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Russian General's fate linked to Mutiny is yet Unknown; U.S. Supreme Court Rules Universities to No Longer Consider Race in College Admissions; SoKor Pushes LGBTQ Anti-Discrimination Laws; Former U.S. VP says Russia under Military Control is an Open Question; China's Manufacturing and Construction Sectors Slowed Down; More than 500 Wildfires Now Active in Canada, Canada Day Celebrations Scales Down. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired June 30, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Ahead on "CNN Newsroom," protests engulf France after police kill a teenage boy. All eyes are on President Emmanuel Macron and what he plans to do to quell the rage.
A top Russian general hasn't been seen in days. We'll tell you what CNN has learned exclusively about his alleged ties to the Wagner Group.
And the U.S. Supreme Court guts affirmative action, a ruling that could severely impact how colleges admit students.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We begin in France, where police arrested at least 667 people in the third night of protests over the police killing of a teenage boy. Confrontations flared between protesters and police in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the 17-year-old named Nahel was killed on Tuesday.
President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold a crisis meeting in the coming hours. That's according to a CNN affiliate, BFM TV. Chaotic and violent scenes played out around the country late Thursday into early Friday. France' elite police force was deployed to Bordeaux, Lyon and other areas to quell the unrest. The mother of the slain teenager tells French media she holds the accused officer responsible for her son's death and she doesn't blame the entire police force.
The teen's killing which was caught on video has sparked anger across France particularly among young men and women of color who feel they've long been discriminated against by police. CNN's Melissa Bell has the latest from Paris. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A night of flames. Cars, town halls, schools set on fire across France has raged over the police shooting of 17-year-old Nael continued enough to force the French president to call an emergency ministerial meeting.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): The last hours have been marked by violent scenes against police stations, but also schools and town halls, and basically against institutions and the republic. It's absolutely unjustifiable.
BELL (voice-over): The deployment of some 2,000 police officers on Wednesday to the Paris suburbs did little to quell the anger with 150 people detained.
It's not the republic that was in custody. It was not the republic that killed this young man, pleaded the government spokesman Olivier Veran.
Another appeal in vain to calm the violence, as Veran described some of the attacks on government institutions as organized, almost coordinated.
In response, a massive deployment of police forces on Thursday, some 40,000 across France, including 5,000 in Paris.
But even before nightfall, a protest led by Nael's mother turned violent. Emotions still raw, even as the police officer accused of shooting the teen was placed under formal investigation for voluntary homicide. With questions on the racial undertones of the tragedy.
DANIELE OBONO, FRENCH MEMBER OF THE PARLIAMENT: The dimension of race is pretty obvious. And yeah, I think it's French society as a whole that has a lot of difficulties to address it, because we have this mythology of a republic, kind of a colorblind republic.
BELL (voice-over): Scuffles breaking out along the margins of the march, some 6,000 strong, according to local media.
Anger on the streets of France remains all too palpable, with a family grieving and a community looking for answers as Paris suburbs and much of the country prepare for another difficult night.
Melissa Bell, CNN, in Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Now to Russia, where documents shared exclusively with CNN suggest General Sergei Surovikin was a secret VIP member of the Wagner Group. He briefly led the Russian war in Ukraine, but has recently been linked with Wagner CEO Yevgeny Prigozhin. Some reports indicate Surovikin has been detained as part of a possible purge in the Russian military ranks, but his daughter denies that.
We have more now from CNN's Brian Todd. [03:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Clouds of mystery surrounding one of Russia's most feared commanders. The fate and whereabouts of General Sergei Surovikin, unknown. He was last seen looking unshaven in a video appealing to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin to end his revolt.
SERGEI SUROVIKIN, COMMANDER, RUSSIAN AIR FORCE (through translator): The necessary thing to do is to obey the will and the orders of the popularly elected president of the Russian Federation.
TODD (voice-over): A report in the "Moscow Times" says General Surovikin has been arrested, but some Russian commentators and reportedly Surovikin's own daughter say he's not in custody.
EVELYN FARKAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MCCAIN INSTITUTE: It reminds me a lot of the Cold War when we talked about Kremlinology. You know, clearly there's a lot going on. We only see part of it on the surface.
TODD (voice-over): This comes after "The New York Times" reported that Surovikin had advanced knowledge of Prigozhin's mutiny last weekend. The 56-year old commander, known as General Armageddon for his cold- eyed brutality.
ANDREA KENDALL-TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: This guy's not a nice guy. According to open sources in Russian language, he is a proponent of these types of ruthless attacks on civilian centers.
TODD (voice-over): Surovikin was named the overall Russian commander in Ukraine in October, then was replaced in January, but is said to still hold significant influence as the leader of Russia's Air Force and is popular among soldiers.
He had previously led Russian forces in Syria. For that campaign, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, but his units were accused of a vicious offensive on the city of Aleppo, where barrel bombs and other munitions targeted densely populated neighborhoods, causing widespread civilian casualties. Syrian and Russian officials have repeatedly denied these accusations.
FARKAS: The bombings of the Syrian civilians in their apartment buildings and their hospitals. That was all deliberate. He was the engineer of that kind of brutality.
TODD (voice-over): Surovikin's penchant for cruelty was also seen in 2004, when, according to Russian media accounts and at least two think tanks, he berated a subordinate so severely that the subordinate fatally shot himself.
A book by the think tank the Jamestown Foundation says during the unsuccessful coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachav in August 1991, soldiers under Surovikin's command killed three protesters, leading to Surovikin spending at least six months in prison. The Jamestown Foundation also says Surovikin once received a suspended sentence for illegal arms dealing, a conviction that was later overturned.
FARKAS: We believe that there is a lot of corruption in the Russian military. Most of it doesn't come to the surface. So the fact that his came to the surface within his system and he was punished for it tells me that it must have been pretty egregious.
TODD (on-camera): If he has purged General Surovikin, Vladimir Putin may not be done. "The New York Times" reports that U.S. officials say there are signs that other top Russian military officials may have supported Prigozhin's revolt. The Times, citing U.S. officials as saying Prigozhin would not have launched that uprising unless he believed that other powerful people would come to his side.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: All right, for more on all this, let's bring in CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, live in London. And Salma, what more can you tell us about Surovkin?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So a lot of questions about the whereabouts of a man known as General Armageddon, a man who has had a very brutal reputation, but a man who is also known to carry out Putin's bidding around the globe. Sergei Surovikin has not been seen since Saturday.
There are some sources among the Russian journalist community, among Russian bloggers, that say he was potentially taken in detention for having advanced knowledge of Prigozhin's insurrection over the weekend. Other sources saying that's simply not true, that his daughter has been speaking to him, that he is in good health. The Kremlin itself, the Kremlin spokesperson, has denied all of this, saying it simply rumors, but still, again, he has not been seen in public for days.
The last time he was seen was in that video you saw in that report there just on Friday as that armed insurrection by Prigozhin was starting with him appealing to Prigozhin, somebody who he sees as an ally and a friend, someone he worked closely with in Ukraine, appealing to him to stop this insurrection. But if you take a closer look at that video, he appears a bit disheveled, he's unshaven, he appears possibly to be reading from a script given the way in which he's talking in a halting manner.
So again, a lot of questions. And why are we speaking about him? Why is he so important? Because he is the commander of the Russian Air Force, because he is an elite member of -- of Russia's military, because he is a trusted figure to President Putin and he may have had, again, advanced knowledge of an armed insurrection.
So a few questions here, how deep did this disloyalty in the Russian military run? Did Yevgeny Prigozhin have the support of someone like Sergey Surovkin and others within the Russian army? Is this fracture, again, between Prigozhin and the Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the top army commander, Gerasimov, how deep did it run? And overall, of course, if you take a step back, the wider question is, does President Putin still have full command and control of his army, particularly while he's fighting a war?
[03:10:10]
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, so many questions. We still await many answers on that. Salma Abdelaziz in London, thanks so much.
Well, as Russia deals with the fallout from the insurrection Ukraine says it's moving ahead on the frontlines.
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Ukrainian troops have reportedly pushed Russian forces back by at least one kilometer in two areas south of Bakhmut. Kyiv says the gains will open the door for even more advances. Ukraine is also preparing for some of the worst-case scenarios at the occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant. On Thursday, it conducted emergency drills to prepare for what it calls a possible Russian terrorist attack there.
Ukraine claims Russia is considering an attack which would involve a leak of nuclear material, but Moscow denies that. Ukraine has also getting a new loan from the World Bank to deal with the impact of Russia's aggression. The one and a half billion dollar loan was approved Thursday.
A lone demonstrator burned pages of a Quran in Sweden days ago. It triggered a firestorm reaction in Iraq and other Muslim nations over what they call an extremely offensive act. More details after the break.
Plus, admissions policies at American colleges and universities are suddenly tossed into turmoil after the Supreme Court upends decades of policies that benefited minority students. More of those stories and more when we come back. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, turning to our top story, police in France say they arrested nearly 700 people in the third night of protests over the police killing of a teenage boy. Daylight is bringing new images showing the result of that unrest. This is the view from one street in Paris.
Confrontations flared between protesters and police in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the 17-year-old named Nael was killed on Tuesday. President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold a crisis meeting in the coming hours. BFM-TV. A short time ago we learned that 249 police officers and gendarmes were injured.
That's according to the French Interior Ministry. Chaotic and violent scenes played out around the country late Thursday into early Friday. France's elite police force was deployed to Bordeaux, Lyon and other areas to quell the unrest. The mother of the slain teenager tells French media she holds the accused officer responsible for her son's death and she doesn't blame the entire police force.
For more on this I'm joined by Christian Mouhanna, who's a professor of sociology of law and policing at the French National Center for Scientific Research and he joins me from Paris. Thanks so much for being here with us.
So first of all I just want to ask you what you make about the level of anger we're seeing on the streets across the country right now.
[03:14:58]
CHRISTIAN MOUHANNA, PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY OF LAW AND POLICING, CNRS: Yes, what we have to keep in mind is that first, this is not the first time that we have this kind of riots in France. We have the same problem for more than 30 years. And these young people who are living in the banlieues, they feel rejected by the state, by the institutions. And their first problem is the contact with the police forces. They have a very bad relationship with the police forces in their everyday life. So every young guy from this banlieue can recognize himself in the case of Nael, the young guy who was killed yesterday.
[02:05:33]
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, as you said, I mean we saw some more riots in 2005 after the death of two teens were hiding from police and many of those riots happen in neighborhoods with large minority populations as you say often cope with discrimination unemployment a sense of alienation so you're saying, I mean, has nothing changed since then?
MOUHANNA: Very few things have changed. The Macron government is not interested in the problem of the banlieue. He has cut a lot of money to associations who were dealing with this kind of people. The problem of schools too, we have a lot of lack of people, of human resources in the schools, in all the public services, but the government is more oriented towards people who are productive and not very interested in dealing with these poor people.
And you have also to keep in mind that during the COVID pandemic, this area were very -- it was very problematic to live in this area because people were more heels and, you know the -- areas have had a lot of problem even to earn money because as they were fired from some companies that because they don't have contracts with companies.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. You mentioned president Macron, he's holding a crisis meeting today. What do you think if anything he can do then to calm the violence given he hasn't addressed the long-term issues that are behind this but least on the short term can he do anything here?
MOUHANNA: Yes, I think the problem for President Macron is, on the one hand, he doesn't want to have more problems with youngsters, so he has to give them some guarantees that he will find some solution for them. But on the other hand, he has the pressure of some police unions who are very strong in France. Who are saying, for example, the police officer who is in custody has to be liberated because he is innocent, it was an accident and so on and so on. Because President Macron easily running also with police forces that was the case during the yellow jacket crisis all during the pension slow demonstration in France. So yeah he has always needs is police forces and that's why he's in the middle of a very problematic policy.
BRUNHUBER: People in Iraq, there, are seen burning the Swedish flag. They're protesting the incident in Stockholm when a man burned a copy of the Quran during a demonstration outside a mosque. And the rage isn't just in Iraq. From Malaysia to Indonesia, Muslim nations are incensed the holy book was set aflame. Now the United Nations has joined in. Swedish authorities criticize the burning of the Quran, but call it protected free speech. Still, as CNN's Jomana Kardsheh reports, protesters call it hate speech. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Scores of protesters poured into the Swedish embassy compound in Baghdad on Thursday to protest Swedish authorities allowing a man to burn Islam's holy book outside a mosque in Stockholm on Wednesday, the first day of one of the holiest days in the Islamic calendar, the first day of Eid al-Adha.
It was a brief protest. For the most part, it appeared non-violent, but they did scale the walls of the compound, the Swedish foreign ministry telling CNN that their staff are safe. The protest came after the powerful influential Shia cleric Muqtada Sader called on his supporters, and this is a man who can mobilize the masses, to head to the Swedish embassy.
He also called on the Iraqi government to expel the Swedish ambassador. He also called on the government to revoke the Iraqi citizenship of the man who set the holy book ablaze. He is an Iraqi refugee, as we have reported, with anti-Islam views.
This incident appears to be over right now, but there are calls for a larger protest in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq on Friday. It's a traditional day of protests in the Arab and Muslim world, and there could potentially be protests as well in other countries. There is just so much anger and outrage across the Arab and Muslim world.
Governments are not only condemning what they view is this offensive and sacrilegious act, but they're angry with Sweden, furious for Sweden, allowing this to happen once again. Jordan and the UAE have summoned the Swedish ambassadors in their countries. Morocco has recalled its ambassador to Sweden.
[03:20:08]
Swedish officials have always said that they don't agree and condone these acts, but they say that this is Sweden. This is freedom of speech and it is protected by the constitution and it is central to Swedish democracy. But Muslims around the world are saying for them, this is not freedom of speech, this is hate speech and Islamophobia.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he's taken out the most controversial part of his judicial overhaul plan. Gone is the provision granting parliament the authority to overturn Supreme Court rulings. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I already changed a few things right after the original proposal was put forward. I said that the idea of an override clause where the parliament, the Knesset, can override the decisions of the Supreme Court with a simple majority, I said, I threw that out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Mass protests have been going on for months in response to the initial plan, with many feeling their country's democratic foundations were being threatened. But Netanyahu and his supporters have argued the high court is elitist and doesn't represent the Israeli people.
One year after overturning Roe v. Wade, the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has delivered another stunning reversal to decades of legal precedent, this time soundly rejecting the policy of including race in college applications. Thursday's 6-3 decision had been widely expected, but the fallout will be significant. It means most colleges and universities can no longer consider a student's race in its acceptance criteria.
Data show that black and Latino students are impacted the most negatively in places where affirmative action has already been banned. There's little the White House can do, but the President struck a defiant tone after the ruling. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: We cannot let this decision be the last word. While the court can render a decision, it cannot change what America stands for. America is an idea, an idea unique in the world, an idea of hope, an opportunity, of possibilities, of giving everyone a fair shot, of leaving no one behind. We've never fully lived up to it, but we've never walked away from it either. We will not walk away from it now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The court has seven more cases to decide before the present term draws to a close. One of those will be on President Biden's plan to forgive billions in outstanding student loans. It will be the second ruling in two days with profound implications for higher education.
CNN's Jessica Schneider has more on Thursday's historic decision to end affirmative action in college admissions and the people behind it. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Supreme Court stirring up protests with its decision gutting affirmative action, saying colleges and universities can no longer rely on race in the admissions process. But prospective students are still allowed to talk about how their race has shaped their experiences in their applications.
The 6-3 opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts will now prohibit students from checking a box indicating their race, specifically saying the practice at Harvard and University of North Carolina, cannot be reconciled with guarantees of the equal protection clause.
The majority not explicitly saying they are overruling more than four decades of precedent that allowed affirmative action, but the three liberal justices writing, today this court stands in the way and rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.
ANGIE GABEAU, PRESIDENT, HARVARD BLACK STUDENTS ASSOCIATION: I'm really most worried about, you know, the youth and like the students younger than us in high school and middle school and elementary school who might not get the same opportunity that I did.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The two cases were brought by the group Students for Fair Admissions, led by activist Edward Blum, who has fought for nearly a decade to eradicate affirmative action.
EDWARD BLUM, PRESIDENT, STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS: Classifying students by race and ethnicity, treating them differently because of their race and ethnicity, is unfair.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): At the forefront of the Harvard fight, Asian students who argued they were disadvantaged because Harvard prioritized other minorities and used a personal rating score that did not rank them favorably.
The issue is deeply personal to Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the first woman of color on the Supreme Court. She issued a fiery dissent accusing the majority of employing an unjustified exercise of power that will only serve to highlight the court's own impotence in the face of an America whose cries for equality resound. Justice Sotomayor has been outspoken in the past, saying that using other methods to ensure diversity won't work.
JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR, U.S. SUPREME COURT: It's not that I don't believe it works. I don't think the statistics show it works.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): In fact, when California banned affirmative action in 1996, UC Berkeley said black and Hispanic representation on their campus dropped by 50 percent. But Justice Clarence Thomas, one of two black justices on the high court, spoke in personal terms too, saying he believes the Constitution is colorblind.
[03:25:02] While I am painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race and all who suffer discrimination, I hold out enduring hope that this country will live up to its principles, that all men are created equal, are equal citizens, and must be treated equally before the law.
Justice Katanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the court, pushed back in a separate dissent, bashing the majority opinion as exuding a let them eat cake obliviousness, and said deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.
(on-camera): The Supreme Court, however, saying that U.S. military service academies can continue to take race into consideration as a factor in admissions, essentially exempting those military schools from this ruling. Now, this was spelled out in a footnote in the majority opinion, but Justice Kataji Brown Jackson calling this out in a dissent, saying that the court is essentially prioritizing diversity in the bunker versus the boardroom.
Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: In South Korea, the LGBTQ community and its supporters are pushing for anti-discrimination laws to be enacted in the country, but they're facing a tough battle.
Here's CNN's Paula Hancocks with details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a hard-won celebration. The Seoul Queer Culture Festival has attracted thousands since the year 2000. But this year, the Pride Parade was denied access to the venue that it used since 2015, Seoul City Hall Plaza. Officials cite a scheduling clash. LGBTQ groups cry discrimination. The venue promised to a Christian youth event. City Hall says events for children take precedence. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon adding his personal view at a council meeting.
OH SE-HOON, MAYOR OF SEOUL (through translator): I personally cannot agree with homosexuality. I'm against it.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Conservative Christian groups say they're hoping some 300,000 people will protest this year's parade. LGBTQ activists say without an anti-discrimination law in South Korea, it is almost impossible to fight for their rights.
CHA HAE-YOUNG, MAPO-GU COUNCIL MEMBER (through translator): The constitution may say that no one should be discriminated against, but the anti-discrimination bill clarifies what discrimination is and there could be legal penalties.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Cha Hae-young is the first openly LGBTQ-elected official in South Korea. She says her sexual orientation was used against her by her rivals when she entered politics. HAE-YOUNG (through translator): In the political or public realm,
revealing one's identity as a sexual minority is a handicap. Some people said that I should not be in politics because I'm a sexual minority. They made my identity my weakness.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Since 2007, lawmakers have proposed 11 anti- discrimination bills. Five have expired, two were withdrawn, and four are still pending in the National Assembly.
Lee Jong-geol went on hunger strike last year with another activist to try and push the government to move one bill forward.
LEE JONG-GEOL, GENERAL DIRECTOR, CHINGUSAI (through translator): I believe our society should be ashamed that there is no law that protects the principles of equality, even though it is one of the most basic laws out there. No matter how much our country has developed economically or socially, we should be ashamed.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Lee's hunger strike ended on day 39, when he was taken to hospital.
A survey conducted by the National Human Rights Commission in 2020, shows that almost 90 percent of the 1,000 survey participants said an anti-discrimination law is needed. But opponents argue that such a law would discriminate against them.
SUH JUNG-SOOK, PEOPLE POWER PARTY LAWMAKER (through translator): When the majority of people who are normal and reasonable say that homosexuality or same-sex marriage is not reasonable or normal, based on South Korea's social orders or long-respected custom, they could face punitive damages or a fine.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Suh argues a new law would lead to the legalization of same-sex marriage, something she does not support.
(on-camera): The National Assembly has less than a year to take action on any of the four remaining non-discrimination bills. If nothing happens, those bills will expire and it will be up to the next National Assembly to start the process all over again.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Well, former U.S. Vice President shares his views about the failed insurrection in Russia. Still ahead, we asked Mike Pence if he thinks that Yevgeny Prigozhin had inside help from Russia's halls of power.
Plus, Prigozhin now in exile in Belarus, or is he? The latest on the Wagner Group CEO and his future on Vladimir Putin's list of enemies. Stay with us
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[03:30:00]
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: It's been six days and counting since one of Russia's top generals was last heard from in public. Russian newspaper reports that Sergei Surovikin has been arrested over last weekend's failed mutiny, but a Russian official denies he's being held in pretrial detention. "New York Times" says Surovikin knew in advance about the insurrection, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin. Documents exclusively shared with CNN suggest the general was a VIP member of Wagner, along with at least 30 other senior Russian officials.
So, if those documents are accurate, they could open more questions about the military's loyalty to Vladimir Putin. CNN spoke about that with former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who met President Zelenskyy in Ukraine on Thursday. Pence is running for the White House in 2024, and he's the first Republican candidate to visit Ukraine. Pence spoke with CNN's Erin Burnett, who asked him if he thinks Putin is in full control of his military. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think it's an open question. It is. Now, the Wagner group is a specialty group we have some familiarity with. American forces encountered the Wagner group in Syria back in 2018 when they moved against our forces. And after being warned multiple times.
The order was given and we took them out without one American casualty. But they are understood to be some of the most elite forces in Russia. Now they've been dispersed. They're being invited back into the military. But I did hear today that they are decamping in Belarus along with their leader who's now in exile. And I must just tell you that we don't know what we don't know about what's happening in Russia. But that's always true about Russia and about Vladimir Putin.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: There are reports about what top Putin inner circle members knew and did regarding Prigozhin's attempted rebellion. Do you think it's possible that Prigozhin had inside help from key members of Putin's inner circle?
PENCE: I just wouldn't doubt it, but I wouldn't know. I mean, look, to hear the way Prigozhin is speaking about this and talking about how the children of the elites in Moscow are putting cream on their face while the -- while the sons of the people are dying in Ukraine, suggests to me that something is afoot in Russia that sees that not only was this an unjustified war.
Remember, when Vladimir Putin launched this invasion of Ukraine, he said it would be over in a week. But he underestimated the Ukrainian military, and candidly he underestimated the resolve of the free world.
But I have to believe in my heart of hearts that there are good and decent people among the populace in Russia who are getting fed up with this failed invasion, with the loss of life. And my hope is that that's actually reached all the way into the highest levels of government as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: And no one seems entirely sure where Evgeny Pugosian is. Flight tracking data show two planes linked to the Wagner Group's CEO traveling from Belarus to Moscow and St. Petersburg this week.
[03:35:07]
One U.S. official called it a deception tactic.
Well, joining me now from Warsaw, Poland is Pavel Slunkin, who's a policy analyst with the European Council on Foreign Relations. And for that he worked for the Foreign Ministry of Belarus, participating in the Minsk talks on Ukraine. And those were aimed at ending the war. the fighting with Russian-backed separatists that started in 2014. Thank you so much for being here with us. So first, do you think Prigozhin is in Belarus? And if so, will he stay there?
PAVEL SLUNKIN, POLICY ANALYST, EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: I'm not sure. I'm not sure that he can feel safe in Belarus. And the second part of the answer would be, I don't know what he can be doing there. I mean, when is Jess travel to Belarus and then in the late evening they left Belarus back to Russia?
Allegedly, according to some sources, he was meeting Alexander Lukashenko, but I mean, staying there is not probably a good idea right now while he doesn't have a clear understanding if his soldiers, if his army will come and will be stationed there in Belarus. So I still think that they haven't yet decided what is the future not only for Prigozhin but also for the Wagner Group.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, not a good idea for him to stay there. Do you think because Putin has a long arm, I imagine if someone were fleeing Putin Belarus would hardly be considered out of reach?
SLUNKIN: Yeah, I mean, what we saw was that Putin was publicly humiliated, not only internally, but internationally. And knowing that he's a former KGB officer, who has many times said that he can excuse everything except betrayal. So I am pretty sure that he would try to take revenge, probably not in the near times.
Maybe it's not days, weeks, or months, but still until Prigozhin knows that he can be protected by his own army bearing Belarus, he can trust any security guarantees by Lukasehnko who's kind of a puppet by Putin who depends on him so much so i think that he still negotiate trying to provide more understanding what the role of a lot of can be so okay let's listen to look at saying that he still negotiate trying to provide more understanding what the role the Wagner can be (inaudible).
BRUNHUBER: So, okay, let's switch then to Lukashenko. I mean, if Prigozhin does stay, what will his presence along, presumably, with the Wagner group mean for Lukashenko? Could they coexist? Wouldn't Lukashenko be worried Prigozhin would just turn on him like he did Putin? SLUNKIN: Yeah, that's an excellent question. I would say that this is
the main point of their potential contradictions. Lukashenko has always been an only one decision maker. So all of his opponents or potential competitors, they were either in prison or dead or in exile, said Prigozhin, knowing what he did to Putin, knowing how capable he was and how strong he was.
I'm not sure if location will allow him to have her military independent private army that would obviously challenge Luke Shanker (ph) that will be out of his control and after what happened in Russia
I'm not sure Lukashenko would agree for that at the same time Lukashenko, he's saying that he would be happy to have Wagner as a part of his ministry of defense at least part of those guys, probably training Belarusian soldiers who have never had an experience fighting abroad, but I'm not sure if Prigozhin would agree for that, I mean he has been building his army to use it himself, not to serve to Lukashenko.
So this is, I think, something is upon negotiations and probably, I see three probable directions where they can work together. The one is legal registration in Belarus. In Russia he can't do it. They want him to be subordinate to Shoigu and he wants to avoid that. So Lukashenko already promised him to allow the registration of Wagner in Belarus.
The second one maybe exploring Africa. They have been working there both. I mean, they can now unite forces and do this together. And third one is probably that Wagner can be used as an additional layer of defense for Lukashenko, who has been protecting himself since rigged elections in 2020.
He has been building one layer to each other, first, bringing Russian troops that would make him, that would save him in even a prison in Belarus will happen again, that he agreed to station nuclear arms in Belarus from his eyes it means that nobody will attack him and now the Wagner groups which he thinks will be an additional layer of guys who can and know how to fight and who have been protecting Putin now before in Ukraine and now will probably serve to Lukashenko so those are potentially three directions but still not clear.
[03:39:59]
BRUNHUBER: All right. Last question, I want to get you to respond to this about Belarus's opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanoukskaya wrote in an opinion piece, I want to read this quote here, "The disquieting Wagner presence introduces a sinister new threat to Belarusian independence that we will become enmeshed in power struggles beyond our control.
Any fighting between rival Russian military factions might now spill into Belarusian territory. We are bordered to the west by Poland and to the north by Latvia and Lithuania, none of which is likely to feel safer with the mercenary army of Russian convicts and war criminals squatting on our doorsteps. We want the lot of them out of our country." All right. Do you share her concern that this could embroil the
country and the region further in conflict? And do you think many Belarusians agree?
SLUNKIN: Yeah, I think that obviously it's nothing safe and we can't be sure what they are going to do. Since 2020, Lukashenko has been violating all possible rules. He has landed their airplane with European citizens on board and capturing hostage from their opposition journalists.
Then he has organized the attacks, storms of borders of E.U. and NATO countries in Lithuania, Poland and Latvia, as you said. And we don't know, we can be sure that now they won't add there some soldiers of Wagner who would be using weapons into it to attack the border so it's, I mean, they can be ruled out completely.
And at the same time, yes, I mean, no one what Wagner as being doing in Syria in Ukraine that before no balance and can feel safe, I know that the people who are very critical to Lukashenko, they can't say publicly but they still have some shows of communication with various independent media in exile, they're now saying that they are threatened, they are depressed, they are very much afraid. And obviously this is nothing good to the Belarusian people and we can be sure that Lukashenko will use it in his own interest.
BRUNHUBER: Alright, we'll have to leave it there. Really appreciate your insights, Pavel Slunkin in Warsaw. Thanks again.
SLUNKIN: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin's social media network is shutting down operations. A statement says, after careful analysis, this is the only possible solution. Prigozhin's main online network was an aggregator of news and social content. The company's app claims it had more than 11 million users, although few were actually registered. It's not clear what will happen to Prigozhin's other media interests.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to project strength after Prigozhin's mutiny. The leaders say there is still something he lost in the process, his aura of invincibility. Nick Paton-Walsh explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What's a strong man when he's no longer that strong? Just a guy on a horse who needs a shirt. We've been so accustomed to these images of Vladimir Putin as some sort of Superman, manipulating the known world in a genius game of five-dimensional chess, and wrestling his opponents to the mat intellectually.
Now, the world is coming to terms with a completely new concept, a weak Putin, who seems almost to play the clown, here today at a trade fair, making a sketch, living in a parallel reality from the near collapse of the weekend. While the weekend's armed rebellion by his former confidant,
Prigozhin, failed, it had one catastrophic success, bursting the bubble of Putin's impregnability.
The Kremlin head didn't even appear in public for two and a half days, popping up only outside the Kremlin Tuesday to deliver a surreal thank you to the military who'd step back and let Wagner march on Moscow.
Putin is now in a place he's never been before, hunting for traitors in his inner circle. He was said to have isolated himself so much during the pandemic, keeping visitors at a distance, that perhaps he no longer can find his way back down the table to reality.
The Moscow elite's gentle bubble of assured autocracy has also been burst. It is a place where riches were earned through unquestioning loyalty. But now, after the Ukraine invasion, contends with drones attacking luxury suburbs and even the Kremlin.
None of this was meant to happen. None of this is what Putin sold Russia. And none of this can be easily answered by a strong man who no longer seems strong.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: China's post-pandemic economic recovery could be on the rocks. New figures show activity in the construction and service sectors have declined. Look at what this means for the world's second- largest economy, ahead.
Plus, new details about the special counsel investigations into former U.S. President Donald Trump, classified documents, and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. That's when we come back. Stay with us.
[03:45:02]
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BRUNHUBER: In a move sure to increase tension with China, the Biden administration has approved a $440 million potential arms sale to Taiwan. The move is likely to provoke anger from Beijing, which views the island as part of China.
The White House informed Congress on Thursday the package includes ammunition and equipment for armored vehicles. In a statement, Taiwan thanked the White House, saying the sale will help build Taiwan's capacity in responding to China's military threat.
The world's second largest economy appears to be slowing down. Activity in China's services and construction sectors dropped to its weakest level since December. That's according to the country's National Bureau of Statistics.
CNN's Anna Coren joins me now from Hong Kong. So Anna, I imagine these latest numbers put more pressure on the Chinese economy and its present.
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, absolutely, Kim. This is more bad news for China's economy with the release of this economic data from manufacturing and services sector still indicating the economy is soft and struggling to rebound post COVID.
Manufacturing activity contracted for a third straight month while services sector activity recorded its weakest reading since China abandoned its harsh zero-COVID measures at the end of last year.
It comes following the government's announcement this week that economic growth for the world's second largest economy was projected to reach a modest annual target of around 5 percent.
Now, addressing the World Economic Forum Summit in Tianjin earlier this week. Premier Li Qiang talked up China's growth saying that second quarter of the year will be higher than the first but not everyone is convinced. There is a long list of major banks and credit rating agencies that have cut forecasts for China's economic growth this year including S&P Global, Goldman Sachs, UBS and JP Morgan just to name a few.
The property sector remains a drag on the economy, workers struggle to complete pre-sold projects. The local government debt burden is also coming into focus. You have industrial output and retail sales that remain sluggish. While youth unemployment, Kim, this is a huge problem in China. It's at a record 20.4 percent.
Many young people anxious about China's economic uncertainty. They are flooding temples to pray for divine intervention in securing jobs. It's feared that the youth unemployment rate could further rise as a record. Eleven and a half million college students graduate this summer. Well, earlier today we spoke to one of those graduates. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIAJIA, RECENT GRADUATE (through translator): I feel this year it's particularly hard to find a job. I've applied for so many jobs but it was very difficult. Many small businesses and restaurants near my place have gone out of business. For those people of lower income level in society, for those whose lives are not very easy it's been quite cruel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:50:10]
COREN: Kim analysts believe the government will be forced to stimulate the economy and we heard from Premier Li yesterday, apparently during a cabinet meeting, he said the government plans to take measures to promote household consumption under huge pressure to reverse this slump.
BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks so much Anna Coren, I appreciate it. A former Donald Trump campaign official is cooperating with special
counsel prosecutors in an ongoing criminal probe related to overturning the 2020 election or attempts to overturn them anyway. That's according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, we're learning the former president showed classified material to a current senior campaign official during a meeting at his New Jersey golf club. CNN's Paula Reid has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN SR. LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: One of the most surprising revelations in the Trump indictment was an allegation that the former president had showed a classified map to a representative from his political action committee. A surprising, not only because it's suggesting that he showed classified material to someone who did not have a clearance, but there was also a suggestion that someone in his inner circle may have shared this information with investigators.
A source tells CNN that representative is Suzy Wiles. She's one of his closest advisors. She's effectively running his third campaign for the White House.
Now she was interviewed multiple times by special counsel investigators. She was asked if she was ever shown this map or any other documents related to General Mark Milley and it's unclear what she told investigators. Now we are told that the Trump camp was quote "blindsided by this news" and as of right now there is no plan for Wiles to step back from her role at the campaign.
This is not the only news on the special counsel front. CNN has also learned that the grand jury down in Florida investigating the possible mishandling of classified documents is still active. They are still inquiring after witnesses and investigating. It's not unheard of for a grand jury to continue its work after charges have been filed.
And we know from our reporting that there are some loose ends here in this investigation. For example, gaps in the security footage that was given to investigators. Also, questions about exactly how documents were stored up at the former president's Bedminster Golf Club. But this point is unclear if the grand jury will bring additional charges or a superseding indictment against those already charged.
Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The U.S. Special Envoy on Iran has been placed on unpaid leave while his security clearance is under review. Rob Mallee is currently being investigated for his handling of classified material. Sources say his security clearance was suspended earlier this year, but he remained on the job. The Special Envoy had played a key role in U.S. efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal. Mallee says he expects the inquiry to be resolved favorably and soon.
Hurricane watches are already posted as tropical storm Beatriz nears the southwestern coast of Mexico. Our forecast ahead, stay with us.
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[03:55:00]
BRUNHUBER: More than 100 million people in the U.S. are under air quality alerts as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifts south and east. Currently, there are more than 500 active wildfires burning across Canada, 243 of those are classified as out of control. The smoke has created unhealthy air levels in cities like Chicago, and Washington D.C.
And now, the U.K. Met Office says the smoke has reached parts of Western Europe. This is Canada's worst fire season on record. Those wildfires have cast a pall on tomorrow's Canada Day celebrations. Montreal's fireworks display is canceled. Organizers say they're showing solidarity with parts of the country fighting the fires.
They also want to avoid putting any more noxious substances into the air. Air quality alerts are enforced in several provinces, but other festivities for Canada's national holiday, including Montreal's Jazz Festival, the world's largest, are still going on.
The west coast of Mexico is bracing as Tropical Storm Beatriz nears. Right now, it has winds 80 kilometers per hour and is intensifying. The National Hurricane Center expects Beatriz to become a Category 1 hurricane today as it moves northwest. The center of the storm will likely run parallel to the Mexican coast for the next few days, bringing strong winds, heavy rain, flash flooding, and storm surge.
Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic flew past a big milestone on Thursday. The company successfully launched its first paying customers to the edge of space. They soared more than 80 kilometers above the Earth's surface in Spaceship Two. That's a space plane reaching supersonic speeds.
The foreman crew included two members of the Italian Air Force, which funded the research-based mission. With the rocket shutdown, the space travelers spent a few minutes weightless. The space plane guided to earth after about an hour and a half.
All right, well, you'll want to have a look at this, but you'll have to look closely. This has got to be the smallest purse you've ever seen. Now look, microscopic 3D printed knockoff of a Louis Vuitton tote. It sold at auction on Wednesday for more than $63,000.
An art collective called Mischief says it's narrow enough to pass through the eye of a needle. So Tainy, the buyer, gets a special microscope to look at it. Its controversial manufacturer also sells Satan shoes with human blood drops and shoes with holy water souls.
I'm Kim Brunhuber. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster in London, after a short break.
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