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CNN International: Gunman Sentenced to Death for Killing 11 in Synagogue; Israeli Supreme Court Hearing on Key Law; China Proposing Dail Phone Limit for Minors; Trump To Be Arraigned Today at Washington Courthouse; Jamaica Reach Knockout Stage for First Time. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 03, 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]

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DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After more than nine weeks of trial, over 100 witnesses, and nearly five years since the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, a jury of five men and seven women unanimously voted to sentence shooter Robert Bowers to death. The jury deliberated for 10 hours.

ALAN MALLINGER, SON OF ROSE MALLINGER, SHOOTING VICTIM: Today was the hardest day, and I think it was the hardest day for the jury too. And it was a hard day for the judge.

I'm sure everyone here as we move on and, you know, see justice, the justice system worked and just thankful for, you know, the jurors doing what they did.

FREEMAN (voice-over): As the verdict was read, survivors of the shooting hugged each other in the courtroom. The judge presiding over the case choked up as he thanked the jury. Fifty-year-old Bowers only briefly looked up at the jurors as they affirmed their death penalty decision.

ANDREA WEDNER, INJURED IN SHOOTING, MOTHER KILLED IN SHOOTING: Returning a sentence of death is not a decision that comes easy. But we must hold accountable those who wish to commit such terrible acts of anti-Semitism, hate and violence.

FREEMAN (voice-over): The verdict include a stunning rebuke of the defense's core arguments to spare Bowers' life. The jurors were not convinced that Bowers suffered from schizophrenia or was motivated by delusions. And not a single juror believed he committed the offenses under mental or emotional disturbance.

During the trial, the prosecution detailed how Bowers had been convinced of the anti-Semitic and anti-Latino white replacement conspiracy theory that has been pushed by some on the extreme right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you guys have any statements?

FREEMAN (voice-over): His defense team not commenting on the verdict. In contrast, the jurors unanimously agreed with federal prosecutors. The killing of 11 Jewish worshippers was premeditated, motivated by his hatred of Jews. And the jury found Bowers had no remorse for the attack.

ERIC OLSHAN, U.S. ATTORNEY: When people who espouse white supremacist, anti-Semitic and bigoted views, pick up weapons and use them to kill or to try to kill people because of their faith, our office and our partners in law enforcement will hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law each and every time.

FREEMAN: Now formal sentencing is expected to happen on Thursday morning, and during that proceeding we're also expecting to hear more impact statements from some of the victims who were impacted most by this shooting.

Danny Freeman, CNN, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now Israel's Supreme Court is hearing the first in a series of appeals against new laws passed by Prime Minister Netanyahu's government. You are looking at pictures from inside the courthouse. A little earlier where a panel of three judges is hearing a challenge to a law which makes it more difficult to declare the Prime Minister incapacitated or unfit for office. Journalist Elliott Gotkine is with us now from outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. You've been reporting a lot about these series of different bills that it's going through. What's the significance of this one?

ELLIOT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Max, today's hearing has its roots in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's legal troubles. You recall that he's on trial for corruption charges he vehemently denies. Now when those legal troubles began, there were petitions to the Supreme Court here in Jerusalem saying that look, he's on trial for corruption, he shouldn't be able to be Prime Minister or to run for office. The Supreme Court disagreed. They said he can be Prime Minister so long as there's no conflict of interest.

Roll onto the formation of this government and it unveiled its controversial judicial overhaul plan. Those plans that have pushed hundreds of thousands of Israelis on to the streets for more than six months and led to concerns about the Israeli economy, the Israeli democracy, et cetera. So it unveiled this judicial overhaul plan. The Attorney General says, well, hang on, Netanyahu, you are on trial for corruption, you can't be involved in these judicial overhaul plans because this could have an impact on your trial.

What does the government do? It has a law. It amends an existing basic law, one of these laws that are closest Israel has to a constitution, to say that actually it's much, much harder to remove a Prime Minister from office in the event of a conflict of interest. Therefore after that, there were petitions to the Supreme Court which brings us here today. The petitioners are saying Netanyahu passed that law solely for his

own benefit and therefore it's an abuse of power. And if the Supreme Court, the three justices, strike down this amended basic law, that would be the first time that they've ever struck down a basic law. And it could indicate that when all 15 Supreme Court judges meet in September to hear the first of those judicial overhaul bills, that so- called reasonableness bill that we've been talking about for the past couple of weeks, it may have fewer concerns or fewer qualms about striking that basic law down because it had already done so once before for another basic law. And that, Max, I think more or less is why today's hearing is important and the result of this hearing matters.

FOSTER: OK, Elliott in Tel Aviv, thank you.

[04:35:00]

The family of a U.S. soldier who crossed in to North Korea last month says he's not the type to just disappear. Army private Travis King was immediately taken into custody when he ran across the border during a tour of the demilitarized zone. CNN's Laura Coats spoke with King's family on Wednesday in an exclusive interview. They say the lack of information from the U.S. officials has been frustrating.

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MYRON GATES, TRAVIS KING'S UNCLE: Calling the D.C. office, Congressman's, Senators, we get no answers.

LAURA COATES, CNN PRIMETIME HOST: What do you want the administration, the president to be doing? Are they doing anything as far as you are presently right now aware to help find your brother, your loved one, your nephew, your grandson, for his grandparents back there? Do you know if they're doing anything right now to try to bring him home?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

GATES: No. We wish they would come to our house to talk to us and let us know something.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, King was facing disciplinary action and scheduled to return from South Korea to the U.S. the day before the incident. The United Nations command says North Korea has responded regarding King but is not releasing any information about what was in it.

Chinese officials want to limit the amount of time children and teenagers spend on their phones. A new proposal was released by the country's top internet regulator on Wednesday. The country has become more concerned about so-called internet addiction as well as health issues stemming from prolonged use of smart phones.

CNN's Anna Coren joins me from Hong Kong. I mean, a lot of parents around the world might see this as a good idea. ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I was going to say, Max, you know,

internet addiction is not just a Chinese problem, it's a global problem. But China certainly doubling down proposing these new restrictions on children and teenagers on the amount of time that they can spend on the internet and mobile devices.

The country's cyberspace regulators say that it wants mobile devices, apps and app stores to introduce a so-called minor mode that would cut off users from accessing the Internet on mobile devices from 10:00 p.m. through to 6:00 a.m. The proposal also includes a limit on how much time those kids under the age of 18 will be allowed to go online each day. For those under the age of 8, it's 40 minutes a day. Those age between 8 and 16, it's an hour a day. For those over the age of 16 -- 16 to 18, it's two hours a day. Once it has reached that limit, the mobile devices will be shut down and all the applications will be shut down.

Look, there will be a number of exemptions, emergency services, educational products such as online classes, apps for physical and mental development, you know, parents can also choose whether or not they want an app exempt or, you know, whether they can opt out of certain time limits.

We spoke to one mother of two children in China this morning. This is what she said. She is in full support.

She said: I think it is good. On one hand it can protect their eye vision as many young kids cannot stop themselves while watching something they like. It helps automatically cut it off. On the other hand, it's easier for us parents to control our kids' screen time. Without parents' approval, they only have 40 minutes. Most importantly, the content under the teenage mode is more positive and healthy.

Now parents in China might be happy, but internet companies and their investors certainly were not. Shares in Chinese tech firms fell yesterday after the news of this announcement. Bilibili fell almost 7 percent. Kuaishou fell 3.5 percent. While Ten Cent holdings which operates their social network app WeChat closed down 3 percent.

Now since trading resumed today, all those stocks have bounced. But one lawyer based in Shanghai, Max, said that these new rules will be an absolute headache for internet companies. There'll be a lot of effort and costs involved to properly implement the new regulatory requirements. Now we understand that the draft proposal is open for public discussion until the beginning of September, but at the end of the day, this is China.

Now it's important to remember that minor mode is nothing new. Chinese authorities have grown increasingly concerned about internet addiction among their young people. In 2021, the Chinese government-imposed time limits for online gamers under the age of 18 barring them from playing video games on weekdays and restrict their play to just three hours on weekends. My children would not be happy about that.

And then since 2019, Chinese social media Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, have often teenage modes to restrict users' access to content and duration of use. But as you say, Max, there might be some parents outside of China who are thinking this is not such a bad idea.

FOSTER: And they can override as well, apparently. So (CROSSTALK). Anna Coren in Hong Kong, thank you so much.

[04:40:02]

A typhoon Khanun is heading west through the Pacific after battering southern Japan. At least two people have been killed and dozens more injured in Okinawa. High winds flipped cars, unrooted trees, they've knocked out power to more than 200,000 households on the island. Right now Khanun is on a direct path towards China. But meteorologists expect it will turn before major damage is done there. Still China, Taiwan and parts of Japan remain on alert.

Chinese state media says it could take weeks for floodwaters to recede after a different typhoon hit the region last week -- late last week. Record-breaking rainfall is putting flood management infrastructure to the test even though the rains had mostly stopped. Emergency workers are still performing rescues. Officials warn that of landslides in some places where more than a year's worth of rain fell in a matter of days.

At least nine people are dead after a police raid turned into a gunfight in Brazil. Police say they shot a group of suspects whilst targeting an alleged meeting of crime groups in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday. But Brazilian authorities say the officers opened fire only after being fired upon first.

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COL. MARCO ANDRADE, SPOKESPERSON, RIO DO JANEIRO MILITARY POLICE (through translator): After advancing through the terrain and reaching the area where the meeting was actually taking place, we were met by many gunshots and an intense armed confrontation ensued.

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FOSTER: The operation comes after a police crackdown on suspected organized crime in Sao Paulo state, which left 16 people dead in recent days. Police were criticized for reportedly using excessive force which the state's governor denies.

Up next, security is tight around a Washington federal courthouse ahead of Donald Trump's arraignment in the coming hours. We'll look at how law enforcement is preparing there.

Plus, Madonna is back in the public eye after her hospital stay. Appearing at a Beyonce concert in New York with her daughters.

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FOSTER: Let's go back to our top story. We're just hours away from Donald Trump's arraignment in Washington on criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. U.S. Capitol police chief says law enforcement is prepared. CNN's Brian Todd reports on the security plans now in place.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The nation's capital now in an enhanced security posture ahead of former President Trump's arraignment on

Thursday. D.C. Police saying they're, quote, working closely with our federal law enforcement partners to monitor the situation and plan accordingly.

The U.S. district courthouse, at least temporarily being turned into a fortress.

MATT DOHERTY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SIKICH LLC: They're going to have a surge of manpower around this building.

TODD (voice over): CNN is told multiple agencies are combining forces to secure Trump's appearance, including the Secret Service, D.C. Metropolitan Police, the U.S. Marshals, Capitol Police and Federal Protective Service. Sources tell CNN law enforcement has been looking very closely at online platforms where threats could come from.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Find out what's going on social media. What are they hearing in the street? Are they going to have protesters show up, all these kinds of things? They'll be checking like bus companies to see whether or not buses have been rented to come into D.C., hotel reservations.

TODD (voice over): CNN is told federal law enforcement officers have been patrolling the area outside the courthouse this week, along with bomb-sniffing dogs and have stabbed a security perimeter around the building.

Trump's two previous two indictments in Manhattan and Miami have seen more of a carnival atmosphere. The But since these events have often drawn a mix of Trump supporters and Trump critics, Thursday could still be a potentially volatile situation.

RAMSEY: You've got to keep those groups apart, otherwise you're going to have chaos on the streets.

TODD (voice over): This is a city well-versed in the highly charged atmosphere that Donald Trump can create. After the 2020 election, there were clashes and even violence between partisan groups at two "Stop the Steal" rallies in Washington. And the January 6th riot at the Capitol took place just a few blocks from the D.C. courthouse where Trump will appear.

TODD: What's the biggest lesson that law enforcement learned from January 6th?

DOHERTY: To do more than just send an email out, the old-fashioned, pick up the phone and talk to a body and let them know how operationally relevant it is, the information you have.

TODD (voice over): And there's the question of Trump's safety. One former Secret Service agent says he will likely not be brought in through a sidewalk entrance.

DOHERTY: When it's a very public event, you prefer covered arrivals, as much cover as possible, less exposure to the public on the sidewalk.

TODD: So far sources tell CNN, there is nothing to indicate an active threat to this U.S. District courthouse where Trump will be arraigned.

The Secret Service pledging, quote, the highest level of safety and security for the former president while minimizing the disruptions to the normal court process.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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FOSTER: Former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is speaking out about the latest indictment. In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, she credited Trump's impeachment after the January 6 insurrection for paving the way to criminal charges. She had harsh words for those who continue to embrace Trump's lies about the 2020 election and also for Trump's constant attacks on the media.

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NANCY PELOSI, FORMER U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: Now he was undermining the rule of law. He was also undermining a pillar of our democracy. Part of the First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press. So if he can diminish the role of the press and lying to the people to know what the facts are, and he can diminish the rule of law in our country, we're on a path that is not a good one for our democracy.

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FOSTER: the Reggae Girlz reached the knockout stages of the Women's World Cup for the first time in Jamaica's history thanks to a gutsy draw against Brazil. Highlights from that man when we return.

[04:50:00]

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FOSTER: It was a day of high drama in the FIFA Women's World Cup yesterday. The Reggae Girlz from Jamaica earned an historic qualification to the knockouts sending Brazil crashing out of the tournament with a stunning nil-nil draw. Star Brazilian striker Marta concluded her sixth and final World Cup. Giving an emotional farewell to the tournament after her team lost.

And fans can expect yet more action in the final group games in about an hour as Colombia take on Morocco and Germany plays South Korea, all bidding to qualify out of group H. Lionel Messi scored two goals and propelled Inter Miami to victory on

Wednesday night against Orlando City. His first goal playing early on in the 7th minute, when teammate Robert Taylor found an unmarked Messi in the penalty area. The final score Miami 3, Orlando 1. Messi and Miami advance to the round of 16 in the leagues cup, encompassing every team from major league soccer and Mexico's Liga MX.

And stories in the spotlight this hour. Israeli actress Gal Gadot may be picking up the lasso of truth yet again.

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GAL GADOT, ACTRESS, WONDER WOMAN: To the one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Technically the war is that way. But we've got to go this way first.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How can fight in this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The Wonder Woman star says she will be developing a third film in the franchise together with James Gunn and Peter Safran, the co- CEOs of DC Studios. CNN and DC are both part of Warner Bros. Discovery.

In an interview with comicbook.com, Gadot says portraying Wonder Woman is dear to her heart. The exact plans for the movie haven't yet been revealed. For the world of DC films will undergo a rebirth of sorts when Superman Legacy hit the theaters in 2025. So expect the new Wonder Woman movie sometime after that.

Madonna apparently has recovered enough from her recent health scare to take three of her daughters to Beyonce's concert in New York last weekend.

[04:55:00]

Photos show the two pop royals and their daughters meeting back stage. Madonna posted afterwards that the girls were enthralled by the show. Madonna was also acknowledged during the concert with the words "Queen Mother Madonna" flashing on the jumbo screens.

Pop singer Dua Lipa may still be levitating from the success of that record. But now it has her wrapped up in yet another lawsuit. The British performer and her record label are being sued for more than $20 million over copyright infringement. A musician who played on the track says their work was only supposed to be used the in the original recording although there's no written contract between the parties. The lawsuit claims their work was being used in several remixes including a version streamed nearly 2 billion times on Spotify alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER: And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate (haters gonna hate) Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake I shake it off, I shake it off

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well there's music to the ears of Taylor Swift's road crew, that's for sure. The singers has handed out $100,000 bonuses to each of the truck drivers who worked on her U.S. tour. The trucking company CEO says the drivers had no idea what was coming when they went to what looked like a routine meeting on Monday. That's when Swift surprised them with the six figure checks which their boss described as life changing. Other crew members who worked on her U.S. tour which is ending next week also received bonuses.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. "EARLY START" is next here on CNN.

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