy in its answers.
But while ChatGPT may be making leaps and bounds in its progress, it's still no match for trained doctors. It says so itself.
And finally, this hour, the folks at the Bronx Zoo say a peacock did not escape; he just decided to roost in a tree outside the zoo.
Well, neighbors nicknamed the bird Raul. He became something of a springtime attraction for New Yorkers of all ages. Raul eventually flew back to the zoo. He didn't -- he did peck at a man who tried to trap him, causing minor injuries. Apparently, peacocks are not exactly docile.
That wraps up this hour. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Anna Coren live from Hong Kong. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kim Brunhuber straight ahead.
