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Uman Missile Strike; Texas Hit By Hail, Hurricane Force Winds; Humanitarian Crisis In Sudan; U.S. Army Grounds All Helicopters After Deadly Crashes; U.S. Budget Battle; Interview With California Rep. Jim Costa On State's Severe Weather; Abortion Bills Fail In Two Republican States; Newly Released Photos Of Osama Bin Laden Raid. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired April 29, 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]

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And welcome to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, the latest on the search for children believed to be buried under the rubble in Ukraine, after an apartment building was hit by Russian missiles.

Plus on a boat in a port in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as it's evacuating more people from Sudan.

And fears the Mississippi river will flood while millions of people are preparing for stormy weather across the Southeast.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: We begin with a race to save lives after a massive Russian missile strike in Ukraine. Rescuers are trying to reach two children believed to be trapped in a bombed-out building in the city of Uman. Officials say 17 other victims have already been rescued from the high rise which was partly collapsed.

Friday's strike killed at least 23 people, including at least five children, while two more people died in a separate attack in the city of Dnipro. CNN's Nic Robertson saw the rescue operation firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The firefighters have been working here for over 20 hours already today. We've been watching them bring out bodies right throughout the day. They're up there now, high up, going through the last bit of rubble, they believe there are bodies up there. This is just going on all day.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Residents asleep as a Russian missile ripped through their apartments. Rescuers in this small central Ukrainian city, Uman, on the scene fast.

Serhyi was one of the first.

SERHYI ALEKSEEV, UMAN RESIDENT (through translator): There were terrible screams of children. The explosion was very powerful. The houses started to shake in the nearby areas. The first one we pulled out was a living woman who was put in the ambulance but she died in hospital.

ROBERTSON: The death toll climbing through the day. This lady telling us she heard the missile, put her kids in the bathtub and pillows over their heads and hoped they'd live.

Fighting back tears, she said so many children live here, a gaping concrete and rubble wound where those innocent lives shattered, the first missile strike in Uman since march last year.

Families and friends desperately awaiting news of loved ones. This lady telling us her friend on the eighth floor survived but the friend's two daughters, one 13 years old and the other, just 7, are still missing.

A firefighter takes us up to see those top floors. Onto the roof, nine floors above the recovery teams.

You can see how the building has literally collapsed down here. There should be building right out here and the floors pancaked down with the roof tipping over down there.

From here, the damage even more devastating than below. More than half the building's 46 apartments destroyed.

So the firefighters will come up here and as they've been doing all day in this dangerous mission here literally putting themselves in danger to try to recover, to clear out the site, to bring solace.

Ukrainian officials believe all this devastation caused by a single Russian Kh-101 stealth cruise missile. It is the single deadliest strike on civilians since January, 109 people registered living here. As night fell, many of them still unaccounted for.

And this effort here, to find the last of the missing, is massive. The police, the firefighters, they say they're going to work through the night. They're not going to give up. We've seen police here, doing DNA testing for families. Police, psychologists, counseling grieving family members here. It is a massive outpouring of support.

It's a message for the Ukrainians to themselves, it's a message to President Putin from the Ukrainians: no amount of shelling is going to make them give up -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Uman, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:05:00]

BRUNHUBER: And Salma Abdelaziz joins me from London. A horrific strike; there's been plenty of international condemnation.

You've been looking at the reaction.

What are you seeing?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely terrible scenes that you see there in our package, in that package from Nic Robertson. We do understand that, as of this morning, search and rescue operations were still underway, Kim.

There was believed to be two children, a young boy and a young girl trapped under the rubble of that home. Again, this is a strike that happened in the early hours of the morning. So families would have been sleeping.

And the United States has been quick to react to that. A tweet from the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, she said, "More lives tragically lost as Russia's missiles hit another apartment building. Russia still hasn't learned its brutality only enforces Ukraine's resolve and deepens our commitment to support them in the fight."

I want to also bring you a few more updates, Kim, across the region. I want to take you to the latest updates on the spring offensive as well. This is something that's been anticipated for months that, as the weather warms, Ukraine will ramp up its push along the eastern front line.

Of course, Russia is expected to ramp up its attacks as well. But an update from Ukraine's defense minister saying that the preparations for that counteroffensive are coming to a close.

He said -- and I'm sort of paraphrasing his quote here -- but, as long as God wills it, the weather allows and commanders give the go-ahead, we will carry out this spring offensive.

It's important to note just the pouring of weapons that have come from NATO allies in recent weeks and months. There's been this lightning speed preparation to prepare Ukrainian soldiers, to train them on this new weapon, particularly tanks. NATO says 98 percent of tanks promised by NATO allies have made their way to Ukraine.

So signs there from Ukraine's defense minister that those preparations, that training is nearing an end. I want to finally bring you an update from Crimea, Russian occupied Crimea. We have images to show you from the port city of Sevastopol.

There, a fuel tanker is on fire. That fire has spread across 1,000 square kilometers. Russian-backed officials on the ground say initial reports indicate it could have been a drone attack.

Now we know in the past, Ukraine has used drones in covert operations on Russian territory and inside Russian-occupied regions. Now Ukraine has time and time again denied this. And it's unclear what's taken place in this specific attack. But yet again something to keep our eye on. There is no update yet on casualties -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right, really appreciate the updates. Salma Abdelaziz in London, thanks so much.

Meanwhile the man who started the war, Russian president Vladimir Putin, signed a decree on Thursday that allows the deportation of Ukrainian citizens from territories illegally annexed by Russia if they're deemed a, quote, "national security threat."

Residents from Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk and Luhansk who haven't taken Russian citizenship will be recognized as foreigners and could be expelled. Ukrainians living in these areas without a Russian passport would have to apply for a residence permit, undergo fingerprint registration and provide documents translated into Russian.

A Ukrainian government adviser responded to the decree on Twitter, writing, quote, "The process of changing the ethnic composition of these territories, where Russians are being resettled, is taking place. It's an obvious manifestation of the genocidal nature of the war."

The U.S. State Department says it is, quote, "deeply disappointed" that a request to visit jailed American journalist Evan Gershkovich has been denied. Gershkovich, a reporter for "The Wall Street Journal," was detained in Russia a month ago on espionage charges.

Last week in a Moscow court, he was denied an appeal to change the terms of his detention. The State Department's request was denied by the Russian foreign ministry, which says it was in response to Washington not providing visas for Russian journalists to travel with the foreign minister to the United Nations this week.

But the State Department says it may take additional diplomatic steps to get access to Gershkovich and fellow American detainee, Paul Whelan.

Pyongyang is reacting to the U.S. visit by South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol. A party official on North Korean state media commented on this recently, announcing joint defense agreement between the U.S. and South Korea.

He called it evidence of a desire by both nations to act against Pyongyang, calling the deal an example of an extreme anti-DPRK policy that would, quote, "never be welcomed."

Texas is once again being hit by severe storms. There were dozens of severe weather reports Friday, many reporting golf ball-sized hail and hurricane force wind gusts.

[04:10:00]

BRUNHUBER: The severe weather threat continues across the Southeast, with Florida in the crosshairs.

In this video, a waterspout just north of Miami, it meandered for several minutes but luckily never came ashore. There was a report of a possible tornado in Palm Beach County. Now most of the severe weather has died down for the night but the

Storm Prediction Center says multiple rounds of potentially heavy rainfall are expected from early Saturday into the evening hours for the parts of the Southeast.

It's not just wind and hail threatening parts of the U.S.; spring snow melt is causing the Mississippi River to rise even more, flooding many communities along its banks, like Davenport, Iowa, where residents are bracing for the expected crest on Monday. As you can see, the water levels are already high.

Local businesses are trying to get ahead of the water. But it's already had a severe financial and emotional impact on them. This isn't the first time Davenport has seen historic flooding. The last time was just in 2019.

And California is bracing for the full impact of all the rain and snow it's received in recent weeks. Coming up, we'll talk with a state lawmaker about his appeal for help and the possible impact on food prices across the U.S. and beyond.

And thousands are seeing -- seeking to flee the fighting in Sudan. We'll take you live to Saudi Arabia, where many evacuees are ending up.

Plus, U.S. Republican house lawmakers vote to raise the debt limit. But the fight is moving to the Democratic-controlled Senate. A report from Washington after the break. Please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: The latest ceasefire in Sudan has been marred by reports of fighting. Both the army and the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, accuse each other of violations. 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. Basic necessities like food, water and medicine are in short supply across the country.

The United Nations says more than 50,000 people have already fled to neighboring countries, while thousands of other civilians are reportedly unable to escape the fighting. Larry Madowo is on a boat in the port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where many fleeing Sudan have ended up.

Larry, tell us a bit more about what you're seeing there and why you're there.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kim, we're on a Saudi warship and about to take off to Port Sudan evacuate more people who have made a difficult journey to get to Port Sudan. And they're going to be brought back here and eventually to whatever country they're going to.

So far Saudis say they've evacuated about 3,000 people from 80 different nationalities; most were not from Saudi Arabia, only 100 or so were from Saudi Arabia. We're awaiting one ship expected to dock here in 30 minutes, bringing more people trying to escape the conflict in Saudi Arabia.

This is what is called a small warship, part of the fleet of the Saudi Royal Naval Forces, involved in the operation to evacuate as many people as possible out of Sudan. Saudi Arabia is a key diplomatic player in the country. It's part of what's called the Quad, the U.S., the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates.

This is on the military side of the Jeddah port, the commercial side. And you see the other ships in the fleet of the Saudi Naval Forces carrying out this operation constantly. They've been coming back and forth in Port Sudan and Jeddah across the Red Sea.

The reason maybe Jeddah is an important part of the evacuation operation, it's the closest major port from Port Sudan under the Red Sea that people can take across here, especially for people who didn't have initially evacuation efforts on the nations, such as the United States.

The United States evacuated diplomatic staff at the Khartoum embassy. But private citizens were told it's too dangerous to coordinate an evacuation of private U.S. citizens. Many came here to eventually make it to the U.S. or whatever country they want to go to -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Thanks so much. Larry Madowo, appreciate that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: For more now, I want to bring in Esraa Bani, an American Sudanese volunteer, who lives in Abu Dhabi but traveled to Egypt to distribute aid to evacuees from Sudan.

Thank you for being here with us. Tell us exactly where you are.

ESRAA BANI, AMERICAN SUDANESE VOLUNTEER: I'm right now in Aswan, actually stationed -- as you can hear the train -- stationed right next to the Aswan train station. And we've been going to the border and to this area called Kolkata (ph), which is one of the first stops before you enter Aswan. And we're also here in Aswan.

BRUNHUBER: What kind of stories are evacuees telling you about what they've been through?

BANI: It's horrific stories that we've been hearing. I just -- it's very hard to even process. You have about 270,000 people, being stuck in the border, trying to leave. None of them expected that they will be waiting for five days to cross the border, which should be, you know, taking maybe at most like six hours or five hours. So people are coming not prepared. And even people who are prepared

and had money to buy supplies to keep them alive don't have the access to supplies. The supplies are running short.

So we do know that many people have passed away, actually, in the border. So they're fleeing war. And they're actually dying from dehydration. You have diabetes patients, people with heart problems.

It's a really very difficult situation, especially for the ones that we meet right at the border when they're leaving. They couldn't even find water for many days. So the ones that are making it here, some of them get taken --

[04:20:00]

BANI: -- by the ambulance right when they arrive here actually.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, it sounds like a desperate situation for so many people and a chaotic situation at the border.

How exactly are you trying to help them?

BANI: Look, I'm going to be extremely honest. When we came here, we wanted to distribute aid, because people are sending us messages. I'm an individual, right, I'm not an entity, I'm not an organization. Our families are sending us messages from the border, saying help, SOS, help, we need water, we need food, et cetera.

So the most normal thing you would think is that we would collect some money and we would help them out, right?

The Sudanese diaspora and our friends have come together to fund an evacuation process that should have been done by an international NGO or at a country level. It is now completely being funded by individuals like myself.

And we came -- we honestly did come to the border with supplies that we thought at the beginning was for a 1,200 people that were struck. We found the numbers were astronomically higher than that. People stuck in between Egypt and all the way into Sudan are close to 300,000 people.

And you're not allowed to take the supplies actually in to distribute them. So they're going in; you don't see where it's going. People are coming out and most of the people are saying that they could not find enough supplies, right?

So we started rerouting our help or aid to helping people who are just leaving out. There are a lot of people where the buses just left them at the border and went back to Sudan. So there are people who are stranded after this five-day trip and could not -- cannot get themselves to Aswan.

So it's not even a funding issue as much as a strategic. It needs like a full evacuation, humanitarian crisis strategic plan. But individuals are now a part of, individuals like myself, where we're trying to find out buses, to pick up people from that area, taking them to Kolkata (ph), finding out where people are going to stay.

I'm going to be really honest, it's all run on WhatsApp groups by multiple Sudanese all across the world. We are just our friends.

BRUNHUBER: I want to ask you, because you talked about people feeling they were abandoned. Some countries are extracting their citizens. The U.S. so far, you know, has said that the situation on the ground isn't conducive to getting all of their citizens out. It's led to a lot of anger. Many are dual Sudanese U.S. citizens like yourself.

What do you make of the Biden administration's decision on this?

Could they be doing more here?

BANI: Absolutely. You know, the thing about it, I'm now here. I have just came in, I spent the night, actually, with an elderly senior citizen, Sudanese citizen, that just came out of the border and was in a very bad situation, to have to be taken to the hospital. So I've been spending the day with her here.

We called the U.S. embassy and they weren't able to provide any help. I had to provide the help. I'm taking care of these citizens. And everybody is just calling each other, helping each other. It's an amazing community.

But most of the people crossing the border are dual citizens from lots of different countries. We've found people who are British Sudanese, Australian, that made it across the border because they were left behind.

And not only were they left behind when they were asking for help in the border or being stuck in the border or have health issues, nobody came for them, right?

So they are relying a lot more on the Sudanese diaspora network than they are relying on their own embassies.

And if they are evacuating people from, I don't know where, they're evacuating, greeting (ph) people, could they have at least some presence on the ground in (INAUDIBLE) and in the borders?

Could they have some hotline presence on the ground to help the citizens that made it across to get them back to the U.S.?

We've already funded a big part of this.

Could you please fund just the last part, like fly out your citizens?

I think that's a very simple thing to ask for, right, it's a very reasonable request. We've already got them here. They're alive. Please, please take them.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, those are definitely the questions so many people are asking. We will have to leave it there. But I just want to commend your incredible efforts that you're going to, to help people. I know you're driving hours to the border and back, just to help

people. So really, really want to commend you for that, Esraa Bani in Aswan, Egypt, thank you so much for talking to us, really appreciate it.

BANI: Thank you, thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: 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.

[04:25:00]

BRUNHUBER: 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's no indication of any pattern between the two.

And California is just getting through one of its wettest winters on record. Just ahead, the devastating impact the rain and snow are having on the state's crops.

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BRUNHUBER: And welcome back to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber and this is 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.

Now 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.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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. 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 --

[04:30:00]

RAJU: -- 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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: President Biden is making his first big fundraising push since officially launching his reelection campaign earlier this week. He met with more than 100 of his biggest donors at a Washington hotel Friday night.

The president told attendees, quote, "We need you, our democracy needs you, because this is about our freedoms. MAGA Republicans are trying to take us backwards. Together, we're not going to let them do it."

In the Midwest, the Mississippi River continues to rise. It comes as snow from this year's blockbuster season is still melting and could potentially lead to the worst flooding in 20 years in some places. Have a look.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): This is Davenport, Iowa, where some homes and businesses have already taken on water, with the city's mayor saying the worst is still to come. Several roads have been closed, as flooding threatens towns all along the Mississippi.

Now flooding there isn't the only concern in the U.S. Those in California are preparing for floods this weekend, too. Parts of Yosemite National Park closed on Friday over flooding concerns. The park has remained closed until Wednesday but the closure could last longer.

State and local officials are preparing for floods in the Tulare Lake Basin as snow melt starts. California Governor Newsom visited the lake Tuesday to find ways to divert the snow melt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): You can look at a scene like this and think the worst is going to recede, that the worst is behind us, when, in fact, quite the contrary. Every day, you're seeing incremental half- inch, an inch of more water, new water, present itself here in this basin.

As a consequence, we not only need to maintain our vigilance but we can't be impatient in terms of the impending floods and the damage that will occur here.

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BRUNHUBER: Billions of dollars in agricultural products can be lost to flooding, according to California's Department of Food and Agriculture. California representatives are pushing for a disaster relief package to combat just that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: For more on this I'm joined by congressman Jim Costa, representing the 21st Congressional District and also a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee.

Thank you so much, Congressman, for being here with us. So normally, as you know in California, we're talking about severe drought.

But over the last year it's been storms and flooding. We saw, on many farms, equipment swept away by water, employees out of work for weeks, economic losses.

What effect have the storms had on farms and ranches?

REP. JIM COSTA (D-CA): Well, we've had a devastating effect and we're still attempting to determine the economic losses. We are surveying every agricultural county in the valley and elsewhere in California every week to determine what the crop losses are going to be, based upon flooding that's taking place.

The reemerging of a historic lake called Tulare Lake and we're not out of the woods yet because as the temperatures are increasing now --

[04:35:00]

COSTA: -- in the springtime, in May, it was 93 degrees today, that 250 percent to 300 percent snow pack in the high Sierra Nevadas above normal. That's 250 percent to 300 percent above normal is just now starting to melt.

And so we're concerned about additional flooding. That's why road -- this bipartisan letter to ask the leadership in the House and in the Senate to work with the president on the disaster designation status that he has declared on those counties that have been the hardest hit.

BRUNHUBER: So what exactly would that do?

COSTA: Well, the disaster status makes funding available from FEMA. And it also provides additional funding from other sources, as we're determining how we're going to make up the losses that have been impacted by our farms.

We've had dairies that are milking 2,000 cows and more that have had to be relocated. And that's quite a challenge, to move 2,000 to 3,000 cows and then to try to find a setting where they can continue to be milked.

(CROSSTALK)

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And it's not just the farms as well; I mean, it's the farm workers, too, who are extremely vulnerable. I was reading some 12,000 jobs were lost last year.

COSTA: Yes, and that number will, sadly, I think, grow, because land that cannot be put back into production -- I mean, usually we are in the middle of planting season in March. We're now at the end of April and we're now just starting to plant some of these crops, where we can get in the ground.

But there are other places, where this Tulare Lake is reemerging, that we're not going to be able to get in that ground for over a year or longer. And so farm workers are going to be very much impacted. And we're looking for assistance for them as well.

BRUNHUBER: And impacted not just, you know, the farmers and the workers, I mean it's something that affects us all. Your state, as you know, produces a third of the nation's vegetables and two-thirds of the fruit. And Canada as well gets a lot of its produce from California as well.

What are the downstream effects on the food supply?

Will things be harder to get, will they cost more?

COSTA: Well, undoubtedly they're going to cost more. I mean, let me give you some numbers. I mean, California produces 98 percent of the processed tomatoes. You know, that's tomato sauce for pasta and for pizza and all those wonderful things we enjoy; 85 percent of the citrus.

And so we are still trying to determine how our navel oranges and mandarins have been impacted; 75 percent of the world's almonds, 50 percent of the world's pistachios, 20 percent of all the milk product for the United States is produced in California.

So we're the number one agricultural state, people tend to forget that, with over 300 crops that we grow. And so we're going to find that impact in the grocery store and in our favorite restaurants and fast food places.

We don't know what the totality of that's going to be yet at this time. We're trying to make a determination so that we can try to mitigate for those losses.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. It's so vital for so many people and so many Americans across the country. Congressman Jim Costa, I have to leave it there. Thank you so much for being here with us, I really appreciate it.

COSTA: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Ahead, a Supreme Court justice has his suspicions about who might have been behind the draft abortion opinion leak last year. That's next. Stay with us.

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[04:40:00]

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BRUNHUBER: U.S. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito says he has a pretty good idea who was behind the leak of a draft abortion opinion last year. Alito suggested it was someone who opposed reversing the Roe v. Wade precedent that protected abortion rights nationwide.

He made the comments in a "Wall Street Journal" article published Friday, dismissing the idea it was leaked by one of the five conservative judges. Alito also said in the interview he doesn't have proof enough of who was behind the leak to actually name the person. CNN's Jessica Schneider has more details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Two bills to further restrict abortions have failed in Nebraska and South Carolina.

While several Republican-led states have enacted sweeping abortion restrictions since the court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, the unpopularity of the bans around the country may be causing some Republican lawmakers to reconsider their stance.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher has more on the story.

[04:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENRY GUSTAFSON (R-SC), STATE SENATE: There are millions of women who feel like they have not been heard and that's why I'm standing up here.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lawmakers in two conservative states, South Carolina and Nebraska rejecting extreme abortion restrictions Thursday by the slimmest of margins, just one vote.

For the third time since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade last summer, the South Carolina state Senate where Republicans outnumber Democrats nearly two to one blocked a ban on abortion in the state with limited exceptions for rape and incest.

The five women senators, three of whom are Republicans, led a filibuster where they spoke for days about biology, backlash and the concept of control.

SHEALY: Once a woman became pregnant for any reason she would not become property of the state of South Carolina.

SENN: Abortion laws have always been each and every one of them about control.

GALLAGHER: In Nebraska, Thursday, tears and cheers, after lawmakers killed a bill that would ban abortion around the sixth week of pregnancy, often before someone knows they are pregnant, a vote to break a filibuster failed by just one vote when two senators abstained, one of them the bill's cosponsor, 80-year-old Merv Riepe who said he'd done more research and offered an amendment moving the deadline to 12 weeks. That never got a vote.

MERV RIEPE (R-NB), STATE SENATE: The six-week ban appears to be a winner-take-all position and the pushback will be strong. It will be immediate and it will be funded heavily as now seen in other states.

GALLAGHER: His warning on the pushback felt nationally and the first real test after the Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling gave states the final decision on abortion, Kansas voters shocked Republicans with a resounding rejection of restrictions at the polls.

But since then, several states have enacted new laws severely limiting abortion access, especially in the south, though some states remain tied up in the courts.

South Carolina did pass a six-week abortion ban but the state Supreme Court struck it down. So as neighboring states shut down access, South Carolina has seen a sharp increase in out of state patients seeking abortion care.

Right now abortion is legal in South Carolina and Nebraska until about 20 weeks. That doesn't mean further restrictions are totally off the table, especially in South Carolina where there's about a week of the session to go. In fact, the state Senate passed a bill they say addresses the issues the state Supreme Court had with the original six-week abortion ban with exceptions but according to those three senators, the Republican women, the House won't entertain anything that is not a total ban from conception. They told CNN they believe the two chambers are at an impasse. Dianne Gallagher, CNN. Back to you.

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BRUNHUBER: Inside a momentous day; newly released photos reveal never before seen moments at the White House in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. That story and more when we return, please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Monday is the 12th anniversary of the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden. We're now getting new perspective on the 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 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 --

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TODD: -- "Whatever the fallout, it is 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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BRUNHUBER: The U.K. is getting ready for a very big day, the coronation of King Charles III now only a week away. The palace just released new portraits of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

The photographs were taken last month in the blue drawing room at Buckingham Palace. Charles and Camilla sitting in chairs dating back to the 1800s.

And the Stone of Destiny is on its way from Edinburgh Castle to Westminster Abbey. The stone is an ancient symbol of Scotland and has been used in coronations for centuries.

Be sure to watch special live coverage of the coronation of King Charles III next Saturday May 6th, starts at 5:00 am in New York, 10:00 am in London here on CNN.

And finally, this hour, the folks at the Bronx Zoo say a peacock didn't escape; he just decided to roost in a tree outside the zoo. 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 but he did peck at a man who tried to trap him, causing minor injuries.

That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in just a moment. Please stay with us.