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Ohio Voters Rejected a Referendum to Amend Their State's Constitution; Junta Leaders Denies Access to E.U., and U.N. Delegates From Entering or Visiting the Country; Iranian Women are Still Defiant a Year after Mahsa Amini's Tragic Death; Three White Men Involved in the Alabama Boat Brawl Faces Assault Charges; Wildfires now experienced in Maui due to Hurricane Dora; $1.5 Billion Mega Millions Jackpot Finally Won. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 09, 2023 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead on "CNN Newsroom." Former U.S. President Donald Trump says he won't stop talking about criminal cases against him as the judge in one of those cases sets a date to determine how evidence will be handled.

Abortion rights advocates win a victory in Ohio as voters say no to a Republican-backed measure to make it harder to amend the state's constitution.

And a 103-year-old migrant arrives at the U.S. border seeking asylum. Why she says she can?

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, Donald Trump is vowing he won't remain silent about the charges against him for trying to overturn the 2020 election. Campaigning in New Hampshire, the former president called the case ridiculous and an attempt to take away his right to free speech. But the U.S. District Judge overseeing the case may have different ideas.

CNN's senior legal affairs correspondent, Paula Reid, begins our coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SR. LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Judge Tanya Chutkin has scheduled a hearing for Friday at 10 a.m. to hear arguments from both attorneys for former President Trump and the special counsel about possible rules for exactly how evidence, especially sensitive evidence, will be handled in this case. The special counsel has been lobbying for a broad protective order to

limit the ability the former president has to share sensitive information that is turned over in this case.

But Trump's lawyers have argued for something more narrow, something that only covers the most sensitive information. They argued that that would be more in line with the protective orders in other January 6 cases. Now the Trump lawyers also ask that this hearing be scheduled next week as they have another hearing in the other special counsel investigation down in Florida on Thursday.

But Judge Chutkin, she appears, based on her scheduling orders so far, to be keen to move this along as quickly as possible. So she has scheduled this for hearing on Friday. Both sides will have the opportunity to present arguments and this will be their first time appearing before the judge will continue to oversee this case until what is expected to be a trial. Now, former President Trump is not expected to be at Friday's hearing.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Scott Jennings is a CNN senior political commentator. He joins me now from Louisville, Kentucky. Good to have you with us.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SR. POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

CHURCH: So Donald Trump suffered a big setback Tuesday in his attempt to delay the hearing of his January 6 case, the judge rejecting his legal team's efforts to move it to next week. But while Trump's strategy to delay proceedings appears to be failing, at the same time, his support rises, doesn't it? Every time his legal woes deepen, how inevitable is it that the Republican Party will head into the 2024 November elections with an indicted, perhaps convicted presidential nominee and what impact will that have on this country?

JENNINGS: Well, he's certainly the leader in the Republican primary right now, but you alluded to the calendar and this is what's very important, is that there's a possibility that Donald Trump could become the de facto nominee of the Republican party sometime in the spring of next year, then face trial, then be convicted, and then go to the Republican National Convention in August to get formally nominated, but at that point as a convicted felon.

And if that were to happen, the Republicans on the floor of that convention would have a big choice to make about whether they really wanted to nominate formally a convicted felon to represent their party. Of course, for Donald Trump, the entire campaign is about the charges. His defense is winning the White House.

So the campaign is the defense and the defense is the campaign. His best way out of most of this is to win the White House and either pardon himself or ask the Department of Justice at that point under his control to let it all go. CHURCH: Right, and you mentioned the calendar. We were just looking at

it there. Trump claims that his court calendar is blocking his campaign for the White House, but he doesn't need to be in the courtroom, certainly not on this coming Friday. What's his strategy here, just to rile up his base?

[03:05:06]

JENNINGS: Well, he's not wrong about next year. When these cases actually go to trial, he will have to be in the courtroom. So right now, he's under indictment in the city of New York. He's under two federal indictments, one in Washington and one in Florida. And he's quite likely to be under indictment in Atlanta, Georgia here in the next couple of weeks. So there are numerous jurisdictions where he would have to appear next year. But right now, I think his main strategy is to try to delay all of this and get this punted until after the election.

I think the American people would like to see these cases resolved before the election, but his best legal strategy may be to try to get them all delayed until after next November.

CHURCH: And of course, meantime, GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis is struggling financially and losing traction in his effort to stay viable as he trails Trump in the fight for the White House. DeSantis just fired his campaign manager and replaced her with a lawyer list, the third time in less than a month that he has tried to restructure his team.

Will any of this make changes or will it help DeSantis' political fortunes in any way? What do you think went wrong for his campaign? Because he seemed to start strong there, and he's lost his way.

JENNINGS: Well, DeSantis is still solidly in second place. He's the only candidate that's still in double digits against Donald Trump. But what happened to Ron DeSantis was Donald Trump.

Trump has gotten stronger since the beginning of the year, and about half or a little more than half of the Republican Party appears to want to renominate Donald Trump. The other half that's looking for another candidate or maybe looking for another candidate, they've divided their loyalties. Some are for DeSantis, some are for Tim Scott, some are for the other candidates that are in the race.

So while Trump is gotten stronger, the fragmentation over the other part of the field has only gotten larger. And that really has prevented DeSantis from rising in the polls. I still think DeSantis is not out of it. I don't think the race is over. But right now, if you were laying down 20 bucks in a betting market on this thing, certainly Donald Trump is the smartest money.

But just say there's a lot of miles yet to travel. The Iowa caucus isn't until January and between now and then lots of things are going to happen. Trump's likely to be indicted again. There's going to be several debates in the Republican primary and some debates do provide a moment for candidates to break out and get more attention for their candidacy and get people to give them a second look.

CHURCH: And we'll be watching very carefully of course Scott Jennings. Thanks so much for your political analysis. Appreciate it.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

CHURCH: In Ohio, a crucial victory for abortion rights activists, voters on Tuesday rejected a Republican-backed measure that would have made it harder to amend the state's constitution.

This comes ahead of a November ballot in which voters will decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution. Tuesday was the first of a two-step process to determine whether November's referendum would be able to pass with a simple majority. And as the results trickled in, many were celebrating.

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DENNIS WILLARD, SPOKESPERSON, ONE PERSON ONE VOTE: Ohio, we did it. We did it!

(APPLAUSE)

Tonight is a major victory for democracy in Ohio. The majority still rules in Ohio.

(APPLAUSE)

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CHURCH: Earlier I spoke with Lindy Li, a political strategist and women's co-chair at the Democratic National Committee, and I asked her about the significance of the results.

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LINDY LI, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Ohio voters just defeated the anti- abortion measure by double digits. Not only that, last year, Kansas trounced an abortion ban, despite the Catholic Church spending $3 million, despite waves of money coming in from outside groups.

Badly gerrymandered, Wisconsin elected a pro-choice judge by double digits. So Republicans are noticed. The more they come after us women, the more they lose. It's a losing formula that they just can't seem to shake.

CHURCH: And this special election in Ohio has made that state the latest battleground for abortion rights. Does this represent a wake-up call for the Republicans, do you think on the issue of abortion rights in this country?

LI: I mean, you would think so, but it appears to me that they're -- instead of shying away from their deeply unpopular policies, Republicans are doubling down on their right-wing extremism, despite repeated and overwhelming evidence that their heinous policies are electoral kryptonite. Frankly, they have nobody but themselves to blame. And what I find

particularly gullying is that, initially, they said that special elections are a waste of money, that the summer doldrums in August are a terrible time to have an election, which is true. And it's extremely expensive.

[03:10:01]

And they also said, Republicans, mind you, that special elections are just an opportunity for special interests to squeeze through their own agenda. And a few weeks after all that, they voted in favor of a special election when they realized that abortion rights advocates had enough signatures to get on the November ballot. So that is the height of hypocrisy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Coming up next, Ukraine's president says his country's counteroffensive is happening slower than some had hoped. More on his comments and what Western officials say about the progress made so far.

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CHURCH: The mayor of Moscow says two combat drones have been shot down in the city's suburbs. He says the country's air defense took down the drones that were attempting to fly over Moscow on Tuesday.

[03:15:02]

Meantime, inside Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is acknowledging his country's highly anticipated counteroffensive against Russia has been difficult. That comment coming, as Western officials describe to CNN, an increasingly sobering ability to retake significant territory.

And CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us now live from London. Good morning to you Clare. So what's the latest on Ukraine's slow-moving counter- offensive?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's still slow, Rosemary. They are pushing hard. It seems the Ukrainians in the south, in the Zaporizhzhya region and around Bakhmut in the south, they say that they have been making small advances this week.

But exactly as Western officials have been telling CNN, the same issue is playing out one commander in Zaporizhzhya saying on Tuesday that the movement has slowed down, he said by minefields and our lack of aviation. Those Russian defenses that were able to be built because Ukraine had to wait through the spring and into the early summer before beginning its counter-offensive, waiting for that sort of critical mass of western weapons where it felt comfortable enough to start. That is why those Russian defenses were able to be built up.

As for Russia, well it is trying to advance up in the north in the Kharkiv region, regaining territory that it lost some 11 months ago. Reports of heavy shelling in that area, Ukraine urging people to evacuate. President Zelenskyy, as you say, is acknowledging that the counteroffensive is slow.

He says, though, Ukraine still has the initiative. We're attacking, not retreating. And he is urging patience critically among Ukraine's Western allies. And if you listen to John Kirby, the spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council, it does seem that they do still have that patience, at least for now.

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JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON: I think every ally, every partner, every nation, and there's more than 50 of them, including, of course, the United States, that are involved in supporting Ukraine, feels responsible for helping Ukraine be successful on the battlefield. Nobody wants to see them struggle.

And like I said, even they admit that they're struggling and they're not doing as well as they'd like. So we're all going to be dedicated to continuing to help them get what they need. And if that means more training, then more training it'll be. If that means more capabilities, then more capabilities it will be. We're all in this together. We all want to see them succeed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: And yet recent polling does tell a slightly more nuanced story. Take a look at this. Over the month of July, a CNN poll found that 51 percent of Americans feel the U.S. has already done enough to help Ukraine, while only 48 think they should be doing more.

Compare that to the early days of the conflict back in February 2022, when 62 percent of Americans felt the U.S. should be doing more. This is one thing we know President Zelenskyy is very worried about, the potential fatigue in U.S. public opinion. U.S. by far still the biggest backer of Ukraine militarily.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Claire Sebastian joining us live from London.

Now to the coup in Niger and new pressure on the military leaders to restore the democratically elected government. ECOWAS, the economic community of West African states, has approved fresh sanctions against entities and individuals linked to the coup. A spokesperson for Nigeria's president, who currently leads ECOWAS, says diplomacy is the best path forward, but he has not ruled out military intervention.

CNN's Stephanie Busari is following developments from Lagos, Nigeria. She joins us now. So Stephanie, how are military leaders in Niger responding to this new pressure to restore the democratically elected government?

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SR. EDITOR, AFRICA: Rosemary, They seem to be sending very mixed signals. For example, they're saying that they're committed to talks, but at the same time, they turned away E.U. and U.N. delegation that tried to have those very talks in the country yesterday. And they are setting up, carrying on with the business of setting up new governance.

Prime Minister's appointed and other members of the cabinet. So they seem to be pressing ahead with just forming government and setting up a structure for governance and not really giving any indication that they're going to reinstate the constitutional order.

And Victoria Nuland said as much in her, after her visits, that they had a very frank discussion and that there was just no sense that these military leaders were ready to engage in diplomatic talks and listen to what the international partners want them to go ahead with. So we have a comment from Matthew Miller, the Department of State spokesman, saying the very same thing. Take a listen to what he had to say.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: I think it's very unfortunate, and it is in keeping with the message that we heard from them yesterday when Acting Deputy Secretary Nuland presented options for a diplomatic path forward and a negotiated process going forward, and they were not willing to take that path at this time. We're going to keep trying, again, fully recognizing how difficult that path is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUSARI: Yeah. There's some political watchers here in this region telling me that the ECOWAS and ECOWAS seem to have played their trump card a little too early by putting military action on the table and not following through on that. So the military leaders seem to be somewhat emboldened by this and are really feeling that they can go ahead and form a government without thinking about what others are saying right now.

CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Stephanie Busari joining us live from Lagos.

Well, More than a billion dollars was up for grabs in the U.S. Mega Millions lottery. We will have the results of the historic jackpot drawing just ahead.

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[03:25:00]

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CHURCH: It has been nearly a year since Mahsa Amini died in the custody of Iran's so-called morality police for allegedly violating the country's strict conservative dress code. Her death sparked massive nationwide protests. Now many months later, women are still defying the veiling laws, even as Iran doubles down on punishments.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iran's brave women are fighting for their freedom with everyday acts of defiance like this. Out on the streets without the mandatory hijab.

This recent video appeared to show a woman harassed and called a criminal for refusing to cover up. The days of being afraid of you are over, she says.

Nearly a year after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in the custody of the so-called morality police. The uprising sparked by her death may have been crushed by a bloody crackdown, but not the will of those standing up for their most basic of rights.

Countless women have been defying the clerical establishment, choosing not to wear the compulsory hijab. And now the regime is lashing out with a campaign of renewed repression, announcing the return of morality police patrols.

UNKNOWN (through translator): Being a woman in Iran is now harder than ever. Because of all the attention, our privacy and safety is a wish. You should always be worried and careful about police.

KARADSHEH (voice over): This young woman we're not identifying for her safety spoke to us from inside Iran.

UNKNOWN (through translator): The morality police are mostly in metro stations and sometimes on the streets. They warn you if you disobey they take video or photos. And normal people who are still on the government side work like paparazzi.

KARADSHEH (voice over): And that's not all. Authorities are considering a draconian new bill that would make failure to abide by the strict Islamic dress code a more severe offense with unprecedentedly harsh penalties including 5 to 10-year jail sentences and fines of more than $8,000. This may be just a warning to intimidate those who dare to dissent, but an intensified crackdown has been well underway.

This chilling video released by a group affiliated with the security apparatus captures some of their terrifying tactics. Facial recognition technology purportedly being used to identify and threaten unveiled women. Cameras are everywhere.

Thousands that have their cars confiscated according to Amnesty International, and women without a veil are being denied access to education and public services.

Perhaps even more disturbing is courts have been imposing degrading punishments on women, including counseling sessions for quote, "anti- social behavior, cleaning government buildings and washing corpses in morgues."

UNKNOWN (through translator): I couldn't believe the mortuary punishment until I saw some judgment papers with my own eyes, which was washing corpses for a month. KARADSHEH (on=camera): Are you and other women around you scared when

you're out in public?

UNKNOWN (though translator): The first days were scary, but with time, the courage inside everyone grows, and now no one is scared. People were just waiting for a spark, and that happened last year. We keep going for the kids who were murdered during the protests.

KARADSHEH (voice over): Many like her say this is not just about the hijab. This is about standing up to tyranny, and they're not backing down.

UNKNOWN (through translator): Most people believe in freedom now because they've tasted it. We know about the punishments, but we know everything has a cost. And if this is the cost of freedom, we're ready to pay for that. I'm sure we will see Iran breathing again one day.

KARADSHEH (voice over): Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we'll be back in just a moment.

[03:30:00]

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CHURCH: Alabama police say three white men are facing assault charges after footage showed them attacking a black man over the weekend who was the co-captain of a boat. That initial fight quickly turned into a chaotic brawl. One man has already turned himself in and authorities say the other two are expected to follow suit.

CNN's Ryan Young has the latest on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLAYTON THOMAS, WITNESS: You see stuff like that on the TV, but to see it live and being a person of color, you know, you have those stories from your grandmother about how it used to be and how wrong it was. So it was hurtful.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Clayton Wildcat Thomas is a musician on the river cruiser the Harriet II. It witnessed a fight that took place between a group of white boaters and a black employee that escalated into a massive fight on a riverside dock in Montgomery, Alabama on Saturday. The incident occurred after the river boat's co-captain, Damien Pickett tried to clear the dock space where the riverside cruiser normally docks.

Montgomery police chief, Darryl Albert, announcing Tuesday that three white men had been charged with third degree assault for their involvement in the incident.

[03:35:10] CHIEF DARRYL ALBERT, MONTGOMERY POLICE DEPARTMENT: We're also asking for Mr. Reggie Gray, the black male 42 years old who was seen wielding that folding chair to contact the Montgomery Police Department for further interviews.

YOUNG (voice-over): The chief also identified the other victim today, a 16 year old white male whose mother signed an arrest warrant on one of the individuals who attacked her son. The river cruiser idled for about 40 minutes while the captain was prevented from docking and first attempted to contact the pontoon owners by the cruise's PA system.

ALBERT: The co-captain was then picked up by a separate vessel and brought to the pier in an attempt to have a conversation with the private boat owners and or have those boats move so that the harry could dock a confrontation ensued between the co-captain and Mr. Pickett the co-captain being attacked by several members of the private boat.

THOMAS: Everybody's yelling, hey, you know and the captain everybody's cringing because we can't help him because he's getting stomped and kicked and cussed.

YOUNG (voice-over): While it appeared to be largely split across racial lines, the police chief said at this time, there's not enough evidence to meet the criteria to charge for a hate crime or inciting a riot.

ALBERT: Knowing Montgomery's history, knowing all the civil rights things that we went through here in the city of Montgomery and what that means to the nation, you know, we were very amped up to get this right. We'll continue to do all that we need to ensure that we get it right.

YOUNG (voice-over): Montgomery's Mayor Stephen Reed says the investigation isn't over yet.

STEPHEN REED, MAYOR OF MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: You can't allow your emotions or your initial thoughts to get out in front of what the facts tell you. And so while this is an ongoing investigation, so far the facts are, you know, kind of, you know, separating themselves from what was fiction.

YOUNG (on-camera): And you see the Harriet II right behind me. Since this incident happened, there have been signs that have now been added to this dock space to make sure no one parks in that space again. The real question is about the three men who police want to charge with these crimes and how soon they will be all in custody. That's something this community is looking forward to, to try to figure out exactly what happened.

Ryan Young, CNN, Montgomery, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: High winds from Hurricane Dora in the Pacific are fueling wildfires on Maui, and evacuation orders have been issued for several areas of the Hawaiian island. Officials say flames have destroyed multiple structures, and one of the fires has burned about a thousand acres, which is more than 400 hectares.

And Hawaii's Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke joins us now on the line, I believe, from Honolulu. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. What is the latest information you have on these wildfires on Maui?

SYLVIA LUKE, HAWAII LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (on the phone): Good evening. It's not just Maui. We're also experiencing wildfires on the Big Island as well. In fact, the fires are caused by the dry conditions and the high winds due to Hurricane Dora. This is an indirect cause of the hurricane and because of that the Big Island has in certain parts has seen winds in the upwards of high 70s and low 80s. There has been about some damage in the Big Island. There's still experiencing wildfires resulting in evacuation both on the Big Island and on Maui.

CHURCH: Yeah, can you talk a little more about those evacuations? What number of people are we talking about here? And have you finished evacuating people from the island?

LUKE (on the phone): No, the evacuations are ongoing because of the high winds, the fire is moving very quickly. We don't have a clear number of the number of people being evacuated on both islands or monitoring the situation very closely.

We do know that there has been a very limited number of structural damage. Thank goodness it hasn't reached too many homes, but we are mindful of the impact overnight.

CHURCH: And do you have any idea at this juncture how long it may take to contain these wildfires?

LUKE (on the phone): Well, Hurricane Dora is expected to pass the Hawaiian Islands hopefully by tomorrow and then the winds will subside. I think once the winds subside we should be able to get more air support to have water buckets suppress some of the wildfires.

[03:40:06]

Unfortunately, I think it's tonight we're keeping a close eye on some of the areas because some of the areas are especially on the Big Island. You're talking about large land masses and then the fire could spread very quickly into neighboring communities. So we're watching how the fires will spread on both the Big Island and on Maui tonight.

CHURCH: All right. Hawaii Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke, thank you so much for joining us on the line and bringing us up to date on the situation.

And thank you for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. For our international viewers, "Marketplace Middle East" is coming up next. And for our viewers here in the United States and in Canada, I will be back with more "CNN Newsroom" in just a moment. Do stay with us.

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[03:45:00]

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CHURCH: Israel's far-right finance minister has been criticized for freezing funds earmarked for the Arab community.

Betzalel Smotrich announced online that he suspended about $53 million previously allocated for Arab municipalities and educational programs in East Jerusalem. He said the money could end up in the hands of criminal organizations.

And Journalist Elliott Gotkine joins me now from Jerusalem. So, Elliott, what is the latest on this and how are our communities responding?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Rosemary, I suppose the first point is that this isn't yet a done deal. Even though Smotrich says that it is, it's still possible that it could be overturned at a government level or even be taken to court. But what he wrote on Facebook yesterday is two main things.

First of all, there was a program, there's a five-year program that's been in place for East Jerusalemites. And a part of that program is designed to help them to enable students to improve or learn or boost their Hebrew so that they can go on to study at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

So that program as a whole, that five-year program as a whole is worth hundreds of millions of shekels and that part of the program is what Smodrich has suspended. The other thing, or is frozen, the other thing is what I suppose can best be understood as a kind of leveling up policy that Israeli governments have in order to close the gap between poorer municipalities and wealthier ones.

Now, after all the calculations were done, it was decided that Arab municipalities still had quite a bit of a shortfall so there was more money allocated to them to the tune of around 200 million shekels a year, just over $50 million a year. Now that is also what Smotrich is suspending as well.

So there's those two things and why he's doing that well he says there are three reasons first of all he says that it's not fair that this money was going to Arab municipalities not going to poorer Jewish ones he says that really it was only designed or put in place in order to placate Mansour Abbas who is the leader of the Islamist Ra'am Party and who was part of the previous government.

And the third reason, as you mentioned in your introduction, is that he says that this money could wind up in the hands of criminal or terrorist organizations. Of course, when it comes to his political base, it probably doesn't do him any harm anyway.

As far as the response, Mansour Abbas said that the real reason that Smotrich is doing this is that he's a racist minister who is aiming to take us back to point zero. This is something that Smotrich has rejected. As I say, this is not yet a done deal, but it's certainly causing controversy. And even there are fellow ministers in the government who have come out and said that this is not a wise plan, because ultimately, even just from a purely financial perspective, it's going to end up costing the Israeli government even more. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Elliott Gotkine for his live report from Jerusalem. I Appreciate it.

A Texas congressman is calling on the U.S. Justice Department to be more aggressive in its response to the state's controversial border initiative. Democrat Joaquin Castro toured the banks of the Rio Grande along the U.S. border Tuesday. It's a common stop for migrants trying to cross into the United States. Here's what he told CNN about what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): It's barbaric. You see that they're basically treating these asylum seekers, these human beings, like animals. You see the razor wire here, you see right over there those barrel traps that have concertina wire on them. You see clothing of people, including kids, that are stuck to the wire, literally stuck to the razor wire. They're forcing Border Patrol to stay away from some of these areas when it's the Border Patrol that actually has responsibility for all of this process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Governor Greg Abbott's border plan has separated at least 26 families at the border since early July, according to an immigration attorney.

A 103-year-old woman is trying to join her family here in the United States by seeking asylum. Andrea Andrade told CNN En Espanol she came from El Salvador to follow her son and two grandchildren who were already granted asylum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREA AVELINA ANDRADE, SALVADORAN MIGRANT (through translator): The truth is, at my age, I can't really work that much. My goal is to be with my grandchildren.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Right now, she is waiting in Mexico for her son to formally request her entrance to the U.S. per immigration laws. She has no idea how long the process will take, but says she trusts God to see her through it.

[03:50:10]

U.S. President Joe Biden was in Arizona on Tuesday to designate a new national monument. The lands surrounding the Grand Canyon are now protected. The president says this will help right the wrongs of the past and conserve the area for future generations.

CNN's White House correspondent, Arlette Saenz, reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden named the fifth national monument of his presidency here in Arizona, marking the latest step to make his conservation stamp on this country. Now this new monument is in part known as the ancestral footprints of the Grand Canyon. It encompasses nearly one million acres surrounding the Grand Canyon and much of this land is sacred to the tribal communities who live in this region.

Part of what this national monument will do is it will protect this land from any potential uranium mining. That is something that tribal leaders and environmental groups had pushed for for quite some time. The president officially making this a national monument as he signed that designation here on Tuesday.

Now, the president also used this trip as a chance to highlight his climate agenda, warning against what he described as MAGA extremists in Congress who are trying to undo some of his initiatives. But the president made the case for the role that the U.S. can play when it comes to the issue of climate change.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: A lot of goodness come from the sacrifices of dealing with taking on the climate crisis. Folks, these are investments on our planet, our people, and America itself. Protecting our outdoor treasures, making our nation more resilient. But some MAGA extremists in Congress are trying to undo it all.

I didn't get any help from the guys on the other team. Every single solitary person voted against this historic clean energy investment. And now many of them are trying again to repeal these parts of the bills. But we won't let them. There's too much at stake.

SAENZ: The president's visit here to Arizona comes as part of a three- state swing, as he's also traveling on to New Mexico and Utah this week.

And the president's mission, while he is out here in the western part of the United States, is to promote the economic and climate initiatives that were in the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed one year ago this August. But it comes at a time when many Americans, according to polls, do not know what that Inflation Reduction Act entails.

And so what the president's challenges heading into his re-election campaign is trying to convince American voters of the economic and the climate impacts that this piece of legislation has had.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president near the Grand Canyon.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Nothing is lost in translation at a busy Tokyo train station, and that's thanks to new technology that helps passengers and ticket agents understand one another in real time.

CNN's Marc Stewart has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Tokyo's busy Seibu- Shinjuku station, it's a steady surge of trains, travelers, and at times the need for translation.

FATIMA HORTCHER, PASSENGER: I was actually really nervous coming because I heard people here don't speak English.

STEWART (voice-over): Now a potential solution in this nondescript window using voice translation technology.

UNKNOWN: Hi, I want to go to Matsumoto Station.

STEWART (voice-over): Users simply ask a question in their native language. It appears on the screen and then immediately translated into Japanese for the staff to read. The response is then translated back to the user's original language.

The system is now on a test run. We asked travelers including Fatima Hortcher to try it out.

And you thought the translation was pretty spot on?

HORTCHER: Spot on. Spot on. It's exactly what I said was on the screen.

STEWART (on-camera): How many languages can this system translate?

It supports 12 languages.

UNKNOWN (through translator): We're told the number of foreign visitors to Japan is growing. The screen was introduced so staff and customers can communicate smoothly, face to face.

STEWART (on-camera): There are certainly apps for your phone which can translate, but this system is simultaneous and it's face to face.

UNKNOWN: The fact that it was at the same time, the fact that it really understood what I was saying.

STEWART (voice-over): While the system isn't always perfect, this technology is quickly improving.

HITOMI YAKATA, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, TOKYO UNIVERSITY (through translator): Research in the field of natural language processing and artificial intelligence is progressing very rapidly. So these systems are getting better and better, and I hope that they will be used not only in stations, but also in other places in the future.

[03:55:01]

STEWART (voice-over): The manufacturer of the board hopes that could include airports, sporting events, and hospitals.

Part of an effort to make sure everyone is understood, no matter what language they speak.

Marc Stewart, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, someone here in the United States is waking up as a billionaire. A single ticket sold in Florida matched all six winning numbers in Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing worth an estimated $1.58 billion. The winner can choose to get the full amount spread out over 29 years or take a lump sum payment of $783 million, both before taxes. Well done. Congratulations.

Thanks for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Bianca Nobilo, next.

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