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Donald Trump, 18 Others Indicted in the 2020 Georgia Election Results; Death Toll in the Hawaii Wildfire Nears 100; Ukraine official says Russia Launched Missile Attacks in Lviv Overnight; Afghanistan Commemorates its Second Year since the Taliban Takeover. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 15, 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.

A historic night in the U.S. state of Georgia where a grand jury has indicted Donald Trump for a fourth time for allegedly attempting to overturn the state's election results in 2020.

The grand jury approved every indictment presented by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Monday. The former U.S. president has been charged with 13 counts in the indictment, including a racketeering charge. 18 others have also been charged under the state's racketeering laws for allegedly joining, quote, "a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome in favor of Donald Trump."

Those names include several high-profile individuals from Trump's time in office including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman and top Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, among others. And they have until noon on August 25th to voluntarily surrender. Here is the Fulton County District Attorney breaking down the charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Every individual charged in the indictment is charged with one count of violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act through participation in a criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia and elsewhere to accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J. Trump to seize the presidential term of office beginning on January 20th, '21.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Sara Murray has more from outside the Fulton County Courthouse here in Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, U.S. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Former president Donald Trump officially facing his fourth indictment. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis bringing charges against the former president here in Georgia. Donald Trump was one of 19 defendants who were charged as part of this case that was unsealed late Monday evening.

Now Donald Trump is facing 13 charges and again he's one of 19 defendants who are facing a very serious racketeering charge in this state. Among the other defendants are very prominent names who are part of Donald Trump's inner circle, like his former attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and his former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

Now, in a press conference, the Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis, reiterated that all of these defendants are innocent until proven guilty. She also said she's going to ask a judge to try to push this case to go to trial within the next six months, and she intends to try all 19 of these defendants together, which, of course, could make her hopes of getting this to trial speedily. Somewhat of a pipe dream, but we'll see how that goes.

In a statement, Trump's attorneys called the events that unfolded shocking and absurd. They went on to attack the credibility of the witnesses who appeared before the grand jury that handed up these indictments. And now we wait to see Donald Trump and his other co- defendants turn themselves in. The district attorney said they will have until August 25th to surrender voluntarily.

Sara Murray, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Trump and his supporters have been lashing out against the latest indictment, calling it a witch hunt. Earlier, the former president told Fox News Digital, quote, "this politically inspired indictment, which could have been brought close to three years ago, was tailored for placement right smack in the middle of my political campaign."

And former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani put out this statement. This is an affront to American democracy and does permanent evocable harm to our justice system. It's just the next chapter in a book of lies with the purpose of framing President Donald Trump and anyone willing to take on the ruling regime.

Ron Brownstein is a CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic." He joins me now from Des Moines in Iowa. Appreciate you joining us.

So, quite a night and of course earlier this hour we did focus on Donald Trump's legal jeopardy with this historic fourth indictment where he and 18 others face 41 criminal counts in the state of Georgia for trying to overturn Trump's defeat.

[03:05:12] But let's look now at the political ramifications of this and what stands out of course with these state charges is that if Trump is re- elected in 2024 he won't be able to pardon himself or his allies. Will that make this his most challenging indictment and how will he deal with this politically, do you think?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: That's such an important point. I think it does, on its face, make it his most challenging indictment, because even if he is elected as president again in 2024, he can't simply make it go away. Even the governor of Georgia can't make it go away.

And as I understand, and I'm sure you've had experts on talking about it, the governor cannot unilaterally pardon him. So there is at least the potential that this is a case that could transcend even a successful re-election for Trump and put him in legal jeopardy as president if he was re-elected, you know, and create conditions and circumstances and legal questions we simply have not had to deal with as a country.

CHURCH: And again, if Trump does become the presidential nominee for the Republican Party, how does the GOP grapple with that, a fourth indictment and of course, as we've been talking, state-based?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. Well, look, you know, I think the vast majority of Republican elected officials have made the decision that they are in with Trump till the end, whether they want to be or not. They have concluded that they cannot alienate his, but they are now so dependent on the voters that he mobilizes that they cannot electorally afford to stand up to him in any way or draw any line. In some ways, as we've talked about many times before, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Because, one of the reasons, the base stays with Trump so unreservedly through all of these indictments is that they are not hearing from any voices they trust a counter argument except for figures on the periphery of the presidential race like Asa Hutchinson or Chris Christie so they are along for the ride I mean they have lashed themselves to his mast as they did throughout his presidency, you know, and there are a minority of Republicans who are very uneasy about that.

But right now the dominant faction in the party is the Trump faction and he has sold to them, and I don't think it was a very hard sell, this argument that all of these indictments are really a way to silence them by going after him.

CHURCH: And this might be considered a sidebar, but how big a problem is it politically that Georgia's district attorney, Fani Willis, didn't answer that question put to her about how that document leaked a little earlier, just before the official indictment was released, because critics are already climbing all over this?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, look, it's going to be a Republican talking point, but I'm not sure they need a talking point at this point. I mean, they have basically, you saw Kevin McCarthy, the House speaker out again tonight instantly before he possibly could have read through this very detailed, voluminous indictment, you know, saying that this is a radical Democrat attempting to subvert in effect the 2024 election, kind of turning the charge on its head.

That is going to be the point of view of Republicans. You know that leak however it came about obviously gives them a weapon to do that. But if that didn't exist, they would be something else. I mean Donald Trump put out a press release tonight I mean not to but to find a point on what you know, he's trying to alleged here. You know, saying that the prosecutor is the daughter of a black panther.

I mean, you know, so in essence, he is, you know, he's repeatedly accused her of being a racist Alvin Bragg, Leticia James in New York, two other African-American criminal justice officials of being racist. He is essentially trying to fold all of these indictments into the predominant belief among Republican voters that the real victims of discrimination in a diversifying society are basically them, whites, Christians, conservatives, and even men.

And so, that messaging is well in place for Republican voters. It is a completely different question whether independent voters who will decide a general election are on board with his claim that he is a victim, simply, of a massive nationwide conspiracy of prosecutors.

CHURCH: And Ron, the D.A. wants to try all 19 defendants together within six months, which will collide with the GOP primary calendar already getting pretty crowded with cases. What are the likely political ramifications of that, do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first, I'm sure all of your legal experts have told you, I think the legal experts are dubious that either of those things can happen, that all 19 can be tried together, much less in an expeditious manner.

[03:10:01]

I mean, that really is the next question, right? I mean, the other Republican candidates, by and large, replicating the strategy of 2016, have chosen to really minimize their direct confrontation with Trump. They are still hoping that some external event causes his voters to peel away from him, and that they will be there to pick up the pieces if they haven't alienated those voters by challenging Trump too directly.

And we are seeing that again. And obviously, through these indictments, that has not happened. If anything, the opposite has happened in the context of Republican primary. It is still an open question, though, whether any larger share of Republican voters would react differently if a trial is going on, much less if he is convicted, you know, that to say based on, you know, current evidence that there's not a lot of chance of meaningful numbers of Republican voters peeling away from him from that, but that is still unpredictable. With the broader electorate, I think a conviction could be devastating to his prospects of being president again.

CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, thanks as always for your analysis. I Appreciate it. BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for your time, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So let's bring in Shan Wu now, a former federal prosecutor. He joins us live from Washington, D.C. Shan, appreciate you being with us.

SHAN WU, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Sure, happy to be here.

CHURCH: So, former U.S. President Donald Trump indicted for an historic fourth time, along with Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and 16 others, criminally charged on 41 counts in connection with efforts to overturn Trump's defeat in the Georgia state election.

Trump charged with 13 counts, including violating the state's Racketeering Act. What is Trump's legal peril in this latest indictment?

WU: His legal peril in this one is quite strong, actually. I think that in particular, the state racketeering charge is a very powerful tool. It's a little bit easier to use than the federal one, and both share, of course, the power of being able to wrap up the many codefendants, even if each of them has not individually done all of the, I think, 160-some overt acts that were part of that conspiracy.

So that's the real danger for him as well as for other co-defendants like Giuliani is you don't have to have done each of those acts if you've done a couple of them you're going to get hit with that liability.

And in addition to that there's also a mandatory minimum sentence here for the racketeering charge if convicted so I think the legal peril here is pretty grave for him.

CHURCH: And count 28 in this fourth indictment involves that recorded telephone call that Trump made to Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, now famous of course, where Trump pressures him to find 11,780 votes. How strong is that evidence given this was recorded and what about the strength of all the other evidence against him?

WU: I think that one in particular, Rosemary, the audio tape, that kind of evidence is very compelling to a jury because actually Trump speaking usually don't get to hear the defendant speak except when there's something being taped surreptitiously usually.

As a pure trial attorney perspective on that, I don't know that that's necessarily the strongest single piece of evidence because people might hear it and interpret it differently saying, oh, he's not leaning on him enough. He didn't make an explicit ask.

But the rest of the charges when you put those together with it, I think makes a very, very strong case because the indictment is very meticulous and it lays, it's what we call a speaking indictment, it lays out the story of what happened. And when you look at all these different pieces going on between the false electroslates, the pressuring, as well as the fact that he is going to be shown to have known at that time that there are no further legal recourse at that time.

So everyone knew that they were really trying to just overturn what courts had already said. This is fine. There's no problem. When you put all those pieces together here, I think it makes a very, very powerful case.

CHURCH: And the date for this trial will of course be set by the judge but Georgia D.A. Fani Willis says she wants to try all 19 defendants together and do that within the next six months. How feasible is that legally?

WU: I think practically it's not too feasible, as Ron was accurately saying. I think most lawyers are going to say that that's a pretty ambitious schedule. It's not impossible, but this, unfortunately for Fani Willis, is not the only case that Trump is facing. So there are going to be some legitimate scheduling issues that he would bring before the judge.

[03:14:58]

And of course now, there's going to be a multiplier of the other 18 co-defendants with him, each of which is going to have their own lawyers, their own schedule. So I think that makes it particularly hard to push such an aggressive schedule. By contrast, you see that the second federal indictment that Smith charged, we don't know his thinking, but it may have been meant to streamline this issue by charging only Trump.

But here, of course, you have all these other folks who are also deserving of a good defense and have to be treated with proper due process, so that can really slow things down. Yeah, of course.

CHURCH: Yeah, of course. And Shan, you did touch on this. The minimum prison time with all of this could be around five years and because these are state charges not federal, Trump wouldn't be able to pardon himself or his allies if he's ultimately elected president in 2024. Given the evidence and the charges against Trump, can you see a legal path for him to avoid conviction?

WU: There's always a legal path to avoid the conviction. At the very least, he might retreat to something we call jury nullification, which is to say that you just need to appeal to one person in jury who feels that whatever the evidence says, I just don't think it's right that a former president is being charged this way. There are all these other people involved, for example, and he could basically try to point the finger.

It was these folks who masterminded this. It wasn't my idea, I was just taking the advice of these folks, some of them lawyers like Giuliani, some of them not lawyers. That's really what his legal defense is. But at this point, Rosemary, his legal defense is really intertwined with the idea that he's running for president. That's really his, they're one and the same right now, funding included in that.

And that really goes to a nullification issue here for the jury, because since he can't pardon himself, he would really need to convince the jury that, for example, if you win, he wins or he's the nominee when he's being tried, that it takes on more of a political persecution notion because after all, I did serve the country, I'm trying to serve it again. So that's the kind of argument I would see coming.

CHURCH: Shan, we appreciate you joining us. Thank you.

WU: Good to see you.

CHURCH: You too.

A once vibrant oasis and tourist hotspot is now in ruins. Hawaiian authorities face tough questions about what led up to the devastating wildfire and why it was so deadly. Our report from Maui, next.

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Hawaii's governor says our hearts are broken by the scale of the devastation in Maui. At least 99 people are now confirmed dead after a wildfire swept through the tourist town of Lahaina last week.

And authorities say that death toll is all but certain to keep soaring, as crews sift through the ashes of incinerated homes. The governor has said well over 2200 structures burned and the vast majority were people's homes.

Right now there's a big push to get survivors out of shelters and into longer-term housing. The Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are among the disaster relief groups helping with that effort. During a White House briefing the head of FEMA spoke about the tremendous sense of loss that so many people are feeling right now.

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DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: -- we're preparing. When I saw during my time here and nothing can prepare them for the emotional toll of the impact that this severe event has taken on them. The coming days and the weeks, they're going to be tough. They're going to be difficult as people process what they have lost and what the road ahead looks like.

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CHURCH: And nearly a week after the tragedy began, it's still not clear what exactly caused the Lahaina fire. But its path of destruction is becoming more clear. The governor recently said it's believed the flames traveled at an extraordinary speed, a mile or 1.6 kilometers every minute.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino has this report from Maui.

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GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): And the death toll after the fires in Lahaina continues to climb. It is officially now at 99. 99 people who have lost their lives. There's devastation not just in Lahaina but also about 46 miles from where, right here where we are right now. You can see this home behind me has been completely destroyed. Only the chimney is left standing. People who live in this neighborhood are waiting for help and they're asking questions. Why were they not warned about the dangers ahead?

DWAYNE THE ROCK JOHNSON, ACTOR (voice-over): I'm completely heartbroken over this.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, who has strong family ties to Hawaii, echoing a sentiment shared by many.

ROB GAUDET, FOUNDER AND CEO, CAJUN NAVY GROUND FORCE: Hope is really the most important thing that we need, and to be sensitive to those who have lost everything.

PAZMINO (voice-over): But hope is a high bar for many fire survivors, especially those with missing loved ones, watching as rescue and recovery teams sift through the ashes while remnants of the fires still burn.

TASHA PAGDILAO, LAHAINA FIREFIGHTER: Every day going back to help clean up and help put spot fires out or it just, it's so seems like a nightmare that we're trying to wake up from.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Also rumors that the tragedy is becoming a morbid spectacle.

SUSAN SLOBODNJAK, MAUI RESIDENT: I heard there was a snorkeling boat looking at behind a town. Give them respect. People died here.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Questions are growing over the outdoor warning sirens used for hurricanes and tsunamis, which were left silent as wildfires swept through.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): The attorney general has launched a review of what happened with those sirens and some of the other actions that were taken.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Some survivors were sent text to phones without service. In the chaos of fleeing.

UNKNOWN: Trees were falling and branches were starting on fire. Power lines were falling down.

[03:25:02]

PAZMINO (voice-over): Those power lines, the focus of a new class action suit filed against Hawaiian Electric, claiming the company failed to cut power as toppled energized lines ignited wildfires. Hawaiian Electric says it will cooperate with the review into exactly what happened.

(on-camera): Now here in this area, neighbors are still dealing with hot spots that are flaring in the surrounding grass here. And you can hear above me, there's a helicopter that's been dropping off water in the surrounding area. People here remain concerned that there might be more fires that threaten their homes.

Reporting in Maui, Gloria Pazmino, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Thanks for that report, and coming up next, more on our top story: the historic 41 count indictment unsealed in Georgia. A closer look at what Donald Trump is facing in his fourth criminal case.

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CHURCH: Back to our top story now. Donald Trump and 18 others have been indicted in Georgia on state charges stemming from their efforts to overturn the former president's 2020 election loss.

Now this marks the fourth criminal case against Trump, who faces 13 counts in this latest indictment. That includes a racketeering charge for allegedly attempting to unlawfully change the outcome of Georgia's election result.

In a statement, Trump attorneys call Monday's events shocking and absurd. Among the 18 others charged in the 41 count indictment, several Trump lawyers, including Rudy Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Giuliani calls the indictment, quote, "an affront to American democracy."

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis says she will try all 19 defendants together and says they must surrender to Georgia authorities Here's what she had to say when asked about a trial date.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: What is the timetable for the trial? As you know, in this jurisdiction, trials are set by the judges. And so it will be the judge that sets the date of the trial. This office will be submitting a proposed scheduling order within this week. However, that will totally be at the discretion of the judge. I want to try him and be respectful for our sovereign states. We do want to move this case along. And so we will be asking for a proposed order that occurs a trial date within the next six months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Lanhee Chen is a research fellow and Hoover Institution lecturer in public policy and law at Stanford University and he joins me now from Jackson Hole in Wyoming. Thank you so much for being with us. LANHEE CHAN, RESEARCH FELLOW AND HOOVER INSTITUTION LECTURER, STANFORD

UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Now, as a Republican, what is your reaction to this historic fourth indictment against Donald Trump as he faces criminal charges for his part in trying to overturn his loss in the state of Georgia, along with 18 others?

CHAN: Well, this was always in my mind the legal case that was going to be the most troublesome for the former president. And I think that you're seeing, at least in the early reviews of the indictment, really a stunning amount of detail about the ways in which the former president really tried to subvert the outcome of the election that we saw in the state of Georgia.

I think it is fascinating the degree to which not just the former president, but people in his inner circle were involved in this broader effort. Now, the question will be politically how, if at all, this impacts the former president's ability to be nominated, the Republican nominee in the upcoming presidential election? And there, I am much more skeptical that this fourth indictment, while historic, will have any real impact on his chances. I think he remains the prohibitive front-runner. and somebody who many Republican primary voters view positively.

CHURCH: Yes, I mean, we have seen with each indictment that his support has grown, hasn't it? And he has said himself that bring it on, bring on the fourth indictment, because that will make me win the presidential election in 2024. That's yet to be seen. But of course, if Trump is reelected in 2024, he will be able to pardon himself and others on federal charges, but not for state charges. Do you see that as his biggest challenge in all the indictments he now faces and what advice would you give him on this?

CHAN: Well, the state indictment does present a different challenge in the sense that it is, if you read the indictment it is quite far- reaching; it encompasses and includes that were not even committed in the state of Georgia, by the way. So, you know, one wonders whether there might be other legal activities still out there.

But fundamentally, I think the big question in my mind still is, what will be the thing that turns people against the former president? And the fact is that, the continuing legal trouble, it's not going to be that. Will a conviction potentially turn them, supporters of the former president, against him?

Well you know, will it be that we just really don't know at this point exactly what the situation is. But there's no question that the charges presented in the Georgia indictment are quite serious and they are charges that really I think are quite different than anything we have seen in other indictments, federal or otherwise.

[03:35:10]

CHURCH: And we are already seeing Trump supporters critical of the fact that Georgia's District Attorney Fani Willis did not answer that question that one journalist put to her on how that document was leaked just prior to the official indictment being released. How will Trump's legal team exploit that, do you think?

CHAN: Well, I think you're already seeing the fact that they are painting her as a partisan, as somebody who is doing this to further her own political career, as somebody who has a tremendous amount of political ambition for whom this particular act, this particular situation will put her in the limelight.

And there's no question that there are elements of her political background that make her a target for those conversations around what the political motivations are for this. And I think what happens in these situations is that the political motivations do get mixed in with the legal arguments.

And unfortunately, for the district attorney, that is something that she's going to have to deal with. She's going to have to deal with the fact that a lot of people who are Republicans around the country view this skeptically. They viewed it skeptically even before we heard any of the details.

And it almost doesn't matter what the content of the indictment is. In many ways that fact and the form of the indictment are more important for many Republicans in Georgia and around the country.

CHURCH: And it has to be said too that GOP primary calendar is getting pretty crowded out by the court cases that Trump will be facing in the new year. How does your party deal with a potential GOP presidential nominee who has such legal jeopardy and political baggage?

CHAN: Well, here's the thing. I think a lot of the legal ramifications of this indictment as well as others are not going to be resolved until we are well into the campaign season next year. And arguably some of it may not even be resolved before the November general election. So the politics of this will still play out, I think in a number of uncertain ways, but there's no question that having somebody who's been indicted is one thing. Having someone potentially has been convicted of a crime, well, that's very much another.

And I do think that there is a danger, if Republicans nominate Donald Trump again, that we end up coming up on October or November in a situation where there are elements of these legal cases that are, frankly, outside of the control of the former president or anyone on his team.

And that does put the Republican ticket in potentially some jeopardy if we get to next year. And it appears as though there is some resolution happening in one case or another that could potentially put the president behind bars or in some other kind of legal jeopardy.

CHURCH: Lanhee Chan, thank you so much for joining us. I Appreciate it.

CHAN: Thank you.

CHURCH: And still to come, an update from the battlefield in Ukraine as officials there report new missile attacks by Russia on multiple regions. We'll have a report.

[03:40:00]

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CHURCH: We are following new developments in Ukraine, where officials say Russia has launched missile strikes on several areas overnight, including the Lviv region in the west. Meantime, Ukraine's deputy defense minister says Ukrainian forces are preventing Russia's advance in the east, where the fighting is ongoing, but does caution Russian forces are regrouping. Heavy fighting is also being reported near Bakhmut, where Russian forces are trying to regain lost ground.

This, as Ukraine says, its forces have liberated more land around the city. Elsewhere in the Donetsk region, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops near the eastern front lines on Monday. The visit coming as he thanked the U.S. for a new $200 million security assistance package.

And CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us now live from London. Good to see you again, Clare. So Russia's hosting an army exhibition. and what it describes as an international security conference this week, even as missiles continue to attack Ukraine, have we learned anything from this about Moscow's strategy?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just heard in the last hour Rosemary from President Putin himself and his defense minister Sergei Shoigu. It didn't deviate much frankly from speeches we've heard from both of them. In the past, President Putin blaming the West for, you know, pumping billions of dollars of equipment and military aid into Ukraine. He said in doing so, prolonging the conflict.

He talked a lot about a multipolar world as did the defense minister. And I think that's part of what's going on here. They are trying to prove that Russia has not been isolated by this conflict, that it is still a significant both military and political power.

They do have some international participants in both of those events, the Army Expo and the Security Conference. The Chinese Defense Minister is expected to speak at that Moscow International Security Conference. And we saw a video from Monday of the Russian Defense Minister viewing displays of the Army Expo from Iran, from China, from India.

[03:44:48]

So they are trying to put on this show, of course, the elbow in the room as you say is that they continue to heavily bomb Ukraine some 28 cruise missiles according to the Ukrainian Air Force launched overnight 16 they say they managed to destroy but three were killed in the western town of Lutsk there was damage reported down south in Dnepropetrovsk, this is a sports facility in the city of Dnipro, so this is ongoing the message to Ukraine is that nowhere is safe.

But I just want to bring you a piece of news from Russia in the last few minutes or so. We've heard that in terms of the economy, the central bank has come in and raised interest rates by some 3.5 percent in an unscheduled meeting. They are concerned about inflation. I think this shows that the war, having been insulated from the Russian economy for some time, is now coming home in this way. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right, Claire Sebastian, many thanks for joining us live from London.

And coming up here on "CNN Newsroom," we are looking back at a pivotal day in Afghanistan's history. When Taliban fighters entered Kabul and returned to power. We will see how people's lives have drastically changed since then.

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[03:50:00]

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CHURCH: Tuesday marks two years since Taliban fighters seized control of Afghanistan's capital. That day ushered in the sudden end of the 20-year war with the United States and threw the country's future into doubt. Since then, Afghans have suffered from emergency food shortages, malnutrition and prolonged drought. Despite promises to be lenient, Taliban leaders are steadily cracking down on human rights, and no one is paying a higher price than women and girls.

Our Anna Coren joins us now live from Hong Kong. So Anna, two years since the Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan, taking over the capital, how much has life changed under Taliban rule?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, the Taliban today are celebrating what they call a victory and they have announced a public holiday for all to enjoy. But for the girls and women of this country, there is no celebration. Each day they are facing extreme repression and have now become virtually prisoners in their own homes.

The U.N. says the Taliban is implementing a system of total discrimination, exclusion and subjugation of women and girls. And while Afghan women's rights activists are calling the Taliban's hardline stance as a war against women. We spoke to a university student still inside Afghanistan who says there is no future for the women of her country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COREN (voice-over): In the corner of her room on a piece of string hanging by paper clips are the treasured memories of 20-year-old Zahra.

ZAHRA, UNIVERSITY STUDENT: They are my favorite people that I have them in my life.

COREN (voice-over): Photos, drawings, mementos. A secret world of a life once lived that this Afghan university student now grieves for.

ZAHRA: When I stand in front of the mirror, when I look at myself, I just see a different Zahra from two years ago.

COREN (voice-over): On the 15th of August 2021, Zahra's life as she knew it was shattered.

The Taliban swept to power after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan following its 20-year war, handing back control to the same group of Islamic extremists who ruled in the 1990s.

While the Taliban promised to be more moderate and honor women's rights within Islamic law, the past two years have brought only a hard-line stance towards women.

The closure of secondary school for girls, the forced implementation of the burka, the restriction on travel without a male chaperone, the banning of women from universities and working at NGOs including the United Nations. And just last month the Taliban closed all beauty salons that employed roughly 60,000 women, many of them the sole breadwinners of their homes.

MAHBOUBA SERAJ, AFGHAN WOMEN'S RIGHT ACTIVIST: Women's freedom doesn't exist. There is no such a thing as women's freedom anymore.

COREN (voice-over): Women's rights activist Mahbouba Seraj, who stayed in Kabul while more than a million Afghans fled, says the Taliban government is erasing women from society.

SERAJ: Even the rights that we had in Islam, even the rights that we had in Sharia, we are losing all of that. So if it is not annihilation, what is it then?

COREN (voice-over): For Zahra, an aspiring designer, it's very clear what the Taliban demands of her.

ZAHRA: Just to stay at home, get married, you have to give birth to children, that's it. And this is your life. This is what women made for.

COREN (voice-over): While the international community repudiates the Taliban's treatment of women and girls, the Taliban is refusing to listen, saying it will not be pressured.

BILAL KARIMI, TALIBAN DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Afghanistan was freed from occupation. Afghans were able to regain their country, freedom, government and will. The only way to solve the problem is understanding and dialogue. Pressure and force are not logical.

COREN (voice-over): But human rights activists fear international condemnation is waning, and that the Taliban, desperate for international recognition, is gradually being normalized.

HEATHER BARR, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, WOMEN'S RIGHTS DIVISION, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: They're posing in photographs of smiling diplomats. They're getting on private jets to fly off to important high-level meetings where people roll out red carpets for them. They're being permitted to take control of embassies in a growing number of countries. So I think that, you know, I think that from their perspective, it's going pretty well.

COREN (voice-over): A terrifying assessment for the women of this country.

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Protests have all but disappeared apart from a small group who face the threat of arrest as they try to get the world's attention. For most, they suffer in silence, convinced the world no longer cares.

ZAHRA: If it continues like this, the future not only for me but also for other girls, it is horrible and it is disaster.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN (on-camera): Rosemary, we spoke to the Taliban deputy spokesperson Bilal Karimi. He proudly listed the Taliban's achievements, such as restoring security, cracking down on the drugs trade. When we asked him about girls' education, he was very evasive, refusing to say when girls will be allowed to go back to school or university. All he said was that conditions need to be favorable. This was the same line, Rosemary, that the Taliban gave when they ruled in the 1990s. Girls never went back to school.

CHURCH: And thank you so much for that incredible report. Anna Coren, joining us live from Hong Kong. I Appreciate it.

And thank you for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more "CNN Newsroom" after a very short break. Do stay with us.

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