Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Soldier In Korean Custody After Crossing Border; Donald Trump Says He's Target In Election Aftermath Probe; Tens Of Millions Under Heat Warning In U.S.; U.S. Envoy John Kerry In China For Talks; USAID Chief Blasts Vladimir Putin For Backing Out Of Grain Deal; U.N. Begins Operation To Prevent Catastrophic Oil Spill; Israel President Travels to U.S. to Meet with Officials; Slovenian Activist Leading Campaign Against Hate Speech. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired July 19, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:34]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up here on CNN, a U.S. soldier reportedly laughed out loud as he illegally crossed the border into North Korea, right into the hands of the North Koreans.

Triple trouble for Trump. The already twice indicted, twice impeached, one term president, now likely facing new criminal charges over the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill.

And a never before attempted salvage operation off the coast of Yemen. How the U.N. plans to salvage a million barrels of oil and in the process prevent an ecological disaster.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: Thanks for joining us here for CNN NEWSROOM. And we begin this hour in North Korea where U.S. Soldier Private 2nd Class Travis King is now being held after willfully and without authorization crossing over from the demilitarized zone of heavily fortified de facto border, which separates North and South Korea.

Private King had just been released for detention in South Korea on assault charges, was sent to fly back to the U.S. to face further disciplinary action at Fort Bliss in Texas.

But according to U.S. officials, once his military escort left the airport, King did as well, somehow joining a tour bus which traveled to the border village of Panmunjom in the Joint Security Area of the DMZ and from there, he bolted into North Korea.

U.S. officials say so far there is no indication King is a North Korean sympathizer or this was an attempt to defect. But the incident comes at a very tense time, with North Korea firing off another two ballistic missiles just hours ago.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout tracking developments live for us this hour from Hong Kong. Kristie, what more have you learned about the U.S. soldier, about how he crossed over the border and what's being done to try and resolve this situation?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John on Tuesday, a U.S. soldier broke away from a tour group and crossed into North Korea without authorization. The U.N. command a U.S. led group says it is working with the North Korean military to resolve this incident.

But separately earlier today, North Korea fired two short range ballistic missiles into the waters off its eastern coast.

Now, we have learned more about the U.S. soldier. He is Army Private Travis King, he is a junior enlisted soldier, he was not in uniform when he voluntarily crossed into North Korea.

King spent 50 days in a detention facility in South Korea for assault involving at least one South Korean national. We also learned that he was facing disciplinary action by the U.S. military and was due to be separated from the U.S. Army.

A U.S. official told CNN that King was being escorted to the airport to go back to United States but because the escorts couldn't go through customs at the airport with them, he was able to leave the airport and then King later crossed into North Korea during a tour of the Joint Security Area or JSA.

And I want to show you footage of the JSA, let's bring it up for you. The JSA is located inside the demilitarized zone or DMZ. This is the highly fortified border separating the two Koreas. The tour is organized by the U.N. command and that tour is open to the public.

It's interesting to note that while there are checkpoints to get to the JSA, the actual border between North and South Korea is only a small raised line on the ground and I'm going to show you these images.

You may remember this a couple of years ago, former U.S. President Donald Trump when he met with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the JSA in June of 2019. Unfortunately, the banner is covering that raised line but the raised line is there and he stepped across that very line.

During a JSA tour, participants are kept about 20 yards away from the line. There are no guards on the South Korean side of the border. And when CNN took this tour last year, no guards were seen on the North Korean side.

Now this unauthorized crossing it comes at a time of high tension on the Korean Peninsula. This year, North Korea has fired around a dozen missiles including long range ICBMs and earlier today, North Korea fired two short range ballistic missiles just hours after a U.S. ballistic missile submarine arrived in South Korea for the first time in decades.

So, as you can imagine, tension is high. Pyongyang has a U.S. soldier in its custody. This is a very sensitive time, John and his fate is uncertain. Back to you.

[00:05:07]

VAUSE: Kristie's developing story. Glad you're on it. We'll hear back from you next hour. Thank you.

STOUT: Thank you.

VAUSE: Soon it will be three. Donald Trump almost certainly indicted for a third time this year. The one term president says Special Counsel Jack Smith informed him that he's the target of a criminal investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

A grand jury continues to hear from witnesses including a close Trump advisor who's expected to appear on Thursday. Trump's legal team has not formally responded to the letter inviting the former president to testify but it's largely expected he will decline to do so.

More now from CNN's Katelyn Polantz in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Former President Donald Trump received a clear sign from Justice Department prosecutors that he is very likely to be indicted in the January 6, 2020 election investigation, a criminal investigation that's been led out of Washington D.C. by the Office of Special Counsel Jack Smith.

And Trump believes that he may be indicted here that he may be arrested because he was told on Sunday in a letter to his lawyers from the Justice Department from Smith's prosecutors that he is the target of this investigation.

We don't know at this time know of anyone else who has been identified as a target or at least told by prosecutors that they are likely to be charged. But this is the sort of signal that the Justice Department gives at the end of an investigation. And this has been a sprawling probe from the Justice Department from the Special Counsel. It is separate from the documents case that Donald Trump has already been charged in in Florida.

And this is an investigation that has looked at knowledge that Donald Trump had that he lost the election. It's looked at what was said inside the White House on crucial dates after the 2020 election in a late night meeting on December 18th, where supporters of his were throwing out outlandish ideas that he could use his powers of the presidency to overturn the election. It's also looked at testimony from Vice President Mike Pence for who was serving alongside Trump at the time and was pressured to block the election results.

It's also looked at threats, intimidation and outreach that various people, including from Trump himself have made in battleground states, seven different battleground states and there have been officials that CNN has confirmed in each of the seven battleground states that Donald Trump lost and in which he tried to overturn the election. They have spoken to investigators that's Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada.

And so, this investigation is at a point where charges are very likely in the coming days or weeks. Donald Trump is very likely to be charged. We don't know if others are, we haven't found other target letters out there that others have confirmed receiving.

But this is an investigation that while the Justice Department is not commenting publicly, their target letter to Donald Trump on Sunday speaks volumes about the work of their grand jury which still is expected to meet as soon again as Thursday.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The letter from the Special Counsel to Trump means federal prosecutors believe they have sufficient evidence to bring charges.

CNN Legal Analyst and Criminal Defense Attorney Joey Jackson told me sufficient evidence takes on a whole new meaning were bringing charges against the former president, here's part of our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You would think that everyone's created equally and no person is beyond or above the law.

But if you're coming after a president, you have to be absolutely certain, right? As certain as you can be as the facts and the evidence would allow that there's been a crime committed.

And so, just very briefly, what happens is, is a grand jury is convened. What is a grand jury, it's a panel consisting of 23 people, they are not grand jurors deciding guilt or innocence. They're simply making two determinations.

Number one, is their reason to believe that a crime was committed. And number two, is the subject of the grand jury proceeding, in this case, the target, the one who committed them.

And so, clearly, they as the prosecutors believe that the evidence they presented is sufficient. They're ready to vote out indictment. That's what grand jurors do. They indict by a simple majority, right?

I mentioned 2312 are necessary for an indictment. So, that's low in and of itself, but the grand jurors are instructed by prosecutors with respect to the law on what they're bringing forward.

After prosecutors now believe they're secure in getting an indictment, they will send that target letter to the individual, in this case, the president, that they believe to be criminally responsible.

And of course, the president could if he would like, present himself before the grand jury, that's not likely to happen. Defense attorneys like me do not like our clients to appear before the grand jury, probably because you're going to get indicted anyway. And anything you say in the grand jury can be used against you.

So, yes, the bar I think in this case is significantly high. But I think prosecutors through the Department of Justice, the federal prosecutors believe they have enough meat on the bone to move forward and indict the president.

[00:10:12]

VAUSE: My full conversation with Joey airs next hour right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

Soaring temperatures across southern Europe have prompted an E.U. Red Alert, covering most of Italy, southern Spain, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro. Rome set a new record high 41.8 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, and wildfires fueled by the heatwave spread across Greece as well as Switzerland.

More now from CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the heat is certainly on in the northern hemisphere, and we expected it because it's summer. But there are heat domes and tele connected ways across the western part of the United States, the western part of the Atlantic, all of the European countries, especially southern Europe, and then back out here into parts of Asia.

If you are under the ridge of high pressure, that line you see there's the jet stream. If you're under that, south of that, then all of a sudden you are going to be in some very hot weather. If you're north of it, you're going to be a little bit cooler. Of course, that's how it all works.

But taking you back all the way to July 3rd, the July of 2023 has been a above all the other months. In fact, all the way above the old record high setting you back into 2016.

So, look at this, Persian Gulf International Airport, the heat index was 152 degrees, almost unbearable for most and we're going to be hot again for today. Hot again for tomorrow, this isn't going to change very much, temperatures are going to be approaching 50 degrees in Kuwait City a little drier there.

But for Rome, 41.8, the new all-time record for July. That was just broken last July. So again, one degree higher than the old record there in Rome, and it's going to be hot over the next couple of days.

Northwestern Europe, you're in awesome shape. It's cooler than normal. You're not part of that heat dome that I talked about. Very, very cool weather there, windy and cold in some spots. If you watched any of the Scottish Open.

Here's the forecast for some fires here around Athens as well. We talked about that over the last couple of days. Rome, you're going to begin to cool down from the 40s down into the 30s. I think really low for Greece. For Athens, you're not going to cool down much, you're still going to be above 40 well above your normal high. Rome, you should be 32, you'll be 38, cooling slightly in the middle of the week, but not below normal.

And then here the heat dome for the United States excessive heat warnings all the way for millions, tens of millions of people in the heat dome category here from Death Valley to Vegas to Palm Springs into Phoenix, all 10 to 15 degrees above normal for the next couple of days. Try to stay cool. Make sure the pets, the people and your property are taken care of.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: China's southern provinces are being battered by the remnants of Typhoon Talim. The storm is expected to weekend after making a second landfall Tuesday. Tens of thousands of people evacuated to higher ground amid ongoing rescue operations.

Meanwhile, in India, floodwaters have reached the outer walls of the Taj Mahal, the country's most popular tourist attraction. Local media report the monument itself is not at risk.

U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry meeting for a second day with top Chinese officials in Beijing, more than that live to Hong Kong again this time at CNN's Anna Coren standing by.

John Kerry, his climate envoy there in Beijing, both men crucial to solving this problem of climate change. How did they do today?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: According to John Kerry, John, he said the mood is very, very positive that the talks have been constructive, but complex, yet they have definitely made inroads.

He met with the Vice President Zheng -- Han Zheng -- Han Zheng this morning, and Han said that China and the U.S. will issue a joint statement on climate change and send a positive signal to the world. We're still waiting for that joint statement to be issued.

But he went on to say that the world's two largest polluters have reached some important consensus and he praised Kerry for facilitating close communication and dialogue with China.

Now, as we know, John Kerry is not your average U.S. diplomat. He was a presidential Democratic nominee. He was a U.S. Secretary of State under Barack Obama. He is well liked by Chinese officials.

And while meeting yesterday with China's top diplomat Wang Yi and then separately with Premier Li Qiang. They both referred to him as an old friend. You know, they share history and experiences with Kerry and that certainly counts for a lot. This of course is Kerry's third visit to China as the U.S. climate envoy.

Kerry responded to Han saying that the U.N. Climate Summit COP28 in Dubai, which starts at the end of November, will be the most important meeting since Paris. He is referring to the signed agreements in 2015. And that was to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius of pre- industrial temps, that was later revised to it to 1.5. He said if China and the U.S. can come together, it could make a profound difference on climate issues.

[00:15:20]

Now, on this trip, Kerry has been calling on China to curb expansion of coal plants and reduce its use of methane, a greenhouse gas responsible for about 30 percent of global warming. China has always resisted this, arguing it's a developing nation and must continue using fossil fuels to support economic development.

And John, overnight, we heard from Chinese leader Xi Jinping, he weighed in and said, let me read you the quote. The dual-carbon goal we have committed to is firm and unshakeable but the method and path, the pace and intensity of achieving this goal should and must be determined by ourselves and never subject to the influence of others.

Now, is that a dig at John Kerry? Let's read the tea leaves but you know, China has pledged to level off carbon emission by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060. The U.S. and European Union have argued for China to adopt more ambitious targets. Kerry should be holding a press conference later today, John before flying out.

VAUSE: Anna, thank you. Anna Coren there live for us there in Hong Kong with the tea leaves, appreciate it.

Well, El Salvador has recorded a magnitude 6.5 earthquake Tuesday night. While there were no immediate reports of damage, about 750,000 people did experience strong shaking according to the U.S. geological survey, more like tremors were felt by more than 10 million people across a number of countries.

Coming up here on CNN, our teams on the ground in Odessa with a firsthand look at how Ukrainian air defenses are neutralizing Russian missiles. We'll bring you the latest on the war in Ukraine.

As well the flooding oil platform which is a ticking time bomb of an ecological disaster, the unprecedented salvage operation to pump more than a million barrels of oil to a salvage ship, more on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Second night of Russian airstrikes on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. According to Ukrainian military officials, their air defense systems have intercepted and destroyed a number of cruise missiles and what appears to be an ongoing assault.

CNN's Alex Marquardt reports now from Odessa on the link between the airstrikes and the end of a deal to allow Ukraine to export its grain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An extraordinary display of firepower as Ukrainian air defenses furiously tried to fend off a major Russian air assault. It was the second night in a row that Ukraine's biggest port city

Odessa came under Russian drone and cruise missile attack. Tracer rounds soaring into the sky, some appearing to make contact as the sky glowed.

[00:20:03]

The second night's barrage significantly larger than the first as multiple enormous blast echoed across the city on Wednesday before dawn, so violent they made car alarms go off.

It was a city still rattled. When top Biden administration officials Samantha Power, the head of the U.S. Development Agency USAID arrived in the Odessa port on Tuesday.

In an exclusive interview, she blasted Russia's decision to pull out of the Green Deal.

SAMANTHA POWER, ADMINISTRATOR, USAID: The idea that Putin would play roulette with the hungriest people in the world at the time of the greatest food crisis in our lifetimes is just deeply disturbing.

MARQUARDT: So, are you still optimistic that the Russians can be brought back in?

POWER: It is going to require pressure not only from the United States in the United Nations, but from those countries in Sub Saharan Africa who will suffer most from the higher grain and oil prices.

MARQUARDT: The Russian complaint has been that this has been one sided, Ukraine has been the only ones who have benefited from this, that they haven't been able to export their foodstuffs, their fertilizer. What do you make of that argument?

POWER: Sanctions have not been imposed on Russian food and fertilizer, the idea that Russia should benefit from a deal designed to undo the effects of Russia's cruel and inhuman blockade against a sovereign country is absurd.

MARQUARDT (voice over): Power announced the U.S. would be giving another $250 million to help Ukrainian agriculture and investments she argues will help stabilize global food prices as the Russian onslaught continues.

Overnight, an Odessa resident was trapped under a collapsed house after it was struck by a cruise missile.

He's alive, a man says, he's breathing. Just one person was hurt in the more than two hour Russian attack on this city.

The military practice firing on would be Russian target at sea, preparing for all kinds of attacks that with or without a Grain Deal, Power says will continue.

POWER: You are a bully and an aggressor. It is always easier to lob missiles and send drones at civilian infrastructure. So, I think our -- we absolutely should expect the worst from the Russian Federation as it continues to struggle on the battlefield.

MARQUARDT (voice over): The Kremlin had said that Tuesday's attack on Odessa and elsewhere in the South was a retaliatory strike for Ukraine's attack on the Kerch Bridge, which connects Russia to illegally annexed Crimea. 3

According to Vladimir Putin spokesman Moscow is still looking at other ways to respond even further.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Odessa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The U.N. also warns low income countries like Yemen will be severely impacted from the end of that Black Sea Grain initiative. The World Food Program says Russia's actions will reduce the already scarce supplies of grain available in Yemen, which has received tens of thousands of tons of wheat, since that deal was struck a year ago.

In the coming days, a U.N. salvage operation will attempt what has never been done before, safely transfer more than a million barrels of oil for an abandoned storage vessel off Yemen's coast to a salvage ship, now more alongside and in the process, avoid a major ecological disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID GRESSLY, U.N. HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR FOR YEMEN: By the end of this week, we should be able to start seeing the first oil being pumped into this vessel to secure it for the first time in eight years, and no longer represent a threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Almost 40 years ago, Yemen state owned oil company converted a Japanese super tanker into a flooding platform for storage and transfer of oil and renamed the tanker FSO Safer. But when civil war broke out in Yemen in 2015, the Safer came under control of Houthi rebel forces backed by Iran and was essentially abandoned.

And with no maintenance work over the past eight years, the structural integrity equipment and operating systems are all decaying. U.N. officials warned a major leak or explosion is simply a matter of time.

The Safer has capacity of up to three million barrels of oil. But right now is holding less than half of that, about 1.14 million barrels. Still, if all that was to leak, it would be four times the amount of oil, which leaked during the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, and would rank as the world's fifth worst oil leak from a tanker and with a cleanup cost, according to the U.N., around $20 billion. And recovery of fish stocks alone could take up to 25 years.

Well, for more on how the U.N. plans to avoid that from happening. We're joined by Achim Steiner, Administrator for the United Nations Development Program. Thank you very much for being with us

ACHIM STEINER, ADMINISTRATOR, UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: Good to be with you, John. Thank you.

VAUSE: OK, so let's go -- we'll talk about the logistics at the moment, because it's quite the challenge in and of itself. But this has been an incredible diplomatic challenge, simply negotiating with all the warring factions in Yemen, along with the Saudis, simply to get to this point to be able to pump the oil from this vessel.

[00:25:09]

So, tell me how difficult that has been.

STEINER: Well, it is the very reason why the United Nations became in essence (PH) the vehicle for the international community, but also for both sides in Yemen in the context of this conflict, to be the platform on which to negotiate this.

And my colleague, David Gressly, who is our U.N. resident coordinator, you just saw earlier in your report, has been leading the negotiations between Aden and Sanaa the internationally recognized government and the so called de facto authorities in Sanaa.

So, within Aden and Sanaa, a great deal of sharp diplomacy, a year in groundwork and the parameters for this operation. And once that was agreed, and the secretary general authorizes this operation UNDP was tasked with the implementation, which is really the whole organization that then followed, but as you can imagine, even in the operational preparations, complexity and also lack of trust and doubts arose, so a continuous process of trying to build the trust and create the space and also the conditions under which you're able to deploy such an operation and what is the fact that delay was on a conflict zone.

VAUSE: Yes, it is a conflict zone, there is still mind flooding in the water, which present one challenge. And this week, pumping is expected to begin with oil from the Safer onto this replacement vessel known as Nautica.

So, how long is that expected to take? What are the risks here in terms of something going wrong with the end result being precisely what everyone has tried to avoid in the first place, a significant oil leak?

STEINER: Well, one of the reasons why it has taken us months to prepare the logistics and also the practical aspects of the operation is precisely because of the high risks involved. The tanker could break apart, even during the process of for instance, pumping the oil off. So we had to do a lot of work with a salvage company that we specifically recruited for this process. Smith that had to do an assessment of the structural integrity.

Another risk was an explosion, and therefore, the levels of inert gas inside the tanks had to be first of all tested because nobody had really done this for a period of ideas.

So, in the last month, month and a half, a great deal of testing and preparations have to be done in order to mitigate these risks. As we speak, we also have a consortium of insurance companies from all

over the world, who we worked with our five months period to negotiate a package of insurances that have been trainings on land with local officials in case there's an oil spill, a stand by aircraft with chemicals, in case of a larger oil spill had to be arranged.

All these are measures that UNDP has been putting in place over the last three to four months in order to bring the risks to a minimum.

And once the pumping of the oil stops, there are still sound residual risks. But we believe that we have done everything possible to make it as safe as possible.

VAUSE: This comes with a very high price tag, from what I understand almost $150 million. So far, the U.N. has raised close to that, $115 million.

But right now, there's one million plus barrels on board the Safer and the price of crude, the last time I checked, $75.00 a barrel U.S. That's about $85 million in change worth of oil.

Why can't the sale of oil cover the bulk of the salvation operation?

STEINER: It's a very fair question. And I think what the U.S. the United Nations essentially have to accept is that given the nature of the conflict and the lack of trust amongst the parties, there was no agreement to be found on the immediate sale of the oil.

So, we have to operate within a situation where there is a state oil company, but the actual FSO Safer is more than anchored in an area that is controlled by the de facto authorities.

So, these were the conditions with which we had to work and the priority and the most immediate risk was to secure the oil onto the vessel so that this catastrophic accident would no longer be a scenario that could happen.

Now, obviously, with both sides and are as important, we'll continue to discuss with them. There are also plans to eventually sell the oil, but we have to go in steps and in phases, and therefore at this point in time, the oil will be transferred onto a safe vessel that we bought specifically for this purpose. And then in the next step, there is hopefully going to be agreement between the internationally recognized government that de facto authorities to sell this on eventually and those funds will then be injected into what is one of the largest humanitarian operations in the world that the U.N. is currently undertaking.

So, the needs are enormous. And therefore, these funds could then be invested also in reconstruction of destroying facilities into support for the Yemeni population.

But right now, the priority was to avert this potentially catastrophic incident. And that's why we have moved with the first phase of this operation as planned.

VAUSE: Well, these are obviously very delicate days, very dangerous days ahead, and we wish you all the very best.

Obviously, this is something which has ever been tried before, so -- and of course, the consequences are grave if you don't succeed, so we wish you all the very best of luck.

STEINER: Thank you, John.

[00:30:06]

VAUSE: Still to come on CNN, Israel's president visits the White House amid increasing tensions between the Biden administration and Israel's far-right-wing coalition, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Protests show no signs of letting up in Israel over the government's so-called judicial reform. Part of the bill is set to be voted into law next week, limiting the Supreme Courts authority over the government.

On Tuesday, highways and train stations were blocked by demonstrators. These protests come as the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, met with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House.

More details from CNN's Hadas Gold.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Israeli President Isaac Herzog's trip to the United States and his address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday is likely the type of trip to the United States that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wishes he was having right now but instead is the Israeli president taking this trip sitting down with President Biden in the Oval Office, meeting with all the top figures of American politics, including the vice president, speaker of the House, and addressing a joint session of Congress.

Now, this trip and the speech is ostensively to mark Israel's 75 years of statehood, and that is what is the Israeli president going. He is the ceremonial figurehead. He is not technically a part of this Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu. He's not even part of Benjamin Netanyahu's party.

And I think that is significant, because tensions in the relationship between this Israeli government led by Netanyahu and President Joe Biden's administration are rather high right now. Both about -- because of the situation in the occupied West Bank but also because of this massive judicial overhaul plan that Benjamin Netanyahu's government has been trying to push through.

And actually, as president, Herzog landed in the United States, another massive day of protests were going on here across Israel. Protesters were essentially shutting down many train stations, were taken to the streets once again in opposition to this judicial overhaul plan.

The Benjamin in Netanyahu's government has been trying to push them. And President Hassan has actually been at the forefront of efforts to try and mediate some sort of compromise negotiation between Benjamin Netanyahu's government and the opposition party hosting negotiation talks at the president's residence over the past few months.

But those seemingly fell apart, and the government has been pushing forward once again with parts of this legislation. And that's why we're seeing these protests really ramping up over the past week or so across Israel.

[00:35:11]

Now, the day before Herzog landed, President Biden did have a phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu, but there is a question about whether there was actually an invitation to the White House or to the United States or not.

Now, the Israeli read-out of that phone call did say that President Biden invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to the United States for a visit, but the White House read-out didn't go so far.

What we have is the White House using, essentially saying that they agreed to meet. That's according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, not mentioning the word "invitation," not mentioning the word "White House."

Now, there is some predictions, potentially, that what that could mean is that the two will meet sometime in the United States, but not necessarily a big over-office White House meeting, most likely that could possibly be a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly that is set to take place in September.

Hadas Gold, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still to come here, how activists in Slovenia are pushing back against hate speech with positivity and niceness.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: After becoming the subject of online abuse for some of Slovenia's most senior officials, one woman has made it her mission to put a stop to trolling and hate speech online.

She's now expanding her efforts to help others spread positivity with an army of kindness.

CNN's Christina MacFarlane as our report has our report as part of CNN's "As Equals" series.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GRAPHIC: Good morning!

MIKA KOVICH (PH), ACTIVIST: We are a movement. We are a group of young women. And what we want is change in the society, giving the voice to the people who are usually not heard.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mika Kovich leads the institute Eighth of March, an activist group fighting for social justice and gender rights in Slovenia.

Mika (ph) says she's often been the target of online hate by one of the country's most influential figures, former Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his supporters.

KOVICH (ph): So these are the tweets from ex-prime minister about me.

KOVICH (ph): Janez Jansa tweeted yesterday a tweet, which is basically like saying, like, let's burn the activists of Mika Kovich (ph) and the other names of some other activists.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): Hateful messages like these aren't from anonymous trolls. They're from members of the former government and its supporters.

Jansa's party was voted out of power in 2022. But some of his followers continue to promote sexist, racist, and anti-immigrant hatred online.

[00:40:09]

KOVICH (ph): You feel hopeless. You feel powerless. You can change the laws. You can change the structure. But you also need an immediate response to that kind of behavior.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): It's part of a new campaign called Only Love. Mika's (ph) movement is recruiting volunteers to address online hate in a unique way.

Today, 25 people are being trained to use loving messages to counter trolling by people in power.

MOJCA LUKAN, 8TH MARCH INSTITUTE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: When a specific person or a group of individuals is attacked, we would all receive a notification to respond. We will comment and share the love under the posts of the person who has been attacked. Three, two, go!

If there are 10 hateful comments, we want even more from us to make them invisible.

KOVICH (ph): (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: And we thought, if we can get just 30 or 40 people to join our team in always responding whenever a politician attacks someone then we can make a change together. Thank you all for joining us on the "Only Love" campaign tour. We will stop in Velenje and hand out flowers and leaflets. There is a QR code on the leaflet.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): Mika's (ph) work has caught the attention of the current government, which has invited her to lead a task force to research the issue of hate speech.

Meanwhile, her team believes their strategy can make a difference.

KOVICH (ph): We need to have an organized army of kindness, an organized army of people who are really determined to bring back solidarity and hope into the public discourse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: We reached out to the former Slovenian prime minister, Janez Jansa, but did not receive a response, at least not yet.

A British woman jailed under Victorian-era legislation for terminating her pregnancy has won her appeal and will be released from prison. A judge ruled Carla Foster should serve a suspended sentence instead.

According to British reports, media reports, the 45-year-old mother of three admitted to taking abortion medication when she was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant. That is after the U.K.'s legal limit.

Her case sparked outrage, reunited efforts to decriminalize abortion in the United Kingdom.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. WORLD SPORT is up next after a very short break, and I will be back at the top of the hour with a lot more news in just about 17 minutes from now. See you then.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:45:28]

(WORLD SPORT)