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CNN International: Ukraine Strikes Bridges Between Crimea & Occupied Areas; Junta Calls in Reinforcements from Across Niger; U.S. Navy Tracks 11 Russian & Chinese Ships Near Alaska; Days of Torrential Rain deluge Parts of Slovenia. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 07, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN "Newsroom", I'm Bianca Nobilo in London in for Max Foster just ahead for you. We're learning about a foiled assassination plot on Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy details of that just ahead.

Niger's coup leaders call in troops from around the country and close the country's aspects mid what they say is the threat of foreign military intervention. And extreme flooding in Slovenia, what people are calling, the country's worst ever natural disaster the dramatic situation coming up ahead.

Ukraine Security Service says an enemy informant is being held in connection with a plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The SBU claims that the woman was preparing a Russian air strike during the Ukrainian President's visit to the Mykolaiv region in late July.

Meanwhile, Kyiv is confirming strikes on two strategic bridges between Crimea and Russian occupied areas nearby. Ukraine says both bridges are key logistical routes used by Moscow's military and to discuss this CNN's Clare Sebastian joins me now. Clare, what more do we know about the women? The woman involved sorry, and the details of what were plotted?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So we don't know much about this woman. They say the Ukrainian security services that she was the resident of Ochakiv, which is a town in Mykolaiv in the same region where they say the alleged plot unfolded, what they're accusing her of is essentially trying to collect information about Zelenskyy's itinerary when he made a visit to that region, in late July.

Locations, times where he was going to visit they published screen grabs of text messages with, you know, allegedly have Russian sort of handlers. And that also they continue to track even once they knew that she was doing this and discovered that at the same time she was allegedly also trying to uncover the locations of electronic warfare systems, ammunition storages, things like that.

So I think like obviously, they ended up taking extra security measures, eventually detaining her visit went off without a hitch. I think the main questions from this are why now is this because they are at this critical point in the conflict trying to create an extra deterrent against collaboration with Russia?

Is it because Zelenskyy now with Ukraine's attacks, getting bolder with him doing more and more visits around the country? Is he more vulnerable at this point? Are there more threats to his life than they previously had been? And we know that he's been under threat of this conflict?

NOBILO: Let's talk about the bold attacks that we're seeing the increased assertiveness and different modes of attacks happening concomitantly. Is this having a damaging impact on Russian morale or logistics?

SEBASTIAN: It's hard to know, it's hard to quantify at this point, I think you can say for sure that there is a concerted effort by Ukraine to not only send a message right that the war is, as Zelenskyy said, gradually returning to Russia, but also that they are from a military standpoint, really trying to stop some of these weapons making it to the frontline, right.

They're trying to get behind enemy lines to disrupt logistics, to disrupt ammunition storages, things like that, because I think things are clearly moving very slowly, in this counter offensive, and they're trying to ease the pressure on their troops that way. That's what we're seeing.

I think, from the point of view of the boldness is it is interesting that we're increasingly seeing them claim directly responsibility for some of these attacks like the military did for those two bridges, which of course Russia say we're only for civilian use.

NOBILO: Clare Sebastian, thank you so much. Ukraine, meanwhile, is making a renewed push to secure international support for its plan to end Russia's invasion peacefully. And Kyiv is calling a summit held in Saudi Arabia over the weekend productive, honest and open.

But Moscow was not present at the talks blasted them is nothing more than a doomed attempt by the West to mobilize the global south. CNN's Nic Robertson is here with more, Nic, what was actually achieved here because with Russia not present in agreements being made, but only between the countries themselves that aren't direct participants in this conflict. Where do we go from here?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, I think if we look at this as one in a series, the second actually in a series of conversations that Ukraine is having with the help of the United States to try to bolster the understanding and the global south of Ukraine's position in the war and to try to upset Russia's narrative of a need to go to war to fight NATO.

It's a step forward at the conclusion and the details from the summit are very sketchy and very thin.

[08:05:00] But so they were in the last round held in Copenhagen a month ago and the conclusion was let's keep talking it's good perhaps no surprise, you know, maybe in a few years when we look back and peace might seem closer in Ukraine, then the relevance and the role that these talks played in shaping positions will be informative.

But what we can judge today, there are double the number of countries and representatives there in Jeddah as they were in Copenhagen a month ago. There are a couple of nations there that stand out I think, that are interesting that the Ukrainians clearly would want to have an impact on India, China, South Africa.

You know, to try to win them over a little bit would have been important and you're of course suffers economically because of Russia's war but at the same time, bias Russia's coal and gas and oil. So you know, trying to get them off track from that and take a more, firmer stance against Russia.

Or at least be a voice in Putin -- that says this war cannot persist. That will be part of Ukraine, Zain, but we don't know what was achieved. I think perhaps what was achieved for the Saudis is very significant. Look at the position of the Saudi National Security Adviser and one of the photographs we have from the summit and is sitting on one side of him is the Chinese Representative Li Hui, who is the Eurasia affairs lead for China.

And on the other side, the United States National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan. Wow, what a position for Saudi diplomacy to have that role of bringing these countries around the same table and hosting that and trying to get them on the same page. So there was something and this was Saudi too.

NOBILO: Induced play, Nic Robertson, thank you so much. And you make a good point as well about just the number of participants this time China obviously not being at the last such meeting in Denmark a couple of months ago. Now, Niger's military junta is calling in reinforcements from around the country and that is according to a military source.

It comes one day after a deadline set by regional bloc ECOWAS was passed over the weekend. The bloc had given Niger one week to reinstate the President or face the potential use of force. The Junta closed Niger's airspace Sunday to prevent what it calls the threat of intervention from neighboring countries.

Larry Madowo is following the story from Nairobi. He joins us live. Larry I suppose it's a waiting game at the moment is the expectation that there will be a military intervention of some sort today or later this week.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's hard to tell, Bianca, because ECOWAS made this deadline two Sundays ago and expired last evening. They have not said anything yet. So it's a waiting game, its decision time for ECOWAS weather after boxing themselves into this position.

They will go ahead and make good on that threat to militarily intervene in Niger to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum. Or they will extend the deadline or continue to pursue diplomatic or political options. But in the meantime, the military junta in Niger is keen to show just how much support they have.

They fill the stadium with supporters. They will receive like heroes, some of these cool leaders when they arrive at that stadium. People were denouncing friends there were especially denouncing ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States that threatened this military intervention in the first place, and the mood from some of the people listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If ECOWAS forces decided to attack our country, before reaching the presidential palace, they will have to walk over our bodies, spill our blood, and we'll do it with pride.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's France that's behind this ECOWAS force that wants to attack us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that everywhere in the world, they see that the people were mobilized. They're going to have to crush us all to reach the presidential palace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADOWO: So it does appear that there is public support overwhelming public support for the coup leaders in Niger. But it's important to point out that there is very limited in the independent media in the country. These are the images you see on television. There haven't been any dissenting voices because they just doesn't exist the space for them.

The only pro military protest we saw was on July 26, the first day that President Mohammed Bazoum was reported to be being held at the presidential palace. They gathered inside the National Assembly. Every other protest occurred in Niger so far after that has been to support the military to express their dissatisfaction with France, the former colonial power.

And to now denounce ECOWAS, which has threatened this military force. So yes, there is great anti French sentiment in the country. But it's not possible that every single person in the country supports this military intervention in the country, especially for a country that since independence from France in 1860, has seen four other coups that are people who want to go on with their lives and have a democratic nation, Bianca.

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NOBILO: Larry Madowo, thank you. Tensions are flaring once again between China and the Philippines in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea. The Philippine Foreign Ministry is condemning China for firing water cannon and its vessels on a resupply mission to troops on a disputed shore.

China claims it has sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea but Malaya calls Beijing's move dangerous and illegal.

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JONATHAN MALAYA, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR GENERAL OF PHILIPPINE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: We demand that the government of the People's Republic of China immediately cease and desist, all coercive or lawful and acceptable activities in the West Philippine Sea.

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NOBILO: Now to a show of force in international waters off the coast of Alaska. The U.S. military deployed four of its navy destroyers to monitor 11 Russian and Chinese ships operating there last week. U.S. Defense Officials say the show of force did not pose a threat to the U.S. or Canada.

CNN's National Security Reporter Natasha Bertrand joins us now from the Pentagon. Natasha, what do you think the purpose of this joint exercise was?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, it remains unclear at this point, the Chinese Embassy did say in a statement to CNN that the Russian and Chinese vessels were carrying out a joint patrol in the Northern Pacific kind of around this area.

But they said that it was not meant to target any third party. And it was not notably a part of the tensions, of course, that now exists between the U.S., China and Russia. So they were kind of downplaying this as a kind of a threatening the activity against the U.S. and Canada.

But what the U.S. is saying is that, look, this was something that merited U.S. response. And they did just that U.S. Northern Command and other military assets. They were deployed, including boats and planes to monitor the activity of these Russian ships and Chinese vessels. They were very close to Alaska.

They were just off the Aleutian Islands there. And it caused a lot of concern among the U.S. senators for Alaska, Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski and they issued pretty scathing statements about this yesterday, saying that they had received several classified briefings about this issue about the transit of these vessels near Alaska.

And noting that this was an example of how Beijing and Moscow feel that they can operate in this area, because they're acting as authoritarians essentially, and basically that they are able to operate there with impunity. But they said that they were relieved to see that the U.S. response was a little more robust than the last time this had happened.

Chinese and Russian vessels did a similar joint patrol back in September, in roughly the same area and that was met simply by one Coast Guard vessel that was on a routine patrol. So now, Dan Sullivan, the Republican senator from Alaska saying that he is happy to see that the U.S. responded with those four U.S. Navy destroyers. But ultimately the U.S. military is saying that these ships did not pose a threat to the U.S. or Canada, and importantly, that they operated the whole time in international waters. And they reaffirm their right to navigation there something of course that the U.S. has sought to do around the world as they, the U.S. operates in similar areas off the coast of China and Russia, Bianca.

NOBILO: Natasha Bertrand, thank you. In Pakistan, evidence is being collected after officials launched a formal investigation into a deadly train derailment. At least 30 people were killed and dozens hurt when passenger train crashed Sunday in a remote farming area of southern Sindh province.

Villagers were first to arrive on the scene to help free victims trapped in the wreckage. Rescue crews later brought in heavy machinery to assist and authorities say the death toll is expected to rise. With less than a year to go until the Paris Olympic Games a test event set to be held in the River Seine had to be canceled due to poor water quality.

The French Swimming Federation said the water was below acceptable hygiene standards after heavy rainfall in the city. Organizers have long been hoping that the River Seine will be at the heart of the games. They say they're confident it will be up to standard when the games open next year.

Cleanup efforts have been underway since 2018. Now still to come for you. Trump's legal team is facing a deadline in the election interference case why prosecutors want to limit what he can say about the evidence. We'll break it all down with a CNN Legal Analyst, after the break.

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NOBILO: What happens next and Donald Trump's election interference case? The Former President was indicted for the third time last week. And today his legal team must respond to the federal prosecutor's request to limit what the former president can say about the evidence that he receives.

Mr. Trump and his team are escalating their efforts to discredit and delay the trial. They're seeking to move the case out of Washington D.C. claiming that the local jury will not reflect what they called the characteristics of the American people. Mr. Trump is also calling for the Obama appointed judge to recuse herself.

Trump's Attorney John Lauro appeared on CNN State of the Union on Sunday. And here's what he had to say about Mr. Trump's efforts to pressure Vice President Pence in the run up to the January 6 attack on the U.S. capital.

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JOHN LAURO, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: Once again, what President Trump was doing is within the reality and the realm of free speech, he's asking his Vice President what about taking this course of action? Ultimately, his Vice President rejected all of the proposals that were made.

What President Trump did not do is direct Vice President Pence to do anything he asked him in an aspirational way. Asking is covered by the First Amendment.

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NOBILO: Joining me now from New York is CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig to look at what's next in this case against Former President Trump. Elie always great to speak to you and I think it would be helpful to start maybe with serving all of the cases against President Trump, where they currently stand and how this one fits in in terms of the legal danger to the President?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Sure, Bianca. So we have three cases that have already been indicted, formally charged as criminal cases. First of all, the January 6 case that we've been talking about, that's a federal indictment, also, another federal indictment also from the Special Counsel relating to mishandling of classified documents and obstruction of justice at Mar-a-Lago.

And then finally, and the first one that was ever returned was an indictment from a Manhattan District Attorney charging Donald Trump with mishandling hush money payments made to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels. So those three indictments are already on the books.

There's a fourth one, probably coming soon from the Fulton County DA relating to Donald Trump's attempt to steal the 2020 election, specifically in Georgia. So there's a little bit of a scheduling logjam now forming before the 2024 election. Various trials we're seeing are getting scheduled, but they're sort of jockeying for position, there's really only so much time in which to try these four cases.

NOBILO: That was going to be what I wanted to talk to you about next that potential timelines here, you know, is it possible that these cases that this particular case that we're talking about today, it isn't tried until after the election, could a case be made for delaying it because of the political context?

HONIG: So the only way that the January 6 case gets tried before the election is if one of the other two indictments moves. So here's the calendar math here, our election is in November of 2024. We are not going to have a trial going on in the months immediately leading up to that no judge is going to hold a trial in let's say, October or September 2024.

It's just too close to the election. Now, the two other indictments already occupied essentially, all of March through April, May, June and July. And so unless one of those trial dates moves, and they can move trial dates do move quite frequently here.

[08:20:00] I don't see an opening for the January 6 trial but important to note the Manhattan DA who currently has March and April. He has signaled publicly that he would be willing to move his trial date if necessary to accommodate the January 6 trial date. Of course, Trump's team is trying to get these pushed off until after the election. Judges so far have not been on board with that.

NOBILO: What do you make about the credibility of the claims from Trump's camp, about the jury and also the arguments we've been hearing so far, which are based on semantics and technicalities?

HONIG: I reject the attacks by Donald Trump's team on the jury pool and on the judges, you certainly are as a criminal defendant entitled to criticize, question even maybe verbally attack your prosecutors, your judges, you can say this is unfair. But the motion to get the case out of Washington D.C. is going to be doomed to fail when Donald Trump files it.

Courts like to keep the cases where they're originally charged, unless you can show some overwhelming bias. The fact that Donald Trump is not particularly politically popular in D.C. is not enough. The attacks on the judge are completely unfounded. Yes, Judge Chutkan is a nominee of President Barack Obama.

That does not mean she is biased any more than the judge in Florida, by the way, who is appointed by Trump himself is improperly biased in his favor. The judge has been tough on January 6 cases that she's received. But again, that doesn't signal the kind of bias that would merit her recusal. So I think both of those motions are doomed to fail.

NOBILO: Elie Honig, thank you so much for joining me. It's always fantastic to get your explanations on this.

HONIG: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

NOBILO: The small nation of Slovenia facing a huge price tag to repair damage caused by recent flooding. We'll see the damage from what's being called the worst natural disaster there ever.

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NOBILO: Catastrophic and costly flooding has swamped much of the small nation of Slovenia. Days of heavy rain causing rivers to spill their banks destroying homes and businesses and leaving some roads impassable. CNN's Michael Holmes gives us a look at the damage.

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Dragged down by floodwaters. This houses in Slovenia no match for days of torrential rain. Residents say they watched and waited as a nearby river swelled in the storms which began last week. But by Saturday they were forced to evacuate after the river burst its banks leaving nothing to contain the rushing waters. This man says that eight people live they're both young and old. He says it's a huge loss but he's grateful they got out in time. So then its Prime Minister says this is the worst natural disaster in the nation's history, affecting two thirds of the country with large parts of central and northern Sylvania deluge with floods.

Emergency workers are making a public plea for rubber boats so that they can reach areas no longer reachable by road. This is what they're up against dangerously fast waters, which have stranded people in some areas. Volunteers in this northern town risking their lives to save to tourists stuck in the rapids.

One local man says he's just now getting a chance to inspect the damage. He says much of his town has been inundated since Friday and what isn't covered in water is caked in mud.

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He says it's a huge financial loss and estimates the damage in his town alone will run into the millions of dollars. The Prime Minister echoing that concern, saying the price tag to clean up and rebuild across the country could talk half a billion dollars. But some residents are already starting that process and local media says around 600 soldiers have been deployed to hard hit areas to help with the efforts.

This restaurant owner says it will be hard to bounce back from what she calls an apocalypse. But she says at least this disaster is one that many people are weathering together. Michael Holmes CNN.

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NOBILO: A rare walrus calf is now under 24/7 cuddle cares after he was spotted wandering alone in Northern Alaska. The Pacific walrus calf is about one month old and weighs nearly 64 kilograms. It was found more than six kilometers inland and has been battling dehydration and an infection.

Official says such a distance from water is unusual for walrus is especially alone, since cars depend on their mother's care for the first two years of their life. And lastly, for you Barbie is having her best day ever as indeed she always is. Barely three weeks into its run the blockbuster film has raked in more than a billion dollars at the global box office, according to estimates from Warner Brothers.

To put that into perspective for you only about 50 films have ever hit that billion dollar mark. It's also a historic day for Barbie Director Greta Gerwig, who's now the first solo female director worth a billion dollars for a movie. Now both CNN and Warner Brothers are part of the same parent company just remind you of that as well.

Thank you for joining me here on CNN "Newsroom", I'm Bianca Nobilo in London and "World Sport" with Coy Wire is up now.

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