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CNN International: New Campaign Finance Report Spells Trouble for DeSantis; First Hearing in Classified Documents Case Set for Tuesday; Ghana Officials Investigating Claims of Unpaid Severance from Twitter; China GDP Growth Slows to 0.8 Percent in Second Quarter; Morality Police in Iran Resume Headscarf Patrols; Inter Miami Celebrates New Superstar Player Lionel Messi. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired July 17, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN "NEWSROOM". I'm Bianca Nobilo. And if you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories at this hour.
At least 80 million people are under heat alerts across the U.S. with temperatures in some states like Arizona and California to head well into the triple digits. And in the U.S. Northeast severe weather has caused major flight delays and cancellations. More than 11,000 flights into and out of the U.S. were impacted on Sunday. So far today, more than 800 flights have been cancelled or delayed.
And we're getting a first full financial look at the 2024 presidential race as candidates file campaign finance reports. It shows President Joe Biden is taking campaign frugality to a new level. The president announced he's raced $17 million with the Democratic National Committee between April and June. But Biden's campaign is a bare bones operation. They spent more than $1 million in the second quarter of this year. By contrast, former president Barack Obama's campaign spent nearly $11 million in a comparable period.
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In the Republican camp there are alarm bells for Ron DeSantis while former Vice President Mike Pence is struggling. The Florida governor raised a strong 20 million, but his campaign is burning through cash at a rapid rate. Spending nearly $8 million in the first six weeks. The governor is pushing back, though, against the report.
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RON DESANTIS, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think, clearly, you see an effort to create these narratives. I think the good thing about it is Republican primary voters are very smart. They know where these corporate outlets stand on the political spectrum. And so, the extent that they become convinced that the media does not want me to be the nominee above all else that will, in the long run, absolutely help me.
(END VIDEO CLIP) NOBILO: On Tuesday, the first hearing in Donald Trump's criminal case with codefendant Walt Nauta is expected in a Florida courtroom. The hearing will be presided over by a Trump-appointed federal Judge Aileen Cannon. And she will examine Trump's handling of classified documents. The date was set after a dispute where special counsel Jack Smith suggested that Trump and Nauta were trying to create an unnecessary delay. But as CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig puts it, there's no good time for a trial to happen.
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ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Donald Trump makes all the law school hypotheticals come to life. But if we play this through in a practical sense, when are you going to try him? If Donald Trump has to stand trial that's going to take a minimum of a month on any of these cases or pending cases. He has to physically be in the courtroom for that trial. This is not a civil case where you can skip out as he did in the E. Jean Carroll case.
So there is going to be every month from now until November, either primaries, debates, conventions or actual ballots being cast. And that's why the DOJ is in a bind here. By the way, I don't think the 60- or 90-day rule really applies. Because the concern is, well, you can't do it too close to an election. I mean, if Donald Trump gets tried and let's say February 2024, people are still going to remember that come November when ballots are being cast. It's still going to absolutely impact the election.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Months after billionaire Elon Musk acquired Twitter, the company abandoned its only office in Africa. And it also abandoned its staff there. A group of former employees spoke exclusively to CNN about their ordeal. Around a dozen team members were laid off just four days after Twitter opened an office in Accra, Ghana's capital. They say they accepted Twitter's offer to pay three months severance, with repatriation costs and some legal fees. But in the seven months since ex-employees claim that Twitter has not followed through. One saying the company literally ghosted them.
Larry Madowo joins me now from Nairobi, Kenya. So Larry, it's been seven months since they were laid off, the last day, I think, was in December, and still nothing?
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nothing at all, Bianca. That's why these employees feel they were ghosted by Twitter. Even though their official last day was December 4th, they were locked out of their email accounts back in November, that's how they knew they lost their jobs and then Twitter Ireland -- which is a legal entity that was often tried to Ghana sent them what was supposed to be an offer to their personal email which they didn't like.
And it's only after CNN reported on their case that Twitter finally agreed to negotiate. So back in May, they agreed to some settlement reluctantly that they will be paid three months pay and repatriation fees for those who had moved to Ghana from other countries like Nigeria and other parts of the continents, as well as the legal fees in this case. And then silence.
They haven't heard back from Twitter. And they just feel that If you were let go back in December, why was their words in July, you still haven't been paid. I want to read a quote from their lawyer Carla Olympio, representing them and has been advising them.
Unfortunately, it appears that after unethically implemented their terminations in violation of their own promises and Ghana's laws, dragging the negotiation process out for over half a year, now that we have come to the point of almost settlement, there has been complete silence from them for several weeks.
And now the lawyers say that they're considering some legal action against Twitter in other jurisdictions. Because if Twitter no longer has a presence in Ghana or in Africa, what kind of demands can Ghanaian authorities realistically compel them to do? Can they compel them to comply? They're not certain.
And one other thing here, when we talk about the Twitter Africa team, you might think it's hundreds of people. No, it's about a dozen people, a small amount of people. And so, the severance will not really have a big dent on Elon Musk, one the world's richest people. CNN has reached out to Twitter for comment on the part of these employees and we got what is not a candid response, Bianca, a poop emoji.
NOBILO: Crikey. Well, great reporting on that Larry, hopefully there's some sort of justice for these people that have just been left behind. Larry Madowo for us in Nairobi, thank you.
New data otter Beijing shows China's economy slowed to less than one percent growth in the second quarter of this year.
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It comes after a better showing at the start of the year when the economy began to shake off the effects of years of pandemic restrictions. But the post-COVID recovery has quickly faltered seemingly, as Chinese exports fell the most in three years due to lower demand. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me now from Hong Kong with more. Kristie, what does this tell us about China's economic trajectory?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bianca, China's economy is struggling to gain traction. Growth is, yes, stronger, if you compare it to last year, but that was when lockdowns were in place. So right now, we're seeing that the pace of economic recovery in China is slowing down. And on top of that China's youth unemployment rate has hit a new record high of 21.3 percent in June. So the pressure is on Beijing to roll out more stimulus measures and to do it fast.
Now, according to the official data that was released earlier today, China GDP grew about 6.3 percent in the second quarter from the year earlier. But grew only 0.8 percent from April to June.
And according to economist, Carol Kong, she says this, quote, the data suggests that China's post-COVID boom is clearly over. The higher- frequency indicators are up from May's numbers, but still paint a picture of a bleak and faltering recovery and at the same time, youth unemployment is hitting record highs.
Now economists say China is counting the costs of weak economic demand both at home and broad. I mean, data that was out last Thursday, it showed Chinese exports fell in their fastest pace in three years in June. And another factor at play here is what's being called the scarring effects of zero-COVID.
As you recall, it was China's harsh pandemic policy. The uncertainty caused by that policy made consumers and corporates want to save more, instead of buying more. Instead of going out there and making new purchases and investments. Looking ahead investors have all eyes on an expected politburo meeting this month. We'll wait and see if there are any more stimulus measures that will be announced. Back to you -- Bianca.
NOBILO: Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, thank you so much.
STOUT: Thank you.
NOBILO: Still ahead on the program, Iran's controversial morality police are back to enforcing the hijab for women. But some are already pushing back.
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NOBILO: Swimmers had to get out of the water after diesel fuel began washing up on the beaches in Florence, Alabama. You can see the oil sheen on top of the water there. Authorities say up to 5,000 gallons spilled out of a sinking tugboat on the Tennessee River. It's unclear exactly why it sank. But officials say no one was on the boat. We've reached out to the Environmental Protection Agency for more information on that.
Authorities in Mexico say that they've intercepted more than 500 migrants in their crackdown on human smugglers in the past two days alone. On Friday, 196 migrants were found packed into a tractor trailer that was parked on a roadside. About 100 more was found in another truck that was pulled over on the highway. And about 200 migrants including women and children were found abandoned in a tractor trailer on Saturday. The town's mayor said that some of them appeared to be dehydrated.
Iran is cracking down on women's freedoms yet again. State media is reporting the country's so-called morality police have resumed controversial controls to impose the country's strict Islamic dress code including the hijab. Officials say those who don't comply may face legal action. And it comes ten months after the death of Mahsa Amini who died in police custody after she was detain for allegedly not wearing her hijab correctly.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins me now. Salma, other than the religious -- not the connotations but statement that it makes not to wear a hijab, it's so inextricably linked now in the eyes of the state, as a way of showing resistance and optician to them, too.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a way of showing resistance and opposition, not just to the state and to the authorities, but to the entire establishment of what Iran's Islamic Republic is. It is, of course, build on how the clerical establishments see the rules and enforcement of Islamic dress code.
And, of course, now seeing the patrols back on the street, it's seen as a victory for the hard-liners. The morality police first reseeded about 12 months ago, when the huge protest movement took hold in Iran sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini -- this young woman who was stopped by morality police Tehran while she was with her family. Put into one of their police vans. Taken to one of their reeducation centers and died in custody.
Now Iranian authorities say she had a heart condition. They refute the claims from her family and that she was beaten with batons and that she had head injuries that resulted in her death. Regardless, this of course, resulted in these massive demonstrations across every single province in Iran that really threatened and rocked to the power of Iran's establishment.
Now the morality police back on the streets. It's the important to remember just how powerful they are. They have access to detention centers. They have access to reeducation centers. They have access to arms. So there's a great deal of power within their hands. And what this begins to show us his that maybe Iran's government, Iran's Islamic Republic is no longer compromising, is no longer played good cop/bad cop with these protesters.
Because there were points throughout this movement where we saw amnesty issued, for example, to protesters. Where we saw the morality police pulled off of the streets. But in the last months, as these protests have waned because of this very fierce and brutal crackdown -- and I can't emphasize that enough -- hundreds of people killed in the crackdown according to the rights group. Because of this fierce and brutal crackdown, those protests have waned. Morality police now back on the streets. But you have to remember the structural issues that caused those demonstrations, unemployment skyrocketing, inflation, poverty, anger at the establishment, those structural issues remain.
NOBILO: Salma, thank you so much.
Coming up, the dawn of a new era in North American soccer as Inter Miami welcomes one of the greatest players of all time.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lionel Andres Messi!
(END VIDEO CLIP) NOBILO: An enthusiastic crowd in Florida welcomed one of the greatest football stars of his generation. Lionel Messi was celebrated at an Inter Miami introductory event Sunday, which included team co-owner David Beckham, a former world-class player himself of course. Messi's first match with Inter Miami takes place this Friday. The 36-year-old Argentine joins the team as a seven-time Ballon d'Or winner. Messi's deal runs through the end of the 2025 season and will pay up to $60 million a year.
World number one Carlos Alcaraz said that winning Wimbledon is a dream come true. The Spaniard defeated reigning champion Novak Djokovic in a thrilling five-set men's final on Sunday. Alcaraz prevailed after nearly five hours of tennis on center court. The 20-year-old became the third youngest Wimbledon champion in the open era. After winning, Alcaraz paid tribute to Djokovic.
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CARLOS ALCARAZ, 2023 WIMBLEDON GENTLEMEN'S SINGLES CHAMPION: You inspire me a lot. You know, I started playing tennis, watching -- watching you, I mean, since I -- since I was born. You know, you were -- you were already winning tournaments. You know, it's amazing. Probably you are on your very good side than me. You just said that 36 is the new 26. And you make -- you made that happen in Rio. But, you know, it's amazing.
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NOBILO: A chaotic moment at the Tour de France where a number of riders fell during Sunday's stage 15. The cause of the pileup, apparently a fan who was trying to take a selfie. The incident happened nearly 130 kilometers from the finish line. A spectator made contact with a rider and then caused him to fall.
Now to some stories in the spotlight for you.
The seventh entry to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise opened to big numbers over the weekend, dwarfed only by the film's big action sequences.
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TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: Your life will always matter more to me than my own.
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NOBILO: "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One" brought in more than $80 million in the U.S. on an extended weekend. And $235 million worldwide. It's still opened a bit shy of what the previous "Mission Impossible" filmed earned in its first weekend, as theaters continue to face a bit of their summer box office slump.
The video game "Call of Duty" will remain on PlayStation now that Microsoft signed a deal with Sony ensuring that. And before Microsoft closes its $69 billion merger with the tech giant Activision Blizzard. The agreement could resolve long-standing complaints by Sony that the merger threatens competition. Microsoft is expected to become the third largest video game publisher in world now that the courts have ruled that the merger can go ahead.
Spanish climate activists posted videos of themselves vandalizing a superyacht moored in Ibiza on Sunday. The video shows activists holding a banner in front of the $300 million ship where they spray it with red and black paint. Two protestors were detained and should be released in the coming hours. The yacht reportedly belongs to billionaire Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie. A private jet was similarly damaged on Friday.
And that does it here on CNN "NEWSROOM". I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. "EARLY START" with Rahel Solomon is up next.
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