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CNN International: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan to Remain in Police Custody for 8 Days; Comer: President's Son Took Millions from Foreign Entities; Ukraine Claims Progress in Bakhmut Counteroffensive; Concerns Over Misinformation Ahead of 2024 U.S. Election. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 11, 2023 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:00]

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: For security purposes by the federal governments and by the provincial governments of various provinces across the country.

Protests have actually quelled down at the moment. But what is really important to note is that Imran Khan was not arrested by the police. He was arrested by paramilitary troops on Tuesday afternoon here in Pakistan. And the military has sent out a very strongly worded statement along with the Prime Minister condemning these protests. The military has in fact said that they're going to take very strict action against anyone who tries to damage any military or property that belongs to law enforcement officials.

Pakistan's Prime Minister has actually gone out and called those people who have been protesting terrorists. Now we're waiting to see how today is slightly calmer. It's only the early hours of Thursday morning. But we're going to have to wait to see whether people will continue to come out or will these words by the military make any difference to the people coming out in the streets -- Bianca.

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for your reporting, Sophia for us in Islamabad.

Now my favorite story of the day. Police in Malaysia say two boys ages 6 and 3 crashed their parents' car when they took it late for a late night Wednesday, to buy a toy car. This individual video was filmed by another driver who was following the car assuming that a drunk driver was behind the wheel. But police say it was actually the 6-year-old boy driving the white car. The boys made it about a mile and a half or two and a half kilometers, serving across the road before they lost control and crashed. But no one was seriously hurt. Police are investigating what led up to this.

After months of relentless Russian attacks, Ukraine says it's now pushing back in Bakhmut. We'll go live to eastern Ukraine for the latest.

And a top Republican lawmaker makes a splash about Hunter Biden's foreign dealings. But still presents no actual evidence of wrongdoing. We'll have the latest on this investigation. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:35:00]

NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. And if you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

The COVID era immigration policy Title 42 is set to expire later today. Border officials say they are prepared. But several towns say they expect a surge of migrants like no other.

And Republican Congressman George Santos has pleaded not guilty to 13 federal charges, including fraud and money laundering. He was released on bond and had to turn over his passport to authorities. Santos says he will not resign his seat.

A top Republican lawmaker says he has incriminating bank records involving President Biden's son Hunter and his business dealings. What James Comer didn't show, was any evidence tied directly to the president or in fact, that any of it was illegal. CNN's Sara Murray is in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): House Oversight Chair James Comer offering new details to bolster his claims that members of Joe Biden's family, including his son Hunter, received millions of dollars in payments from foreign entities in China and Romania.

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): I want to be clear. This committee is investigating President Biden and his family's shady business deals that capitalize on Joe Biden's public office and risked our country's national security.

MURRAY (voice-over): Committee Republicans cited new bank records they obtained via subpoena that include payments made to companies tied to Hunter Biden.

COMER: Many of the wire payments occurred while Joe Biden was vice president and leading the United States' efforts in these countries.

MURRAY (voice-over): Republicans also allege Hunter Biden and his associate used family ties to facilitate a 2016 meeting between a top Biden advisor and a Serbian national running for a United Nations role.

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): These people didn't come to Hunter Biden because he understood world politics or that he was experienced in it or that he understood Chinese businesses. They wanted him for the access his last name gave them.

MURRAY (voice-over): But, so far, Republicans have failed to unearth any payments to Joe Biden while he was vice president or after leaving office. And their report does not suggest illegality in the payments from foreign sources. The president has repeatedly denied any involvement in his son's overseas deals.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have never once discussed this issue with Hunter while I was vice president. And the reason is to keep this wall between me and anyone involved with me at all, whether it's family or otherwise.

MURRAY (voice-over): But that hasn't stopped the GOP's investigations.

COMER: We're pretty confident that the president was very knowledgeable of what his family was doing.

MURRAY (voice-over): Republicans took aim at Joe Biden for railing against corruption as vice president.

BIDEN: Corruption saps the collective strength and resolve of a nation.

MURRAY (voice-over): In the same nations where members of his family were allegedly profiting.

COMER: While Vice President Biden was lecturing Romania on anti- corruption policies, in reality he was a walking billboard for his son and family.

MURRAY (voice-over): Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell says there is no evidence of wrongdoing by his client.

Today's so-called revelations are retread, repackaged misstatements of perfectly proper meetings and business by private citizens.

MURRAY: Now the White House slammed James Comer even before the words came out of his mouth at that press conference. The White House spokesperson Ian Sams took aim at Comer for playing it fast and loose with the facts -- and according to Sams -- spreading baseless innuendo.

Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: There's been a dramatic turn of events in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut following months of brutal Russian attacks. Ukraine released this video on Wednesday saying that it shows its forces going on the offensive near the city. Russian troops have already been pushed back as much as two kilometers in some areas, according to Kyiv. This comes after the head of the Wagner mercenary group accused regular Russian forces of fleeing from the battle.

Nic Robertson is standing by for us in eastern Ukraine with the latest. Nic, it's interesting because you've been telling me this week that there isn't any obvious sign of a buildup to this counteroffensive. And indeed, we heard from President Zelenskyy that they need a bit more time to prepare. But as we're seeing in Bakhmut, there's a huge amount of pressure on Ukraine to show that this Western military aid is resulting in battlefield gains. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There is and I

think President Zelenskyy and the other officials we talk to behind the scenes here shared the same view that they need to show results. But at the same time, they don't need to get their troops needlessly killed. So, they need to get the offensive just right. As were standing here.

[04:40:00]

Over in the Bakhmut direction, I just heard an explosion sort of wafted over the horizon. It's a distance away so it's sort of muffled.

But the fight in Bakhmut is perhaps critical to decisions the Ukrainian government is about to take. Because they have had that success there. It's hard for us to know precisely what's happening there at the moment. But the best that we understand is that Ukrainians want to hold the ground that they have taken and potentially push it even further forward. We talked to an officer who was involved in the fighting there over the past couple of days and this is what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OLEKSANDR, UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES OFFICER (through translator): Sense Saturday, our troops advanced 1 1/2 kilometers south of Bakhmut. This was very unexpected. According to radio intercepts, it was very unexpected for the Russians too.

ROBERTSON: What's the plan now?

OLEKSANDR (through translator): Our personal plans are to hold our ground and wait for the orders to launch a counteroffensive.

ROBERTSON: When is the counteroffensive going to come and where?

OLEKSANDR (through translator): When? Soon.

ROBERTSON: What is success going to look like?

OLEKSANDR (through translator): It is hard to say whether 5, 10 or 50 kilometers will be liberated. This is why I understand that on one hand the international community is watching us and trying to help us. But we have to understand that this is not a game, this is war. And you have to understand that first of all there are human casualties. For us, the victory is when a soldier returns from the battle. And not when he dies. There is a proverb that you should not die for Ukraine but you should fight for Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (on camera): And in the past 24 hours President Zelenskyy spoke with European broadcasters and that was a message that he echoed there. That he doesn't want to see needless sacrifice by having a counteroffensive too soon. But on the other hand he knows that he needs to balance that against the international expectations. And I think when we hear from President Zelenskyy so close to what

could be this major counteroffensive, you have to also understand that although he is speaking to that European constituency that has given him so much support, there is a counter message here to try to get into the psyche of the Russian thinking. When will it come? Is the president really speaking the truth? Is it going to be tomorrow? Is it going to be in a month? So, there is a massive psychological game -- not game but effort here to confuse the Russians in all of this.

NOBILO: Nic Robertson live for us from eastern Ukraine, thank you so much.

The 2024 U.S. election cycle could be the first where artificial intelligence plays a key role in influencing voters. Why experts say this could be cause for concern.

[04:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: For the first time in the U.S. advisers with the Food and Drug Administration have voted unanimously to make a birth control pill available over the counter. The experts concluded that the benefits outweigh the risks and that women would use the pill, called Opill, safely and effectively. The manufacturer called the vote a groundbreaking move for women health. The FDA doesn't have to follow the advice of its advisors but it often does. A final decision is expected this summer.

The 2024 presidential election season is ushering in the use of artificial intelligence in campaigns. Republicans were first out of the gate with this AI ad depicting Joe Biden as leader of a it is a dystopian society. So, will voters always be able to know what's real and what's fake? Brian Todd is on the case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCKER CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: Hey, it's Tucker Carlson.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just days after being fired from Fox News, right wing provocateur Tucker Carlson announced a new show on Twitter with a conspiratorial take on the news we consume.

CARLSON: At the most basic level, the news you consume is a lie. You are being manipulated.

TODD (voice-over): This from the man who repeatedly laid out baseless theories on his Fox show.

CARLSON: FBI operatives were organizing the attack on the Capitol.

TODD (voice-over): The man whose platform Carlson could soon be joining, Twitter CEO Elon Musk, tweeted that they haven't signed a deal yet after earlier tweeting, quote, trust nothing, not even nothing.

Seemingly reflective of what "Axios" in a new article calls the new "trust- nothing" era of American politics.

DARRELL WEST, TECHNOLOGY & POLITICS ANALYST, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: There's going to be a tsunami of disinformation in this election. It's going to be hard to know what to trust. Viewers are not going to be able to distinguish the real from the fake.

TODD (voice-over): Take a recent ad produced by the Republican National Committee in response to President Biden's announcement that he's running for reelection. Images in the ad were generated by artificial intelligence, AI, and tick through a series of imagined dystopian scenarios if Biden wins.

RNC AD: This morning, an emboldened China invades Taiwan.

RNC AD: Financial markets are in freefall as 500 regional banks have shuttered their doors.

TIA MITCHELL, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Right now, it's the wild, wild rest, which we saw in the RNC ad. Now if the RNC was transparent that it was AI, but again the concern is other people won't be as transparent.

TODD (voice-over): AI and the potential that it will spread misinformation is such a concern that the White House recently hosted the CEOs of top AI companies and warned them of the perils AI poses to the public.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What you're doing has enormous potential, and enormous danger.

TODD (voice-over): These days, there are deep fakes all over social media, from a computer-generated Mark Zuckerberg, to fake news anchors from China. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy supposedly surrendering, and counterfeit clips of Trump and Biden.

DARRELL WEST, AUTHOR, "POLICYMAKING IN THE ERA OF AI": The sophisticated AI tools for creating fake videos is available to everybody. You don't need to be a coder or a technical person in order to use these types of techniques. Anybody can engage in disinformation, and a lot of people will be engaging in disinformation.

TODD (voice-over): What can the average voter do in this election cycle to avoid falling for campaign misinformation?

MITCHELL: Going into the 2024 election, people are going to have to be really judicious about their news sources.

TODD: And if the Russia probe stemming from the 2016 election taught us anything, it is how easily bad actors, like nation states or others who want to undermine American elections, can use social media to spread misinformation and put their thumb on the scale to manipulate American voters.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Still to come, two NBA teams on the cusp of elimination managed to stay alive. We'll look at where things stand in the playoffs.

And the results that you see in your Google search will soon be changing. The latest on that update, next.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Two NBA teams hoping to have clinched their playoff series were sorely disappointed on Wednesday. The Golden State Warriors managed to survive at home with a 121-106 victory over Los Angeles. The Lakers now hold a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinals. But their star center Anthony Davis suffered a head injury late in the game and it's not clear if he'll play in the next one. And the New York Knicks also cheated death with a win at home over the Heat. Final score 112-103. The Miami Heat leads the Eastern Conference semifinals 3-2. All four teams will play again in game six of their series on Friday.

A good night for Canada's two remaining teams in the NHL playoffs. A flurry of first-period goals powered the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights. The Western conference semifinal series is now tied at two games a piece. Vegas hosts game five on Friday.

And the Toronto Maple Leafs kept their playoff hopes alive eking out a 2-1 win against the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 1996. Toronto last won the Stanley Cup in 1967. Game five is on Friday in Toronto.

And finally, Google is adding an artificial intelligence chat feature to its main search engine.

[04:55:00]

Users of the new Google search will automatically see a pop-up with an AI generated response along with the traditional results. The company says the AI chat bot will answer questions that, quote, you never thought search engines could answer. The new Google search will first launch in the U.S. through the Google app or the Chrome desktop browser.

Changes are also coming to the Disney+ streaming service. During an investor call the company laid out a plan to increase profits. It includes offering less content, selling more ads and charging higher fees. Subscribers who want the ad free version will also have to pay more. Disney+ and its other services ESPN+, Hulu collectively cut losses by 13 percent in the previous year or about $228 million in savings.

Commercial rockets, commercial space trips, now a race is heating up to develop the first commercial space station. The California company called Vast, says it aims to launch one as early as August 2025. The station dubbed "Haven-1" would go up on a rocket developed by SpaceX. Vast is still looking for the four paying crew members on its maiden mission. Other private companies are also developing their space stations too. One thing that's still unclear is the price tag of staying on Haven-1.

That does it here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. I'll see you tomorrow. "EARLY START" with Christine Romans is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Most people understand what happened. It was a rigged election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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