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Deforestation Soars Despite Pledges From World Leaders; Vladimir Putin Thanks Russian Army For Stopping "Civil War"; Human Remains Identified As Missing Actor Julian Sands; Former Wagner Commander Speaks about Rebellion; How Trump's Words Have Come Back to Haunt Him; President Maada Bio Sworn in Hours after Win; "Zone" Aims to Ease Skepticism Surrounding Blockchain; Ryan Seacrest to Host "Wheel of Fortune" Next Year. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 28, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:27]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour on CNN Newsroom. After the mutiny, how long before the next? Can Vladimir Putin regain his absolute hold on power after a military rebellion left him looking weak and vulnerable?
What was celebrated at the time is a landmark agreement by world leaders to say that force has been an abject failure. And no one seems surprised.
And couldn't be a wheel of misfortune for Ryan Everywhere (ph) Seacrest named the new host of one of the longest running and most popular game shows on American television.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: Good to have you with us for another hour here on CNN. While the recent turmoil in Russia may have overshadowed the war in Ukraine, the deadly conflict there grinds on with word now of a deadly missile strike in the eastern city of Kramatorsk.
Officials now say eight people were killed dozens injured when at least one Russian missile hit a crowded restaurant in the city's downtown area. Rescue crews are continuing their search for survivors. And Russia is being accused of deliberately targeting a civilian area. Ukraine's president says those responsible must be held to accountable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Every such act of terror proves again and again to us and to the whole world that Russia deserves only one thing as a consequence of all that it has done, defeat and to tribunal, fair and lawful trials against all Russian murderers and terrorists. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks doing his part to move past the Wagner group insurrection, praising security forces for preventing a civil war, promising to investigate the Wagner Group's finances. Nick Paton Walsh reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): President Putin is used to conjuring his own reality on state TV. But it was not clear during an array of post rebellion pomp on Tuesday, who is left buying it. His top brass, whose removal it was all about. Still remarkably there too. As Putin surreally thanked land forces, who barely intervened as Wagner advanced on Moscow at the weekend for saving Russia.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Defended the Constitution. You saved our people, our homeland virtually, you stopped a civil war.
WALSH: And he bizarrely later told soldiers, the Russian state him, in effect had paid a billion dollars to the rebellious Wagner group as it fought in Ukraine over the past year.
PUTIN (through translator): I want everyone to know about this. The maintenance of the entire Wagner group was fully provided for by the state. We fully funded this group from the Ministry of Defense and from the state budget.
WALSH: It was a strange self-own, a bid to paint former confidant turned insurrectionist Yevgeny Prigozhin last seen here in Rostov on Saturday as a corrupt profiteer. But the new spin is too late as Prigozhin no longer the target of Russian prosecutors Tuesday appear to have fled to Belarus.
According to its President Alexander Lukashenko who relished in colorfully describing a starkly contrasting weekend to Putin, in which he persuaded Prigozhin in a phone call to stop his tanks moving on Putin. That was cursing.
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Yevgeny was in complete euphoria. There were 10 times more explosives than normal words. I said Putin will not talk to you due to the situation. He was silent and then said, but we want justice and we'll go to Moscow. I said halfway, you will be just crushed like a bug.
WALSH: Lukashenko said later Saturday, Prigozhin agrees to stop his advance in return for his offer of safety in Belarus, and added Wagner would be useful in Belarusian ranks. Putin's headache now slightly further away, but still pounding.
A drama miles from the wars grind where Ukraine's president Zelenskyy has hailed advances in all directions, but where a breakthrough is lacking. Russian troops targeted here outside Bajmut, usually don't have phones, and may not have learned yet of Wagner's revolt. What morale will be left to shatter when they do. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:05:00]
VAUSE: Rose Gottemoeller is the former NATO Deputy Secretary General, and now a lecturer at Stanford University. She is with us from Mountain View in California. Thank you for being with us.
ROSE GOTTEMOELLER, FORMER NATO DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL: Certainly.
VAUSE: So as Putin tries to restore his image, a strong man in control, it seems he may have found a narrative here. It's like what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. He's proud of his national address on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PUTIN (through translator): Your determination and courage as well as the consolidation of the whole Russian society played a huge decisive role in stabilizing the situation. People who were drawn into the revolt saw that the army and the people were not with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That's kind of true to a point here, for the most part, the army and the security services did not side with Prigozhin. The same is true for regional governors and senior Kremlin officials. That doesn't mean though that they're loyal to Putin, doesn't it, especially when that loyalty is the result of fear of Putin?
GOTTEMOELLER: Absolutely, and it's quite interesting to me that Putin himself in the last few days, starting on Saturday, the 24th of June, began talking about Russia being in Civil War. He even cited 1917, which, of course, is the date of the Russian Revolution that overturned the czarist government in favor of this Soviet Communist, so. And he repeated it again on Monday and said that -- and today that these troops have saved Russia from Civil War.
So it seems to me that he is actually talking about a great deal of deep instability in Russia himself as president, which is not only a challenge to the country, but to his own governing.
VAUSE: In Putin hasn't actually mentioned Prigozhin by name since that deal was brokered by Belarus to end the uprising. Putin struck that deal, he says, as you've mentioned, to avoid a civil war, it was not the sort of movement he believed Putin would actually Putin would actually make, especially given the harm it's done to his leadership and its reputation.
Is there a lesson though, in that for the war in Ukraine, and how it might be able to come to an end?
GOTTEMOELLER: Well, this development was sort of ikan, the general who is now in Ukraine, as far as I understand, but having possibly supported the Prigozhin uprising the this march on Moscow. This is a very interesting development, because as a matter of fact, he was brought in to really lead the offensive that the Russians conducted last winter after having been in Syria where he presumably worked very closely with Wagner forces.
So, I do think there is probably a good working relationship there and perhaps some temptation after he was shoved aside to put his put his stock in with the Wagner group. I'm only speculating here. But it does mean that the command and control of troops of Russian forces in Ukraine may be very much in question not only from the crisis inside Russia, but from the fact that the main military leader, one of the main military leaders on the ground, may be in question in terms of his loyalties.
VAUSE: Yes, as Prigozhin, he's now in Belarus. A lot of questions about his future. I want you to listen part of a White House briefing on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does that BRB (ph) know for a fact that Prigozhin is still alive? Are we in a weekend at burning scenario right now?
BRIG. GEN. PAT RYDER, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: I'm sorry, Jeff, I don't get the reference. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Gen X are here at the podium. I have many responsibilities, but press secretary for Mr. Prigozhin is not one. So I really can't comment on his current status.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: To that point, and essentially, there's a belief that Prigozhin dead man walking it. One commentator noted that there are plots without coups but Prigozhin, essentially had a coup without a plot. How do you see this play out?
GOTTEMOELLER: Well, actually, it's funny about President Lukashenko saying today that Prigozhin and the Wagner troops can actually help to build up the Belarusian Armed Forces, which I think is causing some anxiety among the NATO countries, the Baltic states, particularly in Poland, bordering on Belarus, so that's an interesting development.
But yes, if I were Prigozhin, I would certainly be watching what I eat, and also stay away from windows at this moment. But he does have a lot of support as you played the clip at the outset. And one thing I wanted to mention is that there is this real now I would say proliferation of these private militia groups, not only Prigozhin, but Kadyrov of the head of the Chechen militia group. And then individual companies even like Gazprom, the big gas company have their own militia group.
So it's a very difficult situation if a country is trying to prosecute a war, to have all these splinter groups, essentially militias that are under private control. They're not under the command and control of the armed forces. So it's a terribly complex situation to for the Ministry of Defense to try to get their arms around. But Putin obviously now is trying to reinvest the Ministry of Defense and their leadership without authority. [01:10:02]
VAUSE: Finally, I want you to listen to the Secretary General of NATO, and the connection he believes between Putin's internal problems and the war in Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: These are internal Russian matters. But what is clear is that President Putin's illegal war against Ukraine has deepened divisions and created new tensions in Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Which is unusual because in the past, Putin has gone to war, be it in Georgia or Chechnya, as where bolstering his own leadership that isn't happening this time in Ukraine. Why is that?
GOTTEMOELLER: I believe it's because it's evident that there are cracks in the regime, the regime is very brittle. This was even clearer, I think, and becoming clearer by the week before this crisis occurred. So, in many ways, this crisis has been in development for a long time. And now it has come on the horizon, and we really, I think, are only seeing the first phase of it.
And there will be I think, continued opportunities for instability, particularly if the armed forces cannot gain the control of the troops on the ground that they need to starting with the Wagner group, but ensuring that these private militias proliferating as they are not going to cause continuing security problems inside Russia itself.
VAUSE: Yes, it's quite the mess, which has been created in some ways inside Russia. And it gets we're just going to see over the days and weeks ahead how this all plays out. But Rose Gottemoeller, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate your time and your insights.
GOTTEMOELLER: My pleasure.
VAUSE: And according to your reporting from the York Times a senior Russian general may have known about Prigozhin's plans for a rebellion long before his mercenaries began their march to Moscow. The Times reports U.S. intelligence is working to determine if General Sergei Surovikin may have actually helped in the planning. He was the top Russian commander in Ukraine until being replaced January.
Current and former U.S. officials tell the Times, Prigozhin would not have launched his uprising, unless he believed there will be others to support it.
During an exclusive interview with CNN, Ukrainian foreign minister says Kyiv long expected a homegrown uprising in Russia just didn't know when. And he says Yegveny Prigozhin and his mercenary fighters may have been the first to openly challenge Vladimir Putin. They won't be the last. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DYMTRO KULEBA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: No, we did not have any specific information with kind of the timeline of possible implementation of Prigozhin's plans. But for us, it has always been pretty obvious that it's just a matter of time when someone in Russia will dare to challenge Putin, because we saw how his power and authority is shrinking, and how Russia is entering very difficult turbulence.
So Prigozhin is just the first one who dare. But I have no doubts that others will follow one way or another.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think that Vladimir Putin is fully in command and in power in Moscow right now?
KULEBA: Well, that's a tricky question. Formally, yes, I think he's still the center of power in the system. But too many parts or elements of the system saw the obvious that he can be challenged, and that some decisions can be taken without his clearance. So what he's probably trying to do now is to reassert his control over the system. I doubt he will succeed. But that's my assessment.
What we've seen is just another the next phase of the disintegration of rush of Putin's power vertical. And it's unavoidable. This is not -- this is the process, you can try to slow down, but you cannot stop it. We saw similar processes in the past.
BURNETT: I want to ask you one important thing about this. We understand from our reporting that U.S. officials had extremely detailed, advanced warning of Prigozhin's plans, the Wagner troop movements, and everything that we saw unfold this weekend, but that they did not share this with Ukraine, because they were concerned that those communications would be intercepted. Right. It was a concern about interception. Do you think that's a fair concern?
KULEBA: Well, we enjoy a very good level of intelligence cooperation with the United States. But of course, in the end, the United States decide on the volume of information that can be shared. What is important, I think, since the events were taking place in the territory of Russia, that's one thing.
But if anything had been planned in the territory of Ukraine I have no doubts that the U.S. administrator -- Biden administration would have share -- would share this information with us. But when it comes to
[01:15:08]
But when it comes to Russia, this is a slightly different, slightly different story.
BURNETT: So you're not angry that they didn't share that information?
KULEBA: No. I feel -- I only feel this -- I only feel frustrated with the United States when decisions on delivering certain types of weapons to Ukraine take more time than I wish it took. But overall, we're extremely grateful to the Biden administration and to the people of the United States for everything they're doing for you.
BURNETT: So has the rebellion in Russia, as you've seen over just these past few days, and I know it's sort of still the fog and chaos of it. But has it changed anything on the front lines. I spoke to a drone operator, Ukrainian drone operator, he's operating near Bakhmut, and he was saying on Saturday, they felt a palpable panic from the Russians, but that it then subsequently returned to what he said would be, quote unquote, normal in terms of their behavior.
KULEBA: If this mutiny had lasted for 48 hours more, pretty certain we would have felt a demoralizing impact on the Russian forces fighting in the south and east of Ukraine. Unfortunately, Prigozhin gave up too quickly. So there was no time for this distal little demoralizing effect, to penetrate Russian trenches.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ukraine's Foreign Minister there speaking to CNN's Erin Burnett. Still to come here on CNN, a huge blue and efforts in the battle against climate change, with a big surge in global deforestation last year, despite promises from world leaders to do the opposite.
Plus, North Korea's most famous football star has been seen in years more on his last known whereabouts is next.
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VAUSE: There's our confirmation that actor Julian Sands died while hiking in the mountains of Southern California this past January. Weather conditions hindered search efforts in the weeks that followed his disappearance. Officials announced a renewed push to locate Sands earlier this month.
And just last week human remains were found in the area. His family released a statement saying we continue to hold Julian in our hearts with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts and an original and collaborative performer.
North Korea's most famous football star has been seen -- has not been seen in years. Han Kwang Song made his last public appearance in August 2020 leading the Qatar Stars League Trophy for Al-Duhail. Since then, his whereabouts remain unknown. Paula Hancocks reports.
[01:20:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): He became known as the little North Korean bursting into the soccer world in 2017. Pyongyang born striker Han Kwang Song impress teammates and coaches rising to the heady heights of Italian giant Eventus age just 21. Then he vanished. His whereabouts still unknown.
MAX CANZI, FORMER CAGLIARI U-19 COACH: He is losing the best years of his career.
HANCOCKS: Max Canzi, then the under 19 coach for Italian club, Cagliari, was asked to assess hands at the start of his career.
CANZI: He was very fast and he took very fast decisions. And he was very, very good in controlling the ball, shooting with both feet and he was very good talent, very good talent.
HANCOCKS: Signing him was a challenge navigating U.N. sanctions ordering member states to repatriate all North Korean workers following the North Korean nuclear test in 2017. Han joined Cagliari as an academy player. Just two months later, he was playing in Serie A, the top division of the Italian soccer league.
HAN KWANG SONG, NORHT KOREAN FORWARD: The strongest emotion I have had to be honest is my first Serie A goal. Everyone is nice to me and here people are very welcoming. I live far away from my family but I feel at home here.
HANCOCKS: A blockbuster $3.7 million transfer to Eventus followed, then a $4.6 million contract to Al Duhail in Qatar, his last sporting move, winning the Qatar stars League Trophy in August 2020. This was the last time he was seen in public.
Months later, a U.N. document showed Han had been deported in line with sanctions, boarding a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Rome in January 2021. It is here that the trail goes cold. North Korea's borders are still shut due to COVID-19 making repatriation impossible.
HANCOCKS (on camera): The former coach of the North Korean team Jorn Andersen tells CNN he believes that Han is still in Italy but cannot play football. And official close to the issue says that Han is last believed to have been living in an unspecified North Korean embassy.
Now we have reached out to Italian authorities asking for clarification on his whereabouts but have yet to hear back.
HANCOCKS (voiceover): For Han, one of his former teammate says the tragedy is a promising career cut short.
NICHOLAS PENNINGTON, FORMER TEAMMATE: You're dedicating your whole life your whole life to that and it gets taken away from you. Because of political reasons.
HANCOCKS: Pennington says Han was well liked and fit in easily, but was always accompanied by an Italian man he called security. More likely he was his minder a common way Pyongyang monitors its own when overseas. Anytime Pennington asked about North Korea, he says the conversation ended abruptly.
PENNGINGTON: It would just say yes, good, good. And that's it. Nothing. Nothing else.
HANCOCKS: Han was once a success story of North Korea's sporting aspirations. Only 24 years old, the young striker could now be a victim of its nuclear ambitions. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires has triggered air quality alerts from the U.S. Midwest to the East Coast, as well as Canada. 80 million people in all. Chicago and Detroit had the worst air quality in the world Tuesday. That's according to IQAir. If this was asking residents especially those with heart or lung conditions, older adults, pregnant women and young children to avoid going outside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I bought this mask because it felt dangerous to breathe the air. And I, yes, I felt like I would be safer wearing a mask around.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's burning on the eyes and burning in the nose. And I don't think this mask is even strong enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm glad that my son is not out in it because he does have severe asthma. So I'm glad my son is not out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Officials warn of reduced visibility they're closing some public spaces. Canada is now seeing its worst fire season on record more than 200 fires currently out of control.
What are they selling celebrated achievements from the UN's climate change summit back in 2021 in Glasgow was the leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use described at the time as a breakthrough moment, a commitment by 145 world leaders so not just stop deforestation, but also reverse it by the end of the decade.
It was recognition of the crucial role of forest play in slowing climate change and maintaining biodiversity. Well, that was like 2021. A few months later, those novel promises of stopping and ending deforestation came into effect.
And according to the World Resources Institute, destruction of the world's rainforests in 2022 went up not by a little bit by a lot, 10 percent compared to a year earlier. The world wants an area of tropical forests equivalent to the size of Switzerland put it this way, think of a standard soccer field covered in rainforests. Now think of the level of a soccer fields with rainforest being cleared every minute of every day of every week of every month for an entire year.
And there was one country which led the world in rainforest destruction. Brazil, a signatory to the Glasgow leader's declaration.
[01:25:00]
Social professor biology and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. She is with us from Palo Alto in California. Erin, it's good to see you. Thank you for taking the time.
ERIN MORDECAI, SENIOR FELLOW, STANFORD WOODS INSTITUTE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: Hi, thanks for having me.
VAUSE: So, you know, it's important to point out here that 2022 was the last year of Jair Bolsonao's term in office in Brazil. What seemed like a four-year long all out assault on the Amazon. He was voted out of office and replaced by Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. And here he is speaking earlier this month, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Stopping deforestation in the Amazon is a way to reduce global warming. I know the size of the challenge of ending deforestation by 2030, but this is a challenge we are determined to achieve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Every country has a role to play in trying to fix the climate crisis. But it seems our fate in so many ways could be determined by what happens in Brazil. Because the future the Amazon is just so crucial here in so many different levels. So, can Lula da Silva make good on that promise without a lot of international assistance?
MORDECAI: Well, I certainly hope so because halting the deforestation that's going on, particularly in the Amazon is critically important for controlling the Earth's climate system, as well as for protecting biodiversity and human health and well-being.
VAUSE: Yes, the problem with the Glasgow leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use, it seems to be the same problem that every other U.N. Climate Declaration actually has. It totally relies on good intentions, goodwill and honesty was no way to hold any country accountable for failing to do what they promised they would. And right now, the world is not on track to end the deforestation or reversing it by 2030.
So what will that actually mean, if we don't achieve this goal, what happens to global warming?
MORDECAI: Well, we can expect to see global warming getting worse and a failure to be able to stop global warming above one and a half degrees or even two degrees Celsius, which is really important for avoiding the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. So being able to conserve the world's remaining primary forest is critically important for controlling climate change.
VAUSE: And we have a situation with the Amazon where right now it's in what you might call a virtuous cycle and it solving carbon, it's actually minimizing, you know, the amount of carbon and the impact of the carbon that we're putting into the environment because it's so solid that, it does get to a tipping point, though, right where that reverses, and suddenly it becomes a problem.
MORDECAI: That's right. There are very important feedbacks that happened between land cover like forest cover and the Earth's climate system. In some ways, tropical forests can create their own weather and create conditions that are cooler and rainier and therefore promoting the growth of trees and the storage of carbon.
And once you clear enough of the Amazon, you can get a tipping point where you no longer have a stable forest ecosystem, it can be converted into a savanna ecosystem, which burns more easily and is less able to store large amounts of carbon. Not to mention again, the loss of biodiversity and human cultural diversity that's really important that that takes place in the Amazon.
VAUSE: More than a decade ago or not even longer, you know, climate scientists were warning that a warming planet would lead to this dramatic increase in diseases and the spread of disease seems the future is here now. Listen to the head of the WHO.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: WHO is preparing for the very high probability that 2023 and 2024 will be marked by an El Nino event, which could increase transmission of dengue and other so called Advo viruses, such as Zika, and chikungunya. The effects of climate change are also fueling mosquito breeding and the spread of this disease.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Do we know if there's a way of drawing this direct link between the amount of forests we're losing in the Amazon, and how many people are dying from an outbreak of disease like Dengue or malaria?
MORDECAI: You know, there are some pretty direct ways that we can measure those effects. And some research that we and others have done have shown a really clear linkage where for every, for example, every square kilometer of forest that you clear in the Brazilian Amazon, leads to about 6.4 additional malaria cases. So we can directly translate those numbers of forest loss to human health to malaria cases.
What we're seeing right now in Peru is a really massive outbreak of dengue that's much more severe than anything they've seen in recent years. And that is likely linked to some climate variation and climate change that's happening right now.
And of course, you know, you mentioned those new locally acquired malaria cases here in the United States, which have a lot to do with many aspects of global change, mostly probably people traveling around and bringing in new cases of malaria, but some local transmission is being sustained as well.
So the climate and especially land clearing can create habitat and suitable conditions that allow for mosquito borne diseases to be transmitted, not only you know, in the tropics, but here in the United States.
VAUSE: Erin, thank you for being with us. We appreciate your time. MORDECAI: Thank you very much.
VAUSE: Just ahead here on CNN, a former commander with the Wagner mercenary group blames Prigozhin's downfall on hubris and miscalculation, hear from the ultimate insider in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:32:26]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm John Vause.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
More now on our lead story this hour. Russian president Vladimir Putin is publicly praising his soldiers for their loyalty while Wagner mercenaries stage an open rebellion. Putin said those soldiers prevented a civil war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Real defenders of the motherland. You saved our people, our homeland, virtually. You stopped a civil war. In actual fact, you stopped a civil war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Meantime, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko is taking credit for saving Putin by brokering an 11th hour deal to end the uprising. Here's Lukashenko describing a conversation with Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEKSANDR LUKASHENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): He says but we want justice. They want to strangle us. We will march on Moscow.
And I say, halfway to Moscow, they will squash you like a bug.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: According to Lukashenko, Prigozhin is now in Belarus. Lukashenko is also offering Wagner fighters an abandoned military base to put up their tents.
CNN's Melissa Bell spoke to a former Wagner commander, who explains why he believes the Wagner rebellion failed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shadowy mercenaries and their enigmatic leader, thrust into the sunlight with their charge towards Moscow.
Ukraine will have been both Wagner's making and its undoing. Its men inspiring a grudging respect even from their Ukrainian enemies, its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, hailed a hero by Moscow until he became the enemy.
MARAT GABIDULLIN, FORMER WAGNER COMMANDER (through translator): he miscalculated. He made a mistake. Generally speaking, the system rejects rational thinking.
BELL: A former Wagner commander himself, Marat Gabidullin says that Prigozhin's hubris was fueled by battlefield frustrations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry, bro, I'm sorry.
BELL: For months, the Wagner chief had railed against Russia's military leaders, claiming they were starving the mercenaries of much needed ammunition.
PRIGOZHIN: You think you can dispose of their lives? You think because you have warehouses full of ammunition, that you have that right?
BELL: Those powerless battlefield struggles, a far cry from the bold insurrection that was to follow. A fact not lost on the Wagner leader himself.
[01:34:56]
PRIGOZHIN: If at the beginning of the special military operation, the tasks were performed by a unit on the same skill level, level of morale and preparedness as the Wagner PMC, perhaps the special operation in Ukraine would've lasted a day.
BELL: Unsurprisingly, the betrayal has been felt most keenly by the man most directly threatened.
PUTIN: The organizers of the rebellion betraying their country, their people also betrayed those who were drawn into the crime.
BELL: Wagner's now infamous role in Ukraine, perhaps a thing of the past.
GABIDULLIN: Prigozhin completely failed (ph) his mission in Ukraine.
BELL: The reasons for Putin's clemency not yet clear but they may be linked to the philosophy at the heart of Wagner's operations as Gabidullin told CNN last year.
GABIDULLIN: Russian peace equals (ph) American dollars.
BELL: For years, Wagner has operated the Kremlin's shadow foreign policy across the Middle East and Africa and much closer to home.
GABIDULLIN: Putin sees Prigozhin as a really effective commander. More so that the successful functioning of the African project speaks in his success.
BELL: But it wasn't Prigozhin's strength that he's been (INAUDIBLE) as Vladimir Putin found over the weekend in the biggest challenge to his power in more than 20 years.
Melissa Bell, CNN -- Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: According to the U.N., Russian forces tortured many of the almost 900 Ukrainian civilians who they detained during the first ten months of the war. Almost 80 were executed. The detainees were often held in deplorable conditions, with no information given to their families for extended periods of time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATIDA BOGNER, U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING MISSION IN UKRAINE: Most of those we interviewed said that they had been tortured and ill treated. And in some cases, subjected to sexual violence.
Torture was used to force victims to confess to helping Ukrainian armed forces, compel them to cooperate with the occupying authorities, or intimidate those with pro Ukrainian views.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The U.N. also found evidence of 75 detentions by Ukrainian forces, mostly what investigators called conflict-related offenses. More than half of those detainees also reported being tortured or mistreated.
A day after an audio recording emerged with Donald Trump indicating he was in possession of classified documents, and that was after his time in office, the former U.S. President now insists he's done nothing wrong.
That 2021 recording is a key piece of evidence in the Justice Department's indictment against Trump.
Here's what he told Fox News on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I had a whole desk full of lots of papers, mostly newspaper articles, copies of magazines, copies of different plans, copies of stories having to do with many, many subjects.
And what were said was absolutely fine and very perfectly, we did nothing wrong. This is a whole hoax.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: In the past, Trump denied holding any secret documents after his time in office. He's not repeating those denials now. He does say he doesn't know if there were any other recordings of him out there, and he blames all of this on what he calls fake news.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal counts, including conspiracy to hide classified documents from the U.S. government.
This is not the first time that we've heard Donald Trump saying things which have landed him in a lot of trouble.
Randi Kaye takes us back to some of the lowest moments caught on tape.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump caught on tape saying crude things about women in 2005 during an with Access: Hollywood broadcast just weeks before election day in 2016.
TRUMP: Grab them by the (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can do anything.
KAYE: Days after the recording service, Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee, apologized, though the "New York Times" later reported that Trump told the Republican senators that he wanted to investigate the recording because, quote, "We don't think that was my voice."
Also before the 2016 election, Trump was recorded in his office by his then lawyer, Michael Cohen. The two were discussing how they would buy the rights to former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal's (ph) story. She claims she and Trump had an affair, which ended in 2007. Trump has denied the affair, but listen to him on tape.
MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP LAWYER: I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David. I've spoken to Allen Weisselberg, about how to set the whole thing up with funding --
TRUMP: So where are we on this?
COHEN: Yes.
KAYE: Before election day, Trump's friend David Pecker, whose company published the "National Enquirer, paid McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story, then buried it in what's known as a catch-and- kill scheme.
[01:39:58]
KAYE: Months before the 2020 election, President Trump was recorded on a phone call with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy.
According to a White House transcript, Trump pressured Zelenskyy by asking him to investigate Trump's 2020 opponent, Joe Biden, as well as Biden's son Hunter, who once had business in Ukraine. Later, Trump repeatedly referred to the call like this.
TRUMP: We had a perfect phone call with the president of Ukraine. KAYE: A whistleblower inside the White House shared details of the
call with members of the intelligence community. Congress investigated. In the end, that recording led to Trump's first impeachment. Trump denied any wrongdoing.
In 2020, journalist Bob Woodward recorded interviews with Trump for his book. Those interviews later made public revealed that Trump knew for months how dangerous the coronavirus was and how it spread, but intentionally conceal that from the public.
TRUMP: I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down.
BOB WOODWARD, AUTHOR: Yes.
TRUMP: Because I don't want to create a panic.
It goes through air, Bob. That's always tougher than the touch.
KAYE: After the 2020 election, Trump was recorded yet again.
TRUMP: It's just not possible to have lost Georgia, not possible. When I heard it was close, I said there's no way.
KAYE: That's Trump on the phone with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Trump called him following his loss in the 2020 election.
TRUMP: It's pretty clear that we won, we won very substantially in Georgia.
KAYE: That wasn't true. Trump lost Georgia by 11,779 votes. On the recording, he's heard asking Raffensperger to find enough votes to give Trump a win.
TRUMP: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.
KAYE; Raffensperger didn't play ball. Trump is now under investigation by Georgia's Fulton County district attorney for his actions on the phone call in question.
Randi Kaye, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come here, with Pat Sajak's days of spinning the "Wheel of Fortune" coming to an end, we now have word on who his replacement will be. We also know that Vanna White is sticking around but she wants a pay increase.
Details ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
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VAUSE: Sierra Leone's president did not waste much time, Maada Bio was sworn into a second term just hours after the electoral authority certified his victory at the polls. But his main opponent is rejecting those results.
CNN's Stephanie Busari has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sierra Leone's president Maada Bio has been declared the winner of the presidential elections. According to the Electoral Commission, he's secured more than 56 percent of the vote, avoiding a runoff against his rival, Samura Kamara.
[01:45:00]
BUSARI: Just hours after the results were announced, Bio was already sworn in at the state house, where he gave a speech saying he was, quote, "extremely humbled, and immensely thankful to the people of Sierra Leone".
However, Kamara has rejected the results, saying that they are not credible, and that he would be challenging them. It was a fiercely contested election between the two men. And international observers, such as the Carter Center, reported that the tabulation process lacked, quote, "adequate levels of transparency". Carter Center observers also said they observed instances of broken seals and ballot boxes that were open in some tally centers.
The Electoral Commission described the weekend poll as relatively peaceful. But acknowledged pockets of violence. And on Sunday, Kamara's APC Party accused the country security forces of laying siege to its head office in the capital Freetown, and firing live rounds, which Kamara described as an assassination attempt. Although the police denied firing live rounds.
The vote on June 24th was the fifth since the end of civil war in 2002, and was held amid high unemployment and inflation as well as growing divisions in the country.
President Bio made great inroads in his first term with gender equality and education, but was marred by worsening hardship for its citizens although he has promised to tackle these problems by feeding the nation and creating half a billion jobs for young people.
Stephanie Busari, CNN -- Lagos.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Last month the Nigerian government approved the official use of block chain technology in the country. Its association with cryptocurrency has led to some skepticism.
"Africa Insider" introduces you to the cofounder of Zone, a company out to show the value of using block chain for digital transactions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OBI EMETAROM, CO-FOUNDER/CEO, ZONE: We want to connect every money piece of value by harnessing the power of block chain. And through that enable reliable, frictionless and (INAUDIBLE) across Africa initially and around the world.
My name is Obi Emetarom and I'm cofounder and CEO of Zone.
MAYOWA KUYORO, PARTNER, MCKINSEY NIGERIA: Think about block chain technology as a digital ledger, so remember when you are doing accounting and finance where you would have an entry for debit and an entry for credit. think about it as a ledger essentially where you can record and verify transactions without the need of an intermediary because everybody can see and has access to the ledger.
I think if someone can get it right it could really help unlock digital payments across the continent.
EMETAROM: Zone addresses all sorts of payments that need to go from one core value of a financial institution to the other. Our clients are financial services providers so payment companies, all the types financial institutions, (INAUDIBLE) and so on. In our model, when it send out (INAUDIBLE) the collection moves direct from the sender's bank to the receiver's bank without any central intermediary.
It means that the transaction is more reliable, because there is no scenario where the central hub is not available. It is (INAUDIBLE) or less in terms of recognition and the cost of the central hub goes out.
One of the most challenging things we have experienced in our journey so far in Zone has been overcoming the skepticism associated with the new technology itself. And the fact that block chain is linked with cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency has been quite controversial and contentious over the past few years.
We significantly have (INAUDIBLE) and this is especially within the traditional financial services industry.
What we expect to achieve in the next 2 to 3 years is to expand our network into the continent. We have a unique approach where we are not rebuilding a network in each country.
In each new country, each participant is joining one borderless, global network. So for us that is the main focus and main aspiration, and to allow value through across that one network whether into Africa, within Africa, or outward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:49:48]
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VAUSE: Well maybe one of the oldest, most distant relatives of the modern-day Italian pizza has been revealed possibly in an ancient painting, recently recovered in the ruins of the city of Pompeii.
The painting was found in the hall of the house that had a bakery. Archaeologists presume that the flat bread depicted in the fresca may have been eaten with fruit or dressed with spices and a type of pesto sauce.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIEL ZUCHTRIEGEL, DIRECTOR, POMPEII ARCHEOLOGICAL PARK: The image that obviously, to the modern observer, immediately brings to mind the idea of a pizza since we are near Naples. Obviously it is not a pizza, but perhaps it could have been a distant ancestor of this food.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Just for the record, Pompeii was destroyed by the volcanic activity nearly 2,000 years ago.
Well after four decades a new host will be spinning the "Wheel of Fortune" next year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Wheel of Fortune.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Sony Pictures Television has announced Ryan Seacrest will replace Pat Sajak who's retiring after 41 seasons as host of the U.S. version. Seacrest signed a multi year deal and will also serve as a consulting producer.
Sajak, along with co-host Vanna White are among the longest serving game show hosts on American television.
And the U.K. will soon get their own version of the Wheel with Graham Norton, signing on as host for ITV starting next year.
Joining us now from New York is Michael Musto, entertainment reporter for the Village Voice. Thanks for being with us.
MICHAEL MUSTO, ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER, VILLAGE VOICE: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: So this announcement came, Ryan Seacrest would be the next host of "Wheel of Fortune". And it seems the world kind of yawned, one tv critic says Seacrest makes Pat Sajak looks edgy, writing this. "He is a known quantity and more than that a known vanilla quantity. A creature of television who is not so much a star as he is a star adjacent. He's one of those people who just seems to always be there, no matter where there is. He's the expensive wallpaper of TV hosting."
I guess, you know, Wheel of Fortune, as it is, is already a sure ratings powerhouse. The most watched program in syndication. So is this choice of the Seacrest simply a case of if it's not broke don't fix it? You just (INAUDIBLE).
MUSTO: I have to agree with that criticism. In fact I was hoping for maybe Levar Burton or maybe the trans woman that advertised for Bud Light. But I knew that was never going to happen. In any case it's just a game show host, so yes, if it's not broke
don't fix it. The show sells itself, it's been almost 50 years of Wheel of fortune. It is comfort food. It's guilty pleasure, even I turn in. And I don't watch a lot of television.
You love the contestants, the games, something very guessable. Sometimes they're hard and you like seeing somebody smart get it. You root for the contestants, it doesn't even matter who is the host.
Ryan Seacrest is yes, he is the every man. I remember him back in the day on the E Channel, then he hosted a talk show, American Idol. He's done everything under the sun, he produces the Kardashian shows. So who else is going to get the job? I wake up every day sweating that he is coming after my job.
VAUSE: As you say, he does have a lot of work right now. Currently he is the host of American Idol, ABC's "New Year's Rocking Eve Special", he has a syndicated morning radio show for six seasons, co-host of the daytime talk show, "Live with Kelly and Ryan, obviously he's the Ryan.
And that brought a lot of snark from the Twitter-verse like this. Apparently Ryan Seacrest is mandated to host everything.
[01:54:59]
VAUSE: There's also this. It is really nice to see mediocre white men finally gaining a foothold in the TV business. And being a mediocre white man working in TV I can relate to that last comment.
But is the problem her Ryan Seacrest -- essentially overexposure, possibly?
MUSTO: Yes, I totally get that. He is everywhere.
I liked him at first when I first noticed him on my screen, but I did not think he was some overpowering phenomenon where he needs to get every single job.
Whatever, it's is the host of a game show, I'm not jealous. I'm jealous of the money, but I'm am not jealous of the job itself. He is just there to like introduce the people and keep the game moving. It is not rocket science.
VAUSE: This is very true. And talking about money, Pat Sajak's current co-host Vanna White is said to be in negotiations to stay with a show, but she is reportedly roaring for a pay increase.
According to Pop News, White has been making around $3 million a year, just $3 million, since 2005. She has received only bonuses not raises during that time period.
Compare that to Pat Sajak's contract, which according to a 2016 report by Forbes, was worth $15 million a year.
Big supporter of equal pay, but what exactly does Vanna do on the show? She doesn't turn the letters anymore because they light up when they're touched.
MUSTO: Vanna has never made a mistake, not when I have watched. She waits very smartly for the letter to light up and then she marched over there and flips it over.
But it's more than that. She brings a presence and a comfortability. People like her. They want to see what she is wearing and what kind of two sentences is she going to say at the end of the show.
I would say give her whatever she wants and I agree there should not be gender disparity in their pay. People also are going to want some familiarity. Now we have a new host, to have a new Vanna would just throw everything topsy-turvy. I don't know if I could handle that.
VAUSE: There might be a solution here being to have Vanna as the host and some other co-host, not Ryan Seacrest but maybe a guy?
MUSTO: That would be wonderful. They should have just bumped Vanna up to the top slot.
(CROSSTALK)
MUSTO: She's in the house. She's doing great. She's always been loyal. She's never turned over the wrong letter ever.
Make her the host and make Ryan do the letter thing.
VAUSE: There we go. We solved the problem.
MUSTO: Right.
VAUSE: Michael, thank you so much. Good to see you. Appreciate your time.
MUSTO: Thank you so much.
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause, a mediocre white man working on tv.
The news continues next here on CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church after a short break.
See you back here tomorrow.
[01:57:41]
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